Greetings. Ok Cryptic Devs, this has been bugging me and I know a lot of other people want answers too, where is the Flagship of the Federation, the Enterprise E and Captain Data commanding it ? The game has been out for almost a year now and I have been over the Galaxy map and have not come across it. We need to know. Has the ship been destroyed ? Has the ship been sent to another time line like in First Contact ? Has the ship been sent to another Quadrant like the USS Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant ? We need to know. Something must of happened to it because your hold a contest to make the "new Enterprise F ". So what is the story to the Enterprise E fate, and what happened to Captain Data ? Will Captain Data be coming back to command the Enterprise F ? You could make this info in to a mission that we can play to find out, a 4 part weekly long mission like the last couple you put out for us.
The devs have already stated they are on holiday until after the 3rd. Bumping every few minutes will not help you get an official answer because there is no one at the office to answer you. The game is being run by the skeleton crew not the full dev team.
it's a big galaxy, remember the STO galaxy map only covers part of the beta quadrent and a little bit of the alpha quadrant, there's a lot of space left to explore. The Enterprise could very well be somewhere else in the galaxy.
The only thing we know is that, in September of 2408, Starfleet lost contact with Starbase 236, and the Enterprise E was sent to investigate.
Since then, the Enterprise E, and her crew have gone missing.
Read it here, in the Star Trek Online: The Path to 2409 section of the website.
We don't know if they disappeared or are still out there.
I'm personally pulling for the idea that the Iconians made the starbase and the 1701-E disappear. They've shown the ability to shuffle people in space and time (like when they sent the Borg back to kill Sisko).
That way, we could have an STO specific Enterprise introduced after Data and the 1701-E are presumed lost with all hands... but then have them turn back up later with some kind of important intel on defeating the Iconians, with the 1701-E and 1701-F leading the charge.
We don't know if they disappeared or are still out there.
I'm personally pulling for the idea that the Iconians made the starbase and the 1701-E disappear. They've shown the ability to shuffle people in space and time (like when they sent the Borg back to kill Sisko).
That way, we could have an STO specific Enterprise introduced after Data and the 1701-E are presumed lost with all hands... but then have them turn back up later with some kind of important intel on defeating the Iconians, with the 1701-E and 1701-F leading the charge.
If that's true, then it could be a prelude to a possible upcoming mission to find the Enterprise, like how the captain's table girl mentioned the Breen before.
But we might be jumping the gun, the Enterprise was sent on a mission and just because we (the players) haven't heard anything since, doesn't mean its MIA.
As ACES_HIGH said, it could be outside of the current map we have, or it could be inside the map for all we know, we just don't see it, we dont' HAVE to see every single ship that Starfleet puts out (like the Lexington, the Defiant, the Challenger, etc.)
As for the Eneterprise F contest, you have to remember this is 2409, the Enterprise E is nearly 40 years old by now and probably due to retire.
I hope they do make some sort arc storyline where you have to find the Enterprise and help out.
Wouldn't it be awesome that you would have to probably finish the storyline before Season 3 or 4 ends so that by Season 5, Data is in command of the new Enterprise F?
Why would the OP even mention Data. Data was destroyed when Shizzan's ship blew up. The android that was left was Beta. True Beta has Data's memory engrams, but he didn't have the neural pathways Data developed over the years as he evolved.
but anyway, DATA is DEAD. there can be no Captain Data. And Beta is learning to catch up to where Data was.
Isn't Data kinda sorta destroyed? As in the end of Star Trek: Nemesis?
If you go to the main STO website and read the timeline entitled: Path to 2409 you will see that Data's memory core was fully incorporated into B4's body as part of a project Geordi did after leaving Starfleet. Data was returned to Starfleet and given command of the retrofit Enterprise E. He, and the ship, have since gone missing.
Edit: Post it here to save you some time:
2385: "Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge requests a long-term leave of absence from Starfleet to work on personal projects, including a plan to build and test his own starship designs. But his first project is to assist the team at the Soong Foundation studying the Soong-type android B-4. With his help, on Stardate 62762.91 the team unlocks what it calls the Data matrix, successfully accessing the personality, knowledge and memories of Data, who had downloaded this information into B-4 before his destruction in the Battle of Bassen Rift.
The Data persona asserts itself over B-4s more primitive programming, and the android is able to assist the Soong Foundation team to upgrade the positronic brain and recreate the emotion chip invented by Dr. Noonien Soong. The team is confident that their work will be completed in months."
2386: "A surprise guest at the wedding of Worf and Grilka is Data. With his upgrades at the Soong Foundation complete, Data requests that his commission in Starfleet be reactivated. While there are some initial questions because the Data persona is in the body once used by B-4, after Jean-Luc Picard, William T. Riker and several other current and former members of the Enterprise crew testify on Data's behalf, Starfleet Command agrees to reinstate Data. He is promoted to captain and assigned to supervise the completion of the Enterprise-E's refit.
On Stardate 63894.06, the refit of the Enterprise-E is completed and the ship, helmed by Captain Data, leaves the Utopia Planitia shipyards. "We are introducing a new era of exploration and peace," said Starfleet Command spokesperson Commander Marie Durant."
The only thing we know is that, in September of 2408, Starfleet lost contact with Starbase 236, and the Enterprise E was sent to investigate.
Since then, the Enterprise E, and her crew have gone missing.
Read it here, in the Star Trek Online: The Path to 2409 section of the website.
Thanks I forgot about that part, no wonder Star Fleet wants to build a new Enterprise F if the Enterprise E has been missing for over a year. I would say its safe to guess she been destroyed and all hands have been lost.
Why would the OP even mention Data. Data was destroyed when Shizzan's ship blew up. The android that was left was Beta. True Beta has Data's memory engrams, but he didn't have the neural pathways Data developed over the years as he evolved.
but anyway, DATA is DEAD. there can be no Captain Data. And Beta is learning to catch up to where Data was.
Maybe you should re read the Path to 2409, Geordi was able to unlock Datas mind in B4, not Beta, no idea where you got that from, and Data became the Captain of the Enterprise E after Captain Picard was promoted to Ambassador of Vulcan.
Thanks I forgot about that part, no wonder Star Fleet wants to build a new Enterprise F if the Enterprise E has been missing for over a year. I would say its safe to guess she been destroyed and all hands have been lost.
Good thing you don't run Starfleet. I'd feel pressured to check in with you every hour for fear of getting "replaced".
Again, we don't know that. Some missions take over a year to complete, it probably took several months or more for the Enterprise to get there even at maximum warp.
I don't want to go into warp physics or anything but just because on the show they arrived somewhere near instintaneous does not mean that it actually took that long; could have been hours, days, weeks, even months! Directors just provide you that advantage.
But I'm breaking immersion here.
We don't know the Enterprise is missing or destroyed.
Again, we don't know that. Some missions take over a year to complete, it probably took several months or more for the Enterprise to get there even at maximum warp.
I don't want to go into warp physics or anything but just because on the show they arrived somewhere near instintaneous does not mean that it actually took that long; could have been hours, days, weeks, even months! Directors just provide you that advantage.
But I'm breaking immersion here.
We don't know the Enterprise is missing or destroyed.
Exactly. We don't know Enterprise's status. She could be fine. Perhaps something happened during her investigation that warranted a side mission. We don't know. I'm sure if there were problems, Data would find a way to get a message back to Starfleet.
They do not build a replacement unless the old ship is believed lost. Dose not mean they are dead just MIA But I do not think we will ever see the E. STO is a alternate time line plus there tons canon and legal problems if the E showed up in game.
Yepp. As Georgi unlocked B4, Data took over that body. Datas mind went from one body to another. Similar if we today could transplant a brain from one body to another body that is identical to the first...would you then say it is a brand new person and the man/woman you knew before is totally dead.
They do not build a replacement unless the old ship is believed lost. Dose not mean they are dead just MIA But I do not think we will ever see the E. STO is a alternate time line plus there tons canon and legal problems if the E showed up in game.
Yep. Using the E in-game requires Paramount's permission. On top of that using a likeness of Data in game requires Spiner's permission, and Dstahl's already joked around on the forum about how much that will cost. The "macguffin" of them being missing, now for over a year, is simply Cryptic's way of getting around all the legal issues associated with using them in-game.
Isn't Data kinda sorta destroyed? As in the end of Star Trek: Nemesis?
If you read the Path to 2409 and 'The Needs of the Many" (the STO novel that was published the middle of 2010) they tell how Data is actually undead.
Edit: man thats what happens when you are at work and in a forum, you go to hit send after getting distracted and a half dozen people have done so before you
Yep. Using the E in-game requires Paramount's permission. On top of that using a likeness of Data in game requires Spiner's permission, and Dstahl's already joked around on the forum about how much that will cost. The "macguffin" of them being missing, now for over a year, is simply Cryptic's way of getting around all the legal issues associated with using them in-game.
So basically it would save Cryptic a lot of money by writing off the Enterprise E and Captain Data so they don't have to pay anyone and simply make a new Enterprise F with a new Captain, hmm wonder if would be someone we already know, or someone brand new to command it. Also if the Captain will be young or old, also male or female, it has always been a male to command the past Enterprises in service, maybe its time for a female Captain, just please not another Captain Janeway alike, we all had enough of her. Discuss.......
Don't forget Captain Garrett of the Enterprise C, she was a fine captain (at least as far as we could tell) Maybe it's time for a non-human (or humanoid like Data) Captain.
Actually, there is no legal issue with using canon ships and we can even use them freely in UGC.
The sole issue is actor likenesses.
What Stahl specifically joked about was the cost of Spiner's voicework (which he estimated at $200,000 for a short session) although likeness rights are a separate issue. Hence why we have McCoy and Scotty and Worf with no voice (CBS and/or presumably the actors' estates approved the use; the specifics seem to hinge on how much of the actor's face is visible) and we have Spock's voice but no likeness (Nimoy gave his blessing and portrayed Spock but there was presumably no time to secure likeness rights for the actual mission -- however Cryptic has since used Nimoy's likeness in promotional materials, apparently having secured some degree of rights to use it).
Getting Spiner's likeness as Data probably isn't that hard. It doesn't compete directly with Spiner's actual likeness given that he looks very little like Data and has little interest in putting on the makeup. It's probably a fairly straightforward negotiation, the most complicated bit being whether he might hold off for script approval or only grant permission if they hire him as an actor.
Voice is complicated and becomes more complicated if Spiner will only grant likeness approval if they hire him for voicework. It would probably be a few thousand even if he worked for scale to fly him up to San Francisco and put him up there while recording a session which would probably be a baseline minimum of $300 an hour. (And Spiner couldn't take less than that if he wanted to.) The ideal would probably be to catch him at a convention and book a studio there or work out a deal where he records for STO while doing another voiceover gig.
So even electing to work "for free" (or as close to it as possible), I can realistically see where you'd be looking at 10 grand in expenses. $100-200 thousand is not impossible. And Spiner might veto likeness use either for creative reasons or request that he be hired as part of the deal. It's a negotiation process. (And while Spiner has no interest in donning the makeup, he has indicated he'd be up for voicing Data; he's already done so in other games with bigger budgets and I believe has indicated some interest in doing so in STO. It's entirely possible that Dstahl's $200,000 figure was a bit more than a joke and may have been Spiner's actual requested fee.)
The flipside is, Cryptic could use Data in any number of other capacities. For example, featuring him in a battle-damaged state with most of his flesh removed or obscured. Or perhaps he opted to become a woman to explore a different side of humanity. However, this would still OSTENSIBLY (although not necessarily) be subject to CBS approval and they'd have to agree with the representation of Data used, regardless. (We could actually do the same thing via the Foundry. The terms actually allow for character uses as long as they clearly don't resemble the actors who played them and Stormshade has even indicated explicitly that this kind of practice is okay.)
I just prefer to think of Data and Ent-E as busy much like the rest of the casts from all the series.......although a time travel ep with the crew of the NX-01 would be cool
This is silly. Others have already pointed out contractual reasons why Data does not appear in game. But it is foolish to assume that the Enterprise E was destroyed or is missing. The ship is only mentioned a few times in the path to 2409. The last time being in 2408. If she were presumed lost then I guess they would have said so. Instead the vagueness leaves plenty of options open. The ship could be on assignment. It could be destroyed. It could have been teleported by the Iconians. It could just be doing all the little things that the Enterprise did between episodes.
