I took a second between Fast and the Flurrious races....located the Specialization Kits in the Dililthium store!!! It is the Dilithium store button on the Mini Map! I never look in there!!!
It is a HUGE scrolling list of Specialization Kit Modules for your Captain to use. I mean, look at the size of that scrolly bar on the side! I am not sure if this character has filled in ALL the Specialization Trees. But at least you can see the Tabs, I think those "unlock" as you fill those trees.
But it is Dilithium....sooooooo, unless you like being the guinea pig...and spending Dil for exploring new stuff.....I would wait for some folk's reviews. (Billions and Billions of Dilithium!!!)
But then, unless someone buys these and tests them....who is going to know about them?????
But it is Dilithium....sooooooo, unless you like being the guinea pig...and spending Dil for exploring new stuff.....I would wait for some folk's reviews. (Billions and Billions of Dilithium!!!)
But then, unless someone buys these and tests them....who is going to know about them?????
But it is Dilithium....sooooooo, unless you like being the guinea pig...and spending Dil for exploring new stuff.....I would wait for some folk's reviews. (Billions and Billions of Dilithium!!!)
But then, unless someone buys these and tests them....who is going to know about them?????
That's what Tribble is for.
Oh, Warp...what a great idea!!! You did this, before, then.
Which Specializations did you do? What were your favorites????
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Actually, lets extend this out to anyone in the Community....Let's help each other out, here.
If you checked out these Specialization Kit Modules, it would be great to hear what you think.
As a casual player, I am lucky to have time on weekends and after dinner for a grand total of 7 to 20 hours a week on my big computer that can actually run STO. I have to give up doing other things in the game to fit in my WW and Risa activities.
Kindle and Chromebook for reading the Forums and Wiki I can do in increments, here and there, but testing on Tribble is another ball park all together.
So, if you already did this foot work....please share your observations.
Which ones should the rest of us try out (on Tribble)....and which ones not to bother with.
What is useful? What is junk?
We need to whittle down this incredible plethora of Kit Modules in Specializations. I mean, abundance is nice, but that the Devs didn't seem to have edited down through this list for the best of the best idea to bring live.
I will spend a bit of time to check on Google and search Specialization Kit Modules and see if there were any convos in Reddit.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,579Community Moderator
Some of those kit modules are also available as BOff training manuals too.
Okay, heres my opinion on spec modules - your milage will vary as I do crazy things
Intel
Feign disintegration - Has its charm if you are swarmed (such as bluegill) but is prone to failure as it does nothing to mitigate damage -so as it ramps up threat and adds a false expose (aka mob catnip) its easy to die due to damage 'stacked' before it procs
Frictionless particle grenade - Really good, if you can get your cd down its a huge option for debuffing...and watching mobs fall on their face never gets old. Drop a pull/hold like paradox bomb or grav juncture for best effect
Harmless/incite chaos - pretty useless, incite chaos can be intresting if the enmy is highly mobile so they infect more allies
Neurolytic injection - if you run a single target boss killer 'assassin' build this can be an incredible option but generally its poor as you need to be in melee range and if they go out of range, its wasted
Photonic decoy -had its charms but the Deciever module (lockbox) affects an aoe and is more effective
Resonant tachyon stream - if by some insanity you shield tank on ground this is impressive and ruins Elachi mobs days - but considering kinetic weapons are widely available and the fact shield hp is pretty much ablative.... not worth slotting
Site to site ensnare - A fun module, its inferior to fold transporter (lockbox) but due to it moving the mob to a set distance in front of you, you can teleport mobs off cliffs or into hazards if you practice with it, an ability unique to itself
Sonic suppression - For energy weapons, this can be impressive. Ignoring threat as it does next to nothing, it enhances shield bypass and tags an impressive dam resist debuff on the targetted mob. For kinetic weapons, only the dr debuff applies so it might be worth using another module with similar abilities
Anethezine mine - Deploys one mine that inflicts debuffs to move speed, damage and so on in a 5m radius - It does no damage, the debuffs are minimal and to ensure you get a mob hit, you need to put it in a bottleneck. There are far better mine options.
Tripwire drone - essentially a universal photon grenade with bells on, as long as you target a mob not being shot at towards the rear of the mob group (the drone vanishes if the mob dies) it will cut a swathe through the mobs, knocking them over before exploding. The drone pretty much only moves on a straight line so unless the target is immobile it can be easily avoided.
Site to site ensnare - A fun module, its inferior to fold transporter (lockbox) but due to it moving the mob to a set distance in front of you, you can teleport mobs off cliffs or into hazards if you practice with it, an ability unique to itself
Huh... might have to remember this one for an Infected Ground run. Having the ability to teleport a drone into the plasma in the last room on top of using Knockbacks might come in handy.
