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wildmousex
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
-TL/DR provided at bottom for the young shats-
I've been a lifer since it was first offered during the open beta phase, and have played this game backwards and forwards enjoying every minute of it. I stood beside Cryptic from day one, and think they did a fantastic job considering the situations caused by Atari. I've spent more money on this game then any other (avg $60/year on top of my sub and my 5 pre-launch copies), and expect I will end up spending more if they keep on stepping it up from LoR.
but the fact of the matter is, it's never really been able to keep my interest for more then 6-10 weeks at a time. it's always just been way too simplistic, do all the missions, then nothing but a pew,pew,pew grind until the next season is released. So I find myself coming in, doing the new missions, then leaving once I get them all done.
In my bouncing around trying to find a space based game to play in between seasons, I did a bit of the SW:TOR only to reject that since there is no stars, no wars, and sure as heck no wars in the stars. Currently I'm on my second week of EvEOnline, and while I do find it lacking in areas as well, some of the many things they did get right can be looked at for improvements here.
specifically when looking at how they did exploration. In eve you have to launch probes, then bring up the map , position them around the system, do a scan to see all of the anomalies, and then moves the probes into tighter and tighter circles focusing on them one at a time.
this could so work in STO when we are out in the exploration zones. - have a mini game where we scan down anomalies, fly to them, complete a mini mission ( provide resources, diplomacy, stop an attack, respond to a distress call, discover new world, and so on) - fly back out and scan down another one.
-TL/DR - look at exploration in Eve, for improvements to make to exploration here.
I've been a lifer since it was first offered during the open beta phase, and have played this game backwards and forwards enjoying every minute of it. I stood beside Cryptic from day one, and think they did a fantastic job considering the situations caused by Atari. I've spent more money on this game then any other (avg $60/year on top of my sub and my 5 pre-launch copies), and expect I will end up spending more if they keep on stepping it up from LoR.
but the fact of the matter is, it's never really been able to keep my interest for more then 6-10 weeks at a time. it's always just been way too simplistic, do all the missions, then nothing but a pew,pew,pew grind until the next season is released. So I find myself coming in, doing the new missions, then leaving once I get them all done.
In my bouncing around trying to find a space based game to play in between seasons, I did a bit of the SW:TOR only to reject that since there is no stars, no wars, and sure as heck no wars in the stars. Currently I'm on my second week of EvEOnline, and while I do find it lacking in areas as well, some of the many things they did get right can be looked at for improvements here.
specifically when looking at how they did exploration. In eve you have to launch probes, then bring up the map , position them around the system, do a scan to see all of the anomalies, and then moves the probes into tighter and tighter circles focusing on them one at a time.
this could so work in STO when we are out in the exploration zones. - have a mini game where we scan down anomalies, fly to them, complete a mini mission ( provide resources, diplomacy, stop an attack, respond to a distress call, discover new world, and so on) - fly back out and scan down another one.
-TL/DR - look at exploration in Eve, for improvements to make to exploration here.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
Post edited by wildmousex on
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That said, I do like EVE's exploration mechanic, and something like that wouldn't go amiss in this game too. In essence, that type of process is what's being abstracted as your V scanner, but I wouldn't have minded more of a mini-game to it.
Why do you want us chasing comets?
Trek never had exploration, they had Adventures
Indeed.
You know those captain's logs at the beginning of the episode, which sets up for the adventure? That's Trek's exploration. You know how you do that in STO?
DOFF's.
You are an admiral. You don't go out and scan anomalies and random space plants. That's something for puny LT's. You sit in your flagship (whichever ship an admiral is in is a flagship, technically) and tell others to go out and do that junk. When something exciting happens, that's when you rush in and take credit.
Not all admirals sat at their desk on a starbase all day, especially during a war. Look at Admiral Ross. When the big battles came, he took orders from the higher brass, got in a ship, and led the assault. And he wasn't directing each ship individually, either. He told the captains their general objectives, and then trusted them with the carrying-out of them. When situations changed, he changed his orders.
Hm...maybe STO has its story-gameplay interaction down better than we like to give it credit for.
Also, the Exploration missions, appropriate for low-level characters, do a good job of approximating Trek exploration. Go to system, scan junk, maybe fight some baddies if they mess with you. Kirk had a five-year mission; we saw maybe a few months of it, spread over three of those years.
That is actually very, very accurate.
Obviously the word "exploration" is used as a euphemism in the context of a sci-fi show. I'm sure there is a huge amount of stuff that could be done with exploration, e.g. "... for KDF for instance, I would like to see a friendly Bat'leth or unharmed competition... or something bard-related like putting pieces of an epic tale together and crafting a lost legend... or what about survival camp: random missions of exploration could have "first contact" flavour for FED, "espionage" for ROM and "survival-fauna confronting-resource gathering" flavour for KDF!
What the heck, If I stayed here a day I could build up a list as long as a Ferengi's greed". Just at the top of my mind, really the possibilities are many.
On a note, I think the devs have said in some occasions that the Foundry was to be a first way to squeeze "exploration" into the game, while they were busy taking care of all the rest. And that certainly makes sense, with the Foundry you can add whatever you want, period... but obviously I would like to see mechanics more integrated within the game and the character development, and with a level of consistence and polishness that only the devs can give you.
I agree. Yes, the doffs cover that, although I would still like a nice beef-up/revamp/expansion of exploration in which I could personally stick my nose into, maybe even if it involves revamping the doffs themselves, somehow...
Anyway, it would be great to have something exciting and Trek-like to do besides waging war, being dragged into it or saving the galaxy from the biggest threat ever (which is all good, for the regular episode content). That would give me a huge nice reason to keep playing the game even more in between the release of the new episodes.
No one is forcing you to chase commets if you don't want to, but this type of gameplay should be availible for people that would enjoy that sort of thing.
This makes absolutely no sense at all. So instead of actually playing the game of exploration and enjoying myslef in the time I spare for STO, I should send Doffs around so they can experience the exploaration elements instead of me? :rolleyes:
Take distress calls, like the OP mentioned. Imagine getting the receiving end of a surprise attack. Engines damaged. Can't warp out. You send a distress signal. For who? Other players who might be in the area. If someone is nearby, and if they can get to you in time, you might survive. Players helping other players. Who knows. Maybe one player comes to the rescue. Maybe 10. Maybe no one. Players that show up might get an accolade or bonus of some kind for helping out. If you get killed, you wind up way back at ESD. No respawning on the same map.
It doesn't even have to be an attack. Maybe some radiation or an unexpected solar flare screws up you sensors or engines and you need a tow, or a jump. Maybe you can fix it. If no one responds to your distress signal, you can hail Starfleet and wait for their assistance. If that takes too long, or they can't get to your location for some reason, take a shuttle out to a nearby colony or search for ships to get parts or whatever.
This wouldn't necessarily happen every day you're playing STO. It would be random. Maybe once a week. Maybe 3 times. The point is, you're exploring and not knowing what will happen next. And the result is real adventure. Not monotonous queued events.
All of this is cool,
the player-player interaction is a dream I think, but still the kind of random mission which has your ship stranded and the need for you to go look for help and try and find it in planets, other npc ships etc. is great and not at all very hard to implement.
Obviously it will never be done until they have the time and manpower to beef up explorations this way.
Bottom line, let's keep discussing it and showing interest! They will eventually pick up the large number of players asking for this kind of stuff and they will feel secure to put resources on developing it!
Let's wait with fingers crossed, YAY!
While I can't make it random, I have a foundry project in the works which is based around being stuck due to somekind of technical problem ( maybe sabotage if i feel like adding combat to the mission) and you can use diplomacy or your firepower to obtain the materials you need to get back to a federation starbase for proper repairs ( of course the players hero crew have already fixed it all, but the space dockers want to look it over anyway)
I know i'll never be able to achieve a developers level of polished work, and my choice of environments are limited, I think this is an area for a mission that could be very much enjoyed by a portion of the player base.
