I think you have a much better layout overall, especially the BOff's but I built her to defend against "OMGWFTDEFIANTPEWPEW" escorts primarily. I want to switch my Engi skills to your setup to see how that works for me and throw in at least one Flow Capacitor.
However to go true STF-style, shields are not the problem, it's the insane hit-points that those ships and structures have. That's why everyone seems to run Antiproton. So I suppose my only real suggestions is to have a second set of stuff just for STF's; a set of AP weapons; go for all DBB's in the front; FAW for the CC spam; switch the armor for 2x Tetraburnium or Electroceramic; and then maybe 2x Shield Emitter Amplifiers or mix Amplifier/Generator in the Sci slot. Just for STF's I'd honestly go with the 3-piece Borg set too with a MACO/Reman or some other high-cap shield.
glider against npc's is pretty useless, they are such hitpoint sponges the extra shield damage doesn't mater and they arent smart enough to distribute their shields. now if they were smart enough to distribute their shields that would be different. it can be somewhat helpful in suppressing a cubes regeneration, but not worth the survivability you could get from the borg set.
glider is deadly against other players though, their hit points are finite and any little extra helps, bare hull dies quick. that build looks basically ready for pvp. except loose the torp, get TT1 and use FAW3. borg weapons are not that great in pvp, your just giving up a mod for nothing there.
in an stf run 2 anti plasma and 2 anti kinetic armor, the borg deflector and engine with the maco shield, and the borg console and a field generater in your sci slots.
Yeah thats pretty similar to the setup I run currently for STFS, AP borg weapons with the MACO shield + 3 set borg. I didnt consider the fact that all the big targets in STFs dont even have shields. Although your comment got me to thinking about the usefulness of a tetryon glider setup for pvp purposes. Thanks for the tip!
Yeah thats pretty similar to the setup I run currently for STFS, AP borg weapons with the MACO shield + 3 set borg. I didnt consider the fact that all the big targets in STFs dont even have shields. Although your comment got me to thinking about the usefulness of a tetryon glider setup for pvp purposes. Thanks for the tip!
ya all the big stationary targets dont even have shields, though it basicly doesn't mater what energy type you use there, it makes very little difference. there are acc x2 tet beam array in the dilithium store, excellent for pvp were the acc mod is by far the most important. loose the torp and use my other suggestions and you should be good in pvp. just have to get used to distributing shields and using certain heals at the appropriate time and stuff like that, all stuff you learn from experience.
I've been thinking about bringing a modified Dragon Oddy to PVE (tank) and PVP (survival) on those days when I'm sick of pwning people with a tac escort. After doing a lot of reading up, I decided for this build using the sci Oddy:
Eng - EPS, Neutronium x 3
Sci - Assimilated Module, Field x 3
Tac - Tert damage x 2
On weapons & consoles:
While the fore and aft torps aren't maximizing the ship in PVE, I believe this weapon layout balances my dps out throughout shield facings, reducing the need for this whale to turn quickly. It also helps deal with escorts who love sitting on one's tail (that's what I usually do against everything on my main ship, even against other escorts), allowing me to use both my offensive skills on them. I will upgrade to antiprotons eventually, but for now I'll settle for Terts or maybe polarons.
I don't think the bonuses from the 3 consoles can touch the amount of survivability 3 neuts + 3 field consoles provide, and this weapon set-up eliminates weak facings (You're always going to get hit by 6 beams or 3 beams and a torp). And I hope this setup has me alive for over a minute, allowing me to stack Sensor Analysis.
On boff skills:
The odd boff skill choices are because I really fly 2 ships and would much rather be good at my day job IE escorting. So I chose RSP2 because the Comm Eng is the same Borg Eng boff on my escort who has to have EPtS2 + EPtS3 as a compromise for both ships. EPtW1 is wasted somewhat on my escort, except in the offchance someone shuts down my weapons, but at least the option is there and I can't slot ET2 into my TT1/TT1 rotation anyway. Likewise, trying to maximize both TS1 and BFAW2 is because I already have a Tac boff on the escort giving me TS1 from his ens slot, adding BFAW2 to him is more compatible.
A possible variant friendly to both cruiser and escort is...
EPtS1, RSP1, EPtS3, AtS3
EptW1, EptW2, ET3
...but this I reckon just screws too much with the power levels, what with 1 putting the shields less than 100 then the next putting it up to 125, and the EPtW also causing weapon power to jump up and down. Does this make a difference?
