It's been nearly 5 months since our last reinforcements. It's been a real roller coaster since then. We hit some serious lows shortly after receiving reinforcements. The holidays weren't great. Some of the missions were not very rewarding. Then about 3 months ago, things took a turn for the better. Q showed up. That's not always a good thing, of course. But Jetta Reno was able to work with him somehow. In what could have been the snarkiest project in Starfleet history, we were able to use new resources to retrieve our own reinforcements. It was very promising technology, but the implementation was rocky and caused a huge stir. I'll circle back to this "crew retrieval" later and attempt to keep this log chronological, then explain a pattern at the end.
Shortly after this, Starfleet announced that they would start providing greater rewards for the missions that we seem to run on a weekly basis. We will be able to gather more resources to retrieve crew and the more successful among us will be able to gather more crew for our efforts. This has been a long requested and now very welcome change.
We heard reports that Travis Mayweather could be joining our mission, but many other captains reported similar experiences to my own - no sightings of Mayweather. Oddly though, in my hunt for a personal "white whale" two literal whales showed up and as unbelievable as this may sound, they joined my crew. Just another low, followed by a high that has characterized these past months, though at a generally smaller scale.
Then, the mother of all highs. An event that must stem from our alliance with the Klingons - a week-long festival in which the honor we have gained in our travels helps us gather new crew to our cause. I was able to fill a few gaps and strengthen the effectiveness of my crew. Many other captains reported similar experiences. The festival was very welcome, but is affected by that pattern I mentioned earlier.
Then we were contacted by Ambassador Neelix's mate, Dexa. It appeared that a conspiracy was afoot to alter the minds of our allies who had at different points dawned untraditional garb or otherwise changed their appearances. The missions to recover said crew have been particularly rewarding.
In the course of this series of missions, Starfleet introduced technology to incrementally strengthen our crew as we are able to gather more crew. This technology existed previously, but has recently been expanded more quickly than any time since its introduction. This was the latest in our recent series of highs. The pattern I keep mentioning can be seen here too, and now I think it's time to explain it.
When Jett Reno explained her new "crew retrieval" technology, she described a limitation. She and Q can only track crew who are available in the time portal. And during the honor festival, the crew we can gather are only those available in the portal. Finally, in order to make the most of the crew strengthening technology, we will need to gather more crew. That is made easier when wider reinforcements are available in the portal. I think Starfleet is aware of this. I've seen reports filed to this effect. Hopefully those reports were received and given their due attention.
I think (and hope) that reinforcements should be made available in the portal in about a month. In the meantime, I think I look forward to finding Neelix and getting to the bottom of this plot. Then I am hoping to have an opportunity to obtain crew who we recently encountered who may have eluded me at the time. We will be running some supply missions for holographic beings next week. I am not particularly looking forward to that, so hopefully another distraction presents itself at that time.
I wouldn't expect an update until at least the July 4th timeframe (give or take a week before or after). That would make sense, as it will be right after the player's month Mega. It would also make sense to do it at the mid-way point of the year and again somewhere in the end-of-Nov-to-Dec timeframe, ie: end of year.
However, as I think everyone knows now, "makes sense" and "regular Portal updates" have never gone together. So, unfortunately, the correct answer is: it will happen when it happens.
It's been 156 days since our last reinforcements. This is normal, but I'm hoping to hear from Starfleet soon all the same. In the meantime, maybe I can buy some information. And if information can be bought, then it can be found on Ferenginar. I'm going to head that way. Maybe I can work to unite the competing Ferengi factions. And if the Kazon are still allowing themselves to be mercenaries for both sides, maybe I can find a better, more appropriate place for them. This might be too much to take on, but I think it's worth investigation while I'm in the area.
I tried to go use my quantum and ISM this weekend, but almost none of the crew I want to add a star to are available for retrieval, and for the (very few) who are, I don't have the right polestars to guarantee them (as I'm perpetually struggling for free crew slots, I don't want another 1/4 or 1/5 crew). So, yes an update is much needed.
We're at day 169. Another two weeks wouldn't be unexpected. Hopefully within the next month at most.
That would be great. I think there are only about 20 purples in the portal that I need stars on. Caveman Riker was my last holdout to have them all at 1* minimum.
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
I arrived at Ferenginar in time for a dabo celebration. A fleetmate had tremendous success at the wheel today. I've yet to try more than a single spin. My attentions were elsewhere. I found a Ferengi who was able to add to my crew quarters. The price was a little steep, but still less than I might pay elsewhere. My trip has been pretty productive.
I'm still awaiting those reinforcements though. It's been 183 days. We're in that normal window. When I leave Ferenginar, I'll be looking for crew who eluded me previously. Maybe around that time or shortly after, I'll hear from Starfleet about those reinforcements.
Disclaimer - Spreadsheets and I don't get along. Also credit to Ahsog for collecting this data in the first place
This should plot the trend line of number of days between portal update.
Chart 1 - That dip is an aberration as DB made numerous mistakes in the 12/2018 portal update, that resulted in them pushing a hotfix a few weeks later, in January. I don't count this as a portal update but wanted to accurately show that there WAS one done.
Chart 2 - If they were to do a portal update today, you can see, obviously there has been a huge spike in time between updates. this will only increase
Disclaimer #2 - Small updates such as adding EV Suit Tuvok and El Adrel Picard to the time portal do not count as a full "portal update"
As any level headed person should realize, there are extenuating circumstances at play here, such as the pandemic and shifting priorities coming down from TP, down to the WRG studio. But here's to hoping they do one soon. I can't imagine it's hard to push character ID's into their database entry/json file for time portal characters, but I also said a fleet leaderboard should have taken 4 hours to program + some UI work, and that never happened. It took the community about that long to program one.
Just realized how wrong I was. Seems like WRG is working toward a new normal. The old normal was closer to 4 months. They've been doing 6+ lately. That's a little disheartening.
We also need the ships added to the portal , there are 12 ships not in the portal so I'm guessing it has been over a year since they have been updated .
We also need the ships added to the portal , there are 12 ships not in the portal so I'm guessing it has been over a year since they have been updated .
Yes, adding all the new ships to the dabo wheel and voyage loot table is long overdue!
We also need the ships added to the portal , there are 12 ships not in the portal so I'm guessing it has been over a year since they have been updated .
Yes, adding all the new ships to the dabo wheel and voyage loot table is long overdue!
I'd rather they remove all ships from the Voyage loot table. But dabo is sorely in need of a refresh.
We also need the ships added to the portal , there are 12 ships not in the portal so I'm guessing it has been over a year since they have been updated .
Yes, adding all the new ships to the dabo wheel and voyage loot table is long overdue!
I'd rather they remove all ships from the Voyage loot table. But dabo is sorely in need of a refresh.
Agreed. Removing them is my preference. If they don't remove them, then at least add the new ships so there is some small chance of not getting something useless.
I think Dabo schematics are geared to getting a new Captain a 5* ship. Not designed for experienced players.
To a lesser extent, I could make the same argument about the ships selected for Arena rewards. That’s one of the main reasons I don’t compete there anymore. It’s just another 1 of the 11 daily missions for me now. YMMV
"In the short run, the game defines the players. But in the long run, it's us players who define the game." — Nicky Case, The Evolution of Trust
I think Dabo schematics are geared to getting a new Captain a 5* ship. Not designed for experienced players.
To a lesser extent, I could make the same argument about the ships selected for Arena rewards. That’s one of the main reasons I don’t compete there anymore. It’s just another 1 of the 11 daily missions for me now. YMMV
Same here. I still use it to knock out 10/20 ship battles each day, but I have the wrong 4* crew for Captain (I froze the default favorites long ago before I realized they had value, and I stubbornly refuse to unfreeze them just for arena use), Commander is just pure RNG, and Admiral is fine but offers no value to me at this point. I occasionally string together enough Admiral victories to get into the top 10 (or even 1st), but it’s nothing I strive for anymore.
We also need the ships added to the portal , there are 12 ships not in the portal so I'm guessing it has been over a year since they have been updated .
Yes, adding all the new ships to the dabo wheel and voyage loot table is long overdue!
I'd rather they remove all ships from the Voyage loot table. But dabo is sorely in need of a refresh.
The only good thing about the voyage rewards of schematics is that you can avoid it if you choose well. It is a known thing. (Not to beat a dead horse, but this is unlike the rations which cannot be avoided and still keep dropping for me. A note to whoever reads this from the company: the rations issue is the annoying straw that has closed my wallet.)
This is one business decision that has never made sense to me. WHY do we have to wait 6+ months for crew to be added to the Portal? I don't see what's gained by keeping the cards out of rotation for so long after they're initially released. Once the event packs go off sale, put the crew in the pool.
This is one business decision that has never made sense to me. WHY do we have to wait 6+ months for crew to be added to the Portal? I don't see what's gained by keeping the cards out of rotation for so long after they're initially released. Once the event packs go off sale, put the crew in the pool.
If you knew crew were going to be in the normal pack as soon as the special pack disappeared you might not buy the pack because you can get the card right afterwards. If you know you will have to wait 6+ months before a crew will appear in packs you will be more likely to continue chasing in a normal pack.
Especially now that Crew Retrieval is tied to a pack availability. Why would someone chase a new 5* in an event or Tue pack if 19 days later they can be retrieved via crew retrieval?
This is one business decision that has never made sense to me. WHY do we have to wait 6+ months for crew to be added to the Portal? I don't see what's gained by keeping the cards out of rotation for so long after they're initially released. Once the event packs go off sale, put the crew in the pool.
If you knew crew were going to be in the normal pack as soon as the special pack disappeared you might not buy the pack because you can get the card right afterwards. If you know you will have to wait 6+ months before a crew will appear in packs you will be more likely to continue chasing in a normal pack.
Especially now that Crew Retrieval is tied to a pack availability. Why would someone chase a new 5* in an event or Tue pack if 19 days later they can be retrieved via crew retrieval?
The chances of getting the event crew out of normal pack are drastically lower than from the event pack. I wouldn't think people who really wanted the new crew would go that route.
I had forgotten about crew retrieval, though. Mainly because I stopped using it due to the expense and the fact that I only ever get Human/Federation/Starfleet polestars.
The new additions to the portal are usually the contents of the previous Elusive Treasures pack.
This was the previous pack, so this is more or less the pool added in the next portal update. Add in a couple ships and a 3* or two to bring it up to the same time frame.
Elusive Treasures Limited Crew List
5*
1701 O'Brien
A.G. Robinson
Activated Dahj
Age of Sail Picard
Alicia Travers
Ambassador V'Lar
Archer and Porthos
Awaiting Amanda Grayson
Breen Disguise Kira
Captain Erika Hernandez
Captain Solok
Carlos Data
D'Nesh
Determined Paris
Doctor Van Gogh
Dr. Edward La Forge
Dr. Roger Korby
Emory Erickson
EV Suit Spock
EV Suit T'Pol
Facer Rios
Fisticuffs Sisko
Homesteader Janeway
Humanoid Figure
Jhamel
Kamin Picard
Kay Eaton
Kelis
Krenim Guest Chakotay
Leila Kalomi
Linnis Paris
Maquis Takeover Seska
Marine Q
Mok'bara Crusher
Mother L'Rell
Nepenthe Troi
Nona
Prisoner Kim
Suspiria
T'Pring
Technician Fisher
U.S.S. Zheng He Riker
Young Anya
4*
Altan Inigo Soong
B.G. Robinson
Boreth Pike
Brigitte Torres
Camp Nurse Janeway
Cyrano de Barclay
Dignitary Sarek
Edward Larkin
Em/3/Green
EV Suit McCoy
EV Suit Phlox
EV Suit Pike
Fair Haven Harry Kim
Flustered Jett Reno
Grandmother Kes
Grebnedlog
Groom Worf
Karyn Archer
Kestra Troi-Riker
Kivas Fajo
Lieutenant Georgiou
Lt. JG Martinez
Maquis Takeover Paris
Mirror Chekov
Ransom Shran
Reclamation Narissa
Tanis
Traveler Wesley
Vashti Picard
Zarabeth
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
I had forgotten about crew retrieval, though. Mainly because I stopped using it due to the expense and the fact that I only ever get Human/Federation/Starfleet polestars.
