Star Trek Online System Power Guide

Star Trek Online System Power Guide by Kiala

The purpose of this guide is to introduce you to system power mechanics and to explain some of the ways power works. System power management is an important part of starship captaincy. My commanding officer, Kiala, has requested that I compile this information to make it available for others.

I. Basics
II. Captain Skills
III. Captain Traits
IV. Bridge Officer Abilities
V. Consoles
VI. Devices
VII. Power Table

Section I – Basics

Each ship has 200 points to distribute between the 4 systems: Weapons, Shields, Engines and Auxiliary. You can adjust the levels allocated to each system in increments of 5; however each system cannot be set below 25 or above 100. While power allocation cannot manually be set above 100, certain bonuses can send it above 100. If doing so, be aware that there is a hard cap of system power at 125. Running Full Impulse will drop all systems to 5 except engines, which it boosts to 100.

Each system controls the following:

Weapons – Increasing weapons power will increase the amount of damage energy weapons do. It has no effect on projectile weapons.
Shields – Increasing shield power will increase the shield regeneration rate of shields. It has no effect on maximum shield capacity.
Engines – Increasing engine power will increase the speed at which starships travel. Certain impulse engines work better at certain power settings. Combat impulse engines are optimized for lower power settings while Hyper-impulse engines are optimized for higher power settings.
Auxiliary – Increasing auxiliary power will increase starship turn rate and the effectiveness of certain officer abilities. It also increases the effectiveness of Evasive Maneuvers.

Starships come with 4 energy presets: Attack, Defense, Speed and Balanced. These presets can be saved to custom settings. New presets cannot be added, an old preset must be replaced.

Each ship class beyond Light Cruiser also provides a power boost. Cruisers give additional system power to all systems. Escorts give 10 additional power to weapons. Science vessels give 10 additional power to auxiliary.

Section II – Captain Skills

There are three sets of skills that affect system power. These skills do not count against your allocation and instead add to whatever that system’s power level is set at.

The most basic skill that affects system power is Starship Warp Core Training. This is a Lieutenant level skill and affects all systems. It has a greater effect at lower power levels and lesser or no effect at higher power allocation settings.

The next skills that affect system power are the Starship Efficiency skills. These are Commander level skills. Each Efficiency skill affects only the system that it is trained for. For example, learning Starship Energy Weapon Efficiency will only increase weapons system power. As with Starship Warp Core Training, it has a greater effect at lower power levels and lesser or no effect at higher power allocation settings.

The final set of skills are the Starship Performance skills. Engine and Shield are Captain level skills, while Weapons and Auxiliary Systems are Admiral level skills. Each skill affects only the system that it is trained for. These skills increase power across all power allocation settings.

A detailed table of the bonuses these skills provide is at the bottom of this guide.

Engineering captains have access to the ability EPS Power Transfer. This provides a temporary boost to power to all systems to either yourself or a targeted ally.

Section III – Captain Traits

There are three captain traits that also affect system power. One is available to all captains, and the other two are limited by certain races. Trait bonuses are linked to a skill and you will not get the benefit until you have put at least one rank into that skill.

Warp Theorist provides +10 Starship Warp Core Training skill. It is available to all captains and is a highly recommended trait selection.

Efficient provides +5 to all Starship Efficiency skills. It is available to Liberated Borg for both factions and to Alien custom races. This has recently been fixed to correctly provide the skill bonus.

Joined Symbiote provides +3.3 Starship Warp Core Training skill. It is only available to Joined Trill.

These bonuses stack, and taking Joined Trill and Warp Theorist or Efficient and Warp Theorist will provide both skill bonuses. For the purposes of pure system power consideration, Efficient is more effective, however it only benefits you when you put points in the appropriate efficiency skill. Considering the other benefits that Joined Symbiote provides, it is a better choice overall. Warp Theorist should be taken on all characters.

Section IV – Bridge Officer Abilities

The Emergency Power to abilities provide a boost to the power of the specific system. This boost is affected by three captain skills each. All are affected by Starship Warp Core Training. The appropriate system Maintenance and Efficiency skills will also increase that boost. These skills share a 20 second battery cooldown, which can be reduced with a different skill, Auxiliary Power to Batteries.

Section V – Consoles

There are two console types that affect system power. The first type of consoles give a bonus to power to their specific system.

Plasma Distribution Manifolds give additional weapons system power.
Field Emitters give additional shield system power.
Injector Assemblies give additional engine system power.
Booster Modulators give additional auxiliary system power.

The other consoles that affect system power are EPS Flow Regulators. These increase your power regeneration rate. This help when your power levels change, such as when you change to a different power preset, drop out of Full Impulse, or when using many energy weapons which drain weapons power. More powerful EPS Flow Regulators will make your power regenerate faster. Contrary to their item description, power does not actually have to transfer from another system.

Both of these console types stack with themselves and with each other.

Section VI – Devices

Batteries give an immediate +75 boost to their associated system and will set that system’s allocation to +75 for 3 seconds. A device called the Red Matter Capacitor also provides a small boost to all system power when used. Devices have a 5 minute shared cooldown.

Section VII – Power Table

This is a table of the actual power setting at different power levels. These settings were taken with Starship Warp Core Training. All skills are assumed to be at rank 9 except for the additional Performance list, which is at rank 7. This is to allow Admirals who are considering placing their 7 points into a Performance skill to consider the benefit. The list will go as follows:
Actual Power Setting: Starship Warp Core Training Only/Starship Warp Core Training and Starship Efficiency/Warp Core, Efficiency and Performance at rank 9/Warp Core, Efficiency, Performance at rank 7

25: 32/40/50/49
30: 36/44/54/52
35: 41/47/57/55
40: 44/50/60/59
45: 49/54/64/62
50: 53/57/67/66
55: 57/61/71/69
60: 62/64/74/73
65: 66/68/78/76
70: 71/71/81/80
75: 75/75/84/83
80: 80/80/89/88
85: 85/85/94/93
90: 90/90/99/98
95: 95/95/104/103
00: 00/00/109/108

The following is the above chart with Efficiency (the trait) in addition to Warp Core Training. Rank 7 Performance is omitted due to skill constraints:
Actual Power Setting: Starship Warp Core Training Only/Starship Warp Core Training and Starship Efficiency/Warp Core, Efficiency and Performance

25: 32/41/51
30: 36/44/54
35: 41/48/58
40: 44/51/61
45: 49/54/64
50: 53/58/68
55: 57/61/71
60: 62/64/74
65: 66/68/78
70: 71/71/81
75: 75/75/84
80: 80/80/89
85: 85/85/94
90: 90/90/99
95: 95/95/104
00: 00/00/109

It is my hope that this guide is beneficial to some. Thank you for taking your time to read this.

Lieutenant Commander Stov
Chief Engineer, U.S.S. Atlantis