STO F.A.Q. Beginners Guide | dragonslairfleets

STAR TREK ONLINE F.A.Q. BEGINNERS GUIDE

So you have installed Star Trek Online and you find yourself with a bunch of questions. Do not worry as we have done our best to try and answer as many as we can.

I am new to the game and on the character creation screen. What species do I create and what faction do I choose?

Only you can choose what character you choose to play as. There are many different choices and each species have a trait of their own. The only exception is alien and instead will be granted an additional personal ground and space trait of your choosing. Certain species are tied to certain factions. You can see what traits are offered by hovering over the picture icons for each race. Some standard traits that are given to you when you start will differ with each career. Above these picture icons are two different icons and it is here you choose whether your character is male or female. Whichever one you choose does not matter. You will also find that some character selection choices will be greyed out. These are only available from the C-Store represented by a C-Store icon in the corner of the picture. The additional greyed out ones can only be unlocked from purchasing a lifetime membership and will not be available with free to play.

Only Starfleet and the Kingon Defense Force have their own factions. If you choose to make a Romulan character, you will have to complete the mission 'Turning Point' before choosing an allegience. Once you have chosen one, you will then be able to join a fleet and you cannot change your option afterwards. With a Dominion character, you will be given the same choice after completing the tutorial and the same rule applies. If you choose Starfleet, you can join Starfleet made fleets. If you choose Klingon Defense Force, you can only join KDF made fleets. TOS Starfleet characters need to complete the first story arc before they can join a fleet and they can only join Starfleet ones.

But I don't know what career I should choose?

On the right hand side of the character creation screen you will find three different options. You can choose Engineering, Science or Tactical. Hover over each one to see which one would suit you best as you will have your own play-style. Each career differs in certain ways. Tactical characters are more dealing damage based, Engineering builds lean towards being able to take damage and keep going (tanking), and Science builds are generally known as space wizards, meaning they can have abilities that drain, hold, heal among many others. The choice is yours!

I am still lost. What mistakes can I avoid early on?

So you have your first character and you are ready to go. Our advice is to go through the tutorial and then go through the story missions that come up. Each mission gives rewards for completion and some of it could be handy. You learn as you go, feeling out what you can and cannot do. We also recommend this option to returning players who have been away for quite some time as the game has changed considerably over the years. For returning players that have been away for a considerable amount of time and already have characters at level 50+ we suggest depending on how you have been away for, to create a brand new character from scratch.

We suggest that new players only create between one and three characters to begin with. There is plenty to do in Star Trek Online and levelling multiple alts will take time away from playing and enjoying the game. Having more alts can turn into another working full time job and is not recommended for anyone who does not have the time. To begin with, three should be sufficient enough to juggle dilithium and energy credits around.

Is the Lifetime subscription worth it? I thought the game was Free To Play...

From the get go, Star Trek Online is free to play and like other games out there, will not block you from progressing. By this we mean that like other games, payments are not required to play the latest expansions or having to pay to progress past level 20 for example. You will be able to play as far as you want to. You progress at your own pace and the game is NOT pay to win. In fact, it is more pay to progress faster. However, by doing things within the game and collecting dilithium, you can turn this into Zen, which is used in the C-Store. It is a slower process but still works. Some choose to do this instead of paying out real money while others choose to pay real money as they must have it now. This is the way it is.

Lifetime can be worth it if you think you will be playing on a regular basis. If you choose to do this, you will unlock Veteran Rewards. These rewards include unique ships, uniforms, lifetime playable only characters, and other game perks, which include auto-refinement of dilithium ore per day (providing you have some ore), an account bank (this is highly recommended for anyone with multiple characters, although it can also be unlocked from the C-Store seperately), and a monthly stipend of 500 Zen. This 500 zen per month is what makes it worthwhile for more active players who choose to get a lifetime subscription. There is normally a discount of this option at least twice a year.

Is there anything that is a must have at this point?

