test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Factions
flash525
Member Posts: 5,441 Arc User
I know this is a subject that I have touched on before, but I'm taking another crack at it. Every couple of weeks (in some cases, a little longer) someone will post a thread, much like this one, about new factions.
Aside from the Cardassian (and Dominion), there are two other factions that appear to crop up from time to time. One is a Borg Faction (or, more to the point, a Liberated Borg Faction) and the other is a Mercenary Faction. I should note here that I am against a Mercenary Faction; I just don't think the ends will justify the means, and it wouldn't be utilized by enough people to warrant the work going into it.
I would, and always have supported a Cardassian faction, although I don't think the game would do well having another faction thrown into the mix. Why? The simple answer is a diluted playerbase. Most people play as Federation, and I'd be willing to bet there are more Romulan characters/players out there than there are Klingon too. I wouldn't want to further dilute the playerbase by adding a 4th faction, whether it's within the alliance system or not.
What I propose is that the Republic be reworked (from the ground up) to incorporate a like minded group of Cardassians who merely want to exist and live in relative peace.
Let us take a look at what we've got, and what we could have:
Said proposal would start in the character creator, you choosing a species to play as. Depending on your selection, you'd start within the Romulan Tutorial and follow through with the early Republic missions, or you'd get a Cardassian Tutorial and a selection of Cardassian missions.
The Republic can keep Mol'rhian, the Cardassians can have their own planet. The two however would fall under one complete, independent faction with their own fleet system, their own fleet weapons, their own campaign etc.
#####
What about the Liberated Borg you might ask? Well this one is quite simple really. Place a full set of Liberated Boffs on the C-Store (or a Liberated Boff purchasable token) enabling Liberated characters to get themselves a crew.
Each Liberated Character would start in a Borg Interceptor/Probe (until level #10, at which point they'd acquire a Sphere). Said Sphere, per every #10 levels would get an automatic upgrade. I don't really want players flying around in a Borg Cube, though the Sphere is a fair enough compromise. Have a ship (rather than a weapon) that levels with the player. Upon level #10, said player can go somewhere (Memory Alpha maybe?) and pay x4 Fleet Ship Modules for their Sphere to be upgraded to Fleet Level.
And there you have it; the Liberated Borg Faction solved. Just enable Liberated characters for existing factions, maybe slightly tweaking the Tutorial so that it reflects their status.
Aside from the Cardassian (and Dominion), there are two other factions that appear to crop up from time to time. One is a Borg Faction (or, more to the point, a Liberated Borg Faction) and the other is a Mercenary Faction. I should note here that I am against a Mercenary Faction; I just don't think the ends will justify the means, and it wouldn't be utilized by enough people to warrant the work going into it.
I would, and always have supported a Cardassian faction, although I don't think the game would do well having another faction thrown into the mix. Why? The simple answer is a diluted playerbase. Most people play as Federation, and I'd be willing to bet there are more Romulan characters/players out there than there are Klingon too. I wouldn't want to further dilute the playerbase by adding a 4th faction, whether it's within the alliance system or not.
What I propose is that the Republic be reworked (from the ground up) to incorporate a like minded group of Cardassians who merely want to exist and live in relative peace.
Let us take a look at what we've got, and what we could have:
- The Federation; a coalition of Planets all working toward peace, science and exploration.
- The Klingon Defense Force; an alliance of pirates, smugglers and warriors, working toward war and mischief.
- For what little it may be worth, I'd be tempted to rename the KDF to the IDF; Imperial Defense Force is more prudent considering the Defense Force doesn't consists of only Klingons.
- A Refugee Coalition (of sorts); your Romulans, Remans, Cardassians forming the core of this faction, with the Suliban, Acamarian, rogue Jem Hadar and maybe Bajoran (or Bajoran-Cardassian Hybrids) as the lesser. There is potential to throw a handful of other species in here, but we'll keep the list short for now.
Said proposal would start in the character creator, you choosing a species to play as. Depending on your selection, you'd start within the Romulan Tutorial and follow through with the early Republic missions, or you'd get a Cardassian Tutorial and a selection of Cardassian missions.
The Republic can keep Mol'rhian, the Cardassians can have their own planet. The two however would fall under one complete, independent faction with their own fleet system, their own fleet weapons, their own campaign etc.
#####
What about the Liberated Borg you might ask? Well this one is quite simple really. Place a full set of Liberated Boffs on the C-Store (or a Liberated Boff purchasable token) enabling Liberated characters to get themselves a crew.
Each Liberated Character would start in a Borg Interceptor/Probe (until level #10, at which point they'd acquire a Sphere). Said Sphere, per every #10 levels would get an automatic upgrade. I don't really want players flying around in a Borg Cube, though the Sphere is a fair enough compromise. Have a ship (rather than a weapon) that levels with the player. Upon level #10, said player can go somewhere (Memory Alpha maybe?) and pay x4 Fleet Ship Modules for their Sphere to be upgraded to Fleet Level.
And there you have it; the Liberated Borg Faction solved. Just enable Liberated characters for existing factions, maybe slightly tweaking the Tutorial so that it reflects their status.
Post edited by flash525 on
0
Comments
I oppose a playable Cardassian faction entirely, and have given my reasons for that previously, but I am well aware that some of you will continue to agitate for one and propose all manner of means of getting one. I obviously cannot stop Cryptic from making a Cardassian faction, if they ever choose to do so (and, frankly, although I oppose the idea, I've said what I have to say about that already, and don't feel like rehashing the same thing over and over again, so I might re-post those objections if they ever seriously propose creating a Cardassian faction, but I won't belabor the point). However, I will vehemently oppose the suggestion of lumping the Cardassians together with the Romulan faction. If you guys are so dead set on having a Cardassian faction, then you'll have to wait your turn, and not try to ride the coattails of the Romulan faction, hindering any progress toward what the Romulan faction should be, and needs to be.
The Romulan faction should be, and needs to be, a distinct, sovereign, and independent faction, but that does not mean that the alliances cannot be retained (sovereign polities can have allies, after all). The Romulan faction does not need, contrariwise, to be made even more indistinct. And what would be the rationale, seriously? Just to enable those of you who want to play Cardassians to do so? That is of no relevance to any in-game rationale.
Romulans and Remans are not a gaggle of desperate refugees; Romulans and Remans have no "victim" mentality. Romulans and Remans have freed themselves from the domination of the corrupt and decadent Star Empire and repelled every attempt of the fascist secret police to use intimidation and terrorism in their efforts to replace the Star Empire as a new domination over the Romulan and Reman people. Remans have thrown off the shackles of slavery placed on them by the Star Empire. Romulans and Remans have their own homeworld. Romulans and Remans are prospering, and multiplying. Romulans and Remans do not need the Cardassians. Cardassia Prime and ch'Mol'Rihan are separated by a vast distance, and their territories are not adjacent, but interrupted by the territory of the United Federation of Planets. Romulans and Remans have nothing in common with Cardassians, in a cultural sense. No logical justification for such a union exists, in-universe.
No.
As for other factions I do support a non-True Way Cardassian faction because it gives them a valid excuse to bring in Andrew Robinson to reprise his role as Garak. I also wouldn't mind seeing a Ferengi based merchant/quasi-mercenary faction for the opportunity that it would give the devs to bring in a completely new style of game play.
No to borg ships period...(On the same note no to undine ships, seriously cryptic if you have a undine box just waiting for S9 to hit...dont ...just dont, replace it with any other ship)
Id be ok with more factions if having that faction actually brought something different to the game other then say ship skins. Romulans for example play distinctly different...what would cardassians bring that would set them apart?
This is completely untrue. There are numerous reasons why a Liberated Borg won't return to their people. Guilt, prejudice, everyone assimilated, and world destroyed are a few of the reasons why a Liberated Borg will join up with other Liberated Borg to create a faction.
There are already 3 Liberated Borg factions in Star Trek that we know of, the Borg Cooperative, Unimatrix Zero, and Hugh's group.
The Union is more or less a Federation protectorate, on a slow track to possible UFP membership.
To make a separate, playable faction would require a major shakeup in the storyline, in my opinion. Cryptic pretty much wrote themselves into a corner when it comes to the Cardies.
In the time of TNG, yes it will really untrue. But not in the time of STO.
In the time of TNG, there was no Liberated Borg to worry about. So a Liberated Borg's planet has been destroyed or they are almost killed by their own people because they rather survive than commit suicide, there is no other solution, but to join with a bunch of Liberated Borg that have underwent similar circumstances. Liberated Borg would be hunted down by numerous aliens that have been victimized by the Borg and want some payback. So they would join forces for protection if they have no one else. Assuming that all Liberated Borg can just go back to their homeworld and resume their life is incredibly shortsighted. A Liberated Borg faction is not really for Liberated Borg Human, Klingon, or Romulan where they can just go back to their homeworld, but for the Liberated Borg that can't go back or can't deal with their grief.
This is really untrue. You are denying everything confirmed in episodes as well.
Remaining Entities, Species [and] Territories
So in other words you'd like to take the half-done Romulans and turn them into a quarter-done mixed bag faction.
That sounds just...wrong.
There you go, a liberated Borg faction.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Ok, so tell me why this is untrue. And im not talking about the episodes. Of course there will be always mini-factions but in the same way, there will never be a liberated borg - faction. Cryptic said there will be NEVER EVER a liberated borg faction. Why i am denying everything confirmed in episodes?? you really think people care about the story of the episodes?? lol.....
I know it's not the most desired idea by any means, but I think it would be better than the alternative.
