Shran Light Pilot Escort And More Take Flight

Star Trek Online, the online roleplaying game that tells the future of the Star Trek universe, takes place in the year 2410. This puts us centuries after the events of Star Trek: Discovery, but our designers and artists really wanted the opportunity to showcase the amazing things coming out of the newest Star Trek series. To solve that problem, we’ve begun releasing ships and technology from Star Trek: Discovery, not only in its original, on-screen form, but also how those ships might look or perform after centuries of Starfleet improvements. Here are four updates to the ships of Discovery, all of which you can command in game right now.

Shran Light Pilot Escort

Like its predecessor, the Magee, the Shran class of Light Escorts began as a concept from a team of engineers trying to meet a variety of common wartime requests -- a starship that didn't require too many resources to build or fly, one that packed a serious punch, and one that had the flexibility to adapt to the design at hand. Due a combination of the prototypes found at Yard 39 and convergent design, that concept ended up becoming a direct successor to the Magee, but one built up to modern standards, with the ability to realize what were just dreams of some of the Magee's original engineers.

Gagarin Miracle Worker Battlecruiser

The Gagarin Miracle Worker Battlecruiser is a powerful Federation Battlecruiser, using the latest innovations and technology to make pie-in-the-sky ideas of the past reality today. It draws inspiration from many of the experiments attempted by the Shepard-class Battlecruisers of the 23rd century, and advancements and coordination with Starfleet's allies have been able to make its unique, energy-intensive systems work. The ship was designed to give it the potential for some miraculous systems, notably some very unique EPS conduit routing and new, advanced Tactical Matrices.

M'Chla Pilot Bird of Prey

Some concepts are timeless, and the Birds of Prey are one of them. The core is elegant in its simplicity -- a ship that can appear anywhere, accomplish its goal, and quickly vanish. This trends it towards many of the same directions -- a lightweight, highly mobile ship with heavy guns and powerful stealth systems, and a need for flexibility to adapt to the specific missions at hand. The M'Chla Pilot Bird of Prey is no different in its goals than the 23rd-century Bird of Prey design that inspired it, but is all the more fearsome with all the improvements that time and alliances have brought it.

Qugh Miracle Worker Battlecruiser

The Qugh Miracle Worker Battlecruiser is a monster of a ship, using its daunting combination of tactical superiority and resilience to dominate any field it takes to. Its innovative hull structure allows for some designs not possible with more traditional layouts, and the internals have been entirely re-fit from the 23rd-century hull it was based on. The additional EPS conduits and data cable flows present in its layout, while originally built as additional backups, sparked creativity in many of the engineers working on designs for its refit. These inspirations have been shared with the Klingon Empire's allies, and have grown into what makes this ship the presence it is today.

All four of these ships are available as part of the Age of Discovery Operations Pack in Star Trek Online.

Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. Players can forge their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy as a Klingon Warrior, rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird or carry out daring missions on behalf of the Dominion as a Jem’Hadar soldier. Captains can also explore iconic locations from the Star Trek universe, make contact with new alien species and battle alongside other players in customizable starships. Star Trek Online is currently available on PC, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.

To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com.