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"Flexible" Alignments, Factions and special "rebel" Micro-Factions
elora13
Member Posts: 43 Arc User
Dunno whether this has been mentioned before, and dunno whether it may ever be doable seen how the game has been developed so far, but sometimes I wonder if having to choose your alignment at character creation is really the best thing PW could be offering us.
What I mean is... not every member of a species thinks exactly the same as the others. In the series we have seen several people go renegade on one alignment to join another faction or even a smaller "pirate" or "terrorist" league...
So why not make it possible to us as well?
Let's consider membership to every "faction" a matter of REPUTATION stand a toon has with them. Different species would logically start with a "built-in" boost towards a certain alignment - e.g. all Vulcans and other "Founders of the Federation" would start with 999/1000 Fed points, all Klingons and other races annexed or loyal to them would start KDF... but for example, "protectorate" species could start with only half of that, and unknown origin "aliens" even full faction "neuter".
Upon entering the game, the Fed/KDF player would be allowed to select an alignment through accepting a proposal immediately available to them after the end of the tutorial (possibly a one-click agreement for a species with 999/1000 points with one alignment) or TURN IT DOWN to "think it over" and fly elsewhere. "Aliens" instead would start on a random-generated planet and be advised by some NPC to go to a certain fleet homeworld to enlist there, if that is what they desire.
For those not having default full rep with the selected alignment, once reached the desired faction's starting location, a simple quest chain would teach the player about the "values" of that one faction, and let join their ranks after, for example, completing a "Starfleet Academy" chain or a mercenary mission for the Klingon. (Or turning the proposal down to eventually go and redo the training elsewhere, in case they have decided against that faction's "flavor"...)
From the point a faction is joined the game would proceed as we know it for a while...
But then again, upon reaching a certain level, (I think the best would be ranging from 40 to 50, and possibly depending on the SPECIES one character belongs to and/or the player's commendation points in a certain field, e.g. "Espionage" or "Military") they could be secretly approached by a representative of a special MICRO-FACTION with a quest chain which would allow them to join them, not only gaining stand with them but actually LEAVING (LOSING stand!) with the previous alignment to go RENEGADE :eek: or turn it down to (maybe or never) pick it up later.
So, for example, one random alien could start neuter, fly to the KDF, try to enroll, decide their species is too bloody, turn down their proposal, go to Earth, join up Starfleet, make a career with them, and then get pissed with them and switch to the KDF or god knows who else... of course becoming a "public enemy" of that one faction and being possibly shot on sight by them from now on.
This would allow amongst others the implementation of selectable species like the Cardassians, possibly starting as Fed-pets, but capable to evolve in True Way followers... or the Romulans, which could have the unique ability to switch sides to the Tal Shiar.
Each faction or micro-faction would of course have to grant the player some unique ship/weaponry which would make them attractive. Some of these would have to be usable only as long as they were aligned with them.
Upon maxing their levels, players could/should even be allowed to start reputation grind quests to change alignment AGAIN, with reputations requirements which would grow exponentially each time they switched sides (since they would lose credibility, of course...)
Dunno... probably not worth the development trouble when one can simply create another toon and start in another "big" faction. But I think it would make smaller end-content factions easier to build, more realistic, and even more interesting to join from a RPG point of view. I know I would like it, even though after buying the game when it was released I never bothered picking a subscription or trying the end-content, at least so far.
(I am kinda waiting to be able to do that with a Cardassian claiming to be such rather than an "Alien", admittedly...)
But what are your thoughts on the matter? Does this make any sense to you? But especially: would you like to switch sides if you could, in this or in a similar way?
(WOAH! That was a VERY long rant. Sorry about that, lol... wonder if anybody will bother reading it all...) :P
What I mean is... not every member of a species thinks exactly the same as the others. In the series we have seen several people go renegade on one alignment to join another faction or even a smaller "pirate" or "terrorist" league...
So why not make it possible to us as well?
Let's consider membership to every "faction" a matter of REPUTATION stand a toon has with them. Different species would logically start with a "built-in" boost towards a certain alignment - e.g. all Vulcans and other "Founders of the Federation" would start with 999/1000 Fed points, all Klingons and other races annexed or loyal to them would start KDF... but for example, "protectorate" species could start with only half of that, and unknown origin "aliens" even full faction "neuter".
Upon entering the game, the Fed/KDF player would be allowed to select an alignment through accepting a proposal immediately available to them after the end of the tutorial (possibly a one-click agreement for a species with 999/1000 points with one alignment) or TURN IT DOWN to "think it over" and fly elsewhere. "Aliens" instead would start on a random-generated planet and be advised by some NPC to go to a certain fleet homeworld to enlist there, if that is what they desire.
