Shipyard Questions

centaurianalpha · May 2015

1. I see that the Chimera Heavy Destroyer is reserved for 1000-day veterans (& LTS?), but the Fleet Chimera Heavy Destroyer only stated the limitation of Vice Admiral & T2 Spire. My fleet has the T2 Spire, and my Captains are VA & above, yet the "Buy Ship" button is still greyed out, despite having enough FC's, FSM's and provisions. Does this mean that the 1000-day/LTS requirement must also be met? Would be nice if it were listed in the ship info...

2. If I buy a ship from my Fleet shipyard with FC's & FSM's, do the other characters on the account get a discount on the same ship, as I have heard is true for the Z-store?

3. If I buy a T5 ship from the Fleet shipyard, does it get a free T5U upgrade, or are the upgrades being phased out with the old Risan event ships?

4. And how do I know whether a ship from the Fleet shipyard is a T5 or not? At ESD, Qo'nos and DS9, there is a tab to select for ship tiers, that I have not seen in the Fleet shipyard interface. (I suppose I could go check them out at one of the main faction bases first, but this seems to defeat the purpose of having a Fleet shipyard...)

I just have not been able to find good answers for these questions in a single place, and there seems to be a lot of confusion about ship tiers going forward; thanks for the replies!

reginamala78 · May 2015

1 Nope you have to have the 1000-day/LTS status to buy any form of the Veteran Destroyers

2 Only discount is from C-store ownership of the base T5/T6 model. Fleet ships on their own do not give any discounts.

3 Fleet T5 ships do not come with upgrades. Upgrade tokens must be purchased separately.

4 Is the base model of the ship T5 or T6? Fleet version will be the same. If still unsure, count how many boff stations the ship you're looking at has; 12 stations is T5, 13 stations is T6 (except for BoPs, which are all T5 anyways).

centaurianalpha · May 2015

count how many boff stations the ship you're looking at has; 12 stations is T5, 13 stations is T6

I think you are talking about console slots here, rather than BOff seats? I didn't know any ship had 13 (guess I'd better pay closer attention to my T6 ships). In any case, this information is a bit disappointing, considering how much investment of time & resources is required to build fleet holdings to this level; after all of which, the Fleet variants do not appear to have any extra value.

reginamala78 · May 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

I think you are talking about console slots here, rather than BOff seats? I didn't know any ship had 13 (guess I'd better pay closer attention to my T6 ships). In any case, this information is a bit disappointing, considering how much investment of time & resources is required to build fleet holdings to this level; after all of which, the Fleet variants do not appear to have any extra value.

Well I mean like how a Commander seat has openings for 4 powers, so 4 'stations.' And the main advantage of Fleet ships is that (for the most part) they get an extra 10% shields and hull and 1 extra console slot. Theres a few others that get something else like a flight deck or an unusual seating rearrangment, but those ships are the exception.

royalsovereign · May 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

2. If I buy a ship from my Fleet shipyard with FC's & FSM's, do the other characters on the account get a discount on the same ship, as I have heard is true for the Z-store?

3. If I buy a T5 ship from the Fleet shipyard, does it get a free T5U upgrade, or are the upgrades being phased out with the old Risan event ships?

The following is per my understanding.

2. If you buy the C-store version of a ship, then usually you get a discount of the FSMs required to buy the fleet ship. Because the C-Store ship is account-wide, you can then get the FSM discount on all your characters eligible for that ship. If you use a token to upgrade to T5U, and you use it on a fleet ship, then both the fleet ships and the C-store ships all get the T5U upgrade available. So, if you plan on using a Fleet T5U ship, be sure and purchase the fleet ship first, to avoid having to pay the T5U upgrade twice.

3. Fleet ships have never gotten a free upgrade - you have to purchase the upgrade token. But the tokens are not being phased out. Event ships like the Risians, Breen, and the DSDs got the free upgrades.

gavinruneblade · May 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

I think you are talking about console slots here, rather than BOff seats? I didn't know any ship had 13 (guess I'd better pay closer attention to my T6 ships). In any case, this information is a bit disappointing, considering how much investment of time & resources is required to build fleet holdings to this level; after all of which, the Fleet variants do not appear to have any extra value.

