I get annoyed and lose my patience when people try to mislead others about the effectiveness of things like SIF generators, because it's the little things that add up and detract from the quality of players I end up facing in the queues.
For reference, I'm not talking about Ker'rat. I don't really consider that true PvP. It's more of a hybrid between PvP, PvE and a race. It's pretty fun to compete in the Ker'rat race and the rewards are great. I never go in there for the PvP or PvE unless I'm just testing something real quick. I don't mind the enemy players in it though-- makes it exciting for the racers.
Anyway, seems like I need a replacement for my 3rd Neutronium console as I never realized the large amount of diminishing returns that they had. Any recommendations? Would it be a good idea to carry around multiple consoles in my inventory of the different energy-type resists and then equip the one that best counters whatever the opponent escorts are using?
Well, you can always put some P2W (special) console in there. If you switch between power settings frequently you could use EPS.
I would avoid +power consoles, because they are the most useless ones.
SIF console is good if you carry at least 2 heals and can support your team (sci ships, cruisers).
Borg console is good choice as well.
"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.”
Well, you can always put some P2W (special) console in there. If you switch between power settings frequently you could use EPS.
I would avoid +power consoles, because they are the most useless ones.
SIF console is good if you carry at least 2 heals and can support your team (sci ships, cruisers).
Borg console is good choice as well.
What exactly do you mean by "switch between power settings?" Do you mean using different "Emergency power to..." Boff abilities?
And yeah, I got the Borg console under Engineering, but I'll still have room for one more console when I remove my neutronium. The only P2W console I have is the Point Defense, which is not so great PvP. I have very low hull repair skill as well (I only have 1 bar dedicated to this trait....I accidentally filled out all my traits without realizing I was at the end.)
On the contrary, phaser point defence console is great in PvP. If you are using phaser weapons and high weapon energy that is. It is very accurate weapon with 5km range that does extra dmg and prioritizes small targets.
It makes short work of mines/danoobes and other trash flying around. In 1v1 encounters it also adds considerable firepower. It is affected by DEM, and I wouldnt be surprised if by tetryon glider as well.
By power switching I meant changing between saved power settings. You know those 4 power bars you have next to your shields status.
"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.”
You can always run two neutronium and a third resist (I'd strongly recommend diburnium) if you like, I was mostly getting off-topic and directing my invective at selfish cruisers. A SIF might even work good on the bug. I haven't flown one though and there are people in here who are by far my superiors who can help you well beyond what I can.
EDIT: Also the PDS, while something of a one-trick-pony, is absolutely worth it for seeing a team of spamboxes' faces drop as everything within a 5km radius pops like new wheels on tarmac
What exactly do you mean by "switch between power settings?" Do you mean using different "Emergency power to..." Boff abilities?
And yeah, I got the Borg console under Engineering, but I'll still have room for one more console when I remove my neutronium. The only P2W console I have is the Point Defense, which is not so great PvP. I have very low hull repair skill as well (I only have 1 bar dedicated to this trait....I accidentally filled out all my traits without realizing I was at the end.)
EPS units increase how fast your power levels move when you switch power settings.
As a new player you should have 2 main power settings... many people will use all 4 settings. As such something like a EPS unit can come in very handy.
Your main setting should be an attack setting.
100 Wepaons
25 Shield
50 Engine
25 aux
Is a good place to start on this... you may want to change things slightly but 100 weapons and as much engine power as possible... I run 50 but going 35+ can work on the bug.
Your Second setting should be a heal setting.
50 Weapon
25 Shield
25 Engine
100 Aux
Your Aux or heal setting will improve to a GREAT degree the effect of all your aux heals, this includes TSS Hazards Shield Distro Doffs ect.
As you become more skilled at switching power settings... its nice to have a engine setting for when you need to evasive a good distance to a fight or out of one... and sometimes its nice to have a shield setting if you know you need some extra shield resist if your under fire and between heals. (DO NOT fall into the trap of going defensive though... shield setting is no where a escort should be for long)
Some people will try to argue that you should run higher shield power... and as always use what works for you... really though there is an epidemic of defensive escorts in this game that are almost always pointless... they don't kill and they still die to often. Go hard and kill bad guys as horizon would say.
I'm not trying to offend anyone. I just want want to know why things are the way they are. Horizon's suggestion may be entirely 100% correct, but he explains nothing. He just says ACC is the best, DMG is the worst, and that's it. I guess I just got a bit annoyed when he talked condescendingly to me about ACC being more expensive so it's obviously better and I let it show through my post. In the end, he explained nothing. I could take him at his word, and I would probably be better off for it, but I would have learned nothing. You can tell someone 5x5=25 and they'll know what 5x5 equals, but if you don't explain why, then they'll never know what 6x6 is.
Also, Horizon mentioned a few posts back that nobody should be running more than 1 or 2 Neutroniums? Why is that and what should I be using instead?
Okay, I'm going to pipe in here, since I actually got a good nights sleep for the first time in like 3 weeks, and had an absolutely phenominal day at work, followed by a tremendously Epic drive home in beautiful summer weather.
First: Tetryon DPS is no lower innately than any other weapon in the game. Save for Antiproton. (Antiproton however Blows because it has no Acc Mods to speak of)
To answer your question about why DMG is as bad for you as that big guy in a prison cell that wants you to pick up the soap, and why Acc is Ann Hathaway in her catwoman costume, begging you for some "catnip".
Acc mods, increase your chances to hit, by 10 percent for each ACC Mod on a given weapon. This means flat out, on average just one acc mod on a given weapon will deal 10 percent more damage total over the course of an entire match. This is a pretty ludicrously strong boost yes. It gets better, when your Accuracy supercedes your targets defense score (lets say you have a 70 accuracy and your target has a 30) this means you will get Bonus Critical Damage, when you crit.
Now, onto DMG. Dmg is a pathetic modifier, it only adds like 4-8 dps per gun that it's on. (depending on the mark of the weapon, and how many dmgs are on for that range provided there) It however does not help you hit anymore frequently, nor does it actually help on Critical Hits either. So for every miss DMG doesn't help you, and every Crit Dmg again doesn't help you. Which means, over the course of your match as a tac Lets say your crit chance with APA and your speccing is like 10 percent for simplicity. That means 10 percent of the time the DMG mod will do absolutely nothing. Now, DMG also quite often comes at the expense of Acc mods. So now, your damage with that given weapon is quite substantially lower, even with say a purple DMGX3 weapon than a green accurate weapon.
CrtH is my second favorite modifier, even just 1 crtH means barring your spec, and APA skills, you will crit 2 times as often as a weapon that has no CrtH mods on it. A CrtH weapon lets say CrtHX2 crits 4 times as often. Given the very high range of crit modifiers in STO, this means you will get many many more chances to pull up a big number. On average CrtH grants you +16 dps on average per gun, at MK12 values. Also, with more crits rolled the more chances you have of bigger Crit numbers. Which leads us to...
CrtD is the third go to property, because it does not help you hit more often, but it makes your crit severity more destructive. That being said it does not quite make up for not critting as often as a CrtH will give you. It is however much better than DMG could ever think about being.
Okay, I'm going to pipe in here, since I actually got a good nights sleep for the first time in like 3 weeks, and had an absolutely phenominal day at work, followed by a tremendously Epic drive home in beautiful summer weather.
First: Tetryon DPS is no lower innately than any other weapon in the game. Save for Antiproton. (Antiproton however Blows because it has no Acc Mods to speak of)
To answer your question about why DMG is as bad for you as that big guy in a prison cell that wants you to pick up the soap, and why Acc is Ann Hathaway in her catwoman costume, begging you for some "catnip".
Acc mods, increase your chances to hit, by 10 percent for each ACC Mod on a given weapon. This means flat out, on average just one acc mod on a given weapon will deal 10 percent more damage total over the course of an entire match. This is a pretty ludicrously strong boost yes. It gets better, when your Accuracy supercedes your targets defense score (lets say you have a 70 accuracy and your target has a 30) this means you will get Bonus Critical Damage, when you crit.
