I've mentioned before, but my plan is still to move the Captain's Table door from the gas cloud sitting out in space, to a door in the new Club 47 when it's released.
I would also like to extend that, and add similar doors in all of the major social zones (DS9, First City, New Romulus, The Flotilla, Drozana, etc.)
I would like for each of those doors to lead to a single entrance in the Captain's Table, and for that door in the CT, to take you back where you came from. (However, that may mean that the CT would have to be set up like Fleet Bases/Player Bridges, and if you logged out there, you'd be returned from whence you came.)
I feel that if you could take that door to any of the above, it could potentially be an overpowered transport hub.
Similarly, I think that transwarping TO the Captain's Table sounds fine, but being able to TW from the table to anywhere else in the galaxy would be problematic.
I have to agree. Back when I was playing Morrowind there was a housing mod that included doors to basically everywhere of consequence in the game. In essence it was a cheat and such things are fine for single player games, but not for something like STO. My current crop of transwarp options are just fine. I do like the idea of more entrances though.
I have long said that the Captain's Table needs only a couple of things.
One is accessibility. A transwarp option maybe, or doors located on other stations that lead to the Captain's Table, and that lead from the Captain's Table that lead to these other stations.
The second thing is that it should be worth going to. All services and vendors should be available, and I would argue for "best price" as well.
The vendors would offer 50% of the item's value when buying from the captains, and whatever they are selling would be sold at the best price as well.
The latter is really only applicable to commodities, but it's still a thing. Rather than having to go to Risa for the cheapest entertainment provisions* I could get them at the Captain's table.
Also, add a Dabo table. Again, the CT should be one-stop for at least most things. If it's somewhere else, it should be at the CT.
The security officer contact for those DOFF missions? There should be one at the CT, along with the trader contact like DS9 has.
Yes to all of it, and more that I may be overlooking.
As it is, the Captain's table has so little in the way of services that a person would have to go to ESD to get many other things done, but there is nothing at the CT that can't be done at ESD.
If I am going to be going to ESD anyway, why bother with the CT at all? I honestly can not remember what it does have because I stopped bothering with it.
Just make it the only place that you need to go for those things that can be found on other stations.
*I think that Risa has the cheapest entertainment provisions, but it's an example. Just go with it.
Here are some thoughts I have for the captains table.
A point-of-contact that allows players to convert their excess marks (omega, dyson, etc) into
Another form of Mark (Omega to Dyson for example, but not fleet into Omega, etc)
Fleet Marks (Omega to Fleet, Dyson to Fleet)
Into Dilithium
And to do this en mass so that we do not have to do the time consuming process of 50 marks at a time, waiting 15 seconds. Captains Table is earned as a vet reward or by being a lifer so this convenience is earned.
A point of contact that gives players another 8000 Dilithium refining ability ever 6 to 12 hours.
Access to a special Captain's Table Dilithium Mining Node (Grants a max of 2500 dilithium, so it does not match or surpass Rich Dilithium Claims)
For Update 2: A Contact that will allow players to convert certain items (like Maco, Fleet, and Dyson gear) to the updated Mark XIII and Mark XIV variants with use of R&D components (but not related to R&D skill)
I've mentioned before, but my plan is still to move the Captain's Table door from the gas cloud sitting out in space, to a door in the new Club 47 when it's released.
I would also like to extend that, and add similar doors in all of the major social zones (DS9, First City, New Romulus, The Flotilla, Drozana, etc.).
What's the point in getting at CT if you already are at fully equipped station? CT should be location which players with authorization can get in from any where they need. It should be major social zone where veterans can avoid the crowded places like ESD.
You could have access to the PvP Leaderboard from the Captain's Table while non LTS players would have to unlock that feature via ZEN Store.
The Leaderboard could be displayed on big screens over there, displaying not only the Top20 players but their stats aswell. (avg kills/deaths, matches this week, class (tac/eng/sci), avg dmg, avg dmg taken, etc)
I feel that if you could take that door to any of the above, it could potentially be an overpowered transport hub.
Not saying I want to see the Captain's Table act in this way, but we already have an overpowered transport hub -- the mission replay feature. I haven't actually flown any meaningful distance through sector space in I don't know how long. The highest price on a mission transwarp is like two pieces of vendor trash. Is this really an issue?
I think the idea of a single exit that puts you back where you started is great, but what concerns me is what you said about fleet maps. Outside of little ceremonies in the first fleet I was in, no one uses them as anything other than glorified vendors. This is because, while you can all go there and start a mission at one together, as soon as that mission's done you're scattered across the galaxy again. If it was a short mission, you're not even allowed to transwarp back to the holding. It's possible to unlock everything needed to "live" in the fleet holdings, but because of how they interact with mission queues/logging in and out, you can't.
Maybe this isn't an issue for how you intend the Captain's Table to be used, but it certainly is for the fleet holdings, and it's something I think should be reevaluated. It would be great if fleets could use their base as a, well, base.
The point was being a exclusive area, not being a replacement with more options over the rest.
Yes but what's the point in getting to exclusive area (which offer exactly same or less option as any other social hub) if you have to go to it by other social hub. Why would anybody go use exchange console on CT if he/she had to first beam to ESD (where is also exchange console) and from there go through some doors to CT. That's my point, entrance to one social hub through other.
If veterans (paying customers) would use CT it should be accessible from any location ground/space or some other perk. Nothing new and non obtainable for f2p players, something which allows veterans do certain things faster. Rep console which allow to convert larger number of marks to dilithium at once than 50 or console where you can obtain doff missions from all 'exploration zones' like Delta Volanis without need to travel around galaxy. If location supposed to be used it need to be useful in first place.
It cannot be a replacement to First City/ESD/Command because then people would not go there, they would hit "transwarp to Captain Table" and ignore other social areas.
I'm pretty sure if they had enough people buy Lifetime subscriptions or pay Gold memberships long enough to get the Vet reward to have a significant impact on those other social zones, It would actually make Cryptic pretty happy.
Personally, with all the transwarp places we already have available, I don't see why the Captains Table is OP compared to anywhere else.
"Let me guess, my theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters and you don't like my tie" - The Doctor
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" -Agatha Heterodyne
Personally, with all the transwarp places we already have available, I don't see why the Captains Table is OP compared to anywhere else.
I would say it's underpowered, to get there you must make at last one additional map transfer, no hypo/trash vendor, no shipyard infrastructure, no infirmary, nothing. All you can get there is bank/mail/exchange, tailor and bartender just to drown your sorrows in synthohol.
I think most people here have hit the nail on the head. The biggest problem with the Captain's Table is not accessibility, though improving that is a great idea. It's that there is no reason to go there when everything offered there is identical to what is offered in the social hub you had to go to to get to the CT. What is needed is something that makes the CT exclusive and someplace you want to go to. SWTOR has special vendors and has all the bank/exchange/mail access points clumped together so it is much easier to do everything in one small area without having to run halfway across the map to do stuff.
I like the idea of having the vendors sell at reduced prices or buying at greater value than other vendors. Having some sort of special item vendor could be nice. I would also suggest that what Taco says would be an "overpowered transportation hub" may in fact be just what the CT needs. People are right that the mission transwarp is already filling that role. Plus, most social hubs are already on the transwarp list. Why not just let people get there from the CT and save them a beam out -> transwarp -> beam down to get to that zone?
I believe you have said that maps need to have a reason for people to use them, Taco. Just keep that in mind when deciding what to do with the CT.
I would say it's underpowered, to get there you must make at last one additional map transfer, no hypo/trash vendor, no shipyard infrastructure, no infirmary, nothing. All you can get there is bank/mail/exchange, tailor and bartender just to drown your sorrows in synthohol.
I meant OP as a "Transport Hub". Transwarp already makes our ships a transport hub, we already have the ability to go anywhere on our Transwarp list FROM the Captains Table, so I don't see why it would make that much of a difference if we can transwarp to there.
"Let me guess, my theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters and you don't like my tie" - The Doctor
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" -Agatha Heterodyne
2) Commodities at *slightly* better prices than cheapest. 5-10% cheaper at most.
3) Exchange rep marks for other rep marks (Probably not something that needs to, or should be, exclusive to the Captain's Table). Make it a 1->1 for CT, 2->1 for the regular one or something.
4) Some sort of special items, be it mundane like food (it would be nice to see a food vendor with *all* the options), or useful like some gear you can only get by joining a fleet, but maybe it costs more dilithium than normal?
5) Doff missions, of some kind.
6) Definitely agree with the person that said a BOFF trainer for Capt trained abilities, esp for Android, Borg Engineer, EMH, etc...
7) Some sort of rich dil node would be cool, but I wouldn't hold my breath unless it was only 1-2k dil.
3) Exchange rep marks for other rep marks (Probably not something that needs to, or should be, exclusive to the Captain's Table). Make it a 1->1 for CT, 2->1 for the regular one or something.
See - the R&D system is already partly intended to reduce disparity in the PvE queues by incentivizing some of the less-used content. Being able to just ISE and CCE ad infinitum (which people are still doing, regardless), then convert kind of runs contrary to this.
Again were talking about the ct. A place that is part of the vet rewards after all there was a time you had to wait 400 days to go there.
