How to build a sci to make people throw stuff, 2.0

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

Table of contents. http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=5723991&postcount=2

Hi everyone, some of you that have been paying attention the last few months have probably seen one of my three Cruiser Threads in this section.

I also play Science off and on.

The first important question to ask about Science, is what is it exactly that Science does well and why.

Science's primary role is crowd control. Even in it's most aggressive setup sci ships are built around Zone Denial, Shutdowns, and Debuffs. How a sci ship accomplishes this varies ship to ship and build to build.

Before we break into how some of these work, I'm going to take a moment to explain what crowd control and the subsequent terms actually are.

Zone Denial: This one is fairly straight forward. Zone denial is setting up an area so that it is either more difficult for the enemy to be effective in, making it impossible for them to access. Usually this is done via damage dealing area of effect. Examples of this include, Gravity Well, Tractor Beam Repulsors, Warp Plasma.

Shutdowns, are abilities that prevent the use of another, or disable a subsystem. Examples include Target Subsystem, Viral Matrix, Plasmonic Leech. Some shutdowns are also Debuffs. Tractor Beam

Debuffs: simply put Debuffs inflict a negative status effect on your target. Or remove enemy buffs. Examples include, Attack Pattern Beta, SubNucleaonic Beam, Target Subsystems, Chroniton Proc, Warp Plasma.

Each of these has to be balanced to some degree to healing as well. Healing is often considered the secondary role of science captains. (mind Tac Scis are expected to do less of this than Engi sci, or Sci Sci captains)

Doffs, are also at times extremely critical with sci ships. While for Escorts, and Cruisers they make you simply more of what you already were, for a sci captain they can potentially completely redefine your build, and how it is executed in pvp.

Gear: Sci are like everything else, gear is of secondary importance to your competency, power selection, and specialization. However a few pieces of gear go quite a long way to helping you. 3 Borg is always a great standby. (as you'll see in future builds to come)

Power Settings, this one really depends on the sci methodology you are going for. Me? I'm a Full To Guns man myself. the more energy DPS your team is cranking out the better. There are also myriads of sci abilities that for damage dealing and zone denial aux isn't as important as it used to be on.

But most traditional sci run aux and shield power bias.

Powers to Avoid: Charged particle burst. Right now everyone and their brother (that didn't do a drunken spec...) has Power Insulators. This is giving them a 75 percent resist to all shield drain attacks.

Tachyon Beam. For above reason.

Energy Siphon. 1 the drain is pitiful at best as is the boost.

Boarding Party. Worthless ability, take it off your ship. It literally does almost nothing, thanks to Tac team, AOE fire and it being a very crappy power to start with.
Jam Sensors: Anything you could think to slot other than another trash power would be better than this. Heal will save you more than JS will.

EPTA2, 1 is just as good as 2 is. EPTW2, same deal as EPTA. (and only certain sci builds should even bother with either in the first place)
Mask energy Signature. This power is not worth a boff slot. It should be an option on every ship instead.

Scramble Sensors. It's mind numbingly easy to resist, it's easily cleared by one of the most common shield heals in the game, it does nothing to npcs (not even torps or mines!). It's just a stupid mechanic.

Jam Sensors, anything this does to save you a heal will do better.

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://home.comcast.net/~amicus/Skill%20Point%20Effects.htm

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

his post is going to be going over some quick and dirty ability tray layouts that I've found to be quite effective while in a cruiser.

Definition and term Row Through, in the context of this post Row Through, is a reference to the optimum speed and accuracy that you can rifle through your bridge officer skills without having to backtrack. Rowing Through, tremendously can affect your reaction times and ability to appropriately respond.

The first thing I want to mention is there isn't any one layout that will work for everyone every time. The biggest piece of advice I can give you (before showing you examples) is to find a configuration that can allow you to "row" through your powers quickly and effectively with minimal searching. Some people put their emergency powers right next to one another, or one above the other, same with Sci Teams etc. Some people (like myself) prefer a gap between Emergency powers, as the ability won't be needed till later and it sets up a clean visual way of showing which emergency power is which in terms of Priority.

Some people like putting their second emergency power system near the relevant bridge officer skills. (like EPTW1 next to FAW or Beam Overload, EPTA1 next to Transfer shield strength, or Hazard Emitters). As you can successively just roll from one ability to another.

Some people like all their emergency powers together.

The important thing is that you experiment, and practice with each layout you try until you find one that you can "row through" not only the fastest, but repeatedly Every Time. Anyone that's a veteran to pvp (regardless of game type.. FPS, MMO, RTS, Racing, Flight Sim etc) can tell you TRIBBLE can happen incredibly quickly so it's best to have your powers, and abilities straightened out to something that is as user friendly to you as possible.

The optimum Row Through time I have found is all of your abilities fired off or at least clicked in 4 seconds or less. This will make you more than fast enough to deal with whatever happens in live combat.

Spot reserved for screen shot of sci clickyness. http://postimage.org/image/64dbiqizp/full/ Tac Reconlayout.

Notice how my Row Throughs are set up for maximizing my crowd control time? This is because naturally this is where my priorities lay as a sci. Un aux dependent powers at least correlate based on #.

You get the idea though I think.
The important thing is, you lay your powers out in the order that you most often need them

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=mavstandardsci1_0
Alternate boff list.
Ditch the second TB1, for a second HE1. Remove the Hazards 2 for a TBR1.

Weapons: 2 Chroniton Torps front. Beam Array (phaser or tet), 2 Chroniton Torps Aft. 1 beam array.

Shield, Maco
Engine Borg
Deflector Borg
Consoles: Engineering. 2 SIF Generators
Sci: Field Generator, 3 Graviton Generators
Tac: Borg and Ablative.

This build, is the standard high aux high shield power no weapon power what so ever science vessel. It's good for healing, provides decent CC, in the way of Zone denial, aoe dps, and 2 movement debuffs in Tractor beam.

The Chroniton torps also provide debuffs, and the beam arrays are there to allow you to utilize your target sub systems, and a little burst dps.

This build really lost potency once charged particle burst went to TRIBBLE however. I posted this incase cryptic ever got it together and fixes it. That being said, the movement debuff abilities of this ship are still formidable, as it's healing potential. The Standard is really a sci captain, or eng captains specialty, given it's utter robustness and lack of real focus on damage. It has a place on an average team, but right now in my opinion it's a little lacking for high end work. Good to learn on though.

Doffs: 2 Purple development Lab scientists, 3 Systems Engineers (viral matrix doffs)

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

So other than the basic, fairly user friendly science ships what else works?

We will start some of the more advanced and tricky to fly builds with my Sci's Recon. Affectionately we call this ship Soccer Hax.

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=JesRecon_0

Cmdr: Tractor Beam Repulsors 3, Feedback Pulse 2, Transfer Shield Strength 2, Hazard Emitters

Lt Cmdr: Gravity Well 1/Transfer Shield strength3, ST2, Hazard Emitters1 /Tractor Beam1.

Lt Tac: Tac Team, Torp Spread2

Ens Tac Torp Spread1

Lt Eng: EPTS1 EPTS2

Deflector Borg
Engine Borg
Shield, Maco

Power Settings. Primary, 100 to weapons, 25 to shields, 25 engines, 50 to Aux.
Secondary, 25 weapons, 75 Shields, 25 engines, 75 Aux.

Weapons 5 Beam arrays and one forward chroniton Torpedo. Polarized Tetryons.

Consoles: Engineering. Plasma distribution manifold (soon to be swapped for an RCS) Borg

Science: Field Generator, 3 Graviton Generators/3 Particle Generators.

Tactical : 3 tetryon pulse generators.

Doffs: 2 purple development lab doffs, 2 blue shield distribution officers. 1 gravity well doff/warp core engineer (purple ideally.. right now it's green due to a lack of funds presently)

Devices: Aux batteries, Subspace field modulator, Engine Batteries.

This ships primary role is zone denial, and repels. With TBR3 fully auxed and with 3 consoles, I have a +30 repel per pulse. Which against ships not specced for dealing with it means they can be pushed 8 km per pulse. This has a host of uses, from knocking people out of extend range/heal ranges, to simply neutering Alpha Strikes by TRIBBLE up their facing of the target. It also is capable of movement debuffs with tractor beam and chroniton shots. (to say nothing of the usual target subsystem attacks all sci have) Gravity well, makes a mess out of fighter spam, and is capable of sucking carriers in and keeping them there.

Weaknesses, it doesn't have ablative so you have to eyeball incoming damage and be more aware of incoming alpha strikes. You have to either sub nuc them off, or use your FPB2 when they start shooting you. Damage reflection varies depending on how many particle generator consoles you have equipped, and your aux setting at the moment you first press fpb.

It can provide good supplemental dps to down shield facings with (I also recommend having weapon batteries in your inventory to swap out with your field modulator as necessary).

As this ship is using TBR3 you have to be on the same page in my opinion with your teams Escort pilots. Once you get a target isolated, generally speaking they can work him over and send him to the Respawn point in short order. But they have to know your TBR runs are coming

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=fedzeromod1_0

There are ships that do what the DSSV does a little better in my opinion (Nebula, Dkyr for examples). But this should be a solid start for you.

This will do better healing, more crowd control and better general output in pvp. I also recommend, having GW3 in still on a second boff (maybe your Ltcmdr) so you can switch it up for STFs. The DSSV turns abit like a boat, so the 90 degree skills aren't as useful there as 360 degree skills tend to be.

Also, keep tac Team and APB or attack pattern Delta on a second tac boff for when you go into pvp.

For Doffs I would go with 2 purple dev labs, 3 Shield Distribution doffs of the best quality you can manage.

FBP gives you a second deterrent to people shooting you. (RSP gives you another in the form of a massive shield heal)

Consoles: Go with 2 SIF Generators, and put your Borg in the 3rd.
Sci: Field Generator, 3 Particle Generators you can also swap this for Shield Emitters consoles if you are finding yourself doing more healing than anything else.
Tac: 2 energy consoles.

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=ThunderRecon_0 Title should read Ageirr

This is the most effective/second most effective Tac Recon I've rolled thus far. It does Ludicrous Damage, it's got great lock down potential, and it's fast. Did I mention it does TRIBBLE Amounts of Damage?

Deflector: Borg
ENgine: Borg
Shield: Maco

Weapons. This is the first time you'll see a real break in the mold for weaponry in this thread. I run (or rather soon will.) with 3 Dual Beam Banks, and 3 Turrets. Why? Simply put the Recon with a tac is Agile. Very Agile. The DBBs pretty much gaurantee that I'll be firing off overloads only on DBBs, they do good forward bite, (which if you look at my skill layout it works best when I'm hitting targets infront of me anyway) and make it very easy to think about lining up TBR push runs.

Power Settings 100 weapons /50 shields/ 25 engine /25 aux
Setting 2 100 weapons /25 shields /25 engine /50 aux
setting 3 /25 weapons /75 shields /25 engines /75 aux (Defense)

Consoles: Engineering Borg, RCS/Diburnium Armor
Science: Field Generator, 3 Particle Generators
Tactical 3 Tetryon Pulse Generators.

Doffs: 3 Systems Engineers (gives my Viral Matrix 3 chances for shut downs). 2 Shield Distribution Officers. Alternate (when running GW) Aftershock doff(name in a sec), 3 Shield Distribution officers, Warp Core Engineer.

Cmdr: FBP3, Tractor Beam Repulsors2, Transfer Shield Strength2, Polarize Hull
Alternate. TBR3 FBP2, TSS2, PH

Lt Cmdr: Viral Matrix 1/Gravity well 1, Transfer Shield Strength2, Tractor Beam1

Alternate: Grav well 1, Hazard Emitters 2, Tractor Beam

Lt Eng: EPTS1 EPTS2

Lt Tac. Tac Team. Beam overload2/Attack Pattern Beta1
Ens: Tac Team

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=pryosci_0 Spec.
Do you have an unhealthy fascination with setting things on fire? Who doesn't right? As pvpers we produce more flames, and explosions than a Michael Bay movie in one single match. We like it like this of course. But what if you are having a hair of issue in terms of overall...burning in your sci?

Well this ship might just be for you. This seems on the surface like any run of the mill sci ship, and boff wise it is. What differentiates it though is the stuff in the torpedo tubes, and what comes out the back of the ship. Plasma. Lots and lots of hawt sexy burning stuff. Plasma burns, overtime can accumulate very quickly because they stack, and not only this they are also tac boostable.

with 3 purple torp doffs you will be firing these out at a machine gun pace as well. (infact it's quite likely you'll have more torps than firing angle even in the intrepid and recon)

In the tests, I found that they can put on a decent sustained pressure. This boff layout with it should provide more pressure and system shutdowns.

