Although i didn't vote for Exploration, I do have a couple of ideas to throw out there.
Wormholes and make use of the Nebula around STO to add some different missions attached to them. Random unstable appearing Wormholes could present a player the option to explore somewhere they have never been and get a nice reward for it. Uncharted Nebula could be used to help mine crafting materials like the previously available missions.
Q could also appear and send players off to distant galaxies and places never visited before. This happened when Q introduced the TNG crew to the Borg. The Traveler could also be picked up from specific points around the STO galaxy or use a DOff mission to activate The Traveler to help him explore more unusual places. Like the TNG series, he took the Enterprise to places that were unimaginable to conceive in some cases.
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unfortunately in any game you play true exploration is a myth, you might get the appearance of exploration in things like the Exploration Clusters with some random stuff but once you have been there a few times you just end up getting the same stuff over and over and how can you have as they say "where no man has gone before" when you know at the back of your mind there are probably 100s of players who have.
even with a game like elite dangerous with its 400 billion star systems you will find that most are very similar and offer very little new stuff to see, planets you can explore or life you can seek out, especially when the gameplay makes you want to visit the core star systems for the tradeing that is the main thread of the game.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
unfortunately in any game you play true exploration is a myth, you might get the appearance of exploration in things like the Exploration Clusters with some random stuff but once you have been there a few times you just end up getting the same stuff over and over and how can you have as they say "where no man has gone before" when you know at the back of your mind there are probably 100s of players who have.
even with a game like elite dangerous with its 400 billion star systems you will find that most are very similar and offer very little new stuff to see, planets you can explore or life you can seek out, especially when the gameplay makes you want to visit the core star systems for the tradeing that is the main thread of the game.
now you see things the way i do, its all meaningless and pointless. there are those who are super excited by an exploration content coming, ideas needed and such, but in the end it really dont make any difference as its the same as exploring on a mission even if it always involves combat. however, a change of view can sometimes be stimulating, if only for a short time.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
now you see things the way i do, its all meaningless and pointless. there are those who are super excited by an exploration content coming, ideas needed and such, but in the end it really dont make any difference as its the same as exploring on a mission even if it always involves combat. however, a change of view can sometimes be stimulating, if only for a short time.
agreed, having said that during the anniversary event for the particle game I have found a few places I have never visited before in my 3+ years, this leads me to think how much of the current available systems and content have I not yet explored especially if I include un-played foundry missions and I am betting there are a lot of players in the same situation if they would but admit it.
there is a heck of a lot of personal exploration as yet untapped for me in the game.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Exploration is certainly different things to different people, and what is Exploration in Star Trek is not necessarily Exploration in an MMO - and that can be part of the problem of defining what it should be and how an" Exploration System" would work.
In the TV show, exploration always lead to conflicts of some sort. Sometimes involving violence, sometimes involving ethical and moral dilemmas. In the end, they are all about having a real story. But a real story is something that needs a writer and it can't automatically generated with infinite variation. 31 Seasons of Star Trek also represent 31 years of studio production crews, actors and writers working together to get it done - and each year only resulting in something like 30 1 hour episodes.
Another aspect of the TV show's exploration was that it was not about exploring space or planets, it was about exploring human issues - conflicts, ethics. I think this is a part where Star Trek Online is falling short - too much is straightforward with more or less easy answers.
Exploration in MMOs (or maybe some MMOs, and all kinds of "sandbox" games) is usually more about going to difficult to reach places to find interesting spots. Be it a particularly rich resource node, or just a nice spot. The obstacles often are not enemies (though they can be), but are simple physical hindrances, like cliffs you can't scale and you need to find a path, dangerous and treacherous terrain, obstacles you need to jump and climb over.
In the TV shows, exploration was usually in the form of flying to a particular spot in place and then experiencing some story. And I fear in space, the MMO exploration has little place - Space is mostly empty. There aren't difficult obstacles to overcome. So you can't "MMO explore" in sector space, basically. Maybe you can do it within a particular star system (with planets, asteroid belts and what not as obstacles?). But you probably have to do it on a world.
But that would mean that a single, huge map on a planet would serve as "exploration zone". Like New Romulus or the Risa Summer Event map.
But for me, this just doesn't feel like "Star Trek". Star Trek is full of planets of the week, one matte painting, a SFX shot of the oribt, and 2 sets are all that is used to represent a planet, and in next week's episode, we'll visit another place (made out of a matte painting and 2 sets).
So I don't know... It seems like trying to square a circle if you try to combine the different forms of exploration to make it feel right.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Yeah, exploration in Star Trek really meant looking for dangerous things, then figuring out how to deal with them. They seemed to succeed quite well at that.
Problem is... how do you make a random near-disaster for the player to somehow avoid? Maybe a giant minigame that's like parkour for starships? heheh...
Obviously it would not satisfy everybody, but it would fit my thoughts on how things went down in Star Trek...
Some of the stuff mentioned in the bringing down the walls thread.
What would be nifty/cool/etc, imho, would be actually adding something to sector space. Work in some random encounters as one is flying around - maybe you get attacked, maybe you come across somebody else being attacked, maybe you come across somebody that was attacked and they need help, maybe you come across somebody that wasn't attacked and needs help, maybe you come across some anomaly to investigate, maybe all sorts of things like what happened from time to time in the various shows as our heroes were traveling from point A to point B...and not just the 3D map on our GPS as we set the autopilot to get somewhere...meh.
It's one of those things they'd mentioned with adding Foundry stuff to sector maps for planets with doors there and the like...could they create a "door" that worked from wherever the encounter was triggered? So folks could create Foundry missions that might appear as those random encounters?
Difficulty...enough Foundry missions fitting the areas one was flying through so it was not a case of getting the same thing all the time.
Also, something that actually encourages teaming up to do exploration missions would be good, like multiple class-specific activities that help progress the mission faster, etc.
To this I would add: Increasing mission rewards if you get more career-specific objectives completed.
Here's an (oversimplified!) idea for a reward structure. Let's say we have an exploration "mission" (in an exploration adventure zone?) with 1 sci, 1 tac, and 1 eng objective. After one of those three objectives is completed, the other two become optional and the mission can be continued, finished, and turned in (same as that Gamma shuttle mission in the Cardy featured series).
Let's say that this hypothetical mission awards R&D materials upon turn-in.
Doing 1 objective gives you 5 random Uncommon or Common materials, with a 20% chance that one or more of those materials will be Rare instead (sort of like how Doff packs from the C-Store work; a fixed number of items with a guaranteed minimum quality, with a chance for something higher).
Teaming and doing 2 objectives gives you 8 random Uncommon materials (removing Common from the loot table), now with a 40% chance for one or more of the mats to be Rare.
Teaming and doing all 3 objectives, which requires at least 1 player from each career, gives you 10 random Uncommon or Rare materials, with a 20% chance for one or more materials to be Very Rare.
That's a rough idea. The numbers would be tweaked in testing of course but the premise is that the more career-specific objectives get completed, the more rewards the team gets and/or the higher quality those rewards are. It doesn't have to be R&D mats, it could be as simple as 10/20/30 marks, or 50/100/250 dilithium ore (like high-paying Doff assignments), or 1000, 2000, 3000 skillpoints.
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
Exploration in Star Trek has never been the focus of the plot. It has been the *setting*. It's what the ship is out doing when something else happens. I posted my idea of randomized mission chains earlier, beyond that I'm not sure how Cryptic could try to make an exploration system.
Yeah, exploration in Star Trek really meant looking for dangerous things, then figuring out how to deal with them. They seemed to succeed quite well at that.
Problem is... how do you make a random near-disaster for the player to somehow avoid? Maybe a giant minigame that's like parkour for starships? heheh...
I think we're missing how much of it boiled down to performance.
I can be a big "story over mechanics" guy but if you get the mechanics right, story will emerge to some extent.
The game as it launched was basically a prototype episode simulator but it focused on simulating the action, which meant the story had to be manually scripted.
If you can model story and world more in the mechanics, you can not only have more emergent "sandbox" play, you can mass produce content more easily and have it be more replayable.
Although i didn't vote for Exploration, I do have a couple of ideas to throw out there.
