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Romulan Republic IS a Faction
masternecroman
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
Ok you can crucify me now....
Finished? Ok.
I mean really. they have their own ships, their own equipment, the missions and story is as unique as those of the KDF or Feds. The only thing they don't have is their own fleet holdings.
I am personally sick and tired of listening to people dissing the Romulans as not being a faction just because near the end game they can choose to align them selves with the Feds or KDF. But that DOES go well with their story of rebuilding etc...
Ok, rant over, just wanted to get that out of my system.
Finished? Ok.
I mean really. they have their own ships, their own equipment, the missions and story is as unique as those of the KDF or Feds. The only thing they don't have is their own fleet holdings.
I am personally sick and tired of listening to people dissing the Romulans as not being a faction just because near the end game they can choose to align them selves with the Feds or KDF. But that DOES go well with their story of rebuilding etc...
Ok, rant over, just wanted to get that out of my system.
Post edited by masternecroman on
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Currently the game doesn't always acknowledge you as a Romulan. People at New Romulus are taking you as a Klingon or Feddie.
Oh, and your doff assignment reward recrutation pool? Only Fed/Kdf.
Is the Romulan Republic independent? No.
Is the Romulan Republic a Mini Faction? Yes.
Can all Romulans (and Remans) work together for the greater good of their new found peace? No.
Why? Cause (as stated above) the Alliance System stands in the way. Romulans (or Remans) who have chosen to join the Federation cannot join/assist their brethren who have chosen to join the Klingon Empire. Usually I am not a fan of the term fraction, but in this case, I think it's well suited. The Romulan Republic is a fraction of a faction. :P
Does it work? Yes.
Is it preferable? Hell No!
But by all means, I can sit all day in the command center and stare at all these variations of elf in space. Because quite frankly, that is all we got in the end. Obviously someone is seeing something more. And all power to such a marvelous vision transcending the obviously weaker perception of others.
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Obviously you've never played a Romulan/Reman and have no idea what you're talking about. Not a great foundation for critique, don't you think?
I recall they hinted that eventually Romulans will be getting their own Fleet Holdings. (Honestly, I doubt they will). And for a short time they had their own faction in the Foundry.
The same goes for the Romulans. The Romulan Republic (and the Romulan gameplay) has been built around the alliance system. I honestly can't see them ever undoing that. At best, we can hope for a third option (instead of a FED/KDF alliance) but that would likely require a new character which many people would be reluctant to do considering the money and time they'd have put into existing characters.
Chose either side or go it alone with an eventual 4th option to join the tal shiar.
But if I could get it only one way, I'd rather go alone. Plus the uniforms for both factions SUCK. Tal Shiar outfit is way better IMO.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
Indeed. The third door that was not there. It is never too late to make it. Because it is all about making a new opening, as opposed to close anything that has already been made.
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No, I recall Geko mentioning "Romulan Fleet Bases" in one of his interviews. Believe it was in his G&T interview.
And with them stopping the KDF war, then there is no reason to split up the Romulans between Federation and KDF. Everyone would be able to group with anyone at anytime.
However once you drill down past the cosmetic overlay, Romulans are either Fed or KDF. At the character creator when you choose your faction, you either immediately join the Federation or KDF if you select those. However if you select Romulan then the actual choice of faction is cleverly delayed until level 10 when you choose your "Ally".
Once you choose your "Ally" you become a race of that faction like, for example, a Human is for the Federation. The only difference being that Romulans are given access to a lot of unique ships and mission content to preserve the illusion that they are their own faction.
I'm guessing that's why I often see glitches like my Ally's transporter effect overwriting my Romulan one or my Ally's warp trails instead of Romulan ones and why I'm constantly referred to as being a member of the Federation, not the Romulan Republic.
Before we ever see an independent Romulan faction, I expect we'll get the Cardassians, and they wont be independent. That'll then be two faction they'd have to essentially undo.
