[Barachiel]

I'm going to be honest. I hate the ground combat in this game. Largely because I feel I suck at it. So, since I just posted a thread asking to get my ship build looked over, I figured I'd stop whining and do the same for my ground spec.

Officer Gear

Armor: MACO Armor Mk XI

Shield: Dyson Reactive Personal Shield Mk XII

Kit: VR Tactical Kit - Fire Team Mk X

Weapon 1: MACO Phaser Battle Rifle Mk XI

Weapon 2: Dyson Experimental Proton Beam Rifle MK XII

Away Team

Engineer: Shield Recharge 1, Weapon Malfunction 2, Shield Generator 2, Quantum Mortar 2

Engineer: Chroniton Mine Barrier 1, Weapon Malfunction 2, Turret Fab 2, Support Drone 1

Science: Dylovene 1, Medical Tricorder 2, Tricorder Scan 2, Nanite Health Monitor 1

Tactical: Draw Fire 1, Suppressing Fire 1, Smoke Grenade 2, Overwatch 2

Maybe I just dont' know how to play my character on the ground. I dunno. It just feels like my abilities don't do a lot, my crew members can't kill anything without me, and it just takes forever to do anything.

[Cehus]

Hey, just a few questions:

What Reputation ground traits do you have slotted?

How are your ground skill points allocated?

What's your approximate budget for potential upgrades?

[Barachiel]

All good questions, that I can't answer right now, as I'm still at work. I did the posting off my Gateway information. I'll update when I get home.

My budget though, I can answer. I've got around 6.5 million EC atm. The gear upgrading I did on my Odyssey wound up taking more than I wanted (miscounted a zero and spent 20 million instead of the TWO i thought I was. By the time I realized my error, I had already equipped it, and locked it to my character).

[Cehus]

For about 10-12 mil, you can buy a Mk 12 very rare TR-116B. That weapon will make killing borg and (especially) Elachi ridiculously easy. It is bound to account and should replace the MACO sniper rifle. Borg do not adapt to it. It's DPS slightly lower, but you don't have to worry about attacking shields.

As for tactics, I'd advise attacking your targets from the rear 120 degrees. They will take a significantly increased amount of damage when you do.

Once I see your skill trees and rep statuses, I can give you some more advice.

[Barachiel]

@#$% I'm not going to have that for a while. Though my inventory is kinda full. I'll see what I can sell.

(Really wishes there was an Auctioneer style mod for the Exchange.)

[Cehus]

@#$% I'm not going to have that for a while. Though my inventory is kinda full. I'll see what I can sell.

(Really wishes there was an Auctioneer style mod for the Exchange.)

If you are looking for some quick cash, there are marauder missions you can run on KDF characters which net a lot of contraband. It's how I make all my money (5 mil every 20 hours or so if cooldowns line up).

[Keenan]

Maybe I just dont' know how to play my character on the ground.

ESF does run an event called Intro to Ground STF. Where you could learn tactics and skill for the Borg STFs.

As for the story missions, first make sure you are not playing on advanced or elite ( Under "in Progress" tab of the missions window {"J" button}. As for BOFFs I have my engineers both trained with mines, turrets and quantum mortars. Let them do most of the work clearing the NPCs. With drops and missions rewards, you can equip them pretty well. Just keep them stocked with medium shield charges and they can stay in the fight longer.

[Barachiel]

I don't have a KDF character.

.... I hate Klingons. *raises metaphasic shields*

Suppose I can roll an Orion Slave-Girl, I mean "Intelligence" officer.

EDIT: I better justify that second statement before I get lambasted.

I do not like Typical Klingons. I find the "culture" laughable and completely unfeasible (but hey, isn't that EVERY Trek culture to some degree or another), and the concept of how they treat "Honor" to be insulting to those who actually take it seriously. And I blame TNG for most of this.

I like TOS-Era Klingons, and DS9 did much to repair them (General Martok remains to this day one of the only 2 Klingons I've EVER liked, and they were both played by the same actor), but I have serious objections with them and the sheer amount of "Hero Worship" the receive from certain elements of the fan-base. I will not play one.

I could rant about it for hours, and probably alienate half the group, so I'll shut up now ,and go back to being a newbie.

[Barachiel]

ESF does run an event called Intro to Ground STF. Where you could learn tactics and skill for the Borg STFs.

As for the story missions, first make sure you are not playing on advanced or elite ( Under "in Progress" tab of the missions window {"J" button}. As for BOFFs I have my engineers both trained with mines, turrets and quantum mortars. Let them do most of the work clearing the NPCs. With drops and missions rewards, you can equip them pretty well. Just keep them stocked with medium shield charges and they can stay in the fight longer.

I've actually completed the first two Borg Ground STFs on Elite, though I was carried by a couple of VERY well-geared groups.

I'll go over their loadouts again, see what I can find.

[Dark]

Hang on, are you talking about just your captain, as a member of a team in eSTFs, or your entire away team?

[Dark]

I personally go Easy/Lazy Mode with that same Away Team composition, although it's easier as an Engineering captain. I use the following:

Engineer: Shield Recharge 1, Shield Recharge 2, Turret Fab 2, Support Drone 1
Engineer: Shield Recharge 1, Shield Recharge 2, Turret Fab 2, Support Drone 1
Science: Medical Tricorder 1, Medical Tricorder 2, Vascular Regenerator 2, Nanite Health Monitor 1
Tactical: Draw Fire 1, Target Optics 1, Overwatch 1, Smoke Grenade 3

Use an Armory Officer DOff so there's a chance they summon 3 turrets instead of one, and a Fabrication Engineer so there's a chance they summon 3 drones instead of 1. That means every combat, 2-6 turrets and 2-6 drones. Four shield heals, four health heals, nobody should ever fall down. (As an Engineering Captain, I get even more turrets and drones, obviously. My own personal army!)

Next is equipment, which is how we control their AI. (This isn't what they use now, since I have toys like the flamethrower and full sets of every rep gear, but this was what I used before.) Give the Engineers and the Tactical a pulsewave. That's a shotgun with an AoE, which is great because the AI like to charge at each other and shoot point-blank. Give the Science a sniper rifle. She needs to stay back out of harm's way.

How does this control the AI? Well, when combat starts the Science will use the sniper rifle's secondary fire - which has a delay. The Engineers rush forward to plant turrets and summon drones, which delays them slightly. In the meantime, the Tactical has charged forward and blasted the group with his shotgun. Hopefully, this leaves everything clustered around the Tac as the Eng open up with their shotgun. Anything that runs past them will be taking shotgun blasts to the flank, along with the turret and support drones opening up.

I start hostilities by using my sniper rifle, and very few things ever reach me. Even though I start with aggro, that just means they're getting shot in the back with pulsewaves. No rep gear or anything required, just two sniper rifles (one for me and one for the medic) and three pulsewaves to catch all the enemy in crossfire.


For STFs, it used to be standard to carry a sniper rifle and pulsewave anyway, and the MACO/Adapted MACO sets reflect that, being a sniper rifle and pulsewave respectively.

[Barachiel]

My captain in an Away team.

I've only ever done Ground eSTFs with pre-mades so it's more like I'm a tag-along than a productive member. I mean kill stuff, but I'm far from the fastest. And as tactical, that kinda stings.