First, to respond to some feedback:

“The dark theme and name do not suit the show’s content.”

• First the obvious reasoning behind the name: Everybody talkes about MMOs, and everybody considers themselves an expert worthy of a name and brand. Hence, MMO-everything is taken. I kid you not.
• More importantly, the concept of looking at the inner workings of a living industry is very much in line with the idea of cataloguing and studying our dead.
  • I chose this theme and name to illustrate a scientific and analytic approach to the stories that will be covered herein.
  • The communities, technologies, and professionals of this industry are very much the heart, lungs and brains of any MMO. Without analysing what motivates and drives any of these, we potentially lose sight of the whole.
• And lastly, the MMO industry is a dangerous place. Covering titles and technologies that are dead, and finding out what put them there, is something that WILL be covered on this show.

“You need a co-host.”

• If this was a show about sharing the latest press releases and announcements, I would be inclined to agree. Finding commentary and conversation on such topics is easy, and flows best between separate minds.
  • However, as this show is 100% editorial driven, the content is created from the mind of its host. Increasing the number of minds involved would only fragment the content and any opinions contained herein.
• That said, there will occasionally be important industry events which either slip my radar, or about which I know too little to accurately form an editorial opinion.
  • In these circumstances, I intend to invite “correspondents” to join me on air to discuss those particular situations. If you feel as though you would like to become a correspondent, please contact me by posting at jupitercolony.com, or by emailing jeremy@jupiterbroadcasting.com, to start a discussion on what content you would like to present to our audience.

DCUO and SOE outage

• Infographic
• On May 2nd, SOE went dark. Then hundreds of thousands of gamers cried out in frustration, and never went silent.
• It took almost two weeks to get the network, and all of Sony’s games, back up and running and (apparently) secure from further invasion. That outage is estimated to have cost SOE a total of $171 million.
• And this is AFTER a fiscal year that ended in March, which reported an annual loss of $3.2 billion for the company.

What does this rough patch mean for the future of DCUO?

• Nobody at SOE is making any official statements yet, other than to say that DCUO’s population is currently “very good.”
• In the past 3 months, there have been two replacements among the DCUO project’s upper management that were made from within … existing execs taking on extra responsibility instead of promotions, or new hires.
• And this after the project suffered a round of layoffs in April.
• It is likely that subscriptions will see a noteworthy drop due to the outage. Even with the incentives being offered by SOE by way of apology.
  • This comes down to Consumer Confidence, which is fancy way of saying “people don’t like to be jerked around.”
  • SOE has a large overhead, capable of supporting a few rocky patches. Even so, they’ve been known to shut down games (Matrix Online).
• GOOD NEWS: Apparently this outage scared SOE into being more interactive with their customers, and their forums are now ablaze with Dev Posts at regular intervals sharing REAL info instead of SOE’s standard practice of silence and mystery.
  • Let’s hope it lasts.

MegaServers

• Just days before the SOE network outage, it was announced that ALL of the existing DCUO servers would soon be merged into a few instanced networks called “MegaServers.”
• Through the use of “phasing” technology, players will still be participating in areas that will have reasonable populations.
• The benefit of this is to allow all of the back-end queueing for Raids, Duos, Alerts, and PvP to work across ALL players (on a per-platform basis).
• The idea of server mergers has always been seen as a bad thing by the MMO press. It indicates a population decline, and a lack of interest.
  • This MAY be different, as this sounds more like a fundamental tech shift, and not just a run-of-the-mill merger.
  • However, it is still addressing an issue that would not be present if the game had a large and active population of gamers (queue times for instanced content).
• Community outcry of “name collision” issues, and lack of solid responses from SOE, are causing additional schisms and rage among players.

Champions Online – Atari divests itself from Cryptic

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34704/Atari_Drops_Champions_Online_Developer_Cryptic_Studios.php

First, rumor killing:
– Nothing is happening YET. Atari has only announced their INTENT to divest. They have not announced that they are seeking a buyer, nor that any change of staff will occur as a result of this decision.

Atari is making a Bad Choice

• Investing in casual markets
  • Casual / Facebook games do not create brand recognition, fan loyalty or press.
  • As this market continues to mature, games will become more and more complex and impressive until their development budgets rival current standalone titles.
  • Long-term investment in this area will continue to require more and more finances to remain competitive. It is not a quick and cheap money-maker market.
• Profits continue to rise
  • 17.3 million prior year, 7 million this year, next year = ??
  • While actively developing at least one unreleased title – Neverwinter
  • Early indications that Champions Online move to F2P has resulted in huge increase in profits, which only occurred in Q3 of 2010.
• Foundry Tech
  • No other MMO has created such a successful and robust UGC tool, and it is now available to be ported to all titles using the Cryptic Engine: STO, CO and NWO.
  • Giving the power of content creation to users opens up new doors to new types of gamers, and creates a powerful sense of community.
  • Other MMO devs would probably love to get their hands on this technology…

Independence for Cryptic?

• In today’s MMO landscape, no Dev survives alone.
• They all need a publisher, and most publishers end up owning the Dev studio
  • Blizzard was acquired by Activision in 2007
  • Bioware became a part of EA in 2007
  • Turbine, the biggest example of a successful “indie” developer, was purchased by Warner Bros in 2010.
• To date, no major developer has managed to leave its parent publishing company, and survive. In fact, it’s such a risky prospect that studios typically just dissolve rather than even attempt it.

So then, who buys Cryptic?

• I think it’d be a bit presumptuous for me, as a gamer and not a financial analyst, to try and make an educated guess on this one.
• MMORPG.com has a couple good editorials that cover most of the major candidates in this area. Check the show notes for details, as I don’t have much else to add to the discussion at this point.
  • “Who Should Buy Cryptic?” — Western buyers
  • “Cryptic’s Future Unclear” — Eastern buyers
• Fans of Star Trek Online are hoping that the company is acquired by CBS, the IP holder of the Star Trek franchise.
  • Would CBS be interested in entering the online gaming arena? They haven’t yet.

Future of Neverwinter IP?
Possibly the biggest question mark in all of this…

• Atari holds publishing rights on all Dungeons & Dragons products until 2017.
• A lot of money and time already invested in the project, including a co-publishing deal with a line of novels written by R.A. Salvatore, and a deal with Wizards of the Coast for additional tie-ins.
• Unlikely that Atari will let this one go completely.
  • It will either get pulled from Cryptic and given to another studio with Atari maintaining their publishing oversight, or a new deal will be worked out to keep Atari on board in spite of their divestment from the studio.
  • Either option discounts the title from being a bargaining tool in obtaining a new investment partner.

Marvel Universe

F2P

• Attempting to live under the title of “First ever AAA F2P MMO in the West, at time of launch”
  • Color me completely unimpressed.
  • First of all, you can’t CLAIM a title like “Triple-A” without having a product. At this time, with the total lack of game footage, screenshots, timelines for beta/release, or even branding… what is here to lay claim to?
  • This just sounds like empty hype, from a company that has already started disappointing us with overblown hype for their other unlaunched MMO, Jumpgate:Evolution.

No Character Customization
Rank this as my “most worrying” concern for this title.

• On the one hand, it will allow players to jump into game as iconic well-known superheroes from the Marvel franchise.
  • A lot of people will find this appealing, as evidenced by the outstanding sales records for single-player superhero titles like “Ultimate Alliance.”
  • Developers at Secret Identify Studios claim this will make everyone feel more heroic, and “we won’t be merely ‘sidekicks.’”
    • EMPTY CLAIM — CO allows heroes to feel like heroes, and even have their own Nemesis with minions and a base. What sidekick has that?!
• On the other, how many Wolverines and Hulks will be roaming around? Or will each server have only one instance of each? Where’s the “massive” in this MMO, if that’s the case?
  • And how about progression? If you have to unlock the powers of your favorite superheroes, how do you explain them losing their abilities at the start of the story?
• Possibly one of the biggest selling points of superhero MMOs to date, has been character customization. CoX and CO had it in droves, and DCUO’s comparative lack of options brought them a lot of criticism from MMO players and press.
  • This is a technological step backwards, and will only work if this is NOT a true MMO as we’ve come to define it.
  • If this is just another “X-Men Legends” or “Ultimate Alliance” with robust online matchmaking services, then it could work.
  • But any form of persistence, progression and community, will be lost without personalization of your avatar.

Written by Bendis
This has the potential to make me excited.

• Brian Michael Bendis is the godfather of Marvel’s “Ultimate” universe, and creator of some of the most critically acclaimed stories ever to spring from comic books. Including “Avengers Disassembled,” “House of M,” “Civil War,” and “Secret Invasion.”
• He claims to be writing stories for MUO that will portray some of the most iconic moments from each characters’ lore, and re-imagine them into events that players will experience in-game.
• Not much else to say about it, really. Bendis has never really done anything ‘wrong’ (except, arguably, killing off Hawkeye… ) so it’s great news for the story side of the game.
• Between this, and the news that R.A. Salvatore is writing for Cryptic’s “Neverwinter,” it could set a precedence in the industry to bring in more established high-profile writers to flesh out the story of an MMO. Nothing wrong with that at ALL. There’s a reason they are high-profile after all… it’s because they’re AWESOME.

https://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/5187/page/1
https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/02/the-daily-grind-do-you-think-marvel-universe-is-an-mmo/

—————

Man… this whole episode was a lot of bad news, wasn’t it? And here I was hoping that superheroes were a HAPPY topic of conversation…

Well, maybe next week will turn some of that around…

+ RIFT feedback and discussion
+ 2KGames enters the MMO arena, through a partnership with XLGames (Lineage)
+ Bioware talks Mass Effect MMO

NEWS

DSthal comments on Guramba

• Happened while he was out sick

Commentary from DStahl on Mission Remastering
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=3269588#post3269588

• KDF missions will get remastered, too.
• Only 12% of players have active KDF toons.

“Decommissioned” Accolades // Mission Remastering
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=3262925#post3262925

• As a result of the upcoming remastering of missions (headed up by Gozer) some old accolades will no longer be accessible.
• One that has so far been confirmed, is the “SS Azura” (being replaced)

January’s Ask Cryptic
https://www.startrekonline.com/node/2237

• Craftable Refit Ship Costumes
• Season 4 will include the Fleet Action Queue system, allowing fleets to team up easier.
• Confirmed that the Foundry is being used by the Neverwinter team – likely a big reason the tech is getting so much attention.
• First Officer system may include an extra Universal Boff slot on your ship!
• Both the Captain’s Yacht (400-day reward) and Delta Flyer (omgomg) are coming soon.
• DSEs getting “replaced with something new” in Season 4.

MATH

Engines!

Standard engine variants come in three flavors:
Impulse — A standard engine, baseline
Hyper Impulse — Efficient at high energy (meaning when you are above about 60 engine power, you start gaining extra engine energy)
Combat Impulse — Efficient at low energy (meaning when you are below about 40 engine power, you start gaining extra engine energy)

Impulse engines — the baseline variety — should not be used.  They seem to have the exact same stat scaling as the other two types, but never grant additional energy.

So your choice should be based on what you typically fly with your Engine energy set at.  If it’s low, go Combat, and if it’s high go Hyper.

Exception = Efficient Impulse Engine
Can obtain from episodic content in the Lt Commander range (Past Imperfect), and it adds 5 energy to weapons, shields and aux.  So awesome!  And totally viable all the way to VA.  Even if you’re ship’s a little slower, the extra energy is tasty.  And speed rarely impacts PvE tactics.

As you go up in Marks of engines, the only thing that changes is the speed and sometimes turning rates. So if you have a lower Mk engine with a fatty bonus that you adore (like the aforementioned Efficient engine), and don’t mind the reduced maneuverability, don’t feel like you have to give it up.  The choice is yours.

Engine modifiers come in 3 standard variants as well:
[full] — increases your Full Impulse speed
[spd] — increases your standard flight speed
[turn] — slightly buffs your turn rate

Speed VERY rarely matters in PvE combat.  I know there are times in PvP where running away is a good tactic, and if that’s one of yours then by all means go for [spd] — especially since this modifier can be further multiplied by buffs such as Evasive Maneuvers.  For most folks however, I think I’d be safe to recommend an engine with Turn Rate bonuses.  Even if you’re in a highly maneuverable ship, like an Escort or something, a higher turn rate is always good.  Also, if the numbers are right on the tooltips, engines with turn rate improvements have a more profound impact on your turning, than an RCS engineering console would.

