You guys have really done an awesome job with these. I usually go traditional phasers for Feds, Disruptors for KDF, and disruptors or plasma for my Rommies.. but the whole Dual Heavy Proton Cannon thing might make me consider trying something else out; or get me to use all the +protonic damage consoles I have from dyson rep.
I really want to get my hands on the Romulan ship for my Rommie Sci. My head is already spinning with the different routes you could go with it. I'm pretty happy with the ships for my other toons, but I'm going to get the Fed and Klingon versions at least once.
Problem being, they are running out of canon ships. All the ones that are left are so obscure that most people won't recognize them anyway, so why not just make up their own rather than try and make something like the New Orleans kitbash (which was primarily a Ertl Galaxy saucer with highlighter pens glued to it - not kidding)?
Pretty much every ship left on the list of canon or semi-canon are things that appeared in a frame or two of a single episode. Most of them are from the battle of Wolf 359 aftermath, and were battle damaged in those couple of frames. Personally, I'd rather see something good that's original, rather than try to bring back something thrown together just for the sake of a background shot and then purposely destroyed, just because the latter is "canon".
While you're right about slowly running out of canon designs, I can understand where those other posters are comming from. Like that other player mentioned, I also think that the whole Iconian supergate thingy took away from the feeling of vastness of space and makes everything feel like 'next door'.
I also consider the crossfaction ships to be ridiculous, but I can kinda' go with the program cause many players wanted some of those - and since we're not going to have all the factions that cover those, I guess it's ok for them to have the opportunity to command their favourite ship. Someone might have dreamt of commanding a Malon garbage scow for what we know. :P
I think the complaint about not being Star Trek ships comes because of the Federation ships Cryptic designs. I'm going to be honest here and this is ofcourse my personal opinion, but I think that their Starfleet designs fall flat. I really think they have serious issues making good and reckognizable Starfleet ships.
On the other hand, all their Klingon designs hit the nail on the head. Seriously, their Klingon designs rock. Look at the Mogh - you can show that one to a person that never watched ST and they'll tell you it's Klingon. That Starfleet one in the first picture....not so much. I mean it's weird looking, spiky, black & purple with neon effects. Not your signature Starfleet ship, looks like something escaped from TRON. I mean, the basic Starfleet core design is there, but.....I don't know, just looks weird to me.
I feel it's to early to comment on their Romulan designs, but the Ar'kif/Ar'kala and Daeinos are an indicator that they'll do well there too. I just don't understand what's the issue with Federation ships...*shrugs*
So first of all, thank you very much for this very nice Dev-Blog, and it seems it did an impressive impact to the players.
It wasnt one of the usual New Lock-Box - Items - Have fun - Goodbye Blogs, I loved the interaction between Devs and Players.
It seems the Devs are very much chattier now than they have been a few weeks before, and I really appreciate it.
Yes, I was one of those guys screaming for more communication between us all.
Well, thinking about that, it came to my mind that you guys surely had your orders on how to communicate with us and after 10 or more hours sitting in front of screens twisting and turning graphics and numbers and testing, you are glad to go home. Even if you are devoted to your job.
What I originally meant was, I never wanted to have a daily or weekly report on what you guys are doing. That is something I am not to ask for.
And I know you cant answer each and every question on the forum because they are so wide spread throughout the board.
But getting a Blog like this, so once or twice a month, where you show us how you create something, what is to come.. and then getting things explained from the Devs, it just feels good. This is what we really like. This is real good communication.
An open and honest communication is the foundation for trust. Thanks for doing the first steps.
So again, my apologies to Bran, Gekko, Jamz, Cold, Zero, Hawk, Salami, Borti, Heinig, and the rest...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................well ok, Tacofangs too
he also deserves a little love
And as my new pal and sharpest rival worffan would say "I want to marry you all"
Very interesting insights from the team. Its very easy to forget that there is an extensive process behind everything in this game. From ships to maps to items to missions.
Great blog!
p.s. Christine really needs a better item description entry GUI. A single line bar for lore and technical descriptions? =(
p.p.s in the hopes any dev sees this - is anyone looking into a buff/debuff indicator (and tooltip info) revamp? I don't find buff/debuff icons informative at all without 'effect' info attached.
I can expand that into a separate window with enough room to type, but thanks.
I just see a bunch of slightly remodeled fed cruisers and similar looking faction ships. Did I miss something interesting?
No, the point is dyson-modified ships. What looks like a Peghqu' and an Ar'Kif.
These ARE pretty significant remodels though. A lot of changed up details.
Whats going to be the mechanic to keep everybody from running in tactical mode?
Loosing access to you Commander Level Sci abilities. Gravity Well III is a potent weapon to lose access to all of the time. I image that you'll also lose access to the Subsystem Targeting abilites. Maybe even Sensor Analysis.
I just see a bunch of slightly remodeled fed cruisers and similar looking faction ships. Did I miss something interesting?
and I'm asking seriously.
Those things between the pictures are called words. They tell you about things when you read them. Some of the things they say are pretty interesting, too.
Okay... I'm sold, looks sweet. And upgrading/downgrading boffs with the science/destroyer switch mechanic is... wow. Vary interesting concept. Question, what will be the cooldown for switching? You know they'll be one, after all can't have people swapping over and over in combat to utilize two commander boffs back to back to back.
YES! Science ship with a secondary deflector! Called it!! I'm happy to see that they aren't all going to be the same stats (like the temporal ships), that was pleasantly surprising for me!
I can't wait to hear more about the secondary deflector!!
I noticed that there are 9 console slots though...I hope that was a mistake. I can't imagine that you'd have us do repeatable Q missions for a ship that we're going to have to replace with the fleet version of it later on.
Thanks for the expansion that had "as much content as the last"
9 Episodes = 30+ episodes...?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It's pronounced "S.T.O." "Stow" sounds idiotic! lol
That was an awesome post guys, it's so cool to see the process behind ship design. And the ships featured look beautiful and sound amazingly fun.
I feel like I make a request every post, but I mean, I gotta ask. The next space set you do, can you make the shield turn my ship red? Like Star Wars Republic Cruiser/Jedi Starfighter red, Ironman red, something in there? I NEED to paint that romulan dyson destroyer red. Need.
I can't say I'm all that happy with the thought of grinding for another ship after just finishing the Winter ship-grind. I guess I'll wait and see how that goes... I've not logged on to STO for weeks as I'm in burnout at the moment. I'm not pleased at the thought of replaying a bunch of the same missions over and over and over and over and over and...
[/QUOTE]
I am not sure why there are comments about a grind for the anniversary ship? Both the Oddysey/Bortas (2nd Anniversary) and Ambassador/Kamarag (3rd Anniversary) were single mission rewards (i.e. do it once for your toon and you have your ship). Unless the complaint is about having to do the mission for each Captain, there is no grind requirement. The side missions (partygoer mission) had nothing to do with getting the previous ship in the 3rd anniversary. The first anniversary only gave you a long weekend to get the free ship and the next one was for only 18 days, which was enough time to run all my toons through the mission. Now I have 18 toons (Fed-Klink-Rom) to run through the anniversary mission, so 18 days will be needed again. There is always some work for something free... but no grindfest.
Very interesting blog post, now I have to decide if I want to grind for the ships, and who I want to grind them for. You see, when I create a character, it's usually with a specific end game ship in mind. Also, all of my characters are members of the same Task Force, under the command of my main.
Vice Admiral Corrin - flies an Odyssey as his flagship.
Captain Takaram (alien gen Romulan exile) - flies a cloaking Defiant.
Captain Korax (principal Sci character) - flies a Wells class, ship and crew are decked out in Temporal gear as they are originally from the 29th Century, and now stuck here.
Captain Dahn (created to play the new Fed tutorial and early content)- flies an Exeter at the moment, but she's set for a Regent at level 50.
General Hothkar - currently in a Vor'cha refit, but he's getting a Mogh at level 50.
Vice Admiral H'daen - flies a Scimitar, as fitting a senior officer of the Romulan Imperial Fleet.
The only other characters I have right now are a level 50 Klingon Engineer that I don't really play any more (didn't enjoy the Engineer playstyle as much as Tac/Sci), and a level 2 Reman Sci who I created when I unlocked the species, but haven't yet done anything with.
In terms of the ships themselves, I have to admit I'm not a fan of the Dyson skins, especially on the Federation ships. I was hoping for something a bit more Trek canon, and I'm not sure I could put any of my Feds in that ship without feeling odd, especially as I try and stick to canon as much as I can (Feds use phasers, KDF/Romulans use disruptors, uniform colours, etc.). Not sure I'd want to use proton weapons either, for the same reason.
The bells and whistles are remarkably shiny though. I like the sound of a lot of the abilities too. I just can't decide if I want to set aside the time it will take to grind this ship, when I'm not sold on the looks, and I don't have a specific character who could fly it.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
This character is why I don't play my Romulan any more. Tovan Khev is NOT my BFF! Get him off my bridge!
Grind,, ummm run mission first time,, 400 tokens each time after 40 token 15 runs,,,might be a fairly short mission .. by the time you get it done you'll be able to do it in your sleep. (which may be a good thing) but it'll take far less time compared to the winter wonder land or summer event ship both of which took 4 weeks to grind out.
ANd we're getting much more ship then any anniversery ship we've ever gotten...
Prolly be a c-store version if not the same ship down the road..
Me? I'll be busting buns for it because I'm primarily KDF and this is a KLINGIN science ship.. and other then the Korath which was hideously difficult to get, pretty accessible..
Got a few toons toons, and my sci toons will all have it which is 3 of my toons.
and hour of my time for a little over two weeks... Not a big deal... It's a tier 5 ships with some awesome goodness about it. And likely you'll have the option to pick it up in the c-store for $12 to $20 down the road..
Also note.. its a special project.. get the project started on each of your toons if they all must absolutely have it (which has got to be silly in my mind but hey, what ever) and then throw some Lobi to get a token box of tokens at the lobi store...4-7 tokens per box if its like hte other token boxed...should only run you about.. lets 600 600 token after the first box, assume 10 lobi per token box, 5 lobi average per lock box, gonna need assume 100 token boxes.. yep around 200$ and you need never run the mission more then once per chataracter.. thats $200 per character..
I am not sure why there are comments about a grind for the anniversary ship? Both the Oddysey/Bortas (2nd Anniversary) and Ambassador/Kamarag (3rd Anniversary) were single mission rewards (i.e. do it once for your toon and you have your ship). Unless the complaint is about having to do the mission for each Captain, there is no grind requirement. The side missions (partygoer mission) had nothing to do with getting the previous ship in the 3rd anniversary. The first anniversary only gave you a long weekend to get the free ship and the next one was for only 18 days, which was enough time to run all my toons through the mission. Now I have 18 toons (Fed-Klink-Rom) to run through the anniversary mission, so 18 days will be needed again. There is always some work for something free... but no grindfest.
If you really want to knock everyone for a loop, make the anniversary ships 10 consoles and the fleet/lobi/c-store versions the first 11 console ships.That would certainly make any grind worth it and explode sales on lockboxes/c-store/fleet modules.
Prolly can.. they still gotta few days to run to fine tune and polish.. don't count on the tribble testers to get to see all there is to it..l Studio likes to keep a few surprises up its collective sleeve
Okay, before you start yelling "WTF ARE YOU SAYING YOU..." take a closer look at the screensht from the blog. More particularly, the console slots.
Their total number is NINE, not ten.
