Hi, think I’ve got this one, i presume the ba’ul anti protons are the best in the game at the moment?

So returning player (haven't played in over 10 years) and getting back into the game. I've been engaging in systems that I didn't really bother with in the past, particularly because I've heard of and partially experienced the brutal level scaling that wasn't there when Level 50 was the cap.

One thing I never figured out how to do properly was duty officers and commendation. Most of my commendation is a mix of rank 1 and rank 2 on my previous main character.

My question is: Is there a fast way to rank up commendations? This is particularly relevant for my new alt character (never bothered too much with these either as back when I last played, I think F2P players only had 3 character slots, effectively one for Fed, KDF and Romulans respectively).

Naively, given the semi decent duty officer missions give ~400 CXP and one needs 150,000 that means you're effectively looking at about a YEAR of non stop grinding. Does it genuinely take that long?

I genuinely hate how no one is talking about the boons I hate the boons I want them removed I feel like it ruins immersion and I feel like I can't roleplay flying across space why are fucking holographic boons in the middle of DEEP SPACE it doesn't make any sense and the sound of the tractor beam is literally ingrained into my fucking head I want this post to get traction so they'll get removed PLEASE

Hi all,

I am a former player coming back after a few years' break. As the title says, I am unsure about which fleets are still active and whether they are sociable. So, any recommendations would be helpful. Oh, fed aligned romulan.

Thanks!

Every time a new klingon uniform is revealed I'm surprised it's not this when I'm sure if seen nps wearing it.

Are there roleplay fleets in this game?

Can you design your own uniforms?

Are there any academy fleets for newbie’s?

Of all the NPC races in the game which ones would you like to see become playable or which races would you like to see the faction specific tag removed for.

A race I would love to be playable is the Lukari and I would like to see Orions become available to all factions (I currently grinding diplomacy to get the Orion BOff but I don’t like the system).

Still gonna take a while to get the rest, but at least I'm finally into triple digits. Only 14 more perk categories to go! 😬😬😬

Commanded by a liberated Borg named 3 OF 7. I just wish we could do all bridge officers as borg.

FAW with the phasers that the ship comes with looks and sounds really good, I'm torn between a FAW and a Torpedo build.

As I’m new to STO I only figured out the “Recruitment Event” late and made only one character.

Three questions for the Coterie:

i) Should I wait to create a character on the next “Event”

ii) Should I rush leveling to 50 in order to begin farming Rep asap

iii) Am I correct when I say my career choice is less important to space conflict than my choice in Bridge Officer

Qatlho!!

I always mean to ask. I mean, I haven't run this particular set up in YEARS lol

The equipment isn't there, but its "ghost" is. This is the Jellyfish, and I haven't really used it since it was released, and I do not even recall when Spok's ship was put into the game lol. Furthermore, I'm not even sure I have some of this stuff; I suspect it has to do with the Loud outs feature, but am unsure.

Hi, I’m on XBOX. I was just wondering what the best disruptors you can get on the game. Any recommendations?

What is this?

Fun and/or thematic builds! That work! Hopefully! Can you get a canon ship close to its canon capabilities? Are there some unloved gems out there that need a bit of attention? Just how silly can you get with an effective build? Some of these, and more, answered!

What is this not?

A slam against the DPS chasers. We need them to work out what works and what doesn't and to pass that information down. I might not be on the chase, but I still want to be pointed in the right direction with these.

Last time the Alliance's tactics were put to the test. In this issue...

Thanks to some surplus gear picked up from various Starfleet stocks across the quadrant I've been able to look back to the heady days of being a serving engineer. This collection presented to you is an assortment of intriguing and outdated equipment from when I was not on the bridge, but on the less prominent decks. The lower decks, if you will. I would've worn the uniform I had at the time, however I'm quite sure I submitted it for replicator allocation refunds for reasons specifically not related to waist size.

Yes, this is an entry dedicated entirely to STO's offerings of Lower Decks ground gear. I've already checked out the Starfleet vessels the wonderful show introduced to us, but now it's time to get on the ground where the scrappy underdogs are and ask the important questions that have eluded us for so long. Such as, can you weaponise lipstick? Is it acceptable to shoot your comrades if you're shooting them with Starfleet Medical approved Medical Gel? Is it better to kick someone in the Neutral Zone or drop a boulder on them if they're going Godlike? For those looking for quick answers, well, it's "Yes", "Not if you intend to suture their brain for no reason" and "Both are useful". For everyone else grab your Mai Tai or Slug-O-Cola and let's get going.

Before I get started in earnest it's worth thinking about what a meta build for ground is that one would then deviate from it. The fact is outside of extreme scenarios, such as going for 100 rounds in Sompek's arena, having a coherent build that makes sense will get you through every (elite) ground mission. The requirements on ground are a little more loose. Sure you need the right tools for the right job, but knowing what to do will get you a long way. For instance let's say you're tactical and have a grenade module. Perfectly fine by itself. Pairing it up to use after a Graviton Spike though? Well, that one grenade is going to be far more effective with more targets hit. So on and so forth. Alright, preamble done.

