I bollock on about Star Trek, now that I'm an "old man".
http://sugarfreegamer.com/star-trek-serendipity-synchronicity/
Lots of Star Trek Online vids too. :)
Mate I am so new to STO. I literally only have my first ship and have done 3 missions. Still getting my head around the interface.
There is a lot to this game and some fun stories but the ground combat is bollocks.
Quote from: Destraex on January 26, 2017, 09:03:42 AM
Mate I am so new to STO. I literally only have my first ship and have done 3 missions. Still getting my head around the interface.
There is a lot to this game and some fun stories but the ground combat is bollocks.
Ground combat gets better later on, more involved, harder.
Most of the missions up to level 50 are too easy on the ground. You can take anything, pew, pew in the general direction and you'd lather them.
Once you get to the Dyson Sphere Battlezone, or onto Kobali Prime in the Delta Quadrant, you need to have your shit together, or you'll get spanked.
Managing your AI Bridge Officers is paramount. Direct them to defend at a location. If you let them do whatever their AI wants, they will just die, all the time.
I play mainly on consoles, so things are a bit behind the PC version, and also there's less fine control. But it's good shit. :)
Quote from: spelk on January 26, 2017, 10:16:26 AM
Ground combat gets better later on, more involved, harder.
I always thought it sucked hard. The enjoyment sucked. Then the ground missions started taking longer & longer the further you progressed. *sigh*
Picked up a 'Lifetime Subscription', back when it was released, because I enjoyed the ship combat quite a bit. But the ground missions... UGH! They promised to improve them, but they were still pretty much the same thing afterward - sucky.
Pained me to enjoy half the game quite a bit, yet the other half just ended up being an dull & annoying grind. If I could've skipped all the ground missions, would've been much happier.
I also recall the ship PvP being fun. The ones you queued for. Great Klingon vs Fed battles after it came out. :)
Trying to come up with a visual representation of the systems at play in STO, to help newbies conceptualise where particular mechanics are at play in the game.
It is a crude diagram, that I'm hoping to find a better more informed replacement for.
BOFF = Bridge Officers
DOFF = Duty Officers
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FYhKRNIf.jpg&hash=13f765f1d314159340452935e7626ac26dbf2ad4)
Thanks for the table.
Any tips on tracking targets. I am finding myself zooming right out in combat and still the enemy seems to be out of my visual range. I am also finding myself wishing I could fight from the bridge. On the ground its the same, would have been much better with standard PC fps controls. Autoaim is understandable in space but not on ground missions. Unless star trek tv series are now going to use tracking weapons. Bit any camera management tips would be appreciated.
How do I get an engineering officer. I have no dilithium. I thought I got some but it must not have been refined? My ship is currently without an engineering officer. I only have energy credits. I did get a few officers in the first missions I did but had no idea what I was doing and chose one at random before getting my new ship which needed one. The mission I have been doing seems to be a community one. Which I suspected but think I might need to get back to the main missions to get another officer? Do you generally get them from rank or missions?
I have a trekky friend who will not play STO because the bridge layouts are too large. I don't think he appreciates that you need an area to fit all mission personnel and enemies into.
At the moment whenever I die I simply respawn and if my ship takes damage it just repairs. Does this ever change? Do I get a number of lives that replenish for each mission?
How does multiplayer work. Do I invite a friend and then he becomes one of my bridge officers? Does he bring his ship? If we PVP do we lose the ship?
I have some duty officers but really am wondering why they are necessary. After you send them on missions do they eventually join your crew when you get more positions available on a larger ship?
I am a lifer on STO as well mainly due to potential I thought the game had prior to launch.
Granted I havent played for 2 years or so now, I found the ground combat clunky and unimmersive and tge space combat went to be repetitive after a while.
No idea where the game stands now though. If lots has changed perhaps I should try again?
Quote from: Destraex on February 01, 2017, 05:28:09 PM
Thanks for the table.
Any tips on tracking targets. I am finding myself zooming right out in combat and still the enemy seems to be out of my visual range. I am also finding myself wishing I could fight from the bridge. On the ground its the same, would have been much better with standard PC fps controls. Autoaim is understandable in space but not on ground missions. Unless star trek tv series are now going to use tracking weapons. Bit any camera management tips would be appreciated.
Trouble is I'm playing on PS4, although I have played on PC years ago.
Targetting in space involves pointing a reticule at a ship, and clicking the R3 stick on the controller.
I suspect PC targetting involves clicking a ship in your view, to set it as the active target.
There's some real info here, for PC STO, in the playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJwvmqA1qFQmJXfRLvwttX5kv4a8c5hf2
Quote from: Destraex on February 01, 2017, 05:28:09 PM
How do I get an engineering officer. I have no dilithium. I thought I got some but it must not have been refined? My ship is currently without an engineering officer. I only have energy credits. I did get a few officers in the first missions I did but had no idea what I was doing and chose one at random before getting my new ship which needed one. The mission I have been doing seems to be a community one. Which I suspected but think I might need to get back to the main missions to get another officer? Do you generally get them from rank or missions?
No experience of community missions, but the main story lines give you Bridge Officers (BOFFs) as rewards and you pick the type (Tactical, Engineering, Science). AFAIK you can purchase BOFFs from the Bridge officer requisitions NPC in the Fed Starbase, I think it costs EC, but might cost Dilithium. You can mine Dil in the Alpha Quandrant. Slow and tedious grind though. Best way to get it, is run Duty Officer Assignments for Contraband (and then hand it in to a Security Officer on Starbase/Deep Space 9 in quantities of 5 = 2000dil), or Prisoner related assignments and then hand the Prisoners in.
You can dismiss BOFFs, but you lose them and their skills forever. So you should be able to get rid of the BOFF you randomly chose, and hopefully have some resources to purchase an Engineer BOFF. Or run the story missions and wait for one to arrive as a reward.
Quote from: Destraex on February 01, 2017, 05:28:09 PM
I have a trekky friend who will not play STO because the bridge layouts are too large. I don't think he appreciates that you need an area to fit all mission personnel and enemies into.
Heh. I hardly go onto my bridge, combat takes place mainly from a 3rd person perspective.
Quote from: Destraex on February 01, 2017, 05:28:09 PM
At the moment whenever I die I simply respawn and if my ship takes damage it just repairs. Does this ever change? Do I get a number of lives that replenish for each mission?
Deaths usually cause respawns into neutral zones. In the story missions I don't think you lose much, other than progress through the mission. You can fail various story mission objectives though, through a death or even a wrong choice, and have to do the mission again.
Quote from: Destraex on February 01, 2017, 05:28:09 PM
How does multiplayer work. Do I invite a friend and then he becomes one of my bridge officers? Does he bring his ship? If we PVP do we lose the ship?
All players are Captains/Commanders of their own vessel. They lead a team of BOFFs and Duty Officers (DOFFs) as their crew and supporting staff. Your friend would join you in a "Team" / party situation, and you'd fly together, and complete missions together. You could create a "Fleet" if you have 5 players online and teamed at the same time. The Fleet officer is usually in the Starbase. Once in a Fleet, you can then start to invest resources into building your own Starbase, research stations and other fleet holdings. But, they cost big style. Then your holdings can be subjected to other players raiding them (non-destructively).. but it takes a lot of doing to build up a Fleet base with any measure of defense to get to this point.
There is a PvP game, if your ship takes damage in this, then you have to spend EC to get repairs - I haven't dabbled in PvP at all, not my bag baby.
Quote from: Destraex on February 01, 2017, 05:28:09 PM
I have some duty officers but really am wondering why they are necessary. After you send them on missions do they eventually join your crew when you get more positions available on a larger ship?
DOFFs are a collectible set of officers who you send on assignments periodically, to harvest resources, and gain experience. You collect them like Pokemon, more or less. As rewards. Or as Colonists, or Prisoners picked up from missions out in sector space. They are important in down-time, because each assignment will take 30 mins-48 hours real time, depending upon mission. So you set them up and then harvest their outcomes later. The skills/traits of your DOFFs affect the success/failure/critical ratios of the mission. Plus you level up Commendation tracks to award you better quality DOFFs from the recruitment source. So doing them regularly and well (ie. not failing, or worse yet failing with disaster - killing off some DOFFs) is key to making progress. You also have a quota of 12 DOFFs who can be used for Active duty, 6 for space, 6 for ground missions. These ones add bonuses to your abilities/skills/cooldown times.. Important if you want to tweak performance to min/max a particular build, or support ground attacks/defenses.
