A post on this was done here
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=164407
I wanted to revisit this topic with my own thoughts on it.
I have 2 kdf characters that I really would play more if they were in the fed fleet I manage. Yes I could start a "sister" fleet on the kdf side, but I think there are already to many fleets and two it takes way to much time to level these fleets up, when you are not at max members. Like the original poster here[] I have thought it would be a nice thing to have in game to do. I would take a different approach to the actual defection and make it a mini-game, using a series of space and ground based missions that must be performed as a part of the defection.
Terms
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I use the following terms below
- Loyalist Faction: The faction your are going from, and the current faction that you belong to.
- Target Faction: The faction you are wanting to defect to.
defection features
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1) You can only select 1 ship to perform the defection in.
2) All of your other ships will be confiscated, as well as; EC, Fleet marks/credit, dylithium, your bank assets. You can only take what is in your characters inventory.
3) Not all of your crew will be going with you, so your defection is done with a limited crew size, reduces ship performance. This does not include bridge officers.
4) You become marked, at some point your ship and character gain a marker of a defector, visible to all. Once per day (the 20 hour cycle) your ship/character can get pulled into a PVP match by any in the faction you are defecting from. This makes the defection a hybrid PVE-PVP action.
5) each combat can cause systems to be damaged. Using the same system of damage as STF when you die, Just without the dying. This damage should persist unless you brought your own repairs
6) If caught your character is killed/imprisoned. yes the character is deleted. this must be made very clear to the player considering defection. The player that capture/kills you collects a bounty.
7) perhaps a chance of losing a bridge officer.
8) For Fed and KDF only. Rom characters would not need this as they could "Under orders from the Romulan Republic", switch sides...and honestly would this really surprise any kdf/fed people?
I would split the story arc for defection into various missions, I would also take some inspiration from "The Hunt for Red October".
1) Identification of co-conspirators - You will need a crew to perform the defection, which mean you have to weed out the undesirables. Ground mission to identify defection sympathizers. - Ground mission with a crew evaluation to determine how many you can keep. This would be a percentage of course, you don't really want to interview 3000 crew members. but for each
2) separation, once you know of who the sympathizers are you need to get rid of those that are not. I would start the mission at any of the cross faction starbases, or even vacation planets like Risa. This makes it easy to schedule shore leave and will get rid of them. this is when you gain your defector mark and is the point of no return.
3) Clean up, some of those loyalist will still be on your ship and will sabotage it and your defection. This would be another ground mission, but repeatable, searching the ship for the saboteur. If you do not find out who it is within a timer then they stay onboard during the rest of your missions
4) Escape 1, space combat. You need to contact the faction you are going to. A derelict deep space communication array can be found in the border of Klingon/Federation space. get to it and make contact. this would require a repair of the coms
5) Escape 2, ground combat - The coms array is more damage than you realized and you need to make repairs in person. The array is occupied by [random race]. fight them while making repairs.
6) Escape 3, space combat, You just finish make repairs and you have sent a signal. But a patrol of loyal faction ships have found you first. Fight them and escape.
7) Contact 1, space combat - A cryptic message has sent you to [random system, with movement impairment like the Briarpatch], upon arrival you fight a patrol of loyalist ships. A timer should start and for each X min a new patrol will arrive. Locate the message and escape.
8) Contact 2, ground mission, The message told you of a contact to meet at this location [random neutral system with a colony]. Get past the bounty hunters and make contact.
9) Contact 3, space combat, Meet your new target faction contact [different than the first one] at a [random system]. fight the loyalist patrol and speak with the contact. He will state he need more proof of your intent and will give you a test to prove your sincerity.
10) Test 1, space combat - You have been sent to [random system with colony] to recover/destroy - a contraband supply depot. Upon arrival fight Orion syndicate ships and make your way to the colony.
11) Test 2, ground combat - Fight past the Orions and tag/destroy the contraband. An optional may include capture of Orion leadership.
12) Test 3, space combat - Loyalist Faction ships warp in to stop you. Fight them and then get to the extraction point and warp away. Meet contact and complete test arc.
13) Making Friends, space combat - warp to the final system and wait for the target faction to arrive and escort you back. You will fight waves of loyalist ships until they show. clean-up any loyalist ships left and warp away with escorts. Meet [FED Admiral/KDF General] and give your oath to serve. Character is now a part of the new faction. Ship gains a USS/IKS marker, crew can now be fully restored. Say good bye to bridge officers that died during this.
...opinions?