I would attempt it without hesistation in a fight.
In lets say a Fleet K'Tinga if I noticed my team mate was being attacked and needed some shield heals and a ES to survive I would, assuming I am at full shiels and unattacked in the begining;
Pop a ES on him/her and follow it with a ST if needed.
<15 second CD starts on EPTS1>
Switch my power setting to a High Aux/High Shield setting, possibly pop a AuxBattery and keep my fingers ready to hit PH for the 15 second all damage resist + HE for the 15 second all damage resist + Aux to Structual for the 10 second all damage resist.
Ride out the 15 seconds of EPTS CD and if I gain attention from an unfriendly, call for support and make ready to move quick if need by through iether EVM, EngineBatt or a Duetburn.
If I did not need to use ST on my team mate then I can save TT and TSS for a quick shield buffing if I get noticed and attacked. In a pinch pop a Shield batt.
EPTS off CD, start rotating again. Keep same power setting. Only switch if team gets upper hand, otherwise keep a healing set-up.
If I'm running a DPS Cruiser then this is a moot point as I will not be using ES in the build.
Will it work, can it work? possibly. Like every change that has came and went, this one can be adapted to as well I feel.
Since the change has been hanged back, its alla moot point.
Now of course I await for the next change that gets everbodies knickers twisted.
Who knows IT may even bunch mine a little tighter.
Ummmm, dude, the fleet k'tinga only has two sci abilities available to it, so how are you gonna have science team, polarize hull, hazard emitters, and transfer shield strength? (listed in order that you mentioned them) The fact that you just gave your ship twice the science abilities it is capable of holding shows that you don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about.
And don't try to wiggle out of this with a, "Oh no, that's an either or!" Cause what you just gave was a single chain of events of how you would both heal and survive, not a "I could do this with this build, or I could do this with this build."
In lets say a Fleet K'Tinga if I noticed my team mate was being attacked and needed some shield heals and a ES to survive I would, assuming I am at full shiels and unattacked in the begining;
Pop a ES on him/her and follow it with a ST if needed.
<15 second CD starts on EPTS1>
Switch my power setting to a High Aux/High Shield setting, possibly pop a AuxBattery and keep my fingers ready to hit PH for the 15 second all damage resist + HE for the 15 second all damage resist + Aux to Structual for the 10 second all damage resist.
In this section alone, which is clearly a single chain of events, you have a sci team that you may or may not throw to your ally along with extend shields, then you also have polarize hull, and hazard emitters, which you intend to pair with auxiliary power to structural integrity to load up resists and ride out any damage that might come your way.
So, even if we were to pretend the second half of your post was proposing an alternate skill build, you still magically squeezed three science skills on your two science skill capable ship in the first half.
But if you actually have the magical ability to have all these skills... perhaps some tardis console that lets your two sci slots hold four sci skills, please share with the rest of the class how to accomplish this.
If I had to hazard a guess I'd say using the magical Universal station most of the fleet ships have
The Ktinga doesn't have any universal stations.
The Bortas is the only cruiser that could support all four sci sills he mentioned, the Fleet Negvar could pull off the first three. I wouldn't accept him coming back and saying he meant the Bortas, cause he specifically mentioned it was a FLEET ship, so that would narrow it to the Fleet Ktinga or the Fleet Nevgar, and it's hard to believe one would confuse one for the other. And the Fleet Negvar still couldn't support all four sci skills he mentioned so... all round, he has a magic Fleet Tardis Ktinga... that, or Tardis bridge officers. They're bigger on the inside and can stuff two skills into the slot of one.
Ummmm, dude, the fleet k'tinga only has two sci abilities available to it, so how are you gonna have science team, polarize hull, hazard emitters, and transfer shield strength? (listed in order that you mentioned them) The fact that you just gave your ship twice the science abilities it is capable of holding shows that you don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about.
And don't try to wiggle out of this with a, "Oh no, that's an either or!" Cause what you just gave was a single chain of events of how you would both heal and survive, not a "I could do this with this build, or I could do this with this build."
In this section alone, which is clearly a single chain of events, you have a sci team that you may or may not throw to your ally along with extend shields, then you also have polarize hull, and hazard emitters, which you intend to pair with auxiliary power to structural integrity to load up resists and ride out any damage that might come your way.
So, even if we were to pretend the second half of your post was proposing an alternate skill build, you still magically squeezed three science skills on your two science skill capable ship in the first half.
But if you actually have the magical ability to have all these skills... perhaps some tardis console that lets your two sci slots hold four sci skills, please share with the rest of the class how to accomplish this.
Targ it . your right. I wasn't thinking of the ship so much as the chain of events that I figured would be needed to offset the shield loss under use of ES on a teammate.
I am wrong. You are right.
rejoice and be exuberant.
I dont see this as a bad thing really what I see this as is an oppratunity to retool my builds to find something else that can work in the place of what has been the norm for so long
Major Xi'Zzin I.R.W. Raptor's Claw Storm Eagle Class WarbirdFleet Ha'feh I have never trusted humans, and I never will
I fly a tac oddy on my engineer, and through making use of the Chevron Separation module, I completely fix any mobility issues i have in a *real* pinch where I can sacrifice the defense capability. Otherwise, I have other speed/mobility boosts that more than get the job done.
Just last night I was in Ker'rat, and I don't know what exactly I was fighting, but I was locked in combat with some sort of Klingon escort for the entire duration that my fellow feds were getting the objectives done. In fact, the fight continued so long that we got warped into the refreshed zone, and continued from there. Eventually I got bored and flew away, because I couldn't kill him, nor could he kill me. I'm fully geared for PvE, not PvP, and I held my own. I don't know, maybe i'm just special or something, I don't see half the issues everybody talks about.
I fly a tac oddy on my engineer, and through making use of the Chevron Separation module, I completely fix any mobility issues i have in a *real* pinch where I can sacrifice the defense capability. Otherwise, I have other speed/mobility boosts that more than get the job done.
Just last night I was in Ker'rat, and I don't know what exactly I was fighting, but I was locked in combat with some sort of Klingon escort for the entire duration that my fellow feds were getting the objectives done. In fact, the fight continued so long that we got warped into the refreshed zone, and continued from there. Eventually I got bored and flew away, because I couldn't kill him, nor could he kill me. I'm fully geared for PvE, not PvP, and I held my own. I don't know, maybe i'm just special or something, I don't see half the issues everybody talks about.
i think, the thread is just named wrong, since most actually complain about certain cruisers, like the galaxy-x/r.
Those 2 cruisers are a "joke" if people insist to play them in an offensive role, which they clearly aren't meant to be.
Most other cruisers are far from being a "joke"...if they are not used outside of their design capabilities.
One thing i also find funny about this cruiser/escort debate is, that nobody is limited to one single ship, or ship class...but many make little use of it, myself included. This game is actually intended not to be played in a single ship or ship class all through the endgame.
I fly a tac oddy on my engineer, and through making use of the Chevron Separation module, I completely fix any mobility issues i have in a *real* pinch where I can sacrifice the defense capability. Otherwise, I have other speed/mobility boosts that more than get the job done.
Just last night I was in Ker'rat, and I don't know what exactly I was fighting, but I was locked in combat with some sort of Klingon escort for the entire duration that my fellow feds were getting the objectives done. In fact, the fight continued so long that we got warped into the refreshed zone, and continued from there. Eventually I got bored and flew away, because I couldn't kill him, nor could he kill me. I'm fully geared for PvE, not PvP, and I held my own. I don't know, maybe i'm just special or something, I don't see half the issues everybody talks about.
This is the issue many pvpers have. Escorts are pissed cause pve they blow through everything super quick, but crusiers are uber damage sinks. Cruisers are irritated because they can take sooooo much damage, but the supposedly "glass cannon" escort is barely tickled by their weapons. That and many cruisers hate that an escort can blow through enemies so quick while tanking just as well-ish as a cruiser, but a cruiser takes much longer to kill things with seemingly little benefit to being a "tank"
Some other gripes for cruisers is that the offensive abilities that engineers get are pretty lame. Most cruisers aren't agile/fast enough to really effectively use eject warp plasma, particularly not as a source of increased DPS, aceton beam, which doesn't seem to do anything, is difficult to aim, and causes you to pull out of your broadside to use it, and then go back into your broadside, which, with cruiser maneuverability is quite a process.
Directed energy modulation barely puts much more damage past shields so passive repair rates pretty much nullify any benefit it could have given, and boarding parties are useless as most everyone has back to back tac teams. Plus most cruisers have so few tac skills that they can't effectively use both torpedoes and beams, thus many have opted for all beams for the sake of optimization.
Cruisers just don't "feel" like they should, cruisers should be able to use beams effectively and fire impressive volleys of torpedoes.
I'd honestly rather see all the ships have more skills in each other's fields. It wasn't just big cruisers who could eject their warp plasma, so I don't really see why they've tried to make that a cruiser only ability. Cruisers weren't meh in combat without the ability to fire a volley of 5-6 torpedoes.Bbut with how they've made things, cruisers have low tac skills, so they can do a volley of what? 2-3?
I can completely sympathise with the Engineers but I've also come across some cruisers in the past where just don't seem to take damage what so ever. before I get shot, I know I'm not the best PvP'er nor am I the best PvE'er but I am pretty good at both. "not Kirk".
anyways I still fly my Long Range Science Vessel Retro completely nearly unchanged as I feel comfortable flying it the way it is. I have a LT Tac and an LT Eng, so on this character I run Engineering Team1 for the Hull heal and EPtS2 for the shield and for Tac I don't really use Tac Team because I would like to be able to have damage buffs.
if anything ES should be removed from the joined CD and RSP and EPtS should still be linked, I hate RSP as I don't see an equal skill for Science or Tac "any recomendations to an equal would be nice".
besides from that you're going to get your wish and get your skills back... wish I could get the old Photonic Shockwave back
She's got a point. But the thing with RSP that makes it fair is it's stupidly long CD. I believe it's on the order of 3 minutes or something like that. It's the "Oh #$%& I'm #$%&ed!" button. And I agree with baudl. If I didn't before, I certainly do now. Their is a lot of focus on cruisers that really aren't designed for offense, and on giving them that capability. But what I see now that I didn't see before, is what if you gave that same ability to offensive cruisers, like the AC, Regent, Tac Oddy etc. That would be... brutal... I have flown both the AC and Tac Oddy (too lazy/cheap to get a regent) and those two cruisers can put out some impressive DPS.
I have also flown the galaxy and star cruiser. Those ships... well let's just say I am not impressed with their damage ability, but instead was quite taken with their ability to just refuse to die. That is actually a problem I had with my AC, staying alive sometimes could be a challenge, something my SC never had issues with. Granted my tac oddy refuses to die and does a ton of damage, so I ain't complaining, but as I said, baudl is right, this thread should be renamed "Give Teeth to Cruisers that Weren't Designed for it".
I think I just threw up a little in the back of my mouth -.-
Reason being for above, what I am about to say:
If you want a cruiser that deals damage, get a cruiser that is designed to do it. Option 1: Get a KDF battlecruiser/Federation AC. Option 2: pay $25 and get the Regent and tear TRIBBLE apart that way. Option 3: pay $50 and buy the Oddy 3 pack, and then enjoy the insanity of a full AP tac oddy with saucer sep.
Option 1 is free. So I would recommend that one. Or you can take it a step further and get the Fleet Tor'Kaht Retrofit. And then kill everything. Anywhere. Period. For whatever reason you want. Option 2 is a mite expensive, but it's a good alternative to complaining, AND you get a 180 degree quantum torp, AND a ship with some very nice artwork/design. So I would still recommend that one. Option 3 is expensive. But by god is it worth it... (total oddy lover now). So I would say, get that one if money is no object. But if you have bills to pay, stick with 1 or 2. Or go for a week without food and enjoy your digital image. Cuz tbh, I have never had as much fun before in a cruiser as I do now with my Oddy.
Anyways, back on topic, the real joke is trying to use ALL cruisers to do damage. So sorry to say and completely derail my thread, but the jokes on us guys. We leaped before we looked, and now we get shafted by either refusing to change or not seeing a need to.
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.
Someone posted, many pages back, an idea regarding crew levels and damage, and was shot down. Rapidly.
I think he might have been onto something.
My thoughts:
-First, change the crew loss levels so they're not so extreme on high-crew ships and minuscule on low-crewed ones. A good torpedo hit should have more effect on the crew percentage of a small escort than on a big cruiser; however, make the chances of it happening at all lower.
-Second, rather than reducing damage with less crew, increase recharge times on weapons and boff abilities -- reaction time is a much more realistic way of handling crew loss than damage.
-Third, give science team a buff to crew recharge rate.
Such a simple thing could, I think, bring about a little more balance between the classes, whilst making the game feel a little bit less like "Kirk Online" and a little bit more like a team oriented game.
i like this, the only problem is on tanks where you are FORCED to cycle tac team so you can't use a sci team
You aren't forced to cycle tac team. It's just the most viable shield tanking method. You can usually get around that with a RSF + EPtS1/2 and some manual shield distribution. It will usually be enough for that 15 seconds before TT comes off cd after you hit a ST.
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.
i like this, the only problem is on tanks where you are FORCED to cycle tac team so you can't use a sci team
Cycling tac team would be less effective if you start losing crew. Entire point being that tanking becomes more than just a cycle of a few prime powers and more thought-oriented; and team play becomes necessary for escorts to keep their DPS at optimal levels.
Such a simple thing could, I think, bring about a little more balance between the classes, whilst making the game feel a little bit less like "Kirk Online" and a little bit more like a team oriented game.
I should point out not everyone wants a more teamwork focused game. I much prefer teh way it is now, no class or function is required. Everyone working together but no one needing to be performing anything specific.
Cycling tac team would be less effective if you start losing crew. Entire point being that tanking becomes more than just a cycle of a few prime powers and more thought-oriented; and team play becomes necessary for escorts to keep their DPS at optimal levels.
Then you would also have to tie damage into crew because I can have my escorts crew at 0 and have the same performance as the ship does with 100% crew. and when I say tie damage into crew I mean A LOT else escorts just wont notice or care
I should point out not everyone wants a more teamwork focused game. I much prefer teh way it is now, no class or function is required. Everyone working together but no one needing to be performing anything specific.
But that's not how it is now... right now its "Escorts online" (as so many have previously put it) it's the escorts that don't need anyone but EVERYONE NEEDS escorts. The way it is now is as follows (from personal exp):
Escorts: Easy mode (You can blow up anything you want in seconds and don't need to tank, if you die you can just re-spawn)
Cruisers: Medium (You can tank but not much else)
Science: Wait... Why are you playing this? (No power, no damage, not enough tank)
This is from a space perspective just to make that clear.
If you want "no class or function [...] required" then you want the devs to do this
I should point out not everyone wants a more teamwork focused game. I much prefer teh way it is now, no class or function is required. Everyone working together but no one needing to be performing anything specific.
No one would need to perform anything specific; your functionality would just be enhanced if they did; and would degrade if they didn't. Quite frankly, I only play as escorts and BoPs, because I love flying around like a crazy man -- but I can see that there really should be more of a team aspect. It *is* an MMORPG, after all, not an MSORPG.
Then you would also have to tie damage into crew because I can have my escorts crew at 0 and have the same performance as the ship does with 100% crew. and when I say tie damage into crew I mean A LOT else escorts just wont notice or care
Did you read my previous post? Crew loss would tie into cooldown, including weapon cooldown. This would reduce DPS if not dealt with, on *all* ships. Some ships would just have a harder time of dealing with it alone than others.
I always found it amusing that a torp hit on my AC killed upwards of 40 crew per torp, whereas on my FPE it only killed 5 or 10 tops (to say nothing of the meatgrinder it pulls on my oddy).
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.
Did you read my previous post? Crew loss would tie into cooldown, including weapon cooldown. This would reduce DPS if not dealt with, on *all* ships. Some ships would just have a harder time of dealing with it alone than others.
Ahh, my apologies, I didn't realise you were tying crew into hardware, I thought it would be the software aspect
But that's not how it is now... right now its "Escorts online" (as so many have previously put it) it's the escorts that don't need anyone but EVERYONE NEEDS escorts. The way it is now is as follows (from personal exp):
Escorts: Easy mode (You can blow up anything you want in seconds and don't need to tank, if you die you can just re-spawn)
Escorts, can't live with em, can't live without em.
Science: Wait... Why are you playing this? (No power, no damage, not enough tank)
Sci ship in the hands of someone knowledgeable can be a dangerous tool. They can't do a whole lot of raw, escort-like, burst DPS, though. I made a sci ship the other day (Wells). Works like a charm. But I take it into an Elite, or a Fleet Alert even, and you and your team immediately run the risk of not making the timer. That is a sad reality. So, I kinda had to go back to my Mobius again -- after which everything melted right in front of my dual heavy cannons again.
I really hate how this game is so DPS-only oriented: they never force you to fly an escort, of course: they just let you not make the clock without one, is all.
I really hate how this game is so DPS-only oriented: they never force you to fly an escort, of course: they just let you not make the clock without one, is all.
Thereby subtly forcing you into an escort... so subtly so that you never notice. It's only when you take a CMDR Excelsior into an STF and perform just as well as the RA version that you realise the huge gulf between the endgame classes. Whereas there is a huge jump from Captain escort to RA escort, you don't notice the jump from 1 Excel to the other... (if there is one)
Escorts, can't live with em, can't live without em.
bleh =P
Sci ship in the hands of someone knowledgeable can be a dangerous tool. They can't do a whole lot of raw, escort-like, burst DPS, though. I made a sci ship the other day (Wells). Works like a charm. But I take it into an Elite, or a Fleet Alert even, and you and your team immediately run the risk of not making the timer. That is a sad reality. So, I kinda had to go back to my Mobius again -- after which everything melted right in front of my dual heavy cannons again.
I really hate how this game is so DPS-only oriented: they never force you to fly an escort, of course: they just let you not make the clock without one, is all.
I dunno, tac oddy can do pretty well. I have mine set up for pure damage output with some survivability (kind of a must have courtesy of as you said, HUGE dps orientation), and she can pick up aggro and usually hold it pretty well. And if she loses it, I don't usually care too much, still doing 800-1000 per hit.
Besides, I have seen some crazy raw damage output from some science ships (ironically enough they were a team of 4 orb weavers and my AC XD). Tholian powa!!!! XP
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.
...
Well there goes one of my main methods of tanking cubes. GRATZ TO ALL YOU ******** that complained about tac team being OP. That was one of the few things that allowed cruisers to survive escort burst too! @#$%^*&&)*!!!!!!!
-.-
(I is not happy...)
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.
...
Well there goes one of my main methods of tanking cubes. GRATZ TO ALL YOU ******** that complained about tac team being OP. That was one of the few things that allowed cruisers to survive escort burst too! @#$%^*&&)*!!!!!!!
-.-
(I is not happy...)
My sentiments exactly! It only ruins *every* build I ever made.
Putting ES and RSP on same cooldown was one thing; but this is just frelled-up beyond belief!
Meh... well from a developer standpoint, in their efforts to promote "diversity" I suppose it was a little ridiculous that TT was the core of almost every tank/offensive build... So from a very very VERY far-fetched stand-point it makes sense.
But atm, it IS the core of most builds I have seen, so doing what they plan to do will probably TRIBBLE a lot of players. And this isn't limited to just escorts, but cruisers and sci too. This change will hurt the game hard...
As I stated in my post, we NEED the SR to survive in ESTFs, esp against tac cubes, and donatra. To say nothing of the gateways.
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.
Guys please! They're like politicians... they never give you a straight answer.
Even if they do take the shield dist. off it tanks need that so they'll either move it or creater a new skill for it and/or adjust manual dist. (we all know that's only good for countering cruisers)
They didnlt say they where going to unlink them, just that it was up for looking at. My guess is they'll move the re-distribute somwhere else thats less limiting in build options.
Comments
The Ktinga doesn't have any universal stations.
The Bortas is the only cruiser that could support all four sci sills he mentioned, the Fleet Negvar could pull off the first three. I wouldn't accept him coming back and saying he meant the Bortas, cause he specifically mentioned it was a FLEET ship, so that would narrow it to the Fleet Ktinga or the Fleet Nevgar, and it's hard to believe one would confuse one for the other. And the Fleet Negvar still couldn't support all four sci skills he mentioned so... all round, he has a magic Fleet Tardis Ktinga... that, or Tardis bridge officers. They're bigger on the inside and can stuff two skills into the slot of one.
Targ it . your right. I wasn't thinking of the ship so much as the chain of events that I figured would be needed to offset the shield loss under use of ES on a teammate.
I am wrong. You are right.
rejoice and be exuberant.
R.I.P
I.R.W. Raptor's Claw
Storm Eagle Class Warbird Fleet Ha'feh
I have never trusted humans, and I never will
Just last night I was in Ker'rat, and I don't know what exactly I was fighting, but I was locked in combat with some sort of Klingon escort for the entire duration that my fellow feds were getting the objectives done. In fact, the fight continued so long that we got warped into the refreshed zone, and continued from there. Eventually I got bored and flew away, because I couldn't kill him, nor could he kill me. I'm fully geared for PvE, not PvP, and I held my own. I don't know, maybe i'm just special or something, I don't see half the issues everybody talks about.
i think, the thread is just named wrong, since most actually complain about certain cruisers, like the galaxy-x/r.
Those 2 cruisers are a "joke" if people insist to play them in an offensive role, which they clearly aren't meant to be.
Most other cruisers are far from being a "joke"...if they are not used outside of their design capabilities.
One thing i also find funny about this cruiser/escort debate is, that nobody is limited to one single ship, or ship class...but many make little use of it, myself included. This game is actually intended not to be played in a single ship or ship class all through the endgame.
This is the issue many pvpers have. Escorts are pissed cause pve they blow through everything super quick, but crusiers are uber damage sinks. Cruisers are irritated because they can take sooooo much damage, but the supposedly "glass cannon" escort is barely tickled by their weapons. That and many cruisers hate that an escort can blow through enemies so quick while tanking just as well-ish as a cruiser, but a cruiser takes much longer to kill things with seemingly little benefit to being a "tank"
Some other gripes for cruisers is that the offensive abilities that engineers get are pretty lame. Most cruisers aren't agile/fast enough to really effectively use eject warp plasma, particularly not as a source of increased DPS, aceton beam, which doesn't seem to do anything, is difficult to aim, and causes you to pull out of your broadside to use it, and then go back into your broadside, which, with cruiser maneuverability is quite a process.
Directed energy modulation barely puts much more damage past shields so passive repair rates pretty much nullify any benefit it could have given, and boarding parties are useless as most everyone has back to back tac teams. Plus most cruisers have so few tac skills that they can't effectively use both torpedoes and beams, thus many have opted for all beams for the sake of optimization.
Cruisers just don't "feel" like they should, cruisers should be able to use beams effectively and fire impressive volleys of torpedoes.
I'd honestly rather see all the ships have more skills in each other's fields. It wasn't just big cruisers who could eject their warp plasma, so I don't really see why they've tried to make that a cruiser only ability. Cruisers weren't meh in combat without the ability to fire a volley of 5-6 torpedoes.Bbut with how they've made things, cruisers have low tac skills, so they can do a volley of what? 2-3?
I can completely sympathise with the Engineers but I've also come across some cruisers in the past where just don't seem to take damage what so ever. before I get shot, I know I'm not the best PvP'er nor am I the best PvE'er but I am pretty good at both. "not Kirk".
anyways I still fly my Long Range Science Vessel Retro completely nearly unchanged as I feel comfortable flying it the way it is. I have a LT Tac and an LT Eng, so on this character I run Engineering Team1 for the Hull heal and EPtS2 for the shield and for Tac I don't really use Tac Team because I would like to be able to have damage buffs.
if anything ES should be removed from the joined CD and RSP and EPtS should still be linked, I hate RSP as I don't see an equal skill for Science or Tac "any recomendations to an equal would be nice".
besides from that you're going to get your wish and get your skills back... wish I could get the old Photonic Shockwave back
RachelJ88
I have also flown the galaxy and star cruiser. Those ships... well let's just say I am not impressed with their damage ability, but instead was quite taken with their ability to just refuse to die. That is actually a problem I had with my AC, staying alive sometimes could be a challenge, something my SC never had issues with. Granted my tac oddy refuses to die and does a ton of damage, so I ain't complaining, but as I said, baudl is right, this thread should be renamed "Give Teeth to Cruisers that Weren't Designed for it".
I think I just threw up a little in the back of my mouth -.-
Reason being for above, what I am about to say:
If you want a cruiser that deals damage, get a cruiser that is designed to do it. Option 1: Get a KDF battlecruiser/Federation AC. Option 2: pay $25 and get the Regent and tear TRIBBLE apart that way. Option 3: pay $50 and buy the Oddy 3 pack, and then enjoy the insanity of a full AP tac oddy with saucer sep.
Option 1 is free. So I would recommend that one. Or you can take it a step further and get the Fleet Tor'Kaht Retrofit. And then kill everything. Anywhere. Period. For whatever reason you want. Option 2 is a mite expensive, but it's a good alternative to complaining, AND you get a 180 degree quantum torp, AND a ship with some very nice artwork/design. So I would still recommend that one. Option 3 is expensive. But by god is it worth it... (total oddy lover now). So I would say, get that one if money is no object. But if you have bills to pay, stick with 1 or 2. Or go for a week without food and enjoy your digital image. Cuz tbh, I have never had as much fun before in a cruiser as I do now with my Oddy.
Anyways, back on topic, the real joke is trying to use ALL cruisers to do damage. So sorry to say and completely derail my thread, but the jokes on us guys. We leaped before we looked, and now we get shafted by either refusing to change or not seeing a need to.
I think he might have been onto something.
My thoughts:
-First, change the crew loss levels so they're not so extreme on high-crew ships and minuscule on low-crewed ones. A good torpedo hit should have more effect on the crew percentage of a small escort than on a big cruiser; however, make the chances of it happening at all lower.
-Second, rather than reducing damage with less crew, increase recharge times on weapons and boff abilities -- reaction time is a much more realistic way of handling crew loss than damage.
-Third, give science team a buff to crew recharge rate.
Such a simple thing could, I think, bring about a little more balance between the classes, whilst making the game feel a little bit less like "Kirk Online" and a little bit more like a team oriented game.
You aren't forced to cycle tac team. It's just the most viable shield tanking method. You can usually get around that with a RSF + EPtS1/2 and some manual shield distribution. It will usually be enough for that 15 seconds before TT comes off cd after you hit a ST.
Cycling tac team would be less effective if you start losing crew. Entire point being that tanking becomes more than just a cycle of a few prime powers and more thought-oriented; and team play becomes necessary for escorts to keep their DPS at optimal levels.
I should point out not everyone wants a more teamwork focused game. I much prefer teh way it is now, no class or function is required. Everyone working together but no one needing to be performing anything specific.
Then you would also have to tie damage into crew because I can have my escorts crew at 0 and have the same performance as the ship does with 100% crew. and when I say tie damage into crew I mean A LOT else escorts just wont notice or care
But that's not how it is now... right now its "Escorts online" (as so many have previously put it) it's the escorts that don't need anyone but EVERYONE NEEDS escorts. The way it is now is as follows (from personal exp):
Escorts: Easy mode (You can blow up anything you want in seconds and don't need to tank, if you die you can just re-spawn)
Cruisers: Medium (You can tank but not much else)
Science: Wait... Why are you playing this? (No power, no damage, not enough tank)
This is from a space perspective just to make that clear.
If you want "no class or function [...] required" then you want the devs to do this
No one would need to perform anything specific; your functionality would just be enhanced if they did; and would degrade if they didn't. Quite frankly, I only play as escorts and BoPs, because I love flying around like a crazy man -- but I can see that there really should be more of a team aspect. It *is* an MMORPG, after all, not an MSORPG.
Did you read my previous post? Crew loss would tie into cooldown, including weapon cooldown. This would reduce DPS if not dealt with, on *all* ships. Some ships would just have a harder time of dealing with it alone than others.
Ahh, my apologies, I didn't realise you were tying crew into hardware, I thought it would be the software aspect
Escorts, can't live with em, can't live without em.
Sci ship in the hands of someone knowledgeable can be a dangerous tool. They can't do a whole lot of raw, escort-like, burst DPS, though. I made a sci ship the other day (Wells). Works like a charm. But I take it into an Elite, or a Fleet Alert even, and you and your team immediately run the risk of not making the timer. That is a sad reality.
I really hate how this game is so DPS-only oriented: they never force you to fly an escort, of course: they just let you not make the clock without one, is all.
Thereby subtly forcing you into an escort... so subtly so that you never notice. It's only when you take a CMDR Excelsior into an STF and perform just as well as the RA version that you realise the huge gulf between the endgame classes. Whereas there is a huge jump from Captain escort to RA escort, you don't notice the jump from 1 Excel to the other... (if there is one)
See this for evidence to my reasoning
I dunno, tac oddy can do pretty well. I have mine set up for pure damage output with some survivability (kind of a must have courtesy of as you said, HUGE dps orientation), and she can pick up aggro and usually hold it pretty well. And if she loses it, I don't usually care too much, still doing 800-1000 per hit.
Besides, I have seen some crazy raw damage output from some science ships (ironically enough they were a team of 4 orb weavers and my AC XD). Tholian powa!!!! XP
Decouple TT and Redistribution
Congratz on ruining the game!
Well there goes one of my main methods of tanking cubes. GRATZ TO ALL YOU ******** that complained about tac team being OP. That was one of the few things that allowed cruisers to survive escort burst too! @#$%^*&
-.-
(I is not happy...)
My sentiments exactly! It only ruins *every* build I ever made.
Putting ES and RSP on same cooldown was one thing; but this is just frelled-up beyond belief!
But atm, it IS the core of most builds I have seen, so doing what they plan to do will probably TRIBBLE a lot of players. And this isn't limited to just escorts, but cruisers and sci too. This change will hurt the game hard...
As I stated in my post, we NEED the SR to survive in ESTFs, esp against tac cubes, and donatra. To say nothing of the gateways.
Even if they do take the shield dist. off it tanks need that so they'll either move it or creater a new skill for it and/or adjust manual dist. (we all know that's only good for countering cruisers)