[STOPC] Defend the Kobayashi Maru!

ambassadorkael

Face the most difficult test in Starfleet this weekend on PC!

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11068243

pottsey5g

Any chance of seeing a return of the original no-win scenario as I found that one more fun with better gameplay.

Plus is the disabled ship with the broken engine going to be fixed so it doesn't zoom super fast into the enemy getting its self killed making all player strategy and skill go out the window? If it can move that fast why didn't is just fly away and why does it suicide into the enemy?

saber1973a

The enemy are using giant magnets?
Anyway let me check my bank... alright - still got spare 3 weekend vouchers from last time…

finsches123

"To get to the Weekend Event Store, simply open the context menu for a Weekend Event Voucher and “use” it to open the store, much the same way that Lobi functions. From there you can spend your Weekend Event vouchers on any item of your choice."

Does that mean we can also get the old parts of the set?

saber1973a

finsches123 wrote: »

"To get to the Weekend Event Store, simply open the context menu for a Weekend Event Voucher and “use” it to open the store, much the same way that Lobi functions. From there you can spend your Weekend Event vouchers on any item of your choice."

Does that mean we can also get the old parts of the set?

Yes - old rewards - but only from weekend events - are still in weekend store - all stuff cost 3 vouchers each.
Well, all but that Dilithium pack, and if I remember correctly the Prolonged Energy weapon unlocks both - canons and beam array toogether when buyin one of them.
All you need is vouchers - which you can get one every 20 hours or so per account - so no unlocking different things on multiple toons.
But the time should be enough to get 5 vouchers, and the event should be repeated in the future - all weekend vouchers are the same, so we can get everything in the store - just need to watch for (and participate in) next events.

Edit:
Also, the Weekend Event Store is accessible to all people at all time - just look at your Reputation -> Events -> Store -> Weekend Event on your Character window and browse all currently avaiable stuff there.

Edit2:
Also for ground gear from the store - there is… not exactly a bug, but I'm not sure if this is as intended, so lets hope it will not get fixed, but anyway, you can only get one of everything from the store at once on your toon, but if you put the ground gear on your BOFF, you can draw another one of the piece - so you can get Sompek shields and Sompek Blast Assault weapon for all your BOFFs… but I'm still waiting for an armor to get full set for all my away team right from the start (the gear is scaled and accessible right from the start, or after tutorial - don't remember exactly, but after leveling up I need to get new, higher leveled gear - or upgrade my old, whatever)

lordsteve1

finsches123 wrote: »

"To get to the Weekend Event Store, simply open the context menu for a Weekend Event Voucher and “use” it to open the store, much the same way that Lobi functions. From there you can spend your Weekend Event vouchers on any item of your choice."

Does that mean we can also get the old parts of the set?

Yes if you have enough tokens you can buy anything in there.
Items cost 3 tokens to initially unlock.

nommo

Sounds like an interesting torpedo with those abilities. I hope Cryptic has the Kobayashi Maru fixed though.

captaincelestial

We need a Kobayashi Maru Admiralty card, if not a T1 cargo ship

smokebailey

captaincelestial wrote: »

We need a Kobayashi Maru Admiralty card, if not a T1 cargo ship

or for a Miranda skin.

saurializard

Well, in a way, this is a difficult test of character:

See how patient you are babysitting a crew of lying, overly-confident idiots again and again before quitting or attempting to trick the simulation into making it targetable for you.

rattler2

Actually... they didn't post that, they lifted the line, complete with audio, from Wrath of Khan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml6vXKXIG_0

I think the main reason they made the Maru into frickin' Leeroy Jenkins is to keep the battle mobile. If we want to protect her, we gotta not only keep track of her, but keep up with her. Adds to the difficulty.

Also while the old Kobayashi Maru queue was a bit more realistic in the "lost power" aspect, where the enemy appeared from was actually predictable if you've done it enough. With a good, coordinated team that is actively communicating, it was possible to plan a move ahead and beat the No Win Scenario.

My fleet worked hard to do that, and being able to use Voice Chat helped BIG time with coordinating where to go as the spawn points were not random. Once you knew where they would spawn from in each wave... all you really had to worry about was how to take them out.

protoneous

pottsey5g wrote: »

Any chance of seeing a return of the original no-win scenario as I found that one more fun with better gameplay.

Plus is the disabled ship with the broken engine going to be fixed so it doesn't zoom super fast into the enemy getting its self killed making all player strategy and skill go out the window? If it can move that fast why didn't is just fly away and why does it suicide into the enemy?

I think they forgot to mention that the Gravitic Mine it hit that penetrated their hull also resulted in it randomly venting atmosphere that pushes the ship in different directions?

"We have struck a gravitic mine and have lost all power...our hull is penetrated and we have sustained many casualties."

duncanidaho11

rattler2 wrote: »

I think the main reason they made the Maru into frickin' Leeroy Jenkins is to keep the battle mobile. If we want to protect her, we gotta not only keep track of her, but keep up with her. Adds to the difficulty.

Yeah this has been covered on Ten Forward a few times. Having the Kobayashi Maru move forces players to be mindful of its current position (ie. employ situational awareness and be ready to shift strategy per active developments.) If it didn't, it becomes a lot easier as effectively you only have to defend the center of the map with AOE healing spam and concentrated firepower (repeated ad nauseum), not the ship per say. I believe they playtested it both ways, moving won out and IMO it does add to the need for active thinking in what could otherwise be a very rote queue.

In universe explanation: they lost all power but then got their thrusters back online. Call it a 2409 update to test cadets more thoroughly (things can change during a mission.)

baddmoonrizin

Also, they obviously didn't lose ALL power (if you want to nitpick), otherwise they couldn't transmit the distress message.

pottsey5g

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

rattler2 wrote: »

I think the main reason they made the Maru into frickin' Leeroy Jenkins is to keep the battle mobile. If we want to protect her, we gotta not only keep track of her, but keep up with her. Adds to the difficulty.

Yeah this has been covered on Ten Forward a few times. Having the Kobayashi Maru move forces players to be mindful of its current position (ie. employ situational awareness and be ready to shift strategy per active developments.) If it didn't, it becomes a lot easier as effectively you only have to defend the center of the map with AOE healing spam and concentrated firepower (repeated ad nauseum), not the ship per say. I believe they playtested it both ways, moving won out and IMO it does add to the need for active thinking in what could otherwise be a very rote queue.

In universe explanation: they lost all power but then got their thrusters back online. Call it a 2409 update to test cadets more thoroughly (things can change during a mission.)

There are two problems the first being the Kobayashi Maru is aggressively suicidal which at first we can sort of mange. But that is amplified as eventually you hit the speed boost phase where the Maru turns suicidal going mega speed solo into a group of enemy before you get chance to blink or turn your ship the right direction. As far as I can see there is nothing you can do about that but watch the ship comment suicide if you can even manage to track it as it’s going so mega fast.

Its one of the reasons I prefer the original as it had more active thinking and working as a team. The new one feels more like cross your fingers and hope for the best until the ship comments suicide.

discojer

Let me just add my usual complaint of it being weekend only, as there are many people like me who work weekends and either miss out or have to radically change our schedules to participate.

Would it really kill you to run it through Mon? You already start it on Thursday, which helps and I can usually do it Sunday night, but Friday and Saturday are problems. Just one more day would be helpful.

duncanidaho11

pottsey5g wrote: »

Its one of the reasons I prefer the original as it had more active thinking and working as a team. The new one feels more like cross your fingers and hope for the best until the ship comments suicide.

Assuming of course that you haven't accommodated a moving target in your build and team strategy. I've done both by the way, it's a challenge but that's what I'd rather see in this queue.

discojer wrote: »

Let me just add my usual complaint of it being weekend only, as there are many people like me who work weekends and either miss out or have to radically change our schedules to participate.

Would it really kill you to run it through Mon? You already start it on Thursday, which helps and I can usually do it Sunday night, but Friday and Saturday are problems. Just one more day would be helpful.

Yeah that would be a nice QoL. The extra Monday would do a lot to buffer against having a busy or traveling weekend.

cain19822004

Would also be nice to see this on consoles.

smokebailey

baddmoonrizin wrote: »

Also, they obviously didn't lose ALL power (if you want to nitpick), otherwise they couldn't transmit the distress message.

Maybe power's gonna erratic, and some systems are getting power surges for a awhile?

slifox

This sounds sweet and I have the time to get it done!

baddmoonrizin

ruinthefun wrote: »

baddmoonrizin wrote: »

Also, they obviously didn't lose ALL power (if you want to nitpick), otherwise they couldn't transmit the distress message.

You can still use the hand crank on the radio.

pottsey5g

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

“Assuming of course that you haven't accommodated a moving target in your build and team strategy. I've done both by the way, it's a challenge but that's what I'd rather see in this queue.”

I can understand accommodating for a moving target in the normal rounds. But how do you deal with the Kobayashi Maru when it goes mega speed in a suicide run to the enemy? What was it 300% to 600% beyond standard full impulse? If that wasn’t bad enough it can all of a sudden in a split second change direction far faster than player ships turn. Even if I stack into turn rate boosts I cannot keep up with it.

Even in the normal rounds why is a damaged near dead ship doing suicide runs?

In the speed rounds most of the time I cannot even track it with my eyes as its moving so fast and by the time I have spotted it the ship is either dead or dead by the time I have turned my ship to face it and move. I have not figured out how to deal with that yet in my build and not seen anyone explain it. So how do we accommodate for that in the builds and team strategy as you have done it?

I will admit I haven’t got a clue how deal with this Kobayashi Maru. In the old one I could use team strategy, tactics and skill to get to the last few waves. In this one I haven’t the faintest idea what team strategy, tactics and skill works so please share. The lack of working valid team strategy, tactics and skill is why I don't find this one fun so I am open for suggestions as long as it doesn't mean a massive rewrite of my build into a cookie cutter build as those are no fun to play for me.

protoneous

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

I've done both by the way, it's a challenge but that's what I'd rather see in this queue.

I've done both as well. The previous version, for me at least, presented a more "Arena of Sompek" like challenge and is what I'd rather see in this queue. It was all out and good fun. While I still try my best and enjoy playing the new one as well, the feeling of accomplishment just isn't there. Perhaps I should explore the strategic aspects more, and it will become more satisfying?

postagepaid

cain19822004 wrote: »

Would also be nice to see this on consoles.

Console is still waiting on the sompek arena that was just prior to christmas.

Thankfully both my PC accounts have half a dozen tokens stashed solely for the purpose of ignoring the kamikaze maru. It's too prone to TRIBBLE to be fun and another of those runs where for no damn reason they've added in chance of that nauseating static effect.

fred26291

Bad moon, You always have auxiliary power for emergency calls. providing emergency is putting out enough power to reach the nearest ship.

baddmoonrizin

tomilak wrote: »

Bad moon, You always have auxiliary power for emergency calls. providing emergency is putting out enough power to reach the nearest ship.

I'm well aware. They obviously have life support, and emergency force fields for the hull breach, as well. I was just picking at those who are complaining and stressing that the ship has lost ALL power. It's reasonable to assume that they're referring to having lost warp power, thus unable to get out of the Neutral Zone effectively. If the ship is maneuverable at all, even with thrusters, they'd try to exit the Neutral Zone at best possible speed due to the seriousness of the situation. Also, the crew would be working to restore warp capability as quickly as possible.

postagepaid

Static seems to have gone but that awful ship sliding still happens during and after the speed boost comes along.

fred26291

I was hoping I was gonna be able to get one token per character and run this on 2 characters, because i was unable to get the sompak shield due to the event malfunction. however you can only get one per day so i guess no extra tokens for the shield this event.

robeasom

Is anyone having a issue getting the reward I just did a Kobayshi maru and got jack no token no marks nothing only a cooldown timer

duncanidaho11

pottsey5g wrote: »

I will admit I haven’t got a clue how deal with this Kobayashi Maru. In the old one I could use team strategy, tactics and skill to get to the last few waves. In this one I haven’t the faintest idea what team strategy, tactics and skill works so please share. The lack of working valid team strategy, tactics and skill is why I don't find this one fun so I am open for suggestions as long as it doesn't mean a massive rewrite of my build into a cookie cutter build as those are no fun to play for me.

What I've found works best is a mixed team with both heavy and light ships that are able to play to more team support and survivability (the heavies) and quick DPS response (the lights). When the Maru moves it usually catches out cruisers and that's when smaller ships are essential to maintain cover for the Maru. Once the cruisers are back in defensive positions, the lights can move to deal with incoming missiles (though everyone should have eyes out.) Escorts with cannons can also be a little better at intercepting single missiles that the FAW from beam builds miss, which in my experience is another point in favor of trying to mix it up (if you're pugging, I've had best results from going in with an escort since folks seem to prefer larger ships but that's just my observation.)

Most of the team (at least) should be also equipped with a protomatter field projector if they have one (console from the Lukari event ship.) It's AOE heal is incredibly effective on the Maru as it works on a % of its hull rather than a specific value of shields/hull restored.