I don't think I'd be nearly as disappointed about this if cryptic had just been honest with us for once. Two weeks ago, you said we could 'play as a romulan or reman level 1-50'. Now you're telling us we can play as just a romulan level 1-10 and then pick another faction. So rather than a five level mini-faction we get a ten level one, nice, thanks a bunch.
It takes a lot to really disappoint me cryptic, but this is just a joke.
Is it so much to ask that you just be honest with us and tell us what you're ACTUALLY giving us rather than lying and getting our hopes up, just to let us down later on? The annoying thing is I'll know I'll play it anyway, even if it is a joke.
Man you people are looking at this all wrong. This is a ploy by the Romulans to embed themselves deep into both factions leeching/stealing as much info, technology and resources as possible. Then when the time is right they regroup form their new empire and beat down both the Fed and KDF.
Secretly new SB's and Romulan fleets are be constructed for the day the Empire stands alone as strongest in the galaxy.
Think about it when has a Romulan ever been honest and loyal to anything other than the Empire.
This Q&A raises almost as much questions as it answered with how they will handle Romulans joining KDF or FED.
Will Romulans be able to use FED/KDF z-store uniform unlocks?
Dan stated that Romulans/Remans wouldn't be able to wear the uniforms of their host faction so I'm guessing not. Off-Duty uniforms don't exist KDF-side so they're probably out too.
If Romulans can use their own ships and ships of their faction they ally with, is their any benefit to creating non-Romulan characters anymore?
I suspect Feds and Klingons will get these ships in some form too - possibly cross-faction C-Store ones. This would be pretty controversial though so I'm just speculating.
I suspect Feds and Klingons will get these ships in some form too - possibly cross-faction C-Store ones. This would be pretty controversial though so I'm just speculating.
Per Bran's twitter:
No plans for that at this time. Rom ships are for Rom only.
Thank you for all of the feedback and responses to this Ask Cryptic. Over the next month we will be sharing more details about the specifics of Legacy of Romulus, and later in April, we will be opening up access to create and play a Romulan on TRIBBLE so that you can see how everything works for yourself.
Keep in mind that the team has been hard at work on this expansion and this remains an entirely FREE expansion. We are not charging for it. It will be a free download when the expansion hits. So with that in mind, try it for yourself and see what you think without any risk. This isn't a $50 expansion that you have to buy up front in order to play. Yes there will be plenty of additional items in the store later on to enhance the experience (we are a business), but you will be able to play a Romulan from 1-50 as a free player.
We are happy that many players appreciate our decision to have the Romulans join existing FED or KDF fleets at launch. We realize that not everyone understands or agrees with why we did this, but it is the best decision for Star Trek Online. As stated in the Ask Cryptic, we will consider allowing the construction of Romulan Starbases in the future, but at launch, we want to recognize all the effort that existing Fleets have put into their Starbases and not introduce a "must start over" approach this early.
Additionally, we have a story to tell with the Romulan Republic that is central to the future updates in our game. We specifically chose to go this route as far back as the Romulan Feature Episode series where we introduced Obisek and Hakeev. Romulans are splintered and there are factions within the Romulan Empire that are specifically pursuing goals that are not necessarily beneficial to the Romulan species (investigating Borg Technology, collaborating with Iconians). One of our next blogs will go into detail about these conflicts and how they will play into the Romulan Republic storyline. That storyline will advance the plot for all factions in coming seasons.
With the Romulan Republic being a prequel to the Romulan FE series and the founding of New Romulus, our intention has been to allow players to explore the backstory of what has happened since the destruction of their homeworld. New Romulan captains do not even start in the military. These are Romulan citizens that must decide how they will survive. As the launch site says, "you are one of the survivors." "These are dark and dangerous times for your people."
The New Romulan storyline will dive deeper into the underlying darkness threatening the galaxy than any species has thus far and by the time they finish their storyline, it will be clear why New Romulus needs to exist and why we chose to have players play Romulan citizens rather than the Tal Shiar. Future Feature Episode series will continue the story from this point.
To answer some specific questions, Romulans will be asked to choose sides in the war by the time they are level 10. The exclusive Romulan storyline takes place in all of the new prequel episodes that have been made that will now end in and around the events that culminate in the Romulan Feature Episode series. Since we are moving around many of the levels of episodes with this expansion, we expect Romulan captains to be around level 40 when they finish their primary episodes (much like the Feds at launch). Note that for Romulans, most of the feature episode series have all been moved past this point. Thus the Devidians, Breen, and 2800 series all take place after the Romulan storyline. This also includes all of the Borg, Undine, STFS, Nukara, New Romulus and end game event content. So when we say that the alliance has an impact on end game, it is in reference to all of the level 40+ missions and end game content that exist for all factions. Instead of creating a 3rd set of queues, we're limiting it to the existing 2 sets and, at least for now, limiting Romulans to helping the Feds or KDF with their Starbase while the Feds and KDF help to build new Romulus. We will be adding more Fleet Holdings in the future and, as stated, Romulan Starbases have not been ruled out.
As an MMO we can always evolve this in the future, but this is how it will be at launch on May 21. Again, you'll have a chance to see all of this in action when we put the update up for testing prior to May.
