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True Way Reputation & Battlezone

xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
So...I've been thinking about how I'd like to see a True Way reputation and battlezone done. A couple of years back we got the Gamma Quadrant expansion which came with an entire story arc dealing with the Hur'q and an entirely new reputation system...so how about we dive into the True Way? You didn't really get to fight Jem'Hadar and Cardassians a lot, even since STO first came out. Sure there's been not a small amount of missions and non-story missions that you deal with Cardassians and Jem'Hadar in, but...I want to see more of them, on space too. Right now I can't really think of any memorable True Way fights other than the Traelus System Satellite Repair mission and the Cardassian Struggle story arc. I feel like the True Way is a really interesting concept to explore, story wise and gameplay wise. They got glossed over in DS9 and I feel like they got glossed over in STO too and that's such a shame. Throughout STO, there's nothing really notable that the Cardassians get involved with I think. They're just kinda...there. That being said, I've got more than a few ideas as to how to bring some light to the game and the True Way.

#1. My first idea is the Algira Prime space battlezone. According to STO lore, the True Way used Algira Prime to mass produce ship components. The story I have behind the system now is that the reformed Cardassian government under Garak's advisement is using this system to rebuild their fleet from after the Dominion War. Even though the Cardassian military has been dissolved according to STO lore and now Cardassia is a protectorate of the Federation, it's obvious that they still have a fleet for whatever purpose as Garak is clearly seen using a 25th century Cardassian ship in the Gamma Quadrant story arc. That's not even mentioning the new Cardassian Intel ships the player can buy off of the Zen Store. Point is, the Cardassians have ships and they're obviously building them from somewhere. My idea with the story of the battlezone is to have the True Way steal nearly completed Cardassian ships from a certain number of orbital shipyards by beaming boarding parties onto the ships and then pilot them out of the docks and taking them to a "warp point". If a True Way infested ship reaches the point, then it warps out and obviously that ship is beyond recovery and would have some sort of negative consequence on the overall progression of the zone, similar to how the Voth battlezone works with the control towers every time the Voth retake one. The player's job is to either kill the True Way ships that try to get close to the orbital shipyards or kill escort groups of True Way ships guarding captured escaping ships. If they kill the ships that are beaming boarding parties over, then obviously the player doesn't have to worry about that ship being stolen for now. If the player kills the escort group around a captured escaping ship, then the player will have to beam a security force over and then tractor beam it back to any orbital station. After a certain amount of success progress, the big bad True Way leader (whoever it is) will be called in (similar to how if you control all towers in the Voth battlezone for a time, the dreadnought fleet shows up). This part is up for debate as I'm unsure whether or not this would be a plausible idea. I'm suggesting that the leader's ship either be a Jem'Hadar battleship or a stolen Cardassian Intel cruiser. I think this would allow for more replayability because if the leader is a Jem'Hadar in a Jem'Hadar ship, then the final phase of the battlezone will be dealing with the Jem'Hadar flagship and numerous other Jem'Hadar ships that have tagged along. Now, obviously these will not be Dominion-following Jem'Hadar. The whole reason that the Jem'Hadar in the Cardassian Struggle arc were even there was that they were following Laas who went rogue from the Great Link. I'm imagining that these Jem'Hadar will be followers of Laas, and since Laas was pretty much in league with the True Way, it would make sense for them to be involved. The flagship is going to be around for I'd say 3-5 minutes. If the player can kill it within that amount of time, bonus rep marks and rewards for anyone involved. If it can't be killed within that time, all True Way forces retreat including the surviving flagship and the player gets a lesser amount of rewards. Either way, the battlezone ends with the True Way retreating with whatever they've got and then it starts over from the beginning. Algira is a great selection for this battlezone because it would bring attention to the bottom left of the Alpha Quadrant, and because it would have lore ties to STO as mentioned at the very first part of this section.

