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Two-Faction Storyline Implementation Issues
gulberat
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(Note to midniteshadow7: I pulled this out of the "thoughts on the future of STO" thread and elaborated on it as I think I made legitimate points about the storyline and how it may have fed the faction imbalance issues that KDF players perceive.)
Well, when you consider the actual STO plotline, whether you like it or not the KDF is no longer justified to exist as a faction. PVP is now in violation of the armistice and command decisions regarding further material are a matter of joint command. This was evident even in the Borg STF's...after all, the Borg do have a tendency to put petty territory grabs into their rightful perspective (and that's all the "They're infiltrated!" was a cover for even if the Klingons did manage to have more evidence this time than they did back in '72), and the Iconians even more so. And "Surface Tension" sealed it.
From the very beginning the KDF as a faction was not justified by the plot because petty squabbling when you've got far, far bigger threats out there is absurd.
Now if you insist on a two-faction game that is plot-justified, the setup should have been one of two things: 1) a Cold War that blows up into a hot war between two major alliances of relatively equal tech similar to the Typhon Pact novels and every race and power that matters is on one side or the other or 2) the Dominion War blows up again and you can choose to play Feds, Roms, and KDF as subgroups within the Allies and it being very explicit that if you sign up for those that you are under allied command and expected to bend and temper your natural responses (both sides) to serve the needs of the Alliance. As in, joint command is a fact of life and you either accept it or get out. A variant of this, however, would ally the Roms or Klinks with the Dominion this time around to allow for true PVP and the war must NOT be resolved. The setup must be so out of hand that it will only have periods of lesser and increased violence.
But the thing about the Dominion is that their rule is not SO apocalyptic or their technology SO far outmatched that automatic imbalance or absurdity is introduced into the premise as with Cryptic's current premise (which IMO has undergone an inevitable self-correction for basic reasonableness). A DWII scenario also avoids the problem of opening up so many disparate fronts that the plot loses focus.
Of course the opportunity for this has passed a long time ago, so IMO all we are seeing is the Rule of Natural Consequences in action. The KDF does not matter because the premise of their whole war was absurd compared to the greater threat and therefore has been rendered irrelevant.
Does that mean no KDF play experience should ever have existed? As I show above, it could have been done in a more reasonable fashion. But as the plot is? No. The Fridge Logic is weak with this one.
Ironically, under my "Typhon Pact scenario," I actually would have respected a naked territory grab by the Klingons more than the false pretenses as before because at least they would have been honest about the fact that they hate Fed ways and want territory. And would not be idiotically undermining the whole quadrant like they did in '72 (I blame the Klinks for the Dominion getting a beachhead in the Cardassian Union) in the face of an apocalyptic threat that makes the territory grab look childish.
Now...knowing that we cannot go back to rewrite the past and set up anything like these scenarios so that we will have two factions that will always have mattered, what can be done to make the KDF relevant and address issues like PVP occurring when it is now against the armistice to do so and the Klingons now actually seem aware that having a war with the Federation is a stupid move for galactic security?
I think the answers to these questions depend on whether sufficient will and resources exist on Cryptic's end to sustain multi-faction dialogue options and action choices.
I think the PVP bit may be solvable by revamping it (that is, its backstory and raison d'
Well, when you consider the actual STO plotline, whether you like it or not the KDF is no longer justified to exist as a faction. PVP is now in violation of the armistice and command decisions regarding further material are a matter of joint command. This was evident even in the Borg STF's...after all, the Borg do have a tendency to put petty territory grabs into their rightful perspective (and that's all the "They're infiltrated!" was a cover for even if the Klingons did manage to have more evidence this time than they did back in '72), and the Iconians even more so. And "Surface Tension" sealed it.
From the very beginning the KDF as a faction was not justified by the plot because petty squabbling when you've got far, far bigger threats out there is absurd.
Now if you insist on a two-faction game that is plot-justified, the setup should have been one of two things: 1) a Cold War that blows up into a hot war between two major alliances of relatively equal tech similar to the Typhon Pact novels and every race and power that matters is on one side or the other or 2) the Dominion War blows up again and you can choose to play Feds, Roms, and KDF as subgroups within the Allies and it being very explicit that if you sign up for those that you are under allied command and expected to bend and temper your natural responses (both sides) to serve the needs of the Alliance. As in, joint command is a fact of life and you either accept it or get out. A variant of this, however, would ally the Roms or Klinks with the Dominion this time around to allow for true PVP and the war must NOT be resolved. The setup must be so out of hand that it will only have periods of lesser and increased violence.
But the thing about the Dominion is that their rule is not SO apocalyptic or their technology SO far outmatched that automatic imbalance or absurdity is introduced into the premise as with Cryptic's current premise (which IMO has undergone an inevitable self-correction for basic reasonableness). A DWII scenario also avoids the problem of opening up so many disparate fronts that the plot loses focus.
Of course the opportunity for this has passed a long time ago, so IMO all we are seeing is the Rule of Natural Consequences in action. The KDF does not matter because the premise of their whole war was absurd compared to the greater threat and therefore has been rendered irrelevant.
Does that mean no KDF play experience should ever have existed? As I show above, it could have been done in a more reasonable fashion. But as the plot is? No. The Fridge Logic is weak with this one.
Ironically, under my "Typhon Pact scenario," I actually would have respected a naked territory grab by the Klingons more than the false pretenses as before because at least they would have been honest about the fact that they hate Fed ways and want territory. And would not be idiotically undermining the whole quadrant like they did in '72 (I blame the Klinks for the Dominion getting a beachhead in the Cardassian Union) in the face of an apocalyptic threat that makes the territory grab look childish.
Now...knowing that we cannot go back to rewrite the past and set up anything like these scenarios so that we will have two factions that will always have mattered, what can be done to make the KDF relevant and address issues like PVP occurring when it is now against the armistice to do so and the Klingons now actually seem aware that having a war with the Federation is a stupid move for galactic security?
I think the answers to these questions depend on whether sufficient will and resources exist on Cryptic's end to sustain multi-faction dialogue options and action choices.
I think the PVP bit may be solvable by revamping it (that is, its backstory and raison d'
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An eternal cold war between the Federation and an Imperial Alliance (Klingons being at the forefront of such) is what I would have rather had from day one right through till now. Romulans shouldn't have ever been a faction, them, along with Cardassians and any other [potential] universal species should have been thrown into the C-Store with their ships becoming linked to the purchases of those character species, or merely Lock Boxes.
They could always have run with a bigger threat (Undine, Tholian, Iconian, Breen etc) but they needn't have had the two main factions team up. That was, in my opinion, one of the worst ideas Cryptic have ever had (the second being a mini faction).
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Then maybe even alter any PvP-related text to state it's all a continuous wargame practice with the Feds/Romulans/KDF in holodeck rooms. Or something. Then leave PvP alone rather than deal with that especially hate-filled and spiteful side of the game.
Option 2 will never happen; not when they have deadlines to meet, a bigger playerbase to focus on, and especially since they never even tried with earlier shared missions (like I stated in the other thread; not having KDF players literally force the broad on Old Drozana to chug the drink or take a Bat'Leth to the gut, or Fed Betazoid players already sensing something's wrong with Dr. Cooper, and thus has their own dialogue trying to make Dr. Cooper reveal his true Undine self).
Honestly I don't see any other outcome than the KDF and its storyline being left to twist in the wind. That faction is in an unenviable spot: They're on the wrong end of a lopsided player base, and unlikely to ever even come close to parity with the Feds (Star Trek has always been a Fed-centric universe, so naturally that's the faction most players will gravitate to no matter what), so it's hard to see Cryptic making any major enhancements to the KDF storyline or playing experience - and yet, at the same time, the KDF faction is big enough, devoted enough, and integrated deeply enough into virtually every aspect of STO that Cryptic can't just nuke that faction without causing itself and the game a ton of other problems. (Indeed, it wasn't that long ago that one of the devs even suggested that, in hindsight, it was a mistake to have any playable factions other than the Feds in the first place.)
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But yeah, nuking it now would be a disaster of epic proportions. The time to do that would have been during beta or transitioning to Season 2 at the very latest. Even I as a hardcore Fed player recognize that in effect the promise has been made to those players and even though I refused to play the KDF toon I rolled, very soon after starting him, it is too far entrenched into plot, code, and player expectations to backtrack on. Cryptic therefore has no choice but to follow through in SOME fashion, even if it is my Option 1.
As it is, IMO the joint command *and* resultant restrictions on faction preferences/forced compromise need to be *addressed* in an up-front manner in-story should the choice be Option 1. Otherwise IMO story immersion suffers. As has been pointed out in some of the DR discussion threads, we wound up with a situation where KDF is angry at the diplomatic requirements of the Kobali arc and other parts of DR and Feds feel shoehorned into a ridiculous number of shoot-em-ups in the patrols with no viable diplomatic path (that will not TRIBBLE us over royally in XP or make us think, to earn our XP).*
*Obviously just about everyone hates the patrols. This OOC Fed behavior is another example why from a storyline perspective and not just a game mechanic perspective they do not work in current form.
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Basically have the chancellor's position (could lay it on jmpok personally or before him, doesn't matter to me, i can see ways both could work) and control weakened and have the great houses not running things, but acting independently regardless of what the chancellor wants.
For me, the klingon story (both sto and tv/film) is at its best when it contrasts the douchebag "hur hur kill everyone or you're a coward" false version of honor with the real thing as shown by worf and the emperor's clone here in sto. Let koren, sstass and/or jmpok and maybe even the emperor be a voice of real honor trying to show the feds and romulan the truth, while the great houses ruin it seeking "glorious battle with the weak federation" out of pure hubris.
Draw that story out beyondmthe destruction of one house, rather than break the whole thing at one go early on the way you gank the house head currently. Instead, miror the romulans who have their early missions with the elachi, then form an alliance do nimbus hakeev etc then get back to the elachi for the big finish.
However, I'd put the Klingon finale post the/iconian reveal since in the current story, unless I misunderstood that cutscene s/he/it wiped out all of the council leaving jmpok alone in command of the empire. That is a big deal, it should get used.
With no opposition left jmpok and those seeking a unified front vs the common foe have total sway over the empire.
Anyone who wants to PvP is a rebel house going against the mainstrean. Which I doubt many of them would mind from an rp position.
I've seen quite a few Klingon players really dislike jmpok. if cryptic wants to take their arguments to heart, let koren run things post the annihilation of the council with the fleet loyal to her and relegate jmpok to a figurehead and possible future enemy of the alliance/catspaw of the iconians.
But no matter what, they need to do a better job recognizing the variety of characters in the game and making dialog options that feel immersive instead of immersion breaking.
Conquered worlds, on the other hand, have every reason to cling to their own traditions as much as they can get away with without crippling sanctions or "pacification" attacks, in hopes of breaking free someday. I found this lacking in my brief KDF stint, and addressing that (to allow for multiple cultures and notions of honor) on the existing missions might also go a long way towards making that a better experience. The incident that drove me away from KDF forever was one such event. Had that been different and I had been able to actually play my toon as I had hoped for, I might have slightly warmer feelings towards the KDF faction even if my opinion of the Klingons themselves would still be low.
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I see an option 4 which was unpopular for KDF back when they were hoping for a full faction but which may be viable now.
Klingon-themed adventure zone and FEs, available to everyone, advancing the Klingon storyline in a Klingon-themed season. Maybe a Fek'Ihri Bird of Prey style ship in a Fek'Ihiri lockbox loaded with Klingon-style goodies and a related ship that is Klingon faction oriented. A Zoologist specialization with targ pets as a Klingon exclusive option. Klingon wedding offduty wear as a Lobi costume unlock but a slight reworking of it as a Klingon option.
Klingon-flavor content not being totally exclusive to Klingons doesn't mean you can't have Klingon flavor content. Klingons remain one of the most popular parts of the Star Trek IP. In the end, for what Cryptic can deliver, factions are probably not the best way to introduce Klingon elements to the game but you can always introduce Klingon elements for everyone and slide the Klingon faction players extra goodies that subtly expand on the Klingon goodies offered up for all faction players.
I would love this.
Additionally, how would these be framed exactly, and expand the plot?
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How was New Romulus framed again? It wound up expanding the Iconian plot but it wasn't framed that way.
There could be something on par with Season 7 minus the Dominion lockbox plus the Tal Shiar lockbox but just as Klingon themed as SWeason 7 was Romulan themed. It seems like many of those assets and elements went to building up Romulans.
Just make it a continuation of the Fek'Ihiri story with some explanation for Feds and Romulans.
You could link it to the Iconians but I'd prefer more interludes that aren't all linked to the main plot.
They can still have a reason for PVP being in this game even if the KDF and Feds are at peace. All they would have to do is rename it to something like "Wargames (pvp)" or something like that. The IRL military conducts wargames and exercises. Google "us air force aggressor squadron" and check out the wiki page on them. A TLDR description is those are actual US air force pilots, using regular air force planes like the F16. But they the pilots are trained to use Soviet era tactics and the planes also have Soviet/Russian style camo patterns. THAT is the kind of stuff that the Fed and KDF pvp could turn in to. They arent at war so just say that they are "training" for future threats. IIRC there is even an episode mission where you go to some system and are supposed to train with other Fed ships. But it turns out that one of the Fed ships is full of Undine infiltrators. I only mention so that you all know what mission i'm talking about, i'm not going to bother looking it up. But the point is Starfleet is conducting training exercises and if it had not been for that Undine plot twist it would have been a training exercise they would have all gone to a debriefing and the winner and losers would have talked about it all and learned from the whole thing.
Now that that's been cleared up, in defense of the OP, it's not about fixing PvP beyond changing an in-game flavor text over it, nor even a fix to the KDF. If anything, OP was asking about, and offering a few possibilities for, where would the story go for the KDF side now that the story effectively goes against a continued two-faction system (and really is in effect; a unified faction at this point).
The reality is that it will go no where beyond the Fed side; the story is effectively a Fed one with a few dialog changes for Romulans and KDF. But thinking up ways they dialog might be made more faction-specific rather than a few rank and NPC name changes never harmed anyone.
Please continue to have a wonderful, rose-colored conversation.
I would demand a refund to the 1000s of dollars I have invested in my KDF toons over 5 years.
I do not have any Starfleet characters.
I would also want all my toons, lockboxes and acquisitions transferred.
Once I have that I can sell my account to some Kirk-enthusiast and recoup my losses.