It is surprising to see a faction request for "civilian" instead of something more specific like "Ferengi Trader".
Seems like if STO was going to add a non-military faction, it would need to have at least some sort themed faction or alternate gameplay to the ever present space combat of the other factions.
I'm not necessarily arguing for a "Civilian" faction, mind you... and I strongly believe that if such a thing were to happen, it needs to happen later. Maybe in a couple of years, maybe longer.
But players have been asking for alternative gameplay options for as long as I can remember.
Even a "Civilian" could be involved in exploration and diplomacy, for example.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
can't see that idea working out. this game is on the verge of maybe getting a romulan faction at long last and getting the kdf beefed up...... i can't see how this would be worth doing. when others would be shouting wheres my cardassians?? etc
don't get me wrong but the playable mercenary/freelancer kinda faction would be a great idea in a star wars game. just can't see it in a star trek game. that said, it would be nice to see more of these groups make appearnces in story/missions/eps. or even just places/zones to visit.
We do need more civilian art assets in the game. Civilian clothing, civilian starships, etc.
If for no other reason than to put them in the Foundry or reuse them in Cryptic-designed scenarios. We need to see civilians walking around, even if we're not playing as one.
The Federation is more than just Starfleet and there are civilians in the Klingon Empire who aren't necessarily a member of the KDF. It's an immersion thing.
While I personally can't see the attraction of playing as a merchant, you've got to admit that a few non-military types and ne'er-do-wells played big parts in Star Trek lore. Where are the Harry Mudds, the Cyrano Joneses, the Cassidy Yates, the Quarks, or the Lwaxana Trois?
And I can certainly see why the Role-Play crowd might want the ability to play as a civilian or at least appear to be one.
And when STO expands into that "galactic west of Sol" area, might be a good time to start introducing those things.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
1. Go out and do manual labor that no one else wants to do and get paid squat.
2. Clock out and go to a bar for drinks with fellow civilian workers.
3. Get dances from girls at bikini bar.
Yeah, that could work -
- Oh wait, I play this game to ESCAPE from reality!
:eek:
Seriously, people - Mission - Goals -Rewards. That's what you have to consider when making suggestions like this. A civ faction is about as mundane as you can get in a sci-fi game. The Sims - Star Trek is what it sounds like, and I don't play games like that. If there's any sort of non-military aligned faction, it's gonna have to be an "independent" or "mercenary" type faction that allows for their mission, goals and rewards to be as synonymous with the KDF's and Starfleet's objectives as much as possible.
Re: The mission objective at Ker'rat - salvage the tech from the Borg.
That's something that can still work for a non-aligned faction.
Seriously, people - Mission - Goals -Rewards. That's what you have to consider when making suggestions like this. A civ faction is about as mundane as you can get in a sci-fi game. The Sims - Star Trek is what it sounds like, and I don't play games like that. If there's any sort of non-military aligned faction, it's gonna have to be an "independent" or "mercenary" type faction that allows for their mission, goals and rewards to be as synonymous with the KDF's and Starfleet's objectives as much as possible.
The idea has already been expanded in that way, in multiple posts. It would, ideally, be a catch all for all sorts of groups that don't fall under the umbrellas of starfleet, KDF, or one of the other major factions.
So, in addition to traders and the like:
Ferengi
Mercenaries
Pirates
Explorers/Scouts
Mirror Universe types
Rebels and Renegades (like the marquis)
Criminal Organizations (like the orion syndicate)
There's plenty of combat potential within an independent faction, and many if not most missions can easily be converted to work with such a faction.
The rewards would be the usual: Items and Currency. And you know what? It'd make a whole lot more sense. How often did we hear about how the federation in general grew out of the need for money, and the desire for material wealth? Yet we all run around scrambling to earn over a half dozen different currencies. At least with a merchant/pirate/mercenary faction that would be in-character.
You realize you just perfectly described the new romulus "adventure zone," right?
You realize that there is actual combat involved in some of those "zones" AND that you're not beholden to just run around on New Romulus/have to do any of that gameplay, AND that Starfleet and KDF want some benefits from New Romulus as an underlying objective, right? It's not the same as cleaning sludge off warp engines after some Fed flew his ship through a giant amoeba. Civilian-type jobs are not the primary jobs of Starfleet or KDF...
The idea has already been expanded in that way, in multiple posts. It would, ideally, be a catch all for all sorts of groups that don't fall under the umbrellas of starfleet, KDF, or one of the other major factions.
So, in addition to traders and the like:
Ferengi
Mercenaries
Pirates
Explorers/Scouts
Mirror Universe types
Rebels and Renegades (like the marquis)
Criminal Organizations (like the orion syndicate)
There's plenty of combat potential within an independent faction, and many if not most missions can easily be converted to work with such a faction.
The rewards would be the usual: Items and Currency. And you know what? It'd make a whole lot more sense. How often did we hear about how the federation in general grew out of the need for money, and the desire for material wealth? Yet we all run around scrambling to earn over a half dozen different currencies. At least with a merchant/pirate/mercenary faction that would be in-character.
Thanks - you backed up my point for making an independent/mercenary faction perfectly.
Seriously, people - Mission - Goals -Rewards. That's what you have to consider when making suggestions like this. A civ faction is about as mundane as you can get in a sci-fi game.
Again, though, there is one subset of the Community that would benefit from playable civilians in a big way and those are the Role-Players that don't need a pre-scripted "mission" for enjoyment.
For them, the emphasis is on drama, social interaction, and immersion. They just want a character to play. And sometimes, for the purposes of a story, you need to step outside of Starfleet.
Now is this an important "must have" feature for STO? No, probably not.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Again, though, there is one subset of the Community that would benefit from playable civilians in a big way and those are the Role-Players that don't need a pre-scripted "mission" for enjoyment.
For them, the emphasis is on drama, social interaction, and immersion. They just want a character to play. And sometimes, for the purposes of a story, you need to step outside of Starfleet.
Now is this an important "must have" feature for STO? No, probably not.
I totally get that, and I agree, it would be nice if there were more civ cloths to choose from - cloths that actually look 24th/25th century-esque without looking abnormal (some of the robe options are seriously a whole lot of WTF). At the same time, I have characters that even though they are on either side, aren't affiliated with the Fed or KDF. I still manage to get the clothing options to look less "uniform" and more "civie" or mercenary-like.
Perhaps what is needed to make this a viable, game-wide option is the newer crafting system that PWE wants STO to get at some point? I heard mention of this within one of the recent Dev interviews.
Perhaps such a crafting system could be tied to an alternate method of progression from Starfleet Tactical/Engineering/Science? Or as an alternate career path along side those for Starfleet/KDF player's who would want both for one character. That would work with the OP's original suggestion. And might work with the Ferengi/Independent Merchant ideas also in this thread.
(/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
Traders trade with other players. Earn in game currencies from missions. Establish trace routes. Pirates pirate. Scientists discover strange new world since Starfleet is too busy shooting at things.
Goals:
Money, money, knowledge respectively.
Rewards;
Money, money and the sense of being a badass, neat science stuff.
If properly written, each could provide a valuable source of information about the games background story.
Trader discovers they've been feeding the Tal Shiar and the Iconians. Do they keep it quiet and run afoul of the wrath of the KDF? Pirate have to decide if they're just going to sit around feeding off chaos or if they're going to do the Harlock thing and take the fight to the Iconians. Scientists search for new technologies to use in the fight of uncover past hints about why they were chased out of the galaxy to begin with.
Section 31 could be involved in their actions. The Undine could be manipulating them for some reason. Amd that's just the story. It could be just as simple as trading, fighting, and gaining EC.
Well as psiameese stated it could work as a mini-faction.
A player driven form of economy similar to what the dilithium exchange is like now, however the economy would have to be delivered via GPL it is the true universal currency.
I see EC as Military Script, and GPL as full known currency.
What if we had this faction for those with a Tuffli? a true civilian ship I believe both sides can obtain. It also allows us to have the "I'm an admiral and I have free time" gimick people are running around with. Or the "Reserve" idea which lets the military personnel to do their own thing while still being on standby to serve.
This way the faction has its limited player base to begin the start up, and give this micro faction a random mission generator for multiple things like, "deliver cargo, establish trade lines (for those with a high diplomatic rank) and profit from them like doff missions, assist in setting up colonies, etc" The rewards for these missions would be GPL.
small things like that where those with a tuffli can earn EC and GPL, the EC of course would be converted from GPL or the GPL can be used to buy specific items at cost to sell on the exchange for EC.
If you want to truely be evil, only civilians can "earn" lobi....*grin* don't really like GPL as a currency. Its fine as a fairly easily gained commodity of trade.. its only used for DOFF missions and spending on purely vanity items, and "poof" consumables (holo ship costumes.. not even disguises.. just costumes..and personal holo costumes.. all in all, not really all that immpressive)
Let a civ faction use EC as thier primary currency. Should be some sort of rep currency..((Ferenginar stock certificates?)). Only players that hit level cap (call them "merchant princes" ) would be diving into STF's.. and should have pretty much the same content availible to them as the purely empire military types.
And just a note to the "but its not canon" crowd.. it is Canon...in its purist from.. all of the events in the trek series's happened in a civilian universe. And civilians do fight. Military types simply have specific training..and in the case of players.. are still IN the military.
The difference between a military captain and a civilian captain.. odds are the civilian actually OWNS thier starship, and isn't flying a government loaner out of the pool..
I don't really think there needs to be a special currency or anything like that. There's already plenty of currencies, why make up a special one?
Some of the patrol-type missions, or perhaps exploration zone missions, could be set up as trade missions. Schlep stuff from planet A to planet B.
Another possibility would be to make some specific mission rewards for the independent factions. Maybe new special weapons and consoles, perhaps new consumables. Then the independent faction would have things to peddle to the players of the major factions.
And just a note to the "but its not canon" crowd.. it is Canon...in its purist from.. all of the events in the trek series's happened in a civilian universe. And civilians do fight. Military types simply have specific training..and in the case of players.. are still IN the military.
The difference between a military captain and a civilian captain.. odds are the civilian actually OWNS thier starship, and isn't flying a government loaner out of the pool..
*grin*
People who say "it's non-canon" in this context probably never saw the various episodes where we actually see freighter or raider crews.
In this particular instance at least two episodes of "Enterprise": "Fortunate Son" and "Horizon" come to mind.
Also TNG:"Gambit" as an example for mercenaries.
Some of the playable "individuals" might also come from a military background (retired, discharged etc.) so we could still have tactical as a profession.
Tinkerers of any sort would fill the engineering role.
Former sensor officers and prospectors looking for an astroid filled with valuables could very well allow us to keep the general class structure by giving us science-types as well.
And yes, in most cases those folks would have their own ship.
There could be freighters (large and slow ones, small and fast ones), raiders, mobile labs, scouts etc.
And they could be from different races from around the quadrant.
Some of them would probably be older military-grade ships, some of them a century or more old (wink).
So a creative raider group might operate a couple of old 22nd century Birds-of-Prey.
Maybe a Klingon has gotten a D5 converted to an armed freighter (like the one from Enterprise:"Marauders").
More adventorous people might get their hands on an old surplus Starfleet ship like the Oberth from TNG:"Hero Worship", or maybe prefer an old round-nacelled Romulan Bird-or-Prey with its plasma launcher replaced with modern sensors.
These people could of course do..dirty work for all sides involved in the current affairs and gain resources so the ships can be upgraded via different Rep sytems.
Some freighters might still run some century-old phasers that need to be upgraded to something more modern.
Do you buy disruptors from the Klingons you just helped with that illegal colony?
Or do you prefer to take a more modern phasers from Starfleet Intelligence after you brought them some intel on True Way fleet movements?
OK, i have read most of the dissociation and I agree with most of you but you could have a great story line behind a civilian faction because it has never been done before, you could be a spy or cargo holder for the enemy bringing them weapons for an uprising.
Imagine the federation took cardassia and a small group of rebels are going to upraise, but they need weapon so they create a contract and send it to you (your a civilian) you can either choose to stay within the laws of the federation or become one of the rebels by shipping a load of weapons to them. The cardassians have their battle and win, they then medal you for your support and you go on your way with a great reputation for helping rebels in their cause.
i may do this for a founders story...
TO STAR OFF - STO and ALL modern MMORPGs I have played have lost track of there roots and no longer seek to build a world which the players manipulate and turn into their own. I have bin playing Star Trek Online a very long time. I remember the old earth space dock, the old skill system, I remember not having anyone to play with and having nothing to do but fly my ship around and despite the incredible improvements to the game the essential elements are the same, its a game where you level up then do missions for the coolest stuff... exept i have 4 sets of MKXII omega ground gear for my away team and the MKXII MACO and Adapted MACO ground gear, 2 sets of omega xii space parts 2 sets of maco xii space parts purity much all the special event and rep items i care to have and unlike games of old ive run out of things to do and realized that i have no way of effecting the world around me. The worlds of WoW, STO, LoTR, DCU, SRO, SWTOR, WOL, and many others are incredibly stagnant and repetitive, leaving players to roam through environments which never change and become after time uneventful. Now I am one of those pick a side play a side kind of people and I have limited my self to Federation on top of that I prefer to play one character, that being said off the top of my head I can think of several UPDATES which would be relatively drastic departures the STO Dev Teams focus but I feel they would in some cases be simple to carry out and in other cases just down right important to the construction of a immersive star trek experience.
A.SPICE THINGS UP- I don't care if I only get to decorate the captains quarters of my ship, I don't even care if I only get specific spots to put specific types of items in my captains quarters (I.E. spot for a lamp here, spot for a bed there, book shelve for any books i might have), I would rather spend my time decorating my ship and hanging out in my ship then flying from station to station and planet to planet because I'm bored from not playing anything or doing anything different. Trophies are neat and complement the room they are in quite nicely, however having trophies as the soul customizable feature in the ship interior represents a sorry attempt at creating a personalized atmosphere inside your ship.
B. PERSONAL SPACE - The ship interiors much like the decoration of them has bin sadly neglected. Even Star Trek Elite Force had a better ship interior then the great Star Trek Online. First off there is no way 50 people sleep in my defiant unless they sleep on the floor, second there's no way a Galaxy Class Star Ship is that small on the inside. 90% of Star Trek takes place inside ships am I the only one who sees this disconnect with STO game play. Further more, I understand STO cannot be Star Wars Galaxies but why cant people rent out Quarters on different stations, maybe give Fleet Admirals special quarters on the Fleet Starbase, Rentable quarters for fleet members at the Fleet Starbase which could add to the Fleet Bank coffers, or even an apartment overlooking some part of San Francisco or Andoria or Vulcan. For Vets like me maybe let us rent some super sweet Digs on the Veteran Station. This would give a motive for more constant foot traffic through these areas and allow a person to feel like they have some personal space that's theirs in the Galaxy.
C. CITIES ARE THE FUTURE - As civilizations grow their cities grow along with them. By the time any civilization has gotten to the point of space travel they've almost certainly constructed massive awe inspiring cities. one of the only things SWTOR(38 GIGS of Not Fun) did right was capture the massive size of Starwars Cities. Star Trek Online, has no cities. It has some city maps in the story line but it has nothing to stroll around, there is a lack of the one environment most highly associated with advanced civilizations when planet side, CITIES. If other districts could be added to existing areas such as Star Fleet Acadamy, Bajor, Vulcan, or Andoria in the form of separate instances it would bring a depth to the game which could be built upon and eventually allow Star Trek Online to expand beyond just a simple WoW/EVE clone with my favorite theme, to a full bodied original Sandbox/Themepark MMORPG with businesses people could own or events at the local pub or any number of a world of ideas. Use for Vehicles, future-trains.
D. World of Warriors - Now we all know Star Trek isn't just about killing and phasers, in fact I have watched all of star trek movies and series at least 4 times each and throughout them they depict a perfect representation of an entire galactic society. There are traders, engineers, miners, security officers, farmers, colonists, and just a wide array of other professions besides ship captain. Now true even scotty got to captain so everyone having a sship not such a big problem but if you had special ships you had to use for certain jobs like hauling a load somewhere it would give people a reason to fly something other than some sort of large weapon bristling vessel which would give the large weapon bristling vessels something to escort making for good roll play and good game play all at the same time. New types of vessels could be made and sold in the zen store, an entire new realm of adventure would be opened up to those old school players like myself who have just killed one to many ships and one to many Elite Drones and now just wants to run around DS9 in circles till someone joins in. In fact, for me personally I would quite enjoy having to do missions on my ship getting parts doing mini games climbing in tubes to go fix parts of the engine maybe having to work on the transporter go to some station to pick up 5000 loads of something to take to some other station which of course will have enemies along the way waiting to take my goods. Another Neat RP related job idea would be small jobs like bar tender, chef, dancer, musician(would have lots of references back to the series) each having special abilities and benefits related to their job description. dancers and musicians could give out light buffs. long lasting, death removing buffs which would increase in variety and potency as they level up but can only be given out at dance areas. bar tenders could have the ability to walk up to a bar interact with get behind it, and be able to make better then normal food and drink buffs to real people crowds. any number of possibilities and if the devs don't want to take the time to seamlessly build it into the game they can put it in with the Rep System. Crafting could be done in the form of what rep level you have for different types of jobs.
E. STRONG GOVERMENT - Fleet leaders do not have enough Definition/Choices. Despite the strong push the STO development team have made at giving Star Trek Online Fleets a point, the Fleet controls and general Fleet logistics setup given to fleet leaders is extremely rudimentary compared to the benefits and physical infrastructure which have bin bestowed upon them. Fleet leaders need the ability to define specifically what provision types each rank is allowed to take. Fleet leaders also need to be able to define more precisely how far each promotion capable rank is allowed to promote a person (I.E. give captains the ability to promote past ensign but no further or give Rear Admirals the ability to promote to Commander but not Captain). A better logistics system has to be put in place, something allowing for a daily message to specific ranked fleet members, a BLACKBOARD of sort which all ranking members of a fleet could use to leave messages on anything relevant, promotions, demotions, concerns, any information which may be of importance to the other leading members of a fleet, things that may sometimes cause problems because everyone wasn't informed and no everyone checks their mail. FLEET ADMIRALS NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEND MAIL TO ALL OF A SPECIFIC RANK!!!! I have the worst time keeping certain ranks informed of information without having to send a fleet mail to everyone. The bank needs more pages if not a complete reworking. The ability to make actual formal in game alliances with other fleets needs to become part of this game. give fleets who have made alliances something special because of it and reward everyone just a little bit more when they make new more alliances. Give people the ability to put the TAGs of their alliance under their name somewhere above their character maybe.
