Cardassian Playable... Yeah, I know there are a lot of these, just hear me out...

dinoyipi

EDIT: In retrospect, this is not a good idea. I no longer stand by what I said here.

So there are a lot of players who want to see playable Cardassians, and I once saw somewhere that the dev team said playable Cardassians are a matter of "if", not of "when". (If someone could source that by any chance, it would be much appreciated.) So, here's my idea of how to implement it.

Story
Cardassia continues to be rebuilt from its aggressive ashes into a thriving, diplomatic society. But in the shadows, the True Way is working to undermine their efforts and restore the Cardassians to their warlike roots. As part of their efforts, the True Way has enlisted help from another dimension: the Mirror Universe. If the new Cardassian Union is to survive, they must find their own allies.

Races
Your playable races selection would be: Cardassian, Alien, Jem'Hadar, or Liberated Cardassian Drone. In keeping with he template established by LoR, Jem'Hadar would be C-Store (maybe Rep) unlock and Lib Drone would be a veteran reward.

(I left Vorta and Changeling out on purpose. I don't think Vorta would make much sense story-wise, and even Jem'Hadar are a stretch. As for Changelings, they're just too OP to include. Players who desprately want a Vorta or Changeling could simply make an alien.)

Ships
Mostly, Cardassian ships are the order of the day. You start out with a Hideki, and work your way up to a Keldon. (I'm not sure how Jem'Hadar ships would fit in.) In order to be balanced with the Romulans, Cardassians would get some sort of unique but similar Warp Core system as the Republic has.

Allies
Instead of having the Cardassians be a split-party faction like the Romulans, here's my suggestions: Have the Romulan Republic break away from the Federation and be solely Klingon-allied, while the Cardassians become the Federation's sole ally.

Now, before you start panicking, I've got it basically (not completely) figured it out how this would work.

First of all, storywise: It has been said (I think in one of the Cardassian Struggle debriefings) that the Cardassians may one day join the Federation. This makes such an alliance only logical. How, you ask, does D'Tan break away from the Federation? Well, there's already a little pinch of bad blood between them.

In "Sphere of Influence", Captain Shon, representing the Federation, seeks to destroy the Iconian gateway around Jouret. Romulan Research A'dranna threatens that should he do so, "I can assure you that D'Tan will reconsider his friendly relations with the Federation." Meanwhile, Captain Koren assures the Republic that they will have the Klingon Empire's full support.

So, all you'd have to do in the story, is get the Federation to blow up some sort of dangerous technology that the Romulan Republic was hoping to exploit, and voila! Bye-bye alliance.

Logistics of Alliance-Breaking
Now, I know what you're thinking. "So what will happen to my Federation-Allied Romulan when the alliance breaks apart?" I've thought about this, and I've thought of how to make such a transition somewhat simpler than it sounds.

First of all, ships: Romulans cannot access any Federation ship (or Klingon, for that matter) that is Rear Admiral ranked or higher. So, for Federation Dilithium/EC ships, just refund the Dilithium/EC so that the transitory character can buy similar ships from the Klingon fleet. Or perhaps, instead of the resources, perhaps requisition orders would be given, similar to the ones given at Rank-Up. For the Ambassador-Class, just trade it in for a Kamarang-class requisition. I think that covers all Federation ships that are not either cross-faction (naturally, your Romulan can keep those when the Federation alliance disintegrates) C-Store (since they're account-wide unlocks, you aren't losing much) or Federation Rear/Vice Admiral or Federation Fleet ships (which Romulans can't requisition, anyways.)

Now, for your Federation BOffs and DOffs, they would simply be cashed in for requisition forms that can be used to gather equivalents from KDF ranks. All that leaves is the items on-board ships and held by discharged BOffs. I was thinking of cramming all that stuff into an Overflow bag, but I thought that would be too much, so I'm thinking of a special bank being created for just this purpose. You can withdraw or discard from it, but not deposit.

I think that solves most of the problems that would be encountered.

Cardassian/Romulan Reputation.
I know what you're thinking: "Oh, please, no, not another reputation system..." I am not suggesting another reputation system, just a revamp/expansion of the Romulan reputation to become a "Cardassian/Romulan Reputation." It'll use the same marks, same sponsorship tokens, and nearly identical projects to advance. The only difference is that now, Federation/Cardassians and Klingons/Romulans get different missions to collect the marks and different (though roughly equivalent) rewards.

