Should I try out Star Trek Online?

[mr friendly guy]

I personally went with red matter capacitor. Its hard to get otherwise and I see it as useful for most ships to give the extra power boost without a console slot. Its going to help me play science ships as I can take out the enhanced plasma manifold I was using, now that I can a RMC (use emergency power to auxiliary) and I am pretty much got max auxiliary. Since I am no longer using enhanced plasma manifold, it gives me an extra slot to put in another item which gives me more particle generation.

[Lord Revan]

It's most useful on sci ships I think since boost Aux boosting items are hard to come by but it's not useless on others either. I think it gives you a max of 135 power (opposed to the normal of 125) so if you combo it with other power boosting items you can get quite an effective boost.

[mr friendly guy]

Testing the RMC on a science ship, it doesn't quite pack the punch of an enhanced plasma manifold. That's because the EPM as well as giving 50 to aux, also allows your maximum to increase by 10. This more than offsets any boost from a device giving me extra particle gen. Sure when I can't use the EPM or auxiliary battery, this new build does more damage, but can't match the enhancement power of the EPM. I still got a few other ideas, such as using the Interphase Quantum Distributor to boost exotic damage directly, or use the RMC as an extra aux battery.

[bilateralrope]

The playstyle I'm going to be aiming my build towards is a ship with lots of beam arrays. I circle round my current target, keeping them in my broadside arc and hit them will all of my beams. Since I've been advised that the Ancient Omni-Directional Antiproton Beam Array has better DPS than beam arrays, I'll be going with antiproton damage because grabbing the warp core from that set means +10% to all anti-proton damage, plus it means that I can stock up on +antiproton damage consoles that will affect 6 of my weapons (the other two weapons will be the kinetic cutting beam and either a mine launcher*, or a torpedo for a set bonus).

I'm thinking of grabbing these sets:
- Ancient Obelisk Technology. Just the warp core and omni-beam array.
- Omega Adapted Borg Technology Set. Just the cutting beam and console.
- Radiant Armaments or Temporal Defense Initiative Armaments. Still deciding which one.
- I still need to pick a deflector/shield/impulse engine set.

I'll probably go with +antiproton damage consoles in tac slots, Duranium/Neutronium consoles in engineering. Universals in science slots, then enginnering slots if I run out of sci slots. I don't know what T6 C store ship to grab, preferably something that can take a beating.


*Circling a target means mines keep hitting.

In that context:

Cosmetic items are less useful than the upgrade kits I could get instead.

Red Matter Capacitor - Looks useful, and I have an open device slot.
Elachi Kit Module – Subspace Rift - Already have this.
Universal Kit Module – Crystalline Spike - Summons a taunting object that explodes. Sounds like it needs less attention to use than engineering kits.
Zefram Cochrane Shotgun - Probably the only ranged ground weapon the borg won't adapt to. Very useful.
Crystalline Energy Torpedo Launcher - It doesn't fire out my broadside arc. It doesn't give a set bonus. So useless to me.

Console – Universal – Crystalline Absorption Matrix. +damage and energy damage resistance from a universal console. Very useful. The ability might have some use.
Console – Tactical – Automated Defense Turret. Takes up one of my limited tac slots. Not so useful.
V.S.S. Tanius – Admiralty Ship. This makes for one powerful admirality ship, at least compared to the ones I already have.
Hakeev (Mirror Universe) – Duty Officer. I'll probably be running Hazard Emitters, so he might be useful.
Mariah Kilara Marr – Duty Officer. I don't run Tyken's Rift, making this DOFF useless to me.

Radan Tribble
Solanae Tribble - For some reason this isn't an option for me.
Mol’Rihan Tribble
Crossfire Tribble
Remember to stroke a tribble after you beam down for a mission. Crossfire looks the most useful.

Holographic Combat Drone
Dilithium Encrusted Horta
Mugato Leash
Having a combat pet could be useful. Question is, do I want one of these, or should I just get a plain horta ?

[bilateralrope]

I just got an Epic token. Now to decide which of the T6 ships to grab.

[mr friendly guy]

If you're going for AP broadsides, try crafting or buying a omnidirectional AP beam array. With you ancient obelisk one and the kinetic cutting beam, you have 3 arrays which have a 360 degree arc.

There are a few other things which boost AP damage. From memory there is a console that boosts antiprotn by 25% which isn't a tactical console. I believe it is the one which releases 3 viral matrixes. It can not only shut down their subsystems for brief periods making them vulnerable to your arrays, but it also imparts antiproton damage as well.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Console_-_Univ ... robe_Array

[bilateralrope]

Looking at the Phoenix T6 ships:
- Ferengi Nandi Warship is a destroyer. Not what I want.
- Krenim Science Vessel is excluded for being a science vessel.
- Breen Sarr Theln Carrier is excluded for only having 6 weapon slots.

So that leaves the Breen Rezreth Dreadnought Cruiser or Kobali Samsar Cruiser. Any tips to help me decide which I want ?

If you're going for AP broadsides, try crafting or buying a omnidirectional AP beam array. With you ancient obelisk one and the kinetic cutting beam, you have 3 arrays which have a 360 degree arc.

What modifiers should I be looking for on the AP arrays (both the omni and regulars) ?

There are a few other things which boost AP damage. From memory there is a console that boosts antiprotn by 25% which isn't a tactical console. I believe it is the one which releases 3 viral matrixes. It can not only shut down their subsystems for brief periods making them vulnerable to your arrays, but it also imparts antiproton damage as well.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Console_-_Univ ... robe_Array

Good to know.

[mr friendly guy]

Its really hard to get the modifiers you want, however I think you can't go wrong if you get critical chance and critical severity modifiers in your weapons array.

[bilateralrope]

Its really hard to get the modifiers you want, however I think you can't go wrong if you get critical chance and critical severity modifiers in your weapons array.

I'm thinking finding items with the modifiers I want on the exchange, then upgrading them to a decent level. I prefer to avoid crafting systems.

[bilateralrope]

Looking at my planned weapons, I'll have:
- 3 omni-beam arrays. Kinetic cutting beam, ancient omni and crafted omni
- 2 from the set I choose. A beam array and a torpedo
- 3 more beam arrays.

I see three options:
- Grab some vanilla antiproton beam arrays with the right suffixes, upgrade them.
- Grab some cheap, high rank, white/green antiproton beam arrays. Never upgrade them. Keep them until they get replaced with Radiant Antiprotons
- Same as above, but replace them with Chroniton Beam Arrays instead.

Any tips to help me decide ?

I'm leaning towards the radiant set and rep store arrays, as that looks to be the tankier option.

[mr friendly guy]

If you're going to antiprotons, it might just do with regular ones if you're thinking of damage dealing. If you use the radiant antiprotons, you're most probably going for a tank build. Which leads me to the other question you posed. If you're going for a tank build, it might be best to get a ship with 5 engineering slots, like the Kobali ship. If you're going to an attack build, get 5 tactical slots and dump AP boosters in it.

[bilateralrope]

I do want a ship with a decent tank. Though I'm not actually sure if radiant or temporal defense is tankier. Radiant weapons have temporary hit points, temporal defense gives shields damage resistance and recharges BOFFs quicker. Nor can I tell which has more potential DPS once factoring in everything including set bonus. In the end it might come down to the fact that temporal marks are easier to get than iconian.

Both the ships I'm looking at grabbing from the phoenix tokens have 3 tac, 5 eng, 3 sci consoles and identical BOFF layouts. The big difference appears to be that one is a dreadnought, the other a cruiser.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

When combined with the Kobali set from "dust to dust", the Samsar is well-suited to tanking due to the myriad heals the set offers, both individually and as a group. As a cruiser it's restricted to beams and its BOFF setup is heavily Eng-focused, its lt-cdr slot is an eng/command hybrid (which 'happens' to be the exact speciality of the lost Kobali you can find in the maze room).

As a matter of fact, both the Borg and Tholian Red Alert missions have had their potential marks expanded so you can now choose exactly which rep you want to claim for (I usually go for whichever one I've got the fewest marks in).

When running an all-beam build, the plasmonic leech is a must-have as it does a good job of mitigating the power drain that comes with firing many beams at once. If you're KDF-aligned then now is the time to unlock the Vandal, the dil-to-zen exchange rate is the lowest it's been in years.

[Lord Revan]

IIRC you can equip cannons (up to HDC) on the Samsar but since it has a rather slow(ish) turn rate it can't really get max benefit from them. That said with the Kobali set and right mix of hull/shield healing the Samsar is nearly indestructible, actually I forced a PvP "troll" (aka someone who challenges random PvE players to PvP match for an easy win) to rage quit when I used the samsar to keep healing thru the damage he dealt while dealing reasonble damage myself even getting a kill or 2 myself while he got nothing, oh and I was using a 100% PvE build too.

[bilateralrope]

Is there anything wrong with taking the Rezreth instead of the Samsar ?

When combined with the Kobali set from "dust to dust"

Is that really the best set to grab, Or is there a rep set that works better ?

Though it's still worth using until I get the rep set. If I can stand repeating that mission.

lt-cdr slot is an eng/command hybrid (which 'happens' to be the exact speciality of the lost Kobali you can find in the maze room).

I prefer my BOFFs to have some traits that work in space. That limits which species are useful. Technically that includes Talaxians on the useful list, but I can't trust any BOFF who takes time in combat to steal stuff

As a matter of fact, both the Borg and Tholian Red Alert missions have had their potential marks expanded so you can now choose exactly which rep you want to claim for (I usually go for whichever one I've got the fewest marks in).

How do I go about doing these ?

I've already got the plasmonic leech.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Is there anything wrong with taking the Rezreth instead of the Samsar?

Nothing at all- in terms of stats they're almost identical, the main differences are that the Breen ship can mount cannons and it's Lt-cdr/cmd slot is universal instead of eng, meaning you can have a more tactically-focused setup. The Rezreth also has a single hangar bay, something the Samsar lacks.

Of note is the consoles that both ships offer as they both form parts of two larger sets, the Command Platforms and the Hypercooled Technology. It should be noted that the former set is slightly less restrictive as the Kobali console (useful in its own right) can be equipped on any ship.

When combined with the Kobali set from "dust to dust"

Is that really the best set to grab, Or is there a rep set that works better ?

Though it's still worth using until I get the rep set. If I can stand repeating that mission.

The short answer is, it depends on what you're looking to achieve. For tanking and healing, the Kobali set is tough to beat. As things stand though, the Iconian Resistance is the one currently regarded as the best one to have. The rep system has actually been tweaked in player's favour- when you buy a set item, rarity and mark levels are both one notch higher than what they used to be.

lt-cdr slot is an eng/command hybrid (which 'happens' to be the exact speciality of the lost Kobali you can find in the maze room).

I prefer my BOFFs to have some traits that work in space. That limits which species are useful. Technically that includes Talaxians on the useful list, but I can't trust any BOFF who takes time in combat to steal stuff

Definitely, it's just the Kobali one is free and has better ground traits. For space you cannot beat Romulan BOFFS, which are now far easier to obtain since they fixed the missions that give them.

As a matter of fact, both the Borg and Tholian Red Alert missions have had their potential marks expanded so you can now choose exactly which rep you want to claim for (I usually go for whichever one I've got the fewest marks in).

How do I go about doing these ?

Those will be visible in Sector Space as a flashing "Red Alert" in the bottom right of the screen. It used to be only at certain times they appear, now both of them are available constantly. As PuG sessions go they're generally successful, in my experience it's rare for any group to be so useless that they cannot complete the objectives in the 15 minutes available, indeed most finish in less than half the time.

I've already got the plasmonic leech.

Good, it helps enormously when it comes to power.

[bilateralrope]

Of note is the consoles that both ships offer as they both form parts of two larger sets, the Command Platforms and the Hypercooled Technology. It should be noted that the former set is slightly less restrictive as the Kobali console (useful in its own right) can be equipped on any ship.

Also of note is that rest of the Command Platforms set comes from C-Store ships. While the Hypercooled tech set comes from RNG produced ships. Which means that the rest of the Command Platforms set is obtainable.

The short answer is, it depends on what you're looking to achieve. For tanking and healing, the Kobali set is tough to beat. As things stand though, the Iconian Resistance is the one currently regarded as the best one to have.

Good to know. I've still got a while before maxing out my reputations, and I won't start grabbing any rep gear till then.

Definitely, it's just the Kobali one is free and has better ground traits.

My space BOFFs will never be part of my away team. So I'll keep the Kobali BOFF.

For space you cannot beat Romulan BOFFS, which are now far easier to obtain since they fixed the missions that give them.

Is there any way for a Fed captain to get them ?

As it stands, the space BOFF traits that it looks like I can get are:
- Leadership. From humans. Any human BOFFs, it doesn't look like it varies between the rarity of the BOFF.
- Efficient. I'll have to hunt through the exchange for BOFFs with it.

I've got the Hierarchy BOFF. The rest of the space traits don't look available right now.

[Lord Revan]

Rom boff are avaible thru the embassy for SF and KDF captains IIRC, same for 23c and K-13 IIRC

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Assuming you're part of a fleet with a levelled embassy that is. The catch is that only the (male) tactical BOFFS come with the Superior Romulan Operative trait. Either way, be prepared to shell out both Dilithium and Fleet Credits to obtain them.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Well the Phoenix Prize Pack event is over and dil:zen is already climbing. I may have all but wiped out my reserves of refined dilithium to do it, but I still got 7,500 Z as well as the monthly stipend. It was only because of the refining limit that I couldn't convert more.

[bilateralrope]

The Iconian Resistance set includes a warp core, which is a bit problematic given that I was planning to use the warp core that worked with the ancient omni-directional antiproton beam array.

But then I found that antiproton isn't the only damage type that lets me fit two omni beam arrays of the same damage type. Tetryon and Polaron damage also has that option. Tetryon wasn't that interesting, but the Chronometric Calculations set convinced me to go with that instead of anti-proton.

So my ship gear will be:
- Samsar cruiser
- Chronometric calculations.
- Kobali Regenerative Circuitry. Maybe replaced with Iconian Resistance Starship Technologies later
- Kinetic Cutting beam
- Crafter Polaron omni beam array
- 3x Protonic Polaron Beam Arrays. I already have two.
- Tac consoles: Polaron Phase Modulators
- Engineering consoles: Neutronium alloy
- Universal consoles: Plasmonic Leach, Chronometric Capacitor, Assimilated Module, Regenerative Integrity Field. Once I have all 4, I'll have to stick one in an engineering slot.

1 Hierarchy BOFF, rest humans. Unless someone wants to make an argument for grabbing Efficient over Leadership.

I'm thinking of Intelligence officer (primary)/ Strategist for my specializations.

Now I just need to figure out my:
- Traits
- Skills
- Boff skills

[mr friendly guy]

Once you get enough fleet credits, upgrade your polaron phase modulators with vulnerability exploiters or vulnerability locators for polarons available at Fleet spire. They not only give the same mods to polaron, but also add in extra critical damage or critical chance depending on what takes your fancy.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Once you get enough fleet credits, upgrade your polaron phase modulators with vulnerability exploiters or vulnerability locators for polarons available at Fleet spire. They not only give the same mods to polaron, but also add in extra critical damage or critical chance depending on what takes your fancy.

The damage bonus alone for the locators/exploiters exceeds that of the modulators. Most players go for the locators over the exploiters because the boost to crit chance gives more damage than crit severity- it's generally agreed that the crit severity needs to be doubled for the damage to be on par.

When it comes to upgrading those to XIV, unless you're using the most basic upgrade tokens the odds are in your favour that for every five you upgrade, one will turn gold without re-upgrading once you get to XIV.

[mr friendly guy]

They want us to upgrade our version of directX. When I did that, my mouse can no longer click on tabs, essentially preventing me from playing. The mouse still works for Neverwinter, LOL. Put in a form, hopefully they sort this out.

[Lord Revan]

Hmmm the only foundry mission I had published seems to have disapeared, I wonder if I just misspelled the name in the search or maybe there's some problems with some maps so missions with those maps don't show up.