In the ongoing battle to safeguard the sanctity of the timelines, talented officers from all different disciplines are undergoing specialized training to understand and manipulate the flow of time itself, and the occasionally malleable relationship between cause and effect.

Although these officers’ understanding of temporal mechanics could be applied to time travel in a broader sense, the Temporal Accords prevent them undertaking from large-scale incursions of this nature. Instead, the Temporal Operative uses this knowledge to cause more subtle fluctuations in localized causality, primarily manifesting in the form of a mechanic known as “Entropy” which they generate on foes, then consume to improve subsequent effects. By properly applying and consuming this unique resource, Temporal Operatives can cause enemy technology to essentially rot from the inside out, causing damage and limiting their ability to raise an effective defense.

Training a Temporal Operative

Upon the release of Agents of Yesterday, existing Bridge Officers will now have the ability to train in this new Specialization through the use of Specialization Qualifications.

The availability of new Bridge Officers that have Temporal Operative training will be limited, but the Temporal Agent Bundle contains six (6) Temporal Operative Specialization Qualifications to get your existing Bridge Crew into the habit of manipulating space-time in no-time!

Once granted the Temporal Operative specialization, Training Manuals for Rank I and Rank II Temporal Operative abilities will be available for purchase from any Bridge Officer Training store. Rank III abilities can be unlocked by advancing in the Temporal Operative Captain Specialization tree, and then created using the new Officer Training R&D School.

Temporal Operative Abilities

Localized tricks of causality, glimpses into alternative quantum realities, the speeding and slowing of time itself – these are the tools and tricks that the Temporal Operative brings to aid you in combat. This specialization presents a strong emphasis on science-leaning tactics with a focus on dealing exotic damage, controlling foes’ movements and stripping their defenses.

The new Entropy mechanic is unique to Temporal Operative Bridge Officers. Many of their abilities will be classified as either a Builder or a Consumer, with Builders adding one or more application of Entropy to the foe(s) affected, while a Consumer will remove Entropy on a target in order to enhance its effects in one or more ways. Entropy is source-specific, meaning that your Consumers cannot benefit from the Entropy applied by to your foe by a teammate. A new UI element will prominently display the amount of Entropy currently applied to your foe(s) in all times. Each foe may have up to a maximum of five (5) applications of Entropy present, per source.

The damage dealt by Temporal Operative abilities is classified as Physical, since it deals with the destruction of matter at a sub-atomic level through processes such as decay and rot. This damage, unless specifically designed to influence shields, will instead ignore them entirely. For this reason, the actual damage dealt by a Temporal Operative ability may at first glance appear lower than other alternatives, but may actually end up out-performing those alternatives.

The following section will give a brief explanation of each of the abilities offered to Temporal Operative Specialists. Please be aware that the details of each ability are subject to change, as we continue to review and tune them based on both internal testing, and player experience and feedback gathered from the Tribble Test Server.

GROUND:

• Degeneration
  • Afflict a single foe with a Physical DOT that grows over time
  • Very quick cooldown, allowing frequent re-application
  • Builder: Adds +1 Entropy on last tick
• Entropic Contagion
  • Afflict a single foe with a Physical DOT which lashes out every few seconds to deal damage to other nearby foes
  • Builder: If no other foes are not nearby, each attempt to lash out instead adds +1 Entropy to the primary target
• Chronometric Diffusion
  • Create a field at the foe’s location which reduces Run Speed and Outgoing Damage to all foes within it
  • Builder: Each foe in the field has a chance of receiving +1 Entropy every second they remain within it
• Causal Entanglement
  • Toggle ability centered on self which weakens the shield hardness and damage resistance of all foes within its radius
  • For each affected foe in range, the effects to all foes are magnified
  • Builder: Any foe within range when the effect ends (or is turned off) receives +3 Entropy
• Uncertainty Burst
  • The targeted foe, and all of their allies within 15m, are instantly teleported in a random direction, facing a random direction, and are Confused for several seconds
  • Builder: All effected foes receive +1 Entropy
• Recursive Affliction
  • Target a single foe with a Mark that will ‘store’ a portion of incoming damage dealt to them, then apply that amount of damage again to them when the duration is complete
  • Builder: +1 Entropy to the afflicted foe if the Mark runs its full duration
• Spread Decay
  • A quick blast of Physical Damage, only usable against a foe that has at least one Entropy
  • Builder: Any additional foes in range will have Entropy applied to them equal to what the primary target originally had
  • Consumer: Removes all Entropy to increase damage dealt
• Chronoplasty
  • Reverse the effects of recent damage, restoring your health
  • Although the amount healed is enhanced by Entropy applied to nearby foes, this power does not Consume Entropy (it remains in play)
• Temporal Narcosis
  • Afflict a single foe with a long-lasting Physical DOT which will periodically have a chance to either Confuse, Slow, Root or Disable them
  • Consumer: Removes all Entropy to increase duration
• Paradox Bomb
  • Create an unstable anomaly at the target’s location which will pull nearby foes towards its epicenter for a few seconds before violently exploding
  • Consumer: Foes with Entropy will find it more difficult to escape the anomaly’s pull, and will take additional damage from the explosion, which removes all Entropy
• Tachyonic Conversion
  • Instantly drain the shields of all foes within a medium radius around yourself, restoring your own shields by an amount relative to those drained from foes
  • Consumer: Foes with Entropy will lose more shields from this ability, which in turn will restore a greater amount to yourself
     

