Get Hard, Stay Hard - One’s Secrets to Lasting Longer

[daBelgrave]

Do you ever wish you could last longer than thirty seconds? Is your performance lackluster, or do you remain unsatisfied when finished? Are your advances constantly rebuffed? Do you ever hear, “that’s what she said,” when commenting about failed exploits? What you need is staying power, protection, or a good enough performance that she comes back for more!

DISCLAIMER: The inspiration for this guide was someone’s suggestion that I was using innuendo one evening while giving advice for a ship setup. As a result, I heavily laced this with innuendo.

This guide is geared more toward escorts and similar ships rather than science vessels or cruisers. However, you can still adapt much of this into your other ship types. Also, this guide makes the assumption you will have no trouble making her warp core explode. If you cannot breach her warp core, then you have a completely different problem: not necessarily the size of your cannons, but the inability to even get started. Getting started or keeping it quick are both outside the scope of this guide.

The techniques mentioned here work, but only if you understand how you intend to use them. Preparing yourself to use these techniques at random will work about as good as not using them at all. Do your research, and figure out which ones will provide the greatest benefit to you.

So why should you bother trying to last longer than someone else? The answer is, lasting longer is more satisfying in the end. You want it to be fun, challenging, and worthwhile for everyone involved. You want to do your best and give her something to remember, no matter if it takes five minutes or three hours (if you’re still at it after three hours and it’s still fun, it must be very memorable!). By lasting longer, you can make it a better experience for everyone. On the flip side, if she cannot last long enough to be a challenge for you, the session may not be very satisfying; be softer and gentler if you must.

The hard part will be finding the right balance for you. You can perform adequately without anything special with just the basic techniques. If you wish to have top-notch performance, that type of optimization is expensive.

You can find the full text as a nicely formatted Google Document.

[daBelgrave]

Defense Bonus
The higher your defense, the harder it is for your target to hit you or react in ways that leave you impotent. There are several ways to go about this. Sometimes the gear you bring with you can increase your defense. Another way is to use speed to avoid attacks. You want your defense bonus as high as you can get it. Decreasing your speed will decrease your defense bonus, so only do so when appropriate or necessary.

Gear
The equipment you bring to play can make you harder. There are various items you may wish to use. Some will help you last longer. Some will give you more speed. Some will leave her somewhat more vulnerable to your advances.
Armor: You will probably want to use Neutronium armor for damage resistance against all damage types. The variants available at the Fleet Dilithium Mine also boost your ability to turn. The other option would be the Fleet RCS consoles available from the same vendor. These give a large boost to your turning ability, and a moderate increase to your damage resistance.
Science Consoles: Have at least one Field Generator. These increase your shield capacity, allowing you to have a greater initial reserve when you begin the engagement.
Devices: Grab a Subspace Modulator from the mission: Skirmish. This can be a minor boost to your damage resistance when you need that extra staying power. You should also have a battery or two, which will enhance your other capabilities.
Specialty Items: Universal Consoles can help, but you need to remain wary that you do not use so many that your potential actually decreases. One universal console that will definitely help weaken her defenses is Plasmonic Leech.

[daBelgrave]

Captain Abilities
Many of the things you can do will increase your damage resistance. This makes it so any hits that land on you end up hurting less or just bouncing off. For improving viability, everyone has two “shared” captain abilities, along with two career-specific abilities.

Shared Captain Abilities
Evasive Maneuvers: Increases your movement and defense bonus, with effectiveness based on your current engine power level.
Brace for Impact: Increases your kinetic damage and able crewmen resistance.

Engineering Officer Abilities
Rotate Shield Frequency: This reduces damage to shields by an amount affected by your skill points in Starship Shield Emitters and Starship Shield Performance. It also increase shield regeneration.
Engineering Fleet: This ability increases your team’s damage resistance.

Science Officer Abilities
Scattering Field: This ability increases your damage resistance (AoE) by an amount that varies according to your auxiliary power levels.
Science Fleet: This ability decreases the damage taken by your team’s shields.

Tactical Officer Abilities
Go Down Fighting: Useable only when your hull is down to 50% or less, this ability is a performance boost that makes you hit harder based on how little hull you have left.
Tactical Fleet: This ability increase your team’s speed and damage.

