Spotlight on the Foundry

Foundry Challenge #3 Winner

The votes are in, and we have a winner!

Huge congratulations are in order to our winning Foundry mission for Challenge #3…

“One Too Many” by @XR-377

Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 41+
Mission Summary: The daughter of “Reg” Barclay is working on Earth Space Dock tracking down a system’s bug in the Station’s Network. But, as can be expected, she has a problem one too many…

Congratulations! Check your in-game mail for your prize. Also, your mission will be featured in the Spotlight on the Foundry in the near future.

Our runner up, in second place, was…

“Three Degrees of Separation” by @woghd!

And tied for third place was “Going Viral” by @Pi-3Orionis, “A Holo Peace” by @Gingie and “The Legacy of Men” by @rickysmith1.

Congratulations to everyone! You all did amazing work with this challenge and we can’t wait to see what you come up with for Foundry Challenge #4!

For more information on Foundry Challenge #3, check out this news post.

Link to the forum post

In this episode Galactrix and Drogyn1701 play through “Uplift” by Walshicus with special guests Woody_Valley and Gingerbrit.

If you missed the live version of the show, you can watch it (now in HD!) on YouTube above.

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For Every Action:Part III has been published, finishing off this Fed trilogy.
It is up to you to save an entire race from disaster, as a deadly virus spreads across the homeworld of one of the Federation’s founding members.
There are opposing forces and time, itself working against you. Can you save an allied world in time?

For Every Action:Part I – Any Level
For Every Action:Part II & III – Level 31+

This is a Solo RP mission. Each episode is no more than 40 minutes.

ARRRGGH the stupid show keeps breaking and its not my fault! Oh well. At least we get Darth Hav out of it. This week Terry joins Bob and I in a little rant about PWE screwing up the new website and account mergings. Despite the fact that Community Moderator PWE_Branflakes has put out an apology letter and a fair warning to Champions Online forum goers that a similar forum overall will be occurring at their site in a matter of days, it ultimately did little to quell our rage over the fact that its still so horribly implemented (but hey, “I” for one appreciated the thought of the letter for sure!) Unfortunately we can only take some solace in the fact that Branflakes and Webteam are working to address issues — but the fact that so many issues exist at all, including the destruction of the forum community and half of our identities, is ultimately unforgettable and still contributes to a metric crapton of ire out of us. And honestly? For good reason. PWE has a long way to go before they can make this right.

On the continued dark side, we discuss Heretic and Gozer leaving and what that means for STO. Also, WHY are they leaving? These are two high profile developers bugging out within a week of each other. Is something going on that’s running them off?

And all 3 of us absolutely drool over the wondrous things that are Fleet Starbases on Tribble. However, there are still some critiques available. OK just listen to the show already!

Click here to listen to the Podcast!
Right click and select “save as” to download the mp3

Show Notes
- ToS Update and What that Means for Lifetimers?
- PWE Account Merging Apology, and the Continued Fallout
- Heretic and Gozer leaving … dark times upon us?
- Fleet Starbases on Tribble are FREAKING AWESOME

Reviews
Hav:
“Somewhere in Time” by Drogyn1701
Bob:
“What If” by CerberusFilms
KDF “A New Breed of Warrior” by Soriedem

Mailbag – Email us and send us mission recommendations to podcastugc@starbaseugc.com !

END OF SHOW

Podcast UGC is distributed for free in mp3 format on www.starbaseugc.com and iTunes. Podcast UGC is syndicated on Trek Radio and Subspace Radio. It’s aired live on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 Eastern on www.trekradio.net and www.justin.tv/podcastugc. Any other distribution or airings of Podcast UGC is strictly prohibited without permission. Star Trek and Star Trek Online are the rights of their respected owners.strong

The Savior of the Klingon people is a member of Starfleet. And she’s not the only one. Cryptic said they want to let people play their “Worf fantasy” by rolling a Klingon Starfleet officer. In a game in which Starfleet is fighting against the Klingon Empire, it shows how decent Starfleet is to welcome Klingons into their ranks, giving them command of starships and the Special Taskforce. But what does this really mean for Starfleet? What does it mean for the Klingon Empire and for the individual Klingons themselves? And what stories can we Foundry authors tell about this?

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With every thing blowing up around us, all we can do is be thankful that there are new missions to play on the foundry.

Fed side:

Opening the can by cormactheblue

Jus In Bello by nrobbiec

Shadows of the Past by backyardserenade

Rescue the USS Odelia by afalconer

A Gem for a Mirror by Valanossi

 Threads of Eden: Orphaned, Threads of Eden: Premonitions by DeltaGemini

The One’s by atherris

AA-part 2 Admiral-David-Can

Spacedock Haunt by darkrunner09

KDF side

Prey Fight Back by Dom_Paris

Now remember if you have a mission coming out this week please let us know by leaving a comment below or go the the forums and leave a post in the thread called promote your foundry mission. And lets not forget that, the east may come but there still be a west

Hi folks,

I have been asked by several authors to put together some elements that I, as a reviewer of Foundry missions, consider to be ways to improve missions. So with the changeover of the forums to “Perfect World” and having to restart my “In-depth review” forum, I felt it was as good a time as any to put one together.

Over the past few months I’ve reviewed over 150 Foundry missions and have identified several items in many of the reports that needed to be worked on. This paper will summarize those items into, what I consider to be, a set of best practices for authoring missions Please remember, everything in this paper is only my opinion based on my experience, and they are yours to use of not as you choose.

Plots, storyline and dialogue:

The creation of a storyline is one of the most important elements of mission development. The author needs to capture the player’s attention and then hold it for the length of the mission. Most players do not mind playing longer missions as long as there are elements to it that keep them engaged in the story.

Regardless of a mission being story or combat oriented it needs to have a plot to drive the action forward. In a combat mission if all the player does is flying into a system and battle large quantities of enemy mobs, then beams down to a planet, ship or a station to engage more enemy mobs with a single line of dialogue like, “Beam down sir” most likely the player will get bored quickly. This is true with a story oriented mission too. If a player spends time playing a story oriented mission and the plot makes no sense at all then you will lose them quickly as well. You have to have some plot to support the mission and it needs to make sense. Some things to consider when creating a plot for your mission:

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This week: PWE nukes the forums, new Terms of Service, and the community is in justified nerd rage mode.

Shownotes:
- Simple, honest nerd rage
- PWE/Cryptic shitstorm – they deserve it
- Outrageous Terms of Service:
- Non-Optional soon (http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=570451)
- Lots and lots of practical problems

There’s something odd going on in the Klingon Empire.  Now, though I love the Federation/Klingon alliance, I don’t mind the war going on in the game.  While I intensely hope that by the (preferably far distant) end of this game, the alliance will be fully restored, Klingon culture is organized around conflict between Great Houses due to perceived slights.  When the Federation appears to slight the Empire, conflict is believable.  But in the meantime, this war seems to be doing strange things to the Klingon Empire.  Before STO (in the series & movies), the only non-Klingon we ever saw serve on a Klingon ship was Wil Riker.  Through TOS, the Klingons were regularly shown trying to take over the planets of other species.  And since Kirk couldn’t be everywhere, we have to assume they succeeded sometimes.  One of the big missed opportunities, I think, of TNG was not having any episodes in which the Federation had to deal with peoples conquered by their Klingon allies.  Imagine something like “The Higher Ground,” in which the rebel force wasn’t fighting against a planet of the week but the ally of the series.  The closest we ever got were the Cardassians in DS9 for a while, but the Klingons weren’t allies then, and that went sideways into other interesting territory.

And yet thought the late 24th century, this conquering Empire had a military filled, as far as we know, only with Klingons.  Even on the streets of the First City, the only people who weren’t Klingons were regular cast members.  Rome allowed barbarians to earn citizenship through it legions.  Britain incorporated descendants of conquered people like Scottish highlanders, Indians (ie the people, of India), and President Obama’s own Luo grandfather in their armies.

Not so, as far as we’ve seen up to Nemesis, with the Klingons.  But suddenly, now at this moment when they’re fighting an enemy who can mimic any appearance better than a Changeling can, they have an integrated First City and integrated KDF.  Sure, one can imagine that all this diversity existed before, just off-screen.

But imagine a changing Klingon Empire that is becoming more open to other species.  Why?  Does it have to do with the size or sophistication of these species? Are Gorn just more worthy warriors than the Kirosians (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Kriosian)?  But considering that one can create one’s own alien species and make them a KDF captain, that doesn’t seen that the Klingons are only letting in just a few species.  With the Orions, there’s a strong suggestion in the Path to 2409 that they’re using Matron pheromones to infiltrate the Empire.  But for others, it appears Klingon culture is changing.

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I love story in Star Trek. I love the arc of Star Trek’s II, III, & IV. I love the subtle buildup to Sela’s appearance in TNG, Data’s slow advancement thought the series, and the sweep of the Dominion War as it brought a challenge to Rodenberry’s vision to human nature. And even though the Xindi Arc felt like a diversion to me, it’s mysteries and qualities brought me back to watching Enterprise after an off-and-on second season. I also love it when storytellers find ways to reconcile contradictions. Like Manny Coto’s explanation of how the Klingons changed appearance (which I wish had been followed in a Season 5 by an explanation of how Humans and Vulcans forgot about this change; He did plan to use Q then. Hm. . .)

And I even love the story in STO. Despite preferring the Klingons as allies than as enemies, the limitations of the ways in which plot and characterization had to be imparted in game, and how drawn out, and stilted the story can feel when the flow of missions was interrupted by being forced to scan five objects on dozens of planets in a row, I felt the story generally worked when played straight through. And from being surprised by discovering one had just unknowingly spent several hours on a holodeck to discovering new enemies and allies in Cloaked Intentions (as well as finding a few clues to suggesting a connection between a major, advanced enemy to an iconic TOS. . . uh. . . let’s say character), I’ve enjoyed the ride.

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OMG Hav what took you so long!? Well what took me so long was that PWE broke the site minutes after we ended the recording, and the fiasco that has resulted from the ill concieved concept of account mergers is far wide and far reaching. Unwilling to save this week’s news for next week, I demanded that we record an additional supplement to the current show for editing. Getting people together for this was the hardest part, but Bob and I were able to get it done.

In addition, we took almost an hour to get off the ground with our live show this week due to technical difficulties, and so I’ll be tacking the best 15 minutes of our hour long preshow onto the beginning of this episode. Warning: there are cuss words in that segment.

Click here to listen to the Podcast!
Right click and select “save as” to download the mp3

Show Notes
-More Complete Show Notes to Come Later
-Preshow Bonus
-State of the Game
-Armitage’s Strength (aka everybody KILL BOB!)
-Fleet Starbases Again
-Additional Perks for Gold Members
-Addition: PWE Account Merging Fiasco
-Addition: Heretic Leaving

Reviews
None This Week

Mailbag – Email us and send us mission recommendations to podcastugc@starbaseugc.com !

END OF SHOW

Podcast UGC is distributed for free in mp3 format on www.starbaseugc.com and iTunes. Podcast UGC is syndicated on Trek Radio and Subspace Radio. It’s aired live on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 Eastern on www.trekradio.net and www.justin.tv/podcastugc. Any other distribution or airings of Podcast UGC is strictly prohibited without permission. Star Trek and Star Trek Online are the rights of their respected owners.

In this episode Bazag, Galactrix and Drogyn1701 play through “The Honour of Profit” by Bazag – winner of the Gates of Stovokor Ferengi mission contest and Cryptic Foundry Spotlight.

If you missed the live version of the show, you can watch it (now in HD!) on YouTube above.

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It’s back! Star Trek: Durandal returns with a trailer for episode two! My apologies for the delay after episode one. You can mostly blame that on my study abroad semester to England last Fall. Future episodes should be coming much faster now. More details are at the Youtube page!

(As always, best viewed in fullscreen at 1080p)

“Foundry Underdogs” are the missions that have very few plays, but deserve much more recognition.  Today’s pick is “An Eerie Silence” made by player renui.