SPACE:

• Channeled Deconstruction
  • Initiate a damaging Physical DOT on the target which grows larger over time
  • The foe must be kept in range and within your targeting arc for the effect to continue
  • Builder: Adds 1 Entropy every few seconds
• Entropic Cascade
  • Afflict a single foe with a Physical DOT which lashes out every few seconds to deal damage to other nearby foes
  • Builder: If no other foes are not nearby, each attempt to lash out instead adds +1 Entropy to the primary target
• Chronometric Inversion Field
  • Create a field at the foe’s location which reduces Flight Speed and Outgoing Damage to all foes within it
  • Builder: Each foe in the field has a chance of receiving +1 Entropy every second they remain within it
• Shared Fate
  • Toggle ability centered on self which weakens the shield hardness of all foes within its radius while simultaneously draining a moderate amount of shields from them
  • For each affected foe in range, the effects to all foes are magnified
  • Builder: Any foe within range when the effect ends (or is turned off) receives +3 Entropy
• Heisenberg Amplifier
  • The targeted foe, and all of their allies within 5km, are instantly teleported in a random direction, facing a random direction, and are Confused for several seconds
  • The teleport will not function on very large or stationary foes, but the Confuse will
  • Builder: All effected foes receive +1 Entropy
• Recursive Shearing
  • Target a single foe with a Mark that will ‘store’ a portion of incoming damage dealt to them, then apply that amount of damage again to them when the duration is complete
    • There is currently a hard cap on the amount of damage that can be stored
  • Builder: +1 Entropy to the afflicted foe if the Mark runs its full duration
• Entropic Redistribution
  • A quick blast of Physical Damage, only usable against a foe that has at least one Entropy
  • Builder: Any additional foes in range will have Entropy applied to them equal to what the primary target originally had
  • Consumer: Removes all Entropy to increase damage dealt
• Causal Reversion
  • Instantly reverse a moderate amount of Hull Damage
  • Although the amount healed is enhanced by Entropy applied to nearby foes, this power does not Consume Entropy (it remains in play)
• Rapid Decay
  • The targeted foe is afflicted with a Physical DOT that also reduces their Damage Resistance Rating by a considerable amount
  • Consumer: Removes all Entropy to increase the duration
• Timeline Collapse
  • Create an unstable anomaly at the target’s location which will pull nearby foes towards its epicenter for a few seconds before violently exploding
  • Consumer: Foes with Entropy will find it more difficult to escape the anomaly’s pull, and will take additional damage from the explosion, which removes all Entropy
• Gravimetric Conversion
  • Instantly drain the shields of all foes within a medium radius around yourself, restoring your own shields by an amount relative to those drained from foes
  • Consumer: Foes with Entropy will lose more shields from this ability, which in turn will restore a greater amount to yourself

*These powers scale up with Entropy, but do not remove it from Foes.

Q&A

Q: What ships/seats allow the use of Temporal Operative abilities in Space?

A: In order to utilize the Temporal Operative space abilities, you must be flying a starship that has a Hybrid Temporal Operative Bridge Officer seat. They are not usable in “Universal” Profession seats, or existing Specialist Bridge Officer seats. Many of the starships that will have these new seats have already been announced as part of the Temporal Agent Bundle, but we have not yet released their stats. Keep your eyes on our website for those announcements!

Q: I need more details about these abilities! These blurbs don’t explain their full functionality!

The life of a Temporal Agent will take you across time and space to strange frontiers and deadly battlegrounds with the Temporal Agent Pack.