A Starfleet Defeat | Star Trek Online Story Series E78

"BLOOD OF THE ANCIENTS"
The Iconians have made their move and we return to Earth to plan our next move in a joint Starfleet, Klingon and Romulan conference. However things move quickly and soon Hale has to team up with Captain Tom Paris to make for New Romulus. Things do not go well.
#STOSS
Star Trek Online is full of stories and call-backs to the TV series of days gone and to come. Set in the Star Trek universe's 25th century it places you in the center of these events in an ever expanding series of tales.
Join me as I fulfill the role of a Starfleet Captain, Mark Hale from the 23rd century as the Iconians Return!
If you liked this there's always these to try out:
Star Trek Online Chapters:
Klingon War: goo.gl/GXLZnN
Romulan Mystery: goo.gl/DpGnmb
Cardassian Struggle: goo.gl/UtyfT8
Borg Advance: • BORG Debris | Star Tre...
New Romulus: • Romulan Survivors | St...
Solanae Dyson Sphere: • We've All Been Here Be...
Lost Chapters: • PRESERVERS and The BRE...
Music from bensound.com, purple-planet.com and freesfx.co.uk
Star Trek Online developed by Cryptic Studios and Perfect World.
Star Trek Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery and The Next Generation are all owned by Paramount Pictures/CBS and distributed by CBS.
This Video is for educational purposes with commentary.
"Failing Defense", "Schmetterling" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...

[@sirhenry9313]

"Minor Refit" Star Trek Lingo for: we removed the hull, the neck, the saucer, the pylons, the nacelles, and all the tech, then put it back in _kind of_ the same places...

[@Corbomite_Meatballs]

We also changed the carpet and the paint in the closets.

[@defies4626]

"Eh, we just lifted the saucer and put a new engineering hull on. No biggie"

[@sirhenry9313]

@@defies4626 eh, and the new (and bigger) bridge? Ready room? Layout? Turbolifts? Lol

[@sirhenry9313]

Remind me of an old conundrum: You have a broom. Eventually, the head wears out, so you get it rebristled. After more use, the handle breaks, so you get a new one. And so on it goes, over and over... In the end, can you say you still have the same old broom?

[@GRSteen]

@ValorJ Omega, The Ship of Theseus (which was actually Greek, or at least Theseus was Greek).

[@skywise001]

"You chungus of a cruiser turn!" Now that is an excellent quote.

[@Lans32485]

Yeah, there's a reason why my Oddy has equipped some turn rate boosting consoles. The fleet mining base has some good ones that boost turn rate and defenses at the same time if you can afford the investment.

[@goldenknight578]

I used to complain about the turn rate on my Oddy until I started flying a Universe. I swear that thing's turn rate is measured in degrees per hour even with consoles and perks.

[@occultatumquaestio5226]

6:00 ; I like the image showing the Starfleet emblem cracking, it provides symbolism for Federation to be near it breaking point suggesting it is facing it's greatest threat to date.

[@gmradio2436]

"Chungus of a cruiser" As a temporally displaced admiral suffering from Latent Anit-chronaton Generation, I am familiar with this sentiment. Then the Latent Anit-chronaton Generation spikes and my ship is thrown in to the several seconds into the future and an asteroid.

[@TymersRealm]

"...we finally manage to drive it back :::mumble::: after several attempts... :::/mumble::: ." So how many times was that Rick?

[@CertifiablyIngame]

several.

[@akiramasashi9317]

@@CertifiablyIngame It took me 5 times on a max level engineer. There is no shame to be had here.

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

@@CertifiablyIngame Borg universal kits like Adapt, Collective's Will and Assimilate is very useful in this mission. I know, you are sticking to Federation theme, but sometimes, some universal kits are very useful.

[@goldenknight578]

I think that one of the key things that I feel a lot of captains miss is how valuable your away team can be if you take the time to train and gear them with the same attention to detail as you do your character and ship. I rarely have problems with my away team since I learned that lesson, and none of them are using store items.

[@mrspidey80]

9:32 Meanwhile, my Sci Captain flying an EPG build is like: "A solar flare? That's cute. Here, have a black hole."

[@dragonsword7370]

these days its the same response but also adds "Oh and have a New Flavor to that space kool aid Grav hole. its Ornage and lemony!" [i got the legendary bundle earlier this year and finally unlocked the discos grav anomaly trait off of it!]

[@Fleet-Admiral-Harrison]

@@dragonsword7370 I picked up the Legendary Rom Bundle, when it had its 50% off price. I'm definitely in love with that ship, and I hit like a truck, on my main Disruptor build.

[@tepacana6319]

(fires a spread of tricobalt devices the co-interact)

[@mrspidey80]

@@tepacana6319 Better yet. Gravimetric torps for even more black holes!

[@barrybend7189]

My main 2409 captain: haha watch creation happen in a few minutes and gaze at it's majesty.

[@EpicAdrian3D]

So glad I stumbled across this series. I tried to get into STO but it was all too much for me. Happy you have the time and patience to bring us this content! Thanks Rick!

[@michaelmacleod6517]

"It's not the Armager without Hale in the chair." -Artorius S'harien, U.S.S. Vincero CO

[@occultatumquaestio5226]

"In Star Trek Online, you attain the rank of Admiral, unreasonably early in your career" : *Laughs in Marquis de Lafayette*

[@Capt_Dango]

There's actually a reason why all our Admirals are still front-line soldiers? Wish they'd make it clearer so people stop complaining about it. Man, I forgot how stiff Kagran's neck was back in the day, glad to see all those neck rotations payed off in the end XD

[@sunny-sq6ci]

that's the thing about the game. the rank of adm we get at max lvl, is essentially similar to someone getting a field promotion during a war or combat.

[@Christoppia]

I'm surprisingly invested in this story, to the point I actually shouted "Those bastards" when the Preservers were killed.

[@andrewgilbertson5672]

I know, right? It's surprisingly involving. And while most franchises seem to have one of these "Here is a surviving group of ancients with the knowledge you need to win the war, oops that was just a macguffin and they're all dead and it's gone again" stories, they never stop being... painful, for all that they represent.

[@gallendugall8913]

Good story - meh gameplay

[@aiosquadron]

I shouted "CRAP! Evasive maneuvers! **Explosion** NO!... "

[@Nichodo]

Captain Tom Paris? Sound like they promoted him faster then Harry Kim again...

[@Tonydjjokerit]

Did Tom Paris not quit Starfleet?

[@sirhenry9313]

Kims a captain too, of the Rhode Island

[@BNuts]

We met Captain Harry Kim during the Kobali Crisis.

[@defies4626]

Yes. He was... errr, technically Admiral Paris, then he did a Kirk to deliberately be Captain again because he got bored. Kim's been Captain Collateral Kim, and causing all sorts of shenanigans as far as we've been made aware, usually with... impressive, if blemished results.

[@phillipyao4260]

ValorJ Omega, Bec Bubba the Klutz is involved in the current Trek and the writers brought in either don’t know or have no passion for Star Trek.

[@XX-sp3tt]

Just imagine if the Borg ever got their tendrils on Iconian gate tech... it would be the death of us all!

[@DaviRBify]

but they had gate tech.

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

They did. Measure of Morality, Part 2, T'Ket gets assimilated.

[@dreadnought-ai]

Borg Drone 3 of 9 Secondary Adjunct, Unimatrix 309 - not THE T’ket thankfully, but a “simulacrum” Honestly it’s a goddamn miracle the The player keeps that event contained, iconian technology plus krenim technology plus et cetera all assimilated by an UNHOLY merger between the Borg and control, If that escaped into the wider galaxy......... We did completely destroy all of it... right?

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

@@dreadnought-ai that's a shame, init? I mean, from our perspective (The Collective's point of view), we're doing everyone favour. There is no crime in the collective, no wars, no hate, racism. Everything is free and everyone takes care of you and you'll do the same. The collective is the best form of administration.

[@nineballmk2]

@@dreadnought-ai I fucking hope so!

[@occultatumquaestio5226]

Now that I think about it, I just realized the Iconians have much in common with the Reapers from Mass Effect. Just without the Borg-esk cybernetics.

[@barrybend7189]

No more Forerunner from Halo only not quite flexing as hard on the tech leverage.

[@Lukos0036]

At least your chungus cruiser doesn't ice skate like my scimitar does. XD

[@tubebility]

_"In Star Trek Online, you attain the rank of Admiral unreasonably early..."_ *Riker has enter the chat room:*

[@JDEhlert]

STO: "I'm an admiral now! Yay! So what now?" Quinn: *Hands you a laser drill* "Diggety diggety diggety!" *Tosses you a book PADD* :"A THOUSAND AND ONE WAYS TO LOVE DILITHIUM MINING"*

[@ditzy_neko3362]

Epic moment: "Know that your death will give me no pleasure Ancient One" (calmly) "Then make a different choice, my daughter".

[@ExpLizard]

"Practically on equal footing with technology with the iconians" I didnt realise the federation could use a star as a weapon

[@cameronmcallister7606]

These "giant" battles remind me of one of my favourite lines from Fractured Space "You ever seen a fire in 0G? Breathtaking..."

[@dreadnought-ai]

Cameron McAllister - _literally_ Also thanks for reminding me of fractured space, gave me nostalgia.

[@JamesJohnson-wq6bs]

Wasn't that also a line from Event Horizon?

[@CalGaminYt]

I believe sto should change there ranks from 65 to 80 so the players can stay captains for longer making it more realistic

[@brandonparnell6160]

Then by the time you reach 100 the level scaling gets so bad a bird of prey can brutally murder your T6 command crusier

[@seltin1988]

or make the commandor from the original series returen! make there be a diffrent ting, maybe have the player when they reah admiral hav more of a fleet presens maybe give them a escort ship as a companion that follows your ship around?

[@mrspidey80]

Or just disconnect rank and level entirely, and have the player remain captain.

[@greasemonkey981]

And miss an opportunity to sell you a new ship every 10 ish levels? Not a chance. I agree though, they should reorganize the rank structure some or at least let you command small fleets more often.

[@s.scottstaten1852]

Oh, I'm sure they will still do better ships at higher levels from now till 2 hours after the heat death of the universe.

[@cmoser22]

Im not even sad you didnt pick my ship. Loving it.

[@christophernemeth421]

Thank you for doing this series! I always wanted to try this game but I don't have the time or a powerful enough computer! After starting with Delta Quadrant missions, I went back and binge watched all the earlier ones.

[@CertifiablyIngame]

Thank you! I think the earlier ones are a little rough.

[@christophernemeth421]

@@CertifiablyIngame it was interesting seeing the quality improve as time went on. I did enjoy all the episodes!

[@ingwerschwensen8115]

Picked your STO series up again after a longer distraction. Wow, this is so good! And to accomplish an ongoing parallel narrative voice-over that is not becoming annoying - on the contrary - is a real feat. Thanks!

[@CertifiablyIngame]

Thank you, I try XD

[@Janoha17]

Will you be covering events of the Iconian War like the Invasion of Qo'nos (TFO: Gateway to Grethor; Brotherhood of the Sword.), and the Herald Sphere Raid (TFO: Herald Sphere)?

[@lovipoekimo176]

So the Iconian ships look like Minbari War Cruisers from Babylon 5. Got it.

[@CertifiablyIngame]

Or the Halo game's Guardian

[@AdamantLightLP]

@@CertifiablyIngame That's what I was thinking!

[@barrybend7189]

@@CertifiablyIngame STO came first. The Guardians in Halo 5's finalized design came after the Iconian war arc.

[@gallendugall8913]

Impressive explanation. More than what the game gave me. I still think everyone should be stalled out at Captain and just be given levels unless they get a fleet rank.

