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what is up with the mission Kelsid System Patrol?

captainkccaptainkc Member Posts: 113 Arc User
I had to take some time off from being swarmed by Vaadwaur assault ships, rooted by constriction anchors, and bombed into smithereens by tricobalt mines to say this mission sucks. Who were the devs who made this monster? Were they on drugs? It's nice to have an infinite number of lives (chances) but getting swarmed time and time again blows. I am in the "Final Vaadwaur attack group" which is endless and I even never got the chance to finish deploying the first set of satellites. WTF were you thinking Cryptic??

Literally wearing out my Fleet Support, Beacon of Kahless, and Photonic Fleet skills trying to slog through. Rant over. >.<

Reference thread:
Lifetime of regret https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/star-trek-online/#/discussion/1178265/lifetime-of-regret
People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey ... stuff. --the Doctor, "Blink"
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on

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  • anodynesanodynes Member Posts: 1,999 Arc User
    Vaadwaur are tougher than NPCs that came before. Add to that the scaling of enemy damage and health after 55, and especially after 60, and you are going to need to rethink combat. For reference, play the new Ninth Rule patrol. Similar waves, but mostly older enemies like Hirogen, Orions and Nausicaans. Even with the scaling, those groups are still pushovers, which is probably why they made House Mo'Kai so much different from the equally easy Klingon NPCs from launch.

    The Kelsid patrol from the thread that you referenced was different, though I'm not sure in exactly which ways, as I haven't played the new version, and neither it, nor the Farn system one that was also mentioned there was unwinnable at that time, it was just really difficult to do by the old methods that everyone had grown used to, especially the run up in your Escort and park on them at around 2 km to hose them with your cannons method.

    Speed is your friend here. It helps you to avoid the tricobalt blasts and to just generally avoid taking so much damage. It also might not be a bad idea to prioritize the ships that can constrict you, namely the Scout Vessels and Interdictor Cruisers, since they will rob you of your friend, speed.
    This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
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  • echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,918 Arc User
    edited September 2019
    I'm gonna have to try that and see if it's that hard.

    Edit: Just did and it's not any different from doing any of the new Spore patrols. While I didn't quite get all the satellites deployed, I did not blow up once.

    I was flying my Wells, and while I did have to hit heals regularly, I wasn't in danger of blowing up. I spammed my S31 mines all around them every chance I got too. They were a bit tougher than the 'older' enemies in the Spore patrols, but they did die.

    Sure, they spammed the cluster torpedoes, but constantly moving kept the damage down and I managed to avoid and kill the constriction anchors.
    Post edited by echatty on
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,689 Arc User
    Did you try: Evasive maneuvers, polarize hull, attack pattern omega?

    It's been at least a year since I played it last, but I don't recall it being that hard at level 60.
  • protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
    captainkc wrote: »
    Who were the devs who made this monster? Were they on drugs?
    Good chance there was some caffeine involved...
    WTF were you thinking Cryptic??
    Pretty sure they were trying to give you the perfect Vaadwaur experience and they did. This is how they fight. Having played the original version when it came out like others here, I think they got the balance about right (really).

    Just ran it and it was fun to play. Yes, a few rapid adjustments were needed on the final wave to ensure success. Did it on a sci toon in a sci ship as noticed you were science. You'll get the hang of it. When it came out it was much harder. Back then you couldn't watch TV and play it at the same time, you had to focus on your abilities and positioning.
    azrael605 wrote: »
    Love that mission ... I was playing on Elite in a T5 right after DR when they were much tougher.
    That was crazy fun back in the day. Almost gave me sore fingers ^^
  • szerontzurszerontzur Member Posts: 2,724 Arc User
    captainkc wrote: »
    WTF were you thinking Cryptic??

    My speculation was that they were going for something that challenged the meta builds at the time(which was basically park and pew-pew). Personally speaking, I quite enjoyed them(and similarly the Undine) for encouraging diverse playstyles. Unfortunately, change is scary. People don't want to adapt, and thus they complain(the Tzenkethi and the new metreon gas patrol are perhaps other more recent examples).

    To be fair, I still think the encounter designer(s) have a bit of a sadistic streak that favors outright misery over interesting counter-play; I suppose "Fun" is ultimately an abstraction though..

