STO 101: A Lion's share of knowledge

[Battle Lion]

This post will be about the tactical space bridge officer powers, and their uses.

Beam fire at will: Run as high a level of this skill as you can, and have 2 of them. having more than 2 beam abilities is a bad idea due to the way the cooldowns work. you could also have one beam overload, and one fire at will if you want, but BFAW spam is really the way to go for beam DPS. They recently made it so that higher levels of BFAW are not so much better than lower ranks, but the lower ranks are WORSE than the higher ranks. does that makes sense? they made the lower ranked ones not as good and made the higher ranked one better. just run BFAW3 and call it a day. if you dont have any cooldown management to get BFAW3 to global cooldown, slot 2 copies of this skill.


tactical team: everyone should have at least 1 copy of this skill on their ship. it balances your shields, improves your damage, removes tactical debuffs and clears hostile boarding parties and borg assimilate ship. almost everyone has 2 copies of this skill so they can cycle it as much as possible. some people slot 2 very rare conn officer duty officers (tac team variant) to reduce the cool down on tac team, so they only need one. this power is mandatory in game for people who like to survive or do damage or both. because of the power of most other tac abilities, its not worth having any rank of tac team OTHER THAN ensign. TT2 isnt worth it because you could have an attack pattern instead, or a beam/cannon skill.


Beam overload: a good skill if you dont like aggroing everything in sight with BFAW. better for the less survivable builds. theres actually a neat build involving this, there is a duty officer (energy weapons officer) that has the ability of "30% chance: All other attacks ignore 20-35% (depending on rarity) of target's shields for 4 sec"
this is kind of neat if you have 3 of them slotted, and are using directed energy modulation. talk about shield bypassing! this skill was buffed in 2019 to be actually GOOD. beam overload 3 can do some serious sustained damage and can be buffed with some great traits now too. you can also craft beam arrays with the OVER mod for extra beam overloads for free.


Torpedo high yield: pretty basic, pretty effective...if you use torpedoes. HY vs TS (high yield vs torp spread) is basically the same decision as overload vs FAW...how much aggro do you want? in general, AoE damage is more effective, but ultimately its however your build works. generally though, torp spread is considered better.


Torpedo spread: TS3 can shoot out an incredible amount of torpedoes. in my opinion, and depending on the torpedo used, it can outdamage HY3. but again, its all about how your build works. my torpedo ship has grav well, so i like to have AoE attacks to take advantage of the clustered enemies.


Target ___ subsystems: Generally, not worth it. there are so much better tac abilities than these. dont slot these.


Attack pattern beta: amazing in PvE, absolutely useless in PvP. it can be cancelled by tac team, which literally everyone has and is using as much as possible. NPCs dont do that though, so this can really put the hurt on them. its usually a good idea to run the LT version of this skill, so you can use a higher skill of CRF/CSV/BFAW. only worth slotting 2 attack patterns because of shared cooldowns. while this skill is active, every enemy you damage will get the APB debuff. if you are using BFAW, that means basically everything gets debuffed. this debuff can stack, and anyone shooting at that target will reap the benefits. very good as a team damage helper.if you are a DPSer and you dont have this, reconsider.


Attack pattern delta:  actually not that bad. this skill will cause the same amount of damage resist debuff as Beta, but only on targets that are shooting at you. so you have to decide which one to use, based on how your build works. if you are the tank and pull all the aggro, this is a good skill for you, because it ALSO adds a damage resist buff onto you or an ally, which is really nice.


Dispersal pattern alpha: not good. mines in general are not that great. only kinetic based ships should even have them. this deploys small clusters of mines in 2 groups. not as good as DPB.


