[Glenn42]

Hey all:

Now that I am getting more comfortable with the game, I am realizing that the ship is only a part of what makes a toon successful.

It seems that the toon build is just as important. I'm going to preface this with the fact that I know that there is no BEST build...that the build depends on how one plays...but I am bewildered by all the choices for traits.

Can anyone give me some advice on how to build an effective toon (Right now I am flying a T6 Tactical escort with a cannon build a'la Bridger)?

Thanks, in advance, for all your advice.

Artur Pendragon

[Scarlett]

Do you mean the ship or the Captain?

Or both?

[Tain]

Bridger has a couple links below you may want to check out, they should answer your questions


Ship Build Info
https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...hip-Builds-101

Captain Build Info
https://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/...22dbacfb94c6bf

Your ship/captain build is only half the battle, piloting and knowing when to use your hot bar abilities are critical for maximum DPS. To improve those, check our our events calender. Join one of our STF runs and they will be happy to show you the ropes.

I could build a Bridger template, but I will get maybe 75% of the DPS he does, as he is as good a pilot as he is a builder.

[Dark]

Yeah, salty people who suck like to disparage piloting's impact on performance ("Just mash spacebar"), but back in the day when I copied a build from Jena I only got about a third of their parsed DPS. They berated me about being lazy and just throwing everything on spacebar without caring about cooldowns or timing, and setting up everything properly bumped my DPS up by around 60%.

That's the important "what to use, when to use it" bit.
After that it's "know where to go, get there at the right time" which is more situational.

[Glenn42]

Do you mean the ship or the Captain?

Or both?

Captain. I am starting to get a handle on ship design...but character design is still a bit beyond me, at the moment.

[Scarlett]

Hmm. I have thoughts based on my own perspective and experience. I mean, I don't perceive there are really any "better" or "best" for ground events.

Unlike space, the ground milieu seems to be more along the lines of "what do you want to do"? For my part, I demand Scarlett and Team look like a 25th Century Starfleet persons, so they use Fleet or Federation-type weapons (like the MACO Sniper Rifle). So, it's sort of coincidental (and was "cheaper") that my Away Team also uses Fleet Armor and Shields ... except the ones that use MACO and Omega sets because I grinded for the stuff thinking they were uber only to discover they sorta weren't, so I had the gear and opened up bank space.

Check these:
https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/wiki/tspcombatguide
https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/wiki/tspkitguide
https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/w...basicboffguide - I totally copied the suggestions here for my away team and saw a marked improvement in their performance which help Scarlett.

This: https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/wiki/tspgroundguide - has notes on devices that may help on that end. The guide overall is about Elite Queues which I have never tried.

Otherwise, I really recommend hunting for videos on Youtube. Watching others play gives some hints on how it can be done.

[Dark]

Nothing wrong with Omega on a BOff, you get that nice team buff. Looking forward to putting Gamma on my Tac BOff, the tank of my Away Team.

[Glenn42]

Hmm. I have thoughts based on my own perspective and experience. I mean, I don't perceive there are really any "better" or "best" for ground events.

Truth be told, I'm not really looking for a toon that can compete in Ground events. Yeah, I have to be able to run ground events for the story missions, but I'm looking to build an effective captain. I'm looking for Traits that will help support my space battle abilities. I'm trying to figure out synergies, which trait works in conjunction with what others to increase my space effectiveness...but my knowledge base is just too limited at the moment.

I am a veteran of WoW and Eve so I know there are not BEST builds or cookie cutter builds to follow...an effective build is based on your play-style. I'm just trying to get enough information to help me make better decisions about what traits and skills to pick and use.

Thanks for the links. It seems I have some serious reading to do.

[Scarlett]

Woah, you play EVE? That's next level there ...

Anyway, so the concern is about Traits? Space and Ground are separate in that regard so there doesn't have to be much synergy, so to speak. Having said that though, there IS something to say about Specializations.

Since we all spend A LOT more time in space, then we tend to pick Specializations that work up there (Intelligence Primary/ Strategist Secondary is the current meta), but unless you change things around when you go to ground, then here is where some synergy could be considered.

To that end:
https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/c...zations_trees/ - Trees
https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/c...ons_abilities/ - Abilities

Since Intel/Strategist is the current meta in Space, then it'll be good to know their effect on Ground. THEN you could build your Kit, Modules, gear AND Traits to be supported by the Specialization.

For my part, I use Intelligence Primary and Temporal Secondary - as a Sci Captain, I have slotted several abilities in Space and Ground involving Exotic Damage At least as I understand it which likely means I am doing it wrong

[Glenn42]

Woah, you play EVE? That's next level there ...

I LOVE Eve. I was Director of a corp and was part of an RP corp for years...so I have a bit of experience when it comes to spotting and discussing good ship builds...and like I said, I am slowly figuring out how to create an effective fighting ship.

My problem is that there are so many traits and add in the skill trees and all of the many combinations, my head is swimming a bit at the moment.

Thanks for the additional reading.

Love the video your link points too...I've wanted to see them in concert or a while.

[Scarlett]

How about this for Traits -

Reputation (and ranked, does not include Gamma) - https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/w...its/reputation
Personal (also ranked) - https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/w...l_space_traits



EDIT - Saw them recently for their Synthesis Live with Orchestra tour. Small park amphitheater and I was about 11 rows back. Say what you want about the music, but she is an amazing singer.

[Raz Beraht]

You need to have really in-depth knowledge of game mechanics to start crafting your own builds, I personally don't have this knowledge, so my strategy is this:

Step One: Stalk Dark on the forums.

Step Two: Stalk Bridger's build posts.

Step Three: Prowl Reddit for threads that might answer my questions.

Basically copying people's builds on Reddit and asking Dark's advice is the only reason I not stuck in newb zone with 8 beams all of different types.

Your questions seem to be more focused on traits and how they interact. Copying builds and reading why they're good will help you develop some understanding on how everything is interconnected. There are definitely some go-to traits out there and sometimes they can cost a lot of EC on the exchange, the same goes for consoles.

Bridger posted a good reddit thread here which talks about the current meta, you'll notice there is a lot going on with traits that buff certain abilities, which make those abilities the "must haves" in the current situation, you might wanna give that a look.