I don't know, as stated in the revamped mission the Undine don't really seem to make a distinction between the different species in our universe; so if one of "us" attacks them, then we're all to blame and are all viable targets. So the Iconian gateway would still work from how Cryptic depicted the Undine in this mission.
Yeah but this seems a bit more credible. Go to war over some random tech that ended up in their universe? Or go to war over the appearance of fleets from their side over the last 20+ years?
Yeah but this seems a bit more credible. Go to war over some random tech that ended up in their universe? Or go to war over the appearance of fleets from their side over the last 20+ years?
That said, yes the material analysis was a bit lame. Plus we see a gateway portal spitting out Federation/Klingon/Romulan/Unaligned ships in a cutscene right after. It would be stronger if Tuvok said "Fascinating. That appears to be an Iconian Gateway. Perhaps they are the ones who constructed these vessels to spread strife with the Undine..."
I think the fake ships can work just as well as the gateway - we just need them to be presented in a way that hammers home the connection between them and the Iconians. I could definitely live with playing up the events/gateway in the cut scene, just has to be made more prominent. It seems more like a sideshow the way it is now.
Can we get the disruptive photon torpedo (the bio-molecular torpedo replacement) added as a mission reward for one of these missions? Then all 3 factions can access it.
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
Yeah but this seems a bit more credible. Go to war over some random tech that ended up in their universe? Or go to war over the appearance of fleets from their side over the last 20+ years?
The original mission said that they were attacked via that gateway. This implies the Iconians, or their allies, came through and did a quick hit and run strike before retreating back through it.
I liked the revamped missions overall. The updates to the Romulan ship were great. However, when I stole the Borg tech, the mission completed after the D'deridex showed up but before I fought it.
Liked how 'A Gathering Darkness' and 'Assimilation' tied together. Beginning of Assimilation had some clunky dialog though, when the Boff is explaining "This debris matches the signature of the bioship that was following the sphere that had the Undine that the borg abducted from Kessik". Very nice scenery on Kessik, with the animated spikes and erupting pipes. The spikes seemed a bit wanting on texture, but perhaps this is just the first pass on their models.
Assimilation interior had awesome atmosphere. Only quibble is it seemed that there wasn't any dialog from when I detected the assimilated undine on sensors to after I overloaded the vinculum. I understand letting the encounter take place without too many dialog boxes right before, and it felt real spooky to have the door to the final room open when I couldn't see in yet (not sure if intended, but nice). But it would have been handy for there to be a message acknowledging the Undine's expiration and prompting overloading the vinculum to erase the data once and for all.
I loved how Cooper's 'replacement' wasn't over-the-head obvious, but you could still tell when he went from 'We need to save the Alpha Quadrant' to 'I'm a weak humanoid, save me!' I don't know what the plan is with Rebecca Simmons. Maybe she's supposed to return assimilated, but wasn't she a scientist on the station with gravboots in Infected? I suppose it wouldn't be hard to get rid of that line in the intro dialog and assume the player will recognize her name from Fluid Dynamics.
I didn't really feel like the cutscene in Fluid Dynamics fit into the dialog. Maybe I missed something, but I just told my officer something like 'I'm going to get to the bottom of this' and then we saw the ships entering through the gateway. Was that supposed to be a recording from the fake ship we found? Or were we seeing some fake ships off in the distance? It just didn't seem clear to me.
Take a look at my Foundry missions! Conjoined, Re-emergence, and . . .
All im sayin is that the remastered episodes are AMAZING.. yet the rewards STINK...
with the rework of the reputation system and the inclusion of Tuvok / Worf into the final 2 episode arcs..
why are there no reputation rewards for first completion in this series..
" Where Angels Fear to Tread " there is a good place for a few Romulan Marks..
"A Gathering Darkness" and " Assimilation " are great points for a handfull of Omega Marks
You have to use Omega tactics and skills that are used in ground / space STFs to
complete them..
" Fluid Dynamics " ..
1 - A voice over issue with Dr. Cooper
and there should be some voice acting from Tuvok to go along with Cooper..
2 - a great mission for some Omega Marks as there is a *SPOILER* to destroy..
I'm not asking for 90 marks like an Elite STF.. but the same 10 marks from a RED ALERT would be enough.. even in Romulan Marks .. a simple 10 marks at this level would be incentive for replay. Keep the marks available on the replay and people could use these missions to get familiar with borg ground tactics and be ready for Defera invasion / ground STFs..
So yea.. amazing remaster.. great work team.. but those rewards.. Marks and a BOA Rare Anti Borg Omega style Weapon Choice ( referencing the Hirogen Hunter Rifle from the KDF mission ALPHA ) would get people re-running these episodes which is in the true Star Trek spirit of enjoying a rerun
All im sayin is that the remastered episodes are AMAZING.. yet the rewards STINK...
with the rework of the reputation system and the inclusion of Tuvok / Worf into the final 2 episode arcs..
why are there no reputation rewards for first completion in this series..
" Where Angels Fear to Tread " there is a good place for a few Romulan Marks..
"A Gathering Darkness" and " Assimilation " are great points for a handfull of Omega Marks
You have to use Omega tactics and skills that are used in ground / space STFs to
complete them..
" Fluid Dynamics " ..
1 - A voice over issue with Dr. Cooper
and there should be some voice acting from Tuvok to go along with Cooper..
2 - a great mission for some Omega Marks as there is a *SPOILER* to destroy..
I'm not asking for 90 marks like an Elite STF.. but the same 10 marks from a RED ALERT would be enough.. even in Romulan Marks .. a simple 10 marks at this level would be incentive for replay. Keep the marks available on the replay and people could use these missions to get familiar with borg ground tactics and be ready for Defera invasion / ground STFs..
