Starbase Special Projects are poor quality.

apocryphai · September 2012

EDIT: darkstarkirian has pointed out that this has already been mentioned in another thread and a dev responded saying it's being addressed. Therefore I apologise for the angry tone in my original post (which follows) and say thanks to the devs who'll be fixing this

I am in a small UFP fleet. Our starbase is still Tier 1, inching slowly towards Tier 2. As the weeks have passed we have collectively decided to install a few of the time-limited Special Projects, e.g. the bar upgrade and this weeks one, the Enterprise timeline display.

We have, unfortunately, been deeply unimpressed with the quality of these visual upgrades and think that Cryptic really should consider improving these or offering refunds to fleets who have made the mistake of installing them.

For example, the bar upgrade is extremely lackluster. Look at the bottles on the shelves in the bar. One bottle shape with four different colours? How long did it take someone to design that? An hour? Two? No other decorations of note, a very boring circular bar with no embellishments or variation. This is shoddy, unimaginative and amateurish.

Now let's have a look at this weeks 200k dilithium project - the historical display of the Enterprise. I've got some pictures to illustrate the poor quality of this project since mere words can't describe how terrible it is.

First, have a look at the poor rendering of the text on the bottom of the 1st picture:

The others aren't as bad as that, why is that one unreadable and pixelated? Bad font rendering?

Second, take a look at the classy way that the tops of all the pictures clip into the surrounding frame. Did the intern responsible just not have enough time to do a professional job? Or did they have no pride in their work?

Finally, and this is the 64 million dollar TRIBBLE-up, just have a look at the positioning of the last frame in the series. Especially in relation to a certain other element in the Starbase.

Anyone else notice that the view is slightly obstructed by being completely behind a giant plant? Either this simply wasn't tested with any other starbase decorations enabled or the poor, overworked and underpaid intern didn't give a monkeys.

Seriously Cryptic, this is amateurish, shoddy, lackadaisical, lazy, ham-fisted, cheap. The F2P market has never been more crowded than it is right now. You guys have a LOT of competition out there. You need to raise your game and stop treating your customers like idiots or you're going to find that they just take their money elsewhere.

rohirrim · September 2012

+1 This was hugely disapointing

realmysticg · September 2012

apocryphai wrote: »

I am in a small UFP fleet. Our starbase is still Tier 1, inching slowly towards Tier 2. As the weeks have passed we have collectively decided to install a few of the time-limited Special Projects, e.g. the bar upgrade and this weeks one, the Enterprise timeline display.

We have, unfortunately, been deeply unimpressed with the quality of these visual upgrades and think that Cryptic really should consider improving these or offering refunds to fleets who have made the mistake of installing them.

For example, the bar upgrade is extremely lackluster. Look at the bottles on the shelves in the bar. One bottle shape with four different colours? How long did it take someone to design that? An hour? Two? No other decorations of note, a very boring circular bar with no embellishments or variation. This is shoddy, unimaginative and amateurish.

Now let's have a look at this weeks 200k dilithium project - the historical display of the Enterprise. I've got some pictures to illustrate the poor quality of this project since mere words can't describe how terrible it is.

First, have a look at the poor rendering of the text on the bottom of the 1st picture:

The others aren't as bad as that, why is that one unreadable and pixelated? Bad font rendering?

Second, take a look at the classy way that the tops of all the pictures clip into the surrounding frame. Did the intern responsible just not have enough time to do a professional job? Or did they have no pride in their work?

Finally, and this is the 64 million dollar TRIBBLE-up, just have a look at the positioning of the last frame in the series. Especially in relation to a certain other element in the Starbase.

Anyone else notice that the view is slightly obstructed by being completely behind a giant plant? Either this simply wasn't tested with any other starbase decorations enabled or the poor, overworked and underpaid intern didn't give a monkeys.

Seriously Cryptic, this is amateurish, shoddy, lackadaisical, lazy, ham-fisted, cheap. The F2P market has never been more crowded than it is right now. You guys have a LOT of competition out there. You need to raise your game and stop treating your customers like idiots or you're going to find that they just take their money elsewhere.

I wholeheartedly echo my fleet mates sentiments.

I would also add that:

They are hardly "special" projects if there is a new one every fortnight or so.
If they are not already then the costs for these items should be scaled to: Members in Fleet x Cost Per Fleet Member = ITEM COST. From what I have seen they cost every fleet the same and this is simply a shambles.

sandormen123 · September 2012

By them Gods. I am so glad that I haven't added that project to the queue. Stupid as I was I was to quick to add the tribblers... ...then the bar...
Thankfully, they'll propably not be finished in quite some time.
Where is our change-of-mind-button? Please? Pretty please?

:mad:

anazonda · September 2012

Well... I WAS going to assign this project...

Now... not so much

sandormen123 · September 2012

I wonder, what about some frigging interactive lounge furnitures of some sort.
I know these are digital avatars, but some of us actually pretends being lazy standing up all the time.

Unknown · September 2012

This content has been removed.

cusashorn · September 2012

Wow, that is just plain stupid.

darkstarkirian · September 2012

To the OP:

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=5607591&postcount=51

robdmc wrote:

The top boarder of most of the ships are cut off.

pwebranflakes wrote: »

The team is working on a fix for this.

Cheers,

Brandon =/\=

robdmc wrote:

While there is a lot of space beside the HMS Enterprise but the other side of the new Enterprise - F and flag ship of the fleet is put behind a potted plant.

crypticttc wrote: »

There should be a fix for this in the pipe as well.

realmysticg wrote: »

.[*]If they are not already then the costs for these items should be scaled to: Members in Fleet x Cost Per Fleet Member = ITEM COST. From what I have seen they cost every fleet the same and this is simply a shambles.

No, that is easily exploitable by small fleets.
New Featured Project shows up, All but the Fleet leader leaves the fleet, Fleet leader pays the "discounted" amount to get project running, invites everyone back.

defalus · September 2012

How about a game of spot the difference with these two Ent-A pictures:

A
B

One of the most iconic ships in the ST universe and they can't even get the basics right.:(

blitzsth · September 2012

While I agree with you on the last project, the display frames were not really well placed. The curved wall that they are placed on does interfere, bleeds through and blocks most of the text at the top of the display frames. It would also help if the made the text bolder and outlined it so it could define it more clearly. Perhaps they could also change the text to be less reflective as the light can make it hard to read.

However, I have no other problem with previous projects. The bar area has a nice layout with the chairs, chess, benches and mood lights. With tribbles and plants scattered around if you had installed the previous vanity projects, it looks like a very cozy area to relax in.

Our fleet has purchased every limited "vanity" project that has come out and we will continue to complete them, they offer a nice warm touch, to what could be a very cold looking interior.

darkstarkirian · September 2012

defalus wrote: »

How about a game of spot the difference with these two Ent-A pictures:

A
B

One of the most iconic ships in the ST universe and they can't even get the basics right.:(

I'm having trouble with what you are pointing out. You mean the diference in Defectors?
Picture "A" is obviously an in-game screenie used for the diplay, while "B" is a movie screenie.

misteryhistory1 · September 2012

Hey, something seems to be missing between HMS Enterprise and CVN-65...what happened to CV-6?

darkstarkirian · September 2012

misteryhistory1 wrote: »

Hey, something seems to be missing between HMS Enterprise and CVN-65...what happened to CV-6?

kobayashlmaru wrote:

Fair enough, I just recall him talking about it in that episode. Another possible (less obvious) mistake is there were multiple sailing ships named Enterprise, both in RL and in ST lore. Along with the one depicted in his quarters, the HMS Enterprize which was depicted in the opening credits. Why is this one missing as well?

To my original point though, I'm still in shock how is it possible that they missed the most important ship in the history of the Enterprise? This is like a stab in the heart for a game based on this IP. Pictures of the carrier are featured in almost every mention of Enterprise lineage in Star Trek for crying out loud. Yet despite this omission they still have the presence of mind to put in XCV-330.

I won't be doing this project in pure protest of that big mistake. I thought it was a great idea otherwise.

crypticttc wrote: »

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=5607011&postcount=46

When we were deciding which ships to include in this set of images it became clear quickly that we did not want to include EVERY ship from Earth history named "Enterprise." This was not a mistake, but a conscious decision to focus on certain representative samples from the history of that name.

To your first point, one of the tall ships named HMS Enterprise is included in this set of images - it's visible in that screenshot on the far left. I did some research on all the sailing ships named "Enterprise" and decided to go with a British frigate built in 1775 - the decision to include this particular ship was mainly a nod to the opening credits of the the TV show Enterprise and to increase the diversity of the ships represented a bit more. There were a few United States Ships named "Enterprise", but they were smaller ships - I felt the mission of the 18th century frigate, a fast, powerful and independent command, was more appropriate to the name's legacy than any number of the other manifestations from that era.

On to your point about the CV-6, the original "Big E" and the most decorated ship in the US Navy. Ultimately I decided to include CVN-65 over CV-6 for a couple of major reasons. The primary reason was that the CVN-65 Enterprise was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. She was (and is) a unique and revolutionary design and important milestone in the history of propulsion, naval or otherwise. While the CV-6 had an unmatched record in battle, I felt the technological revolution of the CVN-65 made it more likely that she'd be commemorated by Starfleet, an organization hundreds of years removed from single-planet international conflicts. Secondly, the CVN-65 is actually a setting for action in a Star Trek adventure (STIV, although another ship stands in for her during filming).

While I agree that it's an incredible ship with an important place in history, I'd also dispute your claim that CV-6 has been represented in every depiction of Enterprise lineage. Both the observation lounge on the Enterprise D and Archer's ready room cherry pick their Enterprises, and in both celebrations of Enterprise lineage they chose CVN-65 over CV-6. (You can tell it's the CVN-65 by the shape of the deck and the distinctive square shape of the island.)

It's also worth noting that for the observation lounge of the 1701-E, they don't include models of any pre-space Enterprises at all!

Obviously in a project like this, everyone has their favorites - but even if yours didn't make it in I hope you get a chance to see the set and enjoy it in the game.

Another question from this thread I noticed: The Enterprise C is present in this series. To dispel any rumors, the art for that panel was created based on a screenshot from "Yesterday's Enterprise."

Hope that helps.

kobayashlmaru · September 2012

Another issue with the current project is the omission of the famous World War II carrier, USS Enterprise CV-6, from which IRL the Star Trek Enterprise was named after. You have the CVN-65 on here, but no CV-6 which is a real ship and its portrait even appears on screen.

EDIT: Thanks for posting the comment above. Good to see this decision wasn't made carelessly. Still disappointing though.

defalus · September 2012

darkstarkirian wrote: »

I'm having trouble with what you are pointing out. You mean the diference in Defectors?
Picture "A" is obviously an in-game screenie used for the diplay, while "B" is a movie screenie.

The deflector is one, the saucer colouring is a second and having been so long since I actually used a connie I'm not sure if the connie model in the game can have nacelles with no blue light on them.

I just like the movie versions of the connie so sorry for my nit picking, given the nature of the potraits I just thought they could have at least got it closer to the real ship.

misteryhistory1 · September 2012

darkstarkirian wrote: »

Hope that helps.

Thank you, now...about my using my phone to read that thread, sometimes I just wonder if it doesn't like going to certain web pages just cause it got an attitude or a mind of its own...

darkstarkirian · September 2012

defalus wrote: »

The deflector is one, the saucer colouring is a second and having been so long since I actually used a connie I'm not sure if the connie model in the game can have nacelles with no blue light on them.

I just like the movie versions of the connie so sorry for my nit picking, given the nature of the potraits I just thought they could have at least got it closer to the real ship.

Ok, ya the game screenie one definately has one of the paint jobs on it, probably the Andromeda which is the "default" paint on all the ships.

They might have not been able to use the movie picture because of the Parmount/CBS issues, but could take a shot of "their" in game ships no problem.

apocryphai · September 2012

darkstarkirian wrote: »

To the OP:

Brilliant, thanks, didn't realise they'd already seen this and responded.

I'll amend my original post.

cormoran · September 2012

I just went to the dev blog to double check the picture they have there and now I'm wondering; Why doesn't the picture in the dev blog suffer the same title clipping issues as what we got ingame?

realmysticg · September 2012

darkstarkirian wrote: »

No, that is easily exploitable by small fleets.
New Featured Project shows up, All but the Fleet leader leaves the fleet, Fleet leader pays the "discounted" amount to get project running, invites everyone back.

Not if when the project launches cryptic take a snapshot of the number of members in the fleet which is used for the math, i.e. the cost is based upon the number of fleet members in the fleet at the time the item in question is available.

markhawkman · September 2012

I have one word that accurately captures how I feel about these upgrades. Optional.

If you don't like it or don't think it's worth it, then don't do it....

Starbase Special Projects are poor quality.

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