Equipped to Kill: Crystalline Entity | STOked 59

NEWS

Series 2 FINALE – Night of the Comet
* Slingshot = WIN!!!
* Grouping fell apart (dialogues, drinks, combat scaling)
* Ground combat felt dogpiley
* Section 31 did NOT do their homework (attacked by Feds and KDF)
* Puzzles — Cryptic hasn’t found the sweet spot
* Final Combat mini-rant
* Every new episode is still a big win

Season 3 lands on Tribble! Patch notes

• KDF crafting… the only way to start it right now is if you’re low level. The new “Sorties” are the only way to currently get harvestables, and they scale with your level. (So LtGs are getting top-level harvestables, even though they can’t use ‘em)
• Sector Space upgrade… more than we’d seen previously. And options! So many options!
• Mission Replay available via your Captain’s Ready Room.
  • Engine reward added to “S’harien’s Swords” but patch notes say they’re not working.
  • Type 1 hand phaser added to “Past Imperfect”
• Complete FONT overhaul.  Comments?  (Testing only, not included in S3)
• Contact UI Upgraded – THANK GOD (and no more blinking!)
• ESD/Qonos vendor updates (huge list, might wanna keep it handy)

Missing:
No Foundry =(
No click to aim?
No sitting in chairs?
No naussican ship?
No new Gorn customization?

Preview Video for upcoming C-Store items:  https://www.startrekonline.com/videos
KDF ships in motion
Enterprise NX in motion
NX is “intended to be a starter Escort”
* Can equip cannons
* Has an extra Tac console (like how the Connie has +eng console)
* Grappler Hook ability (like a tractor beam, kinda)
First Look at the All Good Things “Future” uniform
(the rest we’ve seen, some is already available)

COMING SOON:
November Engineering Report on Monday 11/15
“The Next Enterprise” contest ramping up in December
More Fed ships:  Oberth, Ambassador, Vesta, Andorian

MATH:

Today we will once more confront the Silicon Avatar itself.  Friend of Lore, and foe of all other life – the sinister snowflake, the carbon crusher, the devouring diamond – Crystalline Entity.

I will not be discussing tactics. Except in specific cases where your equipment and abilities are dictated by them. Because THAT is what I will be covering – how to equip your ship, and which boffs to bring to the fight.

CRYSTALLINE ABILITIES:

1) RATE OF REGENERATION
At VA, it has 2.5million hitpoints and regenerates 1% hitpoints per second.
In order to overcome this, you will need a total of 25,000 sustained DPS, AFTER factoring in the Entity’s significant damage resistance.

2) SHARD SPAWNING
Fragments (no size indicator) deal damage directly to your hull.  Shields are irrelevant.
Large Fragments will busticate into 3 Small Fragments upon impact with ANYTHING. (phase 3 only)
Small Fragments will rush back to daddy and heal him for 1% of his hitpoints EACH.
** This means that a single collision with a Large Fragment can heal the entity for more than 75,000 damage.

RE-EQUIP

1)  NO KINETICS

This isn’t 100% confirmed, but common knowledge indicates that kinetic weaponry of any type appears to cause the spawning of additional shards.  So don’t use ‘em.

This is especially important in the case of MINES, HY Plasma and TRICOBALTS because they can and WILL be targeted by Large Fragments in Phase 3, causing widespread panic and pandemonium in the form of a swarm of Small Fragments that will pop the Entity’s hitpoints back to max in no time flat.

2)  ENERGY TYPES

Bad = Phasers, Polarons and Tetryons
The CE has no subsystems and no shields.  So the aforementioned energy types will render no benefit beyond their base damage.

Good = Disruptors and Plasma
The distruptor debuff will make the CE take additional damage from EVERYONE firing upon it.
Plasma will burn the sucker. Nuff said.

Neutral = Antiproton
No additional benefits, but usually have really nice innate bonuses.  Plus they’re pretty.

3)  BOFF ABILITY SELECTION

TACTICAL =
Nothing that relies upon torps or mines (see note about Kinetics).
No subsystem targeting.
Best to use buffs that increase DPS of you and your teammates.
Beam Overload, Tactical Team and Attack Patterns are your best bet

ENGINEERS =
No boarding parties!  They can be targeted by fragments just like mines and such.
Shield heals will only be useful in Phase 1 so might not be best to bring along.
Focus on hull heals, and dps increases.
Eject Warp Plasma could come in handy if you are planning to kite fragments, but beware that if it manages to destroy a Fragment it may result in healing the Entity.

SCIENCE =
Nothing that deals AOE and/or Kinetic damage. This includes: Tyken’s Rift, Gravity Well, Repulsor Beams, Photonic Shockwave.
Charged Particle Burst only deals shield damage = worthless.
Shield Heals again are only useful in Phase 1, so concentrate on Hull heals.
Energy Siphon will not effect the Entity, but will result in a slight boost to your energy levels resulting in an increase in DPS output.
Scramble Sensors occasionally confuses fragments into not following nearby targets.  It is unreliable however the 360-degree targetting arc allows you to fire it while circling the Entity.

CAPTAIN ABILITIES:
Science captains MUST spam the Sensor Scan button. The DPS increase an absolute necessity.
Tac captains MUST keep Fire on my Mark active on the CE at all times.
ALL Captains WILL NOT use the following abilities:
– Ramming Speed
– Self Destruct
– Photonic Fleet and/or Fleet Support
Reasons: Each of these run an extremely high risk of colliding with Large Fragments which will heal the entity, as mentioned previously.

SUMMARY:

Escorts and Cruisers far outstrip the capabilities of Science Vessels for this encounter, due to the limited number of science boff abilities that are actually beneficial against the Entity, and the lower overall DPS of Science Ships.

It’s IMPERATIVE that you DO NOT DIE.  Every time you die, that big bad hunk of shiny benefits.  It’s not just a matter of pride – he will heal himself and the rest of the team will lose out on your DPS.

Until we figure out a way to hook up Klingon Opera to our Deflector Dish to bust out a harmonic resonance, the best advice I can offer you all is to read, understand, and share your knowledge.  There is no single encounter in STO that is more misunderstood or incorrectly referenced, than the fight against the Crystalline Entity.  It is up to each of us to learn its tricks, and tell others how to learn them as well.  Because knowing… is half the battle.