#2. My second idea involves dealing with the noticeable lack of ground battlezones in the game. The only 3 ground battlezones I know of are the Dyson sphere, Kobali Prime, Defera, and Nimbus 3 (if I'm missing any, let me know). That's three battlezones to fight the Voth, Vaadwaur, and Gorn. I'm fond of all three of those zones, but those species aren't really as iconic as the Klingons, Romulans, or Cardassians. Despite ground combat being controversially debatable in quality, I would absolutely love to see another ground battlezone for this game, especially for an enemy I so rarely get to fight. My idea for this is similar to how the Dyson sphere does its battlezone. There will probably be a region of space somewhere in the space map from section #1 and you can beam down to Algira Prime to fight True Way on the ground. The story on the ground would be that the True Way is attempting to steal Cardassian weapons, sabotage Cardassian defense systems, and steal medical supplies. There will be maybe 3-4 factories on the ground for weapons facilities, a couple of defense stations that control ground and orbital defenses, and 3-4 medical facilities that contain medical supplies. For the weapons facilities, there will be groups of True Way beaming in outside of the factories since the factories have transport inhibitors set up inside. Some of these True Way will be unarmed. The point of the factories are to prevent the unarmed True Way from arming themselves and as such, there will be a couple of choke points on opposite sides of the factory interior. The True Way that arm themselves will also steal an extra number of weapons. The player needs to stop these True Way from returning to an extraction site with the extra weapons they've stolen. Any unarmed True Way and True Way that have stolen weapons that are killed will contribute toward the end phase of the battlezone. The medical facilities will essentially work the same way: stop the True Way from beaming in, stealing medical supplies, and heading to an extraction point before beaming out. Another thing worth mentioning is that the player can pick up stolen medical supplies and weapons dropped from these True Way and return them to any one of the medical facilities or factories for extra rewards. The defense stations will need to be protected from True Way attempting to override the controls to turn the ground defenses against allied Cardassian and player forces. True Way forces will also be trying to steal launch codes from these stations to help their forces in orbit steal Cardassian ships out of the shipyards. The way the codes will work is essentially the same way as the medical supplies and weapons: stop the True Way from stealing access codes and then heading to an extraction site for beam out. You can also turn in launch codes to receive extra rewards. Once the overall progression has been maxed out, a True Way or Jem'Hadar leader will beam down to the ground to try and neutralize the player and allied Cardassian forces. If it's a True Way leader, then specialized True Way enforcers (I'd imagine ex-Obsidian Order agents) will beam down with him. If it's a Jem'Hadar, then Jem'Hadar soldiers will beam down. This allows for a bit of randomization and replayability because you could get one enemy type or the other. The players would have 2 minutes to kill this leader and if they do, they get extra rewards and all of the remaining True Way and/or Jem'Hadar forces beam out and the battlezone is set back to the initial phase. If they can't kill the leader within that time, the leader beams out with all remaining enemy forces and additional supplies that they've looted during the fight with the leader and the player receives less rewards.

I don't know how the reputation would work, but I'd imagine as creative as the developers are, they'll think of something. I'm imagining new True Way disruptor or phaser gear because quite a lot of the reputation weapons are Polaron based. It would also be nice to have a way to get Spiral Wave disruptors other than having to own a Cardassian ship and reclaim them from the Dilithium Store. This is a suggestion that I think would bring a lot of fun to the game and I really really hope someone up top takes notice of this. I love STO and I would love to see a True Way battlezone and Reputation. For as long as the game's been around, I really wish there was more Cardassian content. If you've somehow decided to read all of this, thank you very much. I look forward to hearing any constructive criticism and creative ideas!
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    The True Way was defeated all the way back in the Cardassian Struggle arc.

    They were being manipulated by the New Link, and we showed them Laas was lying to them.