So... That's all I can think of for now.

odyssey47

I would like to see the Cardassian faction, the only issue I see is that the story would be too similar to the Romulan republic, and that it seems to be more than the devs can handle giving unique content for Feds and Klingons, let alone Romulans on top of it, then another faction. I really think they need to finish the game that launched before they continue expanding. Finish pvp, finish crafting, finish foundry, finish exploration, etc. (By finish I also mean revamp)

daqhegh

dinoyipi wrote: »

So there are a lot of players who want to see playable Cardassians, and I once saw somewhere that the dev team said playable Cardassians are a matter of "if", not of "when". (If someone could source that by any chance, it would be much appreciated.) So, here's my idea of how to implement it.

Story
Cardassia continues to be rebuilt from its aggressive ashes into a thriving, diplomatic society. But in the shadows, the True Way is working to undermine their efforts and restore the Cardassians to their warlike roots. As part of their efforts, the True Way has enlisted help from another dimension: the Mirror Universe. If the new Cardassian Union is to survive, they must find their own allies.

The true Way appears in this game, yes. But the story is Post-Dominion War. It would make more sense to have the story revolve around reparations (possibly based on Andy Robinson's books). The end could hint at a possible alliance with the Federation without ever actually creating one.


Races
Your playable races selection would be: Cardassian, Alien, Jem'Hadar, or Liberated Cardassian Drone. In keeping with he template established by LoR, Jem'Hadar would be C-Store (maybe Rep) unlock and Lib Drone would be a veteran reward.

(I left Vorta and Changeling out on purpose. I don't think Vorta would make much sense story-wise, and even Jem'Hadar are a stretch. As for Changelings, they're just too OP to include. Players who desprately want a Vorta or Changeling could simply make an alien.)

I heavily disagree with this. Yes, it's logical to include Dominion races in a Cardassian faction. BUT Legate Damar died storming the Alamo to retake his planet from the Dominion. Doing this would make his sacrifice to free his people worthless and undermine the Cardassian Union itself. I would rather NEVER have a playable Cardassian than to see it accompanied by the Dominion. A Dominion faction would be acceptable, but NOT with the Cardassians included.

Ships
Mostly, Cardassian ships are the order of the day. You start out with a Hideki, and work your way up to a Keldon. (I'm not sure how Jem'Hadar ships would fit in.) In order to be balanced with the Romulans, Cardassians would get some sort of unique but similar Warp Core system as the Republic has.

The Cournair, Groumall, Dukat's (*ahem,* Cardassia's) Bird-of-Prey, and such could be plausible. The Galor/Breen/Bugships are all lockboxed and will stay that way. There may be a dressed down version of each, but I honestly don't see it.

Allies
Instead of having the Cardassians be a split-party faction like the Romulans, here's my suggestions: Have the Romulan Republic break away from the Federation and be solely Klingon-allied, while the Cardassians become the Federation's sole ally.

Now, before you start panicking, I've got it basically (not completely) figured it out how this would work.

First of all, storywise: It has been said (I think in one of the Cardassian Struggle debriefings) that the Cardassians may one day join the Federation. This makes such an alliance only logical. How, you ask, does D'Tan break away from the Federation? Well, there's already a little pinch of bad blood between them.

This is POST DOMINION WAR. Feds and Cardassians aren't really close or true allies, but they aren't quite enemies, either. It's kinda like how the Klingons and Feds were in TOS. There's more on the Romulans below.

In "Sphere of Influence", Captain Shon, representing the Federation, seeks to destroy the Iconian gateway around Jouret. Romulan Research A'dranna threatens that should he do so, "I can assure you that D'Tan will reconsider his friendly relations with the Federation." Meanwhile, Captain Koren assures the Republic that they will have the Klingon Empire's full support.

So, all you'd have to do in the story, is get the Federation to blow up some sort of dangerous technology that the Romulan Republic was hoping to exploit, and voila! Bye-bye alliance.

