She does enough damage. I realize some of you think other wise, but I know better, and others do as well.
The problem is that engineering in space is wonky as heck. It's hard to call downright underpowered, because it has some of the strongest abilities out there. The problem comes with cooldowns and ability overlap. I don't think the Gal-R should be some damage machine, she should be a bad TRIBBLE tank/heals. The problem is if I want to do that, I require my aux power. If I require my aux power, I can't keep my "mandatory" 2xHE and 2xTSS, because an A2B build is just silly to try and maintain as a healer. It's a case of Sci being too important to engineering for engineering alone to do its job. Sure, I get access many high end ENG heals, but can get them on my other ships, and I never use that ET3, Tac Team wins the day. I can fit a dirty trick in there with some EWP. Yeah that's something... Opps, TS and HE are down... Ally 1 down, ally 2 down... me down... bah! I can make her tank PvE, but honestly, anything with more sci is better, even a mirror assault cruiser... the sci is that important.
That is where the problem is. Engineering boff skills need love. Changing ships around bad skills just leaves us with silly looking ship layouts. Fix the underlying problem. Sure, a more well rounded ship might be better, just as I prefer a sci heavy escort to a Defiant, but right now the Gal-R gets hate because heavy engineering is lame. The Defiant doesn't. I hear good things about the Intrepid as well (I don't own her) Fix the problem, not the symptom.
If I decide I am going to go DPS mode, I am already perfectly viable. An A2B build works. A Transporter Officer to keep boarding parties off of me, and manually redistributing shields works, so you can put ET1 in the ens slot. I know, I do it all the time. Yes, you won't last 3 seconds in PvP this way unless you have somebody using tac team on you, but I have no silly ideals that every ship in every spec should be viable in PvP. Make her a decent healboat and she would PvP fine. As it is my Avenger has quickly become my favorite PvP healer... Yeah... Don't laugh she heals nearly as well as any of them, and can swim and bite like a shark.
The Galaxy should be powerful without Aux-2-cheat... enough said
Saying A2B is cheating is like saying turning your weapon power up is cheating. Learn to play the bloody game and stop whining about it.
This. It's a game mechanic, it's part of how the game works. There are alternatives to A2B. Look for them, or try coming up with them yourself. I just converted to A2B with my Gal-X, went all beams, and I'm finally starting to become the powerhouse I've been wanting to be.
Weyland-Yutani Joint Space Venture - Always open to new members!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
My name is Rage, and I too support a revised Galaxy family.
The point of my last, slightly ranty post, is that A2B doffs are part of the game.
They aren't part of the P2W meta game at all.
They are free.
They are farmable.
They are easier to get then rep gear.
If you think A2B is cheating, you better not be using *ANY* doffs at all. You certainly shouldn't be using any fancy C-Store doffs. And that C-Store ship? Put her back in dry dock, it's cheating.
Oh, wait... The Gal-R is C/Fleet store only... so... If I fly her I'm cheating....
Get over it.
I once again match my character. Behold the power of PINK!
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
The point of my last, slightly ranty post, is that A2B doffs are part of the game.
They aren't part of the P2W meta game at all.
They are free.
They are farmable.
They are easier to get then rep gear.
If you think A2B is cheating, you better not be using *ANY* doffs at all. You certainly shouldn't be using any fancy C-Store doffs. And that C-Store ship? Put her back in dry dock, it's cheating.
Oh, wait... The Gal-R is C/Fleet store only... so... If I fly her I'm cheating....
Get over it.
Its more the fact it messes with the global cooldown which is suppose to be a barrier to prevent skills from being exploited. To be honest, I would be happy if the Doffs didn't exist.
Unfortunately, P2W has become an terrible part of this game and has been festered and nutured by the players who want to improve the size of their ego. Aux-2-batt on its own isn't that powerful but combine it with P2W consoles and ships, it becomes a massive problem. The doffs should be unique equip so you can only have one of them.
Cryptic seems to believe that if everyone has access to the power creep, it somehow balances the game and therefore that is why some ships get left out.
The point of my last, slightly ranty post, is that A2B doffs are part of the game.
They aren't part of the P2W meta game at all.
They are free.
They are farmable.
They are easier to get then rep gear.
If you think A2B is cheating, you better not be using *ANY* doffs at all. You certainly shouldn't be using any fancy C-Store doffs. And that C-Store ship? Put her back in dry dock, it's cheating.
Oh, wait... The Gal-R is C/Fleet store only... so... If I fly her I'm cheating....
Get over it.
I know your post wasn't directed at me, but I was disappointed about the latest A2B build for the Galaxy as well. The reasn is - it's just so bland. There is one particular build in this game that "works" for cruisers and suddenly viertually EVERYONE uses that one build. It's that cookie-cutting I don't like. It further shows the huge gaps this game has in term of gameplay and gamedesign.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
P2W compounds the problem of Aux-2-Batt and still doesn't solve the main problems with the Galaxy.
The only things I bought in this game is my Galaxy X, and a clothing set for an eyepatch for another toon.
I have not dropped another dime on this game. Everything my Gal-X is equipped with I've gotten by working for it in-game, or by the graciousness of good friends who worked to get it in the first place and wanted to help.
I'm winning, and I haven't paid much at all. I could have grinded for the Dil to turn into Zen and got my X for free.
Weyland-Yutani Joint Space Venture - Always open to new members!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
My name is Rage, and I too support a revised Galaxy family.
P2W is a myth anyway, its pay to not grind. If you aren't a collector there is 0 reason to spend money on ships.
While I have spent my fair share of cash, My most expensive ship and her most expensive gear was nearly "free." I ground over 400 of the 480 lobi I used to buy my Mobius during the sale (And the only reason I didn't grind the last 80 was my wife was sick of me playing and decided to buy my last few boxes, I had the time to finish up if I had chosen) and then I got her temporal warfare set with free lobi from the featured episode reruns.
And to be honest... I have other ships that are a bit better then her, for all her "P2W" glory, I don't exclusively fly her, even in PvP (Tho I have a soft spot for her, she is a freakin' mirror universe timeship! I win the meta game of cool factor hands down!)
At the current exchange rate, its just over 1 month to grind $20 for a C-store ship. And another week if you want a $25 one. If you are crazy enough you can run an alt and do it in half the time, or save for a 50$ ship pack. You can also dump contraband on an alto to shave some time off of it. If you can live without a gimmick console, you can grind EC for fleet modules even faster and just get a fleet ship.
If you absolutely must have a lobi or lock box ship, it is likely cheapest in the long run to just buy one with EC instead of opening boxes for lobi or trying to win one, the only reason I ground my 480 during the sale was I had already ground up nearly 200 because I was saving for a tachyokinetic anyway, so I was nearly half way there. When I add up the math on how many boxes I opened... I should have just bought it with the EC and saved a few million.
The only thing that buying really gets you is the ability to collect many ships quickly. It takes longer to learn how to fly a ship then it does to grind for one.
I once again match my character. Behold the power of PINK!
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
I finally bought my Galaxy, even though it's sub par. I just like it that much. I wanted to name it USS "What is your beef C" but didn't have room. I named it after my favorite anime instead, space battleship yamato.
Congrats on your new ship! May she serve you well.
Don't worry if it's consodered subpar or not, the first decision when getting a ship I make is wheather I like that particular ship or not. If you like it, you'll have fun times with your favourite ship, that's all that matters.
I don't know if P2W exists in STO, in another thread I wrote a few words on STOs "model". P2W would implicate there is content that is only accesible via payments which grants you an significant advantage over free players. Strictly speaking, this is not the case (and that's what Cryptic's PR department uses as well). In theory you can grind for everything available in the game. Effectively a few things are *virtually* impossible to grind if you don't dedicate yourself to it. So, depending on what you want and how important it is to you, STO is a grey area since the new/expensive stuff IS better than the free stuff.
However, STOs main problem is, in my opinion, that you know with 100% certainty when you get what. There is absolutely no dynamic involved, no random/elite drops, just reputations system and sliders and grind. That leads to a very limited gamedesign and all those cookie cutter builds since you can plan out EXACTLY what item you want/need and how to get it.
Anyway, I personally did spent on the game prior to F2P. I bought a digital and box copy and paid for subscriptions. Since F2P I didn't spent a single schekel, primarily because I didn't like the route Cryptic/PWE took. Via non-focussed grinding and a lucky sponsorpay offer I was able to afford the Galaxy R and Venture type, a fleet Nebula, a playable species and some other stuff. Instead of those ships I could have gotten "better" ones as well, but I didn't want to. And now I make work what I like.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
She does enough damage. I realize some of you think other wise, but I know better, and others do as well.
The problem is that engineering in space is wonky as heck. It's hard to call downright underpowered, because it has some of the strongest abilities out there. The problem comes with cooldowns and ability overlap. I don't think the Gal-R should be some damage machine, she should be a bad TRIBBLE tank/heals. The problem is if I want to do that, I require my aux power. If I require my aux power, I can't keep my "mandatory" 2xHE and 2xTSS, because an A2B build is just silly to try and maintain as a healer. It's a case of Sci being too important to engineering for engineering alone to do its job. Sure, I get access many high end ENG heals, but can get them on my other ships, and I never use that ET3, Tac Team wins the day. I can fit a dirty trick in there with some EWP. Yeah that's something... Opps, TS and HE are down... Ally 1 down, ally 2 down... me down... bah! I can make her tank PvE, but honestly, anything with more sci is better, even a mirror assault cruiser... the sci is that important.
That is where the problem is. Engineering boff skills need love. Changing ships around bad skills just leaves us with silly looking ship layouts. Fix the underlying problem. Sure, a more well rounded ship might be better, just as I prefer a sci heavy escort to a Defiant, but right now the Gal-R gets hate because heavy engineering is lame. The Defiant doesn't. I hear good things about the Intrepid as well (I don't own her) Fix the problem, not the symptom.
Just a heads up, I've been making this point for a while, best of luck getting the primary thread participants to go listen. I've pretty much walked away from the discussion last month when I ran out of time between graduating college, job searching and my wife being put in the hospital. There is apparently little wiggle-room for opinion.
Just a heads up, I've been making this point for a while, best of luck getting the primary thread participants to go listen. I've pretty much walked away from the discussion last month when I ran out of time between graduating college, job searching and my wife being put in the hospital. There is apparently little wiggle-room for opinion.
that post didnt make much sense to me. he went into detail about that ship's particular shortcomings compared to other ships, then he pivots and said its eng skills thats the problem. no, its always this 1 particular ship thats the problem, no need to upset the balance of every single ship in the game that has eng stations just to address this 1 ship's short comings.
im not in complete disagreement that eng skills could use adjusting, tweeking, or adding to, but the galaxy class is the wrong reason to do it, the focus of such a change needs to have every single ship in consideration.
that post didnt make much sense to me. he went into detail about that ship's particular shortcomings compared to other ships, then he pivots and said its eng skills thats the problem. no, its always this 1 particular ship thats the problem, no need to upset the balance of every single ship in the game that has eng stations just to address this 1 ship's short comings.
im not in complete disagreement that eng skills could use adjusting, tweeking, or adding to, but the galaxy class is the wrong reason to do it, the focus of such a change needs to have every single ship in consideration.
yep, and even with new eng power, i can't see an ensign level bo power that would make the galaxy refit a real choice option in comparison to a star cruiser.
that would be a hell of a disbalanced power if that happened, and even so what would then prevent the star cruiser to equip one, since it is so good, the star cruiser got 2 ensign engi slot.
so yeah, it really daesn't make sense when you look at it closely althrought it sound good when we said it: fix the eng bo power and that will fix the galaxy.
well....no, it won't, as i was forced to explain to everyone that support that idea many time in this thread.
yep, and even with new eng power, i can't see an ensign level bo power that would make the galaxy refit a real choice option in comparison to a star cruiser.
that would be a hell of a disbalanced power if that happened, and even so what would then prevent the star cruiser to equip one, since it is so good, the star cruiser got 2 ensign engi slot.
so yeah, it really daesn't make sense when you look at it closely althrought it sound good when we said it: fix the eng bo power and that will fix the galaxy.
well....no, it won't, as i was forced to explain to everyone that support that idea many time in this thread.
the tac or sci abilities the galaxy still misses out on wont be less fundamentally important ether. with just more good eng skills at ENS, i see myself using EPtS3 and EPtW3 on some of my cruisers if that happens. everything else wins again!
I've pretty much walked away from the discussion last month
You lasted way longer with this discussion than you should have. Luckily, this thread is a rare perfect storm of internet awesome that you can check back in months like you haven't missed a beat.
I am hoping you will all come out for this threads anniversary event at ESD on Jan 28th - 3 time slots 12-1pm, 4-5pm, and 8-9pm EST
Of course I hope you fly the galaxy all day on the 28th - I will be dragging out my T4 version - but with fleet gear it can easily keep up with how easy the games content has become.
In the zone chat - hopefully we will be able to create some 20 man events of all galaxys
It doesn't only effect the Gal-R, tho. The Gal-R just gets hit with the double whammy.
Any ship with 3 eng ensigns feels some sort of pinch (Excelsior) and ships with both a commander and a ltcom eng feel cramped at the top end. The Gal-R just showcases both, on a ship that many people want to fly because of its status in the show, and we get threads with over 500 pages of people that want a ship that isn't really broken changed in ways that don't really make any sense or have any flow at all with existing ships. People finally for the most part got over the Defiant having a third tac ens. Nobody ever really got that excited about an Intrepid and her 3rd sci ens. A third eng ens? hold the phone something is wrong. It doesn't feel good on other ships with it, either. They just have more in the way of raw damage output to make people get over it.
And honestly, if tac team wasn't broken as in "to-over-powered-for-the-good-of-the-game" then even a 3rd eng ens wouldn't suck that badly... you would take eng team and get over it. The real problem lies on that bloody tac team...
I once again match my character. Behold the power of PINK!
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
the tac or sci abilities the galaxy still misses out on wont be less fundamentally important ether. with just more good eng skills at ENS, i see myself using EPtS3 and EPtW3 on some of my cruisers if that happens. everything else wins again!
new or better eng power are very welcome, it can only be good for the game in general.
the real question is, will you, then, choose a galaxy retrofit over a star cruiser if choice were given to you?
I am hoping you will all come out for this threads anniversary event at ESD on Jan 28th - 3 time slots 12-1pm, 4-5pm, and 8-9pm EST
Of course I hope you fly the galaxy all day on the 28th - I will be dragging out my T4 version - but with fleet gear it can easily keep up with how easy the games content has become.
In the zone chat - hopefully we will be able to create some 20 man events of all galaxys
All variants of Galaxy are welcome.
i will be there for sure, i won't even have to change ship
It doesn't only effect the Gal-R, tho. The Gal-R just gets hit with the double whammy.
Any ship with 3 eng ensigns feels some sort of pinch (Excelsior) and ships with both a commander and a ltcom eng feel cramped at the top end. The Gal-R just showcases both, on a ship that many people want to fly because of its status in the show, and we get threads with over 500 pages of people that want a ship that isn't really broken changed in ways that don't really make any sense or have any flow at all with existing ships. People finally for the most part got over the Defiant having a third tac ens. Nobody ever really got that excited about an Intrepid and her 3rd sci ens. A third eng ens? hold the phone something is wrong. It doesn't feel good on other ships with it, either. They just have more in the way of raw damage output to make people get over it.
And honestly, if tac team wasn't broken as in "to-over-powered-for-the-good-of-the-game" then even a 3rd eng ens wouldn't suck that badly... you would take eng team and get over it. The real problem lies on that bloody tac team...
yeah, but you just forget a little detail... 6base turn and 25 inertia.
the galaxy problem do not resume to the 3rd eng ens.
the exelsior got 3 ens eng too, but to compensate it got +2 base turn and 40 inertia and a ltcommander tac slot, i won't even speak about the tac console slot here because the point is not to compare firepower but versatility and the balanced repartition of stats.
the star cruiser got 7 base turn, 3 sci bo power, and 3 sci console slot, it is certainly not the best tanking ship out there but the repartition of it stats make it much more usefull than what the galaxy refit can ever dream to be.
the turn and inertia in this game is one of the ( if not THE ) most important stats in the game, it can make or break a ship.
the fundamental difference between a regent and an avenger is 2 base turn rate and 50 inertia for the avenger compare to the 30 of the regent.
of course the avenger got 1 more tact slot and 1 more weapons slot in the front, but this didn't bring as much to the ship imo,than what the turn and inertia do.
you can't have a ship that collects all the bads stats without any compensation ( the separation console is no compensation, it just make it even more bad ).
the worst turn rate in cruiser ( even the odyssey with it console bonus can do better )
the least tact and sci bo power, the least tact and sci console slot.
the now well know 3 ens eng problem.
in an hypothetical scenario where cryptic would have decided to make this ship the worst in the game, they wouldn't have been able to come with a better formula without automatically classified this ship as a tiers4 one.
unlike all others ship in the game there is absolutly nothing to compensate for all these shortcomming, no pets ( that daesn't mean i want some ) no integrated battle cloack ( again i known this ship isn't supposed to cloack, it just to show one of the compensation mechanism cryptic use for other ship ) no universal bridge officer, not even an ensign, no special abilitie that have a significant interest or can not be reproduced by other ships.
nothing out of all these bads point that can make you said " hmm, with this i will be able to do something unique and usefull that i coudn't do with other ship"
you don't choose a galaxy because it is good, but because it is a galaxy ( a fan choice then )
what about a day when someone could said: " well you should go with the galaxy retrofit for this type of gameplay because it is the best choice available for that"
it is not about dps, the exelsior can be spec to be a better support ship than the galaxy due to it mobility.
so there is something wrong with the stats of the ship that do not allow him to do well what it was supposed to do in this game.
I'm already fighting the "She does enough damage" fight, somebody else will have to pick up the "6 turn is plently, learn to fly" argument... I make it often enough for my Atrox.
I once again match my character. Behold the power of PINK!
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
I'm already fighting the "She does enough damage" fight
and i really wonder why you do that in the first place, since it is not a problem for a ship that is supposed to tank and support
somebody else will have to pick up the "6 turn is plently, learn to fly" argument... I make it often enough for my Atrox.
your atrox got pets that compensate for it lack of mobility and it reduced weapons slot , very simple to anderstand.
and i am not even speaking about the 1.2 shield modifer, integrated susbsytem targeting, his commander and ltcommander sci bo, +10 auxiliary power and his 4 sci console slot.
if even 1/4 of that were given to the galaxy, you could eventually begun to argue.
stop trying to resume the galaxy retrofit problem to a single thing.
the galaxy problem is not the turn rate alone, or the 3ens eng alone, or the lack of sci slot and whatnot, it all of them combined.
it is not logical to state that a ship is fine as is when it combined all the bad stats this game can possibly provide, without any viable compensation whatsoever.
and this have nothing to do with how you fly the ship, but in any case you will have a hard time to teach me how to fly my galaxy.
I'm already fighting the "She does enough damage" fight, somebody else will have to pick up the "6 turn is plently, learn to fly" argument... I make it often enough for my Atrox.
the cruiser capable of dealing the least damage deals 'enough' huh? in what context exactly? i can equip nothing but a shield, impulse engine, and some beam arrays, use no station powers, and i deal enough damage to get through any pve. the minimum bar is that low.
'enough damage', thats more like an average. the galaxy deals below average damage, drags what the average damage is down quite a bit in fact.
it does not deal enough damage in pvp. even with a tactical AtB build you barely outpace passive regeneration and EPtS cycling.
I'm already fighting the "She does enough damage" fight, somebody else will have to pick up the "6 turn is plently, learn to fly" argument... I make it often enough for my Atrox.
I wouldn't dare to tell anyone to "learn to fly", though as I stated before, I never had any problems with the ship's turnrate. Seperation, EPtE, AtD, RCS consoles, cruiser commands - turnate is no real issue especially since you can improve it via in-game means, if you so desire.
I personally do The Breach Elite in a seperated Explorer. I don't die, I save all NPCs by myself, I never get stuck. It works for me.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
You lasted way longer with this discussion than you should have. Luckily, this thread is a rare perfect storm of internet awesome that you can check back in months like you haven't missed a beat.
(Which I just did today)
Can you elaborate on what you meant by "...lasted way longer than I should have..."?
Comments
The Galaxy should be powerful without Aux-2-cheat... enough said
If its so bloody good, use it and stop whining.
Then you discover it's not really all that. It is just an option. A good one, but an option none the less.
You can even get the doffs free. I know, I didn't pay anything for mine, they all came from the colonial doff chain.
Saying A2B is cheating is like saying turning your weapon power up is cheating. Learn to play the bloody game and stop whining about it.
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
This. It's a game mechanic, it's part of how the game works. There are alternatives to A2B. Look for them, or try coming up with them yourself. I just converted to A2B with my Gal-X, went all beams, and I'm finally starting to become the powerhouse I've been wanting to be.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
My name is Rage, and I too support a revised Galaxy family.
They aren't part of the P2W meta game at all.
They are free.
They are farmable.
They are easier to get then rep gear.
If you think A2B is cheating, you better not be using *ANY* doffs at all. You certainly shouldn't be using any fancy C-Store doffs. And that C-Store ship? Put her back in dry dock, it's cheating.
Oh, wait... The Gal-R is C/Fleet store only... so... If I fly her I'm cheating....
Get over it.
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
Its more the fact it messes with the global cooldown which is suppose to be a barrier to prevent skills from being exploited. To be honest, I would be happy if the Doffs didn't exist.
Unfortunately, P2W has become an terrible part of this game and has been festered and nutured by the players who want to improve the size of their ego. Aux-2-batt on its own isn't that powerful but combine it with P2W consoles and ships, it becomes a massive problem. The doffs should be unique equip so you can only have one of them.
Cryptic seems to believe that if everyone has access to the power creep, it somehow balances the game and therefore that is why some ships get left out.
A2B does not touch the global cooldown one bit. None. Zip. Zilch. Nadda.
A2B will never bring a skill below its global cooldown.
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
Truth
P2W compounds the problem of Aux-2-Batt and still doesn't solve the main problems with the Galaxy.
I know your post wasn't directed at me, but I was disappointed about the latest A2B build for the Galaxy as well. The reasn is - it's just so bland. There is one particular build in this game that "works" for cruisers and suddenly viertually EVERYONE uses that one build. It's that cookie-cutting I don't like. It further shows the huge gaps this game has in term of gameplay and gamedesign.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
The only things I bought in this game is my Galaxy X, and a clothing set for an eyepatch for another toon.
I have not dropped another dime on this game. Everything my Gal-X is equipped with I've gotten by working for it in-game, or by the graciousness of good friends who worked to get it in the first place and wanted to help.
I'm winning, and I haven't paid much at all. I could have grinded for the Dil to turn into Zen and got my X for free.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
My name is Rage, and I too support a revised Galaxy family.
While I have spent my fair share of cash, My most expensive ship and her most expensive gear was nearly "free." I ground over 400 of the 480 lobi I used to buy my Mobius during the sale (And the only reason I didn't grind the last 80 was my wife was sick of me playing and decided to buy my last few boxes, I had the time to finish up if I had chosen) and then I got her temporal warfare set with free lobi from the featured episode reruns.
And to be honest... I have other ships that are a bit better then her, for all her "P2W" glory, I don't exclusively fly her, even in PvP (Tho I have a soft spot for her, she is a freakin' mirror universe timeship! I win the meta game of cool factor hands down!)
At the current exchange rate, its just over 1 month to grind $20 for a C-store ship. And another week if you want a $25 one. If you are crazy enough you can run an alt and do it in half the time, or save for a 50$ ship pack. You can also dump contraband on an alto to shave some time off of it. If you can live without a gimmick console, you can grind EC for fleet modules even faster and just get a fleet ship.
If you absolutely must have a lobi or lock box ship, it is likely cheapest in the long run to just buy one with EC instead of opening boxes for lobi or trying to win one, the only reason I ground my 480 during the sale was I had already ground up nearly 200 because I was saving for a tachyokinetic anyway, so I was nearly half way there. When I add up the math on how many boxes I opened... I should have just bought it with the EC and saved a few million.
The only thing that buying really gets you is the ability to collect many ships quickly. It takes longer to learn how to fly a ship then it does to grind for one.
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
Congrats on your new ship! May she serve you well.
Don't worry if it's consodered subpar or not, the first decision when getting a ship I make is wheather I like that particular ship or not. If you like it, you'll have fun times with your favourite ship, that's all that matters.
However, STOs main problem is, in my opinion, that you know with 100% certainty when you get what. There is absolutely no dynamic involved, no random/elite drops, just reputations system and sliders and grind. That leads to a very limited gamedesign and all those cookie cutter builds since you can plan out EXACTLY what item you want/need and how to get it.
Anyway, I personally did spent on the game prior to F2P. I bought a digital and box copy and paid for subscriptions. Since F2P I didn't spent a single schekel, primarily because I didn't like the route Cryptic/PWE took. Via non-focussed grinding and a lucky sponsorpay offer I was able to afford the Galaxy R and Venture type, a fleet Nebula, a playable species and some other stuff. Instead of those ships I could have gotten "better" ones as well, but I didn't want to. And now I make work what I like.
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Just a heads up, I've been making this point for a while, best of luck getting the primary thread participants to go listen. I've pretty much walked away from the discussion last month when I ran out of time between graduating college, job searching and my wife being put in the hospital. There is apparently little wiggle-room for opinion.
that post didnt make much sense to me. he went into detail about that ship's particular shortcomings compared to other ships, then he pivots and said its eng skills thats the problem. no, its always this 1 particular ship thats the problem, no need to upset the balance of every single ship in the game that has eng stations just to address this 1 ship's short comings.
im not in complete disagreement that eng skills could use adjusting, tweeking, or adding to, but the galaxy class is the wrong reason to do it, the focus of such a change needs to have every single ship in consideration.
yep, and even with new eng power, i can't see an ensign level bo power that would make the galaxy refit a real choice option in comparison to a star cruiser.
that would be a hell of a disbalanced power if that happened, and even so what would then prevent the star cruiser to equip one, since it is so good, the star cruiser got 2 ensign engi slot.
so yeah, it really daesn't make sense when you look at it closely althrought it sound good when we said it: fix the eng bo power and that will fix the galaxy.
well....no, it won't, as i was forced to explain to everyone that support that idea many time in this thread.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=528931&page=271
the tac or sci abilities the galaxy still misses out on wont be less fundamentally important ether. with just more good eng skills at ENS, i see myself using EPtS3 and EPtW3 on some of my cruisers if that happens. everything else wins again!
You lasted way longer with this discussion than you should have. Luckily, this thread is a rare perfect storm of internet awesome that you can check back in months like you haven't missed a beat.
(Which I just did today)
Of course I hope you fly the galaxy all day on the 28th - I will be dragging out my T4 version - but with fleet gear it can easily keep up with how easy the games content has become.
In the zone chat - hopefully we will be able to create some 20 man events of all galaxys
All variants of Galaxy are welcome.
Any ship with 3 eng ensigns feels some sort of pinch (Excelsior) and ships with both a commander and a ltcom eng feel cramped at the top end. The Gal-R just showcases both, on a ship that many people want to fly because of its status in the show, and we get threads with over 500 pages of people that want a ship that isn't really broken changed in ways that don't really make any sense or have any flow at all with existing ships. People finally for the most part got over the Defiant having a third tac ens. Nobody ever really got that excited about an Intrepid and her 3rd sci ens. A third eng ens? hold the phone something is wrong. It doesn't feel good on other ships with it, either. They just have more in the way of raw damage output to make people get over it.
And honestly, if tac team wasn't broken as in "to-over-powered-for-the-good-of-the-game" then even a 3rd eng ens wouldn't suck that badly... you would take eng team and get over it. The real problem lies on that bloody tac team...
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
new or better eng power are very welcome, it can only be good for the game in general.
the real question is, will you, then, choose a galaxy retrofit over a star cruiser if choice were given to you?
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=528931&page=271
Remember Kimmy, when you come into this thread you need to remember the golden rule.
YOU are wrong, all Galaxy fans are ALWAYS right.
Remember that rule and you will be safe in this thread.
Am I a divide by 0 error?
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
galaxy fans tend not to be the AtB hatters
i will be there for sure, i won't even have to change ship
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=528931&page=271
yeah, but you just forget a little detail... 6base turn and 25 inertia.
the galaxy problem do not resume to the 3rd eng ens.
the exelsior got 3 ens eng too, but to compensate it got +2 base turn and 40 inertia and a ltcommander tac slot, i won't even speak about the tac console slot here because the point is not to compare firepower but versatility and the balanced repartition of stats.
the star cruiser got 7 base turn, 3 sci bo power, and 3 sci console slot, it is certainly not the best tanking ship out there but the repartition of it stats make it much more usefull than what the galaxy refit can ever dream to be.
the turn and inertia in this game is one of the ( if not THE ) most important stats in the game, it can make or break a ship.
the fundamental difference between a regent and an avenger is 2 base turn rate and 50 inertia for the avenger compare to the 30 of the regent.
of course the avenger got 1 more tact slot and 1 more weapons slot in the front, but this didn't bring as much to the ship imo,than what the turn and inertia do.
you can't have a ship that collects all the bads stats without any compensation ( the separation console is no compensation, it just make it even more bad ).
the worst turn rate in cruiser ( even the odyssey with it console bonus can do better )
the least tact and sci bo power, the least tact and sci console slot.
the now well know 3 ens eng problem.
in an hypothetical scenario where cryptic would have decided to make this ship the worst in the game, they wouldn't have been able to come with a better formula without automatically classified this ship as a tiers4 one.
unlike all others ship in the game there is absolutly nothing to compensate for all these shortcomming, no pets ( that daesn't mean i want some ) no integrated battle cloack ( again i known this ship isn't supposed to cloack, it just to show one of the compensation mechanism cryptic use for other ship ) no universal bridge officer, not even an ensign, no special abilitie that have a significant interest or can not be reproduced by other ships.
nothing out of all these bads point that can make you said " hmm, with this i will be able to do something unique and usefull that i coudn't do with other ship"
you don't choose a galaxy because it is good, but because it is a galaxy ( a fan choice then )
what about a day when someone could said: " well you should go with the galaxy retrofit for this type of gameplay because it is the best choice available for that"
it is not about dps, the exelsior can be spec to be a better support ship than the galaxy due to it mobility.
so there is something wrong with the stats of the ship that do not allow him to do well what it was supposed to do in this game.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=528931&page=271
Fleet Admiral Space Orphidian Possiblities Wizard
and i really wonder why you do that in the first place, since it is not a problem for a ship that is supposed to tank and support
your atrox got pets that compensate for it lack of mobility and it reduced weapons slot , very simple to anderstand.
and i am not even speaking about the 1.2 shield modifer, integrated susbsytem targeting, his commander and ltcommander sci bo, +10 auxiliary power and his 4 sci console slot.
if even 1/4 of that were given to the galaxy, you could eventually begun to argue.
stop trying to resume the galaxy retrofit problem to a single thing.
the galaxy problem is not the turn rate alone, or the 3ens eng alone, or the lack of sci slot and whatnot, it all of them combined.
it is not logical to state that a ship is fine as is when it combined all the bad stats this game can possibly provide, without any viable compensation whatsoever.
and this have nothing to do with how you fly the ship, but in any case you will have a hard time to teach me how to fly my galaxy.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=528931&page=271
the cruiser capable of dealing the least damage deals 'enough' huh? in what context exactly? i can equip nothing but a shield, impulse engine, and some beam arrays, use no station powers, and i deal enough damage to get through any pve. the minimum bar is that low.
'enough damage', thats more like an average. the galaxy deals below average damage, drags what the average damage is down quite a bit in fact.
it does not deal enough damage in pvp. even with a tactical AtB build you barely outpace passive regeneration and EPtS cycling.
I wouldn't dare to tell anyone to "learn to fly", though as I stated before, I never had any problems with the ship's turnrate. Seperation, EPtE, AtD, RCS consoles, cruiser commands - turnate is no real issue especially since you can improve it via in-game means, if you so desire.
I personally do The Breach Elite in a seperated Explorer. I don't die, I save all NPCs by myself, I never get stuck. It works for me.
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Can you elaborate on what you meant by "...lasted way longer than I should have..."?