The Mounts I Have Liked Using the Most?

Greetings Traveler!

So I read a series of posts yesterday from Nogamara, Paeroka, and Syp (through MassivelyOP), about "What mounts do you like using the most?" Currently, I am playing Guild Wars 2 pretty exclusively. Though reading through blog posts, I am tempted by other old favorites.

These are the Voyages of the U.S.S. K'uu-ch'ish. . .

It seems like I was doing this just last week.

Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 92827.72: It seems like I barely even got a chance to pin on my fourth pip, and already my senior staff and I are transferring to a new ship, the Cochise. It's beefier than the Crazy Horse, with a much larger crew and the latest weapon systems available. In addition, I have a new crew member, Cmdr Remei Castell, a liberated Borg who is a wizard at starship engineering. (Ginny isn't exactly happy about it, but that has nothing to do with Cmdr Castell's abilities.) Apparently, the task ahead is more hazardous and important than Starfleet had originally thought. On the other hand, I can't help wondering if the recent business with the Devidians and Section 31 may not also have something to do with my sudden promotion. In any event, after getting outfitted for anticipated contingencies, we'll be leaving Earth Spacedock yet again for Romulan territory, and from there, who knows?

Named after a great chief of the Chiricahua Apache in 19th century Arizona, the U.S.S. K'uu-ch'ish, NCC-93054, is a Patrol Escort, one of two escort variants available to Rear Admirals, Lower Half; this one an extra engineering console and ensign bridge position.

Plaque Dedication: "We will make peace; we will keep it faithfully. But let us go around free. . ."~~Chief K'uu-chi'ish. As with the namesakes of all Locke's Escort ships, K'uu-ch'ish (or Cochise) led his warrior band in hostilities against the encroaching United States.

As always, I spent way too much time with the various combinations before settling on what you see. I almost dumped the center pylon "wings," but kept them so as to display the Federation News Service logo. The Sagittarius/Virgo paint scheme keeps the vaguely warpaint look, while adding some "southwest" motives. As an escort, I felt the ship needed a darker appearance, making it harder to see in open space.

It took me a little over a week to level up through the Captain levels, partly from learning to use the Duty Officer System. Six of those levels were on Saturday, and the last on Sunday. Every time I completed a mission from "Spectres" (the Devidian episode), I got another level. Come to think of it, the only other story stuff I've done on Locke since returning to STO is the "Temporal Ambassador" mission left over from the Third Anniversary event, involving the crew of the Enterprise-C. I'll bet DTI just loves Locke's mission reports. After paupering myself to replace weapons and consoles still on hand from when Locke was a lieutenant commander, I took K'uu-ch'ish on a shakedown cruise into a Borg incursion daily. She handles pretty well, and seems to have plenty of firepower. But I did blow up a few times when I drew too much attention to myself.

~~~

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These are the Voyages of the U.S.S. Crazy Horse. . .

Captain's Log, 92803.64, Donovan T. Locke recording: After a successful tour of duty on the Klingon Front, I have received a promotion to Captain and a new commission, the Vigilant Class U.S.S. Crazy Horse. Accordingly, I have recommended for promotion and invited all of my senior staff to the new ship. With a total crew of only 50, we have a tighter focus as we head into Romulan territory. The Republic is allied with the Federation, and our mission is to counter the efforts of other factions—most notably Sela's "Empire"—to destabilize New Romulus.

The U.S.S. Crazy Horse, NCC-93330-A, is a Tactical Escort (TE), Vigilant Class, with a Gallant "Saucer," Gallant Refit Nacelles and "Pylons," and a Vigilant Refit Hull with a red and green Virgo paint scheme.

Plaque Dedication: "All we wanted was peace and to be left alone."~~Chief Crazy Horse

I put some of the terms in quotes because the STO customization system designated them thus, but they don't serve the same structural functions as the corresponding parts on other ships. The "saucer" is simply the small forward section that houses the deflector on the Defiant-like TEs (the forward section painted with a chevron in the picture above). The "pylons," rather than holding the nacelles away from the ship, are small weapons modules (shown on either side of the bow of the ship). Unlike most of the TEs, the Gallant "saucer" is a bit stubby, being slightly recessed in the Vigilant refit hull. I like the way this ship looks a bit like scarab beetle. I did not purchase the refit ship in the C-store, but for some reason, I have access to the TE refit skins.

I really like the handling of the Tactical Escort, which apparently has the best turn rate of all "large" ships in the game. Most of the my current loadout consists of hand-me-downs from my last two ships, but I am replacing them as time and credits permit.
~~~

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

Star Trek Online: Back in the Black

Lieutenant Vindillissia sh'Thlaspi looked out over the lobby of Starbase 1. She could just barely see the U.S.S. Bennett undergoing repairs on the other side of the enormous facility. Her ship. Not just the one she'd been assigned, but now under her command. Her meeting with Admiral Quinn had not gone as she had expected. The debriefing had turned into a confirmation of her field promotion, and Quinn's offering her the chance to sit in the big chair permanently. Despite her outward confidence, Lissia wasn't sure she was ready for the responsibility. Only days ago, she had been just another cadet at Starfleet Academy, preparing for her graduation training cruise. Now, she was responsible not only for herself, but about 200 other souls. She thought of Captain Taggart, her predecessor. His sacrifice had saved the lives of most of the cadets and, indirectly, those colonists they were able to rescue from Vega. Lissia wondered if she would be have been able to do the same in his place. She was determined to live up to his legacy.

Inspired by some podcasts I have listened to recently, and with the recent passing of both Leonard Nimoy and Harve Bennett, I decided to jump back into STO. I started a new character, because I figured, if the game systems are as different as Earth Spacedock, I need to start over. Rowan and Locke (not to mention my other two characters) are still there, waiting for when I am comfortable making character progression choices. Seems like that was a concern the last time I played.

Lissia is an Andorian Tactical Officer, in the vein of Tarah, Rowan's "Spock." Thlaspi is the genus for a collection of herbs known as penny-cress. Other than working out her name, I don't have much backstory for Lissia yet. I may need to read up a little more on Andorians, or maybe binge on some Enterprise episodes. After discovering I couldn't change my first Bridge Officer, Elisa Flores, I jettisoned her and my science officer in favor of some purple ("very rare") Boffs I had waiting in reserve on Locke. I'll come up with some RP reason later, like Elisa was given her own command or something. The rest of my Bridge crew is in place, though I think I need another Science Boff soon, to be a medic. We're a little Tactical heavy right now.

The U.S.S. Bennett (NCC-93037) was named for Admiral Robert Bennett, Starfleet Chief of Staff in the late 23rd Century. In reality, named for Harve Bennett (1930-2015), producer of Star Trek II-V, and who passed away a few days before I decided to return to STO. She's been through a lot, but is—as they say—"a tough little ship." Bennett's plaque dedication quotes Carl Sagan:

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

I find it interesting how some of my ships take an article (e.g., the Bennett); while others, like Rowan's Wayfarer and Sojourner, are simply known to their crew (and me) by proper name, sans article. In any event, the Bennett is a Light Cruiser, ShiKahr Class, with a Miranda Strut and Centaur pylons, and a Blue and White Cygnus paint job. I didn't realize until looking at old screenshots how closely the Bennett resembles Rowan's first ship, with only the strut and the paint scheme being different. There's obviously not much choice of designs at the lowest ship level, with everyone getting a light cruiser.

~~~

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

Ding! Vice Admiral Starblanket

(OOC) The day has finally come. I maxed out a character in Star Trek Online. Appropriately, it was the one I started with, Rowan Ashayam Starblanket, my half-Vulcan, half-Canadian First Nations Medical officer.

Starblanket Personal Log: After the harrowing evacuation of Deep Space Nine, I was summoned back to Sector 001 for a debriefing. And, as it turns out, a promotion. My new orders are to head up an expedition into the Gamma Quadrant to try to bring reasonable proof of the end of the Dominion War to the out-of-time Jem'Hadar occupying DS9. Much of the crew is being transferred to other ships, the details haven't been worked out quite yet. I still have to go over personnel with Tarah and the department heads as to whom we want to keep, and who needs the chance to spread their own wings. I am sure there will be tearful farewells as Peregrine and the Templar depart for other sectors.

Meanwhile, I, and who ever remains on my crew, will be returning to the Bajoran Sector, in what is both our new home and, in a sense, an old friend.

The U.S.S. Quixote, NCC 91511

Dedication Plaque: “One man scorned and covered with scars still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars; and the world will be better for this.”
~Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote de la Mancha

(OOC) Quixote [kee-HO-teh] is an Odyssey Class, with a Teal Corvus paint scheme. I seriously agonized over the paint job for a good hour. I'm stupid like that. I also spent a ton of time with Rowan's new admiral's coat. I almost gave her a skirt, which would have been completely hidden by the coat. The Odyssey class was the second anniversary ship reward, I believe, with no possibility for hull modification. I don't have much experience with a heavy cruiser, I'd like to deck it out with high-end turrets, which I'd heard was pretty effective. That's really old info, though. For now, I've mostly just cannibalized components from Rowan's two prior ships.

So these will be the voyages of the Starship Quixote. . . May it be that we bring chivalry and civility to the galaxy, and are not simply on a fool's errand.

Returning to STO: The Romulan Way

I borrowed my post title from Diane Duane's classic TOS novel The Romulan Way.

Personal Log of Lieutenant D'Valon i-Harke tr'Soturi: The flight from the colony was harrowing. For the second time in my life, I have had to flee the destruction of my home—once again, alone. After settling on Virinat more than a decade ago, I thought my military days were long over. Amazing how battle reflexes never quite leave you. Now D'Tan and Temer have gotten me back into a uniform.

This old Warbird still has quite a few punches left. The Reman engineer we picked up on Crateris—Veril? So many new faces!—has worked wonders with the singularity drive. The other former colonists have taken to calling her "Gearbox." I certainly don't plan on returning to the stifling formalities of the Imperial Navy, so Gearbox it is.

The forward crew lounge is rather more subdued than the last Warbird I flew on. Many people lost loved ones in the Tal Shiar attacks. Their pain opens old wounds of my own. How I miss you, my precious Rhakas, and little D'Rohkea.

Luckily for us, old D'Vex maintained the hydroponics bay with plants from Romulus, as well as Virinat. Fresh fruits and vegetables will be a refreshing respite from replicated mush, not to mention a fond reminder of what was once our home.

Meanwhile, there is much to do for this commander and crew. Temer has us on a mission to various other colonies in the sector, trying to recruit them the new Romulan Republic. We're offering solidarity, and protection from the predations of Empress Sela and the Tal Shiar, so that what happened on Virinat and Crateris doesn't happen again.

I never thought I'd sit in the Big Chair, much less be fighting for the freedom of the Romulan people. It may not be much, but I will do everything in my power to avenge the good folk of Virinat, defeat the Tal Shiar, and restore the proud legacy of my people.

In the spirit of that restoration, Khev and I decided to re-dedicate this grand old vessel as RRW T'liss Rising, to represent our rise from the ashes of Virinat and Romulus to new glory.