As stated, fleet ships get extra value: they are +10% hull +10% shields and +1 console. The console is usually the most valuable, but the survival is quite nice too.

centaurianalpha · May 2015

2. If you buy the C-store version of a ship, then usually you get a discount of the FSMs required to buy the fleet ship. Because the C-Store ship is account-wide, you can then get the FSM discount on all your characters eligible for that ship. If you use a token to upgrade to T5U, and you use it on a fleet ship, then both the fleet ships and the C-store ships all get the T5U upgrade available. So, if you plan on using a Fleet T5U ship, be sure and purchase the fleet ship first, to avoid having to pay the T5U upgrade twice.

So if I understand this right, the most economical sequence is:

Buy the ship and a ship upgrade token from the Z-store for Zen
Buy the Fleet version for FC's & FSM's
Upgrade the Fleet version
Now the other eligible characters on my account can get the same ship from the Fleet shipyard already upgraded to T5U??

Sounds like a waste of a ship slot to keep the Z-store version, so I would delete it, with the opportunity to reclaim it later if I change my mind...?

Leave it to Cryptic to create such a Byzantine procedure, even if unintentional. Players who have to operate under a budget are not their core constituency, apparently.

tinkerbemycat · May 2015

my question is this....how does 1 obtain a seperation mod...for cruisers.......

question 2...............how does 1 obtain the cloaking mod for the tac..escort...

both of my ships are fedewration starships lacking those 2 devices...thanks in advanced Cyral

reginamala78 · May 2015

tinkerbemycat wrote: »

my question is this....how does 1 obtain a seperation mod...for cruisers.......

question 2...............how does 1 obtain the cloaking mod for the tac..escort...

both of my ships are fedewration starships lacking those 2 devices...thanks in advanced Cyral

The answer in both cases if that you have to purchase the C-store ship that comes with the appropriate console. Fleet ships are JUST the starship itself. Any special abilities specific to that ship like Traits or a specific saucer separation console or cloaking console, you have to buy the C-store ship. Thats why if you think you even might use a ship's special ability, its usually more cost-effective to buy the C-store ship first and get the account unlock and special stuff off it, then buy the fleet ship at the now-discounted price.

As an addendum to question 2 however, you can get the cloaking device you want from either the T5 Tac Escort Retrofit or the Galaxy-X Dreadnought, same console on either ship. If you already have a Fleet Defiant and just want the cloak for it, you'd probably be better off waiting for a sale and buying the Gal-X so as to at least get a new ship that you might use, rather than a Defiant-R that you already have the improved version. (Personally though, I don't think its worth spending $25 just for a console thats rarely worth using. There are better things you can do with your money and console slots, but thats just opinion.)

centaurianalpha · May 2015

Other eligible characters on your account would NOT receive the Fleet variant T5 ship for free and already upgraded.

I did not imply or expect any of the ships to be free, but I knew there had to be some sort of credit for subsequent purchases by account alts.

If an upgrade token is used on a T5 ship on your account, it causes the upgrade to become free on all future copies of both the Z-store OR Fleet variant of that ship account-wide, however, the upgrade must still be manually activated (at no cost, like a lockbox/event ship) after the ship is claimed.

So this is the part I was looking for; essentially, my main could buy the Z-store ship, my alt would buy the fleet variant & upgrade it, then the original ship could be dismissed by the main, which would then be free to purchase the upgraded fleet variant for the discounted rate.

It's a win-win for Cryptic, getting me to buy essentially the same ship twice, but since they aren't giving the good stuff away, at least I can get some use out of the FSM's I've been sitting on. Thanks again for the useful feedback!

tinkerbemycat · May 2015

I ant to thank everyone for the great advice...I think ill hold off on the cloak but concentrate on getting the z-store version on the battle cruiser....its more effective in my game style...plus my charcter level is past 60........ Cyral

royalsovereign · May 2015

westmetals wrote: »

Actually, there's no need for the Zen-store variant to be active on ANY of your characters; simply having purchased it is enough to trigger the discount.

And also - just to make sure it's clear - in your example, the 'main' would still be purchasing a non-upgraded fleet variant - the upgrade would be free (as you have already upgraded a copy of the same ship), but still must be manually triggered post-purchase.

The way I've done it is, I buy the C-store ship. Then I buy the Fleet version with the FCs and 1 FSM, and ditch the C-store version. Then upgrade the Fleet version. Now any of my alts can claim the C-store ship for free and upgrade it to T5U for free (where available), and if I want to get them a fleet version ti is just FCs and 1 FSM, and the T5U upgrade is still free.

Whew, I need a drink after that.

centaurianalpha · May 2015

Thanks, Royal! That summarizes the procedure for me nicely. Now, if I could just find a Z-store ship that has a desirable Fleet equivalent, I'll be good to go... :P

royalsovereign · May 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

Thanks, Royal! That summarizes the procedure for me nicely. Now, if I could just find a Z-store ship that has a desirable Fleet equivalent, I'll be good to go... :P

Glad to be of help.

Did you get the Nebula when it was free last year? That is already a C-store version, so you could Fleet it for just the one FSM...

noroblad · June 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

So if I understand this right, the most economical sequence is:

Buy the ship and a ship upgrade token from the Z-store for Zen
Buy the Fleet version for FC's & FSM's
Upgrade the Fleet version
Now the other eligible characters on my account can get the same ship from the Fleet shipyard already upgraded to T5U??

Sounds like a waste of a ship slot to keep the Z-store version, so I would delete it, with the opportunity to reclaim it later if I change my mind...?

Leave it to Cryptic to create such a Byzantine procedure, even if unintentional. Players who have to operate under a budget are not their core constituency, apparently.

Sort of.
Buy the ship from the c-store and it is unlocked for all your characters and discounted for the fleet cost.
Buy the fleet modules from exchange with easy to get credits.
Upgrade the fleet version , buy the upgrade with easy to get credits off exchange.

Now all your characters can get the basic ship free, or buy the fleet ship again (but at the reduced price for owning the original cstore version). They can upgrade it for free, only have to buy that once.

You never have to claim the c-store ship. Simply owning it reduces the costs of the fleet version. You may choose to claim it for a console or something as needed, then release it.

It is convoluted but not necessary. Note that
- its usually cheaper to just buy the fleet ship outright if you do not have alts that want this same ship. Be sure before you do this.
- many kdf ships do not have both versions so you cant get the discount anyway on many models.

centaurianalpha · June 2015

You never have to claim the c-store ship. Simply owning it reduces the costs of the fleet version. You may choose to claim it for a console or something as needed, then release it.

It is convoluted but not necessary. Note that
- its usually cheaper to just buy the fleet ship outright if you do not have alts that want this same ship. Be sure before you do this.
- many kdf ships do not have both versions so you cant get the discount anyway on many models.

There is at least one console that I'll want to keep, so I'll have to take delivery at least once. Also, if Cryptic can do more to fix the maddening server lag before the next LTS sale, I'll likely buy it so I can get the ships it unlocks.

One thing complicating my fleet is that I have only 1 "pure" KDF toon, 2 "pure" FED's, and 2 Romulans, each allied with opposite factions. So, I can buy a Romulan ship, and it becomes available for both Romulans, even though they have different alliances, but my KDF main is on his own. My FED main now has my Delta toon to share ships with, so the total account costs for buying each toon a new ship are rather higher than a one-faction account.

royalsovereign · June 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

One thing complicating my fleet is that I have only 1 "pure" KDF toon, 2 "pure" FED's, and 2 Romulans, each allied with opposite factions. So, I can buy a Romulan ship, and it becomes available for both Romulans, even though they have different alliances, but my KDF main is on his own. My FED main now has my Delta toon to share ships with, so the total account costs for buying each toon a new ship are rather higher than a one-faction account.

Yes, your Rommies both get any Romulan ships you buy in the C-Store, and they both get the fleet discounts as appropriate.

So you could, as an example, buy the Ar'kif Retrofit for 2500 Zen, and both Roms get it. Then, assuming you have access to the appropriate level fleet spire, for 2 Fleet Ship Modules and I think 50K fleet credits you could buy Fleet Ar'kifs for both, then buy one T5U upgrade token and upgrade both Fleet Ar'kifs to T5U.

Or you could save one FSM and simply upgrade one standard Kr'kif Retro to T5U and skip the Fleet version, should you so desire.

Your KDF main has no one to share with for T5 ships and up. T4 and lower he shares with your KDF-Rom, so your KDF-Rom can, for instance, get free Plasmonic Leech consoles for life by purchasing that fish-looking Nausican destroyer.

gavinruneblade · June 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

There is at least one console that I'll want to keep, so I'll have to take delivery at least once. Also, if Cryptic can do more to fix the maddening server lag before the next LTS sale, I'll likely buy it so I can get the ships it unlocks.

One thing complicating my fleet is that I have only 1 "pure" KDF toon, 2 "pure" FED's, and 2 Romulans, each allied with opposite factions. So, I can buy a Romulan ship, and it becomes available for both Romulans, even though they have different alliances, but my KDF main is on his own. My FED main now has my Delta toon to share ships with, so the total account costs for buying each toon a new ship are rather higher than a one-faction account.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/38a9cf/salami_inferno_one_list_down_one_to_go/

For your kdf character, consider some of the free event ships or pickup a lockbox ship off the exchange. On my second account (totally free, I did the one month sub and unlock extra ec capacity thing, no money ever again) that's what my kdf character does. I picked up a Bentham cruiser cheap and have a couple of event ships as options.

centaurianalpha · June 2015

For your kdf character, consider some of the free event ships or pickup a lockbox ship off the exchange.

Indeed, all of my alts have all the event/grind ships since S8.5, and since I play the full range of the career triad, I find it interesting to see the differences in performance. As I near my characters' ship count limits, I generally replace the oldest promotion ships with the new offerings, to allow me flexibility in choice of weapons for STF's and other missions. Sadly, this means that my old faction-specific Mirror ships are disappearing, but they are at least being supplanted by more capable models.

I also look for balance of weapon types in my fleet, to get a broader range of experience vs. NPC's, though I have begun to question the value of polaron weapons. By the time that I reach the "endgame", I expect I'll have a solid canon ship for each faction, as a flagship for each captain, backed up by an array of interesting ship/loadout combinations.

gavinruneblade · June 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

Indeed, all of my alts have all the event/grind ships since S8.5, and since I play the full range of the career triad, I find it interesting to see the differences in performance. As I near my characters' ship count limits, I generally replace the oldest promotion ships with the new offerings, to allow me flexibility in choice of weapons for STF's and other missions. Sadly, this means that my old faction-specific Mirror ships are disappearing, but they are at least being supplanted by more capable models.

I also look for balance of weapon types in my fleet, to get a broader range of experience vs. NPC's, though I have begun to question the value of polaron weapons. By the time that I reach the "endgame", I expect I'll have a solid canon ship for each faction, as a flagship for each captain, backed up by an array of interesting ship/loadout combinations.

Try polarons with 2 piece jem set and as much flow caps as you can muster plus plasmonic leech in the breen carrier with the frigate pets. Add in some ttykens rift and energy siphon,maybe aceton emitter if you have it. Neutronic torp (its the only torp that drains) as a fun extra surprise.

That ship can be a brutal drainer. Especially with four or six pets spamming polaron procs as well.

And the jem set gives polarons a noticeable damage boost so you're not just a one-trick pony.

racheakt71 · June 2015

noroblad wrote: »

Sort of.
Buy the ship from the c-store and it is unlocked for all your characters and discounted for the fleet cost.
Buy the fleet modules from exchange with easy to get credits.
Upgrade the fleet version , buy the upgrade with easy to get credits off exchange.

Now all your characters can get the basic ship free, or buy the fleet ship again (but at the reduced price for owning the original cstore version). They can upgrade it for free, only have to buy that once.

You never have to claim the c-store ship. Simply owning it reduces the costs of the fleet version. You may choose to claim it for a console or something as needed, then release it.

It is convoluted but not necessary. Note that
- its usually cheaper to just buy the fleet ship outright if you do not have alts that want this same ship. Be sure before you do this.
- many kdf ships do not have both versions so you cant get the discount anyway on many models.

I didn't know this, so if one buys the c-store version of a t6 ship the fleet module cost of the fleet version is reduced for all toons? By how much?

noroblad · June 2015

racheakt71 wrote: »

I didn't know this, so if one buys the c-store version of a t6 ship the fleet module cost of the fleet version is reduced for all toons? By how much?

I am not sure for t6.
For t5, if you owned the original c-store the cost in FMS was reduced to (1) I think. Its been a while... so I could be wrong. I will try to remember to check it in game.

noroblad · June 2015

centaurianalpha wrote: »

There is at least one console that I'll want to keep, so I'll have to take delivery at least once. Also, if Cryptic can do more to fix the maddening server lag before the next LTS sale, I'll likely buy it so I can get the ships it unlocks.

One thing complicating my fleet is that I have only 1 "pure" KDF toon, 2 "pure" FED's, and 2 Romulans, each allied with opposite factions. So, I can buy a Romulan ship, and it becomes available for both Romulans, even though they have different alliances, but my KDF main is on his own. My FED main now has my Delta toon to share ships with, so the total account costs for buying each toon a new ship are rather higher than a one-faction account.

well, your kdf rom and your kdf toon can BOTH benefit a LOT from getting the ship with a plasma leech. BOTH toons can claim this. And kdf is double screwed because they keep making fleet ships that don't have a c store version so no discount -- at least historically.

But for a flying ship ... yea, its pricy to pay for multiple factions. There are cheap alternatives, but its annoying how expensive ships are. I could buy 10-15 games for what I have spent in ships if I had paid real money ( I farmed many of them, paid for only a few).

racheakt71 · June 2015

westmetals wrote: »

...
Additionally, in cases where the discount is available, for T5 ships (this part is not true for T6 because it is unnecessary)... a single "Starship Upgrade Requisition" will account-unlock the T5U upgrade on both variants.

So for example, if you purchase a "Tactical Escort Retrofit" (the T5 version of the Defiant), then you would qualify for the discount on the "Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit", and applying a single SUR would unlock T5U upgrades on both of them for all of your Federation characters.

So (I haven't tried this) I have a T5U Excelsior (cstore ship) refit that I have done the upgrade token on on one fed toon, if i were to do another fed toon claim the ship from the store i would not need to buy an upgrade token for it?

reginamala78 · June 2015

racheakt71 wrote: »

So (I haven't tried this) I have a T5U Excelsior (cstore ship) refit that I have done the upgrade token on on one fed toon, if i were to do another fed toon claim the ship from the store i would not need to buy an upgrade token for it?

Correct. You'd claim it from the C-store and you'd still need to click the Upgrade button, but doing so would be free.

gavinruneblade · June 2015

westmetals wrote: »

Yes, it is reduced to one FSM. And it does work for T6's as well - I have one char with a Fleet Pathfinder.

The key though is that the non-fleet version needs to: a) exist, b) have the exact same shipyard class name other than the word "Fleet", c) be either T5 or T6, and d) have a purchase price in Zen. There are some Fleet ships which do not meet all four of those requirements, and on those no discount is available.

Additionally, in cases where the discount is available, for T5 ships (this part is not true for T6 because it is unnecessary)... a single "Starship Upgrade Requisition" will account-unlock the T5U upgrade on both variants.

So for example, if you purchase a "Tactical Escort Retrofit" (the T5 version of the Defiant), then you would qualify for the discount on the "Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit", and applying a single SUR would unlock T5U upgrades on both of them for all of your Federation characters.

This is partly true. It is not the t5 that is the unlock it is the 2,500 zen price. The 2,000 zen t5 ships do not get a discount but are still t5.

racheakt71 · June 2015

reginamala78 wrote: »

Correct. You'd claim it from the C-store and you'd still need to click the Upgrade button, but doing so would be free.

This is welcome news, I rolled three romulan Delta Recruits (just getting back in the game now, last time i played you killed romulans, not played them :P ), one Fed, one KDF, an one not yet decided (one of each class) and I was eyeballing T6 Fleet ship with a 4 fleet module cost (2000 zen) but given that i have two Rom toons I will buy the Non-fleet version (for 3000 zen) and buy the one fleet module for EC (more manageable than four). Seems that going that route is a good idea.

Heck I have a couple of mid level toons I may level up now given that I have a couple of t5u sips i upgraded (namely the Excelsior and Galaxy-x).

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