Although it took a long time for Paramount to return the favor, Star Trek Online has long done a great job of bringing in material from the more recent shows into its own imagining of at 25th-century era for boldly going. But its latest drop might be one of its most fun.
STO developer Cryptic Studios has just announced its latest drop—coinciding with new story content—will feature a bevy of new material inspired by the final season of Star Trek Picard. Alongside a new ship, the Duderstadt-Class Miracle Worker Science Spearhead inspired by the USS Intrepid, as well as uniforms based on the latest Starfleet designs seen in the series, the new items (all part of a special randomized “lootbox” that players will be able to acquire) also include a series of special abilities players can equip their ships with, including the tactical Tractor Beam Vault, inspired the by episode four of season three, which saw Riker command the USS Titan in a deadly duel against an enemy ship—and make a daring escape by, well, tractor-beam-flinging an asteroid into it, face first.
“Using your tractor beam, you catapult an asteroid at your target,” the description reads. “The asteroid deals kinetic damage and ignores enemy shields.” Pretty simple! But also, do you really need anything more from hocking a giant rock at your opponent just because you can?
STO has had plenty of fun abilities in this vein—even asteroid-based ones, like the Tethered Non-Baryonic Asteroid, which sees your ship drag an asteroid in its wake to draw enemy ships in. But there is something beautiful, just as it was in Picard, to watch this world of high-tech geniuses, daring heroes with daring tactical acumen, where sometimes the best option you have is finding a big rock to hit something with.
STO’s “Last Generation” lockbox will launch January 23 alongside Both Worlds, the latest patch for the game, which will also re-introduce Nicole de Boer as Ezri Dax, and take players back to fight a recreation of the infamous battle of Wolf 359.
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