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

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

Weapons and Shields – A Few Tips

Sometimes a new idea when it comes to creative writing can be a tad overwhelming. Especially when the topic at hand encompasses so many ideas and details and well, I won’t lie, this whole notion of me offering up tips and tricks when it comes to Star Trek Online, kind of gave me pause. Because I don’t consider myself to be an expert in the slightest when it comes to the game, hell I basically learned on the fly when I first started playing, and it took me a freakin’ year to even remotely dive into how to upgrade one’s gear and improve one’s ship, so what the heck would I know about helping others who are just starting out in this game?
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But I digress, because everyone has their specialty, and any advice one can offer in a game this sweeping is never a bad thing, and as it turns out, I do have my own niche in this game, and that would be starship combat. Because I really do enjoy the finer points of battling it out with other starships, and while the Galactica may sometimes have a sickbay full of officers when a battle is done, and while I may not have the kinds of weapons that rip an opponent to shreds in a matter of seconds (seriously though, what’s the fun in that?), she gets the job done time and time again, and I am proud to say I rarely lose when I go toe to toe with a battleship or a group of ships and that’s thanks in large part to my weapons and shields loadout.

So, that’s the kind of advice I’m going to offer up today, starting with what kind of shields are worth your while. Now in STO, there are basically four types of shields to choose from. There’s the standard shield array, which is what comes with any vessel in Starfleet, but one can switch it up to either Covariant Shields, Regenerative or Resilient emitters as the game rolls on and really, I cannot say that there is a ‘best one’ since they all bring something special to the table. Covariant for example, can handle the most damage before starting to buckle, but their regeneration rate takes forever, and Regenerative shields definitely bounce back quickly but don’t have the strength of some of their counterparts. So, if your ship has a great hull rating and you’re okay with it taking a beating, Covariant might come in handy, since it will delay hull damage for a bit, and if you’re flying something small and powerful, Regenerative might be the way to go since that can allow for you to hit and run and take minimal damage.

Personally, I’m a big fan of the Resilient shield series, and that’s what I have loaded up on the Galactica, simply because this particular shield only allows for a 5% damage bleedthrough when it takes a hit, as opposed to the standard 10% and that comes in super handy during combat, since you are taking a little less damage and that’s critical in the middle of a big fight because a little bit of shields can be what keeps your ship in one piece. Case and point, the other day I was wrapping up an Endeavor Mission that required me to drop 30 Voth ships and well, since I was playing in the middle of the day, when no one is on, I had to take on a dozen frigates and cruisers by myself, and while I took a beating, I pulled it off, because those shields held, with a little help from my chief engineer of course. And, those shields helped keep me in the fight during the new Peril Over Pahvo TFO (pictured above) since they held long enough to get me through an initial wave of Klingon ships.

But, while shields are important, what you hit your enemy with is equally as important because who cares about shields if you cannot do damage on your own and well, this is definitely a tough decision for any player, because let’s be honest, there are a billion energy weapons to choose from in this game. So, we won’t go over every single one because no one has that kind of time, but I will offer up some advice on what to look for energy weapons wise and basically, keep a close eye on what kind of damage these weapons inflict, and go with the strongest. As to whether or not it should be beam or pulse or anything in between, well that is up to you. Because beam weapons, while effective, take a little longer to damage an enemy whereas say, a Mark VX pulse phaser system would punish shields. Personally, I prefer beam because they allow for better coverage and versatility, and they definitely punish shields and hulls when you master how to use them during combat, and they absolutely serve as a wonderful setup to a torpedo finishing move.

Speaking of torpedoes, those are also essential to combat since they do the most kinetic damage when it comes to ship to ship combat and really, the two most powerful ones that I’ve seen are Quantum Torpedoes and Plasma Torpedoes. Tri Cobalt seems to do some serious damage as well, but personally, I’m not a fan of how long they take to deploy. So, I tend to stick with the Quantum variety since they load quickly and do some serious damage when a ship’s shields are down and when used in combination with the Anti Proton beams the Galactica is equipped with, I’ve seen ships blow to pieces before they get within five kilometers of my vessel. If anything, the key here, is to have fun with the weapons present in the game since you’ll get your hands on just about all of them as you traverse the stars. So, try them out, see what you think, and if you don’t like them, no worries, just change your loadout and sell them on the marketplace and really, I hope this offers some kind of help to those of you starting out, or offers new insight to veterans who haven’t dug in yet and now that we’ve talked about weapons, we will move onto ships come next week. Until then. 

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