It is a bit late ... but for the next mega-event the following would be considered fairly decent advice:
- Level the mega-event 5* the moment you get them from the first event.
- Add a citation straight away (this means you should always keep a stash of 50k Honor going into a mega-event so you have to take this into consideration the weeks running up to the mega-event and how fast you accrue Honor).
I see you have a lvl 10 2/5 Minuet ... even though she's not considered the best crew to have, for someone with your crew she certainly wouldn't be bad ... also, at 3/5 lvl 100 she'd be your star for today's Faction event (and the past two events too actually) and you'd have her 4/5 by tomorrow (Friday) for sure.
Consider this:
- The better you do in events ... the more crew you'll pick up which can either be converted into Honor or added to non-FF crew (e.g. you could add stars to Vic Fontaine on Monday if you do well enough ... but with Minuet at lvl 10 and Vic at 20 that will be tough.) ... which in turn allows you to freeze or cite more crew ...
- Also, you will find that 4/4 crew can be better for voyages than 1/5 crew (e.g. Will Scarlett or Mariachi Q) so you need to find a balance between levelling 1/5s and 4* that can actually be of some use (event crew, good Voyage stat crew, good Gauntlet crew, high base stat 4*s etc.).
- What the above requires is some sort of focus that you can work towards ... for example, I used to focus on levelling all crew associated with upcoming events ... I'd make a small list ranking the crew based on their skills and the upcoming event and work through that (levelling only 1 or 2 at the same time). I found that as I was levelling crew like that, not only did they help in event rankings but many also started turning up as good crew to use on Voyages/shuttles ... over time I was able to freeze some as they were replaced by better crew that I was ranking up for newer events ...
Your focus could be something like level all Voyager crew first ... so you make a list based on some of your key criteria (e.g. high base stats, good voyage stats, good proficiency rolls, cool character etc.) and just work through that. You'll find that this kind of focus will really boost your overal crew quality.
There is a tab called "[Voyage] Stats" that sort all characters by their respective voyage scores.
Which tab should I be looking at exactly? Total? Or the specific skill that I’m looking for? While I do want to keep the crew really good for voyages at the moment I also don’t want a bunch of the same one and have none for a specific weakness.
The "[Voyage] Stats" tab has both and overall column (which it's sorted by) and the individual breakdowns.
Synthetic commander makes some good points (that you might get better mileage out of looking at stats you are weak in. One thing I'll add to that is you might be better off waiting until you acquire a 5* that actually has the pair you're looking for rather than spending honor to cite a 4* that happens to have it.
MED was something I was very weak in to begin with when voyages first came out. Then Cornwell and Bell Riots Bashir were released as mega crew which really solidified MED/DIP.
Would it be a good idea at some point (maybe not now) to get beholds instead of citations? To get better crew?
A behold could be better than a citation in the following circumstances (I'm sure there are others, but these seem the most likely):
You don't have any 5*s that you want to cite
You want a specific 5* from the pool that you don't already have
You don't care about the stats of the 5*s you receive
To summarize the arguments against Legendary beholds: there are a LOT of bad 5*s in the game. Honor-wise, yes, you can get 9 Citations for the same cost as 10 Legendary beholds. What that means is that 9 of those 10 Legendary beholds need to be "useful" to you in order for them to have a chance at being better than Citations.
When you use 9 citations, you are using them on exactly the crew you want to improve. With 10 beholds, you might add a star to your best crew. You might get a NEW best crew. You might get a new worst crew. And you might add a star to a crew you don't really care about. IMO, that risk is almost never worth it.
I just managed to get Minuet to level 60 until I ran out of chronitons. I have a voyage finishing in an hour and a half so I’ll get more chronitons then. In the meantime I’ll get the faction missions done.
I think I’ll wait a little longer before I cite one of the legendaries. I’ll work on levelling them up as well as some 4* crew that I chose in the list that was provided earlier. Apparently I already had some pretty good ones immortalized and frozen. I also had some that were pretty good in med and engineering that just need to be levelled. They have now been favorited.
Quick question: how many hours do you have to get in the voyages to start getting 4* crew and how much should you have per skill before going on a voyage that long?
I’ll also be looking into which characters I could dump so I have space for better crew. This will be the hardest. I have 97 4* characters. This will take a while.
I think I’ll wait a little longer before I cite one of the legendaries. I’ll work on levelling them up as well as some 4* crew that I chose in the list that was provided earlier. Apparently I already had some pretty good ones immortalized and frozen. I also had some that were pretty good in med and engineering that just need to be levelled. They have now been favorited.
Quick question: how many hours do you have to get in the voyages to start getting 4* crew and how much should you have per skill before going on a voyage that long?
I’ll also be looking into which characters I could dump so I have space for better crew. This will be the hardest. I have 97 4* characters. This will take a while.
4*s can drop at the 4 hour dilemma, but it is not particularly likely. 6h+ has a much higher chance of seeing them.
For airlocking, I usually focus on characters that are not main cast and aren't a frequent recurring character. There are always going to be cases where you airlock someone and then see another star or two. It's just sort of expected >.>
Yeah don't beat yourself up if you airlock someone and see a new copy the next day. They are still not a good choice for your crew, even if they had another star (presumably that's why you airlocked them).
or if you don't want to install the computer application or put your credentials into the website (which I trust personally), you can alternatively use this web based calculator: https://codepen.io/somnivore/full/Nabyzw
a rough estimate of the primary/secondary skills and the rest you'd need to just barely start reaching 6 hour voyages on average:
6000 (primary and secondary skills)
3000 (remainder skills which typically hit 10% of the time each)
There is a tab called "[Voyage] Stats" that sort all characters by their respective voyage scores.
Which tab should I be looking at exactly? Total? Or the specific skill that I’m looking for? While I do want to keep the crew really good for voyages at the moment I also don’t want a bunch of the same one and have none for a specific weakness.
The "[Voyage] Stats" tab has both and overall column (which it's sorted by) and the individual breakdowns.
Synthetic commander makes some good points (that you might get better mileage out of looking at stats you are weak in. One thing I'll add to that is you might be better off waiting until you acquire a 5* that actually has the pair you're looking for rather than spending honor to cite a 4* that happens to have it.
MED was something I was very weak in to begin with when voyages first came out. Then Cornwell and Bell Riots Bashir were released as mega crew which really solidified MED/DIP.
Would it be a good idea at some point (maybe not now) to get beholds instead of citations? To get better crew?
I chose not to do that because I have space issues.
How does this lineup look like for my voyages? I put 5 or 6 per category because some people repeat themselves in other categories.
Command
1. EV Suit Archer
2. Mirror Jean-Luc Picard
3. Mirror Regent Worf
4. Tuxedo Nog (Still in my communications until I have more space.)
5. Herbert Rossoff
Diplomacy
1. Mariachi Q
2. Tuxedo Nog
3. Minuet
4. Bell Riots Bashir
5. Mintaken Troi
6. Suus Mahna Sarek
Engineering
1. Beowolf Kim
2. Prisoner O’Brien
3. Niner’s Rom
4. Icheb
5. Mirror Geordie La Forge
6. Drone 7 of 9 (needs to be unfrozen)
Security
1. Suus Mahna Sarek
2. Will Scarlett Worf
3. Beowolf Kim
4. Mademoiselle de Neuf
5. Mirror Regent Worf
Science
1. Surak
2. Graduation Michael Burnham
3. Sarina Douglas
4. First Officer Saru
5. Perspect Michael Burnham
Medical
1. Bell Riots Bashir
2. Mirror Phlox
3. Katra McCoy
4. Nurse Faith Garland
5. Combat Medic Paris
I’m also looking at getting rid of:
Luther Sloane
Dominion Dukat
Mirror Garak
Alidar Jarok
Commander Uhura
Commander Keras
Berlinghoff Rasmussen
Doctor Chapel
Advocate Kalos
I was also thinking about maybe airlocking:
Bajoran Dukat
Subcommander T’Rul
Army Chaplain Odo
Admiral Ross
Tourist Reed
Amanda Greyson
Silik
I’d have more on the lists but they appeared in the list of past events or have some engineering or medical:
Young Kahn
Diseased Changeling Founder
Kazon Seska
Itat’ika
Xindi Prisoner Archer
Cardassian Kira
All of the ones I’m looking to airlock are under level 50. I haven’t even looked at the ones over 50.
How does this lineup look like for my voyages? I put 5 or 6 per category because some people repeat themselves in other categories.
Command
1. EV Suit Archer
2. Mirror Jean-Luc Picard 3. Mirror Regent Worf 4. Tuxedo Nog (Still in my communications until I have more space.) - if you are looking for good crew in your position, he needs to be level for sure. 5. Herbert Rossoff
Diplomacy
1. Mariachi Q 2. Tuxedo Nog 3. Minuet
4. Bell Riots Bashir
5. Mintaken Troi
6. Suus Mahna Sarek
Engineering
1. Beowolf Kim
2. Prisoner O’Brien 3. Niner’s Rom 4. Icheb
5. Mirror Geordie La Forge 6. Drone 7 of 9 (needs to be unfrozen) keep frozen and save one of your crew below. Yes she is decent, but not more than that.
Security
1. Suus Mahna Sarek 2. Will Scarlett Worf
3. Beowolf Kim
4. Mademoiselle de Neuf 5. Mirror Regent Worf
Science
1. Surak 2. Graduation Michael Burnham
3. Sarina Douglas 4. First Officer Saru 5. Perspect Michael Burnham - she is way, way better for Voyages than Grad. Burnham, if you decide to keep both on your list, swap positions of these two.
Medical
1. Bell Riots Bashir 2. Mirror Phlox
3. Katra McCoy
4. Nurse Faith Garland
5. Combat Medic Paris
I’m also looking at getting rid of:
Luther Sloane
Dominion Dukat
Mirror Garak
Alidar Jarok
Commander Uhura
Commander Keras
Berlinghoff Rasmussen
Doctor Chapel Advocate Kalos --> he's not bad
I was also thinking about maybe airlocking:
Bajoran Dukat
Subcommander T’Rul Army Chaplain Odo --> he's not bad and Odo features in many events.
Admiral Ross
Tourist Reed
Amanda Greyson
Silik
I’d have more on the lists but they appeared in the list of past events or have some engineering or medical:
Young Kahn
Diseased Changeling Founder
Kazon Seska Itat’ika - I'm not sure what he is doing here ... sure he was in a past event, but so were most of the crew on your other two lists above. Xindi Prisoner Archer - another one where I struggle to see the reason for keeping him over some of the crew above. Cardassian Kira - also, why is she here and Odo above, Kira, fine but her stats are poor?
I'd scrap all 2 skill crew from the Voyages list, not really worth it, only in very specific instances. They should be kept for shuttles ... but to be honest, I freeze all two skill 4* crew almost immediately no matter what the stats (though I did hold onto Mirror Phlox for a while, but really, you could freeze him and just keep Garland for Gauntlet, you won't notice too much of a drop in your quality there at all).
I used to level my 3/4 2-skilll 4*s to 100 and use them in shuttles if I needed a boost in a certain category for base stats (e.g. Marla for DIP, she was a solid 3/4 for me for ages and on a shuttles all the time ... when I got a 4th star I froze her and levelled a replacement DIP base crew (Pel)).
EDIT: Added more notes to your list (e.g. Burnham). I'd also wait to airlock someone until they've announced the crew for the last event of this mega (later today), who knows you might get lucky with bonus crew.
So, while the numbers for ENG and SCI are better for Graduation B., what you really want to look at is the total because as @SyntheticCommander said, you also need to get the other 4 skills to 3000 approx. Grad. B. does not help in any way to do that, but Prospect B. does.
Getting your numbers to 6000/3000 improves consistency, if there is too much variation what you think may reach 6 hrs might not due to chance.
Furthermore, you could put Prospect B. in a DIP slot on the Voyage if you find you have better crew to put in ENG and SCI and are struggling to get those to 6000, but already have a good DIP near 3000.
That is what makes crew like Sarina Douglas so valuable, they have a combination of three skills that are unusual so on your ENG / SCI voyage she's a shoe in for sure, because she will add to MED, which you otherwise might struggle to reach 3000 ...
This is also the reason why you'd throw Mirror Picard into a CMD slot, his SCI is on the low side but he really boosts your SEC and CMD score so they will quickly reach that 3000 mark.
So, that is also why I said that Kolos and Odo aren't bad ... Kolos is DIP/SCI/CMD ... so he might go into a DIP slot on your ENG/SCI voyage. Odo is also a decent 3 skill (and main cast), though won't feature on the example voyage.
You can find the above numbers through the wiki and the Crew Cost Info link ... there you can use the Behold Helper to directly compare crew ... e.g. compare 4-5 CMD/DIP/SEC crew you want to level and see what their Voyage numbers are then level the best one.
Some excellent advice, as ever, here. For me, I always focused on improving my voyage score, it's the one thing you run day in day out to get predominantly (bar faction only items) the resources/chrons to level crew up effectively.
I was obsessed with the voyage stats tab like it was the bible for this game (some may advocate it still is ). Everything comes with time and later game you will have the liberty or added dilemma of looking to focus on other aspects such as shuttle base scores and gauntlet.
But the biggest importance is finding your focus and sticking to it, so it is here i'll provide a snapshot of my spreadsheet, many forum goers will have seen similar ones from my other posts (also seeking guidance, you're never alone on this)
Many who have seen this before can vouch that these crew have stayed more or less the same for weeks or months on end. Given how many purples there are now in the pool I have still got about 30 odd purples to find (and this is just shy of a year of playing).
So the crew in bold red I have never really used, hardly leveled exception is Ezri but she was also never really effective enough as small bonus crew to what I have already but i am working on her in the hope i get more stars. So these are essentially in my relegation zone should I need slot space (I might ring fence Chekov and Archer though for western collection).
The only benefit of holding on to them is that you have 'unlocked' a particular card.
The ones in pale blue are current event (small bonus) crew - that (may) need to be worked (exception
is Chakotay as he has 2 items that have no bearing on shuttle score)
Danara Pel - I am now working on, as she could be useful given the influx of sci on some missions (hindsight is a wonderful thing)
The ones in pale red are still largely miss-able but at 2/4 fusion logically I am less likely to space them before my 1/4s,
The ones in yellow I have ring fenced as they may still be useful to a degree (although some of them are old suggestions and I might have second thoughts on some of them)
And the crew in pale green I don't think I need to explain these ones as they have been fully equipped it would be somewhat incongruous for me to space them.
But the best advice I have received is once you found the crew to level stick to it. You won't regret this because with the increased number of crew you can acquire could tempt you to spread your resources amongst multiple crew but it will have the adverse affect of not really achieving an end goal, except succeeding in keeping your inventory empty.
In choosing your 1/4s have a look at two things their stats Fully Equipped at 1/4 and their potential stats at 4/4 a classic example is Mirror Jadzia Dax - she would be one of the most blatant keepers in your list IMO. Good voyage score for a purple and excellent base stats for shuttles (so you catch two fish with one net on that one).
Proficiency stats is also not to be underestimated as well, Mirror Phlox is a perfect example of this as he is only a two skill crew, yet his voyage score beats some 3 skill crew.
[was on Sabbatical/Hiatus] Currently a trialist at Galaxy SquadronSTAY SAFE and KBO
But the best advice I have received is once you found the crew to level stick to it. You won't regret this because with the increased number of crew you can acquire could tempt you to spread your resources among multiple crew but it will have the adverse affect of not really achieving an end goal, except succeeding in keeping your inventory empty.
It maybe crass to quote oneself but for you the example would be Garland/Pulaski/Chapel, you have poured up to level 40 worth of items in chapel over no real benefit on a one skill crew and potentially items that could have taken either Pulaski or Garland to a higher level and therefore of more benefit to you (Pulaski's main strength is Dip shuttles, but with you having MInuet potentially up to 4/5 her usefulness may not become as important/pressing, Garland on the other hand has two strengths voyages and gauntlet - these are just some of the factors to consider when planning and plotting who best to level).
[was on Sabbatical/Hiatus] Currently a trialist at Galaxy SquadronSTAY SAFE and KBO
But the best advice I have received is once you found the crew to level stick to it. You won't regret this because with the increased number of crew you can acquire could tempt you to spread your resources among multiple crew but it will have the adverse affect of not really achieving an end goal, except succeeding in keeping your inventory empty.
It maybe crass to quote oneself but for you the example would be Garland/Pulaski/Chapel, you have poured up to level 40 worth of items in chapel over no real benefit on a one skill crew and potentially items that could have taken either Pulaski or Garland to a higher level and therefore of more benefit to you (Pulaski's main strength is Dip shuttles, but with you having MInuet potentially up to 4/5 her usefulness may not become as important/pressing, Garland on the other hand has two strengths voyages and gauntlet - these are just some of the factors to consider when planning and plotting who best to level).
I think I might have gotten Chapel before I got Garland or Pulaski. I didn’t really know how to play so I just leveled them up if I saw that they had items pop up. Only time they are higher leveled if if they were crew I frequently use or if they seemed quick to level up. Also Minuet is now at level 90!
I think I might have gotten Chapel before I got Garland or Pulaski. I didn’t really know how to play so I just leveled them up if I saw that they had items pop up. Only time they are higher leveled if if they were crew I frequently use or if they seemed quick to level up. Also Minuet is now at level 90!
Great job getting Minuet leveled up, keep it up.
It's fine, it's just an example of where resources could have been better spent to help you. I would dare say we have all done this (myself included note the level 20s and 30s are somewhat hangovers of this, others may have been through gauntlet rewards or where I have ample resources for the builds). Unfortunately the game breeds the mentality at the start, after all you need so many levelled right from the get go for voyages, shuttles, cadet challenges unlocking missions, clearing trait specific locked nodes on missions et al. The best way around this is perhaps favoring 3 or 6 crew in your roster (6 if you especially want to hide more of the golden spanner or + symbols) .They will appear at the top of your list all the time on default and you will see your goal(s) every time you open up your roster as motivation.
[was on Sabbatical/Hiatus] Currently a trialist at Galaxy SquadronSTAY SAFE and KBO
Alright. I think I have it now. I’ve looked at their total scores as well as what their highest skilled is. Based on that I chose 2 crew for each skill. Keep in mind this is only until I find better crew. Then I will replace and cryo the others if needed.
Here are my main voyage crew:
Diplomacy
Dancing Chekov
Tuxedo Nog
(Possibly) Minuet
Command
Mirror Picard
EV Suit Archer
*I was also thinking of maybe getting Kahless with the honor that I have. If I do he could be here as well
Security
Mademoiselle de Neuf
Suus Mahna Sarek
Engineering
Beowolf Kim
Mirror Geordi La Forge
Science
Surak
Sabina Douglas
Medical
Bell Riots Bashir
Faith Garland
Now here are the 1 or 2 out of 4 stars crew that I’m looking to get rid of. If any of these are a mistake please tell me. I looked first at all the crew with only 2 skills. If their didn’t have one that was high enough for shuttles, I added them to the airlock list. I also looked at the 3 skills crew and if they didn’t have high enough scores or if I already had a lot in that area, for example I have lots of diplomacy crew, then they also went on the list.
Alright. I think I have it now. I’ve looked at their total scores as well as what their highest skilled is. Based on that I chose 2 crew for each skill. Keep in mind this is only until I find better crew. Then I will replace and cryo the others if needed.
Here are my main voyage crew:
Diplomacy
Dancing Chekov
Tuxedo Nog
(Possibly) Minuet
Command
Mirror Picard
EV Suit Archer
*I was also thinking of maybe getting Kahless with the honor that I have. If I do he could be here as well
Security
Mademoiselle de Neuf
Suus Mahna Sarek
Engineering
Beowolf Kim
Mirror Geordi La Forge
Science
Surak
Sabina Douglas
Medical
Bell Riots Bashir
Faith Garland
Now here are the 1 or 2 out of 4 stars crew that I’m looking to get rid of. If any of these are a mistake please tell me. I looked first at all the crew with only 2 skills. If their didn’t have one that was high enough for shuttles, I added them to the airlock list. I also looked at the 3 skills crew and if they didn’t have high enough scores or if I already had a lot in that area, for example I have lots of diplomacy crew, then they also went on the list.
Alright. I think I have it now. I’ve looked at their total scores as well as what their highest skilled is. Based on that I chose 2 crew for each skill. Keep in mind this is only until I find better crew. Then I will replace and cryo the others if needed.
Here are my main voyage crew:
Diplomacy
Dancing Chekov
Tuxedo Nog
(Possibly) Minuet
Command
Mirror Picard
EV Suit Archer
*I was also thinking of maybe getting Kahless with the honor that I have. If I do he could be here as well
Security
Mademoiselle de Neuf
Suus Mahna Sarek
Engineering
Beowolf Kim
Mirror Geordi La Forge
Science
Surak
Sabina Douglas
Medical
Bell Riots Bashir
Faith Garland
Now here are the 1 or 2 out of 4 stars crew that I’m looking to get rid of. If any of these are a mistake please tell me. I looked first at all the crew with only 2 skills. If their didn’t have one that was high enough for shuttles, I added them to the airlock list. I also looked at the 3 skills crew and if they didn’t have high enough scores or if I already had a lot in that area, for example I have lots of diplomacy crew, then they also went on the list.
I was also unsure of Profitable Ishka as well as Graduation Micheal Burnham but I think I’ll keep them.
EDIT
I looked at my 3/4 and 4/4 and here are some crew that I was thinking of airlocking for the same reasons as above.
Marla McGivers
Doctor Chapel
Dominion Dukat
Agent Harris
Advocate Kolos
My first goal will be to level up ( a few at a time) and cite the ones for the voyages. Then I might do the crew for shuttle. Once thing at a time.
I would keep Marla McGivers and Kolos
I will add that Commander Barak is the guy I keep on hand to run COM shuttles when I have other crew tied up in COM-heavy voyages, as I keep Marla for DIP shuttles when I have DIP-heavy voyages.
1. Commander Barak Good base CMD for a 4* ... I'd certainly keep for the time being for shuttles. I have him 3/4 and he makes shuttles on occasion (he's #7 CMD base on my crew list)
2. Resistence Shakaar
3. Mirror Uhura
4. Commando Shran
5. Sarek
6. Commander Uhura
7. Silik
8. Luther Sloane
9. Subcommander T’Rul
10. Maquis Eddington
11. Bajoran Dukat
12. Commander Keras
13. Mirror Garak
14. Admiral Ross
I was also unsure of Profitable Ishka as well as Graduation Micheal Burnham but I think I’ll keep them. --> Keep Burnham she has high base stats in both skills and is good for shuttles. If we have a Discovery/Burnham-Faction event in the near future you'll be happy you kept her.
Marla McGivers keep ... great base DIP for a 4*, though has been overtaken of late. I'd FE and then freeze once FF/immortalised.
Doctor Chapel
Dominion Dukat
Agent Harris Advocate Kolos keep he really isn't bad ... was on Voyages all the time for me in the beginning. A poor man's Surak, nothing wrong with that.
I think that 4* crew with base stats of 1000+ are all pretty much worth keeping around, even as a 2/4 etc. because usually at that fuse level their base stats are just great already and you can slot them into Shuttles, while your top crew are out on Voyages.
There is a crew management desktop tool that is worthwhile installing if you can (I unfortunately can't, work on a Mac) ... you could say that you have all the above crew (and your other crew) FE and then run some test Voyages to see which crew come up ... apparently you'll be surprised at who some of them are so that you can get your skill scores at their optimal levels (this is what flatmates have told me).
You can find links to the tool at the top of Ready Room.
1. Commander Barak Good base CMD for a 4* ... I'd certainly keep for the time being for shuttles. I have him 3/4 and he makes shuttles on occasion (he's #7 CMD base on my crew list)
2. Resistence Shakaar
3. Mirror Uhura
4. Commando Shran
5. Sarek
6. Commander Uhura
7. Silik
8. Luther Sloane
9. Subcommander T’Rul
10. Maquis Eddington
11. Bajoran Dukat
12. Commander Keras
13. Mirror Garak
14. Admiral Ross
I was also unsure of Profitable Ishka as well as Graduation Micheal Burnham but I think I’ll keep them. --> Keep Burnham she has high base stats in both skills and is good for shuttles. If we have a Discovery/Burnham-Faction event in the near future you'll be happy you kept her.
Marla McGivers keep ... great base DIP for a 4*, though has been overtaken of late. I'd FE and then freeze once FF/immortalised.
Doctor Chapel
Dominion Dukat
Agent Harris Advocate Kolos keep he really isn't bad ... was on Voyages all the time for me in the beginning. A poor man's Surak, nothing wrong with that.
I think that 4* crew with base stats of 1000+ are all pretty much worth keeping around, even as a 2/4 etc. because usually at that fuse level their base stats are just great already and you can slot them into Shuttles, while your top crew are out on Voyages.
There is a crew management desktop tool that is worthwhile installing if you can (I unfortunately can't, work on a Mac) ... you could say that you have all the above crew (and your other crew) FE and then run some test Voyages to see which crew come up ... apparently you'll be surprised at who some of them are so that you can get your skill scores at their optimal levels (this is what flatmates have told me).
You can find links to the tool at the top of Ready Room.
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunetly I can’t download the program since my computer broke a couple of months ago.
On the up side I just got an extra 10 slots when I got the monthly dilitium again. (Higher VIP level) I’m going to try to level up the easy ones that I want to freeze and go from there.
You're doing an excellent job prioritizing and planning, I wish I did such a thorough job when I was at your stage of the game. There's a lot of relief in knowing you've got a good plan and are investing (time/chrons/whatever) wisely. The follow-up advice after your post from others is excellent.
Comments
- Level the mega-event 5* the moment you get them from the first event.
- Add a citation straight away (this means you should always keep a stash of 50k Honor going into a mega-event so you have to take this into consideration the weeks running up to the mega-event and how fast you accrue Honor).
I see you have a lvl 10 2/5 Minuet ... even though she's not considered the best crew to have, for someone with your crew she certainly wouldn't be bad ... also, at 3/5 lvl 100 she'd be your star for today's Faction event (and the past two events too actually) and you'd have her 4/5 by tomorrow (Friday) for sure.
Consider this:
- The better you do in events ... the more crew you'll pick up which can either be converted into Honor or added to non-FF crew (e.g. you could add stars to Vic Fontaine on Monday if you do well enough ... but with Minuet at lvl 10 and Vic at 20 that will be tough.) ... which in turn allows you to freeze or cite more crew ...
- Also, you will find that 4/4 crew can be better for voyages than 1/5 crew (e.g. Will Scarlett or Mariachi Q) so you need to find a balance between levelling 1/5s and 4* that can actually be of some use (event crew, good Voyage stat crew, good Gauntlet crew, high base stat 4*s etc.).
- What the above requires is some sort of focus that you can work towards ... for example, I used to focus on levelling all crew associated with upcoming events ... I'd make a small list ranking the crew based on their skills and the upcoming event and work through that (levelling only 1 or 2 at the same time). I found that as I was levelling crew like that, not only did they help in event rankings but many also started turning up as good crew to use on Voyages/shuttles ... over time I was able to freeze some as they were replaced by better crew that I was ranking up for newer events ...
Your focus could be something like level all Voyager crew first ... so you make a list based on some of your key criteria (e.g. high base stats, good voyage stats, good proficiency rolls, cool character etc.) and just work through that. You'll find that this kind of focus will really boost your overal crew quality.
A behold could be better than a citation in the following circumstances (I'm sure there are others, but these seem the most likely):
To summarize the arguments against Legendary beholds: there are a LOT of bad 5*s in the game. Honor-wise, yes, you can get 9 Citations for the same cost as 10 Legendary beholds. What that means is that 9 of those 10 Legendary beholds need to be "useful" to you in order for them to have a chance at being better than Citations.
When you use 9 citations, you are using them on exactly the crew you want to improve. With 10 beholds, you might add a star to your best crew. You might get a NEW best crew. You might get a new worst crew. And you might add a star to a crew you don't really care about. IMO, that risk is almost never worth it.
I think I’ll wait a little longer before I cite one of the legendaries. I’ll work on levelling them up as well as some 4* crew that I chose in the list that was provided earlier. Apparently I already had some pretty good ones immortalized and frozen. I also had some that were pretty good in med and engineering that just need to be levelled. They have now been favorited.
Quick question: how many hours do you have to get in the voyages to start getting 4* crew and how much should you have per skill before going on a voyage that long?
I’ll also be looking into which characters I could dump so I have space for better crew. This will be the hardest. I have 97 4* characters. This will take a while.
4*s can drop at the 4 hour dilemma, but it is not particularly likely. 6h+ has a much higher chance of seeing them.
For airlocking, I usually focus on characters that are not main cast and aren't a frequent recurring character. There are always going to be cases where you airlock someone and then see another star or two. It's just sort of expected >.>
It takes a little practice to select crew for voyages optimally (for maximum voyage length), but you should aim to have MORE stats on the primary and secondary voyage skill and fairly balanced on the rest. There are 2 excellent tools available to help with that:
https://forum.disruptorbeam.com/stt/discussion/4964/tool-crew-management-desktop-tool-and-google-sheets-add-on/p1
or if you don't want to install the computer application or put your credentials into the website (which I trust personally), you can alternatively use this web based calculator:
https://codepen.io/somnivore/full/Nabyzw
a rough estimate of the primary/secondary skills and the rest you'd need to just barely start reaching 6 hour voyages on average:
6000 (primary and secondary skills)
3000 (remainder skills which typically hit 10% of the time each)
I chose not to do that because I have space issues.
Command
1. EV Suit Archer
2. Mirror Jean-Luc Picard
3. Mirror Regent Worf
4. Tuxedo Nog (Still in my communications until I have more space.)
5. Herbert Rossoff
Diplomacy
1. Mariachi Q
2. Tuxedo Nog
3. Minuet
4. Bell Riots Bashir
5. Mintaken Troi
6. Suus Mahna Sarek
Engineering
1. Beowolf Kim
2. Prisoner O’Brien
3. Niner’s Rom
4. Icheb
5. Mirror Geordie La Forge
6. Drone 7 of 9 (needs to be unfrozen)
Security
1. Suus Mahna Sarek
2. Will Scarlett Worf
3. Beowolf Kim
4. Mademoiselle de Neuf
5. Mirror Regent Worf
Science
1. Surak
2. Graduation Michael Burnham
3. Sarina Douglas
4. First Officer Saru
5. Perspect Michael Burnham
Medical
1. Bell Riots Bashir
2. Mirror Phlox
3. Katra McCoy
4. Nurse Faith Garland
5. Combat Medic Paris
I’m also looking at getting rid of:
Luther Sloane
Dominion Dukat
Mirror Garak
Alidar Jarok
Commander Uhura
Commander Keras
Berlinghoff Rasmussen
Doctor Chapel
Advocate Kalos
I was also thinking about maybe airlocking:
Bajoran Dukat
Subcommander T’Rul
Army Chaplain Odo
Admiral Ross
Tourist Reed
Amanda Greyson
Silik
I’d have more on the lists but they appeared in the list of past events or have some engineering or medical:
Young Kahn
Diseased Changeling Founder
Kazon Seska
Itat’ika
Xindi Prisoner Archer
Cardassian Kira
All of the ones I’m looking to airlock are under level 50. I haven’t even looked at the ones over 50.
I'd scrap all 2 skill crew from the Voyages list, not really worth it, only in very specific instances. They should be kept for shuttles ... but to be honest, I freeze all two skill 4* crew almost immediately no matter what the stats (though I did hold onto Mirror Phlox for a while, but really, you could freeze him and just keep Garland for Gauntlet, you won't notice too much of a drop in your quality there at all).
I used to level my 3/4 2-skilll 4*s to 100 and use them in shuttles if I needed a boost in a certain category for base stats (e.g. Marla for DIP, she was a solid 3/4 for me for ages and on a shuttles all the time ... when I got a 4th star I froze her and levelled a replacement DIP base crew (Pel)).
EDIT: Added more notes to your list (e.g. Burnham). I'd also wait to airlock someone until they've announced the crew for the last event of this mega (later today), who knows you might get lucky with bonus crew.
Consider you have an ENG & SCI voyage.
Prospect Burnham 1/4
DIP: 344 - ENG: 530 - SCI: 855 - Total: 1729.
Graduation Burnham 1/4
(DIP: 0) - ENG: 588 - SCI: 979 - Total: 1567.
So, while the numbers for ENG and SCI are better for Graduation B., what you really want to look at is the total because as @SyntheticCommander said, you also need to get the other 4 skills to 3000 approx. Grad. B. does not help in any way to do that, but Prospect B. does.
Getting your numbers to 6000/3000 improves consistency, if there is too much variation what you think may reach 6 hrs might not due to chance.
Furthermore, you could put Prospect B. in a DIP slot on the Voyage if you find you have better crew to put in ENG and SCI and are struggling to get those to 6000, but already have a good DIP near 3000.
That is what makes crew like Sarina Douglas so valuable, they have a combination of three skills that are unusual so on your ENG / SCI voyage she's a shoe in for sure, because she will add to MED, which you otherwise might struggle to reach 3000 ...
This is also the reason why you'd throw Mirror Picard into a CMD slot, his SCI is on the low side but he really boosts your SEC and CMD score so they will quickly reach that 3000 mark.
So, that is also why I said that Kolos and Odo aren't bad ... Kolos is DIP/SCI/CMD ... so he might go into a DIP slot on your ENG/SCI voyage. Odo is also a decent 3 skill (and main cast), though won't feature on the example voyage.
You can find the above numbers through the wiki and the Crew Cost Info link ... there you can use the Behold Helper to directly compare crew ... e.g. compare 4-5 CMD/DIP/SEC crew you want to level and see what their Voyage numbers are then level the best one.
I was obsessed with the voyage stats tab like it was the bible for this game (some may advocate it still is
But the biggest importance is finding your focus and sticking to it, so it is here i'll provide a snapshot of my spreadsheet, many forum goers will have seen similar ones from my other posts (also seeking guidance, you're never alone on this)
Many who have seen this before can vouch that these crew have stayed more or less the same for weeks or months on end. Given how many purples there are now in the pool I have still got about 30 odd purples to find (and this is just shy of a year of playing).
So the crew in bold red I have never really used, hardly leveled exception is Ezri but she was also never really effective enough as small bonus crew to what I have already but i am working on her in the hope i get more stars. So these are essentially in my relegation zone should I need slot space (I might ring fence Chekov and Archer though for western collection).
The only benefit of holding on to them is that you have 'unlocked' a particular card.
The ones in pale blue are current event (small bonus) crew - that (may) need to be worked (exception
is Chakotay as he has 2 items that have no bearing on shuttle score)
Danara Pel - I am now working on, as she could be useful given the influx of sci on some missions (hindsight is a wonderful thing)
The ones in pale red are still largely miss-able but at 2/4 fusion logically I am less likely to space them before my 1/4s,
The ones in yellow I have ring fenced as they may still be useful to a degree (although some of them are old suggestions and I might have second thoughts on some of them)
And the crew in pale green I don't think I need to explain these ones as they have been fully equipped it would be somewhat incongruous for me to space them.
But the best advice I have received is once you found the crew to level stick to it. You won't regret this because with the increased number of crew you can acquire could tempt you to spread your resources amongst multiple crew but it will have the adverse affect of not really achieving an end goal, except succeeding in keeping your inventory empty.
In choosing your 1/4s have a look at two things their stats Fully Equipped at 1/4 and their potential stats at 4/4 a classic example is Mirror Jadzia Dax - she would be one of the most blatant keepers in your list IMO. Good voyage score for a purple and excellent base stats for shuttles (so you catch two fish with one net on that one).
Proficiency stats is also not to be underestimated as well, Mirror Phlox is a perfect example of this as he is only a two skill crew, yet his voyage score beats some 3 skill crew.
It maybe crass to quote oneself but for you the example would be Garland/Pulaski/Chapel, you have poured up to level 40 worth of items in chapel over no real benefit on a one skill crew and potentially items that could have taken either Pulaski or Garland to a higher level and therefore of more benefit to you (Pulaski's main strength is Dip shuttles, but with you having MInuet potentially up to 4/5 her usefulness may not become as important/pressing, Garland on the other hand has two strengths voyages and gauntlet - these are just some of the factors to consider when planning and plotting who best to level).
I think I might have gotten Chapel before I got Garland or Pulaski. I didn’t really know how to play so I just leveled them up if I saw that they had items pop up. Only time they are higher leveled if if they were crew I frequently use or if they seemed quick to level up. Also Minuet is now at level 90!
Great job getting Minuet leveled up, keep it up.
It's fine, it's just an example of where resources could have been better spent to help you. I would dare say we have all done this (myself included note the level 20s and 30s are somewhat hangovers of this, others may have been through gauntlet rewards or where I have ample resources for the builds). Unfortunately the game breeds the mentality at the start, after all you need so many levelled right from the get go for voyages, shuttles, cadet challenges unlocking missions, clearing trait specific locked nodes on missions et al. The best way around this is perhaps favoring 3 or 6 crew in your roster (6 if you especially want to hide more of the golden spanner or + symbols) .They will appear at the top of your list all the time on default and you will see your goal(s) every time you open up your roster as motivation.
Here are my main voyage crew:
Diplomacy
Dancing Chekov
Tuxedo Nog
(Possibly) Minuet
Command
Mirror Picard
EV Suit Archer
*I was also thinking of maybe getting Kahless with the honor that I have. If I do he could be here as well
Security
Mademoiselle de Neuf
Suus Mahna Sarek
Engineering
Beowolf Kim
Mirror Geordi La Forge
Science
Surak
Sabina Douglas
Medical
Bell Riots Bashir
Faith Garland
Now here are the 1 or 2 out of 4 stars crew that I’m looking to get rid of. If any of these are a mistake please tell me. I looked first at all the crew with only 2 skills. If their didn’t have one that was high enough for shuttles, I added them to the airlock list. I also looked at the 3 skills crew and if they didn’t have high enough scores or if I already had a lot in that area, for example I have lots of diplomacy crew, then they also went on the list.
1. Commander Barak
2. Resistence Shakaar
3. Mirror Uhura
4. Commando Shran
5. Sarek
6. Commander Uhura
7. Silik
8. Luther Sloane
9. Subcommander T’Rul
10. Maquis Eddington
11. Bajoran Dukat
12. Commander Keras
13. Mirror Garak
14. Admiral Ross
I was also unsure of Profitable Ishka as well as Graduation Micheal Burnham but I think I’ll keep them.
EDIT
I looked at my 3/4 and 4/4 and here are some crew that I was thinking of airlocking for the same reasons as above.
Marla McGivers
Doctor Chapel
Dominion Dukat
Agent Harris
Advocate Kolos
My first goal will be to level up ( a few at a time) and cite the ones for the voyages. Then I might do the crew for shuttle. Once thing at a time.
I would keep Marla McGivers and Kolos
I will add that Commander Barak is the guy I keep on hand to run COM shuttles when I have other crew tied up in COM-heavy voyages, as I keep Marla for DIP shuttles when I have DIP-heavy voyages.
I think that 4* crew with base stats of 1000+ are all pretty much worth keeping around, even as a 2/4 etc. because usually at that fuse level their base stats are just great already and you can slot them into Shuttles, while your top crew are out on Voyages.
There is a crew management desktop tool that is worthwhile installing if you can (I unfortunately can't, work on a Mac) ... you could say that you have all the above crew (and your other crew) FE and then run some test Voyages to see which crew come up ... apparently you'll be surprised at who some of them are so that you can get your skill scores at their optimal levels (this is what flatmates have told me).
You can find links to the tool at the top of Ready Room.
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunetly I can’t download the program since my computer broke a couple of months ago.
On the up side I just got an extra 10 slots when I got the monthly dilitium again. (Higher VIP level) I’m going to try to level up the easy ones that I want to freeze and go from there.