I just returned after a 2+ year hiatus and I curious about where you can buy Vice Admiral or higher level weapons and equipment. It seems like the exchange is pretty picked over. Also is their a good tutorial on how the new R&D system works?
Generally you buy Mk12 off the Exchange, though if you want something very specific and popular (crtd*3 antiproton weapons for example) its more cost effective to look for the mods you want at a lower mark and then upgrade it yourself. Mk13 and 14 gear you likewise generally need to upgrade to that level yourself as its rarely on the Exchange and very very expensive when it is.
As for the crafting system I don't know of any good tutorials but its not that hard. You don't need to be skilled to use upgrades so you don't have to worry there, just buy the Superior Upgrade kits, spend the dil, and go. To actually craft stuff you need to boost your skill to get better results, as mods are randomized and quality comes from better crits like a doff mission. The best way to level up is the "Research Project - <school> Technology' at the bottom of each school which is a daily 20-hour project and gives 6k xp to that school and only needs a single common material to run. When you get a school to 15, you also can unlock a special item in that school (wide-angle beam arrays, special sci consoles, etc), but those require a lot of mats and a specialized specific doff and isn't usually cost-effective a project unless you get into a dedicated crafting assembly-line. At 15 you also unlock a special trait related to that school like a small bonus to beam damage when using beam skills, or a HUGE increase to crit chances for certain science skills, to the point that a lot of people level up the schools just for the trait unlock. Getting to level 15 does mean 630xp in that school, but you can slot up to 3 a day in any particular school, so you could get something to 15 in 35 days if you dedicated yourself to it. It might sound a little screwy but just take a stab at it and you'll understand very quickly.
I just returned after a 2+ year hiatus and I curious about where you can buy Vice Admiral or higher level weapons and equipment. It seems like the exchange is pretty picked over. Also is their a good tutorial on how the new R&D system works?
What exactly are you looking for?
You can get most ship items (Engines, Deflectors, Shields, Warp Cores, etc) from replaying missions. The mission 'A Step Between Stars' rewards a purple Mark 12 item each replay (Solenae Set) which is pretty good.
You can get some of the consoles through replay and through the exchange both. Beams/Cannons most people usually just buy from the Exchange. You can pick up some Green or even White Mark 12s that will get you buy for a while. You can buy much better beams/cannons through the Reputation system using Dilithium or you can craft them through R&D system.
As for reputation system tutorial, believe it or not, it's not complex enough to require one. If you look under your R&D Tab you'll see each different category (Beams, Shields, Science, etc.) Before you can really make anything of value, you will have to level up your skill in that area. If you select a school and then scroll to the bottom you'll see a 20 hour project that you can run that awards 6k experience to that school. Select that project and let it run. You can slot the project up to 3 times in any one school. At first, you'll only have 1 or 2 slots to run projects, but as you level up it will unlock more slots.
Once you get to level 15 you can start making end game gear. Most people make gear at Mark 2 since it's guaranteed to be a purple rarity if you're level 15. If you like the mods on it, then you upgrade it, if not then you throw it out. It does take a while to get to level 15 though, so be advised it's not a fast process.
The quickest place to get end game gear is through the Reputation System. You can find a complete breakdown of the Rep system by clicking here. Hope that helps, feel free to ask if anything was unclear.
I just returned after a 2+ year hiatus and I curious about where you can buy Vice Admiral or higher level weapons and equipment. It seems like the exchange is pretty picked over. Also is their a good tutorial on how the new R&D system works?
Mark XIII or higher can basically only be gotten from a few Delta Rising missions or via upgrade kits and the upgrade system.
One source of Mark XII gear can be reputation stores (not all reputations offer all kinds of gear) and reputation projects (for sets). Another Fleet stores.
The Dyson Joint Command and the Undine Counter-Command reputations offer reputation stores and decent reputation sets, and can be levelled the most easily, I think, while also giving you a neat amount of Dilithium along the way. The Voth Battle Zone (Ground Combat) and the Undine Battle Zone (Space Combat) offer lots of marks, including the "special" items you need for reputation set projects, Voth Cyberimplants and Isomorphic_Injections.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I just returned after a 2+ year hiatus and I curious about where you can buy Vice Admiral or higher level weapons and equipment. It seems like the exchange is pretty picked over. Also is their a good tutorial on how the new R&D system works?
R&D is pretty simple. You open your duty officer panel to access it from anywhere; the old "go to this locaiton" mess is removed. From there, select a project and mash go, and it will happen but now there are long timers for each item to be produced. You can convert any old materials to the new ones with a right click menu on the old items. The daily mission adds a lot of experience (20 hours to complete). Other than that ... at rank 15 you get a captain trait AND the ability to craft a very nice item. The rank 15 beam, torp, sci and eng consoles are all very worth having. You can buy these as well, as rank 15 takes like 3 months to earn.
Crafted gear, esp weapons, are top currently. What people do is make mark II items (yes, mark 2) which are produced more quickly (see the timer above) and cost less in materials and have a higher chance of being purple quality .... so you farm the mods you want and vendor the rest (some are worth putting on exchange, most are not). Once you have an item that has the mods you want, upgrade it to XIV. Hopefully it will get a quality upgrade early on and get a 4th mod that you want. The "top" weapons are critdX4; usually in antiproton. You can only craft X3 then you have to decide how much dil to invest in upgrades to hope for the 4th mod, or just take what you get.
That said the price on lower mark items has fallen. If you are not too picky you can buy already crafted items at lower marks and upgrade them. Picky folks that got a critdx3 and something else on the 4th mod will sell those, for example... so the thing to do is ignore MARK and search for the MODS you want in the exchange.
There are many new mods on crafted items. Crafted beams, for example, can get free beam overloads [over], or they can slow the enemy [snare] and so on. Most of these are not helpful if your goal is top damage; but some of them are useful for other concepts. [over] X 8 for example is not bad on a ship that has no real tactical seating, but its worthless on an escort.
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As for the crafting system I don't know of any good tutorials but its not that hard. You don't need to be skilled to use upgrades so you don't have to worry there, just buy the Superior Upgrade kits, spend the dil, and go. To actually craft stuff you need to boost your skill to get better results, as mods are randomized and quality comes from better crits like a doff mission. The best way to level up is the "Research Project - <school> Technology' at the bottom of each school which is a daily 20-hour project and gives 6k xp to that school and only needs a single common material to run. When you get a school to 15, you also can unlock a special item in that school (wide-angle beam arrays, special sci consoles, etc), but those require a lot of mats and a specialized specific doff and isn't usually cost-effective a project unless you get into a dedicated crafting assembly-line. At 15 you also unlock a special trait related to that school like a small bonus to beam damage when using beam skills, or a HUGE increase to crit chances for certain science skills, to the point that a lot of people level up the schools just for the trait unlock. Getting to level 15 does mean 630xp in that school, but you can slot up to 3 a day in any particular school, so you could get something to 15 in 35 days if you dedicated yourself to it. It might sound a little screwy but just take a stab at it and you'll understand very quickly.
What exactly are you looking for?
You can get most ship items (Engines, Deflectors, Shields, Warp Cores, etc) from replaying missions. The mission 'A Step Between Stars' rewards a purple Mark 12 item each replay (Solenae Set) which is pretty good.
You can get some of the consoles through replay and through the exchange both. Beams/Cannons most people usually just buy from the Exchange. You can pick up some Green or even White Mark 12s that will get you buy for a while. You can buy much better beams/cannons through the Reputation system using Dilithium or you can craft them through R&D system.
As for reputation system tutorial, believe it or not, it's not complex enough to require one. If you look under your R&D Tab you'll see each different category (Beams, Shields, Science, etc.) Before you can really make anything of value, you will have to level up your skill in that area. If you select a school and then scroll to the bottom you'll see a 20 hour project that you can run that awards 6k experience to that school. Select that project and let it run. You can slot the project up to 3 times in any one school. At first, you'll only have 1 or 2 slots to run projects, but as you level up it will unlock more slots.
Once you get to level 15 you can start making end game gear. Most people make gear at Mark 2 since it's guaranteed to be a purple rarity if you're level 15. If you like the mods on it, then you upgrade it, if not then you throw it out. It does take a while to get to level 15 though, so be advised it's not a fast process.
The quickest place to get end game gear is through the Reputation System. You can find a complete breakdown of the Rep system by clicking here. Hope that helps, feel free to ask if anything was unclear.
Good luck!
Mark XIII or higher can basically only be gotten from a few Delta Rising missions or via upgrade kits and the upgrade system.
One source of Mark XII gear can be reputation stores (not all reputations offer all kinds of gear) and reputation projects (for sets). Another Fleet stores.
The Dyson Joint Command and the Undine Counter-Command reputations offer reputation stores and decent reputation sets, and can be levelled the most easily, I think, while also giving you a neat amount of Dilithium along the way. The Voth Battle Zone (Ground Combat) and the Undine Battle Zone (Space Combat) offer lots of marks, including the "special" items you need for reputation set projects, Voth Cyberimplants and Isomorphic_Injections.
R&D is pretty simple. You open your duty officer panel to access it from anywhere; the old "go to this locaiton" mess is removed. From there, select a project and mash go, and it will happen but now there are long timers for each item to be produced. You can convert any old materials to the new ones with a right click menu on the old items. The daily mission adds a lot of experience (20 hours to complete). Other than that ... at rank 15 you get a captain trait AND the ability to craft a very nice item. The rank 15 beam, torp, sci and eng consoles are all very worth having. You can buy these as well, as rank 15 takes like 3 months to earn.
Crafted gear, esp weapons, are top currently. What people do is make mark II items (yes, mark 2) which are produced more quickly (see the timer above) and cost less in materials and have a higher chance of being purple quality .... so you farm the mods you want and vendor the rest (some are worth putting on exchange, most are not). Once you have an item that has the mods you want, upgrade it to XIV. Hopefully it will get a quality upgrade early on and get a 4th mod that you want. The "top" weapons are critdX4; usually in antiproton. You can only craft X3 then you have to decide how much dil to invest in upgrades to hope for the 4th mod, or just take what you get.
That said the price on lower mark items has fallen. If you are not too picky you can buy already crafted items at lower marks and upgrade them. Picky folks that got a critdx3 and something else on the 4th mod will sell those, for example... so the thing to do is ignore MARK and search for the MODS you want in the exchange.
There are many new mods on crafted items. Crafted beams, for example, can get free beam overloads [over], or they can slow the enemy [snare] and so on. Most of these are not helpful if your goal is top damage; but some of them are useful for other concepts. [over] X 8 for example is not bad on a ship that has no real tactical seating, but its worthless on an escort.