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Need advice for survival in STF elites

thaerykthaeryk Member Posts: 0 Arc User
edited August 2012 in Federation Discussion
I am a sci captain currently flying the LRSV retrofit. I've been able to collect MACO, Borg and OMEGA space sets, as well as several Mk XII and Mk XI weapons. What seems to be happening, and only recently, is that if I get aggro from say a Raptor in CSE, its a guarantee that two or three shots, I'm dead. But this is only once in a while.
So, ship layout:
Fore: 2 mkxii antiproton beam array, 1 mkxi antiproton beam array
deflector: currently maco mkxii
impulse: maco mkxii
shields: maco mkxii
aft: 1 mkii AP beam array, 1 mkxi AP beam array, 1 mkxii AP turret
eng cons: 3 mkxii neutronium (17.5%)
sci cons: 3 mkxi field gen (17.5%)
tac cons: 2 AP mag regulator (24.4%)

i think i did a decent job on skill points, coming into this game blind
space lieu: starship AP 9/9; weapons 9/9; driver coil 9/9; batteries 9/9; hull repair 9/9; flow 2/9; shield emitters 9/9
lt cmdr: energy weapons 9/9; SI 9/9; warp core eff. 9/9; shield systems 9/9
cmdr: maneuvers 9/9; targeting 9/9; impulse thrusters 9/9; warp core pot 9/9; graviton 9/9
captain: shield performance 9/9; sensors 9/9
admiral: weapon performance 9/9

i am f2p, but i have a pending skill token, so im willing to readjust as necessary.

BOFF layout
lieu tac has high yield 1 (need to change) and beam overload 2
lieu eng has emer power to weaps and eng team 2
cmdr sci has jam sensors, TB 2, GW1 and VM3
ltcmdr sci has sci team 1, TSS2 and TB3
ensign sci has tachyon beam 1

I think that's all the relevant information.. Let me know if I've left anything out. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Im Scott McElroy@thaeryk in game
Post edited by thaeryk on

Comments

  • welly16welly16 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Try swapping high yeild for tec team, it realy helps and is not to be underestimated. and teach an engi reverse sheild polarity (if you can to that rank). been usefull in its own right, when taking energy damage, if you use tac team and reverse sheilds at the same time, it quickly gets all your sheild to 100%

    also, hazard emmiters is a good hull regen with an added damage resistance and removes the green gas from borg torpedos
  • hippiejonhippiejon Member Posts: 1,581 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Keep components in your inventory , and regenerators for ground.
    Once you've blown up once , those negatives just start building until you fix them
  • reginamala78reginamala78 Member Posts: 4,593 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Lets try this layout instead, for mostly the same idea but better suited for ESTFs

    Commander Science
    Polarize Hull 1, Hazard Emitters 2, Viral Matrix 1, Gravity Well 3
    LtCmdr Science
    Sci Team 1, TSS2, Tractor Beam 3 or Tractor Beam Repulsors 2
    Lt Engineering
    Emergency to Shields 1, Engineering Team 2 or Aux to Structural 1
    Lt Tactical
    Tactical Team 1, Beam Overload 2
    Ensign Science
    Tractor Beam 1

    Doffs, 1 Tractor Beam, 1 Gravimetric Scientist, 1 Systems Engineer, 2 Shield Distribution or 2 Projectile Weapons

    Weapons
    Fore, 1 or 2 DBB, 1 or 2 torpedo, your choice
    Aft, 3 turrets

    Equipment
    Borg Deflector, Borg Engine, Maco Shield, for max defense
    or
    Omega Deflector, Borg Engine, Omega Shield for max offense

    Consoles, you're good, though I guess you do need to add the Borg console somewhere.
  • thaerykthaeryk Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    i do have the borg console as my fourth science. i guess i forgot to list it.
  • eradicator84eradicator84 Member Posts: 1,116 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Regarding Boff heal abilities, the key is to "synergise" (is that a word?) and not double up.

