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Ideas for Ship Interiors:
captainperkins
Member Posts: 379 Arc User
I never liked the argument that we don't get many high quality ship interiors due to their lack of sales.
Here's why:
1- Star trek Online is a beautiful game filled with up to date art. It makes no sense & seems lazy that literally everything from ship models, earth space dock and even the lighting has all been upgraded, yet we still have out dated disproportioned interiors...
2- Not everything Cryptic does should be directly based on generating revenue. (ill expand on this below)
3- I am sure everyone agrees that the screen-accurate interiors such as tos bridge and voyager and bellfast are all super neat. Especially the alien bridges and the jj verse constitution are spectacular.
These bridges create a true immersion in to trek for players.
Now let me acknowledge, I understand the devs try to give us amazing interiors by working them in to the main story arch to justify the time and expense of modelling them. This takes me back to my point that interiors arent necessarily direct sources of revenue... To expand on that, updating all interiors to be more screen-accurate and at least realistic as well aa making ship interiors more relevent to gameplay will ultimately bring new players and returning veterans...
With that said, here is what I'd love to see with a revamp of interiors. Please share yours too.
* Functional Holodecks. Make the holodeck the ONLY way to access mission replay. Perhaps give us some phaser range games where players have to use the first person shooter mode. Dilithium or other valuables can be a prize...
* Ship board dailies like on starbases. Example: fix the warp core. Re calibrate sensors. Etc. Some cool mini games where you see a beatiful close up on a science or engineering console and you have to hit the right controls to complete the sequence.
* crafting completely customized weapons and equipment. You can call it "experimental equipment*. You can choose beam/pulse type and colour. Mix parts to make the body of the device unique. The hitch is the weapon doesnt always work perfectly. You can test it on the holodeck phaser range before taking it in game.
*A ten Forward and a Briefing room where fleets can hold ceremonies where admirals can literally perform promotions giving medals. Marriages, for role players who want to tie the knot, and funerals to honour the end of a toons existence or retirement from a fleet... These official meeting places onboard ships will be able to hold up to 15 players making each ceremony/meeting for special/senior officers. The ship owner who sent the invites is the one who can perform the ceremonial emotes.
Example: funeral emote triggers a torpedo coffin drifting from the windows into space.
Wedding emote triggers visitors to throw rice. Promotion triggers pinning something to recipients collar/uniform and a hand shake.
Get rid of all the old bridges. Give us screen accurate bridges from the first six movies as well as an accurate prometheus bridge and nova bridge and sovereign & galaxy. Redo the popular original bridges to be sized properly and texturized. I liked the alternative intrepid bridge and the original space whale bridges.
All corridors and quarters need updating. The origins design is great for generic modern ships. We only see these lower decks in the tutorial and earth space dock. Lets implement them as the standard.
We need a screen accurate galaxy class lower decks and engineering.
We need accurate movie era lower decks and engineering.
Finally: a functional shuttle bay that you can do mini shuttle missions from.
Think about how often the shows and movies take place inside the ship. Giving star trek online interiors a true sense of purpose is one of the most over looked aspects of the game. Id love to invite my friends to my realistic captains quarters where we can interact and do missions together. Even have some ship dailies require two players to team up in order to accomplish. This would make sto complete in my opinion. It should simply be a matter of giving players a true trek theme park experience for cryptic to redo interiors. Also!!!! Give us 5 player poker game in the captains quarters.
*deep breaths*
Here's why:
1- Star trek Online is a beautiful game filled with up to date art. It makes no sense & seems lazy that literally everything from ship models, earth space dock and even the lighting has all been upgraded, yet we still have out dated disproportioned interiors...
2- Not everything Cryptic does should be directly based on generating revenue. (ill expand on this below)
3- I am sure everyone agrees that the screen-accurate interiors such as tos bridge and voyager and bellfast are all super neat. Especially the alien bridges and the jj verse constitution are spectacular.
These bridges create a true immersion in to trek for players.
Now let me acknowledge, I understand the devs try to give us amazing interiors by working them in to the main story arch to justify the time and expense of modelling them. This takes me back to my point that interiors arent necessarily direct sources of revenue... To expand on that, updating all interiors to be more screen-accurate and at least realistic as well aa making ship interiors more relevent to gameplay will ultimately bring new players and returning veterans...
With that said, here is what I'd love to see with a revamp of interiors. Please share yours too.
* Functional Holodecks. Make the holodeck the ONLY way to access mission replay. Perhaps give us some phaser range games where players have to use the first person shooter mode. Dilithium or other valuables can be a prize...
* Ship board dailies like on starbases. Example: fix the warp core. Re calibrate sensors. Etc. Some cool mini games where you see a beatiful close up on a science or engineering console and you have to hit the right controls to complete the sequence.
* crafting completely customized weapons and equipment. You can call it "experimental equipment*. You can choose beam/pulse type and colour. Mix parts to make the body of the device unique. The hitch is the weapon doesnt always work perfectly. You can test it on the holodeck phaser range before taking it in game.
*A ten Forward and a Briefing room where fleets can hold ceremonies where admirals can literally perform promotions giving medals. Marriages, for role players who want to tie the knot, and funerals to honour the end of a toons existence or retirement from a fleet... These official meeting places onboard ships will be able to hold up to 15 players making each ceremony/meeting for special/senior officers. The ship owner who sent the invites is the one who can perform the ceremonial emotes.
Example: funeral emote triggers a torpedo coffin drifting from the windows into space.
Wedding emote triggers visitors to throw rice. Promotion triggers pinning something to recipients collar/uniform and a hand shake.
Get rid of all the old bridges. Give us screen accurate bridges from the first six movies as well as an accurate prometheus bridge and nova bridge and sovereign & galaxy. Redo the popular original bridges to be sized properly and texturized. I liked the alternative intrepid bridge and the original space whale bridges.
All corridors and quarters need updating. The origins design is great for generic modern ships. We only see these lower decks in the tutorial and earth space dock. Lets implement them as the standard.
We need a screen accurate galaxy class lower decks and engineering.
We need accurate movie era lower decks and engineering.
Finally: a functional shuttle bay that you can do mini shuttle missions from.
Think about how often the shows and movies take place inside the ship. Giving star trek online interiors a true sense of purpose is one of the most over looked aspects of the game. Id love to invite my friends to my realistic captains quarters where we can interact and do missions together. Even have some ship dailies require two players to team up in order to accomplish. This would make sto complete in my opinion. It should simply be a matter of giving players a true trek theme park experience for cryptic to redo interiors. Also!!!! Give us 5 player poker game in the captains quarters.
*deep breaths*
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Comments
I am dead serious here, this is a game, not a complete replacement of one's imagination or reality.
Real life sucks, trust me I know. I have a fleetmate that has been on in over a week, which I suspect is due to the protests in Hungary.
I can personally say that this game helped me therapy wise when I had something tragic happen, but there is a point where you realize it is a game.
Engineering, Sick Bay, Science Labs, Shuttle and Cargo Bays, Crew Decks and Lounges. More nodes to display trophies or other decorative elements that could either be earned as mission rewards or sold in the C-Store. Customizable color schemes for walls, floors, ceilings. Customizable furniture, equipment, computer panel themes. Customizable crew appearance, possibly even populated by using your DOFF roster. Assigning BOFFs to appear at certain stations and areas of the ship.
Give the decks some functionality, too. Fleet Starbases give Fleet Members access to Fleet Equipment, but not every one is in or has access to Fleet Starbases and their equipment. Perhaps make some, but not all, of the Fleet Equipment available here, or maybe different equipment entirely that can't be obtained from Fleet Starbases. Make Fleet Marks usable here or convertible to a Starship Mark for use on Starship Projects or equipment. And what about Fleet level Shuttles for use in shuttle maps/missions? Perhaps make them exclusively available from your own Shuttle Bay.
It wouldn't have to be done all at once, but released over time, as Starbase Holdings have been.
And yes, it would be a standardized interior layout, with customizable features being the only real variables. The interiors could then be used to replace story mission maps that take place inside ships, or used in future missions that take place inside ships. New queues could be invented that take place on board a ship, like Ship Boarding or Repel Boarders actions; a capture the flag like event where a boarding team needs to capture/defend the bridge or engineering.
I've been brainstorming ideas for Ship Interiors for quite some time, so I could keep going, but I think you get the general idea.
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I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!!
Great ideas badmoonrising, along with some of my ideas I think it would bring a whole new dimension to the game.
As for the comments about how Cryptic is a business, I KNOW that. You missed my point entirely somtawk... I was suggesting that those of us who support STO by spending real money as I have, will always pay for things like keys, and so we do deserve a few treats. I am not overly thrilled that people get ships free that I had once paid for with real money... So ship interiors can still be for sale, even if their sales aren't that high- as homage to those of us who support and want to see the game be a great representation of trek.
You know, the game looks so great and has been updated in all areas except interiors. There comes a point when this doesn't make sense. When Discovery comes on TV this year- we know it will breathe new life in to STO, I am already excited for owning my own Discovery and I hope we get uniforms and interiors & weapons from the new show!
Updating and Re-purposing ship interiors is a great idea before the next phase of Trek arrives.
As for the Holodeck being a new coding system, I don't think it is. WE had a functioning holodeck at the academy and it was planned to install them on Fleet bases, but it's been shelved for now. I know Interiors and details like the ones we brought up here are tedious and don't directly play in to the main story arch- but I think it's a chore that eventually has to get done. The idea that your ship is your personal home is really important and should be revisited.
The potential for what could be done is huge. I love the idea about running it like a fleet starbase, with unlockable projects and items that could both be won, crafted or bought from the C-Store. Another revenue idea, which I would certainly buy into, the member who suggested it obviously would, and I'd bet there would be many, MANY others. In fact, it'd be possible to use the framework for the Reputation system for this, with different tiers of items and projects to complete - I personally love having something to work towards and it makes the reward that much sweeter when you've worked for it.
I think the crafting or duty officers that are accessable from the HUD in any map could be stripped back and the better projects only available from the interior. We already know that duty officer assignments available change based on where we are, so we know such things are possible. Anything to give more reasons to go to the interior. If there's reason to go there, people will use it.
On Advanced and Elite, there are ship injuries and character injuries which we can carry regenerators and components for to repair on the move or get them repaired for free at ESD. How about have the minor (possibly even the major) injuries able to be dealt with in the interior and reserve the critical injuries for dealing with at a Starbase. There's even canon precidents for this: Sickbay is able to deal with most injuries, but Picard went to a starbase for cardiac replacement. It also makes sense for a ship made up of crew members with different talents (including engineering crews) to be able to repair minor damage. Obviously for serious or refits a shipyard or spacedock would be needed, but the ships didn't return to starbase after a battle each week. Voyager certainly couldn't. Perhaps have repairs for the ship able to be carried out in Engineering (or at least craftable) - I love the minigame idea for recalibrating sensors on an LCARS console. There's potential for loads like this. A 'Connect the pipes' minigame for damaged circuitry, perhaps? And of course, there's Sickbay for personnel injuries. Lets use Sickbay for what it was always intended for.
It would probably also be possible to embed spawn points into interior maps to have random boarding parties beam in during missions. There were so many 'Ship in a Bottle' episodes in Star Trek, some of which are among the best. Imagine grinding to a halt while travelling in Sector Space and getting an option to pick up a mission to find out why we've dropped out of warp. Let's go to Engineering and run some diagnosics, follow some clues to another ship location and just as we figure out a mystery, repel a boarding party that have found their way on board or disable some devices that our crew may have found. We've seen this many times and it would be great as having more on our ships would help us feel more attached to them.
Basically, the scope for interiors is almost endless and injects a vital part of Trek into the in-game universe. I think the Devs do a fantastic job and love this game and hope it continues for a long, long time to come.
Even combining the unique bridge with a regular interior would be fine with me. And for others, the interiors already exist - Tal Shiar adapted, Iconian, it's all there.
I can only agree. THIS is what this game needs. It would open a whole new world of possibillitys and for moneymaking to the devs and give us more game depht. Lets hope the right person reads this...
@cidjack,
You obviously got something wrong.
It is not about escaping reality, it is about a genre which is admired by its fans in a very special way.
If you knew a die hard trek fan, then you would surely know what I mean. Have you ever been on a Trek convention? Many even dress up like their heroes from the series. I know of two people who have designed their apartment like the interior of a ship. It even goes so far that some speak perfectly Klingon.
On comparison, this proposal for the game is quite harmless...
I guess you have to love star trek to a certain degree to understand this ...
Sorry for my problably bad english, my native language is german.
I stopped right there...what world are you living in? Pretty much everything designed it about generating revenue...their a company, a for profit company...so yes is is based on generating revenue...or have you not noticed that Feds get the majority of love in this game?
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where is the liek button when I need one?
*More* Romulan bridge packs?! How's about we start with just 1?! :P
Making money is one thing; having the game be all about making money, is quite another. Usually, when games/movies/music becomes all about raking in the quick bucks, they fail shortly thereafter. Fortunately, for humanity, we seek a measure of quality too (and if it weren't so, Cryptic would just sell ten million God-consoles today, and see the game crash and burn the very next day).
Also, that 'quality' I was talking about generates revenue too, albeit harder to quantify. It's measured in terms of 'They are enjoying the game, and its immersive aspects, so they are still playing.' (And thus contributing to generating revenue in general) It would be a gross mistake for Cryptic if they were just blindly going for 'most money per hour.' They're not fools, of course, so they won't do that.
Tl;dr: there's nothing wrong with enhancing certain game's QoL aspects, like bridges, every now and then -- even when the revenue it generates doesn't immediately show up in Geko's metrics.
My enjoyment of Star Trek is not measured off a yard stick or to be compaired to others.
You speak of Star Trek fans that put time and effort to dress up for a convention, and other acts to show their love for Star Trek, but you overlooked something. They took it upon themselves to do those tasks. What we have here is people asking a company to spend time and resources to include something in the game that would not have a broadbase appeal, or a return on investment.
A true fan of Star Trek would make do with what they had and make the most out of it.
I have a KT Intel dreadnought and have visited the bridge a total of 2 times , just to show a couple of fleeties what it looked like, other then that i never go there and there are more players just like me who dont even pay it no mind.
Just be glad OP thre are some ship bridge packs.
To expand on the holodeck maybe you can choose a veteran dillithum mine to run where you can get more rewards? And run a program where you can have a dabo table on your ship as well. Also even run programs where you can go back to events like Omega particle sableization and get some tech upgrades.
I agree. Everything doesn't have to be about making money directly. There is an awful lot in-game readily available. All one has to do is play the game and earn it. Even the pay elements have a path of playing to earn rather than paying. The main thing is offering a quality experience that brings players back to play more and possibly spend more.
Addressing issues that @cidjack and @jorantomalak brought up: broadbase appeal, return on investment, and lack of functionality.
It's sort of a false argument to say that because it isn't currently used much or isn't currently functional much or there currently isn't much interest, that it wouldn't be once it's revamped. Yes, maybe not many players visit their bridges because there's nothing to do there now. Maybe not many players buy bridge packs because there's nothing to do there now. But part of the point here is to put something to do there. What was the broadbase appeal of Fleet Starbases before they existed? How useful were Fleet Starbases before they existed? What has been the return on investment? I'd be willing to bet the answers would be the same depending upon how Starship Interiors are implemented.
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Technically 1 is more.
While it sounds great to us players, people in Corporate have different ideas of 'what works' entirely. They don't live in the same world as we do. It's the reason why Gamestop's corporate see selling new games as a problem for the company (IE: Circle of Life).
And think about how much of that involved just the characters standing around talking.... something that doesn't make for a fun game experience.[/quote]
Actually there is a good population of roleplayers (yes this is an rpg) that do actually that most of the time they spend in game.
Maybe if cryptic gave us something to do inside our ships, make it worthwhile to go there as it is besides a few doff missions theres really no reason to use the bridge or interior.
So no its not very functional per say to add to the game , but if your thing is role play then i can understand that need or want but overall the majority of players wouldnt really pay it no mind and as i mentioned factor in time and resources and cryptic takes a lose.
Personally i think they should make our bridge more part of our immersion, like when you review these rep logs make us go to our bridge to see them not DS9, but as someone mentioned in another thread sarrish mina might be some devs waifu so we are forced to interact with her at Deeps[Moderated]9.
I honestly don't think it's all that grim. Look at those old bridge packs, for example. Now imagine all ship interiors would stilll look like that! You can get away with that, for a while, and then people start realizing your engine and/graphics are hopelessly outdated, whereas other games are totally shiny. And then they'll move on to greener pastures. So, Cryptic has to update stuff too. Like Lighting 2.0; same engine, but things now look considerably better! Like I said, they're no fools at Cryptic: even if they don't want to, and rather sell you things that have an immediate revenue return to show for, they kinda have to update stuffz occassionally, lest they perish.
@meimeitoo
I agree whole-heartedly with everything youve said here. You worded my sentiments far more eloquently than I could have! Yes, ship interior revamp wont have immediate gross netting however I think it will generate cumulative income. The ideas here are only the tip of the ice berg.
Two points I want to cover here:
1- The argument that it would be annoying to make some things "only accessible from ship interior" is frankly ridiculous... The ENTIRE GAME is about flying here and there to access missions!!! How many things are only accessible on earth space dock or via fleet holdings??? Giving dedicated functions to ship interiors that both give players unique items & save them trips back to base will finally make your starship a home! I want to stay in the delta quadrant for more than one hour, maybe if my ship served as a home id do foundry missions and drift in the delta quadrant for a week or two!
Just one example of how interiors can effect where players go on the exterior.
Imaginewant to highlight some great ideas I've seen here and blend them...
*5 person Poker in captains cabin.
*Holodeck phaser range & mission replay.
*Replicator in captains quarters serves to modify uniform as well as serve consumables.
*unique ship systems that give valuables such as holodeck and replicators break and must be maintained at random (just like on the show...janeways replicator hated her.) Players who dont use their interior could ignore this but those of us who like our consumables or holodeck rewards will enjoy having to fix these systems via running to cargo bay to grab neral gel packs or reroute systems from engineering console #47...
*sick bay heals most injuries.
*lower decks and decore unlockable like starbase projects. Imagine getting potted plants as well as fan art and datass original paintings unlocked for your galaxy class interior.
*interaction with lcars panels for minigames such as rerouting circuits as well as calibrating sensors.
*boarding parties and battle drills that friends can join in via bridge invites.
*minor ship repairs doable in engineering.
*customizable captains chair and ready room. (this might be too much but hey lets dream)
*A ten foreward lounge or event space that holds up to 15 invited players for memorial, wedding, promotion or general fleet meeting. Fleets have star bases but this feature could let non fleet allied players to meet with their friends in a special dedicated space & fleet admirals always have a cool ship they do things from...
* functional Shuttle bay that you can launch shuttle queues from as well as a shuttle mini game and small craft customization. Pilot practice or attaching mines to the bellies of cardassian ships in a nebula or a massive version of your ship that actually looks scale compared to your shuttle where buy you fly to various damaged areas in a repair pod and fix them. (this mini mission could be part of ship repairs.)
I have not been asking a company to fuflill my escapism... I have played sto since launch. My bf pre purchased my lifetime subscription in 2010. From day 1 I have wanted to play as the 1980's movie era officer. We had the movie era uniform and ships from comnie refit to miranda and excelsior and then ambassador class and stargazer later! I was confused why we had no movie era tech and made a big stink about it until our beloved devs gave us the undiscovered lock box!
Ive spent thousands on this game and continue to support it. I love sto, and im making these suggestions because I want to see the game succeed- NOT because I am escaping reality.
Now all I need is a movie era bridge pack and unlockable lower decks so my fleet admiral can fly around in his Thomas M re-moddled movie era connie refit (to be released with the remoddled t6 miranda
Live Long & PROSPER Star Trek Online!
Those of us (like myself) who followed STO since its mention in 2007 remember the promises about ship interiors before Cryptic rescued the game from moth balls. Our devs did an amazing job given a limited engine and timetable. We almost lost STO before it started lets remember...
This game has helped me through the most tough times. I lost my mother two months after launch in 2010...
I have met amazing people & made deep friendships with other star trek onliners over the past decade... "Relationships that grow deeper with the passage of time"- Janeway
The game has reached a certain level prestige having lived on so long. I dont mean to get sentimental for sentimentality sake alone here... The truth is that ship interiors are truly sentimental. Gene Roddenberry always said he wrote the hero ship as a Character in and of itself. The ideas we have all pitched here are simply geared to giving the ship a true purpose beyond *pewpew*. As for the time & money to make the interior revamp real; it is necessary because sto has always aimed at giving players an authentic trek experience. The question begged here is: how can we have trek whilst forgetting the dimension of "life aboard a starship"?
Pps: sorry for typos i am on my ☎