Now, let’s talk about an Engine-based tactic that is primarily used in PvP.

It’s a common buff-stacking approach that is sometimes called “Ludicrous Speed” … because it is crazy-fast.

To execute this maneuver fire off RAW SPEED BOOSTS first, then follow that up with PERCENTAGE-BASED BOOSTS.

Raw speed/energy boosts:
Aux to *** (use EngTeam + Aux to Engines)
Engine Battery
Energy Siphon

Percentage boosts:
Attack Pattern Omega
Evasive Maneuvers

As an added bonus to this tactic, there’s a new consumable item known as a “Deuterium Surplus” that can be obtained by completing a daily mission in the Alhena system in Eta Eridani. These are pretty much Evasive Maneuvers batteries.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK

“What features would be necessary in a STO Community Portal site?”

We’ve mentioned before having RSS feeds to popular STO sites like STO-Wiki, StarbaseUGC or even Memory-Alpha.
Also mentioned having a browsable Foundry database.

What’s YOUR feature request?

NEWS:

December “Ask Cryptic”
* Hints of Season 4 content:  Crew System
* More voiceovers coming! hurray! (I think? Be careful what you wish for.)
* When asked about PvP improvements, references were made to ground improvements only and no discussion of territorial conflicts, player-run starbases, etc. This has me worried.
* ThomasTheCat has joined Cryptic’s staff, and may be helping with UI refinements.
* Cut-scenes are planned to eventually replace some loading screens (turbolifts, e.g.)
* Adding dailies to Romulan and Cardassian space, and maybe a Betazed sector.
* The next weekly series will take place in either Romulan or Cardassian space.

Official Launch Date of Season 3 = Dec 9th

In-Depth Details of the crafting improvements
* First of all, MORE CHANGES are coming, and this may all be different on Holodeck.
* And then THE REAL CHANGES came.
* As mentioned previously, KDF now have access
* Adding nearly 100 new items
* “Base” items previously required (like a Mk IV Photon Torpedo Launcher, common) have been replaced with Schematics that are mark-agnostic and crafted using basic ingredients.
* Skill-ups & material requirements have both been standardized per rank.
* Harvesting has been tweaked so that it is more likely that you’ll find the materials you are looking for — the level range has been reduced on all clusters, etc.
* New consumables on their way, unique to each tree.
* UI Pics:  #1 … #2

Borg Ship Pieces
* Details on obtaining from Gozer
– “Assimilation” replay, then STFs (Infected, Cure, KA)
* Pictures:  Kar’fi Carrier, NX-01, Runabout
* To answer a few questions that have been floating around:
1. These will work on every ship, fed or klingon
2. You can turn off all the borg bits and maintain the powers if you don’t like the look
3. You get set bonuses the more pieces you have, with a special click power for having all pieces equipped
4. There are 4 pieces to the set
5. 3 pieces will drop off of the borg themed STF’s
6. 1 piece will drop off a regular old borg mission on replay or on your first play if you havent played it yet.
7.Everyone on the STF will get the piece as a mission reward

THE FOUNDRY LAUNCHED!  … and then, un-launched
starbaseugc.org — tutorial videos

UPDATE on the KDF experiment:
– I’ve reached Lt Comm 10, and run out of non-grindey content, waiting for the Pi Canis sector.
– Dailies are a great alternative to exploration, pvp or sector defense.
– There are a lot of options, but all are basically the same thing — killing time in non-story content, to reach the next story.

GIFTS

Replica Captain’s Chair

JJ Trek:
Hand Phaser (with flippy front)
Enterprise from the 2009 Movie
Electronic Tricorder

Star Trek TOS:
DVD Edition
Blu-Ray Edition
Tricorder Old School Toy
TMP Wrist Communicator

Star Trek TNG:
Transwarping Enterprise D (very rare)
MicroMachines collector set

Game Enhancers:
Wireless N Router
Logitech G7 Mouse
Microsoft Sidewinder X6 keyboard

NEWS:

Engineering Report

• Less focus on content, more on quality (though content is still mentioned frequently).
• Less focus on Big Season Updates, and more on major features regardless of timeline.
  • This is a direct departure from the previous (Zinc?) attitude of, “we promise to release on these dates.”  The new attitude seems to be, “we promise to release a completely functional feature.”
• New/clarified categories:
  • “In Development” = Actively being worked on.
  • “In Design Discussion” = Designers are meeting about implementing or improving this.
  • “On Hold” = Previously in development, but had to get shelved due to technical issues.

Hold on a minute.  Enterprise J?
(Insert Jeremy’s Rant)

Tech Support
A hand-picked group of social helpers that have already proven themselves willing and capable of assisting their fellow players in the Tech Support forums.

• New user group title: “Helpful User, Tech Support”
• Optional.  If you’re a frequently helpful poster, you won’t automatically be flagged, you’ll have to turn it on from your account settings.  Or you’re welcome to choose not to turn it on.
• The forums love it.  Despite it being a group of hand-picked players that will have a direct channel to Cryptic…. just like the Advisory Council did, which they hated…

Bill Roper leaves Cryptic

• He catches a lot of flack for a few bad moves (Hellgate London, Vibora Bay) but remember that he has also helped produce a wealth of excellent game titles including extensive work on Blizzard’s big three franchises:  Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo.
• Also named by IGN as one of the Top 100 Video Game Creators of All Time (#41)
• So… Meh?  I don’t see this as an issue that will directly effect players of STO.  I don’t think he ever even posted on STO’s forums.

This, on the other hand, intrigues me: Jesse Heinig, hired as “Game Designer”

• Highlights from his resumé include:
  • Fallout and Fallout 2  — Programmer and Feature Designer.
  • White Wolf (PnP RPG company) — Developer/Designer for various projects.
  • Decipher (PnP) — Lead developer of “Star Trek” RPG system.
  • Activision — Production Coordinator for Call of Duty 2.

MATH:

Torpedoes….. AWAY!

Some of you might recall back in Episode 32 I gave you a run-down of the pros and cons of each different type of energy weapon.  Well, I’d intended at the same time to talk a bit about projectile weapons, but the segment got WAY too long.  But I’ve been getting more and more requests lately to release that information, so that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!  I mean, who am I to say no to the people that watch this crap I put on the internet, right?

One other thing about Episode 32… remember how I talked about the efficiency of skill gains, for higher-cost energy types?  The same math will apply to projectile weapons, skewing heavily in favor of Photons & Quantums.  So keep that in mind as I discuss the individual benefits of each.

Before I get into that though, I wanna give ANOTHER callback to a previous episode of STOked.  You see, waaaaaaay back in “Season2 Episode2” which was aka Episode #21, I gave an overview of How Torpedos Work, including how the damage is calculated based on your skill bonuses in-game.  It’s really interesting stuff to help you understand more about your weapon skills, and investing and sticking to a uniform damage type.  So go watch it!

Ok, that junk’s outta the way.  Let’s talk about things that explode, mmkay?

Photon
Consider this your “baseline” torpedo/mine, and all others will be compared to it as necessary.
6.5 sec recharge (fastest available)
– Great choice, if none of the others’ special abilities tickle your fancy.  The fast recharge means you’ll launch a lot of these suckers.

Quantum
Slower recharge (8.5 seconds)
Approx 110% of Photon damage (hardest hit per torpedo available)
Fastest travel speed
– Good for long-range attacks.  The travel speed makes it slightly more likely that you will impact the shield quadrant you aimed for.
– The higher damage still doesn’t make up for the slower recharge.  If you launch torpedos every time they refresh, you’ll do more DPS with Photons.

Plasma
Slower recharge (8.5 seconds)
Approx. 75% of Photon damage
33% chance to proc hull fire (DOT does NOT scale!)
– If High Yield is used, resulting torpedo is MASSIVE and slow moving, but can be shot down.
– The HY version of this torpedo seems to have a very good bleed-thru rate against shields, and applies the DOT nearly 100% of the time.

