You'll see what I mean. Here is a sample.

Mission: Mibaran Civil War
Setup:
The Mibarans are native to the planet Mibar. They are not currently members of the Federation, as they have still not put aside the petty squabbles of their past.

Recently, the leader of Mibar, Consul Trang, died under mysterious circumstances. He was a peaceful leader and well loved by his people, attempting to unite all of Mibar under one banner. But his son Jorang, who takes over in his stead, is a more militant ruler. He believes that the best way to unite the various factions of Mibar is to conquer them militarily.

A large group of Mibarans, the Fasha'ad, have begun a violent rebellion against Jorang. They steal supplies, raid outlying villages, and conduct hit-and-run attacks on military outposts. Consul Jorang has contacted Starfleet for aid in this crisis, and Starfleet has assigned you this duty.

Act 1: Rebel Encampment
Upon arrival in system, you are hailed by Jorang. He says that his rule has been difficult since he took power, and is forced to resort to violence to pacify the regions his father failed to unify peacefully. He wants you to attack and destroy the rebels. He informs you that his information network believes that there is a rebel encampment in the forests, and he gives you coordinates.

You beam down to the surface, and encounter the rebels. They are willing to talk to you, although begrudgingly. There are three major leaders amongst the rebels, and you talk to each of them to gather information.

General Buran argues that the government of Mibar has attacked and killed many of his people in Jorang's violent push for unification. He believes that Jorang must be removed from power, by violent means, if his people are to ever be free. He proposes that you aid him in deposing Jorang, and appointing a new, peaceful leader.

General Trienil does not believe that Jorang's rise to power was legal. Though she abhors the violent practices of Jorang, she only opposes him directly because she suspects Jorang's father was murdered by Jorang, and therefore this government is illegal. She seeks a legal resolution to the issue.

General Rotey simply wants to live in peace away from Jorang. He seeks Federation aid in relocating his people off of the planet to the habitable moon of Mibar, letting them live in peace, separated from Mibar. He knows Jorang would never allow this, and would violently stop any fleeing ships, so they must have Federation protection to do so.

With this information in hand, the player beams back up to his ship, and is joined in the conference room by his officers. You now have four options, each presented by one your officers:
Option One: Contact Jorang, and let him know you will help him pacify the rebels.
Option Two: Contact Buran, and let him know you will help him overthrow Jorang.
Option Three: Conduct an investigation into the death of the previous Consul, and determine the legality.
Option Four: Contact Starfleet about relocating the rebels to the moon.

Option One
If the player chooses this option, you and your away team beam down to the forests. A long combat-oriented mission follows. Fairly standard stuff. Upon completion of the mission, Jorang thanks you for his aid, and assures you that with the rebels defeated, the way for peace is finally open.

Option Two
Here, the away team instead beams to the capital city, and begins a long-combat oriented mission to infiltrate the palace. With Jorang dead, General Buran takes over. He assures you that as the both the government and the rebels, he now has the tools to unify the planet finally.

Option Three
The player and one officer beam to the planet, and begin a thorough investigation into the cause of the previous consul's death. Interviews with medical staff, Jorang, and a variety of others. Searching for clues, tricorder scans, etc. The end result is that in fact the previous consul died of a genetic condition, no foul play involved. The Mibarans did not have the technology to scan for this condition, but Starfleet knows of it and a treatment. Since Jorang has inherited it as well, he agrees to stop the violence in exchange for treatment. The rebels, under General Trienil, acknowledge his legal claim to leadership, and rejoin the government.

Option Four
Starfleet agrees to send several transports to Mibar, and the rebels are transported on to the ships. You must escort the ship to safety. Jorang's blockades are your first obstacle, followed by a lot of space combat as Jorang sends tons of ships to pursue you. Jorang's military might is destroyed as he throws himself against you, leaving way for rebels remaining on the planet to overthrow him. The colonists on the moon elect to remain there, in peace, away from the violence of Mibar.


And there you go. I could see several missions down the line that require you to interact with them again, and the missions would be different depending on how this one went.

this is a fantastic suggestion! i like to think of it broken down as just the effort that goes into 4 distinct missions, all mashed into one glorified episode!

im sure basic scripting can be used to link the options together...dialogue is dialogue

great idea!!

A great suggestion. Very Trek

Please see the Ultimate Recurring Missions thread linked below.

I just read the post, as well as the interesting and related posts about Duty/Honor and Diplomacy.

I'm curious: Has Cryptic responded in any way? I see responses on issues like "we want skirts", but not on an issue as major as this. I'm just curious if there has been ANY response from them on these issues, even just a "we acknowledge this is a problem" statement.

As far as I know, sadly no. I would really like some response from them as well. Not so much on what is wrong, but what they will do to fix it/what they will put into the game long term.

Expecting Devs to ack isn't the goal as much as putting out the data. It's been my experience from many other games that actual Devs/producers don't post in threads with any directness (i.e., "We are going to do X") instead they answer in ways to cover bases in the future (understandably)

The odds are that they have some of the stuff we mention in the URM thread already on a whiteboard somewhere -- the true goal is to come up with what amounts to a parallel "whiteboard" based off of player expectations / desires and compare that to their extant whiteboard.

Never post an "idea" thread with the purpose or expectation of receiving public Dev recognition. Producers will lurk when and where they want...if you can get enough buzz or obvious utility then you got a chance of getting some bugs in the ear.

I see the point. I didn't mean so much a response as in "Great idea, RandomUser123! It'll be in the next patch!". I was more curious if there had been a general response to the overall concept of exploration/diplomacy vs nonstop combat.

Simple, Thoughful, Logical. Yeah this should work if the servers allow it!

I actually see your scenario here fitting in well with the "Diplomacy" decision set.