Sorry, you are wrong. Only numbers count. Last time I checked I was the one with a masters in mathematics and would be surprised if you brought that kind of competence to the table (if you do, I apologize).
Having a degree in higher mathematics does not keep you from the having the wrong idea. If you don't believe me, go ask Ted Kaczynzki. He's good at math but had a few wrong ideas.
My crew is pretty OK I guess...for the mega event it was very descent, for the current event it was mediocre...ironically, my success rates in the current event was better than during the mega event.
You've still not posted your event crew yet.
The entire purpose of faction events is too string as many 4000VP shuttle successes as possible. I really don't care about my percentages that much. They could be full of **** but I can say the following:
1 - Given a CMD/SEC slot on a shuttle I can do the following:
a: Add Rura Penthe Reed
b: Add Cardassian Kira
c: Add Kortar (4/5 L100 FE)
2 - The percentages increase if I use Reed over Kira over Kortar.
3 - The percentages increase more if I use a shuttle boost.
You can do as much data modeling as you like to find some "proof" of fraud but at the end of the day the only thing that's holding you back most of the time is your crew. If your crew is inadequate then you must spend freely with boosts (or dilithium) to increase the number of shuttle successes. I finished in the top 1000 because I have the crew that will deliver me that finish. I would've done better if I went fishing for easier shuttle missions and/or used boosts.
Arguably the only thing that's unfair here is that I've been playing the game for 18 months and have every event 4* in the game. Newer people who really want a top 1000 finish have to deal with people like me who can get there without really trying.
And I think you really hit something on the head there. There are so many variants of some crew that it older players may have accumulated so many of them. And factions vs galaxy is the depth of your crew not just having one or two stars as far as the variants of event crew.
Next week having every single Jadzia won't help me as much as just having one or two good ones that top the skills, but this week having every single Paris, Kira and Reed (other than Suliban Reed) made it fairly easy.
One small thing I do is open missions before I "complete" the previous ones. That way even if I fail 3/4 (which we all know happens even when it shouldn't), I stay at 4k VP.
I don't think it works that way. Each shuttle you send is adjusted based on the success/failure count when you send it. Don't believe the displayed VP pre-launch. Look at it after it is sent. (And that also reflects whether it succeeded/failed, which happens upon launch. You just won't know for three hours.)
I don't think that is correct.
There was a post a couple weeks ago where someone reported the VP changing on four shuttles sent out at the same displayed level. If success/failure is updated when you launch, it would explain his situation.
There was a post a couple weeks ago where someone reported the VP changing on four shuttles sent out at the same displayed level. If success/failure is updated when you launch, it would explain his situation.
If it was updated when you launch, the 4000 VP quick start wouldn't work. A more likely explanation is that whoever posted that was mistaken.
Event crew
IMM Rura Penthe Reed (I shared him with my squadron as soon as I started the event)
1/5 Mirror Intendant Kira
1/4 Anastasia Komananov
IMM Sniper Reed
IMM Major Kira (only used in one initial ramp-up mission)
IMM Nurse Paris (only used in one initial ramp-up mission)
I had quite a few time reducing boosts that I was able to use the first day. My failure rate was noticeably higher than in the last few faction events. A top 1500 finish is doable for me, but I've only cracked the top 1000 once in any faction event (the replay of "The Second Battle of New York"). I'm reasonably confident that once I get the fourth shuttle, I'll be able to do that.
Vip 13
Shared FFFE Burnham (4*s bought with honour)
FFFE Reed
FFFE Proton Paris
FFFE Combat Med Paris
FE 1/5* Delta Paris
FE 2/5* Disguised Kira
FE 1/5* nice hair kira
FE 2/4* niners kira
FFFE cardassian kira
I had my best score but was Sat on 30+ time boosts
... 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? :-/
This is my observation of others, so take it with a "box" of salt.
I saw some really advanced players go at it. I think they were using speed boosts all the time so they were doing twice the missions as others.
