Is it just me, or does Doctor Harza-Kull seem a lot like The Doctor from Voyager?
I'm guessing we weren't dealing with a Klingon. I don't know what kind of tone a Lethean, a Ferasan or even a Nausicaan would hit in a situation like that, sooo... my guess: Orion (or an Alien if we look at all the angles ^^).
"Ad astra audacter eamus in alis fidelium."
-
"To boldly go to the stars on the wings of the faithful."
Is it just me, or does Doctor Harza-Kull seem a lot like The Doctor from Voyager?
I'm guessing we weren't dealing with a Klingon. I don't know what kind of tone a Lethean, a Ferasan or even a Nausicaan would hit in a situation like that, sooo... my guess: Orion (or an Alien if we look at all the angles ^^).
Harza-Kull is an Orion. But considering he only has an actual speaking role in "Day of Honor", which they didn't run this year because they were too busy deciding how to mimic VOY by turning their major story arc into a bad joke, I can see how folks might not have recognized him.
To everyone who voted for VOY when they were deciding which show to use as the basis of expansion #2: You have only yourselves to blame. DS9 FOREVER!
I'm don't remember why exactly they skipped First Contact Day / Republic Day / Day of Honor this year, but I don't think that was the reason.
Not about to start a flame war over which series is better. I like both VOY and DS9
As for why I didn't recognize the guy: I don't play the KDF side. Never met him, never seen him, never cared. I have my own respect for the KDF but they aren't my style.
At least my guess was spot on >.<
"Ad astra audacter eamus in alis fidelium."
-
"To boldly go to the stars on the wings of the faithful."
Wouldn't it simply be better to actually hire a writer to write these "Tales" as opposed to just using the best speller and typist you have on hand? Writing in dialog is disappointing. Where's the scene? Where's the mood? Where's the exposition? As a creative writing assignment this one wouldn't get a passing grade.
Here, let me show you:
A ruptured plasma conduit ignited further down the bulkhead throwing a burst of sparks and fire into the darkness. The Bortasqu's emergency power faltered briefly before the rusty crimson glow of the deck lighting returned. A thin layer of heavy, acrid smoke clung tightly to the ceiling, slowly snaking its way along the corridor. The usual smell of sweat and duranium-reinforced tritanium bulkhead lost out to the blistering sting of burnt insulation and plasma seepage. The emergency ventilation wheezed tiredly, spewing a bitter cloud of blue smoke like a Maravel dragon's morning yawn. A wave of hot air followed closely behind, scattering the slithering clouds directly toward the frantic and panicked movements in the medical bay.
I really like your version of setting the scene. I completely agree that the writer should do more to set the stage, to better immerse us in this environment.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] Boldly going where no one has gone before!
“Nurse Ch’droth, pass me the osteogenic stimulator,” said Doctor Harza-Kull, elbow deep in microsurgery. The war had taken its toll on even the strongest of Warriors.
Yet another glorious battle of the Blog War. Yawn.
You guys just don't learn, do you?
Blog War? Yawn? LOL! That about sums it up alright.
As for how stupid the Klingons are, The story writing is downright disgusting. Not only in a mediocre storyline, but also on the insistence of reinforcing how stupid the writers want to make the Klingons out to be. Not in all the shows that I've seen have the Klingons been written as being so stupid. With intelligence as low as the game suggests, I'm surprised they made ships capable of leaving their own world, let alone conquering others.
First, the Klingons didn't gain interstellar travel on their own; as previously mentioned, they stole it from the Hur'q. And secondly, we need only look to Gowron's idiocy in the Dominion War for an example of stupidity equal to J'mpok both on politics and tactics.
Normally I love DS9 but in this case (and the Mirror Universe), I think we really must fault their writers, not Cryptic's. (TNG's too, but the most egregious "Klingon moron" examples come from DS9.) Cryptic is just following established precedent. Had the Undiscovered Country/Klingon Academy precedent been followed post-TOS instead of the TNG/DS9/Microbrain one, then there might actually be canon material to justify more intelligent Klingons.
(Though as an aside, the greatest loss Klingon-wise in canon is that John M. Ford's material was never adopted as standard. It cannot be understated, how badly the Klingons need some Thought Admirals.)
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
“Nurse Ch’droth, pass me the osteogenic stimulator,” said Doctor Harza-Kull, elbow deep in microsurgery. The war had taken its toll on even the strongest of Warriors.
Yet another glorious battle of the Blog War. Yawn.
You guys just don't learn, do you?
Blog War? Yawn? LOL! That about sums it up alright.
As for how stupid the Klingons are, The story writing is downright disgusting. Not only in a mediocre storyline, but also on the insistence of reinforcing how stupid the writers want to make the Klingons out to be. Not in all the shows that I've seen have the Klingons been written as being so stupid. With intelligence as low as the game suggests, I'm surprised they made ships capable of leaving their own world, let alone conquering others.
First, the Klingons didn't gain interstellar travel on their own; as previously mentioned, they stole it from the Hur'q. And secondly, we need only look to Gowron's idiocy in the Dominion War for an example of stupidity equal to J'mpok both on politics and tactics.
Normally I love DS9 but in this case (and the Mirror Universe), I think we really must fault their writers, not Cryptic's. (TNG's too, but the most egregious "Klingon moron" examples come from DS9.) Cryptic is just following established precedent. Had the Undiscovered Country/Klingon Academy precedent been followed post-TOS instead of the TNG/DS9/Microbrain one, then there might actually be canon material to justify more intelligent Klingons.
(Though as an aside, the greatest loss Klingon-wise in canon is that John M. Ford's material was never adopted as standard. It cannot be understated, how badly the Klingons need some Thought Admirals.)
Lot of similarities between J'mpok and Gowron, now that you mention it. Both of them politicians with a chancellorship of questionable legitimacy who picked unnecessary fights to cement their political positions and made things worse for the whole region.
Lot of similarities between J'mpok and Gowron, now that you mention it. Both of them politicians with a chancellorship of questionable legitimacy who picked unnecessary fights to cement their political positions and made things worse for the whole region.
Plus, both tried to have Martok killed. And one succeeded under shady circumstances... and that's unforgivable!
“Nurse Ch’droth, pass me the osteogenic stimulator,” said Doctor Harza-Kull, elbow deep in microsurgery. The war had taken its toll on even the strongest of Warriors.
Yet another glorious battle of the Blog War. Yawn.
You guys just don't learn, do you?
Blog War? Yawn? LOL! That about sums it up alright.
As for how stupid the Klingons are, The story writing is downright disgusting. Not only in a mediocre storyline, but also on the insistence of reinforcing how stupid the writers want to make the Klingons out to be. Not in all the shows that I've seen have the Klingons been written as being so stupid. With intelligence as low as the game suggests, I'm surprised they made ships capable of leaving their own world, let alone conquering others.
First, the Klingons didn't gain interstellar travel on their own; as previously mentioned, they stole it from the Hur'q. And secondly, we need only look to Gowron's idiocy in the Dominion War for an example of stupidity equal to J'mpok both on politics and tactics.
Normally I love DS9 but in this case (and the Mirror Universe), I think we really must fault their writers, not Cryptic's. (TNG's too, but the most egregious "Klingon moron" examples come from DS9.) Cryptic is just following established precedent. Had the Undiscovered Country/Klingon Academy precedent been followed post-TOS instead of the TNG/DS9/Microbrain one, then there might actually be canon material to justify more intelligent Klingons.
(Though as an aside, the greatest loss Klingon-wise in canon is that John M. Ford's material was never adopted as standard. It cannot be understated, how badly the Klingons need some Thought Admirals.)
Lot of similarities between J'mpok and Gowron, now that you mention it. Both of them politicians with a chancellorship of questionable legitimacy who picked unnecessary fights to cement their political positions and made things worse for the whole region.
Yep. And it wasn't just unnecessary fighting--they both got led by the nose by infiltrators. Gowron became a Founder lapdog, and J'mpok an Iconian pawn. J'mpok's error is even more unforgivable because even if someone tries to raise the claim that "Klingons shouldn't bow to Federation morals," the Klingons SHOULD be smart enough to at least recognize the actions an enemy might take in response to their behavior based on past precedent. They should know from the Folly of '72 what the cost to their credibility was (they cried wolf that time and helped give the Dominion a beachhead in the Alpha Quadrant), and that the Federation would not believe them if they repeated the same behavior pattern...claims of infiltrators plus blatant territorial expansion.
