Things are little dull right now, and a little birdie (STOked) told me that Cryptic was working on a Romulan faction. I thought that I would take a stab at guessing what ships they will use. I will be starting off at captain because it is the logical choose with Klingons starting at Commander.
Starter ship- Bird of Pray
Captain:
Tactical- Mogi escort
Engineering- D' ideridex (sorry if I spelt it wrong)
Science- Raptor
Admiral:
Tactical- Scimitar
Engineering- smaller version of Nirada
Science- Shadow (some of you may not have heard of the shadow class, it was in Star Trek Armada)
Things are little dull right now, and a little birdie (STOked) told me that Cryptic was working on a Romulan faction.
im sorry to say thats not the case. they want to do one but it miles off. they still need to flesh out the klingon faction and they cant even say how many klingon eps will will get this year.
I think the Klingon faction is starting to look really good, so I hope they start working on the Romulans soon. If they started integrating new ships into Romulan missions and enemy encounters that could be a way to start laying the groundwork without having to devote all of their resources towards it (not that they would).
I kind of hope Romulans don't start any later than Klingons, at the latest. I think the fact that we can't start running a Klingon until a certain level is partly responsible in the lower number of Klingon players compared to Feds: who wants to start running their Klingon when they're already into it with the Fed?
-Troop Transport (something different, like carriers for KDF)- Kestrel
Main idea is, instead of doing Cruiser/Science/Escort, make it slightly different, like KDF originally was. Covert ships would have extreme stealth bonuses and advantages built in (better stealth, better +damage upon dropping stealth, battle cloak, ect). Warbirds are similar to Cruisers in most way... big powerful ships, lots of power there. Escorts are escorts. And troop transport, I can think of some ideas for some cool new things that could go along with that (advanced boarding parties, ie no shuttle but direct transport over to the other ship, stuff like that), but that idea would need to be flushed out more.
And yeah, I know it's not coming anytime soon, but doesnt mean we can't throw ideas around
EDIT: Forgot, but HIrogen ship classes can be included in the list as well
Probably more cruiser/troop ship oriented though...
Now that the KDF finally has Gorn/Orion/ Nausicaan ships I wouldn't be surprised if the eventual Romulan faction got access to ships from the Hirogen and whatever other allies Sela is able to bring in from the Delta Quadrant.
I'd also like to see Captain Logan get the chance to create some original Romulan designs.
Now that the KDF finally has Gorn/Orion/ Nausicaan ships I wouldn't be surprised if the eventual Romulan faction got access to ships from the Hirogen and whatever other allies Sela is able to bring in from the Delta Quadrant.
I'd also like to see Captain Logan get the chance to create some original Romulan designs.
Hirogen vessels? Hmm, do they have original designs? - one thing that always bothered me about the whole Hirogen and Romulan alliance
A) Hirogens are solely a Delta Quadrant species, at least to my understanding
I always pictured them more of a Predator type species with possible clans and not a well established unified government.
If a Romulan Faction ever was to surface, possible allies would be?
A) Alien customizable species Remans
C) of course your A Typical Romulan male and female version
D) Certain members of the Obsiddian Order - Cardassian members of the former order
E) Possibly the xenophobic Tholians or some faction of them (though may be hard to make in game)
F) Klingon/Romulan hybrids -> From the TNG episodes
G) Human/Romulan hybrids -> somewhere along the lines of Tasha Yar ala Sela
H) Vulcan/Romulan hybrids --> From the TNG series
I) and some made up conquered race within the Star Empire - (Huge Lizards, Bear like creatures, something like a Huge Wookie looking being)
Tier 0/1 Bird-of-Prey Warbirds (Warbird, Heavy Warbird, Enforcer Warbird, Imperial Warbird) Support Vessels (Frigate, Support Frigate, Heavy Support Vessel, Imperial Support Vessel) Interceptors (Interceptor, Heavy Interceptor, Escort Interceptor [Mogai would be here], Imperial Interceptor)
Cruisers would behave much as they do with Federation ships, only lacking a Eng/Tac variation at top tier (until one is designed and added later, of course). Effectively, a D'deridex (Imperial Cruiser?) would behave much like a Star Cruiser.
Support Ships would be comparable to Federation science vessels in most ways, except trading shield strength for additional hull strength. They'd receive an innate bonus to damage resistance at the cost of part of their power bonus to Aux.
Interceptors would be where we see a deviation. They'd have dedicated Tactical slots, but their other slots would all be universal. This gives Romulan Tacs a ship of their own while granting it a level of flexibility the others lack. At top tier it'd have the same number of slots as a BoP, only the Commander station would be Tactical.
The only issue I run into is how to give them all cloaks without making them too potent, aside from giving none of them a battle cloak (letting the Klingons keep on of their key attributes out of the hands of the Romulan scum!).
From a downright ancient thread on the matter, but it's still accurate to my desires. <.<
From a downright ancient thread on the matter, but it's still accurate to my desires. <.<
That list is fine except for the battle cloak part... that part makes no sense, the Romulans invented the cloak, not only should they have battle cloak capabilities, but their cloaks should be superior in other ways as well... its a known fact that Romulan cloaking devices were far superior to the Klingon version that was traded to the Klingons...
I kind of hope Romulans don't start any later than Klingons, at the latest. I think the fact that we can't start running a Klingon until a certain level is partly responsible in the lower number of Klingon players compared to Feds: who wants to start running their Klingon when they're already into it with the Fed?
Agreed, I think that a faction should be picked from the start and you play a tutorial around that faction to get the controls, I don't know if they added a Klingon tutorial, I don't remember one anyway, someone can correct me there.
I've heard some funny things about the Klingon faction that makes me want to play it, Romulans would have to have something unique as well.
But more factions would be good, it'd just be better if you could pick them from the start.
Agreed, I think that a faction should be picked from the start and you play a tutorial around that faction to get the controls, I don't know if they added a Klingon tutorial, I don't remember one anyway, someone can correct me there.
I've heard some funny things about the Klingon faction that makes me want to play it, Romulans would have to have something unique as well.
But more factions would be good, it'd just be better if you could pick them from the start.
Maybe even a Borg faction one day?
The two that I am hoping for are the Romulan Faction and a Cardassian Faction.
In regards to starting in a faction from the get go, the game literally launched incomplete - The KDF side was an entire a debacle and unfinished. The only content given to the KDF was PVP, and that went downhill fast.
Maybe in the near future, when the finish the KDF side they will reset them at level 1, just like you see the Federation. Once they achieved that, the door are open for a possible third faction in the form of the Romulans.
Klingons ... IF they are fully playable by the end of 2012 ... meaning 5 years in Development ... considering they won't just stop doing stuff for KDF and especially FEDs ... it will take at least 5 more years to do Romulans ... meaning 2017 -> STO's 7th Anniversary ... well i like STO and doubt it will shut down any time soon ... but 7 years for an MMO is a lot ...
Only thing we could get any sooner is something like .... "Here is your Lvl 45 Rommie, go play the 5 new missions, and afterwards you can fly your Warbird either on FED oder KDF side" ..... (BUT PLS NO)
Klingons ... IF they are fully playable by the end of 2012 ... meaning 5 years in Development ... considering they won't just stop doing stuff for KDF and especially FEDs ... it will take at least 5 more years to do Romulans ... meaning 2017 -> STO's 7th Anniversary ... well i like STO and doubt it will shut down any time soon ... but 7 years for an MMO is a lot ...
5 years in development? I hate to break it to you but they were nowhere near that much Dev time. the main focus on initial launch was fed only stuff, which meant out of the 2-3 pre-release years you were lucky to have like 1 year of dev time for the klingons. and out of the 2 after launch, aside from klingon academy a bunch of new ships, and a hand full of story missions with a some more exploration repeatable missions, there hasent been a whole lot of time devoted to the KDF.
IF the devs Really wanted to, they could likely get the KDF fleshed out by the end of this year, and another faction out at the end of 2013 or early 2014, assuming of course there is pretty much nothing but a few bug fixes getting done during that time.
I think a third faction in this game will go in the "when Vulcan freezes over" category, to tell you the truth...I mean, they can't even complete a second, fancy new ships aside (I was there for the official christening of the Bortas...I still find it amusing that Brandon's KDF ship is called I.K.S. Love Boat). They had to boost the unlock level (and thus the start level) up to compensate.
I'm kind of wondering about a Romulan faction, but what exactly can they do with is?
It's a fractured society, yes. But we've already dealt with most, if not all the main factions.
Praetor Taris? Dealt with
Tal Shiar? Dealt With
Empress Sela? Dealt With
there isn't much left.
I've actually thought on this. If I were doing the Romulan faction, it would be much more of a "choose your path" type thing. There would be 4 separate factions within the Romulans in my version and at the beginning you would choose which group to side with (with options to jump ship later).
1. "Return to Glory" faction would basically be about restoring the Empire to it's former glory by any means necessary, but without risking the empire in the process. Missions would be about bringing the various elements of the empire back into the fold and pushing Klingons and Feddies to mind their own damn business. Kind of a neutral faction.
2. "Vengeance Against All" faction would be all about causing as much destruction and chaos as possible in revenge. Anyone who opposes this faction is to be killed or destroyed, and the Federation and Klingons are both equally blamed for what happened and wanted dead.
3. "Peace, Love and Happiness" faction is the one that wants to make peace with the Feds, and more or less side with them in the war against the Klingons.
4. "Conquest" faction sides with the Klingons to get revenge against the Federation.
Honestly you could cut out the last two, but the idea of picking a path amongst the chaotic Romulan faction is what's important. It's a good drive for the story of the faction and keeps things interesting vs the current ones.
they still need to flesh out the klingon faction and they cant even say how many klingon eps will will get this year.
Thought they were done fleshing out the KDF. They added ships, c-store ships at that, and they crunched the levels down to 20 to 50 to make it all fit. And then they're adding a single new episode, which is way more thant they've added fed side recently.
Seems like they're just about done with the KDF right?
Thought they were done fleshing out the KDF. They added ships, c-store ships at that, and they crunched the levels down to 20 to 50 to make it all fit. And then they're adding a single new episode, which is way more thant they've added fed side recently.
Seems like they're just about done with the KDF right?
Time for Romulans?
their plans are for the KDF to be a full 1-50 faction.
I don't see them making the klingon faction 1-50, its just not practicle, honastly I like the Klingon faction just the way it is, and I already know that they are working on the Romulan faction.
Back to an earlier comment on what the would have going for them, I think they should get phase cloaking so they can pass through sold objects (this will be the cheapest thing you could possibly do in the game though).
I don't see them making the klingon faction 1-50, its just not practical....
Why wouldn't be practical? Its logical to have them begin at level 1 ala Federation and add more missions in the process. The lack of missions is one of the major issues with the Klingon Faction. I hope you can unlock the KDF from the get go, the moment you make a new account you get to choose your side.
...and I already know that they are working on the Romulan faction.
Would love to see your sources in regards to the Romulans. As much as I want to see the Romulans as a playable faction, its development may never come to fruition. They need to clean up the mess which is the state of the current KDF faction.
I'm kind of wondering about a Romulan faction, but what exactly can they do with is?
It's a fractured society, yes. But we've already dealt with most, if not all the main factions.
Praetor Taris? Dealt with
Tal Shiar? Dealt With Empress Sela? Dealt With
there isn't much left.
Most likely the faction's story arc may revolve around the Iconians. If my memory serves me right, Sela was not killed, she was taken by the Iconians and may return.
Tal Shiar is not competely dead either, they are a very secretive group with various allegiances. Same applies to members of the Obsidian Order.
I, too, have been itching for a Romulan faction for some time now; though I agree that the KDF needs attending to first.
As far as where to go with it, I like the "choose your path" idea brought up by a previous poster. I'd personally do the "return to glory" option.
Aside from content, my only other gameplay worry comes in the form of a gripe I've had with previous Star Trek games: very little variation in ship design. Nearly every ship created by the devs (some fan-made skins have been excellent though) is some take on either the Mogai, D'Deridex, or Scout. I realise that they have to maintain a certain aesthetic (like the Federation saucer/nacelle layout), but I've generally not been terribly impressed with apocryphal Romulan starships. The Shadow class is the only exception that I've seen.
Oh, and some uniform variation would be nice too. I'd hate to make Commander or Colonel (assuming they have the Tal Shiar as playable) and end up stuck with the bad comic book supervillain uniform that's currently in the game. I'd also hate to see the TNG era puffy shirts. Some TOS stuff and the uniforms from DS9 would be nice.
