Do you ever feel like our Captians are bloodthirsty Warlords?

semalda226 · February 2016

So for any not knowing what I mean it seems the running gag in STO is "We come in peace! Set phasers to kill!" And our standard space greeting seems to be a Torpedo aimed for the other ship's Bridge.

Am I the only one noticing this? Cause even on peaceful missions we seem to gank some poor fool! And I feel like the solution to this is that on ground mission starts you simply get a prompt telling your away team to set weapons to maximum stun or kill. In space it would be trickier but I think it could be possible to disable ships.

markhawkman · February 2016

No. I only kill people who refuse to surrender.

Yes, there's a lot of them, but.....

rattler2 · February 2016

Unless its the Borg Collective or an opponent that the Federation is at war with, my Fed characters will not fire unless fired upon.

My KDF characters are a little more trigger happy.

Either way... unless its the Borg, Never start a fight but always finish it.

Unknown · February 2016

This content has been removed.

thunderfoot · February 2016

Already? And here we were with a nice thread which was simply people stating a viewpoint.

EDIT: I hear ya, OP. I'd like some alternatives myself.

Unfortunately alternatives do not appear to sell as well as, "Kill 'em! Kill'em all! Then we'll kill'em all, AGAIN!"
As an example of this, look at the plethora of negative comments listed for Foundry Missions where combat is not the centerpiece of the mission.

admrenlarreck · February 2016

Lets see I have a Mirror Universe character on the KDF side, a few pirates, most of my Romulans are KDF as well.... Nope I dont feel that at all. That last bit was sarcasm by the way.

As for the Kill em attitude, its because of XP. You get XP for defeating opponents in combat, not for talking them into not fighting in the first place.

semalda226 · February 2016

Don't get me wrong im not saying omg im a good guy I don't wanna kill! Frankly my Romulan I role play as Quite Evil with her personality being to shoot first rather than consider alternatives (especially if you annoy her which isn't hard to do) but My Fed Joined Trill I role play her as the soft and gentle type that you wouldn't expect to see on a battlefield or on a warship (she has a tendency to cry easily)

kyrrok · February 2016

This is a shoot'em'up type of game, and I'm not surprsed about the lack of exploration involved in the current tenporal cold snore.

davefenestrator · February 2016

A variation of this came up in Time and Tide, specifically that by now your captain should be known as Captain Genocide, the Butcher of X, Y and Z, the Killer of Iconians, Death Incarnate. Most normal enemies should flee in terror at the mention of your name.

At least some of the time there should be an option to transmit your ship ID and watch the enemies warp out while they can

Though you'd still get some who consider themselves bound to die for their cause, and some fools thinking your reputation is exaggerated.

ltminns · February 2016

I only kill those that have surrendered.

I have that Ferengi Doff (Somog) awarded from 'Time in a Bottle' slotted on my KDF Joined Trill. When I first slotted the Doff I had around 23k GPL. I have about 72k GPL now. The Doff gives you 1 GPL per ground kill.

Captain Ron Tracey's line from 'The Omega Glory' - 'We killed thousands and they still came' is a penny ante operation compared to the carnage we bring upon the Universe.

therealmaddmatt · February 2016

"No, I didn't defeat the Kobyashi Maru: I am the Kobyashi Maru!"

But don't worry, it's okay to kill NPCs, since they don't have souls. Or so I'm told...

countvampula · February 2016

I am a starfleet captain. planet of orgin Betazed. they will die if deemed necessary.

evilmark444 · February 2016

Umm ... my Delta is a bloodthirsty rogue Vorta merc with a strike ship full of jem'hadar so ...

sauron90805 · February 2016

"We come in peace, shoot to kill, shoot to kill"
"we come in peace, shoot to kill, men!"

Seriously though it would be nice to have more mission options that correspond to our captain's specialty, like using engineering/science to disable, tactical rep causing surrender with accompanying accolades of course. Seems like Cryptic abandoned the idea around season 8 or 9.

sirmayday · February 2016

First, the direct responses: Yeah, this is a combat-heavy game, and that flies in the face of most of Star Trek. That said, even the 'good guys' I play are either fighting enemy combatant representing a power against which we are at war, or using violence to prevent the potential outbreak of another war. Sometimes I think the likes of Kirk and Picard are far and away the exception among Starfleet, and even the principled among the rest are ready--even quick--to use violence to solve problems.

Second, an issue related to the original post, I think the real warmongers are my BOffs! I warp into a system in cloak-equipped ship (which even my Feds have), see some token patrols and think, "Okay, I'll just approach the planet/station/Negative Space Wedgie under cloak, comm them/beam over/activate my technobabble and slip away before they can catch me. No one has to die today!"

Then my first officer says, "Look, captain, enemy patrols! Better deal with them." It's gotten to the point that I look for euphemisms for 'eliminate to the last man,' and cry a little inside when I don't even get that.

Unknown · February 2016

This content has been removed.

kodachikuno · February 2016

semalda226 wrote: »

So for any not knowing what I mean it seems the running gag in STO is "We come in peace! Set phasers to kill!" And our standard space greeting seems to be a Torpedo aimed for the other ship's Bridge.

Am I the only one noticing this? Cause even on peaceful missions we seem to gank some poor fool! And I feel like the solution to this is that on ground mission starts you simply get a prompt telling your away team to set weapons to maximum stun or kill. In space it would be trickier but I think it could be possible to disable ships.

NO! Because we're explorers! we explore how well they resist weapons fire, how well their shields handle different stresses, their hull too. We explore how well they handle the rapid loss of life as we blow holes in their decks, how those bodies handle explosive decompression, etc. How can you say we're bloodthirsty? Its all in the name of SCIENCE! and EXPLORATION! The results of which will lead us to peaceful coexistence and a greater understanding of each other. Don't believe me? See how many races bend knee to the Federation in the 29th century?? We have galactic peace thanks to our exploration and peaceful overtures :P

the above post was made in a vat of sarcasm

alexraptorr · February 2016

To be fair, ALL best selling Star Trek games have always been combat heavy.
The thing is STO is an MMORPG and in such fashion it throws waves of trash mobs at us much weaker than ourselves to mop up.
More simulator style games like Klingon Academy and Bridge Commander tend to be a bit more personal in their combat.

whamhammer1 · February 2016

There is a simple rule that I heard from this fellow named Malcom Reynolds, "When someone tries to kill you, try to kill them back!".

I am not the CO of a Greenpeace ship, incomming fire gets dealt with the maximum severity.

jade1280 · February 2016

Not that starfleet will ever admit it.

nepsthen · February 2016

This topic again. Headcanon is that Starfleet became so enamoured by the Jane Way, section 31 running rampant, and the Undine infiltrators at the start of the game, that peaceful exploration was put on the back burner.
At least it gives good material if CBS/Paramount want to do a Klingon movie with Michael Bay as director. I'm sure it won't be worse than the last movie, or the current one they're working on with Kirk multiwarp drifting shuttle craft.

Take it for what it is: a game with loose Star Trek fittings. There's certainly things that could be done better, but with their current engine, some things aren't going to happen. It took all this time for the Vaadawuar to become the first ground enemies to be able to duck and use cover. The best option would be to have groups do their own missions with full on role playing, but that's few and far between in many online games these days. Unless you count the ERP that's still going on in Drozana and ESD.

I'm still waiting for the reintroduction of exploration that they said they would be doing this season right before they started the Temporal Cold War leadup. I'm guessing something came from CBS to do that instead since the mobile game is also about time travel, and I've seen things floating around speculating that the new series that they're doing will feature it prominently as well. Hopefully the devs get back on course before the end of the year.

bloodyriz · February 2016

My main, Shea, the only toon I have fully gotten through all missions, IS a blood thirsty warlord. Thank you for noticing.

getbackupagain · February 2016

I do it for the pretty lights, so technically not a warlord, psychopath with a slight pyromania, yeah probably.

darakoss · February 2016

alexraptorr wrote: »

To be fair, ALL best selling Star Trek games have always been combat heavy.
The thing is STO is an MMORPG and in such fashion it throws waves of trash mobs at us much weaker than ourselves to mop up.
More simulator style games like Klingon Academy and Bridge Commander tend to be a bit more personal in their combat.

