Is Engineer Any Good Anymore?

razar2380

Let me start by explaining, I stopped playing around the end of 2015. I only just got back in the game recently, and found out that things have changed a LOT. I am wanting to start a new character (have 14 from before), but not sure if I should run as an Engineer. I have all three classes in Federation, Romulan, and Klingon factions from before.

In the past, my Engineer was not able to do as much damage as the Tactical character, but had really good survivability in comparison. The Science at that time was not the best class, but still held their own with a good build, and ship. However, I have been reading recently, and it seems like everyone is going away from the Engineering class, and going for Tactical or Science. In fact, a lot of things I have found online has said that Engineers are not as good as they were before, and are less effective as the Science were.

So, my question is, are the Engineers any good. I am not asking if they can do as high of DPS as Tactical, because Tac has almost always ruled, since STO is a DPS focused game. But, if I take an escort out with my Engineer, will his skills and abilities be able to keep that ship alive like it used to before the big changes happened? Or, will I be better off if I roll a Science character?

The main reason I am asking is for a Role Play perspective. Since Star Trek Online is all about violence, I want to play it as an Engineer that prefers peace, but is forced into the violent confrontations because of the characters they go against, and also because of the higher ups in the faction they are in making decisions that are forcing things into that direction. Let's face it, that is how the game works. Lol.

But, I don't want my character to be lacking when it gets to end game content. I want to be able to hold my own against the rep system content (by the way, WOW! They added a LOT of rep systems! Lol).

Any help would be appreciated.

Razar.

nightken

short version: you'll be fine.

long version: sto is never been a hard game and that hasn't changed, and assuming your build isn't completely terrible you should be able to get though pretty much anything and without too much trouble, and if you do have major problem. you can post your build here, tell us whats isn't working and we can see about fixing it.

seaofsorrows

I have a couple Engineers, a Romulan-Fed and a standard Federation Engineer and they both do just fine.

In fact, my Fed Engineer is just what you are talking about doing, she flies small escorts and I really like it. Does she do as much damage as my Tac? No.. but some of the Engineering Abilities are very useful on smaller ships that are normally less durable. In fact, most of my tactical officers stick to heavier ships while my Engineers tend to fly smaller and lighter ships to take advantage of the extra durability. Those smaller ships are also usually more tactically focused which allows feds to stack more Superior Romulan Operatives to help with their critical hit/damage.

Engineers are also still more fun on ground.. at least in my opinion. Again, my Tacs all do more damage on the ground, but I like playing my Engineer in group content. It's always cool to put down shield and health generators and turrets. Sure, I may do less damage if someone happens to parse the run, but my engineers are all good at helping keep people up. They still do pretty respectable damage as well.

Ultimately, if Engineer is what you want to play then you should play that. The only real differences you're going to notice are if you decide to parse runs and try to chase DPS. Even if you do, the high DPS records for Engineers in ISA are still in the 250k range, so it's not like they can't DPS.

Engineer is a perfectly viable class.

jimduval

Engineers are ment to tank aka take a lot of dam tactical deal massive amounts dps and science is team support.

All classes can reap havoc these days with tact being the easiest to get an hang of and science the most difficult.

Me personally i really like my engineers, not only can they take in a lot of dam they also have a whole range of drones turrets and other stuff they can call in to help you out.

razar2380

seaofsorrows wrote: »

I have a couple Engineers, a Romulan-Fed and a standard Federation Engineer and they both do just fine.

In fact, my Fed Engineer is just what you are talking about doing, she flies small escorts and I really like it. Does she do as much damage as my Tac? No.. but some of the Engineering Abilities are very useful on smaller ships that are normally less durable. In fact, most of my tactical officers stick to heavier ships while my Engineers tend to fly smaller and lighter ships to take advantage of the extra durability. Those smaller ships are also usually more tactically focused which allows feds to stack more Superior Romulan Operatives to help with their critical hit/damage.

Engineers are also still more fun on ground.. at least in my opinion. Again, my Tacs all do more damage on the ground, but I like playing my Engineer in group content. It's always cool to put down shield and health generators and turrets. Sure, I may do less damage if someone happens to parse the run, but my engineers are all good at helping keep people up. They still do pretty respectable damage as well.

