Join the KDF, be a stooge and murder Starfleet officers for being duped and betrayed by a Section 31 agent because he's got Script Immunity and can pull your puppet strings because he's a Mary Sue ... and he'll TELL YOU he's doing this BEFORE you play along, dancing to his tune like the useful idiot you are.
PetaQ.
Just out of curiosity, I wondered how many Starfleet Officers good ol' Mary Sue Man, Franklin Drake, needlessly sent to their deaths via flat out, blatant Script Immunity in the first couple Missions after the Tutorial. I'm talking straight up BODY COUNT here.
Tutorial
Boarding Party I/II/III sends over 3 teams of 10 each to attack. Pretty sure I fought at least 20 of them in the corridors and brig area, all of whom fell to my Disruptor. On my way back to the bridge, it looked like some of the B'rel crew were standing over the bodies of ANOTHER group of 5 Boarding Party Starfleeters, so ... call it 25 confirmed Starfleet Officers taken down, some of whom got vaporized, but all of these people came from the Starfleet ships in the area
Captain Jurlek and First Officer Doran confirmed DEAD. They are (apparently?) the only DEATHS among your B'rel crew ... Killed By The Narrative. Everyone else who is KDF aboard the B'rel ... survives?
Searching for the Seg'pa, you get to outright destroy 1 Crippled Frigate (200 crew), 2 Repair Frigates (200 crew each) and a Typhoon-class Battleship (800 crew, presumably). NONE of these ships launch any kind of escape pods or otherwise Abandon Ship before being destroyed.
Total Body Count So Far: 1400 Starfleet DEAD ... versus ... 2 KDF Dead (and the latter two were only killed off by The Narrative, not by Starfleet).
Keep in mind that a B'rel has a crew of *30*.
During the pursuit on Qo'nos, you get to engage and directly defeat in ground combat another 20 Starfleet, some of whom get vaporized. There's also the Spymaster that you ... ignore ... after he doesn't tell you anything, who gets left lying on the floor, writhing from his ... wounds? Isn't anyone going to ... you know ... frog march this guy off to prison somewhere? Are we just going to leave him, on the floor ... UNGUARDED ... so he can escape when no one is looking (because you can't be bothered to set someone to WATCH HIM to make sure HE doesn't escape too)?
Total Body Count So Far: 1400 Starfleet confirmed DEAD, plus up to 20 more either dead or dying, and 1 high value prisoner who is ... ignored ... unimportant ... forgotten? Meanwhile, the KDF has lost ... 2 officers ... both of which were Killed By The Narrative.
Chasing Mr. Mary Sue into his "oh so clever trap" by following his stolen shuttlecraft nearly ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE SECTOR BLOCK ... the LONG way ... you get the "honor" of destroying another 2 Starfleet Frigates (400 more dead), another Typhoon-class Battleship (eh, they're a dime a dozen apparently) (800 more dead), and then *another* 3 Frigates (600 more dead) ... all because Franklin Drake TAUNTED ME over the comm channel, so I do EXACTLY WHAT HE TOLD ME TO DO instead of CAPTURING HIM and "escorting" him to an all expenses paid trip to MY BRIG. :mad:
Total Body Count So Far: 3200 Starfleet CONFIRMED DEAD, plus another 20 or so on Qo'nos who either got vaporized or were left to die from their wounds (because neither you, nor your Bridge Officers ever bothered to call for backup to clean up the mess), plus 1 Spymaster who ... got shot ... but was left lying on the ground, never secured, and presumably "got away" because he's never mentioned ever again (being nothing more than an unimportant speedbump in your killing spree). KDF casualties among your B'rel crew are ... *2* ... and they were Killed By The Narrative (and already "replaced" by the time you had to scan for Iridium in the Tutorial, judging by the Crew Meter on screen).
Hmmm ... 3200+ Starfleet either dead or (presumably) captured ... a DOZEN Starships outright destroyed, utterly ... all so Francis Drake can play the Mary Sue "ha ha, I'm smarter than all of you!" card on his escape route.
Uh ... are we SURE that Section 31 is working for the Federation? As it is, it sounds like they're working "for the Empire" to thin the ranks of Starfleet at an attrition rate well above 1000:1 in favor of the KDF. :eek: If Drake can keep this up, the Empire ought to WIN THE WAR almost by default ... :rolleyes:
Am I the only one who thinks there's a bit of a ... problem here ...?
I like the Manhunt mission series and have no issues with fed body count. Though it would be easier to swallow (for the unfed blood thirsty) if the player saw the occassional Undine visage bleed through to enforce the UFP is compromised from within storyline.
It would help set the inherent distrust that said player should be feeling at this stage of gameplay coming off the war setting established by the Path to 2409.
When trying to customise the starter B'Rel, no matter what changes are made (if any), when you click purchase you're given a panel demanding a Zen purchase for the Exeter pack.
At the end of "Bringing Down the House", you get a yellow floater message saying that you placed in the Bat'leth tournament, when you haven't competed.
In "The House Always Wins", during the attack on the House of Torg forces in space, your allies are still about as useful as a chocolate teapot after eliminating the first squadron
Why does the B'Rel not have a Battle Cloak? It makes the ship very underpowered (and non-canon) to have the normal cloak
The Tutorial felt off for me until I realized why. I went through the Romulan tutorial with the T'Liss. And then full expected the T1 B'Rel to have a battlecloak as well when going through the KDF tutorial.
Now's the perfect time to make the T1 B'Rel a proper raider. Give it a battlecloak. Adjust its hull and shield modifiers. And make it a right proper raider.
Uh ... are we SURE that Section 31 is working for the Federation? As it is, it sounds like they're working "for the Empire" to thin the ranks of Starfleet at an attrition rate well above 1000:1 in favor of the KDF. :eek: If Drake can keep this up, the Empire ought to WIN THE WAR almost by default ... :rolleyes:
Am I the only one who thinks there's a bit of a ... problem here ...?
Yeah not enough dead feds!
No real gripe if I'm honest, I think it shows the major flaws of Fed's. Their inability to think past their orders and protocols plus their blind obedience. DS9 is loaded with examples of this.
All of the lines from your captain in the first missions are over-modulated - the mic as clearly of a poor quality and was unable to record at the volumes the "talent" was speaking in. He may also have been far too close to the mic... and his delivery was a bit amateur... honestly, most of it is on the KDF missions.
Overall, the KDF VO work pales in comparison to the Rom stuff. I am very glad to have it, but it comes across as unprofessional and cheaply made. They feel like they needed a far more critical ear - a real VO Producer, and perhaps a higher quality facility and engineer to record it.
Then again, maybe I'm biased having produced gobs of VO sessions at real studios over the years...
Wampaq@Jnoh, Fleet Leader: ..Bloodbath and Beyond[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]'Iw HaH je Hoch! ALL HOLDINGS FINISHED! - Starbase 5-5-5-5 || Embassy 3-3-3 || Mine 3-3-3 || Spire 3-3-3 A laid back KDF fleet welcoming independent, casual, & part-time players and groups. Roms & alts welcome. Send in-game mail to Wampaq@Jnoh, visit our recruitment thread and FB page for more info.
Out of curiosity, why does my customizing my B'Rel require me to purchase the Exeter?
^THIS!
Very frustrating.
Wampaq@Jnoh, Fleet Leader: ..Bloodbath and Beyond[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]'Iw HaH je Hoch! ALL HOLDINGS FINISHED! - Starbase 5-5-5-5 || Embassy 3-3-3 || Mine 3-3-3 || Spire 3-3-3 A laid back KDF fleet welcoming independent, casual, & part-time players and groups. Roms & alts welcome. Send in-game mail to Wampaq@Jnoh, visit our recruitment thread and FB page for more info.
I love the KDF tutorial so far. It still needs some additional polishing, though.
I noticed that, during the fight with the captain, the captain's chair disappeared.
The disruptor pistol you start with still does not match the icon in your tray.
Also, the beds in the barracks seem a little too soft for a Klingon ship. Mattresses and pillows? Really? They even had embroidered sheets! No warrior would sleep on such a thing! Especially in a Klingon barracks.
The cutscene showing the ships during the prisoner exchange seems to be fixed as far as hiding the fed ship before it's supposed to appear, but the scene still seems very stiff since none of the 3 ships move at all during the attack. They should at least break off (even at a alow pace at first) once the attack started coming in.
To paraphrase Comic Book Guy, "Worst VO ever." You've turned the klingons into bad cartoon characters! They don't all sound like they've had a bottle brush taken to their vocal chords! Please rerecord these god awful vocals with normal voices or find someone with klingon VO experience to do them. These sound like they were done for someone's fifth grade stage production of the worst Star Trek play ever!
*The pre-equipped Klingon disruptor seems to be clipped by another handgun model. It only becomes visible when firing. Same on different characters.
*Some VO lines are missing. E.g., the second to the last line of K'Gan's motivational speech to your crew or the very first line of the Captain of the Seg'pa. *K'Gan and Ch'gren, your first two BOffs appear to be clones! They look 100% identical.
I just played through entry KDF missions for a second time during beta and I noticed a few upgrades especially to Bring Down the House
it keeps better and better, keep up the good work, although I'd love to hear this klingon burial rite song in voiceover
Finally got through all the new and upgraded KDF stuff, which is looking much cooler now. Here are some things that I've noticed over the last couple weeks that I think could be improved. Some of them are repeats that I'm just moving into the Official KDF content thread, and others may have already been fixed in the last patch, but I've done my best to make sure that these are current items.
Space Chase:
The Vulcan captain's VO sounds too emotional; needs either a new VO or just change the captain to a non-Vulcan.
Taking down a Typhoon battleship was way to easy; sure, it is Lt. level combat, but still. Seems more sensible to make the Typhoon normal strength and add KDF reinforcements, or make it a different ship entirely (like a Nova-class or something a B'Rel would convincingly be able to take down single-handedly).
Friend or Foe:
Talking to Worf with "Sir, do you have a moment?" sounds too 'polite Human' for the Klingons, and probably the other KDF races as well. I'm not sure what would work in its place, but it seems weird to me.
Given how the events in this mission flow into the next arc, I wonder if the mission giver intro for Bringing Down the House needs to be altered slightly. Having K'mtar say that we have to talk to Sirella, and then J'mpok calling us to say that Sirella actually asked for a meeting with us seems a bit strange. Possible solution: maybe if K'mtar says that we can't just go talk to Sirella ourselves because it would alert the evil powers that be on the High Council that we were up to something; therefore K'mtar arranges to send a covert message to Sirella to formally request our assistance through the High Council for some urgent matter, giving us a cover story as to why we're going to Sirella's house in the first place.
Bringing Down the House:
The dialogue where you talk to M'vek for the first time could stand to be expanded a bit. When talking to M'vek for the first time, it consists of a single dialogue box of him responding to the assassination plot that we never mentioned to him and choosing to fight; this could be changed to involve either the player or K'mtar fully explaining the extent of the plot to M'vek before he makes his decision.
"jin'tak" is spelled wrong in the Mission Reward text: It should be "gin'tak", as it is spelled elsewhere.
The House Always Wins:
The House of Martok reinforcement vessels are very unreliable. The ones that show up around Communication Satellite 2 are dispatched much too quickly compared to the ones around Satellite 1, and Satellite 3 has no reinforcements at all, leaving the player's poor Lt.-level B'Rel (w/o Battle Cloak) to be mowed down by the forces there with nothing but Evasive Maneuvers and an underpowered Engineering Team I as a defense. I'm pretty sure this has been this way since the last time I played this mission on Holodeck. Beefing up the Martok groups in those spots seems like a good way to remedy this.
A House Pursued:
The 'Destroy Scavenger Drones' objective may be difficult to complete because they don't show up on the minimap or on the main screen with a reticle (since they're strike craft, and as far as I know default Player options don't display reticles for strike craft unless they are targeted first). Perhaps these should be switched out with frigates or something that is easier to find.
It is not easily apparent to the player that their ship is receiving radiation damage from proximity to the Borg Sphere wreckage (no indicator like there is for 'Nebula Interference').
Yeash, sorry it's taken me so long to get some logs for this/run through it. I'll try to chew through the episodes by the end of the week.
==Prologue==
-Captain Jurlek's voiceover audio quality is a bit sketchy. (It makes a poor first impression.)
-It's neat to see a holodeck used like this. While new people to the series may not pick up on it as much, those that are not (like myself) will appreciate it.
-There is something unusual about the starting disruptor pistol's model. It seems as if there are two overlapping/clipping models shown while firing.
-"These Klingon beds are surprisingly nice."
-Honestly, the voice-over work during the prison transfer/ambush actually broke a bit of the immersion. It didn't sell the scene very well.
-I like the different class mission objectives introduction.. Although I am a bit curious what the other classes would be tasked to do at this point. (I'm guessing medical aid and fire control.) Hinting at the other tasks in some way might help make the variety stand out more(you ARE trying to sell new players on the game at this stage).
-First Officer Doran's VO felt a bit too forced.. pausing too abruptly between words and not really 'flowing' like someone who is 'speaking'. Also, the accent left me constantly wanting to go "ARR! Me Hearties!"..
-"Sweet! We start with a Melee weapon!"
-"Pah! What a petaQ of a captain!"
-As much as I want to space Drake for being soo smug.. he does do a good job of helping explain Klingon culture to a player who may not be familiar.
-"Was a pop-filter even used during the recording of Captain Jurlek's voiceover?..."
-The Captain's reasoning is fair and relate-able, but still traitorous. He makes a good villain for the tutorial.
-It would have been neat if the player was introduced to/forced into melee battle with the Klingon - to both explain the mechanics and demonstrate the importance of melee combat to the Klingon Empire.
-It's also slightly afflicted with a paused cadence and 'arr! me hearties!' moments, but I like K'gan's voiceover, as a whole.
-The tooltip voiceovers have been great so far.
-I cracked a grin when K'Gan referred to the Federation as the "Feds". It's a cute touch for introducing people to the community lingo, although I'm not sure if a Klingon would actually say such a thing.
-I'm a little sad to see the B'rel doesn't have battlecloak, but I suppose its understandable, both as an old ship and to emphasize Romulans being the masters of cloak.
-I like Captain Kagdar's VO. It instantly makes him a character you want to cooperate with.
-Loved the Qo'noS introduction cutscene and audio cue.
-Warden Gazzan's VO is great and offers a good introduction to the Gorn. ("Hmm.. does that mean there's an Orion coming up as well?")
-The First City cutscene is also quite nice as setting the overall mood.
-"Cute reference with the cell number there."
-"Well well, back here again already.."
-I concede this is indeed a better place to introduce melee combat.
-"That Bat'Leth combo cheat-sheet is handy!"
-The atmospheric filter for First City needs work. Currently there is an offset shadowed square that is glaringly noticeable in the Great Hall.
-I laughed at the "Punch Ferengi" part..
-Majorog told Ch'gren he would "Pay for his loses" instead of "losses" right before the fight began.
-"Oh.. that was the first mission of 'Empire'.. oopsie, I didn't catch where it began."
==Empire==
-=Duties of Command=-
-See above
-=The Hunt Is On=-
-"I always wondered what was behind this door in First City..."
-I like the introduction to the Tailor - a very organic to introduce them to new players.
-I have to admit, my first impulse was to shoot the cameras. It was a bit disappointing to find out you couldn't.
-Hmm.. It might be possible for a new player to die in the Safehouse if they are not a science officer and are not aware of how to use hypos. Seeing as you're not given a science boff at this point, it might be a good idea to have tooltip about them here.
-"Where is this Master Spy?..." There was no map indicator/waypoint.
-Again, I like the organic introduction to the Shipyard.
-"Woah, I didn't realize the B'rel had the Koloth variant parts."
-=Space Chase=-
-"It's a long trip to the Boreth System..."
-The diplomatic route seems to have an issue with the final button choice.. it button text almost seems to indicate that it should be two separate buttons..
-"Aww Franklin Drake's widdle shuttle is adorable.."
-"Wow, a Typhoon?.. really? What is a Federation Battleship-of-the-line doing all the way out here.. and why is an antiquated B'rel more than a match for it?.." O_o;; Considering it took a small fleet to take out a Galaxy class earlier, perhaps changing the costume of this encounter to.. say.. an Akira class might be less of a suspension of disbelief?
-=Manhunt=-
-"Whew.. that's another sizeable trek all the way back over to Rura Penthe." I'm not sure if this was an intentional choice to lighten the load on servers, but I do worry a bit about the impression this might have on a 'prospective' new player.
-"Woah, it took me a bit to notice the cold-weather costumes.. Very nice touch!"
-My loading screens seem to be inconsistently changing colors back to federation after having manually changed my UI settings to "Default"
-The Torpedo from the ship was.. green instead of photon red.
-Overall, the mission is a great homage to Undiscovered Country.
-=Friend or Foe=-
-The explanation of sector transition was good.
-"I do love 'Klingon Diplomacy'."
-The mission kind of casts the player into more of a role of a bully than an 'honorable warrior'. Perhaps the dialogue could be reworked to make the station commander a bit more suspect before the Romulans arrive?
-Those Heavy Plasma Torpedos are rough on the little starter ship. The encounters were fine, overall though. I'm sure a new player would struggle a little, but would win. I might suggest adding in a tooltip about power distribution in this mission.
-The Romulan Republic tie-in works well here to introduce the faction and the current divide among the Romulans.
-The tooltip about needing to approach Qo'noS planet is good and should help avoid confusion from new players about what to do.
I'd like the opportunity to practice the combo moves more, in the fight to establish you as captain. I appreciated that the tool tips menu stayed up during my two fights. However, two fights were not enough for me to become comfortable with using a hand to hand weapon or utilize the listed combos. I tried to fight others to practice after my two fights but could not; perhaps we could have the option to continue to practice by fighting additional people after you prove your worthiness as a captain.
==Warzone==
-=Bringing Down the House=-
-Love the ability to kick the equipment. Pointless, but amusing all the same.
-Ketha Lowlands really is quite beautiful now.. It really makes me wish it was a social zone - I think I would trade it for the current Academy without hesitation. Kudos to those who gave it a facelift!
-Some of the transit times seem a bit.. masochistic. Flying all the way across the Qo'noS system to hunt down the warp trails and all the way across Omega Leonis to the Forcas System.. are just long periods of sitting there staring at your ship, waiting for something to eventually happen. It's not really interesting or educational, just tedious.
-Overall, I really do like how this mission was remastered. The dialogue was quite interesting. Otherwise, I didn't really run into any big issues.
-=The House Always Wins=-
-The funeral cutscene is a nice addition. It helps reinforce the sense of what it means to be a part of the Klingon Empire.
-The Klingon interior filters still seem a bit rough. There is an offset shadowy 'box' that is very jarring. I noticed it both in House Torg and the Great Hall in First City.
-Torg despawns after 20-30 seconds if you talk to him without advancing the dialog. However, you can speak with J'mpok again to spawn him, so it's not a major issue.
-Loved the restructuring of this mission. I think it does very well as the final showdown of the level bracket.
-The "Tournament on Forcas (Optional)" mission popped up, but transwarping directly to it costs 100ec - which my character did not have yet. Granted, I could have vendored something to remedy that, but it struck me as odd seeing as the next mission was free to warp to.
-=Test of Mettle=-
-The map waypoint for the shipyard points to the far north-east if you're in First City - rather than to the transport pads.
-The K'tanco really doesn't suit the bridge officers new players are given up to that point(2 tac, 1 sci, 1 eng). I know it might be a lot to ask, but would the team consider changing the ensign engineering bridge slot to a universal one?
-At this point I noticed that I have two of the exact same bridge officers(B'ellera). One already part of my crew, another in the candidate roster. I did not repeat any missions, although I am not certain at which point the 'clone' was awarded..
-The beacon/engagement/ambush in Cursa takes place too close to the moon. I got the atmospheric white-out on approach, and the mobs constantly seemed to try to drag the battle into that atmospheric whiteout range(each encounter literally flew directly towards the moon).
-=Second Star to the Right, Straight on 'til Morning=-
-The Communications Satellites at Mars have disruptor beam and turret defenses(I did see a phaser turret, but most were disruptor).
-=Keep Your Enemies Closer=-
-I only just noticed, but it seems odd that the tractor beam emits out the K'tanco from it's left wing cannon..
-The security system could be disabled/interacted with again during the escape from the prison.
==Fek'lhri Return==
-=Blood of the Empire=-
-The deflector scan continues to animate and play audio during the dialogue for the Klingon Battle Group debris.
-"Oh god! I forgot how loud A/P cannons are! I cannot even hear myself think when they rapid-fire me!"
-The Portals appear to be a static level 29. Not sure if they're meant to scale with the player or not.
-The directions to get to Chancellor J'mpok in the KDF Headquarters are not entirely clear. It's very easy to miss that there is a staircase leading to a second floor(I only found it because I vaguely remembered the mission). Maybe a simple text pop-up from your second officer exclaiming: "Quickly! To the second floor!" might be enough of a hint.
-=Destiny=-
-You're able to speak with Chancellor J'mpok(via mission contact) without actually going to First City to advance the first objective.
-=Afterlife=-
-No real issues to report.
-=The Gates of Gre'thor=-
-I managed to vaporize Fek'lhr somehow while he was around 70% health. The fight continued, but his model was invisible. It was entertaining still being able to knock down an invisible demon with red sparklies coming out of its invisible staff("err.. perhaps that sounded a bit wrong..").
==Vigilance==
-=A House Pursued=-
-The mission tracker should probably mention that the Servin System is (all the way) in the Regulus sector block.
-"Why do 'mining drones' have torpedo launchers?.."
-The House of Torg Battlecruiser never returned fire or made effort to attack me in any way. It just slowly moved forward at cruising speed.
-=House on Fire=-
-No real issues to report - other than perhaps that I was able to easily avoid fighting several of the brigand cruisers.
-=Alpha=-
-The mission tracker should probably mention the Orith System is in the Psi Velorum sector block. (Also, can the zoom scaling for the Regulus block please be returned to where you can see the entire map at once?)
-"Somehow, the scale of this Bird of Prey feels... small"
-=Temporal Ambassador=-
-"You know, working with Franklin Drake in this mission.. has a completely different perspective after the new Klingon introduction storyline.."
-No real issues to report.
In "Bringing down the house" J'mpok contacts you and tells you to go to meet lady Sirella as he did in the old mission, but in the new progression, he shouldn't be involved because you're doing your own cloak-and-dagger, back-alley-detective work.
Also after the assassin gets away K'gen says "The very thought of a Romulan standing on the soil of Qo'noS makes bile rise in my throat!" just as one of your bridge officers would say previously. A good line, but as Romulans are fairly commonplace (at least in the First City) on the homeworld these days, it doesn't fit what is said previously to that end.
Thanks for the expansion that had "as much content as the last"
9 Episodes = 30+ episodes...?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It's pronounced "S.T.O." "Stow" sounds idiotic! lol
I found this more and more illogical the deeper I got in to this arc. How come we don't get the federation officers that we save as DOff prisoners? At least that would make sense why we're helping them when we're aligned to the KDF.
I was a bit too liberal with pressing Skip, so I couldn't play the mission where you get the combat pet Targ to try it out.
But a couple of my concerns are this:
Firstly, why a Targ?
Yes, it's an iconic Klingon animal, but I'd much rather have a Gorn Saur.
Dinosaur or Pig, which would you rather have?
Secondly, is it like a Horta?
Use it for 60seconds and then it's gone?
Or can you keep resummoning it when it dies?
And does it stay out permanently or only for the aforementioned 60seconds?
I'm wishing they'd use the Champions Online combat pet mechanic, regardless of the pet being invoked (Horta, Targ, Combat Drone, etc).
In CO, a Combat Pet remains active until Dismissed or it gets killed.
And when either of those events occurs, you can instantly summon replacements.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Despite picking up and using a new ship at lvl 11-12. The NPC dialogue still refers to my first inactive ship as the ship that is needed to a new mission.
I was a bit too liberal with pressing Skip, so I couldn't play the mission where you get the combat pet Targ to try it out.
But a couple of my concerns are this:
Firstly, why a Targ?
Yes, it's an iconic Klingon animal, but I'd much rather have a Gorn Saur.
Dinosaur or Pig, which would you rather have?
Secondly, is it like a Horta?
Use it for 60seconds and then it's gone?
Or can you keep resummoning it when it dies?
And does it stay out permanently or only for the aforementioned 60seconds?
I'm wishing they'd use the Champions Online combat pet mechanic, regardless of the pet being invoked (Horta, Targ, Combat Drone, etc).
In CO, a Combat Pet remains active until Dismissed or it gets killed.
And when either of those events occurs, you can instantly summon replacements.
Combat targ? If you're talking about the trip to the ice prison (can't remember if it's Rura Penthe or Rura Pentha, so nyeh), when I did it a while back, you got a jackal mastiff. I mean, obviously, they could've changed it, but the jackal mastiff was kind of 'important' to the mission. You could have one track Drake, and, ostensibly, it's the one that comes with you as a mission reward. A Saur just wouldn't be something that would survive on that ice world.
I used it in First City as a test, and it's kind of like security escort. Doesn't stick around long outside of a fight, and isn't a single use item.
So far I have been very impressed with the Romulan and Klingon storylines! Having set bridge officers in the Romulan storyline is an interesting idea and seems pretty cool. Also having Denise Crosby doing Sela's voice is incredible! You should have more actors reprise their roles in the future. I look forward to playing both Romulan and Klingon characters when the update hits the Holodeck server. Kudos everybody! Well done!!!
Comments
Just out of curiosity, I wondered how many Starfleet Officers good ol' Mary Sue Man, Franklin Drake, needlessly sent to their deaths via flat out, blatant Script Immunity in the first couple Missions after the Tutorial. I'm talking straight up BODY COUNT here.
Tutorial
- Boarding Party I/II/III sends over 3 teams of 10 each to attack. Pretty sure I fought at least 20 of them in the corridors and brig area, all of whom fell to my Disruptor. On my way back to the bridge, it looked like some of the B'rel crew were standing over the bodies of ANOTHER group of 5 Boarding Party Starfleeters, so ... call it 25 confirmed Starfleet Officers taken down, some of whom got vaporized, but all of these people came from the Starfleet ships in the area
- Captain Jurlek and First Officer Doran confirmed DEAD. They are (apparently?) the only DEATHS among your B'rel crew ... Killed By The Narrative. Everyone else who is KDF aboard the B'rel ... survives?
- Searching for the Seg'pa, you get to outright destroy 1 Crippled Frigate (200 crew), 2 Repair Frigates (200 crew each) and a Typhoon-class Battleship (800 crew, presumably). NONE of these ships launch any kind of escape pods or otherwise Abandon Ship before being destroyed.
- Total Body Count So Far: 1400 Starfleet DEAD ... versus ... 2 KDF Dead (and the latter two were only killed off by The Narrative, not by Starfleet).
Keep in mind that a B'rel has a crew of *30*.During the pursuit on Qo'nos, you get to engage and directly defeat in ground combat another 20 Starfleet, some of whom get vaporized. There's also the Spymaster that you ... ignore ... after he doesn't tell you anything, who gets left lying on the floor, writhing from his ... wounds? Isn't anyone going to ... you know ... frog march this guy off to prison somewhere? Are we just going to leave him, on the floor ... UNGUARDED ... so he can escape when no one is looking (because you can't be bothered to set someone to WATCH HIM to make sure HE doesn't escape too)?
Total Body Count So Far: 1400 Starfleet confirmed DEAD, plus up to 20 more either dead or dying, and 1 high value prisoner who is ... ignored ... unimportant ... forgotten? Meanwhile, the KDF has lost ... 2 officers ... both of which were Killed By The Narrative.
Chasing Mr. Mary Sue into his "oh so clever trap" by following his stolen shuttlecraft nearly ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE SECTOR BLOCK ... the LONG way ... you get the "honor" of destroying another 2 Starfleet Frigates (400 more dead), another Typhoon-class Battleship (eh, they're a dime a dozen apparently) (800 more dead), and then *another* 3 Frigates (600 more dead) ... all because Franklin Drake TAUNTED ME over the comm channel, so I do EXACTLY WHAT HE TOLD ME TO DO instead of CAPTURING HIM and "escorting" him to an all expenses paid trip to MY BRIG. :mad:
Total Body Count So Far: 3200 Starfleet CONFIRMED DEAD, plus another 20 or so on Qo'nos who either got vaporized or were left to die from their wounds (because neither you, nor your Bridge Officers ever bothered to call for backup to clean up the mess), plus 1 Spymaster who ... got shot ... but was left lying on the ground, never secured, and presumably "got away" because he's never mentioned ever again (being nothing more than an unimportant speedbump in your killing spree). KDF casualties among your B'rel crew are ... *2* ... and they were Killed By The Narrative (and already "replaced" by the time you had to scan for Iridium in the Tutorial, judging by the Crew Meter on screen).
Hmmm ... 3200+ Starfleet either dead or (presumably) captured ... a DOZEN Starships outright destroyed, utterly ... all so Francis Drake can play the Mary Sue "ha ha, I'm smarter than all of you!" card on his escape route.
Uh ... are we SURE that Section 31 is working for the Federation? As it is, it sounds like they're working "for the Empire" to thin the ranks of Starfleet at an attrition rate well above 1000:1 in favor of the KDF. :eek: If Drake can keep this up, the Empire ought to WIN THE WAR almost by default ... :rolleyes:
Am I the only one who thinks there's a bit of a ... problem here ...?
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
It would help set the inherent distrust that said player should be feeling at this stage of gameplay coming off the war setting established by the Path to 2409.
R.I.P
The Tutorial felt off for me until I realized why. I went through the Romulan tutorial with the T'Liss. And then full expected the T1 B'Rel to have a battlecloak as well when going through the KDF tutorial.
Now's the perfect time to make the T1 B'Rel a proper raider. Give it a battlecloak. Adjust its hull and shield modifiers. And make it a right proper raider.
Yeah not enough dead feds!
No real gripe if I'm honest, I think it shows the major flaws of Fed's. Their inability to think past their orders and protocols plus their blind obedience. DS9 is loaded with examples of this.
What Cryptic should consider before releasing anything.
USS Immortal NX-93608-F (Oddyssey Tactical Cruiser)
VADM Rogueshadow IRW Kirino Kosaka (Valdore Retrofit)
LT General Morbo IKS Karac (Bortasqu War Cruiser)
LT General Posu IKS Saya Takagi (Chel Grett Warship)
All of the lines from your captain in the first missions are over-modulated - the mic as clearly of a poor quality and was unable to record at the volumes the "talent" was speaking in. He may also have been far too close to the mic... and his delivery was a bit amateur... honestly, most of it is on the KDF missions.
Overall, the KDF VO work pales in comparison to the Rom stuff. I am very glad to have it, but it comes across as unprofessional and cheaply made. They feel like they needed a far more critical ear - a real VO Producer, and perhaps a higher quality facility and engineer to record it.
Then again, maybe I'm biased having produced gobs of VO sessions at real studios over the years...
ALL HOLDINGS FINISHED! - Starbase 5-5-5-5 || Embassy 3-3-3 || Mine 3-3-3 || Spire 3-3-3
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^THIS!
Very frustrating.
ALL HOLDINGS FINISHED! - Starbase 5-5-5-5 || Embassy 3-3-3 || Mine 3-3-3 || Spire 3-3-3
A laid back KDF fleet welcoming independent, casual, & part-time players and groups. Roms & alts welcome.
Send in-game mail to Wampaq@Jnoh, visit our recruitment thread and FB page for more info.
Known bug, happening to everyone
What Cryptic should consider before releasing anything.
I noticed that, during the fight with the captain, the captain's chair disappeared.
The disruptor pistol you start with still does not match the icon in your tray.
Also, the beds in the barracks seem a little too soft for a Klingon ship. Mattresses and pillows? Really? They even had embroidered sheets! No warrior would sleep on such a thing! Especially in a Klingon barracks.
The cutscene showing the ships during the prisoner exchange seems to be fixed as far as hiding the fed ship before it's supposed to appear, but the scene still seems very stiff since none of the 3 ships move at all during the attack. They should at least break off (even at a alow pace at first) once the attack started coming in.
*Some VO lines are missing. E.g., the second to the last line of K'Gan's motivational speech to your crew or the very first line of the Captain of the Seg'pa.
*K'Gan and Ch'gren, your first two BOffs appear to be clones! They look 100% identical.
STOWiki admin.
it keeps better and better, keep up the good work, although I'd love to hear this klingon burial rite song in voiceover
Space Chase:
Friend or Foe:
Bringing Down the House:
The House Always Wins:
A House Pursued:
==Prologue==
-Captain Jurlek's voiceover audio quality is a bit sketchy. (It makes a poor first impression.)
-It's neat to see a holodeck used like this. While new people to the series may not pick up on it as much, those that are not (like myself) will appreciate it.
-There is something unusual about the starting disruptor pistol's model. It seems as if there are two overlapping/clipping models shown while firing.
-"These Klingon beds are surprisingly nice."
-Honestly, the voice-over work during the prison transfer/ambush actually broke a bit of the immersion. It didn't sell the scene very well.
-I like the different class mission objectives introduction.. Although I am a bit curious what the other classes would be tasked to do at this point. (I'm guessing medical aid and fire control.) Hinting at the other tasks in some way might help make the variety stand out more(you ARE trying to sell new players on the game at this stage).
-First Officer Doran's VO felt a bit too forced.. pausing too abruptly between words and not really 'flowing' like someone who is 'speaking'. Also, the accent left me constantly wanting to go "ARR! Me Hearties!"..
-"Sweet! We start with a Melee weapon!"
-"Pah! What a petaQ of a captain!"
-As much as I want to space Drake for being soo smug.. he does do a good job of helping explain Klingon culture to a player who may not be familiar.
-"Was a pop-filter even used during the recording of Captain Jurlek's voiceover?..."
-The Captain's reasoning is fair and relate-able, but still traitorous. He makes a good villain for the tutorial.
-It would have been neat if the player was introduced to/forced into melee battle with the Klingon - to both explain the mechanics and demonstrate the importance of melee combat to the Klingon Empire.
-It's also slightly afflicted with a paused cadence and 'arr! me hearties!' moments, but I like K'gan's voiceover, as a whole.
-The tooltip voiceovers have been great so far.
-I cracked a grin when K'Gan referred to the Federation as the "Feds". It's a cute touch for introducing people to the community lingo, although I'm not sure if a Klingon would actually say such a thing.
-I'm a little sad to see the B'rel doesn't have battlecloak, but I suppose its understandable, both as an old ship and to emphasize Romulans being the masters of cloak.
-I like Captain Kagdar's VO. It instantly makes him a character you want to cooperate with.
-Loved the Qo'noS introduction cutscene and audio cue.
-Warden Gazzan's VO is great and offers a good introduction to the Gorn. ("Hmm.. does that mean there's an Orion coming up as well?")
-The First City cutscene is also quite nice as setting the overall mood.
-"Cute reference with the cell number there."
-"Well well, back here again already.."
-I concede this is indeed a better place to introduce melee combat.
-"That Bat'Leth combo cheat-sheet is handy!"
-The atmospheric filter for First City needs work. Currently there is an offset shadowed square that is glaringly noticeable in the Great Hall.
-I laughed at the "Punch Ferengi" part..
-Majorog told Ch'gren he would "Pay for his loses" instead of "losses" right before the fight began.
-"Oh.. that was the first mission of 'Empire'.. oopsie, I didn't catch where it began."
==Empire==
-=Duties of Command=-
-See above
-=The Hunt Is On=-
-"I always wondered what was behind this door in First City..."
-I like the introduction to the Tailor - a very organic to introduce them to new players.
-I have to admit, my first impulse was to shoot the cameras. It was a bit disappointing to find out you couldn't.
-Hmm.. It might be possible for a new player to die in the Safehouse if they are not a science officer and are not aware of how to use hypos. Seeing as you're not given a science boff at this point, it might be a good idea to have tooltip about them here.
-"Where is this Master Spy?..." There was no map indicator/waypoint.
-Again, I like the organic introduction to the Shipyard.
-"Woah, I didn't realize the B'rel had the Koloth variant parts."
-=Space Chase=-
-"It's a long trip to the Boreth System..."
-The diplomatic route seems to have an issue with the final button choice.. it button text almost seems to indicate that it should be two separate buttons..
-"Aww Franklin Drake's widdle shuttle is adorable.."
-"Wow, a Typhoon?.. really? What is a Federation Battleship-of-the-line doing all the way out here.. and why is an antiquated B'rel more than a match for it?.." O_o;; Considering it took a small fleet to take out a Galaxy class earlier, perhaps changing the costume of this encounter to.. say.. an Akira class might be less of a suspension of disbelief?
-=Manhunt=-
-"Whew.. that's another sizeable trek all the way back over to Rura Penthe." I'm not sure if this was an intentional choice to lighten the load on servers, but I do worry a bit about the impression this might have on a 'prospective' new player.
-"Woah, it took me a bit to notice the cold-weather costumes.. Very nice touch!"
-My loading screens seem to be inconsistently changing colors back to federation after having manually changed my UI settings to "Default"
-The Torpedo from the ship was.. green instead of photon red.
-Overall, the mission is a great homage to Undiscovered Country.
-=Friend or Foe=-
-The explanation of sector transition was good.
-"I do love 'Klingon Diplomacy'."
-The mission kind of casts the player into more of a role of a bully than an 'honorable warrior'. Perhaps the dialogue could be reworked to make the station commander a bit more suspect before the Romulans arrive?
-Those Heavy Plasma Torpedos are rough on the little starter ship. The encounters were fine, overall though. I'm sure a new player would struggle a little, but would win. I might suggest adding in a tooltip about power distribution in this mission.
-The Romulan Republic tie-in works well here to introduce the faction and the current divide among the Romulans.
-The tooltip about needing to approach Qo'noS planet is good and should help avoid confusion from new players about what to do.
More to come later.
==Warzone==
-=Bringing Down the House=-
-Love the ability to kick the equipment. Pointless, but amusing all the same.
-Ketha Lowlands really is quite beautiful now.. It really makes me wish it was a social zone - I think I would trade it for the current Academy without hesitation. Kudos to those who gave it a facelift!
-Some of the transit times seem a bit.. masochistic. Flying all the way across the Qo'noS system to hunt down the warp trails and all the way across Omega Leonis to the Forcas System.. are just long periods of sitting there staring at your ship, waiting for something to eventually happen. It's not really interesting or educational, just tedious.
-Overall, I really do like how this mission was remastered. The dialogue was quite interesting. Otherwise, I didn't really run into any big issues.
-=The House Always Wins=-
-The funeral cutscene is a nice addition. It helps reinforce the sense of what it means to be a part of the Klingon Empire.
-The Klingon interior filters still seem a bit rough. There is an offset shadowy 'box' that is very jarring. I noticed it both in House Torg and the Great Hall in First City.
-Torg despawns after 20-30 seconds if you talk to him without advancing the dialog. However, you can speak with J'mpok again to spawn him, so it's not a major issue.
-Loved the restructuring of this mission. I think it does very well as the final showdown of the level bracket.
-The "Tournament on Forcas (Optional)" mission popped up, but transwarping directly to it costs 100ec - which my character did not have yet. Granted, I could have vendored something to remedy that, but it struck me as odd seeing as the next mission was free to warp to.
-=Test of Mettle=-
-The map waypoint for the shipyard points to the far north-east if you're in First City - rather than to the transport pads.
-The K'tanco really doesn't suit the bridge officers new players are given up to that point(2 tac, 1 sci, 1 eng). I know it might be a lot to ask, but would the team consider changing the ensign engineering bridge slot to a universal one?
-At this point I noticed that I have two of the exact same bridge officers(B'ellera). One already part of my crew, another in the candidate roster. I did not repeat any missions, although I am not certain at which point the 'clone' was awarded..
-The beacon/engagement/ambush in Cursa takes place too close to the moon. I got the atmospheric white-out on approach, and the mobs constantly seemed to try to drag the battle into that atmospheric whiteout range(each encounter literally flew directly towards the moon).
-=Second Star to the Right, Straight on 'til Morning=-
-The Communications Satellites at Mars have disruptor beam and turret defenses(I did see a phaser turret, but most were disruptor).
-=Keep Your Enemies Closer=-
-I only just noticed, but it seems odd that the tractor beam emits out the K'tanco from it's left wing cannon..
-The security system could be disabled/interacted with again during the escape from the prison.
==Fek'lhri Return==
-=Blood of the Empire=-
-The deflector scan continues to animate and play audio during the dialogue for the Klingon Battle Group debris.
-"Oh god! I forgot how loud A/P cannons are! I cannot even hear myself think when they rapid-fire me!"
-The Portals appear to be a static level 29. Not sure if they're meant to scale with the player or not.
-The directions to get to Chancellor J'mpok in the KDF Headquarters are not entirely clear. It's very easy to miss that there is a staircase leading to a second floor(I only found it because I vaguely remembered the mission). Maybe a simple text pop-up from your second officer exclaiming: "Quickly! To the second floor!" might be enough of a hint.
-=Destiny=-
-You're able to speak with Chancellor J'mpok(via mission contact) without actually going to First City to advance the first objective.
-=Afterlife=-
-No real issues to report.
-=The Gates of Gre'thor=-
-I managed to vaporize Fek'lhr somehow while he was around 70% health. The fight continued, but his model was invisible. It was entertaining still being able to knock down an invisible demon with red sparklies coming out of its invisible staff("err.. perhaps that sounded a bit wrong..").
==Vigilance==
-=A House Pursued=-
-The mission tracker should probably mention that the Servin System is (all the way) in the Regulus sector block.
-"Why do 'mining drones' have torpedo launchers?.."
-The House of Torg Battlecruiser never returned fire or made effort to attack me in any way. It just slowly moved forward at cruising speed.
-=House on Fire=-
-No real issues to report - other than perhaps that I was able to easily avoid fighting several of the brigand cruisers.
-=Alpha=-
-The mission tracker should probably mention the Orith System is in the Psi Velorum sector block. (Also, can the zoom scaling for the Regulus block please be returned to where you can see the entire map at once?)
-"Somehow, the scale of this Bird of Prey feels... small"
-=Temporal Ambassador=-
-"You know, working with Franklin Drake in this mission.. has a completely different perspective after the new Klingon introduction storyline.."
-No real issues to report.
Also after the assassin gets away K'gen says "The very thought of a Romulan standing on the soil of Qo'noS makes bile rise in my throat!" just as one of your bridge officers would say previously. A good line, but as Romulans are fairly commonplace (at least in the First City) on the homeworld these days, it doesn't fit what is said previously to that end.
9 Episodes = 30+ episodes...?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It's pronounced "S.T.O." "Stow" sounds idiotic! lol
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But a couple of my concerns are this:
Firstly, why a Targ?
Yes, it's an iconic Klingon animal, but I'd much rather have a Gorn Saur.
Dinosaur or Pig, which would you rather have?
Secondly, is it like a Horta?
Use it for 60seconds and then it's gone?
Or can you keep resummoning it when it dies?
And does it stay out permanently or only for the aforementioned 60seconds?
I'm wishing they'd use the Champions Online combat pet mechanic, regardless of the pet being invoked (Horta, Targ, Combat Drone, etc).
In CO, a Combat Pet remains active until Dismissed or it gets killed.
And when either of those events occurs, you can instantly summon replacements.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Combat targ? If you're talking about the trip to the ice prison (can't remember if it's Rura Penthe or Rura Pentha, so nyeh), when I did it a while back, you got a jackal mastiff. I mean, obviously, they could've changed it, but the jackal mastiff was kind of 'important' to the mission. You could have one track Drake, and, ostensibly, it's the one that comes with you as a mission reward. A Saur just wouldn't be something that would survive on that ice world.
I used it in First City as a test, and it's kind of like security escort. Doesn't stick around long outside of a fight, and isn't a single use item.
Sounds like it's not really useful anyway, not if it's just like a security escort or something.
Still, they could have made another mission where you get a Gorn Saur, considering how many missions they just added.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad