Cryptic & Perfect World have recently released a new item bundle on the C-store themed after the show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The pack, costing a total of 1800 C-points, works similarly to the TOS Bundle pack and the Enterprise Bundle pack in that it provides a number of items bundled together at a discount for buying in bulk. The Bundle includes:

• The Federation “Belfast” Bridge and Interior Set
• 3 Unique Duty Officers
• Rare Romulan Technician Duty Officer: Unscrupulous, Emotional, Teamwork and Cunning Traits
• Rare Bajoran Maintenance Engineer Duty Officer: Spiritual, Cunning, Teamwork and Stubborn Traits
• Very Rare Cardassian Armory Duty Officer: Efficient, Honorable, Eidetic Memory and Teamwork Traits
• Bajoran Vedek Off Duty Uniform
• Federation Dominion War Admirals Uniform
• Bajoran Phaser Pistol
• Bajoran Phaser Rifle
• A Type-10 Shuttle with Shuttle pet

The Pack comes with a lot of things making the 1800 C-points something of a deal when compared to the individual price range of items along these lines. For a comparison we’ll lay out the cost of similar items individually:

• Belfast Bridge: 320 CP (Average Bridge Pack cost)
• Duty Officer Pack: 220 CP (Doff Pack Cost)
• Vedek Uniform: 440 CP (Average Uniform cost)
• Admirals Uniform: 440 CP (Average Uniform cost)
• Bajoran Weapons: 240 CP (Melee Weapon Pack I) – As an aside, You ever wonder what happened to Melee Weapon Pack II?
• Type-10 Shuttle: 400 CP (Delta Flier)

So in total using the most comparable items on the C-store the pack is worth a total of 2060 C-points, that’s 260 C-points, roughly Three Dollars ($3) worth of savings, so the bundle is actually cheaper than if these items were sold individually. This is of course using current pricing, not the prices of the previous items when they originally came out.

That said each individual item in the pack needs to be looked at and reviewed and we here at Holosuite Magazine do love to keep our followers informed about the newest additions and changes to STO. SO here we go!

Belfast Bridge

The Ready room of the Belfast interior lies on the crew deck as opposed to being off the bridge.

This bridge is as expected modeled after the USS Defiant and is very accurate with only a few details a detail obsessed fan would find issues with. The scale on the ship is excellent, only slightly larger than what I believe would be ‘to scale’. The bridge, and hallways feel about a third again bigger than they should, which is a concession I think had to be taken for game reasons. Another great thing about the bridge is its silent. There is no constant beeping, or ambiance, the ship is very quiet, which is how I think a Defiant, and any other escort should be, the only thing I think it lacks ambiance wise is the hum of the ships powerful warp engines.

That said not all is perfect, there are some issues with the pack. For one, the crew do not wear era appropriate uniforms, they instead wander around in a mixed batch of leather jackets and cargo pants, the standard 2409 fair. There are also far to many random NPCs walking around. When I first boarded the ship and headed down to the crew deck the hallway was full of random NPCs clogging up the corridor.

Another issues is that there is no turbolift to the engineering deck from the bridge, you enter the crew deck from the bridge, and must walk to the aft of the crew deck to reach the engineering deck. This of itself isn’t much of an issue, it’s in my opinion very accurate, the problem is that you can’t leave your ship from engineering or the crew deck, and must walk back through the entirety of the ship to the bridge to leave. Another minor issue is something I discovered in the mess hall area. There are power relays in the lounge, which are appropriate for a ship this small, and I was happy to see they said DN/GN a reference to power relays from TOS that said GNDN (Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing). The problem here is, the power relays on the other side of the lounge, are mirrored, the environmental artist simply copied and flipped the textures.

These small details aside this bridge is an excellent piece for any escort captain, and really has me hoping that eventually all interiors will be redone to scale.

Duty Officers

Deep Space Nine Duty Officers

The Duty Officers (Shown Right) you receive with the with the pack are cross faction applicable, beaming both Federation and Klingon Defense Force players can utilize them. They consist of a Very Rare Cardassian Armory Officer, a Rare Bajoran Technician, and a Rare Romulan Shield Distribution Officer.

Elim Ziyal is the Cardassian Armory Officer. He provides a ground buff of an increased chance to beam in an additional phaser or disruptor turret. His traits are Efficient, Edict Memory, Honorable, and Teamwork. His personal quote is “What you see as arrogance, I see as a matter of accuracy in self-assessment.” It is assumed he was named after Elim Garak, famed Cardassian Tailor, Spy, and wielder of a sharp wit.

Ro Taban is the Bajoran Technician Officer. She provides a chance to reduce the recharge timer on Engineering Team while in space combat. Her traits are Spiritual, Stubborn, Teamwork, and Cunning. Her personal quote is “Victory comes not to the one able to inflict the most pain, but the one able to endure the most pain.” It is assumed she is named after Ro Laren Starfleet officer, and eventual member of the Maquis.

N’Vek is the Romulan Shield Distribution Officer. He provides a +15 Auxiliary Power Buff while cloaked, this ability can be assumed to be reference to the Romulan officer assigned to the Defiant prior to the dominion war. His traits are Emotional, Cunning, Teamwork, and Unscrupulous. His personal quote is “Do not mistake my willingness to speak with you as representative of any affection for you.” It is assumed he is named after N’Vek, a Romulan officer from the TNG episode “Face of the Enemy”.

Costumes

Holosuite's Resident Pessimist sports the Admirals Uniform.

No STO Bundle would be complete without some costumes and the DS9 Pack does not disappoint. The pack provides two uniforms, a Vedek set, and a Dominion War Admiral set. Both sets are near complete sets, meaning they provide almost an entire unique costume piece for every major category. This in and of itself is a major improvement over the last two bundles which utilized preexisting uniform pieces, or mixed and matched within themselves, taking away some of the value of the sets.

The Vedek Outfit includes a new robe top, chest piece, and bottom. The top, and bottom, are both identical across both male and female characters, however the chest pieces are different. The male piece goes across one shoulder and wraps around the waist, reminiscent of a Toga. The Female chest piece goes over the shoulder and clasped together in front of the chest with a series of metal loops before looping back down near the waist and connecting again in the back. Both chest pieces provide a wide range of colour combinations, allowing the wearer to create some very colourful patterns. Author Edit: The Vedek Outfit also comes with a headpiece that is not very easy to find. For those looking it’s on the first page of the tailor window, under category (The very top drop down menu).

The Dominion War Era Admirals Uniform is the other provided set, and one many have been waiting for. The Set provides a new top, belt, and pair of pants that are identical across both male and female characters. The belt is similar to the 500 day Veteran reward belt but instead features the Starfleet Delta with laurels and is not as customizable. The top, while similar to the Late DS9/TNG movie top, is longer, with gold trimming around the collar, and front, as well as around the wrists. The pants are also similar to the TNG Split Bottom pants, but are looser. They also unfortunately clip with the top on male characters, which is limited should they be the same colour and wearing the belt.

Bajoran Weapons

A Bajoran Phaser Rifle

The pack includes two unique level-less weapons (meaning they level with you). The weapons are a blue quality Bajoran Phaser Rifle (shown right) and a blue quality Bajoran Phaser Pistol. Both are bound on pickup (as is the norm) and unique, meaning that you can only claim one per character. What this means is that every character on your account may have a set of the weapons, but you sadly cannot outfit your entire bridge crew with them.

The Bajoran Phaser Rifle is an interesting weapon, in that it is a rifle, with rifle damage, range, and animations, that acts like a stun pistol. It’s primary fire is the standard beam setting, while its secondary fire is a stun beam setting. Generally this primary-secondary fire combination has been limited to stun pistols, this makes this rifle, at the moment, a very unique weapon.

The Bajoran Phaser Pistol is very much the same. It is, as its name suggests, a pistil, however it’s primary-secondary fire setting is that of a Split Beam Rifle (Similar to the Romulan Disruptor Rifle from the Cloaked Intentions). This makes it interesting as it’s the second beam based pistol to have an exploit secondary attack, with the first (to the knowledge of this reviewer) being the beam pistol of the first 2800 series episode. The pistol has a very fast firing rate and does a decent amount of damage, however the aim animation is broken, while in aim, or crouch mode, the character’s off hand is pressed down against their side at an odd angle like its broken. This also leads to some odd visuals when it’s a crouched female character in a skirt.

Type-10 “Chaffee” Shuttlepod

The Muninn, the pessimist's Type-10 Shuttlepod.

The final piece of the puzzle is the Type-10 “Chaffee” Shuttlepod, based on the shuttle used by the Defiant, seen primarily in the episode The Sound of Her Voice. The Type-10 is a very small shuttle, and the only embarked craft carried by the Defiant and her sister ships due to her small size.

The shuttle is a very fast small craft and capable of using all Shuttle based weapons, it cannot however mount cannons. It’s speed is only surpassed by the Delta Flyer and the Peregrine fighter in regards to fed small craft, but is surpassed by every craft in regards to turn rate short of the Vulcan support ship.

• Minimum Command Rank: Lieutenant
• Crew: 4
• Weapons: 2 Fore
• Device Slots: 1
• Bridge Officer Stations: 1 Ensign Universal
• Console Modifications: 1 Tactical, 1 Engineering, 1 Science
• Base Turn Rate: 22 degrees per second
• Impulse Modifier: 0.22
• Hull Strength increases in effectiveness with level
• Photon Torpedo Launcher that increases in effectiveness with level
• Phaser Bank with 360-degree range of fire that increases in effectiveness with level
• +5 Power to Engines
• Emergency Power to Engines I

Overview

The Good: A bargain for the price, with a nicely detailed interior, Duty Officers, costumes, weapons and a very attractive shuttle. Many of the items are ones that have long been waited for by many, the Admiral’s Uniform and Interior in particular.

The Bad: No Cardassian weapons, or TR-116, both items seen in Deep Space Nine and long coveted by members of the community. No unique Type-10 interior, or shuttle bay in the Belfast interior. Too many NPCs in the interior, and no uniform matching like the TOS interior.

The Ugly: Graphic bugs with the Admiral’s Uniform on males, and when using aim with the Bajoran Pistol. Poorly mirrored textures in certain areas of the Belfast interior, and perhaps most importantly, and most ugly, no unique Klingon items to make the 1800 C-point cost viable to Klingon players.

The Amusing: Visiting Klingon Dignitaries are requested to avoid main engineering  as many aspects of the Defiant class are still top secret and the Engineering crew have been ordered to keep prying eyes away by use of force if necessary. These areas include Engineering, the Science Lab, Sickbay, and the Transporter Room. Enter these areas at your own risk.