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Ships in Star Trek Online are an important part of your gameplay experience. Most of the time you will be cruising around the space or engaging in battles with other ships and knowing the differences, pros and cons of all available ships is very useful.
Ships in STO are highly customizable, both their functions and looks. The decision about the looks and other components of the ships is left to each player so you will be driving your own hot ride, but the most important thing is it still feels like Star Trek.
You can gain access to better ships by investing skill points and progressing through ranks. Once you reach the rank of Lieutenant Commander you can select from three different types of ships: Science, Escort and Cruisers.
Contents at a Glance
Contents at a Glance
- Star Trek Guides List
- Escort Ships
- Science Ships
- Cruiser Ships
- Ship Equipment
- Ship Tiers
- Bridge Officers
- Ship Station Modifications
- Ships Crew
- More guides...
- Star Trek Online Skills Calculator
- STO Community News
- Any Other Star Trek Guides?
Star Trek Guides List
Escort Ships
class" title="Escort ship, Vigilant class">Escort ships are small but maneuverable ships with very strong weapons. They lack decent medical facilities and can't deal well with various science and engineering tasks.
Primary Role: Heavy damage ship, boasting incredible firepower for its size.
Special: Bonus to damage, speed and maneuverability; can load cannons; bonus to weapon power; extra forward weapon slot.
List of available Escort ships by rank:
Lieutenant Commander:
* Saber
* Rapier
* Ushaan
Commander (heavy escort):
* Akira
* Zephyr
* Norway (Oslo re-fit)
Captain (tactical escort):
* Defiant
* Vigilant
* Gallant
Admiral (fleet escort):
* Prometheus
* Phoenix
* Cerberus
More about Escort ships...
Science Ships
Science ships have advanced deflectors and sensors which can detect weaknesses in other ships, as well as reveal cloaked ships. The lack the firing power of Escort or Cruiser ships but are great for support in large battles.
Primary Role: Fleet support, ally aid, battle control. Specializes in buffs, debuffs and control.
Special: Advanced shields, innate subsystem targeting, innate cloak detection; bonus to Auxiliary power.
List of available Science vessels by rank:
Lieutenant Commander:
* Nova
* Aurora
* Quasar
Commander (research science vessel):
* Hope
* Horizon
Captain (long range science vessel):
* Intrepid
* Cochrane
* Discovery
Admiral (deep space science vessel):
* Luna
* Sol
* Polaris
More about Science ships...
Cruiser Ships
Cruisers are the largest ships which gives them access to bigger Warp cores (more energy) and a much larger crew, which increases effectiveness of almost all ship systems. Cruisers are also good for transporting goods due to their large cargo holds.
Primary Role: Lots of power; large crew complement provides quick repairs and boarding party tactics.
Special: Large Warp Core (power bonus); large cargo space (inventory); bonus to power in all systems; more weapon slots than Science vessels or Escorts.
List of available Cruiser ships by rank:
Lieutenant Commander:
* Constitution
* Excalibur
* Vesper
Commander (heavy cruiser):
* Constellation
* Stargazer
* Dakota
Captain (exploration cruiser):
* Galaxy
* Celestial
* Envoy
Admiral (battle cruiser):
* Sovereign
* Noble
* Majestic
More about Cruiser ships...
My favorite Star Trek resource
Ship Equipment
All ships can be customized by players in various ways which makes each one almost unique. You can change your ship's weapons, shield, engine and deflector. As you advance your character in Star Trek Online you of course gain access to better items.
Customizing and upgrading ships is an important factor in your gameplay. Although we'd all like nothing but photon torpedoes it's not actually a very good idea since they have a hard time penetrating your opponent's shields. You can also choose between disruptor weapons and phazers, each with their own pros and cons (disruptors deal more damage, but phazers can disrupt shield and ship subsystems).
Some items are also restricted to certain ship classes, for example if you want to put cannons you can only do so on an Escort ship.
Ship Tiers
In Star Trek Online ships are broken in five tiers, which means exactly what you think: ships with higher tier are more advanced. They offer more weapon slots and Bridge Officer seats.
Although it makes a significant different what type of tier your ship is, it does not necessarily mean you are helpless against opponents with higher tier ships. More experienced players will no doubt manage to turn the battle in their favor more than often.
Bridge Officers
Bridge Officers can dramatically change your gameplay. Each player assigns a number of Bridge Officers depending on the ship, which have a great impact on your ship performance. You can assign these officers to Science, Tactical or Engineering stations, and they can access their skills if depending on the rank of the station as well as rank of the officer.
To give you an example, if a Tactical Officer is a Commander but stationed at a Lieutenant Commander's station on a ship, he'd only have access to his Ensign, Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander skills.
Ship Station Modifications
They don't have as big a difference as Bridge Officers but are still an important part of your ship's effectiveness and can improve Bridge Officers directly.
These modifications can improve different ship elements such as armor, deflector or phasers. Different types of ships tend to work best with specific modifications also: Cruisers are best for engineering modifications, Escorts for tactical and Science ships for science mods. Basically, you can modify your ship to have more damage or specific damage resistances and similar.
Ships Crew
The crew of your ship deals with repairing damaged ship systems and hull, fights in boarding parties (and against them) and similar. Players can't interact with the crew (unfortunately), but can see their status at all times. Often when in battle crewmen will get injured and will require medical services before being sent back. Those who die while fighting can be replaces at the nearest starbase.
Different types of ships can have a different number of crew: as an example, large Cruiser ships can have a thousand crewman on board, while the smallest ships have only a few dozen. Having a large crew means your ship subsystems and hull repairs more quickly and boarding parties (which damage your opponents subsystems) are more effective.
