Yeah I use Khev when I want a build that has a lot of torpedos. I usually use other boffs for other builds.
@OP: go to Vulcan ground and do the diplomatic daily quest as a Fed-Rom if you want to see something really weird.
What weird about it? I promised not to have any Rom-Feds because fed roms hit these invisable combadges instead of the standard Romulan/Klingon wristband animation when beaming out, it just drove me insane.
And my opinion on Tovan Khev: Khev is the first boff to have real backstory, and that doesnt bother me at all, hes a good freind to my toons even my Reman who declared vengence on the Romulans thanks to his awful life in the Reman mines and then seeing home on Crataris get destroyed along with his family. When delta rising came out I bought a white intel boff and said she was Charva (I offered her a place on my ship or a place in Obisek's Torture Chamber)
As for other players Tovan's: The only ones that bother me are the ones still wearing his unique survivor romulan costume.
And I love romulan gameplay as much as the next man and I serve only the republic (my fed severs the federation, my kdf serves the empire and the house of Koloth, yeah, yeah moving on). And for those who wear rom fed uniforms or rom kdf uniforms and carry MACO/Honor Guard and have fed and kdf boffs: Watch out for the Reman in purple named Vranuk, the Romulan in command green named R'Tath, and the Romulan in command green named Ta'eth. Because they will TROLL YOU TO DEATH BABY!
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
What weird about it? I promised not to have any Rom-Feds because fed roms hit these invisable combadges instead of the standard Romulan/Klingon wristband animation when beaming out, it just drove me insane.
There's a diplomatic mission on Vulcan from before Legacy of Romulus where a Romulan Star Empire ambassador is visiting the planet. Cryptic never updated it for LOR so he still thinks you're a Starfleet officer if you show up as a Fed Rom. Do the math.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
There's a diplomatic mission on Vulcan from before Legacy of Romulus where a Romulan Star Empire ambassador is visiting the planet. Cryptic never updated it for LOR so he still thinks you're a Starfleet officer if you show up as a Fed Rom. Do the math.
Oh I remember that one! I did it before season nine came out, that was a long time ago...
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
There's a diplomatic mission on Vulcan from before Legacy of Romulus where a Romulan Star Empire ambassador is visiting the planet. Cryptic never updated it for LOR so he still thinks you're a Starfleet officer if you show up as a Fed Rom. Do the math.
It's older than that.... it predates the introduction of the DOFF system. It was part of the old diplomacy where you went to exploration clusters to grind diplomatic xp. Last I checked you still get 100 Dip CxP for it.
And yeah, the mission was never rewritten after the devs added tech to make missions vary based on who was playing them.
I have a Voth scientist telling me to fly into the sun.
I have a Kobali engineer telling me that half my ship is missing.
I have a Jem'Hadar telling me I should try peace instead of war.
Then I have Tovah whining about his sister. I have more important things happening Tovah. Please sit at the back of the bridge while I try to not have us die.
I have a Voth scientist telling me to fly into the sun.
I have a Kobali engineer telling me that half my ship is missing.
I have a Jem'Hadar telling me I should try peace instead of war.
Then I have Tovah whining about his sister. I have more important things happening Tovah. Please sit at the back of the bridge while I try to not have us die.
Tovan quit whining in the last Nimbus mission when we found her in the not-so-secret Tal'Shiar base with the worst security system.
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
Maye they will be more faithful when/if they create a Cardassian faction, then people still get to play the scheming space fascists. It won't be the same as Romulans, but still.
It would be nice indeed but the Cardassians are facing problems similar to the ones the Romulans are facing. Granted their planet was not physically destroyed but their society is in shambles. And the Obisidian Order was defeated by the Dominion a long time ago. It is just a mere shadow of what it once was. And the way they are portrayed in STO suggests that they will be joining the Federation soon. I would love to see them as a faction (they're my favourite species ever - Dukat and Garak and the best Star Trek characters) but I just don't see how it could implemented.
Don't worry OP, I enjoy the Romulan storyline a great deal too.
