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[Medalion]

It has less crew making hull repair not as ideal for a Cruiser, its main adv is its transwarp ability to go to any sector

 

[Shouta]

Probably just a bit lower health and maybe various stations/consoles. Most stats are determined by your starship equipment so as long as it has comparable slots and the like, it should be usable.

I looked at the sale quickly, after like 2 weeks of not logging in, and meh, I only had 700 CP saved from all the dailies. I may uninstall the game.

 

[Mgoblue201]

It's amazing how many people in STFs still don't understand the concept of taking on one group of borg at a time. Instead, they just unleash their drones and escorts without any thought for how they're being deployed.

 

[Medalion]

The STF grind for people who have levelled out is an inevitable fate for most people... you sit there getting pissed off for the lack of MK XII Gear for a set you want or getting angry at n00bs

Even with these new contents being added lately like new Tribbles, and Utopia Planitia

Very short lived things.

I even did the Klingon mission "Alpha" that was just added for first Contact day, it was not that great... I personally find the Hirogen annoying, not just in STO but even in Voyager itself. But at least it got me playing my Klingon side character again.

They need some serious revisions in STF, like new maps and enemies... increase better loot drops... and maybe more stipulations what u need to accomplish before doing STF Elites. Hopefully season 6 will be coming very soon in the year.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

So in addition to the 20% off deal in the C-Store, now you also get 15% more C-Points for your buck for the weekend. Combined this is essentially like a 30% off sale.

 

[Medalion]

Not much else I wanna buy, got the ship I want

Maybe the actual Defiant bridge from the Ds9 bundle, but too expensive

 

[DarthWoo]

Not much else I wanna buy, got the ship I want

Maybe the actual Defiant bridge from the Ds9 bundle, but too expensive

I ended up just getting the Defiant Retrofit and not getting an additional ship, but with the rest of the CP I had converted from dilithium (fortunately buying them before the mad rush for the sale) I bought a set of costume slots and a couple new costume packs. I'm a sucker for those sorts of things, and the film-era costumes look great. The formal dress is nice too, but the flowing cloth parts seem to look strange if you're standing still. I also purchased a set of character slots, but I probably won't use them until I buy a one-month sub just so they'll all have the appropriate inventory/bank slots and such. I wanted to try out the Foundry, but found that you have to spend dilithium just to have project slots.

Edit: For those of you who have actually created missions, does anyone ever actually give you dilithium tips?

 

[DarthWoo]

I thought I'd never actually pay for c-points, but I broke and got some while they were on sale. I got my second favorite ship class that has borne the name Enterprise after the Galaxy, an Excelsior. I don't really like all the bulging accessories the retrofit has, so I set everything back to look like the original. I was trying to recreate a certain shot from the films, but sadly I couldn't disable the glow from my nacelles to simulate a transwarp failure.

 

[Red Arremer]

Anyone maining KDF here? My preferred character is a Klink. :3

I also have a pretty solid setup on my Feddie, which is piloting a D'Kyr. Pretty neat ship, if I dare say so.

 

[Htown]

I rolled a Fed science officer recently just so I can eventually fly a D'Kyr. Love that ship design. Easily the best ship to come out of Enterprise.

 

[Red Arremer]

I actually really enjoyed Enterprise. I never had seen it before and recently marathoned it, and although it definitely wasn't DS9, it's nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be (nowhere near as bad as Voyager or TNG's season 1, for that matter, lol). Definitely would've deserved to go on at least another season or two, specially after that strong season 4.
And yes, the design was one of the reasons I got me the D'Kyr. I also got the NX-01 from a free gold coupon at alienware (I believe), and the ENT uniforms, which I am proudly displaying on my feddie, lol.

 

[bloodforge]

Whats a good weapon setup on a carrier?

 

[Htown]

Whats a good weapon setup on a carrier?

I'll let you know when I figure it out.

I decided to go with a Vo'Quv for my klingon science officer, and I'm still in the stage of WTF IS GOING ON?

I DID find an interesting "dragon" build for my fed assault cruiser, which is essentially a beam boat built around having 2 each of emergency power to weapons and emergency power to shields, and then essentially alternating them to keep weapon power and shield power near the power cap at all times.

