Star Trek Online introduces new Alliance hybrid ship, Picard Romulan goodies, and lots of Klingon content

It's a busy time in the Star Trek Online universe, with their ongoing Year of the Klingon content role outs bringing more established on-screen characters into the game, new Picard inspired goodies, and always more ships. Continue below for all the latest.

First up, to mark the 11th anniversary of the game the second cross-species Alliance ship is joining the game (following last year's Federation/Klingon Khitomer class). The new Temer class raider is meant to be a Romulan/Klingon hyrbrid design, although the colours and escape pods also suggest Starfleet influences to me.

Here's how STO describe it's in-universe origins:

The Allied Cooperative Starship Development Board (ACSDB) is excited to announce their second vessel with unified design philosophies. Due to its nature, it draws heavily on the expertise of the Romulan Republic and Klingon Empire, a collaboration that continues to bode well for the Khitomer Alliance’s future.

The Alliance Temer Raider is a unique starship – fitting command and control capabilities into a compact, lightweight shell. In order to ensure it survives to coordinate the battle, it features high maneuverability, an Enhanced Battle Cloaking Device, and a weapons layout with an emphasis on longer-ranged attacks. In trials, it’s been shown to exceed at performing a support role from the shadows, appearing for a matter of seconds to strike before vanishing again.

The ship is available as a prize in STO's anniversary event, which can can read more about on their blog, and you can also find full stats for the ship on another blog. The Ship-Talking podcast shared some additional preview images:

As ever, a new ship means new abilities. Offered with this class is the Alliance Tactics console:

When activated, your starship fires two powerful bolts of Antiproton Damage at your target and gains a strong boost to Weapon Shield Penetration and outgoing damage for a short duration. For up to a minute after activating this console, it can be activated a second time to apply a powerful burst of Flight Speed, Turn Rate, and Control Resistance. 

It also features an experimental Repulsor Blaster weapon:

The Repulsor Blaster deals heavy kinetic damage to its target that increases with the distance from the target and knocks the target slightly backwards on impact. It has a 180 degree targeting arc.

And a Sniper trait:

After achieving level 5 in the Alliance Temer Raider, you will unlock the Sniper Starship Trait. While this trait is slotted, your torpedoes do additional damage at long range, and you gain a short-term boost to critical strike chance when firing torpedoes from more than 5km away

STO starship designer Hector Ortiz shared this concept art for the class. You can also find out more about the design process for the ship in a long discussion on STO's YouTube channel.

Along much more Romulan loyalist lines, a new Picard Zhat Vash Lock Box gives the chance to claim one of the Romulan ships from Picard, Commodore Oh's ship, which is apparently a Dhaikhina Command Strike Wing Warbird.

Here's how STO describe the ship:

The Dhailkhina was built to be the command vessel of a fleet intended to protect all biological life from the threat of annihilation. With the Romulan’s typical strike first mentality in mind, it features a powerful Battle Cloaking device to get the jump on its targets, an aggressive weapons layout, a hangar bay of strike craft well suited for recon or fighting, and impressive team coordination abilities. Should it ever engage in battle, there’s little question as to who would come out on top.

Ship Talking again has additional images of the ship if you want a closer look.

This ship's console is Bombing Run, which interestingly is illustrated on STO's blog giving stats for the ship with one of the other Picard warbird designs, which are summoned as part of the ability:

This console summons several Heavy Bombers to attack your target, dealing heavy Kinetic and Plasma Damage.

Another class is also attached to the ship in the form of a squadron of Snakehead Hangar Pets:

The Zhat Vash developed the Snakehead fighters to aid their larger starships in battle. These fighters are extremely nimble and use their Zhat Vash weaponry to destructive effect.

Owning the Dhailkhina Command Strike Wing Warbird will unlock purchase of these new fighter pets. These fighter pets may be equipped on any other starship you own that has a hangar bay. The Dhailkhina comes equipped with one hangar of Snakeheads, and additional may be purchased from the EC Store, with Advanced and Elite versions available through the Dilithium and Fleet vendors, respectively.

Other abilities include the Carbon Scorcher experimental weapon:

The Carbon Scorcher deals physical damage to its target. Additionally, the impact leaves behind a molecular solvent that eats through inorganic material, dealing heavy physical damage over time and decreasing the damage resistance rating of the target.

And Commanded Singularities trait:

While this trait is slotted, activating any Command or Singularity ability will summon a micro singularity at your current target for several seconds, dealing kinetic damage and pulling foes inwards. If you do not have a foe targeted, it will instead appear 5km in front of you. This can only occur once per several seconds.

This ship is however just one of the possible prizes you might get from the lock box. The STO blog details all the possible prizes, which among many other things include Zhat Vash armour and disruptors:

As sexy as all these new ships are, the really big new addition to the game is the latest major release in the Year of the Klingon, House Reborn. Check out the promo art and trailer:

Divided...Shattered...Reborn. J'ula believed that the Klingon Empire, having seen proof of J'mpok's treachery, would rise up against him. She was wrong. The Great Houses splintered instead, shattering the empire into warring factions, looking out for themselves. Her brother, T'kuvma, gave everything to unite the Klingon Empire, and in one fell swoop, J'ula has undone all of it. Now, she must venture within to find the answers, at the holiest of Klingon worlds, Boreth. Journey with her there, and discover what lies in the heart of Grethor. Will the Empire be saved, or finally destroyed?

This new content takes the form of two new episodes, which feature Mary Chieffo returning as L'Rell, and Sam Witwer standing in for Kenneth Mitchell as Tenavik. They appear alongside actors already at home in STO, J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Robert O'Reilly (Gowron), Rekha Sharma (Landry in Discovery, but voicing a Klingon now too).

STO have also now made Discovery-style Klingons available as playable characters, and added a new Klingon Recruitment System, allowing players to start a new Klingon Captain and earn themselves another new ship, the M’Chla Refit Bird of Prey. This appears to have taken the basic shape of the Disco BoP, but given it the styling of the classic BoP; which looks pretty cool!

Here's STO's intro to the ship:

With the recent return of some House Mo’Kai Warriors to the fold – previously lost to time and Aakar’s influence – Klingon engineers have gained a boon. Some of these warriors are engineers, who carry with them secrets of the ancient Klingon technology that guided the empire before the houses were united. They have combined this with the modern technology and ship design to make some startling breakthroughs, the first of which is the M’Chla Refit Bird of Prey. This ship, designed for new Klingon Recruits, is a breakthrough in technology that allows mass production on a scale the Klingon Empire had never before reached.

Once more Ship Talking shared some additional images, including these below, and you can find full stats on the STO blog, alongside details of the new recruitment event:

For more Star Trek Online coverage, check back through my STO tag.