Simulate The Battle at the Binary Stars in Star Trek Online

By Rebecca Smith,

While Star Trek Online's console players continue to wait patiently for the Mirror of Discovery update, they can take part in a new event that's beginning today. Cryptic Studios has replaced the Featured Episode events with Featured Task Force Operations (TFO), and the first of those is arriving on consoles.

The Battle at the Binary Stars is dubbed "one of the most important historic battles between the Federation and the Klingon Empire". It's so important that it's part of the studies for the cadets at the Starfleet Academy. The 23rd century battle techniques used throughout the battle were once seen as outdated by the Alliance admiralties, but now that J’Ula is leading temporally-displaced Klingon starships as they threaten the Alliance, it seems like understanding those tactics might be vital. As such, the Alliance has created a new holodeck simulation that replicates the battle scenario.

Throughout the event, five players will team up to control Federation Ships as they take part in the battle. This means that player ships will look like Discovery era Federation ships while playing the event, but the developer promises it is only a visual change. All powers, bridge officers, and trays will remain intact. Players can take part once they hit level 10. The event will last for three weeks and will reward participating players with a TFO Commendation every 20 hours.

If players manage to complete the TFO on 14 different days across those three weeks, they'll earn marks, dilithium, three Featured TFO Reward Boxes, and the Beacon of Kahless. The boxes are tied to the player's account but can be traded by using the account bank. Each box offers a choice of an Enhanced Universal Tech Upgrade or a Captain Specialization Point Box, which in turn offers a Specialization Point to the character who opens it. The Beacon of Kahless summons a personal Beacon that emits a light and disables all nearby enemies for a few seconds. Once the light fades, those enemies will reset their threat assessment. It will also call a group of Klingon ships to the player's aid.

As well as the above rewards, players who complete the TFO on 14 different days will also unlock a bonus project. While details of the project haven't been revealed, players can complete it with a single TFO Commendation. Rewards for completing the project include dilithium ore, fleet marks, and a mark choice package.

The event begins today, January 22nd, and will run for three weeks, ending on February 11th.

We've got the full list of Star Trek Online trophies - check the list for guides to unlocking them.

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Written by Rebecca Smith

Rebecca is the Newshound Manager at TrueGaming Network. She has been contributing articles since 2010, especially those that involve intimidatingly long lists. When not writing news, she works in an independent game shop so that she can spend all day talking about games too. She'll occasionally go outside.