Oh and new ships are built sometimes when the former ship is still around. Then Enterprise A was never destroyed. She was decommissioned, and then the Enterprise B was built. By 2409, the Enterprise E is now over 30 years old. She may just be reaching the end of her service life and thus being replaced by a new ship with the same name.
The Path to 2409 timeline does not include any material that happens sequentially after "day one" of the game's release. The entire game, in fact, irrespective of how long it has been out, is still in 2409. It has not progressed much beyond the events set forth in that timeline.
Asking the Devs to tell you the disposition of the Enterprise might well be jumping the gun. Consider that they're about to unveil the Enterprise-F. It is reasonable to say that on an ocassion such as that, there will be game events surrounding it. Whether it was destroyed, decommissioned or declared lost doesn't really matter...
My personal bet is this:
The next season of featured episodes is expected at about the same time we are going to see the Enterprise F. It would be an awesome episode indeed where the player learns the fate of the Enterprise-E ahead of the launch of her successor, and with the front-runners in the Dev-posted "Who do you want to see in a featured series?" poll being either a Federation splinter faction or the mirror universe...
I'm pretty sure I've just given you your plot.
So, sit on your hands until April-May. I'm actually expecting something special... No point in ruining it because you "absolutely must know NAOW".
The licensing thing doesn't make sense since they had the TOS Enterprise, and the Official licensed sovereign class.
Brent saids he too old to play data believable (which is understandable give the difference in Frank's appearance between the pegius and these are the voyages) But he has done "in character" but only in voice over.
The flipside is, Cryptic could use Data in any number of other capacities. For example, featuring him in a battle-damaged state with most of his flesh removed or obscured. Or perhaps he opted to become a woman to explore a different side of humanity.
Hm, I kind'a like this idea a lot!
Lets spin a bit about this idea. Big badabash, the "old" Enterprise E was blown by the Iconians apart. Everyone was dead... well, not really. After a while some Starfleet officers found a positron brain, a "relict" at a Ferengi spareparts merchant. They scanned it and... oh, what a suprise, this energy patterns looked so familliar. This seemed to be Captain Data's positron brain. They buy it and bring it back to earth. (I think Geordi La'Forge is still alive) Geordi helps reactivating Data's brainpatterns, while doing this he reads a few energy patterns still beeing active over this whole time. Data's brain is been activated and he tells he was actually "dreaming", yadayada, a lot of psych stuff and he thinks it would be interesting to learn beeing a female for psych stuff reasons.
TADAAA! We got Data back, he doesn't have to be Brent Spinner, so this character won't be so expensive.
Let's face it, I love Brent Spinner, but he and Patrick Stewart are way to expensive for STO. Just think how much could be done with at least 200.000 bucks in STO! So better they get the OK from CBS changing the body of Data. This is the only option we could ever get to see him in ST ever again. Sad but true.:(
Comments
Since then, the Enterprise E, and her crew have gone missing.
Read it here, in the Star Trek Online: The Path to 2409 section of the website.
We don't know if they disappeared or are still out there.
I'm personally pulling for the idea that the Iconians made the starbase and the 1701-E disappear. They've shown the ability to shuffle people in space and time (like when they sent the Borg back to kill Sisko).
That way, we could have an STO specific Enterprise introduced after Data and the 1701-E are presumed lost with all hands... but then have them turn back up later with some kind of important intel on defeating the Iconians, with the 1701-E and 1701-F leading the charge.
Now that would be cool!
If that's true, then it could be a prelude to a possible upcoming mission to find the Enterprise, like how the captain's table girl mentioned the Breen before.
But we might be jumping the gun, the Enterprise was sent on a mission and just because we (the players) haven't heard anything since, doesn't mean its MIA.
As ACES_HIGH said, it could be outside of the current map we have, or it could be inside the map for all we know, we just don't see it, we dont' HAVE to see every single ship that Starfleet puts out (like the Lexington, the Defiant, the Challenger, etc.)
As for the Eneterprise F contest, you have to remember this is 2409, the Enterprise E is nearly 40 years old by now and probably due to retire.
I hope they do make some sort arc storyline where you have to find the Enterprise and help out.
Wouldn't it be awesome that you would have to probably finish the storyline before Season 3 or 4 ends so that by Season 5, Data is in command of the new Enterprise F?
URgh! My antennae are quivering now!! =D
but anyway, DATA is DEAD. there can be no Captain Data. And Beta is learning to catch up to where Data was.
Edit: Post it here to save you some time:
2385: "Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge requests a long-term leave of absence from Starfleet to work on personal projects, including a plan to build and test his own starship designs. But his first project is to assist the team at the Soong Foundation studying the Soong-type android B-4. With his help, on Stardate 62762.91 the team unlocks what it calls the Data matrix, successfully accessing the personality, knowledge and memories of Data, who had downloaded this information into B-4 before his destruction in the Battle of Bassen Rift.
The Data persona asserts itself over B-4s more primitive programming, and the android is able to assist the Soong Foundation team to upgrade the positronic brain and recreate the emotion chip invented by Dr. Noonien Soong. The team is confident that their work will be completed in months."
2386: "A surprise guest at the wedding of Worf and Grilka is Data. With his upgrades at the Soong Foundation complete, Data requests that his commission in Starfleet be reactivated. While there are some initial questions because the Data persona is in the body once used by B-4, after Jean-Luc Picard, William T. Riker and several other current and former members of the Enterprise crew testify on Data's behalf, Starfleet Command agrees to reinstate Data. He is promoted to captain and assigned to supervise the completion of the Enterprise-E's refit.
On Stardate 63894.06, the refit of the Enterprise-E is completed and the ship, helmed by Captain Data, leaves the Utopia Planitia shipyards. "We are introducing a new era of exploration and peace," said Starfleet Command spokesperson Commander Marie Durant."
Thanks I forgot about that part, no wonder Star Fleet wants to build a new Enterprise F if the Enterprise E has been missing for over a year. I would say its safe to guess she been destroyed and all hands have been lost.
Maybe you should re read the Path to 2409, Geordi was able to unlock Datas mind in B4, not Beta, no idea where you got that from, and Data became the Captain of the Enterprise E after Captain Picard was promoted to Ambassador of Vulcan.
Good thing you don't run Starfleet. I'd feel pressured to check in with you every hour for fear of getting "replaced".
Again, we don't know that. Some missions take over a year to complete, it probably took several months or more for the Enterprise to get there even at maximum warp.
I don't want to go into warp physics or anything but just because on the show they arrived somewhere near instintaneous does not mean that it actually took that long; could have been hours, days, weeks, even months! Directors just provide you that advantage.
But I'm breaking immersion here.
We don't know the Enterprise is missing or destroyed.
Exactly. We don't know Enterprise's status. She could be fine. Perhaps something happened during her investigation that warranted a side mission. We don't know. I'm sure if there were problems, Data would find a way to get a message back to Starfleet.
Maybe Q is involved, or the Iconians. Who knows.
We can't just assume the ship was destroyed.
If you read the Path to 2409 and 'The Needs of the Many" (the STO novel that was published the middle of 2010) they tell how Data is actually undead.
Edit: man thats what happens when you are at work and in a forum, you go to hit send after getting distracted and a half dozen people have done so before you
i wonder what when we could get android species in game.
So basically it would save Cryptic a lot of money by writing off the Enterprise E and Captain Data so they don't have to pay anyone and simply make a new Enterprise F with a new Captain, hmm wonder if would be someone we already know, or someone brand new to command it. Also if the Captain will be young or old, also male or female, it has always been a male to command the past Enterprises in service, maybe its time for a female Captain, just please not another Captain Janeway alike, we all had enough of her. Discuss.......
The sole issue is actor likenesses.
What Stahl specifically joked about was the cost of Spiner's voicework (which he estimated at $200,000 for a short session) although likeness rights are a separate issue. Hence why we have McCoy and Scotty and Worf with no voice (CBS and/or presumably the actors' estates approved the use; the specifics seem to hinge on how much of the actor's face is visible) and we have Spock's voice but no likeness (Nimoy gave his blessing and portrayed Spock but there was presumably no time to secure likeness rights for the actual mission -- however Cryptic has since used Nimoy's likeness in promotional materials, apparently having secured some degree of rights to use it).
Getting Spiner's likeness as Data probably isn't that hard. It doesn't compete directly with Spiner's actual likeness given that he looks very little like Data and has little interest in putting on the makeup. It's probably a fairly straightforward negotiation, the most complicated bit being whether he might hold off for script approval or only grant permission if they hire him as an actor.
Voice is complicated and becomes more complicated if Spiner will only grant likeness approval if they hire him for voicework. It would probably be a few thousand even if he worked for scale to fly him up to San Francisco and put him up there while recording a session which would probably be a baseline minimum of $300 an hour. (And Spiner couldn't take less than that if he wanted to.) The ideal would probably be to catch him at a convention and book a studio there or work out a deal where he records for STO while doing another voiceover gig.
So even electing to work "for free" (or as close to it as possible), I can realistically see where you'd be looking at 10 grand in expenses. $100-200 thousand is not impossible. And Spiner might veto likeness use either for creative reasons or request that he be hired as part of the deal. It's a negotiation process. (And while Spiner has no interest in donning the makeup, he has indicated he'd be up for voicing Data; he's already done so in other games with bigger budgets and I believe has indicated some interest in doing so in STO. It's entirely possible that Dstahl's $200,000 figure was a bit more than a joke and may have been Spiner's actual requested fee.)
The flipside is, Cryptic could use Data in any number of other capacities. For example, featuring him in a battle-damaged state with most of his flesh removed or obscured. Or perhaps he opted to become a woman to explore a different side of humanity. However, this would still OSTENSIBLY (although not necessarily) be subject to CBS approval and they'd have to agree with the representation of Data used, regardless. (We could actually do the same thing via the Foundry. The terms actually allow for character uses as long as they clearly don't resemble the actors who played them and Stormshade has even indicated explicitly that this kind of practice is okay.)
Oh and new ships are built sometimes when the former ship is still around. Then Enterprise A was never destroyed. She was decommissioned, and then the Enterprise B was built. By 2409, the Enterprise E is now over 30 years old. She may just be reaching the end of her service life and thus being replaced by a new ship with the same name.
The Path to 2409 timeline does not include any material that happens sequentially after "day one" of the game's release. The entire game, in fact, irrespective of how long it has been out, is still in 2409. It has not progressed much beyond the events set forth in that timeline.
Asking the Devs to tell you the disposition of the Enterprise might well be jumping the gun. Consider that they're about to unveil the Enterprise-F. It is reasonable to say that on an ocassion such as that, there will be game events surrounding it. Whether it was destroyed, decommissioned or declared lost doesn't really matter...
My personal bet is this:
The next season of featured episodes is expected at about the same time we are going to see the Enterprise F. It would be an awesome episode indeed where the player learns the fate of the Enterprise-E ahead of the launch of her successor, and with the front-runners in the Dev-posted "Who do you want to see in a featured series?" poll being either a Federation splinter faction or the mirror universe...
I'm pretty sure I've just given you your plot.
So, sit on your hands until April-May. I'm actually expecting something special... No point in ruining it because you "absolutely must know NAOW".
Brent saids he too old to play data believable (which is understandable give the difference in Frank's appearance between the pegius and these are the voyages) But he has done "in character" but only in voice over.
Lets spin a bit about this idea. Big badabash, the "old" Enterprise E was blown by the Iconians apart. Everyone was dead... well, not really. After a while some Starfleet officers found a positron brain, a "relict" at a Ferengi spareparts merchant. They scanned it and... oh, what a suprise, this energy patterns looked so familliar. This seemed to be Captain Data's positron brain. They buy it and bring it back to earth. (I think Geordi La'Forge is still alive) Geordi helps reactivating Data's brainpatterns, while doing this he reads a few energy patterns still beeing active over this whole time. Data's brain is been activated and he tells he was actually "dreaming", yadayada, a lot of psych stuff and he thinks it would be interesting to learn beeing a female for psych stuff reasons.
TADAAA! We got Data back, he doesn't have to be Brent Spinner, so this character won't be so expensive.
Let's face it, I love Brent Spinner, but he and Patrick Stewart are way to expensive for STO. Just think how much could be done with at least 200.000 bucks in STO! So better they get the OK from CBS changing the body of Data. This is the only option we could ever get to see him in ST ever again. Sad but true.:(