Unfortunately they can't do that. Its hard coded into the game, and STO came from the WoW era of MMO Development, where you had two opposing factions.
That's not really a thing. It's code. They can do whatever they want. it's a question of whether or not they want to do it. Factions are a holdover from when PVP was a thing and this game isn't really for PVP. They could easily change it so that you got a few introduction missions based on race and then had access to every mission/arc/content in the game as you leveled. It'd mean an overhaul, but they certainly can do it.
Why not just build a social zone for Alliance members similarly to DS9 & Bajor where everyone from each faction can hangout, it can have banners with Alliance symbols, NPC Alliance ships and uniforms, maybe have temporal agent NPCs like Kail, Q'on and Philip Cray hang out at their special Temporal Alliance office, call this social zone Alliance HQ, while it's bandaid and not a real fix, it's also the closest thing to a faction merge.
I don't see why they just don't take the 'easy' route.. make -all- races faction 0... like the Romulans and Jem'Hadar, and then let them do the 'choose your faction' like the Romulans and Jem'Hadar. They can even make it so you can do the 'choice' at level 1.
Except that wouldn't fit into the narrative of the game's story. You'd have to make a whole new set of missions just for these privateers that is separate from the game's story, unless you want them to roll into Fed or KDF like Romulans did. The story is told from the perspective of Captains in their respective fleets. I don't see how a Privateer will fit into any of it.
Look, how can I say this? Bounty Hunters do not care if the Target is innocent or guilty, it is in the pay grade. Sig Sauer is a Civilian Company that develops weapons for the Military, the word is "Private Contractor" a "Private Contractor" is not questioned by morality but by some alien concept called "PROFIT" your character could use Discovery, The Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise, Picard, Lower Decks, Deep Space 9, The Original Series, Legacy? (Janeway's abortion) and more. Stories could still be expanded on but again it allows you to pick how you want to play not limited on just; "oh TRIBBLE, I can't have a Vorta cause the game says only Jem'Hadar exists for Gamma" or "Well I want to play as an Augments and fight beside the Klingons, wait, no, i cant get super strength? well I guess I will be a mixed breed alien that looks Human enough, a F*ing Daniels"
They give us ALIENS on Romulans, Klingons, Federation, will it really break the game for a Klingon Ferengi, a Federation Orion, or even a Klingon Pakled, I say this too, Talaxians are allowed into the Klingon forces, Imagine Neelix being told to shut up before he gets ejected out of the closest airlock
Seems like Vulcans should still be faction locked into the Federation though, it would be lore breaking if they just up & decided to go faction jumping.
Orion Starfleet officers have already been shown (at least in the JJverse anyway)
We also have a Prime Universe Fed Orion in Ensign Tendi from Lower Decks.
I'd even settle for a c-store unlock if it has to go that way.
Yea, I wouldn't want to see a any race for any Faction idea; it loose a bit of originality each is offered.
Yet if there is some Canon for it, I'd love to see a Orion option for Fed's since Lower Decks, or as show in Kelvin; similar to the Klingon for Federation. Others have spoken of a Ferengi optional ZEN Store Unlock for Klingon, given Quark was a member of a Klingon House and maybe still is.
That's the addition one I can offer on top of those identified above.
I will go off on something someone said earlier, that NPC's fight enemies (do you know how CODE works?) i am gonna give you an example
If variable X (called Player) is Y (5m) of Z (NPC) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = engage combat
- If variable X (called Player) moves out of X's (NPC) Y (5m) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = move into minimal combat range
- If variable X (called Player) reduces Z's (NPC) counter is 0 (health) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = trigger death animation, drop item, wait 60 seconds, end process
- If variable X's (called Player) counter is 0 (health) turn switch on
- - If X's (called Player) counter is 0 = resets all active NPC's health to full
If variable X (called Player) is not Y (5m) of Z (NPC) leave switch off
(On maps their is Enemies and Players, their is no *oh that is a friendly so we can shoot his friend but not him*)
(On those maps like say New Romulus your character is not shot by The Klingons or The Federation)
this is not complicated programming, this is well, the same kind of programming from PAC-MAN era, its 30- 40- 50? years outdated. C++, Javascript, whatever it is!! It still works on the same principal, I built games, albeit on a RPG Maker in early 2010's
Now on to the NPC aspect in PvP and PvE is so simple it can run in the exact, their is no (oh no, their is no way to tell friendlies apart, is he a Klingon in a Federation ship or a Starfleet in a Federation ship?)
