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.

Races - Federation

Racial choice is the second most important choice you make when creating a character, following the type of Officer you wish to be. Most premade races have unique traits that set them apart from what you would be able to create by using the Custom Race option, but these traits are not necessarily that good. On the other hand, premade races do not have access to all the traits Custom Races have access to, so it is up to you to judge the pros and cons carefully when selecting a race or making your own.

Federation Races

From all the Federation Races available I would recommend the Humans or the Vulcans as the most versatile.

Human – Leadership (Space) – 15% Repair Rate
- Teamwork – 5% Team Exploit Damage

Humans are the predominant Federation species and they get the racial bonuses to prove it! Leadership allows for a faster Repair Rate for your Spaceship while Teamwork improves the overall damage potential of your Away Team. Unfortunately both of these traits are mostly PvE, as you rarely have time to sit and repair in PvP and you cannot take your Away Team with you when fighting Klingon Captains.

That being said these traits are extremely solid PvE options and allow you to pick out 2 more PvP traits should you wish.

Andorian – Acute Sense – 20% Stealth Sight, 10% Exploit Damage
- Fury (optional) – Once you fall below 50% Hit Points, you deal increasingly more damage the lower you get.

Besides their physical appearance there is nothing special about Andorians as a Race. Their bonus trait is a generic one and can be added to almost any race. It is of use both in PvE and in PvP, especially once you reach Tier 2 and begin to encounter Tactical Klingon Officers equipped with Stealth Kits. Andorians also have access to the Fury trait, which increases their damage the closer they are to death. While this is quite useful in PvE where it is not uncommon to fight on with 50% or less Hit Points, in PvP you are usually targeted first once you fall below 50%.

Bajoran – Creative – 5% Damage and Healing with Kit Abilities
- Spiritual – 10% Heals received and 10% Regeneration

Bajorans are one of the newer additions to the Federation. They bring with them a generic trait – Creative – which improves the damage and healing dealt by Kit abilities only (Photon Grenades, Medical Tricorder, Triage etc) and a unique trait – Spiritual – which improves their health regeneration and increases the amount of healing they receive. While neither of these traits is impressive in either PvE or PvP, they are not useless either. However if you are looking for a more efficient race, you might want to skip Bajorans.

Benzite – Natural Armor – 3% Resist Energy Damage and 10% Resist Physical Damage
- Natural Immunities – 33% Radiation and Toxic Damage Resistance

The Benzite Race is all about damage resistance. Natural Armor is unique to these blue humanoids and provides minor resistances to Physical and Energy Damage, while Natural Immunities is a generic trait and provides massive damage reduction against Radiation and Toxic attacks. The problem is in PvP you will rarely encounter Radiation and Toxic Damage, while in PvE other traits would be better suited.

Betazoid – Emphatic – 20% Reduced Threat Generation and 5% Increased Team Regeneration
- Telepathic – 20% Stealth Sight, Increased Exposure Duration and Chance

Deanna Troi would be proud of her racial traits. The Betazoids are not only great Ship Counselors, but also mean machines in PvE and PvP when it comes to ground battles. Empathic (unique trait) reduces Threat Generation and increases Health Regeneration. The Regeneration is team wide, meaning that even in PvP anyone that is in your team (important they must be teamed with you and not just on the same side) and in range (15 meters) gets the buff. The second trait is generic but still useful, improving both Stealth Detection and increasing Expose Chance and Duration. This allows Betazoids to use Expose Weapons with greater efficiency.

Bolian – Corrosive Blood – 20% Toxic Resistance, Deal Toxic Damage when Bitten
- Teamwork (optional) – 5% Team Exploit Damage


Bolians are the second blue skinned race of the Federation. They only have a single trait to their name and that is mostly useless. Toxic Resistance may come in handy, but the ability to poison mobs that bite you is poor in PvE and useless in PvP. They also have access to Teamwork, the only race other than Humans with the option of taking this trait. Even with Teamwork, there are better races to choose from.

Saurian – Circulatory Redundancies – 40% Toxic, 25% Fire Damage Resistance and 10% Plasma DoT Damage Resistance
- Acute Senses – 20% Stealth Sight, 10% Exploit Damage

These funny looking, nose lacking, purple lollipops have 2 traits to their name. Circulatory Redundancies is their unique bonus, improving various resistance that are decent in PvE but of no use in PvP. A Klingon is more likely to smash your head in or vaporize you rather than set you on fire or poisoning you. The second trait is more useful in both PvE and PvP, but the Andorians also have it and they do not have a wasted trait slot to hinder their effectiveness.


Trill – Hyper Metabolism – 10% Health Regeneration, 33% Radiation and Toxic Damage Resistance

The Trills are almost identical to Humans in appearance, unless you count the freckles on the side of the heads as something other than bad skin. Their singular trait is decent enough in both PvE and PvP, but does not really shine in any department. Luckily they have 3 empty slots to fill with superior bonuses.

Vulcan – Logical – 30% Psionic Damage Resistance, 30% Placate and Confuse Resistance
- Physical Strength – 10% Melee Damage
- Mind Meld (optional) – Channeled short duration Hold and longer duration Confuse
- Nerve Pinch (optional) – Melee range 10 second Hold

One cannot talk about Vulcans without making a reference to Spock. Now that mentioning his name is out of the way, we can discuss the traits the race receives in STO. Logical gives Vulcans 30% Resistance to various negative effects. This is reasonable useful in PvE but not so much in early PvP where people don’t usually bother with the subtleties of Psionics. The second trait – Physical Strength – makes for a great option for Tactical Officers that choose to use the Close Combat Kits.

The two optional Vulcan only traits – Mind Meld and Nerve Pinch – can make them fearsome adversaries in PvP and quite potent Away Team Captains in PvE. Nerve Pinch alone is enough to guarantee victory in any one versus one encounter and Mind Meld can be used to sow chaos in an enemy group.

Overall Vulcans are a solid choice for any type of player.

Tactical Officers

Tactical Officers can be considered the DPS class of Star Trek Online. This does not mean that DPS is all they do, but their skills are all focused on doing more damage than say – staying alive like an Engineer or providing utility like a Scientist. The first Space skill Tactical Officers get is Attack Pattern Alpha at level 8. When activated it increases the damage of your weapons and improves the ship’s turning rate. Later on such Officers can get access to Fire on my Mark which reduces the damage resistance of the targeted enemy.

On the Ground Tactical Officers receive the same type of skills as in space, although with a bigger focus on team improvements. At level 5 a Tactical Officer receives Target Optics which increases damage, critical strike chance and critical strike damage as well as having a chance to Expose enemies near the attacked target. Fire on my Mark is also present at Tier 2, while at Tier 3 the Officer receives Tactical Initiative which instantly resets the cooldown timers for weapon special attacks and kit abilities for the entire team.

Kit-wise Tactical Captains get access to Photon Grenades, Close Combat skills such as Lunge or Leg Sweep, Stealth abilities and team buffing skills. One can build a Ground Officer to be effective either as a Close Combat, in your face Jackie Chan lookalike or as a Predator style stalker, sneaking around and picking off enemies with his heavy weapons. Overall a good PvP team needs a few Tactical players to lead the charge while Engineers and Scientists bring up the rear.

I’ve talked at the beginning of this post about how the various Officer types correspond to the age-old MMO staples of Tank, Support and DPS. Fortunately for all involved, the distinction between classes is not as clear cut as that. A Science Officer can fly a Cruiser just as well as an Engineer and overall only lack a bit in survivability but dealing more damage. There is nothing stopping a Tactical Officer from flying a Science Ship and kicking ass with his DPS oriented skills. Any player can fly the ship of his dreams and be effective in it. The skills the classes provide are nice “extras” but are not required to be a successful Captain.

On the Ground the distinction between Officer types is more pronounced, especially since Kits are class specific. Engineers will always be more efficient in the back lines and as defensive characters, fortifying areas with their large number of turrets, while Science Officers will always be desired for their buff/debuff potential. Still, considering everyone can use the same weapons with roughly the same efficiency, there is no need for a Science Officer to always bring up the rear, tricorder in hand and an eye on the green health bars of the team. He can still be up in the front lines shooting phasers and launching plasma bombs at the enemy.

In conclusion – whatever class you choose, you determine how it plays. The skills you get are more of a guideline than a blueprint. The game will play the way you want to play it.

Science Officers

Science Officers are all about buffs and debuffs both in Space and on the Ground. While commanding their ships Starfleet and Klingon Defense Force Scientists have access to Sensor Scan at Tier 1, which debuffs the target and lowers its damage resistance while at the same time increasing the Officer’s Perception (Stealth Detection). Later on one can access the Subnucleonic Beam which increases the cooldown of all Captain and Bridge Officer powers of the targeted ship.

When it comes to Ground options, a Science Officer gets Tricorder Scan, simply a copy of Sensor Scan, Neural Neutralizer which Placates nearby enemies (Placated targets do no attack the Officer or his allies unless attacked first), and later on Dampening Field which debuffs the Energy damage dealt by enemies in the field.

A Science Officer on the Ground fills a variety of roles depending on his Kit, from crowd controller, debuffer to a healer. Perhaps the most important role a Scientist can play as part of a PvP team is that of Doctor. Medical Tricorder is a large, short cooldown, single target heal that also provides a huge boost to damage resistance (starting at 50%) for a few seconds. Other skills include Triage which has a longer cooldown but an AoE healing effect. On the other hand, if a Science Officer prefers a more offensive role he can pick up Stasis Field and use it to Hold adversaries in place or Sonic Pulse and other AoE Skills to damage, knockback or debuff his victims.

It is unusual to find Science Officers in the Klingon Defence Force as they have no specialized Science ships to use. Still a good Science Officer can make a scary Bird of Prey or Raptor Captain, especially when using his debuffs to compliment the incredible damage that the Escorts can put out.

Engineering Officers

The first major decision you will need to make when starting a new character in Star Trek Online is what type of Officer should it be: Engineering, Science or Tactical. Broadly speaking these correspond to Tank, Support and DPS classes from other games, although the line is far more blurry in Star Trek Online. Each class plays differently depending on the environment they are fighting in. Engineers may be the “Tanks” in Space, but they are a Utility/Pet Class on the Ground. Below you will find a quick summary of what each class is all about.

Engineering Officers have mostly Shield or Hull related skills in Space. At level 8 they get Rotate Shield Frequency I which increases Shield regeneration and greatly improves its damage resistance for a short time. This low level skill allows Engineers to easily “tank” more ships at early levels and survive, making them great for solo players and PvPers. Other Space abilities include Nadion Inversion which allows them to fire an additional Energy Weapon without consuming extra power for a short time or Miracle Worker which quickly “heals” their ship’s Hull and repairs damaged subsystems. These abilities improve the survivability of the ships commanded by Engineering Officers, no matter if they are Escorts, Science Ships or massive Cruisers. In fact, some of the best Escort Captains are Engineers as the added survivability goes complements the “glass cannon” archetype of the Escort quite well.

On the Ground Engineering Officers also receive Shield restoring abilities such as Reroute Power to Shields at level 5 which is pretty much the same as Rotate Shield Frequency. At level 15 they can create a Cover Shield which is a line-of-sight blocking force field that players can hide behind for cover. At Tier 3 an Engineer gets Support Drone which allows him to beam in a Support Drone that can attack the Officer’s targets. Finally an Engineering Admiral gets access to Orbital Strike which does AoE damage and knockbacks afflicted targets.

As all Officers the rest of the Engineer’s abilities are determined by the Kits he uses. Most Engineering Kits allow the player to create various static generators or turrets that can be used to buff or heal (Shield Generator, Medical Generator) or protect areas (Phaser Turret, Chroniton Mines). In PvP these static emplacements can be used to protect and fortify areas and at low levels allow the Engineer to fill various roles. If summoning immobile defenses is not appealing, and Engineer can also get Weapons Malfunction which temporarily disables an opponent’s weapon.

Overall an Engineer is the perfect class for defensively minded players. An Engineer is a Cruiser is almost an unkillable tank in small group PvP and PvE while on the ground Engineers can turn a room into a fortress bristling with turrets and support generators.

The next 2 posts will focus on the other 2 careers: Science and Tactical.

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!