Wormholes and make use of the Nebula around STO to add some different missions attached to them. Random unstable appearing Wormholes could present a player the option to explore somewhere they have never been and get a nice reward for it. Uncharted Nebula could be used to help mine crafting materials like the previously available missions.
Q could also appear and send players off to distant galaxies and places never visited before. This happened when Q introduced the TNG crew to the Borg. The Traveler could also be picked up from specific points around the STO galaxy or use a DOff mission to activate The Traveler to help him explore more unusual places. Like the TNG series, he took the Enterprise to places that were unimaginable to conceive in some cases.
that's an interesting idea since it gives a reason why we can't go back to where we were yesterday.
So many wonderful ideas here. As a non-programmer I couldn't say how feasible they might be, but it's great to see all the great ideas. Sorry for the inevitable repeats and the length, but, you DID ask for player input !!!
Make it big. Make it bold. It should be unpredictable, deep and broad, and I'd like it to combine as many of the different elements of STO as possible in creative and interrelated ways to keep multiple elements of the game fresh and relevant. Doing exploration as an expansion would probably be the minimum if something on this scale were to be attempted, and quite frankly, one for which I'd both wait... and pay.
Random/Unpredictable
So much of the stuff in STO, save brand-new content, is really quite predictable. There are a few exceptions (PvP and fleet alerts, for example), but mostly I know exactly what I'm going to get each time I click on something (loot drops not included). Runs of most STF's are the same unless someone screws up, and PvE content is the same. A lot of this is to be expected, and I understand that. But it would be fun to pick up short random missions (much like Very Rare Doff missions, and along the lines of Eta Eridani dailies) as I fly around sector space! Space monsters! Spacial anomalies! Derelict space vessels and bases! Alien Plagues! Distress Calls! More of these, especially if they spawn randomly like to red alerts. I don't want to necessarily go to system A and play mission B, as is most of the content in-game currently. It would be fun if some things pop up as I fly through sector space at a minimum, better yet in unexplored space or ground zones!
I may be in a minority, but I fondly remember replaying the first Borg STF's hoping to get the gear drop I need. At the time, I understood why players might not have liked it. The rewards were among the few real top-tier endgame equipment, and it was somewhat unfair to allow pure luck to govern who got what. But now there are multiple competitive endgame sets, it might be nice to have items that can only be found by exploring and getting lucky.
More specifically? Here are a few ideas based on these different systems:
Foundry
Like many here, I think the foundry is tailor-made for exploration, and a perfect starting point. We've got some amazing foundry authors who are putting up some really interesting stuff, and it would be a great way to invest the players that more tightly with the game. As somer have mentioned, the 'pick three' feature is a great idea that could be expanded on. If it really works out, it could generate a nearly self-sustaining and self-refreshing component of STO. If used to flesh out a dev-authored storyline and missions, even better. Heck, I wouldn't even mind doing those 'genesis'-era missions once in a while. The problem there is obvious, namely that on its own it's not up to scratch.
Perhaps players could choose the general length of the content they prefer, like shorter fifteen-minute mini-missions for people pressed for time, medium twenty to thirty minute episodes, all the way up to who knows how long, or folks could choose to keep it completely random. Authors who write series could be given the option of taking players directly to the next mission, or saving their place for later.
My personal preference with a foundry-based solution to exploration would be for the missions to be more or less random - players wouldn't be able to play specific missions they had heard of from other players, (or at least would have the choice to encounter random missions instead of parsing a list of missions) but would just stumble across cotent. Perhaps players could even choose their 'orders' from Starfleet for what types[/I of content they'd like (trade/combat/space/ground/charting/diplomatic/etc). If there was enough demand and enough exploration zones, foundry missions featuring specific races or situations (Borg/Delta quadrent, etc) could be placed in the appropriate places around the galaxy.
Maps/Locations
The easy answer would be to allow players to enter the various nebulas in-game, like the Rolar Nebula, etc. Perhaps over time there could be a dedicated storyline in each one? Obviously new zones could be developed as well, and I think a special Fleet zone would be great (see under Fleets next). I like the idea of revealing randomly generated zones that players would have to map out, like in the Civilization series where you literally have unexplored areas blacked out, and unmonitored areas grayed out.
Exploration could take place in more familiar settings as well - there are plenty of precedents in STO for discovering unusual things in familiar places. It would be a great way to revitalize planets like Andoria and Vulcan, which currently are little more than a place to visit once and largely forget about. The Aenar were found on Andoria in 'Enterprise'. 'Time's Arrow' from Next Generation focused on historic Earth. Heck, how often did exploration take place onboard the ships themselves, discovering new life that had accidentally or deliberately found its way on board? Adding universal interact points to ship interiors could be a way to introduce some very basic missions on our own ships, though this would likely be limited by the variety of interiors. Still, a good possibility to revitalize these types of underused areas.
Fleets/Social
As I said above, a team-centric, fleet-specific exploration zone could be great, perhaps complemented by a 'teaming zone' for players who choose not to join fleets. It could be a place for unique content, and I would suggest rewards be enhanced for these. A good way to encourage teaming would be to introduce and/or to enable in the foundry mechanics that encourage and reward teaming, and perhaps even encourage or require different professions to complete missions successfully (See below).
There could also bee a 'fleet outpost' holding, a kind of trading post for unusual alien gear or something similar. Alien Boffs/Doffs, etc.
Careers
Building on teaming up above, if dev- or player-authored missions required mixed teams to complete certain missions, that would be a good way to increase diversity. Say you NEEDED to have a teammate who is an engineer to gain entrance to a base, or a scientist/doctor to heal an important NPC in order to progress the mission, or the team gets stuck or fails the mission. STF's are probably the easiest area to introduce this kind of content, but a lot could be done in the foundry. After all, how many episodes required an engineer or a doctor present to save the day? Kirk could never have healed the Horta, and Scotty...? We probably don't get past the first couple episodes of season 1 of TOS without Mr. Scott!
New non-combat specialization trees or even new 'career paths' could help to further a player's exploration/overall game experience. Allowing players to be explorers, diplomats, traders, etc., would be really interesting.
Crafting/gear/Rep system
Perhaps a new kind of mission would require players to craft equipment on the spot as required in missions. Perhaps a player would need to craft a special piece of alien technology to advance in a mission, maybe a special shield/weapon/engine modification. Don't carry the parts? Fail the mission. Seems like every other episode required jury-rigging equipment, modifying shield/phasers/tricorders/communicators, or integrating alien tech into Starfleet technology. Crafting would be cool to introduce here if done right.
Perhaps players would need to craft special tech to enter a new exploration zone, much like ships had to be specially outfitted to enter the briar patch. Entering the T'Ong nebula requires Thingamajigger stabilizers to enter? Gotta craft it! It could be a big project, even a tier of a reputation system a la New Romulus.
It would also be interesting to offer a new set as an exploration-only item. You can't earn or craft it, you just have to search system after system until you're lucky enough to find it, or perhaps you could do something like the Breen Star Chart to deduce locations (solve problem, enter coordinates and warp there, different for every player would be awesome. If it's different for every player and cash/EC/dilithium has little or no effect on getting the gear, it would be fair.
Doffs
Require (or offer) Doff missions in PvE missions more regularly. I thought the doff missions offered in the DS9 feature episode was a nice touch. Doff missions in PvP might be interesting too, such as missions to create defenses at captured points.
Resources
I really like the idea others had about making potential exploration missions feature resource points, as a number of PvE maps do currently. Expanding them would be good too - imagine discovering crates of medical supplies/alien tech/rare or VR crafting materials/unique alien ship or ground equipment, and especially dilithium mining nodes. If you're worried about too much dilithium, limit the daily amount of ore that can be earned through exploration.
PvP
I'm no PvP'er, but it would be great to find a way to integrate PvP. So Often in Trek episodes, two opposing sides have to race to reach an objective. I think PvP offers a really interesting way to integrate this type of episode with real-life opponents. It needn't be combat-based, either. It could be diplomatic, trade, research, etc. options.
Perhaps competitions between players or fleets in missions or as STF/PvP maps for resources and rewards would be a great way to bring players back in to PvP.
