With the Twelfth Anniversary of Star Trek Online, Cryptic Studio’s launched the most recent Task Force Operation for players to enjoy daily with a strange name “Iuppiter Iratus,” which calls upon players to defend Jupiter Station against Mirror Universe invasion forces.
The phrase, little known in English, comes from Greek, which is “Iuppiter iratus ergo nefas.” It comes from something said by Prometheus, “Jupiter is angry, [he seizes upon lighting,] therefore he is wrong.”
Of course, in the context of the TFO, Jupiter is angry, but the payers need not be as much. In spite of the difficult to spell name, Iuppiter Iratus is a reasonably well-built scenario and fun scenario.
It’s easy to be reminded that many TFOs released by Cryptic have suffered from either being too lengthy or required too much “thought” by teammates to be successful. It’s possible to lengthen Iuppiter Iratus a little bit with bad teamwork, but not as much as other TFOs, and with sufficiently excellent teamwork it’s also possible to get full marks – and with slightly under par teamwork to get almost full marks.
Before describing the scenario, it should be mentioned that Jupiter Station sits within the looming umbra of the actual gas giant Jupiter. The angry, swirling Great Red Spot is visible in the background during the entire task force. This superstorm is almost 10,000 miles across and is known to produce winds up to 268 mph. Although the huge planet may quickly be forgotten between disruptor and phaser fire and between volleys of photon and quantum torpedoes, it is perhaps one of the most stunning backdrops ever produced by Cryptic’s environment team.
At the start, the scenario launches a set of vessels straightaway that needs to be dispatched in three groups. These are easy enough to wipe out by the players and people can easily split up between them by heading towards the platforms and Jupiter Station. The glimmering red of Mirror Universe portals heralds their arrival and friendly support vessels – including iconic defenders such as the Enterprise, the Defiant, and Voyager among them – will stay for a time.
After that, it is up to the team to defend the platforms and close emerging rifts. These rifts will disgorge “hacker” ships that will immediately attempt to take control of the platforms or rush to Jupiter station and begin downloading data. As long as at least one capable player stays with each platform, none of the platforms will ever fall – in fact, the platforms can be briefly abandoned between rift openings to help the station (or other platforms) when needed.
The bigger problem happens if players ignore hackers that make it to Jupiter for any extent of time. Although there are NPC defenders to help clear them off, they’re not very effective. Even the tiniest amount of data taken from the station will reduce mean that players won’t get the full marks from the TFO (but really who cares). That said, defending the station can be done by one player or in shifts as needed from fighting at platforms.
After the platforms are complete, the Mirror U.S.S. Enterprise commanded by Captain Tilly, aka Killy, arrives with four shield ships. The shield ships must go down first, otherwise, the Enterprise is invulnerable. The Enterprise appears near one of the three platforms and immediately starts firing upon it and the players must burn it down to chase Killy away.
During the battle, she bemoans the presence of Voyager’s captain, Janeway, and yells things such as, “Are you kidding me with this? Why don’t you give up already, don’t you know my ships make me invulnerable?”
Depending on how much firepower is brought to bear, the Enterprise can be chased away extremely quickly – or it can go somewhat slow. However, no matter how little firepower or control has been brought to the field, the TFO has never felt like it was drawn out too long.
Iuppiter Iratus feels like a thoughtfully built, encapsulated story in three parts: an opening with ships to blow up, a defense portion where all the players have jobs to do and a way to get them done, and a climactic portion that involves a “boss fight.”
Images: Cryptic Studios
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