This post is all just a list of things I would like to see ingame.
This is a HUGE post, but it goes like this.
Skills
Missions
Skills/ Mission Connections
Mission Ideas
Factions
Gameplay Features
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTION ABOUT THIS, PLEASE POST HERE, IF THERE IS ANY IDEAS FROM OTHER PEOPLE I LIKE< I WILL PUT THEM IN THE APPROPRIATE SECTION, OR MAKE A NEW ONE.
SKILL POINTS
Cryptic said that originally, we would have INFINITE SKILL POINTS, and basically with no real warning, they changed it to have a cap...which is a very bad move, especially WHEN THE LEVELING SYSTEM IS TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON SKILL POINTS. Now, I say< bring back the infinite skill points, but Cryptic says that it would make future installments less...difficult and too easy for the "maxed out people." This is where the 2nd part comes in.
FUTURE MISSIONS
You have a system that makes different instances for players to have fun with, why not use it?
Thee should be 2 types:
STATIC: Always at same level: Includes missions at original release/special missions (patrol/ exploration/ etc), Rank/Grade specific missions
Static missions are basically the ones we have now, they don't change in difficulty and do not change with the players level...these are good for release and I have no problem with them, but Cryptic had to change everything to suit the needs of making future installments the 2nd type, which is feasible with he current system.
DYNAMIC: Changes in difficulty along with the player's grade (see info below on "Skills 2") These include different/more powerful enemies, harder AI, and more enemies to defeat.
Dynamic missions could be an incredibly fun thing for both new, and old players in STO, adding both endgame and main story content AT THE SAME TIME, keeping the new guys guessing and the old dudes busy. How this can be done will be shown below.
SKILLS 2:
Now, as I said before, we need to bring back STO's infinite skill points system, how this will be done in conjunction with Cryptic is just tweaking the current system we have now.
A: More Grades
STO has that every 5 levels you increase a "grade" within your level, like with Lieutenant you have Lieutenant Jr. Grade, etc, etc. WHy not do that for Admirals EXCEPT there are more?
With Admirals, every 5-10 levels you gain a "grade" which though you are still an admiral, it could add you to a different setting within the missions.
For example, if you are a normal Admiral, your difficulty for Dynamic missions with be at the "Admiral" level for players. You gain 5 levels and you join a different group, which we'll call "Admiral 2 Star" You get sent to a different group for dynamic levels WHICH you can go with, it includes more powerful enemies, though the story doesn't change, the difficulty that the level happens is increased by a bit, making it a challenge for that player to finish. It will be fun, easy, and allows people to play whenever they want, the same is already being done in PVP, players get set into groups (IE Lieu Cmdr 1 - Cmdr 0), you can do the same thing for PVE.
PROS:
Easy to implement within system
Uses and improves on systems already set in place by Cryptic
Allows all players to do basically all missions put in the future
Allows players to have infinite skill points
Allows missions to take place wherever and whenever in the galaxy.
Allows future content to be made without fear of players being too overpowered for it.
CONS:
Will take longer for different missions to be made: will have to make it for multiple ranks and grades, UNLESS variation of Genesis program can be made to "up the ante" for different missions quickly.
Higher chance of bugs (lower level players being queued with higher level players, high level players being put with lower difficulty, etc)
might take a big initial patch (I could live with that.)
FUTURE MISSION IDEAS
The Trail Resumes
Q's back to his old tricks again, and the Trail (Last seen in "All Good Things") resumes again, with the continuum putting you through tests that test different parts of a character.
This time, instead of putting just the Human Race under trail, the entire Federation is now under threat from being erased from history by the Q. (This would let other players other than the Human race participate in the mission and it still will make sense)
Q sends you to different places, times, and realities to test to see if the Federation is fit to exist.
POSSIBLE "TESTS"
Battle of the Mutara Nebula
Fighting Q Hand-to-Hand (come on, who doesn't?)
The Doomsday Machine (TOS Style: Your ships is less powerful, and you are weakened.)
Wolf 359
Enterprise vs 359 Cube (AKA, mission where Cmdr. Riker must defeat Picard and the Cube that attacked Earth after 359)
Trail Scene: (this could be the "closing arguments in the mission to try and convince Q not to erase the Federation)
JJPrise vs Narada: (This battle would be an absolute mystery to the player, since in his universe it doesn't exist, though he/she might recognize the Narada from Starfleet Records. with one of the question being "where am I?" Q responds, "Oh, just a little something")
These are just a few of my ideas, I would like more ground missions to be put on, suggestions for both my mission, and other missions, will be welcome
Comments
In a future Plot point/ faction backstory, Sela has taken over the other Factions in the Old Romulan Star Empire, and has proclaimed it the New Romulan Star Empire, with everything basically exactly like it was before the Hobus Nova. But that doesn't mean that everyone likes it, there could be 2 factions the player could get missions from, the Romulan Star Empire, and the Romulan Rebellion, a pro-Federation group working to Overthrow Sela and make the Romulan Empire into a Republic, they are secretly supported by Starfleet.
The Romulan Star Empire and the Rebellion missions will be seperate, if a player wishes to, they could fight for both sides for fun, or for roleplay purposes, choose one side of missions to either support or condemn the Rebellion.
Since Sela blames the Federation for the Destruction of Romulus, and for the Klingons who have invaded their territory, she could launch an offensive on both sides, essentially making it a "3-way war" with Romulans, Federation, Klingons fighting each other, this could make PVP an extremely hectic thing, but also could be great for RVR (see below). You have certain maps you have to fight not just one faction, but all 3 at the same time, thus making the stakes of the War not just survival and some small amount of land, but dominancy of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants!
PROS:
Allows for inter-faction PVP
Allows for PVP, RVR, and PVE with other Factions
PLOT A: The Dominion see this as a perfect time to relaunch their assault on the Alpha Quadrant, but instead of going through the Wormhole, they now use Transwarp Conduits to bypass the wormholes (their only fast "link to the Alpha Quadrant) and make sure that the Prophets do not destroy their fleet like they did before in the Dominion War, they can move either to the World of the Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire, and Federation, thus letting them have small "pockets" Dominion Players can move to the different fronts of the War.
PROS:
PVP, RVR, and PVE with all Factions
CONS:
No Inner Species PVP/ PVE
PLOT B: THe Dominion sees this as an opportunity to gain insight on their enemies, especially the Federation. They make a peaceful resolution with the Federation and both the Dominion and the Federation now fight side by side with each other in both the War with the Klingons and Romulans, but not everyone agrees, there are many Jem' hedar, Vosh (?), and Founder that disagree with what the Dominion is doing and are trying to either 1: Make the Dominion go into Open War with the Federation, or 2, use the alliance to infiltrate and control the Federation to try and control it.
PROS:
ALLOWS for PVP with all faction EXCEPT Federation (except if you could take control of Ketracil Whie-free Jem' hedar)
CONS:
No Real Explainable PVP with Federation
PLAYER FACTION: The Terran Empire has regained all of its former glory, and more, with alternate versions of Federation ships, the Terran Empire blames the Federation for the the original Empire's fall and is now using different "access points" to send ships through to Federation Space, taking over different Systems INSIDE Federation Space and trying to secretly take over the Federation from the inside, but they are a lot less successful than the Undine/8472 and Dominion (?) since they're attitudes are much different than their Federation Counterparts. They're PVP and PVE would be going through different points on their map (Black Holes, anomalies, etc) to get their ships into our space, and take over systems near those areas
(OP'S NOTES: The Terran Empire would not be the best ST faction to make into a Player faction in STO, but would make a great NPC faction to fight, it'll be interesting using different access points on the Federation map to get to the Mirror universe, but since they are going into our universe, we could go into theirs)
NPC Faction: Federation: Same as original, except no RVR and PVP: The Federation is going into the Mirror Universe, exploring it, studying it, but the Mirror is not happy about it, when "normal" ships go and just fly around, Terran ships will "hunt" down player ships, trying to exact their revenge in some small part against their alternates.
NPC: Klingons: The Empire has given up on using time travel to destroy the Federation, now they are trying to get reinforcements from other universes to help in their conquest. But when they get to the mirror universe, they find that their brother have been taken over by the pathetic humans, except now, they're 20 times worse. Klingon players missions will be to try and weaken the power of the Empire through stealth, sabotage, and warfare throughout the system, trying to give their brothers a chance to claim an EMpire for themselves.
THE HOLODECK
Have you ever loved a mission a lot, one that really was fun and gave you a good feeling inside, but you got angry cause you could only play it once??
Well NO MORE!!! The Star Trek Universe has already given us a feature that has INCREDIBLE potential ingame...the holodeck, yes the common holodeck might be one of the biggest things for players ingame, and it will not have just the ability to replay past missions, but also to CREATE you own! Yes, Starfleet most likely has a database of all the different incidents that have happened since time began, from the mindset of different people, including missions that the players have already completed!
The holodeck can be used to "relive" your favorite missions, but on a harder difficulty (thus utilizing the "dynamic mission" concept, though the original mission may be static, the new one can be dynamic, OR you could even set the difficulty yourself.) The drawback is you do not receive any of the "bonuses" (armor, weapons, etc) And receive less experience (since you have already "lived" that experience before.
In Star Trek, you constantly see people making new to holoprograms to entertain them, well, why not? You can use these to make different missions with YOUR permitters, it could be as easily as put some perimeters (defeat X amount of Klingons in a system, go here, do this, etc.)
Or you could go "full out" making specific NPC's for your mission, making backstories, modifying specific ships for the player to command/ fight. These missions would be something for a player to make, and they can make it "private" (only the players and people whom he/she gives permission to play" ) or public Missions that Cryptic could make a system for finding and playing different missions.
The Holodeck could be one of the integral places, not just because you can do different things and make your own missions, but also you could play different missions from past Episodes/ Movies of Star Trek, like the Battle of the Mutara Nebula (Wrath of Khan), the M5 project, The Battle of Veridian III (Star Trek TNG/ AKA the destruction of the Enterprise - D), and even the infamous Kobyashi Maru! Like the Create a Mission option, you don't gain any "special equipment", what you do gain is a LARGER amount of skill points and experience depending on the difficulty of the mission.
(Except for the Kobyashi Maru, this mission you would gain a LARGE amount of SKill points and some sort of special item or title that says "I beat the Kobyashi Maru" to the world.)
PLAYER POLITICS
OUT OF FACTION ALLIANCES
Diplomacy, something that has been lost in Trek, but this game has a chance! Even in War, there are people trying to find a peaceful way to end the killing, both the Klingons and Federation are engaging in peace talks to try and save lives. And there are Klingons who disagree with the War and are actively trying to end it, they are allying themselves with Federation fleets, giving them info, technology, and other items to give them an edge and defeat the corrupt government of the Empire, but their relationships are tricky at best, since most Feds do not like the Klingons for what they have done.
Klingon fleet can give Federation players "cloaking devices" to use in combat, though these devices are not as good as the ones the Klingons have for themselves, the Federation can use them in battle as an ability in PVE, PVP, and RVR, giving them an advantage in combat, along with other abilities to help them in combat. To decrease the amount of Fed fleets making a Klingon fleet just to give them a cloaking device, you need to do certain objectives in order to give Fed Fleet these special items of the Empire.
When the Romulans are put ingame, they could do the same thing, allowing fleets the ability to cloak. (Those fleets could be the "Rebellion" oriented ones.)
WAR!!!!
Along with alliances, fleets can declare "War" on each other, these fleets are marked by some special symbol in PVP and RVR, basically, if you are marked by an enemy fleet, you are a target for them to be destroyed.
Fleets can then prioritize different members of the fleet, from most important, to just somebody to kill, you can set different things, like bounties or items to the person who kills that target. (Out of the Fleet Bank of course!) Also, the higher the priority, the more XP you get from them.
(You can only put an X amount of each type of higher priority)
Yes yes, many people have asked for this, basically all I can say is that they could be like the system from COV and COH, or the Guild towns in Age of Conan...oh, when you declare war on a fleet, you can do "special circumstances" to locate their base and "take it over" which gives you an advantage in the war, etc, etc.
Basically, here's just 1 thing that should be automatic, a bigger Empire, I mean REALLY Cryptic, THAT is the force that is supposed to fight the Federation? PLEASE!
Now it gets interesting.
Federation has Tribbles, what do the Klingons have? NOTHING. Really, we get Tribbles that heal, increase our DPS, etc, etc. Now, I think the Klingons should have Targs. Here's how it works. The Targ can be summoned, like a Tribble, it has a Health bar that once it is defeated, it cannot be summoned again until the "time limit" is up.
TARGS
There will be several types.
War Targ "Basic" - Attacks enemies, no bonuses.
Targ A - Has a higher DPS
Targ B - "Steals" Health from Enemies
Targ C - When summoned, increases health Regeneration Rate
Targ D - Higher health
Etc, etc, etc.
TARG BREEDING
Basically it works very similar to Tribbles. Targ A + Targ B = Targ C
The next generation of Targ has the combined abilities of both of the parents, but it can only have 3 special abilities.
To breed a Targ, you put both in your Bank, or items list, and in about a day or so, the two "breed" and form the next generation of Targ, which, as I said earlier, has the combined abilities of both.