    For the Vaadwaur specifically, they're an encounter group mainly centered around the battle of mobility. If you can outmaneuver and, more importantly, immobilize them, you'll absolutely trivialize fights with them - both in space and on land. If the opposite is true, you're in for a rough time.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    Those Artillery Ships were a PITA at the time and you needed to get in close to them to avoid their spam. Now, the Vaadwaur just go down like strawmen.
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • captainkccaptainkc Member Posts: 113 Arc User
    Did you try: Evasive maneuvers, polarize hull, attack pattern omega?

    Not at the time, but thanks for the suggestions. I have slotted them for future missions. The Farn system patrol was much easier (maybe because the Borg Collective are combat ready where the Talaxians aren't), and now that's done I do not plan on encountering any more Vaadwaur by choice.

    @azrael605 Oh thank you exalted one, I totally missed that part while being blown up by enraged space lizards! Tell me something I don't know!
    People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey ... stuff. --the Doctor, "Blink"
  • sthe91sthe91 Member Posts: 6,010 Arc User
    captainkc wrote: »
    Did you try: Evasive maneuvers, polarize hull, attack pattern omega?

    Not at the time, but thanks for the suggestions. I have slotted them for future missions. The Farn system patrol was much easier (maybe because the Borg Collective are combat ready where the Talaxians aren't), and now that's done I do not plan on encountering any more Vaadwaur by choice.

    @azrael605 Oh thank you exalted one, I totally missed that part while being blown up by enraged space lizards! Tell me something I don't know!

    There is no need to insult azrael, he is trying to help you. Did you try any of his suggestions? Thanks. :)
    Where there is a Will, there is a Way.
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  • echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,918 Arc User
    It's because I listened to people before I reached the DQ that I made it through there relatively unscathed.

    Thank you all who give tips and tricks for stuff like that.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    azrael605 wrote: »
    Hell I didn't even realize they were firing cluster mine torps until I got one as a reward.
    I usually stay moving way too much. I realized the Vaads were attacking with the dot things. Apparently Trics don't work will on moving targets because the explosion animation is slow enough to not do full damage to a target moving away from the blast.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
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  • foxrockssocksfoxrockssocks Member Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    edited October 2019
    Vaudwaar are harder now than originally. The scaling has made their damage go up much faster than your HP or healing or resists, and there were changes to how many abilities target--or rather don't target--mines now.

    Someone going in now with a mk 15 reputation set equipped character doesn't remotely compare to someone with mismatched mk9-12 best gear who recently leveled up. The speed of leveling past 50 is still quite fast so its easy to run into Vaudwaar at 65 in a very poorly equipped ship.

    Speed is still the most valuable defense against Vaudwaar, and doing what you can to kill their anchors, interdiction cruisers and scout ships first, because they are the ones that counter your movement, will help the most in fighting them.
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  • echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,918 Arc User
    azrael605 wrote: »
    How can the vaadwaur be harder now when they have been steadily lowering the difficulty of the entire game since Delta Rising came out?

    I wondered this too. They don't seem to be quite as hard now as they were when I first hit DR. Still difficult? Yes. Harder now? No.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
  • anodynesanodynes Member Posts: 1,999 Arc User
    They're about as difficult as before, due to the higher projectile damage, and the increase in overall difficulty that came with the bump from 60 to 65. That's mostly offset by the general powercreep for players, though. Sure, our basic survivability stats didn't scale the way that theirs did, but we have gotten a very broad suite of new abilities, and smaller across-the board stat increases (like those from Endeavor perks) that kind of bring it into balance.

    I played the new version today, and the combat part of it isn't very different. It largely felt like the same level of difficulty that there was when it was new, probably due to the shifts on both the player and NPC ends of the equation that I mentioned earlier in this post. The main difference in the patrol is in the satellite deployment portion. Before, you could set up a bunch of primary turrets, or a smaller amount of primary, secondary and tertiary turrets, but you were limited to setting them all up before the Vaadwaur showed up. Now, you have to set up all primary turrets, then all secondary, and finally all tertiary, but you can continue even after the Vaadwaur show up.

    The only thing that was broken about this patrol at launch was the accolades, as no combination of turrets set up seemed to award them. Perhaps this change has fixed that, but it will require further testing.
    This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
  • nixie50nixie50 Member Posts: 1,347 Arc User
    I use the same tactic I always use. Get into range alpha strike the nearest and if I can hang in till it dies then I get out of range repair shields rinse repeat. The only place I have found that doesn't work are romulan patrols like carraya
    u7acy6aymfw7.gif
    We Need BERETS in the tailor
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