Bombing strike - if you hold the mobs in the drone bombers path, the power of the strike is pretty impressive but it takes time to deploy and is easily avoided just by moving sideways - in a narrow place like the gantries in Khitomer ground and hive ground it can be devastating as its hard to avoid
Delegated devastation - Melee build? Run this and your teamates will love you as its a huge energy weapon damage boost - +40% energy damage can really help weaker teamates be effective. If you are good with weapon switching, carry a big hitter like a boolean as secondary as if you have its doff, your own energy damage will get a massive spike once the weapon offline debuff ends.
Hammer and Anvil - Very powerful if you know how to abuse flanking but equally effective if not for suvivability, this applies to the team so either gives them more firepower of helps them not to die
Overwhelm shields - Good for what it does, but wasting a module slot to heal shield thats easily depleted is not a good option
Return fire - An intresting module, it sparkles when abused as a team - essentially the more hp you are missing, the higher the cd buff/damage buff (it is based on the individual so player A on 88%HP and player B on 20% would get differing cd/damage buffs, B getting more). Applied as in a premade team taking damage it can give pre-nerf chroniton jolt a run for its money (minus the security team shenanigans)
Sanctuary - aka the Sompek killer. Activate when needed, get 15s of perfect cloak (usually more than enough for a sompek ally to revive) and a heal of 2%to 7% total hp per second. Higher ranks have less run debuffs and higher hp regen rate. Less useful generally, you can abuse it for a second cloak to move without being shot at. Generally though in adv rtfos, its a poor choice as theres few needs for such a power
Shock and awe - only hits one target, but versus bosses it is horrendously powerful, especially allied with trajectory bending (lockbox). Tags the opponent and if enough damage is done the mob gets rooted - all the while suffering a dam resist debuff and a bonus to flanking damage. Can really ruin the Tholian project managers day and mobile mobs like Elachi predators
Strategic analysis - Get rank 4, hit it as soon as the map loads, repeat when cd ends for a (near) neverending aura that gives +damage and a constant ground apb that increases in potency as it stacks. Despite the modules insinations, while it only activates in combat (or, say, using a cannibal tribbles bite...) it continues even out of combat
Take cover - pretty amazing for use on boffs as if in combat they actually crouch (which can make the dyson ground armors crouching power proc), in general tfos though its not great unless you yourself often crouch to fire as few pugs will notice its activation
Timely intervention - Medic Ninja mode. On a medic this ability can be absurdly good as well as in places like the storeoom on terok nor as it goes to -any- ally, inculding the maco marine. Afaik you don't need to aim at them - you'll teleport as long as they are in range and when below 50%. Teleport, deploy heals, hit sanctuary/some cloak and retreat
(Sorry, got distracted, phone call from Sister...I think I am behind on dinner as well as WW stuff, now. OH well, that is life. LOL!)
++++++++++++++++++++++
Why can't everything have the same rules across the board to start off with, I have no idea.
I will keep searching to see if they changed all the kit modules to upgrade to Epic, now that we are at Mark 15.
Is this still a "thing": Specialization kit modules can not be upgraded? Regular kit modules can only get to Ultra Rare, Mark 15? And Epic kit modules is slated for Reputation, Event and Lockboxes?
Post edited by where2r1 on
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
But it is Dilithium....sooooooo, unless you like being the guinea pig...and spending Dil for exploring new stuff.....I would wait for some folk's reviews. (Billions and Billions of Dilithium!!!)
But then, unless someone buys these and tests them....who is going to know about them?????
That's what Tribble is for.
Oh, Warp...what a great idea!!! You did this, before, then.
Which Specializations did you do? What were your favorites????
I haven't tested kit modules specifically, but Tribble is generally the place to go to experiment with expensive items without going broke in the process.
Causal entaglement - A good module alongside sonic supression, its best use is with energy weapons for the shield bypass. Even if used with kinetics, the high ranks have absurdly large damage resist debuffs and with 10m radius and 10s, its a strong option - just don't expect much entropy.
Chronometric diffusion - A strong-ish option, its a poor entropy builder but offers a reduced damage dot, a run speed debuff, a sprint block and a decent decreases-from-epicenter shield ignoring physical debuff. Dropping Diffusion and Entanglement on top of each other is a viable option to increase Diffusions damage while keeping the mobs in the aoe
Chronoplasty - Awkward. Weak when not around mobs afflicted with entropy, if you can build up the entropy its a strong self heal - however you have a hypo, so....
Degeneration - A powerful, secondary weapon like cd'd power; it only has a 3s gap between activations (well, unless you have a lot of cd reduction) -it only drops its entropy if the mob lasts the duration of the power so its finnicky to use as a builder
Entropic contagion - Pretty impressive used on a single mob or a group - just rember to cast it then attack another mob to ensure it lasts its duration. If deployed on a boss mob with no allies it will swiftly fill up the entropy counter - Either way its a heavy damage dealer to the targetted and its allies, if any
Paradox bomb - A mainstay of many kits, general tactic is either to toss it out unbuffed or use an entropy builder to build its damage/pull - at 5 entropy on one mob (or spread among mobs, it counts the total entropy in range), its pull power is nearly equal to grav juncture and its damage can be pretty rediculous
Recursive affliction - Designed to spike kill mobs, the aim is to hit it, deploy as much direct to hp damage as possible before the stored damage is converted to extra damage. If the mob survives they get +2 entropy so sometimes its viable to tag a mob then avoid shooting it so the entropy can be used
Spread decay - I call this the entropic shotgun as if you group up an entire mob swarm on miner elite wiith one having entropy, it transfers all the entropy to EVERY MOB in range, each getting damage depending on the entropy level transferred - Now apply paradox bomb for fireworks
Tachyonic conversion - just like other shield restorer type powers, its pretty useless overall - plus it eats all the entropy you could use on paradox bomb
Temporal narcosis - single target so pretty useless in general - it can however ruin a boss level mobs day though...but again, it eats your entropy best used on paradox bomb
Uncertainty burst - I love this ability and hate it in equal measure as if you use it, its a hilariously effective paradox bomb starter plus it stuns, confuses and can put targets in flanking damage position..however you will learn to hate it if you drop a paradox bomb and someone bursts them out of its epicenter of damage. It is amazing for solo play though...just don't give it your boffs if you like attacking with power combos
I haven't tested kit modules specifically, but Tribble is generally the place to go to experiment with expensive items without going broke in the process.
I see. Thanks. I will add that note to my note on being careful with buying kit modules and upgrading.
Do you have a "go to" kit module for Holodeck?
Or a tip or two, relating to equipping for ground?
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Throw regenerative canister - basically a triage heal grenade, it allows any class to serve as a subpar medic. Its slow throwing animation and of course the fact pugs will not stand still makes it fraught to use unless you throw it close then run on thr heal patch for a self heal
Generate ablative protection - Can be used for tanking, but it trades a lot to do so
VISOR emulation relay - Up close and personal on steroids. Best for pulsewavers, activate, run up to mob and fire
Overload power cells - Risky to run unless you have heals, its basically the ground version of fly her apart, trading self damage for increased damage that splashes onto other mobs nearby. Running this and Return firepower is an overpowered combo (overload damages you, Return firepower reduces all module cds/increases damage based on hp remaining) that I find astounding few players use
@burstorion I have not read everything you wrote, yet. I would like to thank you for taking the time to do it.
But a question that crosses my mind: Where do you keep all your stuff?
Do you do what warpangel was saying...play with it on Tribble....
And then never buy it on Holodeck?
I was just looking at the ones I get from Winter and Summer...those free ones are piling up, too.
I can only use 5 in the character status. Where do you store the rest, once you start collecting these???
I wonder why they did not make our Captains like the BOFFs. So we could train them with a Kit Module ability....then not have to keep all of them.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,579Community Moderator
Some people might carry a couple in their inventory and swap out. The rest... most likely stored in the bank.
Strategic analysis - Get rank 4, hit it as soon as the map loads, repeat when cd ends for a (near) neverending aura that gives +damage and a constant ground apb that increases in potency as it stacks. Despite the modules insinations, while it only activates in combat (or, say, using a cannibal tribbles bite...) it continues even out of combat
Did not know the cannibal tribble trick. Nice.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
@where2r1 , I have 20 odd toons so I have plenty of space to try them...as to the cost, I simply stomach it (I have a high dil income a day average) and buy commons for testing (admittedly I do have a drone with every spec module as common...with high kit performance they are good enough for adv/some elites) - They are good enough to understand potentials and their quirks provided you let your imagination fill in the blanks
As I don't go gaga for big ticket items, my 'thing' in STO is exploration, finding intresting builds such as my 'gravimetric pinball' where using gravimetric detonation, the comp rep tac module, grav juncture and some other things I fling mobs through a vicious electrical dot field back and forth or my pug support build where they have a near constant all damage and energy damage buff that could easily be abused as a ground dps nanny build - If you see an odd build in ground its likely one of my guys
@Questerius , The cannibal tribble has many uses - for example it can trigger the cloak-on-damage abilities of the Sela shield or the Jemmie shroud..on a social map. Generally speaking, the cannibal can usually trigger any power that needs combat alert and/or incoming damage, you just need to be quick to exploit the short time combat alert is activated
Site to site ensnare - A fun module, its inferior to fold transporter (lockbox) but due to it moving the mob to a set distance in front of you, you can teleport mobs off cliffs or into hazards if you practice with it, an ability unique to itself
Huh... might have to remember this one for an Infected Ground run. Having the ability to teleport a drone into the plasma in the last room on top of using Knockbacks might come in handy.
