We cover the Star Trek Online news that is going to be a total game changer, walk you through a STO mission in our new Tactial View segment, and then read your ideas for re-building STO’s crafting system.
PLUS: We’ll ask you your thoughts on our big news story, and share our insights on Craig’s recent State of The Game post.
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Our STOked App:
NEWS:
State of the Game
* Starts with a concise list of content/mechanic improvements that’ve been made since launch… impressive when bundled together!
* Squad System — the official title for STO’s sidekick functions
* ThomasTheCat gets a mention by name… I like to think we facilitated that. 😉
* Coming Soon: Klingon Episodes, Level cap increase to Vice Admiral 1, Ship Interiors (Curved Hallways), Diplomacy/First Contact, and more!
Fleet Event Calendars now on Tribble
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=157875
* Some even offer passive, permanent buffs (+2% phaser resistance, e.g.)
User Generated Content (aka “UGC”) engine being developed as we speak!
* Also, “V’ger” is the next playable faction. You heard it here first! Or… there, maybe.
Play with the Devs : Monday, 5/24 (Mention live, don’t bother linking)
PSA: 100-day Vet Rewards coming soon, include a Free Respec Token. This is auto-applied to your character, and you can only ever be in possession of ONE token, so use any remaining Respec before this lands (within the next week, likely).
Tactical View:
“Tears of the Prophet“
This is a Captain-level mission, that takes place in the Cardassia system located in the Beta Ursae Sector Block, and can be obtained by speaking with Captain James Kurland at DS9.
The gist of this story is this: Another Orb has been found on Cardassia Prime. The Cardassian government wants to turn it over to the Federation to ease tensions over the True Way hostilities.
ACT ONE: Space Combat
Defeat 2 squads of Jem’Hadar fighters. Easy, nothing special about it. Then beam down.
ACT TWO: Ground
Disable the Force Field & Locate the Minister
WARNING: Frustration imminent…
To progress thru this portion of the mission, you need to disable force fields. Each force field can only be disabled from a console, which will be ‘hidden’ behind 1 or 2 destroyable doors. Nowhere in the mission does it say “go shoot some doors” so please accept this as your cue to do so. Note: Your boffs probably won’t help. Once the doors and force fields are disabled, progress to the final room where Gul Oran will order his cronies to attack you, then beam off the planet with the Orb in tow. Finish off his minions, then have a quick chat with the Cardassian Minister and follow Gul Oran before he gets away!
ACT THREE: Back in Space
Gul Oran is now aboard the Praxeth, and will be joined by more True Way ships. Take out the other ships first, because the Praxeth is currently undefeatable. If his hull hits 50%, he will hit Full Impulse and take off! Even if you catch up to him while he’s fleeing, you won’t be able to target him, so just let him run, clean up the other ships and then prepare to face another group. There will be two groups you’ll have to defeat in this manner, before you successfully disable his ship and beam the Orb over to your vessel. A brief dialogue will ensue and then the Gul makes a run for it one more time.
Unfortunately for him, he runs into trouble while fleeing. Ships that appear to be Federation will warp in, destroy the Praxeth, and then hail you. The commander of the ISS Liebig — direct from the Mirror Universe itself! — tells you that you’re in deep doo-doo, then fades off into the sunset.
Congratulations, and welcome to the Mirror Universe story arc! Pretty decent console rewards from this mission.
MAIL:
Last week’s question: How would YOU re-design crafting in STO?
direphoenix: Every white (common) item should have a “complexity rating” based on its usefulness. This determines how many times you must toss it into your Replicator before you can then begin pumping out your own, for credits. Once you’ve learned how to create these basic items, you can proceed to Memory Alpha (or Engineering/Science Lab with ship interiors) and research higher versions of those base components. He also recommends a revamp of the Energy Credit system that would make these endeavors (and harvesting) more immersive, whereby your credits would be split into Mineral, Biological, and Technological subtypes, and all replications and purchases would require a specific mix of the different types.
canadian anvil: Implement full-fledged crafting recipes that are dropped by NPCs or sold by merchants. Each item would have a thorough list of sub-items required to craft it, including occasional bits of rare equipment. ((Will drop a screenshot of examples in the Show Files))
matthewg2: Very simply, limit each Profession to being able to craft only specific components. (Alternatively, force each crafter to choose their own speciality.) This would force players to become more social with their crafting goals. For example, to craft a new ground weapon, one person would manufacture the chassis while another would built the power core and a third person would assemble the targeting mechanism. But no single person can create a finished product.
whitelocke: Allow the personalization of each item, like in Champions Online. For example, if you’re crafting a hand phaser, let the crafter choose if it might have a higher crit % chance, or hit harder but fire slower, or whatever. This can be done using existing modifiers and gear restrictions already in-game. Also, allow crafters to create items that compete with the stuff you obtain at Battle Group Omega.
Next question: What features MUST any User Generated Content creation tools contain, and why? (e.g., dialogue editors, camera editors, etc)
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