Well Cryptic, you've managed to disappoint even me, a hardcore cynic.
I was genuinely looking forward to a Romulan faction, and instead we get faux Romulans, licking the heels of the Federation and Klingons?
Wait... players will choose which side in FED/KDF war they take but in Republic they stay neutral to one to other? In the morning they co-work in rebuilding Republic and afternoon they shot one to other in the name of Federation or Klingon Empire? It's only me or anybody else see it hilarious?
Our home is destroyed. Our fleets, our people are broken. We stand together to bring our nation from ashes, to rebuild our strength... that's why we will lose our lives, our few left ships at others war at our eternal enemies war.
Our home is destroyed. Our fleets, our people are broken. We stand together to bring our nation from ashes, to rebuild our strength... Our enemies are fighting each other... good, that give us time, time we need. We will be strong again, and when they will be weak after war we will take what should be ours.
Actually, thinking about it - Rom's aren't going to have access to the in-game 1-50 KDF/Fed ships - what they will have access to is C-Store, lockbox stuff - of course, that doesn't preclude the possibility of a cross-faction C-Store/lockbox Scimitar - irrespective of what Bran's said, I'd be very surprised if they didn't - especially since they don't want to make new C-Store KDF ships any more.
Thanks for clarifying, I guess it kind of makes sense given there are numerous factions vying for power. I REALLY want to see a new Romulan holding like Starbases in the future though. In the {UFP} we already have two main fleets and a KDF fleet all three of which are close to full despite taking measures to reduce numbers. It will be very hard to accommodate Romulan players for an extended period of time without creating a FOURTH fleet. Will there be any raising of the fleet member cap?!
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Because, naturally, when the Romulans are down on their luck and in desperate need of rebuilding, the most sensible thing to do is allow their people to individually pick sides in an interstellar war and SHOOT AT EACH OTHER.
Yeah. I suppose they're doing it out of friendly combat spirit or something right? Jesus.
Why are we even still having this war?
I know, PvP and existing content. But in story terms, it makes no damn sense.
It's been conclusively demonstrated that both sides were manipulated.
Both sides have since cooperated against the real enemies.
But now, we're drawing yet another group into this conflict?
End the war.
Advance the timeline.
GIVE US MORE STORY.
Will choosing a side be permanent and can't be undone?
During one of the episodes in the Romulan Republic storyline, the Federation and Klingon Defense Force will challenge Romulan captains to choose sides in the Federation-Klingon War. This permanent and personal choice forges a very important alliance.
Do Romulans have to do Romulan rep?
Q: (archanubis) Will Romulan characters be able to access the Romulan Reputation System?
Dstahl: Yes, they?ll gain access to the same reputation and rewards including the ability to unlock the Reman species through the New Romulus Reputation.
...
I know I'll be getting to 50 and doing all that I can without choosing a side first..
Why are we even still having this war?
I know, PvP and existing content. But in story terms, it makes no damn sense.
It's been conclusively demonstrated that both sides were manipulated.
Both sides have since cooperated against the real enemies.
But now, we're drawing yet another group into this conflict?
End the war.
Advance the timeline.
GIVE US MORE STORY.
They could easily continue PvP as part of a cold war, minor skirmishes denied by both sides or whatever.
But no, we have to continue the war because every freaking MMO has to be Red vs. Blue.
The New Romulan storyline will dive deeper into the underlying darkness threatening the galaxy than any species has thus far and by the time they finish their storyline, it will be clear why New Romulus needs to exist and why we chose to have players play Romulan citizens rather than the Tal Shiar. Future Feature Episode series will continue the story from this point.
Okay that works for me. I forgot the part where he said it was a prequel to the FE; on those points I can deal with the rough start the new Romulan faction takes.
Why are we even still having this war?
I know, PvP and existing content. But in story terms, it makes no damn sense.
It's been conclusively demonstrated that both sides were manipulated.
Both sides have since cooperated against the real enemies.
But now, we're drawing yet another group into this conflict?
End the war.
Advance the timeline.
GIVE US MORE STORY.
You'll note that in the most analagous situation, the Federation/Klingon conflict during the beginning of the Dominion Wars, even after the Martok-Changeling was revealed the two factions (KDF and Starfleet) fought multiple engagements.
Basically, to run with the metaphor, we're waiting for Cardassia to join the Dominion and let us know who the "real" enemy is.
''Together, you will rise up against an oppressive regime and demand freedom. You will fight for your people.''
what it should say is
Together, you will rise up against an oppressive regime and demand freedom..... failing that you will fight your own people while fighting for some else
Essentially yes .
While D'Tan and Obisek talk of peace and "too few of us left to fight among our self's" as you arrive on New Romulus , it seems that on the other hand the Romulans have no problem becoming a Foreign Legion in a 'war-by-proxy ' that the KDF/Feds are having -- something akin to the Vietnam war (where Vietnamiese fought Vietnamiese in the name of the US/USSR) -- all the while "preserving their own unique culture & identity" .
Yep , I think I'll go with Admiral Cartwright on this one : Klingons would become the alien trash of the galaxy .
(just substitute Rommy's with Klings)
I like the fact that there are new hairstyles..... and that we play as the New Romulus romulans.
But overall, this is not a third faction.
Now I would not really mind. Cryptic is not EA or Blizzard, and has less resources.
But then they could have hyped the thing as a sub-faction, not a complete and independent one.
If Blizzard can do it with the Pandas, then so can Cryptic, nobody will blame them.
What I do NOT like is the romulans access to Fed and KDF ships. I can understand the part where they are a sub-faction that pandas up to the Fed, and to the Klingons (though arent they supposed to hate each other?)
Just let them use the Romulan ships.
Also, please reverse the low health activation limit on Go down fighting so that I can activate it with an undamaged ship.
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
You'll note that in the most analagous situation, the Federation/Klingon conflict during the beginning of the Dominion Wars, even after the Martok-Changeling was revealed the two factions (KDF and Starfleet) fought multiple engagements.
Basically, to run with the metaphor, we're waiting for Cardassia to join the Dominion and let us know who the "real" enemy is.
Yeah except that's already happened. Multiple times.
The Undine revealed they were goaded by the Iconians, the Romulan Star Empire has been compromised by the Iconians, the Klingons have under attack by the Fek'liri which may be products of the Hurq or the Iconians, the Iconians themselves have shown up and directly threatened us and oh yeah, the Borg are invading every sector on a regular basis.
This would be like the Klingons and Federation continuing their war after Cardassia joins the Dominion, DS9 falls to the Dominion and the armada of 2800 ships successfully comes through the wormhole.
Yep , I think I'll go with Admiral Cartwright on this one : Klingons would become the alien trash of the galaxy .
(just substitute Rommy's with Klings)
This just makes me feel sick .
Indeed. It's absolutely absurd. How did they ever think this was a good idea?
We are happy that many players appreciate our decision to have the Romulans join existing FED or KDF fleets at launch. We realize that not everyone understands or agrees with why we did this, but it is the best decision for Star Trek Online. As stated in the Ask Cryptic, we will consider allowing the construction of Romulan Starbases in the future, but at launch, we want to recognize all the effort that existing Fleets have put into their Starbases and not introduce a "must start over" approach this early.
I understand this, and actually appreciate it. As much as I want to build a giant green space bird, I don't want to have to wait another year to enjoy it at the moment.
What bothers me is the fact that we're trying to force this war still. I was under the impression that even you thought it was a silly idea.
Thank you for clarifying this Mr.Stahl, I'm actually intrigued by the direction in which you're taking the story in STO. I'm actually anxious to find out how it will unfold!
And the info from this "Ask Cryptic" actually gave me the incentive to be interested in making a Romulan character, something I was not considering seriosely before.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
Thank you for all of the feedback and responses to this Ask Cryptic. Over the next month we will be sharing more details about the specifics of Legacy of Romulus, and later in April, we will be opening up access to create and play a Romulan on TRIBBLE so that you can see how everything works for yourself.
Keep in mind that the team has been hard at work on this expansion and this remains an entirely FREE expansion. We are not charging for it. It will be a free download when the expansion hits. So with that in mind, try it for yourself and see what you think without any risk. This isn't a $50 expansion that you have to buy up front in order to play. Yes there will be plenty of additional items in the store later on to enhance the experience (we are a business), but you will be able to play a Romulan from 1-50 as a free player.
We are happy that many players appreciate our decision to have the Romulans join existing FED or KDF fleets at launch. We realize that not everyone understands or agrees with why we did this, but it is the best decision for Star Trek Online. As stated in the Ask Cryptic, we will consider allowing the construction of Romulan Starbases in the future, but at launch, we want to recognize all the effort that existing Fleets have put into their Starbases and not introduce a "must start over" approach this early.
Additionally, we have a story to tell with the Romulan Republic that is central to the future updates in our game. We specifically chose to go this route as far back as the Romulan Feature Episode series where we introduced Obisek and Hakeev. Romulans are splintered and there are factions within the Romulan Empire that are specifically pursuing goals that are not necessarily beneficial to the Romulan species (investigating Borg Technology, collaborating with Iconians). One of our next blogs will go into detail about these conflicts and how they will play into the Romulan Republic storyline. That storyline will advance the plot for all factions in coming seasons.
With the Romulan Republic being a prequel to the Romulan FE series and the founding of New Romulus, our intention has been to allow players to explore the backstory of what has happened since the destruction of their homeworld. New Romulan captains do not even start in the military. These are Romulan citizens that must decide how they will survive. As the launch site says, "you are one of the survivors." "These are dark and dangerous times for your people."
The New Romulan storyline will dive deeper into the underlying darkness threatening the galaxy than any species has thus far and by the time they finish their storyline, it will be clear why New Romulus needs to exist and why we chose to have players play Romulan citizens rather than the Tal Shiar. Future Feature Episode series will continue the story from this point.
