The theory in TNG's series bible was that most of Federation space was uncharted. They had boundaries but they weren't altogether sure what was inside their borders.
A thing to keep in mind is that while the Klingons and Romulans and Cardassians control the worlds in their space, the Federation is more like the coast guard. They control the waters but not the shore (planets). And even then, they let anyone not affiliated with an empire pretty much run around doing what they please as long as they have licenses and permits and aren't engaged in fraud or violence. They exercise very few commercial controls and mostly just keep foreign militariies out.
Starfleet is very much more than just a coast guard, it is the Federation's main defensive force. The shows have shown that Starfleet maintains planetside bases (Starbase 11). Starfleet very much enforces commercial shipping in way of inspection and anti-piracy patrols.
Back to the topic, in the latest Priority One, Geko did mention that they want to free up the exploration clusters (specifically in the galactic northwest) to open new sector blocks, however the exploration clusters were the game's closest thing to exploration in the game, and by taking that aspect out, this game is creeping more towards an extreme casual gameplay style.
Is there some secret exploit in those exploration clusters?
Yes. Hidden inside them, known only to a select few privy to the password, is a Nirvana of elite-and-then-some raiding content. It's kept hidden to keep people like the OP from getting the vapors.
it kinda kills diplomacy too. how are you suppose to gain diplo XP now?
Most people get Diplomacy XP from Doff Missions. You can make more from a click of the button for Doffs then you can doing any Exploration Zone Diplomacy Mission.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
there are people who actually used exploration clusters to level diplomacy lol?
Well, yeah. Somewhat anyway. I used the Diplomatic Mission to X Cluster since it counted as one of the three required missions for the Explore Strange New Worlds Daily and Explore X Cluster for the Exploration Accolades.
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Why do doff assignments for ~5k Diplo XP per day when you can get 100 Diplo XP in six hours from an exploration cluster? lol
Your math is horribly wrong. You use hyperbole on both extremes.
Let's set aside DOFFing for a moment.
And simply look at Exploration missions. They reward 10 dxp per non-combat mission.
I levelled three characters to max diplo using these primarily. 2 of them prior to DOFFing existing.
They're stupid easy. And if you are taking six hours to do 10 non-combat exploration missions, you're not really doing the missions for diplo, or you're just skewing your math to help your point.
Three of the standard missions to get diplo XP:
- Scan particle traces on a space map.
- Scan columns/plants/gas clouds on a ground map
- Aid the Planet
All of those missions take less than 5 minutes to complete.
If you're dedicating yourself to levelling Diplo XP, you're skipping all of the combat missions. And stacking these non-combat missions.
You can do more than100 diplo xp in 6 hours.
And you have complete control over what you're doing. And you're actually doing something in the game instead of firing off your doffs and logging out.
Also toss in specific Diplo created missions (Jumja stick for Yoshi O'Brien) which reward more, and the Diplo specific missions from the ambassador which reward more, and then the first contact missions when you hit that final tier ...
It was faster to do it the old fashioned way, IF you are a dedicated diplo XP grinder. (Also they adjusted the amount of XP needed when they added DOFFing).
Of course ALL of that is being removed now.
So when people say it's slower, they are right.
In regards to Diplomacy, I think I'm more upset that they're just closing Memory Alpha, where all the diplo "story" missions existed.
It's another example of Cryptic getting rid of things, instead of caretaking and keeping their game maintained and current.
Losing the Yoshi Jumja stick mission is more than just getting rid of a non-combat mission. It's getting rid of a storyline.
It's ridiculous. This whole thing is ridiculous. And to be told that it's being done to help with download size? And people getting lost?
No.
I will say it again. It's the crafting materials.
You know how I know this?
Because every single time someone asked for changes to the maps in these exploration clusters ... or fixes to bugs in those maps ... DStahl would explain that the dev team would have to go in to each map, one by one, to make manual updates. Because of how the genesis system was coded. And that the workload was too much for them due to staffing issues and time and resource issues.
So now they're making a change to the crafting system. And all of these maps have crafting materials. And if they wanted to remove those items from the maps or replace them with updated items ...
Using the knowledge we already have of the genesis system and how it works according to DStahl back when the maps were bugged ... and keeping in mind DStahl was one of the devs who helped integrate this system into the game during Alpha ...
The current dev team would have to go into those maps. One by one. And update them in regards to crafting materials.
This isn't about the content being below their standards. This isn't about download sizes. This isn't about people getting lost in clusters.
This is about the maps themselves. And the dev team not even knowing that DStahl has repeatedly in the past told us how janky the genesis system was.
So yeah, not buying what Hawk is saying.
It's the crafting materials. We all already know how the maps are in these clusters. We play them. We know about our BOFFs and the NPCs falilng through the map. We know about traces being stuck and unscannable. We know about the pathing. We know about the horrible stat generation for the enemies. We know that these bugs, which have all been reported for years, haven't been fixed because each individual map has to be fixed one at a time. I remember DStahl and Jaguars giving specific instructions on how to file a bug report for one of these maps back when season 2 broke teaming and broke the clusters all over the place.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
What?! Memory Alpha is going away? When did that happen?!
I quite agree with you Snoggy. While Cryptic may be right about the missions being sub par, I think that the new Crafting Materials have a lot to do with this as well.
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Comments
My character Tsin'xing
Baby, bathwater, nah just toss the entire tub while your at it.
Starfleet is very much more than just a coast guard, it is the Federation's main defensive force. The shows have shown that Starfleet maintains planetside bases (Starbase 11). Starfleet very much enforces commercial shipping in way of inspection and anti-piracy patrols.
Back to the topic, in the latest Priority One, Geko did mention that they want to free up the exploration clusters (specifically in the galactic northwest) to open new sector blocks, however the exploration clusters were the game's closest thing to exploration in the game, and by taking that aspect out, this game is creeping more towards an extreme casual gameplay style.
Yes. Hidden inside them, known only to a select few privy to the password, is a Nirvana of elite-and-then-some raiding content. It's kept hidden to keep people like the OP from getting the vapors.
In a Mental Clinic they are removing the park... so all thats left is your padded cell...
Even more slowly.
this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
system Lord Baal is dead
got mine first toon maxed before doffing was in the game tyvm
system Lord Baal is dead
Why do doff assignments for ~5k Diplo XP per day when you can get 100 Diplo XP in six hours from an exploration cluster? lol
See?
We do have something in common....and damn did leveling diplomacy the old way suck.
Well, yeah. Somewhat anyway. I used the Diplomatic Mission to X Cluster since it counted as one of the three required missions for the Explore Strange New Worlds Daily and Explore X Cluster for the Exploration Accolades.
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Your math is horribly wrong. You use hyperbole on both extremes.
Let's set aside DOFFing for a moment.
And simply look at Exploration missions. They reward 10 dxp per non-combat mission.
I levelled three characters to max diplo using these primarily. 2 of them prior to DOFFing existing.
They're stupid easy. And if you are taking six hours to do 10 non-combat exploration missions, you're not really doing the missions for diplo, or you're just skewing your math to help your point.
Three of the standard missions to get diplo XP:
- Scan particle traces on a space map.
- Scan columns/plants/gas clouds on a ground map
- Aid the Planet
All of those missions take less than 5 minutes to complete.
If you're dedicating yourself to levelling Diplo XP, you're skipping all of the combat missions. And stacking these non-combat missions.
You can do more than100 diplo xp in 6 hours.
And you have complete control over what you're doing. And you're actually doing something in the game instead of firing off your doffs and logging out.
Also toss in specific Diplo created missions (Jumja stick for Yoshi O'Brien) which reward more, and the Diplo specific missions from the ambassador which reward more, and then the first contact missions when you hit that final tier ...
It was faster to do it the old fashioned way, IF you are a dedicated diplo XP grinder. (Also they adjusted the amount of XP needed when they added DOFFing).
Of course ALL of that is being removed now.
So when people say it's slower, they are right.
In regards to Diplomacy, I think I'm more upset that they're just closing Memory Alpha, where all the diplo "story" missions existed.
It's another example of Cryptic getting rid of things, instead of caretaking and keeping their game maintained and current.
Losing the Yoshi Jumja stick mission is more than just getting rid of a non-combat mission. It's getting rid of a storyline.
It's ridiculous. This whole thing is ridiculous. And to be told that it's being done to help with download size? And people getting lost?
No.
I will say it again. It's the crafting materials.
You know how I know this?
Because every single time someone asked for changes to the maps in these exploration clusters ... or fixes to bugs in those maps ... DStahl would explain that the dev team would have to go in to each map, one by one, to make manual updates. Because of how the genesis system was coded. And that the workload was too much for them due to staffing issues and time and resource issues.
So now they're making a change to the crafting system. And all of these maps have crafting materials. And if they wanted to remove those items from the maps or replace them with updated items ...
Using the knowledge we already have of the genesis system and how it works according to DStahl back when the maps were bugged ... and keeping in mind DStahl was one of the devs who helped integrate this system into the game during Alpha ...
The current dev team would have to go into those maps. One by one. And update them in regards to crafting materials.
This isn't about the content being below their standards. This isn't about download sizes. This isn't about people getting lost in clusters.
This is about the maps themselves. And the dev team not even knowing that DStahl has repeatedly in the past told us how janky the genesis system was.
So yeah, not buying what Hawk is saying.
It's the crafting materials. We all already know how the maps are in these clusters. We play them. We know about our BOFFs and the NPCs falilng through the map. We know about traces being stuck and unscannable. We know about the pathing. We know about the horrible stat generation for the enemies. We know that these bugs, which have all been reported for years, haven't been fixed because each individual map has to be fixed one at a time. I remember DStahl and Jaguars giving specific instructions on how to file a bug report for one of these maps back when season 2 broke teaming and broke the clusters all over the place.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
The poster said 5k per day. Which I'm guessing means assigning multiple missions over the course of 24 hours.
Still, the math on the other side, of 100 dxp in 6 hours of explores was way off ... so I don't know.
What?! Memory Alpha is going away? When did that happen?!
I quite agree with you Snoggy. While Cryptic may be right about the missions being sub par, I think that the new Crafting Materials have a lot to do with this as well.
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Moderation Problems/Issues? Please contact the Community Manager
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