The only time when awesome endgame ships such as Mogh, Avenger and (normal) Obelisk had 9 total console slots was when there was a fleet version that has an additional console slot.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Playable_starship
Just browse through the more recent endgame ships that were released since legacy of romulus. They all either had 10 console slots from the start or a fleet version that does have 10 console slots
So it would make sense that the Science destroyers all either have a fleet version OR a lobi version that has a total of 10 consoles and impoved stats.
My guess would be that it gets a third engineering conole or a fourth tac console.
I doubt it would get a fifth science console because this ship is obviously designed for switching between science vessel and escort playstyle.
My guess would be that it gets a third engineering conole or a fourth tac console.
I doubt it would get a fifth science console because this ship is obviously designed for switching between science vessel and escort playstyle.
Not TRIBBLE science ships are science vessels. Not all tactical ships are escorts.
Just reposting my comment on the new secondary deflector (originally posted in the Tribble Release Notes here):
Do you know what would be nice? Since we know about the secondary Deflector coming on the anniversary-ship, it would be nice to have a functional Deflector Duty Officer, these can reduce the cooldown on Gravity-Well, but not on Tachyon-Beam 1 or Energy-Syphon 1 (I tried to find a cheap Boff-ability to increase the proc-rate on my Fleet Ar'kif).
You can also see the bug in this topic (first post #1), I tried it on Holodeck yesterday and looked through all Tribble-Patchnotes since the 10th January to see if it was fixed. At least I didn't find any notes of a fix.
You give us a nice shiney toy for the new Science-Destroyer, but the one thing that would make it perfect is broken.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
Comments
I mean.. wow.
You guys have really done an awesome job with these. I usually go traditional phasers for Feds, Disruptors for KDF, and disruptors or plasma for my Rommies.. but the whole Dual Heavy Proton Cannon thing might make me consider trying something else out; or get me to use all the +protonic damage consoles I have from dyson rep.
I really want to get my hands on the Romulan ship for my Rommie Sci. My head is already spinning with the different routes you could go with it. I'm pretty happy with the ships for my other toons, but I'm going to get the Fed and Klingon versions at least once.
I can't believe you. You are a Monster of Love
While you're right about slowly running out of canon designs, I can understand where those other posters are comming from. Like that other player mentioned, I also think that the whole Iconian supergate thingy took away from the feeling of vastness of space and makes everything feel like 'next door'.
I also consider the crossfaction ships to be ridiculous, but I can kinda' go with the program cause many players wanted some of those - and since we're not going to have all the factions that cover those, I guess it's ok for them to have the opportunity to command their favourite ship. Someone might have dreamt of commanding a Malon garbage scow for what we know. :P
I think the complaint about not being Star Trek ships comes because of the Federation ships Cryptic designs. I'm going to be honest here and this is ofcourse my personal opinion, but I think that their Starfleet designs fall flat. I really think they have serious issues making good and reckognizable Starfleet ships.
On the other hand, all their Klingon designs hit the nail on the head. Seriously, their Klingon designs rock. Look at the Mogh - you can show that one to a person that never watched ST and they'll tell you it's Klingon.
I feel it's to early to comment on their Romulan designs, but the Ar'kif/Ar'kala and Daeinos are an indicator that they'll do well there too. I just don't understand what's the issue with Federation ships...*shrugs*
It wasnt one of the usual New Lock-Box - Items - Have fun - Goodbye Blogs, I loved the interaction between Devs and Players.
It seems the Devs are very much chattier now than they have been a few weeks before, and I really appreciate it.
Yes, I was one of those guys screaming for more communication between us all.
Well, thinking about that, it came to my mind that you guys surely had your orders on how to communicate with us and after 10 or more hours sitting in front of screens twisting and turning graphics and numbers and testing, you are glad to go home. Even if you are devoted to your job.
What I originally meant was, I never wanted to have a daily or weekly report on what you guys are doing. That is something I am not to ask for.