Trick is to remember it always transports them 3m ahead of your current facing so try to point yourself towards the hazard/drop before activation... as to distance, the only way to learn that is by practice. Its hard to use in combat but if you can master using it on the fly, you can be quite devious and can enjoy the mental image of a borg/other pulling a Wile E Coyote and pulling out a sign saying 'not fair, Rattler!' before plummeting to the ground
I wonder why they did not make our Captains like the BOFFs. So we could train them with a Kit Module ability....then not have to keep all of them.
Neither training manuals nor kit modules are original features. At first, teaching a boff a new ability would make them forget the old one. And kits were single items with preset lists of abilities that couldn't be customized. Boffs being allowed to have custom ability sets represented a tradeoff, they could have more flexible builds than players with the fixed kits, but couldn't swap abilities on the fly. Now that both are trivially switchable, the game-mechanical differences seem rather insignificant at first glance.
But are they really? Boffs can have 1 ability per rank, including copies of the same one. Players can have 5 abilities of any rank, but no copies. That may seem insignificant at first, before you consider having versions I, II and III of the same ability unlocked on a boff gives them much needed versatility in both placement and number of abilities you can use. Whereas having more than one copy of an ability on a player would be utter waste. If player abilities were consumable there'd be pressure to upgrade it to max before using. A kit module you can always upgrade later. And then there's of course some modules are account-bound so can be transfered between toons even after use. Overall kit modules are better even if they do use inventory. Cryptic could always sell us more inventory slots.
On the other hand, I myself have often wondered why they don't make boffs use kits like the player does.
From a purely narrative viewpoint, abilities that involve special equipment would better suit a kit module while ones that involve special skills would suit a training manual (and some would logically require both).
My main is a tac captain and I use the romulan imperial navy set with the borg tactical prosthetic. My kit modules are ambush, gravitic juncture, micro cryonic warhead, plasma grenade, and echo papa drone.
My doffs are 3 ambush doffs (bonus damage over 9 seconds), target optics doff (damage resistance debuff on enemy) and fire on my mark doff (chance to expose).
So I have 3 groups of skills that I use:
Secondary Attack Group
Target Optics/Ambush/Fire on my Mark
This does a TRIBBLE ton of damage to one enemy. I usually use it on bosses.
Crowd Control Group
Gravitic Juncture/Micro Cryonic Warhead/Plasma Grenade
This pulls a group of enemies together, freezes them in place, and burns them with plasma fire. It takes some practice to get the timing right. Sometimes they don't group up properly, but when you pull it off it's awesome. It can kill groups you would never have been able to take on otherwise.
Summon Spam Group
Echo Papa/Security Escort/Shard of Possibilities/Tactical Team
I use the trait that gives security escort grenades. This spawns a big group of summons to help me hold a position. I use it when protecting a NPC or anything "King of the Hill".
There's a known bug that causes Echo Papa to disable your ability to sprint. It doesn't bother me since I don't use it outside of protecting an area.
The borg prosthetic has some nice DPS on it's primary, and the rom imp set has some nice shields and a bonus to plasma damage, so between just shooting things and my crowd control group I do pretty good in most situations.
All my traits are optimized towards damage. Anything that improves assault weapons, energy damage, or aiming damage I use.
My ground spec is Commando, and that also has a aim damage buff as well as juggernaut system, which improves my survivability.
I can do advanced ground queues without too much difficulty. The only time I have a hard time is if I'm not sticking with the rest of my team.
Boffs can have 1 ability per rank, including copies of the same one. Players can have 5 abilities of any rank, but no copies.
I have been training my "starter" BOFFs with everything. I am filling them in as I find the manuals, like I fill in bars for CXP or Rep or Trees.
That whole thing of collecting special BOFFs with special traits...nope, I am not playing that part of the game. LOL! I use that Bridge Officer Station section of the UI to adjust abilities....almost exclusive to anything else, now.
And, I think, this is the difference between a casual player...and one who is more dedicated or investments time into this game. If players want more equal performance from Pugs...it is important to know: what works and what does not. And get the word out to others like me.
Remember, all of this stuff has to work inside the tiny window that is the Leveling up process, too. Which is crazy fast.
That may seem insignificant at first, before you consider having versions I, II and III of the same ability unlocked on a boff gives them much needed versatility in both placement and number of abilities you can use. Whereas having more than one copy of an ability on a player would be utter waste. If player abilities were consumable there'd be pressure to upgrade it to max before using. A kit module you can always upgrade later. And then there's of course some modules are account-bound so can be transfered between toons even after use. Overall kit modules are better even if they do use inventory. Cryptic could always sell us more inventory slots.
On the other hand, I myself have often wondered why they don't make boffs use kits like the player does.
What they are doing is: differentiating between Captains abilities and BOFF abilities with Training Manuals and Kit Modules.
There would be an over abundance of kits in your storage if BOTH had to use Kit Modules, some of them are the same ability. There would have to be something to delineate the difference.
