Cure Normal space again, my favorite for noobe activity.
I flew in, said HI as always and head to the right.
I killed a node and looked back at the Kang as I always do.
I saw that all four rainbow technicolor ships (including a klink) had followed me.
Nobody was protecting the Kang.
So I head back, kill all the incoming Borg and low and behold, all 4 of the other ships show up.
Now there's nothing here to kill so what is their plan?
I say, 'Anybody going to kill the cubes?'
No responce.
So I head back to the cube and start on the nodes again.
Low and behold once again, all 4 ships followed me.
So I head back to the Kang where a couple Borg are already shooting.
I kill all the incoming ships and guess what....
All 4 of the other ships followed me.
I say, 'What is this, follow the leader?'
No responce.
So I heal the Kang (which I was sure none of the other 4 had ever seen done before) and wait for the next group of Borg while setting next to the Kang.
I figured I'd shake them if I left them there to fight the Borg.
So the Borg arrive, I take a couple shots and head back to the first cube.
I finish a couple nodes real quick and what do I see? ALL 4 SHIPS FOLLOWED ME BACK WHILE THERE'S BORG SHOOTING THE KANG!
Optional goes bye bye.
I fly back, kill the Borg, heal the Kang, and there they are again! 4 ships, doing nothing.
So now the timers at about 8 minutes, first cube is still alive. I'd changed my setup for tanking a few hours earlier so I wasn't quite as powerful as I once was and didn't have what it takes to finish everything plus protect the Kang by myself in 8 minutes. (I need to fix the setup by the way, thanks for reminding me.)
So I typed, 'ALL 4 OF YOU STAY HERE AND PROTECT THE KANG!'
No responce.
I fly back to the first cube, kill three Borg that had spawned on the way, and the cube finally goes bang
I look back real quck and what do I see? NO SHIPS AT THE KANG!
They had all 4 gone to the third cube and they had bypassed all the incoming Borg ships from both the second and third cubes!. :eek:
Now I'm hot.
I type, 'I SAID PROTECT THE KANG!'
No responce.
The Kang is getting clobered and goes boom before I can get back.
So I say, 'Will you noobes please go read the forums about how to do STF's before you try one again?'
Too late, they'd all 4 already left. :mad:
I totally agree with what you say Jack, sounds a bit like the team i had yesterday, also doing the cure on normal. I said that I will protect the kang as my ship is a healer build but all apart from one who was listening also decided to sit in the middle with the kang when i repeatedly told them i was covering it, they left leaving me and the other person to finish the mission which we managed to do as the other person had very high DPS and I was also providing constant Fighter Supoort as well as GW3 and Various Debuffs to stop the attacking ships.
Worst experience I've had was today, I've only been back to the game a little while and managed to learn the strats for all the stf's fairly quickly, I have geared up two of my characters with veteran Maco and omega ground gear quickly and I was working on my Third one today:
On infected ground it looked like was the worst geared person in the group, i only had 1 mk x omega gun and a full assault riffle, plus some purple armor and shields, so i was expecting to be dying a lot. I know about the trigger lines so I've never run into the room expecting to go Rambo and save the ensign in the first room, but who should two idiots wearing mk xii gear, get themselves killed instantly and when I ask them not to run past the trigger lines call me a noob, and that the group isn't fast enough result = bonus objective failed. Their excuse "They have mkxii gear so should be able to do it."
They continue their run in approach dying all the way through the map, we get to the final area before the server down time and they again run in die instantly, and we run out of time and I run out of patience before the second try, which they repeated the same moronic mistake of just running in.
I wish some people would understand that being lucky at getting drops doesn't make them skilled :rolleyes:
End Death Result:
Joe MKXII guy = 8 Deaths
Purrrfect barely geared guy = 1 Death (and that was because i had to suicide, to reset the boss area)
Cure space (elite)
- all probes destroyed
- I asked 'Do do we stick to the plan of destroing Cubes at the same moment?'
- two guys agreed, two were silence
- I started to lower middle Cube health to 10%, when suddenly some guy (I don't remember his nickname) came with an Escort and destroyed that Cube
- WTH? - I asked and his reply was like this:
'TRIBBLE you guys. I got a build that can survive 3 warships attacking me. If you guys can't, then it's not a place for you. I'm not gonna give you free rides.'
After this he engaged Raptors and got killed. Just after a respawn he logged of and few moments later we were overrun. STF failed.
Seriously: even if you got super-build, what's the point of making play harder for other players? STF are team based matches. If you can;t play in a team then what's the point of doing STFs?
Cure Ground and Infected Ground have become my two most prominent examples that the Greater Internet F---wad Theory also applies to game developers.
The final boss of I.G. is razzed by players for being OP, but she's not the problem. It's the freaking tactical drones respawning left and right who make that fight effectively unwinnable. And then when you wipe, the ENTIRE ROOM resets and you have to go through the whole shield-gimmick song and dance again ... seriously, Cryptic? ONCE was too many times.
C.G. is even worse, with those turrets that require the combined firepower of the group plus a gimmick action to destroy once, and then they respawn while you're fanned out trying to protect the nodes from drones so the shield blocking the next area will go down. Yeah, THAT's going to end well.
I will not touch either of those two missions again until the respawns go the way of the dodo. Random inept players is bad enough, but when the mission mechanics themselves are rigged against you? "Free" is paying too much for that tripe.
Those mechanics are perectly fine. Without a respawn rebecca would be a turkey shoot.
The mechanics are there to encourage group play.
Want to compelte stfs and optionals...join a fleet , use comms.
Worst experience I've had was today, I've only been back to the game a little while and managed to learn the strats for all the stf's fairly quickly, I have geared up two of my characters with veteran Maco and omega ground gear quickly and I was working on my Third one today:
On infected ground it looked like was the worst geared person in the group, i only had 1 mk x omega gun and a full assault riffle, plus some purple armor and shields, so i was expecting to be dying a lot. I know about the trigger lines so I've never run into the room expecting to go Rambo and save the ensign in the first room, but who should two idiots wearing mk xii gear, get themselves killed instantly and when I ask them not to run past the trigger lines call me a noob, and that the group isn't fast enough result = bonus objective failed. Their excuse "They have mkxii gear so should be able to do it."
They continue their run in approach dying all the way through the map, we get to the final area before the server down time and they again run in die instantly, and we run out of time and I run out of patience before the second try, which they repeated the same moronic mistake of just running in.
I wish some people would understand that being lucky at getting drops doesn't make them skilled :rolleyes:
End Death Result:
Joe MKXII guy = 8 Deaths
Purrrfect barely geared guy = 1 Death (and that was because i had to suicide, to reset the boss area)
And this is why the lucky bag mk xii gear is a stoopid idea by cryptic. some rambo/leroy runs 10 runs and has the set.....everyone else runs 300+ to get it.
some of these stf's that are nightmares for others sound like normal ones for me...at least the ones that didnt fail completely lols....lately ive lost it on a few noobs for obvious reasons like
people pulling cubes to where im guarding probes in khitomer, then dying, leaving me to die, then chase after probes that i could have easily killed had someone not pulled a cube to me
some seeming troll killing a gate way too early causing 5 probes minimum to go through
more obvious trolls blatantly ignoring the 10% rule, esp when told to wait, almost seeming like childish defiance, then leaving, leaving us to die 1000 times and then struggle to kill the transformer in between hordes of nanite spheres....
people aggro-ing then attacking the tactical cube in infected like they could one shot it at all, let alone BEFORE the gateway is even ATTACKED....
people posting their prototype borg salvage in the team chat after doing the above then saying f*** u to people who say the obvious abt their performance...
i have logitech g110 macros (i spam "g" which distributes shields evenly, fire at will spammed every half second(space key) for probes in khitomer and for quick transformer kills (never during the generators i only use manual target and shoot) so that sitting just out of range of the gate killing probes WHILE they warp in is easy as pie w mk 12 anti-proton beam arrays front AND back (i attack from my sides like an ac-130 in mw3, not head on, so that i can maximize my firepower) obliterating everything that moves, as well as the g700 logitech mouse (made for mmo's) so i can apply buffs w that and my keyboard;
mk 12 maco shields and Borg engines and deflectors (w assimilated console that gives me regenerative shields on 3 piece borg), making my shields all but impenetrable;
knowledge of khitomer and infected strategy like its the back of my hand,
and yet people STILL somehow find some way to TRIBBLE it up, and even worse, influence my role (w ppl pulling cubes to me making me inept w probe duty) to make it look like I'M the one that screwed up! some of these people should lose their right to use a computer let alone play star trek online! i mean half the people who play STF'S imo are trolls!
