I presume a staggered release schedule would be implemented anyway.
Besides, the whole point of the proposal is to have ship interiors that players can use as "housing", but also mission maps for PvE/PvP and episode missions.
Imagine how much more authentic "State of Q" would be if the player actually got to fight the time-displaced Borg inside a proper Miranda-class interior for the USS Saratoga!
Syberghost is claiming that small maps aren't good for fighting on.
And they're different, sure. But I think they're better.
I presume a staggered release schedule would be implemented anyway.
Besides, the whole point of the proposal is to have ship interiors that players can use as "housing", but also mission maps for PvE/PvP and episode missions.
Imagine how much more authentic "State of Q" would be if the player actually got to fight the time-displaced Borg inside a proper Miranda-class interior for the USS Saratoga!
TBH, surprised we don't have housing on our own Starbase.
But yes, they can revamp the in-game ship maps as part of a mini remastery (like the Miranda in a few missions as well as the U.S.S. Eagle). And yes ship maps would make a great PvP map.
I proposed such a thing a year ago, where players on both sides have to go through obstacles that you see in Trek like Force fields (one side trys to twart the other team), blatent EPS ruptures, knock-out gas, etc. Though my original proposal was basically fighting in a shuttle bay and going through Jefferie's Tubes, but with a full-scaled ship, that would be pretty epic. Especially if it's a 20-man event.
Syberghost is claiming that small maps aren't good for fighting on.
And they're different, sure. But I think they're better.
Not only would correctly-sized rooms and corridors add to the immersion, but it would also call for potential choke points and player strategies in dealing with confined spaces.
TBH, surprised we don't have housing on our own Starbase.
I'd prefer if SB didn't have housing for the player captain, since Trek is (mainly) about crews on long-term exploration tours, DS9 being an exception, of course.
But yes, they can revamp the in-game ship maps as part of a mini remastery (like the Miranda in a few missions as well as the U.S.S. Eagle). And yes ship maps would make a great PvP map.
I proposed such a thing a year ago, where players on both sides have to go through obstacles that you see in Trek like Force fields (one side trys to twart the other team), blatent EPS ruptures, knock-out gas, etc. Though my original proposal was basically fighting in a shuttle bay and going through Jefferie's Tubes, but with a full-scaled ship, that would be pretty epic. Especially if it's a 20-man event.
20-man event, you say? Perhaps a 10-vs-10 PvP?
I'm also keen on having players be able to deploy obstacles and interior defenses, too - perhaps purchaseable upgrades as part of a player's ship interior customization?
I have something down already as well, but if you could link to your original proposal, I can add it to mine (and give you credit for it).
Laws of thermodynamics as applied to life: 0 - You must play the game. 1 - You can't win. 2 - You can't break even. 3 - You can't quit.
I'd prefer if SB didn't have housing for the player captain, since Trek is (mainly) about crews on long-term exploration tours, DS9 being an exception, of course
You forget that Captains and crew had homes on the ship and away. And also we are Admirals who station at a Starbase.
I'm also keen on having players be able to deploy obstacles and interior defenses, too - perhaps purchaseable upgrades as part of a player's ship interior customization?
I have something down already as well, but if you could link to your original proposal, I can add it to mine (and give you credit for it).
Could be 1 on 1, 5 on 5, you name it.
And sorry, not going digging into the archives for links.
Syberghost is claiming that small maps aren't good for fighting on.
And they're different, sure. But I think they're better.
That's because you haven't tried fighting with your head filling your entire screen yet, which is what would happen.
Then try it with a full group of five tacs, each with security teams out, against the kind of spawn you get with a full group. And still all you can see is your head.
There's a reason the entire MMORPG industry does this, and it's not "there's not a decent programmer in the entire industry".
Former moderator of these forums. Lifetime sub since before launch. Been here since before public betas. Foundry author of "Franklin Drake Must Die".
That's because you haven't tried fighting with your head filling your entire screen yet, which is what would happen.
Then try it with a full group of five tacs, each with security teams out, against the kind of spawn you get with a full group. And still all you can see is your head.
