It sounds (from this post
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=2877215#post2877215) that they are stopping new ship creation in favor of sharpening what they have already created, why not take the time to refit every ship to tier 5 while the graphic gurus are busy with this? Both Fed and Klingon? As the arguement for the Galaxy - X from Riker was that a Admiral does have privaledges....
Pros? Cons?
Comments
This is a complicated matter.. A Miranda obviously can't match an Emissary, but if we allow people to choose their favorite ships to become T5, then the Miranda MUST be allowed.
Furthermore, i'm scared of that movie.. had nightmares with those bugging eyes and tongues. Damn you!
Thats fine, but doing refits, does not require to take away CapnLogans or Mr. M's time either. Let them work on cleaning up the models and maybe tweaking new refits as well. I mean a tier 5 akira would have what, a squadron aboard? That requires no graphic changes...
I never said they had to be a match, just crank them up a little, give them some unique stuff like Starfleet Commander gave them. And calling something stupid isn't exactly constructive...
K'tinga tier 5 = awesome...
Get rid of the tier system all together. Since it takes no time to get to the end game as everyone says, get rid of it and make everything max level, give each ship unique traits that stick out and people will pick what they like and use. At least maybe we will see more of a fleet feel at the top then a club of new ships sitting there.
Have you ever seen DS9? If that little fighter thing can do the damage it does, there's no excuse for every ship larger than it to not be allowed to do the same. If you don't like it, fine. Fly whatever YOU want, but don't force everyone to conform to your ideals.
that's right !
you should all conform to MY ideals instead.
yessss.... yessss.... we are coming along nicely now Igor......
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As for PvP... Every time I suggest it it's shot down. But I think there should be a PvP mode where you're assigned a tier at random right before the battle starts then you fly a ship of that tier. This would give crazy mixed fleet battles.
For example a Miranda wouldn't take on a Sovereign and match them in guns, shields hull etc....but why not allow the miranda to have additional BO slots so that it can use skills beyond ensign level in order to compete?
BACK ON SUBJECT!!!
Good idea.
Nor yours
Freedom and choice in MMOs is essential. Restricting choices is obviously necessary for certain things, but not something as simple or key as what ship you fly.
Currently in game lower tiers CAN damage higher tiered ships. They probably won't win.
This is the same with DS9. Those little fighters had good firepower however they also had a LOT OF SUPPORT. If you took those fighers and solo'd them against a ship they'd explode lol. And there were a lot of fighters. I think 3 or 5 in that one scene where they started shooting stuff up.
Plus in DS9 shields didn't exist for some reason.
Anyways I'd love to somehow see MIXED FLEET PVP.
I'd ALSO LOVE to see some way to make lower tiers more viable in PvE like autobalancing the instances. Something. I'm not all about abandoning the lower tiers. Just making them equal or near equal to current tier 5 ships is ridiculous.
Think up a different way to see your lovely lower tiers become viable. Be creative. There's other things beyond combat balance.
The whole reason there are three retrofits instead of one is CapnLogan took time out to work on them. The whole reason the Galaxy X exists is because CapnLogan was working on model tweaks for the Galaxy for the retrofit.
Retrofits and Refits and anything involving ships in that manner will, because of his job description, involve CapnLogan and his time. Or his team's time.
So I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. For there to be more retrofits, the models have to be worked on by that team. Your example of a T5 Akira ... it would require time making tweaks to the model, just like the other retrofits. It's part of their process.
And I would think you'd be in favor of that anyways. As any retrofit KDF ships would get a model update. Which some of those ships really need.
They are already working on redoing the models, why not combine tasks. Rather then walking away from it. And the refits do not all require remaking a model. The akira can look exactly the same, just with some more BOs, a unique ability (launch fighers or what not), that would not require the model guys. (as the example)
The only thing they really need to change in my view is make it so lower tiered ships can do high lvl missions in pve. Maybe base the enemy on the ship one is flying except in fleet actions of course.
Wait, now I'm really confused. They are working on tweaking models, yes. And they are working on some KDF retrofits. So I thought they were going to be combining the tasks?
That's pretty much the point right? Tweak the Vor'Cha or the K'Tinga and toss in some retrofit awesomeness while they're at it?
I mean, I thought they were already planning to do more than just add Gorn and Nausicaan and Orion ships to the line. I thought they were going to do some KDF Retrofits?
It would be nice if all the ships could get special abilitys to make them unique based on what they could do in the show. I could maybe see another officer slot as long as they didn't change the hull strength or things like that that they couldn't do with ships in real life.
why, its just a tin can hull, so to speak....
Why not gut them and jam the insides with cool new tech for the admiral?
This is a bit off-topic ... but ...
They already do have the technology to include lower tier ships in Events and PVE content. They don't use it here. But in Champions Online, they have adjusted their holiday events and some of their outdoor events in a way that a level 10 and a level 35 can basically compete or assist each other in meaningful way. I believe they made the specific combat elements percentage based and level banded that. So like my level 10's lightning attack would do a scaled percentage that is on par with the level 35's gigabolt.
They can adjust that to work in STO. It may require some coding magic to make it fit and be functional in PVP.
BUT, they could certainly apply this to fleet actions and get rid of level banding in those and bring back the sense of community this game had that first month when everyone was in an FA having fun together.
That's pretty much how it's supposed to be if you go by the STO Timeline or the Novel. Captains have the new modular designed ship technology from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. So your description is spot on. It's just the hull that looks like a constitution. Inside, it's much different.
Good point and post. I think this would be a good start.
All this drivel and you still think the Akira is good for T5? Boy do you need to learn some of the ST lore. The Akira is correctly placed in STO. This is not SFC3 where that ship had major advantages with the final patch. Do some research and find out just what the Akira is capable of compared to a Nebula, now look to find why the feds developed the Neb... It was in responce to the Vor'cha so if they're gonna make a t5 neb then there had better be a t5 Vor'cha. Leave the Akira where it belongs, low tier.
This is the way it should have been from the start.
I am very much in favor of eliminating the Tiers altogether.
All this drivel and you still think Akira isn't good for T5? Boy do you need to learn some of the ST lore. The Akira is incorrectly placed in STO (along with much of the ships). This is not SFC3 which I've personally never played. Do some research and find out just what the Akira is capable of compared ot the Nebula, now look to find why the feds developed the Neb. It was in response to the Vor'cha so if they're gonna make a t5 neb then there had better be a t5 Vor'cha. Put the Akira at T5 where it belongs, a higher tier.
The last game I remember that eliminated core game mechanics and basically went back to the drawing board was Star Wars Galaxies. That didn't go over too well.
I find that no matter how much you or I or anyone thinks X, Y or Z should have been different "from the start" ... that once a game is launched, it's healthier for the game to evolve from the core that's already in place. Changes are easier to make that way. And they won't alienate a large number of players. (You might not like the tier system, but a lot of players are used to it by now and would have issues with it being revamped completely).
If you mention the Defiant, it's simply the exception to the rule.
When the Defiant first launched, it might have been the exception to the rule.
However, 30 years later, with the Starfleet Corps of Engineers being directed by the man who was Chief Engineer aboard the Defiant, the "norm" could very easily lean towards the Defiant.
In that, I mean the Defiant proved that with the equipment it had outfitted, it could go toe to toe with a cruiser. So 30 years later, it would be logical to assume that the SCE would take the success that was the Defiant, and apply the lessons learned as well as the smaller, more compact systems and equipment, and use that to bolster the power and capability of other small ships in the fleet.
There are no smaller fleet ships than the Defiant. So, your room for equipment only expands as your ship size increases.
The Enterprsie E ... the sovereign ... which had only 24 decks. Was slightly longer than the Galaxy, but housed less crew and people and was generally not as large a mass in space.
But the E hits harder than the D.