Lotus Fleet Forums

Is it just me or does the Federation in the STO game have no respect for the borders of other nations or the rights of citizens other than its own?  

I think the fact the missions play very seriously as if I'm supposed to not doubt for a moment the righteousness of the cause really bothers me most.  Invading a (friendly) foregn powers space, slaughtering its citizens, invading the privacy, destroying equipment, and of course finding out their bent on ga;lactic villiany just feels like lazy story telling and kinda not Trek.

...is it just me that is bugged by this?

It is an issue that is not very Trek-like in philosophy. I suppose it is this way to allow the game to be more action-oriented rather than passive. 

However, they do also add in diplomatic missions, research, providing aid, etc... to balance this out a bit... but certainly not equally.

Indeed, these were added and expanded after the initial disapointment of players from launch when we all expected a Star Trek game and found only a space battle game with a trek skin on it.

What you are observing is the remnant of that original core. Back in the early days, STO was focused only on being "Star Trek in a time of war." This was of course the easiest way to bring the game online within a mere 2 years of developpement, the contract Cryptic had then signed with former publisher Atari to get the license and make the game. So basically, everyone in this game universe is (or was) Klingon... A lot of things were added later to bring back towards a more proper Trek-like context and more a promised still... But it will take a long time and lot of work  to diffuse that basic state of things and truly make it fully worthy of the Star Trek brand.

But it is possible, even within the frame already set by the current game. Proof of this: the Deferi daily mission to save the captives from the Breen. This mission is the closest thing in STO (and as far as I know the only one) that truly reflects the real thing: the captain has to make decisions (choose between options) at every step, and each step taken has following consequences until you succeed or fail; and there are more than one way to succeed... and fail.

If all the game missions would be tailored to follow the pattern of this one, then we would have a true Trek game.

Another option for you in the meantime; a few missions (mostly ground) allow you to resolve the scenario without fighting, despite the presence of enemies. It requires cleverness, patience, the right tools or a bit of luck and the proper attitude. The benefits from the mission are slightly lower (no loot) but the satisfaction in having avoided violence truly makes you feel like a Starfleet Officer.

one of my sisters was hitting the level required for the new missions (She wasnt Doffing like we were) so the three of us did some patrols.  "A ground mission where you only investigate new life without being shot at?  Amazing!  Investigating a space accident where all you do is investigate what happened without being ambushed!  Can they do that?"  We didnt spend any more time on them than a normal mission or get penalized like other games do cause it didnt involve combat and it was so refreshing.