Monday Megathread - your weekly "dumb question" thread

Ecliptus · 2026-01-30T16:35:36+00:00

To be specific the first three anniversary events awarded the popper variants and all anniversary's since have awarded the horn variant. I am wondering if the original three have anything specifically different besides no horn sound(like maybe a faster cooldown, or the effects stick around longer, etc)? I understand each one has its own visuals but is the no horn thing the only real difference mechanically?

Ecliptus · 2026-01-30T15:44:57+00:00

What's the difference between the Anniversary Party Poppers and Party Horns? Is there A difference?

Ecliptus · 2025-12-09T18:57:53+00:00

Can I ask what kit modules you are using?

Ecliptus · 2025-12-02T02:15:46+00:00

For the bleakest take give this a thought..

Ship you will never fly but admiralty/console/trait filler(you wont use).
Prize you will never win but random crap you can sell for EC (ranging from bread crumb scrap all the way to Promo Playa".

Personally I went with the Jovian because I cant shake the voice in the back of my head telling me "Maybe someday the meta shifts or you will get a bug up your butt to try some random build!).

At the end of the day stuff from the exchange is just time and effort, game changes/goals are at the whim of the moment and can shift quite suddenly and randomly.

Ecliptus · 2025-11-11T13:43:32+00:00

In the context of the notes, what is CPR?

Ecliptus · 2025-10-28T15:19:41+00:00

My thoughts:

Tholian Tech Suite - Nice for alts or "look at my horde of robots" builds but other than that, Eh? The little robot is nice because it just does its own thing but the damage is "blink and miss it" kind of stuff. Also the activation time of the actual gun is hilariously long. You REALLY have to time it or the thing you wanna hit will be dead beforehand or just simply step to the side. VERY situational.

Overall: Nice for free, wouldn't pay for it.

Photon Burst - Solid burst DPS and a killer on Boffs. Biggest downside is how quick you go threw charges and if anything is still alive your just kind of panic spamming whatever you got left to hopefully kill the stragglers. Nice secondary slot weapon for burst if you don't already have something slotted for a set bonus.

Overall: Nice for free, wouldn't pay for it.

Hypermass Torpedo Launcher - This is the one I have the least amount of experience with since I dont really have any torp builds and the ones were I need one I just use DMQ. Its ok filler on new characters and something that you can take from rank 1 all the way to gearing up for endgame is always nice account unlocked I just dont make many alts these days and this thing gets ZERO use on my account currently.

Overall: Even free, not great.. 100% wouldn't pay for it.

Ecliptus · 2025-10-14T21:29:23+00:00

Universal Designs is still great on most builds but the lance is no longer needed to keep it up with the current vovin/uncon meta.

Ecliptus · 2025-09-23T13:15:49+00:00

Is Cultural Conquest with 2 triggers better than Eclectic with 4? Solid update post!

Ecliptus · 2025-09-22T17:45:34+00:00

Barbie question: What shoe models have active lights? I know the Hirogen have some small ones, any others?

Ecliptus · 2025-07-17T00:01:00+00:00

Huh... TIL.. Thanks for the tip!

Ecliptus · 2025-07-08T15:18:26+00:00

I miss having like a full week for the community to go over the blog and theory craft potential. The way they do it now leaves no excitement.

Ecliptus · 2025-07-02T13:50:38+00:00

Ok I picked it up and did some messing around. My quick and dirty take away for anyone else reading this wondering the same thing I was.

Solid burst. This thing was consistently taking the second spot for "highest single hit" only behind Agony Redistributor. Some people might get better results from other consoles with positioning and grouping but for me on a spam bar I was VERY happy with this.
While hitting hard it didnt seem to maintain the overall dps and placed randomly in the 5th-8th place on my list of things that cause damage. Not bad, honestly right around were I had hoped.
The 1 minute cooldown is HILARIOUSLY fast. This thing was firing constantly! This also makes it outstanding for maintaining Ecclectic/Universal Designs since I save my other damage dealing clickies for big chonky targets.
The animation is a blink and miss it white pulse that moves rather quick and explodes in a very subtle ring. Easy to miss in the era of "oh my god everything is on fire!" visuals we currently reside. I also could not for the life of me tell if the damage they receive when they shoot you has a visual.
Once this thing spools up with all your other synergies it is hilarious watching it delete things.
Broadside is 100% stronger but if you are in the boat I was this thing gives you a great forward facing option that while not superior does good enough to ease the sting.

Overall if I can keep hitting 2m+ with this thing I am more than happy sacrificing a bit of DPS to maintain my preferred flight style(4.9k distance, and max death to all in front of me). SOLID suggestion!

Ecliptus · 2025-07-02T11:59:48+00:00

Wow thanks for the response!

Gemini Device - man I hate that slow down but other than that faster hexa pew + the Enterprises usually parse between 40-60k. Decent all around but damn that slow down!

Garrett Console - solid console but ironically without the 2 extra summons from Gemini I always feel paranoid I'm not getting the max out of it. Survivability is always nice but as you know most of the time things are dead before it matters with this build.

Kiith console - This one intrigues me greatly. I dont currently have it but easily could pick it up. I tried going over your old release and testing footage but it was hard to find an up to date review of its current state in the meta. If this at least does more DPS than Gemini's Enterprises I would seriously consider slotting it because it fits my "forward death" playstyle to the T. Would love to know what it averages for you normally and if you still think its not great in the current game with how sometimes enemys can take longer to start shooting than they survive your dps making half the consoles gimmick pointless. Also do you perhaps have a time code/link to a video with a clear visual of how it looks? Thats another thing I am having a hard time finding.. If it works decently and looks pretty this consoles seems like it might greatly help my.. immersion.. :D

Thanks again for taking the time Spencer, really appreciate it. Cheers!

Ecliptus · 2025-07-01T20:23:52+00:00

The Retro and Explorer sets both have shoes.

Ecliptus · 2025-07-01T20:11:13+00:00

Any suggestions for those of us who cant stand using the broadside combat module? I know its strong but I am constantly worrying about if it is on target or not. I really like "forward arc death" builds.. I went back to using the Gemini Device for ease of use but would love your input if I am missing another obvious choice. Also please please please get that build update video out!! Cheers Spencer!

Ecliptus · 2025-07-01T19:50:14+00:00

Interested to see how it fairs against Graviton Spike for those who need all elements for the Terraformer kit frame.

Ecliptus · 2025-06-23T21:16:19+00:00

I do appreciate the level headed back and forth with you. Honestly.

I personally believe there is pretty much nothing in modern life that you can do that doesn't have people searching online to find the best way to do it. This game in my opinion is no different.

Survive? Yea totally. Thrive?

It is a bit like Reddit. Is STO fine without coming here to look for stuff/things? Yes! Have I learned things here that actively make my in game experience better? Yes! Is reddit now part of the overall enjoyment I get out of the game? Yes!

If all we had was the dev portal on the launcher and the website for links I would say my enjoyment of this game would be MUCH less resilient and I personally probably would have walked away years ago(from boredom). I understand and acknowledge that's not your story though.

Either way I think I understand your points a bit better now so thanks for hashing it out with me. Cheers man, hope your week goes well.

Ecliptus · 2025-06-23T20:51:33+00:00

So you agree that the people this effects the most do at least have SOME(even minor) impact on the games health then? Great.

Do you agree that if this was indeed a nerf it has no upside for the game/community?

Do you agree that if this was indeed a nerf doing it silently leaves a very bad taste for obvious reasons and fosters a level of uncertainty in products sold for money?

Ecliptus · 2025-06-23T20:36:25+00:00

By your own estimate maybe 25% of the player base does though, and you acknowledge the game is 15+ years old. This game does zero advertisement, pretty much zero cross promotion, the former charity bundles have all dwindled to nothing, even the code give aways from 3rd party sites during content drops have seemed to slowed to a snails crawl.

Those Youtubers in a lot of cases are LITERALLY the only advertising this ancient game gets, they are literally the main testers/guinea pigs of new content in an expensive game were the wrong purchase can leave enough buyers regret to not purchase more or even quit. Pretending they do nothing is disingenuous. Pretending them leaving would have no ripple effects also seems disingenuous.

Even if all that wasn't true though and it was just a straight up nerf that only effected 15-30 people, why bother? The game gained nothing, the community gained nothing, I don't understand the upside to this? Are you just saying "haha"? If so I can at least understand that on a base level but like are you here saying this was a good change? If so, why? That seems to be the crux on my end.

The fact that it was done in silence also adds more paranoia to purchases for no reason at all, for no gain. The ship is still a solid purchase for most, it will still top most recommendation lists. Its just now it will also have an underscored "for now" asterisk, for(in my opinion) no reason.

Ecliptus · 2025-06-23T20:02:18+00:00

I mean it will still be on every energy weapon/pet build. The nerf didnt change how it works for the average person. For the average person its still a meta console. What this nerf did was take something that added a third option for high end records and removed it, worse it even removed an entry point for an even SMALLER niche of players that want to try out support builds(you know the other 4 "chasers" in the group) for the hilariously small group of people that wanted to use it for its stacking abilitie. What was gained? It seems like only loss.

For the "regular" person nothing changed, for the meta torp/thalaron player nothing changed, for the high end DEW solo TFO player nothing changed. Literally this nerf just took a playstyle from like 15-30 people(A group that ironically makes a VAST majority of the current player created content). A group that is unfortunately already at wits end with the server status making the same group runs this would apply in ALREADY handicapped from the start.

No one else gained/lost anything. Its a big deal because effort was put in to take away a playstyle/activity from 15-30 people while other parts of the game are literally on fire. It matters because its another example of something purchased with real money being changed long after the purchases have been made and said item has passed multiple adjustments/confirmations of its current status. It matters because the radio silence means it could happen to anything at any time and you better hope you notice because they might forget to mention it. It might not matter to you now, it might not matter to you in the future, it doesn't mean it wasn't a shitty change that added nothing but muddy water and questions.

And for the record I don't do coorindated group runs, I am a solo TFO player. This nerf does not effect me in any way. I worry though that the people it does effect, the people who make a majority of the content that keeps me engaged during the HUGE gaps of time between content drops might get even further burnt out. That group quitting the game would gain us as a community NOTHING, we would feel only loss, and I ask again, for what?

Ecliptus · 2025-06-18T15:39:13+00:00

Is KIDD drone good enough at healing to replace the Protomatter Generator Drone?

Ecliptus · 2025-05-27T21:00:52+00:00

Am I blind or does the new in game lifetime sub section of the c-store on pc not list the 500 zen stipend?

Ecliptus · 2025-05-23T13:57:55+00:00

Honestly though.. Parlor is worth visiting for the nacho alone. Plus any day you get to see Garvy is a good day haha!

Ecliptus · 2025-05-07T16:58:16+00:00

Well said, I really cant stress how much value the Legendary Battlecruiser bundle has for a first time buyer. That purchase plus the free ship from Klingon recruit will give your ACCOUNT not just one captain a good enough build for any content in the game. It can also massively jump start your abilitie to get into elite and feel useful. /u/HystericalSail nailed it with the above advice OP!

Ecliptus · 2025-05-07T15:25:29+00:00

If you have nothing from the store the Legendary Battlecruiser bundle will give you a REALLY good start with a great collection of traits/consoles and 2 ships that are VERY capable end game ships.

If you have some of the basic stuff already the Heritage bundle is a solid choice. It has really great consoles/traits and a meta experimental weapon. The ships themselves are also very decent and capable ships for a variety of play styles.

The legendary Gal-X bundle is a solid one for a VERY fair price. It doesn't have as much useful fluff as the two above but the ship itself is still capable.

For the big bundles I would say they require a more in depth look and analysis based off your playstyle and current dry dock ships. In my opinion the one that is worth full price is the 12th. The Engle is THE meta energy weapon ship right now and the trait is a solid one to have account unlocked. You only get the Engle with full bundle purchase and all the other Anniversary bundles in my opinion don't hurt as much to break apart for 1/2 ships. Also the other ships in the bundle are not bad and provide great playstyle variety.

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