Ok now i know your a true trekkie thinking a a game like STO has to be 100% canonical in a sci fi based MMO even one that has themes there is always room for imaginitive thinking.
usually aslong as it goes along with the theme or title then all involved will be ok with adding non canon ships.
And if STO was canonical then cruiser would be the gun platforms they were meant to be escorts wuld not be the answer to all things BOOM and we would be doing more exploring and less fighting.
So anyways when you use a canonical ship or whatever thats when you run into legal issues and what not because usually those items are trademarked already.
You kinda missed the point. It's not about what people want or not want to see in game. It is about what Cryptic can actually get their hands on. Cryptic got the license from CBS to use canon ships. CBS cannot give Cryptic access to non-canon ships, because they don't own the rights to them.
Many ships you referred to were taken from the game Star Trek: Armada which was published by Activision. If Cryptic wants to use those ships they have to negotiate with Activision. So it's not that simple to implement non-canon ships. It costs time and money, which means we will have to wait and pay for them.
You kinda missed the point. It's not about what people want or not want to see in game. It is about what Cryptic can actually get their hands on. Cryptic got the license from CBS to use canon ships. CBS cannot give Cryptic access to non-canon ships, because they don't own the rights to them.
Many ships you referred to were taken from the game Star Trek: Armada which was published by Activision. If Cryptic wants to use those ships they have to negotiate with Activision. So it's not that simple to implement non-canon ships. It costs time and money, which means we will have to wait and pay for them.
The thing is i can only find whats out there in internets land soi just posted them as a means to say there are more rom ships then a small amount.
I understand that for cyrptic to get their money, there have to be good ships available for money. The problem is we need a few free choices or it might ruin the player experience enough that they won't even want to bother with those paid ships.
This is supposed to be a free to play game meaning you can grind dilithoum for several ages to pay for zen, but with only one ship available at admiral, players who don't like that style of ship might get bored and annoyed and basically dismiss Romulan gameplay. Another minor issue is Warbirds are just one big categorization, and that isn't necessarilly good; while there are engineering escorts or tactical cruisers, the category does help give a semblance of their overall capabilites. Warbirds are all over the place statwise.
On the fed side there are four classes (Escort, cruiser, science vessel, carrier). KDF have 7 (Raider [BOP], Raptor, battlecruiser, Fligh deck cruiser, destroyer support vessel, carrier) though the flight deck cruisers and battlecruisers as well as the destroyers and raptors could just bee seen as subsets of escort and cruiser. Feds have 6 free ships at Rear admiral to fly, KDF have 4, so every playstyle has a ship that can be at least workable for it. Romulans have one, if you don't like the cruiser playstyle, tough ****. That's bad game design, and It isn't likely to lead to player retention, and players that leave don't spend money on ships.
Leveling up is a slightly less significant issue, since we won't be in each ship for very long, but variety is still nice, and since we aren't going to be able to fly allied ships at tier 5, getting used to flying alliend ships isn't the best idea, so they shouldn't be relied on for adding variety. Again this is based in making the player experience funner, so they keep coming back, hopefully to spend some money. Aside from that, there isn't a really good progression, you go from a tac/sci ship with good maneuverability and get thrown in an engineering boat that has nothing in common with the previous ship. A change like this could be quite jarring, and I am certain would play havoc with progression, and you'd have to temorarily change your playstyle to make the D'Deridex work for you (possibly to include burning expertise and EC to change your boff skills), and if you plan to fly a mogai at level cap, then you just have to switch right back ten levels later. That's an annoyance, and I also fear the lack of ship selection might give some players a bad idea about the capabilities of warbirds in the first place.
I think they need to add a second line of ships leveling up. The first line should be a tac/sci split along the lines of the Dhealan and mogai while the second should be an engineering ship along the lines of the D'deridex. Each lineup should be represented at rear admiral. In addition we should get a science ship at RA (thinking something like the romulan version of the DSSV), and I would like to see the scimitar as a free carrier at RA (and then they can do a Scimitar 3 pack to make the Scimitar the Romulan equivalent of the Oddy or Bortas)
As far as paid ships go, we should have more variants on the tac/sci mix, and the engineeriing mix as well as a couple more science vessels, maybe a new carrier, and a raider design or two.
It's a pretty hefty jump from T3 to T4. They should have said they were like Bortas/Bortasqu' Battle Cruisers, eh? There's not the 9, 10, 10.5, nor 11 of the Battle Cruisers folks tend actually to fly in there.
Which oddly fits in with some of the complaints about the D'Deridex: that it should turn more like a Negh'Var or Vor'cha than a Bortasqu'...
Course, if they put the D'Deridex at 9ish - it would tick the Galaxy folks off even more, eh?
But this thread's not really about ship specifics, so to speak - so the D'Deridex itself doesn't really matter. There's just a gap there, could be an entirely different ship - that's mising between that 14 Turn and the 5.5 Turn... to give players the experience of flying in different ships compared to what their friends may be flying in Fed/KDF ships.
Course, with that ship not existing - it would also not exist at T5 - so they wouldn't need to experience it to help make a selection where it wasn't a selection.
Old players/current players - that have experienced the differences can look at it and go...hrmm, wtf? The new player, going from that Mogai to the D'Deridex could likely go...HRMMMMMM, WTFUXXORMAN? THIS IS.../cough, you get the picture.
Another issue that arises is there being a single type of ship available.
T'liss X X X
Dhelan X, X X X
X
Mogai X, X, X X, X X, X
X
D'Deridex X, X X, X, X, X
X, X X, X
Ha'apax X, X
X X, X, X, X
X, X, X X, X
Starts off with that one of each with the T'liss. Then the player is given a higher ranked Tac and an additional Sci with the Dhelan. The Mogai allows the player to enter the world of APO while adding a higher ranked Sci as well...
...then bam! Drop that Tac down, remove a Sci, and add a Commander Eng? Like...wut? Not only has that player gone from being able to turn to being able to wait for the Universe to turn around them...they've also been introduced to the wonderful world of there's not enough Eng BOFF abilities and the raging discussion on the EPtX changes.
After that bounce into the D'Deridex, they then hit up the Ha'apax with the additional En Tac and the Lt Eng going LCdr. Course, at this point they can pick up their RA T'varo...
In the Ship Vendor, there is a Haakona Advanced Warbird listed as a Zen Ship. This ship is not listed on the dev blog about ship progression. It's an upgraded version of the Ha'apax. There are two Fleet versions available with a T5 shipyard of the Ha'apax...the second of which says that it is Science focused. So I'm not sure where the Haakona listed in the Ship Vendor fits in.
I bring that up because...it's the only ship shown in the Ship Vendor that can actually have higher than Lt Sci. It's got a LCdr Uni (no other Sci BOFF). The Mogai Retrofit has a Lt Sci and a Lt Uni you could use two have 2x Lt Sci...if you don't mind flying with a single En Eng, eh?
Outside of the WIP Haakona, no Warbird is going to have access to Gravity Well, Photonic Shockwave, nor Viral Matrix.
Getting back to that move from Mogai to D'Deridex...
Tac: going from 3 choices of 16 abilities to 2 choices of 15
Sci: going from 3 choices of 15 abilities to 2 choices of 15
Eng: going from 2 choices of 12 abilities to 6 choices of 14
So not only are they going from the being able to turn to the...maybe I'll go make a cup of tea; but they're also going from a progression of BOFF abilities to a...wut da eff just happened?
Will be interesting to see if there are any additional changes before the launch of LoR in regard to these WIPs, eh?
Tempted to copy and paste this into original post. It explains a lot better the big jump we are seeing (and people should be seeing).