I dont have an answer as to what needs to be in there but I do know it has to be something special and enticing to get the f2p players to want to buy a sub.
I dont think transwarp or all the vendor's or all the banking/exchange/mail will be enticing enough. It has to be unique and only avaliabe at ct to get the f2p players to dig deep into their wallets and buy either a life of monthly sub.
Now let me remind everyone before I get flamed the ct is a reward for vet players it should be treated as such.
2) Since the Captain's Table is supposed to essentially exist outside our time/space continuum and Captains/Admirals from various eras have access to the Captain's Table, it would be cool if there were random "Temporal Missions" that (if the player accepts the mission) would send the player to one of the Trek eras (Enterprise, TOS, TOS Movies, TNG, DS9, VOY) and you have to complete a mission to preserve the timeline.
This.
But if you found a TOS or TNG cast member who was willing to either donate a little voice work or work "on the cheap" because they love the character so much, that would be ideal for getting them in the game without having to justify why they're still active in 2410.
Picard, fresh off his "Best of Both Worlds" experience, or recovering from having to leave the Ba'ku after becoming so taken with Anij, Kirk right after losing Edith Keeler...or turn it around and catch one of them at the best of times. Janeway right after getting the crew home. Archer after helping birth the Federation. It certainly can't hurt to ask any of those actors.
Or, in the "probably way more affordable" department, Sulu straight off the Excelsior's bridge after helping Kirk save the Federation President in ST6, Kim (who's already doing stuff for X2) or Tuvok (several missions already) off one of his missions, Riker after his first mission with the Titan...who knows? Hell, bring in Ezri Dax. She got a ship in one of the novels, I believe.
And if we stick with Captains in the game already, I certainly wouldn't have my feelings hurt. Young B'vat, Shon, Taggart, Brott...hell, throw Kurland a bone.
The possibilities are literally only limited by which voice actor you can get, and (knowing PWE) how little they're willing to take for the sake of resurrecting an old character.
It cannot be a replacement to First City/ESD/Command because then people would not go there, they would hit "transwarp to Captain Table" and ignore other social areas.
This is entirely the point. I would *love* to never to to esd again.
If I may suggest, what if the Captain's table was removed as a vet reward and instead open to anyone with an active subscription? Then the Captains Table could serve as a hub for extra services for gold members?
It basically is after 400 days
Let us upgrade the Seleya Ceremonial Lirpa and Kri'stak Blade
The point was being a exclusive area, not being a replacement with more options over the rest.
Far too many suggestions here are offering a mechanical advantage, its not intended to gain a advantage over other players by having exclusive extra DOFF assignments, transwarp to other locations, etc ...
It cannot be a replacement to First City/ESD/Command because then people would not go there, they would hit "transwarp to Captain Table" and ignore other social areas.
I have no problem going through ESD (or wherever) to get to the CT if that's what I have to do, but if I can do everything at ESD (or wherever) that I can do at the CT, then what is the point? Who's going to bother with the CT other than those that specifically want to get away from it all?
If it's the latest round of general chat idiocy that is bothering me, I can ignore that or just turn chat off a lot easier than going to the CT. Especially as it is set up now.
And if more and more people start using the CT, I may find the chat there to be little better than that typical of ESD, anyway.
I would say it's underpowered, to get there you must make at last one additional map transfer, no hypo/trash vendor, no shipyard infrastructure, no infirmary, nothing. All you can get there is bank/mail/exchange, tailor and bartender just to drown your sorrows in synthohol.
You forgot about that one guy that sells a MK I personal shield and a few different MK I body armors.
I got curious after my prior post and went back to see what was there.
I dont think transwarp or all the vendor's or all the banking/exchange/mail will be enticing enough. It has to be unique and only avaliabe at ct to get the f2p players to dig deep into their wallets and buy either a life of monthly sub.
This is a little bit different.
I mean, is the goal to make the CT a place where the people with access may want to visit, or is it to get people to pay for access?
The former can be done with more modest changes than the latter.
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If they want it to be something that the Captains with access now will use, then what I said before still stands:
1) Best commodity prices on all commodities.
2) All services available, including a Dabo table.
3) Vendors offering 50% of value on all goods that you wish to sell.
4) Accessibility. This can be a door on other stations, transwarp, or both.
If they wanted to cut back on some of the universal services, that would be okay as long as the access was there. Having to use the tailor at ESD or the Academy or DS9 isn't a big deal and keeps some reason for people with CT access to visit those hubs.
Not having mail, exchange, or banking services would be a much bigger deal. People use those things, sometimes for long stretches of time, sometimes running back and forth between them. Removing any of those elements from the CT would make it strictly secondary, I think. The place to go only to save a trip to somewhere else.
If they want to add something more special, that's fine, too, but then it starts to get into "get people to subscribe" mode.
New things that they could add:
1) Exclusive DOFF contact with unique missions: They don't have to be "better" than other DOFF missions, but they should be more along the lines of the missions that offer gear, materials, commodities, DOFFs, BOFFs, and/or 50+ dilithium. Not the more mundane 5 dilithium + points.
2) Holo-Doffs: To expand upon the idea of unique DOFF missions, what about one that offered legendary Holo-Doffs as rewards? Holo-Kirk, Spock, Sulu, McCoy, Scotty, Checkov, Uhura, Picard, Worf, Riker, Crusher (both of them), and on and on.
A daily mission, possibly with two tiers of reward. A rare tier with some characters and an ultra-rare tier with the biggest names from Trek lore.
BoP, so that only people with CT access could have these.
Obviously, the Federation would have more recognizeable characters, so in order to keep the numbers equal the Klingons and Romulans may come from secondary sources like novels or even the game itself, but I'm sure that it could be done.
If nothing else, they just cut back on the Federation characters until the numbers line up.
3) Test Drives: I was reading something yesterday that got me thinking about this. All the new ships that are out there? In the C-Store, Lobi store, or Lockboxes? What if there was a holo-simulator that would let a player test fly them during a simulated mission?
Every ship could have a standard load-out of "apprpriate" gear (the Xindi ships would have phased biomatter weapons, for example), or they could set it up to let every player try out different weapons and consoles as well.
Rewards would be minimal if not non-existant, but before you bought that ship, wouldn't it be nice to try it out?
4) Mark Exchange: Someone suggested this earlier, and while I am not a fan of a straight up unlimited exchange, I think that an exchange would be okay.
Could it be a DOFF mission (obviously unique to a CT contact)? X many marks at a time, Y many hours to do the mission, get fewer marks of the one type than the other (with the possible exception of a critical success result)?
Another option could be to have a long cooldown on a limited number of marks.
Make it impractical to collect one type of mark in an effort to exchange them and bypass certain missions, just set it up so that a person could get a few marks of a certain type fast if they really needed them. 10-20 marks on a 72 hour cooldown or something.
And they could always add other costs to the equation. Either of the above could also require EC and/or refined dilithium.
I would like to see fast travel hub like a few people have already mentioned. As an extension of this maybe it also connects into whatever event is going on like when q shows up you could just port straight there from bridge. Kinda like somebody said earlier about have a door you click on from your bridge that takes you to captain table but when event are on it also has the option to take you to those events.
Maybe like the op said a way to access all fleet stores from it. Even if your fleet doesnt have access a particular vendor yet its not like you cant ask around for access anyway though chat channels. So it wouldnt be like they would be giving you access to something you couldnt already access it would just be quicker. Like the fast travel hub. Plus youd still have to have the tps reports filled out and stamped like at the star base or spire.
Something else that would be nice would be if you could continue to access event vendors/turnins for an extended period of time. Like an extra week or two on big stuff ie a ship or something. Longer on stuff that is more cosmetic and vanity oriented like the birds or monkeys from risa.
Ideally Id like it to offer quicker or more laidback way to get stuff more so then stuff that can only be obtained here. I dont really like the idea that exclusive missions or rewards that are powerful being behind a gate that cost roughly 200 dollars to get by. I think sto has done a good job of being a good f2p game so far and Id hate to see it start locking out content that way.
If I remember correctly, the Captain's table is a place for captains to gather and tell stories of their adventures. This place exists outside space-time and has been visited by nearly every Captain we have come to know and love. It feels like a no brainer to me that this idea should be the cornerstone of this place. A showcase of all that has come before and a taste of what has yet to come.
A few years ago I recall hearing about an idea where players would have access to text filed detailing characters and events from across the quadrant, a data net that fills the gaps in parts of the stories. For the Fed side it would detail key events leading to the dissolution of the Kittomer Accords as well as tie player mission events together and even provide some resolution (Divide et Impera). For the KDF side it would flesh out the events that led to the inclution of so many non Klingons into the ranks of the Defense force and give players a glimpse into the concequences of B'vat's capaign against the federation. The Captain's table is the perfect avenue for that content.
It is also the perfect location to meet and get to know the many characters that have taken center stage in STO. Shon, Koren, Jarok, Miral Paris, Icheb, Naomi Wildman, there is so much many of us would love to know about where these charactetrs ahve been and where have they come from in the last 30 or so years. It may even open the possibility for us to meet old cannon characters from their heyday.
Also known as Gingie(In game) Sskald(Gates of Sto-vo-kor)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I've mentioned before, but my plan is still to move the Captain's Table door from the gas cloud sitting out in space, to a door in the new Club 47 when it's released.
I would also like to extend that, and add similar doors in all of the major social zones (DS9, First City, New Romulus, The Flotilla, Drozana, etc..
i must confess that i fail to see the logic in this.
if i am already at ds9/qonos/etc, what need do i have for the CT?
i guess it will remain an usused and pretty much unmarketable perk then.
i must confess that i fail to see the logic in this.
if i am already at ds9/qonos/etc, what need do i have for the CT?
i guess it will remain an usused and pretty much unmarketable perk then.
Since gaining the ability to go to there, I've only been there once and will never return unless something gets done aboot that horridly agonizing red interior. Many of the ideas offered sound like great ideas though, but still, that interior is instant migraine. Perhaps it could be replaced with the old ESD interior with windows redone for the nebula they're in. We'd then have all the stuff closer together again. Not knocking the new ESD at all, that open area is gorgeous.
Also as some pointed out, the Captains Table IS exactly ONLY that ... its a location outside time and space, not a Starbase were you can recruit personal or outfit ships because its not a place that does that.
No, it's a 400 day subscriber reward.
That whole "Place out of time and space" thing seems terribly silly to me, especially if everyone is supposed to be all concerned about altering history or the future, and the franchise is suppsoed to be about space exploration.
Of course, with TNG and beyond it was sometimes about the crew of a starship going to the holodeck so that they can act like they aren't part of a starship crew because this or that actor wanted to play other roles and they felt that maybe that would keep them interested enough not to leave the show".
The Fed Captain that you started out the game serving under? The one that is going to die in a Borg attack? He's sitting on a couch. No one ever said "Hey, the borg on going to kill you during that mission, so watch your back"?
But then you start getting into "But maybe that;s an alternate universe version of the captain" because they never really did think that stuff through very well.
But none of that matters to me here. Never heard of the "Captain's Table" outside of the game.
This game, which offers the CT as a reward for it's veteran players. That's what this is supposed to be about. Improving that reward.
The people that can access the CT will still go to ESD if they want to socialize.
The people that only go to the CT won't do more socializing if they have to visit ESD. The "social activity" on ESD is why so many people might want to be able to avoid it altogether.
The people that can access the CT will still go to ESD if they want to socialize.
The people that only go to the CT won't do more socializing if they have to visit ESD. The "social activity" on ESD is why so many people might want to be able to avoid it altogether.
I would also be extremely surprised if the number of Lifetime and Veteran subscribers who can access the CT was enough to make a significant impact on any of the other social zones.
"Let me guess, my theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters and you don't like my tie" - The Doctor
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" -Agatha Heterodyne
Comments
I have to agree. Back when I was playing Morrowind there was a housing mod that included doors to basically everywhere of consequence in the game. In essence it was a cheat and such things are fine for single player games, but not for something like STO. My current crop of transwarp options are just fine. I do like the idea of more entrances though.
One is accessibility. A transwarp option maybe, or doors located on other stations that lead to the Captain's Table, and that lead from the Captain's Table that lead to these other stations.
The second thing is that it should be worth going to. All services and vendors should be available, and I would argue for "best price" as well.
The vendors would offer 50% of the item's value when buying from the captains, and whatever they are selling would be sold at the best price as well.
The latter is really only applicable to commodities, but it's still a thing. Rather than having to go to Risa for the cheapest entertainment provisions* I could get them at the Captain's table.
Also, add a Dabo table. Again, the CT should be one-stop for at least most things. If it's somewhere else, it should be at the CT.
The security officer contact for those DOFF missions? There should be one at the CT, along with the trader contact like DS9 has.
Ship selector? Ship tailor? Regular tailor? BOFF trainer? Personnel officer (for DOFFs and BOFFs)? Skill trainers and re-trainers? Exchange? Bank? Lobi vendor?
Yes to all of it, and more that I may be overlooking.
As it is, the Captain's table has so little in the way of services that a person would have to go to ESD to get many other things done, but there is nothing at the CT that can't be done at ESD.
If I am going to be going to ESD anyway, why bother with the CT at all? I honestly can not remember what it does have because I stopped bothering with it.
Just make it the only place that you need to go for those things that can be found on other stations.
*I think that Risa has the cheapest entertainment provisions, but it's an example. Just go with it.
A point-of-contact that allows players to convert their excess marks (omega, dyson, etc) into
- Another form of Mark (Omega to Dyson for example, but not fleet into Omega, etc)
- Fleet Marks (Omega to Fleet, Dyson to Fleet)
- Into Dilithium
And to do this en mass so that we do not have to do the time consuming process of 50 marks at a time, waiting 15 seconds. Captains Table is earned as a vet reward or by being a lifer so this convenience is earned.A point of contact that gives players another 8000 Dilithium refining ability ever 6 to 12 hours.
Access to a special Captain's Table Dilithium Mining Node (Grants a max of 2500 dilithium, so it does not match or surpass Rich Dilithium Claims)
For Update 2: A Contact that will allow players to convert certain items (like Maco, Fleet, and Dyson gear) to the updated Mark XIII and Mark XIV variants with use of R&D components (but not related to R&D skill)
What's the point in getting at CT if you already are at fully equipped station? CT should be location which players with authorization can get in from any where they need. It should be major social zone where veterans can avoid the crowded places like ESD.
The Leaderboard could be displayed on big screens over there, displaying not only the Top20 players but their stats aswell. (avg kills/deaths, matches this week, class (tac/eng/sci), avg dmg, avg dmg taken, etc)
Not saying I want to see the Captain's Table act in this way, but we already have an overpowered transport hub -- the mission replay feature. I haven't actually flown any meaningful distance through sector space in I don't know how long. The highest price on a mission transwarp is like two pieces of vendor trash. Is this really an issue?
I think the idea of a single exit that puts you back where you started is great, but what concerns me is what you said about fleet maps. Outside of little ceremonies in the first fleet I was in, no one uses them as anything other than glorified vendors. This is because, while you can all go there and start a mission at one together, as soon as that mission's done you're scattered across the galaxy again. If it was a short mission, you're not even allowed to transwarp back to the holding. It's possible to unlock everything needed to "live" in the fleet holdings, but because of how they interact with mission queues/logging in and out, you can't.
Maybe this isn't an issue for how you intend the Captain's Table to be used, but it certainly is for the fleet holdings, and it's something I think should be reevaluated. It would be great if fleets could use their base as a, well, base.
Yes but what's the point in getting to exclusive area (which offer exactly same or less option as any other social hub) if you have to go to it by other social hub. Why would anybody go use exchange console on CT if he/she had to first beam to ESD (where is also exchange console) and from there go through some doors to CT. That's my point, entrance to one social hub through other.
If veterans (paying customers) would use CT it should be accessible from any location ground/space or some other perk. Nothing new and non obtainable for f2p players, something which allows veterans do certain things faster. Rep console which allow to convert larger number of marks to dilithium at once than 50 or console where you can obtain doff missions from all 'exploration zones' like Delta Volanis without need to travel around galaxy. If location supposed to be used it need to be useful in first place.
Personally, with all the transwarp places we already have available, I don't see why the Captains Table is OP compared to anywhere else.
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
I would say it's underpowered, to get there you must make at last one additional map transfer, no hypo/trash vendor, no shipyard infrastructure, no infirmary, nothing. All you can get there is bank/mail/exchange, tailor and bartender just to drown your sorrows in synthohol.
I like the idea of having the vendors sell at reduced prices or buying at greater value than other vendors. Having some sort of special item vendor could be nice. I would also suggest that what Taco says would be an "overpowered transportation hub" may in fact be just what the CT needs. People are right that the mission transwarp is already filling that role. Plus, most social hubs are already on the transwarp list. Why not just let people get there from the CT and save them a beam out -> transwarp -> beam down to get to that zone?
I believe you have said that maps need to have a reason for people to use them, Taco. Just keep that in mind when deciding what to do with the CT.
I meant OP as a "Transport Hub". Transwarp already makes our ships a transport hub, we already have the ability to go anywhere on our Transwarp list FROM the Captains Table, so I don't see why it would make that much of a difference if we can transwarp to there.
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
Being able to transwarp to the Captain's Table would be really nice.
And yes...we need more vendors there. Vendors of regular stuff, and fleet vendors.
I would also like to see a Dabo table as well as dance floor.
2) Commodities at *slightly* better prices than cheapest. 5-10% cheaper at most.
3) Exchange rep marks for other rep marks (Probably not something that needs to, or should be, exclusive to the Captain's Table). Make it a 1->1 for CT, 2->1 for the regular one or something.
4) Some sort of special items, be it mundane like food (it would be nice to see a food vendor with *all* the options), or useful like some gear you can only get by joining a fleet, but maybe it costs more dilithium than normal?
5) Doff missions, of some kind.
6) Definitely agree with the person that said a BOFF trainer for Capt trained abilities, esp for Android, Borg Engineer, EMH, etc...
7) Some sort of rich dil node would be cool, but I wouldn't hold my breath unless it was only 1-2k dil.
8) A Boff vendor that sold Marauding/Diplo boffs.
See - the R&D system is already partly intended to reduce disparity in the PvE queues by incentivizing some of the less-used content. Being able to just ISE and CCE ad infinitum (which people are still doing, regardless), then convert kind of runs contrary to this.
I dont have an answer as to what needs to be in there but I do know it has to be something special and enticing to get the f2p players to want to buy a sub.
I dont think transwarp or all the vendor's or all the banking/exchange/mail will be enticing enough. It has to be unique and only avaliabe at ct to get the f2p players to dig deep into their wallets and buy either a life of monthly sub.
Now let me remind everyone before I get flamed the ct is a reward for vet players it should be treated as such.
But if you found a TOS or TNG cast member who was willing to either donate a little voice work or work "on the cheap" because they love the character so much, that would be ideal for getting them in the game without having to justify why they're still active in 2410.
Picard, fresh off his "Best of Both Worlds" experience, or recovering from having to leave the Ba'ku after becoming so taken with Anij, Kirk right after losing Edith Keeler...or turn it around and catch one of them at the best of times. Janeway right after getting the crew home. Archer after helping birth the Federation. It certainly can't hurt to ask any of those actors.
Or, in the "probably way more affordable" department, Sulu straight off the Excelsior's bridge after helping Kirk save the Federation President in ST6, Kim (who's already doing stuff for X2) or Tuvok (several missions already) off one of his missions, Riker after his first mission with the Titan...who knows? Hell, bring in Ezri Dax. She got a ship in one of the novels, I believe.
And if we stick with Captains in the game already, I certainly wouldn't have my feelings hurt. Young B'vat, Shon, Taggart, Brott...hell, throw Kurland a bone.
The possibilities are literally only limited by which voice actor you can get, and (knowing PWE) how little they're willing to take for the sake of resurrecting an old character.
This is entirely the point. I would *love* to never to to esd again.
I'm sure that makes all the people like tacofangs, who worked so hard on it, feel really really good.
I can't say I approve of that idea
Let us upgrade the Seleya Ceremonial Lirpa and Kri'stak Blade
It basically is after 400 days
Let us upgrade the Seleya Ceremonial Lirpa and Kri'stak Blade
I have no problem going through ESD (or wherever) to get to the CT if that's what I have to do, but if I can do everything at ESD (or wherever) that I can do at the CT, then what is the point? Who's going to bother with the CT other than those that specifically want to get away from it all?
If it's the latest round of general chat idiocy that is bothering me, I can ignore that or just turn chat off a lot easier than going to the CT. Especially as it is set up now.
And if more and more people start using the CT, I may find the chat there to be little better than that typical of ESD, anyway.
I'll get back to this in a minute....
You forgot about that one guy that sells a MK I personal shield and a few different MK I body armors.
I got curious after my prior post and went back to see what was there.
This is a little bit different.
I mean, is the goal to make the CT a place where the people with access may want to visit, or is it to get people to pay for access?
The former can be done with more modest changes than the latter.
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If they want it to be something that the Captains with access now will use, then what I said before still stands:
1) Best commodity prices on all commodities.
2) All services available, including a Dabo table.
3) Vendors offering 50% of value on all goods that you wish to sell.
4) Accessibility. This can be a door on other stations, transwarp, or both.
If they wanted to cut back on some of the universal services, that would be okay as long as the access was there. Having to use the tailor at ESD or the Academy or DS9 isn't a big deal and keeps some reason for people with CT access to visit those hubs.
Not having mail, exchange, or banking services would be a much bigger deal. People use those things, sometimes for long stretches of time, sometimes running back and forth between them. Removing any of those elements from the CT would make it strictly secondary, I think. The place to go only to save a trip to somewhere else.
If they want to add something more special, that's fine, too, but then it starts to get into "get people to subscribe" mode.
New things that they could add:
1) Exclusive DOFF contact with unique missions: They don't have to be "better" than other DOFF missions, but they should be more along the lines of the missions that offer gear, materials, commodities, DOFFs, BOFFs, and/or 50+ dilithium. Not the more mundane 5 dilithium + points.
2) Holo-Doffs: To expand upon the idea of unique DOFF missions, what about one that offered legendary Holo-Doffs as rewards? Holo-Kirk, Spock, Sulu, McCoy, Scotty, Checkov, Uhura, Picard, Worf, Riker, Crusher (both of them), and on and on.
A daily mission, possibly with two tiers of reward. A rare tier with some characters and an ultra-rare tier with the biggest names from Trek lore.
BoP, so that only people with CT access could have these.
Obviously, the Federation would have more recognizeable characters, so in order to keep the numbers equal the Klingons and Romulans may come from secondary sources like novels or even the game itself, but I'm sure that it could be done.
If nothing else, they just cut back on the Federation characters until the numbers line up.
3) Test Drives: I was reading something yesterday that got me thinking about this. All the new ships that are out there? In the C-Store, Lobi store, or Lockboxes? What if there was a holo-simulator that would let a player test fly them during a simulated mission?
Every ship could have a standard load-out of "apprpriate" gear (the Xindi ships would have phased biomatter weapons, for example), or they could set it up to let every player try out different weapons and consoles as well.
Rewards would be minimal if not non-existant, but before you bought that ship, wouldn't it be nice to try it out?
4) Mark Exchange: Someone suggested this earlier, and while I am not a fan of a straight up unlimited exchange, I think that an exchange would be okay.
Could it be a DOFF mission (obviously unique to a CT contact)? X many marks at a time, Y many hours to do the mission, get fewer marks of the one type than the other (with the possible exception of a critical success result)?
Another option could be to have a long cooldown on a limited number of marks.
Make it impractical to collect one type of mark in an effort to exchange them and bypass certain missions, just set it up so that a person could get a few marks of a certain type fast if they really needed them. 10-20 marks on a 72 hour cooldown or something.
And they could always add other costs to the equation. Either of the above could also require EC and/or refined dilithium.
Just a few ideas.
Maybe like the op said a way to access all fleet stores from it. Even if your fleet doesnt have access a particular vendor yet its not like you cant ask around for access anyway though chat channels. So it wouldnt be like they would be giving you access to something you couldnt already access it would just be quicker. Like the fast travel hub. Plus youd still have to have the tps reports filled out and stamped like at the star base or spire.
Something else that would be nice would be if you could continue to access event vendors/turnins for an extended period of time. Like an extra week or two on big stuff ie a ship or something. Longer on stuff that is more cosmetic and vanity oriented like the birds or monkeys from risa.
Ideally Id like it to offer quicker or more laidback way to get stuff more so then stuff that can only be obtained here. I dont really like the idea that exclusive missions or rewards that are powerful being behind a gate that cost roughly 200 dollars to get by. I think sto has done a good job of being a good f2p game so far and Id hate to see it start locking out content that way.
A few years ago I recall hearing about an idea where players would have access to text filed detailing characters and events from across the quadrant, a data net that fills the gaps in parts of the stories. For the Fed side it would detail key events leading to the dissolution of the Kittomer Accords as well as tie player mission events together and even provide some resolution (Divide et Impera). For the KDF side it would flesh out the events that led to the inclution of so many non Klingons into the ranks of the Defense force and give players a glimpse into the concequences of B'vat's capaign against the federation. The Captain's table is the perfect avenue for that content.
It is also the perfect location to meet and get to know the many characters that have taken center stage in STO. Shon, Koren, Jarok, Miral Paris, Icheb, Naomi Wildman, there is so much many of us would love to know about where these charactetrs ahve been and where have they come from in the last 30 or so years. It may even open the possibility for us to meet old cannon characters from their heyday.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
i must confess that i fail to see the logic in this.
if i am already at ds9/qonos/etc, what need do i have for the CT?
i guess it will remain an usused and pretty much unmarketable perk then.
free jkname
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Just add a zero to the max bet.
Since gaining the ability to go to there, I've only been there once and will never return unless something gets done aboot that horridly agonizing red interior. Many of the ideas offered sound like great ideas though, but still, that interior is instant migraine. Perhaps it could be replaced with the old ESD interior with windows redone for the nebula they're in. We'd then have all the stuff closer together again. Not knocking the new ESD at all, that open area is gorgeous.
No, it's a 400 day subscriber reward.
That whole "Place out of time and space" thing seems terribly silly to me, especially if everyone is supposed to be all concerned about altering history or the future, and the franchise is suppsoed to be about space exploration.
Of course, with TNG and beyond it was sometimes about the crew of a starship going to the holodeck so that they can act like they aren't part of a starship crew because this or that actor wanted to play other roles and they felt that maybe that would keep them interested enough not to leave the show".
The Fed Captain that you started out the game serving under? The one that is going to die in a Borg attack? He's sitting on a couch. No one ever said "Hey, the borg on going to kill you during that mission, so watch your back"?
But then you start getting into "But maybe that;s an alternate universe version of the captain" because they never really did think that stuff through very well.
But none of that matters to me here. Never heard of the "Captain's Table" outside of the game.
This game, which offers the CT as a reward for it's veteran players. That's what this is supposed to be about. Improving that reward.
The people that can access the CT will still go to ESD if they want to socialize.
The people that only go to the CT won't do more socializing if they have to visit ESD. The "social activity" on ESD is why so many people might want to be able to avoid it altogether.
I would also be extremely surprised if the number of Lifetime and Veteran subscribers who can access the CT was enough to make a significant impact on any of the other social zones.
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" - Agatha Heterodyne