DSthal comments on Guramba

• Happened while he was out sick

Commentary from DStahl on Mission Remastering
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=3269588#post3269588

• KDF missions will get remastered, too.
• Only 12% of players have active KDF toons.

“Decommissioned” Accolades // Mission Remastering
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=3262925#post3262925

• As a result of the upcoming remastering of missions (headed up by Gozer) some old accolades will no longer be accessible.
• One that has so far been confirmed, is the “SS Azura” (being replaced)

January’s Ask Cryptic
https://www.startrekonline.com/node/2237

• Craftable Refit Ship Costumes
• Season 4 will include the Fleet Action Queue system, allowing fleets to team up easier.
• Confirmed that the Foundry is being used by the Neverwinter team – likely a big reason the tech is getting so much attention.
• First Officer system may include an extra Universal Boff slot on your ship!
• Both the Captain’s Yacht (400-day reward) and Delta Flyer (omgomg) are coming soon.
• DSEs getting “replaced with something new” in Season 4.

MATH

Engines!

Standard engine variants come in three flavors:
Impulse — A standard engine, baseline
Hyper Impulse — Efficient at high energy (meaning when you are above about 60 engine power, you start gaining extra engine energy)
Combat Impulse — Efficient at low energy (meaning when you are below about 40 engine power, you start gaining extra engine energy)

Impulse engines — the baseline variety — should not be used.  They seem to have the exact same stat scaling as the other two types, but never grant additional energy.

So your choice should be based on what you typically fly with your Engine energy set at.  If it’s low, go Combat, and if it’s high go Hyper.

Exception = Efficient Impulse Engine
Can obtain from episodic content in the Lt Commander range (Past Imperfect), and it adds 5 energy to weapons, shields and aux.  So awesome!  And totally viable all the way to VA.  Even if you’re ship’s a little slower, the extra energy is tasty.  And speed rarely impacts PvE tactics.

As you go up in Marks of engines, the only thing that changes is the speed and sometimes turning rates. So if you have a lower Mk engine with a fatty bonus that you adore (like the aforementioned Efficient engine), and don’t mind the reduced maneuverability, don’t feel like you have to give it up.  The choice is yours.

Engine modifiers come in 3 standard variants as well:
[full] — increases your Full Impulse speed
[spd] — increases your standard flight speed
[turn] — slightly buffs your turn rate

Speed VERY rarely matters in PvE combat.  I know there are times in PvP where running away is a good tactic, and if that’s one of yours then by all means go for [spd] — especially since this modifier can be further multiplied by buffs such as Evasive Maneuvers.  For most folks however, I think I’d be safe to recommend an engine with Turn Rate bonuses.  Even if you’re in a highly maneuverable ship, like an Escort or something, a higher turn rate is always good.  Also, if the numbers are right on the tooltips, engines with turn rate improvements have a more profound impact on your turning, than an RCS engineering console would.

Now, let’s talk about an Engine-based tactic that is primarily used in PvP.

It’s a common buff-stacking approach that is sometimes called “Ludicrous Speed” … because it is crazy-fast.

To execute this maneuver fire off RAW SPEED BOOSTS first, then follow that up with PERCENTAGE-BASED BOOSTS.

Raw speed/energy boosts:
Aux to *** (use EngTeam + Aux to Engines)
Engine Battery
Energy Siphon

Percentage boosts:
Attack Pattern Omega
Evasive Maneuvers

As an added bonus to this tactic, there’s a new consumable item known as a “Deuterium Surplus” that can be obtained by completing a daily mission in the Alhena system in Eta Eridani. These are pretty much Evasive Maneuvers batteries.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK

“What features would be necessary in a STO Community Portal site?”

We’ve mentioned before having RSS feeds to popular STO sites like STO-Wiki, StarbaseUGC or even Memory-Alpha.
Also mentioned having a browsable Foundry database.

What’s YOUR feature request?

Season 3 LAUNCHED!
But no Foundry! (Just re-opened on Tribble!)
And no Borg STF parts!
I guess that leaves the big features as:
* Sector Space Revamp
* Super sprint!
* Episode Replay
* KDF sorties
* Crafting revamps
* Contact UI Upgrade
* Earth space looks more spacey
Major bugs:
* STFs didn’t get fixed
* Map transfer delay/errors/disconnects (may be fixed)

Design the Enterprise contest has launched
Contest ends Jan 15th with a winner announced around April 1st
Voting will be done by judges + WEBSITE VISITORS (public voting to find top 25)

KDF UPDATE:  Pi Canis Sorties
They really are just patrols, with an extra “thing” thrown in for flavor.

• How it breaks down:
  • Each system has a specific task, which you will be rewarded for.
  • Each set of 3 systems has a “wrapper” reward, which will also reward you.
  • All of the systems combined have a “wrapper” that is to complete the optional steps in every single map.  Many of these optional objectives are hard as HELL and require massive firepower to accomplish, as they are timed.  Extremely un-friendly to low-level KDF, and solo’ers.  Bring friends, preferably big ones.
• Specifically, the “Federation Freighter Assault” system mission is an absolute pain in the ass, and I failed it 3x in a row without even coming close to success.
  • Freighters fly too quickly away from you, and are too resilient to take out before the ‘timer’ runs out.
• The Jam communications optional task is a neat idea however, in the sense that it gives a twist to game-play that feels uniquely non-Fed.

DSTAHL SAYS STUFF:  Long-term Foundry Goals
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=3207339&postcount=2

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK WILL BE DELAYED

• Due to the Foundry being shut off, and holiday MADNESS, we’re behind schedule.
• We’re specifically trying to choose the best missions that CAN be made using the Foundry’s current capabilities.  Without having the Foundry, it’s difficult to figure out which make this list.
• Have some MATH instead.  And like it.

MATH:

The New Crafting — Tips & Tricks

With the most recent changes made to STO’s crafting system, it is finally beginning to resemble … well, crafting. And as a result, many established players will be digging into the overhauled system for the first time.

You should knowthat the system has been balanced for characters that invest in crafting alongside their usual leveling process from start to finish.  For characters that are already at or near the leveling cap, be prepared to return to your old stomping grounds.

There are 6 “ranks” of anomalies, each with 3 separate variants. As you level, you’ll move up from one rank to the next. But due to “schematics” requiring Rank 1 data samples, and being used in every single item recipe, you’ll need to have a stockpile of them standing by.

Rank 1 Harvests:
Delta Volanis — Fed
Arucanis Arm — Fed (also contains Rank 2)
T’Ong Nebula — KDF

Link:  https://www.stowiki.org/Data_Samples

Can you level to max on Schematics Only?

Yes.  But you are going to have to obtain a whopping 1650 anomalies, at a rate that ranges between 2 and 5 about every 30 seconds.  On average, this will take you around 4.8 hours just to harvest the supplies.  Plus the time investment of actually crafting the items.

But in the end, once you reach max skill, you’d have nothing to show for it and would still have to go out and harvest junk to make the new high-end toys available to you.

Is there a better alternative?

Not really. Since the majority of recipes give just as many skill points as the amount of data samples it took to craft it, efficiency is more-or-less moot. Except that crafting higher-skill recipes require fewer schematics, which will translate to less low-end grind-harvesting. But that’s really just a time trade-off, as you’ll then have to travel from cluster to cluster picking up anomalies of variance ranks.

If you’re just going to sell the products to NPCs as you level up, focus your crafting efforts on engines, shields and deflectors. They’re worth a lot more to NPCs than ground-based equipment.

Win the Harvesting Mini-Game Every Time:

As soon as you begin the scanning animation, cut your engines and shift your hand over to your arrow keys and prepare to use them.  Once the wavelength shows up, use the up/down arrows first to line up the top and bottom of the wave.  Once you’ve set this portion of the wavelength, adjust the left-right axis until it matches up.  Left makes the waves smaller, right makes them larger.

If you have no interest in the rare particle traces (which can only be obtained by successfully completing the mini-game) you can simply press F as soon as the mini-game launches, to quickly “fail” and get your base harvest.

Crafting – A Community Effort

Tell your buddies of your interest in crafting. Odds are that most people do not share your interest, and will happily funnel their surplus sample harvests in your direction. Skilling up is much easier when you don’t have to spend time harvesting. Fleets obviously have a leg up in this regard, as their bank space can be utilized as a central depository.

AWESOME CRAFTING LINKS:

STO Wiki
https://www.stowiki.org/Crafting

Aegis Set Stats
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=192874

Dstahl’s Cheat Sheet
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=3214238#post3214238

Anomaly Guide
https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=115026&highlight=crafting+guide

When we return the following week, we’ll be doing a “Gift Giving Guide” for the Trek fan in your life.

Additional Easter Egg rumored to be hidden within the alcohol puzzle
* If you drink the Nerve Tonic as a female captain, it makes you do a dance.
* Also rumored to work with female boffs.

Changes to last mission (must’ve gotten a lot of negative feedback?):
* KDF now remain closer to the comet fragments (you can no longer kite them away)
— This makes the end combat MORE difficult, but they’ve also said that a new alternative method will open up if you fail twice.
* Due to complaints about folks missing the rings on the slingshot, an autopilot option will open up if you fail twice.

Season 3 Tribble Updates:
* KDF Crafting fixed (you’re able to get anomalies below your level now)
* Many, many, many more Replay rewards
* Sit in your Captain’s chair. And EMOTE!
* Traffic Control replaced with your boff/helmsman
* PvP points given to shield healers
* Fleet Names are now displayed
** Not mentioned, but the “Barn Doors” in ESD have been changed/shrunk

Design the next Enterprise contest
– US Only (doh!)
– We wanna see your ships!  Send your creations to the usual email address, or post on jupitercolony.com

Big C-Store Sale coming up this weekend!
* Will not include items added in November (Enterprise bundle)

THE STAHL RANT

KDF PvP Tips from Stormshade

Ten Ton Hammer Article:  “What STO Can Learn From CO”

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK

We’re doing it again!

Send us your absolute best story ideas for a mission you’d like to see created using The Foundry.

We’ll pick a few of our favs over the next few weeks, then put the finalists up for a vote!

The winner will have an EPIC TRAILER made for their mission, and when The Foundry lands on Holodeck, members of Jupiter Force will help make it a reality!