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Is no one interested in content expansion? Habitable Biomes!

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  • terranempire#7881 terranempire Member Posts: 1,222 Arc User
    edited April 2020
    lots of heated exchanges, and certainly emotive replies.

    i for one would not go against having something else in this game similar to SWG when it first came out. Im not looking to debate the oddities and diffs b/w STO and SWG, or for that matter SWTOR, but many other games have some sort of personal house, apt, space etc.

    i dont see why they cant build out a few huge towers off starfleet academy and turn those into condo instances.

    why cant they put a resort building on Risa, and make it another instance.

    New Romulas? why not.

    DS9? sure.

    its not like they can instance these places and provide an alternate means of enjoyment from the game. aside from launch, travel, pew pew, pew pew, travel, pew pew, beam down, pew pew, talk, etc etc etc.

    i recall way back in the day, they had floor trophies and stuff. if i also recall, the ship bridges were to act as a "house" for your toon, but the idea fell flat i think and while they offer different bridges, no one really uses them, and i dont think any floor trophies really are in the game anymore.

    so to the OPs point, i for one would enjoy something else in this game to occupy myself and to build on my toons. i did really enjoy this with SWG, but sadly that game is no longer around.

    Yes, it would certainly be good if Cryptic sold/crafted items to decorate ship bridges or create some kind of map function with them. Like you mentioned SWTOR and other games make a lot of their money by selling fluff items like that.

    11deb053214af42167fdb25e9b7fb963.jpg​​
    tumblr_p30rz12vWH1qdb2vqo6_r1_540.gif
    "Great men are not peacemakers, Great men are conquerors!" - Captain Archer"
    "When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway
    #Support Mirror Universe I.S.S. Prefixes
  • terranempire#7881 terranempire Member Posts: 1,222 Arc User
    edited April 2020
    coldnapalm wrote: »
    Do you even know what a straw man is? You are LITERALLY ARGUING FOR THE POINT I AM AGAINST. That is NOT a straw man. That is you unilaterally declaring yourself right. Honestly any discussion with you is worthless because you seem to think not what I think is a straw man...or some other fallacy without even knowing what they are. Good god. Yes Trek has SOME war...NOBODY is saying it does not have ANY. Star Wars however is ALL BLOODY blow em up stories that happens MOSTLY in wars.

    somtaawkhar often invalidates people even when they provide evidence to the contrary.

    Strawman-MM-e1469386785525.png​​
    Post edited by terranempire#7881 on
    tumblr_p30rz12vWH1qdb2vqo6_r1_540.gif
    "Great men are not peacemakers, Great men are conquerors!" - Captain Archer"
    "When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway
    #Support Mirror Universe I.S.S. Prefixes
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    Sometimes, the pronunciamientos we are subjected to make me think of this fellow:

    https://youtu.be/5Bhueml6MqI
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • terranempire#7881 terranempire Member Posts: 1,222 Arc User
    edited April 2020
    tumblr_n5jdtkQF9H1re0l1qo6_500.jpg
    Don't forget the Tau.​​
    tumblr_p30rz12vWH1qdb2vqo6_r1_540.gif
    "Great men are not peacemakers, Great men are conquerors!" - Captain Archer"
    "When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway
    #Support Mirror Universe I.S.S. Prefixes
  • paladinrja#5247 paladinrja Member Posts: 155 Arc User
    edited April 2020
    lots of heated exchanges, and certainly emotive replies.

    i for one would not go against having something else in this game similar to SWG when it first came out. Im not looking to debate the oddities and diffs b/w STO and SWG, or for that matter SWTOR, but many other games have some sort of personal house, apt, space etc.

    i dont see why they cant build out a few huge towers off starfleet academy and turn those into condo instances.

    why cant they put a resort building on Risa, and make it another instance.

    New Romulas? why not.

    DS9? sure.

    its not like they can instance these places and provide an alternate means of enjoyment from the game. aside from launch, travel, pew pew, pew pew, travel, pew pew, beam down, pew pew, talk, etc etc etc.

    i recall way back in the day, they had floor trophies and stuff. if i also recall, the ship bridges were to act as a "house" for your toon, but the idea fell flat i think and while they offer different bridges, no one really uses them, and i dont think any floor trophies really are in the game anymore.

    so to the OPs point, i for one would enjoy something else in this game to occupy myself and to build on my toons. i did really enjoy this with SWG, but sadly that game is no longer around.

    Yeah for sure. When you're talking about homeworlds and heavily populated areas, they could probably do something like baked-in apartments, offices and what have you.

    However, that wasn't really what I was referring to when talking about "instancing". What I had in mind was more like a clean slate players can then build in with pre-fab parts (rather than tiles), kinda like lego.

    For example: A critical success on a doff-log could point you toward a potential resource, in a star system, on a planet you normally wouldn't be able to land on. An instance, or "parcel of scenery" is created and you have a certain amount of time to survey the area and lock down the resource (or resources) that roll with that instance.

    Resources could have catagories I - IV with CatIV spots being the highest potential yield, and come in rarities depending on what resource scales in value. -- So then discovering a CatIV Dilithium deposit would be an epic find! But something one would expect to be in a difficult to leverage instance. Like say, in an asteroid field, close to a neutron star?

    You then have to guage whether its worth it to you to invest in? -- if so, you have to begin teraforming the area, laying foundations, then building a facility using pre-fabs like biodomes and sections of corridor to connect them. Locate an energy source to power it and if one doesn't exist? Build alternative energy sources.

    Resources need to be refined or managed. So having worked out how best to build your facility. You then need to create stations that yield the resource, and others to refine it if need be. You can assign a boff to manage the facility (which brings it online), but need to assign doffs to activate productivity or research stations.

    So it expands on existing activities in the game and could even use the traits of boffs and doffs to add another dimension to the system. -- Random encounters could exist at your facility. Hazards needn't necessarily be criminal. It could be something about the environment, or even an opportunity to broaden on what your facility produces. Which then requires you to modify your facility to accomodate, be it a fixed opportunity or temporary one.

    Is the region prone to hostility, or just naturally hostle? Your facility may need ongoing support! -- You can choose to place a starship from your roster to support the facility; but in doing so, its unavailable to you for use, until its been reassigned..

    So then, its not just the instance thats created which factors into your decision making, but also the environment system (and even regional politics) that could impact on the whole endevour. -- Thus merely building and maintaining the facility isn't where it stops; a whole slew of activities could generate to both benefit or frustrate the undertaking.

    Might even be a way to bring back crafting, special projects that run concurrently with other events, as I touched upon further up in the thread.

    The amount of Star Trek type exploration, research and development you can do, would be never ending. Start with the basics and build up the system; and no two Captains would ever have the same story to tell! Drawing upon influences from the careeer disciplines and some lite-real world engineering. Thats worth its weight in gold!
    Post edited by paladinrja#5247 on
    XBOX One GT: Paladinrja
  • oclosoclos Member Posts: 38 Arc User
    I was thinking last night, well still thinking about it anyway. There is nearly all the material there for mirror temporal episode that has content from all eras of canon Trek that I think has not happened before. Let's have some eps or series of eps that have Empress Georgiou, Empress Sato, Mirror Tilly, Mirror Spock, Mirror Leeta, Super Intendent Kira and Garak, maybe Mirror Sela face each other or be forced by circumstances to coordinate and do things in their characteristical way for some prize or adversary(e.g. if T'ket went to the mirror universe to do something there). Some things will have to be done in their respective eras, some in their future or past and our toons work with them to repair the timeline(s) or make sure the prize doesn't get in the wrong hands(in which case, Mirror-Spock was the better of all the leaders ever in Mirror Universes, wasn't he?). Possible rewards could be any or all of account bound: ENT phase pistols(15 year anniversary "around the corner"), Vulcan uniform(per character unlock), Vulcan ground gear(pistols), the awesome backpack we use on the FCD Phoenix replica building mission. Cryptic can add to these or select from them or positively surprise us with even more canon-based materials(what about toon-uniform worn era specific rewards?).
    Adm. Necheyev didn't own ANY Starfleet ships. Starfleet did. Also she didn't make one bolt, connect a single wire, gelpack or device, or otherwise helped on making them. I find it presumptuous she claimed it was HER ships. In fact saying as much would probably warranty a reprimand from any of her superiors in Federation and possibly not participating in said actions as other superior personnel do, would in our days(2409 onwards) result in herself facing the same fate as what she has threatened, in that same penal colony.
  • oclosoclos Member Posts: 38 Arc User
    Well, since the thread is about content.
    I was thinking last night, well still thinking about it anyway. There is nearly all the material there for mirror temporal episode that has content from all eras of canon Trek that I think has not happened before. Let's have some eps or series of eps that have Empress Georgiou, Empress Sato, Mirror Tilly, Mirror Spock, Mirror Leeta, Super Intendent Kira and Garak, maybe Mirror Sela face each other or be forced by circumstances to coordinate and do things in their characteristical way for some prize or adversary(e.g. if T'ket went to the mirror universe to do something there).

    Some things will have to be done in their respective eras, some in their future or past and our toons work with them to repair the timeline(s) or make sure the prize doesn't get in the wrong hands(in which case, Mirror-Spock was the better of all the leaders ever in Mirror Universes, wasn't he?). Possible rewards could be any or all of account bound: ENT phase pistols(15 year anniversary "around the corner"), Vulcan uniform(per character unlock), Vulcan ground gear(pistols), the awesome backpack we use on the FCD Phoenix replica building mission. Cryptic can add to these or select from them or positively surprise us with even more canon-based materials(what about toon-uniform worn era specific rewards?).
    Adm. Necheyev didn't own ANY Starfleet ships. Starfleet did. Also she didn't make one bolt, connect a single wire, gelpack or device, or otherwise helped on making them. I find it presumptuous she claimed it was HER ships. In fact saying as much would probably warranty a reprimand from any of her superiors in Federation and possibly not participating in said actions as other superior personnel do, would in our days(2409 onwards) result in herself facing the same fate as what she has threatened, in that same penal colony.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    I was until this Thread sucked the life out of it for me. ;)

    Let's go for the Tundra or Desert. Something different.
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • paladinrja#5247 paladinrja Member Posts: 155 Arc User
    How did this notion of Cryptic being small take root? -- All anyone has to do is goto options / credits and anyone can see around 30-odd professionals working on the core tech alone; with another 100+ listed directly under Cryptic. That's not small. That's a tonne of HR; aside from several groups producing the game, and honourary mentions toward outsourcing et al.. and I'd say they've only grown since those credits were last updated.

    Whatever anyone thinks should be happening and isn't (which has come up several times)? -- its merely a prioritization thing. I'd be surprised if fully one third of the staff weren't dedicated to R&D, exploring different avenues to take the game in. Some work, some don't. Its why I said further up the thread that "for all I know they could already be working on something like this".
    XBOX One GT: Paladinrja
  • terranempire#7881 terranempire Member Posts: 1,222 Arc User
    How did this notion of Cryptic being small take root? -- All anyone has to do is goto options / credits and anyone can see around 30-odd professionals working on the core tech alone; with another 100+ listed directly under Cryptic. That's not small. That's a tonne of HR; aside from several groups producing the game, and honourary mentions toward outsourcing et al.. and I'd say they've only grown since those credits were last updated.

    Whatever anyone thinks should be happening and isn't (which has come up several times)? -- its merely a prioritization thing. I'd be surprised if fully one third of the staff weren't dedicated to R&D, exploring different avenues to take the game in. Some work, some don't. Its why I said further up the thread that "for all I know they could already be working on something like this".

    I have seen some of their live stream videos. I remember them saying something along the lines of 'guys we hear you! we want those things too! we want to do it all of if we could'. I remember people asking for playable Cardassian and ships. Eventually we got some of it. I always keep asking for I.S.S. prefixes for my fed ships and player Klingon hair that resembles what Kurn, Martok, Grilka wear in-game and not the low texture 2010 spaghetti dreadlocks hair we are stuck with. Sometimes they just can't do it all because they don't have the time because they're too busy working on another part of the game.​​
    tumblr_p30rz12vWH1qdb2vqo6_r1_540.gif
    "Great men are not peacemakers, Great men are conquerors!" - Captain Archer"
    "When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way." - Captain Janeway
    #Support Mirror Universe I.S.S. Prefixes
  • spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,248 Arc User
    How did this notion of Cryptic being small take root? -- All anyone has to do is goto options / credits and anyone can see around 30-odd professionals working on the core tech alone; with another 100+ listed directly under Cryptic. That's not small. That's a tonne of HR; aside from several groups producing the game, and honourary mentions toward outsourcing et al.. and I'd say they've only grown since those credits were last updated.

    Whatever anyone thinks should be happening and isn't (which has come up several times)? -- its merely a prioritization thing. I'd be surprised if fully one third of the staff weren't dedicated to R&D, exploring different avenues to take the game in. Some work, some don't. Its why I said further up the thread that "for all I know they could already be working on something like this".

    It's taken root because that is small for developers for a game this size, they've stated several times that they simply don't have the resources to add what ever they wish to, IIRC they've stated that their whole STO QA for all versions is less then 20 people. Some larger companies have that 150 or so people just in their core team.
  • rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 57,973 Community Moderator
    How did this notion of Cryptic being small take root? -- All anyone has to do is goto options / credits and anyone can see around 30-odd professionals working on the core tech alone; with another 100+ listed directly under Cryptic. That's not small. That's a tonne of HR; aside from several groups producing the game, and honourary mentions toward outsourcing et al.. and I'd say they've only grown since those credits were last updated.

    On top of what others have said, Cryptic is also running two OTHER MMOs as well as STO, being Neverwinter and Champions Online, with a 4th coming soon in the form of the Magic: The Gathering MMO we've been hearing about on the grapevine. Which also pulled some staff away from STO for work on Neverwinter and Magic. Not only that... STO is on 3 platforms, PC, XBox, and Playstation. So not everyone is actually working on the same version of the game as well as console is actually behind PC on content. Small company working 3 active MMOs, soon to be four, with at least a couple of those MMOs on multiple platforms.
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
  • ucgsquawk#5883 ucgsquawk Member Posts: 279 Arc User
    I hate to say it OP, but honestly I think your idea is far too grand for STO and would really require a massive rework of too much to be reasonable. Interesting but not practical.

