Since we're on the subject and since I've been meaning to clean out my closet (I'm sorry mama) for a while now, here's a cannon Excel build that pretty much plays like a little demon on steroids.
It's kinda FOTM-ish, what with the phased tets and the whole flow cap deal, but that's just what makes it such a tasty summer treat!
This works best with a Tac, but since I haven't actually tested it out with anything else feel free to give it a spin. I suspect you'd feel the loss of those delicious flat damage buffs too deeply, though.
4 x Phased Tetryon Cannon [Acc]x2
4 x Phased Tetryon Turret [Acc]x2
Your choice of armor console (I'd go diburnium or electroceramic), Borg, RCS, RCS
2 x Flow Cap (Omega scales well with Field Gens so you can take one instead if you're a big sissy girl)
3 x Tet consoles
3 x Shield Distro DOff
1 x Warp Core Engineer
1 x Very Rare Tractor Beam DOff
Some of you are probably raising your eyebrows at the Lt. tractor beam. Here's the trick: tractor beam DOffs apply a shield drain that scales both against your TB as well as your aux. This can get really sick really fast, and what's more is that even if you can't keep the hold, you're still applying a heavy drain and you've forced someone to pop one or more escapes.
By properly staggering EPt(X) and saving your buffs for the right moment (ideally you can hull bait a little to get GDF going) you will straight up murder anything that isn't paying attention. You're not really doing spike but you're sure as hell doing more than mere token pressure damage, and this can be a sweet spot for a ship like the Excel because it means you're too dangerous to ignore and simultaneously taking pressure off your teammates.
IMPORTANT CAVEAT: DEM is heavily weapons power dependent. One of the reasons you want to be taking EPtW2 (and ideally that Warp Core DOff) is that you always want to be above 125+ before using DEM. When you pull it off right this will be doing the kind of straight-to-hull damage you'd only see on a Tac-buffed FBP.
Uhm, last time (a week ago) I tried different ranks of tractor beam + the doff officer, I got the same drain... aux also had no effect. The only thing that affected it was flow capacitors. When was the last time you played your Excelsior ? :P
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
Uhm, last time (a week ago) I tried different ranks of tractor beam + the doff officer, I got the same drain... aux also had no effect. The only thing that affected it was flow capacitors. When was the last time you played your Excelsior ? :P
What I mean is that it scales because higher levels of TB have a stronger hold (which also scales on aux). Longer/stronger hold = more drain procs
Is it really necessary to have EPtW2 though? You can get close to 150 weapon power from EPtW1 and I think anything higher then 140 is considered worthless. If so might as well switch that out for ET2 as ET1 isn't that great.
Is it really necessary to have EPtW2 though? You can get close to 150 weapon power from EPtW1 and I think anything higher then 140 is considered worthless. If so might as well switch that out for ET2 as ET1 isn't that great.
nope. no reason to use higher then 1. its great for filling up your otherwise useless engineering ensign stations when your a cruiser
running 7 beams, it shows the damage gains past about 150 being pretty negligible. but using higher then EPtW1 is very build compromising. fully skill buffed, EPtW1 should put you around the sweet spot pretty easily
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
This is a build for an extremely fast and agile Ktinga (fleet version). Strangely though; it?s venting that much warp plasma that people wonder how the ship actually can keep moving at those ridiculous speeds.
This is mainly for tactical captains, because of the damage output.
Because I had a lot of fun with my B?rel fitted with a mix of several torpedo?s I used the same idea in this build. The K?tinga uses only torpedo?s with 2 copies of eject warp plasma. This makes it possible to run at high speed and have good shield power. It?s almost moving like a raptor, delivering plasma faster than torpedo?s hitting target.
Next to high damage and cc, it?s also a small healer.
Lt-tac: HY1, HY2 (can also be spreads)
Ens-tac: TT1
Cmdr-eng: EptS1, ES1, EWP1, AtoS3
LtCmdr-eng: EptS1, RSP1, EWP1
Lt-sci: Mix of HE, PH or TSS whichever you want
Shield/deflector Honor guard (for the 25% additional torpedo dmg)
Engine Borg
Front torpedo?s: 2x photon , chroniton, bio-warhead
Back torpedo?s: photon, 2x chroniton, Breen cluster
For pvp, the photons and bio are your main damage dealers. The chronitons are for additional cc. For PvE, the chronitons can be swapped for other torps (harpings, plasma?s, transphasic)
Eng consoles: 2x RCS, 2x alloy
Sci consoles: 2x field gens, 1x borg
Tac consoles: 3x warhead yield chambers
That's nice build. But I would ditch the green diaper for A2B. That should give you room for another lt.cmd eng power (RSP2 if you insist), but preferably DEM or ET3 and also you could live with single EpTS.
I think I'm really affected by A2B builds. I'm not happy with ships that have trouble running it
And I'm not sure if torpedo builds is a good choice in such a nimble ship.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
This is a build for an extremely fast and agile Ktinga (fleet version). Strangely though; it?s venting that much warp plasma that people wonder how the ship actually can keep moving at those ridiculous speeds.
This is mainly for tactical captains, because of the damage output.
Because I had a lot of fun with my B?rel fitted with a mix of several torpedo?s I used the same idea in this build. The K?tinga uses only torpedo?s with 2 copies of eject warp plasma. This makes it possible to run at high speed and have good shield power. It?s almost moving like a raptor, delivering plasma faster than torpedo?s hitting target.
Next to high damage and cc, it?s also a small healer.
Lt-tac: HY1, HY2 (can also be spreads)
Ens-tac: TT1
Cmdr-eng: EptS1, ES1, EWP1, AtoS3
LtCmdr-eng: EptS1, RSP1, EWP1
Lt-sci: Mix of HE, PH or TSS whichever you want
Shield/deflector Honor guard (for the 25% additional torpedo dmg)
Engine Borg
Front torpedo?s: 2x photon , chroniton, bio-warhead
Back torpedo?s: photon, 2x chroniton, Breen cluster
For pvp, the photons and bio are your main damage dealers. The chronitons are for additional cc. For PvE, the chronitons can be swapped for other torps (harpings, plasma?s, transphasic)
Eng consoles: 2x RCS, 2x alloy
Sci consoles: 2x field gens, 1x borg
Tac consoles: 3x warhead yield chambers
Power settings: 25/75/75/25 (defense 25/90/60/25; offense 25/60/90/25)
A small but lots of fun tweak to this build: Get a trico mine in the back for a chroniton and get a copy of dispersal pattern.
You have Torp Doffs. Ditch the photons. Photons provide 0 benefit over quantums in pvp right now especially when you are packing torpedo doffs. Also, ditch the aft torps. They serve no benefit on a ship as mobile as a Ktinga. Put in a pair of chroniton mine launchers instead out back and 2 turrets. (phaser preferably) Even at 25 power, the phaser turrets will net you procs, which can and will knock out shields, engines and other shenanigans.
It's a long standing tradition that the most helpful and knowledgeable people get banned. It's kind of like how you know you've made it as a music star if Weird Al does a parody of one your songs.
_______________ CommanderDonatra@Capt.Sisko: ahhh is it supposed to do that? Norvo Tigan@dontdrunkimshoot: hell ya, maybe
You have Torp Doffs. Ditch the photons. Photons provide 0 benefit over quantums in pvp right now especially when you are packing torpedo doffs. Also, ditch the aft torps. They serve no benefit on a ship as mobile as a Ktinga. Put in a pair of chroniton mine launchers instead out back and 2 turrets. (phaser preferably) Even at 25 power, the phaser turrets will net you procs, which can and will knock out shields, engines and other shenanigans.
The photons are there to make sure that the trico's/bio warhead and harpeng fires more often. This because almost every second a torpedo is fired. This means that every second the 3x20% chance of -5 sec reduction. With quantums you wont get a shot (and chance of reduction) every second. One possible change can be to change the harpengs to chronitons for even more cc.
The aft torps are there because you will need them after you deliver the plasma. I have preferably torpedo's with more damage (thus longer cooldown) in the back. Regarding the mines, I agree it may be more effective to ditch them for 2 turrets.
See above. 2 quantums will proc enough to keep them refreshed. And you will do more damage. Your torps will never be found wanting with 2 quantums as it is man. Seriously.
Just another bump. My fleet recently upgradet their starbase and I got a shiny new Fleet Star Cruiser for my Engineer. While I have read Mavs recommendations here, I came up with a slightly different variant. I am mostly unsure about skills and weapons, here are the basics: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Cayuga_0
I am not sure whether the skills are okay or not, especially Hull Plating. Somehow I doubt it is worth to spend more points into either this or Threat Control.
Second would be the BO power choice. I have two shiny purple Doffs for each Tactical Team and Science Team. However, none (not even a blue one) for Engineering Team. So I decided to take my Carrier tactics over to my Cruiser: A buffed Sci Team 2 which is on a constant 15sec CD. ST first cleans those nasty Subnukes as well as provides a significant instant shield heal. Combined with ES2 or TSS1 this should be a good combo I guess.
The other option would be going for Tactical Team. I ditched this idea for two reasons:
a) Most people simply have their own TT copy, often buffed by a Doff.
b) Whille TT is decent when one or two facings take heavy damage, TT is mostly worthless when all facings are very low. So it basicly ain't a heal.
As for Eng powers I usually prefer ASIF3 over ES3. First because I don't have my ES3 BO anymore (while I have tons of ASIF3 BOs), second ASIF3 can be used on myself and I found that quite useful. ET3 is mostly in for emergency situations. Actually I was thinking about going a more damage oriented way in either using Warp Plasma 1 or 3. The latter one would mean ASIF2 and ES2 are used.
However my last EWP experiments were mostly disappointing. Also I think would need to put some points into Particle Generators - yet I don't really know where I should take those off. Most logically would be Driver Coil and Hull Plating. The other interesting idea would be to actually save money for those two purple ET Doffs and ditch ASIF altogether while using EWP.
Last but not least the weaponery. I have eight nice purple Mk XI [Acc]x2 Beam Arrays. However their power drain is extreme, even for an Engineer Captain. Would it be better to ditch one or two beams and place Mine Launcher(s) in there instead? Was either thinking about Chroniton to snare enemies or Tricobalt for a lucky shot.
Everything else is pretty straightforward:
Either 3 piece BORG (console, engines, deflector) or if I feel lucky 2 piece Omega (shield/engine OR engine/deflector) with 2 piece BORG.
Two Tac Consoles for those Beams.
A Field Generator for a bit more shielding (however lately I try to fly without one, feels a bit weak though), then either three Flow Caps (for the Glider) or three Shield Emitters for healing.
Eng got the BORG console, Neutronium Armor as well as two SIF Gens for extra heals.
Any comments are welcome, especially on those skills. Just recieved my 900 day Respec Token and I don't want to put that one to waste.
Captain Faeron - USS Mistral Sea - Ambassador class support cruiser
i think i finally have my fleet ktinga how i like it. this build would work on a vorcha R as well. original post on the subject can be found here, and is still basically good information. im just tweaking station setup mostly.
OR 3x particle generators to deal maximum EWP damage.
borg 3 piece
borg deflector and engine with KHG shield
vorcha R sci consoles- (2x field generator) / ( borg, 1 field generator)
F ktinga sci consoles- (3x field generator) / ( borg, 2 field generator)
OR 3x particle generators to deal maximum EWP damage.
eng consoles with 8 beam arrays
borg, 1 EPS, 2x nutronium, after a death or break in combat switch to a more specific armor type depending on your opponents
eng consoles with cannons and DBB
1 EPS, 2 RCS, 1 nutronium, after a death or break in combat switch to a more specific armor type depending on your opponents
with 84 skill + those particle consoles the damage on EWP3 is just under 600 DOT. fully tac buffed, wile using GDF at 100% health, it deals more then 1200 DOT. it stops just being a good snare at that point and becomes part of your damage dealing. if you want to be a mad piro, last time i checked plasma energy weapon damage consoles buffed the plasma energy damage of the EWP DOT, but you would have to deal with the to shields 20% damage penalty from using plasma. mad piro indeed.
the tractor beam is to insure they stay in the cloud for as long as possible, or too continue to hold them after the plasma wears off on them. so far no one has survived this when i get them alone in a match, killed at least 10 people with this last night. haven't had a chance to use it on a bug yet, i expect them to have PH and 2 APOs, so they might not cooperate well with my attempts to stop them and kill them. if you still don't buy that the damage from EWP3 is any good, but still like the snare, use version 1 and stick AtS3 in the commander station.
the KHG shield is a massive hole of hitpoints, filling it back up is a challenge. ive become convinced a cruiser using the KHG shield needs EPtS3 to keep its resistance up as high as possible, and to burst heal it the most. EPtS3 has to replace ET3 from my previous build, i cant replace A2S becase there is no version of that at ENS level. so mainly i will go with HE over TSS now.
between EPtS3, RSP1 and distro doffs the shield healing is still good. with the damage control doffs i can make that 1 copy of EPtS3 act as 2 copies, it every 30 seconds seems to come out on top over my old EPtS1 every 30 seconds and TSS1/2 every 45 seconds. the TSS only lasts 15 seconds too. EPtS3 seems to do the job of EPtS1 and TSS1/2 all by its self, and now i will have overall more hull healing especially when popping aux batteries.
when you have your cannons and beam bank equipped wile someone is locked in plasma, getting around 1000 hull damage a second from it depending on their resistance, you hit as hard as an escort, the end result is basically the same. you might not blow down shield faceings as fast, but all that direct to hull damage, being locked in place, and the weapons damage that eventually defeats shields all is about escort level damage overall. plus it proboly makes your opponent twice as pissed that you styled on him so bad.
even if you think thats an exaggeration, you are about 10 times better then any escort as a team supporter. with that much damage potential, 3 hull heals and extend shields, you basically make you and a bop act like 2 bops and a dedicated support healer. the goal of this is to be the best healer possible wile being the best damage dealer possible wile having nether interfere with the other.
this build is basically for amazing cruiser damage and unheard of team support at the same time in a pug, or opps i found myself in a premade but at least the builds pretty good for that too. a dedicated team build would look like this
you can keep the plasma to befuddle and snare, you can do this extreamly easily in such a maneuverable vorcha or ktinga. or you can ditch it and run ET3 in its place if you just have no interest in it. you have a fairly useless second ensign slot at that point though. you could go back to EPtS1 and put ET3 in its place if your team has good shield cross healing though, and they hopefully should
ah the wonderful EWP3 in action
in this case the surprisingly common all critical plasma dot in action, against a very resistance player
ok now for my refined fleet vorcha. this build focuses on the initial strike, and then on the built in durability of the ship vs other escorts to continue striking when other escorts would proboly be forced to disengage if your oponent was a heavy hiter himself
the build uses 4 DHC and 4 turrets for pure energy damage
the tractor repulsers basically strangle someone wile you shoot them, freezing them in place in front of you wile you fly toward them and alpha strike them. tac buffed with 99 to particle gens i can deal 1200 damage with TBR1 a tick. its a great beginner or finisher
the first commander engineering station setup is dead reliable at keeping you alive through the worst counterattack, your advised to use HE with this profile if you expect to encounter shield defeating damage, other wise your shields should be nearly undefeatable. this profile is great for dealing with ships slower then you or more fragile then you. its not ideal for fighting other damage dealing cruisers with such arc dependent weapons. there isn't enough enemy movement control, and there isn't quite enough spike.
the other 2 commander stations are offense turned up to 11, and 12. ive gone on and on about how awesome EWP is on offense heavy cruisers, and though there is significant sacrifice for it, it will go along way toward making your opponent helpless as you unleash your considerable arsenal. make sure you have good distro doffs and tss to keep your shields alive with no RSP to fall back on.
a recent duel just showed me how effective the combination of DHCs and DEM can be. ive never been all that impressed with it on my single cannon excelsior, but for some reason it did absurd extra damage. for maximum on target damage this will be best. mind your hitpoints though.
The Current Fleet Vorcha. Here is a demo video. Sorry the damage is Low here. I was shooting at nothing but Escorts who absolutely refused to get anywhere near each other very hard to snare a bunch of them or burn one down and move to the next. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjMjRCeUTBo Most of my matches up to this point have had #s well north of this.
The Fleet Vorcha, is basically buildable for one role only in my opinion. Throwing It Down. I don't mean like how the Vorcha R is built to Throw it, but I mean full on Escort levels of Throw Down. While you can build it to be more durable it greatly sacrifices offensive potential to do so. This is how I built mine. (By the way folks expect a "3.0" thread at some point in the future) This ship single handedly rekindled my love for STO pvp. You guys can thank the KDF for my decision to come back to public pvp
Weapons: 3 Dual Heavy Cannons. Anti Proton, CrtDX2 Dmg. 4 Anti Proton, CrtHX2 Dmg Turrets aft. yes you are reading this right. Antiproton. Antiproton on the Fleet Vorcha Works due to one known factor, and one that is yet to be confirmed. (I will need to sit down and sift through a combat log to test the other possible factor) Is actually not only Viable, on this ship but quite potent. For a drain team you can switch these out for Polaron weapons. I recommend Acc CrtDX2s across the board if possible. CrtDX2 Dmg Quantum.
The reason AP works on this is quite simple really. Warpplasma. It slows, and with the doff has a 20 percent chance to out right Stop a target, also I believe it rolls this every time the DOT rolls damage. This lets you get alot of good crit opportunity. Also, the secondary reason which is still just a theory right now, is DEM might be able to crit, if that is the case there is a good chance it also uses the modifiers of your weapons as well. I will need to Log Test that theory later. Suffice to say the plas though makes it work very well.
Engine: Borg
Deflector: Borg
Shield: Resilient Cap 3 Yes this old shield, is still hax if you can field it. You can sub in a blue mark 12 Cap2 Resilient and get similar mileage. This minimizes your bleedthrough which on a ship that has very little hull healing prowess, is a Godsend. Switch the shield out for a Borg Shield, when you run Omega, the omega engine gives you superior turning, and the deflector boosts your accuracy.
Replacement Shield: the T2 Sci Resilient shield has the exact same cap and regen, but with a bonus 15 percent DR vs, Phasers, Polaron and Tetryon.
Consoles: 2 RCS Consoles. 1 Plasmonic Leech, Point Defense console.
1 Borg, 1 Field Generator.
4 Antiproton Mag Regulators.
BOFFs.
Cmdr: Warp Plasma 3, DEM (Direct Energy Modulation)2, EPTS2, EPTS1
Lt Cmdr: Cannon Rapid Fire 2, Torpedo Highyield 2, Tac Team
Lt Tac: Cannon Rapid Fire 1, Tac Team
Lt Uni: Transfer Shield strength 2, Polarize Hull1 Alt: ET1 (mostly this is to remove occassional disables) RSP1
Doffs: Three Shield Distribution Officers, 1 Matter Anti Matter Specialist, 1 Damage Control engineer. Can change this out, for a torpedo officer. Or swap out one SDO, for another damage control eng.
Comments
It's kinda FOTM-ish, what with the phased tets and the whole flow cap deal, but that's just what makes it such a tasty summer treat!
This works best with a Tac, but since I haven't actually tested it out with anything else feel free to give it a spin. I suspect you'd feel the loss of those delicious flat damage buffs too deeply, though.
Lt. Com. Tac: TT, C:RF1, C:RF2
Com. Eng: EPtW, EPtS2, Aux2SIF2, DEM3
Lt. Eng: EPtS, EPtW2
Ens. Eng: ET
Lt. Sci: TSS1/HE1, TB2
Deflector: Borg
Engines: Omega
Shield: Omega
RMC, ideally a Weap + Aux bat but Aux is fine
4 x Phased Tetryon Cannon [Acc]x2
4 x Phased Tetryon Turret [Acc]x2
Your choice of armor console (I'd go diburnium or electroceramic), Borg, RCS, RCS
2 x Flow Cap (Omega scales well with Field Gens so you can take one instead if you're a big sissy girl)
3 x Tet consoles
3 x Shield Distro DOff
1 x Warp Core Engineer
1 x Very Rare Tractor Beam DOff
Some of you are probably raising your eyebrows at the Lt. tractor beam. Here's the trick: tractor beam DOffs apply a shield drain that scales both against your TB as well as your aux. This can get really sick really fast, and what's more is that even if you can't keep the hold, you're still applying a heavy drain and you've forced someone to pop one or more escapes.
By properly staggering EPt(X) and saving your buffs for the right moment (ideally you can hull bait a little to get GDF going) you will straight up murder anything that isn't paying attention. You're not really doing spike but you're sure as hell doing more than mere token pressure damage, and this can be a sweet spot for a ship like the Excel because it means you're too dangerous to ignore and simultaneously taking pressure off your teammates.
IMPORTANT CAVEAT: DEM is heavily weapons power dependent. One of the reasons you want to be taking EPtW2 (and ideally that Warp Core DOff) is that you always want to be above 125+ before using DEM. When you pull it off right this will be doing the kind of straight-to-hull damage you'd only see on a Tac-buffed FBP.
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
What I mean is that it scales because higher levels of TB have a stronger hold (which also scales on aux). Longer/stronger hold = more drain procs
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
nope. no reason to use higher then 1. its great for filling up your otherwise useless engineering ensign stations when your a cruiser
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
yep. documented here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Asu87Jb5VCBgdHFKbmdpZjlEMHk3YUhfNGRTbllNY0E&output=html
running 7 beams, it shows the damage gains past about 150 being pretty negligible. but using higher then EPtW1 is very build compromising. fully skill buffed, EPtW1 should put you around the sweet spot pretty easily
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
This is mainly for tactical captains, because of the damage output.
Because I had a lot of fun with my B?rel fitted with a mix of several torpedo?s I used the same idea in this build. The K?tinga uses only torpedo?s with 2 copies of eject warp plasma. This makes it possible to run at high speed and have good shield power. It?s almost moving like a raptor, delivering plasma faster than torpedo?s hitting target.
Next to high damage and cc, it?s also a small healer.
Lt-tac: HY1, HY2 (can also be spreads)
Ens-tac: TT1
Cmdr-eng: EptS1, ES1, EWP1, AtoS3
LtCmdr-eng: EptS1, RSP1, EWP1
Lt-sci: Mix of HE, PH or TSS whichever you want
Shield/deflector Honor guard (for the 25% additional torpedo dmg)
Engine Borg
Front torpedo?s: 2x photon , chroniton, bio-warhead
Back torpedo?s: photon, 2x chroniton, Breen cluster
For pvp, the photons and bio are your main damage dealers. The chronitons are for additional cc. For PvE, the chronitons can be swapped for other torps (harpings, plasma?s, transphasic)
Eng consoles: 2x RCS, 2x alloy
Sci consoles: 2x field gens, 1x borg
Tac consoles: 3x warhead yield chambers
Purple Doffs: 3x torpedo doff, 2x tac-team- conn-officer (making running effectively 2 copies of TT)
Power settings: 25/75/75/25 (defense 25/90/60/25; offense 25/60/90/25)
A small but lots of fun tweak to this build: Get a trico mine in the back for a chroniton and get a copy of dispersal pattern.
@rudiefix Feds: Rudiefix / Thron / Opa
@rudiefix KDFs: Lill / Xifeidur / Dehr / Ugly
@rudiefix Roms (KDF alligned): Chicita
I think I'm really affected by A2B builds. I'm not happy with ships that have trouble running it
And I'm not sure if torpedo builds is a good choice in such a nimble ship.
I agree with AtoB, but then I should saccrifice ES1 or RSP1
@rudiefix Feds: Rudiefix / Thron / Opa
@rudiefix KDFs: Lill / Xifeidur / Dehr / Ugly
@rudiefix Roms (KDF alligned): Chicita
You have Torp Doffs. Ditch the photons. Photons provide 0 benefit over quantums in pvp right now especially when you are packing torpedo doffs. Also, ditch the aft torps. They serve no benefit on a ship as mobile as a Ktinga. Put in a pair of chroniton mine launchers instead out back and 2 turrets. (phaser preferably) Even at 25 power, the phaser turrets will net you procs, which can and will knock out shields, engines and other shenanigans.
