I have a few ideas about new things the devs could add to the game to make people feel more invested in their characters.
Which of these things would you like to see added to increase the depth of your characters? 9 votes
Replace the ship explosion with a disabled under repair ship when defeated in space combat.
2 votes
Let players use whichever ship skin that they can at whatever level they want and upgrade only what is under the hood on levelup.
1 vote
Fully functional ship interiors with working tailors Medical bays etc.
Ability to customize crew uniforms and assign bridge stations.
2 votes
Let missions take place on your ship.
1 vote
0
Comments
Safe for the second point (ship skins should not be universally exchangeable, ship classification should still matter IMO) all of these hold some form of merit. Take 1) for example - I don't like to generally do this, but expand the system in place to allow a ship (not just the player's) to be disabled without blowing up, leading to further options like getting rezzed by teammates, boarded by enemies, negotiate surrender (for diplo / marauder XP), self destruction / abandon ship and only instantly explode on criticals. Or points 3 and 4 which should belong together - who wouldn't like "housing" level customization of one's own ship and crew.
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Who knows, maybe we are too and this game is just a holodeck.
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
At the very beginning of the game a player should be able to choose a ship class Science Escort Cruiser, and skin that ship in whatever skins they have available for that class of ship. Instead of having to choose a new ship they could also choose to upgrade their current one making their cruiser the equivalent of whatever the new ship of that class would be but still looking the same and being the same ship.
The reasoning behind my idea is that in the tv shows and movies changing Starships is a pretty big deal and not something that happens often if at all. And when it does happen there is usually a significant plot point that drives the change.
In my opinion, getting a new ship all the time robs the player of the attachment that is built during the shows and movies and takes some depth out of the game. This is compounded by your Starship blowing up all the time, which slaps you in the face with "hey nerd your playing a game Respawn" It makes people detached and unimportant feeling while they are playing.
+1
That's the option I voted for myself. Personally, if I could have played the whole game with a TOS Connie for my FED characters, a T'Liss for my Romulans, and a D-7 for my Klingon (and some pirate ship for my Gorn rebel), and simply upgraded the guts, I'd have MUCH preferred that to what we have now, and NEVER switched ships. Honestly, except for rank insignia (if that), the Captain character doesn't have to change graphically between levels, why should your ship be forced to? It really is your avatar in space.
And erillian makes a great point about attachment to your ship being a staple of Star Trek. They don't change ships every season. Every couple of movies, yes, because of different directors and the summer blockbuster mindless craving for explosions and cheap gasps. But Kirk went years with the same ship, ditto Picard, Janeway, and Archer, and Sisko was on the same station for years. But the player? No. We change ships every few episodes.
Granted, we also get promoted a LOT faster and more often, but that's dissociation of game mechanic and story. Where the mechanic OUGHT to match is in attachment to your character...which you can get with your Captain from the start (it's the same character from level 1-60), but not from your ship which changes all too frequently.
I understand why - they're trying to make you buy (or grind) new ships. However, they COULD just make you buy (or grind) new traits, weapons, consoles, equipment slots, etc., and keep the same graphic. Or sell a new version of the same ship at each level (like how the Temporal TOS ships were - except as straight up Zen or Dil purchases).
Anyway, that's my 2 EC.