AoY, Species, Lifers, and Caitians.

jexsamx

With all the grumbling about the number of species available for the TOS faction, I realized something - there's no Lifer-exclusive species.

For those who may be unaware somehow, Lifetime Subscribers get access to two exclusive species for their investment - Liberated Borg and Talaxians, both available (in slightly different flavors) to each existing faction. TOS Starfleet, however, has no analog. Neither of those races makes any sense for the time period, so they're out of the question. So what could be done to honor the precedent of a Lifer-only playable species? I have a suggestion for that...

Caitians.

Lifers would be allowed the option of creating a Caitian for TOS Starfleet. If they do not own the C-Store Caitian playable species, however, they will not be able to make a Caitian for modern Starfleet. Owning the C-Store Caitians will not allow players to create a TOS Caitian.

Ideally some unique assets would be created, such as an M'Ress inspired hairstyle and/or a new tail type, which would be universally unlocked for all Caitians and Ferasans when AoY drops.

Though the Animated Series is not immediately relevant to the Original Series theme, it does establish Caitians as existing in Starfleet in the TOS era, thereby not actually breaking the TOS theme (though admittedly bending it) and providing a lore-backed "in" to include a Lifer species in a faction that currently lacks a more sensible option.

Frankly I wouldn't roll one, but I can't think of a species better suited for the need.

angrytarg

I purchased Caitians to use in the game. If they lock me out of using them in the period they were canonically established and give them to lifers I'd be mildly annoyed.​​

seriousdave

I'm pretty sure catians are off the table. Some stuff about TAS disregarded in AOY because they had to draw the line somewhere and the rather huge discrepancies bewteen the TAS catians which would fall into this time and the one or two that were present in the movies which "our" catians are inspired by and whole lot of other reasons why they dind't/ won't add them.
Too lazy to dig up all the trascripts, reddit comments, etc. but that's the gist of it.

angrytarg

seriousdave wrote: »

I'm pretty sure catians are off the table. Some stuff about TAS disregarded in AOY because they had to draw the line somewhere and the rather huge discrepancies bewteen the TAS catians which would fall into this time and the one or two that were present in the movies which "our" catians are inspired by and whole lot of other reasons why they dind't/ won't add them.
Too lazy to dig up all the trascripts, reddit comments, etc. but that's the gist of it.

Where are the differences? There are non, it's the same costume. One was drawn in a cartoon obviously but that doesn't justify speaking of "differences". And the legs were wrong from the beginning. They can't claim the current Caitians are entirely based on the two masks we see in the TMP era movies when they call them Caitians which is clearly what they are called in TAS. The whole argument doesn't make sense.​​

seriousdave

angrytarg wrote: »

seriousdave wrote: »

I'm pretty sure catians are off the table. Some stuff about TAS disregarded in AOY because they had to draw the line somewhere and the rather huge discrepancies bewteen the TAS catians which would fall into this time and the one or two that were present in the movies which "our" catians are inspired by and whole lot of other reasons why they dind't/ won't add them.
Too lazy to dig up all the trascripts, reddit comments, etc. but that's the gist of it.

Where are the differences? There are non, it's the same costume. One was drawn in a cartoon obviously but that doesn't justify speaking of "differences". And the legs were wrong from the beginning. They can't claim the current Caitians are entirely based on the two masks we see in the TMP era movies when they call them Caitians which is clearly what they are called in TAS. The whole argument doesn't make sense.​​

Never said it did, a whole lot of cryptic's arguments & responses never made sense but that's what they're apparently rolling with.
Crypitc didn't plan/want caitians, people starded pressing them about the "why" and they had to come up with something other than "we just didn't want to". That's how we get stuff like "being too different", "people got lost in it", "we don't make those ships because they don't sell", etc, etc.

garaks31

talaxians doesn't even fit in the current sto timeline. all the zen store races should be available in holodeck in my opinion. a na'kuhl playable option would also be nice

daviesdavies

Should be some sort hybrid -> Human Vulcan

exlusive in the pack or sub/life

-> everyone will become lifer or buy packs

cough cough my vision of a Studio excutive performing real life mindmelt :

my hand in your pocket

your cash to my account

...

