Something we’ve talked about often regarding The Walking Dead, and the end of the series, is how the show continues to find new life through new mediums. Something that is clearly designed to cement the show’s legacy as a pop culture icon through and through, and well… the franchise is showing no signs of slowing down when it comes to this. For today’s announcement made it clear that TWD is going to be a fixture in the video game landscape for years to come.
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For earlier today, Socialpoint and AMC announced that they partnered up to bring The Walking Dead to Dragon City and Monster Legends. A move that will delight players of both games and fans of the series as well. Since it gives them another unique way to take part in adventures with their favorite characters and well, here are some more details on this partnership and some video samples to give you an idea of how this new crossover is going to work out, courtesy of Socialpoint and AMC.

'Socialpoint, a wholly-owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive’s (NASDAQ: TTWO) Zynga label, today announced that it has partnered with AMC Networks to bring new The Walking Dead experiences to its Dragon City and Monster Legends games.

As part of the collaboration, a new VIP Family will appear in-game, comprising of six playable dragons and monsters, respectively, with unique attributes based on iconic characters from The Walking Dead. The eight-week in-game experience begins Monday, September 12 and will end on November 6. During that period, players will be able to acquire some of the creatures by participating in challenging tournaments, and others through in-app purchase. Users can then upgrade their dragons and monsters for combat with special TWD-themed resources.

“Bringing characters from AMC’s The Walking Dead to Dragon City and Monster Legends will delight both fans of the show and our players,” said Amparo García Cifuentes, Head of Growth & Innovation at Socialpoint. “AMC has created a massive global following with the TV series that has captivated audiences for years and it’s exciting to partner with them for this in-game event.”

“In the past 11 seasons, we've seen our beloved heroes from The Walking Dead in the best of times, and certainly in the worst of times,” said Clayton Neuman, VP of Games at AMC. “What we've never seen, is what they'd look like as dragons and monsters! But thanks to our partners at Socialpoint, we won't have to wonder about that much longer. We hope our fans enjoy playing with these The Walking Dead-inspired creatures just as much as we enjoyed creating them.”

Dragon City boasts more than 1,600 dragons for players to collect, each beautifully designed with its own personality, skill, and rarity. Players can breed, grow, level up their dragons, and use them to compete in epic battles! The game is packed with special events and is playable in 220 countries and available in 12 languages.

In Monster Legends players can collect more than 1000 monsters and use them to battle. Breed, train and equip the best gear to build the strongest team and face the ultimate challenge: real-time battles against other Monster Masters. Monster Legends is playable in 220 countries and available in 12 languages.

ABOUT SOCIALPOINT
Based in Barcelona and a wholly owned studio of Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), Socialpoint is a world-renowned game developer and publisher specializing in mobile gaming. Socialpoint has eight games released worldwide, with over 700 million downloads and a very strong presence in the U.S. and European markets. Some of its other hits are Word Life, Tasty Town, and World Chef.

ABOUT AMC NETWORKS
AMC Networks (Nasdaq: AMCX) is a global entertainment company known for its popular and critically acclaimed content. Its brands include targeted streaming services AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK, and the newest addition to its targeted streaming portfolio, the anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service, in addition to AMC, BBC AMERICA (operated through a joint venture with BBC Studios), IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, IFC Films and RLJE Films. AMC Studios, the Company’s in-house studio, production and distribution operation, is behind some of the biggest titles and brands known to a global audience, including The Walking Dead, the Anne Rice catalog and the Agatha Christie library.  The Company also operates AMC Networks International, its international programming business, and 25/7 Media, its production services business.

ABOUT TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE
Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher, and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products principally through Rockstar Games, 2K, Private Division, and Zynga. Our products are currently designed for console gaming systems, PC, and Mobile including smartphones and tablets, and are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms, and cloud streaming services. The Company’s common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO.'

If there is one thing that fans everywhere truly love, it is the opportunity to immerse themselves within the world of their favorite franchises. Because it is just incredible to be in that universe and see landmarks and characters that captivate us and inspire us, and that is why video game franchises revolving around iconic stories are thriving. Because they truly give us everything we need, well... almost everything. Because despite how immersive these games are, they do have one inherent flaw.
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In that, they tend to stick to scripted content, where we are along for the ride and well, with this being the interactive era of gaming, Dorian and AMC Networks are about to remove that limitation from games set in a major universe. For earlier today, they announced a partnership that would allow for fans of Interview with the Vampire to create their own licensed story within Anne Rice’s stunning universe and well, here are all the details on this wonderful announcement, courtesy of Dorian and AMC Networks.

‘Dorian and AMC Networks announced today a partnership with to bring the Anne Rice Universe to the code-free game creation and streaming platform. The partnership will empower millions of fans and creators to write, publish, and monetize their own code-free interactive adaptations of some of the most iconic IPs in the world, including Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches.
 
AMC announced in May 2020 their acquisition of the Anne Rice catalog, which includes the Vampire Chronicles, the Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, and the crossover novels that blend the two paranormal worlds. The Walking Dead network’s new franchise will kick off Sunday, October 2 with the premiere of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, starring Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones), who will play the tortured Louis de Pointe du Lac, Sam Reid (The Hunting) as his vampire maker, Lestat du Lioncourt, Bailey Bass (Avatar 2) as vampire fledgling Claudia, and Eric Bogosian (Talk Radio) as journalist Daniel Molloy. Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches series is making its exclusive debut on AMC+, the network’s premium streaming bundle, this winter and stars Alexandra Daddario (The White Lotus) as Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant doctor who discovers she heralds from a long line of witches in the Mayfair family, along with Jack Huston (House of Gucci) as Lasher, Harry Hamlin (Mad Men) as Cortland Mayfair and Tongayi Chirisa (Palm Springs) as Ciprien.
 
The partnership between AMC Networks and Dorian will allow fans and creators exclusive access to licensed art and lore to create their own interactive adaptations of AMC’s Immortal Universe of Anne Rice. Dorian’s code-free creation engine, monetization features, and data analysis tools allow independent creators to write, publish, and earn royalties on adaptations of one of the most famous franchises in the world. With genre content like Interview ranking consistently high among the Dorian community, the addition of these IPs will tap into those passions and excite audiences of both the game and series. Dorian will launch Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire alongside the premiere of the AMC series on October 2 with weekly content releases, fan-generated adaptation challenges, and livestream events spanning the epic first season.
 
"The Immortal Universe of Anne Rice coming to Dorian is a major part of why we are building a platform -- offering opportunities for independent creators to engage with legendary Hollywood IPs,” said Julia Palatovska, founder & CEO, Dorian. “Imagine being able to step inside the world of Anne Rice, interact with the characters, and turn your dream storylines into reality. The best part is that game creation on Dorian is accessible to everyone. You don’t need coding or art skills, just a passion for Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and your imagination."
 
“Dorian has pioneered an incredible platform that gives passionate fans a voice in telling their own stories with their favorite properties,” said Clayton Neuman, VP of Games for AMC. “We couldn’t be more excited to partner with them as we build out the Immortal Universe of Anne Rice, beginning with the premiere of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire this Fall and continuing on with the creation of interactive narratives that will allow our fans to explore these iconic characters in a way that’s uniquely their own.”
 
The partnership with AMC represents a major milestone in Dorian’s mission to become the top platform for female and diverse creators to build and grow their own games businesses.
It comes on the heels of Dorian’s acquisition of game studio Nix Hydra and their flagship titles, The Arcana: A Mystic Romance and Fictif: Interactive Romance, two of the most popular otome-style apps with massive fanbases.
 
ABOUT DORIAN
Dorian is the world’s first game and streaming platform that enables creators to turn fiction into games with zero coding. With easy visual creation on both web and mobile, cutting-edge audience insights, and cloud-based collaboration, their mission is to empower millions of female and diverse creators to unlock their visions in game format.
 
ABOUT AMC NETWORKS
AMC Networks (Nasdaq: AMCX) is a global entertainment company known for its popular and critically acclaimed content. Its brands include targeted streaming services AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK, and the newest addition to its targeted streaming portfolio, the anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service, in addition to AMC, BBC AMERICA (operated through a joint venture with BBC Studios), IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, IFC Films and RLJE Films. AMC Studios, the Company’s in-house studio, production and distribution operation, is behind some of the biggest titles and brands known to a global audience, including The Walking Dead, the Anne Rice catalog and the Agatha Christie library.  The Company also operates AMC Networks International, its international programming business, and 25/7 Media, its production services business.’