Deflector :Borg
Engine: Borg
Shield: Maco

Weapons Phaser Beam array (of course) 2 Plasma Torpedoes
Aft, 3 Plasma Mine Launchers.

Doffs. 2 purple torpedo officers, 2 Systems Engineers, 1 Aftershock

Power levels. 25 weapons, 50 Shields, 50 Engines, 75 Aux.

Cmdr: Viral Matrix 3, Sci Team 3/TSS3, TSS2, Tractor Beam1 Alternate: Vm3, TBR2, ST2, TSS1
Lt Cmdr: Grav Well 1, HE2, HE1/Polarize hull1
Lt Tac, Tac Team, Attack Pattern Delta1
Lt Eng. EPTS1 and 2
Ens Sci, Tractor Beam1

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

This ship is built around being a good Break In ship for guys used to flying Cruisers. It's very user friendly for engineer captains, or sci captains who are used to the cruiser experience. Which makes the nebula a very good choice for those players. It can also be built a great deal more aggressively but I will cover those builds in a subsequent post.

The Spec: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=HealbotNeb_0

Deflector: Borg
Engine: Borg
Shield: Maco

Weapons. I recommend either 3 photon torps, or 2 Chroniton, or 2 plasma torps. Depending on the doffs you want to go with. preferably Acc CrtHX2s in any case.

Aft: 2 Chroniton Mine launchers, 1 beam array energy type anything but plasma or antiproton.

Power Levels: /25 weapons /75 shields /25 engine /75 aux.

The Skills: Cmdr Sci. Grav well 3/PSW3, Sci Team 3, Transfer Shield Strength2, Hazard 1
Lt Cmdr: ASIF2, EPTS2, EPTS1
Lt Tac: Tac Team, Attack Pattern Delta1
Ens Sci: Tractor Beam
Lt Universal: EPTA1 (emergency power to aux 1), Extend Shields 1. Alternate: Sci, Tractor Beam1, Transfer Shield strength2

Consoles:
Engineering: 2 SIF Generators, Neutronium Armor
Science: 2 Field Generators, 2 Graviton Generators, or 2 Emitter Array Consoles. (boosts your shield healing by ridiculous levels)
Tactical: Borg, and Torp Console of your choice.

Doffs: There are a couple of different doff layouts for this thing. 2 Purple Dev Lab scientists go in all of them to get ST3 into it's global. (can also use 2 greens and a blue for this, or 2 blues to get you started if you want 3 other doff slots) Next up, is the aftershock GW doff if you decide to use grav well 3. After that 2 Shield Distribution officers (as good as you can get)

Doff #2. 2 Purple Dev lab scientists, 1 shield distribution doff, 2 Purple Torpedo Doffs.
Doffy 3 2 purple dev labs, 3 purple torpedo officers.

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=OldSciBird_0 The spec.

Ship: Heghta heavy raider.

Shields: KHG or Resilient Cap3s Note: MK12 Res Cap2s make a decent stand in till you get your KHGs if you're too new for Res Cap3s. (they aren't in vendors anymore)
Deflector: Borg
Engine: Borg

Weapons : 4 Dual Heavy Cannons 2 Turrets.
or 4 Dual Heavy Cannons 2 aft chroniton launchers.

Power Settings. 100 Weapons 25 shields, 25 engine, 50 aux. (preset 1)
Preset 2, 100 Weapons 50 shields, 25, 25
Preset 3, 100, 35 shields, 25 engine, 35 aux
Preset 4 25 weapons, 75 shields, 25 engines, 75 aux.

Devices: Aux batteries, Engine Batteries. (with optional. Shield Battery, Subspace field mod)

Cmdr: Grav well 3, Viral Matrix 1, Transfer Shield strength 2 Polarize Hull1
Lt Cmdr, EPTS1, RSP1, Eject warp plasma 1
Lt Tac Tac Team1 Cannon Rapid Fire1
Lt tac Tac Team 1 Cannon Scatter volley1

Consoles: 2 Neutronium Armors 1 Borg
2 Particle Generators, 1 Field Generator. (balance) Offense 3 Particle Gens, or 3 Graviton Consoles, Defense 1 Graviton or particle gen, 2 Field Generators.
3 Energy Consoles.

Doffs: I recommend the after shock doff, the matter anti matter specialist, and 3 shield distribution officers on one setup. For another more setup incase the GW and plas start to fail, 3 Systems Engineers (viral matrix) 2 shield distribution officers.

3rd loadout. Matter Anti Matter, Aftershock, 2 Systems Engineers, 1 Shield Distribution officer.

This particular Sci bird is built to set up massive zone control with shut down capability. Like all smart bops it's made to hit and get out ASAP should the attack fail. RSP is really only there to help you escape. It's not there to help you sustain a fight. The two cannon skills similarly are there for options. CSV gives you spam clearing options (always good in modern STO!), while CRF gives you more burst options.

Grav well and warp plasma are utterly devastating when combined together and the bop is more than fast enough to utilize this setup. Couple these with VM and Sub Nuc and you have a ship that probably can, and will make people at some point throw something, probably something heavy across the room in anguish.

Get 2 of these Birds together and things get utterly hilarious, very quickly.

This is a relatively old sci bird, with an addition of VM and doffs but it still works incredibly well when positioned and used correctly. It also is one of the few bop layouts that is not 100 percent duplicate's by federation starships (at present) It is also one of the last vestiges the Bug has not completely replaced.

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=FatWizarddidit_0

Ship: Nebula.
Engine: Borg
Deflector :Borg
Shield, Maco.

Weapons: 3 trans torps, aft, 2 chron mines, and a beam array.

Consoles: 2 SIF gens, 1 Ablative armor.
2 Field Generators, 2 Graviton Generators
2 Transphasic consoles.

Power settings, 25 weapons, 50 shields, 50 engine, 75 aux.
Alternate : 75 weapons, 50 shields, 25 engines, 50 aux.

Cmdr, Scramble 3, GW1, TSS2, HE1. Alternate: Scramble 3, TBR2, TSS2 HE1
Lt Cmdr, Warp Plasma 1, EPTS2, EPTS1 Alternate : EPTS3, Extendshield 1 EPTS1
Lt Uni PH1, ST2
Lt Tac: Tac Team 1, APD1
Ens. Tractor beam

Doffs: Aftershock, Matteranti matter, 2 purple dev lab scientists, 1 purp shield distribution doff.
Alternate: Warp Core Engineer, 2 purple dev labs, 2 Shield Distribution doffs.

This ship is considerably more aggressive than the last nebula posting I made. As it is not really a DPS ship you want as strong of holding power as you can use safely, so gravitons are the way to go. Countermeasure consoles also make a good secondary set too as it raises your scramble duration. Scramble is pretty good for dealing with carrier pets, as well as slowing down healing for a little bit. GW1 gives a good slow for dealing with carriers, and TBR as an alternate can be used against more faster moving targets, and bust up fedballs.

It's capable of supplement heals still as well. The only thing it does not do well is burst damage. New transphasic torps are capable of dealing some good damage for non tacs, but the ship is ponderous. They are there mostly to put pressure on once the sub nuke drops.

Engies can change the torps out for Beams (and all you have to do is shift your spec out of torps into Energy), and change the power settings abit to get max weapon power.

Tacs really don't belong in nebulas.

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

This is another sci bird of prey. This one's focus however is to be a vampire. It has two suites of options here, or rather three, once the nasty drains hit the field.

After some retesting of Tykens recently, they appear to have finally fixed it. At least if you are decked to the 9s with it anyway and are using mark 3. (TR3 still seems only about where 2 was before all the skill tree changes, but that's still a fairly usable skill when used enmasse)
Like my previous Sci Bird this one is meant to be paired with a duplicate of her capabilities.

Gear: Weapons Polaron Acc 2 CrtH, Dual Heavy Cannons X4, Attack pattern B change out a DHC for a Beam Array. 2 Polaron Turrets Acc2 CrtH
Engine: Borg
Deflector: Borg
Shield: KHG, MK12 Resilient Cap2. Or Mk X Res Cap3 if you still have one.

Consoles: Engineering Barrier Field Generator, Aceton Assimilator, Neutronium Armor
Science : 2 Field Generators, 1 Borg
Tactical : 3 Polaron Consoles.

Doffs: Gravimetric Scientist (Tykens), 2 Systems Engineers, 1 Purple Shield distribution officer.

Power Settings: 100 Weapons, 25 shields, 25 engine, 50 aux. 50 weapons, 25 shield, 25 engine, 100 Aux. (cloak, and decloak starter setting unless you want to eat a battery for aux) Run Away, 25 weapon, 75 Shields, 75 Engines, 25 aux.

