The Next Foundry Challenge: Let's Brainstorm

drogyn1701

Today we had the first details released from the next expansion, Victory is Life. For the next Foundry Challenge it would be fun to tie in with that, i.e. do something DS9, Dominion or Gamma Quadrant-related. So let's brainstorm, what could the next challenge prompt be? We're looking for something simple and open, something not requiring a lot of background or lead-in work like the previous few challenges.

This challenge will likely be started after whatever downtime we get with Victory is Life during the summer.

thay8472

Show themed? DSC? TOS? TNG? DS9? ENT? VOY?

'X' Alien Race Themed? (8472, Borg, Hirogen, Spoon head etc)?

STO Lore themed? (Klingon War of 2409? Undine War of 2409/10? Vaadwaur Campaign?)

duncanidaho11

Main prompt: "Make a mission about what the Dominion's return would mean to a faction or person in the Alpha/Beta quadrants."

Subprompts: "What legacies might have been left behind by the Dominion War, and what new opportunities or challenges might some see in this dramatic turn in galactic events."

spiritborn

Something that might be vague enough to restrict the authors too much but at same a good theme.

There's a planet with colonies from 2 opposing factions (for example UFP and Klingon Empire) and that's causing conflict and the player must solve this conflict without it escalating into a full scale war. This should give enough flexibility (since neither factions not what "solve the conflict" means are defined, even the timeframe isn't really clearly defined) while still giving a strong theme, plus it gives a chance to make a more "Star Trek" style story rather then just "pew pew"

captainhunter1

Sounds like a fun challenge. I think tying the theme into the upcoming expansion is a excellent idea.

Unfortunately, (in my opinion at least) we currently don't have enough resources to properly support a Dominion/Hur'q/Gamma Quadrant conflict storyline in the Foundry - - yet.

I know our awesome dev team will make the material (ships, maps, NPCs, mobs, etc.) available when the expansion drops, but until that happens, it will really limit how much we can do - at least with stories tied to the main Cryptic theme (if war is what it is). Doesn't mean that will stop the amazing authors we have from coming up with terrific missions with what we have, but it does handicap them a bit.

I'm looking forward to what the next challenge is. Basing it on the ViL expansion makes a lot of sense. I only wish we had more info of what direction Cryptic will be going with it.

duncanidaho11

captainhunter1 wrote: »

Unfortunately, (in my opinion at least) we currently don't have enough resources to properly support a Dominion/Hur'q/Gamma Quadrant conflict storyline in the Foundry - - yet.

I know our awesome dev team will make the material (ships, maps, NPCs, mobs, etc.) available when the expansion drops, but until that happens, it will really limit how much we can do - at least with stories tied to the main Cryptic theme (if war is what it is). Doesn't mean that will stop the amazing authors we have from coming up with terrific missions with what we have, but it does handicap them a bit.

I'm looking forward to what the next challenge is. Basing it on the ViL expansion makes a lot of sense. I only wish we had more info of what direction Cryptic will be going with it.

Don't we? We have uniforms, full suites of NPC's, and ships tied to the Dominion. The Hur'Q is off limits for the time being (beyond throwing the Swarmers around) but a story about the Dominion interacting with species in the Alpha/Beta/Delta quadrants (not Gamma) should be easily doable (see. The Hundredth, among others.) Basically: think of it as a Dominion return anthology (analogous to ICO), focusing on branching side stories that we're unlikely to see in the main arc (way to judge that: am I focusing on the gamma quadrant conflict story line? If the answer is yes, then it's probably not advisable until after the expansion. )

I think the key question here is when are we looking at this next challenge. Cryptic is interested in a Dominion themed Foundry challenge sometime around Victory is Life, and I think we should definitely support that, but between now and June we can potentially run more than one challenge.

(In which case, I have to suggest a comedy/horror themed "what happened to memory alpha?" challenge. That's been a LONG time coming. )

(Though more seriously, another we may want to consider is a challenge themed around any one of the three alliance flagships. With all the cameos, they won't be in focus in ViL and yet with the recent ENT-F refit there's renewed story opportunities. We could make use of that.)

marty123

I’ve been working on a series where you accidentally get transported to an alternate universe where the Dominion won the war.

captainhunter1

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

I think the key question here is when are we looking at this next challenge. Cryptic is interested in a Dominion themed Foundry challenge sometime around Victory is Life, and I think we should definitely support that, but between now and June we can potentially run more than one challenge.

It would be nice to have the next challenge build support for the expansion. But Drogyn mentioned that this next challenge will likely be started AFTER ViL drops. Perhaps we can have a 'Prelude to Victory (is life!)' challenge before then in order to start hyping up the new material. There is plenty of DS9/Dominion fodder as well as Alpha Quadrant locations available to create precursor stories to build foundation missions leading right into Victory is Life.

drogyn1701

I'm open to doing another challenge before ViL launches. My thought process was that because we just finished one I shouldn't overload people with challenges and should put some space in between them. However, looking at the calendar, if the downtime with 14.5 is short, we would have plenty of time to get one done before June.

What do you guys think?

starfarertheta

I don't know how much of a presence the Hur'q have in the Alpha Quadrant (the Tzenkethi seemed to think there was a lot), but here's an idea for a pre-ViL challenge:

Distant colonies disconnected from the communication networks of their homeworlds are left unware that the Hur'q have returned. Ships must be sent to warn these colonies.

Will everyone believe that the legendary Klingon foe has returned?

spiritborn

Something I thought of that while not directly related to Victory is Life is sort of thematically tied. Is have detective story where the players are the stars either as the main story is as a side story.

For example to (and tied to my previous suggestion) have a crime happen in joint UFP/Cardassian colony with both sides blaming the other and that's causing tensions that could end up escalating things if not dealt with properly and it's up to the players to solve the crime and prevent things from escalating.

thay8472

*Bangs stick on ground*

Mirror Universe?! Mirror Universe?! MIRROR UNIVERSE!!!

spiritborn

spiritborn wrote: »

Something I thought of that while not directly related to Victory is Life is sort of thematically tied. Is have detective story where the players are the stars either as the main story is as a side story.

For example to (and tied to my previous suggestion) have a crime happen in joint UFP/Cardassian colony with both sides blaming the other and that's causing tensions that could end up escalating things if not dealt with properly and it's up to the players to solve the crime and prevent things from escalating.

I'll be away for about a week so I'll think about this during that time, I got one idea I want to try regardless if this becomes the challenge or not.