star trek fire at will

Star Trek Online

Originally posted by STARMAN20290 : My ship is more for DPS than a tank, and it takes some time still for me to take enemy shields down. However beams fire at will has a pretty fast recharge (at least it seems that way at 25 seconds for me) and targets multiple enemies at once which can be useful if I'm getting swarmed by fighters.

Originally posted by Doctor G : fire at will is only good for small ships. you want the highest single target damage like Tactic Alpha or beam over load

Originally posted by Doctor G : this game is broke on cannons, has been for 10 years. they wont fix it. you can have 1 only that will fire and its worthless. go with beams and torps.

Originally posted by VoodooMike : [...] Luckily, Beam Overload can also be slotted for fighting tough, single targets, since BO3 is a commander ability while FAW3 is only a lt. commander ability. Against a single target BO3 is going to dramatically outperform FAW3, dealing 800% normal damage. [...]

Originally posted by chemiman : BO3 and FAW3 are both Lt. Commander abilities.

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Traits Guide

September 14, 2019 Guides | 21

A brief guide for people to view what personal, reputation and starship traits that are commonly used in the DPS League Builds. These are for builds designed specifically for energy weapons.

Personal Space Traits

  Fleet Tactician (Exchange or Infinity Lockbox – Tactical only!)

• +125% flight speed
• +125% turn rate
• +100 immunity to slow

Using EPS Power Transfer your weapons gain an additional effect for 30 sec based on Which Power Level is highest at the time of activation:

• If Weapons: 2% Crit Chance
• If shield: -20% Weapon Power Cost
• If engines: +20% Armour Penetration
• If Auxiliary: +20% Crit Severity

• Your Photonic Fleet ability summons an additional ship

• +2% All Damage per Team Member (Self included), up to 10%

Chance to increase your skills: (Stacks up to 3 times)

• 10% Chance: activating any bridge officer abilities grants
• +10 to most starship skills for 15 seconds

Each second while in combat: (Stacks up to 10 times)

• If you did take damage in the past second: +3 All Damage Resistance Rating for 10 sec
• If you did not take damage in the past second: +1% Bonus All Damage for 10 sec

• Go Down Fighting can be used at any Hull Integrity
• Go Down Fighting’s scaling buff will treat your Hull as at most 50% integrity

Whenever you or a teammate kills something: (Stacks up to 3 times)

• +5% All Damage for 10 sec
• +5 Accuracy Rating for 10 sec

• +15% Critical Severity
• Incoming Critical Hits reduce your speed by 10% for 5 seconds (max once in 15 seconds)

• Receiving Kinetic Damage, 5% chance to increase all outgoing Energy Damage by 5%
• (Stacks 5 up to times)

• Defeating an enemy de-buffs nearby enemies damage resistance rating by 7 per rank of the downed enemy
• (Lasts 8 seconds)

• On outgoing Critical Hits, your energy weapons and projectiles gain +50% Shield Penetration for 10 sec
• (Can trigger once every 45 sec)

• To self: +0-10% Bonus Energy Weapon Damage, based on Distance to Target
• Maximum bonus when less than 2km, no effect beyond 6km

• While Stationary, gain 1 stack of Anchored every 5 sec (Stacks up to 4 times)

Per stack of Anchored: +5% All damage Bonus and -5 All Damage Resistance Rating

*only useful when maintaining a stationary position over time

• While in combat, gain 1 stack of Repair Crews every 5 sec (Stacks up to 5 times)
• +5 All Damage Resistance Rating
• +5% Hull Repair Rate

• +7.5% Bonus Cannon Weapons Damage

• +7.5% Bonus Beam Weapons Damage

Personal Ground Traits

• For every 6 seconds in combat (Stacks up to 5 times)
• +1.5% All Damage Bonus
• +6% Critical Severity

• Gain +2% Damage Bonus for each teammate within 20m
• Bonus is doubled if teammate also has Hive Mind

• Activate Ability: (Lasts 10 seconds)
• +50% All Outgoing Damage
• -100 All Damage Resistance Rating

While you remain stationary, gain 1 stack of Introspection every 5 sec (Stacks up to 5 times)

• +5 Bonus All Damage
• +5% Health Regeneration
• -5 All Damage Resistance Rating

• Being Critically Hit reduces speed 10% (max once in 15 seconds)

• +5% Bonus All Damage per foe within 5m
• (Stacks up to 5 times)

• +10% Kinetic Damage Bonus
• 2x Distance for all Non-Weapon Knockback effects

• 40% chance: chance for +2.5 critical chance when attacking
• (Stacks up to 3 times)

• +5% All Energy Damage
• +10% Critical Severity

• +3% Critical Chance
• +10% increased chance to Expose

• +30 Kit Performance
• (Improves All Kit Modules)

• -10% Kit Recharge Time

• To self: +100 Kit Performance
• (Improves All Kit Modules) for 8 sec
• (May occur once every 24 seconds)

Starship Traits

• Activating Auxiliary Power to Emergency Battery or any Pilot Bridge Officer Ability:
• -9.1% Flight Speed for 15 sec
• -10 All Damage Resistance Rating for 15 sec
• -2 to Current and Max All Subsystem Power for 15 sec
• 5 stacks max (from all sources)

• When activating Beam: Fire at Will or Cannon: Scatter Volley:
• Grants Fire at Will I and Scatter Volley I to your hangar pets
• Upgrades your energy weapons for 20 seconds: (Does not stack)
• -30 All Damage Resistance Rating for 5 sec

• On Emergency Power to Weapons:
• -50% Weapon Power Cost for 30 sec
• 20% Firing Cycle Haste for Energy Weapons for 30 sec

• Extend duration of Cannon: Scatter Volley by 4 sec

• Once per sec while Beam: Fire-at-Will is active, receiving Any Damage grants 0.33 sec Duration to Fire-at-Will (15 sec total duration)

While in Combat gain 1 Calm stack every 2 sec:

• Each stack of Calm gives +5 All Damage Resistance Rating
• +33% Firing Cycle Haste for Energy Weapons
• Bridge Officer abilities recharge 33% faster
• (Stacks of Calm can’t be gained while Storm is active)

Activating Pilot or Tactical bridge officer abilities adds: (Stacks up to 5 times)

• Per stack: +4% Bonus All Damage with Starship Weapons for duration of combat
• Max once per 4 sec, all stacks lost if combat ends

Links Energy and Torpedo firing modes together

• Applies Fire at Will I and Scatter Volley I to self
• Applies Torpedo Spread I to self

When damaging a foe that doesn’t have you targeted for 30 seconds:

• Decreases Threat generation by 60%
• +5% Critical Chance
• +5% Bonus All Damage
• (Placate can only occur once per 60 seconds per foe)

When using a Beam or Cannon Bridge Officer ability, For 20 sec:

• Increases weapon power drained by 50%
• +10% Critical Chance to Directed Energy Weapons
• +50 Accuracy Rating

• +175% Critical Severity vs foes below 20% health.

Super Charged Weapons (from the FED: Tactical Star Cruiser, KDF: Martok Tactical Battlecruiser, ROM: Khopesh Tactical Dreadnought Warbird in C-Store)

• +10% Damage for 20 sec
• +1.5% Critical Chance for 20 sec
• +6.6% Critical Severity for 20 sec

Reputation Space Traits  

+20% Critical Severity

• +5% Critical Hit Chance

• +6.3% Bonus Weapon Damage

• +4.9% Bonus All Damage (based on Auxiliary Power Level)

Your directed energy attacks heal you for a portion of the damage dealt:

• Receive 3.1% of your outgoing damage as a Hull heal to you
• (Triggers up to 5 times per second, capped at 150 per healing)

• +2.8% Critical Chance based on Hull Capacity (Max +7.5 at 200,000 Hull Capacity)

• +9.4% Bridge Officer Ability Recharge Speed

• +9.4% Bonus Energy Weapon and Projectile Damage against Controlled targets

Reputation Ground Traits

• +6.3% Bonus All Damage

When Activating a Captain Ability:

• +18.8 Kit Performance

(Improves All Kit Modules) for 15 sec

• +12.5% Bonus Damage While Aiming

Your energy attacks heal you for a portion of the damage dealt:

• Receive 6.25% of your outgoing damage as healing to you
• (Triggers up to 10 times per second)

When reduced to less than 30% health:

• +75% All Damage for 7 sec
• +3,125 Stealth for 7 sec
• (Can occur once every 90 seconds)

Related Posts:

21 comments to Traits Guide

Props on the effort!

This might be the proper thread, but I wondering… I have the Vengeance and ranked really good in s13 with FAW build.

With all the changes (been away for almost 2 years now). What C-store Fed cruiser would be able to outclass the Vengeance ? I’m look at the miracle worker tact cruiser for the trait. Just wondering if there a better option.

PS: Will be more active since new dps standards are making me want to compete again 🙂

vengeance is stil a good ship. another cheap one for feds with zen would be vanguard warships and (if you prefere a fed visual) gagarin. other good ships would be promo ships so yea 😉

I think the vengeance remains the best federation cruiser when it comes to dps, because it suits both cannons, beams, its boff flexibility is great and it’s hard to compare it with anything else but the fleet shepard, which would be on par with the vengeance, but loses on cool-points 🙂 so from two ships who perform similarly, ofc you pick the cooler one. Which is still the vengeance.

Hi, I have a query, I’m running a FAW build in the fleet Sheppard. Have entwined tactical matrices trait and boff abilities torp spread I and mixed armaments synergy III. Do you know if I trigger the mixed armaments synergy prior to torp spread will it buff the FAW I that entwined tactical matrices triggers?

Entwined Tactical Matrixes is triggered by activating TS, MAS is triggered by actually shooting a weapon, so you have to fire the torpedo to boost FAW. Now add in Super Charged Weapons and have fun.

Thanks, Will give that a go.

Has power creep knocked Romulan Operative off the list of personal traits? Or are my Romulan/Aliens still worthless?

Given the amounts of exceptional new traits, the Romulan Operative doesn’t really justify that slot.

You could go with any other as a replacement or even slot a defensive trait. It suits you better as an overall bonus at the end game build setup.

if you have romulan operative as a trait from your rom toon you could use that one too. technically a rom/alien is better than a rom/rom

How about the faction-specific traits from the temporal warships, like Heart Of Sol for a phaser build?

Heart of Sol is definitely a good trait, quite on par with Strike from Shadows.

Heat of Sol? Sounds like a T’Pau song 😬

Does targeting lock battery help if activated after activating fire at will?

So … , two questions :

1) The last update to thie page was on September 14, 2019 . Update needed ?

2) I have Faw 3 and TS 2 on multiple ships . Will Entwined Tactical Matrices do anything for me ? I’m asking because I don’t see what Faw 1 or TS 1 will do for me in the long run ?

not much changed since then, but you might wanna check out our “how to beams” guide 🙂

in addition, your faw will run for 10 out of 20 seconds. you use ETM to have a faw running for those 10 seconds you dont have your faw 3 running for a 100% uptime of faw. in addition, another torpspread is better than no torpspread 😉

in case you want to know more, feel free to join our discord and ask us there directly 🙂

could you explain why you never use rending shots in any of your builds ?

Rending shots would have been a great trait when we were around 30% crit rate. But now we have more than 90% which means just one in ten shots is not a crit. Which makes it rather rare to get more than one stack from rending shots.

But anyway, this guide needs an update.

Calm Before the Storm starship trait, comes from Cardassian Intel Flight-Deck CARRIER, not Cruiser

It was called “Flight Deck Cruiser” at release.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10911443-jem%E2%80%99hadar-vanguard-and-cardassian-intelligence-starship-stats-%26-abilities

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Ability: Beams: Fire at Will

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• 2 Basic Information
• 3 Detailed Information
• 4 Ability Details

Basic Information

• Type : Bridge officer ability
• Profession : Tactical
• Region : Space
• Game Description : The Bridge Officer fires your beam weapons at multiple targets of their choice. This ability applies to both Beam Arrays and Dual Beam Banks . A standard beam attack cycle is four attacks against a single target. After activation, all beam weapons will attack the selected target (if within its arc, otherwise a random target) and a second random target within their firing arc and attack them five times each (for a total of 10 beam attacks per cycle). The effect will apply to any firing cycle that begins during the ability's duration. If only one target is present, only five attacks are performed. This ability is effective in delivering sustained fire against a few ships or for taking out fighter swarms and targetable projectiles.

Detailed Information

• Target : Self
• System : Beams
• Activation : 0.8 seconds
• Global Cooldown : 20 seconds
• Base Cooldown : 30 seconds

• Subsytems Power: Weapons
• Energy Weapons Officer : Chance (50%) to reduce the time for any beam special attack to recharge after use by 2.5-10 seconds

• Rank I - Bridge Officer Trainer
• Rank II - Bridge Officer Trainer
• Rank III - Requires 12 Science Skill points
• Countered by : None

Ability Details

Graphical effect

A Galaxy class vessel firing on three enemy vessels simultaneously using Beam Fire At Will

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List of Training Manuals craftable by captain

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The following is a list of Training Manuals that can be crafted by the player. The manuals can be manufactured as part of the Officer Training School and always require a PADD as "ingredient".

To unlock the ability to craft certain training manuals you must spend a certain amount of points in the right skill track. The specifics are shown below.

Overview [ | ]

Space [ | ], ground [ | ], tactical [ | ], science [ | ], engineering [ | ].

• 2 Playable starship
• 3 Infinity Prize Pack - T6 Ship

Screen Rant

Mirror universe spock’s fate in star trek: discovery explained.

Star Trek: Discovery filled in some of the gaps in Mirror Universe history and revealed the fate of Spock after Star Trek: TOS" "Mirror, Mirror."

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 - "Mirrors"

• Mirror Universe Spock's death led to a revolution in the Terran Empire, but ultimately couldn't prevent its downfall.
• The ISS Enterprise became a symbol of hope in the Mirror Universe, with rebels seeking freedom in the Prime Universe.
• Dr. Cho, a refugee from the Mirror Universe, rose to become a Branch Admiral in Starfleet, shaping her own future.

Star Trek: Discovery confirmed the fate of Mirror Universe Spock (Leonard Nimoy) after the events of the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "Mirror, Mirror." Since its first appearance on TOS, several Star Trek series have visited the Mirror Universe, a parallel universe populated by evil versions of Star Trek's heroes. In the Mirror Universe, the xenophobic Terran Empire serves as the antithesis to the United Federation of Planets, and torture and murder are commonplace. Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery are already familiar with the Mirror Universe, as they spent some time there in Discovery season 1.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors," Captain Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) follow couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) into interdimensional space in search of the next clue leading to the Progenitors' treasure. Once there, they find the damaged ISS Enterprise, which holds clues about the fate of Mirror Universe Spock and his crew. In Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 4, "Mirror, Mirror," Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) encourages Mirror Spock to initiate change, telling him: "In every revolution, there's one man with a vision." Written by Johanna Lee and Carlos Cisco, and directed by Jen McGowan, Star Trek: Discovery's "Mirrors" offers more insight into what became of that revolution.

What Happened To Mirror Universe Captain Kirk In Star Trek?

What happened to mirror universe spock revealed by star trek: discovery, spock died fighting for change..

After the events of Star Trek: The Original Series' "Mirror, Mirror," Captain Kirk left Mirror Universe Spock with a lot to think about. The goateed Vulcan apparently took Kirk's words to heart and began enacting a series of reforms to change the way things were done in the Terran Empire. Although he was attempting to prevent the collapse of the Empire, Star Trek: Discovery revealed that Spock was killed while working on his reforms. In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, Burnham and Book explore the ISS Enterprise and discover a plaque detailing some events from the Mirror Universe.

“The light of hope shines through even the darkest of nights" became a "rallying cry" for those who opposed the violence of the Terran Empire.

Reading from the plaque, Book says that the "Terran High Chancellor was killed for trying to make reforms." Although Michael does not know that Spock was the Terran High Chancellor, the audience knows this information in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Mirror Universe episodes. Spock helped turn the Terran Empire into a more peaceful galactic power, and while his reforms were popular with many, some clearly opposed them. Nevertheless, Spock's dedication to logic made him less villainous than his Mirror Universe counterparts, and his words: “The light of hope shines through even the darkest of nights" became a "rallying cry" for those who opposed the violence of the Terran Empire.

Star Trek: DS9 Reveals What Happened To Mirror Universe After Spock’s Death

Spock initiated change, but couldn't prevent the fall of the terran empire..

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 23, "Crossover," Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) find themselves in the Mirror Universe. Major Kira's Mirror Universe counterpart, Intendant Kira, runs the equivalent of Deep Space Nine (Terok Nor) as a mining station populated by Terran slaves. The Intendant reveals that Captain Kirk's visit to the Mirror Universe had a "profound influence" on Mirror Universe Spock, which led Spock to reform the Terran Empire. Unfortunately, these reforms rendered the Empire unable to defend itself when the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance decided to attack.

After conquering the Terran Empire, the Alliance proved to be just as brutal and eventually became ruled by Regent Worf (Michael Dorn).

Having been under Terran occupation for years, Bajor petitioned for entry into the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance and went on to become a major player in the Alliance. Much like Kirk's visit to the Mirror Universe affected Spock, Major Kira and Dr. Bashir's visit inspired a rebellion among the Terran slaves, which became a thorn in the side of the Alliance. Although Spock had initially been trying to prevent the fall of the Terran Empire, the Empire fell away, but some people held on to the ideals Spock had tried to spread.

Star Trek 10’s Best Mirror Universe Variants

Star trek: discovery reveals what happened to mirror universe spock’s iss enterprise, the iss enterprise became a symbol of hope and freedom..

The plaque Captain Burnham and Cleveland Booker find on the Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise also reveals some events after Mirror Spock's death. After Spock was killed, those who believed in his reforms sought help from a "Kelpian slave turned rebel leader," aka, the Mirror Universe version of Saru (Doug Jones). Saru told these people about Star Tre k's Prime Universe, describing it as "a near perfect mirror that casts our darkness into light." While Saru stayed behind to help more people in the Mirror Universe, several rebels stole the ISS Enterprise and traveled to the Prime Universe to begin new lives.

Dr. Cho was also one of the six scientists who helped hide clues to the Progenitors' technology.

Upon returning to the USS Discovery, Michael finds proof in Federation databases that many of the refugees on the ISS Enterprise successfully made new lives for themselves in the Prime Universe . One refugee, named the Enterprise's Science Officer, Dr. Cho, joined Starfleet and eventually became a Branch Admiral. Dr. Cho was also one of the six scientists who helped hide clues to the Progenitors' technology, which remains at the center of Star Trek: Discovery season 5's quest. Michael remarks that Cho may have chosen to leave her clue on the Enterprise as a reminder that almost anyone can shape their own future, even when facing impossible odds.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek: the original series, star trek: deep space nine.

Fire with Fire

• View history
• 2.1 Cover gallery
• 3 External link

Summary [ ]

Background information [ ], cover gallery [ ].

External link [ ]

• Fire with Fire at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

'Discovery's Elias Toufexis Could Be 'Star Trek's Next Jeffrey Combs

Toufexis and Eve Harlow breakdown their Breen backstory and call the 'Discovery' set the best they've ever worked on.

The Big Picture

• Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5, "Mirrors," delves into Moll and L'ak's backstory, revealing their love and the price on their heads.
• Stars Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis discuss fleshing out their romance, joining the sci-fi series for its final season, and L'ak's connection to the Breen.
• The duo also praises the Star Trek: Discovery cast and crew for the warm and welcoming atmosphere, with Sonequa Martin-Green leading the way as a fantastic number one.

A few weeks ago, Star Trek: Discovery kicked off the series' final season with a dazzling new mystery and a pair of wildly compelling antagonists. Seemingly out to cash in on the greatest treasure the galaxy has to offer, lovers Moll ( Eve Harlow ) and L'ak ( Elias Toufexis ) have been neck-and-neck with Michael Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) and her crew as they hunt for clues . This week's episode "Mirrors," sees Burnham catch up with the two as she and Book ( David Ajala ) corner them on an abandoned ISS Enterprise from the Mirror universe.

As the two couples are made to face each other, we also get a glimpse into Moll and L'ak's backstory. Not only do we learn how they fell in love, but we also come to understand why they're on the run — L'ak is a Breen and in their attempt to run away together the duo killed a pair of guards. Now the warlike race has a price on their heads.

Ahead of the episode, I sat down with Harlow and Toufexis to talk about the big reveals in "Mirrors," the complex relationship between their characters, and what they're taking away from their time on Discovery . During our conversation, we also spoke about their personal experiences with Star Trek , when Toufexis learned he would be playing a Breen, and which episodes of Season 5 are their favorites.

Star Trek: Discovery

Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk's Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.

Both Harlow and Toufexis have a fair share of sci-fi credits to their names with Harlow having made waves on shows like The 100 and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while Toufexis appeared in the smash hit series The Expanse as well as having voiced characters in a truly impressive number of video games. When asked what it was like to go from their sci-fi roots to arguably the biggest sci-fi series of all time, Harlow admitted that she'd actually "never seen Star Trek before." She went on to explain, "to me, I was like, 'Oh, cool, another job. Oh, cool, I get to be in space!'"

Meanwhile, Toufexis was a huge Star Trek fan. "And Elias was like, 'No, you don't understand. This is Star Trek .' Even in the sides for the audition, I remember the word “Klingon” being in there, and I'm like, “Wait, how do I pronounce this? What is this?” And on set it was like, “What's a Tribbler?” Harlow joked. "Then Elias was like, 'Okay, let me send you a YouTube video.' So I think for me it was just like, 'Oh, cool. This is fun. This is nice,' and then being told the importance of it by my co-star," she laughed.

For Toufexis, the role was a dream come true. He explained:

"It was great for me. I love sci-fi, and I was happy to do a lot of sci-fi before Star Trek, but yeah, I'm a giant Star Trek fan. Accepting the role was a no-brainer, and I was very, very happy and geeked out every day on set. I would get mad at people who worked on the show who didn't know the stuff that I knew. Not Eve. I would never get mad at Eve."

As actors, both Harlow and Toufexis know the struggle of auditioning over and over for until something sticks. He said, "as an actor, you audition for everything, and you take what sticks, right? That's the nature of the beast." He went on, calling Discovery a career highlight. "So it just happened to be that I have done a lot of sci-fi stuff in my career, so Star Trek is kind of the peak sci-fi . So, it's all downhill from here," he laughed. However, as any good Star Trek fan knows, playing one character is not always the end of the line for an actor in the series. I joked that Toufexis could return on another series in the future, following in the footsteps of actors like Jeffrey Combs and Suzie Plakson , to which he heartily agreed, "I'll play, like, 10 characters."

'Star Trek: Discovery's Moll and L'ak Are Hopelessly Devoted to Each Other

Shortly after we meet these two in the first episode of Season 5 , it becomes very clear that L'ak would do anything to protect Moll, to the point of taking out excessive violence on anyone who threatens her. When asked if that defensive nature was a result of their nature or inherent in them as individuals Toufexis explained, "I think it's inherent in them, but they bring it out of each other. It's a part of their character."

He went on to explain that L'ak was already looking for a way out of his life as a high-ranking Breen when he fell in love with Moll. He said, "I don't know if he was looking for love, but he found it, and then that brought out the guardian in him." He went on to say that one thing he loved about the fifth episode is that, in learning their history, we see that Moll and L'ak are more equals than it seemed in the first four episodes.

"It looks like he's almost her bodyguard, but when they're alone, you see it's not really the case. They're on absolutely equal footing, and he defers to her a lot. He's just protective of her, but she is of him, and that's their love." He went on to explain, " My favorite thing about these characters is their love for each other. It's rare in sci-fi that you have antagonists that have a genuinely good reason to do what they're doing, that I think people would relate to their love and passion for each other and freedom. That's it. We're not bad guys. We just want you to leave us the hell alone." He points out that in this episode, Moll admits they never would have made an enemy out of the Discovery crew if they'd just been left alone, "But you keep on us, and we’re gonna defend ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Harlow explained that the complete devotion Moll and L'ak have for each other is what makes them relatable. She said:

"I do think it's inherent to their nature, and I think that that's what makes them likable, is that there's the love and loyalty there, and they're the first beings in each other's lives that have been, like, he's proven to me that he's worth the love, he's worth the loyalty. Literally, everybody else has either died or betrayed, left. All that stuff. This one being has shown me that it's like, 'No, this is actually where I can store my loyalty, love in this being, and I'm gonna hold on to this being no matter what.' "

With this episode being called "Mirrors," not only for the time spent on a Mirror Universe ship, but for the relationships within, as Moll and L'ak serve as a foil to Book and Burnham. I asked the pair if they felt like their characters recognized themselves in their counterparts. For Toufexis, Book and Burnham are barely even on his radar. He said, "At least as an actor, I never even considered that. I was just like, 'Nah, I don't care about them.' He's very one-track-minded." He then laid out L'ak's priorities, saying:

"At least for me, the way I played it was, 'I just want Moll, and I want you to leave us alone. And if this tech, whatever it is that we may not understand, or even if they understand its power, whatever this tech is, if it could grant us freedom and to be left alone and to just go live our lives in love together, that's all that matters.' So I don't think they're looking and going, 'Oh, they're a lot like us, those two.'"

Meanwhile, Harlow agreed, comparing their characters to "caged animals." She said: "Everyone else are [our] oppressors, and so I don't care what's happening out there. I don't care how similar it is, because ultimately they have the key to the door to freedom, and they're holding here. It’s like, 'Fuck yeah!'"

Elias Toufexis Learned He Was Playing a Breen While Getting His Prosthetics for 'Star Trek: Discovery'

While the Breen have existed since the 90s, having first appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , we know very little about their species. Most notably, we don't know what they look like under their helmets — at least we didn't until this episode. As a fan of the franchise, I had to ask Toufexis if he knew he would be playing a Breen when he first got the role or if he found out when he read the script. He revealed that he actually found out while getting his prosthetics made. But before telling the full story of how he found out L'ak was a Breen, Toufexis took a brief detour to joke about another vast disparity between his Star Trek experience and Harlow's.

He said: "This is a funny story we haven’t told yet. When I auditioned, I knew I was gonna be in makeup because I had already been on the show in the third episode. I played one of the prisoners that's on the show, on Discovery , so I knew I couldn't play with my own face again. I knew I'd be in prosthetics. And I remember, this is like a side thing, but I remember calling Eve and talking about working together, and I said, 'So what's your makeup process?' She's like, 'I don't have any makeup. I don’t have any prosthetics.' 'What? You mean I have to go through five hours of hair and makeup…?'" Harlow chimed in confirming the call, "You were like, 'No, no, no, like prosthetics.' I’m like, 'Yeah, no. Nothing.' And he's like, 'Wait, are you sure?' [Laughs] I’m like, 'I don’t know how to break it to you, but no.'"

He joked that he was "hoping we were both gonna have 2:30 a.m. calls and all that kind of stuff," before diving into how he learned he'd be playing a Breen. He explained:

"But when I found out that he was a Breen was when I went to do the first step of the prosthetics. Being a giant Star Trek geek, I said, 'Can you show me what I'm gonna look like?' Because they’re doing that thing, the plaster mold, where you have to sit there in 20 minutes and try not to have a panic attack. But at that session, I said, 'Do you have any art of what he's gonna look like?' And they showed me, and I said, 'Do you know what race he is?' Because I think I had heard that he was a new race, or an unseen race, or something like that. And they said, 'Yeah, he's a Breen.' I was like, 'Wait, Breen? They don’t take off their helmets.' My geek mind starts going. Then they're like, 'Yeah, you're gonna be the first time that this race is revealed in Star Trek,' and that really got me going. I was like, 'Oh, okay! Let's plaster me up. Let's do this.' And somehow I got through it. But yeah, I was really excited to find that out. Especially [because] Deep Space Nine to me is, like, I love Deep Space Nine . I know the Breen they talk about in TNG a little bit, but Deep Space Nine to me is, like, one of my favorite shows ever, not just Star Treks shows. So, the fact that I was gonna be involved in that. We kind of delve into Deep Space Nine , so I was super happy."

Moll and L'ak Aren't Villains — They're Just Antagonists

In "Mirrors," Moll and L'ak become much more fleshed-out characters as we get a glimpse into their history with each other. Much like the revelation with the Breen, I had to ask Harlow and Toufexis if they had made up any backstory for their characters prior to learning the roots of their love story when they got the script for this episode. Harlow explained that they really only fleshed out the basics like how long they'd been together. She pointed out that sometimes if you make up a backstory for your character it can get entirely undone by the narrative. She said: "The thing is, you could create a backstory, and then you get the next episode and it’s like, 'Ha, joke’s on you. Totally wrong. Everything that we thought…' So, at least this is the way that I work, it's like, 'Okay, what are the stakes? This person is my everything.' That’s just how I’m gonna play it. "

"In terms of the flashback, I mean, it was fun," she grinned. "This might sound really vain, but looks-wise, what did she look like back then? I’ve just got to shout out to the hair and makeup and costume team. Freaking amazing. Such talented people, and also so collaborative, and talking about all this, and being excited about it as well. I think this is what was really cool about the show. Literally every single person is so excited about what they do. Like the props people, they're like, 'This is so awesome,' and then you're like, 'Yes! This is so awesome.'"

Despite not being a Star Trek fan before joining the franchise, Harlow explained that she couldn't help but fall in love with the whole team. "So even though, again, I did not know Star Trek , you can't help it. It's infectious when you're surrounded by that energy, and so it's like, 'Oh, cool. We get to explore our characters’ backgrounds and be in this Breen world.'" She went on to say, "seeing the sets is insane. That screen, the wall, is incredible. You step into the space and you're like, 'Whoa, people created all of this and I get to be a part of it? Incredible.'"

Toufexis was thrilled to get an episode so heavily dedicated to Moll and L'ak's motivations. Having played his fair share of TV baddies , he noted that this is the first time he's gotten to play out the why of what his character is doing himself. He told me:

"The backstory was the best part for me because, I've said this before, but I play a lot of bad guys on TV, and very often it's other characters that are just explaining why my character is doing what he's doing, or make a line thrown here or there, like this is what happened to me, so this is why I'm doing this. Whereas with L’ak, I got to play it. I got to go back and play how he got to where he is, and the great thing is it's justified. What I hope is that the people who watch Episode 5, when they rewatch, they go, 'Oh, yeah, everything they're doing they have a right to do. They're not bad. They're just the antagonists.' I don't mind if they call us villains for promotional purposes, but I’m kind of like, 'They're not villains.'"

Harlow chimed in saying, "They have hearts of gold, okay?" To which Toufexis doubled down on Moll and L'ak's desire to just be left alone.

Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis Reveal Their Favorite Episodes of 'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 5

Again, as a pair of Trekkies, I had to ask Toufexis about the incredible experience of getting to actually spend time on the bridge of the Enterprise in this episode. Naturally, he was delighted. He told Collider:

"Well, you can imagine. I've already said I'm a super nerd. And also, The Original Series , that's what I watched growing up . I'm not that old, my dad had them all on tape — so I'm old, but I'm not that old. My dad had them all on tape in the ‘90s, so I watched them over and over and over again, and the movies, especially. So, for me, that was my introduction to Star Trek was the Kirk Enterprise, right? Even though I know this is not the Kirk Enterprise, but Kirk's on it. So being on that ship, I know story-wise it was the ISS Enterprise, but I'm still like, 'This is the Enterprise. I don't care what decals they put over this. I'm sitting on the Enterprise.' I went and took secret pictures of me on the bridge and stuff like that. I was just freaking out, man. I was like, 'This is like the coolest thing.' How can you not freak out being a fan of something and then suddenly getting paid to be there? It's pretty cool."

While she didn't have any personal connection to the sets herself, Harlow understood the importance through Toufexis' experience. "I had him explain all this to me," she laughed. "It's like this is my very own Star Trek Wikipedia sitting next to me. I'm like, 'Okay, cool, noted. Thank you.'"

When asked what their favorite episodes of Discovery Season 5 were, Toufexis decidedly chose the one we all just watched. "Five for me, for sure," he said, though he was sure to give some praise to the rest of the season as well. "There's a couple of episodes coming up that are really good, too, but for me, it's five because of that, the background and getting to play the background. It's kind of their big episode that reveals everything about her. So for me, it's five. " Meanwhile, Harlow set her sights on the series finale, saying, "I forget which episode it is, but it's later, it's either Episode 9 or 10, and I don't think I can say anything. I'm not gonna say anything, but yes, there is one I like."

The 'Star Trek: Discovery' Set Is Unlike Any Other Thanks to Sonequa Martin-Green

While this is Harlow and Toufexis' first season of Discovery, it's also the show's last. As I noted in my review, despite the writers not knowing Season 5 was the end, they somehow managed to bring the story to a full circle moment. And Toufexis felt the exact same way, he said, "You know what, I was just thinking about this morning. I was thinking about how it's somehow in this weird… The TV gods… Because the episodes that were already written before they knew it was gonna be the last season have this feeling of closure in this weird way, right?" He went on to explain, " Like Episode 4, where they go back and see themselves in the past. That is something that you would do when you would be ending a show, or Doug [Jones], Saru, going off and having these new chapters. That's something you would do when you would end the show. So, it’s this weird kind of thing that happened where it almost was fate that it was going to be the last season . I don't know if that is a sad note or something, but it just worked so well."

"So what I hope people take out of it is just this great feeling of closure of this amazing five years that these people have done. I mean, I'm a fan of the show and I've watched every episode. You're sad that it's ending but at the same time it's ending so well that you just kind of hope everybody just really enjoys the ride of this last season and then looks at everything as five years of what this show actually accomplished, which if you step back and look at it is a lot."

While Harlow admitted that she hadn't "thought about it that deeply, but ultimately I just want people to like it." She had nothing but high praise for series star Sonequa Martin-Green , saying: "The first thing, I stepped on set and everyone, Sonequa was so kind and so welcoming. Every single person on that set was wonderful , and one of the first things that I was told was, 'Welcome to the family.' I just want people to like it, to deserve that title of being in the family, if that makes sense."

For these two, working on Discovery was unlike any other set they'd ever worked on. "I would like to piggyback off of that," said Toufexis. "Eve has worked a lot, I’ve worked a lot, and this is one of the best sets you could work on. From Sonequa and down to the crew, to Michelle [Paradise] and Tunde [Osunsanmi], and all those guys, Alex Kurtzman. You just end up going like, 'All these people are nice.'"

The vibes on set were amazing from the start, to the point that Harlow could hardly believe it to be true, certain that at some point the magic would wear off. However, the warm, familiar atmosphere never faded. She explained:

"When I started, I was like, 'There is no way that this lasts for six months. There's no way.' Because people get stressed. It's just like being on sets — it's chaotic, there’s so many people. And, oh my god, until the very end people were so kind. I feel like a fangirl when I talk about it, and I feel like I've talked about it so much, but it's just because it's lasted, and it just shows what a set can be like. We had this thing, crew appreciation, which is like every single day, a different crew member would be clapped for, and throughout the day, if you saw this crewmember, you could just start clapping for them. So that means that by the time we finished filming, everybody knows everybody's names and what they do and has an appreciation for everybody's job. I've never seen that on any set. And it didn't get in the way of us finishing days. I know that some people are like, 'Oh, it takes time to do this care and appreciation.' Yes, it takes time. It’s, like, 30 seconds, and it lifts everybody's spirits. Anyway, yeah, it's great."

Toufexis confirmed that the source of those good vibes without a doubt comes back to their fearless leader. "It's Sonequa’s set," he said. "Sonequa was the number one, and she's the best number one I've ever worked with. Hands down. Just [the best] of the whole show. She's amazing. I could never say enough good about Sonequa." And Harlow couldn't help but agree: "Every single time I see her, I’m like, 'Sonequa, I love you so much!' I know I'm gushing again for the 50th time, but yes."

"Mirrors" is available to stream now on Paramount+ . New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery hit the platform every Thursday. Stay tuned at Collider for more.

Star Trek’s Michael Dorn Wanted Worf To Kill A Popular Deep Space Nine Character In Picard Season 3, And I’m Glad This Didn’t Happen

I'm breathing a sigh of relief.

Although Star Trek: Picard Season 3 reunited most of the Star Trek: The Next Generation starring actors for the first time since 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis , they didn’t all show up at once. In the case of Michael Dorn’s Worf , his first scene in the episode “Disengage” saw him rescuing Michelle Hurd’s Raffi Musiker from the crime lord Sneed, and he beheaded the Ferengi on his way out. But if Dorn had his way, he would have killed a different Ferengi instead: Quark, one of the other major characters from S tar Trek: Deep Space Nine , and I’m glad this didn’t happen.

Armin Shimerman, who played Quark for the entirety of Deep Space Nine ’s seven-season run, shared this tidbit of information while appearing on TrekMovie ’s All Access Star Trek podcast. Dorn came aboard Deep Space Nine at the beginning of Season 4 following The Next Generation’s conclusion, so he and Shimerman spent a lot of time together in the mid-late ‘90s, but decades later, the latter wasn’t particularly enthused about the former wanting to slice Quark’s head off. As he recalled:

Dorn called me up and said, ‘I’m doing an episode of Picard where I kill off a Ferengi. Wouldn’t it be great if it were you?’ I said, ‘Michael no, it would not be great.’ I told him just to forget about that idea altogether.

Jonathan Frakes , who was also a guest on this episode, speculated that Michael Dorn didn’t know Worf would be cutting Sneed’s head off, but Armin Shimerman told the William Riker actor and longtime Star Trek director that, at the very least, Dorn was aware Worf was going to kill a Ferengi. In the end though, it was Sneed who met this fate, with the character being played Aaron Stanford, who previously worked with showrunner Terry Matalas on the 12 Monkeys TV show.

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I am so relieved this Quark idea for Star Trek: Picard never came to fruition. Worf killing off a Ferengi criminal lord mere minutes after we meet this character is one thing, but for him to behead a character that not only is beloved by many Star Trek fans, but whom Worf had known for many years is another. Granted, as Dr. Julian Bashir once said, Quark was definitely not Worf’s “favorite person,” and he tried to steer clear of the bar owner whenever possible. But not only do I not believe that Quark would ever become a crime lord on Sneed’s level, I also don’t buy that Worf would have just killed his former… associate without blinking an eye.

If the day comes that Armin Shimerman reprises Quark in live-action, the character needs to be treated with the proper respect and not just be killed off for shock value. Star Trek: Lower Decks had the right idea, as Shimerman voiced Quark for a meaningful role in the Season 3 episode “Hear All, Trust Nothing.” The fan-proposed Star Trek: Legacy would be the best place for that to happen, though there’s still no word if that project stands a chance of becoming one of the upcoming Star Trek TV shows .

Picard , Deep Space Nine and all the other Star Trek shows (except for Prodigy , which is now at Netflix ) can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription . Discovery is currently in the midst of its final season, and Lower Decks ’ final season will follow sometime afterwards on the 2024 TV schedule .

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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.

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Why does striking flint against steel start a fire?

What's the science behind starting a fire with flint and steel?

Any outdoor survivalist worth their salt probably carries something in their pack to start a fire. If they're a purist, their tools of choice might be flint and steel. This pair of tools is a reliable way to start a fire in the backcountry, with a little skill.

But why does it work? Why does striking a flint rock against a piece of steel start a fire, whereas rubbing two random rocks together doesn't?

All fire-starting methods have a similar goal: generating enough heat to ignite a fuel source.

When scraped together, flint and steel can generate this heat quickly because of the way the iron in the steel reacts with the surrounding air when it's shaved off by the flint, said Peter Sunderland , a fire scientist at the University of Maryland.

This is how a classic pocket lighter works, according to Sunderland. Each flick of the wheel rubs flint against steel, igniting the butane fuel inside and producing a flame.

But understanding exactly why this combination is so effective requires digging into the chemistry of oxidation. Oxidation is when a chemical element or compound combines with oxygen, changing its properties. When this process happens to iron, it's known as rusting. Using flint and steel to start a fire harnesses a side effect of oxidation: heat.

Related: What's the longest-burning fire in the world?

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Early humans made tools out of flint because the rock can be shaped into arrowheads and sharp blades. Flint is much harder than steel, so striking the two together shaves off tiny bits of iron from the steel.

Iron oxidizes very easily when it's exposed to the air, but the process usually happens very slowly. A neglected car or a piece of abandoned farm equipment will take many years to become covered in rust, for example.

However, these tiny iron particles from the steel oxidize within fractions of a second, though they wouldn't look rusty to the naked eye. This creates very hot sparks. The process happens so quickly because the bits of iron have much more surface area than a bulk piece of iron.

"What's important is the surface-to-volume ratio," Sunderland told Live Science. With a small iron shaving, "the volume is basically zero, but there's lots of surface area."

So, when a tiny piece of iron is shaved off, many iron atoms are suddenly exposed to the air and can oxidize all at once. The chemical reaction rapidly generates a tremendous amount of energy as heat. And if enough of these burning-hot iron shavings fall into a pile of dry leaves or twigs, they can ignite the kindling and get a fire going.

It can be challenging to get the sparks to turn into a flame, so it's helpful to have something that the sparks can more easily ignite to accelerate the process. Shavings of steel work well, Sunderland said — they'll flame up when sparks land on them. Historically, people used a "char cloth" — a burnt piece of fabric that ignites easily and then slowly smolders, giving the kindling around it time to light.

Before steel was widely produced, humans might have generated sparks by scraping flint against other iron-rich rocks, such as pyrite, better known as fool's gold.

Other fire-starting technologies use similar principles. Magnesium fire starters, a popular off-the-shelf option, take advantage of the fact that magnesium burns very hot. So scraping shavings of magnesium into a pile of tinder and then generating sparks by scraping an iron-containing rod above them can quickly get a crackling fire going.

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Matches use a completely different set of chemical reactions, but they have a similar goal: generating a lot of heat quickly to ignite a fuel source.

Sometimes, this process happens accidentally, said Sara McAllister , a research mechanical engineer with the U.S. Forest Service in the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab. For instance, wildland fires can start when someone tows a trailer with a chain dragging behind on the pavement, creating sparks. Or clashing power lines generate sparks that set dry grass ablaze.

"They're all kind of in the same realm: tiny, hot particles that land in dry kindling," McAllister told Live Science.

Laurel Hamers is a writer specializing in science, medicine and the environment. Now based in Oregon, she was previously a staff writer at Science News magazine in Washington, D.C. Laurel holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Williams College in Massachusetts and is a graduate of the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program.

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admin said: What's the science behind starting a fire with flint and steel? Why does striking flint against steel start a fire? : Read more

• TheBox P.s When the glowing flint fragments fall onto flammable substances , these substances are similar to the flint in properties and can quickly conserve the light of the fragments of flint . These materials differ slightly than the flint because the light is transferred through the substance at a faster rate , causing fire . The atmosphere surround the flame , bottles the flame and stops all the light escaping simultaneously . You want a real scientist , I am right here ! The glow you see of fire is the substance breakdown and the Q.M.S eigenstate increase . Let h(a)=1 and S=1 in a natural state but let S=>1 when being energized by temporal light passing through (a) . (a) is a fixed point of conserved light and is transparent to other light , (a)*ev^n=glow . But in saying that the glow does have a minimal amount requirement of photons occupying (a) simultaneously , before we see glow . When we see heat haze on hot days , this haze is visible light , a distortion of the Q.M.S . Look hard enough , you can even observe the thermal current and wave nature of the Q.M.S . Reply
• TheBox I suppose I'd better explain the oxygen involvement for you all , not leave you hanging ! The atmosphere surrounding a flame bottles the flame . The density of the medium slowing down lights escape . The air above the flame rises away from the flame because that is the strongest thermal current and gravity-B vector . The air at the ''sides'' of the flame is also pushed outwards due to thermal current but with less magnitude than the top current . Cold air is attracted by gravity-B into the under pocket where the thermal current is vacuum like . This air then is forced upwards into the thermal flow by gravity-B . Some air particles do become energized and glow with the flame as their eigenvalue is increased . As they rise they lose this energy and return to normal state to fall back down under gravity-A influence . Heated air escapes fast , it doesn't burn up as such in my opinion . Heat is great for breaking down molecular structure but not so great at splitting atoms which requires the fusion process . P.s Try to strike a match in a vacuum and it won't work because the kE escapes at c . Yes I am an expert at nuclear fusion :) Reply
• View All 3 Comments

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Man who fatally shot ex-Saints star Will Smith after a car crash gets 25 years in prison

NEW ORLEANS — The man who fatally shot retired NFL star Will Smith during a confrontation following a car crash in 2016 received a 25-year prison sentence Thursday in a New Orleans courtroom.

It was the second time Cardell Hayes, 36, had faced sentencing in Smith’s death. He was convicted of manslaughter in December 2016 and later sentenced to 25 years. But the jury vote had been 10-2 and the conviction was later tossed after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed such non-unanimous verdicts. After a new trial , Hayes was  convicted by a unanimous jury in January .

In handing down the sentence, Judge Camille Buras acknowledged the strong support Hayes received from friends and family. But she noted that both Hayes and a companion were armed when they exited Hayes’ car after the crash, and that Smith was unarmed.

Smith was shot eight times — seven times in the back — during the confrontation with Hayes that happened after Hayes’ SUV struck the rear of Smith’s vehicle.

Smith’s daughter Lisa, now a teenager, was among those who spoke in court before the sentencing. She said her mother had to relearn to walk after the shooting and she lamented not having her father around for major life events.

“Mr. Hayes, you ruined my life,” she said. “You took my father away from me.”

In testimony in support of Hayes, his mother, Dawn Mumphrey, expressed sorrow for the loss of Smith. “Our lives are forever changed as well,” she said, her voice shaking. She tearfully looked at the judge. “I ask for your mercy,” she said.

Hayes has long said he fired in self-defense. He said he fired only because he believed a drunken and belligerent Smith had retrieved a gun from his SUV. He insisted on the stand that he heard a “pop” before he started shooting and that he did not shoot at Smith’s wife, Racquel, who was hit in the legs.

Evidence showed Smith was intoxicated at the time of the confrontation. But there was no witness or forensic evidence to back up Hayes’ claim that Smith had wielded or fired a weapon. At the January retrial, defense attorney John Fuller did not call Hayes to testify, but insisted prosecutors had failed to prove Hayes didn’t fire in self-defense.

Hayes was released on bond after having served more than four years of the original sentence. He remained free during multiple retrial delays, some due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But he was taken back into custody following the unanimous Jan. 27 verdict and had been awaiting sentencing at the New Orleans jail.

The overturned verdicts from the 2016 jury also included an attempted manslaughter conviction in the wounding of Racquel Smith. Hayes was acquitted of that charge at January’s second trial.

Before Thursday’s sentencing, about two dozen of Hayes’ family and friends formed a circle and prayed in the wide courthouse hallway.

Smith, a 34-year-old father of three, was a defensive leader on the Saints team that lifted spirits in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005. He helped carry the team to a winning season in 2006 and a Super Bowl victory in 2010. In college, he starred for Ohio State University, where he helped the Buckeyes win the 2002 national championship.

Hayes, who owned a tow truck business, once played semi-pro football and is the father of a young son.

The Associated Press