If you have not already had a chance to listen to this week's podcast, I will fill you in! We will be interviewing Gozer next week as he makes his first appearance on the show. As you all know, he is a "no question is too big" kinda guy so give 'em your all :eek: Got a question for him? Respond to this thread with it. We will try and get as many answered for you all.
Please submit all questions by 9PM PST on Wednesday, March 2nd. And, again, he is our resident "STF" guru, so someone better ask about Terradome and Into the Hive :cool:
Q: I'd heard that instead of fixing the problem with Terradome you were just going to completely redo it, even though the fix is supposedly as simple as changing a respawn point. If that's the case, why not do the quick fix so we can at least play it and give feedback while you re-master it? Maybe it's not up to the quality you originally hoped, but I think we'd all like to play it in the meantime. Is it really that bad?
Q: So many of the new costumes have been great, including the re-texturing of the TNG, DS9 and TNG Film costumes. I'm always disappointed in the original game costumes, though. The designs are fine, but why don't any of the jacket textures match any of the pant textures? They should all look like one type of leather or one type of fabric so they can be mixed and matched. As it is, all of the pants look like they're from a different world than all of the jackets unless you use the canon uniforms.
Ok, I know some people LOVE doing explore missions... I know I do... Well I know the explore missions are a bit limited and repetitive.... What if you could occassionally come across a wormhole. You have the option to enter said wormhole at your own risk. Once on the other side you have to do unspecified number of explore missions to re-supply your ship's resources... and maybe even some shore leave if you find some friendly's in the area. After a random number of explore missions, your ship's sensors pick up another wormhole, that leads back to known sector space, and it could be anywhere in the known sector, such as one of the outlying uncharted clusters, or it could be at ESD's backdoor... Thanks...
Will it be possible to board my shuttle craft/delta flyer, etc anywhere (Sector Space, Orbiting a planet, etc) instead of having to go back to space dock, simply by going to my ship's Shuttle Bay interior?
When is Cryptic going to add the actual Deep Space Nine theme song to station DS9. The actual theme song or a variant melody like Track#3 from the Deep Space Nine Soundtrack would be great to hear when you initially approach DS9. Incorporating theme music in general from the various Star Trek series throughout areas of the game would add an emotional component to STO that would allow players to connect to the game in a very special way.
Will it be possible to board my shuttle craft/delta flyer, etc anywhere (Sector Space, Orbiting a planet, etc) instead of having to go back to space dock, simply by going to my ship's Shuttle Bay interior?
Dstahl says that's on his to do list. Specifically he wants to add a shuttle bay to our ships so we can enter our own hangar and launch from there. ^.^
Played KA today with 5 fleet members...at second to last generator the game disconnected all 5 of us. Upon reconnecting 30 seconds later and resuming the mission, it put us back right in the beginning as if we never did it. Upon doing some research, this has been a known bug for quite some time.
As this is Gozer's creation, I would like to ask how he plans to give me back the 3+ hours of my life that were wasted today. Nothing leaves a nastier taste in ones mouth than to coordinate with 4 other players and work so hard for a significant period of time and then have nothing to show for it.
This experience leaves me feeling that players' time (the paying customer) is not valued. Otherwise this and the other bugs in the STFs (last room in Terradome for example) would be fixed by now. People spend hours of their leisure time attempting these STFs, is it really so much to ask that the missions provide a consistent level of enjoyment and playability?
Actions speak louder than words...when will we actually see this bug (and the other major bugs with the STFs) fixed?
Dear Gozer, why do you love swarming NPCs so much? Is it in reality you are infested to the core? Are we going to see less enemies but more strategy in feature STF updates? Thank you.
How about a little sandbox added to STO? Way back at launch, Jack was quoted in an interview saying he'd like to add sanbox to STO. Is this still on the boards?
A little sandbox might go a long way for player retention, No developer can keep up with a playerbase unsatiable appetite for content, not even Blizzard. Some sandbox elements might fill a definate need here.
Not everything has to have a "story". Sandox elements might let the player create their own "story".
Dear Gozer, why do you love swarming NPCs so much? Is it in reality you are infested to the core? Are we going to see less enemies but more strategy in feature STF updates? Thank you.
In the next few days there will be an update to Tribble that includes a balance pass on the Borg STF Encounter Groups...
Before I get to the changes, let me first explain what "Encounter Groups" are
Every NPC on a map belongs to an Encounter Group. An Encounter Group is made up of individual spawns know as Actors. An Encounter Group can have just one Actor or several Actors.
Here is a quick example of space Encounter Groups. I'll use Borg NPC's since it's the topic of the thread.
Borg Space Encounter 01
Actor 1 - Borg Probe
Actor 2 - Borg Probe
Actor 3 - Borg Probe
Borg Space Encounter 02
Actor 1 - Borg Sphere
Both of these are valid space encounter groups, and both of the groups are roughly equal in difficulty to 1 average player in a ship. Ground Encounters work the same way sort of but slightly different, Here is an example.
Borg Ground Encounter 01
Actor 1 - Drone
Actor 2 - Drone
Actor 3 - Medical Drone
Actor 4 -Tactical Drone
Borg Ground Encounter 02
Actor 1 - Medical Drone
Actor 2 - Tactical Drone
Actor 3 - Elite Tactical Drone
Again both groups are valid ground encounter groups but instead of a 1-1 difficulty ratio to the player they are a 1-1 difficulty ratio to the player and his away team....
Ok.. This is a very basic description of what Encounter Groups are but it's a concept you have to understand in order to understand what's changing and why with the Borg STF's.
The Borg STF's don't use the standard Borg Space and Ground Encounter Groups that you find in the Non-STF missions in the game. They use special Encounter Groups that are relative in strength to group of 5 players. Using my space encounter example above it would look something like this.
Borg STF Space Encounter Group 01
Actor 1 - Borg Probe (Tougher Version)
Actor 2 - Borg Probe (Tougher Version)
Actor 3 - Borg Probe (Tougher Version)
Actor 4 - Borg Sphere
Actor 5 - Borg Cube (Weak Version)
This Encounter Group is scaled to be a challenge to 5 players in 5 player ships.
When the STF's were created, this was really the only way we could go (due to technical reasons) to create ground and space encounters that were a challenge to a group of players. One of the big drawbacks we have with this setup however is that it can't scale with the difficulty slider.
Going forward the difficulty slider needs to be integrated into the STF's, but along with that we also need to adjust the rewards so that if you play the STF's on a more difficult setting, you get better mission rewards.
Ok.. I think I'm going to stop for now and let this information sink in a little with you guys before I explain what's about to change with the Borg STF Encounter Groups. I'll reserve the spot under this post, and tell you what's changing and how it will effect the STF's in both the short term and long term.
I just want to make sure you understand everything so far
Great job with the Stranded in Space, Azura mission. The mission you contributed to the new weekly featured episodes was fantastic!
Can you please tell us what goodies you have on your plate right now?
Are you currently remastering more missions, and if so, which ones?
I won't hold my breath, but can give us a spoiler as to what new types of game play feature we can expect in the next mission we will be seeing from you?
Getting away from STO, but remaining on topic...
What is your favorite Star Trek episode? and movie?
If you can "continue" and explore in-game a Star Trek episode of your choice , which episode would it be?
1) When will we see Into the Hive launched, will it be another 5 man stf or require more players (if so how many etc) and will it take advantage of all the cool new features like cutscenes, VOs, career specific options etc etc?
2) Will there ever be a point when we can fly shuttles down to planets via going to our shuttlebay (as opposed to beaming everywhere?) If so... is there plans to develop the Argo shuttle and buggy seen in nemesis (I have these fantastic images of large ground maps being explored in a buggy and then returning to my ship via shuttle )
3) With all the fantastic new tech being put into the game would you be tempted to create a mission that required some zero-G walking in EVA suits - do you think thats a mechanic that could work and one you'd like to use in future content?
4) Will we ever see canon admiral uniforms and TWOK uniforms that have changing ranks? What about the First Contact waistcoat or TWOK waistcoat as well? One can never have too many uniforms!
Overall however please pass on how fantastic the work by Gozer, and the whole team has been since Headstart!
With the properly scaled TOS interiors looking *immensly* promising can we assume that (should they work properly) the default interiors/bridges will get re-scaled to proper size and all future interior packs will be created in proper scale?
When can we see tricorders improved? IO would like to see TOS tricorders, Voyager tricorders, Klingon, Romulan, etc. Also crafting could be expanded (as well as using minigames for re-programming tricorders), to include slots for tricorders to provide class-specific boosts in scanning. Perhaps science will have better healing properties with a tricorder, tactical can provide some type of force shield, engineering can reroute power for specific missions. Any chance we will see some improvement on this in the near future.
As for STF games, any chance the number of players can be reduced, and the ability to play one of these missions not be so hard for those of us that suck at them? Every time I play them, I have to ask people to join me, and when we play they get mad because I am not "doing what I should be doing, or not doing it well enough" they abandon the mission and I can never complete it. I t would be nice for me to do these missions with a couple of friends that suck as much as I do, but still have us be able to finish them. I haven't played them in a long time as a result.
Oh man I have so many questions! I'll try to limit them.
1. Tailor option for different martial arts or fighting styles. Like a TOS fighting style with sound effects or even certain species having a unique style.
2. Any news on getting a T5 Connie and T5 D7?
3. Species specific PvE for the KDF or Feds?
4. Any chance the the Klingons could conquer the Tholioans...giving us the chance to have new ships, space and an extra playable species?
5. Any news on a Klingon 100 Day Vet Reward? How about a sheathed Dk' tahg Dagger with color options that connects to your belt?
6. Could the KDF see some kind of Hybrid ship for T5?
Q: The tutorial had male and female Borg drones . The STF's seem to have only male Borg drones .
Is there a reason for this (like to make the Borg Queens more special) ?
Can this be fixed ?
The question was raised on tribble there has been no feedback in over a month. Also I did not see any listed changes any time soon, plus the changes do not note any changes in numbers per say. The issues starts with borg beaming in more borg and scaling issues with weapon damage and chain stunning.
