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Iconian War Anthology discussion thread

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  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 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

    Seems like an interesting idea. Though, I should point out, the Iconians have been attacking the Alpha and Beta quadrants from the inside for YEARS now.

    Idea: Do the Iconians approve of this group, or do they think it's actually messing up their carefully-made plans?
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Over on the in-progress screenshots thread, I've posted the first image from "Ghost's Gambit". starfarertheta, if you'd like to make a poster of it, have at it. :)
  • starfarerthetastarfarertheta Member Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited June 2015
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    UWDR0DuIZwxf2D_ZN7fZqwlZX3Q42wtjFL520UtUsd4=w1025-h576-no

    Thank you, starfarertheta.

    As I type this, I am now currently publishing a "rough cut" of "Ghost's Gambit" for live playtesting. The usual caveats apply:
    • You must be a reviewer in order to have access to this mission (because, obviously, it doesn't have five ratings yet).
    • Some details (object placement, dialogue) are still not quite finished.
    • Some mobs (particularly Heralds) aren't behaving as intended - or in some cases, even showing up at all - in Preview mode, so they may or may not behave as intended in the published mission.
    • Please PM the author in-game with any major issues, rather than in review comments.
    • Last, but not least: Don't playtest this mission unless you don't mind being spoiled with its surprise twist ending.
  • sirboulevardsirboulevard Member Posts: 722 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Thank you, starfarertheta.

    As I type this, I am now currently publishing a "rough cut" of "Ghost's Gambit" for live playtesting. The usual caveats apply:
    • You must be a reviewer in order to have access to this mission (because, obviously, it doesn't have five ratings yet).
    • Some details (object placement, dialogue) are still not quite finished.
    • Some mobs (particularly Heralds) aren't behaving as intended - or in some cases, even showing up at all - in Preview mode, so they may or may not behave as intended in the published mission.
    • Please PM the author in-game with any major issues, rather than in review comments.
    • Last, but not least: Don't playtest this mission unless you don't mind being spoiled with its surprise twist ending.

    I think I know why some of your heralds aren't showing up. ALL the heralds in Club 47 are set in an objective set AFTER the Devidians, preventing progression. Instead of the "watch battle phase" which is just irritating as a player (I want to fight the battle, not observer), make it a "fight devidians and Heralds combined objective.

    Second, no Starfleet/RR support on the ground is terrible. I'm serious. We need some friendly NPC help AND Quinn abandoning ESD for an underground shelter? C'mon, thats not what would happen. It would be like the US Military abandoning DC.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    I think I know why some of your heralds aren't showing up. ALL the heralds in Club 47 are set in an objective set AFTER the Devidians, preventing progression. Instead of the "watch battle phase" which is just irritating as a player (I want to fight the battle, not observer), make it a "fight devidians and Heralds combined objective.

    But I have both sides set to spawn Immediately, not on Objective In Progress. By the time the player gets to Club 47 both sides *should* not only have already spawned, but *should* already be going at it. That's what the design of that sequence hinges on. If it's not working like that I'm not surprised the rest of the map is broken.

    FWIW, I do have a "fight Heralds" objective - which is presently set to begin immediately after the Devidians are wiped out. The idea is to let the two sides destroy each other and then defeat whoever survives (which will pretty much always be the Heralds; they'd have to be outnumbered pretty significantly in order to balance the fight). I suppose I could make the two objectives concurrent so that the player can jump right into the battle (and so that both sides will actually spawn at the same time); the problem there is that the player is likely to die many, many times, and when that happens I usually get lots of complaints that the battle is too hard.
    Second, no Starfleet/RR support on the ground is terrible. I'm serious. We need some friendly NPC help AND Quinn abandoning ESD for an underground shelter? C'mon, thats not what would happen. It would be like the US Military abandoning DC.

    What, you didn't notice all the corpses I had strewn about the place? (Or are they not showing up either?) That's your ground support, or rather, it was, before the Heralds and/or Devidians got through them while you were busy blowing away their fleet.

    Now, in Quinn's dialogue he talks about sending MACOs to retake the lower levels of ESD (that's where the Heralds are while you're busy clearing out Devidians), but until now I didn't really have a use for them in the mission itself. Maybe I could stick some into the Club 47 battle (per the comments above) to thin the two herds a bit for the player.

    In any case, ESD is neither Starfleet HQ (that's in San Francisco) nor the seat of the Fed gov't (Paris). It's more akin to some random military base than DC. As the dialogue stands now, Quinn is in a bunker beneath HQ - though I could change this to say he's fallen back to HQ proper, since the planetside invasion that was feared never actually occurred.

    All of the above, in a nutshell, is why pre-release playtesting is a good thing. (And from the sound of it you didn't even get to my killer twist ending yet, which is even better!)
  • sirboulevardsirboulevard Member Posts: 722 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    But I have both sides set to spawn Immediately, not on Objective In Progress. By the time the player gets to Club 47 both sides *should* not only have already spawned, but *should* already be going at it. That's what the design of that sequence hinges on. If it's not working like that I'm not surprised the rest of the map is broken.

    FWIW, I do have a "fight Heralds" objective - which is presently set to begin immediately after the Devidians are wiped out. The idea is to let the two sides destroy each other and then defeat whoever survives (which will pretty much always be the Heralds; they'd have to be outnumbered pretty significantly in order to balance the fight). I suppose I could make the two objectives concurrent so that the player can jump right into the battle; the problem there is that the player is likely to die many, many times, and when that happens I usually get lots of complaints that the battle is too hard.

    Foundry doesnt accept that. If they are part of a kill objective, they will ONLY spawn with that kill objective.

    What, you didn't notice all the corpses I had strewn about the place? (Or are they not showing up either?) That's your ground support, or rather, it was, before the Heralds and/or Devidians got through them while you were busy blowing away their fleet.

    Now, in Quinn's dialogue he talks about sending MACOs to retake the lower levels of ESD (that's where the Heralds are while you're busy fighting Devidians), but until now I didn't really have a use for them in the mission itself. Maybe I could stick some into the Club 47 battle (per the comments above) to thin the herd a bit for the player.

    In any case, ESD is neither Starfleet HQ (that's in San Francisco) nor the seat of the Fed gov't (Paris). It's more akin to some random military base than DC. As the dialogue stands now, Quinn is in a bunker beneath HQ - though I could change this to say he's fallen back to HQ proper, since the planetside invasion that was feared never actually occurred.

    All of the above, in a nutshell, is why pre-release playtesting is a good thing. (And from the sound of it you didn't even get to my killer twist ending yet, which is even better!)

    Thats precisely the issue - no one is left at all to defend the upper levels complete with control center of ESD? Remember - our Operations area is basically the Bridge of ESD. At least Captain Sulu should be there with a team of (alive) redshirts or MACOs.

    My advice is to add some friendly assistance in that battle sequence in Club 47 (handwave it as reinforcements from the player's ship beaming in).
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    My advice is to add some friendly assistance in that battle sequence in Club 47 (handwave it as reinforcements from the player's ship beaming in).

    As I mentioned, I could also add MACOs for this purpose.

    In any case, it will surprise no one to learn that I have taken down "Ghost's Gambit" until further notice while I redesign the Club 47 battle (and rewrite related dialogue, or in some cases write it in the first place).
  • realmalizerealmalize Member Posts: 192 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Newly pub'd mission "About Alice" by myself (malize in game) is Iconian related
    foundry_banner1.png
  • rogue6800rogue6800 Member Posts: 213 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    In my limited time, I have been developing a mission called "Task Force Unity" that is the start of a series of missions regarding a fleet put together, comprised of various races in the close-by Alpha and Beta quadrants.

    If you would like to check out what I have so far:

    Name: Pathing test for [Ico]
    ID: ST-HI83L8EOB
    Allegiance: Feds
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    "Ghost's Gambit" is now back up, with the final map now in a considerably more polished state.
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    "Ghost's Gambit" is now back up, with the final map now in a considerably more polished state.

    Ok, I just played through [Ico] Ghost's Gambit, so I thought I'd write up my thoughts. Hopefully, this review is coherent, because I threw my back out yesterday, and I have more Ibuprofen in my system than should really be there. :o

    First off, I loved this mission. The puzzles with the Phase Discriminators were epic fun (I managed to hack some of them even after I failed the range puzzle, just by having my bridge officers fight them off! It was a realy nice change from the usual "shoot-it-until-it-dies"!).:cool:

    The whole piece felt like I was honestly fighting off a Herald task force, Devidian extras and all.
    I got the impression from this mission that these actions were perhaps by a minor Iconian, who, while he had the forces to make a attack on ESD, didn't have enough Heralds to hold it against an counterattack, and was therefore forced into using the Devidians for cannon fodder.

    I would make a two little changes, though.

    First of all, when the All-Clear was sent, there should have been a WAVE of Starfleet personnel headed back to ESD, starting with Starfleet Security squads, and ESD's damage control parties. I would throw in some Starfleet Security squads patrolling the area and Damage Control personnel assessing damage and trying to remove the devices (assuming, of course, you have the asset budget to do that).

    The other thing, minor though it is, is that the casualties would be a lot more than 47. There would be some personnel lost when the Heralds first boarded, and more in the confusion of the evacuation, and some would be missing.
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    csrr12905 wrote: »
    First of all, when the All-Clear was sent, there should have been a WAVE of Starfleet personnel headed back to ESD, starting with Starfleet Security squads, and ESD's damage control parties. I would throw in some Starfleet Security squads patrolling the area and Damage Control personnel assessing damage and trying to remove the devices (assuming, of course, you have the asset budget to do that).

    Unfortunately I maxed out mobs in the Club 47 battle, and contacts with all the dead corpses strewn about, so adding more mobs of relief personnel at the end really isn't an option.
    csrr12905 wrote: »
    The other thing, minor though it is, is that the casualties would be a lot more than 47. There would be some personnel lost when the Heralds first boarded, and more in the confusion of the evacuation, and some would be missing.

    OK, maybe I'll bump the death toll up to 347. :)
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    rogue6800 wrote: »
    In my limited time, I have been developing a mission called "Task Force Unity" that is the start of a series of missions regarding a fleet put together, comprised of various races in the close-by Alpha and Beta quadrants.

    If you would like to check out what I have so far:

    Name: Pathing test for [Ico]
    ID: ST-HI83L8EOB
    Allegiance: Feds


    I just played through "Pathing test for [Ico]". I must say, it felt like a really interesting start to a really interesting mission! It honestly felt like the beginning of a Featured Episode.

    I did notice a few things, some of which are obvious errors, others of which are more matters of taste, and some are just me being picky about grammar. Please don't be mad at me about this review? (Also, as I stated in my last post, this review is written with my system full of Ibuprofin, which can have a funny effect on me, so I hope it is coherent.)

    First of all, I like to make the first map transition read Begin "Name of Mission" It's not as immersive, but it lets the player be certain of which foundry mission they're beginning (or, in this case, that they're actually beginning a foundry mission and not seeing the ESD approach option from Worf 359 by mistake).

    Also, the second panel of text in the discussion with Admiral Quinn should read "a group from the Federation Diplomatic Corps " Minor terminology thing, but the incorrect plurals really hurt a story for me, for some reason. (And capitalize "I" in the reply!)

    In the starbase section, the 'aproach the starbase' place marker needs to be smaller, as it forced me to go back out and re-approach the starbase after hailing the Capitol. Also, Caitian was misspelled (I think).

    Also, I would suggest changing the mission text to something along the lines of "Go to the Beytan system, in the Beta Quadrant", and, again, change the map transition text to 'Continue [Name of Mission] '.

    Talking with Ambassador Sugihara, I noticed that in the Nausican section it should be 'overlook' instead of 'look over', and Starfleet is misspelled. Also, actively was misspelled in the Bolians section.

    The pathing didn't work at all for me (the first time, she turned and walked out the starbase window, the second time she walked down the hallway, turned right down the next hallway, stopped at a door, then turned and walked back to her starting point). I find it's generally better to write around the Foundry pathing, rather than deal with it- for example, have someone direct you to Haraman, who is already at her office, and then have a short dialogue pop up when you start talking to Ambassador Sugihara, along the lines of "Oh, the opening speech starts in fifteen minutes! I still need to double-check my notes! You can find your way to the conference room, I trust?". Need for pathing eliminated!

    On a much more debatable point, neat as it is to see species like the Telarites, Trill, Vulcans, Bolians, and Andorians at the conference, these species are major members of the Fedration. They would be contributing everything they could spare to Starfleet's efforts, and not really have any "extra" forces to contribute.

    (If I remember correctly, the Undine mission set at Andoria stated that, while the Andorians do have a handful of ships reserved for defense of their system, that is the sole purpose of those ships, and they aren't likely to be sending them anywhere out-of-system)

    I'd more expect such species as the Suban, Acamarians, and Xindi to be attending- minor species of Federation/Klingon Empire, or living in Federation/Klingon Empire space, but with militaries and ships of their own to use in the fight.

    Anyway, those are my thoughts. I can't wait to play though the whole mission!
  • rogue6800rogue6800 Member Posts: 213 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Thankyou for your review. I will be going through and correcting spelling and grammar, I just wanted to get to rough edges of the story put together. As for the pathing, you may be right, I will have to write around, because I published to see if Harriman continued to walk out of the window, evidently my patrol attempts have failed. As for the Andorians, I will substitute them for the Xindi (good idea :) )

    I have been studying the style of speech each character uses to make the missions feel as "Cryptic" as possible. The same goes for mission text and out of character text.

    You comment about the Bolians and other species, is valid, but I have a plan to cover that. I will reduce the Federation species to make it more believable. The reason I wanted to have those groups is because we haven't heard much by way of them (independent of Starfleet, that is).

    I hope to have an updated version out by the end of the week.
  • csrr12905csrr12905 Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    rogue6800 wrote: »
    Thankyou for your review. I will be going through and correcting spelling and grammar, I just wanted to get to rough edges of the story put together. As for the pathing, you may be right, I will have to write around, because I published to see if Harriman continued to walk out of the window, evidently my patrol attempts have failed. As for the Andorians, I will substitute them for the Xindi (good idea :) )

    I have been studying the style of speech each character uses to make the missions feel as "Cryptic" as possible. The same goes for mission text and out of character text.

    You comment about the Bolians and other species, is valid, but I have a plan to cover that. I will reduce the Federation species to make it more believable. The reason I wanted to have those groups is because we haven't heard much by way of them (independent of Starfleet, that is).

    I hope to have an updated version out by the end of the week.

    I can't wait to play through it!
  • zionus0zionus0 Member Posts: 395 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Hello people
    I was wondering for the purposes of the Anthology (And my next mission) if we are considering the Tal Shair as servitors? I think I recall Sela saying they served the Iconians in uneasy allies.
    Why do I still play and put money into STO?
    The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
  • drogyn1701drogyn1701 Member Posts: 3,606 Media Corps
    edited June 2015
    It can certainly be spun that way. My impression though is that there isn't much of the Tal Shiar left, and the Imperial Military is behind Sela against the Iconians.
    The Foundry Roundtable live Saturdays at 7:30PM EST/4:30PM PST on twitch.tv/thefoundryroundtable
  • thay8472thay8472 Member Posts: 6,164 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    "Ghost's Gambit" is now back up, with the final map now in a considerably more polished state.

    + 1 I like it. Maco's got squished but the Devidians tore the Heralds up. :O
    zx2t8tuj4i10.png
    Thank you for the Typhoon!
  • starfarerthetastarfarertheta Member Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited June 2015
  • thay8472thay8472 Member Posts: 6,164 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    A new banner! :D

    JKLgAFj1nSXJ27H_Vhu1NBoFlilFTbQzN9E4lak4ATw=w1000-h500-no

    That's good. I like that.
    zx2t8tuj4i10.png
    Thank you for the Typhoon!
  • starfarerthetastarfarertheta Member Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    @thay8472: Thanks!

    And thanks to anyone who has complimented the banners I've made for this project. I've enjoyed making them. I've been meaning to say that. :)



    Alright, I’ve decided to add two more entries to the anthology. Hopefully they'll be done by the end of this month.


    [Ico] Gekli Rising - FED

    Something big is happening. Dr. Elena has spotted a large scale Gekli meeting in the Briar Patch, and she has requested your help in determining their intentions. Are they joining the war? If so, will they join as part of the resistance? Or as servitors of the Iconians...