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Vampirebop_0

There are three primary attack configurations for this ship. Each change the Lt Cmdr Boff slot at minimum. I will list them and their relevant configurations as A B and C.

Cmdr: Tykens Rift 3, Viral Matrix 1, Transfer Shield Strength2, Polarize hull.
Lt Cmdr A: Photonic Shockwave1, Hazard Emitter 2, Tractor Beam1
Lt Tac: A: Tac Team, Cannon Scatter Volley.
Lt Eng A: Emergency Power to Shields 1, Reverse Shield Polarity 1

LtCmdr B: Tac Team, Cannon Scattery Volley1, Target Engines 2 with Target Shields 2 on an alt tac boff.
Lt Eng B: EPTS1 RSP1
Lt Uni B: Tac Team1, Cannon Rapid Fire1

Lt Cmdr C: EPTS 1, RSP1, Eject Warp Plasma 1
Lt C: Tac Team, Cannon Scatter Volley1
Lt C: Tac Team CSV1

The Barrier field replaces the busted leech, and provides the ability to segregate ships on the opposing team from each other. This gives you another soft counter to extend shields, and will slow down healing tremendously from your opposition, when properly deployed especially with a second field on the well field. The assimilators, even though they no longer stack like they once did and their drain is greatly reduced, gives you a static 5 power loss or so on the field to assist in tyken and polaron Drains.

This bird is mean to hit and run once things get hot and heavy like the last sci bird and set the battlefield for total destruction of the opposition

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

This is a Tactical or Sci Officer's ship. The LT Cmdr slot compliments those two classes nicely. For Tacs this gives you access to BO3, 2 and say... Tac Team. For Sci this gives you, Tac Team, FAW1 and 2.

The Karfi, is a damage focused carrier in my book. It's not the best healer by any means, and it's kind of squishy. However you do have options to get some decent longevity out of this thing and I'll go over them as completely as I can.

We are going to cover the Tac Karfi first.
Weapons, The Karfi is just a hair too slow to go with a Dual Beam bank setup, so I recommend the usual standard 6 beam arrays, with one mine launcher in the aft. That mine launcher should of course be spitting out chronitons. Preferred Properties, AccX2 CrtH and or AccX3

Deflector, Borg
Engine, Borg
Shield, KHG, or Borg.

Power Settings, 100 to Weapons, 50 to Shields, 25 to everything else.
Alternate #1, 100 to weapons, 30 to shields, 25 engines, 35 Aux.
Alt #2, 50 Weapons, 25 shields, 25 engine, 100 aux
alt #3, 25 weapons, 100 shields, 25 engines, 50 aux

Devices, Shield Battery, Aux Battery, Subspace Field Modulator.
Cmdr slot,
Viral Matrix 3, this skill provides a 10 second shut down to multiple subsystems and is one of the few good sci powers left in the game. Transfer Shield Strength 3, Hazard Emitters 2, Tractor Beam
Lt Cmdr, Tac Team, Beam Overload 2, Beam Overload 3.
Lt Tac, Tac Team 1, Dispersal pattern Alpha 1 why alpha and not beta? More mine clusters, means they will seek 2 targets to TRIBBLE on instead of one.
Ens Sci, Polarize Hull 1 you need this.. both as a hull resist, and as a way to break tractors.
Lt Engineer, Emergency Power to Shields 1 and 2.

Hangars, for full on **** Move status, go with the double siphon pods. You'll be the life of every party. If you want to just go for raw murderous potential Advanced Skulls. They give you free torp strikes vs nekkid hull and as a tac you'll get plenty of those opps with BO2 and 3 slamming home every chance you get.

This layout is fairly standardized and capable of giving good non aux dependent shut downs, and decent shield tanking potential, with a nice hull heal thrown in to ice the cake.

Abit more of a risky but possibly higher payoff version of this ship before I move to the sci.
Cmdr, Photonic Shockwave 3, or Tractor Beam Repulsors 3. Why? with full tac buffs applying to these powers you can be absolutely Murderous. Can we say routine 22k strikes with PSW3 vs a non shield facing target? Or a stream of 10 -20k crits from TBR3 when TBR3 starts rolling crits? Both are also good for disrupting healing cycles as PSW knocks off extend shields, and TBR can potentially push either your target, or the healer out of reach... so you and your bop buddies can get all rapey, if you cooridinate and learn to aim your TBR3s.
If running PSW3, TBR2.. while TBR2s damage isn't as substantial as TBR3s, it's still good for pushin and spam clearing, Transfer Shield Strength 2, and Hazard one fill out the sci slots here. The rest of the boffs are unchanged.

