Telepathy in STO

[scholarman]

One of the sticklish points in Star Trek Online is telepathy. Telepathy has been a major part of Star Trek going back to the original series, but it's at best difficult and at worst impossible to model in a game like this. The question therefore has to become what, if any, gameplay impact telepathy will have on the game.

Vulcans, naturally, have the power of Mind Meld. Sometimes Spock also did the whole 'telepathic suggestion' thing, but it was relatively rare so I don't know if that would be an issue. I would think that if interrogation were something we had to do in a scene, a Vulcan might have a bonus to interrogate defined as 'mind-meld.'

Betazoids aren't scheduled to be playable at launch, though honestly building a Betazoid in the alien creator is trivial (start with a human. Give him or her an elaborate haircut. Make his irises black and take out the pupils. Congratulations, you have a Betazoid.) Obviously, full telepathic communication isn't likely, but would an empathy like Counselor Troi's half-betazoid version be completely out of the question?

For my Betazoid captain, I'm planning on maxing out whatever 'diplomatic' skill package or kit we get and calling it empathy/telepathy, for the record.

Is there any other way telepathy can be modeled, or is it simply not workable in a game like this?

(As a side note, is 'Ship's Counselor' a potential bridge officer position in the game? To give bonuses on diplomatic missions?)

[Lt-Baba_Booey]

After thinking about this for a bit, i dont think this skill could have very much impact on other players....BUUUUT it could be useful for NPC interaction during episodes, you know the whole hes lying , or i sence a presence on this planet, things of that nature.

As you said it would be pretty difficult to toss into the game but i dont think it would be entirely impossible. As far as having your own toon being a telepath, thats a different basket of eggs all together. I could see different options when interacting with quest NPCs, I.E when trying to secure that shipment of 'Commodity A' it could be possible to choose the get it cheaper or to get more out of the shipment by eploiting a weakness sensed by the empathic player.

I dont know really, just my 2 cents

[Exaar]

Being unsure how exactly interaction with NPCs is going to work, I could see Telepathy as two possible things:

If you have a Betazoid bridge officer, it might give you a bonus to diplomatic stats.

If you yourself are a Betazoid (or some telepathic race) it might unlock other dialogue options, if we are to have such things. Like your answer choices would normally be A) I agree or B) No way! but if you had the Telepathy skill you'd also see C) I believe you are not being truthful, sir!

[Psaldorn]

Short range detection of enemies in ground combat (appear as outlines as in L4D)

Perhaps they could forewarn you if you're walking into a trap (requires branching based on crew missions though, and shortens them significantly, Distress call -> Telepath warning -> Destroy ship/beam off faking captain)

I'd like to see enrichments such as this though.

[Azurian]

Cryptic did say that Telepathy would be in STO, and certain races can have it. With Vulcans, you get to choose having it or not. (You select racial traits that character is to have.)

How it would be implemented in STO? Most likely it would be a passive ability that is triggered during instances.

[shadowsafer]

I want my captain to be a female vulcan/betazoid halfling, planning to become a medic and I want to focus the telepathic skills on improving the healing proces both physically and mentally.

If this will be possible I have no idea, but I sure hope to be able to do so. :)

[andrewprofit]

Yes these types of bo skills will be in game from what I understand. They will give your team extra abilities. In this case for a betazoid they might have more dilog options or better guidance about whic dilog option to take.

[billybob442]

Cryptic did say that Telepathy would be in STO, and certain races can have it. With Vulcans, you get to choose having it or not. (You select racial traits that character is to have.)

How it would be implemented in STO? Most likely it would be a passive ability that is triggered during instances.

I remember someone - one of the devs I think - saying that telepathy was mainly used in the various series as a way to make it easy to reveal certain plot points. So most likely that's how it will be handled. If someone in your team has it, it will trigger at certain points revealing information you wouldn't get otherwise or making it easier than getting that same info the old fashioned way.

That said, I still think it should have some other affect .. diplomacy bonus, extend the range you detect enemies (there are klingons in that building), make you more resistant to mind affecting attacks, let you pull other officers out of alien psionic influence (i.e dispel or heal 'over time' psionic affects) things along those lines.

If you throw in the above mentioned game affects a telepathy skill tree may be in order, unlocking the above abilities as you level up with really high levels unlocking the aforementioned suggestion ability or something like it.

[DarkOrion69]

The most likely implementation I can see for Telepathy would be when a telepathic bridge officer is giving you a situation update during a mission. Think of it as 'extra dialog options' if you will or maybe even unique missions that you get if you have a telepathic bridge officer currently active.

Suddenly I have an incredible idea...an all telepathic crew. Additionally, just try to cloak and sneak up on an all telepathic crew :) Orders would be instantaneous and spying on that ship would be difficult if you had no Telepaths in your crew.

[codeminer]

Anyone ever played Star Flight 2?

That game was ahead of its time, and here we are ahead in time 20 years later and still I've not seen anything to match its depth of play and exploration. :(

Hopefully, STO could change that.

Anyways, my point being, in Star Flight 2, IIRC, you find this device and it changes color depending on the emotions of the race you are talking to. Your dialogue responses ranged from obsequious to aggressive, and these could anger or appease them. Helped a lot when bartering with a traders too :)

I agree with most of these posts, that instead of color changes, you're telepath, or half telepath, could alert you to at least the mood of the NPC's you are talking with. If Cryptic does add that, it would be extremely useful, and an added depth to gameplay.

[Mozcol]

I agree with most of these posts, that instead of color changes, you're telepath, or half telepath, could alert you to at least the mood of the NPC's you are talking with. If Cryptic does add that, it would be extremely useful, and an added depth to gameplay.

^^^This....

I like the idea of having another facet to gameplay that not just enhances the RP perspective but from a non-Rp standpoint as well. It could be very useful but would have to be done in such a way where the telepath doesn't make things "easier" on gameplay. It would have to be made so not having a telepath doesn't hinder players who don't have them.

[Azurian]

Anyone ever played Star Flight 2?

That game was ahead of its time, and here we are ahead in time 20 years later and still I've not seen anything to match its depth of play and exploration. :(

Hopefully, STO could change that.

Anyways, my point being, in Star Flight 2, IIRC, you find this device and it changes color depending on the emotions of the race you are talking to. Your dialogue responses ranged from obsequious to aggressive, and these could anger or appease them. Helped a lot when bartering with a traders too :)

I agree with most of these posts, that instead of color changes, you're telepath, or half telepath, could alert you to at least the mood of the NPC's you are talking with. If Cryptic does add that, it would be extremely useful, and an added depth to gameplay.

OH I LOVED THAT GAME! Too bad it's too simplistic for gamers nowdays. :(

You are refering to the Psychic Probe. Which color indicates the mood. Green for Friendly, Yellow is for Cautious, and Red is Hostile. Which virtually was like Troy in advising Picard during encounters.

And I hope that we can change our standing like in STO as well. After all, Klingons respond better if you talk tough.

[shadowsafer]

OH I LOVED THAT GAME! Too bad it's too simplistic for gamers nowdays. :(

You are refering to the Psychic Probe. Which color indicates the mood. Green for Friendly, Yellow is for Cautious, and Red is Hostile. Which virtually was like Troy in advising Picard during encounters.

And I hope that we can change our standing like in STO as well. After all, Klingons respond better if you talk tough.

The original Fallout game also had an Empathy perk that did the same thing. Coloured the text for the different reactions to an option. Green for positive, yellow neutral and red negative.

[DarianDrakon]

I remember someone - one of the devs I think - saying that telepathy was mainly used in the various series as a way to make it easy to reveal certain plot points. So most likely that's how it will be handled. If someone in your team has it, it will trigger at certain points revealing information you wouldn't get otherwise or making it easier than getting that same info the old fashioned way.

That said, I still think it should have some other affect .. diplomacy bonus, extend the range you detect enemies (there are klingons in that building), make you more resistant to mind affecting attacks, let you pull other officers out of alien psionic influence (i.e dispel or heal 'over time' psionic affects) things along those lines.

If you throw in the above mentioned game affects a telepathy skill tree may be in order, unlocking the above abilities as you level up with really high levels unlocking the aforementioned suggestion ability or something like it.

I love this whole concept. I just hope that if they do it with the text being a different color that there will be color options for us 15 million american men who are colorblind. :p LOL.

[Colm]

Make his irises black and take out the pupils. Congratulations, you have a Betazoid.

I always thought they just had huge dilated pupils from tripping on telepathic waves all the time. :rolleyes: