[Marku]

Hi Team

Can i ask what you consider to purchase with Zen on the C Store as a priority(in order of importance)? Is there particular set of items or ships that are crucial to your play style or roleplaying?

Down the road i would like to purchase Ferengi and Andorian ships for my two characters of that race for RP purposes. My tellarite perhaps, but i am not a fan of that ship design so i may focus on the Defiant class in his case. I love the manueverably of the earlier tier versions of this ship and it packs quite a punch

[Solace]

When I was levelling up for the first time, I focused on getting services like EC caps, inventory/bank slots etc. Now I mostly spend my zen on new ships and key bundles. Occasionally I'll indulge in the R&D promotions to try my RNG luck, I'd recommend spend ships on zen if I'm honest, some of the ships in the CSTORE are really good investments.

For example the Gagarin Miracle Work Cruiser, is one of the best ships in STO hands down and the fact thats in the CSTORE makes worth the investment!

[Mack]

You want to get the most bang from your buck with your initial purchases.

I believe what you're asking is covered in this discussion thread: The most popular Zen ships claimed via the tokens
The starship traits you get with especially the first 5 ships are important for any tactical build. They're global traits.

I'll quote Bridger from the same thread:

Surprise the first 5 ships either have some of the best traits in the game or are by there self very good ships.

[Sul-Matuul]

The EC limit unlock is a must have, i'm not sure if that comes with any other bundle as they seem to swap things around a lot and it's never clear what is included with what these days. Make that your number one priority.

Then it's up to you really. If you want ships purely for asthetic and RP authenticity then you don't need to worry too much about the power of those ships, giving you a bit more flexibility in choices than someone only interested in pure performance.
And honestly, 99.9% of the T6 ships are actually very good anyway and are more than capable of anything bar elite content that requires more thinking outside the box. So don't feel you are making a wrong choice just because everyone recommends you the usual suspects in terms of ships.

As for ships themselves, there's a few that are well worth it simply for their adaptability and a few other factors:

Gagarin Miracle Worker Battlecruiser
I'd argue it is the top Federation ship in the game right now. It might not hold the performance record but it is so flexible and well rounded i'd argue you'd struggle to go wrong with it. Great boff layout, extra uni console, reasonable fast and easy to fly, pretty tough, trait is actually really good for a standard mixed armaments build.
Plus it looks really good too and has a tonne of skin options to make it look nice.

Cardassian Ship Bundle
These ships can be flown by any faction and that gives you lots of potential right out of the box.
They are not the most amazing looking ships but they do fit well with an updated Cardassian theme I feel so they are really nicely designed in that regard.
Stats-wise they cover 3 different types of vessel so you've got a lot of choices for builds.
The Flight Deck Carrier is the only C-store vessel of this type so well worth it if that is your thing, 4-4 weapon layout, 2 hangers, cruiser commands, frigate pets, cloaking device, intel abilities - it's packed with features.
The escort is a standard escort really, but again with a built in cloak.
The Science Dreadnought is a beast in the right hands, and one of the only non-lockbox science dreadnoughts you can get.
The traits for all 3 are decent as well and the consoles actually make a fairly decent set so slotting all 3 is not entirely mad!
Also, as a bonus you get the T5 Galor Class as a freebie and this also gives you 4 spiral wave disruptor beams which are the best energy weapon type in the game some people feel.

29C Temporal Bundle
The Eternal, Chronos and Ouroburos are all pretty awesome ships if you can get over their odd looks (seriously, check out the smiley face under the Eternal...).
They are cross faction so like the Cardassian ships good for all characters. Again they also cover 3 different types of ship so you have lots of options there.
I'd argue the Eternal is the best, it's a seriously impressive science vessel and pretty much a better version of the already great T6 Vesta variant multi-mission ships.

