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Tomorrow's Star Trek Online

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Hello everyone. After a recent conversation with a GM about several questions I had regarding STO’s development he urged me to post my ideas on the forum to see what kind of general response the player community would provide.

For a long time I was upset about how the STO experience was not very Star Trek in nature. Just like most people here, to me, the shows were some of the most influential things in my life when I was growing up and so after looking to see what part of the game upset me the most I decided to answer my own woes with how I would have liked the game to be. This isn't a post for people to agree with me, or to rant on about the game. It is just how I wish the game was and to get a community opinion about it.

Part One: The Path

One of the larger areas that trouble me is just how ordinary I feel in STO, despite being in an immensely important role. Star Trek always depicted its military factions by noting how difficult or honorable it was to be in command of a ship and crew. Currently the game does not ignite the sense of achievement or even provide any kind of value to the role of Captain of Starship NCC etc etc. Players do not feel the respect of others for having become an Admiral since it would be equally easy for them to do so. Even captaining the Miranda deserves more respect than we give it. Ships and crews are bought like happy meals. Engineering prowess, ship command, and other skills come far too simply to provide any sense of achievement. And lets us be honest, from an MMO point of view, having no goals or sense of achievement means no longevity. This is something any RA5 will tell you when playing the game today.

So in my version the Player initiates the game by creating a character. Since at the moment this is one of the most beautiful character creation packages I have ever seen I hope that STO and Cryptic will continue to use it in versions to come. The Player picks from one of the 10 Current Federation races that currently exist in the STO.

races.jpg

The player does not get the option to choose from one of the current 3 fixed federation careers. Instead the player directly chooses traits in a similar manner to the current system, however traits do not provide a specific learned skill but factors affecting the learning of skills. Similarly traits will also affect the ability to acquire physical attributes rather than the specific physical attributes itself.

For example, a trait currently exists called;

Physical Strength: Ground Trait. Improves the damage of melee attacks. Physical Strength. Enhancement. Enhances powers tagged as Meleedmg + 10% Physical Damage bonus strength.

Instead the trait for physical prowess should be;

Physical Strength: Improves the learning multiplier for skills pertaining to melee combat and resistances. Physical Strength. +10 points per level of combat skills.

Similarly;

Techie: Space Trait. Improves your engineering stat, which increases the effectiveness of maintenance, repair and performance of powers. Techie. Innate. + 10 starship engineering training.

Should be;

Techie: Improves the learning multiplier for skills pertaining to maintenance, repair and performance. Techie. +10 points per level of engineering skills.

What this does is filter the ability to acquire instant knowledge or skills about complex things like warp theory and thereby shift the focus on how fast you character can acquire and improve in this knowledge or skill when playing through the game. This then gives value to the level of knowledge required to use a Warp Coil to maximum output on your ship, or get the maximum kick out of your Bathleth on the battlefield.
The player then chooses a name and starts the game.

Once the game starts the Player finds his character in one of the following locations. I have limited the locations to those in STO at the moment, but ideally the locations should be more numerous.

Earth Solar Orbit space station.

Andoria.

Vulcan.

Deep Space 9.

startingu.jpg

The player starts as a normal citizen of the federation. Just an average person like anyone we see in the background on the show. The political scenario of the Federation at war still exists however it has little bearing on the role of the character at this point. Each starting location has a number of NPC’s that will play roles in the initial stages of the game. Their look and responses will be very similar to those of commodity brokers and item vendors currently found in STO. As a rookie mission each new player is assigned a task that involves familiarizing themselves with the roles of these NPCs, the Federation, and character Skills.
At each starting location the following NPCs exist.

1) Interstellar Transport Officer.
2) Security Force Officer.
3) Engineering Officer.
4) Requisition Officer.

npcw.jpg

Each player must invest time with each of these specific NPCs by doing common missions and services for them. For example,

Interstellar Transport Officer provides courier missions or passenger transport missions. While during these the player gets his/her first taste at space flight. The routes in these missions will be short to start and can be enhanced to 2 or 3 journey legs later on. The ships provided are usually low level courier ships. As the missions advance, the player can perhaps save up credits earned and invest in better courier ships. While doing courier/transport missions for this NPC, the following skills are unlocked/upgraded:

a) Light Starship Operation
b) Warp coil Operation/Maintenance
c) Navigation
d) Sensors
e) Maneuvering
f) Shield Operation

All these skills can be upgraded to any level depending on the amount of time spent on courier/transport missions.

Likewise Security Force Officer will provide combat missions that provide skills such as:

a) Melee combat
b) Light weapons
c) Damage resistances
d) Evasion
e) Stealth
f) Knockdown ability/resistance

Engineering Officer will require you to spend fixed amounts of time per day repairing ships/machinery. This can be done while offline so that players can spend time on other tasks while online. As the mission level increases the time required to be spent on the task will grow longer. Players can pause the task in favor of spending the time online doing something else. However the more of these tasks done the higher the skills for the following:

a) Ship Repair
b) System Efficiency
c) Fabrication
d) Power management
e) Item repair
f) Mechanical Theory

And finally the Requisition Officer will task you with missions, that might overlap with usage of transport services in order, to buy and sell required commodities. This officer allows you to enhance a smaller skill set that will play a role later in the game

a) Conversation
b) Charisma
c) Barter
d) Diplomacy

Each of the skills unlocked or improved at this stage will enhance the game for the Player within missions from any of the 3 other NPCs. For example. While learning ‘Evasion’ with the security officer, survival in space during trade missions will also get a bonus. This then eliminates the differentiation of Ground and Space traits only benefitting themselves.

The player must acquire a fixed minimum level of points under each NPC before being eligible to apply for candidacy into the Federation. The more time spent and more skill points garnered at the early levels the stronger the player’s character becomes when accepted into the federation. The ratio of points stored up under each officer will also decide the career option provided to the player at this stage. So if the player spent more time doing security missions he would be a given the role of Tactical Career. Overlapping of points would allow the player to choose from multiple options such as Tactical or Engineering. Hence the initial development of the character plays a role on the career path provided when accepted into the Federation.

Once the player is finally accepted to the federation he is provided with more defined skill set that is derived from his entry level skills.

For example:
The player spends a lot of time doing courier missions and has a lvl 15 rating on ‘Light Starship Operation’. Once in the Federation he will receive a new skill (presumably from having gone through years of training at the academy) called ‘Federation Light Cruiser Operation’. The initial level of this skill will be derived from his initial lvl 15 of ‘Light Starship Operation’. Hence the higher the initial skills the better the skills received after joining the Federation forces, and subsequently better chances on the initial federation missions.

Alternatively if players decide not to join the federation they may continue to carry out missions for NPC Officers. Once a certain level is reached Players may be contacted by other NPCs at distant locations. Some of these may be reputable and bring favorable standing with the Federation or some may be illegal which will provide the player with negative standing to the federation. If a player at this point decides to then join the Federation he must first redeem his actions by bringing his standing to neutral. If not the player may proceed to carry out smuggling and other tasks that will allow him to obtain special ships, technology and skills that are gained by those choices. In some cases players that receive an extremely low rating with one faction may be allowed to join a rival faction. This idea is derived from EVE online however it presents a unique opportunity to expand the players options and longevity/replay ability of the game.

I do have more ideas on how to proceed from this base but I will abstain until i get a general idea if people like this stream of though or generally think I'm off my head :)
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    The thing I really like about this ideas is thinking in directions that do not require official membership in larger political organizations. This more than anything, is my biggest problem with STO. By forcing us to play characters pigeonholed into military roles bound to political organizations a LOT of what is Star Trek is.

    Yeah, most of what we see in the franchise does deal with the federation and its political agenda as well as that of the Klingon Empire, the Cadassian Union, The Romulan empire, and a few others of lesser not. Punctuating these larger bodies in an array of mercenary, free traders, independent factions, and privateers. Further still, though not strictly dominant, we do see tradespeople, freighter captains, and entrepreneurs.

    your system begins to pry open a space where these absences in STO can possibly begin to be addressed. I do enjoy what we have right now but it is very two dimensional, it is a skeleton, an initial framework. STO needs some meat, some flesh, some depth.

    I have my own ideas about what can be done, which I am not going to expound upon in your thread. Hijacking is just not productive or polite. I like your direction. It has a lot of possable routs and potentual interesting conclusion.

    The one thing I would recommend is figuring out a way to blend it into the existing system, That base and core design will not probably change. One thing to think about is the possibility of resigning a commission. This is a president in the franchise that has been used and seen many times both on screen and in books (don't use other ST video games. Material from those independent IPs are not accessible by Cryptic).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    The problem that I see so far is that it turns a MMO into a RPG very similar to Oblivion where by doing a certain activity allows you to level.
    I do like the skill tree concept just don't think it will work for an MMO.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I appreciate your concept here and creativity; however, it seems like your early career progression and episodes / scenarios actually make the game less desirable to play rather than more so, at least for me.

    I have no desire to fly transport ships around the universe for an indeterminate length of time, or spend any time at all repairing star ships. Plus if you have to progress through each of the four areas before you can even join the Federation...I'm sorry. I just don't see that as being particularly attractive.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I think this is a great idea. It would be nice to have command actually mean something when we get to it, instead of being something we acquire immediately. Plus it could open up a lot of different directions for players to take their characters in - maybe create factions (preexisting and also player created) within the different playable empires which would really open up the social potential of the game IMO.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I appreciate your concept here and creativity; however, it seems like your early career progression and episodes / scenarios actually make the game less desirable to play rather than more so, at least for me.

    I have no desire to fly transport ships around the universe for an indeterminate length of time, or spend any time at all repairing star ships. Plus if you have to progress through each of the four areas before you can even join the Federation...I'm sorry. I just don't see that as being particularly attractive.

    Which is part of the reason I suggested the ability to resign commission. It is post tutorial and at a players choice. If set up right it could be a way to retain some trained skills at max level.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    First off, let me thank everyone who has taken the trouble to read through this post and reply. It has proven to me that the STO players are in fact a very open minded and patient community. Now on to responses;

    @Ayenn; Thankyou Ayenn. Please feel free to post your ideas in this thread too. Perhaps if the community can have new ideas thrust upon them by players, it may make their demands to Cryptic more long term rather than quick fix in nature. I will re-think this idea along the lines you have mentioned with regards to the current game core.

    @CAPT.MBF; Thankyou for responding. Yes, i must admit the skilling/leveling is very similar to an RPG :). I do wonder though do you think players would spend more time playing the game if it were more RPG in nature or in the current skilling system?

    @rpadgett371; Thank you for your honest response rpadgett371. While you say the idea of "early career progression and episodes / scenarios actually make the game less desirable to play rather than more so" to me that is exactly the point why you will love the game more. I do suspect you to be someone who values things more once earned through hardship, since to me this is the principal moral of Star Trek. Imagine the glory of command after such adversity? Besides, at the most this will add 3-6 months of game play prior joining the federation (just an approximate number). Do you really think that will hurt the game that much for a developer to buy themselves more time to work on the game?

    @CaptJackPiper; Thank you CaptJackPiper. Lets hear more of this from fans and perhaps the Devs will take notice. Keep your fingers crossed :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I love that fact that your trying to get a real discussion going but I'm worried that this takes the game further away from what it is meant/ should be about. There are several things that can be done to make the current game one of the best game to come out in awhile. So I will list a few here to give you even more to think about.
    1. 1. PvP
    2. 2. Missions
    3. 3. Allure and Surprise
    4. 4. Crafting
    5. 5. Character Development
    6. 6. Economy
    7. 7. Enviroment
    8. 8. Fleet
    These things have been real problems since the start of the game. At times it seems like "we" are beating a dead horse. I hope Cryptic will take time to really look at the game and request by players. I would like to know if they are even looking at these issues. I would like to know the state of this game in a year or a look forward at what might be coming.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I'm all for sandboxes, what you posted seems great. A good start at least.

    I've hoped for a long time Bethesda would make a MMO.
    If someone really wants to spend 10 hours getting good at underwater basket weaving or xenoproctology....well, not my cup of tea, but more power to you.

    I hope at the least they will add in a trader/ civilian faction at some point.

    Would be nice if Fed officers could learn from all 3 skills. People in real life change careers types within the military all the time. For instance, my older brother has been in the Army and reserves since 1981, in that time he's done airborne infantry, did a stint doing NBC (nuke/bio/chemical) something or other, was a drill sgt., recruiting and now is a helicopter mechanic.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Chompo wrote:
    I'm all for sandboxes, what you posted seems great. A good start at least.

    I've hoped for a long time Bethesda would make a MMO.
    If someone really wants to spend 10 hours getting good at underwater basket weaving or xenoproctology....well, not my cup of tea, but more power to you.

    I hope at the least they will add in a trader/ civilian faction at some point.

    Would be nice if Fed officers could learn from all 3 skills. People in real life change careers types within the military all the time. For instance, my older brother has been in the Army and reserves since 1981, in that time he's done airborne infantry, did a stint doing NBC (nuke/bio/chemical) something or other, was a drill sgt., recruiting and now is a helicopter mechanic.

    Giving us some variety of character development and the paths people could take like this, beyond just the skills that could be trained, would be nice. When I was playing the game experience seemed to be basically the same for everyone. I hope that when I return to playing in 6 months time or so (I'm a lifer) that it will truly feel like a different game than it was at launch. Cryptic seems to be moving in a good direction so far, IMO.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Very creative, but probably just a wee bit too late to redesign STO from the ground up.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    sto problem = instances = cryptic engine.

    you should be a player in the universe.

    without going into an instance when you go to a solar system, or when you go down to a planet.

    you beam up to your ship like the show, in the transporter room, or straight to the bridge, take command by sitting in the chair, switches to outside view and you fly around in normal space and can set course for planets/systems etc.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I like the OP's idea. I didn't get a chance to read the whole thing, but i did read the comments by others.

    I don't think we should spend 3-6 months working to get into starfleet, but i do think maybe starting us as civilians and then joining starfleet after a short stint as a civilian would be good. Then getting put onto our Miranda after "training" doing chores on the ship (3-4 missions) and then the battle at Vega happens and we get command of the ship.

    Others in the thread are also correct in that the game lacks any surprise for the most part, but i do like some of the ones that have happened.

    I think in terms of rewards instead of griping about how bad they suck, what should the rewards be?

    Um... thats all i have for now... but i don't think the skills should be like Oblivions. I do think a skill tree would be cool instead of the current system. i think down the line cryptic should redo the ENTIRE skill and class system.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I think that eventually...having the option to make a civilian character would be great....trading...mining...privateering...etc. Would be a lot of fun for a lot of people. If this doesn't sound like fun...then dont roll a civilian...simple.
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