Gamma Horizon; 2018 Dreams and Speculation

Topic title should say it all. This is a simple thread for hopes and speculation about what is coming in STO for 2018.

What we know so far is… sparse. The August trailer for Season 14 showed a bunch of Jem’hadar ships coming through the wormhole, with a teaser for Summer 2018. And based what the January State of the Fleet said about all of 2018 being prepped already, whatever we are getting is going to get has little reason not to have an Arena Net grade hype train ready and to roll out. ( Sorry, my Guild Wars 2 is showing. )

Aside from that we’ve been very busy with the Alpha quadrant during this past year(ish) of featured story arcs, and one of the stories that released with Future Proof teased that Letta was going to be going after some species the Terran Empire hadn’t encountered yet but the Federation had. Tidbits like that can take awhile to pay off, it took most of the game to finally take care of the Iconians and they were basically the premier puppet masters since day one. Now we’re introducing a new enemy or two, Letta is still out there, and the Dominian is either up to something or being harried by something enough to ask for help. We can’t assume all of that is connected, but it is not outside the realm of possibility that it isn’t.

Personally, my biggest hope is for a new recruitment event. I’m getting close to capping off all of my four existing characters in every possible way, and I’ve only been actively playing STO since just before the Agents of Tomorrow Expansion. A new recruitment event means a new expansion, but that isn’t off the table since timing wise having something fall during 2018 would match the tempo they’ve had since Delta Rising.

Of course then there is a question of what else will come with the expansion… and my need to see everything balanced just screams there needs to be a KDF faction to help balance out the 23rd Century characters the Feds have. With the Jem’hadar involved in Brushfire with Martok, we have room Dominion refugees to find sympathizes with the KDF.

What I would like to see more, though, is a Mirror Universe Alpha Quadrant Resistance to the Letta and the Terran Empire. The Cardassian’s would be center to such an alliance, and according the Mirror Universe history the Klingons and Cardassians allied together to defeat the Terran alliance the first time around. As such if events left such a ship stranded in our universe in the Beta quardent, their first instinct might be to turn to the Klingon Empire for help rather than the Federation. Of course this faction would have Cardassians, but the question is what other species would get involved? Letheans are an obvious choice since they are an Alpha Quardent species already allied to the KDF, and at least some Ferrengi would have the lobes to realize that a firm embargo needs to be enacted to prevent the destruction of capitalism in the Quadrant. Other possible species… Ferasan, Bajoran and possible even more core Fed traditional characters like Trill and Saurian… though the closer to earth one goes, the more likely that Terran Empire has assimilated them.

So… anyone else have any dreams they want to throw out there?