Captains :S

[MichaelA981]

Ok me and a friend were talking about STO
and about being captain.

he looked at the FAQ here and now thinks that you are all captains but cannot acutaly be something els
like a Doctor or Scientist or Security guy or even a Red shirt D:

i say that we can as its a RPG like game and well whats the point and how can you RP with a game full of captains O____o

i would prefer it if i didnt have to be a captain and i could go and be a Doctor or an Engineer i can barely fly or battle or even captain a ship in BC and Legacy so STO i wont bother :S

Please Help :)

[MagnusTyrel]

You are a captain unfortunatly but that dosnt mean you cant be Medical, Science, Engineering, or Security based in skills... Being a captain of a medical ship dosnt make you any less of a cotor for example...

[MichaelA981]

but will i be able to be a proper engineer tbh i dont whant my own ship i see no fun in that O__o if i whanted to be a captian id go play BC

i whant to play STO for RP reasons
so i can be a proper doctor or engineer ect not get stuck in a center seat D:

so esentialy i whant to know
Will i be able to have a better role other than Captain :S

[MagnusTyrel]

nope you wont be able to be the engineer you will be the captain of the ship and your engineer will be a pet/npc

[daviboi83]

I think Cryptic are spot on with their approach to STO!

If we played as idividuals serving on ships as science officers, captains, etc, then there would only be a few ships in the Star Trek Online Universe. Not exactly a Star Fleet is it?

I love that we can create a totally new/customised crew (Or not if you look at my recent post) with a customised ship with the freedom to explore the universe to your heart's content making it your own Star Trek experience.

I personally would not have it any other way.

[MichaelA981]

Isnt that kind of pointless....
where is the fun in that...
star trek is not about being a captain its about exploring and invididuality or how ever its spelled
its about freedom of choise and now its limited to Captains Club D:

[MKIceman]

but will i be able to be a proper engineer tbh i dont whant my own ship i see no fun in that O__o if i whanted to be a captian id go play BC

i whant to play STO for RP reasons
so i can be a proper doctor or engineer ect not get stuck in a center seat D:

so esentialy i whant to know
Will i be able to have a better role other than Captain :S
If Star Trek Online ever incorporates such roles -- player bridge crew -- I'll be sure to look you up before talking to anyone else. :)

In the meantime, think of yourself in a party 'buff' support role for the instanced PvE content. Although everyone is captain of their own ship, not everyone can lead an instance party at the same time.

[MagnusTyrel]

I understand what your saying but if you look at it objectivly it was really the only way they could do it and not alienate people away from the game...

[MichaelA981]

Sooo perhapse when you go down to a planet you can use your abilitys from your player back ground as FAQ dose say you can have Med/Sec/Sci/Eng/Cmd as backgrounds or summin like that

and this game is in Dev still and thier is hope of expantions...
only time can tell tbh

[ComradeWolfie]

Isnt that kind of pointless....
where is the fun in that...
star trek is not about being a captain its about exploring and invididuality or how ever its spelled
its about freedom of choise and now its limited to Captains Club D:

you come up with a game where its fun being in main engineering all day long, doing nothing. Or being a doctor dealing with grazes and cuts.

[MichaelA981]

i already play a game like that and i asure you many people enjoy it when the plot is lead by a compitent person
we call it RPG-X for EF1

[RookActual]

This is pretty much a 'player crew' thread....which, as far as I know, is still offlimits.

Stardate 9274.19 aboard the USS Cooperation

"Helmsman, plot a course for the Rigel Nebula Warp Factor 4"
"I will for 2,000 credits, Captain."

The vessel sits idly, and is attacked by Klingons.

"Tactical, shields up!"
"Sir, the engineering officer just lagged out and can't give us the energy we need to raise shields!"
"Ops, take over engineering."
"But I hate engineering!"

Meanwhile the ship takes a torpedo to the face.

"Medical, we need attention on the bridge! Helmsman is wounded"
"So what, he ticked me off in the guildmeeting."

Another torpedo strikes the vessel and the USS Cooperation shatters into wittle teeny bits.

[Tamgros]

Isnt that kind of pointless....
where is the fun in that...
star trek is not about being a captain its about exploring and invididuality or how ever its spelled
its about freedom of choise and now its limited to Captains Club D:
Here's kind of the 'official' response to why they didn't have players as crews:
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs.cfm?isapi_rewrite_remap=Awenyddion/032009/3505&bhcp=1

I don't think Star Trek is about being a captain, but I also don't think Star trek is about being a crew.

Why aren't exactly the captain in a sense, we are the whole ship/crew. IMO, they are actually allowing us to get the whole star trek experience, and not just one crew member's perspective.

Player crews would also limit your interaction with other people because you aren't free to roam around the galaxy. I'm really pleased with this direction, and I think it's how trek is meant to be portrayed in the MMO genre.

I understand where you are coming from, but keep an open mind about this format. It may surprise you how much you like it :)

[ComradeWolfie]

i already play a game like that and i asure you many people enjoy it when the plot is lead by a compitent person
we call it RPG-X for EF1

We arn't all RP'ers, some of us like trek but just don't find RP attractive, so for us, essentially forcing us to RP would be a bad, bad thing.

[LordDave]

i already play a game like that and i asure you many people enjoy it when the plot is lead by a compitent person
we call it RPG-X for EF1

Aren't most RPG-X servers empty or run by a small, select group of RPers? And reliant on said RPers to generate the content mentally? With limited maps? Not exactly MMO material... :rolleyes:

My signature also has a video clip as to why there will be no player crews. And if you think about it, for the game to succeed, you NEED captain first, then player crews. Since to have player crews you also need a way to move your character someplace, to go somewhere else, at their own will. A way to do missions and quests and such without others. THAT requires you to have your own ship. Thus requires you to be a "captain".
Once that's done, then you need to put in persistent player ship interiors. That is currently near the top of their list of things to put in. They will not put them in until they can put fun things to do inside your ship. Sure walking around the first time is great, but after that you won't visit it without a reason. Except maybe the rare occasion you want to stroll. The work required is not worth the time you'd spend in it. So, you make it functional. Make it so you can adjust the warp core in Engineering or do some medical experiments in Sickbay, or train in the Holodeck. Once that's done, then you can start working on player run ships.

So really it's a stepping ladder. A ladder that takes time.

[KO_Gilligan]

Sooo perhapse when you go down to a planet you can use your abilitys from your player back ground as FAQ dose say you can have Med/Sec/Sci/Eng/Cmd as backgrounds or summin like that

and this game is in Dev still and thier is hope of expantions...
only time can tell tbh

Mostly you'll shoot stuff :o

But it's cool - your concerns

Keep up the faith

[Spoonhead29]

This is pretty much a 'player crew' thread....which, as far as I know, is still offlimits.

Stardate 9274.19 aboard the USS Cooperation

"Helmsman, plot a course for the Rigel Nebula Warp Factor 4"
"I will for 2,000 credits, Captain."

The vessel sits idly, and is attacked by Klingons.

"Tactical, shields up!"
"Sir, the engineering officer just lagged out and can't give us the energy we need to raise shields!"
"Ops, take over engineering."
"But I hate engineering!"

Meanwhile the ship takes a torpedo to the face.

"Medical, we need attention on the bridge! Helmsman is wounded"
"So what, he ticked me off in the guildmeeting."

Another torpedo strikes the vessel and the USS Cooperation shatters into wittle teeny bits.

Exactly! this should just be reposted for every "I want players crews" threads.

[LordDave]

Exactly! this should just be reposted for every "I want players crews" threads.

Not really. You can apply that to any group situation. Let's take WoW, just because I'm familiar.


4 years after the war - Blackrock Spire

"Mage, make us water and food"
"I will for 2,000 gold ."

The group sits idly, and is attacked by Feral Orcs.

"Warrior, grab aggro!"
"I can't. The mage is doing too much damage!"
"Boot the mage and get a hunter."
"But they always ninja loot!"

Meanwhile the warlock is near death.

"Priest, we need attention on the Lock! "
"So what, he ticked me off in the guildmeeting."

Another wave spots the group and the group of adventurers dies... again.


The issue isn't the group dynamics. The issue is two fold:
1. Forced grouping always
2. When there is no group. (ie. solo time)

With the first issue, your forcing strangers (usually) to join together and work well with one another, even though they may not know each other at all. It can take a group months to get a good flow going and even then conflict between two members can be an issue, especially when they're strangers.

The second is probably the biggest issue. What do you do for solo content? Obviously you can't have 100 quests all involving the same ship and fixing it's systems. If you thought grinding was bad, that would be worse. Plus there would be no exploration. How can you explore if your on a ship that, because more then you will be on it, MUST remain stationary? Think about it, if your an engineer you don't move the ship, so it goes where someone else wants it. But who decides where it goes? NPC captain? Player captain? If player captain, then your in the "I can't control where I want to be" boat, which is death for any game. Imagine if World of Warcraft had every zone blocked off and you couldn't move from one zone to another until you reached a certain level? Or got a certain item? Or did a certain quest? Or once you were inside a zone, you couldn't go anywhere else until you finished it?

Now, I enjoy being part of a crew. I roleplay and even tried RPG-X. It didn't work well for me though. Too much standing around and waiting for others. And that's the end point. If you spend most of your time waiting for someone else to finish what they're doing before you can continue, it's no fun. Especially when you have a world of thousands of people. It reminds me of waiting for a quest spawn monster in WoW. Every time I think I got it, someone grabs him first. So you wait... and wait... and wait....

[Ruthlessgravity]

I was the poop cleaner, now I am the captain!