Nearly every ship created by the devs (some fan-made skins have been excellent though) is some take on either the Mogai, D'Deridex, or Scout. I realise that they have to maintain a certain aesthetic (like the Federation saucer/nacelle layout), but I've generally not been terribly impressed with apocryphal Romulan starships. The Shadow class is the only exception that I've seen.
Oh, and some uniform variation would be nice too. I'd hate to make Commander or Colonel (assuming they have the Tal Shiar as playable) and end up stuck with the bad comic book supervillain uniform that's currently in the game. I'd also hate to see the TNG era puffy shirts. Some TOS stuff and the uniforms from DS9 would be nice.
I'm pretty sure if the Romulan Faction ever see the light of day, that the TOS Romulan variant uniform will be on the top of the list, aside from its movie, TNG, and DS9 variants. I am assuming that the Tal Shiar will be all black akin to section 31.
As far as ship designs, well Romulans have quite a selection:
A) The "Enterprise series" variant The "TNG" variants
C) The "TOS" Variant
D) The "Star Trek Nemesis" Variant (Both Reman and Romulan versions)
F) They will also probably have the shared Klingon / Romulan variant D7 Class Cruiser - but with a Romulan twist
G) and I am pretty sure the folks at Cryptic will introduce retro or refits of the various classes, including some original ones.
I would probably leave it to an open CBS sponsored contest - ala - Odessay
I'm pretty sure Cryptic can also create a Carrier variant for the Scorpion fighters
I'm pretty sure if the Romulan Faction ever see the light of day, that the TOS Romulan variant uniform will be on the top of the list, aside from its movie, TNG, and DS9 variants. I am assuming that the Tal Shiar will be all black akin to section 31.
As far as ship designs, well Romulans have quite a selection:
A) The "Enterprise series" variant The "TNG" variants
C) The "TOS" Variant
D) The "Star Trek Nemesis" Variant (Both Reman and Romulan versions)
F) They will also probably have the shared Klingon / Romulan variant D7 Class Cruiser - but with a Romulan twist
G) and I am pretty sure the folks at Cryptic will introduce retro or refits of the various classes, including some original ones.
I would probably leave it to an open CBS sponsored contest - ala - Odessay
I'm pretty sure Cryptic can also create a Carrier variant for the Scorpion fighters
Indeed, the design team will have their hands full making a whole bunch of Romulan warships. Hopefully they already are at work with some rough concepts. But they can easily make three varients of the Mogai / Valdore type for the various names the ship became to be known by. (Valdore-class, Mogai-class, and Norexian-class warbird).
And in the Ships of the Line, Probert designed a Romulan Dreadnaught that go nicely with the new ships. Providing they can get him to agree (it's a design not owned by CBS).
But given what we learned in the Bortas Development Project thread, I don't think CBS or Cryptic is going to bother with another ship design contest. Even though the Odyssey was more on the line since it was defining the "NEW" Enterprise.
As for the Romulan faction itself, I suggested that most of the PvE missions is more around covert operations. For instance:
Tier 1: Handling the fractioning of the Empire and quelling rebellion.
Tier 2: Infiltrating the Federation as a spy.
In all sense and purposes, you are a Federation Faction member, which even the other Federation players don't know you're really a Romulan Faction. So you could be sent on Federation PvE missions, but you got Romulan tasks in those missions.
For example, in the Reman FE, you tip off the Tal Shiar to Reman activities.
Tier 3: Aiding the True Way and the Breen.
Tier 4: War with the Klingons and battle over of Khitomer and lost Romulan worlds.
Tier 5: Borg / Undine Missions with an Iconian Twist.
I know the Romulans have quite a few ship classes, but TOS and ENT only ever had BoP variants (and some kind of drone IIRC), TNG only had the D'Deridex and Scout, and Nemesis only had the Valdore and the Scimitar (which was Reman anyway). Most of what I've seen in other games don't look too much different from these. You might see a single-hulled D'Deredix as a light cruiser or a scout with a scaled down D'Deridex head or different coloured Valdores, but that's about it.
