User:UnknownParticipant/Sandbox/Star Trek Online Quick Start Guide
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to visit! Star Trek Online is the premier group for gaming within Bravo Fleet and we have so much to cover, so let's skip the preamble and get right to the meat.
I am going to write this like you have never even heard of Star Trek Online, so if it seems a little beneath your level, please just use the Table of Contents to skip to your relevant section.
Getting The Game
Supported Systems
Bravo Fleet Gaming Department supports Star Trek Online on a Windows-based PC only. Cryptic, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the consoles were to have separate ecosystems from the PC version and there is no crossplay. Our assets on the PC server are quite substantial, whereas we have no presence on the consoles. If the console gamers would like to come together to form a fleet, please ask around for interest in doing so; there are a couple of PS and at least one XBOX user the Gaming Department are aware of, and it takes five players online at the same time to create a fleet.
System Requirements
As of November 8, 2021, the system requirements for Star Trek Online are as follows:
Operating System: Windows® 7, 8 or 10 (64-bit) CPU: Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz (or equivalent AMD CPU) RAM: 2 GB Hard Disk: 21 GB Graphic Display: NVidia GeForce 8000, ATI/AMD Radeon HD 2000, Intel G965M Express, Intel HD Graphics 2000 or better (Supports Direct3D Hardware Feature Level 10 or higher) Sound Drivers: DirectX 10 compatible sound chip or onboard audio capability with the latest sound drivers Network: Broadband Internet Connection Required
Please note that this is subject to change at any time, as the game is evolving. They are turning off DirectX 10 support and moving to DirectX 11 or newer as of the end of 2021. However, any halfway decent Windows 10 desktop or laptop made within the last five years should have no trouble running Star Trek Online.
Other Operating Systems
There has been a few asks about Mac and Linux versions of this game. Please note that there is no native way to make Star Trek Online work on either MacOS or any distro of Linux; however, using versions of WINE players have seen successes at running Star Trek Online from these unsupported operating systems.
There is a great walkthrough of WINE here: https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Linux_OS_and_Mac_OS_X
Installation
Star Trek Online is available through several different channels:
- Cryptic has their own launcher named Arc, which you can obtain through their website here;
- There is a Steam version available here; and
- Epic Games has a version available here
There are advantages to each version - Arc logins take advantage of an extra costume, Steam and Epic both use the same logins you use for those programs already. Bravo Fleet recommends the Arc Games browser if you are only going to be playing this game on your PC, but you can use the other games systems if you want to unify other games purchases or something.
Whichever option you pick, pick a place to install the launcher and game with a lot of hard drive space. STO has some large patches, and running out of storage space is always a worry with this game. The requirements at launch were a lot smaller, and as the game gets older and adds more content it expands how much space it takes up. Ideally you will want at least 60 GB free on whatever drive you select for installing.
Do not expect to play the game immediately after installing the launcher. It needs to complete patching with Cryptic's servers. It takes a while, even on a Gigabit internet connection - at the time of this writing it is about 20 GB, which on an ideal traffic day would take at about half an hour to install. With anyone using anything less than Gigabit that same installation can take hours.
Once that is done, you will have the option to "Engage". Click it and we are off to the Star Trek Universe.
First Time Player Setup
Star Trek Online makes this part really easy to start, but also gives you some really big decisions right up front. After the splash screen and connecting, you are presented with some choices right away that affect you much later in the game. We will go over the options here.
Choose Faction
Right away when you first load up the game, you are presented with the option of choosing a faction to play through, which is the most important selection to place up front. These are the options:
- Klingon Defense Force
- Discovery Starfleet
- Dominion
- TOS Starfleet
- Romulan Republic
- Starfleet
The Starfleet and Klingon Defense Force options are the oldest factions in the game, and either of these would be a good starting point for new players, with a very comprehensive tutorial for the game involved in these factions. Discovery Starfleet also has a good tutorial, but you start in a different era of the game's timeline and will not be able to join up with Bravo Fleet as soon as you would with the first two options. The Romulan Republic, STO's home-brewed faction for the Romulans that predates Star Trek Picard, also has a good tutorial but it also has a restriction for joining up with Bravo Fleet's in-game assets until you choose an allegiance.
For storytelling purposes, we do not recommend starting with the TOS Starfleet faction or the Dominion faction first. The tutorial for the TOS Starfleet faction is very good, but the story veers very heavily into "you have to have played through at least once" territory very early on. The Dominion faction starts your character off at a high level right out the gate, and skips a lot of the learning curve involved with the game; it is very clearly meant for players that have played through at least once, at least to the end of the New Frontiers arc.
This particular tutorial is going to assume you will be playing the Starfleet faction.
Choose Species
The Choose Species screen has lots of options for species in the game, and allows you to pick the species and gender of your avatar. Please note that they have not made the ability to have anything other than male or female avatars at this time, but as you will see later they have a very comprehensive customization screen that renders that selection all but moot.
For the Starfleet faction, these are the species that are available right away to you:
- Human
- Andorian
- Bajoran
- Benzite
- Betazoid
- Bolian
- Ferengi
- Pakled
- Rigelian
- Saurian
- Tellarite
- Trill
- Vulcan
- Alien
Available for purchase through various means:
- Caitian
- Joined Trill
- Klingon
- Liberated Borg Human
- Talaxian
Surprisingly this selection does matter. There are species traits that cannot be selected from other species. A Vulcan, for example, can use a ground trait to deliver a nerve pinch that a Rigelian cannot. Betazoids are telepaths and also have traits that cannot be replicated. Some have resistance to confusion, some are stubborn, and some have special abilities. For your first playthrough, the best idea is to play that which you like the look of the best, and leave this particular fine-tuning for when you are more experienced.