PvE
You guys make some pretty awesome story content. I'll stay out of this, other than to say integrating different systems into PvE, as is done to a small extent now, would be really cool. Others have recommended cycling content. Imagine having six pr seven missions that would spawn randomly, serving the purpose of the small daily missions like those found in Eta Eridani.
C store
I get it, you gotta make your money. If you're exploring new zones, you could sell players increased sensor ranges to better map areas or find missions/items, spy satellites to monitor explored area and report changes in already-explored areas outside your sensor range, who knows? There could even be things like lockboxes for the different exploration zones that are constantly offered, like a 'Kazon Cluster' or 'Betraka Nebula' lockbox.
Add Fog of War to exploration sectors and ground maps, hide unique encounters in them that have unique rewards (like unique technologies, items for inside your ship, clothing, boffs, doffs, etc. and searching every nook and cranny becomes a must.
So, how do you propose we "explore" the universe, without having to make a million custom maps/missions?
What would actually be enjoyable to do, that doesn't involve fighting. Scanning rocks and trees is going to get old.
You could go with the concept Cryptic originally planed before they dropped it for star clusters. I'm still waiting to discover a planet and have it named after me.
If we want to talk about exploration, why don't we try utilizing the player base to make entire sectors and tie foundry missions to them, users could then vote on whether or not these sectors are of sufficient quality before they're implemented in-game. Sure we could have restrictions to minimise some craziness. Though, overall, wouldn't this be a great idea? Potentially thousands of sectors to roam, explore and discover. We could choose where our fleet starbases could be, and allow users to visit it (to use the bank, exchange, shipyards, etc). We could tie in anomalies, artifacts, our own custom civilizations (or introduce Betazed!).
As it stands the galaxy in STO feels, small and tight. We can't rely on Cryptic to do this by themselves as this would take too long, so why not use the playerbase and design sectors in the foundry or the like?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Lag Watch:
Delta Rising: Warning
Anniversary Event: Severe
Iconian Season: Critical
So, how do you propose we "explore" the universe, without having to make a million custom maps/missions?
What would actually be enjoyable to do, that doesn't involve fighting. Scanning rocks and trees is going to get old.
Taco,
Thanks for popping in. Exploration has been a feature I've wanted but has always been difficult to implement. However there are a few ways to make this feel more Treky and less star ship combat simulator.
1) developer made exploration maps: released in quarterly updates, I don't think scanning per say is the problem hell we all know our favorite captains complained about that boring planetary survey they had to do as an Ensign. Just make the scanning interesting.. Ie as an example planetary survey beam down and take samples of life forms, geology, weather patterns, atmosphere etc.. Just not the same thing. Maybe some planets have hostile life forms that might attack if we get to close.. Like apex predators. Maybe some of the planets are perfect for colonization... Can then open a Doff chain to colonize the planet. Maybe it can be terra formed... Another Doff mission. Maybe it's useless or very rarely we could find something that would require the planet to be closed off.. Yet another Doff mission . From one activity you have a wide variety of outcomes.. The thing is you could take the same maps and randomize the outcome each time.
2) foundry content.. Not my favorite but useful.. Others have covered this.
3) make ranks in the various Doff mission categories useful... Everywhere. Requires extreme revamp.. Population would love you for it. Has already been done in a few missions. What I mean is allow options based on the ranks we've gained in various Doff categories like diplomacy, military, espionage, science, medical etc to open up. Ie if you have a high enough diplomacy skill you can talk your way out of a fight. So a patrol that normally says kill 5 groups perhaps after you defeat the first group and you have a high enough diplo ranks you are allowed to talk to the other groups and talk them into leaving. Or if you have a super high espionage skill perhaps you get an option to send over a boarding party or two to take over some ships and turn them to your side. Again the conditions could be really varied.. Again extreme revamp but the payoffs would huge.. It would put the Trek back in to Star Trek Online. Every story should have this built in.. Sometimes you can not avoid a fight but almost every Federation captain will try. Now my Klingon friends .., well with all the military categories I'm sure they'll have fun to.
I personally liked the Romulus walk through mission where you shoot the bottles. It is little details like that which make an exploration mission. Just something random and fun to do.
Agreed...
And what's the chances of something like that spawning a side mission? This may be beyond the scope of what the game can do, but what if interacting with an object could be the door to a mission? Say someone observes you shooting those bottles and now they're a contact for a mission to hunt down some Tal Shiar spotted south of the settlement?
Exploration should provide incentive to explore and interact with the environment... head off the beaten path in hopes of finding something. More than once I've gone exploring the instance map just to see what the map artists created, hoping to find some secret little area with something interesting there.
If the system provided an alternative way to acquire resources that currently require endless grinding it could be a huge boost to the game.
You could go with the concept Cryptic originally planed before they dropped it for star clusters. I'm still waiting to discover a planet and have it named after me.
I think I remember seeing this on the commercial that was on The Original Series season 1 HD-DVDs. Not sure if this was Cryptic, or that was when Perpetual was still "developing" the game.
To answer this question we must answer the obvious..."What IS exploration in relation to Star Trek?"
To those who have pointed out the No Man's Sky approach, well that is a yet unproven and new technology. And regardless of how many auto generated worlds they produce, from their marketing videos it's a lot of scanning and walking around. And it won't take trillions of worlds to get bored in short order.
Exploration without fighting? I'm not sure that's the blueprint to follow either and in some ways cheapens what conflict can bring to a story to promote engagement.
Which brings us back to the question of what IS exploration in relation to Star Trek?
If we start with the definition of exploration: the action of traveling in or through an unfamiliar area in order to learn about it, then exploration in Star Trek is almost always a starting point. In fact exploration historically, that is real history, is a starting point to a journey. And that is, I believe, what more of us pine for than just mindless scanning or scientific intrigue. That is to say, we want to explore but we want to get in some *ish on the way that will challenge us and expand us in some meaningful way. And at the end of that journey gain some kind of meaningful benefit or reward that will help up on the next journey.
The answers to select from in the poll, "Exploration MISSIONS" are a bit misleading if not leading the user to a specific answer. Is it Exploration we want or is it missions which involve exploring? Is there a difference?
I think you bring a very good point to the table. Whats actually wished by, I assume the majority, those who clicked "exploration" in the poll is an actual exploration system; a game mechanic. Having a 6 Mission story arc that is called the exploration of X which involves the exploration of a certain planet & its inhabitants while probably entertaining is *NOT* exploration; its new story missions about exploration called exploration.
So whatever the brain-father of the "Exploration Missions" wording meant in that poll should not be a new story arc; not be something that is only exploration by the choice of flavor words in the mission text.
One last point I'd like to add, irrespective of how or what we get in terms of "exploration", it'd be helpful if the following were at least added: Tricorder and ship sensor scans need to do more than they do currently. The ability to scan in different bandwidths and frequencies would help. Ship scanning needs to be applied to sector/quadrant space too if we're to find things there.
Also science skills such as graviton and particle generators need to help in success rates for exploration and investigations, with subspace decompiler giving bigger success rates in solving subspace based phenomena, due to its rarity on items and player skill point cost. The starship sensors skill could also factor into this.
Exploration for me means a new sector with fog of war and multiple worlds, asteroids, space stations, and anomalies to investigate. On one world, you find the remains of an ancient civilization and must determine what happened to them. On another, you make first contact and must solve a dispute. Elsewhere, on a seemingly abandoned space station yo find nothing but corpses and discover you are not alone. That last one woukd be great as a 5 player team up.
So, how do you propose we "explore" the universe, without having to make a million custom maps/missions?
What would actually be enjoyable to do, that doesn't involve fighting. Scanning rocks and trees is going to get old.
I did not have a chance to read all of the pages here, many good ideas. Since I am answering the question of what is enjoyable to do beyond fighting, any repeats should be seen as another vote. And sorry in advance for the wall of text.
I am looking as this as non-combat in addition to Exploration. The original scan 5 things, kill 5 things can be added back in as a break, the key is to have a variety of mission types.
That is the key for me, mission types vs maps. To avoid the multiple maps, the backdrops can look very similar, in fact many games I play are the same backdrop rotated 90 degrees or cut down. The story behind why I am there is the key. When this was done in the past it lead to interesting combinations, like trying to find a radiation source to save a society while the Borg planet takeover was used. I think the Borg are the bigger problem, but that may just be me.
Back to the question, what would I enjoy. For many of these I looked to parts of existing and past missions. Combining these in to 3 part missions like the previous method would work, keeping each part to 10 minutes or so. Not looking for epic stories, just something to keep my interest.
First Contact/Diplomatic party - As mentioned before, the First contact missions where we had to talk to people, the answer questions about how we are alike and different. Could also lead stopping a fight between people. Many missions have had the listen to all species and respond in an appropriate manner.
Medical aid - Quite a few missions have had a section where we review a patient and select a treatment to match. For example when we meet Bones.
Bartending - Ok this one is a stretch. I had fun making a drink based on Scotty's recommendations. Add to that ingredients that the species are allergic to or find repulsive. "How was I supposed to know that tequila was poison to them?" "Captain's log - Pineapple based drinks are Viagra to the new discovered species, use with extreme caution."
Distress Call/Ship Repairs - Similar to the medical aid. We have had parts of missions where we need to review what is wrong with the ship and repair it. Note: Watch out for Packleds.
Escort/Transport - We need to get someone or something from point A to point B. While this can lead to shoot em ups, replace that other dangers - avoid wormholes, black holes, mine fields, etc.
On report - In addition to ideas like having a crew member on report for a crime, there are more mundane issues to deal with like conflict, promotion, encouragement.
Doff Mission - In our DOFF missions there are ones that would work for a short mission. Confiscate contraband for example. There are exploration missions in there.
TL;DR version - Look to the missions already out there, many can be cut down into smaller non-combat missions.
Peaceful exploration? I have a heavily armed ship and a phaser with a kill setting, how peaceful is that?
The famous quote every Star Trek fan and average citizen is familiar with. But space in STO feels more like an airport parking lot than a frontier. We need more space, a lot more space or at least the illusion of more space. Whatever the current distance is between star systems...triple it, double triple it leaving empty space in between. Expand each system into a solar system. That is, when approaching Sol I should have the option to descend on any of its 8 planets...err 9 planets...or is it 10 planets now??? Anyhow, you get the idea. Give us the ability to fly to Jupiter Station, chill out next to Mars or fly around the Sun. Do this for each system in sector space.
Next, sprinkle objects in between these spaces. I use the word sprinkle purposefully instead of "fill" as expanding the space in between systems to only fill them up with other stuff defeats the purpose. These objects should be things like Star Clusters, Nebula's, asteroid fields and spacial anomalies.
Give players the option to travel these distances with their current speeds or fast travel to the location of their desire completely bypassing the "flying through space" experience. This option can be in the map selection when double clicking a system.
Before providing exploration you must first set the proper stage to create the feeling of exploration.
2a. Purpose
"Why, why? Why do you do it? Why, why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting... for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose."
I present Agent Smith's monologue to Neo as a retort to Tacofangs concern about the boredom of scanning endlessly as a means to create exploration in STO. The question is purpose Tacofangs/STO. Why are we scanning these objects? As it existed in the Exploration Clusters before they were removed what was the reason we were scanning a bush? What was the benefit of exploring a system or defunct satellite? A pittance of XP? The "feeling" of exploring?
The problem is not scanning the tree which needs to be solved but giving proper context and purpose as to why we are scanning it with appropriate reward and benefit. And to be clear adding more XP does nothing to solve this problem.
Each faction - within Star Trek canon - has a purpose. Yet in STO each faction captain spends their time fighting...endlessly fighting and killing. All factions, all classes are subject to this fate. I find it humorous sometimes players who favor the KDF complain about not having that much content given to them because all factions seem to have taken a page out of the Klignon playbook. Glorious battle.
So...
2b. Release the DOFF!
The Federation defends, helps and explores. The Romulan's plot, scheme and conquer. The Klignon's headbutt each other and say Qapla'. When a ship leaves dry dock from their respective factions base of operation there is an expectation of what job responsibilities they will perform. Unto each faction each class has specific duties they are to perform. This is the daily grind and where a majority of the exploration comes from. It also provides a sense of purpose for that mission.
And there already exists of wealth of content to choose from specific to each class and faction. By creating a playable mission for each and every DOFF mission you now have a foundation for exploration that is specific to each class within each faction. Give us the choice to choose whether to complete a DOFF mission as we currently do or actively participate in that DOFF mission for higher rewards. Like the difference between sending a DOFF to gather materials or scanning them yourself with the mini game.
Rather than playing a single mission over and over and over...and over...and over again you can choose from dozens of non story specific missions. Again, these are not meant to be endless or entirely exciting. They are your job duties, the grindy stuff.
2c. Never Stop Learning
In addition to XP rewards how about some kind of long term educational benefit? After scanning and learning about a particular particle or tree or thing I now have enough information to do something of interest. There should be a reward for learning something over time. One ROI you have already created is crafting - I collect materials and build things with them when I have enough. Expand on that.
Provide more education in the game. When I scan a spacial anomaly put some real life astronomical data on my captains computer in my ready room that I can reference for the sake of learning something new. Keep it on pace with some of the cool stuff NASA is learning. Put in more education about Star Trek lore.
3. A + B = C
The Army has a saying - "No plan survives first contact." Never a truer phrase when flying through empty space with backup 100 light years away. The random encounter is what makes exploration dangerous and exciting. Sure I can go to my backyard and "explore" what lies beneath my finely cured lawn - but take a journey to an uncharted land (A) with the unknown before me (B)...that's a different story (C).
The way this mechanic should work is two-fold. While on your DOFF mission or flying through sector space. The former would work as such: while on your DOFF mission - some random time during the mission - you are presented with a either a Foundry mission that starts at the system you are in or a genesis auto generated/STO created encounter. Your DOFF mission would still need to be completed in addition to the random encounter.
The latter would occur randomly while traveling through sector space to simulate Distress calls or other anomalies encountered. By making the anomalies Foundry Doors authors can attach stories to these obstacles. In addition your can have floating Foundry Doors - these locations would "appear" to Foundry authors as large circular spaces in between systems where the missions could trigger anywhere within that circle. To take from a Final Fantasy mechanic for random encounters the slower you travel through space the more encounters you chance upon. The faster you travel the less. And of course with fast travel you bypass them altogether. For players who like traveling through space with interruption give us the option to turn random encounters off entirely.
Next, get rid of the "Engage Enemy Contacts" floating around sector space and turn them into random enemy encounters that you can't see. To replace the option of being able to fly to a location and battle certain enemies put them in the different factions HQ's as simulations to run in a holodeck. Keep the Red Alerts.
As always provide choice. Rather than forcing players into encounters (as I recall this was how they used to function) the option to engage would be the players. Much like the flying around a star cluster your would be presented with "Explore Unknown System" which you could click on or skip.
4. Faction Fleets
What I mean is 3 large "fleets" that consist of each faction and all of that factions solo captains and fleets - To further provide the purpose behind what we are doing for our daily grinds (read: DOFF missions). It would function like a fleet or reputation in that it would keep track of the materials gathered etc. And each faction would gather materials for a specific purpose that once reached would result in something. Like a collective grind. It shouldn't cost as much per player as fleet projects or reputation. One incarnation of this could be the fate of a new star system. Will it become a new member of the Federation? A listening post for the Romulan's? Or new territory for the Empire? Each faction would have to provide certain materials and other to persuade the outcome of the system and some other player specific reward.
When a goal is reached that would result in a new FE to provide the cinematic theme or the "Summer Blockbuster" so to speak. Which leads to me to...
5. The Featured Episode/Exploration
Gamers chew through content like little Japanese men at a hot dog eating contest. Spending a year to create a new FE must feel like throwing rocks at the Enterprise while on an intercept course. Within one weekend your content has been consumed and the drought begins. So instead of just dropping Episodes include the habit of Featured Exploration which updates and provides new exploration content that can help keep the game fresh. This can be done by adding new systems or star clusters or new materials to scan.
Look you guys have the FE down for the most part (go live bugs not withstanding) but leave much to be desired in the time between.
6. Conclusion
More space to create the foundation of a frontier. Faction specific daily tasks which don't evolve around playing the same map countless times. Purpose to the grind. Regular updates to both episodes and exploration content.
Now when I log into STO I select what duties to perform for the day - say provide colonial support to a Federation planet. I may have 4 missions I need to complete for this - 1) Locate a reliable source of some material 2) Gather/mine enough materials to craft industrial replicator 3) Deliver materials to the planet. Simple enough. But along the way during sub mission 2 I receive a distress call that takes me on a journey only my ship and its crew are in position to assist. Something strange and new.
I expect Fog of War just is not feasible for an MMO - tens of thousands of players with their own settings? The Cryptic DBA just shot herself in the head...
My take is that Exploration should be a bit of a hybrid between hand crafted maps and rewards and randomly generated stuff.
My biggest issue with the old exploration system, is that unexplored space was just far too populated.
Space is vast and the planets that can support life are an incredible minority to those that can.
So IMO new species and populated worlds should be for the most part hand crafted by the developers.
In between, we can sprinkle in a huge variety of "unpopulated" worlds to visit and survey and perhaps discover materials or rare components and items etc, these worlds would be randomly generated.
I loved the Original Mass Effect game, and while driving around in the MAKO was a pain, control wise, I very much enjoyed exploring the different alien worlds, which were diverse and had a variety of different hazards.
Which brings me to another point.
Exploration IMO would need to be more than just walking around on foot, and I think shuttlecraft may need to start playing a more important role there.
In fact, what would be great would be randomly generated archetype based planets, with assosciated "landing zone" hotspots, where a player could land and transition to a small ground map for a closer look.
Environmental hazards of different types is also something that should be, which could be anything from acid rain or a heavily ionized atmosphere, to a full Demon Class planet.
What I great discussion. I love the idea of explorable solar systems, especially the possibility of letting players design their own. Perhaps they could be simulated using the 'sector block' mechanic. Surely a 'random solar system generator' could be implemented in some form.
If anyone here is old enough to remember the "Star Trek: The Rebel Universe" early PC/C64 game, that had a really great system exploration concept, albeit within the limitations of the rather primitive computer tech. Warp in, see an overview of the star system, then set course to the various planets and interact/send an away team. There's an example here at about 2" and 10:20":
Obviously STO would want something considerably more up to date, but it's one example, and an example of an amazingly fleshed out sector oof space using very limited resources.
It would also be nice to be able to beam down to planets/ships/bases using our Environmental suits more often than currently.
So, how do you propose we "explore" the universe, without having to make a million custom maps/missions?
What would actually be enjoyable to do, that doesn't involve fighting. Scanning rocks and trees is going to get old.
As far as the million maps thing goes, the Diablo series of games makes random maps for every level and never makes one in error, like a dead end or one unable to finish the level. Engine differnt Yada yada yada but they get it right every time. With a little design you and your staff could as well.
That depends on each individual. Like anazonda pointed out before me - different strokes for different folks. To someone scanning rocks and trees will get old, to others kill 5 gorups of 5 aliens is getting old. I would say a healthy mix of all elements would be best.
Personally, I'm still sad and kinda' in disbelief that the exploration clusters were removed. While they were not top-notch gameplay by any standards, they provided a nice calm distraction from the main course and with a little bit of imagination a lot of us enjoyed them. I would prefered if they were somehow trimmed or improved upon rather that the outright removal that happened.
Maybe it's possible for each class to influence the type of exploration players will encounter, wheather it will be some scientific scanning and puzzle solving, fighting or helping a small colony/civilization with some techical issues. Or if that isn't fair for people to be locked because of the class they picked, maybe a toggle where one could select what profile of exploration missions they want? Or if that's too much and too complicated work, just a healthy dose of everything for everyone would work just fine.
There is a thread that I can't seem to find atm, maybe you can work some dev. magic to locate it (or maybe the OP will show up) - it was basically a thread about exploration ideas and it had at least a dozen of pages of some seriously good suggestions to pick from. Maybe that can be usefull for inspiration.
One thing noone can deny is that this community is thirsty for exploration content, the outrage following the removal of the clusters has shown that and this current poll is on it's way to show that as well.
Honestly the exploration missions, much like Aquaman, sucked. And while exploration was a goal of the Federation, Star Trek, every single episode, was about CONFLICTS and overcoming them, not the boring daily chores of running a particle detection surveys every day.
Comments
Wormholes and make use of the Nebula around STO to add some different missions attached to them. Random unstable appearing Wormholes could present a player the option to explore somewhere they have never been and get a nice reward for it. Uncharted Nebula could be used to help mine crafting materials like the previously available missions.
Q could also appear and send players off to distant galaxies and places never visited before. This happened when Q introduced the TNG crew to the Borg. The Traveler could also be picked up from specific points around the STO galaxy or use a DOff mission to activate The Traveler to help him explore more unusual places. Like the TNG series, he took the Enterprise to places that were unimaginable to conceive in some cases.
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even with a game like elite dangerous with its 400 billion star systems you will find that most are very similar and offer very little new stuff to see, planets you can explore or life you can seek out, especially when the gameplay makes you want to visit the core star systems for the tradeing that is the main thread of the game.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
now you see things the way i do, its all meaningless and pointless. there are those who are super excited by an exploration content coming, ideas needed and such, but in the end it really dont make any difference as its the same as exploring on a mission even if it always involves combat. however, a change of view can sometimes be stimulating, if only for a short time.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
agreed, having said that during the anniversary event for the particle game I have found a few places I have never visited before in my 3+ years, this leads me to think how much of the current available systems and content have I not yet explored especially if I include un-played foundry missions and I am betting there are a lot of players in the same situation if they would but admit it.
there is a heck of a lot of personal exploration as yet untapped for me in the game.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
In the TV show, exploration always lead to conflicts of some sort. Sometimes involving violence, sometimes involving ethical and moral dilemmas. In the end, they are all about having a real story. But a real story is something that needs a writer and it can't automatically generated with infinite variation. 31 Seasons of Star Trek also represent 31 years of studio production crews, actors and writers working together to get it done - and each year only resulting in something like 30 1 hour episodes.
Another aspect of the TV show's exploration was that it was not about exploring space or planets, it was about exploring human issues - conflicts, ethics. I think this is a part where Star Trek Online is falling short - too much is straightforward with more or less easy answers.
Exploration in MMOs (or maybe some MMOs, and all kinds of "sandbox" games) is usually more about going to difficult to reach places to find interesting spots. Be it a particularly rich resource node, or just a nice spot. The obstacles often are not enemies (though they can be), but are simple physical hindrances, like cliffs you can't scale and you need to find a path, dangerous and treacherous terrain, obstacles you need to jump and climb over.
In the TV shows, exploration was usually in the form of flying to a particular spot in place and then experiencing some story. And I fear in space, the MMO exploration has little place - Space is mostly empty. There aren't difficult obstacles to overcome. So you can't "MMO explore" in sector space, basically. Maybe you can do it within a particular star system (with planets, asteroid belts and what not as obstacles?). But you probably have to do it on a world.
But that would mean that a single, huge map on a planet would serve as "exploration zone". Like New Romulus or the Risa Summer Event map.
But for me, this just doesn't feel like "Star Trek". Star Trek is full of planets of the week, one matte painting, a SFX shot of the oribt, and 2 sets are all that is used to represent a planet, and in next week's episode, we'll visit another place (made out of a matte painting and 2 sets).
So I don't know... It seems like trying to square a circle if you try to combine the different forms of exploration to make it feel right.
Obviously it would not satisfy everybody, but it would fit my thoughts on how things went down in Star Trek...
Some of the stuff mentioned in the bringing down the walls thread.
Difficulty...enough Foundry missions fitting the areas one was flying through so it was not a case of getting the same thing all the time.
To this I would add: Increasing mission rewards if you get more career-specific objectives completed.
Here's an (oversimplified!) idea for a reward structure. Let's say we have an exploration "mission" (in an exploration adventure zone?) with 1 sci, 1 tac, and 1 eng objective. After one of those three objectives is completed, the other two become optional and the mission can be continued, finished, and turned in (same as that Gamma shuttle mission in the Cardy featured series).
Let's say that this hypothetical mission awards R&D materials upon turn-in.
That's a rough idea. The numbers would be tweaked in testing of course but the premise is that the more career-specific objectives get completed, the more rewards the team gets and/or the higher quality those rewards are. It doesn't have to be R&D mats, it could be as simple as 10/20/30 marks, or 50/100/250 dilithium ore (like high-paying Doff assignments), or 1000, 2000, 3000 skillpoints.
Joined January 2009
I think we're missing how much of it boiled down to performance.
I can be a big "story over mechanics" guy but if you get the mechanics right, story will emerge to some extent.
The game as it launched was basically a prototype episode simulator but it focused on simulating the action, which meant the story had to be manually scripted.
If you can model story and world more in the mechanics, you can not only have more emergent "sandbox" play, you can mass produce content more easily and have it be more replayable.
My character Tsin'xing
Make it big. Make it bold. It should be unpredictable, deep and broad, and I'd like it to combine as many of the different elements of STO as possible in creative and interrelated ways to keep multiple elements of the game fresh and relevant. Doing exploration as an expansion would probably be the minimum if something on this scale were to be attempted, and quite frankly, one for which I'd both wait... and pay.
Random/Unpredictable
So much of the stuff in STO, save brand-new content, is really quite predictable. There are a few exceptions (PvP and fleet alerts, for example), but mostly I know exactly what I'm going to get each time I click on something (loot drops not included). Runs of most STF's are the same unless someone screws up, and PvE content is the same. A lot of this is to be expected, and I understand that. But it would be fun to pick up short random missions (much like Very Rare Doff missions, and along the lines of Eta Eridani dailies) as I fly around sector space! Space monsters! Spacial anomalies! Derelict space vessels and bases! Alien Plagues! Distress Calls! More of these, especially if they spawn randomly like to red alerts. I don't want to necessarily go to system A and play mission B, as is most of the content in-game currently. It would be fun if some things pop up as I fly through sector space at a minimum, better yet in unexplored space or ground zones!
I may be in a minority, but I fondly remember replaying the first Borg STF's hoping to get the gear drop I need. At the time, I understood why players might not have liked it. The rewards were among the few real top-tier endgame equipment, and it was somewhat unfair to allow pure luck to govern who got what. But now there are multiple competitive endgame sets, it might be nice to have items that can only be found by exploring and getting lucky.
More specifically? Here are a few ideas based on these different systems:
Foundry
Like many here, I think the foundry is tailor-made for exploration, and a perfect starting point. We've got some amazing foundry authors who are putting up some really interesting stuff, and it would be a great way to invest the players that more tightly with the game. As somer have mentioned, the 'pick three' feature is a great idea that could be expanded on. If it really works out, it could generate a nearly self-sustaining and self-refreshing component of STO. If used to flesh out a dev-authored storyline and missions, even better. Heck, I wouldn't even mind doing those 'genesis'-era missions once in a while. The problem there is obvious, namely that on its own it's not up to scratch.
Perhaps players could choose the general length of the content they prefer, like shorter fifteen-minute mini-missions for people pressed for time, medium twenty to thirty minute episodes, all the way up to who knows how long, or folks could choose to keep it completely random. Authors who write series could be given the option of taking players directly to the next mission, or saving their place for later.
My personal preference with a foundry-based solution to exploration would be for the missions to be more or less random - players wouldn't be able to play specific missions they had heard of from other players, (or at least would have the choice to encounter random missions instead of parsing a list of missions) but would just stumble across cotent. Perhaps players could even choose their 'orders' from Starfleet for what types[/I of content they'd like (trade/combat/space/ground/charting/diplomatic/etc). If there was enough demand and enough exploration zones, foundry missions featuring specific races or situations (Borg/Delta quadrent, etc) could be placed in the appropriate places around the galaxy.
Maps/Locations
The easy answer would be to allow players to enter the various nebulas in-game, like the Rolar Nebula, etc. Perhaps over time there could be a dedicated storyline in each one? Obviously new zones could be developed as well, and I think a special Fleet zone would be great (see under Fleets next). I like the idea of revealing randomly generated zones that players would have to map out, like in the Civilization series where you literally have unexplored areas blacked out, and unmonitored areas grayed out.
Exploration could take place in more familiar settings as well - there are plenty of precedents in STO for discovering unusual things in familiar places. It would be a great way to revitalize planets like Andoria and Vulcan, which currently are little more than a place to visit once and largely forget about. The Aenar were found on Andoria in 'Enterprise'. 'Time's Arrow' from Next Generation focused on historic Earth. Heck, how often did exploration take place onboard the ships themselves, discovering new life that had accidentally or deliberately found its way on board? Adding universal interact points to ship interiors could be a way to introduce some very basic missions on our own ships, though this would likely be limited by the variety of interiors. Still, a good possibility to revitalize these types of underused areas.
Fleets/Social
As I said above, a team-centric, fleet-specific exploration zone could be great, perhaps complemented by a 'teaming zone' for players who choose not to join fleets. It could be a place for unique content, and I would suggest rewards be enhanced for these. A good way to encourage teaming would be to introduce and/or to enable in the foundry mechanics that encourage and reward teaming, and perhaps even encourage or require different professions to complete missions successfully (See below).
There could also bee a 'fleet outpost' holding, a kind of trading post for unusual alien gear or something similar. Alien Boffs/Doffs, etc.
Careers
Building on teaming up above, if dev- or player-authored missions required mixed teams to complete certain missions, that would be a good way to increase diversity. Say you NEEDED to have a teammate who is an engineer to gain entrance to a base, or a scientist/doctor to heal an important NPC in order to progress the mission, or the team gets stuck or fails the mission. STF's are probably the easiest area to introduce this kind of content, but a lot could be done in the foundry. After all, how many episodes required an engineer or a doctor present to save the day? Kirk could never have healed the Horta, and Scotty...? We probably don't get past the first couple episodes of season 1 of TOS without Mr. Scott!
New non-combat specialization trees or even new 'career paths' could help to further a player's exploration/overall game experience. Allowing players to be explorers, diplomats, traders, etc., would be really interesting.
Crafting/gear/Rep system
Perhaps a new kind of mission would require players to craft equipment on the spot as required in missions. Perhaps a player would need to craft a special piece of alien technology to advance in a mission, maybe a special shield/weapon/engine modification. Don't carry the parts? Fail the mission. Seems like every other episode required jury-rigging equipment, modifying shield/phasers/tricorders/communicators, or integrating alien tech into Starfleet technology. Crafting would be cool to introduce here if done right.
Perhaps players would need to craft special tech to enter a new exploration zone, much like ships had to be specially outfitted to enter the briar patch. Entering the T'Ong nebula requires Thingamajigger stabilizers to enter? Gotta craft it! It could be a big project, even a tier of a reputation system a la New Romulus.
It would also be interesting to offer a new set as an exploration-only item. You can't earn or craft it, you just have to search system after system until you're lucky enough to find it, or perhaps you could do something like the Breen Star Chart to deduce locations (solve problem, enter coordinates and warp there, different for every player would be awesome. If it's different for every player and cash/EC/dilithium has little or no effect on getting the gear, it would be fair.
Doffs
Require (or offer) Doff missions in PvE missions more regularly. I thought the doff missions offered in the DS9 feature episode was a nice touch. Doff missions in PvP might be interesting too, such as missions to create defenses at captured points.
Resources
I really like the idea others had about making potential exploration missions feature resource points, as a number of PvE maps do currently. Expanding them would be good too - imagine discovering crates of medical supplies/alien tech/rare or VR crafting materials/unique alien ship or ground equipment, and especially dilithium mining nodes. If you're worried about too much dilithium, limit the daily amount of ore that can be earned through exploration.
PvP
I'm no PvP'er, but it would be great to find a way to integrate PvP. So Often in Trek episodes, two opposing sides have to race to reach an objective. I think PvP offers a really interesting way to integrate this type of episode with real-life opponents. It needn't be combat-based, either. It could be diplomatic, trade, research, etc. options.
Perhaps competitions between players or fleets in missions or as STF/PvP maps for resources and rewards would be a great way to bring players back in to PvP.
