Drawbacks are weaker shields and hull then standard Cruisers and no dual cannons. Made up for by greater firepower (Due to more tac consoles) and more mobility.
It'd still be an escort at heart, but with more cruiser-centric features. Slower and less mobile then most of the escorts, but still faster and more maneuverable then cruisers. A Panzerschiffe, if you will.
That's not going to do anything very well at all.
You propose an escort without access to the game's highest damage weapons, which lacks the hull of a cruiser, and does not possess the shield strength of a Science vessel?
A "Jack of all trades, master of none" in a competitive setting will be completely trounced.
Once again, I am dissappointed in the Devs. I have been with the game since Beta and Launch, and I stick with it today, despite numerous previous dissappointments. Some people, including my friends, even urged me to cancel my sub, which I was not going to do. But this is not about me, this is about the fact that for the billionth time since launch, the Devs have proved that unless the community gets down on it's knees and begs, it's perfectly fine never touching the Escort and Science Vessel classes again.
"But Spartan, there are so many advanced Sci vessels and Escorts, and THEY were made by the devs!"
You're half-right. The newer Sci-vessels were made for 2 reasons: 1, people wanted historic ship classes that weren't in the game, and 2, Fed players wanted a ship that could more easily counter Klingon cloaking.
But on the Escort side of things, the Devs have NEVER made ANY updates to the ship class, or added new ships in general, unless we BEGGED for it. The Retrofit Defiant was a kick in the pants at best. And the Multi-Vector Assault Escort would never had existed, had there not been a massive argument over a Federation battleship-type vessel to counter Klingon Dreds that was threatning to rip the community to shreds.
Case in point, I think that the Devs have been BLATANTLY NEGLECTING the Science Vessel and Escort class ships, and as of yet, there seems to be no remedy. The current Fed flagship-class vessel is firmly in the Cruiser Class, rather than being the first fully or half universal ship in the Federation classes that was NOT a Shuttle. This leaves Escort and Sci Vessel captains by the wayside with no means of catching up to Cruiser captains.
SUMMATION: IT IS MY BELIEF THAT THE DEVELOPERS OF THE GAME, HENCEFORTH KNOWN AS "STAR TREK ONLINE", SHOULD EITHER MODIFY THE ODDESSY CLASS TO BE MORE EASILY UTILIZED BY NON-CRUISER CAPTAINS, OR SHOULD IMMEDIATLY BEFORE THE RELEASE OF ANY OTHER CONTENT, DEVELOP A SIMILARLY RANKED ESCORT AND SCI VESSEL.
Comments most certainly welcome.
My bug laughs at this post, it is growing a little hungry though. *Takes bug to go hunt odessey ships.*
Good - care to give some to the rest of us, since there's no realistic way to acquire them from the game anymore?
There was not a realistic way to acquire them before either. It's a crumby way to introduce the first (and only) new Escort hull and layout since the start of the game.
The only logical way to deal with so many people being upset about ship selection is to allow people to command whatever ship they choose. Dev team would need to adjust the BO layout assignments based on level and career type. Example: Tac officers get more tac BO slots overall than a Sci officer. Eng officers get more eng BO slots than a tac officer, etc. This could be controlled by a character's rank / level so that as you gain levels you gain BO slots on the ships you command. Adding /subtracting universal BO slots with various ranks where needed to add variety could spice it up a bit as well.
This will allow everyone to essentially take whatever ship they want with whatever configuration they like. Example: a tac officer could use the intrepid class with a more tactical load out than the current standing. A sci officer could command the galaxy class and feel at home because their BO layout is based on class and not the ship itself. Issues with hull HP, base level shielding, power levels, etc could also all be controlled by the character's career type or through possible spec changes.
It would take a lot of reconfiguring to do so but no more than Scotty was used to back on the Enterprise. If I learned anything about life through Star Trek it's that all situations demand you to have an open mind enough to allow adaptation to the needs at hand and the resolve to seek out the answers. Star Trek never kept it's captains from commanding any specific kind of ship because they would feel "awkward" in it or as if they were not utilizing their talents correctly. A true captain would command his ship as per how he was trained to do so. Gene Roddenberry himself created "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations". It's time this philosophy be reflected in our ship commands. Thank you for any useful or positive feedback.
I think the whole point of the Odyssey in the first place, was for that whole competition to design the next Enterprise. If you have ever watched Star Trek(I'm pretty sure you have), then you know that the Enterprise has always been a cruiser(excluding the NX one). I think they were keeping tradition to tell you the truth.
I honestly hope that they make more high tech science and escort ships in the future.
OP... The Odyssey is supposed to be the new Enterprise and Flagship... I know I am not alone in saying that I would not want anything besides a Cruiser as a proper Federation Flagship.
So the fact that it is a Cruiser does not really prove anything other than that they are sticking to the Cannon and the way the fans generally have always loved things.
With that in mind though: I would love to see some more nice Escorts or Sci Ships.
Comments
That's not going to do anything very well at all.
You propose an escort without access to the game's highest damage weapons, which lacks the hull of a cruiser, and does not possess the shield strength of a Science vessel?
A "Jack of all trades, master of none" in a competitive setting will be completely trounced.
My bug laughs at this post, it is growing a little hungry though. *Takes bug to go hunt odessey ships.*
Good - care to give some to the rest of us, since there's no realistic way to acquire them from the game anymore?
There was not a realistic way to acquire them before either. It's a crumby way to introduce the first (and only) new Escort hull and layout since the start of the game.
It'd be the best beamboat in the game. There are people that enjoy that.
This will allow everyone to essentially take whatever ship they want with whatever configuration they like. Example: a tac officer could use the intrepid class with a more tactical load out than the current standing. A sci officer could command the galaxy class and feel at home because their BO layout is based on class and not the ship itself. Issues with hull HP, base level shielding, power levels, etc could also all be controlled by the character's career type or through possible spec changes.
It would take a lot of reconfiguring to do so but no more than Scotty was used to back on the Enterprise. If I learned anything about life through Star Trek it's that all situations demand you to have an open mind enough to allow adaptation to the needs at hand and the resolve to seek out the answers. Star Trek never kept it's captains from commanding any specific kind of ship because they would feel "awkward" in it or as if they were not utilizing their talents correctly. A true captain would command his ship as per how he was trained to do so. Gene Roddenberry himself created "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations". It's time this philosophy be reflected in our ship commands. Thank you for any useful or positive feedback.
I honestly hope that they make more high tech science and escort ships in the future.
So the fact that it is a Cruiser does not really prove anything other than that they are sticking to the Cannon and the way the fans generally have always loved things.
With that in mind though: I would love to see some more nice Escorts or Sci Ships.