One of my favorite pastimes in MMOs has always been attempting to complete the internal bestiaries. For those who don't know, a Bestiary is a catalog of the animals and other creatures, and in the context of a game it typically contains the monsters that you fight.
But, this is star trek, and Federation officers wouldn't just be killing wild animals left and right. However, I think it is VERY Star Trek to be searching out and cataloging alien life. It's ingrained in the organization's mission to do this, "Seek out new life and new civilizations." Well, with diplomacy coming we've got the new civilizations part, so how about this for new life?
Here's what I would recommend:
- A station in the ship where you can access the database and read about the creatures you've scanned. The data you collect is kept in your ship's computer. As they're discovered, your Science officer will report directly to you on what you've found, and then enter that data into the database so it can be reviewed at any time.
- For planet surfaces, the wildlife would be spooked if you approach too rapidly, or with the full compliment of bridge officers. After all, 5 people coming at a wild animal on earth would cause it to run away. So, to scan an animal, the best tactic would be to have your bridge officers stand back, while you cautiously approach (perhaps crouching would give a bonus chance of not being noticed), the creature will respond depending on its traits, and react according to some chance of noticing you. If you can get within, say, 3 meters of the creature, you can then use your tricorder to scan it. If the creature notices you sneaking up, it will be come startled. A startled animal might run away (maybe 20-30m), or if it's a large or predatorial animal, it could attack.
- Killing animals, even in self defense, would have to be strongly discouraged. I would suggest that killing an animal on the planet would render a debuff that causes all the other animals to avoid you wildly, meaning that you couldn't scan any more while on the planet's surface, or under the effect of that debuff. Stun weapons could be best used to put the animal into a stunned state, allowing you to move outside its attack radius, which would cause it to revert back to a neutral state. This way you can avoid killing the animal without being killed yourself.
- The data collected on the animal could not be gathered completely from scanning just one individual of the species. You would need to find several, across multiple missions to complete it. I'm thinking it should be 5-10, but that's definitely up for discussion. Each scan would provide more information about it.
- The Bestiary's database could include:
[LIST=5]
- The Animal's name, both common and scientific, and an image of it
- Environmental conditions of its habitat (since odds are they'll appear in multiple planets)
- Location (Could be as general as the Star Cluster, or for canon species, the specific planet.)
- The animal's diet, like whether it's carnivorous or herbivorous, or if it's something really out there like Horta
- The evolutionary history of the species
- Useful byproducts or other applications for the animal (Ex. "This creature emits a poisonous venom that cannot be easily replicated, but is very useful in the treatment of Andorian Flu.")
- Titles/Accolades for your level of completion of the Bestiary. There could be titles for each individual star cluster, territory (all Federation-area clusters, romulan area clusters, etc.) for gathering all the available creatures, etc. There could also be some type of exchange like the Marks of Exploration to encourage this.
- Missions that would involve the animals in a more direct capacity, but not necessarily require scanning them. Following the example above, there could be a colony on the planet that's being ravaged by Andorian flu, and when you arrive they need someone to gather the venom so they can treat the colonists. I'm not sure exactly how to go about that, but it would be a bit more interesting than scanning stationary structures.
There could be a lot more, those are just my initial thoughts.
[*]For space, there are just as many options. We often see large and strange creatures in space in the TV series (Crystalline entity being an example that's already in game,
the creature from this episode as another example). they could have similar reactions, such as being startled by a ship approaching at Full Impulse, encouraging the use of lower speed settings as you draw closer to it. Once within 5km or so, the ability to scan it would become available, however it could react in unexpected ways, either attacking directly, or inhibiting the ship in some way if you aren't careful. This might even be used to disable enemy ships, by bringing them in range of a creature that you know will have a violent reaction.
[*]Since space creatures are so big, there shouldn't be more than one or two in any particular mission. This would make it a little harder to gather the complete data on them, but they will be less likely to respond in such a way as to prevent scanning.
[*] Final suggestion is to add pre-existing animals to the database as well; this would include the Crystalline entity, the Targs, and the Attack Saurs, as well as all currently existing (sub)species of Tribble.
[/LIST]
So that's what I've got. What do you think? Suggestions? Does this sound like something you'd like to see? (I wanted to make a poll but I don't see that option)
Comments
Also another addition to your list would be inherant traits of the select creatures, such as attitude. The creature may be naturally passive or naturally aggressive or it could be cautious and would try and escape or run from you if you got too close to quick and if you cornered it it would attack. Aggressive would attack once you came with in either it's line of sight or in it's radious or both. Passive would not do anything unless provoked, such as escape or retaliate. Just my suggestion.
1. Titles/Accolades for your level of completion of the Bestiary.
2. Missions that would involve the animals in a more direct capacity, but not necessarily require scanning them.
More details will be added to the main post about these.
LOL I was thinking exactly the same!
On a sidenote, I want playable Vorta, too.
On topic: I think that's a great idea, especially if there are better/other options than 'scan 5 animals' or 'kill 5 animals' involved.
"the problems with panda pron are #1, everybody looks that same, and #2, everything is in black and white"
that is all
Their design philosophy for something so major is to have gameplay attached.
Completing a zoological or xenological index would nice (though it does scream "Star Trek Online: The Pokedex!"
This. Klingon game hunters - mounting wild beasts in their quarters or mess hall would be epic.
and, as evidenced by the term "Bestiary", the concept of logging animals predates pokemon by several centuries.
First of all, @Homsikpanda; Rofl! Ya, that's a pretty good point, lol
Secondly, I agree with the Op's Proposal; an interesting beastiary would make this game that much more immersive, and provide me with something to do on my kling char while waiting for ques, or on my fed healer while waiting for more people to join a fleet action. plus, it could include things not in STO, but that are still part of the Trek Universe, so as to provide a source for non-trekkies or new trekkies wishing to learn random info about the universe or who are curious about creatures or events that are mentioned in-game but never really explained in detail. Mass Effect had one of these (although theirs may have been more justified due to mass effect being a relatively new sci-fi IP), and I think that STO could benefit with something similar.
Oh course, somewhere a scientist is crying a little when agamer thinks such things.
As for pets, we already know how Spot turned out.
Maybe....have to be something relatively tame and manageable though, not just anything from the Beastiary that you choose. Now, don't get me wrong; you should definitely be able to choose from a limited selection from your beastiary. However, some options should be off-limits for obvious reasons, the Horta for example; I mean, they're sentient, for starters, not to mention that they eat metal.
/signed!
Wildlife is something that can work totally different for the factions, that is the part I like about it. Humans scan or catalog, Klingons hunt and craft (and if they get Calnoth as a species one day - they could even eat the animals and use them as a replacement for hypos or something).
And really, why stop at animals? You can also scan and catalog plants on Fed side to study them; a Romulan assassin could use the plants to extract poison and upgrade a dagger with it via crafting. Ancient ruins - the Fed archaeologist studies it and gains knowledge/unlocks some skill maybe, while a Nausicaan pirate takes everything of value and sells it to a shady artifacts dealer.
I also like the idea of collecting some stuffed trophy versions for a Klingon ship. It would fit for Hirogen as well, assuming they're part of the Romulan faction.
You can show off one pet ala Porthos or Spot.
What would be really awesome is if they designed animals with the customization tools humanoids have and then made them tameable on exploration planets and canon animals tamable on IP planets. But you don't actually get to customize them. You take what you can find.
The point being that pet collectors would keep their eyes open more on exploration missions. If you saw one animal you liked, you'd claim one as a pet. And it would be uniquely yours since someone else would need to encounter the same random species you did to get one.
I actually really like exploration environments but I think the random environments also need souvenirs that are just as random. You can't do that with functional loot because of balance issues but cosmetic items that are all one in a thousand and reflect your strange travels would really hammer home the feeling of exploring.
Never really thought about a Hydroponics bay, but it would be a neat thing for the interior of some ships. Could end up with a menagerie like Dr. Phlox. (A bit overkill though, hahaha)
Totally, this would add to the fun of playing the different factions. You catalog for a while, then you kill, later you exploit...Good times. :rolleyes: