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What did you think: Mirrors and Smoke

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  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,005 Arc User
    If it took you an hour, that is your problem, since it takes less then 5 minutes for everyone else.

    pathein probably played the mission on a low level character sinc FEs are open for lvl 10+. It wouldn'T surprise me if the mission itself wouldn't scale correctly to a low level character despite Cryptic opening the FEs for them.​​
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • xyquarzexyquarze Member Posts: 2,120 Arc User
    I can also see a higher level character with a "drop build" (only drops and rewards), possibly on the wrong ship for mastery purposes (say an escort with only a lt sci for an exotic sci captain) struggle here. And these are builds that will have no problem at all plowing through other enemies. I have probably exceeded the 5 minute mark a few times myself, even though I usually stay below it - not taking time, but keeping an eye on long CD abilities. Not the best builds. Now if people have even a bit less damage than I have, I can easily see them not outpacing the dread's healing. Which wouldn't even be bad, teaching players to improve on build and (more likely) strategy and flying. But this dread really is completely out of synch HP wise with anything else I remember from solo mission play, with the possible exception of a romulan mission where you need to kill quite a few waves and unlike here your support NPCs die. And since the dread and its frigates don't do real damage, it ain't really testing your skill, more your patience.
    My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
  • xyquarzexyquarze Member Posts: 2,120 Arc User
    m311 wrote: »
    As for the Dreadnaught is it suppose to be invincible? Takes forever to die and it summons infinite Frigates. Though I'm not sure if that is how carriers works because I don't own one. But, they are frigs not fighters!

    That is indeed how carriers work also for players. You can have two wings per hangar bay at one time, but once ships go down and your cooldown elapsed, you can spawn infinite reserves. Also, many, if not all, player carriers start out with fighter pets but can be upgraded/changed to frigates.
    My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
  • mo8ius142mo8ius142 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    I really enjoyed it. I Like the Lukari as a species a lot, I wasn't that into them when they were first introduced but I love how they are developing and the relationship between the Lukari and the Federation reminds me a bit of the relationship between early Star Fleet and Vulcans in Enterprise (only nicer!). I feel as though the Lukari are off doing their own thing for the most part and we get to see them from time to time. Would be amazing to see the Lukari ships flying around in sector space (like the Deferi Patrols), or see the odd Lukari wandering around DS9 occasionally like "ah there's the new kids on the block", although I realise at this stage they only have the one ship, again reminds me a lot of Enterprise seen from the perspective of the older space-faring race.

    What I liked:
    • The Lukari development.
    • The feeling of this being an old school Star Trek storyline (using an alien culture as an analogy to our own).
    • I liked the feeling that we're seeing the edge of something larger with the Tzenkethi.
    • LOVED the location, the almost blade-runner style smog filled city, the news info terminals, one of the most original feeling locations in a mission for a while, I was actually sad to finish that part of the mission.

    What I was less keen on:
    • Personally, I'd like to see more exploration and less fighting in this arc. I'm not at all opposed to combat at all, but I think this mission could have done with more exploration/interaction on the ground map, and the only fight take place in space when the Tzenkethi arrives (which I really enjoyed, it felt like a good bit), the combat on the ground felt a bit out of place to me.
  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    angrytarg wrote: »
    If it took you an hour, that is your problem, since it takes less then 5 minutes for everyone else.

    pathein probably played the mission on a low level character sinc FEs are open for lvl 10+. It wouldn'T surprise me if the mission itself wouldn't scale correctly to a low level character despite Cryptic opening the FEs for them.​​
    I don't really get why they do that in the first place. The story doesn't even make any sense if new player plays these at level 10.
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,005 Arc User
    warpangel wrote: »
    I don't really get why they do that in the first place. The story doesn't even make any sense if new player plays these at level 10.

    I think it's the gear. It's free to upgrade, so if you catch a FE on a new character it'll have free gear until Mk XII, but other than that, I don't know.​​
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
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  • chelly#7549 chelly Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    edited May 2017
    I didn't know we were supposed to time these things. I have no idea how long it took me, some of my builds was quicker then others. Either way the dread took a while to destroy. I had fun and that all it matters. Yes a level 10 might have a hard time but hey some free items you can upgrade. Untill you do a rep set or two.
  • xyquarzexyquarze Member Posts: 2,120 Arc User
    angrytarg wrote: »
    warpangel wrote: »
    I don't really get why they do that in the first place. The story doesn't even make any sense if new player plays these at level 10.

    I think it's the gear. It's free to upgrade, so if you catch a FE on a new character it'll have free gear until Mk XII, but other than that, I don't know.​​

    I think it's also an advertised event, which probably sounds special, plus skill point, which may draw you in. Granted, if you're new and the storylines are still unfolding, it may be strange - here moreso than ever, what with the Tzenkethi being a minor player in the IP with Lukari and Kentari total unknowns.

    But while I never experienced scaling troubles while playing FEs as a lower toon, here things may add up. The very high HP of dready, plus shields, Kuumaarke often staying behind instead of supporting your fight (she will catch up, but sometimes she seems to be going at quarter impulse and doesn't get to the "support her" position for the next objective) despite arguably hitting harder than all the Kentari combined. And then we all probably had that one point during our first playthrough where we really struggled and had to realize we need to up our skills and gear. Put that in the same episode, and I can see the hour it may take somebody. Of which the most annoying part probably will be after whittling down the enemy to 80% without being damaged yourself to realize "okay, I got this, only 4 times the same again".
    I didn't know we were supposed to time these things. I have no idea how long it took me, some of my builds was quicker then others. Either way the dread took a while to destroy. I had fun and that all it matters. Yes a level 10 might have a hard time but hey some free items you can upgrade. Untill you do a rep set or two.

    I'm not timing. However, there's some long cooldown abilities I tend to use rarely in mission play so they will always be off cooldown if things get really major. Fleet Support/Delta Reinforcements/Nimbus Distress probably the longest. On some toons I use them here and then can see how much time is left after the battle. Or being able to call Photonic Fleet or Tactical Fleet twice in a single battle is a surefire way to tell it's taking longer than usual - in many other episodes you'll end up with 2-3 minutes cooldown remainer even after having the episode turned in.
    My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    warpangel wrote: »
    angrytarg wrote: »
    If it took you an hour, that is your problem, since it takes less then 5 minutes for everyone else.

    pathein probably played the mission on a low level character sinc FEs are open for lvl 10+. It wouldn'T surprise me if the mission itself wouldn't scale correctly to a low level character despite Cryptic opening the FEs for them.​​
    I don't really get why they do that in the first place. The story doesn't even make any sense if new player plays these at level 10.
    Each new episode is also a way to lure players back into the game, regardless of whether they reached endgame or not. If they have to level 40 more levels before they can play it, they will probably not bother.
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    Heh, I did this 4-man on advanced and it was pretty much a running curb stomp session. Until we got to the dread. That took a bit to cut down and 2 people had to respawn. Wasn't exactly a long fight though.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
  • lordmalak1lordmalak1 Member Posts: 4,681 Arc User
    full enviro suit
    pathein wrote: »
    Is there some reason, beyond stupidity and laziness for the fight against the dreadnaught to last for over an f'n HOUR. Lvl 10+ during the featured episode run and at lvl 11 tha d***ed thing is Sh***ing miracle heals taking itself from 54% life back to 78% and then to 100%. Give me a break, pull your heads out of your collective butts and try making sense with this ****. There is absolutely NO excuse for spending an hour in a fight against 1 enemy ship (granted a carrier type) when there are numerous NPCs assisting on normal difficulty...

    You don't have to beat the dread, just beat it's support mob and the dread surrenders.
    KBF Lord MalaK
    Awoken Dead
    giphy.gif

    Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
  • xyquarzexyquarze Member Posts: 2,120 Arc User
    lordmalak1 wrote: »
    You don't have to beat the dread, just beat it's support mob and the dread surrenders.

    Ehm, no. You have to whittle down the dread below (I think) 10% health. The "support mob" are ships launched by the dread, which will in theory infinitely respawn.

    Unless you mix it up with the Factoria, in which case you'll have to disable every ship, including, but not limited to, the Factoria.
    My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
  • luqas99luqas99 Member Posts: 17 Arc User
    I liked the social commentary in it, an integral part of ST which isn't well represented in the game, although (and I apologise if this has been stated already, but this is a looong thread) I felt it was a bit heavy-handed. I am indeed liberal rather than conservative (whatever that means these days), and I happen to agree with the subtext (I think Trump is a vile and tragic human being, and anyone who can't see why is either blind or a liar), but it did pile it on thick. Gene Roddenberry himself said that writers should avoid mustache-twirling villains, but show all antagonists as possessing values that may differ profoundly from our own, but are values nonetheless. I don't think the writers were very subtle or balanced in their characterisation.
    I also felt the gloomy, neo-noirish setting was an interesting change, but didn't feel very Star Trek, it didn't look alien enough. As we saw only a brief trip through the city, it felt a bit wasted, and I get the idea of the environmental damage being responsible, but we could have seen the damage from orbit just by scanning the planet. The detour through the city thus felt pointless.
    I think an improvement could have been to spend more time in the neo-noir city and actually use the setting for more than just battles against anonymous mooks. We could have met important NPCs THERE, and the final confrontation with the antagonists could have taken place there also. I feel it would have been a more adequate use of the most distinctive and uncommon part of the mission, namely a noirish, polluted city.
    Lastly, while noir is about as far from ST as you can get, I think such a settng would be highly appropriate for a Mirror Universe/Terran Empire map, if we ever got one of those. It just felt a bit out of place in the setting, otherwise.
  • discojerdiscojer Member Posts: 533 Arc User
    Anyway, putting aside the hamhanded politics in the mission, yesterday I played it as a level 13 character. It took over half an hour to whittle down the dreadnaught enough to force it to leave.

    OTOH, none of the ships could damage me noticeably. But that dreadnaught just healed almost as fast as I could damage it.
  • smokebaileysmokebailey Member Posts: 4,668 Arc User
    discojer wrote: »
    Anyway, putting aside the hamhanded politics in the mission, yesterday I played it as a level 13 character. It took over half an hour to whittle down the dreadnaught enough to force it to leave.

    OTOH, none of the ships could damage me noticeably. But that dreadnaught just healed almost as fast as I could damage it.

    I think focus on the support ships, and let the NPC's handle the Dreadnaught.
    dvZq2Aj.jpg
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  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    discojer wrote: »
    Anyway, putting aside the hamhanded politics in the mission, yesterday I played it as a level 13 character. It took over half an hour to whittle down the dreadnaught enough to force it to leave.

    OTOH, none of the ships could damage me noticeably. But that dreadnaught just healed almost as fast as I could damage it.
    I think focus on the support ships, and let the NPC's handle the Dreadnaught.
    Yeah, the little ships will heal the big one if you're focusing on it and ignoring them.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
  • edited May 2017
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  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,005 Arc User
    patrickngo wrote: »
    (...)
    so it's an anvilicious morality play. Environmentalist=good in particular, with a non-camouflaged Kapitalist=bad.


    So they have the basics right, at least pig-1.gif

    Seriously, the politic message in the current FE is not "propaganda", it's satire. And a typical element of satire is exaggeration. The world of Kentar shows elements of our real world but already highly exaggerated, although the levels of pollution are already reality for certain parts of the world. A capitalist is inherently egoistic and only worried about their own profits - otherwise it wouldn't be a capitalist. Environmental problems however are something that affects the whole society and requires societal solutions which a capitalist won't provide, a "environmentalist" operates altruistic since saving the environment doesn't enrich you or advances your personal gain but ensures a societies prevail - it's funny that a mindset like this is somehow considered a political extreme by some people these days. Anyhow, the satirical element here points (superficially, but essentially truthful) to problems we face today with comparable groups resisting or seeking to advance environmental protection. The picture painted on Kentar is blunt, sure, but there are people who only learned about environmental issues by watching "the day after tomorrow", so...​​
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
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  • spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,365 Arc User
    angrytarg wrote: »
    patrickngo wrote: »
    (...)
    so it's an anvilicious morality play. Environmentalist=good in particular, with a non-camouflaged Kapitalist=bad.


    So they have the basics right, at least pig-1.gif

    Seriously, the politic message in the current FE is not "propaganda", it's satire. And a typical element of satire is exaggeration. The world of Kentar shows elements of our real world but already highly exaggerated, although the levels of pollution are already reality for certain parts of the world. A capitalist is inherently egoistic and only worried about their own profits - otherwise it wouldn't be a capitalist. Environmental problems however are something that affects the whole society and requires societal solutions which a capitalist won't provide, a "environmentalist" operates altruistic since saving the environment doesn't enrich you or advances your personal gain but ensures a societies prevail - it's funny that a mindset like this is somehow considered a political extreme by some people these days. Anyhow, the satirical element here points (superficially, but essentially truthful) to problems we face today with comparable groups resisting or seeking to advance environmental protection. The picture painted on Kentar is blunt, sure, but there are people who only learned about environmental issues by watching "the day after tomorrow", so...​​

    the thing is that a good satire is sudtle so if they're mocking you directly it might take a while for you to get that and even once you do get it might not be too upset because "at least it was funny", on the other hand this FE was so blunt and unsudtle that it skipped straigth thru mocking and went to outright insulting the opposition.

    I'll be honest I wasn't too upset when I first played the FE on my engineering character as while I thought Pentaaro was a badly made character I didn't make the connection to Donald Trump since I was more focused on the game play and not being an american citizen it wasn't something I thought that much.

    The part up until the govermental building I have no real issues with as I stated elsewhere, it could essentially "be anywhere" and it's not directly linked to current USA internal politics nor do I have major issues with Tzenkethi attack in fact I liked that we didn't succeeded at saving the moon and have to fix what happend.

    My objections towards the FE can be best summed up as "while the tone of the FE was hyper serious several key players where unsudtle parodies on current USA politicians giving the impression of a bad propaganda work"
  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    patrickngo wrote: »
    patrickngo wrote: »
    The economics don't work, even assuming a purely profit-motive driven industrial society, because the conditions kill your domestic market and your workforce.
    You act like that is bizarre when major corporation in the real world always fight for dumping waste and other hazardous **** into water supplies that feed into the local population's drinking water claiming there is no such thing as negative side effects.

    A dying workforce just means you have to pay them less, and can exploit them to pay you more for all number of "cures" to their problems.
    patrickngo wrote: »
    worse still, pollution levels that high, and you're wasting valuable (costs money) raw materials-the more efficient your production, the less money you're letting flow out the outflow as industrial waste. the tech doesn't support the situation...
    Again, have you seen the real world where companies are constantly trying to strip any and all regulations that enforce some level of efficiency because its hurting their profit?

    The problem with your whole post is that it only makes sense if corporations cared about the long term, they do not. Like all people, they are obsessed with short term gains, regardless of the fact they can't take it with them when they die.

    inefficiency is UNPROFITABLE Som..

    I work in an industrial environment, many of those 'environmental' laws actually result in sending ungodly tonnes of otherwise useable materials to Yucca Mountain, where they get to leech into the ground water of Nevada from containers that can't possibly hold them for the rest of the ten thousand or so years it'll take to naturally break down.

    on the other hand, a LOT of that stuff can be reprocessed at fairly low dollar costs, or even re-used.

    and some of them, if let to decay, actually get WORSE.

    Do you know why we don't have closed cycle nuclear? It's because Federal Regulations require disposal of spent nuclear fuel, instead of reprocessing it into nuclear fuel. IOW the spent cores get buried where they'll be hazardous for millenia, and new fuel has to be enriched, produced, and used instead.

    reprocessed fuel costs less than 'new' fuel, once you remove obstructive regulations written by guys who th en went off to work for the oil industry, or coal, or greenpeace.

    we've got dumpsters full of solvents in plastic baggies because federal regulations don't allow the stuff to be leeched out and processed, Som. those dumpsters aren't going to be recycled, they're going Yucca Mountain, or some other toxic waste disposal site, because it's illegal to do anything else...and guess what??

    those toxic waste sites are leaking into ground water, soil, and poisoning huge areas for centuries.

    see, what you don't get, is that regs aren't written by people who know anything except "Pollution bad"-they don't even 'get' how pollution happens, it's not scientists that write these things, it's Bureaucrats, and they read maybe the cover-page on their reports before they draft the next round of regs with an eye toward perpetuation, not solution, of problems-because as long as the problem persists, they still have a six to nine digit a year job.
    No, it's not scientists that write those regulations. It's corporate lobbyists.

    Just like on Kentari, I'd assume.
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  • m311m311 Member Posts: 92 Arc User
    pathein wrote: »
    Is there some reason, beyond stupidity and laziness for the fight against the dreadnaught to last for over an f'n HOUR. Lvl 10+ during the featured episode run and at lvl 11 tha d***ed thing is Sh***ing miracle heals taking itself from 54% life back to 78% and then to 100%. Give me a break, pull your heads out of your collective butts and try making sense with this ****. There is absolutely NO excuse for spending an hour in a fight against 1 enemy ship (granted a carrier type) when there are numerous NPCs assisting on normal difficulty...
    If it took you an hour, that is your problem, since it takes less then 5 minutes for everyone else.

    I don't have a tier 6 ship. It took me like 15+ mins.
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