Sci, Karfis, are more healing and control focused than their murderous tac counter parts. Here's the sci karfi I've found works best.

Weapons, 6 beams, and 1 chroniton torp launcher
Deflector Engines and Shield see above.

Power settings same as the tac

Boffs,
Cmdr, Viral Matrix 3, Photonic Officer 3, or PSW3, Sci Team 3, Transfer Shield Strength 2, Hazard 1
Lt Cmdr, Tac Team, FAW2, FAW3 (that's Fire At will for those of you that don't know that yet)
Lt Tac, Torp Spread 1 and 2. Alt loadout, Torpspread1, Attack Pattern Beta1/Delta1
Lt Eng, EPTS1 and 2
Ens Sci, Tractor beam.

Hangars, Siphon Pods or Frigates.

Doffs, the Sci Team cool down reduction doffs. Get your ST3s as close to global as possible, Brace For Impact (shield distribution) doffs, and then a Warp Core Engineer.

The Sci Karfi is more reliant on debuffs, as by nature sci captains lack the necessary burst buffing powers to make the relatively few tac slots worth it. (as again the Karfi is just a hair too slow for Cannon and DBB use.) It can also provide abit more healing to it's team mates as the sci captain has access to dampening field -and- sci fleet to help keep himself alive during focus periods, as well as team mates. (these also buff your pets by the way) As a controller a Sci Karfi is absolutely obnoxious to play against when handled well. Hair pulling Obnoxious and to make it worse, it can often full heal it's allies shields making the small inroads against their enemies for nothing.

Consoles I saved to the end as they are identical for both ships.
1 Ablative armor, 1 Borg
3 Field Generators, and 1 particle generator, or 3 Particle Generators 1 Field generator
3 Energy Consoles

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Tacorb2_0

The OrbWeaver like all sci ships, for tac captains has lost abit of it's luster. (due to the nerf of PSW3) It does however have the option to mount Overloads and TBR3. Giving it some bite, that it needs fairly direly. This is basically on the other end of a TacXcelsior setup, where you set the ship up to do damage in waves and in concert with stuff like TBR3.

There is another orb setup that I'll cover later for tacs that is considerably more expensive to build. Consider this the cheapbook version.

Weapons: 3 DBBs, 3 Turrets. Acc2 CrtH. Turrets, CrthX2 Acc. Disruptors.

Deflector: Borg
Engine: Omega
Shield: Omega

Consoles: 2 Ablative Armor, 1 Borg
2 Field Generators, 2 Particle Generators
3 Energy Consoles.

Cmdr: TBR3, FBP2, TSS2, TSS1
Lt Cmdr Eng: EPTS1, EPTS2 EWP1
Lt Cmdr Uni: TT, BO2, BO3. (note due to the use of alot of non tac damaging abilities you can also swap this out for an APO, especially in danube infested matches)
Ens Tac TT
Ens Sci Polarize Hull1

Power settings: 100 to guns, 50 to shields, 25, 25. Secondary, 75 Weapons, 25, shields, 25 engines, 75 Aux.
Defensive #1, 25 weapons 75 shields, 25 engine, 75 aux.

Doffs: Tractor beam officer (TBR doff it lowers engine power of the targets getting nailed by TBR), 2 Shield Distribution officers, 2 Conn officers (Evasive Maneuvers)

It's a decent Crank Monster, with the Best Hits of a cruiser, sci ship, and higher spike potential than the average of both.

havam · September 2012

wouldn't the control boat nebbie (especially with Torps) be better suited for the D'kyr, plus you get some free HE from the shuttle and have a better turnrate.

Given the BO layout, i m not sure if any build that uses Lt Uni as Sci on the nebula, isn't better off in the D'kyr

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

havam wrote: »

wouldn't the control boat nebbie (especially with Torps) be better suited for the D'kyr, plus you get some free HE from the shuttle and have a better turnrate.