I think the issue revolves around how many /played hours someone is in each ship. If getting to level 50 is only 25 /played hours then you're generally only going to be in each ship 4ish hours before moving on. Being stuck in a "whale" for 1-2 nights of play really isn't that big of a deal, IMO. Plus it gives you a rough idea of what you might want to buy as your T5 C-Store ship.
The vast majority of the players have already leveled several toons and most likely know exactly what they want in a ship. My main issue is with the fact that Commander promotion (usually one of the most exciting for a new character) doesn't give tactical or science captains the chance to use any new BOFF abilities relevant to profession.
Even if they give us the choice of allied ships with ship tokens, then you have to sacrifice the singularity for ten levels.
My solution is to make the Commander station on the Commander D'D universal.
I understand that for cyrptic to get their money, there have to be good ships available for money. The problem is we need a few free choices or it might ruin the player experience enough that they won't even want to bother with those paid ships.
This is supposed to be a free to play game meaning you can grind dilithoum for several ages to pay for zen, but with only one ship available at admiral, players who don't like that style of ship might get bored and annoyed and basically dismiss Romulan gameplay. Another minor issue is Warbirds are just one big categorization, and that isn't necessarilly good; while there are engineering escorts or tactical cruisers, the category does help give a semblance of their overall capabilites. Warbirds are all over the place statwise.
On the fed side there are four classes (Escort, cruiser, science vessel, carrier). KDF have 7 (Raider [BOP], Raptor, battlecruiser, Fligh deck cruiser, destroyer support vessel, carrier) though the flight deck cruisers and battlecruisers as well as the destroyers and raptors could just bee seen as subsets of escort and cruiser. Feds have 6 free ships at Rear admiral to fly, KDF have 4, so every playstyle has a ship that can be at least workable for it. Romulans have one, if you don't like the cruiser playstyle, tough ****. That's bad game design, and It isn't likely to lead to player retention, and players that leave don't spend money on ships.
Leveling up is a slightly less significant issue, since we won't be in each ship for very long, but variety is still nice, and since we aren't going to be able to fly allied ships at tier 5, getting used to flying alliend ships isn't the best idea, so they shouldn't be relied on for adding variety. Again this is based in making the player experience funner, so they keep coming back, hopefully to spend some money. Aside from that, there isn't a really good progression, you go from a tac/sci ship with good maneuverability and get thrown in an engineering boat that has nothing in common with the previous ship. A change like this could be quite jarring, and I am certain would play havoc with progression, and you'd have to temorarily change your playstyle to make the D'Deridex work for you (possibly to include burning expertise and EC to change your boff skills), and if you plan to fly a mogai at level cap, then you just have to switch right back ten levels later. That's an annoyance, and I also fear the lack of ship selection might give some players a bad idea about the capabilities of warbirds in the first place.
I think they need to add a second line of ships leveling up. The first line should be a tac/sci split along the lines of the Dhealan and mogai while the second should be an engineering ship along the lines of the D'deridex. Each lineup should be represented at rear admiral. In addition we should get a science ship at RA (thinking something like the romulan version of the DSSV), and I would like to see the scimitar as a free carrier at RA (and then they can do a Scimitar 3 pack to make the Scimitar the Romulan equivalent of the Oddy or Bortas)
As far as paid ships go, we should have more variants on the tac/sci mix, and the engineeriing mix as well as a couple more science vessels, maybe a new carrier, and a raider design or two.
This post is dead on the money. The devs should read this post and take it to heart. I would add to it that a lot of players I know actually enjoy taking their time leveling and playing through the storylines and that ten levels stuck in a ship that doesn't match the playstyle of their chosen career is going to be a serious drag.
My self, as it currently stands, will NOT be getting totruly enjoy the storyline (which for the first time I find I actually think the storyline is worth playing through) because I hate the ship choices. I will roll my Romulan, power level with Mirror Incursion, and get my Z-Store Mogai as soon as possible. If there were more choices for ships along the way, I think this would be the character I broke that system on, and actually took my time playing through the stories and making allt he hard work the devs did on them worthwhile.
