Should I try out Star Trek Online?

[mr friendly guy]

Oh, need to add that plasmonic leech is a must for most builds, except maybe for some science builds. So definitely consider that.

[RogueIce]

Well this is the first time I had PvP single battle in space. Previously I have been challenged on ground and in space with groups, although I rarely play PvP, preferring PvE and completing quests. I felt kind of bad that I won 15 to 0, but I do have questions for those who play PvP.

I don't PvP, but the answer to both of your questions is: no. As long as you're not abusing cheats or exploits, if you win you win. How you do so is up to you.

If anyone gets salty at you for it, their problem, not yours.

[Lord Revan]

Well this is the first time I had PvP single battle in space. Previously I have been challenged on ground and in space with groups, although I rarely play PvP, preferring PvE and completing quests. I felt kind of bad that I won 15 to 0, but I do have questions for those who play PvP.

I don't PvP, but the answer to both of your questions is: no. As long as you're not abusing cheats or exploits, if you win you win. How you do so is up to you.

If anyone gets salty at you for it, their problem, not yours.

there's some "gentleman's agreement" style restrictions on PvP sometimes, that said most people won't raise a fush if you don't follow those restrictions, really the only ones that are adamant about following those are the people who fight people with PvE optimizied builds (or non-optimizied builds) for a easy kill because they have PvP focused builds.

I found about those restrictions when PvPing with my fleetmates for fun.

[bilateralrope]

I want a beam broadside boat.

I've been advised that the Kelvin Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser is a good broadside ship. Until then, I'm using the Assault Cruiser]

Good choice for the broadside, although its going to be expensive and time consuming getting all those lobi crystals to purchase it from the lobi store.

Or I could save up the few hundred million EC and buy it on the exchange. Let someone else gamble.

As for other T6 ships to look at, consider that I'm looking at broadsides. Weapons/abilities that only fire to the fore or aft are useless to me.

[mr friendly guy]

I want a beam broadside boat.

I've been advised that the Kelvin Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser is a good broadside ship. Until then, I'm using the Assault Cruiser]

Good choice for the broadside, although its going to be expensive and time consuming getting all those lobi crystals to purchase it from the lobi store.

Or I could save up the few hundred million EC and buy it on the exchange. Let someone else gamble.

As for other T6 ships to look at, consider that I'm looking at broadsides. Weapons/abilities that only fire to the fore or aft are useless to me.

Ok. The Yamato's other ability of overloading supplemental system would still be useful for you then. It boosts power to all systems including weapon, and has increase drainage of enemy subsystems. Combine with plasmonic leech and fire at will you should be able to do good damage.

[bilateralrope]

True. Still, any ship change won't be for a while. So I'll focus on my current ship.

For my away team, I think I'll equip everyone in the Na'kuhl Temporal Operative set, then ignore away teams until more episodes are released.

For my ship:
- First I'll grab the Kobali deflector/shield/engines (warp core can't be acquired any more) and Preserver Resonant beam/console*.
- Then I'll look into reputation sets. This might involve switching which damage type I'm dealing.

*Is the torp launcher worth it ?
+ It unlocks the last set ability
- I won't be firing it often because it doesn't fire into my broadside arcs.
- I do have other things that could fit. Maybe an 8th beam array (I need to see the math on the optimum number of beams), maybe a mine launcher (I'm surprised by how often my mines do hit enemy ships).

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Good choice for the broadside, although its going to be expensive and time consuming getting all those lobi crystals to purchase it from the lobi store.

Or I could save up the few hundred million EC and buy it on the exchange. Let someone else gamble.

As for other T6 ships to look at, consider that I'm looking at broadsides. Weapons/abilities that only fire to the fore or aft are useless to me.

Ok. The Yamato's other ability of overloading supplemental system would still be useful for you then. It boosts power to all systems including weapon, and has increase drainage of enemy subsystems. Combine with plasmonic leech and fire at will you should be able to do good damage.

I loved the Assault cruiser, the Imperial skin on that thing is really badass. And the wide-angle QTorp launcher is pretty cool too, a couple of my toons still use it when they have a hardpoint free. Metreon Gas is a bit meh, on the other hand.

Kobali set is definitely worth it, its durability and numerous heals make it particularly suited for tanking builds. The only downside is having to run the mission multiple times to get each piece. Though if you manage to find the Kobali lost in the maze you get a free Command BOFF so it's not all bad. (Said BOFF came in handy when levelling my mastery in the command battlecruisers )

Mine launchers are best paired with dispersal pattern alpha/beta, those improve the odds of mines hitting considerably. Like torpedoes, there's a wide variety of types, for example the tricobalt one drops one big, high-yield mine instead of many smaller ones.

One note of caution about the Preserver resonant set is that you'll find the console takes up a tac slot that would otherwise be occupied by induction coils/vul. locators.

While I know it used to be that no ship could fire 8 beams I don't know if that's still the case, since then there have been many ships and sets that offer increased weapon power/decreased power cost. I'm sure the question has been answered on the official forums or the STO Reddit (To date the only reason I visit that site). It's something I'm wanting to know myself since I have a full set of antiproton beams ready for deployment

[bilateralrope]

Though if you manage to find the Kobali lost in the maze you get a free Command BOFF so it's not all bad. (Said BOFF came in handy when levelling my mastery in the command battlecruisers )

I found said BOFF first time through. At the moment I'm replacing my ship BOFFs with humans as that DOFF assignment shows up, as humans are guaranteed to have a space trait and the rest of my BOFFs only have ground traits (except the Hierarchy BOFF I pickedup on a mission). Though I might go for other BOFFs with space traits if they show up.

Mine launchers are best paired with dispersal pattern alpha/beta, those improve the odds of mines hitting considerably. Like torpedoes, there's a wide variety of types, for example the tricobalt one drops one big, high-yield mine instead of many smaller ones.

My ship doesn't allow me to take those BOFF abilities.
As for which mine, I'm currently running photon mines, as faster fire rate means more mines. Turns out mines hit far more often than I expected when I made that decision. Still, they have the most DPS so I'll stick with them.

One note of caution about the Preserver resonant set is that you'll find the console takes up a tac slot that would otherwise be occupied by induction coils/vul. locators.

True. But the set bonus looks like it will make up for it vs shields. It's only a temporary set before I'll probably be switching to another damage type when I start rep grinding.

[bilateralrope]

While I know it used to be that no ship could fire 8 beams I don't know if that's still the case, since then there have been many ships and sets that offer increased weapon power/decreased power cost. I'm sure the question has been answered on the official forums or the STO Reddit (To date the only reason I visit that site). It's something I'm wanting to know myself since I have a full set of antiproton beams ready for deployment

The STO reddit linked me to this, which looks like it will give me a build specific answer.

Or I could just ignore it because I notice that all the sets with beam arrays include a torp launcher. A weapon pairing that doesn't make sense since the torp arc isn't the broadside arc.

[RogueIce]

Or I could just ignore it because I notice that all the sets with beam arrays include a torp launcher. A weapon pairing that doesn't make sense since the torp arc isn't the broadside arc.

Because you're not 100% of the time in the broadside facing. And even then, pretty much all but the most whale-like of cruisers won't have that hard of a time moving a bit to bring the torpedo to bear. Especially not if you picked up the Wide Angle Quantum Torpedo off the Regent.

Plus with the ability to have three out of your four rear slots filled with Omni-directional arrays (crafted; mission; Borg KCB) strictly broadsiding is less important now, and you can easily keep pointing 'forward' at your enemies while still having 3/4 rear weapons bearing on your enemy. And if that fourth slot is a rear projectile launcher then it's useful for when you 'flip around' on your enemies to present undamaged shield facings, or just because of the fact that you're often outnumbered and surrounded anyway.

