Adding uniqueness to the new Crafting system

As many of my fellow posters have noted, STO has become an exceptionally diverse place. It’s the only licensed Star Trek product I’ve seen where Starfleet, Romulan, assimilated Romulan, Tholian, Cardassian, Ferengi, 29th century, Elachi, Breen, Risian, and even Undine ships can harmoniously mingle in orbit of ESD. I’m all for freedom of choice, but the realities of MMO power creep often mean that newer is better.

As a result, many of the ships that one would expect to be awesome in Star Trek Online are lackluster. The canon ships that many fans want to use are often underpowered compared to the shiny new lockbox or lobi ships.

So what I propose in the posts that follow is a way to hit two birds with one stone: brainstorm with my fellow posters to produce new ideas for the upcoming crafting revamp AND make canon-ish (and indeed all) ships more viable for those who want their game to, you know, feel like Star Trek.

The idea would be to create a series of craftable sets and kits that would exemplify the flavor and style of each faction, emphasizing the characteristics of a specific ship/archetype in the shows and movies. This would have the added bonus of making each faction feel a little more unique from the others. These wouldn’t be restricted to the ships from which they are inspired, but they might get an extra little boost from being equipped on them (think Jem’Hadar set’s extra 3-piece bonus).

Obviously, an idea is only as robust as the constructive criticism and support that it receives. I can’t imagine that Cryptic will implement this idea in its entirety, but if we support it, it might influence things to come in some way. This thread is not intended to bash Cryptic’s inclusion of new and unusual ships in the game. It’s intended to be a crowdsourced and curated list of ideas to bring the Trek back into STO through our new and (potentially) awesome crafting system.

TL;DR –

STO and canon trek get further apart every day. The new crafting system has set the groundwork for awesome unique gear, but has only touched the tip of the iceberg. Let’s use crafting to make canon-inspired builds and trek flavor more viable.

Below are a few ideas to get the ball rolling.

Federation bonuses and gear

-Space gear includes new sets exemplifying some of the "hero" ships we've seen in the shows and movies, but essentially equippable on any ship. These are named for certain types of ship, but not restricted in any way to those classes:

• A Galaxy-class inspired set, with a heavy phaser array, a burst-fire photon torpedo launcher, and a special cruiser command boosting console. Emphasis on team buffing and usefulness in combat. Noncombat bonus to Diplomacy CXP. Heavily inspired by DDIS’s excellent ideas, which I would much rather see realized in their entirety… but I would settle for this.
  
  
• A Defiant inspired set, with a phaser beam turret that benefits from CRF and CSV, a dual quantum torpedo launcher, and a special ablative armor console. Think “tough little ship.”
  
  
• A Voyager inspired set, with a high-speed tricobalt torpedo, a special modulating phaser beam array, and an astrometrics lab special science console. Emphasis on survivability and precision strikes.
  
  
• A Sovereign-class inspired set, with a rapid fire quantum torpedo (think the Romulan hyper plasma launcher, but with quantums), a special console for enhanced maneuverability (manual steering column?:)), and a debuff-inflicting phaser beam array. Emphasis on improving maneuverability and debuffing. 3-piece set might grant a reconnaissance-by-fire ability.

-Ground gear includes new sets and equipment exemplifying some of the "hero" archetypes in the shows and movies. More to follow later.

Klingon bonuses and gear

-Space gear includes new sets exemplifying some of the "hero" ships, as well as some of the non-Klingon races in the Empire.

• A bird-of-prey inspired set, with a cloak-enhancing plasma coil console, dual heavy disruptor cannons, and a photon torpedo launcher with bonus shield penetration. Emphasis on stealth and shield penetration. Think Generations.
  
  
• A battlecruiser inspired set, with a heavy disruptor beam array, a special stasis weapon console, and a wide-angle photon-chroniton torpedo launcher. Emphasis on enemy immobilization. See this article for inspiration.
  
  
• A Negh’Var inspired set, with dual (very) HEAVY disruptor cannons, a heavy disruptor turret, and an special console that reduces damage reduction at long range. Emphasis on laying siege to heavily-shielded targets. Think Way of the Warrior.
  
  
• Another bird-of-prey inspired set, with a debuff-extending special console, dual disruptor cannons, and an engine-draining photon torpedo (on critical hit, it kills one of YOUR crew). Emphasis on slowing and confusing the enemy. Think The Search for Spock.

-Ground gear includes new sets and equipment exemplifying some of the "hero" archetypes in the shows, as well as race-themed gear. Suggestions have included a Targ handler kit.

Romulan bonuses and gear

-Space gear includes new sets exemplifying some of the prominent Romulan ships and tactics seen throughout the show and films. Here, there would be more leeway since we know less about the Romulans than we do about Starfleet or the Klingons.

• A classic bird-of-prey inspired set, with a resistance-reducing plasma torpedo launcher, a special “play dead” console, and a nuclear warhead mine that inflicts a radiation DOT and a hefty stealth debuff. Emphasis on combating other stealthy opponents. Think Balance of Terror.
  
  
• A D’Deridex inspired set, with a heavy plasma beam array, a wide-angle plasma torpedo, and a special console that steals random buffs from enemy targets. Emphasis on theft and ambush. Think Contagion.
  
  
• A Reman inspired set, with dual heavy plasma cannons, a debuff-inflicting photon torpedo launcher, and a special boarding party console. Emphasis on heavy combat; Remans were described as shock troopers in Nemesis.

The end goal of these reputation projects would be to equip factions with unique equipment, skill, and gameplay elements that would *feel* unique and useful, as well as adding a good deal of IP-friendly Trekness. I would imagine that players would have to find or earn the schematics/recipes for these sets through playing the game -- either as mission rewards or random rare drops.

Thoughts? I will update this post periodically, as I receive new feedback and ideas from others.