Let the highest level station on each warbird be universal. Even better have the D'D and either Mogai or Dhelan have a version for every tier. Best option is to have both changes implemented.
Mogai -> D'deridex is pretty shocking, also expensive in terms of switching/leveling Boffs, which can mean you don't even have effective skills for a few levels.
Having 2 lt. commander positions (Tac/Eng) and no commander in the D'deridex would be more interesting.
_________________________________________________ [Kluless][Kold][Steel Heels][Snagtooth] [Louis Cipher][Outta Gum][Thysa Kymbo][Spanner][Frakk] [D'Mented][D'Licious]
Joined October 2009. READ BEFORE POSTING
Curious question, if the D'Deridex was set up something like this
lt tac
lt cmdr sci
ensgin sci
cmdr eng
Or
lt tac
x2 lt sci
cmdr eng
Or even more crazy
Cmdr Tac
lt eng
x2 lt sci
Would it make the situation worse/better? Certainly could be a lot more interesting.
Quick Edit: I would like to say that perhaps trading a lt eng for a lt science may make this warbird a lot more interesting. Even if it must remain a space whale, I could envision a build that relies on tractor beams to ensnare a target at a time while it blasts it to bits.
It's pretty obvious that the rigid inflexible boff layout system is on its last legs.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
Here's my thought on layouts for leveling (assuming we get 2 lines)
The first line is Attack Warbirds. Built along the lines of the Dhaelan and Mogai (and you'll notice tier 2 and 3 are identical to what we have now), top tier tac slot but just as many, slightly lower tier, science abilites; consequently light on enginering. The Cstore version trades for a uni
Heavy warbirds. At the moment I am thinking just go with standard engineering heavy cruiser layouts (since the other lineup handles tac and sci) here with unis for the zen ships, but an alternative is an engi focus with a tac slant.
At tier 5 they should also add a science vessel (call the line Recon Warbirds)
Lt tac
Lt Tac (free)/uni (zen)
Ens Eng
Cmd Sci
LtC Sci
Lastly have a carrier (call it a dreadnaught carrier), and give it a 4/2 weapon layout (same broadside roughtly, but gets some additional frontal firepower. Something a bit different and gives it the potential to hammer on stuff). I also think the scimitar should be the carrier as a free version, then they can sell a 3 pack later on and have the scim essentially be the Romulan answer to the Odyssey and the Bortas.
Cmd Tac
LtC Eng
Ltc Sci
Lt Sci
Not sure how good some of the layouts might be. I'm just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
I understand that for cyrptic to get their money, there have to be good ships available for money. The problem is we need a few free choices or it might ruin the player experience enough that they won't even want to bother with those paid ships.
You either have SWTOR, that basically force the player to buy, or stick with slow, and boring stuff. You either pay, or be annoyed. Or you have STO, that give you almost everything for free, and you can pay to have more. Guess which game we used to play ?
You can do well with the free ship the KDF and Fed have for lvl 50. In fact, the Vo'quv is still one of the best. But you can buy to have more shiny toys. I bought the Akira and Kumari, not because the ship I had were bad, and I feeled forced, but because I wanted them.
For the Romulan faction, if you don't want to fly cruiser, you have to pay. You are forced to pay.
Honestly, back when I played this game when it was fresh f2p, I stayed because I didn't have to pay for everything. Then, I spent on it, because I wanted the shiny toys, and because I wanted to support the game.
If the game would have every T5 ship to pay except a cruiser, I would simply have uninstalled the game and never spent on it.
I don't say give every T5 ship for free, but there is 2 T5 escort like ship in the Cstore. Why don't you give one of them ? The sci ship will still be missing, but it would be a good step.
Yes you can do well on the KDF and the Fed side. The issue is you can't do well by the free content on the romulan side because there isn't much to speak of.
Also, the idea that we can use allied ships while leveling doesn't work very well at the moment since we can't spend ship requisitions on them, and we'll have outleveled them by the time we grind enough to afford them.
Right now Romulan ships are pay or be annoyed rather than how it should be: enjoy free stuff and pay because you think the other stuff is cool.
Why not also make a tac version of the D'Deridex in addition to the current one. No new ship design is needed, just make another D'Deridex with more tac heavy boff seating and 4 tac consoles, give it a layout like the Regent, Fleet Tork'aht, or Galor. Then rename the eng D'Deridex to D'Deridex Defender since its the tank version.
Why not also make a tac version of the D'Deridex in addition to the current one. No new ship design is needed, just make another D'Deridex with more tac heavy boff seating and 4 tac consoles, give it a layout like the Regent, Fleet Tork'aht, or Galor. Then rename the eng D'Deridex to D'Deridex Defender since its the tank version.
I guess the answer is...because we would need to make all ships that way, because everyone would want their favourite ship in their favourite focus ? :P
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
Also, the idea that we can use allied ships while leveling doesn't work very well at the moment since we can't spend ship requisitions on them, and we'll have outleveled them by the time we grind enough to afford them.
Which doesn't change the fact that tens of thousands of players own T1 to T4 Fed/KDF ships that they can decide to use if the wish to once LoR goes live.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I guess the answer is...because we would need to make all ships that way, because everyone would want their favourite ship in their favourite focus ? :P
I didn't say it is. But .....we both know it's unrealistic expectation, one that could be easily solved by some universal stations and some console slots on ships.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
Why not also make a tac version of the D'Deridex in addition to the current one. No new ship design is needed, just make another D'Deridex with more tac heavy boff seating and 4 tac consoles, give it a layout like the Regent, Fleet Tork'aht, or Galor. Then rename the eng D'Deridex to D'Deridex Defender since its the tank version.
As it is on Tribble now:
D'deridex Retrofit gets the Ambassador/Kamarag Retrofit's layout but with the Lt Eng switched to Uni. Fleet gains a 5th Eng console rather than the 3rd Sci console that the Ambassador/Kamarag get.
Ha'apax gets the Regent/D'Kora layout, with the Lt Uni replacing the Lt Eng instead of the Lt Sci as it is on the Regent. Fleet gets 4th Tac console.
Haakona (Ha'apax Refit) has a layout similar to the Recon Sci, but with a Universal Lt Cdr instead of Sci... and has Ha'apax Separation as its console, so both the Refit and the freebie version can gain MVAM. Fleet Refit continues its heavy Sci leanings with 5 Sci consoles.
Mogai Retrofit has a Lt Cdr Sci as well, for Gravity Well or what have you.
So I was curious about everyone's thoughts about the way Romulan ships progress? Talking in terms like how the ships act and perform and how you use them, factors such as turn rate and bridge officer layout?
From a New Players Perspective:
I feel like Romulan Warbirds will become quite a nasty shock especially when moving from Mogai to D'Deridex. Centurion>SubCommander the Romulan Warbirds behave and share characteristics similar to an escort/raptor. (high turn rate, cannon loadouts) But importantly, they are Tac/Sci focused and you believe you settle in, knowing what to expect out of Warbirds.
All of a sudden you are taken from this type of ship and stuck in basically an engineer focused space whale. Now if I was a new player I'd be a bit overwhelmed, confused and shocked by this sudden change.
Firstly you have to reconfigure your bridge officers, most likely respec a few. It's a sudden shift to engineer focus.
Then your skills, you may have been configuring for a more science or tac abilities, now you wish you had a respec token for yourself?
Then finally ship setup, you find yourself switching most likely from a cannon build to a beam build in a ship type you've had very little time to get familiar with.
___
So question, anyone think that's a fair assessment or am I underestimating the average new player? I'm just a tad concerned that at Romulan Commander you have what could only be described as a dramatic shift in ship type with no real alternative to change it (Unless you use a cstore ship)
well for one I am totally against being forced to be Fed or KDF. I think that will be even more confusing to new players when they have those ship options...
As a continuing player its even worse since I already have have/had all those ships and its simply redundant.
I honestly dont get why they couldnt have made 3 versions of the Romulan ships at each Tier. Its fine that we dont have a variety of ship models. That really doesnt bug me. But it seems like they could have simply changed up the layouts a bit. Made one sci focused one more engy etc.
Maybe I am not the norm but I would NEVER spend $20-25 in the Zen store on a ship for a lower tier I'll only be at for a few hours and then have a pricey ship I'll never actually use. IMO some of these decisions are based soley on moving products and have little to do with game play or user satisifaction
Which doesn't change the fact that tens of thousands of players own T1 to T4 Fed/KDF ships that they can decide to use if the wish to once LoR goes live.
and here I thought I was talking about actually having a couple FREE options in a FREE to play game.
I honestly dont get why they couldnt have made 3 versions of the Romulan ships at each Tier. Its fine that we dont have a variety of ship models. That really doesnt bug me. But it seems like they could have simply changed up the layouts a bit. Made one sci focused one more engy etc.
If they temporarily abandoned the Cstore ships have to have unique costumes for a little bit, they do have enough ships to make two lineups of ships. Keep the T'lis where it is, then for an attack centirc linup use the T'Varo (an alternative is to use one half of the Ha'apax ship), Mogai, Valdore and Mogai retrofit for tiers 2-5 as the free ships, then the zen ships can be refits that use the same costumes (for now, devs can add new costumes to them later). Similarly for the cruisers use the Dhealan, Dheal, D'Deridex and Ha'apax.
Comments
You kinda missed the point. It's not about what people want or not want to see in game. It is about what Cryptic can actually get their hands on. Cryptic got the license from CBS to use canon ships. CBS cannot give Cryptic access to non-canon ships, because they don't own the rights to them.
Many ships you referred to were taken from the game Star Trek: Armada which was published by Activision. If Cryptic wants to use those ships they have to negotiate with Activision. So it's not that simple to implement non-canon ships. It costs time and money, which means we will have to wait and pay for them.
The thing is i can only find whats out there in internets land soi just posted them as a means to say there are more rom ships then a small amount.
This is supposed to be a free to play game meaning you can grind dilithoum for several ages to pay for zen, but with only one ship available at admiral, players who don't like that style of ship might get bored and annoyed and basically dismiss Romulan gameplay. Another minor issue is Warbirds are just one big categorization, and that isn't necessarilly good; while there are engineering escorts or tactical cruisers, the category does help give a semblance of their overall capabilites. Warbirds are all over the place statwise.
On the fed side there are four classes (Escort, cruiser, science vessel, carrier). KDF have 7 (Raider [BOP], Raptor, battlecruiser, Fligh deck cruiser, destroyer support vessel, carrier) though the flight deck cruisers and battlecruisers as well as the destroyers and raptors could just bee seen as subsets of escort and cruiser. Feds have 6 free ships at Rear admiral to fly, KDF have 4, so every playstyle has a ship that can be at least workable for it. Romulans have one, if you don't like the cruiser playstyle, tough ****. That's bad game design, and It isn't likely to lead to player retention, and players that leave don't spend money on ships.
Leveling up is a slightly less significant issue, since we won't be in each ship for very long, but variety is still nice, and since we aren't going to be able to fly allied ships at tier 5, getting used to flying alliend ships isn't the best idea, so they shouldn't be relied on for adding variety. Again this is based in making the player experience funner, so they keep coming back, hopefully to spend some money. Aside from that, there isn't a really good progression, you go from a tac/sci ship with good maneuverability and get thrown in an engineering boat that has nothing in common with the previous ship. A change like this could be quite jarring, and I am certain would play havoc with progression, and you'd have to temorarily change your playstyle to make the D'Deridex work for you (possibly to include burning expertise and EC to change your boff skills), and if you plan to fly a mogai at level cap, then you just have to switch right back ten levels later. That's an annoyance, and I also fear the lack of ship selection might give some players a bad idea about the capabilities of warbirds in the first place.
I think they need to add a second line of ships leveling up. The first line should be a tac/sci split along the lines of the Dhealan and mogai while the second should be an engineering ship along the lines of the D'deridex. Each lineup should be represented at rear admiral. In addition we should get a science ship at RA (thinking something like the romulan version of the DSSV), and I would like to see the scimitar as a free carrier at RA (and then they can do a Scimitar 3 pack to make the Scimitar the Romulan equivalent of the Oddy or Bortas)
As far as paid ships go, we should have more variants on the tac/sci mix, and the engineeriing mix as well as a couple more science vessels, maybe a new carrier, and a raider design or two.
Tempted to copy and paste this into original post. It explains a lot better the big jump we are seeing (and people should be seeing).
What Cryptic should consider before releasing anything.
The vast majority of the players have already leveled several toons and most likely know exactly what they want in a ship. My main issue is with the fact that Commander promotion (usually one of the most exciting for a new character) doesn't give tactical or science captains the chance to use any new BOFF abilities relevant to profession.
Even if they give us the choice of allied ships with ship tokens, then you have to sacrifice the singularity for ten levels.
My solution is to make the Commander station on the Commander D'D universal.
This post is dead on the money. The devs should read this post and take it to heart. I would add to it that a lot of players I know actually enjoy taking their time leveling and playing through the storylines and that ten levels stuck in a ship that doesn't match the playstyle of their chosen career is going to be a serious drag.
My self, as it currently stands, will NOT be getting totruly enjoy the storyline (which for the first time I find I actually think the storyline is worth playing through) because I hate the ship choices. I will roll my Romulan, power level with Mirror Incursion, and get my Z-Store Mogai as soon as possible. If there were more choices for ships along the way, I think this would be the character I broke that system on, and actually took my time playing through the stories and making allt he hard work the devs did on them worthwhile.
Let the highest level station on each warbird be universal. Even better have the D'D and either Mogai or Dhelan have a version for every tier. Best option is to have both changes implemented.
Having 2 lt. commander positions (Tac/Eng) and no commander in the D'deridex would be more interesting.
[Kluless][Kold][Steel Heels][Snagtooth]
[Louis Cipher][Outta Gum][Thysa Kymbo][Spanner][Frakk]
[D'Mented][D'Licious]
Joined October 2009. READ BEFORE POSTING
lt tac
lt cmdr sci
ensgin sci
cmdr eng
Or
lt tac
x2 lt sci
cmdr eng
Or even more crazy
Cmdr Tac
lt eng
x2 lt sci
Would it make the situation worse/better? Certainly could be a lot more interesting.
Quick Edit: I would like to say that perhaps trading a lt eng for a lt science may make this warbird a lot more interesting. Even if it must remain a space whale, I could envision a build that relies on tractor beams to ensnare a target at a time while it blasts it to bits.
What Cryptic should consider before releasing anything.
The first line is Attack Warbirds. Built along the lines of the Dhaelan and Mogai (and you'll notice tier 2 and 3 are identical to what we have now), top tier tac slot but just as many, slightly lower tier, science abilites; consequently light on enginering. The Cstore version trades for a uni
Tier 2:
Lt tac
Ens Eng
Ens Sci
Ens Sci (Free)/Uni (Zen)
Tier 3
Ltc Tac
Lt Eng
Lt Sci
Ens Sci (free)/uni (zen)
Tier 4:
Cmd tac
Lt Eng
Lt Sci
Lt Sci (free)/uni (zen)
Tier 5
Cmd Tac
Ens Tac
Lt Eng
Ltc Sci
Lt Sci (free)/uni (zen)
Heavy warbirds. At the moment I am thinking just go with standard engineering heavy cruiser layouts (since the other lineup handles tac and sci) here with unis for the zen ships, but an alternative is an engi focus with a tac slant.
