Topic: Ten Forward - The Star Trek Topic

I didn’t quite realise just how inconsistent the first series of TNG was. The first 3 episodes are mostly awful but it’s starting to get going now after the 5th, ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’. It was a great episode, properly showing off the mystery and danger of deep space. It did have altogether too much Wesley for my tastes though 😂

@LN78 it's OK we wont hold knowing the Discovery stuff against you

@nessisonett I still rate Encounter at Farpoint quite highly actually.

In fact, I still like most of early TNG.

@nessisonett That episode is, without a doubt, TNG's first true classic. Amazing stuff.

@FullbringIchigo Had to do it on my phone, as my PC browser is apparently unsupported, but I got fourteen out of fifteen questions correct in that quiz. Unlike you, I knew the answer to the Short Treks one as I'd read a spoiler review. It was Kirk's rap sheet which caught me out; since it listed both "Murder" and "Wrongful Death" as options, I thought one had to be a red herring. Turns out "Perjury" is the only crime he's never been accused of, which makes sense in hindsight.

@RogerRoger yep if was the only one i knew he hadn't been accused of

Another classic TNG episode, ‘The Battle’. I’d seen this one before but hadn’t realised it was this early on. I enjoyed how it was quite an enclosed, personal story and heavily focused on Picard and his demons of the past. It was also interesting seeing Riker taking command of the Enterprise for (I think) the first time, he’s a total callback to Kirk in his style. That might be due to Jonathan Frakes hamming it up but I personally love that and find it strikes a good balance of hokey but endearing.

I took a break from Horizon this evening, wanted something mindless and immediate. Ended up playing a few custom holomatches on Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force and had an absolute blast.

My favourite map is the largest within the USS Voyager herself. You've basically got two decks, one with main engineering and the other with the shuttlebay, but there's also a transporter room which you can use to go hide on the bridge. I filled it with bots of all the regular cast (that's eight, since I'm playing as Janeway) and then chucked in Satan's Robot, the Borg Queen and a member of Species 8472 for good measure. I had David Bell's soundtracks from "The Killing Game" and "Dark Frontier" blaring out and set the kill limit to 47 (the magic Star Trek number). So much fun, I ran it twice.

Also tried out a round of CTF but alas, the bots aren't clever enough to make it engaging. It just ended up being me blasting my way to the enemy flag, returning it to my base, and then repeating ad infinitum because everybody else just stood around playing defence, occasionally (but rarely) moving to pick up a different weapon. There's a rudimentary order system (basically "go steal" or "protect our flag") but the one time I told Chakotay to get productive, he promptly ran into Cargo Bay #2 and got himself stuck behind a crate (still more than he did in most episodes, mind).

Everybody has some cool quips, some recorded by the cast and others displayed as chat text. Janeway often gave a withering "Dismissed!" whenever she scored a kill, and the EMH frequently protested "I'm a doctor, not a Space Marine!" There was also a solid gag at the expense of Harry's clarinet. The most brilliant (or disturbing) touch is that everybody also recorded their incidental noises back in the day, so jumping grunts, injury yelps and death cries are all from the proper cast. It's perhaps a little too authentic at times, with some specific audio cues making me laugh but others making me blush. Some slash fans must've had a field day picking through the sound data in this game (no judgement, each to their own)!

It all holds up really well. Other maps I wanna give a proper look-see include one split between a Starfleet and a Klingon vessel, forcing you to use their transporter rooms to beam back and forth. There are also a handful of Borg locations, as well as random alien landscapes, all of the holodeck training simulations from the single player (wild west, medieval castle, etc.) and the USS Raven.

Part of me wishes the PS2 port had given you the option to play holomatches against bots, but then I wouldn't have been able to rediscover it all now (and with the Expansion Pack content included and everything) so maybe it was for the best. Likely would've run with a single-digit framerate anyway!

I'm gonna put these in here, as they're not exactly valuable pieces of art that everybody'll wanna see. Behold the majesty of my previous post's ramblings!

@KALofKRYPTON You once asked me for Elite Force action shots. Will these do?

"Computer, begin program!"

The Doctor isn't impressed with Chuckles' console-top dancing.

"Sorry, no mercy killings on my bridge!"

"Come back here, you holographic coward!"

"Alright, who decided it was a good idea to give Neelix a phaser...?!"

B'Elanna and Seven teaming up? This isn't canon!

Cornered by logic.

Nope, I have absolutely no idea what's going on here, either...

