Starfleet Headquarters

[H8Hydrant]

I was thinking that If you eventually make uber haxorz level 99999, or rather, wherever the top is, being Fleet Admiral- if we could get a job back at Headquarters in San Francisco? What does everyone else think? If you could get that post, would you? What do you imagine could be fun there?

[Volomon]

Your going to have to explain why it would be so much more fun to sit on a planet than commanding a starship.

[thefrayl]

If this was an available option, it would have to be the most in depth game ever created. I personally would be bored out of my mind sitting at my desk playing a game, in which I sit at a desk and sign papers, read reports and have meetings.

[H8Hydrant]

That's why I posted this thread, to see if anyone had any ideas. As for "more fun", its all relative. Everyone has their own tastes. Fun in this sense could mean commanding fleets of starships, instead of just one. Maybe being at Headquarters, you could meet with people from different civilizations, decide to make peace treaties, trade agreements and such. One obvious benefit I can think of would be that you'd be privy to top-secret Starfleet information, which that alone could spawn a whole series of secret quests, in which you might get to take a ship of your choice to complete a mission. The possibilities are endless, but I'm thinking it would be somewhat similar to a politician. You'd be making the BIG policy decisions.

[Varrangian]

Admiral's Log

Stardate 10101.0

I have six thousand pages of reports to read through today, I also have to give a speech for some whinny sniveling cadets at the academy. Half of which I will order to the neutral zone and hope get killed by the Klingons. I hate shore duty.

[H8Hydrant]

LOL. Yes! Rank has its privileges.

[Trekkie]

I also think that the ability to work at Starfleet Headquarters seems interesting in theory, but if it was actually implemented in the game I doubt it would be too much fun.

[ParkerHayden]

Admiral's Log

Stardate 10101.0

I have six thousand pages of reports to read through today, I also have to give a speech for some whinny sniveling cadets at the academy. Half of which I will order to the neutral zone and hope get killed by the Klingons. I hate shore duty.

Win.......

[Signalsgt]

I also think that the ability to work at Starfleet Headquarters seems interesting in theory, but if it was actually implemented in the game I doubt it would be too much fun.

Your right, but if any "unique" position is created there will be a line to get it. It may serve no purpose, have no impact but someone in-game will want the title just to be able to set themselves apart.

If there's one thing I've learned about online communities, all you have to do is create an icon and people will do anything and everything to try and get it.

It could be the Starfleet Academy Golden Broom for best Janitor and there will be a rush to earn it.

[capgjt585]

No, I actually think this is a good idea. Why? Because you get to play more on the diplomatic chessboard (sending out task forces, contact with spies and diplomats). That will suit some people more than just exploration missions or having to "shoot it up" with another vessel.

True, most of the time you'd have to do "paperwork", but Cryptic could make it interesting enough by using it to roll out the brand new stuff they have coming down the pipeline. Cryptic's development team could honor certain players by giving them Headquarters "desk jobs" and farming out tasks to them.

Example: Cryptic has implemented a new star system in the game and now wants it discovered. Instead of having automated Admirals giving ships orders, Cryptic could make certain players do that for them. They get a task list of what orders to give out sent to them when they log in (eg. on a list of things, one item is order a ship to go map X sector to trigger discovery of a new star system), and they give orders to a captain of their choosing. If these Admirals are logging in often enough to prevent a backlog of orders piling up, this system reduces server traffic by eliminating automated Admirals in the program itself and allowing the Cryptic developers to concentrate more on improvements than in bug fixing and tweaking something that has to work for the game to work.

The number of Admirals required would be a fair contingent, but not a humongous number. And it would reduce server load on Cryptic's end plus open new possibilities for "high-end" missions inaccessible to the normal game player. That Is a good thing for everyone, I think. :)

[Signalsgt]

No, I actually think this is a good idea. Why? Because you get to play more on the diplomatic chessboard (sending out task forces, contact with spies and diplomats). That will suit some people more than just exploration missions or having to "shoot it up" with another vessel.

True, most of the time you'd have to do "paperwork", but Cryptic could make it interesting enough by using it to roll out the brand new stuff they have coming down the pipeline. Cryptic's development team could honor certain players by giving them Headquarters "desk jobs" and farming out tasks to them.

Example: Cryptic has implemented a new star system in the game and now wants it discovered. Instead of having automated Admirals giving ships orders, Cryptic could make certain players do that for them. They get a task list of what orders to give out sent to them when they log in (eg. on a list of things, one item is order a ship to go map X sector to trigger discovery of a new star system), and they give orders to a captain of their choosing. If these Admirals are logging in often enough to prevent a backlog of orders piling up, this system reduces server traffic by eliminating automated Admirals in the program itself and allowing the Cryptic developers to concentrate more on improvements than in bug fixing and tweaking something that has to work for the game to work.

The number of Admirals required would be a fair contingent, but not a humongous number. And it would reduce server load on Cryptic's end plus open new possibilities for "high-end" missions inaccessible to the normal game player. That Is a good thing for everyone, I think. :)


I can think of about 20 abuses right off the top of my head. Sadly this would never work.

[H8Hydrant]

I can think of about 20 abuses right off the top of my head. Sadly this would never work.

Maybe, maybe not. Regardless of how it could hypothetically be abused, I think it would be interesting having players run the game, making it very unique in that its not completely AI dictated like any other game you could hose away money on.

Granted, there is a LOT of possibility for error, as with any other idea. The last thing anyone wants is Admiral pwnZor running around screwing things up at headquarters, the only reason he got there is because hes 10 and plays 18 hours a day. Done the right way though, it's something that could be a very unique and fun element of gameplay. I won't hold my breath for it to actually happen though, lol.

