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Analog to the Fed Diplomat Corps?
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Are the Klingons gonna get something analogous to the Federation Diplomatic Corps? Is that a thing that anyone's talked about? Obviously, more Klingon themed. Maybe a..... Klingon Expeditionary Division or something, where, instead of going around doing peacefull, bridge-buidling activities with other alien species, they instead seek out new planets with valuable resources to exploit and new peoples and territories to conquer.
Sort of like this....
[Fed side/Klingon analog]
Random low-level diplomatic and planet aide missions/Random low-level resource raid and alien skirmish missions
Random First Contact Missions/Random Conquer Planetary System Missions
.... is what I'm trying to convey
Sort of like this....
[Fed side/Klingon analog]
Random low-level diplomatic and planet aide missions/Random low-level resource raid and alien skirmish missions
Random First Contact Missions/Random Conquer Planetary System Missions
.... is what I'm trying to convey
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Ambassador/Emissary K'Ehleyr was a Klingon diplomat (Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire) in TNG in "The Emissary" and Reunion. At the end of Deep Space Nine, Worf goes on to become Federation Ambassador to Qo'nos. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worf#Deep_Space_Nine "After the conclusion of the Dominion War, Worf is made the Federation ambassador to Qo'noS (the Klingon homeworld), as depicted in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series finale "What You Leave Behind". By Star Trek Nemesis, he has returned to Starfleet, and once again serves on the Enterprise under Captain Picard." So clearly, the Klingons do have some diplomatic efforts, even if "war is in their blood" so to speak.
It was also be lacklustre if it was just another "go here kill that" system which seems to be what the devs always default to for KDF.
You only need to look as far as the Gorn, Nausicans and Orions to see three examples of how a Klingon "diplomacy" system would work, which would be:
Diplomacy
Play through a diplomacy mini game to try and convince the race to join the KDF via diplomatic "non-combat" means. This is effectively how the Nasuicans joined the KDF.
Bribary
Attempt to bribe the race to join the KDF. A very simple mini game where you attempt to bartar a price. It could even be as simple as playing the dabo mini game and beating the opponent's winnings. This is effectively how the Orions joined the KDF.
Conquer
Forget diplomacy or Bribary and just simply crush the race into submission by destroying their fleet or killing their government. This is how the Gorn joined the KDF.
So there you have three different ways of playing the KDF diplomacy system, with missions either randomly picking 1 of the three or (preferably) you get to pick which of the 3 minigames you plan to play to win the mission (presumably selecting from a popup comms window when you first enter the instance).
I can see a KDF vessel de-cloaking in orbit over a Capital city, "requesting" a meeting with the planet's leadership. Once the planet's scans determines how much stronger the KDF vessels are, they'd likly conceed to the "request"...while other's might not see the them as much of a threat and decide to launch a pre-emptive strike.
Either way, Klingon style "negotiations" can still happen
I've gotten two fed characters to ambassador. And the diplo grind is not fun.
I want something fun. The KDF side needs more fun. Less grind.
As I said above, so long as that "fun" isn't just another form combat. There is already too much of that as it is, there isn't a single KDF activity that doesn't involve blowing something up - its just too much as it is.
Oh I agree with that as well.
I think I'm just jaded by diplomacy. I really bought into the way it was initially presented. And the way it was implemented was so much more shallow. The grind isn't fun. And you can't solely be a diplomat. And the information on how to do it comes from the players way more than the game's information.
I wanted it to be so much more. It ended up frustrating me.
And since KDF PVE is already so shallow ...
Yeah ... I'm worried about KDF Diplomacy Equivalent being ...
Worse?
But we need is a populated Galaxy, run-ins with NPCs aliens vessels, entrance into previously unknown or little known alien territory/sovereign space.
Have only some of these encounters develop into a possible "diplomatic" encounters. Some would be aggressive, some peacful, some suspcious, some would linger at range observing, etc, etc. Our goal would be to determine the best way to develop relations with the group. Even a peaceful planet might provide a beneficial relationship through less than aggressive tactics.
The problem with typical content developers is that the think too "off/on", "black/white", "yes/no"...they have difficulty creating dynamic "background noise" to thier content, non-relevant content that is used to mask or hide the active content which it resembles. So instead of having many NPC vessels that fly around for which there is no diplomatic content, with the occasional "new" NPC or NPC race of interest that is inter-mingled amoungst the possible encounters....we would only get the individual NPC that has content appear. This "on/off" content basically removes any dynamic aspect of the content, and basically results in as much excitement as watching a python eat a frozen rat.
When they do try and make "random" or dynamic, it ends up feeling like, "whats behind door number 3"...or like we're checking under rocks for morsels of content..."whack a mole" diplomacy and inter-faction relations is not fun content.
This... completely.
I've had a couple of ideas for a conquest system in place of the diplomacy system which would be workable, also some ideas for an end-game based military governorship type of system, but we really need a working basis to start from, and right now, we really don't have that kind of infrastructure to build on. (Although I think we could, with a little work... some of this would depend on how robust the UGC tools and options turn out to be.)
They could be random ground missions where they combine a space battle (which we have plenty of) with a beam down to the planet (and kill everything...which we also have plenty of). Now, what would be the rewards for finishing missions such as this? The ability to gain more honor and become a Klingon Ambassador? Certainly not...
What ideas do we have for rewards?
The conquest idea is pretty much what I was trying to hit on earlier, but it was pretty late in the morning and I was kinda fizzling out.
And yeah, so far the FDC missions are reeeeaally quiet and somewhat uneventfull. Hopefully, they'll spice things up with Season 3, maybe drop in some more random diplomatic missions, things like that.
Yea...the cosmetic TRIBBLE will definitely be in c-store...you can bet your butt that they won't add the different weapon skins unless we pay for it...they would of course have to spend extra time to design the weap skins and whatever else, and this will detract from the game's bug squashing...yea....good idea, but I don't think it'll go over too well... I'm not too pleased with the cosmetic upgrades I have had to pay cryptic points for...
First we are Admirals/Generals in our said faction we should no longer be in control of a single ship. We should be controlling small to medium size fleets (I prefer NPC fleets but it could work with consensual PC grouping as well).
Once we have fleet control the next step is really quit simple - we are tasked with control over a "sector" of space - this could actually be done using the "exploration" tech they already use. You go into one of those exploration boxes either alone if you are soloing or with your group if you are grouping.
In this box you and your fleet (NPC or PC) are tasked with similar missions to the current exploration system - patrols, aid planets, etc... but at random intervals you encounter new minor factions that you either have to conquer or negotiate for them to join your faction.
For Klingon negotiation would of course be based around being aggressive it still would not have to result in combat. If you fail the negotiation then you have to defeat the enemies in order to add them to your faction. Maybe for the Feds this could be handled by two layers of negotiation instead.
Essentially you shift the meta game from that of being a single captain of a single ship to being a a task force commander tasked with expanding your faction, and your successes add to your honor/renown and benefit your faction.
There of course is great potential in then making a PvP version of these exploration boxes where Fed and Klingon task forces compete both directly and indirectly for the balance of power. Have two different forms of these PvP boxes, one is direct PvP were if you encounter another faction ship in the box you can have open combat and then the victor gets the chance to sway the new factions. In another PvP box you cannot directly fight each other, but the greater one faction's sway is in this zone the higher their chances of the "first contact/conquest" missions will appear.
It really is just a matter of changing the way the game is played at end game rather than relying on the tired old trope of "raiding".
I think what matters most is that each faction has something that makes the experience of playing that faction something interesting and unique in the game. You have to have something beyond the base line activities of fly around and blow things up.
Every major faction in Star Trek does combat, diplomacy, science, espionage and commerce. But each one stresses something different. So for the Federation a separate Diplomacy Corp with diplomatic missions and Diplomatic XP is a good pick. Another reasonable option for them would be a series of specialized scientific missions because aside from combat, Starfleet stresses diplomacy and science. For the Romulans (if they're ever added) I think those characters should have a Tal Shiar standing with espionage-based missions and Spy XP because, again, Romulans put the most emphasis on espionage.
The problem here ... and I suspect the problem the devs are having ... is that the klingons don't really stress anything outside of combat. They're pretty much conflict specialists. However the thing that makes that faction unique and fun doesn't have to be a separate specialized branch of activities, so long as you can find a unique twist on the common activities of the game.
Conquest-based objectives are a great example of this. But why not also play up the conflict between the great houses? Let players declare themselves Team Duras or Team Martok, then use PvP as a way to gain not only XP for yourself but honor for your house.
Compare the total honor gained for each house over the last week / month and give a buff to the victor that lasts for the next day / week as well as an extra buff for the score board leaders for each house. Also, rather than crafting via anomaly turn in like Memory Alpha, you'd craft by going to the masters of your respective houses and spending the "house honors" you've gained.
What does the community think?
But we should never lose sight of our alligance to the smaller Houses. I wouldnt want to see the two major House of the conflict to water down the importabce and significance of the other Houses we might be in that allies with one or the other. We can operate in the interst or on the behalf of one side of the conflict or the other without being essentially identified/branded as part of one of the two Houses.
The loyalty of a Klingon is going to be to his House first, he'd never accept the label of another, even if he is willing to lay his life on the line on its behalf through an alliance.
Just another combat system. So no.
Perhaps any diplomatic system should have an "option" for combat, but it should not be the focus. Every single bit of Klingon content involves combat. Every single episode (I say that like there are lots of them), every single expanse, every single nebula, combat.
I realise the fed side is also combat heavy, but 99.8% of the point of adding the diplomacy system was to give fed players an alternative to the "shoot to kill" stuff. Well guess what? KDF players want an alternative as well.
I am really sick of seing comments like "Klingons don't do diplomacy" or "Klingons don't wear civilian clothes" and "Klingons don't play things like poker" and all of the other TRIBBLE that gets thrown our way as an excuse why a new system doesn't get given to the KDF side.
Obviously KDF "diplomacy" is not going to be the peaceful "OMGZ lets me friends!" you get with Starfleet, the tone is clearly going to be "join us or die", but that still requires non-combat talks with the race - the only difference is that if the talks fail, you get to blown stuff up. That is an acceptable use of combat because you are giving the player the choice, and chance, to avoid it.
Yes, people laugh as klingons pass them...