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Review: Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Job Simulator: Starfleet Edition

If there’s any quintessential Star Trek fantasy, it’s probably of being on the bridge of one of the series’ iconic starships. Be it the Enterprise , Defiant , or  Voyager , Star Trek  has long defined itself through command decks and the people sitting on them. 

Star Trek: Bridge Crew  promised to use VR tech to put players in that fantasy, but after repeated delays, can Ubisoft and Red Storm bring that 23rd-century Federation experience to life?

Star Trek: Bridge Crew  (PlayStation VR [Reviewed], Oculus Rift, HTC Vive) Developer: Red Storm Entertainment Publisher: Ubisoft Released: May 30, 2017 MSRP: $49.99

I’m not going to bury the lede here: Star Trek: Bridge Crew accomplishes this feat rather brilliantly. At this point, it might be my favorite VR experience to date.

That said, I am compelled to qualify my statement, in that that brilliance comes more despite the limitations of the game than because of it. Indeed, while what Red Storm has developed can be solid platform for some choice Trek interactions, the content in the software itself come across as a bit thin.

If nothing else, the game does exactly what it says on the box: It places up to four players in the position of being members of a Star Trek starship’s bridge crew. Each player, wearing one of the three major VR headsets (I played on a PSVR), takes one of the stations aboard the bridge of a ship, and uses either a pair of motion controllers or a gamepad to manipulate the controls for that station. Together, the players will cooperate to accomplish the missions and run the ship.

Each bridge station has a distinct function and unique capabilities. Helm officers pilot the starship, plotting courses to different navigation points, aligning the vessel on impulse or warp vectors, and managing the throttle. Tactical officers can scan objects in the local vicinity, locating life signs, ferreting out navigational hazards, and isolating enemies’ subsystems. They can raise and lower the ship’s shields, as well as use phasers and photon torpedoes to destroy or disable enemy ships. Engineers allocate power to ship systems, increasing or decreasing their effectiveness. They can temporarily reroute power to different systems for a quick boost, as well as direct repair teams to contain damage sustained in combat.

Shared between these three stations are controls for the ship’s transporter, as well as a “System Intrusion” hacking mechanic that allows the crew to get a leg up on enemy ships in combat. The fourth station, the Captain’s coordinates the other three stations’ efforts, by alerting the crew to mission objectives, answering incoming communications, and manipulating the main viewscreen. Captains are also the only players who can take control of AI crew stations, in case the session is short a station or two.

These interactions, in and of themselves, are fairly simple ones. Ultimately, they boil down to three different ways to interact with a control panel, after all.  But it’s more than that, though. The genius of Star Trek: Bridge Crew – lies in the fact that no one person on the crew has everything they need to do their job.

The Captain knows the objective and how to complete the mission, but needs the other three stations working in order to actually get anything done. A helmsman can maneuver the ship and set course to the objective, but needs the Engineer to allocate power to his systems and prime the warp engines for travel. The Tactical officer can engage targets and destroy threats, but will need both the Helm and Engineer to keep the ship in effective range and ensure there’s enough power. The Engineer can greatly increase the effectiveness of the other stations, but needs to balance their demands as well as keep the ship in good working order. 

Staying on top of all of this under pressure to accomplish mission objectives like rescuing castaways while under fire, or scanning crucial anomalies and escaping before a star explodes, requires communication. Bridge Crew  isn’t a game for the shy, and everyone on a crew will need to speak up to get the job done.

But the best part is that the nature of this required cooperation tends to prompt people to, for lack of a batter word, act professionally. Rather than trash-talk or racial epithets or insults (the usual language of pick-up game voice chat) the vast majority of random crewmates I played did their jobs, and in doing so ended up sounding just like one might imagine an actual Star Trek  bridge crew might, issuing reports on their status, making (polite) requests, and even cracking up a bit during the more stressful missions. Even little things, like the way it’s easier to say “Helm”, or “Captain” or “Tactical” than it is to read someone’s absurd nickname tends to have people address each other like they might if they were actual crew members on a ship. This natural “role-playing” feels profound and frankly magical when combined with the sense of presence one gets from using VR headsets and motion controllers.

Of course, I might be a somewhat biased observer, being a hardcore Trek  nerd who’s been dreaming of this sort of experience since childhood. I’d wager that many of the people I interacted with were in the same boat. I also can’t imagine what it might be like trying to get over a language barrier (the Asia-region servers weren’t especially populated at the time of review). And yet, I can still recognize that while Bridge Crew is the closest I’ve come yet to realizing that longtime Trekker fantasy, it’s not quite all there yet.

The campaign is something of a disappointment, for one. Lasting between 3 and 5 hours, the handful of story missions available tell the tale of the U.S.S. Aegis , a new starship from the rebooted continuity (AKA “The Kelvin Timeline”) sent to explore a region of space in search of a new homeworld for the Vulcans. Unfortunately, most of the drama just doesn’t land, and the actual missions merely function as an in-depth tutorial for the different stations. 

This puts the onus for the game’s longevity on its “Ongoing Missions” mode, a procedurally generated set of challenges and randomized missions designed to test a crew’s coordination. These work, but it’s clear that something is missing without the benefit of a bespoke, scripted campaign. 

Further, Bridge Crew ‘s (natural) emphasis on limiting action to the bridge and ship itself expose a somewhat uncomfortable truth, that contradicts the opening statement of my review: As it turns out,  Star Trek  is a lot more than the bridges of its famous starships. 

The crew can’t get together in a conference room to figure out that the mysterious signal that’s giving them horrible visions of atrocities is, in fact, a psychic memorial planted by a long-dead alien race. They can’t get the engineer can’t modify the navigational deflector to mimic cosmic string vibrations and draw off a dangerous herd of two-dimensional space beasts. They can’t infiltrate a malfunctioning holodeck game program and seduce its boss character to end its feud with a race of holographic aliens.

By the way, all of the above are actual plot points from Star Trek episodes. Suffice it to say that much the drama, adventure, and hijinks of the last fifty years feels absent when people are confined to their seats and left to simply do their jobs. In a way, playing Star Trek: Bridge Crew  feels sort of like being part of a crew that is not  starring in its own Star Trek  show, they’re just there, doing their jobs while other , more photogenic officers, go and get themselves into trouble.

One could, of course, try to do this in a more single-player setting. Bridge Crew  supports the use of AI crewmates, with the player using the captain’s chair and issuing orders with a radial menu, but the resulting game is oddly silent and quite difficult, as the AI is a bit dim and will require babysitting. It’s like trying to play Overcooked  alone: You can do it, but it’s clear that it’s not the best or most enjoyable way to play.

Of course, this assessment is somewhat unfair. The game is Star Trek: Bridge Crew , not Star Trek: Story Simulator. And yet even 2001’s Star Trek Bridge Commander  had a more substantial and diverse story campaign, one with a classic Next Generation  plotline. I guess I’m trying to say I wish the campaign was stronger and more fitting of how lovely the game feels to play, especially with other people. That’s why I referred to Bridge Crew  as a “platform” for Star Trek , since its actual content doesn’t quite live up to its design.

But what a platform, though!  Star Trek: Bridge Crew  is a brilliant VR experience, and pushes the technology to emphasize social interaction and cooperation in a way only a handful of other titles have been able to realize. Beyond that, it’s fine slice of Star Trek  fan service, as well. There’s plenty more new life and new civilization to find in  Star Trek: Bridge Crew , and I’m hoping that it’ll be able to boldly go and realize the rest of its potential.

[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

Star Trek: Bridge Crew The Next Generation DLC Review - To Boldly Go In VR

When most people think of Star Trek and virtual reality, they’re imagining the holodeck, a staging environment that lets users seamlessly travel to other realities as if they were real. Many companies are on quests to realize something like that with modern VR technology, but Ubisoft isn’t one of them. Instead, in partnership with Red Storm Entertainment, they’re setting their sights on the bridge experience instead.

But in terms of Star Trek as a whole, there is nothing more iconic than the shot of a crew sitting on the bridge of a powerful starship. With last year’s release of Star Trek: Bridge Crew , Ubisoft was successful in delivering one of VR’s most memorable and immersive multiplayer experiences to date. There’s nothing quite like barking orders at your friends, sitting side-by-side as things go spectacularly wrong, or valiantly triumphing over dastardly enemies in the final frontier of space.

When it debuted, you could take command of a crew aboard the new Aegis ship, which is themed as a futuristic vessel with lots of whites and grays and sleek designs similar to the modern era of Star Trek films, or the original Enterprise from the very first Star Trek TV show. But it was missing something extremely important: The Next Generation .

As perhaps the most popular era of Star Trek as a whole, The Next Generation’s bridge and crew are immediately recognizable. So in the form of a DLC pack which includes brand new Ongoing Voyages missions, new enemies, a new player race, a new role to play, and yes, TNG’s iconic bridge, Bridge Crew is getting a major overhaul.

The main draw of this DLC is going to just be the experience of sitting on TNG’s bridge, feeling like your part of the crew, and that general sense of presence that only VR can afford — but that’s only a brief slice of what this expansion offers.

Functionally, the TNG bridge is pretty much identical to the Aegis bridge with regard to the captain, tactical officer, and helm positions, but Engineering has been totally overhauled. Instead, you’ll take on the role of Operations, which is what Data did in TNG’s show. And along with that inclusion is the ability to create Android avatars as well (shown below).

In the Ops role, you’ll not only have to do all of Engineering’s job through re-routing power to different subsystems, charging warp coils, and transporting things onto the ship, but now you’ll also have to manage the NPC crew across the entire ship to send them out to different areas and start repairs. It’s a game of predictive micromanagement that adds a ton of chaos and helps liven up an otherwise boring role.

The romulans are a fun new enemy to deal with, as they can actually target parts of your ship to disable during fights. Since the player has always been able to do that, this feels like an evening of the scales a little bit. Combat certainly feels more lethal this time around. Romulans can also flee and cloak themselves now as well, making it tough to keep track of them if you’re not agile.

But the real highlight of the new enemies has got to be the borg. There is an entire new mission type that’s specifically focused on fighting an enormous borg cube, fleeing to upgrade your ship, fighting it some more, fleeing to upgrade your ship, and so on until it’s been defeated. And each time you flee the cube gets stronger from learning your tactics making it one of the more intense ways of challenging yourself.

All of the additions that this DLC makes feel great and welcome, but ultimately it’s not that large of an overhaul. The campaign is still untouched, Ops, even after its changes, is still probably the least fun role to play, and the new enemies mostly feel just like the Klingons with a few minor changes. This isn’t to say TNG is a bad piece of DLC — it improves the game and gives us more of what we loved — but it’s also not going to really draw in a new audience other than those holding out for TNG’s bridge to begin with.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew’s The Next Generation DLC is pretty special. The attention to detail afforded to the Enterprise-D is mind-blowing, the overhaul to Engineering (now Ops) is much-needed, and the expansion of Ongoing Voyages missions and new enemies add variety to an experience that can otherwise grow stale over time. However, it doesn’t do enough to really shake up or improve the core experience enough to elevate the game as a whole. It’s basically more of the same with slight alterations. Unless you’re a massive fan of The Next Generation and are desperate for more Star Trek: Bridge Crew, you’re not missing out on too much if you give this a pass.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew’s The Next Generation DLC releases today exclusively for PSVR and non-VR PS4 players for a limited time. The Next Generation DLC will also be available for Rift, Vive, Windows VR, and non-VR PC players starting July 21st.

Read our Content Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.

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Star Trek: Bridge Crew

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Star Trek: Bridge Crew is being developed by Red Storm Entertainment and is published by Ubisoft, the company's first non-free-to-play game. It was released on May 30, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PC, supporting PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift.

It is set in the J.J. Abrams's movie universe, clearly sometime after the events of the 2009 film. Rather than being designed as a hardcore tactical simulator, it is intended to be a lighthearted social experience. Players take on one of these four roles: Captain , Engineering , Tactical , or Helm . It will be possible to fill unoccupied roles with AI players.

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Published Dec 20, 2019

Go Behind the Scenes of Star Trek: Bridge Crew

David Voytpka, Senior Creative Director at Red Storm Entertainment offers StarTrek.com some insight into the game's development.a

StarTrek.com

Have you ever wanted to sit in the captain’s chair of a Federation starship? Do you dream of exploring space as a member of the Starfleet to boldly go where no one has gone before?

Star Trek: Bridge Crew and The Next Generation Expansion , the virtual reality game from Ubisoft, is available now on Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. The game is also available for non-VR players on PlayStation 4 and PC.??

?Developed by Red Storm Entertainment, a Ubisoft studio, under license by CBS Consumer Products, Star Trek: Bridge Crew immerses fans into the Star Trek universe as they assume the role of a Starfleet officer and complete missions that will determine the fate of their ship and crew. David Votypka, Senior Creative Director at Red Storm, speaks more about how they were able to bring this unique Star Trek experience to life.

StarTrek.com: Tell us about Star Trek: Bridge Crew . How did this project come about?

David Voytpka: The original game was released in 2017 on all major VR HMDs and platforms at the time.?It was inspired by the idea of being able to be on a Federation bridge, with the immersion of VR, and doing it together as a crew with others.?Social VR is a very compelling aspect of the VR medium, and Star Trek is the perfect brand to experience it with. ?

Who can users play as in Star Trek: Bridge Crew??

DV: Up to four players take on the roles of Federation officers on the bridge, and the game can also be played with fewer players — including solo play. ?AI will fill in positions and take commands from the human player in the Captain role.??

There are also three different Star Trek settings in the game, each with the appropriate ship and bridge.?The story campaign takes place in the Kelvin timeline where players play a new ship called the U.S.S. Aegis .?Additional modes can then be played on the original U.S.S. Enterprise , as well as the Enterprise NCC-1701-D which is part of the Next Generation DLC that’s included with Oculus Quest version.?

? What are the different roles in the game?

DV: There are four roles on the bridge.?Helm?flies the ship and handles impulse and warp travel.?Tactical?operates systems such as weapons, scanners, and shields.?Engineering?allocates and re-routes power, coordinates repairs, and often handles systems like the Transporter.?And of course there is the?Captain?who receives and conveys objectives, gathers information about any given situation, and then coordinates the crew to determine the best course of action.? ?

What is the storyline in the campaign? What was the inspiration behind some of the mission designs?

DV: The story centers on a new ship, the U.S.S. Aegis , which was specifically built to operate covertly in sensitive areas; for example, behind enemy lines.?Its maiden voyage is to find a new home for the Vulcan race in a distant region of space called The Trench.?However, as the crew investigates the area which was thought to be largely abandoned, they find that the Klingons are also active in the region.?As players discover what the Klingons are doing it changes the mission parameters, and sparks a whole new conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.?

The inspiration for both the story and the specific missions really comes from wanting to create the sense of being in a series of Star Trek episodes, and empowering players to play the role of the crew.?There are however some direct references to the shows that Star Trek fans will immediately recognize!

?What’s your favorite mission?

DV: Probably the fourth mission of the game which is also perhaps the most challenging one.?In it the Aegis is damaged and being hunted which requires the crew to really work together and to utilize all the systems of the ship to hide, evade, and attack if necessary in order to escape and survive; it can be very intense!?Similarly, the Borg mode in the Next Generation DLC pack also has some similar elements and excitement to it.

The game just launched on Oculus Quest this week, how will the Quest version enhance the player’s experience?

DV: The wireless nature of the Quest device, along with the ease of setup, will surely be a welcome option for Star Trek fans that want to step onto a Federation bridge in VR.?Also, due to the Quest’s popularity it should bring a new infusion of players into the community, thereby creating more opportunities for friends, and for new and existing players to group up and embark on missions together.

?This is helped along by the game featuring both cross-play and cross-buy.?Cross-play allows players to use either the Quest, PC VR, or PSVR and still play together. Cross-buy means that existing owners of the game can also download it at no cost if they want to play it on the Quest.??

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About This Content

System requirements.

• OS *: Windows 7 x64
• Processor: Intel Core i5-4590
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, AMD Radeon RX 570
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 8 GB available space
• Additional Notes: Resolution: 2160 x 1200 @90Hz; Video Preset: Msaa 2x, all video options ON; VSync:Off
• OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 1500X
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 / GTX 1060 6GB, AMD Radeon R9 290X / RX 480

TM & © 2016 CBS Studios Inc. © 2016 Paramount Pictures Corp. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Game software © 2016 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries.

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August 1 , 2018

How Star Trek: Bridge Crew Uses AI to Crew Your Ship on Solo Missions

When you take the helm (or any of the other officer stations) on a Federation vessel in Star Trek: Bridge Crew, you'll have a willing crew ready to join you in your voyages. And if you don't have enough players to fill out the team, or just feel like exploring space on your own, the crew roles will be filled by AI crewbots who – with the help of Watson-powered voice recognition – will listen to and carry out your commands. In this article, we'll delve into how these crewbots work, and detail how the development team designed them to better support you in your adventures.

