A Guide for Beginers

Welcome!

I started this Blog because I've found that there is a real lack of useful information with well-reasoned opinions for players of Star Trek Online to figure out how to succeed at challenging content or just improve their characters. On this site, I want to provide information on how to generally improve your character/gameplay. I'll be posting conceptual ideas, tips, tricks, and even character build guides. The build guides will likely be a big help as they will provide in-depth information about how to build a solid character.

If you already are in the 75k DPS channel or have billions of Energy Credits stored in Keys and/or other commodities, this site won't help you and, frankly, it's not intended to. Why would such a person need help? It's for people who are struggling with content or just want to know how to get better. I'm here to help.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Ship Guide: What ships are the best?

Really this post could begin and end with one ship: The Scimitar Dreadnought Warbird. But, let me expound for any non-romulan players and people that want to test new builds or ideas - even players that want to solo and have a great combination of durability and survivability. When you're looking for a ship, you're primarily looking for the best BOFF (Bridge Officer) station layout and Console layout for your style of play. With that said, you really need to do some damage, whether solo or in a group, so finding ways to do the best damage possible is truly important. What do you want, then? What are the attributes that you should be looking for?

1. Commander Tactical (Or, Universal) BOFF station - If a ship doesn't have this, it's going to struggle to be elite at anything other than healing. And, let's face it, healing is good, but damage is truly the most important ability a player can build into a ship in STO. Eventually, the enemies have to die and you have to actually do enough damage to hold aggro if you are trying to build a tank. (FYI: I don't recommend "tanking," but being a little tanky, ie tough, is certainly practical.) The bottom line is you need high-level Tactical abilities to do good damage. So, this specific BOFF station becomes extremely important for most, if not all, players. Obviously, Commander is preferred, but you can make do with Lt Commander - especially with an Aux2Bat build.

2. At least 3, preferably 4, Tactical Consoles - This should be obvious. Tactical consoles are the single most important consoles for weapon damage. Having more of them is a great way to increase damage. Just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not true.

3. Cloak - Cloak can add up to +40% damage to attacks made within 5 seconds of decloaking. (Longer with Reman Bonus.) Why WOULDN'T you want 20-40% MORE damage? Nevermind being able to sneak up on enemies and activate all your damage buffs at once just before you break cloak.

4. Good Turn Rate - Make sure the Turn Rate is a good fit with the types of weapons you want to use. Don't get a Vo'Quv to use DBBs (Dual Beam Banks) - get something that turns better. (You should probably avoid the Vo'Quv if at all possible, honestly.) If you are going to use a slow-turning ship, like the Scimitar, understand that maneuvering to fire DBBs is going to be challenging. It will require piloting skill and, probably, +Turn Rate gear to compensate for the lack of Turn Rate. Beam Arrays would typically be better on slow-turning ships, especially for newer players.

5. At least 7 (prefereably 8) Weapon Slots - Due to weapon firing cycle CDs (Cool Downs), it's best to have more weapons, especially if you use FAW. Having more weapons allows you to continuously fire weapons instead of waiting a second or two for CDs.

6. After you've considered the above - Try to get as much Hull, Shield Mod, Science Consoles, and beneficial Starship Mastery abilities as you can. I heavily favor the mastery that gives crit severity. Those will be the areas you'll most want to look at when trying to decide between two similar ship design layouts.

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