Ultimately, if Engineer is what you want to play then you should play that. The only real differences you're going to notice are if you decide to parse runs and try to chase DPS. Even if you do, the high DPS records for Engineers in ISA are still in the 250k range, so it's not like they can't DPS.

Engineer is a perfectly viable class.

You sound like you play yours like I play mine. I first started playing shortly after the Romulans were added to the game. Everyone was complaining about the Scimitar being a glass cannon back then, and so many were complaining about how easily it died. I got my Engineer, and put him in the Tactical Scimitar, and got accused of hacking so many times because I was tanking tactical cubes when everyone else was getting killed. That was fun. But it was also before the level cap increase. lol.

I do thank you and everyone else for the help. I am planning on running an Engineer. I might have a total of 3 slots, so I can roll one of each, if I read it correctly. I am looking forward to playing one.

I wasn't wanting to chase DPS, because none of the classes could ever beat Tactical in that. I just wanted to make sure that if I picked one, and leveled them all the way up, I wasn't going to be wasting time doing it. I hate the teams having to carry me in queues.

One last question: Did they ever nerf the large gaps between leveling from 50 and up? I remember when they first introduced the level cap increase, it was a huge difference just going from level 50 to 51 than it was to go from 45 to 50. I am asking because I want to go ahead and prepare in case it is still a huge grindfest to get to 60. As far as I can tell, you can still get to 50 in just as quick as you could before, which is awesome.

Thanks again,

Razar.

seaofsorrows

razar2380 wrote: »

One last question: Did they ever nerf the large gaps between leveling from 50 and up? I remember when they first introduced the level cap increase, it was a huge difference just going from level 50 to 51 than it was to go from 45 to 50.

I am assuming you mean the way it used to take forever to level after a certain point? Yeah, that is long in the past.. as napalm said, leveling now is indeed 'stupid fast.'

You won't have any problems there.

razar2380

Okay, I just found out that there was another level cap increase. When I stopped playing, it capped out at 60. Now I find out it caps at 65. Looked further into it, and find out that there is also a MK XV now. Lol.

And thanks for the information on the DOFFs and Admiralty. The Admiralty is something new to me. But I am sure it will not be hard to get used to.

Just 1 thing I am not sure of: I get that you're sending your ships out on missions (which took too long to get in the game). So if they are on a mission, I will assume I can't pick it to fly. However, I saw that some have an extremely long cool down compared to others. So, if I am right in assuming that I can't fly it while on a mission, can I fly it before it's cool down is up? And if so, is there a penalty to do so?

Thanks again for all your help. This is one thing I did miss about this community while away. It is a friendly and helpful community, for the most part.

Razar.

dracounguis

Unless you are trying to be an uber-dps player, any career is fine.

seaofsorrows

razar2380 wrote: »

Just 1 thing I am not sure of: I get that you're sending your ships out on missions (which took too long to get in the game). So if they are on a mission, I will assume I can't pick it to fly. However, I saw that some have an extremely long cool down compared to others. So, if I am right in assuming that I can't fly it while on a mission, can I fly it before it's cool down is up? And if so, is there a penalty to do so?

When you acquire a ship (or claim from the c-store) you get the actual ship and an admiralty card for the ship. These two things are separate.

When you send a ship on an Admiralty mission, you're sending the ship card, not the actual ship. You can freely use the actual ship while the ship is on mission in admiralty. The cooldown time is just how long before the ship can fly another admiralty mission.

When you dismiss or dry dock a star ship, you keep the Admiralty Card in your deck. They are totally separate.

casualsto

If you have a specific love for the Engineering profession, you can make it work. It has been shifted slightly towards dps, but it's still a test of patience with less punishment for mistakes if you play as engineer.

I'd advise you playing the class which tickles your trek-bone and adjust the playstyle and build accordingly. Tac is still on top for dps, but things are far from how they were "back in the days" when it was TacTrek Online.

razar2380

casualsto wrote: »

If you have a specific love for the Engineering profession, you can make it work. It has been shifted slightly towards dps, but it's still a test of patience with less punishment for mistakes if you play as engineer.

I'd advise you playing the class which tickles your trek-bone and adjust the playstyle and build accordingly. Tac is still on top for dps, but things are far from how they were "back in the days" when it was TacTrek Online.

Honestly, I like all three classes when I used to play. I preferred the Engineer for ground, because I could pop shields and turrets.

Tactical for simple queues where you didn't really need to DPS a large group of ships (with cannon builds).

I enjoyed using the Science class for queues where I could hold groups of enemy ships all together, and let the DPS crowd blow them up together. The ones they didn't kill, usually got toasted by the warp core breech from the others.

At this point, I think I have finished my keybindings. I am setting it up on an old level 60 character. I just need to test it out to see if I have it set right. But, I need to see what to set the skill tree to. I keep getting different results for Engineers, but no good explanation why ones skill tree build is better than the others. I have tried the skill planner on STO Academy.

I just can't see why I should pick some of the skills over others. With some it is perfectly clear. Example: If I am not going to run torps, then it is pointless to put points in torp skill tree. But, I am looking at the ones that increase shield heals vs increasing shield HP. Which one is better? And why?

Is there a place that explains which of these skills are a waste of point? I don't want to just copy someone else's build. I want to know why they use it, because I might not want to fly my ship like they do theirs, even if we have the same Boff skills, or weapons and gear setup.

I do thank everyone again so much for all the help. I know I am asking a lot of questions, but I am trying to catch up on stuff I missed. And a lot of the YouTube videos a filled with a lot of useless information just to make the videos longer to pad stats on YT. And I have been reading a lot of information lately, but it is taking a while to sort out what is garbage, and what has merit.

Razar.

seaofsorrows

razar2380 wrote: »

casualsto wrote: »

If you have a specific love for the Engineering profession, you can make it work. It has been shifted slightly towards dps, but it's still a test of patience with less punishment for mistakes if you play as engineer.

I'd advise you playing the class which tickles your trek-bone and adjust the playstyle and build accordingly. Tac is still on top for dps, but things are far from how they were "back in the days" when it was TacTrek Online.

Honestly, I like all three classes when I used to play. I preferred the Engineer for ground, because I could pop shields and turrets.

Tactical for simple queues where you didn't really need to DPS a large group of ships (with cannon builds).

I enjoyed using the Science class for queues where I could hold groups of enemy ships all together, and let the DPS crowd blow them up together. The ones they didn't kill, usually got toasted by the warp core breech from the others.

At this point, I think I have finished my keybindings. I am setting it up on an old level 60 character. I just need to test it out to see if I have it set right. But, I need to see what to set the skill tree to. I keep getting different results for Engineers, but no good explanation why ones skill tree build is better than the others. I have tried the skill planner on STO Academy.

I just can't see why I should pick some of the skills over others. With some it is perfectly clear. Example: If I am not going to run torps, then it is pointless to put points in torp skill tree. But, I am looking at the ones that increase shield heals vs increasing shield HP. Which one is better? And why?

Is there a place that explains which of these skills are a waste of point? I don't want to just copy someone else's build. I want to know why they use it, because I might not want to fly my ship like they do theirs, even if we have the same Boff skills, or weapons and gear setup.

I do thank everyone again so much for all the help. I know I am asking a lot of questions, but I am trying to catch up on stuff I missed. And a lot of the YouTube videos a filled with a lot of useless information just to make the videos longer to pad stats on YT. And I have been reading a lot of information lately, but it is taking a while to sort out what is garbage, and what has merit.

Razar.

As far as Skill Tree goes, that's kind of a personal preference thing. I have a saved build that is my Engineer Template that you can see here. This template has my skill tree, personal traits, away team, gear, etc filled out. There is no ship selected.

Before you dive too much into it, a couple things. I do not use Torpedoes, therefore this build does not have skills allocated for them. If you like to use Torps then you will need to move some points around.

This build, as with everything I do is 'tactical heavy' and focused on dealing damage. I use offense as a means of survivability, if this style does not appeal to you then feel free to move a couple points from tactical to give yourself some more durability. For example, if you know for sure that you're not going to use any hangar pets, you could take 1 or 2 points from either 'Defensive Coordination,' or 'Offensive Coordination' in the highest tier. Just be advised this will slightly weaken the effectiveness of the Tactical Ultimate skill. I would advise against taking all 3 points from this tier as that would deny you access to the Ultimate. The extra points could be put into either Torps if you need them or for durability you could put another point into Shield Durability or Hull Capacity/Restoration.

And finally, a note I always include.. this set up is my personal preference. It is in no way intended to claim that it's the 'right' way or the 'best' way. It's simply what I have found the most effective though extensive testing and balancing. This tree is pretty close to the 'meta' for skill trees give or take 2 or 3 points.

You can find a lot of good guides and builds by visiting The STO-League page. They have low budget as well as high budget builds and you should be able to find a good amount of information there. Obviously, you can also ask here.

mustrumridcully0

I'd say Engineer is the third-best class in the game. On ground I think they might have some of the most fun options. The tactical powers are all pretty uninspired IMO, while Engineers have their mines and pets and all that, and Science Captains have science agic.

The main problem with Engineers is that survivability is often trumped by damage potential, and that's why Tacticals are the best class in the game. Everything they have revolves around dealing more damage. Sure, you might survive longer, but the trick is, if you deal enough damage, you don't actually need to survive that long, because the fight is already over.

That said, it's not like content will actually get hard if you play an Engineer. Sometimes you might find it easier, because you have more survival tricks. (But a tricked out Tac might have already destroyed the enemy while you're still using those survival tricks). So I'd say if you want to capitalize on its strength, you need a ship that lacks them. Pick ships that are normally glass cannons, like Escorts and Raiders. Maybe even a ship with lower power levels like Romulan Warbirds or high energy requirements (8 weapon slots, or 7 slots and access to good aux-dependent science abilities), since the Engineer abilities can help you with that, too. (EPS FLow, Nadion Inversion, and the new AoE energy drain).

markhawkman

Eng is fine. MY first character is an engineer who primarily uses heavy cruisers and flight deck ships. She also uses setups with multiple beams. Basically giant flying disco ball of death...

rattler2

ruinthefun wrote: »

Engineers still not great. They're still bottom-tier. That said, you can still succeed at anything, you'll just be playing it in hardmode.

I have a fleetmate who mains Engie with a Megawell Build who would disagree with you.

captmack68

Engineers can be a little challenging to love, but worth the attention. I like each class and play their differences despite game mechanics / meta / perfectly valid advice to do otherwise.

Mack is my main, he's full engineer (full tree) AND mainly flies a T6 Andromeda. He flies a T5U Risian Yacht when I'm in the mood for faster flying. He was built in ignorance but I haven't changed much other than equipment based on advice I've picked up here. Did I mention he shoots Phasers? He's my favorite despite having a build no one would recommend, has twice the /played time as any other toon and is one of 3 that survived both DR and the Great Re-balancing.

Despite all the changes, this game is still pretty good at letting you pick your fun.

odinforever20000

rattler2 wrote: »

ruinthefun wrote: »

Engineers still not great. They're still bottom-tier. That said, you can still succeed at anything, you'll just be playing it in hardmode.

I have a fleetmate who mains Engie with a Megawell Build who would disagree with you.

As another engineer (Romulan) in a Mega well Build I would also disagree Eng toons are Hard mode. Actually me Best drain build is on that toon too.

razar2380

I have seen the MegaWell mentioned in other threads. If I understand correctly, isn't that an Engineer setup to boost subsystem powers, and a power drain build also? So, you gravity well the enemy(ies), weaken them, then kill them all together. Is that right?

And if so, wouldn't the Science character be better for that? I thought their classes abilities would make them better for that build. I think I am missing something here. I can't seem to find something that explains what I might be missing. Because with how powerful everyone says they are, I would love to do that with my new character I will be rolling very soon.

Also, is that build mainly for playing with other players? Like a build I had on 1 of my Science characters back when I used to play all the time. They would power drain and grav-well the enemies, and the others on my team would mop up. That was fun, but I am looking at making this Engineer where they can handle their own really well in the missions that are out now, and others that might come in the future.

I did play with the skill tree last night on a Tactical character I had at level 60. Got some good DPS with him. Though, it was a cannon build on the Dyson ship from the mission, T5-U, and only had MK 12 DHCs on the front that were light purple color (non-fleet). I am planning on leveling up weapons and gear I get on my new character that I want for end game queues.

But I am using my old characters to experiment with the skill tree on. Most of them have really good weapons and gear from rep system, and such. Few have fleet stuff. But I am trying to learn as much as I can about the Engineer builds out there, so I can play with them on old characters. Tactical is pretty simple to build into.

And thanks so much for all the helpful information. Everything I learn form all of you, I will share with others later.

Razar.

razar2380

coldnapalm wrote: »

Nothing a sci captain does actually boost a mega well. They have sensor scan which is a debuff, sub nuke which is a buff cleanse, photonic fleet is a pet summon and co opt energy weapon which is an invul if used right. None of that boosts a mega well...or science stuff at all. Oddly enough tacts and engies are better in science ships than science captains.

Ah. I must have been mistaken then. For some reason, I was thinking that they were able to boost Aux power. It has been 3 years since I played STO, and I played a LOT of games since then. I know that the Science class were not as good back then as the others in DPS. But I do remember that I used mine for GW, and Drain abilities. But, that might have been from Boff abilities.

Thanks for correcting me. But I take it I was right about what a mega well is? Making a ship that does heavy damage with a GW, and follows up with beams or torps. And if that is correct, what would you recommend? Beams, or torps?

Razar.

spiritborn

I have 3 engineering character 2 of which I play fairly frequently (including my current main who is SF alien gen engineering officer) and as other have pointed out unless you're trying to go for the top DPS engineers are just fine, and if you got the EC to spare you can even remove the main issue on ground which is the lack of mobility.

razar2380

Awesome information everyone.

I do have a few more questions. First, if I were to use the Exploration Cruiser Retrofit (the free one at level 61), would Aux2Batt be the best thing to do? I know that before I left, Aux2Batt was pretty much the best way to go with an Engineering focused Boff seating. If it is, what would be the best weapons to use (on a budget build)?

I am thinking about the Jhem set for the set piece bonus to start, then later move to something else. I can figure out what I want to upgrade to later. But just to get it started, I was looking at Disruptor, or Phaser. I read that they are some of the better ones with the rep system stuff. So if I start with one of those, I was thinking I wouldn't need to bother switching out for another energy type later.

And if Aux2Batt is not the best option to go with, what would you recommend?

This information will help with the level 62 character I am testing it out on, before I roll my new character. I want to work out some of the bugs before I start the new character.

Thanks again for the help.

Razar.

(EDIT) By the way, does anyone know how I can change my signature? Someone else got access to my account while I was away, and they changed it. I want to redo it as soon as possible, but can't figure out how. -Thanks.

peterconnorfirst

Aux2bat is the best bet on such a ship atm, preferably with the ship trait from last year’s winter event ship: “cold hearted”

If you have the means, use phaser as energy type. Good and free sets around as a start and many ways to expand later on.

razar2380

> @peterconnorfirst said:
> Aux2bat is the best bet on such a ship atm, preferably with the ship trait from last year’s winter event ship: “cold hearted”
>
> If you have the means, use phaser as energy type. Good and free sets around as a start and many ways to expand later on.

Wasn't here for 3 years. So I missed out on last year's ship. Wouldn't you know it, that one had a trait I could use. Lol.

Just curious, why do you suggest phasers over disruptors? Do they have more options to boost them from rep systems?

Razar.

postinggum

That coming lockbox mirror hec would be great for an engineer

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11018513

centaurianalpha

I recently played thru "Bug Hunt" with my original KDF Eng 'toon, and it was the easiest instance of that TFO I ever did. Killed lots of bluegills, survived the spawnmother chamber, never got killed. My Sci 'toons are second best at this one, while tacs for some reason wind up respawning all too often. And I have a bias toward the Eng career, since it's what I do in RL...