> @warpangel said: > sophlogimo wrote: » > > That's right. People will want to have ship interiors, and will be willing to pay for actually useful ones. > > > > Which is why we get things like the canon Galaxy interior. > > Shipboard action fails because of the numbers. It's not for lack of interest. There are simply too many interiors and too many of them are too small for anything but shooting fish in a barrel. It would take enormous amount of work to build all those maps into a useful state. > > And that's before actually building the missions that would take place in them. > > Sure, they could give us a generic interior and have shipboard missions in that...but then that would be no different than beaming in to any other generic ship. The people who paid 2k Zen for that canon Galaxy interior probably wouldn't be too happy to switch to a generic (even if they could fit it with a Galaxy wallpaper and props) just to be able to do things. > > I do believe a customizable generic interior as player housing could still be profitable, though.
Logistically, all that would be needed would be three baseframes (Small, Med, Large ship), materials appropriate to each faction (Red lighting and dark metal for KDF, shiny metal and bright lights for Starfleet, Green ambiance for Rom.), and then allow customization interior work.
Ship interiors are rarely used in content of STO. I believe this is a pity, and it should change. So let's collect ideas how to make them more interesting, more relevant to the game.
The problem, in part, I think, is that ppl are lazy. They could, for instance, easily move doff missions to that (already existing, but now completely obsoleted) bridge concole that say 'contact duty officers.' But then people would start whining, clamoring for a button on the UI. And it's why we have so many insta-transwarps.
Still, I say, move doff missions to the bridge consoles again, and do the same for Admiralty: move those missions to a tactical bridge console.
Well, the topic is about how to make them relevant again, so removing them would actually make them irrelevant.
So, destroy roleplaying and prompt roleplayers to leave the game? amazing idea can't believe I haven't thought of it.
That's not what I was suggesting at all. I was actually responding to the post directly above the one you quoted, which referenced removing them.
My apologies then I misunderstood your post. I mean, all ship interiors are used for now at all is Roleplaying, so any changes have to take the (proportionally significant in this game) roleplay community into account.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
Add a bank/account bank, exchange, and mail to all bridges. Simple, add a vendor to sell junk to, a replicator or something. And you have pretty much made bridges 1000x more useful than they currently are. Aside from that, mini games that reward something meaningful, like calibrate your warpcore mini game in engineering. Attune sensor array, etc etc. Make them simple fun games that doesnt have to be repeated 10,000 times to get a decent reward and people will do them.
Especially if we get tricorder games, like med bay stuff, or used on missions to disable force fields. Tricorders are huge part of the shows and virtually overlooked here in STO. To add some cool flare depending on your character, you get diff tricorder look like TOS, TNG, etc you could simply set it in the option of our appearance tabs in the tailor.
Rewards for minigames could be new kits, skills, equipment, etc etc.
The building blocks to making interiors useful is already there. A Foundry like tool to customize your ships interiors, introduction of custom items for interiors introduced through the Cstore, Lockboxes, Lobi Store and Mission Rewards and drops. The Starship itself is your Avatar, but its Interior should of been Player Housing a long time ago. We have a plethora of Fleet assets. But besides buying a new ship...a new skin for your Avatar. Theres nothing to really call your own.
After playing ESO for the last 3 years on PS4 and being engrossed in Player Housing. I have to say that if Cryptic understood how much money it is missing out on. It would throw everything it had at giving players a customizable housing system by utilizing their long forgotten interiors.
Anyone else remember the supergroup bases and lairs from City of Heroes/City of Villains? And how you could throw items in, to build your place how you wanted to, and how it had interactive stations?
Still hoping for Romulan bridges to be able to mount trophies from accolades one day as well.
Well, the topic is about how to make them relevant again, so removing them would actually make them irrelevant.
So, destroy roleplaying and prompt roleplayers to leave the game? amazing idea can't believe I haven't thought of it.
That's not what I was suggesting at all. I was actually responding to the post directly above the one you quoted, which referenced removing them.
My apologies then I misunderstood your post. I mean, all ship interiors are used for now at all is Roleplaying, so any changes have to take the (proportionally significant in this game) roleplay community into account.
It's cool. Misunderstandings happen. I actually have a lengthy suggestion on page one of this thread as to how I'd love to see them updated. It could easily accomodate the roleplaying community.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
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Add a bank/account bank, exchange, and mail to all bridges. Simple, add a vendor to sell junk to, a replicator or something. And you have pretty much made bridges 1000x more useful than they currently are.
And you also have a situation MMO's generally don't want. They want you to visit 'social' zones for that, like ESD or DS9, etc.
Personally, I'd love to see a new 'coffer', exclusively available via your bridge, where loot goes into. That has several advantages: it offloads your current inventory (which fills up way too fast with salvage materials nowadays), allows Cryptic to sell extra salvage space; and, last but not least, Makes The Bridge Great Again. And, if they're smart about it, they add a 'Salvage all' button on said coffer (as it only fills up with salvage anyway).
A couple of things here... and this is A GREAT TOPIC!!!
1. BOFF assignment of seats on the bridge. Currently the seating seems to bit random, with some limited assignment per station. I'd like to have as full a bridge as possible, with my boffs. For instance, I'm zipping around in my new interceptor, and there's roughly 10 stations, only three of which are occupied.
2. Even though I have a completely different set of BOFFs assigned to be department heads, when I use the interior sets, there's just some unknown officer doling out assignments. It would be nice to have the little blue "duty officer assignments" box attached to the department head or something.
3. Maybe ship board emergencies and/or invasions? That might be difficult to program, but everyone has a bridge, at least. LOL, it would be fun, but I'm not asking Cryptic to have that tilt-a-bridge thing from TOS
Add a bank/account bank, exchange, and mail to all bridges. Simple, add a vendor to sell junk to, a replicator or something. And you have pretty much made bridges 1000x more useful than they currently are.
And you also have a situation MMO's generally don't want. They want you to visit 'social' zones for that, like ESD or DS9, etc.
In ToR my house as all the things i listed, but i still go to the starbases and so does everyone else. You still dont have skill vendors, star ship customization, ship vendors etc etc. Plenty of reasons to still go to ESD.
Add a bank/account bank, exchange, and mail to all bridges. Simple, add a vendor to sell junk to, a replicator or something. And you have pretty much made bridges 1000x more useful than they currently are.
And you also have a situation MMO's generally don't want. They want you to visit 'social' zones for that, like ESD or DS9, etc.
ESO solved this by introducing Bankers/Merchants that will allow you access to your personal bank/sell items. But would not let you access say the Guild Bank or buy items. These NPC followers can be summoned anywhere besides Cyrodiil which is the warzone and they can be placed in multiple homes.
A lot of players still park their characters at the banks or merchants after a session of gaming. So as long as theres still a reason to go to social zones, like missions and the need to sell/bank things or hit the exchange. Seems like places like ESD would still be a very popular place for PCs.
Solo/Fleet queue. Your ship is infested with tribbles (Easy), Terran Empire (Adv) or Borg (Elite). Destroy x amount for x amount of fleet marks under the time limit. Destroy all in each designated area for optional x amount of fleet marks under the time limit.
Solo/Fleet queue. Your ship is infested with tribbles (Easy), Terran Empire (Adv) or Borg (Elite). Destroy x amount for x amount of fleet marks under the time limit. Destroy all in each designated area for optional x amount of fleet marks under the time limit.
Ship interiors are rarely used in content of STO. I believe this is a pity, and it should change. So let's collect ideas how to make them more interesting, more relevant to the game.
In ship cargo bays as a tertiary form of storage. This could be STO's version of housing storage that's found in so many fantasy mmos out there.
Commendation missions that made sense. Rather than having it all be a Doff mission have daily commendation missions on the interior of the ship only in certain rooms certain things have to take place in order to earn either dilithium ore or to earn commendation scores for example, holodeck training for espionage missions, or the test to earn a higher rank, or living breathing historical events in the lore in the holodeck, or a mission to quarantine a planet, or a mission to build and dispense satelites in the cargo bay.
Loads of things to do where your character or your boffs are all doing these things in front of you. The rewards could even be those tech upgrade modules.
Attracting clusters of players to stand around interact buttons in social zones when using ultimately private UI elements is stupid. They're obviously not actually talking to the NPCs or using the consoles or whatever. Looks silly and unrealistically game-ish, like everyone's playing one of those mobile games based on GPS location, sans phone in hand.
And I don't really see doing the same standing around in a bridge map any less stupid, only less publically so. If all there is is a button to press, it may as well be in a menu.
Both social zones and bridge maps deserve activities that actually involve the map not just hotspots to open UI windows that could just as well be done anywhere. It's wasting a good map making it just a place to stand around browsing UI.
A couple of things here... and this is A GREAT TOPIC!!!
1. BOFF assignment of seats on the bridge. Currently the seating seems to bit random, with some limited assignment per station. I'd like to have as full a bridge as possible, with my boffs. For instance, I'm zipping around in my new interceptor, and there's roughly 10 stations, only three of which are occupied.
The boffs on your bridge are mostly whoever you have slotted for space combat duty.
It occured to me one day as I was logging in: I have the ability to create content via the Foundry. If the Powers That Be can grant me this ability vs the Foundry, why couldn't the same architecture be tweaked to customize the interior of starships, assign seating on the bridge to various BOFFs, assign the relevant duty officer tabs to department chief BOFFs, and change the uniforms of the miscellaneous crewmen? And maybe assign "X" points for potential invasions of the ship?
Is that possible? If we've got the Foundry already, why couldn't this be just another function of that?
The Foundry is a limited scope entity that doesn't take into account the diverse gameplay that goes into creating new content at a clip the playerbase would except. Creating anything in game, takes time and resources. Even with the Foundry, I good mission, or set up can take days to two weeks. So while Tacofangs, for instance is working on your interior. he isn't doing anything else.
It is easy for Foundry people to think something is as simple as just doing it, but the reality is, as a Foundry author, that is all you are doing. The same can be true to Developers, but the difference is what they are working on, and the fact that their jobs depend on what is or isn't released.
If a Foundry author doesn't make the "right" thing, he just goes on to the next project. If a developer doesn't make the "right" thing, it can mean the whole project (STO in this case), and by extension, his job, is in jeopardy. That is why the devs tend to prioritize something over another. Unfortunately, that means things like Custom Interiors gets shelved because they need to focus on something else.
The Foundry is a limited scope entity that doesn't take into account the diverse gameplay that goes into creating new content at a clip the playerbase would except. Creating anything in game, takes time and resources. Even with the Foundry, I good mission, or set up can take days to two weeks. So while Tacofangs, for instance is working on your interior. he isn't doing anything else.
It is easy for Foundry people to think something is as simple as just doing it, but the reality is, as a Foundry author, that is all you are doing. The same can be true to Developers, but the difference is what they are working on, and the fact that their jobs depend on what is or isn't released.
If a Foundry author doesn't make the "right" thing, he just goes on to the next project. If a developer doesn't make the "right" thing, it can mean the whole project (STO in this case), and by extension, his job, is in jeopardy. That is why the devs tend to prioritize something over another. Unfortunately, that means things like Custom Interiors gets shelved because they need to focus on something else.
Thank you for a thorough answer. I'm afraid I wasn't clear in my question. I had no thought for Cryptic designing custom interiors. Rather, I thought it might be good to tweak the existing Foundry architecture to allow PLAYERS to customize their own interiors (and crew).
The Foundry is a limited scope entity that doesn't take into account the diverse gameplay that goes into creating new content at a clip the playerbase would except. Creating anything in game, takes time and resources. Even with the Foundry, I good mission, or set up can take days to two weeks. So while Tacofangs, for instance is working on your interior. he isn't doing anything else.
It is easy for Foundry people to think something is as simple as just doing it, but the reality is, as a Foundry author, that is all you are doing. The same can be true to Developers, but the difference is what they are working on, and the fact that their jobs depend on what is or isn't released.
If a Foundry author doesn't make the "right" thing, he just goes on to the next project. If a developer doesn't make the "right" thing, it can mean the whole project (STO in this case), and by extension, his job, is in jeopardy. That is why the devs tend to prioritize something over another. Unfortunately, that means things like Custom Interiors gets shelved because they need to focus on something else.
Thank you for a thorough answer. I'm afraid I wasn't clear in my question. I had no thought for Cryptic designing custom interiors. Rather, I thought it might be good to tweak the existing Foundry architecture to allow PLAYERS to customize their own interiors (and crew).
the thing is that what makes a functioning interior is beyond the scope that the foundry is capable of currently, you can make a set that looks like an interior but it'll lack all the functionalities of full interior or even a custom ship bridge. Also if it was quick and easy to modify the foundry tools to be able to create functioning interiors it would have probably been done already.
Don't assume that Cryptic devs are incompetent enough to not figure out simple, quick and easy solution to problem they have. If you have a "silver bullet" solution to something, the chances are that what you're suggesting isn't as easy to impliment as you think it should be.
