AEi Mission Challenge Voting Thread

drogyn1701

Welcome to the Alliance Exploration Initiative Foundry Mission Challenge voting thread. Here are listed the eight missions entered into the challenge. Please play through all the missions and select which one you think is the best, and best represents the theme of the challenge. Voting is open to anyone and everyone.

The Challenge Topic:

For this Foundry challenge, create a mission about exploration! Seek out new worlds and new civilizations in a previously unexplored part of the galaxy. There are only two other requirements:
Add [AEI] in front of your mission title to denote that it is part of the Alliance Exploration Initiative mission series. This allows players to easily search for the series’ missions.
Start the mission at the Archer System in the Narendra Sector of the Beta Quadrant.

In keeping with the theme of this challenge, the Foundry community has helped create a new starbase, Starbase Magellan, to serve as a central hub for all these new exploration missions. Located in the Archer System, Starbase Magellan is a joint project of the Federation-Klingon-Romulan Alliance to explore the far reaches of the Beta Quadrant.

When you have played through the missions and selected your favorite, send a forum PM to @drogyn1701. This will serve as your official vote. Limit 1 vote per person. Challenge authors may vote, but not for their own mission.

The voting deadline is 5 p.m. (US Pacific Time) Tuesday, July 5.

Link to the original challenge thread.

In the event of a tie, @duncanidaho11’s cat has been chosen as the impartial tie-breaking judge.

You may leave a review on each mission you play if you wish, but it is not required.


Challenge Missions

Mission title: Apex [AEI]
Handle: @Gorgonops
Faction: FED, FED|ROM
Level requirement: 31+

Mission Summary:

An ancient vessel has been discovered in outer reaches of the Archer System. Dark and adrift, it hides its secrets well. However the Alliance already suspects the ship's creators, an ancient race now feared across the galaxy.

Has an Iconian relic really been found on the doorstep of Starbase Magellan, or this another's harbinger? There is only one way to find out, though the path into the unknown may lead far beyond all expectations.

Mission Title: [AEI] Shades of Intrigue
Handle: @dragonsbrethren
Faction: Starfleet (with Romulan dialogue options, Klingon conversion coming after finishing)
Level Requirement: 31 (Assumes the player has completed the Iconian War, but it isn't essential to the plot)

Mission Summary:

Following your pivotal role in the Iconian War, Admiral Quinn has recommended you to Captain Mercer at Starbase Magellan, giving you an opportunity to return to Starfleet's primary mission of exploration. Mercer sends you to an uncharted system beyond the explored boundaries of the Beta Quadrant, where long range sensors have detected a populated M class planet. What was expected to be a general research, and possible first contact, mission takes a twist when a derelict ship is detected in this system's outskirts…

Mission Title: [AEI] Greenside Infiltration
Your @Handle:@marhawkman
Faction:Federation

Mission Summary:

The Violaceans need you to investigate some strange occurrences near their homeworld.

Mission title: [AEI] Defense Mechanisms
Handle: @NCC-89471
Faction: FED, FED|ROM
Level requirement: Any

Mission Summary:

Starbase Magellan requests the player's ship for an unorthodox first-contact mission - which turns out to be more than either the player or the planet's people bargained for. Meanwhile, a certain Rigelian stellar cartographer is offered a position at Magellan with AEI…

Mission Title: [AEI] To Boldly Go
Your @Handle: Captain.Hunter
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 59+ (after Iconian War)

Mission Summary:

You have been ordered to Starbase Magellan on the fringe of known space to participate in the new Alliance Exploration Initiative. What new worlds will you discover? What new challenges await you beyond the frontier? There is only one way to find out... to boldly go!

Mission Title: [AEI] In Silence
Handle: starfarertheta
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 31+

Mission Summary:

When heading back to Starbase Magellan after discovering you have left without a crew member, you happen upon a faint distress signal. An investigation turns up a massive debris field.

Mission Title: [AEI] The Three Star Tale Part I
Author: @djxprime
Faction: Starfleet or Fed. Allied Romulan
Level Requirement: 57+

Mission Summary:

A wedding between the princess of a struggling world and a warlord may be the only way to bring their two worlds together and secure peace in the star cluster they are from. However, the plan may be in jeopardy due to the princess' friendship with a Starfleet officer, which leads to the discovery of an artifact that could be the key to a lost civilization.

