Tier 1 PvP - The Miranda versus the B'Rel Bird-of-Prey

The introductory PvP Tier can be a harrowing experience for new players, especially those that join a Scenario having faced nothing but the early NPC squadrons you fight in the first few missions. The experience can be quite negative, as the difference in playstyle between PvE and PvP and between Klingons and Federation are quite staggering.

This post will focus more on the ships involved than on the actual tactics, because fitting a ship the right way for PvP is as important as knowing how to fly it.

First lets take the Miranda:

Hull: 10000
Shields: 3600 (Covariant MK1)
Turn Rate:11.4
Weapon Ports: 2 Forward, 1 Rear
Bridge Officer Slots: 1 Ensign Tactical, 1 Ensign Engineering, 1 Ensign Science

The shields come from one of the very early quests, so it is quite likely that a Fed player will have better shields by the end of T1.

Now the B'Rel:

Hull: 8000
Shields: 3600
Turn Rate: 23
Weapon Ports: 2 Forward, 1 Rear
Bridge Officer Slots: 3 Ensign Universal

You can clearly see that a B'Rel, while less resilient than a Miranda, is a more versatile ship. The B'Rel is also built from the start as a damage dealing vessel, using forward facing cannon and torpedo launcher and a rear turret. The Miranda on the other hand is handed to the player as a Cruiser, set up for broadsiding then turning to face the unshielded side of the target to let loose a torpedo. This does not work in PvP, where the B'Rel will fly circles around a Cruiser Miranda. A Miranda needs to hit hard and fast as well to be able to take out a B'Rel before the superior maneuverability of the Klingon ship takes its toll. Going the forward facing cannon/torpedo route with a turret behind is a good idea, same as going with 3 beam arrays and simply broadsiding the fragile BoP into submission. What you don't really want to do is combine the setups, like Cruisers do. You cannot effectively broadside with just 2 arrays and you cannot effectively burn down a BoP with a cannon up front and mines behind.

The next important difference is the Bridge Officer slots. The Miranda has 1 of each, meaning it can never really specialize in anything, while the Klingon Bird-of-Prey can field any combination of Bridge Officers. What that means for a Miranda Captain is that he needs to have a good balance of both offensive and defensive abilities, preferably PvP oriented like Polarize Hull, Engineering Team, Science Team, High Yield Torpedo, Jam Sensors etc.. and be ready to react to any situation. The BoP is usually more specialized, few go the Federation route and stick one of each type of Bridge Officers on their bridge.

Overall the matchup between ships really comes down to experience in flying the ship. New Klingons will struggle with the forward facing Bird-of-Prey while new Federation Captains will not know how to handle a fast moving, hard hitting target. They will join a Scenario fielding their PvE Bridge Officers and fittings and wonder why the Klingons tear them up.

The B'Rel Bird-of-Prey

The most recognizable Klingon ship has to be the standard Bird-of-Prey. This sleek silhouette chills the spine of any Captain as promise of short, bloody and all over the place violence - also known as "The Klingons are hailing us!" - looms over soon to be space-debris Federation ships.

It seems only natural then that the starter ships for new Klingon warriors should be the B'Rel Bird-of-Prey, the oldest and least powerful BoP model.

Do not let its age and limited weaponry fool you though. The B'Rel might not have the shields or hull of a Federation Miranda class Light Cruiser, but it packs a meaner punch, handles better and has a Cloak that allows it to close the distance easier. Unlike the later Birds-of-Prey, the B'Rel possesses only a normal Cloak, meaning it can only turn invisible out of combat. Later models have access to the Battle Cloak, allowing them to slip away even in the heat of ship to ship dogfighting if the situation turns against them.

As the Klingon Empire does not have access at the moment to any meaningful PvE content, the article will focus on flying a B'Rel in PvP, especially against the Federation Tier 1 ship - the Miranda.

Unfortunately, being less sturdy means that the BoP cannot employ the same tactics as successfully as the Federation starter ship. A Klingon Captain must make the most of the maneuverability of the B'Rel in order to win against an equally skilled Federation player. One cannot play the BoP as a Cruiser as in a broadsiding contest the Miranda wins hands down.

Instead the BoP must be flown as an Escort, sporting a rear Turret, preferably Phaser to counteract the Disruptor damage resistant shields of Federation players and a forward Dual-Beam or Cannon. Finally the standard torpedo launcher, be it Photon or Quantum, is an absolute necessity. The basic tactic is to get behind a Federation ship, under 5 kms, uncloak and start firing. Keep behind the target by using Evasive Maneuvers to counteract any sharp turns, reducing impulse speed to half to allow for better turning and if possible using a Tractor Beam I from a Science Bridge Officer to keep the weakened rear shield in your sights.

Between a Turret and a Heavy Cannon the targeted shield should drop instantly allow you to pop a High Yield Torpedo right into the exposed hull.

If the fight is not going your way, either hit Rotate Shield Frequency (Engineer only) and try to finish off your victim or switch full power to Engines, hit Evasive Maneuvers and get the hell out of there. The massive speed boost should allow you to clear the 10 km max weapon range before incoming fire tears your fragile BoP apart. If you manage to get out of range you will get out of combat and must cloak to slink away and repair your damaged ship.

All in all the B'Rel Bird-of-Prey is a versatile, if a little fragile, ship. Unlike the Miranda Light Cruiser, one must always focus on doing as much damage as possible before retreating as the shields and hull on a BoP do not last long enough for prolonged battles.

The Miranda Class Light Cruiser

Ensign, meet Miranda. Miranda, meet your new Captain. You two will be spending a lot of time together.

Now I know she doesn't look like much, in fact she's little more than a bare hull. Two forward weapon slots, one rear, a single console of each type and not enough crew for a conga line is all you get. Basic shield, basic engines, basic everything... How exactly are you supposed to take this shell of ship into combat against the Orion Syndicate or against the might of the Klingon Empire?

Well it's not as bad as it sounds. Slap on a few consoles, maybe some better Impulse Engines and Resilient Shields and you are golden. Since you still need to kill stuff you might need to boost your Phaser Arrays a bit and hopefully you can snag an early Quantum Torpedo Launcher really blow things away.


Once you've gotten rid of most of your basic gear it's time to specialize. There are many ways to fly a Miranda. Initially she is built as a Cruiser, with two 250 degrees Phaser Arrays, one back and one front and a forward facing Photon Torpedo Launcher. This is fine if all you plan on doing is broadsiding enemies with both your Phasers and launching a Torpedo once their shields collapse, but in all honestly it is a very inefficient way of dealing with multiple fast ships and overall your damage potential is limited even against larger opponents. The sole advantage in PvE is that you can rotate to keep your strongest shield facing the enemy while still keeping two Phasers peppering the target, but usually you want targets dead fast not limping around you while you try and line up a Photon Torpedo.


The second, and for me the best way to outfit the Miranda in PvE is to dump the rear Phaser Array in favor of a Turret. Turrets deal less damage than a 250 degrees Array but they fire in any direction. They can be hard to find as Federation and you might only find Disruptor Turrets but these work as well. Next try and get either a Cannon (heavy works best) or better a Dual-Beam Array instead of your basic front Phaser. Cannons have a 45 degree firing angle so that might be a little small when trying to kill Birds of Prey or Orion Frigates, but Dual-Beam Arrays have a 90 degree angle, perfectly matching your Torpedo Launcher. Beam weapons lose less damage at longer range, whereas Cannons deal little damage at ranges over 5 kms. If you manage to swing a Mark II Photon Torpedo Launcher or a Quantum Torpedo Launcher you will find that taking down even the strongest of Battleships becomes a chore rather than a challenge.

The only downside of the build above is that you will always need to face your enemy, as your only side weapon is a low damage Turret. This means that your forward shield will take the brunt of the enemy Torpedo Volleys and can and will fail, so a Bridge Officer with Emergency Power to Shields I is practically a necessity. On the other hand targets will die quickly from your combination of Turret, Dual-Beam and Torpedo fire, thus allowing you to complete missions faster and exchange your lovely Miranda for a brand new ship sooner.

In PvP the Miranda is not nearly maneuverable enough to try and pull off the Escort style of play, with all DPS concentrated in a 90 degree forward arc. Klingon Birds of Prey will circle around you and hit your unprotected sides and rear, dropping your shields fast with their Disruptors and blowing holes in your hull with their well timed High Yield Torpedoes. In PvP you want to be able to hit anything anywhere. Two 250 degree Phaser Arrays allow you to always fire on the enemy, especially while maneuvering to protect weakened sides. Another option is to carry Mines in the rear slot, but these are only effective in great number.

Whichever way you choose to fly it, the Miranda remains a very versatile, if a little poorly endowed ship. Just remember - a ship is only as good as its Captain!

Races - Klingon Empire

All Klingon Empire Races are heavily focused on PvP bonuses. For a great Ground Captain a Klingon or a Gorn make the best Close Combat fighters, while Orions are best for the player that focuses on Space Combat.

Klingon – Honorable – 5% Damage Resistance and 10% Threat Generation

- Warrior – 15% Melee and Crit Damage, 5% Energy Weapon Damage

The iconic warrior race has a lot going for it in terms of PvP Ground Combat options. Being Honorable means they can withstand damage better, while the Warrior trait greatly improves the melee damage of the Klingon as well as slightly increasing his Energy damage.

Gorn – Cold-Blooded – 25% Fire and 10% Plasma DoT Resistance

- Reptilian Strength – 18% Melee Damage and Knockback Strength

- Resilient – 5% Physical and Energy Resistance

- Bite (optional) – Melee range Physical Damage and Toxic DoT

The Gorn are another “ugly” Klingon Empire race. They have three starting traits – Cold-Blooded which improves their resistance to Fire and to Plasma DoTs, Reptilian Strength which is a large increase in melee damage and in the strength of their Knockback effects, while Resilient is simply a small increase in overall damage Resistance. While the second and third traits are useful, Cold-Blooded is a wasted slot. Bite is also an option for the Gorn that chooses to become a Close Combat beast. Unfortunately the three required traits leave the Gorn with very few customization options, which is bad considering they have no Space starting traits.

Lethean – Rapture – Hold and Psionic DoT

- Telepathic - 20% Stealth Sight, Increased Exposure Duration and Chance

The Letheans is the only race that starts with an active ability in the form of Rapture. It requires a short channel time and afflicts the target with a weak Hold (will break on any damage) and a short Psionic DoT. This can win one versus one battles, but in chaotic mass battles it is less than useful. The second trait is the generic Telepathy, same as the Betazoid one. It increases Stealth Detection and Expose Chance and Duration.

Letheans are perhaps the most versatile Ground PvP characters, especially if customized with more Ground traits.

Nausicaan - Physical Strength – 10% Melee Damage

- Pirate – 20% Stealth and 30% Exploit Damage

The Nausicaan Pirates are well known for their Physical Strength (10% more Melee Damage) as well as their increased Stealth and Exploit Damage. They are best suited as Tactical Officers using Stealth Kits and moving behind enemy lines, then opening up with Expose moves and finishing with a massive Exploit.

Orion – Seductive (Females Only) – Seduce: Confuse target for up to 12 seconds; 20% Placate Resistance and 10% Reduced Threat Generation

- Physical Strength (Males Only) – 10% Melee Damage

The green humans of the Klingon Empire are the only race to have different traits depending on gender. Orion Females get access to the Seduce ability which can Confuse a target for up to 12 seconds and cause to attack its allies. They also get Placate Resistance which can be useful especially against Science Officers. Orion Males get Physical Strength which improves their melee damage. They have three trait slots open to fill with Space bonuses, allowing them to be the most ship oriented race in the Klingon arsenal.

Welcome to Starbase 24

Hello and Welcome to Starbase 24, my Star Trek Online Blog.

The purpose of this blog is to provide objective information and tips about various aspects of STO, both PvP and PvE related. I will try to talk most about Captain and Bridge Officer skills and useful combos, Ship types and builds, Space and Ground tactics as well as walkthroughs for the more difficult PvE Episodes.

While I have been playing STO since Closed Beta and have seen most of the game content, I will try to refrain from formulating value judgments on the game as a whole until well after launch day and its necessary emergency patches have passed. In a loose translation – I will not write a review on the game based on my Beta experiences but will rather wait until things settle down 2-3 months down the road.

Now a little bit of information about me: I am a gamer. Well to be fair I am a PC gamer, I do not own and do not plan on owning a console system any time soon. I’ve been playing games for the past 20 years and will continue to pursue this hobby for as long as I can. I’ve played almost all major PC RPG titles and have at one time or another subscribed to most major MMORPG titles. I’ve seen Ultima Online back when it started, I’ve fought for Midgard in DAOC, ganked my way through Shadowbane, did the whole Everquest and SWG thing, raided until my brain went numb in WoW and experienced the “future” with AoC and WAR. My fondest memories are related to Anarchy Online and Shadowbane, though for different reasons.

On the other hand I cannot consider myself a “trekkie”. Sure I watched the shows, saw the movies and read some of the books but I never greeted anyone with “live long and prosper” nor do I pretend that my Merlot is “bloodwine”. My favorite characters in no particular order are Picard, Spock and Garak from DS9. My favorite show is DS9, especially the later seasons when the general atmosphere of the show darkens and war becomes the prevailing theme. The rest of the shows lack, in my opinion, the punch needed to stand out. Sure there are singular episodes here and there, but most of the time the plot ends on a positive note either by the liberal use of technobabble (we’ll route the plasma aftershave through the Jeffries tubes to flush out the quantum chroniton rats that have taken control of the holodeck!) or various alternate reality or time travel solutions.

That being said I play STO because I miss a good and new SF MMORPG. Anarchy Online, which I played for a number of years, is showing its age more and more and lacks the space combat I am fond of. EVE is glorious in its complexity but demands a much higher commitment from me that I am willing to give.

So now my hopes rest on Star Trek Online and its Federation-Klingon conflict. I hope Cryptic manages to pull it off in a satisfactory manner and create a multi-faction game with both rich PvE and engaging PvP.

Engage!