The ST:O Era

[Random Redshirt]

I ran a poll like this before, and wanted to run it again before a new audence as well as those who sounded off in the past.

Esentially, if you had control of the development of ST:O, what era would you set the game in, and why?

I chose the Lost Era which takes place after the launch of the Enterprise B up to just before the launch of the Enterprise D.

My reasons for this were pretty simple. First of all, by utilizing an already established timeframe within Trek history, the creative work has been done for you. You have no need to spend time trying to conjure up the "next look" for Trek meaning new uniforms, new ships, new races, new technology, etc like what PE was going through. Instead that dev time can be focused on generating the best game possible, with unique gameplay concepts and awesome missions.

Secondly, this era has something for just about all Trek fans. The uniform style is a popular one. (Maroon Jacket, Black Pants first seen in TWOK) The ships of this era have great popularity as well. You would have Constitution Class Refits, Excelsior Class, Excelsior Class Refits, Miranda Class, Soyuz Class, Oberth Class, Ambassador Class and others. The technology is starting it's transistion from the old style technology in the movies to the newer style seen in TNG and beyond. You have Klingons who are semi-allies but still a bit contemptous of the Federation, the Romulans are still the fierce enemies we all known them for, the Ferengi are just hitting their stride, all in all it's a fun era to be a part of.

Third, this era has not seen much storyline, so there is no need to worry about many canon events, because other than the Enterprise C and the Stargazer, not much is known about the events of this era. Also, you don't have the problem that PE could have ran into where they create a future Trek, but then later on a new series comes out that is post Nemesis and looks nothing like what PE developed, which would sour fan's opinions of the game.

Fourth, by starting in an established period, you give yourself a good opportunity to come abck later and create an expansion pack that would advance the era, and give players a virtually new game set in some of the other popular Trek eras such as the TNG and VOY era.

All in all, I believe that the Lost Era would be a dang good place to start the ST:O trek through the stars!

[Starbear]

You know my favorite class of Ship is the Miranda-class, so I'm going to go with the Golden Era. Also its a time of a ton of political and social changes, the Klingons are enemies but slowly become friends. Also I think there is a TON of room to explore what other stuff was going on in the galaxy during that period because we only get a glimps of it through the movies. Its kinda like in Star Wars, we know about the clone wars but not enough to make it a major aspect of the universe.

Though the same could be said with the era that follows the Golden Era.

[Zach]

I voted for the future era, for two simple reasons:

1 ) It lets the writers for STO be completly free to write their own canon and take the story to bold new levels.

2 ) There is nothing stopping you from visiting all of the previous eras in the holodeck  nk2

[Random Redshirt]

Yeah, but if the only way you could visit the good eras in Trek was through the Holodeck, wouldn't you simply be breeding a whole new crop of Barclay Holo-addicts?

LOL  nk4

Heck, I'd be one of them. Really, the future beyond Nemesis doesn't hold my interest like the other eras, maybe because I'm a bit old fashioned, or maybe because I didn't like the action figure spandex uniforms that PE had put forward...

[Starbear]

Well to answer your shoutbox stuff, since you've logged out. I hope that no matter what Era they go for they have a progression of time. If you note the Golden Era is only a decade or so, and then it ends I would hope that the story progresses as the game ages and thus you'd eventualy reach the bold frontier of the Lost Era and have all the material of the players experiences in the Golden Era to build some realy amazing story archs and interesting concepts.

Also by having it start in a familiar era such as the Golden Era and moving it into the Lost Era you may draw more fans because its fimilar to them and not so "new" and "alien". Once you move passed the highly documented Golden Era you can then build new concepts in the Lost Era, like ships that we've never heared about... wars and explorations that never realy got talked about because that era isn't highly documented.

All in all I think that major block of time would ge a great setting for STO. Your not alone in the fact that you didn't like the concepts of post-nemisis, alot of people feel that way. By going with both blocks you get the feel of TOS and Next Gen because that era bridges them both, so both major groups of trek fans would be content and happy. That is somthing that is always debated in Trek forums and chatrooms acrossed the web... which is better Kirk or Picard, and this would be a great dev answer... both!

[Sarevok]

I went with future, for the same reasons as Zach.

[Falin]

I went for the "Missing" era, the 80 year gap between TOS and TNG, there's a lot  of potential there, it has a defined beginning and end, so stories would be easier to blend in. Plyaers wouls still see old favs of ships and the transstion ships to the new ships as well. the klingons aren't all perfectly content with the Feds, so there's still some "border" clashes deal to del with, Rom's sneak in every now and then. and there's tyon's of unexplored "known TNG" areas to be the first into, imagine a Firstcontact mission to a Future TNG Member planet.

Definatly a good time frame, would shorten development when they alreadt know how the story starts and ends.

[Starbear]

I was thinking about this very question when I woke up this morning and I think I've come up with another reason to back the Golden Era --> Lost Era concept. The cureent movie that will be coming out late this year is based in the "Kirk Years", people will be hyped up on Trek but in a classic kind of way. This also alows for the devs to tie in story archs (not much mind you as we all know movie tie-ins tend to be bad in games haha) and theams that the movie presents to its viewers. The main point is that since people will be hyped up on the classic eras it may be worth looking into for the devs. Also as I mentioned before you've got your fans of both eras being happy since they get a taste of both in the lost era.

[Kinneas]

...back the Golden Era --> Lost Era concept... ...People will be hyped up on Trek but in a classic kind of way. ... ... The main point is that since people will be hyped up on the classic eras it may be worth looking into for the devs.

Concept: CBS, Amarillo Design Bureau and future DEVs work closely and pick up where the movie ends. Share storyline between series and online experience. Run in that era a year or two...or five. :) ,  Then start pushing us back out into re-imagined TNG, DS9, Voy era.

Concept: "BATTLESTATIONS!": People coming to grips with the 'we are not alone'  provides a very violent time to begin in (the primary 'meat and potatoes of a starting MMO???) .  The greatest story is how we deal with it?

[Nova]

I voted for future Era mainly because should Cryptic pick up the STO development, I have seen what they have done with regards to Time Travel in a MMO, and while I am not endorsing the method in which they did it for STO, I do know that they are mindful of how to handle time travel into new zones and creating Dynamic zones that will reflect how the zone looks feels and reacts to players depending on how the battle actually shifts from one side to the next.

so with that in mind I think that within STO we will most likely have a very good opportunity to travel to other Era's outside of the Holodeck.