A new episode of Star Trek Online will be released on Saturday, titled The 2800.

In The 2800, “the powers of the Alpha Quadrant gather at Deep Space Nine to plan a defense against the Borg when an unexpected guest arrives.”

That guest turns out to be the Jem’Hadar, the Dominion fleet of genetically engineered “super-soldiers.”

The next four episodes of the fourth season will then be released, on the next four Saturdays after the release of The 2800. The titles for those episodes are: Of Bajor, Operation Gamma, Facility 4028, and Boldly They Rode.

A preview video for The 2800 can be seen here.

On February 2, Star Trek Online celebrates its second anniversary, and four days of celebration will take place in honor of the event.

The events will run from around 10 AM PST on Thursday, February 2, through the same time on Monday, February 6.

The master of ceremonies will be Q, and players are encouraged to “log in each day” to “seek out Q at Earth Spacedock or Qo’noS,” where he will find “silly things” for humans to do. Those completing Q’s tasks will win fun prizes.

Two new ships will be released in honor of the celebration. Starfleet command will commission a new Odyssey class cruiser starship. Players who are level 5 or above can obtain one of these ships by completing a mission on a shakedown cruise.

The Klingon Defense Force will also launch their own ship, a Bortas (vengeance) class starship at the same time. KDF officers who are level 21 and above can earn one of these by completing a mission on a shakedown cruise.

According to Star Trek Online, “These two ships will be free to everyone during the event, regardless of level or rank. The ships require you be level 50 to fly them in combat, so characters of lower level will find an item in their inventory that they cannot use until they reach level 50. After the event, these two ships will no longer be obtainable for a while. We have not finalized details yet on when they will return, but we will announce the details once we have them.”

For those Star Trek gamers who have not yet played Star Trek: Online, now is the time with the news that the game is now free-to-play.

Star Trek: Online went free-to-play yesterday, and those wishing to play need only to download the game to get started.

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Cryptic Studios CSO Jack Emmert. “Updating Star Trek Online to the popular free-to-play model removes those barriers of entry that previously kept fans and casual gamers away. Anyone can download and play Star Trek Online at no cost. There’s no better way to see how sitting in the captain’s chair feels.”

There are now two types of members; Gold members, who pay $14.99 for extra perks, and the free Silver members. To see what is available for Gold members, head to the link located here.

An in-game store also offers the opportunity to purchase premium content and gameplay updates.

Star Trek: Online takes place in 2409.

Those wishing to take advantage of Star Trek Online‘s change to free-to-play won’t even have to pay to get the game before playing, but will be able to download it for free.

The key to keeping the game interesting, according to Stephen D’Angelo, Star Trek Online Executive Producer and Chief Technical Officer, is to “[revisit] the game’s economy.”

In free-to-play, some items will become more difficult to acquire and will therefore be more valuable to a player. “Dilithium buys you the cool gear,” said D’Angelo. “People who buy Cryptic Points can go to our store and can buy the cool ships, but they can’t get the cool gear. We’re going to let people sell their Dilithium to other players for Cryptic Points.”

Dilithium is earned during play, and Cryptic points are used to purchase goods and services from Star Trek: Online’s C-Store, which sells items such as starships, pets and experience boosts.

Players can still subscribe ($14.99 monthly) and become Gold Members. Subscribing to Star Trek Online will get a player perks such as two additional Bridge Officer slots per rank, a higher maximum free inventory, one free per rank Captain Retrain Token, eight Foundry Project starting slots, a monthly stipend of four hundred promotional points and unlimited access to in-game chat, in-game mail, forums and customer service.

Those who became lifetime subscribers will become Gold Members and will not be charged any additional fees.

Energy Credits are “intended for the normal expenses of operating a starship, such as getting standard gear, and for trading between captains on the exchange.”

The new currency is Dilithium, which is “intended for getting access to new starships and the high-quality gear. Dilithium is not tradable.”

The Dilithium will come in two forms: Dilithium Ore and Refined Dilithium. Dilithium One is a raw form of the mineral. Refined Dilithium “is the form that can be used as currency.”

Dilithium Ore, which can be refined into the second type, can be obtained by: exploration, daily missions, duty officer assignments, events, PvP and special task force missions.

Refined Dilithium can be earned directly, when a character is promoted to a new rank. Each promotion to a new rank will result in an award of Refined Dilithium to that character.

For more details, head to Star Trek: Online‘s blog entry on the new currency, here.

Last year, Stahl replaced Craig Zinkievich, and Stahl will be replaced temporarily by CTO Stephen D’Angelo until a permanent executive producer can be found.

