Should I try out Star Trek Online?

[White Haven]

Episodes
-Cardassian Struggle arc:
--The Long Night - Mk XI Very Rare weapons
--Second Wave - Mk XI Rare Jem'Hadar pulse rifle (Jem'Hadar set)
--Of Bajor - Mk XI Very Rare armor (Jem'Hadar set)
--Facility 4028 - Mk XI Very Rare shield (Jem'Hadar set)

-Borg Advance arc:
--A Gathering Darkness - Mk XI Very Rare armors
--Assimilation - Mk XI Borg heavy weapons, Mk XI kit modules

-Breen Invasion arc:
--Cold Storage - CRM 200 (Rare Cold-based heavy weapon)

-Solonae Dyson arc:
--Surface Tension - Mk XI Very Rare kits

There. An nice little list of mission replays with much, much better gear rewards than you have on, all available...not even for free, but the game pays YOU to take them. There are ample others, of course, but those are a selection of high-grade ones.

[Simon_Jester]

Plus, a lot of those are really cool missions that will be fun to replay. The Jem'Hadar ground weapons White Haven talks about are even part of a set that provides (some) useful synergy bonuses as I recall.

[Lord Revan]

Plus, a lot of those are really cool missions that will be fun to replay. The Jem'Hadar ground weapons White Haven talks about are even part of a set that provides (some) useful synergy bonuses as I recall.

the Jemmie set gives a stealth proc and some other health related bonuses I've forgotten now, works only with the rifle though not pistol you get from those missions, another good set (though it you probably won't be getting before max level) is the Iconian Set (ground) the bonuses are pretty decent and it gives nice damage reduction to Kinect/physical that can help with Vaadwaur (and certainly helps with the Heralds) my only real complaint is that triggered 3 peice set bonus is bloody loud (as in "will give you the shock of your life if not prepared" loud).

[White Haven]

Given that it's available at max level, when you're already done with some/most of the Vaadwaur content, that's not as useful for someone still struggling with it. Same reason I didn't mention the Imperial Romulan stuff.

[Lord Revan]

Given that it's available at max level, when you're already done with some/most of the Vaadwaur content, that's not as useful for someone still struggling with it. Same reason I didn't mention the Imperial Romulan stuff.

You can do advanced Grethor or brotherhood at level 50+(I know cause I've done them on my lvl 55 sci) and Iconian Rep is open (dunno if it show on the LFG system though) that said by the time he has grinded the marks to get to tier 5 Iconian he's probably level 60 anyway.

[The Romulan Republic]

Episodes
-Cardassian Struggle arc:
--The Long Night - Mk XI Very Rare weapons
--Second Wave - Mk XI Rare Jem'Hadar pulse rifle (Jem'Hadar set)
--Of Bajor - Mk XI Very Rare armor (Jem'Hadar set)
--Facility 4028 - Mk XI Very Rare shield (Jem'Hadar set)

-Borg Advance arc:
--A Gathering Darkness - Mk XI Very Rare armors
--Assimilation - Mk XI Borg heavy weapons, Mk XI kit modules

-Breen Invasion arc:
--Cold Storage - CRM 200 (Rare Cold-based heavy weapon)

-Solonae Dyson arc:
--Surface Tension - Mk XI Very Rare kits

There. An nice little list of mission replays with much, much better gear rewards than you have on, all available...not even for free, but the game pays YOU to take them. There are ample others, of course, but those are a selection of high-grade ones.

Thank you.

I think I'll take a break from the Kobali soon and work on improving my stuff and just exploring the map a bit.

[Highlord Laan]

My new Engineer captain is now the proud owner of a brand new Emissary Class Star Cruiser, saying a tearful goodbye to her trusty and beloved Dakota Heavy Cruiser.

Downside: The x2 XP weekend is great for leveling, but I screamed past a lot of things because of it. Due to this, my new ship is armed entirely with common-grade MK.IX weaponry and very rare or rare MK.VIII everything else. So the USS Thames is a bit lacking in combat power. Working on it via crafting, but the going is slow.

[RogueIce]

It seems like I need at least level 10 before I get the next batch of ships. After that its level 20. Is it worthwhile to try and tough it out until I get to level 20, then get a new ship. I imagine so that I can preserve ZEN points if I don't need to buy tier 2 ships.

*Snip*

While there ARE low-level (that is, usable below Level 50) ships that cost ZEN, there is no good reason to purchase them unless you really, really want to.

Yes and no.

If you're just buying them as "better" T2, T3 or whatever ships, then yeah, they're pointless. You'll outlevel them too quickly, and really that extra Boff slot and/or console you get (maybe both? been awhile) isn't going to be worth it.

What you would buy them for is the unique console they come with. Those can be worth it later on down the line. Offhand, I don't know which ships really have the 'best' unique console; I suspect that in many cases, it'll probably be situationaly dependent anyway. The only one I know of that seems to be widely popular is the Plasmonic Leech console, but that's KDF side (Feds can get it, but you'll have to buy it off the Exchange from a cross-faction console pack).

That said, every once in a blue moon, Cryptic will do C-Store giveaways that will include the lower tier ships. It's always worth it to pick those up. They even used to give away a T5 ship sometimes, though I don't know if they'll bother with that anymore.

[Simon_Jester]

Put this way, buying a ship (which costs between five and thirty dollars of real money, at the rate of 100 Zen = one dollar) specifically to get a single console is... the act of someone with a lot of money to blow on the game.

The return on investment for doing so is rather less than the return on using the free ships up to level 50 or higher, then using up one's Zen to buy a Tier 6 ship.

[Coaan]

Once you hit end game and have an alt or three, you can earn upwards of a couple hundred zen a week if you grind up their dilithium supplies and convert them into zen - it is a good way to buy lower tier ships for their consoles that does not involve spending actual money.

Ofcourse, at end game you also have other items competing for your dilithium supply, so it's a matter of prioritizing what you want. Will that console *really* help your end build, or would it be better served with a rep item? Most consoles are worth it, mind you, but it is just a matter of juggling wants with needs.

For example, if you fly Romulan? the console off the Valdore is a *must* have for any romulan ship regardless of build or ship choice because it is a raw boost to survivability which all ships benefit from.

[mr friendly guy]

Can you grind in STO. For example keep on killing a few Borg probes?

[Skywalker_T-65]

Yup. Off the top of my head...

Various enemy encounters. Klingons at first, moving up through Cardies, Romulans, Borg...so on and so forth.
Redoing missions, if you're so inclined. Less XP reward, but still a viable option.
Sector Block defense missions (those red alerts).
PvE Missions- Starbase 12 is a good one you can do from right about the start (IIRC. Been awhile since I made a new character).

I'm sure there are probably other ways to grind XP that I'm not remembering as well.

[Imperial Overlord]

Can you grind in STO. For example keep on killing a few Borg probes?

Yes. There are enemy encounters you can run repeatedly as well as fleet actions.

[Lord Revan]

Can you grind in STO. For example keep on killing a few Borg probes?

you can there there's time when level from 50 to 60 that you must grind to get the next story mission as those are level locked.

[mr friendly guy]

Has anyone tried using 4 beam weapons instead of 2 beams and 2 torpedoes? I find most of my combat is with phasers and a occasionally get one torpedo round off.

[Elheru Aran]

Has anyone tried using 4 beam weapons instead of 2 beams and 2 torpedoes? I find most of my combat is with phasers and a occasionally get one torpedo round off.

Sure. Google 'STO Beam Builds' or whatever. Or go through this thread, actually. Lots and lots of information. Torpedoes give the most DPS per shot, but (some) beam weapons do better on average as you can fire far more of them in the time it takes to recharge torpedoes, trick consoles like the Romulan fast-load torpedoes notwithstanding.

Also, you can set your weapons to auto-fire. Right click on the weapons screen, on whichever ones you want to auto-fire whenever you're engaged. This is convenient for a lot of players as you don't have to keep clicking on them at the same time as you're trying to maneuver.

[mr friendly guy]

Is there anyway to just target one ship? Since I respawn my strategy has been to destroy one Klingon ship, respawn and take out the other. But it keeps on spreading weapons fire across both ships and I die without taking anyone of them out.

[Elheru Aran]

I'm not sure what you're doing. Hitting space-bar will fire all weapons at the nearest craft. Try that. Also just click on the ship you're trying to target. It should by default just shoot at the one target unless you're using an ability like Beam Fire at Will...

[Soontir C'boath]

Is it a known issue that when you leave the Romulan Flotilla, you end up at Spacedock? Just started playing the Romulans and it has been a pain in the ass to get back to where I need to be.

[Elheru Aran]

Is it a known issue that when you leave the Romulan Flotilla, you end up at Spacedock? Just started playing the Romulans and it has been a pain in the ass to get back to where I need to be.

Earth Spacedock? That's very peculiar. Sounds like a definite bug.

[mr friendly guy]

I'm not sure what you're doing. Hitting space-bar will fire all weapons at the nearest craft. Try that. Also just click on the ship you're trying to target. It should by default just shoot at the one target unless you're using an ability like Beam Fire at Will...

I managed to get around my problem by clicking on the target I want.

Essentially I was fighting 2 Klingon ships, a Negh'var and a more powerful Dreadnought. I was unable to defeat 2 at the same time, so I wanted to destroy the Negh'var before I die and then respawn and take out the Dreadnought mano on mano. Unfortunately the Dreadnought kept on getting in the way and when the Negh'var was quite weakened my firing would hit the Dreadnought who had full shields.

Ironically I managed to win without needing to respawn and destroyed both ships.

[Simon_Jester]

Clicking the target you want is exactly how you select targets in the game. Also hitting 'tab' (I think) to shift from one target you can see on screen to another.

This isn't a workaround any more than you figuring out you can make your character move forward by pressing 'W' is...

[Soontir C'boath]

I wish the rear weapons could target another ship too. *sigh*

Anyway, is it safe to say that the food and drinks I accumulate can be thrown out? I know chef and bartender missions can be had, but it seems like if there is anything I need, I could just buy on the exchange, no?

[Simon_Jester]

Yes. It costs some EC, but not enough to matter.

If you're going to put food in your characters' inventories it might be worth saving up a few good food items that randomly drop in that way. And food made via replicator is (for higher level characters) more cost effective as a way to restore health outside of combat than hypos... although bridge officer abilities are even more cost-effective, in that they are free.

[Elheru Aran]

There are some random doff missions that require specific food items- Saurian brandy for the Caitian diplomatic stuff, for example. Most of them don't do much of anything. Just recycle or sell them away.