    I'd alter your boffs to the following:
    It seem like you're going for a disable/hold kind of setup so I'll repect that

    TT1, BO2
    EPtS1, A2SIF1
    PH1, HE2, GW1, VM3
    ST1, TSS2, CPB2
    TB1

    Main reasoning:
    - TT1 to move shields to faces taking impacts, this should be constantly in use (I run with 2x purple conn officers to get cooldown down to 15s, so effectively running 2 copies for the price of 1)
    - As you should be popping TT1 all the time ET and ST are almost always out of commission during combat so you should use other heal abilities
    - EPtS, moderate heal and damage resist buff
    - A2SIF1, 15 second cooldown, decent heal compared to ET1 over 30secs with high aux level and moderate hull resist too
    - HE2 high hull heal + cleanse
    - TSS2 High shield heal plus resist buff
    - PH1 very high hull resist buff plus immunity to holds

    The idea being that you can fire off most/all heals/resists without causing cool downs on others so they're constantly in use.

    ST1 I'm not sure what to do with. It heals a huge amount but when popping TT1 all the time is always in cool down and only useful after the skirmish. It, like ET doesn't provide any resist buffs, which during battle are more useful imo.
    You could maybe drop HE2 down to HE1, replacing ST1 and put in a Lt level offensive Sci power, like scramble sensors (to match your high sensors speccing).

    When shields are depleted use PH1 and use A2SIF to start healing and add more hull resist buff, once cool down on HE is over use it and by then your shields should be coming back online.

    Console wise, drop one of the field gens and put in an emitter. It's like having an ocean you can only fill from empty one drop from a tap at a time, great while full, bad when needing to fill up.
    You're sci ship already has a high shield modifier benefit (effectively a free gen inbuilt!). An emitter or two will help fill the shields up faster from heals when in combat taking sustained damage.

    Any "performance" skill only spec to 6 points. the extra 3 only gets you ONE extra point of power, totally not worth it, spend them elsewhere like armor reinforcements, hull plating and structural integrity for survival. Spec into decompiler to buff VM3 and CPB2, and particle gens to give more damage to GW1 and CPB2

    If going the disable skills route, switch to phaser weapons to proc disables. If you skill into decompiler too, phaser disable proc times should also be buffed.

    Drop the engine for a borg one so you get the hull regen proc form the 2 piece set with borg console.
    AFMJGUR.jpg
  • dashuk2381dashuk2381 Member Posts: 230 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    For the STFs you may also want to consider adding armor consoles that give you resist to plasma damage, as those borg torpedo procs can do nasty things to science ships. I hardly notice them on my cruiser and I'll let a plasma fire burn itself out as it rarely even takes my hull to 98%, but on my science vessel I notice a dramatic amount of damage for it if I don't pop HE or another "cleansing" power right away. I swapped one of my neutroniums out for the armor that gives you(I think 20%) resist to plasma and it helpled immensely with my survivability. I normally keep a set of consoles in my inventory that I can swap out for PVE/STFs depending on the enemy group and damage type.
  • hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Forgive my apparent lack of knowledge on this subject, but what does VM3, TSS2, CPB2, and TB1 stand for? Oh, and I agree with the post two posts before mine, but also I agree with the one right before this one. Normally I also fly a cruiser, so plasma fires? Who cares. But one thing I do is take adv of the fact that EC Hull plating is cheap, and at the common mk XII gives you +35 plasma resist, which helps IMMENSELY against the borg, whether it's their torps, plasma fire, or plasma beam arrays. Also since you have what, 3 spots? I would say ECHP mk XII x2 and Monotanium Alloy mk XII x1, you can go with white/green for these, because in all honesty the blues and purples are ludicrously expensive and only give a small bonus over the whites and greens (which oddly enough give the same bonus and are often the same price on the exchange). That should help you not get brutally murdered by the borg.
    And yes, TT1 is a must have, since the borg love to use assimilate ship regardless of what kind of borg ship you are fighting, and TT1 removes any current assimilations and also stops any inc ones for the next 10 seconds, which will help reduce any SS attacks from occurring, unless you are already damaged, in which case the poster who said keep components around is very much correct.
    Lastly, I can see what you are doing, and placates like jam sensors and such will definitely save you from especially nasty borg ships like the raptors and the neg'vars (if they notice you). But overall, I think eradicator and regina pretty much covered it.
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
  • eradicator84eradicator84 Member Posts: 1,116 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Forgive my apparent lack of knowledge on this subject, but what does VM3, TSS2, CPB2, and TB1 stand for?

    VM3 = Viral Matrix 3
    TSS2 = Transfer Shield Strength 2
    CPB2 = Charged Particle Burst 2
    TB1 = Tractor Beam 1
    AFMJGUR.jpg
  • quiscustodietquiscustodiet Member Posts: 350
    edited August 2012
    Without re-doing your whole build, 2 quick things:
    - Tactical Team. It's not mandatory, but it really helps.
    - You've got no Hull heals whatsoever, unless I'm too tired to see straight. Kind of a big oversight, don't you think?
  • resoundingenvoyresoundingenvoy Member Posts: 439
    edited August 2012
    Two things will help you greatly live though the borg's 40K+ plasma torpedo. (Although hazard emitters will help with the after math or a shield drain.)

    1) Brace for impact. All torpedo do kinetic damage and plasma torpedo are no exception.

    2) If you can spot it in time? Photonic Shockwave will swat high yield torpedoes. (It swats mines just as well and paired with charged particle burst it does a number on fighters too.)
  • hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Two things will help you greatly live though the borg's 40K+ plasma torpedo. (Although hazard emitters will help with the after math or a shield drain.)

    1) Brace for impact. All torpedo do kinetic damage and plasma torpedo are no exception.

    2) If you can spot it in time? Photonic Shockwave will swat high yield torpedoes. (It swats mines just as well and paired with charged particle burst it does a number on fighters too.)

    I agree. As for the spotting it in time, those torps are hella slow, so seeing one is easy. Just make sure your shockwave is NOT on cd. As for BfI, that has saved my skin sooooo many times in squishier ships, so use it as much as you want, since the best part is that it has a relatively short cd.
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
  • hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    VM3 = Viral Matrix 3
    TSS2 = Transfer Shield Strength 2
    CPB2 = Charged Particle Burst 2
    TB1 = Tractor Beam 1

    Muchos Gracias =)
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
  • resoundingenvoyresoundingenvoy Member Posts: 439
    edited August 2012
    Gravity Well ,or if you must Tyken's Rift, may help you a great deal with a high-yield torpedo as well.

    Aside from their other abilities? Their ability to do a AoE Kinetic attack will eat torpedoes (or mine) as soon as they appear. GW will also eat fighters. Not so much with TR.

    Edit: TR will make the borg (or anyone) a little slower, softer, and not hit as hard.
  • eradicator84eradicator84 Member Posts: 1,116 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Tractor Repulsors are good at anti torp defence too. Plus you can use it as an offensive weapon of sorts. Big immovable bosses or something you can activate TBR3 and hit them for 1200-1500 hull damage per pulse (10 max) even with shields up.

    Or you can stick smaller enemies in a grav well, sit about 5km away activate TBR and have them be pushed out by TBR then suck back again by the grav well then pushed out again etc, get quite a good yoyo effect going all the while dealing kinetic damage :D
    AFMJGUR.jpg
  • simeion1simeion1 Member Posts: 898 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Just looking at some of your build I see you have nine point in attack patterns. Why? I don't see a skill that uses it. I would look at each skill you want to use and make sure you are using skills and powers that use them. I alway run two copies of emergency power to shield. Have one of them active and one on cool down doubles your natural shield heal. As long as you have at least six points spent into elcto-plasma. Also your shield and weapons profecency is two high. The last three point in those only net you 1 point in power bonus. Use those points into the two skills that grant resistance the names elude me right now. I recommend you to buy a respec token, but before you use it try it out on tribble. Transfer you toon and respec him on tribble to see how you like it. When you do this try to see if you can get away with only spending six points in a skill. I recently did this and found out I am mor well rounded.
    320x240.jpg
  • eurialoeurialo Member Posts: 667 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    actually I can't log in and see my build... this is what I remember:



    omega shield
    borg deflector
    borg engine
    borg console

    front weapons: 2x beam array (disruptor), 1x quantum torped
    rear weapons: 2x beam array (disruptor), 1x photon torpedo


    BOFF's ability:

    tact: torpedo spread 1, torpedo spread 2
    eng: EPtS 1, EPtS 2
    sci:
    polarize hull 1
    TSS1, scramble sensor 1, HE 3
    TSS1, TBR1, GW1, GW3


    My build is intented for a pure support ship (and pure support ship is absolutely not intended as useless ship... TBR and GW are enough to save stf miissions, but your ship can do much more)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Playing STO spamming FAW is like playing chess using always the computer's suggested moves
  • thaerykthaeryk Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    simeion1 wrote: »
    Just looking at some of your build I see you have nine point in attack patterns...

    It was because I came into this game blind and was playing solo for a majority of my leveling. I didn't understand the synergy between captain skills and abilities back then, but now that I've gotten a better grasp of how things work together, it's why I've come to the forum, for answers like yours, to tweak things to run better.