A Final Unity had little combat and it was a big seller.

a3001 · February 2016

To answer the question: yes. Sometimes I do wish I could take my finger off the trigger. But since pew pew sells more than talking and smoothing things over....

nikeix · February 2016

Its just that killing things and taking their stuff is the main gameplay mechanism of STO.

...But it's not the only one. We do have non-combat missions, like the historical data chip collection and the history trivia quiz. The model seems to be a once-per day cooldown for those.

If we had a daily 'peaceful' mission that you had to pass 2-3 puzzles (each on the first try) to get the opportunity to stabilize a single omega particle I imagine it would be very popular. A great log in once-a-day incentive. The loot exists. The framework exists. We just need the actual mission

.

ajalen · February 2016

i m klingon so.....i m happy

but seriously ..........in STO is only few moments where u have chance avoid fight , much more common is "kill group A , then kill group B"
this is second reason for me to DONT play as Fed (first is dumb storyline) ....
how i may enjoy play as Federation Captain like Piccard or Sisko when i in half hour kill more ships and mens than throse two in whole ST history ?

sorry , but utill was avaialble for FED player more "cannon like" and less violent storyline ......i stay with my beloved Klingons

angrytarg · February 2016

As others said, you have to acknowledge "behind-the-scenes" reasons here. STO Is a hack & slay or "dungeon crawler" type of game, it has been the template for MMOs since forever and single player games in that tradition like diablo are also very popular. So everything lore-wise happening has to be subordinate to the gameplay which, frankly, is very one-dimensional.

Even if we had straight forward diplomatic or adventure-like missions in STO, the frame how this game operates wouldn't make them much fun. Pressing "F" and reading dialogue boxes - in the "great" Star Trek games like 25th anniversary or a final unity they used traditional point and click mechanics in which you could collect and combne items to macgyver solutions to problems, the dialogue choices you made affected how the mission proceeds, former deeds had later consequences, there was meaningful micromanagement with your crew and the combat that was in pitted you against a single opponent (sometimes two) which felt equal to you and it was a lot more strategic than tactical AND keep in mind you were actually rewarded when you AVOIDED combat altogether! (25th anniversary was a straight forward dogfighter in those action sequences though, but still few enemies even on higher difficulties).

All of this doesn't work with STO as it is not a dventure game in core but a diablo clone. You mow down myriads of cannon fodder enemies, collect loot and make the best of it. Of course, STO even lacks the core elements of why hack & slay games work and are fun - random loot drops, uniques, sets to collect, possiblities to fine-tune your character not only dealing damage - all of this is abscent from STO which makes it feel empty.

So, regarding the topic, yes you kill a lot. But at least you can reason it with you only kill ONCE. When you replay episodes it's a simulation, you also don't kill 50 chrystalline entities a day, it's only once you encounter it. Call it a temporal loop or a simulation, but every queue, every STF, every mission you only truly experience once. So you haven'T slaughtered trillions of Borg, you only visited every instance Borg showed up once. And every player did the same in their personal pocket universe timeline.

But yeah, in the end "Exploration", "Diplomacy" are just things they mention over and over again because it's Star Trek. But the actual game doesn't reflect that - even for Klingons it's foolish to go in guns blazing in every instance.

kodachikuno · February 2016

Its sad but in SWTOR I recently had 2 missions to recruit companions and both required 0 combat... it was stunning because of that... then I realized how sad it was that they were so abnormal it was shocking.

nickcastleton · February 2016

they can have both combat and not exploding ships we see that in missions like the night of the comet.
i get why we didn't hold back in the iconion war but now we should really only shoot to disable.

burstorion · February 2016

I come in peace

SHOOT TO KILL! SHOOT TO KILL! SHOOT TO KILL!

I come in peace

SHOOT TO KILL! SHOOT TO KILL 'EM ALL MAN!

STO in a nutshell

Do you ever feel like our Captians are bloodthirsty Warlords?

Comments