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Fed Missions not very "Starfleet"
wlafrance
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
I've been playing STO on and off for the past couple of years now, and I love it every time because of all the new content waiting for me when I get back into it, and the first thing I do whenever I rekindle my love for the game is create a Federation character for the simple reason that I love Starfleet. Starfleet represents Gene Roddenberry's faith in the evolution of humanity, how we will grow out of our infancy. I've learned so much watching Star Trek, and it still happens where an episode will make me sit and think for a while.
However, I think STO might have missed the mark when it comes to what Starfleet stands for. What I've noticed a lot while playing the game is that there's a whole lot of "shoot first, ask questions later," which isn't very "Starfleet" at all. Since when did an episode of Star Trek involve entering a star system, killing everything in orbit, beaming down to the surface, killing everything on it, and beaming back up to the ship to kill everything else in orbit? I've even felt uncomfortable playing some of the missions, like when a Klingon tries to warn you that the Vulcan ambassador aboard your ship is actually an undine infiltrator, and so you destroy all Klingon ships in the area. Or when you beam down to a planet to stop some Klingons from stomping on some tribbles, so you vaporize them. And most notably, when you kill everyone and everything at a Jem'Hadar hatchery despite the elder's cries "Please stop! This is a holy place!"
But I still play, because hey, it's fun! But also, every once in a while, I'll stumble upon a mission that reminds me why I love playing STO. A mission that makes me take out a piece of paper and jot down some notes, map out what power systems need to be rerouted where, something that requires more brain power than firing weapons and pressing "F". This is what I'd like to see more of in STO. Mysteries, puzzles, making me think like a true Starfleet officer. And sure, it's a game, it's fun to put those weapons to good use and hear that oh-so satisfying sound a torpedo hitting its mark. I just feel like it may have gone a bit overboard. I mean, my Federation characters all turn out to be galactic killing machines.
And so, I'm not trying to beg Cryptic/PWE to change the entire game, or make people feel bad for killing people in a game (because hey, we all have fun doing that.) I guess I just needed to get it out there, share my thoughts.
However, I think STO might have missed the mark when it comes to what Starfleet stands for. What I've noticed a lot while playing the game is that there's a whole lot of "shoot first, ask questions later," which isn't very "Starfleet" at all. Since when did an episode of Star Trek involve entering a star system, killing everything in orbit, beaming down to the surface, killing everything on it, and beaming back up to the ship to kill everything else in orbit? I've even felt uncomfortable playing some of the missions, like when a Klingon tries to warn you that the Vulcan ambassador aboard your ship is actually an undine infiltrator, and so you destroy all Klingon ships in the area. Or when you beam down to a planet to stop some Klingons from stomping on some tribbles, so you vaporize them. And most notably, when you kill everyone and everything at a Jem'Hadar hatchery despite the elder's cries "Please stop! This is a holy place!"
But I still play, because hey, it's fun! But also, every once in a while, I'll stumble upon a mission that reminds me why I love playing STO. A mission that makes me take out a piece of paper and jot down some notes, map out what power systems need to be rerouted where, something that requires more brain power than firing weapons and pressing "F". This is what I'd like to see more of in STO. Mysteries, puzzles, making me think like a true Starfleet officer. And sure, it's a game, it's fun to put those weapons to good use and hear that oh-so satisfying sound a torpedo hitting its mark. I just feel like it may have gone a bit overboard. I mean, my Federation characters all turn out to be galactic killing machines.
And so, I'm not trying to beg Cryptic/PWE to change the entire game, or make people feel bad for killing people in a game (because hey, we all have fun doing that.) I guess I just needed to get it out there, share my thoughts.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"There are three things to remember about being a starship captain:
keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew."
- Kathryn Janeway
"There are three things to remember about being a starship captain:
keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew."
- Kathryn Janeway
Post edited by wlafrance on
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Roddenberry is dead, Ira Behr took over, give us Deep Space 9 and Section 31, and turn Starfleet militaristic.
Did you notice that when you get to T4, Voyager is okay, Galaxy is a fail, and only Defiant is viable? and that your end game content is originally based in DS9 before they go with Queue system?
And before you say I am bashing DS9, I am not. If anything, I find DS9 is the best Star Trek ever.
very much this^^^^^^^^^^
system Lord Baal is dead
As the OP said with the P'Jem mission, when a KDF captain warns us of an Undine infiltrator aboard our ship, do we go and investigate in an attempt to prove or debunk the captain's claims? Nope, shoot 'em.
Jem'Hadar hatchery discovered. What do we do? Shoot the elders and destroy the eggs.
Treasure Trading Station bar area. Some disgruntled bar patrons want to brawl. Do we try to talk to them and defuse the situation? Nope, shoot 'em.
I remember a patrol mission that had Cardassians floating around some cargo pods. The mission was that they were suspected weapons caches. Do we investigate to make sure that the cargo pods are indeed weapons caches? Nope, shoot 'em.
Then of course my absolute favorite mission of all: Divide et Impera! Once on board the station we find only medical supplies while the Romulan crew say things like "Why is the Federation here?" and "I'm not a soldier, but I will fight for my Empire!" Do we stop and question the orders of the Admiral who seems hell bent on killing everything while covering it all up? No way man, SHOOT 'EM!
As another poster above pointed out, you could just relabel Starfleet as the Terran Empire. These old missions really need to be redone and brought up to the current standard set by LoR while making them feel more Starfleet and less Terran Empire.
Mine Trap Supporter
I double facepalm everytime I do "Divide et Impera" because it's obvious something is wrong with Zelle and yet mission continues...
What is the Federation? It's a sprawling conglomeration of worlds that apparently stretch outwards randomly (if you look at fan-created maps). . .indefensible, and barely able to handle threats like the Cardassian Union or the Romulan Empire. They have to call in the real fighters, the Klingons, whenever things get really intense. Meanwhile, their military support of the Klingons is limited and usually only given after excessive jaw-boning to try reaching a 'compromise'.
The Federation is just recently starting to actually wake up to the need for truly combat-intended vessels. In the past they've been allowed to rest upon their laurels and make do with exploration ships and vessels intended only for light combat. In the wake of Borg invasions, the Dominion War, and the numerous other military engagements they've been involved in, they're NOW realizing what they've been needing to do for decades.
But what Cryptic did ... is done ...
What if for the next expansion, they get rid of thereally distasteful episodes and replace them, while editing a few others
AND ADDING A STUN (for ground) AND DISABLE (for Space) SETTINGS, so instead of mindless killing, it is semi-mindless stunning, and killing when necessary!
I hope STO get's better ...
I got to that point in the bar were you kill everyone. I quit my fed then and have been playing KDF ever since.
I have been pretending that the feds act like feds.
I hope STO get's better ...
Go to an already long established civilization and unplug the element that has been keeping it going.
Then say "see ya later", and leave.
It is based on searching for clues, while stunning the potentially dangerous wildlife.
Then the Klingons come, and you battle it out, resulting in both ships heavily damaged. What happens on the ground, changes what will happen in space. The ground team find a console, before being attacked by The klingons. When a starfleet officer accidentally pressed something on it, the ground rumbles and out comes a very old spaceship. The spaceship , an automated defence ship threatens both the Klingons and the Federations. They realise there is a small civilisation below the ground, of whom they must convince there not a threat. They believe you, but then the defence system turns on them, and you must protect them, and your ship.
I hope STO get's better ...
Gotta take what you can get, I guess-considering there really isn't anything approaching a modern Trek rpg that lets you handle matters in a manner consistent with the shows. The Romulan retcons really get my goat though, I admit.
Very well said. I love your reference to 'Divide et Impera', it's also my absolute prime example of what's wrong with Starfleet in STO. The Federation and Starfleet in STO is nothing like the ones we have seen and grew to love in the shows. It's kinda' dissapointing.
Whenever the most dedicated RSE fans claim that they're the only one to get the short end of the stick, while the Fed. and KDF play as the faction that was portrayed in the shows I point this out. The Federation is not even remotely what it's suposed to be in STO, only the KDF is to an extent.
My sentiments exactly. I joined STO with the intention to play a Starfleet captain as a fan of the ideals the Federation and Starfleet upheld in Star Trek, but I never actually felt like one. That made me mainly a KDF player back then, at least as a member of the KDF I was doing what a Klingon is suposed to do in Star Trek.
Erm...no. Starfleet was never turned militaristic. Just because they were at war doesn't mean such a thing was done
Its an escort, the other two are cruisers. All are viable. If you can't do anything with them its because you aren't playing them properly
End game content is largely STF's. Borg STFs. There were no Borg in DS9, except for the opening scene in the pilot to explain the backstory
I liked the Diplomatic part on the 'of Bajor mission where you talk to the Vorta in charge, and I like the meeting between the fed, kdf, defari and cardassians on the borg, where you have to sway everyone to your side, and I thought that 'the return' and facility (some number) missions were nice for giving a non-violent solution to the problem at hand. Having the option to arrest Obisek's soldiers was a nice touch, and I would have liked something like that option on more missions.
I do think that the Romulan Republic's storyline is more consistently off-putting in how divergent it is fro m the shows, however.
federation is very much a mixed bag, IMO. I'd personally rather see ships defeated by the federation continue to float in place after being 'destroyed' rather than blowing up. destroyed ships already float in place before exploding, they could just continue that animation for a bit before fading away to indicate being disabled rather than destroyed. Perhaps make the explosions work like vaporizations work on ground combat.
And IMO, the fed episodes (all the episodes really) need way more diplomatic options and branching paths, even if they all just lead to the same following episode. It would make a lot of room for character-interpretation.
Deal with it.
Meh, it's an MMO. While I'd like there to be a more Star Trek feel, PWE/Cryptic is limited by both the format and the fact they are not the ones who originated this game in the first place. Add in a lot of players who've already made up their minds as to how an MMO should be, and it is very hard to think outside the box PWE/Cryptic, and the players as well, have so successfully placed themselves in.
How many threads in these forums discuss combat or items related to combat? How many are like this one? Go look. I'll wait.
Back already? Good. See what I'm talking about? Next question. How many other Star Trek games over the years have not featured combat as a central focus? I'll cheat and give you the answer. None of them. I've played nearly all of them over the years and not one I am familiar with was exploration or diplomacy based. Why? Because part of being the hero is getting to shoot the Bad Guys. Because those are the games which sell and make money. Sure, some had some excellent storylines, such as SFC III and Legacy. There were and are missions in most of them and STO as well which are based around the things the OP pointed out. Good post, BTW. Well thought out and presented. Props to ya.
Go look at the Foundry Missions which are exploration or first contact based. Specifically, the reviews of those missions. How many are one starred or loaded with negative comments? Now look at the Foundry missions which are totally pew pew based. How many of those are five starred? How many have earned Dilithium for their maker? How many are reviewed in glowing terms?
I agree with those who say there should be more exploring, more first contact, more Prime Directive, more, "Admiral, under Starfleet regulations, I cannot follow that order. You are hereby placed under arrest for attempting to incite an interstellar war! Security! Escort the Admiral to the Brig! Comms, get me a channel to the Federation Council. Priority One Alpha."
I like me a good first contact scenario as much as the next fellow. I like missions similar to Samaritan Snare or And the Children Shall Lead. I'd like very much to have a puzzle to solve like that found in Night Terrors. There is some official content in the game which does provide these things. Albeit in a limited fashion. But more of these types of things are in the Foundry. Missions made by players. For players. Players who want a little more out of STO than pew pew and the Console of the Week.
The feds are something different then Cryptic portrays them to be lore wise, we act like the Terran Empire while Cryptic still tries to keep Federation values alive by other means.
Romulans are a different matter, Cryptic is not trying to portray the Romulans from the shows and failing horribly at it, they are trying to portray how they realistically are now, most Romulans are exactly as we start out on Virinat now, just trying to get by, it isn't all glory and ''For the empire!!!'' like with the Klingons.
The Tal Shiar is the kind of organization that make you disappear or downright massacre you for daring to disagree or disobey, the RSE that remains IS the Tal Shiar, the Tal Shiar is allied with the Iconians and the Elachi.
Personally I find the former more irritating than the latter in this case, because at least Cryptic was striving in the right direction with the feds, and for all their misses, produced a few 'hits'. The Romulans are messed up by design, and thus much less likely to be 'fixed'.
Well, I get the impression that the Klingon Empire is portrayed in an excessively crude, rough manner, at least with certain missions. I like the new tutorial, though, it definitely has a satisfying Klingon feel too it. The Fek'lhri missions are nice delving into some Klingon mythology, as well.
Klingons are not stupid. The warrior caste (who don't necessarily prize scientific understanding, leaving that to specialists) might be predominant in politics and military, but they are not all of what the Empire is. The Empire didn't get to where it is in current Trek by being overly crude and stupid. That's why I object to the thinking of 'Klingons wouldn't have science ships' or 'Klingons couldn't have advanced their own branch of cloaking technology just as far as the Romulans have advanced theirs'.
Uhmm, where are you getting....any of this from?
With the exception of ships explicitly described as being for limited scientific missions (Oberth, Nova, etc), there's no indication that most Starfleet ships are designed only for 'light' combat. On the contrary we've seen over and over that their exploration ships (Galaxy, Nebula, Sovereign, Excelsior and Constitution in their days) etc, are fully capable of going toe to toe with the dedicated warships of other powers.
It's not an issue of them not building ships that are combat capable, it's that they don't like the idea of building ships that are only capable of combat.
The twitch generation who drool over explosions and constant action won't play a game that requires them to think and be patient.
Thank you for expressing my feelings in a well-worded manner. Were this real, unless "evolved humans" implies the divorce of the human race's behavior and self-preservation instincts, I cannot help but see the Federation citizenry SCREAMING about the results of some of these policies. It is disturbing that, considering the dialog of the characters ("humans used to fear death") when comparing themselves to people from our time period, this may in fact be the case. There would have likely been many, many thousands of Starfleet officers and Federation citizens who lost their lives to prove obscure philosophical points, and I cannot see humans (or most races who have survived long enough to be relevant) shrugging off such casualties in such a cavalier manner.
What I like to see are defeated ships (any faction) being disabled with a countdown and a "call for help/respawn" option showing how much time a ship has until a warp core breach. A team member can come in to assist to repair the damage. Once the countdown runs out, the ship explodes and the player automatically respawns.
Likewise, NPC ships can be captured in this manner and can be used as "pets" (similar to Nimbus/Romulan Distress Calls).
Might get annoying if NPCs have this ability though. Much like NPCs with the CPR ability.
That's my general opinion of the Federation, from a KDF perspective
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.