IN CONCLUSION - I don't expect anything to come of this post, i truly doubt anyone will read all that ive written and a good chance people will disagree but ive spent far to much time talking to other people about things like what i have written about and I desided it was time i at least put my voice out there to hopefully but doubtfully make a difference a game i play souly because i love star trek and because i have a fleet of people which id like to give a good experience and help them be as good as i am in the hope they will not be like me, one who has burned so many times on so many different games, and continue to help others with the same motivation that drove me to help them.
I've been dreaming about a faction like this for a long time. Launch a civilian or "independent trader" faction, roll in the Ferengi and a number of other elements from the long history of Trek, integrate this creatively with the existing factions, and you've got something fresh for this game. I hope that this is, at the very least, being considered as a possibility.
well I only had one thing to say and I don't often use forums. I still cant start my own thread I don't know why I have never bin on the forums as far as I can remember and never long enough to be locked or something. But the closest ill get to posting anything in the STO forums is as a reply piggy backed on someone else's thread and I felt it was better to throw what ive had to say for a long time out there for people to not listen to then not put it out there at all. Im not making a habbit of it.
well I only had one thing to say and I don't often use forums. I still cant start my own thread I don't know why I have never bin on the forums as far as I can remember and never long enough to be locked or something. But the closest ill get to posting anything in the STO forums is as a reply piggy backed on someone else's thread and I felt it was better to throw what ive had to say for a long time out there for people to not listen to then not put it out there at all. Im not making a habbit of it.
The last part at least is good to hear.
Because dumping the same post into different threads...especially when it has nothing to do with the thread itself is spam and treated as such.
I love the idea of a civilian/privateer/mercenary faction, so long as we can defect from whatever faction we're in now to this would make it a done deal for me. Obviously if you do defect you shouldn't be able to use it as a way of getting any gear you want like a kind of loophole. After all, you have just resigned/defected/gone renegade, it isn't like they'd let you keep everything you have as much as that's possible
This is a really good idea, I hope something like this does happen eventually. It would be awesome
Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head. - Euripides
I no longer do any Bug Hunting work for Cryptic. I may resume if a serious attempt to fix the game is made.
Ok, I'm amazed.. this thread is still getting posts.
Civvie faction.. still a viable context.
One idea that got tossed in I definatly liked as qa possible faction starting point... players that "retire" from the KDF or starfleet to take up a civlian career.
That would elimiate the need for a faction "tutorial" more like mini story/cutscene sequence where you muster out.. honorably, or courts marshaled. (choose good/nutral/evil track track you select determine civilian career tracks availible.
Comments
I'm not necessarily arguing for a "Civilian" faction, mind you... and I strongly believe that if such a thing were to happen, it needs to happen later. Maybe in a couple of years, maybe longer.
But players have been asking for alternative gameplay options for as long as I can remember.
Even a "Civilian" could be involved in exploration and diplomacy, for example.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Forgot about my non-participation in forum discussions unless it's constructive promise.
My bad.
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
don't get me wrong but the playable mercenary/freelancer kinda faction would be a great idea in a star wars game. just can't see it in a star trek game. that said, it would be nice to see more of these groups make appearnces in story/missions/eps. or even just places/zones to visit.
We do need more civilian art assets in the game. Civilian clothing, civilian starships, etc.
If for no other reason than to put them in the Foundry or reuse them in Cryptic-designed scenarios. We need to see civilians walking around, even if we're not playing as one.
The Federation is more than just Starfleet and there are civilians in the Klingon Empire who aren't necessarily a member of the KDF. It's an immersion thing.
While I personally can't see the attraction of playing as a merchant, you've got to admit that a few non-military types and ne'er-do-wells played big parts in Star Trek lore. Where are the Harry Mudds, the Cyrano Joneses, the Cassidy Yates, the Quarks, or the Lwaxana Trois?
And I can certainly see why the Role-Play crowd might want the ability to play as a civilian or at least appear to be one.
And when STO expands into that "galactic west of Sol" area, might be a good time to start introducing those things.
