Will there be First Officers?

[TarrikDane]

I was just curious how First Officers will be handled, if at all. They are a pretty big part of each Trek series. Will they have a separate bridge officer slot, or do we just role-play one by promoting a bridge officer to a higher rank than the rest?

[osena]

I was just curious how First Officers will be handled, if at all. They are a pretty big part of each Trek series. Will they have a separate bridge officer slot, or do we just role-play one by promoting a bridge officer to a higher rank than the rest?

maby your highist ranking bridge crew officer is your frist officer cos you get your frist one pretty early in the game so yea

[Peregrine_Falcon]

Hello and welcome to the Star Trek Online forums!

If you'd like information about STO, you might find this thread very interesting:

Everything we know about STO (http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=14535)

Also, you might want to go here http://www.startrekonline.com/ and sign up for beta testing.

[Varrangian]

We have not had anything definitive on this. Personally I think it is vital that the develop the "first officer" position as a function of the game. I don't want it to be a situation where first officer has to be RP'ed.

Given that they seem to be stealing my ideas for STO telepathically ;) though I'm not too worried about this.

[Banar]

I was just curious how First Officers will be handled, if at all. They are a pretty big part of each Trek series. Will they have a separate bridge officer slot, or do we just role-play one by promoting a bridge officer to a higher rank than the rest?

Hello and Welcome :)

I've been concerned about the same thing to be honest, as the First Officer has always been one of my favorite characters across the board. I'm really hoping that Cryptic will have some way to show this unique aspect of Star Trek, beyond just being able to put it in their bio or something. Maybe you can assign a first officer and that would open a second parallel skill tree for the to access, or something similar. But as of yet, there has been no official word on this that I'm aware of.

[Osias]

There will probably be a first officer like role which you can assign to one of your bridge crew depending on which you favor, it would not make sense to make a Star trek game and miss out the iconic "Number One"

[TarrikDane]

Thanks for the welcomes all. Ive been lurking for a while, and hadnt really seen first officers come up in any official capacity so I thought I'd ask. Looking forward to the game.

[Swordopolis]

Make your highest-ranked bridge officer the "First Officer" (if there are multiple with the same rank, manually select).

The selected officer either gets a slight boost to all skills/attributes, or gains a certain skill which is solely for first officers.

But in exchange, there should be some sort of minor drawback; can't think of a good one at the moment.

[ETSstarfleetromulan]

I think there is so yes. They explained that it was the first officer that brings your ship to red alert so you don't have to manually confirm the order.

[skrasis]

I haven't heard anything quite yet on First Officers or XO's.

They should do something with the bridge officers have the ability to select all of your bridge officers and one as the XO have better buffs in space or something but perhaps can't go down on away missions with you perhaps. Or you can send your First officer down with BOs as a boarding party perhaps in later update for the game when we eventually get boarding parties.

[Drexxus3d]

From an immersion/RP standpoint, I can see how having a first officer would be important but I don't really see much point in having one in STO.

They mentioned tactical, science, and engineering stations on ships, they haven't said anything about a "first officer" station, what purpose would it serve anyway? First officers in the startrek universe basically do things that do not apply in STO like handling crew rotations/assignments, taking command when the captain isn't present, and leading away teams.

Since we aren't gonna be managing our crew, and we are the captain so we'll always be in command of our ships and never need anyone else to command it ever, and since we lead the away teams ourselves, the role of the first officer seems kind of vestigial.

Although I can see how your highest ranking bridge officer could be considered your first officer but I really don't see what benefit there would be to having one.

Like in ENT and TOS, the first officer just manned a science station and was just typical bridge crew. I believe sto will be more along that line. In voyager and TNG they had a specific "first officer" chair where they just sit and help command. The first scenario is how it'll be in STO I believe, the second scenario would be pointless in STO.

[Sunborn]

Make your highest-ranked bridge officer the "First Officer" (if there are multiple with the same rank, manually select).

The selected officer either gets a slight boost to all skills/attributes, or gains a certain skill which is solely for first officers.

But in exchange, there should be some sort of minor drawback; can't think of a good one at the moment.

I like most of your idea. But why should there be a drawback? Why do we always have to assume we need a draw back for gaining a perk? If I had a first officer and that first officer gave me a noticeable problem, I would fire him.

Expanding on your idea, I think an extra skill, and maybe a boost to allies when on a ground mission would be great. The boost could be for those allies with in so many feet.

[Musterion]

The selected officer either gets a slight boost to all skills/attributes, or gains a certain skill which is solely for first officers."Call the Captain by their first name without risking a court-marshall"

[BaakCha]

But in exchange, there should be some sort of minor drawback; can't think of a good one at the moment.

Have him/her become a heavy drinker, stemming from the years of being the XO on a ship and never having the opportunity to captain his/her own vessel because the fanbase would never allow it.

[Kaybok]

Until we get ship interiors and you can see all your bridge officers at their stations it's not going to matter much. All of your bridge officers pop up in a window with a head shot animation of them looking around (unless you are on away mission). Having one of them labeled as "First Officer" is ok but I really want to see them sitting in the first officer's chair next to my avatar in the captain's chair.

Then after that we need exploding consoles during an attack and medical officers rushing in to treat the wounded! :D Oh and camera shakes with the crew getting thrown all over the bridge! (Seatbelt technology was banned in the federation charter, section 17 paragraph 12.)

[fractaleye]

Until we get ship interiors and you can see all your bridge officers at their stations it's not going to matter much. All of your bridge officers pop up in a window with a head shot animation of them looking around (unless you are on away mission). Having one of them labeled as "First Officer" is ok but I really want to see them sitting in the first officer's chair next to my avatar in the captain's chair.

Then after that we need exploding consoles during an attack and medical officers rushing in to treat the wounded! :D Oh and camera shakes with the crew getting thrown all over the bridge! (Seatbelt technology was banned in the federation charter, section 17 paragraph 12.)

I'd like to have a First Officer, but like others have said I think it would be more of just a title/RP thing really. If/when we get ship interiors and such, I guess give it some perks or whatever.

And agreed on the camera shakes :) I immediately thought of a Voyager episode that had the worst example of that (yeah, it's my favorite series, but even it has /facepalm moments), along with this blooper clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X024nhJ40mM (mainly around 0:55 hehe).

"Man, I ain't going in there!"

[TarrikDane]

I'd like a first office from a purely star trek experience perspective, but, its not hard to come up with some good buffs a first officer could give to the ship to give them an in-game purpose.

[warbot7777]

It would be sweet to see more about the development of the first officer, my hopes are that they are special compared to the other bridge officers.

[Durkin]

I think there should be a first officer, and I think all of his/her attributes should be half-way between the captains and the rest of he bridge crew. Also perhaps they could do something where if you die, you take over as your first officer. Or while you are on an away mission, it could split screen (as it often does) and your first officer and remaining bridge crew (or their replacements) would take over in a space battle. I know Cryptic already has ideas for all of that, but a suggestion won't hurt anyone.

[des010]

Why does it matter to u people u act like the first officer is going to be your business partner giving u valuable advise and doing alot of the chores.. Its a computer game yes there probably is going to be some computer generated first officers but he is probably going to be as smart as a bag of hammers So again i as Who Cares

[thawn4444]

I plan on using my number 1 as a meatshield on away missions!

After all If I die who will captian the ship? the first officer? Over His dead body!

[Durkin]

Why does it matter to u people u act like the first officer is going to be your business partner giving u valuable advise and doing alot of the chores.. Its a computer game yes there probably is going to be some computer generated first officers but he is probably going to be as smart as a bag of hammers So again i as Who Cares

Its for RP purposes, I would feel more comfortable with a First Officer, more at home anyway. Its how it was in the shows/movies, if you don't want it like it was then, then why play this game instead of some other MMO?

[TarrikDane]

Why does it matter to u people u act like the first officer is going to be your business partner giving u valuable advise and doing alot of the chores.. Its a computer game yes there probably is going to be some computer generated first officers but he is probably going to be as smart as a bag of hammers So again i as Who Cares

Did you read the thread? Everyone who posted in here is either "I'd dig a first officer" or "Here's some cool ways to implement one" No one was throwing down the gauntlet and saying First Officer or no dice. Go pick another thread to try and stir the pot in. Its people like you who are the reason why myself, and probably many others choose to lurk rather than participate in conversations on these boards.

[Durkin]

Did you read the thread? Everyone who posted in here is either "I'd dig a first officer" or "Here's some cool ways to implement one" No one was throwing down the gauntlet and saying First Officer or no dice. Go pick another thread to try and stir the pot in. Its people like you who are the reason why myself, and probably many others choose to lurk rather than participate in conversations on these boards.

Really its people like that you are best to ignore, shouting back will only lead to an argument, be the bigger person...he plays ball in the park after school, get him there...ha

[xlcr]

Why does it matter to u people u act like the first officer is going to be your business partner giving u valuable advise and doing alot of the chores.. Its a computer game yes there probably is going to be some computer generated first officers but he is probably going to be as smart as a bag of hammers So again i as Who Cares

I hope I'm not feeding a troll by responding to this, but I don't quite grasp this argument. It's about immersion, not just RP. The same logic you use here could be used to say, "I don't understand why our characters have uniforms. The uniforms don't serve a purpose anyway. They all should just have solid gray bodies. As a matter of fact, why should they have customizable faces? All faces should be expressionless and gray. I mean, it doesn't serve a purpose in game to have them have an appearance... their names are right over their heads."

If you're going to make a game based on an IP, the game should have touches and atmosphere that match the IP it's representing. First officers are as much a part of star trek as phasers, ships, and goofy aliens. It's not just RPers that want them. It's people that are playing the game because it's Star Trek.