The Admiral’s Log: My Journey Through ‘Star Trek Online’ – Part XI

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

‘Victory is Life’ – Part I

​I’ll be the first to admit, that it takes a lot for a video game to truly get me excited these days. Because as the years have progressed, and my tastes have settled, I tend to just quietly download a new release that I’ve been waiting for with little fanfare in my mind. But recently, something incredible happened, I found myself supremely excited for an upcoming addition to Star Trek Online, to the point where I was quite literally counting down the minutes to ‘Victory is Life’, the brand-new expansion to the game that promised all kinds of wonders to those who so heartily played it, and it is those exact wonders that had me so incredibly excited.
 
After all, we were about to enjoy a brand new season of storytelling that would return us to Deep Space Nine, wherein a massive chunk of the cast from that magnificent series were going to reprise their roles in a story that would see the Federation and its allies battle the Hur’q threat in the Gamma Quadrant and while that alone sold me, there was so much more that I would be able to enjoy once the expansion arrived. I mean come on, the Gamma Quadrant itself was going to be accessible to players at last and the level cap was going to be raised to 65 and all weapons and gear were going to get a level increase as well to Mark XV.
 
So, needless to say, when the day of its release arrived, I rushed the heck home and downloaded that bad boy with a giant smile on my face, because I was ready to venture to the Gamma Quadrant at last. But, before I set sail for Deep Space Nine and the Wormhole, it suddenly dawned upon me that I had a grand opportunity in front of me for the first time ever when it comes to this game. Because I spent much of my time prior to this launch, catching up if you will. I’d enhance my gear on the fly as the story progressed and take my lumps in doing so. But this time around, my push to save energy credits and dilithium was about to pay off in spades because I could take the time to upgrade everyone and everything aboard the Galactica and join the fight at my strongest point ever in the game and well, that seemed like a fine place to kickoff this new expansion.
 
Which means my first real experience with ‘Victory is Life’, involved an extended stay at Earth Spacedock. Wherein I traded out my Anti-Proton turret for a new aft Anti-Proton beam, followed by every upgrade I could get my hands on and man, all that saving up was so worthwhile. Because I was able to afford all the upgrades I needed to make the ship as powerful as possible. The only thing I was a little short on in the end was dilthium, but a single patrol would take care of that, which would in turn allow for me to finish upgrading the last couple of consoles in need of enhancement, so…now seemed like as good a time as any to take the new Mark XV gear out for a spin and my goodness, were these upgrades worth the wait.
 
Because the Galactica was stronger than ever, and her new weapons made mincemeat out of frigates, tearing through their shields with ease and battleships and command cruisers didn’t fare much better, since they too took a pounding with these new weapons and well, one patrol later, the ship was ready. Everything was upgraded, she was in many ways a predator at this point, which meant it was time to kick off ‘Victory is Life’ in proper fashion and just like that, we set course for the Alpha Quadrant and Deep Space Nine to see what awaited us in the Gamma Quadrant and that, is where we will pick up next time. Until then. 

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