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

Written by John Edward Betancourt

A Second Time Around

Well hello again my fellow fleet members, it’s hailing frequencies open again for The Admiral’s Log and it has been a hot Tholian minute since we last geeked out about Star Trek Online. And there is good reason for that, simply because the game hasn’t had anything new going on for a little while. But that sure hasn’t stopped me from playing. Because I need my daily fix and I love accomplishing my Endeavor missions, both universal and daily and well, as I’ve mentioned before, that’s really not something that is compelling to discuss in a blog format. Because there are limits on how many times you can type ‘inflicted 50,000 points of Anti-proton damage today, holla’, but I digress. For there is a point to my incessant ramblings today in that… I found something new and exciting to do in STO.
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Because the other day, one of my daily Endeavor missions had me go and fight some Borg on the ground, and after taking the time to upgrade my crew’s shields and body armor (because that Endeavor cash and dilithium is piling up) I couldn’t help but notice how much better we performed under fire. No one went down with injury, we hung in a fire fight a whole lot longer, and that outright got me thinking. What if… I went back and replayed some of the missions and patrols and such, that used to frustrate the heck out of me when I didn’t know what I was doing in this game? Because back then, I was just a pure Star Trek fan, willing his ship to combat victory and pushing his crew to take a beating to complete the mission. But now that I’m armed with a T6 Operations Star Cruiser and a savvy team that’s armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art weapons and protection, how would those old missions go? 

So methinks the time has come to revisit some of those old missions and see what happens. Because now, the Romulan Warbirds that used to give me hell are evenly matched with the Galactica, and if we can handle ground combat in this smooth a manner, then woe to the foe who thinks he can beat me in a phaser firefight. But of course, the big question that remains in regard to this personalized task, is where exactly does one begin in re-living the toughest missions of one’s Starfleet career? And to me, the beginning is always best. Because the ‘Klingon War’ arc had some missions that kicked my butt. Two to be exact, and once I’ve replayed those, I’ll choose one from each arc that made me swear in Klingon, skipping the more recent ones because I’ve taken the time to recap those, here. 

But as some of you read this, you’re probably thinking that such a task will be a little too easy and a little too unfair. Which is a fair thing to think. After all, I am sending an Odyssey class vessel into combat situations that were once handled by a Miranda or Constitution class star ship, and a T1 or a T2 freighter is no match for a T6 ship armed with Mark XV weapons. But I do recall that the game tries to create balance with older episodes if you go back and replay them, by upping your opponents skill set and the combat situation to your skill level. Which means I should see some kind of a challenge and that will only add to the fun. Since it won’t feel as though I’m handling old missions with ‘God Mode’ on, and it should be interesting to see what kind of new challenges the game will throw my way in order to keep the fight on a level playing field. 

If anything, this is something I want to try simply because… I miss writing about the game, and I am down to do anything new within this universe, and it will be a lot of fun to crack up at those easy moments that happen because they’re unavoidable, and I’m looking forward to the surprises as well and the sense of satisfaction that some of these replays will bring. Because some of these missions straight up sucked, and robbed me of my pride on a consistent basis, and it will be nice to go back and use what I’ve learned to handle things differently and most importantly; I get to have a little fun with a game I love and geek out with all of you about it. So, with that in mind, the time has come to hop off of here so I can handle my daily endeavor duties and plan which Klingon mission goes first. But as to which one exactly, well you’ll have to tune in next week to find out. Until then… Galactica out.  

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