Beginner Space Building | Dragon's Lair Fleets

The Beginning

BEGINNER SPACE BUILDING

To help you with this page we have placed links to the right hand side for easier navigation.

THE BEGINNING

When you start a new character the game gives a basic starter ship. The gear on the ship will not have a designated mark of quality as the ship will come with 'standard' gear, these being weapons, deflector, engines, warp core/singularity core and shields. The rest of the ship will be empty.

As you go through the tutorial you will be given better gear that are in boxes that you can open once you have them. If you wish to use these instead, press U and your character will come up. Go to your ship in the menu on the left hand side and select and drag your new gear onto your ship in the appropriate slots. Below is a screenshot of what you will see when you start out.

For Jem'hader characters, this does not apply as you are given a ship suitable for level 60 start.

Bridge Officers

Ship Name. You can change this.

Ship stats. They will change when you place items on your ship.

Stats based on your skill tree and additional parts of your build.

Inertia

Flight Speed

Turn Rate

Do not let the first ship you get in game put you off. Every new character (except Jem'hadar ones), start with a Tier 1 starship. As you can see from the image above, there is not a lot going on right now. This will change however, as you progress through the game. We have highlighted areas that will help you when starting out.

Ship Name - You can change this a shipyard. The first one is free on any ship.

Bridge Officers - These are crucial to your set up. You can train in different skills to use on your ship, depending on their career.

Ship Stats - As showing in the image as an example, resistances. These will vary depending on how you set up your ship.

Inertia Flight Speed and Turn Rate - This stats represent how well you can turn and fly.

Stats Based on Your Skill Tree - This is for all shown under Skill-Based Stats. Depending on how you set up your skill tree, will depend on what is shown here as well as from other buffs from consoles for example.

Choosing Your Starship

CHOOSING YOUR STARSHIP

Every 10 levels, you will have access to a free token to get a new starship and will be hailed to go back to whichever place is your 'home' for your character. Federation characters will be Earth Spacedock, Klingons will be Qo'nos Shipyard, and Romulans will be the Flotilla/New Romulus. Dominion characters will go with whichever faction they are with.

When levelling up, it really doesn't matter which ships you choose. However, some like to know what they are getting themselves into first. So here is a small breakdown of what types of ships are available.

Starships in the game are broken down into different categories. The main types are listed below:

Cruisers - These can deal average damage and best off equipping beam arrays. They are more suited to tanking builds due to having stronger hulls and decent shields. They have the lowest turn rate. Sub-classes include Battle Cruiser's and Dreadnoughts. Some come with carrier bays.

Escorts - These can be a lot of fun with dual heavy cannons equipped on them. They move and have a faster turn rate than Cruisers which makes these good for strafing runs. If you like a more go guns blazing fighter play style than this class could suit you. Sub-classes include Heavy Escorts and Raiders which allow for flanking damage.

Science Vessels - Generally can be strong builds with good shielding. This class of vessel can bring a lot of colour and fun to your play. Science ships can do damage from a distance with abilities such as tachyon beam which drains the targets shields and gravity well which groups all your enemies together using a Torpedo Spread attack and boom! Sub-classes include Reconnaissance vessels.

Shuttles and Small Craft - Very fast and highly manoeuvrable. They have limited slots to equip anything so weak damage and very fragile. These are also required for certain missions.

Klingon, Romulan and Dominion have their own classes to match and some even have extra abilities, such as Battle Cloak. Romulan ships come with Singularity powers.

When you choose your ships at the shipyard, you will see something that looks like the image to the left. The coloured icons represent what Bridge Station's they are. Always look out for these so you get an idea of what you are looking at and you can hover over them to see more details. Additionally, the symbols underneath represent how many console slots the ship has. In this example the ship has 3 Engineering slots, 2 Tactical slots and 2 Science slots. You will also notice that each icon is also colour coded to match.

So now are are left wondering if you were for example, a Science character and wanting to fly an escort and whether you could do this? Certainly! No matter what career you are, you can fly any ship of your choosing. Ships in the game all have different bridge seating layouts and everyone is different. Some are more suited to tactical stations whereas others are more dedicated to engineering ones or science. It really does not matter what ship you choose to fly. Engineer's can do quite well in a tactical escort and also have a good chance of better survival. Tactical characters who fly a science vessel can be quite deadly if the setup is right for it. Science characters who fly a cruiser could do well on average. One style of play is a science character in an escort and this can be very nice in a PvP and a lot of fun nuking enemies in battlezones.

Starship Power Levels

STARSHIP POWER LEVELS

Many players rearrange their HUD for their own style of better visuals and game play. If you need to do this, press F12 and you can go from there. It is always better if the HUD is just how you want it to be.

Probably the most important visual on your HUD is your starship power levels. The screenshot below shows these along with the status of you ship's health. If we were to try to explain how your power levels work and how/why power transfers automatically from one system to another, we would be here for a very long time and not cover everything as not everything can be explained in full. A lot of things depend on how you are built and how your build is in sync with itself.

Fire Beams / Fire Torpedoes / Fire All

Strength of Shields (All Outer-White)

Ship Impulse Speed

Power Levels - Ships Life - Autofire.PNG

Lock Power Levels

Ship's Hull Strength

POWER LEVELS

Weapons / Shields / Engines / Auxiliary

Weapon's Auto Fire (Right click to make green. If not green, they will not auto fire).

Power levels are crucial to your build. When levelling up it doesn't matter so much, but you can get to grips with them early on and will be very handy knowledge for later on in the game when you start building your ships properly.

Weapons - The higher is level is set, the better your weapons will perform. Torpedoes and Science abilities do not use this power level. Each weapon fired will drain a little power as they cycle through and replenish when the cycle has ended and begin again on the next cycle. Set this level as high as you can get it. No power means no weapons being fired.

Shields - It is always an idea to have these set at 50 or above if possible. This power level is dedicated to the strength of Shield resistance and regeneration and will effect how skills such as 'Emergency Power To Shields' will work for you. If you are building a tank, this is a nice one to have at your disposal. If you have any form of secondary shielding, a green circle (which represents this), will appear briefly on the outer circle of your shields (Strength of Shields). When a secondary shield is active, this is what will take the brunt of damage until it is worn down and then your shields will start taking damage again. Think of secondary shielding as a temporary buffer.

Engines - What can we say? Depending on the power level set, depends on how fast you fly and how your ship turns. Later on in the game, these will be very important when it comes to survival. Also, the higher you go on your speed on the bar next to your ship tab named 'Ship Impulse Speed', will determine how much your Engine power level drains from other subsystems.

Auxiliary - This level effects many different things, especially later in the game. However, its primary focus is more for Science based skills. This level will increase skills like Gravity well, so better control when pulling in your enemies into one place. Hazard Emitters, which is a healing skill is also improved as it cleanses D.O.T effects from things like Plasma and helps repair your hull. Certain Engineering skills, such as Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity will also be strengthened and is a nice skill on its own to harden your hull's resistance to incoming damage. Do you want to get creative and throw on a Feedback Pulse? This is also boosted by your Auxiliary power level. Really, any Science ability that does 'Exotic' damage can be boosted nicely, especially if you have Science consoles equipped that have an [EPG] modifier on them. We will cover this later.

Staship Weaponry

STARSHIP WEAPONRY

There are different types of weapons within the game. These are energy based weapons and kinetic based weapons. Energy Weapons fire in a cycle and do damage to both an enemy starship's shields and hull. Kinetic Weapons (torpedoes and mines) do full damage to an enemy starship's hull. However, shields have a good 75% resistance to kinetic weapons. If you manage to drain your enemy shields completely, you can get some nice hits in with your torpedoes or mines.

Below are the different energy types and what they can do:

Phaser: 2.5% Chance to make one random subsystem on your target go offline for 5 seconds.
Disruptor: 2.5% Chance -10 All damage resistance on your target for 15 seconds.
Plasma: 2.5% Chance for Plasma debuff damage (D.O.T) to your target per second for 15 seconds. This ignores shields.
Polaron: 2.5% Chance -25 All power level drain on target for 5 seconds.
Tetryon: 2.5% chance to deal damage to all shields on your target.
Antiproton: +20 critical severity bonus. (This energy type does not have its own 'proc').

These are the 'standard' weapons. There are other weapons in the game that stem off the same tree's. For example - Phased Polaron or Romulan Plasma. There are many options to choose from, whether a drop from a lockbox, picked up as a reward from a story mission, the exchange etc.

Click here for a full overview of the space weapon tree.

We will now go into the different styles of weapons. The following image representations are Phasers. In game, the weapons will be the right colour for each type (ie: Disruptor will been green and Antiproton will be red).

SINGLE BEAM ARRAYS

These can be used on any ship.

These can be placed in both fore weapons and aft weapons slots.

They have a 250 degree firing arc. This means that if you broadside (fly sideways to your target), they will cycle through.
Works with Beam - Fire At Will / Beam Overload.

If you have a ship with all beam arrays, fly sideways (broadside). If you are facing forward towards your target, you will not be firing your aft weapons, therefore losing damage.

DUAL BEAM-BANKS

These can be used on any ship.

These can be only be placed in the fore weapons slots.

They have a 90 degree firing arc. This means that these are suited to forward facing builds. If you run these, you will need weapons on the back that can fire 360 degrees to get the full benefit.
Works with Beam - Fire At Will / Beam Overload.

OMNI-DIRECTIONAL BEAM ARRAY

These can be used on any ship.

These can be placed in either fore or aft weapon slots.

They have a 360 degree firing arc. For best use, slot in the aft weapon slots or you will waste potential.

Works with Beam - Fire At Will / Beam Overload.

Very suited to forward facing builds. Broadsiding builds can work nicely as well.

Some Omni-Directional weapons are part of a set.

These can be crafted and will always have [Arc] as a modifier.

SINGLE CANNON

These can be used on any ship.

These can only be slotted in fore weapons slots.

They have a 180 degree firing arc.

Works with Cannon - Rapid Fire / Cannon - Scatter Volley.

DUAL CANNONS

Can equip on escorts and raiders.

Cannot equip on most Cruisers.

These can only be slotted in fore weapons slots. Place Turrets in aft weapons slots.

They have a 45 degree firing arc. Cannot fire from broadsiding and only suitable for forward facing builds.

Works with Cannon - Rapid Fire / Cannon - Scatter Volley.

They take a bit more to fire from weapons power level than single cannons, but less power drain than Dual Heavy Cannons.

DUAL HEAVY CANNONS

Can equip on escorts and raiders.

Cannot equip on most Cruisers.

They have a 45 degree firing arc. Cannot fire from broadsiding and only suitable for forward facing builds. Place Turrets in aft weapons slots.

Works with Cannon - Rapid Fire / Scatter Volley.

They take the most drain to weapons power levels but hit harder than single or dual cannons.

TURRETS

These can be used on any ship.

These can be slotted in fore or aft weapons slots. For best performance, slot in aft weapons slots as they have a lower damage output than Cannons.

They have a 360 degree firing arc. Forward facing builds will benefit from this. Set up any Cannon's on your fore and equip Turrets in aft. They will all cycle through and fire at your target.

Works with Cannon - Rapid Fire / Cannon - Scatter Volley.

TORPEDO

These can be used on any ship.

Deals Kinetic damage.

Torpedoes can be slotted in fore or aft weapons slots.

They have a 90 degree firing arc. Forward facing builds are more suited to this, but depending on your play style, you may go with one in the aft.

Works with Torpedo High Yield / Torpedo Spread.

NOTE: Any weapons you have with [CrtD] and [Dmg] modifiers will not show up on the Critical Chance and Severity stats. The stats themselves come from Bridge Officers, Consoles, Skills among a few other things. More will be covered in our Advanced Guide.

NOTE: Do NOT mix styles of weaponry. If you mix Beams with Cannons/Turrets you will not be maximising the full potential of your build. More experienced players and those who understand the mechanics have had some interesting results.

For a much more broader perspective, click here.

Starship Equipment

STARSHIP EQUIPMENT

Every ship in the game comes with slots for certain gear. These are deflectors, engines, warp cores/singularity cores and shields. Some Science ships come with a secondary deflector slot. Here is our brief overview to get you started.

Graviton Deflector - Generally good for drain and control abilities. For players who like drain builds and crowd control for AoE strikes, this one could be a good starting point.

Neutrino Deflector - Much like a Graviton deflector, with the addition of Perception. This will allow you to better see through cloaks.

Positron Deflector - This is always a nice one to have in your early days of the game, purely because it is more based to survival. They can have a passive boost to hull cap as well as shield restoration and shield capacity.

Tachyon Deflector - This is a good one for providing more of a boost to your science abilities as they can boost your Exotic Particle abilities. They can also improve your cloaking effectiveness as well as boost drain abilities.

Impulse Engines - Your basic engines. They provide a constant speed at any power level.

Combat Impulse Engines - Better for speed at low engine power. Whereas they provide a higher speed, use these if your power is below 75.