P.S. i exaggerated a bit w the whole loss of computer rights thing to show my disdain for those idiots....im actually against any forms of censorship for any reason (except to stop censorship), hence why i felt it necessary to include the p.s. here...
Originally Posted by kazapsky
Cure Ground and Infected Ground have become my two most prominent examples that the Greater Internet F---wad Theory also applies to game developers.
The final boss of I.G. is razzed by players for being OP, but she's not the problem. It's the freaking tactical drones respawning left and right who make that fight effectively unwinnable. And then when you wipe, the ENTIRE ROOM resets and you have to go through the whole shield-gimmick song and dance again ... seriously, Cryptic? ONCE was too many times.
C.G. is even worse, with those turrets that require the combined firepower of the group plus a gimmick action to destroy once, and then they respawn while you're fanned out trying to protect the nodes from drones so the shield blocking the next area will go down. Yeah, THAT's going to end well.
I will not touch either of those two missions again until the respawns go the way of the dodo. Random inept players is bad enough, but when the mission mechanics themselves are rigged against you? "Free" is paying too much for that tripe.
The cure ground turrets are merely annoying for those four little turrets that pop up. Two people can take out a turret, but if even ONE of the little ones have line of sight on the guy planting the charge and targets him? Good luck placing the bomb without having to redo the entire turret.
Though earlier, one time in IGE, a guy says "Spread out" as Manus comes out. So me and another person (who didn't want to jump) stick on middle platform and seperate. Of course, the respawned dudes kill us and this vet goes "You two just HAD TO STAY where the respawns are didn't you?" I reply "Spread out means scatter usually."
We redo it again, me and the other dying due to respawns again, kill manus, and at the end he kinda went "That wasn't a good run. but whatever." *leave*. I just had to say he was kinda rude....
some of these stf's that are nightmares for others sound like normal ones for me...at least the ones that didnt fail completely lols....lately ive lost it on a few noobs for obvious reasons like
people pulling cubes to where im guarding probes in khitomer, then dying, leaving me to die, then chase after probes that i could have easily killed had someone not pulled a cube to me
some seeming troll killing a gate way too early causing 5 probes minimum to go through
more obvious trolls blatantly ignoring the 10% rule, esp when told to wait, almost seeming like childish defiance, then leaving, leaving us to die 1000 times and then struggle to kill the transformer in between hordes of nanite spheres....
people aggro-ing then attacking the tactical cube in infected like they could one shot it at all, let alone BEFORE the gateway is even ATTACKED....
people posting their prototype borg salvage in the team chat after doing the above then saying f*** u to people who say the obvious abt their performance...
...
I'm quite adept at destroying probes and stray cubes simultaneously. Infact, I can use BFAW to destroy both cubes and probes at once on KASE with some creative tactical maneuvering.
As for 10% TRIBBLE up, **** happens.
I just do a high speed repulsor run on the nanites, push them 20km away, swing back with an engine battery and nail the transformer as I loop back.
The Omega set is wonderful for a fast battlecruiser doctrine. Borg shoot at me, it gives me a free afterburner boost.
With the new Federation carrier there are also quite a number of competent 'space control ship' pilots out there that can make Elite STFs a child's play.
Adaptability is key. I don't even bother if the 10% TRIBBLE up these days because I'm equipped, prepared and familiar with crisis management strategies.
I don't even do 10%s when I run my own Redneck Task Force missions and yet we nail the optionals each time, all the time. New tactics, new possibilities.
I'm quite adept at destroying probes and stray cubes simultaneously. Infact, I can use BFAW to destroy both cubes and probes at once on KASE with some creative tactical maneuvering.
As for 10% TRIBBLE up, **** happens.
I just do a high speed repulsor run on the nanites, push them 20km away, swing back with an engine battery and nail the transformer as I loop back.
The Omega set is wonderful for a fast battlecruiser doctrine. Borg shoot at me, it gives me a free afterburner boost.
With the new Federation carrier there are also quite a number of competent 'space control ship' pilots out there that can make Elite STFs a child's play.
Adaptability is key. I don't even bother if the 10% TRIBBLE up these days because I'm equipped, prepared and familiar with crisis management strategies.
I don't even do 10%s when I run my own Redneck Task Force missions and yet we nail the optionals each time, all the time. New tactics, new possibilities.
look, i understand that my ship isnt the strongest or the fastest fish in the sea, but im not saying i die every single time and crash and burn...actually i do pretty well, and i do adapt in crisis...
this whole thread is about stf horror stories, and i like how u picked my horror story to paint me as a flaming whining newb....i do fine and many times i feel like im carrying the stf, and that was my point...i didnt post for help, or ask for it anywhere, or say that i couldnt handle it...yes i got mad, but i didnt ragequit or throw my keyboard, i just told a few jerks to TRIBBLE off, so idk why u felt the need to quote my entire post and critique it, when this is specifically a thread FOR venting, and yet you feel the need to whine about other people venting in a place where it is appropriate and encouraged...gee sounds really mature for a senior member of this forum!
maybe you should take this sound advice: "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all!"
Well, entered CSE earlier - more for the experience than anything else. Subsequently discovered that I should stay out of Elite STF's
...
Though have posted some unfortunate STF experiences I've had, this one definitely qualifies as my worst. And I am not going to burden a team with my presense in an Elite STF again.
The cure is the worst. I've successfully done infected and khitomer accord multiple times, and assisted enough to believe I've earned my shiny loot, ccing, dpsing, saving the optional and so on.
Cure, ehhh... not so much. It's rough on science vessels / bird of preys, in my experience. The giant cloud of Nodes / Cube / X # of bird of preys around each cube can quickly eat through your defenses, people are hilariously disorganized, one of the cubes always gets destroyed early, etc. I've never been in there without feeling like a liability.
So yeah. Try infected/khitomer accord some before entirely giving up on elite. ^_^
look, i understand that my ship isnt the strongest or the fastest fish in the sea, but im not saying i die every single time and crash and burn...actually i do pretty well, and i do adapt in crisis...
this whole thread is about stf horror stories, and i like how u picked my horror story to paint me as a flaming whining newb....i do fine and many times i feel like im carrying the stf, and that was my point...i didnt post for help, or ask for it anywhere, or say that i couldnt handle it...yes i got mad, but i didnt ragequit or throw my keyboard, i just told a few jerks to TRIBBLE off, so idk why u felt the need to quote my entire post and critique it, when this is specifically a thread FOR venting, and yet you feel the need to whine about other people venting in a place where it is appropriate and encouraged...gee sounds really mature for a senior member of this forum!
maybe you should take this sound advice: "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all!"
Point taken and no worries, guess we all have different sorts of things to rant about
ty and srry i admittedly got a bit too defensive there i just am used to ppl being insensitive and rude on the internet and i know now that i have misjudged ur intentions >.<....no problems now so yay lets keep up the thread and have fun posting stuffs
I really think there is a gang of massive moron went to STO game. I don't see another reason failing so much KAGN.
Yesterday, I wanted to try my new Console - Tactical - Prefire Chamber Mk XII pruple (very rare). and my two Console - Tactical - Antiproton Mag Regulator Mk XII purple (very rare).
We deal the first cube.
I went on the right taking probe. A player with girl's name try to kill gen, and sphere.
3 players went on the side. After a while ont the left side they let a probe passed through the gate. I said to the player with girl's name he/she should help them on the side. He/she said ok. When he/she went overthere. he/she didn't find anyone except an oddy which is trying to take the probe. He let 6 probes passed trough and left the STF. Meanwhile, the player with girl's name come back on the left side.
Those players for unknow reason left the left side and went one the right side. Nobody to take the probes. And we total failed.
the player with girl's name was upset because he/she plays stf to get set borg. In my case I'm use about that kind of players. Instant admiral + low score accolades + odyssey vessel ship + rainbow beam + no communication = total failed no matters it Elite or normal STF.
Happiness. I could notice my new gear MkXII very rare gave me more dps:D
My worst experience was in infected. Four Ody with rainbow beam were with me. Could hardly kill the first cube, at one point got myself killed too because I was by myself for about a minute before I realized everyone had been killed so many time already they were already over 60 seconds respawn. When we finally killed the cube and sphere, which I resorted to kill first so I could do the cube in peace, they split on both side of the gate. I decided to leave at that point. No way I could clean up the mess they were going to make so there was no point in staying any longer.
If there if only one advice for new Ody captain. Only one type of weapon, and there is now good reason to point only half your weapon on the target, BROADSIDE, bear all your weapons on target, its not an escort with dual heavy cannon up front.
The cure is the worst. I've successfully done infected and khitomer accord multiple times, and assisted enough to believe I've earned my shiny loot, ccing, dpsing, saving the optional and so on.
Cure, ehhh... not so much. It's rough on science vessels / bird of preys, in my experience. The giant cloud of Nodes / Cube / X # of bird of preys around each cube can quickly eat through your defenses, people are hilariously disorganized, one of the cubes always gets destroyed early, etc. I've never been in there without feeling like a liability.
So yeah. Try infected/khitomer accord some before entirely giving up on elite. ^_^
Hey - thanks for the reply, and encouragement.
To be honest, it would be fair to say that the CSE instance I played (that left me so discouraged) was a mish-mash. I've played Cure Normal more times than I can count, and do fine there, but probably 7 times of of ten everyone charges off to do their own thing, clearly assuming that someone else will keep an eye on the Kang. Though this wasn't technically the case in the CSE that discouraged me, it would be fair to say that, aside from the Vet I refered to, no-one else was listening, prefering to do their own thing, and (again, as mentioned) someone even bailed out when the optional failed, leaving a Vet, two players who were paying no attention to anything else, and me.
Anyway - played Cure, Infected and Khitomer on normal earlier & brought my T5 MVAM Prometheus out of mothballs for them. Had a great time - I realise Science toons are not as effective in an escort than a Tac, but still - was definitely doing more DPS, so may stick with that setup and see how I get on. Still not certain about inflicting myself upon a PUG in an Elite again though.
i played like 400 STFs or more (i guess way more) to find out, that the borg parts are still better than a maco MKXII (only thing that is good is the shield). thats what i was told.
i played like 400 STFs or more (i guess way more) to find out, that the borg parts are still better than a maco MKXII (only thing that is good is the shield). thats what i was told.
I agree. I have the complete omega and maco mk xii sets and after trying how many different combo's I think the maco shield with the 3 piece borg set works best for my escort. The maco graviton beam ability is laughable.
My worst experience was in infected. Four Ody with rainbow beam were with me. Could hardly kill the first cube, at one point got myself killed too because I was by myself for about a minute before I realized everyone had been killed so many time already they were already over 60 seconds respawn. When we finally killed the cube and sphere, which I resorted to kill first so I could do the cube in peace, they split on both side of the gate. I decided to leave at that point. No way I could clean up the mess they were going to make so there was no point in staying any longer.
If there if only one advice for new Ody captain. Only one type of weapon, and there is now good reason to point only half your weapon on the target, BROADSIDE, bear all your weapons on target, its not an escort with dual heavy cannon up front.
I'm hooked on the Odysseys and have no rainbows. I see a lot of posts concerning rainbows and skittles. I guess I'm lucky because I don't see that very often, but I did last night. Based on comments I have read I expected this escort shooting out skittles to be no help at all, but much to my surprise they played very well. I guess in this instance playing skill out weighed poor weapon choice.
Is it just me or have CSE PUGs been getting better recently?
...
...
...just me then?
Seriously, the past fifteen or so CSE PUGs I've done have mostly been successful (even got the optional twice) compared to a few weeks ago when it was the other way around. Very little has changed build-wise or tactics-wise at my end, there just seem to be slightly fewer idiots around... or perhaps they're just all flying KittyCarriers and their pet's AI is significantly better at playing the game than they are. Hmmm.
In fact, the only CSE PUG I've actually managed to fail in the past three days has been a rather notable instance.
Picture the following scene, if you will:
All the probes destroyed.
Three Bare Cubes.
About 2 minutes 30secs left on the Optional timer.
Two guys are at the Kang mopping up the final BOPs (from the two lanes I wasn't guarding).
One guy is on the Right-Hand cube. Myself and another guy are on the Left-Hand cube.
The Bossy Veteran (tm), who had apparently decided earlier that "Kang duty" means parking right in front of it and occasionally tossing it an Extend Shields #1, cries out "Now! Go! Kill the cubes! ALL AT ONCE!!"
So we get to work... I finish what I'm doing (killing the left-hand cube's Negh'var, I'd just finished killing the last probe) and fly off towards the middle cube.
A glance over my shoulder confirms that the Rainbow Cruiser behind me had stayed put and is pew-pew-pew ing away at the bare hull of the cube (I'd pretty much stripped the shields already with splash damage from CSV3 and Torp Spread 2 whilst fighting the Negh'var - the cube was somewhere around 85% HP... remember this is a STANDARD cube, not a Tac Cube).
I arrive at the middle Cube.
100% HP/100% Shields. A little over 2 minutes left on the timer. Easy Biccies.
Step #1: Hug the hull at point blank range.
Step #2: Rapid Fire 2, TacTeam1, Sensor Scan, AP:Beta1, Torp Spread 2.
Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons go Dakka-Dakka-Dakka...
A Heavy Plasma Torpedo bounces harmlessly off my shields and catches the cube in its own splash damage. Dead Cube.
A EPTS1 and a Hazard Emitters 1 has me back to full strength.
Still well over 90 seconds left on the optional timer.
Glance over the left shoulder.
Left hand cube is still there. Rainbow boat is sitll going pew-pew-pew.
OK... it's not like I expected a miracle...
Glance over the right shoulder.
Right hand cube is still there.
No one's firing on it. No one is anywhere NEAR it.
Great... Perhaps the guy who had been on it earlier had his Face exploded. Or perhaps he decided to go and help the crew of the Kang put on their 1000th production of the infamous traditional Deep Space Klingon Opera "How to float there like a giant metal pincushion and be completely sodding useless".
Ahhh. No, wait, There he is - just past the Kang, flying at half impulse towards the left hand cube. Presumably to help out the rainbow barge. Two of them are bound to be able to kill a cube that was already nearly half-dead when I left it... right? Right.
Evasive Maneuvers. Attack Pattern Omega. Divert Power to Engines.
Aim directly for Right-hand Cube. Arrive just as Bossy Veteran (tm) yells "ALL on cubes!!"
Vent Theta Radiation (on the Raptors that'd spawned as a result of me killing the other cube, that should give the Dynamic Duo at the Kang a chance to wake up from their nap...)
90% HP/50% Shields. OK... well at least we've still got some time (~80 secs)
Buff Buff Buff. Dakka-Dakka-Dakka.
Cube goes pop. 60 seconds left on the clock.