Whether you choose to spend real money or grind dilithium to turn into Zen, there are a few things that would be beneficial to have early on. One of these being the Elite Starter Pack located in the services section of the C-Store. For the price, it is well worth it. If you were to get everything within this little bundle separately, you would be spending more. Account Wide Unlock includes one new characters slot, 20 shared Bank slots, and captain retrain tokens. This pack also includes a once per character unlock and these can be reclaimed on any alts that you have and include 30 inventory slots, 60 bank slots and 2 bridge officer slots. There is also the option on the store that unlocks your energy credit cap from 15 million to 2 billion. You will have to log out the game and log back in for the energy credit cap to unlock.

I want to certain ship to play with. How come I cannot get it yet?

If you are on a new character, the game gives you a 'starter' ship to use. As you level up, you will have the chance to pick out a 'free ship' at every 10 levels up until level 40. Lifetime members will have a choice at level 50 as well. You will only be able to pick one. This is a great way for you to find your 'comfort zone', and learn about what style suits you best. If you choose, you can unlock ships from the C-Store for your rank. If you buy any ships from the C-Store that are above your level, you will not be able to use them until you are at the right rank. C-store ships are reclaimable if you dismiss them afterwards.

After you have reached level 40 or 50 depending on if you are free to play of a lifetime subscriber and you have selected your final free ship, you are left wondering how to get more ships. The truth is better ships after this point are locked behind the C-Store or from lockboxes and the exchange. However, if you are able to rack up enough energy credits, you can get some nice 'secondary ships' and 'Tier 5' ships from the exchange. At present these cost no more than around 10 million in energy credits. These are a very good starting point for things you can do later in the game.

However, the above is more for newer players. Others that have been around for a while are more likely to have access to Tier 6 ships from the C-Store. In today's game, you can start the game with any T6 ship from the store (providing you have one) and the ships bridge officer abilities and console slots will gradually unlock the further you level up.

I am so confused. What are the differences between the ships?

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

Cruisers - These can deal average damage and best of with equipping with beam arrays. They are more suited to tanking builds due to having stonger 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 fairly good shielding. This class of vessel can bring a lot of colour to your gameplay and can be very fun to use. Science ships can do damage from a distance with abilities such as tachyon beam which drains the targets shields, tykens rift which causes an anomoly at the enmies location and can drain as well, and gravity well which groups all your enemies together for a super attack. If you have a torpedo equipped, a torpedo spread is very good for good area of effect damage.

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.

I chose a Science character but I want to fly an Escort. Can I 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.

Help! I have no idea on what skills to put on my bridge officers. What should I do?

We appreciate this is a very daunting subject to any new player and we can give some advice. Every ship has its own bridge station layout. Starter ships are the best way to find out about these. On your first ship, press U and this will bring up your character, then go to Bridge Officers. You will see your bridge officers (commonly known as boffs), placed into each station. If one is empty, you might not have an officer for that station yet, but do not worry, as you can obtain one going through the story missions. Red are tactical stations, yellow are engineering stations and blue are science stations. The skills available will be dependant on what the ship's bridge seating allows. Also, the skills slotted will be the ones that come with your boff. You can however, go to a skill trainer and train in new ones and doing this will cost a very small amount of energy credits. Your starter ship will only have one skill available per bridge officer. This is because this is a Tier 1 ship and higher tier ships will have more unlocked and be readily available. As you progress, do not forget to promote your bridge officers.

For any player who is struggling to get started, we highly recommend seeing a skill trainer. If you have a little ec (energy credits), you will be able to buy new skills. Below are the following that we recommend to choose from:

Tactical - Fire at Will (For beam boats) - Believe us, this will help you later in the game. Single beam arrays have a wide degree angle firing arc you can hit multiple targets and broadside with single beam arrays. This will also be extremely handy for fighting the Romulans later in the game.

Tactical - Torpedo Spread - Only if you have a torpedo on your build. Great for AoE (Area of Effect) damage.

Tactical - Cannon Scatter Volley - Only for a cannon/turret build - You can hit multiple enemies with cannon bursts in a more forward facing angle. Upfront cannons, depending on single or dual have their own angles of firing range. (Only available from lieutenant rank).

Tactical - Rapid Fire - These shoot out bursts of cannons/turrets and only used for single targets. (Only available from lieutenant rank).
Engineering - Emergency Power To Weapons (This will help keep your weapon power level up so you hit harder)
Engineering - Engineering Team - Handy for repairing any hull damage you may receive.

Science - Hazard Emitters - Great for healing and clears any D.O.T (damage over time) effects from weapons, such as plasma. The Romulan's use plasma weaponry and will be useful for a later story arc.

Help! My bridge officers can't use the skills I have trained in! What do I do?

The first thing to look at is if you have promoted your bridge officers. If you have and the skill is still greyed out, check to see what the bridge station allows. This can happen on any ship at any level, so check that the stations allow for the rank of skill you have chosen. For example if you have trained an officer in Fire at Will II and want the officer in your ensign station, it will not be available and will have to be placed in any station from Lieutenant upwards. However, this may not be plausible if the Ensign tactical station is the only one available in the station layout. On some ships, tactical seating is limited, like a cruiser or science vessel for example. Below are examples of how the system works:

Ensign station - Only 1 skill can be used. (Think of this as Common - White)

Lieutenant station - Only 2 skills can be used. (Think of this as Uncommon - Green)

Lieutenant Commander station - Only 3 skills can be used. (Think of this as Rare - Blue)

Commander station - All 4 stations can be used. (Think of this as Very Rare - Purple)

You can normally tell if the skill will fit into the your build by the colour when you are training your boffs as these are the same style as quality used for gear.

I have bridge station's all set and ready to go. On my science character, how come I don't have Attack Pattern Alpha?

Each career gives certain 'stock' skills as you level up. Attack Pattern Alpha is only available for tactical captains. Another example is dampening field as this is only available for science captains and tactical made characters cannot use this. Engineers can have miraculous repairs and this is unavailable to tactical and science characters as another example.

More information can be found here.

How do I find the starting point of a mission?

You can do this in two ways. Either look at the map by pressing M when in sector space and fly to it, or you can look at your list of queued missions on the right side of your screen. Find the right mission, and to the right of it there will be an icon (for most of them). Click the icon and it will ask you if you want to transwarp to this location. If you pull up the mission journal, you can also select transwarp from here as well.

What is this loot items? It keeps appearing as I play.

When defeating enemies during combat, some can drop loot and you can pick these up. These can be anything from lockboxes to gear. Sometimes items will drop that will be better in quality than what you have. In the game, you start with standard gear that has no Mk equivilent. It is always a good idea to pick up items that have a higher Mk and therefore, looking for drops such as Mk I or II to begin with. Below is how quality are rated.

Common - These are white items and the most basic quality you can get. These can also fall with a Mk equivalent.

Uncommon - These are green and are the next stage up from common and always fall with a Mk equivilent. Weapons will also be given one modifier. An example is [CrtD] or [Acc].

Rare - These are blue and the next stage up from uncommon. The same applies and weapons will have two modifiers.

Very Rare - This is the next stage up from rare and a good quality to have. Weapons will have three modifiers such as [CrtD]x2 [Dmg].

Ultra Rare - It is unlikely that anything of this quality will drop.

Epic - The highest in quality. Epic items do not drop.

Some items will be useful and some will not. If you do not want or need the items, you can always place them on the exchange, sell at a vendor, or right click and discard. Another option is to salvage item if this option is available. This will be handy for anything you wish to re-engineer later.

I have reached Level 10 and had a message pop up about going back to Earth Spacedock / Qo'nos / Romulan Flotilla. Why?

Upon reaching every 10 levels you are granted a choice for a free ship. The ships you can choose from are from the rank you have just achieved and will be better than you have been flying. To do this, head back to base camp (whichever one it tells you to), and head to the shipyard, then talk to the shipyard consultant. They have an icon that will float above their head. They will congratulate you on your promotion and then you can choose your next ship. Don't forget to remove your gear from your old ship and place it on your new ship, and then 'Ready Starship'. It is also an idea to set up your bridge officer stations as well.

