Star Trek Online

[Nefaro]

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.

[mirth]

I hope this missions is "Go to Nimbus III and obliterate it".

[spelk]

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.

[Yskonyn]

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.

[spelk]

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).

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.

[spelk]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[SirAndrewD]

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..

[Yskonyn]

Its not only still around, they are actively adding to it still.

[spelk]

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!