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Question for people who win gauntlet regularly...

{DD} Smelly{DD} Smelly ✭✭✭✭✭
How do you pick your crew? Fixed/partially fixed crew? By featured skill? By traits? Something else? Just looking for advice from people who have mastered the art of picking the right gauntlet crew. Thanks for any tips.
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Comments

  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    I almost completely ignore featured skill. I use my spreadsheet (stickied in the ready room) to try to maximize my D across all skill pairs. I consider trait matches so far as they add to the average.

    I think the biggest thing you can do to maximize success is to hit as many resets as possible. I've had plenty of gauntlets go from competitive to a complete runaway because I picked up 300-500 points in a reset the #2 skipped out on.
  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2018
    SST - 9of7 wrote: »
    If you want to win gauntlet make sure that you live in the correct time zone. If you live in central Europe you need to hit a lucky gauntlet. The last minutes make all the difference, so you have only slight chances of winning if you can't play the last minutes.

    If you try to join "uncompetitive" gauntlets it can work too. I regularly join at 530AM EST and rarely have more than one real competitor.

    If you can put a 500+ point gap on the field, it doesn't matter when you run your last round
  • Paladin 27Paladin 27 ✭✭✭✭✭
    When I feel like being scientific about crew selection I also use peachtree rex’s spreadsheet. The formula as it is in there is doesn’t take into account featured skill so I adjust a little for that by taking a slightly worse overall defense team if it covers the featured skills pairs better. You could probability weight the skill pairs to quantify that impact.

    I also start mine just after 8am or noon eastern. Lets me get in an uncompetive gauntlet plus have 3+ hours of cushion to not miss a reset round along with only one overnight period.
  • I generally pick the same crew although if someone has a 45% or higher crit ill take them if the numbers are decent.
  • <TGE> Clifford<TGE> Clifford ✭✭✭✭✭
    I generally pick the same crew although if someone has a 45% or higher crit ill take them if the numbers are decent.

    Same here, though I do not “win” them. (: I actually try not to “win”.
  • Zetterbeard Zetterbeard ✭✭✭✭✭
    I generally pick the same crew although if someone has a 45% or higher crit ill take them if the numbers are decent.

    Pretty much this. Nine times out of ten I'll have some of the same crew members (Chancellor Gowron, Gangster Spock, Seven of Nine) but I'll swap them out for a 45% providing they have decent stats.
  • Paladin 27 wrote: »
    When I feel like being scientific about crew selection I also use peachtree rex’s spreadsheet. The formula as it is in there is doesn’t take into account featured skill so I adjust a little for that by taking a slightly worse overall defense team if it covers the featured skills pairs better. You could probability weight the skill pairs to quantify that impact.

    I also start mine just after 8am or noon eastern. Lets me get in an uncompetive gauntlet plus have 3+ hours of cushion to not miss a reset round along with only one overnight period.

    Where is this spreadsheet?
    ~ seeking out new life
  • Torias327Torias327 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I’ll echo the previous posts. Even with the absurd and unacceptable losses/5% crits that plague the gauntlet, it’s rare I don’t come in top ten unless I miss more than half the refreshes. Seven of Nine, Locutus, Guinan, Kahless are almost garenteed, and I mix up my med between AoS Crusher, Crell Moset, M Phlox and Sulan. Once I get Caretaker, I’m sure Seven will take a back seat due to the obscene amount of times Eng and Med both “randomly” pop up. The only variable is 45 or 65% crit rates, but even then I only bother if its someone like a Delta Paris with reasonably high numbers to back it up. 65% crit of a max 350 *attacker* is still going to lose most of the time to an 800+ roller (we all know defensively a 150 max 5% will crit 6 times and take out Kahless on a comm/dip node if the game is feels like it). The number one thing is FE’d and level 100. A level 80 Locutus, Caretaker, Guinan and Kahless aren’t worth anything in the guantlet. Gotta max up those proficiencies.

    I also tried something new in my last Med gauntlet, taking M Phlox, AoS Crusher, Moset, Sulan and Guinan in. I stopped tracking numbers 3 resets in as my temper flaired, but 4/5’s of the matches roughly had Eng and maybe about 2 or 3/5’s had Med. It was a joke and while I still closed out top 20, it was with a TON of merits spent, so from now on I will be covering all the stats with it’s own power player each time.
  • edited April 2018
    <snip> ˜Shan
  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    Capt Ajamm wrote: »
    Paladin 27 wrote: »
    When I feel like being scientific about crew selection I also use peachtree rex’s spreadsheet. The formula as it is in there is doesn’t take into account featured skill so I adjust a little for that by taking a slightly worse overall defense team if it covers the featured skills pairs better. You could probability weight the skill pairs to quantify that impact.

