I am for Bridge officers and Captains having more expanded (non combat) & specialized abilities that can not only assist me in my travels, but can also open up more mission varieties, and stories arcs.
Adding broader tricorder options, mini games, and the ability to switch your perspective to "puppet" your BO's would greatly enhance this system.
This is how I would envision it working:
I, as Captain, beam down to a planet alone. I encounter an alien plant, and scan it, only to discover it has medical applications that can be crafted into hyposprays, so long as a specimen sample is collected. The tricorder allows me to collect a sample, but warns me of possible dangers in handling this material, being that my captain has no experience in the field. I proceed, and am notified that the sample was contaminated upon collection. I am given the option to try again. This time, the spines on the plant injured me (minor injury applied), or perhaps a mini game is prompted. The third scan allows me to take the sample. Whew, finally. It would have been a lot easier if my Captain was trained in the field, but he is already trained in Cosmology. I should have brought my Xeno Botanist Science Officer with me. She could have collected the sample with no problems, and, for that matter, she could have detected & located the plant immediately upon beam down. I would not have had to hunt for it with a tricorder.
here is another scenario: [url]
http://william380.photobook.org.uk/c1852147.html[/url]
(sorry for the spelling mistakes. also on the tricorder concept panel the T S and E stand for tactical, science, engineering)
Now, my Technician Engineering Officer can easily hack computer consoles. Without him, I must play a mini game in order to get through.
SCIENCE OFFICER:Xenobotanist: provides abilities based on plant life and fungi
-expands on the plant life
Inherent passive: Flora Identification; Provides ability to detect and caution benefits or dangers of plant life forms upon approach; i.e. defenses, poisons, medicines, or any other beneficial or non beneficial effects.
Active training ability: Flora Analysis; Provides ability to inoculate against floral poisons
Train up: Fora Interpolation; Provides ability to shield crew and NPCs against dangers and projectiles from plant life.
Ground ability: Cryogenic Containment; drops a containment field around targeted plant, effectively neutralizing it.
Xenobiologist: provides abilities based on animal life, insects, bacteria, and viruses
-expands on the ambient creature part of the game
Inherent passive: Organism Identification; Provides ability to detect, and caution benefits or dangers of alien life forms; i.e. defenses, poisons, medicines, behavior, or any other beneficial or non beneficial effects.
Active training ability: Organic Analysis; Provides ability to inoculate against animal poisons & attacks.
Train up: Behavior Interpolation; Provides ability to neutralize, deter, or communicate with animal life forms.
Ground ability: Perimeter Establishment; activates a unique universal translator, essentially warding off any aggressive creatures within a specific range. Only partially effective against trained creatures.
(Start with ambient creatures, but make them interact-able later in the game. Some can be basic, but then make different "intellectual" variates, going up to full sentient, telepathic, telekinetic, etc, with abilities that are harmful, beneficial, and discoverable, or exploitable. Same as plant life and other forms of life I.E. silicon based, non-corporeal,) So that way there are humanoid and non humanoid sentient life forms.
Medical officer: Provides abilities related to healing, curing, and researching for NPCs, crew, bridge officers, and players during missions
-expands on the injury system
Inherent passive: Pathogen Identification; Provides ability to detect, and caution benefits or dangers of microscopic life forms; i.e. illnesses & applied medicines, or any other beneficial or non beneficial effects. (perhaps certain microbes can harm or deter other harmful ones). Also provides the ability to provide heal minor injury equipment, using anomalous data.
Active training ability: Treatment Analyst; Provides ability to slow the spread of dangerous illness, or exploit the gains of beneficial microbes (can draw in or deter microbial life. also able to collect samples (perhaps certain microbes can be used to consume certain radiations, or lower the ill effects of plasma fires) Can help in the treatment of major injuries,using anomalous data.
Inoculation & Treatment-Ships Surgeon; Once collected, Medical officer is able to provide full defenses to crew and NPCs against dangerous microbes, or provide the ability to invent chemical or technical versions of microbial benefits (applies to crafting). Also now capable of treating critical injuries, using anomalous data & crafting medicines when partnered with a Xenobotanist.
Ground ability: Field Physician; ability that allows the healing of 1 injury per away party member per mission, allowing the team to remain fully functional during missions, without having to leave for treatment.
Second ability: Medical Beamout; ability that beams out a downed officer, and downed npc units, effectively saving their lives. Saving an Npc unit on this ability has the chance of granting special information or item of some sort. The more people you save, the better the chances are of getting something.
Planetary Scientist: provides abilities based on Planetary mechanics, including Geology & Meteorology
Inherent passive: Planetary geology; Provides ability to detect, and caution benefits or dangers of planetary elements & anomalies; i.e. gravity, elements & minerals, volcanic activity, or any other beneficial or non beneficial effects. (perhaps certain minerals have electrical properties, or certain rock formations can be exploited)
Active training ability: Atmospheric Science; Provides ability to determine weather patterns, storms, turbulence, etc.
Train up: Planetary Classification; Provides ability to shelter or dampen planetary effects, expose/develop methodology toward exploiting and/or defending against planetary effects. (perhaps a new environmental suit can be crafted, or a new alloy can be applied to a shuttle hull to absorb plasma discharges)
Ground ability: Induced Weather Pattern; induces a weather pattern dominantly inherent to the occupied planet. could cause a lightning storm, wind gusts, earthquakes. Being that it is a type of orbital strike, it can be unpredictable, and may have unforeseen consequences. Think wisely before using.
So in effect, if I selected my Xenobotanist, she would be able to detect, warn you of, and defend herself & the crew against the harmful effects of the plant's spines, Also, if sent to scan the life form, she would be more effective in gaining information about it, gaining more skill points and even new loot (such as an advanced medicine to use in combat, or to inoculate crew against similar plant life in the future).
A regular officer would simply be able to scan it, and collect from it (less effectively, gaining less skill points), however, would not be capable of gaining these bonus protective abilities.
TACTICAL OFFICER:Weapons specialist: abilities pertaining to alien weaponry and tactics
Inherent passive: Arms Identification; Provides ability to detect, and caution exploits or dangers of alien weaponry
Active training ability: Munitions Analysis; Provides ability to determine exploits & weaknesses in alien weaponry
Train up: Weapon Application; Provides ability to use extremely foreign weapons with great efficiency. Also can create new defenses, armaments, and tactical behaviors based on newly encountered alien technology when partnered with a Technician
Ground ability: Precision Targeting; direct hit to hand-held weapons, knocking them out of the target's hand. Also effective at vaporizing blunt objects being prepared for throwing use, such as the gorn attack using a chunk of rock being thrown. I.E. a gorn picks up a rock, the move is activeated, the rock is vaporized in his hands, rendering the move neutralized.
Explosives expert: abilities dealing in explosives
Inherent passive: Chemical Analysis; Provides ability to detect & caution benefits or dangers of explosive elements in a given area; (perhaps certain minerals have natural explosive properties
Active training ability: Pyrotechnics Specialty; Provides ability to determine and utilize weaknesses and neutralization of explosive devices and chemicals with absolute precision
Train up: Blast Applications; Provides ability to create new defenses, armaments, and tactical exercises based on newly encountered explosives (perhaps a certain metal in a ships hull is exploitable using a specific explosive, or when exposed to certain pressures, depending on partnership)
Ground ability: Remote Mine; ability to place attachable mines to objects or locations anywhere within arms reach. Place a mine in a discreet location, then detonate with a remote to take out enemies, or reveal hidden objects of passageways. Hint: detonate near explosive or combustible objects can result in new effects, or simply a larger blast.
Comments
Ambassador: abilities assisting in negotiation
Ground ability: Negotiate; (works only on Npcs) trade an item in the cargo manifest to persuade an opposing party to cease hostilities. Depending on the alien, it may or may not work; this is random. Also, this will not stop everyone on the planet, but it will stop from one to five individuals on an encountered npc team.
Second ability: Infiltration effort; Sends a demand to cease hostilities. Upon use (before an enemy group fires, the whole party may disarm and surrender, a member or an opposing party may surrender, and provide a tip of some sort to use on the map against the enemy forces, such as 'blast away the large duct in this room to gain access to the next room and take the next party by surprise," or a few members may take up arms against their group, joining the fight.
Xeno-anthropologist: provides abilities based on artifacts, ancient cultures, society structure, & their study
Ground ability: artifact reclamation; analyze map objects to reveal special items, which may be applicable as trophies, trade with npcs, and on up to items of interest to entire races.
ENGINEERING OFFICER:
Technician: abilities dealing with computers, generators, power supplies, & alien technology
-expands on injury system
Ground ability: Power Cell boost; temporary boost to power cells on away teams active devices, enhancing their abilities for a short time.
Second ability: Materials usage; allows for the use of map objects that can be manipulated.
examples: *using a welder to seal a door, preventing an enemy from entering, or following. *beaming down a phaser drill to blast a hole in an expose-able wall, door, or pile of rocks.
Space ability: Jerry-Rig; applies a temporary quick fix to a damaged subsystem, restoring ship effectiveness for a time. the effect does ware off, so be sure to visit space dock for repairs.
Cosmologist: abilities dealing with spacial anomalies
Ground ability: Spatial Distortion; creates a spatial distortion in front of the target adversary, distorting his/her beam weapon angle. There is a chance it will deflect and hit the original gunman.
Physicist: abilities dealing with physics
Ground ability: Graviton Generator; fabricates a graviton generator, which essentially pulls ground objects, including enemy units toward it, containing them in one location and slowing their movement within a specific range. Power drain is significant, so the effect wares off after a time. Activated by remote, as to help friendlies from getting caught in its effect.
Space ability: Graviton Beacon; using the deflector dish to convert the ship into a graviton beacon for a period of time. when passing between 2 objects of smaller or equal mass to the ship, they are drawn toward a central point in its wake, inevitably leading the objects to crash into one another. colliding asteroids do area damage, colliding ships, well, do the obvious damage.
Inventor: (Have not come up with anything for this yet.)
Case in point: One of my Science officers has the 'Tachyon Beam' ability in space, and 'Stasis Field' and 'Hypospray - Dylovene' on the ground. In a 'Swords & Sorcery' MMO like Warcraft, that'd make him a Mage or whatever, with 'weaken armour, 'freeze ray' and 'cure sickness' or something like that.
Trouble is, this is Star Trek, and those are all abilites from different jobs. Hyposprays are medical equipment, obviously, so that's the responsibility of CMO or other doctor, which falls under 'Sciences' - so far, so good. But creating stasis fields and using the deflector to create a Tachyon beam? That's the job of someone from the 'Operations' (not 'Engineering' - that's a misnomer) division, most likely the Chief Engineer. I can almost hear McCoy now - "I'm a Doctor, not a particle physicist!". And yet, that's exactly what my Science officer can do. So what exactly is he?
How this needs to be improved is by creating specific 'roles' for Bridge officers, each with corresponding abilities. For example, 'Helmsman'/'Flight Controller' would have access to 'Evasive Maneouvers', 'Doctor'/'Chief Medical Officer' would have 'Hypospray - _______', 'Tactical Officer' would have 'Torpedo - High Yield', Chief Engineer would have 'Emergency Power to _______', and so on - you get the idea. Plus, there could be a 'rank hierarchy' in place, where a ship can't have more than so many Commander-ranked officers, for example, and designated First and Second Officers. Add to that an option to 'buy' higher-ranked Officer candidates, some already with training in a specific duty (for example, instead of requisitioning an 'Engineering Officer', how about asking for a 'Conn Officer', or 'Head of Astrometrics'?), rather than untrained Ensigns all the time.
That's all just conjecture, but I hope that shows how relatively simple it'd be to rework the existing system to better reflect how things 'actually' work aboard a starship. The current system is 'ok', but as I said, it's just regular MMO mechanics with a veneer of Star Trek. A revamp like the one I've detailed above would make the game feel much more like the shows, and I'm sure would be welcomed by a lot of people, as well as helping to set the game apart from the numerous WoW clones out there.
Oh, and while we're at it, for the love of Q, can we PLEASE re-name the divisions? It's COMMAND, OPERATIONS and SCIENCES, not 'Tactical', 'Engineering' and 'Science'! :mad: Sorry, but that REALLY bugs me...!!
updated: medical officer, targeting specialist, xeno anthropologist, and technician
I agree about that,but i hate mmo`s with too many classes,a simple way to balance in game mechanics with canon material is create some sort of specialization for each class to separate a medic from a science officer .
I agree that there should be a ships doctor and medical bay. i also believe that ship doctors should have their own expert areas. so when taken on an away team, they can perform certain medical functions;
-Dermal: treats anything affecting the skin or outer body
-Orthopedic: treats anything relating to bones
-Surgeon: treats anything realating to internal
-Infection Specialist: treats anything relating to illness
-Neurologist: treats anything affecting the mind, brain, nerves
Perhaps each skill can also provide defense and/or combat bonuses relating to their field.
i think things like med kits and hyposprays, also equipment and scanned anomalies relating to biology and medical could be taken to the sickbay inventory. each doctor can use these items to treat crew and away teams on the fly.
so, you get 4 hyposprays, 3 dermal regenerators, 6 DNA sequences in your inventory. you then go to your sickbay and transfer them out of your normal inventory and into your sickbay inventory. this allows your chief medical officer access to this equipment. Now when your CMO has a dermal specialist and orthopedic skill, they can use the items out of their inventory relating to those specialties. so, when picked on your away team, and you or your officers become injured, they can use that material to instantly heal those injuries. any injuries that are not trained to their skill list yet will require a trip to a starbase.
if they are not picked on the away team, you have to beam back to the ship and go to sickbay for treatment.
now, some bonus down the line could allow you to transport a medical team (with varying skills) down temporarily, when not in combat. once treated, they leave. Note: the inventory items are used by this team as well.
these systems could be used in other ship locations too, such as engineering.
- these officers can not only treat your character and away team, but also npcs. they can even provide combat or defensive bonuses relating to their field. that way, if you are on normal mode there are still benefits to picking the CMO on away teams.
a space station Doctor can heal all afflictions at once (or multiple, but not all) for simple engergy credit "cost"
perhaps they can also provide materials for your sickbay inventory, in case you run out. again, using energy credits.