Now, onto DMG. Dmg is a pathetic modifier, it only adds like 4-8 dps per gun that it's on. (depending on the mark of the weapon, and how many dmgs are on for that range provided there) It however does not help you hit anymore frequently, nor does it actually help on Critical Hits either. So for every miss DMG doesn't help you, and every Crit Dmg again doesn't help you. Which means, over the course of your match as a tac Lets say your crit chance with APA and your speccing is like 10 percent for simplicity. That means 10 percent of the time the DMG mod will do absolutely nothing. Now, DMG also quite often comes at the expense of Acc mods. So now, your damage with that given weapon is quite substantially lower, even with say a purple DMGX3 weapon than a green accurate weapon.
CrtH is my second favorite modifier, even just 1 crtH means barring your spec, and APA skills, you will crit 2 times as often as a weapon that has no CrtH mods on it. A CrtH weapon lets say CrtHX2 crits 4 times as often. Given the very high range of crit modifiers in STO, this means you will get many many more chances to pull up a big number. On average CrtH grants you +16 dps on average per gun, at MK12 values. Also, with more crits rolled the more chances you have of bigger Crit numbers. Which leads us to...
CrtD is the third go to property, because it does not help you hit more often, but it makes your crit severity more destructive. That being said it does not quite make up for not critting as often as a CrtH will give you. It is however much better than DMG could ever think about being.
And where do I get DHC mk xii with lets say a lot of ACC? Can i craft them, loot drops, or by buying it from an npc?
Husanak and Mav, thank you for those posts. They are quite insightful and clear up a lot of confusion I had about both issues.
I've never really messed with power settings much. I pretty much set mine to attack and forgot about it. I'm guessing this is something I need to work on. One of the problems I seem to be having is not enough shield regen in certain situations. Tactical Team and Reverse Shield Polarity can only take me so far. I'm using that Eng. shield heal now as well, but it does not seem to heal much. If I switch to a heal power setting before I use it, then the effectiveness of this heal would increase, correct? Does it also increase the healing power of batteries? Any tips for better shield healing?
Well, I suppose I should have made this thread before I went out and bought all my new shinies. I'll have to work on finding some ACCX2 or some CrtH-ACC combo weapons.
Oh, and I tried the Photon + Quantum combo up front and did not really like it. It seemed to be ok in the Arena since I could team up on a single target, which would help me to get down to the hull. In Capture and Hold it seemed almost worthless because I'm splitting off into smaller groups and sometimes even splitting off solo to capture an undefended or solo-defended base. In those instances I could never really get the the shields down low enough for the torpedoes to be effective. I think I prefer the extra DHC and trying to time a Quantum High Yield to hit their hull rather than spamming both Photons and Quantums into their shields.
P.S. I'm really bad with acronyms in this game. What does TSS mean?
And where do I get DHC mk xii with lets say a lot of ACC? Can i craft them, loot drops, or by buying it from an npc?
Good post btw!
From my understanding you can only get the normal weapons from Elite STF drops or on the exchange. The Phased Tetryons can be obtained through the Tholian lock boxes if you're lucky or on the exchange.
Acc mods, increase your chances to hit, by 10 percent for each ACC Mod on a given weapon. This means flat out, on average just one acc mod on a given weapon will deal 10 percent more damage total over the course of an entire match. This is a pretty ludicrously strong boost yes. It gets better, when your Accuracy supercedes your targets defense score (lets say you have a 70 accuracy and your target has a 30) this means you will get Bonus Critical Damage, when you crit.
Um ok lets take a closer look on that acc mod. 10% more accuracy doesnt mean 10% more chance to hit.
Lets take an example and say we have an enemy ship with 70% defense. Now with 9 points in targeting systems and the accurate space trait you have 25% base accuracy. There is a 95% hit chance when no mods are involved so that would leave you with 20% accuracy against his 70% defense.
70-20 = 50 so half of your attacks will miss
Now assume you got ]acc]x3
70-50 = 20 so he has a 20% chance to evade giving you a 80% chance to hit him.
So what does that mean: if you fire 100 shots on average you would hit 50 with white weapons and 80 with [acc]x3
Now actually that means you have 60% increase in hits and therefor a 60% increase in dmg.
And that is the holy secrect of accuracy. How much it helps you always depends on the defense of your target. Now if you shoot at someone with 90% defense, like an escort with evasive you would double your dmg with [acc]x3
If you cant immobilize your enemy the benefits of acc are quite scary.
Edit: Ok after reading a bit more about Acc it turns out its more complicated that i thought and my calculations therefor dont make that much sense. But i suppose the point is still how much dmg increase you get depends on your targets defense.
I find it hard to believe that gear is as unimportant as you make it out to be. Even though I'm new to PvP I'd be willing to bet I'd score higher in a PvP match and could take you out in a 1v1 against one of your blue mkX toons. Hit me up on STO and we can test it out - Entarra Adu@DevolvedOne. Although, since you know my gear, you'd probably just get all Tetryon resist consoles and lol all day :x
It's true, skill/gameplay-knowledge comes before a lot of equipment. Today I just managed to level up a new toon to VA (created primarily to train Boffs in all sci-powers). He was in an patrol escort, with all white weapons and consoles, MKVI covariant shield [cap]x2, Impulse engine MkII. Still managed to trounce a BoP and tank the rest.
Gear is important certainly, but a skilled player with rubbish gear will win verses a new player with Maco/KHG/Borg combo and purple gear (especially if that gear is badly chosen). It's one of the biggest positives about PvP in this game.
When both players skill/experience levels come close, then equipment plays a major part.
Are [ACC]x3 weapons really worth twice as much or are people buying them when they become available at lower prices and reposting them at higher prices (or just holding on to them) in order to inflate their value?
While I wouldn't say they're the be all and end all of weapons, they are immensely useful in PvP, especially when fighting an escort. Without them an escort opponent with 2x APO could tank you just as well as a tanky cruiser could. Against a slow moving cruiser though, the ACC will add to your crit chance and damage.
So in that regard, I'd like to discuss why my choice of [DMG]x2 modifier is a bad one.
Along with what I said about ACC above, DMG mods give such a small boost in damage that it isn't a noticeable increase when actually fighting. The only time a dmg modifier is desirable is perhaps on weapons with a high firing rate (like turrets and single cannons), but they'll keep on missing against a highly manoeuvrable escort.
Personally I'd rate them as this for dual heavy cannons:-
Acc
CrtD
CrtH
Dmg
I'd swap around CrtD and CrtH, CrtD appears to work off of the base crit damage rather than the buffed total (not as useful as you'd think) and as a math kind of guy CrtH just seems like it'd intuitively do more for your overall damage anyway.
Husanak and Mav, thank you for those posts. They are quite insightful and clear up a lot of confusion I had about both issues.
I've never really messed with power settings much. I pretty much set mine to attack and forgot about it. I'm guessing this is something I need to work on. One of the problems I seem to be having is not enough shield regen in certain situations. Tactical Team and Reverse Shield Polarity can only take me so far. I'm using that Eng. shield heal now as well, but it does not seem to heal much. If I switch to a heal power setting before I use it, then the effectiveness of this heal would increase, correct? Does it also increase the healing power of batteries? Any tips for better shield healing?
Well, I suppose I should have made this thread before I went out and bought all my new shinies. I'll have to work on finding some ACCX2 or some CrtH-ACC combo weapons.
Oh, and I tried the Photon + Quantum combo up front and did not really like it. It seemed to be ok in the Arena since I could team up on a single target, which would help me to get down to the hull. In Capture and Hold it seemed almost worthless because I'm splitting off into smaller groups and sometimes even splitting off solo to capture an undefended or solo-defended base. In those instances I could never really get the the shields down low enough for the torpedoes to be effective. I think I prefer the extra DHC and trying to time a Quantum High Yield to hit their hull rather than spamming both Photons and Quantums into their shields.
P.S. I'm really bad with acronyms in this game. What does TSS mean?
TSS = Transfer Shield Strength
Aux will effect the following heals
Aux to Stuctural integrity field... Aux to Sif
Hazards Emitters
Polarized Hull... (the resist value will increase)
Aux to Dampeners... (the resists and speed and turn buffs will increase)
Transfer Shield Strength
That's pretty much it... that doesn't seem like many heals.. however as an escort you are likely going to have a hazard and for sure you should ALWAYS have a Transfer Shield Strength.
Transfer Shield and Emergency Power to shields both provide you a shield resist value that will give you a MASSIVE effective increase in shields as it will take much more dmg to drop them.
I tell most people to bind 2 keys to switch from aux to weapon power settings... and honestly try to use a key that you could add 1-2 more with out moving around after. At some point if most people really want to have all 4 settings in play. I use the last 2 keys on my Naga mouse... my nagas 11 key is Weapon power... Shift-11 is my shield .... Shift-12 is my engine... and the 12 key is my aux setting....
This gives me 2 quick buttons from heal to attack... and I hit shift to go full shield or full engine.
I don't really think this deserves a new thread, but I was wondering how ships are constantly zooming this way and that. I've seen a lot of Defiants in PvP's and they all seem to be moving and turning 2-3 times faster than other ships and what seems like on a constant basis.
Edit: Also I have noticed sometimes there will be a person that calls a target in team chat as soon as he switches to it. I'm guessing this is some kind of macro or script? Does anyone know where to get this?
evasive maneuvers. and the doffs that cool it down if you wish. high engine power really helps out, so engine batts or red matter capacitor will help you get there.....
evasive maneuvers. and the doffs that cool it down if you wish. high engine power really helps out, so engine batts or red matter capacitor will help you get there.....
So just evasive maneuvers. For some reason it feels like they are able to sustain their speed longer than evasive maneuvers lasts, even with the doffs. What does the red matter capacitor do?
It's evasive maneuvers, but with the doffs you can get it to be up almost all the time. I believe there is also a console that lets you do practically the same thing. And as Soph pointed out deuterium will temporarily boost your speed through the roof and is obtainable via missions.
Red Matter Capacitor is a console that adds power to all your systems for a short burst. Think of if like a combo battery that is reusable. In this case an engine battery.
On macro target bind; basically you can make a macro in game that when pressed will automagically place your target's name in team chat. It's super super useful when pugging without voice comms. It's often made to say something like "Please fire on Zyphoid7. PEW PEW!". It allows a pug team to coordinate fire on a single target if they are paying attention. Which isn't all that likely to be honest, but one does try. Voice comms are the end all, be all to a good team.
The evasive doffs are a bit bugged ATM. 3xpurples get it down to 15. It's fixed on tribble so it should be going live in a patch soon, if it's not already.
Warp core/damage control doffs are good for cutting timeout on eptX and chancing a increase in power on use of eptX. Had some pretty good luck with that and RMC on a test build.
It's evasive maneuvers, but with the doffs you can get it to be up almost all the time. I believe there is also a console that lets you do practically the same thing. And as Soph pointed out deuterium will temporarily boost your speed through the roof and is obtainable via missions.
Red Matter Capacitor is a console that adds power to all your systems for a short burst. Think of if like a combo battery that is reusable. In this case an engine battery.
On macro target bind; basically you can make a macro in game that when pressed will automagically place your target's name in team chat. It's super super useful when pugging without voice comms. It's often made to say something like "Please fire on Zyphoid7. PEW PEW!". It allows a pug team to coordinate fire on a single target if they are paying attention. Which isn't all that likely to be honest, but one does try. Voice comms are the end all, be all to a good team.
On macro target bind; basically you can make a macro in game that when pressed will automagically place your target's name in team chat. It's super super useful when pugging without voice comms. It's often made to say something like "Please fire on Zyphoid7. PEW PEW!". It allows a pug team to coordinate fire on a single target if they are paying attention. Which isn't all that likely to be honest, but one does try. Voice comms are the end all, be all to a good team.
I know its purpose, but how do I do it? Do I download something or change some setting? Teams always seem to go better when someone is calling out targets and if nobody on the team is doing it, I'd like to be able to.
All the good macro threads where ancient as far as PWE was concerned when they swapped the forums over... if I am feeling like it tonight I may create a new PvP bind thread... if I have the energy.
Quick answer its a bind... which you activate by typing /bind... + some arguments.
Something like
/bind space "+trayexec 0 0"
That would make space bar fire off what ever you have in the first slot of your first bar... I'll post something better up later.
Sigh. Hate to bring the news to you, but: No, not everyone should prefer DHC's over DC's. There are perfectly good reasons to prefer DH's over DHC's in some cases, not all of which are cost related.
Guess what happens next. :rolleyes:
Well to be honest... no there is NO good reason to run dc ever. That is all.
Comments
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
Anyway, seems like I need a replacement for my 3rd Neutronium console as I never realized the large amount of diminishing returns that they had. Any recommendations? Would it be a good idea to carry around multiple consoles in my inventory of the different energy-type resists and then equip the one that best counters whatever the opponent escorts are using?
@DevolvedOne
I would avoid +power consoles, because they are the most useless ones.
SIF console is good if you carry at least 2 heals and can support your team (sci ships, cruisers).
Borg console is good choice as well.
@OP, I d stick with this guy's advice, not the others.
a history of sto pvp: 2010 - 2011
a history of sto pvp: 2012 - 2013
And yeah, I got the Borg console under Engineering, but I'll still have room for one more console when I remove my neutronium. The only P2W console I have is the Point Defense, which is not so great PvP. I have very low hull repair skill as well (I only have 1 bar dedicated to this trait....I accidentally filled out all my traits without realizing I was at the end.)
@DevolvedOne
It makes short work of mines/danoobes and other trash flying around. In 1v1 encounters it also adds considerable firepower. It is affected by DEM, and I wouldnt be surprised if by tetryon glider as well.
By power switching I meant changing between saved power settings. You know those 4 power bars you have next to your shields status.
EDIT: Also the PDS, while something of a one-trick-pony, is absolutely worth it for seeing a team of spamboxes' faces drop as everything within a 5km radius pops like new wheels on tarmac
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
EPS units increase how fast your power levels move when you switch power settings.
As a new player you should have 2 main power settings... many people will use all 4 settings. As such something like a EPS unit can come in very handy.
Your main setting should be an attack setting.
100 Wepaons
25 Shield
50 Engine
25 aux
Is a good place to start on this... you may want to change things slightly but 100 weapons and as much engine power as possible... I run 50 but going 35+ can work on the bug.
Your Second setting should be a heal setting.
50 Weapon
25 Shield
25 Engine
100 Aux
Your Aux or heal setting will improve to a GREAT degree the effect of all your aux heals, this includes TSS Hazards Shield Distro Doffs ect.
As you become more skilled at switching power settings... its nice to have a engine setting for when you need to evasive a good distance to a fight or out of one... and sometimes its nice to have a shield setting if you know you need some extra shield resist if your under fire and between heals. (DO NOT fall into the trap of going defensive though... shield setting is no where a escort should be for long)
Some people will try to argue that you should run higher shield power... and as always use what works for you... really though there is an epidemic of defensive escorts in this game that are almost always pointless... they don't kill and they still die to often. Go hard and kill bad guys as horizon would say.
Okay, I'm going to pipe in here, since I actually got a good nights sleep for the first time in like 3 weeks, and had an absolutely phenominal day at work, followed by a tremendously Epic drive home in beautiful summer weather.
First: Tetryon DPS is no lower innately than any other weapon in the game. Save for Antiproton. (Antiproton however Blows because it has no Acc Mods to speak of)
To answer your question about why DMG is as bad for you as that big guy in a prison cell that wants you to pick up the soap, and why Acc is Ann Hathaway in her catwoman costume, begging you for some "catnip".
Acc mods, increase your chances to hit, by 10 percent for each ACC Mod on a given weapon. This means flat out, on average just one acc mod on a given weapon will deal 10 percent more damage total over the course of an entire match. This is a pretty ludicrously strong boost yes. It gets better, when your Accuracy supercedes your targets defense score (lets say you have a 70 accuracy and your target has a 30) this means you will get Bonus Critical Damage, when you crit.
Now, onto DMG. Dmg is a pathetic modifier, it only adds like 4-8 dps per gun that it's on. (depending on the mark of the weapon, and how many dmgs are on for that range provided there) It however does not help you hit anymore frequently, nor does it actually help on Critical Hits either. So for every miss DMG doesn't help you, and every Crit Dmg again doesn't help you. Which means, over the course of your match as a tac Lets say your crit chance with APA and your speccing is like 10 percent for simplicity. That means 10 percent of the time the DMG mod will do absolutely nothing. Now, DMG also quite often comes at the expense of Acc mods. So now, your damage with that given weapon is quite substantially lower, even with say a purple DMGX3 weapon than a green accurate weapon.
CrtH is my second favorite modifier, even just 1 crtH means barring your spec, and APA skills, you will crit 2 times as often as a weapon that has no CrtH mods on it. A CrtH weapon lets say CrtHX2 crits 4 times as often. Given the very high range of crit modifiers in STO, this means you will get many many more chances to pull up a big number. On average CrtH grants you +16 dps on average per gun, at MK12 values. Also, with more crits rolled the more chances you have of bigger Crit numbers. Which leads us to...
CrtD is the third go to property, because it does not help you hit more often, but it makes your crit severity more destructive. That being said it does not quite make up for not critting as often as a CrtH will give you. It is however much better than DMG could ever think about being.
And where do I get DHC mk xii with lets say a lot of ACC? Can i craft them, loot drops, or by buying it from an npc?
Good post btw!
I've never really messed with power settings much. I pretty much set mine to attack and forgot about it. I'm guessing this is something I need to work on. One of the problems I seem to be having is not enough shield regen in certain situations. Tactical Team and Reverse Shield Polarity can only take me so far. I'm using that Eng. shield heal now as well, but it does not seem to heal much. If I switch to a heal power setting before I use it, then the effectiveness of this heal would increase, correct? Does it also increase the healing power of batteries? Any tips for better shield healing?
Well, I suppose I should have made this thread before I went out and bought all my new shinies. I'll have to work on finding some ACCX2 or some CrtH-ACC combo weapons.
Oh, and I tried the Photon + Quantum combo up front and did not really like it. It seemed to be ok in the Arena since I could team up on a single target, which would help me to get down to the hull. In Capture and Hold it seemed almost worthless because I'm splitting off into smaller groups and sometimes even splitting off solo to capture an undefended or solo-defended base. In those instances I could never really get the the shields down low enough for the torpedoes to be effective. I think I prefer the extra DHC and trying to time a Quantum High Yield to hit their hull rather than spamming both Photons and Quantums into their shields.
P.S. I'm really bad with acronyms in this game. What does TSS mean?
@DevolvedOne
@DevolvedOne
god not even sollex or soph gives advice this bad! everyone should literally do the opposite of this
Um ok lets take a closer look on that acc mod. 10% more accuracy doesnt mean 10% more chance to hit.
Lets take an example and say we have an enemy ship with 70% defense. Now with 9 points in targeting systems and the accurate space trait you have 25% base accuracy. There is a 95% hit chance when no mods are involved so that would leave you with 20% accuracy against his 70% defense.
70-20 = 50 so half of your attacks will miss
Now assume you got ]acc]x3
70-50 = 20 so he has a 20% chance to evade giving you a 80% chance to hit him.
So what does that mean: if you fire 100 shots on average you would hit 50 with white weapons and 80 with [acc]x3
Now actually that means you have 60% increase in hits and therefor a 60% increase in dmg.
And that is the holy secrect of accuracy. How much it helps you always depends on the defense of your target. Now if you shoot at someone with 90% defense, like an escort with evasive you would double your dmg with [acc]x3
If you cant immobilize your enemy the benefits of acc are quite scary.
Edit: Ok after reading a bit more about Acc it turns out its more complicated that i thought and my calculations therefor dont make that much sense. But i suppose the point is still how much dmg increase you get depends on your targets defense.
My stomach is clear and my mind is full of bacon!
It's true, skill/gameplay-knowledge comes before a lot of equipment. Today I just managed to level up a new toon to VA (created primarily to train Boffs in all sci-powers). He was in an patrol escort, with all white weapons and consoles, MKVI covariant shield [cap]x2, Impulse engine MkII. Still managed to trounce a BoP and tank the rest.
Gear is important certainly, but a skilled player with rubbish gear will win verses a new player with Maco/KHG/Borg combo and purple gear (especially if that gear is badly chosen). It's one of the biggest positives about PvP in this game.
When both players skill/experience levels come close, then equipment plays a major part.
While I wouldn't say they're the be all and end all of weapons, they are immensely useful in PvP, especially when fighting an escort. Without them an escort opponent with 2x APO could tank you just as well as a tanky cruiser could. Against a slow moving cruiser though, the ACC will add to your crit chance and damage.
Along with what I said about ACC above, DMG mods give such a small boost in damage that it isn't a noticeable increase when actually fighting. The only time a dmg modifier is desirable is perhaps on weapons with a high firing rate (like turrets and single cannons), but they'll keep on missing against a highly manoeuvrable escort.
Personally I'd rate them as this for dual heavy cannons:-
Acc
CrtD
CrtH
Dmg
Daizen - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
Selia - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
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
TSS = Transfer Shield Strength
Aux will effect the following heals
Aux to Stuctural integrity field... Aux to Sif
Hazards Emitters
Polarized Hull... (the resist value will increase)
Aux to Dampeners... (the resists and speed and turn buffs will increase)
Transfer Shield Strength
That's pretty much it... that doesn't seem like many heals.. however as an escort you are likely going to have a hazard and for sure you should ALWAYS have a Transfer Shield Strength.
Transfer Shield and Emergency Power to shields both provide you a shield resist value that will give you a MASSIVE effective increase in shields as it will take much more dmg to drop them.
I tell most people to bind 2 keys to switch from aux to weapon power settings... and honestly try to use a key that you could add 1-2 more with out moving around after. At some point if most people really want to have all 4 settings in play. I use the last 2 keys on my Naga mouse... my nagas 11 key is Weapon power... Shift-11 is my shield .... Shift-12 is my engine... and the 12 key is my aux setting....
This gives me 2 quick buttons from heal to attack... and I hit shift to go full shield or full engine.
Edit: Also I have noticed sometimes there will be a person that calls a target in team chat as soon as he switches to it. I'm guessing this is some kind of macro or script? Does anyone know where to get this?
@DevolvedOne
evasive maneuvers. and the doffs that cool it down if you wish. high engine power really helps out, so engine batts or red matter capacitor will help you get there.....
and the target calling bind......ummmmmm
can't remember......someone will chime in tho..
...hopefully. ::shifty eyes::
@DevolvedOne
Red Matter Capacitor is a console that adds power to all your systems for a short burst. Think of if like a combo battery that is reusable. In this case an engine battery.
On macro target bind; basically you can make a macro in game that when pressed will automagically place your target's name in team chat. It's super super useful when pugging without voice comms. It's often made to say something like "Please fire on Zyphoid7. PEW PEW!". It allows a pug team to coordinate fire on a single target if they are paying attention. Which isn't all that likely to be honest, but one does try. Voice comms are the end all, be all to a good team.
Warp core/damage control doffs are good for cutting timeout on eptX and chancing a increase in power on use of eptX. Had some pretty good luck with that and RMC on a test build.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I know its purpose, but how do I do it? Do I download something or change some setting? Teams always seem to go better when someone is calling out targets and if nobody on the team is doing it, I'd like to be able to.
@DevolvedOne
Vent
TeamSpeak
and there are more.
The challenge, and where the money could come in, is finding a site to host your preferred VOIP on.
Quick answer its a bind... which you activate by typing /bind... + some arguments.
Something like
/bind space "+trayexec 0 0"
That would make space bar fire off what ever you have in the first slot of your first bar... I'll post something better up later.
Lmao /10 char.
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean.
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill...
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=255864
it must be a post somewhere with a keybind example. Also, he talks about various techniques, pretty cool stuff, you'll like it.
Edit: there is an example right on the last page for keybind.
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean.
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill...
Well to be honest... no there is NO good reason to run dc ever. That is all.