Star Trek Online Ships Guide

Star Trek Online Guides:

• Star Trek Leveling Guide


• Star Trek Strategy Guide


• Star Trek Ships Guide


• Star Trek PvP Guide


• Star Trek Federation Guide


• Star Trek Klingon Guide


• Star Trek Credits Guide

If you prefer an all-in-one strategy guide for Star Trek Online check out STO Mastery!

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 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...

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...

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.

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 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.

Station modifications are yet another way to customize your ships. All available upgrades are as seen in the TV shows and movies, for example Tetryon Pulse generators, Graviton generators and Multi-Spectro Scanners.

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.

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.

• Star Trek Leveling Guide


• Star Trek Strategy Guide


• Star Trek Ships Guide


• Star Trek PvP Guide


• Star Trek Federation Guide


• Star Trek Klingon Guide


• Star Trek Credits Guide

P.S. don't tell anyone: Star Trek Online Mastery Guide contains all the info the guides above do plus a lot more!