TARG LIFE CYCLE
Since the Targ is an item, it never "dies", but when a Targ is "born" it comes out as a "baby" targ, and you must wait before it becomes "fully grown."
A "baby" Targ is more of a "commodity" item, it doesn't do anything but it has the coat color and appearance of its fully grown self.
FEDERATION
Vulcan Lirpa -
Longer range than Bal'eth, less power. longer "swipe", more defense
KLINGON
Bal'eth separation
Instead of having your normal Bal'eth MAGICALLY appearing to the "Sword of Khaless" type, you have two "basics"
1: Normal - Only can swipe left and right
2: Ancient: Can do Normal Bal'eth attacks along with a Thrust : More powerful : Rarer : More Expensive
Then You have 2 "Advanced" ones that the player can have.
1 : House Bal'eth : Can do all previous Bal'eth attacks, much more powerful. faster swipe, VERY EXPENSIVE, must be "forged" by player.
The House Bal'eth is a customizable Bal'eth that can be bought at any time. It can be customized with colors, symbols, blade types, etc, making it the characters own. This Bal'eth also levels with the player, the more powerful the player, the better the Bal'eth. Bal'eth leveling includes
more attacks, better attack, faster swipe, etc, showing that the character is getting better with hes/her swordsmanship.
2: Sword of Khaless : Has all attacks: Has a special buff/debuff ability : can be used by all players : randomly appears as "anomalous data" in space.
The Sword of Khaless is an EXTREMELY rare bal'eth that can be found by Klingons is random systems. (Except for Qro'nos), it is the most powerful one, but not because of it's swiping speed or attack power, but of a special buff/debuff ability.
STRENGTH OF KHALESS : This ability demoralizes the enemy, giving them less health, less attack, less speed, and puts them in an "expose" position. It also boosts the morals of your entire team, giving them better attack, speed, etc, it has a large recharge time, but it can be very good in a tight spot, only 1 of this ability can be used.
The Federation needs a weapon that is equal, but opposite to the sword, be it some rare item, or power that can let the Federation have an advantage, and power, that can nullify the sword if it is used.
REFITING SHIPS
Now, I think it would be a good idea instead of having to go just to the next level of ship, you could "refit" you ship to make it equal to the next tier, like with the T3 Escort. Instead of going to Tier 4, you could refit that ship to make it more powerful than before, giving it better meneuverability, more device storage, more weapons slots, etc, etc. Though the ship would be "more powerful." It wold be different from the other tier 5. A Tier 2 Cruiser would be more meneuverable than a T5, but the T5 would have more weapons slots, more hull HP, and more Crew. So if you like one ship, and you don't want to go to a "higher Tier" of ship, you could just refit, and keep it.
The Miranda
The Miranda class is the first ships, and thus has no specific advantage that you get from Science, Cruisers, or Escorts. This is why the Miranda's upper tier forms would be the most equal and versatile of all of the Federation ships, it has no specific boost in any other ships abilities and is "midway" through all of them. The Miranda's advantage would be it's versatility, thus making it a "Jack of all Trades" class, being able to put an equal amount of weapons, shields, etc. The Miranda can be made to be any type of ship the player wants through devices, mods, and other items on it. Also, the Miranda's upper tier versions should not have the class bridge officer restriction of the other ships (thus giving it an advantage over other types of ships) and making it more equal. But it will have less weaponry and hull integrity of a cruiser, less maneuverability than an escort, and not as much sensor and deflector abilities as a Science.
PROS:
Adds more ship verity at higher levels
CONS:
Each tier would have to be specifically "set" so that the differences between them would not be huge.
Klingon BOPS already have their different "tiers", each one would have to have some special advantage over the others.
THE FIRST OFFICER STATION
Cryptic, you have done really well with the Bridge Officer, but you have forgotten one VERY important spot on the Bridge...the First Officer, the First Officer is one of most important positions in Star Trek, and it seems to be ignored.
The First Officer space should be an ability for Higher Tier Ships, around Tier 3, and be an open Space (like the BOP spaces, except you only have 1.)
This is good because it fits within canon (IE the Captain able to choose his first officer) and also it will add some diversity, and make the ship more of their own. So, if you want more Tactical Capabilities on your ship, you can put on a tactical Officer, if You want more Science, boom , Science officer, etc, etc, etc. The First Officer Spot would be good, especially if you put in my next suggestion.
MULTI VECTOR ASSAULT MODE
MVAM and Saucer Separation is an ability that basically allows one ship to become two, though it is only used as a last ditch effort so that part of the crew can survive. It could also be used as a tactical Advantage in combat. The MVAM and Saucer Separation ability should be confined to only a couple types of ships (which will make them have an even greater value in tactical.) The two that it should ABSOLUTELY be on it the T4 cruiser and the T5 Escort. Other ships that this ability has been "mentioned" is the Constitution (it could not reintegrate.) And the T5 Cruiser (but should be acquitted for obvious balance reasons.)
How it will work is that you assign different officers to stations in each of the 2-3 bridges (not necessarily from you current active bridge officers.)
The Controls work very similar to away missions, you can control them, but they are controlled by AI, though I do have some ideas to improve Ground Combat (see below)
If a part of your ship dies, it respawns either at the end of the battle (immediately moving toward you) or when you die. In PVP, if your character dies, you can "run away" from the battle and leave the other 2 parts of you ship to keep the player busy.
But when they die, they lose some crew and their subsystems are damaged (that damage is tranferred to the main ship in reintegration.)
SHIELDS:
Temporal
Temporal shields is one shield type that I would LOVE to have in STO, mainly because it is so powerful, now, Temporal shields should be a more powerful version of Resilient shields, but has MUCH more power. This type would only be available with "Mark of Honor" like Anti-Proton weaponry which will limit how much it is seen.
MULTI-LAYER SHIELDING
This type is not another version of a shield, but maybe a higher level ability.
Multi-layer shielding is when a ship has (of course) multiple shields on it, now, it could be a rare version of each type of shield OR (as I said before) an ability that high level players can unlock to give them an extra advantage in combat.
ABILITY:
At first, we should only be able to equip up to 2 shields on Admiral ships, and there has to be a certain debuff to equalize the ship, like you can only put up to a certain class of shield, and that that shield is not as powerful as the main, which means the secondary shield would be mainly there for its abilities. Here is what would be good.
(ADMIRAL)
PRIMARY:
All types and tiers available
SECONDARY:
Drains more power than normal
After shield is gone, it does not recharge till after battle is over.
takes longer to reroute power
Can only be up to a certain Type (Type VIII - IX, possibly can upgrade maximum shield type via ability.)
Away missions are probably the weakest part of STO (not saying that it isn't fun, it really isn't anything very special.) One of the main problems is how little you can control bridge officers, mainly when you tell them to take point, I never figured out how to get them out of it. So, why not put a button at it?
INDIVIDUAL OFFICER CONTROLS
I would like to be able to tell one officer to go here, and another to go here, basically, to set up ambushes or to make a defendable point. It would add just that more of a tactical feel to ground combat, and possibly make it more fun.
(NOTE: This could also work with my plan for MVAM)
Ah the First Officer, the spot that basically is the 2nd Captain on a ship, and if anything happens to the Captain takes the reigns. And the person that should be put in the game. Overall, I like the idea of how the bridge officer system works, it really gives a player some real choices on what to do with different ships and ship designs, but I would like some more...freedom with the officers. Mainly, the First officer, the First Officer spot should be open (like the BOP spots). Its adds a choice in what you are going to do with it, what officer is going to put in it etc, etc.
And of course..SOMETIMES the first Officer will say that its too dangerous to go down to the planet and etc, etc, etc, but only sometimes!
The game we were promised...
Thank you very much.
Battle Damage
I would like to say that the battle damage indicators on the ship is absolutely GORGEOUS, its always nice to see a ship that had a few torpedoes to it, but, I want more, and not just on the ship itself.
First...BLOWN OFF PIECES!!!
Yes, please, I want parts of the hull being ripped to shreds, the nacelles falling off or pieces of the nacelles falling off, I want the saucers being blown through. (IE Enterprise - A VS Kang's BOP) And it would be so very nice if that damage is also done to the inside of the ship, like when you put more pieces, let parts of the ship be, well, have a giant hole to them, let the consoles explode, the lights flickering on and off, consoles going all static, and just all this crazy stuff that is classic with Starship battles, heck, I would love if the front part of the bridge had been blown off, leaving it to open space! That would be AWESOME!!!! Along with injured crewmen lying on the ground (not dead, cause, yeah, the kids) doctors running all over the place, and maybe even if you go to the engineering section...well, when you get there they have to eject the warp core and all of these engineers are running out and bracing for it, that...would..be...AMAZING, I would live it, I would suck it up like a sponge, heck, I get into more fights just for that!!!