Star Trek Fleet Command on PC: Guide to the Best Early Game Ships
Initially, Star Trek Fleet Command had many of its best ships faction-locked, which meant that for most of the strongest units, it was necessary to farm reputation with the faction they belonged to. If you wanted the USS Mayflower, you needed Federation rep, whereas a Legionary would have similar requirements from the Romulan side.
While we do understand the role-play motivation behind this decision, it made the game grind-intensive, not to mention the fact that many quests with one faction had negative effects on your reputation with the other two.
In a previous article, we discussed some of the fundamentals of expanding your fleet, as well as how to improve each ship that you build. Now, it’s time we focus on the ships that are truly impressive in combat and when farming for different resources. The information here is intended as complementary to our BlueStacks guide to the best crew set-ups. Ensuring that your officers have direct, but also morale synergies between them can often render your cruiser significantly more powerful.
The Best Beginner Ships
Whether you’re looking to raid some miners, come out on top in PvP engagements, or even destroy a few bases, these ships are the ones most likely to help you emerge victorious. To begin with, the main quest will ask you to build several ships, such as the Orion and ECS Fortunate. Although they’re not the strongest, they will be very useful throughout the game. The first decent Interceptor you get is the Phindra, yet many believe it’s not worth making it due to it being weaker than the Turas.
However, up until you reach level 20 and become able to make a Kehra, the former is the only decent unit of its class you can use against Battleships. You might not think this is such a big deal, but, with the right crew, you can really take advantage of the combat triangle system. For this reason, it’s crucial that you have one good ship of each type in your dry docks. Take a look at our most recent victory. Our 1.7k Battleship was able to defeat a 2.3k Explorer simply because of affinity.
Still, it might be a good idea not to throw all of your resources at the Turas. A balanced strategy would be to wait until you get the Phindra and prioritize it, instead. After you’ve managed to get some good levels in it, you should switch back to the Turas and reinforce it as much as possible. The Jellyfish is naturally a better choice than the latter, but, given that it’s a rare, you might not have access to it.
The Best Raiders
Now, as you level up a bit more and get to level 14, you’ll be able to build the Talla. This is an incredibly powerful vessel that can easily carry you up to level 20 if properly crewed and upgraded. More importantly, you can use it to defend your miners by hiding underneath their nodes. Enemy raiders won’t see you and you’ll be able to engage them seconds before they attack your mining ship, thereby saving important resources and catching them off-guard. This unit of Andorian design is particularly useful for destroying enemy Turas’, against which it does 10% more damage.
Play Star Trek Fleet Command on BlueStacks
What’s more, against Hostiles of your level, you’re given significant Shield Pierce, Armor Pierce, and Accuracy. All of these will be improved the more you level the ship, as well as your Operations. Talla starts with a warp speed of 12 and if you upgrade it to as little as 19, you can easily start breaching faction territory. For mining purposes, this can be pretty impactful, since you won’t be killed as often in Federation, Klingon, or Romulan space.
One of the strongest raiders for F2P players in the beginning of the game is the Kumari, so much so that you can initially skip making the Kehra and the Vahklas for it. All three of them require 3-star mats to be made, which are particularly difficult to get, at least initially. For this reason, you’ll want to prioritize the strongest ship first and then go for the other two.
Mining and killing hostiles takes a long time, whereas raiding players is super easy. Particularly when there’s an event going on, the Kumari Battleship will help you achieve a top score effortlessly and in a short amount of time. The Kehra is a strong choice for daily quests and missions, but it does not have the destructive power of the former. Playing STFC on BlueStacks, we were able to attack players just in the nick of time due to the seamless performance of the game.
This can be tricky on a mobile device, since you need to get the timing right. Once a ship has arrived in a system, the enemy can change its destination in order to avoid getting trapped. As such, it is crucial that you are able to time your counter-attack just right when you’re defending a miner.
The Best Early Miners
Perhaps the best piece of advice that you can follow in terms of mining resources is to always use those cruisers that are specifically suited to this role. Battleships, Explorers, and Interceptors are not only less proficient at this task, but will also cost significantly more to repair when they’re attacked and destroyed by enemy vessels. And rest assured, attacked they will be.
The Envoy is an incredibly powerful miner that you get fairly early on, at level 16. Whatever you do, do not skip on it. Even though it is specialized for Tritanium, the right crew can provide a noteworthy boost to the mining of any resource.
As a captain, Helvia will give you a massive 40% boost to Parsteel mining, while K’Bisch will do a 40% boost to Tritanium prospecting when assigned to the same position. Even over just a couple of hours of mining, such a crew set-up will have a massive impact on your ability to gather resources. If you know you’ll be attacked a lot, don’t be afraid to guard your miner with a Kumari while you play. You’d be surprised at how many raids you can fend off in this manner.
With this in mind, you are now equipped to raid, mine, and defend your ships like a true space station commander. Whatever you do, never forget to have fun – it is a game, after all. There will always be stronger players, both F2P and P2W – a brutal, yet simple fact. Sometimes, they might raid you and steal your resources. However, if you’re careful and do everything in your power to protect your base, as well as upgrade your ships and crew, you’ll have a decent shot at this Star Trek MMORTS.