Members from the STFRaiders have written a Guest Blog that prepares you for the Special Task Force missions in Star Trek Online.


Link to the Blog.

Another protip: tech drops are not based on skill or time invested, simply blind luck. You can do it 100 times and not get a single tech drop while another guy can get one on his first go. Fortunately, this is supposed to be changing in a future update. Until then its a gamble, and the odds arent in your favor.

QFT!

Just dont bother with elite, not worth wasting your time with them

Great guest blog now can we make this a must read before you play any STF.

BTW, for those interested. Branflakes there grinded for his tech the same way as the rest of us.

Elite is only good if you want a challenge or you need a certain amount of data chips I used Elite space STF's so I could get the retro STF Assimilated series Sheild Deflector and engines now will save for the MACO/Omega equipment

I can see why people find STF's so frustrating for so many reasons, but I have to admit it really comes into its own if you have a team you formed and trained with to do it!
Once you get that ***Co-Ordination*** it's easy and fun. Then you can take on the crystalline entity that trully tests your teams skill!

Wether it's in your fleet or just freinds, FORM YOUR OWN STF TEAM and watch the rare items flow in

I like this guest blog, however I don't like the weapon setup of those ships. Eight beams draw some much energy from your board, without an EPS console to reload it more quickly, it's very hard to deal a lot of damage. Same with the escort. 4 DHC's and 3 Tourettes draw too much energy. The science ship has got 2 different energy weapon types (tourettes and banks), and that will draw even more energy. How are you supposed to keep your levels up without an EPS console? I know there's now a skill and some set powers increase the EPS percentage ... butt still, is that enuff?

Eristhevorta: As to the weapon setups, I think you'll find that they work quite well in practice; you'll note that there are two copies of Emergency Power to Weapons on that build, and my power levels never drop to unacceptable levels, staying around 80 or so even when using Fire at Will. I run a base power level of 100/50/25/25, before factoring the bonuses from ship class or chevron separation, and it works quite nicely. If you have the ship, I advise that you test it out for a while, and run the combat log parser a little bit if you have it; you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Also keep in mind that the functionality of the EPS power regulator has been changed a few months ago, it now explicitly does not affect weapon power levels, only power transfer rates when swapping base power settings. I've tested this extensively with the combat log parser, and am confident that it actually does work this way.

As to the science ship; the idea that different weapon types draw more power is simply a myth; I've run this setup myself with good success, same with the escort. Feel free to ask Branflakes here as well; he was a bit reticent about changing up his escort build to all DHC / Turrets, but I don't think he'll be going back anytime soon, it really does bump up your DPS. There's a reason that all of the game's top damage-dealing escort pilots in PvP use this setup; simply put, it works, and I'll out-DPS an escort with torps any day of the week. Also consider that with an all-cannon build, every one of your Bridge Officer powers affects every one of your weapons, resulting in improved efficiency and letting you put in more attack patterns which provide some nice global damage boosts. Again, I invite you to try it out for yourself; you'll find that the damage does go up when used properly.