To answer some specific questions, Romulans will be asked to choose sides in the war by the time they are level 10. The exclusive Romulan storyline takes place in all of the new prequel episodes that have been made that will now end in and around the events that culminate in the Romulan Feature Episode series. Since we are moving around many of the levels of episodes with this expansion, we expect Romulan captains to be around level 40 when they finish their primary episodes (much like the Feds at launch). Note that for Romulans, most of the feature episode series have all been moved past this point. Thus the Devidians, Breen, and 2800 series all take place after the Romulan storyline. This also includes all of the Borg, Undine, STFS, Nukara, New Romulus and end game event content. So when we say that the alliance has an impact on end game, it is in reference to all of the level 40+ missions and end game content that exist for all factions. Instead of creating a 3rd set of queues, we're limiting it to the existing 2 sets and, at least for now, limiting Romulans to helping the Feds or KDF with their Starbase while the Feds and KDF help to build new Romulus. We will be adding more Fleet Holdings in the future and, as stated, Romulan Starbases have not been ruled out.
As an MMO we can always evolve this in the future, but this is how it will be at launch on May 21. Again, you'll have a chance to see all of this in action when we put the update up for testing prior to May.
awhile I can see that you guys have put some very hard work in to this already. it's not actually a 3rd faction when you have to choose a side to join in the current 2 faction war, more like 1.5 vs 1.5 and can end up with romulan vs romulan fighting for some one else. dose that not divide the romulans more??? because that just 'splinters' things more.
oh and this do it all again thing about grinding a new starbase. i'd say the majority of people that have been waiting for a long time to play romulans(in my case since beta) would do it even if we had just 3 ships to choose from! I'm appalled you have this idea that the player base is so lazy! that we can't do it
so since the kdf have had to wait 3 years to get fleshed out, will we have to wait another 3 years for the romulans to get finished?
Thank you for all of the feedback and responses to this Ask Cryptic. Over the next month we will be sharing more details about the specifics of Legacy of Romulus, and later in April, we will be opening up access to create and play a Romulan on TRIBBLE so that you can see how everything works for yourself.
Keep in mind that the team has been hard at work on this expansion and this remains an entirely FREE expansion. We are not charging for it. It will be a free download when the expansion hits. So with that in mind, try it for yourself and see what you think without any risk. This isn't a $50 expansion that you have to buy up front in order to play. Yes there will be plenty of additional items in the store later on to enhance the experience (we are a business), but you will be able to play a Romulan from 1-50 as a free player.
We are happy that many players appreciate our decision to have the Romulans join existing FED or KDF fleets at launch. We realize that not everyone understands or agrees with why we did this, but it is the best decision for Star Trek Online. As stated in the Ask Cryptic, we will consider allowing the construction of Romulan Starbases in the future, but at launch, we want to recognize all the effort that existing Fleets have put into their Starbases and not introduce a "must start over" approach this early.
Additionally, we have a story to tell with the Romulan Republic that is central to the future updates in our game. We specifically chose to go this route as far back as the Romulan Feature Episode series where we introduced Obisek and Hakeev. Romulans are splintered and there are factions within the Romulan Empire that are specifically pursuing goals that are not necessarily beneficial to the Romulan species (investigating Borg Technology, collaborating with Iconians). One of our next blogs will go into detail about these conflicts and how they will play into the Romulan Republic storyline. That storyline will advance the plot for all factions in coming seasons.
With the Romulan Republic being a prequel to the Romulan FE series and the founding of New Romulus, our intention has been to allow players to explore the backstory of what has happened since the destruction of their homeworld. New Romulan captains do not even start in the military. These are Romulan citizens that must decide how they will survive. As the launch site says, "you are one of the survivors." "These are dark and dangerous times for your people."
The New Romulan storyline will dive deeper into the underlying darkness threatening the galaxy than any species has thus far and by the time they finish their storyline, it will be clear why New Romulus needs to exist and why we chose to have players play Romulan citizens rather than the Tal Shiar. Future Feature Episode series will continue the story from this point.
To answer some specific questions, Romulans will be asked to choose sides in the war by the time they are level 10. The exclusive Romulan storyline takes place in all of the new prequel episodes that have been made that will now end in and around the events that culminate in the Romulan Feature Episode series. Since we are moving around many of the levels of episodes with this expansion, we expect Romulan captains to be around level 40 when they finish their primary episodes (much like the Feds at launch). Note that for Romulans, most of the feature episode series have all been moved past this point. Thus the Devidians, Breen, and 2800 series all take place after the Romulan storyline. This also includes all of the Borg, Undine, STFS, Nukara, New Romulus and end game event content. So when we say that the alliance has an impact on end game, it is in reference to all of the level 40+ missions and end game content that exist for all factions. Instead of creating a 3rd set of queues, we're limiting it to the existing 2 sets and, at least for now, limiting Romulans to helping the Feds or KDF with their Starbase while the Feds and KDF help to build new Romulus. We will be adding more Fleet Holdings in the future and, as stated, Romulan Starbases have not been ruled out.
As an MMO we can always evolve this in the future, but this is how it will be at launch on May 21. Again, you'll have a chance to see all of this in action when we put the update up for testing prior to May.
Here's the problem:
The Fed-Klingon war is absurd.
They were manipulated into it by the Undine.
Like they did with the changelings, they have discovered this. Except when that happened, they stopped fighting, because it was stupid.
Some Klingons believe that in order to truly be Klingon, they must have an enemy to fight. Well, Klingons, it's a target rich environment right now.
I have never, ever, ever heard of two parties engaged in full scale war on one front, and then cooperating on the other. There should, at the very least, be a cease fire or armistice while the Borg, Undine, Iconians, Tholians, etc., are dealt with. Again, this is a target rich environment. The Klingons are not short on enemies.
Fighting on one front and then cooperating on another, it's crazy.
This Romulan story further exemplifies this.
Now you have some captains in the RR taking Fed Side, and others taking KDF side. That means we have... *drumroll*
Two major powers engaged in interstellar war on one front. On another front, they are cooperating. A third faction exists, where some of its people are taking one side, and yet others are taking the opposite side. This means you have a third party that are participating in an absurd, unecessary war, and actively fighting against and killing their own people. And then at the end of the day, they all go back to New Romulus and sing Kumbayah like they didn't just attack vessels in their own fleet.
You can fix this.
Out J'mpok as an Undine. Have Worf kill him. Get Michael Dorn to voice Chancellor Worf (**** yeah)! Ally with the Feds and the Romulans against this horrible onslaught of powerful elder races we're in the middle of. Completely revamp PvP into an advanced war game scenario, where all 3 factions can queue and be put on either team, making queues faster, and matchmaking easier. It eliminates strict FvF, FvK, and KvK PvP, which is already a mess. Territory control, if you choose to do it, will still work fine under this system, just let people pick which "team" they play for. Give it strong rewards, add leaderboards, encourage healthy, friendly, but still serious competition. You wrote yourselves into a corner. This is how to fix it. It's not too late.
♪ I'm going around not in circles but in spirographs.
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
Yeah except that's already happened. Multiple times.
The Undine revealed they were goaded by the Iconians, the Romulan Star Empire has been compromised by the Iconians, the Klingons have under attack by the Fek'liri which may be products of the Hurq or the Iconians, the Iconians themselves have shown up and directly threatened us and oh yeah, the Borg are invading every sector on a regular basis.
This would be like the Klingons and Federation continuing their war after Cardassia joins the Dominion, DS9 falls to the Dominion and the armada of 2800 ships successfully comes through the wormhole.
I'd say the key difference between the pre-Dominion War situation and the current one is that the KDF and Starfleet is currently engaging in several joint operations against common threats. It's like the Klingons and Federation continuing their war after Cardassia joins the Dominion while at the same time being allied against the Dominion.
I understand this, and actually appreciate it. As much as I want to build a giant green space bird, I don't want to have to wait another year to enjoy it at the moment.
What bothers me is the fact that we're trying to force this war still. I was under the impression that even you thought it was a silly idea.
The Romulan Republic storyline is a prequel to the events of the Romulan FE series and the establishment of New Romulus.
So at the time that the player chooses a faction, it makes sense and does not "extend the war" any more than it already has. Both factions embassies do not get established on New Romulus until after the Romulan exclusive storyline concludes and now you'll get to see how and why that happened.
At the end of Cutting the Cord we see Sela taken by the Iconians and both factions now realize there is more going on.
During the New Romulan Reputation is when we realize there is an Iconian gateway on New Romulus and that there is a lot more history here than we may have realized.
So by the time the Romulan Republic player gets to max level and experiences all of this, they will be caught up to the current state of the war and puts all factions at the same point for the upcoming episodes and seasons where we can now have everyone on equal footing to say "why are we fighting each other?" and reveal some of the bigger threats in the galaxy. These aren't events that take place AFTER everything we've already seen, these are episodes and stories that take place BEFORE and during the lead up to the events where we learn about the bigger threats. The Romulans backstory and the discovery of the gate on New Romulus will now provide much more story to what needs to happen next.
Well .. the hype can calm a bit now. I think you really did upset a great number of players with today's comments and announcements.
"To answer some specific questions, Romulans will be asked to choose sides in the war by the time they are level 10."
I for one, wasn't really into the Romulan thing, but looked forward to a whole new Faction and was ready to roll a Rommie character. However, this picking-side-stuff (however logical it is in terms of solutions) is not what I did expect from you guys.
But nevertheless, this might even come out as a good thing. Good luck to that!
What they don?t have are their own Starbases. There are many reasons why we?ve made this decision and here?s one of them.
This was quite an unexpected surprise. Rather ingenious that new factions have a choice of which side they wish to support. Like in TNG/DS9 how Klingons were split in being Pro-Federation or Pro-Romulan.
Once this decision is made, individual Romulan captains will gain many benefits through their alliance, all the while remaining their own independent faction. Romulans still continue their own independent mission journal and storyline after this choice, remaining neutral within the Romulan faction, but the choice has an impact on their progression towards end-game.
Be interesting what these benefits will end up being.
In the future, we will consider unique Romulan Starbases.
Not sure how this will play out. Since Romulan players will get to choose a Federation or Klingon Fleet, I doubt many would want to uproot from their T4 or T5 fleets to start on a Romulan Starbase.
Though you devs should consider what I suggested on other threads, that instead of a Romulan Fleet Starbase, make a Romulan community Starbase and have Romulan players participate in it's construction and effectively ends up building the Mol'Rihan SpaceDock.
And from Orbit, all sorts of players can watch it be built over the months.
[QUOTE=Dstahl] Since individual Romulan Republic captains will ultimately have to choose sides in the war, PvP will remain two-faction with Romulans alongside their ally. This supports our future goal of using PvP to emphasize the Federation-Klingon War and provides an interesting choice for Romulan captains and existing PvP based Fleets.[/QUOTE]
You really don't realize how much a relief this news is to me.
I was expecting that there would be new PvP accolades for the Romulan faction and had to grind out the new accolades on 9 characters (3 being the new Romulan characters).
So /sigh of relief.
[QUOTE=Dstahl] Yes, they?ll gain access to the same reputation and rewards including the ability to unlock the Reman species through the New Romulus Reputation.[/QUOTE]
Back to Epohh tagging. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Dstahl] The Tholian Reputation will include a variety of missions and rewards related to Tholians, including those on Nukara prime.[/QUOTE]
Not looking forward to Nukara, I really hate that place.
[QUOTE=Dstahl] Yes, we are and plan to address small Fleet project challenges and will release more information about it closer to the May release.[/QUOTE]
Thats good, 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Dilithum projects is just murder for small fleets.
Comments
It takes a lot to really disappoint me cryptic, but this is just a joke.
Is it so much to ask that you just be honest with us and tell us what you're ACTUALLY giving us rather than lying and getting our hopes up, just to let us down later on? The annoying thing is I'll know I'll play it anyway, even if it is a joke.
Secretly new SB's and Romulan fleets are be constructed for the day the Empire stands alone as strongest in the galaxy.
Think about it when has a Romulan ever been honest and loyal to anything other than the Empire.
This is my way of looking a it any way.
Dan stated that Romulans/Remans wouldn't be able to wear the uniforms of their host faction so I'm guessing not. Off-Duty uniforms don't exist KDF-side so they're probably out too.
I'd imagine so since what's going to happen to the Kumari you've bought for your Reman if you decide to switch red-side?
I suspect Feds and Klingons will get these ships in some form too - possibly cross-faction C-Store ones. This would be pretty controversial though so I'm just speculating.
My gut instinct tells me no - they'll get the same rewards Fed/KDF get (since they are Fed/KDF).
Yes. In fact, you can't unlock playable Remans unless you do it.
Per Bran's twitter:
https://twitter.com/PWE_BranFlakes/status/317723062143447042
Keep in mind that the team has been hard at work on this expansion and this remains an entirely FREE expansion. We are not charging for it. It will be a free download when the expansion hits. So with that in mind, try it for yourself and see what you think without any risk. This isn't a $50 expansion that you have to buy up front in order to play. Yes there will be plenty of additional items in the store later on to enhance the experience (we are a business), but you will be able to play a Romulan from 1-50 as a free player.
We are happy that many players appreciate our decision to have the Romulans join existing FED or KDF fleets at launch. We realize that not everyone understands or agrees with why we did this, but it is the best decision for Star Trek Online. As stated in the Ask Cryptic, we will consider allowing the construction of Romulan Starbases in the future, but at launch, we want to recognize all the effort that existing Fleets have put into their Starbases and not introduce a "must start over" approach this early.
Additionally, we have a story to tell with the Romulan Republic that is central to the future updates in our game. We specifically chose to go this route as far back as the Romulan Feature Episode series where we introduced Obisek and Hakeev. Romulans are splintered and there are factions within the Romulan Empire that are specifically pursuing goals that are not necessarily beneficial to the Romulan species (investigating Borg Technology, collaborating with Iconians). One of our next blogs will go into detail about these conflicts and how they will play into the Romulan Republic storyline. That storyline will advance the plot for all factions in coming seasons.
With the Romulan Republic being a prequel to the Romulan FE series and the founding of New Romulus, our intention has been to allow players to explore the backstory of what has happened since the destruction of their homeworld. New Romulan captains do not even start in the military. These are Romulan citizens that must decide how they will survive. As the launch site says, "you are one of the survivors." "These are dark and dangerous times for your people."
The New Romulan storyline will dive deeper into the underlying darkness threatening the galaxy than any species has thus far and by the time they finish their storyline, it will be clear why New Romulus needs to exist and why we chose to have players play Romulan citizens rather than the Tal Shiar. Future Feature Episode series will continue the story from this point.
To answer some specific questions, Romulans will be asked to choose sides in the war by the time they are level 10. The exclusive Romulan storyline takes place in all of the new prequel episodes that have been made that will now end in and around the events that culminate in the Romulan Feature Episode series. Since we are moving around many of the levels of episodes with this expansion, we expect Romulan captains to be around level 40 when they finish their primary episodes (much like the Feds at launch). Note that for Romulans, most of the feature episode series have all been moved past this point. Thus the Devidians, Breen, and 2800 series all take place after the Romulan storyline. This also includes all of the Borg, Undine, STFS, Nukara, New Romulus and end game event content. So when we say that the alliance has an impact on end game, it is in reference to all of the level 40+ missions and end game content that exist for all factions. Instead of creating a 3rd set of queues, we're limiting it to the existing 2 sets and, at least for now, limiting Romulans to helping the Feds or KDF with their Starbase while the Feds and KDF help to build new Romulus. We will be adding more Fleet Holdings in the future and, as stated, Romulan Starbases have not been ruled out.
As an MMO we can always evolve this in the future, but this is how it will be at launch on May 21. Again, you'll have a chance to see all of this in action when we put the update up for testing prior to May.
I was genuinely looking forward to a Romulan faction, and instead we get faux Romulans, licking the heels of the Federation and Klingons?
I am disgusted.
Actually, thinking about it - Rom's aren't going to have access to the in-game 1-50 KDF/Fed ships - what they will have access to is C-Store, lockbox stuff - of course, that doesn't preclude the possibility of a cross-faction C-Store/lockbox Scimitar - irrespective of what Bran's said, I'd be very surprised if they didn't - especially since they don't want to make new C-Store KDF ships any more.
One ship - sell it to both sides.
Thanks for clarifying, I guess it kind of makes sense given there are numerous factions vying for power. I REALLY want to see a new Romulan holding like Starbases in the future though. In the {UFP} we already have two main fleets and a KDF fleet all three of which are close to full despite taking measures to reduce numbers. It will be very hard to accommodate Romulan players for an extended period of time without creating a FOURTH fleet. Will there be any raising of the fleet member cap?!
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Yeah. I suppose they're doing it out of friendly combat spirit or something right? Jesus.
I know, PvP and existing content. But in story terms, it makes no damn sense.
It's been conclusively demonstrated that both sides were manipulated.
Both sides have since cooperated against the real enemies.
But now, we're drawing yet another group into this conflict?
End the war.
Advance the timeline.
GIVE US MORE STORY.
...
I know I'll be getting to 50 and doing all that I can without choosing a side first..
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
They could easily continue PvP as part of a cold war, minor skirmishes denied by both sides or whatever.
But no, we have to continue the war because every freaking MMO has to be Red vs. Blue.
Okay that works for me. I forgot the part where he said it was a prequel to the FE; on those points I can deal with the rough start the new Romulan faction takes.
You'll note that in the most analagous situation, the Federation/Klingon conflict during the beginning of the Dominion Wars, even after the Martok-Changeling was revealed the two factions (KDF and Starfleet) fought multiple engagements.
Basically, to run with the metaphor, we're waiting for Cardassia to join the Dominion and let us know who the "real" enemy is.
You won't get that choice:
Since you won't be able to use Doffs until you've picked a faction, it's going to force you to pick once you hit level 10.
Essentially yes .
While D'Tan and Obisek talk of peace and "too few of us left to fight among our self's" as you arrive on New Romulus , it seems that on the other hand the Romulans have no problem becoming a Foreign Legion in a 'war-by-proxy ' that the KDF/Feds are having -- something akin to the Vietnam war (where Vietnamiese fought Vietnamiese in the name of the US/USSR) -- all the while "preserving their own unique culture & identity" .
Yep , I think I'll go with Admiral Cartwright on this one : Klingons would become the alien trash of the galaxy .
(just substitute Rommy's with Klings)
This just makes me feel sick .
But overall, this is not a third faction.
Now I would not really mind. Cryptic is not EA or Blizzard, and has less resources.
But then they could have hyped the thing as a sub-faction, not a complete and independent one.
If Blizzard can do it with the Pandas, then so can Cryptic, nobody will blame them.
What I do NOT like is the romulans access to Fed and KDF ships. I can understand the part where they are a sub-faction that pandas up to the Fed, and to the Klingons (though arent they supposed to hate each other?)
Just let them use the Romulan ships.
Also, please reverse the low health activation limit on Go down fighting so that I can activate it with an undamaged ship.
Yeah except that's already happened. Multiple times.
The Undine revealed they were goaded by the Iconians, the Romulan Star Empire has been compromised by the Iconians, the Klingons have under attack by the Fek'liri which may be products of the Hurq or the Iconians, the Iconians themselves have shown up and directly threatened us and oh yeah, the Borg are invading every sector on a regular basis.
This would be like the Klingons and Federation continuing their war after Cardassia joins the Dominion, DS9 falls to the Dominion and the armada of 2800 ships successfully comes through the wormhole.
Indeed. It's absolutely absurd. How did they ever think this was a good idea?
I understand this, and actually appreciate it. As much as I want to build a giant green space bird, I don't want to have to wait another year to enjoy it at the moment.
What bothers me is the fact that we're trying to force this war still. I was under the impression that even you thought it was a silly idea.
Thank you for clarifying this Mr.Stahl, I'm actually intrigued by the direction in which you're taking the story in STO. I'm actually anxious to find out how it will unfold!
And the info from this "Ask Cryptic" actually gave me the incentive to be interested in making a Romulan character, something I was not considering seriosely before.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
awhile I can see that you guys have put some very hard work in to this already. it's not actually a 3rd faction when you have to choose a side to join in the current 2 faction war, more like 1.5 vs 1.5 and can end up with romulan vs romulan fighting for some one else. dose that not divide the romulans more??? because that just 'splinters' things more.
oh and this do it all again thing about grinding a new starbase. i'd say the majority of people that have been waiting for a long time to play romulans(in my case since beta) would do it even if we had just 3 ships to choose from! I'm appalled you have this idea that the player base is so lazy! that we can't do it
so since the kdf have had to wait 3 years to get fleshed out, will we have to wait another 3 years for the romulans to get finished?
Here's the problem:
The Fed-Klingon war is absurd.
They were manipulated into it by the Undine.
Like they did with the changelings, they have discovered this. Except when that happened, they stopped fighting, because it was stupid.
Some Klingons believe that in order to truly be Klingon, they must have an enemy to fight. Well, Klingons, it's a target rich environment right now.
I have never, ever, ever heard of two parties engaged in full scale war on one front, and then cooperating on the other. There should, at the very least, be a cease fire or armistice while the Borg, Undine, Iconians, Tholians, etc., are dealt with. Again, this is a target rich environment. The Klingons are not short on enemies.
Fighting on one front and then cooperating on another, it's crazy.
This Romulan story further exemplifies this.
Now you have some captains in the RR taking Fed Side, and others taking KDF side. That means we have... *drumroll*
Two major powers engaged in interstellar war on one front. On another front, they are cooperating. A third faction exists, where some of its people are taking one side, and yet others are taking the opposite side. This means you have a third party that are participating in an absurd, unecessary war, and actively fighting against and killing their own people. And then at the end of the day, they all go back to New Romulus and sing Kumbayah like they didn't just attack vessels in their own fleet.
You can fix this.
Out J'mpok as an Undine. Have Worf kill him. Get Michael Dorn to voice Chancellor Worf (**** yeah)! Ally with the Feds and the Romulans against this horrible onslaught of powerful elder races we're in the middle of. Completely revamp PvP into an advanced war game scenario, where all 3 factions can queue and be put on either team, making queues faster, and matchmaking easier. It eliminates strict FvF, FvK, and KvK PvP, which is already a mess. Territory control, if you choose to do it, will still work fine under this system, just let people pick which "team" they play for. Give it strong rewards, add leaderboards, encourage healthy, friendly, but still serious competition. You wrote yourselves into a corner. This is how to fix it. It's not too late.
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
The Romulan Republic storyline is a prequel to the events of the Romulan FE series and the establishment of New Romulus.
So at the time that the player chooses a faction, it makes sense and does not "extend the war" any more than it already has. Both factions embassies do not get established on New Romulus until after the Romulan exclusive storyline concludes and now you'll get to see how and why that happened.
At the end of Cutting the Cord we see Sela taken by the Iconians and both factions now realize there is more going on.
During the New Romulan Reputation is when we realize there is an Iconian gateway on New Romulus and that there is a lot more history here than we may have realized.
So by the time the Romulan Republic player gets to max level and experiences all of this, they will be caught up to the current state of the war and puts all factions at the same point for the upcoming episodes and seasons where we can now have everyone on equal footing to say "why are we fighting each other?" and reveal some of the bigger threats in the galaxy. These aren't events that take place AFTER everything we've already seen, these are episodes and stories that take place BEFORE and during the lead up to the events where we learn about the bigger threats. The Romulans backstory and the discovery of the gate on New Romulus will now provide much more story to what needs to happen next.
"To answer some specific questions, Romulans will be asked to choose sides in the war by the time they are level 10."
I for one, wasn't really into the Romulan thing, but looked forward to a whole new Faction and was ready to roll a Rommie character. However, this picking-side-stuff (however logical it is in terms of solutions) is not what I did expect from you guys.
But nevertheless, this might even come out as a good thing. Good luck to that!
This was quite an unexpected surprise. Rather ingenious that new factions have a choice of which side they wish to support. Like in TNG/DS9 how Klingons were split in being Pro-Federation or Pro-Romulan.
Be interesting what these benefits will end up being.
Not sure how this will play out. Since Romulan players will get to choose a Federation or Klingon Fleet, I doubt many would want to uproot from their T4 or T5 fleets to start on a Romulan Starbase.
Though you devs should consider what I suggested on other threads, that instead of a Romulan Fleet Starbase, make a Romulan community Starbase and have Romulan players participate in it's construction and effectively ends up building the Mol'Rihan SpaceDock.
And from Orbit, all sorts of players can watch it be built over the months.
[QUOTE=Dstahl] Since individual Romulan Republic captains will ultimately have to choose sides in the war, PvP will remain two-faction with Romulans alongside their ally. This supports our future goal of using PvP to emphasize the Federation-Klingon War and provides an interesting choice for Romulan captains and existing PvP based Fleets.[/QUOTE]
You really don't realize how much a relief this news is to me.
I was expecting that there would be new PvP accolades for the Romulan faction and had to grind out the new accolades on 9 characters (3 being the new Romulan characters).
So /sigh of relief.
[QUOTE=Dstahl] Yes, they?ll gain access to the same reputation and rewards including the ability to unlock the Reman species through the New Romulus Reputation.[/QUOTE]
Back to Epohh tagging. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Dstahl] The Tholian Reputation will include a variety of missions and rewards related to Tholians, including those on Nukara prime.[/QUOTE]
Not looking forward to Nukara, I really hate that place.
[QUOTE=Dstahl] Yes, we are and plan to address small Fleet project challenges and will release more information about it closer to the May release.[/QUOTE]
Thats good, 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Dilithum projects is just murder for small fleets.