I realize before posting this, that a discussion like this can be sticky for STO's owners, since we can claim anything in the future that resembles anything we guess was our idea and we deserve compensation. So I am putting a disclaimer in here that if you play this guessing game, you are surrendering ownership of the ideas. If that's not good enough I'm sure a mod can comment on how to fix it (or just lock it I suppose).
I've seen the question brought up every so often (especially on Facebook).. what can they POSSIBLY do after the Iconians? They've been built up as the big bad since launch, just about. They are the ultimate enemy. Where can the game possibly go after this? Nothing will live up to it, they say, and they're afraid that the Iconian arc may end too soon.. and it's a good question. What could possibly seem threatening after the Iconians? It's a justifiable fear, and this thread is here for us to express cool ideas, and alleviate fears by showing that the average player CAN think of something which, even if not more dangerous than the Iconians, would be cool or fun.. so if we can, the Devs who get paid to do this kind of stuff certainly can.
A winner is determined by who ever guesses the closest to what happens post Iconians. Maybe your cooler ideas will help inspire the staff.. or your intentionally bad ones will make them laugh.
The reward? You earn a point! What are points? Things that don't matter, of course.
My Idea: The Borg Alliance
The Mirror Universe Borg and our Borg form an alliance, effectively doubling their numbers. This completely destabilizes the Delta Quadrant, and gives a faction which traditionally only sends a handful of cubes to invade the ability to drop whole armadas on their foes literally whenever they want. Coordinated as well as they are, they are able to amass defenses or assaults unlike ever seen before from them, and they wreck havoc in both universes. Now we must work with the Mirror Universe factions and fight on many fronts in both universes, exploring the home of our hostile counter parts and making a difference to combat this new Borg threat.
The Iconians are the biggest threat in our galaxy to be sure, so how do you top that? Making an opponent that is a threat to TWO galaxies, and letting you play in twisted Mirror Universe versions of iconic locations!
I came up with this idea after about 12 seconds of thought. I bet somebody can one up me. Give it a shot!
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1. A super convenient plot device that causes the Dominion to become more hostile, shifting the game towards the Gamma Quadrant. (insert recycled DS9 content here) Dominion/Cardassian faction? Maybe?
2. The alliance uses the spheres to create a bridge to the Andromeda galaxy, the beginning of the long awaited exploration update. The alliance investigates increasing radiation levels in Andromeda and meet hostility from the remnants of the Kelvan Empire, who plan to use the spheres to occupy the Milky Way.
3. ...PvP oriented...plot? I dunno, wargames or something. Celebrate the end of the war...and stuff.
4. A political thriller storyline threatening to dissolve the Delta Alliance, featuring branching mission gameplay. Every episode and the entire arc has multiple endings.
5. The Krenim become a threat as they attempt to restore the Imperium with Annorax's ship, the result of which lays the foundation for the the Temporal Cold War. Yep, everyone hates it, but what the hell. And who was it that suggested The Battle of Procyon V involved pulling ships from different points in history to fight the Sphere Builders? Let's do that. That sounds awesome.
I personally have Faith in the Dev's ability to tell a good story. To tell a TREK story, and to make some great episodes and improvements to the game. The only thing I would hope for is they return more to the old way of rolling out featured episodes. I LOVE that multiple rewards make the story worth replaying, but instead of one mission every 3-4 weeks, cut it down to 2-3 weeks. This keeps the narrative rolling along a bit more smoothly in my opinion. Bottom line is I personally look forward to whatever the devs have planned for season 11 and beyond!
Fleet Admiral In charge of Bacon
Fighting 5th Attack Squadron
The Devils Henchman
(And before some Smart Alec comments. Yes I know this is very unlikely given STOs history so I'm probably going to be disappointed, but that doesn't change the fact that I will be disappointed if this doesn't happen)
Alternatively, the Dr. Sibak (clone)s and Emergency <fill-in-the-blank> Holograms stage a coordinated rebellion against the playerbase, triggering a cutscene that we cannot skip. In it, our captains are stranded in a post-nuclear wasteland while the rebellious clones and holograms gather around a bound Iconian to charge experimental mobile emitters in preparation for WAR! Why? Because war never changes...
Please, they would never stand a chance against Gary!
I have to admit I like the dominion ideas.. Although I didn't care for DS9 it would be cool to see them be a major threat to the Alpha Quadrant for a while. Sort of let us live the Dominion War that we weren't permitted to see hardly any of in the show, via a renewed invasion, new episodes, STF's, and alerts.
You mean, like we see the iconian war now?
Too soon?
For some reason this season the Krenim research project is put on hold (Iconian attack, FED chicken out, whatever). The Krenim protest but they can't protest too much because they need the alliance for humanitarian resources and protection. But that doesn't mean that they can't start tweaking things behind the scenes to move temporal warfare along. Eventually (ie. after we win S10 and we're in S11) they get to the point where they're able to make some change. We have to stop it, but perhaps some other faction doesn't want us to (say, the Imperial Romulans if it involves Hobus). That might fill up S11, and S12 moves on with more temporal incursions by more powers (and a broader range of guest stars).
You can even work that up to a pretty satisfying All Good Things-esque current-STO finale (which stabilizes the temporal cold war for a while), whereafter the game focuses on content that doesn't follow a huge, multi-series plot arc (which would probably allow for the best transition between what we're doing now and the smaller scale concerns of the Cardassians/Borg in for the inevitable next expansion/faction.)
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!
Fleet Admiral In charge of Bacon
Fighting 5th Attack Squadron
The Devils Henchman
Uhmmm... Make a spoon head faction... give them their own campaign...
Redo the current spoon head arc.
Add more stuff to the Iconian War to add for the Spoon heads now being invovled.
Christmas Ship: Elsa's Breen Dreadnought
Season 11.5 Lockbox: Xindi #3
The Hur'q could very well be these elusive 'Others' we still know nothing about. I mean the Fek'Ihri arc is pretty much the same plot as the Iconian one - ancient dread race from eons ago come back with revenge in mind and blah blah blah.
I'd agree with the Gamma quadrant angle too. The Cardassian arc is next in line for an update when it comes to current missions and environments, so it'll be a good opportunity to do all that too.
I also think this time round The Dominion will not be the enemy, but our allies. We've heard nothing from the Gamma quadrant since The Founder returned there, and we know Iconians have a presence there since gates have been found in that space.
So maybe whatever happens with the Krenim weapon leaves Iconians deeply wounded. The tide of war turns in our favour predictably, and the Iconians with nowhere else to go fall back into the Gamma quadrant. We follow them in to discover The Dominion busy at work defending their space and we lend a hand.
The it's discovered that The Hur'q were responsible for digging up The Iconians, we agree on yet another alliance with The Dominion and spend a season fighting them.
1 : krenim use their time ship to wipe out the iconians and restore their empire. They then become the big bad.
2 : Dominion comes to save the day and with the alliance so battered the Dominion try to take advantage and become the new big bad.
3 : The Borg return after defeating the voth. They are promoted as bigger and badder than ever before and we'll be fighting assimilated T-rexes.
- Mirror Universe
Their mechanics could use love and their lore needs work.
- Temporal Cold War
Hear me out. I'm not suggesting limiting that to one of the most hated subplots in Trek although if the Vaadwaur. Elachi, and Devidians can headline a series, the Na'kuhl can probably factor heavily. My larger idea there is to actually build historical Trek settings as locations). Cryptic wanted us to buy shuttles but the value offering was low. I think they risked burnout with T6 ships and I think they found that a lot of us were only selectively interested in them. However, you can see where a game like Arkham Knight looks poised to clean up with Batmobile DLC.
I think TCW works well as a multi-expansion meta-plot the same way that the Iconian plot worked for 5 years and would allow Cryptic to release multiple expansions all under that sub-theme.
So maybe phase 1 of TCW is a TOS themed expansion. It's different. It builds on game assets (there are a fair number of TOS assets including some only in the Foundry. There are sets of mechanical focuses. And rather than T7 or T6U, the option here could be to devise a T6A* (* for "Alternate") which could be TOS ships that utilize limited weapon slots but engaging new alternate mechanics to be just as sophisticated to pilot as a T6 ship. Furthermore, these ships could unlock traits and possible SOME cosmetic options which can carry back over to our existing ships and I think you can get away with ground being a largely straightforward progression albeit maybe with some kind of melee 2.0 and maybe rethinking of redshirt security.
The idea could actually have us go undercover in popular (or perhaps obscure) eras of Star Trek and redouble the game's growth in offering a Star Trek experience by selecting key features from each time period expansion to integrate back into the core game as we split our time between T6 and T6A ships.
Each series can offer an area of game mechanics to spotlight:
TOS gets:
Space: Bluffing Tactics (including fear/intimidation), Engineering Rigging (feats that risk frying out equipment). Exploration/Resource Gathering
Ground: Melee 2.0 and Redshirts
Overall: Bluffing and brawling, maybe some NPC relationships that border on Mass Effect where you get your own Colonial Administrator/Girlfriend/Harry Mudd/Old Academy friend to shape
Spur of the moment, seat of the pants stuff with relationships influencing things
Movie era gets:
Space: Advanced tactics, ability to create experimental technologies with baked in pros/cons like the fire while cloaked BoP and Transwarp excelsior. Maybe a special console with a kit-frame like function where you can more or less slot in a rule you can break but to function you have to slot in a "cost function" and the two interact.
Ground: Lots of stealing stuff. Brainwashing. (That was kind of a running theme in those films.) Some kind of "personal grudge" mechanic.
Overall: A nemesis system
Strategy
TNG gets:
Space: Puzzles/mysteries, Cooperative assists, friendly NPCs who can be leveraged and ability to convince enemies to assist you, major reputation system enhancements through a Treaty and Galactic Law systems
Ground: Hobbies that provide buffs (ie. serenade your away team with poetry or a trombone solo) with practice minigames and theater spaces for maximum boost, viruses that trigger mutations
Overall: Negotiation and moral challenges, reinforcing individual faction morality through perks both active and passive
Rules and harmony with game environment
DS9 gets:
Space: Space station command gameplay and permanent pets as part of a Fleet Formation System, environmental interaction and new mine-based mechanics, infiltration mechanics
Ground: Bartering, a Friendship system that creates BOff synergies and enhances one of your BOffs to become an Advisor who joins you in social and adventure zone maps
Overall: Large scale battle, a sense of ground as a home base where violence can still erupt, a counter-morality system that provides alternatives to moral behavior for your faction with pros and cons (Ie. perks for dishonor and cowardice as a Klingon, brute tactics as a Romulan, underhanded and bloodthirsty tactics as a Fed -- even moreso than usual)
Cheating and leveraging the game environment
Voyager gets:
Space: Lots of exotic science options, combo gameplay that involves using environmental assets, Temporal Mechanics
Ground: Salvage, enhanced friendly ground NPCs who can be leveraged, disguises
Overall: Mindbending stuff
Being confronted with weirdness and trying to stay sane and in control
Enterprise gets:
Space: Enhanced focus on kinetics and grapples, EV suit makeover as a ground/space hybrid gameplay
Ground: Interrogation, MACO tactics, a Loyalty system, new types of hostile terrain including fall damage
Overall: Gritty, character-driven stuff
Inspiring alliances and staying alive
All as part of a TCW meta-arc.
And personally I'd prefer something along the Augment story arc, we've not seen a lot of them since the Cardassian (Dominion) story arc mentioned them a few times. But please, for the next season I'd like to see MEANINGFUL content and not just some loose FEs that tell of an invisible all-destructive war.
It was such an obvious thing to have added right at the start. I hold out some small hope that we'll still see one, perhaps once the tide of the war turns, but it's a foolish hope.
It is disappointing a BZ was not added.