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Playable TOS character options beyond Founding 4
thebanjo
Member Posts: 28 Arc User
Shouldn't the Trill, Rigelians, Saurians, Betazoid, Caitian, and Alien gen be available also? I don't want to be a Human, Vulcan, or Tellarite and I already have an Andorian. While I do have a Saurian and a Rigelian already, I would love to play a Trill in the time period. Dax was a Federation ambassador during the time period having a history with the Klingons such as Kang, Kor, and Koloth. Saurians and Caitians are also a part of the Federation in the movies. I remember Rigelians in Enterprise being invited to the talks for cooperation so it wouldn't be too far a stretch that they would have been a Federation member at the TOS time. Deanna Troi's father was and officer in a Wrath of Khan uniform so Betazoids being a part of the Federation may be the furthest stretch since this picture is from the 2330s. Alien gen because if everyone including Romulans can have it why not TOS when there's many members of the Federation we have yet to even see because of how large the organization is. Now if this was say in the Enterprise era right after the founding then I would understand the creation of only the Founding Four. This isn't though. If we are only allowed to make Federation races, please do not limit our options to just the Founders. It's not like you have to create any new facial options for them. Considering you only touched Andorians and Tellarites and those options people will have to purchase to use anyway from their respective TOS era costumes from the store.
Post edited by thebanjo on
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It is a streamlined, glossy look at the absolutely iconic features of The Original Series TV show - NOT the Star Trek Universe - and is aimed at attracting casual fans who never heard of ANY of the races you just mentioned. It's designed to get them into the game and moving forward with the absolute minimum number of distractions - distractions like picking from more than four races.
Sorry, but I don't see how giving players a few more options in respect to race is distracting.
I guess you could make an exception for Caitains ... assumung you're an TAS-Fan ... most people are probably not though ...
This. This is all about reliving TOS. Yes, other species have been said to have "existed" during the TOS era, but most of those (if not all) we put in later. Trill where introduced in TNG, expanded upon in DS9. Caitians were part of TAS, and later Movies.
None of these were featured on screen during the Original Series, which is what AoY is all about The Original Series.
"Uh... no."
OK, a better explanation: The episodes overall follows TOS and happen during or around TOS episodes, until after the 2nd one, where we delve into various aspects of Star Trek, mostly ENT with the presence of a certain character in a certain room taking charge, with a few parts of the TOS movies (with another certain character) and STO's 2410 with the bad guys and their motivations.
Also, apart from the Constitution-class, none of the Fed ships we see in the episodes were in TOS. The Daedalus-class was only in TNG and DS9.
Then your future as a game designer is grim. Option paralysis is the great bane of our age and frankly I'm a little surprised they went with 4 races. Three options is pretty much the go to level of complexity for blind, binding choices to pitch in front of a new player. If they thought they could have cut it down to "Human or Vulcan, full stop" they probably would have. There was no ideal third choice so they ended up with 4 and can call it "Federation Founders"
That's still not an excuse to cut content that already exists for the same faction now and forcing people to play such few of options when they went out of their way to make Pakled a playable Federation species in 2410.
Sure, they could start a new character, but some might feel that juggling two toons might be off-putting as well.
I'm just saying.
It's not how I would have done it either, but at this point, we will just have to see how it all falls out and hope that perhaps down the road They will add more things that many folks desire, to the game.
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Yeah, I wondered what that was about.
This means that they decide that the only playable races would be those seen on screen in TOS as Federation members. Thus all races that were established in later media(which includes TAS and the TOS movies) are out, including Caitians.
It would be nice if we could play as that purple race that shows up at the Babel conference. They ARE a Federation member, and the devs even made NPCs for their race.
Another option is Tiburonians. We DID see them as a Fed member in TOS.
My character Tsin'xing
If I were Cryptic, I'd add them to LTS bonuses. Along with race specific ships for each. As a way to make LTS much more desirable. This encourages new people to purchase LTS to get the 'complete' TOS experience. It also encourages older LTS players to return/play more. Both of these become better income streams as a result.
But.. Trills as part of that era is a retcon. Trills were not ever actually seen in TOS.
My character Tsin'xing
I thought they showed them hiding Dax's Trill marks after they changed uniforms?
While it is true they weren't originally in the TOS show, they are a part of the Federation in the era. It's not like they have to add them into the scenes/mission episodes. Just make them playable for the Federation since they are already playable for the Federation. They would be cutting content if they don't and alienating people who would rather not play the founding 4 making them not want to play a TOS character at all. They're humans with spots. How hard is that to allow people to play?
They probably would have to do that because there was probably not a Trill on the crew roster. It would be easier to pass by unnoticed as a human among many humans too.
I would like to see Caitians as an option. After Caitian species is a premium purchase and as such should not "confuse" new players. I could go either way on the user generated alien.
@thebanjo, the problem with your explanation is that all of the DS9 crew who showed up on the Enterprise were temporary transfers. If Trills were serving in Starfleet, Jadzia showing up looking trill would not be out of the ordinary. I suspect like betazoids, bajorians and ferengi (? - don't remember if "Enterprise" retconed that), trills had not been encountered in the TOS era despite being in the same quadrant of space as the Sol system.
You want 3 choices?
Human, Vulcan, Alien.
Where Alien has a collection of "pre-selected body part collections" that we'd call "Andorian", "Tellarite", Caitian, etc. and access to a number of "TOS-appropriate" parts so that we could "custom build" a TOS-alien.
Like, oh, say an "overgrown Talosian" or any number of the "weird makeup designs" like those two from "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"... But nothing "over the top" because they didn't exactly do "full facial applications" like even Klingon Forehead ridges nevermind some of these "crowns"...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
Zambeans: look like humans in funny costumes REALLY funny. Actually I suspect the padded clothing is meant to make them look like they're more bulky than humans.
Loktarans: humans with odd makeup and hair.
Ithenite: short heavy set people who wear Greco-Roman fashions.
Violaceans: purple people with odd makeup and hair.
These are all part of the game now.
My character Tsin'xing
I know that was mainly a budgetary thing, but if we're to take TOS as canon, the behind the scenes explanation can't be considered as an excuse for a lack of diversity aboard ship. We don't see any Andorian's as Starfleet officers until The Animated Series (and true, we see a Caitian there as well) Sure, I know that The Animated Series added in some diversity because they could do so more easily with animation than prosthetics, but we don't have Edosians like Arex as playable species in 2410 either (which theoretically they could do, since they have the animations for 3 legged species like the Undine). So unless the Edosians died out or something, where are they?
Maybe Starfleet was still considered mainly an Earth based organization, even though it answered to the Federation? Or did it? There's mention of the "United Earth Space Probe Agency" in several of the first season episodes of TOS. Memory Alpha says they were the operating authority of the Enterprise's five year mission, since Kirk reported several incidents directly to them. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/United_Earth_Space_Probe_Agency
Vulcan, Andoria and other members of the Federation probably didn't dissolve their own fleets when they joined up. Vulcan still had long range shuttles around the time of The Motion Picture. Why didn't Spock just use a Starfleet shuttle to join Enterprise on her mission to find V'ger?
The argument can go on and on off course. Obviously, with TNG we got a bit more diversity in the Starfleet crews, and that has continued on until "present day". When Ferengi are allowed to join Starfleet, you know they've let their standards slip.
As a long time player, and as a fan of the Original Series and the Animated Series, I think Catians deserve to be playable in the AOY Expansion. Additionally since we know they have the tech (ty Species 8472/Undine) they should be doing Edoans (LT Arex, TAS) whose species has a tripod configuration of legs.
Additional weight should be placed on species shown to be canon members of the Federation, such as the Axanar, the Betazoids, and the Trill.
Yes some of it is retcon (appearance of the Axanar for instance isn't shown till Enterprise Episode 1x03 (Fight or Flight). But we know them to be full members due to the mention in the TOS series by Kirk. We know Betazoids were members during the Wrath of Khan era (uniform of Troi's father), and the Trill were active ambassadors for the Federation (DS9).
Saying that this is an attempt to garner new players, or simplify the game under the label of the Original Series, is both insulting to the existing player base, and to anyone who might pick up the game because of the new content. The Original Series is much beloved by far more hardcore fans than others. I don't think asking for the fan service a game like STO is famous for providing, is much of a stretch at this point.
That really is my feeling on the matter. On the other hand, I don't think the devs care enough about our opinions to change it. It is what it is. I'll create an Andorian I suppose. I'm not thrilled, but their not going to change it for us and I've come to expect that from Cryptic.
Simplifying choices has nothing to do with it.
My character Tsin'xing
Caitlin's were never on TOS.
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/6/60/MRess.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20061205201828&path-prefix=en