In the Star Trek Online universe, only the foolish would dare fight the big-sized and ill-tempered Nausicaans head on. Even more foolish are those don’t take extra precautions when fighting the ultimate Nausicaan ship, the Guramba Siege Destroyer, which can blow up even the sturdiest battle cruisers to smithereens.

Revealed over the Christmas break to be a new C-Store ship for Klingons, the Guramba Siege Destroyer has been designed for front-line combat. The ship has seven weapons slots, five bridge officer seats (Lieutenant Commander Tactical, Commander Tactical, Ensign Engineering, Lieutenant Engineering and Lieutenant Science) and eight console modification slots (4 Tactical, 2 Engineering, 2 Science).

The Guramba Siege Destroyer also carries 300 crew, and can transform into its deadly Siege Mode. How deadly? Let’s just say you wouldn’t want to be around when the Guramba brings out the big guns, and big they are based on the combat trailer below:

Cryptic Studios explained that the Guramba gets all its Siege Mode juice when it diverts power from the engines to its laser arsenal. This allows the ship to launch devastating attacks, including its signature energy javelin. Star Trek Onine players are already describing the Guramba as the space equivalent of a Black Widow, and it’s hard to deny the resemblance: From the poison-green beams and curled tentacle design, to its ability to quickly dispatch its prey.

Only Klingon Empire captains with Lieutenant General rank can own a Guramba Siege Destroyer–a fact that is making Federation pilots squirm with envy for the first time in a long while.

Remember back in the day when your parental units plopped down a Lego set and then left for the movies while you, presumably, had a blast building things?

Atari and Cryptic Studios seems to have tapped into that childhood urge to create with its new Season Three: Genesis, which is due to launch on December 9. Pilots will be given access to The Foundry, a set of content creation tools that will make the third update of the Star Trek Online more involving for players.

Missions created using The Foundry will be available for play among the community-at-large, and the most popular ones will be lavished with fame and rewards. (The rewards part though are still totally speculative, but I wouldn’t put it past the developers to dangle some incentives to spur more impressive output.)

Season Three also activates the use of Borg technology aboard player ships. These highly advanced and obliteration-capable tech can be obtained in the new Special Task Force raids, and will bump up the coolness factor of your ship as well as its battle capabilities.

Other features included in this latest update is the “much cleaner, minimalist” experience of Sector Space travel. Testimonials, at least from those with access to the Tribble test server, notice that locations are more fleshed out in look and feel. There’s also the new Episode Replay functionality that allows previously finished episodes to be repeated–a boon for those who don’t mind the grind but like the loot.

It all begins with the metal-masked Breen.

Star Trek Online has activated its weekly Feature Episodes, and the first task is to answer a distress call from Deferi people who’ve just been invaded by the armor-clad Breen.

The planet hostage drama will unfold over five to six Feature Episodes in what is dubbed as a Series. STO Executive Producer Dan Stahl said that while Feature Episodes will advance the main storyline of the game, they won’t have a recurring nemesis; instead, each Series will have various species and factions threatening the galaxy much like how the original TV series worked.

In the current Breen Series which runs until this month, Federation and Klingon players  can’t work together for the missions. Instead, each side has to complete each Feature Episode by themselves or with faction teammates.

We think this will eventually be loosened up to allow Fed-Klingon co-op play, but it might not be until several Seasons in. Mr. Stahl added that Feature Episodes must be completed in succession–no skipping is allowed!–in order to get the rare prize at the end.

Freshly recruited captains will also have to wait until they’re level 10 or higher to take on Feature Episodes. “We set the limit at the first rank up because we wanted to ensure players are familiar with the mission progression in the game and have a solid understanding of where to go next for missions before they start flying around the galaxy looking for the next mission.”

Star Trek Online has launched a web-based shipbuilding program called the Star Trek Online Architect, which allows you to design your own galactic starship.

While customization is limited in ship colors and type, you can change four major components: the saucer, nacelles, pylons and the hull. When you’re finished customizing your starship, you can save it and see it get stored on a shared gallery.

The STO Architect flash site also has the Ship Shaper mini-game where you have to pick up random ship parts racing across the screen and assemble them into whole starship. Extra points and time will be awarded when you choose the right combination of parts.

Your custom-built ships and game scores can be shared on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. But the neatest thing about the site is the free sweepstakes opportunity. Just enter your name and e-mail address and you have the chance to win one of these prizes:

• 1 Star Trek: The Original Series: Classic Captain’s Chair Replica
• 3 Intel Core i7-920 Processors
• 10 Copies of Star Trek Online and 1 month access to the game

Quite nifty for signing up for a mailing list–besides, you can always unsubscribe after the sweepstakes ends.

E-p33ns are set to get galactically bigger as Star Trek Online enabled its newest content update a few days ago.

Season One: Update Two, also known as Season 1.2, introduces the Accolades System which lets captains track their kills, quest completions and other in-game statistics. This progress-tracking system functions like the Achievements System in World of Warcraft with hundreds of Accolades to earn during the initial implementation version.

According to the Accolades information page, there are basically seven fields to excel in: Damage Dealt, Damage Taken, Healing Performed, Enemy Kills, Story-based, Exploration and PvP. Advancing in these areas eventually unlock rewards such as character titles and passive resistance bonuses to both characters and ships.

Accolades can be tracked via a special tab in your Journal and will display your accumulated points as well as detailed descriptions of each available Accolade. If you’re worried that your past feats have been wasted, don’t despair. Star Trek Online has been recording these statistics since launch and will give you a running tally instead of a clean slate.

Aside from the Accolades System, another major addition with Season 1.2 is the Squad Support System. Captains of varying ranks can team to finish missions and roam the rest of the galaxy.

The Squad Support information page says high-ranked captains will lose hit points, damage, healing and even item use efficacy when pairing up with a low-level player. Bridge Officer powers though will still be accessible, although their effectiveness will also scale down. Luckily, other character traits such as skill points, ships, Bridge Officer complement, console stations and Bridge Officer stations will remain as is.

New recruits will appreciate this feature the most. There’s nothing better than to have a pal guide you through a difficult Borg encounter, or keep your Klingon company while traveling across quadrant space.

For a complete list of improvements, visit the official Season 1.2 Update page.

Another tip is to read through the first two installments (here and here) released so you don’t repeat the same question asked before. Also, run your question by a spellchecker and avoid mobile text language at all costs. You may have phaser hot questions, but somehow, we doubt developers will take in grammar-challenged queries if only to avoid the hassles of editing. They have a lot on their plate right now, you know, like working out the major kinks in ground combat (*crosses fingers*).