Who's going to want to put that much time and effort into another two fleets?
Maybe that was their initial plan? I don't see it happening anymore though, I just don't.
Except the War hasn't actually ended yet, it's just entered a cold state cause of all these other problems.
Imagine the choice Cryptic had to make when deciding just how "independent" to make the Romulan Republic (and let's make no bones about it, no matter your PERSONAL roleplaying desire, the game assumes you to be a member of the Romulan Republic, the "nice guy" Romulans, not the Star Empire).
1. Make the Romulans completely independent, with their own holdings, PVP and PVE queues - This essentially kills any chance of Romulans drawing up to equal positioning on the power scale because there would be NO incentive for players creating Rom alts to give the same amount of investment as they did in their KDF/Fed fleets. Additionally, new players starting as Romulans are placed at a near-permanent disadvantage with regards to access.
2. Make the Romulans a sub-faction - This was the choice Cryptic took, and in doing so they were allowing players both old and new to benefit from the investments they (and others) have made in other factions' fleets while using lore, mission progression, and attractive/exclusive ship choices (I don't see any non-Romulan faction players flying a true warbird anytime soon) to distinguish the Republic as a third faction. They may not be truly independent in gameplay terms, but the lore is very adamant about how well the Romulans can take care of themselves. Hell, the entirety of Season 8 was precipitated by Romulans demonstrating their muscle in activating an Iconian gateway and the LEADING the effort against the Voth.
Sure, there may not be exclusive Romulan-only Starbases (and this is a thing that can be remedied through cosmetic fleet projects or additional holdings in the future) and fleets (and these fleets CAN be made exclusive to romulans...by the players that run them!), but ultimately door #2 was the more sensible and beneficial choice.
I'm sorry if a few canon nerds and wannabe "bad guy" roleplayers got their jimmies rustled, but gameplay comes first, not lore.
Besides, show me an MMO that has smoothly integrated a TRUE third faction in a formerly 2-faction system, 3 years after launch, with GENUINE competition between ALL factions in play, and I'll show you the Pearly Gates, because you have in fact died and are now in heaven.
And the game is definitely better this way.
Would be even better if the Feds and Klingons ever pull their heads out of their %&#es and forget their so-called war, so we could have a single allied faction. They're practically allied already anyway, against the Borg, the Tholians, the Tal'shiar, the Voth, the Elachi, the Iconians, etc. Let's just say half the universe for short. They work together far more than they fight.
Being able to team with factions does not make something "not a faction in my eyes.
I personally think the only real barriers to Romulans being a faction are:
- Option to choose Romulan visuals for Fleet Starbase.
- Romulan starbase costume.
- Romulan Omega Gear.
- Romulan Duty Officer assignments.
These are all things that are faction unique and Romulan options should exist. I see these beefs as legit.
Things like lack of ships or costumes don't make you "not a faction". They make you a faction with some choice drawbacks that CAN be offset in some ways. Things like superior builds, universal stations, asymmetrical customization (mismatching shoulderpads or wider color palettes) CAN balance options. Now, DO they? No. But then the problem isn't lack of faction status or faction features. It's lack of faction options.
I don't think you need your own endgame raids to be a faction because most games with factions share endgame content, generally. I don't think you need a separate side in PvP because PvP is not required to have a game or a faction. And since factions can fight themselves in PvP, having a faction is not essential.
The question is: what does a faction get that's unique to a faction in STO?
Aside from what Romlans have already, it's really starbase visuals, starbase projects, DOff assignments, MACO/Honor Guard gear.
Such toons would still remain in their real Fed/KDF factions for any other purpose than fleets and teaming, thus not making things for Cryptic any more difficult.
And of course said teaming/fleets would be optional. To not force anything on Romulan/Reman players being actually happy as Federation/Klingon Empire soldier.
Exactly this, and amazingly enough, ALL of the above (except maybe the idea of Romulan-exclusive Omega sets), can be implemented via future patches and content updates, ALL without invalidating the efforts of Fed and KDF players that want a Romulan alt.