That list is fine except for the battle cloak part... that part makes no sense, the Romulans invented the cloak, not only should they have battle cloak capabilities, but their cloaks should be superior in other ways as well... its a known fact that Romulan cloaking devices were far superior to the Klingon version that was traded to the Klingons...
I was about to complain about what the Romulan ships should lose to balance out all their ships have battle cloak, but then I realized how amusing it would be watching a D'Deridex try to waddle through using the battle cloak the way a Klingon BoP currently does and decided that was balance enough.
I'm willing to let the RSE equip battle cloaks universally so long as the KDF maintains its real identity claim: dual cannon-equipped battlecruisers with superior maneuverability.
I was about to complain about what the Romulan ships should lose to balance out all their ships have battle cloak, but then I realized how amusing it would be watching a D'Deridex try to waddle through using the battle cloak the way a Klingon BoP currently does and decided that was balance enough.
I'm willing to let the RSE equip battle cloaks universally so long as the KDF maintains its real identity claim: dual cannon-equipped battlecruisers with superior maneuverability.
That would work. Perhaps the universal battle cloak for the RSE could be balanced by overall lower DPS. We are a sneaky lot; maybe a truly successful RSE Commander/Colonel has to play more like a Fed Sci officer than a Tac or Engineer: duller teeth, but more debuff abilities. On the ground, we could have fewer tank abilities but higher crits (frequency/damage) for stealth and flanking attacks.
Comments
im sorry to say thats not the case. they want to do one but it miles off. they still need to flesh out the klingon faction and they cant even say how many klingon eps will will get this year.
I kind of hope Romulans don't start any later than Klingons, at the latest. I think the fact that we can't start running a Klingon until a certain level is partly responsible in the lower number of Klingon players compared to Feds: who wants to start running their Klingon when they're already into it with the Fed?
-Covert (similar to Science, but different)-
Scout Ship
Shadow
Spectre
-Warbird (similar to Cruiser)-
Raptor
D'Deridex
Scimitar
-Escort-
Griffin Class
Bird of Prey
Mogai Escort
-Troop Transport (something different, like carriers for KDF)-
Kestrel
Main idea is, instead of doing Cruiser/Science/Escort, make it slightly different, like KDF originally was. Covert ships would have extreme stealth bonuses and advantages built in (better stealth, better +damage upon dropping stealth, battle cloak, ect). Warbirds are similar to Cruisers in most way... big powerful ships, lots of power there. Escorts are escorts. And troop transport, I can think of some ideas for some cool new things that could go along with that (advanced boarding parties, ie no shuttle but direct transport over to the other ship, stuff like that), but that idea would need to be flushed out more.
And yeah, I know it's not coming anytime soon, but doesnt mean we can't throw ideas around
EDIT: Forgot, but HIrogen ship classes can be included in the list as well
Probably more cruiser/troop ship oriented though...
1. What will their unique missions be?
Federation = exploration/diplomacy
Klingons = marauding/prisoners
Romulans = instigating internecine mayhem while cloaked / kidnappings, assassinations, framings etc
Brainwash enemy doffs? Would be cool.
2. How will the cloak play into their style?
Hoping for something more interesting than just Battle Cloak...
I'd also like to see Captain Logan get the chance to create some original Romulan designs.
Hirogen vessels? Hmm, do they have original designs? - one thing that always bothered me about the whole Hirogen and Romulan alliance
A) Hirogens are solely a Delta Quadrant species, at least to my understanding
If a Romulan Faction ever was to surface, possible allies would be?
A) Alien customizable species
C) of course your A Typical Romulan male and female version
D) Certain members of the Obsiddian Order - Cardassian members of the former order
E) Possibly the xenophobic Tholians or some faction of them (though may be hard to make in game)
F) Klingon/Romulan hybrids -> From the TNG episodes
G) Human/Romulan hybrids -> somewhere along the lines of Tasha Yar ala Sela
H) Vulcan/Romulan hybrids --> From the TNG series
I) and some made up conquered race within the Star Empire - (Huge Lizards, Bear like creatures, something like a Huge Wookie looking being)
Just tossing some ideas around.
From a downright ancient thread on the matter, but it's still accurate to my desires. <.<
That list is fine except for the battle cloak part... that part makes no sense, the Romulans invented the cloak, not only should they have battle cloak capabilities, but their cloaks should be superior in other ways as well... its a known fact that Romulan cloaking devices were far superior to the Klingon version that was traded to the Klingons...
Agreed, I think that a faction should be picked from the start and you play a tutorial around that faction to get the controls, I don't know if they added a Klingon tutorial, I don't remember one anyway, someone can correct me there.
I've heard some funny things about the Klingon faction that makes me want to play it, Romulans would have to have something unique as well.
But more factions would be good, it'd just be better if you could pick them from the start.
Maybe even a Borg faction one day?
The two that I am hoping for are the Romulan Faction and a Cardassian Faction.
In regards to starting in a faction from the get go, the game literally launched incomplete - The KDF side was an entire a debacle and unfinished. The only content given to the KDF was PVP, and that went downhill fast.
Maybe in the near future, when the finish the KDF side they will reset them at level 1, just like you see the Federation. Once they achieved that, the door are open for a possible third faction in the form of the Romulans.
Klingons ... IF they are fully playable by the end of 2012 ... meaning 5 years in Development ... considering they won't just stop doing stuff for KDF and especially FEDs ... it will take at least 5 more years to do Romulans ... meaning 2017 -> STO's 7th Anniversary ... well i like STO and doubt it will shut down any time soon ... but 7 years for an MMO is a lot ...
Only thing we could get any sooner is something like .... "Here is your Lvl 45 Rommie, go play the 5 new missions, and afterwards you can fly your Warbird either on FED oder KDF side" ..... (BUT PLS NO)
5 years in development? I hate to break it to you but they were nowhere near that much Dev time. the main focus on initial launch was fed only stuff, which meant out of the 2-3 pre-release years you were lucky to have like 1 year of dev time for the klingons. and out of the 2 after launch, aside from klingon academy a bunch of new ships, and a hand full of story missions with a some more exploration repeatable missions, there hasent been a whole lot of time devoted to the KDF.
IF the devs Really wanted to, they could likely get the KDF fleshed out by the end of this year, and another faction out at the end of 2013 or early 2014, assuming of course there is pretty much nothing but a few bug fixes getting done during that time.
It's a fractured society, yes. But we've already dealt with most, if not all the main factions.
Praetor Taris? Dealt with
Tal Shiar? Dealt With
Empress Sela? Dealt With
there isn't much left.
I've actually thought on this. If I were doing the Romulan faction, it would be much more of a "choose your path" type thing. There would be 4 separate factions within the Romulans in my version and at the beginning you would choose which group to side with (with options to jump ship later).
1. "Return to Glory" faction would basically be about restoring the Empire to it's former glory by any means necessary, but without risking the empire in the process. Missions would be about bringing the various elements of the empire back into the fold and pushing Klingons and Feddies to mind their own damn business. Kind of a neutral faction.
2. "Vengeance Against All" faction would be all about causing as much destruction and chaos as possible in revenge. Anyone who opposes this faction is to be killed or destroyed, and the Federation and Klingons are both equally blamed for what happened and wanted dead.
3. "Peace, Love and Happiness" faction is the one that wants to make peace with the Feds, and more or less side with them in the war against the Klingons.
4. "Conquest" faction sides with the Klingons to get revenge against the Federation.
Honestly you could cut out the last two, but the idea of picking a path amongst the chaotic Romulan faction is what's important. It's a good drive for the story of the faction and keeps things interesting vs the current ones.
Thought they were done fleshing out the KDF. They added ships, c-store ships at that, and they crunched the levels down to 20 to 50 to make it all fit. And then they're adding a single new episode, which is way more thant they've added fed side recently.
Seems like they're just about done with the KDF right?
Time for Romulans?
their plans are for the KDF to be a full 1-50 faction.
Back to an earlier comment on what the would have going for them, I think they should get phase cloaking so they can pass through sold objects (this will be the cheapest thing you could possibly do in the game though).
Why wouldn't be practical? Its logical to have them begin at level 1 ala Federation and add more missions in the process. The lack of missions is one of the major issues with the Klingon Faction. I hope you can unlock the KDF from the get go, the moment you make a new account you get to choose your side.
No offense, but you really love an unfinished Faction?
Would love to see your sources in regards to the Romulans. As much as I want to see the Romulans as a playable faction, its development may never come to fruition. They need to clean up the mess which is the state of the current KDF faction.
Most likely the faction's story arc may revolve around the Iconians. If my memory serves me right, Sela was not killed, she was taken by the Iconians and may return.
Tal Shiar is not competely dead either, they are a very secretive group with various allegiances. Same applies to members of the Obsidian Order.
As far as where to go with it, I like the "choose your path" idea brought up by a previous poster. I'd personally do the "return to glory" option.
Aside from content, my only other gameplay worry comes in the form of a gripe I've had with previous Star Trek games: very little variation in ship design. Nearly every ship created by the devs (some fan-made skins have been excellent though) is some take on either the Mogai, D'Deridex, or Scout. I realise that they have to maintain a certain aesthetic (like the Federation saucer/nacelle layout), but I've generally not been terribly impressed with apocryphal Romulan starships. The Shadow class is the only exception that I've seen.
Oh, and some uniform variation would be nice too. I'd hate to make Commander or Colonel (assuming they have the Tal Shiar as playable) and end up stuck with the bad comic book supervillain uniform that's currently in the game. I'd also hate to see the TNG era puffy shirts. Some TOS stuff and the uniforms from DS9 would be nice.
I'm pretty sure if the Romulan Faction ever see the light of day, that the TOS Romulan variant uniform will be on the top of the list, aside from its movie, TNG, and DS9 variants. I am assuming that the Tal Shiar will be all black akin to section 31.
As far as ship designs, well Romulans have quite a selection:
A) The "Enterprise series" variant
C) The "TOS" Variant
D) The "Star Trek Nemesis" Variant (Both Reman and Romulan versions)
F) They will also probably have the shared Klingon / Romulan variant D7 Class Cruiser - but with a Romulan twist
G) and I am pretty sure the folks at Cryptic will introduce retro or refits of the various classes, including some original ones.
I would probably leave it to an open CBS sponsored contest - ala - Odessay
I'm pretty sure Cryptic can also create a Carrier variant for the Scorpion fighters
Indeed, the design team will have their hands full making a whole bunch of Romulan warships. Hopefully they already are at work with some rough concepts. But they can easily make three varients of the Mogai / Valdore type for the various names the ship became to be known by. (Valdore-class, Mogai-class, and Norexian-class warbird).
And in the Ships of the Line, Probert designed a Romulan Dreadnaught that go nicely with the new ships. Providing they can get him to agree (it's a design not owned by CBS).
But given what we learned in the Bortas Development Project thread, I don't think CBS or Cryptic is going to bother with another ship design contest. Even though the Odyssey was more on the line since it was defining the "NEW" Enterprise.
As for the Romulan faction itself, I suggested that most of the PvE missions is more around covert operations. For instance:
Tier 1: Handling the fractioning of the Empire and quelling rebellion.
Tier 2: Infiltrating the Federation as a spy.
In all sense and purposes, you are a Federation Faction member, which even the other Federation players don't know you're really a Romulan Faction. So you could be sent on Federation PvE missions, but you got Romulan tasks in those missions.
For example, in the Reman FE, you tip off the Tal Shiar to Reman activities.
Tier 3: Aiding the True Way and the Breen.
Tier 4: War with the Klingons and battle over of Khitomer and lost Romulan worlds.
Tier 5: Borg / Undine Missions with an Iconian Twist.
Things like these:
http://www.sttff.net/kerchan.html
http://galen82.deviantart.com/gallery/12574926
would be most welcome.
I also like the idea of infiltration missions. My current Fed Toon is already kind of set up that way.
I'm willing to let the RSE equip battle cloaks universally so long as the KDF maintains its real identity claim: dual cannon-equipped battlecruisers with superior maneuverability.
That would work. Perhaps the universal battle cloak for the RSE could be balanced by overall lower DPS. We are a sneaky lot; maybe a truly successful RSE Commander/Colonel has to play more like a Fed Sci officer than a Tac or Engineer: duller teeth, but more debuff abilities. On the ground, we could have fewer tank abilities but higher crits (frequency/damage) for stealth and flanking attacks.
*shrugs*