Everytime you buy something you will forget about this

peterconnorfirst

I’d love to see a special AoY race for lifers.

I’m not that much of a catian fan but understand that others would want them. I also don’t see any time period issues with them being in Starfleet at that time.

My personal preference would be playable Aenar, Fed-Orion, Denobulan or Deltan.

Whatever they do I hope they bring it out directly with the actual release of AoY. Think last time the Talaxians arrived a bit late.

Atm I’m at peace with doing an Andorian. Only Aenar or Fed-Orion would convince me to pick them over it.

risian4

peterconnorfirst wrote: »

I’d love to see a special AoY race for lifers.

I’m not that much of a catian fan but understand that others would want them. I also don’t see any time period issues with them being in Starfleet at that time.

My personal preference would be playable Aenar, Fed-Orion, Denobulan or Deltan.

Whatever they do I hope they bring it out directly with the actual release of AoY. Think last time the Talaxians arrived a bit late.

Atm I’m at peace with doing an Andorian. Only Aenar or Fed-Orion would convince me to pick them over it.

Aenar should be relatively easy for them to do as they're already available in the game. It would be nice to have this as a premium species. And, together with Denobulans, there's no reason why we couldn't have them, not even the flawed 'canon purity' reasoning can be used as an excuse here

Rather, staying true to canon would actually force them to include at least Denobulans.

angrytarg

seriousdave wrote: »

Never said it did, a whole lot of cryptic's arguments & responses never made sense but that's what they're apparently rolling with.
Crypitc didn't plan/want caitians, people starded pressing them about the "why" and they had to come up with something other than "we just didn't want to". That's how we get stuff like "being too different", "people got lost in it", "we don't make those ships because they don't sell", etc, etc.

Sure, I'm sorry if I made it seem like I was personally blaming you. It's just a point that grinds my gears a bit ​​

sunseahl

We've seen what Lifer-only species looks like.... it looks like Romulan "alien-gen." I doubt cryptic is willing to revisit that PR disaster anytime soon.​​

redeyedraven

Playable Tholians.

"Awaiting orders, Sir!" - "EEEEEEEHHHHK"

Playable Organians.

Playable... Deltans.

feiqa

Since I don't see Cryptic giving a buyable race as a lifer reward and there should be two.
Half-Vulcan and can grow beard.

For the second I am torn. TOS/Fed Orions or Augments.

These would also spark an interest in buying lifer accounts.

jovianus

People paid for Caitians and other species, if they're not allowed anyway because Cryptic wants to make this 'pure' TOS, then I don't see why Lifers deserve any special treatment.

daveyny

Hybrid Character's would probably be the best option.
A way to create half Human/half Alien toons with the ability to choose trait combinations from both.

It would probably just be Human/Vulcan (Spock) for a TOS toon, since we didn't see any others during that time period.
(that I can remember)

But for the three other Factions it could also be Human/Klingon (B'elanna), Human/Betazoid (Deanna), Vulcan/Romulan (T'Pol?) and so on.

fatherrock

If lifers get Caitians for the expansion, exclusively....BUT I get m'ress hair upgrade, tail upgrade AND tail options for
Alien builds....GO FOR IT ! no heartburn here.

mhall85

No. No Caitians. It's not happening, people.

Human/Vulcan hybrids, or Humans with ESP (Gary Mitchell style!) are my two votes!

teknesia

fatherrock wrote: »

If lifers get Caitians for the expansion, exclusively....BUT I get m'ress hair upgrade, tail upgrade AND tail options for
Alien builds....GO FOR IT ! no heartburn here.

Yeah, TRIBBLE the people who would've unlocked the Caitains via C-store.

mhall85

daveyny wrote: »

Hybrid Character's would probably be the best option.
A way to create half Human/half Alien toons with the ability to choose trait combinations from both.

It would probably just be Human/Vulcan (Spock) for a TOS toon, since we didn't see any others during that time period.
(that I can remember)

But for the three other Factions it could also be Human/Klingon (B'elanna), Human/Betazoid (Deanna), Vulcan/Romulan (T'Pol?) and so on.

Saavik was a Vulcan/Romulan hybrid, according to the novelization and a deleted scene.

daveyny

mhall85 wrote: »

daveyny wrote: »

Hybrid Character's would probably be the best option.
A way to create half Human/half Alien toons with the ability to choose trait combinations from both.

It would probably just be Human/Vulcan (Spock) for a TOS toon, since we didn't see any others during that time period.
(that I can remember)

But for the three other Factions it could also be Human/Klingon (B'elanna), Human/Betazoid (Deanna), Vulcan/Romulan (T'Pol?) and so on.

Saavik was a Vulcan/Romulan hybrid, according to the novelization and a deleted scene.

Oh yeah, forgot about her.

brian334

If any race deserves a place in TOS themed content it should be based on races seen in TOS. I personally include TAS as part of TOS canon, which it was for a long while, until it was not. Sort of how Pluto was a planet, then it wasn't any more.

daveyny

TAS is back in good graces with CBS at this point. (we're getting a Blu-ray version this Xmas)

Cryptic just decided that They were ONLY going to use the Three Seasons of Classic Trek for this expansion.

It is what it is.
<shrug>

angrytarg

brian334 wrote: »

If any race deserves a place in TOS themed content it should be based on races seen in TOS. I personally include TAS as part of TOS canon, which it was for a long while, until it was not. Sort of how Pluto was a planet, then it wasn't any more.

TAS is part of the official continuity at least since 2007 and it was created for that purpose in the 70s already. It's just that Gene Rodenberry didn't like it and "removed" it from his canon when he still had a say in it (taking a dump on all the hard work the people involved invested in it) but it's safe to assume that by the time he was relieved of control and ownership of the IP it was part of the canon again. This is supported by references added to the live action shows and at least since 2007 we have it officially stated that it is part of canon by definition.​​

vetteguy904

How many threads about cats now? It's simple no cats no ferengi no fed klinks you cannot allow a c store species and not allow all. Now if they wanted to do a denobulan, that would be cool since they are not in the game as a playable species.

starkaos

Since the LTS has always featured Liberated Borg and a certain cybernetic npc from a certain universe set in the 23rd Century has been showing up on Tribble recently, then it possible that npc's race will be the TOS version of the Liberated Borg. After all, if there is an alien universe giving cybernetic upgrades to humans in that universe, then it can happen in the STO Universe.

jexsamx

angrytarg wrote: »

I purchased Caitians to use in the game. If they lock me out of using them in the period they were canonically established and give them to lifers I'd be mildly annoyed.​​

You purchased Federation Caitians, not TOS Caitians. Lifers would get TOS Caitians, not Federation Caitians. Kind of like how purchasing Ferasans doesn't unlock Caitians for the Federation.

It's a small difference, but enough of one.

starkaos

If Lifers are getting the TOS Caitian, then it is TRIBBLE over the Lifers that want a unique race and more importantly, the people that bought the Caitian species. Lots of players that bought the Caitian race wanted the M'ress look.

The appropriate method is make the TOS Caitian look available to every Caitian and make TOS Caitians available to everyone that has purchased the Caitian race. While giving the Lifers their own unique race, whatever that might be.

vetteguy904

or just deal with the original 4. this self entitlement jazz really disgusts me sometimes

saurializard

redeyedraven wrote: »

Playable... Deltans.

They'd need a "Oath for celibacy" trait.

Easier said than done in Kirk's era.

officerbatman81

Lifetime gold members are entitled to premium player content, thats what that means, and eveyone has equal opportunity to also become a lifetime goldmember. Dont like it, join up, if not you cant pout in the corner and snivel.

bloodyriz

How's this sound, since the Temporal Agent thing is a limited time event, and NOT the permanent way it will be after the event ends, then AOY gets NO lifer unlock. I mean really, why should they put that much work into a special race that will only be available as a special thing during a very limited time?​​