It all really depends on how much dps your putting out or know you can put out. in a pug group is always safe to do a 1-4 setup but if your working with people that you know can pump out some damage quickly and can tank the cubes then you can do a 2-3. now there are exceptions to this
1. if you have more than 4 cruisers with beams on them. this can hurt you because there is a lot of moving in this one and trying to keep a broad side on a target can get a little annoying at times.
2. if you have more than 4 escorts with cannons. this actual can hurt or help you depending or not if it is a pug group. they are more maneuverable than cruisers and can do a lot of dps but some of them can not tank well against the cube.
it all comes down to screening the probes before they get to the gate. as long as you have some one on either side defending you can honestly do any combination you want. as long as you have the dps to back it up.
I'm tac Escort.. I usually take probes coming in right. I run that side solo for the most part, the other 4 wipe the other side save the gate. It is burt down to 3 - 5%.
Then they move to my side save 1 tac escort to handle probes that side..
By the time they get to me, I usually have 1 transformer down, all probes killed and 1 cube dead and spawning the 2nd cube..
when the rest join me, I focus primarialy on the probes.. when my gate gets to 3 - 5%, 2 go back to other gate quickly and we pop both at same time in order to prevent Spheres from being spawned..
After that is is just a matter of killing the Scimitar and staying out of it's forward firing arc (and to some extent the rear.. best to stay on its sides for minimal player ships being killed if any).
_______________________________________________
STO Forum Account Creation Date: June 9, 2008 (Perpetual Entertainment at the time)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Pestalence_XC
Proud member of Xenocorp
"Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." - Kyle Reese, 'Terminator'
Had this earlier - have posted the same elsewhere, but since it's actually a little more relevant here thought would post it again:
Went in with my science toon, and wound up in an all-tac team - some nobody says hi to someone whom he's obviously played alongside before and then we fly off and take out the tac cube. Slowly.
Then the idiots all flew off and started attacking generators. NO-ONE left to handle the probes, so I decide to attempt it - thankfully took my MVAE into this one, and did my utmost to hold them off but even so, after a while the constant barrage of probes from BOTH gates resulted in some getting through. After quite a while this got tiresome - checked if any of the generators etc were down. Nope; loser squad were doing worthless amounts of damage.
So as the seventh probe managed to escape before I could finish it off, I put a message in the chat box saying "Anyone would think you WANT to fail - I'm outta here; try paying some attention to the probes next time"
I then bailed - initially felt a little bad about it but then again, it seemed painfully obvious that they were going to fail whether I remained or not - even if one argues that they closed their chat screens, they could have at least kept a note of the probe numbers! My leaving probably just resulted in them failing faster.
No idea how that relates in any way to what I've said.
I don't do KA anymore, but when I did, nothing was more frustrating than to have 1-2 (once even 3!) Ships (usually Cruisers or Carriers but sometimes even 'scorts) stay near the portal and wait for probes... then they wondered why the group timedout.
Yeah, you have 40% to 60% of the team contributing very little while the 60-40 remaining % have to do all the work... if you don't timeout, those are exceptional players.
Oh, yes. While those aren't ideal, at least it prevents boredom when you're the solo player: have to down those Cubes fast if you want to reach the probes in time.
The 2-3 method or the 4-1 method both work, its a matter of preference really.
The biggest issue is the lack of communication. I can't tell you how many times I've warped into a KA mission and asked who would be taking probe duty. I take one side and of course no one covers the opposite side which means the objective is sometimes lost if i can't get to the other side in time.
The moral of the story is that the method isn't as important as communication. If you are in a PUG take 10-20 seconds to co-ordinate with the rest of the group and things will go much better whether 1-4 or 3-2.
"Live Long and Prosper but always carry a fully charged phaser, just in case!". Arrr'ow
Worst part is when a team does 3/2 but then splits down further so that there's guys all over the shop doing little to nothing.
i.e.
3 2
1 on probes 1 on probes
1 on "left" transformer 1 doing his own thing trying to solo the whole ******n gate
1 on "right" transformer
What people simply will not do (even though it's the most sensible thing imo) is to stick together as much as possible unless absolutely necessary (i.e. probe duty guys). Napoleon didn't split his forces up to face all his foes at once, he kept them together and took out one foe at a time which is what needs to be done in pretty much all stfs!
I wish people saw this..
Um Waterloo! Napoleon LOST. in the end... twice! LOL!
I'm tac Escort.. I usually take probes coming in right. I run that side solo for the most part, the other 4 wipe the other side save the gate. It is burt down to 3 - 5%.
Then they move to my side save 1 tac escort to handle probes that side..
By the time they get to me, I usually have 1 transformer down, all probes killed and 1 cube dead and spawning the 2nd cube..
when the rest join me, I focus primarialy on the probes.. when my gate gets to 3 - 5%, 2 go back to other gate quickly and we pop both at same time in order to prevent Spheres from being spawned..
After that is is just a matter of killing the Scimitar and staying out of it's forward firing arc (and to some extent the rear.. best to stay on its sides for minimal player ships being killed if any).
I have played this STF many times and this I felt was the best way to handle it. I was in a Elite STF once where we did this and missed the option only my 1 second. But every other time I have played and elite STF on this map the team has failed the optional.
Support the Game by Supporting the KDF, equality and uniqueness for all factions!
well EVERY time i have payed KA elite, even before the revamp its always been 4 on 2 side and 1 on the other, and its always worked out perfect for me, even when pugging it, its pretty standard m8 as some people have pointed out, if no one was on one side then the probes would get through, granted the one person alone can get ahead of the game and try taking out the generators alone, but its nothing major, maybe join the stf elite chat channel? always experienced players on there looking for stf groups
Comments
1. if you have more than 4 cruisers with beams on them. this can hurt you because there is a lot of moving in this one and trying to keep a broad side on a target can get a little annoying at times.
2. if you have more than 4 escorts with cannons. this actual can hurt or help you depending or not if it is a pug group. they are more maneuverable than cruisers and can do a lot of dps but some of them can not tank well against the cube.
it all comes down to screening the probes before they get to the gate. as long as you have some one on either side defending you can honestly do any combination you want. as long as you have the dps to back it up.
Hope this helps
Then they move to my side save 1 tac escort to handle probes that side..
By the time they get to me, I usually have 1 transformer down, all probes killed and 1 cube dead and spawning the 2nd cube..
when the rest join me, I focus primarialy on the probes.. when my gate gets to 3 - 5%, 2 go back to other gate quickly and we pop both at same time in order to prevent Spheres from being spawned..
After that is is just a matter of killing the Scimitar and staying out of it's forward firing arc (and to some extent the rear.. best to stay on its sides for minimal player ships being killed if any).
STO Forum Account Creation Date: June 9, 2008 (Perpetual Entertainment at the time)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Pestalence_XC
Proud member of Xenocorp
"Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." - Kyle Reese, 'Terminator'
No idea how that relates in any way to what I've said.
I don't do KA anymore, but when I did, nothing was more frustrating than to have 1-2 (once even 3!) Ships (usually Cruisers or Carriers but sometimes even 'scorts) stay near the portal and wait for probes... then they wondered why the group timedout.
Yeah, you have 40% to 60% of the team contributing very little while the 60-40 remaining % have to do all the work... if you don't timeout, those are exceptional players.
The biggest issue is the lack of communication. I can't tell you how many times I've warped into a KA mission and asked who would be taking probe duty. I take one side and of course no one covers the opposite side which means the objective is sometimes lost if i can't get to the other side in time.
The moral of the story is that the method isn't as important as communication. If you are in a PUG take 10-20 seconds to co-ordinate with the rest of the group and things will go much better whether 1-4 or 3-2.
Co-Leader of Serenity's Grasp
Um Waterloo! Napoleon LOST. in the end... twice! LOL!
I have played this STF many times and this I felt was the best way to handle it. I was in a Elite STF once where we did this and missed the option only my 1 second. But every other time I have played and elite STF on this map the team has failed the optional.