My frustration with Frakes is that he could have done what Shatner did. When they were filming the famous kiss with Uhuru/Nichols, the plan was to film an alternate end to the scene for Southern markets, in which Kirk leans in for the kiss but never actually kisses her. However, Shatner ruined those plans, because every time they tried to film the alternate scene, he would cross his eyes or make a face or some such, so that they were forced to scrap their plans for two separate versions. The interracial kiss ended up showing in all markets.
You will reduce the time for crafting by increasing affection with your companion. Also, the success rate on missions is increased with higher affection.
Very good to know! Thanks for sharing this treasure trove of info!
There was an episode in TNG where Riker fell for a member of an androgynous species that believed that any expression of gender was a perversion. Riker's feelings were reciprocated, but the alien was later forced into "reparative therapy." They chose an actress for the role, but Jonathan Frakes went on record stating that he would have preferred a male for the episode, as it would've driven the point home better.
I need to catch up! I've only seen the first few episodes, but I've enjoyed it so far. On a related note, Shelley Conn, who plays Dr. Elizabeth Shannon, was in an Indian-Scottish lesbian flick a few years back, "Nina's Heavenly Delights." I saw an interview with Shelley where the host brought that movie up. Her face totally brightened and she gushed about how much fun she had playing a lesbian chef in Glasgow. Given the often tepid statements from straight actors regarding past LGBT roles, it was great to see such a positive response :).
This is a really great mission. It should be riding high in the "Top rated" list in the mission journal, and we'll be featuring it in the January issue of the Stonewall Times. I've also been plugging it on Twitter :D
You should post about it again on Starbase UGC, get some of those guys playing it.
I played this the first time around, prior to Season 4, and loved it then. It's great to play it again, and even better to see where you've added some extra awesomeness in the re-mastered version.
Well done!
Now, I always like to give constructive criticism, so there are some VERY minor points in the spoiler tags below.
General:
It would be useful to add some notes to the summary that appears in the Mission Journal, to tell potential players of the mission what to expect. For example, state the approximate playing time, the fact that it's a mix of story & puzzles with some space and ground combat etc. With my missions, I add these notes as [OOC] text after the summary paragraph.
The Trivas system is a long way from ESD, and I guarantee some people will complain about this. I know it's ridiculous, and I personally have no problem with it, but people will complain. Is it absolutely essential to set the mission there? Could you move it closer to ESD?
I noticed that often you used Title Case in your objectives – this isn't how Cryptic does it. Only the first word and any proper nouns should be capitalised.
Trivas system map:
The first objective was to head into the debris field, and when I pressed M to see where I should go, the mini-map showed a large orange circle near the top left corner called "Navigation beacon" (or similar). But this was not where I needed to go. Is this part of the map template you used, or is it something you could delete? Beautiful map otherwise, by the way – I liked it a lot.
"Digging deeper" map:
I first noticed in Commander Keetin's dialogue that you were using [OOC] highlighting where I think it should have been [MissionInfo]. For example, where she says "Three of our starbase crew were killed in that unprovoked attack, including our first officer, Commander Bastion", you've highlighted this in yellow 'Out of character' [OOC] but I think it should be green [MissionInfo]. There are examples of this throughout the mission. I say this because elsewhere you have used yellow [OOC] where the player is speaking, and you should stick to this convention: use yellow [OOC] when the player is speaking, and use green [MissionInfo] to highlight selected words when an NPC is giving important information.
Some of the tables in the mess hall are floating above the floor. Maybe need to bring them down only about 0.1 or 0.2 on the Y axis, unless you actually meant for them to be floating (it's possible... it's the 25th century!).
Not a criticism at all but a question: can you tell me what this object is? --> It has a ladder-type look to it, and I want to use ladders as set decoration in my next mission!
Satellite 3 map:
Again, just a question: which map template did you use for this? It would work nicely in my next mission, so I may have to steal it ;)
"The Descent" map:
Nice custom build, especially the stairs and corridors leading down into the subterranean base.
There is some clipping on the doors immediately behind the player after spawning, because they're overlapping. Moving one of the doors back even just 0.001 should cure that.
Similarly, there's clipping where the walls overlap in these corridors.
Another question: what object did you use for the round ceiling lights in these corridors? I'd also like to steal these for my next mission!
Finally, I noticed some more clipping on the exit doors in the control room, and on the floor just in front of the exit doors.
Again, awesome mission.
Well done!
Keep at it – I hope you have some more stories planned! The final dialogue hints at a sequel... whether you do or don't make a sequel to "Wounded Wolf", you should definitely make more Foundry missions.
I loved the episode. It was fantastic. I loved how what most tv shows would've dragged out over 5 seasons they just did and got it over with. There were more climaxes and plot twists in that one episode than most shows have in one season. It was kinda frustrating that everything kinda ended the same way that it started.
I got on right away last night, so they must have done something. On launch day, at the same time, it took 30 minutes or so. One day later, no wait. (Now watch, I'll be waiting for an hour tonight.)
Thanks for the info, Elikal, especially regarding LFG and ship travel. I was getting really annoyed with how far they placed player ship hangars from the entrances to spaceports!
I wholeheartedly agree! I usually skip crafting in MMOs, as I find it to be a useless timesink until I'm max level and ready to grind up to the top tier items.
As a combat medic, I decided on Biochem as my crafting skill. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my craftables were better than vendor items right from the start!
Level 8 Medpacs Common Medpac, Vendor: 525-625 health. Compact Medpac, Biochem Green: 825-1000 health. Prototype Compact Medpac, Biochem Blue: 825-1000 health + 365 over 15 seconds (1190-1365 total). Reusable Compact Medpac, Biochem Purple: 825-1000 health, not consumed with use.
It sucks that the purple doesn't include the HoT, but the blues are over twice as effective as the vendor version. Love it!
You can que up crafting items for companions to make (up to 5). Send the companion to make the first one then just go to the next one and choose craft it will add it to a list to do and they will not return till they are all done but you will get each one in your bag as they finish.
You can access your cargo hold in most cities and can also access it when on a friends ship by using theirs.
One thing I found that folks are confused on with comanpions. Companions do not care about light or dark side options. They care about how you answer the questions. See your companions name under the codex tab for what they like and dislike.
Example: Corso Riggs gave me -40 affection pts for a light side option I picked when switching out senator's papers from a delivery droid. Since I went along with hiding the truth that the senator was going to try to implement unfair laws Corso wasn't to happy with me. (I wanted light side pts so decided to eat his negative reaction). Corso is picky like that. FYI - if you flirt with women Corso thinks this is hot and will like you more. At one point in Nar Shaddaa he gave me +120 pts for this.
Just something to think about if your worried about the affections of your companions.
