but it doesn't mean we know what non-KDF players actually want
"Sexy" looking ships. The KDF ships are "bland" and "chunky" by comparison and when you watch the forum and what moves in the store etc, it's really the ships that seem to make more people gravitate towards Fed. Course cool looking ships doesn't really fit for Klingon so it's not something I see ever happening.
I went Rom/KDF for my first toon primarily because of the look of the Rom ships. Secondarily, I didn't know how much real RP there would be but I liked the thought of being a more secretive warlike faction. I'm really glad I did as that LOR storyline got me hooked on the game.
My 2nd toon was Klingon. As funny as this may seem, I couldn't figure out how to get to Qo'nos with my Rom/KDF. Nothing in the story had taught me to actually fly towards a "hub" planet. i.e. Romulas has the menu right off the bat. But I found I really enjoyed playing the storyline of KDF and things like the Orion ships looked sort of cool so my next was an Orion KDF flying the free Marauder we got awhile back.
So as I said, from my experience it mostly came down to the ships that made me gravitate towards the factions I choose.
but it doesn't mean we know what non-KDF players actually want
"Sexy" looking ships. The KDF ships are "bland" and "chunky" by comparison and when you watch the forum and what moves in the store etc, it's really the ships that seem to make more people gravitate towards Fed. Course cool looking ships doesn't really fit for Klingon so it's not something I see ever happening.
I went Rom/KDF for my first toon primarily because of the look of the Rom ships. Secondarily, I didn't know how much real RP there would be but I liked the thought of being a more secretive warlike faction. I'm really glad I did as that LOR storyline got me hooked on the game.
My 2nd toon was Klingon. As funny as this may seem, I couldn't figure out how to get to Qo'nos with my Rom/KDF. Nothing in the story had taught me to actually fly towards a "hub" planet. i.e. Romulas has the menu right off the bat. But I found I really enjoyed playing the storyline of KDF and things like the Orion ships looked sort of cool so my next was an Orion KDF flying the free Marauder we got awhile back.
So as I said, from my experience it mostly came down to the ships that made me gravitate towards the factions I choose.
Yes, Klingon stuff is among the ugliest in the game. It's like all Klingon designers have to take a course on how to make ship look like they were pummeled with an ugly stick. Orion and Gorn stuff looks nice. Nausicaan and Fek stuff even looks better than Klingon.
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There's nothing for Cryptic to build on in regards to those species, the gorn Ambassador S'taass has had more screen time in STO then the Gorn got in all the TV shows combined.
Iconians appeared in how many episdoes. Oh right, zero. Their ruins were discussed in a couple. And yet we have a large, major story based on that.
Yes, Klingon stuff is among the ugliest in the game. It's like all Klingon designers have to take a course on how to make ship look like they were pummeled with an ugly stick. Orion and Gorn stuff looks nice. Nausicaan and Fek stuff even looks better than Klingon.
So true. The ship are so "dull" in their coloring etc. Some of the designs are nice looking but then they're so dark etc that they just end up looking bland. People love the bright white/silver sort of look of most of the Fed stuff. Which of course doesn't really fit in for the KDF faction stuff.
"Sexy" looking ships. The KDF ships are "bland" and "chunky" by comparison and when you watch the forum and what moves in the store etc, it's really the ships that seem to make more people gravitate towards Fed. Course cool looking ships doesn't really fit for Klingon so it's not something I see ever happening.
Yes, Klingon stuff is among the ugliest in the game. It's like all Klingon designers have to take a course on how to make ship look like they were pummeled with an ugly stick. Orion and Gorn stuff looks nice. Nausicaan and Fek stuff even looks better than Klingon.
I must respectfully disagree. When I see ships such as the Bortasqu', the Negh'var variant, some of the other cruisers, images of melee weapons come to mind, such as a warhammer, maul, or greataxe. The Ning'tao and Ch'Tang Birds-of-Prey remind me vaguely of dragons when their wings are lowered, and some of the Raptors as punch daggers. The HoH'SuS as a deadly insect.
KDF ships are meant to be aggressive, brutal looking. Not "pretty" and full of comforts with rump-pillows and the automatic bidets. KDF ships are all about getting business done. From the simplicity and utility of the interiors, to the sharp edges of the exteriors, to the clearly visible weaponry on ships such as the Ning'tao, or the Martok. Just like John Wayne toilet paper. Rough, tough, doesn't take **** from anyone.
People love the bright white/silver sort of look of most of the Fed stuff. Which of course doesn't really fit in for the KDF faction stuff.
not everybody. for me, all the fed shiny ships are just annoying; when I look at a fed ship, I have no feelings; they seems just boring. The kdf ships for example the low tier BOP or the low tier raptors, they seem agressive, dangerous and personally I like that. A kdf ship can't be white with glowing parts or have big/ugly nacelles. But one of my favourite kdf ship is the orion Marauder T5-U. the fleet T5-U is cool, but the boff layout is crappy.
People love the bright white/silver sort of look of most of the Fed stuff. Which of course doesn't really fit in for the KDF faction stuff.
not everybody. for me, all the fed shiny ships are just annoying; when I look at a fed ship, I have no feelings; they seems just boring. The kdf ships for example the low tier BOP or the low tier raptors, they seem agressive, dangerous and personally I like that. A kdf ship can't be white with glowing parts or have big/ugly nacelles. But one of my favourite kdf ship is the orion Marauder T5-U. the fleet T5-U is cool, but the boff layout is crappy.
Well, the thread is about what it would take Fed players to play KDF. They're not like some of us that want something down and dirty or "aggressive" looking. I suppose one other thing that could get more people playing KDF is if KDF had a superior ship. I mean how many people played Rom just so they could have the scimitar? But then again those players are probably a minority as well.
"Sexy" looking ships. The KDF ships are "bland" and "chunky" by comparison and when you watch the forum and what moves in the store etc, it's really the ships that seem to make more people gravitate towards Fed. Course cool looking ships doesn't really fit for Klingon so it's not something I see ever happening.
Yes, Klingon stuff is among the ugliest in the game. It's like all Klingon designers have to take a course on how to make ship look like they were pummeled with an ugly stick. Orion and Gorn stuff looks nice. Nausicaan and Fek stuff even looks better than Klingon.
I must respectfully disagree. When I see ships such as the Bortasqu', the Negh'var variant, some of the other cruisers, images of melee weapons come to mind, such as a warhammer, maul, or greataxe. The Ning'tao and Ch'Tang Birds-of-Prey remind me vaguely of dragons when their wings are lowered, and some of the Raptors as punch daggers. The HoH'SuS as a deadly insect.
KDF ships are meant to be aggressive, brutal looking. Not "pretty" and full of comforts with rump-pillows and the automatic bidets. KDF ships are all about getting business done. From the simplicity and utility of the interiors, to the sharp edges of the exteriors, to the clearly visible weaponry on ships such as the Ning'tao, or the Martok. Just like John Wayne toilet paper. Rough, tough, doesn't take **** from anyone.
I think you can have weapon-like looking and beautiful in one ship.
I would argue a ship like the Vor'cha or the Bird of Prey manage to look good. (And I think several of their variants look nice, too.)
The Klingon Pilot Raptors are meh. The Klingon Command Cruisers are bad.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
the real problem then is the new average or crappy designs (most of the new designs) created by cryptic. the anquat/anqvat/or something like that is really really awful. the old designs were more interesting.
And all they added to the Elachi, Vaadwaur, and Bluegill is that
>they are servants of the iconians
Everything they did about the Iconians themselves is based off of Picard's guess that them being evil is historical revisionism, and not something Cryptic made up themselves.
The "Elachi" appear in ONE episode of Enterprise. Everything about them (including their name) is completely fabricated by Cryptic.
The Bluegills are significantly different from the shows as well, granting their host incredible strength and resilience not seen on screen. Cryptic also invented an entire lifecycle for the creatures, as well as establishing them as "engineered".
Iconians aren't exactly "evil". They are a bit more complex then that, a complexity created by Cryptic.
Love it or hate it, but Cryptic has creatively expanded on several throw-away bits of Trek lore. They've done a really good job of weaving various plots together.
Technically.... Hassan. He's Syndicate, not true KDF, but both groups report to the same people.
What? So... Hassan is "not true KDF"... but he technically IS KDF... how?
This seems an amazing stretch of logic here. It's like saying Harry Mudd is a member of Starfleet because he is human and Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets.
In any case, Hassan is clearly NOT portrayed as a member of the KDF... which was my point.
Basics here. to want to play KDF, you are already a Star Trek fan. relying solely on Trekkers, not all Trekkers fall into the "Curious about the Klingons" circle in the Venn Diagram.
Teh other overlap is "People who game" might want to play-they're really the only 'undecided' available, because "People who game" doesn't fall only into the Trekker circle in the Venn Diagram-but there IS overlap.
"People who game" will seek out the faction in a game that has the advantages, or has some aspect that is not shared by other factions. Some mechanic or role that the majority doesn't fill. (Horde vs. Alliance is an example, or Jedi/Sith, etcetera)
Non-Trek fans would most likely pick their first toon based on appearance, then notice that the Feds have all the exclusive stuff and switch to that. Unless they're checked up on the factions in advance in which case they'd already know the Feds have all the exclusive stuff and pick it from the start.
Which brings us back again to less restrictions = more equality.
Horde vs Alliance or Jedi vs Sith are not in the same position at all. There is no great pre-existing fan imbalance between them. It's not plausible to expect Fed/KDF/Rom to ever have equal numbers in STO. Because there is a fan imbalance. The Federation will always be the majority.
Homogeneity only serves to reduce appeal when you have a base starting imbalance as wide as the imbalance between Starfleet fans, and Klingon fans.
Homogenizing began with the Bortasque. Prior to that ship's release, the difference in the faction doctrines was clear and obvious-Klingon ships in the similar role were a touch faster, and were designed to use Cannon/Torpedo builds, in exchange for lower shield mods, slower recovery rates (the old, now abandoned crew mechanic). Federation cruisers were built to be insanely durable with fast recovery, and slightly better protection, but they were slower tier-for-tier than KDF ships. Until the Bortasque, which combined the ability to mount a narrow-arc weapon with the INABILITY TO USE IT EFFECTIVELY.
It was actually a poorer design,even with more tac consoles on the 'tactical' because of this-it turned slower than the Oddy, had less manuever due to poor inertial, was more vulnerable, carried fewer items, and the special consoles it was given didn't work, or didn't work correctly.
Thus, it did not sell-because the "Gamer" circle and the "Klingon" circle overlapped a bit more on release-thanks in part to a condition where KDF players had to start 'late' and rely on PvP to level, and the Bortasque was a boat-anchor of a ship for PvP or any other role where being able to bring the nose in line with a moving target had some significance.
The level of investment required AFTER the Cruiser revamp, still leaves the Bort as a white elephant-an expensive white elephant. Other T5 ships already in the inventory (even in the C-store) fit the role better for less investment.
The impact on the market was, however, crushing. Lack of sales and expense of artwork meant that Cryptic lost money on the Bortasque-kind of like Ford losing money on the Edsel.
Proportionally, the difference was that Cryptic's ship guys didn't have a Lee Iacocca to design the Thunderbird or Mustang equivalent, instead, the heads (Geko) declared KDF unprofitable and no new ships were done for the next three years for the C-store market.
They declared the KDF unprofitable because it is. Obviously it's more profitable to sell a product to 70% than to 15% of the playerbase. Cryptic is profiting off the imbalance.
Yes, Cryptic could attract non-fans to KDF with exclusive gimmicks. But to what end? It would still be less profitable than yet another toy for the majority.
In fact, even if they somehow miraculously managed to even up the factions so that each would have 1/3rd of the population and spending, that would only mean they'd have lost the ability to make only one ship and sell it to most of the playerbase. With a three-faction pack, the total customer base always adds up to 100%, but when making a single ship, it's better to have one 70% market than three 33% ones.
As much as some KDF fans think the faction restrictions mean Cryptic "must" make KDF ships, reality says they're willing and able to just ignore the few that won't buy Fed ships whenever it suits them. Thus Feds are the only ones who get single ship releases.
The company does not profit from faction equality. The only way to make Klingons and Romulans as profitable as the majority is to make them part of the majority. That's the only way we'll ever get a non-Fed single ship release ever again.
oh, no question, in terms of purely the pursuit of short-term profit, deleting the KDF faction is the winning move-Cryptic hasn't got the people to handle more than one faction, and they've managed to fail at multi-faction play every single time they've tried it, including this one.
But...
They're not going to own up and do that (they had a great opportunity to do it with the console release-eliminate KDF, eliminate PvP, cleaner UI, cleaner file sizes...)
But don't decieve yourself-removing the faction barriers isn't going to magically make more people play KDF, anymore than it made more people flock to playing PvP.
It's going to have the exact opposite effect, losing players that Cryptic deems "Unprofitably small" anyway.
which, to be honest, they're only holding on to now because said players are delusional enough to post threads like "What would motivate YOU to play KDF?"
Right??
That's not the point. The point is to make the creation of new KDF stuff profitable. The only way to do that is to let the majority, the Feds, finance it.
The important thing is getting players to buy KDF stuff so Cryptic has incentive to create more. Getting players to play the KDF origin story is less important.
Diversity beyond "Ooh, new uniform color!" is bad, right? It's not profitable to support multifaction gameplay, is it, or to have differences or differing, varied experiences, it's so much better to make everything the exact same on the exact same railroad track, lined up in gray lines of sameness.
Because it's so much easier to do that.
Isn't it?
and certainly, if something is cool and works but is restricted from the Majority, why, that's a sin against the cashflow! Quick, gotta homogenize some more!!
The cool stuff is restricted TO the majority, not from. Look at AoY, the majority got a whole pack full of ships with unique game mechanics. KDF/Rom got 3 crossfaction ships. KDF/Rom didn't even get a lobi store ship in this round.
They are never going to make separate storylines for the factions. Even their new TOS faction only got 6 unique starter missions. We are on the same railroad tracks. Having some arbitrary limits on what train you run down those tracks or how you're dressed while doing it isn't going to result in different experiences, different experiences come from the freedom to choose different experiences.
They had to **** add massive incentives for AoY, which took more time than Legacy of Romulus to build for less material, less diversity, less...everything...except power-creep.
in the end, your prescription isn't going to fill Cryptic's coffers one tick more than they're being filled now, over the long haul, it's just a faster way to expanding the population decline to include your precious Majority as people get bored with the whole thing, burnt out on the grind, and leave.
but hey, if your business model is quarterly and you never expected it to last this long, that's great performance.
it's just not great in terms of gameplay or longevity.
My "prescription" isn't meant to fill Cryptic's coffers any more. Like I said, they already have their majority for whom to sell their toys and can always ignore the minority factions when they want. It's meant to get the Klingons and Romulans out of the "unprofitable" category.
Because you can preach about the wonders of faction exclusivity all you want, but reality still is the Feds are the only ones who get exclusive stuff the way things are.
Because you can preach about the wonders of faction exclusivity all you want, but reality still is the Feds are the only ones who get exclusive stuff the way things are.
also... they kinda tried the faction exclusive toys trick. remember when Plasmonic leech was OP and only KDF had it? yeah that wasn't adequate incentive to play KDF.
The Bluegills are significantly different from the shows as well, granting their host incredible strength and resilience not seen on screen. Cryptic also invented an entire lifecycle for the creatures, as well as establishing them as "engineered".
You should rewatch that episode. It took two phasers set on kill to stop the mother alien. also at one point a person possessed fights Data...
Technically.... Hassan. He's Syndicate, not true KDF, but both groups report to the same people.
What? So... Hassan is "not true KDF"... but he technically IS KDF... how?
This seems an amazing stretch of logic here. It's like saying Harry Mudd is a member of Starfleet because he is human and Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets.
In any case, Hassan is clearly NOT portrayed as a member of the KDF... which was my point.
It is not an excessive leap of logic. In STO the Syndicate works for Melani Dian. Melani Dian allied them with the KDF. In actual KDF missions you never actually fight the Syndicate as a group(KDF doffing often has you trading with them). Also most of the guys working for Hassan are KDF races, like Captain Fang...
But Nimbus is written as a Romulan story so in that context fighting the Syndicate kinda makes sense.... although you later find out Hassan was in some way an ally of Obisek, but Obisek hadn't been established as a good guy in the Romulan story at this point.
Well apparently all Klingon ships are so damn ugly to look at according to fed players. So maybe it's a good thing you will never be able to fly them. Because it be a total waste of time and effort to give Feds even more options when you won't even buy them as you gloated you would.
"Great men are not peacemakers, Great men are conquerors!" - Captain Archer" "When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway #Support Mirror Universe I.S.S. Prefixes
I want Hassan's warbarge. T6 Eng carrier... 4/3 full carrier though, not flight deck.
It is far less ugly than the Mogh.
PetaQ...
"Great men are not peacemakers, Great men are conquerors!" - Captain Archer" "When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway #Support Mirror Universe I.S.S. Prefixes
hehehe... there are some aspects of Klingon designs I like.. My favorite of the T6 Bortas designs is the triple nacelle variant, that one looks pretty cool. also.. for some reason the carrier isn't all that ugly.
I don't always play a Klingon. But when I do, I prefer to have a K'Tinga.
The person(s) who designed the latest KDF ship releases have done a fantastic job. After leaving the game because of Delta Rising, the person(s) that designed the KDF Pilot ships brought me back. Since then, the KDF ship designs have rewarded with the KDF T6 Dreadnoughts (focused artistic freedom at its best) and the D4x. Overall, STO has provided me with all the content I've ever wanted in a Star Trek game - with the exception of a corrected model of the D7 and K'Tinga. People said that the AOY model is new, but I don't see it. The leading edge of the pylons is still way too thick and doesn't have the inner edge curve and taper that it's supposed to.
Yes, a T6 K'Tinga with LTC and LT Tac BOFFs - with an updated D7/K'Tinga model with/and a bonus Quonus One skin.
With as much care that the person(s) who design the KDF ships give to the game, they must want to do this. I hope Cryptic has the license to do so and gives the person(s) the go ahead to spend the time to provide us with it. For me, it would make playing the game "Star Trek" again...as much as the AOY expansion itself.
You should rewatch that episode. It took two phasers set on kill to stop the mother alien. also at one point a person possessed fights Data...
In the Delta mission "Capture the Flag", a dozen romulans shoot the Vaudwaar overseer a bazillion times... as he slowly beats every one of them to a pulp. He has to be exposed to some sort of... instant death plasma-radiation just to make him briefly vulnerable. I don't recall any of that being in the shows.
It is not an excessive leap of logic. In STO the Syndicate works for Melani Dian. Melani Dian allied them with the KDF. In actual KDF missions you never actually fight the Syndicate as a group(KDF doffing often has you trading with them). Also most of the guys working for Hassan are KDF races, like Captain Fang...
The KDF murder Orions, Gorn and even other Klingons throughout various story arcs and later when we do patrol missions around New Romulus. The game as presented is pretty clear that the KDF does not have a monopoly on the races that are part of it. As far as I can tell, Hassan is just another criminal in the Syndicate with no ties to the KDF.
Captain Fang fights with a pink Lirpa, yet the "favored" weapon of the KDF is the bat'leth. Since the story is not really clear, I have no trouble thinking Fang and company are unaffiliated pirates or deserters. In either case, they need to be made examples of, and put down like dogs.
I think you can have weapon-like looking and beautiful in one ship.
I would argue a ship like the Vor'cha or the Bird of Prey manage to look good. (And I think several of their variants look nice, too.)
The Klingon Pilot Raptors are meh. The Klingon Command Cruisers are bad.
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The Command Cruisers look like 50 pounds of whale **** in a 10 pound bag. And the fleet veteran reward ship looks pretty decent. Along with the Kurak. I don't see enough of the Siege Destroyers in action often nowadays, so I'm unsure on those. The MatHa Raptor looks derpy as well.
1. Post-50 cross-faction fleets. Tag every character to be able to team cross-faction after level 50. Or, tied to an accolade, achieved after completing [x] story arc. This also acts as a (much asked for) dil sink.
This, right here. It should have happened at the end of "Surface Tension," when the three factions formed their alliance against the Iconians. It's now two expansions overdue. There are a number of reasons why the factions should simply be merged after you reach a certain point, but my personal bias on this matter comes from having begun to buy KDF ships with the launch of Legacy of Romulus, not knowing that that expansion was going to mark both the beginning and the end of developer support for the KDF faction.
I quite like playing my Orion character, though I do have a Klingon female as well, what would encourage me PERSONALLY to play KDF more often though would be giving the KDF ships some COLOUR in the interior, all the smoky red TRIBBLE just makes my eyes hurt. I realise that the KDF are very military and don't believe in comfortable ship interiors, but I would LOVE to see colours other than freakin' red, also having a little more light in the KDF ship interiors would be nice as well. Cloaking is nice though...and a KDF Bird of Prey outfitted with Dual Heavy cannons can pack quite a punch, especially with Cannon Rapid Fire and amped-up torpedos.
More ships, account unlocked star-ship traits. Unique racial traits, lets be honest ALL races need Space and ground racial traits. Fix cloak make it more effective and harder for NPCs and PC to detect with out skill, equipment or specialization investment. Perhaps also increase the ambush bonus from stealth consoles ?
Give Klingons a unique gimmick to their ships like thruster settings or something, like Romulans singularity core with that I would also get rid of the power penalty , I would say give fed ships some sensor based gimmick too.
Unify the factions further, like allow fed and kdf fleets to merge with fed ones. So those fleets would have two different fleet star-bases.
I think even fed players wouldn't mind some new missions based on klingon politics or history.
Yeah, that worked out well the last time it happened, didn't it? Eventually anything they give to KDF ends up on Fed-side, too.
Cloak, Plasmonic Leech, etc.
It will never remain unique.
It's not you- it's me. I just need my space.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
In the Delta mission "Capture the Flag", a dozen romulans shoot the Vaudwaar overseer a bazillion times... as he slowly beats every one of them to a pulp. He has to be exposed to some sort of... instant death plasma-radiation just to make him briefly vulnerable. I don't recall any of that being in the shows.
Sorry, I can't resist. The phaser proof alien was a trope used in a ton of episodes. In TOS I can recall a phaser proof cloud alien they had to defeat with technobabble, and a phaser proof robot probe that Kirk had to talk into self-destructing. That's off the top of my head. I'm sure I could get more accurate/better examples if I wanted to research, but I think I've made my point.
Back to the topic, I for one heavily prefer KDF and KDF romulans. I guess, a lot of the accidental perks of playing that side went away as a second order effect of other changes. For example, as KDF you never had to see the insane TRIBBLE on the ESD chat, but now it's on the system map chat. Also, the game used to favor 'alt-itis' with the Mk XII gear, only the DOFF menu to manage, and no specializations. Back then, people would max out their first toon and then move on to a second one, and thus try other factions. Now, you play your main.
The real question is: Do they want to get more players to go KDF? If PvP isn't going to be a thing any more, the only reason they'd want two factions is to force players to create two toons. As in, if they have the resources to make four episodes, they could make it so everyone could play all four, or they could make it so each faction can only play two. Thus, they could 'make' the player make two toons. Where that falls flat is that this isn't WoW, they don't have a mentally handicapped group of addicts in the palm of their hands, and they can't 'make' their playerbase do anything. STO has to make players enjoy their time here and limit the grinding.
My suggestion: Since PvP is unbalanced and the story has gone friendly, maybe instead have competitive PvE. Think Legolas and Gimli competing to see who can kill the most orcs. They could have events with two teams, one Fed one KDF, each one on their own attack corridor, with a boss at the end, and whichever side clears their track first and does more damage to the boss gets a boost in the rewards.
Comments
I went Rom/KDF for my first toon primarily because of the look of the Rom ships. Secondarily, I didn't know how much real RP there would be but I liked the thought of being a more secretive warlike faction. I'm really glad I did as that LOR storyline got me hooked on the game.
My 2nd toon was Klingon. As funny as this may seem, I couldn't figure out how to get to Qo'nos with my Rom/KDF. Nothing in the story had taught me to actually fly towards a "hub" planet. i.e. Romulas has the menu right off the bat. But I found I really enjoyed playing the storyline of KDF and things like the Orion ships looked sort of cool so my next was an Orion KDF flying the free Marauder we got awhile back.
So as I said, from my experience it mostly came down to the ships that made me gravitate towards the factions I choose.
My character Tsin'xing
Iconians appeared in how many episdoes. Oh right, zero. Their ruins were discussed in a couple. And yet we have a large, major story based on that.
So true. The ship are so "dull" in their coloring etc. Some of the designs are nice looking but then they're so dark etc that they just end up looking bland. People love the bright white/silver sort of look of most of the Fed stuff. Which of course doesn't really fit in for the KDF faction stuff.
Don't cherry pick and ignore the rest of the point. I said before when the sides were in conflict, but there is no excuse for it now.
I must respectfully disagree. When I see ships such as the Bortasqu', the Negh'var variant, some of the other cruisers, images of melee weapons come to mind, such as a warhammer, maul, or greataxe. The Ning'tao and Ch'Tang Birds-of-Prey remind me vaguely of dragons when their wings are lowered, and some of the Raptors as punch daggers. The HoH'SuS as a deadly insect.
KDF ships are meant to be aggressive, brutal looking. Not "pretty" and full of comforts with rump-pillows and the automatic bidets. KDF ships are all about getting business done. From the simplicity and utility of the interiors, to the sharp edges of the exteriors, to the clearly visible weaponry on ships such as the Ning'tao, or the Martok. Just like John Wayne toilet paper. Rough, tough, doesn't take **** from anyone.
My character Tsin'xing
not everybody. for me, all the fed shiny ships are just annoying; when I look at a fed ship, I have no feelings; they seems just boring. The kdf ships for example the low tier BOP or the low tier raptors, they seem agressive, dangerous and personally I like that. A kdf ship can't be white with glowing parts or have big/ugly nacelles. But one of my favourite kdf ship is the orion Marauder T5-U. the fleet T5-U is cool, but the boff layout is crappy.
Well, the thread is about what it would take Fed players to play KDF. They're not like some of us that want something down and dirty or "aggressive" looking. I suppose one other thing that could get more people playing KDF is if KDF had a superior ship. I mean how many people played Rom just so they could have the scimitar? But then again those players are probably a minority as well.
I think you can have weapon-like looking and beautiful in one ship.
I would argue a ship like the Vor'cha or the Bird of Prey manage to look good. (And I think several of their variants look nice, too.)
The Klingon Pilot Raptors are meh. The Klingon Command Cruisers are bad.
The Bluegills are significantly different from the shows as well, granting their host incredible strength and resilience not seen on screen. Cryptic also invented an entire lifecycle for the creatures, as well as establishing them as "engineered".
Iconians aren't exactly "evil". They are a bit more complex then that, a complexity created by Cryptic.
Love it or hate it, but Cryptic has creatively expanded on several throw-away bits of Trek lore. They've done a really good job of weaving various plots together. What? So... Hassan is "not true KDF"... but he technically IS KDF... how?
This seems an amazing stretch of logic here. It's like saying Harry Mudd is a member of Starfleet because he is human and Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets.
In any case, Hassan is clearly NOT portrayed as a member of the KDF... which was my point.
The important thing is getting players to buy KDF stuff so Cryptic has incentive to create more. Getting players to play the KDF origin story is less important. The cool stuff is restricted TO the majority, not from. Look at AoY, the majority got a whole pack full of ships with unique game mechanics. KDF/Rom got 3 crossfaction ships. KDF/Rom didn't even get a lobi store ship in this round.
They are never going to make separate storylines for the factions. Even their new TOS faction only got 6 unique starter missions. We are on the same railroad tracks. Having some arbitrary limits on what train you run down those tracks or how you're dressed while doing it isn't going to result in different experiences, different experiences come from the freedom to choose different experiences. My "prescription" isn't meant to fill Cryptic's coffers any more. Like I said, they already have their majority for whom to sell their toys and can always ignore the minority factions when they want. It's meant to get the Klingons and Romulans out of the "unprofitable" category.
Because you can preach about the wonders of faction exclusivity all you want, but reality still is the Feds are the only ones who get exclusive stuff the way things are.
But Nimbus is written as a Romulan story so in that context fighting the Syndicate kinda makes sense.... although you later find out Hassan was in some way an ally of Obisek, but Obisek hadn't been established as a good guy in the Romulan story at this point.
My character Tsin'xing
"When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway
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It is far less ugly than the Mogh.
My character Tsin'xing
PetaQ...
"When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway
#Support Mirror Universe I.S.S. Prefixes
My character Tsin'xing
The person(s) who designed the latest KDF ship releases have done a fantastic job. After leaving the game because of Delta Rising, the person(s) that designed the KDF Pilot ships brought me back. Since then, the KDF ship designs have rewarded with the KDF T6 Dreadnoughts (focused artistic freedom at its best) and the D4x. Overall, STO has provided me with all the content I've ever wanted in a Star Trek game - with the exception of a corrected model of the D7 and K'Tinga. People said that the AOY model is new, but I don't see it. The leading edge of the pylons is still way too thick and doesn't have the inner edge curve and taper that it's supposed to.
Yes, a T6 K'Tinga with LTC and LT Tac BOFFs - with an updated D7/K'Tinga model with/and a bonus Quonus One skin.
With as much care that the person(s) who design the KDF ships give to the game, they must want to do this. I hope Cryptic has the license to do so and gives the person(s) the go ahead to spend the time to provide us with it. For me, it would make playing the game "Star Trek" again...as much as the AOY expansion itself.
In the Delta mission "Capture the Flag", a dozen romulans shoot the Vaudwaar overseer a bazillion times... as he slowly beats every one of them to a pulp. He has to be exposed to some sort of... instant death plasma-radiation just to make him briefly vulnerable. I don't recall any of that being in the shows.
The KDF murder Orions, Gorn and even other Klingons throughout various story arcs and later when we do patrol missions around New Romulus. The game as presented is pretty clear that the KDF does not have a monopoly on the races that are part of it. As far as I can tell, Hassan is just another criminal in the Syndicate with no ties to the KDF.
Captain Fang fights with a pink Lirpa, yet the "favored" weapon of the KDF is the bat'leth. Since the story is not really clear, I have no trouble thinking Fang and company are unaffiliated pirates or deserters. In either case, they need to be made examples of, and put down like dogs.
I would argue a ship like the Vor'cha or the Bird of Prey manage to look good. (And I think several of their variants look nice, too.)
The Klingon Pilot Raptors are meh. The Klingon Command Cruisers are bad.
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The Command Cruisers look like 50 pounds of whale **** in a 10 pound bag. And the fleet veteran reward ship looks pretty decent. Along with the Kurak. I don't see enough of the Siege Destroyers in action often nowadays, so I'm unsure on those. The MatHa Raptor looks derpy as well.
This, right here. It should have happened at the end of "Surface Tension," when the three factions formed their alliance against the Iconians. It's now two expansions overdue. There are a number of reasons why the factions should simply be merged after you reach a certain point, but my personal bias on this matter comes from having begun to buy KDF ships with the launch of Legacy of Romulus, not knowing that that expansion was going to mark both the beginning and the end of developer support for the KDF faction.
My character Tsin'xing
My character Tsin'xing
Give Klingons a unique gimmick to their ships like thruster settings or something, like Romulans singularity core with that I would also get rid of the power penalty , I would say give fed ships some sensor based gimmick too.
Unify the factions further, like allow fed and kdf fleets to merge with fed ones. So those fleets would have two different fleet star-bases.
I think even fed players wouldn't mind some new missions based on klingon politics or history.
Yeah, that worked out well the last time it happened, didn't it? Eventually anything they give to KDF ends up on Fed-side, too.
Cloak, Plasmonic Leech, etc.
It will never remain unique.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Sorry, I can't resist. The phaser proof alien was a trope used in a ton of episodes. In TOS I can recall a phaser proof cloud alien they had to defeat with technobabble, and a phaser proof robot probe that Kirk had to talk into self-destructing. That's off the top of my head. I'm sure I could get more accurate/better examples if I wanted to research, but I think I've made my point.
Back to the topic, I for one heavily prefer KDF and KDF romulans. I guess, a lot of the accidental perks of playing that side went away as a second order effect of other changes. For example, as KDF you never had to see the insane TRIBBLE on the ESD chat, but now it's on the system map chat. Also, the game used to favor 'alt-itis' with the Mk XII gear, only the DOFF menu to manage, and no specializations. Back then, people would max out their first toon and then move on to a second one, and thus try other factions. Now, you play your main.
The real question is: Do they want to get more players to go KDF? If PvP isn't going to be a thing any more, the only reason they'd want two factions is to force players to create two toons. As in, if they have the resources to make four episodes, they could make it so everyone could play all four, or they could make it so each faction can only play two. Thus, they could 'make' the player make two toons. Where that falls flat is that this isn't WoW, they don't have a mentally handicapped group of addicts in the palm of their hands, and they can't 'make' their playerbase do anything. STO has to make players enjoy their time here and limit the grinding.
My suggestion: Since PvP is unbalanced and the story has gone friendly, maybe instead have competitive PvE. Think Legolas and Gimli competing to see who can kill the most orcs. They could have events with two teams, one Fed one KDF, each one on their own attack corridor, with a boss at the end, and whichever side clears their track first and does more damage to the boss gets a boost in the rewards.