There's a reason the entire MMORPG industry does this, and it's not "there's not a decent programmer in the entire industry".
That means those security teams will be less effective. Tight spaces kill reliance on powers and emphasize situational awareness.
I've played fights on both the TOS and Defiant interiors. I prefer it. I prefer how it diminishes powers. I like the crowding, the chaos, all of it.
The reasons the "entire MMORPG industry" does this are overstated, as is the extent to which they ACTUALLY do this in practice.
It is a tradeoff. Complexity of fancy powers and advance strategizing versus complexity of situational thinking in the moment. Any point on that tradeoff scale can work.
Most games adopt a middleground and use some claustrophobic spaces and some more open ones. Not everything in WoW is an oversized cathedral. Not everything in SCARLET MONASTERY is an oversized cathedral. WoW uses a mix of outdoor maps and claustrophobic places.
I think indoor and outdoor should feel different. If you want it to be less claustrophobic, set it outside on a planet. Then a Starbase can be a bit more claustrophobic. Then you can have stuff like Starbase Incursion. And then you can have truly claustrophobic fights like ship interiors.
This is the first major MMO with a pre-existing scale for its interiors. In a sense, that opens the door to playing with that more claustrophobic scale. Less powers, less planning, more "in the moment." It's what should be a signature element of STO ground play and it's been missing until they gave us those small maps in the Foundry.
I have a story mission that uses this. I can always crank out a combat mission so nobody has to wade through all that story and people can decide for themselves.
It's only more frustrating if you're a power efficiency nut and a planner. And IMHO, games need to minimize that kind of thinking or else you might as well replace combat with spreadsheets.
I'd happily accept the tighter camera spaces and the loss of Security Escort powers, if PvP shipboarding gameplay forces me to learn to turn the confined spaces of canon interiors into a tactical advantage.
Laws of thermodynamics as applied to life: 0 - You must play the game. 1 - You can't win. 2 - You can't break even. 3 - You can't quit.
I'm with Leviathan, there is a completely different battle mechanic when in tighter spaces. For example, the way we fight in hallways is basically through brute force. But in Star Trek, they used bulkheads and intersections as cover.
And like he said, there is just too much reliance on powers than getting people to think about tactics. Few people really go for the flank, or use cover to sneek around safely and attack from the rear.
I'm with Leviathan, there is a completely different battle mechanic when in tighter spaces. For example, the way we fight in hallways is basically through brute force. But in Star Trek, they used bulkheads and intersections as cover.
And like he said, there is just too much reliance on powers than getting people to think about tactics. Few people really go for the flank, or use cover to sneek around safely and attack from the rear.
Reminds me of the time when I was doing a particularr exploration mission - whilst scanning my umpteenth alien cocoon, my Tac BOff informs me some aggressive adversarial species is interested in said cocoons too, adding that my away team might have to fight them.
Since I wasn't in the pew-pew mood, I simply told my away team to stay put, went off the beaten track, snuck around and managed to scan all the other cocoons without alerting the enemy.
So a mission with confined spaces and severe limitations on powers? I'd buy that for a dollar!
Laws of thermodynamics as applied to life: 0 - You must play the game. 1 - You can't win. 2 - You can't break even. 3 - You can't quit.
So a mission with confined spaces and severe limitations on powers? I'd buy that for a dollar!
I agree. STO is an incredibly power heavy game, even more so than many other MMO's! Which is silly even if you only have passing association with the series.
At the rate this discussion is going, Jefferies tubes networks sound like something integral to an improved ship interior experience.
Since all explorable decks of a ship are going to be on the same map anyway, it may be feasible to have said decks physically layered on top of one another with the appropriate Z-axis offset - an in-game example of multiple levels in a map is Quark's at DS9, where one could climb up several ramps to the second floor and look back down on the bar area.
This then poses an interesting question regarding the turbolift system - since the decks in the maps are now physically aligned above and below each other, instead of using lift cabins as a teleport spawn point, they could actually work as moving platforms (although I'm not sure if Cryptic has the tech to do this yet).
Lots of good ideas coming in, guys - if more people are happy with this, I may add it to my proposal doc.
Laws of thermodynamics as applied to life: 0 - You must play the game. 1 - You can't win. 2 - You can't break even. 3 - You can't quit.
Honestly, I'm surprised there isn't any actual Jefferies tubes we could walk....eh crawl around in. So far the only ones we do encounter in the TOS interior, Everything old is New (4th Devidian Episode), and in the War Games mission, are basically warp points (move from one location to another).
Think would be pretty fun to have our characters crawl through the tubes doing things like repair conduits, realign equipment, find baddies (or critters), or simply using the tubes to sneek past NPCs or bypass damaged sections.
Think would be pretty fun to have our characters crawl through the tubes doing things like repair conduits, realign equipment, find baddies (or critters), or simply using the tubes to sneek past NPCs or bypass damaged sections.
Those would fit in perfectly with the random "shipboard incident" missions or PvP/PvE boarding actions.
Laws of thermodynamics as applied to life: 0 - You must play the game. 1 - You can't win. 2 - You can't break even. 3 - You can't quit.
Jefferies tubes might be tricky since they took away our ability to move while crouching.
Not really, could be similar to the stairs and latter idea, where when you are in the tubes, the character automatically goes into a type of crouched mode, that's not the same as the crouching keybind.
Not really, could be similar to the stairs and latter idea, where when you are in the tubes, the character automatically goes into a type of crouched mode, that's not the same as the crouching keybind.
= centersolace's context-sensitive crouching
Laws of thermodynamics as applied to life: 0 - You must play the game. 1 - You can't win. 2 - You can't break even. 3 - You can't quit.
This actually has me thinking about the mobile device doff application.
How will space travel take place or will you only be able to do doff assignments in 1 sector?
But I suppose they can't just give you a time and a message saying "moving to sector".
Anyway while I do love the idea of great customization I still feel I lack a reason to be on the bridge and that of course being space travel which'd seem a natural first step.
No matter how beautiful the bridge were, how often would you actually go there if there is nothing there...
Also on a sidenote I have no idea why I didn't get the TOS bridge when I bought TOS ship I feel 2500 for an interior is a bit overpriced seeing as I have no reason to be on the bridge in the first place
vester, I'd suggest keeping your questions regarding the STO Gateway software in the appropriate thread.
Once again, as has been said, many, many, many, many times, flying from the bridge cannot be done in STO because game cannot continually modify your Sector Space position whilst your toon is in a ground or interior map.
Even without BC-esque bridge flying, centersolace, azurianstar and stoleviathan99 have proposed many, many more exciting activities / features / matches that can be done in customised ship interiors.
Laws of thermodynamics as applied to life: 0 - You must play the game. 1 - You can't win. 2 - You can't break even. 3 - You can't quit.
Honestly, I'm surprised there isn't any actual Jefferies tubes we could walk....eh crawl around in. So far the only ones we do encounter in the TOS interior, Everything old is New (4th Devidian Episode), and in the War Games mission, are basically warp points (move from one location to another).
Think would be pretty fun to have our characters crawl through the tubes doing things like repair conduits, realign equipment, find baddies (or critters), or simply using the tubes to sneek past NPCs or bypass damaged sections.
We could put them in story missions, daily missions on board your ship (which we should have lots of those), we could put them on starbases for "Officer of the Watch" missions, we could use them in events (imagine flushing saboteurs out of such a confined space!), we could use them in daily missions in social zones like Spacedock, Ganalda, and DS9, the possibilities are endless!
Not really, could be similar to the stairs and latter idea, where when you are in the tubes, the character automatically goes into a type of crouched mode, that's not the same as the crouching keybind.
While that would work, I would prefer having an actual crouch-walk so eventually we could get some kind of sneaking mechanic in the game. The lack of stealthily taking out a giant space lizards with rocks is disappointing.
Also on a sidenote I have no idea why I didn't get the TOS bridge when I bought TOS ship I feel 2500 for an interior is a bit overpriced seeing as I have no reason to be on the bridge in the first place
Yeah, this really isn't the thread for Core Connect (Though, we could always have trophies/interior cosmetic items obtainable through it. So don't completely throw it out.) But your latter argument is what this thread is all about.
At the rate this discussion is going, Jefferies tubes networks sound like something integral to an improved ship interior experience.
Since all explorable decks of a ship are going to be on the same map anyway, it may be feasible to have said decks physically layered on top of one another with the appropriate Z-axis offset - an in-game example of multiple levels in a map is Quark's at DS9, where one could climb up several ramps to the second floor and look back down on the bar area.
This is definitely inadvisable. Putting a bunch of separate decks on top of each other causes minimap/sound/etc. issues. We have to have them separated by at least a bit. (i.e. off to the side) I meant to mention in my earlier post, but by having each deck laid out side by side, things like Jeffries tubes would not be possible (unless they acted like clickie doors between decks)
There could be some special mission that allows Jeffries Tube access between decks, but that map would have to be built with that in mind, and special precautions would have to be taken.
The other issue with Jeffries tubes is movement/animations. We don't have any kind of ladder climbing tech at the moment, so that would have to be implemented for any vertical Jeffries Tubes, and for Horizontal ones, we'd have to make a "crawling on hands and knees" movement animation, and figure out some way to force you into that stance while you are within the tube. Again, possible for a special mission, maybe a future FE or something, but not likely for Interiors in general.
We can do multiple heights within one "deck," like Quarks. But layering multiple decks is not good.
This then poses an interesting question regarding the turbolift system - since the decks in the maps are now physically aligned above and below each other, instead of using lift cabins as a teleport spawn point, they could actually work as moving platforms (although I'm not sure if Cryptic has the tech to do this yet).
Lots of good ideas coming in, guys - if more people are happy with this, I may add it to my proposal doc.
Moving platforms are kind of an inside joke for the old timers at Cryptic. It's an idea that has been talked about since the COH days. But we do not have tech for it, for multiple reasons including NPC AI, and moving collision issues.
I would treat the Jefferies Tubes in the same way the TOS Bundle interior does. Just map a single, larger junction which everyone can stand-up in. With up-down-left-right-forward-backward crawlspace doors. All closed, of course. That would suggest six possible deck combinations to link to. Assuming we even need six deck maps?
The classic Drozana Station worked well, too. Click the Jefferies Tube entrance in the wall and *poof* we appear on the other deck. Perhaps a combination of both would create the tone of a more massive layout to explore?
Another option are the Maintenance Corridors. Which require no more than a crouch posture like we already have in the game. Enterprise's In a Mirror, Darkly displayed this set. Manageable for close combat, I'd guess?
(/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
vester, I'd suggest keeping your questions regarding the STO Gateway software in the appropriate thread.
Once again, as has been said, many, many, many, many times, flying from the bridge cannot be done in STO because game cannot continually modify your Sector Space position whilst your toon is in a ground or interior map.
Even without BC-esque bridge flying, centersolace, azurianstar and stoleviathan99 have proposed many, many more exciting activities / features / matches that can be done in customised ship interiors.
Exactly.
The question I put up there or at least wanted to is, if *another part* of the game lets you move from sector to sector without your ship actually being drawn and is physically present, where you might only have text telling you the ship is moving and say a loading bar.
Hence the question about the thing you don't want mentioned here; I wasn't looking to talk about it in itself, only interested in then that travel formula might be transferable to ship interiors.
So if you read my interior travel suggestion, you'd know it's just a matter of where your ship spawns or you beam down to and spawn after the loading screen. That being you despawn from the interior and it's only a matter of loading a different map from the interior.
Meaning, your ship hasn't spawned and so your ship is not moving while on the ground or in interior. I hope it's understandable.
All it would be is a jpg. on the viewscreen and a few lines of text in the HUD.
Click the map, get a message saying you reached it, spawn.
And then you have a jpg for travel and a jpg. for the destination for the illusion of motion progress. Simple and without ever spawning your vehicle while grounded.
