So, I was thinking... I really kind of hate the idea of "sacrificing" DOFFs to feed the Hungy, Hungy Hipp-- err, Starbase. Why do we have to "give up" DOFFs? Will we ever be able to give up BOFFs (which seem pretty useless)? We just finished a mission where we all had to give up a bunch of green level diplomats. I think the entire fleet HATED that mission with a passion...

I like 'leveling up' DOFFs through the personnel office, where I get some kind of a reward out of it and get to do better on future DOFF missions. I don't like summarily getting rid of doffs without like-form compensation, in ways that will NEGATIVELY impact my own performance on my own DOFF missions.

What I'd kind of like to see is a set of COOPERATIVE DOFF missions for fleet starbase construction. That is, a non-destructive way to use DOFFs to complete the starbase. It "feels" more right. That is, we could send engineering DOFFs off to "upgrade power conduits" or send fabrication DOFFs off to "build phaser turrets," etc. These would be kind of "super DOFF missions," requiring fleet participation. It would also encourage people who would otherwise not necessarily use the DOFF system or upgrade their ranks & DOFF inventory to do so.

I'd envision it as a slightly larger version of DOFF missions with maybe a few more DOFFs than the typical mission required (or just MORE MISSIONS, but similar numbers of DOFFs). Certain missions would be white level, green level, blue level and purple level, with differing levels of success/failure, etc.

Basically, each fleet member could tag their DOFFs into a pool of DOFFs, from which maybe the people with permission could select the best DOFFs for the mission and assign them to get the best success percentage and/or reward bonus. Then everyone who participated gets DOFF XP out of it. This would help the fleet level up their players DOFF rankings, and it would encourage people to level up their DOFFs to better participate.

Perhaps it could even give slightly better XP rewards to those whose DOFFs were assigned the mission, medium XP rewards to those who offered their DOFFs for the mission but whose weren't selected (a small 'activity bonus') and minimal or no XP for those who didn't contribute at all.

My thought is that this might make people start using the upgrade options to bump up their DOFFs to higher levels so there's a higher chance of their DOFFs being selected as "best" for the mission and getting the highest bonuses out the other end when it completes. And/or just make people who typically don't "do" doff missions actually start using the system. I have a few friends who never bothered with it that I'm having to coach through it. Seems like this might give people an incentive to learn...?

Ideally, nobody would have to click "collect rewards," the mission would simply complete when it completes and everyone gets their DOFFs back on reserve (rather than having to kill them off). This way nobody has to "give up" their favorite DOFFs to feed a hungry starbase.

That said, maybe some of the missions would have medium, high or extreme casualty risk, so there might be still some CHANCE of losing DOFFs if the mission is poorly staffed. But not a GUARANTEED loss like the current system. And, this way, fleet members won't necessarily have to make the hard decision of whether to support the fleet by killing their DOFFs or support themselves by leveling up their DOFFs (but not having the extra doffs around to "kill off" for the fleet). We could have it both ways (being able to help the fleet by participating in missions, but ALSO being able to bump up your own DOFFs without feeling like you're going "Semper I, to heck with the other guy"). Currently I'm torn between helping myself out in leveling up my DOFF ranks vs helping the fleet by sacrificing the DOFFs I'd otherwise be using to level myself up. It would be nice if we could have it both ways: being able to help the fleet, while also being encouraged to develop one's own resources. I like to have my cake and eat it too, and I feel like this would be a better solution than the current system. I feel like it would have more of a STO feel to it too. Actually completing "missions" rather than just resource grinding & dumping.

Maybe you'd even have certain short-completion-time repeatable missions for resource grinding things like provisions or turrets, which you then use those things to complete the higher level missions. So, like, the repeatable grinding missions might be white level easy missions, which you use to get the resources to unlock the green level missions, etc. And there could even be assignment chains for some of the limited-time-missions for s/b improvements. So, you'd have to successfully complete each of the steps of the chain in order to get the improvement.

As I'm thinking about it, the grinding missions could be like "failure, success, profitable, very profitable" with higher payouts of the grinding materials for the different levels of critical success. Maybe critical success = you get all the 1000 provisions, profitable = you get 1/2 the stuff ~500, success, you get maybe 100. Failure, you get nothing...

And of course, the missions could still each require things like to'duj fighters or provisions or dilithium, etc. It would just require adapting the current doff missions system and applying it to the starbase system. We already have missions in game that require brief DOFF missions as part of the mission (some of the Bajoran / DS9 missions, if I recall right?)... Why not make Starbase leveling similar to that?

What do people think? Would this be a better solution? I think so, personally. It would treat DOFFs more like crew than like disposable commodities to perform Satanic sacrifice rituals on...

It would probably also help even out the ridiculous DOFF prices in the exchange... Since probably people wouldn't be buying up DOFFs just to dump them out of the system entirely. People would just be buying them to actually use them. Or MAYBE for leveling up. But if for leveling up, they wouldn't be making runs on SPECIFIC DOFF types, but more evenly distributing their buying, or just buying the actual USEFUL DOFFs for completing missions, and prices might once again reflect actual in-game utility rather than just which DOFFs happen to have been randomly picked as "dump this DOFF type" in starbase missions.

Just my 2c...

Best,
~MG

Starbases require personnel, so it makes sense to "contribute" them.
At least I hope they aren't used for Soylent Green production.

Right now, it feels that way... Are there a number of crew walking around the starbase proportional to the number of DOFFs fed to the starbase? I think not. In which case, they're really just Soylent Green.

I'm not saying A FEW missions "staffing the fleetyard" (an end-game mission for upgrading part of your base) couldn't require actually sacrificing DOFFs to it... But for the most part, it seems like missions could just literally be missions, where you assign some crew to do something, but you don't shoot them in the head at the end of the mission, they actually come back to your crew alive and well to complete other missions.

Upgrading power conduits isn't exactly a suicide mission. Most people usually come back from it. Y'see what I'm saying?

I mean, if the base needs to be staffed after construction it would be easy enough to add that to the missions as like an assignment chain for actually getting the upgrade going. So, you'd maybe have "staff the bar," "staff the kitchen," "staff the store" which would be easy missions, with no chance of failure, just a requirement to give up x number of DOFFs of the proper type. Maybe staffing the kitchen would even be preceded by some of the "prove your culinary skill" missions, where your chefs have to actually complete the mission successfully before they can be sacrificed. Y'know, things that might actually happen as real parts of staffing a place. I mean, you don't just take your staff and shoot them all in the head out back and call the place staffed, which is about what it feels like, currently.

Again, just my 2c.
~MG

Someone with more spare time than I should calculate (or look up?) how many people is required to run a full "Tier 5" starbase, and how many DOFFs get thrown into making a "Tier 5" Starbase.

This is something, I'd like to know as well.

Someone with a canon answer plz?



- Ash

Are we talking just STAFFING it, or are we talking all the contractors and workmen employed in building it? Heh.

And what is the typical accidental death rate amongst the contractors building it (defective power conduits exploding, etc.)?

Cheers,
~MG

Shush you. I'm getting rich selling DOFFs to feed the Fleetbases.

Yeah, I bet. I was torn between sacrificing a green Diplomat yesterday and selling it in the exchange for 2 mil. EC then buying about 4-5 purple Tholian DOFFs. My fleet finagled me into just tossing it into the mouth of the monster rather than going all "Semper I" and making a killing... *Sigh*

I have to agree with the OP, I do not think its really cannon to sacrfice so many doff's and the doff's in our starship mission normally tend to return to us in good health or require some medical attention very rarely do you get a mission where they die.

I am not fond of sacrificing my doff's for starbase missions!

Staffing it i mean lol haha, and judging my the tv shows... 26-35 people-ish die everyyear on a ship/starbase? HAha

- Ash

This is not the TV Shows this is STO, we barely loose our DoFF's in starship missions why do we need to loose them in starbase missions? I am at a loss.