    Yes, but I would imagine that not all of them were happy with this resolution. Their point was that they believed in the way of the Dominion and wanted it back, right? That being said as stubborn as they are, they're probably not going to down even if Laas did.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    Ah wait I'm wrong. They believed in the old Cardassian way before the Federation alliance.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    Still, I think that the True Way and Jem'Hadar would still be around. Let's say that the True Way want to "free Cardassia from Federation tyranny" and the Jem'Hadar are going to help them because they followed Laas around. Just because they were manipulated by someone doesn't mean that they don't believe their cause was unjust. I feel like it would be a good story telling point.
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    rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 58,018 Community Moderator
    While I wouldn't mind a new track to work on, with new gear to obtain... I don't think we're gonna get one. Although it could be a good way to release Cardassian ground weapons. But the problem would be matching space weapons, as Spiral Wave Disruptors are unlocked by owning a Cardassian ship, either the Intel ships from the C-Store or the lockbox Galor or Keldon.
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    While I wouldn't mind a new track to work on, with new gear to obtain... I don't think we're gonna get one. Although it could be a good way to release Cardassian ground weapons. But the problem would be matching space weapons, as Spiral Wave Disruptors are unlocked by owning a Cardassian ship, either the Intel ships from the C-Store or the lockbox Galor or Keldon.
    I'm imagining new True Way disruptor or phaser gear because quite a lot of the reputation weapons are Polaron based. It would also be nice to have a way to get Spiral Wave disruptors other than having to own a Cardassian ship and reclaim them from the Dilithium Store.
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    questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,318 Arc User
    I proposed Cardassian weapons in the past so i would be interested in a TW reputation.
    That said i don't see that happening with the current story.
    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
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    garaffegaraffe Member Posts: 1,353 Arc User
    How about a legendary Galor?
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    lianthelialianthelia Member Posts: 7,825 Arc User
    Right now I'd just be happy if the spiral wave disruptors had unique sound effects (besides the beam array all the other weapons seem to just use standard disruptor sound effects, even the dual beam bank). Maybe a omni beam since the frigates have one...and some ground weapons

    At this point I'm really starting to doubt if the devs will ever do another reputation again
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    davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,512 Arc User
    Perhaps another DS9 lock box?
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    evilmark444evilmark444 Member Posts: 6,950 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    But the problem would be matching space weapons, as Spiral Wave Disruptors are unlocked by owning a Cardassian ship, either the Intel ships from the C-Store or the lockbox Galor or Keldon.

    They could do something new and unique for the space weapons, things like Spiral Wave Polaron, Spiral Wave Phaser, or just an exotic form of the Spiral Wave Disruptors with different color effects. They could also use it as an opportunity to give us orange disco era weapons by making them 23rd Century Spiral Wave Disruptors, or they could simply not have space weapons in the store at all and only offer projects for a set bonus omni and turret. The Disco rep doesn't have any weapons at all in it's rep store.
    Lifetime Subscriber since Beta
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    paradox#7391 paradox Member Posts: 1,777 Arc User
    I rather have a new faction instead of a battle zone/reputation.
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    evilmark444evilmark444 Member Posts: 6,950 Arc User
    I rather have a new faction instead of a battle zone/reputation.

    A Cardassian faction was ruled out when they were developing ViL, that's why they added Cardassians as a playable race for both Feds and Klingons and added a few ships to the C-Store. If they ever add more factions Borg Cooperative is the most likely candidate, while things like Enterprise or 32nd century Feds are possible but unlikely, Disco Klingons seemed like a possibility before, but since they were just added as a sub race that's probably been ruled out as well.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    questerius wrote: »
    I proposed Cardassian weapons in the past so i would be interested in a TW reputation.
    That said i don't see that happening with the current story.

    This battlezone would not have to be story related.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    lianthelia wrote: »
    Right now I'd just be happy if the spiral wave disruptors had unique sound effects (besides the beam array all the other weapons seem to just use standard disruptor sound effects, even the dual beam bank). Maybe a omni beam since the frigates have one...and some ground weapons

    At this point I'm really starting to doubt if the devs will ever do another reputation again

    They do have unique sound effects as far as I know. They did the Gamma Reputation not even 2-3 years ago.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    I rather have a new faction instead of a battle zone/reputation.

    Why not both?
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    A Cardassian faction was ruled out when they were developing ViL, that's why they added Cardassians as a playable race for both Feds and Klingons and added a few ships to the C-Store. If they ever add more factions Borg Cooperative is the most likely candidate, while things like Enterprise or 32nd century Feds are possible but unlikely, Disco Klingons seemed like a possibility before, but since they were just added as a sub race that's probably been ruled out as well.
    Yeah. The problem with Cardassians is that, while they featured heavily in DS9, they were ultimately a relatively small power, nowhere near the scope of the Federation, Klingon Empire, or Romulan Star Empire. And, after the war, they were made to dismantle their military, and keep only a small planetary defense force. Similar to Japan after WW2.

    The only real problem Cardassia has in the STO era is the True Way. But even that was a super small organization, that only had like 75 ships(all of which were stolen), and we pretty much wipe them out during the Cardassian Struggle arc. Not only that, but we also show the New Link, who were pulling the True Way's strings, that Laas was lying to them about solids wanting to exterminate them, so even they are neutral to us now.

    There really isn't anything to do with the Cardassians narratively that would make them work as a faction.

    Well, the Cardassians we fight right now can be new True Way believers. There were Bajorans that believed the Federation should not be involved with them and resorted to military force to try and get rid of them. The True Way can do the same thing, and they can blame the Federation for the destruction of Cardassia which would rally people to their cause.
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    eladonwarps#6040 eladonwarps Member Posts: 231 Arc User
    Given the lackluster response to adding new Reputations, I think I'd rather see a Battlezone that caters to the newest Reputation that doesn't have one, Discovery Legends. Always thought the Mycelial Realm ground map was beautiful and the islands would work well as a Battlezone map. Not sure who we'd fight there,
    Call me "El," she/her only. I love my wife and I don't care who knows it!
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    Given the lackluster response to adding new Reputations, I think I'd rather see a Battlezone that caters to the newest Reputation that doesn't have one, Discovery Legends. Always thought the Mycelial Realm ground map was beautiful and the islands would work well as a Battlezone map. Not sure who we'd fight there,

    You'd be fighting Elachi or Discovery Klingons...but the issue with the battlezone you're suggesting is that Discovery Klingons would have to be the enemy which means you'd have Klingons fighting Klingons. Admittedly that's what the Klingon Civil war is about. We were initially fighting FOR the chancellor and now we're not. Suddenly the Discovery Klingons are the good guys. The True Way has always been an enemy faction are not a playable faction of the same race. As someone here said, Cardassians have been playable only as a species of pre-existing factions. With my True Way battlezone recommendation, it means that all factions would be able to fight this enemy and not have to worry about lore allegiances because they're fighting a faction that has always been and always will be an enemy. Plus, we've already got a Discovery reputation and Discovery TFO's. There's practically nothing related to the True Way, which is the point of this suggestion.
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    sthe91sthe91 Member Posts: 5,464 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    No more reputations. As for battlezones, I would support adjusting and fixing the Battlezones in space and ground that we already have before we add a new one into the mix.
    Where there is a Will, there is a Way.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    sthe91 wrote: »
    No more reputations. As for battlezones, I would support adjusting and fixing the Battlezones in space and ground that we already have before we add a new one into the mix.

    Why no more reputations? Also, what needs adjusting and fixing?
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    sthe91sthe91 Member Posts: 5,464 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    sthe91 wrote: »
    No more reputations. As for battlezones, I would support adjusting and fixing the Battlezones in space and ground that we already have before we add a new one into the mix.

    Why no more reputations? Also, what needs adjusting and fixing?

    I do not want more reputations because I am tired of doing them and even getting to Tier 6 is tiring because it grows by small amounts which is not consistent with the amounts from Tier 1-5. It would be good for the reputations themselves to be revamped to increase build diversity, to fix bugs related to these reputations regarding ground sets that affect accolades, to add set bonuses for certain gear in the reps and add certain things that would work in those sets that currently do not have them, etc. As for the battlezones, the Dyson ground battlezone has a lot of lag many times for several players and it is very hard for those who are new and veterans to get to the boss dino before it is defeated. Other battlezones that have problems are the Undine, Tzenkethi, Gamma, and the Badlands Battlezones. Not to mention the areas that are not battlezones like the Borg Invasion of Defera and fabricating those special remodulators. There might be more that I am not aware of from what other players report and any personal observations I add to the mix.
    Where there is a Will, there is a Way.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    sthe91 wrote: »
    sthe91 wrote: »
    No more reputations. As for battlezones, I would support adjusting and fixing the Battlezones in space and ground that we already have before we add a new one into the mix.

