Training Crew Station for Rank Upgrade.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 3:04 am

Anyone like the idea of having a station (similar to a shipyard, where a ship must pass through it, docking perhaps - or something to be researched at individual shipyards) that trains the crew to level up one rank?

I have come to greatly appreciate my ranked up Vorchas, and other ships... and thought perhaps it would be an idea to give ships an edge (comparable to the research stations that offer shield, weapons, engine, and sensor upgrades for all vessels). Leading them into battle is fine, but this can be costly at times.

I don't know much about balancing. Perhaps a level one rank up can be quick for every ship. But over time, the rank ups take longer.

Or make it a cost thing... I would prefer timing to be the factor, *why would it cost me dilithium or tritanium to train my crew? Maybe a resource cost along with time...

Perhaps the timing also depends on the class of ship, *smaller ships can rank up much faster as there are less crew to train.

Or make it an upgrade at every shipyard. It is free, but say it takes 3 minutes to research (or whatever you guys think is reasonable, more/less). After that, that particular shipyard produces ships that start ranked up, the shipyard trains the crew on the station before they go onto any ships. Perhaps there is a limit of two rank ups per shipyard. While this is being researched, no ships can be produced... so it will still need to be managed. And since it is something that must be done at every shipyard, still more managing. But I like the idea of having a specialized shipyard with which to focus my building...

Another idea, was to give each race this ability, but not necessarily even for ranking but just the training crew idea.

So same idea, but you don't rank up ships, instead based on race, the effects change. This may still have the same outcome as a ranked up ship though.. not sure. So let's say you are federation, if you do this training crew thing, perhaps it allows all vessels from that shipyard to have X2 repair rate. Or Klingons, gives them X1.5 in offensive value. And so forth.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 4:59 am

Not sure I like this.  I would say only if it is expensive and slow, where the cost (in time and resources) means it makes more sense to go out and gain rank through combat than simply train the ships up ranks... and then the question would become, well, what for anyway then?

posted on October 6th, 2010, 7:26 am

What for?  Great if you have one of those ships that's awesome...if ranked up, but just mediocre if unranked.  Use that to get to the threshold where it can reliably pick off enemies to rank up.  Or use it to squeeze out that final rank to get the special you need.  Like knocking off slots from a warpin.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 9:13 am

I think it's cool. Maybe if it dealt with just one ship at a time and took a while to complete, then it'd effectively remove a ship from action while it ranks. However, I think it should be limited to say the first couple of ranks. Maybe up to the first officer rank.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 9:28 am

Against! Just makes things more complicated and gives no significant advantage since ranking up must have a cost otherwise its unfair. User your ships wisely in battle and rank it up this way.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 12:15 pm

It sounds too complicated for me to make a whole new station for rank ups. However, I agree that FO should use it's rank up system more often. C&C Generlas always comes to my mind when thinking about this. With some researches or because of Avatar preferences you can build many units ranked up.
Martok could have ranked up B'rels already, because after his experiences on the Rotarran he began to love that ship and orders all his B'rel Captains to do additional training now . Or let Mijural research "Warbird Veterans from the Dominion war arrive" and build Warbirds with Rank 2 afterwards.
So I'm rather fond of your second idea than of the one with a new building.

Edit: I'd rather like to see that thread in the "ideas and requests" section...

posted on October 6th, 2010, 3:13 pm

Yes, I had no idea where to put this thread... sorry that it ended up in the wrong spot.

I too like the second option better, of it being researched at the shipyard. Just like ships rank up and become better, the shipyards with this ability can also become better, producing better ships.

Comparable to Utopia Planetia, they only had one right? I thought at least, but it built better ships. I could be wrong. Weren't the Enterprise flag ships built at Utopia Planetia? Well not the original few... but the later ones.

