7 Quick Outlaws II Observations, Day Two

As per usual with these big arc events, the day of the update is absolute chaos. There are hotfixes and confusion. And this time was no different. But here we are on day two, and things are settling down. So I thought I’d throw together a few quick thoughts, notes, and tips for you.

Unlocking the Rogue Store

Once you complete the second Milestone of the Outlaws II Battle Pass, you’ll get 10 Outlaws II Mission Keys. This will let you open the first set of new missions. Completing these will give you your first Rogue faction points. Prepare for a lot of warping.

Quick tip. If you leave one ship at your station and move it out into open space near your station, then hit recall on the mission screen, you can save an awful lot of time each time it tells you to “return to your station.”

Once you unlock the faction store, there are a few things you’ll want to make sure you buy daily, your “Directives, Rep and Credits” in which you’ll spend 2000 of the eclipse security codes you get for attacking the Eclipse Transports (see below.)

You’ll also want to make sure you get the Data to Directives.

Eclipse Transports

These aren’t nearly as tough as they look. You’ll probably be able to punch above your weight in this one. These ships are high on health (this one’s 4 million,) but their attacks are tiny by comparison (this one’s only 624k,) so if you’ve got a good Pike crew, you should be able to get through these easier than you might think.

You’ll want to start hunting these now and try to get at least 2,000 eclipse security codes per day.

Rogue Armadas

• You’ll get the uncommon armada directives by cashing in decoded data. At the “Abettor” level, you’ll get 34 directives for 37k data.
• The countdown timers are only 7 minutes long, which means you’ll need to have your team nearby when you start it.
• Credits after your victory wind up in your cargo hold – they don’t go instantly to your items inventory.
• They respawn instantly.
• There’s a Rogue armada event coming, so don’t feel the need to rush out and spend all of your directives right away.
• The extra chest gives from Rare Eclipses Armadas gives you Epic Eclipse Armada Directives.

Solo Burst Leaderboard

This was a fun event. There will be five more sessions of this going forward. It really helps to have a plan for this event. Remember that level 1 researches tend to give you much more power than higher ones do.

I’d suggest taking a few minutes on discord with LCARS to find out exactly how much power you’ll gain from each tech. The nice thing is that most of the new Outlaws techs are cheap, but you still want to time them out as efficiently as possible to avoid wasting resources and speedups.

Thoughts on The Early New Tech

There’s some good stuff in the pre-Stella Research. And in keeping with the theme of this update, there’s also some bad and ugly.

The Good

I love the cheap warp-speed technology boosts for all empty ships with “lightweight engines.” Time and timing are the big keys to Star Trek Fleet Command, and being able to get your ships there faster will make you a more effective player.

Also, the station defense upgrades could be pretty substantial, and they’re early on. The repair cost reduction will also come in handy in trying to crack these now bolstered stations.

It will be interesting to see just how effective these new techs are in making stations harder to crack.

The Bad

Maybe this is just because I’m at level 36, and I’ve got more ship parts than I can shake a stick at, but I could care less about the bartering techs that give you a discount on parts for upgrades.

The Ugly

What is the point of the Botany Bay upgrade techs? This isn’t a ship you’re ever going to take into combat successfully. It’s not like you’re going to do any real damage with the thing. This is a useless upgrade. The same is true for Data Storage.  Protected data storage wasn’t really a problem before, and especially not since they nerfed the data nodes. The second level of “Data Storage’ gives you an increase of a measly 500 protected cargo for the Botany Bay.

I could see lower level players maxing this out, and using it to put mine materials overnight, but that’s about the only upside.

If you missed the calendar in the popups, here’s a version for you.

Unlocking the Stella

I’ve seen this question come up a few times. I think most people have the idea, but if you’re not, you can read it here with no shame, and pretend you knew all along. I won’t tell a soul. Promise. You’ll need to complete the Stella Research, and you’ll get the blueprints by completing the free Milestones 5 and 10.