Dispersal pattern beta: much better mine attack. i actually use rank 3 of this on my kinetic ship. rank 3 deploys 16 mines in a starburst net kind of thing. if youre going to use a dispersal pattern, this is the one to use.


cannon scatter volley: fantastic skill. AoE cannon damage. nothing more to say really. top DPSers use this to reach truly insane damage numbers with CSV3


Cannon rapid fire: another great skill. run as high a rank on this as you can, it only gets better as the rank goes up. more for spike and single target dps. 


Attack pattern omega: This is a great swiss army knife skill. it does alot of things. first, it buffs your damage. it also buffs your damage resistance. it increases your flight speed and turn rate. it increases your defense, and it gives you immunity to teleport AND movement debuffs (it can break a tractor beam) its very good to have in PVP and pretty good to have in PvE as well. it wont do as much damage as APB in PvE, but it can get you out of trouble or over to your next target faster.

[Battle Lion]

This post will detail the engineering space bridge officer abilities

First up is Engineering team.

Engineering team is a good skill. it returns very high hull healing at rank 3 if you are specced for it. It can heal for over 11,000 hp. Most people know all about this skill so i wont talk about it too much..
What i will say is that engineering team has a secondary use. It will "fix" disabled subsystems. So, if your enemy is using phasers and your engines go offline, ET will fix that.
If you are fighting tholians and they disable your weapons, pop an ET.


Next skill is Directed energy modulation.
This skill is fantastic, and i use rank 3 of it on my dreadnought. for the next 30 seconds, your energy weapons will have a significant amount of shield penetration. it depends on your aux power and skill tree of course, but its not uncommon to gain over 50% shield penetration.
Run 2 copies for maximum effect.


Extend shields

7.5KM range. HoT (heal over time) and DR buff to an ally. Cannot be used on yourself.
Really good pvp skill if you are the healer. thats all there really is to say about it. I used to use it in PVP to keep my team mates alive, works pretty well. The hard part is keeping them within 7.5 KM


Emergency power to Weapons

Basically mandatory. not only does it increase your weapon power, which inherently increases weapon damage....but it also adds a damage buff to you, so you do even more damage.
Weapons do the most damage at 125 power, so if you can keep your weapon power from dropping below that during a full weapon cycle, you can ensure you are doing all the damage that you can possible do. This skill also repairs disabled weapons subsystem. 


Emergency power to shields

Again, not only does it increase your shield power, which is directly tied to your shield regeneration rate, it adds a damage resist buff to your shields and increases your shield regeneration. Also repairs disabled shields subsystems.


Emergency power to engines

Increases your engine power. More engine power = more turn rate and higher flight speed. higher flight speed = higher defense. higher defense means the enemy needs more accuracy to hit you. you can effectively 'speed tank' in some ships, evading most incoming fire. In addition to more power, it also increases your flight speed and turn rate. It will repair disabled engines subsytems as well. combine with evasive manuevers to get out of dodge quickly.


Emergency power to auxiliary

Boosts your auxiliary power level, and by extension, your stealth perception. Good for science builds to get the most out of their space magic.


Auxiliary to the emergency battery

Actually a pretty bad skill...Unless you have 3 very rare technician duty officers slotted. and then its OUTSTANDING.

Most people dont fully read the Technician duty officer ability, but it says it can reduce bridge officer cooldowns WHEN AUX TO BATTERY IS USED.
Aux to batt, or A2B, drains your aux power and divides it evenly into your other 3 subsystems.
Having 3 technicians slotted will also cause all your other boff abilities cooldowns to be reduced. including that of your other copies of the A2B skill. This build, known as A2B, effectively DOUBLES all your other bridge officer powers, that is how much you can cut the cooldowns. My dreadnaught uses an A2B build to great success.
Back to the power though, draining all your aux power is not really ideal, as your hazard emitters and most other heals are dependent on aux power, as are being able to launch fighters and all sorts of other things. The good news though is, that your other 3 subsystems will probably be at 125 all the time. Only use this power if you have 3 technicians slotted, and only slot technicians if you have 2 copies of A2B.


Auxiliary to Dampeners

A very well liked skill. increases your kinetic damage resistance and turn rate. also gives you immunity to repel and disable. Examples are: you wont be pulled by grav well, or pushed by tractor beam repulsors. it wont break a tractor beam, but you can probably go really fast and get away from it.


Auxiliary to structural

One of my favorites, i like it better than engineering team. It has half the cooldown, but half the healing....but more importantly it adds damage resistance. heals are great, but stacking DR is where its at. effectiveness is based on current aux power level.


Boarding party

Oh man i'm not even going to bother with how useless this skill is. just dont use it, its not worth the slot for the effect.


Reverse shield polarity

The "oh sh*t" button. great skill. i find that i only need rank 1 in pve, it is more than sufficient. rank 2 doesnt increase the effectiveness, just the time that the effect lasts. Rank 3 increases both. you can increase the length with Doffs too. i think i read about one guy who got it to last for 30 seconds somehow. neat.
Due to its long cooldown, dont make this your only shield heal. epts2/3 will be much better.


Eject warp plasma

has its uses. does damage and slows. also will decloak any enemy that flies through it. clear the effect with hazard emitters. If you like it, use it. its certainly not bad, and you can spec into it for some fair damage and interesting game play.


Aceton beam

Just awful. they really need to get rid of this and boarding party, or seriously improve them.
Reduces the amount of damage an enemy deals, and causes them damage when they fire energy weapons. easily cleared with hazard emitters i think, or engineering team... has a 90 degree forward firing arc, making it mostly useless a second time over.
Just dont use it. there are better powers to slot.

[Battle Lion]

Time for some science space power explanations


Hazard emitters: Gets better with how much aux power you have. gives a heal over time and damage resistance buff to you or an ally. Also clears Borg Shield Neutralizer, plasma fire, and eject warp plasma movement debuff. definitely worth having. 


Polarize hull: No longer shares a cool down with hazard emitters. scales with aux power. breaks tractor beams and makes you immune to them for its duration. also provides a HULL damage resistance bonus to energy damage. very good for PVP, doesnt see much use in PVE though, it has its uses.


Science team: no longer shares cool down with other 'team' abilities. provides a shield heal to you or an ally. clears subnucleonic beam (oddly viral matrix is cleared by engineering team though) among other science debuffs(jam/scramble sensors, etc). not a bad skill, but i think it is outclassed by transfer shield strength. anyone with low aux power though should run science team, but check your tooltips anyway to see which one will produce a better heal.


Transfer shield strength: Shield heal with damage resistance buff to yourself or an ally. scales with aux power. great skill in my opinion. definitely use this over science team in pve if you have decent aux power. its all about stacking damage resistance.


Jam sensors: placates the target until X seconds have elapsed OR you deal X damage to that target. in my opinion this is not very useful. its not very often that you want to placate one target for a short period of time to shoot at a different one. the fact that damage will break the placate makes this not a very useful skill in PVE at all, and less useful than scramble sensors in PVP. 


Scramble sensors: AoE confuse affect. mostly used in PVP. changes your hud display so you cant tell who is friendly and who isnt. if youre attentive, you can just select your target carefully and keep going like nothing happened. but your AOE attacks like FaW and CSV will still kill your friends. might be useful in SB24 or klingon scout force or something, but this is mostly a PVP skill i think. 


Tachyon beam: frontal arc based shield drain to target. pretty simple skill. great for drain boat captains, make sure you have a decent turn rate to keep the target in front of you for the duration of the skill, or it will cancel early. generally not recommended unless draining is your thing. if thats the case, buff up your flow capacitors skill.


Mask energy signature: why is this even a skill, it is really bad. no one uses this. cant be used at red alert. you cannot fire while it is active. makes you harder to see, but not completely invisible. do not use. 


Tractor beam: self explanatory, slows and holds enemy ship. makes them easier to kill by lowering defense and keeping one shield facing facing you. target cant cloak. deals slight kinetic damage as well. great skill for cannon based builds or anyone who wants to stop things from flying all over the place. if used on a cruiser, it can keep the attacking escort's main guns off them for a little while, buying precious time to deal some damage of their own. good skill, i like it. 


Tractor beam repulsors: This skill is a little better though. pushes targets away from you. deals a pretty good amount of kinetic damage, which is nice. great for cannon builds too, as you can just fly straight at a target, use this skill, and it will keep them in front of you for a few more seconds, rather than just passing by. plenty of high dps builds use this to great effect. i use it on all my cannon builds too. 


Feedback pulse: reflects incoming energy weapon damage back at the attacker(s). has 50% shield penetration too. does not prevent any damage to you. i guess this is an ok skill if you tank or do solo everything, especially if you have a high part gens skill. not a bad choice. 


Charged particle burst: AoE shield drain and decloak effect. scales with aux. mostly used to decloak people in PvP during the early days. not seen so much anymore. i used to use it a split second before using photonic shockwave, just to get their shields down so shockwave could hit the hull. i dont really recommend this anymore as a shield drain power. only use if you want to decloak things, which is never. 


Energy siphon: another good skill for drain boats. drains targets power and adds it to your own. combine this with the polaron proc and plasmonic leech and you can drain most things down to nothing. doesnt work well on gates, cubes, diamonds, pickles or citadel dreads...or anything else that is huge. only use if you are a drain boat. 


Photonic Officer: novel idea, but no one uses this. activate this to reduce the cool downs on your other powers. does not work on shared cooldowns or global cooldowns. not worth slotting, just slot another copy of a cool science power. all your other important skills should already be duplicated anyway. do not use. 


Tyken's Rift: AOE power drain and some kinetic damage.  you can really just fly away from this, it doesnt drain too much power. not super useful, even if you are specced for it. grav well is better.


Gravity Well: decloaks enemies. AoE pull and kinetic damage. scales with aux power. probably one of the best powers in the game. can be hell to escape from if properly specced. can deal great damage with 100% shield pen. not to mention the warp core breach chain reactions you can get, which will kill lots of stuff for you. definitely get this skill.


Photonic Shockwave: AoE knock back and kinetic damage, also disables for a short time. used to be nasty in pvp when coupled with tricobalt torpedoes, which also disable. my bird of prey used to use both to great effect. make sure to use when their shields are down or it will do very little damage. you dont see this skill too much, mostly because grav well and tractor beam repulsors are so good, but its not a bad skill to have. 


Viral matrix: in the early days of PVP this was a mandatory skill. it would shut down all your subsystems for X seconds. lock out all your powers. and it couldnt be countered. it was a nightmare. it was nerfed. no longer disables shields i think. you dont see it much in pvp anymore, and its really a pvp skill. i dont recommend using this. slot something better.

[Battle Lion]

hey guys,

obviously a lot has changed since i started making this thread. but it looks like someone on the internet has done basically the same thing i was doing, except with less rambling.

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21A ... 20&o=OneUp

check it out for a well written and simple explanation of most things in game. with an index!

[Battle Lion]

All

I started this thread years ago with the goal of helping you, my fleetmates, understand basic to advanced concepts of this game. We all know that STO has a steep learning curve, and oftentimes even season veterans of many years are unaware of some of the mechanics.

Well, some of the smartest people to play the game have made a slide show that should tell you, well, everything you ever wanted to know. 

This compendium contains links to various other tools and calculators that can help do anything from pick a torpedo, to manage your cooldowns, to picking starship traits for you.

This took years of work and I implore you all to read it, or at least parts of it, if you have even a passing fancy on improving your build, or learning the game. 

I am also standing by to help you interpret this data and parse it down for you.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... slide=id.p

-BL

[Kheren]

Astounding work, Sir. I salute you and thank you for such remarkable work.

Your service honors us.