And there's a plethora of consoles, abilities and even Specialization bonuses which, if you care to apply them, can make even the most whale-like cruiser able to turn well enough that staying strictly side-on is not a requirement, nor especially burdensome. And most cruisers can turn well enough anyway that it's a nonissue.

[Elheru Aran]

It's nice to have a torpedo to finish your opponent off quickly once all those beams have whittled a hole in their shields... that's the main thing there.

Earlier in my time with the game I liked mines a lot for the same reason (and also because mostly I tended to be incapable of keeping them in front of me, so...).

[bilateralrope]

Or I could just ignore it because I notice that all the sets with beam arrays include a torp launcher. A weapon pairing that doesn't make sense since the torp arc isn't the broadside arc.

Because you're not 100% of the time in the broadside facing.

True for the approach or when switching targets. But once I get an enemy into my broadside arc, it usually stays there until it's dead.

And even then, pretty much all but the most whale-like of cruisers won't have that hard of a time moving a bit to bring the torpedo to bear. Especially not if you picked up the Wide Angle Quantum Torpedo off the Regent.

We shall see.

Plus with the ability to have three out of your four rear slots filled with Omni-directional arrays (crafted; mission; Borg KCB) strictly broadsiding is less important now, and you can easily keep pointing 'forward' at your enemies while still having 3/4 rear weapons bearing on your enemy. And if that fourth slot is a rear projectile launcher then it's useful for when you 'flip around' on your enemies to present undamaged shield facings, or just because of the fact that you're often outnumbered and surrounded anyway.

The reason I like broadsides is that I can circle the enemy keeping all my beams firing at them. If I'm facing the enemy, I'm approaching them. Which means I'm likely to pass them soon.

As for omni-arrays, don't they have less DPS than beam arrays ?
Especially when they are of different damage types and thus don't benefit from my tac consoles.

Though I'm planning to switch to antiproton damage (because of this weapons), meaning that this omni beam is tempting, as I already have the warp core.

And there's a plethora of consoles, abilities and even Specialization bonuses which, if you care to apply them, can make even the most whale-like cruiser able to turn well enough that staying strictly side-on is not a requirement, nor especially burdensome. And most cruisers can turn well enough anyway that it's a nonissue.

[mr friendly guy]

As for omni-arrays, don't they have less DPS than beam arrays ?
Especially when they are of different damage types and thus don't benefit from my tac consoles.

Not really. You're thinking of turrets which have 360 degree coverage but less damage. Omni arrays have around the same, sometime a little more than regular beam arrays, except for the kinetic cutting beam, which has waaaay more DPS even after you use boosters on the regular beam arrays. The offset with omni arrays is that you cannot have more than one of the same type, so at best for some energy damage types you can have 2-3 omni arrays.

For example the KCB and the crafted omni array of your energy type gives you two omni arrays if you say, play with phasrs. You can't craft an omni array of a different energy type (say disruptors) and stick that on without removing the other crafted phaser omni array. Some energy types also have some arrays which don't clash with the crafted ones, like the ancient omni array for antiprotons and the chronometric arrays for polarons and one for tetryons. However at best you still get only 3 omni arrays unlike turrets where you can load all 8 of them.

So if you're thinking of playing antiprotons, you can have two antiproton arrays (1 crafted and 1 ancient antiproton array from a quest) which receive boosters for tac consoles, and the kinetic cutting beam, which doesn't receive boosters, but still does more damage anyway.

Edit - also like to add with things like krenim chroniton torpedo (100% shield penetration, just like that ST : Voy episode) or kemocite loaded weapons the issue of shielding removing a lot of the damage from torps isn't so bad.

[bilateralrope]

I tried to Dust to Dust a second time to start collecting the set. I went through the entire mission. Everything looked like it was running normally through the entire mission. I beamed up to my ship, expecting to be able to hail the NPC and turn in the completed mission. Instead I see this. Nothing I did in the mission was counted.

I am now done with STO, at least for now. I might give it another look when the next set of episodes comes out, but not until then.
If my desire for internet spaceships gets too much, I'll go play a game which lets my ship fly up.