    With most games I play, I usually jump headlong into one class to learn everything, then realize I hate that playstyle and take what I've learned and apply it to another character with much more effectiveness. Since STO only allows one character per faction by default, I have had to adapt my playstyle for this character.
  • toivatoiva Member Posts: 3,276 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Regarding Boff heal abilities, the key is to "synergise" (is that a word?) and not double up.

    I'd alter your boffs to the following:
    It seem like you're going for a disable/hold kind of setup so I'll repect that

    TT1, BO2
    EPtS1, A2SIF1
    PH1, HE2, GW1, VM3
    ST1, TSS2, CPB2
    TB1

    Main reasoning:
    - TT1 to move shields to faces taking impacts, this should be constantly in use (I run with 2x purple conn officers to get cooldown down to 15s, so effectively running 2 copies for the price of 1)
    - As you should be popping TT1 all the time ET and ST are almost always out of commission during combat so you should use other heal abilities
    - EPtS, moderate heal and damage resist buff
    - A2SIF1, 15 second cooldown, decent heal compared to ET1 over 30secs with high aux level and moderate hull resist too
    - HE2 high hull heal + cleanse
    - TSS2 High shield heal plus resist buff
    - PH1 very high hull resist buff plus immunity to holds

    The idea being that you can fire off most/all heals/resists without causing cool downs on others so they're constantly in use.

    ST1 I'm not sure what to do with. It heals a huge amount but when popping TT1 all the time is always in cool down and only useful after the skirmish. It, like ET doesn't provide any resist buffs, which during battle are more useful imo.
    You could maybe drop HE2 down to HE1, replacing ST1 and put in a Lt level offensive Sci power, like scramble sensors (to match your high sensors speccing).

    When shields are depleted use PH1 and use A2SIF to start healing and add more hull resist buff, once cool down on HE is over use it and by then your shields should be coming back online.

    Console wise, drop one of the field gens and put in an emitter. It's like having an ocean you can only fill from empty one drop from a tap at a time, great while full, bad when needing to fill up.
    You're sci ship already has a high shield modifier benefit (effectively a free gen inbuilt!). An emitter or two will help fill the shields up faster from heals when in combat taking sustained damage.

    Any "performance" skill only spec to 6 points. the extra 3 only gets you ONE extra point of power, totally not worth it, spend them elsewhere like armor reinforcements, hull plating and structural integrity for survival. Spec into decompiler to buff VM3 and CPB2, and particle gens to give more damage to GW1 and CPB2

    If going the disable skills route, switch to phaser weapons to proc disables. If you skill into decompiler too, phaser disable proc times should also be buffed.

    Drop the engine for a borg one so you get the hull regen proc form the 2 piece set with borg console.
    If it's any worth, I agree with that. Great advice.

    Also, given your problem was survivability, the best equipment is then: Assimilated console + Assimilated subtranswarp engines and MACO deflector + MACO resilient shield.

    The first couple gives you "Autonomous regeneration sequencer" (if I'm not mistaken in the name), which gives you a really powerful hull heal (from parsing, I noticed it usually heals for more than any other heal I use, even when playing a healboat in a cruiser). The second couple gives you high HP resilient shields (half the bleedthrough) with the deflector adding both hull HP (not that it really matters, but still nice on fragile sci ships) and shield HP through Shield system skill.

    And I'd stress the importance of the Tac team, if possible supported by the right Conn officer doffs for the longest uptime. Don't forget that it also boosts damage you do, so you really want to have it active all the time, even if you don't have aggro.

    Last, consider switching your weapons from "broadsiding cruiser-like" to front oriented (Dual beam banks, maybe a torp, turrents in the back), given that many offensive sci abilities still necessitate 90 degree frontal arc. Not that this will help with survivability, just a general advice on faster sci ships.

    EDIT: Oh, and speaking of skill points distribution, the only thing I'll say is that it's generally better not to skill 9 points in anything unless you're sure you're gonna need that skill all the time, and even a small bonus matters.
    As to the exact categories to skill into, I'd rather not comment, since it heavily depends on what ships you intend to use in the future, what roles you want to play in the team...
    Personally, I tend to not specialise very much given I like to try different ship types on each character and can't afford to respec every time I change ship.
    TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class.
    Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
    Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.

    Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
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