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Iconian War Anthology discussion thread

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  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    zionus0 wrote: »
    Glimmer of Hope-
    Has been Republished and is working now.

    Ok, I just played through "Glimmer of Hope" again. The review that follows- well, please don't be mad at me about it?

    The author put a lot of hard work into the mission, but I felt like I was missing half the plot, and that things kept - changing. Having never played any of their other Foundry missions, I had no idea who these mirror-romulans were, and I'm STILL not sure who the 'Guardians' are. :confused:

    It's a good idea, when making a mission, to introduce any allied forces you're going to be fighting alongside inside the first map, or in the beginning dialogue before you get to the first map.

    Also, was I leading a group of refugees out of the city, or making a raid against the transport inhibitors in the fire caves? They're kind of incompatible objectives.

    On a different note, why do you have two totally dissimilar maps for Bajor orbit? If there's an asteroid field there (Did the Iconians break up a moon? Because I don't remember any asteroid fields in Bajor orbit. Might want to mention that in dialouge! :)), keep it there for the second map as well.

    However, I do have one question - how are these Mirror Romulans able to throw so many forces into protecting our universe's version of Bajor, when logic suggests they should be dealing with a Mirror-Iconian invasion of their own universe?:confused:

    There were some interesting spots in this mission, and the sets were absolute brilliance, so I wish I could have rated it higher than three stars. :(
  • zionus0zionus0 Member Posts: 395 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    csrr12905 wrote: »
    I just tried playing through "Glimmer of Hope". Unfortunately, there seems to be a mission-breaking bug on the third map 'forest', where the objective 'Reach the mountain pass' seems to be either above or below where the player can reach it, preventing any further progress.

    From what I have seen, however, the maps are absolutely brilliant! The writing, I have a few suggestions on-

    It's good form, at least in my mind, to have the text for transferring to the first map say Begin "[name of foundry mission]" , as this means that the player is certain of which mission they are starting.

    Hoping this bug gets fixed, because I really want to play through the rest of the mission!
    csrr12905 wrote: »
    Ok, I just played through "Glimmer of Hope" again. The review that follows- well, please don't be mad at me about it?

    The author put a lot of hard work into the mission, but I felt like I was missing half the plot, and that things kept - changing. Having never played any of their other Foundry missions, I had no idea who these mirror-romulans were, and I'm STILL not sure who the 'Guardians' are. :confused:

    It's a good idea, when making a mission, to introduce any allied forces you're going to be fighting alongside inside the first map, or in the beginning dialogue before you get to the first map.

    Also, was I leading a group of refugees out of the city, or making a raid against the transport inhibitors in the fire caves? They're kind of incompatible objectives.

    On a different note, why do you have two totally dissimilar maps for Bajor orbit? If there's an asteroid field there (Did the Iconians break up a moon? Because I don't remember any asteroid fields in Bajor orbit. Might want to mention that in dialouge! :)), keep it there for the second map as well.

    However, I do have one question - how are these Mirror Romulans able to throw so many forces into protecting our universe's version of Bajor, when logic suggests they should be dealing with a Mirror-Iconian invasion of their own universe?:confused:

    There were some interesting spots in this mission, and the sets were absolute brilliance, so I wish I could have rated it higher than three stars. :(

    I use low graphics settings and I don't recall adding a asteroid field to be honest. I'll check that, also will be adding in another dialog option (a good idea thanks for that : tri-corder log for a short summary of each- no major spoilers [VERY difficult for the Guardians] when talking to the Guardian or Soreth in the Fire caves. In regards to that map I was thinking the Civilians would stay near the entrance with an assumed allied group- which would have been arriving during the Forest map- I had tried to do that but ran out of contacts.

    Guardians are the ancient inhabitants of Bajor- they've forgotten the name of their species and have spent several millenniums acting as well guardians of the entity that destroyed their people.

    You ask if the the civilians are being escorted to safety or if the Fire caves are bing attacked? The answer I'll have to give is both! Ground to ship communication is impossible as is transporting back up, presumably the Heralds can find the group easily (heck Bluegills may be able to detect foot steps?) , so tactically ground forces can't be effective until it is shut down and the Civilians can't be left alone. Therefore the only option is to bring them along for the ride and hope for the best.

    Mirror Universe Iconians: I did think of this- if they are evil in our universe then I was thinking they might be benevolent (good guys) in the MR, therefore in my story I've also taken the Romulans and not made them deceptive and scheming as in the Prime universe. They might even be getting help from the MR Iconians I'm not sure but that seems to be the only way they'd move the Vault. One of theirs might even be on Vanguard Station (the vault).


    Anything I particular stand out as needs tweaking? I have ADHD so I have trouble noticing that kind of thing. It's 3am so I'll fix that later today I guess.
    Why do I still play and put money into STO?
    The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
  • ammianusammianus Member Posts: 85 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    ammianus wrote: »
    I am not a foundry maker, but I have a story, and I more than ready to discuss the details if any of you brave souls would opt for making it a reality. :)

    The title is work in progress, simpler - Sacrifice, or more complex - For the Federation

    In short, the player would embark on a mission to save the Federation, but by doing this he would go against everything Federation represents. Namely, the Prime Directive. I am inspired by one of best DS9 (Trek, and shows) ever - In the Pale Moonlight

    The mission would start with a player sitting in the ready room at his/her ship, and looking at the list of war casualities (perhaps including his best friend from the Academy, to make it personal, or someone from a previous foundry ico mission to give it gravity). The war is now going for months, with Federation being forced to withdraw from most of the territory (according to other mission stories), and situation seems hopeless. Then he gets a call from Section 31, who tells him that there is a record of the weapon of some sort (probably Preserver), on a planet in the Delta quadrant which is on the verge of creating a warp drive (very advanced), but it is extremely hostile to outsiders.

    To make things worse the record of immense importance for the survival of the Alliance is in possession of that race, and what is even worse the previous away team was captured and is days away to be executed for intrusion. As the hostile race does posses elaborate bioscaning technology, the only way to get it is to assemble a small comando team, and go in, guns blazing.

    After rescuing the away team, the player recoginzes that their leader is a noted hig-ranking member of Tal Shiar, involved in a Hobus incident. Now, he needs to work with that person whom he disgusts, and go against everything that he believed, and make crimes against innocents (as technically Federation is trespassing on the planet) to save the Federation, and the Alliance.

    Also, I would start the mission by transferring on a Romulan ship (as it can cloak), as the hostile race has an advanced technology, and has ships able for a interplanetary travel. Also, coming by Romulan ship, and having Romulan in away team, may provide for interesting dialogues and decisions once we liberate Tal Shiar guy :P

    What do you think...anyone willing to lose hours in making this possible :)

    I apologize for shameful quoting, but is anyone interested in this one? ;)
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    zionus0 wrote: »
    I use low graphics settings and I don't recall adding a asteroid field to be honest. I'll check that, also will be adding in another dialog option (a good idea thanks for that : tri-corder log for a short summary of each- no major spoilers [VERY difficult for the Guardians] when talking to the Guardian or Soreth in the Fire caves. In regards to that map I was thinking the Civilians would stay near the entrance with an assumed allied group- which would have been arriving during the Forest map- I had tried to do that but ran out of contacts.

    Guardians are the ancient inhabitants of Bajor- they've forgotten the name of their species and have spent several millenniums acting as well guardians of the entity that destroyed their people.

    You ask if the the civilians are being escorted to safety or if the Fire caves are bing attacked? The answer I'll have to give is both! Ground to ship communication is impossible as is transporting back up, presumably the Heralds can find the group easily (heck Bluegills may be able to detect foot steps?) , so tactically ground forces can't be effective until it is shut down and the Civilians can't be left alone. Therefore the only option is to bring them along for the ride and hope for the best.

