Dev Log - Stardate: 23782.3

It's been a long road
Getting from there to here
It's been a long time
But my time is finally near
And I can feel the change in the wind right now
Nothing's in my way
And they're not gonna hold me down no more
No, they're not gonna hold me down


Launch Day - Artistic Render

Yesterday was launch day for Star Trek: Infinite, and like with most launches, fires had to be put out and hotfixes needed to be pushed.

We still are fighting fires though, antivirus blocking our games ability to write settings files, DLC not being recognized, weird one off issues that we are still working on reproducing and fixing.
We are working through these as I write this log, and that is why this is a bit short.

The important things to know:
Top priority stuff: Known Issues and Workarounds
Issues and Bugs: Please report them on our Bug Forum.
Tech Support: For more info about optimization and technical issues.
Also join us on Discord: We have an active community that is willing to help out with almost all issues. (also I am there)


We are also starting to see all our reviews come in, and they are hitting around where we expected it to go.

• Polygon.com - Star Trek: Infinite leans in to the best of Trek
  • Star Trek: Infinite is a 4X grand strategy game that shares a lot of qualities with a good Star Trek episode: It’s cerebral, accessible, occasionally a little clumsy, and overall a good time.
• Pcgamer.com - It's Stellaris, but not as we know it.
  • I ask myself "do I still want to play this game some more, now that I'm not being paid?" and the answer here is yes.
• Rock Paper Shotgun - Not exactly a strategy pioneer, but still an enjoyable journey
  • It's a combination of engaging and undemanding that grand strategy seldom manages, and has enough Trek stuff to work for someone who's seen most of the serieseses but only once, and can only sometimes tell if something's a reference to an episode or wholly new
• Trek Central - Trek Gaming Is Back!
  • Star Trek: Infinite is the perfect game for those looking to lead their own version of the Federation, Klingons, Romulans or even the Cardassians.
• Stevivor.com - Where no one has gone before
  • Star Trek Infinite is a glorious strategy game just dripping in canon and nostalgia. I love it sometimes — and hate it in others — but I’ll be damned if it hasn’t taken up my thoughts during most waking moments as I sit pondering how to better deal with the Nausicaans, integrate Bajor or fight the Borg.
• Godisageek.com - Huge, complex, and a Trekkie’s dream
  • The thing is though, it’s all so incredibly Star Trek. That’s obvious, yes, but more than any other Star Trek game I’ve played, Infinite leans totally and completely into the brand.

Now, I'll head back to putting out those fires, and I'll see you all next week.

PDX_Ruk


Up next:
Oh, what's this? New Ferengi buildings… shiny. And a Dyson Sphere, Oh Myyy…

 

[Triscopic]

My first impressions of the game after a couple of hours of play are that you’ve done a great job of bringing Star Trek IP into the Stellaris engine. I particularly like the implementation of trek-compatible warp, and espionage feels better as well (although it’s still early days for me there)

I do wish the voice acting was different, particularly the Klingons just sound like slightly stroppy humans. But that’s a minor blemish.

 

[jacktheol]

My only concern is the many negative reviews on Steam. It will make the game sell less and then we will get less love and DLCs. Hope I will be proven wrong because it is a good game. I love it already.

 

[Obeliskkai]

My initial opinions can be boiled down to a few things.

1.) The realisation of the Star Trek universe in the scripted part of the game is slightly off. Risa, Denobula and Xindus being uninhabited maybe the right choice in terms of balance, but the first two were home to distinct civilizations (one of whom had a major character on Enterprise) and the other should have a shattered world to represent the destroyed Xindi homeworld. Perhaps Risa and Denobula could start the game as affiliates of the Federation rather than uncolonised?

2.) I think there is a considerable fail on the music here. With the license, I was expecting some some of the glorious orchestral music Star Trek has been famous for over the years. What was delivered was not what I expected, the score doesn't live up to what Star Trek is known for, and doesn't compare to the grandiose original music Stellaris has. We seem to have the worst of both worlds there. The various sound effects also don't come across as 'star trekky'

3.) I think including the destruction of Romulus was mistake. While lore accurate, it does mean Romulan players are picking the ST: Infinite version of Stellaris's doomsday origin and many players want to play the Romulans because they are a cool race. I would suggest that in future updates, it should be considered to give Romulan players a difficult path to 'save' Romulus. Given it's an alternate history take on the alpha and beta quadrants anyway, I think it would be a positively received move.

Now those complaints are very specific. I think they are important points that I hope would be addressed, but they aren't exactly game breaking. Is the game otherwise perfect? No, but it IS a paradox game and it suffers from the same problem every single Paradox suffers from on launch. It needs more. More major playable factions (the Ferengi are an absolute must for a promotion in my mind), more support powers (the Orions), more minor races, more events, just more.

Overall, I think Star Trek Infinite is a fine game that can't quite yet justify why you should spend a session campaigning in it rather than Stellaris after you get through one or two games. I look forward to seeing Infinite blossom in the years to come.

 

[namewhichisnottakenyet]

Yep, pretty much that.

There will have to be some compromises between gameplay and lore. For instance, Mars was a founding member of the Federation as a settled planet independent from, though closely affiliated with, Earth, whereas in the game it's represented as an uninhabited terraforming candidate. Really, judging by the inhabited planets, the Federation has fewer settled planets than it should have even in the pre-Federation era.

There'll have to be a lot of balancing and overhauling to do in the feature, but there are also things I like.

For example, I'm glad that the Federation can peacefully integrate its neighbors if they're on good terms. The exact system needs to be fleshed out, but I'm always happy to play a strategy game with a viable pacifist option (I won my first game after 57 years without building a single military ship or being in a single war)

On an entirely different note, how do you send the Enterprise-D on a diplomatic mission?

 

[Imp0815]

3.) the destruction of Romulus

Isn't that Star Trek 2009 made by J.J. Bings? The Star Trek where Spock emotionally screams at the top of his lungs and punches a dude on top of a flying shuttle? - Ah Star Trek as we LOVE IT!

 

[Obeliskkai]

Isn't that Star Trek 2009 made by J.J. Bings? The Star Trek where Spock emotionally screams at the top of his lungs and punches a dude on top of a flying shuttle? - Ah Star Trek as we LOVE IT!

Also confirmed as canonical by Picard, which is probably why it's in the game.

I just think that it's a big ask of Romulan players to play the entire campaign without Romulus, as if you want to play as the Romulans (who are fun in their own right), you have to take ST:I's version of Stellaris's doomsday origin.

Now it is in the game, but I think providing players a pathway to save Romulus wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[namewhichisnottakenyet]

Now it is in the game, but I think providing players a pathway to save Romulus wouldn't be a bad thing.

Exactly. When I (UFP) noticed that Romulus was actually about to blow up, I was about 80% sure that there has to be something to stop the supernova or at least mitigate its effects in the Romulan mission tree.

Apparently, there isn't.

I guess you could argue that a rookie player would be hit the hardest by the explosion of their homeworld, while a veteran player would be able to navigate the crisis without too much of an issue, but preventing the supernova due to (presumably difficult, because they weren't taken in canon) ingame steps would also be easier for a veteran.

One could add a toggle which disables the supernova, or add a game option which randomly blows up one faction's homeworld after 30 in-game years, but that's more of a "for the lols" option, I guess.
- For the Klingons, they recreate Praxis 2.0 on Qo'noS
- For the Cardassians, I guess the Bajoran underground goes mental and decides to explode the entire planet?
- For the Federation, uhm, I guess Q does a thing, or the whale probe's long lost cousin shows up and eats Earth because the Federation can't bring back the Dodo, or the mirror universe's Xindi finish what their prime counterparts could't - seriously, there's been about 5000 different threats to Earth in the history of the franchise, and one of them is going to stick sooner or later

 

[Imp0815]

Also confirmed as canonical by Picard, which is probably why it's in the game.

As this makes it any better or more viable to include it in a Star Trek game which is focused on TNG.
Both should be Ignored. As both do not capture the essence of the old Star Trek Series this is based on.

 

[Miguelinileugim]

Can't wait for the first bugfix! Particularly the one where you can't use stealth ships and the one where you get effectively locked out of the borg quest line as non-mirror federation if someone else takes over that system before you do.

(I also hope that Picard always starts the game at age 25 or something as I wouldn't want to restart if I get him at age 50, also how come that Data, a robot, has a limited lifespan?)

 

[namewhichisnottakenyet]

also how come that Data, a robot, has a limited lifespan?

Well, I mean, he did die his fair share of times

 

[Miguelinileugim]

Well, I mean, he did die his fair share of times

View attachment 1030586

Yeah but then he should die from events or randomly not natural lifespan. Plus he should have some sort of android trait to indicate his lack of natural lifespan (plus maybe a tiny flavorful modifier like +5% underwater basketweaving so it is immersive).

 

[Dsingis]

I do hope, that you add a faster speed option than just 1.5x. Why isn't there an uncapped speed option? (as in as fast as the CPU can handle) as in other Paradox games? Maybe I am too spoiled, but I have a good CPU and I am used to fast game speeds with paradox games

 

[The Russian Empire]

Isn't that Star Trek 2009 made by J.J. Bings? The Star Trek where Spock emotionally screams at the top of his lungs and punches a dude on top of a flying shuttle? - Ah Star Trek as we LOVE IT!

I'm not exactly a Star Trek canon/non-canon expert but I believe Picard officially made this canon, a disaster much like the show in my view.

 

[Cymsdale]

I do hope, that you add a faster speed option than just 1.5x. Why isn't there an uncapped speed option? (as in as fast as the CPU can handle) as in other Paradox games? Maybe I am too spoiled, but I have a good CPU and I am used to fast game speeds with paradox games

The 1.5x seems to be a lie. It's way faster than 1.5x

 

[Calvax]

I'm not exactly a Star Trek canon/non-canon expert but I believe Picard officially made this canon, a disaster much like the show in my view.

Star Trek has long held that movies and TV are canon. Picard didn’t canonise the supernova, it didn’t need to since the film on its own made it canon.

 

[DanielPrates]

uhm, I guess Q does a thing

Thought: this game, by definitions, has no bugs: it's all WAD ramdom Q's mischief.

I'm not exactly a Star Trek canon/non-canon expert but I believe Picard officially made this canon, a disaster much like the show in my view.

STic 'is' a disaster. Sadly, it is indeed canon. Including him speaking the most cartoonish phony french, tho he speaks english because french is a dead language by his time.

 

[DiscoRay]

I'm not exactly a Star Trek canon/non-canon expert but I believe Picard officially made this canon, a disaster much like the show in my view.

It isn't "canon", at least not as we know it. For what you see on screen, everything Star Trek made up to 2005 was done under a particular creative licence. Then in 2006, due to corporate shenanigans via a company split, Paramount was separated from the Star Trek license, which handed ownership of it to CBS. Paramount had to buy from CBS an alternate Star Trek copyright, one which legally must differ in it's look and tone of all Star Trek made prior to it.

It is this alternate licence that all on-screen Star Trek from the 2009 movie onwards has been made under, including the Picard series. Irrespective of what on-screen fudging is made to try and link the two so not to appear separate, they're both their own thing. There's a mini douc video on youtube that goes more into the painstaking detail of this to prove it is the case, and in summary it's another reason why copyright/licensing laws need to either die wholesale, or at least be significantly reformed.

 

[Imp0815]

I'm not exactly a Star Trek canon/non-canon expert but I believe Picard officially made this canon, a disaster much like the show in my view.

You can just ignore it. It's not like anybody is mounting a defense for Picard or any of the abysmal new shows, anything they do is just press disagree but without any argument it can be ignored.

It's just not logical to include stuff from the new shows when the game is set in the old ones.

 

[Calvax]

You can just ignore it. It's not like anybody is mounting a defense for Picard or any of the abysmal new shows, anything they do is just press disagree but without any argument it can be ignored.

It's just not logical to include stuff from the new shows when the game is set in the old ones.

I haven’t gotten to the end of a game yet so not sure what year it finishes, but lower decks is set in 2380 and Picard in 2399. Unless the game ends before then it certainly would make sense to include them.