Started playing 3 days ago so i'm still a newb, but last night I unlocked the Klingons and was super excited

I've always enjoyed playing the underdog, and it's obvious to me that the Klingons are just that. The Federation side does have alot of cool things going for them. (ship customization, I love that lol) But so far the story has also been the best mmo story i've ever played. (I'm actually reading the quests lol)
I only played my Orion tac for a few hours to try and get a grasp of the Klingon side. This is where the sad face comes into play lol. I'm thinking maybe I was spoiled by being forced to play the feds for ?24? levels.
My little fed escort can run around and swathe a path of destruction and I had trouble taking down 1 romulan war bird in the bop lol. (granted i'm good at playing the broker/exchange so it's kinda nice lol) So I can eventually work my BoP into an honorable status, vs the trash barge she is now.
I guess i'm just kinda rambling

You work yourself into the Feds, and then you join the Klingons and your just thrown straight into the mix as a commander with everything at your fingertips. Maybe some of you out there could give me a guiding hand?
-Neirav
-Orion Slaver
EDIT: While running around... Main City? I found a research station and never even saw one of those on the fed side.
Comments
You should have seen a research station on Fed side already, one of the early [Tutorial] missions sends you to Memory Alpha (the Fed crafting planet) and explains the crafting system, for example.
Also, you don't need to fly around in your starting BoP. If you'd done the "run around all over First City"-chain mission on KDF, you'd have gotten a promotion quest at the end, and with it a token for a free commander ship, your choice of BoP, Raptor or Battlecruiser.
Also note that you can use mail and/or account bank to send stuff from your fed to your KDF, which might help a bit, at least to get some good starting equipment.
BoPs are really a very special breed, they're extremly squishy if not set up properly, but can be a beast with a good BOff layout and keybinds - if you're looking for the "Escort experience", then getting a Raptor would be recommended, though Klingon Battlecruisers are just as beastly, being able to equip dual (heavy) cannons and usually having good turn rates and inertia modifiers, a lot different than Fed cruisers ... well, aside from the Bortas, the LG flagship, which is ... a brick.
'Got more qustions? Ask here or ingame, and on KDF you can even ask on [Zone] and get helpful advice instead of Gorn jokes.
W/e the servers come back up i'll have to go back and grab that cruiser. (I did get the token, but the BoP I started out with is the BoP you can buy) My understanding is the cruiser and above is more for an engineer officer? Like I said, i'm a tac officer.
I have my escort setup with 3 Tetryon dual cannons with 2 tetryon turrets in the back for maximum facing dmg and it works great.
1. Could I go the same route with a cruiser? Or would I have to go more for Beam arrays front and back?
2. The weapon descriptions say -10 power when fireing other weapons. Does that mean it takes more power to fire 1 disruptor and 2 phaser cannons VS 3 phaser cannons? Another example I'd like to try: 3 Dual beams and 2 turrets in the back.
3. Are Klingon cruisers acceptable/playable as a cannon/turret boat?
I know i'm all over the place right now
I'm not sure if this would have any impact on what ships I should fly or how, but I do absolutely love the PvE in this game. At heart I am a PvPer
Playing the BoP is about as different from that, as it can get in STO, but I find it a lot of fun as well. My Klingon is no level 44 and I haven't done much of the story missions (still not finished with the Devidian Episode), but instead I've done most of the dailys and a lot of the single fleet action, the klingons get.
It is sad, that the klingons don't even have half as many pve content, as the feds have, but the BoP is probably the ship class in the game, that is the most fun to play. Even on level 25 I could dish out like 25k damage in 2 or 3 seconds sometimes.
This is even less of a problem for Klingons, as Battlecruisers are actual warships, build to kill things. They perform very well using DC/DHC and turrets, turn well enough for PvE, and while you're lacking some tactical BOff slots, you can use Emergency Power to Weapons on the extra engineering slots to mostly make up for that. Running two copies of EPtW2 will boost your damage output nearly as much as running Cannon Rapid Fire 2 (CRF2) all the time, by counteracting weapon drain.
Also, Klingon Battlecruisers come with a bonus to weapon power level, just as Escorts do.
So: Yes, Battlecruisers do well with a cannon setup.
Hint: a RCS accelerator can help with extra turnrate if you're feeling too sluggy.
Weapon power drain works the same no matter what kind of weapons you use. Each weapon fired will drain power (usually -10, -8 for turrets and -12 for DHC) and build it back up in the time to the next salvo. All the next weapons fired between the drain and the recharge though will use the lowered energy level.
So two beam arrays will have the first fire at full power on first shot, the second fire at drained -10 for its first, then the energy from the first will come back but it will still have to cope with the -10 from the second for its second shot. When the second one fires again, it will also just be subject to the -10 from the first weapon, and so on.
For 3 DHC and 4 turrets, it would be like this:
First salvo: DHC1 (full power), DHC2 (-12), DHC3 (-24), T1 (-36), T2 (-44), T3 (-52), T4 (-60)
Continued: DHC1 (-56), DHC2 (-56), DHC3 (-56), T1 (-60), T2 (-60), T3 (-60), T4 (-60), and so on.
'Hope that explains it well enough.
I understand that the first firing weapon gets the biggest use of the power. Looking at your numbers, as long as your continuously fire, your weapon dmg will go lower and lower and lower based on power. (looking at your -12 to the -60) I've never actually had that effect though. By the time I fire all my weapons again, my weapon power is always around 100-115
On the other hand, if you do it like that, you're probably losing damage, since your firing a lot slower than you could be, which at high power levels more than makes up for the drain.
To use auto-fire, right-click the symbol for each weapon. That will make a green border appear around it. When you now press the space bar, the ship will automatically fire until the other ship is dead or out of range (you can change that in the options if you want, to stop firing on target change for example).
There's some situations where auto-fire is a mixed blessing or even a hinderance (hint: PvP), but for the most time you're better off using it.
Let's say: "for now". :P
Once you dive into setting up keybinds to perfection, you'll be back to spamming your spacebar, or as in my case, the "2" button on my poor Naga.
But that's not really necessary before doing Elite STFs or PvP - for now you can concentrate on using your abilities at the right time, looking around the battle-field(-space?), or just enjoying the ride.
My hope is that one day a decent cruiser will come out, with the BOFF layout this Qin has. The Fed's got 1 with similar layout IIRC (defiant), time the KDF got one. Didn't count the bug since it's near impossible to get without substantial monetary investment, or incredible luck.
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
I'm currently questioning both your sanity and your taste in ships, lol. Jury's still out, but let us know your opinion on the Tor'Kaht version of the Vor'Cha Battle Cruiser - only then can we tell for certain, lol.
As to ship customization, there is no more customizable ship in game than the BoP, lol.
Welcome to the KDF, I'm sure you will get your head on straight shortly, lol.
STO Forum member since before February 2010.
STO Academy's excellent skill planner here: Link
I actually avoid success entirely. It doesn't get me what I want, and the consequences for failure are slim. -- markhawman
http://www.randyasplund.com/pages/sfpg/kbop2.html
I know it's a BoP, but there is another one i've seen/played in other games. It looks like that BoP, but it's the size of a cruiser. (Mainly the wings go up instead of down, I love it dont know why lol)
That's probably the Retrofit (=level 50) versions of the B'Rel (wingtips point down) and Koloth (wingtips point up).
The big one ... hmmm, Heghta is pretty much cruiser-sized (and looks extremely wicked with a Reman shield
You can find a complete list of playable starhips on the STOWiki.
The main thing with any BOP is to learn to make use of it's strengths... it's speed, it's turn rate, the boost to weapons power, the ability to bob and weave and the Battle Cloak. BOP's are hit and run birds. I run all energy weapons (DC/DHC/TRT) but have seen other builds that worked well (many like a torp for the killing blow).
Remember that cloaked your shields DO regen but more slowly (some have said they don't, but they do)... however your hull heals at normal rate. When cloaking in battle NEVER continue in a straight line... especially in PvE. Cloak then duck and turn and get out of there fast... heal and swing around... whenever your cloak drops you pick up a momentary boost to fire power (another big plus to use of the cloak on any Klingon ship).
Nevertheless his BOP is not named the Phoenix for no reason heheheheh... to command a BOP is to be ever ready to rise from the ashes... stronger than before :cool:
In this game... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... what DOES kill you makes you SMARTER :P