Well, my first mission is finally up and ready to be reviewed.
"The Second to Last Outpost"
Project ID: ST-HTY7R9LA2
In light of some people getting one-star reviews for their missions being "too long", I am kind of nervous.
The mission is approximately 2.5 hours in length if you take your time, read the dialog and not rush through it.
Please note that this is a story-driven mission with lots of dialog and information. When I say lots of dialog, I mean LOTS. There is also a ton of information both factual and fictional to add a bit of life to the story. There is a decent amount of combat, in my opinion.
And for the sake of your sanity, do not play it on "elite". It makes the ground parts a little "hairy". Do so at your own peril.

I look forward to your comments and constructive criticisms.
Thank you in advance.
OldLordSkull
Comments
The two-star one said the mission was "too technical, and too long". (Of course, in the mission description it tells you it will take about 2.5 hours to finish, and is highly story-driven.)
Still, I appreciate the feedback, both good and bad.
add the starting location to the mission info instead of only "Rendezvous with the ...."
on Aox'Veo II, having the first enemy group to the left of your spawn point so close to the map's border made them disappear a few times into the void, therefore untargetable. Move them a few more meters in
either the force fields in the cave are bugged or the spiders jump quite high, but you get overrun by them, and when trying to ignore you,they still managed to get me further down the caves. Maybe a bit too many of them spiders in general the caves
Add a respawn point outsude the portal's room, also, maybe tone it down a bit, too many talaron mines and medics, making the battle turn more to the annoying side after a while. Fun conclusion to the space battle however, would really like to see their faces when they realize what happened ^^
I can add that to the mission info. Thank you for pointing that out.
I had no idea about that enemy group disappearing on AV2. I shall correct that.
The spiders jump high! Oh, and there is a very nasty surprise if you get too close to that pen, the fields drop.
A respawn outside the portal room is a good idea. Also, I'll investigate the enemies that spawn to check the group makeup to get rid of those troublesome infinite heal medics.
I'm glad you liked the final battle.
Again, I appreciate your review and pointing out some things for me to look at!
Thank you!
Great work overall despite the things I didn't like.
I have been told by a couple of people now that I could have split that into a two-parter. Perhaps next mission I won't make it so "epic sized".
Good point on the trips to ESD. I'll look into changing that in the next version.
You're the second person to mention the backtracking in the outpost complex. I'll have to see if I can wrangle something...I pushed that map to the limits, and actually had to pare it down, as it wouldn't let me add any other objectives or details.
I think you are the first person to catch the graphics on that display.
Thank you for the comments and constructive criticisms, sir! I truly appreciate it!
I don't want to update my mission with the tweaks I've made only to have it break when it hits Holodeck.
Furthermore, I'd like to thank the people that reviewed the mission and allowed it to be pushed to the general public. I truly appreciate it!
I will have to wait until that Foundry publishing bug is fixed before making any updates, as I do not want to break the mission for anyone looking to play it!
So, if you have 2.5 hours you can spare, please give the mission a go.
To do list:
Thank you for the reviews thus far! Please keep them coming.
Havraha and NemesisChiken gave 5 and 4 stars respectively. Altexist, I hope you replay it so you can finish the end...you were so close to the conclusion! I also look forward to Terry's review when she feels better.
Thank you again for the review, the complements and the criticisms!
I look forward to learning from the authoring of my first mission and attempt to bring more quality missions to the Foundry.
If you've played it and reviewed it, thank you!
I've learned a lot creating this mission, and I hope my next mission will be even better!
Thanks again!
I particular applaud you for the referencing to ST Canon, like Rasmussen and the Tkon, and even Kahn in DS9. It really helps to create links for a strong story. its a good foundation to build upon. Espeically, little things like '47.23%' ^^
I found the pace quite good, and the dialogue especially good.
I commend you on keeping the 'captain' aboard the ship while the crew transports to the romulan warbird etc. Again, it adds to the realism imo
It IS long, but you alluded to that point and I having set aside the time, I really enjoyed playing this. I hope you continue to make such wonderful additions to the game, and to the foundry community as a whole.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Nynik! I am very glad that you enjoyed the mission! It was a labor of love to create...and stacks of notes to go through while writing it!
I will definitely apply what I've learned in the next mission that I create!
Thank you again!
I've tested the maps and triggers, and everything seems good.
The Second to Last Outpost is republished.
If you play my mission, please drop me a line here or in game if something else is broke so I can fix it. Giving me one star because of something that was broken with the Season 4 update is not fair...give me the chance to fix it please!
I hope the Foundry updates never break our missions again, fellow authors! :cool:
Excellent story and I actually really appreciated a long mission. Though Portal could have been a little nicer to my science officer. It's not her fault she just graduated the academy. lol. I hope you keep making missions, this is probably the most fun I've actually had playing STO.
Yeah, the Portal is a bit snippy, isn't he?
I'm very pleased to hear that you enjoyed the mission! It was definitely a labor of love. Your enjoyment of my work makes it all worthwhile...and I most definitely will continue making more missions.
Thank you once again for the kind words!
Cheers!
Thank you all who have played it, enjoyed it and given me feedback!
I may edit a thing or two yet...but for now I am currently working on my next mission.
There seems to be something buggy with Foundry missions now, where maps are crashing.
So, to save myself from getting "Your mission is broke, 1-star" reviews, I have temporarily withdrawn the mission until the problem is resolved by Cryptic.
I will post once it is live again.
Thank you!
Yes, the mission is still withdrawn for now.
The Foundry has been turned back on as of today, Aug. 19th, but I want to be sure that I don't start getting dinged with more one-star reviews if there is still something broken that is out of my hands.
I will probably wait a day or two to see if anyone reports any troubles, then I will re-publish.
Thank you for your interest in my mission!
Oh, man!
Sorry to hear that, brother! I am terrified to republish mine!
I hope they fix it soon so you can get back in there and create!
In the meantime, I am continuing to write out dialog branches for my next mission outside of the Foundry.
Please, if you see any of the problems that seem to be Foundry related, please drop me a line.
Thank you.