So yea.. amazing remaster.. great work team.. but those rewards.. Marks and a BOA Rare Anti Borg Omega style Weapon Choice ( referencing the Hirogen Hunter Rifle from the KDF mission ALPHA ) would get people re-running these episodes which is in the true Star Trek spirit of enjoying a rerun
As for the mission rewards not being all that great, I agree to a degree. Frankly, they should be relatable to both the Borg and the Undine, in some way. Like ground weapons and maybe some armor and space weapons and stuff. I have a feeling that the rewards that are there are placeholder rewards.
As for the mission rewards not being all that great, I agree to a degree. Frankly, they should be relatable to both the Borg and the Undine, in some way. Like ground weapons and maybe some armor and space weapons and stuff. I have a feeling that the rewards that are there are placeholder rewards.
I don't know, the episodes these are replacing had terrible rewards as well. It was actually kind of funny going from the purple mk x/xi sets of the dominion and breen episodes to the TRIBBLE greens of the borg and undine episodes. With the rep revamp giving purple mk xiis now I really don't see why these episodes can't reward blue mk xi versions of the sets, and we already have precedence for it with the blue reman shields.
I don't know, the episodes these are replacing had terrible rewards as well. It was actually kind of funny going from the purple mk x/xi sets of the dominion and breen episodes to the TRIBBLE greens of the borg and undine episodes. With the rep revamp giving purple mk xiis now I really don't see why these episodes can't reward blue mk xi versions of the sets, and we already have precedence for it with the blue reman shields.
I suppose that could work, we will have to see what happens though.
I'm not asking for 90 marks like an Elite STF.. but the same 10 marks from a RED ALERT would be enough.. even in Romulan Marks .. a simple 10 marks at this level would be incentive for replay. Keep the marks available on the replay and people could use these missions to get familiar with borg ground tactics and be ready for Defera invasion / ground STFs..
So yea.. amazing remaster.. great work team.. but those rewards.. Marks and a BOA Rare Anti Borg Omega style Weapon Choice ( referencing the Hirogen Hunter Rifle from the KDF mission ALPHA ) would get people re-running these episodes which is in the true Star Trek spirit of enjoying a rerun
As for the mission rewards not being all that great, I agree to a degree. Frankly, they should be relatable to both the Borg and the Undine, in some way. Like ground weapons and maybe some armor and space weapons and stuff. I have a feeling that the rewards that are there are placeholder rewards.
I don't know, the episodes these are replacing had terrible rewards as well. It was actually kind of funny going from the purple mk x/xi sets of the dominion and breen episodes to the TRIBBLE greens of the borg and undine episodes. With the rep revamp giving purple mk xiis now I really don't see why these episodes can't reward blue mk xi versions of the sets, and we already have precedence for it with the blue reman shields.
Here's my idea. The Mk X STF sets aren't that great, but they make for good starter gear. They're already saying, "Lets get rid of it." My response is: They're good starter gear. The Mk X has no costume attached. Let's give them that.
Here's my proposal for rewards: Where Angels Fear to Tread
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard PSG Mk X
or
Omega PSG Mk X
A Gathering Darkness
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard Armor Mk X
or
Omega Armor Mk X
Assimilation (Here's where I add my own twist)
Since many people want the TR-116 in but the devs had said no (because it was preorder), lets use its sister gun as a reward.
[TR-120 Pulse Rifle]
Levelless Item
Can Penetrate Personal Shields (Not applicable against Players)
Max One Per Character
- DOES NOT HAVE NO-LINE OF SIGHT FUNCTION OF THE TR-116A-
Primary Fire: Kinetic Pulse Shot (read, actual shotgun)
110 Kinetic Damage (40% Shield Penetration)
Damage reduces over range
Secondary Fire - Electrical Tag Shot
5 Kinetic Damage (5% shield penetration)
45 Electrical Damage per second (lasts for 5 seconds)
-Stun Effect
or
Faction Specific Levelled Phaser/Disruptor/Plasma Pulsewave
Fluid Dynamics Rewards:
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard Weapon Mk X
or
Omega Weapon Mk X
Okay, starting to replay the missions now Where Angels Fear to Tread
The new ground map looks much better than what I remember of the old.
The final battle:
1) I want the ability to tell the Romulan Captain that I don't need their help. (Because I don't.)
I am okay if the Warbird helps you anyway - they aren't there just because they want to help us, but because they are after Borg technology.
2) In the original form, isn't that the mission where an Iconian ship comes to help you. I miss that part. DO you think bringing an Iconian ship here is no longer relevant since the Romulan Episodes already introduce us to the Iconians?
I kinda liked the Iconians boasting with their ability to defeat Borg ships (even if two Cubes are kinda breakfast for a half-way decently equipped Escort).
3) THis is probably a general problem. The mission rewards are extremely underwhelming. Part of this is that I haven't played a regular Fed from start to finish in a long time, and are used to the more interesting rewards from Featured Episodes. But come on, we're dealing with the Borg here. At least give us a special sticker on these Mark XI armors. "I fought 2 borg cubes and all I got was this lousy blue Mark XI armor."
I know that you can't make cool gear out of thin air, but can't you find something more interesting here?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Here's my idea. The Mk X STF sets aren't that great, but they make for good starter gear. They're already saying, "Lets get rid of it." My response is: They're good starter gear. The Mk X has no costume attached. Let's give them that.
Here's my proposal for rewards:
Where Angels Fear to Tread
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard PSG Mk X
or
Omega PSG Mk X
A Gathering Darkness
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard Armor Mk X
or
Omega Armor Mk X
Assimilation (Here's where I add my own twist)
Since many people want the TR-116 in but the devs had said no (because it was preorder), lets use its sister gun as a reward.
[TR-120 Pulse Rifle]
Levelless Item
Can Penetrate Personal Shields (Not applicable against Players)
Max One Per Character
- DOES NOT HAVE NO-LINE OF SIGHT FUNCTION OF THE TR-116A-
Primary Fire: Kinetic Pulse Shot (read, actual shotgun)
110 Kinetic Damage (40% Shield Penetration)
Damage reduces over range
Secondary Fire - Electrical Tag Shot
5 Kinetic Damage (5% shield penetration)
45 Electrical Damage per second (lasts for 5 seconds)
-Stun Effect
or
Faction Specific Levelled Phaser/Disruptor/Plasma Pulsewave
Fluid Dynamics Rewards:
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard Weapon Mk X
or
Omega Weapon Mk X
Borg Space Vessels
It still bothers me that Cubes are so easy to defeat. It's not that I think that the standard cruiser (or is it battleship?) level Borg ship needs to be tougher, I just think it would just better if it was a smaller borg vessel. A Sphere, for example. But I guess it's too late for that, considering how many revamps we already head for the Borg, and certanily too late for this particular revamp.
Mission Rewards
Mentioned earlier already, the rewards are a bit lackluster, and there have been some good suggestions already (like reusing the low tier borg set items).
But here's another thought:
Since these missions are what is being revamped right now, it might be a good opportunity to reward some kit modules. That way, when Season 9 hits holodeck, people have an extra incentive to replay these mission - they get new kit pieces.
Gathering Darkness
Kessik Orbit
The "Borgification" of the planet is very difficult to actually recognize, as someone else posted, the planet looks mostly grey.
In the dialog to beam to Kessik:
I am not sure why it is Starfleet that believes the scientists might be possible to save - how would they be able to know that better than I am? Would it not make more sense for me or my officers to determine that it's possible. Maybe have me as Captain ask: "What is the situation of the science team? Can we get them out?" "It may be possible, Sir, even if it is a bit risky. But it might be worth it, Battlegroup Omega could use all the intel they can get if we want to have a hope of finding a treamtent from the nanovirus.[blalblabla]"
On Kessik
Why do we need to defeat the Borg first, and can't immediately beam out the scientists?
I suppose it is for tension, but you might want to include some technobabble suggesting that the Borg have a short range transporter jamming system so beam out isn't possible yet.
No Man Left Behind
Oops, I let my whole bridge crew die when I ran back from the data upload and completed the mission. Cooper didn't follow me, either.
Assimilation
Some of the Bridge Officer text seems a bit too repetitive. Good part: Explaining that we block communication of the Cube with the rest of the Collective. (Still, in the long run: If the Borg can assimilate the Undine, once, they can learn it again.)
Combat Starts Too Early
I think combat with the Borg starts too soon. I think to add some of the "creepy factor" aboard the Cube, you should have to go through at least a few corridors where the Borg are sleeping, and the occassional drone suddenly leaving its alcove, moving towards the player and... going past him to do whatever it needs to do.
BOs ignore my position orders?
During the fight with the Fully Assimilated Undine, my bridge officers seemed to really hate it so much that they wouldn't stay at the positions I assigned them. Seems like a bug, not sure if it has anything to do with the mission.
Resistance is not futile
The final BO dialogue should probably allow the Captain to say "First we'll report to Starfleet", instead of the science officer. After all, I am in charge, right?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Fluidic Space Distortions
Is there any way we can get the old underwater/distortion effect back for this mission? I really miss that. I know some people couldn't stand it and it made them sick, so if there was a way to make it optional, great... Maybe we could start on the map and there could be an optional objective that says something to the effect of: "Captain, I can add an special fiilter to our sensor system, that should compensate for the fluidic space effects. Shall I activate the filter?"
NPC Ships not following me back to singularity
Is that a technical limitation or just something not done yet - after the fight with he Diamond, the fleet does not follow me to the singularity.
USS Phida / Typhoon Class
How long until that ship type will be updated to be playable? It seems weird that you see this ship type in so many missions and we fly around in stolen Voth vessels but this class remains unavailable... I know, it is a bit of a kitbash (at least the nacelles seem to come from the Prometheus/Advanced Escort, but that's what an update could "fix" (if it even needs fixing.)
USS Venture
I thought we lost the Venture in the mission, why is it back at the fleet surrounding the planet?
Dual Planetary Ring System
It looks cool, but is it believable?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Just finished "Where Angels Fear to Tread". I only have one issue; it's a minor one, but hey, that's what testers are for, right?
When I rescued the Romulan Republic prisoners with my Fed toon, they used the Romulan-green transporter effect. Since I'm assuming that it's the player's ship beaming them out, wouldn't it be more logical to use the player's faction-specific transporter effect?
I may update this post as I play the other three missions.
EDIT:
Finished "A Gathering Darkness". I died shortly after doing the data download, which wouldn't have been too much of a problem, except that the respawn point was right in the Borg's line of fire, causing me to die quickly and repeatedly until I defeated them. Maybe move the respawn point back a little bit?
Also, a quick nitpick: Admiral D'Vak's text at the beginning didn't sound very... Klingon, in my opinion.
Generally, while fighting the Borg, I have not gotten a single "You will be assimilated - Resistance is futile" message from them... The enemies in STO are already much too quiet...
Where Angels Fear Tread: (played as FED)
The Klingon mission giver contact for Empire players has no background (needs Klingon bridge or High Council backdrop?)
When contacted by her from her bridge, Commander Taelus has a Romulan Republic (and therefore wrong) background image. I know there are Star Empire-fitting alternatives.
The Borg cube on the first map simply appears, without any warp-in effect
My BOffs do not trigger some of the doors in the Romulan ship, thereby getting "locked out" of fight easily
Cut out one Borg wave in the science lab. Right now it's too dreary.
Federation BOff contacts use no, or the old background - not the new Origin-style one.
I take it, this was just the first half of the mission, and it will be expanded in a future Tribble patch...
A Gathering Darkness: (Played as KDF)
This general revamp is the perfect opportunity to revisit the KDF dialogues of this mission (They are too much of a FED-copy-paste). Instead of "Starfleet thinks...", have our KDF BOff say "Our intelligence on Starfleet communications indicate..." or maybe even "Starfleet informed the High Council that..."
For KDF players, BOff contacts in space have no background (should show the Klingon bridge backdrop?)
Both the Kessik System and ground maps are really nice! Although, the ground map could use more ambient sound effect - don't make the Cubes and Spheres in the sky totally silent and possibly add a Borg-machine noise to the background noise. Also, the sound effect for the Borg-tentacle-thingy coming out one cliff face and attaching on the other side comes appr. 4 seconds too late.
Those old-style, generic-looking and ugly Starfleet cargo crates on the ground map should be replaced with the new, shiny and more-canon-looking cargo containers used on the new ESD map.
It has to be made much clearer that the player is not supposed to mad-dash out of the Borg compound once the data is downloaded, but to begin an orderly retreat. Otherwise you aggro 20 Borg or so...
My BOffs as well as some Undine frequently get stuck in those extendable Borg out-of-the-ground thingies.
The low-pitched explosion/hitting sound being hearable occasionally close to the Assimilator-ship on the ground is awesome. Make it hearable from the very starting point of the ground mission onward.
One of my BOffs kept "resuscitating" Dr. Cooper (who was missing a "wounded" animation in the first place), even after the dialogue with him was finished.
While pursuing the Sphere that kidnaps the Undine, it becomes invisible for some time.
After Kessik is destroyed, there is no debris field visible in the system map.
Just realized, Cooper's replacement during these missions causes a plothole. Since we now know that Cooper was replaced before working on the Iconian Gateway, we now have to explain why the Ferasan Telepath, Nin'Yan, who worked with him on the project didn't pick up that he was Undine. Tuvok, I can see not picking up on it because Vulcans are touch telepaths, but Ferasans are not.
Okay, starting to replay the missions now Where Angels Fear to Tread
2) In the original form, isn't that the mission where an Iconian ship comes to help you. I miss that part. DO you think bringing an Iconian ship here is no longer relevant since the Romulan Episodes already introduce us to the Iconians?
I kinda liked the Iconians boasting with their ability to defeat Borg ships (even if two Cubes are kinda breakfast for a half-way decently equipped Escort).
I actually wanted one of those Borg command ships to warp in, and then have that get obliterated by the incoming Iconian vessel. That'd have been a more impressive display of power.
Another thought on Fluid Dynamics:
Did the Iconians really went through the effort of basically building Starfleet vessels just for the sake of tricking the Borg? Are you really sure you want to imply that they could build ships from alien species just like that, especially if at the same time Hakeev is conducting weird experiments on living examples of the different species? THat seems inconsistent.
It might be better to just have them use ships that were reported lost or had been been dismantled.
Alternate text inspiration: "I can identify a few of these ships, Captain - most are reported as missing in action, some as far back as during the war with Cardassia, several have been decomissioned and were put in various starship graveyards."
(This also leaves it ambigous whether the Iconians directly snatched a few ships, or whether they found wrecks and restored them sufficiently to be used in a mock battle against the Undine)
Bonus: You could have the USS Enterprise E there. Since it's considered lost, anyway, might leave at least some hint what happened to it.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Another thought on Fluid Dynamics:
Did the Iconians really went through the effort of basically building Starfleet vessels just for the sake of tricking the Borg? Are you really sure you want to imply that they could build ships from alien species just like that, especially if at the same time Hakeev is conducting weird experiments on living examples of the different species? THat seems inconsistent.
It might be better to just have them use ships that were reported lost or had been been dismantled.
Alternate text inspiration: "I can identify a few of these ships, Captain - most are reported as missing in action, some as far back as during the war with Cardassia, several have been decomissioned and were put in various starship graveyards."
(This also leaves it ambigous whether the Iconians directly snatched a few ships, or whether they found wrecks and restored them sufficiently to be used in a mock battle against the Undine)
Bonus: You could have the USS Enterprise E there. Since it's considered lost, anyway, might leave at least some hint what happened to it.
The mission did seem to be spoon feeding us information, rather than having any real sense of investigation going on. They could have also deployed the same method that the Romulans used in "Unification", where they went to a surplus ship storage yard and stole old vessels from there. I'm sure the Klingons must also have something similar, and the Romulans would be very easy since the break up of the empire, plenty of old derelict Romulan ships floating about.
Consider Giving it the armor and weapons from "Voyager's" last episode.
Also giving it ridiculously high HP 50 million could be, a good starting point... (consider it a "Hero ship" increased damage, shield mod, hull points and Damage resistance. also consider giving it a hangar bay. with unique delta flyers.)
Ok onto the rewards for completion.
I think with amount of work, you have all put into this and how some devs were commenting on episodes don't get replayed much or played at all... and how difficult "Fluid Dynamics" is.
Could you Consider giving this series MK XII or MK XI purple rewards or unique level less items that has ultra rare stats for that level.
If you do keep the "kit reward pack" could you consider bumping it up to MK XI blue or higher.
Could have this as a way to get an unique kit module MK XII purple.
The replay reward could be looked at... if you consider changing it to encourage replaying this series. ("more grindy") (see featured episode with Tuvok from anniversary episode for replay reward quality)
"Fluid Dynamics" Difficulty
This felt like a 5 man stf. Was solo when I did this...
I think Buffing Voyager and the other support ships and moving cubes a little might help mission a little.
Could you try a week of having all enemies at lvl 50 and allies or is that lot of wok to change just for 1 week? (not sure how that works for setting mob level)
it's last group of cubes that could use spacing adjustments. further apart... think moving 2 of the Cubes back 3-7 km might be enough.
Mission pacing.
Would putting the "allied" distress call before finding the Borg communication arrays work for the plot?
Diamond ship. Is manual distribution of shields a new ability that you're testing out? or just a normal ability that few ships have? (*just curious not a complaint or anything like that)
_______________
State of Q.
it was 1 of the Episodes I'd actually replay. it was a good episode. (could it be improved? yes)
I think totally getting rid of it is not best course of action. maybe add episode arc of "bonus" Episodes. That way if you want you can add more episodes that don't have to advance the plot of STO...
Just ran Fluid Dynamics and all I can say is 'huh?'
The mission had so many logic and dialogue bits of weirdness. The Venture stays behind but then the distress call comes from in front of me. The ship graveyard, are the Undine really so dumb that they can't tell hull alloys apart, or wonder about the lack of Humans, Klingons, or Romulans aboard those ships, or post-infiltration realize 'hey these powers barely know we exist but they're also invading us? This doesn't add up.' If those wrecks are the 'justification,' then the Undine just demonstrate themselves to be AMAZINGLY gullible. Then there's the Command Diamond which seems to have a version of FAW with a 30-second duration (FAW icon anyways) which makes destructable torps, mines, and fighter pets pretty useless. Lastly post mission they talked about the silver lining that I at least rescued Cooper and the survivors of the ship-that-wasn't-the-Venture, and something about a counter-virus that hadn't ever been mentioned in that mission until that point. All in all it seemed like the various dialogue trees in the mission had been written by 3-4 different people and they can't compared notes, plus it also depended on accepting that the Great And Powerful Undine are Pakled-level thick. As I said, huh?
Just ran Fluid Dynamics and all I can say is 'huh?'
The mission had so many logic and dialogue bits of weirdness. The Venture stays behind but then the distress call comes from in front of me. The ship graveyard, are the Undine really so dumb that they can't tell hull alloys apart, or wonder about the lack of Humans, Klingons, or Romulans aboard those ships, or post-infiltration realize 'hey these powers barely know we exist but they're also invading us? This doesn't add up.' If those wrecks are the 'justification,' then the Undine just demonstrate themselves to be AMAZINGLY gullible. Then there's the Command Diamond which seems to have a version of FAW with a 30-second duration (FAW icon anyways) which makes destructable torps, mines, and fighter pets pretty useless. Lastly post mission they talked about the silver lining that I at least rescued Cooper and the survivors of the ship-that-wasn't-the-Venture, and something about a counter-virus that hadn't ever been mentioned in that mission until that point. All in all it seemed like the various dialogue trees in the mission had been written by 3-4 different people and they can't compared notes, plus it also depended on accepting that the Great And Powerful Undine are Pakled-level thick. As I said, huh?
There's a general storyline issue whenever new content comes about. The introduction of the Nimbus missions suddenly has my Fed BOFFs talking about Hakeev and missing colonists before you ever encounter him in the Fed storyline (I assume the same is true for Klinks)... The counter-virus dialogue is likely a holdover from the original Borg/Undine storyline where you rescue Fed researchers from Kessik IV and get a way to counter the Borg nanovirus that lets them assimilate whole planets.
But yeah, in the rush to release new content, they're not revising the old stuff to make sense. At least the new Fed tutorial did a good job of retaining Quinto's VO work, but the same isn't going to fly for too much of the old content.
The counter-virus dialogue is likely a holdover from the original Borg/Undine storyline where you rescue Fed researchers from Kessik IV and get a way to counter the Borg nanovirus that lets them assimilate whole planets..
This refers to the current mission "Assimilation" where you go in to grab Cooper's research while the planet is being assimilated. With those notes Cooper was able to develop the counter-virus.
This refers to the current mission "Assimilation" where you go in to grab Cooper's research while the planet is being assimilated. With those notes Cooper was able to develop the counter-virus.
Assimilation is with the disabled Borg Cube with the Undine, right?
I believe "A Gathering Darkness" is the mission you are referring to.
scan debris then a sphere appears? destroy that...
then go scan another spot, find a cube. then shoot it a bunch, until it runs off.
it then leads you to an area with Undine and Borg and Rifts.
This has a kill 2 borg and kill 2 undine.
A Borg Cube has a Undine ship in a tractor Beam.
At this spot there are 3 or 4 Undine ships shooting the Cube.
I think there are too many Undine Cruisers around that Cube... (if they're supposed to be there... could they be changed to Frigates?
1st Q: Are these Undine supposed to be there?
2nd Q: Is there an Accolade for destroying the ship in the Tractor beam?
3rd Q: If there is an accolade... are those Undine ships preventing players from getting accolade? by shooting the cube?
4th Q: Edit oh sorry... was this accolade moved to the end of mission???
after clearing area around the Cube... beam aboard cube... then "Spoilers"
Please post all bugs and feedback on this thread for the newly revamped Borg and Undine episodes on Tribble.
These episodes are still a work in progress.
Revamped Borg and Undine Episodes:
The Borg Collective and Undine Advance episode stories have been combined and reimagined to create the new Borg Advance episode collection.
The episodes Collateral Damage, Asset Recovery, Assimilation, The Return, Fluid Dynamics, and A Light in the Dark have been revamped and merged create the new string of episodes:
Where Angels Fear to Tread
A Gathering Darkness
Assimilation, and
Fluid Dynamics
The episode State of Q has been removed from episode progression.
These episodes are placed right before the Solanae Dyson Sphere set of episodes.
The level range will be between 45-50 but is currently still set to their old levels.
Fluid Dynamics.. those of us that have played it already on holodeck.. will we be able to get this http://i.imgur.com/kuReal0.jpg when S9 is released.. its a first timer reward.. the VR Mk 11 AP is awesome on the replay
Comments
Yeah but this seems a bit more credible. Go to war over some random tech that ended up in their universe? Or go to war over the appearance of fleets from their side over the last 20+ years?
TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
I think the fake ships can work just as well as the gateway - we just need them to be presented in a way that hammers home the connection between them and the Iconians. I could definitely live with playing up the events/gateway in the cut scene, just has to be made more prominent. It seems more like a sideshow the way it is now.
Joined January 2009
The original mission said that they were attacked via that gateway. This implies the Iconians, or their allies, came through and did a quick hit and run strike before retreating back through it.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
Liked how 'A Gathering Darkness' and 'Assimilation' tied together. Beginning of Assimilation had some clunky dialog though, when the Boff is explaining "This debris matches the signature of the bioship that was following the sphere that had the Undine that the borg abducted from Kessik". Very nice scenery on Kessik, with the animated spikes and erupting pipes. The spikes seemed a bit wanting on texture, but perhaps this is just the first pass on their models.
Assimilation interior had awesome atmosphere. Only quibble is it seemed that there wasn't any dialog from when I detected the assimilated undine on sensors to after I overloaded the vinculum. I understand letting the encounter take place without too many dialog boxes right before, and it felt real spooky to have the door to the final room open when I couldn't see in yet (not sure if intended, but nice). But it would have been handy for there to be a message acknowledging the Undine's expiration and prompting overloading the vinculum to erase the data once and for all.
I loved how Cooper's 'replacement' wasn't over-the-head obvious, but you could still tell when he went from 'We need to save the Alpha Quadrant' to 'I'm a weak humanoid, save me!' I don't know what the plan is with Rebecca Simmons. Maybe she's supposed to return assimilated, but wasn't she a scientist on the station with gravboots in Infected? I suppose it wouldn't be hard to get rid of that line in the intro dialog and assume the player will recognize her name from Fluid Dynamics.
I didn't really feel like the cutscene in Fluid Dynamics fit into the dialog. Maybe I missed something, but I just told my officer something like 'I'm going to get to the bottom of this' and then we saw the ships entering through the gateway. Was that supposed to be a recording from the fake ship we found? Or were we seeing some fake ships off in the distance? It just didn't seem clear to me.
Conjoined, Re-emergence, and . . .
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
with the rework of the reputation system and the inclusion of Tuvok / Worf into the final 2 episode arcs..
why are there no reputation rewards for first completion in this series..
" Where Angels Fear to Tread " there is a good place for a few Romulan Marks..
"A Gathering Darkness" and " Assimilation " are great points for a handfull of Omega Marks
You have to use Omega tactics and skills that are used in ground / space STFs to
complete them..
" Fluid Dynamics " ..
1 - A voice over issue with Dr. Cooper
and there should be some voice acting from Tuvok to go along with Cooper..
2 - a great mission for some Omega Marks as there is a *SPOILER* to destroy..
I'm not asking for 90 marks like an Elite STF.. but the same 10 marks from a RED ALERT would be enough.. even in Romulan Marks .. a simple 10 marks at this level would be incentive for replay. Keep the marks available on the replay and people could use these missions to get familiar with borg ground tactics and be ready for Defera invasion / ground STFs..
So yea.. amazing remaster.. great work team.. but those rewards.. Marks and a BOA Rare Anti Borg Omega style Weapon Choice ( referencing the Hirogen Hunter Rifle from the KDF mission ALPHA ) would get people re-running these episodes which is in the true Star Trek spirit of enjoying a rerun
I don't know, the episodes these are replacing had terrible rewards as well. It was actually kind of funny going from the purple mk x/xi sets of the dominion and breen episodes to the TRIBBLE greens of the borg and undine episodes. With the rep revamp giving purple mk xiis now I really don't see why these episodes can't reward blue mk xi versions of the sets, and we already have precedence for it with the blue reman shields.
Here's my idea. The Mk X STF sets aren't that great, but they make for good starter gear. They're already saying, "Lets get rid of it." My response is: They're good starter gear. The Mk X has no costume attached. Let's give them that.
Here's my proposal for rewards:
Where Angels Fear to Tread
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard PSG Mk X
or
Omega PSG Mk X
A Gathering Darkness
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard Armor Mk X
or
Omega Armor Mk X
Assimilation (Here's where I add my own twist)
Since many people want the TR-116 in but the devs had said no (because it was preorder), lets use its sister gun as a reward.
[TR-120 Pulse Rifle]
Levelless Item
Can Penetrate Personal Shields (Not applicable against Players)
Max One Per Character
- DOES NOT HAVE NO-LINE OF SIGHT FUNCTION OF THE TR-116A-
Primary Fire: Kinetic Pulse Shot (read, actual shotgun)
110 Kinetic Damage (40% Shield Penetration)
Damage reduces over range
Secondary Fire - Electrical Tag Shot
5 Kinetic Damage (5% shield penetration)
45 Electrical Damage per second (lasts for 5 seconds)
-Stun Effect
or
Faction Specific Levelled Phaser/Disruptor/Plasma Pulsewave
Fluid Dynamics Rewards:
M.A.C.O./Honor Guard Weapon Mk X
or
Omega Weapon Mk X
TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
Where Angels Fear to Tread
The new ground map looks much better than what I remember of the old.
The final battle:
1) I want the ability to tell the Romulan Captain that I don't need their help. (Because I don't.)
I am okay if the Warbird helps you anyway - they aren't there just because they want to help us, but because they are after Borg technology.
2) In the original form, isn't that the mission where an Iconian ship comes to help you. I miss that part. DO you think bringing an Iconian ship here is no longer relevant since the Romulan Episodes already introduce us to the Iconians?
I kinda liked the Iconians boasting with their ability to defeat Borg ships (even if two Cubes are kinda breakfast for a half-way decently equipped Escort).
3) THis is probably a general problem. The mission rewards are extremely underwhelming. Part of this is that I haven't played a regular Fed from start to finish in a long time, and are used to the more interesting rewards from Featured Episodes. But come on, we're dealing with the Borg here. At least give us a special sticker on these Mark XI armors. "I fought 2 borg cubes and all I got was this lousy blue Mark XI armor."
I know that you can't make cool gear out of thin air, but can't you find something more interesting here?
agreed.. put in the MK X omega sets here plz
Borg Space Vessels
It still bothers me that Cubes are so easy to defeat. It's not that I think that the standard cruiser (or is it battleship?) level Borg ship needs to be tougher, I just think it would just better if it was a smaller borg vessel. A Sphere, for example. But I guess it's too late for that, considering how many revamps we already head for the Borg, and certanily too late for this particular revamp.
Mission Rewards
Mentioned earlier already, the rewards are a bit lackluster, and there have been some good suggestions already (like reusing the low tier borg set items).
But here's another thought:
Since these missions are what is being revamped right now, it might be a good opportunity to reward some kit modules. That way, when Season 9 hits holodeck, people have an extra incentive to replay these mission - they get new kit pieces.
Gathering Darkness
Kessik Orbit
The "Borgification" of the planet is very difficult to actually recognize, as someone else posted, the planet looks mostly grey.
In the dialog to beam to Kessik:
I am not sure why it is Starfleet that believes the scientists might be possible to save - how would they be able to know that better than I am? Would it not make more sense for me or my officers to determine that it's possible. Maybe have me as Captain ask: "What is the situation of the science team? Can we get them out?" "It may be possible, Sir, even if it is a bit risky. But it might be worth it, Battlegroup Omega could use all the intel they can get if we want to have a hope of finding a treamtent from the nanovirus.[blalblabla]"
On Kessik
Why do we need to defeat the Borg first, and can't immediately beam out the scientists?
I suppose it is for tension, but you might want to include some technobabble suggesting that the Borg have a short range transporter jamming system so beam out isn't possible yet.
No Man Left Behind
Oops, I let my whole bridge crew die when I ran back from the data upload and completed the mission. Cooper didn't follow me, either.
Assimilation
Some of the Bridge Officer text seems a bit too repetitive. Good part: Explaining that we block communication of the Cube with the rest of the Collective. (Still, in the long run: If the Borg can assimilate the Undine, once, they can learn it again.)
Combat Starts Too Early
I think combat with the Borg starts too soon. I think to add some of the "creepy factor" aboard the Cube, you should have to go through at least a few corridors where the Borg are sleeping, and the occassional drone suddenly leaving its alcove, moving towards the player and... going past him to do whatever it needs to do.
BOs ignore my position orders?
During the fight with the Fully Assimilated Undine, my bridge officers seemed to really hate it so much that they wouldn't stay at the positions I assigned them. Seems like a bug, not sure if it has anything to do with the mission.
Resistance is not futile
The final BO dialogue should probably allow the Captain to say "First we'll report to Starfleet", instead of the science officer. After all, I am in charge, right?
Fluidic Space Distortions
Is there any way we can get the old underwater/distortion effect back for this mission? I really miss that. I know some people couldn't stand it and it made them sick, so if there was a way to make it optional, great... Maybe we could start on the map and there could be an optional objective that says something to the effect of: "Captain, I can add an special fiilter to our sensor system, that should compensate for the fluidic space effects. Shall I activate the filter?"
NPC Ships not following me back to singularity
Is that a technical limitation or just something not done yet - after the fight with he Diamond, the fleet does not follow me to the singularity.
USS Phida / Typhoon Class
How long until that ship type will be updated to be playable? It seems weird that you see this ship type in so many missions and we fly around in stolen Voth vessels but this class remains unavailable... I know, it is a bit of a kitbash (at least the nacelles seem to come from the Prometheus/Advanced Escort, but that's what an update could "fix" (if it even needs fixing.)
USS Venture
I thought we lost the Venture in the mission, why is it back at the fleet surrounding the planet?
Dual Planetary Ring System
It looks cool, but is it believable?
When I rescued the Romulan Republic prisoners with my Fed toon, they used the Romulan-green transporter effect. Since I'm assuming that it's the player's ship beaming them out, wouldn't it be more logical to use the player's faction-specific transporter effect?
I may update this post as I play the other three missions.
EDIT:
Finished "A Gathering Darkness". I died shortly after doing the data download, which wouldn't have been too much of a problem, except that the respawn point was right in the Borg's line of fire, causing me to die quickly and repeatedly until I defeated them. Maybe move the respawn point back a little bit?
Also, a quick nitpick: Admiral D'Vak's text at the beginning didn't sound very... Klingon, in my opinion.
Where Angels Fear Tread: (played as FED)
A Gathering Darkness: (Played as KDF)
STOWiki admin.
TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
I actually wanted one of those Borg command ships to warp in, and then have that get obliterated by the incoming Iconian vessel. That'd have been a more impressive display of power.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
Did the Iconians really went through the effort of basically building Starfleet vessels just for the sake of tricking the Borg? Are you really sure you want to imply that they could build ships from alien species just like that, especially if at the same time Hakeev is conducting weird experiments on living examples of the different species? THat seems inconsistent.