 

[bloodforge]

I'll let you know when I figure it out.

I decided to go with a Vo'Quv for my klingon science officer, and I'm still in the stage of WTF IS GOING ON?

Heh, same here. I think I'm gonna try 2 beam arrays and torpedo fore and all turrets aft. See how that goes.

 

[Red Arremer]

Whats a good weapon setup on a carrier?

Depends on what you are trying to do, and what class your captain is, as well as what skills your bridge officers have.

Plasma is always a good choice cause of the plasma fire (that applies with Eject Warp Plasma, Plasma Beams or Plasma Torpedoes, but it doesn't stack). Anti-Protons too are a good choice, as they deal 20% more crit damage.

The others are alright too.
Polarons have a chance of damaging all subsystems of the enemy, while Phasers have a low chance of entirely disabling a random subsystem for a few seconds. If you have a science officer, either of those 2 are a good choice.
Tetryons deal extra damage to shields (very useful AGAINST a science officer, lol).
Disruptors are able to do a defensive debuff on the enemy.

Regarding torpedoes, I would say the best options are either between Hargh Peng, Plasma and Quantums. Take Plasma torps if you don't have any plasma beams or don't want to take them. Quantums deal a lot of damage with one shot, which can be invaluable for slow craft like carriers or cruisers, and Hargh Pengs deal radiation DoT and AoE when their secondary explosion goes off. Both Quantums and HPs however have long recharge times.

That's all IMO, though. I love using Anti-Protons/Polarons (AP dual cannons, Polaron arrays) and one torpedo launcher on each side of my BoP (Plasma on front, HP in aft). Since the carrier is slow as shit, dual cannons are not a good choice (unless you wanna take out one of your torpedo launchers), so arrays, single cannons and turrets are definitely a better choice.

 

[Medalion]

I rolled a Fed science officer recently just so I can eventually fly a D'Kyr. Love that ship design. Easily the best ship to come out of Star Trek: First Contact.

Fixed that for you.

Carriers are great for deploying loads of mini ships and drones to do your dirty work for you, so get those. Otherwise get weapons with wide firing arcs, preferably 360 cuz yer a tugboat. Turrets, phaser beam arrays.

Edit: Yay, I completed my MK XI Omega Force space set tonight!

I need a MK XII borg engine to complete my MACO Space MK XII

 

[Htown]

No, dude.

This is the First Contact ship.

This is the D'kyr from Enterprise.

 

[Medalion]

Doh

Well figures, never was a huge Enterprise fan

 

[Red Arremer]

This is the First Contact ship.

Actually surprising they didn't make this one the pet to get for First Contact Day.

 

[Medalion]

Zefram cochrane's ship made the most sense

It's why they revere him like a god with a huge statue and all

Wish we could see that too

 

[Mgoblue201]

Are there any good ensign tactical abilities, besides tactical team I and torpedo high yield I, that would suit the ensign tactical station on the tactical escort retrofit? All I find are abilities that enhance beam weapons, which, as an escort, I don't even use.

I'm trying to figure out which ship I should get from the store, but I don't see any good options. The worst thing about this is that the tactical escort retrofit sacrifices a science station that I really need. I could just go with the multi-vector advanced escort, but I would have to give up a Lt. commander tactical station and thus sacrifice torpedo spread III or cannon rapid fire II.

 

[Medalion]

I personally prefer the Torpedo spread than the high yield these days, as I am doing STF's a lot, I find the need to attack multiple targets at the sametime very useful, and the damage it does is pretty damned good when I am using Quantum Torps. You should have Tactical I equipped on two bridge officers, apparently this thing is stackable and is great for not only enhancing damage but evenly distributes shield healss automatically for you, very useful skill to have.

Defiant foh lyfe!

 

[Mgoblue201]

I didn't know that tactical team I stacked. That would be useful for the ensign tactical station.

So right now I'm still using the advanced escort. I have a lt. science station with polarize hull and feedback pulse and an ensign science station with science team. If I bought the tactical escort retrofit, I would obviously lose the ensign station with science team, leaving only the lt. station. I'm thinking of dropping feedback pulse and going with just polarize hull and hazard emitters in that station.

 

[Medalion]

Hazard Emitters is an absolute must

Depending on what you do with your ship... that other science ability can be dedicated to either slowing enemies or healing yourself

If yer doing STF's, I would highly recommend either Tyken's rift or Tractor repulsors, which I prefer the latter and put to great use

 

[Mgoblue201]

How does tactical team stack? Can I have three of them (for example, two tactical team Is and a tactical team II)?

 

[Htown]

technically you can have as many as you want, but be aware that they're all going to be on a thirty second cooldown when you pop one.

 

[Red Arremer]

Polarize Hull isn't really worth it, rather try to up your survivability with heal powers such as Science Team or the likes, or up your damage output with something like Tractor Beam. In fact, Tractor Beam can be outright devious if you or teammates have other BOff skills that work well with it, such as Tyken's Rift or Eject Warp Plasma.

 

[Mgoblue201]

technically you can have as many as you want, but be aware that they're all going to be on a thirty second cooldown when you pop one.

Yeah, I figured that out. Because of the word stackable I was thinking of them like consoles, completely forgetting about the cool down time.

Polarize Hull isn't really worth it, rather try to up your survivability with heal powers such as Science Team or the likes, or up your damage output with something like Tractor Beam. In fact, Tractor Beam can be outright devious if you or teammates have other BOff skills that work well with it, such as Tyken's Rift or Eject Warp Plasma.

I only like polarize hull because the Borg use a tractor beam so often, which can greatly expose an escort to their fire. However, I'm also willing to replace it with science team or some other ability.

 

[Htown]

I only like polarize hull because the Borg use a tractor beam so often, which can greatly expose an escort to their fire. However, I'm also willing to replace it with science team or some other ability.

Theoretically there should be a cruiser in your STF with some points in Threat Control, though it does take a while for threat to come off of a high-damage escort sometimes.

 

[Red Arremer]

If you wanna have something to disrupt Tractors, I'd rather take Jam Sensors, cause that also will have the ship stop shooting at you for a few seconds. Of course, if you fight alone against a group of Borg, that won't work too well, but it's pretty good if you're in an STF and want to GTFO from one tractor.

 

[Medalion]

I had experimented with Science team healing ability, it has a huge shield heal, especially II, but the damage you receive mainly is kinetic than shield bombardment I find from the Borg... so I'd rather ditch the shield heal and go for something that helps with the mission by pushing enemies around, literally... if you push an already dead enemy into a Tyken's Rift, where other enemies are trapped in, you can take em all out with one of their own ships... quite fun

 

[Red Arremer]

Yea, the push ability also cuts off tractor beams as well. When I was doing an STF yesterday, the one with the assimilated Klingon ships, I blew up one BoP, and the one behind it flew through the blast and just needed one more shot to get killed, haha.

 

[Medalion]

I'm pretty late to the party on this, but I recenly found out that Hazard Emitters ability can be targetted to other players to heal them (for the hull, not shields), instead of just healing yourself.

I've done this to heal the Kang in The Cure space mission, and other players... some kindness goes a long way. If you help out your team like that, they may do the same in return when you need it as well.

 

[Shouta]

That's really late...

Then again, the STO interface isn't very good about clearly marking effects and all that.

 

[Medalion]

STOWIKI is not an option, it is required reading for this game

 

[Red Arremer]

Yea, Engineering/Science teams can be sent to other ships as well.

 

[Walshicus]

I've done this to heal the Kang in The Cure space mission, and other players... some kindness goes a long way. If you help out your team like that, they may do the same in return when you need it as well.

I spend half the time in STFs with Extend Shields around the closest ship. Feels good man.




Been thinking about my next foundry mission. Some options:

• "Star Chamber" - A KDF courtroom mission where you defend (or not) an accused subject race member on a backwater Klingon colony. Depending on your performance the accused can be found guilty or innocent.
  
• "Fighting in the War Room" - A Fed mission where you lead the defence of a Federation protectorate against an aggressive neighbour. You'd play the role of General at first - deciding on force deployments etc. before your ship returns and you get to face more/less enemies depending on choices.

Think both could be done with clever use of triggers and triggered dialogue options, but I'm sorely tempted to just wait for the next set of Foundry upgrades which might make the whole job a lot easier... Hmm.

 

[Red Arremer]

Both sound like really fun concepts, Sir Fragula. If I might suggest a course of action for you:
Flesh out the concept and write the dialogues, and plan ahead on what exactly you want to have included. And once the Foundry update hits, you'll just have to fill in the gaps game-wise and can call it a day.

With that said, I can't wait for Season 6. Fuck yea, Tholians.

 

[DarthWoo]

That was insane. Due to the upcoming new lockboxes, I managed to make nearly a 10M EC profit in about 10 minutes just by buying other people's master keys and reselling them on the exchange. I probably could have made more if I'd bought all the large batches that were selling for 1M per key, but I only bought about half the ones offered. I suspect the market will be pretty slim on those for a while. Luckily for me, I have the patience to just mail all my spare lockboxes to myself as a sort of pseudo-bank, while hanging onto the gold ones until later.

 

[Medalion]

Thank goodness I kept my Gold lockboxes

I have no desire to open em, even if they did contain a Galor ship

 

[Carcetti]

Were the first contact day celebration missions good? Been out of touch for couple of weeks now as I'm a ship collector and the lockbox Galor and the 40 dollar odyssey managed to sour the game for me.

 

[Medalion]

The Fed one is a joke..go to Utopia Planitia, talk to Enterprise F crew for a few mins, pick up a non-combat pet, a replica of the Phoenix (the Zefram Cochrane's ship from ST: FC)
but the Klingon side mission was really good. You gotta be a level 34+ KDF to access it though.

I managed to try out the new Ferengi Lockboxes, a couple of em... I had some spare EC's lying around, bought a couple Master Keys, and won... basically junk. A Ferengi DOFF cadre, some Lobi crystals, and a rare physical augmentation armor suit.

This is why I never bothered spending CP for them.

 

[Red Arremer]

I managed to try out the new Ferengi Lockboxes, a couple of em... I had some spare EC's lying around, bought a couple Master Keys, and won... basically junk. A Ferengi DOFF cadre, some Lobi crystals, and a rare physical augmentation armor suit.

This is why I never bothered spending CP for them.

These boxes are just scam. I wouldn't even buy Master Keys from the exchange, that would support people who are supporting that immoral and disgusting business model. And Cryptic isn't even ashamed of themselves for doing it, oh no, they're puffing up their chest about how Ferengi these practices are.

I really wanted to like this game, being a huge Trekkie and actually enjoying the gameplay itself... but this development is gross and disappointing and I'm not sure if I want to continue even promoting that game by talking about it, yet alone support it financially in any sort.

 

[Htown]

Overreacting much? If you don't want the lockboxes, ignore them. If you want to get mad about something STO-related, get mad about the fact that they're charging so much money for ships, and that those ships are straight up better than the ships you get during normal gameplay.

 

[Red Arremer]

I can live with P2W generally (although its also a despicable business practice, don't get me wrong), because in that case I actually know what I'm getting for the money I throw down.

But these gambling boxes are really disgusting me. Not to mention the constant IN YOUR FACE-ness with the global server messages AND the boxes dropping everywhere, including STFs. And from what I read on the STO forums, the boxes are even bugged, to make things worse.

 

[Walshicus]

Can see where you're coming from, but I've been a lot more comfortable with the game ever since I decided to just ignore the lockboxes. I don't even parse them any more.

Alternative way of looking at it: if you were a subscriber, you can in the course of two, perhaps three subscription months buy all "gaps" between Silver and Gold and then spend the money you would have spent on master keys or other C-Store bits.

 

[Red Arremer]

Even if I had the C-points, I probably would not buy master keys with them, just to not support that practice.

 

[Medalion]

Dedicating a theme of Lockboxes to the Ferengi

It's nice Cryptic and Perfect World show their true colors and tell us who they admire and model themselves after, whether ironically or not.

 

[Gvaz]

This game is neat, I liked the space combat but everything in this game is clunky

 

[Medalion]

Pretty apt description.

Still play it quite a bit though.

There is a new update coming as of tomorrow for both episodic content of sorts, and STFs.

It concerns the Remans, and for STFs supposed "slight" increase in MK12 loot and addition of a new death penalty across difficulty regarding spawn timers.

May wanna bust out that Reman shield again...just sayin