Star Trek Online....

 

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Two Point Hospital....

While not an update that adds anything other than cosmetic stuff; It's still hilarious to see in game.

The four costumes for the staff, 'do it for me'. I wish there were more staff thematic outfits. Maybe an Orville set would be good....

There are items as well; From a Sonic staue to ring, plant, totem and mat placeables as well. 

Nice free additions. Can't complain....Not a huge draw to go play the game once I saw the items and changed all staff uniforms..... Still fun to have. Happy 30th Sonic.....

Two Point Hospital

Games with Gold....

The next batch of games, for August, is a mix. Overall the general reviews of these free games; Even back in the day was/is 'average'. Perhaps a little something for everyone. For me there are two to at least try.

Darksiders III. I was never 'into' the series so I can't say if it's better or worse than previous games in the franchise... Even free now it's just not a game for me(claim and forget).

Yooka - Laylee. Is another game I was never 'into' and again even for free not a game for me(claim and forget). I'd say I'd try it but I'm such a mixed bag when it comes to platformers; Even if they are cute and fun looking. 

Lost Planet 3. I recall the first game had some hype to it when it released. That's all I remember. I never got the first game. As the third game is a prequel to the first I'll have a look. Just for the sake of it and if it's a surprise I hope it's a pleasant one.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Again a game/series/franchise I was never 'into'; So again I can't say if it's better or worse than previous games... Still not exactly a game to claim and forget. I was into Street Fighter over the years so I'll have to at least give this one a try.

Star Trek Online....

Sometimes it's all about the little differences. Or big little differences.

Usually in STO on a cut-scene you hit escape and it would exit the scene and you could game on without any real delay. However one of the changes to the UI in yesterdays patch seems to have added an animation to that. 

If the scene is non-skipable you get a crossed out 'Esc'.

If it is skip-able you have to hold escape and have a mini timer animation to escape.

I'm all for quality of life changes but I'm 'old skool'.... I dont'need any o'them there animations.

It's nice to see that there's so much work going on to make the game better; Changes seen or unseen.

Mini Motorways....

A delicious enjoyable nightmare of micromanagement. In more ways than one Mini Motorways is Mini Metro on steroids. Both great games. It's a game type that your either into or not.

Mini Motorways like it's predecessor; It all starts off so innocently. 

Then a little more complex.

Then compounded decisions multiply into a nightmare; And you hang on for as long as you can. Making incremental changes out of desperation as the pressure mounts. The game audio cue's are so subtle but work so well.

Granted it's not all down to a players decisions. The game can be a dick. You can have a great setup and the next thing you know a red house is plonked in the middle of your blue estate. Or a single house is put across the entire map with the only destination it can go on the other side. That becomes worse when you have no motorways or have to cross multiple rivers to make it work only you have no bridges.... Choices, choices, choices. Important choices for the now or plan for the future...

The game can be awkward but has enough randomness to make it feel like you could have a better chance 'next time'. That's the nice take away.

The other way of putting it is that there's an insidiously delicious masochistic element to the game that's compelling. As the screen ever so slowly zooms out to increase the map area you know more pain is incoming; You want more. More to manage and more to cause you pain. The challenge of it. The 'I can do' and I can overcome and survive more thrown at me compulsion is strong. 

That's one of the great things about the game, it makes me want a 'next time'.

I mean look at this mess.... For this challenge they said free unlimited roundabouts.... Challenge accepted!

Problems ignored and mistakes made.... More please.

Here's my first run of the first city. Not bad for a first time.... Could have been worse.....

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Aragami 2....

Aragami 2 looks to be a massive upping of game mechanics and story. 

The original game came to my attention when it was given 'free' with last Octobers Games with Gold on Xbox. I even commented back than that the second game was a departure. While the game may not be out yet, what I've seen since seems to have a lot more in common with the first games expansion(as in not just a single character).