So my question stands. I would very much like to know Gozer's fascination with swarming and if he plans to make the any changes to reflect that with Terradome for example where the replicated node mechanic should NOT exist in the first place.
What's the possibility of seeing missions taking place mostly or at least in part on our "own" ships using the ship interiors and our own crewmen? This seems to be an extremely common element of Star Trek storytelling and it would be fun getting a better sense of how systems/rooms work together spatially, what each officer does, and so on. Like the Diplomacy First Contact mission, is a good example, but what about missions that might have us engaged in repelling a boarding action on our own ship (much more dramatic than rescuing someone else) or staving off some calamity by jury-rigging some systems together?
Comments
Or maybe rather or not the team has any plans to add holodecks and popular holoprograms like Dixon Hill?
Those are two of the things I'd most like to know anyway.
Foundry-Related:
PvP-related:
Gozer has a blog?
Q: So many of the new costumes have been great, including the re-texturing of the TNG, DS9 and TNG Film costumes. I'm always disappointed in the original game costumes, though. The designs are fine, but why don't any of the jacket textures match any of the pant textures? They should all look like one type of leather or one type of fabric so they can be mixed and matched. As it is, all of the pants look like they're from a different world than all of the jackets unless you use the canon uniforms.
Jeremy
Dstahl says that's on his to do list.
As this is Gozer's creation, I would like to ask how he plans to give me back the 3+ hours of my life that were wasted today. Nothing leaves a nastier taste in ones mouth than to coordinate with 4 other players and work so hard for a significant period of time and then have nothing to show for it.
This experience leaves me feeling that players' time (the paying customer) is not valued. Otherwise this and the other bugs in the STFs (last room in Terradome for example) would be fixed by now. People spend hours of their leisure time attempting these STFs, is it really so much to ask that the missions provide a consistent level of enjoyment and playability?
Actions speak louder than words...when will we actually see this bug (and the other major bugs with the STFs) fixed?
Dear Gozer, why do you love swarming NPCs so much? Is it in reality you are infested to the core? Are we going to see less enemies but more strategy in feature STF updates? Thank you.
A little sandbox might go a long way for player retention, No developer can keep up with a playerbase unsatiable appetite for content, not even Blizzard. Some sandbox elements might fill a definate need here.
Not everything has to have a "story". Sandox elements might let the player create their own "story".
This might not need a formal question:
Can you please tell us what goodies you have on your plate right now?
Are you currently remastering more missions, and if so, which ones?
I won't hold my breath, but can give us a spoiler as to what new types of game play feature we can expect in the next mission we will be seeing from you?
Getting away from STO, but remaining on topic...
What is your favorite Star Trek episode? and movie?
If you can "continue" and explore in-game a Star Trek episode of your choice , which episode would it be?
1) When will we see Into the Hive launched, will it be another 5 man stf or require more players (if so how many etc) and will it take advantage of all the cool new features like cutscenes, VOs, career specific options etc etc?
2) Will there ever be a point when we can fly shuttles down to planets via going to our shuttlebay (as opposed to beaming everywhere?) If so... is there plans to develop the Argo shuttle and buggy seen in nemesis (I have these fantastic images of large ground maps being explored in a buggy and then returning to my ship via shuttle
3) With all the fantastic new tech being put into the game would you be tempted to create a mission that required some zero-G walking in EVA suits - do you think thats a mechanic that could work and one you'd like to use in future content?
4) Will we ever see canon admiral uniforms and TWOK uniforms that have changing ranks? What about the First Contact waistcoat or TWOK waistcoat as well? One can never have too many uniforms!
Overall however please pass on how fantastic the work by Gozer, and the whole team has been since Headstart!
As for STF games, any chance the number of players can be reduced, and the ability to play one of these missions not be so hard for those of us that suck at them? Every time I play them, I have to ask people to join me, and when we play they get mad because I am not "doing what I should be doing, or not doing it well enough" they abandon the mission and I can never complete it. I t would be nice for me to do these missions with a couple of friends that suck as much as I do, but still have us be able to finish them. I haven't played them in a long time as a result.
1. Tailor option for different martial arts or fighting styles. Like a TOS fighting style with sound effects or even certain species having a unique style.
2. Any news on getting a T5 Connie and T5 D7?
3. Species specific PvE for the KDF or Feds?
4. Any chance the the Klingons could conquer the Tholioans...giving us the chance to have new ships, space and an extra playable species?
5. Any news on a Klingon 100 Day Vet Reward? How about a sheathed Dk' tahg Dagger with color options that connects to your belt?
6. Could the KDF see some kind of Hybrid ship for T5?
Is there a reason for this (like to make the Borg Queens more special) ?
Can this be fixed ?
Thanks for the STF's just the same !
The question was raised on tribble there has been no feedback in over a month. Also I did not see any listed changes any time soon, plus the changes do not note any changes in numbers per say. The issues starts with borg beaming in more borg and scaling issues with weapon damage and chain stunning.
So my question stands. I would very much like to know Gozer's fascination with swarming and if he plans to make the any changes to reflect that with Terradome for example where the replicated node mechanic should NOT exist in the first place.