Another way is EPtS1, EPtS2, RSP2, AtS3, but that would gimp the shield tanking ability too much? Which of the 3 is better?
On combat roles:
I play like a fighter most of the time, so I'm not lacking that thrilling experience, and certainly will NOT try that with a whale! Instead, I intend to fly around in circles, drawing fire and tanking by putting out raw damage. Gives me something different to my escort effectively. But I admit without threat control I will lose aggro on the mob being focus-fired by the fleet. At the very least I have the attention of everything else instead of them running amok, what with all my captain's talent boosts to weapon systems and damage.
In PVP, I hope that people seeing my being a Tac Captain in an Oddy = IZANOOB HIGH THREAT and try their best to kill me first, only to stalemate for a long time while the rest of the team guts them.
retraining boffs is cheap when you swap ships, dont worry to much about that unless you need training from another player. don't use higher then EPtW1, and adjust your weapons energy down so with EPtW active it tops out at 125. aside from 2x EPtW1 and 2x EPtS2, i would use ET3, RSP2, and A2S3. or you could use RSP1 and EPtS3.
a cruiser firing a torpedo at another player is the most worthless thing in the game unfortunately, 8 beams is the only way to go for pvp, in pve torpedoes can be useful though. you can save youself a ton of skill points by avoiding kinetic weapons entirely, another thing to think about. with the sci odyssey, target someone and do not change targets. over a minutes time you will build up a 33% damage buff against the person you have a constant lock on.
its actually a terribly overpowered ability, personally i would never fly the sci odyssey because of this, its just sickens me that it made it into the game. fighting these ships is extreamly frustrating, if you don't kill it quick they will be dealing so much damage to you that theres no possible way to out heal it. i always run from these when i encounter them, they arent beatable 1 on 1. its the epitome of pay to win, the science bortas is even worse.
remember, once people notice you pop off APA, you will get focused on hard. a tac in a cruiser is supposedly a squishy target, but it depends more on the build and user more then anything. there not going to shoot at you because your the biggest threat.
i would suggest getting 2 at least blue conn officer doffs and 2 at least blue maintenance engineer doffs on your active roster, they will make ET and TT's cooldown near the global, and at least double your survivability. another terribly overpowered thing, but im guilty of using this one. also the best shield distribution doff you can get too, filling out your 5 slots. the shield distribution doff has a chance to like LOL full recharge your shields in like 1 second when you activate the brace for impact skill. doesn't really make sense, but its another extreamly overpowered life saver.
lets see, the eps console is complexity worthless, lose it. put saucer sep, borg, or some other console in its place. for a damage dealing cruiser, i would totally suggest getting the glider with omega engine and deflector with maco shield. or a cap3 covariant, of that very high cap shield you can get from the last klingon arc mission. remember, when using tetryon weapons and the glider, max out flow capacitors, it buffs their damage, and run as many flow cap consoles as you can.
use the borg 3 piece set with a strong shield and as many field generators as you can when running stfs or if your having survivability issues. also on the skill tree ive found it very beneficial to spec 3 into every science resistance skill, except maybe the tier 5 countermeasure skill, also subsystem repair. just 3 into these skills is 54/99, so more then half for quite cheap. that's about it, you just have to learn the rest by playing.
lets see, the eps console is complexity worthless, lose it. put saucer sep, borg, or some other console in its place. for a damage dealing cruiser, i would totally suggest getting the glider with omega engine and deflector with maco shield. or a cap3 covariant, of that very high cap shield you can get from the last klingon arc mission. remember, when using tetryon weapons and the glider, max out flow capacitors, it buffs their damage, and run as many flow cap consoles as you can.
Completely worthless, in pvp and pve? so i should junk them from my ship as well .
Ive been debating this and keep getting mixed opinions on it
retraining boffs is cheap when you swap ships, dont worry to much about that unless you need training from another player. don't use higher then EPtW1, and adjust your weapons energy down so with EPtW active it tops out at 125. aside from 2x EPtW1 and 2x EPtS2, i would use ET3, RSP2, and A2S3. or you could use RSP1 and EPtS3.
a cruiser firing a torpedo at another player is the most worthless thing in the game unfortunately, 8 beams is the only way to go for pvp, in pve torpedoes can be useful though. you can save youself a ton of skill points by avoiding kinetic weapons entirely, another thing to think about. with the sci odyssey, target someone and do not change targets. over a minutes time you will build up a 33% damage buff against the person you have a constant lock on.
its actually a terribly overpowered ability, personally i would never fly the sci odyssey because of this, its just sickens me that it made it into the game. fighting these ships is extreamly frustrating, if you don't kill it quick they will be dealing so much damage to you that theres no possible way to out heal it. i always run from these when i encounter them, they arent beatable 1 on 1. its the epitome of pay to win, the science bortas is even worse.
remember, once people notice you pop off APA, you will get focused on hard. a tac in a cruiser is supposedly a squishy target, but it depends more on the build and user more then anything. there not going to shoot at you because your the biggest threat.
i would suggest getting 2 at least blue conn officer doffs and 2 at least blue maintenance engineer doffs on your active roster, they will make ET and TT's cooldown near the global, and at least double your survivability. another terribly overpowered thing, but im guilty of using this one. also the best shield distribution doff you can get too, filling out your 5 slots. the shield distribution doff has a chance to like LOL full recharge your shields in like 1 second when you activate the brace for impact skill. doesn't really make sense, but its another extreamly overpowered life saver.
lets see, the eps console is complexity worthless, lose it. put saucer sep, borg, or some other console in its place. for a damage dealing cruiser, i would totally suggest getting the glider with omega engine and deflector with maco shield. or a cap3 covariant, of that very high cap shield you can get from the last klingon arc mission. remember, when using tetryon weapons and the glider, max out flow capacitors, it buffs their damage, and run as many flow cap consoles as you can.
use the borg 3 piece set with a strong shield and as many field generators as you can when running stfs or if your having survivability issues. also on the skill tree ive found it very beneficial to spec 3 into every science resistance skill, except maybe the tier 5 countermeasure skill, also subsystem repair. just 3 into these skills is 54/99, so more then half for quite cheap. that's about it, you just have to learn the rest by playing.
thats the one. a cap3, reg-1, for those that didn't snag a cap 3 when they were in the old marks store. christ the ship equipment that came after for emblems and dilithium are TRIBBLE, just garbage compared to the marks stuff.
only time its helpful is on a ship that uses beam overload, and only a ship that can comfortably use a DBB should be using beam overload.
yeah i run 7 arrays on a dread, with 1 torp for e-stf those eps are taking up 2 console slots so if they're really not needed that gives me some more play room for resist and cloak
btw posting here because i use essentially the same type of build with some personal touches
OK having recently been forced to go back to a cruiser from my sci, I'm having trouble deciding what to do with the universal boff slot on my original Odyssey.
LTC Uni: x x x
LT Tac: TT APB
Eng: EP2W RSP EP2S Aux2SifIII
Polarize HE
Sci Team
Using 3x Damage Control Engineers to almost double my engineering slots.
8x beam arrays
Ideally I would have something to turn around, which leaves me with attack Pattern Omega and more tac slots than I know what do to with and running against a 15s cooldown against attack pattern beta, or aux2id which has a 15s cooldown against aux2sif.
Options I've come up with:
FAW APB Target Shields III, as I'm currently specced to max out target x subsystem
FAW FAW APO. This reduces my damage to nothing against 3+ targets
ET, Aux2ID, Extend
ET, Extend, EjWP
Trac, TSS, CPB or TRII
Some of those have more global cooldown problems than others.
Bridge Officer Layout:
LT Tac: Fire at Will 1, Attack Pattern Beta 1
Ens Tac: Tactical Team 1 ( If you went with the Tricobalt then you might want High Yield 1 instead, or Torpedo Spread 1 if you went with a Quantum)
LT CMD Eng: Emergency Power to Weapons 1, Engineering Team 2, Emergency Power to Shields 3
CMD Eng: Emergency Power to Weapons 1, Reverse Shield Polarity 1, Emergency Power to Shields 3, Aux to Structural Integrity Field 3
LT Sci: Hazard Emitters 1, Transfer Shield Strength 2
...
Tactics -
Note - You can start the chain with EPTS 3 instead of EPTW 3 if you feel you want to enter the chain on a more defensive approach instead of offensive approach, the only difference will be that you activate the chain with EPTS 3 --> EPTW 3 ---> EPTS 2 ---> EPTW 1.
Okay, I may be missing something, but this chain here has abilities that are not trained in Boffs (Highlighted). 2 EPTS in boff layout, yet only hit it once? And EPTW3? Not in boff layout. Again am I missing something? I want to try this out, but a little confused! -- Oh, and tactics say to hit EPtS 2 which is not listed in either...totally confused!
