Dude you have the worst luck with groups for as long as I've been playing this game.
It seems I lost my bad luck I played 9 STF. I got crapy loot, I failed optionnals for some, Some pug was like rainbow and fireworks. But after all, all of them were nice. Should I go to Fed side to find out my bad luck.
It seems I lost my bad luck I played 9 STF. I got crapy loot, I failed optionnals for some, Some pug was like rainbow and fireworks. But after all, all of them were nice. Should I go to Fed side to find out my bad luck.
PM me next time we both are on and join the STFRecruits channel started by @Andrew_Harnaman
We are a no-drama PUG and newbie friendly group who provide capable wingmen for all your butt kicking needs. Sometimes we bring partial 2 or 3 man teams to help PUGs with winning maps in a no stress fashion, by simply working with the existing group.
That thing about PUGs being non responsive is untrue to me. ALL my PUGs are responsive after the first twenty seconds. Just crack a few jokes to your wingman and the rest join in the conversation and have fun kicking butt + optionals
We also have special weekly video productions and flight leaders that can make even the most green Starfleet cadet pilot into Luke Skywalker.
Sometimes I also bake free cookies for the brave pilots
There is even video evidence of such PUG awesomeness
Carmenara, your "battlestar" cannons cruiser build gave me several ideas today:
1) First grand idea was a Build for my Recon Science Vessel to make it competent again after weeks of being mothballed. Nearly blew my entire EC stores to do it. 2 Tetryon Cannons, Tetryon Dual Beam Bank and Tetryon Turrets with required consoles and the works. Worked out alright, though I'm at a loss on whether to put Scatter Volley or Rapid Fire on it.
2) I went to my somewhat neglected Starfleet Engineer and took his Excelsior's phaser beams offline to put in some new cannons (retrain my tac boff in Cannon Scatter Volley. Her first real test came in a Distress Call right outside of the Sol System. She took down several Borg Spheres and probes and survived a severe pounding from a couple of cubes...and this is a tier 3 Excelsior. Can't wait to see what he can do in STF's
Either I've had incredibly bad luck with groups this week or Infected Ground Elite is bugged. I don't run PUGs, I join groups in the EliteSTF chat room. This week it seems like I'd have better luck with PUGs. Literally 80% of my runs have ended in failure. Usually in the last room. But there have been a couple where I've died and/or the group has gotten wiped out in the second or third room. I never used to die that early in the mission.
I don't know if there's just a large group of new folks that don't know the map well or if the map itself has gotten harder.
I don't know if there's just a large group of new folks that don't know the map well or if the map itself has gotten harder.
I think there is. No offense in my words. Yesterday I played KA space normal. On the left two guys. They only have to take the probes. On the right side, 3 guys (included me). I took the probes. The two guys shoot transformer and gate. Meanwhile we did it. These two guys on the right side let a probe went accros de gate and we failed the optionnals. Even though it was a nice STF with nice people. It seems these two guys were new without much dps and it was hard for them to kill probes...
These two guys on the right side let a probe went accros de gate and we failed the optionnals. Even though it was a nice STF with nice people. It seems these two guys were new without much dps and it was hard for them to kill probes...
I ran a pre-made team on a private queue the other day to introduce fresh cadets to STF teamwork. In the heat of battle a probe guardian accidentally let through one probe due to an unfortunate network problem on his end.
Not a single one of us flamed him for TRIBBLE up the optional because: -
1) Who cares about the optional? It doesn't give any desirable loot, it doesn't get me Borg tech, it's OPTIONAL. Even if there's a prototype salvage in it, only one person would get it.
2) Mutual respect. That chap there valiantly flew his AE in an unfamiliar role and a stressful time sensitive environment. That chap there also accepted a team role voluntarily and followed tactical directions given by stranger living 6,000 miles away from him. I reward players for effort. And seriously, berating a player for just failing an optional? The primary objective of winning the darn map itself is more important.
3) TRIBBLE happens. It is unnecessary to launch personal attacks when it's obviously not the player's fault that the probe went through.
4) Since I am the tactical director of the map I can use my initiative to reward the team members out of pocket for whatever useless loot that could have been randomly generated by the optional. 99% of the time it's some useless armor or weapon I don't need and can only sell for a small sum on the Exchange.
5) It's teamwork that's important. People need time to get familiar with wingmen, mission conditions, know what can go wrong for future reference. THE TEAM can always meet up for another run on another map and hit the optional for the other one. We all grind hundreds of STFs per year.
Who cares about the optional? It doesn't give any desirable loot, it doesn't get me Borg tech, it's OPTIONAL. Even if there's a prototype salvage in it, only one person would get it.
I care about:p It's not about loot. Especially since I noticed rule loot is unfair. Everytime I play STF I take up the challenge. Getting the optionnals makes the STF more exciting. For example, it's really exciting when we have few seconds and all of the pug is giving all of the ship can give to kill the Tac cube. It's like a race against the clock. We did our best and it's enough for me.
The Death Penalty Timer was designed for one purpose and that was to get players to be little bit more careful with their ships and/or their toons. Well that idea has completely failed. Last night I PUGed a KA Normal STF (I try to help the newer STFers as much as possible) and I was the first one to beam into the underground and walked over to the right a little and waited for the others to beam in.
Well they started beaming in and as soon as one comes they run off to the start line. I typed into team chat "stick together", but the user runs past the timer start line and a few seconds later is dead. The team is all there and I repeat "We need to stick together" and I lead the charge. Come to the first T in the road and like always I go right, well one follows me, two go the other way, and the last one pauses at the T then finally follows me.
I call out in team chat "Where are you going? We need to stick together" and I get no reply. After little while one of the others dies and the other ones health is falling fast I start heading to the other team with two team mates in tow. I easily clear the remaining Borg Patrol and rez the team and think to myself "Ok they have learned we need to stick together.", but no as soon as I rez one of the users and what does he do, runs off to start the fight again without even popping a Hypo.
The rest of the STF run I decided to stay in the back and clean up Borg squads and rez people as we went along. During that entire STF run I did not die once, but I am going to guess the rest of the team was at the max on their Death Penalty Timer.
We finally get to the transmitters room and before we go in I say in team chat:
"Ok we are going to clear the Borg out of this room, before we start taking down the transmitters.",
"Stick together",
"Stay out of the other room I'll take care of that.",
"NO PETS",
"Any Questions".
I get no reply, so I opened fire on the group ahead of us and the rest of the team charges in spawning drones, escorts, and firing on everything. So being an Engineer I back up a little and bunker down, start spawning my pets and picking off Borg as they kill off my team and come at me.
At this point in the mission I am surprised I am not really that mad, it actually kind of funny watching these users welling kill themselves off as I have no problem keeping my shields and health basically full. I finally cleared the aggroed Borg with team mates spawning and dying over and over again. At some point you would think they would have thought sticking together and we won't die, but no that thought never enter any of their minds, oh and at this point I am no longer rezing any of my team it would have been pointless.
I finally clear the remaining Borg out of the room and talk to the team in chat that this side is Beta and the other side is Alpha, the bottom floor is 3 and the top floor is 1. I tell them I will be in another room bringing down the shields around these transmitters and that they all need to target them and nothing else until they take them down as fast possible. I few hiccups along the way dying, respawn, and I had to bring down the shields for them a couple of times at each transmitter.
Finally we get done with this room and not even asking if they have their Borg BOFF I destroy both machines and move on to the bosses room and camp outside waiting for the rest of the team to show up. The team finally gets there and I tell them not to rush the room until the boss is down and open fire, two rush the room and I start backing up team mates start dying left and right again. I came close to death a few times but was able to Hypo my way out of it and was able to clear the group by myself. Now I could have been a @hole, not rez anyone, taken my prize and left, but I couldn't do that to them.
That was the worse STF run I have ever been on and at the same time the funniest one to watch.
Stuff like this was supposed to be fixed with this new Death Penalty Timer, yeah I call fail on that one.
and it happens all the time. for example, i join a pve mission against the borg. i try to discuss strategy before it starts and the other 4 players all take off in different directions weapons blazing. meanwhile i'm trying to protect kang and start getting hammered and no one comes to help. ships start blowing up left and right, name calling begins and we lose the mission.
i do get lucky at times and get with a good group that makes the missions really easy to achieve. i love getting borg stuff. need more maco 12 gear. :-)
i am trying to join a fleet to be able to work in a real team environment to increase the success on missions.
The funny thing is I just finished a KA ground PUG with half the team being first timers.
When I said the usual greetings they replied it's their first time, so I put on my 21st century dress and asked them to stick with me so they didn't get lost.
A Klingon lady and her Orion consort volunteered to take point and I led the two Federation officers behind them. Everything was accomplished without a word, with me giving tactical updates and directions occasionally to the two cadets.
They stuck to me like glue and sure enough, being in a distinctive civilian dress worked like a charm for them as I made a point to stand near critical passageways so the team could use me as a mobile waypoint.
We demolished Borg devices like pros and the chat was quiet except for me calling out instructions for the girl manning the shield control room. She waited for my ready cue before dropping shields and the team surprisingly barely missed the optional by only 5 seconds despite being half manned by first timers!
I got them all to the STFRecruits channel where we will be doing a full 5 man task force this weekend. STFRecruits will also be starting its own fleet comprised solely of like minded cadets who are strong on teamwork and have a strong interest in keeping ESTFs both accessible and drama free.
Everyone wants success, that's a fact I leverage upon when I lead PUGs to victory. A nice good morning never fails to break the ice, and greeting them first of all is a polite way to see if anyone wishes my assistance for tactical direction.
We can run like a SAS team storming enemy strongholds with coordinated fire and clearance maneuvers, or if the team wants to run silent and run deep I will take the initiative to fly and fight on their wing to ensure team success.
If the team is comprised of newer pilots or operatives, I let them take control of the situation while veteran players watch their back and provide effective support. I don't lead from the front for the sole reason, the new guys need to be confident and they need to know that in the company of veteran pilots and combat instructors they can rely on effective wingman and healing support at all times.
This concept of mutual support I believe, does not require a fleet for existence, it being a basic mental competency to look out for thy fellow soldier, and the sole reason why I prefer to play with PUGs is that it's a dynamic environment where innovation and creative collaboration is something very rewarding and has to be setup with care and I daresay, some love for putting the team's objective before one's own expectations.
The best reward for a cadet sometimes is not a flawless optional run, but knowledge of new tactics and new opportunities to run a second STF with the existing team. After all, we were newbies once and young
Aside from the above KA run we also did a full set of 3 space STFs with a partial PUG queue later and likewise it was fun with all 3 sessions involving effective public communications. One of the assault cruisers noticed I was riding shotgun on his wing in tight formation throughout Cure and sent an extend shields 3 my way and we used NCW style tactics to basically kick *** in record time.
I know it's not an STF, but I have a mirror universe event story
I am trying to level up 2 of my other toons, like most ppl I play the mirror universe events whenever I can. I was playing my FED eng character, who is lvl 14. So I am playing in the lowest tier of players eligible for this mission.
1 player was really trying to go for the option. I may be wrong, but I have played this event hundreds of times and have only gotten the option on a handful. As far as I can remember it doesn't give you any extra loot and only prevents extra ships from spawning from the repair docks when the Stadi emerges. Since the point of this mission is to kill as many ships as possible to get extra XP I don't know why people bother with the option, unless I am wrong and someone could enlighten me.
Anyways 1 player was uploading the virus to the sat's, he didn't communicate what he was doing. Just getting mad because he was pulling all the battle groups towards himself and moving onto the next sat w/o destroying the incoming group. Obviously the option fails mainly due to his own actions. This guy starts flaming like I have never seen before. With his caps lock always engaged he told us how everyone in the group was a noob and how he is so sick of all the idiots like us in the game. I thought he was jk, but he kept going on and on. He went on to tell us that we should all just quit now because none of us will ever be able to understand how to play the game. At the end of the mission he informed us that he took down all of our names and was reporting us all because of our poor game play.
I'm still not certain if he was a troll or just a teenager with major emotional issues, It was a little bit on the humorous side. The only reason he didn't go on my ignore list was because I wanted to see what his next crazy rant would be. So fair warning, lookout when this guy makes it to STF lvl because I am sure he will be responsible for a few more stories in this thread.
Had such a horrible time in my first Elite infection run. This one guy was just insulting and complaining to me and my friend. Mind you I have played normal, and my friend has played elite. So I knew the objectives. But this guy was complaining "I can complete this whole thing in 7 mins. Now it will take over 20, cause of you.".
Then he went on of him having all mark 12 TRIBBLE. When our ships are setup with all mark 11 memory alpha items. Aegis deflector borg engine sub engines etc. We weren't gonna go in there with garbage. Me and my friend where doing one side while him and two others where doing the other. We took 40 seconds longer to destroy the borg cube and nanite healing junk then they did. But he acted like we took 500 years. Then was barking orders to use gravity well and how to setup our ships. My friend didn't die a single time while he was forced to yell at the other guy. And I died a total of 8 times. That's because I choose to have lower hull.
We still completed everything minus the optional, and got our junk. I'm really fed up with elite *******s trying to just complete the mission as fast as possible. Oh and the optional failed on the other guys end. Since all the spheres where heading to their side. While we were ignored.
Had the weirdest experience two days ago with an Infected Space Elite. In an all Fed group, we just popped in and took care of the fist three ships, after that everyone just spread out everywhere, left, and right. I thought this was going to one of "those" missions. 10 minutes later, we had not only finished the mission, but gained the optional. I'm not sure how it happened, but in the ensuing chaos, with no one talking to any one else, we had done it. I'm guess in the guy who went right had some impressive DPS. It was an ugly Win, but it was a Win!
It's totally possible to split up in ISE and take both sides down concurrently. If the team has four tacs, I'd even bring it up as a possible strat. It would be even better if the lone ship has placates.
Carmenara, your "battlestar" cannons cruiser build gave me several ideas today:
1) First grand idea was a Build for my Recon Science Vessel to make it competent again after weeks of being mothballed. Nearly blew my entire EC stores to do it. 2 Tetryon Cannons, Tetryon Dual Beam Bank and Tetryon Turrets with required consoles and the works. Worked out alright, though I'm at a loss on whether to put Scatter Volley or Rapid Fire on it.
2) I went to my somewhat neglected Starfleet Engineer and took his Excelsior's phaser beams offline to put in some new cannons (retrain my tac boff in Cannon Scatter Volley. Her first real test came in a Distress Call right outside of the Sol System. She took down several Borg Spheres and probes and survived a severe pounding from a couple of cubes...and this is a tier 3 Excelsior. Can't wait to see what he can do in STF's
I've been using single cannons/turrets or single cannons/BA setups for a while. Unles youre planning on spending your time doing buckshotting the whole time with those cannons, I'd suggest rapid fire. Sometimes Scatter Volley backfires when you end up agroing something you didnt want to. You can always put one beam array on the ship and use faw when you have to (to shoot down heavy torps, or an AOE attack).
I've been using single cannons/turrets or single cannons/BA setups for a while. Unles youre planning on spending your time doing buckshotting the whole time with those cannons, I'd suggest rapid fire. Sometimes Scatter Volley backfires when you end up agroing something you didnt want to. You can always put one beam array on the ship and use faw when you have to (to shoot down heavy torps, or an AOE attack).
I went with Scatter Volley for my Excelsior because I'm sure it can take whatever is thrown at it (at that level)
Dump the Technicolor/Rainbow Beams. Turn on your chat screens and read the forums about how to do STF's before you try them. And finally, If you want to win don't do PuGs.
Wanted to add to this because that line is gold for STF's
If you don't know how to play the STF, Please, For The Love Of All That Is Holy!!!! Don't Q Elites. Stick to the Pugfest that is normals and don't join elites til you feel norms are way to ez, and you have read what elites entail. Also want to state again what he's already said.
Turn on your chat screens
My worst experience was yesterday. I was in KA SE, Had taken out borg cube, and was defending right side, and picking away at generators, careful only to kill 1 on either side, and reduce the rest without killing(to avoid the cubes coming in right away) Notice other side is going slowly, and that the probes are not dieing far from the chroniton gateway, and ask if they need help, I'll switch someone....
The person that is supposed to be doing probes replies, "My ship isn't good at killing probes". I'm like blown away....needless to say, we managed to fail the optional(though with time I think we woulda been close to failing too probably), and by the time donatra spawns, we start fighting her, I'm tanking her, and noticing her life isn't dropping really....and as we fly around for a good 10 minutes, people just start disappearing. Overall, when I finally quit because I was the last 1 left, I think I was in that mission about an hour as my q was cd'd
If you don't know the stf, at least turn your chat screen on, If your not good enough to blow through normals, for pete's sake don't queue for elites.
The person that is supposed to be doing probes replies, "My ship isn't good at killing probes". I'm like blown away....needless to say, we managed to fail the optional(though with time I think we woulda been close to failing too probably), and by the time donatra spawns, we start fighting her, I'm tanking her, and noticing her life isn't dropping really....and as we fly around for a good 10 minutes, people just start disappearing. Overall, when I finally quit because I was the last 1 left, I think I was in that mission about an hour as my q was cd'd
In my opinion, it happens too much often. There is too much player who give up when it's time to fight Donatra. When 2 or 3 players leave after 10 minutes fighting with Donatra. I don't think it's because their mom asked them go to bed.
personally, I beleive the chat portion is probably the worst....
when you take the time to have a convo in the begining, everyone huddles around you as you type it out, and then halfway thru u notice that they still are not communicating thru team chat, only to realize, by meer habistance, looking at one of the individuals who has been goofing off like pee wee herman at a candy store that he HAS been talking the whole time, in ZONE chat.....
I just happened to turn around in a KA norm gnd,bout half way down into the dungeon of what is now unholy pain, and look at this 'person' to see a chat box appear above his head, with the words, and I quote "i've never done this before" ... followed by "what do we do now"...
which, by itself are perfectly acceptable, and welcome from any player, in the BEGINING, but above all in TEAM CHAT....
now i'm knee deep in borgified pain, and have no way of telling said player what to do, he is still running around AND has no weapon, none at all, trying to kirk foo his way past the borg to go to some corner that has nothing to do with anything only to return to me jump up and down for what felt like 10 mins, with said same zone chat box, in all caps.... "they wont die... they just wont die"
I dont think I have ever seen anyone die that much and still have the courage to return to the group and ask ... why....
my thought is, if we have to be forced into a PUG (by that i mean the 'teaming' portion when already ON a team)
can we also have it so that the chat controls also 'FORCE' you to have the team chat activated ? something along the lines of ...
I queue for INF space norm, the engage box is up, timer under 5 sec's, here we go...
as soon as the screen loads, BAM team chat is auto activated and SHOWING in your chat box, which of course is also FORCED OPEN to view......
now, I understand, this is not the all out solution, we will still have the 'i dont chat, i dont type, i dont communicate cause im too lazy to fiure out whats going on' people, but at least we would know that it is not because of the chat box, or settings that these people dont communicate.....
That's one thing I never liked about the UI. Every time I start a round, the chat box doesn't auto activate to Team. It changes to Team, but it doesn't activate it. And people wonder why I start every match with a random character or word. That's just me compensating for bad UI.
the chat system needs a revamp, sure before the fix you got to see everyone who opened a galor right accross the center of your screen in big yellow letters. But when a teammate is asking for help its in like 8pt font at the bottom left of my screen amidst the chaos of weapon fire, explosions, and ability activation graphics.
I for 1 miss the days of sully integrated audio in multiplayer games. Shoot the in game chat and audio for old school shooters (pre steam counter strike, etc) worked 100 times better than any current teamspeak like app now. that was well over 12 years ago tech, it's 2012 can't we have decent team communication?
back in those days you could pug all you wanted because you could easily communicate with each other through voice or chat and everyone on the team could see/hear it and react.
I don't want to have to sign in to a secondary app and try to find the right channel so i can hear what a teammate is saying. I want to be able to start a game, hit a button on my mic and say "can everyone hear me?" and go from there. is that so much to ask?
the chat system needs a revamp, sure before the fix you got to see everyone who opened a galor right accross the center of your screen in big yellow letters. But when a teammate is asking for help its in like 8pt font at the bottom left of my screen amidst the chaos of weapon fire, explosions, and ability activation graphics.
I for 1 miss the days of sully integrated audio in multiplayer games. Shoot the in game chat and audio for old school shooters (pre steam counter strike, etc) worked 100 times better than any current teamspeak like app now. that was well over 12 years ago tech, it's 2012 can't we have decent team communication?
back in those days you could pug all you wanted because you could easily communicate with each other through voice or chat and everyone on the team could see/hear it and react.
I don't want to have to sign in to a secondary app and try to find the right channel so i can hear what a teammate is saying. I want to be able to start a game, hit a button on my mic and say "can everyone hear me?" and go from there. is that so much to ask?
change the interface scale. it sounds like you have it at about .6
the chat system needs a revamp, sure before the fix you got to see everyone who opened a galor right accross the center of your screen in big yellow letters.
I moved the galor notification spam box to the very bottom of the screen under the chat box in the left hand corner. It's doubtful the broken system will be fixed any time soom. They banned shuttles from the STF's and I was suprised they went that far. :eek:
Evey other night or as often as needed while I'm working my 4 days on I send a text message to George Noory on Coast to Coast AM asking him to get back on topic. I tell him we want to hear Ghost and UFO story's. Maybe a little something about Mel's Hole in Washingtom State. I tell him 'Enough Politics.' Everyone knows the new system is broken. And occasionally Mr. Noory listens. Last night was a whole night of USO stories about under water UFO's.
So, Can we get back on topic? Everyone knows the current system it's broken. Bad STF stories are more fun. I'll even post one myself when I go to days's off.
I don't really have any bad STF stories now as things don't end disastrously enough for me to log it.
What's depressing is how all boring STFs are compared to running a marathon Elite episode mission replay with a lady from Germany. We went zero to level 40 in literally 2 days flat and the social and gameplay experience definitely far surpassed the endless grind of STFs.
Some missions were incredibly challenging too as the mission scaled with difficulty level chosen and team size. We used Klingon raider tactics to do hit and runs on mission objectives instead of slogging through 100 odd enemy ships.
This was also the time to demonstrate team support and efficient ship building techniques to prepare new pilots for successful STF runs... which we'll probably do tomorrow
So i have been doing STFs for a few months now, pretty well geared and knows all the tactics. this new guy in my fleet comes up through the ranks and wants to try an STF. I offer to escort him, because we are cool like that. Managed to get one more fleetmate in on it, but we have to pug the last two.
Dear god, was that mistake...
So, we spwan, me in my RSV, my green fleetmate in a Fleet escort, and my other fleet mate in a new Catian Carrier. Our Pugs was a DSSV and a Klingon Carrier. We were doing Infected space elite, so he can learn. WE went over the basic tactics with him before we queued, 10% rule and everything.
We waste the first cube easy, so i rush in and start debuffing the left cube over the transformer. it goes down within 30 seconds. After it pops, i send out a confrimation hails saying "10% rule, Everyone." hoping that it would remind some people about it. I get an enthusiastic hail from the new guy and no one else. Oh well, it happens.
I park on the front left generator and start peeling away at it. The klink carrier rolls up and starts to wail away on the one I was working on, leaving the fore right one untouched. Whatever, I roll over to the over generator and start to hit on it. I just got there, I only have it at 80% when i glance over my shoulder to see the klink carrier was still firing on a almost dead generator.
"{Players name} CEASE FIRE!!!"
BOOM!
And out comes the spheres -___-
OK, no big deal. mistakes happen. We all charge in and start mopping up the mess. Grav well and tractors everywhere. it was a mess. Sadly, one of the Nanites heals the transformer. Oh well, Optional lost. I'm not mad. It happens and it was a sticky situation. So we clean up the mess and take down the transformer. I type out. "It's ok guys. Lets just make sure that doesn't happen again." No response.
Second verse.. just like the first, but a little bit louder and a little bit worse.... Again, the Klink carrier pops early, even after i was yelling at him to stop firing at 25% health. We pop the generators all un even so it was a a messy stream of spheres and probes, a few people die and respawn and come back in the fight.
Except the klink... He was sitting out in the respawn point, at 33.7 km out from the combat. not moving, not taking damage nothing. He was sitting there for a full minute. It does NOT take that long to heal damage. We take out half the spheres without his help.
"Oi! you honorless targ! Get your *** back into combat!"
No Response. Finally after the tac cube spawns he jumps into the fray.
I don't mind mistakes in STFs, i made a few of them myself. Heck, one of my favorite STFs was where we FAILED the optional, but we picked ourselves back up and kicked ever loving ***. But when you make a mistake, and then do NOTHING to correct it, that is when I get ****ed.
Since the STF's are just major grinds with the slim chance of a good award at the end, some people may be wanting the reward but are apathetic towards getting there.
But then, that's where the good stories come from. Both the people who are apathetic, and those who aren't.
Comments
That's the FIRST thing I've recieved from Childrens Toys that I could use on my ship.
So I put it on the exhange for the big bucks.
It seems I lost my bad luck
PM me next time we both are on and join the STFRecruits channel started by @Andrew_Harnaman
We are a no-drama PUG and newbie friendly group who provide capable wingmen for all your butt kicking needs. Sometimes we bring partial 2 or 3 man teams to help PUGs with winning maps in a no stress fashion, by simply working with the existing group.
That thing about PUGs being non responsive is untrue to me. ALL my PUGs are responsive after the first twenty seconds. Just crack a few jokes to your wingman and the rest join in the conversation and have fun kicking butt + optionals
We also have special weekly video productions and flight leaders that can make even the most green Starfleet cadet pilot into Luke Skywalker.
Sometimes I also bake free cookies for the brave pilots
There is even video evidence of such PUG awesomeness
1) First grand idea was a Build for my Recon Science Vessel to make it competent again after weeks of being mothballed. Nearly blew my entire EC stores to do it. 2 Tetryon Cannons, Tetryon Dual Beam Bank and Tetryon Turrets with required consoles and the works. Worked out alright, though I'm at a loss on whether to put Scatter Volley or Rapid Fire on it.
2) I went to my somewhat neglected Starfleet Engineer and took his Excelsior's phaser beams offline to put in some new cannons (retrain my tac boff in Cannon Scatter Volley. Her first real test came in a Distress Call right outside of the Sol System. She took down several Borg Spheres and probes and survived a severe pounding from a couple of cubes...and this is a tier 3 Excelsior. Can't wait to see what he can do in STF's
I don't know if there's just a large group of new folks that don't know the map well or if the map itself has gotten harder.
I ran a pre-made team on a private queue the other day to introduce fresh cadets to STF teamwork. In the heat of battle a probe guardian accidentally let through one probe due to an unfortunate network problem on his end.
Not a single one of us flamed him for TRIBBLE up the optional because: -
1) Who cares about the optional? It doesn't give any desirable loot, it doesn't get me Borg tech, it's OPTIONAL. Even if there's a prototype salvage in it, only one person would get it.
2) Mutual respect. That chap there valiantly flew his AE in an unfamiliar role and a stressful time sensitive environment. That chap there also accepted a team role voluntarily and followed tactical directions given by stranger living 6,000 miles away from him. I reward players for effort. And seriously, berating a player for just failing an optional? The primary objective of winning the darn map itself is more important.
3) TRIBBLE happens. It is unnecessary to launch personal attacks when it's obviously not the player's fault that the probe went through.
4) Since I am the tactical director of the map I can use my initiative to reward the team members out of pocket for whatever useless loot that could have been randomly generated by the optional. 99% of the time it's some useless armor or weapon I don't need and can only sell for a small sum on the Exchange.
5) It's teamwork that's important. People need time to get familiar with wingmen, mission conditions, know what can go wrong for future reference. THE TEAM can always meet up for another run on another map and hit the optional for the other one. We all grind hundreds of STFs per year.
I care about:p It's not about loot. Especially since I noticed rule loot is unfair. Everytime I play STF I take up the challenge. Getting the optionnals makes the STF more exciting. For example, it's really exciting when we have few seconds and all of the pug is giving all of the ship can give to kill the Tac cube. It's like a race against the clock. We did our best and it's enough for me.
Well they started beaming in and as soon as one comes they run off to the start line. I typed into team chat "stick together", but the user runs past the timer start line and a few seconds later is dead. The team is all there and I repeat "We need to stick together" and I lead the charge. Come to the first T in the road and like always I go right, well one follows me, two go the other way, and the last one pauses at the T then finally follows me.
I call out in team chat "Where are you going? We need to stick together" and I get no reply. After little while one of the others dies and the other ones health is falling fast I start heading to the other team with two team mates in tow. I easily clear the remaining Borg Patrol and rez the team and think to myself "Ok they have learned we need to stick together.", but no as soon as I rez one of the users and what does he do, runs off to start the fight again without even popping a Hypo.
The rest of the STF run I decided to stay in the back and clean up Borg squads and rez people as we went along. During that entire STF run I did not die once, but I am going to guess the rest of the team was at the max on their Death Penalty Timer.
We finally get to the transmitters room and before we go in I say in team chat:
- "Ok we are going to clear the Borg out of this room, before we start taking down the transmitters.",
- "Stick together",
- "Stay out of the other room I'll take care of that.",
- "NO PETS",
- "Any Questions".
I get no reply, so I opened fire on the group ahead of us and the rest of the team charges in spawning drones, escorts, and firing on everything. So being an Engineer I back up a little and bunker down, start spawning my pets and picking off Borg as they kill off my team and come at me.At this point in the mission I am surprised I am not really that mad, it actually kind of funny watching these users welling kill themselves off as I have no problem keeping my shields and health basically full. I finally cleared the aggroed Borg with team mates spawning and dying over and over again. At some point you would think they would have thought sticking together and we won't die, but no that thought never enter any of their minds, oh and at this point I am no longer rezing any of my team it would have been pointless.
I finally clear the remaining Borg out of the room and talk to the team in chat that this side is Beta and the other side is Alpha, the bottom floor is 3 and the top floor is 1. I tell them I will be in another room bringing down the shields around these transmitters and that they all need to target them and nothing else until they take them down as fast possible. I few hiccups along the way dying, respawn, and I had to bring down the shields for them a couple of times at each transmitter.
Finally we get done with this room and not even asking if they have their Borg BOFF I destroy both machines and move on to the bosses room and camp outside waiting for the rest of the team to show up. The team finally gets there and I tell them not to rush the room until the boss is down and open fire, two rush the room and I start backing up team mates start dying left and right again. I came close to death a few times but was able to Hypo my way out of it and was able to clear the group by myself. Now I could have been a @hole, not rez anyone, taken my prize and left, but I couldn't do that to them.
That was the worse STF run I have ever been on and at the same time the funniest one to watch.
Stuff like this was supposed to be fixed with this new Death Penalty Timer, yeah I call fail on that one.
i do get lucky at times and get with a good group that makes the missions really easy to achieve. i love getting borg stuff. need more maco 12 gear. :-)
i am trying to join a fleet to be able to work in a real team environment to increase the success on missions.
When I said the usual greetings they replied it's their first time, so I put on my 21st century dress and asked them to stick with me so they didn't get lost.
A Klingon lady and her Orion consort volunteered to take point and I led the two Federation officers behind them. Everything was accomplished without a word, with me giving tactical updates and directions occasionally to the two cadets.
They stuck to me like glue and sure enough, being in a distinctive civilian dress worked like a charm for them as I made a point to stand near critical passageways so the team could use me as a mobile waypoint.
We demolished Borg devices like pros and the chat was quiet except for me calling out instructions for the girl manning the shield control room. She waited for my ready cue before dropping shields and the team surprisingly barely missed the optional by only 5 seconds despite being half manned by first timers!
I got them all to the STFRecruits channel where we will be doing a full 5 man task force this weekend. STFRecruits will also be starting its own fleet comprised solely of like minded cadets who are strong on teamwork and have a strong interest in keeping ESTFs both accessible and drama free.
Everyone wants success, that's a fact I leverage upon when I lead PUGs to victory. A nice good morning never fails to break the ice, and greeting them first of all is a polite way to see if anyone wishes my assistance for tactical direction.
We can run like a SAS team storming enemy strongholds with coordinated fire and clearance maneuvers, or if the team wants to run silent and run deep I will take the initiative to fly and fight on their wing to ensure team success.
If the team is comprised of newer pilots or operatives, I let them take control of the situation while veteran players watch their back and provide effective support. I don't lead from the front for the sole reason, the new guys need to be confident and they need to know that in the company of veteran pilots and combat instructors they can rely on effective wingman and healing support at all times.
This concept of mutual support I believe, does not require a fleet for existence, it being a basic mental competency to look out for thy fellow soldier, and the sole reason why I prefer to play with PUGs is that it's a dynamic environment where innovation and creative collaboration is something very rewarding and has to be setup with care and I daresay, some love for putting the team's objective before one's own expectations.
The best reward for a cadet sometimes is not a flawless optional run, but knowledge of new tactics and new opportunities to run a second STF with the existing team. After all, we were newbies once and young
Aside from the above KA run we also did a full set of 3 space STFs with a partial PUG queue later and likewise it was fun with all 3 sessions involving effective public communications. One of the assault cruisers noticed I was riding shotgun on his wing in tight formation throughout Cure and sent an extend shields 3 my way and we used NCW style tactics to basically kick *** in record time.
Just finished the first and only CSN of the day.
Logged in and said 'HI' like I always do.
Someone says 'I'll take the Kang'
I said 'Yippee'
I head off to the right along with two others (Oddy's as usual). The Third went to the Kang along with the guy who said he'd take it.
I start shooting nodes and notice the other two shooting the Cube.
I say 'SHOOT THE NODES FIRST"
One of them starts shooting the top node the other continues shooting the Cube.
I say 'SHOOT THE BOTTOM NODES FIRST'
They both leave and head to the Kang.
The guy at the Kang says 'I GOT THE KANG'
I say 'ANYONE GOING TO HELP AT THE CUBES?'
One of them comes back and starts shooting a node.
I kill all the remaining nodes then help the guy who came back finish his.
(Technicolor Rainbow Beams are completely useless.)
I get killed. OOPS :eek:
So I respawn and return to the Cube and finish it noticing there are now two ship already at the second Cube.
I kill the first Cube and head to the second.
One ship is shooting the Cube, no nodes are dead and BoPs and things are spawning.
The guy at the Kang says 'What a bunch of Noobes'
I said 'Yep!'
I say 'SHOOT THE BOTTOM NODES FIRST!'
One ship is shooting nodes.
(Did I say Technicolor Rainbow Beams are completely useless?) :mad:
Now I see three ship heading to the third Cube.
The second isn't dead so I finish it.
The guy at the Kang is overwelmed so i help him real quick.
We both head off to the third Cube.
Two guys are shooting the Cube.
I say 'SHOOT THE BOTTOM NODES FIRST!'
The guy that was protecting the Kang works on the spawning ships along with someone else and I work on nodes.
Two are still shooting the Cube.
I kill the nodes and then the Cube.
I say 'Someone Hail the Kang'
30 seconds left.
The guy that was helping the Kang get's there just in time with me hot on his heals.
We win.
I am trying to level up 2 of my other toons, like most ppl I play the mirror universe events whenever I can. I was playing my FED eng character, who is lvl 14. So I am playing in the lowest tier of players eligible for this mission.
1 player was really trying to go for the option. I may be wrong, but I have played this event hundreds of times and have only gotten the option on a handful. As far as I can remember it doesn't give you any extra loot and only prevents extra ships from spawning from the repair docks when the Stadi emerges. Since the point of this mission is to kill as many ships as possible to get extra XP I don't know why people bother with the option, unless I am wrong and someone could enlighten me.
Anyways 1 player was uploading the virus to the sat's, he didn't communicate what he was doing. Just getting mad because he was pulling all the battle groups towards himself and moving onto the next sat w/o destroying the incoming group. Obviously the option fails mainly due to his own actions. This guy starts flaming like I have never seen before. With his caps lock always engaged he told us how everyone in the group was a noob and how he is so sick of all the idiots like us in the game. I thought he was jk, but he kept going on and on. He went on to tell us that we should all just quit now because none of us will ever be able to understand how to play the game. At the end of the mission he informed us that he took down all of our names and was reporting us all because of our poor game play.
I'm still not certain if he was a troll or just a teenager with major emotional issues, It was a little bit on the humorous side. The only reason he didn't go on my ignore list was because I wanted to see what his next crazy rant would be. So fair warning, lookout when this guy makes it to STF lvl because I am sure he will be responsible for a few more stories in this thread.
Then he went on of him having all mark 12 TRIBBLE. When our ships are setup with all mark 11 memory alpha items. Aegis deflector borg engine sub engines etc. We weren't gonna go in there with garbage. Me and my friend where doing one side while him and two others where doing the other. We took 40 seconds longer to destroy the borg cube and nanite healing junk then they did. But he acted like we took 500 years. Then was barking orders to use gravity well and how to setup our ships. My friend didn't die a single time while he was forced to yell at the other guy. And I died a total of 8 times. That's because I choose to have lower hull.
We still completed everything minus the optional, and got our junk. I'm really fed up with elite *******s trying to just complete the mission as fast as possible. Oh and the optional failed on the other guys end. Since all the spheres where heading to their side. While we were ignored.
I've been using single cannons/turrets or single cannons/BA setups for a while. Unles youre planning on spending your time doing buckshotting the whole time with those cannons, I'd suggest rapid fire. Sometimes Scatter Volley backfires when you end up agroing something you didnt want to. You can always put one beam array on the ship and use faw when you have to (to shoot down heavy torps, or an AOE attack).
Players may no longer queue for STFs if they are in shuttles or other small craft.
That's fantastic!
But the problem is it may take away from some of our bad STF stories. :eek:
They messed up the HUD big time. :mad: Fix one problem insert three more.:(
I went with Scatter Volley for my Excelsior because I'm sure it can take whatever is thrown at it (at that level)
Wanted to add to this because that line is gold for STF's
If you don't know how to play the STF, Please, For The Love Of All That Is Holy!!!! Don't Q Elites. Stick to the Pugfest that is normals and don't join elites til you feel norms are way to ez, and you have read what elites entail. Also want to state again what he's already said.
My worst experience was yesterday. I was in KA SE, Had taken out borg cube, and was defending right side, and picking away at generators, careful only to kill 1 on either side, and reduce the rest without killing(to avoid the cubes coming in right away) Notice other side is going slowly, and that the probes are not dieing far from the chroniton gateway, and ask if they need help, I'll switch someone....
The person that is supposed to be doing probes replies, "My ship isn't good at killing probes". I'm like blown away....needless to say, we managed to fail the optional(though with time I think we woulda been close to failing too probably), and by the time donatra spawns, we start fighting her, I'm tanking her, and noticing her life isn't dropping really....and as we fly around for a good 10 minutes, people just start disappearing. Overall, when I finally quit because I was the last 1 left, I think I was in that mission about an hour as my q was cd'd
If you don't know the stf, at least turn your chat screen on, If your not good enough to blow through normals, for pete's sake don't queue for elites.
In my opinion, it happens too much often. There is too much player who give up when it's time to fight Donatra. When 2 or 3 players leave after 10 minutes fighting with Donatra. I don't think it's because their mom asked them go to bed.
when you take the time to have a convo in the begining, everyone huddles around you as you type it out, and then halfway thru u notice that they still are not communicating thru team chat, only to realize, by meer habistance, looking at one of the individuals who has been goofing off like pee wee herman at a candy store that he HAS been talking the whole time, in ZONE chat.....
I just happened to turn around in a KA norm gnd,bout half way down into the dungeon of what is now unholy pain, and look at this 'person' to see a chat box appear above his head, with the words, and I quote "i've never done this before" ... followed by "what do we do now"...
which, by itself are perfectly acceptable, and welcome from any player, in the BEGINING, but above all in TEAM CHAT....
now i'm knee deep in borgified pain, and have no way of telling said player what to do, he is still running around AND has no weapon, none at all, trying to kirk foo his way past the borg to go to some corner that has nothing to do with anything only to return to me jump up and down for what felt like 10 mins, with said same zone chat box, in all caps.... "they wont die... they just wont die"
I dont think I have ever seen anyone die that much and still have the courage to return to the group and ask ... why....
my thought is, if we have to be forced into a PUG (by that i mean the 'teaming' portion when already ON a team)
can we also have it so that the chat controls also 'FORCE' you to have the team chat activated ? something along the lines of ...
I queue for INF space norm, the engage box is up, timer under 5 sec's, here we go...
as soon as the screen loads, BAM team chat is auto activated and SHOWING in your chat box, which of course is also FORCED OPEN to view......
now, I understand, this is not the all out solution, we will still have the 'i dont chat, i dont type, i dont communicate cause im too lazy to fiure out whats going on' people, but at least we would know that it is not because of the chat box, or settings that these people dont communicate.....
I for 1 miss the days of sully integrated audio in multiplayer games. Shoot the in game chat and audio for old school shooters (pre steam counter strike, etc) worked 100 times better than any current teamspeak like app now. that was well over 12 years ago tech, it's 2012 can't we have decent team communication?
back in those days you could pug all you wanted because you could easily communicate with each other through voice or chat and everyone on the team could see/hear it and react.
I don't want to have to sign in to a secondary app and try to find the right channel so i can hear what a teammate is saying. I want to be able to start a game, hit a button on my mic and say "can everyone hear me?" and go from there. is that so much to ask?
change the interface scale. it sounds like you have it at about .6
I moved the galor notification spam box to the very bottom of the screen under the chat box in the left hand corner. It's doubtful the broken system will be fixed any time soom. They banned shuttles from the STF's and I was suprised they went that far. :eek:
Evey other night or as often as needed while I'm working my 4 days on I send a text message to George Noory on Coast to Coast AM asking him to get back on topic. I tell him we want to hear Ghost and UFO story's. Maybe a little something about Mel's Hole in Washingtom State. I tell him 'Enough Politics.' Everyone knows the new system is broken. And occasionally Mr. Noory listens. Last night was a whole night of USO stories about under water UFO's.
So, Can we get back on topic? Everyone knows the current system it's broken. Bad STF stories are more fun. I'll even post one myself when I go to days's off.
What's depressing is how all boring STFs are compared to running a marathon Elite episode mission replay with a lady from Germany. We went zero to level 40 in literally 2 days flat and the social and gameplay experience definitely far surpassed the endless grind of STFs.
Some missions were incredibly challenging too as the mission scaled with difficulty level chosen and team size. We used Klingon raider tactics to do hit and runs on mission objectives instead of slogging through 100 odd enemy ships.
This was also the time to demonstrate team support and efficient ship building techniques to prepare new pilots for successful STF runs... which we'll probably do tomorrow
So i have been doing STFs for a few months now, pretty well geared and knows all the tactics. this new guy in my fleet comes up through the ranks and wants to try an STF. I offer to escort him, because we are cool like that. Managed to get one more fleetmate in on it, but we have to pug the last two.
Dear god, was that mistake...
So, we spwan, me in my RSV, my green fleetmate in a Fleet escort, and my other fleet mate in a new Catian Carrier. Our Pugs was a DSSV and a Klingon Carrier. We were doing Infected space elite, so he can learn. WE went over the basic tactics with him before we queued, 10% rule and everything.
We waste the first cube easy, so i rush in and start debuffing the left cube over the transformer. it goes down within 30 seconds. After it pops, i send out a confrimation hails saying "10% rule, Everyone." hoping that it would remind some people about it. I get an enthusiastic hail from the new guy and no one else. Oh well, it happens.
I park on the front left generator and start peeling away at it. The klink carrier rolls up and starts to wail away on the one I was working on, leaving the fore right one untouched. Whatever, I roll over to the over generator and start to hit on it. I just got there, I only have it at 80% when i glance over my shoulder to see the klink carrier was still firing on a almost dead generator.
"{Players name} CEASE FIRE!!!"
BOOM!
And out comes the spheres -___-
OK, no big deal. mistakes happen. We all charge in and start mopping up the mess. Grav well and tractors everywhere. it was a mess. Sadly, one of the Nanites heals the transformer. Oh well, Optional lost. I'm not mad. It happens and it was a sticky situation. So we clean up the mess and take down the transformer. I type out. "It's ok guys. Lets just make sure that doesn't happen again." No response.
Second verse.. just like the first, but a little bit louder and a little bit worse.... Again, the Klink carrier pops early, even after i was yelling at him to stop firing at 25% health. We pop the generators all un even so it was a a messy stream of spheres and probes, a few people die and respawn and come back in the fight.
Except the klink... He was sitting out in the respawn point, at 33.7 km out from the combat. not moving, not taking damage nothing. He was sitting there for a full minute. It does NOT take that long to heal damage. We take out half the spheres without his help.
"Oi! you honorless targ! Get your *** back into combat!"
No Response. Finally after the tac cube spawns he jumps into the fray.
I don't mind mistakes in STFs, i made a few of them myself. Heck, one of my favorite STFs was where we FAILED the optional, but we picked ourselves back up and kicked ever loving ***. But when you make a mistake, and then do NOTHING to correct it, that is when I get ****ed.
Since the STF's are just major grinds with the slim chance of a good award at the end, some people may be wanting the reward but are apathetic towards getting there.
But then, that's where the good stories come from. Both the people who are apathetic, and those who aren't.