The designers want players to be able to adventure freely within the galaxy. Obviously there are places that you don’t want to hit as a low level character but it’s about freedom of choice here. So how does this whole gig work? I want to level, I want to gain rank. What will I be doing to obtain this goal?

When you take out a ship, you’ve got lots of options. While crews can fly together—and there are some great benefits to working within a crew—lots of people will also be piloting solo ships. And even within crews, the focus is on making the player interaction fun and powerful, and not on punishing the group if one participant isn’t contributing. You don’t have a science officer in your crew? You won’t have access to some of the cooler science abilities, but the ship will still function well. Players are purely additive,” said Glen. "You’ll pull your friends on board without the need to have someone manning engineering just to keep the ship running. “Our intention is to pay off on the Star Trek fantasy without making the experience unapproachable. We’re looking to be fairly casual-friendly.