Sunday Supplemental #43

1,080 Active Characters in the fleet is pretty amazing! We also picked up 34 new members just since the start of April! Who would have thought that after more than a decade, the 44th Fleet would still be this active and thriving? Historically, we tend to be right around this level of activity (48%) in the fleet. So in short, the fleet is stable and we continue to grow. All good things and all thanks to YOU!

I also want to mention that JJ and company have a major project in the works and you should be seeing an announcement from JJ on it sometime this week. So definitely be on the lookout for that!

Note: This is correct link this time. Teach me to have 8 tabs open at the same time while writing the supplemental 🙂

 

PC Patch Notes from April 22nd 2021

General:

• Made behind the scenes changes to improve server performance and reduce the feeling of lag.
• Equipped items on ships will now be sent to Inventory upon dismissal.

 

 

Tholian Trouble!

While major powers struggle for stability in the midst of a Klingon crisis, the Tholian web extends unseen above their prey. They make no distinctions between the Romulan Republic and the Tal Shiar. They are advanced, enigmatic, and patient… and they have chosen this moment of galactic distraction to strike. Beginning on May 4^th for PC and soon after for Console, the Tholians imprison a significant portion of the Romulan Flotilla in the Azure Nebula while they attempt to ensnare and abscond with the formidable Vault. How many ships can the Alliance spare to deal with this machination? Will it be enough?

For three weeks, we’ll be running a special event in Star Trek Online called Tholian Trouble. This Event will include multiple TFOs previously featured individually in a combined Featured Event that will allow players to choose their preferred trial each day, while earning Daily Progress toward a new grand prize reward. Play Azure Nebula Rescue to pluck captured Romulan ships out of Tholian webs in a murky nebula, or select Vault: Ensnared to prevent them from stealing away a massive fortress full of priceless research.  We’ve made several updates to polish these two TFOs, to make your experience even better.

Participating in this Event will give all players the opportunity to win the Universal Console – Tholian Web Array for their entire account! Keep reading for details on this item, how you can participate in the Event, and what additional prizes may be earned.

Azure Nebula Rescue and Vault: Ensnared Updates

Azure Nebula Rescue

As you’re rescuing Romulan ships from the Tholian web-bases, you’ll now be assisted by the I.R.W. Leahval—the flagship of the Romulan Republic. But be careful, because during the fighting, more Tholian reinforcements will show up to hunt you down!

In addition, we’ve streamlined the optional objectives so that they should be approachable, and instead of rescuing a small number of ships over two small periods of time, you now gain bonuses for rescuing some ships early through the event, and for reaching a higher total overall during the event.

We’ve also added map markers so that when you use your overhead map, you can see exactly what Romulan ships are being held and where, along with their values for the TFO.

Plus, our environment team has revisited the Azure Nebula itself to update its beautiful coloration and gaseous shapes!

Vault: Ensnared

When you arrive to assist the Vault, you’ll now find that the various Reman ships defending it are ensnared in webs. Fight off the Tholians, destroy the webs, free the Reman ships and you’ll earn bonuses. Plus, if you free all of the ships quickly, you’ll automatically advance to the next stage of the TFO—no more waiting!

Once the Tholian vault weavers arrive to ensnare the Vault, they’ll take a tighter formation, and they travel in groups. This means you’ll spend less time flying from one side of the Vault to the other, and more hunting down Tholian ships! You’ll need to be quick about it, because if you don’t manage to stop the Vault from being ensnared, Obisek will trigger a thalaron cascade that will destroy the webs but will also do serious damage to your ships.

Finally, when you enter the micronebula to fight the Tholian flagship, you’ll see UI elements on the map to show you where to go, and your mission tracker will show the name of the additional dreadnought. Defeat the flagship and the additional dreadnought quickly for bonus rewards, or focus on just destroying the flagship and its escorts to finish the mission. You’ll have to fight them in the micronebula, though, so remember what you learned from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan—tactical view will be inoperative, and shields will be useless!

To go along with these changes, we’ve also increased the number of marks rewarded by both TFOs.

Universal Console – Tholian Web Array

This powerful console improves Tetryon Damage, Physical Damage, Control Expertise, and dramatically improves Critical Strike Chance against Held enemies. It also has a deadly active ability: Hold target ship in a web, dealing Physical Damage Over Time and chaining to up to 4 additional Foes, applying a Hold to them all and dealing sharply increasing Physical Damage Over Time to each new target.

2021 Event Campaign

This Featured Event is the second of a series of upcoming Events that will participate in the second installment of our multi-event system known as an Event Campaign. For the 2021 Event Campaign, a few changes have been made.

 

1. More Events!

 

The 2021 Event Campaign will span a total of FIVE separate Featured Events, spanning the majority of the upcoming year of PC releases. As a result of this increase in length, the requirements for receiving the Campaign Grand Prize have been increased from 2,800 Progress to 3.500 Progress.

 

2. More Prizes!

 

The Grand Prize for the 2021 Event Campaign will offer players a choice as to what they receive, between the three following options:

Option 1:

• Any Infinity Promo or Infinity Lock Box T6 Ship
  • This ship will be a once per account unlock, for a single ship only.
  • Note: Contents only include premium starships that were released before 12/31/20. Starships released after this date will not be included as options.

Option 2:

• 1,500 Lobi Crystals
  • Once per account.

Option 3:

• Two 100% off Coupons for Tier 6 Ships in the Zen Store
  • Once per account.

 

This choice is only made once per Account, upon claiming the prize.

The core gameplay of this Event Campaign remains the same as the previous one:  Participate in multiple Events scheduled over the next several months, to earn progress towards an extremely valuable prize. All of the following aspects of this system remain unchanged:

 

• Players may earn 50 Event Campaign Progress for each day they participate in an eligible event.
• Buying out an eligible event will include up to 700 Event Campaign Progress.
  • Each event’s buyout only grants as much Event Campaign Progress as is relative to the amount paid, after pro-rated discounts are applied. This means that paying half price, (because you participated in 7 out of 14 of the required days so far) will grant you 350 Event Campaign Progress. Essentially, you get what you pay for.

 

Rewards

Earn a total of 14 days’ worth of Daily Progress to become eligible to claim all of these rewards:

• Universal Console – Tholian Web Array (and Account-Wide Unlock for Reclaim)
• 25,000 Dilithium Ore (once only)
• 3x Featured TFO Reward Boxes (once only)
  • Each gives a choice of 1x Specialization Point or an Enhanced Universal Tech Upgrade

 

Now, upon claiming this Grand Prize (whether earned or purchased), your account will immediately become eligible for Bonus Progress. The first Bonus Progress rewarded will be accompanied by a reward of 8,000 Dilithium Ore. Earning Bonus Progress each day thereafter will increase this reward by an additional 1,000, and we have increased the cap on how high this value may scale to a value that is unreachable during this Event (thus effectively unlimited!).

The following table shows an example of how Bonus Progress Rewards are now laid out:

# of Bonus Days	Dilithium Ore Rewarded
1	8000
2	9000
3	10000
4	11000
5	12000
(etc.)	(etc.)

All Bonus Progress Rewards are rewarded a maximum of once per day, per account, and are immediately and automatically granted to the active character when the requirement is met.

Legacy Progress

This Featured Event will continue to honor Legacy Progress, the same as the last several previous Events.

Availability

Unweave the Tholian web on PC from May 4th, 2021 until May 25th, 2021.

 

The Galaxy Goes to Red Alert!

This two week version is live and runs until Tuesday May 4th!

 

The Delta Quadrant Needs You!

The special Delta recruitment event is now live and runs until Thursday May 13th on PC.

 

Bonus Dilithium Weeks!

This event runs until Tuesday May 4th!

 

Command Book’s Frigate!

=Not Sponsored=

The current run of the Infinity Lock Box will continue with the addition of items found in the Angel’s Wake Lock Box, as well as yet another all-new Starship!

Starting on May 4^th, 2021, players on PC will have the chance to obtain and captain the Kwejian Pilot Frigate (T6). This agile and versatile vessel was flown on-screen by the former-courier Cleveland Booker, as an ally of the U.S.S. Discovery during Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery.

Continue reading further on for the full details on this new starship offering!

Kwejian Pilot Frigate [T6]

Few ship designs so perfectly marry high maneuverability with sturdy defenses as this Frigate. While ships of this class are most frequently used by privateer pilots, smugglers, and other fringe types who most frequently look to run from a fight, the overall design is more than capable of standing toe-to-toe with other modern ships of the line, and has an edge in combat against larger bulkier capital vessels. Its integrated ‘morphing’ technology only adds to its flexibility and versatility, making this ship truly a joy to pilot, and an exceedingly difficult fly to swat. This Frigate definiteely holds a grudge.

This starship features a Commander Engineering / Pilot Specialist Bridge Officer seat and a Lieutenant Universal / Command Specialist Bridge Officer seat.

Ship Details:

• Tier: 6
• Faction: Any
• Required Rank: Complete the Tutorial
• Hull Modifier:  1.15
• Shield Modifier:  0.8
• Fore Weapons:  5
• Aft Weapons:  3
• Device Slots:  3
• Bridge Officer Stations:  1x Commander Engineering / Pilot, 1x Ensign Universal, 1x Lieutenant Universal / Command, 2x Lieutenant Commander Universal
• Consoles: 4 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 3 Science (scales with level)
• Base Turn Rate:  18
• Impulse Modifier:  0.19
• Inertia:  80
• +10 Weapon Power, +10 Engine Power
• Can Equip Dual Cannons
• Battle Cloak
• Raider Flanking
• Console – Universal – Smasher Assembly
• Pilot Maneuvers
• Innate Ability: Morph Reversal
• Starship Mastery Package (Frigate)
  • Enhanced Hull Plating (+Energy Damage Resistance Rating)
  • Enhanced Weapon Banks (+Crit Severity)
  • Rapid Repairs (+Hull Regeneration)
  • Precise Weapons Systems (+Accuracy)
  • Proximity Alert (Starship Trait)

Admiralty Ship Stats:

• Eng:  55
• Sci:  20
• Tac:  51
• Special: -25% Maintenance per Sci Ship

Innate Ability:  Morph Reversal

Initiate a sudden reversal of direction, using the ship’s morphing mechanisms. The massive power draw from this maneuver will briefly disable your Weapons and Auxiliary Subsystems, but you will benefit from increased Critical Chance and Critical Severity for several seconds after it is completed.

This innate ability is part of the ship, and does not require any items to be equipped in order for it to be active.

Console – Universal – Smasher Assembly

The morphing tech employed by some 32^nd century vessels allows for unique geometric hull configurations that can dramatically reduce, or even eliminate, the damage that can be caused by hull-to-hull impacts. This assembly leverages this technology to turn the ship into a projectile, allowing extremely high-speed ramming maneuvers that leave the ship unscathed.

While transformed into this mode, the ship can repeatedly execute a maneuver dubbed a “Superluminal Smash” which deals heavy kinetic damage to foes in a cylindrical area of effect while sending the ship approximately 5km forward with each successive jump. This maneuver may be executed multiple times with a short recharge, as long as the Smasher Assembly is active. The strain this causes to other ship subsystems means it can only be deployed for a limited amount of time, however.

This console also provides a passive boost to Accuracy, Defense, and Pilot Bridge Officer Ability Recharge Time.

This console mod is restricted to the Kwejian Pilot Frigate, but may be used in any console slot. Only one of these consoles may be equipped on a ship at a time.

 

Starship Trait – Proximity Alert

While this Trait is slotted, the ship will gain a scaling benefit based on the highest rank among nearby foes once every 5 seconds. This benefit will manifest as a bonus to Defense Rating, Physical and Kinetic Damage Resistance and a quick burst of Shield and Hull restoration, while also reducing your outgoing Threat Generation (if Threatening Stance is not active). The value of these benefits is based on having a high-rank enemy within close proximity: Cruiser, Battleship, or Dreadnought.

This benefit only triggers if there is a Cruiser, Battleship, or Dreadnought within range, and only the highest possible benefit will apply. The benefit will only be active while in combat.

32nd Century Phaser Weapons

32nd Century Phaser space weapons have a chance to recover the recharge time of Bridge Officer Abilities, providing an upfront burst of recovery and accelerating the recharge for a significant duration thereafter. Repeated triggers of this effect provide the upfront burst again and refresh the duration of the over time bonus. The cannon versions of these weapons that come with the Kwejian Pilot Frigate will not be upgradeable, but these weapons will be available elsewhere in the future.

Special Pilot Manuevers

The Kwejian Pilot Frigate will employ it’s morphing abilities, instead of the usual jets, when executing pilot manuevers.

Expanding Infinity

The following items from the Angel’s Wake Lock Box will also now be available within the Infinity Lock Box:

• Starship Trait:
  • Onboard Dilithium Crystallizer
• Universal Console:
  • Temporal Anomaly Projector
• Personal Traits:
  • Supersaturated Katra Stones (Ground)
  • Tenavik’s Counsel (Ground)
  • Fragment of AI Tech (Space)
  • Intelligence Agent Attaché (Space)
• Kit Modules:
  • Ba’ul Obelisk (Universal)
  • Ba’ul Drone (Universal)
  • Shield Reinforcement Network (Engineering)
  • Temporal Anomaly Containment Tether (Science)
  • Tactical EMP Bombardment (Tactical)
• Bridge Officer Training Manuals:
  • Shield Reinforcement Network I, II, and III (Engineering – Ground)
  • Temporal Anomaly Containment Tether I, II, and III (Science – Ground)
  • Tactical EMP Bombardment I, II, and III (Tactical – Ground)
• Ba’ul Antiproton Weaponry (Space and Ground)
  • Including chance to obtain the Ba’ul Vanity Shield!

 

Jeremy “BorticusCryptic” Randall
Systems Designer
Star Trek Online

 

 

Wrap Up

I just want to say thanks to everyone who chose to fly with the 44th Fleet! You make the 44th Fleet what it is! And I want to thank everyone (these wonderful people here) https://startrek.44thfleet.com/fleet-officers/who keep the 44th Fleet running smoothly.

Note: If you have a topic you would like to see in the Sunday Supplemental, feel free to let me know and I’ll see what I can do about including it.

Thanks everyone and cheers!

Akula