Hey STO fans! This thread is for discussing what will happen in the second episode of this series.
For those of you who played it already, the end of the first episode had your ship being ordered to enter an anomaly. The other ship (the Antaak or DaVinci) was ordered to stand guard around Research Station 18. To get this discussion going I'll ask a few questions.
Will something happen inside the anomaly or when your ship gets out of it?
What will your ship learn about this new enemy?
Will anything happen to Research Station 18 and the Antaak/DaVinci in Episode 2?
After leaning something new, what will Starfleet and the Klingon Empire decide?
I'll be interacting with everyone who replies and hopefully there are a lot of good ideas. I'd like to keep this open until the last week of May so I'll have one week to work on Episode 2 and release during the first week of June.
Get those positronic brains working!
1. Maybe we realize we are in a different galaxy or something
2. Some connection between the virus and the enemy. Maybe why they attacked in the first place.
3. Maybe they join you in the anomaly but get blown up :lol:
4. I have no clue, thats up to you
Those are my thoughts
Cpt.Clango Wrote:1. Maybe we realize we are in a different galaxy or something
2. Some connection between the virus and the enemy. Maybe why they attacked in the first place.
3. Maybe they join you in the anomaly but get blown up :lol:
4. I have no clue, thats up to you
Those are my thoughts
Actually, I was thinking about a different galaxy as well. It could add a little spice to the series.
What did you think of Episode 1? Please be honest because I really want to make the second episode even better.
I thought episode 1 was brilliant! I liked it a lot. I'm being completely honest. I can't wait for episode 2! (Btw these remind me of STO's weekly episodes
)
I really liked the first episode. It was just long enough to be interesting, but not so long that it could not be finished in a reasonable amount of time. I was a little disappointed that we didn't see the aliens, but that could be fixed in a later episode. It could even be saved as part of the climactic final episode, though that would pretty much eliminate any ground combat missions as part of the series.
As for episode two:
1. I think the annomaly should act like a transwarp conduit and just deposit the ship at some unknown location where the action can pick up, either with another attack by the aliens or some indication of a need to investigate a star system where we can confront the aliens again or come to the aid of some other victim of one of their attacs.
1. The end of episode one strongly implies that the anomaly is a wormhole to either another galaxy or another dimension/parallel universe. It could eb either one as far as I'm concerned.
2. I think we will learn that they are not from our galaxy or universe, as the cse may be,and that they have some problem at home that they are trying to solve by attacking our world. We don't necessarily need to find out right away what the problem is.
3. I think that anything happening to Starbase 18 would be a distraction from what I see as a rather linear plot line.
4. I'm not sure that Starfleet or the Klingon Empire will have a say in what happens in episode two. I see a possible Janeway/Lost in Space story unfolding, in which the ship loses contact with its galaxy until the final, or next to final episode.
I have a couple of general suggestions for the series as a whole. I think it may be helpful to think about the proposed ending before getting too deep into the plot. Otherwise, the story line is likely to end up simply being "An alien attacks, another alien attacks, another alien attacks, etc." We need to know where we are going in order to find the best way to get there in a way that provides some interesting story development along the way. We need what Alfred Hitchcock used to call a McGuffin -- the thing that everybody is trying to get or trying to keep someone else from getting. (Think Maltese Falcon/Map on the back on the Declaration of Independence/etc.) The mystery virus could certainly be the McGuffin, but it does not have to be. (Hitchcock was clear that the McGuffin can be literally anything.)
Also, we need to think about whether the aliens will ultimately be totally defeated, sent back into their own galaxy/universe with their wormhole closed behind them, or be won over to the side of truth, justice and the Star Trek way by having our intrepid heroes solve whatever problem led tham to attack us in the first place.
Warburton1881 Wrote:I was a little disappointed that we didn't see the aliens, but that could be fixed in a later episode.
We did see the aliens. It was the ground battle on the station. Those were the aliens and they share the same DNA that the virus does.
I like your ideas and suggestions, it got me thinking a lot. The ending will have a cure for the virus and the aliens will decide to leave us alone. Why will they decide to leave us alone? Maybe we are too strong? Maybe we figured out a way to coexist. Maybe we helped them solve a problem. But before we decide that we must ask the questions: Why are the aliens attacking us? What relationship do they have with the virus?
This is how I am looking at it:
Episode 2: Get a hint as to why they are attacking us while learning more about them. Maybe even open up some more questions about this mystery.
Episode 3: Learn about the relationship between the aliens and the virus.
Episode 4: Find a way back home in order to let Starfleet/KDF know what's going on. This could be purely a scientific/diplomatic mission without any combat.
Episode 5: Final confrontation with the aliens. What happens here is basically decided by the rest of the series. If we learn that the aliens are trying to take over our galaxy then they should be defeated. Maybe we somehow hurt them without realizing it and we try to fix things. I really think we can't figure out details for the ending yet.
