There was a time when the STFs were completely different (and much more unforgiving). Alas, they're long one now. Back then it was the other side of the planet and holding off several waves of Borg a they came through the gate; painful if you didn't know what you were doing but challenging.

Right now though it's either the Sphere (normal) or a Cube (elite).

There I was, Entering into a Normal Cure PuG.....

I said 'HI' in the chat like I usually do and someone responded 'I'll Take The Kang.'

I watch as 4 ships head off to the kang as I fly to the first cube.

I start shooting, take out the first couple BoP's in a couple quick vollies and start shooting the nodes.

I turn around while shooting and see one team member off about 70k and the other three shooting at the incoming ships.

Someone is hollering 'NOOBES NOOBES.'

I see they are having troubles so i fly back and kill a couple of the BoP's. Meanwhile i see Skittles and Rainbows just flyi ng everywhere.

I type, 'Great, Rainbows, Skittles AND a Farmer..'

Someone types, 'If you get over here and help instead of running off to the Cube we might win.' (Or something like that.)

I say 'Whatever' and went back to killing the nodes at the first cube. I killed 2 more BoP's on the way.

I turn around and look again as the Cube goes boom and see that the other three team members that are actually doing something are overwelmed.

So I return and start killing more BoP's.

Someone yells that I was supposed to take the Cubes to 10%. Now you have to remember, THIS IS A NORMAL!

I typed, "ThIS IS A NORMAL"

I flew to the second cube, killed a couple ships on the way. I kill all the nodes and notice that the other three are overwelmed again. So I fly back to the rescue and kill all the ships, we lose the optional just as I get there as the Kang drops below 75%.

I say, 'Don't you guys have heals?'

Nobody answers.

Someone yells, 'If you would have played right we would not have lost the optional!"

I typed, 'If I'd known I was in here with Farmers and Skittle Boats I would have bailed."

So I healed the Kang as good as i could and flew off to the second cube and finished it.

I see on the way that the three team members were now overwelmed by the two Raptors that had spawned from cube 3.

I kill a couple nodes on cube 3 and Boom,,, There goes the Kang.

One guy is yelling 'Next time take the cubes to 10% like you're supposed to.'

I yell, 'THIS IS A NORMAL!'

Someoned else chimes in, 'What's a Skittle Boat?'

I have no words. How can anyone get overwhelmed by the paper-thin hulled BoPs and the weak Raptors on a Normal Cure run? I just don't understand.

I've done many many many normal Cures and it happens a lot more often then you may think.

Unfortunatly, I enjoy subjecting myself to torture so I'll most likely be doing many many many more.

I must have had amazing luck then, because I've done a large number of Cure Normal runs myself and have yet to fail the mission entirely. Fail the optional? Yeah, because someone said they could guard the Kang when in fact they could not. I usually take it upon myself to guard it now, see if anyone helps, then if they seem competent enough at it I'll wander off to help focus on the Cube/Nanite group everyone else is on.

But I'll still be looking in my "rear view mirror" to see if they need help. Thanks to the STFs, my situational awareness has certainly improved significantly!

my worst expirance is only 2

first one borg invincible undetectable overpowered romulan plasma torp

second one, when the whole team does not know what there doing and using repulse tractor and pushing a npc infront of me and ending killing me

there more but i can live with it

Generally speaking, I can protect the Kang in a Normal Cure by myself without any BoP's or Raptors getting even close enough to fire a shot. And I have a ball doing it. But all too often often, someone who doesn't have a clue how to do a Cure says I'm spawn camping or Farming if I do it. This is even with it being obvious that I click PASS on almost everything that drops. So I've pretty much quit doing it.

The second senerio is when Nobody protects the Kang. In these I'll knock out a probe and a couple raptors at the Cube then rush back to protect the Kang. No problem, I can still keep the Borg away without them getting close enough to the Kang to fire a shot.

Often what happens now in a Normal Cure is One player who may or may not know what they are doing will yell, 'I'll Take the Kang.'

So he'll take the kang and all TOO often another ship or two or three or four will follow him to the Kang and set.

Now when someone blurts out 'I'll protect the Kang' I'm always suspicious. So I try to keep a good eye on what's happening while I work on the first Cube.

I'll even fly close enough to the Kang to see what the other ships are using for weapons when i can. If i see a bunch of Rainbows or Skittles then I know we're in trouble and i may have my work cut out for me.

I'll click on the ship also to see what kind of experiance the others have when I can but usually I can see right away. An Oddy with Rainbow Beams equals no experiance.

IF the one, two, three or four ships can REALLY protect the Kang I can usually take out all three Cubes by myself in the alotted time. I just like it a lot more when I have a little help which I usually do have.

One of the ships protecting the Kang will sometimes say something to the others who have followed him about killing the Cubes and I will ALWAYS say something to the other ships at the Kang to help out at the Cubes. Usually these pleas fall on deaf ears.

Usually at the last Cube all those protecting the Kang will move forward closer to the Cube and start helping to kill it.

But unfortunatly this isn't always the case.

I've seen several complete losses because the one, two, three, or four ships at the Kang didn't have the DPS to kill the BoP's.

In fact, One complete loss was within the first three (or there abouts) minutes before the first Cube was even dead!

There was one person protecting the Kang and nobody made it back, includi ng me, in time after the optional dropped to save the game. I saw ships heading that way before i could get away from the Cube but none made it in time. On the way back we all saw the ship protcting the Kang was a Rainbow Beam Boat, hence lies the problem. Plus, the guy protecting the Kang NEVER called for help. Which isn't at all unusual.

But I've heard several people say they've never had a complete loss on a Normal Cure. But don't worry, If you play enough you will see EVERYTHING.

I have had similar Normal Cure runs, where they need four to protect the Kang, and lately I would be the only TAC in the run and yet no one cures the Kang. Or I will tell them I need more then myself to take on the Cubes to beat the time limit.

I was onced called a Noob after destroying a cube and three cruisers with a another escort couldn't protect the Kang. The vocal player was telling me that they were doing the 10percent Cube. I told them it was unnecessary because it is a normal run and the BOPs and Raptors are not as powerful. What amazed me was not only could they take on the Bops and Raptors, the Kang was destroyed. The only thing of good merit I discovered was that I can take on a Cube base by myself, it may take a few more mins, but I can.

Pardon my noobness to the terms but when you say rainbow beam boats, what do you mean exactly?

A boat that carries one weapon of every type, or nearly

Phaser, Disrupter, Plasma, Tetryon, Polaron, and Anitproton. Usually doesn't shell out as much DPS as a boat with one type of weapon.

If we are talking Skittle Boats, it's a Rainbow Boat, but replace all Beam weapons with Dual Cannons or Heavy Cannons and Turrets