While I agree with previous posts that characters are the main determination for top 1000, there is still a lot of luck involved. This week I ended up at #997, so I just barely managed to get DF Paris, but it was a huge struggle mainly due to bad luck.
I started this event with
FF/FE Captain Proton
3/4 FE Combat Medic Paris
FF/FE Rura Penthe Reed
FF/FE Rura Penthe Reed (shared)
FF/FE Anastasia
FF/FE Cardassian Kira
1/4 LVL 90 Niners Kira
FE 1/5 Mirror Intendant Kira
Decided I had enough crew slots so I decided to keep another 3/4 Reed I got from the event and bought a 650 dil pack hoping to fully fuse him or get Paris, got Burnham. Levelled both enough to be usable by Sunday. I know there are people out there with much better event crews, however, I don't think these were so bad it should have been the struggle it was to get into the top 1000.
I set my alarm once to twice a night to send more missions. I ended up sending a total of 132 shuttles. only 5 were sent with less than a 70% chance. Four of those were at the end of the event with time boosts so they would complete in time. I burned a lot of stat boosts in this event but no dilithium to complete missions.
My issue was that even though my overall shuttle expectation for the 4000 VP missions was 79%, they only succeeded at a 66% rate. I basically lost 32,000 VP from where average luck would have put me. I was about 10 % under for the entire event. I usually look to see how these events are working out, this was my worst faction event for percent under expectation, also the only one where I was able to break 1000 when I was under by more than 2 percent. I'm not saying that I think the system is broken or cheating I've been over expectation in some events, but how well you do in any given event can certainly be influenced by good or bad luck.
I saw some really advanced players go at it. I think they were using speed boosts all the time so they were doing twice the missions as others.
I probably fell into that category. I was sat on loads of time boosts stockpiled from the cadet missions, and I had a good crew.
I was pushing for top 25 for the extra copy of Paris. I almost got there, but in the end people had to have been buying shuttle returns as I went from 8,000 points behind to 40,000 points behind in the last half hour.
I can live with that though, ultimately other people wanted to spend to get him where I wasn't prepared too!
I placed 782 in this event. I'm VIP 0 (same fleet as @koozand @Emperor Ellis above). I used the 4k kickoff and maintained 4k missions through the entire event. I have three shuttles (1 purchased using dilithium awarded by immortalization of crew). I did not set nighttime alarms (besides drinking some water before bed and my child feeling ill), but managed to send 1-3 shuttles in the middle of the night each night. I was a squad leader, so I took in an extra 80-90k from my squad (thanks, guys!).
My event crew (at start):
FFFE Nurse Paris
FFFE Major Kira
level 30 2/4 Combat Medic Paris
FE Delta Flyer Paris (gained from behold in portal pulls or galaxy community reward or something)
FFFE Section 31 Reed (did not use)
My event crew (at finish):
FFFE Rura Penthe Reed (acquired and leveled during event, with citation)
level 20 1/3 Hockey Paris (gained from Voyage but not leveled since he wouldn't have made enough of a difference)
plus the above
My 3 shuttles were running around 80-80-60 throughout the event; I didn't use time bonuses besides the initial push to 4k. I have two weeks to replenish my supply of boosts since next week is a galaxy; I had two weeks to replenish my item supply for that event.
probably about 1100 without squad leader free points
Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, is all ancient history. Then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly, it threatens to start all over again."
While I agree with previous posts that characters are the main determination for top 1000, there is still a lot of luck involved. This week I ended up at #997, so I just barely managed to get DF Paris, but it was a huge struggle mainly due to bad luck.
I started this event with
FF/FE Captain Proton
3/4 FE Combat Medic Paris
FF/FE Rura Penthe Reed
FF/FE Rura Penthe Reed (shared)
FF/FE Anastasia
FF/FE Cardassian Kira
1/4 LVL 90 Niners Kira
FE 1/5 Mirror Intendant Kira
Decided I had enough crew slots so I decided to keep another 3/4 Reed I got from the event and bought a 650 dil pack hoping to fully fuse him or get Paris, got Burnham. Levelled both enough to be usable by Sunday. I know there are people out there with much better event crews, however, I don't think these were so bad it should have been the struggle it was to get into the top 1000.
