Ground Combat Update
Shooter Mode
- There is now an alternate firing mode called shooter mode. Shooter mode is very responsive, and allows for quicker acquisition of targets via the targeting reticule. Use L-Mouse and R-Mouse to fire your primary and secondary attack on your weapon. Middle mouse will activate your melee attack. You can, however, still use the keyboard keys - 1, 2, and 3 - if you prefer. Notice you can fire your weapon without a target while in shooter mode, and players can now miss targets.
- There are new shooter mode specific keybind options in the options menu.
Swap to shooter mode
- Use the B key to Swap between Shooter and RPG mode. If you open a menu (like your skill page) while in shooter mode, you will temporarily drop back to RPG mode, so you can maintain control over your character and interact with the window.
- Players can auto-attack their primary fire in shooter mode by holding down the left mouse button in a default button layout.
Classic controls are unaffected
- It was important to us to maintain the classic RPG control scheme in STO. You can continue to play with the original control, use the new Shooter controls, or switch back and forth on-the-fly at any time.
New Options
- To help preserve the classic controls, there is now a new set of shooter mode controls and keybinds in the options menu, so you can manage both independently.
All values have been updated
- Although the classic control mechanics are preserved in STO, the ground game has been completely rebalanced. All values including HP, damage, and most ground Kit and Captain Abilities have been modified and updated.
Tooltips
- You can see a lot of the above reflected in the new tooltips. There is a lot more info in the new tooltips, and you will now be able to better see how your skills affect all your ground abilities.
Pacing
- Once of the most significant changes is in the pacing of ground combat. Overall, it is significantly more visceral. Response times and activate times are much quicker and gratifying. Recharge times on the secondary fire for most weapons have been greatly reduced. The overall pacing has greatly improved. We wanted the player to feel powerful, so low ranking critters can be taken out much more quickly. However, commanders have gotten more deadly and will take thought to overcome.
Difficulty Slider Updates
- Switching to Advanced or Elite difficulty will give critters a little more HP, but not much. However, they will deal more damage, and some will even gain new abilities. As always, playing at a higher difficulty setting will earn you better rewards.
- Advanced and Elite modes have been tuned.
- Ensigns now have shields on both advanced and elite modes.
- Ensigns now have bonus HP on elite mode.
Cover
- STO has a simple cover mechanic. Crouching behind a tall object can break line of site from your foe.
Power Offset Mode
- Since you no longer have a free mouse to access other Kits and captain abilities, you can either switch to RPG mode to utilize your powers, or you can use one of the two new power offset mode functionality.
- If you set your power tray to card 3, you will then see a brick of power slots that forms three lines. You can place powers on the top and middle line, as usual, but now you can easily access them in shooter mode with your mouse keys. When you press R or T a yellow rectangle will surround three powers. Those powers are now selected. Those selected powers will now active the next time you use your mouse clicks or the 1,2,3 keys the selected powers will be used instead of your weapon. After using any of the powers in the selection box once, the yellow rectangle will go back to your weapons, indicating those are now the selected attacks.
- This mode is the default power offset mode.
- Pressing R will move this rectangular bar up (when it hits the top it will cycle to the bottom again)
- Pressing T will move this rectangular bar right (when it its the right it will cycle to the left again)
- If you set your powers UI to card 3, you will then see a brick of power slots that form three lines. You can place powers on the top and middle line, as usual, but now you can easily access them in shooter mode with your mouse keys. By pressing R all of the powers on line 2 will be placed on your first line, so instead of pressing Ctrl+1 to use a power you can simply click your 1 key or your L Mouse button. This makes all of your powers more accessible while in shooter mode. Note: your powers tray doesnt NEED to be set to 3 for this to work, it was simply easier to explain it that way
- This mode is an alternate option.
Kit and Captain Abilities
- As mentioned before, most have been overhauled to work better with the new mechanics. In RPG mode, like always, all abilities require a target. However in Shooter mode, it works differently. If ability can target self or friend, you won't need a target. For instance, if you target an ally with a heal, you will heal that target. If you have no friendly target, you will heal yourself. Kit or Captain Abilities that harm or debuff a single foe still requires a target, even in shooter mode. This is to prevent misfires of abilities that have large cooldowns. However, Kit and Captain abilities that are AoE do not require a target to activate in shooter mode. If you have no target, the ability will activate at max range. So, for instance, you can place a Dampening field at a point on the ground in shooter mode.
Grenades
- In shooter mode, grenades no longer require a target to activate. They can even be thrown over walls. Damage has been increased.
All weapons updated
- You will now see a significant difference between each weapons damage and effective range.
- Pistols have the highest DPS but the shortest range.
- Rifles hit harder per shot but have a lower dps due to recharge times. They are mid to long range.
- Assaults do more mid to short range burst damage.
Weapon melee
- Melee can be activated with the middle mouse button or the 3 key. It is now a combo. The rifle combo is the most advanced, while the Assault combo is more limited. Rifle Combos will change attacks automatically. The first always tries to push the target back, but if the target has grown resistant to knock backs, the combo will automatically change to expose attacks. Once the target is exposed, the combo will again change to Exploit attacks.
New Weapons
- Assault Rapid sweep - Is now a Full Auto Rifle, and now uses Soldier skill instead of Special Forces. Its much faster and responsive, and its secondary attack can be swept across targets.
- Pulsewave rifle and Assault Arcwave - Both of these weapons are now the Pulsewave. We combined the secondary attacks of both weapons into one. The Pulsewave is now effectively an energy shotgun. Its fast and powerful, and both attacks do more damage the closer you are to the target.
- Assault Multi-Beam - This weapon was given the most significant upgrade. It is now a minigun! Both attacks have a spool-up time, but are very high in damage. Its secondary attack fires an extremely long burst that can be swept across multiple targets.
Comments
Engineering :
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Science :
Power Updates
New QonoS (First City)
On Demand Patching
Vivox Voice Chat Integration
Systems
Character
Audio
UI
Missions
Foundry
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