Best Of

All this talk of Janeway or Burnham being underrepresented. Reality check: Captain Archer, 6 variants, 1 event in WHOLE game so far. Where's the other Archer variants and his events?

(HGH)Apollo wrote: »

DB is trying to stop macros but I am not sure what they are supposed to do to stop them. Not without causing huge problems for regular players playing the game without macros. Sadly cheating exists in almost every mobile game. I don't condone it and hope that DB can stop it but short of stopping all skirmishes or putting in a million annoying prompts we have to click through we will likely just have to live with it and hope the cheaters are not too numerous. But honestly I don't see much difference between the mega whales and the macroists. Both are doing what the vast majority of players cannot. And it is unclear how many mega whales are macroists as well. Using macros would not create chrons. People using it would have to spend tons of money to get those chrons. And event scores at the top are ever increasing, never hitting a threshold. If the whales want DB to stop the macroists then the best way to do that is for the top 15 every event to have to show their work somehow to DB and how they are getting such high scores so that DB can rule them out and kick the cheaters. If the non cheating whales showed how they got such high scores it would give DB much valuable information on patterns and what scores are possible and make DB better able to prevent future cheating. I doubt the whales are willing to do that but if they were then I think DB could quickly assess who was cheating and who wasn't.

They need to make the battles interesting and interactive. Not a boring loop of the same 25 to 30 key presses for 96 hours straight.

I think that with rewards crossing over from week to week it's probably very acceptable to wish to know what is going on. DB has actually lost me on packs though, I'm not risking getting another Vic Fontaine or Proton Paris. I actually think we should go back to 3 new crew per week and one week in every four being a rerun (or bookending mega events) to allow less competitive events for newer players. That way DB would make more money from pack spending while helping newer players bolster their crew regularly with crew than older players have long since immortalized. It would also allow players to avoid burnout if they've been playing long-term. I think this experiment with legendaries going across events is not going to be effective in driving sales as much as having really exciting events with all-new crew and packs that sell what's being played for, and encourage newer players to do well periodically in events that won't be so hotly contested among those who've been playing forever, and they'll make really good pack sales from those events because the newer players will be keen to buy if they think they have a good chance at shining.

Capt. Pete Owen wrote: »

Shan wrote: »

Event Name: Captain Proton to the Rescue!
• Captain Proton's Ship 5* (New)

Really?

When there are so many better choices out there.

The MOST perfect ship would have been the Prometheus, since it was retaken and commanded/run by 2 EMHs!

Ren~ wrote: »

There would have been opportunities to have some nice sci/med character like this cardassian exobiologist hologram from voyager for instance, but instead we got a lot of boring cards and we're also getting two 3/4s.

Crell Moset has been in the game since launch.

https://stt.wiki/wiki/Crell_Moset

Torias327 wrote: »

If I’m not mistaken, Mayweather and Kes are the only main cast to not have a single 5* version in the game. Not really advocating that either needs to show up (Well, Fury Kes does), but it is an interesting point on main cast.

Neither does Nurse Chapel. I consider her main cast, others may not, for the fact that she didn't appear as regularly as others. I think there are maybe 2-3 options for a 5* Chapel, since DB already made Doctor Chapel a 4*. But I'll list out all other versions of Chapel which I think can be fun.



Platonian Chapel (5*) - DIP, MED, CMD
---Starfleet, Federation, Human, Nurse, Prisoner, Romantic, Desperate

Platonian Chapel is a great option for a 5*. While not the biggest star of the episode, she looked really great in the Platonian garb and was quite critical to part of the climax (along with Uhura) where Kirk was finally able to grasp his telekinetic powers. Besides, Dancing Uhura from this episode is already a 5* so there's no set rule a character has to be the most focused character of the episode.



Lovesick Chapel (5*) - DIP, MED, SCI
---Starfleet, Federation, Human, Nurse, Romantic, Casual

Another good option is Lovesick Chapel from Naked Time. She's lost inhibition of herself and must profess her love for Spock. I think she captures that essence rather well in this episode.



Katra Chapel (5*) - SCI, MED, SEC
---Starfleet, Federation, Human, Vulcan, Nurse, Resourceful

Katra Chapel from Return to Tomorrow gives us a unique moment as other than McCoy, Chapel is the only person to have retained Spock's katra. With it, she was able to subvert Henoch's control on the minds of the crew by injecting him with a placebo poison and save the Enterprise. DB would have to embellish her appearance here though such as holding a hypospray more clearly visible, as the scene goes by with her behind the chair mostly.

And now three more Chapels just for fun...



"Reverse Psychology" Chapel (4*) - MED, SCI, DIP
---Starfleet, Federation, Human, Nurse, Crafty, Caregiver

I always liked this version of Chapel in the series, when she was sassy and full of guile, all for the sake of caring and doing her duties.



Away Team Chapel (2*) - MED, SCI
---Starfleet, Federation, Human, Nurse

Pretty generic, but it is nice to see Chapel off the ship as usually she doesn't get to be a part of an away team.



Rescuer Chapel (3*) - SEC, MED, SCI
---Starfleet, Federation, Human, Nurse, Desperate

This Chapel is from the Animated Series, but DB has made art from that series look quite well in the past. So I don't doubt that can do so for this variant of Chapel from when all of the men on the Enterprise are enslaved and/or made diseased by a colony of vicious women who feed off their life essence. She and Uhura make a rescue force and defeat Theela and her minions.

Why doesn't DB apparently care about this? Why aren't they doing more to deter and stop macro use?

Honestly, I don't believe DB is completely apathetic or indifferent to the situation. They can't be. Macro use hurts their bottom line. Players knowing that macros are being used in Skirmishes are less likely to fully participate in these Events and if their use continues to escalate then players are simply going to quit playing the game. This hurts DB both statistically and financially.

The real question is why is macro use apparently not a top priority for them? This is something I can not answer. Any possible explanation on my part would simply be speculation based on my own biased opinion. So rather than do that, let me simply state the facts I know about this macro situation and you can draw your own conclusions.

- Fact: Skirmishes are by far the easiest Events to macro since the sequence of button taps remains exactly the same throughout the Event. They are, however, not the only one that could be "macroed.";

- Fact: Skirmishes have been around for 5 months (Catching Fire - May31st to June 4th was the first);

- Fact: A player reportedly bragged about using a macro in the very first Skirmish resulting in data collection of the top 50 players beginning for the following Skirmish and continuing for all the others;

- Fact: The graphs and charts, resulting from this data collection, which indicated clear and blatant macro use by various players for different Skirmish Events were sent to DB;

- Fact: Skirmishes continue to be rolled out as part of the Event calendar and their format has remained unaltered in all this time despite DB having clear evidence that macros are being used;

- Fact: DB introduced a "macro buster", for lack of a better word, which is a simple message that would break the regular sequence of button taps during Events and thus disrupt the macro's program. In theory, this would help deter macro use if the messages popped up randomly and frequently but DB's macro buster, putting it nicely, has had no significant impact since the messages have been appearing sporadically at best. Players have reported going entire Events without ever seeing one while others mentioned seeing it only once or twice. DB's macro buster is supposedly not working as intended;

- Fact: Over the last 5 months, various players have publicly posted on the Timelines forum about macros being used in the Event that was in progress at the time. Shan acknowledged the player's concerns and said she would pass them on to the DB team;

- Fact: Over this same period of time, various players, including some of Timeline's most respected and influential, have sent tickets and privately communicated with DB employees about this macro issue;

- Fact: After the last Skirmish Event, A Valdore too Far, several GoT members, myself included, as well as other players from various Fleets, sent tickets to DB once again urging that they do something about this matter. These tickets were escalated to the appropriate DB personnel with back and forth communication happening over a period of weeks. Unfortunately, the players got exactly the same responses; word for word, including grammatical errors.

- Fact: Clear evidence of macro use by CaptainMacro in the last Skirmish Event was offered to DB and they assured the players in their tickets that they take this issue seriously and, although they couldn't share their results with the players due to privacy issues, they would investigate CaptainMacro. The current reality however is that it's been 4-5 weeks and the player in question still has an active Timelines account;

- Fact: Since the last Skirmish, there has been no public communication from DB on this subject.

- Fact: The only real public communication on this matter appeared almost 3 months ago from Admiral Prince on July 31st with him stating "We will monitor the game closely to make sure that our measures are working properly. We will also continue to take any action necessary to hinder these attempts to circumvent normal gameplay."

- Fact: Macros have been used in Events by various players over these last 5 months. If nothing is done to impede their continued use and/or punish the players using them, the use of macros will continue to escalate putting this game in serious jeopardy.

The use of macros in this game is deplorable. Thousands of players put in their time, effort and even finances, on a weekly basis, to achieve results from Events and to see a small minority of players dishonestly and shamelessly use these tactics to achieve the same, or better, results is appalling and infuriating to say the least.

DB's slow response to this issue is intolerable as well. Skirmishes have been in place for 5 months. Macros have apparently been around just as long. I don't comprehend why it's taking so long for them to introduce effective measures to resolve, or at the very least, mitigate its use.

I understand that there will always be people who try to circumvent the rules, be it in real life or in a game like this one. That is just a fact of life. However, it's DB's responsibility to ensure, as best as possible, an even playing field for all its participants in each of its Events. To ensure people aren't wasting their time and resources in a specific Event where they are destined to lose out because other folks are cheating their way to success by using automated programs. And to ensure that, when detected, these players infringing upon the ToS are punished accordingly. If none of these 3 concepts are taking place then what's the point of playing this game?

The actions I have taken as an individual player, or even as part of a small group with some of Timelines most influential players, have had discouraging results thus far. Continuing these same efforts is a pointless endeavour. We need to do more. We need the player base to do more. We need to stand together, as a community, as one unified group, and speak in one unequivocal voice against the use of macros.

It doesn't matter if you are a veteran or a new player, a "whale" or a VIP0, or anything and everything in between, your voice matters and together our unified voice has power. DB developed and owns this game but we, the players, are this game. Without us there is no game.

I am therefore appealing to everyone reading this post to add the tag #STOPMACROS to your nick, both in game and on this forum. It is but a small gesture but a very powerful one if we can get the vast majority of the player base to do it.

Since only a small percentage of the players visit this forum, I would also ask that you spread the word among your Fleet, on Discord, on Line, on Facebook or Twitter, in the game UC, or on any other chat App or social networking site where Timelines players can be found. The more players who join this campaign the more effective and compelling it will be.

If we stand together, speak together and act together, we can #STOPMACROS

If you choose to post in this thread please keep it civil, respectful and on topic. Too many threads are closed because people can not follow these 3 simple guidelines.

Thanks for reading.