Before I get started, here's a disclaimer:
Everything that I post here is an example. The point of this thread is to get people talking. I am not saying things HAVE to be done this way, but instead I'm posting how I think they COULD potentially be done. I am posting something much more complete than I usually would, and the reason I am doing that is twofold: First, because I feel that some very good ideas will come out of the discussion that hopefully ensues. And secondly, because the development team has asked for us to tell them what we would like to see in the game ahead.
Below I am going to lay out some major things I would like to see done in the game soon. These are not quick, easy things. They will take a lot of time for the developers to do, though they can be implemented in phases. Taken individually, each one addresses a certain part of the game - but they all also fit together to help enhance the other areas as well. The ultimate goal is a system where a player can pursue the type of gameplay that appeals to them, and still contribute to the whole of Star Trek Online.
I hope that all of you will read through these and post your thoughts - talk about what you think would work, and what wouldn't work, and why. If you have an idea that might fit into all this, post it. If you feel like it should be tweaked slightly to be better, post that too. Like I said, the goal here is to start a discussion, that ultimately leads to a consensus that helps outline a vision of the game's future, and inspire the developers to make something awesome for all of us.
One final note: ALL of this has been heavily influenced by the posts of many players on the forums here. If you see similarities to something you posted, that may be why 
As mentioned in the title, this is very long and it's going to take me multiple posts to get up. It took me a few hours to write yesterday and now I have to copy/paste it in and format it. So if you're reading this and you don't see everything below listed yet, I'm still working on getting it added.
Overall Goals:
- Provide players with the ability to focus on areas of repeatable gameplay as they advance through the game, providing ongoing goals and things to do.
- Provide metagame systems that help keep players playing the game long-term, even during the times when they are waiting for new episode content to be added.
- Stabilize the in-game economy, so that long-term, new players are able to join the game and participate in it without penalty.
- Build on the foundation already present in the game, reusing or incorporating existing systems and mechanics as much as possible.
Phased Approach:
As mentioned above, all of this can be implemented in a phased approach.
This allows this to be added to the game a piece at a time, so that players start benefitting from it sooner. I have outlined what I think is a logical sequence below. Please note however that there is room for things to move around a bit.
Phase 1 - Economy: Scaling Services and Miscellaneous Improvements
Phase 2 - Exploration: Trophies and Collections
Phase 3 - Fleet Metagame/PvE Content: Task Forces (Raids)
Phase 4 - Economy/Diplomacy: Exploration and Trade
Phase 5 - Economy: Memory Alpha Enhancements
Phase 6 - Fleet Metagame/Economy: Fleet Starbases
Phase 7 - PvP Metagame: Territorial Warfare
Phase 8 - Economy: Crafting
Comments
The game's economy is defined by its tradable currency, which is the energy credit. This is used by players to purchase goods both from NPC vendors as well as from other players via the Exchange. It is also used by players to purchase services from NPCs, such as uniform changes. In terms of long-term health of the game, the economy is a central component. It directly impacts the perception of both new players and old players and their enjoyment of the game, and it forms at least part of the basis for most of the additional features or types of gameplay that may be added. In other words, making sure that the game's economy is healthy and balanced and NOT suffering from massive inflation or other issues is the first step in growing the game moving forward. Games that have bad economies lose players because of it. Games that have good economies keep players because of it.
Goals:
- Insure that the economy remains friendly to new players, based on the amount of credits they can get by selling loot drops to NPC vendors. Players should never feel like they have to resort to out-of-game means to get credits in order to make needed purchases.
- Make it easier for players to find items they need on the Exchange, and for players listing items to compete effectively with each other.
- Add additional services or costs that act as money sinks at high levels to help prevent inflationary price trends on the exchange.
Proposal:
This proposal is a package of small changes and tweaks that help establish a foundation for moving forward.
- Exchange: Add a sort feature to allow players to sort items.
- Exchange: Add subcategories and an item comparison feature to allow players to compare prices between similar items - for example, comparing prices for phaser beam arrays to plasma beam arrays.
- Exchange: Implement price floors for items based on 30% of base vendor values (essentially, the minimum that someone could get selling to an NPC). Items listed below this price should be auto-purchased by the system - perhaps with a warning/confirmation to the player first. This prevents market flooding on very common items. It also helps discourage predatory market behavior which, if left unchecked, can damage player perception of the community. The Ferengi have to get their goods from somewhere, right?
- Exchange: Implement a scaling listing fee based on the item's listed price. It should cost a player more to list an item with a price of 100,000 credits than an item with a value of 10,000 credits. This helps put a downward pressure on prices and discourages gouging. It also acts as a money sink on the economy.
- Personal Bank and Inventory: Allow players to purchase additional tabs for scaling prices. For example, a player might purchase a second tab for 500,000 credits, and a third tab for 1.5 million credits, and so on. This acts as a money sink.
- Uniform/customizations: Add additional uniform options as players level that cost more money at the tailor. Tie this to rank. Example: At Commander level, players gain access to two more uniform templates and additional cosmetic options. This acts as a progression reward, as well as an additional money sink.
- Ship/customizations: Add additional ship customization options that scale up in price by the level/tier of the ship. Examples include: Alternate Nacelle glow, additional hull models, and so on. This helps as a money sink as the game goes on. It also helps add diversity to the ranks of players at higher levels.
- Ship refitting: As players advance, allow them to pay a fee of energy credits and starfleet merits to have their old ship refitted for their new tier. The higher the tier, the higher the charge. So if someone wanted to, they could keep flying that old Constitution, but have it refitted so that it had the statistics and capacity of a star cruiser.
- Ship recomissioning: Allow players to designate a new ship as a "Successor" of their old ship, for a fee (combination of credits/merits). Doing so should decommission the old ship. Example: I have the Ushaan class Escort USS Lexington, NCC 91437. I increase in rank to commander and get an Oslo class Heavy Escort. I can choose to have my Oslo recommissioned as the USS Lexington, NCC 91437-A, in honor of my previous ship's service.
- Additional replicator items: Allow players to replicate additional usable devices, such as medium hypos, medium energy cells, and medium shield charges. These can then be upgraded at memory alpha or used as is. Add replicator terminals to ground maps (as appropriate) to allow replicator access in ground missions. This adds another way that players can spend credits, acting as a money sink.
- Additional ship equipment slot - Shuttle Bay: All player ships come with a basic shuttlepod. Initially, this shuttlepod can be sent out to scan nearby anomalies (within 10km). (more uses for shuttles to be added later). The shuttle bay holds (by default) 2 shuttlepods. These are expendable and can be destroyed if the player enters combat while they're out. Players can purchase replacement shuttlepods at starbases. In addition, players can also upgrade their shuttle bays (maximum determined by tier of ships) to hold more shuttles or more advanced shuttles (which in turn cost more, but are faster, able to take more damage, and armed). So a player in a Fleet Escort might have upgraded their shuttle bay to hold two Mark V shuttlecraft of a squadron of four fighters for use in tactical situations. Since these craft can be destroyed and must be replaced, this acts as a money sink at multiple levels, in addition to adding new gameplay elements.
These changes alone will not completely stabilize the economy - players will still ultimately pile up more money and prices on the exchange should trend towards inflation, but it should slow the effect down somewhat and give people more things to spend money on at the same time. Some of you may disagree with the changes I've listed, or have additional changes you'd like to add. Please feel free to discuss that.
Since early in the game's development, players have asked for the ability to see additional areas of their ships. Likewise, history has shown that players will go out of their way to find unique or unusual items in games in order to show off their achievements. This proposal combines the two concepts and helps provide an incentive for players to participate in different areas of the game.
The reason for putting this system in early is that it gives a foundation for some of the things outlined later in this proposal.
Goals:
- Reward players for participating in various types of gameplay
- Add uses for captain's ready room and captain's quarters
- Promote social and economic interaction among players.
Collections (Exploration gameplay)
During their travels in uncharted star systems, players should occasionally encounter artifacts. These might be found on the ground, or they may be found in the hands of an enemy, or even be a reward for completing a scenario. Perhaps they find an ancient star map. Or maybe a crashed ship, with a strange data core. Or maybe even an old Type 2 Phaser from a federation starship that passed there long ago. While these items may have little use in and of themselves, players can collect them, and display them in their ready room.
Collections are groupings of related items, that, when completed, offer a unique reward suitable for display. As an example, perhaps a player can collect a Type 2 Phaser, a Type 1 Hand Phaser, a communicator, and an old tricorder. When the player has collected all four of these items, they receive a display case with the items which shows up in their ready room. Certain advanced collections may even offer small bonuses for their completion - for example, a collection of dilithium crystals might offer a +1 engine power bonus, or a collection of klingon blades might offer the captain a small bonus to melee attacks.
