store track ON LINE

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The MMO HMO > store track ON LINE

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Ludicro posted:

A new and up to date quick reference guide on what ships are good and what ships are bad has been added to the wiki, and can be found here http://wiki.wesleyguide.com/goon_guides/bigshipguide. It is not 100% complete, but will be updated regularly.

Oh, nice. I was pondering updating mine, it's way out of date now, but that one's much swankier.

# ¿ May 11, 2014 17:48

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:02

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

The players of STO are such petulant children. This is pretty much the easiest, inexpensive, and most accessible MMO on the market, but it's still not good enough.

# ¿ May 13, 2014 00:47

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Somewhere around %2.5 accuracy. Not very exciting, but since it adds power levels and turn rate and is universal unlike an RCS console it still has some potential uses, especially if you're using the torpedo and turret too.

# ¿ May 13, 2014 03:54

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

That the undine rep set? I hadn't seen it's color options yet. :allears:

# ¿ May 13, 2014 17:29

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Also you can avoid getting other random spam fleet invites while you level. :v:

But yeah, there's no real benefit or hindrance to it since the fleet services are all max-level stuff.

# ¿ May 14, 2014 00:17

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Got T4 undine rep earlier. Messed around with the set stuff.

First, the blast 3p power from the shield set doesn't do jack poo poo to undine rifts or fluidic puddles. At least the other effects seem to work fine. The warp core also doesn't seem to do poo poo against the forced movement in fluidic space.
Second, the turret barrage 3p looks to be a ten second buff on the heavy turret that turns it into a short range 360-degree AoE that guarantees the bio-molecular debuff. Problem is, it looks like it's overwritten by the CRF/CSV buff so you basically have to go out of your way to get a chance to use it.

Yeah, they seem like poo poo, sorry. :shrug:

At least the individual items are still pretty good.

Zotix posted:

Does this game have an actual end game, or is it still stuck at the rep grind for items?

STO is a super-casual game for babies. If you want hardcore raiding or whatever the gently caress, it's not going to be here. Which is for the best anyway, there's enough of that bullshit in other MMOs.

Asimo fucked around with this message at 19:09 on May 14, 2014

# ¿ May 14, 2014 19:05

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Insert name here posted:

Is this retroactive now? Back when I played I recall it not being so if you made it to 50 and then subbed you lost out on all the free inventory slots.

I'm pretty sure it was always retroactive. :raise:

It definitely is these days though, yeah. The only thing that isn't retroactive are the respec tokens you get at rank up since those are given by the one-time quests, so you can't go back and redo them if you finished them while subbed. The energy credit cap increase doesn't persist either, but as noted earlier you get 500 zen for subbing and the EC cap increase is 500z, so...

# ¿ May 15, 2014 02:48

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Did you do duty officer missions that cost them and didn't notice?

# ¿ May 15, 2014 04:20

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Seriously, who would be surprised that "place behind an invisible wall that we don't want you getting into" is where everyone wants to visit? :raise:

I guess there's been lots of obnoxious questions and pestering from pubbies who don't understand how mapping is actually done though.

# ¿ May 15, 2014 23:54

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Courtesy the channel... http://gateway.startrekonline.com/#char(S%27Reeja@Sauria_Lizard)/ship-equipment

# ¿ May 16, 2014 19:27

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Berke Negri posted:

I know jack poo poo about fits in this game but is that like a dual heavy cannon, dual cannons, AND a single cannon/turret for the fore weapons? Why?

Quad cannon (crappy c-store item), DHC, and single cannon (proton weapon) yes. And done I presume because they are incompetent.

Even ignoring the fact there isn't a single useful energy weapon console in their tac slots, they actually have a mine damage consoles. Don't often see those in the wild, even on the worst pub builds. :downs:

# ¿ May 16, 2014 20:17

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Lorak posted:

To be frank, I either go with the science version and fly it like a science-heavy sci-Vesta (Gravity Well builds, Tyken's builds, etc.) or stick with the tactical version (and build it like a Temporal Destroyer / S'Golth Escort).

But yeah, Romulan DSDs are far more wowing with their battle cloaks and full Superior Operative boff crews, like most things Romulan.

Yeah, I'd personally fit one out as either a escort or a science vessel. That is, pretend it's a science-heavy escort and keep it in destroyer mode whenever possible (except maybe throwing out a grav well 3 or something before entering the first fight), or throw beams on it and forget the transformation exists. It's an interesting gimmick, but the fact that to take advantage of it means you can only really rely on having the Lt.Com powers sort of forces some weird build compromises, and the sixty second cooldown keeps you from actually exploiting it much even if you did want to.

# ¿ May 17, 2014 03:40

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

JFC posted:

Consoles. Get a Fleet Neutronium from the Dil Mine then start getting Fleet Tactical consoles from the Spire.

I'd say the fleet tac consoles first (specifically the +crit, not +critd... unless you're a romulan stocked with superior operatives anyway), but yeah a Neutronium+Turn is a good investment too.

# ¿ May 19, 2014 00:26

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Who could have thought that Star Trek nerds were broken people.

EDIT: vvvvv :stare:

Asimo fucked around with this message at 23:23 on May 19, 2014

# ¿ May 19, 2014 22:49

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Burning_Monk posted:

Meh, the only thing worth doing is the Epohh grind which they haven't touched.

Well, it's not too bad now. Azure Nebula's up to 50-60 now, which puts it more on par with other mark-granting missions, especially considering it's piss-easy. Add that to the daily mark box and that's 100+ for relatively little effort. Also makes the ground missions almost worth doing too. Epohh's are still easier/faster, but at least they won't be the only way to grind this poo poo now.

# ¿ May 20, 2014 21:45

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Apparently. :shrug:

# ¿ May 22, 2014 21:07

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Yeah, pretty much. Frankly though the free/mirror cruisers are all kind of mediocre, and the assault/mirror assault are just the best of the mediocre picks. If you like playing with cruisers, you'll probably want to pick up a ~~Gal-X~~ Avenger or Regent at some point.

# ¿ May 22, 2014 22:56

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

I just assume everyone already owns one already. :colbert:

# ¿ May 23, 2014 02:05

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Playing more dabo.

# ¿ May 23, 2014 17:58

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Yeah, the game was horribly unfinished when it released, and there were big content gaps that were badly covered through lovely randomized exploration missions. Those have long since been closed up; there's way more missions than you'd need to hit 50, and that's before padding them with queues or duty officer XP.

# ¿ May 27, 2014 02:38

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

There's two or three Cardassian missions that aren't that bad. Big slogs of murdering dudes through generic corridors, but if you're doing those you need XP anyway so it's not like it's that bad.

But yeah, most of them are crappy, broken with bugs since release, or both. Oh god, the fire temple one... :negative:

# ¿ May 27, 2014 02:59

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Bieeardo posted:

Is the pathing in the fire temple still hosed beyond belief?

Yeah, it's basically due to inherent flaws in the AI companion pathing that require either a complete rewrite of the AI or a complete redesign of the map. The former will never happen and Cryptic hasn't gotten around to the latter yet.

(Cryptic will probably get to it eventually though. It's the last stretch of quests that hasn't been revamped and cleaned up yet.)

# ¿ May 27, 2014 04:06

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Veotax posted:

Did Cryptic ever fix up the old Romulan mission arc that the Federation does after wrapping up the Klingons?

A little bit. The missions still suck, but the blatant bugs were cleaned up and the changes to ground combat when F2P went live meant you no longer lived in a purgatory of centurions constantly resurrecting each other.

Also, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh :toot:

# ¿ May 28, 2014 20:26

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Ludicro posted:

Please tell me this isnt the actual resolution he plays at.

Disposable pedocomps can only handle so much, you know.

# ¿ May 28, 2014 23:09

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Shuttle weekend is still a horrible event, but looks like there's a new gimmick to it... shuttle versions of 20-man fleet alert, No-Win Scenario, and Storming the Spire that give double the usual marks. Could be a fun change of pace anyway.

# ¿ May 29, 2014 06:53

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

The hands down best shuttles are the peregrine, to'duj, and scorpion fighters since they get CRF1 as an innate ability and generally have the highest maneuverability in the class. Nothing's really quite as close. After that... the Aeon's pretty good (sensor analysis), and shuttles with two bridge officer seats are handy, but everything else just kind of blends together.

Beyond that... yeah, basically just outfit them like an escort. Dual beam banks are a good option, especially on shuttles that can't use dual cannons. FAW is an ensign level skill and pretty much wrecks most things with DBBs, and I thiiink the tetryon cascade rep power doesn't scale down when you're in a shuttle, though Cryptic fixed the point defense console a while ago. Really though, there's not a whole lot of point in twinking out a shuttle; there's only so much you can do with them equipment wise, and so little content to use them in. Just for gods sake never use the shuttle-specific gear.

Oh yeah, the Precise trait would probably be pretty handy too.

Asimo fucked around with this message at 07:25 on May 29, 2014

# ¿ May 29, 2014 07:22

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Insert name here posted:

Of course they'd discount the lobi store after I bought that missile launcher for funsies. Oh well, at least it looks sweet as hell.

Glad I grabbed the jem'hadar ground costume instead. :v:

Atrayonis posted:

And Summer Event is announced, with the goddamn awesome new spacetub.

Oh you fucker, you beat me by like thirty seconds. :argh:

I'm really glad they're going ahead with the discount thing though. Basically means you only need to do the grind on one character, it's insanely more forgiving now.

# ¿ May 29, 2014 20:21

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Aleth posted:

Edit #2: Cryptic confirm it is a ground ability

It involves disco balls. :ssh:

The whining will be hilarious.

revtoiletduck posted:

Was it a lot of effort to get the corvette?

It's a bit of a grind, but if you were doing it one character it wasn't a big deal. Five or ten minutes a day tops? Main trick was if you wanted them on alts too... even doing it on, say, a fed/klank/rom trio took it up to something like half an hour a day and doing the same quest over a hundred times. Having a massive discount for alts is so much more convenient.

# ¿ May 29, 2014 22:59

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Also, in case anyone hasn't given it a go yet, shuttle fleet alert is amazingly fun and profitable. All of five or six minutes, 118 marks of any type (plus the daily bonus where applicable), and no cooldown afterwards. It's crazy fast mark farming.

Also, be sure to throw a torpedo (preferably the gravimetric, but most work) with 3x projectile weapon doffs and kinetic shearing. It'll be a way larger percentage of your damage on a shuttle, and the difference in killing power is noticeable.

wdarkk posted:

Turn them in at the guy you turn contra in to.

There's also military missions in Eta Eridani and one or two other contested zones that let you turn in 5 prisoners for 500 dil with way higher success rates too. But yeah, they're basically a bonus dilithium source and don't feel bad about shoving some out the airlock if you're too lazy to turn them in.

# ¿ May 30, 2014 03:29

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Kosmicka Ljubav posted:

Elachi subspace torpedo, is it worth using, does TS & TH affects it ?

It's kinda meh... damage is fine, but the proc isn't too exciting; it really needs to be a higher chance. Worse torpedoes around though, yeah. And it works with Spread and HYT; the HYT version is a big destructible projectile like plasma torps.

Berke Negri posted:

I was drunk and bought one of those wrist lances so I could roleplay as Mega-Man. It was a lot of fun at first but in the cold realization of sobriety I am now just left with a hollow heart full of antiproton flames. I think Ill just stick to splurging on ship stuff.

Still a pretty cool/good AoE though.

Honestly, the ground gear tends to be a lot better buy than the space lobi gear. You can get costume unlocks from the armor, and the weapons are all pretty good and have unique gimmicks. And you can just toss them on a bridge officer if you have regrets.

# ¿ May 30, 2014 18:05

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Melchior posted:

The costume unlocks are only per character right? All the outfit boxes that have a description on the STO wiki seem to indicate its only an unlock for the character that opens it, which is kind of a bummer.

Yep! Just like all the ships are character unlocks. Because they know sperglord whales will spend thoooouuusands kitting out their alts. :suicide:

# ¿ May 30, 2014 18:48

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Aleth posted:

Cash > Zen > keys > lockbox gambling > misery

Yep. While I think the lockbox poo poo is immoral and preys on people who need help, goddamn if it probably isn't easily the biggest money maker in the game. Especially now that, yeah, the starbases in large fleets are mostly done.

# ¿ May 30, 2014 20:13

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Mondian posted:

100% if you spend 250 keys.

But yeah, the odds for a ship are around 1/250. Cryptic's never published the odds of course (which is part of why it's skeevy as poo poo, since most real casinos legally have to...) but there's been enough boxes opened up now that it's pretty public knowledge.

(The ships aren't even the rarest thing... trait boxes are almost as rare, so trying to get an individual trait is quite a bit more unlikely.)

# ¿ May 30, 2014 20:26

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Cryptic are basically the idiot savants of MMO design.

# ¿ May 31, 2014 00:00

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

In fairness, the latter is more accurate to the movie. Specifically, an ugly over-engineered piece of poo poo. :pseudo:

It amazes me how the other Romulan ships from Nemesis (notably the Mogai/Valdore) actually came out looking great but the Scim is... that.

# ¿ May 31, 2014 07:05

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Really, it's something where a greater variety in textures would have gone a lot way even if they couldn't do much with the overall design. The veteran skin actually looks pretty good on it, with the glowing parts and other details showing off the form of the ship better than the greebled mess, but even there it just doesn't look near as good as the same texture on an Ar'kif or D'deridex.

The way Cryptic makes ship textures is that they make what's basically a "master texture" file, then designate areas of the ship where parts of those textures are applied. This is most easily seen when you slap the Reman shield on a ship... the glowing hexagon areas clearly correspond to certain colors/patterns on other textures and shields. But if you look at the wings on the Scimitar and swap between a few skins it's like Cryptic had no loving idea where and how to assign the textures. The ship-specfic ones are the only ones without cluttered or mismatched patches, and those just aren't very... exciting.

Guess we can wait for the inevitably Scimitar Refit in a year or two to fix the look. :downs:

# ¿ May 31, 2014 07:23

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

MikeJF posted:

_{and a Bortas refit that changes absolutely nothing in terms of looks}

_{but adds +2 turn

seriously there's no excuse for ships having less than 7 base turn these days, the scimitar shows you can pull of "huge and clunky" through massive inertia without requiring multiple RCS to tolerate moving the thing around a map}

# ¿ May 31, 2014 07:58

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Fek'hiri are pretty deadly too, yeah. They spam charged particle burst which wipes out shuttle-level shields so everyone's vulnerable. The Kar'fi's poo poo out a dozen different fighters and the spirit things basically instakill whoever they go after. Most of the ships have cannon scatter volley, high yield tricobalts, or some other sort of AOE to unload on your unshielded hull, and the frigates cheerfully go invulnerable for ten seconds while still shooting you.

Really, the shuttle event makes me wish they did some more like these in the future. It's a really fun change of pace since you're so relatively vulnerable and everything's so chaotic... most of the enemy types become threatening in different ways, and all new sorts of equipment become useful (DBBs and single cannons; the proton weapon and gravimetric torp; etc). The problem really just seems to be that the existing shuttle events are poo poo to play, have crappy rewards, or both. Hopefully there's another big 20-man event with decent returns in the next content update.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 05:28

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Bagpuss posted:

Yeah, I've really enjoyed this event as well. Being a tiny little fighter trying to make bombing runs on a cruiser has reminded me of playing Freespace and has really made me want to bust that back out again.

Really, the more I think about it, it's not even so much that shuttles are suddenly fun and useful or something (though the massive swarms of them versus normal ship content is novel and amusing) bit more it highlights just how badly Cryptic under-rewards a lot of content. There's a whole lot of poo poo that gives barely over mark per minute (azure nebula, storming the spire, all the normal shuttle queues), is horribly tedious for the reward, or both, and nobody... ever does them, for blindingly obvious reasons. It's been years of this consistent pattern but Cryptic doesn't seem to learn. You can't even say it's NCSoft or something breathing down their neck to try and stretch out rep grinds, since there's always another queue or zone in the same patch with decent rewards. :psyduck:

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 09:41

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:02

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

LordCo posted:

The latest pics are in from Chuck, our man in Abidjan. This time Chuck is wearing a sensible summer dress and wig and posing in the local dirt patches.

And my <ahem> personal favourite...

There are 10 images for each sign, each taken in a slightly different location (it varies from set to set). All 60 pics are at http://imgur.com/a/vvoS3

You are a gift to all humanity. :911:

# ¿ Jun 4, 2014 00:08

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