I for one would like to see our humble Horta friends get a makeover.

1) Combat abilities: Hortas are large blobs of sentient rock-lava. They weigh A LOT. They should cause damage simply rolling over people, as well as do heat/burning damage from contact. I would love to see my beloved Mr. Burns flying-leap-slam his targets.

That's another thing. I should be able to control my Horta like we control fighters at the very minimum. Ideally I would like to be able to assign targets for vigorous Horta-Loving... but would settle for a modified fighter-like control.


2) Hortas should be able to take insane amounts of damage before dying. They shouldn't just fade out, they should EXPLODE -- spewing lava damage everywhere. Assimilated Hortas should be nigh-impossible to stop, like Elite Tactical Drones.

3) We should be able to breed new types of Horta like we do with tribbles. Some ideas include:


* Ice Horta

* Aluminum Horta (better strength-to-weight ratio, does less crushing damage, but is faster/more durable)

* Triolic Horta

* Liberated Borg Horta

* Raw Sewage Horta

* and so on.


The breeding submechanic could be it's own mini-game/sub-grind with resources and skill-points to collect.


So how about it devs! Lets show the Hortas some LOVE and update our faithful companions!

really? of all the problems and things missing from the game, you want them to take time to work on of all things horta's... ok.....

Yes.

In a nutshell they're too busy trying to rewrite the game mechanics and stave off nerd-rage because everyone has a personal opinion on how the mechanics should benefit them personally.


The game... lacks anything FUN to do at the moment. There hasn't been a new sub-game, mini-quest, or the like added in ages.

We currently have... scan for data-samples, mine diltithium, dabo, and breed tribbles. With the exception of mining, the others have been around for awhile now.


By adding these little detail things like breeding hortas or targs... or other mini-games... you have something else to do with your time other than worry about conversion ratios and who gets what when the next revamp hits.


My suggestion is but one of a myriad number of little things they could add to make the game more enjoyable. Poker was another suggestion... how about a tri-D chess mini game.


Well, ya'll have fun obsessing over your grind-token conversion rates and who gets what. I'm going to look at things from a different perspective and see if we can't get some change and growth along a different vector for once.

Would the Borg really assimilate a Horta?

Yes. The Borg would assimilate anything that improves the collective. Hortas are naturally resistant to damage, do not need weapons other than their own bodies, and can move through rock like we move through air. That, plus the fact that the Borg have developed an "Assimilate ALL the things!" virus, means that not only would there be value in assimilating, them, but they *can* assimilate them. I highly doubt that the Borg have developed racism (or the species equivalent) since their last appearance on TV and in the movies.

Anyway, back to the original topic; I would love to see the functionality of Hortas be expanded. Just the fact that they can't jump on enemies to deal massive damage strikes me as a bit... odd. Also, by all means they *should* be able to be given commands, like BOffs and Fighters. They are a sentient (or sapient, if using the correct terminology), like humans and the multitudes of near-human and other species, after all.

Really? Mining mini-game (which is essentially a modified scan mini-game), was added only a few months ago.

In a nutshell, there are far bigger fish to fry before they need to start adding new mini-games. The Reputation system in S7 sounds cool (on paper), but it's nothing more than yet another endless grind.

Actually, I am surprised they didn't put in the vaporization animation for them - so many times I have killed them while exposed I know I woulda done that...guys..put one in! For fraks sake - the one on the TV show was vaporized!!!!!

It was? I could have sworn they didn't kill the Horta - instead healing it - after the "No kill I" incident. Sure, they can give them a vaporization animation, but I don't recall seeing a Horta be killed like that, let alone at all during the TV series.

I can't either. The only one we saw was shot, but it only had a piece shot off rather than vaporizing it. I believe the fact that they weren't able to vaporize it on the maximum setting was a fairly large plot point.