Re-Dedication Plaque: The T'liss hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise. ~adapted from Miguel de Cervantes, harking back to Rowan Starblanket's first ship. I substituted the word "T'liss" for "phoenix" in the original.


Valon's name is a callback to my SWTOR Jedi Knight, Valon Soturi, which is (butchered) Finnish for Warrior of Light. In that vein, his family—lost in the destruction of Romulus—also have names that have meaning in Finnish: Rakas means "beloved," and Rohkea means "brave." With that, I can establish Valon as being in his late 40s (by Earth years), having been a young Sublieutenant in the Romulan Military at the time of the Hobus supernova, unable to save his family from the destruction of Romulus. I'll fill in more backstory as it comes to me.

Rolling Rommy (yes, I'm trying to make that a thing ><) is mildly disappointing for me. I like my character well enough. but all the Romulans come across as pointy-eared humans. There is no real sense of the uniqueness of their culture. Not that I want them running around as portrayed in the various incarnations of the series either.

Once I get the basics of the new game systems down (e.g., Skills, Combat Maneuvers, etc.), I am very interested in revisiting my other captains. And as you can see, it's so easy to slip into a storytelling mode based on my adventures in the Star Trek universe. All in all, it's a good move for Cryptic, I think. Renewed interest in STO, exactly what they were after here. :D

Two Years Out of Spacedock

STO, Old Friend, only a little younger than my blogging career. You opened up a wider community to me, people I still count as friends. You've changed, matured. You have a new sugar daddy. I hope this one treats you better the last one did.

To all those who have played and play now, congratulations on being part of something wonderful. To the team at Cryptic, thank you. Thank you for working so hard to keep this great game afloat.

I jumped in today to grab a screenshot or two for this post, and it was like slipping on a favorite pair jeans. I caught the old bug, went on a mission to get the new Odyssey class ship for Locke. Good times. :D I look forward to new adventures.

Ship Interiors Poll

OK all you STO captains. Take a minute to vote in Cryptic's latest STO Poll. It will close on the afternoon of 23 April 2010, and you'll need to log in. I read a few of the user comments, and it stayed pretty civil, from what I could tell.

Which player ship interior customization option is most important to you?

• Floor Plan – the layout of my hallways and rooms
• Mood – the lighting and textures of my interior
• Authenticity – my engine room is modeled after the Sovereign Engine Room
• Uniform – my non-bridge crew members wear this uniform by default
• Functionality – is more critical to me than what it looks like

New Ships for Locke

Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 87882.64: Admiral Quinn has given myself and my crew an unusual assignment. Along with my promotion to Commander, I have been given command of the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Massasoit. During the mission brief we received during the transition, the admiral informed me that we would be receiving a secondary assignment aboard the U.S.S. Black Hawk for occasional missions requiring dedicated firepower and a more agile profile. The escort will be pre-positioned at Starbase 39 in the Sierra Sector and maintained by a skeleton crew. The current shortage of qualified starship commanders has necessitated the unusual dual assignment. I am interested to see how the two ships perform in the shakedown cruises later this week.

The U.S.S. Massasoit (NCC-91632) is named after the great chief of the Wampanoag Confederacy that befriended the Pilgrims of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century.

Dedication: "Ense petit placidam sub libertate qvietem" The official motto of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Latin phrase which means, "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty." 

The Massasoit is a Heavy Cruiser, Dakota Class, with a Stargazer secondary hull and Cheyenne style pylons, and a mixed paint scheme in red and black. I have unintentionally given both my cruisers name-titles of Native American chiefs who were at least somewhat friendly with the British colonists, while the escorts were named after warchiefs who fought against the U.S. expansion.


The U.S.S. Black Hawk (NCC-91767) was named for a Warchief of the Sauk who fought on the side of the British in the War of 1812 and again opposed the Americans in what history remembers as the Black Hawk War.

Dedication: "In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind." Napoleon Bonaparte

The Black Hawk is a Heavy Escort, Akira class, with an Oslo catamaran hull and Zephyr nacelles, painted with the Sagittarius scheme in red and black.