I'll do the best I can since theres no cryptic mission for it, I have long seen the foundry as a way to make the content you want in the game thats missing
Great, look forward to playing your mission!
No, exploration was what ARCHER did. Ya know going out into the beyond, mingling, dropping down into plantes to observe without contaminating, checking out BEAUTIFUL stellar anomlies, super novas, charting.
Hey maybe some of us want to go out into the great beyond and go see what's out there. Grab my vesta and just go on a voyage and send back what I learn.
Sure some of us want 'adventure' of going here, saving the day, blowing stuff up and getting their names plastered in lights as a hero.
Some us like me, want to go find something utterly and completely new and go down in the history books as the greatest explorer of my age. Sorry had enough of go here, drop some supplies and that's my first contact in delta v.
I want to go out into deep space and go find something new. Luckily, Star citizen will pander to that vice. If I want to blow stuff into dust bunnies well STO is mindless enough for that. Unless something changes.
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
^^Absolutely this!!!^^
This is what I'm looking for. To take my exploration cruiser or Vesta into the great beyond and discover all kinds of new things.
Personally they should have implemented this into the DOFF system, but possibly allowed you to use your BOFFS too. One of the things that's always nagged me(though it's a game, and it makes it a playable game) is that your Captain goes on every single away mission in the game, which would never happen. Maybe the last major step of an exploration system where you meet/conduct diplomacy with new speciies would involve your Captain beaming down and completing talks with them, but I think most of the more necessary steps to welcoming a new ally, or signing a treaty with a species would involve sendiing members of your crew, or special members you picked up at the nearest starbase to the planet to initiate diplomacy.
I thought WoW's forums had angry elitist snobs, but I never could have imagined the level STO forums has.
I must of missed the Animal Planet Trek Episode, where Nothing tried to kill Archer, or they were not telling stores about something more interesting while they were doing something boring like exploring
My character Tsin'xing
this brings up even more ideas here - specifically enterprises second episode where they are on the planet with the psychoactive pollen that was making everyone go crazy..... you beam down and start scanning and all of a sudden all your boff's have gone nuts - so you have to them scan them, with a little puzzle mini game to figure out what settings on your hyperspray will fix them.
same thing can be done on the ship when finding wormholes, nebula's, or other stuff that has happened on the show. once you scan the anomaly it kicks you to your bridge and people are nuts, weird vapor beings attacking everyone - - maybe a copy of your ship comes out and attacks you - - there are alot of things that can be shoeholed into a new system.
Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
You actually take Enterprise seriously. For that, you have my deepest respects.
As for the exploration part, I think this is where the Foundry should come in. As Cryptic is limited in how many different types of missions can be made while being paid by the hour, Foundry authors have, and will continue to, demonstrated that they can create amazing, creative and unique missions that best even the greatest of Cryptic's story missions.
Problem is, Cryptic is jelly and doesn't want Foundry authors to succeed in trumping their hard work. So the Foundry remains at the bottom of the fix-it list, and we won't ever get the number of interested and patient Foundry authors needed to create these missions; and thus, we won't get true player exploration via the Foundry.
Missing the good ol' days of PvP: Legacy of Romulus to Season 9
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I do like the idea of including foundry missions into the exploration system, provided they make sense there... a foundry mission based on Vulcan wouldn't make sense to get when you are out in exploration space.
I don't think Cryptic is anti foundry because they don't want to be out done, They do have limited resources and spending those on revamping foundry takes away from new season content, bug fixing, balancing, and so on. We are just now seeing big steps being made on on fixing things that the Atari deal screwed up - foundry was added as more of an afterthought during the period after Atari bailed and they didn't have enough people in house to keep up with the demands of the players.
Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU