Starfleet


 * This article refers to the 25th century Federation faction. For its 23rd century counterparts, see TOS Starfleet and DSC Starfleet. For general information on the Federation, see United Federation of Planets.

Starfleet is one of playable factions in Star Trek Online. Starfleet is the military, defensive, and exploratory branch of the United Federation of Planets, which is an alliance of more than 150 planetary governments, spread out over 8,000 light years. Notable members of the Federation, who actively serve in Starfleet, include Humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites. These species work in cooperation to uphold their principles of justice, equality, and rights, as well as expand and share their knowledge and resources for the purpose of space exploration and peaceful cooperation with other races.

Background
Starfleet dates back to United Earth in the mid-2130s where it was tasked to "...seek out new life and new civilizations," and "...go boldly where no man has gone before.". Starfleet played an instrumental role in bringing the founders of the Federation together in the lead up to the Earth-Romulan War. On the founding of the Federation in 2161, Starfleet became the Federation's primary exploratory and defense organisation bringing together crews from across the Federation.

As the Federation expanded, so did Starfleet's crews with a myriad of new species joining its ranks. Often, Starfleets deep space exploration prompted conflict with those fearing the Federation's expansion, such as the Klingons and Cardassians. As such, Starfleet's peaceful mission of exploration has seen frequent interruptions to defend the Federation from invasion. However it was only the encounter with the Borg that prompted the Federation to create outright warships such as the USS Defiant in the 24th century.

By the late 24th century, the Starfleet deemed the Borg threat had subsided and refocused on exploration. Starfleet also expanded its admission guidelines to accept non-Federation citizens to Starfleet Academy without command-level recommendation.

In the 25th century, Starfleet found itself called once again to its defensive role as the Federation-Klingon War started in 2405. It rapidly found itself embroiled again in multiple conflicts, including the return of the Borg in 2409.

Emblem
Starfleet's insignia (a variation shown top right) is an asymmetrical, arrowhead-shaped pennant. This features on Starfleet ships, combadges and other ware. However the faction loading screen uses the flag of the Federation (seen in the infobox above) while the faction icon is still a small blue delta.

Starfleet insignias have, at various points in the organization's history, shown the wearer's division in its centre. A star signifies tactical, a stylized spiral signifies engineering and a circle with longitudinal lines signifying science. Note the assocition of these icons, and division colors, differs slightly between Star Trek Online and main Star Trek canon.

Uniform
In 2410, Starfleet's uniform is the Odyssey design, although captain's have considerable leeway in the uniform regulations for their crew. Starfleet uniforms are typically color coded to the wearer's division (in Star Trek Online: red for tactical, yellow for engineering and blue for science; note that this deviates from canon) while rank is indicated by a series of collar pips (this varies by time period).

Ranks
Starfleet ranks roughly mirror those of the US navy, with crew being given ranks of Cadet, Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander and Commander. Ship commanders are usually at the rank of Captain, but sometimes a commander is referred to as Captain even if they are at a different rank. Senior officers hold the ranks of Vice, Rear, Admiral and Fleet Admiral.

Command
, based in San Francisco, is the fleet's operating authority and answers directly to the Federation President, Aennik Okeg. Starfleet Command runs the fleet's day-to-day operations, with Fleet Admiral Jorel Quinn, based on Earth Space Dock, being the most senior officer encountered.


 * ''While Quinn is treated as the leader of Starfleet, notably being shown as J'mpok's opposite at events such as calling the ceasefire, Cryptic's lead writer Christine Thompson has stated that the position of Commander in Chief of Starfleet is a different position, and is being reserved for "someone special".

Departments and agencies
Major Starfleet bodies include;
 * : the most senior medical staff of Starfleet who take the lead on combatting major contagious and medical research.
 * Starfleet Intelligence: the Federation's intelligence agency. Not to be confused with Section 31.
 * : are the fleet's finest technical minds and the creators of most of the Starfleet's most advanced ships and technology (alongside the, independent, Daystrom Institute).

Player Characters

 * Main article: Player character

Upon starting a new Starfleet character, players must choose a career (analogous to a 'class' from other MMORPGs) and a species (or race). The career determines the character's native abilities, and the race determines the character's innate traits, and in certain cases, special abilities. In ground combat, the career choice and racial traits drastically affect the gameplay and strategies used by the player.

When the player completes the tutorial (or skips it), a Starfleet Light Cruiser is assigned to them, which acts as the player's avatar in space and sector space, and is the primary method of combat and interaction in space. The character's career affects the type of gameplay strategies used by the player, as well as the customizable Bridge Officer abilities and ship consoles.

Classes

 * Main article: Career path

In Star Trek Online, players may choose which career they wish their character to adopt. Players are able to choose from the following three career paths:

Each profession has its own advantages in the gameplay of Star Trek Online, but does not restrict what playable starships are available, nor the main skill progression beyond a handful of unique abilities and traits.

Races

 * See also: on Memory Alpha.

Starfleet characters have a diverse range of playable races to choose from including long standing Federation members such as Andorians and Vulcans, to Starfleet allies such as the Ferengi and Talaxians. Most races are free to play, while some are paid for.

Each race offers unique traits and abilities which can aid a certain type of play. Once the race is chosen, it cannot be changed so it is advisable to choose carefully.

The Federation includes hundreds of members, with non-playable species in-game including the Aenar, Deltans, Denobulans, Ithenites, Risians, Violaceans and Zambeans. Dozens of other non-Federation species have been seen to serve in Starfleet including Capellans, Ktarian, Xenexians and Photonic lifeforms to name a few.

Starships

 * See main article: Federation playable starships

There are three main types of playable Starfleet vessel, each with numerous sub-types for different ranks and styles of play, and each of those sub-types with a number of cosmetic variants. The types of vessel are generally biased towards a specific class, but players of any class can captain any type of vessel.

Storyline missions
The only arc completely exclusive to the 25th Century Starfleet faction is the tutorial arc. Following, TOS Starfleet and DSC Starfleet characters join all 25th Century Starfleet missions for the Klingon War and Romulan arcs. Federation-aligned Dominion characters can also play these missions while Romulan Republic and Klingon Empire characters join from onwards.

Starships
The Federation's primary military branch, Starfleet, possesses a wide array of diverse vessels suited for space exploration, combat, defense, diplomatic, and scientific profiles. Starfleet vessels typically carry a "U.S.S." prefix.


 * Federation Frigate
 * Galaxy Class Cruiser
 * Rhode Island Science Vessel
 * Intrepid Class Science Vessel
 * Nebula Class Science Vessel
 * Typhoon Class Battleship
 * Armitage Class Escort Carrier
 * Prometheus Class Escort
 * Multi-Mission Explorer
 * Jupiter Class Dreadnought
 * Galaxy Dreadnought Cruiser
 * Odyssey Dreadnought Cruiser
 * Prometheus Class Escort
 * Multi-Mission Explorer
 * Jupiter Class Dreadnought
 * Galaxy Dreadnought Cruiser
 * Odyssey Dreadnought Cruiser

Ground Forces

 * Ensign Security
 * Ensign Engineering Officer
 * Ensign Medic
 * Lieutenant Security Officer
 * Combat Engineer
 * Combat Medic
 * Commander Security Officer
 * Commander Engineering Officer
 * Commander Science Officer
 * Security Chief
 * Chief Engineer
 * Chief Medical Officer

Bosses

 * Captain John Hollingsworth

Note

 * The faction icon for Starfleet NPCs occasionally lists them as Federation. References to the faction can use Federation and Starfleet interchangeably, although in canon they are distinct organizations.