Cryptic doesn't give a damn if you're happy, so long as new people will come and pay money. They've demonstrated this from the word go and it's only gotten worse since PW took over and it's only going to GET worse. They've produced ZERO new content in over a year, so if you don't have to grind the same STF a million times to get one piece of loot, how are they ever going to keep you playing? Not like they've given you anything *else* to do.

Still really wondering how the heck to get the "Prototype Borg Tech" drops since all of the Elite gear requires it.

Are they the purple version of the Blue "Rare Borg Tech" drops we already see (too rarely) in the STFs?

Has anyone ever actually gotten or seen any "Prototype Borg Tech"?

Does it even exist?

It's funny since the M.A.C.O. commander reminds us that all gear is obtainable from just the data chips, but I've only seen that for the MK X and MK XI requisitions. Maybe the veteran requisitions (can't remember), but the only price I've seen for Elite Mk XII gear is with the Prototype tech. What the heck?

Oh, wait here we go. Found this on Jupiter Force's forum:

STF rewards - what you need to know.

I've had a few questions raised about this so since my segment to cover this will be at least 2 weeks here's the lowdown on how it works.


What to look for:
Encrypted data chips (EDC)/
Guaranteed 1 on normal, 2 on elite (during STF weekly event this is doubled).
They rarely drop during the mission or as part of the team loot.

Rare Borg Salvage/
Medium rarity. Sometimes 1-2 drop in the personal loot, sometimes in team loot. As far as I know these aren't affected by the STF event.

Borg *ITEM* tech/
ITEM = shield, weapon, engine etc.
Don't expect these to be common. I spent 40-50 STFs to get my first tech item yet another got their's first STF.
Tech items drop in specific STFs (see below);

Infected: Space -> Shield-----Ground -> Personal Shield
The Cure: Space -> Engine-----Ground -> Weapon
Khitomer Accord: Space -> Deflector-----Ground -> Armour

Recruit = Mk10
Veteran = Mk11

Borg prototype tech/
Currently unknown but from what little I've complete elite's they aren't guarranteed and should consider them extremely rare.


Stuff you can buy/
5 EDC or 1 rare Borg salvage
1 Borg retrofit item (the old holodeck gear).
Mk10 Standard Borg issue item.

10 EDC or 2 rare borg salvage
Mk11 Standard Borg issue item.
1056 dilithium.

20 EDC
Mk10 Special reserve requisition item (Omega Force and MACO/Klingon Honor Guard).
Rare Borg doff.

40 EDC
Mk11 Special reserve requisition item (Omega Force and MACO/Klingon Honor Guard).
Very rare Borg doff.


README!
DO NOT rush to spend your EDC or rare Borg salvage!!!

Why? Bear with me and I'll explain because this ended up benefiting me.

I farmed 40 EDC but did nothing with them then I finally got a veteran PSG Borg tech item. I then cashed this in for the Klingon Honor Guard PSG.
I then went and bought the KHG weapon with my 40 EDC. The reason being if I'd gone and bought the shield with EDC then got the PSG tech I'd be forced to buy 1 Omega PSG and one KHG PSG.
I can only use 1 at a time and I get no set 2 bonus. Now with my set2 bonus of 2.5% damage and adrenaline hypo to facilitate STF ground STFs.
Why did I choose the gun?
1/ Borg proc means I do better damage.
2/ The weapon tech comes from cure ground and that seems a sticky issue with Armek being annoying. This way I can avoid cure ground and do KA more from the armour while farming space for EDC (and tech items) or infected incase I can pick up another PSG tech for Omega Force.


Rare Borg Salvage should really be saved for the Standard Borg requisitoon stuff. However, whether you should rush out to buy this equipment seems qustionable at the moment.
Space normal is so easy you really don't need them.
Elite? Perhaps.

I'm going to compare the MK11 Acc, CrtD, Borg weapons to my MK11 Dmg, CrtD, CrtH weapons;

My weapons do about 5dps more so actually better by a tiny bit.
My weapons crit more often by 2%.
My weapons crit 20% more.

As an offeset the Borg weapons are 10% more accurate (I recall accuracy not affecting PvE) and has a 7.5% chance to do 1000 damage to the Borg.

Now yes you could buy ground gear like the weapons for the Borg damage to get through the adaptation a bit better but I really don't see how the Borg space weapons will significantly outdamage my current weapons and at best this will only be against the Borg.

Cinos has posted maths below proving the Standard Borg requisition weapons are better. The only issue i have with the maths there is he is comparing a weapon that has no added crtH and crtD and only 1 dmg. This is one of the weakest weapons assuming acc doesn't work in PvE whereas my weapons are slightly better. I'll try and get Cinos' maths on my weapons too and see how they compare then update this post accordingly. I would still say don't rush out to buy the gear if you're sticking to normal.


Doffs
You could buy doffs with EDC but it's a lot for 1 doff and it will be of limited use for doing more doff assignments. It could help you with future STFs in the form of beamign down another escort but this is reliant on your ability.


My advice:

1. Save up EDC for ground veteran special reverse requisition (to begin with).
2. Look out for the veteran ground tech drops and when you get one look to spend your 40+ EDC on another item of the same set (my example above should be clear enough) so you get the set2 bonus.
3. Focus then on farming another 40 EDC for the 3rd item especially the STF which gives you a chance of getting that tech drop (in my example, KA ground gives the armour).

And you talk about the Elite versions, correct? Beacose if that happend to you in the normal ones, then the problem is not the mission, is your build.

It's gotta be. Even my ground character, with a poorly specced cruiser, can survive a gateway shot in Normal.

Elite... forget it! That gateway shouldn't be armed to begin with!

Can someone answer something for me about the MkXII stuff, cause I havnt the inclination to sift though every STF vendor menu to find out.

Are the tokens for obtaining these entirely based on luck? I had a quick look and couldnt find anything to convert EDC's into one of these tokens. Are they only available on Elite and if so, are they specific to each STF liek the MkXI tech drops?

I suspect it is entirely random and if so I'm likely done with STF's, I got sick of eastern grindfest MMO's quite a while ago.

On the topic at hand, I don't feel anything should be one shotting you when you have decent gear and build even on elite. There are ways of getting around it, I have pugged elite STF's but those methods aren't entirely reliable.

That is partial correct. Each of the 6 STFS have a specific item attached to them. The drop for the token to buy that item is an extreme rare drop. So go get a full set you are looking between 1 run and infinite runs per single item. since for the elite gear there is no other method to get them. No saving up lower drops, nada.

now that is some good info, any other tidbits please haha

Has anyone seen an Elite Prototype drop yet?

I never saw one at all (including tribble testing)

I only netted 10 Rare Slavage in the last 52 STF runs and I've done about 30% of those runs on Elite