Star Trek Online

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Saw your post over on Wargamer....what's your verdict?

I haven't played beyond the tutorial so I have no real verdict as yet - other than it is really under-documented.

[MythicalMino]

I have an unopened Standard Edition copy sitting on my desk. Is it possible to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition? Or would I need to take this copy back and then order the Digital Deluxe?

Chris

[Defiant]

I have an unopened Standard Edition copy sitting on my desk. Is it possible to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition? Or would I need to take this copy back and then order the Digital Deluxe?

Chris

I'm not sure, but at least one of the items in one of the deluxe versions (the tribble) is available and easy to get in game. Honestly, I dont think the deluxe version would be worth it, but YMMV.

[Mr Bismarck]

I have an unopened Standard Edition copy sitting on my desk. Is it possible to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition? Or would I need to take this copy back and then order the Digital Deluxe?

Chris

I'm not sure, but at least one of the items in one of the deluxe versions (the tribble) is available and easy to get in game. Honestly, I dont think the deluxe version would be worth it, but YMMV.

I got my first tribble on friday. Appropriately, my inventory is now full of them.

[Mr Bismarck]

So I got a Klingon Engineering Candidate yesterday. I was a bit "meh" at first, as his ship power is hull repair when I already have a lovely Emergency Power to Shields engy on board, but my Away Teams have felt a bit lightweight, at this guy had some martial art ground powers going on, so, still not totally sold, I pressed the "Commission" button to bring him on board.

Best decision ever.

For a laugh on the “Resuce Marta” mission I took his phaser off of him meaning that any time we’d get into a fight he’d sprint off into the midst of the enemy ranks and start hoiking them in the face with his big Klingon gloves. Then he’d pull out that massive Klingon potato peeler thing and poke a few holes in them too.

Then thanks to his leg sweep power inspiration struck. I renamed him to K’bra K’ai and set up a bind so when I tell him to attack my target I shout on local “SWEEP THE LEG!”

I’ve had to resuscitate him about nine times now through five missions, but that’s mainly because I was too busy laughing early on. I give him all the personal shield pick ups I find now and he seems to be surviving more, but even if he died every time it’d be worth it just to see him leg sweep one of those sprinting war pig things.

[Sepiche]

Still playing this and liking it a lot. I just hit commander and both space battles and ground battles have started getting more difficult since I've begun fighting the Romulans more.

A few bridge officer abilities I've become rather fond of:
Emergency power to Shields: As mentioned above this is a bread and butter skill. Basically a healing potion to chug multiple times in battle. Really a life saver.
High Yield Torpedoes: Big boost to torpedo damage. Once you see an open enemy shield if you can get a volley of high yield quantum torpedoes to hit then your target will be about dead.
Science Team: Awesome skill. It's an immediate boost to your shield power and it removes a number of debuffs. The best thing is that it's usable on yourself or allies, so it can be great to save your ass or a team members.
Engineering Team: Similar to Science team, but it repairs the hull instead of shields. This makes it not quite as commonly useful as a science team, but a real life saver when you do need it.
Scramble Sensors: My friend who's playing a science officer has this and it's amazing in large battles. It makes all enemy ships in range target each other for a short time. Not only can it save you from taking that damage it can often be enough to destroy smaller ships if you are facing a mix of battleships and frigates.

[JohnnyFive]

Thus far, my favorite Star Trek moment.

We've beamed down to a planet to investigate some sort of strange alien artifacts. I scan one. My Vulcan first officer reports that our ship sensors detect several more artifacts, but that Scolians are investigating them as well.

"We may need to defend ourselves." The Vulcan first officer warns.

We approach the first Scolian science team. I prepare for some sort of diplomatic dialogue. "Greetings --" I say.

My Vulcan first officer opens fire.

Oh, it's _that_ kind of game, I realize ...

[Mr Bubbles]

Here is a review. You'll have to get about halfway through before you hit the Star Trek Online part. It starts around the 2 minute mark.

[Defiant]

Here is a review. You'll have to get about halfway through before you hit the Star Trek Online part. It starts around the 2 minute mark.

[ydejin]

Emergency power to Shields: As mentioned above this is a bread and butter skill. Basically a healing potion to chug multiple times in battle. Really a life saver.

I really liked EPtoS when I started. But the further I've gotten the wimpier it has seemed. Science Team just seems so much more effective. I've got Science Team II and only Emergency Power to Shields I, so a direct comparison isn't entirely fair but:

Science Team II gives +1682 to current shield health. EPtoS gives +592 to shield health which with my 6000+ shields just doesn't seem like much at all.

Science Team II gives 33% damage reduction to shields for 30 seconds. EPtoS gives a 9% damage reduction for 30 seconds.

EPtoS does give a +18 to Shield Energy, which should boost shield regen a bit. But I mostly don't seem to notice it. I think one problem is I'm running with Covariant shields which are very high capacity and low regen. So increasing that low regen by 30-40% still leaves it pretty low.

I'm going to try to get Emergency Power to Shields II when I hit Captain (should happen in the next few days) so I'll see how much is dependent on the fact that I'm comparing a level I ability vs. a level II one.

[MythicalMino]

so, is it possible to send money or credits or whatever the currency is called, from one of my characters to the other one?

[MythicalMino]

So, I have 2 pieces of equipment. I can only use one or the other....what is the difference between these stats:

+7 Starship Deflectors
+5.6 Starship Deflector Dish

and this one

+7 Starship Sensors
+5.6 Starship Sensor Array


They both go into the same slot...what does what so I can make a somewhat educated guess as to which one to keep.

Although, when will I be able to get a new ship? Right now, I am Lt. grade 6. And, do the other ships maybe have extra slots? (for example, would a starship have a slot where both of these could be used on the same ship at the same time?)

Chris

[Sepiche]

I think part of those values improve certain science officers abilities (the ability descriptions should tell you what ship component they use) and some of them are general improvements to your shields and detection range, but I don't know all that for certain.

It's a little odd, but you'll get your new ship at Lieutenant 11 (which becomes Lt. Commander 1 after you spend your skill points). Your new ship will have more weapon slots, device slots, and console slots, but you'll still only get one slot for those items.

[Debris]

I picked this up the other day after I completed several run-throughs of ME2. It's actually a lot of fun and seems to have a bit of variety to it. I'm totally in the dark about what items do what, but I guess that's part of figuring out the game.

I'll keep up with it for a bit, but I usually tend to tire of these types of games after the first 30 days or so. Better enjoy it while I can.

[ydejin]

I picked this up the other day after I completed several run-throughs of ME2. It's actually a lot of fun and seems to have a bit of variety to it. I'm totally in the dark about what items do what, but I guess that's part of figuring out the game.

I'll keep up with it for a bit, but I usually tend to tire of these types of games after the first 30 days or so. Better enjoy it while I can.

Debris, I'd highly recommend reading the tutorial information at The Engines Cannae' Take It! blog.

I assume you're having trouble with the things like "Starship Emitters +11"? Basically most of these add to different Captain's skills. If you check the Captain's skill tree you'll see skills with titles that match the items you can equip to your ship. Now when you add points into a particular skill, you'll notice in the popup window on the right, usually there will be an indication of how much that skill will increase associated abilities. For example if I put a point into Starship Emitters, the first point I put in gives me an 8, the next brings that up to 14, and the third brings it up to 18. In STO if you see numbers without other descriptions, these are percentages. So with three points in, I get 18%. If I now equip a deflector dish which says "Starship Emitters + 11" this adds directly to my percentage, so I get an extra +11% to my previous 18% and I now have 29%. If you switch to the first tab in your captain's paperdoll you can actually see the skill values dynamically change under the "Space - Skill Stats" section. Now the next question is 29% of what?

Each BOff space ability and most captain's abilities (that's abilities, which are things which are clickable/activatable on the hotbar, not captain's skills) usually has three associated captain's skills which improve it -- one from Tier 1, one from Tier 2, and one from somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 5. So for example, the BOff power Hazard Emitters is improved by "Starship Operations Training" (T1), "Starship Emitters" (T2), and "Starship Hazard System" (T4). So with my skills allocation and my new "Starship Emitters +11" deflector dish my BOffs Hazard Emitters ability is now improved by 29% from its base effect.

Unfortunately the only way to see which captain's skills effect which BOff abilities is to have that ability on a BOff and be able to use that ability. If you can, then hit the 'P' key while in space and it will bring up the Powers list. Every BOff ability on this list will list the corresponding captain's skills.

[Mr Bismarck]

I don't know whether I should be alarmed or amused that the four bits of code following me around in the shape of my Bridge Officers are better than many PuGs I've played on in other MMOs...

If I could find some key bindings to give me the sort of control I had over my pets as a Mastermind on CoH/V then they'd be absolutely golden.

[ydejin]

I don't know whether I should be alarmed or amused that the four bits of code following me around in the shape of my Bridge Officers are better than many PuGs I've played on in other MMOs...

IMO they actually act much more like players than NPCs in the universe. They are always jumping up and down and hopping on things that they shouldn't be, just like a lot of players I've seen.

[MythicalMino]

I know I am probably just missing something....but....

I finally got to Lt. Commander. I got a Cruiser. I promoted a couple of my Bridge Officers. I see that my Engineering Officer's lvl 2 skill is available....but my Tactical Officer I promoted, I cannot access her 2nd level skill....

Is there a reason why I cannot? I am assuming it has something to do with my ship type....but not sure.

Chris

[Mr Bismarck]

Each ship type favours a certain type of Bridge Officer. You'll notice that the Cruiser you picked up has two Engineer slots, one for Tactical and one for Science.

If you then look closely at the Engineer slots you'll see one is for Lieutenant and the other is for Ensign. The Tactical and Science slots are also "Ensign."

Ensigns can only use their first power. Lieutenants can use their first two. So if you promote your Tac. Off. to Lieutenant, but then put her in an Ensign slot she'll still only be able to fire her first power.

If you want a Tac to use the most powers available then you'll need to go to an Escort rather than a Cruiser. Unfortunately, I think the first tier Escorts are hideous.

[JohnnyFive]

I don't know whether I should be alarmed or amused that the four bits of code following me around in the shape of my Bridge Officers are better than many PuGs I've played on in other MMOs...

IMO they actually act much more like players than NPCs in the universe. They are always jumping up and down and hopping on things that they shouldn't be, just like a lot of players I've seen.

Unfortunately, your NPC's have totally awful pathfinding. Which would be fine, if the developers had taken the easy way out and let them teleport to where you were, like every other game out there. But no ... even though Star Trek has teleporters in it!

Also, bad NPC pathfinding + love for visually dramatic things like cliffs, bridges, and holes in the ground accessible only by certain ramps which also have railings on them ... bad!

[Defiant]

Yeah, you can only access your Bridge officers space skills if your ship allows it, though you can always use their ground abilities, AFAICT.

I got a science ship for the second teir, since I'm a science oficer, though I will probably go tactical to get the Defiant down the line - I'm upgrading all my officers in preperation (though some I only use the ground traits). Of course, this means I should go for the science and tactical ship skills.

I wish I had understood the different roles (Engineering, Science, etc) more when I chose. You can only use kits for your role, and your bridge officers can't use them at all, so I have no use for kits in other roles at all, other than selling them.

I wish there were more documentation, especially for the powers and weapons.

I am having fun, and finally played the ground fleet action, which was a little like day of defeat or TF2 (against AI, and with a more awkward interface). Set up enough bombs at 6 sites. Kill 10 of a certain type of klingon officer and then shut down 20 communication devices. It was also fun to occasionally see a klingon pushed back by someone and fall all the way down into the lava below.

I'm a little confused by the jam sensors skill. It prevents the enemy from shooting at you, but it just forces it to shoot at one of your allies instead. Unless you're fighting alone, or your ally is very very strong and you're weak (or you hate your allies), this doesn't seem like a great ability to use.

Oh, and I have a questions about skills. If you train a bridge officer in a new skill, it replaces their old one, right? What happens to the experience they had in that skill? Does it transfer over? Or do you just lose it?

[WarPanda]

I'm a little confused by the jam sensors skill. It prevents the enemy from shooting at you, but it just forces it to shoot at one of your allies instead. Unless you're fighting alone, or your ally is very very strong and you're weak (or you hate your allies), this doesn't seem like a great ability to use.

This is a very good ability in PvE and PvP. Is a good way to get some shield and hull regen in and if need be get your weapons systems moree power. Personally I have used this from the beginning and will use it to the end its great. Depending on how much sensor array and sensor buffs you have on your ship this can last for only 10-15 seconds. Which is not much but gives you plenty of time to recover. If you start throwing in scamble sensors and viral matrix you can take on huge numbers of ships with relative ease. In PvP jam sensors makes your ship disapear on the enemies screen. Its fun! If your ally cannot take some additional 10-15 seconds worth of damage you may need to find new allies.

If you train a bridge officer in a new skill, it replaces their old one, right? What happens to the experience they had in that skill? Does it transfer over? Or do you just lose it?

Yes it replaces the old skill and the experience in that old skills go bye bye with it. You lose it and have to train up in your new skill. Which is not that big of a deal. I have so many un-used skill points that when I need a new skill, or want to play with one I can easily get it up to 9 pretty fast if not immediately. I only use BO skill points on skills I will certainly use. I also rarely give any skills points to ground abilities unless I feel saucey.

[hepcat]

Okay, "Warpanda" is my new favorite member name...

[Jaymon]

Steam had a free trial on for the weekend, It may still be going, I don't know. (if you do it, after creating your account on the cryptic server, go into your steam library, and right click on the game, and activate the code, or else you won't be able to log in)

It was not the crappiest MMO I have ever played. I enjoyed the ship combat, but the ground thing seemed very ho-hum. But there was a horrible restriction on the trial account. Trial account members cannot form groups, so me and my buddy both tried the trial, and we could not team up. NOT ALLOWED!
I can understand not allowing trial account to send mail, or use the auction house, for reasons of spamming and gold selling. But not allowing trial accounts to group up? Thats just stupid. I am sure they think they have a good reason for not allowing it, but it has left such a sour taste for me, that I lost all temptation to spend any money, and I uninstalled the trial after about 90 minutes of playing with myself, while my buddy was sitting right next to me, doing the exact same missions at the same time, and unable to cooperate.

[Sectoid]

Is anyone still playing this? Picked up a copy at Best Buy for $10. Been playing for a couple weeks and am getting bored.

edit: Forgot to phrase my question in the form of a question.

[ydejin]

Is anyone still playing this? Picked up a copy at Best Buy for $10. Been playing for a couple weeks and am getting bored.

edit: Forgot to phrase my question in the form of a question.

Check over at GamingTrend. Blackjack is on a huge STO kick. I've got a Tactical Rear Admiral and was playing quite a bit in November and start of December, but I'm now holding off for the planned Ground Combat changes in Season 4.

[Sectoid]

Is anyone still playing this? Picked up a copy at Best Buy for $10. Been playing for a couple weeks and am getting bored.

edit: Forgot to phrase my question in the form of a question.

Check over at GamingTrend. Blackjack is on a huge STO kick. I've got a Tactical Rear Admiral and was playing quite a bit in November and start of December, but I'm now holding off for the planned Ground Combat changes in Season 4.

I can't get on GT at work. Damn IT Nazis block it. I'll check when I get home. My name is Adventurene on STO. Right now I'm a Tactical Lt. Cmdr. I played the beta as a Science officer and so far Tactical is much more fun.

[Brian]

I just downloaded the (freaking HUGE) demo and am in the process of patching it.

Will try to play some after work to see if I like it. I have two local friends who might be joining me. My handle is OO-Brian.

[JSHAW]

I've been playing STO since May 2010 and I freakin' love this game.

It's the only PC game I play, don't play or buy any others. The last PC game I bought was a CRYSIS super bundle with 3 in 1, and
haven't even installed it.

IF any OO'ers want to join a really great fleet, I'm in ORDER OF THE BLACK FLAG, and we are looking for new people.
We have people in their 20's. 30's, 40's, we run STF's (special task force missions), help fleet members level up, access
to fleet bank items, and we run with voice comm's (we use voice program MUMBLE) and we have a good time in the game.

IF you want an invite to OBF, send me an ingame tell and mention OO so I'll know who you are.

My FED name is SHAW@JWS64 (VA1) ***my main guy, I use him primarily
My Klingon name is KORETH@JWS64 (brig general)

My alt FED is 6-FOUR (he's a liberated borg and he is bad ass!) currently leveling him up, at LT. Commander 2.

Would be cool to see you guys in the game.

I maxed out my crafting ability, can make you ANYTHING you might want to equip on ground or in space, you provide the
mats and I craft it and send it to you in email. FOR FREE, no charge on the service.

See ya round the galaxy!

SHAW

[Sudy Nym]

Any you punks still playing? Got this for cheap at Gamersgate last week. Are there multiple servers? Or is it like Champions Online?

[ydejin]

Any you punks still playing? Got this for cheap at Gamersgate last week. Are there multiple servers? Or is it like Champions Online?

It's serverless. If you're on the GamingTrend forums, check there. There's a group of semi-active STO players that post on their forums.

[JSHAW]

YES, this punk is still playing STO.

[Sudy Nym]

Someone please help me. I downloaded and installed this 2 weeks ago, starting the clock on my free month of subscription time. But I haven't made it past the character selection screen, trying to decide which race I want to play and coming up with the perfect name and backstory. Last night I watched most of the the TNG episode Samaritan Snare trying to decide if I wanted to play a Pakled. But the race has to be purchased in the C-Store, and I discovered this can only be done from within the game. And I can't even bring myself to pick a junk character to try the game out with and make C-Store purchases.

The character I want to make is a Vulcan android. I had the idea of a vain or over-ambitious Vulcan attempting to transfer his katra to a Soong-esque android to escape death. But the Vulcan appearance options don't offer enough variety, and I find the challenge of building one as an alien too daunting when what all I want to do is actually play the game and not spend another week developing a perfect character model and history.

I've read Memory Alpha. I've read Memory Beta. I've browsed Vulcan dictionaries. And it's fun. But I don't yet have any clue what the game is actually like.

[ydejin]

Someone please help me. I downloaded and installed this 2 weeks ago, starting the clock on my free month of subscription time. But I haven't made it past the character selection screen, trying to decide which race I want to play and coming up with the perfect name and backstory. Last night I watched most of the the TNG episode Samaritan Snare trying to decide if I wanted to play a Pakled. But the race has to be purchased in the C-Store, and I discovered this can only be done from within the game. And I can't even bring myself to pick a junk character to try the game out with and make C-Store purchases.

The character I want to make is a Vulcan android. I had the idea of a vain or over-ambitious Vulcan attempting to transfer his katra to a Soong-esque android to escape death. But the Vulcan appearance options don't offer enough variety, and I find the challenge of building one as an alien too daunting when what all I want to do is actually play the game and not spend another week developing a perfect character model and history.

I've read Memory Alpha. I've read Memory Beta. I've browsed Vulcan dictionaries. And it's fun. But I don't yet have any clue what the game is actually like.

IIRC androids have been promised in a future patch, but are currently not available. Personally I just went human. But I do have a Vulcan Engineering Officer who I'm planning to switch to an alt when the "First Officer-to-Captain" feature is added.

[Sudy Nym]

Well, you can create a pretty good android appearance-wise out of spare parts depending on what you're going for, I'm thinking.

Your main is a human? What's wrong with you? This is Star Trek!

[Blackhawk]

Androids in Star Trek run the gamut anyway. The best known examples just look like humans with off colored skin.

Make a Vulcan. Tweak the skin color. Avoid contractions. There you are!

[Sudy Nym]

Make a Vulcan. Tweak the skin color. Avoid contractions. There you are!

Heh. That's what I was hoping to do. But Cryptic's character creator, of all things, limits Vulcans' skin tones to white or black, basically. You can work between those extremes, but pale white is off the table.

[Sudy Nym]

Gavrilod Mudlegdig is born! Many Pakled out there? Soldek was my test character. Not sure if I'll play him much. I love Vulcans, but imagine everyone has one.

So weird to be playing an MMOG whose lore I actually care about and have some preknowledge of.

[Blackhawk]

Gavrilod Mudlegdig is born!

He likes games. Games that make him go.

[killbot737]

I'm totally lazy with the character bios.

Don't press the Don't Button!

No, I Arthur!