No. It's ridiculous and offensive, and would make the at least temporarily tolerable situation of the Romulans and Remans into an intolerable catch-all. We want full faction status. We do not want to become an eclectic mish-mash of every species which does not have its own faction that this or that player wishes to play. You might as well suggest a Pakled faction; it would be no less devoid of any palatable flavor! The only things the Cardassians have in common with the Romulans and Remans are that 1. each once had a nefarious organization of thugs endorsed by their respective governments who went about bullying the citizens and trying to start trouble with everyone else (Obsidian Order and Tal'Shiar), and 2. both are better off without those organizations. No.
The thing is that you intent to make 1/2 + 1/2 = 1. That's commendable.
But that only works if the two halves fit together. But when you throw such heterogenous groups together you end up with 1/2 X 1/2 = 1/4. So it gets only messier and not better.
One thing already missing from the existing factions is identity and flavour.
You propose to throw several different groups together so the result will be even less flavour and more some kind of grey pulp. Thus "1/4" and not "1".:(
This is the most sensible idea I've heard of.
I mean there are mercs out there and they are such an under used tool. Add in the remnants of the marquis, you got yourself an interesting story.
I for one pray for the day I can go renegade with a crew.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
I think that's because of how Cryptic is developong STO. They already mentioned that if ever there are any more factions, they'll follow the Romulan Republic's model.
A mercenary/renegade faction is suposed to be an unaligned independant faction at it's heart, I'd say even without a chain of command - where every player char. only takes care of him/herself and his/hers belongings.
That just doesn't fit in the current game meta. A faction like this would need to be stand-alone and Cryptic said they're never doing it again.
Because the Liberated Borg don't start remembering things and have a drive to go back to their people. It is not a gradual process. The Collective suppresses individual thought and memories and when that influence is removed, then they remember everything. Seven of Nine is an exception because she was a Borg for most of her life so it took a while for her to remember her past, but not everyone can remember what they did when they were 5.
Cryptic said they will never add a Borg faction, but they would like to do a Liberated Borg faction. Of course, since Romulans were made into a mini-faction, then all future factions will be mini-factions.
I would rather see 20 new FEs and 10 new STFs added to the game that everyone can enjoy rather then a Mercenary/Pirate or even Cardassian Faction full of Missions you can only play if you want to use the Faction.
The current player-base needs more Mission Content for all of us, not just some of us.
Don't you know the game is about me and what i want... MMO means Me Me online
"The most important person in the whole wide world is you and you hardly even know you."
I'd actually be okay with an independent/mercenary/traders/privateers faction.
But then that faction should actually BE about being independent of any actual government.
The idea presented here is clearly not that: it's "let's throw who's not Fed or KDF together".
You'd still be alligned with some form of government. Either Romulan, Cardassian or whatever ruling body a bunch of Lib-Borg colonies would form.
people have been asking for the cardies just as long as we asked for the rommies - I'ld fully expect that to be the next expansion.
I don't see the need to do a faction based on mercenaries and merchants... doesn't add anything to the star trek universe that isn't already there.... A more reasonable request would be to allow us to move characters from any faction over to a cross faction civilian level. - you get civilian ships to fly (which wouldn't be as good in combat as the military ones we get now), give them the ability to que for both sides of the STF's, and allows them to choose which side to fight for in PvP... but a faction tutorial, missions from level 1 -to even 20, and what not would be a waste of resources.
and there is already a Liberated Borg Faction - it's called Life Time Subscribers - gotta pay if you wanna play.
Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
I don't recall ever seeing any Dev stating categorically that there will never be a Liberated Borg faction.
They HAVE said that if they were to ever do one, that they would have to be Liberated Borg in the same sense that there are no true Tal Shiar players in the Romulan faction. No "bad guy" play.
They HAVE also said that any future factions will follow the Romulan model, to preserve the Red vs. Blue division.
And last I heard, they said there WOULD be another faction someday... though that's always subject to change. It was a massive undertaking for LoR and not one they're anxious to repeat soon. It will have to be part of a future expansion.
Nothing faction-wise has been ruled out and everything is on the table, as long as they can make it work with the Allegiance mechanism and cross-faction content.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Not cheap though
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Why?
Because Cryptic can't really support 2 factions, let alone 3+ factions.
They gimped Romulans by not allowing them access to T5 ships, though.
Of course, if I could get Superior Romulan Ops in my B'rel, plus Flanking? That would be sick.
Really, Romulans, how much less content would there be for Romulans if not for Starfleet & the KDF? Be serious.
And a Cardassian/Dominion/Lockbox faction (since the key ships are Lockbox faction)... that would be terrible unless they totally gimped the non-Lockbox Galor & JHAS & JHDread. Imagine what all the JHAS & Galor people would say if they gave out Galors & JHAS for free to Cardie players?
A Pirate faction would be so underplayed and underdeveloped, it wouldn't be funny.
IKS Korrasami (Fleet B'rel Bird of Prey Retrofit T5-U)
A Pirate faction would by definition be the "bad guys", so according to Cryptic's gameplay philosophy we'll never see it.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek