Then I pressed U and looked at his trats - they were completely empty. He didn't know that they were there. I then clicked on the Doff Icon under the map and he had 0/5 assigned for ground and 0/5 for space. We set up his traits and Doffs and it made a world of difference.
He's a good gamer, smart guy.. just no one ever told him about that stuff. Maybe check that when you get time.
Not to mention that with the bugs lately, the game could just de-assign all your doffs anyway. I did an MU yesterday and kept wondering what was wrong with me. Yep, I had no space doffs assigned.
"You Iconians just hung a vacancy sign on your asses and my foot's looking for a room!"
--Red Annorax
To the rest of you, thanks for taking your time to post. The computer I'm on is a bit dodgy (this is my fourth attempt at typing out this post) so I'll try to keep this short. Space is more of an irritation than anything else, the enemies health stays down and I can normally fight without any issues, at least in the level 50 scaled queues, the story mode missions don't seem to be helping my confidence any though. Ground is really the big problem, I can defeat most enemies, that's not really the issue, the problem is the highest levels of difficulty within the mode seem to be such an exceptional jump from the rest of them. A 4 pip ground enemy is simply impossible without some form of exploit (when I say exploit I mean the bug kind, not the combat tactic thing which never seems to work) and that's definitely not the route I'm wanting to take (and is hardly a reliable method anyway because its completely random as to when the health doesn't reset).
I'll try posting my build again, but the last time I tried that I ended up with no feedback whatsoever which didn't help and really put me off trying again.
Okay. Now I'm definitely calling troll. You haven't stated what gear you use. You apparently don't want help, just to complain. And now you're indirectly calling us exploiter because we can defeat enemies.
I think this is most aptly shown by the recent increase in difficulty: it became unenjoyable for most players with (previously) great equipment such as Reputation gear to complete Advanced level. This also made it near-impossible for players leveling-up to join Advanced, which they needed to do to gain the objects they needed to gain the reputation gear required to play that level. A classic catch-22.
I am seriously tired of this often repeated, completely false, and disingenuous assertion.
Reputation sets that don't require going into Advanced/Elite Queues:
1. Dyson Joint Command Technologies
2. Fluidic Counter Assault
3. Counter Command Ordnance
4. Romulan Prototype Space Set
5. Nukara Strikeforce Technologies
6. Omega Adapted Borg Technology Set
7. Romulan Singularity Harness
8. Protonic Arsenal
9. Nukara Appropriated Munitions
10. Dyson Joint Command (Ground)
11. Crystalline Shell
12. Refractive Bulwark
13. Shattering Harmonics
14. 8472 Counter-Command Elite
Reputation sets that do require going into Advanced/Elite queues:
1. Assimilated Borg Technology
2. Omega Force (Space)
3. MACO/Adapted HG (Space)
4. Adapted MACO/HG (Space)
5. Omega Force (Ground)
6. MACO/Adapted HG (Ground)
7. Adapted MACO/HG (Ground)
8. Delta Alliance Ordnance
9. Delta Alliance Assault
10. Delta Alliance Elite
There are also a host of non-set items which do not require those tokens, such as the Delta Alliance modules, or the Romulan Plasma Flamethrower.
Tactical Captain, Boffs split with 2 tactical, 1 engineer and 1 science.
Your away team has 3 DPS/Tanks, 1 shield healer, and 1 health healer.
I foresee either you wipe out the enemy without needing to heal, or you get wiped out without ever being able to recover.
Easy-Mode Away Team for PvE:
1 Tactical BOff - this is your tank, he has Draw Fire and various damage resistance buffs. Give him the best armor and shields, as well as a short range weapon to make him charge forward.
1 Science BOff - this is your healer, she has heals in all her slots. Give her the second-best armor and shields, and a long range weapon so she stays out of danger.
2 Engineer BOffs - these are your shield healers and support, each should have at least one copy of Shield Recharge, as well as Support Drone. Turrets are helpful, but make sure it's at least the Lt Cdr version so it has shields. I like to give them two copies of Shield Recharge, so there's a total of 4 shield heals and 4 heals to keep the Draw Fire-using Tactical BOff upright.
Make sure to have the "Attack My Target" command handy to prioritize enemies, and they're take care of pretty much anything for you. I can recall only maybe getting wiped 3-4 times, and each time it was because I ended up charging into crossfire from 3 different directions.
Okay. Now I'm definitely calling troll. You haven't stated what gear you use. You apparently don't want help, just to complain. And now you're indirectly calling us exploiter because we can defeat enemies.
No, I'm calling myself an exploiter for taking advantage of enemy groups partially dying out to help me progress rather than taking out the whole lot at once.
I tried a ground mission earlier today, following some of the previously posted Boff layout advice and while it hasn't completely eliminated the problem it has made an absolutely huge difference (a couple of wipe outs but in the end the guy went down which makes a nice change). I suspect there will be a similar oversight in space somewhere, I'm using everything I've got that I'm aware of, so I suspect there must be something else I'm missing. Boff abilities are all used and in appropriate situations, shield management I'm aware of, and power level settings (although mine seems to be screwed up at the moment so I just stick to the offensive setting because it provides more shield power than the defensive setting for some reason as well, so the defensive setting provides no use whatsoever).
No, I'm calling myself an exploiter for taking advantage of enemy groups partially dying out to help me progress rather than taking out the whole lot at once.
I tried a ground mission earlier today, following some of the previously posted Boff layout advice and while it hasn't completely eliminated the problem it has made an absolutely huge difference (a couple of wipe outs but in the end the guy went down which makes a nice change). I suspect there will be a similar oversight in space somewhere, I'm using everything I've got that I'm aware of, so I suspect there must be something else I'm missing. Boff abilities are all used and in appropriate situations, shield management I'm aware of, and power level settings (although mine seems to be screwed up at the moment so I just stick to the offensive setting because it provides more shield power than the defensive setting for some reason as well, so the defensive setting provides no use whatsoever).
Well that's a good start, what ship are you flying? It sounds like a Dyson ship judging from the offensive/defensive setting. May be wrong of course.
Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head. - Euripides
I no longer do any Bug Hunting work for Cryptic. I may resume if a serious attempt to fix the game is made.
Part of the problem for a lot of players, including the OP, is that the game treats you in a way that means you have to be an expert at what you're doing, or the game is going to be extremely painful for you in a lot of areas. I know this because I just returned to the game, and I was pretty powerful before, but after returning, I was getting blown up left and right. For months, I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. So I asked questions, and the problem with that is that the experts at the game see the things they THINK they did to become better and offer all sorts of advice (like the ones who are saying "show us your build") when in reality, I sort of doubt the problem is the build itself. As someone who went through this struggle not too long ago, there are a couple of things that it would be really nice if the game tried to help them learn, instead of the process being more like osmosis because a quester doesn't even know the righ questions to ask to get better.
Here's a few things that most new players aren't going to really realize:
1. Configure your team to do the best damage and defenses they can do. I'd advise going into the boff forums and looking at some of the build there. THAT was a huge change in almost every away mission I've done. Now, I can just sit back and let me team take out anything. Before, I was barely surviving. Would't have known that was the difference. But I completely reconfigured my team based on those suggestions.
2. You can put energy focus into your weapons, which will do much more damage. EVERYONE knows this, but surprisingly, no one knows this until they finally realize this process exists. There are so many dials and gauges on your ship display that most people don't know you can click the one button that puts an emphasis on your weapons. After I did that, the damage I was doing was MASSIVELY different. I didn't blow up more after I did it mainly because the enemies died before they could blow me up. Honestly, would never have known this until a fleet mate mentioned it, figuring that's one of those things everyone already knows. Everyone doesn't, but it gets overlooked constantly.
3. What weapons are beneficial to what purpose you want to fight. A lot of people when they start just put all of their focus on whatever has the higher dps, not realizing that focusing on one type is going to mean they can enhance that one type with special abilities and consoles. This is one of those that is easiest to learn, but sometimes it's nice to find this out and not keep making that same mistake.
4. Certain enemies do different types of damage. Learn what those enemies are. Strangely enough, the game throws Fed characters into Romulan battles but gives them absolutely no plasma defenses, so for the most part, you die nonstop during those earlier missions. If I had the knowledge I have now (and that's not a lot), my life could have been so much more easier back then when all I did was watch my ship explode.
5. Buying better gear is often well worth it. For some reason, all of the gear before XI is really cheap (except for the ridiculously overpriced sellers that are there). After that, depending on the type, it can sometimes go through the roof. Sell most of what you get, either on exchange or just be lazy like me and sell it to a vendor to avoid having to go through that, but that money is best used upgrading your equipment.
Those are just a few short comments that I think might help someone. Someone with even more knowledge than me might have better suggestions, but what I'm trying to point out is that often someone needs the basics to do better and then the elite kinds of suggestions later. Just doing the few short things I've stated have made my life that much more enjoyable. Now, I'm moving onto some of the more advanced techniques, only because I managed to take care of the earlier needed stuff first.
Fleet Admiral Duane Gundrum, U.S.S. Merrimack
Fleet Admiral Ventaxa Proxmire, U.S.S. Shaka Walls Fell
Blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/?page_id=1990
Foundry series: Bob From Accounting & For the Sake of the Empire
No, I'm calling myself an exploiter for taking advantage of enemy groups partially dying out to help me progress rather than taking out the whole lot at once.
it would help tremendously if when you respawn you would respawn where you get knocked out, I have noticed when the active enemy is in the vicinity of the respawn area they have close to the damage that they had before you got knocked out but when you respawn miles from where the enemy is they have always recovered to 100% by the time you get to them.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
For ground read up on expose/exploit. (In this context "exploit" is a desirable thing.) An exposed enemy is much more vulnerable, which you can exploit to your advantage.
Pay attention to which weapons do what. You can outfit your away team with exploit weapons while you handle the expose, or vice versa, or a mix, etc.
I don't think we need an 'easy' mode. I will concede that some missions are harder than others, and that ground combat tends to be a bit harder than the space combat if you're not set up right.
I do think that the game relies entirely too much on tribal knowledge and trial and error. There's no in-game guide that tells you how to do much of anything and the tutorials are extremely basic.
On the other hand, a lot of information IS there to be found, if a person is willing to explore the interface and NOT fast-click through all of the dialogs where the game is actually trying to tell the player some useful information.
And then there's the human error factor -- such as forgetting to change power settings from 'Engines' to 'Weapons' or 'Shields'; forgetting to reorganize your BOFFs and power trays when you switch ships; forgetting to set autofire on and knowing when you'd better turn it off -- which no game tutorial or brain-dead difficulty setting can fix. The game has a lot of 'fiddly' bits that you just need to learn to keep track of.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I know it's a good tactic, I've been using it for years on end. Still probably isn't what we're "intended" to do (then again, who knows what we are supposed to be doing these days, everything could be labelled an exploit).
Standard Oddy from the anniversary event a couple of years back.
I know it's a good tactic, I've been using it for years on end. Still probably isn't what we're "intended" to do (then again, who knows what we are supposed to be doing these days, everything could be labelled an exploit).
This is a basic thing I put together but it is essentially has all the basics covered, I've added a skill build as well.
Edit: the omni directional and the core are a two piece set from the episode mission 'Sphere of Influence' which as a two piece give an Anti-Proton damage buff. The rest is mostly a proff of concept to show what the basics of the ship should look like.
Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head. - Euripides
I no longer do any Bug Hunting work for Cryptic. I may resume if a serious attempt to fix the game is made.
I've been playing this game since beta, and in that time there has been absolutely no improvement. This is a game, not a second job, I'm not wanting to be number crunching my "build" to find the best gear in existence.
Not sure if this has been asked, but are you:
Using whatever Mk XII gear you have, and the titles in the gear match something you're using on your ship / having be used against you? IE: You have all beam weapons. Don't slot a cannon console. You don't have even one polaron weapon. No polaron modulators. Using Gravity Well to cluster enemies? Those particle generators and graviton generators (skills mentioned in the GW ability description) are useful. Etc. etc. "Rainbow" and "skittle" Mk XII builds are enough to kill most targets even on 50 weapons power...
You've spent all your skill points, hopefully in things that the description hints might be useful to your build? And your BOffs have all their active skills filled up too?
You're following even "basic" strategies like attempting to keep your enemy in the forward DHC cannon arc as long as "safe", and peeling off when starting to face death? Noticing that you can maintain or exceed your normal forward DPS when broadsiding? Trying to to let yourself get surrounded? Making sure that your skills work somewhat decently together? Balancing offensive and defensive abilities? Blasting destructable targets that can severely hurt you (heavy torpedoes) before they impact? Learning from your mistakes?
Games aren't meant to be "zerg rushed", the story read, and moved on with. Wasn't Final Fantasy VIII panned for being "more interactive story" than game? That is what they make novels for. Games require thought, rising to the challenge, and "earning" that next step of story. If the challenges are a bit on the tough side, the community is willing to help, as long as you ask and take our recommendations into consideration.
Detecting big-time "anti-old-school" bias here. NX? Lobi. TOS/TMP Connie? Super-promotion-box. (aka the two hardest ways to get ships) Excelsior & all 3 TNG "big hero" ships? C-Store. Please Equalize...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
I think the problem here is that there's no real connection being made at dev-level between player familiarity, equipment availability, and difficulty.
It's not good enough to just "up" difficulty for each level, if that makes it too difficult (i.e. unenjoyable) for new toons... or even worse, new players who are unfamiliar with things, or without access to excellent equipment.
Nor is it good enough to just lower difficulty (or introduce a new super-easy level) as it discourages people to learn about the game. An obvious way to fix this might be to use the academies to have a "Get help" section: need to know about X, Y, Z? Go see the Science Lecturer, Engie Lecturer, Tactical at Academy.
The problem the OP mentions is fixable but needs a different approach. I think this is most aptly shown by the recent increase in difficulty: it became unenjoyable for most players with (previously) great equipment such as Reputation gear to complete Advanced level. This also made it near-impossible for players leveling-up to join Advanced, which they needed to do to gain the objects they needed to gain the reputation gear required to play that level. A classic catch-22.
I think the biggest error made was in just rejigging the currently-named levels rather than going back to the drawing board and revisiting the whole thing. What would be more useful is a series of levels that link into familiarity and newness of player, level of toon, and challenge desired. With this sort of approach, I think the profiles of players would be:
Adventure Difficulty ("Normal"): not interested in the battles but the story, new to the game, and with a lack of familiarity with game mechanics, perhaps a toon without good equipment or on the equipment the level can get from vendors only. This level means the average player should be able to complete the mission with 100% required objectives completed. Starting player.
Graduate Difficulty ("Advanced-Classic"): likes the battles and the story, familiar with the game, reasonable understanding of mechanics, but limited such as with a new toon that only has access to the base level of equipment. Able to complete the objectives. Established but still learning.
Career Difficulty ("New Advanced"): more into the battles, or with equipment advanced enough that Graduate is just too fast or boring, knows their way around, established player, established toon, top level equipment. This level comes with a good chance to fail core objectives. Knows the ropes, not interested in failure.
Red Squad/Emperors Guard/Raptors Blade ("Elite"): hugely battle-focused, all about the challenge, only really playable with top-level equipment, expect it to go slow, a good chance to fail core objectives but an equally strong payout if achieved, but go in without "expecting" to win (AKA "This is a Good Day to Die"). Only unlocks when required and optional objectives are achieved at least one on every available PvE mission, both ground and space. A big deal with achiving success in each PvE queue at this level unlocking its own uniform/badges, maybe even unique hullplating/pattern/symbol. Will accept the risk of failure to achieve the potential reward.
Finally when it comes to equipment requirements, if you need say, Reputation gear to have a chance to reach expected difficulty at level 2, then the stuff to achieve that gear needs to be dropping at level 1... likewise, level 2 should prep you for level 3, and the top level might not drop anything for reputation gear at all.
This problem can be easily solved with adaptive ai. each player is presented a challenge unique to them while still being pushed to improve. Rather than being forced to compete at the cookie cutter level of the DPS chasers.
I think the normal is easy enough. Just enough for some good fights where its not a push over. And some of the fights can be tough. Any easier and I can do it blindfolded. To me normal isn't all that hard. And this is what I normally play. Even at times I still die.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Edit: the omni directional and the core are a two piece set from the episode mission 'Sphere of Influence' which as a two piece give an Anti-Proton damage buff. The rest is mostly a proff of concept to show what the basics of the ship should look like.
Thanks for that. Finding it might take a while, but I've got a lot of credits sitting so the exchange should help get me most of the way there.
You're following even "basic" strategies like attempting to keep your enemy in the forward DHC cannon arc as long as "safe", and peeling off when starting to face death? Noticing that you can maintain or exceed your normal forward DPS when broadsiding? Trying to to let yourself get surrounded? Making sure that your skills work somewhat decently together? Balancing offensive and defensive abilities? Blasting destructable targets that can severely hurt you (heavy torpedoes) before they impact? Learning from your mistakes?
Yes to all of those (bit of a relief if those are the basic strategies). Must admit I have difficulty taking out the destructible targets sometimes, but I can get them most of the time.
This is where groups on TeamSpeak and such sharing knowledge helps.
Solo and anti-social players we see have people who struggle the most.
Picking and using the right Bridge officer abilities is 70% of the game.
Dont play the game how you think it should work or how it works in movies or TV.
You really need play on how the mechanics work so test a lot and find people help you.
Thanks for that. Finding it might take a while, but I've got a lot of credits sitting so the exchange should help get me most of the way there.
Yes to all of those (bit of a relief if those are the basic strategies). Must admit I have difficulty taking out the destructible targets sometimes, but I can get them most of the time.
You are using tab to target right? And using number pad or number row to fire and not the mouse right?
You are using tab to target right? And using number pad or number row to fire and not the mouse right?
Tab to target, weapons on autofire activated by the spacebar, abilities to the number row (with ctrl and shift being used for the others, alt is in too weird a spot on the keyboard for my reflexes to work effectively).
For some perspective, "Normal" is actually Easy. Back in the before time there was Normal and Elite. A lot of middle aged non gamers were playing because of the IP. So they had to take the game down a level. So you had tutorials on a kindergarten level and they Devs had to create Easy mode for them.
A couple of weeks before release the decided to rename things. I guess some people didn't like knowing they were playing on Easy. Easy became Normal. Normal became Advanced and Advanced Elite.
Actually, no. At the launch of the game in 2010, all there was was Normal. The game was never "taken down a level"; that was just what it was. There was never a difficulty called "Easy". People complained that there weren't harder difficulties, and so demanded a difficulty setting ("difficulty slider", they called it back then), so Cryptic added it well after release, and that was when they added Normal/Advanced/Elite to options (note that Advanced and Elite didn't exist prior to that, nor did the injury system). IIRC, this difficulty would apply to the old STFs depending on team difficulty setting. When the STFs were revamped into separate space/ground queues (or maybe it was a little after; I don't quite remember), that was when they also got separated into Normal and Elite (again, there was never a mode called "Easy").
There's also full build discussions, tactics and so on from Doctor Nick as well on the Blog. Lots of useful information.
Chris Robert's on SC:
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
Let me put it straight. You want them to decrease the difficulty even further.
Why? I will tell you why. Because you refuse to read. That's why. In most cases, apart from few bugs and "features" skills do exactly what they say the do.
I'd like to also remind you that this game, is an RPG. And is a subject to RPG mechanics. Reading, upgrading your gear, using your skills to the best effect. If you are incapable of that... You have issues with basic playing skills. And yes, this game requires a basic playing skill. Being able to develop a habit of checking for better gear and combo-ing your abilities.
Believe me, normal is incredibly easy. There's nothing wrong with the game, it is you that is doing something wrong. Learn, improve, adapt.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The beast at Tanagra.
Kadir beneath Mo Moteh. Kiteo, his eyes closed. Chenza at court, the court of silence. Darmok on the ocean.
Shaka, when the walls fell.
I don't think we need an 'easy' mode. I will concede that some missions are harder than others, and that ground combat tends to be a bit harder than the space combat if you're not set up right.
I do think that the game relies entirely too much on tribal knowledge and trial and error. There's no in-game guide that tells you how to do much of anything and the tutorials are extremely basic.
On the other hand, a lot of information IS there to be found, if a person is willing to explore the interface and NOT fast-click through all of the dialogs where the game is actually trying to tell the player some useful information.
And then there's the human error factor -- such as forgetting to change power settings from 'Engines' to 'Weapons' or 'Shields'; forgetting to reorganize your BOFFs and power trays when you switch ships; forgetting to set autofire on and knowing when you'd better turn it off -- which no game tutorial or brain-dead difficulty setting can fix. The game has a lot of 'fiddly' bits that you just need to learn to keep track of.
Maybe I'm just nuts, (and what your saying is absolutley true) but striving to discover these things
on my own was just a blast. Some of the best times I've had "in-game" was the discovery process along
the way. Came in with a basic knowledge of "Trek", and spent my time exploring the game.
Just got done having my arrogant head handed to me repeatedly by one Vaadwaur artillery ship. Thought I knew what I was doing and "came on in the same old way".
I enjoyed myself a lot learning how to defeat it properly.
I look forward to enjoying myself learning how to play the Advanced level. I've tried the Elite level and so far my ship and skills are not quite good enough to be a contributing member of a team. So for now, I'll leave Elite alone.
The recent changes to the game have made people have relearn or find alternatives to things they knew. Making more changes on top of the changes may not be the best idea. STO has changed significantly in the time I have played it. When I first started playing, if people did not adhere to the 10% rule in ISE, there was no way to achieve the Optional successfully.
Making yet another level of difficulty which simplifies Normal further or makes the Advanced level too easy creates too big a gap between Advanced and Elite. A gap which a lot players will not be able to successfully cross. I spent a lot of time in the old STFs watching what others did and then doing my best to match or copy them. It was how I got better.
When I first started playing I hated the Mogais in S'harien's Swords. No matter how I tried or what I did, I could not defeat them. I was stuck there for awhile because my knowledge of the game and skill set were the problem, not overpowered NPCs. Put your head down, OP, and keep digging. You'll get better at playing the game.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
If you're still having issues as of this posting, send me a friend invite and mail @Lazlar.Lyricon
I'll help get you on the right track and explain what's what so you not only start having more fun/performing better (they do go hand in hand, soup kitchen skillsheets and ship fits really ain't fun when you KB all the time) but you'll also understand WHY the new tactics/techniques/fits work better... which is honestly key.
I'll be playing around noon pacific till midnight tomorrow. Look forward to meeting you and getting you squared away.
Comments
--Red Annorax
Okay. Now I'm definitely calling troll. You haven't stated what gear you use. You apparently don't want help, just to complain. And now you're indirectly calling us exploiter because we can defeat enemies.
Lion Heart of Hammer Squadron
You can buy your way to end game
Bonus package... instant L60 and 60 spec points... and 5 Epic upgrade tokens... only $1,000 USD
Don't be giving them ideas....lots of ppl would buy it
Lion Heart of Hammer Squadron
I am seriously tired of this often repeated, completely false, and disingenuous assertion.
Reputation sets that don't require going into Advanced/Elite Queues:
1. Dyson Joint Command Technologies
2. Fluidic Counter Assault
3. Counter Command Ordnance
4. Romulan Prototype Space Set
5. Nukara Strikeforce Technologies
6. Omega Adapted Borg Technology Set
7. Romulan Singularity Harness
8. Protonic Arsenal
9. Nukara Appropriated Munitions
10. Dyson Joint Command (Ground)
11. Crystalline Shell
12. Refractive Bulwark
13. Shattering Harmonics
14. 8472 Counter-Command Elite
Reputation sets that do require going into Advanced/Elite queues:
1. Assimilated Borg Technology
2. Omega Force (Space)
3. MACO/Adapted HG (Space)
4. Adapted MACO/HG (Space)
5. Omega Force (Ground)
6. MACO/Adapted HG (Ground)
7. Adapted MACO/HG (Ground)
8. Delta Alliance Ordnance
9. Delta Alliance Assault
10. Delta Alliance Elite
There are also a host of non-set items which do not require those tokens, such as the Delta Alliance modules, or the Romulan Plasma Flamethrower.
Your away team has 3 DPS/Tanks, 1 shield healer, and 1 health healer.
I foresee either you wipe out the enemy without needing to heal, or you get wiped out without ever being able to recover.
Easy-Mode Away Team for PvE:
1 Tactical BOff - this is your tank, he has Draw Fire and various damage resistance buffs. Give him the best armor and shields, as well as a short range weapon to make him charge forward.
1 Science BOff - this is your healer, she has heals in all her slots. Give her the second-best armor and shields, and a long range weapon so she stays out of danger.
2 Engineer BOffs - these are your shield healers and support, each should have at least one copy of Shield Recharge, as well as Support Drone. Turrets are helpful, but make sure it's at least the Lt Cdr version so it has shields. I like to give them two copies of Shield Recharge, so there's a total of 4 shield heals and 4 heals to keep the Draw Fire-using Tactical BOff upright.
Make sure to have the "Attack My Target" command handy to prioritize enemies, and they're take care of pretty much anything for you. I can recall only maybe getting wiped 3-4 times, and each time it was because I ended up charging into crossfire from 3 different directions.
Fixed that for you. Now it makes sense.
No, I'm calling myself an exploiter for taking advantage of enemy groups partially dying out to help me progress rather than taking out the whole lot at once.
I tried a ground mission earlier today, following some of the previously posted Boff layout advice and while it hasn't completely eliminated the problem it has made an absolutely huge difference (a couple of wipe outs but in the end the guy went down which makes a nice change). I suspect there will be a similar oversight in space somewhere, I'm using everything I've got that I'm aware of, so I suspect there must be something else I'm missing. Boff abilities are all used and in appropriate situations, shield management I'm aware of, and power level settings (although mine seems to be screwed up at the moment so I just stick to the offensive setting because it provides more shield power than the defensive setting for some reason as well, so the defensive setting provides no use whatsoever).
Well that's a good start, what ship are you flying? It sounds like a Dyson ship judging from the offensive/defensive setting. May be wrong of course.
Here's a few things that most new players aren't going to really realize:
1. Configure your team to do the best damage and defenses they can do. I'd advise going into the boff forums and looking at some of the build there. THAT was a huge change in almost every away mission I've done. Now, I can just sit back and let me team take out anything. Before, I was barely surviving. Would't have known that was the difference. But I completely reconfigured my team based on those suggestions.
2. You can put energy focus into your weapons, which will do much more damage. EVERYONE knows this, but surprisingly, no one knows this until they finally realize this process exists. There are so many dials and gauges on your ship display that most people don't know you can click the one button that puts an emphasis on your weapons. After I did that, the damage I was doing was MASSIVELY different. I didn't blow up more after I did it mainly because the enemies died before they could blow me up. Honestly, would never have known this until a fleet mate mentioned it, figuring that's one of those things everyone already knows. Everyone doesn't, but it gets overlooked constantly.
3. What weapons are beneficial to what purpose you want to fight. A lot of people when they start just put all of their focus on whatever has the higher dps, not realizing that focusing on one type is going to mean they can enhance that one type with special abilities and consoles. This is one of those that is easiest to learn, but sometimes it's nice to find this out and not keep making that same mistake.
4. Certain enemies do different types of damage. Learn what those enemies are. Strangely enough, the game throws Fed characters into Romulan battles but gives them absolutely no plasma defenses, so for the most part, you die nonstop during those earlier missions. If I had the knowledge I have now (and that's not a lot), my life could have been so much more easier back then when all I did was watch my ship explode.
5. Buying better gear is often well worth it. For some reason, all of the gear before XI is really cheap (except for the ridiculously overpriced sellers that are there). After that, depending on the type, it can sometimes go through the roof. Sell most of what you get, either on exchange or just be lazy like me and sell it to a vendor to avoid having to go through that, but that money is best used upgrading your equipment.
Those are just a few short comments that I think might help someone. Someone with even more knowledge than me might have better suggestions, but what I'm trying to point out is that often someone needs the basics to do better and then the elite kinds of suggestions later. Just doing the few short things I've stated have made my life that much more enjoyable. Now, I'm moving onto some of the more advanced techniques, only because I managed to take care of the earlier needed stuff first.
Fleet Admiral Ventaxa Proxmire, U.S.S. Shaka Walls Fell
Blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/?page_id=1990
Foundry series: Bob From Accounting & For the Sake of the Empire
Erm...uh...that's called good tactics...
Lion Heart of Hammer Squadron
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Pay attention to which weapons do what. You can outfit your away team with exploit weapons while you handle the expose, or vice versa, or a mix, etc.
I do think that the game relies entirely too much on tribal knowledge and trial and error. There's no in-game guide that tells you how to do much of anything and the tutorials are extremely basic.
On the other hand, a lot of information IS there to be found, if a person is willing to explore the interface and NOT fast-click through all of the dialogs where the game is actually trying to tell the player some useful information.
And then there's the human error factor -- such as forgetting to change power settings from 'Engines' to 'Weapons' or 'Shields'; forgetting to reorganize your BOFFs and power trays when you switch ships; forgetting to set autofire on and knowing when you'd better turn it off -- which no game tutorial or brain-dead difficulty setting can fix. The game has a lot of 'fiddly' bits that you just need to learn to keep track of.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Standard Oddy from the anniversary event a couple of years back.
I know it's a good tactic, I've been using it for years on end. Still probably isn't what we're "intended" to do (then again, who knows what we are supposed to be doing these days, everything could be labelled an exploit).
This is a basic thing I put together but it is essentially has all the basics covered, I've added a skill build as well.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=oddybasebuild_0
Edit: the omni directional and the core are a two piece set from the episode mission 'Sphere of Influence' which as a two piece give an Anti-Proton damage buff. The rest is mostly a proff of concept to show what the basics of the ship should look like.
Not sure if this has been asked, but are you:
Using whatever Mk XII gear you have, and the titles in the gear match something you're using on your ship / having be used against you? IE: You have all beam weapons. Don't slot a cannon console. You don't have even one polaron weapon. No polaron modulators. Using Gravity Well to cluster enemies? Those particle generators and graviton generators (skills mentioned in the GW ability description) are useful. Etc. etc. "Rainbow" and "skittle" Mk XII builds are enough to kill most targets even on 50 weapons power...
You've spent all your skill points, hopefully in things that the description hints might be useful to your build? And your BOffs have all their active skills filled up too?
You're following even "basic" strategies like attempting to keep your enemy in the forward DHC cannon arc as long as "safe", and peeling off when starting to face death? Noticing that you can maintain or exceed your normal forward DPS when broadsiding? Trying to to let yourself get surrounded? Making sure that your skills work somewhat decently together? Balancing offensive and defensive abilities? Blasting destructable targets that can severely hurt you (heavy torpedoes) before they impact? Learning from your mistakes?
Games aren't meant to be "zerg rushed", the story read, and moved on with. Wasn't Final Fantasy VIII panned for being "more interactive story" than game? That is what they make novels for. Games require thought, rising to the challenge, and "earning" that next step of story. If the challenges are a bit on the tough side, the community is willing to help, as long as you ask and take our recommendations into consideration.
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
This problem can be easily solved with adaptive ai. each player is presented a challenge unique to them while still being pushed to improve. Rather than being forced to compete at the cookie cutter level of the DPS chasers.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Thanks for that. Finding it might take a while, but I've got a lot of credits sitting so the exchange should help get me most of the way there.
Yes to all of those (bit of a relief if those are the basic strategies). Must admit I have difficulty taking out the destructible targets sometimes, but I can get them most of the time.
Solo and anti-social players we see have people who struggle the most.
Picking and using the right Bridge officer abilities is 70% of the game.
Dont play the game how you think it should work or how it works in movies or TV.
You really need play on how the mechanics work so test a lot and find people help you.
You are using tab to target right? And using number pad or number row to fire and not the mouse right?
Lion Heart of Hammer Squadron
Tab to target, weapons on autofire activated by the spacebar, abilities to the number row (with ctrl and shift being used for the others, alt is in too weird a spot on the keyboard for my reflexes to work effectively).
Actually, no. At the launch of the game in 2010, all there was was Normal. The game was never "taken down a level"; that was just what it was. There was never a difficulty called "Easy". People complained that there weren't harder difficulties, and so demanded a difficulty setting ("difficulty slider", they called it back then), so Cryptic added it well after release, and that was when they added Normal/Advanced/Elite to options (note that Advanced and Elite didn't exist prior to that, nor did the injury system). IIRC, this difficulty would apply to the old STFs depending on team difficulty setting. When the STFs were revamped into separate space/ground queues (or maybe it was a little after; I don't quite remember), that was when they also got separated into Normal and Elite (again, there was never a mode called "Easy").
http://taskforcephoenix.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/hints-and-tips-for-new-players/
http://taskforcephoenix.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/doctor-nicks-guide-to-skills/
There's also full build discussions, tactics and so on from Doctor Nick as well on the Blog. Lots of useful information.
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
Why? I will tell you why. Because you refuse to read. That's why. In most cases, apart from few bugs and "features" skills do exactly what they say the do.
I'd like to also remind you that this game, is an RPG. And is a subject to RPG mechanics. Reading, upgrading your gear, using your skills to the best effect. If you are incapable of that... You have issues with basic playing skills. And yes, this game requires a basic playing skill. Being able to develop a habit of checking for better gear and combo-ing your abilities.
Believe me, normal is incredibly easy. There's nothing wrong with the game, it is you that is doing something wrong. Learn, improve, adapt.
Kadir beneath Mo Moteh. Kiteo, his eyes closed. Chenza at court, the court of silence. Darmok on the ocean.
Shaka, when the walls fell.
Maybe I'm just nuts, (and what your saying is absolutley true) but striving to discover these things
on my own was just a blast. Some of the best times I've had "in-game" was the discovery process along
the way. Came in with a basic knowledge of "Trek", and spent my time exploring the game.
Just one fools perception of "fun".
BCW.
I enjoyed myself a lot learning how to defeat it properly.
I look forward to enjoying myself learning how to play the Advanced level. I've tried the Elite level and so far my ship and skills are not quite good enough to be a contributing member of a team. So for now, I'll leave Elite alone.
The recent changes to the game have made people have relearn or find alternatives to things they knew. Making more changes on top of the changes may not be the best idea. STO has changed significantly in the time I have played it. When I first started playing, if people did not adhere to the 10% rule in ISE, there was no way to achieve the Optional successfully.
Making yet another level of difficulty which simplifies Normal further or makes the Advanced level too easy creates too big a gap between Advanced and Elite. A gap which a lot players will not be able to successfully cross. I spent a lot of time in the old STFs watching what others did and then doing my best to match or copy them. It was how I got better.
When I first started playing I hated the Mogais in S'harien's Swords. No matter how I tried or what I did, I could not defeat them. I was stuck there for awhile because my knowledge of the game and skill set were the problem, not overpowered NPCs. Put your head down, OP, and keep digging. You'll get better at playing the game.
If you're still having issues as of this posting, send me a friend invite and mail @Lazlar.Lyricon
I'll help get you on the right track and explain what's what so you not only start having more fun/performing better (they do go hand in hand, soup kitchen skillsheets and ship fits really ain't fun when you KB all the time) but you'll also understand WHY the new tactics/techniques/fits work better... which is honestly key.
I'll be playing around noon pacific till midnight tomorrow. Look forward to meeting you and getting you squared away.