Mission Title: [AEI] Lightning in a Bottle
Author: @gethralkin1
Faction: Federation and Fed-allied Romulan
Level Requirement: Any Level

Mission Summary:

A mysterious signal detected by the crew of the Enterprise 1701-D has come under scrutiny when a probe they left behind begins detecting unusual phenomena from a star system not far from Starbase Magellan. The investigating crew discovers a world lost to time and space and must battle the odds to save the Nerendra sector from a world forgotten to the galaxy.

paxfederatica

You forgot to put spoiler tags around my mission description.

gethralkin1

I have discovered that my mission is possible for any rank level. However, it is, of course, dependent on the player having access to the side of the quadrant the Nerendra Sector is, where the Archer System is located.

drogyn1701

I think everyone pretty much has access to everywhere right off the bat now. Romulans used to be restricted to certain sector blocks dependent on mission progress, but that changed when the new sector space was introduced.

dragonsbrethren

I'm not sure how it goes for Foundry, but Romulans are still locked out of most systems and the Alpha Quadrant until they complete Bigger Picture.

duncanidaho11

Basically from level 11+ you're definitely good to go, but since the highest level requirement for the AEI challenge is 59+ the differences between factions doesn't really factor. If you're just starting out then voting for this Foundry challenge is going to be difficult.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

cuchulainn74

U.S.S. Archimedes reporting for AEI duty! I've completed the first four on the list, and taken a few notes for eventual voting. Nice work, everyone! Thanks for your contributions to the game.

captainhunter1

newplayerguy7 wrote: »

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

Basically from level 11+ you're definitely good to go, but since the highest level requirement for the AEI challenge is 59+ the differences between factions doesn't really factor. If you're just starting out then voting for this Foundry challenge is going to be difficult.

Seems like a pretty wide range.

Well, my mission (the one listed at 59+) really doesn't require that level - I believe technically it needs a min level of 16 to actually play. I only put the high level requirement on there because it is supposed to take place after the Iconian War has ended (which did at level 59). If I was smarter, I should have put a disclaimer on there about that. But I are not smart.

cuchulainn74

I've played through all of the entries and submitted my vote! Now, if I can manage it, I'll try to play one mission a day with a focus on specific feedback for you guys, the authors. Sincerely, though, you've all done a great job with these. There weren't any that were not enjoyable and interesting to play.

markhawkman

Thank you.

cuchulainn74

Okay, first up for the feedback treatment , [AEI] Apex. In summary, I very much liked this story and its depth. Some of the inter-NPC dialog was a touch melodramatic, but not enough to detract. That said, here are my thoughts from another playthrough.

Mission Information Cat - funny
1- If my beam-out point is the transporter room, why not make it also the beam-in point as a bit of continuity?
2- Good transition handling between maps. Good Archer System map setup.
3- I enjoyed having the option to not engage the Nausicaans; I tried it both ways.
4- I like the 'i' tags and the chance to get a deeper narrative if I want.
5- Derelict Hulk minimap is strange on arrival, with a different ground map inaccessible behind the player. (see image here)
6- If you created the hulk corridors yourself, nice job.
7- The scientific scanning of environmental objects on the hulk is a nice "exploration" touch without being too much of a time drag.
8- The running dialog between Valin and Sandoval lends good humanity, but is slightly melodramatic at points. That said, the dialog is well written and not stilted. Considering good dialog is challenging, well done.
9- If you created the architecture of the ground map, it's a very nice look. It's very "monumental".
10- The species plaques are fun. I wanted to find them all just to read them.
11- An excellent creepy antagonist. Worthy of a good episode for one of the TV series.
12- The little mini puzzles are effective, quick, and plenty easy.
13- The large hall is quite cool. Nice original architecture makes it feel huge and imposing.
14- An interesting and original effect on the "Transition" map change.
15- If possible, maybe only transplant the "device" to the final room rather than a large square section of the hall? Or if this was a carefully considered choice, it's fine as is.
16- I liked the insights from the "bird"

paxfederatica

The U.S.S. Renaissance has completed all the challenge missions. All are quite worthy of the AEI, but there can be only one worthy of the Renaissance captain's vote, which has now been cast (but won't be revealed until voting has closed).

I've also started writing a short bit of lore related to my own AEI mission for my new blog (see link below), which I hope to have done by next week.

duncanidaho11

cuchulainn74 wrote: »

Okay, first up for the feedback treatment , [AEI] Apex. In summary, I very much liked this story and its depth. Some of the inter-NPC dialog was a touch melodramatic, but not enough to detract. That said, here are my thoughts from another playthrough.

Mission Information Cat - funny
1- If my beam-out point is the transporter room, why not make it also the beam-in point as a bit of continuity?
2- Good transition handling between maps. Good Archer System map setup.
3- I enjoyed having the option to not engage the Nausicaans; I tried it both ways.
4- I like the 'i' tags and the chance to get a deeper narrative if I want.
5- Derelict Hulk minimap is strange on arrival, with a different ground map inaccessible behind the player. (see image here)
6- If you created the hulk corridors yourself, nice job.
7- The scientific scanning of environmental objects on the hulk is a nice "exploration" touch without being too much of a time drag.
8- The running dialog between Valin and Sandoval lends good humanity, but is slightly melodramatic at points. That said, the dialog is well written and not stilted. Considering good dialog is challenging, well done.
9- If you created the architecture of the ground map, it's a very nice look. It's very "monumental".
10- The species plaques are fun. I wanted to find them all just to read them.
11- An excellent creepy antagonist. Worthy of a good episode for one of the TV series.
12- The little mini puzzles are effective, quick, and plenty easy.
13- The large hall is quite cool. Nice original architecture makes it feel huge and imposing.
14- An interesting and original effect on the "Transition" map change.
15- If possible, maybe only transplant the "device" to the final room rather than a large square section of the hall? Or if this was a carefully considered choice, it's fine as is.
16- I liked the insights from the "bird"

Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you liked the mission. Here's a few clarifications.

1 - Map flow. I wanted players to hit 3 rooms in sequence and that was most easily done by spawning the player in the shuttle bay instead of the transporter room. With site-to-site I personally question why we still need discrete transporter rooms, but I at least stuck with the convention at the end (because we had that space as part of the Starbase Magellan communal map build.)

5 - To build the derelict hulk map I had to work outside one of the "interior" stock maps (there is no blank option that would have allowed that backdrop.) The map behind you is said stock map (for some reason it has a vast amount of space outside it).

As a general rule you don't want to pay too much attention to what else you can see in the mini-map of a Foundry mission. Building stuff comes first, making that look pretty we only have indirect control over. It's possible to lay down more objects to cover things up, but I was at the object limit and every other asset on that map took greater priority.

6 - All that architecture was indeed mine (using the various block pieces we have in the foundry)

8 - I think the melodrama comes in from fitting what I might normally have in the span of 2+ episodes in 2+ conversations (though I tend to lean this way anyway for my Foundry missions.) For Apex I wanted to have these specific character arcs (for tone, foiling, impact) but had to fight the time constraint of a challenge mission. So, you ended up getting the big stuff right away which brought the two to the point I wanted for the last map.

Pretty much it's another trade-off.

14 - That was actually the first thing I tried. The problem I had was the sudden removal of the block pieces in front of you. It didn't look good. So I decided to warp a chunk of the monument along with the relic (which also made blocking off the view a bit easier, only had to focus on one side.)

cuchulainn74

Okie dokie then. Today's mission was Shades of Intrigue. The short short version: it's a very good story with some very interesting pieces that ought to be longer.
The less short version:

1- The alien species is really interesting. I like the added touches of the variable skin color. I would say that I wish that bit of the story could have been more integral to a puzzle or interaction tree within the story itself.
2- You've done a lovely job of the architecture of Alucea. The outdoor city map is nicely done, and it's consistent with the interior design as well. That's well done.
3- One or two interactive consoles or items inside the Palace to mine extra story color would have been cool.
4- Since the mission is so short, it might be cool to have to venture into a different, military, section of Alucea to hunt down the General after you're attacked in the Palace. The unexpected twist to the enemy is a nice plot idea, though.
5- Rather than just fighting until the enemies are gone after the attack, why not add a console interaction in the "military base" I mentioned in #4 for shutting down the transporter inhibitor?
6- It's so short! I want more of this story and its First Contact species!

As always, thank you for adding such great content to the game. The Foundry is a great place for endgame satisfaction for those of us who don't really enjoy PvP.

dragonsbrethren

Thanks for the review! It's my first published mission and I'm so glad to see so many players enjoying it

1. I actually did want the Aluceons' skin color representing emotions to come into play in the palace. The idea was that you'd (optionally) take a tour around the city and see examples of various emotions (anyone find the girl mourning yet?), then use that to expose Ya'varian as a Changeling. I dropped it A: because I managed my time poorly and ended up writing much of the palace dialogue at the last minute and B: it seemed really odd to me that the player could uncover something that the Aluceons themselves couldn't after being on the world for less than a day.

Double spoiler, because some day I might actually implement this idea:

Originally, the dialogue with Leiya was going to be much less straight forward. There's still a little of this left in the dialogue branches there, but it's just for flavor now. You could catch Leiya in lies, where her emotion doesn't match what she's saying. Do this enough, and the story would change--Leiya is the Changeling instead. Ya'varian would still hate you due to the Alucean military's fear of your faction, of course, but she'd side with you against the Changeling before succumbing to injuries and dying. I had to cut this because I was having a hard enough time writing the ending as it was, although in hindsight I could've just indirectly asked the player which one was a Changeling through a dialogue choice while hailing the Nah’ra. No idea how that isolationist Aluceon society could recover from losing their leader to an alien, though, and it'd make writing sequels harder...

2. Thank you! This was tough but I'm really proud of how they came out. You should've seen some of my early drafts, they were terrible! Hehe.

3. There were originally going to be books you could read in the library. Some would need to be "TRIBBLE" through dialogue trees--these would give very distorted negative views on the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Empire. I've been told the motivations of the military are a bit hard to understand, and these would've explained them better. Others were just background on the Aluceons, where you learned about their mythology/history, biology, and their space program. I worked a bit of this into Leiya's dialogue instead. Another cut that was sort of due to poor time management, but mostly a bit of writer's block.

4-5. I do agree that the mission is pretty short, but any attempt to add more to it felt like padding with how the story flows. I gave some thought to Ya'varian escaping, and in the space fight later you'd disable her ship and confront her on the bridge for the final fight, but I never put any serious work into that. I previewed a few interior maps that I could use as the bridge and never got any father. I really like how the encounter palace plays out with you killing her right then and there after she reveals herself.

I'm afraid adding another map on Alucea would hurt the pacing, your ship is in danger at that point and all you want to do is get back to it before you're overwhelmed by security forces. Shutting down the dampening field is a good idea, one I actually thought about myself, I'm just not sure how to not have it feel tacked on at that point in the story. If we could do cutscenes, I'd have you flee the building and get beamed up as a bunch of troops fire on you, like that scene in Coliseum

I do wish I could've worked more combat into the mission, and Zero brought the same thing up in her stream on Sunday, but I felt the story I was telling worked better with minimal, mostly optional combat. Hopefully if I do go back and add lots of optional little dialogues to read, it won't feel so short.

6. I left the ending open enough that I can do more with the Aluceons if I want. I don't really have any ideas right now, though. I have a design document for them if anyone else ever wants to use them in their missions. Just bear in mind, Aluceons take a ton of costumes if you really want to make them passionate!

drogyn1701

The voting deadline has expired. We'll be announcing the winner and runner up as soon as the Foundry is back and they have checked to make sure their missions came back properly.

Thanks everyone for participating. As noted this is not the end of AEI, merely the beginning. Keep making exploration missions for Starbase Magellan for as long as you like!

thegreendragoon1

I think if there's anything I was truly blown away by with these missions, it was they way you guys took the Starbase Magellan concept and made it your own. It feels like a real place, like Deep Space 9, out on the edge of known space. Excellent work, all of you!

captainhunter1

drogyn1701 wrote: »

The voting deadline has expired. We'll be announcing the winner and runner up as soon as the Foundry is back and they have checked to make sure their missions came back properly.

Thanks everyone for participating. As noted this is not the end of AEI, merely the beginning. Keep making exploration missions for Starbase Magellan for as long as you like!

Just curious....we had so many good entries, was the vote as close as everyone suspects or was there a clear winner? I know you can't announce which one won until after the Foundry is back up. I just want to know if a certain kitty needed to be brought in and put to work.

drogyn1701

There were no ties. Out of 21 total votes the winner got six and the runner up got five.

captainhunter1

Wow, so it was close.

But thankfully, no feline intervention was needed. (Think of the pressure he/she would have been under! Won't someone please think of the animals!)

dragonsbrethren

I was considering borrowing the kitty's judgment to cast my vote. It was a tough choice

duncanidaho11

captainhunter1 wrote: »

Wow, so it was close.

But thankfully, no feline intervention was needed. (Think of the pressure he/she would have been under! Won't someone please think of the animals!)

Flinging herself after small fluffy things (whether or not voting is involved) is AEI judge cat's raison d'etre.

drogyn1701

So it appears there is no downtime with AoY. So give me a little time to sort some things out and we will announce the winner!

captainhunter1

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

captainhunter1 wrote: »

Wow, so it was close.

But thankfully, no feline intervention was needed. (Think of the pressure he/she would have been under! Won't someone please think of the animals!)

Flinging herself after small fluffy things (whether or not voting is involved) is AEI judge cat's raison d'etre.

Oh good. I though she might end up like this:



(just replace Vietnam pics with Foundry images)

thay8472

Who won?

captainhunter1

thay8472 wrote: »

Who won?

Didn't the entire STO playerbase win by having these missions enrich our playing experience?

drogyn1701

Will be revealing the winner soon. Waiting on something very specific to happen.

captainhunter1

Congrats to @Gorgonops for winning!

Announcement thread: https://arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10084263

Lol - not sure why they decided to use an image from my mission in the article though . I think scary, crazy guy from Apex would have been better to show off the winning entry.

(EDIT: "To Boldly Go" will be unpublished until the "low gravity" and "Float-unconscious" FX issues are resolved by Cryptic. I already get enough low stars for issues less than this in other missions. )

drogyn1701

I provided Trendy with two screenshots. She chose yours. However people seem to like seeing the old Jupiter

kurumimorishita

Congrats to @Gorgonops for winning! And thank you all for creating these wonderful missions!!!