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Upgrading

jarenkincaidjarenkincaid Member Posts: 117 Arc User
in The Academy
I'm currently working my way through upgrading using R&D, but where are the upgrades for tactical consoles? Engineering for engineering consoles and science for science consoles, but how do I craft upgrades for tactical consoles?

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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    Beam or cannon upgrades should work fine.
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    davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,512 Arc User
    edited March 2021
    Don't craft upgrades. Buy 10-packs of Phoenix Prize Packs. The Phoenix upgrades need no mats, they use less dil than Superior crafted upgrades, and they can be used for everything.

    Plus you have a very very slight chance of getting an UR token that you can hold on to until the next Phoenix event. During the event you can exchange any UR tokens you've saved for the T6-X ship upgrade tokens.

    If you really want to ignore all that and waste dil, mats, and credits: tac consoles can be upgraded with both Beam and Cannon upgrades that you really should not be crafting. But don't do that. Phoenix prize pack 10-packs.

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    seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    Indeed, Phoenix Upgrades are the only way to upgrade, it's all you should ever be using. :smile:
    Insert witty signature line here.
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    jarenkincaidjarenkincaid Member Posts: 117 Arc User
    protoneous wrote: »
    Beam or cannon upgrades should work fine.

    Yes, they do. Thank you.
  • Options
    jarenkincaidjarenkincaid Member Posts: 117 Arc User
    davefenestrator wrote: »
    Don't craft upgrades. Buy 10-packs of Phoenix Prize Packs. The Phoenix upgrades need no mats, they use less dil than Superior crafted upgrades, and they can be used for everything.

    Plus you have a very very slight chance of getting an UR token that you can hold on to until the next Phoenix event. During the event you can exchange any UR tokens you've saved for the T6-X ship upgrade tokens.

    If you really want to ignore all that and waste dil, mats, and credits: tac consoles can be upgraded with both Beam and Cannon upgrades that you really should not be crafting. But don't do that. Phoenix prize pack 10-packs.

    Are you on commission for the zen required to open the packs?
  • Options
    davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,512 Arc User
    If you get any green or blue tech upgrades as loot drops, don't use them. Sell or vendor them. They use much more dil per upgrade point than the Phoenix boxes.
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    davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,512 Arc User
    edited March 2021
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    davefenestrator wrote: »
    Don't craft upgrades. Buy 10-packs of Phoenix Prize Packs. The Phoenix upgrades need no mats, they use less dil than Superior crafted upgrades, and they can be used for everything.

    Plus you have a very very slight chance of getting an UR token that you can hold on to until the next Phoenix event. During the event you can exchange any UR tokens you've saved for the T6-X ship upgrade tokens.

    If you really want to ignore all that and waste dil, mats, and credits: tac consoles can be upgraded with both Beam and Cannon upgrades that you really should not be crafting. But don't do that. Phoenix prize pack 10-packs.

    Are you on commission for the zen required to open the packs?

    40,000 dil per 10-pack, 0 zen.

    https://sto.gamepedia.com/Phoenix_Prize_Pack

    Friends don't let friends use crafted upgrades now that Phoenix tech upgrades are available 365 days a year. As @westmetals says, since rare and vr tokens are common you'll actually average around 1.3-1.4 Phoenix tech upgrades per 4,000 dil if you buy the 10-packs.
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    seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    Are you on commission for the zen required to open the packs?

    Hey, here’s a great idea.. how about not being a snarky prick to people who are trying to help you?
    Insert witty signature line here.
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    edited March 2021
    My question removed.
    Post edited by protoneous on
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    jarenkincaidjarenkincaid Member Posts: 117 Arc User
    seaofsorrows wrote: »
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    Are you on commission for the zen required to open the packs?

    Hey, here’s a great idea.. how about not being a snarky prick to people who are trying to help you?
    How about learning the phrase "tongue-in-cheek"?
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    jarenkincaidjarenkincaid Member Posts: 117 Arc User
    And now he's my point writ large. I just bought x10 Phoenix packs. These tokens are useless for me; I already have armour, etc., from these packs. The point is that you can use R&D to upgrade them even MORE! So my question still stands. Tx to those who answered "beans or cannons" to my original question.
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    And now he's my point writ large. I just bought x10 Phoenix packs. These tokens are useless for me; I already have armour, etc., from these packs. The point is that you can use R&D to upgrade them even MORE! So my question still stands. Tx to those who answered "beans or cannons" to my original question.
    You're supposed to be using the Phoenix packs to get the upgrades. One uncommon token will have the option to purchase 1 upgrade -Phoenix Universal Tech Upgrades. Check again, have a closer look, re-read the advice above. They're trying to save you $resources$.

    Everybody above is 100% correct regarding the the current most effective upgrade to use. I didn't answer your question fully. They did. The most cost effective way is to use the Phoenix upgrades.

    Post back if you're still having trouble finding them.
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    davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,512 Arc User
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    And now he's my point writ large. I just bought x10 Phoenix packs. These tokens are useless for me; I already have armour, etc., from these packs. The point is that you can use R&D to upgrade them even MORE! So my question still stands. Tx to those who answered "beans or cannons" to my original question.

    Scroll down to the bottom of the Phoenix store item list for Uncommon tokens. Look up a couple of rows. *** TECH UPGRADE ***

    If you have Rare or better, scroll down to the bottom, and see how you can split 1 rare into 2 uncommon. *** 2 x TECH UPGRADE ***

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    spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,263 Arc User
    If you get phoenix upgrades your question is irrelevant as you can use those for absolutely anything, only reason to ever use the crafted upgrade tokens is if you don't got the dililithium to updrage on a low mark item (as the upgrade cost is dependent on quality and mark of the item) otherwise never use them. I've upgraded items as far as they go using nothing but phoenix tokens there's literally no benefit what so ever in using crafted tokens over the phoenix ones.

    The tokens people like me are talking are the phoenix upgrade tokens not the price tokens.eEH0uOi.jpgthe token people are talking about
    3uzGefT.jpgwhat it does
    cyPOcEy.jpgwhat a regular (of advanced quality in this case) upgrade token does.

    I got regular tokens because you used to get phoenix tokens only during a special event, but now that you get the boxes 365 days a year there's no need for the regular tokens and using them will only cost more dilithium in the long run then using phoenix upgrade tokens.

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    jarenkincaidjarenkincaid Member Posts: 117 Arc User
    My apologies. I understand now. Universal upgrade tokens are available only with uncommon Phoenix tokens. I've got it working beautifully. But does this mean there's no point to harvesting anymore?
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    spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,263 Arc User
    For the most part only reason to use go out and harvest materials at the moment is to do endeavors that say to do that (and even that's optional). the R&D system as it is at the moment is badly outdated and you'd use it only to make "starter" weapons for a new alt (like I made disruptors for my Klingon recruit).

    Note that you use higher quality tokens to buy the lower quality to ones though only 1 step at time, so 1 epic phoenix token would give you 2 ultra rare, 1 ultra rare token would give you 2 very rare ones, 1 very rare one would give 2 rare ones and 1 rare would give you 2 uncommon ones so if you got all the rewards the higher level tokens aren't useless.
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    But does this mean there's no point to harvesting anymore?
    Keep the materials you earn. You can manually harvest if you want to but consider harvesting TFO's and events - just playing the game pays well and they award both marks and materials. It's your choice. You'll still need the materials to craft items. Some of the consumables you can make are also very good.
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    spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,263 Arc User
    protoneous wrote: »
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    But does this mean there's no point to harvesting anymore?
    Keep the materials you earn. You can manually harvest if you want to but consider harvesting TFO's and events - just playing the game pays well and they award both marks and materials. It's your choice. You'll still need the materials to craft items. Some of the consumables you can make are also very good.

    Oh I forgot about the consumables.
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    foxrockssocksfoxrockssocks Member Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    The unique craftables can be pretty useful too, especially the consoles. Whether you want to waste time making them with the randomness involved in getting a good secondary stat is another question.
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    seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited March 2021
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    seaofsorrows wrote: »
    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    Are you on commission for the zen required to open the packs?

    Hey, here’s a great idea.. how about not being a snarky prick to people who are trying to help you?
    How about learning the phrase "tongue-in-cheek"?

    Just going to touch on this briefly.. it's written text. No one can hear your tone of voice, so if you make a joke and don't use any emoji's of any kind.. there is no way to know it's a joke. Next time, maybe try a :tongue: or something.. gives it a more whimsical feel. :wink:

    jarenkincaid wrote: »
    My apologies. I understand now. Universal upgrade tokens are available only with uncommon Phoenix tokens. I've got it working beautifully. But does this mean there's no point to harvesting anymore?

    There will be varying opinions, but mine is that you have this exactly right. Just being down right honest with you, the entire R&D system is an obsolete waste of time. The only thing it's really good for is if you decide to craft yourself a set of space weapons like Beams or Cannons and then upgrade them, but even that is debatable.

    Your consoles are pretty much all going to come from either the Fleet Base, Reputations, Event Rewards, or from other ships. Your equipment like Impulse Engines, Deflectors, Warp Core, Shields are all exactly the same.. they are going to come from sources other then the R&D school. The only thing I ever craft anymore are the occasional batteries (Energy Amplifiers, Hull Patch or Reactive Armor Catalysts) and other then that.. R&D is just useless.

    Now that you know the 'secret' of Phoenix kits, you will never have to waste your resources with the pathetic crafted upgrade kits again. I would say get Beams, Engineering and maybe Science up to level 15 if you wish to craft batteries.. otherwise abandon it completely.
    Insert witty signature line here.
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    davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,512 Arc User
    edited March 2021
    R&D is useful for new characters until they're fully leveled with fleet, reputation, lock box/lobi gear.

    The tac consoles are useful for leveling up and as placeholders until you earn enough fleet credits to replace them. Or if you want to try out a new energy type without spending a bunch of fleet credits.

    In engineering, neutronium and rcs (for cruisers) are also good for leveling up until you get fleet gear or ship/universal consoles

    In kits, you can craft some decent kit frames (if you're willing to craft bunches then salvage 90+% of them), and good kit modules until you replace some of them with reputation or embassy versions

    Beams, you can craft bunches until you get the PEN and OVER mods. Cannons, you can get PEN and RAPID.

    Do all that crafting at Mark II, you get VR gear with 13 cheap chances to rank up to UR and Epic.


    The level 15 projects are useful: omni beams, wide angle cannons, plasma torp, Aegis set for the Tron visuals.
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