Admiral Turks Condensed Super Simple Starter Tips for Newcomers Part 1
in Ready Room
Captain's Log: Admiral T.T. Turk commanding
Stardate: 120822
There are a number of good guides for "new" players available in and around the "Ready Room" and plenty of individual situation advisory posts around the forum, they provide, in general, clear instructions on how to get to where you "want" to go in the Star Trek Timelines Universe. It is a fascinating place full of adventures, mysteries and little conundrums to deal with. The one thing about most of the guides, however, is that they quickly get into the "spending" aspect of the game.
I have compiled a "short and sweet" starter advisory that DOESN'T involve spending from the start and will let you get into the game, experience it, experiment with it and see whether you WANT to spend or just keep it around, in the background for entertainment.
NOTE: At some point, if you want to get seriously into it and build a "universal championship contender crew" you are going to have to spend. The game is, in essence, somewhat like the other "casino" type games on the net. It has elements of card games, roulette games, one-armed-bandits etc and, quite naturally, it is designed to make money for its creators. Simple concept, people join, they play, they pay, the game is developed and maintained with the money that goes into it. The moderators in this forum are excellent, responsive and helpful so where you go is ENTIRELY up to you.
I had, initially, put these "notes" together under a forum post that originated in early 2020 so I thought, at the risk of getting slapped for cross-posting/duplication, I would bring them forward as an updated, single, post. If anyone has any questions I will be happy to give you the benefit of MY experience and OPINION on what to do, whether you choose to agree, follow, or use such is entirely up to you - it may help, it may not.
Live Long and Prosper
T.
Stardate: 120822
There are a number of good guides for "new" players available in and around the "Ready Room" and plenty of individual situation advisory posts around the forum, they provide, in general, clear instructions on how to get to where you "want" to go in the Star Trek Timelines Universe. It is a fascinating place full of adventures, mysteries and little conundrums to deal with. The one thing about most of the guides, however, is that they quickly get into the "spending" aspect of the game.
I have compiled a "short and sweet" starter advisory that DOESN'T involve spending from the start and will let you get into the game, experience it, experiment with it and see whether you WANT to spend or just keep it around, in the background for entertainment.
NOTE: At some point, if you want to get seriously into it and build a "universal championship contender crew" you are going to have to spend. The game is, in essence, somewhat like the other "casino" type games on the net. It has elements of card games, roulette games, one-armed-bandits etc and, quite naturally, it is designed to make money for its creators. Simple concept, people join, they play, they pay, the game is developed and maintained with the money that goes into it. The moderators in this forum are excellent, responsive and helpful so where you go is ENTIRELY up to you.
I had, initially, put these "notes" together under a forum post that originated in early 2020 so I thought, at the risk of getting slapped for cross-posting/duplication, I would bring them forward as an updated, single, post. If anyone has any questions I will be happy to give you the benefit of MY experience and OPINION on what to do, whether you choose to agree, follow, or use such is entirely up to you - it may help, it may not.
Live Long and Prosper
T.
“Those who dream by day are cognisant of many things which escape those who dream only by night"~ E.A. Poe
1
Comments
Captains Log: Admiral T.T. Turk commanding
Stardate 110122
Good evening,
I first played this game a year or so ago. I rapidly got to the point where progress, without financial investment, became virtually impossible. I came to a standstill. So, I put the game away for a while. I came back to it recently with "fresh" eyes and with the knowledge that I had gotten the first time around.
This time I have approached it in a completely different manner, especially given all the negativity that was being put about. I would like to share, specifically for "first timers" what I have found this time around.
I am enjoying a steady, if somewhat slow, build up now. I am laying the groundwork first and I am doing this by utilising "Voyages" and "Shuttle Missions". My previous mistake was trying to get all, or as many as possible, of the actual "Away Team" missions completed to get all the "Special Rewards".
I have made much better progress, from very early on, by deploying Voyages and Shuttle Missions.
This approach allows for the collection of much greater quantities of assets that are vital to building your basic crew.
Secondly, I have established a small fleet of ships. The Voyages, in themselves, need you to be able to maintain a minimum of 2 hours and the way to do this is by getting the earliest available ships (ISS Defiant and the Orion Syndicate Interceptor) that will have an anti-matter capacity in excess of 2000 units.
With these I have found that you can set up a voyage and, quite literally, walk away. At the 2 hour mark in the voyage a "Dilemma" will be presented and effectively pause the voyage. When you answer the dilemma the voyage will resume and then, based on anti-matter gains and losses you can decide whether to sit on it another half hour or so before recalling it. Me, I recall it immediately.
Thirdly, focus your shuttle missions on single races until you get enough neutral to friendly reputations. Making yourself "aligned" with the various factions can, and does lead to better rewards.
Fourth, when an "Event" comes up throw everything you can muster at it. The events are designed to give you better and higher level rewards.
This may sound even more basic than the basic tips and hints but this is the strategy I am employing this time around and I am getting much more from the game and thus enjoying it much more.
Captains Log: Admiral T.T. Turk commanding
Stardate 110222
Good afternoon,
I wanted to expand on one of the points I put in the above comment, it's to do with the "Away Team" missions in the "Galactic Map" -
I held back on trying too many of these missions until I had a respectable ship with some good crew to boost it's ship performance in combat. The ship that came along first, for me, was the I.S.S. Defiant and I built up a "Battle Stations" crew to give it around a 13 to 15 max ability in battle abilities.
When I had it ready I went to the Galactic map and I did every single ship vs. ship combat mission I could access. I skipped the Away Team missions and used the Rewards from the battles to get a serious leg up in assets to promote and enhance crew member abilities.
I currently have achieved 2 "Immortalised" crew persons.
I thought I'd share that as a good tactic to "fast track", in some respects, when you're starting out.
Good luck, and Live Long and Prosper.
T.
Captains Log: Admiral T.T. Turk commanding
Stardate 111422
Hailing on open frequency,
Good evening again. I wanted to offer another little insight, of the most basic kind, for newbies to the game.
When you are in your "Crew" inventory and looking at your collected crew members I would make the following suggestions.
1) The best crew members to accumulate are those who have THREE attributes (e.g. Command, Science and Security; Diplomacy, Medical and Security etc) They are more likely to be of use to you in covering different situations during "Away Missions" than a crew member with only one, or two attributes. Cultivate and develop your 3 attribute crew and don't be afraid to sacrifice your single attribute crew to gain Honour points.
2) Ideally, where possible, aim for promoting your crew members who have three or more stars as part of their "crew level" development. As you progress through the game you will discover that basing your activity on crew members with three stars or more will attract crew members with even more "stars" for promotion and soon you will be picking up crew members with four and five star ratings.
3) Keep in mind, the cost in credits to be able to develop the crew members with three star ratings and above increases over one and two star crew members so keep working those shuttle missions and voyages to pad out your bank balance.
4) When you choose to go after specific items that your crew members need to advance, where possible, pick the items that can be obtained through space battles. The chances of obtaining the item you need via a space battle is better than running through an away mission where the results tend to be completely random beyond a certain point. Yes, the space battles are much like rolling a one armed bandit BUT you can perform (with a good ship as I have previously mentioned) three space battles, or more, in the time it takes to do ONE away mission. Therefore, you have a much better chance of capturing your development items.
Just passing on some advice I have been watching and using.
Good luck Captains.
Live Long and Prosper
Stardate 111922
Hailing all newbie Captains,
I do hope that these "Extremely Basic Suggestions" have been of some use to newcomers/first-timers. "Timelines" is, and can remain, an amazingly entertaining game and you have, as always, the choice of strategy to get out of it as much as you put in.
Using the strategy and tips I have been putting in as a "diary of a beginner" I have come to a place in the game where I am very happy, entertained and going along well in my own l'il quiet corner of the universe.
I have accumulated, so far, Level 32 as a Captain (not outstanding but quite respectable) My own Level 1 Starbase call "Carpe Noctem", I have an active (Fully private - just me) Fleet, with one squadron thus far - "Nox Mortiferum" (Deadly Nights) which has 8 vessels ranging from a 1 star, level 4 Exploration vessel to a couple of 5 star, level 5 Warships.
I also have 5 immortalised Crew members out of a total crew of 114 souls (NO Ferengi on board LOL)
I have a bank balance that drifts between 200,000 and 600,000 credits (with careful management) so I can buy/redeem when needed. I have around 1900 Honour... haven't spent any in a while but I'm off to the store to redeem some upgrade items soon. I have 57 dilithium left from around 300 because I did go "shopping" (redeeming) earlier.
Okay, so what's the point?
If you have been following Captain T.T.Turk's "Exceptionally Basic Early Strategy Guide" then you should be in about the same position as I am. Now we have the choice of choices to make,
Do we buy into the game OR do we hang loose and just keep rollin' along?
That, dear Captains, I can't answer for you. If you feel like you wanna put your hard earned dollars into the game then set your account, buy in and head for the dizzying heights where you can. Just be aware, I did that last time out and putting money in is a way to get ahead somewhat quicker but there's no instant power, wealth and stardom to be had here.
The flip-side of the coin, like me, you may choose to just keep wanderin' along through the universe picking up surprises and bits and pieces along the way without getting overly ambitious and/or power hungry. (in my mind being up there in lights on the "Leader Boards" isn't really why I'm here)
I find this game to be entertaining, relaxing, trouble free, easy to play... it's a good relaxer, that's why I'm here.
As I said, I hope my little "Diary" has helped some.
As always, "Live Long and Prosper".
T.
P.S. There are lot's of good guides at the top of the forum on detailed development and progression in the game if y'all gonna get serious... check 'em out, a little reading is well worth it. Cheers
If you've be moving through the game for a little while now you will, like pretty much everyone else, have discovered "Odd things", "Mysterious things" and, in some cases "Downright silly things"...
Figuring out how to navigate these oddball items is a large part of keeping your "ball rolling" .
For example, who decided that Luxwana Troi was more useful (and expensive to develop) to a higher level than Seven of Nine??? Who was it that developed the U.S.S. Cabot's Janitor's Tribble Vacuum Unit was harder and more expensive to develop than an Engineering Sub Micron Scanner... for heaven's sake, it's a vacuum cleaner. You will find oddities throughout the game like this and after reading for a dozen or so hours in all I can't seem to find any discernible reason for why such things happen.
Another example is the master sheet of "Who Not To Airlock" (i.e. who to keep on your crew to give you the best chance) currently at revision four and maintained by the indomitable cmdrworf. The main problems with such a sheet, as cmdrworf himself notes in the presentation, is that due to game changes at varying intervals the list can rapidly become obsolete and it is advised that we, "trust our gut".
What you have to realise about this game is that it is a game of chance that incorporates elements of poker, roulette, blackjack and th' good ol' "one-armed-bandits"... you lay out the best combination of crew you have the cards for and hope they'll make you enough weight to turn the trick,
The nice thing about this game is that they do give you l'il freebies here and there and throw out "Events" designed to get you to participate and increase your holding.
If I may offer my advice for getting a pretty handy early crew together...
You will find that the early crew members you bring on board are earned, most easily, by performing shuttle faction missions and voyages. You will build up a respectable bottom line of one and two star characters.
At a certain point you will start attracting higher star characters (three and above) -My best advice is to keep developing those with three separate skills (such as command, diplomacy and security) rather than those with two skills and when you have the primary skills covered you can start "airlocking" (spacing) the lowest characters and earning, believe it or not, rewards for doing so.
Use "Shuttles", "Voyages" and "Events" to build up your resources as swiftly as possible.
Live Long and Prosper,
T.
StarDate: 121522
Provided courtesy of [Wolf 359] Admiral Sven Lundgren ✭✭✭✭✭
Any 1-4* crew member that is in the portal can show up in voyages.
[IPA] Makas then goes on to explain that the longer your voyages go on the better "standards/levels" of crew drops occur as the result of voyages.
The trick then, is to develop ships. Anything over 2400 fuel level will give you two hours, that is the minimum you need to aim for with your vessels.
Good luck Captains.
Stardate 121722
A curious example of the gameplay arose yesterday evening that I thought I might share, it's an example of the fact that things, in the game, are not always entirely what they seem to be.
I was running along through a current objective event series of building missions and I came across the need to obtain a cup of coffee...! YES, the fate of the galaxy depended on a "cuppa Joe"...
The recommended options for the mission worked out best as a series of three crew people who possessed particular "traits" BUT, and here's the BUT - as you will come to realise, after playing the game for a while, if you WANT a cup of coffee then get JANEWAY (preferably in her command uniform) into the hand regardless of whether she fits in the traits list or not. (You will come to realise this holds true for a number of the characters whom consistently produce certain specific items regularly)
The other thing is, if you are involved in an object mission to gain a certain item within a list of possible items; and it comes down to a space battle, try NOT setting the "AUTO Combat Function" to on, run it on "OFF" and fight the good fight yourself. You will have just increased your chances of getting one item you want by around 19.5%...
Live Long and Prosper
Can you explain a bit more on these two points? These are some very specific claims on the way the game handles the RNG of loot drops.