Should I try out Star Trek Online?

[Simon_Jester]

One thing they need to do with sector space is have stars be visible from farther away. Many stars lie (it seems like) five or ten light-years out of the plane of the map now, and you never actually see them in a voyage across a quadrant to their perceived location on the map.

I get that there's an auto-navigation system, but we shouldn't be forced to use it if we don't want to.

[Elheru Aran]

Well, I burned through the Wasteland episode series in a few hours this morning. Good fucking God I despise that bloody episode. Nimbus III is so not worth it. Running through the desert blasting worms and scorpions and endlessly respawning mooks is not my idea of fun.

At least I'm leveling up fast as a Delta Recruit. Nimbus was always like... level 20-something for me? I hit 30 right before I got to it, which was nice. Decided to go with a Defiant rather than that bloated whale of a Galaxy or the glass-cannon Intrepid (might as well fly the Ambassador). Not much regrets so far, and I have to say I like the customization feature a lot better because now I can actually see colours on my ship. It's nice.

I will say this for Nimbus-- there's so many other players on the level with you that you can get lucky some days and they do most of the work for you. That happened today. Definitely did not mind. Let me get through it more quickly. So I won't complain about that. Plus I'm fairly sure that this guy customized one of his bridge crew to look like a Trek-style Groot (with a beard) which was kinda hilarious.

At this rate though I'm probably going to be a full Admiral before I get halfway through the Cardassian Struggle episode. I won't complain about that, either. Shame there are no free ships after level 40, though (unless you want to have fun grinding one of the seasonal events). And I wish I could get a handle of the new training scheme...

[Elheru Aran]

On reflection I suppose there's the ability to upgrade the T5 ships. That's something, I suppose. It's just really annoying that they're basically holding their hands out for money when it comes to T6 ships. You put that much time and effort into the game to get to that level, they should throw you a bone.

[White Haven]

So far they've distributed not one but two bones; the event ships. There will likely be a third in a few months in the form of a summer event T6 ship (pilot specialization, most likely, given the pattern of the last two). If you do not like those bones, fine, but you can't say they weren't offered, or that they weren't trivially easy to get.

[Elheru Aran]

No, I'm perfectly aware of the event ships, but the difference is that anybody can get those. I'm talking about getting ships in the logical progression of steps that you take throughout the game, that they abruptly cut off near the top. I really don't see why they don't give at least a fairly basic T6 ship once you get to Admiral. Have plenty of cool T6 ships that people can still buy-- they certainly do. Or the lockboxes for that matter, I keep seeing that people have picked up lockbox ships-- Elachi, Xindi, what have you, whatever is in style.

As for the event ships: They're fine, but a little gimmicky for my taste, and sometimes aesthetically obscene like the Carnival Cruises one. You can not face down a Klingon patrol in the Love Boat and keep a straight face. Easy to get? Sure, if you have the time to jump through hoops daily. Not everybody does.

[The Romulan Republic]

Actually, I love the idea of engaging a Klingon warship in a cruise ship. Because its hilarious, and if a captain could do that and pull it off, they could be legendary.

Anyway, having used up three character slots, it turned out I still had a bonus Delta Recruit slot, so I created a Ferengi Federation engineer for my final character. I believe any further characters would require me to pay, so that probably won't happen any time soon.

[The Romulan Republic]

That Thollian capital ship I just tangled with was a tough son of a bitch.

[Lord Revan]

A Recluse?

Those are quite though and can deploy fighters too IIRC

[Elheru Aran]

Was that a mission or a PvE? Or are you running Nukara?

[The Romulan Republic]

It was one of those periodic red alerts you get (usually for Borg attacks). I responded. It was various human players against AI Tholians, I think.

[White Haven]

He was more likely talking about a Tarantula than a Recluse.

Also, the Samsar and the Sarr Theln would, I think, both object to being labeled as gimmick ships. As for T6 being the logical progression, it's really not. Stat-wise, T-5-upgraded ships are every bit their match. Calling T6 ships T6 was perhaps a mistake; what they really represent is the exploration of side specializations, not a steadyr increase in power like, say, the trip from T3 to T4.

[Elheru Aran]

Also, the Samsar and the Sarr Theln would, I think, both object to being labeled as gimmick ships. As for T6 being the logical progression, it's really not. Stat-wise, T-5-upgraded ships are every bit their match. Calling T6 ships T6 was perhaps a mistake; what they really represent is the exploration of side specializations, not a steadyr increase in power like, say, the trip from T3 to T4.

The Samsar and Sarr Theln are both Kobali ships, right? They were freebies during the Winter event? I missed that one due to taking a few months' hiatus. I'm mostly familiar with the Risa ships as I was shooting for the cigarette-boat one last year.

Explain re T6. I was under the impression that T5-upgraded ships could get *close* to T6 but not quite as powerful. Something like the difference between a fleet ship and the C-store version of same-- one less console or weapon or something like that. But I'm not a details person, so perhaps I missed something.

[Skywalker_T-65]

What does one do to upgrade a T5 anyway? My Sov and refit Ambassador are nice- I'll admit to being fonder of the latter than I probably should be -but they're clearly becoming overmatched at the same time.

[RogueIce]

What does one do to upgrade a T5 anyway? My Sov and refit Ambassador are nice- I'll admit to being fonder of the latter than I probably should be -but they're clearly becoming overmatched at the same time.

Buy Ship Upgrade Tokens off the C-Store or the Exchange. Make sure you can upgrade it, though. Go to the Ship Selector and there should be an Upgrade tab you can look at. If you have the basic Sovereign 9one you get at Level 4) or the Ambassador Retrofit you can't upgrade those.

[Lord Revan]

For starters you need tier 5 to upgrade the ship that's why I'm still using my tier 4 prommie on my main I can't afford a Zen ship atm (and I have no lobi) and you can't upgrade a tier 4

some tier 5 ships are free to upgrade though.

and Elheru only the Samsar is Kobali that other one is Breen IIRC.

different between T5-U and T6 is that T6 ships have slightly improved hull strenght and shields (not signifigantly though) and 5th mastery slot that unlocks a ship trait.

[RogueIce]

Tier 4 is Captain (Level 30) level. Tier 5 is everything beyond Rear Admiral, Lower Half (Level 40) up to Tier 6. Only the "Vice Admiral" (ie: C-Store), Fleet, and "Special" (Lockbox, Event, etc.) Tier 5s can (generally) be upgraded.

Your Prometheus class ship is most definitely Tier 5, but non-upgradeable. It's a fairly common mistake to make.

[Skywalker_T-65]

What does one do to upgrade a T5 anyway? My Sov and refit Ambassador are nice- I'll admit to being fonder of the latter than I probably should be -but they're clearly becoming overmatched at the same time.

Buy Ship Upgrade Tokens off the C-Store or the Exchange. Make sure you can upgrade it, though. Go to the Ship Selector and there should be an Upgrade tab you can look at. If you have the basic Sovereign 9one you get at Level 4) or the Ambassador Retrofit you can't upgrade those.

Well that's unfortunate. Oh well, I've made due so far I can keep using my existing ships until another event one crops up.

[RogueIce]

Well that's unfortunate. Oh well, I've made due so far I can keep using my existing ships until another event one crops up.

Should be relatively soon, with the Summer Event.

[Lord Revan]

Tier 4 is Captain (Level 30) level. Tier 5 is everything beyond Rear Admiral, Lower Half (Level 40) up to Tier 6. Only the "Vice Admiral" (ie: C-Store), Fleet, and "Special" (Lockbox, Event, etc.) Tier 5s can (generally) be upgraded.

Your Prometheus class ship is most definitely Tier 5, but non-upgradeable. It's a fairly common mistake to make.

true enough I suppose and it's not the baseic prommie but a mirror universe version of that.

[Coaan]

The actual MVAE does upgrade, whereas the cheap mirror knockoff doesn't - None of the mirror vessels can advance past t5 - they are okay if you need a ship to use at 50, but rapidly lose their sheen/relevancy past 50. Unless you can purchase one for less than 100k, I really wouldn't bother with them unless your ship options are *terrible*

Appropriate linky - MVAE page

There are 'endgame ship' charts on that page that list the upgradeable ships for each race, colour coded for convenience.

[Elheru Aran]

So the Level 40 ships-- the last ones you can get for free in the rank progression, Dilithium and event ships notwithstanding-- cannot be upgraded? And if you want a T5 upgradeable ship you have to buy it? Am I wrong?

[Coaan]

Pretty much the jist of it, yep.

There is another option though. Fleet variant ships.

So long as your fleet has the appropriate shipyard level, you can pick up ship modules from the exchange (expensive, but energy credit based) as well as some fleet credits and you can get a fleet version of a tier 5. Some of the tier 6's will be coming as fleet versions too.

It's interesting to note you do not need the base ship, just the number of fleet modules and the appropriate fleet yard. Owning the base tier 5 model just reduces the number of fleet modules you need to purchase a fleet vessel

Edit - Helpful explanation/chart

[Elheru Aran]

Checking the Arc blogs, I find this:

Tier 5 starships that have been omitted from this list, as they don’t qualify for an upgrade, are those that fall into one of the following categories:

Starships with a Dilithium or Rank-Up Token cost
Starships that cost Fleet Credits only
Starships that are awarded from completion of an episode
Mirror Universe Starships

From http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-t ... il/7002163

So that might suggest that you can't upgrade Fleet ships unless you spend Zen on them?

[Coaan]

I believe it's only talking about ships that have a fleet credit cost but not fleet module cost.

If you look at the chart re endgame ships, most of the fleet variants are flagged as upgradeable, whereas something like the Odyssey (basic for 200k fleet credits, not c-store bought) cannot.

[White Haven]

Key point: T-5U ships have one MORE console slot than T6 ships, all else being equal, so the T6 ships actually give that up to gain the starship trait and specialist seating.