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Official New Episode "Empress Sela" Feedback Thread
coldsnapped
Member Posts: 520 Cryptic Developer
Please use this thread to send feedback and issues found with the new Romulan Mystery episode "Empress Sela".
Romulan Mystery Arc Revamp
Romulan Mystery Arc Revamp
- The Romulan Mystery episode arc has been updated to deliver higher quality of content as well as link this arc to the events which occur within Legacy of Romulus.
- The new Episodes to the Romulan Mystery Arc include:
- Empress Sela: A completely brand new episode.
- Desperate Measures: This is a combination of the previous missions By Any Means and S'harien's Swords
- Shadow Play: A completely brand new episode.
- Taris: This is a combination of story elements of Ground Zero, the original Taris, and takes into account the events in Revelations.
- Episodes which have been removed are:
- Under the Cover of Night
- Minefield
- Divide et Impera
- Saturdays Child
- Preemptive Strike
- Hunting the Hunters
- Project Nightingale
- Ground Zero
- Ghost Ship
- Friend of My Enemy
- Trapped
- The Romulan Featured Series chain starting with The Vault and ending with Darkness Before the Dawn remains unchanged.
- Players who have already completed the original Romulan Mystery Arc will not be required to play the 4 new missions.
- Additionally, players who have already completed this arc will have instant access to play the 4 new missions.
- There will be a blog in the near future with more information on the revamp of the Romulan Mystery series.
Post edited by coldsnapped on
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Comments
New Romulus was not destroyed, Romulus was destroyed.
Other than that, the Mission was great! I would not recommend playing this mission on Elite, the final battles are very difficult even with Mark 14 Gold gear. The Leahval was quite tough - 5mil HP! :eek:
And just a small point. Can you stop Sela from crossing the grid? She cloaked behind it during the final battle which didn't make a whole lot of sense as we'd see her come out. Not vital, but just a little odd to see.
-Not enough information about the Khitomer peace talk, and the Fed-RR alliance. It is heavily discussed, yet a new player that never done a Romulan character knows nothing about it.
Suggestion : have an option to ask someone about the khitomer peace talks before the mission actually begin, like a hail to some admiral, or your boff, whatever. So, someone who already knows that will skip it, while someone who doesn't will be able to learn about it.
-Tokath revealing he works for S31, and the player doesn't have an option to be at least surprised. It comes as obvious and entirely normal.
"I'm working for S31, and you are falling into a trap !" "What do you propose ?".... really ?
-Destroying Thalaron weapons with spatial charges. I mean, you destroy Thalaron Radiation weapons by blowing them ? Well, that's what happen with non thalaron radiation and Tchernobyl, and it ended up with a large irradiated cloud over Europe. Thalaron is much worse.
Suggestion : place a transporter beacon, and beam them into space/the sun/whatever. We'll get caught by Sela who see us instead of by hearing the explosion. Same cutscene anyway. Except for the explosion part.
Or don't say those are Thalaron weapon. Tell us that's anything not involving irradiated stuff.
-Cutscene activating as soon as we place the last charges. We don't even move away at a safety distance, and activate the bomb ? Well, I guess my entire away team and captain died on the spot.
On a side note, I'm not sure activating 3 bombs when we are supposed to be stealthy is a good idea.
Suggestion : add an objective : move to a safety distance.
-Final battle : Voyager is here ? Mhh ok. Shon to, or an andorian that look like him. We are supposed to meet him later (dominion and cardassian arc, the next one). Not here.
Suggestion : remove Voyager (I don't see the point), and Shon.
-Too much railroad, especially at the end when discussing with Sela. I think the Federation and especially the Vulcan were wrong concerning the supernova. The Vulcan acted probably on emotion (IE hatred) instead of logic.
There is no way to say Sela we are not responsible, but we are sorry about what happened, and how destroying Vulcan will not achieve anything.
Suggestion : I wish there was a way to show Vulcans that they were blinded by hatred, and while not responsible for the supernova, they are, in part, responsible for not saving Romulus.
Just like in the new story mission we had recently, the federation admitted they were wrong concerning the Undine threat.
Bugs :
-Alarm sound when you enter the lower level. Even if you are not supposed to be detected. Also, it's annoying after a while.
-Storage facility cameras cutscene : it seems my BOFF activated the winter tribble, and snow fell. Dunno if we can disable special effect for the cutscene.
-Office camera cutscene : replaying when we already seen it, if we select the option again. Perhaps the entire room is in a time loop ?
Various :
-"Romulan citizen" being either Reman, or wearing Tal Shiar uniforms, including officers uniforms.
Typo :
-Tokath first dialogue : "...of some of your delgation" instead of delegation.
Conclusion
It's a nice mission, and it is a good way to show we have to deal with the RSE. We are not lead by a psychotic vulcan that want us to anihilate the Romulan anymore.
I can't look at Sela without facepalming though. She was much better the way she looked before. And before someone start about Denise and how she looks nowadays, she doesn't look like that either. It's closer, perhaps, but not like her.
I also feel the segment having us rescue the diplomatic ships needs reworking. It doesn't seem plausible to me that none of them would assist in destroying the loyalist vessels that spawn, even if only aesthetically appearing to fire their weapons. Nobody onboard knows how to fire a torpedo? (reminds me of that great scene between the two EMH's on the stolen Promethus
First what are the weapons the Romulan guards are carrying at the conference? they look rather Klingon.
When we watch Sela listening to the Spock monologue, there is talk of the destruction of Romulus being years ago, how can such a comment be in-universe, didn't Spock vanish during the disaster? how could be make a recording about it decades later on for her to listen to?
Finally, during the closing text from Admiral T'nae, she talks about the destruction of New Romulus, rather than Romulus.
Also, I felt a bit railroaded into going along with another of Franklin Drakes criminal efforts, could we at least have a little protest option in the dialogue, or perhaps a legit Starfleet Intelligence character to deal with?
Section 31 also isn't an officially sanctioned part of Starfleet. Our crew isn't a part of Section 31 and therefore we have next to no reason trust anyone who just walks up to us, tells us he's a part of a known organization that's worse than the Tal Shiar, and then just sends us on our merry way.
Having him lie and say he's with Starfleet Intelligence on the other hand only for it to be revealed later that SI had no operatives operating at that site, would lead to a possible cameo from Franklin Drake as he congratulates on another job well done.
Yeah, that felt really out of place.
They both have the same problem of contributing nothing to the story's plot. We have an Ambassador class starship swoop in at the end of the mission (which is also named) and apparently Shon is in command… except he's the captain of the Belfast.
Really, that ship should be commanded by Admiral T'Nae and park it at Starbase 39 to serve as her flagship.
Don't shoe in cameos that don't make sense or add nothing to the plot.
I agree that S31 does seem rather too mainstream in general and in this instance there should be some kind of protest option (though Cryptic missions don't usually give us dialogue choices). Though here, couldn't normal Starfleet Intelligence be used or maybe Romulan Republic?
Doesn't happen to all weapons. Some explosives need a very precise trigger. That being said, vaporzing them would be far safer. Why do we never vaporize anything?
It would have been more logical if the guy was part of the Romulan Republic intelligence. As in, quite the obvious choice.
Thalaron are radiations. And if they act more or less like any kind of radiation, destroying the container is a bad idea. I think that's called a dirty bomb.
If they were random weapon, I would say ok, but radiation based weaponry ? That's a huge mistake.
it's more likely a generator that creates a powerful thalaron pulse on activation/impact which spreads in all directions like a shockwave.
until such a generator's activated, there's no thalaron radiation in it so destroying it should be fine, just like destroying an unarmed nuclear warhead doesn't cause an atomic explosion and its following effects.
We fight them too. Entire armies spilling out of Volkswagens.
We do our best to fight them off, but they keep sending them in.
1) I really liked the design of the Argama Ground Area. It was very Romulan feeling and had some great visuals.
2) Echoing some other players on the issue, I would remove the reference to the USS Rhode Island and change it to the USS Nova. While Captain Kim could be here, it might make more sense to have him doing other things before Operation Delta Rising.
3) This is a peace conference; why are we carrying spatial charges? You might add an adjective to pick them up from the weapons room.
4) Speaking of weapons rooms, should our players move out of the room before detonating a weapons storehouse?
5) The Defense of Vulcan was a nice set-piece. I might add some D'kyr's as part of the sensor line. I also agree with others that Voyager does not need to be present and should be renamed to Intrepid or Bellerophen. Tuvok made it sound like he dragged the ship out of mothballs for "Surface Tension" which takes place months after this event. The Shon cameo could be keep, but the Belfast is not present.
6) I love the continuity with T'Nae and the Ambassador class.
Overall, a pretty good addition to the game.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Where would you fit these in? The Klingons didn't have a romulan mission series, they've got house fueds and space demons to contend with. The only way you could add these missions into the KDF without breaking level progression is to take something else out or reduce XP rewards to slow the process down. In neither case would that be helpful (they'd be loosing unique content or something that's perfectly servicable ATM or hav to slog through a longer mission grind than the FED or RR.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
The Klingons do get the featured episode arc involving the Romulans though. Putting them ahead of those missions wouldn't make it any different to how the Federation arc is currently presented on test.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
But the KDF most certainly does not get the romulan missions that this revamp is replacing (instead they get the Fek'lhr series, which may at some point in the future get its own revamp). It would make a difference to KDF level progression (while introducing a series of missions that are incompatable with the KDF in STO. For example: capturing Taris and defending Vulcan.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
While true, adding just two of the missions here to the beginning of KDF's version of the Romulan Featured Episode arc, namely Desperate Measures and "Shadowplay", wouldn't be completely out of place and would tie into stories present in the KDF storyline; that being the KDF's alliance with the Republic and stopping the Tal Shiar from using Borg technology.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
Honestly, this whole mission feels like it's moving too fast and could be slowed down a bit, so the reveal of Sela's plot comes a bit later. I realize part of the reason these episodes get revamped is because they had too much padding originally, but this seems like the opposite extreme -- dramatic plot swings in seconds. I'm hoping there are plans for a couple mid-mission cutscenes in this one.
First, I liked the overall idea of the mission, of showing that the Romulans are now a real threat to the Federation. It is a way better introduction to this conflict than following weird orders from Admiral Racist.
Here we go (empty lines indicate a map switch):
- The player is told for the first time that there is a Romulan Republic, and that we allied with it. No further information given. Recommend adding further dialog to request background information on the events that happened in the Romulan Republic story arc from the tutorial up to the events on Khitomer.
- The Romulan world of Agrama is upon arrival orbited by several Starfleet vessels, but not a single Romulan ship is visible. It would be more logical if there were a couple of warbirds patrolling the system visibly.
- The Romulan world of Agrama is, according to the ingame galaxy map, located in Federation space, at least 5 light years away from the border. Recommending either recoloring the Alpha Centauri sector block's territorial control, or switching the mission's location to the Ra'kholh system.
- Pathfinding for the Jevim and Toketh NPC's in the ground part seemed off. They bump into fixed NPC's, and walk into walls.
- The Romulan Guards outside of the conference room are carrying what look very much like Klingon Disruptors. Although the Romulan Star Empire also uses disruptors, I would recommend switching the visuals to nanite disruptors.
- We blindly accept that Toketh is Section 31. That he is a Romulan in Sela's staff makes no difference. We don't act surprised at all.
- When we follow Toketh between his introduction and his reveal, he has some dialog appearing over his head. This was very hard to read, since it passed within seconds. Extend the time this is visible. On a side note, since he keeps talking about a Bolian.... add a Bolian NPC somewhere on the ground. He doesn't have to speak or move, just let him be there.
- Toketh's ruse involves shouting for a suspicious package. There is nothing there. However, after we passed the doors to access the maintenance shafts, he contacts us. The guards did not decide to question Toketh after he shouts for a package that isn't there. At least place a package, or change his deception.
- The first time I triggered the Office cutscene, in which Sela listens to somebody, it showed a desk for 3 seconds before returning to the chat window. Only when I clicked it a second time, the dialog would trigger.
- In the Office cutscene, we hear Sela listening to somebody. The lack of voice over work, or naming the speaker, makes it very hard for the player to identify who is speaking. I would guess it is Spock, but there is no current way of confirming this.
- We blow up Thalaron. I remember when Data tried that in Nemesis, and that did not give the most pleasant effects. Recommend finding another way of dispatching with the Thalaron, changing the substance into something different than Thalaron or indicate that these are parts required for building a Thalaron weapon, not Thalaron itself.
- We trigger the bombs when we are standing directly next to them. Rest in peace away team. Recommend adding a "move to safe distance" objective between placing the final bomb and the cutscene.
- Sela sends in 3 guards. This felt a little underwhelming. Increasing the difficulty of this combat would not be a bad thing. Add at least another Centurion NPC, or add a reinforcement wave of Romulans after the first group is defeated.
- The ships of the ambassadors do not immediately warp out upon being released, and do not participate in combat. This felt rather illogical. Make these ships either warp out or participate in combat. Alternatively, give them the Disable-Venting green gas animation, and make the player repair them upon defeating the Romulan combat group that decloaks upon destroying the dampening fields.
- The Mogai and D'deridex fired their heavy plasma torpedoes in all directions, except at the player. At least they are not shooting themselves, but this seems a bug that has to be fixed. This happened only in the Agrama Space map, not in Vulcan space.
- We are told to defend the science vessels creating the tachyon grid, but we only have to defend one. Recommending replacing at least one combat group to a second science vessel.
- The final fight against Sela and her personal fleet felt... underwhelming. We get twice the amount of Starfleet ships than that there are Romulan ships. Had I wanted to, I could have cloaked (I was in my Eclipse), and waited for the NPC ships to finish off Sela and her fleet. Either increase the amount of Romulan ships, or decrease the amount of Starfleet ships. It is too easy at the moment, and although these kinds of combat are hard to get correct, I would say that a 55/45 ratio would be good for this episode, with 55% Starfleet ships and 45% Romulan ships. This would give the player enough guaranteed backup for taking on the Scimitar.
- Voyager was in mothballs at this point. Tuvok removed her from this status prior to Surface Tension. Also, the U.S.S. Rhode Island was not needed, which is properly introduced in Delta Rising, neither the cameo of Captain Shon, who we meet during Second Wave. The Shon cameo also came without the U.S.S. Belfast in the map.
- Upon turning in, admiral T'nae mentions the destruction of New Romulus. This is incorrect, considering it was Romulus that got destroyed. This line is in the second paragraph of the mission reward dialog.
Join the Deltas today!
I have a problem with my toon suddenly having explosive charges to use on the weapons in a Romulan station. Was my captain hiding them under the coat? It made no sense; it would be better to have the captain find useful component to make an explosive or have the spy provide items from the weapons locker.
The final space battle is good, but the first string seemed a little weak.
"Desperate Measures" would make a much better opening episode to the Romulan arc, with some adjustments to factor Romulan Republic concerns over the Tal Shiar's use of the nearby Gasko Station, especially since the station is only a relatively short distance from New Romulus. Having the Tal Shiar be responsible for abducting Republic citizens would be a good enough justification for us to aid the Republic and investigate the station, while also explaining more about the Republic's relationship and treaty with the Federation in the process; something none of these early missions are explaining to the Starfleet player currently.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
More to the point, every mission after this one makes absolutely zero sense from a narrative perspective for the simple fact that Sela's attack on Vulcan is an act of war by the Romulan Star Empire on the Federation.
Starfleet, after that moment, shouldn't be giving advice to Romulan Colonies as to which side to join, or trying talk their way out of a confrontation with RSE Warbirds and commanders (or for that matter showing remorse about destroying it). And we most definitely shouldn't be trading verbal jarbs with Sela at any point after this mission.
Sela has declared war on the Federation. That means until an armistice/peace treaty is reached it should be open season on the RSE.
Yeah, this would make so much more sense. Honestly, this mission feels completely wrong to me. It has its cool parts, but it doesn't gel with the rest of the episode at all (I haven't finished Taris yet, though).
Right at the start of the Mission you get greeted personally by Empress Sela in the Transporter Room. Wow, what an Honor! There must be hundreds of distinguished Romulan Starship Captains that never had the privilege to even see her face to face, let alone speak to her...
Yet here you are, some lowly second rate Feddie still missing your 4th collar Pip and Sela humbles herself to hang around in the Transporter Room to wait for your arrival...
Would be more convincing to have one of her aides receive you and telling you the Meeting will be postponed cuz she got other matters to attend to right now... especially if you don't plan on bringing Denise back to do the voiceovers. (would kinda suck if you didn't, after seeing the Delta Missions it's quite a downgrade reading the Sela/Hakeev Dialogue on screen in silence)
Next... Even though T'nae mentioned in the Briefing your true purpose was to find out Sela's Plans, following some shady Romulan and sneaking into the Basement to look around is one thing... setting the Place ablaze just because you happen to stumble onto some weapon stash in an unlocked, unguarded Room (oh, really?) while you got some top-notch federation diplomats topside ready to be taken hostage or led outside and shot once the dust settles (literally) is just...
It's that kind of reckless action you'd MAYBE expect JJ's Kirk to pull off, but not a Starfleet Officer in the Universe I come from. For the very least I'd expect someone with the seniority of a Lvl 30ish Commander to get on the Horn and ask someone higher up the Food chain before blowing a peace conference and giving the Romulans a perfectly good reason to start a war on the Federation. That one could turn into some intergalactic PR nightmare for the Federation.
"Federation Spies blow up Romulan Base during Peace Conference, killing hundreds, including their own Diplomats. Romulan Star Empire strikes Vulcan in retaliation within hours of this unprovoked terrorist attack on their home soil"
... doubt we'll get many on our side for THAT war!
I wondered why we should trust anyone who claims to work for Section 31. They could be lying, a double or a triple agent but we just accepted it. Please produce a Fed. Bolian to make the ruse more believable.
The sudden appearance of Sela after the explosion is odd. No hunt for us at all. Why did my team not block or sweep for cameras in the room before hand? A bittersweet sentence about capturing, hauling in,and getting information from the Section 31 plant might make a quick find more, but still less, believable. Also she appears with a small force? An investigative force would have been much larger and they or reinforcements would have beamed in.
So few ships defending an initial Federation planet felt wrong, more Vulcan ships. Even Andorian ships or other Federation member home planet defense forces would have been appropriate.
I'm concerned that 14 episodes are being replaced by four. Some episodes certainly need to be reworked-Divide et Impera. Some were repetitive and a bit boring-Minefield. Others could have been merged but it feels like some interesting one off missions/content has been dropped.
*You were supposed to get caught snooping so she could either A) have a legitimate reason for killing you or
But, no, it's all just coincidental?!?!...nah, it's forced!
Also, Sela's vengeful mindset is understandable but this is a complete departure from anything we've seen of her...WAY too extreme from the established character. And I don't mean the Sela we saw in TNG, I mean in-game.
Speaking of TNG, we've already seen Sela try a similar tactic with her fleet during the Klingon Civil War. As a life-long Trek fan, I appreciate these little nods to the various series but sometimes they are a little cumbersome to the story. The combat, itself, was great...I was hanging on by 5% hull integrity when the smoke cleared! Good fight!...but the plot device and the way it was used were..again...a little forced.
All in all, it was still an enjoyable mission and I thank you guys for all of the work that you do to give us the best possible gaming experience. I wouldn't call this one a loss...just not sure if it's a win either. But that's just me!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]