Crystalline Entity

Crystalline Entity

NPC-Rank:

Location(s):

Teneebia Sector

Race:

Cosmozoan

For the mission description of the Fleet Action, see: “Crystalline Catastrophe”.

The Crystalline Entity is a massive spaceborne cosmozoan that can be found in the Teneebia Sector. It can travel at warp speeds and sustains itself by consuming organic material using a Matter Conversion Beam.

History

• A Crystalline Entity devastated twelve inhabited worlds, among them Omicron Theta, Forlat III, and Melona IV, in the 24th Century. It was eventually destroyed by Dr. Kila Marr during an attempt to communicate with it in 2368.
• In 2409 another Entity encroached on Federation space, attacking and destroying a colony in the Teneebia Sector. Three Federation starships - the U.S.S. Byzantium, U.S.S. Pollux, and U.S.S. Sri Lanka - attempted to stop it, but the arrival of a Tholian attack force resulted in the destruction of the latter two vessels and critical damage to the Byzantium.

Armament

• Unique - Matter Conversion Beam (Antiproton Damage)
• Unique - Energy Release: Periodically the Entity switches from its standard attack mode into an Absorption Phase. During this phase, all incoming damage is reduced to negligible levels. When this phase ends (after approximately 30 seconds), the Entity will expel any absorbed energy in an Antiproton shockwave in a 10km radius. Damage done by the energy release depends on the amount of energy it was able to absorb.
• Unique - Spawns Large Crystalline Fragments which target players and explode ("shatter") when they get to within about 1km doing large amounts of Kinetic damage to all objects in the Area of Effect.
• Unique - Spawns Small Crystalline Fragments which principally grant the Entity a damage buff (see Recrystallize Effect explained below) but also shatter for Area of Effect damage. Although they do not target players, small fragments apparently shatter when they are destroyed by weapons or abilities. Damage done by small fragments is Physical damage to all objects within a short radius. Physical damage is done straight to the hull (shields give no protection) and the amount done is roughly equal to the small fragment's initial total hull points.

Hull Strength

Level	Crystalline Entity	Large Crystalline Fragment	Small Crystalline Fragment
50	2,481,069	49,621	2,977

Resistance

The Entity has "very high" resistance to all forms of energy damage. It is somewhat less resistant to kinetic damage -- with only "high" resistance to it. Its fragments have no damage resistance.

Healing

The Crystalline Entity has high innate healing regeneration.

Immunity

Neither the Crystalline Entity nor any of the fragments it spawns have any shields, subsystems, or power levels. As a consequence, the Crystalline Entity and its fragments are totally immune to the normal effects of Boarding Parties, Viral Matrix, Charged Particle Burst, Tachyon Beam, Tyken's Rift, and Directed Energy Modulation. (See below however the special use of some of these abilities to counter the Entities re-crystallizing buff.) Phaser, tetryon, and polaron energy weapons will do their normal DPS on this mission, but their Procs have no effect. Similarly, transphasic projectiles will do their normal DPS, but their shield penetrating abilities are useless against the Entity and its fragments.

Jam Sensors, Scramble Sensors and other similar effects do not affect the Entity, but will "befuddle" Large Fragments.

Re-Crystallizing Damage Buff

If a Large Crystalline Fragment shatters on a player, it will spawn three Small Crystalline Fragments. The small fragments then travel back to the Entity, where they adhere to its surface and "Re-Crystallize" it. The re-crystallization bestows a stacking damage buff on the Entity. A few abilities that are typically used to drain enemy shields and subsystem power, have proven effective in breaking down newly-formed crystals along the Entity's surface. The following abilities will periodically remove multiple Re-Crystallize charges from the Entity:

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

Tactical Advice

A large amount of advice on how to complete the mission is given out in dialog boxes with Admiral Grigori Yanishev at the mission's outset. The dialog advice can be found listed under the mission description for “Crystalline Catastrophe”.

Notes

• Despite its characteristics, including it's sheer size and HP pool, the Entity isn't dreadnought nor capital size and as such won't trigger the related Endeavour.
• The Crystalline Entity was given a major re-vamp in patch release on April 11, 2013, making it much easier to accomplish. For a description of the "infamous" original mission (and its horrendous difficulty) see Crystalline Catastrophe/Walkthrough - Original Mission.
• A Crystalline Entity appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Datalore" and "Silicon Avatar".
• It is unclear why the Tholian Assembly is intent on protecting the entity. During the battle with the Byzantium, the Tholian commander stated: "Your presence disrupts our efficiency. You will be removed, and the (UNTRANSLATABLE) will feast." This could indicate that they see the Entity as a deity of some kind. There are also a number of biological features shared by the Entity and the Tholians.

Gallery

• 

  The U.S.S. Byzantium, U.S.S. Pollux, and U.S.S. Sri Lanka engaging the Entity.

• 

  The original design of the Crystalline Entity.

References

Season 7 Dev Blog #43

External links

• Crystalline Entity at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki.

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