Thanks, guys, for the discussion, the feedback, and the suggestions!
Well, I don't think I was (overly) complaining and whining (except for the Subject line, but that was on purpose to get your attention ;-) ), and I was not suggesting RNGsus or bad programming had anything to do with it.
It was more of a "I thought I did everything I could, but I am making no progress, do you have any suggestions?" type of thing.
Recapitulating, I guess in total my shuttles were idle about 12-15h, which is probably too much, and I should have taken more care of that.
Selecting the missions you run wisely is a good point. There were some missions I simply skipped, but I didn't filter out enough of the bad ones enough I guess.
Also, the fact that it's a rerun might have quite an influence on the difficulty, due to many people having powerful bonus crew already.
Keeping a few 4000's around in case you drop down a level seems like good tactics, too.
What many of these accounts (plus conversations with members of my own fleet) tell me, is that there is a whole lot of randomness going on (as always, it seems). I am using better crew than several of the examples above, and am choosing my missions judiciously, but after being around 200 the first day, I dropped below 1000 by the next day, and have only barely cracked my way back in for one brief period of time since. My projected success percentages are mostly 80% or greater, but it's rare that I get more than 2 out of 4 shuttles come back successfully.
Sometimes a person runs into streaks of bad luck, even extended ones. Anybody who's ever played poker or a game that employed rolls of the dice knows this all too well.
My end goal is basically just to stay in the top 2000 so I can FF Burnham. But it may mean waking up every three hours overnight, rather than doing a 9-hour double-up boost.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing. ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
Well, obviously it's not - 1000 people will make it...
BUT it's impossible for "regular players", meaning non-VIP14 players who don't dump a gazillion DIL into early shuttle return.
* I have BOTH full-bonus 5* crew at L.100 (at 1/5 and 3/5), I have one full-bonus 4*'s FF, and 4 normal-bonus 4*'s FF
* I started off with the get-to-4000VP-immediatey scheme, and thus am at 3500/4000 VP since the beginning of the event
* I didn't waste too much time by keeping the time without active missions small
* I am a squad leader, so am receiving a certain VP bonus percentage
* I almost exclusively invested the legendary shuttle bonuses I collected over time, so 3 of 4 shuttles are almost always >80%, often >90%.
* AND I was relatively lucky with my return, getting sometimes 12000 or 16000 VP in one regular 3h run.
...and still...it's impossible for me to reach Top 1000 for another star for my 5*. heck, I won't even make 1500 for the 4/4 of the one bonus crew that's missing, as it seems, as I'm currently keeping level at around 1800-2200. :-(
Is there something I'm missing? I was hoping by collecting powerful shuttle boosts over months (since all other events weren't worth it for me, since I either had the rank 4* already FF, or did not have the 5*) to make a difference - but they only seem to be a "drop on a hot plate".
I AM high VIP-level, but I'm not VIP 14, and the one thing I will not do is pay for 1000's of DIL to get an early shuttle return. Is the only way to reach the Top 1000 exactly this, or what is the problem? :-/
I have the exact same issue most faction events as well, so you’re not alone. Well, not exact same, in that I usually have 80 to 90 percent shuttles and mysteriously a bunch of them will fail throughout the event, but the same basic gist. Without spending money on speed-ups it often seems impossible to catch up to the 1000 mark. I usually languish in the 2 or 3 thousands without spending anything or too much effort either though, so at least there’s that.
You have to set alarms and wake up in the middle of the night. Anyone who does that and gets 70% passes will get top 1000. That's just the way it is.
Lol, I usually go with doubling my mission rewards and therefore their time, when I know I have to sleep, work, etc. and that’s worked well for me thus far. So it is known, I am NOT affirming that this is impossible, as I have, in fact, reached under 1000 before, but I am saying that if you don’t spend dilithium and/or money on speeding things up, it’s not likely that you’ll place under 1000. Timing, luck, effort, and money are probably the main contributors to scoring well in a faction event, but that’s just my opinion, not a fact.
Weirdly enough, I’m also Vulcan Housewife. Also, RNGesus hates me, like really, REALLY hates me.
I am saying that if you don’t spend dilithium and/or money on speeding things up, it’s not likely that you’ll place under 1000.
I'm currently sitting at 129. I've used zero dilithium and 10 boosts on speedups. That's normal for me. My rank is about normal too, despite not having great bonus crew this time around.
I use the fast track to 4k missions, then skill boosts - mostly 3* with the odd 4* or 5* as I deem necessary. This puts me comfortably in the top 1000 every faction event, spending 150 dilithium each week on an extra set of Thursday cadet tickets.
@Crunch
I do not use any dil. I am in top 1000 easily. You should be there. I do not run 9 hr boosts at night. I always rare stat boost first three days. I also make sure I run same shuttle missions that give me best success percent. I have two under 80%.
I on last day will use some better boosts.
On the over night, I will always wake up, not alarmed, so I can always do a little better than 9 hr shuttles. All my event crew are FE. In my main account we have almost the same legendary crew except yours has one more level fused. I have a few more event crew to use.
But you should be getting 7 shuttle runs on sat and Sun. You should be in top 300.
If you can keep up your pace, you will make top 1000.
I also think Rura Penthe Reed is a better fit for squadron. However, I am assuming Delta Flyer Paris is th 3/5. (Looks like Rain, is the only fit for Paris I came across. You want two skills and CMD must be one of them for Paris and you also want other event crew involved does not really work with Paris)
Edit: I only spend Dil on DABO, voyages , and cadet missions ( yesterday spent 500 on cadet)
Definitely need to prioritize which missions to send. I'm ViP 12, mostly monthly card, with some extra purchases here and there. I would say I actually have slightly worse crew then you, I started about 6 hours late (did boost to 4k as well) and I'm holding at 500ish. I also don't wake up every 3 hours, just keep on the shuttles all day, and usually only send 3 hour ones at bed as I find the 9 hours fail to easy without the extra boost.
I never run 5 crew missions for starters. I've been running Klingon shuttles, two are 3 crew, and 2 4 crew. Always the same 4 missions though.
I'd just chime in to say that yes, the kickstart + some cherry picking is the way to go. In addition to that, while going for factions that you need items from is not exactly the best way to go if they sport missions you are not exactly well prepared for (example, the Feds on this event don't fit me at all - too many 5-6 crew missions and too much diplomacy requirements for my taste). It has to be noted that I have been relatively unlucky in this event (still keeping an average 3/4 success ratio I think even through all the 2/2's and 1/3 fails), and I am looking at a stable placement in the top 300.
As far as event crew goes, I have a 1/5 Undercover Kira, 2/5 Commander Kira, Immortalized Cardassian and Anastasia Kira, along with Immortalited Rura Reed (squad leader shares a second one), Combat Medic and captain Proton Paris. That has been more than enough for me to keep the success ratio between 75 and 85% on 3 Hour missions with some 3* boosters. As the OP can see, it is even somewhat worse than his crew.
I'm VIP0. Level 64. Not a squad leader. Currently ranked 400. It is very possible to rank high without spending a single dollar in this game. Get 4 shuttles and collect main characters from events.
Well, obviously it's not - 1000 people will make it...
BUT it's impossible for "regular players", meaning non-VIP14 players who don't dump a gazillion DIL into early shuttle return.
Please note that the displayed percentages are nothing but a scam. The system is rigged, as a "regular player" you are worthless to DB and thus the system is actively working against you having success.
Please note my recent post in "Engineering" which deals with percentages of shuttle missions.
You have to set alarms and wake up in the middle of the night. Anyone who does that and gets 70% passes will get top 1000. That's just the way it is.
This is not true, I do that and am most of the time way beyond 70% and can only dream of reaching the top 1000. I am a non-payer. People like me am not supposed to reach the top 1000, and thus we don't.
I am VIP O, Not a squad leader but play with one of the best fleets out there. VIP O Heroes
currently level 60 4 shuttles— and hovering around 210th.. Currently 13 of our 50 are top 1k..
<watches several people chime in and say they have VIP 0 people in their fleet getting top 1000 easily>
Knight Rider, you know me too well. Lol. 13/50 VIP 0s in my fleet are currently top 1000.
The VIP 0 Heroes and VIP 0 Champions are looking for like-minded fellow VIP 0 players to join our family of fleets. Please contact me here or on Discord.
This is not true, I do that and am most of the time way beyond 70% and can only dream of reaching the top 1000. I am a non-payer. People like me am not supposed to reach the top 1000, and thus we don't.
I wake up in the middle of the night, have less than a 70% average and I am in the top 1000.
You're not in the top 1000 because your crew is not good enough to put you there or your shuttles are more idle than you're admitting to.
Not true, not true at all. My alt account(Zombie Quokka) is non spending(not buying boosts, tickets, packs, speeding up shuttles with dilithium) and i easily finish Top 1000 every faction event. Currently Top 100. But what i do is running shuttles every 3h with no break and using time boosts i earned with weekly tickets on best shuttle. Thats it. Just more effort and some strategy(f.e. like leaving all missions open and doing the best same 4 missions over and over with the same crew)
Nothing is for free. Complaining is easy though.
I am VIP O, Not a squad leader but play with one of the best fleets out there. VIP O Heroes
currently level 60 4 shuttles— and hovering around 210th.. Currently 13 of our 50 are top 1k..
And all of us are VIP 0 —
You can do it, just need to be dedicated
As I said, this is BS...I am dedicated and my displayed success chances are way higher than what comes out. I lose almost no time during shuttle events. And if you are VIP 0 you have no chance of getting any reasonable amount of shuttle boosts and without them it's impossible as well...maybe you can save up some if you are skipping an event or two, but you sure as hell cannot have enough to go all in for all faction events.
And man, getting those four shuttles without ever buying any dilithium...good job, Pinocchio!
I am VIP O, Not a squad leader but play with one of the best fleets out there. VIP O Heroes
currently level 60 4 shuttles— and hovering around 210th.. Currently 13 of our 50 are top 1k..
And all of us are VIP 0 —
You can do it, just need to be dedicated
As I said, this is ****...I am dedicated and my displayed success chances are way higher than what comes out. I lose almost no time during shuttle events. And if you are VIP 0 you have no chance of getting any reasonable amount of shuttle boosts and without them it's impossible as well...maybe you can save up some if you are skipping an event or two, but you sure as hell cannot have enough to go all in for all faction events.
And man, getting those four shuttles without ever buying any dilithium...good job, Pinocchio!
Not sure if serious...
You do realize you can get dil to buy shuttles after immortalizing characters, right?
You do ALSO realize that 10x premium shuttle boosts are free from Thursday cadet challenges?
@Emperor Ellis Is in my fleet which is composed of 50 other VIP0 captains. Our fleet is currently ranked 10th in the game and there are (as others have said) 13 of us in the top 1000.
As I said, this is ****...I am dedicated and my displayed success chances are way higher than what comes out. I lose almost no time during shuttle events.
Why don't you list the number of shuttles you're using and your event crew and we'll tell you where you should be.
Well, obviously it's not - 1000 people will make it...
BUT it's impossible for "regular players", meaning non-VIP14 players who don't dump a gazillion DIL into early shuttle return.
* I have BOTH full-bonus 5* crew at L.100 (at 1/5 and 3/5), I have one full-bonus 4*'s FF, and 4 normal-bonus 4*'s FF
* I started off with the get-to-4000VP-immediatey scheme, and thus am at 3500/4000 VP since the beginning of the event
* I didn't waste too much time by keeping the time without active missions small
* I am a squad leader, so am receiving a certain VP bonus percentage
* I almost exclusively invested the legendary shuttle bonuses I collected over time, so 3 of 4 shuttles are almost always >80%, often >90%.
* AND I was relatively lucky with my return, getting sometimes 12000 or 16000 VP in one regular 3h run.
...and still...it's impossible for me to reach Top 1000 for another star for my 5*. heck, I won't even make 1500 for the 4/4 of the one bonus crew that's missing, as it seems, as I'm currently keeping level at around 1800-2200. :-(
Is there something I'm missing? I was hoping by collecting powerful shuttle boosts over months (since all other events weren't worth it for me, since I either had the rank 4* already FF, or did not have the 5*) to make a difference - but they only seem to be a "drop on a hot plate".
