Star Trek Online

[Xev]

More goodies. The game is fairly gorgeous and a picture's worth way more than a thousand of my posts so it only seems right.

This is an oldie (lighting 1.0), that, I think came from the Iconian series of mishes..


This is from one of those Chekov TFO's that I suddenly can't remember the name of.. Days of DoooOOooommm! ?


Have you been Assimilated, lately?

[Xev]

Juuuuuuuust in case someone out there isn't playing right now but wouldn't mind scooping up some free Anniversary stuff..

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11070723-anniversary-giveaways-jem%27hadar-tactical-uniform%21

[Xev]

Saved up the action shots for the weekend...

Don't have many, yet. I really need to move the screenshot button to a handier place..

These are all of the Neon Catfish in action. This is the Winter Event ship. It's got gold Iconian and Temporal beams and a gold KCB. Gold crafted beam arrays fill out the rest of the weapons slots - all are CrtD heavy w/Pen (but some still have AC that I don't really need..). All beams, no torps or mines. Gold Colony deflector, gold War Games engine..., and a gold Rom shield w/tier 6 vanity thingy. I forget what the warp core is atm.. It's gold or ultra rare. Could be Colony or Iconian. This is one of my more patched together builds, but... it's also my highest parsing so far so I've stuck with it and continue to tweak Traits and active Space DOff abilities. The pilot is a Tac/Rom and is definitely a keeper. He's co-main with my Sci/Rom/Escort captain.

Anyway, here's a few passable action pics I scraped up..

(That's not my grav well)


I see 4 ppl all using different weapons and possibly even weapon types for 3 ppl. Even the pets (purple polaron(?)) appear to be using different beam damage.


Mega Rom Shields UP! Lets make things explode... *explodes* Actually, this is one of my tankier toons even though he's built for dps. He's still working on Spec points but otherwise is about as good as I can build him, for now. And his favorite ship atm is an Event ship.. go figure.

[Xev]

The Neon Catfish out for a swim:


Bonsai!


Back to the action~~

[Xev]

This definitely seemed worth mentioning..:
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11070723

(2 Z-Store Fed, 1 KDF, T5s, for free, until Monday Morning)

The carrier looks kinda cool. I dunno how good of Admiralty ships they are. Haven't checked out the KDF ship, yet, but, will be, in a few clicks.

~~~

These are T5U's btw!

I think you can use Event T6's at the same level as Z-Store T5's... Soooo.. I probably will never actually use my ships. I did scoop them all up for the Admiralty cards and because.. I could.

I'd sure have luved to be starting STO this week with that selection of ships to look forward to. I must have played for at least 6 months before I moved up from a freebie T5 to a Z-store T6.

[Xev]

I ran low on decent screenies sooner than I thought I would!

Did manage to scrape up this oldie but goodie from newbieland to help end things on the Ground..:


A small flavor of how the bigger boys do it..

[Xev]

The stats for the 9th Anniversary T6 are out..

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11073613

[Xev]

Adding a Random button and rewards to the queue system was a great idea. People were already randoming but this took things to the next level. I've probably seen all of the queues by now. I'd hope so. I've hit the button hundreds of times I'm pretty sure (judging by the amount of rewards still unopened). I have gold ... Ground.. gear now.. *shakes head* and actually enjoy doing Ground. Most times. I get stuck in this Borq queue sometimes, that, when no one knows how it works - it excruciatingly goes on forever. Otherwise, they're generally a fun change of pace from the Space queues (STFs...TFOs...the team fights that you have to join a queue for..) that are my preference.

Anyway, yeah. I have experienced way more of the game thanks to the Random button. Otherwise, I'd not have any new Ground Screenies for j00..:

Taking aim in a creepy room...:


This one is me, masterfully positioning myself in a flanking position opposite the team:



~~~~~~~~~~
Btw...

"Khitomer in Stasis".... This, is the nightmare Borg Ground queue.. It's featured in the 'creepy room' above.. That thing is a nightmare if you don't know how it works! It has no time limit so it can just keep going on....forever.

What seems to happen, often, in this queue, is it gets filled with Randoms who have no idea how it works. There's no glowies.. No circle with a flashing arrow.... Nothing on the map.. You have to know what to do or you will be stuck in this thing....forever. It's not really forever, of course, it just FEELS like it.. lol.. oi.

