things about the vorta which make them not possible to be playable.. 1) they weren't combatants.. like.. at all.. thats what the jem'hadar were for. (2) vorta mainly only commanded the First, the First would then pass orders along to those under him. given that the playable dominion rankings don't let us promote boffs to first, there would be little interaction between the pc and the boffs. (3) the dominion storyline wouldn't make sense for a vorta to be involved in, especially the first several missions. (4) vorta were mostly closes, so easily replaced if captured or killed. (this may not make much of a difference in gameplay but for lore issues it would be bad)..
Well, Vorta are people. The question is if they DO that sort of thing, not if they CAN. As Loriss demonstrated, Vorta are quite capable of wielding energy weapons. Also we DID actually see a Vorta(Eris) do field recon work, to include combat.
yes but those were under very specific circumstances. it wasn't normal, common, or expected of the vorta. its hard to use those two isolated incidences to give cause to hundreds of vorta suddenly taking a more active and hands on role in things. although, i suppose if they build off the gamma storyline with the jem'hadar getting more freedom (getting unaddicted to the white), they could have the vorta become more capable combatants and then let them be playabe then so its not 100% out of the question. its just they'd need a lot of set up to make it viable.
Technically Federation captains shouldn't be going on every single combat away mission like we do, their place is on the bridge of their ship. The only reason we don't follow that rule is so that we can control our own character in ground missions rather than taking control of a boff. Playable Vorta are the same way, they would only be involved in ground combat operations because the game wasn't designed for us to control someone else.
Instead of more factions, I think they should add Cardassians to the Dominion, and Orions to the Feds. They like tie-ins, so there was an Orion in Starfleet in one of the Lens Flares in Space movies. >_> Maybe add a couple races to the Roms.
things about the vorta which make them not possible to be playable.. 1) they weren't combatants.. like.. at all.. thats what the jem'hadar were for. (2) vorta mainly only commanded the First, the First would then pass orders along to those under him. given that the playable dominion rankings don't let us promote boffs to first, there would be little interaction between the pc and the boffs. (3) the dominion storyline wouldn't make sense for a vorta to be involved in, especially the first several missions. (4) vorta were mostly closes, so easily replaced if captured or killed. (this may not make much of a difference in gameplay but for lore issues it would be bad)..
Well, Vorta are people. The question is if they DO that sort of thing, not if they CAN. As Loriss demonstrated, Vorta are quite capable of wielding energy weapons. Also we DID actually see a Vorta(Eris) do field recon work, to include combat.
yes but those were under very specific circumstances. it wasn't normal, common, or expected of the vorta. its hard to use those two isolated incidences to give cause to hundreds of vorta suddenly taking a more active and hands on role in things. although, i suppose if they build off the gamma storyline with the jem'hadar getting more freedom (getting unaddicted to the white), they could have the vorta become more capable combatants and then let them be playabe then so its not 100% out of the question. its just they'd need a lot of set up to make it viable.
Except it wasn't "very specific circumstances", it was every single time the writers let the viewers see what the Vorta are actually up to.
In fact, the very first Vorta you see in the show was in the episode "The Jem'Hadar", where the Siskos, Quark, and Nog go camping on a random Gamma quadrant world near the wormhole as part of Jake and Nog's school project. There is no way the Dominion could know that they would do that, or what planet they would land on beforehand, so they could not have sent an "exceptional" Vorta to intercept them.
Eris, the commander of the hidden Dominion outpost there showed herself to be quite competent on an espionage/special ops planning level when, with a very tiny window of opportunity, she cooked up a scheme to insert herself into DS9's inner circle via a Hogan's Heroes level elaborate ruse where she pretended to be a prisoner of the Jem'Hadar "escaping" with the heroes. If Quark had not stumbled onto the fact that one of the props in that ruse was just a prop she would have gotten away with it, and even then she had contingency plans worked out for her extraction if something went wrong.
