Really, though, does it make sense that a newbie captain flying a Miranda could outfight a Slavemaster-class battleship? Or last more than a few seconds against a Tethys? Downgrading those ships made sense to me - and you'll notice that even when the Starfleet battlegroup shows up to help, that Undine frigate's no pushover...
As for a battle in a cave in the tutorial, no, I don't recall that. Maybe it was in beta or something. It used to be that you fought your way through the Khitomer, got back to your ship to find you were the senior surviving officer, fought a few Borg ships near Vega IX, beamed down to the colony to rescue a few civilians from being assimilated, took out some weird Borg structure on the surface, then went back to your ship to take out a Sphere or two and a Cube (with lots of help, of course); at that point Quinn would contact you and tell you to return to ESD. Personally, I think the new tutorial has a better flow, and doesn't have Quinn taking a personal interest in you until you get the refugees from Vega IX back to ESD. YMMV, of course.
Did a few more missions last night. The facility at the Paulson Nebula is smaller, but actually looks Klingon. I also liked the fact that when you blew up the Gorn jamming station near the decalithium mine, you could actually watch the staff escaping in smaller vessels - anything that makes my Starfleet officer feel like less of a mass murderer is appreciated.
The Bomari facility is smaller, too, but it makes sense - it's a small spy outpost, not a major KDF installation. Interestingly, there are a few lines toward the end that may be foreshadowing an end to the war with the Klingons (specifically, Flores' lines when the Undine is revealed, and your farewell to the Klingon that lets you go). I also appreciated the bit where you had to tune around to see what transmissions were being forwarded by the listening stations (one either sportscast or personal letter, one Ferengi placing an order to restock his shop, and the actual classified transmission). The flow into the Kassae mission was nice too.
I did hit a graphical glitch at the Kassae II station; when entering the first corridor, the background disappeared, and I could see everyone within visual range, even on the other side of a wall, but not the walls, floors, or other inanimate targets. Activating underwater view didn't help, either. I eventually fumbled my way through, rescuing the three scientists, and went to Kassae IV. It looks more like an actual swampy area now, with trees and stuff; in keeping with the new design philosophy, there aren't a bunch of wandering-monster encounters, although the groups around each shield tower seem to be just as tough as before. (Amusingly, now each time a tower goes down you intercept increasingly irritated messages from the Gorn commander.)
I stopped at the end of Kassae, because I was starting to get a lot of rubberbanding during the last fight, and with my computer that's usually a sign that the processor is overheating.
1. Really, though, does it make sense that a newbie captain flying a Miranda could outfight a Slavemaster-class battleship? Or last more than a few seconds against a Tethys? Downgrading those ships made sense to me - and you'll notice that even when the Starfleet battlegroup shows up to help, that Undine frigate's no pushover...
2. As for a battle in a cave in the tutorial, no, I don't recall that.
1. Part of the reason for a battleship is that an Orion queen is meant to be turning up, and well, a few corvettes don't really meet that standard IMO. (I should have mentioned that first time...) As we both questioned, it doesn't particularly make sense as its just a small freighter, why bring a battleship at all...
Tethys dreadnought - it was hinted to play defensively, rather than trying to actively take it down, and when help shows up then start attacking. Its there to show off the Undine, who are supposed to be quite a potent threat. This time around it didn't feel like that, but it did before.
2. Probably just my memory mixing something else then...
Edit - Now done the Lackey and Bomari missions - vastly improved over previous - the Klingon wall textures for the bases make for far better immersion, and the flow/logic of the story makes far more sense.
Am I the only one who thinks they missed an opportunity to also get Gates McFadden involved? Flying that close to a star was an opportunity to bring in Beverly Crusher and her experience with metaphasic shielding. She was the one who backed Dr Reyga, the Ferengi who invented it, when everyone else in the scientific community thought it was nonsense, and even used it herself to prove it worked. She also utilized it against the Rogue Borg led by Lore when their ship chased the Enterprise-D into a star's corona. At the very least she and those experiences could have gotten some mention.
The "updated" Federation missions are a definite improvement. I think a lot of other missions (Romulan and Cardassian fronts) could use a similar treatment if there's time before the next season.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
Decided to try the 'Tour the Galaxy' since it's been made into a daily. Wow was I disappointed. Even with max Driver Coil and Assimilated Mk XII impulse engines, I couldn't complete it in the 15 minute time frame. I got to Gamma Orionis and my time ran out. At least the way it was before, I could complete it. I think the time needs an extension to at least 30 minutes. 15 is too short to get to each sector.