And I know you cant answer each and every question on the forum because they are so wide spread throughout the board.
But getting a Blog like this, so once or twice a month, where you show us how you create something, what is to come.. and then getting things explained from the Devs, it just feels good. This is what we really like. This is real good communication.
An open and honest communication is the foundation for trust. Thanks for doing the first steps.
So again, my apologies to Bran, Gekko, Jamz, Cold, Zero, Hawk, Salami, Borti, Heinig, and the rest...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................well ok, Tacofangs too
he also deserves a little love
And as my new pal and sharpest rival worffan would say "I want to marry you all"
and I'm asking seriously.
| Join Date: January 2009 | Computer | Fleet: Broken Wings |
I can expand that into a separate window with enough room to type, but thanks.
Are you guys ever going to fix player profiles or is it going to be broken forever like the website ticket support system was/is?
| Join Date: January 2009 | Computer | Fleet: Broken Wings |
No, the point is dyson-modified ships. What looks like a Peghqu' and an Ar'Kif.
These ARE pretty significant remodels though. A lot of changed up details.
Loosing access to you Commander Level Sci abilities. Gravity Well III is a potent weapon to lose access to all of the time. I image that you'll also lose access to the Subsystem Targeting abilites. Maybe even Sensor Analysis.
Those things between the pictures are called words. They tell you about things when you read them. Some of the things they say are pretty interesting, too.
Doesn't change the issue about the method of obtaining them though....
I can't wait to hear more about the secondary deflector!!
I noticed that there are 9 console slots though...I hope that was a mistake. I can't imagine that you'd have us do repeatable Q missions for a ship that we're going to have to replace with the fleet version of it later on.
9 Episodes = 30+ episodes...?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It's pronounced "S.T.O." "Stow" sounds idiotic! lol
I feel like I make a request every post, but I mean, I gotta ask. The next space set you do, can you make the shield turn my ship red? Like Star Wars Republic Cruiser/Jedi Starfighter red, Ironman red, something in there? I NEED to paint that romulan dyson destroyer red. Need.
Need.
I am not sure why there are comments about a grind for the anniversary ship? Both the Oddysey/Bortas (2nd Anniversary) and Ambassador/Kamarag (3rd Anniversary) were single mission rewards (i.e. do it once for your toon and you have your ship). Unless the complaint is about having to do the mission for each Captain, there is no grind requirement. The side missions (partygoer mission) had nothing to do with getting the previous ship in the 3rd anniversary. The first anniversary only gave you a long weekend to get the free ship and the next one was for only 18 days, which was enough time to run all my toons through the mission. Now I have 18 toons (Fed-Klink-Rom) to run through the anniversary mission, so 18 days will be needed again. There is always some work for something free... but no grindfest.
Vice Admiral Corrin - flies an Odyssey as his flagship.
Captain Takaram (alien gen Romulan exile) - flies a cloaking Defiant.
Captain Korax (principal Sci character) - flies a Wells class, ship and crew are decked out in Temporal gear as they are originally from the 29th Century, and now stuck here.
Captain Dahn (created to play the new Fed tutorial and early content)- flies an Exeter at the moment, but she's set for a Regent at level 50.
General Hothkar - currently in a Vor'cha refit, but he's getting a Mogh at level 50.
Vice Admiral H'daen - flies a Scimitar, as fitting a senior officer of the Romulan Imperial Fleet.
The only other characters I have right now are a level 50 Klingon Engineer that I don't really play any more (didn't enjoy the Engineer playstyle as much as Tac/Sci), and a level 2 Reman Sci who I created when I unlocked the species, but haven't yet done anything with.
In terms of the ships themselves, I have to admit I'm not a fan of the Dyson skins, especially on the Federation ships. I was hoping for something a bit more Trek canon, and I'm not sure I could put any of my Feds in that ship without feeling odd, especially as I try and stick to canon as much as I can (Feds use phasers, KDF/Romulans use disruptors, uniform colours, etc.). Not sure I'd want to use proton weapons either, for the same reason.
