STOked, Season 2 Episode 4: We cover some recent news for Star Trek Online, then show you how to plan out your character skills with a handy skill builder tool, and show you what video cards get you the best results with STO. How much does a dual core, quad core, or even a single core processor effect your game performance? We give you the answer!

PLUS: We interview Craig Zinkievich STO’s Executive Producer about the current state of the game and get you answers about up coming death penalty possibilities, future content expansion for low and high level players, and so much more!

Our STOked App:

Grab the STOked iPhone/iPod App and download STOked plus bonus content on the go!

Show Notes:

CAST:
Chris, Jeremy

DISCLAIMERS:
GoogleAds showing Energy Credit Buying services on our embedded player. We do not support them, but are having a hard time convincing Google to remove them.
We claimed that a Borg Raidisode would be published on Feb 18th, based on a forum post from DStahl. It didn’t make it into the patch, but we have no control over that. Stay tuned for the next announcement. Don’t shoot the messenger!

NEWS:

5-Day Buddy Keys available — https://www.startrekonline.com/claim_buddy_key
Available for any subscriber, allows for d/l of client and 5-day free play.
Originally said 10 days? Bait & switch?
If they play a LOT, that’s enough to reach Rear Admiral!

Work has started on an unofficial Mac client using WINE, Xquartz
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=76799
List of known issues:
Fonts are ugly when they are small… Noticed mostly when scaling the UI down.
antialiasing is not functional
sun/stars nearby in the background of space missions might have texture drawing errors and get flashy when moving the camera around
alt key is usually not functional on most machines… this is an Xquartz keymapping problem… newer xquartz testing versions work better, but are still unstable. For now, going to have to live without alt.
due to limitations in Xquartz, Multimonitor set ups can be a hassle. The game will want to play only on the left-most monitor, wether its the primary or not.
running in the normal VIrtual Desktop window mode can have the mouse reactions go super fast while turning yourself or the camera… the farther you move the mouse… can be a bit annoying.

Ask Cryptic: Let’s Talk Skills https://www.startrekonline.com/node/1158
They talk about Skill Caps, and how they are necessary for future content once the cap is raised to RA 10 (“later this year”)
They will be altering the Ship Pilot skills, so that each tier will again benefit the ship types further up that line.
Their “answer” to the question regarding Weapon Types vs. Skill Point Cost was disappointing. Not really an answer at all. Paraphrased: “They’re different and exotic because we say so.”
Compare to a fantasy MMO:
Daggers = Armor Piercing. Swords = Bleed DOT. Equal but different effects. Now if Swords cost more skill points to attain the same DPS as daggers that are cheaper, why would anyone use swords?
SOLUTION: Higher Tier weapon types need to be more powerful effects, in order to justify the skill point investment. Or, even out the cost. You can’t have equality AND imbalance, at the same time.


MATH:

A Walk-Thru Guide to the Captain Skill Builder

https://sto-builder.binarybit.ch/ — created by Ghley < —- LOWER THIRD TO SHOW LINK
Java, 32-bit ONLY
Easy on-site bug reporting tool
Patch Notes / To-Do List at the bottom of the page

STEP 1) Choose your profession.
This will alter the skill choices available for your “ground” specializations.

STEP 2) Choose your ship.
If you’re trying to set yourself up for end-game, choose an end-game ship for maximum forethought.

STEP 3) Choose your boffs’ abilities.
The drop-down lists provided are NOT all-inclusive. They do not include ‘rare’ Mk III abilities, or those trainable by Captains (more on this topic later).
You will notice that all skills that affect your chosen abilities are now highlighted in a gold color.
NOTE: Several BUGS exist, so not all skills are highlighted correctly… hopefully the creators are working on this!
You may need to come back to this step if you find you’ve spread yourself a bit too thin!

STEP 4) Spend your skill points.
The Builder knows when you have spent enough to rank up. Watch for the next rank to unlock.
The numbers at the top show: Points Spent This Rank (Points To Next Rank)
Most skills begin giving significantly diminished returns, starting around rank 4 or 5. So it’s not always the best idea to max out unless you NEED every last tidbit of bonus (PvP?)
One bonus of training all 9 ranks in some skills: To teach your boffs powerful Rank III abilities.
You can only teach your boffs abilities that match your Captain’s Profession (so Science captains will potentially have the best Science boffs, e.g.)
This skill builder does not support Rank III taught abilities. Workaround: You can select a lower-rank ability on the boff dropdown menus, to show which skills will affect these.
Don’t be afraid to buy lower-tier skills, in order to meet the requirements to unlock the next tier up. Sometimes the broader bonuses of low-rank bonuses are better to have in the long run.
DON’T NEGLECT YOUR GROUND SKILLS! Despite this builder only highlighting the SPACE skills that benefit your boffs, remember that you will be fighting on the ground also!
Pick a sub-specialization within your class – don’t try to do everything.
Click the “Space Stats” button near the top to display your character’s skill modifier totals in the right-hand pane.

STEP 5) Share your build.
The URL field at the top of the screen is updated on the fly as you spend your skill points. You can copy & paste this to share your character build.
Recommend using a URL shortener for forum sharing (bit.ly or similar)

Summary/Tips:
For now, Commander and higher ship skills are limited to the ship you are currently flying and do not carry up to the next tier. THIS WILL BE CHANGING.
For more information on your individual skills, you can pull up your Skill Pane in-game (press P) and look at the list of skills from there.
The skill information provided by this skill builder can also be used to help you select your Deflector Dish and Consoles.

MEDIA:

STO Benchmarks show clear lead on Nvidia cards

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/star-trek-online,2553.html

Nvidia GTX260 w/896MB of RAM currently goes for $194 on Amazon on Amazon