It used to be that when a television show went off of the airwaves, anything and everything associated with that show… disappeared with it. Because endings used to be quite final in nature in Tinsel Town, and there was seemingly no point in hanging onto any threads to a story that had reached its conclusion. But this new era of peak television is changing all of that, since cancellations might mean new life at another network, and everyone is also learning… that the end of a show means little to fans these days. For they find ways to keep the spirit of the series alive and now networks and companies are starting to recognize that and provide the fans with the unique continuation they crave.
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If anything, that particular act is top of mind today, simply because of the announcement that 37 Games and AMC Networks brought forth today. For earlier they let the world know that the popular game Puzzles & Survival is going to bring iconic characters and story elements from The Walking Dead into the fold, allowing for the legacy of this show to live on via the game long after it goes off the airwaves later this year and well, here are more details regarding this delightful announcement, courtesy of AMC Networks and 37 Games.

‘Today 37 GAMES, the publisher of the popular match-3 zombie mobile game Puzzles & Survival, announced an official collaboration with AMC’s smash hit television series The Walking Dead to celebrate the game’s two-year anniversary.
 
Beginning August 2, players around the world will encounter their favorite characters and story elements from AMC’s iconic television series, including fan favorites Rick Grimes and Michonne, and even the villain you love to hate: Negan and his infamous baseball bat, Lucille.
 
In the world of Puzzles & Survival, an unknown virus has transformed most of humanity into flesh-eating zombies. To make things worse, Negan and his band of Saviors have appeared, intimidating and subjugating any survivors unlucky enough to cross his path. Puzzles & Survival players now have an entirely new opponent to deal with.
 
In this crossover event, players will experience an original storyline involving Negan, with new artwork and gameplay faithful to the events of the show. Opponents are other humans, which creates a far more complex and morally ambiguous situation than battling against the undead.
 
But players will have the support of favorite characters from the Alexandria Safe Zone, such as Rick Grimes, Darryl Dixon, and Michonne–with the choice of siding with the survivors from Alexandria in the coming battle for freedom, or bowing to Negan and the Saviors.
 
AMC’s The Walking Dead is a global phenomenon, that became the biggest show in the history of cable television with legions of  fans across the world. The developers of Puzzles & Survival are proud to collaborate with AMC to deliver this new and exciting experience to fans of both franchises.
 
Puzzles & Survival is a zombie-themed match-3 strategy which has been downloaded over 45 million times by players from around the globe. Both the Android and iOS versions of the game have received critical praise from players in both Western and Japanese markets. Additionally, Puzzles & Survival received an award for by Best Innovative Gameplay at Sensor Tower APAC Awards in 2021. The developers of Puzzles & Survival are proud to have received this award, and will endeavor to deliver even better games in the future.
 
This August, the Saviors will go to war against the survivors of the Alexandria Safe Zone. As the war spills over into Puzzles & Survival, players can earn rewards which can better prepare them for the upcoming conflict.’
 
 Download: https://pse.is/twdpns001
 Official Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/PnS.37Games

Real-Time Strategy (abbreviated as RTS) is a gaming genre that continues to hold onto a sizable cadre of dedicated fans. Even though they don't release as frequently as they once did, and only a few franchises still publish, the RTS community continues to be active and healthy. Lately, as Company of Heroes 3 works up to release, and Age of Empires IV brings another old name back to life, I find myself drawn back yet again to one of my favorite RTS games: World in Conflict.
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Developed by Massive Entertainment, they moved away from the sci-fi of their previous Ground Control games and stepped into the real world for World in Conflict. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1980s where NATO and the Soviet Union are waging World War III in Europe, the story picks up with a surprise Soviet invasion of the northwest United States. You command a US Army platoon over the course of the northwest US aspect of the war, and even get to flashback to some of the fighting in Europe. An expansion pack, Soviet Assault, lets you play as a Soviet officer and interact with the story from the other side of the battlefield.

Making full use of the modern-ish setting, reinforcements can be called in mid-battle and delivered by air, even heavy vehicles. There is no base building or production to manage, just a pool of Reinforcement Points and a variety of units to select from. More powerful units cost more points, and all your reinforcements are air dropped into an LZ you choose out of the areas of the map you have secured. Air support is mostly hands-off: although helicopters are in-game units you can direct just like ground forces, all other air and artillery support is called in from off-map with points you earn over time or by defeating enemies. Artillery works the same: a few artillery units are available to deploy and command with pinpoint precision, but most artillery is called in from out of sight. These artillery and air strike locations are marked with red smoke; you see a timer showing when allied strikes will arrive and want to try to keep your enemies in the kill zone. Enemy strikes are marked with smoke but have no timer; you've got to fight your way out of the blast radius before the ordinance arrives if you want to keep your units alive.