*Didn't DS9 put the Federation in the Alpha quadrant ?

[mr friendly guy]

Try clicking on it again. Sometimes it takes you right back where you were before.

On another note, my anti time entanglement ability from completing the temporal reputation set is wank. With an aux of 78, particle gen of 498 and consoles which boost exotic damage by 56.5%, it does 5026 damage per second. That's not counting my boosts or the fact I have 52% chance for critical with exotic damage and just under 50% critical damage. In short, it does more damage than gravity well and destabilizing resonance beam combined, and comparable to subspace vortex. Another spatial anomaly to add to my shitloads of damage.

[bilateralrope]

Try clicking on it again. Sometimes it takes you right back where you were before.

I did. It took me to the start of the mission.

On another note, my anti time entanglement ability from completing the temporal reputation set is wank. With an aux of 78, particle gen of 498 and consoles which boost exotic damage by 56.5%, it does 5026 damage per second. That's not counting my boosts or the fact I have 52% chance for critical with exotic damage and just under 50% critical damage. In short, it does more damage than gravity well and destabilizing resonance beam combined, and comparable to subspace vortex. Another spatial anomaly to add to my shitloads of damage.

Does it also ignore shields ?

[mr friendly guy]

Does it also ignore shields ?

Yep.

Captain abilities
Anti time entanglement singularity - 5026 DPS (before criticals and using boosts)

BOFF abilities
Gravity well - 2720.8 DPS (before criticals and using boosts)
Subspace Vortex 5043.8 DPS (before criticals and using boosts)
Destabilizing resonance beam 1834.1 DPS (before criticals and using boosts)
Chronometric inversion field 749.7 DPS (before criticals and using boosts)

Consoles
Casual Anchor 1604.8 DPS (before criticals and using boosts) and there are two of them, whose damage increases as they get closer to each other

Exploding spatial anomalies
Gravity well 9555.5 damage
Casual Anchor 20887.4 damage

Secondary deflector
9413 damage every 4 seconds before boosts. Works only for gravity well

Now I move in for a forward attack
Krenim chroniton torp 7268.9 damage (726.9 DPS) with 100% shield penetration. Use torpedo spread and you get 3 torps at least. Combine with kemocite laden weapons II you get an extra 904 radiation damage (100% triggers with torps). The beauty of KLW is that it does damage within 1 km radius, so..... if you gravity well them, and then hit them when all ships are close it spreads the damage to all ships.

***********************************************************************************
This looks interesting. 3D printed ships of your own ships.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star- ... l/10142383

If its not prohibitive, I would consider doing my science ship the USS Chronomancer, one of my escorts (or maybe both) and my beam boat cruiser USS Bazinga VI. Heck I might even do a Dominion ship I have as well. Sweet.

[mr friendly guy]

This is a silly question, but when players talk about having like 100 k dps, how are they measuring it? Do they use some third party software which records all their damage. Because I think my build is pretty powerful as well, especially if you can get several ships into one's spatial anomalies.

[RogueIce]

This is a silly question, but when players talk about having like 100 k dps, how are they measuring it? Do they use some third party software which records all their damage. Because I think my build is pretty powerful as well, especially if you can get several ships into one's spatial anomalies.

That's exactly what they do. It's also important to note that where you test your DPS is equally important for the loggers: your average story mission enemies will blow up well before you hit 100,000 damage on them, so the log won't record all the way up to your theoretical maximum. Advanced STFs are ideal for this, with Infected Space Advanced being the standard.

By the same token, you may need to make a few runs to get a "true" number depending on how your team is; if you have three other ostensibly "100kers" in your queue, your combined output will kill the enemies before any of you can reliably tick up to the 100k number.

[mr friendly guy]

This is a silly question, but when players talk about having like 100 k dps, how are they measuring it? Do they use some third party software which records all their damage. Because I think my build is pretty powerful as well, especially if you can get several ships into one's spatial anomalies.

That's exactly what they do. It's also important to note that where you test your DPS is equally important for the loggers: your average story mission enemies will blow up well before you hit 100,000 damage on them, so the log won't record all the way up to your theoretical maximum. Advanced STFs are ideal for this, with Infected Space Advanced being the standard.

By the same token, you may need to make a few runs to get a "true" number depending on how your team is; if you have three other ostensibly "100kers" in your queue, your combined output will kill the enemies before any of you can reliably tick up to the 100k number.

I don't suppose you know what third party software they use?

On another note, looking at their builds, it seems purely for gaining maximum dps and doesn't help them much if they don't kill the enemies if they survive the onslaught of science powers. Presumably they rely on team mates to help finish it. I mean they pretty much nix their entire weapon power for auxiliary, whereas I use enhanced plasma manifold to max out auxiliary, but at the cost of a console slot. So if they fail to kill the enemy with science powers, their weapons are going to be pretty shit for finishing them off, especially if they also boast of having ZERO tactical abilities.

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star- ... l/10142362

So cryptic plans to reintroduce more dominion ships which on the surface just seems a variation of existing ships. Is Cryptic just cannabalising itself for new ideas?

[Lord Revan]

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star- ... l/10142362

So cryptic plans to reintroduce more dominion ships which on the surface just seems a variation of existing ships. Is Cryptic just cannabalising itself for new ideas?

It could also be that their version of the "Star Trek" license prevents them from introducing new major races into the mix thus limiting their ideas closest thing to new race is the Heralds and even they are essentially extensions of the Iconians, there's no new race we've not seen or heard about in previous "Star Trek".

the Undine? they were in VOY
The Vorgon? from the TNG episode "captain's holiday"
The Na'kulh? The space nazis from the ENT 2-parter "Stormfront"
and so on...

[mr friendly guy]

Well if they're picking up "race of the week," I suggest they use that one where "John Doe" belongs to. The race that is evolving into "energy beings," because evolution apparently works like that. They had comparable technology to the Enterprise D, and they were undergoing political instability due to this evolution. Fast forward to the 25th century, and we have plenty of story telling potential, and we can improve their technology to introduce another theme, just like how the temporal operative abilities were added with the temporal enemies of the Federation.

[RogueIce]

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star- ... l/10142362

So cryptic plans to reintroduce more dominion ships which on the surface just seems a variation of existing ships. Is Cryptic just cannabalising itself for new ideas?

If you look at it, this is a Lockbox meant for the Console Versions of STO, so it makes sense that they'd do a repeat/remix of sorts. Note how it mentions the Lobi Store is limited but will be built up as time goes on. Essentially, rather than transplanting the existing Lockbox/Lobi back catalogue for Xbox/PS4, they're building a new one (albeit starting off with T6 ships in place of the T5s).

I don't suppose you know what third party software they use?

Not offhand, sorry. I don't do the whole DPS parse thing myself. I'm sure you could ask on STObuilds or whatever.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I think it was called combatlog reader. It's been a long time since I've used that though.

I posted this question on the official forum but haven't had any replies:

I have a set of UR AP Beam arrays and a decision of which tac toon I should equip them on-

The Fed one, where I have the freedom to equip both the Core and the Omni-Beam on any ship for the +10% AP damage...

Or:

The KDF-aligned Rom one, where I would have to use a ship like the Vorgon escort if I wanted the bonus, but regardless would benefit from the Crit boost conferred by the SRO trait that more of my BOFFs could possess, as well as the RO player trait.

I have the T6 flagship, pilot escort and command battlecruiser sets- because I'll be using all arrays, in theory it shouldn't matter if I fly a ship with 5 forward guns or 4 since aft I'll be fielding 2 omni-directional beams, with the Kinetic cutting beam taking up the 3rd slot if I go with the T6 Scimitar.

Any thoughts?

Hopefully my research will uncover the solution and spare me having to sign up for reddit