    Mirror Universe Iconians: I did think of this- if they are evil in our universe then I was thinking they might be benevolent (good guys) in the MR, therefore in my story I've also taken the Romulans and not made them deceptive and scheming as in the Prime universe. They might even be getting help from the MR Iconians I'm not sure but that seems to be the only way they'd move the Vault. One of theirs might even be on Vanguard Station (the vault).


    Anything I particular stand out as needs tweaking? I have ADHD so I have trouble noticing that kind of thing. It's 3am so I'll fix that later today I guess.

    I noticed a few places where whatever word processor you were using put in the wrong word, or got it's grammar confused.

    • "Our forces are hold up in the temple" should be "our forces are holed up".
    • In the first conversation, M'tara should call your captain an "Insignificant gnat", which is the proper spelling of the insect species' name. Also, in your reply to her, the second 'i' should be capitalized.
    • In the second conversation, M'tara should say "to continue on like this - you are not even a worthy adversary. Bow down and serve us. "
    • Last conversation with the RDW Blood Hawk, "Alliance" is misspelled.

    The other major problem I noticed is that STO tends to be inconsistent with the scale of their models, so the Vault model is the size of Bajor itself, not one of its moons(the size it's stated to be in dialogue). If you want to keep the illusion of proper scaling, put it a little distance out, rather than right next to the transwarp gate.

    I thought I had ADHD myself for any number of years, so I understand how- interesting it can make things like foundry projects. Turns out, however, that what I had was a food coloring allergy.
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I've just published my mission for this anthology! It isn't the one I had planned on making, but the amount of bugs in the ESD map made my previously planned mission extremely difficult to make.

    So, instead, I joined forces with my brother (dunrana) and made a Klingon mission for this anthology.

    Title: [Ico] Fall of the Fek'lhri
    ST-HETGHYMMI
    Author: sm12905
    Faction: Klingon
    Level: 61+
    Est. Length: ~30 minutes

    Klingon Intelligence has located what they believe is an Iconian Gateway capable of reaching Fek'lhri space. You must join Task Force 72 as it finds and assaults what may be a critical Fek'lhri installation, hoping to deal this Servitor race a crippling blow before the Iconians can bring them into this war.

    hSlSTTi.png

    This is my first-ever Klingon mission, and I don't actually speak Klingon, so I hope I didn't misspell some of the text that badly:rolleyes:.

    This mission also serves to introduce the Calidin, an - interesting- minor species my brother wrote up a while ago. I'll post costume information if anyone is interested in using them in a mission.:)
  • starfarerthetastarfarertheta Member Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    csrr12905 wrote: »
    3qyKyWg.png

    Would it be alright if I give this all the bells and whistles of a glorious banner? :D I can post the finished result in this thread once I'm done.


    Speaking of banners, hey zionus0, when playing your mission I took a screenshot and then ended up making this:

    Flicker.png

    Out of the blue I know, and it seems that I may make a banner of each [Ico] mission that I play. Anyway, do you like?

    @ammianus - Having an Iconian war version of "In the Pale Moonlight" would certainly be interesting. I imagine it would require a skillfull author who also fancies those kinds of stories and therefore knows how to make them work. Unfortunately I am not that author, but I wanted you to know that your idea has not gone unread. :)
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Would it be alright if I give this all the bells and whistles of a glorious banner? :D I can post the finished result in this thread once I'm done.

    I would be honored!
  • starfarerthetastarfarertheta Member Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited May 2015
  • zionus0zionus0 Member Posts: 395 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Would it be alright if I give this all the bells and whistles of a glorious banner? :D I can post the finished result in this thread once I'm done.


    Speaking of banners, hey zionus0, when playing your mission I took a screenshot and then ended up making this:

    Flicker.png

    Out of the blue I know, and it seems that I may make a banner of each [Ico] mission that I play. Anyway, do you like?

    @ammianus - Having an Iconian war version of "In the Pale Moonlight" would certainly be interesting. I imagine it would require a skillfull author who also fancies those kinds of stories and therefore knows how to make them work. Unfortunately I am not that author, but I wanted you to know that your idea has not gone unread. :)

    Wow, I'm honored you'd take the time to do that. It looks great! ;) Thank you, this is far nicer than what I could have done.

    I hope the recent reedit I did is enough to make it more of a stand alone status. Tri-corder logs on the MR Romulans, and Guardians are now in T'vlaks fire caves speech. It was not easy to write them without major spoilers for my other published missions let me tell you.
    Why do I still play and put money into STO?
    The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    FoF.png

    Woah! That is EPIC!

    Thank you!
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    FoF.png
    Nice :D

    One minor nitpick... Fek'lhri, not Fek'ihri.

    Oh well. Yes it's probably CSrr;s fault.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
  • starfarerthetastarfarertheta Member Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    FoF.png

    I wouldn't blame csrr, Fek'lhri is a tricky word.
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Nice :D

    One minor nitpick... Fek'lhri, not Fek'ihri.

    Oh well. Yes it's probably CSrr;s fault.


    Oh. dear.

    I only have roughly a hundred lines in that mission that include the name "Fek'lhri"- it's going to take me a few days to track down and change every one.

    Thanks for noticing, though(And to be fair, in the font the foundry uses for NPC groups, it really,really looks like it's spelled 'Fek'ihri'). :o
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Erm... It seems that sometimes Cryptic spells it both ways.... Although Fek'lhri seems to be the right spelling.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
  • drogyn1701drogyn1701 Member Posts: 3,606 Media Corps
    edited May 2015
    It's derived from Fek'lhr (with a lower-case L) the Klingon sort-of-maybe equivalent of the devil that Ardra changed into in the TNG episode Devil's Due.
    The Foundry Roundtable live Saturdays at 7:30PM EST/4:30PM PST on twitch.tv/thefoundryroundtable
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Erm... It seems that sometimes Cryptic spells it both ways.... Although Fek'lhri seems to be the right spelling.

    Upon further research I found that it's actually "Fek'Ihri". (The in-game font doesn't have serifs on the 'I', so it looks like "Fek'lhri" there, hence much of the confusion.) The race is actually mentioned by name by Worf in DS9 "The Sword of Kahless", and pronounced consistently with a spelling of "Fek'Ihri".
  • antman9173antman9173 Member Posts: 41 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I got to play C at C today and I just have a few notes. First, I actually liked the fact that it was my ship that got bored and that my crew had names. It gave a better sense of closeness kinda like the tv shows like voyager and TNG where Janeway and Picard went around and new everyone. The only other big thing is when you are on the final map and talk to the two caithian (caithurs?) When their dialogue completes they disappear right in front of u and the one cait beams back in which really threw off th immersion. My suggestion would be to have them do it when you talk to the A'graan that way the player's camera isn't facing them and won't see the switch. :) Hope that helps! Great mission!
  • sfc#5932 sfc Member Posts: 992 Bug Hunter
    edited May 2015
    https://twitter.com/TLO_SFC3/status/602205937810681856

    Requesting Intelligence ship names, any name at all.
  • artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    edited May 2015
    https://twitter.com/TLO_SFC3/status/602205937810681856

    Requesting Intelligence ship names, any name at all.

    Prometheus - god of wisdom and trickery.

    Minerva, Athena gods of wisdom and war.

    Bond, James Bond - god of spies.
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

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    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

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  • dragonsbrethrendragonsbrethren Member Posts: 1,854 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I just skimmed the thread and wanted to chime in:
    drogyn1701 wrote: »
    Not having played your mission yet, I couldn't comment on the mechanic you tried. But I would say that there is definitely room to have shorter, less story-based missions in this anthology, but what we'd need to make that work is to have more of them.

    I think including shorter missions in this project is a great idea. I'm actually working on something patrol-style right now. It will definitely be a short, story-light mission. I'm debating if I want to do a ground section or not, but right now it's following the "kill 5 waves" format used by most Cryptic's patrols, with a few (currently unwritten) dialogues explaining the situation in between.
  • drogyn1701drogyn1701 Member Posts: 3,606 Media Corps
    edited May 2015
    So I've been making progress on [Ico] Under Grey Skies. Here are a couple screenshots.

