Mission: The Vault: Ensnared/Walkthrough

Prelude[]

The team starts out east on the map for the Vault.

There will be a 50 seconds briefing phase to read the brief, where you cannot move, but can use abilities.

It is generally a bad idea for the team to stick closely together in this mission, due to the various time constraints. Divide and conquer!
Combat speed enhancing utilities like Impulse Capacitance Cell, Engine Batteries, EPtE, Aux2Damp, etc. are useful to have, as well as DOffs that shorten Evasive Maneuvers or BOffs that decrease Battle Cloak cooldown.

The aim of this phase is to save the attacked Reman ships.

All 10 ships are being attacked by groups of Tholians, consisting of a few Widows, Mesh Weavers and 1 or 2 Orb Weavers.
A Reman ship only counts as saved once an attacking enemy group has been completely defeated!
The ships to be saved will only start to take damage once approached. In general, they are quite sturdy and one need not fear for them being destroyed, as long as their shields are up.
As this is not the case for the ship in the nebula, extra care needs to be taken once approached. It is suggested that this ship immediately be healed, and the attacking enemies not be destroyed too close to it, as even one warp core breach right next to it may prove fatal.
- Approaching this particular ship from either of the adjoining ships in distress on a straight path through the nebula will usually yield a higher flight time than making a "C" curve towards it, avoiding most of the flight hazard.

Once the 5 minutes are over, Phase 1 will end, and an interlude of 30 seconds will start for you to read the brief for Phase 2.

In this phase your aim is to destroy Vault Weavers as quickly as possible.

Vault Weavers are Mesh Weavers with a long yellow weaving trail and follow fixed flight paths clockwise around the Vault.
They have fixed spawn points and a respawn timer depending on which plane they are on - for the spawns on the middle plane, this is about 2 minutes and 10~20 seconds, the timers for top and bottom seem slightly shorter.
The duration of this phase is fixed - It will always last exactly 7 minutes.

Saved ships from Phase 1 will slowly follow you, they will not use abilities, but they will be targeted by the Tholians. You do not have to ensure their safety from here on.

Leaving Vault Weavers alive too long causes them to complete their envelopment of the Vault in increments of 20%.
It is crucial that you destroy these as soon as possible.
Vault Weavers spawn on three levels: Around the top, the middle and the bottom of the Vault.
- On each of these levels, there are 5 spawn points.
- For the top and bottom, these are the same: 1, 3, 6, 9 and 11 on a clock centered on the Vault.
  For the middle, they are: 2, in between 4 and 5, in between 8 and 7, 10 and 12.
- The distance between spawn points is much larger for the middle plane than for bottom and top. It will always take two to cover the whole plane due to the extended distances.
- Use the remaining time from Phase 1 and the 30 seconds from the briefing to get into position for the first spawn!
In the initial wave, the Weavers will spawn almost simultaneously, making it crucial to be as fast at taking them out as possible. The consequent waves are much easier, as the Weavers then spawn staggered, as you have destroyed them before.
While there will be spawns of mob groups between each spawn point, it is not the objective to defeat these. Unless you can help it, you should bypass, avoid or outrun these to get to your next spawn point. Remember, time is of the essence!

It is suggested that players choose and stick to one plane of action in the beginning of the phase. This is to prevent disrupting the spawn/kill rhythm by killing someone else's spawn and making them having to remember/seek where the next spawn will be instead of just following the patrol path.
It is a good idea to have two players watch the middle plane, as there will be a lot of other mob groups spawning in between spawn points, and bigger ships cannot always avoid them at all times.
Battle Cloak makes an excellent patrol ship for this phase - you can drop out of combat faster, often avoiding it, and it makes you even fly faster!
Do not forget to switch to the Engine preset/use an Engine Battery before you hit Evasive Manoeuvres/pop Impulse Burst/etc.
It may be a better idea for slower ships like cruisers, carriers, etc. to watch the upper/lower planes instead of the middle one, where they would have long travel times at combat speeds.
It may help to travel counter-clockwise, as the Weavers are travelling clockwise, you would minimise the chance to miss a patrol and, more importantly, your intercept distance will be lower.
If, at any time, more than one Weaver is alive in your designated area of control, then you can use help!

After 7 minutes Phase 2 will end, and Obisek will declare the Vault safe.
Now all that is left is to defeat incoming reinforcements!

Defeat the Tholian reinforcements!

The battle group consists of 2 Mesh Weavers , 2 Orb Weavers, a Recluse and a Tarantula.

The optional named flagship has a 3 minutes warp-out timer. If you do not defeat it by then, it will be gone - hence it is suggested that you engage it first while avoiding the main battle group.
- Destroying all five optional named flagships also completes the accolade "Tholian Malfeasance".

After you destroy the last Tholian ship, it is time for rewards!

This mission rewards a container containing Reputation Marks. You will get a second one with 3 marks for defeating the named flagship.

You may choose between Fleet, Romulan and Nukara marks.
The amount awarded is influenced by the Bonus Marks Event.
- A perfect run during the event awards a total of 58 marks, making this the highest reward of Nukara Marks you can get as of writing.
Be aware that you may miss the containers should you not wait for them to appear in your inventory before warping out.

Objective	Normal	Event
Base	10	20
Ships saved	+1 per	+1 per
Ships "Flawless" Bonus	0	+1
Web completion avoided	+? per 20%	+4 per 20%
Web "Flawless" Bonus	+?	+4
Maximum	30	55
Optional Flagship destroyed	3	3