The bells and whistles are remarkably shiny though. I like the sound of a lot of the abilities too. I just can't decide if I want to set aside the time it will take to grind this ship, when I'm not sold on the looks, and I don't have a specific character who could fly it.
This character is why I don't play my Romulan any more. Tovan Khev is NOT my BFF! Get him off my bridge!
ANd we're getting much more ship then any anniversery ship we've ever gotten...
Prolly be a c-store version if not the same ship down the road..
Me? I'll be busting buns for it because I'm primarily KDF and this is a KLINGIN science ship.. and other then the Korath which was hideously difficult to get, pretty accessible..
Got a few toons toons, and my sci toons will all have it which is 3 of my toons.
and hour of my time for a little over two weeks... Not a big deal... It's a tier 5 ships with some awesome goodness about it. And likely you'll have the option to pick it up in the c-store for $12 to $20 down the road..
Also note.. its a special project.. get the project started on each of your toons if they all must absolutely have it (which has got to be silly in my mind but hey, what ever) and then throw some Lobi to get a token box of tokens at the lobi store...4-7 tokens per box if its like hte other token boxed...should only run you about.. lets 600 600 token after the first box, assume 10 lobi per token box, 5 lobi average per lock box, gonna need assume 100 token boxes.. yep around 200$ and you need never run the mission more then once per chataracter.. thats $200 per character..
*shrugs* I'm just gonna run the missions!
It's coming from here: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=991321
It was a leak from Tribble. 15 days grind to get the ships in the same manner as the winter/summer ships.
Mine Trap Supporter
Yaaaaaaaaay.
If you really want to knock everyone for a loop, make the anniversary ships 10 consoles and the fleet/lobi/c-store versions the first 11 console ships.That would certainly make any grind worth it and explode sales on lockboxes/c-store/fleet modules.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
The science destroyers, will they have a fleet version?
Picture of the regular version
Okay, before you start yelling "WTF ARE YOU SAYING YOU..." take a closer look at the screensht from the blog. More particularly, the console slots.
Their total number is NINE, not ten.
The only time when awesome endgame ships such as Mogh, Avenger and (normal) Obelisk had 9 total console slots was when there was a fleet version that has an additional console slot.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Playable_starship
Just browse through the more recent endgame ships that were released since legacy of romulus. They all either had 10 console slots from the start or a fleet version that does have 10 console slots
So it would make sense that the Science destroyers all either have a fleet version OR a lobi version that has a total of 10 consoles and impoved stats.
My guess would be that it gets a third engineering conole or a fourth tac console.
I doubt it would get a fifth science console because this ship is obviously designed for switching between science vessel and escort playstyle.
Yeah, not all fleet ships have 10 consoles.
Not TRIBBLE science ships are science vessels. Not all tactical ships are escorts.
Helpful Tools: Dictionary.com - Logical fallacies - Random generator - Word generator - Color tool - Extra Credits - List of common English language errors - New T6 Big booty tutorial
Do you know what would be nice? Since we know about the secondary Deflector coming on the anniversary-ship, it would be nice to have a functional Deflector Duty Officer, these can reduce the cooldown on Gravity-Well, but not on Tachyon-Beam 1 or Energy-Syphon 1 (I tried to find a cheap Boff-ability to increase the proc-rate on my Fleet Ar'kif).
You can also see the bug in this topic (first post #1), I tried it on Holodeck yesterday and looked through all Tribble-Patchnotes since the 10th January to see if it was fixed. At least I didn't find any notes of a fix.
You give us a nice shiney toy for the new Science-Destroyer, but the one thing that would make it perfect is broken.
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
If I have to grind to get these ships, I'm not getting. I'm happy with my current ridiculously built fleet/borg/dyson or nukara ships right now.