Caitians. A long overdue overhaul.

blastcharger · September 2020

The Caitians are in serious need of a revamp. When the only CANON example of a Caitian has long, flowing brown hair, and all we get is various forms of bad ponytails, there's something seriously wrong. It also wouldn't be bad to see a few more Caitian ships added to the tiers, and Caitian-specific outfits.

angrytarg · September 2020

We have two Caitians in canon now, though both have hair. T'Nara just has short blonde and looks closer to what we have in STO comparedvto M'Ress.

legendarylycan · September 2020

we have 5 - two named and 3 unnamed, one of which is a hybrid, namely an orange-furred admiral, a black-furred commodore (both from TVH) and connolly's half-caitian roommate that he mentioned before going splat in discovery's season 2 premiere

plus there's the multi-boobed catwoman from the-movie-that-must-not-be-named that may or may not be a caitian and damon lindelof's 'caitians' which aren't caitians at all because they have zero feline features aside from a vaguely lion-like tail

angrytarg · September 2020

We know nothing about those unnamed, how can you even tell one is a hybrid? They could very well be a completely different species, given that many aliens are humans with funny noses.

But even if we assume they are (I'm doing as well, just saying), only two are confirmed to be the same species.

The tail of the 'twins' can just as well be primate, reducing the feline features to exactly 'none'.

legendarylycan · September 2020

connolly specifically called his roommate half-caitian

angrytarg · September 2020

Oh I misread then, I thought you meant the Admiral was a hybrid

blastcharger · September 2020

The dark furred Admiral is a Ferasan, if I remember correctly, not a Caitian.

angrytarg · September 2020

blastcharger#6318 wrote: »

The dark furred Admiral is a Ferasan, if I remember correctly, not a Caitian.

I don't think so, Ferasans are Cryptic's invention. The "dark cats" were Kzinti in TAS, but the rights for that specific species is somehow tied to another franchise with which the episode they appeared in Star Trek crossed over. Thus the race was not usable by either CBS or Cryptic to that extend when they made STO.

By the way, I'm excited to see a G1 avatar

My favorite is Sky Lynx, though. Nobody holds a candle against Sky Lynx.

blastcharger · September 2020

angrytarg wrote: »

blastcharger#6318 wrote: »

The dark furred Admiral is a Ferasan, if I remember correctly, not a Caitian.

I don't think so, Ferasans are Cryptic's invention. The "dark cats" were Kzinti in TAS, but the rights for that specific species is somehow tied to another franchise with which the episode they appeared in Star Trek crossed over. Thus the race was not usable by either CBS or Cryptic to that extend when they made STO.

By the way, I'm excited to see a G1 avatar My favorite is Sky Lynx, though. Nobody holds a candle against Sky Lynx.

Eh, I'm one of those few people who can't stand Rodimus Prime post-movie. Hot Rod, on the other hand, is great. And canonically, he physically reverted to Hot Rod at the end of G1, something even Headmasters seems to ignore....

chanfron66 · September 2020

I would still like to know why caitan boffs were made z-store only when they used to be freely available on the exchange, one of my old caitain toons has four of them bought from the exchange as you would do with any other boff, the landing party is five space kitteh's lol

psiameese · September 2020

chanfron66 wrote: »

I would still like to know why caitian boffs were made z-store only when they used to be freely available on the exchange, one of my old caitian toons has four of them bought from the exchange as you would do with any other boff, the landing party is five space kitteh's lol

IIRC, it's more a matter of someone buying the Bridge Officer Requisition form from the C-Store. Trading that in for a Tactical, Science or Engineering Caitian Boff. Then placing that on the exchange to sell it. Perhaps interest in that process has simply waned?

On the topic, sadly the most recent canon representation is Doctor Tana on Lower Decks. As much as I love her, she actually looks just like customization options already found in our game. Tana has the mohawk. And our plantigrade feet. In fact, I set one of my Caitian Captains costume slot to a fair approximation of Tana. Just to see if I could do it.

Until a live-action Caitian wearing the same digitigrade Starfleet boots as, say, Commander Saru from Discovery, there isn't a good reason to make time for the character artists to create new species renders. I suppose we can allow ourselves to be hopeful for a live-action M'ress to appear at some point? Would be real kick if Pike's Enterprise made first contact with the Caitian for Strange New Worlds. As that would be a good reason to revisit the Caitian.

chanfron66 · September 2020

psiameese wrote: »

chanfron66 wrote: »

I would still like to know why caitian boffs were made z-store only when they used to be freely available on the exchange, one of my old caitian toons has four of them bought from the exchange as you would do with any other boff, the landing party is five space kitteh's lol

IIRC, it's more a matter of someone buying the Bridge Officer Requisition form from the C-Store. Trading that in for a Tactical, Science or Engineering Caitian Boff. Then placing that on the exchange to sell it. Perhaps interest in that process has simply waned?

Yeah you probably right, the toon is almost 9 years old so cant remember if that was only source of them. Still would be nice to have a few more outfit option or hair styles.

blastcharger · September 2020

A live action M'ress WOULD be a rather interesting thing, if done right.

darkwing228 · January 2021

psiameese wrote: »

chanfron66 wrote: »

I would still like to know why caitian boffs were made z-store only when they used to be freely available on the exchange, one of my old caitian toons has four of them bought from the exchange as you would do with any other boff, the landing party is five space kitteh's lol

IIRC, it's more a matter of someone buying the Bridge Officer Requisition form from the C-Store. Trading that in for a Tactical, Science or Engineering Caitian Boff. Then placing that on the exchange to sell it. Perhaps interest in that process has simply waned?

On the topic, sadly the most recent canon representation is Doctor Tana on Lower Decks. As much as I love her, she actually looks just like customization options already found in our game. Tana has the mohawk. And our plantigrade feet. In fact, I set one of my Caitian Captains costume slot to a fair approximation of Tana. Just to see if I could do it.

Until a live-action Caitian wearing the same digitigrade Starfleet boots as, say, Commander Saru from Discovery, there isn't a good reason to make time for the character artists to create new species renders. I suppose we can allow ourselves to be hopeful for a live-action M'ress to appear at some point? Would be real kick if Pike's Enterprise made first contact with the Caitian for Strange New Worlds. As that would be a good reason to revisit the Caitian.

Thing is, they wouldn't need to make new renders, they already have one on the feet/paws for both Ferasians and Caitians, sadly for some bizarre reason known only to cryptic they decided to restrict it to Off-duty outfits.

psiameese · January 2021

I'm resurrecting this. I've seen the new hair for Klingons this evening. Purrrhaps, the Caitian species could benefit from the Long Hair 1 and Long Hair 2 in the not-so-distant future? Prrretty please?

mcalexev123 · January 2021

The option to go shoeless with our uniforms too'd be nice. I just wanna rock my paws while wearing the TOS outfits, M'Ress style.

darkwing228 · January 2021

mcalexev123 wrote: »

The option to go shoeless with our uniforms too'd be nice. I just wanna rock my paws while wearing the TOS outfits, M'Ress style.

I second that. As I've said elsewhere, they already have the option in Off-duty outfits, so why not in uniforms? Oh, whilst you're at it Cryptic, please add it in for Ferasians too. Boots just look weird/ugly on both species.

paradox · January 2021

They really need to give Caitians and Ferasans digitigrade legs and lion manes, but seeing as cryptic screwed Klingons by giving them dreadlocks aka a hairstyle the Klingons never wore before STO, however since they recently rectified it with House Reborn so who knows maybe Caitians and Ferasan will be getting a remodel soon.

telbasta7386 · January 2021

I'm all for caitian/ferasan improvements, they're one of my favorite STO races (as you can see from my avatar... lol)

Kzinti apparently have copyright issues, but it's implied that both caitians and ferasans are distantly related to them. Kzinti were larger and more feral looking. Technically ferasans and caitians are the same species, just split by a divergent colony/ideals, much like the romulans/vulcans are.

In the starfleet command games, kzinti could also not be used due to copyright issues, so the developers added the Lyrans and Mirak. Lyrans looked much more like kzinti (large, hunched over, very feral/aggressive looking with large fangs and claws), while Mirak were more lithe/smaller, and looked much more like what we see with caitians/ferasans. I loved both of those species in SFC2, and their ships were really cool as well. Lyran ships were very feline inspired, focused on energy weapons, and all had a unique device/weapon called the Expanding Sphere Generator, which created an energy field around the ship that expanded outward rapidly, damaging nearby enemies in close range. Mirak ships were very heavily focused on disposable munitions, with numerous pylons that were loaded with missile pods, and could overwhelm enemy defenses with swarms of missiles. Very fun to play, and one reason I really wish missile play was more supported by STO (we only have two missiles and no builds with them really work well).

paradox · January 2021

telbasta7386 wrote: »

I'm all for caitian/ferasan improvements, they're one of my favorite STO races (as you can see from my avatar... lol)

Kzinti apparently have copyright issues, but it's implied that both caitians and ferasans are distantly related to them. Kzinti were larger and more feral looking. Technically ferasans and caitians are the same species, just split by a divergent colony/ideals, much like the romulans/vulcans are.

In the starfleet command games, kzinti could also not be used due to copyright issues, so the developers added the Lyrans and Mirak. Lyrans looked much more like kzinti (large, hunched over, very feral/aggressive looking with large fangs and claws), while Mirak were more lithe/smaller, and looked much more like what we see with caitians/ferasans. I loved both of those species in SFC2, and their ships were really cool as well. Lyran ships were very feline inspired, focused on energy weapons, and all had a unique device/weapon called the Expanding Sphere Generator, which created an energy field around the ship that expanded outward rapidly, damaging nearby enemies in close range. Mirak ships were very heavily focused on disposable munitions, with numerous pylons that were loaded with missile pods, and could overwhelm enemy defenses with swarms of missiles. Very fun to play, and one reason I really wish missile play was more supported by STO (we only have two missiles and no builds with them really work well).

Lyrans and Miraks both sound pretty cool.

spiritborn · January 2021

telbasta7386 wrote: »

I'm all for caitian/ferasan improvements, they're one of my favorite STO races (as you can see from my avatar... lol)

Kzinti apparently have copyright issues, but it's implied that both caitians and ferasans are distantly related to them. Kzinti were larger and more feral looking. Technically ferasans and caitians are the same species, just split by a divergent colony/ideals, much like the romulans/vulcans are.

I thought the Ferasan were essentially Kzinti with a copyright friendly name only major difference being that ferasan females are depicted as sentient and sapient while it was implied kzinti females were not sapient and possibly non-sentient as well.

legendarylycan · January 2021

given that pretty much every animal in the animal kingdom is sentient as per science, kzinti females would basically have to be bacteria to be non-sentient

telbasta7386 · February 2021

paradox#7391 wrote: »

Lyrans and Miraks both sound pretty cool.

spiritborn wrote: »

I thought the Ferasan were essentially Kzinti with a copyright friendly name only major difference being that ferasan females are depicted as sentient and sapient while it was implied kzinti females were not sapient and possibly non-sentient as well.

Lyrans and Mirak were created for starfleet command 2: Empires at war because Kzin/Kzinti were under copyright and couldn't be used. Lyrans looked just like Kzinti though:
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Kzinti were larger and more beast-mode looking than caitians/ferasans are:
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Caitians have been part of star trek canon since 1973, with the TAS episode "The Survivor".

shadowfang240 wrote: »

given that pretty much every animal in the animal kingdom is sentient as per science, kzinti females would basically have to be bacteria to be non-sentient

I think he meant "sapient". Kzinti bred their females to basically be as stupid as animals, and females had no rights or privileges in kzinti society.

In Starfleet Command, this was portrayed by the Mirak, whose females were essentially slaves and their society was a Patriarchy entirely ruled and run by males. The Lyrans/Miraak were essentially both meant to represent the Kzinti in the starfleet command series, each having traits and customs similar to the Kzinti (they couldn't be used due to copyright holdings).

Lyran ships were gold and green with very feline/animal-like features:

Mirak ships were a reddish-orange and yellow color and had missile pods on pylons extending away from the hull:
Mirak_TOS_Ships.1.jpg

The two were enemies, and their tech countered each other. Mirak focused very heavily on spamming missiles, while the Lyrans had a device called the "Expanding sphere generator" which created a sustained energy field around their ship that would destroy incoming missiles or do damage to enemy ships when ramming them at close range.

34744-star-trek-starfleet-command-volume-ii-empires-at-war-windows.jpg

psiameese · April 2021

The MANES are IN! Feline Long 1 and Feline Long 2. I'm so pleased. Interestingly they tinted in two shades. From the whole color palette.

paradox · April 2021

shadowfang240 wrote: »

we have 5 - two named and 3 unnamed, one of which is a hybrid, namely an orange-furred admiral, a black-furred commodore (both from TVH) and connolly's half-caitian roommate that he mentioned before going splat in discovery's season 2 premiere

plus there's the multi-boobed catwoman from the-movie-that-must-not-be-named that may or may not be a caitian and damon lindelof's 'caitians' which aren't caitians at all because they have zero feline features aside from a vaguely lion-like tail

That multiboobed catwoman could just be from another Caitian sub-species like the Kzinti, Ferasans, Lyrans and Miraak, holy TRIBBLE they're like the Xindi with their multiple sub-species.

angrytarg · April 2021

paradox#7391 wrote: »

shadowfang240 wrote: »

we have 5 - two named and 3 unnamed, one of which is a hybrid, namely an orange-furred admiral, a black-furred commodore (both from TVH) and connolly's half-caitian roommate that he mentioned before going splat in discovery's season 2 premiere

plus there's the multi-boobed catwoman from the-movie-that-must-not-be-named that may or may not be a caitian and damon lindelof's 'caitians' which aren't caitians at all because they have zero feline features aside from a vaguely lion-like tail

That multiboobed catwoman could just be from another Caitian sub-species like the Kzinti, Ferasans, Lyrans and Miraak, holy TRIBBLE they're like the Xindi with their multiple sub-species.

Or, wild theory here, they are completely unrelated. Just like Gorn and Saurians are unrelated.

byakko · October 2021

Hi, Wouldn't be better for them to hire or post a formal request fot artist in the overhaul of the Caitian and the other feline race?
I loved the Idea of them but for what they give you for costomizing them truly sucks.
there are few examples out there for beautiful Caitian art and 3D rendering.
on the Idea of Cannon or not I really do not understand that part.

but adding fur patterns more colorizations would be great.
Adding Options for Humanization look as in the star trek movie with the caitian twins.
more facial features would be nice this be where a good furry artist shines.
having the more options for tails be great and fixing their legs be nice too.

even if they do want to hire a artist with cash, in-game prizes could make it up for the commission cost.

Caitians. A long overdue overhaul.

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