Starfleet Academy

As promised, this is a long one. With that in mind, I broke it into sections to make it more digestible. I'm skipping the orbital view here because there pretty much isn't one, unless you want me to needlessly post a pic of a bunch of ships docked at ESD. So I'm fast forwarding to the ground stuff.

San Francisco

We all know Starfleet Academy is based in San Francisco. There's this beautiful view of the city from one of the memorial plaques. The one pictured is the one for George and Gracie. You can't see it in the screenshot, but there are animated shuttles coming and going along the Golden Gate Bridge.

"It doesn't look that much different." -- Sulu

Boothby

One of the most striking features of the entire place is this huge tree...

Shouldn't there be a bench, or a chair, or someplace to sit?

Sorry for the pic of Q. I couldn't conceal him as effectively as it would seem.

This is obviously the tree CPT Picard spoke of when he told stories about Boothby. While he is mentioned in one of the plaques, I feel like Boothby deserves more than that. CPT Picard's respect was not something to be taken lightly. The way I see it, we should have a holographic Boothby that we can talk to. He could answer questions about the Academy, some of its history and training, and notable officers he would have known. He could also go into his grounds keeping, talking about how he hated bug killers and such. He could offer directions around the place. The whole thing, of course, would be done in the voice and character of Boothby, grumpy old man, father figure, and nice guy alike. Not a mission, just something cool.

The Buildings

Notice how there are several buildings here. Presumably one of these buildings is Starfleet Medical. It isn't labeled or mentioned, but we have to assume it's in here somewhere. There also isn't any clearly defined entrance or exit. It leads me to wonder if beaming and shuttle travel are the only ways of getting into the place. That would also imply that this is not really a training academy, but a military compound...yeah, I'm not going there.

Take a good look at the above pic. Upon running around a while it becomes clear something is missing. That's right -- turbolifts. ALL the buildings have multiple stories, yet we only have access to the ground floor. It wouldn't be hard to fill the space. We have DOffs of every major specialty. One would assume they were trained here. So why not have labs and areas relating to their specialties?

For example, an Astrometrics Scientist would have an Astrometrics Lab. A Photonic Studies Scientist would have a lab like Data's. A Botanist would have a mini-arboretum. None of this would have to be interactive (though it would be cool if they gave us DOff assignments). It would just add to the cool factor and make this map look like a place of learning.

Another thing worth mentioning -- there are no identifiable dorms! There are so many cadets on the map (more on this later) but nowhere for them to live. While it is conceivable that transporter technology makes planetary travel irrelevant, I don't think it's likely. Joseph Sisko said that when his son went to the academy he expected him to transport every night for dinner and return to the dorm. So it would make sense to have some sort of living quarters here.

I've had this thought that a random mini-mission could revolve around the cadets here. It would require talking and running around, but it would give a bit of character to the place. The only real reward would probably be diplomacy, and maybe a small amount of expertise.

• First, something happens between two or three cadets (think college--it can be anything trivial).
• Your character has to talk to both parties and find out what happened.
• Predictably, one would return to the first cadet and decide what to do about it.
• There should be an option at this point -- involve the dean or not.
• If you report to the dean, that will effectively end the mission. Later (on a different visit) you can check in with the same cadet somewhere else on campus to find out disciplinary action was taken.
• If you don't involve the dean, you have to try to work things out yourself. This would go in the obvious, back and forth way with right and wrong answers. The end result is either you resolve the situation or you don't. Upon visiting the cadet later, you find out if he's still talking to the others involved and whatnot. 

There also needs to be a gym for the security officers to train. This would be a great way to incorporate hand-to-hand and melee combos in game. The current tutorial doesn't really explain them. There needs to be a place to practice. Hell, this could even be used as a place to try out new weapons with a sparring partner. Speaking of the tutorial, it would be nice if we got a class ring costume piece for finishing it.

• A gym could be used for sports-based minigames. For example, simplified versions of fencing, racquetball, and anbo-jyutsu could be used for expertise and EC. Tournaments could be held as a daily PvP-type mission with DIL as a reward.
• It would also be cool to have a storage locker (similar to the one below) inside the gym. The instructor will say, "choose your weapon," and you'll have to go to the locker to get it. Just a little touch, but it would be great.

Storage locker used in the tutorial

Inside the main building, there is a huge corridor. It contains numerous doors and an implied turbolift, but none of it is functional. Cadets just walk up and down the hall and talk near doors and walls. No one goes in or out. Why not put in desks and a guy in front teaching something? Of course, the uniform would indicate (or imply) the type of training being done. It could even be on a loop -- it would just create the illusion of this being an academic institution.

WTF hallway

The hallway ends with a prominent door. I assume it's either a turbolift or the entrance to something that requires a load screen. I can only wonder what it could lead to. I like to think it's the transporter to and from the dorms. Maybe it's the secret entrance to Red Squad's secret underground military headquarters? We may never know. Would be nice if it actually did something.

The NPC Population

It's been mentioned that there are a number of purposeless NPCs on this map. It kinda gives me flashbacks of Defera, actually. The behaviors are identical -- randomly walking to and from nowhere, stopping to scan nothing important and moving on, never stopping to sit down anywhere. Okay, the last one didn't apply to Defera as that planet has NOTHING to sit on in any area.

One would assume these NPCs would at least be doing something class related. But...no. They aren't. They're just a bunch of reskinned Deferi zombies. I'm really not sure what can be done to make them look more like Starfleet Cadets, aside from the aforementioned classroom and specialty area ideas. If we had different buildings for them to wander, I would think their uniforms would mostly match up. For example, the medical school would be populated with mostly medical cadets, but the odd security or engineering guy would pop up from time to time. It makes sense since everyone has to take basic first aid and field medicine courses. Little things like that would really add to the ambiance.

Going to class or walking past the room?

Where are they all coming from?

At least they move with a sense of purpose...

Then there's this:

I'm not sure if it's a practical joke from a college-educated dev, or a really strange coincidence. If you haven't been in college, you'll have LOTS of lines to look forward to. I swear I spend as much time waiting for stuff as I do trying to forget I'm actually in class. It's probably not true, but it certainly seems like it. They're all waiting in line for a guy at the desk that says and does NOTHING. The only other possibility is that the dev behind this monstrosity was a government worker of some kind and hated working with the public. Such a person would constantly have to fight urges to randomly kill people and redecorate the walls with their entrails. I can only imagine. 

We need more of these little personal touches in game.

Starfleet Medical

Ah, Starfleet Medical. The famous, the infamous. Question is, where is it? I've gone over this already, so let's ignore that the game seems to think it doesn't exist.

Fast forward to it actually being there. Inside all the instructors would wear blue. Their lectures (as described previously) would involve anatomic diagrams and medical tricorders. Ideally, there would be a teaching hospital on grounds, but a few rooms with patients inside would suffice. The main goal here is to create something that resembles a medical school.

As far as missions go, we could have a chain. Or, possibly different wards or rooms with readable tags. I can see those rooms with windows that doctors used to us way back when to study psychiatric patients. But, in this case, they would actually be studying the progress of these diseases and how they effect the patient. Okay, sounds B-Horror movie-ish (especially if the zombie Vulcans are involved). I think something like this would be cool. And it would also make mention of diseases in game (and possibly also the people who discovered and/or cured them). Perhaps an accolade could be given for reading all of them, much as there is for the memorial plaques.

• Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome stands out because it was engineered. We could have a mission that involves such mircomanipulation to create a vaccine against an alien virus.
• Speaking of Barclay's Disease -- how about Holo-transference Dementia Syndrome? This one could even be done in the context of Quark's holosuites (DS9 is coming later).
• Bendii Syndrome was known for being uncommon and not well studied. It would be interesting if there were Vulcans making use of the facilities here for their research. The "mission," of course, would mostly be talking to them and possibly handing them instruments and equipment.
• Iversons Disease Was similar to Progeria in that it caused rapid aging and loss of motor skills as it progressed, so some mention or mission of researching it would help tie the game to the real world. It would also demonstrate that, even in the future, sometimes genetic mutations can't be prevented. That humanity is essential to medicine, and to Starfleet as a whole. Well, it was supposed to be. Not going there...
• Irumodic Syndrome, or human senility, is another one worthy of mention. no matter we try, we can't keep our heads forever.
• Given CPT Archer's behavior, one might wonder if he had Multiple Personality Disorder. 
• Nanoprobe Virus simply must be mentioned somewhere. The Borg are an active threat in game and it would make sense.

The list goes on and on. It could also involve drugs like Cordrazine and Tri-ox Compound. I'm pretty sure I've made my point.

On a side note, it would be pretty cool if there was an NPC named Crusher somewhere. Just saying.

Random afterthoughts

Just a place holder...I suspect I'll have a few. Always do.

In Unrelated News

I keep getting this error message when I try to post to the forum.

I'm not entirely sure what it means. The forums have already had their maintenance period (or so they claimed). I have to wonder if they've blacklisted my IP for saying I can do better than PWE. I wouldn't put it beyond them.

I tried again, and was directed to the screen above. Looked to me like they were still undergoing maintenance.