...so I just stole a kill and made my escape!

Death from above (tactic inspired by the episode "Shattered").

"You'd think standing in front of the warp core would stop people shooting at me!"

"Alright boys, break it up...!"

"Dismissed. That's a Starfleet expression for 'get out'."

Proof that there's the right way, the wrong way and the Janeway.

@RogerRoger Sweet Christmas! 😁

That all looks rather fun doesn't it!?! Can you get a mod to populate only Neelix bots? 😈😂

I'm considering getting a better than my current (as good as bricked) laptop in the near future. I really may have to jump on EF!

@KALofKRYPTON ...and that's only one of the maps. Didn't even make it down to the shuttlebay! I think you can duplicate bot character models, but a ship teeming with Neelix clones is a prospect too daunting (even for me, somebody who likes him!).

Best of luck if you do manage to get it working. I'm only playing local, but I think some fans are still running servers for proper multiplayer.

I haven't been brave enough to try mods yet, but I gather there are some cracking ones out there!

@RogerRoger 😀😂 please run a Borg ship map populated by Neelix bots. With you as a full on 'Meld' Tuvok killing them all! 😈

Might look in to the mods for it later!

@KALofKRYPTON In future, please be careful what you wish for. Particularly on a Friday night when I have absolutely nothing better to be doing!

A results table for the ages. Crazy Tuvok seems to be in touch with his anger!

@RogerRoger Reminds me of the time I played FIFA and went Barnsley vs Barnsley. Barnsley won.

@RogerRoger 😲👌🏽Amazing! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

That looks like the most cathartic experience in the world! 😂

I looked up some mods on YouTube. Looks like amongst plenty of extra single player content, there's a significant graphics overhaul available. Wouldn't have thought the Q3 engine would polish up so nicely.

Also this...

@nessisonett I'd never have guessed that outcome!

@KALofKRYPTON Haven't gone down the mod rabbit hole myself yet, mainly because I quite like its dawn-of-the-millennium blocky charm. Not surprised somebody's added in original series content though, considering that the campaign takes you through part of a Constitution-Class starship from the Mirror Universe. The framework for corridors, turbolifts, crew quarters, sickbay and its shuttlebay are already in place (although it becomes embarrassing when the game then says "go to the bridge" and it's... well, it's not what you've shared screenshots of, put it that way!).

Great find, though. I think I saw somebody was working on a total conversion mod to make a campaign out of the Temporal Cold War arc from Star Trek: Enterprise a few years back. I'd give that a look-see.

@RogerRoger I did see an Enterprise one, and a Galaxy Class mod too.

@KALofKRYPTON I couldn't sleep again last night, and so watched a bunch of YouTube playthroughs of said mods, including the one you posted screencaps from. Was really decent! I also liked the Enterprise one for piecing together a mostly-original premise using clips of dialogue from the show (and one fan who did his best, bless him). I might have to dig a little deeper once I'm back next week.

@RogerRoger Insomnia blows, but at least you spent the up time productively!

SO has everyone watch Episode 3 of Picard yet, what did you think?

anyway on to a few spoilers just in case

now onto a little thing i noticed in this flash back they were using TNG style PADDS which was a nice touch

now onto the new ship Rios was piloting, i noticed that he was controlling it with a holographic display and i remembered in the DS9 episode "The Visitor" in the alternate future which would have taken place a few year before this Dr Bashir on the Defiant said it had been years since he used a 2 dimensional control suggesting that these kind of controls were common place by then so i guess it's OK having them here (not in Discovery though, that still makes no sense) he also seems to have a holographic crew and each seems to have their own kind of personality but i guess that one way to keep your ship maintained but i hope they don't play it out too much

now i saw someone online bring up the fact that Rios was smoking a cigar and that he shouldn't be as by this time humans didn't do that BUT i think we have to imagine that it's probably not a dangerous thing by that time and for all we know given the tech it could be a healthy thing for people to do by the end of the 24th century

now the ship itself, i'm not too sure right now but i do like the fact it doesn't look like a Starfleet ship

also while it was a throw away line apparently the Romulan head ridges are only seen on Romulans from "the north" and i'll take that as a simple explanation as to why smooth head Romulans are showing up again since not being seen since TOS

now one issue i have is the Romulans that were basically nuts, they said they were the only Romulans ever assimilated but what about the Doctor in that cooperative in the Voyager episode with the freed borg on that planet?

anyway again what are YOUR thoughts?