How does on score in Crystalline Catastrophe?

berserkerkitten8

Right, apparently I'm stupid, because I can't for the life of me figure out how to get anything better than 3rd place against the crystalline entity - if that.
Starbase 24, Gorn Minefield, Klingon Scout Force, no problem, 1st place all the time. Crystalline Catastrophe? HA! I wish.

What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? Should I focus on the Tholians until they're all gone or go straight for the entity? Should I back off ASAP when it's absorbing energy? I see people who keep on firing and back off at the last second. Is that the way to do it?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

packer3434

Crystalline entity takes your dps but also your healing into account when it calculates your score.
One way to increase your ranking is to heal others if their health drops. I believe it counts healing ticks and if this is the case then hazard emitters is your best bet.

Personally I found that a vesta console is also very good. One of the vesta consoles gives and aoe heal which makes getting forst place very easy (I do realise this might not be an option for you as you'd have to buy the vesta).

berserkerkitten8

Hmm... so it's a change to the whole "you can only win if you deal damage" routine. Interesting. I like that.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond.

eazzie

berserkerkitten8 wrote: »

Right, apparently I'm stupid, because I can't for the life of me figure out how to get anything better than 3rd place against the crystalline entity - if that.
Starbase 24, Gorn Minefield, Klingon Scout Force, no problem, 1st place all the time. Crystalline Catastrophe? HA! I wish.

What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? Should I focus on the Tholians until they're all gone or go straight for the entity? Should I back off ASAP when it's absorbing energy? I see people who keep on firing and back off at the last second. Is that the way to do it?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

I usually only get as far as 3rd place too. Did manage 1st once. The floor trophy is pretty awesome.

bluegeek

Thread moved to more appropriate feedback forum.

futurepastnow

Now, I don't advocate parsing random missions and expecting usable numbers. But sometimes it's fun. And in CCE, it clearly shows the influence of healing on placement.

lordhavelock

A few months back, when they relaunched the Crystalline Entity (CE) missions with that special Event, I was running about a dozen of my characters through. And over the course of doing those dailies for a couple of weeks I scored first place at least once on each of my Alts.

I was running through all sorts of builds: Tac/Excel, Sci/Vesta, Sci D'Kyr, Sci/Wells, Eng/Star Cruiser, Tac/BoP, Sci/Garumba, Sci/Recluse, Eng/Negh'Var, Eng/VoQuv...

I think during that Event there were a lot of sub-par players running the mission, so getting 1st was easier then than it has been now, but I still get it from time-to-time. Even my Romulan (Sci/Tal Shiar Adapted Cruiser) got her Shattered accolade (1st place in CE) recently.

As packer3434 mentioned, healing has a lot to do with it. My Eng/Star Cruiser has cruddy DPS, but astounding Tanking/Healing, gets 1st pretty regularly.

I wonder if they are somehow also including "CE Debuff" in there too somehow, because my Sci/Wells tends to get 1st a lot and that build spams APB and Tachyon Beam, with only moderate DPS and little healing as does my Eng/VoQuv who spams Energy Siphon...

In fact, I most often get 1st with my Support Builds.

timelord79

Ok, I know where you are coming from. constant 3rd places drove me mad.

I am flying a Sovereign refit, so while pretty good at damage for a cruiser, escorts usually trump me. And while I am dealing a good bit of dps I nearly sacrifice all healing for that, so no way to score points that way.

I decided to make a last ditch effort and then not care about it anymore if it fails.

I collected doff assignments that give skill buffs all day long until i felt that nearly every system got a nice boost.

Went the all DPS route with only minimal self healing (and one engi team, which I threw around when i could spare it).

And then I turned in all those doff missions, queued up and gave it all.

I thought, I lost it when I exploded near the end, the Tholians got me, was a little too much aggro.

But surprise, surprise I made 1st and i don't think the whole team was so bad, because the CE died relatively fast and didn't get buffed up too much.

So hang in there. You'll do it.

stardestroyer001

berserkerkitten8 wrote: »

Right, apparently I'm stupid, because I can't for the life of me figure out how to get anything better than 3rd place against the crystalline entity - if that.
Starbase 24, Gorn Minefield, Klingon Scout Force, no problem, 1st place all the time. Crystalline Catastrophe? HA! I wish.

What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? Should I focus on the Tholians until they're all gone or go straight for the entity? Should I back off ASAP when it's absorbing energy? I see people who keep on firing and back off at the last second. Is that the way to do it?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Hop in a Galaxy-class, heal your teammates as much as possible, and take first place for heals.

Trust me, it works. I did it and got 1st a couple times in the rare moment I actually play Crystalline Entity.

lan451

stardestroyer001 wrote: »

Hop in a Galaxy-class, heal your teammates as much as possible, and take first place for heals.

Trust me, it works. I did it and got 1st a couple times in the rare moment I actually play Crystalline Entity.

Yep, the Galaxy is actually really good for CE. In mine I just stayed on the outskirts of the battle and handled Tholians while tossing out heals to everyone around me. Got first place easy without firing a single shot at the CE itself. I do the same with my Vesta every now and then. HE3 with 130 aux makes it very, very easy to get first.

voporak

Yeah, healing counts more than damage (which actually makes it hard for escort pilots to get the accolade). I did several times in my uber damage fleet Defiant, but only got as high as 2nd. Then I took my JHDC with elite scorps into it one time, and got 1st. Later on I took my Mobius in one time only, and got 1st. All other times I took my Defiant because that's the ship I'm usually in and I was either doing it for marks or just playing it with my friends.

lucho80

I had to run a full torp build to get 1st place.

timelord79

Looks like there are many ways to get first.

baudl

in an interview back at the re-release of CE it was stated that killing shards (with your weapons, not with your hull) awards also points. Also destroying tholian ships should have that effect.
firing at the entity isn't really affective for reaching first place because of its very high resistance.
In fact, concentrating on the support vessel, shards and healing will most likely get you to first place.

the most important factor however is the skill of the players in your team. If those are simply better for one reason or the other you can't do much but improve your build, gear and skill.

lordhavelock

baudl wrote: »

in an interview back at the re-release of CE it was stated that killing shards (with your weapons, not with your hull) awards also points. Also destroying tholian ships should have that effect... ...concentrating on the support vessel, shards and healing will most likely get you to first place...

That further explains why my Eng/Cruiser Healer almost always gets 1st Place. As a Tank with high Threat Control, I grab aggro from everything. I spend most of my time taking out Tholians/shards because if I didn't their damage would eventually overwhelm me (especially with the CE usually targeting me too), all the while healing those around me (and my self, as necessary, of course).

timelord79 wrote: »

Looks like there are many ways to get first.

1) Many paths to 1st, indeed!

2) I love your avatar icon, good sir! "The Minions have the Time Box!" I have it on a t-shirt. Brilliant, simply brilliant mash-up.

johnny1051

baudl wrote: »

in an interview back at the re-release of CE it was stated that killing shards (with your weapons, not with your hull) awards also points. Also destroying tholian ships should have that effect.
firing at the entity isn't really affective for reaching first place because of its very high resistance.
In fact, concentrating on the support vessel, shards and healing will most likely get you to first place.

I can vouch for this, I was always 3rd, then decided to go in and shoot EVERYTHING EXCEPT the CE. Targeted shards and Tholians, keeping the heat off the park and shoot players. I came in first, and was shocked because it was counter to how I thought I should win.

nicha0

I actually really detest the scoring system in CE because it promotes bad playing. Why be responsible and good when you can just fire BFaW around, smash into shards and heal yourself? That is #1 score every time, and its what people do.

Getting hit by shards should impose a major score penalty on you, but it doesn't, and people can troll the whole match by sending out pets to die over and over, or just not pay attention and spam heals on themselves as they crash through the middle of the CE.

Crowd control awards nothing, but is highly valuable in the match.

Rewarding bad behaviour is a major issue in STO and it seems to continue to happen in new content, penalize people that are doing it wrong and then they are forced to learn.

jdonvance2

nicha0 wrote: »

I actually really detest the scoring system in CE because it promotes bad playing. Why be responsible and good when you can just fire BFaW around, smash into shards and heal yourself? That is #1 score every time, and its what people do.

Getting hit by shards should impose a major score penalty on you, but it doesn't, and people can troll the whole match by sending out pets to die over and over, or just not pay attention and spam heals on themselves as they crash through the middle of the CE.

Crowd control awards nothing, but is highly valuable in the match.

Rewarding bad behaviour is a major issue in STO and it seems to continue to happen in new content, penalize people that are doing it wrong and then they are forced to learn.

I think you're right, there. If healing points were limited to healing others, (encouraging teamwork) that alone might bring the scoring system of the CE PvE into line with preferred practices.

Personally, I don't understand why so much info in STO is hidden (like the very fact that this PvE has a scoring system, and what the results were). For instance, you can figure out the rate of fire on a weapon by doing the math between the damage per shot and damage per second statistics, but why should I have to do math? (I like doing math, don't get me wrong) It makes comparisons difficult. I'm still having a hard time comparing one ship to another in terms of hull/shield/crew(?)/turn rate/whatever other stat that will reveal itself to be ultra important.

riccardo171

nicha0 wrote: »

I actually really detest the scoring system in CE because it promotes bad playing. Why be responsible and good when you can just fire BFaW around, smash into shards and heal yourself? That is #1 score every time, and its what people do.

Getting hit by shards should impose a major score penalty on you, but it doesn't, and people can troll the whole match by sending out pets to die over and over, or just not pay attention and spam heals on themselves as they crash through the middle of the CE.

Crowd control awards nothing, but is highly valuable in the match.

Rewarding bad behaviour is a major issue in STO and it seems to continue to happen in new content, penalize people that are doing it wrong and then they are forced to learn.

And those who do the damage should not be awarded from your point of view. Is there a problem if I use Valdore console to keep myself alive? I was sick tired of engineers healing me when I didn't so they could get first place. Rolled on Scimitar and started getting first places once and for all with endless attempts on non-romulans.

sheldonlcooper

lucho80 wrote: »

I had to run a full torp build to get 1st place.

Yeah I finally got first yesterday also with mostly torpedoes and a valdore. Usually get 3rd - I never got 2nd.

theroyalfamily

Mirror Mogai + full Dyson set + valdore console + CSV + TS + GW + lots of healing = 1st place every time. I don't even let the shards hit me - CE is plenty good at dealing damage to me by itself.

pulserazor

roll a sci, target a random player, set a tray dump spam macro to throw heals at them, and afk for the match. 1st place, everytime.

Or put the valdore console on a romulan ship, place your left ear on the caps lock button, and without lifting your head, touch the keyboard numberpad with yout right ear. 1st place, everytime.

tiekosora

I have run a T'Varo Refit torpedo boat using fairly average consoles and weapons. I used TS2 and HYT3 as well as Dispersal Pattern Beta 2 (I think) with a blue quantum mine launcher. I also have Tyken's Rift 2 and Gravity Well 3 and use those as soon as they refresh on the CE itself. Those will draw together the shards, damaging them, and enabling me to get off a torpedo spread or drop a salvo of mines on top of them. This works with BFAW as well. I usually get 2nd place, but I have gotten 1st place a couple times. I consider myself an average player, and I have only recently started to focus on tweaking my build, so it is possible for any average player to do it.

eradicator84

Went in a little while back with my Fleet Corsair healer build.
Despite not having FAW and non dps pets (shield healing ones) and focussed on keeping team mates alive, I came 1st.

DPS definitely isn't everything in CCE.

questerius

eradicator84 wrote: »

Went in a little while back with my Fleet Corsair healer build.
Despite not having FAW and non dps pets (shield healing ones) and focussed on keeping team mates alive, I came 1st.

DPS definitely isn't everything in CCE.

Kinetic damage and healing are key in CEE. That and ample use of TR/GW
This also has a side-effect that most BFAW or pure energy builds never get into top-3.

A side effect of that is that they don't get gear, but extra dilithium . Usually purple vendor trash or some extra dilithium.. what to choose.

breadandcircuses

questerius wrote: »

Kinetic damage and healing are key in CEE. That and ample use of TR/GW.

This. The Kinetic part is simply a side-effect of the thing's high Energy resistance, which diminishes your damage-related scoring if you're constantly shooting energy weapons. In addition, CCE is one of the few things in-game that seems to be scored on something other than blowing stuff up; it also scores based on keeping your teammates alive. Kind of a nice change of pace, really.

luk3gittins

torp spread 3,csv,and grav well spam got me 1st place a few times but spamming heals gets you 1st much more often

omegaphallic

eradicator84 wrote: »

Went in a little while back with my Fleet Corsair healer build.
Despite not having FAW and non dps pets (shield healing ones) and focussed on keeping team mates alive, I came 1st.

DPS definitely isn't everything in CCE.

Yes, the Fleet Corsair is great at this!

I play it differently though, I do have alot of heals like transfer shield strength, ep2s, enigeering team with the doff that boost healing after use and cut down the cd, reverse shield polarity III, ,and aux to intergity, plus the full Dyson set. I also use Elite Slavers.

I set my Fleet Corsair right beside the crystalline enitity put up attract fire, and lauch slavers and fire every thing I got and heal myself till I get blown up. I got first place a whole bunch of times. I also use feedback pulse.

I would like to heal others, but everytime I try and heal others in combat, it switches to the target I'm attacking before I hit the heal power and I heal myself instead. Arrrggg.

Still CE is one of the best for the Corsair, along with the Undine Space Battle Zone.

noroblad

I have noticed a lot of beam ships sitting way back picking off the projectiles and over-healing to get their purple trash item rather than actually trying to do the fight. Don't sweat it --- there are a number of ways to get first without contributing much in the way of actually killing the thing. What you are seeing are people exploiting the award mechanics rather than contribute to the group effort, all for a 50k or less valued piece of junk. Its as amusing as it is depressing. (A *few* actually good players are hitting the thing and taking first legit, but the majority are low dps ships that may as well not even be there for all the good they do).

markhawkman

omegaphallic wrote: »

Yes, the Fleet Corsair is great at this!

I play it differently though, I do have alot of heals like transfer shield strength, ep2s, enigeering team with the doff that boost healing after use and cut down the cd, reverse shield polarity III, ,and aux to intergity, plus the full Dyson set. I also use Elite Slavers.

I set my Fleet Corsair right beside the crystalline enitity put up attract fire, and lauch slavers and fire every thing I got and heal myself till I get blown up. I got first place a whole bunch of times. I also use feedback pulse.

I would like to heal others, but everytime I try and heal others in combat, it switches to the target I'm attacking before I hit the heal power and I heal myself instead. Arrrggg.

Still CE is one of the best for the Corsair, along with the Undine Space Battle Zone.

turn off autofire.... it only jumps targets when you're shooting.