Transphasic
Very slow recharge (10.5 seconds)
Approx. 70% of Photon damage
20% of damage dealt is applied directly to Hull of enemy (instead of standard 10%)
* Only useful if shields are UP.  Otherwise bonus does nothing, and overall damage is relatively weak.
* Here’s some quick math:
10% of 1000dmg = 100 dmg
20% of 700 dmg = 140 dmg
But when shields are down, it’s 1000 vs. 700.  Capiche?

Chroniton
Very slow recharge (10.5 seconds)
Approx. 85% of Photon damage
33% chance to severely hinder movement/turn rates
* Potentially deadly in PvP, especially against opponents that like to flee.  However, the proc can’t really be relied upon.  From personal experience only, seems easily resisted.
* Works better on MINES.  Combine with other stationary hazards (Warp Plasma, Tyken’s Rift, etc) to really mess with your enemy.

Tricobalt
(Note:  Only available at Mk X and above)
EXTREMELY slow recharge (60 seconds)
Approx. 250% of Photon damage, in about a 2.0 km area.
Also disables your opponent for a few seconds (all systems offline).
* No normal mode attack — always summons a “High Yield” type (HY cannot modify this torp)
* Travels slower than HY Plasma, and can be shot down.
* In order to compete with Photon DPS, the cooldown would need to be less than 20sec.  Since the true cooldown is more than 3x this, it simply can’t compete.  It’s a fun toy, not a useful weapon.  (Note, this would also be assuming full skill investment!)

And that’s the end of your options.  I’m going to go ahead and restate the opinion I’ve held since … well, forever I think … Quantums and Photons will always allow your ship captain to get the best bang (literally) for his skill-buck.  While each other projectile type has unique benefits that some players may find worthwhile, I’ll forever be in support of the basics.  Cuz after all – it’s their job to blow the other guy up in the most efficient way possible, right?  So let’s not screw around with shield penetration and hindering movement rates.  Just get the job done.  BOOM!

MAIL:

We got a MASSIVE amount of submissions, too many to read through in a week.  So instead, we’re going to spotlight just a few from what we’ll call the First Batch of submissions.  We will do this again next week, as well.

Common story traits:
Every vulcan is broken.

– No Kolinahr, or a mind meld gone wrong, or a physical brain injury.  All have emotions.

Famous Trek characters have interacted with EVERYone.  Or are related to them.

– Descendants of Kirk, or long-lost time-displaced characters (PIKE!), or sponsored into Starfleet by Admiral Janeway, etc.

Every Trill was joined thru an accident.

– “I was on a shuttle with a symbiont who’s host died, so now I’m joined!”

AzureAlliance:
His bio is pretty straightforward, but deserves special recognition because he is one of the ONLY Captains I’ve met that has an ongoing story via his “Captain’s Logs” in game.  Including a very involved and enjoyable personal plotline, in addition to a detailed ‘in character’ account of the Undine’s invasion of Federation space.  The moments between him and his wife (a bridge officer which he also ‘voices’ in his logs) are quite touching, and believable.

Daniel Carver:
Noteworthy because he’s been blogging his experience in-character, as an ongoing storyline.  His blog is named “The Oath” after the Hippocratic oath common to all modern-day medicine, “First, do no harm.”  His character struggles with being a doctor and sticking to this oath, in a time of war and chaos.

Rikturscale:
Born as a Borg Queen Designate within the Collective, but ‘rescued’ by Starfleet and liberated after the ship they were on was destroyed by a Hekaran Rift.  Only she and one other Queen Designate survived.  After being liberated together, they became friends and eventually married.  Awww.
The most interesting part of this character’s bio though, is a portion that paints the Borg in a new and different light — that their ultimate “destiny” (as they see it) is to unite the Galaxy against a coming threat that can only be faced if all are unified.  They see assimilation as the most expedient and efficient means to that end, and believe that without unification, all life is doomed.  This vast and ancient threat is not mentioned by name in the bio – it’s portrayed as if the character’s time away from the Collective has erased or clouded certain memories, preventing the details from surfacing.

STOked’s One Year Anniversary next episode!!

NEWS:

 

Breen shown in “Expanding Universe, Pt 4” video

              – Also shows “Mercernary” costume pack.

              – Breen ships look awesome.  So do their suits!

 

Iconians show up in Star Trek magazine

              – Pages 50-52.  Careful, you can only zoom in 3 times!

              – SPOILERS!  They’re manipulating everything – even the Undine and Borg!

              – SPOILERS!  They will be revealed as the “Big Bad” of STO in late-Season2/S3

 

STO is on Wine 1.2’s “GOLD” list

              – visit www.winehq.org for more details

– This means:  Linux play just got a solid play option!

 

PvP Queue changes coming

              – Private matches will soon allow mixed teams, mixed tiers, and much more.

              – Also hints at a short-lived ladder/tournament system.

 

DANIEL STAHL UPDATE

– re: “Free to Play” — “… my point is that I don’t agree that business plan is the last straw.”

* Goes on to clarify that there is a lot of industry-wide interest in the concept, across every type of MMO regardless of their success level.

* Chris & Jeremy will be discussing this more in-depth NEXT WEEK!

 

Stahl @ Massively

– “… once you’re a vice-admiral, being able to take bridge officers that you’ve sort of promoted under your wing, and make them their own character[s].”

– Confirms the goal of adding Gorn and Naussican ships to KDF choices.

 

 

Stahl @ TrekMovie.com

– Talks more about C-Store, and finding the balance between paid content and played content.

– Hints at voice overs.

 

Stahl @ DevTracker

– Jokes about renaming it the “dstahl tracker”

– Rare particles (via mini-game) should be triggering an Accolade, but currently not working.

– Increasing non-star cluster DXP rewards:  “I agree.”

– Weekly content might include repeatable dailies.

– More retrofits, but Klingon ships come first!

– Thoughts on a new bridge officer transfer system.

 

 

MATH:

 

An introduction to Diplomatic Corps:

 

Despite many great guides being published on the subject, I still get people asking me about how to start on the path to becoming an Ambassador. 

 

So, here’s your official “YOU GOT MATHED” introduction to Diplomacy.

 

VERY SPOILER HEAVY!  If that concerns you, please skip to the “MAIL” segment.

 

The reason for the spoilers though, is that many of these missions can be failed, and having to restart a mission that involves only walking & talking is a frustration that feels like a huge waste of time.

 

So, I’ll give you a quick walkthru of the first SEVEN missions you can do at any time.  Additional special diplomatic missions don’t unlock until you’ve gotten a total of 160 DXP and ranked up to Attache.  Each of these missions give you 10 DXP, so you’ll have to do additional non-combat missions to reach Attache. (e.g., Aid The Planet, or Scan 5 Things)

 

Vulcan:

– Talk to Ambassador on the steps, then the Romulans by the fountain, then back to the Vulcan and her assistant.

– Talk to ALL of the scholars on the planet, to debunk the death threat letter’s information.  Don’t miss the handful that are up a path in the distance, past the fountain.

– Show the evidence to the Romulan, then confront the Vulcan’s assistant, tell him to “do the right thing.”  He’ll point you to the real culprit – the Romulan lieutenant!  Dun dun DUN!

 

Starbase 39:

– Speak with the Lt Commander, who will ask you to run all over hell & back introducing yourself to the ambassadors.

– Then you’ll basically end up doing a back & forth between the Ferengi and Deferi until the console on the wall unlocks.

– At this point, make sure you’ve listened to the recording of the Ferengi talking about Entertainment Provisions, then ask Admiral T’nae for input and head to the Ferengi.  Offer him an Entertainment Provision, and … BOOM!  Success.  Now just more running around to mop up.

 

DS9:

This one’s a doozy.  I’m not going to give you a complete walkthru, just tell you to NOT use the pulse laser on the strange device.  Dowse it with water instead.  As long as you don’t screw that up, you should eventually be able to prove the Gul’s innocence in this matter, and everyone goes home happy.  Just investigate EVERYthing else, and go into the mission assuming the guy is innocent.

 

Oh, and while you’re at DS9, buy a Bajoran Jumja Stick.  You’ll thank me later.

