Star Trek Online is a robust MMO with alot of UI windows that do lots of stuff. This guide will explain when these windows will be useful to you, what they’re for, and how you can make the most of your STO experience.
 
 

The Character Sheet Window (Default button “U” )

The Character Sheet window, vertically is split between four entities, your Captain, shown at the top right, your ship, just below it, your small spacecraft, below that, and finally, all your bridge officers.
 
 
Your character sheet and ship sheets are important, you will spend lots of time tinkering, swapping out gear, and changing traits/skills.
 
 
Each entity (save for your ships) will have a character gear sheet (and an “Edit Record” button where you can type a bio, change your title or tell people you love cookies) where you compare and swap out gear, weapons and devices/consumables. It’s important to note that you can only change your Bridge Officer’s names, and sometimes at the cost of EC, but to change your Captain’s screenname you will need a Captain Rename Token (which is purchased on the C-Store).
 
 
On the next tab is a Skills Sheet, where, on your captain you get skill trees, on your bridge officers you can swap Bridge Officer skills. It should be noted that the STO community refers to Bridge Officers as “BOFFs” and Duty Officers as “DOFFs” (Of which we will speak about later). After Level 40 you will gain access to Specializations, which can further customize the kind of captain you are.
 
After that is a Traits tab, where you swap out Traits for your captain and ship, and displays species traits for BOFFs.
 
On the Ship tab there is a “Seating” tab, where you can swap out BOFFs and change their skills.
 
 
It is important to note that you cannot switch gear/skills while in combat/at RED ALERT)
 
 
It is very important that you have all these slots filled with gear.
 
 
On the captain gear tab you get a Kit Tray, which determines the skills you use in/out of combat.
 
 
There is a “Kit” slot, Kits increase your stats.
 
 
In terms of protection you get:
 
 
-“Shield” slot – Shields provide a temporary amount of damage mitigation before they deplete from taking too much damage. Once a shield is depleted the damage starts filtering through your armor and starts dealing damage to your health.
 
 
-“EV Suit” slot – this is new. You can have Armor and an EV Suit equipped and switch between them using the capsule-shaped button to the right of it. It’s important to note that when the game tells you to put the EV suit on, do it! It’s embarrassing to die because you forgot to put on your EV suit and walked out into space or something.
 
 
-“Armor” slot – Your armor is what determines how much damage is done to your health. Some armor boosts certain stats, and the more armors you wear the more that unlock in the costume tailor. Some armors can only be unlocked by completing “Reputation” projects or from buying from a fleet.
 
 
In terms of Weapons, you get two for your captain, one for BOFFs.
 
 
Weapons can be energy, kinetic, and physical and even include melee weapons.
 
 
Weapons can be switched between by pressing “Z” or by pressing the capsule button. You can also hide your weapons by pressing the “eye” icon next to the weapon slots. You can also holster/sheathe weapons by pressing “H”.
 
 
You and your Bridge Officers get device trays, which further expand the number of things you can do. Bridge Officers will use any weapon/device/skill you give them (including fire extinguishers, much to your chagrin) but you can instruct them to use certain abilities when you want them to (more on that later).
 
 
In the next Section I will go over the Ship Gear Tab.
 
 
 

The Ship Gear Tab

Ship gear sheets are where the real magic happens. A well-equipped ship will bring you hours of enjoyment.
 
 
But in order for a ship to run, you need some basic parts.
 
 
“Deflector” slot – A deflector is needed on every ship. a deflector is responsible for not only “broadcasting” your ship’s shields, but also to use a tractor beam, scan an area, or use Exotic Particle abilities/weaopons. A good deflector can boost Exotic particle damage, hull or shield healing, etc.
 
 
“Warp Core” Slot – A ship cannot fly without a warp core. (Trust me, I’ve attempted to.) There are many kinds of warp cores, but it’s important to note that only Romulan characters can use singularity cores on Romulan ships. (This may have changed with the crossfaction ship usage update, which I will go over later).
 
 
“Engine” slot – A ship’s flight also needs an engine. Some engines are perfect for combat, others for long-range flights. All engines pretty much do the same thing, (which is enable warp speed and Full Impulse) with the higher quality engines giving extra stats.
 
 
“Shield” slot – Although shields are not as important as hull hitpoints, I’d be lying if I said you don’t need a shield. All ships need shields. It’s important to note that shields can also change the look of a ship, the first shield to do this being the Reman shield from the mission “Arena” (writer’s note, double check this). Some shields are cosmetic only, meaning they don’t provide a stat bonus or shield hitpoints like a regular shield should. Make sure to read your tooltips!
 
 
“Forward” and “Aft” weapon slots – These are you bread-and-butter ship weapon slots. A plethora of weapons can be slotted, most being, but are not limited to, beams, cannons, torpedoes, and mines. Mines can only be slotted in the aft slots. Also, a review of the “firing arcs” tutorial is in order to explain how ship weapons work. Some ship weapons, like the Omni-directional, turrets, and Wide-Arc weapons have larger firing arcs than most traditional weapons. Mines are more powerful than torpedoes, but harder to get ships to fly into. Lots of choices!
 
 
“Experimental Weapon” Slot – Some upgraded/newer ships have these. This is where an Experimental Weapon would go, if you have one.
 
 
“Universal Console” slot – This is a slot specifically for a Universal Console. Universal Consoles fit here, but can also be slotted in any console slot.
 
 
Engineering Consoles – These consoles often provide utility or, for the most part, damage resistance.
 
Science Consoles – More utility, with a minor focus on sheild healing/drains or Exotic Damage.
 
Tactical Consoles – Tactical consoles boost your weapons’ damage, but can also do things like grant ship stealth, increase weapon accuracy, etc. The more common consoles usually come in “energy type” and “weapon type” flavors.
 
 

 
 
This is all about Star Trek Online – Playthrough & Gameplay Basic; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!