If variable X (called Player) is in team with W (other Players) turn switch on
- If variable X (called Player) targets W (other Players) turn switch on
(treated as friendlies)
- If variable X (called Player) targets non-W (other Player) turn switch on
(they are treated as enemies)
If variable X (called Player) is not in team W (other Players) turn switch on
(same as above)
point is that it is NOT something hard to change, it will NOT break the game, if you play as a Klingon and fight the Klingons, they don't just set back and let you shoot them (Partisans mission?) cause the NPC says "but they are friendly?"
Adding the new faction would just need the code which is pretty simple, give the NPC to look at the Player as always friendly, speak to them as if they are a part of their faction, how could this be coded?
If variable X (called Player) is in team F (Federation Allied) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team K (Klingon Allied) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team J (Jem'Hadar) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player is in team R (Romulan) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team A (new faction) turn switch on
- If meeting team F, R, K or J = trigger the appropriate faction response
I will go off on something someone said earlier, that NPC's fight enemies (do you know how CODE works?) i am gonna give you an example
If variable X (called Player) is Y (5m) of Z (NPC) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = engage combat
- If variable X (called Player) moves out of X's (NPC) Y (5m) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = move into minimal combat range
- If variable X (called Player) reduces Z's (NPC) counter is 0 (health) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = trigger death animation, drop item, wait 60 seconds, end process
- If variable X's (called Player) counter is 0 (health) turn switch on
- - If X's (called Player) counter is 0 = resets all active NPC's health to full
If variable X (called Player) is not Y (5m) of Z (NPC) leave switch off
(On maps their is Enemies and Players, their is no *oh that is a friendly so we can shoot his friend but not him*)
(On those maps like say New Romulus your character is not shot by The Klingons or The Federation)
this is not complicated programming, this is well, the same kind of programming from PAC-MAN era, its 30- 40- 50? years outdated. C++, Javascript, whatever it is!! It still works on the same principal, I built games, albeit on a RPG Maker in early 2010's
Now on to the NPC aspect in PvP and PvE is so simple it can run in the exact, their is no (oh no, their is no way to tell friendlies apart, is he a Klingon in a Federation ship or a Starfleet in a Federation ship?)
If variable X (called Player) is in team with W (other Players) turn switch on
- If variable X (called Player) targets W (other Players) turn switch on
(treated as friendlies)
- If variable X (called Player) targets non-W (other Player) turn switch on
(they are treated as enemies)
If variable X (called Player) is not in team W (other Players) turn switch on
(same as above)
point is that it is NOT something hard to change, it will NOT break the game, if you play as a Klingon and fight the Klingons, they don't just set back and let you shoot them (Partisans mission?) cause the NPC says "but they are friendly?"
Adding the new faction would just need the code which is pretty simple, give the NPC to look at the Player as always friendly, speak to them as if they are a part of their faction, how could this be coded?
If variable X (called Player) is in team F (Federation Allied) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team K (Klingon Allied) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team J (Jem'Hadar) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player is in team R (Romulan) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team A (new faction) turn switch on
- If meeting team F, R, K or J = trigger the appropriate faction response
Friend/foe identification is only a part of the problem though, the database aspect is usually a lot trickier than stuff like that simple IFF logic coding. And when a system is split into parallel systems (like adding pvp red/blue factions to a game that was not designed for it from the start) various feature and bugfix patches tend to cause the branches of the split to drift apart even if they started as identical to begin with (and I suspect the KDF faction did not even start out as a perfect mirror to begin with, stuff like that rarely does).
Even if the code itself was still identical between the two superfactions there is the problem of that the tables for faction one and two almost certainly have different data in the same places in the faction table structure so all references would have to be moved to point to other parts of expanded combined tables or a different way of addressing which table set to use be worked out or something along those lines depending on exactly how the current stuff is set up.
It can all be refactored to straighten all those problems out, and it might even make things a bit more streamlined as an added benefit (depending on a lot of factors), but such a refactoring takes time (usually a lot of it in man-hour terms) and small development teams especially (like STO has according to a lot of comments) could take quite a while at it.
i would be happy if the commendation boffs can where your factions uniforms.
I think that was originally a "CBS said no" type of situation, who knows if that's still the case or not but idk how easy it would be to change that now.
Comments
That's not really a thing. It's code. They can do whatever they want. it's a question of whether or not they want to do it. Factions are a holdover from when PVP was a thing and this game isn't really for PVP. They could easily change it so that you got a few introduction missions based on race and then had access to every mission/arc/content in the game as you leveled. It'd mean an overhaul, but they certainly can do it.
Look, how can I say this? Bounty Hunters do not care if the Target is innocent or guilty, it is in the pay grade. Sig Sauer is a Civilian Company that develops weapons for the Military, the word is "Private Contractor" a "Private Contractor" is not questioned by morality but by some alien concept called "PROFIT" your character could use Discovery, The Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise, Picard, Lower Decks, Deep Space 9, The Original Series, Legacy? (Janeway's abortion) and more. Stories could still be expanded on but again it allows you to pick how you want to play not limited on just; "oh TRIBBLE, I can't have a Vorta cause the game says only Jem'Hadar exists for Gamma" or "Well I want to play as an Augments and fight beside the Klingons, wait, no, i cant get super strength? well I guess I will be a mixed breed alien that looks Human enough, a F*ing Daniels"
They give us ALIENS on Romulans, Klingons, Federation, will it really break the game for a Klingon Ferengi, a Federation Orion, or even a Klingon Pakled, I say this too, Talaxians are allowed into the Klingon forces, Imagine Neelix being told to shut up before he gets ejected out of the closest airlock
Yea, I wouldn't want to see a any race for any Faction idea; it loose a bit of originality each is offered.
Yet if there is some Canon for it, I'd love to see a Orion option for Fed's since Lower Decks, or as show in Kelvin; similar to the Klingon for Federation. Others have spoken of a Ferengi optional ZEN Store Unlock for Klingon, given Quark was a member of a Klingon House and maybe still is.
That's the addition one I can offer on top of those identified above.
If variable X (called Player) is Y (5m) of Z (NPC) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = engage combat
- If variable X (called Player) moves out of X's (NPC) Y (5m) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = move into minimal combat range
- If variable X (called Player) reduces Z's (NPC) counter is 0 (health) turn switch on
- - If switch is on = trigger death animation, drop item, wait 60 seconds, end process
- If variable X's (called Player) counter is 0 (health) turn switch on
- - If X's (called Player) counter is 0 = resets all active NPC's health to full
If variable X (called Player) is not Y (5m) of Z (NPC) leave switch off
(On maps their is Enemies and Players, their is no *oh that is a friendly so we can shoot his friend but not him*)
(On those maps like say New Romulus your character is not shot by The Klingons or The Federation)
this is not complicated programming, this is well, the same kind of programming from PAC-MAN era, its 30- 40- 50? years outdated. C++, Javascript, whatever it is!! It still works on the same principal, I built games, albeit on a RPG Maker in early 2010's
Now on to the NPC aspect in PvP and PvE is so simple it can run in the exact, their is no (oh no, their is no way to tell friendlies apart, is he a Klingon in a Federation ship or a Starfleet in a Federation ship?)
If variable X (called Player) is in team with W (other Players) turn switch on
- If variable X (called Player) targets W (other Players) turn switch on
(treated as friendlies)
- If variable X (called Player) targets non-W (other Player) turn switch on
(they are treated as enemies)
If variable X (called Player) is not in team W (other Players) turn switch on
(same as above)
point is that it is NOT something hard to change, it will NOT break the game, if you play as a Klingon and fight the Klingons, they don't just set back and let you shoot them (Partisans mission?) cause the NPC says "but they are friendly?"
Adding the new faction would just need the code which is pretty simple, give the NPC to look at the Player as always friendly, speak to them as if they are a part of their faction, how could this be coded?
If variable X (called Player) is in team F (Federation Allied) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team K (Klingon Allied) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team J (Jem'Hadar) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player is in team R (Romulan) turn switch on
If variable X (called Player) is in team A (new faction) turn switch on
- If meeting team F, R, K or J = trigger the appropriate faction response
Friend/foe identification is only a part of the problem though, the database aspect is usually a lot trickier than stuff like that simple IFF logic coding. And when a system is split into parallel systems (like adding pvp red/blue factions to a game that was not designed for it from the start) various feature and bugfix patches tend to cause the branches of the split to drift apart even if they started as identical to begin with (and I suspect the KDF faction did not even start out as a perfect mirror to begin with, stuff like that rarely does).
Even if the code itself was still identical between the two superfactions there is the problem of that the tables for faction one and two almost certainly have different data in the same places in the faction table structure so all references would have to be moved to point to other parts of expanded combined tables or a different way of addressing which table set to use be worked out or something along those lines depending on exactly how the current stuff is set up.
It can all be refactored to straighten all those problems out, and it might even make things a bit more streamlined as an added benefit (depending on a lot of factors), but such a refactoring takes time (usually a lot of it in man-hour terms) and small development teams especially (like STO has according to a lot of comments) could take quite a while at it.
I think that was originally a "CBS said no" type of situation, who knows if that's still the case or not but idk how easy it would be to change that now.
I LOL'd
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008