Should I try out Star Trek Online?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

It's an upgrade weekend so I've been busy spending many of the Phoenix prize packs to get upgrades- several hundred of the fuckers in fact. The event is clearly an opportunity to get the most out of the Omega upgrades (the minigame for such was finally fixed after the last maintenance so it's been full steam ahead since). It seems that a lot of people have been spending real dil on upgrades as the exchange rate has dipped a bit so I converted some of my dil to Zen while the rate was good.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

As someone on the official forums predicted, this week saw the release of a new 12K 9 ship mega pack called the Allied Pilot Escort bundle. To sweeten the deal they had a 20% ship sale at the same time- just as well I converted Zen when I did. Strangely it hasn't caused the exchange rate to shoot up like I expected, it's still hovering around the 280:1 mark. Regardless I bought the pack- once I've mastered the free event ship on the majority of my toons I'll switch over.

[mr friendly guy]

Built up a bit of dilithium as well as the usual free zen from lifetime membership. So I decided to splurge a bit of dilithium and managed to stock up on phoenix tech boosters. The phoenix lock box finally gave me an epic drop and I cashed it in for the Kobali cruiser so I could get the complete set of the command platform.

Since there was a 20% discount on ships, I converted some dilithium to zen and got the complete miracle worker set for my primary Fed toon. If the miracle worker ships work nice, then I might get them for my Romulan as well. So far just tried the science ship and it handles pretty nicely, even though I don't have that many science powers, but using engineering slots for offensive abilities (structural integrity collapse, aceton beam) and the miracle worker offensive abilities more than make up for it. Of course my healing is not the best, however using a restorative probe trait should help with it.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I had an epic token drop (first one in 2,500 boxes) last time around. Since I was fortunate enough to have already unlocked all the ships under that category I just stashed it in the account bank. I could have downgraded to 2 URs (had 5 of those drop in the same number of packs) but I like having the epic one just to look at (the only epic thing I ever got out of any box).

I hope you bought the mega bundle of those (the Fed ships are fugly IMO), since if you want the Fed and Rom versions you might as well get the full pack and have the KDF ones thrown in.

I was hoping they'd do another phoenix event before the expansion went live so I'm really happy with this- because I already have all the c-store ships I want I won't be buying any during the sale. This means I'll wait until the sale is over before cashing in some dil as the exchange rate is bound to drop a bit more as the demand for zen decreases.

Because there was sufficient time between the last event and this one my refined dil stocks have replenished such that 8 of my 10 toons could purchase a job lot of 100 packs if need be. My usual strategy is to split the conversion equally between packs and zen, but this time is different because for the first time all of the gear I'm currently using is XIV epic already (thanks to the recent upgrade weekend I'd saved the vouchers for).

On the other hand the expansion will mean a new toon with upgrade needs, though thanks to my stockpile of already-upgraded ship weapons the most expensive part is already taken care of.

I'm going to crunch the numbers to work out which way I'm going to go this time- I have 1,000 Zen (stipend) since I spent the last lot maxing my account bank slots. If I spend the usual 85% of my refined dil I aim to have at least 10,000 Z and a few hundred packs left and be in really good shape going forward.

My last splurge was inspired in part because of the new pilot escort bundle + DOMINO console. The extra damage boost it provides made my phaser-toting AOY toon VERY happy indeed. So I figured why not buy the tac escort refit and complete the stealth fighter set since the quad cannons aren't restricted to Defiant variants

[mr friendly guy]

I have only been playing intermittently so I missed out on the Domino console for my main toon. My second toon still have the anniversary event partially completed, so I just used some lobi, and got anniversary stuff and got the Bajoran ship with the domino console. Unfortunately it would have been better for my primary toon, but I am sure cryptic will eventually release it in the phoenix prize like how I got the Kobali Samsar cruiser.

Might be a good time for my romulan toon to also go into phasers (she only has plasma set up, but since I mainly play cloak and hit with romulans, that's ok). My UFP toon has set up for all energy types. Oh well, having extra ships for the Romulan toon won't hurt.

Next thing to do, is to create a miracle worker ship for tactical consoles for my Fed toon. I think this time, load up with phasers.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Perhaps, though the Romulan toon is unique in having access to the Enhanced Plasma Infusion Set so may be best placed to take advantage of this. Despite having the set all my Rom toons are already committed to either Polaron (1) and Antiproton (2) weaponry, so any change is going to be expensive. I do have the plasma cannon weaponry I can shunt across if need be and have my main fed toon use plasma DBBs instead.

What I do will depend on the expansion since any new toon will wind up with some of the current overflow (especially if I go down the tac route as nearly all of those guns can only go up front).

[Lord Revan]

the domino (or should I say D.O.M.I.N.O.) console is IMHO one the best +damage consoles there is atm, it's useful even when you're not running a phaser build I use it on most of my toons atm. Though Ironically my best DPS atm is on my AoY science toon who doesn't use the console (it's 34k in case you were wondering I'm not exactly trying to be at top of the DPS charts).

Oh and I'm pretty sure that you can get bajoran ship for free once you've unlocked it on one of your toons (aka it's an account unlock not a character one).

[EnterpriseSovereign]

the domino (or should I say D.O.M.I.N.O.) console is IMHO one the best +damage consoles there is atm, it's useful even when you're not running a phaser build I use it on most of my toons atm. Though Ironically my best DPS atm is on my AoY science toon who doesn't use the console (it's 34k in case you were wondering I'm not exactly trying to be at top of the DPS charts).

Oh and I'm pretty sure that you can get bajoran ship for free once you've unlocked it on one of your toons (aka it's an account unlock not a character one).

I did, the set bonus when combined with the consoles from the new pilot escorts is a nice boost, though its singling out of phaser damage in particular that makes it a must-have for captains who use that type of weapon. I have 2 captains that qualify, the Tac-cannon one will be flying one of the new pilot escorts for the foreseeable, with perhaps a foray into the stealth-fighter set by way of the Defiant line as a side venture. The other being an Eng captain has the (Fleet) Intel and Dreadnought cruisers to play with. The Quantum Phase Catalysts fill in gaps in weaponry that can't be filled with Phaser DBBs (i.e. aft), as well as a nice damage boost.

[Lord Revan]

the domino (or should I say D.O.M.I.N.O.) console is IMHO one the best +damage consoles there is atm, it's useful even when you're not running a phaser build I use it on most of my toons atm. Though Ironically my best DPS atm is on my AoY science toon who doesn't use the console (it's 34k in case you were wondering I'm not exactly trying to be at top of the DPS charts).

Oh and I'm pretty sure that you can get bajoran ship for free once you've unlocked it on one of your toons (aka it's an account unlock not a character one).

I did, the set bonus when combined with the consoles from the new pilot escorts is a nice boost, though its singling out of phaser damage in particular that makes it a must-have for captains who use that type of weapon. I have 2 captains that qualify, the Tac-cannon one will be flying one of the new pilot escorts for the foreseeable, with perhaps a foray into the stealth-fighter set by way of the Defiant line as a side venture. The other being an Eng captain has the (Fleet) Intel and Dreadnought cruisers to play with. The Quantum Phase Catalysts fill in gaps in weaponry that can't be filled with Phaser DBBs (i.e. aft), as well as a nice damage boost.

Personally I use the Discovery phaser banks for the for my andorian tac officer (granted she's flying the Walker atm so it kind of fits but the DSC phasers are good regardless).

[mr friendly guy]

Looks like another reputation skill set for my two toons to grind. Currently I am just going to make my second toon up to date with all the missions. Eventually I am going to create a third toon, most likely a Federation tactical. Any suggestion what reputation skill set to maximise first? My Fed and Romulan toon use temporal agent and pilot. For a tactical I think pilot and something else, but not sure.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I wouldn't worry about the new rep too much- if they follow the pattern from previous years they'll add the new marks as a choice halfway through the summer event when you turn in the Risian tropical birds.

For secondary specialisations, Pilot and Strategist are space-only while Commando is ground only- Constable is both. For the primaries, I'm ashamed to say I know very little about them. Because I usually have an excess of specialisation points I tend to max any new specialties almost immediately and then forget about them.

For this year's Mirror Invasion event the reward is a torpedo that's boosted by phaser damage-enhancing consoles. Because only two of my toons actually use phasers they're the ones that will run the event this time around. Had they actually streamlined MI like they did with The Breach I might have done it with more but it still takes ~20 minutes for one run.

[mr friendly guy]

Now I am thinking what type of beam weapon for my eventual Fed tactical toon. My primary toon has all weapon types and all the relevant boosters, my rommie toon only for plasma as the cost is exorbitive to develop for all weapon. I used plasma for the rommie as she started off with plasma.

For my third toon with a bit of cash could get the synergistic retrofitting set, or rather 2 of the set for a 50,8% boost to energy weapons, although its only 17.8% if your weapon isn't plasma, phaser or disrupter. With the phasers using an omnidirectional pulse phaser and a omnidirectional trilithium phaser, you can certainly fit 2 of these instead of one on the ship.

My primary toon does have some krieger disruptors which he has never equipped with some nice bonuses for level 11 equipment. Its possible to upgrade these.

Actually, what is everyone's preferred beam weapon and be specific with which type. I would have to say polaron or phaser, leaning towards phase polaron for the phaser and polaron procs.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Across all my toons all six energy types are represented, each toon focuses on one. Most of them have the vanilla version of each one, with the occasional rep/mission reward thrown in.

As I said earlier, 2 of my Fed toons use phasers, one with DHCs the other DBBs, plus the Quantum Phase converter (and beam+torpedo if flying a cruiser).

The third Fed uses plasma, with access to DBBs and DHCs plus the Romulan Singularity Harness Set.

I got 2 KDF toons with (coalition) disruptors, one DBBs and the other cannons. Both have the Entoiled Technology Set, with the latter also using the Terran Task force DHCs.

I have a Romulan with Polaron DBBs (actually wound up with more than she can use, a common thing in STO), along with the Lukari Restoration Initiative Armaments and Jem'Hadar space set.

My Fed Sci has a full load of Tetryon DBBs along with elements from the Nukara Appropriated Munition and Krenim Temporal Manipulation sets, and an Emitter Refocuser.

The last 3 use Antiproton weaponry- one with DHCs, DBBs and BA's, respectively. The last one flies a lumbering Warbird so arrays were the only option

It's the procs that set each energy type apart. Antiproton is the most popular owing to its extra crit stack, then disruptor due to it reducing damage resistance. Plasma has a DoT.

A list of all the types and their procs are found here.

Though it doesn't always necessarily confer the most damage, having at least one toon with each time guarantees at least one will find a new console useful.

[mr friendly guy]

Nearly up to date with missions for my second toon. Gaining the chronometric calculations set was a godsend for how she plays. Basically, cloak, decloak and use two temporal attacks, subspace vortex and tyken's rift. The cloak of course gives extra damage. Using a space trait which gives 50% shield penetration every time I crit. Given this toon has 19% crit chance on weapons, and at least 50% with the exotic damage, I figured it would be a good chance this will trigger. I had to use my primary toon to purchase this trait for her.

The chronometric calculations gives 37.5 particle gen, and with the right polaron weapons in the set, its boost 3.6 to Aux (must for science attacks) and with 3 in the set, gives me a feature to power up exotic and weapons damage. Plus I also get 25% boost to torps and polarons. I use a gravimetric torp for extra anomalies and extra exotic damage. With this, I may as well change all beam arrays to polarons aside from the kinetic damage one from the Omega set. Plus you can stack 2 polaron omnidirectional beam arrays (standard one and the one from the chronometric calculations set).

This unfortunately has set me back a bit. I used up all my phoenix prize upgrade tokens and had to have my primary toon make more superior beam upgrades. My dilithium is low, but I think it was worth it. I can't forsee needing to upgrade this toon in the near future. Keep her focussing on what rommies do well, cloak and hit. So she has polarons and plasma.

Now just to start grinding more dilithium for the third toon. Once the third toon becomes self sufficient (ie can do admiralty quests and DOFF quests) she should be producing ok amounts of dilithium for the whole gang. Just need to wait for when the phoenix prize comes again. If I still don't have enough dil, I might have to purchase zen when there is an offer. But we will see. Still deciding what energy type for her to focus her on.

[mr friendly guy]

What's the best way to grind stuff? I am interested in EC and dil, but not so worried about EC as I still think I have enough for my third toon (basically to buy the Doffs, any traits etc). My dilithium stores were drain from more than a million to around 200 k in my recent upgrades.

So far I find the best way to build up ore is
1. Admiralty system, particularly Klingon and Ferengi
2. Mirror universe
3. Repair satellite (528 dilithium) from Franklin Drake
4. New Romulus quests - 728 dilithium and 24 Romulan marks. I can do some of them in about 15 mintues. Once I get around 500 marks, I can convert to 5000 dilithium
5. Contraband to federation - get contraband from the doff quest and then build up to 5, and trade it in for 2000 dilithium.

I have managed to build up some dilithium ore, so this should tie me over for 10 days or so (by trading excess reputation marks for 5000 ore), but I am looking for more. Need to build up more dilithium for this third toon. She will be a UFP tactical. She should have access to all UFP ships I purchased for my primary toon. Obviously to get those ships for admiralty, I will need ship slots or dry dock slots, and that means zen. She will most probably need more space in her inventory as well. I get a monthly stipend of 500 zen, but I figure I am going to need to convert dilithium, if not purchase zen outright when discounted. The main issue is my dilithium is going to be stretched, as I am going to use it to upgrade epic gear.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I've found that actually KDF characters have the best opportunities to grind for ore- their marauding DOFF assignments often have contraband as a reward, and the Military Assignment: assist military offensive (each needs an Assault Squad Officer) gives prisoners upon crit success. KDF toons can actually turn prisoners into dilithium, thanks to the sector space assignment Forced Labor Requisition which earns more per prisoner than Consign to Labour Battalion.

What I've done is have the KDF guys earn the contraband while the Feds help turn it over.

[mr friendly guy]

Started slowly developing my UFP tactical toon. Seems to be a delta recruit, so storywise would be a bit different than my primary UFP science toon.

I am thinking she will deal with herald antiproton beams (the standard bonus to crit severity on vanilla AP beams would be better served on a Rommie toon where my BOFFs all have superior romulan operative).

I am going to use that herald console which releases 3 viral swarms to disable ships, and it gets a 25% bonus to AP damage. Need to get the load viral torp trait and use it with a torp so it disables the ship and lets me pound away. Thinking torp should be a neutronic torp, which works well with kemocite enhanced weapon. So her style would be to disable enemy ships and destroy them before they recover.

Unfortunately, not that many consoles that boost AP which I can just buy off the exchange, as they seem to come from events which I didn't participate in.

Not sure what to get for the ground kit, but generally both toons have the herald solar gateway and sompek lightning. Any ideas for a tactical toon?

[houser2112]

I've been on STO hiatus since the end of the Anniversary event to catch up on my Steam backlog. Is this new expansion going to be similar to the AOY expansion in the sense that new characters are going to be special and you have to progress them to a certain point to "unlock" their potential (like progressing an AOY character to the point you get the temporal doohickey)? I don't feel like getting fully back into STO at this point, but I have a fear of missing out.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I've been on STO hiatus since the end of the Anniversary event to catch up on my Steam backlog. Is this new expansion going to be similar to the AOY expansion in the sense that new characters are going to be special and you have to progress them to a certain point to "unlock" their potential (like progressing an AOY character to the point you get the temporal doohickey)? I don't feel like getting fully back into STO at this point, but I have a fear of missing out.

Pretty much:

During our last anniversary episode, Scylla and Charybdis, a fleet of Jem’Hadar ships show up with Odo to join the battle at DS9. Now see the events leading up to this battle from the perspective of an elite Jem’Hadar team.
You will get a chance to outfit your ship(s), select your Bridge Officers, and prep yourself for an epic battle before heading out of the Gamma Quadrant.
Turn the Tide is a Jem’Hadar only episode, required for all new Jem’Hadar characters to complete before joining a faction. It is designed for experienced players as you will start at level 60. Note: it is not a tutorial - it is not repeatable or skippable. However, you will get to conquer various enemies of the Dominion for the glory of the Founders. Remember: Victory is life!

Source.

Not sure what to get for the ground kit, but generally both toons have the herald solar gateway and sompek lightning. Any ideas for a tactical toon?

I've heard good things about using items from the Romulan Imperial Navy and Na'kuhl Temporal Operative sets, though Romulans would get more out of this because they have available the trait that boosts plasma damage.

[mr friendly guy]

I've heard good things about using items from the Romulan Imperial Navy and Na'kuhl Temporal Operative sets, though Romulans would get more out of this because they have available the trait that boosts plasma damage.

Both my toons tank. My second toon (a Rommie) has epic Iconian ground set (3 out of 4) for all that tanking bonus. My first toon uses 2 out of 4 of the Iconian set (armor for hit points) and weapon to trigger extra hit point bonuses (plus my herald kit gives a boost to AP, and since the Iconian set weapon is AP based it just lets me do lots of damage). I use the Na'khul shield as its ability to make me invincible for several seconds allows me to get the edge over the opponent. I keep the second Na'khul weapon just to get the bonus but I never use it.

Funny thing is, if I give the Na'khul shield to a BOFF (as with my second toon), it still seems to trigger the invincible shield for several seconds to protect me (haven't worked out does it trigger when I am low or the BOFF is low), but this bug seems to be useful. Perhaps I could simply use the iconian set for max hp and shields, and have a BOFF use the Na'khul shield for the extra protection.

For my third toon, I am thinking of maxing out the Iconian set, and seeing if the Na'khul shield triggers.

I was more interested in what kit modules should I used for a tactical toon though.

[mr friendly guy]

Obviously I missed a bit as I played occasionally.

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-t ... etail/2331

You get to play as a Jemmie. Also has nice ships, however not sure if I necessarily want it now. What does interest me is that 4 of those ships has starship mastery which can be transferred to all characters on the account. That sounds great, if they bothered to tell us what the these were. If it is good, I might be tempted to get it. Currently though, adopting a wait and see approach.

Basically you get the T5 dominion ships, 4 new T6 dominion ships, but you are missing the existing dominion ships including the two T6 bug ships (the recon and strike ship versions) and the T6 Jem'hadar dreadnought carrier. You also get 4 cardassian ships (because you know, cardassians are still allied to the Dominion ) including 3 T6 ships, which I assume are new. And the Cardassians have a cloaking device. Jesus, among the AQ powers is it only the UFP that doesn't have widespread cloaks? And yes, I know a Federation 29th century raider has one, and its possible to give the Defiant class one with enough pieces of the set, but compared to Romulans and Klingons, its like the UFP plays second fiddle. At least give us phase cloaks.

I am going to see what news we have on the stats of these Dominion ships and starship mastery and consoles and their bonuses. Maybe I will treat myself and get the pack, but its not cheap at $129.99 USD.

Also we get the ability to not just play as a Jemmie captain, but the specialised more powerful Vanguard one. Funny thing is, I am starting a new UFP tactical toon, and I am not interested in playing a Jem'hadar character right now, but definitely in the future. If only they let us play changelings with their massive hit points. I would dominate ground combat.

Better news

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star- ... ases-to-65

Captains can go to level 65. Presumably we get better hit points, maybe more skill points etc. Maybe an extra trait spot, but not holding out much hope. However we do get an extra ability at level 63, and a new admiralty ship at level 65, which would be great for my second toon as she only has around 50 something ships running, and its hard to get sufficient quests for the Ferengi, Klingon and Romulan admiralty each time I play.

And another thing, you can upgrade to mark 15. Since my gear is pretty much epic, every time I feel like playing a particular ship, I just upgrade it to level 15. I am going to start with frequently used consoles for my toons.

[bilateralrope]

Jesus, among the AQ powers is it only the UFP that doesn't have widespread cloaks?

When the Federation signs a treaty, they stick to it.

Has anything changes in STO to make the "being invisible" part of cloaks useful ?
Last time I played they were useful for the damage boost you got when exiting cloak. Being invisible didn't really help with anything.

[mr friendly guy]

Jesus, among the AQ powers is it only the UFP that doesn't have widespread cloaks?

When the Federation signs a treaty, they stick to it.

Has anything changes in STO to make the "being invisible" part of cloaks useful ?
Last time I played they were useful for the damage boost you got when exiting cloak. Being invisible didn't really help with anything.

Mainly use cloaks for the damage ability and to allow me to get the first strike. The invisibility part allows me first strike.

To be fair in regards to sticking with the treaty, I think a real world political leader in modern times could come up with several reasons why the treaty of Algeron is no longer valid. Some blatantly justifiable, like Shinzon's attempt to genocide earth (he was the Romulan praetor at the time, so an act of war invalidates the treaty), or in STO timelines using some legal shenanigans like saying that the the Romulan Republic and not the Tal Shiar empire is the successor state of the Romulan Star Empire and then signing a friendly deal with the RR relieving them of some of the treaty's obligations.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Yeah, the price is way over what I'm prepared to pay- I'll probably wait a few months until Black Friday rolls round once again and buy then. If they follow the pattern of previous years they'll reduce it by half.

RE: cloaks, there are BOFFS that offer traits that improve damage after exiting cloak, Subterfuge. Romulans and Remans have a chance to have it.

[houser2112]

I've been on STO hiatus since the end of the Anniversary event to catch up on my Steam backlog. Is this new expansion going to be similar to the AOY expansion in the sense that new characters are going to be special and you have to progress them to a certain point to "unlock" their potential (like progressing an AOY character to the point you get the temporal doohickey)? I don't feel like getting fully back into STO at this point, but I have a fear of missing out.

Pretty much:

During our last anniversary episode, Scylla and Charybdis, a fleet of Jem’Hadar ships show up with Odo to join the battle at DS9. Now see the events leading up to this battle from the perspective of an elite Jem’Hadar team.
You will get a chance to outfit your ship(s), select your Bridge Officers, and prep yourself for an epic battle before heading out of the Gamma Quadrant.
Turn the Tide is a Jem’Hadar only episode, required for all new Jem’Hadar characters to complete before joining a faction. It is designed for experienced players as you will start at level 60. Note: it is not a tutorial - it is not repeatable or skippable. However, you will get to conquer various enemies of the Dominion for the glory of the Founders. Remember: Victory is life!

Source.

I don't think you're getting at what I'm asking. AOY characters made during a certain time period immediately after the expansion went live have special perks that other characters (even other AOY characters made later) do not, namely being able to craft reputation gear at UR Mk XIII instead of VR Mk XII (there may be others, but as far as I know that's the "killer app" of having made an AOY character while the expansion was fresh).

Are there similar perks for Dominion characters with this expansion, such that I should strongly consider getting back into the game when the expansion drops as opposed to later?