There’s something for everyone in TOS Arc 2. After Arc 1 added research to help lower-level players, a new way to get the ISS Jellyfish, this time we’ve got some major improvements to make the game more playable long-term. For lower-level players, you’re getting a second builder – to get you to the higher levels faster. For players level 40+, you’re getting a ton, and I mean an absolute ton of new research.
Second Builder
This one’s pretty simple. It does what it says on the box. You’ll be able to purchase a second builder.
And while you may be groaning that it’s something you’ll have to spend money on, it’s less money than you’ll probably spend for breakfast this morning.
New Officers
So we’ve got two new officers this round, TOS Sulu and TOS McCoy.
McCoy as captain gives a massive defensive bonus to your ship when attacked. And when put on an explorer, he’ll give a stats bonus to your crew. But, the one to get really excited about is Sulu. His captain’s maneuver will give you Morale, and his officer ability is a variant Khan‘s.
Still no Chekov this round.
New Technology
Just to give you an idea of the scope of the new techs available this month, here’s the list. It goes on for a while.
| 4★ Assembly Line | 4★ Interceptor Pure Crystal | Defense Platform Dodge |
| 4★ Battleship Defense Formation | 4★ Interceptor Pure Dilithium | Defense Platform Health |
| 4★ Battleship Defensive Shields | 4★ Interceptor Pure Tritanium | Defense Platform Modulation |
| 4★ Battleship Pillager | 4★ Interceptor Repair Cost | Defense Platform Penetration |
| 4★ Battleship Pure Dilithium | 4★ Interceptor Station Piercing | Defense Platform Shields |
| 4★ Battleship Pure Ore | 4★ Interceptor Swift Repair | Dilithium Fortification |
| 4★ Battleship Pure Tritanium | 4★ Pillager Critical | Explorer Retaliation |
| 4★ Battleship Repair Cost | 4★ Ship Bombardment | Interceptor Retaliation |
| 4★ Battleship Station Piercing | 4★ Ship Defense Formation | Parsteel Fortification |
| 4★ Battleship Swift Repair | 4★ Survey Pure Dilithium | Prime Battleship Manufacturing |
| 4★ Explorer Defense Formation | 4★ Survey Pure Materials | Prime Explorer Manufacturing |
| 4★ Explorer Defensive Shields | 4★ Survey Pure Tritanium | Prime Interceptor Manufacturing |
| 4★ Explorer Pillager | 4★ Survey Repair Cost | Prime Survey Manufacturing |
| 4★ Explorer Pure Dilithium | 4★ Survey Repair Speed | Rapid Construction |
| 4★ Explorer Pure Gas | 4★ Tier Up Boost | Rapid Research |
| 4★ Explorer Pure Tritanium | Apex Construction Speed | Research Pure Resources |
| 4★ Explorer Repair Cost | Apex Research Speed | Station Pure Resources |
| 4★ Explorer Station Piercing | Battleship Retaliation | Tritanium Fortification |
| 4★ Explorer Swift Repair | Blindsided Assault | Valiant Defense – Federation |
| 4★ Interceptor Defense Formation | Defense Platform Accuracy | Valiant Defense – Klingon |
| 4★ Interceptor Defensive Shields | Defense Platform Armor | Valiant Defense – Romulan |
| 4★ Interceptor Pillager | Defense Platform Deflection |
For the most part, these are all researches for levels 40+. So for most players, you’ll be getting these down the road a ways, but they’re there. Over the next six months, a lot of players who are in the level 35 range are going to hit level 40, and these new researches will be available to you then.
For players 40+ right now, these will be limited by a gate G4 station particle for the new research. You should be able to claim these particles with the events go live. (On February 9th, if you’re reading this in the future.)
And while the ones that increase damage are exciting, what I’m really looking forward to are those that increase efficiency. Once you break level 40, everything starts to get insanely expensive. Both in terms of materials, and in build and research times. I’ve done a good bit of station research, but right now, it will take me 121 days, 8 hours to upgrade to ops 41. And while I can certainly grind for speedups, that’s still a lot.
It’s also great to see technology to reduce the costs of building and repairing G4 ships.
And just in case you’re curious what a G4 Prime Research costs…
G4 Repair Costs
Another change with this update is a big reduction in repair costs for faction G4 ships (sorry ISS Jellyfish owners.) Here’s some data I got from LCARS, and it’s base values only, so none of the repair cost techs have been applied, but I think it gives you an idea of the costs for repairing G4 ships.
These are the figures for the USS Hydra, a G4 miner. You can see that especially at Tier 2, and Tier 3, there’s a huge reduction in repair costs.
| Ship Tier | TRITANIUM OLD | TRITANIUM NEW | % CHANGE TRIT |
| 1 | 11.60M | 11.60M | 0.00% |
| 2 | 92.80M | 41.595M | -55.18% |
| 3 | 122.018M | 58.962M | -51.68% |
| 4 | 167.210M | 122.991M | -26.45% |
| 5 | 266.561M | 188.20M | -29.40% |
| 6 | 387.724M | 264.699M | -31.73% |
| 7 | 520.535M | 360.883M | -30.67% |
| 8 | 721.120M | 494.107M | -31.48% |
| 9 | 885.655M | 741.917M | -16.23% |
| 10 | 1,132.790M | 1,063.070M | -6.15% |
| 11 | 1,142.625M | 1,142.625M | 0.00% |
| 12 | 1,464.625M | 1,328.836M | -9.27% |
New Hostiles
We’ve got some new TOS (kinda) hostiles out there. “Doomsday Worms,” which look like more organic versions of the Doomsday Machine from the TOS episode with the same title.
By the way, random trivia here. Commodore Matt Decker from The Doomsday Machine was listed in the writer’s guide for Star Trek The Motion Picture as the father of Commander Will Decker. And to take the trivia here to its logical conclusion, the character of Will Riker in TNG had his background in the Decker character from Star Trek: Phase II.
So these Doomsday hostiles will start at level 32, at 418k, and go all the way up to level 46, where they check-in at over 11 million. These will be used in events this month.
Arc Events
After new events like Scrambled Communication last month, we’ve got some new style events this month.
We’ll see a ticketed event, think of it like a carnival game. You’ll get one free ticket a day, with the chance to buy two others. This will get you into the Doomsday Space where the events will take place.
In addition, we’ll see an event around Valentine’s Day, that’s slated to include an event store, where you’ll be able to get officer shards, faction credits and more. I’ll have more on this, and the other events as they get here.
And we’ve got a server milestone event where your entire server will work together towards rewards. Also, the hybrid PvP/PvE event will be back. In this event, you’ll get assigned systems based on your level. In one of those systems, you’ll get points for destroying hostiles. In the other one, the “open” system, you’ll get points for destroying hostiles… or player ships. You’ll get more points for damage in the “open” system.
I’m also hoping that we’ll see another Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum event for level 39+ players during this arc.
LLAP, and stay safe out there my friends.