Stuff to avoid!
(Just my opinion here but I consider these items to not be worth the Zen)

T6 Exploration Cruiser (Andromeda Class) - it's a T6 Galaxy which is great if you liked the Ent-D and wanted to fly it. It's also a vast improvement on the old T5 version which was terrible.
However it has near identical stats to the Yamato class, the T6 Gal-X ship, except the Yamato actually has slightly bettter tricks up its sleeve. It has the build in phaser lance for one, so that is an extra weapon, and it has a hanger too.

T6 Federation Carrier (Jupiter Class) - seriously not worth it right now. Actual carriers are in the worst place out of all ship classes. They recently added Flight Deck Carriers which are essentially a carrier but with the advantages of a cruiser too (more guns, higher hull, cruiser commands).
The poor Jupiter gets none of those bonuses so you are outright picking a ship that is seriously lacking in tricks compared to anything else.
IF in the future they improve full carriers then this could be rather potent; until them leave well alone.

[Taku]

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was buying individual ships that were part of a bundle. In my case it was the Pilot Escorts. I bought them one at a time, as I got the Zen. I should have been more patient and saved up for the FED bundle. Don't make that mistake. If you can get what you want as part of a bundle or a pack offering, then wait. Also, look for sales. Ship sales, service sales, item sales, all pop up with some sort of regularity.

If you're serious about the RP factor, check the uniforms and the bridges as well. I would save the bridges for last, though. Most standard bridges that come with the ships are "good enough". If you're still working your way up, and you have the spare cash, consider a Lifetime Subscription. It's mostly Space Barbie, but it does offer a few decent perks. It includes a lot of the things you would want to buy anyway: EC cap lifted, ship slots, BOff slots, extra toon, inventory and bank slots, access to the account bank (and more slots in that as well), liberated Borg toon, Talaxian toon, respec tokens, and 2 free ships per toon (1 T5U and 1 T6), and MOST importantly... The fireworks in space. Oh, and 500 Zen a month.

At $10 US for 1,000 Zen, you'd be paid back in Zen alone in 40 months (if you bought in while the Lifetime is on sale - and why wouldn't you?).

The Elite Services Starter Pack. Get one for every toon you plan to play "seriously"... It's a per-toon purchase, not an account-wide reclaim.
It's cheap (1,000 Zen) and full of goodies:
• 36 Inventory slots (normally 1200 Zen)
• 36 Bank slots (900 Zen)
• 2 Bridge Officer Slots (250 Zen)
• 3 Captain Retrain Token (900 Zen)

Anyway, If you want to piece it together, 1) Lift the EC cap. 2) Expand your storage (inventory first, then bank). 3) More DOffs. Buy them in 100s, not 25s. 4) Get your T6 ship(s). 5) Kill stuff. 6) Keyrings (or keyring bundles!!) 7) Lobi stuff.

Your mileage may vary.

[Marku]

Guys thank you so much for your insights! I think i did purchase the EC cap quite some time ago as well as inventory expansion. I have the Shamshir Scimiter that i bought last month which i have been experimenting all sorts of different builds for it on my original main (Romulan fed-aligned), i've been relatively happy with it being a torpedo boat so far for group content and now Godo (my new main) is a tellarite using the same ship at the moment until i decide what ship to buy/work towards on him, i was tempted to buy the T6 of Defiant Class because of his tactical focus and i love it's manueverability in combat. Maybe the Yamoto would make more sense for him (The idea behind him is to make him 100% authentic federation, he's in our main fleet).

My Andorian, Ferengi and Klingon fed aligned are in our other fleets. Been working on those on the side (leveling)

[Sorotia]

I honestly don't really buy much off the store other than ships and loot box stuff. Some day in the distant future maybe I'll purchase things like the doff roster expansions for characters, but as long as there are ships I want I save all my zen for them or for keys.

[Stryker]

Whenever Cryptic does the 20 key packs at discount that also comes with an ultimate upgrade; I usually drop cash into those. Quick way to upgrade a good set and open some infinity boxes for goodies, maybe a ship or two and also rack up some lobi at the same time for more goodies or ships... I don't remember how much money I dumped into this game from day zero... it has been an investment at this point, hahaha....