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Why Ill never play some of the low-level KDF missions again
jayfreelancer
Member Posts: 17 Arc User
This has probably been covered before, but it was bothering me all weekend and I wanted to get it down in writing, so here it is.
The first time I levelled a KDF character - when you started at level 20 - I skipped pretty much every mission that pitted make against Starfleet, as it didn't fit with the backstory of my character and I didn't need the XP. When I came to level my second very recently, right from level 1, I figured it would be the ideal time to play through the full set of revamped missions. For the most part, they were great, but I was left with a sour taste in my mouth in many of the missions fighting the Federation.
99% of the time, I'm able to mentally gloss over the somewhat ridiculous amount of killing our Captains do in the game. Even so, I wasn't able to suppress the involuntary spit-take I performed during "A Step Between Stars" when Tuvok casually mentioned that he was aware of my "extensive combat experience". No kidding, Tuvok. When you tally up the thousands of people killed in ground combat, and the tens of thousands of crew killed in space combat (not even counting Borg), the service records of me and my bridge officers and would make Genghis Khan blush. For the most part though, I can rationalise this: I'm defending the Federation (or the Empire, or New Romulus) against violent aggressors who shoot first on sight, don't ask questions, and rarely surrender.
Unfortunately, that pretence is difficult to maintain during some of the early KDF missions.
It started right off the bat with "Challenge for Command" when I destroyed a Galaxy class starship. Seeing a clone of the ship I loved for 7 seasons of TNG in flames, listing out of control, and then exploding just didn't feel right. Maybe I just don't like playing the bad guy? It got worse in "Space Chase" when you have to destroy the Starfleet vessels who have been tricked into violating Klingon space, even after they admit their fault and offer to withdraw. OK, OK, I get it, Klingons offer no quarter. Beating Captain Hollingsworth to within an inch of his life in "Second Star to the Right, Straight on 'til Morning" wasn't fabulous either.
Then came "Keep Your Enemies Closer".
This mission just epitomised how completely outlandish your character's actions are in the early KDF missions. I was able to keep it together right up until I reached the interior of the prison and freed the captured Klingon warriors. At that point, it suddenly dawned on me that I had tortured a Starfleet captain, destroyed his defenceless, crippled vessel and murdered all the remaining crew on board, killed hundreds of Starfleet officers, destroyed a dozen more ships fighting into the heart of Federation territory - and for what? To rescue a ground total of four NPCs who are so important to the Empire that they are named
"Klingon Prisoner".
Whoever wrote this mission had truly lost all sense of proportion. The lengths my character went to in order to break out a tiny handful of nobodies made me want to flip my desk over. I get that Klingons are a warlike people, but their actions are supposed to be grounded in honour. This mission did not make me feel like an honourable warrior. It made me feel like a bloodthirsty psychopath. And I will never play it again.
The first time I levelled a KDF character - when you started at level 20 - I skipped pretty much every mission that pitted make against Starfleet, as it didn't fit with the backstory of my character and I didn't need the XP. When I came to level my second very recently, right from level 1, I figured it would be the ideal time to play through the full set of revamped missions. For the most part, they were great, but I was left with a sour taste in my mouth in many of the missions fighting the Federation.
99% of the time, I'm able to mentally gloss over the somewhat ridiculous amount of killing our Captains do in the game. Even so, I wasn't able to suppress the involuntary spit-take I performed during "A Step Between Stars" when Tuvok casually mentioned that he was aware of my "extensive combat experience". No kidding, Tuvok. When you tally up the thousands of people killed in ground combat, and the tens of thousands of crew killed in space combat (not even counting Borg), the service records of me and my bridge officers and would make Genghis Khan blush. For the most part though, I can rationalise this: I'm defending the Federation (or the Empire, or New Romulus) against violent aggressors who shoot first on sight, don't ask questions, and rarely surrender.
Unfortunately, that pretence is difficult to maintain during some of the early KDF missions.
It started right off the bat with "Challenge for Command" when I destroyed a Galaxy class starship. Seeing a clone of the ship I loved for 7 seasons of TNG in flames, listing out of control, and then exploding just didn't feel right. Maybe I just don't like playing the bad guy? It got worse in "Space Chase" when you have to destroy the Starfleet vessels who have been tricked into violating Klingon space, even after they admit their fault and offer to withdraw. OK, OK, I get it, Klingons offer no quarter. Beating Captain Hollingsworth to within an inch of his life in "Second Star to the Right, Straight on 'til Morning" wasn't fabulous either.
Then came "Keep Your Enemies Closer".
This mission just epitomised how completely outlandish your character's actions are in the early KDF missions. I was able to keep it together right up until I reached the interior of the prison and freed the captured Klingon warriors. At that point, it suddenly dawned on me that I had tortured a Starfleet captain, destroyed his defenceless, crippled vessel and murdered all the remaining crew on board, killed hundreds of Starfleet officers, destroyed a dozen more ships fighting into the heart of Federation territory - and for what? To rescue a ground total of four NPCs who are so important to the Empire that they are named
"Klingon Prisoner".
Whoever wrote this mission had truly lost all sense of proportion. The lengths my character went to in order to break out a tiny handful of nobodies made me want to flip my desk over. I get that Klingons are a warlike people, but their actions are supposed to be grounded in honour. This mission did not make me feel like an honourable warrior. It made me feel like a bloodthirsty psychopath. And I will never play it again.
Post edited by jayfreelancer on
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I mean, my favourite Trek show was TNG and the Galaxy Class is my Enterprise as well, but I don't flip over when I blow up a Galaxy Class as a Klingon. I treat it the same as when I blow up Negh'vars as a Fed. It's a war and in war s**t happens. In this game for each million you kill as a KDF - there is another million you killed as a Fed. Hell, they even gave out accolades for that mass murder here, as unTrek as that is.
I would disagree that the KDF are the 'bad guys'. In STO as far as the mess of a stroyline can be followed, the KDF are the 'good guys' and the Feds are the 'wrong guys'.
I will agree with some of the comments on the writing you made - sometimes the writing in STO makes me headdesk as well. Actually the one instance where I really flipped over (before Geko's dinosaurs) was the mission 'Divide et Impera'. A prime example of bad writing.
Your Ramming Speed III deals 242658 (243540) Kinetic Damage (Critical) to you.
Which probably means the KDF is not for you, but as an aside, look again at the many 'evil' actions the feds perform. One of the first things the fed does is wipe out a platoon of klingons when THE FED (YOU) KNOWS that there is a shapeshifter stirring up trouble. But its easier just to kill them, I suppose.
Who is worse.... the faction that admits to being warriors and war-like or the so-called peaceful alliance that shoots first and asks questions later? Who tried to take over the dyson sphere during a crisis, taking advantage and breaking a treaty/alliance? Hint, it was not the KDF.
That's definitely valid, but only up to a point. This mission crossed that line for me. If the prisoners were famous (or even notable) warriors, or they at least outnumbered my away team, the ridiculous lengths you take to free them would seem worthwhile. As it stands, it just seems way over the top.
Agree absolutely that the Federation is badly portrayed in most of the game. We're at war with pretty much everyone. The Klingon war in particular is the most ridiculous as it started over the invasion of the Gorn homeworld which they had 100% valid reasons for doing. The context was different, but Picard said best in Insurrection: "Can anyone remember when we used to be explorers?"
This is interesting.
to be captured is a SIN in Klingon religion,a sin that can be washed away by dying in battle. Also, I LOVE how you forgot to mention the mention that they attacked MArs because it was a insanely amazing, smart thing to do from a tactical standpoint.
You must NOT have watched star trek (Especially DS9) ever, because if you did, you would understand the point.
BTW, i do not consider the KDF evil at all, The Klingons even went to war mostly because the feds refused to believe they were infiltrated by Undine since they apparently did not learn anything from the Dominion War.
i always pictured the klingons and being a little bit more deep then that. when i first played the mission space chase i thought we could actually talk sense into the federation was all set to give cryptic credit for actually adding depth to the KDF but NOPE not going to happen even after all that my captain then does a forced 180 and nukes the captain making him look like a lieing honorless Pa'taQ.
when i think of klingons i think of TNG and DS9 Worf and Martok wile still willing to fight and kill but also able to find other means and solutions
Your character recruited them for a fantastically dangerous mission on which they got captured. Wanting to rescue people who went into battle under your command is the least morally questionable act of that entire sequence.
If it was a Federation captain going to fantastic lengths to rescue POWs instead of a KDF captain, would it still seem wrong? The only difference is that Starfleet would probably be like "er, that's a heck of a risk for a handful of guys, maybe prisoner exchange would work better, we'll send diplomats" whereas the Klingons are like "F*** YES THAT IS THE MOST AWESOME IDEA EVER".
I always feel somewhat between a little bad and downright uncomfortable torturing the Fed captain for the access codes. But rescuing the prisoners? Not so much.
umm, WOW orcs were BASED on Klingons, Klingons ARE space orcs, that was really the entry point.
It may not be the most intelligent act a KDF captain has ever undertaken, but it's understandable that the attempt should at least be considered. You can also blame the Chancellor for throwing you under the bus on that one - once he comes out with "oh yeah, here's a way that might actually work - just steal a shuttle" on that big screen in front of your bridge crew, it would be really hard to back down without losing face.
In terms of dramatic tropes, though, "we don't leave our people behind" tends to be something that gets a lot of sympathy, so it's an understandable direction to go in writing-wise. Particularly with a culture all about honor like the Klingons.
I do agree that it would be nice to have more choices like in that KDF mission with the Hirogen, where you can either crack a puzzle or punch a guy in the face to get past an objective. Even little things here and there so it's less like our first and only option is "scream and leap".
Obviously the KDF are fans of XKCD
lol....wut?? :P
For the glory of the Empire, you silly gamer you.
RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
Ahm... wow orcs are based on orcs.
For myself...
- I don't like the war.
- I don't like how they turned Klingons into space orcs either....
- I don't like the genozidal killing spreads we do in the game....
but,...
You kill millions of ppl as a "peaceful" Federation officer (including millions of Klingons).... and thats ok.... but when you face the Federation as KLINGON.... and kill them.... thats a problem?
Sorry... I don't get it... like at all.... I mean... what?
As a long time KDF fan I'm happy about every player we get on our 18% faction... but that might be the only case where id suggest that you should just... not play KDF...
IKS Korrasami (Fleet B'rel Bird of Prey Retrofit T5-U)
The troll.
While obviously not a serious question...
Orcs far predate Klilngons, as the Orcs as we know them were brought about in The Hobbit (1937). Since ToS didn't air until 1966, I think the answer is clear.
OT: All parties involved in STO have done terrible things, but this is what we've got. While I typically wouldn't condone torture, I'm human..not Klingon.
Except The orcs the Klingons are like are the WOW/TES orcs. A proud warrior race, not mindless savages. So in this case, the Klingons came first technically
Absolutely this.
But obviously a small yet vocal minority (plus Cryptic themselves as it seems) actually likes their space orks and doesn't mind driving off less, erm.. unscrupulous players in the process.
J'mpok is a moron, and the Klingons are depicted as bloodthirsty, pretty much brainless and actually honorless brutes. Period. If that floats your boat, fine.
But no wonder this and the monochromatic dullness of KDF-land doesn't attract all to many fans. Everyone who loved Martok and/or Worf is more or less bound to end up appalled by this travesty.
I'm not asking for flower-power peace Klingons, mind you. Just a bit more warrior, a bit less brute.
I might draw the line at annihilating their home planet with a Thalaron device.
--Red Annorax
No it wouldn't. Genghis Khan still has a way larger bodycount than anyone in STO.
Why are you TRYING to maintain that pretense? Klingons are all about the aggression: If a Klingon does not fight, he DOES NOT BREATHE!
No, that part was awesome.
Yeah, I think that's your problem, right there.
And what's your point? Would they be better if they had names? It's not like you had a chance to stop and ask them for their names. In fact, you probably didn't intentionally. It's an honor thing.
So, you picked the LEAST objectionable part of the mission from your soft human standpoint to object to?
All the violence and lack of any attempt to achieve a peaceful resolution to conflicts makes perfect sense when you are a Klingon. It makes far less sense when, as a Fed, you open fire indiscriminately and attempt to resolve every situation by shooting to kill. Not a single mission includes an option to resolve a conflict with reduced or no violence.
In fact, when we DID have a mission (Acamar), back in Season 7, that allowed us to resolve it without any violence at all...the devs added some senseless violence to it. Because being able to resolve a conflict via non-violent diplomacy is just not Star Trek and your day isn't complete without racking up about 50000 dead to your bodycount.
Klingons, of course, had the options to IMMEDIATELY resolve it with violence.
orcs have been around WAYYYYY longer then WoW. way before computers or star trek (and even then the original klingons where more suave bad guys)
and also that is kind of the point right now WoW orcs the horde are more klingon then the klingons in this game
and i have no problem killing feds only issue i took was that my character was FORCED to do a 180 on personality by the options given. my character would not have turned on his word and destroy the federation ship after he said he would let them go war or no because he said he would. tricking them last minute? that is a back stabbing method a romulan would use.
i am a klingon there is no need to trick them fight them head on. but at that point the feds where in the wrong and also tricked by a common foe that was way more important then waisting your time on a federation captain. you actually explain this to them and after they trust you and agree with you what does chryptic have you do? blow them a part because space orc
Feds ur all week minded scum the undine came looking for u but u are to much cowards to stand up and fight them. When the kdf wins the glorious war with the undine we will turn our full might against u n crush u under our bat'leths :P