Typing distracted this morning....gardener is here, and I have to get a hold of my mechanic and commission a tow truck for the car. So, yeah, kinda busy.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Head gasket hose "blew up"...I have no idea what that means and, more importantly, what caused that. It just sounds pretty bad. I am stuck at home....so should have time to read and question everything, today.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
A head gasket sits between the engine block and the compression cylinders - basically it ptevents coolant or engine oil getting into the cylinders, which can cause massive engine damage (for example if water or engine oil gets into a cylinder, its vaporised to steam/vapor...kaboom, you'll be picking bits of cylinder up off the ground and your engine is ruined)
A head gasket sits between the engine block and the compression cylinders - basically it ptevents coolant or engine oil getting into the cylinders, which can cause massive engine damage (for example if water or engine oil gets into a cylinder, its vaporised to steam/vapor...kaboom, you'll be picking bits of cylinder up off the ground and your engine is ruined)
Oh. My car is a death trap in more ways than I can count. :::queasy::::
I did not get a chance to study Kit Modules today....because I ended up "cleaning up" Christmas decorations and got a call at lunch to come pick up the car. Then I went shopping and did not get home....uh...for a while. LOL!
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
A head gasket sits between the engine block and the compression cylinders - basically it ptevents coolant or engine oil getting into the cylinders, which can cause massive engine damage (for example if water or engine oil gets into a cylinder, its vaporised to steam/vapor...kaboom, you'll be picking bits of cylinder up off the ground and your engine is ruined)
When you have a coolant leak in the warp core, that means it's time to duck and roll. Take it from a pro.
A head gasket sits between the engine block and the compression cylinders - basically it ptevents coolant or engine oil getting into the cylinders, which can cause massive engine damage (for example if water or engine oil gets into a cylinder, its vaporised to steam/vapor...kaboom, you'll be picking bits of cylinder up off the ground and your engine is ruined)
When you have a coolant leak in the warp core, that means it's time to duck and roll. Take it from a pro.
Heh, thats a fun setup... theres enough drones/bugs now a non-engie can run a drone master build, although they lose some options such as the explosive drone
Papa-echo (might as well run the nak'hul phasic shroud as PE tanks your run as a suggestion)
Ground Hive defences (more bugs)
Harmonic lure (summons bugs)
Statsis drone
Methusula drone
Nomad drone
Tripwire drone
Co-ordinate bombing strikes (They are drone bombers)
Comments
It is a HUGE scrolling list of Specialization Kit Modules for your Captain to use. I mean, look at the size of that scrolly bar on the side! I am not sure if this character has filled in ALL the Specialization Trees. But at least you can see the Tabs, I think those "unlock" as you fill those trees.
But it is Dilithium....sooooooo, unless you like being the guinea pig...and spending Dil for exploring new stuff.....I would wait for some folk's reviews. (Billions and Billions of Dilithium!!!)
But then, unless someone buys these and tests them....who is going to know about them?????
Here is a picture of that....https://i.imgur.com/oTEG7Tq.jpg
Well...it is late (for me, 10PM)...and I been on this computer for hours and hours...I want to get outta here and hit the sack.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Oh, Warp...what a great idea!!! You did this, before, then.
Which Specializations did you do? What were your favorites????
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
If you checked out these Specialization Kit Modules, it would be great to hear what you think.
As a casual player, I am lucky to have time on weekends and after dinner for a grand total of 7 to 20 hours a week on my big computer that can actually run STO. I have to give up doing other things in the game to fit in my WW and Risa activities.
Kindle and Chromebook for reading the Forums and Wiki I can do in increments, here and there, but testing on Tribble is another ball park all together.
So, if you already did this foot work....please share your observations.
Which ones should the rest of us try out (on Tribble)....and which ones not to bother with.
What is useful? What is junk?
We need to whittle down this incredible plethora of Kit Modules in Specializations. I mean, abundance is nice, but that the Devs didn't seem to have edited down through this list for the best of the best idea to bring live.
I will spend a bit of time to check on Google and search Specialization Kit Modules and see if there were any convos in Reddit.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Intel
Feign disintegration - Has its charm if you are swarmed (such as bluegill) but is prone to failure as it does nothing to mitigate damage -so as it ramps up threat and adds a false expose (aka mob catnip) its easy to die due to damage 'stacked' before it procs
Frictionless particle grenade - Really good, if you can get your cd down its a huge option for debuffing...and watching mobs fall on their face never gets old. Drop a pull/hold like paradox bomb or grav juncture for best effect
Harmless/incite chaos - pretty useless, incite chaos can be intresting if the enmy is highly mobile so they infect more allies
Neurolytic injection - if you run a single target boss killer 'assassin' build this can be an incredible option but generally its poor as you need to be in melee range and if they go out of range, its wasted
Photonic decoy -had its charms but the Deciever module (lockbox) affects an aoe and is more effective
Resonant tachyon stream - if by some insanity you shield tank on ground this is impressive and ruins Elachi mobs days - but considering kinetic weapons are widely available and the fact shield hp is pretty much ablative.... not worth slotting
Site to site ensnare - A fun module, its inferior to fold transporter (lockbox) but due to it moving the mob to a set distance in front of you, you can teleport mobs off cliffs or into hazards if you practice with it, an ability unique to itself
Sonic suppression - For energy weapons, this can be impressive. Ignoring threat as it does next to nothing, it enhances shield bypass and tags an impressive dam resist debuff on the targetted mob. For kinetic weapons, only the dr debuff applies so it might be worth using another module with similar abilities
Anethezine mine - Deploys one mine that inflicts debuffs to move speed, damage and so on in a 5m radius - It does no damage, the debuffs are minimal and to ensure you get a mob hit, you need to put it in a bottleneck. There are far better mine options.
Tripwire drone - essentially a universal photon grenade with bells on, as long as you target a mob not being shot at towards the rear of the mob group (the drone vanishes if the mob dies) it will cut a swathe through the mobs, knocking them over before exploding. The drone pretty much only moves on a straight line so unless the target is immobile it can be easily avoided.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Huh... might have to remember this one for an Infected Ground run. Having the ability to teleport a drone into the plasma in the last room on top of using Knockbacks might come in handy.
Bombing strike - if you hold the mobs in the drone bombers path, the power of the strike is pretty impressive but it takes time to deploy and is easily avoided just by moving sideways - in a narrow place like the gantries in Khitomer ground and hive ground it can be devastating as its hard to avoid
Delegated devastation - Melee build? Run this and your teamates will love you as its a huge energy weapon damage boost - +40% energy damage can really help weaker teamates be effective. If you are good with weapon switching, carry a big hitter like a boolean as secondary as if you have its doff, your own energy damage will get a massive spike once the weapon offline debuff ends.
Hammer and Anvil - Very powerful if you know how to abuse flanking but equally effective if not for suvivability, this applies to the team so either gives them more firepower of helps them not to die
Overwhelm shields - Good for what it does, but wasting a module slot to heal shield thats easily depleted is not a good option
Return fire - An intresting module, it sparkles when abused as a team - essentially the more hp you are missing, the higher the cd buff/damage buff (it is based on the individual so player A on 88%HP and player B on 20% would get differing cd/damage buffs, B getting more). Applied as in a premade team taking damage it can give pre-nerf chroniton jolt a run for its money (minus the security team shenanigans)
Sanctuary - aka the Sompek killer. Activate when needed, get 15s of perfect cloak (usually more than enough for a sompek ally to revive) and a heal of 2%to 7% total hp per second. Higher ranks have less run debuffs and higher hp regen rate. Less useful generally, you can abuse it for a second cloak to move without being shot at. Generally though in adv rtfos, its a poor choice as theres few needs for such a power
Shock and awe - only hits one target, but versus bosses it is horrendously powerful, especially allied with trajectory bending (lockbox). Tags the opponent and if enough damage is done the mob gets rooted - all the while suffering a dam resist debuff and a bonus to flanking damage. Can really ruin the Tholian project managers day and mobile mobs like Elachi predators
Strategic analysis - Get rank 4, hit it as soon as the map loads, repeat when cd ends for a (near) neverending aura that gives +damage and a constant ground apb that increases in potency as it stacks. Despite the modules insinations, while it only activates in combat (or, say, using a cannibal tribbles bite...) it continues even out of combat
Take cover - pretty amazing for use on boffs as if in combat they actually crouch (which can make the dyson ground armors crouching power proc), in general tfos though its not great unless you yourself often crouch to fire as few pugs will notice its activation
Timely intervention - Medic Ninja mode. On a medic this ability can be absurdly good as well as in places like the storeoom on terok nor as it goes to -any- ally, inculding the maco marine. Afaik you don't need to aim at them - you'll teleport as long as they are in range and when below 50%. Teleport, deploy heals, hit sanctuary/some cloak and retreat
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https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/5h1ynh/upgrading_kit_modules/
Here is the convo on Reddit from 2 years ago.....but I have no clue if this is still a thing in the game???????
Be careful which SPECIALIZATION kit modules you buy. Those can't be upgraded.
(Which may explain why no one talks about using those at all...)
"Regular" Kit Modules (including Fleet) go to Ultra Rare, only.
(I wonder if the regular ones are upgraded to Epic are too OP?).
Whereas, Epic is only for Reputation, Event and Lockbox.
(Event ones come as Epic...I never bothered to try putting them in the upgrade system.)
Additionally, per @warpangel, testing on Tribble may be an idea, to see if it upgrades the way you want.
Another addition...this is also 2 years old: https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/5fh8id/weekly_discussion_november_29th_kit_and_kit/
(Sorry, got distracted, phone call from Sister...I think I am behind on dinner as well as WW stuff, now. OH well, that is life. LOL!)
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Why can't everything have the same rules across the board to start off with, I have no idea.
I will keep searching to see if they changed all the kit modules to upgrade to Epic, now that we are at Mark 15.
@chrian#9670 @engineerb4#4806
Is this still a "thing": Specialization kit modules can not be upgraded? Regular kit modules can only get to Ultra Rare, Mark 15? And Epic kit modules is slated for Reputation, Event and Lockboxes?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Causal entaglement - A good module alongside sonic supression, its best use is with energy weapons for the shield bypass. Even if used with kinetics, the high ranks have absurdly large damage resist debuffs and with 10m radius and 10s, its a strong option - just don't expect much entropy.
Chronometric diffusion - A strong-ish option, its a poor entropy builder but offers a reduced damage dot, a run speed debuff, a sprint block and a decent decreases-from-epicenter shield ignoring physical debuff. Dropping Diffusion and Entanglement on top of each other is a viable option to increase Diffusions damage while keeping the mobs in the aoe
Chronoplasty - Awkward. Weak when not around mobs afflicted with entropy, if you can build up the entropy its a strong self heal - however you have a hypo, so....
Degeneration - A powerful, secondary weapon like cd'd power; it only has a 3s gap between activations (well, unless you have a lot of cd reduction) -it only drops its entropy if the mob lasts the duration of the power so its finnicky to use as a builder
Entropic contagion - Pretty impressive used on a single mob or a group - just rember to cast it then attack another mob to ensure it lasts its duration. If deployed on a boss mob with no allies it will swiftly fill up the entropy counter - Either way its a heavy damage dealer to the targetted and its allies, if any
Paradox bomb - A mainstay of many kits, general tactic is either to toss it out unbuffed or use an entropy builder to build its damage/pull - at 5 entropy on one mob (or spread among mobs, it counts the total entropy in range), its pull power is nearly equal to grav juncture and its damage can be pretty rediculous
Recursive affliction - Designed to spike kill mobs, the aim is to hit it, deploy as much direct to hp damage as possible before the stored damage is converted to extra damage. If the mob survives they get +2 entropy so sometimes its viable to tag a mob then avoid shooting it so the entropy can be used
Spread decay - I call this the entropic shotgun as if you group up an entire mob swarm on miner elite wiith one having entropy, it transfers all the entropy to EVERY MOB in range, each getting damage depending on the entropy level transferred - Now apply paradox bomb for fireworks
Tachyonic conversion - just like other shield restorer type powers, its pretty useless overall - plus it eats all the entropy you could use on paradox bomb
Temporal narcosis - single target so pretty useless in general - it can however ruin a boss level mobs day though...but again, it eats your entropy best used on paradox bomb
Uncertainty burst - I love this ability and hate it in equal measure as if you use it, its a hilariously effective paradox bomb starter plus it stuns, confuses and can put targets in flanking damage position..however you will learn to hate it if you drop a paradox bomb and someone bursts them out of its epicenter of damage. It is amazing for solo play though...just don't give it your boffs if you like attacking with power combos
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I see. Thanks.
Do you have a "go to" kit module for Holodeck?
Or a tip or two, relating to equipping for ground?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Really theres few of any major use
Throw regenerative canister - basically a triage heal grenade, it allows any class to serve as a subpar medic. Its slow throwing animation and of course the fact pugs will not stand still makes it fraught to use unless you throw it close then run on thr heal patch for a self heal
Generate ablative protection - Can be used for tanking, but it trades a lot to do so
VISOR emulation relay - Up close and personal on steroids. Best for pulsewavers, activate, run up to mob and fire
Overload power cells - Risky to run unless you have heals, its basically the ground version of fly her apart, trading self damage for increased damage that splashes onto other mobs nearby. Running this and Return firepower is an overpowered combo (overload damages you, Return firepower reduces all module cds/increases damage based on hp remaining) that I find astounding few players use
Edit - and yes, I was bored tonight
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(Of course, I was just looking at the icon pictures at the bottom of the page...not reading it at all)
You know, in this day and age, when everyone is looking to show off their GOLD...
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
But a question that crosses my mind: Where do you keep all your stuff?
Do you do what warpangel was saying...play with it on Tribble....
And then never buy it on Holodeck?
I was just looking at the ones I get from Winter and Summer...those free ones are piling up, too.
I can only use 5 in the character status. Where do you store the rest, once you start collecting these???
I wonder why they did not make our Captains like the BOFFs. So we could train them with a Kit Module ability....then not have to keep all of them.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Did not know the cannibal tribble trick. Nice.
