Oh as you say, the enemy team really don't exist, unless they go Borg which is usually a trivial annoyance, and could largely be replaced by a timer. Perhaps future competitive maps could be timed rather than "team on team"?
I actually completely forgot about that mechanic. I tried the whole "turn into a Borg" thing once, but noticed that it screwed up my hotbars, even when I got back to my character, and decided not to mess with it again. Likewise, I've only see one enemy player turn into a Borg, and they didn't really seem to do much of anything. Since then, it doesn't seem like anyone else has really bothered with it in the groups I've been in. It's just faster to try and get your team through the obstacles, than worry about harassing the other team.
ah, speed blitz, you mean to solve the puzzle before the enemies can stop you.
...in general, it seems like it's quicker to treat the whole thing as a race, rather than the competitive gauntlet it seemed to be billed as. Ignore the enemy team, ignore as many of the enemy NPCs as possible, and just rush through the obstacles and burn down the bosses. Which, again, seems to favor whichever team lucks out with the maze section.
"There will never be enough blood to wash away my need for vengeance! A single world...I could destroy a million worlds and it would not be enough! Your existence is an insult to the memory of my people! I will continue my fight, even if I must fight alone!"
I prefer to think of it as creative problem solving.
Makes canonical sense, too - at least for the scientists throwing Tricorder Scan at the problem, like one of my younger brother's alts. That was fun to look at.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
I just want to make a comment about part 2 of the course.
I'm absolutely okay with difficult RNG. Testing players' patience is completely fair. The only problem is that the layouts are not mirrored.
You'd think it would be very simple...for every orb that spawns on one side, another is generated going the opposite direction and from a mirrored spawn point. (same distance from map center) When the layout is generated, the corridors and dead ends are similarly mirrored.
If the map is symmetrical already (and it seems to be), I can't imagine it being hard to implement.
An enemy player, a Caitian, hopped over to our side during the boss fights to attack us a few times. It was annoying but Cryogenic Stasis Field put him/her on ice.
I'd like to not see players hopping over to the other sides.
The opening room with lit path is never fun and takes me a while to cross, could be my computer system but if I move too fast I overstep and fall in. Much like hopping around in IGA. It's weird as I move around other maps like KGA, NTTE, DRSE, BOTSE, and CGA with ease.
The maze is frustrating and not fun. If I move too fast I easily get stuck on a corner and die in a plasma ball. I have hit the backward key and moved forward into a plasma ball.
I'm usually the last one because of the sensitive movement problems slowing me down. I'll be happy when I never have to run this mission again.
So with the crashes being fixed (thanks for that) I could finally try this for the first time today. Puzzles are fun but I was a bit disappointed with the 'attack the other team' element. Apparently you can only walk like a drone and very slowly use some standardised weapon attack.
I understand why they needed to make it such that you can't use all your abilities or one OP player could spoil the mission for a full team, but a bit more freedom would likely make it more interesting.
Oh as you say, the enemy team really don't exist, unless they go Borg which is usually a trivial annoyance, and could largely be replaced by a timer. Perhaps future competitive maps could be timed rather than "team on team"?
Bringing 'time attack' to STO? A family of such queues would be quite welcome - and some of them could even be solo queues. Can also be an interesting use of the Arena of Sompek (which, like the CE events, should be available year-round in a basic form, with a special variant running every so often): it could have a list of time attack queues with different wave counts (and, of course, leaderboards).
So with the crashes being fixed (thanks for that) I could finally try this for the first time today. Puzzles are fun but I was a bit disappointed with the 'attack the other team' element. Apparently you can only walk like a drone and very slowly use some standardised weapon attack.
I understand why they needed to make it such that you can't use all your abilities or one OP player could spoil the mission for a full team, but a bit more freedom would likely make it more interesting.
When I tried it as a drone I had 5 powers to use. Weapons, and a handful of kit-like attacks.
unless your sole purpose is to sabotage your own team, do NOT use the drone; it f.ucks up your tray (still) and you'll spend the rest of the match unf.ucking it, so your team is essentially down a player
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Yeah the fact that your own abilities disappear (besides that you can't use them while being Borgified) make the whole 'sabotage' thing a bit pointless.
Tried Twin Tribulations last night, and I prefer Binary. Binary just feels more engaging to me, somehow. But it looks like everyone's doing Tribulations now, so I don't think I'll get to do Binary again.
Tried Twin Tribulations last night, and I prefer Binary. Binary just feels more engaging to me, somehow. But it looks like everyone's doing Tribulations now, so I don't think I'll get to do Binary again.
Elites are still happening. Did two elite queues this morning, albeit with longer wait times. (about 50% longer)
unless your sole purpose is to sabotage your own team, do NOT use the drone; it f.ucks up your tray (still) and you'll spend the rest of the match unf.ucking it, so your team is essentially down a player
This is usually true, but I've been on the receiving end of one masterful use of the Borg Monster Player attack. This one hit us at just the right time to delay our progression enough that the other team got ahead and stayed there. It requires timing, paying attention to just where the other team is, knowledge of the abilities of the drone and a bit of luck.
I'm not saying that it's a great idea, mind you, just that it worked this once. In the end, it really just guaranteed them 16 more marks for finishing first on Normal.
I'm also not going to say where we were on the map, and exactly what this player did. I'll leave that up to you to figure out.
This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
Binary is definitely my favourite of the new three (I use the term three loosely.. as twin and core are practically the same thing minus the last section in twin).
Only gripe (which I don't use often because we have usually facerolled the maze by the time it matters) is the holo-attack the enemy team resets your skill bar.
Twice now over the past week our Team has been hit with white flashes starting off to various key locations along the way. Last night the Team kept questioning this in Chat, even asking at the end who, on our Team, was the Troll. Someone responded something about cheat mode.
Is it possible for the other Team to transport in some sort of flash bombs?
'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.'
Twice now over the past week our Team has been hit with white flashes starting off to various key locations along the way. Last night the Team kept questioning this in Chat, even asking at the end who, on our Team, was the Troll. Someone responded something about cheat mode.
Is it possible for the other Team to transport in some sort of flash bombs?
'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.'
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Yes, I participated in that Thread. But in that Thread it also referenced that this had been patched out on 5/4 for Binary Circuit.
'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.'
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
except for those constant flare mortars the mission is quite entertaining.
Isn't there some counter to them?
Not as far as I know, last two runs I did were pretty much ruined by them. Gameplay items with no response/counter aren't fun/interesting/balanced (especially in a competitive setting.) To make matters worst, it's annoying as hell.
So it's dysfunctional and very negatively so. There's really no cost to an ENG running them besides not having something else in that module slot. The benefit is annoying 5 other players, slowing their runs considerably (it delays any action that counts towards victory, besides firing at targets) and making binary circuit a lot less fun to play (and a lot less competitive). I think Cryptic needs to change the effect of the flare mortar entirely. It's not an asset to STO at all.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
And especially since they tried patching them out of use on the Opposing Team on 5/4 and utterly failed at doing so.
'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.'
Twice now over the past week our Team has been hit with white flashes starting off to various key locations along the way. Last night the Team kept questioning this in Chat, even asking at the end who, on our Team, was the Troll. Someone responded something about cheat mode.
Is it possible for the other Team to transport in some sort of flash bombs?
except for those constant flare mortars the mission is quite entertaining.
Isn't there some counter to them?
Not as far as I know, last two runs I did were pretty much ruined by them. Gameplay items with no response/counter aren't fun/interesting/balanced (especially in a competitive setting.) To make matters worst, it's annoying as hell.
So it's dysfunctional and very negatively so. There's really no cost to an ENG running them besides not having something else in that module slot. The benefit is annoying 5 other players, slowing their runs considerably (it delays any action that counts towards victory, besides firing at targets) and making binary circuit a lot less fun to play (and a lot less competitive). I think Cryptic needs to change the effect of the flare mortar entirely. It's not an asset to STO at all.
I quite enjoy this queue and take a fair number of toons through it including engineers equipped with standard or reputation mortars (off topic I also use a solar gateway which apparently should not be deployed in the maze as it freezes the bubbles).
@duncanidaho11 are you sure there's a flare mortar available to players? Is there something out of a lockbox I missed? There are flash bombs for engineers but these are just mines whereas the whiteout effect has the timing of a mortar.
I thought flash bombs (?) (temporary whiteout) were an NPC only effect but being hit with them inside the starting area during countdown certainly says something. The wiki description of a stun grenade, or quantum, photon, or neutronic (rep) mortar doesn't include any visual effects. So is this a bug with the queue or some other form of shenanigans?
Two questions: 1) is there anything available to players that could produce the whiteout effect via something akin to a mortar? 2) if yes to #1 is their a way of reporting something possibly not working as intended in-game that shouldn't be mentioned here?
In a recent run I saw something deployed in a specific way that didn't make sense at the time and am wondering if it's related to the whiteout effect issue.
Tier 3 Engineering (Fabrication) Module for the Competitive Wargames Reputation. It is called Flare Mortor. Cryptic tried patching its use out on the Opposing Team on 5/4 and seems were not successful.
'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.'
Tier 3 Engineering (Fabrication) Module for the Competitive Wargames Reputation. It is called Flare Mortor. Cryptic tried patching its use out on the Opposing Team on 5/4 and seems were not successful.
Thanks for this. I remember seeing it on a youtube review of the competitive wargames rep modules now. My bad. Also saw a recent Reddit article on mortars still targeting the opposing teams enemies complete with a dev response so it would seem they're quite aware of the issue and are looking into it further.
I believe what I witnessed was one setup in such a way to specifically target the opposing team while still in the starting area during countdown.
Comments
I actually completely forgot about that mechanic. I tried the whole "turn into a Borg" thing once, but noticed that it screwed up my hotbars, even when I got back to my character, and decided not to mess with it again. Likewise, I've only see one enemy player turn into a Borg, and they didn't really seem to do much of anything. Since then, it doesn't seem like anyone else has really bothered with it in the groups I've been in. It's just faster to try and get your team through the obstacles, than worry about harassing the other team.
In fact....
...in general, it seems like it's quicker to treat the whole thing as a race, rather than the competitive gauntlet it seemed to be billed as. Ignore the enemy team, ignore as many of the enemy NPCs as possible, and just rush through the obstacles and burn down the bosses. Which, again, seems to favor whichever team lucks out with the maze section.
Makes canonical sense, too - at least for the scientists throwing Tricorder Scan at the problem, like one of my younger brother's alts. That was fun to look at.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
I'm absolutely okay with difficult RNG. Testing players' patience is completely fair. The only problem is that the layouts are not mirrored.
You'd think it would be very simple...for every orb that spawns on one side, another is generated going the opposite direction and from a mirrored spawn point. (same distance from map center) When the layout is generated, the corridors and dead ends are similarly mirrored.
If the map is symmetrical already (and it seems to be), I can't imagine it being hard to implement.
I'd like to not see players hopping over to the other sides.
The opening room with lit path is never fun and takes me a while to cross, could be my computer system but if I move too fast I overstep and fall in. Much like hopping around in IGA. It's weird as I move around other maps like KGA, NTTE, DRSE, BOTSE, and CGA with ease.
The maze is frustrating and not fun. If I move too fast I easily get stuck on a corner and die in a plasma ball. I have hit the backward key and moved forward into a plasma ball.
I'm usually the last one because of the sensitive movement problems slowing me down. I'll be happy when I never have to run this mission again.
I understand why they needed to make it such that you can't use all your abilities or one OP player could spoil the mission for a full team, but a bit more freedom would likely make it more interesting.
My character Tsin'xing
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
My character Tsin'xing
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Elites are still happening. Did two elite queues this morning, albeit with longer wait times. (about 50% longer)
This is usually true, but I've been on the receiving end of one masterful use of the Borg Monster Player attack. This one hit us at just the right time to delay our progression enough that the other team got ahead and stayed there. It requires timing, paying attention to just where the other team is, knowledge of the abilities of the drone and a bit of luck.
I'm not saying that it's a great idea, mind you, just that it worked this once. In the end, it really just guaranteed them 16 more marks for finishing first on Normal.
I'm also not going to say where we were on the map, and exactly what this player did. I'll leave that up to you to figure out.
Only gripe (which I don't use often because we have usually facerolled the maze by the time it matters) is the holo-attack the enemy team resets your skill bar.
Twice now over the past week our Team has been hit with white flashes starting off to various key locations along the way. Last night the Team kept questioning this in Chat, even asking at the end who, on our Team, was the Troll. Someone responded something about cheat mode.
Is it possible for the other Team to transport in some sort of flash bombs?
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.'
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.'
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
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.'
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Isn't there some counter to them?
Not as far as I know, last two runs I did were pretty much ruined by them. Gameplay items with no response/counter aren't fun/interesting/balanced (especially in a competitive setting.) To make matters worst, it's annoying as hell.
So it's dysfunctional and very negatively so. There's really no cost to an ENG running them besides not having something else in that module slot. The benefit is annoying 5 other players, slowing their runs considerably (it delays any action that counts towards victory, besides firing at targets) and making binary circuit a lot less fun to play (and a lot less competitive). I think Cryptic needs to change the effect of the flare mortar entirely. It's not an asset to STO at all.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
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.'
I quite enjoy this queue and take a fair number of toons through it including engineers equipped with standard or reputation mortars (off topic I also use a solar gateway which apparently should not be deployed in the maze as it freezes the bubbles).
@duncanidaho11 are you sure there's a flare mortar available to players? Is there something out of a lockbox I missed? There are flash bombs for engineers but these are just mines whereas the whiteout effect has the timing of a mortar.
I thought flash bombs (?) (temporary whiteout) were an NPC only effect but being hit with them inside the starting area during countdown certainly says something. The wiki description of a stun grenade, or quantum, photon, or neutronic (rep) mortar doesn't include any visual effects. So is this a bug with the queue or some other form of shenanigans?
Two questions: 1) is there anything available to players that could produce the whiteout effect via something akin to a mortar? 2) if yes to #1 is their a way of reporting something possibly not working as intended in-game that shouldn't be mentioned here?
In a recent run I saw something deployed in a specific way that didn't make sense at the time and am wondering if it's related to the whiteout effect issue.
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.'
Thanks for this. I remember seeing it on a youtube review of the competitive wargames rep modules now. My bad. Also saw a recent Reddit article on mortars still targeting the opposing teams enemies complete with a dev response so it would seem they're quite aware of the issue and are looking into it further.
I believe what I witnessed was one setup in such a way to specifically target the opposing team while still in the starting area during countdown.
Hopefully they'll have it fixed soon.