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Concerned over the Alien lockout on Romulans
burstdragon323
Member Posts: 853 Arc User
I dont understand why they would do this. Aliens have been available to FEDs and KDFs since launch. Why restrict them now to Subs and Lifers? Honestly, this wont make people subscribe.
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I am sliiiightly concerned that this could lead to more paywalls, but if you ask me, starting here was a pretty smart move - low-impact but tempting enough to drive some to pony up.
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I think it has to do with the fact that you don't really see non-Romulans beyond the Remans. Since the Romulans are Xenophobes, they don't really have many non-Romulan subjects. They probably wish to remain as pure as possible.
My theory is that the 'Alien-gen hybrids' are supposed to represent romulan-alien hybrids like Sela, T'Pol, and that 1/4 romulan kid from 'Drumhead'.
Still inexcusable regardless, consdiering how few options Romulans have already and Remans being a reputation unlock, plus the inevitable fact that Liberated Borg Romulans will be introduced as Lifetime-only. It is ridiculous either way.
I use aliens because Cryptic wont man up and fix Science powers, so I have to use custom traits to compensate.
I am fine with the lack of aliens in the Rom empire. They are Xenophobic as hell. It would make no sense from a RP standpoint to have too many non-Romulans on their ships. Even if this is the Romulan Republic, it is still built off the scraps of the Romulan Empire.
I don't see it as a change of policy for f2p so much as a filter to keep a balance in the actual flavor of the species. I actually wish the Klingons had this, honestly. You never see non-Klingons on their ships. However you see plenty of non-Orions on Orion ships, so I see it as a result of allying with Orions.
Everybody keeps saying this but I have no idea where it comes from. They may have a superiority complex, but that's not the same thing. In TOS I see one Romulan commander tell Kirk they could've been friends; I see another try to get in Spock's pants and using Klingon ships. In TNG I see a bunch of Romulans working with Spock towards Reunification. In DS9 they work with the other powers against the Dominion; in Voyager one takes a message from U.S.S. Voyager to their own government to be passed on to the Federation.
So what's the source? Or is it, as I suspect, just people parroting other people who said it?
p.s. Isolationism does not equal xenophobia. The U.S. has a history of isolationism because it just didn't want to get involved. Not the same thing.
Y'know, I'd legitimately never thought of it like that.
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Yeah, but making something free, not free anymore, isn't good for PR.
And isolationism tends to lead to racism/xenophobia. You used the USA as an example, and America is extremely Xenophobic.
Uh-huh.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe."
Take your PC/America is evil bull**** elsewhere.
And since you just gave me some generic line about show dialogue without specific examples, it stands to reason you don't have any and are just clinging to your preconceived notion.
[12:44] Vessel One of Two Unimatrix 01 deals 1019527 (1157678) Kinetic Damage to you with Plasma Energy Bolt Explosion.
Let's not forget that Sela had the ear of senators, despite being obviously half-human.
Heck, the fact that half-human Sela exists at all.
Oh, and Saavik.
Americans are xenophobic even within their own country. Every groups hates every other group. Immigration is evil! All Mid Easterners are the same people! Black president? SHOW ME YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE!
You are one of the most xenophobic countries I have seen.
But I am not looking to bash america or engage in real word politics.
From Memory Alpha ;
"In keeping with their xenophobic and arguably racist attitudes, the Romulans tend to conquer species rather than form alliances with them, and individual Romulans tend to treat other species with varying degrees of disdain."
"Romulans tended to be highly xenophobic, engaging in extended periods of isolationism, and could be perceived as outright racist to other species, believing themselves to be superior. "
Star Trek Online Wiki
"Romulans, unlike Vulcans, are just as emotive as humans, and their culture is extremely xenophobic and insular"
"Although general Xenophobia is common among Romulans, they have a racial enmity with Klingons, Vulcans and once considered the Remans little more than slaves."
I could look further, but you can find the same sources I do. Everything describes them as Xenophobic. Why? 1) because most of what they do in Trek is recognized as xenophobic behavior. 2) It is officially the policy to write them as xenophobic.
Isolationists on a scale that is galaxy spanning does not result in a fleet of only one race. It would be natural to absorb other races into your fleet. You simply do not see other races anywhere at all. They are not only xenophobic, but eugenic (TNG:The Enemy. They kill the handicapped.) They are so xenophic they turn their own cousin race into slaves and hide them from their own sight.
It isn't unheard of for "half breeds" in racist cultures to be able to get ahead. They tend to have to work harder, but are sometimes more accepted than purebreeds of "inferior" races. Coming from a prominent background is generally a requirement for this, the fact Sela's father was a General likely paved the way for her career.
And Saavik is a bad example. She wasn't in the Romulan Empire.
T'Pol was supposed to be revealed to be half Romulan if Enterprise lasted another season. As an aside/slightly OT.
You don't know anything about the United States, then. Just glittering generalizations that have little to no basis in reality. Your post is far more racist than the United States.
A bunch of quotes that call them xenophobic without SPECIFIC EXAMPLES is not evidence of anything other than people calling them xenophobic.
How do you know there ARE any other species within Romulan space? You don't. The Klingons haven't been shown to be cuddly with other races, or have other species in their militaries, but nobody repetitiously calls them xenophobic.
I've provided MANY examples of Romulans working with other species, even mating with them. I have yet to see anything indicating a fear or hatred of foreigners. The Founders? They're xenophobic. They conquer specifically because they fear outsiders. The Romulans do it out of Imperial ambition.
The Romulans are not xenophobic. Racist? Some of them. But that is NOT the same thing.
However I do see how Silver members can feel insecure on this, since it will effectively lock them out of making that super-detailed alien they are used to making.
Quite frankly, I am surprised this hasn't happend before. The freeform has been locked out for silver members on Champs since they went fully F2P, and when they added it to a grab-bag it was a hit-seller.
For the same reason, I expect a grab-bag to contain freeform aliens as a unlock option reasonable soon after the romulan release.
Consdidering how many Klingon agents there were of the RSE, and the presence of a Starfleet defector in one of the episodes (who defected because he liked the romulan mentality) and of Sela, it seems that species is not so much an issue as culture. Romulans *really* don't like foreign cultures, but once you adapt, they are fine with you (as fine as Romulans are with anyone). There is a definate precedent for both Hybrids and alien species such as Humans and Klingons and Vulcans being in close relations with Romulans. If the Fed can have the 'Federation Klingon' unlock for a playable species, I don't see why Vulcans/humans/klingons/hybrids etc would not be allowed.
At any rate, I think the important issue is that the Romulan faction only has four species (three confirmed, one-liberated borg, an obvious inclusion), and only one is playable off the bat with *TWO* of the species being inaccessable to f2p. Regardless if this is some sort of new 'hybrid' species or the old 'alien' species the KDF and Fed have right now, this is ridiculous. Not only is the romulan faction hilariously low on content as has been revealed so far, but Cryptic is already gouging us for money on the already scant species options.
And I do not dislike Americans as a race, I am just critical of the culture that is instilled in its citizens. Even a majority of American friends I have (which actually accounts for more friends than I have here in Canada due to the internet) would call their own country racist as heck.
And mating with people of other races doesn't mean you like them. One of the most common expressions of racism is to sexually fetishize them. My best friend gets more white guys hitting on her online spouting racist garbage than she gets black guys. Slave owners had sex with slaves all the time. The idea of forbidden fruit combined with sexual stereotypes drives racists to copulate with races they hate in droves.
and
yet the word "xenophobic" appears zero times on their page, and zero times on the Dominion's STO Wiki page. (At least at the time of this post.)
So the group that is actually xenophobic doesn't get labeled it, but the Romulans? You can't mention them without somebody saying it.
Therefore, it stands to reason even more that for the Romulans it's just a meme with little basis in their presentation. People repeat it because they saw other people say it about them. But people haven't seen others say it about the Founders, so they don't say it about the Founders.
Klingons aren't cuddly with ANYONE, not even their OWN species, though.
True, but they will also respect those who demonstrate values that are appropriately Klingon, and respect those that are worthy foes. The fact that they call open season on others isn't really a sign of anything: Klingons are just violent, they'll kill each other just as much. They aren't really the same level of xenophobic: They'll let a Ferrengi lead a House.
despite this, Sela's voiced opinions on vulcans and anything out of Tomalak's mouth in general would seem to indicate some degree of racism and/or xenophobia towards outsiders. I tend to lean more towards the xenophobia explanation myself, considering the two aformentioned non-romulan romulans, but there is definately at least soem racism going on as well, as evidenced by some remarks made about Klingons and zoos, and Sela's opinion of Vulcans.
It's still free for KDF and Federation. Just not with Romulan. Wasn't free to begin with there :P
I don't begrudge Cryptic trying to ensure some sort of revenue from Romulan faction. It's free to access, and most (if not all) the initial ships will be free. There isn't even the money-generator of the starbases. Until they start getting good C-store content in for Romulans, whether it be uniforms, ship skins, new ships entirely, special character species, etc. . .they're gonna have trouble generating revenue. That's how I see it, anyhow.