Incline Official codex Star Trek Online topic :salute:

[Aldebaran]

Frowl@troggles retired alBomba.

By the way, has anyone noticed a strange occurrence where a ship will suddenly explode when it was in fine condition seconds before? It has only happened to me with NPC ships, but I have noticed regular cruisers and escort ships blow up when their shields are still strong. More disturbingly, I have watched the borg V'ger wannabes suddenly break apart when they are at fifty percent hull strength.

I suspect that I am not viewing the correct HP values on my display.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Our Tier 2 Industrial Fagricator will be finished in 7 hours, afterwards work will begin on Tier 2 Starbase upgrade.

 

[thesheeep]

Okay, I have to ask... I'm playing since some time now and there are some things I can't figure out:

I am a lvl 15 Lt.C. (Engineer).
At some level ups, abilities/powers/whatever it is called (like increased shield regen for X seconds) magically appear in my bar. Where do they come from? Where can see what I will get next? Can I influence the abilities I get somehow?

One of my skills says that my ground Repair and Healing abilities should be increased when increasing that skill. However, my deployed healing "turret" shows no increase of healing at all. Huh?

I mean.. the game has made huge steps from when I last played it (when it just came out), and its fun, but sometimes I have no idea what the fuck is happening.
And what are those fur balls for?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Tribbles are for buffs and making that endearing cooing sound of theirs.

Abilities like Rotate Shield Frequency are career abilities that you can always access. You'll gain several of them for both Space and Ground. These are the preset ones you always have, and usually have +1 minute cooldowns, your primary abilities are determined by your Kit (ground) and Bridge Officers (space). However, you skill points do influence the effectiveness of those abilities just like they affect everything else.

To check the level progression and the abilities you gain, you can click the XP bar at the top of the screen for a progression overview that lists total XP needed and what you gain each level. For further details, you can check the wiki here: http://www.stowiki.org/Player_ability

Btw, you have access to the fleet and our chat channel, thesheeep do you?

 

[thesheeep]

No, I don't. Chott@thesheeep0 , please!

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Friend, chat channel, and Fleet invites sent from Valkar@vaarna_aarne. To accept the chat channel invite, go to Chat Settings and once there the Channels tab. We use the channel most of the time, since it works cross-faction, automatically across all alts (new and old), and cross-game (Champions Online).

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

^ USS Invincible


Well, I'm going to do a short review of the newest premium ship, the Assault Cruiser Refit, contrasting it with my predictions.

Yes, it's a damn good cruiser, easily on par with the Odyssey class ships. First of all, it doesn't have redundant slots, which is extremely common for cruisers, due to Engineers having very limited selection of lower tier abilities. The big thing for the ship is that it has a Lt Commander Tactical and Ensign Tactical slots to begin with. I combined these with two Conn Officers to remove the need for cycling Tactical Team, thus reducing the firepower loss from switching away from an Odyssey, as the only thing that was downgraded was Fire At Will from 2 to 1, a minor loss.

However, because the ship has a Lieutenant Engineer, I made up for the loss with Fire At Will by being able to effortless incorporate Eject Warp Plasma 1 to the whole, which in turn drastically improves combat ability and tactical utility of the ship. Finally, the Universal Lieutenant slot can handily mount a Science officer for Transfer Shield Strength and Hazard Emitters. So overall, it's a very good cruiser, and I managed to beat Dusty's highly-geared Patrol Escort with it.

Now, the unique items it comes with: The Riker console is worthless junk, the movement debuff and damage it deals are so weak (it's plasma damage, less than torpedo damage per hit, and is extremely reduced by Shields as if it was torpedo damage) that it provides no benefit for the difficult placement process. However, the Quantum Torpedo definately has a bright future ahead of it. With 180 degree arc of fire, it's the most easy-to-use torpedo in the game (and a viable contender for cruisers too, I haven't run tests yet). Personally I vow by Hargh'peng + Attack Pattern Beta for cruisers (though I do carry an BO with Torpedo Spread 2 instead of Beta too), but when mounted on an Escort (maybe a Science Vessel as well, but I think Rapid Fire Transphasics are better for those) the results will be significant.

But most of all: The Assault Cruiser Refit can be customized, and it's one of the ships you can outfit to look the closest to the one and only Constitution class, second only to the Excelsior (which suffers from having a redundant Engineering boff).

 

[Norfleet]

This thread keeps floating up, so I'm curious: Is this game worth joining at this stage, given how far along it has already gotten, or has most of the interesting solutionspace already been explored out and you'll be stuck playing remedial catchup and remedial research indefinitely, like EVE? How lag-sensitive is this game? I don't have the fastest of Intertubes around, lagwise.

Is this one of those games with an extensive legacy that you had to have been there for, or you're basically screwed out of it forever, or one of those games where if you weren't there from the beginning, you'll never catch up?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

This thread keeps floating up, so I'm curious: Is this game worth joining at this stage, given how far along it has already gotten, or has most of the interesting solutionspace already been explored out and you'll be stuck playing remedial catchup and remedial research indefinitely, like EVE? How lag-sensitive is this game? I don't have the fastest of Intertubes around, lagwise.