This creates an ever-shifting tactical situation, requiring frequent maneuvering and re-positioning, and helps prevent fights from stagnating. Additionally, what kinds of units you have available to reinforce, your air and artillery options, and even whether you can get reinforcements at all are affected by the story setting: if you are fighting a desperate last stand, you may not have many friends to call on, or if the weather is bad planes may be unable to deliver reinforcements or bomb enemies. Using these tools to set the tone for each story mission creates the feeling of a dynamic living world outside the battlefield that impacts your ability to fight and adds an implication of consequences for that outside world that depend on your success or failure in battle.

There are plenty of good RTS games out there, and I'm looking forward to Company of Heroes III and eagerly wondering where the Total War franchise (traditionally a mix of Real-Time and Turn-Based) will go next. But I keep replaying World in Conflict even as the years go by, because of the fun multi-faceted gameplay, the slick controls, beautifully-realized setting, and the enticing story. If there's one RTS name I'd love to see resurrected for a sequel, this is it.
 
By far one of the best things about World in Conflict is how it handles infantry. Balancing infantry in a modern setting, or even in most real-world settings from about WWII onward, brings a host of difficulties. Infantry are slower than most vehicles, less durable, and wield less firepower than almost every vehicle used in warfare. Compare a rifleman squad's ability to shoot, or endure enemy fire, or run, to the abilities of tanks, APCs, armored Humvees, or any air vehicle. Those of you who've seen the movie Jarhead have some idea of the problem: infantry left trailing behind, outclassed by airpower or rapid mechanized forces. Even when carried within vehicles, the skirmish might be over by the time they've climbed out of their seats. The Company of Heroes franchise, a World War II RTS series, uses infantry at the squad level as their "standard" size unit, allowing them to come in many different forms and flavors, utilizing their variety of handheld weapons to be relevant in any fight. The result of this is that armored vehicles all come in some form of "bulky behemoth," and even some of the lightest vehicles tend to be relatively sluggish or un-maneuverable compared to infantry squads. Because the vehicular technology of the time wasn't quite as dynamic or refined as it is today, this makes infantry important and versatile, but it does leave the game feeling very infantry centric. Another WWII RTS, Faces of War, takes a more dramatically and purposefully human-centric approach where every vehicle or piece of equipment must be crewed by individually commanded soldiers. The tank isn't a unit unto itself, alive and moving on the battlefield to be commanded, it's just an object that you have to actually put infantry into if you want it to be useful. Individual crew members can be killed in battle too, reducing the effectiveness of the vehicle. This makes people the most important thing on the battlefield and lets you bring damaged units back to full strength by replacing crew losses but can also create an environment of micromanagement.

In a modern setting, where vehicles are more prolific than ever, these problems can be even worse. World In Conflict handles this brilliantly by scaling everything up: making small-medium vehicles the "normal" size unit and thus turning infantry into special subclass of sorts, one you might call "small" or "flexible." They exist only in "squad" size, not as individuals, and though squads can lose members and be reinforced in the field, their combat effectiveness isn't as dramatically affected by their numbers as it is in Company of Heroes, where larger squads can spread individuals over only as much tactical space as their numbers allow. Instead, the infantry squads in World in Conflict are more like single blobs. The soldiers are smart enough to handle things like cover on their own, so you can step back and handle larger units, logistics, and other parts of the battle. This approach is similar to 2005 RTS Blitzkrieg II, but Blitzkrieg didn't center their focus as definitively on any one-unit class, so infantry was left feeling like just another niche unit with extremely specific uses, rather than as one of the valuable cores of your force.
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The result of World in Conflict's approach is a tactical setup that fully appreciates contemporary technology: modern militaries are highly mechanized and the ability to move your forces around the battlefield at will, either to answer the enemy or to set the tone yourself, is incredibly important. But because even the slow units have important tactical value, how you combine your forces to support and move each other plays a major role in how well things turn out. It's the first RTS I played where I truly felt a need to understand the term "combined arms." It feels like a natural evolution of the "rock-paper-scissors" feel often at the core of strategy games that adjusts it to accommodate modern technology while also blurring the edges of unit classifications. It's a game where knowing which units automatically beat others is less important than knowing the on-the-ground capabilities of your units and how they compare to the enemy.

