What should I choose for my final (lvl 61) ship requisition?

[Revanchist1ab]

So I hit lvl 61 and I usually run escorts. Is there just one retrofit choice for each main ship class? You get one token for an Admiral level retrofit. Is the Defiant retrofit my only escort option?

[Szeron]

Yes to both.

While probably not helpful to hear, you'll generally want to be in a T6 ship by that level if you want a comfortable experience. While the gesture is nice, those ships are a bit overly specialized and underperforming for level 60+ gameplay.

If T6 ships are not an option for you, there are some alternative T5(U) ships available on the exchange for 'relatively' cheap. The Hirogen Hunter should be a relatively accessible stopgap as a T5U escort.

Otherwise, if you just missed the Khitomer Battlecruiser from the Anniversary Event, you're in for a bit of a wait until the next major event(probably Summer) - or until you can get enough Fleet Modules for a T6 Fleet ship. (You can get 1 Fleet Module per T6 reputation, or buy them from the Exchange; 5 Fleet Modules are needed per ship you don't own the C-Store counterpart of.)

[Revanchist1ab]

Originally posted by Szeron:

Yes to both.

While probably not helpful to hear, you'll generally want to be in a T6 ship by that level if you want a comfortable experience. While the gesture is nice, those ships are a bit overly specialized and underperforming for level 60+ gameplay.

If T6 ships are not an option for you, there are some alternative T5(U) ships available on the exchange for 'relatively' cheap. The Hirogen Hunter should be a relatively accessible stopgap as a T5U escort.

Otherwise, if you just missed the Khitomer Battlecruiser from the Anniversary Event, you're in for a bit of a wait until the next major event(probably Summer) - or until you can get enough Fleet Modules for a T6 Fleet ship. (You can get 1 Fleet Module per T6 reputation, or buy them from the Exchange; 5 Fleet Modules are needed per ship you don't own the C-Store counterpart of.)

Unfortunately, I refuse to buy power. I'll buy inventory slots and costume junk, But I'm not shelling out for the ABILITY to play the game fairly. Good to know about the ships. I didn't grab the battle cruiser cause I was still on a new character and I didn't want to spoil story. Sadly, I'm not in a Fleet cause I don't seem to get along with most people. >_> I was sorta kicked out of my last groups cause I'm too opinionated.

Thank you, though, Szeron.

[ImperatorPavel]

Originally posted by Revanchist1ab:

Unfortunately, I refuse to buy power. I'll buy inventory slots and costume junk, But I'm not shelling out for the ABILITY to play the game fairly. Good to know about the ships. I didn't grab the battle cruiser cause I was still on a new character and I didn't want to spoil story. Sadly, I'm not in a Fleet cause I don't seem to get along with most people. >_> I was sorta kicked out of my last groups cause I'm too opinionated.

Thank you, though, Szeron.

You could have easily gotten the Khitomer without playing story missions (Omega molecule stabilization is not a story mission). Next chance for a free T6 is in the summer (more than likely a T6 Risian Luxury Cruiser), unless something else rewards a ship in the meantime.

[Szeron]

Well, the good news is that build and knowledge count for way more in this game than the flashy gimmicks you can throw money down for. The main thing is you'll have less margin for error while running a T5 instead of a T6 due to having less hull and being down a console slot.

[Kitsune Aoi]

Right now there is an event going on to earn a "free" Zen/C-Store tier 6 token as well but that will take a few months to complete the current campaign. Run the Battle of the Binary Starts once a day during the current. there will be 3 more events over the next few months that will let you make progress towards the ship token.

Pulled from the STO event page link following:

Event Campaign – Part II
This Featured Event will be the first of a series of upcoming Events that will participate in the second installment of our multi-event system known as an Event Campaign. For Event Campaign II, a few changes have been made.

More Events!
Event Campaign II will span a total of FOUR separate Featured Events, spanning the majority of the upcoming year of PC releases. As a result of this increase in length, the requirements for receiving the Campaign Grand Prize have been increased from 2,100 Progress to 2,800 Progress.

More Prizes!
The Grand Prize for Event Campaign II will offer players a choice as to what they receive, between the two following options:

Option 1:
Z-Store Coupon for 100% Off a single Tier-6 Starship
200 Lobi Crystals

Option 2:
1,000 Lobi Crystals
This choice is only made once per Account, upon claiming the prize.

The core gameplay of this Event Campaign remains the same as the previous one: Participate in multiple Events scheduled over the next several months, to earn progress towards an extremely valuable prize. All of the following aspects of this system remain unchanged:

Players may earn 50 Event Campaign Progress for each day they participate in an eligible event.
Buying out an eligible event will include up to 700 Event Campaign Progress.
Each event’s buyout only grants as much Event Campaign Progress as is relative to the amount paid, after pro-rated discounts are applied. This means that paying half price, (because you participated in 7 out of 14 of the required days so far) will grant you 350 Event Campaign Progress. Essentially, you get what you pay for.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11377343-return-to-the-battle-at-the-binary-stars%21

[LostSoulToo]

If you're dedicated to reps, you'll get 4-5 FMs long before this event finishes up and awards a free ship (in whichever form is chosen). The first 5 ranks takes a maximum of 40 days, with the last rank taking an additional 30 days. 70 days for a fleet module, but it doesn't take much (maybe an hour of TFOs and a few easy rep quests) to level 6+ reps simultaneously, so, realistically, you can nab a T6 fleet ship in 2-3 months. Granted, you can only get a couple of them per character without forking over 12m+ ECs to buy FMs from the exchange. And addendum -- for every subsequent character doing those reps, the first 5 ranks take 1/2 as much time once someone reaches it, so it goes from 70 days per, to 50 days per.