I set my alarm once to twice a night to send more missions. I ended up sending a total of 132 shuttles. only 5 were sent with less than a 70% chance. Four of those were at the end of the event with time boosts so they would complete in time. I burned a lot of stat boosts in this event but no dilithium to complete missions.
My issue was that even though my overall shuttle expectation for the 4000 VP missions was 79%, they only succeeded at a 66% rate. I basically lost 32,000 VP from where average luck would have put me. I was about 10 % under for the entire event. I usually look to see how these events are working out, this was my worst faction event for percent under expectation, also the only one where I was able to break 1000 when I was under by more than 2 percent. I'm not saying that I think the system is broken or cheating I've been over expectation in some events, but how well you do in any given event can certainly be influenced by good or bad luck.
BTW, I'm VIP 6
What? My fail rate was somewhere between 60-70% my shuttles averaged about 83%. This is about typical for me. Sometimes it’s worse but never a clean even match and certainly never a better success rate than my shuttle ratings. I am shocked to here you say this.
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 played factions without spending anything before, and I have finished in the top 50-100 with my crew. Yes I have spent to get this crew, but it is possible. And there are strategies to gain positions.
I saw some really advanced players go at it. I think they were using speed boosts all the time so they were doing twice the missions as others.
I probably fell into that category. I was sat on loads of time boosts stockpiled from the cadet missions, and I had a good crew.
I was pushing for top 25 for the extra copy of Paris. I almost got there, but in the end people had to have been buying shuttle returns as I went from 8,000 points behind to 40,000 points behind in the last half hour.
I can live with that though, ultimately other people wanted to spend to get him where I wasn't prepared too!
Jim
I finished rank 12th. I too saw a few players who had to be autocompleting shuttles in the final hour. One player racked up about 100k+ VP in 30 mins out of nowhere and shot up the ranks past me.
Pushing for top 15 was worth it for me... for the top 15 achievement reward ( 3 10xpremuim pulls which gave me 2 legendary crew) and the 3/5* Delta Paris which adding to my 2/5* Paris Immortalised him.
I rank consistently in the top 100, largely by saving daily dilithium for extra cadet tickets on Thursdays and saving those boosts up. Also prioritizing selecting main cast crew from Beholds and focusing on leveling them and fusing them in the off chance they are event crew.
I finished rank 12th. I too saw a few players who had to be autocompleting shuttles in the final hour. One player racked up about 100k+ VP in 30 mins out of nowhere and shot up the ranks past me.
Even though it seems obvious, I think it deserves mention that competing for top 1000 and top 25 (or so) are very different.
While in many events it might be impossible to crack the top 25 without dilithium or boost speedups, the same is not true for the top 1000. I think that some people saying they are using lots of speedups and failing to reach the top 1000 might be shooting themselves in the foot by not using skill boosts.
I finished rank 12th. I too saw a few players who had to be autocompleting shuttles in the final hour. One player racked up about 100k+ VP in 30 mins out of nowhere and shot up the ranks past me.
Even though it seems obvious, I think it deserves mention that competing for top 1000 and top 25 (or so) are very different.
While in many events it might be impossible to crack the top 25 without dilithium or boost speedups, the same is not true for the top 1000. I think that some people saying they are using lots of speedups and failing to reach the top 1000 might be shooting themselves in the foot by not using skill boosts.
Oh I don't argue with that, I think it's easily feasible to rank top 1000 without boosts if you hit your shuttles every 3hrs with double shuttles overnight. the key more than anything is to have 4 shuttles. I haven't ranked outside top 1000 in the past 6 months whether I use boosts or not.
The reason I think it's harder to hit top 1000 for some is that more players are boosting in the initial hours of the event, nothing more. For months... a couple of hours into a faction event, I would typically fall back to 150-250 rank... now it's 350 - 550 in that same timeframe. I think more players are playing strategically is all.
