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Whats the worst ground mission?

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  • majorcharvenakmajorcharvenak Member Posts: 226 Arc User
    As heretical as it might sound from someone who plays mostly a Rommie, my vote for the worst is the Atlai and several of the fetch and spray quests on New Romulus. My favorite, however, is Cutting the Cord for...reasons. B)
    ~Shia~

    Member - Houseclan t'Charvon (STO)
    Shiarrael e'Tal'Aura t'Charvon, LvL 65, Rom Sci
    S'aana ir'Virinat t'Charvon, Lvl 65, Rom Eng
    T'Lyra, LvL 65, Fed, Vul Sci
    Ta'el, Lvl 63, Rom Tac
    Sukima, Lvl 65, Fed Vul Sci

    House Miliskeera in exile (NW)
    Sereska Miliskeera, Lvl 70 OP - Devotion (Just.)/Protection (Just.)
    Shizlee Miliskeera, Lvl 70 DC - Divine Oracle (Right.)/Anointed Champion (Faith.)
    Finithey Miliskeera, Lvl 70 HR - Stormwarden (Combat)/Pathfinder (Trapper)
    Maya Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 CW - Spellstorm
    Irae Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 TR - Master Inflitrator
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    The best ground mission by far is a queue. Defend Rhillo Station. The second best IMO is Nimbus in general and the Voth Battlezone (ground) isn't far behind.The worst is hard to say because in general, ground is way better than space IMO. But the worst that I can think of is probably A Step Between the Stars. It's actually even worse on the space portion but after all these years, I've gotten sick of every aspect of it. Ground and space.

    I am 50/50 on A Step Between Stars.

    I actually really like the mission up until the point where it puts you in that terrible Dyson Ship with that horrible 'Cryptic Build' that just shows how little the developers understand about their own game.

    If they left that entire mission exactly as is, but just put you in your own ship instead of the Dyson Ship.. I would find it a rather enjoyable mission. I even like the jet pack part, I thought it was clever and innovative.
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,950 Arc User
    alonar wrote: »
    Does the mission have to be still in the game? If not its that fire caves one, lol
    Hey thanks I had forgotten about that one. Actually thought it was pretty cool tbh.

    Not as fond of 'Of Bajor' though, probably because I'd played through it with so many toons. Something Ripley said about what needed to be done from orbit would be appropriate here...
  • xyquarzexyquarze Member Posts: 2,114 Arc User
    As heretical as it might sound from someone who plays mostly a Rommie, my vote for the worst is the Atlai and several of the fetch and spray quests on New Romulus. My favorite, however, is Cutting the Cord for...reasons. B)

    The one in Pahhoe Crater (sp?) takes the cake for me. Even though it is the quickest to finish it is - okay, the way I play it - the most stupid one, running around between 7 bushes who respawn just in time when I finished a tour until I got the 40-or-so to turn them in for 100%. I am glad you don't have to do it anymore to fill your journal.

    And I also like the "Step between Stars" ground part including the thrusters (I also like the randomly chosen mini missions as a principle), but yeah, the DSD fight is a slog and certainly doesn't work as the intended advertisement for the ship. Sphere of Influence is also quite nicely story wise and the giant "terminal area" looks great, but is a lot of mindless running around.
    My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
  • majorcharvenakmajorcharvenak Member Posts: 226 Arc User
    xyquarze wrote: »
    As heretical as it might sound from someone who plays mostly a Rommie, my vote for the worst is the Atlai and several of the fetch and spray quests on New Romulus. My favorite, however, is Cutting the Cord for...reasons. B)

    The one in Pahhoe Crater (sp?) takes the cake for me. Even though it is the quickest to finish it is - okay, the way I play it - the most stupid one, running around between 7 bushes who respawn just in time when I finished a tour until I got the 40-or-so to turn them in for 100%. I am glad you don't have to do it anymore to fill your journal.

    And I also like the "Step between Stars" ground part including the thrusters (I also like the randomly chosen mini missions as a principle), but yeah, the DSD fight is a slog and certainly doesn't work as the intended advertisement for the ship. Sphere of Influence is also quite nicely story wise and the giant "terminal area" looks great, but is a lot of mindless running around.

    Oh yeah. Many of the missions on New Romulus can be particularly painful. The ones tied to the campaign as you level aren't bad and kinda fun,but the rest...Eww! I just wish D'tan would hire a better contractor for those missions.

    I'm fine with a "Step between Stars" with the exception of the thrusters. I always had the feeling I was going to overshoot the locks and end up "A Step inside a Star." Had no real problem with the space side of the mission. It was okay for me at the time.
    ~Shia~

    Member - Houseclan t'Charvon (STO)
    Shiarrael e'Tal'Aura t'Charvon, LvL 65, Rom Sci
    S'aana ir'Virinat t'Charvon, Lvl 65, Rom Eng
    T'Lyra, LvL 65, Fed, Vul Sci
    Ta'el, Lvl 63, Rom Tac
    Sukima, Lvl 65, Fed Vul Sci

    House Miliskeera in exile (NW)
    Sereska Miliskeera, Lvl 70 OP - Devotion (Just.)/Protection (Just.)
    Shizlee Miliskeera, Lvl 70 DC - Divine Oracle (Right.)/Anointed Champion (Faith.)
    Finithey Miliskeera, Lvl 70 HR - Stormwarden (Combat)/Pathfinder (Trapper)
    Maya Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 CW - Spellstorm
    Irae Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 TR - Master Inflitrator
  • trennantrennan Member Posts: 2,839 Arc User
    reyan01 wrote: »
    Step Between the Stars would be my personal choice. I HATED the EV thruster suit portion.

    This is called practice for the Lohlunat floater race.

    Worst for me is Home. My boffs find ways to get stuck in the walls of the ship.

    One could argue the old you've been captured by Hirogen, and then set free on planet and hunted. But, for me that one was actually fun. Can't remember the name of this one.

    Of Bajor, is just tedious, and I think I have to do it for the engi and sci bit for the accolade. -.-

    Beyond the Nexus, should have been Geordi saying, "This is the new galaxy interior! And for the right price it can be your's!" That's all that mission was.

    Though, another run around one is the fix it one on Drozana.

    If you go by the Gamma threads, then Tenebris Tourquet ranks among the worst. Which I suppose means What Lies Beneath does as well.
    Mm5NeXy.gif
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    azrael605 wrote: »
    Tenebrious was great.

    Agreed, one of the best missions in the game.
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    I believe they doubled the percentage awarded for each [whatever] on New Romulus so stuff proceeds much quicker now.
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • postagepaidpostagepaid Member Posts: 2,899 Arc User
    Didn't the romulus fetch quests get shifted into optional or skippable status? Been a while since I've hit t5 rep on an alt which is the only time I go there.
  • anodynesanodynes Member Posts: 1,999 Arc User
    questerius wrote: »
    I think many ground missions are fun, like Kobali and many in Beyond the Nexus. Quark's Lucky 7 is amazing, and RIP the few Foundry missions I played. However, the ground MECHANICS and UI are trash, although somewhat better than 3 years ago when I first played. Using cover is pretty standard in shooters now, and BOFF AI needs an overhaul to not just spam enemies, but adjust for type and strength.

    Beyond the nexus? Does that even count as ground combat? Run it once and you know where everything beams in and it dies the 2nd time you play the mission. Horribly scripted. Nice interior, but horribly scripted.

    Now, I'll give you that there's no real story there, but what are you talking about here? How is knowing "where everything beams in" different in Beyond the Nexus than it is in literally every other episode?
    This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    The New Romulus Arc is in the Missions Tab and therefore after the initial non-repeatible can be skipped. However, the Staging Area is a great area, worth the less than five minutes to run it as a source of Romulan Marks and Dilitium. 85 Marks for the first New Romulus Rep mission of the day. 20 Marks thereafter (twice given by Romulan Patrol and with no Cooldown). Dilitium is also 1080 for the first New Romulus Ground Mission of the Day. I believe 720 thereafter.

    You also get a choice of a Rare Mk XI Kit Module, which you can Salvage.
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,301 Arc User
    ltminns wrote: »
    The New Romulus Arc is in the Missions Tab and therefore after the initial non-repeatible can be skipped. However, the Staging Area is a great area, worth the less than five minutes to run it as a source of Romulan Marks and Dilitium. 85 Marks for the first New Romulus Rep mission of the day. 20 Marks thereafter (twice given by Romulan Patrol and with no Cooldown). Dilitium is also 1080 for the first New Romulus Ground Mission of the Day. I believe 720 thereafter.