In Stahl’s resignation post, he said: “All good things must come to an end. Today I am announcing my departure from Star Trek Online and Cryptic Studios. For three years I have been humbled to work with such a fine crew to ensure that Star Trek Online became a reality. Through many months of hard work and countless good and bad days, we have created a living galaxy where anyone could boldly go. I’m now confident that the future of Star Trek Online is secure with Perfect World. While there is never a perfect time to leave such a good thing, I’ve chosen to move on in my career and pursue new challenges. This was a difficult decision but ultimately one that will start a new chapter for me and my family. My time at Cryptic has been wonderful and I strongly believe in all the employees of this company.”

Until his departure, Stahl will be “fielding interviews, answering questions and working toward ensuring STO free-to-play has an amazing launch later this year.”

Perfect World CEO Kelvin Lau said that a free-to-play model of Star Trek Online is now being developed. “…in fact Cryptic is working on the free-to-play model for Star Trek Online. This is going to be launched by the end of this year as well,” Lau said. “So I think with the free-to-play model we have bigger potential in the US market and also in China.”

Cryptic Studios, which developed Star Trek Online, was purchased by Perfect World last March.

Amongst those questions were ones regarding the upcoming Season Four Star Trek: Online content. Star Trek: Online Season Four releases this week.

“Will FED Vice Admirals get their loved DS9 fleet action back when Season Four goes live?” asked ErisTheVorta.

“Not when Season 4 goes live,” said Stahl, “but hopefully by the time our DS9-centric Feature Series goes live, we can get this back onto the Fleet Action Queue. It had some issues and needs some cleanup first.”

Naterag: “Will there be actual Star Trek music placed into the game, besides the generic and optional music player?”

“We have been in discussion with CBS (and parent Viacom) about this as we have wanted to use themes and music from the show in various episodes (we have the fight music in Coliseum for example),” said Stahl. “There are licensing issues that need to be worked out, but we continue to ask for it. As we get rights, we will do what we can to ensure it gets in game. We really wanted the Doomsday music for example in the new Doomsday mission but haven’t received rights yet. Someday hopefully.”

Billyyank: “What’s the word on Starfleet Academy? Will it be just a place we can visit, or will be more interactive, where we can train a cadet prior to shipping out?”

“Starfleet Academy is slated to go online towards the end of July and will include the ability for players to visit and hook up UGC missions to start,” said Stahl.

MaxSpock: “Will I ever be able to visit the bridge of my shuttle or Captain’s Yacht?”

“Yes,” said Stahl. “We have added two new bridges (one Fed, one KDF) that are hooked up to shuttles. We will continue to add more bridges and interiors as we have time in our schedules.”

McCooey: “Any plans to add more starbases in different sectors?”

“Yes, and in fact the next Featured Series will open up a new one for both Fed and KDF players,” said Stahl.

Season Four launches on July 7th.

The news follows two years of losses for Cryptic Studios; $7.5 million in the past fiscal year and $17.9 million in the fiscal year before that.

“In line with the previously stated strategy of fewer but more profitable releases and further expansion into casual online and mobile games, the Company has determined that external development creates more flexibility in the changing marketplace,” said Atari.

How will this affect Star Trek: Online? “Right now I have no further details other than what has been mentioned elsewhere,” said Cryptic representative “WishStone,” posting online. “Support for Champions Online and Star Trek Online will be continuing as normal, our staff is working hard on their projects… and there are no planned changes to the way any of our games and projects will operate.”

TrekToday will update this story as more news becomes available.

This month’s topics include: Klingons, fleet size, new ships, Bridge officers, torpedoes, PvP, The Borg, uniforms and more.

Star Trek: Online Klingon fans will be pleased to hear of a tweaking of the Qo’noS planetary zone. “We are completely remaking the Qo’noS planetary zone where Klingon players currently start the game,” said Stahl. “Previously this was an interior map, and now it is the courtyard and neighborhood around the Great Hall. This makes Qo’noS feel much more like a bustling city complete with back alley ways, a new shipyard, and the ability to walk from the primary exterior to various interior areas (such as the Great Hall).”

The Borg will also be coming in for change, becoming more menacing. “We are revamping both the TNG Borg so that they have adaptive shielding and are more badass like I remember them being, and the newer Borg are also getting a revamp similar to what we did with the Romulans,” said Stahl. “As far as when will we see more of them? Very soon; and in big ways.”

With the Klingons getting “attack Targs,” expect to see other “attack” creatures down the road. “When we eventually add the Targ breeding game, we expect to allow players to train other types of ‘away team’ pets as well,” said Stahl. “Attack Saurs would be included in that. (Although internally we refer to them as GornDogs).”

Stahl admitted that there is fan dissatisfaction with space PvP and that there is room for improvement. “Admittedly, there has been a lack of PVP support in STO since Season 1, and many would say that PVP is not STO’s strong point,” he said. “Over the last seasons we have been slowly working towards improving the system by way implementing a new PVP queue and the ability to create private PVP challenges. As we move forward, the goal is to work in PVP versions of maps as we do Feature Episode series. So look for something new towards the end of the next series.”

More answers can be seen at Zam.com.