I have been giving some thought to a viable way to allow the upgrade of ships through player crafting, and I would like to get some community feedback on it.
My idea would require that Cryptic set a pre-determined "max upgrade threshold" for the ships in game, so you wouldn't be able to take a Tier 1 ship and make it a Tier 5 uber ship. This would instead be meant as a way for players to take their favorite ships from Tier 1 through 4, and make them more viable for Vice Admiral level gameplay.
First and foremost, the existing Tier 5 Refits / Retrofits would be exempt from this system. There would be no reason to upgrade these ships as they have already been upgraded by default by Starfleet. So, the following ships would not be upgraded:
- Exclesior Refit
- Defiant Refit
- Intrepid Refit
- Galaxy Refit
- Nebula Refit
That being said, a player could take the Tier 4 Galaxy, Intrepid and Defiant classes and create a Refit of their own, as well as the Tier 3 Excelsior and Nebula. Why a player might want to do this, will be discussed later in this post.
Max Upgrade Threshold (MUT) and Upgrade Packages
The Max Upgrade Threshold would be set parameters for each ship that limits what you can do to upgrade the ship. The MUT would be defined by the current Tier of the ship you wish to upgrade. I can see the MUT being implemented as new "slots" on your ship, which would be unlocked through crafting. Each ship would have certain slots which in turn, take an "Upgrade Package" from the crafting system. For example, there might be:
- Hull Plating Upgrade Package - Increases the base hull value
- Weapon Slot Upgrade Package - Increases the number of Weapon Slots you have
- Console Upgrade Package - Increase the number of consoles you have
- Bridge Stations Upgrade Package - Increases the number of Bridge Officer slots you have
Upgrade Packages would be craftable, and would be Bind on Equip, so they could be sold on the Exchange.
Now, each of these packages would have varieties, based on what you want to do with your ship, and offset penalties in some cases. For example:
Hull - Increasing your hull via package would add a negative value to your Turn Speed. So maybe your Hull Plating package added 10,000 Hull Points. This would effect a -1 Degree / Sec on your turn rate. Or if you didn't want to sacrafice so much turn speed, you could get a package which gives you 5,000 Hull Points, at the cost of -0.5 Degree / Sec on your turn rate. Obviously as your Tier Increases, your hull increases. So, in this case, Hull Upgrade Packages would decrease in size, as your Tier Increases. That way you couldn't create Super Cruisers and such, but rather get a little boost of maybe 2,000 Hull Points.
Weapon Slot - Weapon Slots would be upgraded, but would be limited to a set amount, based on your ship. So if you took a Tier 1 for example, you might be limited in upgrade from a 2/2 default configuration to a 3/2 or 3/3 upgrade. conversely, once you hit Tier 4, you would be limited to 1 Fore and 1 Aft. Tier 5 ships would be able to add 1 fore and 1 Aft as well, which would then bring ships like the Sovereign into balance with the T5 Refits, which would then be limited to what they have for weapon slots, which is equivalent to a Tier 4 ship with a Weapon Slot upgrade.
Consoles - Console Upgrade Packages would come in a variety of flavors, which could effect a variety of changes. Perhaps you want to upgrade your consoles evenly. there would be an even package which adds a console slot evenly to each category. Or perhaps you want more survivability, so you get the Engineering Package, which upgrades the Engineering consoles only. Same for Tactical and Science. this gives players significant ability to customize their ship to their own playstyle.
Bridge Stations - The bridge stations upgrade package would work in 2 ways. You could either upgrade your current seats or you could add a Universal slot. So for example, you might want to take a Tier 1, and upgrade all seats to Lieutentant, which adds 3 abilities across the board. (3 Ensigns to 3 Lieutentants = +3 abilities) In the same case, you could keep your 3 Ensigns, and upgrade your ship with 1 Universal Lieutentant Commander, which has a net benefit of +3 abilities as well, but is locked into a single category, instead of 3 abilities in 3 categories. this would benefit the Tier 4 ships alot, (as mentioned above) as it would allow players to create a custom Refit that differs from the current default refits at Tier 5.
So...that all being said, Upgrade Packages would serve as a money sink in 2 distinct ways. first and foremost, it would cost you Energy Credits to buy the Upgrade Packages from the Exchange, or to buy materials to craft the Packages yourself. Furthermore, once a ship had been upgraded, that ship would be "locked down" in that you could no longer upgrade, or change your upgrades. So, if you wanted to change your ship, you would have to decommission your refit, and then go to Ship Requisitions and buy a new ship and new Upgrade Packages. Buying a new ship to refit acts as another money sink, and lends "commodity" status to the upgrade packages, so that it stimulates the STO economy and makes these packages a necessary craftable item for use or for sale.
Example
So what might an upgraded ship look like? Let's take a look at a Tier 1 Centaur Class upgrade.
Current Specs:
Hull: 10,000
Turn Rate: 11.4 Degree / Sec
Consoles: 1 Eng / 1 Sci / 1 Tac
Weapon Slots: 2 Fore / 1 Aft
Bridge Officers: Ens Eng / Ens Sci / Ens Tac
Now, apply the following:
+10K Hull Plating Upgrade Package
1 and 2 Weapon Slot Upgrade Package
Even (1+1+1) Consoles Upgrade Package
Even (1+1+1) Bridge Stations Upgrade Package
(Intent of this represents Max Upgrade Threshold For Tier 1 Vessels, including the TOS Connie)Upgrade Package Specs:
Hull: 20,000 (Maxed Base)
Turn Rate: 10.4 Degree / Sec (Maxed Base) Includes the -1 Degree / Sec penalty
Consoles: 2 Eng / 2 Sci / 2 Tac (Maxed Base)
Weapon Slots: 3 Fore / 3 Aft
Bridge Officers: Lt Eng / Lt Sci / Lt Tac
And perhaps you wanted to go with a different build, you might go with a Universal Station Upgrade and a 5K hull Upgrade with an Engineering Specific console focus, which would give you:
Alternate Upgrade Package Specs:
Hull: 15,000 (Maxed Base)
Turn Rate: 10.9 Degree / Sec (Maxed Base) Includes the -0.5 Degree / Sec penalty
Consoles: 4 Eng / 1 Sci / 1 Tac (Maxed Base)
Weapon Slots: 3 Fore / 3 Aft
Bridge Officers: LtCmdr Universal / Ens Eng / Ens Sci / Ens Tac
thank you for your time. Please consider my idea, and offer your take on it as you see fit!
Comments
I think ship customization should play this way. Purchasing upgrades is too much like purchasing an engineering console. And I don't see the point of adding a universal LTC slot to a light cruiser when you can have any one of the Commander ships. I would take the Science ship over the third light cruiser listed because it offers a bonus to ops and has a better turn rate.
Suffice it to say such a mechanic is far, far distant and I wouldn't like to see it until maybe the gamma quadrant is opened up, if at all
Stationary crafting is just so rigid in a moving universe. Upgrade as you go, that's the spirit of adventure.
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I'd fly my Science Vessel (Tier 2) if I could upgrade it to function at Tier 3, then Tier 4, then Tier 5. I actually prefer it over all of the other designs I'm forced to fly. I don't even care if base stats change (much)... I just want to be able to refit Bridge Stations, add Weapons and add Consoles.
Heck, even a Lt. Cruiser would be cool if it could be fitted with Mk IX weapons (3 fore, 2-3 aft) and consoles (2 Tac, 2 Sci, 3 Eng) and had higher level Bridge Stations from Ensign/Lieutenant up to Commander. It would have a better turn rate than what I'm flying now.
I think you misread the intent of my post.
The intent was for this system to allow for the refit of any ship in game, except for the currently existing Refits which were listed above.
Want to Refit a Tier 2? Sure!
Refit a Tier 3? Sure!
Tier 4? Sure
However, the effectiveness of Refits would decrease as you move up in Tiers. So at Tier 5, you wouldn't gain much through the Refit process. At Tier 4, you gain more than Tier 5. Tier 3 gains more than Tier 4, but then the system ends up working on a see-saw, so that Tier 2 and Tier 1 upgrades don't suddenly make a ship which is equivalent to T5. That lends the system to a certain amount of realism, where the most modern ships don't need much in the way of upgrades, your slightly older but still large ships can gain alot of ground through upgrades, but your oldest and smallest ships (Tier 1 and 2) get some gains, but not enough to make them seem ridiculously over-powered.
This would be something that is crafting based, so I wouldn't see this as being limited to just Vice Admiral level either. Perhaps the Upgrade Package Slots would unlock 1 at a time based on Rank. So at Lieutentant commander, you get 1 Upgrade slot, at Commander you get 2 slots, at Captain you get 3 slots and at Rear Admiral the 4th slot unlocks.
What this does is create a progressive system for advancing your favorite ship.
But at the same time, this progressive system makes sure that you don't have Lieutentant Commanders flying the equivalent of a Captain level ship.
Also, the system is specifically designed to increase the capabilities and survivability of lower tier ships, without turning the lower tiers into T5 equivalents. It's a middle ground solution that allows players to further enjoy their favorite ship, without it being utterly useless at the upper levels, and without unbalancing the ship tiers either and resulting in Mirandas blowing up Sovereigns.
Ultimately I think it's a pretty good system.
Not to mention mix it with episode replay and their is an endgame option, get bored? level up a new ship! As you level up your ship gets new refit options available, such as adding a new weapon slot, boff slot or new warp core increasing speed.
All cryptic has to do is define the cost of each upgrade piece and the minimum/maximum each chassis can handle as well as how the points are gained. But i'd imagine this is too "simmy" for them.
That would be cool, but I think it should be somewhat limited. Starships don't have the necessary equipment to completely refit them while out and about, hence why they go back to Sol for such jobs. But crafting small things on your ship to give bonuses to ship stats (ex: you craft a plasma injector that allows smoother flow of warp plasma and you get a +1 to warp factor speed).
It would also be cool to see away team equipment such as weapons, shields, armor, and kits be able to be upgraded through crafting on the ship or space stations. Imagine the big "right of passage" deals RPing Klingons (if there are any) could do to build their own bat'leths similar to how Jedi in SWG have to build their own lightsaber basically from scratch.
On to the OP, I love that idea. The devs really do need to look into a system such as that. However, even with what's been suggested, I still believe we need to ditch the tier system.
This specific proposal is meant to offer an avenue to players to keep using a favorite ship, based on the model, rather than the overall stats.
For example, the Constitution Class Refit is a fan favorite ship. However, it's current Bridge Officer Slots, Weapon Slots and Console Slots limit it's viability beyond about Tier 3.
Using this system, a player that really loves their Connie Refit could take the upgrade package route and make the ship viable beyond Tier 2.
For example:
Current T2 Cruiser
Hull: 19500
Turn: 9 Deg / Sec
Consoles: 2 Eng / 1 Sci / 1 Tac
Weapons: 2 Fore / 2 Aft
Officers:
Now, apply some Upgrade Packages, and it might look something like this:
Example T2 Cruiser Upgrade Package Refit
Hull: 29500 (based on a 10k Hull Plating Upgrade Package)
Turn: 8 Deg / Sec (Includes Hull Plating Penalty)
Consoles: 3 Eng / 2 Sci / 2 Tac (based on a 1+1+1 Console Upgrade)
Weapons: 4 Fore / 3 Aft
Officers:
So, after upgrades are added, you get a Fan favorite ship, which is more powerful than it was when you first got it, but isn't suddenly overpowered. It offers the Player a chance to hang on to a ship they adore, keep using said ship long past the Tier they originally flew it in, and doesn't overtly unbalance against ships later on.
Based on the upgrades shown above, a Tier 2 Cruiser would be:
Hull: higher than Tier 3 Cruiser, but lower than Tier 4 Cruiser
Turn: equivalent to Tier 3 Excelsior
Consoles: equivalent to Tier 4 Cruiser
Weapons: equivalent to Tier 4 Cruiser
Bridge Officers: higher than Tier 3 Cruiser, but lower than Tier 4 Cruiser
So the player who LOVES the Connie Refit gets a ship that would function relatively well at Captain, Rear Admiral and Vice Admiral PvE, and would function ok at upper level PvP but doesn't have to stay with the sub-par stats the ship has at it's original tier, which is more about game balance at lower levels.
It also means Cryptic would never have to make another Top Tier Refit as they did with the Excelsior, Nebula, Galaxy, Intrepid and Defiant ships.
another way to do it is to allow the player to choose how they upgrade the ship, via increasing each of the stats separately from the other. For example you want to increase the hull you can it cost X for Y hull points and the ship has a maximum of Z. The cost of each upgrade costs more as you get closer to the cap. Then you could also decide how to break up your weapon slots. How many of which consoles you want and how high you want the Boff rank to go on each console.
All with maximum caps based on ship chassis. Then you could have multiple ships with the same class but varied stats. But still within a balanced system (due to the caps).
What I was trying to achieve on my proposal is similar to what you are talking about, but using crafted upgrades instead of a numeric value system.
Based on the highlighted text, what I could see is a wide variety of packages that would affect your stats and allow you to choose how you want to proceed with your upgrade.
For example, I could see weapon slot upgrades in different combonations...
1+1 Weapon Slots - For upper Tier ships, 1 additional weapon slot added Fore and Aft. could also be used for Tier 2 and 3 Cruisers and Science Vessels.
1+2 Weapon Slots - Adds 1 Weapon Slot Fore, 2 Weapon Slots Aft (Most commonly used for Tier 1 upgrades where the ship currently has 2 Fore / 1 Aft. Although it could be used for Tier 2 Escorts as well, to bring a Sabre up to a 4/3 slot setup instead of the current 3/1 setup.
+1 Weapon Slots - Could be applied Fore or Aft, to balance ships that have a currently imbalanced weapon loadout, such as the T4 Escort or Cruiser, which would then allow a player to create their own T5 Refit of a T4 vessel.
Packages would need to be balanced by Tiers obviously, so you couldn't create a super ship that exceeds the current T5 specs. For example, Tier 1 and 2 ships could gain the most Weapon Slots, where as the Tier 3, 4 and 5 ships gain the fewest weapon slots.
Consoles would work in a similar fashion, such as:
1+1+1 - Adds 1 console to each category
1+2+1 - Adds 1 Engineering, 2 Science and 1 Tactical console
1+1+2 - Adds 1 Engineering, 1 Science and 2 Tactical console
3+0+0 or 0+3+0 or 0+0+3 - Adds 3 Consoles to one specific category, either Engineering, Science or Tactical
There are alot of possibilites.
And all this could be added to crafting, to make crafting more meaningful, more profitable and make more sense. And some additional benefits could possibly occur, based on your profession. Perhaps as an Engineer, you can create some Bind on Pickup Ugrade Packages that give you additional benefits because you are an Engineer.
I would agree. WoW had a decent crafting system in concept, although I really hated that you had to make craploads of stuff you'd never use, in order to advance. I don't want to have to make 10 Personal Shields, in order to unlock the ability to make 1 Deflector Dish. In that respect, STO's crafting is way better.
I also like the idea of being able to create profession specific items that are really awesome, but bound to you.