Is this one of those games with an extensive legacy that you had to have been there for, or you're basically screwed out of it forever, or one of those games where if you weren't there from the beginning, you'll never catch up?

1) Yes, it is worth joining. The combat mechanics are great, both on Ground and in Space (ground is better balanced though, and more tactically intense).

2) Cryptic's MMOs operate on the principle of Altitis: Namely, you're given the option (and somewhat encouraged) of having multiple characters without any penalties. This means that the game has a level cap (50) which can be reached quite quickly by MMO standards, and the game is extremely grind-lite and doesn't have mega-rare I-Win items only elite players can have. The only rare items people grind for are generally just for bragging rights, the gameplay benefit to your effectiveness is marginal long before that level.

3) The only stuff a new player will have missed are the various specific event stuffies and thingies. Good examples are the recent TNG season 1 uniform and Worf's goatee, or the vanilla Odyssey Star Cruiser.

4) As for lag, it quite depends. The game has had a long run trying to keep the servers up with the increasing player numbers, and Cryptic does have a bad habit of having bugs along when they introduce new stuff. I can't really say how it'd be for you, but one of us plays from China and only gets lag if his fiancee is running a torrent on the other computer. You may want to avoid Fleet Actions though (25-player PvE missions).

 

[Norfleet]

Well, what I mean by "lag" is that my connection, while relatively stable, tends to have high latency. I generally never get better than 250ms pings because of how traffic is routed. The connection itself is stable and bandwidth is adequate, but bad pings can be render many latency-sensitive games basically unplayable.

What's the gameplay generally about? What does it offer in terms of the entire "Crush Your Enemies, See Them Driven Before You, and Hear the Lamentations Of Their Women" department? Like with, say, that EVE thing, I like that it has a satisfying element of crushing your enemies, but note that it is simply too late to join and expect to have any relevance, since that boat sailed aeons ago, which I consider a major nigh-insurmountable turnoff.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

that EVE thing, I like that it has a satisfying element of crushing your enemies, but note that it is simply too late to join and expect to have any relevance, since that boat sailed aeons ago

Bullshit. You can be pvp relevant in 3 days of training and only advantage oldfags have is broader range of ships they can fly. There are only 5 levels for every skill and usually 4-5 takes long ass time and gives you marginal +2% or +5% increase. As someone said to you before, Eve has more horizontal advancement than vertical like most mmos. Also they buffed rookie ships, there are some hilarious kills made by them (something akin David and Goliath).

 

[Norfleet]

Yeah, you're thinking on the small scale, though. I'm looking at it in terms of the fact that all the empires and factions have been firmly established at this point, and if you want to break into the big game, you're basically SOL there. All those special goodies that power the economy were apparently handed out back in the Paleolithic era and at this point you missed the boat. All of the interesting discoveries about the game, similarly, have long been made by others. The solutionspace has basically been mined dry and there's nothing left except playing the game that others have already established. This, really, is the reason I tend to avoid old MMOs: There aren't any new discoveries to be made. You're just playing the game that others before you have established....and in my view, if you're playing someone else's game, you've already lost.

With a new game, there's still unexplored space. YOU have your shot at defining how the game is to be played and won. Once it has dragged on for years? Others have already found all that, and everything good has been sucked dry.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, what I mean by "lag" is that my connection, while relatively stable, tends to have high latency. I generally never get better than 250ms pings because of how traffic is routed. The connection itself is stable and bandwidth is adequate, but bad pings can be render many latency-sensitive games basically unplayable.

What's the gameplay generally about? What does it offer in terms of the entire "Crush Your Enemies, See Them Driven Before You, and Hear the Lamentations Of Their Women" department? Like with, say, that EVE thing, I like that it has a satisfying element of crushing your enemies, but note that it is simply too late to join and expect to have any relevance, since that boat sailed aeons ago, which I consider a major nigh-insurmountable turnoff.

The big thing with STO combat is that Cryptic's combat model in this engine is a highly mobile one, while retaining strong RPG elements. A good example of "awesome stuff that other MMOs just can't do" was yesterday, when we were playing Khitomer Accord Ground Elite STF, there was this Heavy Tactical Drone in this encounter we were wiping, and one of us knocked it down a ledge with a Pulsewave Assault Rifle (space shotgun) two levels below in the scaffoldings of the large room. I jumped down after it (figuring we didn't need a lone Borg blindsiding us with a Plasma Bolt Spray when we were busy doing something else) and opened fire with Full Auto Sweep of my Antiproton Carbine while mid-air, finished shortly after landing down next to it and promptly roundhouse kicked it to death.

Positioning and tactical maneuvering are the big thing in STO combat, since on Ground the two defining elements on top of the regular fast-paced RPG combat are Flanking and Expose/Exploit attacks, which substantially make teamwork more powerful and strategy (a Flank Exploit will do exponentially higher damage than any other attack, for example) than just trying to blast away without thinking. Similarly, many enemies use AoE and chain attacks that require the team to move in a coordinated manner and spread out properly.

