According to the most recent comments I've heard, star clusters are going to become like the Defari system with "known locations, known people that you can go help, daily missions". I have 2 concerns with this: first of all, thats not really exploration. Second, what happens when you play through those missions? Do you have nothing new to explore until new ones are added?

The details discussed above are from this interview, 13 mins in:

http://www.trekradio.net/news/dan-st...w-in-on-demand

Have a listen and then share your thoughts.

Its got to be better then the current grind...exploration is it is is so boring..

Can I still hunt for Crimto?

This news is rather troubling for "true" exploration. Though I'm hoping that they can generate several "known" systems for each individual nebula. A fairly large number, say 20, may give the feeling of randomness in exploration. Especially at launch, exploring one nebula will have a 1/20 chance of a "unique" exploration experience for players. This would require a fairly large overhaul though if it's on a similar scale to the Deferi space (About 5 mission in an arc per zone). Though I seriously doubt it would work this way. I can dream though.

But I think it might be a slight step over the current mad-libbed generated ones. Never did understand why those Borg were looking for Third Dynasty relics in the system.

It sounds like, where we'd be losing that unknown aspect that is essential to exploration, he is hoping that we would benefit from user generated content to make these sectors come to life.

I think it's a bit of a gamble to be honest. Asking your player base to create new content for the new locations and aliens, sounds kinda lazy to me.

I think they should go ahead with this idea of new sectors, but keep some of the unknown sectors filled with anomolies just the same. Add a few variations of missions to keep it interesting.

It's not like the current system is broken or anything, it just requires a few new mission types from time to time.

Why not? Once someone explores something in real life and in Star Trek it generally stays explored.

If there's a star cluster out there with a set collection of aliens, what's going to set them apart is that they're going to be aliens that the player hasn't heard of upon entering that system for the first time. Exploration isn't just about initial discovery; it's also about learning more and digging deeper about the things you know are already out there.

I personally prefer an exploration system that lets me learn more about the new aliens I encounter vs. only making superficial visits to randomly generated portraits over and over again.

Well, I guess my concern would be how many alien species that you could contact would be in each nebula? It takes a lot out of the randomness in exploration if everyone made contact with the same alien race in that particular nebula. It'd be cool the first time around, but the second and third time, people will stop reading the story aspects.

Good find.

Ugg by all means add this as it will only add to the game. However, that is not exploration. By definition exploring means discovering something or somewhere new. This isn't it.

There are tons of threads on how to make this better. This direction just doesn't cut it.

don't forget that there is QUITE a fair bit of the galaxy left to cover, i dunno about you guys but there's some unknown regions of space yet covered and not forgetting the gamma and delta quadrants to cover.



there's plenty of exploration to be had, and it sounds to me that what's being attempted is something roleplayers might be able to sink their teeth into and have something akin to proper player progression in terms of 'boldly going' but giving further depth to what would otherwise be the general cookie-cutter mission templates we've seen in many a cluster mission.

which boil down to what? a handfull or so archtypes?

• Hunt the Anomaly 0/5
• explore abandoned base
• explore abandoned base /w enemies
• enemy encounter in space
• defend colony
• scan stuff on planet surface, with or without enemies
• scan series of abandoned vessels
• 'protect' base or ship from enemies

forgive me if i'm wrong, guys, but wouldn't adding a little variety and depth be a good thing?
heck, i'd be even behind the idea of further opening up 'unexplored' regions to be properly explored via plot or somesuch.

10 races explored by 1,000,000 is quite a lot of exploration.