Trophies (PvE/PvP gameplay)
Players who participate in non-episode combat (for example, sector defense instances or fleet actions, or PvP combat) have the chance to earn trophies based on their achievements. For example, if a klingon warrior manages to make 10 kills without being defeated, he may be awarded the Sword of Karg, a trophy signifying great prowess in battle. A federation player who participates in many fleet actions may earn the Federation Cross, a medal for distinguished service. A player may even earn trophies for optional noncombat actions in various maps. For example, players who rescue all the injured crewmen on the SS Azura before talking to the captain might receive a commendation from Starfleet. These trophies can be displayed in a captain's quarters,and may in some cases impart small bonuses to the player as with collections above.
What this system does is add a set of goals to players above and beyond just completing storyline content. Players who choose to participate in repeatable content, or who do noteworthy things, get something they can use to show off their achievements. Especially as additional repeatable content is added to the game, this provides incentives to players to keep doing that content. It also allows for the entry of unique items later on via the collection/trophy system.
This part of the proposal is targeted at fleets specifically, but also adds additional tools for players participating in large shared instances, regardless of fleet membership.
Goals:
- Give fleets a way for larger numbers of their members to play together in "private" instances
- Add ways for players in DSE instances or fleet action instances to team up and coordinate their efforts better.
- Add a foundation for additional large-scale PvP or PvE content moving forward.
The Task Force
A task force is a grouping of multiple teams of up to 20 starships that fight together as a unit in space (or up to 20 captains working together on the ground). Task forces allow players to do the following:
- Control loot distribution amongst the task force, rather than individual teams.
- See status and position information for other teams in the task force in addition to the team a person might be on
- Operate a shared chat channel (raid) to coordinate strategy among all teams
- Prioritize enemy targets in order to direct fire or place waypoint markers to coordinate ground assaults
- Open "private" instances on shared maps where one must be a member of the task force (presumably, a task force should take a minimum of 2 teams).
Essentially, this is a raid interface for STO. In addition to doing all the standard raid things people expect for other games, it should offer some enhancements to assist with coordination and targeting.
Why task forces? Primarily, because they enable fleets to play together. Currently if a fleet wants to do, say, the crystalline entity, they have to all go try and get into the same instance. This can be difficult depending on how many instances are up and how many other players are there. Furthermore, even if they do all make it into the same instance, there is nothing to stop other players from entering that instance and potentially wreaking havoc on the fleet's carefully coordinated strategy.
Likewise, having task forces would allow the development of more complex fleet actions with more "boss" encounters. Imagine a ground-based fleet action where in order to win the final encounter, you needed to have two teams take up defensive positions and cover the flanks, preventing enemy reinforcements from arriving, while the remaining two teams assault the final enemy position. Or, imagine a space-based fleet action where you had to have teams secure and hold several navigational beacons in order to win. These types of scripts are very difficult to do given the game's current tools, but become possible if a task force feature is added. In PvP, task forces would allow for two (or more) large, organized groups of players to fight each other - which can be quite a lot of fun, especially if it's in support of some objective on a map.
Aid missions. Most players currently regard them as a nuisance, or a waste of time. But they don't have to be. In fact, they can be a part of something much more fun and engaging.
Goals:
- Add noncombat gameplay elements to exploration missions
- Add a better use for aid mission commmodities.
- Open a new market in the game economy for future systems to build upon.
Exploration, Diplomacy and Trade
Consider the following scenario:
You arrive at a planet in uncharted space. On this planet, you find a civilization and make first contact. You beam down to the planet to meet with the leaders of their civilization. While on the planet, you help prevent a coup attempt by a seperatist group (with some high drama and action along the way). Grateful for your aid, the leading council tells you that they would like to open trade relations with the Federation.
Your science officer reports to you that the planet produces high-quality isolinear chips which would be very useful in federation manufacturing facilities. The leading council agrees to trade shipments of isolinear chips for federation goods and services on a periodic basis. Currently, they would like medical supplies.
* - At this point, the leading council of this planet is added as a contact in your journal
You already happen to have the medical supplies on hand in your ship's cargo bays, so you deliver them to the leading council. In return, you receive several crates of isolinear chips. These chips can be sold to NPC commodity brokers on starbases, or traded to other players (the reason for this will become clear later). Happy with the trade, you go on about your exploration of the galaxy.
Periodically, you can trade with the leading council of the planet for more isolinear chips. Their needs each time may be different. Sometimes they may ask for shield generators. Other times, they might need construction materials. You arrange the trades by contacting them using the contact you have for them, and then simply deliver the goods to trade. Also periodically, you may receive a request from the leading council asking for federation assistance with a problem. Perhaps they have lost contact with a research outpost, or perhaps the Orion syndicate has begun harassing their freighters. Or perhaps they have a diplomatic problem that they need help with, or would like outside assistance investigating a recent assassination. In order to maintain them as a trading contact, you will need to complete the mission that they offer. If you decline the mission, or fail to respond within a period of time, you lose the trading contact.
You can, of course, maintain multiple trading contacts that might provide you with different types of resources. For example, a mining colony might provide dilithium shipments, or a colony of researchers might provide advanced datacores. Each of these items can of course be sold for varying amounts of energy credits back home. In some cases, these items may even be used to trade with other planets for other items.
This system takes the existing aid missions and makes them something far more involved and interactive, while also setting them up as a way to make money for players, and as a basis for future systems.
Memory Alpha, to me, is not a crafting system. It is a scavenger hunt that allows you to upgrade items. It is also not something we should throw out of the game, as that would waste a lot of the developers' hard work. Instead, it should be expanded, and modified to work better than it currently does. This also would allow it to be used as the basis for other things moving forward.
Goals:
- Remove the concept of progression from the Memory Alpha scavenger hunt system. Progression should be linked solely to the types of data that a person can have available.
- Expand the selection of items that can be upgraded at Memory Alpha. All types of items should be available - there is no reason why someone shouldn't be able to upgrade a phaser or disruptor in the same way they could upgrade a plasma or tetryon beam.
- Provide an alternate source for base items in addition to the Exchange. This is needed to prevent people from buying up all the base items to upgrade, and then selling the upgraded versions back for huge markups.
- Provide a basis for a future crafting system implementation.
How it works:
1. Add additional NPCs to all four areas of Memory Alpha. Each NPC may specialize in a different list of related items. For example, in the Tactical section, Lieutenant Commander Anichent may work with plasma weapons. Nearby, Ensign Sivak may be experimenting with phaser weapons. Across the room, Lieutenant Torval is working with disruptor technology. Next to him, Commander Smith works with kits.
2. With the additional NPCs, it should be possible to re-itemize the lists so that ALL base item variations are accounted for. So, instead of only upgrading plasma sniper rifles, Lieutenant Commander Anichent can also now upgrade high density beam rifles and split beam rifles.
3. Instead of a progression, all NPCs have all items of their type available. So Ensign Sivak can handle any phaser from Mark II on up to Mark X. Obviously, more powerful phasers require higher-level data in order to create. This allow players to begin using memory alpha at any point in their progression through the game.
4. In the lounge, players may find requisition officers who supply the base items used by the researchers in return for energy credits. So instead of having to hunt around on the Exchange for that Mark IV Plasma Sniper Rifle, you can purchase it from the requisition officer, and then take it with your data to have it upgraded. Prices however may be at a premium because of the nature of the facility.
5. Rarity levels should be based on the item level. Mark II items should be green (uncommon) when upgraded. Mark IV, VI, and VIII items should be blue when upgraded. Mark X items should be purple when upgraded.
6. NPCs and their selections should be organized based on role. So NPCs in the tactical section may offer armor and weaponry (for ships and players). NPCs in the engineering section may offer consoles, engines, and devices for both space and ground. NPCs in the science section may offer shields (both space and ground), deflectors, and medical supplies. All sections should offer appropriate kits.
7. One final research NPC should be present in each section. Initially this researcher will do nothing (apart from possibly providing interesting conversation). Later on, they will offer crafting recipes in return for data.
These enhancements should flesh out Memory Alpha and make it more appealing to players, while at the same time helping the game's economy by providing a price control and a money sink on "base" crafting items.
This phase brings us back to fleets. Hopefully everyone is starting to see how some of the things above tie together.