Hyper-Impulse Engines - Generally, a great engine to have. If your engine power is at 75 or above, these are highly recommended and are faster.

Warp Cores / Singularity Cores - There are different types and there is so much information we could cover. While levelling up your new character, pretty much any core will work for the time being. (Singularity cores can only be used on Romulan ships). More in our Advanced Guide.

Shield Array - These are basic shields (no speciality). They have a baseline Capacity, Regeneration, and Bleedthrough of 10%. This means incoming damage can bypass your shields by 10%.
Covarient Shield Array - These have the highest shield Capacity but are the slowest to regenerate. The bleedthrough on these is also 10%.

Regenerative Shield Array - These shields have the best regenerative properties, but have the lowest shield Capacity. These have the same baseline of 10% bleedthrough and are not recommended for prolonged battles.

Resilient Shield Array - A very good shield all round. They only have a 5% bleedthrough base and although the Capacity is not as high as a normal shield array, this shield is more or less balanced with the others. They have been considered to be a very popular choice.

Starship Consoles

STARSHIP CONSOLES

Every ship in the game comes with consoles lots. You can place consoles in Engineering slots, Science slots and Tactical slots. Some consoles are only designated for specific slots, such as Engineering only consoles for Engineering slots. Some consoles are Universal, meaning they can be put into any slot.

As this is a beginner guide, we are not going to into a lot of major detail about some of the things you can do with your build and we will cover more in our Advanced Guide.

We are going to give only a few examples and have picked out the ones that we feel would be most beneficial to you at this stage of starting the game.

EXAMPLE CONSOLES

Neutronium Alloy (Engineering) - This console provides +All Damage Resistance and a good item to help make your ship tougher. Other consoles can provide better damage resistance, though this one can be a nice all rounder. Do NOT stack these as the more you stack, the more diminishing returns you get. For example, if you have 100 resistance on one console, you would get something like 75 on the second one and 50 on the third one. With the more you stack, your resistances would not be what they could be and incoming damage can hit you harder than just having the one consoles slotted.

Ablative Hull Armor (Engineering)- A nice console for resistances to certain damage types and have a slightly higher rating to Phaser, Disruptor, Plasma, Tetryon. This is considered [ResA] and will be listed as a modifier on a more advanced things later in the game. The same rule applies as the Neutronium - Do NOT stack. Only one will do.

Tetraburnium Hull Plating (Engineering) - Again, a nice console for resistances to certain damage types and have a slightly higher rating to Plasma, Tetryon, Polaron, Antiproton. This is considered [ResB] and will be listed as a modifier on more advanced things layer in the game. The same rule applies as the Neutronium - Do NOT stack. Only one will do.

EPS Flow Regulator (Engineering) - This is a nice console that provides a nice buff to Power Transfer Rate (PTR). This console speeds up power transferring from one subsystem to another and returning power to any power levels that are drained.

Particle Generator (Science) - This is your standard console for providing +[EPG] to Science based abilities. EPG will help boost your skills, such as Gravity Well and Feedback Pulse. Basically, anything that is a non-energy weapon.

Flow Capacitor / Power Insulator (Science) - Great for helping out anything that has a drain ability, such as Tyken's Rift and Energy Siphon. Where these consoles help with draining your enemies, they also have resistance to same (this means that you will also have resistances to any drain abilities thrown your way from the attacking enemies).

TACTICAL CONSOLES

One thing you will find no matter where you ask for help is many players will tell you to use Tactical Console slots for ONLY Tactical Consoles. There are one or two exceptions to this 'general rule', but we can cover that later in our Advanced Guide.

The reason more experienced players will tell you to place only Tactical Consoles in the Tactical slots is because you can stack consoles that will BOOST your weapon damage output. Some players have been and may be confused by what consoles boost their weapons.

Our tips are here:

Do not mix damage types. This is the fastest way to drain your power levels. No power levels means a non-working build.
Do not mix damage type Tactical Consoles. This is also a sure way to drain your power levels.
Science builds can be a completely different kettle of fish and you may not need tactical consoles. It will depend on how you build.

Phaser: Phaser Relay
Disruptor: Disruptor Induction Coil
Plasma: Plasma Infuser
Polaron: Polaron Phase Modulator
Tetryon: Tetryon Pulse Generator
Antiproton: Antiproton Mag Regulator

Follow these above that are 'coded' and you cannot go far wrong when boosting your weapons. Torpedoes also have their own equivilent consoles but we recommend that you do not get a console on and throw on with energy based boosters as this way, you are losing out on energy weapon damage. By this, we mean that if you think about what you are firing more of, the answer is your beams or cannons. Torpedoes fire once every so often. Now, if you were going for a pure Torpedo build, that is a different set up and something for later.

Bridge Officers and Training

BRIDGE OFFICERS

Bridge officers make an essential part of your build. They can train in different skills depending on their career. These are commonly known as 'BOFFS'. Skills can be chosen for Tactical, Engineering and Science. Later in the game you can get specialist boffs or train your existing boff to become one.

Each bridge officer comes with four traits of their own and cannot be changed. These will be ground or space, or a combination of both.

Examples include:

Romulan - Romulan Operative (increased Critical Chance and Severity - Space)

Human - Leadership (Increased sub-system and hull repair - Space)

Klingon - Warrior (Increased damage on the ground - Ground)

BOFFS come with their own 'stock' traits. However, you are able to train them in new abilities. You can get new skills from a bridge officer trainer or use another boff that you do not want to use that is in your candidates.

To the right, is a layout example of a bridge officer station. Below is how it works.

1 slot open - Ensign rank.

2 slots open - Lieutenant rank.

3 slots open - Lieutenant Commander rank.

4 slots open - Commander rank.

General rule of thumb - Grades I and II can be trained from a skill trainer and are very easy to get. Grade III skills have to be crafted and you will need the correct parts to craft these. The most easiest and expedient way is to see if what you want at grade III is on the exchange. More often than not, there are always grade III skills on the exchange.

Some skills are not available from the trainer or crafting and are locked away behind a lockbox. One example of this is 'Kemocite-Laced Weaponry'. This can be found on the exchange as well. Other training manuals come from missions within the game.

Apart from having your normal tactical, engineering and science stations, there happens to be more. These are represented by icons with the logo next the bridge officer seat. You will need a specialist qualification manual to make your bridge officer one of the following in order to use those skills.

Specialist seating includes:

Command Specialist

Intelligence Specialist

Pilot

Miracle Worker

Temporal Operative

To train your BOFF, select the one you want from the list of the left hand side and go to skills. You should see a list of available skills to train (providing you have them they will be highlighted and not greyed out). Select the skill and accept. Remember you must promote your officer up first before they can learn a new skill.

For new players who are playing the story for the first time we recommend training in 'Fire at Will' on a tactical boff. This skill only works if you have beams. For cannons, its 'Scatter Volley'. If you have a torpedo and have room, also train in 'Torpedo Spread'. These should work well enough to get you through - especially when doing the Romulan story!

Duty Officers (DOFFS)

DUTY OFFICERS (DOFFS)

Duty Officers are a key part of your building. You collect these as you progress through the game and can still carry on collecting them much later on. They are available from level 11 and primarily are there for your 'Doff Assignments'. They do have a secondary function. On the same screen, look to your left and you will see in the tabs 'Active Ground' and 'Active Space'. These are where you can select what DOFFS you wish to help with your build.

The image to the right is an example only. Some of these shown may not be attainable yet, depending on a few factors like if you have spent some real money on Zen, or whether you have been playing for a while and have resources available to get these.

You can go with whatever you wish here but be sure to make sure that what crew you select here compliments your build. Examples why these have been chosen include:

2x Damage Control Engineers - Helps reduce cooldowns.
Emergency Conn Officer - This one is specific and only available from the Phoenix Pack. The reason this is slotted is because the build this belongs to has 'Emergency Power To Engines' on it and when it is used, this DOFF reduces the time to Evasive Maneouvers, which is very nice for getting out of the way of something nasty about to hit you.
Agent Neral - Only available from the Delta Pack from the C-Store. The build uses Attack Pattern Beta, and every time it is used, this DOFF restores hull when weapons are being fired.
2x Energy Weapon's Officers - Very difficult to get at a quality blue or higher but can be done. These allow buff stacking for either Critical Chance or Critical Severity to weapons. These can drop from the Delta doff packs or can be bought on the exchange. If you choose the latter, expect high prices.

Remember, this is an example. You may want to go a completely different way and experimenting is always fun. We have been there!

So before we forget, here are a few things that should be noted:

Once at level 11 you will have 5 slots each available for both ground and space.
An additional slot for each can be purchased from your Fleet Spire using Fleet Credits. Your Fleet must have this unlocked for it to be available.

Trait System

TRAIT SYSTEM

While levelling up your new character, you will unlock new trait slots. Here you can select from any of the available traits you have to help with your build. There are two sections for personal traits and these are for both ground and space.

The image to the right shows the type of thing you can expect to see later in the game. If you are on a new character, then most of the traits will be blank.

Here are a few things to note:

The game will grant you 9 slots available for personal traits for both ground and space.

If you create an alien character, you will be granted 10 slots as an alien does not have its own specific trait.

Starship Traits are only available from level 50. You will start with 4 slots. The 5th slot must be purchased from the Fleet Research Lab and will cost Fleet Credits and Dilithium.

Both Space and Ground Reputation are locked until level 50. You must work through your Reputations to unlock traits you can use. You will have 4 slots. The 5th one must be purchased from the Fleet Research Lab and will cost Fleet Credits and Dilithium.

Active Reputation slots will be available from level 50. These slots are only for whenever a Reputation has been completed to Tier 5 and a special trait becomes available. You will have 4 slots. The 5th one must be purchased from the Fleet Research Lab and will cost Fleet Credits and Dilithium.

Please remember that the image is an example and we will be covering some of this more in detail in our Advanced Guide.

As you go through the game, some personal traits are available from story missions, and some are only available from lockboxes or the exchange. Starship Traits are available from levelling up a ship with a specific trait or from the exchange.

The image to the left shows a ship that has been fully mastered under the Mastery. Only Tier 6 ships come with a Starship Trait. To unlock a trait, you must set it up and go into battle. The more enemies you destroy, the more you level up your ship.

Each ship comes with 4 different levels and some differ somewhat. Cruisers can unlock better tanking abilities, while Science ships can unlock a buff to their science skills. Escorts and Raiders can unlock a flanking bonus. These are examples. The 5th level is the trait from the ship itself and once unlocked, will appear in the list when you select Starship Traits. The good thing about Starship Traits is that you can use them on any build. Please note that a Fleet version of a ship does not come with a trait.

A few tips then for levelling up ships as this can be time consuming, but generally worth it.

Set to Advanced or Elite difficulty. Elite would be better.
Romulan Patrols in the Beta Quadrant.
Argala System in the Delta Quadrant.
The Badlands Battlezone (Must be level 60).
Borg Red Alerts (Weekend Events / XP Boost Zone).
XP Weekends (These are the best times to level your ships!)

Space Reputation unlocks will take longer to get. You will have to work your way through your Reputation's as available traits unlock at each tier. Additionally, when you unlock a tier you also unlock the option to queue up projects that when completed, you can get Reputation Gear. The gear you can get starts at Very Rare Mk XII and can be upgraded once you have it. For those who were around a while ago, there was an event where if you completed the Reputation's you had an unlock where all characters on an account could get their Gear from Mk XIII Ultra Rare. Sadly, this event is long over and it is unknown if it will be re-run by the game developers.

Traits unlocked are as follows:

Tier 1 - Ground
Tier 2 - Space
Tier 3 - Ground
Tier 4 - Space
Tier 5 - Special Ability (Ground or Space - These slot into Active Reputation)
Tier 6 - Upgraded versions of certain abilities. You will need to re-slot these when you claim Tier 6.

This concludes our Beginner's Guide. We hope there is enough information here to help get you started. However, in order for you to progress that little bit further we are going to throw a few tips your way! The following are some basics that you may find useful. Our Advanced Guide will go more into detail on these.

Starship Trait - 'Emergency Weapon Cycle' from the Arbiter. This speeds up your weapons firing cycle. Only available from the C-Store. The Fleet version does not have the trait.

Continue with story missions once you reach level 50. There are some nice rewards you can get. If in doubt, ask your Fleetmates and go from there.

Critical Chance starts at 2.5% and Critical Severity starts at 50% when you start the game. Aim for Critical Chance at 18% - 25% and Critical Severity at 100% - 125% (This will take time to do and there are ways of doing this from level 50 onwards).
New ship? Want the Trait? Set to Advanced or Elite (You can find this in your 'In Progress' tab), and do the Romulan Patrols. Complete waves 4 out of 5 and then warp out. Rinse and Repeat. This will avoid you getting the 30 minute cooldown period. The same method works for the Argala System in the Delta Quadrant.

TFO's - If you have not done them before, we recommend researching how to do them, whether Youtube video's, guides etc, and go for Normal mode if possible to learn the ropes.