Hi Everyone! I'm new to to STO. I just started on Monday(I quit that other game that rhymes with PoW! Cheers!). From reading the forums I know Science is in a bad spot and is getting worse. However, I really have my heart set on playing a Science Captain. There seems to be a HUGE learning curve and I am really struggling.

I picked a Betazoid. STO Wiki said that was the best race for science and I chose the recommended race traits. My main problem is I have no idea what skills to invest in. I am still a silver member and so I won't get respec tokens at least until I can mine dilithium one day. I don't want to mess up and have to respec later. I have not used any of my skill points yet. I am only a rank 2 lieutenant.

Any peeps out there willing to help out a noob? I really enjoy pvp. I'm guessing I would enjoy ground pvp more, but not sure. I still enjoy pve though too. Let me know if you need more details.

Thanks peeps!

Keeping it simple since everyone was new at some point.

There are only a few skills worth boosting over 6, and even then thats only if you have a very specific plan and leftover points. You may want to use the skill planner at http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/ to work things out ahead of time so you don't end up with leftover points or being juuuust short somewhere. Generally speaking if its a skill you expect to use a lot, put 6 in it, if its something you might use or it resists something that will be used on you, spend 3.

Your BOFFs (Bridge OFFicers) are your power set. My first char I didn't pay much attention to them at first, to my detriment. Switch the toolbar when in space flight to version 4 (I'll let you figure out how to do it ). You WILL use up all those buttons, and find yourself wishing you had more. Also I found a good post a while back that lists all the powers and how effective they are. It isn't perfect, and you may find something you love that the writer hates, but its a good yardstick when you're feeling things out. http://forums.startrekonline.com/sho...d.php?t=254545

Don't ever buy in-game gear with dilithium unless you absolutely have to. Use the Exchange first, you'll generally pay half as much and only pay EC which are easy enough to come by. If you aren't sure and want to try something out, by the White/Common version, if you don't like it, you can toss it back on the Exchange as it won't be bound. Do the Investigate Officer Reports and Explore Strange New Worlds daily missions (in your journal) to start building up your dilithium supply for later.

Whatever kind of beam/cannon you equip your ship with (phaser, disruptor, etc), stick with a single flavor, as the damage-boosting consoles are most effective when you use several of the same kind. People will also give you a hard time if you're a Rainbow Cruiser (beams) or Skittle Boat (cannons). Sticking with one kind of energy and one kind of kinetic damage will be more damage efficient and save you some grief.

And really its your first character and you level quite quickly, so you may just wanna experiment with your first try, then delete and make a second character that you really commit to. My main is actually character #3, but with how quickly you level in this game it cost me all of two weeks.

G'luck!

Honestly, the best thing to do is probably put three points into almost everything, since you have the best rate of return on that. Use the skill planner before you spend.

The main decision you have to make is whether to have a ground or space Captain. It is not as bad of a choice as it once was. Look at your traits and decide whether they are more geared toward ground or space and then spend your "floating" skill points in one of them.

Also, think about what type of endgame ship you are going to fly. If you are going to fly an Intrepid, you probably do not need to spend skill points on tactical maneuvers, but you probably should if you are going to fly an escort.

You should check out my thread, I'm sure there'll be something there to help you. I've got links for both space and ground PvP threads so you should be good.

The link is in my sig.

@ReginaMala
Thanks for the advice and links! I especially appreciate the last bit about your main actually being character #3. It makes me feel like I can play through the game and make a few mistakes, delete and start over.

@Sakarak
Thanks for the advice! It looks like my traits gear me towards a ground captain. Empathetic and Telepathic are both required, Creative was recommended by STO Wiki. My one space trait is astrophysicist which was recommended by STO Wiki. I'm not sure if creative and astrophysicist are the best ones, but they seem okay. I am not sure what my endgame ship would be. I wouldn't mind healing though.

@Tick0
Thanks for the links! There is a lot of info there. I will try and read up on them.

Finally. If there are people who would like to share their build, I would appreciate it. Are there different builds for PvP and PvE or can you use one build?

Thank you for helping out a newb! I appreciate the postive feedback, some of the forums I have been reading are real downers, lol.

I've never been as good at space as I have been at ground. I can solo Rebecca (end game infection boss) and rooms full of borg, and just about anything else that you fight on the ground I can solo it :p

but anyways, I've been subbed for about 450 days, and I've mix and matched so many builds it's not even funny. I've got 2 max lvl'd characters and I'm working on 3 more (all at the same time its hard to lvl 3 toons and balance a real life job :/ ).

my set up is a little different from others you may find because I run with a very very rare kit (no longer a drop in game but can be bought on the exchange for over 10mil). It's the Borg Medical Analyzer kit, it's basically the same as the medic kit except it doesn't have triage but in its place it has tachyon harmonics. I use the long range science retrofit and the oddy sci cruiser so my build can support both at anytime i feel like switching.

but enough of my rambling, here's my build
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skil...?build=kjk91_0

it supports ground more than space but overall for my set up its great. but I will say what I tell everyone else - "Find a play style you enjoy and go with it. No one can tell you how to play a game but yourself."