Post by Skyscream on Mar 29, 2013 0:46:51 GMT -8
((Can't believe I forgot to link the game. hahaha)
www.startrekonline.com/
Hello
I was thinking about it and after dropping a couple bucks on this game, (because it was taking far too long for me to grind out enough dilithium), to afford a decent ship that I would like a board for this.
Even if it just me babbling about stuff. I'm finding I play this game at least once or twice a week so .. yeah. Here we are. ;D
FREE TO PLAY
The game has a sweet Free to Play model. You really don't have to spend a dime if you don't want to just as advertised. That said you need to be prepared to grind a lot if you want to go that way. I have neither the time nor the patience. heh.
The Matrix Alliance
We do not have a formal presence on STO (Star Trek Online) as of this post. I'm way to busy to actively seek out new members to join us there. Guilds are a dime a dozen as well. I'll talk about that more later. However, if enough of us get together there at the same time (5 people) then I'd be happy to be part of a having a fleet on STO.
Some General Information (for the new player)
Okay. First off it can be a little overwhelming walking into this game the first time. Especially if you don't bother reading any instructions at all like I did. One of the major stumbling blocks in my opinion is the multiple "monetary systems".
Money, money, money. What they have there are I think 4 different monetary systems that are tied together. First is Energy Credits. These are really easy to get. The next one up the chain is Dilithium. This is followed by Zen which is the currency of Perfect World inc. The folks that run the game now. Then there is Latinum. Which appears to be separate from the other three.
Okay. Now to explain how it works. *takes a deep breath*
You can buy Zen with real money. There is a player exchange where people buy and sell two currencies. Zen and Dilithium. With Zen you can buy Dilithium. With Dilithium you can buy Zen. Prices fluctuate in this because it's all market driven. Buying Zen with real money is set. Disregarding any discounts and deals from Perfect World it's ten dollars (Canadian) for 1000 Zen. I picked up my Zen at 7-11 on a timecard thing. You cannot earn Zen through missions and what not. You can earn Dilithium through missions and what not and then spend it on Zen. Okay, now lets see if I can break down what you can use each on.
Energy Credits are cheap like dirt. You cannot buy Dilithium or Zen with EC (energy credits) but you can convert it into Latinum. More on that later. Many, many, many things are bought with EC. It's the most common currency and is also used on the player market. More on that later too.
Dilithium can be used on the good gear (usually Rare items. Occasionally for a steep price Very Rare), Bridge Officers (BOFFs) and Duty Officers (DOFFs) and Zen. Plus some other stuff I think. You know... the cool weird stuff. lol.
Zen can be used to buy Dilithium, unlock character options, buy more characters slots, new ships, special BOFFs and DOFFs, and all kinds of sweet stuff. Zen is the "I can get whatever I want" kind of currency. Sometimes you have to convert to Dilithium or Latinum but it's not hard once you understand how.
Latinum. This one had me baffled when I encountered it. It's only purpose it seems is for some odd things in the bars you can buy like really cool hologram projection stuff for you and your ship. Oh. And some DOFF assignments. However, you have to play Dabo to get it which is fun in my opinion. Dabo costs either EC or Latinum. The game is very hard to win at though and it's best to NOT bet Latinum if you are gathering latinum. I learned the hard way. hehe.
Okay. I've babbled enough about money. But I thought I should try to explain it since it left me a bit confused at first.
Levels and Leveling
This is really straightforward. Broken down into ranks like the military. Very Star Trek. You advance Rank every ten levels until level forty. Then it at level 45 and then 50. Some things are unlocked/gifted to you during normal levelling. New classes of Ships and stuff are unlocked by Rank. Up until level 45 you get a free ship every rank. After that you need to grind out enough Dilithium to buy a new one or get yourself some Zen to buy one. I got sick of the grind and eventually just dropped ten bucks on the game to get the ship I was grinding for.