I have actually played with both ships and understand a little more about having many Boffs. A lot of players use dedicated away teams, which I never got other than perhaps an RP reason, because the space abilities have no influence on the ground abilities, and vice versa. Suddenly, with two ships, the extra Boffs make sense. Witko has cannon skills that are great on the escort, but useless on the cruiser. So I use Sera in the ensign spot on the escort for her high-yield torp skill and the only tactical spot (lewey) on the cruiser, where her fire-at-will beam skill is of more value. Interestingly, as you may know if you play STO, all the Boffs are present on every bridge, regardless of their roll in the bridge assignments tab.


The Massasoit turns like the Titanic with a broken rudder, but I don't mind because the extra weapons and durability of the cruiser make it more than a match for the encounters I have had so far. The Black Hawk seemed a little squishy at first, but I think I got overzealous, and so she does much better now. I have two consoles on the Massasoit dedicated to turning ability and one on the Black Hawk, which leads to interesting effects. The escort seems to skid around a bit in battle. The issue I had with keeping weapons on target in the Red Cloud is not a problem on the Black Hawk, helped of course by the extra weapon slot in back.

In the Clutches of the Nefarious Longash

Starfleet OpSec Bulletin, PI CANIS Sector Block:
Be on the alert.

Klingons take no prisoners. At least, the Federation used to think so. Recently the privateer Longash has abducting Starfleet officers and forcing them to tour his bridge. We have been unable to ascertain his motives at this time. Until further notice, take heightened personnel security precautions during away missions and station stopovers.

Thanks for the tour @Longasc.

These Are the Voyages . . . of the U.S.S. Sojourner

U.S.S. Sojourner Captain's Log, Stardate 87876.30: Commander Rowan A. Starblanket reporting. [Rowan grinned at Tarah, who just rolled her eyes.] After several days at Starbase 1, we are finally underway in our new vessel. She's a lot bigger than Wayfarer, with four times the crew. I can only hope to lead them safely through our journeys. Sojourner is equipped with an advanced sensor system dominated by the globe array on our primary hull. Lieutenant Commander Ymiro and Lieutenant Torbin are enthusiastic about the opportunities they and the research staff (over half the crew) will have during our upcoming exploration of the Khazan Cluster.

The U.S.S Sojourner, NCC-94742 is a Research Science Vessel, Horizon Class, with a Hope Secondary Hull and Olympic Pylons and Nacelles, and a blue Corvus paint scheme. The name is a thematic cousin to Wayfarer.

Dedication: "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." Ferris Bueller's Day Off

I won't go into the specs here, but suffice it to say, that even though I think the design is a little odd, and there is no true explanation of the forcefield "saucer" section, I like the way the ship handles. She certainly seems faster in warp (sector) space, and her maneuverability in combat doesn't seem to have suffered for her size.

On Respec'ing

Took some time last night to respec Rowan. I'll get to Locke soon, but want to play out Rowan tonight. Galo discusses the procedure at some length, so I won't go into it other than to say it was probably a little easier for me because Rowan is still such a lowbie, versus some Admiral trying to figure out what to sacrifice in order to take advantage of both BigBadB's findings and the new Starship skills. Two things I like about it:

1. According to the Patch FAQ, you can respec at each promotion, which means you can throw skill points into specific ship classes and then recycle them later when you outgrow the ship. Obviously of limited value to an Admiral, but great for those players still leveling characters.
2. Your old spec is highlighted, so you don't have to try to remember where you had skill points you don't want to change. Plus, you can mess around with deleting individual skills or start over from scratch, in both cases with your former spec still visible, so you can see the changes you are making. In contrast, when you respec in WoW, all of your talents disappear, and you have to save your spec somewhere besides the game interface if you are trying to tweak only a few things and keep most of the talents in place.

Of course, there are other things about the patch that I like, including the off-duty outfits and other cosmetic changes. My Klingon faction captain ended up with an extra ship, the new tier-2 cruiser. I am not sure if that was a glitch, because I had barely made LC, but I took it. My Fed fleet got together on the Klingon side and made a Klingon fleet, too, which was quite an experience. A bit different than starting a guild on WoW. (lol, I just realized the blog interface registers "klingon" as a spelling error, but accepts the capitalized "Klingon.")

Rowan's Ships

OK, so I guess it hasn't been that long since I published Locke's stuff, but it seems like it to me, I haven't had a ton of time to play STO, between blogging (who knew that would be so much fun) and raiding on WoW. Anyway, I got Rowan's ships screencapped and so here they are. I'll screencap Rowan's crew and introduce them today or tomorrow.

The U.S.S. Cervantes (NCC-93134) was named after Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes (The Tongue of Cervantes). I worked for AOL for a time in 2000, and had USSCervantes as one of my logins for the Star Trek community, named after the author and the pirate from the Souledge/Soulcaliber games. Unfortunately, when I quit I lost all my screen names. When I found out I could choose my ship name, this was my first choice.

Dedication Plaque: "Truth will rise above falsehood as oil above water." Cervantes, Don Quixote de La Mancha

Ensign Rowan Starblanket took command of the Cervantes following the death of her captain and senior officers during the Battle of Vega. Rowan's quick thinking and valor enabled her to lead the ship and crew to victory, for which she was awarded permanent command of the Cervantes.

The Cervantes is a Light Cruiser, ShiKahr Class, with Centaur-style pylons. She sports a (mostly) Corvus paint scheme, in blue and orange. I liked the way the Centaur pylons gave the ship such a slim profile, as seen in the picture above. Obviously, this impression is similar to that of Locke's Powhatan. This one came first though.

The Battle of Vega, a.k.a the tutorial missions, must have been a major disaster for the Federation, since so many senior Starfleet officers were killed, leaving relatively inexperienced Ensigns (soon to be Lieutenants) in command of vessels.


Rowan's next command was the U.S.S. Wayfarer (NCC-91972). No special name here, I like the wandering/exploring theme begun (kind of) with Cervantes, and will continue it.

Dedication Plaque: "Not all who wander are lost." J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Rowan joined Starfleet to explore the galaxy, and the Wayfarer is perfect for that, and for Rowan and crew to gain needed experience.

The Wayfarer is a Science Vessel, Aurora Class, with a Nova hull and pylons, and a plum and black Columba paint scheme. I have a couple issues with the design but I like it better than the Tier 2 escort selection. I really like the science (debuff) capabilities, coupled with the weapons bay arrangement. BTW, can anyone tell me what the "windshield" thing on the front of the saucer is? A number of ships have this feature; it is not the deflector dish, and I don't think it is the front of the bridge, because the dome is too far back. Edit: I finally decided this must be a sensor array.

Locke's Ships

I decided to put the ships in a separate entry. Since Locke is currently a Lieutenant Commander, he is only up to Tier 2 ships. So I will add ships as I get them. I also discovered a couple days ago that I can have "extra" BOs that are not currently assigned on the bridge, but possibly usable as away team members. This after having dumped all the ones I'd accumulated, but that were not assigned. =/ So I'll have to investigate the possibilities there, and maybe pick up a different ship to try out. I also won't normally italicize entries unless I am talking out-of-universe in the middle of an in-universe entry.


The U.S.S Powhatan (NCC-93491) was named after the great chief of the Powhatan tribe of Native Americans who spared the life of the English soldier John Smith.

Dedication Plaque: “. . . if there is to be more killing, it will not start with me.” from Disney's Pocahontas.

Ensign Donovan Locke was serving aboard the Powhatan when its crew responded to a distress call from the U.S.S. Khitomer, under attack from the Borg. Locke had beamed over to the beleaguered ship when the Borg attacked the Powhatan, killing most of her senior officers and leaving Locke the ranking officer. Locke was later given permanent command of the Powhatan in recognition of his quick thinking and actions in bringing the ship and the remainder of her crew to safety.

The Powhatan is a Light Cruiser, Centaur Class, with ShiKahr-style nacelles and a Miranda "rollbar", and Leo paint scheme, in red and black. I liked the way the Centaur pylons on the Miranda strut gave the ship such a slim head-on profile.


Locke's next command was the  U.S.S. Red Cloud (NCC-91995), named after the 19th century chief of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) nation.

Dedication Plaque: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Napoleon; I thought it fitting.

The escort ship is nimble and powerful, though Locke and crew can't wait to "stretch their legs" in something larger.

The Red Cloud is an Escort, Ushaan Class, with a Rapier secondary hull and Saber nacelles. She also sports a Leo paint scheme in red and black. Honestly though, this was making the best of a design set I am not fond of at all. Commander cannot come too quickly.