[@christopherg2347]

9:30 Well, luckily Starfleet knows how to shield themself from Solar Radiation! Of course, if they emit plasma it may still get a bit hard on the shields. 12:30 Remember that energy weapons get weaker with distance. So getting closer means you take more damage but also deal more. Torpedoes are a issue on cruisers. Generally you broadside with them, using the overlapping arcs of front and back 270° beam banks. 90° Torpedo launchers have an issue helping with that. For hull damage, I personally use parts of the Omega (Anti Borg) sets: - The curring beam is 360° Hull damage. Ideal for the aft-slots. - The Omega Tropedo launcher can give you decent burst. As it can store charges and use them up quickly, you can gather firepower while broadsiding and then quickly applying all of it. I do not like the High Yield Version, however (it is a destructible projectile). Afaik there are asome wide-angle launchers as well, going up to 180° Torpedo firing arcs. 22:50 You are an Admiral. You either have the Authorisation or can ask for it later! 29:00 I just hope the Science teams had some time to question them about everything. 30:00 The preservers did find what they wanted to give you. Those items you can get from the Mission? Those are all they could do for you.

[@vexile12]

I use the 270 degree dual beam phaser a 360 degree beam in a rear slot but i found that torps aren't very effective

[@LordSquirrelShow]

This might be one of the only games I've seen recently that knows how to actually show overwhelming odds.

[@vortimerofkent128]

Dang, that preserver sounded somewhat like Shodan. Oh and the song at the end will echo through my brain for days.

[@kingdomofvinland8827]

The armiger looks better than ever!

[@wrath2501]

Damn, where are the Ultramarines when you need them?

[@richmcgee434]

I think I've read too much space opera over the years. Between EE "Doc" Smiths Lensmen and his less well-know but even more batshit insane Skylark series, Ian Banks' Culture books, and 20 years of Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary the idea of a extragalactic Dyson sphere full of warships that can teleport transgalactic distances and weaponize stellar photospheres just makes me think "Is that all you've got?" Still, it is a game. You have to be able to win, right?

[@kavalyer]

Are you going to cover any of the Tales of the War blog posts or other short stories? Those are some of my favorite stuff from STO, and I wish they would actually put it in the game.

[@davidbricejr.7340]

First time playing this was a pain to get though

[@laahocsm0019]

The war barely started and the Iconians already won so hard. STO did a good job making them scary.

[@hamzadeen3119]

Luv the fact of putting flag officers in da front lines mo' often and still holding command of their flag ship

[@Corbomite_Meatballs]

In STO lore, Starfleet is a bit...low on personnel, so all us fancy Admiral types wind up having to do things ourselves.

[@durkin9664]

Imagine adapting these stories for TV with Clone Wars style animation. It would piss all over the current iterations of Trek.

[@salenstormwing]

18:42 "The ruins are ours!" Oh boy! I'm so glad we saved.... the ruins. Were there no quarries for our heroes to save? The strategic importance of archeologists is often misunderstood. And that's why Indiana Jones is the most dangerous man in space.

[@gallendugall8913]

The Vonph is fun. My brother gave me one. Put Iconian beams on it, beam overload and WOORL! WOORL! WOORL! They're fun by themsleves, but yeah being able to open gateways to stellar matter is less useful against NPCs than PCs.

[@cclark8469]

Ah the Iconians the only race that makes you go " Oh thank god I only have to deal with the borg and not the Iconians"

[@KatrinaLeFaye]

This is actually the first mission I ever did in STO and continues to be for every toon.

[@Snow_Worries85]

YES! The Arminger is back!...but wouldn't this be the 4th one? So wouldn't there be a D after the NCC number?

[@CertifiablyIngame]

After doing some looking into it, most legacy named vessels didn't actually keep their registry at all, and I preferred the 97003 registry from the former-Daring so I kept it :)

[@kingofmonsters14]

the Iconian ships look like the Guardians from Halo

[@salarianscientist2685]

this chapter is nuts i died 5 times in one mission

[@wolfmaster555]

What an epic opening!!!!! Feels good to have Mark back in command of the Arbinger

[@kingzilla9859]

Can you do this whole game with THE NX-01 Enterprise ?. Or would you get obliterated in the upper ranks at some point.

[@Qardo]

No, sadly. As the NX-Class is a T1 ship. And they have yet done anything to scale the older ships in the game. As I would totally fly an NX-Class around.

[@gmradio2436]

If you get a tier 6 version, you can use the NX-01 Enterprise model. The issue is the Lobi Store or legendary captains bundle.

[@defies4626]

Yes. If you get good enough gear, you can do it. I personally watched a squadron of T1 NX's take down Infected Advanced, with minor support from me.

[@kingzilla9859]

Benjamin Rich Which ship did you have ?.

[@fl2660]

Star Trek Online gives the impression that all of the Preservers are eliminated. If you recall the ending of the prior episode where we first meet the Preservers, they tell you that some of the Preservers will return to slumber while some travel the Galaxy to see all the new races they have propagated. Also review the statement that the Preserver technology is organic; All of their knowledge is stored genetically. Even a single cell can preserve the Preservers. I wouldn't mind seeing that tidbit surface later in STO storylines.

[@WideAwake127]

Your excellent videos have me playing the game again. Thank you. 😊

[@deltadrag00n19]

love the sto videos watching them got me back into playing it myself please keep them coming

[@Lexi_Zone]

The medal furthest on the left of Hale's uniform looks like an exclamation mark for his other medals.

[@jimschuler8830]

Starfleet initially went with the rank of commodore, but didn't like the proliferation of silly hats it encouraged.

[@Peregrine57]

I'd been thinking about the in-game ranking system since you mentioned it last week. It does seem odd that we're able to go from Cadet to Admiral in just a few "years", and every player character is a fleet admiral. Meanwhile our bridge officers never seem to be able to progress past Commander, unless you dismiss them, and in your head-cannon assume that they've gotten their own ship somewhere. I mostly just glossed over it, keeping the player level-up separate from the in-story ranks. I never knew the in-game explanation was that Quinn did it because... reasons. For some reason, they did away with 'Ensign' altogether, even though they kept the rank insignia for your uniforms, and your bridge officer abilities. And Commodore is a perfectly good rank that's underused in the main canon. The game designers missed an opportunity to bring it back. Two perfectly good ranks that they could have used both as story elements, and as part of the player level-up system. Also, my Romulan character did the Tal Shiar infiltration missions as a Centurion. At one point, your character gets out of a jam by pulling rank on a Tal Shiar Subcommander. Which, your contact explains they gave your fake identity the authority to do that, but all the mission text and dialog refers to you by your player rank. It's nitpicky, but amusing.

[@TurKlack]

I still think the Lead Devs failed massivly when they didn't give us a fleet, with every 10 Levels we get a new Ship and at some point become Fleet Admirals, but we will instead have plenty of rainbow abillities rather then Fleets.

[@shado2us]

The new Armiger, sweet!!!

[@antcow1239]

Opening a fold space hole to a star to direct a solar flare is a clever idea

[@seskal8595]

I love these videos! You make them really well

[@VenomZoology]

Oh thanks Tom! 🤣 19:45

[@joshuagenna3635]

And as always we stand by your side fighting for the greater good of the Galaxy.

[@dannylesbile8592]

I love the Dehring it's hot mad firepower

[@searcherT]

some of your finest work Admiral!

[@JamesJohnson-wq6bs]

The portal weapon from the sun against a ship ... SHAME ON YOU, STAR TREK! YOU STOLE THAT FROM FARSCAPE Season 3! :) :) :)

[@fl2660]

The ruins are ours!! Whoo Hoo! Unfortunately, our ruins are in....ruins.

[@angelphoenix7784]

This is the only arc in the entire game that felt like a war.

[@XX-sp3tt]

16:36 Secure? HA! You have an enemy that transporter scramblers are worthless against, and have seemingly unlimited range, that word is meaningless!

[@CaptainForsyth]

man all those ships defending the station, They all did in one or two hit.

[@Werezilla]

I think I like Kagran's redesign. He looks more like his voice actor. As a console player, I still have a month to go before I can see the new Klingon content for myself. Guess Hale's run through the Iconian Arc will be a nice preview.

[@pt29999]

The STO storyline is so much better than what we got with Picard, too bad it isn't canon.

[@aiosquadron]

It's beta cannon, or soft cannon. So, it's connon untill something official replaces it's timeline. If there is, then the beta cannon is considered non cannon.

[@ameliawysockicharacterarti4459]

Well, that didn't go well. Thanks for another entertaining episode!

[@mcintoshpc]

ah so THIS is where 343 got those guardian things from halo 5

[@IanNCC1701]

I love these videos man

[@Alteringrealitystudios]

Well Captain Paris is looking a little Andorian there. Awfully blue.

[@ironwarmonger]

The Icoanians used servitor races to do their bidding, how Shadow of them!

[@Glitch_Online]

Hate watching your videos because i am left wanting more, but i love watching your videos BECAUSE I'm left wanting more. Keep up the good work man.

[@peterq1978]

Jor-El Quinn then.... nice, i would have put that on a list....

[@shamimartv8964]

I had a question. How do you do that walk like the npc s do. I just want to walk like that but cant fing the keybind.

[@BlueSatoshi]

You have to set it manually in the key bind settings.

[@SampoPaalanen]

I don't think "walk" is bound to any key by default but at least on PC you can rebind a key for it.

[@TymersRealm]

Plus your character's 'walk' is actually slower than NPC 'walk'. Witch a real PitA at times when you don't want to out run them, but also don't want them to get too far ahead of you either...

[@jinnurain]

@Scruffy MW Thanks

[@QuestionDeca]

Note this isn't in the playlist, you instead have 77 in it twice.

[@Iamthelolrus]

New favorite word "chungus". Who wants to take a shot at a definition?

[@doom7ish]

God damn. Also where is the Dominion or Cardasian empire? Or the Tholians? Or the Breen.

[@Centurian128]

FYI: This episode is missing from the playlist.

[@GlitchedAI]

A slarfleet defeat, a Starfeat if you will.

[@aiosquadron]

*Starflop

[@nonamegiven202]

Meanwhile the romulans are just like "hey you have a ship, want to go fight our corrupted totalitarian regime?"

[@jasonskeans3327]

Yep

[@OmegablueWolf]

any one else find it hilarious that harbingers and Iconians send Mysterion eyes after you ?

[@TheIN4CER]

Well time to time travel.

[@Cipher00007]

Bit disappointed you chose the most vanilla looking of all the Command Battlecruisers, id have liked to have seen more of the Concorde Class.

[@nielsvandersteen4619]

This story fell away from the playlist, I was very confused at the start of the delta flight episode :p

[@jay-kg8ke]

They really need to fix this whole command structure thing in this game. Perhaps as Commodore being the top rank. Still below the admirals.

[@TheTj826242]

I play both Xbox and PC. I would like to see a fleet carrier for one episode

[@shmee123ful]

9:48 Mark Hale how much more Icionian's: is now a bad time we brought friends?

[@Nitro_TCO]

This video is not in the complete STOSS (with all STO missions) playlist... Just putting this out here to clean up inconsistencies.

[@shmee123ful]

epic: all fleets, engage

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

I was so eager to fly an Iconian ship that I've spent nearly fortune on infinity lock boxes and got a Quas Flight Deck carrier and God above! That thing handle like a file cabinet. I'd rather fly a Miranda Class escort than that junk. It looks beautiful though. Very very beautiful.

[@koppadasao]

4:34 Qapla'!

[@WhiteThumbs]

Preserver *Jumps out of pod like ninja, sprints over like a track star, super nice like an old friend, psyonic Iconian "I hate you all" Suck it.

[@Neteruk]

Where the hell are the Q? And if that's disagreeable...then why did the UFP not make a pact with the Omega continuum?

[@vexile12]

I perfer the 3 nacelles ship is it the Yamato class?

[@craigmartinj]

Right...so the Iconians are the "Vorlan" an ancient race.

[@VulpisFoxfire]

Is it just me, or does the Preserver sound like SHODAN?

[@Traven158]

Granted I left STO before the Iconian War, but I kinda was expecting something more dreadful and apocalyptic. Like, 2/3rds of the entire alliance forces gone within hours, with ships wiped away by the dozens and entire planets glassed or destroyed in seconds. But I guess they had to make the players feel like they could fight back.

[@aiosquadron]

A preserver VI?