People seem to be against it though... again, I only want it for the first or second rank ups. Going out for combat should still be the main priority. I wouldn't be keeping my men at home training them to become Veterans before they even saw their first battle, so there is the idea that ranking up should be from battle situations.  But just to give the crew a head start toward becoming ranked up fully.

And for balance... I like time as factor (for the shipyard). It could be long.. but maybe make it too long for it to be used during the opening part of the game. Needs to be done later.

Or, I noticed how there are two repair buttons, the repair, or priority repair, what if there was a repair and train button? So that the ships going to the shipyard not only repair the ship, but train the crew during the 'down time'. The repair rate seems to be quick, so make it that using the repair and train crew takes the ship 3 times as long to exit yard. That way, it isn't granted immediately after the ship is built, but is more of a mix between battles and dock time.

If it is a station being built, then it could be made expensive. Dilithium and tritanium needed to build the station.

It was just an idea though... if ranking up through battle is best, I'm fine with that. In some ways though, I would like to have multiple options of how to get my ships ranked up.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 3:16 pm

Maybe make starbases rank-up-able. They can fire things and may be able to rank up.

It would be cool to see a vet-starbase or a vet intelligence-center for the rommies. Maybe this could be done in one go when the deep space stations/real starbases come into the game.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 4:09 pm

I like the idea of starbase rank up.

Also, I am slightly against the idea of the station, in favour of the shipyard options (unless someone actually wants the station, I'm against my own idea now, haha). Some races already have lots of stations to build, and don't need something more to waste resources on. But I am liking repair/train button. Or a research button for individual stations. Balanced by time.

Maybe make it that all built ships have to wait a minute before the repair/train button can be selected. That way, there is a decision to be made. Wait that full minute for the button to appear, and another full minute (or whatever the time ends up being) for repair and training to take place at the yard, - or take the ship to the battle line immediately.

Edit: Shipyards that produce better ships are obviously already in the game... hence field yard to imperial yard. I just meant, in the sense that if there was a shipyard that built better ships, they would be selecting their best officers to crew the ships from that shipyard. So, just that if there was a shipyard that was selected for all the best officers to go to, all those ships would benefit.   

posted on October 6th, 2010, 6:22 pm

i dont like the idea of ranking up by sitting in your base. this is not a game about sitting in your base.

starbases ranking i am indifferent on. arguments can be found for both sides.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 7:01 pm

I am indifferent as to whether people want to sit in their base... If they do, I take over the rest of the map and moons, build up fleet and invade.

Just make it costly for them to do so. Or set limits. Can only rank up certain ships, or a certain number I dunno - although I don't so much like that, shouldn't be to to costly.

I do not believe this option allows for base sitting. I only want up to first or second rank up. This doesn't make someone invincible. I didn't even intend for this to be that strong a thing, just an alternative, but I'm sure something can be done to manage any chance of it being overpowered. 

In any case, was just a thought. This game seems pretty well rounded with balancing sides and ideas, so I just thought it might be worth mentioning.

[086gf]

posted on October 6th, 2010, 7:31 pm

Last edited by 086gf on October 6th, 2010, 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I remember in Red Alert 2 if you infiltrated an enemy science center all of your units produced from that point on were already ranked-up by one level.

Maybe for the Romulans, after it has reached veteran rank(if you do allow it to do so in the future) then if you just so happen to infiltrate an enemy research station...the ships that that stations tech upgrades affect can allow you to build ships of similar type can be built ranked-up. For instance if you only get a spy on a enemy Romulan Upgrade Facility only your Rheinn refits and Tavaras can be built rank-up(one level ofcourse/mixed-tech too?). Maybe just the main basline units or, just mixed-tech or, just ships with build caps or, refits? Something like that.

Ofcourse all of the races that can rank-up would have to have the ability to get into enemy research stations or steal tech somehow.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 8:15 pm

do not want...

you cannot substitute combat experience for any form of non-combat training.

posted on October 6th, 2010, 8:31 pm

posted on October 6th, 2010, 8:34 pm

looks like your avatar myles