I have re-trained my bridge officers but what I want is greyed out or not showing. Can I get these things to work?

What you can use will depend on what ship you have selected and setup. Bridge officer stations work like this.

Ensign - 1 slot available
Lieutenant - 2 slots available
Lieutenant Commander - 3 slots available
Commander - 4 slots available

If rank abilities are not available for use at all, a faint 'X' icon will be in the ones that are unavailable to train in. If you have managed to train your bridge officer with a new skill, select the character, go to 'Stations' and you should see your officer name and below it, four boxes. Select a box, and a drop down menu will appear of available skills they can use. Select what you wish to use. Remember to promote your bridge officers!

I have reached level 11 and now I have to see someone at the Academy. What for?

Upon reaching level 11 you have unlocked duty officer assignments. Your mission here is to go to the Acamemy to get your first load of duty officers (commonly known as doffs). Do not confuse these with Bridge officers (boffs).

The doffs represent the rest of your crew, from civilian's, traders to engineering staff for example. You can queue up assignments that can net you dilithium ore and XP among other things. Some assignments even grant temporary buffs. In general, assignments can last from 30 minutes to up to three or four days to complete.

For more information click here.

I have reached level 15. What is the crafting system?

The crafting system is the system where you can use your research and development (R&D) materials. With materials available, you will be able to craft components and equipment for your character, both ground and space. Materials are what you need to get started with the projects and can likely be picked up as loot drops and by doing doff assignments, as well as completing TFO queue's. TFO stands for Task Force Operations and many players still refer to this as PvE and STF'S. There are different schools in which you can complete and every school has 20 levels to complete. Once a school has been completed to level 15, you will unlock a space or ground trait, depending on what school you have achieved this in. These can be completed most efficiently by doing the 20 hour projects located at the bottom of each school and you will have to make sure you have the appropriate doff (duty officer) to do these. At level 15, you will also unlock the ability to craft special gear and weaponry and also be able to craft superior tech upgrades that you can use to upgrade your gear.

More details can be found here.

How do I get R&D Materials?

The best way at this stage is to continue playing as normal. During your missions, you might see some odd looking lines either on the ground or in space with an icon next to them. Go to them and scan. Once the scan is complete, you will get some materials. If you are not sure, press V to scan for any anomalies.

Other ways include going into deep space encounters located in sector space. Once the map has been cleared of all enemies, you will get some materials. Later on in the game, you can get some by doing TFO's. There is also the exchange, as well as Research and Development Packs from the exchange. Open these up and you can get materials, and sometimes components.

How do I get R&D components?

If you have the right materials, you can craft the components that you need. They can also be bought from the exchange or obtained from Research and Development Packs.

At this stage, I want my build to be doing some awesome stuff. Why am I struggling?

Between when you start and going up to at least level 50, there is no point in trying to build more properly. It takes time to get to know the ropes and start understanding some of the mechanics of the game. The one big reason for starting to build more properly from level 50 is that at this level, a whole load of new things will open up for you, from battlezones to more advanced queues in the TFO system. If you try and start building early on, you may find that you are wasting the resources you do have and if this is your first character, its very likely you will not have very much to begin with. Save your resources and build slowly. This will also give you time to decide what style of build you want to put together.

Help! I am struggling to defeat the Romulans with their huge Plasma torpedoes! Any suggestions?

This is a very common question. In fact, probably the most asked when it comes to the Romulan story arc. These are some of the most common suggestions to have on your ship loadout.

Tactical - Fire at Will (For beam boats) - Believe us, this will help you later in the game. Single beam arrays have a 250 degree angle firing arc you can hit multiple targets and broadside with single beam arrays.

Tactical - Torpedo Spread - Only if you have a torpedo on your build. Great for AoE (Area of Effect) damage.

Tactical - Cannon Scatter Volley - Only for a cannon/turret build - You can hit multiple enemies with cannon bursts in a more forward facing angle. Single cannons have a 180 degree angle for firing range. Dual's and Dual Heavy's have a 45 degree arc (Only available from lieutenant rank).
Tactical - Rapid Fire - These shoot out bursts of cannons/turrets and only used for single targets. (Only available from lieutenant rank).

Engineering - Emergency Power To Weapons (This will help keep your weapon power level up so you hit harder).

Engineering - Engineering Team - Handy for repairing any hull damage you may receive.

Science - Hazard Emitters - Great for healing and clears any D.O.T (damage over time) effects from weapons, such as plasma. The Romulan's use plasma weaponry and will be useful.

NOTE: Keeping to the Warbird's side arcs is best recommended as if you go behind or in front, the Romulan's have a greater chance to fire their torpedoes.

Help! I am still low level and keep getting defeated and I don't know how to survive. Any suggestions?

In the early stages of the game this can be a common problem so we are going to keep this as simple as we can. Our first recommendation would be a damage resistance console. Normally an Engineering console like Neutronium, Ablative Armor, Tetraburnium Armor etc. One of these should help for a little while. Do not stack these as the more you stack, the more of a diminishing return you will get and you could end up in a worse situation, so only one needed to see if it helps. There a plenty of options available before hitting level 50.

Other options is to have any of the following in your skill tray, such as hazard emitters (science ability), Engineering Team (engineering ability), Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity (engineering ability), Science Team (science ability), Transfer Shield Strength (science ability), Reverse Shield Polarity (engineering ability).

But I want to level up and get a good ship like the Enterprise E! Why hasn't that ship come up yet?

The Sovereign class starship is available as a free option at level 40 and only available for Federation made characters. Other variants are available from the C-Store from the same level upwards. Different ships will be available Klingons and Romulans. Dominion characters start from level 60 and can use their chosen allegience ships as well.

However, if you have been around in the game a while and have a Tier 6 variant unlocked, you will be able to start using it at any level. This is a new feature that came into the game in 2019 where players can start the game with a brand new character with a Tier 6 ship.

Something I have been wondering. What is a fleet?

Fleets are a big part of Star Trek Online. You can join a fleet if you so wish to. It is where a group of players are all grouped together and any fleet can have up to 500 members. They have a command structure and management tools, such as a ranking system, fleet bank, chat channels, and a system where you can advance within them.

Fleets have holdings. Members contribute to these projects and when they are complete, they unlock more special resources and items. Projects require vast resources to complete and members are always looking to put in fleet marks. You can also get special fleet gear from fleet stores if you have ranked up enough in a fleet to have fleet store access granted to you. Fleet store gear can only be purchased from level 50.

Fleets can send fleet invites out if they so wish. Some fleets wait for potential members to come to them and have official application forms on their websites, providing they have one.

I don't think I am good enough to join a fleet so why should I join one?

Nonsense! This is what your fleet is for! Do not be afraid to ask for advice if you are unsure of anything. Dragon's Lair Fleets will allow you to frack up during fleet runs – we will not shout/curse/troll you and our aim to is to help you learn and get better. We were all beginners once and will gladly help in any way we can.

What if I don't want to join any fleet? How do I disable the option for anyone to invite me to theirs?

That is entirely your choice. Some players do decide to go it alone. Some have chosen to join a fleet later down the line. Some prefer to stay solo even after playing for a while and only join a fleet to get some things from the fleet store. In many cases, the solo player will reach out in a chat offering contributions like fleet marks, energy credits, dilithium etc, and can sometimes be in high amounts and this is enough for some fleets to say yes, we can grant you fleet store access, and then the player coming in can choose to stay or leave afterwards. Sometimes players who reach out stay in a fleet. If they have never been in a fleet and stayed solo since day one, it can occur where that player sees a whole new direction for themselves in the game as many more doors open with options of team play and general conversation amongst other things.

If a player really wants to disable incoming fleet invites, this can be done through going to your friends list and then go to bottom right hard corner where you will see Privacy Settings. The option is available to disable fleet invites in there.

I read about/heard someone talking about Armada's. What are they?

Armada's are where fleets have come together to form a Fleet Armada. These are made up of a total of 13 fleets and laid out in a specific system. The head fleet is the 'Alpha Fleet' and they can invite 3 'Beta Fleets'. Beta fleets can then invite 3 'Gamma Fleets'. The fleet Armada will always have the name of the Alpha fleet.

Each fleet can view all other fleets rosters and be able to communicate in the Armada chat the game gives them. Some Armada's make their own cross-channel chats. Fleets can also contribute to other fleets within the armada providing projects are switched on for other fleets to do this.

More information can be found here.

The fleet I joined has a custom-made cross-channel chat and I have been invited to it. How do I accept this? And once I have joined how do I go into my chat settings to change the colour?

On the top of your chat box are different tabs to select what you want to see. Right click any of these and the chat settings will come up. At the top you will see 'Tabs' and 'Channels'. To accept your invitation to the custom-made chat, find the one you want and left-click once. In the bottom right hand corner, 'Join' will have highlighted. Click join. Job done!

The tabs channel is where you can completely redesign your chat tab. Adding a new window will create a category. After you have done this, you can go through the options on the right hand side under 'Game Channels'. You can tick or untick what you want to see in your newly made channel, as well as pick out a colour you would like for it. If you make more than one category, you will be able to rearrange them once you have selected everything you want. You can do this by going back to your chat tabs at the top and drag them in the order you want. For them to go first time around drag them to the arrows that will pop up in the corners of each tab.

Help! Why does my character stops moving when dialog boxes pop up?

This is a generic setting within the game and can get quite annoying. To disable this so your character keeps moving while a dialog box is up, press ESC / Options / Controls and set Camera Type to Free Camera and also further down the same list - Keep Moving During Control Dialogs to ON.

How do I take screenshots?

The default key is PrintScreen, or you can type in chat /screenshot or /screenshot_ui which includes your HUD. You can find the pictures in your \Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live\screenshots folder.

If are using Windows 7 and have the snipping tool, this is also a very good tool for this job. Windows 10 users that have upgraded from Windows 7 may also have this tool.

For screenshots without the HUD showing, press Ctrl+F12 and this will remove it. To restore your HUD, press Crtl+F12 again.

I don't like the default HUD. Can I change it?

Certainly! Press Escape to access the game menu. Select Rearrange HUD.

I want to link items in chat. How do I do this?

With Ctrl + left-mouse you can click items in your inventory, character or ship ‘card’ and link it in chat – this way others can mouse-over the item and also read their statistics and details. Useful if you want specific information.

How do I make millions of energy credits in the game? I just cannot work it out!

This is a very common question and we always say that this will come over time. Like most things within the game, you don't want to be wasting any resources until you hit level 50 onwards. With that being said, here are some idea's:

The easiest way is selling items on the exchange, whether they be loot drops, crafted items or basic trading (“buy low, sell high methods”). Crafting can be very lucrative, especially when seeling items such as superior tech upgrades. Also, while playing, you earn ec and dilithium ore. Refine that ore to zen and buy lockbox keys from the c-store and sell them on the exchange for 4 million ec each – this is taking the solid route.

Another way is trading by buying/selling c-store, Lobi store or crafted items on the exchange which can earn you a small fortune – if you have the Ferengi Lobes for it.

Another good way is selling duty officers. Buy/collect cheap purple/blue ones and downgrade them to 9 white (common) ones which may sell for 14K-20K ec each on the exchange. This isn't always the best method but can net you some ec.

How do I earn Dilithium?

You can earn dilithium in many ways. You can do story missions which will give some dilithium ore on completion, as well as completing TFO's. There is also the option to mine dilithium at the dilithium mining station in the Alpha Quadrant. There will also be opprtunities to obtain more in battlezones. Dyson Ground is a very popular one for this.

I have 8,000 refined dilithium and the game is saying I cannot refine anymore today. Is there any way to get more?

Unfortunately, 8,000 a day is the limit per day. However, you can get a little more by either going to the fleet dilithium mine and doing a very short doff assignment and get another 500, or if you are a lifetime player, you can go to an NPC at Starfleet Academy, Qo'nos, or New Romulus (depending on your character), and get an extra 1,000 refined. Additionally, if you are a lifetime player, any dilithium ore you have will auto-refine for up to a week. Sadly, this is not available to free to play players and you will have to refine manually.

How do I earn Zen?

The Account Bank is a very useful tool and costs 1,000 Zen per row unlock. There is also the Elite Starter Pack that comes with other unlocks. If you can't get these, then an option is to mail them to yourself. You can only attach/collect items via a mail terminal which you can find on most social maps. The mail system is also where your unsold items from the exchange will end up, and it can be used as an alternative bank/inventory by mailing items to yourself. This can only be done with unbound items.

Ok so I have reached Level 50. Now what?

Ah level 50... a lot just opened up for you! You will find things such as more TFO's (STF's), Red Alerts when they are on during a weekend event, more ship choices from the C-Store (T5 ships that can upgrade to T5-U and T6 ships), Reputation system is unlocked and ready to begin, and the Quantum Slipstream Drive. The QSD will enable you to travel a lot faster in sector space and has a cool-down period, and very useful.

A full breakdown of what is available can be found here.

I just got all this stuff unlocked and covered half my screen! What is Admiralty?

Admiralty is just like the doffing system and instead of using your crew, you use ships! You can queue up a total of three ships for one assignment. These are very good for grinding energy credits and dilithium ore and will take a certain amount of time to complete depending on the assignment. Once the assignment has been completed, those ships will be on a cooldown period under maintenence repair.

The gold assignments are very useful to do, as completing 10/10 of these on each campaign will give you rewards every time providing they are successful.

Klingon and Ferengi 10/10 will give out dilithium ore and a generous amount too, so these are possibly the best ones to do if you are accumalating dilithium. Federation and Romulan campaigns have different rewards.

Help! My ship keeps blowing up!

Being a level 50 on a new character for the first time is always fun. For those who have reached this on their very first character, this can be somewhat daunting, especially with the amount of things that open up for you. You may find you are confused at this level as much as you were at level 5. We know it isn't going to be easy getting Mk XI to Mk XV gear if you are a first time player, and our advice is to take it steady and do not rush.

The best advice we can give you are the following: (when you are able to)

Choose either beams OR cannons. Mixing them can hinder your build, so choose your abilities wisely. By this we mean always make sure that you can find something in the description to match what you are using. Examples include if you are using beams, then choose fire at will. If you are using cannons, choose rapid fire and/or scatter volley. You can find key words if you hover over the ability when choosing them from the trainer, and the same when viewing your ship, as there will always be something there. For instance, if you are using Disruptor weaponry, your tactical consoles to match will be Disruptor Induction Coil. For Phaser, these will be Phaser Relay. Tactical consoles stack so always good to fill tactical consoles with as many as you can depending on how many your ship will allow you to. A simple way to minimize any potential errors for first time building is to look at the colour of the weapon and see what colour your tactical consoles are. Also bare in mind the quality of the gear. The standard pictures on tactical pictures are the same as the energy weapon to match it. It does howver, get a bit more complicated later when you start looking at hybrid weapons. Examples include Bio-matter Phasers (these are a green/blue and tactical console is orange), and Sensor Linked Phasers (which are also blue and tactical consoles are orange). It is not just Phasers though, the same applies to all other energy types to, so its probably best to keep to the standard until you find your space legs.

Whether it be deflectors, shields etc, always hover over and read what these pieces of gear do. If you are really lost, do not hesitate to ask in your fleet. You will see at the top of any item there are 'Mods', more known as modifiers. Examples can include [CrtX] - (Control effects) and [DrainX] (Drain effects). These are more found on Science consoles and some deflectors. Do not discount them as they can be very useful later.