As the federation (or the klingon empire, or the romulan star empire) needs to secure systems under its control, it constructs starbases. These stations are hubs for fleet activity - repairing and resupplying ships, coordinating ship movements, providing meeting places for flag officers, and even serving as diplomatic outposts.
Goals:
- Allow fleets to gain "control" of a starbase to serve as their base of operations and customize and improve that starbase with additional services for their members.
- Implement a money sink in the economy at the highest levels, to help pull excess cash out of the game
- Provide social hubs that players can use to host private, semi-private, or public in-game events (diplomatic conferences, social gatherings, etc).
Proposal:
Fleets may pay a one-time fee (it should be very large) of energy credits to be granted administrative rights to a starbase in an outlying system. Fleets may only control one starbase. The starbase is in an instanced space sector, and captains can warp to it at any time from the sector map by choosing a map option "warp to fleet headquarters".
Fleets may set visitation and service permissions on their starbases. So they may decide that only fleet members can visit the starbase, or they may open it up to the public (with the option to add people to a ban list). They may do the same with starbase services, setting these to either public or private.
Players not in the owning fleet may visit a starbase if they know its unique starbase number. So for example, if Task Force Shadowfire administers Starbase 247, players can choose to visit Starbase 247 by selecting it via a map option while on the sector map.
Fleets may upgrade and expand their starbases. When a starbase is first acquired, it's little more than an outpost with a transporter room and a lounge area, and a cargo bay for holding station supplies. Fleets can pay fees to open up additional rooms and add features:
- Bank, mail, and exchange terminals
- Bar (complete with an NPC bartender selling food and drinks)
- Command Center (roleplay/social area)
- Commodities vendor
- Personal Equipment requisition officers
- Ship equipment requisition officers
- Tailor
- Starfleet Corps of Engineers (ship customization, ship selection, and ship requisitions)
- Auditorium (roleplay/social area)
- "Flavor" NPCs (security officers, engineering officers, and so on that roam the starbase going about various tasks)
Upgrading and expanding a starbase requires not only energy credits, but also supplies obtained through trading, such as isolinear chips or construction materials. Starbases also require periodic upkeep in the form of both energy credits and trade supplies in order to continue functioning.
If the upkeep is not available, starbases will degrade over time as sections become unusable, and services are relocated elsewhere. Trade goods may, of course, be traded for by explorers or purchased via the Exchange, and added to the station's cargo bays.
This system gives fleets something fun to play with and use for meetings, roleplay/social events, as well as convenience. It also adds a big money sink to the game to help counteract inflation, and can be a platform for future content (imagine a mission to defend your fleet's starbase?)
On the borders of the federation, war rages. The klingons seek to expand their territory. The romulans thirst for revenge. While the old neutral zones are well patrolled, many sectors exist on the fringes where forces from each side struggle for control.
Goals:
- Add a PvP metagame where players can play out the ebb and flow of war in the Alpha Quadrant for tangible results for their side
- Encourage both skirmish and siege warfare between player sides.
How it works:
Territorial warfare takes place in new sector blocks. on the fringes of the map (for example, a klingon/federation warfare block may border the Pi Canis sector block).
In the new sector blocks, each side has a "home base" station that is a rally point and is extremely heavily defended. It can be attacked, but will be continuously reinforced and cannot be permanently taken. In addition, each sector block contains several key systems which can change hands based on the completion of objectives on their maps.
The longer a system is in the hands of one side or another, the stronger its (npc) defenses become. However, the quality of defenses degrades with proximity to the other faction's rally point. So for example, if the klingons control a system near their rally point, and manage to keep it under control for a long time (several days), it will be literally bristling with patrol ships and turrets that will give any invading federation force a serious challenge. However, if the klingons were to control a system next to the federation rally point, its defenses would be far more limited even if it was held for the same amount of time.
Each warfare sector block has a control score. Points towards a control score are determined by the number of systems controlled by a faction, and the "defense level" of those systems. If at any point one faction's control score is more than twice that of the other faction, the "winning" faction gets a galaxy-wide bonus that applies whether someone is doing PvP or PvE.
Eventually there should be multiple sector blocks with different factions involved. Klingon/Federation, Federation/Romulan, Klingon/Romulan, and possibly even one with all three factions (or additional factions if they are added to the game). Bonuses should be unique to the sector block maps. So for example if the klingons are winning against both the romulans and the federation, they get two distinct bonuses. if the federation is losing to the klingons but winning against the romulans, they get the bonus for the romulan map.
Bonuses can be anything - discounts at NPC vendors, or additional percentages on space or ground attributes, even special PvE and PvP missions that open up when one side is clearly winning against another. For example, if the Romulans are winning against the Klingons, they may open up a mission to stage a raid on Qo'Nos, complete with unique trophies if they can complete it.
This gives PvP players a lasting metagame to compete in. It also adds a platform to make PvP an integral part of other aspects of the game, by linking it to opening content or as a source of special items for use in various economic markets.
I mentioned above that I don't consider Memory Alpha a crafting system, but rather a scavenger hunt. I think it's safe to say that there are many players who feel the same. But I also know that there are players who have bad experiences with crafting in other games, or who just don't see the point. So I'm going to take a minute to try and explain why I feel we need a crafting system in STO.
First of all, there are a lot of players out there who really enjoy having their character produce something interesting for themselves, for their friends, or for sale to the general public. In a way, it's a combination
of the thrill of discovery, and the fun of solving a puzzle. Some people are in it for the economic benefits - they like to make money, and thus they craft in order to have things to sell. Others simply make things and give them away to friends. Some people prefer to make items solely for themselves to use. There are tons of reasons why people like to craft, but in the end, there's just a lot of people that enjoy it and want it to be part of the game.
At the same time, as I mentioned above, the game's economy is central to the long-term health of the game. The economy, more than any other aspect, is what new players will judge the rest of the player community on in two years when they join. I can't count the number of times in other games where I've heard a new player say "I really want to like this game, but I can't afford anything."
Crafting, if implemented well, is the absolute best way to balance and control an economy. Not only do crafters facilitate moving money around in the economy, by providing goods for sale to other players, but crafters also will spend their profits, pulling money out of the economy, or in turn redistributing it back to consumers. This is, of course, assuming that they have something to spend that money on.
And that, is ultimately where crafting helps a game or hurts it. A good crafting system has checks and balances built in. It insures that crafters need consumers as much as consumers need crafters. It insures that the economy has as many money sinks as it does money faucets. Above all, it makes a balanced, stable economy the top priority in its design, and does everything it can to make sure that crafters can keep crafting and buyers will keep buying and everyone will have fun doing it, regardless of what level of the game they're at.
This is why I have left crafting for last - it's the single most complex part of this proposal, and a LOT of care should be taken in its implementation.
Goals:
- Allow players to create finished items for use or that can be traded to other players.
- Insure that crafted items are useful at all levels of play, and competitive with items from other sources.
- Insure that crafted items are not easier to obtain than comparable items from other sources.
- Insure that costs are associated with the crafting process, commensurate with the power/desireability of an item, to help pull money out of the economy.
- Insure that costs are low enough so that non-crafters can easily afford crafted items, especially at low levels.
- Insure that crafted items are in enough demand so that there is always room for people to pick up crafting if they would like to do so.
- Insure that players are not penalized for choosing not to craft.
- Insure that all sectors of gameplay are treated as potential sources for items needed in the crafting process.
Schematics:
The heart of crafting is the schematic. Schematics tell a crafter how to create something using raw materials and components. Without a schematic for an item, a crafter can't make it.
Schematics are obtained through various methods.
- They can be "purchased" from head researchers at memory alpha for very large amounts of data.
- They can be awarded as trophies for achievements in PvP or PvE combat.
- They can sometimes be traded for by explorers or obtained by completing exploration missions.
Schematics can be traded or sold to other players, or they can be "learned". "Learning" a schematic consumes the schematic item, but adds the recipe that the schematic contained to a character's personal databank.
Once a character has added a schematic to their databank, they may make use of the fabrication facilities at Memory Alpha, at major starbases, or at fleet starbases (assuming a fleet has purchased that upgrade) to fabricate the item.
Items:
The vast majority of schematics make consumable items.
Let me say that again. The vast majority (like 90%) of schematics should make consumable items.
This is for several big reasons:
1. It insures that there will be constant demand for the crafted items.
2. It insures that the crafted items don't compete with items from other sources.
3. It allows crafted items to be used by anyone, regardless of skill choices or career path or type of ship.
However, that does NOT mean that there can't be a big variety. Here are a few examples of consumable items that could be created:
- Portable force field generators that provide impervious cover on the ground for a short time.
