Tovan's great... if you want your character to be a simple, civilian colonist from Virinat.
The problem comes if you want to be something like a former military officer, for example; then he doesn't really fit so well. Or if you're one of the many people who like to think of your character as a member of the RSE or Tal Shiar.
And heaven forbid you might want to make an all Reman crew for some bizarre reason... :P
Although, all of that said, I don't think we'll ever be able to dismiss him. The devs have made that pretty clear.
But it seems pretty reasonable to ask for +1 Boff slot on Romulan Chars to offset Tovan. Or SRO on Tovan to make him more desirable... little things like that would make the situation much nicer.
Tovan's great... if you want your character to be a simple, civilian colonist from Virinat.
The problem comes if you want to be something like a former military officer, for example; then he doesn't really fit so well. Or if you're one of the many people who like to think of your character as a member of the RSE or Tal Shiar.
And heaven forbid you might want to make an all Reman crew for some bizarre reason... :P
Although, all of that said, I don't think we'll ever be able to dismiss him. The devs have made that pretty clear.
But it seems pretty reasonable to ask for +1 Boff slot on Romulan Chars to offset Tovan. Or SRO on Tovan to make him more desirable... little things like that would make the situation much nicer.
Not sure about the +1, after all, Tovan is a quiet powerful BO.
My character is not a simple civilian colonist from Viriniat.
My character is a former Romulan spy from a wealthy and influential Romulan family that had infiltrated the Federation when Romulus got destroyed, and since she couldn't return from that assignment (because... well everybody knowing about that assignment was dead) she went into hiding on Viriniat.
In my background Tovan Khev is a distant cousin who was one of the few people left knowing about her (existence in general) which is why she endet up there and ultimately with him on the ship.
So you CAN work Tovan into your background in several ways, and nothing forces you to consider him one of your senior officers. He still can be "just a guest".
The basic idea of giving at least one BOff a bit more personality was a good one, the problem is the execution. Tovan needs to have the best traits available or people will want to substitute him out. Give him at least superior operative, that is just a must have!
And the writing just isn't good as well. He either bosses the player character around or he is just a gullible idiot and that isn't appealing to anyone. Make him not only a nice guy, but also a smart person, with something meaningful to say. When the player sees through the plot of the "Allies" Episode, while Torvan is still like "What is happening? How can it be?", you have to facepalm too hard to start to like him.
IMHO if we HAVE to keep him, he should be a least the BEST of the BEST.
With SRO and SS for example. Plasma weapon specialist for ground. Or he should have an UNIQUE skill. Like Photonic officer combined with TT, or his abilities should reload more quickly..
Also, why are his clothes not applyable on our toons/other BOFFs? The same with Satra!
still waiting for the day we can promote boffs to captain. He doesn't deserve it, but at least it will get him off my frakkin ship!
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
If dismissing was enabled, then I wouldn't be bothered so much by him.
And I have no interest in the Operative Trait, so Superior or not, he'd still get dismissed.
And then I remember the various ways he kept getting pushed front and center without invitation.
When the Department Head bug still existed, Tovan would automatically be chosen as the dominant BOFF even though I made sure he was so far down the ladder of command if he looked up, he wouldn't even be able to see the base of the ladder.
And as was mentioned, he's always standing on the bridge in a dominant position when he should somewhere on one of the unpopulated lower decks as the night security guard.
My crew theme is Liberated Borg/Artificial Lifeforms, so he doesn't fit in with that either.
On that topic, I fail to see how a former Borg Drone (my Romulan captain) would have any reason to know some farmer from a backwater planet, even if they were living there.
One final point, I had to buy extra BOFF slots when I became Starfleet, because the limited slots meant he was taking up space that should have gone to one of the special BOFFs.
I hope you have now achieved a measure of clarity on this topic.
Now excuse me while I go inject assimilation nanoprobes into Tovan Khev and ship him off to the Borg.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
I have like 10 BOFFs and ships only use 5.... more than enough room to just ignore him if you do not want him.
Even if you completely shut him out of any landing party or bridge duty, he'll STILL act like your first officer[or first idiot ordering you around] and STILL have is voice acting scenes.
There is no way to be every completely rid of him.
Come on devs, give us the oppertunity of promoting boffs and let me assign him to a ship so I don't have to deal with him anymore.
But knowing our luck he won't be able to be promoted! :mad:
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
IMHO if we HAVE to keep him, he should be a least the BEST of the BEST.
With SRO and SS for example.
That would make him the only non-embassy boff with Superior Subterfuge. Actually a good idea. He could be a "hero" boff, along with that annoying federation woman and the forgettable Klingon.
I have like 10 BOFFs and ships only use 5.... more than enough room to just ignore him if you do not want him.
Yes, you missed the fact that he is a second rate BoFF at best, and totally worthless BoFF at worst, yet he occupies a BoFF slot that you can never get back, so you must "buy" extra BoFF slots in order to not have to use him ...
And not everyone has the wherewithal or the desire to spend either real world or ingame currency on extra BoFF slots because they are FORCED to, and Romulans are the only Faction that does have to if you decide to play a different way.
If he was somewhat customizable AND had at least the Sup Op trait, he would be useful for most players, and their probably wouldn't be threads such as this.
I don't have a problem with that. My preexisting backstory of Eleya being a junior noncom-turned-lieutenant junior grade and several years out of the Academy's OCS program makes a lot more sense than being given a permanent ship command on your midshipman cruise. Remember the Valiant?
(Hey, I take my story logic where I can get it.)
We all know how that ended, at least Flores does not shout red squad
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
This. I think the concept behind Tovan was a good move.
The Special Snowflakes(tm) just need to get over it. Tovan Khev, and his side story, is here to stay.
To paraphrase the KDF fanbase: "Don't like it? Roll a Fed or Klink".
Honestly I don't, I just happen to not dislike him as much as other obviously do.
I liked how you could have YOUR crew with YOUR backstory on any of them. So I like them as "blanks" that I can fill with live myself.
Even if you completely shut him out of any landing party or bridge duty, he'll STILL act like your first officer[or first idiot ordering you around] and STILL have is voice acting scenes.
There is no way to be every completely rid of him.
Come on devs, give us the opportunity of promoting boffs and let me assign him to a ship so I don't have to deal with him anymore.
But knowing our luck he won't be able to be promoted! :mad:
Well he's not first officer on any of my toons. Although he ttys to promote himself to first officer at some occasions.
But not worst then all the Captains that try to give orders to us "Admirals".
Even if you completely shut him out of any landing party or bridge duty, he'll STILL act like your first officer[or first idiot ordering you around] and STILL have is voice acting scenes.
There is no way to be every completely rid of him.
Come on devs, give us the oppertunity of promoting boffs and let me assign him to a ship so I don't have to deal with him anymore.
But knowing our luck he won't be able to be promoted! :mad:
I thought you could change who your first officer was in game?
I know I did do it wages ago, but not really looked since.
As for his cut scenes... well, they are his scenes.
This seems to be more about those who roleplay and he does not fit their back stories - that would be the only reason to be worked up over who a first officer is (as it makes no difference in game yet).
Need to check up on what duaths1 said, but if that is right, then the gamers cannot moan as you get the slot for him for free.
Even if you completely shut him out of any landing party or bridge duty, he'll STILL act like your first officer[or first idiot ordering you around] and STILL have is voice acting scenes.
He is part of the story. Just like T'nae or Obisek. Like it or not.
However, if you remove him from away team/bridge, unless it's bugged, he will not appear at all during missions where he is not part of the plot.
talonxv
Captain
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,033
# 122
11-05-2013, 12:21 PM
Personally and I spitballed this one with another forum goer, it would be nice to say at the end of the romulan story line when you deep six Hakeeve, D'Tan says "I have need of experienced officers to command new ships coming out of the yard and I need Tovan."
You could choose to:
A. Give him up and recieve say 5 fleet marks for doing os.
B. keep him[if you should so choose to].
Personally I'd like to discharge him for other duties like commanding his own ship[so I don't have to deal with him].
Tovan's great... if you want your character to be a simple, civilian colonist from Virinat.
The problem comes if you want to be something like a former military officer, for example; then he doesn't really fit so well. Or if you're one of the many people who like to think of your character as a member of the RSE or Tal Shiar.
Nniol tr'Keiniadh was an officer aboard a RSE ship around 2395 or so, who stumbled upon the evidence of Hakeev's treachery. He noticed that everyone who he told about it died, and then he noticed that he kept just missing dying himself, so he fled out of Romulan space. In 2407 D'vex stumbled upon Nniol trying to drink everything away at Drozana Station. He convinced Nniol to come back to Virinat with him; there, Nniol tried to settle into a new life, and to forget the old one. He made connections in the community, including his new best friend, Tovan, a young mechanic at the starport. When the Elachi attack hit, and Nniol learned Hakeev was behind it, he assumed the entire attack was aimed at him.
Nniol and Tovan managed to get their shuttle-load of refugees to D'vex's antiquated warbird; fortunately Nniol was there, because Tovan was a good mechanic and had a way with weapons systems, but he couldn't pilot his way out of a circle.
Since then, Nniol has kept his ragtag crew together; they may be horribly non-military, but Nniol had enough of spit-and-polish in his first life anyway.
So what's the problem?
Because we can't dismiss him. And the power gamer want their boff full of RSO, while some... others want their crew full of women/robot/sexy robot women..
Or all Remans. Or any other combination of crew solely of their own choosing, like the actual full factions get. I kicked out the free Klingon male engi you get and replaced him with a woman, because I was allowed to. You can get rid of K'Gan or Flores too if you want. You're stuck with Tovan, and if you don't like the character type they chose to give him there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
Cryptic tried to copy-paste TOR's involved character arcs onto a game that has always been a customizable sandbox. It was the wrong play.
Yeah, someone gets what the beef is. I actually mentioned to a friend that this seemed like Cryptic trying to copy TOR and failing miserably because of the very nature of the difference between the two games. Customization. Problem is, being the ONLY example of disallowed customization makes this one stand out like a sore thumb. I could completely understand making him undismissable until the Romulan storyarc was complete. But making him undismissable EVER is a mistake. But at this point, I don't think they plan to change it at all. Romulan characters will just be stuck with a BO that they don't want and that, by design, always has a seat on the player's bridge.
I Love tovan... he's gfot awesome ground traits, and my most favorite tac ability... Torp spread 3.... and he's purple. i see no reason to toss him, event if i wanted to.
If you like ground. I'm just guessing here based on observation, but most players don't like ground.
and my most favorite tac ability... Torp spread 3....
You can train that with random boffs, and most torps are garbage at high levels unless you're running a torp build.
and he's purple.
So are random-TRIBBLE boffs you get from recruitment assignments.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
He is a traitor to the Star Empire and the glory of the Romulan people.
Also he's a bit of a goody-two-shoes and has a backtalky mouth, which I don't suffer on my bridge.
Aye, he's a walking talking example of how badly Cryptic messed up the Romulans-one of Trek's most iconic villains- and turned them into Bajoran/Rebel Alliance stand-ins. Unlike the Fed or KDF special officers, he is not optional and cannot be dismissed, and dominates the early story, with your motivations etc being secondary. He uses up a boff slot that could otherwise be used by something else. He even has unique clothing options inaccessible to player characters. Basically Tovan is a badly written 'GMPC' and having the option to get rid of him would be gladly received, I think.
Comments
The problem comes if you want to be something like a former military officer, for example; then he doesn't really fit so well. Or if you're one of the many people who like to think of your character as a member of the RSE or Tal Shiar.
And heaven forbid you might want to make an all Reman crew for some bizarre reason... :P
Although, all of that said, I don't think we'll ever be able to dismiss him. The devs have made that pretty clear.
But it seems pretty reasonable to ask for +1 Boff slot on Romulan Chars to offset Tovan. Or SRO on Tovan to make him more desirable... little things like that would make the situation much nicer.
Not sure about the +1, after all, Tovan is a quiet powerful BO.
My character is not a simple civilian colonist from Viriniat.
My character is a former Romulan spy from a wealthy and influential Romulan family that had infiltrated the Federation when Romulus got destroyed, and since she couldn't return from that assignment (because... well everybody knowing about that assignment was dead) she went into hiding on Viriniat.
In my background Tovan Khev is a distant cousin who was one of the few people left knowing about her (existence in general) which is why she endet up there and ultimately with him on the ship.
So you CAN work Tovan into your background in several ways, and nothing forces you to consider him one of your senior officers. He still can be "just a guest".
This. I think the concept behind Tovan was a good move.
The Special Snowflakes(tm) just need to get over it. Tovan Khev, and his side story, is here to stay.
To paraphrase the KDF fanbase: "Don't like it? Roll a Fed or Klink".
look at this heretic
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
And the writing just isn't good as well. He either bosses the player character around or he is just a gullible idiot and that isn't appealing to anyone. Make him not only a nice guy, but also a smart person, with something meaningful to say. When the player sees through the plot of the "Allies" Episode, while Torvan is still like "What is happening? How can it be?", you have to facepalm too hard to start to like him.
With SRO and SS for example. Plasma weapon specialist for ground. Or he should have an UNIQUE skill. Like Photonic officer combined with TT, or his abilities should reload more quickly..
Also, why are his clothes not applyable on our toons/other BOFFs? The same with Satra!
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
Since you need to have him for the missions (that you can replay), you probably will never be able to get rid of him.
If dismissing was enabled, then I wouldn't be bothered so much by him.
And I have no interest in the Operative Trait, so Superior or not, he'd still get dismissed.
And then I remember the various ways he kept getting pushed front and center without invitation.
When the Department Head bug still existed, Tovan would automatically be chosen as the dominant BOFF even though I made sure he was so far down the ladder of command if he looked up, he wouldn't even be able to see the base of the ladder.
And as was mentioned, he's always standing on the bridge in a dominant position when he should somewhere on one of the unpopulated lower decks as the night security guard.
My crew theme is Liberated Borg/Artificial Lifeforms, so he doesn't fit in with that either.
On that topic, I fail to see how a former Borg Drone (my Romulan captain) would have any reason to know some farmer from a backwater planet, even if they were living there.
One final point, I had to buy extra BOFF slots when I became Starfleet, because the limited slots meant he was taking up space that should have gone to one of the special BOFFs.
I hope you have now achieved a measure of clarity on this topic.
Now excuse me while I go inject assimilation nanoprobes into Tovan Khev and ship him off to the Borg.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Since when are you forced to use him?
I have like 10 BOFFs and ships only use 5.... more than enough room to just ignore him if you do not want him.
Even if you completely shut him out of any landing party or bridge duty, he'll STILL act like your first officer[or first idiot ordering you around] and STILL have is voice acting scenes.
There is no way to be every completely rid of him.
Come on devs, give us the oppertunity of promoting boffs and let me assign him to a ship so I don't have to deal with him anymore.
But knowing our luck he won't be able to be promoted! :mad:
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
That would make him the only non-embassy boff with Superior Subterfuge. Actually a good idea. He could be a "hero" boff, along with that annoying federation woman and the forgettable Klingon.
Yes, you missed the fact that he is a second rate BoFF at best, and totally worthless BoFF at worst, yet he occupies a BoFF slot that you can never get back, so you must "buy" extra BoFF slots in order to not have to use him ...
And not everyone has the wherewithal or the desire to spend either real world or ingame currency on extra BoFF slots because they are FORCED to, and Romulans are the only Faction that does have to if you decide to play a different way.
If he was somewhat customizable AND had at least the Sup Op trait, he would be useful for most players, and their probably wouldn't be threads such as this.
We all know how that ended, at least Flores does not shout red squad
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Honestly I don't, I just happen to not dislike him as much as other obviously do.
I liked how you could have YOUR crew with YOUR backstory on any of them. So I like them as "blanks" that I can fill with live myself.
Well he's not first officer on any of my toons. Although he ttys to promote himself to first officer at some occasions.
But not worst then all the Captains that try to give orders to us "Admirals".
So he actually is not using another BOFF slot, he is just annoying and does not look good in your roster. (Like Wesley Crusher)
I thought you could change who your first officer was in game?
I know I did do it wages ago, but not really looked since.
As for his cut scenes... well, they are his scenes.
This seems to be more about those who roleplay and he does not fit their back stories - that would be the only reason to be worked up over who a first officer is (as it makes no difference in game yet).
Need to check up on what duaths1 said, but if that is right, then the gamers cannot moan as you get the slot for him for free.
I like him, I think the devs have some more ues for him in upcoming storylines in the future.
He is part of the story. Just like T'nae or Obisek. Like it or not.
However, if you remove him from away team/bridge, unless it's bugged, he will not appear at all during missions where he is not part of the plot.
talonxv
Captain
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,033
# 122
11-05-2013, 12:21 PM
Personally and I spitballed this one with another forum goer, it would be nice to say at the end of the romulan story line when you deep six Hakeeve, D'Tan says "I have need of experienced officers to command new ships coming out of the yard and I need Tovan."
You could choose to:
A. Give him up and recieve say 5 fleet marks for doing os.
B. keep him[if you should so choose to].
Personally I'd like to discharge him for other duties like commanding his own ship[so I don't have to deal with him].
Nniol and Tovan managed to get their shuttle-load of refugees to D'vex's antiquated warbird; fortunately Nniol was there, because Tovan was a good mechanic and had a way with weapons systems, but he couldn't pilot his way out of a circle.
Since then, Nniol has kept his ragtag crew together; they may be horribly non-military, but Nniol had enough of spit-and-polish in his first life anyway.
So what's the problem?
Yeah, someone gets what the beef is. I actually mentioned to a friend that this seemed like Cryptic trying to copy TOR and failing miserably because of the very nature of the difference between the two games. Customization. Problem is, being the ONLY example of disallowed customization makes this one stand out like a sore thumb. I could completely understand making him undismissable until the Romulan storyarc was complete. But making him undismissable EVER is a mistake. But at this point, I don't think they plan to change it at all. Romulan characters will just be stuck with a BO that they don't want and that, by design, always has a seat on the player's bridge.
You can train that with random boffs, and most torps are garbage at high levels unless you're running a torp build.
So are random-TRIBBLE boffs you get from recruitment assignments.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
He is a traitor to the Star Empire and the glory of the Romulan people.
Also he's a bit of a goody-two-shoes and has a backtalky mouth, which I don't suffer on my bridge.
That would be like admitting he is useless though. Could disturb their inner zen. :P
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