    The partially built outpost where most of the action takes place.

    OjD8oiS.jpg

    And a little teaser from the ending.

    RcJXrvZ.jpg

    And lastly this is a little jumpsuit color scheme I came up with for the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. If anyone wants to use, the main color is H8.

    ncYQVdc.jpg
    The Foundry Roundtable live Saturdays at 7:30PM EST/4:30PM PST on twitch.tv/thefoundryroundtable
  • thay8472thay8472 Member Posts: 6,164 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Victory comes at a cost?
    zx2t8tuj4i10.png
    Thank you for the Typhoon!
  • drogyn1701drogyn1701 Member Posts: 3,606 Media Corps
    edited May 2015
    Who said anything about victory?
    The Foundry Roundtable live Saturdays at 7:30PM EST/4:30PM PST on twitch.tv/thefoundryroundtable
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    drogyn1701 wrote: »
    And a little teaser from the ending.

    RcJXrvZ.jpg

    As it turns out I have a similar ESD mass-memorial scene planned for the end of "Ghost's Gambit" (I might do it as a "post-credits" scene). In my case it's for all the redshirts whose corpses will be seen strewn about Spacedock as the player fights his/her way through it. (No screenshots of that yet; I haven't added the bodies or many other details to those maps yet.) The memorial will also take on a somewhat different tone due to the surprise twist I have planned for the end - and believe me, it's a doozy. (Hint: The map title I have planned for the memorial scene is "REDACTED Lied, People Died".)
  • theyredeadjimtheyredeadjim Member Posts: 243 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    https://twitter.com/TLO_SFC3/status/602205937810681856

    Requesting Intelligence ship names, any name at all.

    My two cents:

    U.S.S. Turing, for reasons found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing


    U.S.S. Stephenson, for reasons found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stephenson

    Cheers!
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    drogyn1701 wrote: »
    So I've been making progress on [Ico] Under Grey Skies. Here are a couple screenshots.

    The partially built outpost where most of the action takes place.

    OjD8oiS.jpg

    And a little teaser from the ending.

    RcJXrvZ.jpg

    And lastly this is a little jumpsuit color scheme I came up with for the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. If anyone wants to use, the main color is H8.

    ncYQVdc.jpg

    That looks AWESOME!
  • guljarolguljarol Member Posts: 980 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I am not a foundry author (at least, not yet ;)), so I can't contribute, but I wanted to thank you, guys, for this project. I ran a few missions, and will keep an eye on the new ones as they become available. I enjoyed the missions so far. Finally, it feels like we're at war!

    I also appreciate that some missions are "Rom-safe" :)
  • zionus0zionus0 Member Posts: 395 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Hello again,
    I'm wondering how do we post to the Tropes page? I've been trying to figure out how to post a mission folder for Glimmer of Hope.

    While on that topic: I'd like to thank anyone who reads this that has reviewed it. It's now my most reviewed mission. Thanks!
    Why do I still play and put money into STO?
    The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
  • sirboulevardsirboulevard Member Posts: 722 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    zionus0 wrote: »
    Hello again,
    I'm wondering how do we post to the Tropes page? I've been trying to figure out how to post a mission folder for Glimmer of Hope.

    While on that topic: I'd like to thank anyone who reads this that has reviewed it. It's now my most reviewed mission. Thanks!

    First, you need to make an account over there (editing is locked to anons since the pages are moderated).

    Adding a folder is as easy as

    [Folder:<name>] [/Folder]
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
  • theyredeadjimtheyredeadjim Member Posts: 243 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I'm currently (slowly) working on mission involving a cult that follows/worships the Iconians and attacks the Federation from within. I'm using "Children of the Spheres" as the working name for the cult, but I'm open to any suggestions.

    While the mission I'm working on is a Federation mission, there's no reason why the group couldn't be expanded to the other factions as well.

    Every war needs some 5th column action :P
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