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Star Trek Online Beginners Guide - Part Two : Species and Traits
Part two of our STO guide looks at the species and trait selection.
Written by Chris Joyce, 20 January 2010
In part one of our beginners guide to Star Trek Online we talked about the three different career choices - part two looks at the different species available to players, and character traits.
Star Trek Online TraitsThere are a total of fourteen species in STO, nine for the Federation, and five for Klingon, and players with a lifetime subscription also have access to the exclusive Borg race.
Star Trek Online TraitsIn addition to the pre-set species, you can also create a custom species, customising as much as you like with free selection of traits and looks.
Star Trek Online TraitsSpecies choice is more than just cosmetic, however, as each species has their own individual traits, and it is these traits that can make or break your character.
Star Trek Online TraitsTraits provide boosts and bonuses to certain attributes, such as increased resistance to toxic damage, or allow special actions like increasing your damage output as your health drops lower.
Star Trek Online TraitsAs these species-specific traits are quite specific, rather than a skill you would use on the odd occasion, your species choice is very important, and unfortunately makes some species a poor choice for certain careers. Humans and Betazoids, for example, won't make good tanks.
You will be permitted four traits for your character. The pre-defined species come with between one and three set traits, with the remaining ones to be chosen by you.
At the moment there is no way to reset your trait choice, or make any changes, so your decisions here are important.
So, let's take a look at the species and racial traits for the Federation.
Please note, though, that as the game is still in Open Beta some of these may change before launch.
Human:
Leadership: 15% Repair rate.
Teamwork: 5% Team exploit damage.
Andorian:
Acute Senses: 20% Stealth sight and 10% exploit damage.
Bajoran:
Creative: 5% Damage and healing with kits.
Spiritual: 10% Heals received and 10% regeneration.
Benzite:
Natural Armour: Resist energy and physical damage.
Natural Immunities: Radiation and toxic damage resistance.
Betazoid:
Empathic: Reduces threat generation and increases team regeneration.
Telepathic: Increases perception, exposure duration and chance.
Bolian:
Corrosive Blood: 20% Toxic resistance, and deals toxic damage when bitten.
Saurian:
Circulatory Redundancies: Toxic, fire and plasma DoT damage redundancies.
Acute Senses: 20% Stealth sight and 10% exploit damage.
Trill:
MMOZine Issue 33
For our latest Star Trek Online coverage, click here to download MMOZine Issue 33 for free.Hyper Metabolism: Health regeneration, radiation and toxic resistance.
Vulcan:
Logical: 30% Psionic, confuse and placate resistance.
Physical Strength: 10% Melee damage.
Borg:
Borg Nanites: 10% ground health and shield regeneration.
Efficient: 5 starship engine, weapon and auxiliary systems efficiency.
When you start out, these are the options available to you as a member of the Federation. Once you reach level 6, you will then have access to the Klingon Empire, which have the following traits.
Klingon:
Honourable: 5% damage resistance and 10% threat generation.
Gorn:
Cold-Blooded: 25% Fire resistance and 10% plasma DoT resistance.
Reptilian Strength: 17.5% melee damage and knockback resistance.
Resilient: 5% Physical and energy resistance.
Lethean:
Rapture: Target and Psionic DoT.
Telepathic: Increases perception, exposure duration and chance.
Nausicaan:
Physical Strength: 10% melee damage.
Pirate: 20% stealth and 30% exploit damage.
Orion:
Seductive: Resist confuse and placate, and reduces threat generation.
As you can see, some of these traits make quite a considerable difference, and a very important when creating your character.
If the 'Unknown' species option isn't appealing to you, and you prefer the preset races, then we have a few suggestions for you below.
The Klingons seem the ideal choice for an Engineering Officer/Tank with their increased damage, and threat generation, and are able to choose three custom traits.
For a Science Officer/healer you are probably best looking at the Betazoid species as their Empathic trait reduces threat generation and increases team regeneration.
For all out damage your best bet seems to be the Nausicaans due to the increased damage output they have from both racial traits.
Of course, once you have selected your species you then need to choose your remaining traits, allowing you to refine your character with precise boosts to your required skills.
A mixture of both space and ground traits should be chosen as many missions contain both types of gameplay, and for effective progress you need to be strong in all areas.
By now you should have a firm grasp of the trait system and be able to effectively plan out your character before moving on to the cosmetic customisation, something I'm sure you're capable of handling without a guide.
Our next beginners guide blog will look at the progression and ranking system in STO.
Star Trek Online coverage available in MMOZine Issue 33 - click here to download it for free!
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