In space, the defining aspect is Shield facets, as ships have four 90 degree facets in their shields that have independent shield HP (the ship inside has a single HP total). This is important because very little damage gets past a shield to the ship itself until the shield is collapsing, with torpedo and mine damage blocked almost entirely. So, you'll want to focus fire on a single shield faced (players can also rebalance and reallocate their shield strength) in order to maximize hull damage dealt and start dealing it as fast as possible (unlike players, the AI enemies can have massive hull HP, players go down fast if good damage starts getting to their hull). This is also where I say that the Cruiser is a thinking man's ship, since you always have to move with extreme care due to how vulnerable your lack of mobility can make you if you don't make the most of it. And again, teamwork is emphasized by a strong Holy Trinity approach to ship roles (though in PvP it's a bit lopsided due to how disproportionate damage output is in favour of Escorts and Birds-of-Prey), like it is on the Ground.

One cool soloing aspect the game has is that you handcraft your entire Bridge staff to your liking, from names to abilities to looks. It feels really good to be on your bridge and surrounded by NPCs you made yourself (and keep in mind, when it comes to visual customization there is simply no contender against Cryptic's MMOs right now).


Finally, a thing they promote a little too quietly for its sheer value is the Foundry. Basically, Star Trek Online comes with a toolkit in the vein of Aurora (it's a bit more streamlined and limited in certain ways though, but they recently upgraded it significantly and I haven't checked out the new features fully yet). In essence, this means that the game is at the same time the most Trek out of all Star Trek games (since players with the chops to be up for it can make missions that are more like Star Trek episodes, without having to worry about mainstream gaming conventions), and that the game has theoretically infinite content.

 

[Norfleet]

I am intrigued. This team, we have one? You, or one of them, can explain how to play this thing? I am somewhat indifferent to the "visual customization" thing. It is nice, but honestly, these days, graphics make my old man eyes bleed. I would honestly probably have liked the game better if it were in green and black.

One question: I have long-range plans which may or may not come to fruition at some point in the near future that may abruptly consume much of my online-gaming time. How demanding is this? If I have to bugger off at some point, is this going to be a major setback to the team?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

"One question: I have long-range plans which may or may not come to fruition at some point in the near future that may abruptly consume much of my online-gaming time. How demanding is this? If I have to bugger off at some point, is this going to be a major setback to the team?"

doubtful, vaarne and helpdeskman (who is that BTW?) seem to be pretty much carrying the rest of the guild when it comes to starbase construction, the rest of us are welfare queens.

Mmmmm, delicious welfare.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, we are gonna expect you to hop aboard if we have a lot of folks online at once so we can team up and get the most out of Fleet Marks the fastest. Me, helpie, Dusty and mary generally take care of the other stuff, but Fleet Marks and Dilithium need a little bit of help by this point.

PS: helpie is Jarpie. Dusty and mary aren't Codexers.

 

[Norfleet]

Well, so far, not terribly impressed. I downloaded it. Not only was the resulting download much smaller than apparently should have been (Only 2 MB? What is this?), it also didn't DO anything. What's up with that?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

The download is just the launcher's installer, the game itself downloads through it.

 

[Norfleet]

Well, nothing downloads. Nothing happens. It just starts up, appears to connect to something, then dies without doing anything.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, that is strange. You have an account, right? Since the game itself installs through the launcher when you first log in with it.

 

[Norfleet]

I haven't gotten to that stage yet. I downloaded it, ran the thing, nothing of use happened and the thing just died without saying anything or pulling any useful data.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I downloaded it through steam, steam always maxes out my connection.

 

[Norfleet]

Ugh, okay, nevermind. Not touching anything infested with Steam spyware.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

You don't have to use Steam for it. I don't.

EDIT: And really, I can't help you unless you are more specific about what you did and are doing.

 

[Norfleet]

I clicked "Download". It gave me an executable, "StarTrekOnline_ST.20.20120705a.11_EN.exe", 2148776 bytes, md5 0f3ccc6b268c560b2a9c157b4e6a4791. I saved and ran it. It proceeded to open a connection to some server, then without actually downloading any data, it shutdown without saying anything or popping anything up. Watching it in Wireshark did not reveal it doing anything interesting there, either.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I'm still stumped. It should install a few megabytes size exe file that fires the game's launcher, are you sure it didn't install anything?

EDIT: I wouldn't mind if someone who recently installed this could take over in this tech support thing, I installed this over half a year ago without any issue so it's not exactly in fresh memory.

 

[Zarniwoop]

I had the same thing. I just re-downloaded the installer and then it worked. Until I tried playing that is. It then came up with some weird server error message or something. After Googling the issue and trying all the retarded suggested fixes that did jack shit (from re-installing graphics drivers to re-downloading only the .exe file that was "guaranteed to not have the error"), I just gave up and decided to stop being a hipster faggot and got the Steam version, which worked first time.