I finally had someone walk me through this thing.. Thanks much.. I think I could maybe do it again but I dunno. It's a huge, unmarked, map full of .. Borg.. and usually with a team full of people that have no idea how to get to the end.

There may be another Borg queue that's hard to get through. I was thinking there was more than one. Khitomer in Stasis, is definitely the one I had in mind, above..

[Xev]

They're updating the graphics engine again. It's only happened twice since I started playing and the first update was fairly major and good, so, it seems worth mentioning. I thought lighting 2.0 was a pretty decent update, anyway. I'm gonna call this one... Hair 2.0

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11073633

One of the very first things I ever posted about STO, was, how plastic the hair looked and how shocked I was that they couldn't do better than that in a Trek game.

Well..

Apparently I just have a crappy video card.. I know of which plastic hair they are speaking of, above..

Anyway, cool cool. There ya go.

The game has been running more solid than ever for me, lately. Recently it was running so badly that I thought the end was near for running that game on this machine. I dunno what to give the credit to. There were Windows/game client/launcher updates and my ancient but very well built (!) wireless Logitech keyboard got some cleaning luv, which, resolved a problem that may have been causing other problems due to the keyboard doing who knows what in the background due to it was so stuffed full of ... things and had to be cleaned in order to be usable again. Whatever did it, so far, the game's been running more solid and betterer than ever.

[Xev]

The new Personal endeavor system is good. Its got power creep written all over it, but, I still like it.

One thing I like about the system is that it feels like Veteran Awards. People just starting the game won't start with these awards.

Another thing I like about the system is that it's like the Random button for the queues .... expanded into the entire game. It does for the game what Randoms do for the queues - it gives you compelling reason(s) to ...... play more of the game.

I think a lot of people are just like me or are a close enough variation - they log in and want to do stuff but maybe have no plan beyond wanting action and rewards. What the Random button and Endeavors do is direct that urge into all points of the game.

There is a metric F-ton of content, of many kinds, in STO. One of the saddest things to see in a huge game is old content going to waste due to it's no longer relevant. I mean, anything that gives you an excuse to re-experience something like... Battlezones, that are huuuuge and sometimes totally weird and farout seems like a great example of recycling. Endeavors and the Random button give TFOs more life. I was in a Borg Disconnected earlier and instead of the normal 'how much stuff can I de-pixilate the fastest' mindset - I had the 'where are the Voth Ships' mindset.. which, made the TFO feel very different than the last few hundred runs. I got into that Borg Disconnected faster than ever due to the Random system fills teams much faster. Other players help you get what you want and they get a reward for joining a Random - its been a semi-brilliant idea and implementation.

It's good to keep people experiencing the game in fresh ways and to have reasons to explore parts of it that are new to them rather than just have them waiting to be impressed by the next update. The Random button and Personal Endeavors are somewhat genius ways to do so. I think! They're working for me, anyway. I've experienced a very significant amount of content that is new to me because of them. I think these ideas are kinda bold and very smart.

I read math in chat that said to max the entire new Personal endeavor system would mean contributing to it, daily, for 2.5 years.. Still, I already have +0.5% crit chance and 4% hull regen and we're only on day 2.. *ebil laugh* It's no secret that I'm all for twinking newbs - this is also a very juicy newb twink. The Personal endeavor rewards are accountwide and I don't *think* they are level restricted. They're very respectable Veteran Awards that you have to put a minimum amount of effort into to obtain. I mean, you have to be playing. That should be enough effort to stumble across at least a few rewards.

The game also is looking and running better than ever for me with the past two updates. Definitely seems worth mentioning when we're talking about Development.

[Xev]

I just posted all those screenies and now after reading that 'plastic hair' comment in the link, above, I wonder how crummy they are compared to how they could be with a better video card..

Also, I recently noticed my graphics settings weren't cranked all the way up like I thought they were... Who knew the ship I'm flying, now, had flames shooting out the side. Well, and they just did a graphics update for people with video cards that Were good.

OOPS!

Well, here's a new screenie from my same old crummy video card. *I* think it looks nice. I'll see if I can come up with some better ones.

The Andorian Twins are my Security Team posing for a picture, btw.. (More Ground Borg..):

[Angel Phoenix77]

I logged on to play sto after the latest update hit. And well to say I hate it would be an understatement. They got rid of several pivotal episodes, the moved the Klingon front forward. Such as seeing the lengths B'Vat  would go, to make sure the Federation and Klingons remained at war. To the interlude of doing the Specter episodes (which cannot be done until level 11.) And they moved other featured episodes off of the various compaions. All of which helped players get to level 30 and fight the Romulans.


Now I am stuck at lieutenant 9 (mind you this is with the 600 day vet reward.) With nowhere to go. They placed a group activity finding right after the Doomsday mission. And fighting in the group finder (better hope for very high levels to help) I was constantly stomped on by the Romulans.


I get they are going to improve the missions they have taken out, however, they gave no forethought on how this would affect mission flow and leveling. Note this isn't me being angry, I like sto far more then I do co. It is that they should have kept some of the missions in, and worked on the rest.


So until they read the missing missions, I am not going to play. Which is sad, since I have an itch to play sto.

[Xev]

I've always had problems with the mishes in one way or another. Recently they made it where I could play nearly(?) every high level mish - like from Delta, up - even on my toons who never ran a single mish past level 10. Now, I don't have access to all the mishes anymore, and, Rom Minefield has a cooldown. Rom Minefield is what *I* used to level from 10 - 50 with.

I like to level... I mean.. I have probably at least 10 level 65's from my totally lost/didn't know what to play period.. but, 99.99% of my time is in endgame.

As for endgame content... Things have taken a *huge* leap. All my TFOs pop way faster than ever. They won't Always pop super fast but it's a major improvement. I have GOLD Ground gear (one of the Seven Signs). Endeavors are always there to give something to do when there's nothing in mind. Rep gear got updated - the Rep system got a major overhaul and we *finally* got a 'Fill All' button for Rep contributions.. Random queue's pop in milliseconds for me, usually, and give me something to do when I just want action at the push of a button - and they give me extra loot at the end for running a Random - and, I am probably helping to fill someone else's queue that otherwise likely wouldn't have popped nearly as fast. There's also the cap increase and new Captain powers at 65 that is still fairly fresh.

Mishes have been in transition.. They've changed how they work at least twice in the past few updates or so. Sounds like they aren't working for you! Sucks. It hasn't really affected me, at all - other than that period where *all* my toons could get into every high level mish they wanted to (they're all 65). I haven't tried to level a toon for awhile. I dunno what I'll do now that Rom Minefield has a cooldown. Too bad newbs can't run Patrols.. I prefer to pew-pew my way through as much of the level grind as possible.

[Xev]

Juuuuust for the record and due to I wanna brag a little - I do indeed have exactly 10 level 65s. I just guessed, earlier.

My main is a Delta Recruit/Tac/Rom/Warship(!) - Escort build(s). My second main is Sci/Rom/Escort and is searching for a new ship. Something way meatier than his Andorian Pilot Escort but still with a lot of weapon slots up front for Torps, and, with lots of Tac. My main is in search of a new ship, too. I mean.. I really like it but can only rock the Event Warship.. so far. It seems like I should probably find him something specialer/uniquerer, eventually.

I've got 2 more character slots filled with... 2 level 2 Rom/Tacs ... for some reason. I think that is when I found out who my mains were, finally, and stopped leveling newbs for awhile, finally.

[Xev]

This was laying around and looked nice and so here we go!

[Xev]

They got rid of several pivotal episodes, the moved the Klingon front forward. Such as seeing the lengths B'Vat  would go, to make sure the Federation and Klingons remained at war. To the interlude of doing the Specter episodes (which cannot be done until level 11.) And they moved other featured episodes off of the various compaions. All of which helped players get to level 30 and fight the Romulans.

This may not help you, buuuuut. It dawns on me that most every time I read stuff like this in chat it's followed by someone saying "This is how you get there, now.."

They've done a lot of mish shuffling but I've yet to hear anyone in Zone comment that a mish was gone, completely, and have no one in Zone tell them how to get to it... now. I found a solution to my Rom Minefield problem, too - Battle at the Binary Stars.. Level 10 entry, no cooldown..

While I'm here.. you can get 400 points (it's early and my brain sucks for boring details - whatever they're (points) called..) this year by doing mishes for the Event Ship, instead of 200 - so, 5 less days to get a ship. The ship is new? A Scout ship? I don't remember seeing them before that new Fleet/C-store one showed up. I'm not very interested in it at this point due to my interests are elsewhere atm, shipwise, but I'm scooping it up anyway and it does look kinda cool. I still prefer that last Event (War)ship over my store-bought T6s...! I looked it up when I went shopping for an upgrade for it, and, it has the best turn/inertia rate of all Warships - even lockbox. It has less HPs (up to ~10k difference from the fattest Warship) is its biggest drawback, but, really, I rarely explode in it.

Anyway... don't give up on finding your mishes. Maybe post in Zone or here what you're looking for and someone can help.

[Xev]

I'm trying to play STO and I keep getting "Unable to authenticate: Connection to the account server timed out" on the sign-in pop-up.

Same here, I put a tracert but it seems that there is no problem from the network:

 Tracing route to patchserver.crypticstudios.com [208.95.184.200]
 over a maximum of 30 hops:

 1 6 ms 6 ms 3 ms 192.168.0.1
 2 15 ms 13 ms 10 ms 80-218-166-1.dclient.hispeed.ch [80.218.166.1]
 3 18 ms 16 ms 13 ms 217-168-61-177.static.cablecom.ch [217.168.61.177]
 4 22 ms 26 ms 27 ms ch-zrh03a-rc1-ae55-0.aorta.net [84.116.200.249]
 5 17 ms 17 ms 22 ms ch-zrh01b-ra1-ae1-0.aorta.net [84.116.134.142]
 6 23 ms 23 ms 19 ms be3011.ccr51.zrh02.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.14.229]
 7 22 ms 22 ms 22 ms be3072.ccr21.muc03.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.18]
 8 30 ms 30 ms 35 ms be2959.ccr41.fra03.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.36.53]
 9 37 ms 35 ms 35 ms be2813.ccr41.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.121]
 10 40 ms 46 ms 42 ms be12194.ccr41.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.56.93]
 11 123 ms 130 ms 125 ms be2982.ccr31.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.1.117]
 12 131 ms 128 ms 130 ms te0-3-1-5.rcr51.b002133-1.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.42]
 13 100 ms 101 ms 102 ms 38.140.157.34
 14 124 ms 109 ms 110 ms 198.49.243.237
 15 105 ms 102 ms 114 ms patchserver.crypticstudios.com [208.95.184.200]

darkbladejk  Member Posts: 1,407 Community Moderator 

3:50PM 



Can you guys post your ISP as well as what country or state you're from? Also want to know if you guys are going in through steam, through arc, or just pulling up the stand alone launcher and going in that way.

 These bits of info will help tell us if perhaps it's a regional problem, certain ISP(s), or if something else is up.

(Launcher)

We will be performing emergency maintenance on 02/06/19 from 8:40-11:40 AM Pacific (16:40-19:40 UTC

[Xev]

Because I know this is where you get your STO news, First!:

ambassadorkael#6946 ambassadorkael

  Member, Administrator Posts: 1,737 Administrator 
7:00PM 



Maintenance is now complete. Thanks for your patience and we'll see you in game!

*shrug*

It was just kinda weird.

[Xev]

I'm indifferent to the new Discovery bundle they're offering, but, I want to use it as an example..

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11084823

See how they say some things are 'once per account'? Can be, what they should have said, is, "Bound to the Character claiming the bundle'.

The reason this is worth bringing up, is, if you are like me and assume that the 'once per account' things will be bound to ACCOUNT instead of Character... you could be in for an unpleasant surprise of varying level - the level depending on how bad you wanted the item on another character and/or how useless it was on the Claiming Character.

So, buyer beware, on bundles. Make sure that the toon claiming bundles in STO is the toon that you want to give any 'once per account' items that might be present in the bundle. Support worked with me to correct the issue when it came up with me on the previous Discovery bundle, but, it's better to just not have it come up is my thinking, so, I pass this info to j00 about bundles in STO (not necessarily this one, that, is for example purposes only).

[Felderburg]

So I'm going to be playing Star Trek Adventures with a group, and it (and a Star Trek play by email group) rekindled a desire to play... but my first question is: how do I modify the graphics settings for an old (ish) computer to make it playable? Everything is already set as low as can be or off, but using /renderscale .5 (or lower than 1) seems to be the only way to make the game actually work.

Windows 10 HP laptop, from 20...14? 16?