You level REALLY fast in STO. I hate the grind and levelled to fifty in no time flat just playing Story missions. And I'm not even caught up on story yet. lol. However, getting to level fifty is not the end goal in this I found. It's kind of where things start to get interesting. There is a lot of stuff for all the 50's to do. Rep with the Romulans, Special missions, Fighting Borg with Special Task Force omega, and more. There is a TON of stuff. And the PvP. Lots of team PvP and stuff if that's your thing. Not generally my bag but I do enjoy a good knock down drag out fight between experienced players now and then. hehe.
Be careful how you spend ability points as well. They really do seem to have a large effect on how you and your ship performs. STO Forum reading is recommended to save yourself buying a respec later.
Bridge Officers (BOFF)
BOFF's (Bridge Officers) are really important. Don't worry about spending a bunch of skill points on anything less than a Very Rare (purple names) BOFF. Just spend on what you need. Have a common or uncommon BOFF and can't use Gravity Well with the ship you have? Don't spend on it. That way if you pick up a purple BOFF you have the points to dump on him/her/it. You can also replace skills you don't like by training them with other BOFFs. So don't worry too much if the purple BOFF doesn't have the skills you need. I feel that BOFFs are overpriced on the market because a lot of people don't realize this and look for Purple BOFFs with the skills they want. Screw that. Get a purple then look in cheap like dirt commons on the market for BOFFs with the skills you want and then use them to train.
BOFFs get skill/ability points in missions separate from what you get. BOFF skill points have unlimited earning potential as well unlike your character which caps out at level 50.
BOFFs can also be assigned to stations in the DOFF screen. It's a pop-up thing you can access with a button below the mini-map. First officer, science officer, medical officer, etc, etc. BOFFs can be in more than one station so fill 'em all up.
Okay. enough about BOFF's.
Duty Officers (DOFF)
Duty Officers (DOFF) are the crew of your ship that are .. specialized? They go with you from ship to ship unless they die or you dismiss them, trade them, etc. DOFF's are available from a few sources and so are BOFFs which I forgot to mention earlier. NPC's and the Market. Plus through levelling you get some.
You cannot access DOFFs until level seven I think.
DOFFs are used for assignments and "manning the ship". You can choose 5 DOFFs for both Space stuff and Ground stuff that directly affect what you are doing in-game. You can also send DOFFs on missions (assignments but missions is easier to spell) that earn you experience and money and special experience to earn ranks in DOFF stuff that unlocks more DOFF stuff and what not. They run their own missions and you do not have to be logged in for them to do it. Your first officer will give his/her/it's best guess as to who is best for what but you can go through the whole crew that fit the basic requirements for the mission.
Wow, I talk a lot. ;D
Fleets
There is a lot of Fleet type stuff. Especially at higher levels. I haven't joined one. The almost manic amount of recruiting there can be annoying.
To turn off Allow Fleet Invites go to the team options? Maybe chat options? Team chat options? Then look for a little button in there that leads you to where chat options are? I will look this up later and post how to actually do it. I had to get a nice fellow to talk me through it to find the damn thing. It wasn't the easiest thing to find. At least I didn't think so. And the zone chat in Earth Space Dock didn't even mock me so I guess it was a good question. hehe. I kid. Nice community overall. Almost an MxO vibe sometimes.
There are fleets of all kinds. From the Hardcore Trekker folks who are seriously anal about it to super casual do what you want as long as it's fun type. It's a very diverse crowd. Fleet recruiting in ESD (earth space dock) can get quite heated sometimes. I find it as funny as a frog on jello most of the time but it gets a bit much sometimes.
Fleets have their own space station that they can upgrade through Fleet marks. Fleet marks are earned through special missions. I have 400 and some and I'm not in a fleet. lol. The different Tiers of stations give you different tiers of ships that are fleet only. They are better than the standard ships but I have a bad ass Vesta now so the Fleet 'leet' can eat my warp plasma. lol. You don't have to be in a fleet to get the good stuff. It's just easier and the fleet stuff is for fleets only.
Five people in a team are required to start a Fleet.
Okay. I'm not sure what all I've written so I'm going to post this and go back to read it all. I'll post more later.
Cheers!!
My handle on STO is: @skyscream01
Main character: Skyscream@skyscream01
Klingon character: Syn@skyscream01
;D
((Editted for a ton of typos. ))
www.startrekonline.com/
Hello
I was thinking about it and after dropping a couple bucks on this game, (because it was taking far too long for me to grind out enough dilithium), to afford a decent ship that I would like a board for this.
Even if it just me babbling about stuff. I'm finding I play this game at least once or twice a week so .. yeah. Here we are. ;D
FREE TO PLAY
The game has a sweet Free to Play model. You really don't have to spend a dime if you don't want to just as advertised. That said you need to be prepared to grind a lot if you want to go that way. I have neither the time nor the patience. heh.
The Matrix Alliance
We do not have a formal presence on STO (Star Trek Online) as of this post. I'm way to busy to actively seek out new members to join us there. Guilds are a dime a dozen as well. I'll talk about that more later. However, if enough of us get together there at the same time (5 people) then I'd be happy to be part of a having a fleet on STO.
Some General Information (for the new player)
Okay. First off it can be a little overwhelming walking into this game the first time. Especially if you don't bother reading any instructions at all like I did. One of the major stumbling blocks in my opinion is the multiple "monetary systems".
Money, money, money. What they have there are I think 4 different monetary systems that are tied together. First is Energy Credits. These are really easy to get. The next one up the chain is Dilithium. This is followed by Zen which is the currency of Perfect World inc. The folks that run the game now. Then there is Latinum. Which appears to be separate from the other three.
Okay. Now to explain how it works. *takes a deep breath*
You can buy Zen with real money. There is a player exchange where people buy and sell two currencies. Zen and Dilithium. With Zen you can buy Dilithium. With Dilithium you can buy Zen. Prices fluctuate in this because it's all market driven. Buying Zen with real money is set. Disregarding any discounts and deals from Perfect World it's ten dollars (Canadian) for 1000 Zen. I picked up my Zen at 7-11 on a timecard thing. You cannot earn Zen through missions and what not. You can earn Dilithium through missions and what not and then spend it on Zen. Okay, now lets see if I can break down what you can use each on.
Energy Credits are cheap like dirt. You cannot buy Dilithium or Zen with EC (energy credits) but you can convert it into Latinum. More on that later. Many, many, many things are bought with EC. It's the most common currency and is also used on the player market. More on that later too.
Dilithium can be used on the good gear (usually Rare items. Occasionally for a steep price Very Rare), Bridge Officers (BOFFs) and Duty Officers (DOFFs) and Zen. Plus some other stuff I think. You know... the cool weird stuff. lol.
Zen can be used to buy Dilithium, unlock character options, buy more characters slots, new ships, special BOFFs and DOFFs, and all kinds of sweet stuff. Zen is the "I can get whatever I want" kind of currency. Sometimes you have to convert to Dilithium or Latinum but it's not hard once you understand how.
Latinum. This one had me baffled when I encountered it. It's only purpose it seems is for some odd things in the bars you can buy like really cool hologram projection stuff for you and your ship. Oh. And some DOFF assignments. However, you have to play Dabo to get it which is fun in my opinion. Dabo costs either EC or Latinum. The game is very hard to win at though and it's best to NOT bet Latinum if you are gathering latinum. I learned the hard way. hehe.
Okay. I've babbled enough about money. But I thought I should try to explain it since it left me a bit confused at first.
Levels and Leveling
This is really straightforward. Broken down into ranks like the military. Very Star Trek. You advance Rank every ten levels until level forty. Then it at level 45 and then 50. Some things are unlocked/gifted to you during normal levelling. New classes of Ships and stuff are unlocked by Rank. Up until level 45 you get a free ship every rank. After that you need to grind out enough Dilithium to buy a new one or get yourself some Zen to buy one. I got sick of the grind and eventually just dropped ten bucks on the game to get the ship I was grinding for.
You level REALLY fast in STO. I hate the grind and levelled to fifty in no time flat just playing Story missions. And I'm not even caught up on story yet. lol. However, getting to level fifty is not the end goal in this I found. It's kind of where things start to get interesting. There is a lot of stuff for all the 50's to do. Rep with the Romulans, Special missions, Fighting Borg with Special Task Force omega, and more. There is a TON of stuff. And the PvP. Lots of team PvP and stuff if that's your thing. Not generally my bag but I do enjoy a good knock down drag out fight between experienced players now and then. hehe.
Be careful how you spend ability points as well. They really do seem to have a large effect on how you and your ship performs. STO Forum reading is recommended to save yourself buying a respec later.
Bridge Officers (BOFF)
BOFF's (Bridge Officers) are really important. Don't worry about spending a bunch of skill points on anything less than a Very Rare (purple names) BOFF. Just spend on what you need. Have a common or uncommon BOFF and can't use Gravity Well with the ship you have? Don't spend on it. That way if you pick up a purple BOFF you have the points to dump on him/her/it. You can also replace skills you don't like by training them with other BOFFs. So don't worry too much if the purple BOFF doesn't have the skills you need. I feel that BOFFs are overpriced on the market because a lot of people don't realize this and look for Purple BOFFs with the skills they want. Screw that. Get a purple then look in cheap like dirt commons on the market for BOFFs with the skills you want and then use them to train.
BOFFs get skill/ability points in missions separate from what you get. BOFF skill points have unlimited earning potential as well unlike your character which caps out at level 50.
BOFFs can also be assigned to stations in the DOFF screen. It's a pop-up thing you can access with a button below the mini-map. First officer, science officer, medical officer, etc, etc. BOFFs can be in more than one station so fill 'em all up.
Okay. enough about BOFF's.
Duty Officers (DOFF)
Duty Officers (DOFF) are the crew of your ship that are .. specialized? They go with you from ship to ship unless they die or you dismiss them, trade them, etc. DOFF's are available from a few sources and so are BOFFs which I forgot to mention earlier. NPC's and the Market. Plus through levelling you get some.
You cannot access DOFFs until level seven I think.
DOFFs are used for assignments and "manning the ship". You can choose 5 DOFFs for both Space stuff and Ground stuff that directly affect what you are doing in-game. You can also send DOFFs on missions (assignments but missions is easier to spell) that earn you experience and money and special experience to earn ranks in DOFF stuff that unlocks more DOFF stuff and what not. They run their own missions and you do not have to be logged in for them to do it. Your first officer will give his/her/it's best guess as to who is best for what but you can go through the whole crew that fit the basic requirements for the mission.
Wow, I talk a lot. ;D
Fleets
There is a lot of Fleet type stuff. Especially at higher levels. I haven't joined one. The almost manic amount of recruiting there can be annoying.
To turn off Allow Fleet Invites go to the team options? Maybe chat options? Team chat options? Then look for a little button in there that leads you to where chat options are? I will look this up later and post how to actually do it. I had to get a nice fellow to talk me through it to find the damn thing. It wasn't the easiest thing to find. At least I didn't think so. And the zone chat in Earth Space Dock didn't even mock me so I guess it was a good question. hehe. I kid. Nice community overall. Almost an MxO vibe sometimes.
There are fleets of all kinds. From the Hardcore Trekker folks who are seriously anal about it to super casual do what you want as long as it's fun type. It's a very diverse crowd. Fleet recruiting in ESD (earth space dock) can get quite heated sometimes. I find it as funny as a frog on jello most of the time but it gets a bit much sometimes.
Fleets have their own space station that they can upgrade through Fleet marks. Fleet marks are earned through special missions. I have 400 and some and I'm not in a fleet. lol. The different Tiers of stations give you different tiers of ships that are fleet only. They are better than the standard ships but I have a bad ass Vesta now so the Fleet 'leet' can eat my warp plasma. lol. You don't have to be in a fleet to get the good stuff. It's just easier and the fleet stuff is for fleets only.
Five people in a team are required to start a Fleet.
Okay. I'm not sure what all I've written so I'm going to post this and go back to read it all. I'll post more later.
Cheers!!
My handle on STO is: @skyscream01
Main character: Skyscream@skyscream01
Klingon character: Syn@skyscream01
;D
((Editted for a ton of typos. ))