    Why no more reputations? Also, what needs adjusting and fixing?

    I do not want more reputations because I am tired of doing them and even getting to Tier 6 is tiring because it grows by small amounts which is not consistent with the amounts from Tier 1-5. It would be good for the reputations themselves to be revamped to increase build diversity, to fix bugs related to these reputations regarding ground sets that affect accolades, to add set bonuses for certain gear in the reps and add certain things that would work in those sets that currently do not have them, etc. As for the battlezones, the Dyson ground battlezone has a lot of lag many times for several players and it is very hard for those who are new and veterans to get to the boss dino before it is defeated. Other battlezones that have problems are the Undine, Tzenkethi, Gamma, and the Badlands Battlezones. Not to mention the areas that are not battlezones like the Borg Invasion of Defera and fabricating those special remodulators. There might be more that I am not aware of from what other players report and any personal observations I add to the mix.

    Why not ask for a revamp and a reputation then? I'm almost T6 in all reputations and I'm sure the majority of the playerbase already is. I'm perfectly fine with the way reputations are done. I do wish there was a way to level them up faster, but I wouldn't chalk that up to them needing to be revamped. If you're tired of doing them, then don't do them. As for your issues with lag on the Dyson battlezone, I've never had this issue. I'd imagine if you're running a low end PC or have a poor internet provider then yeah you're gonna lag. I've had my friends lag because they had horrible internet. I have an above average PC and internet provider and I rarely have lag issues. If you're having issues with every single battlezone, it's something on your end causing it. Also, the Defera invasion zone is a battlezone. It allows you to progress toward reputation. The remodulators are free IIRC.
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    I haven't actually received any feedback for my idea of how the battlezone would work though. Kinda disappointed. :/
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    rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 58,018 Community Moderator
    Odds are some people are a bit hesitant about a new battlezone, considering our last two kinda flopped. Gamma Quadrant is just glorified patrols, and Gon'cra has iffy functionality. Badlands and Undine work great, and Voth Ground Battlezone is generally working, other than the occasional complaints about camping the V-Rex.
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
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    xgnxlentgamer02xgnxlentgamer02 Member Posts: 78 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    Odds are some people are a bit hesitant about a new battlezone, considering our last two kinda flopped. Gamma Quadrant is just glorified patrols, and Gon'cra has iffy functionality. Badlands and Undine work great, and Voth Ground Battlezone is generally working, other than the occasional complaints about camping the V-Rex.

    I thought my idea was pretty neat because it's sort of an in between of the Gon'cra and Dyson battlezones.
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    lianthelialianthelia Member Posts: 7,825 Arc User
    Perhaps another DS9 lock box?

    Nothing really to put in it as a main prize unless they build a new ship...
    lianthelia wrote: »
    Right now I'd just be happy if the spiral wave disruptors had unique sound effects (besides the beam array all the other weapons seem to just use standard disruptor sound effects, even the dual beam bank). Maybe a omni beam since the frigates have one...and some ground weapons

    At this point I'm really starting to doubt if the devs will ever do another reputation again

    They do have unique sound effects as far as I know. They did the Gamma Reputation not even 2-3 years ago.

    Yeah and they used to do at least 2-3 reps a year and it has been almost 2 years since the last one...if you haven't noticed there was a lost of used to's that haven't been touched in years because the devs are getting lazier and lazier.

    On the sound effects...they don't...I got the cardy fdc for the calm before the storm trait, I typically fly it right out of the box because it's not that hard to grind starship mastery with patrols. Like I said in my previous post the only weapon that has a unique sound is the beam array, even the dual beam bank uses the standard disruptor sound effect.
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    lianthelialianthelia Member Posts: 7,825 Arc User
    lianthelia wrote: »
    Yeah and they used to do at least 2-3 reps a year and it has been almost 2 years since the last one...if you haven't noticed there was a lost of used to's that haven't been touched in years because the devs are getting lazier and lazier.
    Yes, its totally because they are lazy, and not because people had been complaining for years that there were too many reps, and that they didn't want any more.

    Of course the devs white knight comes in to defend them, I'm totally not shocked
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