They can hate the Feds' beliefs and actions all they want, but if they fail to recognize that certain types of aggression will make the Federation stop listening to anything they have to say and just SNAP on them (regardless of all claims they make that they're pacifist), and that said retribution from the Federation is dangerous enough to flat-out destabilize the quadrant against the greater enemy, then that is absolutely stupid. That's not even a moral issue. That's just a self-destructive strategic error, plain and simple. The Feds do NOT listen forever, in the era beginning with the Dominion War. This isn't Picard's Federation. Push them far enough and they DO retaliate violently, and with the kind of military might and trained, combat-experienced leaders that they did NOT have in the Dominion War era, that is shockingly dangerous compared to doing so during the run of the TV shows.
(And you can see why I like Cardassians better: they're not without error, by any means, but aside from Dukat, who was mentally unstable, they do tend to know when to cut their losses and when certain battles shouldn't been picked.)
But yeah, those similarities are why I consider Cryptic to mostly NOT be at fault for the "Klingon moron" meme. Unless they were to have made a deliberate decision to raise a Gorkon-level statesman to rule the Empire (and I am not sure what incentive they have not to go with the most recent material), which would be surprising, I don't see why the Klingon storyline is that unexpected. Yes, it is perhaps even more exaggerated than the show, but it does project off of an existing trend.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Sounds like all the faction's flagships are taking a real beating. Sounds like they're going to need to spend some time at drydock undergoing a refit once the war is over. Perhaps... a Tier 6 refit?
Wondering if the dead KDF could simply be re-animated as Kobali and sent back to their KDF duty stations intact. No retraining would be required since, as illustrated by the Harry Kim/Keten zombie, er, Kobali, they seem to still keep their memories from a previous lifetime. They would be perpetually recycled to keep fighting for all eternity.
Keep the Tales of War coming. They are a fun read.
Jolan'tru... RRF Admiral Cybyl
Thus spake Admiral Cybyl: Alea iacta est. Ibis redibis,numquam per bello peribis. Ergo, per aspera ad astra!
But instead Cryptic seems to want to make the Iconian War what Berman and Braga tried to have happen to the Dominion War, which was to make the thing that the entire series so far had been building up to into a short, ultimately minor story arc wrapped up within five episodes. This was something that Ira Steven Behr and Ron Moore wisely ignored, which they got away with because B&B were busy running VOY into the ground at the time.
I actually heard (think it was either Bher or Moore who said, but not sure which )that DS9's problem was that, as being set in a stationary location, they wanted, and to some extent, needed DS9 to be a story arc series, whereas the others were on to something new each week. The problem was that the studio constantly fought them on this, and no more that 4 or 5 episodes were ever allowed run consecutively on the same story, hence wrapping the show up within the timeframe of a few episodes. I would have had it different too, but that how they ran it at the time.
There was considerable fear about a arcing Star Trek television show not working, which is probably why Voyager came out. DS9's ratings overall were considerably lower than TNG, TPTB attributed this to the fact that the show wasn't an episodic series, and started VOY hoping to recover. The problem was the changing landscape of TV at the time. TNG wasn't on air during that time, and thus never encountered the problem, but the higher-ups didn't understand that. DS9 and VOY both made it 7 seasons, but neither was as good as TNG. And I don't really know what they were doing with ENT. The three best would be TOS,TNG, and DS9. I wish DS9 went to movies, or that they would remaster it, but it's a tremendous amount of work for a series with constant VFX.
Wondering if the dead KDF could simply be re-animated as Kobali and sent back to their KDF duty stations intact. No retraining would be required since, as illustrated by the Harry Kim/Keten zombie, er, Kobali, they seem to still keep their memories from a previous lifetime. They would be perpetually recycled to keep fighting for all eternity.
Actually, it's explicitly stated in STO that Kobali typically do not remember their past lives. Ensigns Ballard and Kim are anomalies. And frankly that's a good thing for the Kobali, considering how many current Kobali were originally born as Vaadwaur.
“Nurse Ch’droth, pass me the osteogenic stimulator,” said Doctor Harza-Kull, elbow deep in microsurgery. The war had taken its toll on even the strongest of Warriors.
At first i read estrogen simulator and i thought, why do they need THAT... does anyone need to come into contact with his feminine side?
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
[SNIP]
The other suspicion I have is that the system of pacing the episode deployment throughout weekly/semi-weekly intervals actively inhibits the impact of the story and its urgency.
[SNIP]
[RANT]
Weekly or semi-weekly intervals would actually speed things up and improve it a lot. This MONTHLY deployment (requiring weekly replays of the SAME mission) is what drags things to a funereal pace.
There was a time when Featured Episodes were released weekly - and they centered around your character's actions. Look at the Devidian arc, or the Breen arc - these were written as a game for active Players, not as TV episodes for passive viewers. Yes, this is supposed to be Star Trek, but it's a different medium here.
Now the pace is slowed to 1/4 of that (and we're bribed to repeat and repeat and repeat by weekly rewards), because of an excessive and expensive dependency on voice acting instead of gameplay. The last episode that had Seven of Nine in it (for example) had her talking to two other NPCs, and she (and they) didn't even acknowledge you (the senior officer) when you walked in! Not one word was said by any of them to you, you were simply ignored and got to stand there with NO pretense of interactivity!
Games are supposed to be written for the PLAYER, not for the NPCs. WE are the ones supposedly starring in this game, but instead we're only listening to reams of interminable technobabble monologues from the guest stars. This is stunt casting, done so that the marketing people can say, "ooh, look, coming up next week, it's ONE OF THE STARS!!!!!!! See, that's Star Trek, right? Right?" That's a marketing suit's way of making it "more Star Trek-y", not a game designer's way.
I sincerely hope that starting with Season 11, that this sort of nonsense will stop, and that maybe we can have a GAME again, instead of an endless series of lectures followed by an NPC-mandated retreat.
[/RANT]
So, when are we going to see Voth, Undine, Borg Collective/cooperative, Vaadwaur, Cardassian and other delta alliance and coalition stories? it seems that only Klingons, Romulans and Feds are fighting this war instead of the whole galaxy.
We've seen almost everyone committed to the war, yet there are no Cardassian Ships helping, Voth are unheard of despite having a huge TRIBBLE armada capable of fighting klingons, romulans and feds at the same time, the undine, with an even larger armada and planet killers promised to help, still unheard of, Xindi? nowhere to be found, delta alliance? missing in action, Kobali? vaadwaur? Tholians? Breen? ...
Borg? they have enough firepower and ships to fight the heralds not to mention a transwarp network that can help even the odds against the iconian gates.
The Cardassians, of course, are described as having a relatively small CDF. They do have some ships and captains, and we did have that Cardassian captain cameo in Blood of the Ancients, but I'd expect what forces the Union has available after the True Way/New Link/Borg nearby/Mirror incursions to mostly serve a defensive role for their own worlds even if they are formally a part of the Alliance.
For the many players who feel that the Iconiar War arc has underwhelmed or even been a no-show, what in-game changes would have made it better, do you think? I am genuinely curious, not looking to start flame wars or take sides.
-Herald Red Alerts: Similar to either Borg or Tholian Red Alerts. I'm sure they could somehow lock this to either a certain level (level 60 for example), or have them unlocked upon starting the Iconian arc missions. Or you could just make the unlockable at level 50 alongside the other Red Alerts. Elachi Red Alerts also could have been possible.
-An Iconian War Adventure Zone: Something like the Dyson Sphere Adventure Zone, Kobali Zone, New Romulus, or Defera would have been nice for this war.
-Iconian War themed Duty Officer Assignments: This could have been an easy way to make the war more relevant. Sending your duty officers to the front lines, or having them assist refugees in missions could have really helped create a war element. There is actually a lot of ways you could make this interesting. You could send doffs on suicide missions, or put them on high risk missions to help with the war effort.
-Make the players actions matter: Remember in the Delta recruit event how they had weekly goals for the players to reach? What if they did that over the course of the summer to determine victories or defeats in the war? For example, successfully completing story missions, STFs, and other Iconian War themed content (like all of the stuff I mentioned above) would contribute to the war effort for that week. Completing the bar for a specific week or month could result in bonuses, and some sort of positive outcome in the overall war effort. Failing to complete this however would have adverse effects, like maybe something like increased Herald, and Elachi attacks, or tougher enemies appearing in specific content.
“Nurse Ch’droth, pass me the osteogenic stimulator,” said Doctor Harza-Kull, elbow deep in microsurgery. The war had taken its toll on even the strongest of Warriors.
Yet another glorious battle of the Blog War. Yawn.
You guys just don't learn, do you?
I have a solution for you if you don't like them. Don't read them. It's a simple concept, but one you don't seem to have considered. It would also save us from seeing you complain.
She didnt say she read it I for one have stopped reading them as they should be put in game what the write hear might make this whole war more entertaining than what it has been. So my anticipation for new dawn is low as I see it as being more of the same all the story will be blogs and not in game.
NO TO ARC
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I love these little posts, they certainly do tell the story, I agree that they should be put together as a readable, perhaps as a prize at the end of the war.
But again, I think a dev utilizing a little monster play as an Iconian, or a herald at ESD or Qo'nos would be unexpected and fun. You could throw a few prizes around too . Space, or ground - whatever. It would be fun AND bring the fight home as it were.
It's been done before (Dan Stahl's done it a few times) it's always fun when Cryptic finds time to play with the players.
Wouldn't it simply be better to actually hire a writer to write these "Tales" as opposed to just using the best speller and typist you have on hand? Writing in dialog is disappointing. Where's the scene? Where's the mood? Where's the exposition? As a creative writing assignment this one wouldn't get a passing grade.
Here, let me show you:
A ruptured plasma conduit ignited further down the bulkhead throwing a burst of sparks and fire into the darkness. The Bortasqu's emergency power faltered briefly before the rusty crimson glow of the deck lighting returned. A thin layer of heavy, acrid smoke clung tightly to the ceiling, slowly snaking its way along the corridor. The usual smell of sweat and duranium-reinforced tritanium bulkhead lost out to the blistering sting of burnt insulation and plasma seepage. The emergency ventilation wheezed tiredly, spewing a bitter cloud of blue smoke like a Maravel dragon's morning yawn. A wave of hot air followed closely behind, scattering the slithering clouds directly toward the frantic and panicked movements in the medical bay.
I think they're consciously trying to avoid engaging literary embellishment and the style of a novel or short story in favor of something closer to a film script. Novelistic writing turns off some people, obfuscates the flow of information, introduces a narrative slant/perspective, raises the required reading level, and can complicate translation from a cheap process into a more expensive and involved one, as the translators have to substitute a number of figures of speech and poetic/metaphoric language.
I think they're very deliberately keeping it simple and minimizing the use of flowery style. More Hemmingway, less Chandler.
Comments
I'm guessing we weren't dealing with a Klingon. I don't know what kind of tone a Lethean, a Ferasan or even a Nausicaan would hit in a situation like that, sooo... my guess: Orion (or an Alien if we look at all the angles ^^).
-
"To boldly go to the stars on the wings of the faithful."
Harza-Kull is an Orion. But considering he only has an actual speaking role in "Day of Honor", which they didn't run this year because they were too busy deciding how to mimic VOY by turning their major story arc into a bad joke, I can see how folks might not have recognized him.
To everyone who voted for VOY when they were deciding which show to use as the basis of expansion #2: You have only yourselves to blame. DS9 FOREVER!
Not about to start a flame war over which series is better. I like both VOY and DS9
As for why I didn't recognize the guy: I don't play the KDF side. Never met him, never seen him, never cared. I have my own respect for the KDF but they aren't my style.
At least my guess was spot on >.<
-
"To boldly go to the stars on the wings of the faithful."
I really like your version of setting the scene. I completely agree that the writer should do more to set the stage, to better immerse us in this environment.
Boldly going where no one has gone before!
First, the Klingons didn't gain interstellar travel on their own; as previously mentioned, they stole it from the Hur'q. And secondly, we need only look to Gowron's idiocy in the Dominion War for an example of stupidity equal to J'mpok both on politics and tactics.
