The following is a collection of interconnected ideas I was jotting down during my absence from the forums. They are meant to be taken at face value. I just copied and pasted it from my notes. Please forgive me if something seems incomplete.
Exploration
===========
Player-Admiral-assigned exploration missions send captains into exploration zones looking for potential opportunities for expanding Starfleet infrastructure to further the war effort against the Klingon Empire. Planets discovered in this way are extremely random. Exploration of the surface area will detect sources of raw materials needed in a wide variety of applications. Completion of the mission will send the findings to the admiral who issued the mission, and he/she must decide if it is worth expending fleet resources on.
First-contact
=============
While exploring, new races will be discovered, their planets in varrying state of technological progression. based on the importance of a planet's resources to the war effort, captains must make a judgment call as to whether or not first contact is apropriate. Satelites in orbit of planets can be scanned to get an idea of the geopolitical condition of the planet. If it is a pre-warp civilization, First Contact is not advised. If it has achieved warp drive, or is at least on the verge of achieving it, First Contact is permitted. However, knowing the social conditions of the planet would be wise. Some civilizations may be bent on conquest, and getting involved with them might prove to be more trouble than it is worth. A lot of diplomatic missions to that world would be required to keep its relationship with the Federation amicable. Some civilizations may be peaceful and willing to share resources freely with the Federation. Some planets may not even have civilizations on them and will be free for the claiming...
Diplomatic Missions
===================
If a planet has been discovered as having useful resources, and an admiral has determined that they are worth pursuing, Captains with high diplomacy ratings can be sent to negotiate trade agreements between the federation and that world. Some civilizations will want resources at a cost of other resources, with a weekly quota. What they want will be entirely random, so an admiral must weigh the costs accordingly. One's fleet may stockpile resources for the purpose of diplomatic trade. Imagine a civilization that wants 300 units of medical supplies each week in exchange for 100 units of Tritanium per week. Depending on how badly the tritanium is needed, and how efficient the admiral's fleet is at producing or procuring medical supplies, this may or may not be a good investment. Captains will need to have equal or greater diplomacy to the planet's ambassador to deliver the goods.
Resources
=========
Resources come in all sorts of varieties. Food supplies, Medical supplies, Power Generators, Raw Materials... all sorts. While a lot of base components can simply be replicated for energy credits, large components must be constructed through the use of raw materials. Starships, Starbase modules and ground installations require members of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers to build them. And they take a lot of resources. Space is vast, and largely unexplored, so resources are potentially limitless, but they have to be sought after and obtained, either by trade or production. Explorers find the sites where resources are bountiful. Ambassadors go to those sites to negotiate trade agreements or mining permissions. But the flow of resources, however they are obtained, is vital to the war effort.
Administrative Points
=====================
At every level within the admiralty, characters gain an administrative point. so at Rear Admiral 5, one can have 5 administrative points. At Fleet Admiral 10, one will have 40 administrative points. These points can be distributed into different categories: Starships. Starbases. ground Installations. Space Installations. Personnell.
Each of these categories is divided into two sub-categories: Commission and Deployment.
Commission determines how many elements of a particular category that an admiral can have constructed (or conscripted in the case of personnel) and placed in his fleet's reserves. Deployment determines how many elements of a particular category in a fleet's reserves that an admiral can have deployed. When an admiral's commissioned element is deployed or decommissioned, he recovers commission points. elements cost different amounts to commission. When an admiral's deployed element is recalled or eliminated (destroyed or killed) he recovers deployment points.
It is up to each admiral to decide what sort of administrative duties he or she will focus on. Commissioning makes resources available to one's fleet. Deploying puts those resources into actual operation.
Commissioning And Deploying Mining Facilities
=============================================
A fleet's ability to sustain itself and provide adequate support to the war effort relies on the production and flow of raw materials. When a captain locates a suitable site for mining, if no negotiation is immediately needed, an admiral may use his administrative points to commission the construction of a mining facility. The facilities are constructed in the form of modules which must be transported to the site by an engineer-captain if deployed. This can be done in multiple trips with one captain or one trip with multiple captains. Once a mining facility is deployed, it still requires personnel and equipment before it can be brought online. Equipment is similar to that which one may equip his/her ship with, though only the sort of equipment that is appropriate to a mining facility would work. Things like Phaser Drills, Extraction Systems, Cooling pumps, storage modules and so forth. It also will require constant upkeep in the form of supplies and replacement parts, many of which can be replicated by any captain. See "commissioning and deploying personnel" for information on manning a mining facility.
Commissioning and Deploying Starbases
=====================================
Starbases come in two forms: ground bases and Space Stations. Their purpose is to bolster military presence in planetary systems and thus adding to the number of target objectives an enemy factiom must take out to capture that region. A fleet may deploy only one base at a time to any given region, but any number of fleets may deploy to the region. So if an attack on Vulcan is suspected, Every federation player fleet with the ability to deploy military installations may deploy them at vulcan to make such an attack more difficult to carry out. As soon as an enemy fleet drops out of Warp, they will encounter a space station and NPC federation fleet optimized from resources deployed by the corresponding federatin fleet to best deal with the threat. See also, Deploying Starships
Commissioning and Deploying Starships
=====================================
Starships are the front line of defense for strategic loctions throughout Federation Space. When commissioned, a Starship is constructed at a shipyard belonging to the fleet the ship is being commissioned for. While ship systems may be replicated or produced at Memory Alpha, the ships themselves require physical construction. large-scale components produced at refineries are transported to the shipyard for installation in the ship that is under construction there. Once a ship is constructed, it must be equipped and crewed before it can be deployed. When a ship is constructed it automatically is assigned to the same location as the shipyard and can be deployed from there. When a Starship is deployed to a region, its travel time is calculated based on the priority of the mission.
Very Low priority = 20% of maximum warp
Low Priority = 40% of maximum warp
Medium Piority = 60% of maximum warp
High Priority = 80% of maximum warp
Very High Priority = 100% of maximum warp
At every 10% of the trip, there is a 50% possibility of an event occurring, modified by the region the ship would be in at that point.
I think the first problem is that a lot of people feel like they shouldn't be admirals in a ship out pew-pewing things. Admirals should probably be doing the things you're describing above but we're too busy pew-pewing things. It's definitely something I could see us doing as end-game once we get to RA10.
The real issue isn't that the things you've listed aren't good ideas. The real issue is that even the simplest of your ideas would take many, many months to implement into the game. I'm all for it though. Doing real Admiral stuff would make for an interesting end-game, IMO.
I think the first problem is that a lot of people feel like they shouldn't be admirals in a ship out pew-pewing things. Admirals should probably be doing the things you're describing above but we're too busy pew-pewing things. It's definitely something I could see us doing as end-game once we get to RA10.
The real issue isn't that the things you've listed aren't good ideas. The real issue is that even the simplest of your ideas would take many, many months to implement into the game. I'm all for it though. Doing real Admiral stuff would make for an interesting end-game, IMO.
I agree with you. But Cryptic's vision is not the same as ours. This is why what I suggest here tries to hook into mechanics that already exist in one form or another. That way, it only requires adaptation rather than laying out entire new mechanics for everything.
As a Navy Veteran, I can tell you that real Rear Admirals command fleets. I like the idea of fleet commands.
Since there are bridge officers in the game. I think it would be cool to promote our bridge officers to Captains and purchase them lower-tier ships. Then we as Admirals would command fleets.
These minifleets would be your T5 ship and 4 lower tier ships: a mix of T4, T3 and T2 ships.
It would be kind of like the old PC game Star Trek Armada 2...
As a Navy Veteran, I can tell you that real Rear Admirals command fleets. I like the idea of fleet commands.
Since there are bridge officers in the game. I think it would be cool to promote our bridge officers to Captains and purchase them lower-tier ships. Then we as Admirals would command fleets.
These minifleets would be your T5 ship and 4 lower tier ships: a mix of T4, T3 and T2 ships.
It would be kind of like the old PC game Star Trek Armada 2...
You would not enjoy it.....
It would be like ground combat. BOFF AI as it stands is pretty bad, they would just get you killed over and over again.
Join a fleet and run with fleet-mates in a team, each can take turns being "The Admiral", that would be your fleet.
We've been told that First Contact and Diplomatic missions are coming. I'll wait until I see them on Tribble before I comment on them, except to say that they are needed for this game.
We already have Exploration missions, and as lame as they are, I welcome any improvement of them.
On Commissioning Starbases, Starships and Mining Facilities:
I really like the idea of including this type of "Admiral Level Content." Adding things like this not only adds end game content, but it also introduces sandbox elements and makes a player feel like an Admiral. If done with sufficient complexity, it could add an entire new game play style. Sort of like an RTS (only without the Rapid) within the MMO. Earning and deploying assets like ships and bases to various star systems could also give something for Fleets as a whole to do.
As various bases are commissioned and Starships deployed, trouble spots where coverage is insufficient could develop, problems that require the direct presence of the Admiral himself to resolve. In this way, not only do you have a Strategic Game, but it also introduces new - non STF - content into the game. I would even go so far as to make these trouble spots designed for multiple players, thus requiring the Admiral to assemble a team of players to resolve. In this way, they'd be like mini-fleet actions that pop up now and again. Sort of like a PvE version of the planned "take and hold systems" expansion to PvP.
Starbases and mining facilities should cost resources to set up, perhaps your administrative points or maybe just Merits, but once they are online they could generate resources for the Admiral's Fleet. They could also be used to provide more sandbox options. Like customization and expansion of said bases and mining facilities.
They could also provide other options. Operational Starbases could provide a transwarp conduit into the sector block in which they are located. Mining Facilites could provide the raw materials for crafting, thus making a crafters job easier. Both could also provide Energy Credits for the Fleet's bank and/or Merits for the members of the fleet.
I think, philosophically, that is a dead-end path. They make the game. If you don't buy into any of what they want to do with it ... find no common ground ... and do not share their vision ...
You're not going to really find what you're looking for from them.
Seeking changes and continually pressing them for more new stuff, and better new stuff is one thing. Asking for things that are diametrically opposed to their vision for the game? Their goals? Their plan?
I think, philosophically, that is a dead-end path. They make the game. If you don't buy into any of what they want to do with it ... find no common ground ... and do not share their vision ...
You're not going to really find what you're looking for from them.
Seeking changes and continually pressing them for more new stuff, and better new stuff is one thing. Asking for things that are diametrically opposed to their vision for the game? Their goals? Their plan?
It's stuff that won't happen.
I think it is clear to them by now that their initial vision, goals and plan were garbage. This game is the laughing stock of the MMO industry. No other MMO intended to be AAA material has ever tanked the way this one has.
But it doesn't have to be that way. And Cryptic is starting to realize it. They themselves are changing direction on a lot of things. And nothing I suggested here is outside the realm of possibility with what is already in the game. And in all honesty, if they really want STO to be the moneymaker it can be, then they need to stop with all the "refer a friend"-type gimmicks with their exclusive rewards which happen to be things players have been almost begging for, and start developing gameplay and content that people actually would want to play.
So far, it's the same old same old from Lieutenant all the way to RA5. The admiralty should go beyond normal gameplay and institute stuff that is bigger in scope. Namely fleet-oriented gameplay. And I meen fleet as in player guild. Right now, what is there exactly that makes being a member of a fleet any different than going it alone, aside for being able to wear a fleet uniform and have the name of your fleet under your ship name?
Do we even get out own guild hall (base of operations)?
I mean, come on.
At some point, something's just got to give.
Either this is supposed to be a AAA title or it isn't. Either they want it to succeed or they don't. It's up to them.
So far, it's the same old same old from Lieutenant all the way to RA5. The admiralty should go beyond normal gameplay and institute stuff that is bigger in scope. Namely fleet-oriented gameplay. And I meen fleet as in player guild. Right now, what is there exactly that makes being a member of a fleet any different than going it alone, aside for being able to wear a fleet uniform and have the name of your fleet under your ship name?
Do we even get out own guild hall (base of operations)?
I don't think adding guild halls or any other fleet-related bonuses should be part of STO.
People should want to be in a Fleet because they want to be there, not railroaded into joining because they want certain persk from them - that's just encourages people to join Fleet's to leech resources. You forgot to add fleet banks are in place, IMO that and the uniform is enough.
Guild rewards are a necessary evil in some games because the original concept/IP dictates it in some way (eg WAR, Age of Conan were sold as have guild-heavy gameplay features).
I don't think adding guild halls or any other fleet-related bonuses should be part of STO.
People should want to be in a Fleet because they want to be there, not railroaded into joining because they want certain persk from them - that's just encourages people to join Fleet's to leech resources. You forgot to add fleet banks are in place, IMO that and the uniform is enough.
Guild rewards are a necessary evil in some games because the original concept/IP dictates it in some way (eg WAR, Age of Conan were sold as have guild-heavy gameplay features).
Of COURSE they should want to be in a fleet because they want to be there. Remember, Martok commanded his fleet as a supreme commander out of an office on DS9. Admiral Ross was almost a resident there himself in the lst year of the Dominion War.
The guild hall thing ws just an example, anyway.
As to the rest of what I propose, what are your thoughts? If you don't like them, then what do you think that admirals in STO should be doing, and what sort of gameplay mechanics should they have to set them apart from the normal rank-and-file?
I like a lot of the ideas you put forward, this one I'd like to discuss a bit more.
While I prefer that my character's final rank was Captain, we have RA5/BG5 so for the moment I'll work with what we have in game. While I welcome RA10 so we have a more completed feel to the level process, I hope there will be expansions that do not hinge their success on yet more ranks and more skill points. My thoughts:
How many times does the Enterprise get refitted? How many times was DS9 rebuilt or replaced? How many times did the ship/star base central to the plot have weapon or equipment upgrades? How many times did Archer, Kirk, Picard, Janeway or Sisko get assigned to a new ship/star base? I know a non-sandbox mmo needs progression otherwise some players feel they have nothing to do. Certainly if a fully-fledged diplomacy system is in place some diplomacy skills can be added, JAG/Court skills if Federation or Klingon law is to be a focus of missions then there is scope for new skills. At some point though I think the game would benefit more from content that RA10's, and the Klingons from LT/1, could enjoy without more skill points or levels being required.
I would like to see a finite limit on levels and following RA10 content is based upon progression.
We already have some of this with access to the the STF's requiring completion of the previous STFs to unlock the next one. Future content could use a similar approach with defend missions, exploration missions or PvP paths to the same end, so that people could choose their path, but all gain access to new content.
Instead of using a level gate system for access to content, once at RA10/BG10 there would be a participation gate system.
I think it is clear to them by now that their initial vision, goals and plan were garbage. This game is the laughing stock of the MMO industry. No other MMO intended to be AAA material has ever tanked the way this one has.
Wow. See, that's kind of what I'm getting at. There's no way to build from that kind of feedback.
They themselves are changing direction on a lot of things.
They haven't changed their direction. The things that have been implemented are all part of the their plan. Their vision. They're moving forward with these plans.
Have you tried the new Memory Alpha on Tribble? It's a huge improvement. But, it's the same system. They didn't change their direction. Dozens of players across Scores of Threads and Hundreds of Posts asked Cryptic to scrap Memory Alpha, and rebuild it completely differently. Because, it was as you might say, garbage.
And their changes to it? Not at all what some people typed pages and pages of stuff about.
This is two-fold. For once, the tech and code is in place. So for them it's a much more efficient use of their time to work with what they've already done. And build on that. As seen with Memory Alpha.
The other reason ... it sticks to their plan.
That you bought this game is already proof to them that they're not a laughing stock. That you're still playing it is proof to them that the game isn't a failure.
But I don't think your expectations of what they CAN or WILL do is realistic.
There's a diplomacy system coming. Players want that.
Aid the Planet missions ... players hated. And skipped.
Aid the Planet missions were not scrapped as total garbage. They were tweaked, but remain relatively the exact same in terms of how you do them.
They're going to be part of the diplomacy system that's coming.
That makes sense. It's what Cryptic is doing. Building on what they have.
But this is the same garbage you feel is beyond repair and needs to be scrapped.
Odds are you will find the diplomacy system as lacking and laughable as you find the rest of the game.
Because your vision doesn't mesh with their vision.
And in all honesty, if they really want STO to be the moneymaker it can be, then they need to stop with all the "refer a friend"-type gimmicks with their exclusive rewards which happen to be things players have been almost begging for, and start developing gameplay and content that people actually would want to play.
Far more players have been begging for a T5 Defiant than the All Good Things Galaxy mutation.
BOTH are being made available. One is part of a marketing gimmick, yes. But the one far far far more players have been asking for ... is absolutely free and part of the levelling process that is going to be coming with brand new story arc and mission content ... another thing people have been begging for.
Fancy that. While post after post is wasted on a marketing gimmick ... Cryptic's hard at work giving players new levels, new content, and a tier of ship that is what they've begged for. All just for sticking with and playing the game.
That's, of course, more garbage from the laughingstock of all MMOs?
At some point, something's just got to give.
I do agree wtih this. But my experience with how these things go, has me thinknig that you will give long before the game does. Since games really aren't anywhere near as flexible as you'd like them to be, post-launch.
I am new to MMO's, this is my first. I played starcraft for 8+ years, and now am playing SC2 as well.
I am an avid Star Trek fan so i wanted to try this out. In less than 3 weeks i am now VA1 and can not go any higher. The borg raid missions are very difficult with less than par teammates. PVP isn't really my thing.
I'm not sure how they can enhance the game without adding totally new vectors to it.Make the game more of a thinking man's (or woman's) game rather than a purely shoot em' up style. SC has a true opportunity cost aspect to it. You have to collect resources in order to build. At the same time you are tasked with defending your resource centers while still accumulating more. You could do something similar in STO.
This will be long.........
An admiral needs to be in charge of something. First, create other things for us to buy, upgrade, and configure. Things like colonies, buildings, bases, mining facilities, etc. They can have necessary modules like drills, pumps, regulators, etc. Things we have to buy or find and upgrade to make our facilities more productive. This productivity gets calculated. The more ore we mine, the more ships we can build to give to our BO's. If we dont mine and collect resources, we cant build any more ships.
Create asteroid fields in sector space. Have them appear somewhat at random. Admirals would have to find them and create mining facilities on them. They can either send out their fleet on explore missions or find one themselves. Once the facility is made, they would have to protect it, set up shipping schedules, parts deliveries, etc. Make it a producing part of the admiral's fleet. We also have to protect our shipments to and from. Let us build cargo ships to carry the goods. Different cargo classes, different speeds, to add to the complexity.
Then an admiral can create their own ship fleet. It would start with the amount of collected materials. We have to find different empty planets, asteroid belts, comets, etc with the necessary materials to construct ships. Then we use the materials to build ships. Each ship class requires different amount of materials. Small ships cost less materials, big ships cost more.
Let us promote our BO's to command their own ships. Sure they wont be as effective as our personal commanded ships, but the NPC's i fight on a daily seem to have no problem dishing out the torpedoes. I'm sure we can program the BO;s to defend themselves, patrol a facility, attack a base, etc.
So now we also have a resource gathering and combat / protection model. We use these resources to help the federation war effort. We get graded based on how much mined material we give back to the federation. We also use these resources to build and maintain our fleet. Get in a fight, damage a ship? It cost EC AND materials to repair. If you are not mining, you cant fix up your ships. Make it more of a
strategy to maintain, and expand your fleet. The bigger your fleet, the higher your rank. Not based on points
or just missions, but the size of your fleet. You command (x) mining facilities, (x) starbases, (x) colonies,
etc.
Now we could have personal fleet missions. Send your fleet to do X. You will need x amount of different types of ships to get the job done. Then the fleets are evenly spread. We can build medical ships, supply ships, etc. Each fleet mission would vary. Planet has the plague? How many hospital ships does your fleet have? The more people you save, the higher your reward. Planet under attack by the borg? Send your fleet. You can help, but you also have your highly trained previous BO's fighting with you.
Eventually we could get our own space station. This station is the hub for our fleet. We direct our ships to
space dock for repairs, upgrades, missions etc. No more just flying around blowing things up.We use our ships to protect our space stations, patrol sectors, and help planets in need. When something happens in space, we send whatever available ships we have to do the job.
Expand the explore portion of the game. When the lower level officers explores an unknown system, those eventually get mapped permanently. Each time someone explores it, it gets mapped as a percentage. So after a few days, weeks, whatever, the system is now mapped and an admiral can now go and mine or colonize it. Once a new system is fully mapped, it's first come first serve.
We don't get rid of the enemy contacts, we make them ore versatile. Now instead of just flying in circles, they slowly approach one of your bases, mining facilities, etc. We can set the system to email or txt us when they are within 50Km or something. Then we know we have to log on and protect our bases. If we dont log on in time, our base could be captured or destroyed. Then we send in our available fleet ships to take it back, etc.
Expand the first contact missions so we can negotiate the rights to mine on their planet. Lets slowly build
trust and bring them into the federation. If someone fails and offends a civilization, then they may join an
enemy organization.
Lets have the different factions vying for new planets and civilizations. Open it up so you can be a admiral for a different government like breen or klingon. Lets have the same goals for each. Gather resources, help the war effort, capture bases.
Let us build listening posts, and monitoring stations near enemy borders. If it says the place we are monitoring isn't defended, then we can try to capture it. Then we turn it into a production center for our government.
We would have to post enough patrols so our own stations doesn't get captured by the enemy. This all ties back into the resource gathering and ship building aspect. We should only command as many installations as we can protect.
This would keep the "fleet" admirals coming back daily. If someone doesnt want the responsibility of
commanding a fleet, then they can just keep doing whatever they are currently doing.
I cant speak for everyone, but a story arc like this i would like to see. Make it more planning and
strategic defense, and not just a shoot em up goal.
I have many more ideas, but im not sure if anyone cares so ill stop now. If any of the Dev's would like more info, feel free to contact me. I have an active imagination.
some good ideas guys. One thing I'd like to expand on is the fact that admirals order plebs around.
what would be nice would be some method for other players to approach you (as admiral) and request orders (perhaps with a toggle to say you're offering orders or not)- now this could be 100% automated, semi automated (you pick the mission types you're offering), or 100% manual - you talk to them and see what sort of mission they're after and assign one. (this could be tied into the future UGC functions they've been talking about as well as perhaps offering some generic missions).
Once a player has approached you once, they should be able to hail you for more missions (again this could be fully automated or otherwise). Players successfully completing a mission would provide you with the aforementioned administrative points which you could perhaps also spend on unlocking new mission types and/or mission buffs (that is, buffs players gain while running missions offered by you - thus tempting them to run more missions offered by you) - perhaps even ranking up the quality of the rewards earnt from you.
This could work kind of like rested XP too - with the non-interactive option allowing players to use you while you're offline
I think there's a hell of a lot that could be done down that path and might be a bit of fun. My 2c
A lot of great ideas. When I heard a ST MMO was coming out I was excited and hoped it built upon all of the previous ST and non ST games. Sadly it turned out to be an expanded SFC3. I am gald to see that they are working on stuff and hope these or some other ideas to make this game better come out.
Comments
The real issue isn't that the things you've listed aren't good ideas. The real issue is that even the simplest of your ideas would take many, many months to implement into the game. I'm all for it though. Doing real Admiral stuff would make for an interesting end-game, IMO.
I agree with you. But Cryptic's vision is not the same as ours. This is why what I suggest here tries to hook into mechanics that already exist in one form or another. That way, it only requires adaptation rather than laying out entire new mechanics for everything.
Since there are bridge officers in the game. I think it would be cool to promote our bridge officers to Captains and purchase them lower-tier ships. Then we as Admirals would command fleets.
These minifleets would be your T5 ship and 4 lower tier ships: a mix of T4, T3 and T2 ships.
It would be kind of like the old PC game Star Trek Armada 2...
You would not enjoy it.....
It would be like ground combat. BOFF AI as it stands is pretty bad, they would just get you killed over and over again.
Join a fleet and run with fleet-mates in a team, each can take turns being "The Admiral", that would be your fleet.
We already have Exploration missions, and as lame as they are, I welcome any improvement of them.
On Commissioning Starbases, Starships and Mining Facilities:
I really like the idea of including this type of "Admiral Level Content." Adding things like this not only adds end game content, but it also introduces sandbox elements and makes a player feel like an Admiral. If done with sufficient complexity, it could add an entire new game play style. Sort of like an RTS (only without the Rapid) within the MMO. Earning and deploying assets like ships and bases to various star systems could also give something for Fleets as a whole to do.
As various bases are commissioned and Starships deployed, trouble spots where coverage is insufficient could develop, problems that require the direct presence of the Admiral himself to resolve. In this way, not only do you have a Strategic Game, but it also introduces new - non STF - content into the game. I would even go so far as to make these trouble spots designed for multiple players, thus requiring the Admiral to assemble a team of players to resolve. In this way, they'd be like mini-fleet actions that pop up now and again. Sort of like a PvE version of the planned "take and hold systems" expansion to PvP.
Starbases and mining facilities should cost resources to set up, perhaps your administrative points or maybe just Merits, but once they are online they could generate resources for the Admiral's Fleet. They could also be used to provide more sandbox options. Like customization and expansion of said bases and mining facilities.
They could also provide other options. Operational Starbases could provide a transwarp conduit into the sector block in which they are located. Mining Facilites could provide the raw materials for crafting, thus making a crafters job easier. Both could also provide Energy Credits for the Fleet's bank and/or Merits for the members of the fleet.
I think the diplomatic stuff and the first contact stuff is already in the works.
I think, philosophically, that is a dead-end path. They make the game. If you don't buy into any of what they want to do with it ... find no common ground ... and do not share their vision ...
You're not going to really find what you're looking for from them.
Seeking changes and continually pressing them for more new stuff, and better new stuff is one thing. Asking for things that are diametrically opposed to their vision for the game? Their goals? Their plan?
It's stuff that won't happen.
I think it is clear to them by now that their initial vision, goals and plan were garbage. This game is the laughing stock of the MMO industry. No other MMO intended to be AAA material has ever tanked the way this one has.
But it doesn't have to be that way. And Cryptic is starting to realize it. They themselves are changing direction on a lot of things. And nothing I suggested here is outside the realm of possibility with what is already in the game. And in all honesty, if they really want STO to be the moneymaker it can be, then they need to stop with all the "refer a friend"-type gimmicks with their exclusive rewards which happen to be things players have been almost begging for, and start developing gameplay and content that people actually would want to play.
So far, it's the same old same old from Lieutenant all the way to RA5. The admiralty should go beyond normal gameplay and institute stuff that is bigger in scope. Namely fleet-oriented gameplay. And I meen fleet as in player guild. Right now, what is there exactly that makes being a member of a fleet any different than going it alone, aside for being able to wear a fleet uniform and have the name of your fleet under your ship name?
Do we even get out own guild hall (base of operations)?
I mean, come on.
At some point, something's just got to give.
Either this is supposed to be a AAA title or it isn't. Either they want it to succeed or they don't. It's up to them.
I don't think adding guild halls or any other fleet-related bonuses should be part of STO.
People should want to be in a Fleet because they want to be there, not railroaded into joining because they want certain persk from them - that's just encourages people to join Fleet's to leech resources. You forgot to add fleet banks are in place, IMO that and the uniform is enough.
Guild rewards are a necessary evil in some games because the original concept/IP dictates it in some way (eg WAR, Age of Conan were sold as have guild-heavy gameplay features).
Of COURSE they should want to be in a fleet because they want to be there. Remember, Martok commanded his fleet as a supreme commander out of an office on DS9. Admiral Ross was almost a resident there himself in the lst year of the Dominion War.
The guild hall thing ws just an example, anyway.
As to the rest of what I propose, what are your thoughts? If you don't like them, then what do you think that admirals in STO should be doing, and what sort of gameplay mechanics should they have to set them apart from the normal rank-and-file?
I like a lot of the ideas you put forward, this one I'd like to discuss a bit more.
While I prefer that my character's final rank was Captain, we have RA5/BG5 so for the moment I'll work with what we have in game. While I welcome RA10 so we have a more completed feel to the level process, I hope there will be expansions that do not hinge their success on yet more ranks and more skill points. My thoughts:
How many times does the Enterprise get refitted? How many times was DS9 rebuilt or replaced? How many times did the ship/star base central to the plot have weapon or equipment upgrades? How many times did Archer, Kirk, Picard, Janeway or Sisko get assigned to a new ship/star base? I know a non-sandbox mmo needs progression otherwise some players feel they have nothing to do. Certainly if a fully-fledged diplomacy system is in place some diplomacy skills can be added, JAG/Court skills if Federation or Klingon law is to be a focus of missions then there is scope for new skills. At some point though I think the game would benefit more from content that RA10's, and the Klingons from LT/1, could enjoy without more skill points or levels being required.
I would like to see a finite limit on levels and following RA10 content is based upon progression.
We already have some of this with access to the the STF's requiring completion of the previous STFs to unlock the next one. Future content could use a similar approach with defend missions, exploration missions or PvP paths to the same end, so that people could choose their path, but all gain access to new content.
Instead of using a level gate system for access to content, once at RA10/BG10 there would be a participation gate system.
Wow. See, that's kind of what I'm getting at. There's no way to build from that kind of feedback.
They haven't changed their direction. The things that have been implemented are all part of the their plan. Their vision. They're moving forward with these plans.
Have you tried the new Memory Alpha on Tribble? It's a huge improvement. But, it's the same system. They didn't change their direction. Dozens of players across Scores of Threads and Hundreds of Posts asked Cryptic to scrap Memory Alpha, and rebuild it completely differently. Because, it was as you might say, garbage.
And their changes to it? Not at all what some people typed pages and pages of stuff about.
This is two-fold. For once, the tech and code is in place. So for them it's a much more efficient use of their time to work with what they've already done. And build on that. As seen with Memory Alpha.
The other reason ... it sticks to their plan.
That you bought this game is already proof to them that they're not a laughing stock. That you're still playing it is proof to them that the game isn't a failure.
But I don't think your expectations of what they CAN or WILL do is realistic.
There's a diplomacy system coming. Players want that.
Aid the Planet missions ... players hated. And skipped.
Aid the Planet missions were not scrapped as total garbage. They were tweaked, but remain relatively the exact same in terms of how you do them.
They're going to be part of the diplomacy system that's coming.
That makes sense. It's what Cryptic is doing. Building on what they have.
But this is the same garbage you feel is beyond repair and needs to be scrapped.
Odds are you will find the diplomacy system as lacking and laughable as you find the rest of the game.
Because your vision doesn't mesh with their vision.
Far more players have been begging for a T5 Defiant than the All Good Things Galaxy mutation.
BOTH are being made available. One is part of a marketing gimmick, yes. But the one far far far more players have been asking for ... is absolutely free and part of the levelling process that is going to be coming with brand new story arc and mission content ... another thing people have been begging for.
Fancy that. While post after post is wasted on a marketing gimmick ... Cryptic's hard at work giving players new levels, new content, and a tier of ship that is what they've begged for. All just for sticking with and playing the game.
That's, of course, more garbage from the laughingstock of all MMOs?
I do agree wtih this. But my experience with how these things go, has me thinknig that you will give long before the game does. Since games really aren't anywhere near as flexible as you'd like them to be, post-launch.
I am an avid Star Trek fan so i wanted to try this out. In less than 3 weeks i am now VA1 and can not go any higher. The borg raid missions are very difficult with less than par teammates. PVP isn't really my thing.
I'm not sure how they can enhance the game without adding totally new vectors to it.Make the game more of a thinking man's (or woman's) game rather than a purely shoot em' up style. SC has a true opportunity cost aspect to it. You have to collect resources in order to build. At the same time you are tasked with defending your resource centers while still accumulating more. You could do something similar in STO.
This will be long.........
An admiral needs to be in charge of something. First, create other things for us to buy, upgrade, and configure. Things like colonies, buildings, bases, mining facilities, etc. They can have necessary modules like drills, pumps, regulators, etc. Things we have to buy or find and upgrade to make our facilities more productive. This productivity gets calculated. The more ore we mine, the more ships we can build to give to our BO's. If we dont mine and collect resources, we cant build any more ships.
Create asteroid fields in sector space. Have them appear somewhat at random. Admirals would have to find them and create mining facilities on them. They can either send out their fleet on explore missions or find one themselves. Once the facility is made, they would have to protect it, set up shipping schedules, parts deliveries, etc. Make it a producing part of the admiral's fleet. We also have to protect our shipments to and from. Let us build cargo ships to carry the goods. Different cargo classes, different speeds, to add to the complexity.
Then an admiral can create their own ship fleet. It would start with the amount of collected materials. We have to find different empty planets, asteroid belts, comets, etc with the necessary materials to construct ships. Then we use the materials to build ships. Each ship class requires different amount of materials. Small ships cost less materials, big ships cost more.
Let us promote our BO's to command their own ships. Sure they wont be as effective as our personal commanded ships, but the NPC's i fight on a daily seem to have no problem dishing out the torpedoes. I'm sure we can program the BO;s to defend themselves, patrol a facility, attack a base, etc.
So now we also have a resource gathering and combat / protection model. We use these resources to help the federation war effort. We get graded based on how much mined material we give back to the federation. We also use these resources to build and maintain our fleet. Get in a fight, damage a ship? It cost EC AND materials to repair. If you are not mining, you cant fix up your ships. Make it more of a
strategy to maintain, and expand your fleet. The bigger your fleet, the higher your rank. Not based on points
or just missions, but the size of your fleet. You command (x) mining facilities, (x) starbases, (x) colonies,
etc.
Now we could have personal fleet missions. Send your fleet to do X. You will need x amount of different types of ships to get the job done. Then the fleets are evenly spread. We can build medical ships, supply ships, etc. Each fleet mission would vary. Planet has the plague? How many hospital ships does your fleet have? The more people you save, the higher your reward. Planet under attack by the borg? Send your fleet. You can help, but you also have your highly trained previous BO's fighting with you.
Eventually we could get our own space station. This station is the hub for our fleet. We direct our ships to
space dock for repairs, upgrades, missions etc. No more just flying around blowing things up.We use our ships to protect our space stations, patrol sectors, and help planets in need. When something happens in space, we send whatever available ships we have to do the job.
Expand the explore portion of the game. When the lower level officers explores an unknown system, those eventually get mapped permanently. Each time someone explores it, it gets mapped as a percentage. So after a few days, weeks, whatever, the system is now mapped and an admiral can now go and mine or colonize it. Once a new system is fully mapped, it's first come first serve.
We don't get rid of the enemy contacts, we make them ore versatile. Now instead of just flying in circles, they slowly approach one of your bases, mining facilities, etc. We can set the system to email or txt us when they are within 50Km or something. Then we know we have to log on and protect our bases. If we dont log on in time, our base could be captured or destroyed. Then we send in our available fleet ships to take it back, etc.
Expand the first contact missions so we can negotiate the rights to mine on their planet. Lets slowly build
trust and bring them into the federation. If someone fails and offends a civilization, then they may join an
enemy organization.
Lets have the different factions vying for new planets and civilizations. Open it up so you can be a admiral for a different government like breen or klingon. Lets have the same goals for each. Gather resources, help the war effort, capture bases.
Let us build listening posts, and monitoring stations near enemy borders. If it says the place we are monitoring isn't defended, then we can try to capture it. Then we turn it into a production center for our government.
We would have to post enough patrols so our own stations doesn't get captured by the enemy. This all ties back into the resource gathering and ship building aspect. We should only command as many installations as we can protect.
This would keep the "fleet" admirals coming back daily. If someone doesnt want the responsibility of
commanding a fleet, then they can just keep doing whatever they are currently doing.
I cant speak for everyone, but a story arc like this i would like to see. Make it more planning and
strategic defense, and not just a shoot em up goal.
I have many more ideas, but im not sure if anyone cares so ill stop now. If any of the Dev's would like more info, feel free to contact me. I have an active imagination.
what would be nice would be some method for other players to approach you (as admiral) and request orders (perhaps with a toggle to say you're offering orders or not)- now this could be 100% automated, semi automated (you pick the mission types you're offering), or 100% manual - you talk to them and see what sort of mission they're after and assign one. (this could be tied into the future UGC functions they've been talking about as well as perhaps offering some generic missions).
Once a player has approached you once, they should be able to hail you for more missions (again this could be fully automated or otherwise). Players successfully completing a mission would provide you with the aforementioned administrative points which you could perhaps also spend on unlocking new mission types and/or mission buffs (that is, buffs players gain while running missions offered by you - thus tempting them to run more missions offered by you) - perhaps even ranking up the quality of the rewards earnt from you.
This could work kind of like rested XP too - with the non-interactive option allowing players to use you while you're offline
I think there's a hell of a lot that could be done down that path and might be a bit of fun. My 2c