Star Trek Online!

[White Haven]

Now go into that bag and pull out my warbird. It'll be the one with 'Bad Motherfucker' on it.

Seriously, some of the new warbird designs look badass; I approve.

[RogueIce]

Time for Romulans!

And the cool new character select screen.

http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q66 ... e93813.jpg

Prometheus class? I approve.

[rhoenix]

Something I just found that others might find useful:

Finding Duty Officers with the Resolve trait is difficult, however I did find a way. In the Sol System, at Starfleet Academy, you can exchange 5 green duty officers in exchange for a blue one, and this one in specific:

Name: Voloror
Race: Vulcan (Female)
Rank: Lt. Junior
Dept: Security
Specialization: Security Officer Ground
Traits: Tactful, FF, Logical, Resolve, Telepathic

[rhoenix]

FYI - my Feddie Tactical Captain has the Aegis Set equipped on his ship. And it is "I have shit-tons of shields" glorious.

[Steve]

*grumbles about how Cryptic screwed crafting over with the dilithium-costing materials requirements*

I love the Aegis set, too bad it costs thousands and thousands of dilithium now, way too much for a non-endgame character. 45,360 Dilithium for the whole set at my estimate plus the mats.

[Steve]

So I finally tried my hand at the Foundry. Posted a story that kept its working title, "Earn Your Happy Ending", inspired by the sad fates of all those researchers who's bases we find abandoned in the Exploration Clusters.

Then I found out it won't go public until enough testers play it

[RogueIce]

I did my part.

[Steve]

So, was reading the fourth dev blog for Season 9.

All of their beam attacks can knock your ship – inspired by a near-miss from an Undine beam knocking Voyager off-course.

.....why do I feel like this is going to make space battles with Undines goddamn annoying? Just like I avoid ground battles with Borg like the fucking plague due to bullshit adaptation, which of course "Came from the show".

This is a motherfucking game, mechanics should not be put in just because "Oh, it's from the show". And yes, "inspired by" doesn't mean it was the sole reason, but I predict much fucking annoyance from this unless the likelihood is turned way down.

[White Haven]

Given how incredibly, pathetically, sadly easy almost all space combat is in STO, I welcome anything that gives real challenge, especially when it arrives at that goal without just throwing really big numbers at the problem. Really Big Numbers can fuck fresh-leveled 50s, whereas unusual mechanics work against everyone more or less equally.

[rhoenix]

So. Plasma torps are looking increasingly attractive lately, particularly from the plasma torps received from both the Omega (Borg), and Romulan rep systems. Add in set bonuses for those sets on both the Assimilated and the Romulan sets, on both the sets that have the plasma torps, and the ones that don't - and they're looking truly fun.

This is an option I'll likely pursue with my Romulan Tactical character, as my Feddie one rocks an Andorian Frigate, which is all about phasers and rapid photon torps.

[Cynical Cat]

Given how incredibly, pathetically, sadly easy almost all space combat is in STO, I welcome anything that gives real challenge, especially when it arrives at that goal without just throwing really big numbers at the problem. Really Big Numbers can fuck fresh-leveled 50s, whereas unusual mechanics work against everyone more or less equally.

Seconded. The Voth "fuck you, this shield arc is invulnerable" ability was a nasty surprise but it made my tactical captain actually use tactics and move. The thaleron beam from Scimitars is nasty, but it adds fun and tension to combat against them. Bring it on. Shake things up. Make us move, think, strategize instead of optimize rapid burn downs.

[White Haven]

Because trust me: nobody beats Romulans when it comes to rapid burn-downs.

*high-fives Cyncat*

[rhoenix]

Because trust me: nobody beats Romulans when it comes to rapid burn-downs.

Or the ever-awesome Surprise Shenanigans that Romulans are capable of. I have to admit, the Singularity abilities make Romulan ships very fun to play.

[Steve]

I think there's annoying in a good way and annoying in a bad way. The Voth immunity shields or the Scimitar-class's Thalaron murder weapon are annoying but in a good way. Causing someone to get repeatedly knocked around wouldn't be, although having played the new battlezone on Tribble I didn't see it happen too often.

Now if only they'd overhaul Borg ground adaptation.

[rhoenix]

Ok, so here's a question regarding Plasma torps - specifically, the high-end ones from Omega and Romulan rep respectively.

The Romulan plasma torp launcher looks delicious, especially in conjunction with the ZPE Conduit Console for the set bonus.

Now, the Omega Adapted Borg set has the console and Kinetic cutting beam that looks very nice for an Escort-type ship, and likely others as well. The third item in the set is the Omega Plasma Torp Launcher, which apparently stores torps as charges (5 total), able to fire one every two seconds until those 5 charges are depleted, and regains 1 charge per 6 seconds. It also fires the wonderfully horrifying Plasma Energy Bolt we all know and hate from the Borg if you fire it as High Yield.

So, this brings me to my question - having 2 of the Romulan Singularity Harness set equipped gives you a +7.5% bonus to Plasma Torp damage, and having 2 items of either the Reman Prototype or the Romulan Prototype sets increase the flight speed of High Yield Plasma Torps.

With all of this in mind for my Romulan character, is the Adapted Borg set worth getting the Plasma torps of as well, given the bonuses above for High-Yield Plasma torps, which would make the Omega Plasma launcher rather scary? Or would it be better to do something else?

My ship is the Fleet Dhelan Warbird, which has 4 forward weapon slots and 3 rear - so my proposed setup is 2 antiproton dual heavy cannons, the Omega Torp Launcher, and the Romulan Hyper-Plasma launcher in front, with the Kinetic Cutting beam and 2 antiproton turret guns on the rear. It has 5 tactical console slots, 2 Engineering, and 3 Science, which should be enough to fit the ZPE Conduit, the Assimulated Module, and all my usual consoles.


EDIT: And one more bonus question: I've been looking through the other ships, and I have to admit the Talvath Temporal Destroyer for a Romulan Escort character looks rather nice, especially for Gravity Well / Unload All Guns shenanigans. Is this ship worth getting, and are there other good side-grade ships like this for an Escort-type Romulan or Federation character?

[White Haven]

Well, the Omega launcher took a heavy nerf from a bugfix a while back; it used to just keep firing at max rate even once the ready magazine was exhausted. It's still quite decent, but once the ready magazine is expended, the damage drops off dramatically. The Romulan tube, on the other hand, has fantastic theoretical damage, but it can be difficult to apply it either at all (at range) or safely (up close, given that it can backblast onto you if you're close enough). Can be tricky, but if you can make it work it can pull off some brutal shit. In either case, while the Romulan set bonus for torpedo speed is really nice, so is the Adapted MACO 2-piece for +25% torpedo damage. Again, applicable versus theoretical damage.

While it's not plasma, also consider the Dyson torpedo from that rep's 3-piece set. Really, all three of the rep-based launchers are really good, though; there's no real /wrong/ option.

[rhoenix]

Well, the Omega launcher took a heavy nerf from a bugfix a while back; it used to just keep firing at max rate even once the ready magazine was exhausted. It's still quite decent, but once the ready magazine is expended, the damage drops off dramatically. The Romulan tube, on the other hand, has fantastic theoretical damage, but it can be difficult to apply it either at all (at range) or safely (up close, given that it can backblast onto you if you're close enough). Can be tricky, but if you can make it work it can pull off some brutal shit. In either case, while the Romulan set bonus for torpedo speed is really nice, so is the Adapted MACO 2-piece for +25% torpedo damage. Again, applicable versus theoretical damage.

While it's not plasma, also consider the Dyson torpedo from that rep's 3-piece set. Really, all three of the rep-based launchers are really good, though; there's no real /wrong/ option.

Hmm. Doesn't the Dyson rep stuff include a lot of proton & antiproton weaponry, as well as photon for torps?

If so, I was thinking of going this route for my Feddie Tactical character, since phaser/photon is a good workable combo for my Andorian Frigate.

[Steve]

Aside from RogueIce, White Haven and GenHav I'm afraid I don't have anyone friended. I could've sworn I had Ben friended at one point though.

Anyway, my STO username is @stgjr.

Edit: I do have Ben friended! Or at least an old account, @TLorn_Vladstok

[Steve]

Okay, got CynCat and whomever is olethromancer.

[Cynical Cat]

Okay, got CynCat and whomever is olethromancer.

rhoenix

[White Haven]

The Dyson stuff has some very shiny toys, indeed. Its torpedo tube is a war crime fleshed in battle-steel when it's supplied with the full 3-piece set.

[Steve]

Just finished the new story mission.

Shit just got real, yo.

Seriously, TVTropes talks about Wham Episodes. This was a Wham Episode.

[Steve]

I got the DS9 Bundle for one thing alone.

To put my Defiant-flying captain in the proper Defiant bridge, so that he can follow the footsteps of The Sisko, middle name "Don't Fuck With".

[rhoenix]

The bad news: I got my hands on a Prometheus class.

The good news: Andy Dick was immediately erased and replaced with Dirty Harry.

The better news: The Prometheus class can perform Gravity Well.

The best news: The Refracting Tetryon cannons & turrets, coupled with the two heavy Tetryon cannon blasts I'll have soon from achieving Tier 5 Nukara rep (to get the Tier 5 Active ability, and the Shields of the Nukara set, which when completed also gives you a heavy Tetryon blast attack), mean that this ship is a caustic desert wind when it comes to shields. And enemy ships.

My point of contention: Why the hell can't the Fleet Escort perform a Gravity Well?

[Hotfoot]

Because there's barely enough reason for people to roll science as is, letting the kings of DPS have some of the best science stuff means those of us who have dedicated ourselves to science might as well delete our shipyards.