STO Guide: Being a Lieutenant

Massively recently posted a guide to Lieutenant progression. It’s really pretty good, but I wanted to throw out my own tips and advice.

Power Settings

Power settings really do make a big difference. BigBadB has made a fantastic article discussing the ins-and-outs of power consumption here (go read it!), but here’s a brief summary (lifted directly from BBB’s website):

• Weapons: The damage done by energy weapons is increased by 2% for every point of current weapon power over 50, and reduced by 2% for every point of current weapon power below 50.
• Shields: The rate at which your shields regenerate is increased by 4% for every point of current shield power over 50, and reduced by 4% for every point of current shield power below 50. At 25%, shields don’t regenerate.
• Engines: The bonus speed from ’standard’ engines is increased by 2% for every point of current engine power over 50, and reduced by 2% for every point of current engine power below 50.
• Auxiliary power: improves turn rate, but it’s really hard to quantify.

Also, button mouseovers in the hotbar are dynamic – as you change your power settings, the magnitude of the abilities changes. Man, Transfer Shield Strength gets alot better at 100% auxiliary power!

Energy Credits

Early in the game, you’re going to be dirt poor. I was selling every scrap thing I had – including the semi-useful batteries – just to get a few more credits to change a color on my uniform.

If you’re just slightly conservative with your spending, this quickly changes; you’ll be rolling in the dough in no time. Don’t spend thousands of credits buying ok gear from the starship requisition lady. Check out the Exchange for better rates – yes, it’s terribly organized, but it looks like the market is beginning to reach an equilibrium some-what favoring consumers. Furthermore, do Exploration missions and get awesome MKII equipment for “free”! The ground equipment Exploration vendors are in the middle of the Sol station, and the space vendors are in the room above the Starship area (i.e. where you buy your new star ships). Each set of exploration missions (make sure you get the mission from Grall, to ensure your badge-netting) grants 75 badges, and good space equipment runs about ~77 badges; ground equipment is much cheaper.

Also, the ship’s replicator is useful, but nets you only 40% of the items cost, verses the 50% that vendors at stations do. I recommend selling all the crazy food you get, but holding on to the expensive gear till you return for shore leave.

Ground Combat

You’ve got two weapon slots. Use them! I’ve found that I keep two split-beam weapons ready to go – I’ll use the exploit attack on one, then hit “Z” to quickly switch to the other and go again. Alternatively, you could have one Expose and one Exploit, but I like doing lots of damage upfront.

Also, melee is extremely viable in the game; check out this fantastic thread here for more details.

Team Up

Honestly, everyone has their own opinion on this, and that’s ok. I usually like playing all on my lonesome.

STO is my exception, though. I’ve found missions with other people – even non-talking strangers – to be more challenging and more fun that missions alone. You should try it out.

If you guys have any tips and tricks you’ve discovered, please comment below!