Anyone else think the KDF ships look like novelty bottle openers? They are so boxy its like driving the space equivalent of a Volvo.
I've not seen many of these been driven round space, so I'm thinking along the lines that they aren't that popular, certainly not something I'd buy looking that hideous.
The Fed/Rom ships are very nice looking though, I've bought the fed ones and I'm saving for the Rom ones, nice designs with throwback to earlier designs there are elements from the Olympic science vessel and Excelsior.
It is the core from The Event Horizon vessel designed by Dr. Weir, cryptic drew inspiration from that instead of the tv show, its been shown on tng a few times...apparently those episodes were missed by the staff.
Or they just thought the Event Horizon type core looks cooler than the TNG version, which it does.
The nacelles and the deflector dish designs on the Federation ships, they don't match the ships and I have to question the choice of the saucer section for the tactical ship, however the design for the skins and the pylons were well done. As for the Klingon ships they look uninspired and are like barges or modified dilithium mining vessels. The Romulan ships however are impressive and elegant in their design. Considering that they're supposed to be Command Ships, I expected them to be the same size as their factions flagships.
"I will make the Orion Syndicate face the light of justice or burn them with it." - Captainl Kyle Nathaniel Locke, U.S.S. Excalibur NCC-98105-C
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
...I would like to point out I would like an option to use my Odyssey, Bortasqu', or Scimitar as a Command ship, even in a watered-down capacity. It makes sense from a lore perspective, and hope that Cryptic's team are in the process of allowing us to retrofit ships we've already invested a great time of love, EC, Zen, and Dilithium into, in order to allow us to take advantage of these great Intelligence and Command specializations.
I do not mind throwing a few bucks at Cryptic, I would just like to be met halfway, and to be recognized that I and others like me already have our favorite ships, and that the T5-U mechanics do not currently go far enough.
It is a shame to see the potential of these Intel and Command specializations paywalled in such a fashion.
^ This +1,000,000.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Love the blog telling how these ships came to be. Hope you do these for the future ships coming out. Or about villains we face as well.
I like the Fed ships the best. They look like an Excelsior in a way as well. They are added to my buy list when I get around to them. The idea of the fighter to help out is nice as well. I can use it the same way like my Galaxy Dread. To help take out the smaller targets that are a pain to target with a large ship.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
It's that "Smart" decision to copy/paste the designs that will stop me from buying...that,and calling a ship with a turn rate of 8, no weapons or maneuver command, and a hangar a "Battlecruiser".
See, it's the Bort all over again-it can mount DHC, but it can't turn or manuever well enough to USE the DHC's
It's either the (financially) "smart" copy/paste, or KDF/Roms only get one unique ship each vs feds 3, if we get any at all. Be happy we (KDF) get anything.
Bort has 6 base turn, these have 8, a reasonable difference and I wouldn't call it as being in the same league, turn rate wise.
Yes these have less turn than true battlecruisers like the Torks and Qibs but these are FDCs that can mount DHCs, so they get the battle cruiser moniker. They're still true FDCs at heart and you should think of them as such.
it's got the same problem EVERY KDF 'cruiser' class has hung on them-the Crew size bug that makes it more fragile than it's peers, along with lower shield mod so you get more hull hits, and more hull points to make up afterward with a crew that regenerates slower which slows your hull repairs.
That's a systems issue, not an issue with the ship or the design/concept itself. Blame the (outdated) crew mechanic that affects all ships game wide, not this specific ship.
On a ship like the Tor'Kaht, this isn't as big an issue-such ships are fast enough and can be brought up to enough manuever to make up for the other issues.
These ships...can't do that. They can't, because at heart, they're basically Fed ships, with a few gimping blows applied, intended for "Straight and level BFAW" but not quite tough enough to survive the attentiion doing that draws.
For PvE the turn rate is fine for the FDC that it is (same as previous FDCs). Like you say these aren't battle cruisers, so stop thinking of them like that.
And "not quite tough enough"? I'm tanking it up with these. Went into CCE last night and tanked all of the Tholian ships, not even shooting the Crystaline Entity and came first. Also tanking Khitomer Advanced gates solo sitting 2km from it.
Having said that, one of my toons is happily using a DHC build and stomping through PvE queues. Just feed it some RCS's.
And they're not "basically Fed ships", they're KDF Orion specced ships brought up to T6 level and given to all factions.
See my sig for builds, (rom is DHC, fed was a quick tank setup, kdf is tanky w/exotics). Set up and fly them correctly and they're mighty fine ships.
If you want a true T6 battle cruiser, use the Qib.
Unlike the Dyson ships, which ended up more popular with KDF than with Feds, they don't fill a role that's under-filled by better ships. The science destroyers fill a definite need, a gap in KDF ranks-that is, a decent science ship that isn't the two-tac-console Varanus.
Apart from the Sheshar, there are no other FDCs at T6. My beloved Fleet Corsair refit had been on the back burner ever since the Bulwark appeared, and that didn't last long after T6 ships came and made them irrelevant. Now that there are T6 FDCs for each faction, look forward to other T6 ship types, they will come.
Though I fear if science will ever happen for KDF, and if so likely won't be Gorn, cause Cryptic passed over a big opportunity with these to put more species ships in (Orion)
I KNOW nobody at Cryptic would lower themselves to play an actual KDF/KDF
Funny, many podcasts I've heard talking to devs, they often talk about the KDF toons they use on their personal accounts. What you know in this regard I'd assert it quite false.
Am I the only one that isn't buying the talk of art influencing the ships? I'm sure the art was made first, but there is no evidence in the final product of art having any influence. This is an extremely cookie-cutter approach to designing ship layouts. And, I'm not talking about the fact that all factions get equal ships, I mean the 3 ships each faction gets are not distinct enough.
These ships are all essentially the same and none of them are particularly good in terms of overall layout for damage-dealing, and certainly not for my style of play. I mean, they're all 4 fore/4 aft weapons, some combination 4/4/3 console layout (or, worse, 3/5eng/3), the first 4 mastery bonuses are exactly the same, the inspiration abilities are identical, and they all have a Commander Engineering/Command BOFF station.
It looks like three $30 starship traits.
Why not build in some real difference to fit different play-styles and make one variant with a Commander Tac/Com and another with a Commander Sci/Com BOFF station, instead of all with the Commander Eng/Com station? They're all virtually the same same ship - there are only minor variations between them.
And, I'd like to make a personal request: Please make a T6 that will make me give up my scimitar! (Especially if you want my money!)
WTB T6 ship, for $30 of hard-earned money, with the following:
1. 8 Weapons, Battle Cloak, and 11 consoles (5 Tac/4 Sci)
2. At least 39,000 Hull at lvl 50 and at least 1.25 Shield mod
3. Commander Tac/Int BOFF and Uni Lt Comm BOFF stations
It could have 5 turn rate and look like a box, but I'd buy it ASAP!
Overall, it's not a bad post, and it does shed a little light on the design philosophy. The hybrid between the battlecruiser and flight-deck cruiser designs seems to work out nicely, and if nothing else they did actually offer balanced ships to each of the factions. I really just want the ones for the KDF and RRF, but I'll probably just break down and get the full 9-pack after some saving up instead... we'll see.
If the Intel ships had been done this way, I'd have bought them in a heartbeat.
Thankfully I'm not Homer. :P
I was gonna say that after rereading the blog again (without beer) I liked it better. However, I still find it somewhat lacking. Could be saying what the ideas for command were, pics, concepts, ...
And I still don't like adding hangars late in the process same as creating new mechanics for just a few ships.
It's either the (financially) "smart" copy/paste, or KDF/Roms only get one unique ship each vs feds 3, if we get any at all. Be happy we (KDF) get anything.
Good point. I have to agree, despite me not liking the designs and having other small issues, it's still better than nothing, or only getting one of those three variants.
Bort has 6 base turn, these have 8, a reasonable difference and I wouldn't call it as being in the same league, turn rate wise.
Yes these have less turn than true battlecruisers like the Torks and Qibs but these are FDCs that can mount DHCs, so they get the battle cruiser moniker. They're still true FDCs at heart and you should think of them as such.
Bortas(Qu') have 5.5 turn rate (I know, small difference).
Since they aren't really battlecruisers, they should have just called them FDCs, give them FDC cruiser commands and FDC mastery passives and it'd be way better (give them Orion skins on KDF, while we're at it).
It's annoying as it is to have the intel cruisers be in fact battlecruisers with the missing shield cruiser command.
And I haven't even gotten into how the terms 'command', 'battlecruiser' and the representation of (battle)cruisers and factions in game don't make sense. For instance, battlecruisers aren't typical FED ships and also battlecruisers as in ships that launch themselves (particularly alone by themselves) in heavy combat aren't really suited to 'command'. On FED side, a very typical cruiser AKA the Odyssey would make far more sense as both a flagship and a command ship.
KDF, on the other hand, could have large cruisers as main vessels commanding others and even those could take form of more nimble battlecruisers. Except there's even much better: Huge KDF carriers --> the Vo'quv.
Given the relatively not well fleshed out Romulan ship inventory (the large majority are 'escorty' ships with various flavors), pretty much anything could work. So even those Command battlecruisers sorta can.
Of course it would still make FAR more sense to make all these ships regular FDCs with fitting stats. A Flight deck cruiser makes sense as a rather bulky cruiser that 'commands' others (at least the fighters it uses). KDF even has a prior history with FDCs. They still make sense for FEDs as those already get Escort carriers (and the Vesta), and even Romulans have access to ships that together could spawn a reglar FDC (a Scimitar given more eng focus OR the D'deridex and Haakona - very slow battlecruisers - getting a hangar).
That's a systems issue, not an issue with the ship or the design/concept itself. Blame the (outdated) crew mechanic that affects all ships game wide, not this specific ship.
For PvE the turn rate is fine for the FDC that it is (same as previous FDCs). Like you say these aren't battle cruisers, so stop thinking of them like that.
Again, it's hard not thinking of them as battlecruisers when they get the 'battlecruiser ship mastery passives'.
And "not quite tough enough"? I'm tanking it up with these. Went into CCE last night and tanked all of the Tholian ships, not even shooting the Crystaline Entity and came first. Also tanking Khitomer Advanced gates solo sitting 2km from it.
Having said that, one of my toons is happily using a DHC build and stomping through PvE queues. Just feed it some RCS's.
And they're not "basically Fed ships", they're KDF Orion specced ships brought up to T6 level and given to all factions.
See my sig for builds, (rom is DHC, fed was a quick tank setup, kdf is tanky w/exotics). Set up and fly them correctly and they're mighty fine ships.
If you want a true T6 battle cruiser, use the Qib.
I've been of the idea pretty much anything can stopm PvE in good hands...
Apart from the Sheshar, there are no other FDCs at T6. My beloved Fleet Corsair refit had been on the back burner ever since the Bulwark appeared, and that didn't last long after T6 ships came and made them irrelevant. Now that there are T6 FDCs for each faction, look forward to other T6 ship types, they will come.
Though I fear if science will ever happen for KDF, and if so likely won't be Gorn, cause Cryptic passed over a big opportunity with these to put more species ships in (Orion)
The Sheshar is a dreadnought cruiser, same as the Bulwark and the Galaxy-X. Not a Flight deck cruiser. There are afaik differences in cruiser commands and ship mastery passives applied.
And I'm very sad at all those low-Tier KDF ships not being followed upon at higher tiers (last I counted, KDF had actually more Tier 1-4 ships than FEDs, sadly that diversity is lost in Tier 5 and 6).
Funny, many podcasts I've heard talking to devs, they often talk about the KDF toons they use on their personal accounts. What you know in this regard I'd assert it quite false.
I have a bad impression from the last twitch livestream (with crypticquack and jamjamz) that at least most of the devs sees KDF (Klingons in particular) as savage mindless brutes. Why do i think that? Crypticquack kept repeating that's how we shouldn't take Klingons.
Of course we shouldn't. Why would the devs even think we would consider them incapable fools? They have a powerful empire, develop their technology and as one of the only two full factions in the game, they should keep being developped in those ways.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Comments
I've not seen many of these been driven round space, so I'm thinking along the lines that they aren't that popular, certainly not something I'd buy looking that hideous.
The Fed/Rom ships are very nice looking though, I've bought the fed ones and I'm saving for the Rom ones, nice designs with throwback to earlier designs there are elements from the Olympic science vessel and Excelsior.
Or they just thought the Event Horizon type core looks cooler than the TNG version, which it does.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
^ This +1,000,000.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
I like the Fed ships the best. They look like an Excelsior in a way as well. They are added to my buy list when I get around to them. The idea of the fighter to help out is nice as well. I can use it the same way like my Galaxy Dread. To help take out the smaller targets that are a pain to target with a large ship.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Looking forward to it. I do enjoy these behind the scenes blogs, and am interested to hear about the art.
It's either the (financially) "smart" copy/paste, or KDF/Roms only get one unique ship each vs feds 3, if we get any at all. Be happy we (KDF) get anything.
Bort has 6 base turn, these have 8, a reasonable difference and I wouldn't call it as being in the same league, turn rate wise.
Yes these have less turn than true battlecruisers like the Torks and Qibs but these are FDCs that can mount DHCs, so they get the battle cruiser moniker. They're still true FDCs at heart and you should think of them as such.
That's a systems issue, not an issue with the ship or the design/concept itself. Blame the (outdated) crew mechanic that affects all ships game wide, not this specific ship.
For PvE the turn rate is fine for the FDC that it is (same as previous FDCs). Like you say these aren't battle cruisers, so stop thinking of them like that.
And "not quite tough enough"? I'm tanking it up with these. Went into CCE last night and tanked all of the Tholian ships, not even shooting the Crystaline Entity and came first. Also tanking Khitomer Advanced gates solo sitting 2km from it.
Having said that, one of my toons is happily using a DHC build and stomping through PvE queues. Just feed it some RCS's.
And they're not "basically Fed ships", they're KDF Orion specced ships brought up to T6 level and given to all factions.
See my sig for builds, (rom is DHC, fed was a quick tank setup, kdf is tanky w/exotics). Set up and fly them correctly and they're mighty fine ships.
If you want a true T6 battle cruiser, use the Qib.
Apart from the Sheshar, there are no other FDCs at T6. My beloved Fleet Corsair refit had been on the back burner ever since the Bulwark appeared, and that didn't last long after T6 ships came and made them irrelevant. Now that there are T6 FDCs for each faction, look forward to other T6 ship types, they will come.
Though I fear if science will ever happen for KDF, and if so likely won't be Gorn, cause Cryptic passed over a big opportunity with these to put more species ships in (Orion)
Funny, many podcasts I've heard talking to devs, they often talk about the KDF toons they use on their personal accounts. What you know in this regard I'd assert it quite false.
These ships are all essentially the same and none of them are particularly good in terms of overall layout for damage-dealing, and certainly not for my style of play. I mean, they're all 4 fore/4 aft weapons, some combination 4/4/3 console layout (or, worse, 3/5eng/3), the first 4 mastery bonuses are exactly the same, the inspiration abilities are identical, and they all have a Commander Engineering/Command BOFF station.
It looks like three $30 starship traits.
Why not build in some real difference to fit different play-styles and make one variant with a Commander Tac/Com and another with a Commander Sci/Com BOFF station, instead of all with the Commander Eng/Com station? They're all virtually the same same ship - there are only minor variations between them.
And, I'd like to make a personal request: Please make a T6 that will make me give up my scimitar! (Especially if you want my money!)
1. 8 Weapons, Battle Cloak, and 11 consoles (5 Tac/4 Sci)
2. At least 39,000 Hull at lvl 50 and at least 1.25 Shield mod
3. Commander Tac/Int BOFF and Uni Lt Comm BOFF stations
It could have 5 turn rate and look like a box, but I'd buy it ASAP!
I was gonna say that after rereading the blog again (without beer) I liked it better. However, I still find it somewhat lacking. Could be saying what the ideas for command were, pics, concepts, ...
And I still don't like adding hangars late in the process same as creating new mechanics for just a few ships. Good point. I have to agree, despite me not liking the designs and having other small issues, it's still better than nothing, or only getting one of those three variants. Bortas(Qu') have 5.5 turn rate (I know, small difference).
Since they aren't really battlecruisers, they should have just called them FDCs, give them FDC cruiser commands and FDC mastery passives and it'd be way better (give them Orion skins on KDF, while we're at it).
It's annoying as it is to have the intel cruisers be in fact battlecruisers with the missing shield cruiser command.
And I haven't even gotten into how the terms 'command', 'battlecruiser' and the representation of (battle)cruisers and factions in game don't make sense. For instance, battlecruisers aren't typical FED ships and also battlecruisers as in ships that launch themselves (particularly alone by themselves) in heavy combat aren't really suited to 'command'. On FED side, a very typical cruiser AKA the Odyssey would make far more sense as both a flagship and a command ship.
KDF, on the other hand, could have large cruisers as main vessels commanding others and even those could take form of more nimble battlecruisers. Except there's even much better: Huge KDF carriers --> the Vo'quv.
Given the relatively not well fleshed out Romulan ship inventory (the large majority are 'escorty' ships with various flavors), pretty much anything could work. So even those Command battlecruisers sorta can.
Of course it would still make FAR more sense to make all these ships regular FDCs with fitting stats. A Flight deck cruiser makes sense as a rather bulky cruiser that 'commands' others (at least the fighters it uses). KDF even has a prior history with FDCs. They still make sense for FEDs as those already get Escort carriers (and the Vesta), and even Romulans have access to ships that together could spawn a reglar FDC (a Scimitar given more eng focus OR the D'deridex and Haakona - very slow battlecruisers - getting a hangar). Again, it's hard not thinking of them as battlecruisers when they get the 'battlecruiser ship mastery passives'. I've been of the idea pretty much anything can stopm PvE in good hands...
The Sheshar is a dreadnought cruiser, same as the Bulwark and the Galaxy-X. Not a Flight deck cruiser. There are afaik differences in cruiser commands and ship mastery passives applied.
And I'm very sad at all those low-Tier KDF ships not being followed upon at higher tiers (last I counted, KDF had actually more Tier 1-4 ships than FEDs, sadly that diversity is lost in Tier 5 and 6).
I have a bad impression from the last twitch livestream (with crypticquack and jamjamz) that at least most of the devs sees KDF (Klingons in particular) as savage mindless brutes. Why do i think that? Crypticquack kept repeating that's how we shouldn't take Klingons.
Of course we shouldn't. Why would the devs even think we would consider them incapable fools? They have a powerful empire, develop their technology and as one of the only two full factions in the game, they should keep being developped in those ways.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!