Star Trek Online - Free to play

[strawberry]

Since this game went free to play as of a few hours ago, I thought I'd give it a bash. I love Star Trek and I want to like this game but unlike other MMORPGs I've played it does not download the entire client once off. It downloads each new area you enter as you enter it. It's mega frustrating and because of this I can't imagine anybody in South Africa playing it much unless they have the patience of a Zen master.

Is anyone else going to try this game?

[Sillicur]

I might like to try it, how big is the download for each zone? Im on 384 so it will probably break me

[strawberry]

I have no way of knowing what size each zone is, it does not tell you. It only tells you what your current download speed is =\. I'm using a 4 meg line and facing load times of 2mins on average. It sucks. I alt+f4ed just a few moments ago.

[Voicy]

Since this game went free to play as of a few hours ago, I thought I'd give it a bash. I love Star Trek and I want to like this game but unlike other MMORPGs I've played it does not download the entire client once off. It downloads each new area you enter as you enter it. It's mega frustrating and because of this I can't imagine anybody in South Africa playing it much unless they have the patience of a Zen master.

Is anyone else going to try this game?

Guild wars actually incorporates this principle. however, there is a command line that forces it to dl the entire client. Perhaps ST has the same possible route.

Post some screenies

[strawberry]

Perhaps ST has the same possible route.

i'll look into it

Post some screenies

Have to figure out how to do that first

[Sillicur]

2 minutes really aint that bad oO

[strawberry]

2 minutes really aint that bad oO

You're absolutely right, Sillicur. It's just I was so eager to play after the few hours it took to download the base client that my impatience got the better of me. After it downloads the data for the the first few areas and ship battles it seems to load much faster. I'm actually enjoying the game quite a bit now.

I made a tactical officer, but I've heard that being an engineer is easiest/best for beginner players.

@Shadowfox, have you any advice for a newbie?

[shadowfox]

@Shadowfox, have you any advice for a newbie?

Heh ... depends on exactly the advice you're looking for - Star Trek has a much steeper learning curve than most other MMOs - level 30 or not, there's still a lot I don't know.

The skill system is particularly tricky for me - because you automatically earn your skills, space and ground based, as you level up, and there really aren't a lot of them. How your space-battles turn out (and the skills you use) is based almost entirely on which Bridge Officers you choose to man your stations and what skills they're equipped with. I initially thought you were stuck with the skills that the officers came with, until I discovered you can actually retrain them in specific skills at certain NPCs. So that adds to the complexity.

My advice would be, spend some time exploring the station and the NPCs, figure out what they do, pay very close attention to what your crew's skills are and how you distribute them across your ship. When you get to Lt Cmdr you're going to get 3 classes of ships to choose from - Science, Escort and Cruiser. Cruisers are, based on what I've heard, are the best choice for Engineers, but on the flipside, they're also the slowest. They have the most crew-members, so their hull-repair rate is the fastest.

Escorts (tac ships) are greased-lightning in space, but they have small crew-complements and lower shield-strength, so they tend not to last long when fire is concentrated on them, but they do major damage - if you have a sharp Sci officer in your group you can last long enough to take out Borg ships.

Science vessels are somewhere in between.

I'm busy putting together a starter guide for STO, but because of the involved complexity it's going to take a while

[strawberry]

I'm busy putting together a starter guide for STO, but because of the involved complexity it's going to take a while

Thanks for the advice, it is really, rather helpful. I look forward to reading your guide.

[Voicy]

I'm busy putting together a "Shadowfox's Epic STO starter guide", but because of the involved complexity it's going to take a while

Fixed. Disappointed, don't call it anything else again. mmkay?