Bridge Officer Abilities
These are the abilities brought by your Bridge Officers. The type of ship you command will limit the possible combinations of available abilities.
Emergency Power to X (Eng): This is a group of four abilities, one for each power subsystem. Combined with the right Damage Control Engineer duty officers, these can be quite useful. Emergency Power to Shields is a definite hardener, and Emergency Power to Engines can give you more maneuverability and speed. Emergency Power to Auxiliary can be useful with an “Aux2Bat” build.
Auxiliary to Battery (Eng): Although not necessarily the best option on escorts, this is the mainstay of the “Aux2Bat” build, but only if combined with multiple Technician duty officers.
Auxiliary to Dampeners (Eng): This will increase your damage resistance and maneuverability, as well as keeping you from being disabled.
Auxiliary to Structural (Eng): You can use this to provide a small hull heal, and a boost to damage resistance.
Reverse Shield Polarity (Eng): This ability causes incoming energy damage to heal your shields.
Hazard Emitters (Sci): This will heal your hull, as well as clear you of movement debuffs like warp plasma.
Polarize Hull (Sci): This is a boost to your damage resistance, and gives you immunity from the tight clutches of her tractor beams.
Science Team (Sci): This can cleanse things she uses to debuff you, such as subnucleonic beam or Viral Matrix.
Transfer Shield Strength (Sci): This increases your shield regen, and boosts your shield damage resistance.
Tactical Team (Tac): Redirects shield facings to where they’re needed most while also removing boarding parties.
Attack Pattern Delta (Tac): This will increase your damage resistance, while debuffing her in several ways.
Attack Pattern Omega (Tac): This will increase your damage resistance and movement, while helping you escape her holds. Your defense bonus goes up with this.

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Duty Officers
The officers you place on duty can affect your ability to remain involved. These can provide bonuses that are always on, or are based on a chance to activate. You will probably only want to bring two or three of these, allowing for other duty officers to help in other things you need to do.
Conn Officer: Reduce recharge time for Attack Patterns 15%.
Shield Distribution Officer: Chance to partially regenerate shields when take damage after using Brace for Impact.
Security Officer: Extra threat generation with Attack Pattern Delta.
Damage Control Engineer: Chance to reduce the recharge time for Emergency Power to subsystem abilities.
Damage Control Engineer: Chance to add a hull heal-over-time effect to Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity Field.
Maintenance Engineer: Increase healing skills when using Emergency Power to Auxiliary.
Matter-Antimatter Specialist: Increase Control Resistance when using Emergency Power to Engine.
Systems Engineer: Reduces Weapon subsystem energy drain while using Directed Energy Modulation.
Technician: Recharge time on bridge officer abilities reduced.
Warp Core Engineer: Chance of temporarily improving your ship power on use of any Emergency Power ability.
Warp Core Engineer: Chance of removing all debuffs on use of any Emergency Power ability.
Deflector Officer: Chance to reflect damage when using Polarize Hull.
Flight Deck Officer: Increases the defense your Carrier while your fighters are in Recall Mode.
Hazard System Officer: Damage resistance buff with Ramming Speed and Brace for Impact.
Quartermaster: Recharge time reduced on all consumable batteries and Battery abilities.
Transporter Officer: Chance to remove hostile boarding parties with Transfer Shield Strength.
Nurse: Increases crew recovery while in combat, when crew is below 75%.
Entertainer: Energy weapons have a chance to inhibit target's Perception.

[daBelgrave]

Skills
Where you put your skill points determines how capable you can be. You do not need all of these, but a good combination will definitely improve your prowess.
Starship Maneuvers: Improves Starship Defense by allowing you to move faster.
Starship Threat Control: Increases your Starship Threat and Damage Resistance. If you do many STFs, this skill will leave you frustrated more than any benefit it provides.
Starship Hull Repair: Improves Starship Hull Healing, increasing your staying power.
Structural Integrity: Improves Starship Hit Points, increasing your ability to last longer.
Starship Subsystem Repair: Improves Starship Subsystem Repair, helping you bounce back if you’ve been drained.
Starship Electro-Plasma Systems: Improves Starship Power Transfer Rate, making it easier to remain energized.
Starship Impulse Thrusters: Improves Starship Speed and Turn Rate, giving you more agility.
Starship Hull Plating: Improves Starship Energy Damage Resistance, improving your hardness.
Starship Armor Reinforcements: Improves Starship Kinetic Damage Resistance, also keeping you hard.
Starship Shield Emitters: Improves Starship Shield Healing, helping you stay up longer.
Starship Power Insulators: Resist Energy and Shield Drain decreases your chance of being drained.
Starship Shield Systems: Improves Starship Shield Hit Points, making you harder from the start.
Starship Inertial Dampeners: Resist Hold, Disable, Knock and Slows, all of which could finish you faster.
Starship Sensors: Improves Starship Stealth Detection; Adds Confuse & Placate Resistance, allowing you to shake off any attempts to end you faster.

[daBelgrave]

Traits
The characteristics you bring with you to the engagement can affect your ability to last longer, or benefit you in other ways. Not all traits are available to everyone, so be sure to choose the best ones for you. This list only includes traits that help you last longer, not the ones you need in order to get started. There may be some others not included, but they are probably less useful.
Astrophysicist: Among other things, improves your Sensors stats, which helps you rebuff attacks.
Efficient Captain: Improves Power Levels when Low, allowing you to keep performing longer.
Elusive: Increases your ship's Defense value.
Helmsman: Reduces the cooldown on Evasive Maneuvers, and lets you turn faster.
Last Ditch Effort: Increases your damage resistance while under the effects of Go Down Fighting.
Techie: Improves your hull repair, allowing you to stay active longer.
Warp Theorist: Improves your power levels and your ability to direct power where you need it.

[daBelgrave]

Positions
The way you engage your target can improve your performance. Keep her guessing about your next move. Control her; if she controls you, it’s over. If she can’t shake you off, she’ll succumb to your advances every time. If you have good abilities to use, your positions primarily require combining abilities with movements.
Take Her From Behind: Perhaps the easiest tactic is to come in fast from behind her. This makes it harder for her to shake you off, and with good piloting, keeps your cannons on target. Watch out for any mines or torpedoes she may launch.
The Sideswipe: You will often find that people take measures to protect their rear. This leaves them more vulnerable to you approaching from the side. If you use a tractor beam or other ability to hold her, you will have an easier time keeping her from moving outside your zone of maximum effect.
Full Frontal: Approaching her head-on can be challenging. This requires not just lasting through everything she has, but giving her everything in return. This can be dangerously fast, and take a lot out of both of you. At the same time, it is probably the most commonly used tactic since that is the fastest way to get started.
Slingshot Surprise: A sudden turn can find her undefended. Start off with a slow approach, perhaps angling slightly away from her. She will probably expect you to continue the slow approach the whole way, which is where you get your advantage. With a sudden burst of speed, close the distance between the two of you before she can react. You will probably shoot past her, but with careful piloting and reverse throttle, you can spin around and let her have it where she’s least expecting you. If she uses gravity wells, you can do something similar by using the repel to help you turn faster and get your cannons back on target.
Rock the Boat: When she isn’t very agile, you may find it easy to approach from one side, move past her, and then approach from the other side. This back and forth forces her to guard against multiple directions, leaving her softer all around. This is a gentler approach that prolongs the encounter.
Sprint to the Finish Line: Sometimes your target will attempt to pull away and escape your advances in her own attempt to last longer. Feel free to give her a reprieve for a second or two, but then chase after her with an even faster burst of speed. She may believe herself to be on the verge of escape, but many times that escape attempt will leave her vulnerable. Catch up, and her warp core will soon explode from your efforts.
Venus Butterfly: This nearly mythical encounter rarely happens. There is no front, back, or side to this approach. You are both moving fast, giving everything you’ve got, keeping each other surprised, and most importantly, enjoying it. There is no way to guess the length of this type of encounter, and no matter who finishes first, you will both want more.

Difficulties
Sometimes you will have problems. This is unavoidable. If you find yourself in any of these situations, it may not be a good time for you.
The Headache Excuse/Andorian Icicle: When she isn’t in the mood, she’ll either avoid you or try to get it over as fast as possible. There is no fun when this happens, for either of you.
The Zombie/Borg Drone: Sometimes even your strongest advances are no use. With the right setup, she can learn to ignore you completely, keeping you from having any noticeable effect on her shields and hull.
Tsunkatse Sumo: This is painful. You both enter the arena, only for you to find out you’re with a sumo wrestler. She pins you down with her tractor beams and other holds, and sits there, leaving you unable to do anything. It takes sumo to fight sumo.
The Limp Fish: You come in full thrust, cannons blazing, and blow up her warp core without any effort. She comes back for more, assuming you’re enjoying it. Instead, she is making you do all the work, and is doing nothing to make it an enjoyable experience.
The Succubus: You come at her full of vigor and energy. You get close, do your thing, and find she suddenly drained all your power.

[daBelgrave]

Conclusion
There are many ways to get hard and stay hard during your encounter. You will use a combination of these, focusing mostly on keeping your damage resistance high, your heals and buffs in play, and finding the right methods to last longer than she can. At the same time, always remember that it takes two to make a good match. If she does not enjoy it, neither will you, or at least that will be true of subsequent encounters. So get hard, stay hard, and above all, have fun!