Star Trek Online : A New and Unbroken Thread!

[Rishathra]

My client started crashing regularly after the release of LoR.  I got it to stop by lowering character texture detail down to 75%.

[Stormwaltz]

I can't even get to the point where I can access graphics options. Seems I'm having the same problem with Neverwinter, too.

[Simond]

I've stopped playing largely because by client crashes constantly on changing maps. Like every 1 in 4 map changes. REALLY freaking annoying.

Turn off dynamic patching.

[Reg]

I've been back and playing with the Romulan expansion for about a week now and it's just amazing.  If the Federation storyline had been even half as fun I would have played a lot longer.  I'm liking it so much that I've even resubscribed for 3 months.  I figure I should be able to max out my Fed and my little Romulan by then.

And even better I've just learned how to turn off those damned annoying lockbox messages!

[Stormwaltz]

Oh, because it's fair to say - my problem wasn't due to Cryptic or PWE - turns out Raptr screwed up something in an update they pushed that weekend.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given their smaller staff, Raptr is proving even slower and less responsive to tech support requests (there are at least three threads about issues with the last update borking games).

[Reg]

So I just got my Federation science guy to Vice Admiral and I'm wondering what ship I should buy for him.  Any suggestions?  I've been looking at those multi-mission ships and they look pretty attractive.  If I get the 3 ship bundle I'll get all 3 of the universal consoles.  Are they worth having?

[Sir T]

The Vesta? Yes the Vesta is a really strong ship, probably the strongest of the sci ships, and the abilities of the 3 pack are really strong.

Get either that or a Caitian Carrier.

[Kitsune]

The Vesta is what I use for my fed character, and it manages to lay waste.  You need to defy conventional wisdom to use it, however, as most of its powers rely on aux power and most people dial aux down to bare minimum to crank up weapon power.



Three aux phaser cannons in the front, drawing on aux power.  Two phaser turrets and the Romulan prototype plasma beam in back drawing on weapon power (the beam is just there for subsystem disabling attacks).  Romulan Scorpion fighters to provide the kinetic damage in lieu of having a torpedo mounted on the ship.  Three phaser-boosting consoles and the plasmonic leech console for free power drained from everything I'm shooting.  The three Vesta consoles for access to those abilities and buffs.  The tachyokinetic console and RCS accelerator to give the turn rate needed to effectively use the cannons.

People are all 'but wryyyyy, never use the aux cannons, put normal cannons on and max weapon power'.  Here is why they're wrong: If you pile cannons and turrets on a ship, go out and shoot with it and keep an eye on your weapon power.  Watch as it drops from 100% to fuckallempty in the space of like two seconds.  Having that many guns drawing on your weapon power all firing at the same time will massively deplete your power.  With my setup, you have three guns on aux, two guns on weapons, and the Romulan beam doesn't decrease weapon power when fired, so none of my power levels are being diminished significantly.  When you throw in the plasmonic leech effect, my power levels actually shoot up when I'm in a fight, so my guns are all fully charged and happy.  I then cruise around space, flaying shields off of targets in moments with my cannons while my fighters throw out piles of plasma torpedos to finish everything off.

[Stormwaltz]

I'm used to investing heavily in Aux, since my sci character's skills pull off it. I believe Aux-powered weapons allow you to get around the power penalty for mounting multiple "frequencies" of beams. Have, say, tetryon pulling aux and disruptor pulling weps.

I keep a Borg Cutter (360 arc) in an aft slot (it still contributes to my forward firepower) with the Borg Universal module stuck somewhere for the set bonus. I have Advanced Scorpion Fighters from Romulan rep. As a Sci, I also get Photonic Fleet, and I have the Nimbus pirate distress call for emergencies. In battle, I can produce a whole goddamn flotilla out of nothing. 

[Kitsune]

I avoid mixing flavors of weapon since it makes it harder to boost them with consoles.  Everything onboard is phaser except the plasma beam, as its function is more for debuffing than damage, and the all-phaser nature of the ship makes the three phaser consoles in my tactical slots very effective.

[Reg]

Thanks for the reminder that the phaser cannons that came with the ships used Aux power. I'd read that but forgotten about it.  And it didn't occur to me to steal the phaser cannons off the other two ships in the bundle either though I did remember to transfer the universal consoles over. As far as bridge officers go I've got a Science Commander and a Science Lieutenant Commander in the universal slot and Engineering Ensign in the universal ensign slot along with the Engineering and Tactical lieutenants.  I'll probably experiment with the universal slots until I find a combo I like.

My little Romulan is already up to Commander. I think I'll give him a rest until I feel like spending another 50 bucks on ships.  Although I do like him a lot. I had no idea that playing a Tactical would have such a different feel. Once he's maxed I guess I'll go for a Klingon Engineer.

So how do Fleet Admirals work? Is this a deal where you join a guild and build shipyards to get the upper tier ships or something like that?

[Stormwaltz]

I avoid mixing flavors of weapon since it makes it harder to boost them with consoles.

I tend to pack torpedo consoles myself, but that works for me because I also have Officer skills and beams designed to tear through shields.

[Rishathra]

So how do Fleet Admirals work? Is this a deal where you join a guild and build shipyards to get the upper tier ships or something like that?

Fleet admirals are just a proposed idea, nothing concrete, about when/if they raise the level cap, instead of releasing more powerful ships, they will just make it like your away team, but in space, towing a little group of ships around with you.

Also, yes, that's one of the aspects of a fleet starbase.  When you upgrade the shipyard, you unlock more ships to buy from it.  Strictly speaking, the ships you unlock don't get more powerful the higher up you go, you just get more kinds to buy.  There's a 'fleet' version of almost every ship, but only one per ship.  Higher tiers of shipyard unlock more fleet variants.

[Reg]

Very cool. Well I don't need any more ships just now. I'm still learning how to use this Vespa properly.  (And I feel just slightly ashamed for dropping 50 bucks on the silly thing.)

[Rishathra]

Well, with the Vesta you don't have to worry.  The stats on it are already 'fleet equivalent,' so it doesn't have a fleet version.

[Kitsune]

Through a strange series of events that included microbiology and chemistry, I came into possession of a Jem'hadar Attack Ship late last night, roughly decupling my net worth.  I'm now trying to decide whether to give it to an existing character or buy a character slot specifically for a Jem'hadar gimmick character.

[Reg]

Ack. Now I have to learn the difference between my brand new awesomely powerful science ship and an Italian scooter!

fake edit: Gimmick character all the way!

[climbjtree]

I'm level 12 or so, and a Romulan tactical officer flying with the Feds. I'm interested in not flying escorts... cruisers would be more my style. I've also spent none of the advancement points you gain when you level up.

Where should they go?

[Miasma]

In Steam why does the "Legacy Pack" show up as an absurd $160?  I'm bored and am downloading the free version but where on earth do they come up with that price for, whatever it is?

[Reg]

That's the super expensive Romulan pack.  There's another Romulan legacy pack for 20 bucks that is a lot more reasonable. It comes with a nice starting warbird and an end game ship as well.

climbjtree: I'm not an expert on where to put training points. I just put them wherever seemed to make sense. Like my science abilities and things to boost the ships tankiness.  I even maxed out a few tactical skillls so I'd be able to fight a little better.  For me it's no big deal because as a subscriber I get a free respec token with every promotion so I've got 4 or 5 of them at this point.  Now that I'm at max level and not getting anymore skill points I should probably do some real research into it and use a token.  'Cause I'm certain that I'm nowhere near optimized from a powergamer's point of view. Even though with my new ship I feel ridiculously overpowered and haven't lost a fight yet.

[Merusk]

In Steam why does the "Legacy Pack" show up as an absurd $160?  I'm bored and am downloading the free version but where on earth do they come up with that price for, whatever it is?

Here's the Legacy pack:
http://sto.perfectworld.com/legacypack/legacy

10 ships, borg crew member, unique race (Remen), a duty officer pack, 30 lockbox keys, 2 unique uniforms, and 3 titles.

I don't think it's worth it, myself, but based on their prices for everything else it is a bargain at $160.  The keys alone are $30, ships run from $10 to $25, duty officers are $2, uniforms are $5.50.

I never used my lower-end ships again once I ranked-up, so I can't understand paying for all the low-level ships. Level-up, hit VA and maybe buy a ship a month after capping and know if you're going to play any more.  I found it wasn't sticky enough to keep me once I hit 50, though, so I regret having purchased the high-end cruiser pack at 50.

[Sir T]

The lower level ships are good when you are leveling, they provide nice costume options, and they have consoles that provide a set bonus for their bigger cousin when matched with IT'S console. The D;Deridex set makes the big D'D more maneuverable, for example.

[Reg]

Man I just got into my first D'Deridex and compared to the light warbirds I'd been in up until now it's a battleship except harder to turn.

[Sir T]

Remember that it turns much faster when it is cloaked, so if you equip cannons you can get into a very satisfying Fire- cloak- fire rhythm. Probably would work well with beams too.

[Morat20]

I started playing again. Season 8 is out. There's some new missions and they seem to have made various marks easier to get (the choice of marks boxes are quite nice).

There's yet another Starbase project thing...good lord, they really need to give some sort of bonus to small fleets to make it possible to do things like that.

[Tannhauser]

I've been playing fanatically for about a week now.  Created a new Fed and just use him for episode missions.  He's 31 now and I have a sweet Galaxy-class cruiser.  The Legacy of Romulus xpac has really made this game good.  Got a Fed and Rom at 50.  The Sphere stuff is pretty cool. I like the ground zone objectives.  It's pretty fun with others to take down a dinosaur with a frickin' laser beam on its head!

But I've got so much story stuff to catch up on (going to level a Klingon next), that I don't mess with The Sphere much.

If you're like me and quit this game a long time ago, you should try it again.  It's super-casual, at least how I play it.  Plus you can do a LOT of stuff without spending a dime.  Very generous F2P model.

[cironian]

Also picked it back up for now. Anyone I should hit up to get into the Batfleet or is that totally dead now?

[Rishathra]

Well, really it's always been totally dead. 

Honestly I haven't played in months, and I'm technically the fleet leader.  I'm sure there's still stuff in the fleet store.  I guess I should start up again to get the new holding up and running.

[Lantyssa]

And invite me in, too, please.  Vhashik@lantyssa, I think.  I know you're in my friends list, so you can double-check the @ bit.

[Tannhauser]

Soruk@Tannhausergates  if I could get an invite.

[Surlyboi]

I haven't checked out the new ep yet.

Apparently, there's a Mac client now too, so I have even less of an excuse to not play.

[cironian]

Ah yes, the character name might help for the invite. Send one to Josh@Cironian please.

[Rishathra]

I'll send all those invites out tonight once I get home from work.

[Surlyboi]

The Mac client is a beta and it shows. The rendering is a little wacky and the hard lock-ups are legion. That said, it's still not half bad. And it eats less battery than the windows client.

The sphere intro mission not bad. There's a shitload of fan service in it.

[Morat20]

I sent out the invites and started up Spire projects. :)

Sadly I'm tapped out of dilithium, there's an embassy project for a commodities vendor that's well worth it, but we need another 86k dilithium to finish.