- Enhanced batteries for ships (quicker cooldown), or items that provide special buffs beyond what captain/bridge officer powers can do.
- Ground-based items that duplicate or mimic kit powers. Example: Plasma grenade packs that can be used by anyone (but are consumed on use)
- Advanced shuttles and fighters for ship shuttlebays (assuming they've been upgraded to where they can fit these) (Remember that shuttlebay proposal waaaay up at the top?)
The resource requirements for these schematics should be commensurate with the power level of the items. So Mark II Shield overcharge units should be relatively cheap/easy to make (after all, they're for Lieutenant level players). However, Mark X multi-spectral targeting booster arrays should be tougher/more expensive to make, because they're used at Admiral level.
The remaining 10% of schematics should make up a very limited, very rare, very hard-to-obtain set of that can be used to create high-level, exceptional quality permanent equipment. Example: Transphasic Beam Rifle, Neutronium Armor Plating, and so on. The resource requirements for these items should be extreme, with some resources ONLY being available via the completion of very high-level content (fleet actions and the like). The resources should be very rare, so that you don't have every admiral in the game running around with these things. They should be the sort of things that every crafter looks forward to making as a sort of quest in and of itself.
Resources:
So, resources. What you need to make an item.
- Trade goods (isolinear chips, etc)
- Purchased components from NPC vendors
- Looted components (Dilithium shards)
Overall, all three types of components should be used in roughly equal quantities. However individual items might focus more towards one area or another. The more powerful an item, the higher the quantity and rarity of the resources needed to produce it.
Wait, where's the mechanics?
I am purposely not going to propose a specific crafting process at this time. No minigame, no experimentation system, no skill requirements, nothing of the sort. The reason for doing that is that what's important here is the economic implementation of crafting, rather than the gameplay implementation of crafting. If the devs get the economics right, the act of crafting itself can be as involved as we want to be and everything will still be ok. If the economics aren't solid, it doesn't matter how fun making an item is, the system will still fail and ultimately hurt the game. However, I would love for everyone to post their ideas on how the act of crafting an item should work.
*EDIT* I posted this before OP posted all 8 posts of his ideas...He called me a troll because I had only read some of his ideas, but I guess I could not tell him that some of his ideas were good until he posted all 8 of his posts. That being said "The OP is delusional and off his meds to think any of this matters in the end, this game is a unpolished POS, and well if if it was polished it would simply be a polished POS." Now THAT was Trolling.
So this was really long (I did warn you) but hopefully it got everyone thinking. Here is how it ties together.
- The economic enhancements in Phase 1 help to stabilize the currenteconomy, and lay the foundation for adding in new areas of that economy in future phases.
- Trophies and Collections in Phase 2 add a neat way for players to obtain cool items as well as a reason for having ready rooms and captain's quarters on their ships. It's a form of gameplay that will reward people who just like to explore, or who take the time to collect things. The system also adds a way that things like crafting schematics can enter the game later.
- Task Forces adds tools that make organized mass combat (either in PvE or PvP) possible. This allows more challenging and ultimately more epic fun content to be created, with greater rewards for completing it. It also sets up tools that will be useful in PvP territorial warfare.
- Exploration and Trading missions expand on the implementation of commodity items in the game, making the "Aid" type of exploration mission more fun, interesting, and profitable for players and sets up the basis for maintaining fleet starbases as well as a portion of the crafting resource system.
- The enhancements to memory alpha fully flesh out the system that is in the game now, providing more options for players looking to improve or cusotmize their gear, and add the foundation for obtaining at least some crafting schematics (and adding in the backstory for a crafting system) later.
- Fleet starbases impose a huge money sink on the economy, while at the same time adding uses for trade goods, hubs for social interaction, and giving fleets something that they can call their own and use to benefit their members or the general population as they see fit. It also helps reduce population pressure at NPC starbases without completely invalidating them.
- Territorial Warfare adds a PvP metagame that gives players the ability to truly fight for their side and conquer star systems, with tangible benefits and rewards for winning the war at both a tactical and a strategic level. It also adds a way for more unique trophies and items such as crafting schematics to enter the game, which can insure that PvP players are as much an engine of the economy as they are beholden to it.
- Finally, a crafting system gives players who like to engage in economic gameplay a way to really do so in a way they will hopefully enjoy, while adding checks and balances to make sure the economy stays healthy, and providing unique and useful items to all players at all levels of play.
