STO: Questions, well meaning answers, and dubiously conceived advice.

Starting a new thread rather than my normal derailment:

Griffon said:


Honestly, racial traits are kind of cool, but I haven't really noticed the difference in game play for most of them. Your earned skills will compensate for them, I think. The most obvious ones are special abilities like the Borg 'assimilation' or Vulcan 'Nerve Pinch' which actually give you a melee stun or hold. Some of the telapathic races, like Betazoids, can detect stealth easier. I went 'custom' for my characters because it gives you the most options for customizing the look, though.

I took a Tactical officer, but it doesn't really restrict your how your ships operate. A tactical officer can effectively captain an escort, science, or cruiser, though the ships are considered tactical, science, and engineering respectively. There are a couple of skills that do affect space, such as the engineer's ability to maintain his ship, but your selection of bridge officers' abilities can compensate for the minor differences. I would suggest picking your class based on what you like to do in ground combat.

Tactical gets kits such as grenades, Martial Arts, and Focused Fire.
Engineering gets personal sheild recharge, turret construction, mines, and forcefield construction.
Science gets heals (medical), holds, and other stranger things.

To start my skills I usually concentrate on Beam Weapons, Projectile Weapons, and Assault (ground ranged weapons). You have abilities that help your away team (Tactical Team Leader, Engineering Team Leader, Science Team Leader) and ones that buff up your ship (Starship Command). Clicking on them gives a bit of a description that's worth reading.

Put your BOfficer skill points in whatever you find you use the most. If you like High Yield Torpedoes, then pour it in (which I do), and if you need a little more survivability try pumping up Emergency Power to Shields, etc.

You can increase your skills by 9 leels each. There is a diminishing rate of returns though. The first skill points increase the bonus added by a couple of points at least, But by the time you get to lvl 7 or 8, the same number of skill points will only increase the bonus by .5. Early on it might be worth spreading your skill points around a bit as a result.

Tier two and three skills add more bonuses to specific skills.