The Kar-Fi is one of the funnest ships to use in STO. I have been flying it for a long time, in thousands of PVP battles, & hundreds of STF runs. I thought I would pass along some of the builds & strategies that have worked for me, & would ask other experienced Karp pilots to do the same in this thread.
The Karp is a ship that can be effectively used by all pilot classes. It is the ultimate hybrid. It's as versatile as a Sci ship, & hits harder than any cruiser. If you have experience flying a cruiser the transition to the Karp is easy. However, if you try to tank damage in the same way you will fail. This ship can do DPS, Crowd control, & even healing well.
I have tried many different weapon combinations with this ship, and I do much better when I stick to beams.
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My basic non console build
I have used this build with both Tac & Sci captains. I recommend full power to weapons, 50% to shields, & 25% to aux & engines. For Doffs run 2 shield distribution officers, A maint engineer, A deflector officer & a Gravimetric Scientist.
Running the Karp as a DPS build gives you the option of replacing some of the science consoles with some of the new universal (P2W) consoles. There are a lot of fun combos you can use .
For DPS builds I prefer running 2 pieces of the retro Borg set, & 2 of the KHG set.
A modified STF/PuG build, The strategy here is to catch a couple of opponents in your grav well, hit them with the isometric charge console, fly through them while using vent theta, Then hit them while they are stuck and blinded with the Bioneural warhead from your aft weapons slot. The theta/ rear mounted Bioneural warhead is my favorite combo, & I use it on all of my klingon ships.
A slightly modified team build
This is the build i use when I'm flying with a good healer. I often use the Aceton Assimilator instead of the isometric charge.
& just for fun i decided to see if i could replace every sci console with a universal P2W console & maintain my effectiveness.
I chose to use Photonic officer 3 as my Cmdr sci power, so i wasn't wasting the slot by having no consoles boosting it.
What i came up with ( I switched one of the Sci teams to HE though)
My first battle with it.( My toon is K'zoontite)
I was able to keep up with Tac Raptors & BoPs.
I used the Phase shift console with this build. Instead of using it as an "oh s*** " button, i tried a suggestion from
@Redricky. As i approached the beginning salvo of the battle, i sortied my drones/frigates, buffed up, & at about 11k from the enemy i used phase shift. The enemy was all buffed up with nothing to shoot at except my deployables, & i was able to unload my energy weapons with impunity. Thanks for that idea

For my Engineer i decided to try a power drain/ shield strip build.
My drain Karp
I can keep all 4 of my power levels almost maxed out by rotating Energy Siphon 3, The red matter capacitor, & EPS.
If you do not have the Red Matter Capacitor, get it. It's a perk you get from ordering the STO collectors edition. I bought it on Amazon for $7 last week, & the Collectors edition includes a free 1 month sub also.

On this build I wanted to boost my flow capacitor ability as much as possible, so I'm running a tachyon deflector that gives me a +26 to the skill. Also with the awesome power levels, I'm running the 2 piece Omega set, & my shield regen is high. + the tetryon glider helps with the shield drain concept of the build
I thought about replacing the Borg console with the power leach, but i don't feel i need any more power, & the added power drain from it is minimal.
:cool:
So, how do you build your Kar-Fi?
Comments
For those that don't know, this is my favorite ship.
I was thinking the Phase Shift would go well with Go Down Fighting since you could put off healing yourself, but I haven't finished leveling my tac to put in it since I went back to my sci with the Jump console + SNB hilarity.
I'm totally sold on the leech, although I have big questions on the drain that will have to wait until I have a new video card to test. Like is it 8 stacks, each of which can be improved? That seems to be the case on the boost side, which seems to be affected by Flow Capacitors, but can the drain be improved? There's a dev post I read somewhere that indicated it would be limited to 8 but also made it sound like it could be improved by Deflectors.
I was getting like +24 to all systems which is ridonkulous. I prioritized aux over shields since the aux would be powering the TSS anyway (although after Energy Siphon 3 and the leech, engines are the only thing not maxed out). With that constant high aux level I put Aux to Sif on spam rotation and took Sci as my second Team, and of course HE3 is stupid good, all without adjusting power levels or needing an aux battery. That's on my sci, though, the leech was overkill on the eng.
Also, lol @ Bad Touch + drain build = Succubus.
The leach is fun, but it doesn't contribute directly to DPS,, & it has an artificial limit on its drain, which is why i didn't use it.
But if you only have a few consoles, & its one of them, there is nothing wrong at all with using it. I have collected almost all the Klingon ships/consoles, so I can pick & choose what I want to use.
Pretty nice.
I use the Plasmodic Leech console on my Karfi and I've just recently started a sorta drainish build with it. The PLC gives me a 10-15 bonus to my power levels within seconds of me firing and it goes a long way toward helping keep my weapon up at 125-115 at all times.
I've also found that using 1 side of siphon drones and 1 side of To'Duj as my launchables helps keep enemy power down as well. I use 2 slotted siphons against the big baddies, with 6 of those suckers out the enemies shields are down in seconds and they fire wet cardboard at you.
I found that I like using Tychen's Rift more than energy siphon, as it effects a potentially LARGE amount of enemies. That coupled with a nice torpedo spread can be devastating!
I was thinking about buying the Aceton Assimilator to add insult to injury, I hear it's a pretty good console and the drain it has is quite nice.
What's the recharge on Energy siphon? I may try it out...
-Quiiliitiila
Also what do you think about using two BO2s (since i don't have BO3) and using an attack pattern (perhaps beta?) for the dps build.
Edit: just realized that leaves no room for torp spread, which i dont have spread 3 either =\.
theta & the leach are'nt impportant to a drain build. The leach helps with it, but not much. Running an attack pattern in the LTC tac slot is fine, i run APO in my drain build, with 2 BO2's
I use the theta to help with the shield drain part of the build.
Not very important as AmIdoinitright said, but for the small amount of 800 CP the PLC (Plasmodic Leech Console) is a very good deal. I can vouch for it's Awesomeness!
-Quiiliitiila
i use the tet blue shield eating beams too
I fly a Kar'fi with DHC/Qtorp front and Turrets/Cutty back (polarons 'cause they're cheap).
Now what are the best pets to use (primarily for stf dps, maybe a bit pvp)?
I have bought 1 adv Fer'jais so far and I'm about to buy my second adv hangar pets (I'd like to know before I buy it my dilithium is limited):
2x adv Fer'jais
1x adv Fer'jais/1x adv S'kul
1x adv Fer'jais/1x adv Slaver
Klingon Honor Guard XII Engines and Shields, largely for the set's torpedo bonus. Jem'Hadar Deflector, as it has the biggest boost to Flow Caps. Flow Caps is critical for a solid drain build, and I have my Flow Cap rating well over 160.
Five Polaron turrets blazing away with Cannon Rapid Fire II/I, so procs happen regularly. And this build does try to load up on potential procs! I don't want torpedo Boff abilities (going all-cannon, all the time), so the Tac slots are CRF I/II, the wide spread cannons I, and Tac Teams. Tyken's Rift III backed by a Grav Well holds them down and drains them dry. Duty Officer in place to spawn extra rifts. I prefer Energy Siphon over Tractor Beam as the low-level Sci skill. As an Engineering Captain, keeping the ship in one piece is not a problem, and also allows me to boost my own power levels before activating the Science skills.
Purple XII Polaron Console, Flow Cap Console and Warhead Damage Console are the only standard consoles. All the others are uniques: Plasmonic Leech (naturally), Phase Shift (the best Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card in the game), Tachyonic Console, Borg Assimilated Console, Rule 34 Console (34, 69, 42, whatever), Isometric Charge (soon to be swapped for the Zero-Point Console, or maybe the Point-Defense). One reason for the wacky consoles is that many of them help my Critical Chance, which is topping out just over 10%. Lots of rapid-fire weapons combined with a high crit chance means lots of damage.
Cutting Beam and Missiles are putting out steady physical damage. Half the wacky consoles are boosting the missile damage output. At the moment they are hitting at 1600+ per rocket (before crits, etc), every two seconds. No real spike damage, but the damage over time is impressive, especially combined with the Cutting Beam. More importantly, they have 180-degree arc, so you set them on auto-fire and forget about them. All turrets means not bothering to aim. Cutting Beam + Console adds in the Omega Weapon proc on top. With rockets every two seconds and turrets on Rapid Fire, those procs come often. Note: while Torpedo Spread III doesn't do a heck of a lot of damage with the missiles, it does look frackin' awesome!
Main hangar has the Advanced Frigates. Mmmmmmm, frigates.
Second hangar alternates. For maximum draining in some STFs, it has Advanced Drain Drones. Not only to the drones add to the drain, but Tactical Cubes will go after them, drawing fire away from team members. Drones are the only hangar pet you do NOT spam. Once they nestle in and start draining, you want them to stick around as long as possible. Many AI ships wil target them as they drain. Most importantly, this draws fire from your team mates. Also, as the weapon power drains, the Advanced drones are tough enough to survive a while.
For DPS, like when I'm protecting the Kang or keeping Probes from the Gate, I usually have an Advanced Skull fighter squadron Escorting the Kang itself, or Intercepting warheads/probes. I'm about to load up the Tier V Scorpions, so we'll see how they do.
So tactics are mostly get to around 5k from the target and blaze away with everything. Most of the heavy physical damage come from the frigate's Tricobalts and the steady chewing away from your beam and missiles. The rest of your ship's weapons are there to wipe out their power. Heavy cruisers, spheres and even Cubes all flicker and power down. If there is only one big target, then hitting with all drain abilities at once will shut down pretty much anything. If its going to be a sustained battle, then alternate: let the Tyken's Rift shut down before kicking in the Energy Siphon.
Important note: Eat Deuterium Charges like candy. Evasive Maneuvers is golden. Get used to using that throttle. Just because you're in a massive carrier, you shouldn't have to take thirty seconds to turn around!
This sounds great Any chance of showing us your build weapons and such
IKS Stormcrow
BOffs:
Lt Com Tac: CRF2, C Wide Angle 1, Tac Team 1
Lt Tac: CRF 1, Tac Team 1
Lt Eng: Emerg. Shields 1, Eng Team 2
En Sci: Sci Team 1
Com Sci: Tyken's Rift 3, Grav Well 1, Energy Siphon, Hazard Emitters
edit: interesting in that it doesn't show the Hangars. At the moment it's the Advanced FerJai Frigates and the Tier V Scorpion fighters.
Fore
3xAdvanced Fleet Polaron DHC Mk XII [Dmg]x3 [CrtD]
Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedo Launcher
Aft
2xAdvanced Fleet Polaron Turret Mk XII [Dmg]x3 [CrtH]
Kinetic Cutting Beam
Deflector/Engines/Shields
Klingon Honor Guard Mk XII
Devices
Subspace Field Modulator
Deuterium Surplus
Shields Battery
Engineering Consoles
Neutronium Alloy XII
Assimilated Module
Science Consoles
Phase Shift Generator
Plasmonic Leech
Zero-Point Energy Conduit
Flow Capacitor Mk XII [-Th][Pla]
Tactical Consoles
3xPolaron Phase Modulator Mk XII
Hangar Bays
2xAdvanced Fer'Jai Frigates
Boffs
2xTT1, 2xCSV1, TS3
Epts1, Epts2
2xHE1, TSS2, TR2, GW3
Doffs
2xProjectice Weapons
Flight Deck
Deflector
Gravimetric
I chose KHG because the deflector boosts flow capacitors and the set acts as a torpedo console. I'm still doubting which one is better: rommie/omega/quantum torp? Also unsure which modifier I should get on the fleet weapons.
We should pester Cryptic for a Klingon strike/attack design carrier. A single bay battle cruiser carrying the larger carrier pets those being flavors of BOP's.
Khemaraa sends
it's flimsier and not by a teeny bit. the fer'jei frigates seem to never use their cannons and their tricobalt and chroniton torps pale to the quantums off the bops. they travel slower, being unable to keep up with me at full cruising speed on their passive setting. they seem intent in making constant head-butt runs on their targets and overall take a damned long time to kill anything.
the b'rotlh bop's solo cubes in warzones for me while i watch and giggle.
yes the turn rate is nice. being able to actually stop is nice. being able to go is nice. but it even though i picked up an extra tac console and another weapon slot, i'm not feeling it.
will need to parse them now for evidence instead of anecdotes. i'm sure for pvp the more nimble kar'fi and it's debuffing frigates are preferred over the vo'quv, but just carrier pet vs. carrier pet i don't think the fer'jei can put out the hurt like the bops.
I like this quite a bit:
"Teams appreciate having the Tactical Cube unable to one-shot them!"
I always like reading about team helpful builds..