Science fiction MMORPG Star Trek Online, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by Perfect World Entertainment, has just announced the release of six $20 starter packs and $50 faction packs for the game.

As mentioned the starter packs cost 2,000 Zen (or $20) and, of course, cover the three major factions of the game Federation, Klingon Defense Force and Romulan.

Each pack contains one faction-specific tier 6 scaling ship: Reliant-class cruiser [T6] for the Federation, Kor-class bird-of-prey for the Klingons, and a Malem-class light warbird for Romulans.

Every pack also contains 12 inventory slots, 12 bank slots, 2 bridge officer slots, and a Borg bridge officer. Also included is 13 Mark II pieces of very rare space gear, 7 Mark II pieces of very rare ground gear, and a faction specific uniform.

The faction packs cost 5,000 Zen (or $50) and are built to provide end-game assistance with titles such as “Federation Fleet Admiral Faction Pack.”

Each pack contains three tier 6 vessels: an escort, a cruiser and a science ship. Every pack is also faction specific.

All packs also include 2 ship slots, a special bridge officer, a special uniform, a pet (such as Exocomp, Targ and Sehlet cub), and three faction-specific titles.

Looking at the contents. Each of these packs represents a an extremely discounted bundle of virtual items. The ship alone in the starter packs is $30 when bought by itself, which means that if a captain wanted to buy that ship anyway, these bundles make for an excellent value. This is the same for the three ships in the faction packs, which would cost $90 if bought by themselves.

The only problem these represent is that they break up other bundles – which may or may not prorate themselves as ships in them are bought.

Full details on the packs is available at Star Trek Online’s blog post.