    [Ico] Gekli Supremacy - KDF

    A traitor stole Imperial Fleet weaponry to sell onto the black market, marking him for Klingon retribution. But the hunt for this enemy of the empire leads you to, of all things, a Gekli horde...
  • zionus0zionus0 Member Posts: 395 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    A new banner! :D

    JKLgAFj1nSXJ27H_Vhu1NBoFlilFTbQzN9E4lak4ATw=w1000-h500-no

    AWESOME! This should be made an official background.

    Is that one of my Romulan star Union, Valor class ships I see there at the bottom?

    I have a question are we allowed to enter multiple missions to the anthology? I have a script in the works for a sequel to my last entry.
    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 June 2015
    A new banner! :D

    JKLgAFj1nSXJ27H_Vhu1NBoFlilFTbQzN9E4lak4ATw=w1000-h500-no


    That is epic!

    Off the subject, but when playing through "House Pegh", did anyone else wander off to the right doing the fight between Kahless and the Iconian, and find the console there? It's interesting.
  • paxfederaticapaxfederatica Member Posts: 1,496 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    I have found three new Fed missions with the [Ico] tag under the Review tab, that have not been mentioned here in this thread:

    "[Ico] Vital Systems" by admirison (door at Tellar Prime, Tellar Sector, Alpha Quadrant)

    "[Ico] Perils of Bilire" by patcrow (door at Afehirr Nebula, Gasko Sector, Beta Quadrant)
    The author has noted that you can use Risian floaters in this mission.

    "[Ico] Echos of the Dewans" by Admiral_Tade (does not specify a door, but description and initial dialogue suggest it is at New Romulus System, Azure Sector, Beta Quadrant)
    Actually designed for Fed-allied Romulan Republic characters.
  • guljarolguljarol Member Posts: 980 Arc User

    [Ico] Gekli Rising - FED

    Something big is happening. Dr. Elena has spotted a large scale Gekli meeting in the Briar Patch, and she has requested your help in determining their intentions. Are they joining the war? If so, will they join as part of the resistance? Or as servitors of the Iconians...


    [Ico] Gekli Supremacy - KDF

    A traitor stole Imperial Fleet weaponry to sell onto the black market, marking him for Klingon retribution. But the hunt for this enemy of the empire leads you to, of all things, a Gekli horde...

    Would those work also for Fed/KDF allied Roms?
    "[Ico] Echos of the Dewans" by Admiral_Tade (does not specify a door, but description and initial dialogue suggest it is at New Romulus System, Azure Sector, Beta Quadrant)
    Actually designed for Fed-allied Romulan Republic characters.

    I'll check that out too! :D
  • lordarathronlordarathron Member Posts: 249 Arc User
    I have a new mission to add to the list: "[ICO] A Secret Weapon" by @lordarathron is a FED mission. The mission revolves around the discovery of a strange artifact that could be used to turn the tide of battle with the Iconians. It has uncanny plot similarities to the new FE, albeit I started production before Time in a Bottle was even released :P
  • drogyn1701drogyn1701 Member Posts: 3,606 Media Corps
    edited June 2015
    All right folks, now that the forums are back I can finish what I had started right before they went down. Now that we've got a good library of missions up and more in progress, I've started to put together a master list. I want everyone to take a look.

    There is some missing info that I need your help to fill in. I need mission summaries for some, start locations for many, and everyone make sure I have their @handle correct. I've set it up so you can edit the document, but be on your best behavior :D

    Take a look here: LINK

    In addition, the Foundry Roundtable has started building a mission. We're only going to work on it during out livestreams. The basic plot is that you're going to go to great lengths to try and secure the assistance and resources of the Orion Syndicate for the war effort. I'm not sure if it'll go like In the Pale Moonlight, or be more of a comedy.

    The first build session is up here: LINK
    The Foundry Roundtable live Saturdays at 7:30PM EST/4:30PM PST on twitch.tv/thefoundryroundtable
  • zionus0zionus0 Member Posts: 395 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Does anyone happen to have the Sliders for Taris or know where I could get them?
    I'd like to have a recording of her or her alternate universe counterpart appear in [ICO] Stars of Wrath.
    Why do I still play and put money into STO?
    The Foundry, and my love of Star Trek
  • lordarathronlordarathron Member Posts: 249 Arc User
    A Secret Weapon starts at the Kern System in the Beta Quadrant.
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