Star Trek Online

[Beskar]

Again, forgive my mispeaking.

Yes there's lots of moving in STO but it's not nearly as fluid as Rogue Squadron. The ships feel very weighted. If you ever played the old Star Trek - StarFleet Command* series, it's like alot that but you can move in 3-dimensions.

*Holy crap I think i seriously dated myself there.

Hah, did you play Bridge Commander? Was it like that?

I would have thought that Ground Battles might have been similar to Star Trek elite force.

I always wanted to play a game which combined Bridge Commander and Elite Force. Would be excellent.

[Monk]

Hah, did you play Bridge Commander? Was it like that?

I would have thought that Ground Battles might have been similar to Star Trek elite force.

I always wanted to play a game which combined Bridge Commander and Elite Force. Would be excellent.

I only played the demo of Bridge Commander, and even that I don't have many memories of. It's more of a third-person thing with lots of camera control and full control of your ship - from speed to weapons. The problem is you're just spam clicking abilities, I didn't notice a "fire at will!" button which would have made the longer fights much more bearable. Maybe I missed it, but I'm telling you I didn't see it!

Honestly I don't think the ground battles are up to snuff. If you had some swords the AI problems wouldn't be noticable, but it's a shooty mode so they feel pretty big. The poor AI was easy as heck to exploit. Most of this could be early MMO troubles, as most have pretty lame enemy bugs at launch but time will tell.

Space battles though? Lots of fun to be had there.

[tibilicus]

Tbh the ground combat concerns have been there for a while. The general consensus is when it works, it works great. It's just when your Bridge officers are standing around doing nothing whilst your getting attacked that things start to fall apart.

No doubt cryptic would of ironed this out already if Atari weren't keeping them to such a ridiculous deadline..

[Major Robert Dump]

It will get better. So far I have done melee ground combat and am having a blast. The NPCs I am fighting are taking cover. My biggest problems o far with ground is that the party doesn't use their specials nearly enough, and I don't have time to micromanage them during battles, especially when i am doing melee.

[Beskar]

Ok, I got it up and running and learning the basics.

Anyone fancy doing a fleet together to talk in, etc?

[pevergreen]

Ok, I got it up and running and learning the basics.

Takes a bow.

[Beskar]

Takes a bow.

Yes as I said earlier, thanks to the best forum member, pevergreen.

[Major Robert Dump]

Ok, I got it up and running and learning the basics.

Anyone fancy doing a fleet together to talk in, etc?

I can turn on steam and you can contact me there if u want. I don't know how to make an account a friend, but I know if u invite someone and use their full name, i.e. SofondaCox@Colon_Burns, they become your friend and u can see them no matter what character they are on. I keep remaking my fed character to experiment with stuff, but I am mostly plaing on my lvl 11 klingon. Give me a holler if u need help, i can come over to fed np

[Beskar]

Hey Monk, you don't need to keep on clicking. Just right-click your power then left click on it once you targetted an enemy. Then it goes automatic firing.

[tibilicus]

What's the klingon side like MRD?

If I get this I see myself as being much more likely to play Klingons, regardless of the lack of PvE content.

[Major Robert Dump]

Klingons have practically np pve content outside of "kill x number of X". So the chance to loot weapons om the ground is nonexistent, however there is plenty of space pve in arenas.

So how do u make money?

By fighting in house vs house pvp ques, or by fighting klingon vs fed pvp ques. These matches last around 5 mins, and u get points, xp and money even if u lose. There are also a lot of missions tied in with winning and losing pvp. There are some pvpve ground missions, but they are currently broken, so it ends up u and your away team vs others and their away teams with no xp or rewards, but it is fun. The arena mayches that last 5 mins are just u and other humans. They can be unbalanced, the ques are not perfect, but like i said, u still get xp and money for losing. I went from level 7-14 doing ground battles in a few hours of play.

There are multiple races to choose from, each with specific stats, some have unique abilities. Or you can create your own, from the same pool of traits available to feds. The skill trees are also identical.

There are only 2 classes of ships to choose at tier 1 and 2. And so far no exchange, everything is bought from vendors with credits and honor, which has not been a problem so far. For example, a tier 2 pvp match gives u 2k credits, 100+ xp and 60 officer points FOR A LOSS. The ground pvp is much faster than the ship.

The only real problem I have right now is nowhere to loot ground weapons. I don't mind buying them, but loots have random stats which can be good. These things will be added, just like the exchange. I am not sure if Fed PVP rewards for wins and losses is the same as Klingon, but even if it is, Klingon can pvp far more often because of house vs house battles. I have yet to wait more than 3 or 4 mins for a ground mattch.

Also,you can access pvp que remotely and join remotely and continue your business. It will zome you out when your turn comes up and return you when u are done. You will lose mission progress on some missions, but you can always choose not to take the zone and continue on your way. I like to shop and explore while qued.

Personally, I find it far more entertaining than doing the same storyline missions over and over.


A few tips for ppl who may not know:

You can access most people who gave u missions remotely, so u can cash in the mission and get another without flying home

There is a command in toolbar to take u back to starbase, but it has a 30m timer.

U can set a lot of space weapons to auto attack by right clicking on them, so you dnt have to spam click in space battles

Everyone can rez in ground fights

Your away team can use the same level equipment as you can

Your bridge officers cannot use tier 2 luetenant skills on the ship if you don not have a LT. level station that lets them use a 1 & 2. You will still need to train these skills, but it takes management to decide who to equip and when.

Bridge officer skills can be traded at the vendor, but u do not get the points invested back

The skill trees are not linear. All tier two skills unlock, no matter if you have something in that tree, because if you look at them, they really arent trees at all. A lot of people think u need to max a skill to take the one on the right, and that is not the case. You cannot, however, bank skills to spend on more expensive skills later, because there is a set amount u have to spend to get next rank.

Thats all I can think of right now

[tibilicus]

Good and Bad news.

Bad news is apparently the BETA server has reached full capacity, meaning many are having problems logging on as the sheer number of people playing is to much for the server to take.

This could be viewed as good news however as it means an ample amount of people are wanting to at least try this game already.

[Beskar]

I am loving the PvP aspect, especially Space PvP.

Also, Klingon's, stop cloaking and lurking. All you do is make all the feds crowd together, then you just get one shotted as soon as you go out of cloak.

It is silly, the Klingon's keep just running around cloaking, so the feds just camp the spawns, and oneshotting them and we are winning all the games.

[Mailman653]

I am loving the PvP aspect, especially Space PvP.

Also, Klingon's, stop cloaking and lurking. All you do is make all the feds crowd together, then you just get one shotted as soon as you go out of cloak.

It is silly, the Klingon's keep just running around cloaking, so the feds just camp the spawns, and oneshotting them and we are winning all the games.

Ha ha ha ha, they have no honor! They hide like Romulan's.

[Beskar]

Basically, this is the only times Klingon's get kills/win.

Do a small group, then managed to kill a fed vessel.
Outnumber the feds completely (so autowin basically).
Cloak and wait for a Fed to Max Impulse by, then shoot them when they are weak.
Target an basically already dead fed ship.


Though, to be fair to the Klingon's, they can usually win 1v1, or should win. But the players all act individually attacking a group of ships and just die in seconds. Though the only reason the feds group is because the Klingon's cheapshot them otherwise.

[Major Robert Dump]

Klingons only have 2 tier 2 ships, and both are fragile. There is no other way to fight the high numbers of Feds at the moment. Cloak and take out the stragglers. Eventually the feds turtle up together. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Tier 3 will bring new things

I don't like space pvp matches, they take too long to be a viable means of xp and they bore me. If you think you have it bad, try playing klingon vs klingon. Those matches last forevers

[tibilicus]

Basically, this is the only times Klingon's get kills/win.

Do a small group, then managed to kill a fed vessel.
Outnumber the feds completely (so autowin basically).
Cloak and wait for a Fed to Max Impulse by, then shoot them when they are weak.
Target an basically already dead fed ship.


Though, to be fair to the Klingon's, they can usually win 1v1, or should win. But the players all act individually attacking a group of ships and just die in seconds. Though the only reason the feds group is because the Klingon's cheapshot them otherwise.

Heard that another issue is the way in which Fed science vessels basically nullify to cloaking abilities of the Bird of Prey.

Oh well, should probably even out a bit more once Klingon players gain the rank to take cruisers.

[Beskar]

Klingons only have 2 tier 2 ships, and both are fragile. There is no other way to fight the high numbers of Feds at the moment. Cloak and take out the stragglers. Eventually the feds turtle up together. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Tier 3 will bring new things

I don't like space pvp matches, they take too long to be a viable means of xp and they bore me. If you think you have it bad, try playing klingon vs klingon. Those matches last forevers

Space matches seem fast pace on the Starfleet side, maybe because we are having to constantly fight off klingon's while you cloak and hide behind rocks. Problem is, we have to wait like 30 minutes or so, before we can even get in the match, since the Klingon's tend to do house matches most of the time, just for 5 minutes or so of pvp time.

[Major Robert Dump]

I think cloaked hit and run is here to stay, especially since there will be better BOP, but it will be on a smaller level. When a shio comes out of cloak, its shields are down for a second...no big deal...but while u are in cloak the shields stay down. So when a science vessel spots a cloaker and people start shooting him -- he doesnt uncloak on auto, he has to do it manually -- so all those first shots do straight hull damage. Trust me, the matches will speed up once klingons get a big ship and fed science vessels get better cloak detection with more science slots

[Beskar]

Yeah, I am hoping for some of those big non-cloaking cruisers to come into play. Klingon's will really start to dominate then, as when fed's go to attack that, they will decloak and get the feds.

[tibilicus]

I downloaded the BETA today and so far I'm enjoying it. I'm really more interested in this game because im a Star Trek fan, not so much because im a fan of MMORPG's but so far it seems pretty fun.

I particularly like the way "levelling" works and the way you can also assign skill points to Bridge Officers to also adds more depth to the game.

If I find myself still wanting more after BETA I think I'll end up buying this. On another note does anyone perhaps have a spare BETA key? I have a friend who could use one. Much appreciated if any one has.

[Beskar]

The level system is evil, in the sense there is no way to refund points, and when you read how the skills work, then you will see how you have to specialise really early in either ground or space for best results.

edit: They removed the level cap, etc now. It will be interesting to see what has been missed.

[Major Robert Dump]

but i do like the fact that the skills arent linear and u don't have prereqisites for anything

[Beskar]

It looks like each rank gives you excess skill points anyway, which seems to be redeeming. I wonder at the end, how many skill areas you can actually have. They should do a flash-based calculator or something.

[Major Robert Dump]

After last patch, NPC ships are way too easy even at +3 and +4....

And how do u feds like ship pvp now? I don't even have to cloak anymore. They need to make a halfway point, last night I went 13-1 in a pvp match vs feds outnumbered......prior, i could unload for 2 mins on a fed ship and never even drop his shields, while he would drop my shields in one volley......now its the opposite....

[Beskar]

After last patch, NPC ships are way too easy even at +3 and +4....

And how do u feds like ship pvp now? I don't even have to cloak anymore. They need to make a halfway point, last night I went 13-1 in a pvp match vs feds outnumbered......prior, i could unload for 2 mins on a fed ship and never even drop his shields, while he would drop my shields in one volley......now its the opposite....

I haven't tried pvp. Though I was fighting +14 ships earlier, and I could actually kill the small ones, but those Mirror Universe Soveriegns tore me a new one in like two hits.

I currently in a Heavy Escort using a fore 2xElectro-Plasma Dual Heavy Cannons and 1 Quantum, with 2x Phaser Turrets on the aft. The Set-up is amazingly working very well.

I am not sure whether or not to buy the game or not. To be honest, there are still some major things i would like to see implemented and also unfortunately, it is very single player.

[tibilicus]

I am not sure whether or not to buy the game or not. To be honest, there are still some major things i would like to see implemented and also unfortunately, it is very single player.

I'm in the same situation. Space combat is really great and a huge drawn but I just don't find myself enjoying ground combat as much, for me whenever I have to do ground combat it almost seems like another block before the next space battle, nothing more. The single player focus you talk about doesn't actually bother me to much, for some reason.

Also, spot on about the difficulty being to easy, I don't really know why they changed it, it wasn't exactly that hard before..

I'm tempted to wait a month for the dust to settle and for the game to be ironed out a bit more, I might go and by Mass effect 2 in the mean time. Bottom line is I think this game has a lot of raw potential to be good, I just really think cryptic need to smooth some things out and flesh out their universe a bit. I also hope they don't do what they did with their other MMO titles and essentially offer rubbish late game support. They have such a profitable and well know IP, if they fail to provide continuous support and updates for it then quite frankly their marketing department needs a slap round the face.

[Veho Nex]

Ive got the money to spare, but if any of you have seen me before, i can get pretty into mmo's. WoW seems to be the only one that I get bored of after about 40 or so levels.

[Major Robert Dump]

ground combat is actually my favorite.......the pvp arenas are an enjoyable way to grind xp, and the sandbox away-team mass pvp is a hoot,especially forming abd equipping youir officers.....wish there was more ground content tho

[Beskar]

ground combat is actually my favorite.......the pvp arenas are an enjoyable way to grind xp, and the sandbox away-team mass pvp is a hoot,especially forming abd equipping youir officers.....wish there was more ground content tho

I really like Ground Combat too.

I love how you can fully customise your officers, it was really a clincher to me. I got all sorts of wonderful characters which I love dearly.

It reminds me of Kotor.

The open-world sandbox is good, as in where it is you and other players in a fleet-action style set-up. It took a while to do, but it was fun.

Biggest problem is that in many ways, you have to choose between ground combat or space combat and with them now capping skill points, you can't just max them all out or anything.