Wow, strange.
This is one of my main income of legendaries.
Got 118 polestars
61 different ones
15 human
7 federation
3 starfleet
only 21% of my total
I can choose between 277 different legendaries
I have 14m in credits
Are we playing the same game?
I had forgotten about crew retrieval, though. Mainly because I stopped using it due to the expense and the fact that I only ever get Human/Federation/Starfleet polestars.
Wow, strange.
This is one of my main income of legendaries.
Got 118 polestars
61 different ones
15 human
7 federation
3 starfleet
only 21% of my total
I can choose between 277 different legendaries
I have 14m in credits
Are we playing the same game?
The retrieval is a bit of a pain because it is kinda time consuming, but it is a good source of golds. And I have not had a big problem with dupe pols. I just don’t open all my cons. I currently have approx 40 unopened cons in my inventory. I only open the cons that have a decent chance of giving me a pol I dont have already. And by not opening less useful cons, I have more ism to spend on scans.
And just because I don’t open a con right away doesn’t mean I can’t open it later as my pol inventory shifts.
I had forgotten about crew retrieval, though. Mainly because I stopped using it due to the expense and the fact that I only ever get Human/Federation/Starfleet polestars.
Wow, strange.
This is one of my main income of legendaries.
Got 118 polestars
61 different ones
15 human
7 federation
3 starfleet
only 21% of my total
I can choose between 277 different legendaries
I have 14m in credits
Are we playing the same game?
The retrieval is a bit of a pain because it is kinda time consuming, but it is a good source of golds. And I have not had a big problem with dupe pols. I just don’t open all my cons. I currently have approx 40 unopened cons in my inventory. I only open the cons that have a decent chance of giving me a pol I dont have already. And by not opening less useful cons, I have more ism to spend on scans.
And just because I don’t open a con right away doesn’t mean I can’t open it later as my pol inventory shifts.
I earn enough ISM from my fleet and event rewards that I can open every constellation I get. I currently have 59 polestars. I've been able to get a 5* I wanted(either a new card or adding a star to an existing card I want to fuse) every 19 days and I have multiple good options lined up for my next couple pulls.
Comments
It's been nearly 5 months since our last reinforcements. It's been a real roller coaster since then. We hit some serious lows shortly after receiving reinforcements. The holidays weren't great. Some of the missions were not very rewarding. Then about 3 months ago, things took a turn for the better. Q showed up. That's not always a good thing, of course. But Jetta Reno was able to work with him somehow. In what could have been the snarkiest project in Starfleet history, we were able to use new resources to retrieve our own reinforcements. It was very promising technology, but the implementation was rocky and caused a huge stir. I'll circle back to this "crew retrieval" later and attempt to keep this log chronological, then explain a pattern at the end.
Shortly after this, Starfleet announced that they would start providing greater rewards for the missions that we seem to run on a weekly basis. We will be able to gather more resources to retrieve crew and the more successful among us will be able to gather more crew for our efforts. This has been a long requested and now very welcome change.
We heard reports that Travis Mayweather could be joining our mission, but many other captains reported similar experiences to my own - no sightings of Mayweather. Oddly though, in my hunt for a personal "white whale" two literal whales showed up and as unbelievable as this may sound, they joined my crew. Just another low, followed by a high that has characterized these past months, though at a generally smaller scale.
Then, the mother of all highs. An event that must stem from our alliance with the Klingons - a week-long festival in which the honor we have gained in our travels helps us gather new crew to our cause. I was able to fill a few gaps and strengthen the effectiveness of my crew. Many other captains reported similar experiences. The festival was very welcome, but is affected by that pattern I mentioned earlier.
Then we were contacted by Ambassador Neelix's mate, Dexa. It appeared that a conspiracy was afoot to alter the minds of our allies who had at different points dawned untraditional garb or otherwise changed their appearances. The missions to recover said crew have been particularly rewarding.
In the course of this series of missions, Starfleet introduced technology to incrementally strengthen our crew as we are able to gather more crew. This technology existed previously, but has recently been expanded more quickly than any time since its introduction. This was the latest in our recent series of highs. The pattern I keep mentioning can be seen here too, and now I think it's time to explain it.
When Jett Reno explained her new "crew retrieval" technology, she described a limitation. She and Q can only track crew who are available in the time portal. And during the honor festival, the crew we can gather are only those available in the portal. Finally, in order to make the most of the crew strengthening technology, we will need to gather more crew. That is made easier when wider reinforcements are available in the portal. I think Starfleet is aware of this. I've seen reports filed to this effect. Hopefully those reports were received and given their due attention.
I think (and hope) that reinforcements should be made available in the portal in about a month. In the meantime, I think I look forward to finding Neelix and getting to the bottom of this plot. Then I am hoping to have an opportunity to obtain crew who we recently encountered who may have eluded me at the time. We will be running some supply missions for holographic beings next week. I am not particularly looking forward to that, so hopefully another distraction presents itself at that time.
However, as I think everyone knows now, "makes sense" and "regular Portal updates" have never gone together. So, unfortunately, the correct answer is: it will happen when it happens.
It's been 156 days since our last reinforcements. This is normal, but I'm hoping to hear from Starfleet soon all the same. In the meantime, maybe I can buy some information. And if information can be bought, then it can be found on Ferenginar. I'm going to head that way. Maybe I can work to unite the competing Ferengi factions. And if the Kazon are still allowing themselves to be mercenaries for both sides, maybe I can find a better, more appropriate place for them. This might be too much to take on, but I think it's worth investigation while I'm in the area.
Public profile
Captain Zombie's Combo chain calculator
We're at day 169. Another two weeks wouldn't be unexpected. Hopefully within the next month at most.
That would be great. I think there are only about 20 purples in the portal that I need stars on. Caveman Riker was my last holdout to have them all at 1* minimum.
I arrived at Ferenginar in time for a dabo celebration. A fleetmate had tremendous success at the wheel today. I've yet to try more than a single spin. My attentions were elsewhere. I found a Ferengi who was able to add to my crew quarters. The price was a little steep, but still less than I might pay elsewhere. My trip has been pretty productive.
I'm still awaiting those reinforcements though. It's been 183 days. We're in that normal window. When I leave Ferenginar, I'll be looking for crew who eluded me previously. Maybe around that time or shortly after, I'll hear from Starfleet about those reinforcements.
Just realized how wrong I was. Seems like WRG is working toward a new normal. The old normal was closer to 4 months. They've been doing 6+ lately. That's a little disheartening.
Yes, adding all the new ships to the dabo wheel and voyage loot table is long overdue!
I'd rather they remove all ships from the Voyage loot table. But dabo is sorely in need of a refresh.
Agreed. Removing them is my preference. If they don't remove them, then at least add the new ships so there is some small chance of not getting something useless.
To a lesser extent, I could make the same argument about the ships selected for Arena rewards. That’s one of the main reasons I don’t compete there anymore. It’s just another 1 of the 11 daily missions for me now. YMMV
Same here. I still use it to knock out 10/20 ship battles each day, but I have the wrong 4* crew for Captain (I froze the default favorites long ago before I realized they had value, and I stubbornly refuse to unfreeze them just for arena use), Commander is just pure RNG, and Admiral is fine but offers no value to me at this point. I occasionally string together enough Admiral victories to get into the top 10 (or even 1st), but it’s nothing I strive for anymore.
The only good thing about the voyage rewards of schematics is that you can avoid it if you choose well. It is a known thing. (Not to beat a dead horse, but this is unlike the rations which cannot be avoided and still keep dropping for me. A note to whoever reads this from the company: the rations issue is the annoying straw that has closed my wallet.)
If you knew crew were going to be in the normal pack as soon as the special pack disappeared you might not buy the pack because you can get the card right afterwards. If you know you will have to wait 6+ months before a crew will appear in packs you will be more likely to continue chasing in a normal pack.
Especially now that Crew Retrieval is tied to a pack availability. Why would someone chase a new 5* in an event or Tue pack if 19 days later they can be retrieved via crew retrieval?
The chances of getting the event crew out of normal pack are drastically lower than from the event pack. I wouldn't think people who really wanted the new crew would go that route.
I had forgotten about crew retrieval, though. Mainly because I stopped using it due to the expense and the fact that I only ever get Human/Federation/Starfleet polestars.
This was the previous pack, so this is more or less the pool added in the next portal update. Add in a couple ships and a 3* or two to bring it up to the same time frame.
Elusive Treasures Limited Crew List
5*
1701 O'Brien
A.G. Robinson
Activated Dahj
Age of Sail Picard
Alicia Travers
Ambassador V'Lar
Archer and Porthos
Awaiting Amanda Grayson
Breen Disguise Kira
Captain Erika Hernandez
Captain Solok
Carlos Data
D'Nesh
Determined Paris
Doctor Van Gogh
Dr. Edward La Forge
Dr. Roger Korby
Emory Erickson
EV Suit Spock
EV Suit T'Pol
Facer Rios
Fisticuffs Sisko
Homesteader Janeway
Humanoid Figure
Jhamel
Kamin Picard
Kay Eaton
Kelis
Krenim Guest Chakotay
Leila Kalomi
Linnis Paris
Maquis Takeover Seska
Marine Q
Mok'bara Crusher
Mother L'Rell
Nepenthe Troi
Nona
Prisoner Kim
Suspiria
T'Pring
Technician Fisher
U.S.S. Zheng He Riker
Young Anya
4*
Altan Inigo Soong
B.G. Robinson
Boreth Pike
Brigitte Torres
Camp Nurse Janeway
Cyrano de Barclay
Dignitary Sarek
Edward Larkin
Em/3/Green
EV Suit McCoy
EV Suit Phlox
EV Suit Pike
Fair Haven Harry Kim
Flustered Jett Reno
Grandmother Kes
Grebnedlog
Groom Worf
Karyn Archer
Kestra Troi-Riker
Kivas Fajo
Lieutenant Georgiou
Lt. JG Martinez
Maquis Takeover Paris
Mirror Chekov
Ransom Shran
Reclamation Narissa
Tanis
Traveler Wesley
Vashti Picard
Zarabeth
Wow, strange.
This is one of my main income of legendaries.
Got 118 polestars
61 different ones
15 human
7 federation
3 starfleet
only 21% of my total
I can choose between 277 different legendaries
I have 14m in credits
Are we playing the same game?
The retrieval is a bit of a pain because it is kinda time consuming, but it is a good source of golds. And I have not had a big problem with dupe pols. I just don’t open all my cons. I currently have approx 40 unopened cons in my inventory. I only open the cons that have a decent chance of giving me a pol I dont have already. And by not opening less useful cons, I have more ism to spend on scans.
And just because I don’t open a con right away doesn’t mean I can’t open it later as my pol inventory shifts.
I earn enough ISM from my fleet and event rewards that I can open every constellation I get. I currently have 59 polestars. I've been able to get a 5* I wanted(either a new card or adding a star to an existing card I want to fuse) every 19 days and I have multiple good options lined up for my next couple pulls.