Are you guys active around 7am till noon EST? And are you active on the LDF side as well? I've been playing since January or early Feb, but I've still not done a single STF and would like a quality group to learn from and play with that is rather laid back.
EST mornings are my usual hunting grounds. Nothing like exchanging cordial well wishes at dawn then marching to the sound of the guns
Imagine cruisin' along the Alpha Quad searchin' fer rare alien ah'tifacts, then some good fer' nothing True Way Tellolist comes over yonder and does a stick up!
If your' True Blue Starfleet you'd probably spent the next 3 weeks cooped up in a forcefield with the bad guys while rescue comes along like Ol' Grandma, as shown on TV!
But what if you were a Redneck?
You just call 'The Boys' and we'll come rollin' with the Harley's and the Davidson's Cavalry and send them back across the border in a million pieces!
We Rednecks we take care of our people. It don't matter if you're one-day wonder fresh out from 'Frisco, ah'll be here to show you the ropes, and separate the Cow Pies from the real Space Cowboys!
REDNECK ACADEMY is all about mutual cooperation. From normal missions to the most infamous Great Borg Robberies of the 25th Century, we're ready and willing.
And if you're new, you're more than welcome to have a BBQ with us anytime, anyday. Ah think all newbies are good ol' Trekkies just like you and me. And YOU absolutely deserve the best training Starfleet kin put together.
You got the interest, ah'll bring the toys and more.
Are you afraid of joining an enormous Fleet? Can't stand bureaucracy and 3 week application periods?
Don't fret. Here at Redneck Academy, we don't leave our brahs hangin'.
You came to Star Trek Online to fly and fight as a member of an elite force. Be that Captain you always wanted to be. As a Redneck Captain, you'll just be yourself fifty times more awesome than prim and proper Starfleet instant noodle Admiral over there.
You'll even get to hang the most rootinest tootinest beam array a shootinest ****s this side of a Texas BBQ.
Features:
We don't have a website
We don't have a TS server
We don't have a forums
What we have are good men and women who'll never leave your wing till you call RTB. We're real world military historians, redneck engineers and petrolheads.
We can bring new pilots from zero to Hero in less time it takes to grill corn. Just joined yesterday? We don't care, Starfleet exists for your development and your benefit!
So be yourself and have fun. We run daily STFs, missions and anything you can think of in between. Maybe even some good ol fashioned roleplay, and we do it better than any RP guild out there
REDNECK ACADEMY
We just put the fun back into Star Trekkin'.
Lol, i just wanna know is this an actual fleet?. If so i can promise you ive "always" been a redneck. Born, raised, watched the TOS back on the farm no bigger than a corn nubbin.:)
Personally id love to see the tools in the ship tailor so i can finally change my fed fleet logo to those Yosemite Sam mudflap lookalikes ive wanted for so long.
Lol, i just wanna know is this an actual fleet?. If so i can promise you ive "always" been a redneck. Born, raised, watched the TOS back on the farm no bigger than a corn nubbin.:)
Scarily it is kind of an actual fleet.
I run without a fleet label (members are spread out over all timezones, no chance of getting 5 together) but there are a large amount of regular, albeit small fleet activities on both Fed and KDF, and lots of gameplay tutorial / ship optimization essays being traded round the clock.
For the past two weeks the Corps of Redneck Engineers have been developing high performance ship build for the following ship types:
Sovereign Assault Cruiser (Standard Starfleet cruiser doctrine)
Galaxy R Bajoran Retrofit (Deep Space Interdiction / patrol vessel)
Prototype Odyssey Battle Cruiser (High speed 'saber dance' tactical cruiser concept)
Hegh'ta Heavy Bird of Prey (Engineering / Scientific Escort - PvP proven!)
Negh'var Battle Cruiser (KDF cruiser doctrine experiment)
With an emphasis on high DPS, high survivability and better than average tactical cruise speed, these vessels are easily employed to best effect in Elite STFs by both cadet and veteran pilots alike by virtue of an intuitive Bridge Officer skill setup and mission-adaptive tactical loadouts.
While these ship builds will not top the charts in raw damage output unlike the usual forum-posted builds, they do perfectly fine in Elite STFs and are specifically intended for a "mission adaptive" role in STFs - sometimes you have less experienced captains along for the game, or less well equipped ships, and it is our understanding that a Starfleet Captain, faced with less than perfect teammates and a difficult mission, will not resort to the kind of "noob calling" that many of us gamers are prone to do.
Nay, the Starfleet Captain will always lend a helping hand to those in need, and then use his management and leadership skills to ensure allied victory.
Remember, the strong exist to protect the weak, and that's what a Fleet should be.
It isn't about the name, or the size of the organization that counts. What counts is ironically... whether you can count on your wingmen to support you on your tours of battle and exploration.