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1. Go out and do manual labor that no one else wants to do and get paid squat.
2. Clock out and go to a bar for drinks with fellow civilian workers.
3. Get dances from girls at bikini bar.
Yeah, that could work -
- Oh wait, I play this game to ESCAPE from reality!
:eek:
Seriously, people - Mission - Goals -Rewards. That's what you have to consider when making suggestions like this. A civ faction is about as mundane as you can get in a sci-fi game. The Sims - Star Trek is what it sounds like, and I don't play games like that. If there's any sort of non-military aligned faction, it's gonna have to be an "independent" or "mercenary" type faction that allows for their mission, goals and rewards to be as synonymous with the KDF's and Starfleet's objectives as much as possible.
Re: The mission objective at Ker'rat - salvage the tech from the Borg.
That's something that can still work for a non-aligned faction.
Unless of course my Klingon gets to follow them around all day, beating them up so he can take their stuff.
You realize you just perfectly described the new romulus "adventure zone," right?
The idea has already been expanded in that way, in multiple posts. It would, ideally, be a catch all for all sorts of groups that don't fall under the umbrellas of starfleet, KDF, or one of the other major factions.
So, in addition to traders and the like:
Ferengi
Mercenaries
Pirates
Explorers/Scouts
Mirror Universe types
Rebels and Renegades (like the marquis)
Criminal Organizations (like the orion syndicate)
There's plenty of combat potential within an independent faction, and many if not most missions can easily be converted to work with such a faction.
The rewards would be the usual: Items and Currency. And you know what? It'd make a whole lot more sense. How often did we hear about how the federation in general grew out of the need for money, and the desire for material wealth? Yet we all run around scrambling to earn over a half dozen different currencies. At least with a merchant/pirate/mercenary faction that would be in-character.
Thanks - you backed up my point for making an independent/mercenary faction perfectly.
:cool:
Again, though, there is one subset of the Community that would benefit from playable civilians in a big way and those are the Role-Players that don't need a pre-scripted "mission" for enjoyment.
For them, the emphasis is on drama, social interaction, and immersion. They just want a character to play. And sometimes, for the purposes of a story, you need to step outside of Starfleet.
Now is this an important "must have" feature for STO? No, probably not.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
And I'm not even an RPer.
Perhaps such a crafting system could be tied to an alternate method of progression from Starfleet Tactical/Engineering/Science? Or as an alternate career path along side those for Starfleet/KDF player's who would want both for one character. That would work with the OP's original suggestion. And might work with the Ferengi/Independent Merchant ideas also in this thread.
Missions;
Traders trade with other players. Earn in game currencies from missions. Establish trace routes. Pirates pirate. Scientists discover strange new world since Starfleet is too busy shooting at things.
Goals:
Money, money, knowledge respectively.
Rewards;
Money, money and the sense of being a badass, neat science stuff.
If properly written, each could provide a valuable source of information about the games background story.
Trader discovers they've been feeding the Tal Shiar and the Iconians. Do they keep it quiet and run afoul of the wrath of the KDF? Pirate have to decide if they're just going to sit around feeding off chaos or if they're going to do the Harlock thing and take the fight to the Iconians. Scientists search for new technologies to use in the fight of uncover past hints about why they were chased out of the galaxy to begin with.
Section 31 could be involved in their actions. The Undine could be manipulating them for some reason. Amd that's just the story. It could be just as simple as trading, fighting, and gaining EC.
A player driven form of economy similar to what the dilithium exchange is like now, however the economy would have to be delivered via GPL it is the true universal currency.
I see EC as Military Script, and GPL as full known currency.
What if we had this faction for those with a Tuffli? a true civilian ship I believe both sides can obtain. It also allows us to have the "I'm an admiral and I have free time" gimick people are running around with. Or the "Reserve" idea which lets the military personnel to do their own thing while still being on standby to serve.
This way the faction has its limited player base to begin the start up, and give this micro faction a random mission generator for multiple things like, "deliver cargo, establish trade lines (for those with a high diplomatic rank) and profit from them like doff missions, assist in setting up colonies, etc" The rewards for these missions would be GPL.
small things like that where those with a tuffli can earn EC and GPL, the EC of course would be converted from GPL or the GPL can be used to buy specific items at cost to sell on the exchange for EC.
Pitch your own ideas.
-Lockerd
Let a civ faction use EC as thier primary currency. Should be some sort of rep currency..((Ferenginar stock certificates?)). Only players that hit level cap (call them "merchant princes" ) would be diving into STF's.. and should have pretty much the same content availible to them as the purely empire military types.
And just a note to the "but its not canon" crowd.. it is Canon...in its purist from.. all of the events in the trek series's happened in a civilian universe. And civilians do fight. Military types simply have specific training..and in the case of players.. are still IN the military.
The difference between a military captain and a civilian captain.. odds are the civilian actually OWNS thier starship, and isn't flying a government loaner out of the pool..
*grin*
Some of the patrol-type missions, or perhaps exploration zone missions, could be set up as trade missions. Schlep stuff from planet A to planet B.
Another possibility would be to make some specific mission rewards for the independent factions. Maybe new special weapons and consoles, perhaps new consumables. Then the independent faction would have things to peddle to the players of the major factions.
People who say "it's non-canon" in this context probably never saw the various episodes where we actually see freighter or raider crews.
In this particular instance at least two episodes of "Enterprise": "Fortunate Son" and "Horizon" come to mind.
Also TNG:"Gambit" as an example for mercenaries.
Some of the playable "individuals" might also come from a military background (retired, discharged etc.) so we could still have tactical as a profession.
Tinkerers of any sort would fill the engineering role.
Former sensor officers and prospectors looking for an astroid filled with valuables could very well allow us to keep the general class structure by giving us science-types as well.
And yes, in most cases those folks would have their own ship.
There could be freighters (large and slow ones, small and fast ones), raiders, mobile labs, scouts etc.
And they could be from different races from around the quadrant.
Some of them would probably be older military-grade ships, some of them a century or more old (wink).
So a creative raider group might operate a couple of old 22nd century Birds-of-Prey.
Maybe a Klingon has gotten a D5 converted to an armed freighter (like the one from Enterprise:"Marauders").
More adventorous people might get their hands on an old surplus Starfleet ship like the Oberth from TNG:"Hero Worship", or maybe prefer an old round-nacelled Romulan Bird-or-Prey with its plasma launcher replaced with modern sensors.
These people could of course do..dirty work for all sides involved in the current affairs and gain resources so the ships can be upgraded via different Rep sytems.
Some freighters might still run some century-old phasers that need to be upgraded to something more modern.
Do you buy disruptors from the Klingons you just helped with that illegal colony?
Or do you prefer to take a more modern phasers from Starfleet Intelligence after you brought them some intel on True Way fleet movements?
Imagine the federation took cardassia and a small group of rebels are going to upraise, but they need weapon so they create a contract and send it to you (your a civilian) you can either choose to stay within the laws of the federation or become one of the rebels by shipping a load of weapons to them. The cardassians have their battle and win, they then medal you for your support and you go on your way with a great reputation for helping rebels in their cause.
i may do this for a founders story...
A.SPICE THINGS UP- I don't care if I only get to decorate the captains quarters of my ship, I don't even care if I only get specific spots to put specific types of items in my captains quarters (I.E. spot for a lamp here, spot for a bed there, book shelve for any books i might have), I would rather spend my time decorating my ship and hanging out in my ship then flying from station to station and planet to planet because I'm bored from not playing anything or doing anything different. Trophies are neat and complement the room they are in quite nicely, however having trophies as the soul customizable feature in the ship interior represents a sorry attempt at creating a personalized atmosphere inside your ship.
B. PERSONAL SPACE - The ship interiors much like the decoration of them has bin sadly neglected. Even Star Trek Elite Force had a better ship interior then the great Star Trek Online. First off there is no way 50 people sleep in my defiant unless they sleep on the floor, second there's no way a Galaxy Class Star Ship is that small on the inside. 90% of Star Trek takes place inside ships am I the only one who sees this disconnect with STO game play. Further more, I understand STO cannot be Star Wars Galaxies but why cant people rent out Quarters on different stations, maybe give Fleet Admirals special quarters on the Fleet Starbase, Rentable quarters for fleet members at the Fleet Starbase which could add to the Fleet Bank coffers, or even an apartment overlooking some part of San Francisco or Andoria or Vulcan. For Vets like me maybe let us rent some super sweet Digs on the Veteran Station. This would give a motive for more constant foot traffic through these areas and allow a person to feel like they have some personal space that's theirs in the Galaxy.
C. CITIES ARE THE FUTURE - As civilizations grow their cities grow along with them. By the time any civilization has gotten to the point of space travel they've almost certainly constructed massive awe inspiring cities. one of the only things SWTOR(38 GIGS of Not Fun) did right was capture the massive size of Starwars Cities. Star Trek Online, has no cities. It has some city maps in the story line but it has nothing to stroll around, there is a lack of the one environment most highly associated with advanced civilizations when planet side, CITIES. If other districts could be added to existing areas such as Star Fleet Acadamy, Bajor, Vulcan, or Andoria in the form of separate instances it would bring a depth to the game which could be built upon and eventually allow Star Trek Online to expand beyond just a simple WoW/EVE clone with my favorite theme, to a full bodied original Sandbox/Themepark MMORPG with businesses people could own or events at the local pub or any number of a world of ideas. Use for Vehicles, future-trains.
D. World of Warriors - Now we all know Star Trek isn't just about killing and phasers, in fact I have watched all of star trek movies and series at least 4 times each and throughout them they depict a perfect representation of an entire galactic society. There are traders, engineers, miners, security officers, farmers, colonists, and just a wide array of other professions besides ship captain. Now true even scotty got to captain so everyone having a sship not such a big problem but if you had special ships you had to use for certain jobs like hauling a load somewhere it would give people a reason to fly something other than some sort of large weapon bristling vessel which would give the large weapon bristling vessels something to escort making for good roll play and good game play all at the same time. New types of vessels could be made and sold in the zen store, an entire new realm of adventure would be opened up to those old school players like myself who have just killed one to many ships and one to many Elite Drones and now just wants to run around DS9 in circles till someone joins in. In fact, for me personally I would quite enjoy having to do missions on my ship getting parts doing mini games climbing in tubes to go fix parts of the engine maybe having to work on the transporter go to some station to pick up 5000 loads of something to take to some other station which of course will have enemies along the way waiting to take my goods. Another Neat RP related job idea would be small jobs like bar tender, chef, dancer, musician(would have lots of references back to the series) each having special abilities and benefits related to their job description. dancers and musicians could give out light buffs. long lasting, death removing buffs which would increase in variety and potency as they level up but can only be given out at dance areas. bar tenders could have the ability to walk up to a bar interact with get behind it, and be able to make better then normal food and drink buffs to real people crowds. any number of possibilities and if the devs don't want to take the time to seamlessly build it into the game they can put it in with the Rep System. Crafting could be done in the form of what rep level you have for different types of jobs.
E. STRONG GOVERMENT - Fleet leaders do not have enough Definition/Choices. Despite the strong push the STO development team have made at giving Star Trek Online Fleets a point, the Fleet controls and general Fleet logistics setup given to fleet leaders is extremely rudimentary compared to the benefits and physical infrastructure which have bin bestowed upon them. Fleet leaders need the ability to define specifically what provision types each rank is allowed to take. Fleet leaders also need to be able to define more precisely how far each promotion capable rank is allowed to promote a person (I.E. give captains the ability to promote past ensign but no further or give Rear Admirals the ability to promote to Commander but not Captain). A better logistics system has to be put in place, something allowing for a daily message to specific ranked fleet members, a BLACKBOARD of sort which all ranking members of a fleet could use to leave messages on anything relevant, promotions, demotions, concerns, any information which may be of importance to the other leading members of a fleet, things that may sometimes cause problems because everyone wasn't informed and no everyone checks their mail. FLEET ADMIRALS NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEND MAIL TO ALL OF A SPECIFIC RANK!!!! I have the worst time keeping certain ranks informed of information without having to send a fleet mail to everyone. The bank needs more pages if not a complete reworking. The ability to make actual formal in game alliances with other fleets needs to become part of this game. give fleets who have made alliances something special because of it and reward everyone just a little bit more when they make new more alliances. Give people the ability to put the TAGs of their alliance under their name somewhere above their character maybe.
IN CONCLUSION - I don't expect anything to come of this post, i truly doubt anyone will read all that ive written and a good chance people will disagree but ive spent far to much time talking to other people about things like what i have written about and I desided it was time i at least put my voice out there to hopefully but doubtfully make a difference a game i play souly because i love star trek and because i have a fleet of people which id like to give a good experience and help them be as good as i am in the hope they will not be like me, one who has burned so many times on so many different games, and continue to help others with the same motivation that drove me to help them.
Farm eSTF and unlock reputation weapons. Don't know if you can come up with gap between civilian and farming guns but I welcome the try.
The last part at least is good to hear.
Because dumping the same post into different threads...especially when it has nothing to do with the thread itself is spam and treated as such.
I like the civilian idea though.
No. Your fun makes everyone else's fun wrong by default.
This is a really good idea, I hope something like this does happen eventually. It would be awesome
My character Tsin'xing
Civvie faction.. still a viable context.
One idea that got tossed in I definatly liked as qa possible faction starting point... players that "retire" from the KDF or starfleet to take up a civlian career.
That would elimiate the need for a faction "tutorial" more like mini story/cutscene sequence where you muster out.. honorably, or courts marshaled. (choose good/nutral/evil track track you select determine civilian career tracks availible.
This thread was launched in February *facepalm*