Is is just the last run I was in or are other people having trouble with the Elite Crystalline Entity thingy?
I was re-spawning pretty much right on top of the thing, and before i could get moving or target something I was one shotted and sent to limbo land again.
A Trill, a Gorn, a Jem'Hadar, Bejoran and a Voth walk into a bar, and the Bartender asks "What is this a Joke?"
"Nope, just my away team" the trill replies before ordering a round for the bar.
The CE does move, albeit slowly, and I have seen it get right up to the spawn area on bad runs.
Usually this kind of thing happens when the CE isn't getting it's levels of Crystalize stripped down quickly enough (or even at all), once that gets high enough it's healing quickly, one-shotting ships left and right and will typically last long enough to move some significant distance. It usually has a ton of crystal shards floating around at that point, too, which do a lot of damage, distract people from the CE, and generate more small shards to generate more healing and stack of Crystalization for the CE. One that gets rolling, it's a monster.
Personally, I haven't seen this in a while but lately we've had some runs with very few science ships in the mix which are almost vital to taking the CE down.
I think I was the only one on that run who had Tachyon Beam. I just couldn't get close enough to it to use it. To many dang shards buzzing around.
Wait... Does the tachyon weapons work like the Sci ability and strip the Entity?
A Trill, a Gorn, a Jem'Hadar, Bejoran and a Voth walk into a bar, and the Bartender asks "What is this a Joke?"
"Nope, just my away team" the trill replies before ordering a round for the bar.
The difficulty of CE is going to depend on the two groups you end up with...
It could be a walk in the park on a sunny day with a cool breeze.
It could be a run in the park on a stormy night with a pack of rabid dogs chasing you.
If you don't have the folks chaining the Grav Wells to keep the Shards near the Entity, then the folks flying around without a care in the world are going to feed the Entity over and over. If you don't have the folks draining the Entity, then those folks flying around without a care in the world that are going to feed the Entity over and over again are going to cause folks to get shredded.
Curious thing, I'm wondering if anybody's noticed - perhaps it's obvious and I'm just asleep at the keyboard - but have you noticed that as the Entity buffs, so too do the Tholians?
Basically, the instance punishes stu...er...folks flying around without a care in the world.
it was very much a Fool Fight and I ended up rage quitting when half the team quit with no warning. Which was a first for me.
Ended up stripping my obelisk carrier down, fitting it with the Nukay space set, Refracting tetryon weapons and Runabouts and Flyers, as well as purple quality armor and Biofunction Monitor. Worked like a charm, though ti still needs some tweaks.
A Trill, a Gorn, a Jem'Hadar, Bejoran and a Voth walk into a bar, and the Bartender asks "What is this a Joke?"
"Nope, just my away team" the trill replies before ordering a round for the bar.
The only issue I have with CCE (Crystalline Catastrophe Elite) is that it no longer rewards 960 dilithium since season 9 started. It only rewards 480 so I do not see a reason to play CCE at all unless Cryptic fixed that issue in the past 7 days.
My Torp'Varo with Grav Well does pretty well, though I had one yesterday where the CE must've been buffed through the ceiling because it was one shotting me through PH, HE and A2SIF. I noticed almost as soon as the fight started that the group's DPS was poor and the thing was probably going to be a circus.
Comments
Usually this kind of thing happens when the CE isn't getting it's levels of Crystalize stripped down quickly enough (or even at all), once that gets high enough it's healing quickly, one-shotting ships left and right and will typically last long enough to move some significant distance. It usually has a ton of crystal shards floating around at that point, too, which do a lot of damage, distract people from the CE, and generate more small shards to generate more healing and stack of Crystalization for the CE. One that gets rolling, it's a monster.
Personally, I haven't seen this in a while but lately we've had some runs with very few science ships in the mix which are almost vital to taking the CE down.
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
I think I was the only one on that run who had Tachyon Beam. I just couldn't get close enough to it to use it. To many dang shards buzzing around.
Wait... Does the tachyon weapons work like the Sci ability and strip the Entity?
"Nope, just my away team" the trill replies before ordering a round for the bar.
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
It could be a walk in the park on a sunny day with a cool breeze.
It could be a run in the park on a stormy night with a pack of rabid dogs chasing you.
If you don't have the folks chaining the Grav Wells to keep the Shards near the Entity, then the folks flying around without a care in the world are going to feed the Entity over and over. If you don't have the folks draining the Entity, then those folks flying around without a care in the world that are going to feed the Entity over and over again are going to cause folks to get shredded.
Curious thing, I'm wondering if anybody's noticed - perhaps it's obvious and I'm just asleep at the keyboard - but have you noticed that as the Entity buffs, so too do the Tholians?
Basically, the instance punishes stu...er...folks flying around without a care in the world.
Ended up stripping my obelisk carrier down, fitting it with the Nukay space set, Refracting tetryon weapons and Runabouts and Flyers, as well as purple quality armor and Biofunction Monitor. Worked like a charm, though ti still needs some tweaks.
"Nope, just my away team" the trill replies before ordering a round for the bar.
I run it with all disruptor cannons, but reading this thread....it makes me think I could be doing better.
Typically I come in second or third in damage. A few times I managed to snag first.
What is optimum to have when running CE? As a group that is. Like a few science ships...a few cannon boats...
What are your thoughts?
Torpedo boats and sci vessels spamming Tachyon beam and gravity wells...that's optimum
And if you want to come in first more. Throw all your heals on teammates that need them. Team heals give you a ton of points
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree