Thanks for the Feedback here and on Reddit – a few updates below:

Anytime Star Trek Online introduces an entirely new set of STF's (Special Task Force), there is a period of adjustment that the community goes through to absorb the new mechanics and establish teamwork to overcome the new challenges. Sometimes they are relatively easy and reward well enough that they become popular. Other times it takes significant effort and planning just to get through an STF, and those queues get ignored by most of the community.

One thing is for sure, a queues popularity will change over time, as do the techniques used to get through them. The best example is "I've got Kang!" has evolved from being a job you took out of necessity, to something that's little more than a speedbump in the race to complete a CSA in under 30 seconds.

The new missions have their fair share of confusion at the moment that's impacting not only the normals but advanced and elite queues as well. I've had greater success with runs set up privately through Redditchat or the various DPS channels – but at the same time, I've also watched Elites fail in the first 30 seconds with a highly-skilled team, just because someone pushed a Battleship to close to the Starbase with a mistimed tractor beam repulsor.

One last point before the briefing: these techniques represent the efforts of many players, and while they worked for us, they may not be the only way to beat this STF. If you've come across other methods, don't hesitate to share them in the comments below.

Mission Brief: The Tzenkethi Front

Regardless of the difficulty (normal, advanced and elite), the mission parameters remain essentially the same. A Tzenkethi invasion force has moved five small staging bases into the Eta Serpentis system, and are launching waves of attacks against the planet's defences (Klingon Starbase).

Your goal is to intercept the Tzenkethi Battleships – marked by the Protomatter Bomb warning sign on your main viewscreen. In the process of destroying the battleship, you recover the Protomatter Bomb and then use it against one of the five Tzenkethi staging bases.

The STF comes with voice prompts and reminders, letting you know when a player has picked up the bomb, and when a base is destroyed. When you pick up the bomb, your ship will be given a visual cue identifying that you have the bomb. If you are destroyed, the protomatter bomb you carry is destroyed with you.

The Football (Protomatter Bomb)

While in Tzenkethi hands, the protomatter bombs are targeted at your station. They can be deployed fairly close to the station, and the bomb itself cannot be intercepted by weapons or space magic. At about a 2km range, a Battleship can easily deploy the device and hit your station. (It's instantaneous) For Normal and Advanced runs, the optional objective is to prevent damage to the station for additional marks. For Elite runs, failure to stop this attack on your station is an auto failure.

When the football is in a players hands, your ship becomes impacted by the bizarre effects of protomatter. The first thing you will notice is that your ship is unable to go to full impulse, and you appear to be covered in a type of exotic radiation. This becomes problematic as you try to get to the Tzenkethi bases quickly.

Warning: If you use a teleport ability like Trajector Jump you will drop the bomb and a Tzenkethi group will immediately warp in and claim the bomb. (TY ElectrumLeopard)

Additionally – if you carry the bomb with a Romulan ship, do not use the singularity jump or you will lose the bomb; same thing with the singularity shadows. (TY Nandos)

Some players will experience a visual glitch in that the bomb may appear to 'drop' along the way. This appears to be a coding problem in the game, or if you prefer, a false image caused by temporal distortion (a QA happy accident). As long as you have the main marker showing you have the bomb, it will not release until you are in range when you are offered an interaction button to drop the bomb. Deploying the bomb takes a short amount of time, and if you're taking damage, the bomb will not drop. A second visual glitch appears to happen when you switch alts and make multiple runs – occasionally the bomb identification will not show. There is no easy fix other than restarting the game after you complete the mission.

The Tzenkethi

The Tzenkethi battle groups operate in waves. You will encounter groups of frigates on an ongoing basis, while the bomb groups consisting of a battleship, and a cruiser to provide support. The higher the difficulty,