Mission: Crystalline Catastrophe

Crystalline Catastrophe

Given by:

PvE Queue

Level:

50

Repeatable:

Yes

You will receive the following reward:

• 480
• Green, blue or purple item
• Nukara Marks
• [Crystal Shard] (1 per day, only April 11 - May 2, 2013)

The Crystalline Entity

Crystalline Catastrophe is a fleet action available for all factions in a normal and an elite mode.

Mission Text

Admiral, a crystalline entity has been sighted. Join in the battle against this enormous destroyer of worlds!

Objectives

• Go to Crystalline Entity

Goal

Destroy the Crystalline Entity

Mission Dialogue

Admiral Grigori Yanishev:

Glad to have your assistance in these efforts, Admiral. I can give you information regarding the Crystalline Entity's combat capabilities and recommended countermeasures.

Situation

We're under attack by a massive Crystalline life form. The USS enterprise encountered one of these nearly forty years ago, and the creature was destroyed. At the time, we believe that the creature was one of a kind and hadn't prepared for the eventuality of encountering another.

When this one was discovered traveling through this region of space, attempts at communication were made, but the creature responded by violently destroying the ships that were sent to make contact. As a result, Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force have both authorized immediate action to end the threat caused by its presence.

The Tholians seem particularly interested in this Entity. Perhaps they hope to communicate with it, based on their biological similarities as crystal-based life-forms. As usual, the Tholians are enigmatic, and we're not really sure what they have planned. We should be prepared to defend ourselves from their forces, as we move to engage the Crystalline Entity.

During the special Crystalline Catastrophe event, you can earn Crystal Shards. These are used with the new Event Reputation to earn special bonus rewards. You may earn one shard every 20 hours for participating in the Crystalline Catastrophe queued event.

Entity's Combat Capabilities

It focuses a Matter Conversion Beam in a similar manner to starship weaponry, and uses this to lash out randomly at nearby vessels. This beam deals substantial damage to starships, it is capable of disabling and killing crew at an alarming rate.

The Crystal regenerates at very high speeds, and is incredibly resilient to our firepower – especially that derived from directed energy weapons. Massive amounts of sustained firepower will be needed over the course of our encounter in order to overcome this.

• Matter Conversion Beam Weapon (Antiproton damage)
• High Health Regeneration
• High Kinetic Resistance
• Very High Energy Weapon Resistance

There is a high chance that dealing damage to the Entity will cause a Large Crystalline Fragment to break off into space. We've observed these Large Fragments seek out starships and ram into them, destroying them in as little as a single hit. If you find yourself being followed by a Large Fragment, it's recommended that you either destroy it, or outmaneuver it.

Large Fragments that impact a starship will shatter into Small Fragments which returned to the entity and apply a "Re-Crystallize" effect that will amplify the magnitude of the entity's attacks. The Small Fragments can be destroyed, but targeting them has proven exceedingly difficult.

• When damaged, spawns Large Fragments which will attempt to ram vessels, but will ignore smaller targets (mines, fighters, etc.).
• If they impact a ship, will split into Small Fragments. Destroying them before they can impact the ship will prevent Small Fragments from spawning.
• Small Fragments will apply a buff that will increase the Entity's damage.

As a strange side effect of the Entity's unique crystalline structure, certain combat abilities that are typically used to drain enemy shields and subsystem power, have proven to break down newly-formed crystals along the entity's surface. These abilities are specifically effective against Small Fragments that have attached themselves to the entity and applied the "Re-Crystallize" effect.

Use of such abilities is recommended, in hopes of keeping the magnitude of the entity's devastating attacks in check.

The following abilities will periodically remove multiple "Re-Crystallize" charges from the Entity:

• Tachyon Beam
• Charged Particle Burst
• Energy Siphon
• Tyken's Rift

The entity is also capable of going into a sort of resonance trance. It is nearly immune to energy damage while in this state, and incoming weapons fire seems to feed its rage. After it has concluded this trance state, any energy absorbed is violently expelled in a shock wave that can be extremely devastating.

It is recommended that our strike force switch targets during this phase to avoid feeding the shockwave, and resume fire on the Entity after it has expelled its shockwave. Allowing it to absorb too much incoming energy will allow its shockwave to potentially vaporize our entire fleet.

