STO starship combat problem

[Commodore_Rook]

One of the major low points of STO, is the weak starship combat. (I know some enjoy this part of the game the most, and mean no slight on them) but it boils down to simply space bar spamming of firing phasers over and over and over with torps and mines and your BO abilities sprinkled in) until the enemy goes boom. Yes it is true, it is ok at best, with no real strategy.

Compare to a game like EVE and enter a combat match. There, you have to use every scrap of tact and weapons to survive a battle, or you go boom, in your escape pod and make your way back to a base to get a new ship! STO, on the other hand, you pretty much are going to win, but if you do die, you simply respawn, with a little smack on the hand. I like both games, as each offers different aspects. Imagine EVE with Star Trek races and ships?? How cool would THAT game be?

 

[Chaos Descending]

Spacebar? You mean you don't right click all of your weapons icons so that they autofire?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I would disagree... In a way you are right of course. You can phaserspam you enemy until you win, But the trick is to use your skills, abilities and equipment right to finish them of fast. And I mean fast.
The right skills with the right weapon and abilty at the right moment makes a hell of a difference if you want to avoid dying a lot. Even if you dont suffer much for being destroyed.
And then there is team play where strategy gains a whole new level, especially if it is well coordinated.

 

[Kaziarl]

At first I would have agreed with Rook. I was actually hoping for something a little closer to Klingon Academy. I greatly enjoyed the way space combat worked on that game, and I do still think it could have worked here. However, that game also had a learning curve that was steeper then the casual gamer wants to put up with so we have to take that into consideration as well.

Over all though, using the right skills at the right time as Thingol mentioned can add quite a bit of strategy to the game in both PVP and PVE combat.

 

[Blamo]

One of the major low points of STO, is the weak starship combat. (I know some enjoy this part of the game the most, and mean no slight on them) but it boils down to simply space bar spamming of firing phasers over and over and over with torps and mines and your BO abilities sprinkled in) until the enemy goes boom. Yes it is true, it is ok at best, with no real strategy.

PvE is for the most part ridiculously easy, mostly due to the inclusion of BO abilities which detracted from the more strategic battles of Starfleet Command's combat engine. PvP on the otherhand is another matter entirely. Spamming weapon fire will not work there unless the other players are pretty poor.

As for Eve... Nah, that game is even less fun then Star Trek Online.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

One of the major low points of STO, is the weak starship combat. (I know some enjoy this part of the game the most, and mean no slight on them) but it boils down to simply space bar spamming of firing phasers over and over and over with torps and mines and your BO abilities sprinkled in) until the enemy goes boom. Yes it is true, it is ok at best, with no real strategy.

PvE is for the most part ridiculously easy, mostly due to the inclusion of BO abilities which detracted from the more strategic battles of Starfleet Command's combat engine. PvP on the otherhand is another matter entirely. Spamming weapon fire will not work there unless the other players are pretty poor.

PVE also gives you the ability to have a higher level than the enemies by allowing you to go do other stuff before the mission were as PVP you're still in the same tier area as the other players.

 

[Noname Given]

One of the major low points of STO, is the weak starship combat. (I know some enjoy this part of the game the most, and mean no slight on them) but it boils down to simply space bar spamming of firing phasers over and over and over with torps and mines and your BO abilities sprinkled in) until the enemy goes boom. Yes it is true, it is ok at best, with no real strategy.

Compare to a game like EVE and enter a combat match. There, you have to use every scrap of tact and weapons to survive a battle, or you go boom, in your escape pod and make your way back to a base to get a new ship! STO, on the other hand, you pretty much are going to win, but if you do die, you simply respawn, with a little smack on the hand. I like both games, as each offers different aspects. Imagine EVE with Star Trek races and ships?? How cool would THAT game be?

You really call EVE's combat model of 'click to orbit target' and watch your weapons autofire until you or your target blow up superior? (And the support model's even worse wityh "lets see which side can spam drones the fastrest".

Also, I think you haven't tried STO in quite a while as now you can set every weapon on your ship to autofire, and just handle the manuvering and use of your Captain powers as needed.

I played EVE for over a year; and honestly, I find the STO space combat suoperior in that I actually need to pay attention more than I ever did in EVE. There's little strategey in EVE until you get to be a part of a large Corporate level PvP engagement (which is rare, and honestly, unless you're flying one of the larger ships, not all that interesting; hours of prep and setup for 5 minutes of combat (and then a long Pod trip back to base.

But that said, if EVE is the game you enjoy, you should stick with it. Not every game is going to appeal to everyone; but I honestly don't miss the space combat system of EVE in the slightest.

 

[Commodore_Rook]

No I don't like EVE any better. I recently blew the dust off my old copy of Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates and THAT game has some real tactical starship combat. You have to use every scrap of resources sometimes to win a battle. There is no spamming spacebars, or clicking BO abilities, there is only tactical strategy, good timing with your weapons, shuttles, tractors, T-bombs/mines and even boarding parties.

Now don't get me wrong, I love STO and am not bashing it all, the combat just seems very simplistic for what you are flying, and I really feel like we are fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.

 

[Captain_Amasov]

There's no spamming spacebars in STO either since you can, from Season 1.2 update, set your weapons to auto-fire.

 

[Commodore_Rook]

There's no spamming spacebars in STO either since you can, from Season 1.2 update, set your weapons to auto-fire.

Please enlighten me!

 

[Chaos Descending]

Well, you could read post #2, or... right-click on your weapon icon on the toolbar. It should then get a little green "highlight" around the icons. Do that for all your weapon icons. They are now set to autofire.

Now, whenever you fire on an enemy, your weapons will continue to fire on the enemy until the enemy is destroyed.

 

[Captain_Amasov]

Well, you could read post #2, or... right-click on your weapon icon on the toolbar. It should then get a little green "highlight" around the icons. Do that for all your weapon icons. They are now set to autofire.

Now, whenever you fire on an enemy, your weapons will continue to fire on the enemy until the enemy is destroyed.

Yep, though it's still probably best to keep torpedo weapons on manual fire. Unless you're not using torpedo based skills.

 

[Noname Given]

Well, you could read post #2, or... right-click on your weapon icon on the toolbar. It should then get a little green "highlight" around the icons. Do that for all your weapon icons. They are now set to autofire.

Now, whenever you fire on an enemy, your weapons will continue to fire on the enemy until the enemy is destroyed.

Yep, though it's still probably best to keep torpedo weapons on manual fire. Unless you're not using torpedo based skills.

Yep, I keep both Torpedoes and Mines on manual. I just have my beam and canon weapons auto-firing away.

 

[Idoliside]

Beams are on autofire, but having torpedoes manual is sensible. Timing the perfect shot through their shields is essential.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I don't bother keeping any Torps on manual. I time my shots by turning my ship when the cooldowns are up.