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Newbie looking for direction

hello to all!

This is my first foray into online gaming. Up until now all my gaming has been single player PS3 or PC (love all the Lego games!). My gaming style is the classic "mash the buttons until everything dies!" style.

What are everybody's top tips for STO, what ships/weapons to use, etc?

Should I join a fleet/start my own fleet? What's involved in that? I'm a very casual player, so not online that often and when I am it's 99% of the time late evenings/early hours of the morning (insomnia!) .... so wife will be in bed, which means talking on a headset is out of the question.

Also a "totally poor" player, so not really able to do all this buying extras rubbish (I have collected hundreds of the free lockboxes, but will never be able to buy the keys to open them - so what's the point of that!?).

Looking forward to reading everyone's replies and exploring the universe with you all.

LL&P,
Ross

Comments

  • nebfabnebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User
    edited November 2016
    Are you a PC or console player? (The things aren't the same on them and specific gameplay and ship advice is different.)

    Don't start a fleet. However you look at it, for a player like you (inexperienced, casual and not willing to spend RL money) owning a fleet is more trouble than it's worth.

    That said, joining a fleet, preferably a laid back one that tolerates players that aren't regularly online may be a good idea. In any fleet worth the name there would be someone willing to explain how they work and what (besides people you can chat with) you get out of joining and how you can help building it up.

    Not all fleets use/require voice chat, BTW, and even in those that do text chat is used just as much (on PC, that is.)

    The best thing to do with lockboxes in your situation is to ignore them. There's a lot of in-game trade in keys, lockboxes and things you get out of them, mostly facilitated by the exchange (auction in many other games) and if marketeering is your thing, it can be pretty interesting, but again, no point bothering right now.

    The only "extra" you really need to enjoy the game is a ship other than standard freebies*. There would be a way to earn a free ship during the winter event (starts on the 1st) with lots of threads here explaining how it works, if you aren't sure. Another one is to stockpile refiined dilithium, then using the dilithium exchange, trade it. There are also lockbox ships on the EC exchange, but nowadays even the cheap ones aren't really (and the cheap ones tend to be no better than standard freebies anyway. Still useful if you want to try out different classes.)

    * Even then, free ships are still usable. Although I'd advice against cruisers and non-Fed sci vessels.
  • ironmakoironmako Member Posts: 770 Arc User
    it's an interesting question, but I suppose in order to answer it, you'l have to tell us what you look for in a game :wink:

    i'll give myself as an example. I started in 2011 when I discovered the game, looking for something as a distraction, something to immerse myself in.

    I class myself as a casual player, as I could have day-long marathons, but I can also go without ever logging in for several months at a time.

    I play STO Like a "game". in other words, i'm just here to pew-pew-pew. I log in, do a few ground battlezones/space battlezones, maybe a few queue instances, then I log out. I don't really socialise, I dont do much R&D, and I don't participate in many fleet activities. I do spend money in the game from time to time for some awesome gear/ships, and i like taking part in events like the Summer/Winter events. I also like collecting ground weapons and upgrading them (using cash rather than R&D) making my chars very formidable on Ground zones.

    I'm not very social on STO, as most players seem to have sapped the fun out of the game, lecturing everyone on statistics, DPS, exotic damage, blah blah, blah. It's a game, so treat it as such, have a laugh, enjoy it, and enjoy the social aspect of sharing good times with a friend as well. I've yet to find someone who has the same easy-going attitude to gaming. For me, if you win a round, you win, if you lose, then you lose. it's not the end of the world, it's not even worth talking/arguing about as it is JUST A GAME. I'm not one of these people who are overly obsessed with getting a ridiculous DPS, as I never PvP. My DPS is more than adequate for PvE's and that is all I need it to be.

    Fianlly I suppose I also play because i grew up with the Kirk movies in the 80s & 90's. i used to see ships like the Bird of Prey, The D'deridex Warbird and the Klingon battlecruisers as a kid and wished that I could fly them about. With STO, my childhood wish comes true, in a fashion :smile:

    So in short, in order to find your focus, you have got to see what pips your interest. Some play STO purely for the Foundry, If you have a good imagination, you can always try that.

    Starting a fleet for a casual player is a bad Idea. joining a fleet for a casual player is a much better suggestion.
  • cam72#5622 cam72 Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    nebfab wrote: »
    Are you a PC or console player? (The things aren't the same on them and specific gameplay and ship advice is different.)

    Don't start a fleet. However you look at it, for a player like you (inexperienced, casual and not willing to spend RL money) owning a fleet is more trouble than it's worth.