Glance towards the kang.
The three raptors I dumped my warp core on are nearly there.
The two Kang defenders are nowhere in sight. In the far distance near the left hand cube there is an impressive light show going on. I assume that now all FOUR of my teammates are over pew-pew-pew ing away at the final cube.
OK. it was nearly half dead when I left it.
And I've killed two cubes solo in the time they've had to whittle it down.
And Bossy Veteran (tm) is still yelling something about firing on cubes.
I'll go park at the Kang and hover my hand over the "Hail" button.
That way we still have a good chance to get the optional.
I fly.
I arrive just after the Raptors.
I throw the Kang a Tac Team 1, a Hazard Emitters I and a Transfer Shield Strength II.
(My Guramba really isn't a support ship... but a Tac Team can do wonders for Kang longevity)
I park. 45 Seconds.
I wait.
I wait.
I WAIT.
...
...
...
...
......
.........
Boom goes the optional. (Damage related - there was still nearly 30 Seconds left on the Clock)
OK. There's no chance now of me killing the Raptors before they kill the Kang.
If we weren't going for the optional I could've probably killed them all by now.
But hey, I'm technically "Out of Combat" - as soon as the four others kill the last cube I can hail it.
I WAIT ...
Boom goes the Kang.
I silently think some very unflattering thoughts about the potential parentage of my teammates.
I activate Evasive Maneuvers and fly over to check the Left Hand Cube.
It had 20% shields left. And 50% Hull.
:mad: ...FUME... :mad:
Almost as bad was last night's one...
Idiot #1 doesn't read the chat and kills a cube long before we're ready.
Idiot #2 (who has been filling the teamchat with some nonsense about "Timmy" every time he fires a shot) then throws a wobbler and insists that he can't fire at Raptors because they kill him in "0.2 seconds" - when I respond that he shouldn't worry, since waves of Raptors that attack the Kang are easier to kill because they essentially don't shoot back at you until they reach the Kang, he insists that I'm wrong because 'that one at the cube just killed me'......... yeah.
Idiot #3 insists on continually running into the nearest cluster of three Raptors and pushing them apart with Tractor Beam Repulsors. (For the uninitiated, if you target the lead Raptor and kill it, the splash damage from its warp core breach will often kill the other two, same goes for Negh'vars. It's a LOT easier to kill them when they're clustered together. This is even before you take into consideration AoE powers like Torpedo Spread or Cannon Scatter Volley). But at least he's trying.
The 4th guy, thankfully, didn't draw much attention to himself.
I honestly can't remember if we scraped a win or not in the end, I was too busy Facepalming...
I'm hooked on the Odysseys and have no rainbows. I see a lot of posts concerning rainbows and skittles. I guess I'm lucky because I don't see that very often, but I did last night. Based on comments I have read I expected this escort shooting out skittles to be no help at all, but much to my surprise they played very well. I guess in this instance playing skill out weighed poor weapon choice.
I also have an Odyssey and I love it. Great tanking for STF elite and I can deal major damage with all Antiproton beams and cannons with supporting console and buffs. If I play intelligently with it I can even survive Donatra frontal attack, not the beam when she reappear but the torpedo spread or whatever she hit you with. Its not only a matter of what you have but also if you're using what you have to its strenght. I found out in PVP what work best and stuck to it when I was first in damage deal VS healing which is why I use Antiproton.
If there if only one advice for new Ody captain. Only one type of weapon, and there is now good reason to point only half your weapon on the target, BROADSIDE, bear all your weapons on target, its not an escort with dual heavy cannon up front.
im usu good w word choices, so it frustrated me to have to say "i don't attack from the front, but instead i attack from the side like an ac-130 in mw3"....so i want to heartily thank you and give you a bleach mugetsu pic(see signature) and a virtual handshake (/shake hand), for finding the right word to describe my horrible mess of an explanation: BROADSIDE....lols xD
I gave up PUG groups a long time ago, and this thread has made me remember why.
Though, if they are getting better as you say, it's maybe just because people are learning.
There have been a few REALLY good ones recently too.
I'm almost sure the KittyCarriers are to blame for keeping the real nubs (i) too slow to get in the way and (ii) surrounded by things that can actually find the "fire" button.
Case in point: I managed to find a PUG queue with two (!!) other competent players yesterday morning. I took one Cube, another guy took a second Cube, and our third stayed near the Kang and killed off the wave of BOPs from the Cube we were ignoring.
We let the final two teammates keep the Negh'vars entertained.
(Like blind, one-legged mice playing with a cat...)
We cleaned up pretty quickly and got the optional.
Huzzah.
I'm hooked on the Odysseys and have no rainbows. I see a lot of posts concerning rainbows and skittles. I guess I'm lucky because I don't see that very often, but I did last night. Based on comments I have read I expected this escort shooting out skittles to be no help at all, but much to my surprise they played very well. I guess in this instance playing skill out weighed poor weapon choice.
Sorry, I'm typing this in my sleep. Had to work last night on my 4th day off. Got called in at the end of a 1000 mile bike ride. Beleave it or not I carry my laptop with me si I can do my DoFF jobs at WiFi hot spots LOL.
On with the show.
I guess if you do enough STF's you'll start to krenge every time you see an oddy or even a Galaxy show up in an STF. I've seen a few that were well set up but just a FEW. Occasionally the pilots know what they are doing in the STF too. Of all the bad experiances I've written about in this forum there are also hundreds of good experiances even with technicolor rainbow beams. Also the posted bad experiances are just a fraction of the bad experiances I've had. If I typed them all it would just be repeating the same thing over and over and over.
My opinion of the ships sold on the Cryptic store, specifically the Oddys, Galaxy, Excelsior, Carrier, is they are simply vanity items which serve no real purpose. Any one of these ships have the word Noobe permanantly engraved in their hulls somewhere. If you paid 20 bucks or there abouts for something at the Cryptic Store they got ya.
I bought the Galaxy and Excelsior and learned my lesson there. The Galaxy was useless from the get go and they nerfed the Excelsior at the start of Season 5. My Excelsior was nearly unkillable in PVP at one time. I loved it. Now it's nothing more than a storage boat in dry dock. :mad:
I'll add to this.
Here is a decent thread on the Excelsior. It will help but it still doesn't bring the Excelsior back to the killer it used to be.
I gave up PUG groups a long time ago, and this thread has made me remember why.
Though, if they are getting better as you say, it's maybe just because people are learning.
3 PUG's in a row, ISE, CSE, KASE. All options made and I can count on one hand the total team mates deaths. Pugs will never be at the level of a pre made or fleet group, but they aren't all as bad as people make them out to be. Now that I am not hunting for gear, I actually enjoy a good disaster run every once in awhile
3 PUG's in a row, ISE, CSE, KASE. All options made and I can count on one hand the total team mates deaths. Pugs will never be at the level of a pre made or fleet group, but they aren't all as bad as people make them out to be. Now that I am not hunting for gear, I actually enjoy a good disaster run every once in awhile
Today's disaster story wasn't really a disaster but there were some learning points to be gleaned.
For an ISE PUG it had superior communications but I didn't put my money on the team getting the optional in time.
They get all the map procedures right, 10% was perfect. Fire control was fine, people wait for a fire signal before detonating generators.
I'm not all that impressed by people following 10% rules and such, because the rest of the way was a very bumpy ride for the following reasons:
1) People appear to be demanding people follow certain instructions but they themselves seem to have very poor ship builds. Cruisers were out DPSing and outflying the escorts in the group by over 2 times and something's really not right there as the big boats were on beams and single cannons, and escorts on DCs and DHCs.
2) No semblance of targeting priority. Aside from the initial 10% which was perfect, once the spheres came everyone fired at their own target and refused to coordinate fire with teammates until specifically instructed or when they blew up 2 times in a row from trying to take on a sphere themselves.