And also I have to bring the same point up again, you are asking for cosmetic changes where there is no gameplay.
Did kirk visit the fleet bank a lot or did picard play dabo a 24/7 in the waiting room, not really.
It's of course a core part of star trek being on the bridge and moving the ship and to me it's the one thing that actually makes any sense doing in the interior.
I've heard nothing about redoing ship interiors. My personal feeling is that there should be little customization on layout. If you have an Intrepid, you get an Intrepid class layout. If you have a Defiant, you get a Defiant class layout. But I think players should have control over a few different overall styles, textures, colors, and lighting. So all Galaxy Class ships would have the same layout, but you could choose from TNG style (beige, brightly lit) or 2409 style, or random style A, B or C. etc.
I like this idea. But what I feel is needed for interior customization is:
Ability to Create uniforms for each of the departments (Security/Tactical/Science/Medical/Operations/Engineering)
Ship-class apropriate populations
Sliders to control the percentages of each type of race (I don't want stupid Pakleds or ugly Naussicaans on my ship!)
Each ship class interior needs to have hallways that are NOT 25 feet high
Less aimless walking and have each department stay within their areas (Sickbay should not be full of Engineers walking around and Engineering should not have doctors running around etc)
I understand it would be a lot of work, but a lot of people have been waiting a long time for this, so please, make it so! At least tell me you'll work on it sometime in the future!
Thanks for the expansion that had "as much content as the last"
9 Episodes = 30+ episodes...?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It's pronounced "S.T.O." "Stow" sounds idiotic! lol
Moving platforms are kind of an inside joke for the old timers at Cryptic. It's an idea that has been talked about since the COH days. But we do not have tech for it, for multiple reasons including NPC AI, and moving collision issues.
Well, think of it as a new challenge to overcome. I mean if Everquest had it 13 years ago.........gawd, still remember the "fun" of trying to get to the elf bank. :P
I meant to mention in my earlier post, but by having each deck laid out side by side, things like Jeffries tubes would not be possible (unless they acted like clickie doors between decks)
There could be some special mission that allows Jeffries Tube access between decks, but that map would have to be built with that in mind, and special precautions would have to be taken.
For the most part, yes you would need a seperate map / level for such a thing. But you should be able to combine them both.
Right now in the foundry you can pretty much mimic this since you can have open clickie doors and faux crouch. You just need to figure a new kind of animation that a person can go from standing to tunnel crawling.
The other issue with Jeffries tubes is movement/animations. We don't have any kind of ladder climbing tech at the moment, so that would have to be implemented for any vertical Jeffries Tubes, and for Horizontal ones, we'd have to make a "crawling on hands and knees" movement animation, and figure out some way to force you into that stance while you are within the tube. Again, possible for a special mission, maybe a future FE or something, but not likely for Interiors in general.
We can do multiple heights within one "deck," like Quarks. But layering multiple decks is not good.
Layering decks would really have to depend whats on the map.
As for the animations, you should think about adding such things, because Ladder Tech would increase possibilities on missions and even maybe adding rock climbing to the game.
And crawling could be used for different purposes as well.
I've always felt the best compermise is for a standardised layout for each ship type, i.e one for escorts one for cruisers etc and for the custermisation to be skins, such as TNG, Voyager, 2409 etc. Even the special ships could be covered in this way, a galor for instance would have the cruiser layout but with a special skin with cardassian colours and details. This of course opens up c-store options for selling special skins and or layouts (such as the current belfast) and helps crytic make money out of the time spend working on this feature.
For the crew the ideal would be to only have your doff's walking around. My understanding is the pictures for these are all created in the charater creator so it shouldn't be a huge leap to extend this to have full bodies.
As for the uniform this should be something able to be set, one for each department.
The real key is to have enough to do on the ships, add mini games, daily missions, crafting tools. Just generally give us as much to do as possible onboard to get players spending time on ship.
You could even go as far as introducing a reputation system with your own crew. Doing missions onboard help to raise this. Then add a mechanic that if you ignore your on ship duties for a prolonged period of time this can go down as well as up.
vester, when you are in the ship interior, the game simply cannot modify the ship's location in anyway. To get the Bridge Commander-style gameplay you're after requires a fundamental rewrite to separate ground toons and ships (which right now are just two different overlays onto what is essentially the same character).
In other words, when you are in a space map, YOU are physically the ship.
There's nothing you can do about it here, vester. Start a new thread for your idea.
Comments
Syberghost is claiming that small maps aren't good for fighting on.
And they're different, sure. But I think they're better.
TBH, surprised we don't have housing on our own Starbase.
But yes, they can revamp the in-game ship maps as part of a mini remastery (like the Miranda in a few missions as well as the U.S.S. Eagle). And yes ship maps would make a great PvP map.
I proposed such a thing a year ago, where players on both sides have to go through obstacles that you see in Trek like Force fields (one side trys to twart the other team), blatent EPS ruptures, knock-out gas, etc. Though my original proposal was basically fighting in a shuttle bay and going through Jefferie's Tubes, but with a full-scaled ship, that would be pretty epic. Especially if it's a 20-man event.
Not only would correctly-sized rooms and corridors add to the immersion, but it would also call for potential choke points and player strategies in dealing with confined spaces.
I'd prefer if SB didn't have housing for the player captain, since Trek is (mainly) about crews on long-term exploration tours, DS9 being an exception, of course.
20-man event, you say? Perhaps a 10-vs-10 PvP?
I'm also keen on having players be able to deploy obstacles and interior defenses, too - perhaps purchaseable upgrades as part of a player's ship interior customization?
I have something down already as well, but if you could link to your original proposal, I can add it to mine (and give you credit for it).
"X Group of enemy raiders have boarded your ship and are shutting down systems! Join with 4 other captains and defend your ship!"
Ta-da!
I agree, they require a very different form of thought and planning. Melee attacks more meaningful, and AOE attacks are deadly!
Imagine a mission where you're sneaking through a Jefferies Tube and suddenly red lights start appearing in front of you..... :eek::eek:
You forget that Captains and crew had homes on the ship and away. And also we are Admirals who station at a Starbase.
Could be 1 on 1, 5 on 5, you name it.
And sorry, not going digging into the archives for links.
That's because you haven't tried fighting with your head filling your entire screen yet, which is what would happen.
Then try it with a full group of five tacs, each with security teams out, against the kind of spawn you get with a full group. And still all you can see is your head.
There's a reason the entire MMORPG industry does this, and it's not "there's not a decent programmer in the entire industry".
That means those security teams will be less effective. Tight spaces kill reliance on powers and emphasize situational awareness.
I've played fights on both the TOS and Defiant interiors. I prefer it. I prefer how it diminishes powers. I like the crowding, the chaos, all of it.
The reasons the "entire MMORPG industry" does this are overstated, as is the extent to which they ACTUALLY do this in practice.
It is a tradeoff. Complexity of fancy powers and advance strategizing versus complexity of situational thinking in the moment. Any point on that tradeoff scale can work.
Most games adopt a middleground and use some claustrophobic spaces and some more open ones. Not everything in WoW is an oversized cathedral. Not everything in SCARLET MONASTERY is an oversized cathedral. WoW uses a mix of outdoor maps and claustrophobic places.
I think indoor and outdoor should feel different. If you want it to be less claustrophobic, set it outside on a planet. Then a Starbase can be a bit more claustrophobic. Then you can have stuff like Starbase Incursion. And then you can have truly claustrophobic fights like ship interiors.
This is the first major MMO with a pre-existing scale for its interiors. In a sense, that opens the door to playing with that more claustrophobic scale. Less powers, less planning, more "in the moment." It's what should be a signature element of STO ground play and it's been missing until they gave us those small maps in the Foundry.
I have a story mission that uses this. I can always crank out a combat mission so nobody has to wade through all that story and people can decide for themselves.
It's only more frustrating if you're a power efficiency nut and a planner. And IMHO, games need to minimize that kind of thinking or else you might as well replace combat with spreadsheets.
FIGHTING NEEDS CHAOS.
And like he said, there is just too much reliance on powers than getting people to think about tactics. Few people really go for the flank, or use cover to sneek around safely and attack from the rear.
Reminds me of the time when I was doing a particularr exploration mission - whilst scanning my umpteenth alien cocoon, my Tac BOff informs me some aggressive adversarial species is interested in said cocoons too, adding that my away team might have to fight them.
Since I wasn't in the pew-pew mood, I simply told my away team to stay put, went off the beaten track, snuck around and managed to scan all the other cocoons without alerting the enemy.
So a mission with confined spaces and severe limitations on powers? I'd buy that for a dollar!
I played the Borg Queen battle of Tribble. I like it. It belongs in a wide open space. Heck, it would be impossible without one.
But there's a world of difference between that and repelling Hirogen raiders.
I agree. STO is an incredibly power heavy game, even more so than many other MMO's! Which is silly even if you only have passing association with the series.
Or crawling through a Jefferies Tube when everything around you turns blue..... :eek:
Since all explorable decks of a ship are going to be on the same map anyway, it may be feasible to have said decks physically layered on top of one another with the appropriate Z-axis offset - an in-game example of multiple levels in a map is Quark's at DS9, where one could climb up several ramps to the second floor and look back down on the bar area.
This then poses an interesting question regarding the turbolift system - since the decks in the maps are now physically aligned above and below each other, instead of using lift cabins as a teleport spawn point, they could actually work as moving platforms (although I'm not sure if Cryptic has the tech to do this yet).
Lots of good ideas coming in, guys - if more people are happy with this, I may add it to my proposal doc.
Think would be pretty fun to have our characters crawl through the tubes doing things like repair conduits, realign equipment, find baddies (or critters), or simply using the tubes to sneek past NPCs or bypass damaged sections.
Those would fit in perfectly with the random "shipboard incident" missions or PvP/PvE boarding actions.
Not really, could be similar to the stairs and latter idea, where when you are in the tubes, the character automatically goes into a type of crouched mode, that's not the same as the crouching keybind.
How will space travel take place or will you only be able to do doff assignments in 1 sector?
But I suppose they can't just give you a time and a message saying "moving to sector".
Anyway while I do love the idea of great customization I still feel I lack a reason to be on the bridge and that of course being space travel which'd seem a natural first step.
No matter how beautiful the bridge were, how often would you actually go there if there is nothing there...
Also on a sidenote I have no idea why I didn't get the TOS bridge when I bought TOS ship I feel 2500 for an interior is a bit overpriced seeing as I have no reason to be on the bridge in the first place
Once again, as has been said, many, many, many, many times, flying from the bridge cannot be done in STO because game cannot continually modify your Sector Space position whilst your toon is in a ground or interior map.
Even without BC-esque bridge flying, centersolace, azurianstar and stoleviathan99 have proposed many, many more exciting activities / features / matches that can be done in customised ship interiors.
We could put them in story missions, daily missions on board your ship (which we should have lots of those), we could put them on starbases for "Officer of the Watch" missions, we could use them in events (imagine flushing saboteurs out of such a confined space!), we could use them in daily missions in social zones like Spacedock, Ganalda, and DS9, the possibilities are endless!
While that would work, I would prefer having an actual crouch-walk so eventually we could get some kind of sneaking mechanic in the game. The lack of stealthily taking out a giant space lizards with rocks is disappointing.
Yeah, this really isn't the thread for Core Connect (Though, we could always have trophies/interior cosmetic items obtainable through it. So don't completely throw it out.) But your latter argument is what this thread is all about.
This is definitely inadvisable. Putting a bunch of separate decks on top of each other causes minimap/sound/etc. issues. We have to have them separated by at least a bit. (i.e. off to the side) I meant to mention in my earlier post, but by having each deck laid out side by side, things like Jeffries tubes would not be possible (unless they acted like clickie doors between decks)
There could be some special mission that allows Jeffries Tube access between decks, but that map would have to be built with that in mind, and special precautions would have to be taken.
The other issue with Jeffries tubes is movement/animations. We don't have any kind of ladder climbing tech at the moment, so that would have to be implemented for any vertical Jeffries Tubes, and for Horizontal ones, we'd have to make a "crawling on hands and knees" movement animation, and figure out some way to force you into that stance while you are within the tube. Again, possible for a special mission, maybe a future FE or something, but not likely for Interiors in general.
We can do multiple heights within one "deck," like Quarks. But layering multiple decks is not good.
Moving platforms are kind of an inside joke for the old timers at Cryptic. It's an idea that has been talked about since the COH days. But we do not have tech for it, for multiple reasons including NPC AI, and moving collision issues.
The classic Drozana Station worked well, too. Click the Jefferies Tube entrance in the wall and *poof* we appear on the other deck. Perhaps a combination of both would create the tone of a more massive layout to explore?
Another option are the Maintenance Corridors. Which require no more than a crouch posture like we already have in the game. Enterprise's In a Mirror, Darkly displayed this set. Manageable for close combat, I'd guess?
Exactly.
The question I put up there or at least wanted to is, if *another part* of the game lets you move from sector to sector without your ship actually being drawn and is physically present, where you might only have text telling you the ship is moving and say a loading bar.
Hence the question about the thing you don't want mentioned here; I wasn't looking to talk about it in itself, only interested in then that travel formula might be transferable to ship interiors.
So if you read my interior travel suggestion, you'd know it's just a matter of where your ship spawns or you beam down to and spawn after the loading screen. That being you despawn from the interior and it's only a matter of loading a different map from the interior.
Meaning, your ship hasn't spawned and so your ship is not moving while on the ground or in interior. I hope it's understandable.
All it would be is a jpg. on the viewscreen and a few lines of text in the HUD.
Click the map, get a message saying you reached it, spawn.
And then you have a jpg for travel and a jpg. for the destination for the illusion of motion progress. Simple and without ever spawning your vehicle while grounded.
And also I have to bring the same point up again, you are asking for cosmetic changes where there is no gameplay.
Did kirk visit the fleet bank a lot or did picard play dabo a 24/7 in the waiting room, not really.
It's of course a core part of star trek being on the bridge and moving the ship and to me it's the one thing that actually makes any sense doing in the interior.
I like this idea. But what I feel is needed for interior customization is:
I understand it would be a lot of work, but a lot of people have been waiting a long time for this, so please, make it so!
9 Episodes = 30+ episodes...?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It's pronounced "S.T.O." "Stow" sounds idiotic! lol
This 'workaround' is in use in the TOS interior, and the mission 'Everything Old is New'.
The idea is to give us real Jefferies Tubes, not instant warp.
Well, think of it as a new challenge to overcome. I mean if Everquest had it 13 years ago.........gawd, still remember the "fun" of trying to get to the elf bank. :P
For the most part, yes you would need a seperate map / level for such a thing. But you should be able to combine them both.
Right now in the foundry you can pretty much mimic this since you can have open clickie doors and faux crouch. You just need to figure a new kind of animation that a person can go from standing to tunnel crawling.
Layering decks would really have to depend whats on the map.
As for the animations, you should think about adding such things, because Ladder Tech would increase possibilities on missions and even maybe adding rock climbing to the game.
And crawling could be used for different purposes as well.
For the crew the ideal would be to only have your doff's walking around. My understanding is the pictures for these are all created in the charater creator so it shouldn't be a huge leap to extend this to have full bodies.
As for the uniform this should be something able to be set, one for each department.
The real key is to have enough to do on the ships, add mini games, daily missions, crafting tools. Just generally give us as much to do as possible onboard to get players spending time on ship.
You could even go as far as introducing a reputation system with your own crew. Doing missions onboard help to raise this. Then add a mechanic that if you ignore your on ship duties for a prolonged period of time this can go down as well as up.
In other words, when you are in a space map, YOU are physically the ship.
There's nothing you can do about it here, vester. Start a new thread for your idea.
imadoctornota & tamereth, please see http://bit.ly/STOShipInteriorProposal for what is actually being proposed - it covers most of your requests.