The AI crewbots were developed to help fill any roles not occupied by human players, and the game is playable and beatable with an AI crew. However, they may not be as versatile or as capable as your buddies would; given the demands of VR, designing a highly sophisticated AI capable of mimicking a human player would have been too resource-intensive. The team prioritized performance in order to keep framerates high, which is crucial to avoiding player discomfort in VR. With that in mind, the crewbots are a very effective solution, providing basic crew substitutes without any negative impact on framerates.

To interact with your AI crew members, you can either issue commands to them directly using a contextual UI menu, or you can issue crew-wide orders from the Captain's chair. Crew-wide orders are different, in that they can encompass multiple actions undertaken by multiple crew members in concert with each other, as opposed to giving a single order to one crew member.

Crew-wide Orders

Crew-wide orders were developed to help reduce menu complexity, and simplify some complex-but-common behaviors. These commands will work with any combination of players and AI, and are relayed only to the AI crewmembers.

"Analyze Target," for example, will cause Tactical to try to scan once in range, Engineer to set full power to engines, and Helm to fly to the target. You could do this without the crew-wide order, but you would have to drill down into each station's command list in order to do so, and you would have to wait until you're in range to issue the scan order to Tactical. Players execute this sequence of events commonly enough in the game to warrant a quick "macro" for the behavior. "Transport Target" works in a similar fashion: assuming a target has been scanned, Helm will fly to it, Tactical will lower shields if they are up, and Engineer will begin the lock-on process.

Crew-wide orders can be fairly nuanced. For example, the "Cloak Hunt" order (only available on the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D) will send crew to scanners, adjust power for phasers and shields, arm torpedoes, switch them to trigger on proximity, and steer the ship toward the radar blip. Once "close," the Tactical crewbot will fire. However, the "Engage Target" order will respect the ship's current torpedo-armed state. So if the captain had previously ordered "arm torpedoes" through Tactical's order panel or via red alert, "Engage Target" will fire torpedoes. If they are not armed, the order will not arm them, and the crew will only shoot phasers.

Think of crew-wide orders as a large collection of tiny individual commands whose result is chasing an enemy, hunting a cloaked ship, etc. There are many things going on in the background during one of these orders, and understanding the different layers of commands can help you be a more proficient captain. With that in mind, let's take a deeper look at the Engineer's repairs.

When a mission starts, the Engineer crewbot is initialized with an "auto repair" behavior. This is the most basic default repair mode, and it has a few different outcomes depending on which ship you're commanding. On the Aegis/classic Enterprise bridges, the crewbot will unassign repair crews if the ship has 100% health across all subsystems. If the ship has subsystem damage, auto repair waits until they've sustained 40% damage before acting. This means no crews will be assigned to repairs until these points are reached.

Auto repair works with a priority list (which can be overridden by players) that tells it which subsystem to fix first. Once a subsystem is repaired, it will refer back to the list and reassign crew to other subsystems that are below the damage threshold.

If the captain orders a "Balanced Repair," the 40% limitation is removed and the crewbot will act, based on the priority list, if any system has less than 100% health. The captain can also order repairs to specific subsystems, and the crewbot will repair them until they're back at 100%. Also, if a player modifies and repair crews, the crewbot will leave them alone until their subsystems are 100% healthy. Once all subsystems are healthy, the AI returns to its default auto repair behavior.

Repair works differently for the Enterprise-D. Leaving crew at a subsystem will give a perk if it's healthy, so the Operations crewbot behavior will leave crew at a station if assigned by a player. Additionally, the "Optimize" orders are essentially presets. This helps ensure if the captain orders a preset, the crewbot will not reassign crew designated for the preset for repair duty. Typically, preset orders will leave one floating NPC crewmember to deal with subsystem repairs that are outside the desired optimizations. If a player assigns crew at all, the crewbot will not automatically move crew around on the Enterprise-D. Instead, the captain will have to assign a preset to clear any previous player's settings.

Watson-powered voice recognition

Late in the development cycle (after the crewbots were developed, in fact), the developers were able to work with IBM to utilize Watson, IBM's voice-recognizing, question-answering AI, to make all of this better. What Watson brings to the table is an easier, more intuitive way to operate the crewbot system: voice-driven commands in place of UI menus.

Here's a diagram of how it works:

With Watson, crewbots execute the same orders as when run with the UI. So if for any reason Watson is not available, the crewbots can still be commanded with the UI; this also means you can see what voice commands are possible by checking the UI. The first big advantage Watson brings to the table is a quicker, more intuitive way to issue those commands.

Another advantage is that Watson is able to interpret what you're asking for, even if you don't give an order the "right" way. This means "make it so" and "punch it" and "engage" and many other variations will result in the same command being executed. The developers have enhanced this by "training" Watson with Star trek terminology, so it has a better idea of what to expect and how to interpret what players say.

All of this technology ensures that players can get as close to a full, seamless, responsive Star Trek: Bridge Crew experience as possible, even without a full complement of players. Star Trek: Bridge Crew is available now for PC and PS4, and is playable with or without VR.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Star Trek™: Bridge Crew puts you and your friends in the heart of a starship. As officers of the Federation, every action and decision you make together will determine the fate of your ship and crew. Available for play with VR headsets and without, the Virtual Reality mode developed for Star Trek: Bridge Crew offers a true-to-life level of immersion in the Star Trek universe.

Release Date:

May 30 , 2017

VR / Simulation / Strategy

Red Storm Entertainment

Star Trek Bridge Crew is Available on:

VR / PC / PlayStation 4

Star Trek Bridge Crew is rated:

TM & © 2016 CBS Studios Inc. © 2016 Paramount Pictures Corp. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Game Software © 2016 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

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5 Star Trek: Discovery Characters Who Left Burnhams Ship (& Who Came Back)

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5.

• Captain Michael Burnham has been the central focus of Star Trek: Discovery, with other crew members taking on supporting roles.
• Crew members such as Ronald Bryce, Nhan, Nilsson, Tilly, and Saru have moved on to different positions within Starfleet.
• The dynamic of the USS Discovery crew has evolved over the seasons, reflecting a more realistic representation of typical Starfleet careers.

The USS Discovery has seen crew members come and go over the course of Star Trek: Discovery 's five seasons. More than any other Star Trek show that came before it, the story of Discovery is centered on one character — Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). While many of the crew members of the titular ship have come to feel like family, Discovery's primary focus has always been Michael and her journey from infamous mutineer to accomplished Starfleet Captain. With an actress as talented as Sonequa Martin-Green at the helm, this focus often works in the show's favor, but it does mean some of the other cast members get less screen time.

The crew of the USS Discovery never coalesced into a cohesive whole the same way other Star Trek crews have, and several crew members moved on as the show progressed. Some secondary and even a couple of main characters have moved on from Discovery and taken other positions within Starfleet or the Federation. While this sometimes means the characters are written out of Star Trek: Discovery (at least temporarily), it also feels more realistic for a typical Starfleet career. It never quite made sense, for example, that Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) remained First Officer on the USS Enterprise-D for 15 years despite being offered numerous promotions.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

Lt. Commander Ronald Bryce

Transferred to the uss curie & worked at federation headquarters.

Beginning in Star Trek: Discovery season 1 , Lt. Ronald Bryce (Ronnie Rowe Jr.) served as the communications officer on the USS Discovery's bridge. Although Bryce has rarely featured in Discovery's main storylines, he was a staple on the bridge for most of Discovery's first four seasons, often relaying incoming transmissions. He chose to remain on board Discovery when Michael Burnham led the ship into the 32nd century, remaining at comms.

Bryce was promoted to Lt. Commander and consulted on the USS Curie.

Bryce was promoted to Lt. Commander and consulted on the USS Curie. In his last appearance in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Bryce was working with Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) at Federation Headquarters, looking for a way to communicate through the Galactic Barrier. In Bryce's only appearance in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 so far, he was on the bridge when Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) time traveled to Discovery's past in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange."

Commander Nhan

Transferred to the uss tikhov & the uss locherer.

Prior to joining the crew of the USS Discovery, Commander Nhan (Rachael Ancheril) served as an engineer on the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Nhan accompanied Pike when he took over command of Discovery, and she later transferred to the new ship, eventually becoming Chief of Security. After Discovery traveled to the 32nd century, they encountered the USS Tikhov, a seed vault ship crewed by Barzans.

As a Barzan, Nhan had not seen her own people since joining Starfleet, and she volunteered to travel with the ship back to the Barzan homeworld. Nhan only remained on Barzan for a short time, after which she joined Federation Security. In this position, she briefly returned to Discovery to aid in the pursuit of Dr. Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle) and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) in Star Trek: Discovery season 4. Nhan returned again in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 7, "Erigah," as the security officer in charge of captured prisoners L'ak (Elias Toufexis) and Moll (Eve Harlow) .