For first time players, we recommend something with some damage resistance. Generally, we recommend Ablative Armor or maybe a Neutronium or anything with a resistance on it. However, do not fill all your engineering consoles with these consoles as you will get diminishing returns and you will be hit harder than if you only had 1 console on. Placing 2 consoles on may work until you can get better gear later, or traits for example.

What are 'Mods' and 'Procs'? I keep hearing about them.

The best example we can give for this question is to take a look at a weapon or a console. At the top you will see some strange looking letters. For example, a beam array with [Acc] [CrtD] [Dmg]. These are knows as modifiers. The best ones to aim for if you can get them are generally [CrtD], [Dmg], and [Pen]. However, [Acc] can be nice in PvP. Here is a breakdown.

[Acc] – Increases the Accuracy of this weapon by 10%.

[Arc] – This mod primarily comes from a special R&D crafting assignment that unlocks once you get to level 15 in Cannon R&D. It can also have a small chance to be found on Lockbox Dual Heavy Cannons. It simply increases the firing arc of the Dual Heavy Cannon from 45° to 90°. You can only have 1 weapon equipped with this mod.
[CrtD] – Increases the Critical Damage of this weapon by 20%.

[CrtH] – Increases the Critical Chance of this weapon by 2%.

[Dmg] – Increases the base damage of this weapon.

[Over] – When you fire a weapon with this mod it gives you a 2.5% chance to have the next beam attack you do deal much more damage.

[Pen] – All attacks fired by a weapon with this mod ignore 10 Armor Rating.

[Rapid] – When you fire a weapon with this mod it gives you a 2.5% chance to have all cannons on your ship to fire rapidly for 2 seconds.

[Snare] – When an enemy is hit with a weapon with this mod, they have -5% speed and turn rate. (This does not stack).

[Thrust] – When you fire a weapon with this mod, you get +5% speed and turn rate. (This does not stack).

The best combinations are normally something like [CrtD]x3 or [Dmg]x4 or even [CrtD]x3 [Pen] for example. In order for these to be really effective, you can at some point get your resting statistics for Critical Chance to 20% or more and Critical Severity to between 100% - 125% or better as well. Please note that your base modifiers are not counted as part of your stats when viewing your Accuracy, Critical Chance and Severity. When viewing these stats, please not that will not be in right in sector space so only view them at places such as when parked at Earth Spacedock, Qo'nos, New Romulus, Deep Space Nine etc.

Now some information on 'Procs': The 'Procs' are different. These are what the weapon 'might' do and it is a very strong 'might' at that. Procs always have a 2.5% chance to trigger. Here is an example of disruptor weaponry. We have used different types of disruptor to try and explain this better.

These weapons have a 2.5% chance to lower the target’s damage resistance by 10% for 15 sec. This is one of the better weapon procs in the game. There are quite a few consoles that increase the damage of these weapons. These have the potential to do some devastating damage to the enemies. Here are a few special Disruptor weapons you should consider if you want to make a Disruptor build.

Bio-Molecular Disruptor: 2.5% chance to reduce target’s speed for 8 sec and 2.5% chance to lower target’s damage resistance rating by 10% for 5 sec. At the end of the 8 second debuff, damages the enemy with more radiation damage. Good for some extra damage.

Elachi: 2.5% chance to ignore 100% of target’s shields and 50% of target’s damage resistance. Good for some massive spike damage.

Coalition Disruptor: 2.5% chance -20 disruptor resistance rating for 30 sec (stacks up to 5 times). This is most likely the best disruptor weapons out there.

Spiral Wave Disruptor: 2.5% chance one Random Subsystem Offline for 5 seconds and to target: 2.5% Chance: -10 All Damage Resistance for 15 seconds. This disruptor is a combination of Phaser and Disruptor and a very good weapon.Additionally, these have the highest numbers of mods on them. The only thing about them is that they are only available from any Cardassian ships in game. Once you own a Cardassian ship, you will be able to get more of these from the dilithium store.

Addition:

This F.A.Q. page has been created by Fleet Admiral's Monkeyboy and hitchhiker0680. Additional information from Armada member Paradoxical