PvE
You guys make some pretty awesome story content. I'll stay out of this, other than to say integrating different systems into PvE, as is done to a small extent now, would be really cool. Others have recommended cycling content. Imagine having six pr seven missions that would spawn randomly, serving the purpose of the small daily missions like those found in Eta Eridani.
C store
I get it, you gotta make your money. If you're exploring new zones, you could sell players increased sensor ranges to better map areas or find missions/items, spy satellites to monitor explored area and report changes in already-explored areas outside your sensor range, who knows? There could even be things like lockboxes for the different exploration zones that are constantly offered, like a 'Kazon Cluster' or 'Betraka Nebula' lockbox.
You could go with the concept Cryptic originally planed before they dropped it for star clusters. I'm still waiting to discover a planet and have it named after me.
Kanharn's Memory Alpha.
If we want to talk about exploration, why don't we try utilizing the player base to make entire sectors and tie foundry missions to them, users could then vote on whether or not these sectors are of sufficient quality before they're implemented in-game. Sure we could have restrictions to minimise some craziness. Though, overall, wouldn't this be a great idea? Potentially thousands of sectors to roam, explore and discover. We could choose where our fleet starbases could be, and allow users to visit it (to use the bank, exchange, shipyards, etc). We could tie in anomalies, artifacts, our own custom civilizations (or introduce Betazed!).
As it stands the galaxy in STO feels, small and tight. We can't rely on Cryptic to do this by themselves as this would take too long, so why not use the playerbase and design sectors in the foundry or the like?
Lag Watch:
Delta Rising: Warning
Anniversary Event: Severe
Iconian Season: Critical
Taco,
Thanks for popping in. Exploration has been a feature I've wanted but has always been difficult to implement. However there are a few ways to make this feel more Treky and less star ship combat simulator.
1) developer made exploration maps: released in quarterly updates, I don't think scanning per say is the problem hell we all know our favorite captains complained about that boring planetary survey they had to do as an Ensign. Just make the scanning interesting.. Ie as an example planetary survey beam down and take samples of life forms, geology, weather patterns, atmosphere etc.. Just not the same thing. Maybe some planets have hostile life forms that might attack if we get to close.. Like apex predators. Maybe some of the planets are perfect for colonization... Can then open a Doff chain to colonize the planet. Maybe it can be terra formed... Another Doff mission. Maybe it's useless or very rarely we could find something that would require the planet to be closed off.. Yet another Doff mission . From one activity you have a wide variety of outcomes.. The thing is you could take the same maps and randomize the outcome each time.
2) foundry content.. Not my favorite but useful.. Others have covered this.
3) make ranks in the various Doff mission categories useful... Everywhere. Requires extreme revamp.. Population would love you for it. Has already been done in a few missions. What I mean is allow options based on the ranks we've gained in various Doff categories like diplomacy, military, espionage, science, medical etc to open up. Ie if you have a high enough diplomacy skill you can talk your way out of a fight. So a patrol that normally says kill 5 groups perhaps after you defeat the first group and you have a high enough diplo ranks you are allowed to talk to the other groups and talk them into leaving. Or if you have a super high espionage skill perhaps you get an option to send over a boarding party or two to take over some ships and turn them to your side. Again the conditions could be really varied.. Again extreme revamp but the payoffs would huge.. It would put the Trek back in to Star Trek Online. Every story should have this built in.. Sometimes you can not avoid a fight but almost every Federation captain will try. Now my Klingon friends .., well with all the military categories I'm sure they'll have fun to.
There you have it!
Agreed...
And what's the chances of something like that spawning a side mission? This may be beyond the scope of what the game can do, but what if interacting with an object could be the door to a mission? Say someone observes you shooting those bottles and now they're a contact for a mission to hunt down some Tal Shiar spotted south of the settlement?
Exploration should provide incentive to explore and interact with the environment... head off the beaten path in hopes of finding something. More than once I've gone exploring the instance map just to see what the map artists created, hoping to find some secret little area with something interesting there.
If the system provided an alternative way to acquire resources that currently require endless grinding it could be a huge boost to the game.
Captain Ariel Trueheart Department of Temporal Investigations
U.S.S. Valkyrie - NCC 991701
=/\= ================================= =/\=
I think I remember seeing this on the commercial that was on The Original Series season 1 HD-DVDs. Not sure if this was Cryptic, or that was when Perpetual was still "developing" the game.
Would still be cool though.
I think you bring a very good point to the table. Whats actually wished by, I assume the majority, those who clicked "exploration" in the poll is an actual exploration system; a game mechanic. Having a 6 Mission story arc that is called the exploration of X which involves the exploration of a certain planet & its inhabitants while probably entertaining is *NOT* exploration; its new story missions about exploration called exploration.
So whatever the brain-father of the "Exploration Missions" wording meant in that poll should not be a new story arc; not be something that is only exploration by the choice of flavor words in the mission text.
Also science skills such as graviton and particle generators need to help in success rates for exploration and investigations, with subspace decompiler giving bigger success rates in solving subspace based phenomena, due to its rarity on items and player skill point cost. The starship sensors skill could also factor into this.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
I did not have a chance to read all of the pages here, many good ideas. Since I am answering the question of what is enjoyable to do beyond fighting, any repeats should be seen as another vote. And sorry in advance for the wall of text.
I am looking as this as non-combat in addition to Exploration. The original scan 5 things, kill 5 things can be added back in as a break, the key is to have a variety of mission types.
That is the key for me, mission types vs maps. To avoid the multiple maps, the backdrops can look very similar, in fact many games I play are the same backdrop rotated 90 degrees or cut down. The story behind why I am there is the key. When this was done in the past it lead to interesting combinations, like trying to find a radiation source to save a society while the Borg planet takeover was used. I think the Borg are the bigger problem, but that may just be me.
Back to the question, what would I enjoy. For many of these I looked to parts of existing and past missions. Combining these in to 3 part missions like the previous method would work, keeping each part to 10 minutes or so. Not looking for epic stories, just something to keep my interest.
First Contact/Diplomatic party - As mentioned before, the First contact missions where we had to talk to people, the answer questions about how we are alike and different. Could also lead stopping a fight between people. Many missions have had the listen to all species and respond in an appropriate manner.
Medical aid - Quite a few missions have had a section where we review a patient and select a treatment to match. For example when we meet Bones.
Bartending - Ok this one is a stretch. I had fun making a drink based on Scotty's recommendations. Add to that ingredients that the species are allergic to or find repulsive. "How was I supposed to know that tequila was poison to them?" "Captain's log - Pineapple based drinks are Viagra to the new discovered species, use with extreme caution."
Distress Call/Ship Repairs - Similar to the medical aid. We have had parts of missions where we need to review what is wrong with the ship and repair it. Note: Watch out for Packleds.
Escort/Transport - We need to get someone or something from point A to point B. While this can lead to shoot em ups, replace that other dangers - avoid wormholes, black holes, mine fields, etc.
On report - In addition to ideas like having a crew member on report for a crime, there are more mundane issues to deal with like conflict, promotion, encouragement.
Doff Mission - In our DOFF missions there are ones that would work for a short mission. Confiscate contraband for example. There are exploration missions in there.
TL;DR version - Look to the missions already out there, many can be cut down into smaller non-combat missions.
Peaceful exploration? I have a heavily armed ship and a phaser with a kill setting, how peaceful is that?
1. Space...The Final Frontier
The famous quote every Star Trek fan and average citizen is familiar with. But space in STO feels more like an airport parking lot than a frontier. We need more space, a lot more space or at least the illusion of more space. Whatever the current distance is between star systems...triple it, double triple it leaving empty space in between. Expand each system into a solar system. That is, when approaching Sol I should have the option to descend on any of its 8 planets...err 9 planets...or is it 10 planets now??? Anyhow, you get the idea. Give us the ability to fly to Jupiter Station, chill out next to Mars or fly around the Sun. Do this for each system in sector space.
Next, sprinkle objects in between these spaces. I use the word sprinkle purposefully instead of "fill" as expanding the space in between systems to only fill them up with other stuff defeats the purpose. These objects should be things like Star Clusters, Nebula's, asteroid fields and spacial anomalies.
Give players the option to travel these distances with their current speeds or fast travel to the location of their desire completely bypassing the "flying through space" experience. This option can be in the map selection when double clicking a system.
Before providing exploration you must first set the proper stage to create the feeling of exploration.
2a. Purpose
"Why, why? Why do you do it? Why, why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting... for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose."
I present Agent Smith's monologue to Neo as a retort to Tacofangs concern about the boredom of scanning endlessly as a means to create exploration in STO. The question is purpose Tacofangs/STO. Why are we scanning these objects? As it existed in the Exploration Clusters before they were removed what was the reason we were scanning a bush? What was the benefit of exploring a system or defunct satellite? A pittance of XP? The "feeling" of exploring?
The problem is not scanning the tree which needs to be solved but giving proper context and purpose as to why we are scanning it with appropriate reward and benefit. And to be clear adding more XP does nothing to solve this problem.
Each faction - within Star Trek canon - has a purpose. Yet in STO each faction captain spends their time fighting...endlessly fighting and killing. All factions, all classes are subject to this fate. I find it humorous sometimes players who favor the KDF complain about not having that much content given to them because all factions seem to have taken a page out of the Klignon playbook. Glorious battle.
So...
2b. Release the DOFF!
The Federation defends, helps and explores. The Romulan's plot, scheme and conquer. The Klignon's headbutt each other and say Qapla'. When a ship leaves dry dock from their respective factions base of operation there is an expectation of what job responsibilities they will perform. Unto each faction each class has specific duties they are to perform. This is the daily grind and where a majority of the exploration comes from. It also provides a sense of purpose for that mission.
And there already exists of wealth of content to choose from specific to each class and faction. By creating a playable mission for each and every DOFF mission you now have a foundation for exploration that is specific to each class within each faction. Give us the choice to choose whether to complete a DOFF mission as we currently do or actively participate in that DOFF mission for higher rewards. Like the difference between sending a DOFF to gather materials or scanning them yourself with the mini game.
Rather than playing a single mission over and over and over...and over...and over again you can choose from dozens of non story specific missions. Again, these are not meant to be endless or entirely exciting. They are your job duties, the grindy stuff.
2c. Never Stop Learning
In addition to XP rewards how about some kind of long term educational benefit? After scanning and learning about a particular particle or tree or thing I now have enough information to do something of interest. There should be a reward for learning something over time. One ROI you have already created is crafting - I collect materials and build things with them when I have enough. Expand on that.
Provide more education in the game. When I scan a spacial anomaly put some real life astronomical data on my captains computer in my ready room that I can reference for the sake of learning something new. Keep it on pace with some of the cool stuff NASA is learning. Put in more education about Star Trek lore.
3. A + B = C
The Army has a saying - "No plan survives first contact." Never a truer phrase when flying through empty space with backup 100 light years away. The random encounter is what makes exploration dangerous and exciting. Sure I can go to my backyard and "explore" what lies beneath my finely cured lawn - but take a journey to an uncharted land (A) with the unknown before me (B)...that's a different story (C).
The way this mechanic should work is two-fold. While on your DOFF mission or flying through sector space. The former would work as such: while on your DOFF mission - some random time during the mission - you are presented with a either a Foundry mission that starts at the system you are in or a genesis auto generated/STO created encounter. Your DOFF mission would still need to be completed in addition to the random encounter.
The latter would occur randomly while traveling through sector space to simulate Distress calls or other anomalies encountered. By making the anomalies Foundry Doors authors can attach stories to these obstacles. In addition your can have floating Foundry Doors - these locations would "appear" to Foundry authors as large circular spaces in between systems where the missions could trigger anywhere within that circle. To take from a Final Fantasy mechanic for random encounters the slower you travel through space the more encounters you chance upon. The faster you travel the less. And of course with fast travel you bypass them altogether. For players who like traveling through space with interruption give us the option to turn random encounters off entirely.
Next, get rid of the "Engage Enemy Contacts" floating around sector space and turn them into random enemy encounters that you can't see. To replace the option of being able to fly to a location and battle certain enemies put them in the different factions HQ's as simulations to run in a holodeck. Keep the Red Alerts.
As always provide choice. Rather than forcing players into encounters (as I recall this was how they used to function) the option to engage would be the players. Much like the flying around a star cluster your would be presented with "Explore Unknown System" which you could click on or skip.
4. Faction Fleets
What I mean is 3 large "fleets" that consist of each faction and all of that factions solo captains and fleets - To further provide the purpose behind what we are doing for our daily grinds (read: DOFF missions). It would function like a fleet or reputation in that it would keep track of the materials gathered etc. And each faction would gather materials for a specific purpose that once reached would result in something. Like a collective grind. It shouldn't cost as much per player as fleet projects or reputation. One incarnation of this could be the fate of a new star system. Will it become a new member of the Federation? A listening post for the Romulan's? Or new territory for the Empire? Each faction would have to provide certain materials and other to persuade the outcome of the system and some other player specific reward.
When a goal is reached that would result in a new FE to provide the cinematic theme or the "Summer Blockbuster" so to speak. Which leads to me to...
5. The Featured Episode/Exploration
Gamers chew through content like little Japanese men at a hot dog eating contest. Spending a year to create a new FE must feel like throwing rocks at the Enterprise while on an intercept course. Within one weekend your content has been consumed and the drought begins. So instead of just dropping Episodes include the habit of Featured Exploration which updates and provides new exploration content that can help keep the game fresh. This can be done by adding new systems or star clusters or new materials to scan.
Look you guys have the FE down for the most part (go live bugs not withstanding) but leave much to be desired in the time between.
6. Conclusion
More space to create the foundation of a frontier. Faction specific daily tasks which don't evolve around playing the same map countless times. Purpose to the grind. Regular updates to both episodes and exploration content.
Now when I log into STO I select what duties to perform for the day - say provide colonial support to a Federation planet. I may have 4 missions I need to complete for this - 1) Locate a reliable source of some material 2) Gather/mine enough materials to craft industrial replicator 3) Deliver materials to the planet. Simple enough. But along the way during sub mission 2 I receive a distress call that takes me on a journey only my ship and its crew are in position to assist. Something strange and new.
My biggest issue with the old exploration system, is that unexplored space was just far too populated.
Space is vast and the planets that can support life are an incredible minority to those that can.
So IMO new species and populated worlds should be for the most part hand crafted by the developers.
In between, we can sprinkle in a huge variety of "unpopulated" worlds to visit and survey and perhaps discover materials or rare components and items etc, these worlds would be randomly generated.
I loved the Original Mass Effect game, and while driving around in the MAKO was a pain, control wise, I very much enjoyed exploring the different alien worlds, which were diverse and had a variety of different hazards.
Which brings me to another point.
Exploration IMO would need to be more than just walking around on foot, and I think shuttlecraft may need to start playing a more important role there.
In fact, what would be great would be randomly generated archetype based planets, with assosciated "landing zone" hotspots, where a player could land and transition to a small ground map for a closer look.
Environmental hazards of different types is also something that should be, which could be anything from acid rain or a heavily ionized atmosphere, to a full Demon Class planet.
If anyone here is old enough to remember the "Star Trek: The Rebel Universe" early PC/C64 game, that had a really great system exploration concept, albeit within the limitations of the rather primitive computer tech. Warp in, see an overview of the star system, then set course to the various planets and interact/send an away team. There's an example here at about 2" and 10:20":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqeytuar5Lk
Obviously STO would want something considerably more up to date, but it's one example, and an example of an amazingly fleshed out sector oof space using very limited resources.
It would also be nice to be able to beam down to planets/ships/bases using our Environmental suits more often than currently.
As far as the million maps thing goes, the Diablo series of games makes random maps for every level and never makes one in error, like a dead end or one unable to finish the level. Engine differnt Yada yada yada but they get it right every time. With a little design you and your staff could as well.
Honestly the exploration missions, much like Aquaman, sucked. And while exploration was a goal of the Federation, Star Trek, every single episode, was about CONFLICTS and overcoming them, not the boring daily chores of running a particle detection surveys every day.