best build to not die?

[Starred109]

I'm a level 65 commanding a sovereign class and all of my gear is mostly level X-XI, for some reason I keep getting instantly blown up by NPC ships in a few hits or so.

Is there any way I can fix this with a build or something? Or should I just ditch the whole idea of playing against NPCs and play against humans?

[ImperatorPavel]

Originally posted by ImmortalMachine:

Originally posted by =(eGO)= ImperatorPavel:

Yeah...don't do "A Step Between Stars". Unless you want to fly a Dyson Science Destroyer outfitted with XII gear against level 65 undine dreadnoughts.

That mission does not scale well.

LOL say what? You literally get NPC's to help you out with them. I beat it multiple times back when there was a graphical glitch that blacked out the entire screen. If you consider it hard, I don't know what to tell you.

Honestly, I mostly did it Fedside where both the NPCs have cloaks and use them. It'd probably be better kdf or romside though.

Also haven't played the mission in forever so my memory might be a bit rusty. I never found the NPCs particularly useful in that mission though, back when I played it years ago. Might have to give it a spin tomorrow - not that I need the set just curious.

The Arkady's comment has me curious - I still actually fly the freebie dyson science destroyer on some characters (core is a decent option for sector space due to the teleport). Dunno why.

I just remember that mission not being easy last time I played. That very well could have been years though.

[Running-Target]

For the OP, watch these video. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YofOgPrfH0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ERFjxfh-Hw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrFRHSQqu4

[ImperatorPavel]

Originally posted by ImmortalMachine:

Originally posted by =(eGO)= ImperatorPavel:

Yeah...don't do "A Step Between Stars". Unless you want to fly a Dyson Science Destroyer outfitted with XII gear against level 65 undine dreadnoughts.

That mission does not scale well.

LOL say what? You literally get NPC's to help you out with them. I beat it multiple times back when there was a graphical glitch that blacked out the entire screen. If you consider it hard, I don't know what to tell you.

I just got done replaying that mission. It wasn't difficult. On my science character, and that helps because of traits, but your point is proven nonetheless.

Improved Gravity Well probably helps though.

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by =(eGO)= ImperatorPavel:

Improved Gravity Well probably helps though.

IGW is basically a force of nature... it destroys entire worlds on a whim.

[ImmortalMachine]

Originally posted by =(eGO)= ImperatorPavel:

Originally posted by ImmortalMachine:

LOL say what? You literally get NPC's to help you out with them. I beat it multiple times back when there was a graphical glitch that blacked out the entire screen. If you consider it hard, I don't know what to tell you.

I just got done replaying that mission. It wasn't difficult. On my science character, and that helps because of traits, but your point is proven nonetheless.

Improved Gravity Well probably helps though.

I appreciate you giving it another shot (for science), but yeah, I can't tell you how many new characters I did that mission with to score a halfway decent very rare gear set. I couldn't say if there are any better sets than the Dyson or was it Solonae ( I forget ) than you can get now, because all the new missions offer a bunch of new full sets. Just imo not as easy to come by. Not to mention the excellent defensive skill that you can pop and just be invincible for a bit while you heal.

[ImperatorPavel]

Originally posted by ImmortalMachine:

Originally posted by =(eGO)= ImperatorPavel:

I just got done replaying that mission. It wasn't difficult. On my science character, and that helps because of traits, but your point is proven nonetheless.

Improved Gravity Well probably helps though.

I appreciate you giving it another shot (for science), but yeah, I can't tell you how many new characters I did that mission with to score a halfway decent very rare gear set. I couldn't say if there are any better sets than the Dyson or was it Solonae ( I forget ) than you can get now, because all the new missions offer a bunch of new full sets. Just imo not as easy to come by. Not to mention the excellent defensive skill that you can pop and just be invincible for a bit while you heal.

It's Solonae, and the 4-piece clicky isn't easy for new players to come by either since it's locked behind owning a Dyson Science Destroyer (the freebie one that costs 600 lobi for a character-only unlock). Thought I'd point that out.

I usually reccomend the Kobali set. That 4-piece is still locked behind RNG (core is on the Kobali Samsar Cruiser), but phoenix boxes are technically free. The set is a reward from "Dust to Dust". The three-piece passive bonus applies a decent hull regen that augments your ship's natural hull regen.

The actual mission is not fun though.

[ImmortalMachine]

Originally posted by =(eGO)= ImperatorPavel:

Originally posted by ImmortalMachine:

I appreciate you giving it another shot (for science), but yeah, I can't tell you how many new characters I did that mission with to score a halfway decent very rare gear set. I couldn't say if there are any better sets than the Dyson or was it Solonae ( I forget ) than you can get now, because all the new missions offer a bunch of new full sets. Just imo not as easy to come by. Not to mention the excellent defensive skill that you can pop and just be invincible for a bit while you heal.

It's Solonae, and the 4-piece clicky isn't easy for new players to come by either since it's locked behind owning a Dyson Science Destroyer (the freebie one that costs 600 lobi for a character-only unlock). Thought I'd point that out.

I usually reccomend the Kobali set. That 4-piece is still locked behind RNG (core is on the Kobali Samsar Cruiser), but phoenix boxes are technically free. The set is a reward from "Dust to Dust". The three-piece passive bonus applies a decent hull regen that augments your ship's natural hull regen.

The actual mission is not fun though.

Hahaha, I think it's kind of strange the some of the most fun missions offer weak rewards, and the boring ones offer the multiple goodies. The Na'Kuhl personal shield and synergy are fantastic, but the mission. Woof lol.

[The Arkady]

Originally posted by ImmortalMachine:

Hahaha, I think it's kind of strange the some of the most fun missions offer weak rewards, and the boring ones offer the multiple goodies. The Na'Kuhl personal shield and synergy are fantastic, but the mission. Woof lol.

It's MMO 101, really. Give good rewards on tedious content, or nobody will ever replay it.

Good thing Cryptic remembered that with missions, or they'd have to give us a mission equivalent of those "random" TFOs "randomly" puttiing people in total dross content about 7 times out of 10. (Or 9 times out of ten for those who hate STD enough to even hate the easy marks from Starbase One.)

[jozenone]

1. There isn't. Even maximum armour will not stop some of the absurd incoming damage from popping you.

2. Use a cruiser, battlecruiser, battleship, or dreadnaught.

3. Use defence things that boost other things. Trellium-D plating for instance, gives moderate damage resist, and a substantial shield HP boost.

4. Don't ignore your shield and auxiliary power distribution

5. Attack from the flank, if possible

6. Use assists such as hanger pets, turrets, console adds

7. Use attack patterns

8. Use a deflector that gives bonus hull and shield capacity. Upgrade it

9. Upgrade your shields and look for ones that resist plasma (borg, romulans), disruptor (klingons), and tetryon (tholians, tzenkethi), especially

10. Use a Phoenix Token to get the crystal point-defence. It smokes a seeker every 3 seconds. It's also fairly effective on fighters if you run a plasma build.

11. Do not discount the effect of the "defence" stat. A lot of enemies can be effectively dodged with an investment. Taking no damage is always good.

12. Employ some emergency things like the reputation sensor buoy can be a lifesaver.

13. Learn to enjoy losing.

[Running-Target]

Using my advice from earlier, OP can use this 3 piece space set from "A Step Between Stars"
and the warp core and Omni beam array from "Sphere of Influence" Change weapon flavor to get Phaser to Anti-Proton. Those two missions are easy enough for anyone. But might be hard to buy any weapons off the exchange,even common ones, with the economy like it is. Try running "Fluid Dynamics" for the AP Beam Arrays X. Or try running "Blood of Ancients" for the AP Beam Arrays XII and the 3 piece Resonant weapon Set.

Read here > https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_A_Step_Between_Stars
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_Sphere_of_Influence
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_Fluid_Dynamics
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_Blood_of_Ancients

[ImperatorPavel]

Originally posted by Running-Target:

Using my advice from earlier, OP can use this 3 piece space set from "A Step Between Stars"
and the warp core and Omni beam array from "Sphere of Influence" Change weapon flavor to get Phaser to Anti-Proton. Those two missions are easy enough for anyone. But might be hard to buy any weapons off the exchange,even common ones, with the economy like it is. Try running "Fluid Dynamics" for the AP Beam Arrays X. Or try running "Blood of Ancients" for the AP Beam Arrays XII and the 3 piece Resonant weapon Set.

Read here > https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_A_Step_Between_Stars
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_Sphere_of_Influence
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_Fluid_Dynamics
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_Blood_of_Ancients

Doesn't blood of ancients reward a Disruptor set?

[Neithan]

You can chose between AP and disruptor.

Overall, I think Running-Target gives good advice here, as you start out on the game, you should not have to grind EC and camp the exchange for deals (sure way to put off new players), but rather play those missions to get a reasonable starter set. Once you have some sort of build going and learned the ropes, THEN you can improve on it via exchange.

And before you start grinding the reputations, you should have some idea of what you are going for, so you can focus on that faction rep.

[Hawk Man]

Several missions in the Delta Arc comes with MK XIII Gear as missions rewards. I highly recommend grabbing them if you are new to the game.

[The Arkady]

Originally posted by Saint Kek:

I highly recommend grabbing them if you are new to the game.

Yeah, absolutely not without having created an actual Mk XII gear build first. I should* be hard pressed to think of anything that might be as frustrating for a new player as trying to run the Delta Arc undergeared.

* I mean, I'm not, because badly scaling missions with Rommie enemies, but I really should be.

[ImperatorPavel]

Originally posted by The Arkady:

Originally posted by Saint Kek:

I highly recommend grabbing them if you are new to the game.

Yeah, absolutely not without having created an actual Mk XII gear build first. I should* be hard pressed to think of anything that might be as frustrating for a new player as trying to run the Delta Arc undergeared.

* I mean, I'm not, because badly scaling missions with Rommie enemies, but I really should be.

There's also the whole issue that due to wonky leveling the player might be level 65 before they hit the delta arc. They're not gonna have fun with an XII build if they are at level 65 doing the delta arc (my battlecloaking sovereign uses the full sovvie set and the traditional healing consoles from event ships along with some XII phaser tac consoles and TOS screechy phasers and it takes forever to kill most things - need to upgrade that build).