We will be bringing down the Tribble server for maintenance to apply a new update: ST.45.20140928a.1
Ships:
- Renamed Aquarius Destroyer to Aquarius Light Escort.
- Improved its base hull value from 24,000 to 25,500.
- Improved its shield modifier from 0.85 to 0.9.
- Improved its turn rate from 17 to 20.
- Improved its impulse speed from 0.15 to 0.22.
- Added Raider Flanking, allowing it to gain a damage bonus when attacking a targets' rear arc.
- +25% Damage vs. NPCs, +8.33% Damage vs. Players.
- Can now equip Console - Universal - Cloaking Device.
- All seats, except Commander Tactical, have been upgraded to be Universal.
- Renamed Fleet Aquarius Destroyer to Fleet Aquarius Light Escort.
- Improved its base hull value from 26,400 to 28,050.
- Improved its shield modifier from 0.935 to 0.99.
- Improved its turn rate from 17 to 20.
- Improved its impulse speed from 0.15 to 0.22.
- Added Raider Flanking, allowing it to gain a damage bonus when attacking a targets' rear arc.
- +25% Damage vs. NPCs, +8.33% Damage vs. Players.
- Can now equip Starfleet Cloaking Device.
- All seats, except Commander Tactical, have been upgraded to be Universal.
- T5-U versions of this starship will benefit from the improvements above.
- Fleet Aquarius Light Escort [T5-U].
- This starship now has the Raider Starship Mastery package:
- Level 1: Precise Weapon Systems (+Accuracy)
- Level 2: Tactical Maneuver (+Defense)
- Level 3: Enhanced Weapon Systems (+Damage)
- Level 4: Enhanced Weapon Banks (+Crit Severity)
Comments
Otherwise that ship needed to be revisited, and the changes do make sense.
Still, feds being feds 99% of them wont have any idea how to fly it.
Well, some will know how to use it. But eventually, the Honeymoon of being married to a "Raider" will end for the majority out there.
Case in point: Breen Raider.
During the Winter Event, these things were everywhere. Then people realized how flimsy they are. Now? When was the last time you saw a Breen Raider? Statistically, it is a very fine "Raider" and better in that role than the KDF BOPs, IMHO. But nobody flies it anymore. The same will happen with the Aquarius Raider, though you may see them more than you did the Breen ship simply because it's easier to get the Aquarius than the much more limited access to the Breen one.
Consider that most players' idea of doing proper DPS is parking their ship in front of the enemy and blaze away, they will find their lives very short in a Raider. The funny thing is, a Raider's ideal play is in Hit & Run tactics, which does NOT necessarily mean good DPS :cool:
Edit to add: For once, I'm not bothered with this.
So, the Aquarius features better hull, better shields, and better impulse mod, better crew than every BoP except B'rels, an extra ens. Boff slot, 2 extra devices, better or equal inertia...
Essentially it is better in every way that matters to how BoPs actually work. That is annoying.
ETA - and it isn't just the Aquarius, the Vesta, Nebula and D'Kyr are getting buffs as well. FFS.
I give it 2 years tops
Any news on the valdore-console-for-feds lockbox yet?
Can you say that you're really suprised by this OP? I know I'm not and I assume you're not either. What else would you expect from the clowns running this circus? No, I'm not suprised. I knew this would happen some 4 to 6 months ago, if you dig through threads around here you'll even find a post of me discussing it.
This doesn't mean squat to me anyway, besides Cryptic failing yet again to provide a quality gaming experience. Trully as a KDF I couldn't care less anymore. PvP is more dead to me that it has ever been, especially since the removal of blue vs. red and it's only Ker'rat left....and well, with all the lockbox TRIBBLE going on in Ker'rat anyway this won't change my hunting approach on the rare ocassions I decide to PvP.
I couldn't care less what Feds have anymore, it's evident that they have to have everything since greed is running the game now. Like others, I fully expect Federation singularity cores next year. The silver lining here being that we have nothing left to give, so in the future we won't be annoyed with boneheaded moves like this one. Feel sorry for the Romulans though, their "stripping" has only begun with the last lockbox.
For me this is actually influencing the Fed. faction in a more negative way than the KDF to be honest. With cloakng raiders, spiky black hull TRON ships, missions given by S31, etc. the faction doesn't even resemble anything like Starfleet from ST anymore. Not that STO was really much of a ST game anyway.
It's painfully obvious that Cryptic is incompetent to provide a full and engaging gaming experience in a Star Trek environment. This game is nothing more than CoH/CO with a Star Trek skin. It's a one faction game pretendng to have 3 factions.
Decisions like these are the reason why I don't spend a dime of my own money on STO anymore, except KDF items because of this damned attachment to the faction and wanting to help the KDF get some more stuff in the future. Besides KDF gets stuff to buy like what, 1 per year? So it's not that big of a deal. With several much better space sci-fi titles around the corner, I wonder how long even that will hold on. And I used to invest in STO, I had a sub running, bought stuff. That ended with the S8 fiasco and will probably not happen ever again, especially under the current management.
The saddest thing of all is just how much potential is wasted on Cryptic. They had the opportunity to have a goldmine with this IP. To have a big engaging game with strong fanatical support. Not a WoW killer, since WoW seems to be in a league of it's own, but surely enough to beat the next best thing. And what do they do? Waste it out of sheer incompetence.
The engine is not STO's problem. The interafce is not STO's problem. The basic gameplay mechanics are not STO's problem. The terrible decision making is what is where the game fails. Not that I could expect much more from them, Cryptic are after all the experts in failiure. They create the image they want to have for their company and if they're satisfied to be the joke of the industry, then.....*shrugs*
Do you by any chance have a link (about Vesta/Nebula/D'Kyr) for those of us that are too lazy to dig themselves?
Yep: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1238751
Right under the bit where Feds get a ship similar to a Fleet Hegh'ta, but before the bit where all uni consoles of 3 minute or longer cooldowns are reduced to 2 minutes. (which is even more frakking broken)
The Aquarius was a laughable joke before, inferior to just about every other Fed escort in the game. Now at least it's interesting and unique.
Very bad assumption.
At Fleet T5-U, an Aquarius will be superior to every BoP at being a BoP.
Thanks. Meh not much to see here, except the best sci. ship getting even better for some reason. Saying that as someone owning and activelly using the 3-pack. I'm happy for the D'Kyr though, Surak knows that ship needed some love.
Oh, that's no gauda! LOL
Officially wellcome to the age of cheese!
+0.03 Hull Mod
+0.11 Shield Mod
-25 Crew (yes, with the borked crew system lesser is better)
+1 Eng Console
-1 Sci Console
-1 Turn
+0.02 Impulse Mod
+10 Inertia
+Slottable Federation Cloaking Device (uses console slot, separate purchase)
-Battle Cloak
-Improved Ambush? (assumption)
X, X, X, X
X, X, X
X, X
X, X
X
vs.
X, X, X, X
X, X, X
X, X
X, X
Fleet Aquarius Light Escort vs. Fleet Norgh Bird-of-Prey
+0.03 Hull Mod
+0.11 Shield Mod
-25 Crew (yes, with the borked crew system lesser is better)
+1 Tac Console
+1 Eng Console
-1 Sci Console
-2 Turn
+0.02 Impulse Mod
+10 Inertia
+Slottable Federation Cloaking Device (uses console slot, separate purchase)
-Battle Cloak
-Improved Ambush? (assumption)
X, X, X, X
X, X, X
X, X
X, X
X
vs.
X, X, X, X
X, X, X
X, X, X
X, X
Fleet Aquarius Light Destroyer vs. Fleet B'rel Bird-of-Prey Retrofit
+0.03 Hull Mod
+0.11 Shield Mod
+20 Crew (yes, with the borked crew system more is a bad thing)
+1 Tac Console
-1 Sci Console
-3 Turn
+0.02 Impulse Mod
+Slottable Federation Cloaking Device (uses console slot, separate purchase)
-Enhanced Battle Cloak
-Improved Ambush? (assumption)
X, X, X, X
X, X, X
X, X
X, X
X
vs.
X, X, X, X
X, X, X
X, X
X, X
Fleet Aquarius Light Escort vs. Breen Plesh Brek Heavy Raider
-0.055 Hull Mod
+0.11 Shield Mod
-1 Tac Console
+2 Eng Console
-1 Sci Console
+1 Turn
+0.01 Impulse Mod
+5 Inertia
+Slottable Federation Cloaking Device (uses console slot, separate purchase)
-Breen Sensor Disruption Field Console
(same BOFF layout)
I'd be all rawr and whatnot, but Cryptic beat me back with the T6 ship stuff...2-3 weeks back I deleted all my KDF and rolled a Fed Klingon.
Yes it has that too :
"Added Raider Flanking, allowing it to gain a damage bonus when attacking a targets' rear arc.
+25% Damage vs. NPCs, +8.33% Damage vs. Players." values are similar to bop flanking
The fact that it has a fixed tac commander slot means nothing since 99% of bop have to use anyway a tac commander if they want to have spike damage.
New aquarius will be a interesting ship that has the potential to hit hard and run swiftly
About giving to Fed a cloaked raider ............................
I refuse to be content https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwI0u9L4R8U
No, Improved Ambush is not the Raider Flanking. KDF Raiders have better Ambush damage than other vessels.
Standard Ambush: +15%
Subterfuge Ambush: +25%
Improved Ambush: +25%
Superior Subterfuge Improved Ambush: +40%
We're out of ships... Thx Captain Geko and his Cryptic goons...
In First Strikes from cloak BoP's have an advantage...
But just about everything else the Aquarius is superior to BoP's in open combat conditions statistically...
BoP's slight Turn Rate advantage does not mean nothing with all the Turn Rate consoles and traits buff's that is out in STO now and into the near future.
What matters in pvp for defense is Shields and Speed... Which the Aquarius is superior to BoP's in both area's...
Another opportunity for the KDF faction to bend over and get shafted.
At least this is being done on Tribble first, which means KDF players will have a chance to apply some lube.
EDIT: Just saw it's getting 5th tac console too wtf....
On the one hand, yes the Aquarius needed some kind of upgrade. It was obsolete when introduced because of the pathetic hull rating. Almost nobody used it. Its main claim was uni boff seats, back before there were uni boff seats in every other ship. It needed a fix.
However this is redonkulous! They gave it the admittedly OP boff seating of the Plesh Brek and a major stats boost on top.
I mean... WOW. Just... WOW. The only way to top it would be make the cloak integrated, or make it a BC, or give it 2x LtCDRs like the FPER.
On the other hand... as far as PvP goes? Meh. Battlecloaks make the ship, IMO. Roms all have them. Intel T6 ships will have them. This?
I'll be honest. I have the Gal-X. I have the Defiant. I have the Avenger. I use the cloaking module on all of them at different times. It's nice in PvE for manuevering, for tactical placement of yourself as you decloak. It avoids certain situations and makes you life easier.
HOWEVER, I've also flown my KDF's Hegh'Ta for quite a while and that BC makes a massively different style of combat. Without a BC the Aquarius will just be another OP escort. It's not going to replace any BoPs just yet.
I also remember them swearing on a stack of bibles that the Bridge officer layout and console layout on the Galaxy could not be changed because of programming. Remember everyone said it was just to underpowered for its class and people wanted the Lt Comm boff station changed from Eng to Tac. Cryptic said it was impossible to do. Now look, they have change the boff layout and Console layout of every ship in the game.
Bottom Line... YOU Can't trust anything they say. They will look you right in the eye and lie without cracking a smile. In the words of good old Garak...thier insidious.
Phantom - Cloak
Eclipse - Cloak
Scryer - Cloak
Qib - Battle Cloak
Faeht - Enhanced Battle Cloak
As for the Roms, neither the R'Mor nor Talvath even have a cloak (copypasta Temporal Sci/Destroyer stuff)...but yeah, everything else.
"Of course you can have x. It's available KDF side, by doing x."
Since it's not happening now, it never will. Sad.
If the Feds were to surrender already, then none of this would be a problem!