Emmert Reveals New Game Elements, Fleets and Aliens.

Jack Emmert, chief creative officer at Cryptic Studios, was interviewed by Star Trek podcast Hailing Frequency. In the discussion, Emmert went into greater detail on some previously revealed information and reveled some new game elements.

Emmert confirmed that the Klingon Empire and the Federation will be opposing forces in Star Trek Online and that new players would be captaining their own ship as part of the military structure of one galactic power or the other. Though you cannot currently play as a civilian or non-affiliated character, Emmert mentioned that it was a possibility for future updates.

Emmert put a lot of emphasis on the detail available during character creation, noting that a number of races, including Vulcons, Andorians and Gorn, would be available. Most interesting of all however, was his statement that players will be able to "create your own alien race and call it whatever you want and give it its own abilities and everything."

"We are known for our character customization," Emmert said.

Emmert also confirmed that there will be guilds in STO, in the form of fleets.

"Fleets are going to be able to work cooperatively to build space stations, perhaps even shipyards and other facilities to allow them to expand their abilities."

In a manor similar to EVE online, it seems that there will be some form of resource gathering that can be coordinated to give guilds more powerful items and ships.

"[Fleet construction will] allow them to build even bigger ships, maybe even mining colonies and science stations, that sort of thing."

He also hinted at raid-type events for Fleets, saying "there are some threats that only fleets can face."

STO will be isolated to the Alpha Quadrant, according to the interview. However, in addition to the old standbys of Vulcon and Andor, there is plenty still unexplored.

"We divided out a section of the alpha quadrant and we've split it up into zones and then star systems, where you'll encounter all your favorite planets and you'll also see a whole bunch of unexplored stuff. So you'll be the first person in a particular star system, name the planets, name the star do all that stuff."

Travel from one area to another will be done by using your starship's warp drive or through transwarp conduits.

When asked about legendary ships and characters from the series and movies, Emmert emphasized that the game would be taking place long after the film Nemesis. However, he hinted at time travel, saying that you never know who you might run into.

Perhaps there's hope of camping a Captain Kirk spawn point after all?