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Feature Pitch: Cross-Faction Armadas
lokharno
Member Posts: 59 Arc User
With a Klingon Recruitment Event just around the corner, this seems like a good time to renew my pitch for the addition of Cross-Faction Armadas to the game.
The Problem
Like a lot of people, I've got a dozen or so Federation-aligned alts and one or two Klingons. My friends and fleetmates in pretty much the same boat. The problem is that, since KDF-aligned characters can't join Fed-side fleets, our Klingons are either fleetless or trapped in under-resourced, undeveloped fleets. Note that this is only a problem for players who prefer smaller, "personalized" fleets -- obviously, our Klingon toons could join up with any of the large, established KDF fleets. But for those of us who prefer fleets that are "just a bunch of friends who play together and share resources," the mega-fleets aren't really satisfactory. Consequently, players like us (a) rarely create KDF alts; (b) don't seriously advance KDF alts (because they'll always be hobbled by lack of access to mid- and high-tier fleet gear), and (c) don't grind non-transferrable resources (like fleet marks) on KDF alts, because they'd just be wasted on fleet holdings that won't reach completion in reasonable time.
Known Obstacles
Cross-Faction fleets are unlikely to happen because, apparently, cross-faction maps are hard to do in STO. So, the "obvious" solution -- let anybody join any fleet -- is off the table as a practical matter. Also, new fleet holdings are apparently expensive investments, so no solution involving new holdings is feasible.
The Workaround
While not exactly a "solution" to the problem, there is an apparently feasible option to ameliorate the issue: Cross-Faction Armadas. Or, put another way, allow a Fed-aligned Alpha fleet to invite KDF-aligned fleets to join as Betas (and vice-versa), and allow Fed-aligned Beta fleets to invite KDF-aligned fleets to join as Gammas (and vice versa).
While not fully pooling resources, this arrangement would allow cross-faction contributions of non-transferrable resources (like Fleet Marks and Expertise), and it would and make cross-faction contributions of transferrable resources (like dilithium and EC) easier, one-step processes. Resources of Klingon alts would no longer be "stranded" KDF-side, and Fed toons could support under-resourced KDF alt fleets.
And a Bonus
While not a necessary part of the proposed feature, it would be possible to implement Cross-Faction Armadas in a way that would consume significant dilithium, at least on a one-time basis. Two possibilities come to mind.
First, the ability to invite a fleet of a different Faction into an Armada could, itself, be made a fleet project (say, unlockable with a Tier III Embassy holding). For example, a free-standing Fed fleet that wanted to invite a Klingon fleet to join an Armada (as a Beta fleet) might have to (a) complete a Tier III Embassy holding and (b) complete an additional Embassy project (say, "Enable Cross-Faction Fleet Invitations", with a substantial dilithium and fleet mark cost) to unlock the capability.
Second, sending and/or accepting cross-faction invitations could themselves have a cost in terms of dilithium and/or marks. This would probably be harder to implement, since it doesn't slot into any existing system the way that "unlockable as a project," above, does. But it also might be a recurring dilithium expenditure.
Conclusion
Cross-Faction Armadas would be a (relatively) easy-to-implement feature that would help to relieve the second-class-citizen status of KDF-aligned characters by allowing them to quasi-pool fleet resources with their far more numerous Fed-side counterparts.
The Problem
Like a lot of people, I've got a dozen or so Federation-aligned alts and one or two Klingons. My friends and fleetmates in pretty much the same boat. The problem is that, since KDF-aligned characters can't join Fed-side fleets, our Klingons are either fleetless or trapped in under-resourced, undeveloped fleets. Note that this is only a problem for players who prefer smaller, "personalized" fleets -- obviously, our Klingon toons could join up with any of the large, established KDF fleets. But for those of us who prefer fleets that are "just a bunch of friends who play together and share resources," the mega-fleets aren't really satisfactory. Consequently, players like us (a) rarely create KDF alts; (b) don't seriously advance KDF alts (because they'll always be hobbled by lack of access to mid- and high-tier fleet gear), and (c) don't grind non-transferrable resources (like fleet marks) on KDF alts, because they'd just be wasted on fleet holdings that won't reach completion in reasonable time.
Known Obstacles
Cross-Faction fleets are unlikely to happen because, apparently, cross-faction maps are hard to do in STO. So, the "obvious" solution -- let anybody join any fleet -- is off the table as a practical matter. Also, new fleet holdings are apparently expensive investments, so no solution involving new holdings is feasible.
The Workaround
While not exactly a "solution" to the problem, there is an apparently feasible option to ameliorate the issue: Cross-Faction Armadas. Or, put another way, allow a Fed-aligned Alpha fleet to invite KDF-aligned fleets to join as Betas (and vice-versa), and allow Fed-aligned Beta fleets to invite KDF-aligned fleets to join as Gammas (and vice versa).
While not fully pooling resources, this arrangement would allow cross-faction contributions of non-transferrable resources (like Fleet Marks and Expertise), and it would and make cross-faction contributions of transferrable resources (like dilithium and EC) easier, one-step processes. Resources of Klingon alts would no longer be "stranded" KDF-side, and Fed toons could support under-resourced KDF alt fleets.
And a Bonus
While not a necessary part of the proposed feature, it would be possible to implement Cross-Faction Armadas in a way that would consume significant dilithium, at least on a one-time basis. Two possibilities come to mind.
First, the ability to invite a fleet of a different Faction into an Armada could, itself, be made a fleet project (say, unlockable with a Tier III Embassy holding). For example, a free-standing Fed fleet that wanted to invite a Klingon fleet to join an Armada (as a Beta fleet) might have to (a) complete a Tier III Embassy holding and (b) complete an additional Embassy project (say, "Enable Cross-Faction Fleet Invitations", with a substantial dilithium and fleet mark cost) to unlock the capability.
Second, sending and/or accepting cross-faction invitations could themselves have a cost in terms of dilithium and/or marks. This would probably be harder to implement, since it doesn't slot into any existing system the way that "unlockable as a project," above, does. But it also might be a recurring dilithium expenditure.
Conclusion
Cross-Faction Armadas would be a (relatively) easy-to-implement feature that would help to relieve the second-class-citizen status of KDF-aligned characters by allowing them to quasi-pool fleet resources with their far more numerous Fed-side counterparts.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
Unfortunately, everything suggests that nothing was ever done with the system after release. It's just another system that was created and then mostly ignored.
This was never said to be happening, and has never been created, only thing that they have said is it had been looked at, and the rest is as per Rattler above.
It's a development dilemma: better code, tools and workflows would make you more productive, but deadlines mean you don't have time to spend on creating better code, tools and workflows.
One aspect of that is Technical Debt, and by now STO must have quite a lot of it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt
I run into that at my job now and then: some parts of the code make adding or changing features harder than it should be, but re-working the code then doing thorough QA just isn't in the time budget before the next release is needed.
There's also the trap of going too far in the other direction like Star Citizen which has spend more than 10 years replacing engines and re-writing tools without managing to release a finished game. Squadron 42 is now 8+ years overdue.