Shuttle events are all about bonus crew. If you buy the 3x crew and have lots of variants, you're going to do well. If you have enough bonus crew to be able to run a few shuttles at 1.5 hour reducers all event, you're going to do super well. It's a numbers game -- how many 4k shuttles you get completed determines how well you'll rank.
On my F2P, I pushed for top 1k. I used time reducers on a high percentage shuttle and kept them going every three hours. On my eXo account, I deliberately stopped playing until I slid below the 1k mark and then tried to stay there. Let me tell you. It was hard to get the balance right. My roster is so stacked, it's more difficult to not get into the top 1k than it is to get there. But, given how much I've spent, that's kind of how it should be.
Everyone has different crew and different boost levels. Every event is different also because of those two factors. Some people will never be able to reach the top 1k because their rosters just aren't good enough. Time and patience, if not money, will get you there.
Comments
And I think you really hit something on the head there. There are so many variants of some crew that it older players may have accumulated so many of them. And factions vs galaxy is the depth of your crew not just having one or two stars as far as the variants of event crew.
Next week having every single Jadzia won't help me as much as just having one or two good ones that top the skills, but this week having every single Paris, Kira and Reed (other than Suliban Reed) made it fairly easy.
There was a post a couple weeks ago where someone reported the VP changing on four shuttles sent out at the same displayed level. If success/failure is updated when you launch, it would explain his situation.
If it was updated when you launch, the 4000 VP quick start wouldn't work. A more likely explanation is that whoever posted that was mistaken.
Final rank: #1363
VIP 8
3 shuttles
Squadron leader
Event crew
IMM Rura Penthe Reed (I shared him with my squadron as soon as I started the event)
1/5 Mirror Intendant Kira
1/4 Anastasia Komananov
IMM Sniper Reed
IMM Major Kira (only used in one initial ramp-up mission)
IMM Nurse Paris (only used in one initial ramp-up mission)
I had quite a few time reducing boosts that I was able to use the first day. My failure rate was noticeably higher than in the last few faction events. A top 1500 finish is doable for me, but I've only cracked the top 1000 once in any faction event (the replay of "The Second Battle of New York"). I'm reasonably confident that once I get the fourth shuttle, I'll be able to do that.
Shared FFFE Burnham (4*s bought with honour)
FFFE Reed
FFFE Proton Paris
FFFE Combat Med Paris
FE 1/5* Delta Paris
FE 2/5* Disguised Kira
FE 1/5* nice hair kira
FE 2/4* niners kira
FFFE cardassian kira
I had my best score but was Sat on 30+ time boosts
This is my observation of others, so take it with a "box" of salt.
I saw some really advanced players go at it. I think they were using speed boosts all the time so they were doing twice the missions as others.
I started this event with
FF/FE Captain Proton
3/4 FE Combat Medic Paris
FF/FE Rura Penthe Reed
FF/FE Rura Penthe Reed (shared)
FF/FE Anastasia
FF/FE Cardassian Kira
1/4 LVL 90 Niners Kira
FE 1/5 Mirror Intendant Kira
Decided I had enough crew slots so I decided to keep another 3/4 Reed I got from the event and bought a 650 dil pack hoping to fully fuse him or get Paris, got Burnham. Levelled both enough to be usable by Sunday. I know there are people out there with much better event crews, however, I don't think these were so bad it should have been the struggle it was to get into the top 1000.
I set my alarm once to twice a night to send more missions. I ended up sending a total of 132 shuttles. only 5 were sent with less than a 70% chance. Four of those were at the end of the event with time boosts so they would complete in time. I burned a lot of stat boosts in this event but no dilithium to complete missions.
My issue was that even though my overall shuttle expectation for the 4000 VP missions was 79%, they only succeeded at a 66% rate. I basically lost 32,000 VP from where average luck would have put me. I was about 10 % under for the entire event. I usually look to see how these events are working out, this was my worst faction event for percent under expectation, also the only one where I was able to break 1000 when I was under by more than 2 percent. I'm not saying that I think the system is broken or cheating I've been over expectation in some events, but how well you do in any given event can certainly be influenced by good or bad luck.
BTW, I'm VIP 6
I probably fell into that category. I was sat on loads of time boosts stockpiled from the cadet missions, and I had a good crew.
I was pushing for top 25 for the extra copy of Paris. I almost got there, but in the end people had to have been buying shuttle returns as I went from 8,000 points behind to 40,000 points behind in the last half hour.
I can live with that though, ultimately other people wanted to spend to get him where I wasn't prepared too!
Jim
My event crew (at start):
FFFE Nurse Paris
FFFE Major Kira
level 30 2/4 Combat Medic Paris
FE Delta Flyer Paris (gained from behold in portal pulls or galaxy community reward or something)
FFFE Section 31 Reed (did not use)
My event crew (at finish):
FFFE Rura Penthe Reed (acquired and leveled during event, with citation)
level 20 1/3 Hockey Paris (gained from Voyage but not leveled since he wouldn't have made enough of a difference)
plus the above
My 3 shuttles were running around 80-80-60 throughout the event; I didn't use time bonuses besides the initial push to 4k. I have two weeks to replenish my supply of boosts since next week is a galaxy; I had two weeks to replenish my item supply for that event.
Top 1000 is totally possible for VIP 0.
What? My fail rate was somewhere between 60-70% my shuttles averaged about 83%. This is about typical for me. Sometimes it’s worse but never a clean even match and certainly never a better success rate than my shuttle ratings. I am shocked to here you say this.
I have played factions without spending anything before, and I have finished in the top 50-100 with my crew. Yes I have spent to get this crew, but it is possible. And there are strategies to gain positions.
Trista
Starship Trista - a Top 5 fleet
I finished rank 12th. I too saw a few players who had to be autocompleting shuttles in the final hour. One player racked up about 100k+ VP in 30 mins out of nowhere and shot up the ranks past me.
Pushing for top 15 was worth it for me... for the top 15 achievement reward ( 3 10xpremuim pulls which gave me 2 legendary crew) and the 3/5* Delta Paris which adding to my 2/5* Paris Immortalised him.
I rank consistently in the top 100, largely by saving daily dilithium for extra cadet tickets on Thursdays and saving those boosts up. Also prioritizing selecting main cast crew from Beholds and focusing on leveling them and fusing them in the off chance they are event crew.
Even though it seems obvious, I think it deserves mention that competing for top 1000 and top 25 (or so) are very different.
While in many events it might be impossible to crack the top 25 without dilithium or boost speedups, the same is not true for the top 1000. I think that some people saying they are using lots of speedups and failing to reach the top 1000 might be shooting themselves in the foot by not using skill boosts.
Oh I don't argue with that, I think it's easily feasible to rank top 1000 without boosts if you hit your shuttles every 3hrs with double shuttles overnight. the key more than anything is to have 4 shuttles. I haven't ranked outside top 1000 in the past 6 months whether I use boosts or not.
The reason I think it's harder to hit top 1000 for some is that more players are boosting in the initial hours of the event, nothing more. For months... a couple of hours into a faction event, I would typically fall back to 150-250 rank... now it's 350 - 550 in that same timeframe. I think more players are playing strategically is all.
On my F2P, I pushed for top 1k. I used time reducers on a high percentage shuttle and kept them going every three hours. On my eXo account, I deliberately stopped playing until I slid below the 1k mark and then tried to stay there. Let me tell you. It was hard to get the balance right. My roster is so stacked, it's more difficult to not get into the top 1k than it is to get there. But, given how much I've spent, that's kind of how it should be.
Everyone has different crew and different boost levels. Every event is different also because of those two factors. Some people will never be able to reach the top 1k because their rosters just aren't good enough. Time and patience, if not money, will get you there.
Proud Former Officer of The Gluten Empire
Retired 12-14-20. So long, and thanks for all the cat pics!