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Tanking power settings?
zanthe25
Member Posts: 207 Arc User
When trying to soak up damage, which is generally more effective?... full power to engines for defence skill, or full power to shields for soaking up?
Or is they a good midway point or ideal defence skill?
Or is they a good midway point or ideal defence skill?
Post edited by zanthe25 on
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For maximum shield tanking you should be running a constant rotation of EPtS, so you only need enough shield power to so that EPtS pushes it to 125. EPtS also give bonus resist that help as well.
For defense you just need to find the engine power that maximizes you defense rating (70% or 80% with elusive captain trait) as displayed in the ship status display window. This power level will depend on the ship, but with the right skill tree an escort can cap defense at full throttle with only 25 base engine power. Other ships, less points in the relevant skill to boost power levels, or wanting max defense at lower throttle will require more base engine power.
TRIBBLE | -Show Me Your Critz-
Svarog | Veles | et al.
After passive warp performance and efficiency gains I run with about 70 power to shields and 65 in Aux. EPtS3 boosts shields to 125 and EPtA1 boosts aux to over 100.
Aux is important for heals so don't discount it.
Engines after passives is about 50 (on a 25 setting). Being a cruiser I don't worry about engine power, I move and turn slow anyway. I've skilled 6 into thrusters and manoeuvres, but I'm more focuses on soaking up the damage and healing myself that relying on the chance they'll miss me.
Soaking damage and healing is something I can control at will. The chance to miss me through speed/manoeuvres isn't something you can control (when they miss etc). Under heavy fire you'll be hit more than not, so I suggest focusing on soaking/healing/resists. Relying on speed/manoeuvres, if you get tractored, warp plasmaed, gravity welled, disabled engines, anchored etc etc then you loose all your defensive buffs.
Skill into thruster/manoeuvres and speed a bit but only as a final tweak to your build.
My 2EC
100 weapons, rest to engines - attack
100 weapons resto to shields - defensive attack
other two depend on a build but generally
100 engines rest to aux - get the hell out
100 aux rest to whateve - heal, or aux based powers.
A side note question...
Are they any good EU/UK based fleets thats really good for helping out people who very new to the game?
I been playing for just over a day now so I still a lot to learn.
Note that bonus defense only increases until a certain speed level anyway (somewhere around 24/26 impulse), and that putting your engines on 100 and throttle on half, or engines on 50 and throttle on full, makes no difference in speed anyway (As an example) thus bonus defense is only based on your current impulse speed, not specifically on engine power or throttle only.
Everything else goes to aux, I really never cared for bonus defense through speed and just heal if needed.
Since hardly anything in STFs is instagib (and those can be avoided by placing yourself in blind spots most of the time), it works fine, and I was never into micromanagement anyway.
That would depend on a number of factors.
None of which you have provided. Class of ship? Your skill build, ship equipment, consoles, and Bridge Officer skills.
What you ask can be generalized some, but to get a good setting, many things have to be taken into consideration.
Here's a different approach to tanking - all that acronyms are going to confuse you and there is really no 'optimal' bridge officer power setup although most successful builds share very similar principles.
A more instinctive way of appreciating tanking principles is basically out-heal incoming damage, and to keep moving so you have a positive defence bonus.
What you can do for any ship type is max out every possible defensive ability there is, and learn to stack multiple damage resistance buffs together.
For instance, Emergency Power to Shields III gives a 30% or so damage resistance to shields.
By itself it's really not that effective against serious opposition (serious meaning PvP or Elite Borg warfare).
But if you slap a Transfer Shield Strength II on top of it, you're going to have a bonus 15% or so resistance. It may not seem like a lot on paper but consider this:
EPTS3 - 30%
TSS2 - 15% (estimated)
MACO shield - 30% (vs plasma)
So for anti Borg warfare a MACO shield from late game gives you
30% by itself
60% with Emergency Power to Shields
75% with TSS on.
So you see the name of the game is not just out-heal but also to heal smart - if your damage resistance is very high you will not need to bother with significant hull heals; just settle on Engineering Team I and Auxiliary to Structural for a constant damage resistance boost.
Then just chain up your shield healing powers in the right interval always keeping the Reverse Shield Polarity for a last resort. The more shield heals you have, the merrier for redundancy. [cross-universe example] You want to be the Mon Calamari cruiser that just absorbs all the damage on the shields, not the Star Destroyer that's helpless once primary shielding goes down.
The last thing a lot of pilots forget is this - sweep through phaser arcs to rotate shield facings.
Some say with Tactical Team you can tank stationary, but stationary tanking gives you a defence penalty and you are subject to much higher damage than if you were moving, able to rotate shield facings, or even outrun the enemy outright.
Do not discount the value of speed. A very high tactical cruise speed allows you to dominate the engagement with ease, without need to pop valuable Evasive Maneuvers or other emergency speed boost skills/items.
Sure, some find it dishonorable to run, but if ever in a situation running means saving a respawn timer or relocating into a advantageous new offensive position, that helps with team combat as well.
Lastly, it's possible to fly a cruiser so fast that it tanks naturally i.e, doesn't stay in one position long enough to absorb much damage, but still fulfills its Threat Control role. So build yourself a fast ship with multiple redundant hull and shield heals, manage your power reserves well, and you find that you can tank in virtually any ship ranging from ye olde Mon Cals to even Birds of Prey.
Before anyone else interjects, my tanking Bird of Prey is PvP proven
There is also no better way of learning defensive skills by doing a friendly PvP match or two, so let me know if you're game for that (friend request me @carmenara) if you so desire. I might even bring along a few UK veteran fleet pilots to share tips if they're around.
My Youtube Channel
That's exactly what I do too. (just couldn't be bothered typing it :] ) Right down to how I like my tank BOFF layout.
TT1, BFAW2
ET1, A2SIF1, AB1
EPtA1, RSP1, EPtS3
HE1, TSS2
PH1
Any different and I'm giving up survivability. The heals compliment each other well (one gives large heal and small resist, the other will give a big resist and small heal) and can mostly be fired off individually without causing a cool down on something else.
Recently found I can tank by myself STF elite Tac cubes too in my Mirror Vor'Cha
Once you get into the groove there's a pattern to what you fire off when.
Hit first with AB1, TT1, shoot a while, once AB1 worn off start using EPtS3 and TSS2 + TT1 to keep shields up. Hull healing with A2SIF1 + HE1 as you go.
Use rotate shield frequency during that phase and when ever it hits you with the shield drain, fire off Nadion Inversion for drain resist buff.
Once shields are critical and your shield heals are out of reach on cool down, pop RSP + TT1 to replenish all shields. About then AB1 should be available again to start the cycle again.
Whilst all that's going I'm using BFAW2 to dispatch incoming borg heavy plasma torps. Over running it with EWP3 and Theta radiation constantly (using PH1 when I get close or snared so I don't get tied down 10 metres from it) and dropping Aceton Assimilators.
By the time my team mates have destroyed the gate I'm still tanking the tac cube and it'll have a shield facing down with the others weakened, and be down to 80% hull.
Left long enough to my own devices I could take down a tac cube by myself. If I used my Marauder I could despatch fighters to help with the damage output or shield/power drains.
Edit: Forgot to mention DOFFs can make a big difference too.
I run with 2x purple conn officers to get my single TT1 on a 15 second cool down so I effectively have dual TT1's. Then I have 2x damage control officers I think it is to help reduce EPtS3 cool down times. And 1x doff that boosts ET1 and cool down. Though as that isn't used much whilst under fire could be swapped out for something else.