I AM high VIP-level, but I'm not VIP 14, and the one thing I will not do is pay for 1000's of DIL to get an early shuttle return. Is the only way to reach the Top 1000 exactly this, or what is the problem? :-/
I have the exact same issue most faction events as well, so you’re not alone. Well, not exact same, in that I usually have 80 to 90 percent shuttles and mysteriously a bunch of them will fail throughout the event, but the same basic gist. Without spending money on speed-ups it often seems impossible to catch up to the 1000 mark. I usually languish in the 2 or 3 thousands without spending anything or too much effort either though, so at least there’s that.
You have to set alarms and wake up in the middle of the night. Anyone who does that and gets 70% passes will get top 1000. That's just the way it is.
Lol, I usually go with doubling my mission rewards and therefore their time, when I know I have to sleep, work, etc. and that’s worked well for me thus far. So it is known, I am NOT affirming that this is impossible, as I have, in fact, reached under 1000 before, but I am saying that if you don’t spend dilithium and/or money on speeding things up, it’s not likely that you’ll place under 1000. Timing, luck, effort, and money are probably the main contributors to scoring well in a faction event, but that’s just my opinion, not a fact.
Effort, in my opinion, is the number one factor in faction event success. You certainly don't need an elite crew or any money to get top 1000. I don't even have an event 5* on my roster.
I am VIP O, Not a squad leader but play with one of the best fleets out there. VIP O Heroes
currently level 60 4 shuttles— and hovering around 210th.. Currently 13 of our 50 are top 1k..
And all of us are VIP 0 —
You can do it, just need to be dedicated
As I said, this is ****...I am dedicated and my displayed success chances are way higher than what comes out. I lose almost no time during shuttle events. And if you are VIP 0 you have no chance of getting any reasonable amount of shuttle boosts and without them it's impossible as well...maybe you can save up some if you are skipping an event or two, but you sure as hell cannot have enough to go all in for all faction events.
And man, getting those four shuttles without ever buying any dilithium...good job, Pinocchio!
Not sure if serious...
You do realize you can get dil to buy shuttles after immortalizing characters, right?
You do ALSO realize that 10x premium shuttle boosts are free from Thursday cadet challenges?
@Emperor Ellis Is in my fleet which is composed of 50 other VIP0 captains. Our fleet is currently ranked 10th in the game and there are (as others have said) 13 of us in the top 1000.
I'm betting they do the Thurday challenges on Epic and lose out on the number of good boost pulls and don't realize the 3 of the premium isn't as good a deal.
I wake up in the middle of the night, have less than a 70% average and I am in the top 1000.
You're not in the top 1000 because your crew is not good enough to put you there or your shuttles are more idle than you're admitting to.
Well if my average is above 70% and yours is below 70%, then my crew, apparently, is better than yours. Idle time for me is about the time it takes me to open a new transmission, so as close to zero as possible...if I miss out more than one shuttle (i.e. lose 3 hours) that would be a lot (at least in the past 3 faction events that was the case).
My numbers are published, btw. Check out my recent post in Engineering.
You do realize you can get dil to buy shuttles after immortalizing characters, right?
You do ALSO realize that 10x premium shuttle boosts are free from Thursday cadet challenges?
@Emperor Ellis Is in my fleet which is composed of 50 other VIP0 captains. Our fleet is currently ranked 10th in the game and there are (as others have said) 13 of us in the top 1000.
I know, do you? You need what?? 250 immortalized to get the necessary dilithium for shuttle 3 and 4...and yes, you get 6x 10 = 60 per week. This is not nearly enough to do the shuttle events. 20 of those 60 are worthless double reward which only slows you down and thus they rot in your inventory. In addition you need significantly more DIP/SEC/CMD boosts than SCI/MED/ENG to get the best out of almost every event, so of the other 40 per week you get half that give you considerably less in return than the other half.
I use boosts only during events, never for regular shuttle missions. And I am sitting currently on 44 3* ENG, 30 3* MED and 10 3* SCI and NADA of the rest. The SCI help me a little during the current event, the rest are worthless.
So as VIP 0 you can make it to the top 1000, but...you don't do so easily and you sure as hell don't do so every event but only occasionally with very good crew.
The VIP 0 people in this thread (the real ones, not the imposters) are lying when saying that their squads consisting only of VIP 0 are the best in the fleet. I want to point out that I admire every VIP 0 player because they do not throw money after such a greedy bunch as found at DB...but that does not mean you have to be a dick about it...
Yeah Yeah if you sell your soul to waking up and setting alarms every 3 hrs (which is total bill shut), and have been playing for 1yr+ or spent some dil to get caught up then top 1k should be doable sometimes when your crew matches up well. I agree that it is possible without dilithium, I am living proof of that floating around 600 right now. However, it shouldn’t be such a miserable chore to accomplish, and you shouldn’t have to sacrifice a good nights sleep to do it. I think it’s time that percentage tiers were introduced and rewards were reworked. If DB isn’t careful they’ll turn us all into insomniacs and then we will lose our jobs and who will be able to buy dilithium then? Just kidding, since we’re already giving up sleep I’m sure we’ll gladly give up our food and shelter too in order to afford more dilithium.
I also think Rura Penthe Reed is a better fit for squadron. However, I am assuming Delta Flyer Paris is th 3/5.
Actually, it's Disguised Kira, as she was one of the very first 5*'s I got from a premium pack, and I upgraded her since then with a few beholds.
Okay then Disguised Kira should be a good shared crew. If squandron maximized her bonus by using her on The Unrepentant Okana it would help them as well as you.
Comments
Well, I don't think I was (overly) complaining and whining (except for the Subject line, but that was on purpose to get your attention ;-) ), and I was not suggesting RNGsus or bad programming had anything to do with it.
It was more of a "I thought I did everything I could, but I am making no progress, do you have any suggestions?" type of thing.
Recapitulating, I guess in total my shuttles were idle about 12-15h, which is probably too much, and I should have taken more care of that.
Selecting the missions you run wisely is a good point. There were some missions I simply skipped, but I didn't filter out enough of the bad ones enough I guess.
Also, the fact that it's a rerun might have quite an influence on the difficulty, due to many people having powerful bonus crew already.
Keeping a few 4000's around in case you drop down a level seems like good tactics, too.
Sometimes a person runs into streaks of bad luck, even extended ones. Anybody who's ever played poker or a game that employed rolls of the dice knows this all too well.
My end goal is basically just to stay in the top 2000 so I can FF Burnham. But it may mean waking up every three hours overnight, rather than doing a 9-hour double-up boost.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
Lol, I usually go with doubling my mission rewards and therefore their time, when I know I have to sleep, work, etc. and that’s worked well for me thus far. So it is known, I am NOT affirming that this is impossible, as I have, in fact, reached under 1000 before, but I am saying that if you don’t spend dilithium and/or money on speeding things up, it’s not likely that you’ll place under 1000. Timing, luck, effort, and money are probably the main contributors to scoring well in a faction event, but that’s just my opinion, not a fact.
Maybe, but my comments here are pretty tame as far as chastising goes.
I'm currently sitting at 129. I've used zero dilithium and 10 boosts on speedups. That's normal for me. My rank is about normal too, despite not having great bonus crew this time around.
I use the fast track to 4k missions, then skill boosts - mostly 3* with the odd 4* or 5* as I deem necessary. This puts me comfortably in the top 1000 every faction event, spending 150 dilithium each week on an extra set of Thursday cadet tickets.
I do not use any dil. I am in top 1000 easily. You should be there. I do not run 9 hr boosts at night. I always rare stat boost first three days. I also make sure I run same shuttle missions that give me best success percent. I have two under 80%.
I on last day will use some better boosts.
On the over night, I will always wake up, not alarmed, so I can always do a little better than 9 hr shuttles. All my event crew are FE. In my main account we have almost the same legendary crew except yours has one more level fused. I have a few more event crew to use.
But you should be getting 7 shuttle runs on sat and Sun. You should be in top 300.
If you can keep up your pace, you will make top 1000.
I also think Rura Penthe Reed is a better fit for squadron. However, I am assuming Delta Flyer Paris is th 3/5. (Looks like Rain, is the only fit for Paris I came across. You want two skills and CMD must be one of them for Paris and you also want other event crew involved does not really work with Paris)
Edit: I only spend Dil on DABO, voyages , and cadet missions ( yesterday spent 500 on cadet)
The weaker ones are the four crew ones.
I never run 5 crew missions for starters. I've been running Klingon shuttles, two are 3 crew, and 2 4 crew. Always the same 4 missions though.
As far as event crew goes, I have a 1/5 Undercover Kira, 2/5 Commander Kira, Immortalized Cardassian and Anastasia Kira, along with Immortalited Rura Reed (squad leader shares a second one), Combat Medic and captain Proton Paris. That has been more than enough for me to keep the success ratio between 75 and 85% on 3 Hour missions with some 3* boosters. As the OP can see, it is even somewhat worse than his crew.
Please note that the displayed percentages are nothing but a scam. The system is rigged, as a "regular player" you are worthless to DB and thus the system is actively working against you having success.
Please note my recent post in "Engineering" which deals with percentages of shuttle missions.
This is not true, I do that and am most of the time way beyond 70% and can only dream of reaching the top 1000. I am a non-payer. People like me am not supposed to reach the top 1000, and thus we don't.
Sounds like a case of being outplayed.
currently level 60 4 shuttles— and hovering around 210th.. Currently 13 of our 50 are top 1k..
And all of us are VIP 0 —
You can do it, just need to be dedicated
Knight Rider, you know me too well. Lol. 13/50 VIP 0s in my fleet are currently top 1000.
Come join the Star Trek Timelines Discord Community!
Invitation code: https://discord.gg/8Du7ZtJ
I wake up in the middle of the night, have less than a 70% average and I am in the top 1000.
You're not in the top 1000 because your crew is not good enough to put you there or your shuttles are more idle than you're admitting to.
Luck must be on my side for this event. Next weekend it will most likely not be.
Nothing is for free. Complaining is easy though.
As I said, this is BS...I am dedicated and my displayed success chances are way higher than what comes out. I lose almost no time during shuttle events. And if you are VIP 0 you have no chance of getting any reasonable amount of shuttle boosts and without them it's impossible as well...maybe you can save up some if you are skipping an event or two, but you sure as hell cannot have enough to go all in for all faction events.
And man, getting those four shuttles without ever buying any dilithium...good job, Pinocchio!
Not sure if serious...
You do realize you can get dil to buy shuttles after immortalizing characters, right?
You do ALSO realize that 10x premium shuttle boosts are free from Thursday cadet challenges?
@Emperor Ellis Is in my fleet which is composed of 50 other VIP0 captains. Our fleet is currently ranked 10th in the game and there are (as others have said) 13 of us in the top 1000.
Why don't you list the number of shuttles you're using and your event crew and we'll tell you where you should be.
Effort, in my opinion, is the number one factor in faction event success. You certainly don't need an elite crew or any money to get top 1000. I don't even have an event 5* on my roster.
I'm betting they do the Thurday challenges on Epic and lose out on the number of good boost pulls and don't realize the 3 of the premium isn't as good a deal.
Well if my average is above 70% and yours is below 70%, then my crew, apparently, is better than yours. Idle time for me is about the time it takes me to open a new transmission, so as close to zero as possible...if I miss out more than one shuttle (i.e. lose 3 hours) that would be a lot (at least in the past 3 faction events that was the case).
My numbers are published, btw. Check out my recent post in Engineering.
I know, do you? You need what?? 250 immortalized to get the necessary dilithium for shuttle 3 and 4...and yes, you get 6x 10 = 60 per week. This is not nearly enough to do the shuttle events. 20 of those 60 are worthless double reward which only slows you down and thus they rot in your inventory. In addition you need significantly more DIP/SEC/CMD boosts than SCI/MED/ENG to get the best out of almost every event, so of the other 40 per week you get half that give you considerably less in return than the other half.
I use boosts only during events, never for regular shuttle missions. And I am sitting currently on 44 3* ENG, 30 3* MED and 10 3* SCI and NADA of the rest. The SCI help me a little during the current event, the rest are worthless.
So as VIP 0 you can make it to the top 1000, but...you don't do so easily and you sure as hell don't do so every event but only occasionally with very good crew.
The VIP 0 people in this thread (the real ones, not the imposters) are lying when saying that their squads consisting only of VIP 0 are the best in the fleet. I want to point out that I admire every VIP 0 player because they do not throw money after such a greedy bunch as found at DB...but that does not mean you have to be a dick about it...
Okay then Disguised Kira should be a good shared crew. If squandron maximized her bonus by using her on The Unrepentant Okana it would help them as well as you.