That's the question.
Is our STO Federation arogant, showing signs of imperialism or are we actually fighting for the mirror verse
Terran Empire?
How else can we explain that we're flying around by the hundreds in romulan and cardasian space?
Klingon space doesn't count because we ARE at war.
But the first two?
Who cares that their independant nations. Lets just fly there in our sparkly starfleet ships and
patrol their space for them.
And by patrol I mean kill any of the natives we meet. After all how dare they show up in their own space?
If any other trek race has their area of space put on the map they may us well not bother
putting any ships in space.
The benevolent federation will swoop in and trash them all.
And than land on their planets to do some phasers set on kill exploring.
I realise that conflict is at the core of any MMO but the way it's done, I don't feel as if I was
flying for the federation.
Please leave out comments like "Federation ROKS, and KILL THEM ALL"
I'd like an honest anwser to form here.
How do we explain what the federation is doing here with what we know of the trek verse?
How they're doing what? Patrolling member's systems - looking for pirates??
Do you actually understand what the Federation is? You do realize those patrol missions are usually into occupied planets; and your shooting pirates / klingons - not their inhabitants.
heh .. I'm willing to look past it for the sake of gameplay, but you're kinda right.
I remember one of the early missions, where you're supposed to be escorting an Ambassador. The Klingons stop you, claiming he's actually an Undine agent. Here I think we're going to at least make a half-assed attempt to invalidate their accusations, but no, open fire. I facepalmed at the "Oh .. it turns out the Klingons were right, afterall .." moment later in the mission.
heh .. I'm willing to look past it for the sake of gameplay, but you're kinda right.
I remember one of the early missions, where you're supposed to be escorting an Ambassador. The Klingons stop you, claiming he's actually an Undine agent. Here I think we're going to at least make a half-assed attempt to invalidate their accusations, but no, open fire. I facepalmed at the "Oh .. it turns out the Klingons were right, afterall .." moment later in the mission.
The Federation has repeatedly done questionable things. Refer to the following episodes:
TOS: The Enterprise Incident (treaty violation and espionage)
TOS: A Taste of Armageddon (Threat to commit genocide)
TNG: Decent Part 1 (advocated Genocide)
DS9: When it Rains... (attempted Genocide)
DS9: In the Pale Moonlight (fabricated evidence to get the Romulans to declare war on the Dominion and assassination of a Romulan senator)
VOY: Scorpion parts 1 and 2 (alliance with the Borg, creation of a bio weapon, jettisoning borg into space)
There's a few more but these are the big ones that stick out in my head. These defiantly do not cast the Federation in a favorable light.
How they're doing what? Patrolling member's systems - looking for pirates??
Do you actually understand what the Federation is? You do realize those patrol missions are usually into occupied planets; and your shooting pirates / klingons - not their inhabitants.
*boggle*
Look at the map. The blue is federation. Other colors are everyone else.
Their NOT members of the federation.
But we violate their borders and do what we want in THEIR space.
I'm really starting to think the quickest way to fix this inconsistency
would be to rename the federation into the Terran Empire.
The Federation has repeatedly done questionable things. Refer to the following episodes:
TOS: The Enterprise Incident (treaty violation and espionage)
TOS: A Taste of Armageddon (Threat to commit genocide)
TNG: Decent Part 1 (advocated Genocide)
DS9: When it Rains... (attempted Genocide)
DS9: In the Pale Moonlight (fabricated evidence to get the Romulans to declare war on the Dominion and assassination of a Romulan senator)
VOY: Scorpion parts 1 and 2 (alliance with the Borg, creation of a bio weapon, jettisoning borg into space)
There's a few more but these are the big ones that stick out in my head. These defiantly do not cast the Federation in a favorable light.
While these are valid points, they are only 6 examples in a canon of over 27 seasons of TV and 11 movies. As a whole, the OP is totally correct in that this is not the Feds we have come to know over the course of Trek.
That's the question.
Is our STO Federation arogant, showing signs of imperialism or are we actually fighting for the mirror verse
Terran Empire?
How else can we explain that we're flying around by the hundreds in romulan and cardasian space?
Klingon space doesn't count because we ARE at war.
I can see your point in that. You can always try the answer that the Romulans are still in a state of Anarchy, so were fighting the 'rebels' since theres still no reconized offical Romulan government. As for the Cardasians, something along the same lines. Were fighting against the faction that wants a return of the Cardasian Empire, and the reform government, or whatever its called that has Federation suport is just letting starfleet handle everything. Though you think they would send some help.
Though granted I havent gotten very far into the in game story line, just the road to thing posted on the offical site and what Ive gained so far from the game. So if it does say Starfleets fighting the offical reconized governments of those two peoples, well then I'm out of answers.
These are the voyages of the players of star trek online
Our continuing escapades
To explore strange new worlds and loot their resources
To seek out new life and new civilizations to force under our way of thinking
To boldly go where no man wants us to be.
This should be the introduction to STO.
No it doesn't feel very star fleet federation to me. Sure we help the federation members but I'm currently in Romulan space and consistently destroying Romulan's who are doing nothing more than defending their territory. It's like the Hobus super nova didn't kill enough of them, it's time to finish the rest off? Not once have I been given the option to find a peaceful solution to anything. All the optional mission parameters involve killing more guys.
There are a lot of edgy things to be sure. It definitely feels more like a United States of America foreign policy than Federation policy.
I could blame it on Admirals who became paranoid when their worst fears began to be realized, or my character's inexperience... only being thrust into being a CO after at most a year or two in Star Fleet... and even then while at war... so the only voice of reason is her father the former CO of the Protector who explored the Gamma Quadrant after the Dominion War.
So she's stuck between her moral compass a TNG/DS9/Voyager era father/Captain who retired before the war to raise his daughter back in Ireland. And her superiors who are hell bent worried about protecting the thousands of planets of the Federation with just a couple hundred star ships. Against 1 actual war, and a cunning and outright evil leader of the Romulan Empire, and the extremist remains of the Cardassian military.
Oh and don't forget the dozens if not hundreds of Star Fleet who schizmed because of political differences and might as well have declared war on the Federation as well.
Really it just seems like Federation has become Imperialistic like, because they are desperately clinging to what they have left in a quadrant more screwed up then the Delta Quadrant was.
While these are valid points, they are only 6 examples in a canon of over 27 seasons of TV and 11 movies. As a whole, the OP is totally correct in that this is not the Feds we have come to know over the course of Trek.
There's several others I just wasn't going to look them all up lol. I agree with how the federation SHOULD be but as often happens how things should be and how things are seldom line up.
An even easier anwser is a consistent typo during game development.
Switch Federation for Terran Empire where needed.
Than a lot of things fit a bit better.
Okay, first of all according to the actual state of the Path to 2409 we are not only allowed to be in Cardassian space, we have to be. There's a deal with the Cardassians, that they don't build up a new army as long as Starfleet protects them. And that's what we're doing!
Concerning the Romulans: If we ignore the horrible "Divide et Impera" mission most of our excursions there are either to protect Romulan colonies that want to break with the Empire and are assaulted for that (after all, the non-interference politic was one of Starfleets more evil points)
"I cannot condone violence against people who are not our enemy."
"Then I don't understand why you're unwilling [to help us]."
"Because... you're innocent bystanders. You were innocent bystanders for decades as the Cardassians took our homes. As they violated and tortured our people in the most hideous ways imaginable. As we were forced to flee."
"We were saddened by those events, but they occurred within the borders of the Cardassian Empire."
"And the Federation is pledged not to interfere with the internal affairs of others. How convenient that must be for you. To turn a deaf ear to those who suffer behind a line on a map."
- Keeve (a Bajoran) and Picard
The others are to hinder Romulan preparations to declare war on the Federation or form an alliance with the Hirogen. The Federation is already fighting a two-front war against the Klingons and the Borg. A third front would be lethal.
Okay, first of all according to the actual state of the Path to 2409 we are not only allowed to be in Cardassian space, we have to be. There's a deal with the Cardassians, that they don't build up a new army as long as Starfleet protects them. And that's what we're doing!
Concerning the Romulans: If we ignore the horrible "Divide et Impera" mission most of our excursions there are either to protect Romulan colonies that want to break with the Empire and are assaulted for that (after all, the non-interference politic was one of Starfleets more evil points)
"I cannot condone violence against people who are not our enemy."
"Then I don't understand why you're unwilling [to help us]."
"Because... you're innocent bystanders. You were innocent bystanders for decades as the Cardassians took our homes. As they violated and tortured our people in the most hideous ways imaginable. As we were forced to flee."
"We were saddened by those events, but they occurred within the borders of the Cardassian Empire."
"And the Federation is pledged not to interfere with the internal affairs of others. How convenient that must be for you. To turn a deaf ear to those who suffer behind a line on a map."
- Keeve (a Bajoran) and Picard
The others are to hinder Romulan preparations to declare war on the Federation or form an alliance with the Hirogen. The Federation is already fighting a two-front war against the Klingons and the Borg. A third front would be lethal.
I like that answer as well, kind of along the lines of the one I gave. But defintly with a lot more thought and reading behind it. Way to go.
Concerning Cardassians, I think part of the surrender at the end of the Dominion war was that they had to dismantle their military and so it's the Federation's job to protect them now. It's just like the US and Japan since WW2
Concerning Cardassians, I think part of the surrender at the end of the Dominion war was that they had to dismantle their military and so it's the Federation's job to protect them now. It's just like the US and Japan since WW2
Well that does work for an excuse.
It's not sensless slaughter now.
It's justified slaughter.
Thanks for digging that info up K-Tar.
The fact still remains that even if there is a reason for the federation to
go around poking it's nose in other people's business it's not really behaving like the federation.
War changes lot's of things, but to this amount?
The Federation in this game is just a lot more focused on playing realpolitik; advancing it's interests and maximizing its political power regardless of ethics and ideology. I think its fine, though not very Star Treky. Whe Cryptic starts inevitably selling us a rip off of a expansion pack with the Romulans and Cardassians in it, it will make a bit more sense, cause of coarse then everyone will be going into everyone's space.
The federation of old ceased to be when the borg showed up in the alpha quadrant as a permenant fixture and they were "forced" to start having ensigns sit in the big chair.
this is the game version of the main motto
"these are the voyages of the star ship enterprise, its mission- to destroy strange new worlds, to obliterate new life and new civilizations, to boldly Fight where no man has fought before! "
seriously there is too much blood shead in STO. there is also hardly no exploration becuase we are exploring places where people already are and destroying things there!
This is a very fascinating topic. I think the "personality" of the Federation has been one of those evolving things and it is different on paper and in practice.
For example, during The Original Series, the Federation had a variety of General Orders (including General Order 24, which superseded even the Prime Directive) that were disastrous for other civilizations. Admirals and Captains during the TOS Starfleet were known to engage in ridiculous warmongering, destruction of worlds wholesale, and plunging the galaxy into chaos. The Next Generation tried to bring the identity of the Federation into more of a benevolent entity, but even this vision had to face the pragmatic realities of a state at war during the Deep Space Nine years.
Star Trek Online is showing a pretty remarkable balance between the TNG version of the Federation and the realistic outcomes of what the DS9 Federation had to deal with in the antagonism of the quadrant powers. I actually feel it is realistic and represents a reasonable consequence and continuation of the Deep Space Nine storyline.
shhhhhhhhhh don'tcha know the terran empire has already infiltrated? They are better than the undine at it. The undine can be detected. How do you detect a terran. They ARE you. I wouldn't be supprised if they find Gralls prime universe body somewhere.
This is a very fascinating topic. I think the "personality" of the Federation has been one of those evolving things and it is different on paper and in practice.
For example, during The Original Series, the Federation had a variety of General Orders (including General Order 24, which superseded even the Prime Directive) that were disastrous for other civilizations. Admirals and Captains during the TOS Starfleet were known to engage in ridiculous warmongering, destruction of worlds wholesale, and plunging the galaxy into chaos. The Next Generation tried to bring the identity of the Federation into more of a benevolent entity, but even this vision had to face the pragmatic realities of a state at war during the Deep Space Nine years.
Star Trek Online is showing a pretty remarkable balance between the TNG version of the Federation and the realistic outcomes of what the DS9 Federation had to deal with in the antagonism of the quadrant powers. I actually feel it is realistic and represents a reasonable consequence and continuation of the Deep Space Nine storyline.
You pretty much sum-up my opinion on the overall feel of the setting. I agree.
Just to throw in my two cents, I tend to agree with the people who think the STO is showing realistically what the Federation is like while at war. I really have had only one mission where I thought that things were crossing the line (the Romulan mission where your Admiral turns out to be Undine), but that was for making you, the player, really hate the Undine for what they made you do.
Other than that, I feel that because the Federation is at war, certain protocols have been changed. More specifically, Starfleet engages the enemy without being fired upon first. Also, as someone else pointed out (and gave specific episode titles for reference), there are precedents for Starfleet stooping pretty low to come out on top in times of war. Even section 31 exists, and their morality is in question even in peacetime!
I think we all need to realize that we're seeing the Star Trek universe in it's entirety for the first time. In the shows and movies, we mostly see the good "face" of the Federation. Now we are in the middle of a horrible war, and bad things happen in war, without exception. As long as I'm not firing on civilians or going to a system to "conquer" it, then I'm fine with how STO is treating this. If this was the Terran Empire, there would be no "beating around the bush" when it came to mission explanations. It would simply be something like: "Go here, conquer these people. Kill anything that doesn't see things your way." We're not doing that.
"In a story idea that the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers had that eventually became the two-parter "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost", the Vulcans were to withdraw from the Federation. The cause of this schism was to be their concern that the Federation was becoming too concerned of the Changeling infiltration at the cost of civil liberties. Starfleet was to assume incorrectly that the Founders had infiltrated Vulcan society."
It's too bad that they cut that out, as it would show that it's not just us viewers and players that were unhappy with the direction the Federation was taking.
That's the question.
Is our STO Federation arogant, showing signs of imperialism or are we actually fighting for the mirror verse
Terran Empire?
How else can we explain that we're flying around by the hundreds in romulan and cardasian space?
Klingon space doesn't count because we ARE at war.
But the first two?
Who cares that their independant nations. Lets just fly there in our sparkly starfleet ships and
patrol their space for them.
And by patrol I mean kill any of the natives we meet. After all how dare they show up in their own space?
If any other trek race has their area of space put on the map they may us well not bother
putting any ships in space.
The benevolent federation will swoop in and trash them all.
And than land on their planets to do some phasers set on kill exploring.
I realise that conflict is at the core of any MMO but the way it's done, I don't feel as if I was
flying for the federation.
Please leave out comments like "Federation ROKS, and KILL THEM ALL"
I'd like an honest anwser to form here.
How do we explain what the federation is doing here with what we know of the trek verse?
Read the mission dialogue, and speak to the people you can speak with in those missions. Everything is explained (well, except for the P'jem BS. THAT is poorly written.). We're going into other's space because we've gotten their permission such as the mission where you actually go to the Romulan planet that the subspace wave which destroyed Romulas origenated. We're in Cardassian space because THEY asked for our help with the 'True Way' fanatics. OH...MY...GODS! The Federation is HELPING other nations with their problems!?! We must be in the mirror universe!!!!!!!!!! <gnash teeth pull hair gnash teeth some more let out scream of anguish etc etc). I did a mission earlier where I rescued a ship from some J'em D'ar (however you spell it). When questioning their leader on why they tried to pirate the ship he responded, "New technology? To get information? ".
What you have to bear in mind is, although this is a game, WE do not control the action. The other empires all have their own goals. Some Romulans are trying to create illegal subspace weapons to possibly destroy the Federation (or for darker reasons.....). There are Cardassians who want to throw off the yoke of peace and return to their warlike, conquering ways. The Klingons are trying to expans their empire by force. The Orions are pirates who don't care who they kill, they just want loot. The Federation is reacting to those actions.
So, yeah. If all you're doing is scanning the mission breifings and clicking 'exit' instead of actually talking with those enemy we're given an option to talk to, then you'll probably think the Federation is just hell bent on evilly killing everyone. But if you pay attention to the story arcs, read the dialogue, step back and look at it as a whole...you see a pattern forming. And it's not the one you think it is.
I've been reading through this, and just from what little bit I know and the stuff I've seen in game, is it not possible that, while the Federation is indeed on a wartime footing (and I believe there is sufficient provacation for it), we, as Starfleet officers, are essentially being duped.
(NOTE: There are spoilers ahead, so if you have yet to run the missions being described, well...You've been warned. )
As a Captain 4, I've already been involved in two missions where I was basically made a fool. The first is Diplomatic Orders, where the Vulcan Ambassador turns out to be an Undine. The second is one of the first missions out of Starbase 39-S involving Adm. Zelle, the first Deltan admiral in Starfleet....and some of us know how that turns out. Also, in the loading screen tips/hints that display, there is a statement made that it's suspected that the Undine have infiltrated some of the highest levels of Starfleet and the Federation, as they seem to have done with the Klingons and Romulans as well. Now, as we're receiving our orders from higher command authorities, and it's possible that those commanders have been infiltrated, it stands to reason that we may, unknowingly, be furthering the Undine's agenda.
All in all, it's reminded me of a quote from the movie "Sum of All Fears". For those not familiar with the movie (which is quite a bit different from the book), the neo-fascists in Europe basically get a hold of a lost Israeli nuclear weapon, have it remanufactured into a funchtional mini-nuke, and eventually detonate the thing at the Super Bowl being held in Baltimore. In amongst the story-telling going on, there is a small speech made by the leader of the neo-facists that, if paraphrased, might explain why we're a bit more hostile than has usually been portrayed. (And keep in mind that this is a quote from the movie. The names being used are in context of the quotation only.)
Most people believe that the 20th century was a death struggle between Communism and Capitalism, and that Fascism was but a hiccup. But today we know better. Communism was a fool's errand. The followers of Marx gone from this earth, but the followers of Hitler abound and thrive. Hitler, however, had one great disadvantage. He lived in a time when Fascism, like a virus... like the AIDS virus... needed a strong host in order to spread. Germany was that host. But Germany did not prevail. The world was too big. Fortunately, the world has changed. Global communications, cable TV, the internet. Today the world is smaller and a virus does not need a strong host in order to spread. The virus... is airborne. One more thing. Let no man call us crazy. They called Hitler crazy. But Hitler was not crazy. He was stupid. You don't fight Russia *and* America. You get Russia and America to fight each other... and destroy each other.
After hearing from the community, the Cryptic team has decided that STO does not feel "Star Treky" enough, and so the game universe will be undergoing some changes. These changes will reduce the playable characters from the current three professions to a more streamlined and "iconic" one. The iconic profession will be known as the "Wesley Crusher" profession, where each of the players will spend their time running missions that allow them to interact with Star Fleet Officers. The goal of these missions will be twofold:
The first goal is to choose the weaniest dialogue options relevant to the conversation
The second goal will be a sort of mini-game, where the player will mash keys on their keyboard in an attempt to avoid their avatar soiling him or herself.
Comments
Do you actually understand what the Federation is? You do realize those patrol missions are usually into occupied planets; and your shooting pirates / klingons - not their inhabitants.
*boggle*
I remember one of the early missions, where you're supposed to be escorting an Ambassador. The Klingons stop you, claiming he's actually an Undine agent. Here I think we're going to at least make a half-assed attempt to invalidate their accusations, but no, open fire. I facepalmed at the "Oh .. it turns out the Klingons were right, afterall .." moment later in the mission.
thats why we have a /emote facepalm
we still need a /emote facedesk tho
TOS: The Enterprise Incident (treaty violation and espionage)
TOS: A Taste of Armageddon (Threat to commit genocide)
TNG: Decent Part 1 (advocated Genocide)
DS9: When it Rains... (attempted Genocide)
DS9: In the Pale Moonlight (fabricated evidence to get the Romulans to declare war on the Dominion and assassination of a Romulan senator)
VOY: Scorpion parts 1 and 2 (alliance with the Borg, creation of a bio weapon, jettisoning borg into space)
There's a few more but these are the big ones that stick out in my head. These defiantly do not cast the Federation in a favorable light.
Look at the map. The blue is federation. Other colors are everyone else.
Their NOT members of the federation.
But we violate their borders and do what we want in THEIR space.
I'm really starting to think the quickest way to fix this inconsistency
would be to rename the federation into the Terran Empire.
While these are valid points, they are only 6 examples in a canon of over 27 seasons of TV and 11 movies. As a whole, the OP is totally correct in that this is not the Feds we have come to know over the course of Trek.
I can see your point in that. You can always try the answer that the Romulans are still in a state of Anarchy, so were fighting the 'rebels' since theres still no reconized offical Romulan government. As for the Cardasians, something along the same lines. Were fighting against the faction that wants a return of the Cardasian Empire, and the reform government, or whatever its called that has Federation suport is just letting starfleet handle everything. Though you think they would send some help.
Though granted I havent gotten very far into the in game story line, just the road to thing posted on the offical site and what Ive gained so far from the game. So if it does say Starfleets fighting the offical reconized governments of those two peoples, well then I'm out of answers.
No it doesn't feel very star fleet federation to me. Sure we help the federation members but I'm currently in Romulan space and consistently destroying Romulan's who are doing nothing more than defending their territory. It's like the Hobus super nova didn't kill enough of them, it's time to finish the rest off? Not once have I been given the option to find a peaceful solution to anything. All the optional mission parameters involve killing more guys.
I could blame it on Admirals who became paranoid when their worst fears began to be realized, or my character's inexperience... only being thrust into being a CO after at most a year or two in Star Fleet... and even then while at war... so the only voice of reason is her father the former CO of the Protector who explored the Gamma Quadrant after the Dominion War.
So she's stuck between her moral compass a TNG/DS9/Voyager era father/Captain who retired before the war to raise his daughter back in Ireland. And her superiors who are hell bent worried about protecting the thousands of planets of the Federation with just a couple hundred star ships. Against 1 actual war, and a cunning and outright evil leader of the Romulan Empire, and the extremist remains of the Cardassian military.
Oh and don't forget the dozens if not hundreds of Star Fleet who schizmed because of political differences and might as well have declared war on the Federation as well.
Really it just seems like Federation has become Imperialistic like, because they are desperately clinging to what they have left in a quadrant more screwed up then the Delta Quadrant was.
There's several others I just wasn't going to look them all up lol. I agree with how the federation SHOULD be but as often happens how things should be and how things are seldom line up.
Switch Federation for Terran Empire where needed.
Than a lot of things fit a bit better.
Concerning the Romulans: If we ignore the horrible "Divide et Impera" mission most of our excursions there are either to protect Romulan colonies that want to break with the Empire and are assaulted for that (after all, the non-interference politic was one of Starfleets more evil points)
"I cannot condone violence against people who are not our enemy."
"Then I don't understand why you're unwilling [to help us]."
"Because... you're innocent bystanders. You were innocent bystanders for decades as the Cardassians took our homes. As they violated and tortured our people in the most hideous ways imaginable. As we were forced to flee."
"We were saddened by those events, but they occurred within the borders of the Cardassian Empire."
"And the Federation is pledged not to interfere with the internal affairs of others. How convenient that must be for you. To turn a deaf ear to those who suffer behind a line on a map."
- Keeve (a Bajoran) and Picard
The others are to hinder Romulan preparations to declare war on the Federation or form an alliance with the Hirogen. The Federation is already fighting a two-front war against the Klingons and the Borg. A third front would be lethal.
"Federation ROX, kill them all!!!"
I like that answer as well, kind of along the lines of the one I gave. But defintly with a lot more thought and reading behind it. Way to go.
Yeah just with a lot more Jem'hadar
It's not sensless slaughter now.
It's justified slaughter.
Thanks for digging that info up K-Tar.
The fact still remains that even if there is a reason for the federation to
go around poking it's nose in other people's business it's not really behaving like the federation.
War changes lot's of things, but to this amount?
"these are the voyages of the star ship enterprise, its mission- to destroy strange new worlds, to obliterate new life and new civilizations, to boldly Fight where no man has fought before! "
seriously there is too much blood shead in STO. there is also hardly no exploration becuase we are exploring places where people already are and destroying things there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha5hMdwXye0&feature=PlayList&p=A9C9E7A6FFA72DC9&index=38
For example, during The Original Series, the Federation had a variety of General Orders (including General Order 24, which superseded even the Prime Directive) that were disastrous for other civilizations. Admirals and Captains during the TOS Starfleet were known to engage in ridiculous warmongering, destruction of worlds wholesale, and plunging the galaxy into chaos. The Next Generation tried to bring the identity of the Federation into more of a benevolent entity, but even this vision had to face the pragmatic realities of a state at war during the Deep Space Nine years.
Star Trek Online is showing a pretty remarkable balance between the TNG version of the Federation and the realistic outcomes of what the DS9 Federation had to deal with in the antagonism of the quadrant powers. I actually feel it is realistic and represents a reasonable consequence and continuation of the Deep Space Nine storyline.
You pretty much sum-up my opinion on the overall feel of the setting. I agree.
Other than that, I feel that because the Federation is at war, certain protocols have been changed. More specifically, Starfleet engages the enemy without being fired upon first. Also, as someone else pointed out (and gave specific episode titles for reference), there are precedents for Starfleet stooping pretty low to come out on top in times of war. Even section 31 exists, and their morality is in question even in peacetime!
I think we all need to realize that we're seeing the Star Trek universe in it's entirety for the first time. In the shows and movies, we mostly see the good "face" of the Federation. Now we are in the middle of a horrible war, and bad things happen in war, without exception. As long as I'm not firing on civilians or going to a system to "conquer" it, then I'm fine with how STO is treating this. If this was the Terran Empire, there would be no "beating around the bush" when it came to mission explanations. It would simply be something like: "Go here, conquer these people. Kill anything that doesn't see things your way." We're not doing that.
"In a story idea that the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers had that eventually became the two-parter "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost", the Vulcans were to withdraw from the Federation. The cause of this schism was to be their concern that the Federation was becoming too concerned of the Changeling infiltration at the cost of civil liberties. Starfleet was to assume incorrectly that the Founders had infiltrated Vulcan society."
It's too bad that they cut that out, as it would show that it's not just us viewers and players that were unhappy with the direction the Federation was taking.
Read the mission dialogue, and speak to the people you can speak with in those missions. Everything is explained (well, except for the P'jem BS. THAT is poorly written.). We're going into other's space because we've gotten their permission such as the mission where you actually go to the Romulan planet that the subspace wave which destroyed Romulas origenated. We're in Cardassian space because THEY asked for our help with the 'True Way' fanatics. OH...MY...GODS! The Federation is HELPING other nations with their problems!?! We must be in the mirror universe!!!!!!!!!! <gnash teeth pull hair gnash teeth some more let out scream of anguish etc etc). I did a mission earlier where I rescued a ship from some J'em D'ar (however you spell it). When questioning their leader on why they tried to pirate the ship he responded, "New technology? To get information? ".
What you have to bear in mind is, although this is a game, WE do not control the action. The other empires all have their own goals. Some Romulans are trying to create illegal subspace weapons to possibly destroy the Federation (or for darker reasons.....). There are Cardassians who want to throw off the yoke of peace and return to their warlike, conquering ways. The Klingons are trying to expans their empire by force. The Orions are pirates who don't care who they kill, they just want loot. The Federation is reacting to those actions.
So, yeah. If all you're doing is scanning the mission breifings and clicking 'exit' instead of actually talking with those enemy we're given an option to talk to, then you'll probably think the Federation is just hell bent on evilly killing everyone. But if you pay attention to the story arcs, read the dialogue, step back and look at it as a whole...you see a pattern forming. And it's not the one you think it is.
(NOTE: There are spoilers ahead, so if you have yet to run the missions being described, well...You've been warned.
As a Captain 4, I've already been involved in two missions where I was basically made a fool. The first is Diplomatic Orders, where the Vulcan Ambassador turns out to be an Undine. The second is one of the first missions out of Starbase 39-S involving Adm. Zelle, the first Deltan admiral in Starfleet....and some of us know how that turns out. Also, in the loading screen tips/hints that display, there is a statement made that it's suspected that the Undine have infiltrated some of the highest levels of Starfleet and the Federation, as they seem to have done with the Klingons and Romulans as well. Now, as we're receiving our orders from higher command authorities, and it's possible that those commanders have been infiltrated, it stands to reason that we may, unknowingly, be furthering the Undine's agenda.
All in all, it's reminded me of a quote from the movie "Sum of All Fears". For those not familiar with the movie (which is quite a bit different from the book), the neo-fascists in Europe basically get a hold of a lost Israeli nuclear weapon, have it remanufactured into a funchtional mini-nuke, and eventually detonate the thing at the Super Bowl being held in Baltimore. In amongst the story-telling going on, there is a small speech made by the leader of the neo-facists that, if paraphrased, might explain why we're a bit more hostile than has usually been portrayed. (And keep in mind that this is a quote from the movie. The names being used are in context of the quotation only.)
Anyway, just my thought on the issue.
The first goal is to choose the weaniest dialogue options relevant to the conversation
The second goal will be a sort of mini-game, where the player will mash keys on their keyboard in an attempt to avoid their avatar soiling him or herself.