 

DO NOT EAT IT!  (and make sure no Tribble does, either)

 

Memory Alpha:

There are a total of FIVE missions here.  The three important ones are all involving Ferengi brothers.  There’s not much thinking required here, just a bunch of talking and running.  Despite asking almost everyone I know, it doesn’t appear as though you can fail these, so just click click click.  They ARE fun stories, worth reading.  I encourage you to do so, but it’s not required.

 

Then give your Jumja Stick to Kirayoshi O’Brien.  Easiest 10 DXP EVER!  If your mission log doesn’t update, simply log out and back in.  That should update it.

 

Another dude at MA will send you off to K7 with medical supplies.  When you arrive, you find out that –SHOCK– your crew has been infected with some sort of bacteria that was contained in the shipment.

 

Deepspace K7

You’ll have to investigate the cure using the equipment in the lab (attached to the bar – excellent location!).  Again, this is kind of an involved mission, so just pay attention to what you’re clicking on while experimenting.  NOTE:  The buttons will CHANGE POSITION on the final replicator step, so remember what you’re clicking on, not just where the buttons are.  Once you have plugged in the recipe, pick up the antidote at the console next to Nurse Leppa, and shoot your invisible quartermaster in the face with it.  Bingo!

 

For a more thorough guide, please visit Stonewall Fleet’s Guide to Diplomacy. 

 

MAIL:

 

Honorable Mentions:

* AdmiralMurphy:  “Picard Maneuver” — a TNG fan service (no likeness rights available)

* AgentExceider: “Reflections” — You have to confront your ISS mirror self on his/your ship

* Leprech: “Diplomacy at the Point of a Knife” — An interesting twist on diplomacy

 

Jeremy’s choices:

1) “Smoke & Holograms” — Daniel (aka DPT)

** Holo fleet, captured and fight your way out

** Reasons:  Relatively simple, but the beginning of what could be an EPIC story arc.

2) “Something Rotten on Risa” — Stoney977

** The mission looks diplomatic, but turns into a murder investigation, then a space chase after the Undine infiltrators.

** Chosen because of its strong and twisty plotline, plus giving an established location a deeper purpose.

Chris’ choices:

1) “Invasion of the Ship Snatchers” — E Beyer

** You are lured to a Cardassian ship that’s been disabled by a virus.

** A changeling reveals itself, and its plan to steal your Slipstream tech.

** You have to disable your own ship, using the crippled Keldon.

2) “What are Little Ferengi Made Of” — Daniel (aka DPT)

              ** A classic homage to the TOS episode, with a TWIST!

              ** Killing a horde of Ferengi sounds UBER fun.

 

 

— VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES BELOW! —

HAVE NOT SEEN:

 

Re-casting of Hulk

Norton vs. Marvel backstory:  https://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/14/the-truth-about-edward-norton-vs-marvel/

News of Warcraft movie (or visuals/footage?)

Nothing on Transformers

Bond news

Bond 23 gets axed:

https://flicksided.com/2010/07/bond-23-gets-the-axe/

Next Batman movie (villain lineup?)

Green Lantern movie information

              Ryan Reynolds

 

COMIC CON!

 

Joss Whedon announces he will be directing “The Avengers” for Marvel

https://io9.com/5594172/its-official-joss-whedon-is-directing-the-avengers-movie

 

New TRON Legacy trailer

https://www.ugo.com/movies/comic-con-2010-tron-legacy-new-trailer-debut

– Neatest bit of movie magic = Jeff Bridges actually looks ~30 yrs old

 

SOE announces “Legend Play” for DC Universe Online

https://www.tentonhammer.com/events/sdcc2010/DCUO-Legend-Play

* An alternative form of arena PvP where you play as established DC Universe characters against other players.  Gives you a premade, PvP-centric character build.  No accidentally gimping your toon cuz you play primarily PvE.

* Similar in some ways to LOTRO’s “Monster Play” PvP.

 

Pirates 4 is official. Sigh.  With more zombies.

https://www.ugo.com/movies/comic-con-2010-pirates-of-the-carribean-4-footage

 

G4 is getting four animated Marvel cartoons:

-Blade

-Iron Man

-Wolverine

-X-Men

 

Stay up-to-date on SDCC news:

https://www.ugo.com/comic-con

https://io9.com/tag/sdcc2010/