Do shuttles run as part of a Faction event affect the difficulty level of that faction post-event?

Data1001

As some of you may have seen in another thread, a few weeks ago I was able to get my Section 31 shuttles down to :30 seconds by purposely failing missions for a few weeks on end.

But now I'm wondering: let's say that for next weekend's Faction event, Section 31 is one of the factions. If I run S31 shuttles during that event, would it affect the difficulty level for S31 after the event is done? At some point, S31 will show up as a faction in some event, so I am trying to figure out if it's worth just not running those shuttles at all during that event's duration, or if I can get away with going all out with S31 shuttles (as part of the event) and still have my difficulty level (and length of missions) at the same place it was prior to the event.

Have any players had experience with this? Or, Shan or Black Pebble, do you know?

Paladin 27

Shuttles in an event do not impact difficulty outside an event.

As an example I started playing at the beginning of Klingon month and by month end I was honored in the faction from events but still only getting blue trainers there since I had never run Klingon missions outside the events.

Banjo1012

I have never noticed a post-event impact, though I do believe Klingons should give a bonus to Klingon shuttles, Terrans should give a bonus to Terran shuttles, and so on.

Data1001

Thanks, guys. I suppose if it comes down to it...

[ISA] Raven

now.. here's the big question... if section 31 is a faction.. and they win... since you have the shuttles down to 30 seconds....
will you get "instant complete" missions with -30 min duration for all those 30 second shuttles?

Capt. Chaos

I would think any 30 minute or lower missions would be instant.

Gib - Admiral Mariners

Shuttles for faction events are reset for that event. The start at 1 minute and go up based on the victory points you receive from the shuttle. After the event they rest to where you where prior to the event.

Phd

It's all very well getting the shuttle missions down to 30 secs, but what's the point, you need to win them in order to get the security codes etc. Won't winning them again push the times back up again?
I have needed to constantly run Section 31 for security codes, 3* Morn needs a ton of them!
When I saw the Episode 8 mission added to the security codes, I naively thought, finally an actual mission that gives them out, but alas they were one time deals!
The really should make those new Episode 8 include them as a standard win.

Data1001

Phd wrote: »

It's all very well getting the shuttle missions down to 30 secs, but what's the point, you need to win them in order to get the security codes etc. Won't winning them again push the times back up again?

They would if you ran them all to win them all. The trick is, once you get down to the :30 second shuttles, you run one to win and one to lose. Always a 1:1 ratio. You do this by putting the worst crew you have on the losing shuttles (who also don't match any of the skills for the slot you're putting them in). This of course means you're burning twice as many transmissions as normal, which cost merits. But I feel that it's a worthwhile trade-off.

Phd

How long did you have to run losing shuttles to get them back down to 30 seconds, presumably you could get them down to 20 to 30 mins, and run the same 1:1 trick?

[ISA] Raven

Phd wrote: »

How long did you have to run losing shuttles to get them back down to 30 seconds, presumably you could get them down to 20 to 30 mins, and run the same 1:1 trick?

took me 5 days.... of solid 'fails'... to eventually break down out of 3 hrs..

i run at 10 min... send out 2 "good crew", 2 "bad crew"... if i get 2 success/2 failures.. the result is 2 min missions.. run one.. and your back to 10 min...

if you get 3/1 then you have a 1 hr mission... so then i send 1 "good" and 3 "bad" to break down to short run missions.
i found at 30 second missions, you end up "succeeding" even with bad crew, and then you zoom back up to 1 hr or even 3 hr briefly... for me.. 10 min is the sweet spot.

all in all not too bad.. and piled up 300 0* holoprograms..... about ready to just open all i can at 10 min and go back up.. took a couple days to do it...
right now isn't a great time to do this as everyone is probably running Terran Empire missions for 1* Terran Emblems.

the worst part is no 2* security codes or covert contacts.. you depending on cadet missions and replicators to make up the difference.. so if you are planning to try this... stock up before. you can't buy them in teh store either for merits, cause you are only presented with things "similar" to your mission difficulties... so a bunch of 0* or 1* equipment.

