href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto"> style="">Star Trek Online
is
a space game. Sometimes though, the space guys have to come out of
their cute
little ships and do some actual work. Without a hull and photon
torpedoes at
your disposal, it’s critical to make the right preparations
and then bring the
battle to the bad guys.

style="">The Basics

Ground
combat is somewhat of a hybrid between MMOG-standard
fighting and a first person shooter. First and foremost though, this
game is
more strategic, not twitchy. Choosing targets and attacks is strategic,
jumping
around like your butt is on fire while spinning in the air and shooting
in
every direction is twitchy. It’s an important distinction
because sometimes the
battles get pretty hairy. When things get nutty, simmer down and
logically
progress through the choices and hand them their heads.

Many
of the traditional MMOG staples are included. Tab targeting
still works, melee and ranged combat are involved and I will always
need
healing.  Speaking of basics, you have got to go check out
Dalmarus'  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/ground_ui_guide">Ground
UI Guide. Always read the manual!

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/ground_ui_guide"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 375px;"
alt="Ground UI"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80104">

style="">Who to invite to the
party.

Star
Trek Online borrows a bit from the TV series and fills
in any party with generic henchmen so that you’ll always have
a full group. It’s
an interesting dynamic that allows two people to group up and then use
their
bridge officers to fill out the compliment of the away team. style="">  Early
on players don’t have many choices, but
Bridge Officers are fairly easy to come by (everyone needs a job these
days).
As you fill up your roster you’ll need to start making some
decisions. As with
most MMOGs, a balanced group is going to work well.

Designing
a Team. My character is a Tactician Officer and he
can dish out some very nice damage. He doesn’t take it very
well though so I
fill in around him with an engineering officer who can replenish his
personal
shields and a science officer who can replenish his health.
It’s awesome to be
in a fight and watch the AI team members work as advertised.
I’ll be getting
beat about the head and shoulders by a Klingon Swordmaster and all of a
sudden
my health bar fills up and my shields get fully charged.

style="">On the ground.

Once
on the ground (or in the targeted ship), the fun really
starts. I will say this now and you can thank me later. Crouch. Trust
me.
Crouch. It takes a bit to get used to (pressing
“C”), and MMOG players aren’t
typically tasked with personal posturing, but crouching makes the
damage
numbers go up nicely. It also reduces incoming damage a bit which helps
too.
Did I mention my new catch phrase “Crouch Early and Crouch
Often”?

style="">Learn your special
purpose in life. Each weapon has
a special attack and kits can also provide
additional skills so it’s critical to keep all the best moves
on the hotbar
(and remember to use them!). How many times have you been waiting to
respawn
and thought “now what does that cool looking button do? Oh,
that is a knockback
which stuns all enemies, well that would have been a good call a few
minutes
ago.”

class="MsoNormal"> style="width: 260px; height: 224px;" alt="Learn Your Purpose"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80184/preview">

Let your team
do
their thing.

The
Away Team is actually pretty good at what they do (even
if you dress them in red). Lead the team, but also let them do their
part. This
means that (a) the away team needs to be prepared and assembled well,
and (b)
as their leader you allow them to fulfill their responsibilities. As
stated
earlier, the AI of the away teams I’ve used have worked quite
well. I had one
particularly great healer for a bridge officer and I promptly asked her
to
marry me.

style="">Choices Out The
Wazzoo.

There
are so many choices when it comes to filling out the
bridge officers. If the mission rewards don’t fit the bill,
Bridge Officers can
be purchased for 100 Starfleet Merits (this is also the currency used
to train
bridge officers). Fill in between bridge officers used for space combat
with
those used for ground combat because the skills are vastly different. A
leg-sweeping tactical officer won’t do much good out
protecting the mining
facilities, but in close quarters nothing beats a good leg sweep
(except a
photon grenade).

style="">Dress for Success.

While
cruising through the wreckage that you’ve wrought during
both ground and space combat, inventories will fill up with quality
gear. The
gear is good for both you and your bridge officers (for the most part).
Make
sure to load them up with solid gear and don’t just vendor it
all. Luckily
though, bridge officers don’t show up unprepared for work.
They typically have
decent weapons and gear and you wouldn’t be embarrassed to
sit with them at a
popular lunch spot.

style="">Tactical Warfare.

Unlike
space combat with multi-sided shields, ground combat
is all about flanking damage. The damage numbers go through the roof if
a
shooter can get an enemy from a flanked position. For this reason, I
let my
team start the fights when possible. This does two things. One, it puts
their
lives on the line first instead of mine (I’m the leader, I
have to survive darn
it). Two, it draws the fire of the enemies in the area and then I can
take a
few steps off to the side and blast the targets while achieving full
flanking
bonuses. If I’m good I’ll stun them and then get
off a bunch of flanking shots
before they can turn on me.

style="">The only thing
constant is change.

While
ranking up and assembling teams, the only thing that
will stay the same is a character’s name. Everything else
will change. With the
changes it will become critical to maximize both the space bridge
officers and the
Away Team. The Away Team won’t be called to action as often
as the fly boys
(and girls), but they will be critical to the success of any
Captain’s ship.