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Leveling as a scientist and explorer.. MINIGAMES!

senatorvreenaksenatorvreenak Member Posts: 0 Arc User
I was harvesting omega junk when it suddenly hit me.... this is the most sciency thing ive ever done in STO.
So how about actually making playing as a scientist instead of just a warrior a thing? How about adding new exploration and sciency missions to all kinds of star systems, with a plethora of new and diverse minigames?
You could have minigames for planetary surveys, scanning nebulas, mining for ore samples, mapping stars and planets, maneuvering probes through wormholes and other hazards, etc etc.

For completing the activities one should be rewarded modest amounts of XP(comparable to destroying ships) depending on the complexity, duration and score of the minigame.
But it could also tie to a reputation or skill tree entirely of its own, giving some unique gameplay enhancements and advantages to those who feel like devoting themselves to science.

I think it would be a great way to introduce more Trek elements, while still keeping it fun.
But quantity and diversity would be important with science minigames, as only a few would get old very quickly.
Post edited by senatorvreenak on

Comments

  • iconiansiconians Member Posts: 6,987 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    I endorse this feedback.
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  • kjwashingtonkjwashington Member Posts: 2,529 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    I aprove. :D
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    Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
  • thay8472thay8472 Member Posts: 6,100 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    +1

    The almighty Sutherland approves.
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    Typhoon Class please!
  • kyeto13kyeto13 Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    My name is Jolson Faln, and i approve this message.
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  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,501 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    It's a nice idea, but sadly not cost-effective for Cryptic / PWE. Only 11% of captains are (Magnus Pyke) SCIENCE! so they'd do all the work for 1/9 of the captains.

    It makes more sense for them to put the resources into re-working old episodes like they just did for the Romulan Mystery arc, and creating new episodes for all captains.
  • gfreeman98gfreeman98 Member Posts: 1,200 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    iconians wrote: »
    I endorse this feedback.
    I endorse this endorsement. :)
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  • szerontzurszerontzur Member Posts: 2,723 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    Sadly, these 'smart-phone-mini-games' might be the closest we might get to non-combat 'content'.

    Personally, I was a big fan of scanning triangulation in EVE and really wish we would get something similiar. Launching "probes" was a fairly common thing in the Star Trek series, but we really don't see much of it in STO(usually a space plot device).

    Likewise, scanning planets for lifeforms by switching between filters and isolating signatures would be a fairly canon variant of triangulation. Heck, it could even be itemized and monetized with special probes/probe launchers.
  • rosetyler51rosetyler51 Member Posts: 1,631 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    szerontzur wrote: »
    Sadly, these 'smart-phone-mini-games' might be the closest we might get to non-combat 'content'.

    Personally, I was a big fan of scanning triangulation in EVE and really wish we would get something similiar. Launching "probes" was a fairly common thing in the Star Trek series, but we really don't see much of it in STO(usually a space plot device).

    Likewise, scanning planets for lifeforms by switching between filters and isolating signatures would be a fairly canon variant of triangulation. Heck, it could even be itemized and monetized with special probes/probe launchers.

    EVE was pretty boring for me but using probes was just about the most fun I had not killing in any MMO.

    Replying to OP. I like this idea. Maybe let skill points give bonuses to the minigames?
  • coupaholiccoupaholic Member Posts: 2,188 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    It would make a nice change to be able to use brains over brawn.

    Engineers can go the same route with mechanical or construction work, and I still like the idea of ships being able to build structures in space like they do turrets on the ground.

    It would also be a good chance to change many of the useless engineer and science consoles in the game as well, and have them grant the bonuses. So sensor probes can give you more time in a minigame to get clearer readings, or countermeasure systems could guard you from viruses when hacking into derelict ship systems.

    Indeed the minigames would have to be at least a little bit innovative, and diverse too. Another challenge would be how to apply them. The STO universe isn't exactly big, and there are only so many space and ground maps to explore.
  • moonshadowdarkmoonshadowdark Member Posts: 1,899 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    I was harvesting omega junk when it suddenly hit me.... this is the most sciency thing ive ever done in STO.
    So how about actually making playing as a scientist instead of just a warrior a thing? How about adding new exploration and sciency missions to all kinds of star systems, with a plethora of new and diverse minigames?
    You could have minigames for planetary surveys, scanning nebulas, mining for ore samples, mapping stars and planets, maneuvering probes through wormholes and other hazards, etc etc.

    For completing the activities one should be rewarded modest amounts of XP(comparable to destroying ships) depending on the complexity, duration and score of the minigame.
    But it could also tie to a reputation or skill tree entirely of its own, giving some unique gameplay enhancements and advantages to those who feel like devoting themselves to science.

    I think it would be a great way to introduce more Trek elements, while still keeping it fun.
    But quantity and diversity would be important with science minigames, as only a few would get old very quickly.

    That would require you to got back in time about 49 years and tell Gene Roddenberry to lay off the action.

    Seriously, not a single instance in Star Trek's history has there ever been such thing as a Peaceful exploration".

    An alien shows up or something freaky happens and it's all Vulcan nerve pinches and Phasers set to kill.

    For a Federation based on peaceful coexistence and exploring new worlds, there seems to be an awful lot of death, violence destruction on their end.

    The damn Klingons have less of a fatality list than the Feds!

    :eek:
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  • the1tiggletthe1tigglet Member Posts: 1,421 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I was harvesting omega junk when it suddenly hit me.... this is the most sciency thing ive ever done in STO.
    So how about actually making playing as a scientist instead of just a warrior a thing? How about adding new exploration and sciency missions to all kinds of star systems, with a plethora of new and diverse minigames?
    You could have minigames for planetary surveys, scanning nebulas, mining for ore samples, mapping stars and planets, maneuvering probes through wormholes and other hazards, etc etc.

    For completing the activities one should be rewarded modest amounts of XP(comparable to destroying ships) depending on the complexity, duration and score of the minigame.
    But it could also tie to a reputation or skill tree entirely of its own, giving some unique gameplay enhancements and advantages to those who feel like devoting themselves to science.

    I think it would be a great way to introduce more Trek elements, while still keeping it fun.
    But quantity and diversity would be important with science minigames, as only a few would get old very quickly.

    Tried to get this in there when the Rom expansion came out. They didn't listen then either. I doubt they will now honestly. The people in charge of this game right now actually think that ST is the JJ Abrams of Star Trek universes where they ignore the lore, class doesn't matter, and everything is a cheap firefight with explosions and the Feds are just like the Klingons or the Dominion. Seriously, I feel that at this point pigs will fly before they actually make this a Star Trek game again!
  • senatorvreenaksenatorvreenak Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    That would require you to got back in time about 49 years and tell Gene Roddenberry to lay off the action.

    Seriously, not a single instance in Star Trek's history has there ever been such thing as a Peaceful exploration".

    An alien shows up or something freaky happens and it's all Vulcan nerve pinches and Phasers set to kill.

    For a Federation based on peaceful coexistence and exploring new worlds, there seems to be an awful lot of death, violence destruction on their end.

    The damn Klingons have less of a fatality list than the Feds!

    :eek:

    No idea what Star Trek you have been watching.
    Lots of episodes were non-violent, and about exploration and dealing with the hazards of space.
    It's a nice idea, but sadly not cost-effective for Cryptic / PWE. Only 11% of captains are (Magnus Pyke) SCIENCE! so they'd do all the work for 1/9 of the captains.

    It makes more sense for them to put the resources into re-working old episodes like they just did for the Romulan Mystery arc, and creating new episodes for all captains.

    Ummm sorry.... what? This has nothing whatsoever to do with "science captains" exclusively.
  • thunderfoot#5163 thunderfoot Member Posts: 4,540 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    OP. This is a brilliant idea. I'd very much like to drop into game and spend some time doing things which did not require me to be a two legged version of ADM Bobo. :D

    I don't want the old exploration system back, though. Far too often, that turned into the Shoot Down Five Groups of 'X' and pretended to be exploration.

    Minigames may be the way to start on this. Doing more of the things we do on New Romulus, like radiation scans and setting equipment or collecting samples, all throughout the game would be a nice alternative to simply being the fastest gun in space.
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  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,231 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    No idea what Star Trek you have been watching.
    Lots of episodes were non-violent, and about exploration and dealing with the hazards of space.



    Ummm sorry.... what? This has nothing whatsoever to do with "science captains" exclusively.
    Enh... It also dealt with what made exploration dangerous.

    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Isabella TNG season 5
    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Armus TNG s1
    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Arena_(episode) TOS S1
    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Armageddon TOS s1
    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Naked_Time_(episode) TOS S1

    Just a few examples.... Each involved conflict of some sort. So I can't really call it non-violent. Sure... no one actually got killed in some of them, but... the point of the episode is that they COULD have gotten killed if things had gone wrong.
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  • shevetshevet Member Posts: 1,667 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I'm thoroughly in favour of this. I've said before, I'd like to see diplomatic/scientific/exploration missions in sufficient quantity that someone could make it all the way to the level cap without firing a shot in anger.

    (Of course, my Andorian main never fires shots in anger, anyway. More like glee. But I digress.)

    Ahem. +1 from me, too.
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  • ralphgraphiteralphgraphite Member Posts: 628 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Add my voice to the pile that would love to see this. Seeing a non-violent means of progression (these particles) and the social zones busy to top it off is making me happy.

    Reminds me of when I had a level 50 that did nothing but fly the star clusters doffing and scanning in an Oberth.
  • ceekayzeroceekayzero Member Posts: 411 Arc User
    edited February 2015

    I think it would be a great way to introduce more Trek elements, while still keeping it fun.
    But quantity and diversity would be important with science minigames, as only a few would get old very quickly.

    I approve this message. The dialogue puzzles in STO which are....well, math problems are definitely some of the more entertaining bits.

    Kirk and Spock would solve logic puzzles. Other times they would team up with Space Abraham Lincoln to go punch people. STO can be big enough for everyone!
  • spockout1spockout1 Member Posts: 314 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I was harvesting omega junk when it suddenly hit me.... this is the most sciency thing ive ever done in STO.
    So how about actually making playing as a scientist instead of just a warrior a thing? How about adding new exploration and sciency missions to all kinds of star systems, with a plethora of new and diverse minigames?
    You could have minigames for planetary surveys, scanning nebulas, mining for ore samples, mapping stars and planets, maneuvering probes through wormholes and other hazards, etc etc.

    For completing the activities one should be rewarded modest amounts of XP(comparable to destroying ships) depending on the complexity, duration and score of the minigame.
    But it could also tie to a reputation or skill tree entirely of its own, giving some unique gameplay enhancements and advantages to those who feel like devoting themselves to science.

    I think it would be a great way to introduce more Trek elements, while still keeping it fun.
    But quantity and diversity would be important with science minigames, as only a few would get old very quickly.

    I had a similar thought the other day. I hate to go mini-games only as that can remove you from the immersion. Maybe you could do some of these types of mini-games from inside your ship - on the bridge, science lab, or engineering?

    On the exploration front, I would like to see them add areas of uncharted space that you could run missions to and then "discover" areas. For the sake of appealing to PWE/Cryptic, they could make it grindy by having a new rep system related to it - or possibly something with fleets.
    "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. Except for a T5 Connie. That would be f*%#ing awesome." - Mr. Spock
  • fovrelfovrel Member Posts: 1,448 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I agree with OP. This game screams for non-violent/non-combat game play. I really like the Dust to Dust missions, because of the puzzles. I consider these activities as a kind of puzzle, at least it is thrue player versus environment.

    I also love the Hobos shuttle race. I am going to focus on shuttle outfitting especially for this mission.

    So yeah, more of this.
  • isthisscienceisthisscience Member Posts: 863 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Completely agree with OP. As great as the game is and I love the work they've been doing, the gameplay ends up so removed from Trek itself. I once tried to level a character up without combat and the only way I could do it was doff missions and non-combat foundry missions. Gets you tied into the UI a lot.

    I'd love more logical challenges to resolve disputes insted of fighting, exploring and more scenarios where we're doing science. Pllenty of Trek stors had suspense and drama without a phaser going off. This latest special episode we've got from Cryptic shows us some of that and I'd love to see more embedded into the actual game style. I'm thinking we need a new tool for interaction though: TRICORDERS! Rather than "kits", or I suppose in/alongisde, if you have different types of tricorders you could modify that tie into a host of new minigames - increasing your abilities in them when trying to bypass locks, identify alloys/DNA, scan ahead of enemies to avoid or confront *that's engineering, science and tactical options right there). OF course, this hook-in would need to be embedded across the existing missions...

    And when there is fighting, for it to be more in depth. E.g. a one-on-one drawn out chase/combat using startegy and wit. Balance of Terror and Wrath of Khan had a single enemy and made an event out of it. In STO we blast thought several dozen ships again and again (Picard would not approve of the death toll). Also, when Fed we should have more options to disable rather than destory. What does Picard or Janeway always say? Target their weapons. Starfleet never destorys an enemy ship deliberately unless neccesary.
  • alcyoneserenealcyoneserene Member Posts: 2,412 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    What? No.

    Aren't there enough mini-games on smart phones and tablets and web-browsers?

    Aren't the grinds long (endless, in fact, as the tiers have no end, just as the cost of running the show and quest for ever-higher profit margins), pointlessly repetitive, and isn't their tal shiar-style brainwashing telling you to stop self-inflicting mental numbness and just pay up for something that will become 'competitive' by next season?

    I only endorse, as if endorsing something on a forum by 1 nobody means anything, that the game have more content of the non-war kind: cooperative PvP/E animated missions with new 3-D models and trek-lore voice acting connected to over-arching storylines.

    But no, I'm clearly playing the wrong game here. Have your 2-D mini-grind.
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  • lingglingg Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Definitely!
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  • wombat140wombat140 Member Posts: 971 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I'm all in favour of more sciency activities, but I agree with Alcyoneserene that minigames aren't quite it, not in an MMO. We could do better than that. What do you think of this for a plan?

    As Isthisscience suggested, it could be based on tricorders. But rather than just activating minigames, pressing (say) "V" could switch the whole scene into "Tricorder Mode" - just as pressing "B" switches into "Shooter Mode".

    Different tricorder types would show different things: a scan for lifesigns would show figures superimposed on the scene, maybe looking a bit like a thermal-infrared camera view. Higher levels might add, say, colour-coding by temperature/pulse rate (based simply on the NPC's species), as a clue to what you're looking at, and eventually indications of HP as well. A medical scan could pop up a window similar to the Injuries window; it could show other status effects as well as just "Injuries", and the objective could be to remove those conditions (using the usual in-game means), or it could tie into puzzles where you choose what to do. And so on. You could have a corresponding "sensor array" for your ship.

    It would certainly make exploration much more of a working thing again. Currently, there aren't many options for "discovering" things interestingly - all you have to show what the player is encountering is dialogue text and a limited selection of graphics assets. So STO's convention is that when you visit a strange new world, you find mostly familiar things on it, which you then shoot. If you could actually see and interact with the "sensor readings", rather than just being told the upshot by a bridge officer, exploring even randomly generated planets could be a lot more interesting - spotting hazards, searching the terrain for minerals, finding out who or rather what the locals are...

    Can see this as a game all by itself, actually, but what the heck, it'd be a good game. But I wonder how much of it could be grafted onto the existing STO?
  • gavinrunebladegavinruneblade Member Posts: 3,894 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    spockout1 wrote: »
    I had a similar thought the other day. I hate to go mini-games only as that can remove you from the immersion. Maybe you could do some of these types of mini-games from inside your ship - on the bridge, science lab, or engineering?

    On the exploration front, I would like to see them add areas of uncharted space that you could run missions to and then "discover" areas. For the sake of appealing to PWE/Cryptic, they could make it grindy by having a new rep system related to it - or possibly something with fleets.

    This would be cool. I like!e the mine enemy ending where you use your bridge and computer to decrypt a tal shiar message. Using the science lab and other parts of the ship could be cool.

    I also love the missions where there are different actions only tac/eng/sci can do.

    More of these would be appreciated.

    So good job op!
  • starfish1701starfish1701 Member Posts: 782 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I agree with the OP.

    Excellent idea. :)
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