Fleet Training Exercise Debriefing

The first fleet training exercises of the Federation News Service went well, once we got things figured out. The original plan was to get as many captains together and attempt a Fleet Action. Unfortunately we found that Fleet Actions are currently rank restricted, meaning that Commanders go to a different instance than Captains who are in a different instance than Admirals. This was problematic since we had three Rear Admirals, one Captain (me), and one Commander. Originally this wasn’t the case, but I know there were issues with scaling when an Admiral would spawn the initial instance, so I can understand why the instances are restricted. Plus having a rank include 10 levels means that the Fleet Actions are still fairly open. Still it meant no Fleet Action in Tostig for the FNS. Instead we headed to the Beta Ursae sector block to find a few Deep Space Encounters, these weren’t quite challenging enough, so we headed into Cardassian space to the Kora sector in Zeta Andromedae.

We also had some problems getting everyone into the same instance. Apparently the DSE’s are capped at five players, so when we entered an existing one our team was split across multiple instances. Switching instances isn’t hard, but it is a pain when you have to wait for spaces to open up in the instance where the rest of your team is. What the game should have done was spawn a new instance for us if there weren’t any that could accommodate a full team, I guess I need to go to the suggestion forum and make a post.

Once we were all in an instance together, we did have quite a bit of fun. This was the first real team experience I’ve had in STO, and it was interesting to get the hang of coordinating with other players. I have teamed up in the past, but not in situations where I needed to worry about tactics or keeping an eye on my teammate’s shield indicators.

All in all it was a good learning experience and a lot of fun, I’m looking forward to our next Fleet engagement and hopefully I’ll be a Rear Admiral, grade 1, by then.

I did take quite a few screenshots, or at least I though I was, but I’ve been having an issue where Fraps sometimes doesn’t recognize my game. I did take a few using the built-in screenshot function, which I’ve embedded below or you can look at them here.

Tipa did get a good shot of the fleet and a good write up (as always). Longasc has quite a few good shots as well (the link is the starting point for the fleet exercise).

Click here to go straight to the Picasa album.

Fleet Action Organizing

screenshot courtesy of Longasc

The members of the Federation News Service are organizing a fleet action for this weekend.

Since most of us are now somewhere between Commander and Read Admiral, Longasc was thinking it would be a good time to get everyone together for a Fleet Action since those are now scaling to player level. We have a few options, personally I would prefer a space one such as the Gorn one in Tostig system or the Klingon one in Laurentian system.

So, leave a comment with your preferred day (Fri/Sat), time, and mission. I’ll update the post as we get close to a consensus.

I’m not sure how the scaling works since I haven’t done a fleet action in a while, but I would say any ranks are welcome to join, you may die a lot though.

Turbine acquired by Warner Bros.


Relaxing after dinner, I saw this retweet from Patience that Turbine had been acquired by Warner Brothers Home Entertainment and felt my heart sink.

Turbine has been an independent studio in the MMO space ever since they bought the rights for Asheron’s Call back from Microsoft. I’ve always felt that this gave them valuable freedom in making decisions. I very much doubt that DDO would have been given as much time to succeed as it was, and I don’t believe a large company like Warner Brothers would’ve okay-ed the F2P experiment that turned DDO around.  Now Turbine will have to answer to WB for timelines and budgets.

Still, I can’t think of anything WB has done in the gaming industry lately so my initial disappointment may be totally unwarranted, but given similar situations I’ve seen, I’m not optimistic. Mythic didn’t profit from their incorporation into EA. Blizzard has recently been drawn a bit further into the management of Activision. Cryptic/Atari have had quite a few marketing and PR goofs, and I’ve often wondered how much of that was Atari’s involvement.

Lord of the Rings Online is my home MMO, the one I always come back to (well technically I never leave, being a lifetime subscriber). More than that, it’s been a treasured opportunity to play in Tolkien’s world in a way I’m not able to through the books or movies. I’ve never been worried about Turbine doing anything to screw up their game. I don’t have the same confidence in Warner Brothers.

Doom and gloom aside, this should mean that Turbine has a lot more resources and stability, and I truly hope that this acquisition works out for the best both for the Turbine staff and the LotRO/DDO/AC player communities.  It’s probable that the first effects of this acquisition won’t be felt for several months. For now, I just have to be patient, try to keep and open mind, and try to maintain an optimistic attitude. Still, I can’t ignore my gut, and as a wise man once said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Some various news stories about the deal, for the curious:

Captain’s Log 87868.74

Captain’s Log, Stardate: 87868.74

Captain Bryn Aen of the U.S.S. Lukas

At long last, I’m being promoted to Captain. The subspace message just came in from Admiral Quinn to return to Earth Spacedock in order to take care of the formalities. I am excited about the advancement, but also a little sad about moving on.

