It is free to try it, so there's that. I can't say it's super exciting to play, but a lot of the writing and voice acting is very good, and the mechanics are pretty deep and fun to explore with calculators and such. I do tend to enjoy playing the spreadsheets more than the game. It does do a very poor job of teaching you those mechanics, however, and it does not generally give out top of the line stuff for free, so you'll definitely get the impression that you ought to be spending a few hundred dollars on it, but that is not necessary.
Note that an exception to that rule of not giving out top of the line stuff is coming up around the end of the month or middle of next, or rather two of them. One is the Anniversary Event which will give a new free Tier 6 ship for completing 20 days of event progress within the 30 day event (generally 15 minutes or less, but there is a 20 hour cooldown timer after earning before you can do it again, many things work on a 20 hour timer like that). The other is the Klingon Recruitment event which will give a known, pretty decent T6 ship with one of the best starship traits in the game for starting a new Klingon Faction character anytime within the three weeks, and then at some point (not necessarily during the event) completing a particular story mission with them. Both of these ships will be available to every character you ever create on your account simultaneously, and can be infinitely dismissed and reclaimed. Plus there are usually daily giveaways of smaller stuff the week before the Anniversary Event.
For starter resources, the STO BETTER site is put together by some of the most knowledgeable people around, who make most of those spreadsheets, and their New and F2P section has great guides on how the different build types work and what you should prioritize for them. Focus on the Energy and Exotic types as a starting point, it's very difficult to do anything else on the Tier 5 ships you get for free, nevermind the lower tier ships you'd get while leveling. There are also complete starter endgame builds on most of those free ships here on reddit, each designed both to be a pretty standard example of its type and to allow you to collect everything you need soon after or even before hitting level 50 and then start grinding out the normal difficulty TFOs or the battlezones to level your reputations and get better stuff.
For the Trident, Luna, and Ha'nom science vessels (plus the level 61 Intrepid and Varanus): my Strict Budget Build series for an exotic damage build, which also includes some basic ground build advice.
For the Sovereign, Vor'cha, and Ha'apax cruisers (for the Emissary and Negh'var drop Tactical Team): the Baby Step Series for a beam energy weapon build.
For the Hegh'ta Bird of Prey: my Quick Looks 1 build for a cannon energy weapon build which takes a lot of inspiration from the Baby Step Series, and can be easily put on the Klingon Recruit ship.
For the Jem'hadar Escort: my Quick Looks 2 build for another cannon energy weapon build.
For the Vo'quv Carrier: my Quick Looks 3 build for a hybrid DEWSci build, a bit odd but the best thing I could do with the ship given the budget.
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u/thisvideoiswrong 22h ago
It is free to try it, so there's that. I can't say it's super exciting to play, but a lot of the writing and voice acting is very good, and the mechanics are pretty deep and fun to explore with calculators and such. I do tend to enjoy playing the spreadsheets more than the game. It does do a very poor job of teaching you those mechanics, however, and it does not generally give out top of the line stuff for free, so you'll definitely get the impression that you ought to be spending a few hundred dollars on it, but that is not necessary.
Note that an exception to that rule of not giving out top of the line stuff is coming up around the end of the month or middle of next, or rather two of them. One is the Anniversary Event which will give a new free Tier 6 ship for completing 20 days of event progress within the 30 day event (generally 15 minutes or less, but there is a 20 hour cooldown timer after earning before you can do it again, many things work on a 20 hour timer like that). The other is the Klingon Recruitment event which will give a known, pretty decent T6 ship with one of the best starship traits in the game for starting a new Klingon Faction character anytime within the three weeks, and then at some point (not necessarily during the event) completing a particular story mission with them. Both of these ships will be available to every character you ever create on your account simultaneously, and can be infinitely dismissed and reclaimed. Plus there are usually daily giveaways of smaller stuff the week before the Anniversary Event.
For starter resources, the STO BETTER site is put together by some of the most knowledgeable people around, who make most of those spreadsheets, and their New and F2P section has great guides on how the different build types work and what you should prioritize for them. Focus on the Energy and Exotic types as a starting point, it's very difficult to do anything else on the Tier 5 ships you get for free, nevermind the lower tier ships you'd get while leveling. There are also complete starter endgame builds on most of those free ships here on reddit, each designed both to be a pretty standard example of its type and to allow you to collect everything you need soon after or even before hitting level 50 and then start grinding out the normal difficulty TFOs or the battlezones to level your reputations and get better stuff.
For the Trident, Luna, and Ha'nom science vessels (plus the level 61 Intrepid and Varanus): my Strict Budget Build series for an exotic damage build, which also includes some basic ground build advice.
For the Sovereign, Vor'cha, and Ha'apax cruisers (for the Emissary and Negh'var drop Tactical Team): the Baby Step Series for a beam energy weapon build.
For the Hegh'ta Bird of Prey: my Quick Looks 1 build for a cannon energy weapon build which takes a lot of inspiration from the Baby Step Series, and can be easily put on the Klingon Recruit ship.
For the Jem'hadar Escort: my Quick Looks 2 build for another cannon energy weapon build.
For the Vo'quv Carrier: my Quick Looks 3 build for a hybrid DEWSci build, a bit odd but the best thing I could do with the ship given the budget.