Incline Official codex Star Trek Online topic :salute:

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Actually you can have ISS registered ships as a real Fed, by getting a Mirror Universe ship.

Also, the gist of what Norfleet is referring to is that Federation and KDF have one different Duty Officer category. Fed is Diplomacy, which is pretty much like any other. KDF has Marauding, AKA catfood (Contraband) generator.

 

[Norfleet]

The difference is quite significant. In fact, it's pretty much the only real difference, especially if you are a Space Elf anyway. Namely, Fed-aligned players do doff missions in a thoroughly unrewarding category of "Diplomacy". These are bland, flavorless missions that reward little CXP, and little of worth. Klink-aligned players do doff missions in the category of "Marauding". Like their diplomacy counterparts, most reward little in the way of CXP, but many reward the highly valued commodity of CATFOOD, which can be sold for loads of filthy lucre which I used to build the bases, which is why we have an awesome base while larger fleets that consist of more than two builders still SUCK.

(I'd still like to know how the choice you're offered was a trap though. I have no objections towards rolling a new character if I screwed up too badly)

Well, as a Space Elf, you probably haven't screwed the pooch yet in merely 4 hours. But what happens is that if you claim the mission as a non-subscriber, you get fuck all, and can never get the proper reward. If you wait until you somehow acquire subscriber status, you will receive the ever handy Skill Respec. One can never have too many of these.

Since the reward WITHOUT this is "fuck all", there's really not a good reason to do so. Sure, you get a putatively-free "ship", which offers a marginal advantage as you level, but you will discard it shortly and it is simply not worth shooting yourself in the foot in the long term, and I only ever care about the long term. There are simply other ways. Ways I will show you.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Well fortunately I had a friend who, while probably not as knowledgeable as you guys, knows a lot of the different aspects of the game and he soundly advised me to only waste my precious skillpoints in the most basic of gunk: Starship weapon damage, ground damage and the engine thing. I don't think I'm that screwed over that I'd require a skill respect but I suppose one would be nice never the less.

Think I'm going to stick with the feds though even if playing a Romulan shoots my ambitions of owning a mirror universe ship in the foot, mostly because my two pals play on that faction and I've no real interest in being a proper Starfleet officer. Damned l1berals.

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Or I'll just create a new character once you guys are done improving my mind, as to iron out all of the flaws in my original, ignorant, plan!

 

[Mangoose]

Decided I feel like fucking around again in STO. Gonna start another new character though. Which faction should I choose? And which type of officer? I don't remember the differences lol

 

[Zarniwoop]

If you've played before, try a Romulan. It's The New Shit™

 

[Mangoose]

If you've played before, try a Romulan. It's The New Shit™

I did play a bit as a Romulan but I gave up after spending too much time on dumb official ground missions and then bugged out some kind of atmospheric air battle.

I've actually played all three races but only a few hours each lol.

Edit: On that note, is there any method of leveling while doing as few ground missions as possible. I guess that means avoiding the campaign?

 

[Zarniwoop]

I did play a bit as a Romulan but I gave up after spending too much time on dumb official ground missions and then bugged out some kind of atmospheric air battle.

I've actually played all three races but only a few hours each lol.

I've never played a Romulan actually. I stopped playing before they were added and only started up again last week. But if and when I start a new character, it will be a Romulan.

I like a Federation engineer and a bigass cruiser the most, but then I tend to avoid ground missions. Engineers are quite crappy for ground missions. If you like those you're better off with science. If you are interested in PvP at all (which no one here seems to be, although I have dabbled a bit), you still pretty much have to be Tactical with an escort.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Engineers are p. good on Ground, you just need Space Jihad approach to fighting.

Regarding Romulans, in terms of mechanical differences the key thing separating them from the other factions is that they fly Warbirds. Warbirds are not like regular starships, as they have lower Power Levels, but also a Singularity Core mechanic where they have a set of innate special abilities reliant on the current charge (increases over time, cooldown after use) on the Singularity Core, which makes them more flexible on the average. On the flipside, Romulan Warbirds don't have access to things like Cruiser Auras (no word yet on whether or not they'll have Secondary Deflectors on sciencey Warbirds). Another thing to note is that Romulans have *really* good traits, with Romulan Operative being the best trait in the game.

 

[Norfleet]

I like a Federation engineer and a bigass cruiser the most, but then I tend to avoid ground missions. Engineers are quite crappy for ground missions.

You jest. Engineers are far stronger players on ground than they are in space. ALLAHU AKBAR! KABOOM!

If you are interested in PvP at all (which no one here seems to be, although I have dabbled a bit)

Say what? Did you entirely miss my "Blast your enemies, see them explode before you, and hear their lamentations over the intercom" thing? I'm a regular occupant of the PvP channels and well acquainted with the big names in STO PvP. PvP is, however, not exactly in the most lively state, and I've never actually had it pop, and I lack a good team with which to do battle in. I am also far too broke to afford serious competitive hardware, and the grind schedule is brutal, so I only occasionally get to murder someone.

you still pretty much have to be Tactical with an escort.

You jest. Where do you get this stuff? These days, you have to be a ROMULAN, and it's Scimitars Online, with the odd Sci Ship foil. And Tactical? Well, Tacs have their place, but it's Sci that's pretty much entirely a PvP class. Consider just how many of a Sci captain's powers and a Sci ship's abilities exist ONLY for PvP at all, being completely and utterly useless in PvE.

 

[Zarniwoop]

You jest. Engineers are far stronger players on ground than they are in space. ALLAHU AKBAR! KABOOM!

Say what? Did you entirely miss my "Blast your enemies, see them explode before you, and hear their lamentations over the intercom" thing? I'm a regular occupant of the PvP channels and well acquainted with the big names in STO PvP. PvP is, however, not exactly in the most lively state, and I've never actually had it pop, and I lack a good team with which to do battle in. I am also far too broke to afford serious competitive hardware, and the grind schedule is brutal, so I only occasionally get to murder someone.

You jest. Where do you get this stuff? These days, you have to be a ROMULAN, and it's Scimitars Online, with the odd Sci Ship foil. And Tactical? Well, Tacs have their place, but it's Sci that's pretty much entirely a PvP class. Consider just how many of a Sci captain's powers and a Sci ship's abilities exist ONLY for PvP at all, being completely and utterly useless in PvE.

Exactly, for engineers only Space Andhaira is worth anything, and you have to build your character from the ground up for that. Or dick around with respeccing and whatnot. Which I might do if the game's ground engine wasn't so shit in the first place.

As for Sci captains, everyone laughed when I started my Vulcan science officer in an escort. I've found the combination of Subnucleonic Beam and a healthy cannon rapid fire barrage works pretty well, but I do miss DAT ALPHA ATTACK you get with a tactical.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Actually, Space Andhaira is very low-investment compared to many other Ground configs. Enemy Neutralization Mk XII is one of the most powerful KILL ALL THAT LIVES kits there is.

Engineers in Space are actually at their best for ships that needs lots of power everywhere, like Carriers.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Yes it's the ONLY engineer that works for ground.

 

[Mangoose]

Alright I'll just read over the STO wiki again.

Found out from skimming Reddit that you can auto-fire on the ground. Didn't know that. Hopefully that makes things more palatable.

Actually since you guys say there's only one viable Ground build for Engineers, what are the viable builds for the other classes? Or are there a lot?


Edit: Just to clarify, are the Seeker Drone and Turret Fabrication abilities for the Engineer really bad or just average?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Generally speaking the kit balance is so out of whack that you usually don't get many.

Science is pretty much either Medic (mega-tanking) or Theoretical Physicist (space magic). Tactical is the one with more variety, but the best selection is Operative (dropkick ninja and king of spike DPS), Fire Team (guns), Grenadier (self-explanatory, worked with the cooldown reduction bonuses), and Squad Leader (team buff + guns).

Besides Space Jihad (Enemy Neutralization), Engineers have Bunker Fabrication (turret spam). Issue is really just that Space Jihad is SO DAMN GOOD it's madness not to take it.

 

[Mangoose]

Generally speaking the kit balance is so out of whack that you usually don't get many.

Science is pretty much either Medic (mega-tanking) or Theoretical Physicist (space magic). Tactical is the one with more variety, but the best selection is Operative (dropkick ninja and king of spike DPS), Fire Team (guns), Grenadier (self-explanatory, worked with the cooldown reduction bonuses), and Squad Leader (team buff + guns).

Besides Space Jihad (Enemy Neutralization), Engineers have Bunker Fabrication (turret spam). Issue is really just that Space Jihad is SO DAMN GOOD it's madness not to take it.

Beautiful, that's exactly what I was asking for. Probably see you guys in game later, I've already been subscribed to ImmateriumChat for years

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Why Space Jihad is so good:

Kinetic damage goes through shields. Space Jihad deals immense amounts of Kinetic damage all over the place. Also it can prevent nasty bastards from using guns.

 

[Mangoose]

BTW if you install Arc you don't actually need to use it. At least with Neverwinter, I just skipped Arc client and directly open the game launcher, which can update itself.

Another question. Do you guys equip your away team with all Expose weapons or some mixture? I used to do half and half but most advice I'm reading right now says just to have them all Expose.


Edit: was about set to roll Klingon, but then I found out their Support Vessels are C-store only. And I really want to run around in a Science Vessel. I guess I have to go Fed.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Do you really wish one of your scrubs to ruin a thermonuclear Kirk Dropkick by shooting their peashooter?

 

[Davidshky]

http://community.arcgames.com/en/news/star-trek-online/detail/3035243

Flight deck cruiser galaxy!

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

So I'm screwed because I picked Engineer?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Nope. You're a Romulan, right? Romulans get bigger benefits from the Engineer's ability to increase power levels, due to how strapped for power they are otherwise.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Oh. Very well then! Add me so I can harass you ingame, you'll believe that a Romulan can fly.

PS. Thanks for all the helpful tips, guys.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, it says "unknown user" when trying to add @qaulthir. Were you case-specific with your in-game username?

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Wow, that's weird. Guess I'll use one of my pals as a guinea pig and see if I can't figure out what's wrong.

 

[Norfleet]

Are you on right now?