The DOFF system has a few issues. Overall I really like the system and see it as a very good mini/macro game that could eventually be as robust as any other aspect of STO.
However....
There are too few DOFFs given out;
Different sectors should give sector only specific missions;
Yet another system that eats energy credits, yet spawns little in return;
Names of DOFFs are, well, horrible, can't someone open a phone book? Even Humans have fruity names;
Longer DOFF missions when there are so few DOFFs given out at first are wasteful to the learning newb DOFF user, this should be fixed by new DOFF users only allowed to access short missions. But first, more need to be in the hopper;
I should be able to control the DOFF from the webpage. I authenticate, access my DOFF screen, tada!
We all should thank the team for incorporating the use of trade goods in DOFF missions. THings are coming together and what used to be a waste drop that we converted into EC, now has become a useful object.
Additional DOFF minigames:
A Doff working on an item could raise that items potential or capability through the use of shipboard missions. failures could result in the loss or partial loss of the item, critical success could elevate the item beyond its normal capability....such as an engineering consoloe mated with a science console not only gives the old powers of each (somewhat subdued) but also adds a new, extremely rare capability.
DOFF PVP missions:
KDF player creates a challenge; FED responds and chooses parameters of challenge; both put a DOFF into the system and take a chance to win the challenge. Prizes are awarded by the winner's faction. If we ever move to a zone control type of game, these missions could sway balance of power.
DOFF Conundrums Minigame:
Not all of life is pew! pew! Star trek is full of drama too; As a captain, crew constantly throw their crazy social concerns at you. How you choose to respond to a doff could modify their traits.
Ensign Yin, you want a reassignment to engineering because you are bored in operations?
Lt Cmdr. Sule, your trill symbiote wants to know if you are ready for the operation, do you have any concerns?
Chief Pendergast, this report states that you were modifying phaser rifles and that one exploded. The options you've given me are to summarily discharge you from the ranks; call an inquiry into your actions; or charge you with gross neglect of your duty!
Robert, your mother was killed on a mission I directed her to perform. Your decision to act out on your anger, and causing an accidental release of nanites with such anger has brought you before me. Should I send you to Starfleet academy? What should I do with you!
B-But I have a Bartender/Colonist combo that does all my Resupply missions and Any Officer duo missions...they make a great team! In fact they're the only Duo I've sent out on Military supply missions that haven't gone to Sickbay...
Hmm I have a Development assignment and I'm wondering what would be the point to do it, it doesn't give any buffs and the xp is really really low that it wouldn't really be worth doing.
Hmm I have a Development assignment and I'm wondering what would be the point to do it, it doesn't give any buffs and the xp is really really low that it wouldn't really be worth doing.
Ranking up in development commendation tiers allows you much, much better repeatable access to rare and very rare bridge officers.
So, here are my 2 suggestions for the Doff system:
1) Let players do it right away: I understand and agree with the logic of not overwhelming new players. However, if someone actually WANTS to play the Doff system from the beginning theres no reason they should be able to. So my suggestion is dont have the game tell people about it until *whatever level you want*, but let people who already know about it have a way to start if they want to.
2) Ship interior bonus: We all know ship interiors are fairly useless aside from RP, so how about giving a bonus for starting Doff assingments either on the bridge or in your ready room? If you dont want to cool; you wont get penalized for not doing it. But a small bonus for starting assignments on interiors would give a little cool reason to go there.
So, here are my 2 suggestions for the Doff system:
1) Let players do it right away: I understand and agree with the logic of not overwhelming new players. However, if someone actually WANTS to play the Doff system from the beginning theres no reason they should be able to. So my suggestion is dont have the game tell people about it until *whatever level you want*, but let people who already know about it have a way to start if they want to.
I think a good way of doing this may be simply allowing us to start assignments at any level (except ones that are level gated for whatever reason). Keep the special 15 doff freebie at the current level, but allow players to start junior officer cadre assignments or trade for doffs and get started completely from scratch right out of the gate.
That would keep new players from getting overwhelmed with lots of things right away, but would still let them play with the system in a way that won't overwhelm them.
It also lets established players grandfather a "starter deck" of their own doffs to an alt and get started in earnest right from the start.
I'm having a blast sending Doff's on missions... the obvious downside to this is I have not found a Doff I was willing to keep assigned to ship duty if there was a mission I could send them on, or more importantly a mission I couldn't do without pulling them...
So, I guess what I'm saying is that the ship board abilities appear a tad too weak... I'm always willing to pull them for mission duty...
I'm also struggling quite a bit with not having a quartermaster.. I have just under 30 doffs so far, still no quartermaster...
I'm having a blast sending Doff's on missions... the obvious downside to this is I have not found a Doff I was willing to keep assigned to ship duty if there was a mission I could send them on, or more importantly a mission I couldn't do without pulling them...
So, I guess what I'm saying is that the ship board abilities appear a tad too weak... I'm always willing to pull them for mission duty...
I'm also struggling quite a bit with not having a quartermaster.. I have just under 30 doffs so far, still no quartermaster...
but, thanks, it's a great system...
I don't find the abilities weak... but I do suffer from the same thing you do, it's currently too tempting to pull them off their duty and send them off on assignments. I don't see this as a problem with the Doff abilities, but as a problem with the lack of Doffs and seemingly low xp on Doff assignments currently. I really do feel like I just have too few doffs to be able to justify having some sitting around buffing my Boff skills right now.
if ive not said it yet, this is a great system. i love the trading card nature that it will represent, i love sending them on on missions while trying to match up the right people for the right job, keeping track of things as i fly to my next location. its simple but a lot of fun, and im sure its something that will only expand.
once the departments heads/first officer stuff gets added i think it will be really awesome.
can we get some assignments added to vulcan, risa, ds9, sb39 etc. they seem to be lacking and i think would be natural locations to add some.
perhaps assignments could be reto added to certain missions. ie while you are off doing cold call, have an assignment to salvage or clean up the space junk around defera (that place is a mess after all in orbit).
going back and retro adding to missions if its even possible will increase replay value.
Hi.
Since i have no idea where the apropriate Tribble Feedback Thread is, ill just dump this here.
I just got my first rank up in Diplomacy on the F2P Testserver.
The moment that happened a Caitian remote Contact window appeared and had a Buy/Sell window for duty officers, specifically KDF races (Gorn, Nausican etc).
Since at this very moment several windows popped up simultaneously, i accidentally closed that window.
And that appears to have been a great mistake. I cant find this contact anywhere anymore. I checked Ambassador Sugihara and just about any other contact.
It appears this contact hasnt been implemented yet, so if u do not interact with it, the moment u rank up, u rare officialy screwed -.-
This has to be fixed. If for example i rank up to ambassador on holodeck but do not want my exchange officer that very moment, i can claim it at a later date.
This should be implemented here too, before this goes to holodeck.
And it happened AGAIN!!
Did the last aid planet mission i needed, hoping for that caitian contact to appear. Then the moment i closed the dialog from the successful aid mission that caitian contact pops in with his window in the exact same place as the message window i just tried to cloase, and BAM. The second time i cant claim my reward, as there is no way to contact this guy afterwards. Seriously this is most annoying, add him as remote contact!!! Otherwise i fear half my holodeck chars are going to be screwed too
And it happened AGAIN!!
Did the last aid planet mission i needed, hoping for that caitian contact to appear. Then the moment i closed the dialog from the successful aid mission that caitian contact pops in with his window in the exact same place as the message window i just tried to cloase, and BAM. The second time i cant claim my reward, as there is no way to contact this guy afterwards. Seriously this is most annoying, add him as remote contact!!! Otherwise i fear half my holodeck chars are going to be screwed too
As stated on the Tribble feedback forum, a fix for this was checked in today, so it is now in the pipeline.
The duty officer contacts are being added into the world at the academies (The First City by Worf temporarily for Klingons until the Klingon Academy opens for business; Klingon academy-only assignments have also been temporarily made available in the First City as well.)
As stated on the Tribble feedback forum, a fix for this was checked in today, so it is now in the pipeline.
The duty officer contacts are being added into the world at the academies (The First City by Worf temporarily for Klingons until the Klingon Academy opens for business; Klingon academy-only assignments have also been temporarily made available in the First City as well.)
I see. Wasnt aware it was already known. Thy for the quick response and putting my worries to rest. Awesome system by the way (not that u havent heard that around 5000 times already )
From what I've read I gather the 'assess colonial possibilities in <exploratin> cluster' (or something like that) unlock the missions to send colonists to them in whatever exploration cluster you've assessed.
It seems that the Diplomayic Store for Duty Officer is bugged, you can't see what they are except from the picturers, when you hold over the mouse pointer you get the same information from them all and it rarely ever fits the Doff that you pick.
From what I've read I gather the 'asses colonial possibilities in <exploratin> cluster' (or something like that) unlock the missions to send colonists to them in whatever exploration cluster you've assessed.
I'm having a blast sending Doff's on missions... the obvious downside to this is I have not found a Doff I was willing to keep assigned to ship duty if there was a mission I could send them on, or more importantly a mission I couldn't do without pulling them...