It might be better to just have them use ships that were reported lost or had been been dismantled.
Alternate text inspiration: "I can identify a few of these ships, Captain - most are reported as missing in action, some as far back as during the war with Cardassia, several have been decomissioned and were put in various starship graveyards."
(This also leaves it ambigous whether the Iconians directly snatched a few ships, or whether they found wrecks and restored them sufficiently to be used in a mock battle against the Undine)
Bonus: You could have the USS Enterprise E there. Since it's considered lost, anyway, might leave at least some hint what happened to it.
Vista, 7 or 8.1?
:P:D
The mission did seem to be spoon feeding us information, rather than having any real sense of investigation going on. They could have also deployed the same method that the Romulans used in "Unification", where they went to a surplus ship storage yard and stole old vessels from there. I'm sure the Klingons must also have something similar, and the Romulans would be very easy since the break up of the empire, plenty of old derelict Romulan ships floating about.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
Please buff Voyager aka Tuvok's ship.
Consider Giving it the armor and weapons from "Voyager's" last episode.
Also giving it ridiculously high HP 50 million could be, a good starting point... (consider it a "Hero ship" increased damage, shield mod, hull points and Damage resistance. also consider giving it a hangar bay. with unique delta flyers.)
Ok onto the rewards for completion.
I think with amount of work, you have all put into this and how some devs were commenting on episodes don't get replayed much or played at all... and how difficult "Fluid Dynamics" is.
Could you Consider giving this series MK XII or MK XI purple rewards or unique level less items that has ultra rare stats for that level.
If you do keep the "kit reward pack" could you consider bumping it up to MK XI blue or higher.
Could have this as a way to get an unique kit module MK XII purple.
The replay reward could be looked at... if you consider changing it to encourage replaying this series. ("more grindy") (see featured episode with Tuvok from anniversary episode for replay reward quality)
"Fluid Dynamics" Difficulty
This felt like a 5 man stf. Was solo when I did this...
I think Buffing Voyager and the other support ships and moving cubes a little might help mission a little.
Could you try a week of having all enemies at lvl 50 and allies or is that lot of wok to change just for 1 week? (not sure how that works for setting mob level)
it's last group of cubes that could use spacing adjustments. further apart... think moving 2 of the Cubes back 3-7 km might be enough.
Mission pacing.
Would putting the "allied" distress call before finding the Borg communication arrays work for the plot?
Diamond ship. Is manual distribution of shields a new ability that you're testing out? or just a normal ability that few ships have? (*just curious not a complaint or anything like that)
_______________
State of Q.
it was 1 of the Episodes I'd actually replay. it was a good episode. (could it be improved? yes)
I think totally getting rid of it is not best course of action. maybe add episode arc of "bonus" Episodes. That way if you want you can add more episodes that don't have to advance the plot of STO...
The mission had so many logic and dialogue bits of weirdness. The Venture stays behind but then the distress call comes from in front of me. The ship graveyard, are the Undine really so dumb that they can't tell hull alloys apart, or wonder about the lack of Humans, Klingons, or Romulans aboard those ships, or post-infiltration realize 'hey these powers barely know we exist but they're also invading us? This doesn't add up.' If those wrecks are the 'justification,' then the Undine just demonstrate themselves to be AMAZINGLY gullible. Then there's the Command Diamond which seems to have a version of FAW with a 30-second duration (FAW icon anyways) which makes destructable torps, mines, and fighter pets pretty useless. Lastly post mission they talked about the silver lining that I at least rescued Cooper and the survivors of the ship-that-wasn't-the-Venture, and something about a counter-virus that hadn't ever been mentioned in that mission until that point. All in all it seemed like the various dialogue trees in the mission had been written by 3-4 different people and they can't compared notes, plus it also depended on accepting that the Great And Powerful Undine are Pakled-level thick. As I said, huh?
There's a general storyline issue whenever new content comes about. The introduction of the Nimbus missions suddenly has my Fed BOFFs talking about Hakeev and missing colonists before you ever encounter him in the Fed storyline (I assume the same is true for Klinks)... The counter-virus dialogue is likely a holdover from the original Borg/Undine storyline where you rescue Fed researchers from Kessik IV and get a way to counter the Borg nanovirus that lets them assimilate whole planets.
But yeah, in the rush to release new content, they're not revising the old stuff to make sense. At least the new Fed tutorial did a good job of retaining Quinto's VO work, but the same isn't going to fly for too much of the old content.
This refers to the current mission "Assimilation" where you go in to grab Cooper's research while the planet is being assimilated. With those notes Cooper was able to develop the counter-virus.
I believe "A Gathering Darkness" is the mission you are referring to.
Yep, failed my roll to remember the correct mission name. Thanks for the correction.
ok is it supposed to be
scan debris then a sphere appears? destroy that...
then go scan another spot, find a cube. then shoot it a bunch, until it runs off.
it then leads you to an area with Undine and Borg and Rifts.
This has a kill 2 borg and kill 2 undine.
A Borg Cube has a Undine ship in a tractor Beam.
At this spot there are 3 or 4 Undine ships shooting the Cube.
I think there are too many Undine Cruisers around that Cube... (if they're supposed to be there... could they be changed to Frigates?
1st Q: Are these Undine supposed to be there?
2nd Q: Is there an Accolade for destroying the ship in the Tractor beam?
3rd Q: If there is an accolade... are those Undine ships preventing players from getting accolade? by shooting the cube?
4th Q: Edit oh sorry... was this accolade moved to the end of mission???
after clearing area around the Cube... beam aboard cube... then "Spoilers"
+1 for transphasic torpedo