The Cryptic Team over at Star Trek Online has posted a new Dev Blog, providing some insight into the new Fleet Holding that will be released Thursday after maintenance.
The Dilithium mine will be advanced by completing projects along two sub-tracks.. ultimately, unlocking three tiers of Fleet discounts – that also apply to other Fleet projects – The highest tier discount is 15% (at least, on the test server – could change obvously), which is pretty substantial I think. We’ll have to see how that plays out once it goes live, and Fleets start working on their mines. I’m sure Cryptic will tweak that discount percentage if there is data that supports it needing to be changed.
Here’s the tracks you follow as you progress your mine:
Dilithium Mine (Main Track)
Progressing through the main track of the Dilithium Mine will reward the fleet with expanded environments, discounts on dilithium costs, daily dilithium mining missions and other amenities. This track gains experience via completion of upgrading your Trade and Development sub-tracks. Some of the reward highlights for the Dilithium Track are:
- Three tiers of discounts on fleet project dilithium input costs
- Construction projects that unlock discounts on most dilithium stores for all fleet members
- Daily dilithium mining missions
- Daily mission to refine additional Dilithium Ore beyond your cap
Trade (Sub-Track)
Upgrading the Trade track will grant fleet project item input discounts and access to advanced engineering consoles. The rewards found in this sub-track are:
- Three tiers of discounts on fleet project item input costs
- Three tiers of fleet advanced engineering consoles
- Reduced recharge time on the Call Trade Freighter power (Azura II, Vov’wl, Suliban Cell)
Development (Sub-Track)
Progressing through the development sub-track will grant fleet mark discounts on fleet projects, access to special duty officers and duty officer assignments, as well as fleet warp cores. The specific rewards found in this sub-track are:
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Three tiers of discounts on fleet mark fleet project input costs
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Advanced Fleet Warp Cores Mk XII
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Advanced Fleet Singularity Warp Cores Mk XII
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Elite Fleet Warp Cores Mk XII
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Elite Fleet Singularity Warp Cores MK XII
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Miner Duty Officers
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Mining Duty Officer Assignments
Fleet holdings were initially added after I stopped playing STO. Now that I’m back and playing again, I’m looking forward to starting some of these holdings, to see what all the fuss is about, and whether or not the fleet holdings system is as good a “advancement system” as it looks like so far.
I’m especially curious about if these holdings “punish” smaller fleets, by giving an advantage (gear, consoles, discounts, etc..) to the mega-fleets that have WAY more people in them, or if the smaller fleets can still progress at a decent rate (obviously, I expect a bigger fleet to be able to finish sooner, the balancing point is how much sooner).
I am also quite impressed that part of the Dev blog announcing the Dilithium mine… is a little lore blurb explaining the ‘story’ behind how players are able to gain access to the relevant asteroids to mine:
This asteroid field was originally held by the Vlugta, a species relatively new to interstellar travel who were uncomfortable with an alliance with a major power. The Vlugta found kindred spirits in the Remans who broke away from the Romulan Star Empire, granting them the license to operate the asteroid field. But when Obisek needed assistance for the fight against the Tal Shiar, he turned to the Ferengi, giving them the asteroid field rights in exchange for critical supplies to help survivors from Crateris.
Always looking to make deals, the Ferengi operators opened negotiations with Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force. Those talks have yielded a permanent contract that provides benefits to all parties involved. The Ferengi have agreed to give a small section of the dilithium field to interested Federation and Klingon fleets in the form of a land grant. In exchange, those fleets will provide protection for the asteroid field. Of course, the deal could not be complete without some form of profit potential for the Ferengi, and as such, they will be supplying those fleets with EV suits, mining supplies and other goods at “reasonable” prices.
If you’re in a fleet.. might want to get your folks ready to start on this new project..so you can get started right away on Thursday!