Faction: Federation

Skill Rating Required: 16+

Location: Eirhess System in the Alpha Centauri Sector Block

This is the first part of a larger story. Very detailed and accurate use of dialog for those who like a story line. The mission is story driven. The author establishes away team member protocols well. There is a minor skirmish for those who like a fight.

It time to launch the fourdy fighters from the foundry command ship, and here they are:

Fed Side

KAI HARD by Bazag

Reflections – Part One by dan6526

The Great Escape by Zorbane

Dailies: Cure, Q Games by Q400

For Every Action-Part II by Capt.PFDennis

Regenesis by WahoosLeg

The Wave Empire Ep.2 by Skyline45

Young Devils and Dark Secrets by james1jesushippy

Thy Own Enemy by nrobbiec

Finding Resolution by A.J. Stoner

KDF side

They still angry over the fact the Feds getting two new ships

Now if you have a new mission coming out this week please let us know by leaving a comment below or go to the forums and leave a post in the thread called promote your foundry mission. And remember the Klingons will have their day

Hi Internet,

the second episode of the Captain’s Log video podcast is available:

Shownotes:

This week: Community Q&A with dStahl, Star Trek 2 in IMAX, another indie game bundle, a documentary about making indie games.

Full show notes:
Show
- Thanks! 500 viewers, lots of love
- To-Do:
- Mic –> new Camera, give me some suggestions!
- Will try to digitally clean up the audio ’til then
- Get out of the way for background!
- Sit down (not so much…)
News
- Heavy Escort Carrier aka Armitage
- WIP Klingon Starbase Interior
- WIP 900 day Vet reward
- New stuff on Tribble Foundry:
- Objects now can be used like NPC Contacs
- 3d Previews
- Timid Behaviour
- dStahl appears as Morn for Community Q&A at Quarks
- http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=4261337#post4261337
- Season 6 on Tribble over the next three weeks
- New Gozer PvP maps after Season 6 due to tech
- First Contact Space Suits coming
- Fleet Projects might unlock SB decorations
- Some new VO and Music in Season 6
- No Lockbox with D’Deridex, but future Romulan faction
- Foundry Spotlight is getting formal with S6
- No Crew Uniforms in S6
- Crafting update somewhere between S7/8 in Feb
- Binding changes for some items with Account Bank
- No plans for KDF levels 1-18
- No fixes for demorecord
- New tech guy looking at DX11 mesh errors
- New ship release via “Reinforcement” Doff Pack
- New sectors over the next year, but not Gamma Quadrant
- Morn will be back shortly after Season 6
Trek
- Trek 2 was partially shot with IMAX cameras.
- Will be available in 3d, but converted, because JJ wants the film look (incl 3d lensflares!)
Games
- The Indie Royale Bundle
- Eden (Puzzle Platformer, mc 81)
- Escape Goat (Puzzle Platformer)
- Noitu Love 2: Devolution (2d shooter, mc 80)
- Auditorium (Particle-system puzzle game, mc 79)
- Indie Game: The Movie
- 10$, DRM free, Full HD
- Follows the developers of Braid, Super Meat Boy and FEZ

In this episode, Galactrix plays through “Another Man’s Hell” by CheRoj with guests Woody_Valley and Drogyn1701.

If you missed the live version of the show, you can watch it (now in HD!) on YouTube above.

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Conjoined

The Foundry for Star Trek Online gives players a chance to create and share their very own stories with the world. These Spotlight Missions were designed by members of the Star Trek Online community and are great playable examples of what you, too, can add to the Star Trek Online universe.

This week’s spotlighted mission is “Conjoined” by DenizenVI.

Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 16+
Mission Summary: A distant Federation world grapples with mysterious setbacks in their attempts to bridge the light-years between them and the heart of the Federation. Will you be able to figure out what’s really going on out on the edge of unknown space?
Repost:
For more information about the Foundry, including how to play community-authored Foundry missions and resources on how to create your own mission, check out this Guest Blog.

Foundry Spotlight Missions Index

Link to the forum post