Wait, you thought something in Star Trek didn't have an incredibly complex explanation covered in the novels? Wait until you read the one about how Andorians' unusually complicated genitals almost caused a civil war in the Federation.
Wait, you thought something in Star Trek didn't have an incredibly complex explanation covered in the novels? Wait until you read the one about how Andorians' unusually complicated genitals almost caused a civil war in the Federation.
I prefer to not think about what self-sealing stem bolts are used for, and why Shon was willing to buy them all from me thank you very much.
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Way more than you ever wanted to know about self-sealing stem bolts:
They're a double ended connector, either for end-to-end or edge-to-edge assembly. The distinction between stem bolts and self-sealing stem bolts is never explained. The name suggests that it's for use in hulls or conduits or other connection points that need a seal, and the bolt includes the seal elements instead of needing a separate O-ring or washer. For more obscure hardware terminology, however, it could also mean that the bolt doesn't require a nut and functions more like a rivet or insert anchor, locking in once placed. I tend to prefer this explanation because the prop was not threaded or ratcheted or anything else to suggest it joined to another piece.
When he bought them from you, it's worth remembering that Shon was not yet captain of the Enterprise, he was captain of the Bellfast, a Defiant-class, meaning it's renowned for two things: Big guns and maintenance challenges.
There was a special event on the PC test server - if you beat the battle zone, you'd get a special unlock that would give you some marks and an elite mark for the new reputation when it goes live. However, the zone is hilariously broken and despite having six instances hammering away at it at one point, nobody actually triggered the boss phase in the entire three hour event.
Wait, you thought something in Star Trek didn't have an incredibly complex explanation covered in the novels? Wait until you read the one about how Andorians' unusually complicated genitals almost caused a civil war in the Federation.
I would like to hear an extremely detailed explanation of that latter one, please.
Four sexes/genders, complicated reproduction, family sizes below replacement = slowly dying race which happens to be one of the Federation's founders, and temperamentally not inclined to go quietly into the good night. Someone suggests genetically rejiggering them (*gasp!*, because this is Trek) to a more conventional two sexes for the sake of the species' survival and many tables are flipped.
The show did say Andorian weddings involved four people, but it was meant as a kind of non-monogamous exclusivity thing, as opposed to human monogamy or Denobulan... uh... Yeah, all that weird stuff they do.
But, nope, the novels didn't just make that four sexes with all four required to reproduce, but made it even dumber than that.
This was from the same series that established that Benthans genetically engineered their species for the convenience of breathing the same atmosphere as most Starfleet races, so they didn't have to wear those things on their chest that you saw in TNG. The Federation Council rejected the Andorian application to genetically engineer their species for sustainable reproduction.
The argument was really, really dumb. Benthans were engineered for *individual* survival, which was allowed because of the genetic engineering exception for life saving treatments (while they could survive with their apparatus, any malfunction or interruption in supply could doom them, so genetic engineering could preemptively save them from such vulnerability). What the Andorians wanted to do was not for individual survival, and there was no exception for species survival, the Federation literally told them to go home and go fuck themselves, because if they wanted to make more babies it would have to be the old fashioned way.
The same series took a very open interpretation to most Federation rules - if you have a good reason, you can wipe your ass with the Prime Directive and rub it on a caveman's face while altering Earth's ancient history and... Well, you had a good reason and it seemed like a good idea at the time, so have at it. Oh, but this rule? Yeah, the entire Federation voted overwhelmingly to let the Andorians and Aenar go extinct over that shit. And saving the Aenar from extinction once before had already been the Federation's first big "unity" project after rebuilding P'jem.
Thanks for writing that out Hevach. When I read Zoom's post I had gotten the thing backwards.
I figured that some well intentioned fed scientist suggested "fixing" the Andorian reproduction thing. The Andorian Representative, picturing a future bereft of good ol' fashioned Andorian 4 ways (and possibly taking some umbrage at the implication that their race was "broken"), promptly flipped the hell out.
That would have been a better story all around. It's not unreasonable for the Andorians to take offense at some outsider saying their genders need to be "fixed," but it's utterly absurd for the Federation to oppose it once they're on board (much less if it's their idea to begin with) when species-level survival is on the line.
But this, as noted, is Star Trek, where genetic engineering is still treated as "tampering in God's domain" even if they don't actually use those terms.
See also the almost mystical extremes the Prime Directive gets bent to - that Fate, or the Universe, has a plan and we don't dare interfere with it!
There's a whole lot of really weird superstitious doublethink buried in the setting.
But this, as noted, is Star Trek, where genetic engineering is still treated as "tampering in God's domain" even if they don't actually use those terms.
To be fair, humanity and then later Klingons both had a bad time with genetic engineering.
But this, as noted, is Star Trek, where genetic engineering is still treated as "tampering in God's domain" even if they don't actually use those terms.
To be fair, humanity and then later Klingons both had a bad time with genetic engineering.
Indeed... and wiping out 2 sexes kind of does fall under the category of eugenics, even if the argument could be made that in this case the eugenics would literally be for the greater good of the species and all.
also, I didn't need to read any of this. now my poor Andorian captain is even more sympathetic from her asshole entitled Fed ways.
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
... Andorians sound like one of those Trek things where no one thought about the science at all.
I struggle to think of the evolutionary pressures that would result in that setup. Natural selection pushes species towards making it easier to breed, not harder. I mean, maybe evolution would be slow to get to that point, because a four-way mingling of genetics sounds like a real shit way to pass along useful mutations, but that explanation just reveals a whole other problem...
Man, it's like that thing where Kess' people have to give birth STANDING UP from egg sacs on their BACK. So a mother giving birth alone means her baby instantly gets dropped on its head. And at least they have the out of being genetically tampered with, so maybe that was their masters' intent... Andorians just seem like a cosmic joke.
I feel compelled to add that females of Kess' people only become fertile once, giving birth to a single child, provided their absurdly elaborate mating process isn't interrupted. Dropping the newborn on its head doesn't even come up most times people discuss their stupid reproduction.
Yeah, honestly, the standing thing is the least stupid part of the Ocampan breeding cycle.
The dumbest being it's a species with a 9-year lifespan that gives birth precisely...once per life. And still requires 2 to tango.
How the HELL is the species still alive? That's built-in negative population growth.
Wasn't it implied that the Ocampans being cared for had been genetically engineered by the Care Taker?
And the Care Taker knew it was dying, seems like he may have put into play some changes to quietly extinctify his Ocampans rather than leave them to starve to death (or worse) after he was gone.
I could be wrong of course, and probably am. But given the average level of Voyager writing...
We never do get a lot of info on that second group of Ocampa except that they have short but still viable lifeapans, several were in their 20s and still doing well.
It is possible the first group were being put to sleep as the Caretaker died, but I do doubt it. None of Voyager's crew batted an eye at Ocampan reproduction and the Doctor knew a lot about it. That's generally how you can tell the writers actually meant something stupid, rather than there being some elaborate in-universe explanation.
Just have to keep hitting 'pass' on those. Or sending out sacrificial frigates, alone, that have no chance of succeeding but will clear the mission from the list.
Fired this up for the first time in... .. ... years, maybe.
Used to run a Science ship with specialty in Scrambling Sensors.
Oh god this talent tree is totally different I have no idea what I'm doing.
Did you start a new character? That's what I had to do when I got back in the game just so it could slowly introduce all the new systems and things to me.
Trying to hop on one of my old characters was just overwhelming with how much new shit I didn't know about.
Fortunately, leveling is faster than ever now, so you can get a new captain up to speed pretty quickly while learning about all the new stuff, and old stuff that's changed.
So I have a lifetime sub on PC, but would love to play this on my TV with a controller. Also, like Dac every time I log on I feel overwhelmed with new systems I don't understand. I may just start over without all the bells and whistles on PS4. I don't want to dump much money on this game but the base game should have enough options to keep me entertained as I recall. I do wish the lifetime sub transferred though.
Basically I've been watching a lot of DS9 recently and am getting the itch for some space combat again. I never rolled a fed tac officer and would love to blow some things up with a defiant class ship for a bit. Is the PS4 version stable at this point?
Yes, I've had less problems with that one than PC honestly. I don't like the space controlls on an escort, but I've seen way better escort pilots than I've seen on PC in years since cruisers took over the meta. There are really two times when the game's pressure to buy gets me: there are no T6 ships outside the paywall (though fleet modules can still be traded), and it's really hard to move in Admiralty without a ton of ships. I have 60 through various sources and hit dead ends quite a bit.
Consoles are soon to be 3 content updates behind PC though. They're waiting on Agents of Yesterday while PC got Artifacts (AoY mid-season) and now Reckoning next week.
Some interesting tidbits from the little blurb for next week's FE: Apparently the Tzenkethi aren't the only ones wiping out planets with protomatter, the Lukari's current homeworld was terraformed with a protomatter device that reads effectively like the Genesis Device. We know the Tzenkethi are the ones that destroyed the planet K-13 is orbiting because the Lukari said so. The Lukari's proof is that it was a protomatter device with global effects on the biosphere, and the Tzenkethi have those. No mention that motherfucking so do the Lukari.
I just had a flashback to Harry Kim's I-told-you-so moment on Kobali Prime.
So I played through the tutorial fed side last night. Overall I'm impressed with the PS4 implementation, although still bummed the LTS doesn't transfer.
I'm still getting used to space controls with controller, but overall like the setup and simplifications.
I don't understand how to upgrade my officer's skills on PS4, but I may not be high enough level yet.
I find the camera is usually too far out in space and the ground implementation is odd, especially in the closest setting, where the camera seems to hover 5 feet over my officer's shoulder. This gives me a good view of the area but just gives me like half of the back of my character's head. I wish I could see who I'm fighting better. I feel like I get a better look at enemies on PC for a few reasons.
Otherwise, it should suffice for my immediate needs, and the PC version hasn't gone anywhere if I want to go back to it. Looking forward to getting a defiant class ship and trying out a cannon heavy build which is something I haven't managed to try yet.
Also, I played pretty heavily for about a year after launch and it is CRAZY how much has changed since then when i think about it. Mostly good changes too. Good for them.
They actually got rid of boff skill upgrades and made the skilled cooldown base instead. They also changed promotions, so boffs have all four skills. You can't train them in new ones until they're promoted to that rank, but they also don't lose overwritten skills and you can change back any time.
Is Night Of The Comet currently bugged? I destroy all the piece of the comet but the ending doesn't trigger and I'm stuck flying around while being chased by a ship I'm not allowed to blow up.
I think it is in the sense that you must blow it up, but do it after the comet is destroyed and it says to eliminate hostiles because temporal red shirts don't matter.
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Seriously, leakers have been lazy lately but now a big rush to add to the NX-Refit.
First, the next lockbox:
Box appears to have 23rd Century battlecruisers for all three factions, lobi will be the NX-Refit with off-faction console/trait box.
Romulan Khenn Dreadnought Warbird:
Klingon D9:
Really just an oldified Negh'var.
Notably, both of these are already in-game as the battleship class for the 23rd Century NPC groups.
Federation Prototype Dreadnought Cruiser:
This one's a new design, the 23rd Century Fed battleship NPC is the Gemini. This one is basically a beefed up Connie, with a boxy extension on the saucer section and doubled-up nacelles.
And 4 out of 9 for the T6 Vesta megapack (one Fed and all three Romulan variants):
Do you want a T6 D'Kyr? Well to f'in bad, we're giving it to the Romulans. All three sport Alcubierre style warp engines usually seen on Vulcan ships, except for that weird one with the top of the ring cut off.
Was never a fan of the Vesta designs anyway, this one doesn't endear me.
Hevach on
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SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Hey that Fed cruiser is neat, like a 23rd Century Concorde.
I've got enough for a 3 pack stashed away from just missing the Christmas sale, so it's going to be tough deciding between the Escort Carriers and the Fed Vestas... probably going to come down to the traits really.
Been mixing the boff stuff up, and destabilizing Resonance Beam should have with an photosensitive epilepsy warning in its description. but it's so fun to use.
That first Rom ship looks cool, provided it's not the size of the moon.
Still waiting to get the rest of the game though. :P
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
The Romulan ships with the Vulcan style engines...
Hinting at their two races (or at least factions within the two races) coming back together in the future?
Maybe, maybe not. I think it's more a reference to the fact that the Romulan Republic's current leader is a reunificationist, even though the Republic itself is implied to be closer on the Klingon side of the alliance.
Maybe, maybe not. I think it's more a reference to the fact that the Romulan Republic's current leader is a reunificationist, even though the Republic itself is implied to be closer on the Klingon side of the alliance.
So after we discover all the stuff T'Nae's had the feds do, we take the Vulcans out. Got it.
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
what the. I guess I haven't played for a bit, STO just emailed me a code for a free Tier 6 Sovereign and some other shit?!
Posts
I think I have an idea for my next toon, melee character with a roman nose. I think I'll build it when AoY comes out.
I prefer to not think about what self-sealing stem bolts are used for, and why Shon was willing to buy them all from me thank you very much.
When he bought them from you, it's worth remembering that Shon was not yet captain of the Enterprise, he was captain of the Bellfast, a Defiant-class, meaning it's renowned for two things: Big guns and maintenance challenges.
There was a special event on the PC test server - if you beat the battle zone, you'd get a special unlock that would give you some marks and an elite mark for the new reputation when it goes live. However, the zone is hilariously broken and despite having six instances hammering away at it at one point, nobody actually triggered the boss phase in the entire three hour event.
I would like to hear an extremely detailed explanation of that latter one, please.
Four sexes/genders, complicated reproduction, family sizes below replacement = slowly dying race which happens to be one of the Federation's founders, and temperamentally not inclined to go quietly into the good night. Someone suggests genetically rejiggering them (*gasp!*, because this is Trek) to a more conventional two sexes for the sake of the species' survival and many tables are flipped.
But, nope, the novels didn't just make that four sexes with all four required to reproduce, but made it even dumber than that.
This was from the same series that established that Benthans genetically engineered their species for the convenience of breathing the same atmosphere as most Starfleet races, so they didn't have to wear those things on their chest that you saw in TNG. The Federation Council rejected the Andorian application to genetically engineer their species for sustainable reproduction.
The argument was really, really dumb. Benthans were engineered for *individual* survival, which was allowed because of the genetic engineering exception for life saving treatments (while they could survive with their apparatus, any malfunction or interruption in supply could doom them, so genetic engineering could preemptively save them from such vulnerability). What the Andorians wanted to do was not for individual survival, and there was no exception for species survival, the Federation literally told them to go home and go fuck themselves, because if they wanted to make more babies it would have to be the old fashioned way.
The same series took a very open interpretation to most Federation rules - if you have a good reason, you can wipe your ass with the Prime Directive and rub it on a caveman's face while altering Earth's ancient history and... Well, you had a good reason and it seemed like a good idea at the time, so have at it. Oh, but this rule? Yeah, the entire Federation voted overwhelmingly to let the Andorians and Aenar go extinct over that shit. And saving the Aenar from extinction once before had already been the Federation's first big "unity" project after rebuilding P'jem.
I figured that some well intentioned fed scientist suggested "fixing" the Andorian reproduction thing. The Andorian Representative, picturing a future bereft of good ol' fashioned Andorian 4 ways (and possibly taking some umbrage at the implication that their race was "broken"), promptly flipped the hell out.
See also the almost mystical extremes the Prime Directive gets bent to - that Fate, or the Universe, has a plan and we don't dare interfere with it!
There's a whole lot of really weird superstitious doublethink buried in the setting.
To be fair, humanity and then later Klingons both had a bad time with genetic engineering.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Indeed... and wiping out 2 sexes kind of does fall under the category of eugenics, even if the argument could be made that in this case the eugenics would literally be for the greater good of the species and all.
also, I didn't need to read any of this. now my poor Andorian captain is even more sympathetic from her asshole entitled Fed ways.
I struggle to think of the evolutionary pressures that would result in that setup. Natural selection pushes species towards making it easier to breed, not harder. I mean, maybe evolution would be slow to get to that point, because a four-way mingling of genetics sounds like a real shit way to pass along useful mutations, but that explanation just reveals a whole other problem...
Man, it's like that thing where Kess' people have to give birth STANDING UP from egg sacs on their BACK. So a mother giving birth alone means her baby instantly gets dropped on its head. And at least they have the out of being genetically tampered with, so maybe that was their masters' intent... Andorians just seem like a cosmic joke.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
Also, platypus. Kind of feel like this is what they thought (first 20 seconds)
The dumbest being it's a species with a 9-year lifespan that gives birth precisely...once per life. And still requires 2 to tango.
How the HELL is the species still alive? That's built-in negative population growth.
PSN: L00nyEclip
Steam: Loony Eclipse
Twitter: @Loonyeclipse
Wasn't it implied that the Ocampans being cared for had been genetically engineered by the Care Taker?
And the Care Taker knew it was dying, seems like he may have put into play some changes to quietly extinctify his Ocampans rather than leave them to starve to death (or worse) after he was gone.
I could be wrong of course, and probably am. But given the average level of Voyager writing...
It is possible the first group were being put to sleep as the Caretaker died, but I do doubt it. None of Voyager's crew batted an eye at Ocampan reproduction and the Doctor knew a lot about it. That's generally how you can tell the writers actually meant something stupid, rather than there being some elaborate in-universe explanation.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
But plenty of missions that require tons of science base.
Used to run a Science ship with specialty in Scrambling Sensors.
Oh god this talent tree is totally different I have no idea what I'm doing.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
Did you start a new character? That's what I had to do when I got back in the game just so it could slowly introduce all the new systems and things to me.
Trying to hop on one of my old characters was just overwhelming with how much new shit I didn't know about.
Fortunately, leveling is faster than ever now, so you can get a new captain up to speed pretty quickly while learning about all the new stuff, and old stuff that's changed.
Basically I've been watching a lot of DS9 recently and am getting the itch for some space combat again. I never rolled a fed tac officer and would love to blow some things up with a defiant class ship for a bit. Is the PS4 version stable at this point?
Consoles are soon to be 3 content updates behind PC though. They're waiting on Agents of Yesterday while PC got Artifacts (AoY mid-season) and now Reckoning next week.
Some interesting tidbits from the little blurb for next week's FE: Apparently the Tzenkethi aren't the only ones wiping out planets with protomatter, the Lukari's current homeworld was terraformed with a protomatter device that reads effectively like the Genesis Device. We know the Tzenkethi are the ones that destroyed the planet K-13 is orbiting because the Lukari said so. The Lukari's proof is that it was a protomatter device with global effects on the biosphere, and the Tzenkethi have those. No mention that motherfucking so do the Lukari.
I just had a flashback to Harry Kim's I-told-you-so moment on Kobali Prime.
I'm still getting used to space controls with controller, but overall like the setup and simplifications.
I don't understand how to upgrade my officer's skills on PS4, but I may not be high enough level yet.
I find the camera is usually too far out in space and the ground implementation is odd, especially in the closest setting, where the camera seems to hover 5 feet over my officer's shoulder. This gives me a good view of the area but just gives me like half of the back of my character's head. I wish I could see who I'm fighting better. I feel like I get a better look at enemies on PC for a few reasons.
Otherwise, it should suffice for my immediate needs, and the PC version hasn't gone anywhere if I want to go back to it. Looking forward to getting a defiant class ship and trying out a cannon heavy build which is something I haven't managed to try yet.
Also, I played pretty heavily for about a year after launch and it is CRAZY how much has changed since then when i think about it. Mostly good changes too. Good for them.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Seriously, leakers have been lazy lately but now a big rush to add to the NX-Refit.
First, the next lockbox:
Romulan Khenn Dreadnought Warbird:
Klingon D9:
Really just an oldified Negh'var.
Notably, both of these are already in-game as the battleship class for the 23rd Century NPC groups.
Federation Prototype Dreadnought Cruiser:
This one's a new design, the 23rd Century Fed battleship NPC is the Gemini. This one is basically a beefed up Connie, with a boxy extension on the saucer section and doubled-up nacelles.
And 4 out of 9 for the T6 Vesta megapack (one Fed and all three Romulan variants):
Do you want a T6 D'Kyr? Well to f'in bad, we're giving it to the Romulans. All three sport Alcubierre style warp engines usually seen on Vulcan ships, except for that weird one with the top of the ring cut off.
Was never a fan of the Vesta designs anyway, this one doesn't endear me.
I've got enough for a 3 pack stashed away from just missing the Christmas sale, so it's going to be tough deciding between the Escort Carriers and the Fed Vestas... probably going to come down to the traits really.
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
That first Rom ship looks cool, provided it's not the size of the moon.
Still waiting to get the rest of the game though. :P
Hinting at their two races (or at least factions within the two races) coming back together in the future?
So after we discover all the stuff T'Nae's had the feds do, we take the Vulcans out. Got it.