If you played SWG before, then you know about the crafting system they have in place. IMO it was one of the best I seen to date. An example being with mining. You had different mining stations you could setup, and you told the station what type of ore you needed, and loaded the credits and power to start it running. The station would continue to run until: (A) The resources got used up, (B) You bin got filled up, (C) You ran out of what kept the station running to begin with.

I am still hoping we will see Civilians in STO, mainly used for merchants, crafters and gathers. They are the unseen force in the Federation, and we got to see part of their world on DS9. Some people think this is a waste of time, and starfleet officers should be able to do all this craft as well. BUT crafters in Star Fleet were only in the Engineers and Medical ranks, and mainly what they did was stuff for the ships and crews.

What I feel is need to make this game deeper, are Civilian workers to do the odds and ends.

Here's an example of jobs I see for the working class:

1. Miner - Dig up and refine all ores and crystals
2. Tailor - Hand made clothes
3. Merchant - Seller of all types of goods
4. Cargo Transporter - Need to move heavy or light cargo to all planets
5. Art Crafter - From glass to stone and even paintings, we need some to help dress up you quarters.
6. Dancer - Helps to boost a crews moral.
7. Musician - Moral booster and helps to past the time.
8. Cook - Gives a boost to a crews abilities

Those are just a small example of a few worker type jobs that could get added to STO. Mind you this doesn't touch on the other type of jobs within Star Fleet, or any of the other ideas CS has of their own. This is just my thoughts on the matter, and something I think is very do able in the game.

Another question would be, where would we put the Civilians in the game? How about the Starbase for #1. It's a great place to do your craft, and you will always have Star Fleet ships paying these places a visit.

Anyway, feel free to talk about this old idea, and expand on it if you will. But I still believe this is a needed part of STO that needs to be added.  :wink:

I wouldn't think so, you would have to treat it as a mini-game within the main game. After all would you love to be rescued by a Player Starfleet ship, if your doing a cargo run as a civilian in dangerous areas?  :)

I really hope someone at CS gets word of this idea about Civilians, and really really thinks long and hard about it. Cause if they want to make the best Scifi game out there, then adding the civilians would be a great step in that direction. Why? Think about it, not everyone likes Star Trek, BUT if you had parts of the game for Freelancer types, like the guys that play in EVE online, then maybe you can corner the market.

Think about it, sorry if I am not making since, it's still early for me. lol

But mainly if you add civilians with all the things that go with it, from the Ships down to the clothes, you will bring over even more players into the game. On one side you will have the Military ranks, be it Federation, Klingon, Romulan etc., and on the other side you will have Civilian businesses along with the flip side of that coin of the crime lord based underground.

Now if you added that much more to STO, think about how deep the storylines would be.

I really hope someone at CS reads this, and expands on the idea.  :wink:

Well the main thought behind this idea is mainly thins. If we truly see factions in STO, who can be the neutral go between? That's were the civilians come into play. You can do business between each faction, and not suffer from the military restrictions of the neutral zones. This plays on one of my old ideas of having Freelancers in STO, people who don't hold military rank under any faction in the game, and it frees you up to do other things, be it legal or illegal in the game universe.

I can't stress enough how much deeper this game will be, if you have a civilian system in place, and DONE the right way. Look to SWG to see what not to do, and even in WOW to see what worked, and what failed.  :wink:

Well I am just hoping someone from CS is reading this idea, so it can make it into STO. If not at launch, at least in the 1st patch or free download. But I would like to see the main breakdown in the game with Military on one side, and civilian on the other. Each with there own missions to do, and each with it's own career paths to take. It can only help make this a great game, instead of just a good game. And maybe it would see WOW like numbers for the accounts.  :muaha: