Starfleet: Why should I care?

rudlitt

Greetings fellow Captains! Lifetime subscriber returning after several years away. I have a nice nest egg of credits, etc stored up in my absence as a result. Thinking it safest to remember how to crawl and then walk before I run to spend it all. I see there is now an option on new rolled characters for "Discovery" and "TOS" Starfleet as well as 'simply' Starfleet. Outside of roleplaying/fandom aspects, why should I choose one over the other?

legendarylycan

aesthetics - if you don't care about different transporter and scanner effects/Sfx...you shouldn't choose and just go with plain starfleet​​

rudlitt

Thanks, SF240!

Does the same apply to the other Empires? Is it all just visuals? I get the role vs ship combo's help define play style, but not sure what effect 'race/government' choice plays into it. And to the roleplaying purests among us, my apologies. I want to understand mechanics before I jump in! Thanks!

Rud

spiritborn

Mechanically there's no real difference between the factions, well Jem'hadar have personal cloaks but that's it. Romulans and Klingons have a bit easier access to cloaks but you can have cloaks on the Federation. Also KDF has some different Doff missions and different ship list (you can look at forums for what ships are faction bound).

the AoY toons and AoD toons are Federation with few different animations, note that AoY and AoD characters cannot join KDF only FED.

davefenestrator

Besides role playing and aesthetics, Klingons and Romulans have long story episode chains before merging with everyone else. TOS has a half-dozen episodes before you jump to 2409, Discovery has a few.

Romulans are the only ones who can have a full bridge crew of Superior Romulan Operative bridge officers, but that shouldn't keep you from choosing another faction. Space Barbie is the real endgame.

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joshmaul

spiritborn wrote: »

well Jem'hadar have personal cloaks but that's it.

Not 100% sure, but I think the Jem'Hadar only have the personal cloak because of the ground set they start with (the rifle, shield and armor from "The 2800" episodes).

seaofsorrows

joshmaul wrote: »

spiritborn wrote: »

well Jem'hadar have personal cloaks but that's it.

Not 100% sure, but I think the Jem'Hadar only have the personal cloak because of the ground set they start with (the rifle, shield and armor from "The 2800" episodes).

Shroud is an innate Jem'Hadar ability.

rudlitt

Thank you all for the insights. Is there any reason I should forsake my L50 Starfleet main of 7 years ago and start over? I am running a new toon through the tutorial to relearn the controls, but had plan to ditch it in favor of my original. Any limitation I should know about?

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legendarylycan

there is one other thing faction choice affects - and that's the price of certain meta/BiS gear/traits/etc.

like the Dynamic Power Redistributor Module for example - federation characters have to pay somewhere around 2-400m EC for one copy AND have to yank it off the ship it comes with, whereas klingon, romulan and klingon-aligned jem'hadar can buy just the console itself for around 7-12m at current prices

on the flipside, federation and federation-aligned romulans/jem'hadar get one of the strongest defensive ship traits, Honored Dead, for dirt cheap, as well as getting one of the strongest traits for torpedo boats cheap (Ceaseless Momentum), compared to klingon and klingon-aligned factions

of course, none of this matters if you don't care about DPS-chasing, because cheaper alternatives to almost all current meta stuff can be gotten​​

spiritborn

> @seaofsorrows said:
> (Quote)
>
> Shroud is an innate Jem'Hadar ability.

Indeed and if you're suffering from white withdrawl you can't use it

foxrockssocks

Disco/TOS starts give you starter ships you can't get in the 24th century start, so essentially an exclusive admiralty card or two, which you may or may not care about, though if you're back after 7 years you probably can't do a lot with admiralty to begin with, and you don't get it till 52 anyway. There are also some different BOFF powers available that you can't get in the 24th century. The notable one is the photon grenade mortar as the others all have a counterpart I think. You can buy up several copies of that in the TOS era and give it to your 24th century engineers, if you like that BOFF power.

angrytarg

Do not delete your legacy character! It probably has some achievements and items that are no longer available. I still cherish my original characters from 2011, as they have collected stuff that simply doesn't exist any more. And I'm a hoarder ​​

thunderfoot

OP, the only suggestion I can offer is this one: Do what looks like it will be the most fun.

Too many players take this game entirely too seriously. Further, it far too easy to get people to line up here and tell you how you are playing the game all wrong. Don't listen to them too much. Yes, among all the chaff are some kernels of good advice. But wading through too much nonsense detracts from the enjoyment of the game. Go do what you like. It is your free time and your money.

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rudlitt

Thank you so much. You all are the best! Nice to experience a real discussion on a forum for a change. I greatly appreciate your guidance. I am sure I will be back with more questions. Right now I'm fighting the urge to go on a zen spending spree. Afraid I might miss out on something I would want later. But its a marathon, not a sprint, right? Thanks all!

Any additional guidance is welcomed!

Rud

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legendarylycan

i would strongly encourage a purchase of the legendary bundle if it's still in the store and that 20% sale is still going...not quite as good as the 35% sale it was on last week, but that bundle is MORE than worth it, especially if you're coming back after 7 or more years and thus likely have almost nothing

among many other goodies (ships, consoles and traits alike) you also get access to 3 different endgame-tier connies if you like that kind of ship, and the temporal flight-deck version also comes with infinitely-reclaimable TOS style phasers like the T1 version westmetals mentioned above, but these are a much stronger version - in fact, they are some of the strongest phasers currently available along with sensor-linked

the bundle IS very expensive, yes; but if you can afford it and anything at all in it catches your eye, i definitely recommend it - but just the standard version, not the premium...that just has a bunch of extra gamble-based items stuffed in it to justify a huge spike in price, which the added items do NOT justify - the premium version is kind of a rip-off​​

rudlitt

Westmetals - Thank you for a viable path forward!
Shadowfang - I do have enough Zen reserve to cover the legendary standard bundle. You answered my next question on whether its worth the investment.

Thanks both!

Rud

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inferiority

angrytarg wrote: »

I still cherish my original characters from 2011, as they have collected stuff that simply doesn't exist any more. And I'm a hoarder

I still have a full set of the 10 original particle traces from scans that I share among my newer characters to obtain the associated Accolade.