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Ground Combat - Exposes and Exploits

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited April 2014 in The Academy
As a recently-minted Lieutenant Commander, I've done most of my ground combat without any real understanding of "Exposes" and "Exploits". Can someone explain these two concepts? Are there certain attacks or weapons that I should use, and should I chain these attacks in a particular way? How do I know if I am using "Exposes" and "Exploits" correctly?

A general explanation would be really helpful. Thanks!
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Expose attacks have a chance to set up a vulnerable state on a target - this state denotes that an Eploit attack used on that target will do additional damage - from the Star Trek Online manual...
    Expose and Exploit

    On the ground, weapons can have one of two different secondary effects. Some weapons are used to expose your enemies, leaving them in a very vulnerable state. Other weapons are able to exploit an exposed opponent. If an enemy is exposed you will see a golden crosshair appear over them. When you see this indicator, attack them with an exploit attack to do massive damage, and for the chance to vaporize them, removing them from the fight immediately!

    You can tell whether a weapon is set up to expose enemies or exploit exposed defenses by looking at the tool tip for that weapon.

    Tip: Equip your Bridge Officers with weapons meant to expose your opponents’ weakness and yourself a weapon to exploit those weaknesses to increase the frequency your enemies are exposed and ensure plenty of vaporizations.

    All ground weapons have three attack modes (ignoring melee weapons). A single target shot, a special shot and a melee hit. it is the special shot that will be an Expose or Exploit attack.

    Dependant on the weapon, the Expose/Exploit attack could be either single-target, cone or area of effect. Each have their advantages and disadvantages - single target attacks will tend to have higher damage, but of course affect less people at once.

    As a personal recommendation, I equip all my Bridge Officers with wide-cone Expose attacks to try and affect as many enemes as possible. I then carry a cone Exploit weapon and a wide-cone Expose weapon. This enables me to effectively remove multiple targets from a fight when the opportunity presents itself, while still doing respectable damage without the Expose state.

    Hope this is useful for you!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    When you know that an enemy is exposed, there is a target on them, if you then use a Sniper Rifle's Special attack you see an enemy turn into dust
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Thanks so much! I was wondering why an enemy very rarely gets obliterated. I will do some experimenting more with conal weapons.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    When you know that an enemy is exposed, there is a target on them, if you then use a Sniper Rifle's Special attack you see an enemy turn into dust

    As long as he's not a high level boss/commander/etc. Otherwise you need to have done a good amount of damage previously. Henchmen can pretty much be popped immediately if you get lucky.

    I have half my away team armed with expose weapons and the other half with exploit. And then I have one of each. I've had encounters where I've disintegrated 3 people in one hit. Split beam rocks.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    As long as he's not a high level boss/commander/etc. Otherwise you need to have done a good amount of damage previously. Henchmen can pretty much be popped immediately if you get lucky.

    I have half my away team armed with expose weapons and the other half with exploit. And then I have one of each. I've had encounters where I've disintegrated 3 people in one hit. Split beam rocks.

    I'm with this guy on his opinion of split beams they do rock! i love the way they disentergrate :eek:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Hint:

    Hitting the " G " key targets the nearest exploited enemy.

    Cheers!
    Vapourizing_Canuck :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Also keep in mind there are Bridge Officer special expose attacks too. Primarily from the science branch. Your personal kit choice might offer additional expose and exploit attacks. I'm a Tactical Officer with the Close Combat kit. Lunge is an exploit attack. My main weapon is a split beam rifle with an exploit attack.

    My secondary weapon? Bare knuckles, Kirk style. Unarmed combat offers you fast recycling attacks and each is a potential expose and can be strung into assorted combos with different effects (hold, stun, bleed, expose, exploit). Physical damage (default martial arts, weapon melee attacks, lunge, etc) also bypasses shields entirely but it's only really effective with a Tactical Officer using Close Combat or Operative kits and then most effective with a Bat'leth wielding character.

    My officers use a mix of expose and exploit weapons and I issue them based on the role they have in the group as well as particular racial traits. For example, I have a Betazoid security chief and he gets an innate bonus to his expose durations. So he gets to tote around a big AOE assault weapon with an expose special attack. Another Security Officer is a grenade specialist so he gets a fast recycling pistol so it won't slow down his grenade heaving ways. But often I'll have his grenades toggled off so he doesn't lay down plasma where I'm planning on some martial arts displays. So his pistol is an exploit special weapon because they tend to do more basic DPS and he's often relying mainly on that.

    And so on.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Another tidbit some folks are unaware of: there is a preset keybind for "Target Nearest Exposed Enemy". I'm not certain what the default is since I've long since rebound the command, but its under the "Targeting" section in the controls panel.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Keshay wrote: »
    Another tidbit some folks are unaware of: there is a preset keybind for "Target Nearest Exposed Enemy". I'm not certain what the default is since I've long since rebound the command, but its under the "Targeting" section in the controls panel.

    From two posts above yours...

    Hint:

    Hitting the " G " key targets the nearest exploited enemy.

    Cheers!
    Vapourizing_Canuck :)

    All of my bos have expose weapons of various types. Some have 'spray' style weapons, some have 'burst' style, some of 'cone' style. I carry a split beam. For a while, early on, i actually carried two split beams so I could switch to one that was not on cooldown for maximum vaporizing. I have since switched to the one and martial arts (which, at captain, I have ranked all the way up plus rare physical augment armor, plus a rare close combat kit... I am teh space ninja ;) )


    It never gets old having a whole group on expose and reducing em all to dust in one fell swoop... good times, good times :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I am so happy I found this thread, I was clueless also.

    Thanks everyone!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    It's also worth noting that Expose attacks all seem to have a 10% chance of actually exposing. The only way I've seen to increase this is with the "Lucky" or "Telepathic" ground traits. "Telepathic" and "Limited Telepathy" also increase the duration of exposes slightly, making all three nice traits for BOs.
  • rapiidz117rapiidz117 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Hello, I've recently achieved rank captain and while in a mission i accidentally got rid of my (1) expose attack (the one where you press *1 to fire) and is no longer allowing me to complete missions because i have to wait 6 seconds for my secondary expose attack to reload which means i can't fire at the enemy causing me to constantly die.

    so i was wondering if there is anyway i can get it back? if you can just reply to this and help me out that would be great.

    thank you
  • assimilat3dassimilat3d Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    If you are saying that you accidentally removed the skill from the bar at the bottom of the screen, all you have to do to get it back is press the "P" key on your keyboard to display a list of available skills. Your missing skill will be in the list and you can drag it back to the bar in the #1 position.
  • technograytechnogray Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    Okay, noobie-est question ever.

    Can someone tell me HOW you do the exploit/expose attacks? All I know is to click on targets to attack. I really can't seem to find control instructions anywhere.
  • mcduffie369mcduffie369 Member Posts: 787 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    technogray wrote: »
    Okay, noobie-est question ever.

    Can someone tell me HOW you do the exploit/expose attacks? All I know is to click on targets to attack. I really can't seem to find control instructions anywhere.

    Weapons with expose attacks are things like dual pistols and auto rifles. It is the secondary firing mode that will expose and exploit most often. So, use the secondary attack on a set of dual pistols or auto rifle and then change weapons to something like a split beam or sniper rifle. If the target is exposed the secondary firing mode on the weapon with the exploit attack will flash. Use the expose attack and they will usually vaporize.
    Why not check my yputube channel for more ground help.
  • dathranselanedathranselane Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    This thread will probably be targeted for necro-termination, but:

    Expose is a random chance that increases on use of attacks with the Expose quality. A weapon will list whether its special setting is Expose or Exploit on the weapon tooltip.

    To make the most of Exposes and Exploits, I recommend a combination of a Pulsewave Assault weapon (for Expose) and a Compression Pistol (for Exploit). Pulsewave Assault is like an energy shotgun: shorter range, but a good-sized cone, inherent knockback, and a good chance of exposing targets. The Compression Pistol is a fast-firing weapon that you can switch to and attack with before the Expose window closes. As you get better with various weapons, you may find other weapons suit your personal style better.

    Another very good weapon is the Dyson Experimental Proton Rifle. This weapon has both Expose AND Exploit modes: its wide shot setting is an Expose attack, and when you target an Exposed enemy, the weapon goes into sniper mode, dealing Exploit damage. This is a great weapon to equip your away team with, and a good main weapon for any captain.
  • technograytechnogray Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    I know what the attacks do, but what is the secondary fire button?
  • mcduffie369mcduffie369 Member Posts: 787 Arc User
    edited April 2014
    technogray wrote: »
    I know what the attacks do, but what is the secondary fire button?

    The secondary fire should be number 2 by default.
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