Although there are plenty of lock box haters in the forums, I actually like the lock box system and buy many, many keys each year. That said, I would love to see the devs take a step back and consider a "mercenary" lock box using some of the mercenary stuff we've seen in the various Trek TV shows.
We could have an updated version of the Ferengi pirate ship (a corvette/escort) from the Enterprise episode "Acquisition" as the main lock box ship and Baran's mercenary vessel (a destroyer/cruiser) from TNG's "Gambit Part 1 and 2" as the Lobi store ship.
Part of the reason I'm suggesting these ships is because I love the mercenaries from the old Trek shows and because it seems realistic to assume the Lobi Consortium would have access to mercenary ships (certainly easier than reverse-engineering Undine bioships).
The Ferengi ship could have a special console that temporarily knocks out the crew on a target vessel (like the booby trap device in "Acquisition") ... so the crew level drops to zero and all BOff abilities are unavailable for a short period of time.
The larger mercenary ship from TNG could have a console that makes it temporarily invisible unless you are VERY close to the ship (even if the the enemy has buffed sensors or cloak detection consoles/BOff abilities). This would match how Baran's ship in "Gambit" had energy-absorbing material and a stealth mode that rendered the ship virtually undetectable to long-range sensors.
Put the two consoles together and you get a cooldown reduction on both consoles and your mercenary ship gets the raider flanking ability that the KDF raiders have.
Other mercenary lock box item ideas that would make sense:
A "neural servo" agonizer for a lobi store or lock box unique ground item that forces your away team BOff's to temporarily boost their DPS and instantly takes their ground abilities off of cooldown but reduces their health. (Essentially a ground device that causes pain to your away team and makes them fight harder.)
A lobi store ground weapon that is a copy of the Breen CRM-114 disruptor that Quark was selling in the DS9 episode "Business as Usual" ... not the CRM-200 cryo weapon currently in the game ... this is the ground cannon that was "guaranteed to penetrate reactive armor in the six to fifteen centimeter range and force fields up to 4.6 gigajoules."
A lock box unique DOff that buffs the "boarding party" ability from engineering BOffs so that using a boarding party earns you contraband (the higher the boarding party level the more contraband you get).
A lobi store unique BOff with a "bribe" trait/ability that is essentially identical to the "seduce" trait that Orion BOffs have ... that temporarily makes enemy ground targets betray their allies and start fighting with you. Or just give the unique mercenary BOff the seduce trait is it's too much trouble to make a "bribe" trait that is essentially identical.
In the immortal words of Captain Sisko: "It may not be what you believe, but that doesn't make it wrong."
Don't believe the lies in this forum. I am NOT an ARC user. I play STO on Steam or not at all.
Cryptic should add the Freelance faction for free.
Lockbox Item:
Transfer to Freelancer token - Used to allow the player to transfer any lockbox ship to a freelance character on the same account. Can be sold on the exchange for EC
Freelance faction grants access to all races associated with lockbox ships, as well as all existing races regardless of faction. Does not have access to factional ships. Want to be a Cardassian captain? Create a Freelance character, choose the Cardassian race, transfer your Galor Class, and there you go... Cardassian captain.
Freelance faction would have enough story missions to get the player to the point where the duty officer system opens up. Crew can be filled using ANY Doff, regardless of faction. Freelancers have access to ALL sectors. Freelancers cannot wear factional uniforms.
Freelancers can join any fleet, but cannot form their own fleet.
The freelancer faction makes sense with the end of the UFP/KDF war, thus potentially allowing anyone to work together with anyone else.
Accounts automatically would receive one Freelancer Faction character slot.
Freelancer professions would be Scientist, Engineer, Tactician
I think it would be better if the Freelancer token transferred your character to Freelancer.
I think a freelancer faction could work (though the devs would need to do a lot of work adding ships), but transferring characters couldn't. The devs have said that it's not possible.
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
Good idea. Although it's hard to take you seriously with your username...
The devs (and my fellow STO players) will just have to overlook my pesky forum name. The origin comes from my wife after she realized how much money I sink into this"free" game every month. She said, "This game is worse for you than crack."
In truth, she is right. I spend crazy hours in this game and if the devs check my account they would see that I personally put enough money in this game last year to pay half of a dev's salary for the year.
That doesn't mean the devs have to listen to my posts any more than anyone else here ... but at least you have the context behind my forum name.
If I hated PWE, Cryptic and STO I wouldn't invest so much time and money into it ... but my wife is probably right that it's still the "worst" for my bank account and personal life.
In the immortal words of Captain Sisko: "It may not be what you believe, but that doesn't make it wrong."
Don't believe the lies in this forum. I am NOT an ARC user. I play STO on Steam or not at all.
Well, that could work, too... It should be a one-way road though. Once you go freelancer you can never go back.
Plus, having a proper Cardassian race to select, and being able to transfer the Galor to that character (also a one-way deal) you get a true cardassian captain able to progress through.
In case there was any confusion, I was referring to the Freelancer game not a Freelancer faction.
Trolling implies intent to irritate other people. A joke is not some form of trolling. Besides, it would be fun to be able to transfer over our STO characters to Freelancer. Although, I suppose it is now called Star Citizen.
Comments
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Alien_Frigate
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Alien_Cruiser
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Alien_Escort
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Alien_Science_Vessel
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Alien_Battleship
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
I think it would be better if the Freelancer token transferred your character to Freelancer.
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
What this guy said. Use the above as repalcements for the Mirror ships.... then have a.... uhh... the Miradorn raider as the main prize?
The devs (and my fellow STO players) will just have to overlook my pesky forum name. The origin comes from my wife after she realized how much money I sink into this"free" game every month. She said, "This game is worse for you than crack."
In truth, she is right. I spend crazy hours in this game and if the devs check my account they would see that I personally put enough money in this game last year to pay half of a dev's salary for the year.
That doesn't mean the devs have to listen to my posts any more than anyone else here ... but at least you have the context behind my forum name.
If I hated PWE, Cryptic and STO I wouldn't invest so much time and money into it ... but my wife is probably right that it's still the "worst" for my bank account and personal life.
Don't believe the lies in this forum. I am NOT an ARC user. I play STO on Steam or not at all.
In case there was any confusion, I was referring to the Freelancer game not a Freelancer faction.