Hello captains!
I've been talking with some fleet mates (KajTheLiar and Pondafarr) about what the devs could do to improve the game and augment the player base which is beneficial for everybody. so without further ado here is the list:
1) More crew and ship interaction, including BOffs backstories and sidequests
2) BOff influence system so that what kind of captain you are actually matters(being a bad captain meaning you get a slower ability recharge time, etc...)
3) ability to fight space battles from inside the bridge
4) Quest choices that actually affect the game, and accolades that serve a purpose
5) More independent story arcs for each faction, and more development of the New Romulus and Tal Shiar sections for Rom players
6) Uniform options as quest rewards
7) Specific BOffs/DOffs as quest rewards, as with the Tutorial crew, and "Law"
8) More Romulan ship options
9) Better distinction between Bridge Crew and Away Team Crew
10) More things purchasable with Energy Credits and GPL.
11) Picking department heads actually makes a difference, like having DOffs assigned to ground/space duty
12) Penalties for dying (Lv20 onwards, you take a small XP and EC hit for respawning, or you can just wait to be revived.)
13) More RP elements
14) longer range on ground weapons.
15) more crew backstories (Like they did with Tovan)
16) Threat level indicator
17) More skin tone options for humans
18) Random events (boarding party, rescue missions), but make them skipable (in options, "enable random events")
19) There needs to be more difference between weapon types. Like, cannons use less power but have less effect on shields. Beams have better effective range but require more power. Etc.
20) More realistic power management (Ability to reroute power to certain systems but having to sacrifice other for the extra power after taking 50% damage for example)
21) more variation between combat, hyper engines, make the difference noticeable
Feel free to add anything you guys think would be a good addition to the game
Live long and prosper!
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24) vo by any of the captains
25) missing fed ships like the new orleans / niagra
26) ground based viechiles
27) more use of traditional enimies like borg, klingon, cardassian, romulian
28) ship part packs
29) more customisation in the ship selector
30) t4 galaxy ships added to the t5 / t6
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Some ships Pretty sure some can be used. The akula is in Sfc 1 and 2, st legacy, shattered universe for example. The zeypher in Startrek alien domain looks very simular to an akira varient in sto. The titan and avertine are not on tv so If cryptic wants them....... Most of these games are like over 15 years old anyway.
Want vo by bakula, shatner, stewart ect.
And they can reuse those races. Its not like they only appeared once in cannon
Anyway these are personal oppinions of mine n i never asked for anyone elses oppinion on my ideas. Nor would i tell anyone else there ideas cant be done.
As for the rest of this, somtaawkhar was kind enough to TRIBBLE all over our cheerios about the technical barriers to implementing our ideas. I'm not a programmer, but I did sleep with an Orion girl last night, and she said they are making wonderful advances in isolinear chips nowadays....the point is to ASK THE QUESTION, you may be surprised that someone finds an answer...
Again, can't be done without buying the right to use them AND CBS would still have to give it's consent to use non-canon ships.
Alot of things in this game, especially storylines, species and ships needs CBS approval.
The reason being given is that they don't want to negotiate to pay his Estate for their use.
(and the bad-blood Roddenberry created with Mr. Joseph back in the 70's didn't help either)
Based on that, I highly doubt CBS would be willing to negotiate/pay any other company to acquire ships to place in the game.
The Aventine was an extremely unique case as it's creator was willing to let CBS/Cryptic put it in the game for pretty much a song-and-a-dance.
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> Here comes the party pooper
>
> 1. That would be impossible due to how many Boffs are in the game, and how varied their races/backgrounds would be.
> 2. That would also be impossible given that it's impossible to make a "bad" decision in the game.
> 4. This would run into the same problem games like Mass Effect had, in where, the ever cascading list of options would lead to the devs having to find ways to make your options not matter outside of useless emails, or one off lines, that don't actually effect the story.
> 5. The factions already have unique story arcs that cover all major aspects of those races unique lore.
> 15. They specifically didn't do more crew backstories like Tovan because doing so would mean those Boffs would be forever forced on the character, and everyone complained about it when they did Tovan.
1) Ambiguous in the original post, but the suggestion wasn't that ALL BOffs should have backstory, just the Tutorial ones. You already get a snippet of it - for instance we know T'Met was the CMO on DS K-13, Skavrin was an engineer on the Zheng He, etc. Why not expand that to give them more flavour?
2) See point about having decisions in the game actually make an impact ;)
4) And yet it's successful in a whole raft of games, both MMO and otherwise. The game doesn't need to have every decision matter, but a few key ones should be available. Additionally, smaller decisions that don't affect the game's overall plot but do affect the current mission should be available more often. There should be multiple ways of completing missions, beyond the occasional and generally insignificant Tac/Eng/Sci optional objectives. This is supposedly a roleplaying game, and yet there is previous little within the game itself to support that notion - we don't make any choices, we don't get to find different solutions for problems, we don't get any character development, and our crew are just personality-free bots. STO is a very fun game, but it's less a RPG and more a 3rd-person shooter.
