I do not feel we have WARP SPEED in Star Trek Online, and it just isn't 'Star Trek' without the ability to go to warp.
Yes, we have many (too many) moments of seeing our ship warp out, but then we are just on another screen, floating aimlessly or slowly spluttering through Sector Space.
I would like to propose the ability to:
A) Set a course with our helmsman for ANYWHERE in the entire galaxy, select a warp speed, and ENGAGE! Depending on what system we have selected relative to our current location, and what speed we have chosen to get there, we then sit back and wait to arrive.

The ability to TOGGLE between Sector SPace and our ship's interior while we are traveling AT WARP to our destination. As more functions are (hopefully) added to interiors, as well as more customization efforts, we should be able to toggle between an exterior view of our ship where we can take direct control over its immediate direction, or to be within our bridge/ready room/lounge/etc. while we travel across what is perhaps several sectors.
The DEVs have recently said that they are removing enemy signal contacts from Sector Space (thank GOD! A+ move, Devs!) and thus there is less reason to be constantly guiding our ship through a sector.
Adding the effect of stars moving at warp to our viewscreen while at warp, as well as out our ship's windows would be amazing as far as immersion is concerned.
We can also play around with the idea of faster travel VS. cost of faster travel. Perhaps things like transwarp and slipstream drives can be looked at, and players can decide whether they want to get to their destination faster at some kind of an energy cost, versus slow and steady at no cost.
I especially would like to see the ability to set a course for somewhere a few sectors away, and pay for the convenience of not having to be glued to the keyboard to confirm sector changes with the fact that maybe it takes a lot longer to get there.
Some of this can also be tied into the new crew system in terms of engineering team members effecting warp speed and cost. We can even add the idea of different warp cores which are dragged and dropped much like engines are now.
More than anything, I'd like to see that toggle between sector space and our interiors, and the ability to just tell your helmsman where it is you want to go and lay in a course at warp speed.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Comments
Mr. Dstahl needs to tear down those walls.
Can I also add in would be nice to see our ship actually break the through the light barrier as seen in at least 2 eps of next gen, one has something to do with Acamarians (sp?) if you wish to see it in action.
Relies on a lot of back end tech that the devs don't have (at least not yet).
I agree my only concern is server performance if the sectors are "Dezoned."..unzoned? Antizoned...?
Check it out when you get a chance.
Incidentally, if you mouse over your speed indicator when you are in Sector Space, it does read in Warp factors. A more obvious display might be kool though.
:cool:
ROFL, totally agree and the reference is hilarious!
Yeah, also when most people fly around at "warp" speed in sector space they look like they are either drunk or Jake Sisko.
Yet Another Thread by those who don't understand how server farms work, and/or have a overblown notion as to what's possible with current-gen hardware.
What you refer to as "walls" are in fact SERVER NODE TRANSITIONS, where your player data is copied in it's current state to the server node that's running that particular area, be it Sector Space or mission space. It's possible to hide the transitions - EvE does it by forcing you to go through "gates" to change systems (the gate animation covers the transition...usually). WoW covers it by preloading the next area as you travel - even there, you can tell the transitions as a "stutter" when the transition finishes.
Here we get a loading screen after we confirm that we want to make the transition, THAT part's the real immersion-breaker - it's a leftover from both Champions and COH, where transitions required you to board some vehicle or enter some building. DCUO does the same thing as well - you just have to "activate" the transition.
What you are talking about - a truly seamless works - ISN'T POSSIBLE WITH CVURRENT-GEN HARDWARE. The transitions can be hidden -but not eliminated. So, as in this and other MMOS you'll just have to DEAL WITH those "walls".
TL;DR: DEAL WITH IT. Not possible to change the fact of a transition, it's possible to hide it better, though.
I wonder if they gave any thought to my idea of how to do it. Instead of needing to tear down the barriers, they could set up an autopilot that selects each new destination as you enter a new sector block. Then you could just set a course in any sector, and the autopilot would handle the rest, targetting each new destination for you. But then I suppose the autopilot would take just as long to develope. It won't be of much use until they add more interior functionality anyways. I guess we'll have to wait.
My grand vision is to have things set up just like the shows. Where you can leave the bridge and do whatever you want during travel. You could go down and craft in engineering, sit in your ready room and read logs of former missions, play a quick hand of poker in ten forward, sleep in your bed to gain a slight xp boost for a short amount of time, or even just stand in your observation lounge watching the warp effect through the large transparent alluminum panel windows. If you encounter an enemy (DSE), a red alert would be activated so you could transport to the bridge quikly to fight. Of course all this requires new tech, so it will be a while. Hopefully they will get some of it going this year.
so for example memory alpha to ds9 would go:
warp out memory alpha>fly to navigation point for sirius sector block border>cross border>fly to navigation point for sirius sector beta ursae sector block>fly to ds9>dock
now to make it more fluid you'd want to add unnamed (and unseen) waypoint navigation points in the sector so you didn't end up skirting along the sector "walls" like you do atm if you set course from sol to the beta ursae sector block border
as the sector blocks are rectangular with 3 sectors you could do this with a minimum of 3 fixed points one in the middle of each sector and a little clever "if" programing covering the desired chain so you don't end up flying to a waypoints then making a 90 degree turn when a lesser turn from the last midpoint would feel much more natural.
the more midpoints you added the more fluid it would seem.
4 or 5 waypoints per sector (situated like the dots on the side of a dice) and some clever programming would make such navigation pretty fluid i think
Yes please. or hide them better or whatever. Just make em go away!!!
Once you hit VA you no longer get sucked into DSEs anyway, so there is no danger element to travel. Why not let VA's time compress to speed up travel? I know slipstream and borg engines = go faster. Slipstream doesn't run long enough to get you across some of the larger sectors. Make the duration longer and the cooldown shorter and I'd be happy. Why does something that is supposed to be used out of combat just to accelerate dead travel time have a cool down anyway?
well you could always buy an Excelsior....
cutting out all travelling time is a dangerous path to tread
it can ruin immersion and can have highly negative effects in an mmo (you never see people "out and about in the world")
i know that wasn't what you were asking for (removing all traveling time) but like i said it's a dangerous path to tread.
personally i like my thinking/making tea/going to the toilet time and i have an Excelsior :P
True..I actually have one. I just don't like cruisers that much. If I have to travel from Sol to the transwarp gate you'd think slipstream would be enabled long enough to get you there in one jump without the cooldown, thou. If the point is to accelerate travel, how bout it lasting long enough to get me somewhere?
A) It'd be nice to be at the Sol system and set a course for Beta Ursae WITHOUT it constantly asking me if I want to enter the Delta Volanis cluster because my Helmsman (read: poor pathing/AI) can't figure out how to get to the desired sector without bumping into things it shouldn't bump into in the first place if the Helmsman (poor pathing/AI) was competently trained (programmed). Should probably see THAT fixed first.
I already walk away from STO during ground battles because I know my away team members can handle whatever the intensely lame ground combat system can throw at them (yes, even a year later). The last thing I need is a game where I log in, set a course, and walk away to hoover the carpet or make a sandwich *some more*. I'd be logged in but never play.
What, like the constant popup text boxes in the middle of space that people have been complaining about for a year now?
STO isn't about immersion, it never has been, and it just never will be. More's the pity.
more ranks and engines yet to come....
You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
I would add that while we could maybe have all of sector space as one instance, the result would be an even emptier space.
I think we have instance caps of 25 players on the ground and 50 in space.
As it stands, you can see 50 people in a sector block.
If they made it all one map, you'd be sharing the whole alpha quadrant with 50 people instead of just a sector block. Meaning this would dramatically reduce your odds of seeing another player.
The tech that's needed is basically the WoW tech (albeit for a much beefier and system intensive game engine) and that would stream the shards for sector blocks.
Removing walls and merging the maps would defeat the whole point of the sector maps as the game's primary social hub "on the go".
the OP never asked for seamless transitions between sectors only the ablity to preset a course to a destination and that is easily doable
Without a tech chage - the ONNLY thing you eliminate in your idea as typed here would be the "traffic controller" dialogs - you'd still have a loading screen popup everytime you crossed a sector "wall", regardless. In some ways, that would break immersion even worse - not expecting the loading screens.
I would not like to sit around on my bridge and just watch my BOff's push buttons while I'm traveling. I'm a ship guy and I like traveling through sector space and seeing all the cool ships, and all the cool art that is in, planets emerging from stars, nebula's, etc. On a side not...i ALWAYS am in support for options tho, so there should be a toggle.
I don't think anyone is saying create new tech, at least I don't say that when I speak of such things. All I want is the transition systems that are built in other games like EvE or WoW, where it is less intrusive. All a movie is, is lots of still pics that get replaced very fast...but I don't complain it looks like still pics because I'm immersed into the movie and my eyeballs belive there's fluid movement. That's all we ask for in games, I don't care what happens tech side...I just want my eyeballs to believe I'm moving through each sector seamlessly.
....Did I just hear my STOWidget inform me the server is up:D:D
except you can actually see sector walls (if astrometric is on)
besides you would have already accepted you were going to do this by presetting a course across sector borders.
its hardly "OMG ! WTF just happened ! " leaping cat territory really -.-
Good theory, doesn't work. If someone is doing something that is not to your satisfaction, remaining silent on the issue just makes them think you're happy and thrilled and think they're perfect.
If everyone was the same, and we all agreed, and nobody ever dissented, what a horribly boring world we'd live in.
Then what are they? I realize that with a "real" warp drive you wouldn't see the stars streaking past, but it was obviously the intention of the writers that they were stars.
Edit: Sorry did not mean to sound like a Troll.:(
I would prefer this. SPace is big and vast and starships are major endeavors to build. Sometimes, flying around in sector space I feel like I am in gridlock on a crowded freeway instead of boldly going where none have gone before.
Some very good thoughts.
Stars are just too far apart even at high warp for it to be stars. Things impacting the deflector is one answer, peek here http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/treknology-power.htm#warp