Mavairo was banned.
Wonder why?
The first rule of Ban Club is we do not discuss Ban Club.
I just hope it's not permanent.
Then again I came back from a permanent ban before the launch of STO Forum 2.0.
It's a long standing tradition that the most helpful and knowledgeable people get banned. It's kind of like how you know you've made it as a music star if Weird Al does a parody of one your songs.
CommanderDonatra@Capt.Sisko: ahhh is it supposed to do that?
Norvo Tigan@dontdrunkimshoot: hell ya, maybe
GASP !
I doubt it's permanent, if it's for what I think it is.
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
slamed the devs with his usual insults
It's not what you think it was then.
The photons are there to make sure that the trico's/bio warhead and harpeng fires more often. This because almost every second a torpedo is fired. This means that every second the 3x20% chance of -5 sec reduction. With quantums you wont get a shot (and chance of reduction) every second. One possible change can be to change the harpengs to chronitons for even more cc.
The aft torps are there because you will need them after you deliver the plasma. I have preferably torpedo's with more damage (thus longer cooldown) in the back. Regarding the mines, I agree it may be more effective to ditch them for 2 turrets.
@rudiefix Feds: Rudiefix / Thron / Opa
@rudiefix KDFs: Lill / Xifeidur / Dehr / Ugly
@rudiefix Roms (KDF alligned): Chicita
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Cayuga_0
I am not sure whether the skills are okay or not, especially Hull Plating. Somehow I doubt it is worth to spend more points into either this or Threat Control.
Second would be the BO power choice. I have two shiny purple Doffs for each Tactical Team and Science Team. However, none (not even a blue one) for Engineering Team. So I decided to take my Carrier tactics over to my Cruiser: A buffed Sci Team 2 which is on a constant 15sec CD. ST first cleans those nasty Subnukes as well as provides a significant instant shield heal. Combined with ES2 or TSS1 this should be a good combo I guess.
The other option would be going for Tactical Team. I ditched this idea for two reasons:
a) Most people simply have their own TT copy, often buffed by a Doff.
b) Whille TT is decent when one or two facings take heavy damage, TT is mostly worthless when all facings are very low. So it basicly ain't a heal.
As for Eng powers I usually prefer ASIF3 over ES3. First because I don't have my ES3 BO anymore (while I have tons of ASIF3 BOs), second ASIF3 can be used on myself and I found that quite useful. ET3 is mostly in for emergency situations. Actually I was thinking about going a more damage oriented way in either using Warp Plasma 1 or 3. The latter one would mean ASIF2 and ES2 are used.
However my last EWP experiments were mostly disappointing. Also I think would need to put some points into Particle Generators - yet I don't really know where I should take those off. Most logically would be Driver Coil and Hull Plating. The other interesting idea would be to actually save money for those two purple ET Doffs and ditch ASIF altogether while using EWP.
Last but not least the weaponery. I have eight nice purple Mk XI [Acc]x2 Beam Arrays. However their power drain is extreme, even for an Engineer Captain. Would it be better to ditch one or two beams and place Mine Launcher(s) in there instead? Was either thinking about Chroniton to snare enemies or Tricobalt for a lucky shot.
Everything else is pretty straightforward:
Either 3 piece BORG (console, engines, deflector) or if I feel lucky 2 piece Omega (shield/engine OR engine/deflector) with 2 piece BORG.
Two Tac Consoles for those Beams.
A Field Generator for a bit more shielding (however lately I try to fly without one, feels a bit weak though), then either three Flow Caps (for the Glider) or three Shield Emitters for healing.
Eng got the BORG console, Neutronium Armor as well as two SIF Gens for extra heals.
Any comments are welcome, especially on those skills. Just recieved my 900 day Respec Token and I don't want to put that one to waste.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=5085761&postcount=112
so, my new station setup is as follows
COM eng- EPtW1, RSP1, EPtS3, EWP3
LTC eng- (ET1, ES1, A2S2) / (ET1, A2S1, ES2)
LT sci- (HE1, TSS2) / (TB1, HE1) / (HE1, TBR1)
DHC+DBB
LT- tac- BO1, CRF1
ENS tac- TT1
8 Beam arrays
LT- tac- BO1, BO2
ENS tac- TT1
equipment and consoles. 3 energy weapons consoles in tactical slots always
omega 2 piece
omega deflector and engine with KHG shield
vorcha R sci consoles- (2x flow cap) / (borg, 1 flow cap)
F ktinga sci consoles- (3x flow cap) / (borg, 2 flow cap)
OR 3x particle generators to deal maximum EWP damage.
borg 3 piece
borg deflector and engine with KHG shield
vorcha R sci consoles- (2x field generator) / ( borg, 1 field generator)
F ktinga sci consoles- (3x field generator) / ( borg, 2 field generator)
OR 3x particle generators to deal maximum EWP damage.
eng consoles with 8 beam arrays
borg, 1 EPS, 2x nutronium, after a death or break in combat switch to a more specific armor type depending on your opponents
eng consoles with cannons and DBB
1 EPS, 2 RCS, 1 nutronium, after a death or break in combat switch to a more specific armor type depending on your opponents
with 84 skill + those particle consoles the damage on EWP3 is just under 600 DOT. fully tac buffed, wile using GDF at 100% health, it deals more then 1200 DOT. it stops just being a good snare at that point and becomes part of your damage dealing. if you want to be a mad piro, last time i checked plasma energy weapon damage consoles buffed the plasma energy damage of the EWP DOT, but you would have to deal with the to shields 20% damage penalty from using plasma. mad piro indeed.
the tractor beam is to insure they stay in the cloud for as long as possible, or too continue to hold them after the plasma wears off on them. so far no one has survived this when i get them alone in a match, killed at least 10 people with this last night. haven't had a chance to use it on a bug yet, i expect them to have PH and 2 APOs, so they might not cooperate well with my attempts to stop them and kill them. if you still don't buy that the damage from EWP3 is any good, but still like the snare, use version 1 and stick AtS3 in the commander station.
the KHG shield is a massive hole of hitpoints, filling it back up is a challenge. ive become convinced a cruiser using the KHG shield needs EPtS3 to keep its resistance up as high as possible, and to burst heal it the most. EPtS3 has to replace ET3 from my previous build, i cant replace A2S becase there is no version of that at ENS level. so mainly i will go with HE over TSS now.
between EPtS3, RSP1 and distro doffs the shield healing is still good. with the damage control doffs i can make that 1 copy of EPtS3 act as 2 copies, it every 30 seconds seems to come out on top over my old EPtS1 every 30 seconds and TSS1/2 every 45 seconds. the TSS only lasts 15 seconds too. EPtS3 seems to do the job of EPtS1 and TSS1/2 all by its self, and now i will have overall more hull healing especially when popping aux batteries.
when you have your cannons and beam bank equipped wile someone is locked in plasma, getting around 1000 hull damage a second from it depending on their resistance, you hit as hard as an escort, the end result is basically the same. you might not blow down shield faceings as fast, but all that direct to hull damage, being locked in place, and the weapons damage that eventually defeats shields all is about escort level damage overall. plus it proboly makes your opponent twice as pissed that you styled on him so bad.
even if you think thats an exaggeration, you are about 10 times better then any escort as a team supporter. with that much damage potential, 3 hull heals and extend shields, you basically make you and a bop act like 2 bops and a dedicated support healer. the goal of this is to be the best healer possible wile being the best damage dealer possible wile having nether interfere with the other.
this build is basically for amazing cruiser damage and unheard of team support at the same time in a pug, or opps i found myself in a premade but at least the builds pretty good for that too. a dedicated team build would look like this
COM eng- EPtW1, RSP1, EPtS3, ES3
LTC eng- ET1, A2S1, EWP1
LT sci- HE1, TSS2
you can keep the plasma to befuddle and snare, you can do this extreamly easily in such a maneuverable vorcha or ktinga. or you can ditch it and run ET3 in its place if you just have no interest in it. you have a fairly useless second ensign slot at that point though. you could go back to EPtS1 and put ET3 in its place if your team has good shield cross healing though, and they hopefully should
ah the wonderful EWP3 in action
in this case the surprisingly common all critical plasma dot in action, against a very resistance player
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377876140883/E16443A5FBCAD832C5F0C7855341E9475415BB44/
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377876143298/2270555DC5A3C8CB893112936C332D6A046CEB75/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377876139470/B857AE2D40610173C6604A52F1B7F4DE9A2EEBB1/
and a resistance-less npc
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377889192820/E39D75643629FFD0646CEE3715F6D6FE67C9AD09/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377889189408/BB8BB708678A9BDC8ED52B4E32E748098A334DB3/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377889191095/99BA338069E623193603E17AD9C850602D36333C/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377889190022/0E54AAC8862A65274E63E74E1D529CC0BF1554D6/
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377889190500/1AAE0BDDFB9786FA2240627966627C85F9666A2B/
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377889192086/AABB57B23A8B218EA54FD2B806294F701A1CF0D2/
and the result of the build in action, going into a pug and dealing the most damage and having the most healing (tommy)
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578965377889191618/17F6BAEE31A5D7A5CE9104C0845E62E2119B0B22/
Mav was a nice person and tried to help people. Made threads with builds, made videos, tried to help fix bugs etc.
But in the end he could not stand against the laws of nature.
"No good deed goes unpunished."
My stomach is clear and my mind is full of bacon!
the build uses 4 DHC and 4 turrets for pure energy damage
LTC- tac- TT1, CRF1, APO1
LT tac- TT1, CRF1
COM eng- (EPtW1, RSP1, EPtS3, A2S3) / (EPtW1, EPtS2, A2S2, EWP3) / (EPtW1, EPtS2, A2S2, DEM3)
LTC eng- ET1
LT uni (sci)- (TSS2, TBR1) / (HE1, TBR1)
the tractor repulsers basically strangle someone wile you shoot them, freezing them in place in front of you wile you fly toward them and alpha strike them. tac buffed with 99 to particle gens i can deal 1200 damage with TBR1 a tick. its a great beginner or finisher
the first commander engineering station setup is dead reliable at keeping you alive through the worst counterattack, your advised to use HE with this profile if you expect to encounter shield defeating damage, other wise your shields should be nearly undefeatable. this profile is great for dealing with ships slower then you or more fragile then you. its not ideal for fighting other damage dealing cruisers with such arc dependent weapons. there isn't enough enemy movement control, and there isn't quite enough spike.
the other 2 commander stations are offense turned up to 11, and 12. ive gone on and on about how awesome EWP is on offense heavy cruisers, and though there is significant sacrifice for it, it will go along way toward making your opponent helpless as you unleash your considerable arsenal. make sure you have good distro doffs and tss to keep your shields alive with no RSP to fall back on.
a recent duel just showed me how effective the combination of DHCs and DEM can be. ive never been all that impressed with it on my single cannon excelsior, but for some reason it did absurd extra damage. for maximum on target damage this will be best. mind your hitpoints though.
The Fleet Vorcha, is basically buildable for one role only in my opinion. Throwing It Down. I don't mean like how the Vorcha R is built to Throw it, but I mean full on Escort levels of Throw Down. While you can build it to be more durable it greatly sacrifices offensive potential to do so. This is how I built mine. (By the way folks expect a "3.0" thread at some point in the future) This ship single handedly rekindled my love for STO pvp. You guys can thank the KDF for my decision to come back to public pvp
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=MavsTVorcha1_0 Here is the spec.
Weapons: 3 Dual Heavy Cannons. Anti Proton, CrtDX2 Dmg. 4 Anti Proton, CrtHX2 Dmg Turrets aft. yes you are reading this right. Antiproton. Antiproton on the Fleet Vorcha Works due to one known factor, and one that is yet to be confirmed. (I will need to sit down and sift through a combat log to test the other possible factor) Is actually not only Viable, on this ship but quite potent. For a drain team you can switch these out for Polaron weapons. I recommend Acc CrtDX2s across the board if possible. CrtDX2 Dmg Quantum.
The reason AP works on this is quite simple really. Warpplasma. It slows, and with the doff has a 20 percent chance to out right Stop a target, also I believe it rolls this every time the DOT rolls damage. This lets you get alot of good crit opportunity. Also, the secondary reason which is still just a theory right now, is DEM might be able to crit, if that is the case there is a good chance it also uses the modifiers of your weapons as well. I will need to Log Test that theory later. Suffice to say the plas though makes it work very well.
Engine: Borg
Deflector: Borg
Shield: Resilient Cap 3 Yes this old shield, is still hax if you can field it. You can sub in a blue mark 12 Cap2 Resilient and get similar mileage. This minimizes your bleedthrough which on a ship that has very little hull healing prowess, is a Godsend. Switch the shield out for a Borg Shield, when you run Omega, the omega engine gives you superior turning, and the deflector boosts your accuracy.
Replacement Shield: the T2 Sci Resilient shield has the exact same cap and regen, but with a bonus 15 percent DR vs, Phasers, Polaron and Tetryon.
Consoles: 2 RCS Consoles. 1 Plasmonic Leech, Point Defense console.
1 Borg, 1 Field Generator.
4 Antiproton Mag Regulators.
Power Settings: 90 Weapons, 60 Shields, 25 Engine 25 aux. That's semi Defense. Grr Face mode. 90 Weapons, 25 shields, 60 Engines, 25 Aux. Heal and Defense 50 weapons, 50 shields, 25 Engines, 75 Aux.
BOFFs.
Cmdr: Warp Plasma 3, DEM (Direct Energy Modulation)2, EPTS2, EPTS1
Lt Cmdr: Cannon Rapid Fire 2, Torpedo Highyield 2, Tac Team
Lt Tac: Cannon Rapid Fire 1, Tac Team
Lt Uni: Transfer Shield strength 2, Polarize Hull1 Alt: ET1 (mostly this is to remove occassional disables) RSP1
Doffs: Three Shield Distribution Officers, 1 Matter Anti Matter Specialist, 1 Damage Control engineer. Can change this out, for a torpedo officer. Or swap out one SDO, for another damage control eng.