The Admiral’s Log: My Journey Through ‘Star Trek Online’ – Part IX

Written by John Edward Betancourt

My Sixth Command: U.S.S. Galactica – NCC-1775-B

​When it comes to the games we love and play on a regular basis, there comes a point in the player’s digital life, where they have to stop coasting by and take the game seriously and well, the time had come for me to finally do just that in Star Trek Online, shortly after the Iconian War. Now, that’s likely an odd statement to make when one considers that I’ve already written eight prior blogs that utterly geek out about my experiences in Star Trek Online but hear me out here. Because you see, I took the Star Trek aspect of the game as serious as possible, but the actual finite details of the game; such as building better weapons and learning about what different ships can do, I never took the time to learn much about. 
 
Which brings me back to the impasse I was currently facing. Because by being so loyal to the 1775-A, I found myself facing ships that grossly outmatched my own, making the battles last longer and forcing me to make some foolhardy maneuvers to win, and after the war, my luck when it came to combat finally ran out and I was unable to move any further on a mission set in the 29th Century because the Na’Khul ships that I was going up against during said mission, were ripping the Galactica to shreds, and frustrating me to no end. I simply wanted to finish every story available, which meant, I was going to have to make some changes. 
 
I needed a ship with a stronger hull, and better weapons, so I took a tiny break from the game to learn about all of my gear, and how to upgrade it, and what weapons worked better than others and well, I returned from that break, ready to focus on building a better ship before returning to the mission. So, for the time ever, I spent money on a brand-new vessel, an T6 Odyssey Class vessel to be exact, the same as Enterprise, putting me squarely in the 25th Century at last. But before the newly commissioned U.S.S. Galactica NCC-1775-B could set sail, she needed new weapons and having learned about the wonder of the Anti-Proton beam, I spent a fair chunk of energy credits to arm the ship with those, and quantum torpedoes of course and launched this new monster of a ship out into the galaxy. 
 
But we weren’t headed back to New Khitomer, no, our mission was one of my own design; to create the strongest ship I possibly could. So, it was time for patrol after patrol, engaging in constant combat to get my hands on Dilithium and energy credits so that I could afford to upgrade and max out all of my gear and well, this taught me a lot about the game. I learned about hull strength, and weapon placement and how consoles can benefit the player, and I discarded every item I could in my inventory for quick credits, and the rare stuff I sold on the exchange all to get my hands on more upgrades and after a few months of blowing the hell out of the same enemies and scrimping and saving, I finally accomplished my goal. 
 
Every single weapon and console and item aboard the Galactica were upgraded to Mark XIV, complete with a Resilient Shield Array that absorbed less damage and while I am a fan of phasers, these top tier Anti-Proton beams ripped through an opponent’s shields like tissue paper. But most importantly, with her new Adaptive Emergency Repair System now active, and with the addition of every last hull bonus available, this hull appeared to be damn near impossible to crack. Which meant, the moment of truth had arrived at last, and it was time to return to New Khitomer and finish the mission and wow, did the Galactica impress. Sure, she took a few lumps as expected, but at no point did I have to run and hide and regenerate the hull. She stood tall in the fight, delivered some punishing blows and just like that, my journey through the game resumed and this time I felt confident that the ship could handle anything thrown our way. 
 
If anything, a minor setback at the time turned out to be quite the blessing in disguise, because I quickly fell in love with this new ship and her design and it was magnificent to know that I would no longer need to hold my breath or check the clock before starting a major battle and would be able to hang with and fend off several enemy vessels at the same time. And of course, I had finally taken this game seriously, and that paid off in spades and well, this decision would come in quite handy in the weeks and days to come, since the game was brewing toward something big again and those particular voyages, are where we will pick up next time…

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