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

[Capn Flukie]

He a tough snow guy.

Has anyone been having trouble with the radiation minigame on New Romulus? It runs awful jerky now, I was was getting a good 18 to 23 rad tokens up until a few days ago, now I'm lucky if I get 11. Maybe they're making it harder cause they know it's an easy way to get a lot of Rom Marks quickly?

 

[Rocketeer]

You can unload the epohhs at the GPL vendor. Perhaps you knew that already, but I just found it this morning... :-P

I ran the race this morning and was in the lead with another person about 6 meters behind me. As we neared the finish, there was a player standing there already. When the 1st place flag appeared, he claimed it. I had to take 2nd and the person behind me took 3rd. How did he do that? The player didn't run the race or didn't run it the route we took. Me and the player that came after me were confused how that happened.

And I still see players shooting other players and me. How are they doing it. I've tried shooter mode with no effect.

Another question. When you make yourself as hidden, does it hide you from your fleet roster? I noticed that sometimes I don't see all characters in the roster although I can see them standing in front of me.

 

[intrinsical]

I'm familiar with the Foundry editor and its similar enough to Cryptic's internal mission editor that I kinda suspected that there's no real way for Cryptic to actually track who's in the race or who came in first. This is why they had to add 1st, 2nd, 3rd place flags that players have to pick up in order to reward winter eppoh tags.

My guess is Cryptic cannot determine if the player picking up these position markers are actually in the race unless they got a programmer to add special "tech" to do the check. Obviously they chose to cut cost and not add that special tech, so any player can pick up these race flags even if they did not run in the race.

 

[Rocketeer]

Considering how many players exploited the shortcut, I'm surprised that the race flag issue hasn't been. I'm not happy with the whole flag deal. I've missed a few by sliding pass the flag.

Another interesting event occurs during the race. Pets disappear at the drop then reappear after your character makes it across. I assume that they had to do that to compensate for bad coding. I mean what's the difference between coming off that drop and jumping off any other high point?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Considering how many players exploited the shortcut, I'm surprised that the race flag issue hasn't been. I'm not happy with the whole flag deal. I've missed a few by sliding pass the flag.

Another interesting event occurs during the race. Pets disappear at the drop then reappear after your character makes it across. I assume that they had to do that to compensate for bad coding. I mean what's the difference between coming off that drop and jumping off any other high point?

The pet issue is most likely just a pathing issue.
NPCs pets follow sort of an invisible rail that is computed anew with every movement that you make.
If you jump from one surface that is not connected to the next the pet can't follow.
There are limits for the AI to generate a new route, so there is a function implemented that respawns them near you if you get to far away from where they hit their navigation hazard.
At least that's how i understand it.

 

[Bird of Prey]

I finally reached 800 lobi and I'm looking for some feedback. Are the ships in the Lobi store worth it? How about the consoles?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Unfortunately the consoles are ridiculously expensive and work best as the set they come in. A complete set is more expensive than a ship and will cost 900 Lobi.
Not worth bending out of shape for IMO.
You can easily get stuff that is just as good but working differently.
Unless you have a niche build that the set is absolutely tailor-made for, then go for it.

The time ship is certainly up there with the best escorts and worth it if you can't get a bug ship.

The recluse carrier is probably the best carrier in game form what I've heard but an aquired taste or simply indifference to the design to fly.

And that's about it... no other Lobi ship available outside of shuttles...

 

[Bird of Prey]

Thanks. I have an Armitage so it's in the middle of those two options - escort vs carrier. Sounds like I will go with the timeship, as the feedback on it sounds positive.

I've been collecting fleet marks and putting them into fleet projects, but have yet to purchase anything from the fleet stores on our starbase. I went there yesterday, and realized that the MKXII Purple Borg gear I got from the pre-season 7 STF's are now out of date. Guess I need to save up dilithium and start upgrading.

 

[Rocketeer]

It seems like most of the desirable stuff is at Tier III or higher. I think some players use fleet credits to buy white doffs for SB projects, but I'm saving my fleet credits for better quality items.

 

[Hanover Fiste]

Looks like the main page, message boards and the game server itself are all down. I wonder if something blew up in the last maintenance they were attempting.

 

[Jim Gamma]

I was also having trouble with the main PWE site earlier. Might be a PWE problem rather than Cryptic.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

The Game is still working.

 

[DaveyNY]

Heh... Must have been the End of the World for PWE at least.

 

[Noname Given]

Yep - get the same error when trying to access ANY PWE or PWI run website. Good to know game access is unaffected.

Edited to add:

Interestingly enough the Beta STO Gateway site still works too.

 

[Rocketeer]

Has anyone else tried the Klingon Honor Carol mission (A Christmas Carol in Klingon)?

Dev Branflakes was chatting about it, so I gave it a try. It's an interesting diversion. (I posted a couple of pix in the screenshot thread.)

 

[CorporalClegg]

Has anyone got the Vesta yet? I was thinking about splurging as a Christmas present for myself, but I don't know if it's really worth it--especially since I only play this game part-time.

It does look really nifty, and I am a huge fan of the Destiny books, but I don't know if I should bother for just the pure vanity. I can always just way till the fleet gets to level V and get the LRSVr upgrade.

Also, I just saw about the old featured series thing. The BOffs aren't that big of a deal to me and I already have a Shard of Possibilities and that seems more novelty than practical. But according to some on the forums, the Ophidian is mandatory for Elite ground STFs. I've never used one so I don't know how useful it really is. But from what I can tell from the tool tip, it's pretty much just a short channeled hold with added HoT. Is it really worth it to go back and play those quests again to get one for a couple of characters?

CorporalClegg,
I have mild carpal tunnel from working on computers most of my life; however, it's compounded by arthritis. I use the ASD keys and arrow keys at the same time. Try to shift back and forth between the hands. It helps me. You could also try a gaming keyboard. Some tilt the keys so there's less stress on your wrist. I have a Fang pad which I use if I'm planning on doing heavy duty combat. It's a loose pad that connects by USB so you can place it or tilt it to suit your needs. You can map controls to the keys so everything is in easier reach.

Some players that I've talked with like the Nostromo Gaming Keypad.
Hope this helps.

Well I tried to force myself to just playing with the keys for a few days, and I just can't do it. Maybe it's the digital toggle nature of them, but I always end up with really jerky movement. I always found myself retreating back to the mouse.

I have been thinking about a gamepad, but I keep telling myself that if I were to spend that kind of cash on a gaming gizmo, it would be a 12-button mouse.

I actually found an old PS2 controller with USB adapter and plugged it in. The left stick worked great and the control was natural and smooth. But I couldn't get any of the other buttons to work. (Might have been due to its age.)

Maybe for the best though. I mean after you account for all the necessary piloting functions, you're only left with 4-6 buttons for skills. One would have to do some excessive keybind scripting to get everything to fit.

 

[intrinsical]

The fleet won't reach Tier 5 anytime soon so you're going to have a very long wait if you want the Fleet LSRV. I don't have the Vesta but from looking at the specs, its a drool-worthy ship especially if you get the 3-Vesta bundle. As for the Ophidian Cane, I wouldn't say its a must-have item for any content. However, it is a good item for Tactical and Engineering officers who have limited options for self-healing. The cane is also good in oh-shit situations when the team is getting overwhelmed by many foes.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

The cane is worth it. It has a very high controll ability that only fails against the toughest bosses and their hold resists and the more enemies you hold, the better is the heal. You can manage without, but having it, will make everything that bit easier.
Same for the shard... It isn't such a lifesaver as the cane, but the two shard copies you summon are tougher than your average security redshirt and can draw focus fire away from you.

You don't have to play the entire Feature Series, just the final episodes to pick up the Bonus rewards.

 

[Rocketeer]

I've already said my thoughts on the Ophidian Cane, but I'll add this. It works best if you have BOFFs, turrets or allies close enough to blast the crap out of the enemies while you have them lifted in the air.

The Tier 5 LRSV was what I was hinting about also. Although from what I hear on the chat channels, no fleet has made Tier 5 yet.

 

[Hanover Fiste]

Is there still a way to get the ophidian cane? I thought it was removed as a mission reward on those Devidian episodes.