Would you do that to the Cardassians? REALLY? Think about the Romulan DOffs -- some are Fed, some are KDF. Others, on the other hand, are Rom-specific. Why not just do the same with Cardassians? And didn't the Remans kinda sorta have an alliance with the Feds (in-game)? I think the Romulans did, too. But out of dire necessity and the destruction of their planet, not out of touchy-feely "let's be friends all of a sudden" -ness. It's been a awhile since I did LOR; I might be mistaken.

Logistics of Alliance-Breaking
Now, I know what you're thinking. "So what will happen to my Federation-Allied Romulan when the alliance breaks apart?" I've thought about this, and I've thought of how to make such a transition somewhat simpler than it sounds.

First of all, ships: Romulans cannot access any Federation ship (or Klingon, for that matter) that is Rear Admiral ranked or higher. So, for Federation Dilithium/EC ships, just refund the Dilithium/EC so that the transitory character can buy similar ships from the Klingon fleet. Or perhaps, instead of the resources, perhaps requisition orders would be given, similar to the ones given at Rank-Up. For the Ambassador-Class, just trade it in for a Kamarang-class requisition. I think that covers all Federation ships that are not either cross-faction (naturally, your Romulan can keep those when the Federation alliance disintegrates) C-Store (since they're account-wide unlocks, you aren't losing much) or Federation Rear/Vice Admiral or Federation Fleet ships (which Romulans can't requisition, anyways.)

Now, for your Federation BOffs and DOffs, they would simply be cashed in for requisition forms that can be used to gather equivalents from KDF ranks. All that leaves is the items on-board ships and held by discharged BOffs. I was thinking of cramming all that stuff into an Overflow bag, but I thought that would be too much, so I'm thinking of a special bank being created for just this purpose. You can withdraw or discard from it, but not deposit.

I think that solves most of the problems that would be encountered.

Why make it an issue in the first place? See my above comment on DOffs. The same could potentially be applied to playable characters with an expansion or two.

Cardassian/Romulan Reputation.
I know what you're thinking: "Oh, please, no, not another reputation system..." I am not suggesting another reputation system, just a revamp/expansion of the Romulan reputation to become a "Cardassian/Romulan Reputation." It'll use the same marks, same sponsorship tokens, and nearly identical projects to advance. The only difference is that now, Federation/Cardassians and Klingons/Romulans get different missions to collect the marks and different (though roughly equivalent) rewards.

I can't say I agree with combining the Cardassians and the Romulans. They never came across as enemies or allies -- they just stayed separate. I'm thinking this is partly because they dwell in different areas of space. But it's also because they never really have any competing (or coordinating) interests. Even in the war they only unofficially fought together. It just doesn't make sense to make them all besties out of nowhere like.

So... That's all I can think of for now.

That's my take. I'll elaborate more later.

dinoyipi

Well, this is what I get for trying to push something like this without all that deep a knowledge of the Cardassians, Dominion, or DS9 as a whole.

daqhegh wrote: »

I can't say I agree with combining the Cardassians and the Romulans. They never came across as enemies or allies -- they just stayed separate. I'm thinking this is partly because they dwell in different areas of space. But it's also because they never really have any competing (or coordinating) interests. Even in the war they only unofficially fought together. It just doesn't make sense to make them all besties out of nowhere like.

I'm not trying to make the Cardassians and Romulans buddies. With the Fed/Card and KDF/Rommie system, I was actually going for the exact opposite effect. Combining them into a single reputation system is just for simplicity's sake, so that you don't have to progress through yet another reputation.

daqhegh

Alright, I took a moment to breathe. Then I threw back a few shots of Kanar. I'm in a much better mood now.

The single biggest issue I have with creating a Cardassian faction is that it would have to be largely Dominion-based. We have Vorta, Dosi, Karrema, and Jem'Hadar Doffs, and Jem'Hadar and Breen BOffs. Hell, there's even a Yelgrun DOff in-game. Making them playable *kind of* makes sense. But I would deeply resent it if the Cardassians were included in such a faction. This page lists the various Dominion species -- a separate faction for them could work. I just don't think it's fair to allow the Cardassian Union to remain under Dominion rule indefinitely. As long as they share a faction with them, they will always be inferior. This was Damar's biggest issue. Just saying.

daqhegh

dinoyipi wrote: »

Well, this is what I get for trying to push something like this without all that deep a knowledge of the Cardassians, Dominion, or DS9 as a whole.

I'm not trying to make the Cardassians and Romulans buddies. With the Fed/Card and KDF/Rommie system, I was actually going for the exact opposite effect. Combining them into a single reputation system is just for simplicity's sake, so that you don't have to progress through yet another reputation.

But why would they add new rewards to an old rep? How would older players unlock them (and presumably new missions that come with each level)? I see that some would be projects and whatnot, but how can you justify that? It would make more sense to just create a new rep with the streamlined Dyson system instead. Or better -- WHY MAKE A NEW REP AT ALL???

starkaos

Why would the Romulan Republic break an alliance with the Federation? D'Tan is a Reunificationist so it is not likely for him to break ties with the Federation and Vulcan. The comment Captain Shon in the Sphere of Influence means absolutely nothing as far as an excuse for the Romulan Republic to break ties with the Federation. It was a Researcher that made that comment about reconsidering so she likely has no real power to influence political decisions and she was the one responsible for the Iconian Gateway going out of control and nearly destroying New Romulus even though it was because she was interrogated and likely made into a saboteur without her knowledge. If Shon destroyed the Gateway, then the Federation would have to make reparations, but they still would be allies. Although, he would have likely had to contact various people like Starfleet HQ and D'Tan before blowing up the gateway. There is no reason for the Romulan Republic to be forced to join up with the KDF just so Cardassians are forced to join up with the Federation especially since such an action would cause tons of people to become very angry. Some people only play Fed or KDF side so kicking them out of their fleet is a terrible move.

I figure there are only two ways of doing the Cardassian faction. Have the Cardassian faction ally with the Federation while create a completely new faction that allies up with the Klingon Empire or a Cardassian/Dominion faction.

Would be interesting for Odo and Garak to interact as allies again. Odo would be the leader of the Alpha Quadrant Dominion while Garak is in charge of the Cardassian forces. If anyone thinks that having the Dominion ally with the Cardassians again is not possible, the Dominion is the Founders. Having Odo as the person in charge of the Alpha Quadrant Dominion would mean that he is friends with the leaders of the Cardassians. Odo is not likely to ruin that friendship by having the Dominion going back to their old tricks. Cardassians have a problem with the Klingon Empire, but the Dominion under the control of Odo would have reason to ally with the Federation and Klingon Empire. Being allies with them will give them a say in who enters the Wormhole and the Federation and Klingon Empire need all the help they can get with the Borg, Undine, and Iconians.

dinoyipi

I know it's a little late to be saying this, but I realize that I have not presented a perfect plan. It's just an idea of how to have playable Cardassians without throwing the game more out of balance than it, arguably, already is.

...Dangit, I sound like a Deferi now, don't I?

mirrorchaos

my answer in red within the quote.

dinoyipi wrote: »

So there are a lot of players who want to see playable Cardassians, and I once saw somewhere that the dev team said playable Cardassians are a matter of "if", not of "when". (If someone could source that by any chance, it would be much appreciated.) So, here's my idea of how to implement it.

Story
Cardassia continues to be rebuilt from its aggressive ashes into a thriving, diplomatic society. But in the shadows, the True Way is working to undermine their efforts and restore the Cardassians to their warlike roots. As part of their efforts, the True Way has enlisted help from another dimension: the Mirror Universe. If the new Cardassian Union is to survive, they must find their own allies.

no.

Races
Your playable races selection would be: Cardassian, Alien, Jem'Hadar, or Liberated Cardassian Drone. In keeping with he template established by LoR, Jem'Hadar would be C-Store (maybe Rep) unlock and Lib Drone would be a veteran reward.

(I left Vorta and Changeling out on purpose. I don't think Vorta would make much sense story-wise, and even Jem'Hadar are a stretch. As for Changelings, they're just too OP to include. Players who desprately want a Vorta or Changeling could simply make an alien.)

no and would rather have jem'hadar as LTS exclusive then another former drone.

Ships
Mostly, Cardassian ships are the order of the day. You start out with a Hideki, and work your way up to a Keldon. (I'm not sure how Jem'Hadar ships would fit in.) In order to be balanced with the Romulans, Cardassians would get some sort of unique but similar Warp Core system as the Republic has.

the democratic cardassian union has to build it's own foundations and not using weapons of war from a past the new government wishes to forget, that means jem'hadar stuff is out.

Allies
Instead of having the Cardassians be a split-party faction like the Romulans, here's my suggestions: Have the Romulan Republic break away from the Federation and be solely Klingon-allied, while the Cardassians become the Federation's sole ally.

Now, before you start panicking, I've got it basically (not completely) figured it out how this would work.

First of all, storywise: It has been said (I think in one of the Cardassian Struggle debriefings) that the Cardassians may one day join the Federation. This makes such an alliance only logical. How, you ask, does D'Tan break away from the Federation? Well, there's already a little pinch of bad blood between them.

In "Sphere of Influence", Captain Shon, representing the Federation, seeks to destroy the Iconian gateway around Jouret. Romulan Research A'dranna threatens that should he do so, "I can assure you that D'Tan will reconsider his friendly relations with the Federation." Meanwhile, Captain Koren assures the Republic that they will have the Klingon Empire's full support.

So, all you'd have to do in the story, is get the Federation to blow up some sort of dangerous technology that the Romulan Republic was hoping to exploit, and voila! Bye-bye alliance.

no, d'tan wants to keep the peace between the feds and kdf and you seem to be missing the part why d'tan has this new union with the remans, to convince the new romulans to unite with their lost bretheren in the vulcans. by alienating their own goals, what was the point in the new romulan plan for? and if you are considering a swap that cardies join the kdf instead. there is no amount of bad blood between the klingons and cardassians over the centuries so that would never work.

Logistics of Alliance-Breaking
Now, I know what you're thinking. "So what will happen to my Federation-Allied Romulan when the alliance breaks apart?" I've thought about this, and I've thought of how to make such a transition somewhat simpler than it sounds.

First of all, ships: Romulans cannot access any Federation ship (or Klingon, for that matter) that is Rear Admiral ranked or higher. So, for Federation Dilithium/EC ships, just refund the Dilithium/EC so that the transitory character can buy similar ships from the Klingon fleet. Or perhaps, instead of the resources, perhaps requisition orders would be given, similar to the ones given at Rank-Up. For the Ambassador-Class, just trade it in for a Kamarang-class requisition. I think that covers all Federation ships that are not either cross-faction (naturally, your Romulan can keep those when the Federation alliance disintegrates) C-Store (since they're account-wide unlocks, you aren't losing much) or Federation Rear/Vice Admiral or Federation Fleet ships (which Romulans can't requisition, anyways.)

Now, for your Federation BOffs and DOffs, they would simply be cashed in for requisition forms that can be used to gather equivalents from KDF ranks. All that leaves is the items on-board ships and held by discharged BOffs. I was thinking of cramming all that stuff into an Overflow bag, but I thought that would be too much, so I'm thinking of a special bank being created for just this purpose. You can withdraw or discard from it, but not deposit.

I think that solves most of the problems that would be encountered.

no.

Cardassian/Romulan Reputation.
I know what you're thinking: "Oh, please, no, not another reputation system..." I am not suggesting another reputation system, just a revamp/expansion of the Romulan reputation to become a "Cardassian/Romulan Reputation." It'll use the same marks, same sponsorship tokens, and nearly identical projects to advance. The only difference is that now, Federation/Cardassians and Klingons/Romulans get different missions to collect the marks and different (though roughly equivalent) rewards.

So... That's all I can think of for now.

the plan doesnt make any real sense.

macronius

I love the Bloody Cardies but it is too soon. How about we finish the whole "Romulans" thing first and get the Iconians to come out and do something. It has been 3 years after all. Oops ... I forgot that it is still 2409 in game. :P

mirrorchaos

daqhegh wrote: »

I heavily disagree with this. Yes, it's logical to include Dominion races in a Cardassian faction. BUT Legate Damar died storming the Alamo to retake his planet from the Dominion. Doing this would make his sacrifice to free his people worthless and undermine the Cardassian Union itself. I would rather NEVER have a playable Cardassian than to see it accompanied by the Dominion. A Dominion faction would be acceptable, but NOT with the Cardassians included.

possible mercenary jem'hadar, but these would have to be few and far between due to the feds destroying the alpha jem'hadar cloning vat. it would make some sort of sense having help rebuilding as long as it's understood who helps who and who pays who. however the new cardassian military should be almost exclusive to cardassians as they do not really tolerate outsiders "spying" on them.

daqhegh

mirrorchaos wrote: »

possible mercenary jem'hadar, but these would have to be few and far between due to the feds destroying the alpha jem'hadar cloning vat. it would make some sort of sense having help rebuilding as long as it's understood who helps who and who pays who. however the new cardassian military should be almost exclusive to cardassians as they do not really tolerate outsiders "spying" on them.