So, I guess what I'm saying is that the ship board abilities appear a tad too weak... I'm always willing to pull them for mission duty.
I think this is going to be a temporary problem. We have room for 100 DOffs, and only 20 mission slots for them. At some point we will all have a set of "good" DOffs for the active roster and plenty of extras to do missions with.
I'm looking forward to collecting 3 missions worth of DOffs junior candidates cadres tonight
And ya, I'm also curious if the other tiers besides Diplomacy under commedations will show the rewards as you level them up (Civilian, Engineering, Science, Tactical, etc)
From what I've read I gather the 'asses colonial possibilities in <exploratin> cluster' (or something like that) unlock the missions to send colonists to them in whatever exploration cluster you've assessed.
Which require colonists to do.
I also am adding a couple of other common assignments to act as an additional sink.
It seems that the Diplomayic Store for Duty Officer is bugged, you can't see what they are except from the picturers, when you hold over the mouse pointer you get the same information from them all and it rarely ever fits the Doff that you pick.
I logged out last night standing on vulcan's surface, logged back in today to see in my chat box that 3 missions had completed, but no rewards. Unlike when your at Earth Space Dock or Starfleet Academy, Vulcan displays an empty screen in the Assignments: Sectors DOff tab.
Is it possible that some ground locations aren't hooked up to the DOff system, so to speak, and that's why I didn't get the rewards for completing missions while in that location?
I logged out last night standing on vulcan's surface, logged back in today to see in my chat box that 3 missions had completed, but no rewards. Unlike when your at Earth Space Dock or Starfleet Academy, Vulcan displays an empty screen in the Assignments: Sectors DOff tab.
Is it possible that some ground locations aren't hooked up to the DOff system, so to speak, and that's why I didn't get the rewards for completing missions while in that location?
Yes, it's possible. I thought I had gotten them all, but they have to be grabbed by hand and I was operating off of an old list intended for different purposes, so it doesn't shock me some fell through the cracks. Especially since originally duty officer assignments weren't going to work at all in any ground or social space.
I will be going in when I get a breather and hooking some more things into these maps.
Yes, it's possible. I thought I had gotten them all, but they have to be grabbed by hand and I was operating off of an old list intended for different purposes, so it doesn't shock me some fell through the cracks. Especially since originally duty officer assignments weren't going to work at all in any ground or social space.
I will be going in when I get a breather and hooking some more things into these maps.
Comments
However....
There are too few DOFFs given out;
Different sectors should give sector only specific missions;
Yet another system that eats energy credits, yet spawns little in return;
Names of DOFFs are, well, horrible, can't someone open a phone book? Even Humans have fruity names;
Longer DOFF missions when there are so few DOFFs given out at first are wasteful to the learning newb DOFF user, this should be fixed by new DOFF users only allowed to access short missions. But first, more need to be in the hopper;
I should be able to control the DOFF from the webpage. I authenticate, access my DOFF screen, tada!
We all should thank the team for incorporating the use of trade goods in DOFF missions. THings are coming together and what used to be a waste drop that we converted into EC, now has become a useful object.
Additional DOFF minigames:
A Doff working on an item could raise that items potential or capability through the use of shipboard missions. failures could result in the loss or partial loss of the item, critical success could elevate the item beyond its normal capability....such as an engineering consoloe mated with a science console not only gives the old powers of each (somewhat subdued) but also adds a new, extremely rare capability.
DOFF PVP missions:
KDF player creates a challenge; FED responds and chooses parameters of challenge; both put a DOFF into the system and take a chance to win the challenge. Prizes are awarded by the winner's faction. If we ever move to a zone control type of game, these missions could sway balance of power.
DOFF Conundrums Minigame:
Not all of life is pew! pew! Star trek is full of drama too; As a captain, crew constantly throw their crazy social concerns at you. How you choose to respond to a doff could modify their traits.
Ensign Yin, you want a reassignment to engineering because you are bored in operations?
Lt Cmdr. Sule, your trill symbiote wants to know if you are ready for the operation, do you have any concerns?
Chief Pendergast, this report states that you were modifying phaser rifles and that one exploded. The options you've given me are to summarily discharge you from the ranks; call an inquiry into your actions; or charge you with gross neglect of your duty!
Robert, your mother was killed on a mission I directed her to perform. Your decision to act out on your anger, and causing an accidental release of nanites with such anger has brought you before me. Should I send you to Starfleet academy? What should I do with you!
Thanks for letting us know about this; I'll look into it.
Ranking up in development commendation tiers allows you much, much better repeatable access to rare and very rare bridge officers.
