Star Trek Online Discussion Thread (now free to play!)

[Xhiandra]

I have a couple Elite requisitions burning a hole in my inventory, short only the shield requisition, and am curious as to whether the veteran players feel the MACO space set or Omega Force space set is the more effective? Tactical captain in a fleet escort.

I've been trying not to mix the equipment sets up, if for no other reason than you get some bonus effects by using multiple items.

I've flown both the Breen and Jem'Hadar sets, and found each useful in it's own way (though my tactical captain doesn't benefit too much by the abilities either of those sets provide) but have been using the Borg set for its defensive benefits. And the tractor beam comes in handy in STFs. Had to turn off the visuals, though. Made my fleet escort even uglier.

On a side note, I seem to be noticing a lot of really immature players lately. Lots of name calling and childish behavior, particularly around DS9. It's really annoying, and I felt bad for a player who was singled out in an STF by 2 others after he blew something up prematurely. They spent more time whining on the chat than they did trying to deal with the borg ships.

Wow, coincidentally, I've been busy writing an Escort guide (not ready, need more concrete numbers), the short of it is:

First things first: the Fleet Escort isn't ugly!

- Breen set: just bad, for Tac/Escort at least; you'd do better with a Positron Deflector Mk XII [SIF] [Stl], Hyper-Impulse Engines Mk XII [Spd] [Turn] and Covariant Shields Mk XII [Cap]x2

- Reman set: underperforms compared to the above gear as well.

- Aegis set: some peope swear by it, but those people are probably the ones trying to sell it. Any survivability gained form the +10% Defense is lost in other areas, like the weak shield and total lack of Structural Integrity on the Deflector.

- Jem'Hadar set: that +7.6% Polaron damage is really appealing (and depending on your Skill build, the +2.5 Weapon Power as well), but you lose out substantially on survivabilty and speed.

- Borg set: Always use the Console.
From there, the individual pieces aren't that good, but the 2/3 piece set bonuses are very very nice; especially the 2-piece bonus.

- Omega set: Provides the Tetryon Glider and some Accuracy (on the Deflector), both interesting offensive bonuses but is sorely lacking defensively.
Although its Engines are nothing special (exactly the same stats as the Hyper-Impulse Mk XIII I mentionned earlier - Slipstream enhancement aside), Hyper-Impulse will give you the best speed.
Overall, more of a PvP set.

- MACO set: Best Escort Deflector, best Escort Shields, a 2-piece bonus that can be extremely useful; pointless Engines&3-piece bonus.
Overall, more of a PvE set.


I only retain 3 options:

1. MACO Shields, Borg Engines, Borg Deflector.
You get the 2+3 piece Borg bonuses, very strong Shields, a decent Hull and decent engines.

2. MACO Shields, Borg Engines, MACO Deflector.
You trade the Borg 3-piece effect for: a bit more Hull, stronger Heals, faster power transfer and most importantly, 5% more frequent BOFF ability usage.
Well, in theory. In practice, it only reduces the ability's cooldown, not the global cooldown or system cooldown, doesn't stack with eventual DOFFs and has no effect on cooldown of 15s or less; in my case, that means the MACO bonus only reduces the cooldown of my Hazard Emitters (45->42.75) and Transfer Shield Strength (45->42.75).

I like it a bit better than option 1, but just a bit.


3. Omega Shields, Omega Engines, Borg Deflector.
In Elite STFs, I wouldn't recommend it.
The Borg are more hull-heavy than shield-heavy, so the Tetryon Glider isn't as valuable and the faster movement speed isn't worth losing significant survivability.

In PvP, it's a very good option: Hyper-Impulse Engines make chasing a fleeing BoP/Raptor much easier and the Tetryon Glider makes your Alpha that much more effective.

Note that to really take advantage of the Tetryon Glider, you need points in Flow Capacitors.



My current BOFF layout (PvE):
Cdr Tac: TT1, CRF1, APO1, CRF3
LCdr Tac: TT1, APB1, APO1
Lt Sci: TSS1, HE2
Lt Eng: EPtS1, Aux to SIF1
Ens Eng: EPtA1

Upsides: I almost always have an Attack Pattern up, almost always have automatic shield distribution, am immune to tractor beams most of the time and almost always have CRF up, I can cycle both Emergencies most of the time for good shields and good heals.