In gameplay terms, Romulans are VERY much their own faction, with the sole exception of various cosmetic doodads that would help establish their unique "mood". Heck, the Lifetime Subscriber EV suit bonus (which includes a unique Romulan-only variant) is a baby step in the right direction.
Nor their own doff missions. Which I figure is why you had to choose a side: All of the non-story stuff needed would have added a huge amount of development time to the expansion.
The alliance thing comes at an odd point since you continue on your merry Romulan way with no interaction with the other factions for a very long time after that. The alliance should have come after Cutting the Cord.
Of course, Cutting the Cord should have been the very last mission since your story ends when you put a bolt through Hakeev's skull.
I think Romulan Omega visuals could at least be done going forward, even if it's a single costume project after acquiring the gear.
I think Omega rep needs a makeover in the vein of Dyson rep anyway, which would probably mean eliminating Mk X and Mk XI sets while offering Mk XII Omega shield at T2, weapon at T3, and armor at T5. Probably upgrading people's existing gear at the same time via a patch or offering a marks trade-in like the way Nukara upgrades were handled.
I think Omega should get a Dyson rep style upgrade/change. It means handing out marks more readily, making store unlocks "free" (while adjusting prices), and condensing down the number of projects to truly unique/desirable items. Maybe adding the zone power ups to Nukara ground zone and upping the marks rewards there as well.
And if you're looking at a single basic costume with some alternate boots/shoulders for the Adapted set and optionals, giving Romulans their own becomes more manageable.
Which might be a valid argument if, and only if, Romulans were "able to" team with factions. But there's a less-than-subtle difference between being "able to" team with another faction and having no choice but to become wholly part of said other faction.
Romulans are to the Federation what Vulcans are, and to the KDF what Orions are: a subset of the parent faction.
Correction. They were their own faction and then they lost their home.
Romulans are like the homeless vets that use to be in the special forces back in the day. Difference is that Fed/Kdf actually want to take care of these vets.
The simple truth is (at least, as far as I am concerned); the reason we have this situation with the Romulans is because of poor planning on the part of Cryptic. During game development, the Devs should have got together and said one of two things. Either that they were going to release two the game with two factions with intent on adding more later, or that they were going to release two factions and be done with it.
If the former, then they could have left much open for the inclusion of newer factions down the line. They could have implemented the fleet system differently (or later) etc. If they took the second option, then quite simply, Romulans, Cardassians and whatever else should have always been specific to Lock Boxes and FE rewards.
It would seem that they didn't plan what they wanted to do, and created the game around two factions. Then they decided to add more, but it didn't fit in with their game system or coding (whatever) and as such, they've had to go via the route they've now taken cause it was the only thing that worked.
This is what I choose to believe anyway. It makes a whole lot of sense to me.
The analogy works...
...if we assume the Romulans are like homeless Chinese special forces vets that Russia and the United States want to take care of and China can't get them shipped off overseas fast enough to suit them.
The ship sailed long ago for the Romulans to be an actually independent faction. LOR hit and we have what we have.
I'm primarily a KDF player, but I was greatly disappointed to hear the Romulans would be subordinate to both the Feds & KDF. It's just wrong. It blurred the differences between the Feds & KDF even more.
I would have preferred the Romulan campaign as the player being part of what's left of the broken RSE or maybe even Tal Shiar, and a story where a leader you serve is trying to consolidate what's left of Romulan power (i.e. a civil war), dealing with Federation & Klingon incursions since they're taking advantage of Romulan weakness, then, after consolidation, campaigning against the Feds & Klingons and kicking them out of Romulan space.
But that's not what we have.
We have flower picking, epohh licking Romulans sitting on New Romulus, slaves to their rivals, and better yet, killing off fellow Romulans and Remans on behalf of their overlords as proxies to a war that they originally had no business with.