Becoming a full Captain means I’m going to be given a new command, which also means that I’ll no longer be flying the Lukas. The Akira class heavy escort has been a real challenge for me, and it has been only recently have I gotten comfortable with the proper strategies and tactics required. She’s a beautiful ship, both fast and powerful, but more delicate than I was expecting. It was a large adjustment from the Grace, which was a Nova class science vessel, and even though I could be getting a tactical escort, I’m pretty sure that Quinn will be putting me in command of a long range science vessel. My duty record aboard the Grace was much better than it’s my time on the Lukas, there have been quite a few trips to Spacedock for repairs and refits.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Captain Bryn Aen of the U.S.S. Auryn

The meeting with Quinn went well. As I expected, I’ve been given command of a Discovery class long range science vessel. In recognition of my Starfleet service I was allowed to christen the ship the U.S.S. Auryn. An auryn is a bird of prey from my homeworld known for it’s intelligence, grace, and curiousness.

While I will miss the Lukas, Auryn is a gorgeous ship and the first few shakedown cruises were very smooth. It did not take me long to switch my tactics back to what I’d used aboard the Grace, and I’ve quickly become comfortable with the science vessel.

The crew has settled in well. Prya and V’lel are missing the additional tactical capabilities, but are adjusting. Imaria and T’Rasu are very happy to have expanded roles on the bridge, although Imaria did have to do some retraining. Nayl and Meelok are also pleased, apparently they’re expecting easier duties now that they won’t be constantly working on repairs. While Auryn’s shields are impressive, I’m still expecting to pick up some scratches soon.

As per our tradition, we paid our respects at the monument in Wolf 359 before returning to the Tarod sector in Iota Pavonis. Our mission there was nearly completed before I received the order to return to Sol from Quinn, so we won’t stay there long.

I’ve already received a message from Captain Kurland at Deep Space 9 requesting assistance in the Bajor sector, once we’ve finished our investigations into the current Romulan issues we’ll set course for the Beta Ursae sector block.

U.S.S. Auryn, Discovery-class long rang science vessel

Founded the Federation News Service

The yesterday’s fleet forming attempt was a success! With Tipa as the Senior Editor, meet the founding staff of the Federation News Service.

Pictured from left to right: @Caylinn, @Aurangzeb, @BlueKae (me!), @Tipa, @khaaaaaaan!, and @Vannikar. Not pictured: @camenecium. These are all character handles so you can look us up in-game for an invite if you’re interested in joining.

I’m looking forward to having a group to fleet up with for a change and doing some task forces,  if I ever get promoted from Commander. My career has been stalled a bit and I’m not sure if it’s because of blowing off Admiral Grigori Yanishev when he requested I investigate a Romulan attack on a dig site or just coincidence.

Upate: Caylinn also has a writeup over at MMO Gamer Chick. Also, I wanted to mention that even though a lot of the current members are bloggers and Twitterers, that’s not a requirement.

Fleet Forming

Interested in joining a fleet? Tipa, Longasc, and myself are planning to form a fleet in STO soon (hopefully tonight). We’ve been making due with a custom chat channel up until now (stotwitter, if you want to join), but we’re missing out on a second uniform slot (which I want so I can toggle between modern and TOS era uniforms) as well as building some community for missions and taskforces.

Send me an email if you’re interested (it’s on the contact page), leave a comment below, or look me up in-game Bryn@bluekae.

Joy and Tranquility

This weekend, my goal is to practice finding joy in the little things in life. To relax and live in the moment. Plus, I’ll take any excuse to post a photo of my son Lukas.

Have a good one everybody.

Links from Developer Appreciation Week

Just wanted to collect some links to posts I’ve seen for Developer Appreciation Week (which  I’m hoping is the first annual one).

Hope I didn’t miss anyone, feel free to email or twitter me a link or just leave it in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.

New links:

Max Level Hero

A few weeks later than some and much later than others, the Silver Hunter reached the level cap in Champions online last night. This is only the second game where I’ve hit the level cap, with LotRO being the other. Unfortunately Twitter sharing didn’t seem to be working so the level advancement wasn’t broadcast. Good thing I have a blog then.

I also finished the Vibora Bay crisis mission last night. Until now, the Monster Island crisis has been my favorite mission in the game, but Vibora Bay’s blown it away. This is one of the few times I’ve ever wanted to finish a mission arc just to see how the story comes out. I’m very much looking forward to exploring the zone proper now that I’ve completed the crisis.

Now that Silver is max level, I also have access  to the Unity missions and Nemesis Confrontation, and I’m looking forward to trying them both out. Plus, I really should finish up the character post about Silver that I’ve been working on forever.

100!

This is my 100th post for the blog. While not a huge number compared to some, it is significant to me. First, because it’s 100, that’s just a big round number. Second, I did fifty posts during the first twelve months I had this blog and one of my goals for 2010 was to hit 150. I figured if I could hit 100 by July, I would be doing good, and it’s March. That’s much faster than I expected, and I’m wondering now if I should up my goal to 200 instead.