    That said, joining a fleet, preferably a laid back one that tolerates players that aren't regularly online may be a good idea. In any fleet worth the name there would be someone willing to explain how they work and what (besides people you can chat with) you get out of joining and how you can help building it up.

    Not all fleets use/require voice chat, BTW, and even in those that do text chat is used just as much (on PC, that is.)

    The best thing to do with lockboxes in your situation is to ignore them. There's a lot of in-game trade in keys, lockboxes and things you get out of them, mostly facilitated by the exchange (auction in many other games) and if marketeering is your thing, it can be pretty interesting, but again, no point bothering right now.

    The only "extra" you really need to enjoy the game is a ship other than standard freebies*. There would be a way to earn a free ship during the winter event (starts on the 1st) with lots of threads here explaining how it works, if you aren't sure. Another one is to stockpile refiined dilithium, then using the dilithium exchange, trade it. There are also lockbox ships on the EC exchange, but nowadays even the cheap ones aren't really (and the cheap ones tend to be no better than standard freebies anyway. Still useful if you want to try out different classes.)

    * Even then, free ships are still usable. Although I'd advice against cruisers and non-Fed sci vessels.


    Ah yes, sorry. I am running STO on my laptop (win 7)

  • cam72#5622 cam72 Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    edited November 2016
    ironmako wrote: »
    ... in other words, i'm just here to pew-pew-pew. I log in, do a few ground battlezones/space battlezones, maybe a few queue instances, then I log out. ....

    Oh my god, I'm talking to myself! :lol:

  • lordsteve1lordsteve1 Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
    Just as a side note, if you want to spend any real money on the game the first thing i'd recommend buying is the EC cap increase. It'll give you a max of 1 billion EC and that gives you way more flexibility that the starting 10 million you're initially locked to.

    It won't help you kill things but it'll mean you can start to trade things on the exchange an save money for some fancy gear or ships in the future. It literally opens up the door for expanding into the market proper.
    SulMatuul.png
  • ironmakoironmako Member Posts: 770 Arc User
    cam72#5622 wrote: »
    ironmako wrote: »
    ... in other words, i'm just here to pew-pew-pew. I log in, do a few ground battlezones/space battlezones, maybe a few queue instances, then I log out. ....

    Oh my god, I'm talking to myself! :lol:

    Lol, you will find there are many of us like-minded souls in STO :wink:

    Just to ask, what are you current characters, faction, career etc....
  • nebfabnebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User
    edited November 2016
    lordsteve1 wrote: »
    Just as a side note, if you want to spend any real money on the game the first thing i'd recommend buying is the EC cap increase. It'll give you a max of 1 billion EC and that gives you way more flexibility that the starting 10 million you're initially locked to.

    It won't help you kill things but it'll mean you can start to trade things on the exchange an save money for some fancy gear or ships in the future. It literally opens up the door for expanding into the market proper.
    Completely forgot about that one. Yes, with the way exchange is now, it's essential if you want to do EC trading of almost any kind. (10 million EC won't buy you very much.)

    ADD: And it's one more reason not to bother with boxes and keys right now.




  • cam72#5622 cam72 Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    edited November 2016
    Yes, that's another thing to ask. Multiple characters?? Benefits?

    I have one character, me.

    Currently:-
    Human
    Starfleet Engineer
    Rear Admiral, Upper Half (49)

    I think I should point out that I am a Lifetime member (it was on offer!). I believe that if I'm going to play a game of this magnitude, I should at least buy the bloody thing ... I'm just not cool with all the constant paying for extras.

    I've forked out £200 already for this (£150 membership, £50 for Zen and a couple of bits early on ... which I then wasted on stuff I didn't actually need because I didn't know what I was doing, :lol: ), that's enough for now.
  • nebfabnebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User
    If you have a lifetime subscription, then you already got EC cap. That's good.
    You also got most of the extras you really need, including a ship, and what you don't have you can get eventually with the 500 free Zen/month, if nothing else.

    Multiple characters can be fun and useful, the downside is that even if you do nothing but log in, do reps/doffs/admitralty and then refine dilithium with them, it still takes time. Then again, you can simply let them stay in your character list.

    On the up side you get to try different factions, species and builds and each character can refine extra dilithium either for zen trading or to buy rep/fleet gear.


  • nebfabnebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User
    There's a fairly old, but still useful (And LONG) series of guides by ultimatenewbie : http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1212340/guide-starship-equipment-weapons-and-consoles-for-new-players

    The section on skills is obsolete, they work completely different now, but much of it still stands.
  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    The ship depends on the play style for each particular captain. Any captain profession can fly any type of ship, it's just a matter of what you want to do. For example, in Star Trek the original series (TOS) Captain Kirk is a tactical captain commanding a heavy cruiser (consider a light cruiser in the current era). Cruisers are basically tanks. Escorts are glass cannons compared to cruiser; they can have a lot of firepower, but are fragile. Science vessels relies on "Space Magic" to do damage, so it is a little more complex than just firing weapons at enemies.

    At the beginning it does not really matter what ship you fly because you will not be flying it for very long each time you rank up (every 10 levels) you get to choose a higher tier (better) ship. The last free ship you will get is a T5 ( Tier 5) ship when you reach level 40. It is that ship that really matters or a ship from the C-Store should you decide to make a purchase.

    In essence, the type of energy weapon you choose does not really matter. It's basically pick a color and run with it. The most important thing to remember is to make sure they are all the same energy type like disruptors so that you can use tactical consoles that specifically enhances that energy type; for disruptors that would be Disruptor Induction Coil consoles. Each weapon has a special type of ability that has a 2.5% of being activated ("proc'ed") so unless you really plan on a min/max build, then energy weapon type does not really matter. Antiproton weapons are pretty popular since instead of a 2.5% proc chance for whatever special ability, they instead have a baseline 20% critical severity (damage) on a critical hit. Each ship has a 2.5% critical chance (hit), but that can be increased later in the game using special consoles, and personal traits.

    Joining a fleet is up to you. I have not done so yet after nearly playing for 3 years. Do not bother with creating your own fleet unless you are totally committed to doing so. Upgrading a fleet takes an enormous amount of resources, free time, and you need to find the right people to recruit. Join a fleet first to learn some of the things before even attempting to start your own... it is a huge commitment.

    It is possible to play STO without spending any money. First, throw out all the lock boxes you have collected if you do not intend on opening them. You can check the prices listed on the Exchange, but chances are they are not worth the time and effort to list them for sale. The only exception would be the Infinity Lock Box which typically comes out right before a new season starts. I have sold quite a few for at least 20k EC each, which is not bad. However, currently on the Exchange (on the PC) only sell for around 6k EC each or 2.5k in lots of 100. The real value is when you open them though.

    I have a secondary STO account that is completely Free-to-Play, I have not spent any money on it. Yes, it is possible to play the game without spending real money. It's a bit limited, but it is possible to play through the game. I have 3 captains on that account currently between level 50 and 55 and are all currently in the Cardassian Struggle story arc. Each one is flying the free T5 starship I selected at level 40. They are pretty decent at doing some of the advanced end game queue missions (for the various reputations) when equipped properly, though they can be a bit squishy.

    Be aware, there are 3 major events during the year that offer you a chance to grind for a free T6 starship which is the highest tier ship in the game. There's the Anniversary Event in February. The Risan Summer Event is in June. Lastly, there is the Winter Wonderland Event that begins in December. Each event rewards a specific ship; it may not be the ship you want, but it is a T6 starship. I you generally need to devote about 5 each day to do the little daily mission to get vouchers in order to claim the T6 Starship... once you get proficient at doing that mission. The Winter Wonderland Event involves the "Fastest Game On Ice" race against an NPC. You will be running on ice so there will be lots of slipping and sliding. Expect to fail the race many times before becoming proficient; you can restart the race if you fail. Each daily race will earn you 40 vouchers. You need 1,000 vouchers to claim the ship and it will be unlocked for all captains on your account... even captains to create 2 years from now. Therefore, you only need to this on one captain. You have around 42 days to get all 1,000 vouchers so that is plenty of time.

    Since you are F2P, the only way to get Zen to make purchases from the C-Store is to exchange refined dilithium (Dil) for Zen in the Dilithium Exchange; press I to get to inventory, click Assets tab, and scroll down. You are limited to refining 8,000 dil per day, and the current exchange rate is about 420 Dil to 1 Zen. If you want to get 3,000 Zen to buy a T6 starship from the C-Store that means you need 1.26 million Dil. Getting raw Dil is relatively easy to get as you level up since more opportunities become available to you. However, if you really want to accumulate a lot of refined Dil, then you need to play more than one captain... assuming you have the time to do so. Trying to get 1.26 million Dil on a single captain will take about 158 days and that is assuming you get enough raw Dil to max out refining 8,000 Dil per day.

  • lordsteve1lordsteve1 Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
    Ah if you're a lifetime member then you've already got access to most goodies for free (or within a certain time as you earn 500z per month).
    And you've got access to the T6 Manticore Destroyer and the RR & KDF equivalents, which are really good ships. The Manticore can be a really vicious torp boat.

    Multiple toons can help in some ways, any events such as the Crystalline event we just had will reward each toon a set amount of dilithium. So stacking up multiple toons to complete those can be quite lucrative.
    Bigger event like the summer/winter/anniversary will give you account unlocks though so no real benefit there.

    That said, like @nefab said, having multiple toons can be time consuming and it can be a real pain to get each one kitted out as well as your primary one. Depends how much time you have.
    I'd definitely recommend at least trying a toon from each faction, and maybe one from each class, even if you delete them as you'll get a good feel for all aspects of the game.
    SulMatuul.png
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  • nebfabnebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User
    edited November 2016
    coldnapalm wrote: »
    Well...if you are a lifer, you can ge the fancy bits with your stipend you get each month.

    Now as far as your playstle goes...it basically screams BFAW boat. You do have access to a T6 ship as a lifer, so I would say grab that, load it up with beams and mash that space bar away while using BFAW every second you can. And yes you will want to join a fleet so you can get their goodies...like the spire consoles (all your tact slots) and embassy consoles (all your sci slots). You want to run max weapon power with some EPtW running and you should have no issue with normal content and most advanced as well...even if played in the mash space bar style.

    BFaW boat, simple as it is, is a bit more complicated than that, from a newbie perspective anyway. What is usually meant by "spacebar" in this context isn't just a spacebar.

    The Hilbert Guide http://hilbertguide.com/ is quite obsolete (esp. about actual PvP) but it still has the most straightforward and foolproof explanation of the whole spacebar thing:
    Keybinds

    As to make this spacebar way of PVPing possible, you have to use keybinds to bind abilities to your spacebar.

    Download the file spacebar.txt (http://hilbertguide.com/spacebar.txt) (right-click, then "Save target as ...") and place it in your STO directory which is usually at

    C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live

    Start STO, log in with the character you want to play, go into a space map. (There are different keybind sets for ground and space!) Then enter the following command into your chat box:

    /bind_load_file spacebar.txt

    This keybind file changes three keys:

    Your spacebar now activates not only your energy weapons, but also all abilities that you place in tray 7 (we will get to this in a second) and redistributes your shields.
    The T key now sends a message to your team announcing your current target.
    Your fourth mouse button (if your mouse has four buttons) will now trigger shield redistribution. You can use this if you don't want to fire your weapons (thus not use spacebar) but still want to redistribute shields - e.g. if you have been hit by Scramble Sensors.

    Advanced Comment

    You can also use the graphical STO Keybinds tool that Federation Emergency Services provides. Use the built-in browser window of that tool via the "Web Open" button, go to http://hilbertguide.com and navigate to this keybinding section of the guide. There will then be an additional button that allows you to import the spacebar keybind into the application.
    Filling tray 7

    You can select different views for your tray. It shows two or three out of ten possible rows. You can add an ability to multiple locations of your tray (e.g. in two different rows) by pressing P to bring up the ability list and then dragging it to your tray.

    Select tray 7 and add the abilities that are required by the individual ship builds (see the respective sections). Tray 7 does not need to be visible to have the spacebar keybind work. You can therefore select a different row again after you are done wih tray 7 and set up your regular trays like you are used to.
    The importance of spacebar

    The spacebar is your key to success. Pressing it every couple of seconds keeps your weapons firing, your shields redistributing and your buff cycle going.

    Make sure that your weapons are set to autofire. To do that bring your tray into mode 1,2 or 3 where you can see the weapons box. Right click on your weapons until they all have a green outline:

    Autofire

    After you have done that, you can switch to a mode that hides your weapons box (if you want that).
    Having spacebar also redistribute shields has some downsides, so some more advanced players edit the file accordingly, but the original spacebar file still works well enough.

    Stuff in tray 7 should be what you want to have up as often as possible: BFaW, attack patterns, Tactical Team, Emergency Power to Weapons/Shields. I also tend to put fighter launch there.
  • stee1maxstee1max Member Posts: 227 Arc User
    edited November 2016
    TL;DR version:
    1. Don't expect this MMO to be any close to your DREAM Star trek game;
    2. Pick Tactical. Pick Tactical again, again, and again, until you feel comfortable with your skills;
    3. Did I mention to pick Tactical?
    4. Grind episodes until you are level 60. There is NO REASON to get into the details with your ships, builds, gear etc. It's all meaningless in the early stages, just a prolonged introduction to the end-game. Tac ship/beams/FAW combo helps for any profession;
    5. When you are done, grind more Dil/EC to afford a better set of gear;
    6. Scale your Dil/EC grind with more pylons, in other terms more character slots for farmers (unless you are silly enough to pay with cash straight away);
    7. Grind Doffing/Assjobing to help you gain more commendation XP, free doffs, dilithium, and of course XP;
    8. Obtain the "must have" traits, ships, weapons, and other sort of garbage. Learn the mechanics;
    9. GRIND MORE;
    10. Begin hating on cryptic, because the game is a complete mess most of the time;
    11. Slowly approach to the final journey of any STO player - DPS;
    12. Reach your first 10k, 30k, 50k, 100k, ???k;
    13. Accumulate enough farming performance to turn your game into a FOREX simulator: play exchange and make huge profit margins;
    14. ...
    15. PROFIT!
  • saber1973asaber1973a Member Posts: 1,225 Arc User
    While managing more than 10 toons takes some time and effort, personally i recomend having at least 1 of each: Federation / KDF / Romulan and taking them to at least level 50... better all the way to level 60, with each different carrier track: Tactical / Science / Engineer.
    Why?
    1) Beacuse you can expect a giveaway event 2-3 times a year, and you need to claim the freebie things on characters that can use them - and in case of T5 ships (it happened) that means characters at level 40+ from correct factions (and if they giveaway a T5 ship from each faction?)
    2) Every 2 or 3 months we have something like Crystaline Catastrophe Event or Mirror Invasion... or something Event - which is basically one big attack with 5-10 or so players in team against computer - every day for 3 weeks - each day you can get special token from this and after gathering 14 or so tokens (we got some reserve time in the event) you can exchange them for main prize - 50k dilithium ore and special gear for each captain that did this
    3) The plotline missions (first half or so of episodes) are different for each faction, so you get somewhat different story, also each faction ships and playstyle are somewhat different...
  • stee1maxstee1max Member Posts: 227 Arc User
    edited November 2016
    Right, having at least one character for each faction is beneficial. Quite a different experience. KDF is abandoned, though, still good for farming.
  • scrooge69scrooge69 Member Posts: 1,108 Arc User
    @cam72#5622 well there r soem nice tipps here already

    do you have a fleet/community to paly with already?

    if not and if you got a mic/headset (strongly recommanded to get one)

    you might join us (you can join our fleet or be in an other fleet and just play with us)

    ingame: @VladTepech
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • stee1maxstee1max Member Posts: 227 Arc User
    And yes, block all fleet invites, friend invites, and hide zone chat PERMANENTLY. You will be constantly spammed.
  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    OK, good.

    Lifetime? Check!

    Excellent advice all through this thread? Check!

    Then I would say ...

    Find some folks to hang with and shoot at stuff with. A Fleet is a good idea. Move slowly with things for awhile.

    I had a KDF ally who kept 'Executing' his doffs because he didn't pay attention to he details. The same guy also bought more doffs of the wrong faction when trying to replace the ones he had killed, and couldn't equip them. Another guy accidentally deleted good gear because he didn't understand the e-mail system. Smart people, just in a hurry.

    A good set of allies can help you see these things coming. Choose wisely. :)

    I don't think KDF is abandoned. It's just that not everyone will take the challenge of playing it. ;)

    It's OK to ask questions in the chat. Lots of us are the type to jump in with an offer to help. See you out there!

    Qapla'!
  • chewmagnachewmagna Member Posts: 49 Arc User
    stee1max wrote: »
    TL;DR version:
    1. Don't expect this MMO to be any close to your DREAM Star trek game;
    2. Pick Tactical. Pick Tactical again, again, and again, until you feel comfortable with your skills;
    3. Did I mention to pick Tactical?
    4. Grind episodes until you are level 60. There is NO REASON to get into the details with your ships, builds, gear etc. It's all meaningless in the early stages, just a prolonged introduction to the end-game. Tac ship/beams/FAW combo helps for any profession;
    5. When you are done, grind more Dil/EC to afford a better set of gear;
    6. Scale your Dil/EC grind with more pylons, in other terms more character slots for farmers (unless you are silly enough to pay with cash straight away);
    7. Grind Doffing/Assjobing to help you gain more commendation XP, free doffs, dilithium, and of course XP;
    8. Obtain the "must have" traits, ships, weapons, and other sort of garbage. Learn the mechanics;
    9. GRIND MORE;
    10. Begin hating on cryptic, because the game is a complete mess most of the time;
    11. Slowly approach to the final journey of any STO player - DPS;
    12. Reach your first 10k, 30k, 50k, 100k, ???k;
    13. Accumulate enough farming performance to turn your game into a FOREX simulator: play exchange and make huge profit margins;
    14. ...
    15. PROFIT!

    The amount of grinding is completely understated here. ~2 weeks of actual game content, followed by months to years of grinding for gear with little to no high end/end game content to make that gear really useful. You just keep grinding the same stuff.

    But damn is it fun.
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