Then finally can this one. I finally got in. That is, I was able to view the forum. So I went to my CP and was given the message above. It would seem the devs are. indeed, aware of the issue. No telling how long it will take them to unfuck it.

Okay, so I got bored and checked the forum server status. It appears to be up but locked out. Weird much, especially since they should be finished with whatever it was they were doing.

So now on Twitter they're saying they're doing another hour of work...and some were saying it was running slow. No word on who, or what the issue is. Just more waiting. Go PWE.

And now they claim to have reopened the forums 15 minutes (give or take) ago, but it isn't true. People are even saying so. No word yet on if they're still looking into it.

Anyway, for the moment I'm unable to post anything to the forums. So no updates for a while. Unless, of course, you come directly here instead.

link link link

Defera

This is just a simplistic look at the planet. I didn't do an orbital view since it seems pretty pointless. There's always A LOT of ships in and out because of the invasion zone. Of course, no one ever goes to the planet Defera. Here's a quick explanation why.

The Cryo Tribble

For starters, we used to craft tribbles. They were like a reward for a new episode. We would get a new food item, and the tribble would eat it and reproduce with the new special tribble. We called it tribble breeding.

One of the Breen episodes has the Snow Tubers as a reward. When fed to a tribble, it reproduced into a Cryo Tribble. Keep in mind this was also back when tribbles actually made a difference in ground combat. There is a buff from using them, but it isn't as significant as fleet and rep gear. I guess it makes sense that the mission-based significance here is played down. It just seems to me that tribble breeding has been largely ignored since LOR was released. But that's another post.

Now on Defera, there is a random single Ferengi.

He introduces himself as Assistant Manager Vux, and he speaks of selling Snow Tubers.

And indeed, he does.

The Landscape

The landscape of Defera can be put to MUCH better use. Below are just the things that came off of the top of my head.

This archway has such a romantic quality to it. I'm thinking it would be fun to have a Shakespearean star crossed love story here. The Deferi have been left largely undeveloped (and there's no sign of them in the wiki), so the door is open for a love story of some sort. I'm not thinking about a double suicide type tragedy, here. I think a love gone wrong deal where both parties lose something would add some mystique to this planet.

This isn't really a cave entrance, but it should be converted into one. I'm thinking along the lines of the ones in the Risa Event Zone. Those caves are fun to explore even though there isn't much to find inside them. If these caves were designed similar to those (with accolades and titles added), it would give us something more to do here.

Naturally, none of the doors open here. There are NO interiors anywhere on Defera (excluding the invasion zone). Much like Vulcan, it should be there but isn't.

This switchback looks like it was taken from the invasion zone, or vice versa. That makes sense, as it's the same planet. The problem is that it doesn't lead to anything. It's the only one on the map, and it looks kinda cool, but it holds no significance.

These are the woods. How many survey/scan plants/look for artifacts missions could potentially be put here? It's so obvious it makes my head hurt. Hell, they could hold an annual Easter Egg Hunt here. The landscape is full of hiding place for all sorts of findable objects.

Wandering, Mindless, Useless NPCs

The single most notable feature of Defera is the sheer number of NPCs that are coming and going both from nowhere. There are always a lot of them, but there and no homes or stores in sight. There is a much larger city within walking distance, but none of them seem to be going there. They're just meandering like zombies. None can be be interacted with and following them leads one either in circles or, literally, nowhere in particular. It only gets exiting when they stop to randomly scan stuff for no apparent reason.

Other thoughts

These small craft look *a lot* like land speeders (*no, I'm not going to put in a link here*). It would be nice to have an animation of a land speeder going somewhere. There are animated shuttles coming and going at Starfleet Academy. I'd like to see something similar here. Even better would be the ability to ride them, whether in a certain path or independently. I realize that would require reworking the map where the path goes. AND the would have to be something important to go to. At present, Defera really isn't a significant map.

Keep in mind this and a similar map are used for the Breen episode missions. It isn't wasted quite as some others are. It simply isn't being used as effectively as it could be.

Risa

Just a little heads up here -- for some reason my UI-based screenshots had a weird blue tint to them. I didn't have time to play with my settings to figure out why, so I just went with it. You'll get the idea. 

That being said, this post is based on the OLD Risa map. You know, the one you have to select now to beam to. I have highlighted the selection, should anyone have no idea what I'm talking about. The other option is for the event zone, which was designed for the Summer Lohlunat Festival. That map was well-utilized, though I could think of a few minor tweaks. I'll be saving that for another post. This is just the actual planet of Risa. When we do the DOff mission of Crew Leave on Risa, this is the map that comes to mind.

Risa from orbit

Welcome to The Pleasure Planet! Well...for a place designed to accommodate so many people, it really does look empty. I mean, wouldn't a crowded tourist destination constantly have ships coming and going? How about some sort of orbital array to keep things running smoothly? I guess not. I'll start there -- why isn't there a communications platform in this system? Perhaps a good starting mission here would be to gather materials from a nearby star cluster (presumably Delta Volanis, or even one of the planet's two moons) and bring them back here. Upon returning the next mission would be to help build an array. From our perspective it would just be various scans and repair-type stuff. The reward would likely be diplomacy and expertise. I wouldn't mind having it a repeatable.

Land and ocean

Interesting unnatural weather patterns.

So let's take a look at the planet. Risa is legendary for its use of seismic stabilizers and the famous artificial weather grid. A flight around the planet shows non-variable weather patterns. No large clouds, no volcanic eruptions, and no sign of planetary disaster.

"Twin moons," As Commander Riker would say.

There are two moons in orbit which are only there to look pretty. As mentioned, they could be used to gather building materials. They could also be used for a survey mission. Maybe something happens to the artificial weather grid and they think it's due to a shift in the orbit of one of the moons. Some technobabble about gravity and magnetic fields can fill in the blanks. Our mission, of course, would be to move the moon back into its normal orbit. Think Final Mission, minus the ionizing radiation). Short, sweet, and potentially awesome.

On to the ground section. This is long, so be warned.

Nice hut, man.

At the beam down point, we're greeted by some Risian Natives and Vacationers. Nearby are Commodity Brokers selling -- what else -- seismic stabilizers and entertainment provisions.

 In particular, we meet Commodity Broker Ariana. She's the one with the entertainment provisions.

Everything looks pretty mundane here, doesn't it?

I think we could make it less mundane and more tourist trap-y. It would be interesting if the commodity broker also sells felicium from the planet Ornara. She is a member of the Orion Syndicate. Her position, while not disclosed right away, is basically a mob boss (same rank as Thadial Bokar). She could also be a high-ranking Ktarian operative, should the dev's decide they don't like Orions. 

She introduces herself as a commodity broker with all the usual repartee. First it's the standard "I have cheap Entertainment Provisions" stuff. Then, upon buying them, she offers other services. She mentions that this is a vacation planet, and there are ways to enhance the vacation experience. There's some conversation and verbiage, and she offers to sell some felicium. It comes with a guarantee that it is the purest Onaran stuff ever, and the device used to use the stuff costs extra. So the exchange is made, and the character is given a consumable item that has several negatives to skills, much like Ketracel White.

Meanwhile, there are Brekkian operatives on the planet. The mission pointer thingy would mark this person on the map. upon talking to him, there is discussion of how Brekkian exploitation was well-documented by CPT Picard, and nothing has been done to prevent it (in the name of the Prime Directive). So, the obvious conversation happens. And gets to where they say they have a man inside the Brekkian government who informed them that some of the felicium they were supposed to receive has been found in the hands of black market traders. Then the mission continues with the player turning in the paraphernalia and naming the dealer. When the operative comes to arrest her, she beams out and escapes. Of course, there's some talk about how they'll find her now that they know who she is and whatnot. The reward would be EC (more than what was spent), diplomacy and expertise. If it was tweaked to make the character work for the operative and actively help him find the dealer, I could see some DIL being thrown in there.

This is just story and cut scenes. It adds some much needed TNG to the game, and some intrigue to Risa. It's a pleasure planet, yes. But it also has a dark side. I also wanted to develop a kidnapping mission, but it wouldn't work well. It would imply torture, rape, and things that probably wouldn't work with the game's current rating. I little reality thrown in there would be nice, though. 

Moving on.

Pool number 1

Pool numbers 2 - 4

I found these pools, almost like lakes. This first thing that came to mind was The Fishing Pond. You remember The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, don't you? Well, I do. It's still one of my favorite games to this day, up there with Link's Awakening. Anyway, what happened was you had to go to the fishing pond and catch fish to get quest-necessary items. One was the Silver Scale, then the Gold Scale. After that there was a heart piece. And the legendary Hyrule Loach.

Good times. Good times.

Anyway, I think fishing is relaxing enough for a vacation planet, and simple enough to work in STO. We would pay a fee to the quest giver (maybe 50 credits or something) to rent the fishing rod and return with our catch. The fishing rod itself can either be kept as a first time freebie, like with the DIL mining mission, or returned to the quest giver. Dev's preference here. We would earn EC based on the size and number of fish, and DIL once a day. Once all the current records are broken, the final reward would be a wall trophy. It would be nice to have a few accolades in there too. Something to the effect of, "Caught a fish weighing 10 lbs," on up to 50 lbs. would work. Titles would go along with some of these, like Novice Fisherman and so forth. The last one (with the trophy) would come with the title of Master Angler. I mentioned the DIL would only happen once. I think that this could be like the explore missions -- we get the DIL reward but can repeat the mission all day (minus the cooldown) for the other rewards. I'm pretty sure that mechanic could be applied here.

So what of all these weird rocks around?

The surface of Risa is literally covered with these odd-looking rock formations. I wondered about them -- were they put there by modern Risians, or ancient ones? Were they functional, as in ritual pieces, or were they memorials? Is there someone buried underneath it, perhaps and ancient Risian warrior? It's entirely possible these stones predate the current technology-driven Risian culture. The mission I have in mind: Investigation. No, no, not the boring scan data samples from your ship, or run around killing enemies and scanning debris fields. This, while it would look similar, would involve an actual study of these rocks.

So the quest giver is a scientist/researcher/something similar. He says there's a lot of ancient artifacts that haven't been recovered that date back to the original civilization of the planet. Most have been buried due to the planet's geological instability. That conversation goes as you would expect, and you're told to start scanning nearby rock formations.

The first scan reveals whether the rock was already here or if it was quarried from elsewhere. Materials and age would be analyzed and recorded.

The next scan would show if the smaller rocks are of the same material as the larger ones. It would also determine if it was present or quarried.

This would go on for a few more scans (5 seems to be the standard number). Upon returning to the quest giver, the player would receive the last part of the mission. That, of course, to find a rock like the ones studied, dig it up, and bring it back. This wouldn't be difficult, as these things are everywhere. See below. 

I would like to say the conclusion would be that these are memorial stones. Planetary catastrophes have destroyed so much of this civilization that it would be a fitting tribute to the modern Risians' ancestors. We also don't really know what they were like, or if they were really as peaceful as the ones we know now. This mission could serve to shed light in Risa's distant past.

Shaka, when the walls fell..

There was a bartender at the top of a cliff. Nice guy.

Yes, there is a random bartender on a cliff. Hard to believe, but he's there. I didn't see a replicator nearby, so I'm really not sure how he keeps his bar stocked.

Anyway, he made a stiff bloodwine, and I raised my glass to him. He didn't have any, as Klingon booze wasn't his thing. No matter -- more for me.

Next door there's an empty bar, presumably devoid of all forms of alcohol. The mission that comes to mind here is similar to the Culinary chain we have for our DOffs, only direct. We would talk to the bartender  and he would say he needs ingredients. Lucky for us, they just happen to be spread all around the map.

There's a whole forest of unidentified plants and things that could be harvested or purified in some way. If we gather enough of these, we get a free drink, like a Risian Mai-Tai.

The main ingredients would be the most common. These are found in abundance virtually everywhere on land.

These flowers aren't ass common as the ones above. I'm thinking the list would call for fewer of these than the others.

 And the end would be to return to the bartender and receive expertise. This would be a great accolade -- something  along the lines of Botanical Bartender, with or without a title to go along with it.

Have you been to the most spectacular mok'bara studio in the galaxy?

That thing is way up there.

It is situated on top of a gigantic cliff face. It isn't visible from a distance unless you know where to look.

Hope no one is afraid of heights.

There is a long rope bridge leading to the cliff. No word on who put it there, or why. 

At the end of the bridge, There's a Trill Vacationer. She isn't interactive, much to the surprise of no one. BUT if she was, she would say she was joined a few years ago and her symbiont has lived 5 lifetimes. In that time she has learned a number of martial arts, to include Mok'bara. After a brief conversation, she decides to show you a few movements and do some practice.

This is the mak'bara studio that lies just behind her.

Land view

Ocean view

This wouldn't be a big mission -- all it would do is trigger a cut scene. Since we all already have the mak'bara emote, it wouldn't be purposeful to use it as a reward. I'm thinking just a small of expertise would suffice for this one. This is more about immersion than story or relevance. Actually, a good number of my ideas here are, aren't they? Well, I think you can see what I'm getting at here.

So, to close (I know, finally, right?)...

Just some misc images I didn't want to waste.

Contemplating my place in the universe

Chilling by the beach

This could have been a cave, like the other map. Maybe with something cool inside.

Another huge cliff

That trail looks a lot like the one on Vulcan, doesn't it?

Random afterthoughts

With all these cliffs around, it would be great if we could do some rock climbing. We've seen the real thing and the holographic versions in Trek. Such a minigame would work well here.