As I don't go gaga for big ticket items, my 'thing' in STO is exploration, finding intresting builds such as my 'gravimetric pinball' where using gravimetric detonation, the comp rep tac module, grav juncture and some other things I fling mobs through a vicious electrical dot field back and forth or my pug support build where they have a near constant all damage and energy damage buff that could easily be abused as a ground dps nanny build - If you see an odd build in ground its likely one of my guys
@Questerius , The cannibal tribble has many uses - for example it can trigger the cloak-on-damage abilities of the Sela shield or the Jemmie shroud..on a social map. Generally speaking, the cannibal can usually trigger any power that needs combat alert and/or incoming damage, you just need to be quick to exploit the short time combat alert is activated
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Trick is to remember it always transports them 3m ahead of your current facing so try to point yourself towards the hazard/drop before activation... as to distance, the only way to learn that is by practice. Its hard to use in combat but if you can master using it on the fly, you can be quite devious and can enjoy the mental image of a borg/other pulling a Wile E Coyote and pulling out a sign saying 'not fair, Rattler!' before plummeting to the ground
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But are they really? Boffs can have 1 ability per rank, including copies of the same one. Players can have 5 abilities of any rank, but no copies. That may seem insignificant at first, before you consider having versions I, II and III of the same ability unlocked on a boff gives them much needed versatility in both placement and number of abilities you can use. Whereas having more than one copy of an ability on a player would be utter waste. If player abilities were consumable there'd be pressure to upgrade it to max before using. A kit module you can always upgrade later. And then there's of course some modules are account-bound so can be transfered between toons even after use. Overall kit modules are better even if they do use inventory. Cryptic could always sell us more inventory slots.
On the other hand, I myself have often wondered why they don't make boffs use kits like the player does.
From a purely narrative viewpoint, abilities that involve special equipment would better suit a kit module while ones that involve special skills would suit a training manual (and some would logically require both).
My doffs are 3 ambush doffs (bonus damage over 9 seconds), target optics doff (damage resistance debuff on enemy) and fire on my mark doff (chance to expose).
So I have 3 groups of skills that I use:
Secondary Attack Group
Target Optics/Ambush/Fire on my Mark
This does a TRIBBLE ton of damage to one enemy. I usually use it on bosses.
Crowd Control Group
Gravitic Juncture/Micro Cryonic Warhead/Plasma Grenade
This pulls a group of enemies together, freezes them in place, and burns them with plasma fire. It takes some practice to get the timing right. Sometimes they don't group up properly, but when you pull it off it's awesome. It can kill groups you would never have been able to take on otherwise.
Summon Spam Group
Echo Papa/Security Escort/Shard of Possibilities/Tactical Team
I use the trait that gives security escort grenades. This spawns a big group of summons to help me hold a position. I use it when protecting a NPC or anything "King of the Hill".
There's a known bug that causes Echo Papa to disable your ability to sprint. It doesn't bother me since I don't use it outside of protecting an area.
The borg prosthetic has some nice DPS on it's primary, and the rom imp set has some nice shields and a bonus to plasma damage, so between just shooting things and my crowd control group I do pretty good in most situations.
All my traits are optimized towards damage. Anything that improves assault weapons, energy damage, or aiming damage I use.
My ground spec is Commando, and that also has a aim damage buff as well as juggernaut system, which improves my survivability.
I can do advanced ground queues without too much difficulty. The only time I have a hard time is if I'm not sticking with the rest of my team.
I have been training my "starter" BOFFs with everything. I am filling them in as I find the manuals, like I fill in bars for CXP or Rep or Trees.
That whole thing of collecting special BOFFs with special traits...nope, I am not playing that part of the game. LOL! I use that Bridge Officer Station section of the UI to adjust abilities....almost exclusive to anything else, now.
And, I think, this is the difference between a casual player...and one who is more dedicated or investments time into this game. If players want more equal performance from Pugs...it is important to know: what works and what does not. And get the word out to others like me.
Remember, all of this stuff has to work inside the tiny window that is the Leveling up process, too. Which is crazy fast.
What they are doing is: differentiating between Captains abilities and BOFF abilities with Training Manuals and Kit Modules.
There would be an over abundance of kits in your storage if BOTH had to use Kit Modules, some of them are the same ability. There would have to be something to delineate the difference.
Typing distracted this morning....gardener is here, and I have to get a hold of my mechanic and commission a tow truck for the car. So, yeah, kinda busy.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
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Oh. My car is a death trap in more ways than I can count. :::queasy::::
I did not get a chance to study Kit Modules today....because I ended up "cleaning up" Christmas decorations and got a call at lunch to come pick up the car. Then I went shopping and did not get home....uh...for a while. LOL!
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
When you have a coolant leak in the warp core, that means it's time to duck and roll. Take it from a pro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN001iUenmU
Engineering Kit Module or Ability??? Engineers want to do damage, too.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Heh, thats a fun setup... theres enough drones/bugs now a non-engie can run a drone master build, although they lose some options such as the explosive drone
Papa-echo (might as well run the nak'hul phasic shroud as PE tanks your run as a suggestion)
Ground Hive defences (more bugs)
Harmonic lure (summons bugs)
Statsis drone
Methusula drone
Nomad drone
Tripwire drone
Co-ordinate bombing strikes (They are drone bombers)
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