[Star Trek Online] Boldly Going In Front Of Your Computer For Free!

Wren

and tactical officers fire off a million torpedoes at once while firing phasers everywhere like its the USS Raveparty. although fire at will was nerfed about when I quit

Owenashi

If it was nerfed, I haven't noticed it. My Borged-AC sprays the beams like it's going out of style, making all sorts of new friends.

Hullis

What happened to FAW was that it wasn't doing reduced damage, which was originally the intent, something like 80% damage beams spread out to multiple locations.

Because nobody was taking Overload.

pablo_price

activating a retail copy gives you a month of premium, correct?
because amazon is selling the collector's edition for $7 & that's a great deal imo for the physical stuff, the uniforms and getting $5 in cryptic funbucks

edit: their forums say yes. also, you can add a digital deluxe key for another month on top of that (~$11 in points, tos uniforms and some emotes for $15 @ gamestop)

Owenashi

Took a little work but I was able to save a copy of the weekly screenshot at STO's site to present here. The small news-bit attached to it's notice hints that this is connected to the upcoming new multi-mission story arc AKA Featured Series that they plan to release in a few weeks.

Amikron Devalia

Oh my god, its full of stars!

FirmSkater

Okay so after a lot of playing today I have no idea how the fuck to do these borg encounter missions

Everyone keeps telling me "Yeah they are pretty hard for newbies even with the level boost" but there are level 50 guys flying around with me and in 4 different encounters today we were able to kill exactly two borg cubes, combined. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but I just die constantly and even if we clear one of the fleets it takes so long to do it that doing three more isn't even an option.

thedude_frombaywatch

Okay, what happens if my ship is destoryed during a mission? Do I lose it? Respawn? Is there a death penalty

Amikron Devalia

I know now that on ground missions on normal you just respawn no penalty, not sure about ships though, would guess it would be the same.

Owenashi

FirmSkater wrote:

Okay so after a lot of playing today I have no idea how the fuck to do these borg encounter missions

Everyone keeps telling me "Yeah they are pretty hard for newbies even with the level boost" but there are level 50 guys flying around with me and in 4 different encounters today we were able to kill exactly two borg cubes, combined. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but I just die constantly and even if we clear one of the fleets it takes so long to do it that doing three more isn't even an option.

The Sector Invasions can be rough if you're not prepared. The best groups to go against are ones made up of just Probes and Spheres or Spheres with a Cube. DON'T go after Tactical Cubes. They're too tough to tackle in the time-limit you have. Good abilities to bring with you are ones to put out the Borg's Plasma-weapon DoTs like Hazard Emitters and Tactical Team in case they try sending Borg over as you'll be able to tell with red flashes passing over your screen.

thedude_frombaywatch wrote:

Okay, what happens if my ship is destoryed during a mission? Do I lose it? Respawn? Is there a death penalty

If you're on Normal difficulty, no penalty. On the two higher ones however, you get saddled with one of three types of injuries to both you or your ship depending on where you die. I don't quite remember the name of the items for healing Ground injuries but Space ones require Components. You might want to save some up in the bank if you ever plan to do Elite versions of STFs which turn on the injury mechanic.

Morkath

Hullis wrote:

Science is actually the best PvP class

and science and Engi can do some healing

Engineers do shield heals and Science does hull/health heals

generally speaking

They both do both.

Engineer has EPS, engineer team, and auxtostruct.
Science has hazard and science team.

thedude_frombaywatch

Messing with the options wow this is sweet. You can voice chat with people! how's that work? Can I send com messages to people? And I can patch in Itunes into my game. This is sweet

Owenashi

With the Odyssey-class coming to the game, probably more then one fan is hoping that we'll see the new Enterprise in a mission. However, reading up DS9's TV-Trope page brings up the fact that in the first space battle against the Dominion, a Galaxy-class ship named the Odyssey was lost. Seeing as the Enterprise-F is an Odyssey-class ship and the class is being introduced around the same time as the next story-arc which involves the Dominion, I fear Cryptic's writers may get the idea of leading the F down the same path as the C.

FirmSkater

That is...

a bit of a stretch of logic there

Hullis

Well. There's going to be an Odyssey bridge pack. So.

Hullis

Also they've done an interior of the ship for the next featured series.

Owenashi

FirmSkater wrote:

That is...

a bit of a stretch of logic there

I guess, but it would be one way to silence anyone begging for a mission to happen on the F. As far as I can tell, they've never really revealed what's happened to the E or Data one way or the other either after a certain point in the Path To 2409 story which is also a bit mysterious.

Hullis

Probably because they're trying to get Spiner to do voicework.

Virgil_Leads_You

I've been playing this as a tactical officer.
Seems like there's a great game in here.

Owenashi

So this week's Featured STF is Infected and it can be a little difficult if players aren't prepared. The Space portion of the STF is like Khitomer Accord in that you have to destroy a Transwarp gate, doing so in the same way as KA but just one of them. The complication arises in the form of Nanite Probes and Spheres which pop up as soon as you start killing the little healing-generators. They're heal-bots themselves and will prolong the fight if left alive. It gets worse for those trying for the Optional reward as that goes out the window if just one N-Sphere/Probe manages to land a heal on the generators. A Tactical Cube also warps in once most of the generators are destroyed which can be rough for anyone who haven't fought one of these before. For those interested in seeing what the entire Space-side run is like, here's a video I found.



The other half of Infected is a run inside a half-assimilated starbase, taking out all the Borg with the Optional objective involves rescuing 10 Starfleet personnel being turned into the Borg. The problem with this is that their assimilation kicks off not when the party enter the room they're in but by checkpoints players pass by unaware. Here's a map from STO-Wiki to show what I mean.



Infected-Ground is unique also in that it has a mid-boss, complete with force-field sealing off his room like the end bosses to keep people from respawning in fresh. He can be difficult since he can summon in Drones to help. In fact, some players like to seal him in his alcove with an Engineer's Cover Shield and shoot him up from there to keep him from triggering his summoning. The end boss is more complicated then KA-Ground's as a) flies around in a room that's half-exposed to deadly lava plasma, b) has a debuff that makes it deadly to stand by anyone else and shoot her and c) the room constantly respawns Drones every few minutes after their death. I haven't been able to find an modern Infected-Ground video walkthrough though I did find this one of a complete run of both sides of the STF prior to it being divided into separate STFs. The Ground run kicks in about 11 minutes in and there seems to be some slight differences, especially since the Optional objectives/rewards hadn't been put in yet.



I did find a video that covers the modern Infected but as part of an episode of a webshow devoted to STO called 'STOked'. Infected itself isn't covered until past the halfway point but if you got 30 minutes to an hour to spare, it may be worth watching.



I'll be running practice runs of both sides of the STF tomorrow and Tuesday to help those who wanna give it a shot a chance to experience it for yourselves. I also made it into STF-land on my KDF-side character so I'm willing to do runs on Infected for both Fed and KDF characters.

Amikron Devalia

What level do you have to be for something like that? I only just hit 10.

Owenashi

STFs are first available at Lv44. You'll get a quest-notice to go to DS9 and chat with the Omega Force reps there. Omega Force's basically the STO version of WoW's Argent Dawn/Crusade as while the Federation and Klingons are still shooting each other up, they both agree that doing so to the point of ignoring the Borg is stupid. The quest will land you a token to get a free Very Rare item from one of the special vendors in the room. A good choice is a ground-based weapon as they come with a 15-point added damage to Borg, which will come in handy to both the Ground-portions of the STF and the Defera Invasion event. If you go that route, you'll want something that's packs a powerful single shot like a Pulsewave Assault. The Borg adapt to your ground weapons based on how many times you shoot them with it, so you'll only get a couple of bursts off of a weapon like Dual Pistols or an Assault Minigun before you'll have to remodulate.

FirmSkater

That sounds fucking cool

Hullis

An alternative to modulation, for tactical officers, is to get a kit with ground powers such as Lunge and sweeping strikes, and equip a Bat'leth or a sword or something. The Borg, as far as I'm away, do not adapt to being stabbed in the face.

Amikron Devalia

That's hilarious sounding, Hullis. I approve of your commentary.

Hullis

This is just my opinion, but if you're going to be doing STFs, you really oughta roll KDF side.

They have a number of racials that are handy for ground combat, such as the Letheans' psychic mind beam or the Gorn's bite. None of these are ever factored into account when designing STF enemies, so it's basically a guaranteed way of doing damage.

Gumpy

You can eat borg?

Hullis

Gorn can eat ANYTHING.

Hullis

my biggest complaint with Gorn right now is that you can't lift up rocks and throw them at people.

Apparently that MAY be changed when we get the Gorn featured series later this year.

Amikron Devalia

Man, what the hell Cryptic, those rock throwing walnut heads are the best! LET ME LIVE OUT MY ROCK THROWING FANTASIES!

Hullis

NPCs can do it! Grrr.

FirmSkater

So I just hit Captain

I'm having a bit of a crisis about what kind of ship to get next. I've been flying Escorts and on Normal difficulty I rarely have trouble, but on Advanced I do nothing but die. I'm having similar troubles trying to do the Borg dailies (I've lamented about that enough) and I'm wondering if it's just because I either

A)Suck at flying escorts
B)Am doing it wrong (gear or ability rotation or something)
C)Am the wrong kind of dude (Engineer) for Escorts

Right now I'm doing the 2x Tactical team thing and my fitting is 2xCannon + 1 x Torp fore with 1x Phaser bank and 1x Mine Launcher aft

Basically, I'm wondering if I should just say fuck it and switch to flying a Cruiser instead of an Escort. What are the thread's opinions

Hullis

Engineers are fine in Escorts. You should be flying an escort like a hit-and-run driver. Obviously, that means you're going to be vulnerable to the same kind of burst fire you're putting out when you're charging at the enemy. So get Reverse Shield Polarity, use your rotate shield frequencies, and generally buff yourself as you're about to start an attack run.

Advanced is hard solo play no matter what. It sounds like you're doing fine.

Owenashi

(insert 'Rock Falls Everyone Dies' joke here)

1/24 EDIT: Found a better look at the new KDF ship coming hopefully in February.

Virgil_Leads_You

So I heard that folks who log in next week, on the coming anniversary (FEB 2nd-6th), can receive a free Odyssey class (lvl 50) ship.

I'm a low level punk, but the idea of having a ship lined up sounds awesome.

"Starfleet Command is commissioning the new Odyssey class cruiser starship that weekend. Players level 5 and above should report to Engineer Kani (in front of Admiral Quinn’s office on Earth Spacedock) for a mission to take one of the new Odyssey class ships on a shakedown cruise. Complete the mission to receive an Odyssey class ship of your very own."



"When the Klingon Defense Force intelligence service alerted the High Council with Starfleet's activities, they decided to launch their newest ship, the Bortas (Vengeance) class starship the same day. KDF officers level 21 and above should report to Engineer Tum’Era (in front of the Great Hall on Qo’noS) for a similar shakedown mission. Those who complete the mission will earn a Bortas class ship of their own to command."

As someone who really enjoyed the free beginner's Light Escort promotion, I'm pretty excited about this.

Owenashi

Ditto, and I think some people will like the stats for the Odyssey.

StarTrekOnline.com wrote:

Requires: Vice Admiral rank (level 50)

Weapons: 4 Fore, 4 Aft
Device Slots: 4
Console Upgrades: 2 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 3 Science

Bridge Officer Stations: 1 Lieutenant Tactical, 1 Commander Engineering, 1 Lieutenant Science, 1 Ensign Universal, 1 Lieutenant Commander Universal

Hull Strength: 42,000
Maximum Warp: 9.996
Turn Rate: 5.5
Impulse Modifier: 0.15
Shield Modifier: 1.1

+5 Power to all subsystems

Tonight's the Featured STF Fleet-run BTW. If you got a Lv44+ character on either Fed or KDF-side, show up!

Morkath

Oh cool, didn't know they were giving out the klingon one for free as well. Looking forward to that as I am a little disallusioned by the carrier.

Hullis

That IS pretty nice.

Owenashi

(Pictured above: Stryker, me, Falmor, Wolfe & Heavy)

We had a couple of hiccups but the Fleet-STF run into Infected was ultimately successful! I wanna give props to Evigilant and Zoerp for their part in Space and the time they put into the first Ground attempt and Wolfe and Heavy (who's from the KDF-PA Fleet) for taking their spots as well as Falmor and Stryker who stayed for all three runs. You guys did a spectacular job, especially when it came to dealing with my leadership.

I also want to let you know that now you can RSVP a slot in next week's run or any future run by checking out the Fleet window's Event section. Only sign in though if you're sure if you can make it and remember it's a run through both parts of the STF so it may take some time to complete.


EDIT: Oooo, the stats for the KDF's Bortas are up!

Not content to rest on their laurels, the KDF engineering teams at the Ty'Gokor Fleet Yards have been hard at work advancing Klingon ship design into the 25th century. When Chancellor J'mpok demanded a new, more powerful flagship to lead the Empire, they were ready with the Bortas, a ship that will bring swift vengeance to enemies of the Empire.

The Bortas Battle Cruiser is the largest, most powerful battle cruiser in the Klingon arsenal. Its massive hull affords it incredible resilience in battle, but it sacrifices turn rate for that size. The Bortas is designed to take on any foe no matter how powerful, and because of that is designed with versatility in mind. It features Universal Ensign and Lieutenant Commander Bridge Officer Stations that can be operated by any Bridge Officer class.

Requires: Lt. General rank (level 50)

Weapons: 4 Fore, 4 Aft
Device Slots: 4
Console Upgrades: 4 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 1 Science

Bridge Officer Stations: 1 Lieutenant Tactical, 1 Commander Engineering, 1 Lieutenant Science, 1 Ensign Universal, 1 Lieutenant Commander Universal

Hull Strength: 43,500
Maximum Warp: 9.96
Turn Rate: 5.5
Impulse Modifier: 0.15
Shield Modifier: 1.0

+15 Power to Weapons, +5 Power to Engines
Standard Cloaking Device
Can Equip Cannons

Virgil_Leads_You

Looks like folks might be hitting Station 24 tomorrow. I will try to join that if I'm free.