Every Vorta in the show was more than they let on to be, especially Weyoun. You literally cannot take anything he said at face value, his job was spreading disinformation about the Dominion and creating an air of harmlessness and tentative friendship to lull the Federation into a false sense of security, and he did an excellent job of it. The Dominion was at war with the Federation and the other major Alpha quadrant powers for at least a year or two before anyone in Alpha realized they were even hostile, they started with Vorta and Changeling agents and only brought in the Jem'Hadar for the final, overt stages of the conflict. The whole point of the Dominion was that they were a culture entirely based around subterfuge and hidden power, and that literally nothing was ever what it seemed on the surface.
Even the often pointed out "bad vision" thing was nothing but a diversion since the Vorta depended on hearing more than vision in the first place, that is what those big complex ears are for. Just watch what the Vorta do (including body language) and compare it with what Weyoun says and the maskirovka soon becomes apparent. It was actually some of the best writing in Trek.
> @foxspirit13 said: > Instead of more factions, I think they should add Cardassians to the Dominion, and Orions to the Feds. They like tie-ins, so there was an Orion in Starfleet in one of the Lens Flares in Space movies. >_> Maybe add a couple races to the Roms.
There is also a Orion Member of Starfleet in Lower Decks as one of the Starring Characters.
I'm not sure how it's acquired, but I've occasionally seen Orion Starfleet boffs on the exchange for outrageous sums of EC. I don't think I've ever seen more than one up at a time so they must ve incredibly rare.
I'm not sure how it's acquired, but I've occasionally seen Orion Starfleet boffs on the exchange for outrageous sums of EC. I don't think I've ever seen more than one up at a time so they must ve incredibly rare.
Nah, legacy content. It used to be diplomacy boffs weren't BoP. It's why they're so hard to find, the supply is dwindling as no new ones exist.
I currently have eight active Feds on my main account (TOS Andorian; Human Female-DISCO; Benzite; Talaxian Female; Fed-aligned Romulan; TOS Human Female; TOS Vulcan; Ferengi Female) and six KDF (Liberated Borg Female; Reman; Jem'Hadar Vanguard; Nausicaan; Klingon; Romulan Female) on my alt. On each account I've leveled up well over a dozen more that I eventually grew tired of. That pattern will probably happen again.
I'm not sure how it's acquired, but I've occasionally seen Orion Starfleet boffs on the exchange for outrageous sums of EC. I don't think I've ever seen more than one up at a time so they must ve incredibly rare.
Nah, legacy content. It used to be diplomacy boffs weren't BoP. It's why they're so hard to find, the supply is dwindling as no new ones exist.
That explains it then, now that I know that I'm glad I never pulled the trigger on buying one cause I was only interested based on my own assumption that they could use Federation uniforms, but if I'm not mistaken Diplomacy boffs only have their normal faction uniform options.
I believe there may be new species for the "Discovery," era faction - basically Andorian, Tellerite, and Saurian [Founders of the Federation] - This is believe to transpired after the 10th anniversary.
But as far as Brand spank'n new species, I see no plans in the immediate future, least not mentioned.
I'm not sure how it's acquired, but I've occasionally seen Orion Starfleet boffs on the exchange for outrageous sums of EC. I don't think I've ever seen more than one up at a time so they must ve incredibly rare.
Nah, legacy content. It used to be diplomacy boffs weren't BoP. It's why they're so hard to find, the supply is dwindling as no new ones exist.
That explains it then, now that I know that I'm glad I never pulled the trigger on buying one cause I was only interested based on my own assumption that they could use Federation uniforms, but if I'm not mistaken Diplomacy boffs only have their normal faction uniform options.
Also, you can just go and get one the normal way instead of buying from another player. But for uniform options you can have them wear something like the Kobali outfit or a winter event jacket. They're not obviously a KDF boff if you do that.
Also, you can just go and get one the normal way instead of buying from another player. But for uniform options you can have them wear something like the Kobali outfit or a winter event jacket. They're not obviously a KDF boff if you do that.
Diplomacy isn't really my thing, and for me it's not so much that I don't want them to look KDF, but that I specifically want them wearing an Odyssey uniform. I'll just stick to aliengen, that's what my main's "Romulan" First Officer has always been for similar reasons.
> @evilmark444 said: > (Quote) > > Diplomacy isn't really my thing, and for me it's not so much that I don't want them to look KDF, but that I specifically want them wearing an Odyssey uniform. I'll just stick to aliengen, that's what my main's "Romulan" First Officer has always been for similar reasons.
I would love my Gorn to be able to wear an Odyessy uniform.
yeah, I don't use diplomacy boffs on most of my characters for those reasons actually, well that and I have more boffs than I know what to do with as-is.
To be fair, the diplomacy boffs are supposed to represent exchange officers, like when Riker went to a Klingon cruiser for an episode, and they stick with their own service's uniform rather than adopting the one of their hosts.
I want my next character to be a 6-eyed Iconian. Their uniforms, weapons, and character models are already in-game, just not currently playable. It could even be the Iconian homeworld character models (as opposed to T'ket) that were used in the new season morality mission.
The only catch is that they are not aligned with any of the current factions, so would have to come up with some story detail on how they are able to choose a faction, similar to how my Dominion character can be fed or Klingon aligned.
After the Republic Fraction, I never thought we'd see another playable faction, be that micro or otherwise, but then they threw in the Dominion. If the Dominion was possible in the limited role that they are, then there's still potential for additional micro factions in the years to come, although I'm not quite sure who is left; they've released the Cardassians to us already (as much as a mistake as I believe that to be). The only species I can see them doing as another micro faction would be a Borg Cooperative, much in the same way the Dominion were done.
As for adding species to existing factions, considering what is, and has been accepted in STO over the years, there's literally no excuse for the Vorta not being added as playable characters. This is a game, set in a fictional universe, a game where we as Starfleet Captains and Admirals put ourselves in imminent dangers whilst jumping through time, flying Iconian, Son'a and Voth ships. There's no genuine perspective left any more, and if playable Vorta were to be excluded because #logic, then we wouldn't have alien lock box ships, and we wouldn't have joined trill serving the Klingon Empire just because a single joined trill in known trek history had good relations with some warriors.
Vorta and Cardassians should be added to the Dominion faction as far as I'm concerned, just as Suliban should be added to the Republic, and Deltan should be added for the Federation. Heck, it wouldn't be too far a stretch to allow Republic players to play as Vulcan either, or Romulan characters within the Federation or Klingon Empire; we can be a Cardassian, but not a Romulan? Someone's gunna' have to explain that one to me!
There's a whole heap of species available to add to numerous factions if Cryptic wanted to do it. The reason we don't have that, quite simply, is because it's not profitable for Cryptic to put the time, money and resources into.
Isn't cardassia on the verge of joining the federation? meanwhile the Romulans have their own republic going, (and realisticly other then your first 5-10 missions your romulan char can effectivly join SF)
Well, we already have playable Talaxians and there's really no reason why races like the Benthans, Kobali, Ocampa or maybe even Kazon or Hazari shouldn't be added to the list.
While I would love to see Vorta added to the Dominion faction there is also always the possibility of adding other Gamma Quadrant races like the Dosi or Karemma.
Personally, I'm still hoping that - apart from the already mentioned Disco races like Barzans, Saurians or Xaheans - maybe one day we'll get a Terran (mini) faction. Borg Cooperative will probably happen one day as well but I'm not too excited about that.
"If you're telling me that this ship can skip across the universe on a highway made of mushrooms, I kind of have to go on faith... Be bold. Be brave. Be courageous. Black alert." - Christopher Pike
I'm a little confused how the topic was new playable races, but the discussion is mainly about new playable factions.
While I'm not sure the likelihood of Cryptic adding another faction (although it'd be interesting if not yet another temporal Starfleet one), I would *love* to see them add new playable species to existing factions.
Like you said, Flash, Vorta could stand to be added to the Dominion. And the Romulans could also really stand to get Suliban, especially if they'd started coming under the wings of the Romulan Republic in the story at all.
Starfleet could also really stand to get playable Xindi, since as was stated earlier they joined the Federation at least 100 years prior to the game's story. Denobulans could also stand to be added, especially with how Cryptic added Captain Taggart to the faction's tutorial when it was revamped a while back.
Not sure on the status of Kelpiens, however.
Caitians could also be included in the TOS faction if unlocked by a player, but I don't know the status of TAS stuff.
Dunno if the Dominion could get Liberated Borg Jem'hadar or something, for lifer bonus coverage.
Agreed, races like Karemma & Dosi would make more sense for Fed / KDF factions. Especially considering the Karemma basically declared their independence during the Hur'q conflict. Should have made that clearer.
As for the Delta Quadrant races... it's true, storywise Benthans or Kobali couldn't possible take part in missions set before the Dyson Sphere opens up but there are always ways around that.
One scenario could be adding a new mini faction like "Delta Alliance" or something - maybe together with a Borg Cooperative - where the story starts in the Delta Quadrant with a few unique missions, then continues with the Dyson / Vaadwaur missions and from there it's basically the same.
Just like the Jem'Hadar those characters could then play the other missions as "simulations" etc. Granted, it's not perfect, but there is always some way to find an explanation.
And while this topic is about new races at this point I think most new races would have to be part of a new (mini) factions except for the Disco races, the above mentioned Gamma Quadrant races or some of the other examples in this thread like Suliban or Vorta.
Xindi would be really cool too, especially considering we have Xindi NPCs in the game and as DOFFs. Hell, there is even a Xindi Reptilian BOFF.
"If you're telling me that this ship can skip across the universe on a highway made of mushrooms, I kind of have to go on faith... Be bold. Be brave. Be courageous. Black alert." - Christopher Pike
Comments
Except it wasn't "very specific circumstances", it was every single time the writers let the viewers see what the Vorta are actually up to.
In fact, the very first Vorta you see in the show was in the episode "The Jem'Hadar", where the Siskos, Quark, and Nog go camping on a random Gamma quadrant world near the wormhole as part of Jake and Nog's school project. There is no way the Dominion could know that they would do that, or what planet they would land on beforehand, so they could not have sent an "exceptional" Vorta to intercept them.
Eris, the commander of the hidden Dominion outpost there showed herself to be quite competent on an espionage/special ops planning level when, with a very tiny window of opportunity, she cooked up a scheme to insert herself into DS9's inner circle via a Hogan's Heroes level elaborate ruse where she pretended to be a prisoner of the Jem'Hadar "escaping" with the heroes. If Quark had not stumbled onto the fact that one of the props in that ruse was just a prop she would have gotten away with it, and even then she had contingency plans worked out for her extraction if something went wrong.
Every Vorta in the show was more than they let on to be, especially Weyoun. You literally cannot take anything he said at face value, his job was spreading disinformation about the Dominion and creating an air of harmlessness and tentative friendship to lull the Federation into a false sense of security, and he did an excellent job of it. The Dominion was at war with the Federation and the other major Alpha quadrant powers for at least a year or two before anyone in Alpha realized they were even hostile, they started with Vorta and Changeling agents and only brought in the Jem'Hadar for the final, overt stages of the conflict. The whole point of the Dominion was that they were a culture entirely based around subterfuge and hidden power, and that literally nothing was ever what it seemed on the surface.
Even the often pointed out "bad vision" thing was nothing but a diversion since the Vorta depended on hearing more than vision in the first place, that is what those big complex ears are for. Just watch what the Vorta do (including body language) and compare it with what Weyoun says and the maskirovka soon becomes apparent. It was actually some of the best writing in Trek.
> Instead of more factions, I think they should add Cardassians to the Dominion, and Orions to the Feds. They like tie-ins, so there was an Orion in Starfleet in one of the Lens Flares in Space movies. >_> Maybe add a couple races to the Roms.
There is also a Orion Member of Starfleet in Lower Decks as one of the Starring Characters.
My character Tsin'xing
That explains it then, now that I know that I'm glad I never pulled the trigger on buying one cause I was only interested based on my own assumption that they could use Federation uniforms, but if I'm not mistaken Diplomacy boffs only have their normal faction uniform options.
But as far as Brand spank'n new species, I see no plans in the immediate future, least not mentioned.
My character Tsin'xing
Diplomacy isn't really my thing, and for me it's not so much that I don't want them to look KDF, but that I specifically want them wearing an Odyssey uniform. I'll just stick to aliengen, that's what my main's "Romulan" First Officer has always been for similar reasons.
> (Quote)
>
> Diplomacy isn't really my thing, and for me it's not so much that I don't want them to look KDF, but that I specifically want them wearing an Odyssey uniform. I'll just stick to aliengen, that's what my main's "Romulan" First Officer has always been for similar reasons.
I would love my Gorn to be able to wear an Odyessy uniform.
My character Tsin'xing
The only catch is that they are not aligned with any of the current factions, so would have to come up with some story detail on how they are able to choose a faction, similar to how my Dominion character can be fed or Klingon aligned.
As for adding species to existing factions, considering what is, and has been accepted in STO over the years, there's literally no excuse for the Vorta not being added as playable characters. This is a game, set in a fictional universe, a game where we as Starfleet Captains and Admirals put ourselves in imminent dangers whilst jumping through time, flying Iconian, Son'a and Voth ships. There's no genuine perspective left any more, and if playable Vorta were to be excluded because #logic, then we wouldn't have alien lock box ships, and we wouldn't have joined trill serving the Klingon Empire just because a single joined trill in known trek history had good relations with some warriors.
Vorta and Cardassians should be added to the Dominion faction as far as I'm concerned, just as Suliban should be added to the Republic, and Deltan should be added for the Federation. Heck, it wouldn't be too far a stretch to allow Republic players to play as Vulcan either, or Romulan characters within the Federation or Klingon Empire; we can be a Cardassian, but not a Romulan? Someone's gunna' have to explain that one to me!
There's a whole heap of species available to add to numerous factions if Cryptic wanted to do it. The reason we don't have that, quite simply, is because it's not profitable for Cryptic to put the time, money and resources into.
While I would love to see Vorta added to the Dominion faction there is also always the possibility of adding other Gamma Quadrant races like the Dosi or Karemma.
Personally, I'm still hoping that - apart from the already mentioned Disco races like Barzans, Saurians or Xaheans - maybe one day we'll get a Terran (mini) faction. Borg Cooperative will probably happen one day as well but I'm not too excited about that.
While I'm not sure the likelihood of Cryptic adding another faction (although it'd be interesting if not yet another temporal Starfleet one), I would *love* to see them add new playable species to existing factions.
Like you said, Flash, Vorta could stand to be added to the Dominion. And the Romulans could also really stand to get Suliban, especially if they'd started coming under the wings of the Romulan Republic in the story at all.
Starfleet could also really stand to get playable Xindi, since as was stated earlier they joined the Federation at least 100 years prior to the game's story. Denobulans could also stand to be added, especially with how Cryptic added Captain Taggart to the faction's tutorial when it was revamped a while back.
Not sure on the status of Kelpiens, however.
Caitians could also be included in the TOS faction if unlocked by a player, but I don't know the status of TAS stuff.
Dunno if the Dominion could get Liberated Borg Jem'hadar or something, for lifer bonus coverage.
There's lots of other possibilities, too.
As for the Delta Quadrant races... it's true, storywise Benthans or Kobali couldn't possible take part in missions set before the Dyson Sphere opens up but there are always ways around that.
One scenario could be adding a new mini faction like "Delta Alliance" or something - maybe together with a Borg Cooperative - where the story starts in the Delta Quadrant with a few unique missions, then continues with the Dyson / Vaadwaur missions and from there it's basically the same.
Just like the Jem'Hadar those characters could then play the other missions as "simulations" etc. Granted, it's not perfect, but there is always some way to find an explanation.
And while this topic is about new races at this point I think most new races would have to be part of a new (mini) factions except for the Disco races, the above mentioned Gamma Quadrant races or some of the other examples in this thread like Suliban or Vorta.
Xindi would be really cool too, especially considering we have Xindi NPCs in the game and as DOFFs. Hell, there is even a Xindi Reptilian BOFF.