I think I've got a viable solution for Cryptic concerning how to make the Galaxy X functional and fair in-game.

Cryptic has stated before that they would have to make the big cannon functional if they made it but that seems unfair at first. This is how you do it.

First, The Galaxy X should be a tier 5 cruiser. Sell it in the C-Store for 1000 credits. Give it 4 rear slots and only 3 standard front slots with an auxiliary slot for 1 single beam array of any energy type. Place a special button for the use of that slot on the hud. When used, the big cannon would fire a blast similar to Beam Overload 3. The off-set would be a 2-fold. After using the big cannon, it sets all energy weapons on a 20 second cool down and places the use of the big cannon on a 2 minute cool down.

So after use, you would have only torpedoes for a 20 second count. The other off-set would be that you only have 3 standard forward slots since your trading up 1 for big cannon use only. As far as I can tell, the trade offs puts it on equal footing with other Tier 5 cruisers, adds something cool to the game and does so without adding an unfair advantage.

Thoughts?

How about just adding a special ability to all T5 ships and making the Galaxy-X the Vet reward for 400 days of service...


I know... whacky thought isnt it...

The only part I really don't like is selling it in the C-Store. Just add it to the game, this would make such a great STF reward.

As for the rest, I don't really have an opinion, I'd expect this cannon requires you to point the ship at your target. Being that this thing is a large cruiser, you'll only get to fire off one, maybe 2 shots with that cannon before you're back to using phasers broadside again. So all the special limitations might be overkill.

Anyway, just my opinion.

For something as iconic as the Galaxy X a vet reward is the ideal solution.

I'm not so huge a Gal-X fan as to shoot for it, that said I think that the decision to make it a reward for recruiting is a smart one.

I also think it would be worthwhile for them to include another way (in-game) to acquire it, but I personally think it should be very difficult to do so.

Its the effort that adds to the special awesomeness factor.

Sucks to be an Escort / Science pilot dosent it. Something that seems to have gone unnoticed amoungst all the complaints about this one ship.

Wheres the Special variations of THOSE ships eh ?

We can have...

Incursion - Escort
Gimick power - Holographic Masking

Nebula - Science
Gimick Power - Enhanced Sensor Scan


Not that I really give a damn about the Galaxy-X but there is a difference between MR.X flashy skin that does nothing special and Oh look mr. X just hit me, and Y others with a 5k - 10k split beam attack.
The former makes no real combat advantage, the latter offers someone an actual gameplay advantage by being able to do more damage regadless of how much it is.

And I am one of these crazy freaks which would pay 1000cp for this ship. But I doubt your good suggestion will find its way into the game.

We are going to hear some political answers like "there will be similar T5 ship skins... just wait... season 2.0 etc."

They have no idea how to deal with their most loyal player base. The MMO freaks are mostly gone, they reached RA5 months ago and two weeks later they left. Who's left? Right, the Star Trek-Fanbase which don't care much about MMO balance, and huge content. And what's important for these players? Right. New Ships, correct details, more Races, functional bridges, ship interiors...

And what do they do? Kicking the butts of these players by getting the coolest items to a stupid referral program...

Unbelievable.

The RAF program needs something that will actually inspire the fan-base to want to get new people into the game. Due to LTSs the "1 Free Month" many other MMOs give away just isn't incentive enough. The item needs to be rare enough that people are willing to work for it. The TAG Enterprise is a decent choice. Those who only fly Escorts and Science Vessels aren't going to care that much but it's still something to work for. Personally I would've made the T5 Galaxy, Defiant, and Intrepid skins the bonus. That's something most people want.

Not to sound cynical, but I would say that they're not playing to the LTS's anyway. LTS's gave a big chuunk of change to help get the game through the first few months to a year, but they're not longer the lifeblood of the game, or at least won't be for long. Cryptic has the LTSs' money, and if the game goes on for longer than about two years the LTS's become a liability to them, in fact. The monthly subscribers are the ones that keep the game -- any MMO, really -- going. To that end, play time as reward would be in keeping with other MMOs that have referral programs, and would be of value to the monthlies.

But agreed, they would need something to appeal to the Science and Tactical people as well (unless there's a couple of Universal consoles on that Galaxy-X.) But then there needs to be something appealing to the Klingon players, too, now that I think about it, and I'm not sure what Klink ship was all that iconic that isn't in the game already.

I agree with what you are saying, but LTS customers may still make purchases via the C-Store and expansion packs, so they do continue to bring funds into the game.