Long have the dark reaches of the Milky Way lain uncharted, and long have the stars beckoned the brave and worthy among us to change that. Like wayward adventurers from tales of old, we set out without fear, to plot a journey of a million steps. For the journey, as they say, is the true destination.
Beginning with the release of our “Undiscovered” update, Star Trek Online will play host to a complete revamp of an old style of content that has haunted the silent reaches of Sector Space since the game’s release. We are pleased to present our players with an updated and modernized approach to Deep Space Encounters.
What are Deep Space Encounters?
To put it simply, these are lightweight, quick-to-play, relatively simple pieces of micro-mission style content. Enter a map, assess the situation, and solve whatever tiny crisis you and your valiant crew are faced with. It might be warding off an attack from raiders, repairing damaged assets, scanning strange anomalies, collecting particle traces, rescuing adrift escape pods, or much more! But each encounter is intended to take no more than a few minutes of your time before you’re off to find your next bite-sized adventure.
With this revamp of the old DSE content, you will find the individual missions and activities have been slightly fleshed out. Gone are the days of simple “Kill 15 enemies” style maps filled with nothing but ugly bags of mostly hitpoints. While we kept the spirit of simplicity intact, there are now actual things to do. Activities befitting an adventurous captain like yourself!
With this initial introduction of the revamp, our Content Designers have assembled a total of 15 micro-mission variants that you can encounter, spread across 3 categories:
- Waves – Contend against oncoming forces in various defensive skirmishes.
- Support – Lend your aid to local allied parties to complete various tasks.
- Defense – Rebuild turrets, set up scanners, and otherwise build up a series of objectives, while facing whatever threat there is to the local populace.
In addition to the randomized element of not knowing exactly which content you will be running, every DSE pulls from randomized choices in terms of which Allies and Enemies will be present, from lists populated by groups appropriate to whichever quadrant you find yourself in.
There is yet another layer of randomization, in the form of the environments, locales, and natural phenomena you will encounter in each DSE. Our artists have painted beautiful and inspiring backdrops and planetary systems to delight the senses.
With these factors combined, it is our hope that each DSE you play will feel somewhat fresh and unexpected. We want to surprise you, and maintain as much of a sense of novelty as possible with such simple content.
How do I find Deep Space Encounters?
This special content can be found dotted around Sector Space, scattered across the reaches of the Alpha, Beta, and Delta Quadrants.
Locate the nearest the golden hexagon icon from your area map, or by using our newly overhauled Compass UI, approach it, and enter to experience your next assignment. Their locations, and the content they lead to, will randomize several times per hour, offering a rotation of new activities on a regular rotation.
What else is new in Sector Space?
I’ve already mentioned the new Compass UI, which will be one of the most obvious and helpful updates to the experience of drifting through deep space. With this new addition to the game’s primary HUD, we set front-and-center a sense of drawing your attention toward the next-nearest star and new horizons.
To help with general readability, and to help the Compass provide improved information about the destinations beckoning your onward, we have performed a review and update of nearly all of the iconography you see on the area map while in Sector Space. Most have been updated to give an improved indication of the precise activity (or lack thereof) that each point of interest offers.
And one more thing! As you now speed your way to your next destination, you will find Sector Space has been populated by anomalous readings that can be picked up by approaching them. Your ship will tractor these anomalies aboard, granting an immediate and considerable (though short-lived) boost to your sector space travel speed. In addition to this benefit, each one obtained will become a consumable “Boon” item you may use during your next foray into a Deep Space Encounter to improve various aspects of your starship’s performance. Particularly useful if you are set to a higher difficulty level and need that little edge to come out victorious!
What do DSEs reward?
I’m so glad you asked! Obviously the best way to entice your sense of adventure, is by ensuring that you feel as though the time will be well-wasted!
Completing any DSE grants a modest amount of Endeavor XP! This new reward is officially an expansion to the previously limited ways players have had at their disposal for increasing their Endeavor Perk Ranks at a steady pace.
Players may earn a total of 12,500 Endeavor XP each day before hitting a cap which will reset daily. In addition to this earning, there will also be a Daily Wrapper mission that you can obtain, which grants an additional 2,000 Endeavor XP and is not included in the aforementioned cap.
And that’s not everything! While the addition of Endeavor XP to a new reward structure is definitely exciting, we’d be remiss to not also talk about one of the primary methods you have of increasing the rate which you earn it!
Introducing: Featured Quadrants
Once each hour, one of the 3 DSE-laden Quadrants (Alpha, Beta, Delta) will become “Featured” as indicated by new HUD elements. Hmm… looks like a bar… I should fill it! Good instincts!
The more DSEs you complete within a specific Quadrant while it is Featured, the more progress will be recorded and applied to the Featured Quadrant Reward Modifier, which in turn increases *all* of the rewards earned by completing DSEs within that Quadrant (including Endeavor XP!). In this way, playing within a Featured Quadrant is a cyclical bonus that feeds back into itself.
Each player progresses this bar together, which is tracked across all active instances of the Featured Quadrant. And each player benefits the same from the Progress contributed by all participating players.
Where do I get started?
You will find new NPC officers at Earth Spacedock and Qo’noS, ready to act as your guides to the new DSE content, depending upon which primary allegiance you have chosen for your character.
Federation and Federation-Aligned officers can speak with Rear Admiral Felicia Harrington, who can be found loitering outside of Admiral Quinn’s inner office at ESD.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Antessa will aid KDF and KDF-Aligned warriors from his posting within the High Council’s chambers located at the heart of First City on Qo’noS.
Each of these professionals will be your point of contact for the aforementioned Daily Wrapper missions, as well as your primary source of in-game information on DSEs in general. They will also act as your liaison and primary voiced contact within each DSE that you run, so I’m sure you will get to know them very well!
We’ll see you… out there!
