I spoke to my Photonic Officer yesterday after being notified of a failure to report for his duty shift. He said was ashamed to be a Cryptic NPC because he's not customizable! He was extremely sad and wanted to be deactivated.
I told him, "YOU are an officer aboard this ship and right now you have a DUTY to perform." He paused for a moment, sighed and said, "I'm sorry sir, I just cannot until I'm customizable like all the other officers." After that he spoke his last words... "Computer, deactivate EMH."
He's sulking somewhere inside the main computer and refuses to be activated. Even my Chief Engineer cannot bring him back online.
Thanks, Cryptic... but I think this photonic officer needs to be sent back to Jupiter Station for reprogramming and redesign.
I agree, let us customize it. Fully. It should have all the options for "alien" in the character creator/tailor plus optional holographic effects.
I think it'd be cool to change gender too, but I won't push too hard for that. I like the idea of the BO being an "avatar" of the ship (since it's a generic science officer and not necessarily an EMH). And since ships are generally referred to as female...a female holographic avatar of the ship would be appropriate.:D
I don't know... it's canon that he shouldn't be customizable, after all.
By that token, ALL bridge officers shouldn't be customiseable, since you can't alter a person's skin colour, height, build, etc.
Except, of course, you can - same with the Borg Bridge Officer. Not the 'accolade' one, though - that's logical, though, since the new STO borg are way too inhuman (too many missing limbs/organs) to customise them with regular humanoid bits.
And specifically regarding the Photonic Officer, by all logic, it should be the EASIEST to customise, since it's just a case of tweaking his/her appearance settings in the ship's computer or their mobile emitter. Considering the occasions where Joe Schmullus/Schweitzer (geddit? ) disguised himself by doing exactly that, it's not beyond the realms of possibility to suggest that we could do the same to ours in-game.
Besides, not all EMHs or similar are based on the same template - see the EMH Mk. II from 'Message in a Bottle', or the attempt at a Bashir hologram in 'Doctor Bashir, I Presume?'. By extension, we should be able to chose which 'real life' person our hologram is based on - i.e., alter their appearance when we receive them.
Plus I support this (even though I don't own one), I mean the EMH on voyager had a whole episode where he changed what he looks like (Renisance man Voy Season 7 Episode 25?), in an alternate timeline the Dr had altered his own program to give himself hair, Janeway even reprogramed her holographic boytoy
Well the doctor came to be sentient and that changed a lot of things... if you notice, though, all the same "Marks" of his model didn't change appearances (as we saw in the episode where the Doctor wrote an holonovel, and we saw all the EMH in a mine, somewhere... they all looked like the Doctor. Same for te EMH in First Contact!) I think if they Could have changed him, they would have, no?
So yeah, even though He could change, he was an exception, in my opinion... all others EMH Mark 1 were fixed.
EDIT: It was stated several times that the Doctor was made to look like his creator, Dr. Zimmerman. That's one of the reason they didn't change. EMH Mark II said the same, so I would expect all the Mark IIs (even though he was only a prototype) would look like Andy TRIBBLE! Granted, the bridge officer we have isn't an EMH, just a bridge officers, and STO is set decades after Voyager and advances in individual customization might have been made.
I don't know... it's canon that he shouldn't be customizable, after all.
Nor is it canon that there exist any cloaking Defiants at this point in the timeline, nor is it canon ANY Galaxy-X exists in this timeline, nor is it canon that my tactical escort retrofit can destroy a Borg cube in a single pass....Do you see my point? No Star Trek game has ever been accepted as part of the canon; why should this one be? And besides, it makes sense that you can customize a photonic officer. He is, after all, only a computer program, and computer programs can be re-programmed.
Nor is it canon that there exist any cloaking Defiants at this point in the timeline
DS9 had a cloak on the defiant under a deal with the Romulans, this late in the timeline its not inconceiveable they're using this technology further/have developed their own cloak
nor is it canon that my tactical escort retrofit can destroy a Borg cube in a single pass
In the Voyager episode 'Endgame' Admiral Janeway mentions that there are new ways to fight the Borg and that they're not as threatening as they once were. (I would suggest that this timeline's Borg cube is a fraction of the threat it would have been back when one was encountered in 'Q-Who'/'Best of Both Worlds')
It is also cannon that a hologram can be changed in appearance as seen in the episode 'Life Line' where the Doctor becomes a masseuse in order to be able to scan Zimmerman ^.^ funny scene - I'm all for custom holo-officers =]
DS9 had a cloak on the defiant under a deal with the Romulans, this late in the timeline its not inconceiveable they're using this technology further/have developed their own cloak
Riker in the episode 'All Good Things' which is set prior to the date STO is currently in had access to a Galaxy-X
In the Voyager episode 'Endgame' Admiral Janeway mentions that there are new ways to fight the Borg and that they're not as threatening as they once were. (I would suggest that this timeline's Borg cube is a fraction of the threat it would have been back when one was encountered in 'Q-Who'/'Best of Both Worlds')
It is also cannon that a hologram can be changed in appearance as seen in the episode 'Life Line' where the Doctor becomes a masseuse in order to be able to scan Zimmerman ^.^ funny scene - I'm all for custom holo-officers =]
I would like to see Cryptic live up to it's reputation with these holograms. If I hear about cryptic anywhere the main point they put out constantly is that cryptic is unbeatable with it's customisation options in a game. And I would like to have a friendly looking EMH not one that would probably make a Vulcan cringe...
Comments
I told him, "YOU are an officer aboard this ship and right now you have a DUTY to perform." He paused for a moment, sighed and said, "I'm sorry sir, I just cannot until I'm customizable like all the other officers." After that he spoke his last words... "Computer, deactivate EMH."
He's sulking somewhere inside the main computer and refuses to be activated. Even my Chief Engineer cannot bring him back online.
Thanks, Cryptic... but I think this photonic officer needs to be sent back to Jupiter Station for reprogramming and redesign.
By that token, ALL bridge officers shouldn't be customiseable, since you can't alter a person's skin colour, height, build, etc.
Except, of course, you can - same with the Borg Bridge Officer. Not the 'accolade' one, though - that's logical, though, since the new STO borg are way too inhuman (too many missing limbs/organs) to customise them with regular humanoid bits.
And specifically regarding the Photonic Officer, by all logic, it should be the EASIEST to customise, since it's just a case of tweaking his/her appearance settings in the ship's computer or their mobile emitter. Considering the occasions where Joe Schmullus/Schweitzer (geddit?
Besides, not all EMHs or similar are based on the same template - see the EMH Mk. II from 'Message in a Bottle', or the attempt at a Bashir hologram in 'Doctor Bashir, I Presume?'. By extension, we should be able to chose which 'real life' person our hologram is based on - i.e., alter their appearance when we receive them.
Plus I support this (even though I don't own one), I mean the EMH on voyager had a whole episode where he changed what he looks like (Renisance man Voy Season 7 Episode 25?), in an alternate timeline the Dr had altered his own program to give himself hair, Janeway even reprogramed her holographic boytoy
So yeah, even though He could change, he was an exception, in my opinion... all others EMH Mark 1 were fixed.
EDIT: It was stated several times that the Doctor was made to look like his creator, Dr. Zimmerman. That's one of the reason they didn't change. EMH Mark II said the same, so I would expect all the Mark IIs (even though he was only a prototype) would look like Andy TRIBBLE!
DS9 had a cloak on the defiant under a deal with the Romulans, this late in the timeline its not inconceiveable they're using this technology further/have developed their own cloak
Riker in the episode 'All Good Things' which is set prior to the date STO is currently in had access to a Galaxy-X
In the Voyager episode 'Endgame' Admiral Janeway mentions that there are new ways to fight the Borg and that they're not as threatening as they once were. (I would suggest that this timeline's Borg cube is a fraction of the threat it would have been back when one was encountered in 'Q-Who'/'Best of Both Worlds')
It is also cannon that a hologram can be changed in appearance as seen in the episode 'Life Line' where the Doctor becomes a masseuse in order to be able to scan Zimmerman ^.^ funny scene - I'm all for custom holo-officers =]
This man deserves a cookie...
Ooooh a cookie! Tribble?...Noooooooooooooooo!
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=161968
...we get constantly ignored in the C-Store forum.
Maybe you guys have more luck here?
*bump*
Yes I'd do that just because of aesthetics.