3) Sitting in front of a sphere at 2km range stationary is a Very Bad Idea, especially in an escort.
4) An LRSV is not an assault ship... circling an enemy target without defensive buffs is also A Very Bad Idea. The LRSV in the group also refused to use any repair components despite the fatalist piloting style causing it to blow up the moment Extend Shields III expired on her. This was a full beam boat and I for the love of all that is holy cannot understand why a beam boat needs to engage the enemy from 2km range. We have assault cruisers for tanking at that range. The LRSV simply didn't have enough engineering boffs to succeed in the role played by the pilot.
When questioned about the huge list of ship damages, LRSV pilot replied "I am to lazy to use them".
Wow.
5) The most vocal team member was also the most useless.
It was an Excelsior that tried to stay about 9.9km from anything. It had lousy firepower, paper thin shields and very poor tactical piloting ability. The rest of the team followed my example to do strafing runs high up on the Z axis while my assault cruiser did its solemn duty tanking the tac cube at point blank range spewing cannon fire everywhere.
The very loud Excelsior kept blowing up because it engaged the tac cube on the horizontal plane and attracted a whole boatload of Invisitorps of Doom while lamenting about failing the Optional. (Who the heck cares about the Optional in a PUG - it doesn't give any additional tech drops or useful loot.)
Ironically those who engaged the cube with me at short range all didn't blow up (useless crippled LRSV included), because they were within easy reach of each others' team heals.
Moral of the story:
10%? So what? I worry more about individual piloting ability and effective long duration DPS than 10%. I rather fly with a team that didn't care about 10% (deliberately or not) but had so much DPS that they can just speed blast or riot control everything into impunity whist looking out for one another.
The thing about sitting stationary in front of a target at close range and blazing away with DHCs is also very ineffective if the pilot doesn't know how to manage aggro. Escorts are -not- glass cannons from my experience. They can tank as well as a darn cruiser if flown right. Or at least better than that paper thin Excelsior which couldn't even manage a single sphere.
Instead of sitting stationary, escort should have used APO (multiple copies thereof) to stay fast and hit hard, pointing the nose at the target only for that devastating 10 second burst of CRFIII.
I've seen people in STF's be chatty, but I never saw three people have a full on conversation for the duration of an STF. That's what I just ran into on KASE. No one seemed to be concerned with the mission. I reminded the group that this was not a social gathering, but was quickly dismissed as a jerk and told that I don't have a sense of humor. Topics covered ranged from Star Trek lore, politics, religion, and mostly procreation. I felt like I was watching the chat window on DS9. I eventually just closed my chat because I couldn't read as fast as they were typing and play the mission. It's actually a mystery how they played as well as they did considering the on going conversation.
I stuck around for the 30 plus minutes it took to complete the mission thanks to the lackadaisical approach of the team. This was made more irritating because three times I was instantly killed when Donatra appeared and I just blew up for no reason with full shields and hull. I have run into this before, as far as I can figure the plume is firing instantly when she appears. This makes the death clock penalty all the more irritating. :mad:
Without a doubt if the group had just played the mission instead of mindlessly typing away we would of had the option and finished in under 20 minutes. Lack of effort, above all, bugs me the most in a PUG.
5) The thing about sitting stationary in front of a target at close range and blazing away with DHCs is also very ineffective if the pilot doesn't know how to manage aggro. Escorts are -not- glass cannons from my experience. They can tank as well as a darn cruiser if flown right. Or at least better than that paper thin Excelsior which couldn't even manage a single sphere.
Instead of sitting stationary, escort should have used APO (multiple copies thereof) to stay fast and hit hard, pointing the nose at the target only for that devastating 10 second burst of CRFIII.
Agree completely.
First off, many instant admerals don't have a clue how to check their defencive status or DPS. In the escorts your best defence is movement. If they would check their defencive figures they would find they are much higher when moving than when setting.
The only times I might set in mine is;
#1, When being held by a tractor beam. I can use the tractor against them by rotating towards them and give them the full force of my weapons. (CRF3 CSV2 TS2) Whatever is holding me will usually be dead before the the tractor drops. You better have good DPS to do this and you need Attack Pattern Omega just in case you need to get out of there.
#2, I've found that setting 9.9k from the gates is somewhat effective in keeping them from shooting at you. But only somewhat. And you still need good DPS because your weapons won't be as effective as normal at that distance. And you better be ready to move away quick because if your shooting the gate before the cube there will always be some tard that agros the cube and drags it to you.
#3, When killing the Gens I'll put my nose right against the center and keep it there while firing. The Gen explosions won't hurt you. But this really isn't setting, I'm still moving around a lot. The spheres might be shooting you but if you are good and there are more ships shooting the gen it will be dead and you can get out of there before the spheres even breach your shields. Unfortunaltly this doesn't work very often because 4 of the ships will run off killing spheres without firing a shot at the gen.
As far as the Excelsior goes, Like I said earlier it used to be a good ship before season 5. Now they are simply good parts storage in dry dock. It's another dreaded ship in STFs.
As far as the Excelsior goes, Like I said earlier it used to be a good ship before season 5. Now they are simply good parts storage in dry dock. It's another dreaded ship in STFs.
I dread seeing them.
You should be careful judging players based on the ship type being flown. There are players who can fly pretty much any ship and win hard
Busting my *** keeping probes clear on my side while the other four in the STF, all members of the same fleet mind you, were working on the left side.
A probe gets through on the left.
I pop my group and gun it (As fast as I can with red alert active) to hold the lefts probes, pop those and then barely make it with a GW2 to stop probes on my side.
The four are still derping on the same transformer, apparently two spheres are too much for the four of them.
One finally breaks off and starts covering their probes.
At this point 4 have made it through all from the left side.
I pay attention to my side, pop some generators in between probes and clear my spheres, mind you, I'm a Science officer (cooldowns and all that), juggling probes and spheres and I clear them with little difficulty. I notice our count is up to 8 probes of ten.
Not a single gate has dropped yet.
"Guys you've got to keep on the probes over there if ten make it hrough this thing fails and we get NOTHING"
No reply.
I can't get to them in time and two more from their side get through, we lose.
I calmly explain that you can't rely on a single person to guard both sides, between cooldowns and the red alert engine slow down it's not going to work out.
Two of them agree with me one says nothing and yet another starts blaming the failure on me.
It was my fault apparently that their fleet is made up of people so inept that it takes FOUR of the to clear ONE Transformer/Generator.
If I can solo two spheres while juggling probes in my Intrepid Retro they should be able to rip the left side fo the map apart with four players two of which were in escorts.
Comments
I totally agree with what you say Jack, sounds a bit like the team i had yesterday, also doing the cure on normal. I said that I will protect the kang as my ship is a healer build but all apart from one who was listening also decided to sit in the middle with the kang when i repeatedly told them i was covering it, they left leaving me and the other person to finish the mission which we managed to do as the other person had very high DPS and I was also providing constant Fighter Supoort as well as GW3 and Various Debuffs to stop the attacking ships.
On infected ground it looked like was the worst geared person in the group, i only had 1 mk x omega gun and a full assault riffle, plus some purple armor and shields, so i was expecting to be dying a lot. I know about the trigger lines so I've never run into the room expecting to go Rambo and save the ensign in the first room, but who should two idiots wearing mk xii gear, get themselves killed instantly and when I ask them not to run past the trigger lines call me a noob, and that the group isn't fast enough result = bonus objective failed. Their excuse "They have mkxii gear so should be able to do it."
They continue their run in approach dying all the way through the map, we get to the final area before the server down time and they again run in die instantly, and we run out of time and I run out of patience before the second try, which they repeated the same moronic mistake of just running in.
I wish some people would understand that being lucky at getting drops doesn't make them skilled :rolleyes:
End Death Result:
Joe MKXII guy = 8 Deaths
Purrrfect barely geared guy = 1 Death (and that was because i had to suicide, to reset the boss area)
Cure space (elite)
- all probes destroyed
- I asked 'Do do we stick to the plan of destroing Cubes at the same moment?'
- two guys agreed, two were silence
- I started to lower middle Cube health to 10%, when suddenly some guy (I don't remember his nickname) came with an Escort and destroyed that Cube
- WTH? - I asked and his reply was like this:
'TRIBBLE you guys. I got a build that can survive 3 warships attacking me. If you guys can't, then it's not a place for you. I'm not gonna give you free rides.'
After this he engaged Raptors and got killed. Just after a respawn he logged of and few moments later we were overrun. STF failed.
Seriously: even if you got super-build, what's the point of making play harder for other players? STF are team based matches. If you can;t play in a team then what's the point of doing STFs?
Those mechanics are perectly fine. Without a respawn rebecca would be a turkey shoot.
The mechanics are there to encourage group play.
Want to compelte stfs and optionals...join a fleet , use comms.
And this is why the lucky bag mk xii gear is a stoopid idea by cryptic. some rambo/leroy runs 10 runs and has the set.....everyone else runs 300+ to get it.
i have logitech g110 macros (i spam "g" which distributes shields evenly, fire at will spammed every half second(space key) for probes in khitomer and for quick transformer kills (never during the generators i only use manual target and shoot) so that sitting just out of range of the gate killing probes WHILE they warp in is easy as pie w mk 12 anti-proton beam arrays front AND back (i attack from my sides like an ac-130 in mw3, not head on, so that i can maximize my firepower) obliterating everything that moves, as well as the g700 logitech mouse (made for mmo's) so i can apply buffs w that and my keyboard;
mk 12 maco shields and Borg engines and deflectors (w assimilated console that gives me regenerative shields on 3 piece borg), making my shields all but impenetrable;
knowledge of khitomer and infected strategy like its the back of my hand,
and yet people STILL somehow find some way to TRIBBLE it up, and even worse, influence my role (w ppl pulling cubes to me making me inept w probe duty) to make it look like I'M the one that screwed up! some of these people should lose their right to use a computer let alone play star trek online! i mean half the people who play STF'S imo are trolls!
P.S. i exaggerated a bit w the whole loss of computer rights thing to show my disdain for those idiots....im actually against any forms of censorship for any reason (except to stop censorship), hence why i felt it necessary to include the p.s. here...
The cure ground turrets are merely annoying for those four little turrets that pop up. Two people can take out a turret, but if even ONE of the little ones have line of sight on the guy planting the charge and targets him? Good luck placing the bomb without having to redo the entire turret.
Though earlier, one time in IGE, a guy says "Spread out" as Manus comes out. So me and another person (who didn't want to jump) stick on middle platform and seperate. Of course, the respawned dudes kill us and this vet goes "You two just HAD TO STAY where the respawns are didn't you?" I reply "Spread out means scatter usually."
We redo it again, me and the other dying due to respawns again, kill manus, and at the end he kinda went "That wasn't a good run. but whatever." *leave*. I just had to say he was kinda rude....
I'm quite adept at destroying probes and stray cubes simultaneously. Infact, I can use BFAW to destroy both cubes and probes at once on KASE with some creative tactical maneuvering.
As for 10% TRIBBLE up, **** happens.
I just do a high speed repulsor run on the nanites, push them 20km away, swing back with an engine battery and nail the transformer as I loop back.
The Omega set is wonderful for a fast battlecruiser doctrine. Borg shoot at me, it gives me a free afterburner boost.
With the new Federation carrier there are also quite a number of competent 'space control ship' pilots out there that can make Elite STFs a child's play.
Adaptability is key. I don't even bother if the 10% TRIBBLE up these days because I'm equipped, prepared and familiar with crisis management strategies.
I don't even do 10%s when I run my own Redneck Task Force missions and yet we nail the optionals each time, all the time. New tactics, new possibilities.
look, i understand that my ship isnt the strongest or the fastest fish in the sea, but im not saying i die every single time and crash and burn...actually i do pretty well, and i do adapt in crisis...
this whole thread is about stf horror stories, and i like how u picked my horror story to paint me as a flaming whining newb....i do fine and many times i feel like im carrying the stf, and that was my point...i didnt post for help, or ask for it anywhere, or say that i couldnt handle it...yes i got mad, but i didnt ragequit or throw my keyboard, i just told a few jerks to TRIBBLE off, so idk why u felt the need to quote my entire post and critique it, when this is specifically a thread FOR venting, and yet you feel the need to whine about other people venting in a place where it is appropriate and encouraged...gee sounds really mature for a senior member of this forum!
maybe you should take this sound advice: "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all!"
The cure is the worst. I've successfully done infected and khitomer accord multiple times, and assisted enough to believe I've earned my shiny loot, ccing, dpsing, saving the optional and so on.
Cure, ehhh... not so much. It's rough on science vessels / bird of preys, in my experience. The giant cloud of Nodes / Cube / X # of bird of preys around each cube can quickly eat through your defenses, people are hilariously disorganized, one of the cubes always gets destroyed early, etc. I've never been in there without feeling like a liability.
So yeah. Try infected/khitomer accord some before entirely giving up on elite. ^_^
Point taken and no worries, guess we all have different sorts of things to rant about
Yesterday, I wanted to try my new Console - Tactical - Prefire Chamber Mk XII pruple (very rare). and my two Console - Tactical - Antiproton Mag Regulator Mk XII purple (very rare).
We deal the first cube.
I went on the right taking probe. A player with girl's name try to kill gen, and sphere.
3 players went on the side. After a while ont the left side they let a probe passed through the gate. I said to the player with girl's name he/she should help them on the side. He/she said ok. When he/she went overthere. he/she didn't find anyone except an oddy which is trying to take the probe. He let 6 probes passed trough and left the STF. Meanwhile, the player with girl's name come back on the left side.
Those players for unknow reason left the left side and went one the right side. Nobody to take the probes. And we total failed.
the player with girl's name was upset because he/she plays stf to get set borg. In my case I'm use about that kind of players.
Instant admiral + low score accolades + odyssey vessel ship + rainbow beam + no communication = total failed no matters it Elite or normal STF.
Happiness. I could notice my new gear MkXII very rare gave me more dps:D
If there if only one advice for new Ody captain. Only one type of weapon, and there is now good reason to point only half your weapon on the target, BROADSIDE, bear all your weapons on target, its not an escort with dual heavy cannon up front.
Hey - thanks for the reply, and encouragement.
To be honest, it would be fair to say that the CSE instance I played (that left me so discouraged) was a mish-mash. I've played Cure Normal more times than I can count, and do fine there, but probably 7 times of of ten everyone charges off to do their own thing, clearly assuming that someone else will keep an eye on the Kang. Though this wasn't technically the case in the CSE that discouraged me, it would be fair to say that, aside from the Vet I refered to, no-one else was listening, prefering to do their own thing, and (again, as mentioned) someone even bailed out when the optional failed, leaving a Vet, two players who were paying no attention to anything else, and me.
Anyway - played Cure, Infected and Khitomer on normal earlier & brought my T5 MVAM Prometheus out of mothballs for them. Had a great time - I realise Science toons are not as effective in an escort than a Tac, but still - was definitely doing more DPS, so may stick with that setup and see how I get on. Still not certain about inflicting myself upon a PUG in an Elite again though.
i played like 400 STFs or more (i guess way more) to find out, that the borg parts are still better than a maco MKXII (only thing that is good is the shield). thats what i was told.
I agree. I have the complete omega and maco mk xii sets and after trying how many different combo's I think the maco shield with the 3 piece borg set works best for my escort. The maco graviton beam ability is laughable.
I'm hooked on the Odysseys and have no rainbows. I see a lot of posts concerning rainbows and skittles. I guess I'm lucky because I don't see that very often, but I did last night. Based on comments I have read I expected this escort shooting out skittles to be no help at all, but much to my surprise they played very well. I guess in this instance playing skill out weighed poor weapon choice.
...
...
...just me then?
Seriously, the past fifteen or so CSE PUGs I've done have mostly been successful (even got the optional twice) compared to a few weeks ago when it was the other way around. Very little has changed build-wise or tactics-wise at my end, there just seem to be slightly fewer idiots around... or perhaps they're just all flying KittyCarriers and their pet's AI is significantly better at playing the game than they are. Hmmm.
In fact, the only CSE PUG I've actually managed to fail in the past three days has been a rather notable instance.
Picture the following scene, if you will:
All the probes destroyed.
Three Bare Cubes.
About 2 minutes 30secs left on the Optional timer.
Two guys are at the Kang mopping up the final BOPs (from the two lanes I wasn't guarding).
One guy is on the Right-Hand cube. Myself and another guy are on the Left-Hand cube.
The Bossy Veteran (tm), who had apparently decided earlier that "Kang duty" means parking right in front of it and occasionally tossing it an Extend Shields #1, cries out "Now! Go! Kill the cubes! ALL AT ONCE!!"
So we get to work... I finish what I'm doing (killing the left-hand cube's Negh'var, I'd just finished killing the last probe) and fly off towards the middle cube.
A glance over my shoulder confirms that the Rainbow Cruiser behind me had stayed put and is pew-pew-pew ing away at the bare hull of the cube (I'd pretty much stripped the shields already with splash damage from CSV3 and Torp Spread 2 whilst fighting the Negh'var - the cube was somewhere around 85% HP... remember this is a STANDARD cube, not a Tac Cube).
I arrive at the middle Cube.
100% HP/100% Shields. A little over 2 minutes left on the timer. Easy Biccies.
Step #1: Hug the hull at point blank range.
Step #2: Rapid Fire 2, TacTeam1, Sensor Scan, AP:Beta1, Torp Spread 2.
Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons go Dakka-Dakka-Dakka...
A Heavy Plasma Torpedo bounces harmlessly off my shields and catches the cube in its own splash damage. Dead Cube.
A EPTS1 and a Hazard Emitters 1 has me back to full strength.
Still well over 90 seconds left on the optional timer.
Glance over the left shoulder.
Left hand cube is still there. Rainbow boat is sitll going pew-pew-pew.
OK... it's not like I expected a miracle...
Glance over the right shoulder.
Right hand cube is still there.
No one's firing on it. No one is anywhere NEAR it.
Great... Perhaps the guy who had been on it earlier had his Face exploded. Or perhaps he decided to go and help the crew of the Kang put on their 1000th production of the infamous traditional Deep Space Klingon Opera "How to float there like a giant metal pincushion and be completely sodding useless".
Ahhh. No, wait, There he is - just past the Kang, flying at half impulse towards the left hand cube. Presumably to help out the rainbow barge. Two of them are bound to be able to kill a cube that was already nearly half-dead when I left it... right? Right.
Evasive Maneuvers. Attack Pattern Omega. Divert Power to Engines.
Aim directly for Right-hand Cube. Arrive just as Bossy Veteran (tm) yells "ALL on cubes!!"
Vent Theta Radiation (on the Raptors that'd spawned as a result of me killing the other cube, that should give the Dynamic Duo at the Kang a chance to wake up from their nap...)
90% HP/50% Shields. OK... well at least we've still got some time (~80 secs)
Buff Buff Buff. Dakka-Dakka-Dakka.
Cube goes pop. 60 seconds left on the clock.
Glance towards the kang.
The three raptors I dumped my warp core on are nearly there.
The two Kang defenders are nowhere in sight. In the far distance near the left hand cube there is an impressive light show going on. I assume that now all FOUR of my teammates are over pew-pew-pew ing away at the final cube.
OK. it was nearly half dead when I left it.
And I've killed two cubes solo in the time they've had to whittle it down.
And Bossy Veteran (tm) is still yelling something about firing on cubes.
I'll go park at the Kang and hover my hand over the "Hail" button.
That way we still have a good chance to get the optional.
I fly.
I arrive just after the Raptors.
I throw the Kang a Tac Team 1, a Hazard Emitters I and a Transfer Shield Strength II.
(My Guramba really isn't a support ship... but a Tac Team can do wonders for Kang longevity)
I park. 45 Seconds.
I wait.
I wait.
I WAIT.
...
...
...
...
......
.........
Boom goes the optional. (Damage related - there was still nearly 30 Seconds left on the Clock)
OK. There's no chance now of me killing the Raptors before they kill the Kang.
If we weren't going for the optional I could've probably killed them all by now.
But hey, I'm technically "Out of Combat" - as soon as the four others kill the last cube I can hail it.
I WAIT ...
Boom goes the Kang.
I silently think some very unflattering thoughts about the potential parentage of my teammates.
I activate Evasive Maneuvers and fly over to check the Left Hand Cube.
It had 20% shields left. And 50% Hull.
:mad: ...FUME... :mad:
Almost as bad was last night's one...
Idiot #1 doesn't read the chat and kills a cube long before we're ready.
Idiot #2 (who has been filling the teamchat with some nonsense about "Timmy" every time he fires a shot) then throws a wobbler and insists that he can't fire at Raptors because they kill him in "0.2 seconds" - when I respond that he shouldn't worry, since waves of Raptors that attack the Kang are easier to kill because they essentially don't shoot back at you until they reach the Kang, he insists that I'm wrong because 'that one at the cube just killed me'......... yeah.
Idiot #3 insists on continually running into the nearest cluster of three Raptors and pushing them apart with Tractor Beam Repulsors. (For the uninitiated, if you target the lead Raptor and kill it, the splash damage from its warp core breach will often kill the other two, same goes for Negh'vars. It's a LOT easier to kill them when they're clustered together. This is even before you take into consideration AoE powers like Torpedo Spread or Cannon Scatter Volley). But at least he's trying.
The 4th guy, thankfully, didn't draw much attention to himself.
I honestly can't remember if we scraped a win or not in the end, I was too busy Facepalming...
I also have an Odyssey and I love it. Great tanking for STF elite and I can deal major damage with all Antiproton beams and cannons with supporting console and buffs. If I play intelligently with it I can even survive Donatra frontal attack, not the beam when she reappear but the torpedo spread or whatever she hit you with. Its not only a matter of what you have but also if you're using what you have to its strenght. I found out in PVP what work best and stuck to it when I was first in damage deal VS healing which is why I use Antiproton.
Though, if they are getting better as you say, it's maybe just because people are learning.
im usu good w word choices, so it frustrated me to have to say "i don't attack from the front, but instead i attack from the side like an ac-130 in mw3"....so i want to heartily thank you and give you a bleach mugetsu pic(see signature) and a virtual handshake (/shake hand), for finding the right word to describe my horrible mess of an explanation: BROADSIDE....lols xD
There have been a few REALLY good ones recently too.
I'm almost sure the KittyCarriers are to blame for keeping the real nubs (i) too slow to get in the way and (ii) surrounded by things that can actually find the "fire" button.
Case in point: I managed to find a PUG queue with two (!!) other competent players yesterday morning. I took one Cube, another guy took a second Cube, and our third stayed near the Kang and killed off the wave of BOPs from the Cube we were ignoring.
We let the final two teammates keep the Negh'vars entertained.
(Like blind, one-legged mice playing with a cat...)
We cleaned up pretty quickly and got the optional.
Huzzah.
(Still no Prototype Engine Tech tho, darnnit!)
Sorry, I'm typing this in my sleep. Had to work last night on my 4th day off. Got called in at the end of a 1000 mile bike ride. Beleave it or not I carry my laptop with me si I can do my DoFF jobs at WiFi hot spots LOL.
On with the show.
I guess if you do enough STF's you'll start to krenge every time you see an oddy or even a Galaxy show up in an STF. I've seen a few that were well set up but just a FEW. Occasionally the pilots know what they are doing in the STF too. Of all the bad experiances I've written about in this forum there are also hundreds of good experiances even with technicolor rainbow beams. Also the posted bad experiances are just a fraction of the bad experiances I've had. If I typed them all it would just be repeating the same thing over and over and over.
My opinion of the ships sold on the Cryptic store, specifically the Oddys, Galaxy, Excelsior, Carrier, is they are simply vanity items which serve no real purpose. Any one of these ships have the word Noobe permanantly engraved in their hulls somewhere. If you paid 20 bucks or there abouts for something at the Cryptic Store they got ya.
I bought the Galaxy and Excelsior and learned my lesson there. The Galaxy was useless from the get go and they nerfed the Excelsior at the start of Season 5. My Excelsior was nearly unkillable in PVP at one time. I loved it. Now it's nothing more than a storage boat in dry dock. :mad:
I'll add to this.
Here is a decent thread on the Excelsior. It will help but it still doesn't bring the Excelsior back to the killer it used to be.
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=249906&highlight=excelsior
Look for the posts by Marvio (Or something similar.)
3 PUG's in a row, ISE, CSE, KASE. All options made and I can count on one hand the total team mates deaths. Pugs will never be at the level of a pre made or fleet group, but they aren't all as bad as people make them out to be. Now that I am not hunting for gear, I actually enjoy a good disaster run every once in awhile
Today's disaster story wasn't really a disaster but there were some learning points to be gleaned.
For an ISE PUG it had superior communications but I didn't put my money on the team getting the optional in time.
They get all the map procedures right, 10% was perfect. Fire control was fine, people wait for a fire signal before detonating generators.
I'm not all that impressed by people following 10% rules and such, because the rest of the way was a very bumpy ride for the following reasons:
1) People appear to be demanding people follow certain instructions but they themselves seem to have very poor ship builds. Cruisers were out DPSing and outflying the escorts in the group by over 2 times and something's really not right there as the big boats were on beams and single cannons, and escorts on DCs and DHCs.
2) No semblance of targeting priority. Aside from the initial 10% which was perfect, once the spheres came everyone fired at their own target and refused to coordinate fire with teammates until specifically instructed or when they blew up 2 times in a row from trying to take on a sphere themselves.
3) Sitting in front of a sphere at 2km range stationary is a Very Bad Idea, especially in an escort.
4) An LRSV is not an assault ship... circling an enemy target without defensive buffs is also A Very Bad Idea. The LRSV in the group also refused to use any repair components despite the fatalist piloting style causing it to blow up the moment Extend Shields III expired on her. This was a full beam boat and I for the love of all that is holy cannot understand why a beam boat needs to engage the enemy from 2km range. We have assault cruisers for tanking at that range. The LRSV simply didn't have enough engineering boffs to succeed in the role played by the pilot.
When questioned about the huge list of ship damages, LRSV pilot replied "I am to lazy to use them".
Wow.
5) The most vocal team member was also the most useless.
It was an Excelsior that tried to stay about 9.9km from anything. It had lousy firepower, paper thin shields and very poor tactical piloting ability. The rest of the team followed my example to do strafing runs high up on the Z axis while my assault cruiser did its solemn duty tanking the tac cube at point blank range spewing cannon fire everywhere.
The very loud Excelsior kept blowing up because it engaged the tac cube on the horizontal plane and attracted a whole boatload of Invisitorps of Doom while lamenting about failing the Optional. (Who the heck cares about the Optional in a PUG - it doesn't give any additional tech drops or useful loot.)
Ironically those who engaged the cube with me at short range all didn't blow up (useless crippled LRSV included), because they were within easy reach of each others' team heals.
Moral of the story:
10%? So what? I worry more about individual piloting ability and effective long duration DPS than 10%. I rather fly with a team that didn't care about 10% (deliberately or not) but had so much DPS that they can just speed blast or riot control everything into impunity whist looking out for one another.
The thing about sitting stationary in front of a target at close range and blazing away with DHCs is also very ineffective if the pilot doesn't know how to manage aggro. Escorts are -not- glass cannons from my experience. They can tank as well as a darn cruiser if flown right. Or at least better than that paper thin Excelsior which couldn't even manage a single sphere.
Instead of sitting stationary, escort should have used APO (multiple copies thereof) to stay fast and hit hard, pointing the nose at the target only for that devastating 10 second burst of CRFIII.
I stuck around for the 30 plus minutes it took to complete the mission thanks to the lackadaisical approach of the team. This was made more irritating because three times I was instantly killed when Donatra appeared and I just blew up for no reason with full shields and hull. I have run into this before, as far as I can figure the plume is firing instantly when she appears. This makes the death clock penalty all the more irritating. :mad:
Without a doubt if the group had just played the mission instead of mindlessly typing away we would of had the option and finished in under 20 minutes. Lack of effort, above all, bugs me the most in a PUG.
Agree completely.
First off, many instant admerals don't have a clue how to check their defencive status or DPS. In the escorts your best defence is movement. If they would check their defencive figures they would find they are much higher when moving than when setting.
The only times I might set in mine is;
#1, When being held by a tractor beam. I can use the tractor against them by rotating towards them and give them the full force of my weapons. (CRF3 CSV2 TS2) Whatever is holding me will usually be dead before the the tractor drops. You better have good DPS to do this and you need Attack Pattern Omega just in case you need to get out of there.
#2, I've found that setting 9.9k from the gates is somewhat effective in keeping them from shooting at you. But only somewhat. And you still need good DPS because your weapons won't be as effective as normal at that distance. And you better be ready to move away quick because if your shooting the gate before the cube there will always be some tard that agros the cube and drags it to you.
#3, When killing the Gens I'll put my nose right against the center and keep it there while firing. The Gen explosions won't hurt you. But this really isn't setting, I'm still moving around a lot. The spheres might be shooting you but if you are good and there are more ships shooting the gen it will be dead and you can get out of there before the spheres even breach your shields. Unfortunaltly this doesn't work very often because 4 of the ships will run off killing spheres without firing a shot at the gen.
Here is the best Escort thread going...
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=244532&highlight=fleet+escort
As far as the Excelsior goes, Like I said earlier it used to be a good ship before season 5. Now they are simply good parts storage in dry dock. It's another dreaded ship in STFs.
I dread seeing them.
You should be careful judging players based on the ship type being flown. There are players who can fly pretty much any ship and win hard
Busting my *** keeping probes clear on my side while the other four in the STF, all members of the same fleet mind you, were working on the left side.
A probe gets through on the left.
I pop my group and gun it (As fast as I can with red alert active) to hold the lefts probes, pop those and then barely make it with a GW2 to stop probes on my side.
The four are still derping on the same transformer, apparently two spheres are too much for the four of them.
One finally breaks off and starts covering their probes.
At this point 4 have made it through all from the left side.
I pay attention to my side, pop some generators in between probes and clear my spheres, mind you, I'm a Science officer (cooldowns and all that), juggling probes and spheres and I clear them with little difficulty. I notice our count is up to 8 probes of ten.
Not a single gate has dropped yet.
"Guys you've got to keep on the probes over there if ten make it hrough this thing fails and we get NOTHING"
No reply.
I can't get to them in time and two more from their side get through, we lose.
I calmly explain that you can't rely on a single person to guard both sides, between cooldowns and the red alert engine slow down it's not going to work out.
Two of them agree with me one says nothing and yet another starts blaming the failure on me.
It was my fault apparently that their fleet is made up of people so inept that it takes FOUR of the to clear ONE Transformer/Generator.
If I can solo two spheres while juggling probes in my Intrepid Retro they should be able to rip the left side fo the map apart with four players two of which were in escorts.