Introducing Field Trips

Hello everyone. SRS Science and Exploration Division is introducing scientific field trips to various sites around the galaxy. Each field trip will concentrate on a specific planet that we can beam down to. Once down on the ground, it will be your role to catalogue the following:

Flora & Fauna

Geology

Oceanography

River Systems

Meteorology (weather)

Pedology (study of soils)

Anthropology (study of peoples past and present)

and more

How it works

During your visit, you can choose any of the above topics or multiple topics. Take screenshots of the items of interest, e.g. interesting minerals, write reports based on what you have found (in notepad please). Once you have your data submit it to the Exploration database on the website as follows.

Go to the Exploration page

Go to the database

Find the Field Trips Folder

Select the quadrant

Select the planet, in this example, I've chosen Vulcan

Hit the + Folder button and create a folder with your name. Then open the folder and hit the +File button and then upload your screenshots and reports. If you have multiple disciplines you are uploading for, e.g. Geology, Flora, and Fauna, feel free to make subfolders for each to keep it neatly organised. Ensure your screenshots are named, for example in the picture of the crystal above give it a name that most closely resembles a crystal you may find on Earth, e.g. Feldspar or Quartz, don't just leave it named as screenshot0001.jpg as that tells us nothing. You will have to research in real life what you think it looks like. In the case of Animals there may be information nearby that explains the animals, there certainly is on New Romulus, you can use that text if you like. Similarly, if you find interesting cloud formations, don't just call it a cloud formation, find out what it most closely resembles by Googling types of clouds and then use that name, e.g. Cumulonimbus clouds on Dera. This way you will be learning real facts as well as bringing our fictional universe to life scientifically. It is encouraged that you do your research whilst on the field trip, but you may leave it until later if you wish.

MRP

Each field trip will last 30 - 60 minutes depending on how much there is to catalogue. Accordingly, each participant will receive 5 million MRP + exploration MRP at the new higher rate which is 50,000 MRP per screenshot (20 screenshots max), 8000 MRP per word up to 250 words max (2 million MRP). Note, members who take part in the Field trip and do not upload any data to the folders will have their score halved to 2.5 million MRP. Members have 2 days to upload their data, after which time the score will be adjusted on the leaderboard.

Discord

Discord is not essential but will be a lot more fun on these field trips as you can communicate with the other team members and chat as you explore.

Schedule

There is no fixed schedule for these trips and they may be conducted at any time by any CFOPS. The list of systems to visit is available on the database and will be added to as we discover more systems we can beam down to.

CFOPS

Simply choose "Field Trip" from the missions drop down and then choose where you want to go. The score will automatically add 5 million MRP to the players you have entered in the data entry sheet. The only downside is you will have to add the player names manually as there will probably be no combat. I normally do this by copying the names from the game chat when they put the keyword in and then just pasting in the appropriate box, no other data needs to be present, so the data entry will look like this:

New Systems

As new systems are discovered or if you know of other planets we can visit, these can also be part of a mission replay, then the CFOPS can add the folder to the relevant quadrant, or you can do it yourself or ask me to do it.

A final word

Exploration inside STO is severely limited as the Devs never really went down that route, however with a little imagination we can act as a real team of professional Starfleet officers just like Picard and Co and discover all there is to discover within STO, some of the findings may surprise you. Anything you discover can be logged, under anthropology, you can include all the aliens you meet, their ships, housing designs etc, imagine you are describing the area to Picard on the bridge of the Enterprise. The only limit is your imagination.