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A working Bridge? Down with Sector Space

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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I still play Bridge Commander, the mods are amazing, the control of your ship either from the bridge or tactical view is nearly flawless. If STO could be more like this, exceptional!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    It seems odd to me. that a program engine will limit somone to what thay can or can't do. I Seen meny mods change everyhitng from gravaty to displays. In a computer program or game enviroment. anyhting is possible. How you get there in codes and in design is onaly problem. Game desing is inly limited buy the imagenation of the designer and practical application for the players.

    A few thing came to me while I read this. what works what lags and what can thay do thats practical.

    one travel in a system while on bridge. Few problems with it. but not impossable to work with.

    first we need to see what is the scale of the game peices. We know that a ship is about the same size as a ground character. So to have a movable bridge. we would have to make it fit onto the map to scale. that cuts on map size or room. The idea I think thay had was bigger system maps to explor and interact with.

    Salution. whe enterting system space you can opt to stich to bridge if it's one of the communication encounters. or envestigation ones. But as meny of you ahve seen in the start part of game. even the images on there screens are limited to alpha texture cut outs of ships.

    Traveling in sector space is oddly easer too do. in world your ship would still be represented on the blue map. Thats just part of traffic control. But you don't need to have your councel display there to injoy it. just tel lyou information. This is simulerto setting up bots that the gold spammers use. So instead ofk eeping track of your ship traveling in blue space. you emarly sit on your ship and talk to your fellow crew members (player I hope)

    the coding on it will take time. you have to tell server that you moving on bridge is not you moving on bridge. you olso need to set flags up to let your bridge know to alert you to events in range. and set range. ofcorse a wise idea would be a way to turn off some alerts. or even set your own range

    the next part is ride alongs. letting somone ride with you. or handle a function of the ship. As meny mmos have this. is not hard to do. even easer becuse you don't really need to attach a modle to ship. Even this little bit would be fun.

    Doing the last option to lets you do a duel encounter. crew on ground while ship in orbit is attacked. Soon as battle is done can come save ground crew.

    ((disclaimer. I am doing an essay am tired and don't want to mix my essay spell check with this.))

    /agree keep it up I Want my interiour. and my klingon head wall mount. :p
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    BRIDGE AND INTERIOR ACCESS IDEAS: The basic model of starship combat, mission complexity and drama, and unexpected action is already there to enjoy. But we need more Star Trek crew interaction- the Star Trek shifting of crew expectations and abilities that result from the drama that we so often loved in the original movies. This article is how I propose to implement it.

    The interior missions and gameplay would take place while traveling between your departure and destination points. Usually at slow warp like warp 1, or warp .5- I noticed that if you travel at these speeds it often takes a long long time to arrive at your mission destination. Of course you can always pause your ship's movement as well. Perhaps pausing your ship could open it up to random pirate attacks while you are performing interior ship tasks (increasing the drama and excitement- interrupting certain tasks and making it more fluid).

    Ship warp travel time is the perfect opportunity to go inside the ship and engage in the interior ship tasks and options. These interior tasks could eventually modify ship and crew abilities enough to affect the outcome of the mission. To obtain the desired modifications that result from ship interior tasks, you would need to slow down or pause your travel speed, and enter the ship before you arrive at your destination for each mission.

    Moving to the ship interior would be implemented by accessing the option menu and clicking "Go to Bridge" or a similar successor to that option. Once you are zoomed into the bridge you can select any officer. From there, each officer would have a number of options to choose in terms of his conduct. The actual ship interior architecture could initially begin with the basics: bridge, engineering, medical, ten forward, crewman's personal quarters, captain's ready room, and holodeck. Eventually, each ship could be expanded to have its own unique interior architecture for those Trekkies that have a penchant for exploring and getting to know their peculiar vessel. The player could have the option to travel the through the ship in the old fashioned way and meet crew along the way, or zoom right to the particular room you want.

    The interior task options would be social interactions with other crew members or other options relating to overall gameplay. Here are a few ideas regarding the options. Generally, it is important to game stability for each individual option task to have only a small impact on ultimate mission performance. But, performing MANY of these tasks could end up having a substantial impact on the outcome of your ultimate mission due to the significant ship modifications that could result by the time you reach your mission destination. (This would also happen to allow for substantial replayability within the game- you could replay missions after performing a different set of crew options for your crew inside the ship during the interwarp travel phase to your mission destination). Each task would have typical effects, but also there can be a small chance of a unique unexpected effect on your crewmember (for example, you decide to take a crew member to ten forward, and because he has tendencies to drunkenness decides to stay there rather than man his station when battle begins!). The surprise reactions to option tasks could especially occur during the initial phase of the game for any particular crew compliment, as the crew gets to know itself and its surroundings.

    Some option tasks would be unique to each individual officer, while others would be common to all officers. You could switch between officers at any time during the phase while the ship is warping to its mission destination. Here are some specific task ideas:

    COMMON OPTIONS FOR ALL CREWMEMBERS:

    1. Get to know another officer (playing poker, getting a drink at ten forward with the crew member, developing friendship/romance, etc..). Using these options could have a substantial modifier effect when the ship reaches its mission destination. For example, a drink in ten forward could raise the moral of these crewmembers, while at the same time reducing their coordination or removing some of their special abilities when the mission takes place (because they are inebriated). Also, getting to know another officer before a mission could allow for a temporary new ability for each officer that is shared from the other officer. These social interactions could create for themselves unique games within games. For example, you could have a poker table, and invite the different crew members to play. While you play poker, the crewmembers are sharing their abilities with each other so that each member is enhanced or negatively affected in some way by the time of the ultimate mission.

    As the crew uses the get to know each other option more, this could substantially improve ship and crew abilities for the long term (over many missions). But there is a risk to this. If an officer is lost or dies, there is a negative effect on ship and crew abilities that is proportionate to the level the crew knew each other. This negative effect would last long term through multiple missions, but would gradually improve over time. The more officer briefings you have (see below), the more the whole ship crew could feel the loss of an officer.

    2. Research computer database on mission particulars- Having an officer perform this option could somehow make him perform more efficiently during the ultimate mission, or perhaps have the unexpected effect of scaring the crewmember so much he refuses to perform the mission!

    3. Go to crew quarters- Resting up before a mission could have certain benefits.

    4. Unique tasks that arise from time to time- As the starship travels in warp (or even while it is paused in space), and you are in interior mode, different task events could arise (the converter in subsection b is down, needs repair; this part of the computer could use maintenance, etc...) and the officers can decide whether to perform these tasks, or ignore them to do other things that they enjoy (like social interactions etc...). Each decision to repair or do something else will have an effect on the ability/modifiers of the ship and crew once the ultimate mission destination is reached.

    5. Holodeck! Of course, you can't forget the holodeck. Take an officer (and his staff) to the holodeck, and create a unique holodeck mission according to your own player selected parameters. Beating these player created missions could have positive and negative effects on the crew member's performance and mission success.

    6. Have chosen officer perform a crew briefing- IF you have a particular officer brief the entire ship crew (i.e. in ten forward) on how to perform under his command during the mission, you could somehow modify the crew's abilities according to the officer's skills. This effect would wear off after each mission.

    7. Announce and hold a party at ten forward- the Captain of the ship could send an subspace communication to all ships announcing a celebration in ten forward, along with the expected time of the celebration. Benefits would accrue to the ship (more credits, more skillpoints) as a result of holding the party and forging these important diplomatic and starfleet connections. The extent of the benefits would depend upon the number of players that actually show up at the party. Unique crew tasks could also arise during the ten forward party.

    8. Reach out to other ships in your sector- You can send a subspace communication to any ship in your sector, hold a rendevous with the particular ship, and temporarily share crew skills and abilities for the mission- or even temporarily swap crew members for the mission!

    9. Conduct security drills- This would have the obvious effect of enhancing ship capabilities. It could have both long and short term benefits. Drills would come at a cost. Conducting drills would turn off other interior tasks for the player while the drill is being conducted.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    A FEW SUGGESTED TASKS UNIQUE TO THE CAPTAIN:

    1. Go to the Captain's Ready Room, contact the other side, and either conduct diplomacy or make threats. The captain could conduct diplomacy with the enemy he is about to face in the mission. This task could have both short and long term effects in the game. Perhaps the Captain develops a reputation as a skilled diplomat, or alternatively as warlike and uncompromising. You could also develop the reputation of being extremely partial to a certain enemy, and slowly have your ship (and crew) go rogue! Starfleet would become more distant to your ship, and you would be able to forge friendships and obtain benefits from an enemy- perhaps even converting completely over to the other side and participating in more and more of the enemy's own unique missions. You might even face mutiny from certain crew (especially new green officers)!

    2. Encourage or Discipline Officers. Officers could slowly become lazy or incompetent as time goes on. Using this task would bring the officer back up to his full abilities (or even make him worse in his duties if your discipline is either too psychologically overwhelming or too lenient). Administering discipline could either be performed privately in the Captain's ready room, or publicly on the bridge or some other area of the ship. Depending upon the discipline you impose, the severity of the discipline, the kind of discipline, and the crew member's unique personality, certain effects on the crew member, and even the entire crew (after all- the crew gossips about who the captain is disciplining!) would result.

    3. Have the option of putting the ship on yellow or red alert at any time- Having yellow and red alert on has benefits, but having them on too much can have certain negative consequences as well.

    The particular ship tasks you can come up with are basically endless. The game could continue to be developed with ever more ship tasks and even more unexpected results from these tasks. Again, these interior tasks would have a mostly temporary effect that lasts only during the unique mission (i.e. the effect would end once your ship reaches a particular mission destination and performs the overall mission task at that destination). There are some interior tasks that would have long term overall game effects (i.e. the more you get to know other crew members the better the crew will perform over time, and the worse it will perform if the ship loses an officer in combat).

    REACHING THE EXTERIOR MISSION DESTINATION:
    Once you have warped to your mission destination, you would then have the option of commanding the ship from the inside (probably available only in solo mode since it would be hard to implement with other players in the game), or in reverting back to ship exterior mode for interspace mission play as it is now.

    Finally, the player would have the option of never going to the ship interior at all, and completely ignoring this aspect of game play. If the player decides to do this, mission abilities will be modified automatically for each mission (simulating the crew's interaction despite the fact that it was skipped in gameplay).

    Thank you all for your support! Keep this threat going with your own ideas for tasks. Hopefully Cryptic sees this and will respond accordingly.

    Here are a few more ideas for ship interior gameplay:

    Mutiny

    Depending upon your diplomatic actions as captain (as conducted in your ready room), how severely you discipline your crew, and other factors, the ship could have a mutiny risk bar indicating how annoyed the crew is with the captain. If you are especially rigorous in your discipline, drills, and traitorous in diplomacy, one of your officers could organize a mutiny against the Captain. You can reduce this risk by buying new crewmembers at a starbase (which comes at a cost in both credits as well as reduced crew training and capabilities), or by being more cordial in your interactions with the crew.


    General Ship Policies:

    Each ship could have its own established general internal rules and regulations that the Captain can choose and change at any time. For example, ten forward closes promptly every night at 22:00 subspace time (this raises crew ability, lowers morale, etc..). You could also change ship rules to alter the percentage amount of time your crew spends studying, conducting leisure activities, and spending on shore leave. Essentially, you could alter the schedule of all or parts of your crew. All of these would of course have positive and negative modifying effects over multiple missions.

    Different Drinks and Food at Ten Forward

    You can have different drinks and food at ten forward that have different effects on player performance. As you travel through space, more food types with more abilities become available from the replicator.

    Officer's Quarters Ability Development

    Unique abilities can be unlocked and become available soley by spending time self-training in the officer's quarters.

    Player Death

    There should be an option for permanent ship and officer death. Perhaps even the captain himself could die in combat and one of the officer's take his place. This raises the stakes in the game, and makes it more challenging. When the option for officer death is unchecked the player would be allowed to respawn as now. The possibility of officer death also allows for more interesting officer interaction (i.e. when an officer dies that often interacted with his fellow officers and the crew, the crew would be further demoralized).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I approve of the working bridge idea, and interacting with me crew. While we're at at let me choose where to assign each of my crew on my bridge, I'm tired of it being a 2:2:2 ratio for each kind of officer and my third science officer not appearing.

    More customization on the bridge would be amazing.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited September 2010
    @Picard 777: I agree 100% completely and utterly and wholeheartedly
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited September 2010
    gruegirl wrote: »
    @Picard 777: I agree 100% completely and utterly and wholeheartedly

    Wow lotta necromancy in this one...:eek:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited September 2010
    Boca wrote:
    I hope and prey that Cryptic sees this post and makes use of it. It is the greatest part of the game experience that is completely missing. I want to command my ship from the bridge if only for a little while.

    Hell yes!

    When I first started reading about what Cryptic were doing with this game, I tried to imagine how they would implement it all. And I had hoped beyond hope that you'd be "on the bridge" in the Captain's chair, issuing orders. That would be pure awesome.

    I agree that the combat tactical view for space battles is fine as it is and even in instances, but during sector travel I'd love to actually have command of my bridge. That would be a major selling point, IMO.
  • arazonsarazons Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    To see such great ideas posted in 2010 and here I am in 2014 looking at old posts and getting ready to necro it.

    1. Leave the 2d top down view of sector space for those that want it. But make it not the default.
    2. Make the default your bridge with you ordering your officers where to take you. Then do away with do you want to go to this sector TRIBBLE. It should automatically take you.
    3. Add alot more "instanced" procedural created systems that you can come accross and explore.
    4. Add some story and missions to these systems in a generic system.
    5. Go back and add more of the known canon to the game, by way of characters, locations, missions, items. etc.etc.
    6. Let the foundry missions be accessible from travelling around, like a proximity hail that prompts you for missions when in sector space.
    7. Make the game more immersive instead of an arcade style select game type setup and shooter.
  • arazonsarazons Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    you have been successfully rezd. Please dont let this discussion die folks. I play off and on again and I can say the lack of immersive star trek feel is what keeps driving me away. The bridge travel needs to come!
  • voporakvoporak Member Posts: 5,621 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    What dark magic did you use to find this thing...

    *Radios bluegeek*

    'Ey boss, we gotta 'nother one!
    I ask nothing but that you remember me.
  • arazonsarazons Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    While in warp you can get mini missions from duty officers.. or active duty personnel. Your engineer asks you to come see the improvements he made or any number of things that could happen on the ship.
  • arazonsarazons Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    voporak wrote: »
    What dark magic did you use to find this thing...

    *Radios bluegeek*

    'Ey boss, we gotta 'nother one!

    Hahaha! Google my friend, google.
  • kestrelliuskestrellius Member Posts: 462 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    This isn't even a zombie; it's a reanimated skeleton. Seriously, this is some impressive necromancy. Four years?

    Nonetheless, it is a good idea, although I'm not sure what you're on about with 2D. Nothing in this game is 2D except the UI.
  • zipagatzipagat Member Posts: 1,204 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Well someone is a level 20 thread necromancer.
  • opak1opak1 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Oh yes, 4 years old or not still some great ideas here.

    Talk to your first officer for DOFF missions. Isn't that what an XO is for?
    Joined: June 12, 1972

    "The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play." - James T. Kirk
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