Bridge Officers are your Spock/McCoy/Sulu/Checkov/Uhura, you keep them near, skill them up, kit them out with gear and train them with various skills that complement your build in both space and ground missions.
Duty Officers are your stock crew, your red shirts, they help you in downtime away from the game, and in bonuses on active duty. They can be traded/recruited/killed off.
Admiralty missions allow you to use your ships as a resource to send them on "downtime" missions whilst you are away.
Reputation/Faction missions allow you to grind quest/adventure zones, battlezones (capture the zone etc) for various factions (Omega/Delta/Romulan/Dyson Sphere/Iconian etc) to get to their epic gear sets, both space and ground.
Hope that helps... :)
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 01, 2017, 05:54:34 PM
I am a lifer on STO as well mainly due to potential I thought the game had prior to launch.
Granted I havent played for 2 years or so now, I found the ground combat clunky and unimmersive and tge space combat went to be repetitive after a while.
No idea where the game stands now though. If lots has changed perhaps I should try again?
I don't think the core gameplay changed much since launch. But I haven't played in a couple years, either.
These MMOs just tend to keep piling a bunch of nebulous mission & inventory junk on top of you, layer by layer, as they age. So when you log back in, there is a mind-numbing amount of annoying crap to sort & read through. There is usually a bunch of new grindy quest/mission systems, added later, which just adds more confusion.
This is especially true after a game has switched from Sub-only to Free-To-Play; it turns into a supreme mess and requires a lot of time sorting and studying before actually playing. I often rage-quit when revisiting one and seeing this chaos.
The last couple times I logged into STO, awhile after it went FreeTP, it was this way to a small extent. Although I didn't have the ridiculous inventory flood as bad as most MMOs do.
Even though as much as I like the setting, I dont think I am an MMO player. Where a SP game offers you story without interruption, most MMO's make you grind mindlessly to get to this other story bit that should just be connected to the previous one. I hate that.
I don't mind the grind as long as it feels like I'm progressing through levels, and through locales, as I do so. Actually find it a bit relaxing, when solo grinding, if I enjoy the mechanics and theme enough.
But the sights, terrain, enemies, etc need to be regularly changing; that makes repeatedly hacking creatures apart and taking their stuff is okay.
It's when "the grind" just keeps you in a static situation for far too long, doing the same thing over & over too many times in the same place, that it gets old quick. Even if you're mostly doing similar things for long periods, it's not so glaring when the scenery changes regularly. Unfortunately STO tends to seem like a lot of samey grind after awhile; especially the ground combat for me.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 02, 2017, 01:05:55 AM
Even though as much as I like the setting, I dont think I am an MMO player. Where a SP game offers you story without interruption, most MMO's make you grind mindlessly to get to this other story bit that should just be connected to the previous one. I hate that.
Considering it is a free to play game, they give you a shit tonne of storied content to play through, and they feed you with free ships all the way up to level 50.
Looking at the story arcs and missions, by level 50 I'd gone through
http://sto.gamepedia.com/List_of_missions
Tutorial
Klingon War
Yesterdays War
Wasteland
Romulan Mystery
Cardassian Struggle
None of it felt grindy, because you are following a pure storyline, in fact until you hit Nimbus III (Wasteland), you don't really see any other players out in your storied missions unless you are teaming with others on purpose. Nimbus III is the first "open world" ground section of the game you encounter other players and their Away teams.
Theres some classic Trek visited in those story missions. Klingons and shapeshifters, Time travel back to Kirk and Spock's time. Intrigue with the Romulans. Battles with the Cardassians around Bajor and Deep Space Nine.
If you like Trek and you prefer story arcs leading to epic space battles, you should give it a go at least till level 50.
The game opens up a bit after 50, you start hitting the Dyson Sphere adventure grounds, and battlezones. Then you go into the Delta quadrant, meet Voyager and face the Borg and the Undine.
From level 30 you can jump into impromptu Deep Space Encounters, which are like a free for all, wave based horde mode.. different enemies, waves of incoming ships and usually larger battleships, or even the quite frantic "escalations" where you get overwhelmed. If you do too many DSE's it can feel grindy. But I felt I didn't have a decent grasp on ship systems and setup to take on the DSE's, so I didn't start them till early 40's. And they were a welcome break from the intensity of the story lines.
Obviously the kicker, is that at 50 you don't get another free ship (the last one you got was at 40, a Tier 5 freebie). If you want you can pay some real money for a Tier 5 ship and a ship upgrade to make it a T5U ship. Which will get you through most of the end game content, but not be AS spicy as a proper more expensive Tier 6 ship. The T6 ships are where ARC want you to be, they're flashy, they're the top ships in the game, and they have their own perks and levelling systems. Plus they get their own unique sub-system.
So if you've pumped in 40 odd hours to storyline and fiddling around in the game, it's at that point they coax you to stump up the cash to invest in a swanky ship. One you'll be using and tweaking through the rest of the content.
There are a horde of differing resources and what not to collect, and your inventory does become a premium well after level 50, but thats about the time the end game sub-systems open up, the Admiralty missions, the Duty Officer assignments, the Reputation missions, the Fleet holdings and Fleet missions etc.. Theres still story content to play through, but your time starts to be distracted towards all these other mechanics to play with.
Plus there are different story arcs for The Klingons characters. Romulans have different stories until about level 30, then you have to decide to join the Federation or the Klingon Empire (although I've been told you can remain neutral). Once the choice is made, you sort of slot into the other factions remaining missions.
I dunno, not trying to suck anyone into an MMO, just expressing the excitement I've had whilst becoming re-aquainted with Star Trek and it's MMO.
As I have a lifetime sub it doesn't cost me anything to take a look again. Installing and I'll make up my own mind in a few days.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 02, 2017, 03:41:19 AM
As I have a lifetime sub it doesn't cost me anything to take a look again. Installing and I'll make up my own mind in a few days.
How far did you get Ysk, what level, what Tier ship did you settle on previously?
Here's some screenshots (from the PS4 version) of my ones
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FU8J2aiA.jpg&hash=909c655780c56ae13ec44bb7918deffc16e5c32c) (http://imgur.com/U8J2aiA)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FpYww5Zf.jpg&hash=16aaea7f31d62e886fd09b493532e6f1e1dbc528) (http://imgur.com/pYww5Zf)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fzwpj7Ya.jpg&hash=9bac3e06f6bbbc17b6c7eca9c880a78e0375a51b) (http://imgur.com/zwpj7Ya)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FE9VFrIt.jpg&hash=ca2083327613ae98f0c9f9eeae23e2c36544eb34) (http://imgur.com/E9VFrIt)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FaBFvtw0.jpg&hash=57a13e2524cbf4e54e66447d3a2a0065c15f232d) (http://imgur.com/aBFvtw0)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FraSAUcW.jpg&hash=54b559c701abd98dd6e1e851283c220dd93c286d) (http://imgur.com/raSAUcW)
PS4 UI looks a lot different. Looks a lot cleaner than the old PC version's UI, but maybe they updated that since then..?
I had forgot about their adding the Romulans. Had been mostly doing Klingon stuff the last few times, which was still rather thin on content, but I didn't get up to many Romulan things. Hrmm...
I recall getting at least one of my Fed captains up to Tier 5 or 6. Had the upgraded Excelsior type, along with something else (higher?) with my Engineer. Tried a little anti-Borg battlegroup thing at one point.
Don't recall how far I got my Klingon captains. Wanted to grind them more than Fed, but it was very repetitive grind at the time so it didn't go very fast.
Does STO still have the Fed vs Klingon PvP matches you can queue for? And other things of that PvP ship combat nature? Those were pretty fun, and the PvP scenarios/maps each had enough "terrain" to keep it interesting.
Quote from: spelk on February 02, 2017, 05:34:08 AM
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FraSAUcW.jpg&hash=54b559c701abd98dd6e1e851283c220dd93c286d) (http://imgur.com/raSAUcW)
I hope this missions is "Go to Nimbus III and obliterate it".
Quote from: Nefaro on February 02, 2017, 07:44:39 AM
Does STO still have the Fed vs Klingon PvP matches you can queue for? And other things of that PvP ship combat nature? Those were pretty fun, and the PvP scenarios/maps each had enough "terrain" to keep it interesting.
Yeah they still have the PvP Queues, but they also have PvE Queues, with co-operative scenarios for 5 captains.
They also have Red Alerts that act like DSE's, but are much, much harder with better rewards, for teams of 5 ships.
My highest toon was in his thirties. So never fully made it to end game. To avoid the info overload Nefaro mentioned I mothballed him and started fresh.
I still find the in game cutscenes awkwardly animated, but the gameplay is fun at the moment wothout a doubt!
You can look me up under @Yskonyn. Current active char is Cmdr Cyriac Daventria for the Federation.
Also started a Klingon char. This faction seems to have an actual storyline now; last time I tried there wasn't much.
New Romulans to choose as well. Interesting and I am definately going to keep playing this casually to see if and how much it has improved over time.
It definately has the Star Trek vibe down.
Quote from: Nefaro on February 02, 2017, 07:36:38 AM
PS4 UI looks a lot different. Looks a lot cleaner than the old PC version's UI, but maybe they updated that since then..?
Yeah the console UI is significantly streamlined compared to the PC version. You only have the three buttons and two triggers... to set yours and you BOFFs abilities onto, for the rest you have to use some awkward wheel selection method. Hold a trigger, bring up the wheel, use the analogue stick to select an ability, and then pull another trigger to activate it.. not easily done in a frantic combat situation. However, they do have auto-executing conditions for many of the wheel abilities, that you can set up beforehand to help.
I've noticed that the abilities you think you'll need on a button, probably don't need to be, and the ones that you should put on buttons are circumstantial ones, that you need to trigger in a panic situation. Most weapon buffs, shield drains, even shield saves can be put on auto, with whatever conditions they allow. But something like Reverse Shield Polarity, which turns incoming damage into shield regeneration is something that is needed when you're in an "oh shit" moment. That needs to be on a button. That you can stab at, at the appropriate time :)
Also, the console version is quite a number of revisions behind the PC game at the moment. Although they seem to be slowly but surely moving systems and expansions over. I'd say its about 4 years behind the PC version (but that is a guess).
Quote from: Nefaro on February 02, 2017, 07:36:38 AM
I had forgot about their adding the Romulans. Had been mostly doing Klingon stuff the last few times, which was still rather thin on content, but I didn't get up to many Romulan things. Hrmm...
Big Romulan defense around New Romulus, from invading Elachi hordes.. my tactical warbird carrier has all hard points loaded with Disrupter Cannons and Turrets, plus peregrine fighters in the hangar, and everything is geared towards keeping Cannon rapid fire up as much as possible.
Face them, gun them down, pop a Romulan singularity burst every now and then.
All shielding/hull healing is on auto. With the slow carrier, gunnery isn't a swooping fightery affair, so you can drop the thrust a little, and sit back guns blazing, sometimes it pays to even do a retreating barrage to keep the distance and the focus of all your cannons and turrets down the pipe!!
You'll see some of the PS4 UI, when I get clobbered by the inventory full message.. and have to mid-battle do some recycling. :/
Oh and here is some of the quirkyness of the ground combat.
Take on the Elachi base in Subspace, with my Romulan Engineer, she's not a turret fuhrer like my Fed Engineer is, but she likes the Screen and the Combat Supply, which is essentially a box that keeps pumping buffs out periodically.
Rough fight in places, including deaths, plus hellish inventory bloat.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 03, 2017, 02:13:20 PM
My highest toon was in his thirties. So never fully made it to end game. To avoid the info overload Nefaro mentioned I mothballed him and started fresh.
Probably a wise move. Sometimes different mechanics and resources move at a pace, as the playing community suck them dry, that with each new expansion, no doubt a new mechanic, or resource sink finds its way into play.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 03, 2017, 02:13:20 PM
I still find the in game cutscenes awkwardly animated,
DEFINITELY! The animation is olde worlde on the console. Characters not moving their mouths, standing up on their chairs as focus goes over to them... I think the PC version is slightly better, but you have to want to experience the Star Trek story to sit through the poorly constructed cut scenes.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 03, 2017, 02:13:20 PM
but the gameplay is fun at the moment wothout a doubt!
Yep, deffo.