Another thing the game did right was player controls. Strategy game controls are generally pretty set-in stone: use the mouse to select units, give commands, and move the screen, and keyboard shortcuts can expedite a variety of commands if you memorize enough of them. Using the mouse to select units, command units, and control what you can see is sometimes clunky, like trying to type on a keyboard with only one hand. The arrow keys can be used to navigate the camera in most RTSs, but bringing your left hand over to them is uncomfortable at best. In World in Conflict, you use the WASD keys (and the Q and E keys) for almost all the camera movement you could ever want, leaving your mouse free to focus only on unit selection and command. This was a revelation in speed and efficiency that immediately made all other control schemes feel clunky and slow. I now customize my RTS controls whenever I can to more closely mimic the World in Conflict layout. Of course, with keyboard customization (or a tolerance of your arrow keys) you can mimic this efficiency in other games, and I wouldn't be surprised if another RTS used these controls first, so I won't declare them as being unique to World in Conflict, but it's the default control scheme and the game that opened my eyes to the possibilities.
 
Lastly, the story World in Conflict tells is... just plain Really Good. There are some RTSs known for their great storytelling, Starcraft, Homeworld, Halo Wars, but in many RTSs they're an afterthought, or made awkward by the limited way in which the player can interact with individuals on the ground. RTS games often struggle to make you care about the faceless grunts you command or fail to lend gravitas to the overall battle by asking you to care about towns or people in other places, off-screen. World in Conflict focuses instead on the officers in your company: player character Lieutenant Parker, company commander Colonel Sawyer, and fellow platoon leaders Captain Webb and Captain Bannon. Lt. Parker is silent in-game, and you never see his face, since he's the player's stand-in, but in the voiceover narration between missions (where Parker is narrating events after the fact) he's given life and empathy by none other than Alec Baldwin. Focusing on a brewing dissension between Captain Bannon and Colonel Sawyer, these characters go through true character journeys over the course of the campaign, and the way they change as people reflects the outcomes of your story missions, helping to add weight to your in-game actions and make the outside world feel more connected to the in-game battlefields. Occasional glimpses into the lives of some of the soldiers on the ground or to politicians or generals elsewhere add some perspective and further bring the world to life. In the expansion, Soviet Assault, there is a similar approach with the other officers in your Soviet company and a touching main plot, but the shorter length leaves less time to fully develop the emotional core.
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Although most of my love is for the single-player of World in Conflict, I will point out one interesting aspect of the multiplayer: it split player roles, limiting your available units to infantry, armor, transport, or artillery, thus necessitating cooperation and coordination between multiple players on each team. This could get annoying if you didn't have enough people to fill the roles but created a uniquely dynamic cooperative environment when everybody was on board.
 
There are plenty of excellent RTS games that do all kinds of things well: The beloved stories from the Starcraft and Homeworld franchises, the unique factions and units of Star Wars: Empire at War, the fluid command system in the Halo Wars games. I enjoy them all and I'm glad the genre is maintaining a foothold in the games industry. For me though, no other game I've played merges all these aspects together as smoothly and beautifully as World in Conflict. Massive Entertainment mostly works on the MMO The Division 2 these days and is apparently planning an open-world Star Wars game, but I'll keep hoping for a sequel. I'd love to see what happens to Lieutenant Parker and the rest of the company, and how World War III resolves.

It is definitely safe to say, that a television show is at peak popularity when a video game company wants to get involved with said show in some capacity. Because that is a signal that audiences and fans want to be around the characters that populate said show as often as possible and plopping them into a video game is one easy way to make that happen, since the player/fan can go on adventures with those characters whenever they choose while they wait for a brand-new episode. If anything, that aspect of popularity is top of mind today, simply because one video game company in particular, is ready to pay tribute to the enduring admiration of The Walking Dead.

For yesterday it was announced that the Ubisoft game Brawlhalla is going to add Negan and Maggie to the game as playable characters, joining others from the franchise as well and let’s be honest… this is pretty darn cool. Because you’ll get to wield Lucille, and if you so wish, you can dispense justice with Maggie or play the hero as Michonne, Rick Grimes or Daryl Dixon. But rather than continue to uncontrollably geek out about this, there are details that you are undoubtedly eager to learn about this addition. So without further ado, here are all the details on this wonderful update to the game, courtesy of Ubisoft and AMC Networks.

‘We can’t hold them! Ubisoft, in collaboration with AMC, announced that The Walking Dead will be featured once again in Brawlhalla with Negan and Maggie joining the squad as new Epic Crossovers on September 22.

The latest reunion of fan favorites from The Walking Dead kicks off with an in-game event that features Negan and Maggie joining the previously released Michonne, Rick Grimes, and Daryl Dixon in Brawlhalla. The Walker Attack Game Mode will be featured as the Brawl of the Week, where players must fight off endless waves of walkers for as long as they can.

Developed by Blue Mammoth, Brawlhalla is an epic free-to-play platform fighting game that transports over 70 million players to a fight for glory in the halls of Valhalla. Choosing from more than 50 unique characters, players can jump into single-player and co-op modes, as well as online and local competitions. Brawlhalla also supports cross-platform play between the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch™ system, PlayStation 4® and PlayStation 5® system, PC, iOS, and Android devices where players can play custom games and queue together for all online matchmaking.

In its 11th season, AMC’s The Walking Dead remains cable’s #1 drama.  Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead is produced by AMC Studios and executive produced by Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang, Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert, Greg Nicotero, Joseph Incaprera and Denise Huth. The epic journey to the series finale continues Sundays 9/8c on AMC, with all episodes available one week early on AMC+, part of a massive 24-episode story arc that will bring the show’s decade-long successful run to conclusion.

For more information on Brawlhalla, please visit: brawlhalla.com

For the latest news on Brawlhalla and all of Ubisoft’s games, please visit: news.ubisoft.com.

For more information and the latest news on AMC’s The Walking Dead, please visit: TWDU.com’

Well, hello once again my fellow captain and admirals, it is hailing frequencies open on another edition of The Admiral’s Log and in today’s recap, we are celebrating the end of an epic journey in Star Trek Online, one that started two years ago. Because it was spring of 2019 when players in this game, were introduced to J’Ula and her machinations and her violent ‘Vulcan Hello’ set off one epic story. One that spanned two centuries and saw J’ula eventually become an ally thanks to Chancellor J’mpok’s desire to rule over every little thing in the Klingon Empire and well… at long last, the next episode in this phenomenal and sweeping story arc brings that adventure to a close in the most epic manner imaginable.

For ‘A Day Long Remembered’ is an episode that sees J’Ula’s coalition of the willing amass to fight the chancellor on his home turf, and of course… you’re invited to the party and that leads to one stunning battle. One where Klingon and Gorn and Elachi and humanity duke it out with the chancellor’s forces in the remnant of Praxis and above the proud cities of Qo’noS, and this really is quite the breathtaking battle. One that genuinely makes it clear that there are plenty of players in the Klingon Empire that fear what it will become under J’mpok’s twisted rule and that really does add a sense of urgency to the fight. The kind that is amplified by the fact that eventually, J’mpok threatens to use the planet destroying bomb that Emperor/Captain Georgiou planted on the home world in the season one finale of Star Trek: Discovery, to end this war in a bitter fashion.

Which means that a planet side fight awaits the player next, to stop J’mpok before he feels threatened enough to press that button and that too, leads to some intense moments. The kind where even the bravest of warriors take their lumps in combat, since you are forced to watch General Martok, one of the greatest heroes of the modern Klingon era… return to his ship to receive medical care after being sucker punched with a disruptor by Aakar, and the strife in this battle doesn’t there. For Aakar has set up a great deal of traps within the Great Hall to ensure that the chancellor is victorious over J’Ula when their final battle begins and that leads into a fierce fight and struggle to neutralize Aakar’s defenses and tricks and well… once you do, quite the ending comes into play.

One where J’Ula and L’Rell are victorious at last and the Empire stands united and well, this really is quite the satisfying ending to this journey. In large part because a mad tyrant gets his ass kicked on screen and loses his power without a shred of honor, ensuring him a lovely suite in the bowels of Gre’thor, but also because… this really is a moment of redemption for a lot of side characters. Since we learn that Gowron finally makes his way into Sto’Vo’Kor and J’Ula has transformed herself from bloodthirsty warmonger to Hero of the Empire. One that they will undoubtedly sing songs of for generations to come. Plus, this ending allows for the once and returned Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, L’Rell… to eventually have a proper ending. For her time on Discovery abruptly ended once the U.S.S Discovery made its way to 3289 in ‘Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2’.

But most important of all, this ending means that peace has returned to the Milky Way Galaxy and now, the Alliance can continue to grow and continue to unify all the species of the quadrants and well, now that this incredible story has ended, we can relish in its outright wonder. Because this is a story arc that genuinely offered up a cinematic adventure through and through, one complete with incredible cameos and quality writing and it also celebrated the best parts of the franchise. Since it spoke to unity and teamwork, and the desire for a better tomorrow and well, now that this scary chapter in the Empire’s long history has been closed, it’s back to daily Endeavor Missions and hopefully a few Retro Replays while we wait for the new season to arrive. Until then, Galactica out.

Well, hello again my fellow captains and admirals and welcome to another edition of The Admiral’s Log. It’s been a little while since we last chatted about the wondrous game that is Star Trek Online, but that’s okay. Because it makes these little reunion blogs all the more special since we’re taking the time to celebrate STO in a proper manner and boy… do we have quite the celebration to indulge in today. Because recently, the final two episodes of the Klingon Civil War story arc dropped on console, and I finally had the chance to dig in and play the next episode and holy cow was it quite the doozy for certain. 

For ‘Warriors of the Empire’ is nothing short of an assault on the senses since it features a grand  attempt by L’Rell and J’Ula to rally forces to their cause and their fight and of course… you get to help them in assembling a coalition of the willing to take on Emperor J’mpok and that made for quite the fascinating exploration to be honest. Because you get to see firsthand how the underdog pulls together and finds cohesion when civil war and strife is everywhere and it turns out, that one solid way to make that happen… is through good deeds. Because a great deal of the Klingons in this war are without leadership or guidance and L’Rell and J’Ula believe that helping lesser houses from J’mpok’s imposing rule, might be the best way to get their coalition together and that leads to the epic storytelling in question.

Because you quickly find yourself plunged in a system-by-system fight. One where your risk your life and the lives of your crew to show the Klingons that the Federation is vested in a stable Klingon Empire and will stand with them through thick and thin and well, that decision is what leads to the sensory overload in question. Because J’mpok’s forces are eager to flex their might and that sucks you into some incredible space battles. The kind where waves upon waves of Klingon warbirds continue to drop out of warp and if that’s not enough to rattle you a bit, the Elachi are there to complete the job. Since they too are eager to use spore rifts to gain a foothold in the Beta Quadrant and these are definitely some humbling battles, since the Galactica needed to re-spawn a few times during the course of combat. But these are also worthwhile battles as well.

For eventually, when the dust has settled and repairs are complete, the coalition is formed. For you and your shipmates and allies fight with great honor, the kind that J’mpok and his lackeys do not exhibit in the slightest and that in turn allows for an armada to serve at the beck and call of L’Rell and J’Ula when they deem it and well, that’s an awesome and fulfilling setup for the season finale of this arc. It’s fulfilling, simply because it allows for J’Ula to right a long of wrongs in her respective arc and because your efforts really do help to remind the Empire what matters most. In that, it needs a strong Chancellor to guide it into an honorable future, one where warriors feel good about fighting their enemies instead of one another. 

As for the awesome aspect, well that comes about from the sheer fact that you can feel the tension for the finale building. Because all that is left is an all-out assault on Qo’nos. One that would end with a new Chancellor sitting atop the throne and installing a new high council. But before we dive into that mission, we can revel in the majesty of one ambitious tale, one that really does take your breath away with incredible combat and it should also be noted, that it features some cool fan service as well. Since part of this mission involves a battle above the frigid and sorrowful prison world of Rura Penthe. A place that has popped up in canon plenty of times and was critical to the plot of The Undiscovered Country, and it was super geeky to fight above this icy and barren world and just plain amazing to aid Klingons that care about more than power and now that this mission has come to a close, it is time to turn our attention to that final assault, one that will change the Empire for decades to come and that is where this blog will pick up, next time. Until then, Galactica out.

**CLASSIFIED** **EYES ONLY**

To Fleet Admiralty:

What follows is the official Colonial Fleet Intelligence Committee Report on the first use of nuclear weapons since the arrival of rearmament program missiles at forward-deployed fleets.

Cylon presence around a Colonial Fleet data center prompted immediate evacuation of all personnel. After evacuation, it was determined that not all data had been removed from the site during the evacuation. In order to prevent the enemy from acquiring classified data, Commander Murray was ordered to counterattack and destroy the data center before the Cylons could achieve access.

Cmdr. Murray tasked the 11th Fleet with this mission and Captain of the 11th Fleet Flagship Commander Sleeman immediately deployed the 11th to the zone. Upon arrival, it became apparent that the Cylon forces would need to be engaged before the 11th could move in range to destroy the data center. Thankfully, the Cylon force consisted only of a light scout fleet: under armed light carriers with token fighter escort, and a small gunship screening force.

Cmdr. Sleeman deployed fighters and pushed straight down the center of the Cylon line; he managed to anchor almost all Cylon forces away from the data center. However, Raptor reconnaissance discovered a single enemy Talon-class light carrier moving towards the data center; as the Cylon fleet still provided significant impediment to Cmdr. Sleeman’s ability to break through, Cmdr. Murray took personal command to authorize a nuclear strike against the enemy carrier.

After the Cylon demonstration of detonated nuclear weapons in border space, our rearmament program has been proceeding rapidly and smoothly, but nuclear missiles have not been deployed in combat until today. This firing of nuclear ordnance proves that the program has been successful, and the Colonial Fleet Intelligence Committee officially recommends that Admiralty authorizes Fleet Flagship Captains to utilize nuclear munitions when necessary and at their discretion.

The nuclear strike annihilated the enemy Talon carrier and successfully prevented access to the data center. Cmrd. Sleeman then performed a textbook fleet gunnery assault with fighter support on the remaining forces, and the Cylon fleet was cut to pieces in short order. Raptor flight was recalled, and Viper squadrons were sent to destroy the data center, while capital ships mopped up the remaining enemy forces.

Video recording of the engagement is attached.

Colonial Fleet Intelligence Committee Exercise Report:

Further to the initial combat experiences with the new Mark II Variant of our Viper fighter, an exercise was conducted between opposing Colonial forces to more fully ascertain the limits of the Viper Mk. II’s combat capabilities.

Colonial Fleet ships acting as the Opposing Force (OpFor) were marked in Yellow, and flew a traditional Fleet Composition while deploying Viper Mk. I Fighters.
 
The Mk. I Vipers and our Mk. II Vipers met between the fleets and engaged in a fighter-on-fighter engagement. The Viper Mk. IIs quickly won the dogfight, devastating the OpFor craft. While marginally less durable than the Mk. I, the Mk. II’s superior speed and maneuverability allowed them to dictate the terms of the engagement, stay out of the firing zones of the OpFor fighters, and in some cases literally fly circles around their enemies. The OpFor Mk. I Viper squadrons were as effective as unarmed target drones, and the Mk. II squadrons quickly secured total fighter supremacy in the battlespace.

To further test their capabilities, the Mk. II squadrons were instructed to attack the enemy capital ships, with no support from their own fleet. The Mk. II squadrons were able to efficiently pick apart and destroy the OpFor’s Adamant-Class frigates and even their Ranger-Class Missile Cruiser without the loss of a single Mk. II fighter.
 
With the data from this wargame exercise, and the past combat experience reported by Commander Murray, the Colonial Fleet Intelligence Committee revises their previous recommendation to a mandatory order: All fighter squadrons must be equipped with the new Viper Mk. II Variant or be classified Combat Ineffective by the end of the month.

To Fleet Admiralty:

The following is a Colonial Intelligence Committee report on the first deployment of two new ship designs; you will find relevant visual files attached.
​
The two new designs in question: Minotaur-class Gunship, Atlas-class Carrier.

The Minotaur-class, as the name implies, is a heavily armed, heavily armored gun platform. It has no ordnance launch system and does not support fighter-class craft.
 
While the Minotaur-class provides an overwhelming amount of gunnery power, the reduction in available fighter squadrons impacts tactical flexibility of the overall fleet.

The Atlas-class is an older design from the days of Virgon's Imperialism, designed around fighter-class squadrons. They field more fighter-class craft than the Artemis-class Battlestar without occupying as many resources, but lack almost any kind of offensive firepower. Their robust armor defense coupled with the enemy's penchant for prioritizing them as targets makes them useful as tools to draw fire from more valuable ships or to break up enemy formations.

Attached combat recording shows how the two new ship classes, in concert with Artemis-class Battlestars and Viper squadrons, can create a multifaceted force which no single enemy response can withstand, but also points to tactical weaknesses in the specialization of ships which must be carefully considered during any engagement.
 
Upon analysis of this and other skirmishes, and with the declining effectiveness of the Adamant-class frigate in the face of larger and tougher enemy ships, the Intelligence Committee officially recommends a new strike fleet composition of either:
 
2 Artemis,
1 Atlas,
4 Minotaur
 
OR
 
2 Artemis,
2 Atlas,
3 Minotaur
 
Depending on the need for fighter craft or ship gunnery.