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Everything you need to know about R&D Crafting and Upgrading

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    welcome2earfwelcome2earf Member Posts: 1,746 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    I'll get back to working on the mod list soon, thanks.

    Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "On elite cues, it is possible to get 13 Rare UR Commodities"? The default (no crit on open):
    Elite Queue R&D Material Reward Package (default quantities)
    > 10 Uncommon material
    > 7 Rare material
    > 3 Very Rare material
    > 10 Common material
    > 1 Salvaged technology
    I have seen the Rare stack crit and upgrade to Very Rare (3 + 7 = 10 very rare). I have heard reports of the Uncommon and Rare stacks critting up to Very Rare (3 + 7 + 10 = 20 very rare). I have never heard of a situation where a person has received more than one (1) Ultra Rare (i.e. Salvaged technology).

    My bad: I mean Very Rare, not UR (Plektons, etc..) It *Is* possible to end up rewarded with 13 of those (Plekton, Craylon, etc) from one box. It has happened to me plenty of times. Others I played with have suggested that can happen if you had the highest DPS - I am skeptical of that but there is certainly an embedded scoring system in the game...
    The Epic mods function as if it were two mods in one. The [Cap2] mod should function as if it were a [Cap]x2. The naming scheme is probably there just to simplify things and to provide some semblance of consistency. Beyond just seeing that the item is gold colored, the user can see that there is some special mod on it too. If it were just a [Cap]x2, that could potentially just get lost in the jumble.

    So you're saying it's a nomenclature thing so people "see the value and difference" of the epic mod. Got it.
    T93uSC8.jpg
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    dalmaciusdalmacius Member Posts: 106 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    Hopefully everything you need to know about the R&D system for crafting and upgrading can be found here in this thread.

    Emergency R&D Holograms
    Cryptic generously gifted everyone a DO pack of common (and traitless) Emergency R&D Holograms and didn't tell people why or how to use them. If you had enough roster space, they would appear in your roster. If you did not, they got packaged up and placed in your inventory. If you had maxed out your crafting prior to the revamp, you would also get a Rare Research Lab Scientist named Gumarre. These Emergency R&D Holograms were only ever meant to jumpstart your R&D experience if you did not have any appropriate DOs (Researchers, Fabricators). Everyone will end up deleting these Common Emergency R&D Holograms or sacrificing them to Officer Exchange Program missions.


    What can you craft in each school?
    As you level up a R&D school, new projects will become available. If you want to see everything that a school provides do the following.
    1.) Open your R&D Crafting dialog.
    2.) Click the button for your desired school on the left.
    3.) On the upper right side of the dialog, click the Filter button.
    4.) In that dropdown, click the Show All option.


    What is the best way to level a R&D school?
    Patience. Patience and running the 20 hour research project (minimum of 6000 XP) every day. If you get a critical result on the 20hr research project, you will get an additional 1000 xp. The 20hr research project requires a Research Lab Scientist, so getting a few Very Rare will help accelerate the process. If you have a Rank 3 Spire, you can purchase two VR RSLs for 125,000 Fleet Credits. You can also purchase RSLs from your Duty Officer Store at the Academy depending on your commendation ranks. Actually crafting items to raise your level is a waste of your time and resources. There is a slight exception to that rule. If there is a crafting bonus event, you get an additional 50% crafting experience.


    Special R&D Duty Officers
    When you level a R&D school to 15 special projects unlock. Those special projects (Omni Beam, Aegis, TR-116b, etc) require an extremely specialized Duty Officer to even start the project. These special DOs do not have any unique traits to make them easily identifiable. You must right click on them in order to see the special ability in the DO bio. It will have a separate entry for "R&D School: BLANK". Where BLANK is one of the schools. You can get the Very Rares from the Xindi Lockbox (or exchange). You can get the Commons from the "Requisition R&D Assistance" duty officer mission (or exchange), but it does not reward a DO all of the time and it is generated randomly when it does. (take a look at post #2 for more detail)


    Crafting Materials
    There are many sources for obtaining crafting materials. Most of the time you will get crafting materials for doing what you regularly do in game with no extra effort. With the exception of Very Rare & Ultra Rare materials, you cannot farm anything for a specific material as they are all randomly generated. Successfully completing any Advanced or Elite PvE queue rewards a specific R&D crafting material box that is guaranteed to provide a very rare material. If you look at the PvE queue mission description it will tell you in bright yellow bolded lettering which very rare material you will obtain. The Advanced box will guarantee that you get one very rare. The Elite box will guarantee that you get three of the very rare. The boxes can crit and yield more.

    During Bonus R&D weekends any R&D reward boxes you open will yield a secondary bonus R&D box. Those bonus R&D boxes yield common, uncommon, rare and very rare crafting materials. They also have a chance to reward a Catalyst. So if you can stockpile those boxes it is worth it to do so.
    (see post #6 for more detail on crafting materials)


    Gear MODS
    Cryptic still hasn't provided a [mod] info dump / primer. :/
    There is a lot of information on item mods. When and where mods appear is outlined below in post #3.


    Upgrading Gear
    In most cases, the first priority will be to upgrade your weapons. It is worthwhile to preview your equipment in the Upgrade dialog, but there can be a severe caveat as some items can get automatically converted and end up losing information or stats. Search through the Bug Report forum or just try things out on Tribble in a dry run. If you have set gear, it is important that if you preview or upgrade one piece you will have to do the same with the other piece(s) in order to get the bonus abilities to activate. Things like Deflectors or Engines can take a lower priority as the overall benefit to raising the Mk value might not be as beneficial. Some stats like bonus power or [S->W] do not scale up as you upgrade.

    This is also a good time to evaluate what weapons you want to take forward. It will be less likely that you will change your weapons like you used to due to the upgrading slog to Mk XIV. It is worth it to find a weapon system you like, then find the exact configuration of mods you prefer before you attempt any upgrading at all. The majority of all reputation weapons start at Mk XII. It is even worth it to buy weapons from the exchange at Mk X or XI if they have the mod configuration you like. You can also just craft Mk II weapons to go hunting for the mod configurations you like. This has a couple side benefits: crafting Mk II weapons uses only common materials, you won't have to pay through the nose on the exchange and you have the optimal opportunity to get to Ultra Rare or possibly Epic with just a little more upgrading resources (relatively).

    It should be noted that it is beneficial to raise all of your weapons to Mk XIV before trying to push to UR or Epic. Weapons in the Mk XIII & XIV ranges just got a bump in base damage, see Geko's post and explanation.
    The full rundown on upgrading gear is in post #4 below.

    I understand that you need to get to level 15 to start crafting special gear, and you also can craft Superior and Experimental 2x techs. Do we get to craft the Acceletors at higher levels?
    And what do we get to do when we reach level 20 in any school?
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    rossclansforce1rossclansforce1 Member Posts: 400 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    Are there set modifiers for reputation space weapons such as Romulan Plasma Beams at ultra rare level?
    [img]>:)[/img]

    Click to Join armadafleet.org/
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    kaehartkaehart Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    I may have missed it but can multipliers get added during the upgrade process or do you have to start off with the one that you want in the end? For instance: If you start off with a crrtdx2 or crtdx3 is there any chance of it going up to a crtdx3 or crtdx4 during the upgrading process?
    Thanks. :D
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,231 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    it's about a 25% chance. It will get A mod and it can be the same as a mod it already has.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
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    ironchefbbqironchefbbq Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    dalmacius wrote: »
    Do we get to craft the Acceletors at higher levels?
    And what do we get to do when we reach level 20 in any school?
    The answer to both questions is in the text you quoted:
    What can you craft in each school?
    As you level up a R&D school, new projects will become available. If you want to see everything that a school provides do the following.
    1.) Open your R&D Crafting dialog.
    2.) Click the button for your desired school on the left.
    3.) On the upper right side of the dialog, click the Filter button.
    4.) In that dropdown, click the Show All option.

    Are there set modifiers for reputation space weapons such as Romulan Plasma Beams at ultra rare level?
    No, the reputation weapons that you purchase from the rep store get one of the four standard mods (acc/crtd/crth/dmg) when they get upgraded. Only the special reputation weapons that you acquire from Reputation projects get set modifiers.

    kaehart wrote: »
    I may have missed it but can multipliers get added during the upgrade process or do you have to start off with the one that you want in the end?
    Any standard modifier is a valid option. The exception to the rule is in the case of special modifiers (like PvPDmg or Over). Only one special modifier can appear on crafted gear, so once one appears all other special modifiers are excluded from that item.
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    ddesjardinsddesjardins Member Posts: 3,056 Media Corps
    edited January 2015
    Just has a chance to review all of your work sir over the last 2 days, and all i can say is wow. Comprehensive, well laid out and thoughtfully written.

    Job Well Done!

    STICKY THIS BLUEGEEK!
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    cmdrscarletcmdrscarlet Member Posts: 5,137 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    ^ Agreed. It should also find its way to the Wiki (I'm not smrt enuff to do that). This guide has shaped the way I handle R&D and has most likely saved me for EC/Dilithium and prevented a lot of stress.
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    welcome2earfwelcome2earf Member Posts: 1,746 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    kaehart wrote: »
    I may have missed it but can multipliers get added during the upgrade process or do you have to start off with the one that you want in the end? For instance: If you start off with a crrtdx2 or crtdx3 is there any chance of it going up to a crtdx3 or crtdx4 during the upgrading process?
    Thanks. :D

    I think it's less than 25%, depending on the weapon type because of the dreaded [PvP] mods.

    Someone wanna pipe in and correct me on this?
    T93uSC8.jpg
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    spike74656spike74656 Member Posts: 55 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    Hi there

    Firstly thank you for all the info you have posted so far. There is alot od detail there and its laid out very well. This is what I think is what should be released as standard when new stuff is released,

    Now as for the request.

    There are alot of people out there wondering if it is worth making an effort to get level 20. What I would find really usefull is standard success and crit chance with a purple doff at level 20 compared with standard success and crit chance with a purple doff at level 15 for the craftable items and components in each school.
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    hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    My next question would be for someone to post up the recipes for some of the other special crafting things, like the Conductive RCS and the Particle Emission Torpedo.
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
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    dabelgravedabelgrave Member Posts: 979 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    My next question would be for someone to post up the recipes for some of the other special crafting things, like the Conductive RCS and the Particle Emission Torpedo.
    I made a R&D spreadsheet that might be the sort of thing you're looking for: http://bit.ly/STORnD. It has all the recipes, and can be used to find out how many materials or components are needed to craft things. I've also started adding in the coming Officer Training school info. Enjoy!
    :)
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    ironchefbbqironchefbbq Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    ** Component Crit Chance **

    This is the crit chance for each component using a Very Rare DO and no catalysts (if you use a Rare DO it will be 2-3 points lower). The chance does not vary across R&D School. I will refer to the components as Common-Low / Common-High (C-L / C-H) because creating a chart on these forums is a pain. C-L is the first common component listed in the dialog, C-H is the second. The Uncommon, Rare and Very Rares will follow the same format.

    R&D Level . C-L . C-H . U-L . U-H . R-L . R-H . V-L . V-H
    . . . 5 . . . . .13 . . 13 . . 12. . 11 . . 9 . . 8 . . . 8 . . . 8
    . . . 6 . . . . .14 . . 14 . . 13 . .12 . .11 . . 9 . . . 9 . . .9
    . . . 7 . . . . .15 . . 15 . . 14 . .13 . .12 . . 11 . . 11 . . 11
    . . . 8 . . . . .17 . . 17 . . 15. . 14 . .13 . . 12 . . 12 . . 12
    . . . 9 . . . . .18 . . 18 . . 17 . .15 . .14 . . 13 . . 13 . . 13
    . . .10. . . . .19 . . 19 . . 18 . . 17. . 15 . . 14 . . 14 . . 14
    . . .11. . . . .21 . . 21 . . 19 . . 18. . 17 . . 15 . . 15 . . 15
    . . .12. . . . .22 . . 22 . . 21 . . 19. . 18 . . 17 . . 17 . . 17
    . . .13. . . . .24 . . 24 . . 22 . . 21 . . 19 . .18 . . 18 . . 18
    . . .14. . . . .25 . . 25 . . 24 . . 22 . . 21 . .19 . . 19 . . 19
    . . .15. . . . .27 . . 27 . . 25 . . 24 . . 22 . .21 . . 21 . . 21
    . . .16. . . . .28 . . 28 . . 27 . . 25 . . 24 . .22 . . 22 . . 22
    . . .17. . . . .30 . . 30 . . 28 . . 27 . . 25 . .24 . . 24 . . 24
    . . .18. . . . .31 . . 31 . . 30 . . 28 . . 27 . .25 . . 25 . . 25
    . . .19. . . . .33 . . 33 . . 31 . . 30 . . 28 . .27 . . 27 . . 27
    . . .20. . . . .35 . . 35 . . 33 . . 31 . . 30 . .28 . . 28 . . 28

    If you can help fill in the blanks, great. If not, gonna have to wait.
    Thanks daBelgrave & robin74
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    dabelgravedabelgrave Member Posts: 979 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    ** Component Crit Chance **

    If you can help fill in the blanks, great. If not, gonna have to wait.

    At level 20:

    Very Rare Doff
    C-L . C-H . U-L . U-H . R-L . R-H . V-L . V-H
    35....35....33....31....30....28....28....28

    Rare Doff
    C-L . C-H . U-L . U-H . R-L . R-H . V-L . V-H
    32....32....30....29....27....26....26....26

    Uncommon Doff
    C-L . C-H . U-L . U-H . R-L . R-H . V-L . V-H
    30....30....29....27....26....24....24....24
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    greydog2greydog2 Member Posts: 34 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Great post, very helpful, thank you :)

    ...should be stickied!
    I plan on living forever ..so far so good

    Squadron 238
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    freenos85freenos85 Member Posts: 443 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Fudge, I made one small edit and it deleted over half of the list. :/

    C'mon! I bookmarked this post for a reason! Hope it can somehow be restored. :(
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    ironchefbbqironchefbbq Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    > Updated the Component Crit Chance list (just have to get lvl 19)

    > Recreated the Mods listing. I have a backup now. The forum software likes to wig out when you post large chunks like that. I'll see if I can get some updates on mods too.
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    robin74robin74 Member Posts: 114 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    At level 19:

    Very Rare Doff
    C-L . C-H . U-L . U-H . R-L . R-H . V-L . V-H
    33....33....31....30....28....27....27....27

    Rare Doff
    C-L . C-H . U-L . U-H . R-L . R-H . V-L . V-H
    30....30....29....27....26....24....24....24

    Uncommon Doff
    C-L . C-H . U-L . U-H . R-L . R-H . V-L . V-H
    29....29....27....26....24....23....23....23
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    aratazarataz Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Fantastic thread! Exactly what I came looking for. Thanks OP.

    Quick question though if someone can answer. When upgrading a UR XIV item, the upgrade item tooltip shows an epic item with all the stats removed. Will the upgrade change the stats to new random ones if it triggers? Or is it just a generic icon meaning whatever the item has it will keep, plus the new epic stat?

    Haven't tried this before and want to be sure the exact buffs I built it with stay on the weapon before I commit all that dilith for a chance at epic. Thanks
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,231 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    No, upgrades shouldn't remove any mods.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
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    ironchefbbqironchefbbq Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    arataz wrote: »
    When upgrading a UR XIV item, the upgrade item tooltip shows an epic item with all the stats removed. Will the upgrade change the stats to new random ones if it triggers? Or is it just a generic icon meaning whatever the item has it will keep, plus the new epic stat?

    Note: Existing modifiers on an item do NOT get rerolled when upgrading. (post #3)

    The Upgrade UI understands that another modifier will get added, but it isn't smart enough to predict it even though the epic mod is predetermined. It is safe to upgrade.
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    ironchefbbqironchefbbq Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    The fixed modifiers table (at Ultra Rare) (in Post #19) is basically done. I did a single pass against a good chunk of the unknowns on Tribble. If you have different results, please post them here. Although I think the discrepancies seen so far happened with the bulk changes when DR went live.
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    lordhavelocklordhavelock Member Posts: 2,248 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    This is a fantastic thread, and something I've been looking for. I've only just started dabbling in crafting, so this will be a big help for me. Thanks!

    /Vote +1 for Sticky!

    :)

    You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
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    ironchefbbqironchefbbq Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    If you think this thread is useful and should be stickied I would suggest that you PM a forum moderator (bluegeek, askray, midniteshadow7) and let them know. I have tried off & on for two months to get this stickied and have gotten no real traction (other than Askray agreeing that the Xindi lockbox thread should be unsticked).

    I'll have the R&D duty officers from the vaadwaur lockbox listed soon (thanks to daBelgrave's sheet).
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    pwlaughingtrendypwlaughingtrendy Member Posts: 2,966 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    This is a fantastic thread, and something I've been looking for. I've only just started dabbling in crafting, so this will be a big help for me. Thanks!

    /Vote +1 for Sticky!

    :)
    Done and done and done. @OP, amazing job!
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    lordhavelocklordhavelock Member Posts: 2,248 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Done and done and done. @OP, amazing job!

    Yay! Thanks Trendy. And well done you with your mystical and magical powers to resurrect the dead on this one, too! Now that it's a sticky, it's immune from what would have been an unfortunate case of zombiehood.

    :D


    Congrats on the Sticky, IronChefBBQ! And thanks again for writing such a helpful primer!

    :)

    You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
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    erikmodierikmodi Member Posts: 144 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Okay, I'm looking into crafting Omni-Directional Beams, but I can't figure out what DOff I need. Hovering over the red icon in the craft window, it says I need "R&D: Beam Weapons," but no DOffs with that trait seem to exist. Am I missing something incredibly obvious?
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    dabelgravedabelgrave Member Posts: 979 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    erikmodi wrote: »
    Okay, I'm looking into crafting Omni-Directional Beams, but I can't figure out what DOff I need. Hovering over the red icon in the craft window, it says I need "R&D: Beam Weapons," but no DOffs with that trait seem to exist. Am I missing something incredibly obvious?
    Here is a list of all the special R&D doffs I know about: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CmfFLcknQ7W0RptMr1Dx51Oqom1m2PyvCCHAqbMdl1I/edit?usp=sharing#gid=1429290073. Also, you can search the exchange for Kobali doffs that are Energy Weapons Officers or Technicians. Just be sure to double check before buying (right click the exchange item) to make sure you're finding R&D: Beam Weapons and not R&D: Cannon Weapons. I hope that helps.
    :)
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    ironchefbbqironchefbbq Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    erikmodi wrote: »
    Okay, I'm looking into crafting Omni-Directional Beams, but I can't figure out what DOff I need. Hovering over the red icon in the craft window, it says I need "R&D: Beam Weapons," but no DOffs with that trait seem to exist. Am I missing something incredibly obvious?

    Read post #2.
    Also, while you are following daBelgrave's advice, turn the "usable by me" switch on (located at the bottom of the exchange window) to filter out the duty officers that are not from your faction.
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    linksword01linksword01 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    So, if what I'm reading is right, Crafted Warp Cores don't get the AMP mod at Ultra Rare?

    If so, then what's the point of it? Most of the Reputation and Set Cores are a joke in my opinion, with so many gimmicks, and how they usually boost one power level too much.
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