The space combat is the winner. But it's slow and big ship enough to let you play with the setups and skillsets and they make a difference. Ground combat isn't brilliant, but I think it has come on a long way since release. Some of the Dyson Sphere Battlezones are worth playing. Most storied ground combat early on is easy peasy and a bit tedious.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 03, 2017, 02:13:20 PM
You can look me up under @Yskonyn. Current active char is Cmdr Cyriac Daventria for the Federation.
Haven't played much on the PC (I'm assuming you're on that platform). But I might dabble. It's just all my Zen is invested in the console version at the moment. And there isn't a crossover.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 03, 2017, 02:13:20 PM
Also started a Klingon char. This faction seems to have an actual storyline now; last time I tried there wasn't much.
Yeah, two totally separate lines, Fed and Klingon, then Romulan has it's own to begin with but then feeds into which ever side you choose at about level 30.
Quote from: Yskonyn on February 03, 2017, 02:13:20 PM
New Romulans to choose as well. Interesting and I am definately going to keep playing this casually to see if and how much it has improved over time.
It definately has the Star Trek vibe down.
It feels like Star Trek. And it has a tonne of fan service stuff in it, that if you appreciate the Trek, you'll get warm and cuddly in places when you step into various fan-service cozy rooms. :)
Not trying to spoil it much, (possible spoilers ahead)...
...
Here's my favourite bit in the Doomsday Machine mission, where Klingon K'Valk does the honourable thing... and has a sing song as he flies to his death..
When K'Valk sets his shuttle to a collision course on the Doomsday Machine, he starts to sing a Klingon war song.
The lyrics:
Qoy qeylls puqloD
Qoy puqbe'pu'
yoHbogh matlhbogh je Suvwl'
Say'moHchu' may' 'lw
maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu
nl'be' ylnmaj 'ach wovqu'
batlh maHeghbej 'ej yo' qljDaq vavpu'ma'
Dlmub. pa' reH maSuvtaHqu'
mamevQo'. maSuvtaH. ma'ov
The Translation:
"Hear! Sons of Kahless"
"Hear! Daughters too."
"The blood of battle washes clean."
"The Warrior brave and true."
"We fight, we love, and then we kill."
"Our lives burn short and bright."
"Then we die with honor and join our"
"fathers in the Black Fleet where we"
"battle forever, battling on through"
"the Eternal fight."
This song was notably sung in several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Klingon characters heading into battle, including Ambassador Worf and former
Chancellor Martok.
Wow, I played a lot of STO back in the day. Surprised it's still around.
It was actually a pretty fun game. Ground combat was meh, but I really liked the ship to ship stuff.
I have a few max ranked Fed characters sitting around somewhere, and a few pretty high ranked Klingons too..
Its not only still around, they are actively adding to it still.
More Star Trek Online.. (on a PS4 console) lathering me up for the release of Star Trek Discovery (on netflix, tomorrow, I hope).
I take my tiddly Intel Science ship "U.S.S. Darwin" into a Deep Space Encounter, where I have real problems taking out a Vaadwaur Heavy Artillery Vessel. I can zap most of the cruisers that they send at me, but hells bells this Arty ship is as tough as nails and hits like a freight train. Often swarming me with a lattice of boom booms that shakes my boat apart!
After a couple of obliterations, I change tactics, and start to hit and run... get in close, hoping the shields will hold, drop my tractor beam mines, zap him with my area debuff, and then start to drain his ship of energy whilst running away hastily with Reverse Shield Polarisation on to deflect incoming damage as best as I can. Aft polaron beams on full tickling his tummy as I try to keep my ships hull integrity together with my engineering & science teams at full pelt.
I even try a cloaked approach, to drop it all in and scoot out again.
All this hit and run only chips away at the Heavy boats defenses.. and he keeps summoning reinforcements in the form of annoying cruisers buzzing around me and adding to my peril.
I have a Photonic Fleet, mirage ships that can fire on enemies, but have a limited lifespan and fizzle away once they are hit. But they can act as a distraction, just enough to get some more of my pops in!
The video demonstrates my Vulcan determination, as I whittle him down, fighting and then fleeing as my hull hovers around 15%.
A thoroughly enjoyable fight, where I had to shift my approach, rather than just turn beams on and circle around the enemy.
Locking enemy ships in my tractor mines is excellent for keeping them at bay, and holding them in one place for me to focus all my polaron beams on them, full power.
Science for the win!