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 7 Ending Explained

Star Trek: Discovery's crew locates the final clue to the Progenitors' treasure, but a shocking twist brings the Breen to the Federation's door.

Lt. Commander Nilsson

Transferred to the uss voyager-j.

Since the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Lt. Commander Nilsson (Sara Mitich) has been a regular fixture on the bridge of the USS Discovery. After the death of Lt. Commander Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) , Nilsson took over the role of spore drive operations officer. Like most of the crew, Nilsson volunteered to stay on Discovery for its trip to the future, and she helped Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) repair the ship after its journey.

Nilsson was occasionally left in command of the USS Discovery's bridge when the other senior officers were away on a mission or otherwise occupied. Sometime after Discovery returned from the other side of the Galactic Barrier and their mission to communicate with Species 10-C at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Nilsson accepted a position on the USS Voyager-J. Nilsson had a (neutered) pet Tribble that she left with Lieutenant Christopher (Orville Cummings) after her departure.

Sara Mitich portrayed Lt. Commander Airiam in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, before Hannah Cheesman took over the role.

Lt. Sylvia Tilly

Began teaching at starfleet academy.

After her introduction in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) quickly became one of Star Trek's most relatable characters . Tilly's endearing enthusiasm and hesitant friendship with Michael Burnham made her difficult to dislike, and she has grown into one of the USS Discovery's most accomplished and well-rounded officers. Tilly began her Discovery career as a cadet with dreams of sitting in the Captain's chair one day, but her plans for the future have shifted over time.

When the USS Discovery arrived in the 32nd century, Tilly served as the ship's First Officer under the command of Captain Saru (Doug Jones) and, later, Captain Burnham. Having been promoted to Lieutenant junior grade, Tilly began exploring other career opportunities outside of her comfort zone. Based on their therapy sessions, Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) recommended Tilly to lead a training exercise for a group of Starfleet cadets. Tilly excelled at this assignment and later accepted a teaching position at Starfleet Academy.

The upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy show will tell the story of a new class of Starfleet cadets, but it remains unknown whether Tilly will have a presence in the show.

During the Dark Matter Anomaly crisis, Tilly remained at Federation Headquarters and aided Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) in the evacuation of Earth. When Discovery took on the Red Directive mission to find the Progenitors' technology in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Tilly rejoined the ship's crew as a science advisor. Tilly has since proven to be invaluable in the search for the five clues that lead to the Progenitors' treasure . She has helped Stamets and Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) in the science lab, and accompanied Captain Burnahm on an away mission to Halem'no to find the fourth clue.

Tillys 6 Star Trek: Discovery Away Missions Explained

For Star Trek: Discovery's Lt. Sylvia Tilly, being part of Star Trek away missions don't just advance the plot -- they make Tilly a better character.

Captain Saru

Became a federation ambassador.

The first Kelpien in Starfleet, Saru served as a Science Officer on the USS Shenzhou under the command of Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) when Star Trek: Discovery began. Saru was serving on the ship when Michael Burnham first joined the crew, making him the character who has known her the longest. Following Georgiou's death, Saru became First Officer of the USS Discovery under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) . Saru later took over command of Discovery, helping lead the ship into the 32nd century.

After the crew of the USS Discovery solved the mystery of the Burn in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Saru left the ship for a time to serve as a member of his village council on Kaminar. When Saru returned to Discovery in the show's fourth season, he took on the role of First Officer with Michael Burnham as Captain. In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Saru began a tentative romance with Ni'Var President T'Rina (Tara Rosling) and the two decided to marry in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Saru has had one of Star Trek: Discovery's best character journeys.

Because of his exemplary service to the Federation and Starfleet, Saru was offered a position as a Federation Ambassador . Not only would this position play to Saru's strengths, but it would also allow him to be closer to T'Rina. After one last away mission with Burnham, Saru resigned his Starfleet commission and accepted the role of Ambassador, and he has been largely absent from much of Discovery season 5 as a result. Still, Saru has had one of Star Trek: Discovery's best character journeys, and he will no doubt make another appearance before the show comes to an end.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Cast Blu del Barrio, Oded Fehr, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, Eve Harlow, Mary Wiseman, Callum Keith Rennie

Release Date September 24, 2017

Showrunner Alex Kurtzman

Where To Watch Paramount+