test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
STO Done Quick (speed running)
theeishtmo
Member Posts: 236 Arc User
Hi. I was watching GQD for their winter charity drive and I got to thinking: How fast could STO be done?
So I decided to work up some basic rules and try some test runs to see what was possible and such. This is kind of a record of what I'm doing and open to others to make suggestions and comments.
Of course, what "done quick" means can vary. Queue runs are frequent and pretty awesome, but I'm terrible at those, so I won't be doing them (leave it to the pros). On a smaller scale is individual missions or story arcs and while I can see that being an option, I want to go a bit more extreme because why the hell not?
The result is what I'm going to call Zero to Midnight, a run starting with a new character and pushing my way up through at least Midnight, the "end" of the main storyline STO started with (Future Proof and beyond is something extra).
This will be considered an Any% run, aka, I don't have to complete every mission or accolade. I will call it "Max Account" which means I get full access to all account unlocks (mostly because it's fun to play with them) as well as getting access to crafted gear. Zero means starting a new character, and I have been trying some ideas, one with the tutorial and one without.
Mostly this thread will be me talking about the ideas on how to do it and what times I've managed in short. This will NOT be any kind of "record" thing, because I don't have any way currently to verify any times.
I am using this timer: https://www.w00ty.com/sda/timer/ Using the RT (real time) option. Next post will be my first decisions and attempts. And yes, I do like challenging myself.
EDIT: I did forget that this is a NO XP boost run, I never use them anyway, so I keep forgetting it.
So I decided to work up some basic rules and try some test runs to see what was possible and such. This is kind of a record of what I'm doing and open to others to make suggestions and comments.
Of course, what "done quick" means can vary. Queue runs are frequent and pretty awesome, but I'm terrible at those, so I won't be doing them (leave it to the pros). On a smaller scale is individual missions or story arcs and while I can see that being an option, I want to go a bit more extreme because why the hell not?
The result is what I'm going to call Zero to Midnight, a run starting with a new character and pushing my way up through at least Midnight, the "end" of the main storyline STO started with (Future Proof and beyond is something extra).
This will be considered an Any% run, aka, I don't have to complete every mission or accolade. I will call it "Max Account" which means I get full access to all account unlocks (mostly because it's fun to play with them) as well as getting access to crafted gear. Zero means starting a new character, and I have been trying some ideas, one with the tutorial and one without.
Mostly this thread will be me talking about the ideas on how to do it and what times I've managed in short. This will NOT be any kind of "record" thing, because I don't have any way currently to verify any times.
I am using this timer: https://www.w00ty.com/sda/timer/ Using the RT (real time) option. Next post will be my first decisions and attempts. And yes, I do like challenging myself.
EDIT: I did forget that this is a NO XP boost run, I never use them anyway, so I keep forgetting it.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
Post edited by theeishtmo on
0
Comments
I decided to attempt the run with a normal Fed because, well, there's less story and thus less cutscenes throughout the normal Fed storyline. I suspect it MIGHT be quicker to do a TOS Fed, but only because you get a several mission level boost running their short storyline (that isn't tutorial). Really, I just haven't created a lot of normal feds recently, so I felt that would be more fun.
Which then comes the tutorial: Do or do not? That is the question. On one hand, you exit the tutorial with something like 3 and a half levels, where skipping barely gives you 2. On the other hand, my testing showed the Fed tutorial eats up between 35 and 40 minutes (my initial testing was 40:01, and I had some mistakes there). Nearly all the cutscenes in the Tutorial can be skipped, which is nice, but it's still a slog to get through.
In any case, I had a couple choices early on: Race and career. Race I'm not sure means much, except on the ground. There, I need to find a way to get through quickly, which means career first, which I decided on Tac. Sci and Eng really can't kill quickly on the ground, and Tac has a couple modules that will be handy, stealth and motion accelerator. If my boffs can do most of the heavy lifting, I can use those to skirt around enemies on the ground and complete objectives that don't require killing everything (rare in STO, but they do happen).
I'm still iffy on race then, and the "trait" drop down in the character creation is, um, junk. It lists ALL the traits, rather than the race specific ones. That's useless. Using the wiki, which is about as accurate as a broken clock somedays, I THINK Betazoid is the best choice here as their traits include "reduce threat" and "Team regen." That applies to boffs, right? Maybe? Whatever.
My other choice is Andorian, which just hits harder the more damage they take, and given my history with Tac characters, that could come in handy.
Alien race is always an option, of course, but I have 2 alien feds, and would rather go with a canon race (I have a human and vulcan already). I happen to have 2 spare character slots so I used one for the Betazoid doing the tutorial and the other for the Andorian skipping the tutorial.
Past the tutorial I have some simple decisions to make: Boff load out and ship. Boff load out is easy: Spread weapons. I prefer split beams, but an auto rifle or mini gun work just as well. As I said, I want them to do the heavy lifting, which means ticking everything off before I get there, and multi target weapons work great for that. Boff ground powers are probably going to be limited for a bit as they only get more then their low level powers as the player levels up, so initially I'll leave them as is on both characters.
