Recent comments have sparked a heated debate regarding how the Romulan faction should be added to STO. Should it be its own independent faction* like the Feds and KDF? Should it be a hybrid faction that is part of both the Feds and KDF? Should the Romulan and Cardassian factions be combined, killing two birds with one stone? Or should it be a double faction, with both an independent part as well as a hybrid part that is part of other factions? Tell the Devs how you feel:
*click here to vote*
After you vote, please share your thoughts

*PS: If you voted "independent", please cast your vote here as well:
*click here to vote*
Comments
Federation-allied Romulans are interesting because of Spocks reunification movement and the things it could lead to if they are suddenly back in the same faction with the Vulcans. I think of the diplomatic mission with the Romulan ambassador. The resulting story arcs could be great.
How many more times are you going to spam that thread of yours?!?
I understand that some players would like their own playable Cardassian Faction too, but we are getting ahead of ourselves here!
We can't take sides in a war if the Romulan empire splits.
Remember the patrol missions you did waaaaaay back ages ago as a wee little commander, down in Psi Velorum? You got a request for assistance from a planet that wanted to break away from Sela and the current Romulan regime and asked for UFP assistance to do so.
Since the player was sent to keep Sela away, well, having them be UFP allied and possibly even joining fleet would make some sense. At some point if space is updated, I'd in fact love for that to be a UFP world still, even with a Rom faction.
And... I'm just repeating stuff K-tar said, so I'll shut up otherwise.
If your going to troll, at least be good at it. Thats just sucked. Anyway, I voted independent. I almost voted double, but then I got to thinking, if the Devs allow people who are Feds and KDF to play as Roms, hardly anyone will join the independent faction.
It wasn't a troll. It's like the fifth time I've seen him link to the same thread. It's not even a bad thread, it's just annoying to see him spam it everywhere.
1. I just don't like the hybrid idea. If I want a Fed/Romulan or a Klingon/Romulan I'll make an alien. I don't want a faction that has one ship choice per tier and no real story line. I could see the Remans looking for allies... sell 'em in the c-store as Klingon and Fed player options.
2. Romulans are Xenophobes. They trust no-one. With good reason; The Klingons invaded immediately after Romulus went boom and SF, in violation of treaty, developed cloaking tech and tried to develop phase-cloaking tech.
3. The Romulans are one of the Big 3 and deserve a full faction. (imo)
If its related to the subject of the thread being discussed or the post being replied to, then its not spamming. And since its not spamming, then calling it that is trolling. Good job!
That is a very good point. The majority of players play Fed, so if they can play Roms while still being a part of the Fed faction, why would they actually play the Rom faction? I have a feeling that if a double Rom faction were added, the actual independent half of the faction would have very few players.
Yeah well, you're wrong.
I would like to see a story center around the Romulans that we all know and love as opposed to the broken disorganized troubled Roms we see now...
My suggestion would be:
You start as an ensign equivalent, and receive commands directly from empress Sela. It's obvious she has an agenda of rage and revenge against the Federation specifically. Most of the missions you would receive from her would be geared toward destroying small outposts and outlying colonies, 'reclaiming' (Stealing) supplies, and just being a general thorn in Federation sides.
About Cmndr level, you start getting the impression that Sela is merely a cranky puppet empress, with a much darker force tugging the strings. Around this time, the Tal Shiar take notice that your ALSO a useful puppet to be played with... You start doing espionage and more subtle missions focused around quietly manipulating the quadrant as a whole.
As any good Romulan worth his Disruptor knows, why should you take orders from someone when your OBVIOUSLY far more devious/cunning/intelligent than the person giving you those orders? So about mid captain/admiral level you start using your Tal Shiar training/contacts to discover things for yourself. You learn the deeper truth of things and undertake missions to 'eliminate' competition within the Tal Shiar and the Romulan government to further your own dark ambitions.
When you reach vice admiral equivalent, this is where you are beginning to tug at the strings of Empress Sela, and the Tal Shiar. At this point you can potentially plot against the feds, or stop hostilities to focus on finding a new homeworld... or find a way to take advantage of the fed/klingon war, to gain a foothold in their respective territories.
Instead of 'Diplomacy' skills like the Federation... political 'Manipulation' or 'Cunning' might be better suited to the Romulans.
I personally believe that with Empress Sela's fervor toward hating the Federation for the destruction of Romulus, and the general Xenophobic attitude of the Romulan culture as a whole... I don't believe that any real alliance with either faction will be realistic or even possible. Sure there is a small faction of Romulans that want peace... but not big enough to warrant an entire 'ensign to admiral' campaigne for a playable faction... and personally I believe that anyone who wants to play a Romulan, wants to be the cunning devious Romulans we all know and love/hate, not the huggy touchy feely Spock loving ones.
I will always be a Klingon through and through... but I do have a soft spot for the Romulans. Mostly because they just have the MOST beautiful ships in the entire Startrek universe. SOOOOO sexy! LOL
Pretty much. If they do a double faction, the people who play the independent part wont stand a chance in PvP or be able to find enough people to STF with, etc.
Whatever helps you sleep soundly under your bridge
After a while they can claim that since there are so few players left in that faction, it would be better to focus on the "shared" Romulans, and since there would be nobody left to protest in that empty Romulan area, who could blame them.
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Of course, seeing how long it's been taking to give the Klingons a full storyline...
My thoughts exactly
This nicely sums up my view on the subject as well. If Cryptic needs another year or two to properly add this, so be it. I'd rather they take their time than release something incomplete and barely functional.
To experience new Romulan-specific missions, to be really nasty, to play not only Romulans but also Remans and Hirogen and to fly Romulan ships?
Its really not even POSSIBLE to repeat the KDF debacle. The reason is, at launch KDF ONLY had PvP and Empire defense. However, at the very least any new faction will have:
1) star clusters
2) PvP
3) featured episodes
4) Foundry content
5) crafting
6) STFs
All of those things already exist, so its pretty obvious the Devs would include them in any new faction. That may not be alot compared to the huge amount of episodes the Feds have, but its a TON compared to what the KDF had at launch.
I can only assume Dan meant that the hybrid Rom faction meant those species and ships in the Fed and KDF faction. After all, there are Gorn and Orion ships in the KDF faction.
I see it as this:
KDF-Ram: They working together to cut up the Fed space.
Fed-Ram: Trying to rebuild in a peaceful manner/ heal their wounds.
Rem: They know only the order of the old ways. They dislike both the Fed and KDF.
I think if there would be a hybrid model that gives them an independent faction and parts of them in the other factions it would be more like the Klingons in the Federation. Not mentioning that Remans and Hirogen don't fit into the Federation and unlike the Romulan border colonies they never sent any signals that they want to join. Maybe with one Romulan-specific ship they can get as Rear Admirals like the D'Kyr or the coming Andorian ship.
I don't believe that is what he meant at all. He said.
If they start in their own area, why wouldnt they be using their own ships? Also, here something he said before:
http://www.startrekonline.com/node/2158
The devs have said they do want to add a third faction, but last I remember (please correct me if I'm wrong) they still hadn't decided if it was going to be Romulan or Cardassian.
I dont think this is "official", but the sequence of events that Dan has said are required before Roms are added do not include Cardassians:
http://www.startrekonline.com/node/2291
Add that to the results of the official next faction poll(that was linked to on the launcher), and the only way Cards would come first would be if they basically ignored the player feedback they got from the poll.