I'd love a weapon trophy wrack in my ready room...or a separate weapons locker room.
I have numerous weapons that I'd don't use but are just too cool to let go, (so many bat'leth) it would be great to have a wall to hang them on display.
An interior system that was relatively generic but allowed you to unlock new sections via section specific missions (both for the character and diff's etc), for example doing science missions to expand the science sections on the ship...adding astrometrics etc. as places to visit and have ongoing projects and missions to do once unlocked. Having a basic look then allowing for c-store purchases to customize it (or have some pieces unlocked in missions and bigger projects like the rep system) would allow them to make money and drive more interest in the missions and queues that work toward cool stuff to decorate the ship.
“Hi There!” (…as written on the small nuclear bomb strapped to John Crichton’s waist in "We're So Screwed (Part 3) La Bomba" - Far Scape.)
First, a summary of Three Main Points which are central to our cause:
1. Our personal Ship Interiors should be developed as holdings similar to Fleet holdings like star bases, and allow for more personal customization. Including setting the Uniforms of our crew and other aesthetic choices, adding functionality (like exchange consoles) and the ability to purchase resources and services within the ship. We should be able to DESIGNATE which console does what too.
2. Personal Ship Interiors should be involved in (at least some) Mission Story Lines. This may require the institution of more universal generic ship layouts and the replacement of “one room” interiors with standardized maps.
3. Personal Ship interiors should be more INTEGRAL to the game as a whole, so the game would “feel” more like Star Trek.
I agree completely with these three primary points. The first two have been well discussed.( e.g. see following quote which is 100% on Target.) I am here to discuss the third point.
I would like to remind everyone that our current fleet starbase system was based on the same technology that is used for the bridges. In other words: For anything they have achieved for the fleet holdings, there could probably also a similar thing to be implemented for ship interiors with acceptable effort:
Queuing up and having the action take place on one of the players' bridge (like in a fleet alert).
Individual customization options, mendable with projects that eat in-game resources (like fleet projects).
A growing list of locations on board - bridge, engineering, main deck, warp nacelles, crew quarters deck, (like fleet holdings).
Unlock for certain vendors and contacts (like duty officer contacts and fleet gear vendors).
Another thought: All bridge officers in one's roster could be friendly NPC's in an on-board missions... so your actual team would still be 5 in a mission, but equipping the other boffs would pay off.
Now as to the Third point “Personal Ship interiors should be more INTEGRAL to the game as a whole, so the game would “feel” more like Star Trek,” here is what I envision…
1. When we “beam up” we should be offered a choice to either go directly to space view OR to beam to our ships interior. To be most cannon this should involve arriving in the Transporter room, but settings or re-beaming (as in our starbase holdings) could allow arrival directly onto the bridge. Arriving in the Transporter Room would allow for more inter action with other elements in the ships interior as one traveled on foot to the bridge.
2. When the Ship’s Captain sits in the Captain’s chair on the bridge, a button should appear to go to “space view” – this could be sold as a Neural Holographic Interface with the ships computer. (It should also provide for our Toon’s feet NOT sinking into the deck as we sit there, which is what currently happens.)
3. Even a teeny tiny amount of effort spent on Bridge officer AI would go a LONG way. Bridge Officers (and other NPCs) should be able to be questioned for information pertaining to missions. Different interaction choices should lead to different outcomes… Have ANY of the Developers played Mass Effect or SWTOR (online)? Massive effort spent on NPC relational aspects would provide massive rewards in taking this game from a 2/10 to maybe an 8/10 in game quality. Even PWE Neverwinter does a much better job than STO, and (gasp!) Star Wars The Old Republic (online) is MASSIVELY better at this so this is NOT unreasonable, and is necessary I would argue if this game even hopes to survive and grow. Again, Improving NPC AI and creating relational interactions – Especially for BOFF NPCs – is critical if this game intends to stay in business. Right now this entire aspect is missing. Not so in its major competitors. BOFFs in STO are about as interesting now as the consoles we install in ships console slots. Being onboard ship with them or on away team missions NEEDS to involve relational interactions that grow and change as we interact with them. The ships interior is fundamental to this Captain’s should sometimes be confronted by BOFFs when they enter ships spaces (like the bridge or sick bay or engineering) with choices and problems that need to be resolved. DOFF missions should also result in interior ship changes when appropriate.
4. Sometimes ships get invaded by Intruders. Sometimes it is as simple as just fighting them off with hand phasers, and other times you may also need to stop the ship from blowing up because of what they did down in engineering. How hard can that be for our Developers? I imagine if you’re a Fed flying in Klingon space this might be more likely. Similarly, sometimes you are hanging out in your ship and a hostile ship JUMPS you too… Funny. I have NEVER heard a Red Alert klaxon go off when I am “visiting” my starship in the present game… it sure does happen when I watch Star Trek on TV though. Hmmm, maybe the Developers should DO THAT more often… just a thought. See Day of the Dove for an example. It's a TOS THING.
5. Finally, when I install consoles in my ships console slots, I personally would occasionally like to watch as gear beams into position on the interior of my ship, and when I change BOFFs in my ships BOFF seating, I would like to see the new ones replace the old ones – one walks out as the other walks in and sits down. Just saying… it’s not as big as the first four to me, but it might add a little.
So that’s it for now. I won’t even talk about how pathetically bad SHIP DESTRUCTION is presently handled (Hint: NOTHING bad happens. Gaaaakkkk. *bathroom sounds*) – that’s another thread I am sure. But like they used to say on Football Night in America… “Come ON, Man!”
________________________________________________________
Hey! Don’t be DISSIN my Comments Dude! Or I will put a nasty Ear worm thing into your space helmet when I find you IN GAME… (and I WILL FIND YOU…) Muu Ahhh Ah Ah gaak. *coughing* *more bathroom sounds*
________________________________________________________
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Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Comments
> sophlogimo wrote: »
>
> That's right. People will want to have ship interiors, and will be willing to pay for actually useful ones.
>
>
>
> Which is why we get things like the canon Galaxy interior.
>
> Shipboard action fails because of the numbers. It's not for lack of interest. There are simply too many interiors and too many of them are too small for anything but shooting fish in a barrel. It would take enormous amount of work to build all those maps into a useful state.
>
> And that's before actually building the missions that would take place in them.
>
> Sure, they could give us a generic interior and have shipboard missions in that...but then that would be no different than beaming in to any other generic ship. The people who paid 2k Zen for that canon Galaxy interior probably wouldn't be too happy to switch to a generic (even if they could fit it with a Galaxy wallpaper and props) just to be able to do things.
>
> I do believe a customizable generic interior as player housing could still be profitable, though.
Logistically, all that would be needed would be three baseframes (Small, Med, Large ship), materials appropriate to each faction (Red lighting and dark metal for KDF, shiny metal and bright lights for Starfleet, Green ambiance for Rom.), and then allow customization interior work.
The problem, in part, I think, is that ppl are lazy. They could, for instance, easily move doff missions to that (already existing, but now completely obsoleted) bridge concole that say 'contact duty officers.' But then people would start whining, clamoring for a button on the UI. And it's why we have so many insta-transwarps.
Still, I say, move doff missions to the bridge consoles again, and do the same for Admiralty: move those missions to a tactical bridge console.
r&d school bonus ,crafting tech bonus ,crafting quality bonus ,re-engineering cost reduction and all the different bonuses
the bounus quality could differ and sort out like c store bridges ,lock box bridges ,mirror bridges ...
My apologies then I misunderstood your post. I mean, all ship interiors are used for now at all is Roleplaying, so any changes have to take the (proportionally significant in this game) roleplay community into account.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
Especially if we get tricorder games, like med bay stuff, or used on missions to disable force fields. Tricorders are huge part of the shows and virtually overlooked here in STO. To add some cool flare depending on your character, you get diff tricorder look like TOS, TNG, etc you could simply set it in the option of our appearance tabs in the tailor.
Rewards for minigames could be new kits, skills, equipment, etc etc.
After playing ESO for the last 3 years on PS4 and being engrossed in Player Housing. I have to say that if Cryptic understood how much money it is missing out on. It would throw everything it had at giving players a customizable housing system by utilizing their long forgotten interiors.
Still hoping for Romulan bridges to be able to mount trophies from accolades one day as well.
It's cool. Misunderstandings happen. I actually have a lengthy suggestion on page one of this thread as to how I'd love to see them updated. It could easily accomodate the roleplaying community.
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And you also have a situation MMO's generally don't want. They want you to visit 'social' zones for that, like ESD or DS9, etc.
1. BOFF assignment of seats on the bridge. Currently the seating seems to bit random, with some limited assignment per station. I'd like to have as full a bridge as possible, with my boffs. For instance, I'm zipping around in my new interceptor, and there's roughly 10 stations, only three of which are occupied.
2. Even though I have a completely different set of BOFFs assigned to be department heads, when I use the interior sets, there's just some unknown officer doling out assignments. It would be nice to have the little blue "duty officer assignments" box attached to the department head or something.
3. Maybe ship board emergencies and/or invasions? That might be difficult to program, but everyone has a bridge, at least. LOL, it would be fun, but I'm not asking Cryptic to have that tilt-a-bridge thing from TOS
In ToR my house as all the things i listed, but i still go to the starbases and so does everyone else. You still dont have skill vendors, star ship customization, ship vendors etc etc. Plenty of reasons to still go to ESD.
ESO solved this by introducing Bankers/Merchants that will allow you access to your personal bank/sell items. But would not let you access say the Guild Bank or buy items. These NPC followers can be summoned anywhere besides Cyrodiil which is the warzone and they can be placed in multiple homes.
A lot of players still park their characters at the banks or merchants after a session of gaming. So as long as theres still a reason to go to social zones, like missions and the need to sell/bank things or hit the exchange. Seems like places like ESD would still be a very popular place for PCs.
In ship cargo bays as a tertiary form of storage. This could be STO's version of housing storage that's found in so many fantasy mmos out there.
Commendation missions that made sense. Rather than having it all be a Doff mission have daily commendation missions on the interior of the ship only in certain rooms certain things have to take place in order to earn either dilithium ore or to earn commendation scores for example, holodeck training for espionage missions, or the test to earn a higher rank, or living breathing historical events in the lore in the holodeck, or a mission to quarantine a planet, or a mission to build and dispense satelites in the cargo bay.
Loads of things to do where your character or your boffs are all doing these things in front of you. The rewards could even be those tech upgrade modules.
And I don't really see doing the same standing around in a bridge map any less stupid, only less publically so. If all there is is a button to press, it may as well be in a menu.
Both social zones and bridge maps deserve activities that actually involve the map not just hotspots to open UI windows that could just as well be done anywhere. It's wasting a good map making it just a place to stand around browsing UI.
My character Tsin'xing
Make it so
Is that possible? If we've got the Foundry already, why couldn't this be just another function of that?
The Foundry is a limited scope entity that doesn't take into account the diverse gameplay that goes into creating new content at a clip the playerbase would except. Creating anything in game, takes time and resources. Even with the Foundry, I good mission, or set up can take days to two weeks. So while Tacofangs, for instance is working on your interior. he isn't doing anything else.
It is easy for Foundry people to think something is as simple as just doing it, but the reality is, as a Foundry author, that is all you are doing. The same can be true to Developers, but the difference is what they are working on, and the fact that their jobs depend on what is or isn't released.
If a Foundry author doesn't make the "right" thing, he just goes on to the next project. If a developer doesn't make the "right" thing, it can mean the whole project (STO in this case), and by extension, his job, is in jeopardy. That is why the devs tend to prioritize something over another. Unfortunately, that means things like Custom Interiors gets shelved because they need to focus on something else.
Thank you for a thorough answer. I'm afraid I wasn't clear in my question. I had no thought for Cryptic designing custom interiors. Rather, I thought it might be good to tweak the existing Foundry architecture to allow PLAYERS to customize their own interiors (and crew).
the thing is that what makes a functioning interior is beyond the scope that the foundry is capable of currently, you can make a set that looks like an interior but it'll lack all the functionalities of full interior or even a custom ship bridge. Also if it was quick and easy to modify the foundry tools to be able to create functioning interiors it would have probably been done already.
Don't assume that Cryptic devs are incompetent enough to not figure out simple, quick and easy solution to problem they have. If you have a "silver bullet" solution to something, the chances are that what you're suggesting isn't as easy to impliment as you think it should be.
I have numerous weapons that I'd don't use but are just too cool to let go, (so many bat'leth) it would be great to have a wall to hang them on display.
An interior system that was relatively generic but allowed you to unlock new sections via section specific missions (both for the character and diff's etc), for example doing science missions to expand the science sections on the ship...adding astrometrics etc. as places to visit and have ongoing projects and missions to do once unlocked.