Personal initiative, intellectual discussion, scientific and tactical concept experimentation is what we emphasize on in this motely bunch of space truckers and Klingon ranch hands. This is YOUR ship and you are entitled to bring whatever custom rod to squadron operations... we'll just make it Elite STF-spec before it's time to launch
For those who recently joined just this last week, I thank you all for giving this novel gameplay concept a chance. I hope that you will find that being a Starfleet or KDF Captain is less about reading the forums on how to do the most DPS... but more of the observational and experimental skills needed to create synergy between Captain, crew, and machinery.
From perfecting personal ship builds, you will then go on and start to run collaborative flight and attack patterns with allied vessels in team missions, protect new players from discrimination and ensure their eventual success in the STO theatre of operations, and represent the Federation or the KDF in your own special way.
And that, I say, is how a Starfleet Captain really acts. Roleplaying isn't needed, if we practise those ideals naturally to help our own people
STF Flight Instructor since Early 2012. Newbies are the reason why STO lives and breathes today. Do not discriminate.
I've learned a lot and done a lot of new things just in the last few days. It's been a blast and a great learning experience so far and I'm looking forward to the things to come :biggrin:
Lynis, Orion Engineer, main Rrezeth, Gorn Tactical, primary alt Nari, Orion Science, secondary alt
a Starfleet Captain, faced with less than perfect teammates and a difficult mission, will not resort to the kind of "noob calling" that many of us gamers are prone to do.
Nay, the Starfleet Captain will always lend a helping hand to those in need, and then use his management and leadership skills to ensure allied victory.
Remember, the strong exist to protect the weak, and that's what a Fleet should be.
My fellow officers,
Since I joined starfleet and took command of my very first vessel, STO has been a huge learning curve for me, it was with great luck I happened to intersept a few communications by a member of the Redneck corp on these forums. Some time has past and I?ve learnt a lot from them, not only on pilot advice, but also good information on how to go about upgrading my ship to get the best performance.
I?ve also been engaged in some friendly war games in PVP, which gave me the opertunity to see where my ship build was lacking . . the nice thing is . . even though they could have just destroyed me with ease . . they didn?t, more of a spar and discussion session really. The funny thing is though . . I was being taught, and someone else joined the PvP . . . I was already damaged with shields low from sparing with my Redneck tutor, the new player attacked me also . . almost crippled I boosted shields, diverted all power to phasers and fired at will, I wasn?t going down without a fight. To my surprise, my tutor was already in the process of chaseing them off . . so I could heal . . I thought then, yeah this is where I wanna be, it also made me belly laugh a lot to see the other play fly off tail between legs . . in an almost ?Get off my land? kinda way. :-)
It is good to find people in the redneck corp who believe in federation priciples, which are ones I hold dear, both in STO and out.
Protect the weak.
Help the needy.
Fight for whats right.
Treat others with respect at all times.
My crew and I owe a lot, and only have to send me a hail, and I?ll be on my way . . maximum warp.
Please add me to your PWE Core Connect facebook thingie provided with the forum update. This will allow us to share fleet recruitment info, shipbuilding tricks, arrange STF runs without needing to spam the forums.
I also sent out a number of semi-random in-game friend invites to those who've posted in this thread for the past week or so. If I missed out anyone or can't find the correct userID to send the request, then just add me at @carmenara when you're next online.
STF Flight Instructor since Early 2012. Newbies are the reason why STO lives and breathes today. Do not discriminate.
I must admit i've enjoyed watching people in STF's, it's good to see new maneuvers people come up with. I've noticed that there is just so much that effects your build and your ships abilitys, something that you would think would be insignificant such as placing the right Doffs can actually be a major help. Ultimately though a ship is only as good as her captain no mater how many purple items you have.:cool:
I've been wondering a lot about the threat space skill, i haven't put any points on it yet and wonder if it's ultimatly worth it, when good points to go on something better like shields, Weapons & Speed etc. I mean for the damage resistance you get from it, i think i can get a better responce from EPS, eng team2 . . & so on. Although i can see the tactical advantage of getting the attention of NPCs in STFs and even in normal missions, i suppose i'm still weighing up the pros & Cons of the skill.
I must admit i've enjoyed watching people in STF's, it's good to see new maneuvers people come up with. I've noticed that there is just so much that effects your build and your ships abilitys, something that you would think would be insignificant such as placing the right Doffs can actually be a major help. Ultimately though a ship is only as good as her captain no mater how many purple items you have.:cool:
I've been wondering a lot about the threat space skill, i haven't put any points on it yet and wonder if it's ultimatly worth it, when good points to go on something better like shields, Weapons & Speed etc. I mean for the damage resistance you get from it, i think i can get a better responce from EPS, eng team2 . . & so on. Although i can see the tactical advantage of getting the attention of NPCs in STFs and even in normal missions, i suppose i'm still weighing up the pros & Cons of the skill.
Threat Control is a can of worms. Done right, with a capable cruiser build + Threat Control 6 you can attract aggro off of everyone letting attack ships produce max DPS till the cows come home.
But you must also note TC6 is powerful enough to attract enemy attention in KA Space 30km away if teammates blow up generators then refuse to clean up their own TRIBBLE causing anywhere from 2-8 spheres to come at you from all directions at once just as you're dealing with a swarm of vintage Ford Probes.
Another problem arises if you want to change ship mid-career. An Escort with very high Threat Control is simply going to be swatted out of the sky the moment it fires at the enemy making it a very expensive prospect ($10) to respec.
Thus with that said I prefer 'manual' threat control. If I want to attract aggro I will simply alpha strike the enemy with any rapid fire skill and the DPS alone will cause the enemy to chase me.
If the team is bad and attract too many enemy spawns on huge maps like KA space, having no TC means the Borg will target whomever is closest to them as they should.
There are some "Elite" escort pilots who demand that all cruiser pilots have Threat Control 9, because they themselves have TC9 and need someone with a TC as high as them to draw aggro away. There's no point following their advice - since, any PvE specialized pilot won't spec into TC if they know what's good for them in standard non-fleet teams.
And if you listened to those so-called "Elite" pilots, they'll call you a "noob" the next moment when every Borg plasma cannon within a 10km radius targets you and you only and you inevitably blow up.
So what then is 'redneck' threat control?
Easy, you act like Captain Picard in the Battle for Sector 001. Screen allied ships from enemy fire, extend shields (if you have the ability) and donate spare engineering teams to allied ships to allow them time to reboot their systems or drift away from the battle. Position your ship between the one under fire and the enemy, and use repulsor beams (on non boss targets) to push them away so that they are forced to retarget you.
Better yet, fly cooperative attack patterns with allied ships and watch their six, destroying or maneuvering against enemy targets that get too close for comfort (I repulse spheres out of tractor range if they catch a friendly ship so it can get underway again and negate the defence penalty for being stationary).
Conclusion
If you play with premade teams and well coordinated Fleets, or do PvP on a regular basis, TC3-6 is very useful for battlespace control and damage resistance.
If you usually run public queue STFs and standard missions without guarantee of allied support, speccing high into TC is a death sentence where you could max skills into weapons and shields instead and become a better battlecruiser captain.
STF Flight Instructor since Early 2012. Newbies are the reason why STO lives and breathes today. Do not discriminate.
Who knows what the Gorn were up to earlier today, taking people's Dodge Ramblers and hauling them off to fields for god knows what nefarious purpose.
There was this poor lady Captain in a Miranda class that found a whole group of them coming over the border with no passports or IDs and she was like scared to death as they came out north of Mexico like the Japanese Occupation.
Thankfully there was the Distress Signal channel and the sight of the USS Relativity fresh out of refit promptly sent them packing. Those Gorn probably left behind the Rambler when they went with the wind
Roleplay in the DC channel soon led to a redneck taskgroup comprised of farmhands and shotguns and we mounted a reprisal raid across the border right back at them, driving them scampering off into the Gulf proper.
Ah-... perhaps it's time I try this. Is there still room in the academy for someone who buzzes about STFs like a blind rat? I only vaguely know what to do; the noob guide is good and all but reading is no substitute for experience. I just don't want to ruin anyone else's while I learn.
Ah-... perhaps it's time I try this. Is there still room in the academy for someone who buzzes about STFs like a blind rat? I only vaguely know what to do; the noob guide is good and all but reading is no substitute for experience. I just don't want to ruin anyone else's while I learn.
We were all blind rats once, not to worry. Will be happy to share what I know.
STF Flight Instructor since Early 2012. Newbies are the reason why STO lives and breathes today. Do not discriminate.
Omega Force Academy Operations Log Stardate 90087.48
Wing Commander Tiberius Gracchus, USS Relativity
Four weeks ago, Captain Marsden's (@drunkenguyver) USS Valiant was recommended to deploy with 6 beam arrays and 2 quantum torpedo tubes.
It runs contrary to most 'maximum performance' forum ship builds but in realistic combat scenarios the 6 BA / 2 torp loadout offers a blend of burst damage and sustained broadside ability. Ability that is hard to beat, and easily accessible to pilots of all skill levels - a perfect bridging point from Starfleet-issue functionality and an invitation to make alterations to suit the vessel's desired mission as said pilot gains experience.
As noted in various 24th Century tactical demonstrations, Starfleet cruisers generally aim to 'sweep through phaser arcs' in order to unmask fully charged phaser banks and alternately discharge fore and aft torpedo tubes (source: Star Trek Bridge Commander, Star Trek First Contact).
The 6 BA / 2 T loadout offers just that flexibility to deal steady damage to targets on all vectors, whist offering the capability to burst-fire torpedo tubes on demand every 30 seconds.
Unlike cannon builds or turret builds, beam arrays and torpedoes offer reliable firepower out to range 10, while light cannon damage tends to significantly drop off beyond range 6.
In addition, as demonstrated several times in Star Trek: TNG, the rear torpedo tube is a formidable 'chaser' weapon that can ward off or even help to destroy weaker enemy targets. Indeed, against faster and smaller vessels the rear torpedo tube (in burst fire or spread mode) can be the primary weapon in defensive engagements where the ownship cannot face its bow to the enemy.
This long effective range affords the cruiser pilot the ability to engage the enemy at long range and high speed granting him the tactical initiative.
During simulated combat between a prototype Odyssey and USS Valiant last night, it was noted that the ship with higher tactical cruise speed can engage and disengage at will, and retain the ability to swing through multiple shield facings in order to tank with emergency power to shields.
Stationary tanking, as in the case of assault ships (DBBs only), gunships and dreadnaughts (with cannons), require two tactical teams (or 1x TT + 2 rare conn officer doffs) in order to maintain full shield strength to the forward arc during sustained combat, otherwise a significant gap exists where the ship is stationary and vulnerable.
Captain Marsden demonstrated a high speed maneuvering pattern that made the competing USS Relativity's phaser accuracy drop by a factor of 20%, causing USS Valiant to score far more hits and achieve a significantly higher score after 20 minutes of continuous action, despite the Odyssey class's superior tactical capabilities (with 5 tac officer powers vs 3 of USS Valiant.)
This concept of 'mobile tanking' is not restricted to cruisers; indeed a cruiser's large size affords it a modest defence bonus from maneuvering at best. An Escort is definitely not a 'glass cannon' if it runs with high engine power and keeps its combat cruising speed relatively high. In concert with non-standard defensive equipment like the Aegis set (which boosts defence) and Attack Pattern Omega, an escort or Klingon Bird of Prey can be a very hard to hit target. This can be easily demonstrated in Elite STF, where a well flown attack vessel or even tactical-equipped science ship can actively evade plasma beam attacks.
How about Borg one-shot torpedoes? From our testing, they aren't really a threat if the pilot: -
1) Anticipates tactical positioning - if you know where the attacks are coming from, either avoid firing arcs (from Tac Cubes) or simply pre-buff shields.
2) Maintain high tactical cruise speed - to employ 'sweep through phaser arcs' doctrine minimizing repeated impacts on the same shield facing. One also has the option of doing an impulse turn (evasive maneuvers +25% throttle) to conduct a tactical withdrawal in the event ownship attracts too much enemy aggro.
Using these two golden rules of Starfleet cruiser piloting, Captain Marsden achieved near 100% effectiveness in his first Infected Space Elite despite no preparation (no, not even 10% - we emphasize adaptive mission performance to ensure victory, a far more effective and participative option compared to obscure micromanagement rules.)
For those without in-game access during the work week, and for archival purposes -
Omega Academy Blog No. 1 - as circulated in-game.
"Starfleet Cruiser Doctrine - Simple & Effective"
Dear all,
Thanks for making the redneck fleet a nice bunch of awesome pilots
Captain Marsden (@drunkenguyver) and I had been discussing ship builds and power management since 9 May 2012. Since he completed his first Elite STF with no incident and minimal preparation I thought I would pen down what I feel are the most essential traits to a Starfleet Cruiser design: - Simplicity and Adaptability.
6 beam arrays and 2 torpedo tubes aren't a lot to show off on paper. Any (very big) Defiant type would instantly trump the numerical damage output with quad DHCs, daisy-chain Attack Pattern A, B and O, and 125 weapons power.
But, for the STO player who wants to get into a fight and stay there pounding the enemy relentlessly despite whatever's coming your way, a cruiser is a very good training ship to sort out ship build concepts. It's on a cruiser you learn how valuable tactical teams are, maximising use of limited Science functions, and creating systems synergy with up to 10 Engineering bridge officer powers... which contrary to popular notion can be used as offensive tools as well. Jokes on Attack Pattern Diarrhea aside, you can add EPTW to a EPTS chain without any additional recharge time, giving you +20-30 weapon power and a damage boost for free.
Read more in the "Omega Force - Redneck Academy" thread on the STO Starbase One forums, or if you have me on PWE Core Connect you can get the direct link from there. Email links are no longer clickable, so no point posting the URL here. Our fleet thread easy to find anyway
Best Regards
USS Relativity
Captain Tiberius Gracchus commanding
STF Flight Instructor since Early 2012. Newbies are the reason why STO lives and breathes today. Do not discriminate.
It was an honour to fight under the new Rednecks fleet banner during active duty this weekend, it was pleasant to see friendly chat and good conversation, as well as informative mission briefings directed by Carmenara, so that everyone understands what to do before the event . . . which was awesome, i'm happy to be amongst such a good bunch of pilots.
I would like to state for the record, that i wouldn't have done so well without the support of the redneck Fleet, or indeed Captain Tiberius Gracchus's (@Carmenara) tuition and advice from the beginning of my Starfleet career, they have become a very trusted officer indeed.
During our little experiment to test our new builds, mainly to spot weak points, exchange tactics and perhaps be surprised by a few unsuspected maneuvers, i found out a lot about my build and realise that there is still some tweaking to be done, but i must say that the kit layout that was recommended to me did my ship wonders. I especially like to chain EPW1 + FAW2 + TT1 .. i found that combination gave me a good boost to DPS, even in STFs having a threat control of 0, i found i could even get the attention of Borg NPCs due to DPS and increased rate of fire using the mentioned ability chain, thus taking aggro off wounded players or objectives. I've also used a Doff in my Space duty layout that improves the recharge rate of evasive maneuvers, which got me out of trouble quite a few times in stfs, but also came in handy to get to someone who needed healing.
Having a few friendly PvP session has become a good testing ground, and i look forward to seeing you all for Starbase building & some Borg bashing very soon.
I may not have shared this with y'all - I was combat-trialling this alternative UI layout for the past few days to reduce eye strain and increase ship command efficiency.
The above thread has a theory detailing pilot workload and why the STO UI can be 'glaring'. If you move the UI out of the way it automatically feels more relaxed as your combat and command displays are now nearer to your line of sight.
The only heads down displays in my UI version are sensors (minimap and target data) and team status (on the lower left).
In non combat the ship is unobstructed.
This UI layout is perfectly fine in ground combat too - again, much prefer having the command bar near my LOS.
STF Flight Instructor since Early 2012. Newbies are the reason why STO lives and breathes today. Do not discriminate.
This week's fleet roleplaying topic is something very important to satisfaction in life.
They say an army fights on its stomach.
What do starship troopers eat?
Do you, the master and commander, prefer to mass-replicate to simplify things, or do you employ an army of "whiteshirts" to keep everyone's palette under control on your star cruiser?
After being given canon-style training and command doctrines some of our new players aced Elite STFs + optionals on their first try.
Last night there was a ground STF training session held in similar spirit, and two junior rednecks were teamed with 3 players of some random fleet in a PUG Cure Ground.
At the end of it we prove that the 3 fleet players with their MACO XI gear were only good for one thing - the end boss fight.
That's because for the entire game my two trainees were topping the DPS and tanking charts while the ones in MACO gear stayed in a tight bunch far from the action.
Those "veterans" were very hostile, arrogant, refused offers to collaborate tactics and ironically did worse DPS than my trainees who made good use of Engineering powers and expose/exploit chains. A story worthy of a Klingon Opera, for sure.
STF Flight Instructor since Early 2012. Newbies are the reason why STO lives and breathes today. Do not discriminate.
Comments
EST mornings are my usual hunting grounds. Nothing like exchanging cordial well wishes at dawn then marching to the sound of the guns
stanton@ endoftheworldasweknowit
Sure, I'll look you up "tomorrow morning" EST time. Or at least send some messages over.
Scarily it is kind of an actual fleet.
I run without a fleet label (members are spread out over all timezones, no chance of getting 5 together) but there are a large amount of regular, albeit small fleet activities on both Fed and KDF, and lots of gameplay tutorial / ship optimization essays being traded round the clock.
For the past two weeks the Corps of Redneck Engineers have been developing high performance ship build for the following ship types:
Sovereign Assault Cruiser (Standard Starfleet cruiser doctrine)
Galaxy R Bajoran Retrofit (Deep Space Interdiction / patrol vessel)
Prototype Odyssey Battle Cruiser (High speed 'saber dance' tactical cruiser concept)
Hegh'ta Heavy Bird of Prey (Engineering / Scientific Escort - PvP proven!)
Negh'var Battle Cruiser (KDF cruiser doctrine experiment)
With an emphasis on high DPS, high survivability and better than average tactical cruise speed, these vessels are easily employed to best effect in Elite STFs by both cadet and veteran pilots alike by virtue of an intuitive Bridge Officer skill setup and mission-adaptive tactical loadouts.
While these ship builds will not top the charts in raw damage output unlike the usual forum-posted builds, they do perfectly fine in Elite STFs and are specifically intended for a "mission adaptive" role in STFs - sometimes you have less experienced captains along for the game, or less well equipped ships, and it is our understanding that a Starfleet Captain, faced with less than perfect teammates and a difficult mission, will not resort to the kind of "noob calling" that many of us gamers are prone to do.
Nay, the Starfleet Captain will always lend a helping hand to those in need, and then use his management and leadership skills to ensure allied victory.
Remember, the strong exist to protect the weak, and that's what a Fleet should be.
It isn't about the name, or the size of the organization that counts. What counts is ironically... whether you can count on your wingmen to support you on your tours of battle and exploration.
Personal initiative, intellectual discussion, scientific and tactical concept experimentation is what we emphasize on in this motely bunch of space truckers and Klingon ranch hands. This is YOUR ship and you are entitled to bring whatever custom rod to squadron operations... we'll just make it Elite STF-spec before it's time to launch
For those who recently joined just this last week, I thank you all for giving this novel gameplay concept a chance. I hope that you will find that being a Starfleet or KDF Captain is less about reading the forums on how to do the most DPS... but more of the observational and experimental skills needed to create synergy between Captain, crew, and machinery.
From perfecting personal ship builds, you will then go on and start to run collaborative flight and attack patterns with allied vessels in team missions, protect new players from discrimination and ensure their eventual success in the STO theatre of operations, and represent the Federation or the KDF in your own special way.
And that, I say, is how a Starfleet Captain really acts. Roleplaying isn't needed, if we practise those ideals naturally to help our own people
My Youtube Channel
Rrezeth, Gorn Tactical, primary alt
Nari, Orion Science, secondary alt
My fellow officers,
Since I joined starfleet and took command of my very first vessel, STO has been a huge learning curve for me, it was with great luck I happened to intersept a few communications by a member of the Redneck corp on these forums. Some time has past and I?ve learnt a lot from them, not only on pilot advice, but also good information on how to go about upgrading my ship to get the best performance.
I?ve also been engaged in some friendly war games in PVP, which gave me the opertunity to see where my ship build was lacking . . the nice thing is . . even though they could have just destroyed me with ease . . they didn?t, more of a spar and discussion session really. The funny thing is though . . I was being taught, and someone else joined the PvP . . . I was already damaged with shields low from sparing with my Redneck tutor, the new player attacked me also . . almost crippled I boosted shields, diverted all power to phasers and fired at will, I wasn?t going down without a fight. To my surprise, my tutor was already in the process of chaseing them off . . so I could heal . . I thought then, yeah this is where I wanna be, it also made me belly laugh a lot to see the other play fly off tail between legs . . in an almost ?Get off my land? kinda way. :-)
It is good to find people in the redneck corp who believe in federation priciples, which are ones I hold dear, both in STO and out.
Protect the weak.
Help the needy.
Fight for whats right.
Treat others with respect at all times.
My crew and I owe a lot, and only have to send me a hail, and I?ll be on my way . . maximum warp.
God Speed Captains,
U.S.S Valiant, Captain Marsden Commanding :cool:
Please add me to your PWE Core Connect facebook thingie provided with the forum update. This will allow us to share fleet recruitment info, shipbuilding tricks, arrange STF runs without needing to spam the forums.
This is my profile page:
http://core.perfectworld.com/u/carmenara
I also sent out a number of semi-random in-game friend invites to those who've posted in this thread for the past week or so. If I missed out anyone or can't find the correct userID to send the request, then just add me at @carmenara when you're next online.
My Youtube Channel
Details some finer points of starship threat management and mission-adaptive strategies. Your success in PvP and STF is not just reliant on DPS.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=4343781#post4343781
My Youtube Channel
I must admit i've enjoyed watching people in STF's, it's good to see new maneuvers people come up with. I've noticed that there is just so much that effects your build and your ships abilitys, something that you would think would be insignificant such as placing the right Doffs can actually be a major help. Ultimately though a ship is only as good as her captain no mater how many purple items you have.:cool:
I've been wondering a lot about the threat space skill, i haven't put any points on it yet and wonder if it's ultimatly worth it, when good points to go on something better like shields, Weapons & Speed etc. I mean for the damage resistance you get from it, i think i can get a better responce from EPS, eng team2 . . & so on. Although i can see the tactical advantage of getting the attention of NPCs in STFs and even in normal missions, i suppose i'm still weighing up the pros & Cons of the skill.
Threat Control is a can of worms. Done right, with a capable cruiser build + Threat Control 6 you can attract aggro off of everyone letting attack ships produce max DPS till the cows come home.
But you must also note TC6 is powerful enough to attract enemy attention in KA Space 30km away if teammates blow up generators then refuse to clean up their own TRIBBLE causing anywhere from 2-8 spheres to come at you from all directions at once just as you're dealing with a swarm of vintage Ford Probes.
Another problem arises if you want to change ship mid-career. An Escort with very high Threat Control is simply going to be swatted out of the sky the moment it fires at the enemy making it a very expensive prospect ($10) to respec.
Thus with that said I prefer 'manual' threat control. If I want to attract aggro I will simply alpha strike the enemy with any rapid fire skill and the DPS alone will cause the enemy to chase me.
If the team is bad and attract too many enemy spawns on huge maps like KA space, having no TC means the Borg will target whomever is closest to them as they should.
There are some "Elite" escort pilots who demand that all cruiser pilots have Threat Control 9, because they themselves have TC9 and need someone with a TC as high as them to draw aggro away. There's no point following their advice - since, any PvE specialized pilot won't spec into TC if they know what's good for them in standard non-fleet teams.
And if you listened to those so-called "Elite" pilots, they'll call you a "noob" the next moment when every Borg plasma cannon within a 10km radius targets you and you only and you inevitably blow up.
So what then is 'redneck' threat control?
Easy, you act like Captain Picard in the Battle for Sector 001. Screen allied ships from enemy fire, extend shields (if you have the ability) and donate spare engineering teams to allied ships to allow them time to reboot their systems or drift away from the battle. Position your ship between the one under fire and the enemy, and use repulsor beams (on non boss targets) to push them away so that they are forced to retarget you.
Better yet, fly cooperative attack patterns with allied ships and watch their six, destroying or maneuvering against enemy targets that get too close for comfort (I repulse spheres out of tractor range if they catch a friendly ship so it can get underway again and negate the defence penalty for being stationary).
Conclusion
If you play with premade teams and well coordinated Fleets, or do PvP on a regular basis, TC3-6 is very useful for battlespace control and damage resistance.
If you usually run public queue STFs and standard missions without guarantee of allied support, speccing high into TC is a death sentence where you could max skills into weapons and shields instead and become a better battlecruiser captain.
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I just mowed my lawn , and found a car.
Look out, that Ford Probe is making a beeline for the temporal vortex!
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I found a Dodge Rambler.
yeah , the grass was rather high.
Who knows what the Gorn were up to earlier today, taking people's Dodge Ramblers and hauling them off to fields for god knows what nefarious purpose.
There was this poor lady Captain in a Miranda class that found a whole group of them coming over the border with no passports or IDs and she was like scared to death as they came out north of Mexico like the Japanese Occupation.
Thankfully there was the Distress Signal channel and the sight of the USS Relativity fresh out of refit promptly sent them packing. Those Gorn probably left behind the Rambler when they went with the wind
Roleplay in the DC channel soon led to a redneck taskgroup comprised of farmhands and shotguns and we mounted a reprisal raid across the border right back at them, driving them scampering off into the Gulf proper.
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In other news, this is a Hegh'ta Bird of Prey PvP video. Why is the URL posted on a Federation fleet link, you ask?
Because the best way to keep your ship builds up to date is to trial them in the flaming halls of Gre'thor between flagons of bloodwine
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We were all blind rats once, not to worry. Will be happy to share what I know.
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It does help that my playtimes are generally variable and close to "24/7" on weekends. Check your friends' list in-game.
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Thank you all for your interest and excellent piloting today
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Stardate 90087.48
Wing Commander Tiberius Gracchus, USS Relativity
Four weeks ago, Captain Marsden's (@drunkenguyver) USS Valiant was recommended to deploy with 6 beam arrays and 2 quantum torpedo tubes.
It runs contrary to most 'maximum performance' forum ship builds but in realistic combat scenarios the 6 BA / 2 torp loadout offers a blend of burst damage and sustained broadside ability. Ability that is hard to beat, and easily accessible to pilots of all skill levels - a perfect bridging point from Starfleet-issue functionality and an invitation to make alterations to suit the vessel's desired mission as said pilot gains experience.
As noted in various 24th Century tactical demonstrations, Starfleet cruisers generally aim to 'sweep through phaser arcs' in order to unmask fully charged phaser banks and alternately discharge fore and aft torpedo tubes (source: Star Trek Bridge Commander, Star Trek First Contact).
The 6 BA / 2 T loadout offers just that flexibility to deal steady damage to targets on all vectors, whist offering the capability to burst-fire torpedo tubes on demand every 30 seconds.
Unlike cannon builds or turret builds, beam arrays and torpedoes offer reliable firepower out to range 10, while light cannon damage tends to significantly drop off beyond range 6.
In addition, as demonstrated several times in Star Trek: TNG, the rear torpedo tube is a formidable 'chaser' weapon that can ward off or even help to destroy weaker enemy targets. Indeed, against faster and smaller vessels the rear torpedo tube (in burst fire or spread mode) can be the primary weapon in defensive engagements where the ownship cannot face its bow to the enemy.
This long effective range affords the cruiser pilot the ability to engage the enemy at long range and high speed granting him the tactical initiative.
During simulated combat between a prototype Odyssey and USS Valiant last night, it was noted that the ship with higher tactical cruise speed can engage and disengage at will, and retain the ability to swing through multiple shield facings in order to tank with emergency power to shields.
Stationary tanking, as in the case of assault ships (DBBs only), gunships and dreadnaughts (with cannons), require two tactical teams (or 1x TT + 2 rare conn officer doffs) in order to maintain full shield strength to the forward arc during sustained combat, otherwise a significant gap exists where the ship is stationary and vulnerable.
Captain Marsden demonstrated a high speed maneuvering pattern that made the competing USS Relativity's phaser accuracy drop by a factor of 20%, causing USS Valiant to score far more hits and achieve a significantly higher score after 20 minutes of continuous action, despite the Odyssey class's superior tactical capabilities (with 5 tac officer powers vs 3 of USS Valiant.)
This concept of 'mobile tanking' is not restricted to cruisers; indeed a cruiser's large size affords it a modest defence bonus from maneuvering at best. An Escort is definitely not a 'glass cannon' if it runs with high engine power and keeps its combat cruising speed relatively high. In concert with non-standard defensive equipment like the Aegis set (which boosts defence) and Attack Pattern Omega, an escort or Klingon Bird of Prey can be a very hard to hit target. This can be easily demonstrated in Elite STF, where a well flown attack vessel or even tactical-equipped science ship can actively evade plasma beam attacks.
How about Borg one-shot torpedoes? From our testing, they aren't really a threat if the pilot: -
1) Anticipates tactical positioning - if you know where the attacks are coming from, either avoid firing arcs (from Tac Cubes) or simply pre-buff shields.
2) Maintain high tactical cruise speed - to employ 'sweep through phaser arcs' doctrine minimizing repeated impacts on the same shield facing. One also has the option of doing an impulse turn (evasive maneuvers +25% throttle) to conduct a tactical withdrawal in the event ownship attracts too much enemy aggro.
Using these two golden rules of Starfleet cruiser piloting, Captain Marsden achieved near 100% effectiveness in his first Infected Space Elite despite no preparation (no, not even 10% - we emphasize adaptive mission performance to ensure victory, a far more effective and participative option compared to obscure micromanagement rules.)
End operations log.
Supplemental Reference -
Beam Arrays - Diminishing Returns
Next article - STF Prepatory Training: Dispelling Forum Myths and Integrating Personal Initiative into Realistic Task Force Command Operations.
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Omega Academy Blog No. 1 - as circulated in-game.
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It was an honour to fight under the new Rednecks fleet banner during active duty this weekend, it was pleasant to see friendly chat and good conversation, as well as informative mission briefings directed by Carmenara, so that everyone understands what to do before the event . . . which was awesome, i'm happy to be amongst such a good bunch of pilots.
I would like to state for the record, that i wouldn't have done so well without the support of the redneck Fleet, or indeed Captain Tiberius Gracchus's (@Carmenara) tuition and advice from the beginning of my Starfleet career, they have become a very trusted officer indeed.
During our little experiment to test our new builds, mainly to spot weak points, exchange tactics and perhaps be surprised by a few unsuspected maneuvers, i found out a lot about my build and realise that there is still some tweaking to be done, but i must say that the kit layout that was recommended to me did my ship wonders. I especially like to chain EPW1 + FAW2 + TT1 .. i found that combination gave me a good boost to DPS, even in STFs having a threat control of 0, i found i could even get the attention of Borg NPCs due to DPS and increased rate of fire using the mentioned ability chain, thus taking aggro off wounded players or objectives. I've also used a Doff in my Space duty layout that improves the recharge rate of evasive maneuvers, which got me out of trouble quite a few times in stfs, but also came in handy to get to someone who needed healing.
Having a few friendly PvP session has become a good testing ground, and i look forward to seeing you all for Starbase building & some Borg bashing very soon.
Best wishes & happy hunting fleet,
USS Valiant - Captain Marsden commanding
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=4391241#post4391241
The above thread has a theory detailing pilot workload and why the STO UI can be 'glaring'. If you move the UI out of the way it automatically feels more relaxed as your combat and command displays are now nearer to your line of sight.
The only heads down displays in my UI version are sensors (minimap and target data) and team status (on the lower left).
In non combat the ship is unobstructed.
This UI layout is perfectly fine in ground combat too - again, much prefer having the command bar near my LOS.
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They say an army fights on its stomach.
What do starship troopers eat?
Do you, the master and commander, prefer to mass-replicate to simplify things, or do you employ an army of "whiteshirts" to keep everyone's palette under control on your star cruiser?
Discuss (link to another STO thread) :
http://tinyurl.com/7ezf9p6
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Last night there was a ground STF training session held in similar spirit, and two junior rednecks were teamed with 3 players of some random fleet in a PUG Cure Ground.
At the end of it we prove that the 3 fleet players with their MACO XI gear were only good for one thing - the end boss fight.
That's because for the entire game my two trainees were topping the DPS and tanking charts while the ones in MACO gear stayed in a tight bunch far from the action.
Read the full AAR here:
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=4444161&posted=1#post4444161
Those "veterans" were very hostile, arrogant, refused offers to collaborate tactics and ironically did worse DPS than my trainees who made good use of Engineering powers and expose/exploit chains. A story worthy of a Klingon Opera, for sure.
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I gotta wonder though; two noobs, 3 pugs, how'd you know specifics like their DPS? Can you save combat logs?