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Supporting Timelines
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in The Bridge
I just updated the wiki crew list adding Five of Twelve. The addition looks like this.
{{MPCrewList
| CrewName = Five of Twelve
| CharName = Axum
| Stars = 5
| CMD = 73
| ENG = 31
| SEC = 53
| Race = Borg
<!--Traits-->|Borg|Inspiring|Desperate|Saboteur|Crafty|Undercover Operative}}
DB could easily and quickly write a routine to create text, copy it into the clipboard so that could be pasted into the wikki. This would have the additional benefit that all entries could be updated at the same time, minimising the chances of error and ensuring that all entries were up to date. Once the routine was written, the time it would take to update the wikki would be less than 60 seconds.
The point of this post is to emphasize the unpaid playing community that supports Timelines and that a lot more happens than most players may realise. We need to hold DB to account for their inaction as their actions.
{{MPCrewList
| CrewName = Five of Twelve
| CharName = Axum
| Stars = 5
| CMD = 73
| ENG = 31
| SEC = 53
| Race = Borg
<!--Traits-->|Borg|Inspiring|Desperate|Saboteur|Crafty|Undercover Operative}}
DB could easily and quickly write a routine to create text, copy it into the clipboard so that could be pasted into the wikki. This would have the additional benefit that all entries could be updated at the same time, minimising the chances of error and ensuring that all entries were up to date. Once the routine was written, the time it would take to update the wikki would be less than 60 seconds.
The point of this post is to emphasize the unpaid playing community that supports Timelines and that a lot more happens than most players may realise. We need to hold DB to account for their inaction as their actions.
11
Comments
This.
Privileged to be Admiral of the Great Fleet
Dilithium Causes Cancer, maxed Starbase level 134
Featuring photonic flee free holodecks and
All you can drink Neelix's Even Better Than Coffee Substitute!
Please stop beating that deceased equine........
If the topic doesn’t interest you or you have nothing to add, then please feel free not to read it. Thank you.
+1 to OP. Just one good example of the amount of work the community put in to help others enjoy the game.
Whatever. @Shan has Locked several of the threads on this {thinly veiled} topic. We get it. Everyone supports the developer in question. And, certain ones blame DB for what third parties did to that developer.
Have a nice day.
Iampicard, before it was discontinued, was used via a web browser. So yes, it was available to everyone. There was a windows version and one that you could build for other operating systems too.
Whether you choose to seek out tools like that to help you or not is up to you.
I have all Apple products, there was a web based version.
It didn’t help in events, it has nothing to do with them. Only could be used to set voyages, clear dilemmas (which I always forgot about) and play gauntlet. Also as a crew management tool like many of the spreadsheets out there.
There was a web based version that anyone could use, no matter the platform they were on.
I never hit the top 1k, as far I know, there was no access point in the tool for playing events, no access for ship battles out side of the already warpable missions, and certainly nothing to optimize crew choices for skirmishes. I’m pretty sure you couldn’t even run cadet missions via the tool.
I’ve been reading a lot of misinformation about the tool from some very vocal critics, that obviously didnt use it, or are intentionally spreading falsehoods to justify their dislike of the tool and bring more people to their side of the arguement.
Considering he was initially given blessing from DB, when he approached them about it and they had a stickied thread on these forums for everyone to see, I don’t understand why people had a problem with it in the first place.
It wasn't just a simple spreadsheet, it was definitely an advancement on that, and where the line is drawn for 3rd party tools had not been arbitrated on by DB. Still hasn't. Your charge of cheating is hostile and ill-informed. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't debate the merits of the app, but it is tiring to argue with people who immediately take an extreme position.
IF you are going to close the thread please give a detailed explanation of why you are doing so. So far, the thread closures have only added to the silence from DB on these issues.
Your words. The app did allow you to interact with the game servers in a limited fashion.
It isn't, but see what I mean about going straight to an extreme position?
The actual counter to this argument is that every 3rd party addition to the game gives some sort of advantage otherwise no one would use any of them. You are choosing to draw a line somewhere arbitrary and in a situation where you have no direct understanding of the situation. If DB had declared it as cheating then that would be one thing and the app developer is on record as stating that he wanted to work with DB to set the app to their guidelines. Their guidelines have never been forthcoming and players on your side of the argument took in upon themselves to terrorise the poor guy into withdrawing the tool.
At the end of the day, this is something that DB should have approached in a more constructive manner than they have. Ongoing third party developers of resources are understandably concerned about these developments.
This is far more work than most will go to, but the app was designed on a Mac, and the github had explicit instructions on compiling it and you could have compiled a mac version.
And how many apps and overlays are out there for games like WoW and LoL? We'll just leave it at a lot. I don't see people calling those cheating. Or calling a gamepad that lets you put macros on keys for quick casting, etc cheating. Pretty sure companies like Razer and Logitech have entire product lines devoted to such things.
If it's that easy to update the wiki, then why are we talking about how much work is done to update the wiki?
Obviously, the page was not created, nor was anything else linked to that page. Please don't undermine your own argument by saying that it is easy to update the wiki, because it is a ton of work to create all of the pages related to a new character, especially when they have a lot of new items.
You could not be more wrong. The developer has stated openly that he would conform to anything DB wanted to do. DB supported the app for years, but 3 months ago stated they were reviewing it in light of the macro problem in Skirmishes. They have never disclosed the results of their review. Last week they deleted the stickied thread in the Ready Room, and said nothing else. The conversation migrated to this part of the forum as people feared the worse.
Some stuff happened in the background including threats and doxing of the developer. https://iampicard.com/
DB have still not said anything. Lots of people who used the app are still in the dark about what is permissible and what isn't. DB don't seem to want to take a leadership role in this discussion. Instead we have people claiming cheating when DB haven't.
Nope, what happened (as best I understand it) was that the developer reached out to Disruptor Beam, received praise for their work, was told it didn’t violate the TOS, and then later a stickied post containing links to IAmPicard was posted on the forum by DB administrators. That’s about as good as you can get without a formal in-game announcement and pretty affirming for a free third party app that brought significant quality of life improvements to the game.
I’m confused about why people feel that anything giving an advantage is considered cheating. I think cheating is whatever violates the TOS and are explicitly called out by the developers as cheating.
You have to create your own advantage by being able to use the better sorting and more complete visual access to your crew. There's nothing that tells you to select anybody for faction events, nothing that places crew in galaxy events, nothing that orders or suggests crew for expeditions, and no visibility for skirmishes.
What happens is you can see your active and frozen crew side, by side, search and sort by traits and skills, and make the same decisions with the same information as you can with just the STT app only. You just get an easier and more complete way to view your crew, items, ships, etc.
in this you are dead wrong. it was made available via web browser, just because you didnt bother to look it up from the link here in the forums is your own fault.
you are using add warps, are you not, those are not available to every one, steam nor Facebook App have that option. not every one has money to throw in en mass as you are on the game, as you say.
so by your logic of not having some thing available, because many dont have those options available to them, are you not cheating, per your logic or is your cheating ok because DB allows it, payed for the right to cheat.
as for button pushing features for gauntlet or voyage those were only recent additions to the app prior to that it was solely a data collection and was still its primary function. those additions actually helped alleviate issues that DB refused to address and are still actively ignoring.
1000 item cap, it helped break voyage freeze in some instances, ship information, export to a CSV or Excel spreadsheet for more detailed information, a what do i need to get to finish my crew list.
data, and information, that is you ever even glanced at on the STT.Wiki, even you used.
the IAP helped make calculations, it gave suggestions, some times they were not the best, but the player had to assess that data, and decide to use it or not.
have you used the STT.Wiki, oh well there is another form of cheat then, because you have access to that data, that surprisingly came from people who wrote apps and bots to collect that data from the game.
i have never made the top 1k ranks because of the IAP App.
the IAP had no effect on events and never did, it DID NOT do any thing for Events at all other than saying, hey, these crew might have a bonus in the event, that was it.
the IAP App had no Skirmish part, no Mission part, and no Shuttle part. not even a Galaxy Part.
so please explain to me how the App helped me win in any event.
get your facts strait, before making assumptions, other wise you look like a drunk Andorian missing your antennae.
[FSC] Peace Keepers
Gryphon [****] Adm
Actually Mods on most Forums do not "justify" themselves when they close a thread. Nor, should they have a need to. Especially a thinly veiled dupe thread, on a topic where multiple threads have already been Locked........
This wasn't DB's decision. This wasn't because of some people complaining about it on the forums.
This is because people hijacked it to create exploits, and other people did worse things because of it.
You know what I say?
Good for you, anyone who's taking resources down. Take back another part of your life you spend on this game.
Continue ranting, please.