[noblee]

Sounds like the game under Perpetual where they actually talked about people running stations. Finally, they went bankrupt and people came to their senses and gave up on that.

Look, the game is about the bridge crew and away teams. Not being judge advocates, not being scientists looking through microscopes, and not looking through reports at Star Fleet HQ. Imagine how long it would take to develop all those stations and to try to make them fun. It is not going to happen. Let the devs work on the things that are fun and polish those to perfection.

[H8Hydrant]

Sounds like the game under Perpetual where they actually talked about people running stations. Finally, they went bankrupt and people came to their senses and gave up on that.

Look, the game is about the bridge crew and away teams. Not being judge advocates, not being scientists looking through microscopes, and not looking through reports at Star Fleet HQ. Imagine how long it would take to develop all those stations and to try to make them fun. It is not going to happen. Let the devs work on the things that are fun and polish those to perfection.

I'm not disputing that not everyone wants something as different and detailed as that. There are, however, people who want a giant level of depth with this game, such as myself. I do understand the point of limits though and wouldn't expect anything ridiculous. "Let the devs work on the things that are fun and polish those to perfection" - Agreed, but fun is different things to different people. You may want to quest all the time, I may want to craft. You may like PvP, I may not care for it. My only point is that I don't think anyone can stand this game being polished all the way into a WoW clone.

[capgjt585]

I can think of about 20 abuses right off the top of my head. Sadly this would never work.

Granted, there is a LOT of possibility for error, as with any other idea. The last thing anyone wants is Admiral pwnZor running around screwing things up at headquarters, the only reason he got there is because hes 10 and plays 18 hours a day. Done the right way though, it's something that could be a very unique and fun element of gameplay.

The easiest way to prevent abuse like that would be to make having that kind of access "invitation-only", meaning that if a player both has a certain amount of gameplay experience AND meets certain guidelines (eg. player must not be below a certain age, no serious rule breaches, shows a consistent record of game time per day), the Cryptic staff would send their account a message inviting them to become an Admiral and be able to do the stuff I mentioned before. Having strict guidelines as to who has this kind of power over gameplay minimizes the chance of abuse.

[Signalsgt]

The easiest way to prevent abuse like that would be to make having that kind of access "invitation-only", meaning that if a player both has a certain amount of gameplay experience AND meets certain guidelines (eg. player must not be below a certain age, no serious rule breaches, shows a consistent record of game time per day), the Cryptic staff would send their account a message inviting them to become an Admiral and be able to do the stuff I mentioned before. Having strict guidelines as to who has this kind of power over gameplay minimizes the chance of abuse.

I understand where your coming from but the minute you do that then the cry goes out "I pay the same as THEY do..why isn't it ME...ME....ME!!!"

That is followed by "Screw him...I don't have to do what he says!!" by the player base.

Lets say that a person is promoted to Star Fleet command and now has the ability to assign PvE missions. He runs down the ones that will give the best/most whatever to his friends everyone else gets the left overs.

As much as I'd LIKE to see this happen and would love to take part in it, from a customer service standpoint I can't see Cryptic willing to take on the headache.

[Varrangian]

Rule number 1 of making a good MMO. Never, ever give players involuntary power over other players and even in the case of voluntary it should be extremely limited.

[H8Hydrant]

Rule number 1 of making a good MMO. Never, ever give players involuntary power over other players and even in the case of voluntary it should be extremely limited.

Which brings us to the main issue, it seems.


Who should the "Admiral" be?

[Signalsgt]

Which brings us to the main issue, it seems.


Who should the "Admiral" be?

A Cryptic employee.

[Varrangian]

Which brings us to the main issue, it seems.


Who should the "Admiral" be?

An NPC, I will never take orders from anyone else. Fleets can have Admirals if they want, but it should be a token rank and not have any true impact on game play. This is an MMO and while some people might want to take orders from others the vast majority of us do not. Those that want to take orders from others can Role play it.

[H8Hydrant]

I just thought of a possible alternative.

"Guild Admirals"

The same in every sense mentioned here, except not at Starfleet Headquarters, but managing Fleet, AKA "Guild" activities. Guilds have a hierarchy anyways, most of the time. This could be a natural extension. These guild Admirals could even sit at their guild starbases. Bullseye or no?

[Signalsgt]

I just thought of a possible alternative.

"Guild Admirals"

The same in every sense mentioned here, except not at Starfleet Headquarters, but managing Fleet, AKA "Guild" activities. Guilds have a hierarchy anyways, most of the time. This could be a natural extension. These guild Admirals could even sit at their guild starbases. Bullseye or no?

I believe it was mentioned that Fleets/Guilds could build their own Starbases. If that's the case it'll be up to the Fleets to work together.

[H8Hydrant]

I believe it was mentioned that Fleets/Guilds could build their own Starbases. If that's the case it'll be up to the Fleets to work together.

Exactly my thoughts. It would work because its a natural extension of gameplay. At best, it would bring guilds even closer together, give something to aspire to, and provide a even deeper level of play to where people really work together, the point of an MMO. At worst and you get someone who's an idiot up in that spot, which definitely shouldn't happen, but if it does, he\she cant possibly screw that much up considering the sphere of influence is more limited than all of Starfleet. That was my thought anyways,

[Signalsgt]

Exactly my thoughts. It would work because its a natural extension of gameplay. At best, it would bring guilds even closer together, give something to aspire to, and provide a even deeper level of play to where people really work together, the point of an MMO. At worst and you get someone who's an idiot up in that spot, which definitely shouldn't happen, but if it does, he\she cant possibly screw that much up considering the sphere of influence is more limited than all of Starfleet. That was my thought anyways,

That is entirely possible for a subset of the player base to work with, it won't be a Cryptic sanctioned part of the game.