    You also get a choice of a Rare Mk XI Kit Module, which you can Salvage.

    I prefer a quick mountain pass over a staging area run myself.
    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
  • trennantrennan Member Posts: 2,839 Arc User
    azrael605 wrote: »
    Tenebrious was great.

    It was and so it What Lies Beneath, only two maps where you feel like your actually exploring something. Since neither map holds you hand and guides, i.e. the minmap is shut off.
    Mm5NeXy.gif
  • kaggert27kaggert27 Member Posts: 138 Arc User
    Ground that I hate: I'd say any ground map where NPCs can fall into out of bounds or some un-reachable layer, due to bad geometry of terrain. So a large portion of original patrol maps. And some original mission maps (like Fire Caves mentioned, let alone any "cave" system in older content and removed ones)
    I can't say I hate "Of Bajor" so much as it at least was showing the current thing going on for that arc, yeah it could drag, but it just builds world somewhat. What I don't get is at this point, is why there is no option to take a shuttle to Bajor, or the other way on the social maps like how ESD/Academy, or First City/Academy.
    Thing is people seem to forget some of the missions, like Cutting the Cord, was where they wanted the player to team up with other players and do stuff. So when people say they were alone and hated it, well...

    But the worst ground is...and always be: THE BLASTED CURSED MOON PLANET ANDORIA. I loathe every time Anniversary comes up, because of this ground zone. An absolute failure of direction of purpose that failed to accumulate to anything after launch of the game, the mission that was attached to it for the Fed side, I can't even remember. It has some sort of "vendor" cave near the beam in spot, and each one has the same stuff, commodities or something, there is a tent outside, with consoles, but nothing. Then you go to the vast wasteland of people in circles, but they do nothing, supposedly some fighting combat thing, but nothing happens, because of failed development due to other stuff. Please remove said ground zone from me having to suffer when that comes around. The amount of running makes Colosseum feel like a walk around the yard. Nothing compares to the Andorian vast tundra of NOTHING. It adds nothing to the game. Same can sort of be said of Vulcan, but at least there are some random NPCs on said planet that at least say something. Though like Andoria there is a vast waste of space around the central area of the map, there is at least stuff to see/do …so if anything CULL the excess space of Vulcan and the Entire planet of Andoria from the game and maybe save some loading/file size.
  • xyquarzexyquarze Member Posts: 2,114 Arc User
    trennan wrote: »
    One could argue the old you've been captured by Hirogen, and then set free on planet and hunted. But, for me that one was actually fun. Can't remember the name of this one.

    I remember that one favorably but I think it has been removed?

    As for Drozana: Spin the Wheel is indeed only running around (one of two non combat missions in the game, the other being Cold Comfort), but it is comparatively quick. The thing I dislike about it most is having to go to your faction's starbase to do the research because of all the annoying loading screens for maps you spend 10 seconds in.

    What Lies Beneath is indeed very nice, I also like the tie-in with the follow up "Everything Old is New" where you travel the same map backwards, only this time brand new 200 years ago instead of utter disrepair. Comparing the two maps is nice. Tenebris Torquent is also one of the better ones because of, dare I say it?, the small different aspects like the jumping part or the three dimensionality.

    New Rom: yeah, maybe they doubled the rewards, still a run around that's not very enjoyable for me. (For Rom Farming I preferred Atlai's Nanov tagging - no combat means a break any time you want) The collecting missions, except for Staging Base, don't show up in the journal anymore, so can be completely skipped without leaving out anything. (What they did though was put the "run through mini map" and "gather info in minimap" missions one after the other, so if you just beam out to collect a mission and see what the next one is, you'll have to repeat the very same map again for a second time - you need to turn it in and get the new mission while still in map to avoid that).

    I don't know why, because it is just a straight railroaded run'n'shoot, but I also like the ground part of the second Breen mission (name escapes me, you rescue Deferi from a mine).
    My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
  • jexsamxjexsamx Member Posts: 2,802 Arc User
    I'm one of those weird people who actually kind of likes Coliseum. The math problems starting out are tedious, certainly. But back before they kept messing with the mobs, the arena fight section was pretty fun, and the music they bothered to license was a treat. The wide open area afterwards was a bit slow, surely, but it's a massive desert - it's not supposed to be rife with things to explore. The quest bits along the way could be tightened up, but the scale is part of what makes it so good.

    Tenebrous Torquent and What Lies Beneath are easily the best ground missions. Nothing will match that first time you hear "Bonnie-kin, bonnie-kin"... except maybe realizing there's more than one version. And Torquent is just a well put together mission from the ground up.

    OP called for worst, though. For my money, any ground mission in the Dyson sphere arc is a contender for that title. Some good ideas and fun VO scattered about in there, to be sure, but they drag on forever in the same boring few hallways in the same boring few tilesets and honestly I just disliked that whole story. The space and ground adventure zones were okay, though.

    If we're counting missions that have been removed, the title of worst goes to any of the randomly slapped together "exploration" missions. They were only good for unintentional humor and anyone that actually misses them, ground or space, is delusional.
  • jagdtier44jagdtier44 Member Posts: 376 Arc User
    The worst ground mission possible is thankfully a TFO so you dont have to play it.. Khitomer in Stasis. It's old and it shows, having newer players play it is a nightmare nobody understands what to do, having to have 1 person in another area shutting off shields and getting the other people to go to that one thing to destroy it is just.. a nightmare yeah.

    For solo episode content thats still in the game I have to say Coliseum. I groan when it comes up each time its far worse than of Bajor which you can blow through much faster than Coliseum.
  • xyquarzexyquarze Member Posts: 2,114 Arc User
    jexsamx wrote: »
    For my money, any ground mission in the Dyson sphere arc is a contender for that title.

    Is there another apart from Sphere of Influence? Sure, both Step between Stars and Surface Tension have some ground parts (which are indeed not rushed through), but especially Surface Tension feels more like a space mission to me, despite the first "prepare the conference" part.
    My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
  • postagepaidpostagepaid Member Posts: 2,899 Arc User
    There is a ground mission, think it also got rehashed into an STF, where you run about an allied station that for no good reason blocks your map.

    If you were the invaders not having the lay of the land would make sense but for that side not to know where thing are on their own station is just plain dumb.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited April 2019
    Cold Blue Space Part 7 :tongue:

    I'm pretty much the only one who played it, Foundry mission with ambition that far exceeded its reach. For those that recoil at the thought of the Coliseum, imagine crossing Napoda desert not just along the map's horizontal axis but several times diagonally as well.

    But, it was a ground mission and it did push all bounds (it was a fun kind of pain but had to throw in the towel after 3 hours.) Looking at Cryptic's missions there's really nothing in the same ballpark. One great thing about having played the Foundry was just that it made you appreciate the little things in mission design. I honestly can't get worked up about any mission they've made (even the old exploration ground missions with only scan objectives were easily digestible.)
    Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
    Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
    Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    But for the Best Ground Mission hands down it has to be 'Divide et Impera'. If only for the wailing and knashing of moral terpitude. ;)

    One of my Characters still has it in the Mission Journal.
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,248 Arc User
    Cold Blue Space Part 7 :tongue:

    I'm pretty much the only one who played it, Foundry mission with ambition that far exceeded its reach. For those that recoil at the thought of the Coliseum, imagine crossing Napoda desert not just along the map's horizontal axis but several times diagonally as well.

    But, it was a ground mission and it did push all bounds (it was a fun kind of pain but had to throw in the towel after 3 hours.) Looking at Cryptic's missions there's really nothing in the same ballpark. One great thing about having played the Foundry was just that it made you appreciate the little things in mission design. I honestly can't get worked up about any mission they've made (even the old exploration ground missions with only scan objectives were easily digestible.)
    To be honest you kind of have to judge foundry missions with a different standard from Cryptic made missions as not only were foundry authors not for most part professional game makers, but also our resources were a fraction of what Cryptic has avaible to them.

    That said yeah you could find stuff that was suppose to be "story driven" but author had badly exceeded their reach for what ever reason and what you ended up was a mess and sometimes not even an entertaining mess.

    I remember one mission I think the Legion of Myth guys played, well it was an LP but I can't remember who exactly was playing, but the mission had story points appear out of nowhere, characters, factions act out of character for no clear reason and generally storylines had no clear structure or thought to them.
  • trennantrennan Member Posts: 2,839 Arc User
    spiritborn wrote: »
    Cold Blue Space Part 7 :tongue:

    I'm pretty much the only one who played it, Foundry mission with ambition that far exceeded its reach. For those that recoil at the thought of the Coliseum, imagine crossing Napoda desert not just along the map's horizontal axis but several times diagonally as well.

    But, it was a ground mission and it did push all bounds (it was a fun kind of pain but had to throw in the towel after 3 hours.) Looking at Cryptic's missions there's really nothing in the same ballpark. One great thing about having played the Foundry was just that it made you appreciate the little things in mission design. I honestly can't get worked up about any mission they've made (even the old exploration ground missions with only scan objectives were easily digestible.)
    To be honest you kind of have to judge foundry missions with a different standard from Cryptic made missions as not only were foundry authors not for most part professional game makers, but also our resources were a fraction of what Cryptic has avaible to them.

    That said yeah you could find stuff that was suppose to be "story driven" but author had badly exceeded their reach for what ever reason and what you ended up was a mess and sometimes not even an entertaining mess.

    I remember one mission I think the Legion of Myth guys played, well it was an LP but I can't remember who exactly was playing, but the mission had story points appear out of nowhere, characters, factions act out of character for no clear reason and generally storylines had no clear structure or thought to them.

    Not to mention, severe limitations. Not only were we working the a fraction of the overall assets. We had premade maps to work with. Most of which were severally cluttered, with things we couldn't remove, just cover. There was also the limitations on what we could do to the map, 475 details, 65 buildings, 25 friendly/neutral npcs, 25 enemy groups, and 250 dialogues per map, which you had like 15 maps per mission to work with . Which why short ones flowed well, but the longer, story driven ones could end up all out of whack.

    I was working on two missions, one KDF and one Fed, I had them both set to minimum of like 3 maps. I didn't include the foundry ground maps in this. Simply because that was a voluntary headache to deal with.

    I rank these differently than anyone else. The more salt a ground map generates from the player base, the better it is.
    Mm5NeXy.gif
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited April 2019
    spiritborn wrote: »
    I remember one mission I think the Legion of Myth guys played, well it was an LP but I can't remember who exactly was playing, but the mission had story points appear out of nowhere, characters, factions act out of character for no clear reason and generally storylines had no clear structure or thought to them.

    I think that was part 1 of this series, this one was like that but more so (it had time travel and more perilous builds). As to the Foundry, the formats were separate but the principles for design you could carry over between them as well as the basics of experiencing content in game (both the good and bad.) While 1:1 translation was often not possible, you could learn a lot about the medium through experiencing the Foundry.

    Keyword here: perspective, I have no interest in creating a unified ranking system or in broadly comparing Foundry mission's to Cryptic here. My point was that on the subject of "worst missions," there's nothing that Cryptic does which I've not only survived in STO but found valid creative expression in. I know what effect the nadir of the format can have (irrespective of who made it, this is basic to STO) and I can move on from that to see what else is there. Even something as bad as running across Napoda's width a few times as well as its full length (more than an hour in and with no end to the mission in sight) I had fun with. It was a very painful kind of fun but still something that made for a good evening.

    To me, main missions are at least generally alright and while I certainly want Cryptic to keep trying to do better and push the narrative format they have I can't sit down and pick out something so remarkable that I could cite it here. How I feel about a mission changes with priorities; some days I may be looking for more story, gameplay, world building, or simplicity in experience. How I appreciate an arc changes with the characters I'm approaching it with and what else I've played recently. For some (or indeed many), these factors aren't going to be changing their answers but for me it definitely does. That's where I'm at with in my appreciation of narrative gaming.

    Also for reference: I uploaded my (partial) playthrough of CBS:P7. Spoiler tagged to keep the thread neat and set to an illustrative point in the mission (~1hr:15min).
    Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
    Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
    Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
    Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
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