I haven't played the Episodes yet, so I'm not reading the "spoiler" comments
, but just by skimming them it looks as though I'm in for a treat! I wish the reruns weren't limited-time and coinciding with the STOA series. No way I can do both. :cry:
I'll still try to check it out and leave feedback. I wonder how hard it will be at my level. Sounds mysterious and intriguing, though!
One thing: I'm a Science guy who's played just science ships. I'd love to fly one of my cruisers or escorts. Would that be doable, or am I going to need to put max effort into these? I wish the Foundry could scale optionally (i.e., a player-selectable level to play at) or let me have fun, use my Constitution or Excelsior, and scale back the enemies accordingly.
As soon as I get someone to help me with the Devidian and Romulan reruns, I'm doing these. With Admiral Attilio's track record, I'll hazard that we're in for an incredible ride. Just hope I get to them in time to leave feedback! :|
-- Cadet Kailath (aka "Capt. Dunsel")
My missions will be available forever so it really doesn't matter when you do them. As I said in the first post, I plan on releasing the next episode during the first week of June. If I don't get a lot of feedback on here I may do it sooner. In any case, you'll have plenty of time to participate.
Attilio Wrote:Hey STO fans! This thread is for discussing what will happen in the second episode of this series.
For those of you who played it already, the end of the first episode had your ship being ordered to enter an anomaly. The other ship (the Antaak or DaVinci) was ordered to stand guard around Research Station 18. To get this discussion going I'll ask a few questions.
Will something happen inside the anomaly or when your ship gets out of it?
What will your ship learn about this new enemy?
Will anything happen to Research Station 18 and the Antaak/DaVinci in Episode 2?
After leaning something new, what will Starfleet and the Klingon Empire decide?
I'll be interacting with everyone who replies and hopefully there are a lot of good ideas. I'd like to keep this open until the last week of May so I'll have one week to work on Episode 2 and release during the first week of June.
Get those positronic brains working!
:oops: Edit: speaking of typos, after I just read my post I found it contained enough to the entirety of my BOffs' inventories! It always helps to have another pair of eyes proof-read (plus being on more than a half-dozen mind-fogging meds doesn't help!). 
hock:
Admiral Attilio,
Finally played through
The Price of Science — arguably my first time of having "plain, simple fun" in STO for a long time. (I've been anxious to grind up to VA to unlock things and begin alts). Playing
The Price of Science was the first time I've had
fun since I completed the Guardian/Doomsday/Miral Paris storyline. No time pressure, just pure entertainment.
Now for your questions:
- I'm not sure. Anomalies can do strange things. Consider:
- VOY:
- Eye of the Needle
- Twisted
- Non Sequitur
- Deadlock
- Before and After
- Shattered
- etc. etc. etc. [/list:u]
- TNG:
- Disaster
- The Loss[/list:u]
- Ok, tired of listing anomalies. :lol: [/list:u]
- Who knows? DNA has been a common theme in Trek (e.g., VOY: Vis a Vis, Threshold; TNG: Genesis, Bloodlines, etc.) And there have been many "Alien of the Week" stories (e.g., Botha, Solagen-based guys from TNG: Schisms"). Sometimes our heroes learned to communicate and become friends (e.g., TNG: The Quality of Life, Evolution), whereas other times they have not (e.g., VOY: Waking Moments, TOS: Operation: Annihilate!). In the former cases they had the chance to learn about them, but in the latter, they were lucky to escape alive. (Then there were the odd ones: The Nacene, Kevin Uxbridge, and, of course, Q!)
- I think Research Station 18 seems suspicious. And I can't imagine the hapless-looking U.S.S da Vinci possibly putting up a reasonable defense — if these aliens are truly hostile and mean business! Why are so many personnel moving around in a trance0-like state. They should either be evacuated, under alien infience, or just a lot fewer. A lonely research outpost witja few obviously non Starfleet workers would be lend authenticity.
- I'm not sure about the KDF. And it'd be cool if the player-captain could decide how to handle the new aliens. There were often conflicting views on alien life or important/hard decisions (see TNG: Evolution, The Quality of Life, Home Soil, Justice, Journey's End, The Pegasus, Lower Decks, ENT: Dear Doctor). If the Foundry doesn't make that possible, perhaps a vote could occur among the captains here on how to handle things.
Notice a recurring theme? This reminds me of the first act in a Trek episode. There's mystery, intrigue, action, and a "commercial break" (haha). You've captured the essence of a show. Not just some big battle or "rescue/defend X". I hope it continues and you turn it into an adventure/mystery — not just mob-after-mob of arduous combat. The more story-telling and options we have, the better, IMO. I don't know how powerful the Foundry editor is, but letting our actions affect the outcome (within bounds of reason) would be welcome.
A few criticisms (that might change, based on the story):
- The station had too many workers, IMO. They staggered around zombie-like. Think of TNG: Aquiel. You could have just a few (or only a lonely Dr. Monroe) there. As it was, unless the aliens were subtly controlling the researchers (not w/out precedence; see TOS: This Side of Paradise or TNG: Conspiracy), it seemed odd to have so many wander around when their station was falling apart, aliens were beaming in, etc.!
- Grammatical errors and typos occurred a little too often. Not a big deal though. It did cause me to have to re-read some of the text. But Cryptic has had many such verbal "bugs" in their missions, too. so you're in good company!
- I don't think leaving the da Vinci, and Olympic-class vessel (in an obviously crippled state) to guard the station was wise. I would have preferred seeing a small task force of ships come to defend the station was a sensible thing to do for my captain ("criminal negligence?"). Those aliens could come back, and I doubt the under-powered medical ship could offer much[/list:u]
I also wonder: was I the only one who had a really tough time fighting off the aliens? ALL my crew hit the dust (even the Borg BOff), despite having really tough gear. That was a tough battle for me. (Shows how bad I am at this game!) IIRC, the aliens used plasma weapons, so I should probably equip some [Pla] armor/shields and energy-resistant ones. (I've always used Polyalloy, for I thought it was always the best to use. Now I think ppl told me this on the STO fora b/c of my woes with Klingon Targs and Swordmasters. Am I right that the other armors are actually useful, or is Polyalloy pretty much always the best?)
Another thing I liked: no running around solving "mini-puzzles": all the consoles were easy to find and manipulate. The maze-like missions of running around is tiring.
Finally,were there any secondary or tertiary objectives we might have missed?
Looking forward to the next episode! Thanks a lot!
-- Cadet Kailath
Kailath Wrote:I think Research Station 18 seems suspicious. And I can't imagine the hapless-looking U.S.S da Vinci possibly putting up a reasonable defense — if these aliens are truly hostile and mean business! Why are so many personnel moving around in a trance0-like state. They should either be evacuated, under alien infience, or just a lot fewer. A lonely research outpost witja few obviously non Starfleet workers would be lend authenticity.
We don't know how strong the first attackers were, so the daVinci, could've put up enough of a fight. Lets face it, the ship was badly damaged so its possible it just barely made it through the battle.
I can explain why they are moving around in a trance like state... because I haven't fully figured out the features of the Foundry hahaha.
They aren't Starfleet officers, but they are Federation citizens. You don't need to be in Starfleet to work on a science/research station. Think about The Wrath of Khan and Regula I. They weren't Starfleet officers on that station, just Federation scientists. Maybe in the second episode they'll be evacuated, but things happened too quick in the first episode. They were attacked, we arrived, they got attacked again, we beamed down, and then they got attacked by a ground party.
Kailath Wrote:it'd be cool if the player-captain could decide how to handle the new aliens... If the Foundry doesn't make that possible, perhaps a vote could occur among the captains here on how to handle things.
That's part of the reason why I set up these discussion. So players can talk it over and come to a decision.
Kailath Wrote:I don't know how powerful the Foundry editor is, but letting our actions affect the outcome (within bounds of reason) would be welcome.
Unfortunately the Foundry doesn't let you have branching stories, only branching dialog.
Kailath Wrote:The station had too many workers, IMO. They staggered around zombie-like. Think of TNG: Aquiel. You could have just a few (or only a lonely Dr. Monroe) there. As it was, unless the aliens were subtly controlling the researchers (not w/out precedence; see TOS: This Side of Paradise or TNG: Conspiracy), it seemed odd to have so many wander around when their station was falling apart, aliens were beaming in, etc.!
Too many? It is a big station after all. I understand that some trek shows had small research stations and you only saw a few people on them. I'm going for a larger approach.
Kailath Wrote:Grammatical errors and typos occurred a little too often. Not a big deal though. It did cause me to have to re-read some of the text. But Cryptic has had many such verbal "bugs" in their missions, too. so you're in good company!
I'll have to go back and play through the mission again. If you can point some of them out to me that would be great. Just send me a message in the game.
EDIT: I just looked through the dialog and fixed some of the spelling errors. If you notice anything else let me know.
Kailath Wrote:I don't think leaving the da Vinci, and Olympic-class vessel (in an obviously crippled state) to guard the station was wise. I would have preferred seeing a small task force of ships come to defend the station was a sensible thing to do for my captain ("criminal negligence?"). Those aliens could come back, and I doubt the under-powered medical ship could offer much
At the end of the mission the Admiral does say he is sending another ship to help the daVinci so it won't be by itself.
Kailath Wrote:I also wonder: was I the only one who had a really tough time fighting off the aliens? ALL my crew hit the dust (even the Borg BOff), despite having really tough gear. That was a tough battle for me. (Shows how bad I am at this game!) IIRC, the aliens used plasma weapons, so I should probably equip some [Pla] armor/shields and energy-resistant ones. (I've always used Polyalloy, for I thought it was always the best to use. Now I think ppl told me this on the STO fora b/c of my woes with Klingon Targs and Swordmasters. Am I right that the other armors are actually useful, or is Polyalloy pretty much always the best?)
I'm not an expert on armor so I can't help you there, but yes the alien are tough to battle. I do plan on fixing that.
Kailath Wrote:Finally,were there any secondary or tertiary objectives we might have missed?
None.
Thanks for your feedback!