The second game looks nice, 'seems good' but the thing that I find most unappealing is that it seems to have lost it's own game-play style in trying to follow everyone else's(dishonored, assassins creed etc etc), it's lost it's special. The character in the first game was the shadow mechanic.

The first was more puzzle solver, brain teaser than sword duelist. That was a better hook to me than straight up 'plain' combat. That's my initial gut reaction in words.....

As it will be part of Xbox Gamepass I'll get to try it out. Maybe I shouldn't be too harsh and then have to back track. I'm possibly wanting the second game to be more purist than even the fist games expansion. As I said the first had a hook to it(old post here and here)that got me line and sinker. I liked that you couldn't really get into direct combat/swordplay. It made things tense. That will be lost in the second game. Which is really off-putting to me. The special is now 'just' an optional mechanic. Or so it seems.

The first game was a real treat for me. I really enjoyed it. From looks to story-line and game mechanics.

While the 'magic' of playing the first game can't be re-bottled it's disappointing to me that the second seems to be over-complicating things.... The story moves from bringing one dead ninja back in the first game to bringing back an entire clan. So what was a key laser focus of the story and game mechanic is now mass produced and in doing so diluting the special sauce that was Aragami.... I don' see that as a good thing.

Preinstall done....Proof in the pudding... Roll on the 17th of Sept. 

Star Trek Online....

My last few STO posts have been short and very much a comment of the moment(like here, here, here and here). Useful but not always. No surprise that a longer post has sat in draft form for a 'while' and only gotten longer as bits get added. It's a trend for sure and one I'd like to break but game-play gets in the way...... So time to waffle and with luck not repeat myself. Not sure that's a good idea.....One way or the other.....But will see where it goes. There may be something useful in it all by the end. This is gonna be a long one.

Star Trek Online has had a problem with inflation of the Dilithium Zen exchange for "a while". Cryptic's latest answer is to drain the game systems of Dilithium. The problem with that is that most players have many alts to farm Dil. Even if that's 'just' 8k units refined per 'day' per charecter. It all adds up. With players still able to pay and demand 500 dil per zen after the system is drained the next step has to be something more on the zen side. But that leads to a real world company profits hit and I'm sure they'll say screw that. Let the players eat Dil ore.  Despite company actions in the past it's still easier to get Dil now than it has been in many years. 

Draining Dil events are great as a player for getting upgrades and gear.....But I think not the right answer for the inflation problem.  Today the exchange rate is still 500 Dil per Zen. Selling Zen isn't far off either, almost Parity.

Great for a Lifetime sub like me who gets 500 zen free per month. I can get max Dil per zen... I just don't have the rushed need. I have time to wait....

My main has millions of units unrefined never mind alts with half a million ore. 

500k Dil ore is over two months worth of refining 8k each day.....   9k if I do the additional lifetime Doff assignment for the extra 1000. With all the sales, phoenix event and specials to drain the system of Dil... Nothing has really changed with the conversion rates..... It's been interesting to see.

Cryptic still has a problem and it's not going away fast. So I'm sure it'll be worked in as a new feature soonTM. 

Along with my wife we got to complete our Romulan Delta recruit transponders. Unlocking all the account wide Delta rewards.

Glad they are all done now. The Romulan Delta was all that was left for my account re Delta rewards. It took a long time for the Delta recruits to came back as an event.

 

While that included a lot of redoing content(for me) it wasn't or at least at the time didn't feel grindy. I suppose having broader player co-op fun for character objectives helped with that.

Going through it it's fair to say the more things change the more they stay the same. Crate dude is still..... under the weather on Kobali Prime.

The obligatory screenshot on a certain mission on a certain planet that's 'photogenic' has to be done(again).

