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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

Bridge Officers Update

kommodore#9003 kommodore
kommodore#9003
 Member Posts: 12 Arc User
edited September 2013 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
When can we expect a greater customizability to our Bridge Officers? Training should still be handled like it currently is in game... however, the ability to upgrade quality and respec traits of our existing Bridge Officers would help those of us who have grown attached to our crew. I find it hard to believe that Montgomery Scott, Leonard McCoy, Spock, Data, Worf, Geordi La Forge... were all purple quality from the very first time we see them.

Bridge Officers are an extension of our Captain. They encompass our play style but more importantly they can lead to an immersion that can not be found in other games. Those attachments make replacing them painful in some regards. In addition, with all the new choices available for our Captains it would be logical to be able to tailor our existing Bridge Officers to fit the personality and style of our Captain.


Thank you for taking the time to read.
Post edited by kommodore#9003 on

Comments

  • elora13elora13 Member Posts: 43 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    While I agree with you about BOFFs having to "grow" together with their captain somehow... for the time being I have been "growing them" through saving their looks at the tailor and switching them with a purple one trained with the skills I wanted later on:

    Basically: I do not bother training them more than it is absolutely necessary during leveling up, and as soon as I can afford it (or get purples from the DOFF missions) I replace them.

    One thing the developers/programmers could consider, however, is making it so that a higher-colored (blue for green, purple for blue) BOFF can train an advanced-rank lower-colored one into "changing color"?
  • shadowwraith77shadowwraith77 Member Posts: 6,395 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I still find it dumb that all the major boff skills are LtCmdr and lower, while Cmdr skills are so few!!! What is a boff not as skilled at a Cmdr rank?
    tumblr_nq9ec3BSAy1qj6sk2o2_500_zpspkqw0mmk.gif


    Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!

  • smoovioussmoovious Member Posts: 264 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I would like to see an expansion of the ranks you can promote them to.

    Instead of going Ensign, Lieutenant, LtCommander, Commander, include the other steps.

    Ensign, Lieutenant JG, Lieutenant SG, etc.

    They don't necessarily have to add more skills, keeping them at the 4 they are now, but give us the step to promote through them all.

    And yeah, someone suggested the first officer being promoteable to Captain, which I agree with, as the Admiral doesn't usually sit in the captain's chair on his flagship. (unless of course he wants to, but there is still a designated captain)

    -- Smoov
  • stealthriderstealthrider Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    If LoR is any indication, we're going to see *less* Boff customization, not more.

    Tovan Khev: Unique clothing options, not renamable, not dismissable.
    Satra, Veril, Hiven and D'vex: Unique clothing options, unique traits, not tradeable.

    Cryptic wants you to play with their crew, not yours.
  • khan5000khan5000 Member Posts: 3,008 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    smoovious wrote: »
    I would like to see an expansion of the ranks you can promote them to.

    Instead of going Ensign, Lieutenant, LtCommander, Commander, include the other steps.

    Ensign, Lieutenant JG, Lieutenant SG, etc.

    They don't necessarily have to add more skills, keeping them at the 4 they are now, but give us the step to promote through them all.

    And yeah, someone suggested the first officer being promoteable to Captain, which I agree with, as the Admiral doesn't usually sit in the captain's chair on his flagship. (unless of course he wants to, but there is still a designated captain)

    -- Smoov

    The ranks are based on the US Navy and as such there isnt a LT SG...
    ENS, LTJG,LT,LCDR, CDR,CAPT
    Your pain runs deep.
    Let us explore it... together. Each man hides a secret pain. It must be exposed and reckoned with. It must be dragged from the darkness and forced into the light. Share your pain. Share your pain with me... and gain strength from the sharing.
  • catoblepasbetacatoblepasbeta Member Posts: 1,532 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    stealthrider wrote: »
    If LoR is any indication, we're going to see *less* Boff customization, not more.

    Tovan Khev: Unique clothing options, not renamable, not dismissable.
    Satra, Veril, Hiven and D'vex: Unique clothing options, unique traits, not tradeable.

    Cryptic wants you to play with their crew, not yours.
    I was very disappointed when I unpacked the new Lobi store Romulan for my fed character, only to find that the clothing customization options are limited to romulan civilian clothing-no Federation uniform options, no Romulan republic clothing options, no Tal Shiar clothing option-just the default selection of civilian clothing options (and the zen store TOS uniform, strangely) Very disappointing, since RR players get these option-FED/KDF players lose those options (and why not let us use the RR uniforms or Tal Shiar uniforms?) with no tradeoff. I guess I will be cooking up another set of Omega XI armor so I can at least maintain the illusion that my crew has some sort of uniform.

    Cryptic could at least make the options account unlocks, that would be enough for me to give the Romulan republic another go, as much as I dislike it.
  • sparhawksparhawk Member Posts: 796 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    shadowwraith77 wrote: »
    I still find it dumb that all the major boff skills are LtCmdr and lower, while Cmdr skills are so few!!! What is a boff not as skilled at a Cmdr rank?

    Short answer (based off of a developer explanation a while ago): the original coding is a mess and the current developers have been reluctant to go in and overhaul the system as management hasn't made this a priority to fix to date (season level update work here). This is why you haven't seen any new BOFF skills added since the game was released and the random BOFF creator hasn't been tweaked or updated. I've heard comments this was originally planned as part of the Romulan release, but was dropped due to work load/time constraints.
  • stealthriderstealthrider Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    catoblepasbeta wrote: »
    I was very disappointed when I unpacked the new Lobi store Romulan for my fed character, only to find that the clothing customization options are limited to romulan civilian clothing-no Federation uniform options, no Romulan republic clothing options, no Tal Shiar clothing option-just the default selection of civilian clothing options (and the zen store TOS uniform, strangely) Very disappointing, since RR players get these option-FED/KDF players lose those options (and why not let us use the RR uniforms or Tal Shiar uniforms?) with no tradeoff. I guess I will be cooking up another set of Omega XI armor so I can at least maintain the illusion that my crew has some sort of uniform.

    Cryptic could at least make the options account unlocks, that would be enough for me to give the Romulan republic another go, as much as I dislike it.

    It's because Cryptic thinks everyone LOVES the new "Romulan" uniforms, and had never even considered the idea that someone would want to change their perfect design. The thought never occurred to them that someone might actually want their crew in a different uniform--let alone in all matching ones.
  • catoblepasbetacatoblepasbeta Member Posts: 1,532 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    stealthrider wrote: »
    It's because Cryptic thinks everyone LOVES the new "Romulan" uniforms, and had never even considered the idea that someone would want to change their perfect design. The thought never occurred to them that someone might actually want their crew in a different uniform--let alone in all matching ones.
    Well the problem is bigger, if you are fed or KDF and buy the lobi store Romulan, you don't even get the option of using either the Romulan Republic uniforms (either faction-aligned or unaligned uniforms) or the KDF/Federation uniforms or the Tal Shiar uniform. (the one I really want :)) I might not particularly care for the Romulan Republic uniforms, but some of the restrictions, particularly on the Lobi store Romulan-are particularly grating. I can't help but feel I got the short end of the stick here by having the audacity to buy the Lobi Romulan for anything except a Republic character, because my customization options have been severely limited for doing so.
  • catoblepasbetacatoblepasbeta Member Posts: 1,532 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    sopwithsnipe wrote: »
    Nah, that's not it. It's simply less work. And it's not like this is something new. You can't customize the uniforms on the Breen Boff, the Reman boff, the Holographic Boffs to name a few examples.
    I have seen Breen in the facility (some number) episode wearing prison jumpsuits, so I'm pretty sure that they could make the breen customizable if they wanted to-just make the head and gloves options locked and restrict a few of the short-sleeved uniform options.

    Even moreso for the Jemhadar and Reman bridge officers. I know for a fact that I have seen in the temporal ambassador episode the reman bridge officer wearing a jumpsuit, so I know they can switch the clothing out, and the jem'hadar is likewise not a very complicated model, unlike the Breen.

    Particularly now that we have fully customizable reman bridge officers and captains, it seems odd that this particular bridge officer is uncustomizable.
  • stealthriderstealthrider Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Like I said, Cryptic wants you playing with their crew, not yours. They don't care what you think your crew should be or what they should look like. It's not a matter of effort. It's a matter of their philosophy doing a 180. Cryptic games used to be all about customization with few limits. Those days ended a long time ago, and LoR closed the door permanently.
  • smoovioussmoovious Member Posts: 264 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    khan5000 wrote: »
    The ranks are based on the US Navy and as such there isnt a LT SG...
    ENS, LTJG,LT,LCDR, CDR,CAPT
    LT SG = LT, which just leaves off the "SG" part.

    I include the "SG" for no other reason than to distinguish "LT" from "LT JG"

    -- Smoov
  • edtheheroedthehero Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    smoovious wrote: »
    Instead of going Ensign, Lieutenant, LtCommander, Commander, include the other steps.

    Ensign, Lieutenant JG, Lieutenant SG, etc.

    They don't necessarily have to add more skills, keeping them at the 4 they are now, but give us the step to promote through them all.

    My workaround so far has been, at least for RP purposes, to give my Boffs the rank I want in the Tailor (like Chief, LTJG, etc.) even though all are Commanders for the skills.
    Captain Selek - Vulcan (TAC Lvl 50) - U.S.S. Chimera (Fleet Heavy Escort Carrier NCC-92810) / Captain Krell - Liberated Borg Klingon (TAC Lvl 50) - I.K.S. Nogh'Sar (Fleet Qin Heavy Raptor) / Commander Kel'ara Teerel - Romulan (ENG Lvl 50) - R.R.W. Silverhawk (Fleet T'Varo Light Warbird Retrofit) / Fed Fleet: Section 31 / KDF Fleet: Klingon Intelligence / Romulan Fleet (Fed): Romulan Intelligence / STO Handle: @ed583
  • alikainalikain Member Posts: 348 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I have stated this on the tribble awhile back that bridge officer need to be send on courses to improve the rank quality. What I mean by this is you send a common bridge to either a star base or attend a course where you have to paid a small fee which should be either EC or some Diliithium. Not only will this improve their rarity but also improve their trait as well. This way the game come close to the show.
    "You ask why we give our ships computer normal emotions. Do you really want a warship incapable of loyalty?"
  • trooper1023trooper1023 Member Posts: 17 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    sopwithsnipe wrote: »
    Nah, that's not it. It's simply less work. And it's not like this is something new. You can't customize the uniforms on the Breen Boff, the Reman boff, the Holographic Boffs to name a few examples.
    It's even WORSE. If you get a romulan BOFF from the Embassy for Fleet Cred/Dilith, the edit button for that officer when at any tailor is GRAYED OUT!!!!!

    omgwtfufailCryptic
  • foundrelicfoundrelic Member Posts: 1,380 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    You know what I'd like to see?



    THe ability to invite someone onto your bridge, have them walk up to an officer and just TRAIN them in a skill.

    No need to trade.



    Some BOFF's can't be traded for training.
  • flash525flash525 Member Posts: 5,441 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    I would like it if ships needed Lieutenants and Ensigns. Most players are going to have a full compliment of Commanders and nothing else.

    I'd propose that they rework the system so that White Officers can only attain the Ensign Rank (and at least one is needed per crew), the Green can only attain the Lieutenant Rank (and again, at least one is needed per crew), the Blue to be Lt.Cmd and you're only allowed a maximum of three (or something) and then you've got Purple for your Commanders (which should be limited to five or six).

    If not that specifically, then something like it. Wouldn't hurt to get back into being involved with a bunch of non-commander officers.
    attachment.php?attachmentid=42556&d=1518094222
  • pupibirdpupibird Member Posts: 128 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Why care about the Boffs at all? Taylor issues?
    Come on!
    It does not matter what abilities they have or
    what quality they are, cause that will all be
    gone next morning!

    Honestly, the BO station and hotbar bug in
    space really sucks and lets me stay on the
    ground until this is fixed. No workaround
    seems to help for more than a couple of days..
    then its all gone again.

    I had to repair my hotbar maybe 200 times,
    not once again will I do so or I have to cry:mad:
    I have more than 150 active BOs on 5 chars..
    I can't always remember all stations.

    I suggest all captains who end up in STF space
    without BOs again just go afk! The mass of
    reports maybe wakes up the devs.
    For me it's a gamebreaker!:mad:
  • tinkerstormtinkerstorm Member Posts: 853 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    flash525 wrote: »
    I would like it if ships needed Lieutenants and Ensigns. Most players are going to have a full compliment of Commanders and nothing else.

    I'd propose that they rework the system so that White Officers can only attain the Ensign Rank (and at least one is needed per crew), the Green can only attain the Lieutenant Rank (and again, at least one is needed per crew), the Blue to be Lt.Cmd and you're only allowed a maximum of three (or something) and then you've got Purple for your Commanders (which should be limited to five or six).

    If not that specifically, then something like it. Wouldn't hurt to get back into being involved with a bunch of non-commander officers.
    Not. Absolutely not.

    I spent a lot of time acquiring BOffs for my away team because I wanted them to have specific traits. The difference between a Basic version of a trait and a Superior version of that trait is not that great and is not as important as having the traits you want in a BOff, or not having traits you do not want.

    Also, since you can train any BOff with whatever skills are available for that profession, the con color is meaningless. Once I've trained a white con BOff with one or two level 3 skills and ranked those skills up it is Purple, regardless of whatever color is shown on its status page.
  • elemberq333elemberq333 Member Posts: 430 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    The main thing I want to know is why Tovan Khev is the only BOFF with torpedo spread III? Is this some skill that only a Romulan knows? Why can't my tactical captain learn to teach that skill to BOFF's? It really does seem to be something that needs to be addressed.

    All my Romulan ships have that skill, none of my Federation or Klingon ships have it...I don't get it I guess.
  • dahminusdahminus Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    elemberq333 wrote: »
    The main thing I want to know is why Tovan Khev is the only BOFF with torpedo spread III? Is this some skill that only a Romulan knows? Why can't my tactical captain learn to teach that skill to BOFF's? It really does seem to be something that needs to be addressed.

    All my Romulan ships have that skill, none of my Federation or Klingon ships have it...I don't get it I guess.


    Jem hadar boff from facility 4028 can train your feds/kdf in it
    Chive on and prosper, eh?

    My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
  • elemberq333elemberq333 Member Posts: 430 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    I would really like it if my BOFF's could just learn to follow my orders.

    Case in point, I just left Sol system and I tell my Boff's to set a course for Beta Ursae Sector Block and on the way there we bump into the entry point for Delta Volanis. The stupid Boff's stop forward movement to ask me if I want to go to Delta Volanis when I just told them to set a course for Beta Ursae! My god why can't they just learn to follow my orders and not bother me once I have issued those orders? It makes no sense what so ever...:confused:


    ===post above is by elemberq333===

    EDIT: Closed for necroing an old thread. Remember, if a thread has been inactive for 30 days, you should not post to it. Feel free to create a new thread on the subject if you would like to discuss further :) ~BranFlakes
This discussion has been closed.