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Well, this is an experience...
colonelmarik
Member Posts: 2,200 Arc User
So, I have a Gorn captain. He's lower level, not quite to max. I've got him in a T5 Gorn science ship (Varanus). Only a few months ago (the last time I played him), he was quite capable of participating in queues and other such content.
Today, I got on him again and found he simply cannot compete.
I did a queue mission, it was against Tzenkethi ships. They oneshotted him with every shot (ignoring his shields), and he did NO damage to them. Granted, he's only using Mk XII gear, but seriously? Next queue mission was against the Borg. They were hitting him for over 60k damage with every shot (he has 23k hull). Of course, he has no shields in such battles, because of the continuous tachyon beams, shield drains and whatnot. In addition, he does no damage when he's instantly oneshotted in every engagement.
Now, my main characters have far less issues. Sure, they can't damage the Tzenkethi either (my Pathfinder was stuck fighting with a Tzenkethi cruiser in a queue mission for over an HOUR), but they can survive getting hit.
My point here is, I had no idea it was so bad for lower level characters. The difficulty has become so ramped up to accomodate the absurd power creep that it's become impossible for lower levels who don't HAVE all that fancy gear to even play, let alone be competetive.
I'm not sure why I bring this up, honestly. I'm just pointing out something I'm experiencing from the point of view of a lower level character. I can't imagine anyone less committed to the game even bothering once they hit this wall. There's no fun being had, here.
Today, I got on him again and found he simply cannot compete.
I did a queue mission, it was against Tzenkethi ships. They oneshotted him with every shot (ignoring his shields), and he did NO damage to them. Granted, he's only using Mk XII gear, but seriously? Next queue mission was against the Borg. They were hitting him for over 60k damage with every shot (he has 23k hull). Of course, he has no shields in such battles, because of the continuous tachyon beams, shield drains and whatnot. In addition, he does no damage when he's instantly oneshotted in every engagement.
Now, my main characters have far less issues. Sure, they can't damage the Tzenkethi either (my Pathfinder was stuck fighting with a Tzenkethi cruiser in a queue mission for over an HOUR), but they can survive getting hit.
My point here is, I had no idea it was so bad for lower level characters. The difficulty has become so ramped up to accomodate the absurd power creep that it's become impossible for lower levels who don't HAVE all that fancy gear to even play, let alone be competetive.
I'm not sure why I bring this up, honestly. I'm just pointing out something I'm experiencing from the point of view of a lower level character. I can't imagine anyone less committed to the game even bothering once they hit this wall. There's no fun being had, here.
Once, I was simply called Mojo. Now, I'm forced into a new name, but don't be fooled, I'm the original STO Mojo!
This game needs detailed crafting, exploration and interaction systems.
This game needs detailed crafting, exploration and interaction systems.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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I'm no powerful person myself, but I've not had much problem with Tzenkethi with MkXII gear in T5 ships.
Could be your loadout? Traits? I'm not sure. Maybe someone with more knowledge can come n and suggest something.
really dumb question but did you double check your traits? mine have a naughty habit of going on vacation.
As for spending an hour killing Anything (let alone in a science vessel).. well, it makes me wonder what kind of build you're using. (Tzenkethi melt like everything else in the presence of the almighty EPG.)
Additionally, if you're getting focused down and are in an uncertain build, odds are you should probably hang back a little and let other people grab aggro first instead of charging in.
I don't mean to be rude, I am usually the first person to try and help people like this, but the OP has received tons of advice on this board and obviously, he ignores it all. I knew as soon as I saw a thread from this poster, exactly what this was going to be.
I'm sorry marik, but I am going to be blunt here. Star Trek Online isn't the game for you. You struggle massively against all content and despite this communities best efforts to help you, you seem to be taking none of the advice you were given. Constantly posting that the game is 'too hard,' won't fix anything my friend. You have two choices at this point, you either take the advice given and adapt or you simply stop playing. Continuing to complain about this phantom difficulty curve is getting you nowhere. Yes, the game can be tough at some points for new players that aren't ready for it.. we all know that.. but as always, it's simply nothing like what you describe. This is how the game is for YOU.. and that's no one's fault but yours.
Enough already Marik, we get it.
I really enjoy playing some of the older Tier 5 ships as well and there's so many people here in this forum with great ideas on how to make the best of them in a fun and cost effective manner.
Are you playing on Normal? or Advanced?
Advanced can be tough if you're undergeared, but Normal should still be ok.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/9t0hkv/four_basic_tips_for_fighting_the_tzenkethi/
GW on tzen is like using BFAW against a voth ship with the Reflection o' Doom active.
Nice man.. that actually looks really good.
I'll let the 'forumite' dig slide.. the reason I said it was nice was because it's effective and dirt cheap. Seriously, look at what he posted.. it's about as cheap as a build can get.
Also probably good advice, I am not much of a Science captain, but this sounds like good advice as well.
If your current rear torpedo is a tactical one like the regular plasma torpedoes, I would dump it for a PEP or other science torpedo and slot it in the front (perhaps moving the hyper to the rear). A more normal science torpedo setup would be something like the PEP and maybe the enhanced biomolecular photon or grav-well torp (both front mounted), but you specified plasma.
To support plasma torpedoes properly you need high yield and/or spread.
HY makes the explosion and the radiation cloud (for science torps like PEP) bigger and if the target is destroyed before the torp gets there it locks on to a new target automatically so it is not wasted. In fact, if the enemy is dying quickly you can have your own little plasma torpedo screen floating back and forth which can be a good defense of sorts. One thing to watch out for mixing HY with plasma is to stay out of the blast radius so you do not start yourself on fire.
Spread with a PEP torp results in a sort of popcorn pattern of small radiation clouds from striking a lot of ships at once that fast moving enemy ships can really wreck themselves moving though, and the hyperplasma becomes a very nasty swarm-killer.
If you are serious about using the torpedoes as your main weapon damage then you should probably dump the plasma infusers for ambiplasma envelope consoles since they up the torpedo damage and enhance the burn, the infusers are only good for beams and cannons.
To add insult to injury you could add the Brad Boimler doff (from the currently free lower decks set) if you have room in your active space roster without giving up something more useful, he adds exotic damage clouds to ordinary torpedoes and you probably don't have enough tac slots to keep the special firing modes up 100% of the time (especially if you use one of them for BFAW).
If you really want to knife fight with the ship (which the Gorn Anchor maneuver is) you might want to look into getting the Bajor core (and maybe some or all of the rest of that set) because the syphoning field can give the ship a nice little power boost (along with slightly weakening the enemy) in the middle of an enemy pack like that. Also make sure you have doffs and traits that can enhance using tractor/repulsors as weapons properly, like the tractor beam officer that does an engine drain on TR beam targets.
Also, if you have a Shran-class ship available, the Graviton Displacer console from that would make a good alternative source of the "Gorn Anchor" if you want more SFB space Barbie (though since it doesn't help exotic damage it could be a bit counterproductive).
Good choice.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
- evasive maneuvers, lower cooldown on it and use it to get places fast: retreat for heals, dodge burst damage (vaadwaur proton barrages etc.), make turns for strafing runs on heavier ships
- shift subsystem energy: when anticipating lots of damage, raise shields high or max, raise engines to help make turns, raise aux for amplifying all things that rely on aux power, bonus hint: aux dependencies only matter on initial toggle generally, so max it, toggle, switch to another
- shield tank torpedo damage as they have high innate kinetic damage resistances, shield subsystem power amplifies their effectiveness and regenerative ability depending on captain skill points and other shield regen consoles; retreat, redirect shields, or turn the ship if a shield facing is exposed
- don't overstack all dmg res as greatly diminishing returns start around I believe 66%
- establish your primary source of damage: on sci ships secondary deflector matching its set boff powers will add significant DoT as radiation, keeping enemy ships at the center of anomalies amplifies the damage, CtrlX is necessary for bunching up enemies for AoE so their own warp core breaches kill them
- you need strong healing, if you're not dealing enough damage paired with abilities that heal from damage dealt, then boost aux and slot high level-low CD heals like Aux2SIF plus powerful heal consoles from events
- keep your defense rating high by moving and adjust it on the go, even heavy ships can leverage ways to keep moving, ex. pilot spec while reversing, boosting turn rate, TBR, MES+doff, romulan cloaks, etc.
- slot in immunities and use them quickly and preemptively: rock n roll pilot spec, temporal spec backstep, consoles, starship traits, singularity powers
- use ALL of your abilities strategically, keep their cooldowns running so they don't get wasted sitting idly unless they don't add anything in the moment
- polish your build: remove and replace anything that's not performing well at the pace of combat your build engages in; this game is a landfill of worthless things to avoid; just one theme gimmick may be all it takes to cripple everything so don't do it unless you're proven overpowered in all scenarios
- know your enemies: you're dealing with idiotic NPCs that are entirely predictable, with 10 km no-lock fire zones, that can sometimes hit very hard usually in predicable bursts, that are hitpoint sponges, and that often spawn in endlessly as zergs, so use those to your advantage: fly out of range/cloak to heal and help cooldowns (if possible), scatter them or bunch them up, stay on their flanks, divert their focus (pets, friendly NPCs, duplicates, etc.), and avoid whatever it is they tend to do (iconians disables; vaadwaur polaron barrages; borg shield drain and invisible torps; tzenkethi cruiser AoE immunities and strong shields except front plus artilery, etc.)
It can all work. I prefer torpedoes (neutronic, PEP, Dyson reputation one and sometimes other torpedoes that do radiation damage) for my main Sci because you don't have to ensure that your weapon power is at or near maximum.
I like that bit of freedom. And I need it, when running high aux power levels.
That said, all sci builds can be fun. Exotic as a bonus on top of a regular energy build, drain builds with quantum torpedo spreads (for additional artistic value
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
I can understand the feeling. Especially if the OP has taken the advice that was apparently given to him in other threads, it may simply be that you're used to killing stuff much faster and suffering less yourself.
I experience the same thing when levelling, equipping, upgrading and unlocking stuff on a new toon. The difference is noticable. It doesn't have to be the case though, that it's your new toon that anything is wrong with.
I think most players have that same 'problem'.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.