Of course, by going the fleet route, you miss out on all the fancy consoles and starship traits by not buying T6 ships from the c-store.

[TE5LA]

So now, I guess you get to choose from 17 T5 ships? Crazy.

I guess nobody wants a T5 once they reach 61.

[Maj_Cyric]

Originally posted by LostSoulToo:

The first 5 ranks takes a maximum of 40 days, with the last rank taking an additional 30 days.

Of course, by going the fleet route, you miss out on all the fancy consoles and starship traits by not buying T6 ships from the c-store.

I start with saying, if you have the Zen Store variant already, the Fleet Variant is only 1 Fleet Module and 20k Fleet Creds.. So if you want more than just the Trait, the Fleet Version is one to be driving after mastering its counterpart..
(Example is the KDF T6 Kurak, and T6 Fleet Mogh (Fleet Mogh is better than Kurak)

And...
I've done the maths on this and have posted it in another thread..

If none of your characters have hit rank 5 with a given Rep, and you do the 3x 1 hour plus the 20 hour long Rep Projects (cost of 75 Marks a day for 3100 Rep XP) it will take just over 30 days (32) to go from Tier 0 to Tier 5 (100k Rep XP needed for Tier 5)..
(*Maths* 200x4=600xp +2500xp 3100xp per day)
Which then makes that character and all your other alts "Sponsored" for that Rep..

"Sponsored" means that XP amount is now doubled (200xp to 400xp for the 1 hour and the 20 hour project from 2500xp to 5000xp)...
A further 150k Rep XP is needed for Tier 6 which will take another 24 days and 4 hours total, if you do the 3x 1 hour and the 20 hour long Rep projects (400x4=1200 + 5000 every 20 hours) ..

A total of 56 days and 4 hours is needed from Tier 0 to Tier 6 with a character who wasn't Rep "Sponsored" yet until reaching Tier 5 for the first time..

*Also Note* that once you hit Tier 5 you get a reward of 900 Rep marks (If you have an active Rep Mark bonus pool for +20% more), plus 32,000 Dil Ore.. Enough to get from Tier 5 to Tier 6 if you only do the 20 hour long project, which will take 30 days

(Doing the 3 one 1 hour supports costs a total of 270 marks and will save you 6 days)

[cap-boulanger]

The Tier 5 Retrofit ships that are claimable with the Level 61 reward token... you're correct that there is basically one of each ship type per faction. They are generally the retrofit versions of the same ships you can claim at Tier 4 (Level 30), and are otherwise T5 Zen store ships and are upgradable.

Despite what the previous poster said, while yes T6s are nice, T5s (particularly with the optional upgrade) are viable for endgame. You'll be missing some of the special features (though the optional upgrade brings some of these in), and have one less BOFF ability slot, no access to specialization abilities, and possibly one less console slot, but the ships are otherwise comparable.

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Originally posted by Revanchist1ab:

Originally posted by Szeron:

Yes to both.

While probably not helpful to hear, you'll generally want to be in a T6 ship by that level if you want a comfortable experience. While the gesture is nice, those ships are a bit overly specialized and underperforming for level 60+ gameplay.

If T6 ships are not an option for you, there are some alternative T5(U) ships available on the exchange for 'relatively' cheap. The Hirogen Hunter should be a relatively accessible stopgap as a T5U escort.

Otherwise, if you just missed the Khitomer Battlecruiser from the Anniversary Event, you're in for a bit of a wait until the next major event(probably Summer) - or until you can get enough Fleet Modules for a T6 Fleet ship. (You can get 1 Fleet Module per T6 reputation, or buy them from the Exchange; 5 Fleet Modules are needed per ship you don't own the C-Store counterpart of.)

Unfortunately, I refuse to buy power. I'll buy inventory slots and costume junk, But I'm not shelling out for the ABILITY to play the game fairly. Good to know about the ships. I didn't grab the battle cruiser cause I was still on a new character and I didn't want to spoil story. Sadly, I'm not in a Fleet cause I don't seem to get along with most people. >_> I was sorta kicked out of my last groups cause I'm too opinionated.

Thank you, though, Szeron.

One thing about this game is that its real world exchange currency (Zen) can also be bought with an in-game currency (Refined Dilithium), so you don't necessarily have to shell out for a T6 ship, you can grind for it.

It'll definitely take a while, though, and you may actually want to try a battlecruiser or heavy raider rather than an escort at this point since you're probably going to need the additional bulk. I've found that some late-game missions, particularly ones that require you to survive for a certain amount of time, aren't really realistically doable in an escort without some serious optimization.