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Romulan Mystery - Remastered
thomaselkins
Member Posts: 575 Arc User
I know the remastering of the Romulan Mystery story line is pretty much inevitable, so I'm not going to ask for it. Instead I thought we could give input and discuss how it could be updated to fit in with the rest of the story line. The most obvious edition should be the Romulan Republic and dialog in the Romulan Mystery should be updated to acknowledge them. Instead of always referring to the enemies as "Romulans", we should refer to them as the Tal Shiar.
Here are some ideas for individual episodes, although I didn't include them all.
Minefield
This episode is simply out of date because Starfleet is afraid of Romulans using their transwarp network, but the Romulans as a whole are not our enemy. Only the Tal Shiar is our enemy and we're obviously allied with the Romulan Republic. The solution to protecting the transwarp network involves mines which target materials used in Romulan ship construction, but that means they wouldn't allow Republic ships to pass. This doesn't seem right to me, unless the Republic uses its own transwarp network or something. But having mines which blow up Allied ships wouldn't be very friendly, so a new solution to protecting the network should be found. Or the mission could be dropped.
Divide et Impera
With the updates to the Undine, this episode could benefit from a cutscene showing Admiral Zelle transforming the same way Sokketh and Cooper do. The general play space could use a rework as well, since some of the rooms are really basic. The final room where you fight the Undine for example is just a really large room with some computers in it.
Saturday's Child
I heard that someday Cryptic wanted to give the Klingon's more missions. Specifically missions like Saturday's Child, played from their perspective. If they do that, then this mission could also be updated to include the Romulan Republic as well. It would be easy since the Republic is allied with each faction, so you could get your orders from each faction's commander, on subcommander Nadel on their behalf. "Saturday's Child" could be added to the Allies campaign of the Republic storyline.
Preemptive Strike
This episode really needs to be reworked. Starfleet decides that it's going to preemptively strike at the heart of the Star Empire and the whole thing kinda plays out like any other random mission. We don't even speak to a Romulan Commander, telling us to go away or that our presence is an act of war. We arrive, blow up some random patrols, kill some random squads on the surface and that's it. Yes, there is a big fleet battle at the end but even that remains as "destroy the ships and leave."
When you beam to the surface, the hostages are just standing around the yard, protected by a handful of people and it seems to me like they should be in a lot more danger than that. Perhaps we can liberate them from an interment camp, where we find they are being tortured for information and will eventually be given to the Elachi. New dialog would really help this mission out.
It would also make sense for the Romulan Republic to play a role here, since they're also at war with the Tal Shiar and their allies are striking at the heart of the old Star Empire. Personally I think this mission should be more like "Cutting the Cord" because that mission actually felt like we were invading a major enemy stronghold. Starfleet and Repbulic ships should both assault the planet, with starfleet promising that Hakeev, if captured, will be given to Republic custody. Of course we know he gets away, or we could discover he was never there, but this could help set up our final confrontation with him later on.
Perhaps they could add Empress Sela to the mission? If not, I would at least like a Romulan Commander for the R.R.W Decius to speak with. It just makes sense that we would speak with someone as we assault the major capitol of the Romulan Star Empire.
By Any Means
This mission could be a companion to the Republic mission "Sleepers". After you learn about the USS Noble's mission to find a Borg Sphere before the Tal Shiar does, dialog for this mission can be updated to include intelligence reports from the Republic's spies who personally witnessed the Tal Shiar's study of a damaged Borg Cube.
Ground Zero
This is an interesting one. At first I thought this mission could be discarded, since we have the Romulan mission "Revelation" which is a little more satisfying. Plus, there is no reason for Starfleet to be there when the Romulans are already there in "Revelation". However it's possible that Starfleet learns what they do in "Ground Zero" and they inform the Romulan Republic, who then sends in the Romulan player to investigate further.
The timeline established would place the mission order something like this, with Federation/Romulan missions taking place at the same time:
Ground Zero / Cloak and Dagger
Ghost Ship / Revelation
Friend of my Enemy / Mind Games
Taris / Temporal Ambassador
The only problem here is that the "Wasteland" story is completed by Starfleet before these missions and the Republic does them after. How they tie in together is a little more complicated however, since they are nearly identical for each faction.
Ghost Ship
Not much to change here, except maybe the interior of the USS Warwick.
Friend of My Enemy
This mission consists of trying to earn the trust of far flung Romulan colony so it's another good place to feature the Romulan Republic. Perhaps this mission could actually be given to the player by the Romulan Republic, who is formally asking the Federation for assistance? Your ship could bring the Republic Ambassador, (or D'Tan himself), with them as they attempt to convince the colony to join the Republic. Since this is a diplomatic mission, it would be nice to have a scene which could take place aboard your ship, similar to the episode "Cold Call" where you speak with Ambassador Surah in the observation lounge. Here we can speak with the Ambassador or D'Tan and learn about our mission and the colony we're going to assist.
The room itself could be a new location, designed with the purpose of hosting diplomatic functions. Since it would be new, it would probably match the design aesthetic of modern starship interiors. "Cold Call" could then be updated to use this room when speaking to Ambassador Surah.
Taris
This is another mission that deserves to be bigger than it currently is. After Taris encounters the Romulan Republic player in "Revelation", she escapes into an Iconian Gateway and ends up on Iconia. The Republic can then feed this information to Starfleet who orders the Starfleet player to intercept and arrest her, since the Republic is regrouping from their battle with Hakeev in "Mind Game".
A cutscene showing the Iconian ship would make its appearance a little more interesting. Right now she appears out of nowhere, love taps the player and vanishes again. I would prefer an actual scene which shows the ship appear from a rift, or something, and then approaches the player ship ominously. I say treat it like the Enterprise episode "Silent Enemy" where a mysterious ship approaches us and we attempt to communicate, only to be ignored and leaving us to wonder what the hell that was all about. It's appropriate since the enemy from "Silent Enemy" turned out to be the Elachi in STO canon anyway.
Once we approach Taris, there should be a cutscene as well. When we enter the elevator to reach her position, a cutscene should show Taris in communication with an unknown person. Right now she does get berated by a mysterious person, which the STO wiki theorizes is an Iconian in disguise. Perhaps this could turn out to be an actual Iconian? Instead of showing them as a Romulan, they could avoid showing them altogether. This way it avoids spoiling the surprise at the end of "Surface Tension". The mystery person speaking to Taris could even have the same voice as the Iconian in "Surface Tension" so that people can come to the realization that this was most likely the mystery person who berated Taris for her failure.
After we defeat Taris, dialog can be updated to mention that she will be sent to Facility 4028 where we will eventually go in the "Cardassian Struggle"
Trapped
This episode could remain pretty much the same, but the interior of the Hirogen ship could be updated to include a more canon Hirogen interior.
Cutting the Cord
This mission is pretty much fine as it is, however I would like a tiny modification. At the beginning of the mission, the battle is already in progress and while Obisek is trying to fill you in on what's going on, a Mogei will attack you. This usually means I have to skip his dialog and engage the enemy, so it would make more sense for the ships to remain neutral and only attack after his dialog is finished. The same goes for the final battle at the end, where it can be hard to pay attention to Sela's dialog when so many ships are already fighting. Let her give her warning, have Obisek talk to us and then we can engage the enemy ships present.
Here are some ideas for individual episodes, although I didn't include them all.
Minefield
This episode is simply out of date because Starfleet is afraid of Romulans using their transwarp network, but the Romulans as a whole are not our enemy. Only the Tal Shiar is our enemy and we're obviously allied with the Romulan Republic. The solution to protecting the transwarp network involves mines which target materials used in Romulan ship construction, but that means they wouldn't allow Republic ships to pass. This doesn't seem right to me, unless the Republic uses its own transwarp network or something. But having mines which blow up Allied ships wouldn't be very friendly, so a new solution to protecting the network should be found. Or the mission could be dropped.
Divide et Impera
With the updates to the Undine, this episode could benefit from a cutscene showing Admiral Zelle transforming the same way Sokketh and Cooper do. The general play space could use a rework as well, since some of the rooms are really basic. The final room where you fight the Undine for example is just a really large room with some computers in it.
Saturday's Child
I heard that someday Cryptic wanted to give the Klingon's more missions. Specifically missions like Saturday's Child, played from their perspective. If they do that, then this mission could also be updated to include the Romulan Republic as well. It would be easy since the Republic is allied with each faction, so you could get your orders from each faction's commander, on subcommander Nadel on their behalf. "Saturday's Child" could be added to the Allies campaign of the Republic storyline.
Preemptive Strike
This episode really needs to be reworked. Starfleet decides that it's going to preemptively strike at the heart of the Star Empire and the whole thing kinda plays out like any other random mission. We don't even speak to a Romulan Commander, telling us to go away or that our presence is an act of war. We arrive, blow up some random patrols, kill some random squads on the surface and that's it. Yes, there is a big fleet battle at the end but even that remains as "destroy the ships and leave."
When you beam to the surface, the hostages are just standing around the yard, protected by a handful of people and it seems to me like they should be in a lot more danger than that. Perhaps we can liberate them from an interment camp, where we find they are being tortured for information and will eventually be given to the Elachi. New dialog would really help this mission out.
It would also make sense for the Romulan Republic to play a role here, since they're also at war with the Tal Shiar and their allies are striking at the heart of the old Star Empire. Personally I think this mission should be more like "Cutting the Cord" because that mission actually felt like we were invading a major enemy stronghold. Starfleet and Repbulic ships should both assault the planet, with starfleet promising that Hakeev, if captured, will be given to Republic custody. Of course we know he gets away, or we could discover he was never there, but this could help set up our final confrontation with him later on.
Perhaps they could add Empress Sela to the mission? If not, I would at least like a Romulan Commander for the R.R.W Decius to speak with. It just makes sense that we would speak with someone as we assault the major capitol of the Romulan Star Empire.
By Any Means
This mission could be a companion to the Republic mission "Sleepers". After you learn about the USS Noble's mission to find a Borg Sphere before the Tal Shiar does, dialog for this mission can be updated to include intelligence reports from the Republic's spies who personally witnessed the Tal Shiar's study of a damaged Borg Cube.
Ground Zero
This is an interesting one. At first I thought this mission could be discarded, since we have the Romulan mission "Revelation" which is a little more satisfying. Plus, there is no reason for Starfleet to be there when the Romulans are already there in "Revelation". However it's possible that Starfleet learns what they do in "Ground Zero" and they inform the Romulan Republic, who then sends in the Romulan player to investigate further.
The timeline established would place the mission order something like this, with Federation/Romulan missions taking place at the same time:
Ground Zero / Cloak and Dagger
Ghost Ship / Revelation
Friend of my Enemy / Mind Games
Taris / Temporal Ambassador
The only problem here is that the "Wasteland" story is completed by Starfleet before these missions and the Republic does them after. How they tie in together is a little more complicated however, since they are nearly identical for each faction.
Ghost Ship
Not much to change here, except maybe the interior of the USS Warwick.
Friend of My Enemy
This mission consists of trying to earn the trust of far flung Romulan colony so it's another good place to feature the Romulan Republic. Perhaps this mission could actually be given to the player by the Romulan Republic, who is formally asking the Federation for assistance? Your ship could bring the Republic Ambassador, (or D'Tan himself), with them as they attempt to convince the colony to join the Republic. Since this is a diplomatic mission, it would be nice to have a scene which could take place aboard your ship, similar to the episode "Cold Call" where you speak with Ambassador Surah in the observation lounge. Here we can speak with the Ambassador or D'Tan and learn about our mission and the colony we're going to assist.
The room itself could be a new location, designed with the purpose of hosting diplomatic functions. Since it would be new, it would probably match the design aesthetic of modern starship interiors. "Cold Call" could then be updated to use this room when speaking to Ambassador Surah.
Taris
This is another mission that deserves to be bigger than it currently is. After Taris encounters the Romulan Republic player in "Revelation", she escapes into an Iconian Gateway and ends up on Iconia. The Republic can then feed this information to Starfleet who orders the Starfleet player to intercept and arrest her, since the Republic is regrouping from their battle with Hakeev in "Mind Game".
A cutscene showing the Iconian ship would make its appearance a little more interesting. Right now she appears out of nowhere, love taps the player and vanishes again. I would prefer an actual scene which shows the ship appear from a rift, or something, and then approaches the player ship ominously. I say treat it like the Enterprise episode "Silent Enemy" where a mysterious ship approaches us and we attempt to communicate, only to be ignored and leaving us to wonder what the hell that was all about. It's appropriate since the enemy from "Silent Enemy" turned out to be the Elachi in STO canon anyway.
Once we approach Taris, there should be a cutscene as well. When we enter the elevator to reach her position, a cutscene should show Taris in communication with an unknown person. Right now she does get berated by a mysterious person, which the STO wiki theorizes is an Iconian in disguise. Perhaps this could turn out to be an actual Iconian? Instead of showing them as a Romulan, they could avoid showing them altogether. This way it avoids spoiling the surprise at the end of "Surface Tension". The mystery person speaking to Taris could even have the same voice as the Iconian in "Surface Tension" so that people can come to the realization that this was most likely the mystery person who berated Taris for her failure.
After we defeat Taris, dialog can be updated to mention that she will be sent to Facility 4028 where we will eventually go in the "Cardassian Struggle"
Trapped
This episode could remain pretty much the same, but the interior of the Hirogen ship could be updated to include a more canon Hirogen interior.
Cutting the Cord
This mission is pretty much fine as it is, however I would like a tiny modification. At the beginning of the mission, the battle is already in progress and while Obisek is trying to fill you in on what's going on, a Mogei will attack you. This usually means I have to skip his dialog and engage the enemy, so it would make more sense for the ships to remain neutral and only attack after his dialog is finished. The same goes for the final battle at the end, where it can be hard to pay attention to Sela's dialog when so many ships are already fighting. Let her give her warning, have Obisek talk to us and then we can engage the enemy ships present.
Post edited by thomaselkins on
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Comments
Now despite how many feel about it, I kinda like it. I think the idea behind it would make a damn fine story if told right. But STO's handling of it is pretty terrible.
The problem? It makes the twist evident too early and doesn't give the player any choice but to roll with it.
The solution? Mainly there needs to be several points throughout the mission at which Zelle can be directly challenged. The player's insubordination, if the player chooses to disobey the "admiral's" orders, causes Zelle to get mad and attack the player, revealing her true form. When she player reduced her HP to a certain amount, cutscene - she breaks combat, assumes the form of a Romulan, and escapes as the player's ship hails them to inform the player of incoming Romulan ships. The mission proceeds as normal from there. Other touches, like making the situation more ambiguous and changing the story flow, would be nice, but really the big issue is not being able to call Zelle on her TRIBBLE.
If Cryptic wanted the go the extra mile, this mission could be tied to Starfleet Intelligence more and award newly leveling players their first Intel officer.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
My character Tsin'xing
That doesn't excuse the poor execution of Divide itself, though.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
My character Tsin'xing
It seems like if she could do that, then she could have made you see weapons instead of what was really there.
My character Tsin'xing
The whole arc is bad, until the vault series. Not only with divide. We repetitively send spies and saboteur inside Romulan territories (either us or people we need to rescues later), so they could destroy borg tech (mostly), something the klingons and fed already have (not truly something the Romulan would use as an edge over us).
Then, we proceed to attack the main Romulan fleet, above their new homeworld (before new romulus, Rator was the official RSE new homeworld, still is though), because some crazed Vulcan have... a hunch they may attack first.
Well, if we didn't killed scientists, destroyed various scientific base, committed several act of sabotages and spied them, they might have left us in peace. And preemptive strike is not much the way of the feds, especially when the clue are this weak.
Oh, and forget the Prime Directive. All along.
On the bright side, with little work, that would be a nice Klingon story arc.
This is exactly why it needs to be remastered. They should emphasize the fact that we are not fighting the Romulan people as a whole, we're just fighting the Tal Shiar. The Romulan Republic needs to be a larger presence in the story because they are also fighting the Tal Shiar It would more or less stop being a Federation invasion of Romulan space and become more of a joint operation with Republic forces to liberate the colonies still trapped in the Tal Shiar's thralls. They should be aware that the Tal Shiar and their Elachi allies are murdering and destroying entire colonies who don't bow to their authority, so liberation is a pretty accurate term.
For reference's sake: There is an altered timeline T'Nae with us aboard the Enterprise-C. (Just as the Tasha there is from an altered timeline.)
Captain Walker pulls US from the Enterprise-C before it goes back and "reintegrates" us. He does NOT pull T'Nae back. Geko has said he'd like to revisit the second T'Nae and that he, like some players, believes that Walker made an error and allowed the second T'Nae to go back.
What this means is that war timeline T'Nae went back and was captured and likely tortured by the Romulans alongside Tasha and Castillo.
Meanwhile, Admiral T'Nae (presumably from the prime timeline) seems eager to kill Romulans and especially impulsive for a Vulcan. People have said this for years now.
My take would be that war timeline T'Nae spent decades in a Romulan prison camp until she escaped and began impersonating Prime Timeline Admiral T'Nae. Therefore, the war timeline T'Nae would be the one who gives us missions until we discover the switch in one of the remastered missions.
There are several ways that this could be played up to good effect. One of these is that her aggression could be heightened in Divid Et Impera. We could voice objections and she could threaten our command or turn up and start purging the Romulans herself if we refuse to. Her aggression could be tied to the reveal that she is not the real T'Nae.
Furthermore, her not being the real T'Nae could be used to undo the whole mission should Walker eventually realize that through HIS error she was allowed to go back.
Now, it's a bit hazy, as to what actually happens when, as I don't know if there are any sure indicators, but it may be that some of these missions are considered to be 'before the Republic' in the Federation 'timeline,' such as it is. I do agree that there's a lot that could and should be improved upon. Just not sure quite how it should be integrated.
Perhaps they could also touch on the fact that there used to be an exact duplicate of T'Nae standing around on Drozana Station before they remodelled it. :P
This character is why I don't play my Romulan any more. Tovan Khev is NOT my BFF! Get him off my bridge!
Well, the attack on Virinat takes place two weeks before the Borg attack on Vega Colony, so the Romulan's campaign starts before the Fed campaign. Romulan Republic forces show up to help fight Hakeev and recruit the player during the Virinat attack so the Republic was active before the Starfleet player even graduates. They obviously didn't have New Romulus established yet, but they could have been searching for a home during the main events of the Klingon War and then picked an ally around the time of Romulan Mystery.
Certain events criss crossing just makes sense to me, such as Taris escaping and being captured by Starfleet while the Republic battles Hakeev.