And I like the Republic. It wasn't hard for my Romulan to choose to ally with Starfleet and I've never regretted it. In particular I like the contrast between the Romulan Commander and the Starfleet and KDF Captains. In those two scenarios you play the role of a soldier serving your faction. Your characters chose to join the military (or as close as the Fed gets as to having a military) and spent about four years pre-game in an Academy learning to be an Officer. But the Romulan Commander isn't. S/he is a civilian who had no choice but to fight.
As I said the contrast between choosing to fight for your faction vs fighting or else dying is one I can appreciate. I don't particularly like Tovan Khev but he's all right most of the time. He does occasionally get annoying when he all but makes my decisions for me. And the Charva arc being about him and his ex-girlfriend was especially annoying. Still it didn't last too long.
And finally the Romulan is the only one who outright owns a ship. In Starfleet and KDF its just loaned to you whilst you're the Captain. But unless you discharge it that little T'Liss is always yours.
Your a real piece of work. You troll very well too. How can anyone enjoy STOs rendition of Romulans??? I'm glad I get to play as a Romulan but it boils my blood how Cryptic corrupted the great Romulan Star Empire and introduce the Romuland republic, which is just a bunch of groveling helpless crybabies. I'd rather play as the Tal'Shear and work at destroying the pathetic Romulan Republic. On top of that were forced to ally with starfleet or klingons, we can't even have our own true faction. My fleet is Romulan only for a damn good reason. I really wish we could have our own starbase instead of a fed starbase
My question is, with the destruction of Romulus and Remus, how could the RSE actually maintain it's empire? Even before that, it was crumbling bit-by-bit due to in-fighting in The Path to 2409. Also, them being passionate people, even they have a breaking point - no doubt some Romulans just wanted away from it all. They did in Unification somewhat, and only the cannot-speak-out-loud-or-be-executed aspect prevented them from publicly going all out against their own people.
Considering what they've been through, you really can't blame some for wanting a peaceful life. For the most part, you want to cheer it on too because they're regular people, not the duty-bounded military soldiers ready to sacrifice themselves for the Empire (we nearly always saw the military; here, we see a different side not explored much, that of the common people forced to fight for their homes/families, free from the duty/honor/fear that came with the RSE military).
Having a Tal Shiar side story might be interesting, but ultimately, the story behind it would get dull rather quickly imo... seriously, go here and order them around, execute anyone who doesn't agree with you, maintain loyalty by any means necessary, up to and including betraying your own coworkers <- more-or-less how I would see it happen; there's only so many variations of a coherent storyline involving those elements
So no, it wasn't trolling, and neither am I XD
And Edit: I also like Tovan. Contrary to what other people are saying, I don't think he steals the spotlight (rather highlights it well, because we all know our character is silent anyway), and he isn't whiny (wanting to find his sister is understandable; don't pretend it isn't. Plus, it takes more to achieve whiny than his words imo)
Was named Trek17.
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
My question is, with the destruction of Romulus and Remus, how could the RSE actually maintain it's empire? Even before that, it was crumbling bit-by-bit due to in-fighting in The Path to 2409. Also, them being passionate people, even they have a breaking point - no doubt some Romulans just wanted away from it all. They did in Unification somewhat, and only the cannot-speak-out-loud-or-be-executed aspect prevented them from publicly going all out against their own people.
Exactly, what people forget is that fascism is a fairly fragile form of government. Few people enjoy living in totalitarian regimes and indoctrination goes only so far (meaning the number of people who really buy into propaganda is most often much, much smaller than the people who just play along in order not to get themselves and their families in trouble)
To keep in power it requires both economic stability and a constant (real or imagined) threat from outside the empire/reich/whatever to keep the people from rebelling.
In the wake of a disaster like the Hobus event that fractured the Empire, it had little chance of remaining the dominant for of government for the Romulans (especially since the outside threat of the Federation had been diminished ever since Spock came to Romulus).
I actually found the evolution Romulan Star Empire -> Romulan Republic fairly realistic, especially for an MMO.
Considering what they've been through, you really can't blame some for wanting a peaceful life. For the most part, you want to cheer it on too because they're regular people, not the duty-bounded military soldiers ready to sacrifice themselves for the Empire (we nearly always saw the military; here, we see a different side not explored much, that of the common people forced to fight for their homes/families, free from the duty/honor/fear that came with the RSE military).
