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Reached Level 65, still playing through the story, getting massacred on A Gathering Darkness. Help!

mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
So I have been off and on playing for about a year now. Got to level 65 by doing TFOs (not well) and am stuck on the first part of the Episode "A Gathering Darkness". Pretty sure my ship build is not up to snuff. Can someone point me in the right direction?

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    mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    Thank you @westmetals! I will try as many of these suggestions out as I can (I don't think I have a bunch of the items you listed) and report back
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    So I have been off and on playing for about a year now. Got to level 65 by doing TFOs (not well) and am stuck on the first part of the Episode "A Gathering Darkness". Pretty sure my ship build is not up to snuff. Can someone point me in the right direction?

    Here's a few more thoughts on your build and some alternate suggestions -

    Your skill tree is a bit overdone in the Lieutenant skills (too many points). I used to do this myself. Instinct says make your build more sturdy when what's needed is to do more damage. It's not necessarily intuitive. Prolonged attrition warfare battles with a "super tanky" build don't really work as eventually the bad guys will wear you down.

    This is the skill tree that works best for me, even while leveling up, for both ground and space. Since you like torpedoes take two points off of the Lieutenant Commander skills defense and one from targeting and put those three points into the torpedo skill.

    tactical template link

    This skill tree stacks in as much damage as possible in the red (tactical) portion and should add some noticeable zing to your weapons without leaving you short in other areas. For specializations intel primary and strategist secondary seems to be a good all around combination.

    The ground portion of it emphasizes the same with lots of kit performance and kit cooldown to get all those damage buffing kit abilities you're using working nicely. I'd use the recoil compensating armor from "A gathering darkness" on your captain. You're level 65 now so it's time to carry large hypos.

    I'm not sure if I'd stick with plasma weapons as there's less in the way of set pieces available that buff that energy type as you do missions or complete reputations. Phaser is great but follow your heart. You're the Captain. I'd limit myself to a single front torpedo.

    For your ship's bridge officer abilities here's some alternate suggestions. Use two copies of as much as possible for now.

    Emergency power to weapons will really increase the damage you do in combination with setting your ship's power levels to "attack". Cycle it constantly while engaging the bad guys. Aux2SIF restores hull and also increase your damage resistance. You could try Aux2Damp here also.

    For science the boff ability science team could be replaced with polarize hull to increase damage resistance and escape from being tractored. Perhaps try both at the ensign level to see which comes in more handy. Hazard Emitters will help get rid of that plasma burn (and other things) you're getting in that current mission with the Borg.

    For tactical skills attack pattern omega is very dramatic but otherwise has a long cooldown. Try using attack pattern beta to debuff the enemies damage resistance. It's amazing. Use it in conjunction with your other offensive abilities.

    Two copies of a beam skill at the highest rank will keep that going. BFAW will get you more aggro than beam overload as it's multi-target. Either is fine. Tactical team will help distribute your shields while taking heavy enemy fire.

    Emergency power to weapons --> beam skill --> attack pattern --> tactical team (and repeat). Use torpedoes when shields are down.

    LwqZ03V.jpg
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    mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    Ok so got as much as I could of your suggestions implemented. I will update the Skill Planner later. I got through the mission I was on but now I died on the next one. Guess I have to do some grinding of TFO's.
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    mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    @protoneous Didn't see your update. I will implement this as soon as I can. Dinner calls. Thanks guys.
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    mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    https://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/5987b267077100c7172e9f5e3da9a758
    New layout. Got what I could with the resources I had. Had to buy some training manuals.
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    mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    edited October 2021
    cornelius@mjchapman#8213

    Currently logged in and hanging around DS9
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    New layout. Got what I could with the resources I had. Had to buy some training manuals.
    Was looking at your universal consoles. Apparently you have a Miracle Worker Battlecruiser as well as a Pilot escort.

    The mastery traits of both ships should come in handy. The ETM trait would be fun to try.

    Trait: Entwined Tactical Matrices
    Trait: Strike from Shadows
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    If the OP keeps the LtC universal as a science position maybe Photonic officer 2 would help with cool downs?
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    Maybe Delayed Overload Cascade for the extra science slot. With a couple points into epg it seems to hit hard. Even on a cruiser. I was really surprised. Very cold in space might be another possibility. Both work for me.

    Source: https://sto-league.com/beam-ships-in-the-current-century/
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    mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    So I have been going through some episodes. Figured I could go straight to the episode with the Bajor Defense set as a reward. Played through that one several times and got the entire Bajor Defense set (already had one piece from a Phoenix lock box). Its been better. Still dying, just not nearly as much. Been working on upgrading some items that I have to help out. Now I am looking at my ground setup. During the New Romulus episode I am dying about once or twice per squad on each area. I am looking at different gear and some changes to traits and skills. I will update my planner as soon as I get a free second.
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    protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,985 Arc User
    Good to hear things are going better. Tactical officers on the ground seem best at buffing themselves and their team so they can do as much damage as possible.

    Here's what I'm using on my human tactical officer -

    The skill tree that works for me is taking all six points in the upper left for damage and all four points in the lower right for kit performance & kit efficiency. It might seem a bit counter intuitive to not have any points into PSG or combat armor but the PSG and armor you're wearing seem to be more than enough in these areas on their own. Kit performance makes your kit modules more powerful and kit efficiency gets them turning over as quickly as possible so they can be used again.

    Ground Traits - Aggressive, Creative, Lucky, Rifle Training (if using a rifle as primary weapon), Situational Awareness (if using a grenade), Soldier, Strike Team Specialist. If I had a pick of one genetic resequencer from the exchange it'd be Vicious.

    Gear - Burnham's CQC Environmental Suit (Discovery reputation), Na'kuhl PSG and secondary weapon from the mission Temporal Front for the 2 piece bonus and wonderful temporary immunity the shield provides with it's distortion, any kit frame with kit performance x2. I carry large hypos upon reaching level 50 as well as crafted large kit overboosters as soon as my kit & modules R&D school reaches level 10.

    Kit Modules - Battle Strategies, Ambush, Photon Grenade. Trajectory bending would be a top pick from the exchange. Motivation is another. Graviton Spike from the summer event store also seems very nice.

    Na'kuhl Temporal Operative Ground Set

    Burnhams CQC Environmental Suit/Info

    https://reddit.com/r/stobuilds/wiki/tspbasicboffguide

    https://sto-league.com/ground-combat-in-the-current-century/
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    mjchpaman#8213 mjchpaman Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    Working on all of those suggestions now. somehow my traits all vanished and I had to reapply them.
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