PVP:Yes | Distribution:Download | Retail Price:n/a | Pay Type:Subscription
Desktop Client | System Req:
StarQuest Online: The Story of StarQuest Online
MMORPG.com StarQuest Online Correspondent Allen Richardson writes this introduction to the story and background of StarQuest Online.
This part of the galaxy was once civilized. It was ruled by one god-like race, the Alshaya. The Alshaya were the creators of all known things. They seeded the races among the stars. They created the artificial Quantum V layer of hyperspace. They were more technologically advanced than any known race has ever gotten. They have disappeared with hardly a trace. Caph is believed to have been their homeworld. The center of Quantum V hyperspace was found to be Caph. How or why the Alshaya disappeared we do not know. The Alshaya are not playable.
The Therataa claim to have been left behind by the Alshaya to be the protectors of this area of the galaxy. There is no data about the early days of the Therataa. They have been capable of space travel for as far back as their calender exists. They are either a very old race, or they were left by the Alshaya as they say. Therataa has the most advanced starships in game. Their ships seem to gather power from the vacuum of space itself. Their religious beliefs lead them to found a galactic law, that every underdeveloped race should be left alone to evolve at its own pace. It was this law that kept the early Terrans from being destroyed. Therataa are currently not playable, but the developers have hinted at them being so in the future.
In 30,000 Pre-STY, the Neanderthal disappear from Terra. Later, a race named the Rodomok claim that they were the Neanderthal and with Alshaya help, Cro-Magnon humans drove them from Earth. They re-settled on Rodom. In 178, a Therataan vessel crashes on the Rodomok homeworld. The Rodomok reverse engineer a working hyperspace engine within 20 years. The Rodomok begin staging war on a galactic scale, conquering and enslaving any race in their path. In 243, the Rodomok conquer the original homeworld of Celay. In 321, they conquer the inhabitants of Klinshay. The Klinshayans will be servants of the Rodomok Empire for the next 1,631 years. In 317, the Rodomok conquer an out-lying Therataan colony. The first major galactic war breaks out between the two races. The Rodomok are defeated. As a result of this defeat, the sector containing Terra technically becomes Therataan space. In 708, a second galactic war begins. This time the way ends in a draw, with both sides declaring peace for 1,159 years. In 1905, a Rodomok transport vessel is taken over by a uprising of 5,000 Celay slaves. These slaves manage to crash land on Tau Ceti IV and settled the planet. In 1907, hoping to achieve a planetary victory with their large Klinshaya mercenary forces, the Rodomok attack the Therataan Protectorates sparking the third galactic war. Within a year the Rodomok are defeated, losing nearly ¾ of their territory, and 90% of their warfleet. One battle takes place in the Sol system. A Rodomok destroyer crashes on Earth near Tunguska, Russia. Therataan's eliminate all evidence of the vessel from the ground, before Russian scientists are able to reach the crash site over a decade later. In 1952, a Klinshayan rebellion destroys the Rodomok Empire. The surviving Rodomok become slaves of a new Klinshayan Empire. The Rodomok and Klinshayans are currently not playable. It is hinted they will be playable in the future. The Celay are playable, being one of the three races forming the United Systems Alliance.
In the sectors surrounding earth, three races continue to flourish. The Ryl' Atti are a slightly smarter race than the Terrans, and so reach space quicker. The Celay continue to develop on Tau Ceti IV. Therataans observed several planet wide wars on Terra, and predicted the human race was to volatile and would destroy itself within a century. Since Terrans were on the verge of developing both radar and atomic weapontry, the Therataa quarantine the Sol system. Overcoming all difficulties, in 2096 the Terrans build the first Icarus class starship. This is a protype, originally not designed for war. The three races eventually discover each other. A tense peace is kept between them until in 2177 the three races form the United Systems Alliance.
)
In 2179, the U.N.S.S. Enterprise, a Icarus class starship is attacked and capture by a single Klinshayan vessel. The location of Earth is taken from Enterprise's computers. Due to this incident ((and because of obvious Star Trek reasons)) there will never be another ship named Enterprise. In 2180, the Battle of Earth occurs. A fleet of 50 Klinshaya vessels attack Terra after feinting an attack on Celay and drawing Terran fleet vessels away. Terra is nearly destroyed by 2 days of bombardment, with nearly 2 billion dead. The vastly outgunned Ryl'Atti fleet sacrifices itself delaying the Klinshaya and preventing the complete destruction of Terra.
The Terran fleet arrives, and after a massive battle, forces the Klinshaya to retreat from Sol system. Final losses are, Terran: 17 ships destroyed, Ryl'Atti: 208 ships destroyed, Klinshaya: 38 ships destroyed, 3 captured. Killed in this battle is Colonel Davis Becker, in command of U.N.S.S. Ticonderoga, who ordered his vessel to ram the Klinshayan flagship at a critical point in the battle, ensuring the Klinshayan fleet's defeat. A unified fleet is formed to combat the Klinshaya. As the Ryl'Atti no longer have a fleet, and the Celay never have had one, it is largely a ceremonial gesture. Ryl'Atti and Celay personnel begin serving on former Terran vessels. Alliance starships henceforth are named "U.A.S." , for United Alliance Starship. The war ends with the U.S.A defeating the much larger Klinshayan Empire. To ensure the safety of the U.S.A. The starship U.A.S. Ticonderoga is designed and built.
In 2191, a skirmish between the U.A.S. Endurance, and a Therataan warship Manara nearly results in war. Later, in the timeline created by the players, the U.S.A. and Therataa do go to war. Through the cunning of the players running the U.S.A. Starfleet and the skill of the players manning the ships, the superior Therataa are defeated. Man stands ready to dominate the universe, or forever vanish in the ashes of history.
In all, there are currently three playable races, the Terrans, Ryl' Atti, and Celay. It is hinted that sometime in the future, there will be a expansion adding the Klinshaya, Rodomok, and Therataa as playable races.
Oh and, one more thing. With the last patch, 1.092, Castle Thorn Software has begun adding a First Person Interact-ability with the game. When finished, you will be able to use consoles, interact with NPC's, etc, all within the First Person perspective. Patch 1.092 added the first part of this system with the First Person View. To switch to this view, press "Control" and the "Home" key. To switch back to the default, press the "Home" key. While it is only part of the FPI system and not real functional yet, you'll have admit it adds a whole new "perspective" to StarQuest. Enjoy!
Other pictures of the FPI system
Here's what happens when you install Windows on your UberBattleships-Faster-Than-Light Main Computer:
This one was..... slightly edited. This is one of the Klinshayan trophy rooms inside their castle at Klinshay. One of the forum players decided it needed to be more festive. Merry Christmas everyone!
-removed-
Well, i guess it could have been worse,the "god-like" race could have been named "Walmart"
Or it could have been "Bill Gatians."
I played the trial for this game. Now the concept is great and some of the ship functions are first rate but this is not a game that should be in release. The client is barely a closed beta level. I have played alot of bad games but the bugs and lack of functioality in this game is stiffaling. The interface is like trying to move through molases, movement/camera control is a total joke. The client would CTD repeatedly and new players are completely lost-if there are any. Which is to bad because the concept and features of the game are truely innovative and if it survives with constant improvement then it may be ready in a year or so. I understand that they need money to keep going but Im not paying $10 for a alpha/closed beta product that is 50% functional full of bugs in the game content hoping in the relativly near decade it will get better- its a game not an IPO.
Mr Styij, the camera control was just updated.
May I ask what you found was hard to use with it?
I have to completely disagree with the previous poster.
SQO in my opinion has been the game I have been looking for sometime. Im an older player and flashing pretty graphics at me isnt what hooks me on a game. Its the enviroment and complexity that gets me.
Sure there are CTDs and bugs...but name one MMO that doesnt. The game is an inependantly developed product. Meaning that while the game gives to shits about competeing in the race for the best in graphics. its the quality of content that keeps people. I kept hearing that STO is going to make SQO jump in its grave...but in reality the game is closer to old school trek than what I have ever seen put out.
While it caters to players who have the pateince to learn the game. It wont get the 12 years running their dadies credit card bills up like WoW does. But it will definately pick up the people that STO has and will continue to disappoint.
The scroll wheel rotation of the camera did work fine but I found it to be totally alien, no pun intended. So I changed the settings to use the left click and drag feature to rotate the camera. It rotated in the opposite direction of mouse movement so I found the reverse setting and turned it on, then the problems started. The camera would move as intended and then switch back to reverse of mouse movement then back after after few trys. No matter what I turned on or off the bug persisted. When near a wall for instance because it was one solid color with no texture you couldnt tell it was rotating opposite until you were lost, had to stop and zoom out. This occured constantly and was maddening! I use a Logitec MX518...alot of people use this mouse and it is run of the mill with no problems in any other game.
Then there was the movement. Ok click to move...perfectly acceptable interface. Except that diagonal path finding is "crunchy" at best and none existant frequently. Example-Moving accross a hall way to reach a door and the toon moves up out of line of travel and steps on to a convaer belt taking you in the opposite direction! Very counter intuitive. Running was a new adventure everytime. Hold shift and right click...perfectly acceptable interface. Problem is half the time you click and your toon stands in place and runs...and keeps running until it thinks it is where you click regardless of anymore commands given it. So click and watch toon run in place for awile then try again and hope it works then.
There are other problems as well. The chat cuts of the bottom of lower case letters so "g"s look like "a"s. There are practicly no signs or indicators-is this the duty officer or the bar tender I don't know since they both look alike and only have three colors between them. The NPC convo system...OMG..."Hello"-"yes"-"I have orders to deliver"-"i dont understand"-"orders delivery"-"i dont understand"-"Mission Orders"-"i dont understand"- jump forward a half hour-"For the love of everything holy I have orders here to deliver to you moron!"-"i dont understand-"Where is my M87 pistol"-"i dont understand"...you get the point and they are ALL like that.
Of course the graphics are not so hot but that is acceptable if the game blows your socks off. So there are some examples of stuff I was talking about. Yes, the game has a high learning curve like Eve but even Eve has tool tips and popups to help. Maybe these seem like just personal issues to some of you but If I feel this way I'm sure alot of other SQO noobs arnt playing anymore because of the same and that cant be helping the income situation for the developers.
I think it is great that these people love what they do so much that they are trying to bring their vision to us and I do hope it works but I'm not going to say I had a great time in a great game when I didn't. I think the starship crews and interactive stations are great. The wide open universe with away teams and all very Star Fleet Battles feeling is a reality; but the bugs and maddening interface and content problems are ruining the experience for me. Like I said A+ for innovation and making a scifi game happen but it is still not ready for the masses. Of course as with any opinion it is just my 2 cents and your milage may and will vary.
@1- Thats a bug we didn't know existed. It will be fixed ASAP.
@2- "Crunchy" is rather vague. To put it simply, it doesn't take the shortest path. Correct?
@3- Major bug with the grid system that will be fixed shortly. Its also causing a "black screen" when going down the shopmart stairs.
@4- Chat is in the middle of being upgraded.
@5- There is a "template" you must use when talking to NPC's. Your normal everyday colonists will only reply to "~name~ Where am I?". Other NPC's like ones that are used constantly (vendors, objectives, officers) can have many variations, as long as it fits the template. "Ticonderoga teleport me" "Ticonderoga port me" "Tic port me" for example. This template is as follows:
First word(1. Must be a ships name that is within range. 2. Must have the first letter capitalized. 3. Must have the first 3 letters in the right order)
Second word(must either be "teleport" or "port")
Third word(always has to be "me")
These templates are listed in the Game Manual. I believe the problem here is confusion that can EASILY be solved by your "tooltips" suggestion.
@6- Tooltips. These are being added. I'm just a lowly veterans player, so I don't know how soon. Your suggesting them will add to the vote, and they will be in quicker because of it.
Thanks for your input!
So using my example of delivering orders to the duty officer what would be the template example of that? Tooltip popups would make introduction to every aspect of the game so much easier for new players.
I did see the template in the game manual but couldn't figure out how to apply it in differing situations. For such an indepth complex game the manual is a bit sparce without in game tooltips don't you think. I couldnt figure out how to get back to the Tico till I read the forums for a while.
I hope they continue rolling out patches that fix the interface and accessability of the game for new players. Just running around the bridge of the Tico checking out the control stations was increadable. Weapons consoles, ECM, three dimensional space helm control, full engineering console with damage and power manipulation, internal sensor and intruder detection. Its like each ship is a microcosom.
Hi guys - I am really quite enthusiastic about trying this game but cannot seem to connect to any of the
websites linked, on this or other sites, which are related to this game. Internet explorer just comes up
with the screen you typically see when you are offline. Does anyone know if the official starquest
website is up?
If not is there anywhere I can download this game?
Thanks
Macius
Being a small indie company, castlethorn only owns the game servers. For the website they use 1&1 web hosting. The web server is having hardware issues and apperently 1&1 doesn't have any techs over the holidays.
Castlethorn apologizes for this inconvenience, but there is nothing they can do about it until 1&1 fixes the hardware issue.
It will be back up shortly.
((The game servers are owned by Castlethorn. As far as I can remember, it has only been down maybe a day in its 2 years of operation. This does not affect the game.))
Website is back up