Data1001

Phd wrote: »

How long did you have to run losing shuttles to get them back down to 30 seconds, presumably you could get them down to 20 to 30 mins, and run the same 1:1 trick?

Several weeks. See more details of my experience in this post.

As far as your second question... eh, presumably. With me, it was sort of an instantaneous jump — unless I was completely clueless and missed seeing any shorter lengths in-between (which is not impossible) — one day I was at 3 hour missions, then the next time I opened them up, I was at :30 second missions.

Data1001

[ISA] Raven wrote: »

took me 5 days.... of solid 'fails'... to eventually break down out of 3 hrs..

That's pretty fast, compared to my experience. But then, as I mentioned in another thread, I think the time you would spend getting to that point may vary greatly depending on what your difficultly level was with that faction when you started the process.

[ISA] Raven wrote: »

right now isn't a great time to do this as everyone is probably running Terran Empire missions for 1* Terran Emblems.

That shouldn't matter, though, really — I just run the "quickie" S31 missions in-between my Terran missions.

[ISA] Raven wrote: »

the worst part is no 2* security codes or covert contacts.. you depending on cadet missions and replicators to make up the difference.. so if you are planning to try this... stock up before. you can't buy them in teh store either for merits, cause you are only presented with things "similar" to your mission difficulties... so a bunch of 0* or 1* equipment.

I've actually gotten some 2* items, but they do seem to drop quite rarely. (Just ran about a dozen successful S31 missions in search of a 2* Tactical Alert for my newly-acquired Mirror Kirk, but came up completely empty.) As you say, however, the Basic Holoprograms drop quite nicely, so I plan on milking that cow for as long as it lets me.

Paladin 27

I’m afraid of how many merits I’m going to use in the next federation or section 31 shuttle event. I don’t have the patience to fail shuttles for a week or two to get back down, but am perfectly willing to spend 2 hours spamming shuttles for holoprograms and ancient films at the start of the event.

[ISA] Raven

Paladin 27 wrote: »

I’m afraid of how many merits I’m going to use in the next federation or section 31 shuttle event. I don’t have the patience to fail shuttles for a week or two to get back down, but am perfectly willing to spend 2 hours spamming shuttles for holoprograms and ancient films at the start of the event.

you could do the same technique if section 31 is a faction this week... just spend a couple hrs and burn thru the merits succeeding/failing... etc.. and then after a couple hrs... play as normal.

Capt. Reynolds

Data1001 wrote: »

They would if you ran them all to win them all. The trick is, once you get down to the :30 second shuttles, you run one to win and one to lose. Always a 1:1 ratio. You do this by putting the worst crew you have on the losing shuttles (who also don't match any of the skills for the slot you're putting them in). This of course means you're burning twice as many transmissions as normal, which cost merits. But I feel that it's a worthwhile trade-off.

are you sure that outside events the ratio has to be 1:1 instead of 3:2 like in events?

Data1001

Capt. Reynolds wrote: »

Data1001 wrote: »

They would if you ran them all to win them all. The trick is, once you get down to the :30 second shuttles, you run one to win and one to lose. Always a 1:1 ratio. You do this by putting the worst crew you have on the losing shuttles (who also don't match any of the skills for the slot you're putting them in). This of course means you're burning twice as many transmissions as normal, which cost merits. But I feel that it's a worthwhile trade-off.

are you sure that outside events the ratio has to be 1:1 instead of 3:2 like in events?

No, to be honest, I'm not. But I keep it at 1:1, and watch the lengths closely. Whenever it goes to 10 minute missions, then I run 3:1 losses to successes and it gets back to the shorter length.

[ISA] Raven

its similar to events 3:2 .. you win.. you go up by one step... lose go down by 1.5

When i have 10 min missions... win 2:lose 2 (4 shuttle flight) it goes down to 2 minutes..
then i run one shuttle... and win... back up to 10...

rinse repeat..

384 0* holograms.... and after this event.. will be ramping back up so i don't have to do 2* security programs for every MWF cadet mission.

ill open all 14 missions at 10 min.. and just run them all to jump up as high as i can into the 3 hr missions