Having a basic look then allowing for c-store purchases to customize it (or have some pieces unlocked in missions and bigger projects like the rep system) would allow them to make money and drive more interest in the missions and queues that work toward cool stuff to decorate the ship.
First, a summary of Three Main Points which are central to our cause:
1. Our personal Ship Interiors should be developed as holdings similar to Fleet holdings like star bases, and allow for more personal customization. Including setting the Uniforms of our crew and other aesthetic choices, adding functionality (like exchange consoles) and the ability to purchase resources and services within the ship. We should be able to DESIGNATE which console does what too.
2. Personal Ship Interiors should be involved in (at least some) Mission Story Lines. This may require the institution of more universal generic ship layouts and the replacement of “one room” interiors with standardized maps.
3. Personal Ship interiors should be more INTEGRAL to the game as a whole, so the game would “feel” more like Star Trek.
I agree completely with these three primary points. The first two have been well discussed.( e.g. see following quote which is 100% on Target.) I am here to discuss the third point.
Now as to the Third point “Personal Ship interiors should be more INTEGRAL to the game as a whole, so the game would “feel” more like Star Trek,” here is what I envision…
1. When we “beam up” we should be offered a choice to either go directly to space view OR to beam to our ships interior. To be most cannon this should involve arriving in the Transporter room, but settings or re-beaming (as in our starbase holdings) could allow arrival directly onto the bridge. Arriving in the Transporter Room would allow for more inter action with other elements in the ships interior as one traveled on foot to the bridge.
2. When the Ship’s Captain sits in the Captain’s chair on the bridge, a button should appear to go to “space view” – this could be sold as a Neural Holographic Interface with the ships computer. (It should also provide for our Toon’s feet NOT sinking into the deck as we sit there, which is what currently happens.)
3. Even a teeny tiny amount of effort spent on Bridge officer AI would go a LONG way. Bridge Officers (and other NPCs) should be able to be questioned for information pertaining to missions. Different interaction choices should lead to different outcomes… Have ANY of the Developers played Mass Effect or SWTOR (online)? Massive effort spent on NPC relational aspects would provide massive rewards in taking this game from a 2/10 to maybe an 8/10 in game quality. Even PWE Neverwinter does a much better job than STO, and (gasp!) Star Wars The Old Republic (online) is MASSIVELY better at this so this is NOT unreasonable, and is necessary I would argue if this game even hopes to survive and grow. Again, Improving NPC AI and creating relational interactions – Especially for BOFF NPCs – is critical if this game intends to stay in business. Right now this entire aspect is missing. Not so in its major competitors. BOFFs in STO are about as interesting now as the consoles we install in ships console slots. Being onboard ship with them or on away team missions NEEDS to involve relational interactions that grow and change as we interact with them. The ships interior is fundamental to this Captain’s should sometimes be confronted by BOFFs when they enter ships spaces (like the bridge or sick bay or engineering) with choices and problems that need to be resolved. DOFF missions should also result in interior ship changes when appropriate.
4. Sometimes ships get invaded by Intruders. Sometimes it is as simple as just fighting them off with hand phasers, and other times you may also need to stop the ship from blowing up because of what they did down in engineering. How hard can that be for our Developers? I imagine if you’re a Fed flying in Klingon space this might be more likely. Similarly, sometimes you are hanging out in your ship and a hostile ship JUMPS you too… Funny. I have NEVER heard a Red Alert klaxon go off when I am “visiting” my starship in the present game… it sure does happen when I watch Star Trek on TV though. Hmmm, maybe the Developers should DO THAT more often… just a thought. See Day of the Dove for an example. It's a TOS THING.
5. Finally, when I install consoles in my ships console slots, I personally would occasionally like to watch as gear beams into position on the interior of my ship, and when I change BOFFs in my ships BOFF seating, I would like to see the new ones replace the old ones – one walks out as the other walks in and sits down. Just saying… it’s not as big as the first four to me, but it might add a little.
So that’s it for now. I won’t even talk about how pathetically bad SHIP DESTRUCTION is presently handled (Hint: NOTHING bad happens. Gaaaakkkk. *bathroom sounds*) – that’s another thread I am sure. But like they used to say on Football Night in America… “Come ON, Man!”
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Hey! Don’t be DISSIN my Comments Dude! Or I will put a nasty Ear worm thing into your space helmet when I find you IN GAME… (and I WILL FIND YOU…) Muu Ahhh Ah Ah gaak. *coughing* *more bathroom sounds*
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