    I would be happy if they just started by creating a captains cabin on the ship. You select from one of several era styled designs then add in details as you like. Maybe add in a few trophies and souvenirs that you collect similar to the old helmet and painting you pick up as a romulan.

    Start off with something relatively easy like this to get it right then look into expanding it to bases or planets.
  • paladinrja#5247 paladinrja Member Posts: 155 Arc User
    edited April 2020
    I have seen some of their live stream videos. I remember them saying something along the lines of 'guys we hear you! we want those things too! we want to do it all of if we could'. I remember people asking for playable Cardassian and ships. Eventually we got some of it. I always keep asking for I.S.S. prefixes for my fed ships and player Klingon hair that resembles what Kurn, Martok, Grilka wear in-game and not the low texture 2010 spaghetti dreadlocks hair we are stuck with. Sometimes they just can't do it all because they don't have the time because they're too busy working on another part of the game.​​
    spiritborn wrote: »
    It's taken root because that is small for developers for a game this size, they've stated several times that they simply don't have the resources to add what ever they wish to, IIRC they've stated that their whole STO QA for all versions is less then 20 people. Some larger companies have that 150 or so people just in their core team.
    Taking both your replies into consideration. Yeah, I can appreciate whats being said. Its prioritising. We all do that in our worklives. -- Its not about 'size' (no pun intended), but more about work, y'know? "For every thing you do, comes with 10 more problems to solve" Nothing is ever as simple as it seems once under the skin. So, they're really just saying they're not going to take hands away from one task, to deal with little things until theres more than one thing to deal with, and it then becomes critical in some way. -- and putting it nicely. -- I'm sure they have their own KPI's to work towards.

    The game is largely built, so it may very well scale back to needing only a few to maintain it. This changes as they ramp up development where its "all hands on deck"; and of course, they're not just maintaining a few games in the interim, but likely developing others too. -- Therefore, yes, we're essentially asking them to shift focus to this idea based around a sandbox. Which there exist many good reasons to do so. Most imporrtantly "attachment" towards new projects and on-going content, right?

    I don't think they're small by any measure. Sure, there are larger and smaller groups, but that says more about how the company being scrutinized is structured, than their capabilities. -- Gamers tend to idolize developers as well, which while flattering on one hand, has some less than desirable connotations on the other. Its a job, like your job, just a different set of demands.

    Post edited by paladinrja#5247 on
    XBOX One GT: Paladinrja
  • paladinrja#5247 paladinrja Member Posts: 155 Arc User
    edited April 2020
    coldnapalm wrote: »
    Okay...if they really are starting to run out of ideas, what you suggest is a completely viable option. Doing sandbox content when you don't have an idea of where to go next works. It gives you time to come up with a good story without being rushed...so yes that can work. But that is IF they are actually running out of ideas...or were just the day of the podcast.

    Thats exactly it. Providing longevity to your game, long after you cease developing content for it, has so many good connotations. Both toward current, and future products. Being Star Trek however, I find it hard to believe they are running out of ideas; that could be implying many factors. Not merely what to base each upon?

    Its not about the destination, but the journey. The modern gaming public have changed as well, and do tend to look for staple that keeps them absorbed under their own auspices. Its bound up in how they guage value.
    Post edited by paladinrja#5247 on
    XBOX One GT: Paladinrja
  • paladinrja#5247 paladinrja Member Posts: 155 Arc User
    edited April 2020
    I hate to say it OP, but honestly I think your idea is far too grand for STO and would really require a massive rework of too much to be reasonable. Interesting but not practical.

    I would be happy if they just started by creating a captains cabin on the ship. You select from one of several era styled designs then add in details as you like. Maybe add in a few trophies and souvenirs that you collect similar to the old helmet and painting you pick up as a romulan.

    Start off with something relatively easy like this to get it right then look into expanding it to bases or planets.
    Lol, theres no such thing as too grand an idea. -- That said, I've mostly been drawing an image of what one can do, given the tools to do it with. -- Which was how I'd hoped the discussion would go..

    Starting with a basic setup, developing what one can do as it expands is going to take care of itself. These games do exist.

    I feel the overall general sentiment in this games community, right now, is that the space combat is very well defined, and works well with general tweaking. Most of the games systems do, comfortably. So it follows that people are looking for more to do in it away from that. Especially where the result is bringing them closer to their image of Star Trek. -- given that's not exactly the same for everyone (we are not borg, afterall..) then creating the means for players to do so, seems only logical.
    XBOX One GT: Paladinrja
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