Downsides: Tactical Initiative doesn't help much with that setup, sometimes Damage Control Engineers refuse to proc, APB is useless in PvP.

DOFFs:
1x Warp Core Engineer
3x Damage Control Engineer
1x Shield Distribution Officer

 

[SilentP]

ETA: Also, I've just tried using the standard Klingon carrier and it doesn't seem to give the kind of punch along with it's fighters when compared to my Vor'cha Retrofit. What kind of playstyle I should expect to adopt when using carriers when compared to cruisers and science vessels?

It's more of a support role. You could try going for a drain build. Use powerdraining Boff abilities and support with powerdraining drones.
I think it's the Dacoit Flight Deck cruiser that has the best powerdraining pets, but simple Power Siphon Drones work well too.

In an elite STF, a good drain carrier can leave an elite tac cube nothing more than a helpless heap of metal in space.

I suppose then I should take away from that is that the ship is not so much a ship for solo play then? I'll experiment with Boff power layouts and carrier craft then.

 

[intrinsical]

My take is that when you are sufficiently experienced with the game's bridge officer abilities, these bridge officer abilities become the primary form of defense and item sets play a lesser role in your ship's defenses. As a result, I tend to prefer using item sets for offensive advantage rather than only considering defense when it comes to picking my item set.

Don't get me wrong, a strong shield is still important but there are other ways of getting a strong shield (eg, consoles).

 

[Freman]

Why can't I log in? When I bring the launcher up my user name is there, but it won't accept my password. So I reset my password. Still doesn't work. So I ask for it to send my username, and it sends me snkoury instead of Freman72 which is my online name. So I try snkoury with the new password and that doesn't work either.

WTH??? And what's this Cryptic/Perfect World option thing? Which one am I supposed to use?

(yeah, I haven't played for a few months, so I'm out of the loop)

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Why can't I log in? When I bring the launcher up my user name is there, but it won't accept my password. So I reset my password. Still doesn't work. So I ask for it to send my username, and it sends me snkoury instead of Freman72 which is my online name. So I try snkoury with the new password and that doesn't work either.

WTH??? And what's this Cryptic/Perfect World option thing? Which one am I supposed to use?

(yeah, I haven't played for a few months, so I'm out of the loop)

If your account is with Cryptic use the Cryptic one, if its with Perfect World use the Perfect World one.

 

[intrinsical]

Basically a company called Perfect World bought Cryptic from Atari, so now Perfect World players can also login and play Star Trek Online. Since you're an old player, select Cryptic to login with your Cryptic account.

Also note that Cryptic and Atari discovered that someone hacked into their player database last year. In order to safeguard your account, Cryptic reset all passwords and you will have to use the "Forgot password" function to create a new login password. Sometimes, the forgot password email sent by Cryptic can land in your spam folder, so make sure you check your spam folder too.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Also make sure your account is logged out everywhere before you do this: PC, Laptop, Smartphone... Meaning Hompage and Forum.

 

[Vendikarr]

I really need some advice, I am obviously doing something wrong and I can't for the life of me figure out what.

I am currently Rear Admiral, Lower Half (42), and for the last 13 levels have been stopped by this one particular mission. I cannot seem to beat the Romulan ship Sithesh, from the Romulan front mission Ground Zeros. It's heavy photon torpedoes keep tearing me to shreds.

This is my set up:

Advanced Escort Prometheus model (U.S.S. Serenity Valley)

Stations
Commander Tactical

1. Torpedo High Yield I
2. Fire at Will II
3. Attack Pattern Beta II
4. Attack Pattern Omega

Lt. Commander Tactical

• Tactical Team II
• Dispersal Pattern Alpha I (mines)
• Cannon: Rapid Fire II

Lt. Engineering

• Engineering Team I
• Emergence Power to Shields II

Lt. Science

• Transfer Shield Strength II
• Tyken's Rift

Ensign Science

• Hazard Emitters I

My weapons are

Fore

• (very rare) Plasma Beam Array Mk X [Acc][Dmg]X2
• (very rare) Transphasic Torpedo Launcher Mk X [CrtH]X2 [Dmg]
• (very rare) Plasma Turret Mk X [Dmg]x3
• (very rare) Tetryon Dual Cannon Mk X [Acc][CrtH]

Aft

• (very rare) Plasma Beam Array Mk X [Acc][CrtD]x2
• (very rare) Quantum Mine Launcher Mk X [CrtD][CrtH][Dmg]
• (very rare) Disruptor Turret Mk X [Acc][Dmg]x2

Engineering Consoles

• (Very Rare) Monotanium Allow Mk X
• (Rare) Ablative Hull Armor Mk X

Science Consoles

• (uncommon) Biofunction Monidor Mk IX
• (rare) Shield Emitter Amplifier Mk X
• (rare) Emitter Array Mk X

Tactical Consoles

• (very rare) Variable Geometry Detonators Mk X
• (very rare) Warhead Yield Chamber Mk X
• (rare} Disruptor Induction Coil Mk X
• (very rare) Plasma Infuser Mk X

My beam weapons seem to have little affect on the Romulan ship. The Heavy torpedoes go right through my shields, so I tried adding things to buff up the hull. However without making a dent on his shields, His torpedoes are getting me while my hull repairs are timed out.

Any suggestions you can field to get me past this ship would be greatly appreciated. I have had little problem with ships using beams, but these torpedoes have me stuck.

 

[LeadHead]

Heavy Plasma Torpedoes are insanely tough to deal with sometimes. Here's my suggestions:

1. Make sure your power settings are set for Combat. (If they're on anything else, beam and cannon weapons are much much less effective) It may sound like a "Duh!" suggestion, but I've forgotten to make the changeover many times.

2. I recommend having more beam weapons on your ship, Beam Fire at Will can be extremely useful in dispatching the Heavy Plasma Torpedoes, if you time it right. The More beam weapons you can fire, the greater the chance that you'll knock them all out before they reach your ship.

3. Keep the ship moving, if a Warbird gets you in a tractor beam, your job gets much harder. I didn't see any Polarize Hull options in your Bridge Officers abilities. I'd add that on.

4. With heavy ships like the Romulan Warbird or a Battleship, sometimes you don't want to use your abilities immediately, in case they use theirs on you and it's a wash.

Hope that was somewhat helpful, Good Hunting.

 

[JRS]

I am currently Rear Admiral, Lower Half (42), and for the last 13 levels have been stopped by this one particular mission. I cannot seem to beat the Romulan ship Sithesh, from the Romulan front mission Ground Zeros. It's heavy photon torpedoes keep tearing me to shreds.

That is a though ship to beat(no matter what difficulty level you are playing). It took me quite a few runs..and a bit of luck.
You could always ask someone to team up with you for the mission, if you do not mind help that is

Advanced Escort Prometheus model (U.S.S. Serenity Valley)
Fore

1. (very rare) Plasma Beam Array Mk X [Acc][Dmg]X2
2. (very rare) Transphasic Torpedo Launcher Mk X [CrtH]X2 [Dmg]
3. (very rare) Plasma Turret Mk X [Dmg]x3
4. (very rare) Tetryon Dual Cannon Mk X [Acc][CrtH]

Aft

1. (very rare) Plasma Beam Array Mk X [Acc][CrtD]x2
2. (very rare) Quantum Mine Launcher Mk X [CrtD][CrtH][Dmg]
3. (very rare) Disruptor Turret Mk X [Acc][Dmg]x2

Looking at your weapons, it does seem to me that you are mixing quite a lot of different energy types.
You have plasma, tetryon and disruptor. It would be wise to choose one of them and stick to it, because having different types will eat your weapons power..and makes it difficult to support them with consoles, too.
You seem to have lot of plasma already, so maybe you should replace the disruptor turret with a beam emitter( or something like that.)

 

[intrinsical]

I don't know if they've changed the AI since I last played, but I did notice that the Romulan Warbird does not fire its torpedoes unless you're less than 5km from the ship. So keeping your distance may help.

 

[Scout101]

Pick a single energy type, and then get a console that boosts it. Shooting Skittles at ships is pretty, but harmless. And then decide whether you really want beams or cannons (and the hint is for Escorts, the answer is cannons). Load up on Dual Heavy Cannons up front (plus a torpedo if you like, and then slap a couple turrets and another torpedo in the rear). Put the turrets in rear only, HUGE waste of DPS having it in front.

You can then change your BOFF skills to actually support your loadout, instead of a little of everything. Cannon rapid fire and heavy fire (whatever that one is called, forget), plus torpedo spread or high yield. No mines.

The ship turns fast, so you can always keep your nose pointed at it for attack runs, so cannons and turrets get the most fire on the ship. And a torpedo in the rear for when you turn around for another run.

The consoles should then boost your energy type only, plus one for the specific torpedo type you picked. Add in the hull boost and shield boosting ones, and you're good to go.

Your loadout is just too generic, and you're losing a lot of potential power that way. Plus it's looking like you didn't really decide if you wanted to build for an escort or a cruiser, so went with a mix that's no good for either

 

[Xhiandra]

I really need some advice, I am obviously doing something wrong and I can't for the life of me figure out what.

I am currently Rear Admiral, Lower Half (42), and for the last 13 levels have been stopped by this one particular mission. I cannot seem to beat the Romulan ship Sithesh, from the Romulan front mission Ground Zeros. It's heavy photon torpedoes keep tearing me to shreds.

This is my set up:<setup>

Any suggestions you can field to get me past this ship would be greatly appreciated. I have had little problem with ships using beams, but these torpedoes have me stuck.

Well, I've heard horror stories about D'deridex ships being made much stronger in a recent patch, so you're not the only one having trouble.

That said, I just re-did this mission (well, the space part): if I stand there in front of the Sithesh without doing anything, I blow up too.
If I hit Emergency Power to Shields and Tactical Team, the Torpedoes bring me to 85% hull.
If I go on full attack, it doesn't have time to launch Torps


Short-term advice:
1. Playstyle: If you see a Plasma Torpedo coming for you, your first reflex has to be to shoot it down, either through an AoE ability (Cannon Scatter Volley is Escort-friendly option) or directly targetting it.
If you see it too late, hit Brace for Impact and hope for the best, but there's no guarantee you'll survive in an Escort, even with BFI.

This'll be important in STFs as well, Plasma Torpedoes are deadly, as is Donatra's Torpedo Spread (your only recourse there is to anticipate with Brace for Impact).


2. Build:
Let's be honest, there's quite a few things wrong with your build (don't worry, everyone gets it wrong the first time)... but it'd be a waste of EC to buy new Mk X stuff, so, a few low-cost changes you can make:

- Turrets go in the back. Sure, you can put them in Fore slots, but short of a specific experimental 8-Turrets Cruiser, you shouldn't.
Merely swapping your Fore Turret and your back Beam Array increases your front DPS at not cost (the Turret still fires, the Beam joins in).

- Mines suck, at least in PvE. Get a White Turret (of a energy type you're already using) instead of those mines and replace Dispersal Pattern Alpha with literally anything else.

- You've already got Emergency Power to Shields and Tactical Team.
You see the difference they made for me above, so use them. If you can maintain your Shields high enough, the Torpedoes won't harm you significantly.

- Since the problem seems to be Plasma Torpedoes, you could buy 1-2 Monotanium Alloys.
No need to overspend, whites would suffice (you can re-sell whites anyway); they might be called "Plasma" Torpedoes, but they deal Kinetic damage, like all Torpedoes.
This shouldn't be necessary, but gives you a slightly bigger margin for error.

- If that doesn't work, if I'm online feel free to ask me to come help: /tell Thalia@Xhiandra.

Long-term advice (VA):
- Decide on a single energy type and stick with it. I picked Disruptors until I could get a full set of Antiprotons, but you can pick anything... except Plasma.

- Beam Arrays are for Cruisers, for the most part. Standard Escort builds involve:

Fore:
1) 4 DHCs/DCs.
2) 3 DHCs/DCs+1 (Quantum or Photon) Torp.
3) 3 DHCs/DCs+1 DBB.
4) 2 DHCs/DCs+1 DBB+1 Torp.

Aft:
1) 3 Turrets.
2) 2 Turrets+1 Torp.

There are pros and cons with all those setups, I'm not going to detail them at length here.
Legend: DC=Dual Cannons, DHC=Dual Heavy Cannons, DBB=Dual Beam Bank.

- Don't hesitate to experiment with setups. Re-spec'ing your BOFFs cost a piddly amount of EC (and BOFF exp becomes a complete non-issue at VA) and you can always experiment with white Mk XIIs, then re-sell.

- I'm reluctant to tell you "you need to get those BOFF abilities and those alone", because it's nice to see different setups but that being said some BOFF abilities are pretty terrible (Dispersal Patterns, Boarding Parties, Mask Energy Signature) and should be avoided.

 

[Scout101]

For Escorts, my favorite build is #2 above. 3 DHC, with a good borg-powered Quantum for the front, and #2 for rear (I like the har'gpeng, or whatever the hell the one with the purple radiation is, as Borg won't clear the damage, so you get a big secondary explosion). that lets you really get a good pounding from the front guns, can mix in torpedoes, rear turrets get involved, and then you can toss the big torpedo as you go by, or turn around.

For powers, really you want the high-yield cannon and scatter volley, and then same for torpedo powers (spread and high-yield). Having 2 Tac Teams is useful, as you can pump up your shots almost constantly, and then I've got Eng team to heal me, and a couple science debuffs/heals.

it's a little fragile, but can put out pretty devestating power. As long as you keep moving, and heal often, should be a good weapon. Just have to focus on one energy type, and commit to the escort instead of treating it like a cruiser.

I played cruisers all through the leveling process, and then found my groove with the escorts at endgame. Can't go back now, just way too slow/clunky for me. I like moving around rather than tanking and broadsiding, and favor the quick overpowering win to the slower method while absorbing damage.

Near as I can tell, SCI ships (and characters) are fairly useless in the game outside of having a decent BOFF on an away team, and really are a jack of all trades, master of none situation. PVE is really it at end game right now, and they can't tank or DPS, so kinda not worth having around. Not much they can add that the other two can't do, Cryptic missed the boat on making that class useful.

 

[SilentP]

PVE is really it at end game right now, and they can't tank or DPS, so kinda not worth having around. Not much they can add that the other two can't do, Cryptic missed the boat on making that class useful.

Would you mind clarifying what you mean about by 'PVE is really it at end game'? After nearly finish leveling a Sci character up (at level 42-43), I've found it's pretty damn spiffy. While I haven't completely leveled up a Tac/Escort character (only up to commander), I find that the Sci character generally has a nice balance of agility and resilience.

Have done a couple of STFs with said character, and I find the ability to keep my allies going while shutting down enemy ships invaluable. While the damage output isn't quite as high as my cruiser, I'm still enjoying it.

While I haven't done much leveling with my Tac/Escort character (only up to Commander levels), but generally I don't seem it has the resilience I like in a ship. Maybe when I get to higher levels with it, I'll find the alpha strike capability of the ship will win me over.

 

[Scout101]

PVE is really it at end game right now, and they can't tank or DPS, so kinda not worth having around. Not much they can add that the other two can't do, Cryptic missed the boat on making that class useful.

Would you mind clarifying what you mean about by 'PVE is really it at end game'?

I mean they haven't developed much of anything for you to DO at endgame, and the PvP is awful, so unless you just wanna keep rerunning the episodes, PvE (specifically STFs mostly) are pretty much all you have to do, and gear up for.

After nearly finish leveling a Sci character up (at level 42-43), I've found it's pretty damn spiffy. While I haven't completely leveled up a Tac/Escort character (only up to commander), I find that the Sci character generally has a nice balance of agility and resilience.

Sure, with the regular mission episodes, and to a point. The STFs, though, are timed, and DPS is really the key there. Or, at the very least, tanking and threat control so that the DPS guys can just pound away without getting shot at.

Thought you couldn't do the STFs until you hit Lvl 50?

Have done a couple of STFs with said character, and I find the ability to keep my allies going while shutting down enemy ships invaluable. While the damage output isn't quite as high as my cruiser, I'm still enjoying it.

Not saying it might not be fun to play, and that there aren't uses, just saying that having a SCI show up in your STF group means your odds of winning (or getting the optional, at least) likely just went down. Every second counts, and if you can't put out damage, or absorb it so others can, you're not helping much. You basically just hope that you're the only one, otherwise you end up in an all-SCI group, and are almost definitely not gonna make it in time.

Been the only TAC in a group a few times (once with FOUR SCI ships!), and while they were all decent players, they just didn't have the guns to actually accomplish the mission in time. Cool in a support role, but you're basically dependent on the rest of the team, so not a huge help. If you don't get any TAC to support, you don't make it.

While I haven't done much leveling with my Tac/Escort character (only up to Commander levels), but generally I don't seem it has the resilience I like in a ship. Maybe when I get to higher levels with it, I'll find the alpha strike capability of the ship will win me over.

i didn't really use it until i hit max level, for mostly that reason. The cruiser could take a lot more pounding while I learned to play, and made it easier. Tried an escort once or twice, but i was still flying it and gearing it like a cruiser, so it was sacrificing the ability to tank, and not taking advantage of the offensive ability correctly. Once I smoothed out my build, and had the character spec'ed right, it got a lot easier. Still can't take the pounding I can when i move over to my Gal-X, but generally the bad guys aren't still around to TRY and pound me once I've made a pass or two.

Plus, after flying the escort for a bit, i can't stand the inability to turn in a cruiser. the Oddy mission to pick up the new ship was absolutely brutal. gotta make a 12-point turn to get out of spacedock, and need about 3 solar systems to complete a turn...

 

[intrinsical]

Thought you couldn't do the STFs until you hit Lvl 50?

You can't play elite STFs till you're level 50, but you can play normal STFs from level 40.

Not saying it might not be fun to play, and that there aren't uses, just saying that having a SCI show up in your STF group means your odds of winning (or getting the optional, at least) likely just went down.

And I've been in groups that only had escorts and failed to get the optional because they just took turns exploding or spent too much time escaping and repairing. Yes, it is true that out of the three classes of ships, science vessels generally deal the least damage. However, there are exceptions.

My science ships generally have the ability to improve other ship's performance, allowing them to dish out more damage or improve their damage resistance, repair their ships faster than anyone else. We can bring down enemy shields and make them vulnerable, turn tactical cubes into toothless grishnar cats.

And its possible to have a high dps science vessel. The quick way is to buy the Atrox Catian Carrier. Its advanced fighters have the combined dps of an escort ship.

If money is not an option, slot your science vessel with 2 Quantum Torpedoes and a Dual Beam Bank up front, and 3 Turrets in the rear. Make sure you have three very rare Projectile Weapons Officer. The constant stream of torpedoes will quickly rip apart most ships. You just have to make sure to bring down enemy shields quickly with a combination of Tetryon Beam, Target Shield Subsystem and the Omega Set with turrets.

 

[JRS]

So, the KDF side is getting a playable race to the C-store,
the Ferasans:

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/3161

Does not look bad, actually they look quite cool.
Not sure I will get one anytime soon, though.
(I have my Caitian on the Fed side still to level)
And I personally prefer to play as a Klingon on the KDF side,
though I have been thinking of making a Gorn science toon at some point.
Not sure what ship(s) to choose for a KDF science, since there isnt much science vessels on that side.
Anyone here have any ideas/thoughts about that?

 

[SilentP]

Birds of Prey have universal Boff slots, you by default, they might be your best bet, since you can have as many Sci boffs stationed as you like.

Scout, I'll get back to your reply properly later, but thanks for answering :-)

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Basically a company called Perfect World bought Cryptic from Atari, so now Perfect World players can also login and play Star Trek Online. Since you're an old player, select Cryptic to login with your Cryptic account.

Also note that Cryptic and Atari discovered that someone hacked into their player database last year. In order to safeguard your account, Cryptic reset all passwords and you will have to use the "Forgot password" function to create a new login password. Sometimes, the forgot password email sent by Cryptic can land in your spam folder, so make sure you check your spam folder too.

There is a pure non-carrier science ship in the store. It's a Nausicaan ship, I think.