For those not having default full rep with the selected alignment, once reached the desired faction's starting location, a simple quest chain would teach the player about the "values" of that one faction, and let join their ranks after, for example, completing a "Starfleet Academy" chain or a mercenary mission for the Klingon. (Or turning the proposal down to eventually go and redo the training elsewhere, in case they have decided against that faction's "flavor"...)
From the point a faction is joined the game would proceed as we know it for a while...
But then again, upon reaching a certain level, (I think the best would be ranging from 40 to 50, and possibly depending on the SPECIES one character belongs to and/or the player's commendation points in a certain field, e.g. "Espionage" or "Military") they could be secretly approached by a representative of a special MICRO-FACTION with a quest chain which would allow them to join them, not only gaining stand with them but actually LEAVING (LOSING stand!) with the previous alignment to go RENEGADE :eek: or turn it down to (maybe or never) pick it up later.
So, for example, one random alien could start neuter, fly to the KDF, try to enroll, decide their species is too bloody, turn down their proposal, go to Earth, join up Starfleet, make a career with them, and then get pissed with them and switch to the KDF or god knows who else... of course becoming a "public enemy" of that one faction and being possibly shot on sight by them from now on.
This would allow amongst others the implementation of selectable species like the Cardassians, possibly starting as Fed-pets, but capable to evolve in True Way followers... or the Romulans, which could have the unique ability to switch sides to the Tal Shiar.
Each faction or micro-faction would of course have to grant the player some unique ship/weaponry which would make them attractive. Some of these would have to be usable only as long as they were aligned with them.
Upon maxing their levels, players could/should even be allowed to start reputation grind quests to change alignment AGAIN, with reputations requirements which would grow exponentially each time they switched sides (since they would lose credibility, of course...)
Dunno... probably not worth the development trouble when one can simply create another toon and start in another "big" faction. But I think it would make smaller end-content factions easier to build, more realistic, and even more interesting to join from a RPG point of view. I know I would like it, even though after buying the game when it was released I never bothered picking a subscription or trying the end-content, at least so far.
(I am kinda waiting to be able to do that with a Cardassian claiming to be such rather than an "Alien", admittedly...)
But what are your thoughts on the matter? Does this make any sense to you? But especially: would you like to switch sides if you could, in this or in a similar way?
(WOAH! That was a VERY long rant. Sorry about that, lol... wonder if anybody will bother reading it all...) :P
Post edited by elora13 on
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Starfleet or KDF may even be willing to employ defectors who have previously served in enemy military. Presumably, the "Instigate Defection" doff assignment rewards such officers.
However, they would certainly not be stupid enough to trust someone who flip-flops back and forth between factions, no matter how much they grind some reputation mission
I suppose what I just don't like and would like a workaround for as a RP-oriented player is that damned "Alien" tag. No matter what the toon LOOKS like, it bugs me that the race doesn't have a proper name.
Perhaps a much, much easier workaround would be for the game to AUTOMATICALLY switch the "Alien" tag for a "Canon-race" one if/when the player is careful (even when creating a character for another faction!) to use the character creator so that all his/her toon's features and racial traits fall in between this species' tolerated features?
That for the "standard" factions at least.
I still think it would be great to have smaller "splinter" factions to choose amongst once hit some kind of requirements in reputations or commendation points... something similar to what is being discussed here.
That was more than anything else meant as a mean to discourage people from trying that... although I would be willing to reward a crazy person willing to put and hundreds hours of farming in it. But I see your point.
...which I only was able to see on the beta half an hour ago. Pretty cool indeed! If they can make me like playing a KDF toon, then I rest my case...
...and yet. That "Alien" tag really keeps bugging me. At the very least, they could enable the players to buy a "name change" for the race and their homeworld, just as if it were a character's name tag!
*whines* :P
If we take into consideration that the main reason for not having the Romulans as a standalone faction, but rather allied with Fed. & KDF, is Cryptic not wanting to split up their playerbase - then we can most certainly see that this proposal is not in what the devs. consider to be in STO's best interest.
Furthermore, the proposed way of switching alliances wouldn't work because - let's say one decides to join the KDF, plays as KDF and buys a B'rel Retrofit. Then if he/she changes their allegiance to Feds., they leave their ship(s) behind. You can't take it with you, because then every player would walk around all factions buying all ships he/she wants for that char from every factions' shipyard and essentialy erasing the borders between the factions.
Ah, no worries... just dumping random thoughts here, just in case some bits (if any at all) may be deemed useful or insightful by anyone.
Another way of addressing the issue, though, could be enabling a "one time only" faction switch upon maxing the character level. That could involve an optional quest-chain story-line which would explain how/when they went renegade to the other faction, and therefore had to leave both ships and most crew behind (say, perhaps you could choose to keep one single BOFF of your liking to follow you) to be given command of a ship of the other faction and pick/be assigned a new crew.
Not anything most players (especially those who farmed a lot of high-end content) would ever do, but I think it COULD interest someone to start a new character for the sake of roleplay, and then start farming high-end content as a member of the other faction.
Perhaps, of course. Just perhaps.
The "renegade" toon should in the best case get to keep ONE standard-type (read: free upon gaining ranks) starship and ONE of their BOFF, which would result of not being much more than a flavor rather than a gameplay advantage destroying faction differences....
I have and use a Fed toon cause I want to have a fed. When I decided I wanted to do KDF, I rolled a KDF.
It's not rocket science.
These are not mercinarys, they are commisoned officers of their government's military. Starfleet is not going to give a top of the line dreadnought to someone who's going to abscond with it the moment they get it.
What's my position?
That people should know what they're screaming about!
(paraphrased from "The Newsroom)
And have multiple tutorials for neutrals that cover a range of backstories.
So you have, say, a neutral human tutorial where you get drummed out of the Federation, maybe following a dramatic Prime Directive breach. A neutral Klingon tutorial where you are discommended. A neutral Cardassian tutorial where you are exiled by the Detapa Council. They all wind up with you in a seedy bar on a neutral planet, looking for work.
Yeah but they were talking about miners and civilians, not a mega faction of mercenaries using Cardassian, Breen, Ferengi, Orion, and Nausicaan ships.
The only reason I think for the Romulans to have been introduced so late, is because of the movies conflicting story lines when compared to STO, and there were some licensing issues at work. At least, that's my understanding of it. STO had to work the storyline in the game so that it didn't interfere with the JJ films in order for them to be used in the game, at least I think that's what it was, something along those lines. People with more understanding can correct me on that.
Anyway, this idea won't work because of the commissioned officer thing that someone mentioned. When you create your character, you are already an ensign with Star Fleet, and a Bek (or is it Warrior?) with the KDF, Citizen with the Romulans. They would have to have a completely different expansion in order to have a start with a tutorial that is either mercenary or pirate, something to that effect; essentially a start that is neutral.
I think it would be a good idea, but only in the current format that we have for the 3 diffrent faction starts we have now, it would have to be something done after the Cardassians are out (if they are coming, I'm pretty sure they are though) and that would also depend on how Cryptic see this idea based on what they may have planned, if anything. I'm sure they do, but we won't be privvy to those plans unless the CEO or the Lead or Director tells us what is what.
Given this alliance system, we could see merchants allied with either faction or civilian explorers (when they actually put in real exploration). And maybe become the main way to earn EC outside of selling event rewards on the exchange.
Lol, thanks. I suppose that could be considered an achievement, in some way.
Uuuhm. Yes. I *DO* understand what you say there and I do promise I will rest my case after saying this...
But.
But even right now we have buyable Klingon Feds, buyable Joined Trill KDFs, tonnes of liberated Borgs, Aliens which as a matter of facts can be customized (aside from that nasty race tag) to look like almost any species (included the enemy ones), and "foreign" starship rewards out of boxes...
(Or, as some forum member goes around quoting: 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.)
So I can barely see the point of denying an actual "member" (just a toon with a race name) of a specific race joining the other cause, or even bringing ONE, NOT top-level DEFAULT/free ship (which, if I understand correctly since I never bothered with that part of the game, would never be usable for the high-end content) especially in this case this required some expensive purchase/unlock from the C-store.
But in case you also meant that Cryptic is ALREADY abusing far too much of flexibility, and therefore shouldn't add more of that... well, of course you are right.
Just, I am not sure that they necessarily care.
Same here. So I bought the game (pre-ordered it!) in the hope playable Cardassians would make an appearance soon enough. But then I completely lost interest when I figured that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
*crosses both fingers and toes for additional luck*
...and they have just remade the KDF entrance quest too. Which I played on Tribble last night and have to say: impressed me so much that I may actually consider rolling a KDF toon as I wait for the Cardassians to become available...
Now that's an AWESOME idea!
WOAH... now you are making me think of the Elite/Frontier videogames from the 80's and 90's (wonder if anybody else out here is old enough to have played them?) in which you started as a civilian on a small craft to find your own way around the stars...
Needless to say, I loved them.
For those interested in space-game archeology: Elite I - Frontier: Elite II
They featured a whole galaxy to explore, buyable ships and equipment, trading goods, different factions to join and gain rank into (Federation and Alliance!) which would allow purchasing their ships... and they still ran on those old, old computers. Perhaps something to consider for scheduled maintenance / servers downtime?
Of course the looks were those which could be achieved at the time... but I feel that Cryptic could still learn something from them in terms of "open end" playability. Others tried to imitate them (e.g. Freelancer) but they still never quite were up for the challenge, IMHO.