Looking for advice on assignments and upgrades

[Tebok]

I've come back to the game after more than 5 years, only level 31.

I've noticed a load of things in the UI to do with assignments and R + D. I don't remember them being there before, or perhaps I never saw them. Can anyone give me the quick and dirty advice of how to manage that stuff? Is it even important to do?

I'm a very casual player that just wants to blow through the missions. I don't want to collect everything, but also I don't want to fall behind the curve by neglecting something important for my stats. Thanks :)

[Dave of Infamy]

crafting isnt important its handy but not essential just run through missions and have fun

[andreasaspenberg575]

you should take those assignments that research the field. it worked for me. you get a lot more progress, though you get nothing else but, you use very little materials.

[cap-boulanger]

Yes, for R&D, the last assignment on the bottom of the list (20 hrs for 6000 XP, I believe) are by far the most efficient for advancement. You can run up to three of the same school at a time.

There are traits you can unlock by reaching level 15 in each "school"... Science's trait in particular is very useful. So I would suggest levelling all of them up to 15. This will take roughly 4-6 months if you do it every day.

You can also do other types of assignments that give other benefits, but those are not as useful. If you are interested in fleet stuff, though... there's 11 different types of assignment experience, and if you level up to 110,000 points in any particular one, there's a console at the Fleet Starbase where you can turn in 10,000 points for 75/100 Fleet Marks. (The bars will go up to 150,000 but the refund console will not allow you to drop below 100,000.) The Diplomacy bar also gives some unique rewards that can be useful (sector space speed bonuses and a free BOFF).

[Gonzo]

Double down on the previous poster's advice to start a Temporial/TOS character (even if you walk away from it for a while). You DO have to play a "expanded" tutorial/campaign of about 6 missions (that gets you up to level 10) and meet an NPC on Earth Space Dock (not the TOS version) to get to "thingy" that lets you access all the bonuses.

R&D is worth doing up to level 15 as you get a trait (and you might want to do some crafting at the later date). Just grab the bottom mission for 6000 R&D (you need no ingredients) that takes 20 hours and let that run in the background while you just play as normal (only takes about one minute to do at the start of your days gaming session). DOFF missions (and Admiralty missions when you get to level 52), are a good way to grab R&D materials and DIL that working in the background (so you don't get bored mining DIL on asteroids....man I LOATH that mining mini-game).

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by Gonzo:

Double down on the previous poster's advice to start a Temporial/TOS character (even if you walk away from it for a while). You DO have to play a "expanded" tutorial/campaign of about 6 missions (that gets you up to level 10) and meet an NPC on Earth Space Dock (not the TOS version) to get to "thingy" that lets you access all the bonuses.

Note that you need to complete this (up to and including receiving the device - not including the reward tasks listed on the device's menu) before the end date of the event. The tasks can be completed whenever you like.

[Gonzo]

Have they posted the end date for the Temporal Recruit event anywhere yet (not seen it myself, or probably missed it in plain sight if they have)?

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by sven10077:

Originally posted by Gonzo:

Have they posted the end date for the Temporal Recruit event anywhere yet (not seen it myself, or probably missed it in plain sight if they have)?

I believe 4 October.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11524463-the-timeline-needs-you%21

Consequently one needs to get on the stick.

4 October at 10 AM PT.... which is 1 PM Eastern, 6 PM British time, etc... from the time of this post you have 35 hours. And I wouldn't guarantee the last few as they sometimes do maintenance on Tuesday mornings.

So - whichever timezone you're in - I would suggest rushing it Monday.

[NavFamG]

The whole duty assignment thing is just a mini game that's very useful at earning xp and dil. I've actually leveled up just standing in Earthdock running the DOFF system for a couple of days.

It used to be you had to manually go into your DOFF's and find the one needed to do the mission. Now your XO recommends (automated) who to assign so all you do is go to the DOFF page, click on assignments and cycle through your department heads to see what missions are available and click start on the one's getting you the most xp. Check the Success Percentage bar and ignore any 65% or less as odds are it'll come up a failure.

R&D - if you're into crafting. Otherwise ignore. Upping the different warfare area's will sometimes get you some gear, but I've never seen a useful piece yet.

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by NavFamG:

R&D - if you're into crafting. Otherwise ignore. Upping the different warfare area's will sometimes get you some gear, but I've never seen a useful piece yet.

I wouldn't say ignore... reaching level 15 in each does unlock a trait and some of those are useful.

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by cap-boulanger:

Originally posted by NavFamG:

R&D - if you're into crafting. Otherwise ignore. Upping the different warfare area's will sometimes get you some gear, but I've never seen a useful piece yet.

I wouldn't say ignore... reaching level 15 in each does unlock a trait and some of those are useful.

Didn't know that. Got mine to 10 and stopped. Thing is by the time you hit 65 you're buried in traits to pick and choose from what with the Rep system giving them too.

I guess if you research and see if there's any you want than pushing that area up for it makes sense.

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by NavFamG:

Didn't know that. Got mine to 10 and stopped. Thing is by the time you hit 65 you're buried in traits to pick and choose from what with the Rep system giving them too.

R&D give ground/space traits while the rep system gives rep traits - they don't go in the same slots.

The space trait associated with science is staggeringly good - it'd be a must-slot for science builds as a starship trait (+50% critH on exotic abilities and scaling +critD), but only takes up a space trait slot. While the rest aren't nearly as good, they're all pretty decent.

[jonnin]

science crafting is a winner all around. The crafted console, if you can get the one in a thousand or whatever roll, is a big deal. The plasma gas torp works with your exotic damage. A crafted 2nd deflector can also get that one in a thousand high end roll to be very nasty. Whether crafting-gambling is worth it to you or not is a whole different story (I find since the phoenix upgrade spam, that it IS worth it) but crafting is still a solid money maker (lucky rolls needed, but it costs you little to roll the dice once every day or two) and those few items with rare rolls are as good as anything and better than most.

[Tebok]

Thanks for all the tips guys :D

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by jonnin:

science crafting is a winner all around. The crafted console, if you can get the one in a thousand or whatever roll, is a big deal. The plasma gas torp works with your exotic damage. A crafted 2nd deflector can also get that one in a thousand high end roll to be very nasty. Whether crafting-gambling is worth it to you or not is a whole different story (I find since the phoenix upgrade spam, that it IS worth it) but crafting is still a solid money maker (lucky rolls needed, but it costs you little to roll the dice once every day or two) and those few items with rare rolls are as good as anything and better than most.

Agreed.

Science: Exotic Particle Field Exciter [EPG] or [CtrlX]
Engineering: Conductive RCS [EPG] or [CtrlX] or [Turn]
sell well... [EPG] and [ResAll] aren't bad either....

Also to note, it's not really a one-in-a-thousand... the console gets a mod if it crits to UR. There's about 30-ish possible mods. And if it doesn't crit, you can reveal the mod via upgrading. I used to mass produce into this, though I scaled way back about a year ago, and I'm not sure it's economic anymore since they nerfed the Phoenix upgrades. (Have not calculated since then.) The mods on consoles are not re-engineerable.

The plasma torpedo is Projectiles.
Omni-beam weapons are also good... they don't sell for much, but you can certainly make your own cheaper than you can buy 'em.

Also to note, weapons can have a special mod that is crafted-only and can't be re-engineered. So if you want those (for example [Pen]) the best way is to mass produce your own mk II's, and upgrade the good ones.