USS Voyager-J Janeway class comes to Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online have revealed the first of the 32nd century Starfleet ships to join the video game, the USS Voyager-J type, Janeway class Command Science Vessel. Thanks to lots of pictures and video, that means we all get to enjoy our best views yet of one of the more prominent ships of Disco's future. Continue below to check it out:

Note the variable geometry warp nacelles got carried over from the original Intrepid class - It would rather make sense if all 32nd century Starfleet ships with free-floating nacelles made use of that nuanced warp field control.

Also notable is that STO are calling this the Janeway class rather than Intrepid class, as it was named in on-screen graphics in Discovery. But I think this is a good call to both better differentiate the ships, and giving Janeway some love in the process. So screw canon! 

Unusually, STO haven't yet given an in-universe reason for what a 32nd century ship is doing in the game's 25th century setting. But they normally offer up some sort of story explanation for anachronistic appearances in the game (which are quite common!), so I imagine as more of the future fleet arrives they'll give us some sort of rationale. They do give this overview of the class though:

In a distant future timeline, Federation starships have undergone a number of interesting evolutions of both technology and aesthetics. Some still reflect elements of their original lineage though, as is true with the Janeway-class Command Science Vessel. Drawing its original inspiration from the Intrepid-class starships of the late-24th century, this ship has been updated to focus on speed and maneuverability in local space, without sacrificing its scientific capabilities. Unlike classic science vessels, this ship focuses its power output on hull integrity rather than shield capacity, and has also been specifically outfitted to serve as a fleet command vessel.

Here are some additional views of the ship, including some of the several shared by the Ship Talking podcast's Twitter (see tweet for more).

STO ships always come with some unique abilities, and functions that can be applied to other ships. The Janeway class comes with a Photonic Cannon universal console:

This weaponry was originally theorized in the late-24th century as an ingenious way to utilize photonic/holographic technology, but application of those theories only came to fruition with the introduction of programmable matter. Now that it has been realized, starships with both capabilities may rapidly deploy this technology while in the field. Deployment includes a sensor-masking suite that acts as a defensive countermeasture for the ship, while simultaneously creating an additional source of firepower to soften up any enemy starships unfortunate enough to be lingering in your ship's forward arc.

It also has an Enhanced Cloaking Integration trait:

Your ship's systems have been tuned to grant additional benefits when entering and exiting cloak. Entering cloak will restore Hull over time and boost maneuverability, while exiting will grant a burst of Firing Cycle Haste for all ship weaponry. This works with any cloaking device variant.

And 32nd Century Phaser Weapons

32nd Century Phaser space weapons have a chance to recover the recharge time of Bridge Officer Abilities, providing an upfront burst of recovery and accelerating the recharge for a significant duration thereafter. Repeated triggers of this effect provide the upfront burst again and refresh the duration of the over time bonus. The versions of these weapons that come with the Voyager J will not be upgradeable, but these weapons will be available elsewhere in the future.

This ship will be available as one of the possible prizes when you get a Research and Development Pack or a Duty Officer Pack, between the 4th and 25th of March. See STO's blog for full stats for the ship in-game.

For more Star Trek Online coverage, check back through my STO tag, and for articles looking at starships in all forms, see my ships tag.