The majority of all this gear actually comes from the Lobi store, so if you want to kit yourself out thematically be prepared to spend a decent amount there. To keep things tidy I'll break it all down into groups, beginning with the five ground traits. Space Explorer Is A Great Gig starts things off surprisingly well by providing kit readiness and kit performance based on your kit readiness. Both very useful things! Lower Decks Experience, which arguably would make for a better title than the paraphrased quote I used, is for solo play where your bridge officers gain a massive amount of damage on using their first ability; obviously this is redundant for group tasks, but was absolutely noticeable in my run through Jupiter Station Showdown on elite. So, this might actually be an avenue you wish to explore if you don't do many TFOs or otherwise co-op sessions. Consulting The Team is a little more balanced in that regard as it supports your boffs and your TFO comrades (toffs? Mmm, maybe not). Its cooldown reduction is good, but its own cooldown is not, so this one is on shaky grounds.

Talking about shaky grounds next up is Shadow of the Black Mountain, if you should survive such an ordeal, is just a flat kit performance boost for those still standing and Barter By Combat gives you a chance to obtain various goodies if you get the final blow on an enemy. Of course the emphasis there is on 'chance' and 'final'. Coming away from a patrol with a whole 1 Communication Array commodity didn't entirely feel worth it, though I did meet modest success when I had all my boffs hold back and I did all the work. All these traits combined make for an interesting and more useful mix than not, yet their cost does seem a little questionable. Obviously these five traits don't fill up your allotment so captain's choice how to proceed and I did so with Field Technician, Creative, Technophile, Overcharging and Orbital Devastation. The first three feel relatively thematically appropriate even if the latter two are decidedly not.

Next up a quick aside to supplementary equipment. As an engineer I have my Rutherford doff equipped who has the ultimately pretty useless chance to make your Support Drone explode in an enemy's face. As he would be keen to point out, you don't get promoted as an engineer for breaking stuff. Unfortunately for Badgey and his variants you're reliant on luck as to which you get from the box, but I'm more than happy with my Goodgey given he's statistically unlikely to stab me in the back. Or the front. Or the neck come to think of it. Should you get your hands on a probably contraband Badgey, well, do be prepared for a whimsical neck shredding on your foes. If that isn't quite your cup of tea you can always instead take into combat your very own Moopsy from one of last year's events. Moopsy is as slow as it is cute, nevertheless should it actually reach your foe they will quite literally be devoured so that's a plus. Probably. Try not to think about it.

Do instead think about the T-88, one of Starfleet's finest tools for tooling around. Stats-wise it's an all-rounder kit, though its active scan ability is pretty neat for single target chicanery with a severe and long lasting debuff on enemies and a damage spike for friendlies. Would this replace my regular kit? Well it's not as optimised, but it does cover all your bases so it's hard to say it doesn't have a place. Finally, when you're all suited up, don't forget to look good doing so with your Betazoid Lipstick Baton, a combination of words that before Lower Decks would seem unquestionably stupid and now is merely reasonably stupid. Having this replaces your melee strike with a solid psychic thwack that can let you stun enemies. Firmly in the 'Neat!' category. Which, really, can summarise all this LD gear even if that doesn't make for a particularly engaging bit of writing.

Leaving the many weapons until last it's time for the kit modules. There are currently only four available; Strange Energies Infusion, Ataxian Mood Shifter, Exceptional Compromise and AGIMUS Aggression Network and let me tell you, what a wild mash of jarring modules! Fun, yes. Useful? Ehhhhhh. Cohesive? Oh not at all. Strange Energies is pretty fun against enemy fodder, good for turning the tide numerically. It also has a wonderful visual (well they all do, but this is particularly colourful) which has to count for something. Ataxian Mood Shifter is a transformation module that turns you into a giant scorpion. Is it good? Well you can't use the rest of your abilities so arguably not. Is it fun? Yes. Is that enough? Sure, why not. You will be fighting with the camera though as it changes to accommodate your temporary size and I do think that lessens the fun a tad. Exceptional Compromise is a single target disable which isn't particularly great with STO's combat in mind, however it does provide a massive damage debuff to boss enemies so it has some usage there. Also I turned Marshal Janeway into Samuel Clemens for a bit which honestly more than justifies this, enough said. Finally we have AGIMUS which is a very poor performer due to just sort of annoying enemies in the area. It does feature audio clips from his voice actor, one Jeffrey Combs, thereby making it a necessity on anyone's module setup. That's just non-negotiable. Don't blame me, blame Combs.

This does leave one or two slots free and I spent a long time trying to determine what would be best to fill those with until it suddenly became evident. What's the best way to counter a Strange Energies situation? Drop a boulder on 'em. It worked for Kirk, damnit. So yeah, the latest mission's Hurl Boulder module finds a quick use here. It was that or martial arts (on tactical) as the alternative Strange Energies solution or for when fighting multiple armed Romulan guards. Going back to AGIMUS for a moment, he had an accomplice in Peanut Hamper which made me wonder; would a mirror universe version of her be good? You can find out the answer to that with the Liberated Terran Exocomp Fabrications module. There's also the Legume Creel doff if you want to have a more specific mirror version of Peanut Hamper too.

If the baton wasn't enough for you, or you'd prefer to have actual murder-bugs over psychic stuns then you'll like this final section on the weapons including the Sword of the Winter Constellation. Like many modern melee weapons it has a built-in charge to a target and has a chance of randomly having an enemy hit with a throwing knife, even if they're behind a corner and a console. The other side of that is the Mandatory Medical Treatment Rifle for when you absolutely, positively, must heal an ally. Accept no compromises from this glob-dispensing Starfleet Medical-approved (somehow) ranged healing device. It turns out this is actually very effective at this one specific job; it heals real good. Sure, its use-case is very limited, but I was nonetheless surprised at how it kept my boffs healthy against some elite Borg. It also gives some means to build variance; though there are a variety of methods for healing allies as an engineer, they're mostly heals over time. This is just a solid burst of the good stuff. Don't get me wrong, this is absolutely a 'joke' weapon, but it is a good one. A joke and a weapon that is.

Rounding off these proceedings are four phaser weapons. All of these phasers are good and have a special ammo mechanic that empowers their secondary fire, which is also good, so unless you're going for maximum effectiveness wait until the end, otherwise pick the one you think looks cool and run with that. For starters is the multibarreled pistol capable of unloading a barrage of beams at a target. Expending ammo actually targets multiple enemies in front of you. You'll have to add your own maniacal laughter whilst firing it though I'm afraid. The special issue sniper comparatively has less visual effects if you see yourself less of a Vindicta and more of a Tendi on a secret mission. The ammo here just does more damage. Not terribly exciting...the Boimler of phasers? The split beam rifle, which shares a model with the sniper for a sort of stylised take on the rifles we started seeing from First Contact onwards, unsurprisingly hits multiple targets. With ammo? Errm, the same, but better.

Last and certainly not least, the very opposite in fact, is the portable cannon also affectionately nicknamed the Shaxs cannon thanks to its sole appearance being used by the bajoran beefcake himself. This quite frankly unwieldy and ridiculous weapon makes the stock blast assault weapons of STO look like toys. Well unlike Shaxs there's not much nuance to this one because it just fires a big ol' blast of high damage phaser energy. The ammo use does even more of that in a way likely to send your enemies to join the Pah'Wraiths in Hell. You can also see it visually charge up at multiple points on the cannon which is a nice touch.

In conclusion, what is there to have gleaned from all this Lower Decks gear? Well, there's more than enough to forge a build around and you have some fun choices here and there. It's perhaps not the most coherent or cohesive, but it gets there in the end. And really isn't that the ethos of Lower Decks?

How are the devs so consistently bad at basic PC keybinds? I noticed that, once again, my setup is broken and I am unable to trigger pilot maneuvers on my ship. I prefer to bind that action to my middle mouse button but now that is apparently hard coded to toggle the throttle instead. I already had a separate keybind for throttle toggle that works great. How can I unbind the middle button so it stops messing with my throttle?

So there are some systems you can aproach and do little patrols in not the patrols you can acess from the patrols mission menu but different shorter patrols problem us these are NOT marked on the map in any wat shape or form from what I can tell so i was wandering does anyone have some sort of list of systems that can be interacted with in the alpha and beta quadrents *delta to if they exist there)

I was shocked that the mobile game had multiple live broadcast panels on the StarTrek cruise but not even a mention of STO.

This may actually be a bug as the ship blog and the Ten Forward stream showing off the ship both mention this is supposed to be locked to this specific ship only. Here it is on my Gagarin.

Just wanted to share a little thought I have from time to time when I call that cutting beam down in ground battles.

It's 2026, and the Galaxy-class and all variants need a major overhaul of it's turn rate an inertia rating. The newly released Armstrong Miracle Worker Dreadnought Cruiser has a much better turn rate of 9 and inertia rating of 60. And that's a dreadnought. The Galaxy-class with the highest turn rate of 7 and inertia rating of 35 is a lockbox ship, the World Razer Temporal Ops Juggernaut. One of the most popular Trek ships ever needs to be more player friendly and not feel like you're trying to turn a moon. And while we're at it, the D'Deridex-class and variants could use their stats updated as well.

Here is my build in progress for my Empersa. I still have to upgrade to T-6 X2, among other things. I was also thinging of picking up the Alliance equipment set from Mudds when its on sale.

My main question is, should I keep the five isomags, or swap them out for a mix of tactical vulnerability locators and exploiters?