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Missions that make you care about your BOs

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
I've seen several threads on the forums discussing how people are craving a way to feel more "connected" to their bridge officers. As they stand now, your BOs are essentially just a container for ship and ground abilities. In a Fantasy MMO, they'd basically just be "spells."

As many people have said, STO needs to make better use of the BOs from a story and mission perspective for the player to actually care about the bridge officers they've created.

While watching a Star Trek TNG rerun, the one about Worf breaking his back, it occurred to me that there were a plethora of episodes where a main character was injured, or possessed by an entity, or captured and it was the crew's mission to save them. I believe that introducing these plot lines into STO missions would go a long way to connect players to their BOs.

In order for these missions to cause any kind of emotional response from the player, any tragedies that occur to one of your bridge officers must be surprise. I would suggest that most missions that you play in STO have a chance (albeit a low one ) that one of your bridge officers could be either injured, captured, or contaminated with some unknown disease. A standard mission template could be constructed for each of these scenarios and used repeatedly with the details of the mission being variable.

As a general example :

Admiral Quinn gives you a mission where you are to fly to star system {x} and help planet {y} get rid of a bunch of Gorn terrorizing the colonists. You successfully complete the mission objectives. You return to your ship. At this point an algorithm is applied to the mission result to determine whether or not a BO trauma mission should be triggered. If you're one of the lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) few that hits that "X%" chance of a bridge officer being subjected to a trauma, one of the trauma missions is triggered and you must complete a mission to save your bridge officer.

The mission templates could be something like :

1) BO Contracts a Disease (Ground Based)

Example : While completing mission {x}, BO {John} contracted a disease from the planet surface unknown to Starfleet. The inhabitants of the planet know about the disease and inform you that you must collect {item y} in order to formulate a cure. ({Item Y}' could be a root, or a specific anomaly you've collected, etc..) You follow the inhabitants instructions and cure your BO.

2) BO Has Been Critically Injured (Ground or Space Based)

Example : During mission {x} a [conduit/panel/shipping container/weapon] [burned/broke/crushed/damaged] BO's [body/spine/limb] . A medical specialist is required to heal your injured BO. You must travel to the [whatever] system to enlist the help of {Dr Whomever} from [planet/station] [whatever.] You fly to the station or planet you're directed to go to, you speak with the doctor there, and they heal your BO.

3) BO Has Been Kidnapped (Space Based)

Example : While completing mission {x}, BO {Mary} was secretly beamed off the ship during battle. {Enemy X} plans to take {Mary} back to their space to interrogate/imprision her. You must find {Enemy X}'s ship in the {Whatever Sector}, disable it, and beam {Mary} back aboard.

I think that actually fighting for your BOs and have to invest time in them will make them fell more important to players. It'll make them feel more like characters instead of just skill repositories.

Thoughts?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    No comments on this anyone?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    i think that in development for seaon 4
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    No comments on this anyone?

    I think that about the third time my executive officer got kidnapped right as I was about to join my friends on a team I'd get [censored] and say, "Fine! Keep him! I'm tired of rescuing the damn idiot!!!"
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    I've often considered this myself, and have thought it would certainly create a more costly, if not emotional, attachment to the BO's. What triggered it for me was a mission I played a month or two ago where my away team and I were fighting through a cave of fire, I think against the Breen. There were bridges everywhere and I saw one of my bridge officers (albeit idiotically) "fall" or jump into the pit of fire, making them unusable for the rest of the mission. I then wondered about any implications. Unless you're Captain Sisko, jumping into a pit of fire would kill you, although killing off BO's would be an incredible aggravation in STO. However, I think they could go a little further with this.

    Some examples I could think of would be to give officers greater weapons resistance on away missions, or make it harder for them to be killed, however if/when they are knocked out, have them require an emergency beamout or something of that sort. A follow up or other option could be that officer would be unavailable for an away mission for 'x' amount of time. Something like this, combined with your bridge officer mission ideas, would be a great way to strengthen the roles of the BOs. I'd love to see a lot more involvement with them in general...such as appointing a first officer, appointing a CMO or Chief Engineer, being able to walk around the bridge and interact with them. Anything like that would be a nice touch.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    I think that about the third time my executive officer got kidnapped right as I was about to join my friends on a team I'd get [censored] and say, "Fine! Keep him! I'm tired of rescuing the damn idiot!!!"

    I'm happy I was not drinking milk when I read that. :p
    I like the overall idea, but this is a valid point. If it happens like DSE's then it could be bad.
    It would be neat if every once in a while, something happens to a BO at the end of a mission, which spawns a secondary mission to save them.

    But if it just happens suddenly while flying through sector space, or at a space station, I'd get upset pretty quickly.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    I actually posted two thread about this concept, making BO's a part of the storyline so you'd care about them, but with the Foundry we may be able to create those missions ourselves, so things may be a little more interesting then. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    I think that about the third time my executive officer got kidnapped right as I was about to join my friends on a team I'd get [censored] and say, "Fine! Keep him! I'm tired of rescuing the damn idiot!!!"

    Hahaha. That's understandable. It would need to happen quite rarely as to not cause the reaction you described. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    Oh, I forgot a couple of scenarios -

    - Officer gets put out of phase with our universe
    - Officer starts aging at an accelerated rate
    - Officer gets turned into a child
    - Offcer gets assimilated by the Borg

    I'm sure you guys can think of more...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2010
    For what it is worth, I would feel more like I "created' a BO if I had a chance to pick traits along with abilities for them from a predefined list that changes with level and we had more visual options for customization.

    Anyway, regarding the main idea of the post I firmly agree with the notion.
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