5) They have arcs, but with the exception of the Feds they're woefully brief and underdeveloped. New Romulus is discovered, investigated, and then fully colonised in the space of about 30 minutes of gameplay. One mission we're taking plant samples on a newly-discovered planet, the next mission it's got a fully established hub on it. It's not bad, it's just underdeveloped as a plot arc. I'd comment on the Klingon plot but I found it too dull and "Hey let's do what those Fed guys are doing!" to really pay much attention to it. Maybe that's my fault, or maybe it's just rubbish.
15) Referring back to a previous point, it's supposed to be a roleplaying game. Characters with personality aren't just important, they're essential. Plot-crew needn't be in your Away Team, or even still commissioned, for you to be able to interact with them. Interactions could be done entirely through dialogue screens; this is already partly in the game, after all - I frequently get my science officer giving me mission briefings even though she's not in my away team or assigned to any bridge stations. So a plot-crew could be dismissed from the active crew and continue as a DOff, for example, or just be completely removed from the active crew but still interact via dialogue. There are multiple solutions.
Right now, if you want a NPC that has any hint of a personality. Then your best option is What Lies Beneath. Outside of this, all the NPCs have the personality of a stump. They're all the same monotone, mechanical "I r tawk" personality. There is just nothing there. Just a blase speech pattern.
The game would be better without the voice overs. At least this way you could imagine the NPC's having a personality.
I believe that this would be problematic for many when you consider that once your bridge officers become... well your officers, whatever backstory they had essentially goes poof. They even cease to be voiced after their introduction, with the exception of Tovan up to the end of the Elachi arc. Backstories for them don't even matter that much in the game unless you're a role player and like making that stuff up.
Besides, most of the tutorial/early mission bridge officers that you get introduced to already do have some backstory. Their backstory isn't extensive since they figure eventually, you will likely replace them with better officers. Heck, you even get bridge officer rewards that are special ones that join up that might have had some impact on the story, but don't once they become part of your crew.
Breen Tactical Officer: This is a Breen officer that defects from the Breen way of life. Could have been interesting to see how they would have adjusted to the new life that they're living. (Granted, it might not be possible considering that it's a limited time reward).
Reman Science Officer: Same as above, just from Obisek's faction of Remans. A good story could have been him getting used to the federation, empire or Romulan Republic's way of life, or could even suggest that the player goes to New Romulus so he could see what his new world is now like.
Jem'hadar Tactical Officer: Could have a story where the officer has trouble adjusting to life aboard his new starship.
Nelen Exil: Very little is said of the Voth defector after they join the crew. For all we know, he could be the first Voth to actually step foot back on the planet his ancestors left.
Hierarchy Bridge Officer: Nothing is ever stated about why you get him following the mission. Maybe as an officer exchange program or a plant in your crew?
Kobali Bridge Officer: Obviously a big stand out of your crew. If you take her as part of your run on Kobali Prime, she doesn't drop dead if you're doing the mission with the gas that's toxic to the Kobali (though this could be for the reason bridge officers usually don't affect the story beyond the tutorial missions).
I think the point of the bridge officers being free of personalities is so that the player is free to make his bridge officers have whatever backstory that he or she wants beyond their initial appearance.
I would actually say that for the most part, the Klingon and Romulan arcs are actually pretty well developed, at least of the latter, but also for the former.
Klingon story arc: Most of the events of the Klingon Tutorial are orchestrated by Franklin Drake to help guide the player to Alexander and eventually to uncover the treachery of Torg that plagues the House of Martok. The rest of the story is weaker compared to the quality that was brought out with Legacy of Romulus, but hopefully the devs will bring it up to speed.
Romulan Story arc: The arc with New Romulus being founded doesn't exactly happen in the span of "30 minutes" as you state. We don't know how long of a time actually is given between New Romulus being founded and the events that happen later above New Romulus during the Elachi arc, but it has to be at least a few months which would be enough time to build at least a command center.
Basically, the reason why you have crew whom are not on your away team but still giving you mission briefings is down to how the mission is built for mission briefings. The officer could be your highest ranking officer or whatever and the game goes directly to them.
The problem with making plot-crew is that you get into the territory that the STO devs have to start coming up with varied dialog for any crew that is present. A starfleet crew, Romulan crew and a Klingon crew would all have different ways of looking at the situation, and thus that's extra dialog that would be needed in order to keep the officers in character. This would lead to more demand on the writers and possibly lead to the stories leaning heavily on the crew that should be present and take away from the fact that it's your point of view, at least in my opinion.
Don't count on it. Like PvP, the Klingon faction has been the re-headed step child of STO. It's been this way since the popping of the Excelsior the day after it's release in PvP back in 2013. Granted, they instituted the Klingon Story arc after this. But, it was slated to be released, and was already in production at the time.
I actually would not have minded if they made it that beam type weapons deal less damage to the hull, but higher to shields. While cannons deal pretty much equal damage to shields an the hull of a ship, and the torpedo/mine type weapons deal high damage to hull byet low damage to shields. Give the different weapon types more variety, and niches that they would fill.
When have they EVER really supported PvP in STO? PvP got what ONE new map (I think all the way back in Season 2?)
IDK how anyone cvan say "Cryptic supports STO PvP..." with a straight face.
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