Pimp My Assault Cruiser

saedeith

Lame title I know. Anyways I was looking for some advice for my Assault Cruiser. I'm looking to get more efficiency in it's killing speed in PVE.

I know some of my gear is outdated and I'm still trying to grasp the concept of why I don't want to mix phasers, phaser banks, torpedoes. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this as well. Anyways here is my current set up. Any advice would be appreciated.

Fore

Dual Phaser Beam Bank Mk XI [Acc] [CrtH] [Borg]
Hargh' peng Torpedo Launcher Mark VI
Dual Phaser Beam Bank Mk IX [Dmg]
Photon Torpedo Launcher Mk VIII

Deflector

Positron Deflector Array Mk VIII [Ins]

Impulse

Combat Impulse Engines Mk X [Spd] [Turn]

Shields

Reman Prototype Covariant Shield Array Mk VIII

Aft

Tetryon Beam Array Mk VIII [Acc]
Plasma Torpedo Launcher Mk VI [Acc] x 2
Photon Torpedo Launcher Mk VIII
Disruptor Beam Array Mk X [Acc] [CrtH] [Borg]

Engineering

Ablative Hull Armor Mk VIII
Parametallic Hull Plating Mk VII
RCS Accelerator Mk IX
Injector Assembly Mk X

Science

Shield Emitter Amplifier Mk X
Biofunction Monitor Mk VII

Tactical

Warhead Yield Chamber Mk VII
Plasma Infuser Mk X
Directed Energy Distribution Manifold Mk X

dashuk2381

I think you are a little heavy on the torpedoes. I know it's kind of cookie-cutter, but I always ran a 3-beam array 1 launcher set up fore and aft on my Sovy.

Cruisers really are set up better to broadside, so if you are set on having the dual beam bank, I'd only use one fore, as it can help with frontal attacks on your initial pass, but you want to have at least 2 beams available for broadsiding. By having the 2 dual banks and the 2 launchers up front, you are really limiting your broadside capability. You will notice a big difference in your DPS if you swap at least 2 of those out for beam arrays.

Also seems like you are mixing weapon types which isn't a big deal, but in terms of DPS you'd be much better off sticking to a certain weapon type (phaser, tetryon, etc.) and then loading up on the consoles that do +% damage for that weapon. It would make your DPS a lot more effective. Just pick which weapon you want to go with in terms of the bonus effect, most people tend to run phasers for the chance to disable a subsystem. Also look for engineering consoles to boost weapon and shield power.

I'm not sure about the Hargh' Peng launcher, but for straight DPS it's hard to beat the Quantums and Photons.

saedeith

I appreciate the feedback. I will swap out some torpedos and at least one bank up from fore for arrays and see if that makes a difference. I can see where it would for broadside.

hakaishinlegion

I apologize, I do not believe I can provide feedback that would not be insulting. I'm sorry... what you present here would not be considered a viable build.

Pick one type of weapon, maximum two, and run with it.

Do not expect much result from 3 different energy types and 3 different torpedo yields (4 of your weapon slots wasted on torpedoes at that).

If you're adamant about using torpedoes... use 1, and put it on the fore arc.

Just 1. Not 2. Not 3. Certainly not 4.

1.

Rainbow ships are bad. Do not use them.

Pick one energy type (phaser and antiproton recommended, take your pick... BUT ONLY ONE!!!!)

Pick one energy DISCHARGE type (cannon, dual cannon, dual heavy cannon, single array, dual beam, turret, etc) and run with it. The exception is if you wish to use turrets along your rear arc for increased fore damage, but that's it.

For equipment, consider one of the many space sets... MACO, Aegis, and Borg are most usable for cruisers.

Drop the RCS. Not meaningful on a cruiser. Replace Albative with Neutronium or Electro Magnetic plating. Remove Parametalic, replace with an EPS Flow Regulator. Remove Injector Assembly.

Replace remaining Engineer consoles with CStore consoles if you have them (Antimatter Spread, the Armitage Torp console, Graviton Pulse Generator, etc). With dilithium farming many of these items can be gotten with no out-of-pocket cost, so really no excuse for not getting them these days (though I just buy them).

Science Consoles you'll want either 2x Field Emitters, or 1 and add the Assimilated Module. Your choice.

Tactical Consoles: 3x whatever energy type you've chosen for your non-torpedo weapons. Do NOT mix and match (remember, Rainbow Ship = Bad). If you chose Phaser, go with 3x Phaser Relays, for example.

Decide how in bloody hell you want to fly. Do you want forward DPS? Do you want broadside? Do you want support? Do you want to spam your spacebar and hope for the best?

You can't make a build without at least knowing what in bloody hell you're trying to accomplish in the first place.

/rant.

amayakitsune

saedeith wrote: »

I'm still trying to grasp the concept of why I don't want to mix phasers, phaser banks, torpedoes. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this as well.

You dont want to mix beams/torpedos of different types (eg: Phasers and Disruptors or Photons an Quantums) because you will do less over all damage. The +x% beam damage consoles provide less of a boost than a console of equal rarity for s specific energy type. The same applice for kinetic damage consoles vs. specific torpedo types.

So, find 1 energy type (I prefer phasers, as a fed) and 1 torpedo type (I prefer quantums, as a fed), and get the consoles for those specific types (a Phaser Relay for phasers, and a Zero Point Quantum Chamber for quantums) and you will do more damage over all.

Forcruisers the best way to cause damage is to broad side, I recommend 3 arrays fore and 3 aft with 1 torp fore and aft.

LOok into some of the STF sets, M.A.C.O. is good, and the old borg set is good. All Mk XI rare or Very Rare items, and you'll be good to go.

red01999

You're going to need a good bit better gear than this. I'm probably going to repeat what some posters have said, and contradict what others have said. I'm doing a bit of a braindump here, so take what you will from this.

A general tip - everything should be Mk XI. At LEAST Mk X. Some of this stuff would not have been too great at Captain level, so you shouldn't be using it a VA.

Now, down to business.

First of all, the "stock" AC build is probably 3 arrays, 1 torp, on fore and aft. This is what you'll see in most cases. While this is not the best at raw DPS it's good at consistent DPS, and using the broadside tactic. Your current build does not optimize for this - in fact it can't really do it at all. If you're going to use a DBB, use one and only one. I am a bit torn as to whether to recommend you swap to photorps, quantums or leave in the Har'peng, but whatever you do make sure it's Mk XI or higher.

Second - well, with your main ship gear (deflector, shield, engines), you should probably be using a set. If you don't like STFs, then an Aegis set might do you good. If you do like STFs, I'd go for the Borg set, and then, once you've saved up for it, get the MACO or Omega sets. If you're DPS centric, you may want to go for Omega. I wouldn't spend too much time considering the Reman or Breen sets. The Jem'Hadar set, MAYBE, but I'm not too thrilled with it, either.

If you don't want a set, though, then please at least upgrade your equipment to Mk XI blue or above. I'd also suggest a standard impulse engine with [Aux] [Turn] [Spd] modifiers, or maybe one of the special mission reward ones (there are several), or at least stick the Borg engine in there. Furthermore your shields should be better. I would suggest standard or resilient shields with the [cap] modifier and maybe the [reg] modifier, preferably [cap]x2. Your deflector should be a positron deflector (which you do have), but you should have modifiers for things like shields and hull - AFAIK there is no good DPS output deflector among the standard equipment so you might as well use it to make you tougher (although the ones that boost your sensors may help with Fire On My Mark, it seems like a poor tradeoff even with a DPS intent). All of this stuff should be mk XI or higher. But I urge you to reconsider, as the deflector, shields and engine of the Borg set are 15 EDCs - very cheap. If you hate STFs it may be a pain but at least for these three items it will be worth it.

However - and this is important - do NOT put your EDCs into getting standard gear. EDCs should be saved for getting pieces of gear that you don't get drops for in STFs, and ship weapons, and MAYBE ground weapons for your BOffs once you have the ground set you want. Anything else, unless you explicitly don't want a set, is a waste. And remember all set pieces must be on the same Mk level to give the bonuses.

With engineering consoles, I very strongly disagree with the assertion that "cruisers don't need to turn," they need to turn to keep opponents in a broadside arc, to keep the captain from going crazy while he waits a full half minute to turn around, and to leverage any fore weapons, even though cruiser fore weapons should be limited. And frankly, cruisers have engines, and most things with engines need to turn. Even DS9 probably had to turn when they moved it to the wormhole from Bajor orbit, to be flippant. However, cruisers do suck for turn rate. My suggestion is that if you're going to use an RCS, then you should use a single RCS, Mk XI blue or higher. Also note that engine power boosts are, in my experience, not as effective as they could be with cruisers, but also you get a +5 boost with engine power with the Borg engines. It is important to note that you should NOT be relying on the turn rate of a cruiser to bring instant death to the fore. I have seen this done with even an Ody with a great deal of success, but you are not at that point, and it was a VERY specialized build with a lot of potential drawbacks. This is not a cruiser's strong point.

The rest of these should be armor, preferably neutronium, of Mk XI blue quality or higher. You may want to ditch one armor console to make way for the Borg console, though, which you should strongly consider even if you don't have the rest of the Borg set, as it gives +5 weapon power and a few other boosts.

Science consoles should probably be Field Generators (only one level/quality as far as I know). They're expensive, but worth it. In lieu of this, get Emitter Arrays. For most cruisers the science consoles are for sticking in shield boosts or universal consoles, and unless you're a science officer who is using a cruiser for some reason this is how it should be.

Tactical consoles - forget projectile boosts, just stick in three high-end boosters for the energy type you select and be done with it. There are two reasons you want to use one damage type - #1 it makes it more likely any one damage proc will occur (thus making you better able to plan for it), and #2 because the consoles specialized to one damage type do a lot more than those that work for all damage types.

In terms of damage types, there is one thing to keep in mind - do NOT go with plasma. Plasma is useful for people who are leveling, and to get cheap high-Mk gear. That's about it. The proc otherwise kind of sucks at the high end, it's just not powerful enough. I've also heard unfavorable things about Tetryon as well, but I'm not too sure on that. For raw DPS your best bet will generally be antiproton, but whether or not this strategically works best with your play style is something you'll need to find out. You may want to stick with phasers for a while, or disruptors - phasers cause system malfunctions for short periods, and disruptors can boost DPS temporarily by eroding an enemy's resists.

Now, as a note, BOff powers are also important to your build. As such I strongly suggest that you consider cycling EPtW1 and another EPtX ability (preferably shields). If you have two copies of each and tie them to a keybind you can have near-100% uptime with a slight lag in the beginning as the first cooldown fires off. Constantly running tactical team will also give you a nice boost, though it's up to you if you think it's worth it, although it will also boost your survivability. Most importantly for DPS though, in addition to the buffs these give your weapons, they also help you keep your weapon power at 125. In fact, you may be able to reduce your power slider to divert some power to another system, because with all the boosts (making some assumptions for a good build - level 6 in weapon performance = +8, level 6 in warp core potential = +4, +5 from cruiser, +5 from Borg console meaning base weapon power of 122), the EPtW1 will give you a lot of power that's otherwise wasted if you leave the weapon power slider at /100.

Another thing - the general perception of a 'good' cruiser seems to be basically an immobile barge that soaks up agro, tosses out heals, takes 5 minutes to go anywhere, and does little else. I do not subscribe to this view, although it is true that for pure DPS, at least spike DPS, an escort will always beat out a cruiser. That said, my builds may suck (I think they're at least decent), but I'd rather have fun with the game than minmax myself into a hole with a ship/captain I don't want.

Finally - your current build may suck. But you asked, and that puts you head and shoulders above most others running mediocre builds. Good on you for that.

dashuk2381

Just my 2 cents on weapon types from above, I've found that Tetryon works well with an escort if you are going for a real shield stripper build with your cannons, but that's about it. Agree that plasma is really only good as you level. I always go back to Phasers or Polarons and just recently was able to afford a full load of Anti-protons for my cruiser and found them to be good but not worth the ridiculous amount of ECs they were. Sticking with Phasers.

tibbett

Tetryon is actually a good choice for a cruiser, especially if you do PVP. Add the 2-piece Omega bonus, good tetryon consoles, a spare flow capacitor console, and spec 9 into flow capacitors. Add 2x FAW, and you can turn your cruiser into a shield-stripping nightmare.