Given the BO layout, i m not sure if any build that uses Lt Uni as Sci on the nebula, isn't better off in the D'kyr

It would, but the Dkyr also has a couple options the Nebby doesn't. which is why the Dykr is getting it's own post later. More people own Nebs than Dykrs which is why the nebs got posted first.

webdeath · September 2012

My Article for this thread has been completed for End Gamer Magazine. You can view it here. http://www.end-gamers.com/need-help-with-science-ships-in-star-trek-online/

And I'd like to thank Mavairo, the creator of this thread, and everyone else who contributes to it, for all the help you guys bring to people. You guys rock!

teleon22 · September 2012

webdeath wrote: »

My Article for this thread has been completed for End Gamer Magazine. You can view it here. http://www.end-gamers.com/need-help-with-science-ships-in-star-trek-online/

And I'd like to thank Mavairo, the creator of this thread, and everyone else who contributes to it, for all the help you guys bring to people. You guys rock!

Nice interview. I enjoyed it.

I'd actually like some of Mavairo's advice on an un-conventional build i'm working on... heheh.

dontdrunkimshoot · September 2012

cool! more informative interview then you will get from a dev lol

webdeath · September 2012

dontdrunkimshoot wrote: »

cool! more informative interview then you will get from a dev lol

lol I'm just glad it was enjoyable.

bobtheyak · September 2012

Jeebus, Mav. TL;DR

webdeath · September 2012

bobtheyak wrote: »

Jeebus, Mav. TL;DR

I'll take full responsibilty for the length of the article and that statement. :P

webdeath · September 2012

ghostyandfrosty wrote: »

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Tacorb2_0

This seems a WIIITLE out of date... dont' you think?

matteo716maikai · September 2012

timeships.

ghostyandfrosty · September 2012

webdeath wrote: »

This seems a WIIITLE out of date... dont' you think?

It's only a little!

I'll fix it here shortly. The skill spec is still good though :P

Also Coming Attractions:

Stupid Time Ship.

corsair114 · October 2012

ghostyandfrosty wrote: »

It's only a little!

I'll fix it here shortly. The skill spec is still good though :P

Also Coming Attractions:

Stupid Time Ship.

[random pestering]

It's not stupid, it's advanced!

[/random pestering]

ghostyandfrosty · October 2012

Advanced alright.... mmhm

I don't think I should make the build post, as long as I've got this cold medicine in my system.:eek:

thishorizon · October 2012

ghostyandfrosty wrote: »

Advanced alright.... mmhm

I don't think I should make the build post, as long as I've got this cold medicine in my system.:eek:

mav.

3 shots. my doctor said......

he said it might kill me, but you can take 3 shots on some nightquill or whatever. its on the box. lol.

its deadly, kills the liver. so dont do it.

but you can. its physically available to those with the means

ghostyandfrosty · October 2012

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Mavsciorb1_0

This Orbweaver is built just for sci captains.

Weapons: 1 Chroniton Torpedo Launcher, Acc2, CrtH, 2 Tholian Torpedoes, 1 Cloaking Tractor Mine, 2 aft Beam Arrays. Polaron. acc2, crth

Deflector: Borg
Engine: Borg
Shield Maco.

Consoles: 1 Ablative Armor. 1 Borg Console. 1 Isometric Charge,
2 Field Generators, 2 Graviton Generators.
3 Warhead chambers.

Cmdr: TBR3, FBP2, TSS2, HE1
Lt Cmdr. TT, Torp Spread2, APO1 Alternate: Tractor Beam1, Sci Team2, Sci team 3
Lt Cmdr: EPTS1, EPTS2, Warp Plas1
ENs Tac. TT
Ens Sci; Polarize Hull1

Alternate: Tykens Rift3, Viral Matrix 1, TSS2, Polarize Hull1
TT, Torp Spread2, Torp Spread3
Lt Cmdr: EPTS1, EPTS2, Warp Plas1
Ens TT
Ens Sci, Hazard1

Power Settings: 25 weapons, 75 shields, 25 engine, 75 Aux. Secondary, 25 weapons, 25 shields, 75 Engines, 75 Aux.

Doffs: 2 Shield Distribution Officers, 1 Gravimetric Scientist (for Tykens), 2 Systems Engineers.
(If no Tykens) 2 SDOs, 1 Tractor Beam Officer, 2 Torpedo Officers.

This ship is a flying debuff platform.

How to build a sci to make people throw stuff, 2.0

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