Which is precisely my point. A few things could be stretched to fit this timeline and whatnot. But the Cardassians have to be self sustainable. They don't need Big Brother to hold their hand and approve of military decisions. They don't have to fully cooperate with the Feds -- they never really did. Even in TNG, the only collaborations they undertook were (presumably) to the benefit to the Cardassians. Chain of Command was a beautiful demonstration of how they always seem to have the upper hand. Any alliance would seem to undermine that. I can see maybe *maybe* a cooperation/treaty with the Feds, but NOT an all out political partnership.

I was thinking for a moment that Cardassian/Bajoran children could be included as a playable alternate species. But then I remembered, with the exception of Ziyal, such children are looked down upon in Cardassian society. And if they are war orphans on top of that, they have no status as citizens. So basically, if the idea is to remain reasonably true to the Cardassians, this really wouldn't work. But I'm trying.

flash525

dinoyipi wrote: »

So there are a lot of players who want to see playable Cardassians, and I once saw somewhere that the dev team said playable Cardassians are a matter of "if", not of "when".

I actually thought it was the other way around.

dinoyipi wrote: »

So, here's my idea of how to implement it.

What was stopping you from putting you idea in an already existing thread?

dinoyipi wrote: »

Races
Your playable races selection would be: Cardassian, Alien, Jem'Hadar, or Liberated Cardassian Drone. In keeping with he template established by LoR, Jem'Hadar would be C-Store (maybe Rep) unlock and Lib Drone would be a veteran reward.

I'd share this opinion.

dinoyipi wrote: »

Ships
Mostly, Cardassian ships are the order of the day. You start out with a Hideki, and work your way up to a Keldon. I'm not sure how Jem'Hadar ships would fit in. In order to be balanced with the Romulans, Cardassians would get some sort of unique but similar Warp Core system as the Republic has.

Jem Hadar ships should be left out of a Cardassian Faction, the main reason alone is because all but one of their ships are already available to us via lock boxes. I also wouldn't have the Keldon as the endgame ship, the design is too dated now. They'd need a few new toys.

dinoyipi wrote: »

Allies
Instead of having the Cardassians be a split-party faction like the Romulans, here's my suggestions: Have the Romulan Republic break away from the Federation and be solely Klingon-allied, while the Cardassians become the Federation's sole ally.

First of all, storywise: It has been said (I think in one of the Cardassian Struggle debriefings) that the Cardassians may one day join the Federation. This makes such an alliance only logical. How, you ask, does D'Tan break away from the Federation? Well, there's already a little pinch of bad blood between them.

Stupid idea. D'Tan is all about reunification and peace. He's more Federation than Klingon.

Secondly, you say the Cardassians are to one day join the Federation? I'm sure they are, but come the 26th Century (Enterprise-J) the Klingon Empire has joined the Federation also. It's a fair bet that D'Tan and his colonists have also joined the Federation by then (it's actually more than likely they'd join before the Klingons).

Any mini faction should have the option to join either side. If you take that away, then you might as well not create the mini faction and instead merely incorporate said faction into the Federation or Klingon Empire already.

omegaphallic

Okay here is the simplist way to deal with the Alliance choice issue with Cardassia. Cardassia is democractic now so have one party/faction support closer ties with the Federation and the other Party with a more war like additutde support the KDF. Pretty simple.

thay8472

How about.... for a new mission... the Terran Empire blows up Cardassia?

flash525

thay8472 wrote: »

How about.... for a new mission... the Terran Empire blows up Cardassia?

That wouldn't be a new mission cause we cannot play as the Terran Empire. :P

aloishammer

omegaphallic wrote: »

Okay here is the simplist way to deal with the Alliance choice issue with Cardassia. Cardassia is democractic now so have one party/faction support closer ties with the Federation and the other Party with a more war like additutde support the KDF. Pretty simple.

"TRIBBLE the Cardassian fans with a half-done half-faction just like we socked it to the Romulans." Because it was such a great idea the first time?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

flash525

valoreah wrote: »

Cryptic has said ad nauseum they will not add a separate third and full/complete faction to the game. They do not want to split the playerbase even further. Any new "fraction" added will have to be split between the FED and KDF just as the Romulans were.

Aren't they pretty much already dividing the playerbase with each faction, mini or otherwise?

Each new faction (whether big or small) requires new ships, new characters (species), new zones, new EV suits, new story content. Both the FED & KDF are practically the same at end game anyway. Cryptics reasons for doing the factions the way they have quite simply don't add up. Same as the T5 Connie BS (though that's more a CBS thing).

orangeitis

dinoyipi wrote: »

So there are a lot of players who want to see playable Cardassians, and I once saw somewhere that the dev team said playable Cardassians are a matter of "if", not of "when". (If someone could source that by any chance, it would be much appreciated.) So, here's my idea of how to implement it.

Story
Cardassia continues to be rebuilt from its aggressive ashes into a thriving, diplomatic society. But in the shadows, the True Way is working to undermine their efforts and restore the Cardassians to their warlike roots. As part of their efforts, the True Way has enlisted help from another dimension: the Mirror Universe. If the new Cardassian Union is to survive, they must find their own allies.

Races
Your playable races selection would be: Cardassian, Alien, Jem'Hadar

Stopped reading there.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

daqhegh

Personally, I think the Romulans should have had their own separate faction with the mini-faction option. Ideally there would be an entirely separate faction for the Dominion and a mini-faction for the Cardassians. That would be about as close to fair (to the Cardassians) as this game would get.

As much as I love having Iggy Pop (Yelgrun) as a DOff, it feels weird having a Vorta in my crew. Same goes for non-fed faction DOffs that aren't defectors. Something about it doesn't seem right to me.

lianthelia

daqhegh wrote: »

Alright, I took a moment to breathe. Then I threw back a few shots of Kanar. I'm in a much better mood now.

The single biggest issue I have with creating a Cardassian faction is that it would have to be largely Dominion-based. We have Vorta, Dosi, Karrema, and Jem'Hadar Doffs, and Jem'Hadar and Breen BOffs. Hell, there's even a Yelgrun DOff in-game. Making them playable *kind of* makes sense. But I would deeply resent it if the Cardassians were included in such a faction. This page lists the various Dominion species -- a separate faction for them could work. I just don't think it's fair to allow the Cardassian Union to remain under Dominion rule indefinitely. As long as they share a faction with them, they will always be inferior. This was Damar's biggest issue. Just saying.

There is no reason at all it would need any Dominion races, we aren't going to be playing the True Way so straight up Cardassians having Dominion races as part of it would be stupid.

The way the Cardassians broke away from the Dominion and the way the Dominion just tried to obliterate Cardassia I don't see any way for them to get back together, especially the with the distrust the Changlings already have of solids.

age03

No as they would just come out with cardi Rep grind system like Romulans.

Unknown

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dinoyipi

Okay, it's quite obvious now that I didn't think this through quite as thoroughly as I thought I did. It just that this whole split-faction system that the Romulans use doesn't make sense from a storyline perspective; because despite D'Tan's best efforts, the Republic Romulans still end up fighting the opposite faction whenever PVP time comes around, including their Enemy-Faction Romulan brothers. So what I tried (and failed) to do here is some up with a way to throw out the split-faction system.

lianthelia

dinoyipi wrote: »

Okay, it's quite obvious now that I didn't think this through quite as thoroughly as I thought I did. It just that this whole split-faction system that the Romulans use doesn't make sense from a storyline perspective; because despite D'Tan's best efforts, the Republic Romulans still end up fighting the opposite faction whenever PVP time comes around, including their Enemy-Faction Romulan brothers. So what I tried (and failed) to do here is some up with a way to throw out the split-faction system.

Well it's been said that they plan to end the war some time so they wont be so split when that comes along I guess.

johngazman

valoreah wrote: »

Ultimately, you're part of one or the other, not a third faction with it's own social zones etc.

Yeah, because Feds and Klinks are just crawling all over the Flotilla, and New Romulus Command