And that's that. All discussion, thoughts, and comments are welcome.
Everyone should feel free to take any part of this, tweak it, modify it, and post your own versions as alternatives. I am quite sure that some of you will think of really cool stuff that never even crossed my mind, and hopefully the devs will read it and be inspired by it. Have fun.
Ok, I have to call troll. You posted this before I had added any of the details. Seriously dude.
I would add one thing. Some players just don't want to be in a fleet or are in a small fleet for whatever reasons. I would allow a range of purchase options. Say from a small research outpost to a full scale starbase as you suggest. The limitation being of course the smaller you are the less you will be able to upgrade it. The benefit would be that even a lone player could, wth enough time, buy their own little listening post or small research station.
Other than that not bad at all.
That's a neat idea. Although - I kinda think personal stuff like this should actually be on the player's ship? So for example like a player with a science vessel might also get a research lab as part of it? I dunno, just throwing it out there. Anyway thanks for taking the time to look through my mega-post
tl;dr - make game awesome.
Thanks Desnar!
Given some of the discussion that was going on in this thread, I'd love to hear people's takes on all of this stuff.
Thanks. I just thought a smaller cheaper version should be availabe for smaller fleets and individuals.
If get a chance check out my take on revamping sector space with random encounters at this thread here:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=125110
Thanks.
I would also like ot see a more active ship management model, damage, reapir, energy managmenet...
bravo sir!
Thanks! I was looking at the damage control diagrom on my bridge the other night thinking how cool would it be if that part of the game could be a little more in-depth myself. But, I wasn't able to figure out how to do it without radically changing combat.
Well whether or not Koppenhofer read your ideas at all, I do not think he was being a troll, and what he said is 100% true.
Edit: Eh, you know what, it's not worth it.
I mean don't get me wrong, your ideas are good, and I would like to see some of those ideas make it in, and I do play this game. I just feel the game could have been done better, and judging by your post, you think the same thing, yes?
To be really honest, I've been doing online gaming since the early days of text MUDs, 2400 bps modems, and BBS systems. In all those years I have never seen a game that was even close to "complete" upon release. There were always gaps, always places the game could improve, always stuff that didn't work out quite the way the designers originally intended.
From my point of view it doesn't do any of us any good to talk about what Cryptic did or didn't do up till now. The bottom line is that if we like the game and want it to improve, we should be focused on steering it in the right direction from here on out.
I know that a lot of people have been disappointed with the game for whatever reason - maybe Cryptic did a poor job of setting expectations, and maybe even in some areas, they dropped the ball. But I think it's important to keep it in perspective. We can't change the past. We can influence the future. I just feel like discussions are much more productive when they focus on where the game should go from here.
Sorry if I seem short or angry here, but it has been a long frustrating day today. I am prescribing myself beer in liberal quantities, and so may not respond to any more replies until tomorrow.
One thing I would like to see would be user created Star Systems that fleets would be create to house their starbases. I remembered the game called Freelancer. Modder for that game found a way to create a program to create full 3D star systems in that game, unforately they weren't the best coders, so there were a lot of errors in those programs. But the concept is still vaild.
If someone had ever thought to turn Freelancer into an MMO, STO would have entered a much different market
As one of those crafter types I have a couple thoughts on what I don't like and do like.
I want to be paid for my time spent in game crafting . I want to make as much money crafting as i would in other aspects of the game. I do want there to be a reason to continue crafting lower and mid tier items. If you look at any market in game that has started to mature you will see a lot of the newb tier (overpriced) items and then a lack of the mid tier items.
Once you start looking at the higher tier items you start seeing a variety of items again. It makes sense of course but for anyone who comes into a game as a crafter it is disappointing. Rather than play the game and enjoy it now you are having to power though levels just to get where other people are. Devs could just remove the mid tiers give away the levels and the game play wouldn't be affected aside from the OG's crying about how in their day it was harder to level.
This is one of the big reasons why I think crafting should make consumable items (devices) at least up until the very top end in STO. Like you, I've been a crafter in a lot of games and in every level-based game this always ends up as a problem in the end. Especially when crafting progression is tied to making low-level items until you can make high-level ones. Essentially, there has to be recurring demand, or you end up with pooling problems on the market, and crafters who aren't getting enjoyment out of the game because of it.