To all pilots: -

Please add me to your PWE Core Connect facebook thingie provided with the forum update. This will allow us to share fleet recruitment info, shipbuilding tricks, arrange STF runs without needing to spam the forums.

This is my profile page:
http://core.perfectworld.com/u/carmenara

I also sent out a number of semi-random in-game friend invites to those who've posted in this thread for the past week or so. If I missed out anyone or can't find the correct userID to send the request, then just add me at @carmenara when you're next online.

This could be a useful cadet help / STF survival tips article.

Details some finer points of starship threat management and mission-adaptive strategies. Your success in PvP and STF is not just reliant on DPS.

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...81#post4343781

I must admit i've enjoyed watching people in STF's, it's good to see new maneuvers people come up with. I've noticed that there is just so much that effects your build and your ships abilitys, something that you would think would be insignificant such as placing the right Doffs can actually be a major help. Ultimately though a ship is only as good as her captain no mater how many purple items you have.

I've been wondering a lot about the threat space skill, i haven't put any points on it yet and wonder if it's ultimatly worth it, when good points to go on something better like shields, Weapons & Speed etc. I mean for the damage resistance you get from it, i think i can get a better responce from EPS, eng team2 . . & so on. Although i can see the tactical advantage of getting the attention of NPCs in STFs and even in normal missions, i suppose i'm still weighing up the pros & Cons of the skill.

Threat Control is a can of worms. Done right, with a capable cruiser build + Threat Control 6 you can attract aggro off of everyone letting attack ships produce max DPS till the cows come home.

But you must also note TC6 is powerful enough to attract enemy attention in KA Space 30km away if teammates blow up generators then refuse to clean up their own crap causing anywhere from 2-8 spheres to come at you from all directions at once just as you're dealing with a swarm of vintage Ford Probes.

Another problem arises if you want to change ship mid-career. An Escort with very high Threat Control is simply going to be swatted out of the sky the moment it fires at the enemy making it a very expensive prospect ($10) to respec.

Thus with that said I prefer 'manual' threat control. If I want to attract aggro I will simply alpha strike the enemy with any rapid fire skill and the DPS alone will cause the enemy to chase me.

If the team is bad and attract too many enemy spawns on huge maps like KA space, having no TC means the Borg will target whomever is closest to them as they should.

There are some "Elite" escort pilots who demand that all cruiser pilots have Threat Control 9, because they themselves have TC9 and need someone with a TC as high as them to draw aggro away. There's no point following their advice - since, any PvE specialized pilot won't spec into TC if they know what's good for them in standard non-fleet teams.

And if you listened to those so-called "Elite" pilots, they'll call you a "noob" the next moment when every Borg plasma cannon within a 10km radius targets you and you only and you inevitably blow up.

So what then is 'redneck' threat control?

Easy, you act like Captain Picard in the Battle for Sector 001. Screen allied ships from enemy fire, extend shields (if you have the ability) and donate spare engineering teams to allied ships to allow them time to reboot their systems or drift away from the battle. Position your ship between the one under fire and the enemy, and use repulsor beams (on non boss targets) to push them away so that they are forced to retarget you.

Better yet, fly cooperative attack patterns with allied ships and watch their six, destroying or maneuvering against enemy targets that get too close for comfort (I repulse spheres out of tractor range if they catch a friendly ship so it can get underway again and negate the defence penalty for being stationary).

Conclusion

If you play with premade teams and well coordinated Fleets, or do PvP on a regular basis, TC3-6 is very useful for battlespace control and damage resistance.

If you usually run public queue STFs and standard missions without guarantee of allied support, speccing high into TC is a death sentence where you could max skills into weapons and shields instead and become a better battlecruiser captain.

I might be a redneck ....
I just mowed my lawn , and found a car.

Look out, that Ford Probe is making a beeline for the temporal vortex!

FORD ??
I found a Dodge Rambler.

yeah , the grass was rather high.

Who knows what the Gorn were up to earlier today, taking people's Dodge Ramblers and hauling them off to fields for god knows what nefarious purpose.

There was this poor lady Captain in a Miranda class that found a whole group of them coming over the border with no passports or IDs and she was like scared to death as they came out north of Mexico like the Japanese Occupation.

Thankfully there was the Distress Signal channel and the sight of the USS Relativity fresh out of refit promptly sent them packing. Those Gorn probably left behind the Rambler when they went with the wind

Roleplay in the DC channel soon led to a redneck taskgroup comprised of farmhands and shotguns and we mounted a reprisal raid across the border right back at them, driving them scampering off into the Gulf proper.


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In other news, this is a Hegh'ta Bird of Prey PvP video. Why is the URL posted on a Federation fleet link, you ask?

Because the best way to keep your ship builds up to date is to trial them in the flaming halls of Gre'thor between flagons of bloodwine

Ah-... perhaps it's time I try this. Is there still room in the academy for someone who buzzes about STFs like a blind rat? I only vaguely know what to do; the noob guide is good and all but reading is no substitute for experience. I just don't want to ruin anyone else's while I learn.

We were all blind rats once, not to worry. Will be happy to share what I know.