Okay, I may be missing something, but this chain here has abilities that are not trained in Boffs (Highlighted). 2 EPTS in boff layout, yet only hit it once? And EPTW3? Not in boff layout. Again am I missing something? I want to try this out, but a little confused! -- Oh, and tactics say to hit EPtS 2 which is not listed in either...totally confused!
That's been edited since it was first posted. I read through the thread a short time ago to see how this build developed, and I'm pretty sure the Boff layout is correct, and the sequence simply wasn't updated to reflect it. It should be:
EPTS 3 --> EPTW 1 ---> EPTS 3 ---> EPTW 1.
In any case, that's what I'm using, and it works great.
The third level skill on BO's are from training by players who have speced into those abilities. The ones in the build here can be done by a Engineer. If your are not then you can do trades with others who are and they can train them for you. You can train at the bases but they are limited to less than 3rd level skill.
I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you, to everyone and especially, Ragnorok21 for this awesome post. I just started playing and this has made my (in game) life so much easier. I went from being a Captain (Eng Cruiser) and getting my butt handed to me over and over again, to actually leading charges now. Thanks again so much.
To the Dreadnought community and to anyone who wants to continue to ask questions concerning my builds, and want help building a flagship of their own.... I am still here. Feel free to continue asking questions, and concerning the recent events revolving around Hakaishin and his amazing dreadnought guide; the flammers who feel the need to voice hatred across a peaceful forums page (with the purpose of educating the general STO community), I feel great shame for you guys. Instead of upholding some form of dignity and honor for yourselves and your fellow forum members, you instead feel the need to harass and create drama within the forums. Its a game guys, its meant to be for fun. So just relax and enjoy the game, see you all out there, in the verse.
hello could you tell me what build should i do for an Galaxy Dreadnought for a science Captain please?
To run Tetryon Glider on a cruiser really isn't viable in my opinion. Your lack of maneuverability necessitates beams, and since the glider ability is based on the number of shots fired, it only provides a noticeable boost when used with cannons.
Tetryon Glider amusingly enough, is what let my tac/escort manage to get a kill on Dragon while he was flying this build. It is a great set bonus, just not beneficial to this ship; the survivability buff from the 3-piece borg set or the special abilities of the 3-piece maco are simply too strong to ignore on a cruiser.
To run Tetryon Glider on a cruiser really isn't viable in my opinion. Your lack of maneuverability necessitates beams, and since the glider ability is based on the number of shots fired, it only provides a noticeable boost when used with cannons.
Tetryon Glider amusingly enough, is what let my tac/escort manage to get a kill on Dragon while he was flying this build. It is a great set bonus, just not beneficial to this ship; the survivability buff from the 3-piece borg set or the special abilities of the 3-piece maco are simply too strong to ignore on a cruiser.
beams fire plenty fast too when faw is chained like rapid fire. cannons and beams unbuffed fire the same number of shot when unbuffed, heavy cannons fire less! to say its not viable on a beam cruiser is absurd, its not viable for a beam cruiser not to run the glider anymore. i absolutely swear by the glider on all cruisers, its effect is most useful over time, and they deal their damage over time.
on alpha striking escorts that fire less total shots at their target before they get their kill, the glider doesn't have the opportunity to deal as much bonus shield damage. heavy cannons deal the same extra shield damage that a turret does, its completely dependent on the number of shot fired not the power of the shots fired, thus it works better on damage over time dealers. escorts is what you should just run with the borg set on, cruisers have survivability built into their station setup already.
OK having recently been forced to go back to a cruiser from my sci, I'm having trouble deciding what to do with the universal boff slot on my original Odyssey.
LTC Uni: x x x
LT Tac: TT APB
Eng: EP2W RSP EP2S Aux2SifIII
Polarize HE
Sci Team
Using 3x Damage Control Engineers to almost double my engineering slots.
8x beam arrays
Ideally I would have something to turn around, which leaves me with attack Pattern Omega and more tac slots than I know what do to with and running against a 15s cooldown against attack pattern beta, or aux2id which has a 15s cooldown against aux2sif.
Options I've come up with:
FAW APB Target Shields III, as I'm currently specced to max out target x subsystem
FAW FAW APO. This reduces my damage to nothing against 3+ targets
ET, Aux2ID, Extend
ET, Extend, EjWP
Trac, TSS, CPB or TRII
Some of those have more global cooldown problems than others.
APD is a hybrid tanking buff *** DPS buff for anyone you anger. You may or may not want the BFAW1, so feel free to swap with TSS1.
Also, with enough DCDoffs, you can do what I call a Dragon Escort:
Lt Eng - EPtW1, EPtS2.
Or a Fleet Escort would have:
Lt Eng - EPtW1, Aux2Struc/RSP1
Ens Eng - EPtS1.
Comm Tac: TT1, APD1, BFAW3, APD3
LtC Tac: TT1, BFAW2, APO1
Lt Sci: HE1, TSS2.
The hybrid of the STF Unorthodox Escort build and the Dragon build runs 7 beams, and I think you can dpstank STFs in this.
Fleet Escort/Garumba STF:
Et2S1, Ep2A1, Aux2Sif
TT1x2, CSV1x2 OR CRF1x2 OR BFAW2x2, APO1x2, APBIII
HE TSS
EP2W is not ideal on the escort as you want that 125 to never fail. EP2E shouldn't increase your defense as you will be at or near max defense most of the time and when APO is running its at max, I see +92% on my tac. APBIII is the real damage dealer in STFs, you should never be without it (pvp is another mater). APB will slot perfectly inside the two APOs giving you 100% uptime on a large damage boost, partly removing the necessity of a higher level attack skill, and while overall damage is less when APO is up, its not significant given the number of times you are not dying. An engineer captain can tank a tac cube with this setup, a tac captain will need to run at times.
I don't like APD b/c it requires someone to be firing at you or your target, and it gives a resistance buff to hull only.
Using the Dragon Excelsior on my engineer, works like a charm ty!
I've recently also flown the Excelsior with my tactical set up like this:
Fore: 3x AP DBB MK XII , 1x Quantum MK XII
Aft: 4x AP Turret MK XII
Deflector: Maco Graviton Deflector Array MK XI
Engines: Assimilated Subtranswarp Engines
Shields: Maco Resilient Shield Array MK XI
Devices: Red Matter Capacitor, Subspace Field Modulator
Engineering Consoles: EPS Flow Regulator MK XI, Neutronium Alloy MK XI, Electroceramic Hull Plating MK XI, Assimilated Module
Science Consoles: 2x Field Generator MK XI
Tactical Consoles: 3x Antiproton Mag Regulator MK XI
Now obviously I only run this particular build in STF's, where it does quite well. I can turn fast enough to keep the DBB's bearing on most enemies and combined with the torpedoes it dishes out respectable damage (not as much as an escort, but hey its a cruiser). But, although the weapon power does go up to 125 (with EptW1 running) it dips lower than 90 sometimes. Is there anything I could tweak with the skill build or the ship equipment to make that power drop lesser? And if there's something else to tweak any help would be appreciated
I'm knew to all this, I'm trying to get something started on my Odyssey tac. I dont have all the equipment yet but am atleast trying to get my bridge crew trained up. the problem is I can't find EPTS3 or Aux to Structural Integrity Field 3 in the training list's. Any solutions to the problem?
ETPS3 is learned by Engineering captains. Pretty sure you can get some to train your Boffs in that. Aux3 comes from rare and very rare Boffs. If you dont get lucky and get one as you level you can find them on the exchange. Though I hear people can also train you in that as well but I don't know how to do that personally -_-
It has probably been mentioned in this thread already, but weapon power bonusses from skills does create a buffer against further weapon power drain. When at full weapon power, if I activate Emergency Power to Weapons, the drop isn't nearly as large as it is without EPtW. This is useful to know for those looking to increase their cruiser dps even further.
A little curious looking at all these builds here, and I see very little sci team, polarize hull, or APO. What do y'all do when you get tagged with a tractor beam, energy drain, or subnuc beam?
A little curious looking at all these builds here, and I see very little sci team, polarize hull, or APO. What do y'all do when you get tagged with a tractor beam, energy drain, or subnuc beam?
I am new to the game only about 9 days in but i just hit level 47 and built a beam boat. I have set up my bridge crew with EPtS 2 and 3 and EPtW 1 and 3. I am currently in an AC but will be in a Tac Odd by friday. I am confused because in your listing of how to spec the Boffs and in several posts it talks about using two copies of a level 3 skill. Is that possible? In other posts and in your description of how the chain works you speak of using level 1 2 and 3 skills but never two copies of the same skill at level 3. So which is accurate can I use two boffs both with the same skill at level 3 or is it limited to two copies but not the same level?
Comments
I have made my Excelsior almost exactly like yours with some minor variations.
Weps:
4x Polarized Tetryon Beam Array (swap with 4x PT Dual Beams)
4x PTBA
Dev:
Instead of Deuterium I have an Aux Btty
Con:
Same equipment except I have 2x Field Gens (I hadn't considered Flow Capacitors... oooooh, shiny!)
BOFFS:
Tac: TT-1, APB-1, B-FAW-3
Cmdr Eng: EP2W-1, EP2S-2, DEM-2, A2SIF-3
I think you have a much better layout overall, especially the BOff's but I built her to defend against "OMGWFTDEFIANTPEWPEW" escorts primarily. I want to switch my Engi skills to your setup to see how that works for me and throw in at least one Flow Capacitor.
However to go true STF-style, shields are not the problem, it's the insane hit-points that those ships and structures have. That's why everyone seems to run Antiproton. So I suppose my only real suggestions is to have a second set of stuff just for STF's; a set of AP weapons; go for all DBB's in the front; FAW for the CC spam; switch the armor for 2x Tetraburnium or Electroceramic; and then maybe 2x Shield Emitter Amplifiers or mix Amplifier/Generator in the Sci slot. Just for STF's I'd honestly go with the 3-piece Borg set too with a MACO/Reman or some other high-cap shield.
But for everything else, it's TETRYON TIME, BABY!
Yeah thats pretty similar to the setup I run currently for STFS, AP borg weapons with the MACO shield + 3 set borg. I didnt consider the fact that all the big targets in STFs dont even have shields. Although your comment got me to thinking about the usefulness of a tetryon glider setup for pvp purposes. Thanks for the tip!
ya all the big stationary targets dont even have shields, though it basicly doesn't mater what energy type you use there, it makes very little difference. there are acc x2 tet beam array in the dilithium store, excellent for pvp were the acc mod is by far the most important. loose the torp and use my other suggestions and you should be good in pvp. just have to get used to distributing shields and using certain heals at the appropriate time and stuff like that, all stuff you learn from experience.
Comm ENG: EPtW1,EPtS2, EPtS3, AtS3
LtCm ENG: EPtW1, ET2, RSP2
Ltnt SCI: HE1, TSS2
Ltnt TAC: TS1, BFAW2
Ens TAC: TT1
Weapons: 1 QTorp + 3 Tertyron beam arrays (Same for fore & aft)
Consoles:
Eng - EPS, Neutronium x 3
Sci - Assimilated Module, Field x 3
Tac - Tert damage x 2
On weapons & consoles:
While the fore and aft torps aren't maximizing the ship in PVE, I believe this weapon layout balances my dps out throughout shield facings, reducing the need for this whale to turn quickly. It also helps deal with escorts who love sitting on one's tail (that's what I usually do against everything on my main ship, even against other escorts), allowing me to use both my offensive skills on them. I will upgrade to antiprotons eventually, but for now I'll settle for Terts or maybe polarons.
I don't think the bonuses from the 3 consoles can touch the amount of survivability 3 neuts + 3 field consoles provide, and this weapon set-up eliminates weak facings (You're always going to get hit by 6 beams or 3 beams and a torp). And I hope this setup has me alive for over a minute, allowing me to stack Sensor Analysis.
On boff skills:
The odd boff skill choices are because I really fly 2 ships and would much rather be good at my day job IE escorting. So I chose RSP2 because the Comm Eng is the same Borg Eng boff on my escort who has to have EPtS2 + EPtS3 as a compromise for both ships. EPtW1 is wasted somewhat on my escort, except in the offchance someone shuts down my weapons, but at least the option is there and I can't slot ET2 into my TT1/TT1 rotation anyway. Likewise, trying to maximize both TS1 and BFAW2 is because I already have a Tac boff on the escort giving me TS1 from his ens slot, adding BFAW2 to him is more compatible.
A possible variant friendly to both cruiser and escort is...
EPtS1, RSP1, EPtS3, AtS3
EptW1, EptW2, ET3
...but this I reckon just screws too much with the power levels, what with 1 putting the shields less than 100 then the next putting it up to 125, and the EPtW also causing weapon power to jump up and down. Does this make a difference?
Another way is EPtS1, EPtS2, RSP2, AtS3, but that would gimp the shield tanking ability too much? Which of the 3 is better?
On combat roles:
I play like a fighter most of the time, so I'm not lacking that thrilling experience, and certainly will NOT try that with a whale! Instead, I intend to fly around in circles, drawing fire and tanking by putting out raw damage. Gives me something different to my escort effectively. But I admit without threat control I will lose aggro on the mob being focus-fired by the fleet. At the very least I have the attention of everything else instead of them running amok, what with all my captain's talent boosts to weapon systems and damage.
In PVP, I hope that people seeing my being a Tac Captain in an Oddy = IZANOOB HIGH THREAT and try their best to kill me first, only to stalemate for a long time while the rest of the team guts them.
Any wise words for this unlearned one?
a cruiser firing a torpedo at another player is the most worthless thing in the game unfortunately, 8 beams is the only way to go for pvp, in pve torpedoes can be useful though. you can save youself a ton of skill points by avoiding kinetic weapons entirely, another thing to think about. with the sci odyssey, target someone and do not change targets. over a minutes time you will build up a 33% damage buff against the person you have a constant lock on.
its actually a terribly overpowered ability, personally i would never fly the sci odyssey because of this, its just sickens me that it made it into the game. fighting these ships is extreamly frustrating, if you don't kill it quick they will be dealing so much damage to you that theres no possible way to out heal it. i always run from these when i encounter them, they arent beatable 1 on 1. its the epitome of pay to win, the science bortas is even worse.
remember, once people notice you pop off APA, you will get focused on hard. a tac in a cruiser is supposedly a squishy target, but it depends more on the build and user more then anything. there not going to shoot at you because your the biggest threat.
i would suggest getting 2 at least blue conn officer doffs and 2 at least blue maintenance engineer doffs on your active roster, they will make ET and TT's cooldown near the global, and at least double your survivability. another terribly overpowered thing, but im guilty of using this one. also the best shield distribution doff you can get too, filling out your 5 slots. the shield distribution doff has a chance to like LOL full recharge your shields in like 1 second when you activate the brace for impact skill. doesn't really make sense, but its another extreamly overpowered life saver.
lets see, the eps console is complexity worthless, lose it. put saucer sep, borg, or some other console in its place. for a damage dealing cruiser, i would totally suggest getting the glider with omega engine and deflector with maco shield. or a cap3 covariant, of that very high cap shield you can get from the last klingon arc mission. remember, when using tetryon weapons and the glider, max out flow capacitors, it buffs their damage, and run as many flow cap consoles as you can.
use the borg 3 piece set with a strong shield and as many field generators as you can when running stfs or if your having survivability issues. also on the skill tree ive found it very beneficial to spec 3 into every science resistance skill, except maybe the tier 5 countermeasure skill, also subsystem repair. just 3 into these skills is 54/99, so more then half for quite cheap. that's about it, you just have to learn the rest by playing.
Completely worthless, in pvp and pve? so i should junk them from my ship as well .
Ive been debating this and keep getting mixed opinions on it
Its something like Paratanetic Shield
only time its helpful is on a ship that uses beam overload, and only a ship that can comfortably use a DBB should be using beam overload.
thats the one. a cap3, reg-1, for those that didn't snag a cap 3 when they were in the old marks store. christ the ship equipment that came after for emblems and dilithium are TRIBBLE, just garbage compared to the marks stuff.
yeah i run 7 arrays on a dread, with 1 torp for e-stf those eps are taking up 2 console slots so if they're really not needed that gives me some more play room for resist and cloak
btw posting here because i use essentially the same type of build with some personal touches
LTC Uni: x x x
LT Tac: TT APB
Eng: EP2W RSP EP2S Aux2SifIII
Polarize HE
Sci Team
Using 3x Damage Control Engineers to almost double my engineering slots.
8x beam arrays
Ideally I would have something to turn around, which leaves me with attack Pattern Omega and more tac slots than I know what do to with and running against a 15s cooldown against attack pattern beta, or aux2id which has a 15s cooldown against aux2sif.
Options I've come up with:
FAW APB Target Shields III, as I'm currently specced to max out target x subsystem
FAW FAW APO. This reduces my damage to nothing against 3+ targets
ET, Aux2ID, Extend
ET, Extend, EjWP
Trac, TSS, CPB or TRII
Some of those have more global cooldown problems than others.
Okay, I may be missing something, but this chain here has abilities that are not trained in Boffs (Highlighted). 2 EPTS in boff layout, yet only hit it once? And EPTW3? Not in boff layout. Again am I missing something? I want to try this out, but a little confused! -- Oh, and tactics say to hit EPtS 2 which is not listed in either...totally confused!
That's been edited since it was first posted. I read through the thread a short time ago to see how this build developed, and I'm pretty sure the Boff layout is correct, and the sequence simply wasn't updated to reflect it. It should be:
EPTS 3 --> EPTW 1 ---> EPTS 3 ---> EPTW 1.
In any case, that's what I'm using, and it works great.
Tetryon Glider amusingly enough, is what let my tac/escort manage to get a kill on Dragon while he was flying this build. It is a great set bonus, just not beneficial to this ship; the survivability buff from the 3-piece borg set or the special abilities of the 3-piece maco are simply too strong to ignore on a cruiser.
beams fire plenty fast too when faw is chained like rapid fire. cannons and beams unbuffed fire the same number of shot when unbuffed, heavy cannons fire less! to say its not viable on a beam cruiser is absurd, its not viable for a beam cruiser not to run the glider anymore. i absolutely swear by the glider on all cruisers, its effect is most useful over time, and they deal their damage over time.
on alpha striking escorts that fire less total shots at their target before they get their kill, the glider doesn't have the opportunity to deal as much bonus shield damage. heavy cannons deal the same extra shield damage that a turret does, its completely dependent on the number of shot fired not the power of the shots fired, thus it works better on damage over time dealers. escorts is what you should just run with the borg set on, cruisers have survivability built into their station setup already.
Comm Eng: EP2W RSP EP2S Aux2SifIII
LTC Uni: TT1, APD1, BFAW3
LT Tac: TT1 APD1
Lt Sci: HE1 TSS2
Ens Uni: BFAW1
APD is a hybrid tanking buff *** DPS buff for anyone you anger. You may or may not want the BFAW1, so feel free to swap with TSS1.
Also, with enough DCDoffs, you can do what I call a Dragon Escort:
Lt Eng - EPtW1, EPtS2.
Or a Fleet Escort would have:
Lt Eng - EPtW1, Aux2Struc/RSP1
Ens Eng - EPtS1.
Comm Tac: TT1, APD1, BFAW3, APD3
LtC Tac: TT1, BFAW2, APO1
Lt Sci: HE1, TSS2.
The hybrid of the STF Unorthodox Escort build and the Dragon build runs 7 beams, and I think you can dpstank STFs in this.
Fleet Escort/Garumba STF:
Et2S1, Ep2A1, Aux2Sif
TT1x2, CSV1x2 OR CRF1x2 OR BFAW2x2, APO1x2, APBIII
HE TSS
EP2W is not ideal on the escort as you want that 125 to never fail. EP2E shouldn't increase your defense as you will be at or near max defense most of the time and when APO is running its at max, I see +92% on my tac. APBIII is the real damage dealer in STFs, you should never be without it (pvp is another mater). APB will slot perfectly inside the two APOs giving you 100% uptime on a large damage boost, partly removing the necessity of a higher level attack skill, and while overall damage is less when APO is up, its not significant given the number of times you are not dying. An engineer captain can tank a tac cube with this setup, a tac captain will need to run at times.
I don't like APD b/c it requires someone to be firing at you or your target, and it gives a resistance buff to hull only.
I've recently also flown the Excelsior with my tactical set up like this:
Fore: 3x AP DBB MK XII , 1x Quantum MK XII
Aft: 4x AP Turret MK XII
Deflector: Maco Graviton Deflector Array MK XI
Engines: Assimilated Subtranswarp Engines
Shields: Maco Resilient Shield Array MK XI
Devices: Red Matter Capacitor, Subspace Field Modulator
Engineering Consoles: EPS Flow Regulator MK XI, Neutronium Alloy MK XI, Electroceramic Hull Plating MK XI, Assimilated Module
Science Consoles: 2x Field Generator MK XI
Tactical Consoles: 3x Antiproton Mag Regulator MK XI
BOFFs:
LtC Tac: TS1, APB1,BFAW3
Cmdr Eng: EptW1, EptS2, Rsp2, Aux2Sif3
Lt Eng: EptW1, EptS2
Ensign Eng: ET1
Lt Sci: HE1, TS2
DOFFs:
2x Projectile Weapons Officer
1x Evasive Conn Officer
1x Transporter Officer
1x Warp Core Engineer
Build is what I had with my escort and have on my KDF guramba pilot: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=gurambakdfmuilo_0
Now obviously I only run this particular build in STF's, where it does quite well. I can turn fast enough to keep the DBB's bearing on most enemies and combined with the torpedoes it dishes out respectable damage (not as much as an escort, but hey its a cruiser). But, although the weapon power does go up to 125 (with EptW1 running) it dips lower than 90 sometimes. Is there anything I could tweak with the skill build or the ship equipment to make that power drop lesser? And if there's something else to tweak any help would be appreciated
Ignore, tough it out, and cry respectively.