How Much Choice and Freedom will we have ingame?

[rollerball]

Personally I like the idea of being a captain and making the decisions with my crew behind me. However, it would make it more interesting if you had to prove yourself first. One of the things that makes a good captain is his or her ability to the groundwork the security or medical problems the tactical or the engineering experience prior to becoming a ship captain.

It would be niceto be able to specialise in a speific department like medical or engineering if you so desire and do specific missions related to those areas. If you can take your ship out and gain experience then thats fine too. I also have to query that if your crew is to be NPC then how and when do you begin to interact with other online players?

[Loekii]

Well they have said there are current 3 Career focuses:

Tactical
Science
Engineering


They have not really given any details about each.

As far as 'proving' ourselves, the game seems to start at a point that we have already proven ourselves enough to warrent a small Command commission --- IE command of a Nebula class ship. We will 'rank up' as we prove ourselves by playing the missions and advancing in our related fields. Our crew is along for the ride. Basically, we are 'Green Officers', but we are still the ranking officer on the ship.

I would like to see some 'negative' reactions from the crew for making large mistakes -- it would give a little more atmosphere to the game. I want to hear my 'crew' comments, dialogue, and impute, just like in the Series -- rather than bascially being a solitary 'fighter pilot'.

As far as interacting with other players, it will be more like how captains interact with other captains --- via communications and coordinated ship efforts. Additionally, there will be 'away team' missions where you may join other captains (like other MMOs).

[Tamgros]

if your crew is to be NPC then how and when do you begin to interact with other online players?

All the episodic content (and probably exploration) can be done with other 4 other players. More end game content and PvP will allow for even more players. You will actually have the ability to play with/against a more diverse group of people this way (than if you were stuck on one player crew ship).

The player crew ship doesn't give the feel for a MASSIVELY multiplayer online game the way that having your own ship and grouping with other ships does. This is due to the limited interraction.

There has been talk of each captain having a subclass to go along with the tactical, engineering, or science main class. It sounds like every player will being doing missions that have parts rely on mostly engineering skills, or mostly medical skills, etc. This way we actually have more freedom and more experiences in game. :D