Space powers comes back to the ship and I already decided on it before I really even thought about whether to do the tutorial or not: The Blockade Runner. My Tier 1 Forever challenge already showed that a Tier 1 ships is pretty viable for quite a long time, and I don't want to be switching ships every 10 levels as it wastes time. Better yet, the Blockade Runner is the BEST Tier 1 ship available with 4 ensign boff slots (the rest have 3), extra console slot, 11k hull (only the TOS Connie has more), +10 weapon power, the best turn rate and the Team Fortress console. If my Miranda could get all the way to the Cardassian stuff without too much trouble, this thing should go MUCH further.
That said, I am already thinking of late game as I WILL need a high tier ship to finish things up, but we'll get there eventually (I'm thinking the Eternal actually, but I'm a sci ship kind of guy). For now, I just want to plan for the Blockade Runner, so I grabbed three boff manuals right after talking to Quinn on either run: BFAW, Torp Spread and Eng Team. These plus Tachyon beam that my sci boff comes with for free will be the mainstay of the run for, well, a while.
With Max Account, I can dip into the Weekend Event store (I specifically waited until AFTER the winter event so I wouldn't be tempted with something that would not normally be available) and grab the Sompek Blast Assault for my main weapon (Mark Infinite means I don't have to worry about upgrading anytime soon) and the Sompek Lighting module which will be VERY nice for wiping out weak groups. Then I grabbed the Prolonged Phaser array and the Reiterative Structural Capacitor console for the ship, which along with the Team Fortress console should make me quite formidable for a while.
Now I did NOT restrict myself from crafted gear, but for this testing phase I elected not make anything. I suspect I will be deleting and restarting these characters a couple of times to refine times for the earlier stuff. For a true run, crafted gear and upgrades as well as some dil will be made available. I did grab some EC from my account bank, but it appears that may not actually be necessary on either run as you can sell off reward gear for enough cash to buy gear and boff manuals.
After this comes routing, but I'll save that for the next post as this is going to take more space up and this one is long enough.
STO has 5 ways to earn XP.
Admiralty is going to be useless until very late (level 52) and since I'm going for speed, even then I will only be able to do shorter ones that likely won't reward as much XP. Even worse, I likely won't have more than about 4 ships by the time I get there (Miranda, Blockade Runner, a fighter, and my end game ship).
Doffing is available much earlier (level 11), so will be available for most of the run. Again, the goal will be quick missions, and the relative randomness is going to limit what I can actually do with it. Still, a nice resource, so I'll have to keep on top of it.
Mission Queues are, well, worthless. The only XP available is through kills usually. A few have mission wrappers (like Starbase 24) but they only occur once or on an unreliable cycle. Worse, I am then at the mercy of PUG and that could kill a run very easily. I COULD just get a team together and knock them out, but I'd rather not rely on other players to carry me across the line. Then I wouldn't be doing the speed run, now would I?
That leaves two options for the bulk of my XP needs. Story missions are the best option as through about level 30, every mission is worth at least, if not more, than 1 level each. The issue is a lot of story missions are LONG, and don't have any good rewards at the end of them (Diplomatic Orders, for example, is awful for both). The good news, I don't have to complete ALL of them. In fact, I only need enough missions to hit 57 and I should be able to skip most, if not ALL of the missions all the way to Midnight. (I need conformation of this BTW, I know there are a few I can't skip).
Well, if I want to skip missions but still get XP where can I go? Patrols. Genesis level patrols are all over the map and open early and quickly. Most are the "kill 5 groups of baddies" kinds, but there are a few that are NOT and can be completed quickly. Regardless, even battle heavy patrols are likely going to be faster than full scale missions.
With these in mind, I started routing for the missions with good rewards, close to each other (minimize time traveling at warp 5), and for speed. My first route took me through Stranded in Space, to Beytan then Bhea, then Hide and Seek. I skipped Diplomatic Orders because of that long run up and down the hill on Vulcan. I still might go to Vulcan at some point, there is a small mission on the planet that might be worth doing, but at the moment it isn't on this particular route.
My Betazoid, who did the tutorial, left ESD and did this route while picking up the Starbase 24 queue (it unlocks at level 5). The tutorial took 40:01. The prep from Quinn's office to the end of Stranded in Space took 16:16. From there, through the two patrols and having to redo the first part of Hide and Seek because the queue popped in the middle of it, I finished all of that in 27:11 and was into level 7. About 43 minutes post tutorial making an average of about 10 minutes per level.
My Andorian skipped the cutscene and ran everything except Starbase 24 (it didn't unlock until after Hide and Seek) and did so in 39:03. I screwed up the route between the Stranded in Space and the first patrol (auto flying to Lackey by accident and having to go back) which probably ate 2 or 3 minutes. Here, I only gained 3 levels in 40 minutes, so slower, but I think 10 minutes per level is average at least, my screwups made it slower.
Now I'm just thinking on my next steps. My goal is to reach the next skip level, which is 11, which will allow me to skip up into Specters and figure out which, if any of those missions is worth doing. I think Spin the Wheel is because of the weapon (for boffs). Maybe. But first, I need to cross the 11 threshold, and then I have to hit 16 to get into next batch of missions.
So for now this is where I stop. While I consider my options, let me here what you think. About any of it, I'm all ears (er, eyes, you know, reading). Until next time.
TOS characters are good for getting to that doff unlock point as you should hit that after Stranded in Space or a mission after.
Good luck.
Fleet leader Nova Elite
Fleet Leader House of Nova elite
@ren_larreck
Not strictly. The goal is to get to and complete Midnight. That means minimum level 57 plus a ship that won't get slaughtered repeatedly, but there's a few unskippable missions, and honestly just doffing to the end is boring as hell. I won't be NOT doffing, but I also don't want to take the time to find the purple doffs for it. I'm thinking I can possibly push this so I don't need EC from my account bank (change the initial route in ESD, but meh), so then yes, it becomes an issue.
The fastest I have done 0-60 with doing Episodes plus STF runs and Doffing/Admiralty is 28 hours of game time. Timed on my TOS toon.
There's a lot of things that cause that, mostly traveling between missions, waiting for queues, setting up doffs etc, etc. The more I can minimize those and focus ON the missions, the quicker it'll go by. Also there are more than a few missions that just plain waste time, so keeping away from those will be part of the goal. Luckily, I have plenty of Patrols to fill gaps and they go by quick with the current build (torp spread + Bfaw = EVERYTHING BURNS). Just need to refine the route and see where it goes.
Do you remember what mission you hit when you reached 60 by any chance? I think TOS might be faster than standard Fed and I'm curious where it might end up being.
I'd didn't do any STF queues that required waiting beyond one minute. Travel time between Episodes isn't an issue as you have the transwarp option to the location start. TOS has similar completion time to Feds. It's not faster. Not sure what mission I stopped, but I will have another look. No Episode is a waste of time in the first run as they grant a large XP reward upon completion.
The XP reward is worth it, yes, but the time it takes to get to said episode from the previous one, the time it takes to complete the missions and the rewards for said mission can make it less desirable then doing, I don't know, 2 or 3 patrols that give the same amount of XP, in the same amount of time and don't require me to travel to the other side of the quadrant doing warp 5. So it's about efficiency of time and energy.
Diplomatic Orders is the star of this, there's a lot of time spent running around (remember climbing up and down that hill on vulcan? I do), it's a bit out of the way of the direction I'm going with my current route (not as bad as some of course), and the mission rewards just aren't worth it given the current build of the test ship. Now maybe later on when I'm coming back through the area I can grab do it, or maybe just do the little talky mission on Vulcan that DOESN'T require me to go up that damn hill instead. The point is I need to figure out which are truly worth the effort and time, and which are not.
The also have an insane amount of travel time between each episode. Delta grinding was worse for the stupid travel up and down the sector block but rommies were the test bed for that "design" which does nothing but pad out peoples play time or remove scraps of ec from the game
Been a while but I seem to remember TOS space having long sections of crawling across sector space.
LTS does give an xp boost but honestly I don't know how much of a difference it makes as most of the xp while levelling is from missions not kills and I don't think the lts boost applies to those. Store bought boosts are a waste of time, amazed they still exist so presumably some muppet buys one from time to time.
Edge on the ground, not really in space. My Tier 1 Forever run proved that really, for anything up to Cardassian missions, a Tier 1 is perfectly serviceable, if not effective. It's more that I don't want to stop, go to a starbase or ESD, collect a ship, load it out, then head out when I can stay out longer with the same ship and see very little difference combat wise. At the same time, I did that previous challenge with a Miranda, the WORST of the T1s and found the Miranda quite effective for the most part (and that was in the Romulan stuff). This time, it's the Blockade Runner, the BEST T1. I'm already seeing a massive difference and I've only done a handful of missions.
That's not to say switching ships isn't an option. There will be one when I get high enough to get T5 and T6 ships, not changing then would be stupid. Doing it earlier isn't off the table either, but I suspect if I have the time to switch ships, I could be using that same time to gain another half level instead or more. I'm banking on my experience with T1 getting me through stuff without needing the upgrade, maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. Just have to test and see.
I agree on Romulan, and the Klinks are in the same ball park (only their missions tend to be harder and thus longer). TOS might have to putter around 23c sector space, but I'm thinking the extra levels they get before popping out into the 25c might make up for it, hard to say.
Right now minimizing travel time is my goal. Less time I spend NOT earning XP the better. Thus the patrol hopping I've got planned. I do need to do more research on Transwarp coils. The wiki seems out of date on them, so if anyone has used them recently and can tell me how they work I would be appreciative.
I do get an XP boost from the time I have spent subbed (just over 400 days), but I'm not sure it's that big of a difference right away. Hell, I think I'll get more from the Captain's Yacht than the xp boost (and far more from the fireworks).
Anyway, I deleted (after stripping off dil and EC) my Andorian and restarted her. Didn't bother visiting the bank on ESD and getting EC from my Account Bank, which likely saved me a few seconds. Sold off excess gear to the vendor and had enough to buy 2 split beam rifles to finish equiping the boffs, 3 boff manuals and nothing else. Would have gotten some kit modules but the ones I wanted were too much for my limited cash. Have to settle for lighting strikes. . .
Ran the character from tutorial skip to the end of Hide and Seek getting a time of 36:18. Had a couple slow loads and it took a bit for the last mission to complete after I exited to sector space. Overall, a 3 minute improvement over my last run, and thus a keeper.
Still, I do wonder if the Tutorial run is the better option. Two extra levels at the same point, meaning it is faster, but then there's that 40 minute tutorial I have to claw through. Maybe I can make a faster time if I try again, was running it from a long term memory before. If I can get it to 30 or less (seems unlikely), I see it as more viable long term. Will have to take time to retry that run.
Next though, is the next step in the run. The real question is, what direction do I go? I'll let you know.
Worked pretty well as the game simply doesnt give many kit based rewards and most of the drops I get are tac regardless of class, not to mention sci modules are a throwback to the unholy trinity with the healing and debuffs over damage until you dip into boxes and reps.
Now those weapons are account unlocks they become one of those options you can get and forget about. If there was a lobi sale that might be another option for buy and forget boff gear.
Also grabbed the prolonged phaser so at least one weapon was close to level. Only times I had issues in space were those that have npc's spawn around you straight out of the zoning in chatter.
Happy. I wanted a T6 Miranda for a long time, so I bought the 3 pack. It's currently on my TOS character. I updated the look of my T1 Miranda, but she's still running through missions first run with the T1. It's what that character was born to do.
I made some changes I didn't highlight to my previous update. Mostly I forgot to mention that my routing on ESD was improved because in a non-tutorial run, you start on the transporter pad instead of Quinn's desk. It's a nice time saver. I also realized that I wasn't taking advantage of the Blockade Runner's inertia, so I locked weapon power at max then cranked up engine power as I as could go. Shields are pretty unnecessary in most battles as the NPCs can't really do much. Aux is useful to a point, but really, even a low power Tachyon Beam is still overpowered at low levels. Worth using.
I took this idea into my next rerun of the Tutorial route. Finished it in 39:47, getting only a minor gain vs my first run. Practically nothing actually. I suspect some of it was still trying to get more out of my inital set up. Turns out you can claim gear while still in Starfleet Academy. Yes, that means I can get the Sompek gun and, well, everything else right from the start. Nice bonus, and the electrical effect was great on the Borg. Getting the prolonged conflict phaser and the heal beam console for the Miranda was a nice bonus as well. Sadly, it didn't quite translate to a better time, but I think some of that was merely set up.
It does appear I can access the normal bank thanks to the Break Even, but for some reason, getting to the account bank in Sector space doesn't work. I don't know if this is a global bug or just something random. I seem to remember running into before. Annoying as if I could get to the account bank, I can harvest out some boff manuals and other dodads to make the tutorial move quicker.
I did take one suggestion from the Reddit boards of trying a Catian as opposed to any other race. I didn't want to run another kitty, I have one after all, but that does give me some more mobility options with pounce and jump, both of which could speed things along in the long run. Again, I didn't gain any time here, and I doubt I really gain anything as there's little to jump over through the tutorial.
In the meantime, I'm working on building a spread sheet to track times. It is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CmhR_JSYR6Xt61y5-kd1gKEChiRBf3rcsKBvDU8zYBA/edit?usp=sharing
Feel free to comment on both. I'll probably get another run in tomorrow, likely the new segment run I have planned. After that, we'll see how it goes.
My STO DQ Spreadsheet
I ran my "segment 2" on my Andorian, 33 minutes and some change. But something caught my eye, namely that the XP amounts per patrol was different. Why? Well, that took some investigation, an ongoing one. That said, I need a path finder for this so I retired my andorian runner and recreated her as Pathfinder, to, um, find the path.
This leads to the third tab of my spreadsheet and some discoveries. First, that the in game log (open journal, select log) actually will display some mission information (the opening bit usually) AND an in game time of completion. From when the mission was accepted until it was completed, I suspect. Patrols are accepted as soon as you pus the "enter patrol" button and end when you turn it in. This was handy as my original catian had done nearly all of them already so I had a nice stock pile of initial data, but I needed more, especially in the ship that I would be using for early part of the run. Pathfinder grabbed the Blockade runner and went to work.
The other thing I discovered was what I think is causing the XP change. Namely every 5 levels the xp amounts for the patrols goes UP, ever so slightly. Only 39 points but it's there. Well, I think. At the very least it bounced when I hit level 5. As I am at level 7 right now, I need more data. Let me crank up to level 10 and let you know.
And also some patrols seem level locked. Oh, not ALL of them, in fact, most look unlocked, but a few don't seem to pop up. Again, I'll keep you informed on this.
For the record, Pathfinder is level 7 in about 2 and a quarter hours., so 135 minutes. Of which about 84 was actually spent in patrol missions. So about 50 minutes of travel between locations. All the more reason to plan routes carefully, less time spent in sector space the better. Of course, I was kind of goofing off, but still. . .
So for now, research. I need more data on how XP grows with level in patrols, what the times are like per patrol and when or if some are locked out. With this data in hand, plus what I know of the actual missions, I can finally start planning a route through the game in more detail.
I also need to check the other branch of this run, skill points. As in, what to put them in. I THINK my initial plan is to pull full offense, but I also have to plan for the final ship, likely an Eternal, but we'll see.
Wish I had more ground to cover, but my work schedule is a chaotic mess of a nightmare. I'll try to post more as I get time.
So my testing proved true, so far, that xp gains from patrols goes up, though I'm not sure it's tied to the player level or the level of the patrol because far more are level locked than I thought. That also means that a "pure patrol" leveling scheme in STO is probably not feesable because eventually the locks are higher than the player's level. I'm at 11 and can't find any more patrols to do. That said, to get over 9 I had to run the Starbase 24 wrapper, so the lock out is lower than even that.
This greatly effects the routing as the character's level will drive which patrols can be completed when. Generally, it appears the levels move in the directions of the missions. Down through the blocks south of Sol to the K-7 block, where moving right one and going back up keeps them going. My general path, thusly, will move in this direction, which is what my inital routing was pointing at anyway.
Since I'm locked out for the moment, a new tab will be created on the list, one for the times for the actual in game missions. This will include location and rewards. This should give me enough data to plot my first true run which will stop about level 30 or so if all goes well. That won't be a for a couple weeks. By then, I'm hoping to get OBS running and try broadcasting it, but I make no promises.
Did the storymissions, from top to bottom.
Main ships: Dyson Tactical Science Destroyer + Qui'Tu Class Pilot Raptor
While many of these were way out of the way, and it's unlikely I would route through those areas, they served as a reminder that even the god of T1s, the Blockade Runner, is still pretty limited. I wanted to push it deep into the run, say level 40, but this is about SPEED, and a low tier ship eventually is going to run up against fights that just take too long. So I've decided that in the real run, level 30 is where I will have to switch ships. The choice? The Long Range Science Vessel Refit.
Mostly for Grav Well. The cornerstone of my best sci builds is grav well use, and it will likely stay that way. Since the final ship will likely be the Eternal, going with a lower tier sci ship isn't a bad idea here and will get me used to the way I plan to fly by the end of the run.
Switching ships at 30, I bounded over to some of the patrols that seemed locked at 30 and vaporized any and all comers. Even found an extra one I didn't have on my original list. Which is bad because I may have to make another pass through all the systems to check for more patrols. Maybe only in areas where I know where I'll route because even this one was WAY of the beaten path.
Oh, and I hit 30 doing only the first 8 missions, a couple of queue wrappers (Gorn Minefield and Starbase 24) and patrols. ALL THE PATROLS. Total time in patrols at this point is just under 6 hours. I mentioned in the last post my goal is to hit Midnight in 12, but let's be clear, I am NOT running every patrol for this. Patrols are, at best, 1/3 the XP gain of regular story missions. The reason patrols are useful is that many are VERY short. 1 and a half minutes in some cases, where story missions tend to be 10 minutes each. None of this counts travel time between locations, which is what I REALLY need to watch.
While it won't benefit Pathfinder here, I think I need to grab a few warp cores with an early SSS mod for testing, just to speed things along.
Pathfinder has a few more things to cover, a couple more patrols and then probe what missions I MUST complete in order to get higher up the chain (mostly into the Romulan stuff), but soon she will be retired and a new pathfinder will take her place. For now back to research.
So I deleted out my Caitian tutorial run character and started up a Tellarite, mostly because I never have had one. It's funny watching her run. This character actually did the tutorial too (analysis at work), and I actually cut the run time to 37:31, a full two minutes faster. How? Well I realized that I had forgotten one option I always had: The TOS Connie. Turns out, even in the tutorial you can CLAIM IT.
The tutorial is broken into 3 missions. The first goes from the Academy to defeating the Klingon. The second is where you get to find out the Borg is coming and the third is fighting the Borg at Vega. In between, you get dumped into sector space, live sector space, so you can do things there, like claim and switch ships. The S.S. Break Even is near the first exit into sector space and would be nice for accessing the account bank, but. . .
That function is BROKEN. You cannot access the account bank in sector space. It broke at some point and was never fixed. Seriously devs? GAH! If I could get into that bank, I could hide boff manuals and gear in there.
Anyway, the TOS Connie has the infinite blue phasers which are heads above almost anything you can access otherwise, and it has cruiser commands, so I set to maximum zappage and tore the borg a new one. It was great and likely lead to a great deal of time savings. Still need to work on the early part of gathering equipment from the weekend event store.
So why run the tutorial again? Well, I did some math and experimentation with the patrols. It looks like the amount of XP you get per patrol is based on your level. Something roughly like this:
Level 1 - 5 = 780
Level 5 - 10 = 819
Level 10 - 20 = 1622
Level 20 - 30 = 2173
Level 30 - 40ish = 2144
This includes my natural 5% bonus for being subscribed for way too damn long.
Anyway, I don't think the story missions get such a boost (harder to test that at the moment, I'll look), but that means patrols are more lucrative the higher you are, but at the same time the higher you are, the less they contribute to your overall XP gain.
Which is why I worked a new formula into my spread sheet. XP/Time.
How much XP do I make a minute per patrol and mission? Turns out the story missions bounce from 400 to 600 xp per minute. Patrols, though, vary wildly due to this increase of XP as you level up. The biggest gain is 1700 xp per minute, dwarfing anything the story missions have at this point. That mission also lasts 1:15 minutes. Yeah, that's a juicy patrol.
The early patrols, the first 3 you're likely to find, aren't quite that good. Beytan and Pico are 312 and Bhea is 156. But that's at those missions giving 780 XP! If I wait to run them until level 5, those numbers go up to 327 and 163. Not a big jump, but a jump nonetheless. And the only way to do that is come out of the tutorial at level 3, run two missions (Stranded in Space and Diplomatic orders) and THEN do those patrols. Well, Beytan and Pico anyway. Fast missions with decent rewards. Then move on to the next block.
Next threshold is 10, so it will take more missions and patrols to clear, but bypassing the anemic 780 tier can only be good news. And the fact that Diplomatic orders isn't quite as bad as I thought (13.5 minutes with a level 10 character and no blue phasers) and I think this might be the faster overall route. Roughly.
Thus why the new tutorial runner. She's going to run my new Segment 1A and see if the timing is a bit better. My only worry is being just short of level 5 coming out of Diplomatic Orders, but the only way to know is to do.
In the meantime, I have other things to plan form. Namely where do missions END. Some missions, like Diplomatic Orders, do not pop you out where you started. This can have a signficant impact on the routing, so I need to plan for it. Less impact early on, but later, like a certain Iconian mission, it can mean a great deal indeed.
More work to be done. Until then, I have to sleep early to get up at 2 am tomorrow. Love my work schedule.
First of all, since last time I discovered the story mission xp rewards go up as you level up as well. This is something I would never had been aware of if I just didn't happen to check on the reward randomly. It's good to know, but means I need a chart to keep track of everything. For now, it's on the spreadsheet, but later it will have it's own for easier reference. It's growing slowly as I level up my Tellarite test runner.
I also learned that my veteran XP boost (5% for 400 days subbed) doesn't kick in until level 5, which I must make adjustments for future use, but for now it's fine. Anyone who wants to do a vanillia run (no account unlocks, etc) will need the adjusted numbers but for now, it can sit.
In the meantime, I did some more routing, and actually pushed my Tellarite up to level 11. Overall time right now is 2:20 approximately. Some time can probably be saved somewhere, but it's nice to get away from the Vulcan sector at last.
Knowing the XP boost kicks in at 5 meant I changed up my route. Instead of doing any patrols in the Vulcan sector, I elected to do Diplomatic Orders first, then to Stranded in Space, then out of the sector into the Argaluis sector, picking up a couple patrols and Treasure Trading Station (got lagged out finding the right ships in the beginning), then to Hide and Seek in Lackey. Down through Risa to the Briar Patch to do Secret Orders which finished up level 10. I picked up level 11 finishing one patrol (Omar) and then Stop the Signal in Bomari. This sets me up for my next goal, level 16 and opening the back half of the Klingon War arc where I stopped. While my time in run was only 1:15, I paused between segments to reroute and other things, so about 3 hours was spent doing it. Yeah, I'm kind of beat from that.
Overall, a successful run, but leaves me wondering where to go next? As I said, I want to hit 16 next, but there's no actual number for how much XP I need to hit that. In fact, there's nothing but the per rank tracking, which is annoying. I might actually have to CREATE that by figuring it out. Bleh, not something I want to do. With my mission XP issues sorted (or to BE sorted at least), getting the actual goals on a level by level basis will be the next target of research. After that, I should be fully capable of figuring out the best route for XP gains, and using my Pathfinder times, I can figure out how LONG it'll take (my first segment of this run actually came 3 minutes over my predicted time, which didn't include any sector space travel at all, so not a bad guess).
But not now. My goal now is to see how long it takes to get to level 30, which is a nice reset point for my current runner. At the moment I'm in line with my goals. My target is an overall 12 hour run, which works out to about 5 levels an hour, which is about where I am. HOWEVER, I also know the xp requirements increase pretty heavily after 50, so routing after that will get more, interesting, and may take longer. Only edge I have is I don't need all 60 levels, only 57 (if I remember right, will check again later). Still, that's a lot of XP to make up and a lot of game to still play.
Will try to keep you guys updated. Hopefully all this work will result in something pretty good.
Pathfinder ran the most of Spectres (sans Night of the Comet) and laid bare how much time it can waste. 2 of the 5 missions, namely Spin the Wheel and What Lies Beneath, make you go to K-7 after completing them. Sector Space is the run killer, and the more time I spend in it, the worse things go. There's no way to bypass short of skipping. Sadly, Spin the Wheel is a light, about 7 minutes, while What Lies Beneath is a whale at almost 19 minutes, the longest mission so far. Keep in mind, Pathfinder hit level 40 completing Everything Old is new, so she was deep into the 30's. Not sure how my runner will fair.
However, there is one thought. I know 1 - 2 minutes is wasted in each mission flying to K-7. What if I do them both at the same time? That would mean not using the Ghostbuster gun for What Lies Beneath. I more or less did this on Pathfinder, and she did rather okay all in all. Could the runner make it? Hard to say.
But if I'm going to be on Drozana anyway, might as well do Everything Old is New as well. That's likely a sub 10 minute mission (I had to do some backtracking, I haven't run it in forever okay?), and if I pick up the other two, and run them, then head to K-7, I pick up 3 of the 5 missions. Then tack on Skirmish (which I learned doesn't turn the Klinks hostile until you accept the Ops dialog box), that's 4 of the 5 of them. AND they all offer higher than normal story mission rewards, 6489 each vs 5407.
Will I hit 16 though? Not sure. Numbers look good, halfway to the XP needed to jump to level 20, so it's possible, and that opens a lot of stuff there after, mostly out in Khitomer (the next step).
That said, I found my first required mission. I couldn't believe that THIS mission locked me out of so much, basically everything after Temporal Ambassador (Nexus got moved, AGAIN, seriously make up your minds guys). That mission: The Once and Future Agent. A skippable cutscene mission, that has to be done on ESD. FRACK! Okay, so I have to route back to ESD, and get to level 20 before I get there.
Doable I think. Especially if I actually get to 16 after finishing Spectres. Then I can route out to the Khitomer block to pick up the second half of the Klingon War arc, then pick off patrols and story missions back to Sol, including those quick Vulcan patrols. I'll easily be above 20 by then. Then it's out to Nimbus for the two missions I want out there (Fist Full of Gorn and Installation 18), back down through Hobus then to Celes for the next hard lock mission, Heading Out, the opening of the Romulan story line.
Well, maybe. Again, testing and pushing forward are the only things I can do for now. It's nice having a couple days off to spend on this.
You didn't happen to be doing the WW Doffing assignments, were you? I leveled from 31 to well past 60 on the Lethean just on Academy recruiting and WW assignments.
I am disappointed I didn't get to use him in Tier 3 or Tier 4 ships with the Missions that matched level. I had to make a new Lethean. Doffing is banned, this time around. Same with XP weekends.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Okay, so went and did the Spectres run, and managed to knock them out in record time, I think. 27 minutes for all three missions on Drozona, with a total run of 44:59 (that includes 1 patrol and Skrimish), a bit long, but I ended at level 15, but HIGH 15, like 250 xp from 16. Exactly where I would want to be. A nice stroll through patrols out to the Khitomer block got me up 17 and in position to knock out the last half of the Klingon War arc. Should finish 20 long before then.
With that in mind, I quick ran them on Pathfinder to break down the times. From Ultimate Klingon to Temporal Ambassador, I got through 1:10, which is pretty good, though the main run might be faster (lower level means easier fights). I did skip The Doomsday Device as it's way back in Risa, but I'm wondering if a final run would route it.
I'm thinking not though due to the Kia of Prey you have to fly for most of it. Still, a nice option, but I'm concerned about something else now.
Namely I took Pathfinder over to ESD to knock through Once and Future Agent and check the Temporal and Delta rewards I can tap later. Then I discovered I couldn't skip Core of the Matter. THE HELL? Why can't I skip it? This is bad, very bad. Galorndon Core is on the opposite side of the map from ESD. I'd HAVE to transwarp, burning 20,000 ec in the process. But why, why can't I skip it? Does this mean the OTHER Yesterday's war missions can't be skipped? Vorgon Conclusions is past Romulus, and comes AFTER The 2800. Murderous time sinks.
This is more annoying than an obstacle, I should note. I SHOULD have 20,000 ec by that point in the run. I should be able to dance around Vorgon during the trip to Facility 4028, but it's so annoying. At least Terminal Expanse is near ESD.
Okay, so if Core of the Matter is required, then I'll have to do it on Pathfinder while the test character works her way back to ESD. While Or maybe not. I could route through patrols out to Galorndon Core, there's a southerly route through Klink space, which I've already mostly finished. Then there's a more northern route through Romulan space, but that would be slower because Roms are harder fights, and many of the patrols may not be open.
Maybe, instead of going out to rest of the Klingon War arc, I wrap up the last few early missions. There are 3 story missions and a bunch of patrols between K-7 and ESD going up the old Regulus block. If I go back up that way, I should hit level 20, grab Once and Future Agent, then snag some out of the way patrols and The Doomsday Device on the way back, swing across to Klink space, wrap up the Klingon War arc then up to Galorndon Core. THEN use the free Sol transwarp to get back to ESD and work my way north to Nimbus.
I don't think I'd hit level 30 before Nimbus, but it might speed me enough that by the time I cycle back to Sierra 39, I might be ready for my next ship. This is why I do testing.
It does probably mean I'll be retiring my Tellarite a bit earlier than I originally planned. Level 20 rather than 30. Next character might have to take this route. Annoying that I can't get as far as I wanted. Still, gives me a chance to try to grab the stealth module from the vendor as I think that would be far more useful than any other kit module for a Tac character. I can think of a couple missions where it would be best to have it. That said, motion accelerator has proven to have too long a cooldown to be ultimately useful.
In the meantime, back to the drawing board. Not a complete reset, but still annoying.
Confirmed that I must complete Core of the Matter to get the Nimbus bridge mission. That's annoying and means I will have to route back to ESD then back out to the otherside of the map. Bleh. Ah well I can handle it, just kind of annoyed.
That said, I retired my Tellarite after pushing her up to level 21, but not terribly fast. 1:05. Way longer than I would have liked. Yes, there are 4 missions, one Temporal Ambassador which is mostly talking and getting lost, but it should have been quicker. The reason? Well I died. 3 times. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR DEATH! Famous last words. . .
I suspect my death was the result of one thing: a Mk II Torpedo. My attack plan for every encounter is basically the same: select target, start up Tachyon Beam, hit FAW and Torp Spread and mash space until the first target dies, then plug away at the other targets, if any. However, the missions at the end of the Klingon War arc are being fought at near level 20 and I still just had a Mark II Torpedo. Yeah, a spread isn't going to kill even a Kia of Prey at that level. And like any other T1 ship, the longer the fight goes on, the better the odds I'm going to die. And those odds caught up with me.
I never got a better drop, there's no mission that gives me a torp on my current route, and no basic upgrade token either. Can't buy one, at least not before leaving ESD (it's 10,000 EC!). Maybe I'll have to make sure to get a better Torp, even a common one, from the vendor on K-7 if I don't get an upgrade before arriving there.
Anyway, new character, new path, new day. My Saurian will be taking up the task now. But first, MORE RESEARCH! Specifically, how much XP do you start the game with? Non-Tutorial you start with 10,620 XP, about 1800 short of level 3. With the Tutorial, you start with 14,839. putting us less than 700 xp from level 4. So there's 4,200 xp difference between the two, that's just shy of double what you get from doing story missions sub level 5. Ultimately, investing time into the Tutorial looks more worthwhile all the time.
Keep in mind, those numbers are UNMODIFIED. Every player will start with that much XP. Well, maybe a bit more for the Tutorial, I did skip killing a couple probes. . .
Anyway, the goal will be to complete the Spectre Run on my new runner in a marathon run. That should be about 4 hours in length. This will include the following all in a row:
Diplomatic Orders
Stranded in Space
Kei Patrol
Treasure Trading Station
Pellme Patrol
Hide and Seek
Reytan Patrol
Una Patrol
Tazi Patrol
Secret Orders
Omar Patrol
Stop the Signal
Donia Patrol
Skirmish
Spin the Wheel
What Lies Beneath
Everything Old is New
I've already done the Tutorial to bring you those fancy numbers earlier. That came in at 38:12, slower than my Tellarite, but I also wasted some time by missing a minor skip and goofing off with ship claims. Oh, I learned that I CAN claim the Blockade Runner, but I can't do both it and the Connie at the same time. Turns out, at level 1, you only have 2 ship slots, and one is taken up by the Miranda. You do gain a third slot after finishing the first Borg mission of the Tutorial (pre Vega), so there we go. Still not taking the Blockade Runner for the Tutorial though as it's big advantage, the extra Tactical boff slot, can't be filled because you don't get that boff until AFTER the tutorial is over. Also, apparently you can't swap out the Miranda's weapons until you finish the first Tutorial mission, even if the Connie's blue phasers are in the waiting.
Enough of that. Until next time guys.