Allowing for personal expression and getting the details right should make for a more enjoyable gaming experience for Star Trek: Online fans.

As reported by Star Trek Online, a history has been set up for players of the Star Trek: Online massive multiplayer game, that begins with the death of Shinzon at the conclusion of Star Trek: Nemesis. "Following the death of Praetor Shinzon at the Battle of Bassen Rift, the Romulan government fell into disarray. Tal'aura, one of the few remaining members of the Romulan Senate and a former ally of Shinzon, declares herself the new Praetor, supported by Fleet Commander Tomalak as the new leader of the Imperial Defense Force." Romulan politics never run smoothly though, and there is conflict and rebellion against the new leadership.

Meanwhile, in the Federation, changes have occurred since the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. The USS Enterprise-E has been repaired and refitted. About half of the crew, including some senior officers, have moved on to other ships and assignments.

Other events are covered such as the trial of the female Changeling Founder, and the reconstruction of Cardassia. The latter includes limited Federation help in the form of an agricultural aid project, headed up by Keiko O'Brien.

In addition to mapping out the future history, Star Trek: Online has answered more questions regarding the game as reported by TenTonHammer.com. Jack Emmert, chief creative officer of Cryptic Studios, explained that players will be able to customize their characters to suit their preferences, including being able to create their own unique races to augment the ones usually found in the Star Trek universe. "The customization will really come in your race," said Emmert, "your face, your hands, your adding of antennae, big insect eyes, crazy colored skin, spots, and so on. Obviously there’s the uniform that Starfleet wears and, for that matter, Klingons wear relatively standard outfits too. But then the customization is really going to come with facial features: the forehead, the hair, all those items." Creating new races "[is] definitely the best way to mix customization in,' said Emmert. "A normal human or Vulcan - they’re only going to vary so much. But we wanted to allow players to explore wild extremes as they can in Champions Online. Besides, 'Star Trek' fans have already come up with thousands of things both in websites and their imaginations."

Particular attention has been paid to getting the spaceships right. "To me, even over 'Star Wars,' 'Star Trek' space ships have always captured my imagination," said Emmert. "Their shape is unique, it’s more distinctive to me than anything else I’ve ever seen. Also the crew; we had to make sure that your bridge crew is a vital part of gameplay, because they’re a vital part of every episode."

To read more, head to the articles located here and here.

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