Duty Officers - The next generation

anazonda

Now, This thread is intended to create a concept discussion on how to build upon and expand the duty officer system.
The idea is for everyone to be allowed to post their ideas, wishes and suggestions for the overall growth of the Duty Officer system, and how to keep it relevant within the current system of STO.

Disclaimer: It is in no way affiliated with Cryptic, PWE, the Devs or anyone working on STO. It's simply a thread that I hope they will discover and use for inspiration for future Duty Officer development.

If you have an idea, or a concept that you like everyone to help develop, write it up here, and I will try to streamline the ideas into the following posts.

Anything goes, however expect to discuss and develop ideas with others as a collaborative effort, since no single person has all the answers... We are a community after all.

Maybe a grand - but ultimately impossible - Idea, but I've had success with something like this before with fleets... While it has never been acknowledged by dev's, a lot of the ideas back then, was implemented when the fleet holding system was introduced (such as pooling resources towards common goals...)... I don't know if it was by coincidence or not, it doesn't matter... I like to believe that the dev's found their resources there.

If you're interested in the before mentioned thread, you can find it here:https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1021170/fleets-unite-bringing-attention-to-fleet-development/p1 , just don't post, as the thread was purposefully abandoned when the fleet system was introduced.

anazonda

Below is a series of "refined" variants of current suggestions from the thread:

• Resurrection of the [Strange Alien Artifact] Chain, to produce one or more of the following
  • New chains
  • Useful rare items (not necessarily found elsewhere)

• Inclusion into existing missions, to allow completion of accolades/assignments for other classes than your own, allowing collection of both accolades and Commendation points for said classes.

• Inclusion into new missions, to allow for different or easier outcome

• Inclusion into Admiralty system, further increasing the depth of the systems.

Changes & Fixes:

• Correcting or removing restrictions on location based assignments, with extremely small margins of error.
• Faction removal for certain assignments (Listed below as they are specified), possibly when the player helps re-establish peace between Fed and KDF.

anazonda

Other sources for similar / related discussions:

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1234883/enhancement-for-the-duty-office-assignments

anazonda

I will start: My idea goes on more integration with missions.

I'd like to see Duty officer missions introduced relatively early in some missions, that will allow for different outcomes along the way.

For example, if I send an engineering team to a different part of a station, I can bypass an otherwise locked door, allowing me to bypass a lot of enemies entirely, or if I prepare a tactical mission ahead, I get some red-shirts to help me.

This could for example have been helpful in "Home", where I would have gotten extra tactical for the last portion where you defend the founders, or an engineering team deploying turrets and ground shields to bottleneck enemies even further.

This could add depth to certain missions, that you can even chose to skip entirely, for a fully "vanilla" variant of the mission.

anazonda

ruinthefun wrote: »

Doffs have been used as components of missions before, so...it's possible to involve them in missions, but it's tricky if they're used at a point before the player could reasonably expect to have any.

Agreed... My suggestion would only work on new missions from the moment it is implemented, since those would be low enough level to assume that the player had gotten officers for use.

vetteguy904

very rare missions that net rep stuff would be good... Send tac team to Defera to collect borgneural processors / investigate iconian ruins get a datacore, thats sort of thing

anazonda

vetteguy904 wrote: »

very rare missions that net rep stuff would be good... Send tac team to Defera to collect borgneural processors / investigate iconian ruins get a datacore, thats sort of thing

Something like the mission where you get the El'aurian or..? Just repeatable ones.

This might be expanded upon actually... Critical hits could potentially allow for drops from the rep-trees including, in very rare instances, the set gear...

Or is that too overly ambitious?

jamieblanchard

One thing that could be groovy is, you know how in some missions there are optional objectives for tac, eng and sci characters? Well what if you did your class's objective, and had the option to have your doffs do the others?

And to add to the example of the "Home" mission, sci officers could maybe set up like the 25th cent. equivalent of a M.A.S.H. camp?

vetteguy904 wrote: »

very rare missions that net rep stuff would be good... Send tac team to Defera to collect borgneural processors / investigate iconian ruins get a datacore, thats sort of thing

Hey, that's a neat idea, too! Maybe missions could be available in certain areas relevant to the reps? I know some doff missions in the Dyson Sphere and Undine Space zone give some marks, so that shouldn't be too outside the realm of possibility. Maybe some mark reward by default, with elite marks on crits?

warpangel

The doff system doesn't necessarily need any big revamps. What it does need is more worthwhile assignments, preferably with new, unique rewards. None of the new areas added in recent years have any special assignments at all. There is too much unrewarding generic filler in the assignment lists.

The [Strange Alien Artifact] chain (NADORC) in particular could be updated to produce something useful again. Additional chains, possibly repeatable ones, would also be nice. Fed prisoner turn-in to reward dil like the KDF version (or something else of equal value).

More variety in active doff powers, crafting powers, etc available in the actual doff system rather than just lockboxes. Maybe UR doffs available in some rare assingmant. More doffs in the system in general, lots of common are species missing from the general doff pool. Especially delta quadrant species.

The broken location-based assignments in sector space need to be fixed or made map-wide. Having to park on hair-thin lines in unmarked positions is ridiculous.

Getting rid of the faction restrictions in doff usage would also be beneficial.

But if we are talking about bigger mechanical changes, one thing I've been thinking ever since they introduced Admiralty is players could, instead of flying around the galaxy to put their doffs to work, have the option to send them on their way with a spare Admiralty ship. This would make it more useful to have large fleet of Admiralty cards and allow a more admiral-ish playstyle, sitting in an office giving orders. But without forming a roadblock for "space-poor" people, who could still do the same assignments the old fashioned way.

markhawkman

the simplest way to add doffing is to make mission you run while your captain is massacring things. It doesn't even need to be a main mission objective really.

anazonda

See...? the ball is rolling... get your freinds in there to comment as well... let's see what else we can come up with.

where2r1

warpangel wrote: »

The [Strange Alien Artifact] chain (NADORC) in particular could be updated to produce something useful again.

Yeah, like something that adds Rarity upgrade points....like the Omega things.

welcome2earf

warpangel wrote: »

The doff system doesn't necessarily need any big revamps. What it does need is more worthwhile assignments, preferably with new, unique rewards. None of the new areas added in recent years have any special assignments at all. There is too much unrewarding generic filler in the assignment lists.

The [Strange Alien Artifact] chain (NADORC) in particular could be updated to produce something useful again. Additional chains, possibly repeatable ones, would also be nice. Fed prisoner turn-in to reward dil like the KDF version (or something else of equal value).

More variety in active doff powers, crafting powers, etc available in the actual doff system rather than just lockboxes. Maybe UR doffs available in some rare assingmant. More doffs in the system in general, lots of common are species missing from the general doff pool. Especially delta quadrant species.

The broken location-based assignments in sector space need to be fixed or made map-wide. Having to park on hair-thin lines in unmarked positions is ridiculous.

Getting rid of the faction restrictions in doff usage would also be beneficial.

But if we are talking about bigger mechanical changes, one thing I've been thinking ever since they introduced Admiralty is players could, instead of flying around the galaxy to put their doffs to work, have the option to send them on their way with a spare Admiralty ship. This would make it more useful to have large fleet of Admiralty cards and allow a more admiral-ish playstyle, sitting in an office giving orders. But without forming a roadblock for "space-poor" people, who could still do the same assignments the old fashioned way.

Came in here to pretty much say all this. Nothing new in the Delta quadrant as far as Exploration sectors and there are NO doffing missions AT AL IN THE GAMMA QUADRANT. Srsly wtf?

anazonda

I've added the basic elements into post #2... Usually this takes times, so I will add details as they pop up / as I identify them.

Feel free to elaborate if I left something out, here or in PM's

shadowfirefly00

jamieblanchard wrote: »

One thing that could be groovy is, you know how in some missions there are optional objectives for tac, eng and sci characters? Well what if you did your class's objective, and had the option to have your doffs do the others?

Not a bad idea, and I suspect that utilizing doffs in this fashion would feed into the relevant commendation categories.

I would also add here an expansion on how commendation ranks interact with optional objectives ('Mine Enemy' is a good example of this - there is a point where you can leverage Diplomacy/Maruading to reduce the number of enemy groups in an upcoming area).

warpangel wrote: »

The broken location-based assignments in sector space need to be fixed or made map-wide. Having to park on hair-thin lines in unmarked positions is ridiculous.

Seconded. There is little excuse for something like this to remain an outstanding issue for so long.

Getting rid of the faction restrictions in doff usage would also be beneficial.

And I can think of a way to do this: have this restriction be removed upon completing 'Midnight' (if I recall right, this is where the Federation and Empire once again bury the proverbial hatchet) or reaching a certain Diplomacy/Marauding rank (whichever the player achieves first).

But if we are talking about bigger mechanical changes, one thing I've been thinking ever since they introduced Admiralty is players could, instead of flying around the galaxy to put their doffs to work, have the option to send them on their way with a spare Admiralty ship. This would make it more useful to have large fleet of Admiralty cards and allow a more admiral-ish playstyle, sitting in an office giving orders. But without forming a roadblock for "space-poor" people, who could still do the same assignments the old fashioned way.

This isn't a bad idea (and incidentally represents another way to address the issues with location-based assignments)... so now certain doff assignments would have an extra slot wherein an admiralty card can be placed if desired/available. In turn, the bonuses these cards give to doff assignments would have to be defined. On a related note, the admiralty ship roster would only benefit from adding the ability to show/hide the single-use cards.

karistasogare

personally for me, one of the biggest 'issues' is how much the Capt. does things. onaly during a mission haveinghim do nearly all the interaction makes sense, but 'flying' the ship itself doesn't. (i.e. maneuvering the ship to am warp point, insatead of just ordering course laid in and executed. same is true on missions, being able to 'send' an officer to check on soemthing, or with someone, woudl save a lotb of running around.

shadowfirefly00

karistasogare#3038 wrote: »

personally for me, one of the biggest 'issues' is how much the Capt. does things... same is true on missions, being able to 'send' an officer to check on soemthing, or with someone, woudl save a lotb of running around.

While not really relevant to the duty officer system, this is a good point. It also segues fairly well into another item on my wish list: the removal of limitations on the use of zone pause. There are already tools in the game which allow basic management of our boffs and their targeting and ability use - being able to pause at will, without having to worry about some arbitrary resource, would make them much more effective. Consider by way of example how games like Tyranny manage combat.

tobywitczak

I posted some of my ideas for Quality of Life fixes for the existing system. See Sig for links

anazonda

I find the comments quite interesting, as many of them seem to focus more on existing shortcomings

tobywitczak wrote: »

I posted some of my ideas for Quality of Life fixes for the existing system. See Sig for links

Looks interesting... I've added your discussion to the 3'd post... Hope it's ok.