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Small Craft Construction suggestion :)
chikahiro
Member Posts: 35 Arc User
Just a thought I had, and it might well be wishful thinking...
Whether players want to channel their inner Scotty or Paris, or just enjoy playing around with ships, the idea of customizing a shuttle or fighter can have great appeal! Indeed, customization is one of the great draws to many Cryptic games, and Star Trek Online is no exception.
The core idea is that Small Craft Construction (SCC) should be a multi-step crafting process, with a number of interesting decisions for players to make between designs. Sticking to the original design of a vessel and tricking it out ought present a weighing of benefits ? there ought not be a clearly superior choice!
Phase One
Players will need:
Selecting a DOFF mission from your Engineer within your ship will bring up the construction DOFF assignment. Likewise, going to a shipyard will bring up the same mission. The mission should have a reasonable completion time, and result in a non-bound chasis for the selected ship. A shorter mission could be provided, but cause the chasis to be character or account bound.
The chasis will be a small craft with no items slotted. This presents the foundation of the small craft. Its base attributes (hull, speed, turn radius, etc) should be lower than a similar, store-bought ship of its type.
Phase Two
DOFF missions will be available from various department heads; Engines and Warp Cores via Engineering, Deflector Arrays and Shields from Science, and Weapons from Tactical. These DOFF missions will require:
Like normal ship components, there will be varying rarity grades for crafted components, with additional traits being added as the parts become more rare. Unlike normal ship components, the Common components will be parts of a Set. This reflects the level of optimization and integration that the stock ships have.
If possible, having a single component having multiple sets associated with it would be ideal. This could allow for rarities to have varying amounts of custom traits and set traits. For instance, a Common component would have 3 sets associated with it, Uncommon would have 2 sets, Rare would have 1 set, and Very Rare would have none. Sets could be linked to ship specific abilities, attributes (speed, turn radius, hull), and more.
A fully stock ship will have all the traits and abilities associated with a normal small craft of that type. The further you deviate from stock, the less of those abilities a small craft will have, but the more personally customized it will be. This trade off provides both a safety net for players as well as a compelling reason to consider parts being used and why.
In theory, a fully stock small craft and a fully customized small craft of the same type will be roughly equal, but the custom craft will be tailored to the player?s desires, style, etc. More to the point, it'll be laser focused on the player's desires. A mixture of stock and customization will provide an interesting middle-ground, as players decide what and where to customize, and what stock abilities of the ship to keep.
Because of money purchasable goods such as Zen, Fleet Modules, and Unreplicateable Materials, there is opportunity to introduce Small Craft Construction and have it immediately monetized. In theory, it would be self-sufficient, or at least drive other parts of the economy, and encourage greater player participation.
Whether players want to channel their inner Scotty or Paris, or just enjoy playing around with ships, the idea of customizing a shuttle or fighter can have great appeal! Indeed, customization is one of the great draws to many Cryptic games, and Star Trek Online is no exception.
The core idea is that Small Craft Construction (SCC) should be a multi-step crafting process, with a number of interesting decisions for players to make between designs. Sticking to the original design of a vessel and tricking it out ought present a weighing of benefits ? there ought not be a clearly superior choice!
Phase One
Players will need:
- Schematic of the ship chasis they want to work on.
- Samples required for the schematic (Time/EC sink).
- Unreplicatable Materials required for the schematic (Dilithium/EC sink).
- Fleet Module (Zen/EC sink).
Selecting a DOFF mission from your Engineer within your ship will bring up the construction DOFF assignment. Likewise, going to a shipyard will bring up the same mission. The mission should have a reasonable completion time, and result in a non-bound chasis for the selected ship. A shorter mission could be provided, but cause the chasis to be character or account bound.
The chasis will be a small craft with no items slotted. This presents the foundation of the small craft. Its base attributes (hull, speed, turn radius, etc) should be lower than a similar, store-bought ship of its type.
Phase Two
DOFF missions will be available from various department heads; Engines and Warp Cores via Engineering, Deflector Arrays and Shields from Science, and Weapons from Tactical. These DOFF missions will require:
- Samples required for the schematic (Time/EC sink).
- Unreplicatable Materials required for the schematic (Dilithium/EC sink).
- Duty Officers (optional)
Like normal ship components, there will be varying rarity grades for crafted components, with additional traits being added as the parts become more rare. Unlike normal ship components, the Common components will be parts of a Set. This reflects the level of optimization and integration that the stock ships have.
If possible, having a single component having multiple sets associated with it would be ideal. This could allow for rarities to have varying amounts of custom traits and set traits. For instance, a Common component would have 3 sets associated with it, Uncommon would have 2 sets, Rare would have 1 set, and Very Rare would have none. Sets could be linked to ship specific abilities, attributes (speed, turn radius, hull), and more.
A fully stock ship will have all the traits and abilities associated with a normal small craft of that type. The further you deviate from stock, the less of those abilities a small craft will have, but the more personally customized it will be. This trade off provides both a safety net for players as well as a compelling reason to consider parts being used and why.
In theory, a fully stock small craft and a fully customized small craft of the same type will be roughly equal, but the custom craft will be tailored to the player?s desires, style, etc. More to the point, it'll be laser focused on the player's desires. A mixture of stock and customization will provide an interesting middle-ground, as players decide what and where to customize, and what stock abilities of the ship to keep.
Because of money purchasable goods such as Zen, Fleet Modules, and Unreplicateable Materials, there is opportunity to introduce Small Craft Construction and have it immediately monetized. In theory, it would be self-sufficient, or at least drive other parts of the economy, and encourage greater player participation.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
Post edited by chikahiro on
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It was removed over 2 years ago. No explanation has been given as to why.
Anyhow, I hope my idea, as presented, has enough in it that financially it'd make sense. Fleet Modules cost somebody Zen, and Unrep Materials cost somebody Dilithium.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
They put it into the C-Store instead. I think that's pretty self-explanatory.
500 Zen! Which, not coincidentally, is how much a Fleet Module costs
Ideally, this would be something that new and long-term players could get into. The core concept is also something I'd like to see done for weapons unless they come up with something else/better.
I'd also like to see a dedicated shuttle-racing event, but that might just me being silly
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.