Intelligence, Command and?

flash525 · February 2015

The Launch of Delta Rising provided us with Intelligence Bridge Officers, and Intelligence Ships with the Boff slots needed for them. The Anniversary Event released Command Bridge Officers, and a single ship that enabled their usage (I assume some more ships with the Command option are going to find their way to us soon?)

What's next? I find it hard to believe that Cryptic are going only with two types of skill extension, so what might the next power (or powers) be? Anyone care to throw out a theory or two?

drsanity · February 2015

Exploration and Diplomacy come to mind as thematically valid.

However, I confess, other than abilities that directly affect the efficiency of things like gathering materials from anomalies or a talaxian like salvage ability, i don't have a lot of thoughts on how to make either of them especially useful in the current game context.

The content is so exclusively combat centered, options would seem limited without some major special case logic being turned online at same time as any Exploration ability.

Diplomacy is even tougher I suspect.

They were specialties though I thought of as thematic. Keep in mind we also have Pilot and Commando already as well as secondaries, which should be considered as valid pieces too.

baddmoonrizin · February 2015

I'm hoping that they make the Pilot and Commando Specializations available for BOFFs as well.

I also wouldn't mind seeing some career specific Specialization trees:

Tactical: Tactical Officer and Security Officer
Science: Science Officer and Medical Officer
Engineering: Engineering Officer and Operations Officer

Make them career specific to the Captain and the BOFFs to expand on their career with a new subset of skills. Done up like the Secondary Specializations: few points/skills needed to acquire, but enough to give some additional flavor. I'd be happy with 4 new space and 4 new ground skills per new Secondary Specialization.

echelonalpha · February 2015

So far the specializations seem to mostly offer abilities and passives that focus on damage avoidance or damage boosts, so it wouldn't me surprised if the next specialization focuses more on support abilities..

Explorer sounds like a good option, but I don't seeing this happening until a revamped exploration system is put in. It could focus on finding hidden crafting materials or earning more particles per scan. Maybe a chance of discovering rare Exploration missions (assuming they get revamped).

Trader would also be interesting, it could potentially offer vendor discounts and better prices for selling junk. Maybe it could have a passive that boosts energy credit rewards from missions.

Medic could offer a passive health regen, resistances to things like toxic and radiation damage. But it would need to be different enough from the Science career so that it didn't make that class redundant.

Finally.. Archaeologist. It was a passion for Jean-Luc Picard, who is to say our captains don't also have a thing for ancient history. While I fear this would sadly be too similar to the Explorer idea, it would be neat if they added new assets to the game that we could "discover" and "research".

These are just a few random musings off the top of my head. Unfortunately, as I said, most of them would likely require new gameplay mechanics to be added.

rmy1081 · February 2015

I would like to see career specific specializations like a medical or science focus for a science path, operations or engineering focus for engineers and two other things for tac. It would just be nice if I could choose to do intel, command, or choose to focus on my chosen career path even more. It would also separate the careers even more and give a bit more choice between each career.

Now that I'm thinking about it, it would be cool to have some faction specific specializations too. Maybe MACO for the feds, Honor Guard for the KDF, and something for the Rom Republic.

mustrumridcully0 · February 2015

I could imagine something like Logistics. Basically a mix of engineering and science related abilities. "Logistic" officers are responsible for managing the logistics aboard starships, ensuring that resources of any kind - energy or material needs - are where they are needed. Aboard ships, they will be responsible for transporting goods and personnel and assist in damage control.
Logistic ships are responsible for transporting goods and personnel around Federation Space and beyond.

The Federation for example uses its new line of Logistic Carriers to enter unexplored space and send out probes to make initial surveys. It will then act as a Transwarp beacons and long range subspace relay, allowing other explorers to transwarp directly into the region, and use the subspace relay abilities to stay in contact with Starfleet.

Logistic BO Abilities (Space)

Logistic Teams: Reduces cooldowns on mines and torpedoes and grants a hull and shield heal.
Conserve Power: Grants a buff to drain resistance and grants an efficiency bonus to power levels, also raising its stealth rating. Can be used when cloaked.
Advanced Shield Power Distribution: Grants increased shield distribution speed, similar to tactical team, but with a longer duration.
Transwarp Call: Targets an Ally. That ally gains the ability to transwarp to you within the next 120 seconds.
Transfer Weapon/SHield/Engine/Auxilliary Power: Similar to EMerngecy Power to X, but it applies to an allied ship within range and drains power from you.
Micro-Drone Repair Swarm: Summon aswarm or micro-drones that will provide a periodical hull repair and debuff counter to the target.
Self-Replicating Mine Field: The next batch of mines you drop is self-replicating - every time a mine is destroyed, a new one will be spawned within the next few seconds. Lasts for a few respawns or a limited time.
Barrier Field. You summon a force field behind you that allows yourself and allies to shoot through, but blocks enemies.
Tractor Drone: YOu summon a drone that applies a tractor beam to targets. It also lowers their weapon damage.

Logistic BO/Kit Abilities (Ground)

Construct Barrier: You create a force barrier at distance that you and your allies can pass and shoot through, but your enemies cannot. The barrier can be shot at and destroyed by your enemies.
Anti-Grav Drone: You summon a drone that generates an anti-gravity field that holds an enemy in the air for some time, rooting him and lowering his attack strength.
Self-Replicating Mine Field: You create a small mine field that replicates itself after destruction for a limited number of times and a limited duration.
Shield Transfer: You transfer shield power from yourself to an ally, granting that ally additional damage reduction while the effect lasts.
Emergency Refuge: You create a half-person height barrier that you or your allies can stand inside. While inside, you gain damage reduction and a shield healing buff.
Emergency Relocation: You are beamed several meters away from your current position and end all roots, stuns or holds.

Logistic Ships

Logistic Ships are usual at least partially Carriers (e.g. 1 or 2 Hangar Slots)
They also have the Transwarp Beacon Ability.

Transwarp Beacon: While stationary, you gain Transwarp Beacon Signal Strengh. When the strength has eached maximum, you can summon aid or transwarp away.

Tactical Escort: You summon one tactical escort to your aid that will attack enemy targets.
Support Frigate: You summon two support frigates to your aid. The frigates will use Extend Shields and Engineering Team on you and allies.
You transwarp 20 km and any team mate can transwarp to your location for the next 30 seconds.

adverbero · February 2015

baddmoonrizin wrote: »

I'm hoping that they make the Pilot and Commando Specializations available for BOFFs as well.

I also wouldn't mind seeing some career specific Specialization trees:

Tactical: Tactical Officer and Security Officer
Science: Science Officer and Medical Officer
Engineering: Engineering Officer and Operations Officer

Make them career specific to the Captain and the BOFFs to expand on their career with a new subset of skills. Done up like the Secondary Specializations: few points/skills needed to acquire, but enough to give some additional flavor. I'd be happy with 4 new space and 4 new ground skills per new Secondary Specialization.

This I would absolutely love to be introduced

I already have one BOFF as a medical officer and one as a science officer just for diversities sake in uniform design, But being able to implement this as actual gameplay would be appreciated

Aside from that, I do think Diplomat is something that could be revamped with the specialisation system, And could provide an oppertunity for a powerful placate ability as a high level unlock?

sdkraust · February 2015

Tac/Sci = Intelligence
Tac/Eng = Command
Sci/Eng = R&D

mhall85 · February 2015

I was also kinda thinking of threat-specific specializations... almost tying the Rep system into the spec trees, in a way. This is not fully thought-out, on my part... maybe as a secondary specialization... but, the powers would be related to dealing with a specific threat, like the Borg.

I don't know... I was just thinking about Commander Shelby being in charge of the "Borg Task Force" in TNG... then all of the titles and accolades we get in this game. It would be nice for them to actually mean something... like, if I want to play as a science/medic, science/explorer, or science/Omega operative.

mhall85 · February 2015

Ooh! A MACO Specialization would be bada$$.

futurepastnow · February 2015

Operations.

hyperionx09 · February 2015

Given what we have:

Intel - Tac/Sci - DPS/Debuffing
- Favors mobile Escorts and Science ships due to Intel giving bonuses to attacking from the rear arc as well as allowing for debuffing and shield recovery either due to continuous passives or from Boff skills.

Command - Eng/Sci - Tanking/Debuffing
- Favors Torpedo boats and tanky cruisers with a number of passives and abilities directly affecting the potential of torpedoes as well as Boff abilities that are designed primarily to help fellow teammates.

The next Primary Specialization will likely be Tac/Eng - DPS/Tanking. I could see it being named "Vanguard", and with abilities focused on personal buffing and damage boosting. Probably will have passive threat generation and abilities that actively boost survivability and damage; maybe based on your threat level. Would primarily benefit Escorts and Cruisers. Designed specifically to get in, set the line, and hold the line, if not advance it.

Explorer might be a 4th one but with a very different focus. It would probably be tied to a revamped Exploration Cluster; allowing players with this Specialization active to explore otherwise inaccessible areas in existing maps, as well as new "exploratory clusters" in Sector space when active. As an incentive, would have a passive bonus to XP/Specialization point gain when actively exploring a cluster or while inside an active hidden zone. Passive-wise, would probably focus on the skills most no one bothers with, such as Starship Sensors, Countermeasure Systems, and Subspace Decompiler in space, or PS Generator and Willpower on the ground. Would really be the oddball class that doesn't provide any benefit to offense or defense, but exist for those that wish to RP the Explorer side of Star Trek, and making it somewhat worthwhile.

Secondary Specializations:
I see other things such as Medic, Trader, or Diplomacy as secondary specializations.

Medic - Dedicated ground support on the opposite end of Commando.

Trader - Secondary Sector and Space bonus to item sales at roving vendors, as well as a possible late Tier passive to gaining junk drops to sell/trade at said sector or space vendors.

Diplomacy - Probably a ground Specialization that would allow for some actual alternative dialogue with NPCs; maybe even allowing you to shortcut some missions instead of running and gunning it yet again, even if it ultimately doesn't affect the storyline. Would fit perfectly given the Admiral+ rank of players and the fact that sometimes they just need to re-run a mission for an end-reward rather than for drops or XP.

On top of that, I can see a possibility for some additional Secondary Specializations that affect specific classes more.

The Pilot Specialization is predominantly Defense/Evasion-oriented, which suits Escorts the most (but are still useful for Cruisers and sci ships).

The next one I could see is a "Mad Scientist" Secondary Space Specialization; one that is predominantly Sci-themed and designed to maximize Debuffing/Controlling/Holds. Would have some passives that allow for minor Placate or lock-on breaking with each hit, that would also benefit Escorts and Cruisers. By being a Secondary Specialization, it forces players to choose between the Pilot Specialization or this one; thus reducing the otherwise ridiculous advantage Sci players would get if such a Specialization was made Primary.

As well, there's the possibility of an Engineering-oriented equivalent, which focuses on making your ship nigh invincible by directly improving abilities focused on yourself, as well as passive abilities that continuously cleanse off Debuffs/DoTs and reduce Hold/Control effectiveness. Would also be a Secondary Space Specialization, for the same reason as a theoretical "Mad Scientist" Specialization.

jaymclaughlin · February 2015

I'd like to see faction specific specializations...

Diplomacy for Fed

Deception for Rom

Battle master/Marauder for Klingon

Intelligence, Command and?

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