At tier 5 they should also add a science vessel (call the line Recon Warbirds)
Lt tac
Lt Tac (free)/uni (zen)
Ens Eng
Cmd Sci
LtC Sci
(alternatively)
Ltc tac
Ens Tac
Lt Eng
Cmd Sci
Lt Sci (free)/uni (zen)
Lastly have a carrier (call it a dreadnaught carrier), and give it a 4/2 weapon layout (same broadside roughtly, but gets some additional frontal firepower. Something a bit different and gives it the potential to hammer on stuff). I also think the scimitar should be the carrier as a free version, then they can sell a 3 pack later on and have the scim essentially be the Romulan answer to the Odyssey and the Bortas.
Cmd Tac
LtC Eng
Ltc Sci
Lt Sci
Not sure how good some of the layouts might be. I'm just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
You can do well with the free ship the KDF and Fed have for lvl 50. In fact, the Vo'quv is still one of the best. But you can buy to have more shiny toys. I bought the Akira and Kumari, not because the ship I had were bad, and I feeled forced, but because I wanted them.
For the Romulan faction, if you don't want to fly cruiser, you have to pay. You are forced to pay.
Honestly, back when I played this game when it was fresh f2p, I stayed because I didn't have to pay for everything. Then, I spent on it, because I wanted the shiny toys, and because I wanted to support the game.
If the game would have every T5 ship to pay except a cruiser, I would simply have uninstalled the game and never spent on it.
I don't say give every T5 ship for free, but there is 2 T5 escort like ship in the Cstore. Why don't you give one of them ? The sci ship will still be missing, but it would be a good step.
Also, the idea that we can use allied ships while leveling doesn't work very well at the moment since we can't spend ship requisitions on them, and we'll have outleveled them by the time we grind enough to afford them.
Right now Romulan ships are pay or be annoyed rather than how it should be: enjoy free stuff and pay because you think the other stuff is cool.
I guess the answer is...because we would need to make all ships that way, because everyone would want their favourite ship in their favourite focus ? :P
That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
As it is on Tribble now:
D'deridex Retrofit gets the Ambassador/Kamarag Retrofit's layout but with the Lt Eng switched to Uni. Fleet gains a 5th Eng console rather than the 3rd Sci console that the Ambassador/Kamarag get.
Ha'apax gets the Regent/D'Kora layout, with the Lt Uni replacing the Lt Eng instead of the Lt Sci as it is on the Regent. Fleet gets 4th Tac console.
Haakona (Ha'apax Refit) has a layout similar to the Recon Sci, but with a Universal Lt Cdr instead of Sci... and has Ha'apax Separation as its console, so both the Refit and the freebie version can gain MVAM. Fleet Refit continues its heavy Sci leanings with 5 Sci consoles.
Mogai Retrofit has a Lt Cdr Sci as well, for Gravity Well or what have you.
well for one I am totally against being forced to be Fed or KDF. I think that will be even more confusing to new players when they have those ship options...
As a continuing player its even worse since I already have have/had all those ships and its simply redundant.
I honestly dont get why they couldnt have made 3 versions of the Romulan ships at each Tier. Its fine that we dont have a variety of ship models. That really doesnt bug me. But it seems like they could have simply changed up the layouts a bit. Made one sci focused one more engy etc.
Maybe I am not the norm but I would NEVER spend $20-25 in the Zen store on a ship for a lower tier I'll only be at for a few hours and then have a pricey ship I'll never actually use. IMO some of these decisions are based soley on moving products and have little to do with game play or user satisifaction
and here I thought I was talking about actually having a couple FREE options in a FREE to play game.