No, it's not exactly what you think.
My idea for a new faction would be the Civilian Faction. Cargo Haulers, Smugglers, Privateers, Mercenaries, et al.
This faction could chose from various races available to both sides. (Don't have an idea for a list yet)
This faction would have star ships available from the "Generic" selection currently in place in the game as well as some new ones, obviously.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Guide:_The_Foundry/NPC_Contacts#Space
All of the Generic styles of ships are listed there, obviously they would need a touch-up and have some actual stats applied, but I think it would be a good starting point.
Since these characters are basically Freelance, they could take "jobs" (missions) from the three current factions, or even from the non-factions, like the Ferengi. They would be closer to what happened to Han Solo in Star Wars. Think about it, he's a smuggler, takes a Milk Run to drop off some farmboy, a old man, and two droids to Alderaan from Tatooine. Easy right? Wrong. Alderaan is space dust, they get captured, and then Han has to help rescue a Princess and blast his way out of a freakin' Battle Station. That would be an example of the "jobs" on the Civilian faction.
They could even do some of the regular missions, like maybe you're hired by Franklin Drake to find the U.S.S. Griffin, thus you play the "Trapped" episode.
Maybe someone wants a piece of illicit Borg technology from an already assimilated planet, so you'd play the "A Gathering Darkness" episode.
The only ones that wouldn't be available would be the faction specific, or where bringing in a hired gun wouldn't make any sense either.
They could also have "patrol" type missions, where you pick up cargo from Planet A, deliver it to Planet B, and might have to fight off Pirates somewhere in there.
Or you might have to run a blockade, where the objective might be simply "Get to the planet and make the drop" rather then "Kill all the things!"
Maybe you have to get illicit cargo through a Federation scanning post.
To emphasize this, I'm thinking, at least the early redesigned "generic" ships should put more on speed then on shooting, but still able to defend themselves from enemies they can't outrun.
The Rep would work pretty much the same, since by Level 50 you would be this Legendary Smuggler/Privateer/Hired Gun, much like Han Solo is for the Alliance, so I don't see why they wouldn't let you join in on the rep grinding fun.
So, opinions?
Comments
As for this specific idea, it's interesting, but doesn't feel very exciting from a gameplay perspective. The heroes of Star Trek were always the Starfleet or Klingon ship captains boldly going, you know the rest. Tooling around in a freighter can already be done in a Tuffli or SCS. There's already Drozana for "Wild West Frontier" bar which most players avoid like the plague. From a story perspective, aside from the Maquis and a couple one-off DS9 episodes, rogues/traders/independents generally aren't compelling enough to drive meaningful drama in a universe where the main factions are at war on 5 fronts (True Way, Undine, Borg, Tholians, Voth).
I do think there's an opportunity to turn this idea into the "Rogues Lock Box" however.
A freelancer faction could even benefit in other means like the collection of commodities for Fleets, maybe even building materials to speed up fleet constructions. Priacy to get illegal weapons into the game and made those shady dealers actually have a purpose.
Except Expansion 2 is not a new Faction, at all ...
It is an expansion going into the Delta Quadrant. Geko has stated it will have around the same number of Missions that LoR had. Many believe it will come with a Level Cap increase.
i made a similiar suggestion a few years back, still waiting for it
nice idea. just a small suggestion, let us transfer our chars to this new faction with all the the ground gear and the space gear and ship(s)
^^this!!!^^
You'd have to work out the angle for the Fed-aligned members of the fraction - what splinter group would they be tied to that would condone such activities...?
Perhaps new playable species, but no new fraction...etc, etc, etc.
Right, like they'd ever let us bypass the per-character grind.
You do know that there are plenty of races that, while their home worlds are part of the Federation, they don't follow their laws.
Like, take the Maquis for example, they were just one group in the Cardassian DMZ, and even had a Vulcan member.
At the start of the Romulan story, you were just an independent farmer, on a colony, with no higher authority then the Mayor. You didn't answer to the Republic OR the Star Empire at first.
Look at the variety of races on Nimbus III, there's even some Humans living on Nimbus.
I don't see why there would have to be any angle. You could be a Human, Ferengi, Romulan, Reman, Trill, Bajoran, Nausicaan, Orion...any number of races could belong to the Independent/Pirate/Freelance/etc/whatever faction.
Because it would still be operating out of a Fed Starbase...because it would still be a fraction, having to align Fed or KDF.
Seriously, tell me why.
There's no reason for it. There's plenty of places that this faction could operate out of.
Drozana, Nimbus, the Treasure Trading Station, or even a new place.
I'm thinking that this would be a faction that wouldn't have a Starbase, but could have to, you know, in the spirit of the faction, trade, borrow, buy, beg, steal, etc the services that a large fleet provides, rather then having to provide it for themselves...
Seriously, no reason to stick this factions main base as Qo'noS or ESD or New Romulus FFS...