^This. The Federation story was boring to me because you are the squeaky clean "Mr. extra credit" cadet, the Klingon one didn't interest me because your character is constantly "raaaagh honour raaagh" The Romulan storyline had a human element and a desire for freedom/peace I can identify with.
Having a Tal Shiar side story might be interesting, but ultimately, the story behind it would get dull rather quickly imo... seriously, go here and order them around, execute anyone who doesn't agree with you, maintain loyalty by any means necessary, up to and including betraying your own coworkers <- more-or-less how I would see it happen; there's only so many variations of a coherent storyline involving those elements
I agree somewhat. I am sure something creative could be done with it. It would actually be pretty much the same just "shoot these Federation/Republic guys/starships" instead of fighting the Tal Shiar. Possibly leading a coup against Sela? Soething like that, I'm sure it could be done. I wouldn't like it very much, but it's possible.
And Edit: I also like Tovan. Contrary to what other people are saying, I don't think he steals the spotlight (rather highlights it well, because we all know our character is silent anyway), and he isn't whiny (wanting to find his sister is understandable; don't pretend it isn't. Plus, it takes more to achieve whiny than his words imo)
Exactly Tovan and his search for his sister is another human element that made the story relatable to me.
Kind of like Dragon Age Origins where you have your family/community in the beginning. It really motivated me and I instantly lost interest once it just became "leave everything you know and join our version of the Night's Watch :rolleyes: Glad that that game was "on the house" on Origin. I'm a very social person in real life, so I'm simply not interested in the solitary/lone wolf character that dominates most Western RPGs.
Fleeing Tal Shiar opression, Proconsul D'Tan leads a ragtag flotilla on a lonely quest...a shining planet known as Mol'Rihan.
I am glad that there are people who genuinely enjoy the Romulan storyline. And I will agree, as far as the overall story goes it is very good. However, I would have liked there to be a way to play as the Romulan Star Empire as well (maybe select that at character creation). To look at the story from the other side would be very cool. Also I'd like to point out that one can be a member of the Empire and not be a clownish goose-stepping bad guy. Janek is an excellent example of this: while she had no problem with eliminating the traitorous Republic, she drew the line at taking innocent civilian lives. Even if though she gave you the codes, it's not like she suddenly changed sides and joined the Republic.
I am glad that there are people who genuinely enjoy the Romulan storyline. And I will agree, as far as the overall story goes it is very good. However, I would have liked there to be a way to play as the Romulan Star Empire as well (maybe select that at character creation). To look at the story from the other side would be very cool. Also I'd like to point out that one can be a member of the Empire and not be a clownish goose-stepping bad guy. Janek is an excellent example of this: while she had no problem with eliminating the traitorous Republic, she drew the line at taking innocent civilian lives. Even if though she gave you the codes, it's not like she suddenly changed sides and joined the Republic.
Good point, nobody said she WAS a actual Tal'Shiar commander, If I did want to be in the RSE I would be like her. I cannot think of somebody who would want to be like Hakeev or Sela
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
And for those who hate Tovan because he is desperate to get his little sister back and question and comment on your plans: Tovan is the most human person in the game. Flores is just all YES SIR! with her bad hairstyle, K'Gan is just HONOR AND GLORY B*TCH!! Tovan is If I may consult you on your plan and RHINNA!! It is only human
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
I am glad that there are people who genuinely enjoy the Romulan storyline. And I will agree, as far as the overall story goes it is very good. However, I would have liked there to be a way to play as the Romulan Star Empire as well (maybe select that at character creation). To look at the story from the other side would be very cool. Also I'd like to point out that one can be a member of the Empire and not be a clownish goose-stepping bad guy. Janek is an excellent example of this: while she had no problem with eliminating the traitorous Republic, she drew the line at taking innocent civilian lives. Even if though she gave you the codes, it's not like she suddenly changed sides and joined the Republic.
Cloonish bad guys is part of any Cryptic games. Remember, they made CoH first, and still do Champions. The whole engine comes from CoH.
Gaul was a bit less cloonish than what we used to have, but many STO vilain are ridiculous.
Also I'd like to point out that one can be a member of the Empire and not be a clownish goose-stepping bad guy. Janek is an excellent example of this: while she had no problem with eliminating the traitorous Republic, she drew the line at taking innocent civilian lives. Even if though she gave you the codes, it's not like she suddenly changed sides and joined the Republic.
All Tal'Diann/Tal-Diann/Lasasam s'Tal'Diann personnel and cadets have standing orders to take Janek alive and unharmed with the goal of soliciting her defection to the Republic.
All Tal'Diann/Tal-Diann/Lasasam s'Tal'Diann personnel and cadets have standing orders to take Janek alive and unharmed with the goal of soliciting her defection to the Republic.
No fleet roleplaying right now
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
Cloonish bad guys is part of any Cryptic games. Remember, they made CoH first, and still do Champions. The whole engine comes from CoH.
Gaul was a bit less cloonish than what we used to have, but many STO vilain are ridiculous.
Maybe so in your opinion, but we're talking about the storyline in general, not the (supposed) quality of it's characters - and even if we were, opinions are quite different, as you might have guessed
Was named Trek17.
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Personally, as a huge fan of Romulans from the shows as I'm sure many are, I loved the design work they put into them. The ships (the interiors are amazing), the architecture on New Romulus, even the Republic Uniform all looks great. I colour the uniform a very dark green, with a lighter green undershirt, and the distinct chequered pattern shows up nicely in a very Romulan look.
The story was fun, but I didn't feel like a Romulan. The whole direction they took it was, in my opinion, a bad idea. The Romulans were implemented because they were requested by the players for a long time. The players requested the Romualns they knew and loved from the shows and movies. The prideful, secretive, militaristic conquerors. Romulans are meant to be calculating and menacing. The whole implementation is just too warm and fuzzy for me. It would have made a great Bajoran story, not Romulan.
They look upon other races with a mild disdain. The superior physical strength and intellectual prowess shared by Vulcans and Romulans manifests as mild arrogance in the former, and a superiority complex in the latter. They practised slavery on conquered races, tortured prisoners, were experts in deception and espionage - and their entire military strategy was built around delivering devastating strikes with stealth and guile (cryptic at least implemented Romulan combat design pretty well IMO).
While Cryptic was stuck with the Hobus disaster, they should have given us the aftermath of the Empire. While such upheaval would undoubtedly cause change and internal strife, a new Empire should have rose from the ashes. The story should have been about power plays game of thrones style. Lets say for gameplay reasons, the player is a military officer loyal to a particular visionary senator and works to help him/her secure their place as the new Praetor and restore order to an Empire in chaos. The first (or early) mission could be you murdering your commander and assuming command of his Warbird when he sides with the antagonist who, to you, is an illegitimate Praetor making a power grab (even Sela). Right off the bat your character, motivated by duty and pride, is doing whatever it takes to restore the Empire to glory.
This could lead into a securing of our boarders from incursions left by the power vacuum (that Ferengi running the mine in Romulan space by exploiting refugees, how would you expect a canon Romulan warbird to respond to that situation?), conflict with rivals vying for power, securing loyalty and establishing a new Romulan government. Then finally coming to the table with the Federation and Klingons to face the Iconians. The existing story in game provides a pretty good reason for the Romulan Empire to cooperate with the Feds/KDF as they did against the Dominion already. This was just a spitball but I think something like that would really have done the Romulans justice and been engaging and compelling to play, whilst bringing things in line with where Cyptic wants the story to go.
In stead the Tal'Shiar has for some inexplicable reason turned into a caricature super villain bent on galactic destruction whilst abducting their own people to feed to Elachi; and the Republic shows few if any traits iconic to Romulans from the canon aside from the brilliant artwork. The tension between the Romulans, Federation and Klingons was a wonderful dynamic in DS9 during the Dominion war which should have been reimagined in the joint story here. We're working together, but we're all in it for our own motives and those clashes could easily be played upon in the mission dialogue. The delicate alliance of three powers who don't trust each other but once again must work together towards a common goal.
We have what we have and I'm glad I can finally play a Romulan. Perhaps in the future the Tal'Shiar madness is resolved and the old RSE and Republic is reunified. I can just hope that Cyptic does my favourite race more justice in the future story wise. They provide so much background for compelling story which contrasts from the goody goody Feds and Klingon barbarians. If they were implemented in a way true to the canon, I think it'd be really successful. They're not pantomime villains, nor are they Bajorans. They're a militaristic caste based civilization with an enormous sense of nationalistic duty. They're proud and arrogant, often to a fault. A Romulan would be far too proud to be a charity case of the Feds and Klingons. A Romulan would choose death over disgrace. They're deceptive and calculating, but are known to have a juxtaposing sense of honour and respect for worthy adversaries (See: Balance of Terror). They believe in their own superiority and will go to any lengths to secure their birthright.
Don't worry OP, I enjoy the Romulan storyline a great deal too.
And I like the Republic. It wasn't hard for my Romulan to choose to ally with Starfleet and I've never regretted it. In particular I like the contrast between the Romulan Commander and the Starfleet and KDF Captains. In those two scenarios you play the role of a soldier serving your faction. Your characters chose to join the military (or as close as the Fed gets as to having a military) and spent about four years pre-game in an Academy learning to be an Officer. But the Romulan Commander isn't. S/he is a civilian who had no choice but to fight.
As I said the contrast between choosing to fight for your faction vs fighting or else dying is one I can appreciate. I don't particularly like Tovan Khev but he's all right most of the time. He does occasionally get annoying when he all but makes my decisions for me. And the Charva arc being about him and his ex-girlfriend was especially annoying. Still it didn't last too long.
And finally the Romulan is the only one who outright owns a ship. In Starfleet and KDF its just loaned to you whilst you're the Captain. But unless you discharge it that little T'Liss is always yours.
My Fed-aligned Republic character (a human created via alien-gen) actually owns her runabout as well, it was only when she allied withe the Feds that she was able to get it spaceworthy again. It had crash-landed on Virinat after a run-in with Orion marauders had damaged weapons and navigation systems.
Comments
What weird about it? I promised not to have any Rom-Feds because fed roms hit these invisable combadges instead of the standard Romulan/Klingon wristband animation when beaming out, it just drove me insane.
And my opinion on Tovan Khev: Khev is the first boff to have real backstory, and that doesnt bother me at all, hes a good freind to my toons even my Reman who declared vengence on the Romulans thanks to his awful life in the Reman mines and then seeing home on Crataris get destroyed along with his family. When delta rising came out I bought a white intel boff and said she was Charva (I offered her a place on my ship or a place in Obisek's Torture Chamber)
As for other players Tovan's: The only ones that bother me are the ones still wearing his unique survivor romulan costume.
And I love romulan gameplay as much as the next man and I serve only the republic (my fed severs the federation, my kdf serves the empire and the house of Koloth, yeah, yeah moving on). And for those who wear rom fed uniforms or rom kdf uniforms and carry MACO/Honor Guard and have fed and kdf boffs: Watch out for the Reman in purple named Vranuk, the Romulan in command green named R'Tath, and the Romulan in command green named Ta'eth. Because they will TROLL YOU TO DEATH BABY!
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
There's a diplomatic mission on Vulcan from before Legacy of Romulus where a Romulan Star Empire ambassador is visiting the planet. Cryptic never updated it for LOR so he still thinks you're a Starfleet officer if you show up as a Fed Rom. Do the math.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Oh I remember that one! I did it before season nine came out, that was a long time ago...
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
And yeah, the mission was never rewritten after the devs added tech to make missions vary based on who was playing them.
My character Tsin'xing
I have a Kobali engineer telling me that half my ship is missing.
I have a Jem'Hadar telling me I should try peace instead of war.
Then I have Tovah whining about his sister. I have more important things happening Tovah. Please sit at the back of the bridge while I try to not have us die.
Tovan quit whining in the last Nimbus mission when we found her in the not-so-secret Tal'Shiar base with the worst security system.
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
It would be nice indeed but the Cardassians are facing problems similar to the ones the Romulans are facing. Granted their planet was not physically destroyed but their society is in shambles. And the Obisidian Order was defeated by the Dominion a long time ago. It is just a mere shadow of what it once was. And the way they are portrayed in STO suggests that they will be joining the Federation soon. I would love to see them as a faction (they're my favourite species ever - Dukat and Garak and the best Star Trek characters) but I just don't see how it could implemented.
And I like the Republic. It wasn't hard for my Romulan to choose to ally with Starfleet and I've never regretted it. In particular I like the contrast between the Romulan Commander and the Starfleet and KDF Captains. In those two scenarios you play the role of a soldier serving your faction. Your characters chose to join the military (or as close as the Fed gets as to having a military) and spent about four years pre-game in an Academy learning to be an Officer. But the Romulan Commander isn't. S/he is a civilian who had no choice but to fight.
As I said the contrast between choosing to fight for your faction vs fighting or else dying is one I can appreciate. I don't particularly like Tovan Khev but he's all right most of the time. He does occasionally get annoying when he all but makes my decisions for me. And the Charva arc being about him and his ex-girlfriend was especially annoying. Still it didn't last too long.
And finally the Romulan is the only one who outright owns a ship. In Starfleet and KDF its just loaned to you whilst you're the Captain. But unless you discharge it that little T'Liss is always yours.
An early choice you can say to the Republic is "No, I don't want to join the military".
Their response is a resounding "Well, too damn bad." Then you hit level 1 and the tutorial ends.
Considering what they've been through, you really can't blame some for wanting a peaceful life. For the most part, you want to cheer it on too because they're regular people, not the duty-bounded military soldiers ready to sacrifice themselves for the Empire (we nearly always saw the military; here, we see a different side not explored much, that of the common people forced to fight for their homes/families, free from the duty/honor/fear that came with the RSE military).
Having a Tal Shiar side story might be interesting, but ultimately, the story behind it would get dull rather quickly imo... seriously, go here and order them around, execute anyone who doesn't agree with you, maintain loyalty by any means necessary, up to and including betraying your own coworkers <- more-or-less how I would see it happen; there's only so many variations of a coherent storyline involving those elements
So no, it wasn't trolling, and neither am I XD
And Edit: I also like Tovan. Contrary to what other people are saying, I don't think he steals the spotlight (rather highlights it well, because we all know our character is silent anyway), and he isn't whiny (wanting to find his sister is understandable; don't pretend it isn't. Plus, it takes more to achieve whiny than his words imo)
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Exactly, what people forget is that fascism is a fairly fragile form of government. Few people enjoy living in totalitarian regimes and indoctrination goes only so far (meaning the number of people who really buy into propaganda is most often much, much smaller than the people who just play along in order not to get themselves and their families in trouble)
To keep in power it requires both economic stability and a constant (real or imagined) threat from outside the empire/reich/whatever to keep the people from rebelling.
In the wake of a disaster like the Hobus event that fractured the Empire, it had little chance of remaining the dominant for of government for the Romulans (especially since the outside threat of the Federation had been diminished ever since Spock came to Romulus).
I actually found the evolution Romulan Star Empire -> Romulan Republic fairly realistic, especially for an MMO.
^This. The Federation story was boring to me because you are the squeaky clean "Mr. extra credit" cadet, the Klingon one didn't interest me because your character is constantly "raaaagh honour raaagh" The Romulan storyline had a human element and a desire for freedom/peace I can identify with.
I agree somewhat. I am sure something creative could be done with it. It would actually be pretty much the same just "shoot these Federation/Republic guys/starships" instead of fighting the Tal Shiar. Possibly leading a coup against Sela? Soething like that, I'm sure it could be done. I wouldn't like it very much, but it's possible.
Exactly Tovan and his search for his sister is another human element that made the story relatable to me.
Kind of like Dragon Age Origins where you have your family/community in the beginning. It really motivated me and I instantly lost interest once it just became "leave everything you know and join our version of the Night's Watch :rolleyes: Glad that that game was "on the house" on Origin. I'm a very social person in real life, so I'm simply not interested in the solitary/lone wolf character that dominates most Western RPGs.
Good point, nobody said she WAS a actual Tal'Shiar commander, If I did want to be in the RSE I would be like her. I cannot think of somebody who would want to be like Hakeev or Sela
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
Gaul was a bit less cloonish than what we used to have, but many STO vilain are ridiculous.
All Tal'Diann/Tal-Diann/Lasasam s'Tal'Diann personnel and cadets have standing orders to take Janek alive and unharmed with the goal of soliciting her defection to the Republic.
No fleet roleplaying right now
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
The story was fun, but I didn't feel like a Romulan. The whole direction they took it was, in my opinion, a bad idea. The Romulans were implemented because they were requested by the players for a long time. The players requested the Romualns they knew and loved from the shows and movies. The prideful, secretive, militaristic conquerors. Romulans are meant to be calculating and menacing. The whole implementation is just too warm and fuzzy for me. It would have made a great Bajoran story, not Romulan.
They look upon other races with a mild disdain. The superior physical strength and intellectual prowess shared by Vulcans and Romulans manifests as mild arrogance in the former, and a superiority complex in the latter. They practised slavery on conquered races, tortured prisoners, were experts in deception and espionage - and their entire military strategy was built around delivering devastating strikes with stealth and guile (cryptic at least implemented Romulan combat design pretty well IMO).
While Cryptic was stuck with the Hobus disaster, they should have given us the aftermath of the Empire. While such upheaval would undoubtedly cause change and internal strife, a new Empire should have rose from the ashes. The story should have been about power plays game of thrones style. Lets say for gameplay reasons, the player is a military officer loyal to a particular visionary senator and works to help him/her secure their place as the new Praetor and restore order to an Empire in chaos. The first (or early) mission could be you murdering your commander and assuming command of his Warbird when he sides with the antagonist who, to you, is an illegitimate Praetor making a power grab (even Sela). Right off the bat your character, motivated by duty and pride, is doing whatever it takes to restore the Empire to glory.
This could lead into a securing of our boarders from incursions left by the power vacuum (that Ferengi running the mine in Romulan space by exploiting refugees, how would you expect a canon Romulan warbird to respond to that situation?), conflict with rivals vying for power, securing loyalty and establishing a new Romulan government. Then finally coming to the table with the Federation and Klingons to face the Iconians. The existing story in game provides a pretty good reason for the Romulan Empire to cooperate with the Feds/KDF as they did against the Dominion already. This was just a spitball but I think something like that would really have done the Romulans justice and been engaging and compelling to play, whilst bringing things in line with where Cyptic wants the story to go.
In stead the Tal'Shiar has for some inexplicable reason turned into a caricature super villain bent on galactic destruction whilst abducting their own people to feed to Elachi; and the Republic shows few if any traits iconic to Romulans from the canon aside from the brilliant artwork. The tension between the Romulans, Federation and Klingons was a wonderful dynamic in DS9 during the Dominion war which should have been reimagined in the joint story here. We're working together, but we're all in it for our own motives and those clashes could easily be played upon in the mission dialogue. The delicate alliance of three powers who don't trust each other but once again must work together towards a common goal.
We have what we have and I'm glad I can finally play a Romulan. Perhaps in the future the Tal'Shiar madness is resolved and the old RSE and Republic is reunified. I can just hope that Cyptic does my favourite race more justice in the future story wise. They provide so much background for compelling story which contrasts from the goody goody Feds and Klingon barbarians. If they were implemented in a way true to the canon, I think it'd be really successful. They're not pantomime villains, nor are they Bajorans. They're a militaristic caste based civilization with an enormous sense of nationalistic duty. They're proud and arrogant, often to a fault. A Romulan would be far too proud to be a charity case of the Feds and Klingons. A Romulan would choose death over disgrace. They're deceptive and calculating, but are known to have a juxtaposing sense of honour and respect for worthy adversaries (See: Balance of Terror). They believe in their own superiority and will go to any lengths to secure their birthright.
My Fed-aligned Republic character (a human created via alien-gen) actually owns her runabout as well, it was only when she allied withe the Feds that she was able to get it spaceworthy again. It had crash-landed on Virinat after a run-in with Orion marauders had damaged weapons and navigation systems.