Normally I love DS9 but in this case (and the Mirror Universe), I think we really must fault their writers, not Cryptic's. (TNG's too, but the most egregious "Klingon moron" examples come from DS9.) Cryptic is just following established precedent. Had the Undiscovered Country/Klingon Academy precedent been followed post-TOS instead of the TNG/DS9/Microbrain one, then there might actually be canon material to justify more intelligent Klingons.
(Though as an aside, the greatest loss Klingon-wise in canon is that John M. Ford's material was never adopted as standard. It cannot be understated, how badly the Klingons need some Thought Admirals.)
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Lot of similarities between J'mpok and Gowron, now that you mention it. Both of them politicians with a chancellorship of questionable legitimacy who picked unnecessary fights to cement their political positions and made things worse for the whole region.
Yep. And it wasn't just unnecessary fighting--they both got led by the nose by infiltrators. Gowron became a Founder lapdog, and J'mpok an Iconian pawn. J'mpok's error is even more unforgivable because even if someone tries to raise the claim that "Klingons shouldn't bow to Federation morals," the Klingons SHOULD be smart enough to at least recognize the actions an enemy might take in response to their behavior based on past precedent. They should know from the Folly of '72 what the cost to their credibility was (they cried wolf that time and helped give the Dominion a beachhead in the Alpha Quadrant), and that the Federation would not believe them if they repeated the same behavior pattern...claims of infiltrators plus blatant territorial expansion.
They can hate the Feds' beliefs and actions all they want, but if they fail to recognize that certain types of aggression will make the Federation stop listening to anything they have to say and just SNAP on them (regardless of all claims they make that they're pacifist), and that said retribution from the Federation is dangerous enough to flat-out destabilize the quadrant against the greater enemy, then that is absolutely stupid. That's not even a moral issue. That's just a self-destructive strategic error, plain and simple. The Feds do NOT listen forever, in the era beginning with the Dominion War. This isn't Picard's Federation. Push them far enough and they DO retaliate violently, and with the kind of military might and trained, combat-experienced leaders that they did NOT have in the Dominion War era, that is shockingly dangerous compared to doing so during the run of the TV shows.
All of this is good, pragmatic advice that they flat-out ignore: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu
(And you can see why I like Cardassians better: they're not without error, by any means, but aside from Dukat, who was mentally unstable, they do tend to know when to cut their losses and when certain battles shouldn't been picked.)
But yeah, those similarities are why I consider Cryptic to mostly NOT be at fault for the "Klingon moron" meme. Unless they were to have made a deliberate decision to raise a Gorkon-level statesman to rule the Empire (and I am not sure what incentive they have not to go with the most recent material), which would be surprising, I don't see why the Klingon storyline is that unexpected. Yes, it is perhaps even more exaggerated than the show, but it does project off of an existing trend.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Keep the Tales of War coming. They are a fun read.
Jolan'tru... RRF Admiral Cybyl
-
"To boldly go to the stars on the wings of the faithful."
I actually heard (think it was either Bher or Moore who said, but not sure which )that DS9's problem was that, as being set in a stationary location, they wanted, and to some extent, needed DS9 to be a story arc series, whereas the others were on to something new each week. The problem was that the studio constantly fought them on this, and no more that 4 or 5 episodes were ever allowed run consecutively on the same story, hence wrapping the show up within the timeframe of a few episodes. I would have had it different too, but that how they ran it at the time.
There was considerable fear about a arcing Star Trek television show not working, which is probably why Voyager came out. DS9's ratings overall were considerably lower than TNG, TPTB attributed this to the fact that the show wasn't an episodic series, and started VOY hoping to recover. The problem was the changing landscape of TV at the time. TNG wasn't on air during that time, and thus never encountered the problem, but the higher-ups didn't understand that. DS9 and VOY both made it 7 seasons, but neither was as good as TNG. And I don't really know what they were doing with ENT. The three best would be TOS,TNG, and DS9. I wish DS9 went to movies, or that they would remaster it, but it's a tremendous amount of work for a series with constant VFX.
Actually, it's explicitly stated in STO that Kobali typically do not remember their past lives. Ensigns Ballard and Kim are anomalies. And frankly that's a good thing for the Kobali, considering how many current Kobali were originally born as Vaadwaur.
At first i read estrogen simulator and i thought, why do they need THAT... does anyone need to come into contact with his feminine side?
[RANT]
Weekly or semi-weekly intervals would actually speed things up and improve it a lot. This MONTHLY deployment (requiring weekly replays of the SAME mission) is what drags things to a funereal pace.
There was a time when Featured Episodes were released weekly - and they centered around your character's actions. Look at the Devidian arc, or the Breen arc - these were written as a game for active Players, not as TV episodes for passive viewers. Yes, this is supposed to be Star Trek, but it's a different medium here.
Now the pace is slowed to 1/4 of that (and we're bribed to repeat and repeat and repeat by weekly rewards), because of an excessive and expensive dependency on voice acting instead of gameplay. The last episode that had Seven of Nine in it (for example) had her talking to two other NPCs, and she (and they) didn't even acknowledge you (the senior officer) when you walked in! Not one word was said by any of them to you, you were simply ignored and got to stand there with NO pretense of interactivity!
Games are supposed to be written for the PLAYER, not for the NPCs. WE are the ones supposedly starring in this game, but instead we're only listening to reams of interminable technobabble monologues from the guest stars. This is stunt casting, done so that the marketing people can say, "ooh, look, coming up next week, it's ONE OF THE STARS!!!!!!! See, that's Star Trek, right? Right?" That's a marketing suit's way of making it "more Star Trek-y", not a game designer's way.
I sincerely hope that starting with Season 11, that this sort of nonsense will stop, and that maybe we can have a GAME again, instead of an endless series of lectures followed by an NPC-mandated retreat.
[/RANT]
We've seen almost everyone committed to the war, yet there are no Cardassian Ships helping, Voth are unheard of despite having a huge TRIBBLE armada capable of fighting klingons, romulans and feds at the same time, the undine, with an even larger armada and planet killers promised to help, still unheard of, Xindi? nowhere to be found, delta alliance? missing in action, Kobali? vaadwaur? Tholians? Breen? ...
Borg? they have enough firepower and ships to fight the heralds not to mention a transwarp network that can help even the odds against the iconian gates.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
-Herald Red Alerts: Similar to either Borg or Tholian Red Alerts. I'm sure they could somehow lock this to either a certain level (level 60 for example), or have them unlocked upon starting the Iconian arc missions. Or you could just make the unlockable at level 50 alongside the other Red Alerts. Elachi Red Alerts also could have been possible.
-An Iconian War Adventure Zone: Something like the Dyson Sphere Adventure Zone, Kobali Zone, New Romulus, or Defera would have been nice for this war.
-Iconian War themed Duty Officer Assignments: This could have been an easy way to make the war more relevant. Sending your duty officers to the front lines, or having them assist refugees in missions could have really helped create a war element. There is actually a lot of ways you could make this interesting. You could send doffs on suicide missions, or put them on high risk missions to help with the war effort.
-Make the players actions matter: Remember in the Delta recruit event how they had weekly goals for the players to reach? What if they did that over the course of the summer to determine victories or defeats in the war? For example, successfully completing story missions, STFs, and other Iconian War themed content (like all of the stuff I mentioned above) would contribute to the war effort for that week. Completing the bar for a specific week or month could result in bonuses, and some sort of positive outcome in the overall war effort. Failing to complete this however would have adverse effects, like maybe something like increased Herald, and Elachi attacks, or tougher enemies appearing in specific content.
My character Tsin'xing
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
But again, I think a dev utilizing a little monster play as an Iconian, or a herald at ESD or Qo'nos would be unexpected and fun. You could throw a few prizes around too . Space, or ground - whatever. It would be fun AND bring the fight home as it were.
It's been done before (Dan Stahl's done it a few times) it's always fun when Cryptic finds time to play with the players.
I think they're consciously trying to avoid engaging literary embellishment and the style of a novel or short story in favor of something closer to a film script. Novelistic writing turns off some people, obfuscates the flow of information, introduces a narrative slant/perspective, raises the required reading level, and can complicate translation from a cheap process into a more expensive and involved one, as the translators have to substitute a number of figures of speech and poetic/metaphoric language.
I think they're very deliberately keeping it simple and minimizing the use of flowery style. More Hemmingway, less Chandler.