• Can enter an Absorption phase: Any damage dealt during this phase is absorbed by the entity.
• This phase lasts 30 seconds, after which all absorbed energy is expelled violently in a massive Antiproton energy shockwave.
• If the Entity has been allowed to fully charge up with absorbed energy, and has any charges of Re-Crystallize, it's highly likely that this blast will destroy all ships within a 10 km range, in a single hit.
• The shockwave will damage any nearby Fragments and Tholian ships. It may be possible to use this to your advantage, but not recommended.

Load-Out Recommendations

This is a creature we are dealing with, not a starship. Weapons and abilities which impact starship subsystems will generally have no effect on the entity, except where previously noted to remove Re-Crystallize buffs.

Abilities which can control the movement of Large or Small Fragments, ordeal damage over a large area, could both come in handy to control the number of targets on the battlefield.

Maneuverability is also important to avoid collision with Large Fragments.

• Weapons: The special abilities found on Phasers, Tetryons and Polarons will not affect the entity. (It does not possess Shields or Subsystems)
• Weapons: The entity is less resistant to Kinetic Weapons than it is to Energy Weapons.
• Abilities: Subsystem Off-line abilities have no effect on the Entity or Fragments. (Boarding Party and Viral Matrix, for example)
• Abilities: Jam Sensors, Scramble Sensors and other similar effects are unlikely to affect the entity, but will befuddle the Large Fragments.
• Abilities: Movement control and multi-target damaging abilities recommended for use on shards. (Gravity Well and Photonic Shockwave, for example)
• Abilities: If you can't destroyed the Large Fragments, find a way to out run them. They will find a new target once you are far away from them.

NPCs

Allies

• Grigori Yanishev

Enemies

Tholian

• Tholian Mesh Weaver
• Tholian Orb Weaver
• Tholian Recluse

Cosmozoan

• Crystalline Entity

Notes

• This is a medium-size Fleet Action. A minimum of 7 players are required to start the mission. The zone will cap off at 10 players.
• The Tholian ships present in this mission do not seem to use their web abilities, such as the Mesh Weavers' web wall and the web trap used by Orb Weavers.
• This mission was removed from the PVE queue in Season 6, but has been temporarily reinstated in April 2013 as a limited-time calendar event after undergoing an extensive overhaul, with plans to make it a permanent feature on the PVE list in the near-future.
• This mission requires a 512kbps Internet connection.
• For a description of the infamously difficult original mission as it existed before the April 2013 overhaul, see Crystalline Catastrophe/Walkthrough - Original Mission.
• Like any other Fleet Action, the top players will receive a Rare or Very Rare reward.

Coming in first place results in the accolade Shattered and the following floor trophy:

• 

  Federation trophy

• 

  Klingon trophy

• Currently after the most current update (post 04/20/2013/) the web weavers can form webs and all players now receive full damage from attacks from the entity.

External link

• Season 7 Dev Blog #43

List of Fleet actions
Minimum Level	PvE queue-name	Mission name	Faction	Type	Location
1	"Starbase Fleet Defense"	“Starbase Fleet Defense”			Fleet starbase
3	"Starbase 24"	“Starbase 24”			Starbase 24
	Currently not available	“Starbase 24 Rescue”
10	"Mirror Invasion"	“Mirror Universe Incursion”			Federation Starbase
10	"Gorn Minefield"	“Halting the Gorn Advance”			Tostig System
20	"Federation Minefield"	“Punch Through the Federation Blockade”			Yov'bot System
20	"Klingon Scout Force"	“Slowing the Expeditionary Force”			Laurentian System
	"Breaking the Planet"	“Breaking the Planet”
					Teroka System
30	"Romulan Temple"	“The Big Dig”			Hyralan Sector
30	Currently not available	“Foxes and Hounds”			Deep Space 9
		“DS9 under Siege!”
50	Currently not available	“Fluidic Space Fleet Action”			Pelia Sector
50	"Crystalline Catastrophe"	“Crystalline Catastrophe”			Teneebia Sector
50	"Mine Trap"	“Mine Trap”			Hfihar System