So I've read some guides (Romulan Casual Starter Guide) which say keep your starting Boff's and re-train their skills (which I've been doing). Then I read the starter guide posted here which mostly has to do with Federation, but has some tips within for Rom, that says get rid of all Boff's and purchase purple ones right away.
Should I stop "wasting" skill training on these guys and buy up purples? As a Romulan Engineer what should I be replacing them with?
thanks. I will check it out. ki want to get to a point where i can take down shields, forward face ship and launch 2 torpedos for hull damage? but i see lots of people say torpedos are not that great and to rather concentrate on beam weaponry?
what is your guys view point on:
Turrets? - 360 arc but less DPS?
Tetryon weaponry?
I want to build a tank basically with max DPS and strong enough shields to withstand a pounding?
Torpedoes were originally intended to be killing blows. However, the way they deal almost no/damage against shields makes them exceptionally weak. They also fire slow and move slow so enemies can just avoid them. Finally, the skills to improve them are mostly inferior to the beam and cannon skills. That said they have a few uses. First science ships need both weapons and auxiliary power, but torpedoes do not use weapon power, so science ships get a lot of benefit from them as they can really pump aux. Also, many of the newer torps have amazing secondary abilities,
Like the neutronic from delta rep, or the gravimetric from dyson rep.
Tetryons are mathematically the weakest of all weapons, however that weakness is not particularly huge. Still, it is best to focus on other types of damage, pretty much all of them will help take down your enemy's shields faster than the tetryon bonus will, and once the shields are down the tetryon is useless while all other weapons still at least do something. That said, if you have a solid build and know how to use your ship, you can absolutely complete all content and contribute to teams in hard missions using tetryons. I do recommend the refracting kind once you get access to them.
As for turrets, they are great in your rear weapon slots for fast turning ships, and horrible up frontfor every ship. Slow turning ships do better with beams both front and back and firing broadsides.
Tanks are utterly unneeded in this game. Cryptic does not support, nor build for the "holy trinity". There is no need for healers nor for tanks. You can build an indestructible ship, but you will never be able to get or hold aggro as a tank does in other games. In star trek online, just like in the TV show, every ship has to be able to survive its own aggro. And you get aggro by dealing damage, not by taunting. Thus the model/of the low damage high survivability tank does not work here. There are some very tanky cruiser builds that do enough damage to hold aggro for a while. Those can be a lot of fun. But you're building for damage, not for survival in most of those cases.
The key to those builds are the emergency power to X abilities. Especially shields and weapons. Built right, you can keep both your shields and weapons buffed permanently. These used to be called dragon or drake builds, now people just use the powers as standard. Look for blue orpurple damage control engineers. You can have three active and there are several variations. One version reduces the cool down of all emergency power abilities. Another gives you a buff to all power levels whenever you use any emergency power. The t6 guardian cruiser also has a great power to recharge engineer abilities fast. With enough recharge you can rotate one copy of each. With less recharge you need two copies.
Next, look at "directed energy modulation" this engineering power gives bonus damage plus shield penetration at the same/time.
On the tactical side you want three powers, ideally. Tactical team one to give a damage buff at the same time it balances your shields for bonus survival. This also maxes your shield heals because those hit all four sides and normally enemies only take one down, so three fourths of a heal gets lost. Once tactical team balances your shields then you pop your heal and there's room for points on all four sides. Beam fire at will gives you great aoe, but it also let's you shoot one enemy more than usual. Finally pick an attack pattern. Delta seems exactly like your ideal as it gives you bonus damage resistance plus anyone who shoots you takes extra damage from you and all your team mates. Beta is just bonus damage for your whole team, and omega gives you turn speed, immunity to tractor beams, and bonus damage all in one. There's no wrong choice. If you use torpedoes, go for a spread power rather than high yield if you have any slots left.
From the science side, work to increase your survival until you get some Lt. Commander slots, then consider gravity well for offense. You absolutely want hazard emitters for the hull heal, but it also clears damage over time effects. Science team or transfer shield strength both are great options for a shield heal. Polarize hull gives you resistance, plus immunity to tractor beams. If you have any engineer slots left, consider eject warp plasma, rotate shields, or aux2structural.
That is the core to a survivable cruiser with plenty of damage.
I just clicked on "request more duty officers" and there is one from completing a mission that I thought I lost, Law, that says "Click to receive" or something similar, when I click it, nothing happens. I've been wondering what happened to Law. The little box it says he is in is not in my inventory
Check your roster, you can change it to show only purple quality to make it easier to find him. If you do not have him at all, and cannot double click on the box to get him, then you need to file a support ticket.
So I've read some guides (Romulan Casual Starter Guide) which say keep your starting Boff's and re-train their skills (which I've been doing). Then I read the starter guide posted here which mostly has to do with Federation, but has some tips within for Rom, that says get rid of all Boff's and purchase purple ones right away.
Should I stop "wasting" skill training on these guys and buy up purples? As a Romulan Engineer what should I be replacing them with?
It depends on your resources and goals. If you are good at earning energy credits, then there are plenty of great purple quality officers to pick from.
In general, ground is much easier than space so most player only care about space traits on boffs. As a romulan you want one with superior subterfuge (this doesn't stack so you only care about one), at least one with infiltrator or superior infiltrator, and as many with superior romulan operative as possible. D'vex is special, he has the veteran ability which is otherwise only available on veteran boffs that aren't available anymore. So even though he is green some people like to keep him.
If you don't have enough energy credits to afford those ideal officers, don't sweat it, just use the ones you get for free and save up over time. Everything is changing in a few weeks when the new system goes live anyway.
I have a couple of questions. It's been a while since I played and it's all rather confusing. The last time I really played was before all this dilithium stuff was added, to give you a bit of an idea how long it's been!
I was wondering, does the 1-55 experience do a good enough job when it comes to explaining all the things that were added since I last played?
Is it worth having multiple characters, for example one for my Cruiser, one for my Escort or should I just have them on one character?
Are the romulan ships 'better' than the federation ones, or are they about equal and should I stick with my own preference? (As in, will there be a noticeable benefit when playing romulan over fed)
Check your roster, you can change it to show only purple quality to make it easier to find him. If you do not have him at all, and cannot double click on the box to get him, then you need to file a support ticket.
I'll attach a picture, just to be sure. I checked my complete roster, and he is nowhere to be found there. I click on "Request more duty officers" And his box is there, but nothing happens when I dbl click it, or hit the open button.
I have a couple of questions. It's been a while since I played and it's all rather confusing. The last time I really played was before all this dilithium stuff was added, to give you a bit of an idea how long it's been!
I was wondering, does the 1-55 experience do a good enough job when it comes to explaining all the things that were added since I last played?
Is it worth having multiple characters, for example one for my Cruiser, one for my Escort or should I just have them on one character?
Are the romulan ships 'better' than the federation ones, or are they about equal and should I stick with my own preference? (As in, will there be a noticeable benefit when playing romulan over fed)
In general I think it is best to re-learn the game as if you knew nothing about it. Pretty much everything has changed, but the 1-60 game has taught plenty of people who never played any other mmo how stuff works. The key things it fails on are ship builds and duty officers. Once you get to 40 or if you hit a big snag, post help in the shipyard subforums or here and someone will set you right.
If you want to experience the whole story you need a minimum of three characters, one fed, one kdf an one romulan. Many people find having extra characters to help earn dilithium is a benefit. Many people also find that post 60 they prefer to focus on just one character. I still enjoy all 13 of mine and find the game vastly more friendly to multiple characters than others I have played. I don't think you'll find a big advantage in one dedicated cruiser character, one escort etc, with the exception that science ship pilots need different skills depending on build. For anyone who primarily kills with guns the skill layout is similar enough that you can hop from cruiser to escort to raider to carrier and be fine. Science ships (not necessarily science captains) you may want a dedicated character.
It is mostly not the romulan ships, but rather the romulan officers. Romulan get three space traits that are vastly better than anyone else (subterfuge, infiltrator, operative) and the enormous damage boost from them makes romulan outperform everyone else. That said, the scimitar still holds the overall record for highest damage of any ship. Though all this will change in three weeks when the anniversary hits and the new commander class ships come out.
I'll attach a picture, just to be sure. I checked my complete roster, and he is nowhere to be found there. I click on "Request more duty officers" And his box is there, but nothing happens when I dbl click it, or hit the open button.
In general I think it is best to re-learn the game as if you knew nothing about it. Pretty much everything has changed, but the 1-60 game has taught plenty of people who never played any other mmo how stuff works. The key things it fails on are ship builds and duty officers. Once you get to 40 or if you hit a big snag, post help in the shipyard subforums or here and someone will set you right.
If you want to experience the whole story you need a minimum of three characters, one fed, one kdf an one romulan. Many people find having extra characters to help earn dilithium is a benefit. Many people also find that post 60 they prefer to focus on just one character. I still enjoy all 13 of mine and find the game vastly more friendly to multiple characters than others I have played. I don't think you'll find a big advantage in one dedicated cruiser character, one escort etc, with the exception that science ship pilots need different skills depending on build. For anyone who primarily kills with guns the skill layout is similar enough that you can hop from cruiser to escort to raider to carrier and be fine. Science ships (not necessarily science captains) you may want a dedicated character.
It is mostly not the romulan ships, but rather the romulan officers. Romulan get three space traits that are vastly better than anyone else (subterfuge, infiltrator, operative) and the enormous damage boost from them makes romulan outperform everyone else. That said, the scimitar still holds the overall record for highest damage of any ship. Though all this will change in three weeks when the anniversary hits and the new commander class ships come out.
Thanks for that!
I'll probably start lvling up a science officer, since that's the only one I don't have yet. It's a shame that I'm unable to use federation ships as a romulan, but I guess I'll end up making my engineer or tact fly a science ship and the other one fly cruisers and escorts. I remember playing as a klingon was rather a dull leveling experience when the game was released. I did read they updated the storylines rather heavily, so I should probably give them another shot.
You can fly fed ships as a romulan. Only tier 5 and 6 are limited to fed only.
You will find that the Klingon experience is quite good now. Right out the door you get a story arc featuring worf and they did get Michael dorm to do the voice acting. You also get to punch a ferengi unconscious, and earn a permanent combat pet mastiff from rural penthe.
I don't seem to be able to upgrade my Multi-Mission Strategic Explorer.
I have three Upgrade Requisitions but when I click on the "Complete Upgrade" button nothing happens.
Any hints?
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
You must be within range of a Starship Selection Officer to do an upgrade.
Heh..
I'm standing right next to the one on ESD.
I've got that window open when I do it but nothing happens.
I figured it out... You have to have the Upgrade Token in your Inventory, NOT your Bank for it to work.
Thanks for answering my question though.
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Torpedoes were originally intended to be killing blows. However, the way they deal almost no/damage against shields makes them exceptionally weak. They also fire slow and move slow so enemies can just avoid them. Finally, the skills to improve them are mostly inferior to the beam and cannon skills. That said they have a few uses. First science ships need both weapons and auxiliary power, but torpedoes do not use weapon power, so science ships get a lot of benefit from them as they can really pump aux. Also, many of the newer torps have amazing secondary abilities,
Like the neutronic from delta rep, or the gravimetric from dyson rep.
Tetryons are mathematically the weakest of all weapons, however that weakness is not particularly huge. Still, it is best to focus on other types of damage, pretty much all of them will help take down your enemy's shields faster than the tetryon bonus will, and once the shields are down the tetryon is useless while all other weapons still at least do something. That said, if you have a solid build and know how to use your ship, you can absolutely complete all content and contribute to teams in hard missions using tetryons. I do recommend the refracting kind once you get access to them.
As for turrets, they are great in your rear weapon slots for fast turning ships, and horrible up frontfor every ship. Slow turning ships do better with beams both front and back and firing broadsides.
Tanks are utterly unneeded in this game. Cryptic does not support, nor build for the "holy trinity". There is no need for healers nor for tanks. You can build an indestructible ship, but you will never be able to get or hold aggro as a tank does in other games. In star trek online, just like in the TV show, every ship has to be able to survive its own aggro. And you get aggro by dealing damage, not by taunting. Thus the model/of the low damage high survivability tank does not work here. There are some very tanky cruiser builds that do enough damage to hold aggro for a while. Those can be a lot of fun. But you're building for damage, not for survival in most of those cases.
The key to those builds are the emergency power to X abilities. Especially shields and weapons. Built right, you can keep both your shields and weapons buffed permanently. These used to be called dragon or drake builds, now people just use the powers as standard. Look for blue orpurple damage control engineers. You can have three active and there are several variations. One version reduces the cool down of all emergency power abilities. Another gives you a buff to all power levels whenever you use any emergency power. The t6 guardian cruiser also has a great power to recharge engineer abilities fast. With enough recharge you can rotate one copy of each. With less recharge you need two copies.
Next, look at "directed energy modulation" this engineering power gives bonus damage plus shield penetration at the same/time.
On the tactical side you want three powers, ideally. Tactical team one to give a damage buff at the same time it balances your shields for bonus survival. This also maxes your shield heals because those hit all four sides and normally enemies only take one down, so three fourths of a heal gets lost. Once tactical team balances your shields then you pop your heal and there's room for points on all four sides. Beam fire at will gives you great aoe, but it also let's you shoot one enemy more than usual. Finally pick an attack pattern. Delta seems exactly like your ideal as it gives you bonus damage resistance plus anyone who shoots you takes extra damage from you and all your team mates. Beta is just bonus damage for your whole team, and omega gives you turn speed, immunity to tractor beams, and bonus damage all in one. There's no wrong choice. If you use torpedoes, go for a spread power rather than high yield if you have any slots left.
From the science side, work to increase your survival until you get some Lt. Commander slots, then consider gravity well for offense. You absolutely want hazard emitters for the hull heal, but it also clears damage over time effects. Science team or transfer shield strength both are great options for a shield heal. Polarize hull gives you resistance, plus immunity to tractor beams. If you have any engineer slots left, consider eject warp plasma, rotate shields, or aux2structural.
That is the core to a survivable cruiser with plenty of damage.
Thank you for the detailed response.
I will then move away from torps for now . I have done some more research and now concidering max dps and not a tank as per your suggestion.
So i am looking at concentrating on anti proton beams all round. Maybe have one torp and one kinetic cutting beam for hull damage.
If you are looking to go antiproton, some suggestions: (a couple points here apply to other weapon types also).
- Find every method OTHER than having it on your weapons to boost your crit hit chance. Universal consoles (including the one that matches the KCB) can do this, some space-trait BOFFs do this, some captain skills and traits do this, and Fleet Tactical Consoles known as 'Vulnerability Locator' (I advise getting and using these for every tac slot you have on your ship) also do this on top of providing weapon boosts.
- For aft weapons, you can actually get 3 omnidirectional beam weapons going - there's a mission-reward "Ancient" AP omni beam (it comes from a mission called 'Sphere of Influence'), plus the KCB and you can fit a third one made via the R&D system (these are also purchasable from other players/the Exchange). Each is labeled 'may only equip one' per ship; however they are treated as three different categories. The only hitch there is that crafted omnis do count as a single category even if they are of different energy types.
On any ship that has 3 or less aft weapon slots (some late-game cruisers have 4, but otherwise...), this will allow you to design a beam build with all weapons firing forward (possibly with a 250 deg arc if you use single beams!). The 'Ancient' also has a set bonus with the warp core from the same mission which will give +10% damage to all AP weapons.
- Turrets share BOFF powers with cannons (they are effectively omni-directional cannons), so if you are mounting any type of cannons forward, go with turrets aft for this synergy. If you are going beams forward, it's best to either go omni beams aft or singles all around for a broadside build. With a beam-omni build, you can go for either dual or single (or a mix of both), depending on the ship's maneuverability.
I strongly advise never mixing beams with cannons/turrets, simply because then you need two sets of BOFF powers that each only run a fraction of your weapons, and most ships do not have room for that. If you do have room, and you choose to use ONE, you can slip in a torpedo BOFF power or two on some ships; but on some ships you might be scraping for slots just to have Tac Team, one beam/cannon power and one attack pattern power - might as well make them count.
- Re special weapons - there is also a torpedo in the set with the KCB and the universal console.
- On a side note, unless you're doing a very exotic science ship build, NEVER put a universal console in a tac console slot. Always use engineering and/or science console slots for any universals you plan to use.
- Any non-special weapons should have as many CrtD (crit severity) mods as possible on your budget. Depending on situation, you may sacrifice one to get one of the following mods: Pen, Thrust, Snare, CrtH. This is where antiproton really shines: instead of a proc, its native bonus is an 'extra' CrtD (which doesn't show up in the item title, but you will notice higher crit severity in the tooltips).
Thank you. I will most likely go for broadsiding as i love the heavy, that turns like a buss without wheels, cruisers. So you reckon beams all around will then be better? And ensure my boffs are configured properly?
I am still learning to boffs is a completely different ball game.
Out of all the beam weapons which is best all rounder for shields and hull damage?
Thank you. I will most likely go for broadsiding as i love the heavy, that turns like a buss without wheels, cruisers. So you reckon beams all around will then be better? And ensure my boffs are configured properly?
I am still learning to boffs is a completely different ball game.
Out of all the beam weapons which is best all rounder for shields and hull damage?
Yes beams all around is currently the king for damage. A few/of my ships run one torpedo for its special effect. For example, I have a build that specializes in gravity wells an uses a torp that causes some. It is less damage, but it is fun and still very effective.
On damage types the only real consideration is solo or teamed. Solo, antiproton is top, plasma is very close second. Teamed romulan plasma, or disruptor take the lead even over antiproton.
Plasma (all versions) do a hull burn over time and there are fleet science consoles to boost the damage higher than just tactical consoles alone can.
Romulan plasma and disruptor get a chance to lower your targets armor (resistance). This causes all of your attacks, but also all of your teammate's attacks to do more damage. As a special note, this is one of the very few ways to buff fighter damage if you fly a carrier.
All other types are for special purpose builds. For example phaser and polar on for science drain builds. It is recommended to avoid thoron infused polar on and tetryon for all ships unless you really know what you are doing as their abilities are inherently weaker than all others and you will have to make up that lost power somewhere else.
On a similar note, among the s ience powers NEVER use tachyon beam. The damage it deals is insignificant, and in fact is lower than the damage from a tractor/beam with doff that gives it shield drains. Also a tractor beam will drop your enemy defense to zero giving you auto hit and nearly 100% crit. Tachyon beam is never worth using in its current form.
Hey there quick question,is it possible to level a Romulan Tactical using federation escort ships?
To be honest the whole cloaking thing just doesnt do it for me,i prefer a more go in and rip and destroy method without having to cloak and decloak all the time.
Yes and no. You can get to 40 that way. At 40 you need to hop to a cross faction ship. May I recommend either the winter ship the pleshbrek raider, or the kazon raider you can get off the auctionhouse very cheap. Both upgrade to 5u (the pleshbrek for free) both have excellent weapon and officer combinations, but more importantly both are raiders meaning bonus damage when you are behind your foe. 30% more in the case of the pleshbrek.
If you have more resources the hazari destroyer is a tier 6 ship that fits your style.
Thanks for the swift reply,yeah i got the heavy raider from the Q event done on my main so i did the race once and now i have the ship waiting for my tac romulan in the bank.
Is it weird that i dont like the whole "cloaking" thing,seems it was much more fun when i leveled my fed tactical character and i didnt die as much,seems you need to cloak and decloak a lot just so you can stay alive...
One mission away from 20 so i think im going to go and get me a fed ship this time,love having heavy dual cannons upfront and just rip ships away hehe.
There are a couple warbirds that are fast,mount heavy cannons, and play like an escort even if you don't use the cloak. Check out the mirror tvaro and the arkif tactical warbird. You might find you like them.
I do love the singularity powers. Fly up blasting away with heavy cannons, at 0.5k pop singularity jump leaving a rift doing more damage while you turn and only have turrets firing.
Yes beams all around is currently the king for damage. A few/of my ships run one torpedo for its special effect. For example, I have a build that specializes in gravity wells an uses a torp that causes some. It is less damage, but it is fun and still very effective.
On damage types the only real consideration is solo or teamed. Solo, antiproton is top, plasma is very close second. Teamed romulan plasma, or disruptor take the lead even over antiproton.
Plasma (all versions) do a hull burn over time and there are fleet science consoles to boost the damage higher than just tactical consoles alone can.
Romulan plasma and disruptor get a chance to lower your targets armor (resistance). This causes all of your attacks, but also all of your teammate's attacks to do more damage. As a special note, this is one of the very few ways to buff fighter damage if you fly a carrier.
All other types are for special purpose builds. For example phaser and polar on for science drain builds. It is recommended to avoid thoron infused polar on and tetryon for all ships unless you really know what you are doing as their abilities are inherently weaker than all others and you will have to make up that lost power somewhere else.
On a similar note, among the s ience powers NEVER use tachyon beam. The damage it deals is insignificant, and in fact is lower than the damage from a tractor/beam with doff that gives it shield drains. Also a tractor beam will drop your enemy defense to zero giving you auto hit and nearly 100% crit. Tachyon beam is never worth using in its current form.
so I went antiproton and at only 2 aft and 2 foreward and MkII they are really potent! And love the read color beam!
now what is the best to have for the beams buff? x2dam, crit, acc? etc?
I currently run a combination of damage and acc buffs added by my weapons. I run very rare and all my beams have 3 buffs?
ANd what skills is best for antir proton from an engineering pov and cruiser build?
and how do I use the projected singularity?? cant seem to find how to use it....
The projected singularity is only available on the ddridex warbird or via lockbox. If you have the console you put it on your ship, then hit hotkey "p" to get a list of powers. Drag the icon o to your power tray and click when you want to use it. Keep in mind that it shares cool down with gravity well. Also it always fires straight ahead of your ship, and always perfectly flat to the map, never at an angle. Takes a bit of practice to learn how to use reliably.
For mods, the current gear options favor as much critd on guns as possible, with one (or two) of the following: acc, crith, pen. Avoid over and dmg at all costs. Pretend they are bugged to be penalties.
Look for consoles that give bonus crit hit. Powers that work well are fire at will, beam overload (has 100% crit chance), tractor beam, directed energy modulation, and gravity well (bunch up the enemy, and cause warp core explosions to chain react through the group).
Here I am, once again, with another question. You guys have been absolutely amazing!
I've been looking to spend some money and I was wondering, is it better to just get a subscription or buy Zen to unlock ships.
I mean, you get the stipend and then you can refine more dilithium, which means you can get zen more quickly.
Is it also viable to farm dilithium to get zen or would that just take a long time.
Complex question, so be prepared to do some thinking about it. The short of it is that if you plan to subscribe long term the lifetime goes on sale once or twice a year and is a great deal. If you aren't sure, then a one month sub offers really a whole hell of a lot of stuff. BUT you gotta level from 19 to 50 or 60 with as many characters as possible in that one month to really capitalize on the bonus.
Without a sub, it is quite easy to earn zen if you are patient. First, when buying zen with cash, there are several 15% bonus specials every year. Second, everything goes on sale for purchase regularly and the devs give away stuff once or twice a year, one will happen soon at the anniversary.
As for dil to zen, the post delta rising average seems to hover near 155-160 dil to 1 zen (160:1). If you max out your 8k dil each day, keep 2k for yourself, give 1k to your fleet and buy zen with the rest. That's 31 zen a day, about 750 a month (assuming 24 days of play), or 9000 per year per character. More than the subscription stipend. If you don't earn that much dil, or if you keep more, then 2,000 a day buys 12.5 zen, which is 300 a month or 3600 a year.
Keep in mind that going the other way, working a job for $7.25/hr us dollars for just one hour buys 116,000 dilithium. A McDonald's small combo costs close to that after tax. Just for comparison. A more reasonable large meal is $9 or 144,000 dilithium. If you go the whole $10 perfect world gives you a bonus 150 zen.
Whatever your decision, unless you go lifetime or longterm subscription, absolutely spend 500 zen to unlock the energy credit cap per character. This is one of the most valuable things you can do. A single lucky drop can earn you more than the limit without this.
Complex question, so be prepared to do some thinking about it. The short of it is that if you plan to subscribe long term the lifetime goes on sale once or twice a year and is a great deal. If you aren't sure, then a one month sub offers really a whole hell of a lot of stuff. BUT you gotta level from 19 to 50 or 60 with as many characters as possible in that one month to really capitalize on the bonus.
Without a sub, it is quite easy to earn zen if you are patient. First, when buying zen with cash, there are several 15% bonus specials every year. Second, everything goes on sale for purchase regularly and the devs give away stuff once or twice a year, one will happen soon at the anniversary.
As for dil to zen, the post delta rising average seems to hover near 155-160 dil to 1 zen (160:1). If you max out your 8k dil each day, keep 2k for yourself, give 1k to your fleet and buy zen with the rest. That's 31 zen a day, about 750 a month (assuming 24 days of play), or 9000 per year per character. More than the subscription stipend. If you don't earn that much dil, or if you keep more, then 2,000 a day buys 12.5 zen, which is 300 a month or 3600 a year.
Keep in mind that going the other way, working a job for $7.25/hr us dollars for just one hour buys 116,000 dilithium. A McDonald's small combo costs close to that after tax. Just for comparison. A more reasonable large meal is $9 or 144,000 dilithium. Ifmypumgo the whole $10 perfect world gives you a bonus 150 zen.
Whatever your decision, unless you go lifetime or longterm subscription, absolutely spend 500 zen to unlock the energy credit cap per character. This is one of the most valuable things you can do. A single lucky drop can earn you more than the limit without this.
I already subscribed a while ago and apparently I do have access to a lot of the benefits, like the removed credit cap and such. It's a hard decision though, since there doesn't seem to be a really big benefit to subscribing over multiple months, unless you plan on playing the game a lot. Other than the dil cap I guess. Do you still get access to certain ships whilst leveling that you wouldn't otherwise get when you sub?
I also have 2 lvl 50's, and I'd like another one to fly a science ship. Just need 2000 zen to get a good one I guess. And then get the upgrades for it and for my romulan and klingon.
I already subscribed a while ago and apparently I do have access to a lot of the benefits, like the removed credit cap and such. It's a hard decision though, since there doesn't seem to be a really big benefit to subscribing over multiple months, unless you plan on playing the game a lot. Other than the dil cap I guess. Do you still get access to certain ships whilst leveling that you wouldn't otherwise get when you sub?
The extra ship at 50 is a veteran bonus that you keep once earned. No other bonus ships while leveling are given to subscribers that I am aware of. The ec cap is lost if your sub ends, so if you plan to drop your sub be sure to save up 500 zen so you can buy it once you are silver. So long as you are gold you cannot buy the increase.
Also, the bonus inventory, boff, bank, and ship slots along with the respect tokens, costume slots, costume change tokens, are all permanent, but new characters don't get them. Nor do existing characters who level up post going back to silver.
I not only have 13 characters I play, but I make new ones regularly for helping people, and to farm romulan boffs. So those/bonuses are handy to me. People who only have one or two will see much less benifit compared to me.
I got my lifetime sub long enough ago that not only have I saved compared to being a subscriber, but I paid $199 for it, and have received $170 in stipend zen. In August this year I will have received more stipend zen than I spent on the lifetime sub.
Subscribing does not make upgrades cheaper, but he lifetime/1,000-day veteran ship upgrades for free.
The extra ship at 50 is a veteran bonus that you keep once earned. No other bonus ships while leveling are given to subscribers that I am aware of. The ec cap is lost if your sub ends, so if you plan to drop your sub be sure to save up 500 zen so you can buy it once you are silver. So long as you are gold you cannot buy the increase.
Also, the bonus inventory, boff, bank, and ship slots along with the respect tokens, costume slots, costume change tokens, are all permanent, but new characters don't get them. Nor do existing characters who level up post going back to silver.
I not only have 13 characters I play, but I make new ones regularly for helping people, and to farm romulan boffs. So those/bonuses are handy to me. People who only have one or two will see much less benifit compared to me.
I got my lifetime sub long enough ago that not only have I saved compared to being a subscriber, but I paid $199 for it, and have received $170 in stipend zen. In August this year I will have received more stipend zen than I spent on the lifetime sub.
Subscribing does not make upgrades cheaper, but he lifetime/1,000-day veteran ship upgrades for free.
So the best way to go about it, would be to not spend any money right now and wait until they do some sort of deal.
So the best way to go about it, would be to not spend any money right now and wait until they do some sort of deal.
We're a few weeks from the anniversary. Best to see a few/things:
1. What is the anniversary ship, and are the dyson destroyers making a return?
2. Is there a give a way, and what ships are included?
3. Is there a zen or ship sale?
Especially since they are releasing command specialization for t6 ships, it is likely that the free ship will have a minor command seat just like the winter carrier has Intel.
Also you specifically want a science ship and with the anniversary they are finally releasing secondary deflectors.
Post these reveals, you'll be positioned to make the best decision and not get hit with buyers remorse a week later.
In the long run, its wise to buy zen in big chunks rather than small chunks because of the bonus zen. If you time this for promos, then only spend it during sales you can maximize your in-game stuff. But sometimes there's just that thing you really want now. I try to keep 1500 zen on hand for those times.
We're a few weeks from the anniversary. Best to see a few/things:
1. What is the anniversary ship, and are the dyson destroyers making a return?
2. Is there a give a way, and what ships are included?
3. Is there a zen or ship sale?
Especially since they are releasing command specialization for t6 ships, it is likely that the free ship will have a minor command seat just like the winter carrier has Intel.
Also you specifically want a science ship and with the anniversary they are finally releasing secondary deflectors.
Post these reveals, you'll be positioned to make the best decision and not get hit with buyers remorse a week later.
The heavy bio-molecular phaser turret (the one from the reputation project, not from the store) - can I equip more than one of those? The wiki is silent on the matter.
I'm almost 99% sure you can only slot 1 phaser turret. In fact I think it actually says it on the actual turret. I have been told before that you can slot 1 Bio Phaser and 1 Bio Disrupter turret on the same ship but would lose some dps doing that. If you do use the phaser turret also take the torpedo and the free tac console with the set. A lot of great synergy with this set and you gain a bonus BOFF Power.
Hey all!
I just hit level 40 and I have a few questions.
I am a tac captain and I really enjoyed escorts. I am currently flying the defiant with all beam arrays and 1 torpedo.
Now there is a big choice of ships now to choose from which one should I use my token on?
I was thinking about one of the escorts, or the light cruiser.
Are escort/carriers viable later in the game? I would really like to get the fleet one!
Also when weapons say "-10 power when firing with other weapons" does that refer to weapons of other energy type? say i can fire 6 plasma arrays no problem. Or does it refer to if I fire cannon and beams together?
I am also way behind in the story for my level. Shall I skip missions until I get to the episodes that are made for my level?
I know a lot of questions, just answer which ever ones you like/know. Thanks alot and happy gaming!
Comments
Should I stop "wasting" skill training on these guys and buy up purples? As a Romulan Engineer what should I be replacing them with?
Like the neutronic from delta rep, or the gravimetric from dyson rep.
Tetryons are mathematically the weakest of all weapons, however that weakness is not particularly huge. Still, it is best to focus on other types of damage, pretty much all of them will help take down your enemy's shields faster than the tetryon bonus will, and once the shields are down the tetryon is useless while all other weapons still at least do something. That said, if you have a solid build and know how to use your ship, you can absolutely complete all content and contribute to teams in hard missions using tetryons. I do recommend the refracting kind once you get access to them.
As for turrets, they are great in your rear weapon slots for fast turning ships, and horrible up frontfor every ship. Slow turning ships do better with beams both front and back and firing broadsides.
Tanks are utterly unneeded in this game. Cryptic does not support, nor build for the "holy trinity". There is no need for healers nor for tanks. You can build an indestructible ship, but you will never be able to get or hold aggro as a tank does in other games. In star trek online, just like in the TV show, every ship has to be able to survive its own aggro. And you get aggro by dealing damage, not by taunting. Thus the model/of the low damage high survivability tank does not work here. There are some very tanky cruiser builds that do enough damage to hold aggro for a while. Those can be a lot of fun. But you're building for damage, not for survival in most of those cases.
The key to those builds are the emergency power to X abilities. Especially shields and weapons. Built right, you can keep both your shields and weapons buffed permanently. These used to be called dragon or drake builds, now people just use the powers as standard. Look for blue orpurple damage control engineers. You can have three active and there are several variations. One version reduces the cool down of all emergency power abilities. Another gives you a buff to all power levels whenever you use any emergency power. The t6 guardian cruiser also has a great power to recharge engineer abilities fast. With enough recharge you can rotate one copy of each. With less recharge you need two copies.
Next, look at "directed energy modulation" this engineering power gives bonus damage plus shield penetration at the same/time.
On the tactical side you want three powers, ideally. Tactical team one to give a damage buff at the same time it balances your shields for bonus survival. This also maxes your shield heals because those hit all four sides and normally enemies only take one down, so three fourths of a heal gets lost. Once tactical team balances your shields then you pop your heal and there's room for points on all four sides. Beam fire at will gives you great aoe, but it also let's you shoot one enemy more than usual. Finally pick an attack pattern. Delta seems exactly like your ideal as it gives you bonus damage resistance plus anyone who shoots you takes extra damage from you and all your team mates. Beta is just bonus damage for your whole team, and omega gives you turn speed, immunity to tractor beams, and bonus damage all in one. There's no wrong choice. If you use torpedoes, go for a spread power rather than high yield if you have any slots left.
From the science side, work to increase your survival until you get some Lt. Commander slots, then consider gravity well for offense. You absolutely want hazard emitters for the hull heal, but it also clears damage over time effects. Science team or transfer shield strength both are great options for a shield heal. Polarize hull gives you resistance, plus immunity to tractor beams. If you have any engineer slots left, consider eject warp plasma, rotate shields, or aux2structural.
That is the core to a survivable cruiser with plenty of damage.
Check your roster, you can change it to show only purple quality to make it easier to find him. If you do not have him at all, and cannot double click on the box to get him, then you need to file a support ticket.
It depends on your resources and goals. If you are good at earning energy credits, then there are plenty of great purple quality officers to pick from.
In general, ground is much easier than space so most player only care about space traits on boffs. As a romulan you want one with superior subterfuge (this doesn't stack so you only care about one), at least one with infiltrator or superior infiltrator, and as many with superior romulan operative as possible. D'vex is special, he has the veteran ability which is otherwise only available on veteran boffs that aren't available anymore. So even though he is green some people like to keep him.
If you don't have enough energy credits to afford those ideal officers, don't sweat it, just use the ones you get for free and save up over time. Everything is changing in a few weeks when the new system goes live anyway.
I'll attach a picture, just to be sure. I checked my complete roster, and he is nowhere to be found there. I click on "Request more duty officers" And his box is there, but nothing happens when I dbl click it, or hit the open button.
http://i.imgur.com/xfbv62q.png?1
In general I think it is best to re-learn the game as if you knew nothing about it. Pretty much everything has changed, but the 1-60 game has taught plenty of people who never played any other mmo how stuff works. The key things it fails on are ship builds and duty officers. Once you get to 40 or if you hit a big snag, post help in the shipyard subforums or here and someone will set you right.
If you want to experience the whole story you need a minimum of three characters, one fed, one kdf an one romulan. Many people find having extra characters to help earn dilithium is a benefit. Many people also find that post 60 they prefer to focus on just one character. I still enjoy all 13 of mine and find the game vastly more friendly to multiple characters than others I have played. I don't think you'll find a big advantage in one dedicated cruiser character, one escort etc, with the exception that science ship pilots need different skills depending on build. For anyone who primarily kills with guns the skill layout is similar enough that you can hop from cruiser to escort to raider to carrier and be fine. Science ships (not necessarily science captains) you may want a dedicated character.
It is mostly not the romulan ships, but rather the romulan officers. Romulan get three space traits that are vastly better than anyone else (subterfuge, infiltrator, operative) and the enormous damage boost from them makes romulan outperform everyone else. That said, the scimitar still holds the overall record for highest damage of any ship. Though all this will change in three weeks when the anniversary hits and the new commander class ships come out.
If the box is not in your overflow bag then you need to file a support ticket. That's the only thing I can think would block you from claiming him.
Unless... Check your missions, did you turn in that mission yet?
Thanks for that!
I'll probably start lvling up a science officer, since that's the only one I don't have yet. It's a shame that I'm unable to use federation ships as a romulan, but I guess I'll end up making my engineer or tact fly a science ship and the other one fly cruisers and escorts. I remember playing as a klingon was rather a dull leveling experience when the game was released. I did read they updated the storylines rather heavily, so I should probably give them another shot.
Anyways, thanks, you've been a great help!
You will find that the Klingon experience is quite good now. Right out the door you get a story arc featuring worf and they did get Michael dorm to do the voice acting. You also get to punch a ferengi unconscious, and earn a permanent combat pet mastiff from rural penthe.
I don't seem to be able to upgrade my Multi-Mission Strategic Explorer.
I have three Upgrade Requisitions but when I click on the "Complete Upgrade" button nothing happens.
Any hints?
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Heh..
I'm standing right next to the one on ESD.
I've got that window open when I do it but nothing happens.
I figured it out... You have to have the Upgrade Token in your Inventory, NOT your Bank for it to work.
Thanks for answering my question though.
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
I will then move away from torps for now . I have done some more research and now concidering max dps and not a tank as per your suggestion.
So i am looking at concentrating on anti proton beams all round. Maybe have one torp and one kinetic cutting beam for hull damage.
What you think?
Thank you. I will most likely go for broadsiding as i love the heavy, that turns like a buss without wheels, cruisers. So you reckon beams all around will then be better? And ensure my boffs are configured properly?
I am still learning to boffs is a completely different ball game.
Out of all the beam weapons which is best all rounder for shields and hull damage?
Yes beams all around is currently the king for damage. A few/of my ships run one torpedo for its special effect. For example, I have a build that specializes in gravity wells an uses a torp that causes some. It is less damage, but it is fun and still very effective.
On damage types the only real consideration is solo or teamed. Solo, antiproton is top, plasma is very close second. Teamed romulan plasma, or disruptor take the lead even over antiproton.
Plasma (all versions) do a hull burn over time and there are fleet science consoles to boost the damage higher than just tactical consoles alone can.
Romulan plasma and disruptor get a chance to lower your targets armor (resistance). This causes all of your attacks, but also all of your teammate's attacks to do more damage. As a special note, this is one of the very few ways to buff fighter damage if you fly a carrier.
All other types are for special purpose builds. For example phaser and polar on for science drain builds. It is recommended to avoid thoron infused polar on and tetryon for all ships unless you really know what you are doing as their abilities are inherently weaker than all others and you will have to make up that lost power somewhere else.
On a similar note, among the s ience powers NEVER use tachyon beam. The damage it deals is insignificant, and in fact is lower than the damage from a tractor/beam with doff that gives it shield drains. Also a tractor beam will drop your enemy defense to zero giving you auto hit and nearly 100% crit. Tachyon beam is never worth using in its current form.
Yes and no. You can get to 40 that way. At 40 you need to hop to a cross faction ship. May I recommend either the winter ship the pleshbrek raider, or the kazon raider you can get off the auctionhouse very cheap. Both upgrade to 5u (the pleshbrek for free) both have excellent weapon and officer combinations, but more importantly both are raiders meaning bonus damage when you are behind your foe. 30% more in the case of the pleshbrek.
If you have more resources the hazari destroyer is a tier 6 ship that fits your style.
There are a couple warbirds that are fast,mount heavy cannons, and play like an escort even if you don't use the cloak. Check out the mirror tvaro and the arkif tactical warbird. You might find you like them.
I do love the singularity powers. Fly up blasting away with heavy cannons, at 0.5k pop singularity jump leaving a rift doing more damage while you turn and only have turrets firing.
so I went antiproton and at only 2 aft and 2 foreward and MkII they are really potent! And love the read color beam!
now what is the best to have for the beams buff? x2dam, crit, acc? etc?
I currently run a combination of damage and acc buffs added by my weapons. I run very rare and all my beams have 3 buffs?
ANd what skills is best for antir proton from an engineering pov and cruiser build?
and how do I use the projected singularity?? cant seem to find how to use it....
here is my new ship layout and officer status
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg156/HannesNel/boffstatus_zps0fbce51f.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg156/HannesNel/shipstatus_zpsed0dea5b.jpg
I've been looking to spend some money and I was wondering, is it better to just get a subscription or buy Zen to unlock ships.
I mean, you get the stipend and then you can refine more dilithium, which means you can get zen more quickly.
Is it also viable to farm dilithium to get zen or would that just take a long time.
The projected singularity is only available on the ddridex warbird or via lockbox. If you have the console you put it on your ship, then hit hotkey "p" to get a list of powers. Drag the icon o to your power tray and click when you want to use it. Keep in mind that it shares cool down with gravity well. Also it always fires straight ahead of your ship, and always perfectly flat to the map, never at an angle. Takes a bit of practice to learn how to use reliably.
For mods, the current gear options favor as much critd on guns as possible, with one (or two) of the following: acc, crith, pen. Avoid over and dmg at all costs. Pretend they are bugged to be penalties.
Look for consoles that give bonus crit hit. Powers that work well are fire at will, beam overload (has 100% crit chance), tractor beam, directed energy modulation, and gravity well (bunch up the enemy, and cause warp core explosions to chain react through the group).
Complex question, so be prepared to do some thinking about it. The short of it is that if you plan to subscribe long term the lifetime goes on sale once or twice a year and is a great deal. If you aren't sure, then a one month sub offers really a whole hell of a lot of stuff. BUT you gotta level from 19 to 50 or 60 with as many characters as possible in that one month to really capitalize on the bonus.
Without a sub, it is quite easy to earn zen if you are patient. First, when buying zen with cash, there are several 15% bonus specials every year. Second, everything goes on sale for purchase regularly and the devs give away stuff once or twice a year, one will happen soon at the anniversary.
As for dil to zen, the post delta rising average seems to hover near 155-160 dil to 1 zen (160:1). If you max out your 8k dil each day, keep 2k for yourself, give 1k to your fleet and buy zen with the rest. That's 31 zen a day, about 750 a month (assuming 24 days of play), or 9000 per year per character. More than the subscription stipend. If you don't earn that much dil, or if you keep more, then 2,000 a day buys 12.5 zen, which is 300 a month or 3600 a year.
Keep in mind that going the other way, working a job for $7.25/hr us dollars for just one hour buys 116,000 dilithium. A McDonald's small combo costs close to that after tax. Just for comparison. A more reasonable large meal is $9 or 144,000 dilithium. If you go the whole $10 perfect world gives you a bonus 150 zen.
Whatever your decision, unless you go lifetime or longterm subscription, absolutely spend 500 zen to unlock the energy credit cap per character. This is one of the most valuable things you can do. A single lucky drop can earn you more than the limit without this.
I already subscribed a while ago and apparently I do have access to a lot of the benefits, like the removed credit cap and such. It's a hard decision though, since there doesn't seem to be a really big benefit to subscribing over multiple months, unless you plan on playing the game a lot. Other than the dil cap I guess. Do you still get access to certain ships whilst leveling that you wouldn't otherwise get when you sub?
I also have 2 lvl 50's, and I'd like another one to fly a science ship. Just need 2000 zen to get a good one I guess. And then get the upgrades for it and for my romulan and klingon.
Does subscribing make upgrading cheaper?
The extra ship at 50 is a veteran bonus that you keep once earned. No other bonus ships while leveling are given to subscribers that I am aware of. The ec cap is lost if your sub ends, so if you plan to drop your sub be sure to save up 500 zen so you can buy it once you are silver. So long as you are gold you cannot buy the increase.
Also, the bonus inventory, boff, bank, and ship slots along with the respect tokens, costume slots, costume change tokens, are all permanent, but new characters don't get them. Nor do existing characters who level up post going back to silver.
I not only have 13 characters I play, but I make new ones regularly for helping people, and to farm romulan boffs. So those/bonuses are handy to me. People who only have one or two will see much less benifit compared to me.
I got my lifetime sub long enough ago that not only have I saved compared to being a subscriber, but I paid $199 for it, and have received $170 in stipend zen. In August this year I will have received more stipend zen than I spent on the lifetime sub.
Subscribing does not make upgrades cheaper, but he lifetime/1,000-day veteran ship upgrades for free.
So the best way to go about it, would be to not spend any money right now and wait until they do some sort of deal.
We're a few weeks from the anniversary. Best to see a few/things:
1. What is the anniversary ship, and are the dyson destroyers making a return?
2. Is there a give a way, and what ships are included?
3. Is there a zen or ship sale?
Especially since they are releasing command specialization for t6 ships, it is likely that the free ship will have a minor command seat just like the winter carrier has Intel.
Also you specifically want a science ship and with the anniversary they are finally releasing secondary deflectors.
Post these reveals, you'll be positioned to make the best decision and not get hit with buyers remorse a week later.
In the long run, its wise to buy zen in big chunks rather than small chunks because of the bonus zen. If you time this for promos, then only spend it during sales you can maximize your in-game stuff. But sometimes there's just that thing you really want now. I try to keep 1500 zen on hand for those times.
I'll do that then! Thanks man
I just hit level 40 and I have a few questions.
I am a tac captain and I really enjoyed escorts. I am currently flying the defiant with all beam arrays and 1 torpedo.
Now there is a big choice of ships now to choose from which one should I use my token on?
I was thinking about one of the escorts, or the light cruiser.
Are escort/carriers viable later in the game? I would really like to get the fleet one!
Also when weapons say "-10 power when firing with other weapons" does that refer to weapons of other energy type? say i can fire 6 plasma arrays no problem. Or does it refer to if I fire cannon and beams together?
I am also way behind in the story for my level. Shall I skip missions until I get to the episodes that are made for my level?
I know a lot of questions, just answer which ever ones you like/know. Thanks alot and happy gaming!