Decided to try the 'Tour the Galaxy' since it's been made into a daily. Wow was I disappointed. Even with max Driver Coil and Assimilated Mk XII impulse engines, I couldn't complete it in the 15 minute time frame. I got to Gamma Orionis and my time ran out. At least the way it was before, I could complete it. I think the time needs an extension to at least 30 minutes. 15 is too short to get to each sector.
Maybe you need to try an alternative route, with Driver Coil at 6 and Assimilated Engines, I could do it few times between 13-14 minutes.
It's a bit tight but feasible (if you use Borg engines, slipstream, driver coil).
PS
The Obelisk Subspace Rift Warp Core with 50% cooldown reduction on slipstream helps.
(Going live soon) Load-outs allow you to set up pre-set builds for each of your ships (two slots are provided for free on each ship, and additional load-out slots may be purchased in the C-Store). When you swap to a different ship, it will remember the load-out you left it in, and you can swap to a different saved load-out if you choose."
AWESOME! i suggested this months ago on the forum well.. not the c-store bit but you guys do i have to make money i suppose
1. Part of the reason for a battleship is that an Orion queen is meant to be turning up, and well, a few corvettes don't really meet that standard IMO. (I should have mentioned that first time...) As we both questioned, it doesn't particularly make sense as its just a small freighter, why bring a battleship at all...
Tethys dreadnought - it was hinted to play defensively, rather than trying to actively take it down, and when help shows up then start attacking. Its there to show off the Undine, who are supposed to be quite a potent threat. This time around it didn't feel like that, but it did before.
2. Probably just my memory mixing something else then...
Edit - Now done the Lackey and Bomari missions - vastly improved over previous - the Klingon wall textures for the bases make for far better immersion, and the flow/logic of the story makes far more sense.
Feds in a cave? No. I don't remember that. Now Romulans in the cave, yes I remember that one.
_____
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
Treasure Trading Station is shorter than it used to be, but all the encounters are still there - just less pointless wandering about. Also, in the bar fight, there's an option for Tac captains to beam in additional security personnel to stop the fight before it starts, so I didn't have to start throwing photon grenades and using my plasma pulsewave on a bunch of belligerent drunks.
The Briar Patch still has pockets of metreon gas crowding the place, and sometimes apparently just popping up at random, so FAW is still ill-advised unless you have superior spatial awareness, but other than that the only change is that it's organized in a less spread-out fashion, so you're less likely to lose the weapons platforms in the scrum. The installation in the big rock donut did disappoint me mildly; only two of the special torpedoes have crews working on them that you have to defeat, and I only had one group of Klingons beam in while I was downloading the data. On the other hand, having to issue the order to set off the charges was a nice touch, and I didn't need special speed boosts to catch the fleeing Klingon ships. Also, at the very beginning I saw the clearest indication so far of dialog changes to indicate you're in charge - Flores tells you about some aspects of flight through the Patch, to which your reply is, "Your concerns are noted." (Also, Sci captains can figure out a way to filter the metreon particles so they can use full impulse in the cloud, apparently.)
Rescuing the Boyce is simpler than it used to be - I only had to activate three solar power collectors, and defeat two combat groups. Warping in to accompany the T'Pau to Xarentine, again there were only two battle groups - but I had a harder time with the first group than usual, because I'd neglected to put my torpedoes back on autofire after leaving the Briar Patch, and it turns out that Aceton Assimilators can only be destroyed by torpedoes. The second combat group was Klingon, in keeping with the fact that you're fighting a mix of Gorn and Klink troops on the ground mission. Also, now instead of a beamdown point that is for some reason a slog away from your destination, you beam into the hospital itself - which has been at least partly taken over by the raiders. And the big Gorn in charge seems to know you...
There's also the interesting note that Xarentine isn't in Fed space, so the Fed laws against genetic modification don't apply, which seems to be why the Gorn hit it - they were looking for data on the Augmentation process. (Dun dun duuuuuunn!! Foreshadowing!)
Tonight I did the mission to board the Axon, and the beginning of Drozana Station. Neither has been changed recently. I'm going to stop updating these until I get to the next mission with changes.
Nice update. Havent played any of the old episodes, but I have a few suggestions.
Im playing through the romulan storyline episodes. You might like to add a comment section on each and every episode in game. A "like" or "meh " or "dontlike " buttons. That way you guys get instant feedback on whats cool or not.
I like the Tuvok storyline. Impressive and immersive.
Can we figure out a way to sell the tribbles we pick up. I had to discard like 20 yesterday.
All in all, great job guys.
"Resistance is futile" bham i blow the cube up. Love my science vessel.
Whether you think you are right or wrong, either way you are RIGHT.
Ran "The Ultimate Klingon" last night. I don't really remember it that well from before, for some reason, but I do know there are a few differences. For instance, in the facility where you're rescuing Chirurgeon P'trell, there are a couple of other researchers you save on the way in (one of the Klingons is using a pressure chamber to interrogate them); they give you some info on what's going on as well. There's also new dialog on the way in, as well as several dialog choices when you get to Amar Singh's hidden facility (you can choose the exact method you're going to use to catch him at the end; I went with having my ship stand by to intercept and counter any transportation attempts, but there are other choices as well. Also, your crew talks with you more on the way in).
Additionally, on that last planet, the area you beam into is of course still covered with snow and ice - but now it's not just a background detail. Instead, it can actually affect how both you and the enemy move; any area in shadow is also coated with ice, so when you take your finger off the movement key, you continue to slide for a short distance. This also means they can't stop easily, which can be used to your advantage in combat, as it's harder for them to dodge.
STO has been working quight well with new ideas and bringing in people like Mike and Tim. I am pleased to see them in the game.
I how ever feel that work with Cardassian, Jem'Hadar, Vath, and Changelings could be branched into the playable race frame.
Cardassia as we know has a bit of a civil war going on as far as the True Way and the Cardassian Democracy. I feel that Garak could be asked to even play a mission in STO as he was the man who HELPED Cardassia to become it democracy that it is today.
We also have the Gama and Alpha Jem'Hadar... This could become something in time. Vath and Changeling as well could be a thing to look at.
Cardassian play race is much more plausible then any race that STO could bring to us. they have about the same issue as the Romulans do. STO would have to do some Cardassian work on some new Cardassian ships yes but I feel that to bring in more to the game it would honor most DS-9 fans.
Comments
As for a battle in a cave in the tutorial, no, I don't recall that. Maybe it was in beta or something. It used to be that you fought your way through the Khitomer, got back to your ship to find you were the senior surviving officer, fought a few Borg ships near Vega IX, beamed down to the colony to rescue a few civilians from being assimilated, took out some weird Borg structure on the surface, then went back to your ship to take out a Sphere or two and a Cube (with lots of help, of course); at that point Quinn would contact you and tell you to return to ESD. Personally, I think the new tutorial has a better flow, and doesn't have Quinn taking a personal interest in you until you get the refugees from Vega IX back to ESD. YMMV, of course.
Did a few more missions last night. The facility at the Paulson Nebula is smaller, but actually looks Klingon. I also liked the fact that when you blew up the Gorn jamming station near the decalithium mine, you could actually watch the staff escaping in smaller vessels - anything that makes my Starfleet officer feel like less of a mass murderer is appreciated.
The Bomari facility is smaller, too, but it makes sense - it's a small spy outpost, not a major KDF installation. Interestingly, there are a few lines toward the end that may be foreshadowing an end to the war with the Klingons (specifically, Flores' lines when the Undine is revealed, and your farewell to the Klingon that lets you go). I also appreciated the bit where you had to tune around to see what transmissions were being forwarded by the listening stations (one either sportscast or personal letter, one Ferengi placing an order to restock his shop, and the actual classified transmission). The flow into the Kassae mission was nice too.
I did hit a graphical glitch at the Kassae II station; when entering the first corridor, the background disappeared, and I could see everyone within visual range, even on the other side of a wall, but not the walls, floors, or other inanimate targets. Activating underwater view didn't help, either. I eventually fumbled my way through, rescuing the three scientists, and went to Kassae IV. It looks more like an actual swampy area now, with trees and stuff; in keeping with the new design philosophy, there aren't a bunch of wandering-monster encounters, although the groups around each shield tower seem to be just as tough as before. (Amusingly, now each time a tower goes down you intercept increasingly irritated messages from the Gorn commander.)
I stopped at the end of Kassae, because I was starting to get a lot of rubberbanding during the last fight, and with my computer that's usually a sign that the processor is overheating.
1. Part of the reason for a battleship is that an Orion queen is meant to be turning up, and well, a few corvettes don't really meet that standard IMO. (I should have mentioned that first time...) As we both questioned, it doesn't particularly make sense as its just a small freighter, why bring a battleship at all...
Tethys dreadnought - it was hinted to play defensively, rather than trying to actively take it down, and when help shows up then start attacking. Its there to show off the Undine, who are supposed to be quite a potent threat. This time around it didn't feel like that, but it did before.
2. Probably just my memory mixing something else then...
Edit - Now done the Lackey and Bomari missions - vastly improved over previous - the Klingon wall textures for the bases make for far better immersion, and the flow/logic of the story makes far more sense.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Maybe you need to try an alternative route, with Driver Coil at 6 and Assimilated Engines, I could do it few times between 13-14 minutes.
It's a bit tight but feasible (if you use Borg engines, slipstream, driver coil).
PS
The Obelisk Subspace Rift Warp Core with 50% cooldown reduction on slipstream helps.
"Load-outs
(Going live soon) Load-outs allow you to set up pre-set builds for each of your ships (two slots are provided for free on each ship, and additional load-out slots may be purchased in the C-Store). When you swap to a different ship, it will remember the load-out you left it in, and you can swap to a different saved load-out if you choose."
AWESOME! i suggested this months ago on the forum
Feds in a cave? No. I don't remember that. Now Romulans in the cave, yes I remember that one.
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
Treasure Trading Station is shorter than it used to be, but all the encounters are still there - just less pointless wandering about. Also, in the bar fight, there's an option for Tac captains to beam in additional security personnel to stop the fight before it starts, so I didn't have to start throwing photon grenades and using my plasma pulsewave on a bunch of belligerent drunks.
The Briar Patch still has pockets of metreon gas crowding the place, and sometimes apparently just popping up at random, so FAW is still ill-advised unless you have superior spatial awareness, but other than that the only change is that it's organized in a less spread-out fashion, so you're less likely to lose the weapons platforms in the scrum. The installation in the big rock donut did disappoint me mildly; only two of the special torpedoes have crews working on them that you have to defeat, and I only had one group of Klingons beam in while I was downloading the data. On the other hand, having to issue the order to set off the charges was a nice touch, and I didn't need special speed boosts to catch the fleeing Klingon ships. Also, at the very beginning I saw the clearest indication so far of dialog changes to indicate you're in charge - Flores tells you about some aspects of flight through the Patch, to which your reply is, "Your concerns are noted." (Also, Sci captains can figure out a way to filter the metreon particles so they can use full impulse in the cloud, apparently.)
Rescuing the Boyce is simpler than it used to be - I only had to activate three solar power collectors, and defeat two combat groups. Warping in to accompany the T'Pau to Xarentine, again there were only two battle groups - but I had a harder time with the first group than usual, because I'd neglected to put my torpedoes back on autofire after leaving the Briar Patch, and it turns out that Aceton Assimilators can only be destroyed by torpedoes. The second combat group was Klingon, in keeping with the fact that you're fighting a mix of Gorn and Klink troops on the ground mission. Also, now instead of a beamdown point that is for some reason a slog away from your destination, you beam into the hospital itself - which has been at least partly taken over by the raiders. And the big Gorn in charge seems to know you...
There's also the interesting note that Xarentine isn't in Fed space, so the Fed laws against genetic modification don't apply, which seems to be why the Gorn hit it - they were looking for data on the Augmentation process. (Dun dun duuuuuunn!! Foreshadowing!)
Im playing through the romulan storyline episodes. You might like to add a comment section on each and every episode in game. A "like" or "meh " or "dontlike " buttons. That way you guys get instant feedback on whats cool or not.
I like the Tuvok storyline. Impressive and immersive.
Can we figure out a way to sell the tribbles we pick up. I had to discard like 20 yesterday.
All in all, great job guys.
"Resistance is futile" bham i blow the cube up. Love my science vessel.
Additionally, on that last planet, the area you beam into is of course still covered with snow and ice - but now it's not just a background detail. Instead, it can actually affect how both you and the enemy move; any area in shadow is also coated with ice, so when you take your finger off the movement key, you continue to slide for a short distance. This also means they can't stop easily, which can be used to your advantage in combat, as it's harder for them to dodge.
Small improvements, but improvements nonetheless.
I how ever feel that work with Cardassian, Jem'Hadar, Vath, and Changelings could be branched into the playable race frame.
Cardassia as we know has a bit of a civil war going on as far as the True Way and the Cardassian Democracy. I feel that Garak could be asked to even play a mission in STO as he was the man who HELPED Cardassia to become it democracy that it is today.
We also have the Gama and Alpha Jem'Hadar... This could become something in time. Vath and Changeling as well could be a thing to look at.
Cardassian play race is much more plausible then any race that STO could bring to us. they have about the same issue as the Romulans do. STO would have to do some Cardassian work on some new Cardassian ships yes but I feel that to bring in more to the game it would honor most DS-9 fans.