1) Let players do it right away: I understand and agree with the logic of not overwhelming new players. However, if someone actually WANTS to play the Doff system from the beginning theres no reason they should be able to. So my suggestion is dont have the game tell people about it until *whatever level you want*, but let people who already know about it have a way to start if they want to.
2) Ship interior bonus: We all know ship interiors are fairly useless aside from RP, so how about giving a bonus for starting Doff assingments either on the bridge or in your ready room? If you dont want to cool; you wont get penalized for not doing it. But a small bonus for starting assignments on interiors would give a little cool reason to go there.
Well that sounds good, but the assignment doesn't give any cxp.
Btw I love the Duty Officer System, it gives a nice feel to the game
I think a good way of doing this may be simply allowing us to start assignments at any level (except ones that are level gated for whatever reason). Keep the special 15 doff freebie at the current level, but allow players to start junior officer cadre assignments or trade for doffs and get started completely from scratch right out of the gate.
That would keep new players from getting overwhelmed with lots of things right away, but would still let them play with the system in a way that won't overwhelm them.
It also lets established players grandfather a "starter deck" of their own doffs to an alt and get started in earnest right from the start.
Known bug that a fix for has been checked in this evening. Not sure when it will hit Tribble though ... that's Inferno's show.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that the ship board abilities appear a tad too weak... I'm always willing to pull them for mission duty...
I'm also struggling quite a bit with not having a quartermaster.. I have just under 30 doffs so far, still no quartermaster...
but, thanks, it's a great system...
I don't find the abilities weak... but I do suffer from the same thing you do, it's currently too tempting to pull them off their duty and send them off on assignments. I don't see this as a problem with the Doff abilities, but as a problem with the lack of Doffs and seemingly low xp on Doff assignments currently. I really do feel like I just have too few doffs to be able to justify having some sitting around buffing my Boff skills right now.
once the departments heads/first officer stuff gets added i think it will be really awesome.
can we get some assignments added to vulcan, risa, ds9, sb39 etc. they seem to be lacking and i think would be natural locations to add some.
perhaps assignments could be reto added to certain missions. ie while you are off doing cold call, have an assignment to salvage or clean up the space junk around defera (that place is a mess after all in orbit).
going back and retro adding to missions if its even possible will increase replay value.
And it happened AGAIN!!
Did the last aid planet mission i needed, hoping for that caitian contact to appear. Then the moment i closed the dialog from the successful aid mission that caitian contact pops in with his window in the exact same place as the message window i just tried to cloase, and BAM. The second time i cant claim my reward, as there is no way to contact this guy afterwards. Seriously this is most annoying, add him as remote contact!!! Otherwise i fear half my holodeck chars are going to be screwed too
As stated on the Tribble feedback forum, a fix for this was checked in today, so it is now in the pipeline.
The duty officer contacts are being added into the world at the academies (The First City by Worf temporarily for Klingons until the Klingon Academy opens for business; Klingon academy-only assignments have also been temporarily made available in the First City as well.)
I see. Wasnt aware it was already known. Thy for the quick response and putting my worries to rest. Awesome system by the way (not that u havent heard that around 5000 times already
From what I've read I gather the 'assess colonial possibilities in <exploratin> cluster' (or something like that) unlock the missions to send colonists to them in whatever exploration cluster you've assessed.
Which require colonists to do.
I haven't encountered one that didn't count down offline yet, but there may be some that aren't.
At the very least, the vast majority do, and from what I know all are supposed to.
Might want to add another 's' in there...
Z
I think this is going to be a temporary problem. We have room for 100 DOffs, and only 20 mission slots for them. At some point we will all have a set of "good" DOffs for the active roster and plenty of extras to do missions with.
And ya, I'm also curious if the other tiers besides Diplomacy under commedations will show the rewards as you level them up (Civilian, Engineering, Science, Tactical, etc)
The timers continue when you are logged out.
I also am adding a couple of other common assignments to act as an additional sink.
We're cleaning up the user interface display for this to make this clearer.
Yes, we're cleaning that one up too.
Is it possible that some ground locations aren't hooked up to the DOff system, so to speak, and that's why I didn't get the rewards for completing missions while in that location?
Yes, it's possible. I thought I had gotten them all, but they have to be grabbed by hand and I was operating off of an old list intended for different purposes, so it doesn't shock me some fell through the cracks. Especially since originally duty officer assignments weren't going to work at all in any ground or social space.
I will be going in when I get a breather and hooking some more things into these maps.
It's all good, thanks for the info!
Care to share what those rewards will be, when they're included in the interface?