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Questions: Green
Answers: Red
Random: Yellow
Bizarro_Rekhan: In the Star
Trek series' and films, There were very set classes of ships, i.e.
Constitution Class / Galaxy Class, and while indervidual ships may have
had differences they still looked very similar.
How are you striking a balance between allowing players to customise
their ships, while maintaining the particular style or look of a Class?
What about limitations to ensure that ships still maintain the style of
Starfleet?
CrypticZinc: At launch, we’ll have 16 different
configurations of ships on the Federation side. Each of the
configurations has different load-outs of Bridge Officers, station
consoles, weapons, etc…
For each of the configurations, we’ve picked a ship or two from cannon
that represents the basic “look” or silhouette of the ship. A Miranda
looks different than an Akira which looks different from the Defiant,
etc…
So when we build all the parts you’ll be able to customize with, we
really stick to the silhouette and the basic look in order to keep that
configuration recognizable.
The general look and feel of all the Federation ships, the materials you can apply - all maintain a solid fed feel.
Bizarro_Rekhan: What are the
different parts of a ship that the players can modify, is it just
engines and weapons, or are there sub systems, do these modifications
change some weight or part limit?
CrypticZinc: I'll break this into to parts... cosmetic and functional.
The cosmetic things that you can modify include the material on the
ship (ToS? Next Gen? Futuristic), general tinting of the material
within “acceptable” limits. : ) You can swap out what shaped windows,
what the escape pods look like…
(I realizing that I’m being Fed centric – we’ll be talking more about Klingon gameplay later in the PR cycle.)...
Depending on the configuration of the ship – there are different parts
that you can swap as well… Constitution configuration obviously has
saucer, hull, pylons, nacelles – the Defiant configuration has a
different breakdown.
From a functional standpoint – the things that you can modify on your
ship include which Bridge Officers are active, what weapons you have
equipped, the type of impulse engines, the type of shields, the
deflector array. Additionally you can swap out different station
consoles that further modify how your ship plays.
CrypticZinc: oh, that's a ship
question I should've asked... why did they put in the Excalibur when
it's the same silhouette as the Constitution?
Cryptic Zinc: The "Excalibur" would be a customized class of ship within the "Constitution" configuration.
That's a perfect example of how you can make a ship look different, but maintain the same configuration.
CrypticZinc: what are some examples of 'STATION Console'?
CrypticZinc: Station Consoles (we are still looking
for a better name for these, so expect this to change) are typed slots
(Eng, Tact, Sci) on the ship that allow you to tweak pretty specific
things. Different types of armor – perhaps with extra resistance from
disruptor beams, “Bio Beds” – let you heal your crew faster – those
would be examples.
Different configurations of ships have different slot permutations. Tactical ships will have more Tact consoles - etc...
CrypticZinc: So is the Oslo a class within the Akira configuration?
CrypticZinc: Yes
Bizarro_Rekhan: Do the parts that you
use in your ship configuration for "looks" limit the types of weapons
or other functional parts that you can implement on your vessel?
CrypticZinc:No. There's a pretty hard line between
the functional and cosmetic. The cosmetic will identify what
configuration your ship is - but will not reflect your ship's load-out.
CrypticZinc: Did we break 250 in here? Sweet. : )
Bizarro_Daeke: What are you doing to help prevent "X ideal build for Y configuration" sort of setups?
CrypticZinc: Heh. All sorts of stuff.
That's REALLY where a lot of the work in most MMOs goes to. You want to
make sure that you provide a really varied experience, you want every
ship to feel drastically different. At the same time, you have to avoid
the “flavor of the week” problem.
We playtest all the time – look at data. When we go beta and live,
we’ll look at all sorts of data to see what YOU guys have found and are
exploiting. : )
We’ve got some pretty complex formulas and number behind the scenes to
try and manage the general effectiveness of the ships – but I’m not
going to try to explain that here. (mostly because it would end up
being embarrassing for me : )
CrypticZinc: Where do you do the actual customiztion of your starship?
CrypticZinc: Starbase.
For cosmetic stuff - you need to be docked at a starbase.
For functional things - weapons, mods, etc... - you can do all of them in the field right now.
CrypticZinc: Can I upgrade my impulse engines for better speeds and turning?
CrypticZinc: Yes. Changing out your impulse engines modifies your maneuverability, your speed and your ships general inertia.
Bizarro_Rekhan: Where will
we get out ship mods from? Will there be simply a selection gallery or
will we have to purchase them off the galactic market? If so, will they
be seeded in the markets or will users have to build them in-game
first? Thanks!
CrypticZinc: this sounds so much like guild wars
CrypticZinc: How so?
Bizarro_Rekhan: Where will
we get out ship mods from? Will there be simply a selection gallery or
will we have to purchase them off the galactic market? If so, will they
be seeded in the markets or will users have to build them in-game
first? Thanks!
CrypticZinc: You'll get the different weapons, shields, station console mods, etc... from all sorts of different places.
You'll be able to go to starfleet and requisition them...
You'll perhaps get some cool alien tech from a colony you just helped defend from the Borg.
I don't want to talk too much about economy - but the market will definitly be seeded.
Bizarro_Rekhan: Will ships have defined purposes (eg Science- Nebula)
CrypticZinc: So - there are three different "types" of ships (at launch) - Escort, Cruiser, Science.
(Just making sure everyone has a good basis - don't go saying I'm rehashing everything again. : )
Escort has the ability to outfit canons. Very high attack rating.
Cruiser a little more general purpose. Lots of crew. Lots of general purpose weapons. Larger ships. (generally speaking)
Science ships really focus on the deflector dish powers - tractor beams, tachyon beams, feedback pulses, etc...
The different configurations have different permutations of what you can slot on them.
Escorts have more tactical Bridge Officer seats (and of higher
level)... an early configuration of an escort ship might only have 2
tactical seats, where the higher ones might have 4.
The numbers of weapons, station consoles, bridge officer seats - all these things change based on ship type and configuration.
CrypticZinc: If you're still reading here CrypticZinc I think you have canon and cannons swapped around ^^
CrypticZinc:You're right. Too much caffeine. : )
To put it in real straight "game" terms - the inventory paper doll for your ship changes based on type and configuration.
Man - I haven't even mentioned ship classes!
So - within some of the higher end configurations, we plan on having
different ship classes that end up having different load-outs as well.
Imagine a ship class be a pretty small variation within the configuration.
Oslo, Akira, Steamrunner - all different "classes" within the Akira-Stype configuration.
Bizzaro_Daeke: <]AoA[Vmann|work> In play
testing, have players gravitated to the trinity of MMO roles
(healer/tank/DPS), and if so, any plans on how to break up the old and
tired group formula for STO ship combat?
(Two minute warning, folks!)
CripticZinc:Yes and no.
Some people gravitate to those roles beacuse they're MMO players. It's a vocabulary that they know and is familiar.
That being said - once people realize in what directions and limits
they can customize their load-outs, what Bridge Officers they activate
- they end up seeing that there's far more depth and team makeup to be
had.
Let's do one more.
CripticZinc: i'd say I was about 90% satisfied from all the stuff I heard today
Maybe I _shouldn't_ take another quesiton. : )
CrypticZinc: You've said that you can
outfit your basic ship to make it very competitive with other ships. If
you so desire could you get to the highest level in just your starter
ship?
CrypticZinc: You can push your starter ship pretty
far into the next tier (there will be 4 at launch) - but you will not
be able to take your Miranda up against the Prometheus.
BizarroRekhan:All right, folks. That about wraps
it up for this week's dev chat. Be sure to check the main page for
future announcements about our next chat. Thanks for stopping by!
Answers: Red
Random: Yellow
Bizarro_Rekhan: In the Star
Trek series' and films, There were very set classes of ships, i.e.
Constitution Class / Galaxy Class, and while indervidual ships may have
had differences they still looked very similar.
How are you striking a balance between allowing players to customise
their ships, while maintaining the particular style or look of a Class?
What about limitations to ensure that ships still maintain the style of
Starfleet?
CrypticZinc: At launch, we’ll have 16 different
configurations of ships on the Federation side. Each of the
configurations has different load-outs of Bridge Officers, station
consoles, weapons, etc…
For each of the configurations, we’ve picked a ship or two from cannon
that represents the basic “look” or silhouette of the ship. A Miranda
looks different than an Akira which looks different from the Defiant,
etc…
So when we build all the parts you’ll be able to customize with, we
really stick to the silhouette and the basic look in order to keep that
configuration recognizable.
The general look and feel of all the Federation ships, the materials you can apply - all maintain a solid fed feel.
Bizarro_Rekhan: What are the
different parts of a ship that the players can modify, is it just
engines and weapons, or are there sub systems, do these modifications
change some weight or part limit?
CrypticZinc: I'll break this into to parts... cosmetic and functional.
The cosmetic things that you can modify include the material on the
ship (ToS? Next Gen? Futuristic), general tinting of the material
within “acceptable” limits. : ) You can swap out what shaped windows,
what the escape pods look like…
(I realizing that I’m being Fed centric – we’ll be talking more about Klingon gameplay later in the PR cycle.)...
Depending on the configuration of the ship – there are different parts
that you can swap as well… Constitution configuration obviously has
saucer, hull, pylons, nacelles – the Defiant configuration has a
different breakdown.
From a functional standpoint – the things that you can modify on your
ship include which Bridge Officers are active, what weapons you have
equipped, the type of impulse engines, the type of shields, the
deflector array. Additionally you can swap out different station
consoles that further modify how your ship plays.
CrypticZinc: oh, that's a ship
question I should've asked... why did they put in the Excalibur when
it's the same silhouette as the Constitution?
Cryptic Zinc: The "Excalibur" would be a customized class of ship within the "Constitution" configuration.
That's a perfect example of how you can make a ship look different, but maintain the same configuration.
CrypticZinc: what are some examples of 'STATION Console'?
CrypticZinc: Station Consoles (we are still looking
for a better name for these, so expect this to change) are typed slots
(Eng, Tact, Sci) on the ship that allow you to tweak pretty specific
things. Different types of armor – perhaps with extra resistance from
disruptor beams, “Bio Beds” – let you heal your crew faster – those
would be examples.
Different configurations of ships have different slot permutations. Tactical ships will have more Tact consoles - etc...
CrypticZinc: So is the Oslo a class within the Akira configuration?
CrypticZinc: Yes
Bizarro_Rekhan: Do the parts that you
use in your ship configuration for "looks" limit the types of weapons
or other functional parts that you can implement on your vessel?
CrypticZinc:No. There's a pretty hard line between
the functional and cosmetic. The cosmetic will identify what
configuration your ship is - but will not reflect your ship's load-out.
CrypticZinc: Did we break 250 in here? Sweet. : )
Bizarro_Daeke: What are you doing to help prevent "X ideal build for Y configuration" sort of setups?
CrypticZinc: Heh. All sorts of stuff.
That's REALLY where a lot of the work in most MMOs goes to. You want to
make sure that you provide a really varied experience, you want every
ship to feel drastically different. At the same time, you have to avoid
the “flavor of the week” problem.
We playtest all the time – look at data. When we go beta and live,
we’ll look at all sorts of data to see what YOU guys have found and are
exploiting. : )
We’ve got some pretty complex formulas and number behind the scenes to
try and manage the general effectiveness of the ships – but I’m not
going to try to explain that here. (mostly because it would end up
being embarrassing for me : )
CrypticZinc: Where do you do the actual customiztion of your starship?
CrypticZinc: Starbase.
For cosmetic stuff - you need to be docked at a starbase.
For functional things - weapons, mods, etc... - you can do all of them in the field right now.
CrypticZinc: Can I upgrade my impulse engines for better speeds and turning?
CrypticZinc: Yes. Changing out your impulse engines modifies your maneuverability, your speed and your ships general inertia.
Bizarro_Rekhan: Where will
we get out ship mods from? Will there be simply a selection gallery or
will we have to purchase them off the galactic market? If so, will they
be seeded in the markets or will users have to build them in-game
first? Thanks!
CrypticZinc: this sounds so much like guild wars
CrypticZinc: How so?
Bizarro_Rekhan: Where will
we get out ship mods from? Will there be simply a selection gallery or
will we have to purchase them off the galactic market? If so, will they
be seeded in the markets or will users have to build them in-game
first? Thanks!
CrypticZinc: You'll get the different weapons, shields, station console mods, etc... from all sorts of different places.
You'll be able to go to starfleet and requisition them...
You'll perhaps get some cool alien tech from a colony you just helped defend from the Borg.
I don't want to talk too much about economy - but the market will definitly be seeded.
Bizarro_Rekhan: Will ships have defined purposes (eg Science- Nebula)
CrypticZinc: So - there are three different "types" of ships (at launch) - Escort, Cruiser, Science.
(Just making sure everyone has a good basis - don't go saying I'm rehashing everything again. : )
Escort has the ability to outfit canons. Very high attack rating.
Cruiser a little more general purpose. Lots of crew. Lots of general purpose weapons. Larger ships. (generally speaking)
Science ships really focus on the deflector dish powers - tractor beams, tachyon beams, feedback pulses, etc...
The different configurations have different permutations of what you can slot on them.
Escorts have more tactical Bridge Officer seats (and of higher
level)... an early configuration of an escort ship might only have 2
tactical seats, where the higher ones might have 4.
The numbers of weapons, station consoles, bridge officer seats - all these things change based on ship type and configuration.
CrypticZinc: If you're still reading here CrypticZinc I think you have canon and cannons swapped around ^^
CrypticZinc:You're right. Too much caffeine. : )
To put it in real straight "game" terms - the inventory paper doll for your ship changes based on type and configuration.
Man - I haven't even mentioned ship classes!
So - within some of the higher end configurations, we plan on having
different ship classes that end up having different load-outs as well.
Imagine a ship class be a pretty small variation within the configuration.
Oslo, Akira, Steamrunner - all different "classes" within the Akira-Stype configuration.
Bizzaro_Daeke: <]AoA[Vmann|work> In play
testing, have players gravitated to the trinity of MMO roles
(healer/tank/DPS), and if so, any plans on how to break up the old and
tired group formula for STO ship combat?
(Two minute warning, folks!)
CripticZinc:Yes and no.
Some people gravitate to those roles beacuse they're MMO players. It's a vocabulary that they know and is familiar.
That being said - once people realize in what directions and limits
they can customize their load-outs, what Bridge Officers they activate
- they end up seeing that there's far more depth and team makeup to be
had.
Let's do one more.
CripticZinc: i'd say I was about 90% satisfied from all the stuff I heard today
Maybe I _shouldn't_ take another quesiton. : )
CrypticZinc: You've said that you can
outfit your basic ship to make it very competitive with other ships. If
you so desire could you get to the highest level in just your starter
ship?
CrypticZinc: You can push your starter ship pretty
far into the next tier (there will be 4 at launch) - but you will not
be able to take your Miranda up against the Prometheus.
BizarroRekhan:All right, folks. That about wraps
it up for this week's dev chat. Be sure to check the main page for
future announcements about our next chat. Thanks for stopping by!
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