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I've never liked the looks of the Atrox...

The Galaxy is a wallowing PIG of a ship. The free Sovereign is a far better deal, or the Defiant. I have never liked the Galaxy at all. Science is OK, but not impressive. Patrol Escorts are a nice deal as well.

Simon_Jester wrote:

mr friendly guy wrote:I am currently playing a science based captain (what do you expect with a character named Sheldon Cooper) but seem to favour cruisers rather than science vessels. Just not feeling too confident with fancy builds since its my first time. I am thinking of building around beams, and using repeated mission quests to get scaled up items. Currently have my Tier 3 ship (which I admitted I paid with for ZEN so it is somewhat better than the free cruiser) and I am hoping to tough it out until I become a vice admiral since I am apparently several levels higher than what is the minimum recommended for my current quest.

Do yourself a favor: actually DO pick up the free Tier 4 ship. If you're shopping for cruisers, the free Tier 4 Galaxy-class is strictly superior to the $10 Excelsior-class in literally every way, EXCEPT that it has an inferior rate of turn.

Also, seriously consider a science vessel. The science vessels' secondary deflector dish can translate into several hundred points of damage per second inflicted on enemy ships through use of your science abilities. Also, you actually HAVE science abilities, in that your science bridge officers will get to use their Lieutenant Commander and Commander-level abilities. On a cruiser they never will.

Science vessels don't have the sheer brute durability of cruisers (as much because they lack the engineering console slots to have extra-double-plus armor plate as anything else), but they DO have excellent shielding.

When you get to Tier 5 do whatever you want, but seriously consider picking up a ship that can be upgraded to T5U, if possible- because the current generation of endgame content isn't really very well balanced for ships that are equal or only slightly superior to a free Sovereign-class or Luna-class.

I have the option of getting a mirror universe Tier 5 ship (from a drop box). Can that be upgraded to T5U? Otherwise I would most probably buy a T5 one which can be upgraded later on.

Look here for a complete list

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Federation_playable_starship

Now, you said "mirror Tier 5 cruiser." So we go here

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Federation_pla ... p#Cruisers

We see, under Tier 5 ships, "Mirror Universe Star Cruiser" and "Mirror Universe Assault Cruiser." That's the mirror-Sovereign and mirror-Sentinel respectively. It does not APPEAR that either class can be upgraded at first glance... looking at the articles and the big box o' ships at the bottom of their respective pages...

I don't THINK so. Check with someone who plays more extensively.

Generally speaking, only t5 ships purchased with zen are upgradeable.

There are a few exceptions you can pick up for credits though, such as the APU battleship and the Malon Battlecruiser.

Given that t6 ships are cheaper than a t5 hull + upgrade token though, you are probably better off buying one of the t6 ships. Especially since they are now releasing more t6 versions of t5 hulls

I am personally disgusted with their cash grab regarding t6 hulls, but it is a better deal than t5 hull + token

How do you guys deal with plasma torpedoes? I can't shoot them down fast enough against Romulan ships.

mr friendly guy wrote:How do you guys deal with plasma torpedoes? I can't shoot them down fast enough against Romulan ships.

Hazzard Emitters are your friend there. they remove the DoT and give you a slight durability boost

Beam: Fire At Will and Tractor Beam Repulsors to burn them down or, in an emergency, Evasive Maneuvers to buy time or Brace for Impact to just take the hit. Hazard emitters to purge the whole on-fire thing. Also, learn what fires them and don't get too close so you have time to react.

Yeah. If you come to close to the bow or stern arc of a D'Deridex, it will lob one of those three-shot salvoes of heavy torpedoes and blow the hell out of you.

I'd recommend the same stuff as the other guys, except to note that I have no experience with Tractor Beam Repulsors except to inwardly seethe and say it ought to be Pressor Beams because the works of Doc Smith are awesome.

I managed to beat a D'Deridex by evasive maneuvers, and even then it wasn't a sure thing. Since I am a science captain I now decided to try out my wizard, er I mean science powers. Got a few nice things such as holographic fleets, aceton assimilator (which I found out just sits there but it supposed to drain) and the singularity attack, which I still haven't timed it to combine with the bioneural warhead. I think with this type of powers D'Deridex are going be in for a surprise.