Harry got to go bye bye .... again. Although I kind of don't mind that part. As part of the series he was 'OK'. I was no great fan of the character; But in STO, Kim as a captain is, or at least I find him to be annoying AF. His Kobali story line is one I constantly skip cutscenes on asap. Do it once to have a mildly interesting post tv extension to the charecters and storylines. Even if your not into Voyager it's still Trek; But that wears thin...... In fact I think it's Kim's clone that is more annoying than the 'real' alternate Voyager series Kim....... Complicated not that I'm 'thinking' about it. I appreciate the Esc key opt out on cutscenes.

Voyager was what is was. Not a huge chance for advancement for an ensign while they were 'out there'. Still I get a kick from the meme's.

And of course there's still living the Batman dream when a certain mission/set needs to be done. It's all entertainment.

Between main, main alts and alt alts there's different priorities. Some new bit of information can lead to one character getting attention or all of them.

Like when I found out that getting an R&D school to level 15(max) unlocks a trait for that character. So now I have an R&D daily added to all my characters. Simple and easy to do (another revelation in the last while). The R&D daily makes it easy to level and unlock them.

As I understand it:

Beams

On activating Beam skill, gain +2% Beam damage for 30 sec. Stacks 3 times.

Cannons

On activating Cannon skill, gain +1 Turn Rate, +10 Inertia for 30 sec. Stacks 3 times.

Projectiles

Your Torpedoes and Mines penetrate an extra 10% of your target’s shields(Bleedthrough)

Shields & Arrays

Activating a (outgoing) Shield Heal gives the target 99% Shield Damage Reduction for 1.5 seconds

Science

Gain .2% Critical Chance and .1% Critical Severity for Exotic Damage abilities, per point you have in the Starship Exotic Particle Generator skill(The Critical Chance bonus gained from this Trait is capped at +50% (attained by having 250 Particle Generators skill), but there is no cap on the Critical Severity bonus.

Engineering

Activating any Engineering Bridge Officer ability gives 20% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds.

Ground Weapons

All of your ground weapon attacks gain 5% Armor Penetration

Kit

+100 Kit Performance buff for a short duration on using a Kit Module ability(not a 100% uptime trait).

The more traits to pick from the better the options for character builds. It all adds up.

The last while(Season) has seen a lot of newer STD based content added to the game. While I do all new content on my 'Main'. The rewards and the faction specific nature of some stuff mean I pick and choose what other characters do.... Or ignore. 

It was hard for me to repeat some of the latest content. I really dislike the Discovery 'era'..... reboot.... Storylines & characters. I liked Saru till the 3rd ish season. Pike was done well and had promise but went downhill imho toward the end of his season; Even talk of the Pike series is 'off-putting' to me now due to the 'showrunners' etc... Never mind the rest of the shenanigans. That's a whole other waffle.

These are no Klingons.

I hope the next evolution of the game is more grounded in more considered 'Star Trek'. The Lukari (till this latest season) have some of the best newer Trek stroy-line content that I've seen in a long time.

Anyway.

Progress is progress. Main, main alts and alts. It's been all good. 

Delta's are done.

My KDF Recruit Gorn is on the home stretch as well. The last 10-ish% being the hardest to do is more true for this class of recruit than any other.

Unforgettable: 

I need the level 35 and 50 of the Endevours; Which is an extra 100,000 points for '35' and an additional 300,000 on top of that to get to '50'. That's a long haul thing, very dependent on the random daily endevours on how fast that goes(not very fast). Some are easier to do than others. 

Fight for Glory:

He also need to complete random TFO's. with about 25 more to get the 75; Which in turn means another 75 on top of that to get the 150 done. Of the other 15 listed as a sub category he needs about

6 more done within that specific TFO (Minefield).

Deeds Worthy of Song:

Add in the remaining 6 Episode mission chains and on any given day he is a busy, busy boy. Almost like a ...... Main.

Once he's done I'll have completed all recruit types and their unlocks/account rewards.

A random endevour needed some ground weapon damage I don't have on him; So I bought dual pistols off the exchange..... I know he's a Gorn and a large character but the weapons look like the cricket from Men in Black! Hilarious

Progress in game has been more interesting with herself now playing. Questions on questions about the game has lead to me learning and relearning some things. It's all good. It's just 'nice' to have a player in game to rely on without in game drama. 

Stuff I'd dismissed for one reason or another has now been picked back up. Such as when she was going through the Armada holdings asking about the purchasable items; Updated traits came to the fore. I'd forgotten about them. Not overly costly if memory serves and all add a bit to a characters basic stats when selected. Worth a look again. I probably dismissed these way back when as I wasn't part of a fleet for a long time. But knowing what I know now makes them a worthy consideration. Once I've done some other bits on my main.

Drama has been the order of the day within 'our' Armada; While I can say I may have been online while it all kicked off. I only pay attention to more serious chat if at all but I missed how serious it really was. A lot of players do like to waffle on. However there were things said and arguments made and escalation on escalation from public to private chats; Which in turn split fleets from armada and players form fleets..... across factions etc... etc... etc.... 

But as the dust settled it seems that all has worked out for the fleet we are in. As they seem to be holding the moral high ground. All said and done they still kept the bulk of 'what we knew', fleet holdings etc. Leaders stood down new ones where put in place; Fleets reformed a new Armada and the same reformed leadership seem to have the KDF fleet/armada that we are still in as well so it's all worked out...... for us.

The most serious thing I've done in game the last while was to get a Fleet ship on my main and select a build that would do 'good' damage. For no other reason than to learn.... It's a good thing to try and improve. Obviously getting a ship out the other end that is 'OP' would be great and as I'm a learn by doing kind of person ... I 'just' went ahead and did it. Here's the process and considerations... real waffle.

One note though; I'm no meta guru('bad' meta choices or decisions lead to more and can compound flaws; Shiz happens). Add console A to Ship B, enter combat, receive DPS bacon. I'm a simple DPS soul. 

My "goto" meta 'learning through osmosis' channels are CounterYolo Gaming and 1800BrokenSoul.

CounterYolo is deep meta(at least in my view) comparison and analysis with 1800BrokenSoul a grounded down to earth advisor for ship fit choices(like this). Not to say there aren't others (another one I'll mention in mo) I watch but over time these are two that I keep going back to.

In choosing a ship I chose one that CounterYolo has mentioned many times the Suliban Silik Flight Deck Assault Carrier. It's sat on my mind for a long time and it was a no brainer as the ship of choice here.

So knowing the ship I needed a fit.

Like other long term online games there's a lot of content that needs to be ignored when searching online(like this post next week in a years time). I wanted a fit from the last 6 months or up to a year as a limit. Searching for a fit took a little bit of internet browsing but mainly YouTube searches, till I settled on one video that had a fit I considered doable for me. 

The video is Star Trek Online - Suliban Silik Flight Deck Assault Carrier DPS Build Explanation and Discussion from an STO Youtuber Augmented Dictator Games. Another Youtuber I've since added to the ever growing 'goto' list broadening my STO knowledge intake. 

I'm a casual gamer. That means I've both the interest yet lack of time to 'get gud'. Seeing Youtubers and reading blogs(imagine reading a blog in 2021.....) is the only real way that any small details can stick. Not all of it sticks but the more the merrier. Little by little to improve. Or like this ship large forced dumps to satisfaction. 

I considered the fit doable because the majority of weapons/modules/consoles are obtainable at a push for me. From easier reputation or fleet holdings gear; to harder to obtain Lobi items that I have to 'work for'. 

Lobi is the main sticking point for the build and 'work for it' was an understatement. While I did bide my time to gain more, I used more generic weapons and consoles till the 'proper fit' items could be gotten. Such as adding in parts that I felt complimented the fit, such as adding in the rest of the Discovery space set weapons since the fit already used the console. Seemed like a good placeholder. Explainable in my own casual way. 

I'd gotten some of the lobi items before for a previous build however I did not want to cannibalize the old ship's fit. I'm 'funny' that way. In the end I got most of the other lobi store items to complete the fit as shown in his video(more or less). Choices, choices.

Also not part of the fit but I upgraded the ship with an experimental upgrade. Adding in an extra device, console and trait slot.

LOBI - 

Overall the hardest items to obtain without spending real world cash. Still a hard pill to swallow playing free like me.

The three piece Delphic set; The Console - Tachyokinetic Converter, Console - Bioneural Infusion Circuits and Console - Bioneural Infusion Circuits are from the Lobi store(6 items) = more Lobi than I care to think about... Even now.

Gaining Lobi; It took all my characters converting Dill to Zen; Then my Main using that Zen to buy the Keys on the Zen Store(lifetime monthly Zen stipend helped massively). He also when a good price was shown bought some keys off the exchange at 8 to 9 Million per key. He mainly opened Infinity lock boxes with them; However I'm guilty of opening the newer Far From Home boxes (hope of a sales jackpot springs eternal). I am unaware of any drop chance change to Lobi on different lockbox's... I think they are all the same random range of Lobi. Still it took time to get it all. However there was plenty else to work on in between as a distraction.

LOBI COMPROMISE -

Console - Universal - Point Defense Bombardment Warhead was too costly for my blood in the end so I swapped it out and used an easy to (my) hand Console - Universal - D.O.M.I.N.O. instead.

Already there's stat compromise and divergence from the fit. Positive thoughts.... Right?

FLEET -

The Colony World fleet holding sells the [Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter Deflector Array Mk XII]

&

The Spire fleet holding sells the [Console - Tactical - Vulnerability Locator Mk XII] which needed to be bought twice. 

REPUTATION - 

Thoron Infused Quantum Mine Launcher from the Delta Rep store

Neutronic Torpedo Launcher from Delta Rep

Dark Matter Quantum Torpedo Launcher from Discovery Rep.

Enhanced Bio-Molecular Photon Torpedo Launcher from Undine Rep.

Prevailing Impulse Engines from Competitive Rep.

Temporal Defense Initiative Overcharged Warp Core from Temporal Rep.

Console - Universal - Ferrofluid Hydraulic Assembly from the Terran Task Force Rep.

MISSION - 

Morphogenic Armaments set is available as a reward from repeating(x3) the mission “Home”.

EXCHANGE -

Bought for cold hard imaginary energy credits.

Console - Universal - Computer Assisted Flight Algorithms - 8 Million EC for me as of writing.

As was Console - Universal - Swarmer Matrix - Again for about 8 Million EC.

DEVICES -

Kobayashi Maru Transponder - Event reward. Which drops what I call "bubble buffs" and is officially 'dropping Resupply Pods' to anyone nearby which grant 30 seconds of a random buff (+10% Bonus Damage, +10% Max Hull, +20 Damage Resistance Rating, +20% Max Shields, +20% Speed and Turn)

Reactive Armor Catalyst - Temp +hull buff and HoT -  R&D craft-able which is unlocked after completion of the of “Broken Circle” mission(and selecting the catalyst bundle as the reward).

Battery - Kinetic Amplifier - +30% Kinetic Damage for 10 sec (only affects Weapons) - R&D craft-able which is unlocked at level 10 R&D Projectiles

Deuterium Surplus - Is used with the fit in the video but I went with the Red Matter Capacitor instead. Which was a change from the video build. Perhaps the most drastic but my playstyle is what it is.("Compromised!" - WHO SAID THAT FROM THE BACK!!) ;-p

And with the added device slot from the T-X upgrade to the ship I also added in the Temporal Negotiator. Granting a clickable for a 50% reduction in bridge officer power recharge. Very handy imho.

FIGHTERS / HANGER PETS-

Advanced Jem'Hadar Fighters. To get these hanger pets they need to be claimed from a ship that comes equipped with them. My previous Jem'Hadar ship unlocks were not useful for this. Fortunately there was a sale that let me buy/splurge on a Jem'Hadar Vanguard Support Carrier. Which is now one of the largest ships I've ever flown..... It's enormous. Like trying to get a three seater sofa through a small doorway.... At the top of a stairs.... that's angled. Play-styles eh... Each to their won.

Claiming that ship allows access to the support and fighter pets. Which in turn allows purchase of the advanced versions for Dil from the Dil Store...... However for me I needed to be in the new ship, have it as the active ship for my charecter for the Dil store to show them and be available to buy. Odd quirk but not the worst. Fingers crossed the advanced version stay the best version....

Again while I've made choices to swap and omit items I think I've done a good 'interpretive' job of getting an end result that 'does the same job'. For now it's still not complete. A lot of modules(yes I still think in Eve Online terms when fitting a build) need to have stats tweaked/changed and have their level upgraded. Which will have to wait for the next Phoenix prize event. Like always the last 10% to complete is the hardest.

Testing the ship out in patrols as is shows it does do a lot of damage in TFO's. Really happy with it on that score. It does melt faces. My appreciation of hanger pets has increased.

I see a lot of big numbers that I'd never seen before on my character(6 digits!). Looking at the DPS numbers via a combat meter it shows that the ship does indeed hit big numbers.

I just need a higher level of sustained DPS for it to be consistently high instead of spikey.

At this stage I'm a normal driver in an F1 race. I can attend, 'compete' and even sit and drive an F1 car but I'm not gonna be anywhere near the top of the pack never mind pole position. Then again I'm happy to be able to attend at all.

"lies, damn lies and statistics"

Stats. More to learn on that score as well, reading stats and stat interpretation. Deep indeed. Voodoo magic still. Makes me wish there was something in game like a target dummy. There's so much holo simulated in the game as is....

So yea; All that said there's still adjustments that need to be made to the ships fit. Time I have. Items will be re-engineered and be level upgraded. For that I need more Dil to build up and for another Phoenix prize event in order to get the upgrade tokens. So I'll be waiting anyway. It's all doable.

By far the Lobi was the real bottleneck. It forced me to play my characters for Dil, buy the zen, get the keys open the lock boxes and curse the RNG gods for the lobi they gave. As if things weren't hard enough.... RNG.....*shakes fist*. Yet I feel overall I was more lucky than not.

I had a need to do this. Do it once I'd committed and bought the ship.I'm glad to have done it but I'll not be doing it again. Not like this( this is more my natural style). 

Previous to this ship I've had more fun in 2 T5-U's than I probably should have. I find the lower end but passable self built gut felt T5-U. For shiz and giggles more enjoyable. Maybe it's the underdog thing goign for them. The ships aren't expected to be OP so are dismissed but when they do really good DPS(not amazing) it's a good feeling as well... That it's not cost much is a massive bonus.

Then again there's the new event ship to play with in a few days. I've a hankering to use Ba'ul weapons I got somewhere(free keys given out a year ago?) and have been sitting in my account back since ... forever.

A re-evaluation of my current mains ship roster is more than needed as well. I've a feeling that small tweaks to them from what I've learned will be a better improvement so worthy of retesting. On top of that the account unlocked endeavours will have been a good increase overall so things will be better anyway....

So much to consider. So many stats that affect things.

I now have two ships with as close to a meta fit as I can ever get. Enough for a lifetime. I'm glad that this one is 'better' and significantly different compared to the last so it's an improvement all round. Yet it was too much work(effort), too costly in game currencies and time. 

As long as I've played the game I've only ever done a handful of Elite TFO's. I've really no need to have a character sitting on the meta 'bleeding edge' of DPS(or as close as I can get). 

I've learned a lot; gained knowledge and I can move on with that in hand.

Still nice to try and reach for the stars. Learning is it's own reward......?