In his latest Engineering Report, Star Trek Online Executive Producer Dan Stahl says that he's "incredibly happy" Cryptic Studios is now a subsidiary of Perfect World. Here's why:

"They are excited about Star Trek Online. They see huge potential in this game and in the discussion we've had about the future of STO, they want the game to be GREAT and BIG. That made my eyes light up and we are now in the process of sitting down and putting together a plan to make that happen, because frankly, Star Trek Online has been through the rough over the last few months."

Stahl explains that the team is planning to "get content back on track" with the release of a major update on September 22 and Feature Episode 4 in October. That episode will take place on and around Deep Space Nine. For more details, check out Stahl's full Engineering Report.

Perfect World Entertainment's acquisition of Cryptic Studios is complete, so Cryptic has answered some frequently asked questions to let players know what the deal means for them. Most of the more immediate changes players will see are cosmetic or are back-end modifications, including swapping out logos, revising the Privacy Policy and changing Atari Tokens to Cryptic Points.

To make a long story short, the acquisition shouldn't affect your gameplay experience, at least for now. Cryptic Studios will continue to operate Champions Online and Star Trek Online, and development will continue as planned for Neverwinter and other unannounced titles. Your account will remain a Cryptic account for the time being and the C-Store will continue to operate as normal. Cryptic Points may eventually be converted into another virtual currency, but it's just being considered at this point.

And since we're sure most of you are curious, the FAQ don't address whether Star Trek Online will be going free-to-play. You can read the full FAQ after the jump.

Star Trek Online Executive Producer Dan Stahl's latest Ask Cryptic segment is simply massive, surpassing 5,000 words! The most important question focuses on upcoming new content for the game, so Stahl answered it right at the top. Here's the tentative schedule for new content:

• Borg Sector Space Invasions (Aug 25)
• Borg Ground Invasion Repeatable Event (Sep 22)
• Borg STF Updates (new loot, new group finder tool) (Sep 22)
• New Event Calendar and Daily Event Schedule (Sep 22)
• New Lore Quests (Sep 22)
• Klingon Academy Zone (Sep 22)
• Episode Progression update (re-leveling nearly all episodes + new Mission Journal UI) (Sep 22)
• Duty Officer System and Assignments (Oct 20)
• Feature Episode Series 4 ready to start (Oct 22)

Stahl covers many other topics in the lengthy Q&A, so check it out for more details!

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the fan-designed U.S.S. Enterprise-F that will be added to Star Trek Online in an upcoming Feature Episode. The Odyssey-class ship was created by Adam Ihle and finalized by the Cryptic team.

Executive Producer Dan Stahl unveiled the ship in the fourth and final part of the team's Building the Next Enterprise dev blog series. "Adam's sketch inspired us," he said. "It created internal discussions about the evolution of the Starfleet Cruiser and how this ship represented a new approach to design that would lead us into the future."

Star Trek Online's latest major content update, Season 4: Crossfire, is now live! Players will find the following features added with the new content:

• Ground combat enhancements add a new shooter mode to the game.
• Qo'noS has been restructured as a new home for the Klingon faction.
• You will be assimilated: The Borg ramp up for their impending invasion with new assimilation and weapon adaptation tactics.
• Access to more Sectors and Patrol missions for Klingons
• Vivox Voice Chat integration to connect in even more ways with your Fleet and the entire STO community
• Fleet Action (PvE) Queue improvements

There's still more! Crossfire will bring even more content throughout the summer! Players can look forward to:

• Active Duty Officer Roster and Mission Assignment System
• Additional Ground Fleet Actions
• Borg Deepspace Incursions and Ground Invasion Events
• Special Task Force Enhancements
• Feature Episode Series 4

Check out the Season Four: Crossfire video over at Star Trek Online's official site!

Star Trek Online Season 4 is scheduled to launch this week, but that hasn't stopped Executive Producer Dan Stahl from answering a whopping 50 questions in the latest Ask Cryptic segment. He covers a wide variety of topics in his answers and discusses some of the upcoming Season 4 content.

Grab some of Captain Picard's hot Earl Grey tea from the replicator and browse through all of Stahl's answers after the jump!

Executive Producer Dan Stahl has published his latest Star Trek Online Engineering Report, and it once again focuses on the Season 4 update that's scheduled to launch next month. He covers a lot of ground, so here are the highlights:

• The team is ecstatic about the Ground Combat feedback from players on the Tribble test server. "Ground Combat has always been one of the top failings of STO and the team has spent a lot of time adjusting and intentionally updating every single weapon in the game to add more variety and fun to Away Team and PvP combat," he said.
• A new zone focuses on the Klingon Faction. "I hope to see plenty of new missions and stories starting from this zone," he said.
• The team is currently developing the next Feature Episode series, which will take place around Deep Space Nine.
• Expect new missions and events to fight back the Borg and save the species at risk in and near the Alpha Quadrant.
• The team is also starting development on several new repeatable Ground and Space Fleet Actions that will be featured in upcoming PvE Queues.
• Other upcoming features include an overhauled mission journal, an event calendar, new ships, new loot sets, and new costumes.

Stahl said in last month's Engineering Report that Season 4 is tentatively scheduled to launch on July 7.

It's that time again! The June 2011 edition of Ask Cryptic is here and you know how this goes. Producer Dan Stahl sat down to bring you news about the next Tribble Test Weekend, musings regarding Lt. Ort, Diplomacy, Wormhole talk and a host of new information.

Head on over to the official STO site to see if your Q's got A'd!

In his latest Star Trek Online dev diary, Executive Producer Dan Stahl gives players an interesting look into how the team selected a single winner for the Design the Next Enterprise Contest. He explains that the design they chose actually made them think about why Starfleet would move in that direction with the Enterprise, which is why it stood out above the rest.

Stahl also discusses how Jeremy, one of the lead artists, built the 3D model of the ship (seen above). In the next dev blog entry, Jeremy will cover "how this Clay Model spawned weeks of iteration over the concept of the ship and how to finalize a concept drawing for the Next Enterprise."

Perfect World announced today that it has entered an agreement with Atari to acquire 100% equity interest in Cryptic Studios for approximately $50 million in cash. Atari stated a couple weeks ago that it was looking to sell Cryptic after the company "determined that external development creates more flexibility in the changing marketplace."

Here's what Michael Chi, chairman and chief executive officer of Perfect World, had to say about the deal:

"We are very pleased to sign the agreement to acquire Cryptic Studios. This strategic acquisition will add attractive game titles to our portfolio, which will help us further penetrate into the U.S. and global online game markets. More importantly, Cryptic Studios' highly reputable development team and its technology platform will further strengthen our well-established R&D capabilities. We deem this as another noteworthy achievement of our global expansion efforts."

Only time will tell what this move means for Champions Online, Star Trek Online and the upcoming Neverwinter.