Simon_Jester wrote:Look here for a complete list

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Federation_playable_starship

Now, you said "mirror Tier 5 cruiser." So we go here

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Federation_pla ... p#Cruisers

We see, under Tier 5 ships, "Mirror Universe Star Cruiser" and "Mirror Universe Assault Cruiser." That's the mirror-Sovereign and mirror-Sentinel respectively. It does not APPEAR that either class can be upgraded at first glance... looking at the articles and the big box o' ships at the bottom of their respective pages...

I don't THINK so. Check with someone who plays more extensively.

The Mirror Ships explicitly cannot be upgraded.

This table has checkmarks that show what can be upgraded.

When the Warbird fires its plasma torpedoes at the same time I fire my singularity weapon, not a good idea. For it as the singularity just sucks it to it.

What's the limit of EC a new player can get? Is it within the rules to trade EC with another player?

Another question. If you buy a uniform for your characters, how is it that you can't see it in the tailor shop as an option? How do you get it to work.

mr friendly guy wrote:What's the limit of EC a new player can get? Is it within the rules to trade EC with another player?

Free to play players are initially limited to 10 mil EC cap, but you can buy a wallet upgrade that gives you a 10 billion EC cap.

EC trading is allowed IIRC but I'm not 100% sure on that, that said it's pretty easy to hit 10 mil EC if you're trying to get as much EC as possible.

Another question. If you buy a uniform for your characters, how is it that you can't see it in the tailor shop as an option? How do you get it to work.

sometimes you have to zone in and out to get certain options to appear, also some outfits are race, gender or faction locked.

Some clothes items are also locked to location, such as swimwear, which you won't be able to wear anywhere besides Risa.

FaxModem1 wrote:Some clothes items are also locked to location, such as swimwear, which you won't be able to wear anywhere besides Risa.

another location locked outfit would be any "off-duty" outfit that seem to be limited to certain locations at least if I beam out an STF in my off-duty outfit for my engineer, she switches to her MACO gear (first in the list of outfits).

Uggh. I lost what I typed reviewing what I liked and disliked about the game.

So I will just comment on the progress of Vice Admiral Sheldon Cooper. Got the Federation Command cruiser pack. The ships are pretty similar, although the main difference is in bridge officers (most have a universal section so you can most likely get the bridge officers you want on the bridge) and console configuration. The fact they offer 11 consoles instead of 10 was a deal breaker in selecting these vs other T6 ships. They are a little slow, but with a mark 8 gravitic impulse engine it handles better than my Sovereign variant. I don't see much advantage to upgrade this engine, unless I get one as a drop because they won't improve the turn rate anymore.

Each ship does have different universal controllers for Engineering, Science and Tactical respectively. Naturally being Sheldon and the proud owner of all 3 ships, he took all 3 consoles and stuck it on one ship. So far my current ship is a Command Cruiser (Tactical). Among its abilities are

a. Deploy drones - one to drain enemy's shields, the other to strengthen your shields and the other to fire phasers. Each from the unique console in each of the command cruisers.

b. Bioneural warhead - when quantum torpedoes are just not enough. This is a tricobalt device married to an AI. Has HP and can fire its own weapon, so its a cross between a mine and a drone. It moves it to detonate with damage more than a few quantum torps but less than a tricobalt. Has a long cooldown time, but since I rarely fire projectiles, it works well. The device scales with my level.

c. Photonic ships - can create 3 ships to fight for me. Strictly speaking this is Sheldon's ability and would work well with any ship with holoemitters, ie all of them except shuttles maybe.

d. Aceton assimilator - Got this from an epic universal console. Allows me to fire an aceton assimilator which drains an enemy's shields and emits radiation damage, especially when fired upon with beam weapons. Scales with level.

e. Singularity weapon - fires a singularity which sucks enemy ships in, doing damage. See the Romulans aren't the only ones with this ability. Scales with level. The downside is, its difficult to aim and it tends to miss against Klingons. I have used (from my Sovereign class) against Warbirds and in PvE against a Borg cube (when I was right in front of it at spitting distance).

f. Beam weapons - basically weapons have 4 fore and 4 aft. I keep the bioneural warhead in the front, and the other 7 slots are beam weapons. 4 of them currently at Mark XI plasma-disruptor hybrid weapons from a Klingon war quest. I am planning to replace all my type X phasers with this. Also currently using type X to type XI manifold consoles (3 in total) to boost the power of any beam weapon from 15-16.2% each. Planning to change them all to uncommon disruptor induction consoles, which give boosts to disruptor weapons at 26.2% each. I could have got some rares, but I felt people were ripping me off in the exchange. Maybe after grinding some more, I might change it to rare, for an extra 2% boost.

g. Delta flyers - changed my hangar of a few shuttle craft for one stocking 2 Delta flyers, because I loved that ship from Voyager.

All in all, this ship handles like a charm against Kllingons. I can't wait to refight the Romulan warbirds and that Dominion Foundry quest where I take on several Dominion Battleships.

If you like plasma/disruptor hybrid weapons I would work on the Romulan Reputation system. Every time you start a rep project you get a prize box that has a good chance of getting you the hybrid weapons. If you are looking for phasers there are some good hybrids that you can get a hold of.

The new command cruisers are probably the best fed cruisers in the game so far. If you want access to good equipment I would recommend joining a fleet. Most fleets don't take a lot of involvement to progress and the equipment you can requisition is the best in the game, baring upgraded or crafted equipment. What are your bridge officer abilities and Duty Officer setup?

Free to play players are initially limited to 10 mil EC cap, but you can buy a wallet upgrade that gives you a 10 billion EC cap.

I thought it was 1 billion?

On related news, launch of season 10.5 has predictably gone tits-up. It was supposed to have been rolled out after today's maintenance- it worked for a grand total of 5 minutes. 5 hours later and it's still down. I'd be very surprised if they manage to fix it before the day is out.

Grahf: Seeker Of Power wrote:If you like plasma/disruptor hybrid weapons I would work on the Romulan Reputation system. Every time you start a rep project you get a prize box that has a good chance of getting you the hybrid weapons. If you are looking for phasers there are some good hybrids that you can get a hold of.

The new command cruisers are probably the best fed cruisers in the game so far. If you want access to good equipment I would recommend joining a fleet. Most fleets don't take a lot of involvement to progress and the equipment you can requisition is the best in the game, baring upgraded or crafted equipment. What are your bridge officer abilities and Duty Officer setup?

I was invited into I think it was the Shadow Fleet, so I said yes. I haven't actually explored the Fleet action or reputation system yet. Just playing the main storyline because that is what really does it for me in the game. But I will look into it.

Edit - how does joining in a Fleet work. What type of tasks do you do etc?

Ok, it seems I may have made a mistake. I set one of my bridge science officers to have the pilot specialization, but then it states that the station doesn't allow it use the abilities. So any idea what is going on?

It's good to back after some time away from the game. My new PC plays it beautifully, and I can finally focus on throughly upgrading and overhauling my tactics and skills. I also finally discovered what expertise is for simply due to being able to navigate the menus without dying of boredom waiting for them to load, and have started pouring points into upgrading my bridge officer skills

I have a question about bridge officer skills. I purchased some manuals, thought my science officer some skills like tachyon beam III and it says I have learnt the skill. Yet I can't get her to display this skill in the ship mode. Is this related to the ship bridge officers being limited to certain ranks?

Either you did not promote your officers to the proper rank or your ship doesn't have the rank slot for it.

You actually change available skills in the stations tab. You need to make sure you have the correct rank for that station and make sure they officer is promoted. Fleets are fairly simple to work with. Under the minimap is a fleet tab and you simply select the tab for upgrades and contribute materials, dilithium, or officers. You get fleet credits and eventually once you are promoted you can buy from the fleet requisition store.

For whoever trained their BOFF in the pilot specialization, you need to make sure the bridge officer station is a hybrid station. It will say something like Lieutenant Commander Tactical/Pilot station. You can use both types of skills.