    I also start mine just after 8am or noon eastern. Lets me get in an uncompetive gauntlet plus have 3+ hours of cushion to not miss a reset round along with only one overnight period.

    Where is this spreadsheet?

    It is stickied in the Ready Room forum. On mobile, so linking is a bit of a pain.
  • ~peregrine~~peregrine~ ✭✭✭✭✭
    "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
  • Travis S McClainTravis S McClain ✭✭✭✭✭
    I still haven't hit #1, so I'm probably outside the scope of players whose advice is being solicited, though I do regularly place in the top 10. I've largely got a default trio of:

    Locutus of Borg
    Bartender Guinan
    Sulan

    I augment them based on who has crit bonuses and what the primary skill is. I've recently been tinkering by using the aforementioned spreadsheet, though it's hard for me to say how helpful that's been because I've been largely inattentive the last several days. In the current Gauntlet, I did elect to leave out Mariachi Q despite his 65% crit chance bonus because the spreadsheet still favored Locutus. Seemed wonky to me, but whatever.
  • Capt Ajamm wrote: »
    Paladin 27 wrote: »
    When I feel like being scientific about crew selection I also use peachtree rex’s spreadsheet. The formula as it is in there is doesn’t take into account featured skill so I adjust a little for that by taking a slightly worse overall defense team if it covers the featured skills pairs better. You could probability weight the skill pairs to quantify that impact.

    I also start mine just after 8am or noon eastern. Lets me get in an uncompetive gauntlet plus have 3+ hours of cushion to not miss a reset round along with only one overnight period.

    Where is this spreadsheet?

    It is stickied in the Ready Room forum. On mobile, so linking is a bit of a pain.

    Thank you

    When i link to it my phone suggests using the Google sheets app?
    ~ seeking out new life
  • edited April 2018
    I find that its best to have no more than 3 crew with good pros for the primary skill and then the other 2 slots i give to crew that have a good crit rating but may or may not have the primary skill. If i dont have 2 crew with good crits i just use all slots on the best crew i can (making sure i have all skills covered, if not i'll add the crew i have with the best proficiencies that isnt yet covered in the first 4 slots). When i do put all 5 slots with the best skills i have for the gauntlet, i find i do worse...
    BTW: see some people stating how many times they have won first place. For me id say over 20 times
  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    Capt Ajamm wrote: »
    Capt Ajamm wrote: »
    Paladin 27 wrote: »
    When I feel like being scientific about crew selection I also use peachtree rex’s spreadsheet. The formula as it is in there is doesn’t take into account featured skill so I adjust a little for that by taking a slightly worse overall defense team if it covers the featured skills pairs better. You could probability weight the skill pairs to quantify that impact.

    I also start mine just after 8am or noon eastern. Lets me get in an uncompetive gauntlet plus have 3+ hours of cushion to not miss a reset round along with only one overnight period.

    Where is this spreadsheet?

    It is stickied in the Ready Room forum. On mobile, so linking is a bit of a pain.

    Thank you

    When i link to it my phone suggests using the Google sheets app?

    If you want to actually edit things, you'll need to make your own copy of it. The sheets app isn't bad, but I much prefer accessing it from desktop. Load times can be a bit onerous on mobile.
  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    For what its worth, I DO have a "normal" base crew. Below is a screenshot of my "[Gauntlet] Crew Strength" tab with my 'base' crew. Note, if you want you can input traits into the Filters sheet and it'll account for Crit rates.

    This sheet calculates the average roll for each of the 15 stat pairs and compares it to the "best in slot" roll for that stat pair.

    The reason that this comparison is relevant is because you can only gauge the raw stat value in the context of what the highest possible score is for that stat. This used to be a LOT more relevant when ENG was a much lower-powered stat, but The Caretaker has brought some balance to this.

    For example, Gangster Spock has a 797 average ENG/SEC roll. This makes him tops overall for that stat. Guinan's DIP/MED is 1093, also tops for that stat pair.

    Despite the ~300 point difference, I see those two scores as on par with each other, despite one being the lowest of the maximum 2-stat-pairs and the other being the highest.

    cswqia4uyt6d.png

    Edit: Another question you need to ask yourself of any given composition: "Does this flat-out-lose to any of the 'common' gauntlet staples?" In my mind, this includes Mirror Phlox, Mirror Geordi, Mirror Picard, and Nurse Faith Garland. I'm sure there are others out there, but these are crew you are likely to come against in volume.

    If you are lacking in CMD/SEC, then you will get hit hard by the large quantities of Mirror Picard out there. Same with Mirror Phlox and MED/SEC. This is one area my attached composition struggles with. Guinan only has a 2% win expectancy vs Mirror Phlox in MED/SEC. In the long run, it might be better for me to take Mirror Troi instead. She brings my overall Defensive scores down some, but she would have a 18% matchup vs. Mirror Phlox instead, which might save me more points.
  • Dirk GundersonDirk Gunderson ✭✭✭✭✭
    I usually have at least one or two of the gauntlet masters (Mirror Picard, Mirror Phlox, Locutus, Guinan, and The Caretaker) in every gauntlet. I’ll rotate others in based on traits first and skills second.
  • IrialIrial ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2018
    SST - 9of7 wrote: »
    If you want to win gauntlet make sure that you live in the correct time zone. If you live in central Europe you need to hit a lucky gauntlet. The last minutes make all the difference, so you have only slight chances of winning if you can't play the last minutes.

    If you try to join "uncompetitive" gauntlets it can work too. I regularly join at 530AM EST and rarely have more than one real competitor.

    If you can put a 500+ point gap on the field, it doesn't matter when you run your last round

    Sorry @Peachtree Rex , but my experience in The Gauntlet just last night goes counter to this argument. With only 24 minutes left to play in my Gauntlet, following was my position in the rankings:

    jzd3xx9hvh2l.png

    Specifically, my 2,089 Trophies were 891 behind the player in 1st place at the time (i.e., their total was 2,980).
    At the end of the this Gauntlet (snapped a screenshot with 1 second left), I had climbed all the way up to 1st place, with a total of 2,954 Trophies, 67 more than the 2,887 of the player who had been in first:

    6sxs0vrjjzte.png

    Notice that I had been able to drop the other player's Trophy count like this, by defeating them in several rounds:

    953hrky4tg3p.png

    And in case you are suspecting otherwise, this result of overcoming a difference of well over 500+ trophies in less than 25 minutes was achieved without using any Dilithium. The only 'currency' I spent to assist me was some Merits.

    I also no longer subscribe to the theory of necessarily trying to balance your 5 Gauntlet crew as best as you can across the 15 different possible combinations of 2 Skills. In fact, in this particular Gauntlet, my crew choice had 2 characters (Mirror Inquisitor Troi and Bartender Guinan) with exactly the same 3 Skills:

    s1975ss5k03w.png

    You spoke about trying to maximize your Defense - which I also used to do - but lately I have found I can have good success by trying to maximize my Offense instead.
  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    There are lots of variables in every gauntlet and many paths can lead to the same destination.
  • There are lots of variables in every gauntlet and many paths can lead to the same destination.

    ...and each of these paths is cobbled with countless RNG traps... Single RNG hiccup and all your careful calculations become useless. As you said, "There are many paths can lead to the same destination" but there is only one path which always lead to frustration and it's called (R)elentless and (N)otorious mirror (G)argantua.
  • Peachtree RexPeachtree Rex ✭✭✭✭✭
    There are lots of variables in every gauntlet and many paths can lead to the same destination.

    ...and each of these paths is cobbled with countless RNG traps... Single RNG hiccup and all your careful calculations become useless. As you said, "There are many paths can lead to the same destination" but there is only one path which always lead to frustration and it's called (R)elentless and (N)otorious mirror (G)argantua.

    If that's the take, then no amount of planning and strategy can win and everyone's final placement is based on a blind folded throw at a dartboard.

    This is demonstrably false by the fact that people usually can finish in a similar place gauntlet-to-gauntlet. Yes, there will be individual bad beats, but their existence doesn't invalidate the fact that you can strategize to maximize your chances of winning.
  • PallidynePallidyne ✭✭✭✭✭
    There are lots of variables in every gauntlet and many paths can lead to the same destination.

    ...and each of these paths is cobbled with countless RNG traps... Single RNG hiccup and all your careful calculations become useless. As you said, "There are many paths can lead to the same destination" but there is only one path which always lead to frustration and it's called (R)elentless and (N)otorious mirror (G)argantua.

    If that's the take, then no amount of planning and strategy can win and everyone's final placement is based on a blind folded throw at a dartboard.

    This is demonstrably false by the fact that people usually can finish in a similar place gauntlet-to-gauntlet. Yes, there will be individual bad beats, but their existence doesn't invalidate the fact that you can strategize to maximize your chances of winning.

    I agree. I think the frustration may come from doing something exactly the same repeatedly and sometimes getting different results. There is a benefit to rolling the 20 sided die vs the 6 sided die, but sometimes the D20 rolls a 1. (Just less often than the 6)
  • I have a kind of rule, in which I try to have a stable crew for the Gauntlet, except for a few things. I tend to use Bartender Guinan, Locutus, Kahless, Tempted Data and the best I have with the Gauntlet hability, but if Mirror Picard has 25% of critical and Kahless has 5% I use Mirror Picard instead of Kahless, the same applies to Mirror La Forge that has Engineering, if he has 25% of critical chance and Tempted Data only 5%, is use Mirror La Forge, so depending the Gauntley Hability and the traits needed some crew can be changed.
  • There are lots of variables in every gauntlet and many paths can lead to the same destination.

    ...and each of these paths is cobbled with countless RNG traps... Single RNG hiccup and all your careful calculations become useless. As you said, "There are many paths can lead to the same destination" but there is only one path which always lead to frustration and it's called (R)elentless and (N)otorious mirror (G)argantua.

    Yes, there will be individual bad beats, but their existence doesn't invalidate the fact that you can strategize to maximize your chances of winning.

    No, no, no. You, indeed, can maximize your chances against RNG but you can't do that against (R)elentless and (N)otorious mirror (G)argantua.
  • There are lots of variables in every gauntlet and many paths can lead to the same destination.

    ...and each of these paths is cobbled with countless RNG traps... Single RNG hiccup and all your careful calculations become useless. As you said, "There are many paths can lead to the same destination" but there is only one path which always lead to frustration and it's called (R)elentless and (N)otorious mirror (G)argantua.

    If that's the take, then no amount of planning and strategy can win and everyone's final placement is based on a blind folded throw at a dartboard.

    This is demonstrably false by the fact that people usually can finish in a similar place gauntlet-to-gauntlet.

    There is only one "strategy" to the Gauntlet - to have them all and by them I mean top Gauntlet crew members. You can plan and strategize whatever you want but if you don't have these about 10-15 crewmen all your plans are for nothing. That's why your original statement that "If that's the take, then no amount of planning and strategy can win and everyone's final placement is based on a blind folded throw at a dartboard." is true although under one additional condition - if it relates to players which have them all. And you konw what? Top ten players always have them all. :-) That's the only reason they can "usually finish in a similar place gauntlet-to-gauntlet".
  • GromeroGromero ✭✭
    edited April 2018
    Its kind of frustrating when each reset displays a wall of Mirror Picards..locutus...ect. I admit I dont have the best crew & certainly not the worst (I have neither of the aforementioned 2 though)...But at least show variation a little more often. On another note...the proficiency rolls are a jip (i mean, come on...my 25%s against 5%s, and I'm double on stats..only to have mine roll the lowest possible while they roll the highest...& crit each one. And its not just one or 2 occassions..but I'd say 40% of the time ive played. Suggestion...have a reset every ..say 6 hours..instead of having to waste merits to see the same walls of crew pop up over & over.
  • There is only one "strategy" to the Gauntlet - to have them all and by them I mean top Gauntlet crew members. You can plan and strategize whatever you want but if you don't have these about 10-15 crewmen all your plans are for nothing. That's why your original statement that "If that's the take, then no amount of planning and strategy can win and everyone's final placement is based on a blind folded throw at a dartboard." is true although under one additional condition - if it relates to players which have them all. And you konw what? Top ten players always have them all. :-) That's the only reason they can "usually finish in a similar place gauntlet-to-gauntlet".

    Someone brainwashed you :)
    It is not RNG fault, it is algorithm!
    RNG is just an input to the algorithm, but algorithm gives a very small weight for this.

    I do have many of the top crew for gauntlet and it is still very hard for me to be in top 10 these days.

    So go back to my poll from few days ago, how people claim they can do 10+ streak in top 30-50?
    Please show us your videos that it can be done

    https://forum.disruptorbeam.com/stt/discussion/4994/what-your-longest-gauntlet-streak-without-any-merit-refresh
  • Yeah, defender's crits are, let's say... somewhat unique in the world of probability. ;P They exist by their own rules which have very little in common with reality. I also love how Gauntlet is rigged - you lose a character and next what you see is wall consisted of characters you just lost.
  • Yeah, defender's crits are, let's say... somewhat unique in the world of probability. ;P They exist by their own rules which have very little in common with reality. I also love how Gauntlet is rigged - you lose a character and next what you see is wall consisted of characters you just lost.

    Yes yes yes... it looks like only you and me have this problem.
    70% of people looks like are happily married with Gauntlet.
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