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Posts
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Greetings and salutations captains ! To make up for the previous short one and as a special welcome to our newest recruits and returning veterans a more in-depth monthly Review (and yes it’s a few days early) 😉 .
@Macaugston (Iain) from Scotland, UK
@tekersbird (Harun) from Lincolnshire, UK
@marine14514 (Stephen) from Rochester, NY
@hypha#2602(Joshua) from Wisconsin, US
@odin6868 (Rick) from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
@Yorkskye (Jeriel) from New York, US
@captain88justus (Justin) from the Philippines
@waks02 (Joaquin) from the Phillipines
@Lumokan (Luke) from Sydney, Australia
@Nicholas333 (James) from the US (EST)
@Sanoval (Dave) from the US (EST)
@Artimus#1116 (Art) from Australia
@Venator195 (Karl), Mountain Time ZoneA big welcome to our newest members ! Nice to see the 44th is once again represented in all corners of the world.
Make sure to send a friend invite when you see them in-game.
Pro-tip: if the “x has logged on/off” message is spamming your chat bar (switching alts does that) you can switch this message off go to Chat configurations (right-click Channel tab) and untab Friend. And yes, you’d still be friends.
Alternatively, with the command /clear you can clean up your chat (thanks Defcon).
[attachment=1:19x61maj]Andorian Hemp Aug2016.JPG[/attachment:19x61maj]We can say that the new Agents of Yesterday expansion has been een great success; not only did it attract a lot of new players to our Mighty 44th, it also recalled a lot of old members back from the edge of the galaxy. Good to see you all !
Those that started a new Agent alt have by now finished leveling it, and looking back it’s fair to say that the new AoY episodes are a nice change of pace and well written and visuallya real treat. Even for those who are unfamiliar with the TOS (The Original Series) Trek era, they cover events all the way to the TNG and back again to the Enterprise series: they’re good fun. For those that have not yet finished them, there’s no real hurry. The special temporal probes will still pop up to be unlocked a year from now. I have a Delta alt that is still completing special missions from last year.
Just a reminder, have your other toons check with the Temporal agents on ESD and Qonos to claim the account-wide rewards every time your Agent completes a temporal side-mission – it’s often overlooked how good the account-wide rewards really are. For example your regular alts/farmers can claim enough reputation marks to, in combination with a sponsorship token, complete entire reputations without leaving their seat at the Dabo table.
This is the main reason we urged you guys to at least create a new Temporal Agent during the event (now closed) even if you’re not interested in playing it.Early on there was some confusion about the grainy visuals in the TOS episodes, but that was both an homage to the 1960s series and to create a “woah!” moment when you transfer from the 23rd century ESD to the crispy visuals of the 25th one.
There are still fleetmates leveling a new Alt and/or replaying episodes, so shout out in our 44th-diplo channel if you’re planning to (re)play a mission; it’s always more fun (and faster) doing those in a team.
The 44th prides itself on its assistance so if you are a starting player do not feel you’re “not good enough” or any such nonsense – this is your fleet and you are allowed to screw up during fleet runs since that’s how we learn, or test new builds/abilities. If we accept a Tier1 Connie during the old Elite Borg STFs (looking at you Cross) we proved we can deal with anything.If you need help running a particularly challenging mission (say, Infected Manus/Ground Advanced – Note the trigger point locations) let us know and we’ll happily do a training run.
The new queues are interesting, with the new level 60 Miner Instabilities Queue a very good farming ground. SilverSera pointed out that it’s quite doable on Elite level, and having done a few it’s quite surprising that it actually is (yay for powercreep?). It’s looking to become the farming ground for Chroniton Buffer items.
The new ships are a nice addition, though overall there appears not to be a real “One Ship To Rule Them All” variant in the new pack. It’s still relatively early, so the min-maxers out there may yet find a hidden gem that may turn out to be that elusive one-click murder-boat, though unsurprisingly the T6 Temproal ships, the Ouroboros, the Eternal, and Chronos look to be ahead of the pack.
The only new console that generates a more than usual interest among players is the M6 computer (universal console) from the 1,000 zen T3 Persues escort. Since it can be used on any Fed ship, it might become as popular as the Plasmonic Leech. Keep an eye on this one.
The new Kelvin Timeline ships, especially the Lockbox T6 Connie and 900 Lobi T6 Dreadnought are gorgeous (I have them both, love them), with some serious attention to detail. Cryptic removed the usual Fed interiors but the unique bridges of both are exceptionally well done – they even include JJ’s lens-flares…! (Yay/face palm as appropriate).
Listen to a recent podcast of The Show where the graphic artists discuss them. Ship-artist Thomas “The Cat” Marone has a hilarious story about how he got his nickname.
Stats-wise both are decent cruisers.
The Klingon D4x Pilot Bird of Prey and Romulan T’Laru Intel carrier are very sought after; the Rom carrier is listed at around 700 million ec on the exchange (one listed for 685 mil just now) and so far I’m not aware of a fleetie that has obtained either – yet. The ROM carrier will be able to use 2×2 Elite Romulan Drone ships, and as any player with a Scimitar knows, those are just awesomesauce.
A more thorough ship overview of the new types will follow or linked soon(tm). Their new Temporal abilities mechanic is well liked overall.The new Temporal Defense Initiative Reputation looks to be very Science focused, even unofficially referred to as STO Science Powers 2.0. This btw does not mean it’s for Science captains only – even Tacs and Engs will benefit. As always in STO, it just depends on your personal preference and playstyle.
Question often asked is: should you buy the new AoY pack now we’ve had a better look at it ? You could if you recently started playing STO, maybe not if you’re a seasoned player, as you may already have many other (better) ships (T6 Odyssey pack) and the T1-T5 ships will be discarded after a few days of leveling anyway. If you are Lifetime or think you might stay with the game long enough, buying the full pack will give you a future Fleet Ship Module discount when the eventual Fleet versions of the AoY ships will be released (too early for a date on that yet).
As usual, we strongly recommend to not open lockboxes but sell your keys on the exchange and buy lockbox ships directly if you’re after a particular one. You might get lucky but opening random lockboxes is still a Ferengi Lottery – buyer beware.
On Lockbox ships, Resto has gracefully donated some very nice ones, and is still offering a Suliban Cell ship which anyone has a chance of winning. Hurry though it lasts until August 7th. Competitions like collages will run more often and Search for Soolin screenshot hunts will also continue as usual, so check the in-game fleet announcements and your 44th forum regularly.
Speaking of, we’re interested to know if you guys prefer the flashing fleet messages, in-game fleet mail (box) or both.
We also have a Discord voice server now, setup by Resto, it once again allows us to jabber directly. Setup is quick and easy.
Slowly the old – but still very relevant – Drake/Dragon build is making way for a new variant; the Kraken Build.
It’s once again a variant of the EPTx double-sync, but instead of slotting 3x VR Damage Control Engineers to improve the EPTx cooldown, it uses 2-3 Krenim Bridge Officers. Krenim Boffs add to Engineer power cooldowns, removing the need of dedicated DCEs and freeing 2-3 Doff slots for all kinds of new mischief and mayhem powers. Krenim Bridge Officers are unlocked on our 44th Main and KDF fleets and available at their respective Research Labs. Delta Fleet needs a bit more time. If you are in Delta Fleet and you’d like to buy a Krenim or two, ask for a map invite or Fleet move from a Command Staff member (fleet rank Commodore and up).
[attachment=0:19x61maj]Krenim Boff.JPG[/attachment:19x61maj]
The Mighty 44th overall is strong and active, and we’ve had a huge influx of new players and alts, creating more demand for Elite fleet kit and ships. Luckily our Fed main and KDF fleet are as well endowed as my female toons, so if you wish some elite kit for your Delta alt ask for either a map invite or a transfer to main fleet. Many new members will reach the fleet rank of Lieutenant soon making them eligible for a transfer anyway. Your Fleet Command will ensure that there will be enough room in main fleet to accomodate them. However if you happen to have some (dormant) Fed alts in main, consider moving them to Delta – rank and privileges will of course remain intact. Moving toons from Main to Delta and back only takes a moment.
Star Trek Discovery has had it’s first teaser, with mixed reviews. See our musings on it here.
The designation NCC-1031 suggests a ship/era before the NCC-1701, and probably after the NX-01 class. The actual era won’t be revealed yet, so everything is still possible. The much rumored pre-TOS Romulan War perhaps? Or even the Axanar era? Might explain why CBS legal came down on them, finally.
Chime in and share your thoughts on our forum.Any questions, comments, suggestions or bad jokes, shout out and be heard !
Recommended Podcast; The Show – Cryptics graphic artists interview
Recommended Blog; Al “Captain Geko” Rivera’s STO RetrospectiveFor those on holiday, enjoy your time off, and to everyone else – See you, out there.
"Boldly bashing Borg to bits since 2012..."Of course, the best thing is that I’m playing again.
(aka LadyInferno) https://startrek.44thfleet.com/forums/topic/for-the-final-time/
Thanks for the update Marcase. Might as well add I might have first D-4x reported in the fleet. I never like my odds dealing with lockboxes but the 700m pricetag the honest way was going to be expensive if I chose the selling route. The other option was to sell slower moving commodities but I didn’t see the price going any lower and the key market (if I had to go the sell route) was very strong. Most other commodities have tanked on account of the Infinity Box.
I decided to invest 60 keys into my shot in the dark. I got some shrapnel, some cool stuff and on key 49 I hit the prize I was chasing. It’s a beautiful ship visually, handles like a dream when my framerates aren’t getting me fragged and hits like a swarm of bees with pointy bricks attached :). It’s as fragile as you would expect but it is nimble and has pilot tricks to protect it from the hurt. The interior is single room but quite beautiful. The colours and angles feel classic but with modern sensibilities; A nice piece of design. I gave woogs a tour already. If anyone wants to have a look please ask; Everyone has always welcomed me to their bridges when I wanted to look at the pretty pixels and I’m happy to return the favor. Qapla’!
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