Death By Nebula

andoriansrus

Ship: Fleet Advanced Research Vessel Retrofit (hereafter referred to as an Advanced Cruiser)

NCC 93109 U.S.S. Baton Rouge

Part I

Forward weapons:

2x Advanced Fleet Polaron Dual Beam Bank Mk XII [Dmg]x3 [Acc]

1x Advanced Fleet Quantum Torpedo Launcher [Dmg]x3 [Acc]

Aft Weapons:

2x Advanced Fleet Polaron Beam Array [Dmg]x3 [Acc]

1x Advanced Fleet Chronoton Mine Launcher Mk XII [Dmg]x3 [CrtH]

Deflector, Impulse, and Shields: MACO Mk XII set

Devices: Shield Batteries, Auxillary Batteries and Subspace Field Modulator

Engineering Consoles: Universal Theta Radiation Vents, Ablative Hull Armor Mk XII, RCS Console Mk XI, and Point Defense System

Science Consoles: Tachyon Detection Grid, Field Generator Mk XI, Particle Generator Mk XI, Graviton Pulse Generator

Tactical Consoles: Polaron Phase Modulator Mk XI, Subspace jump Console

Part II

Now there are two different ways I use this ship depending on whats being done I swap my Commander Sci Station for one officer (PVE) or for another (PVP) I will make notations on which I use and when

Commander Science (PVE): Polarize Hull I, Transfer Shield Strength II, Hazard Emitters III, Gravity Well III

Commander Science (PVP): Science Team I, Hazard Emitters II, Scramble Sensors II, Feedback Pulse III

LCMDR Engineer: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Shields II, Reverse Shield Polarity II

Lt Tactical: Beam Fire At Will I, Beam Overload II

Lt Universal (Tactical): Torpedo High Yield I, Dispersal Pattern Beta I

ENS Science (PVE): Science Team I

ENS Science (PVP): Polarize Hull I

Part III

Personal Skills:

Tactical Systems: Starship Attack Patterns 6, Starship Weapons Training 6, Starship Energy Weapons 6, Starship Projectile Weapons 6, Starship Targeting Systems 6, Starship Energy Weapon Specialization 6, Starship Projectile Weapons Specialization 6

Engineering Systems: Driver Coil 6, Structural Integrity 6, Starship Warp Core Efficiency 6, Starship Electro-Plasma Systems 6, Starship Impulse Thrusters 6, Starship Warpcore Potential 6, Starship Engine Performance 6, Starship Hull Plating 6, Starship Shield Performance 6, Starship Armor Reinforcements 6, Starship Auxillary Performance 6, Starship Weapon Performance 6

Science and Operation Systems: Starship Flow Capacitors 6, Starship Shield Emitters 6, Starship Graviton Generators 6, Starship Particle Generator 6, Starship Sensors 6, Starship Subspace Decompiler 4

Ground Skills Science Officer: Medic 9, Weapons Proficiency 9, PS Generator 7, Scientist 6, Probability Logistics 6, Willpower 4



ok thats a complete rundown on my build

To make it work my ship has the power settings at 95/108 Weapons, 40/61 Shields, 25/49 Engine and 40/76 Auxillary I find that this setting seems to work well in PVE or PVP so I leave it as is...my BOFFS are ALL Efficient,

the way the PVE build works is pretty simple use grav well and the Graviton Pulse to hold your target in place while you waltz over and pound them... use your Reverse shield polarity if they are hitting you pretty hard to keep your shields up.... and be ready with the heals.... this is not a DPS build it is a support build that being said with practice it is possible to tank a Borg Tactical cube, I call the PVE setup my STF runner

the way the PVP build works is similar but has some differences.... your opening salvo should be a the Graviton Pulse Generator, and targeting thier Shield Subsystems, use dispersal pattern beta to put mines in front of them then use the Subspace Jump Console to get behind them where you will then pop an Aux battery, Subnucleonic Beam, and wait for them to clear the Sub-Nuc ith a science team then hit them with the Feedback pulse and a High Yield Torp and Overloaded Beams..... should put a hurt on most anything stupid enough to get to close.... when you need to get out of there hit them with scramble sensors pop your reverse shield polarity and then evasive maneuvers to get clear....

just my personal Nebula build, if you see area's where this can be improved upon feel free to leave a comment

andoriansrus

ok here comes a revamp of Death by Nebula it has had some minor tweaks that unless you know what you are looking at you might miss... I took 1 level away from medic to add 1 level to my PS Generators skill, I have taken 2 levels away from Starship Armor Reinforcements, Starship Aux Performance, and Starship Weapons Performance to add 6 levels to Starship Countermeasure Systems, after that it was just changing out a couple consoles, the Tachyon Detection Grid and the Point Defense System ( was in my engineering console slots) and moved my Graviton Pulse Generator and Theta Raditon Consoles tyo the empty engineering slots to make room for the two new science consoles I added... so here is the revised Death by Nebula build

Ship: Fleet Advanced Research Vessel Retrofit (hereafter referred to as an Advanced Cruiser)

NCC 93109 U.S.S. Baton Rouge

Part I

Forward weapons:

2x Polarized Disruptor Dual Beam Bank Mk XII [CrtD]x2

1x Advanced Fleet Quantum Torpedo Launcher Mk XII [Dmg]x3 [Acc]


Aft Weapons:

2x Polarized Disruptor Beam Array Mk XII [CrtD] [CrtH]

1x Advanced Fleet Tricobalt Mine Launcher Mk XII [Dmg]x3 [CrtH]


Deflector, Impulse, and Shields: Omega Mk XII set

Devices: Shield Batteries, Auxillary Batteries and Subspace Field Modulator

Engineering Consoles: Universal Theta Radiation Vents, Ablative Hull Armor Mk XII,Graviton Pulse Generator , and Isometric Charge Console

Science Consoles: Graviton Generator Mk XI, Field Generator Mk XI, Particle Generator Mk XI, Countermeasure System Mk XI

Tactical Consoles: Polaron Phase Modulator Mk XI, Subspace Jump Console

Part II

Now there are two different ways I use this ship depending on whats being done I swap my Commander Sci Station for one officer (PVE) or for another (PVP) I will make notations on which I use and when

Commander Science (PVE): Polarize Hull I, Transfer Shield Strength II, Hazard Emitters III, Gravity Well III

Commander Science (PVP): Science Team I, Hazard Emitters II, Scramble Sensors II, Feedback Pulse III

LCMDR Engineer: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Shields II, Reverse Shield Polarity II

Lt Tactical: Beam Fire At Will I, Beam Overload II

Lt Universal (Tactical): Torpedo High Yield I, Dispersal Pattern Beta I

ENS Science (PVE): Science Team I

ENS Science (PVP): Polarize Hull I


Part III

Personal Skills:

Tactical Systems: Starship Attack Patterns 6, Starship Weapons Training 6, Starship Energy Weapons 6, Starship Projectile Weapons 6, Starship Targeting Systems 6, Starship Energy Weapon Specialization 6, Starship Projectile Weapons Specialization 6

Engineering Systems: Driver Coil 6, Structural Integrity 6, Starship Warp Core Efficiency 6, Starship Electro-Plasma Systems 6, Starship Impulse Thrusters 6, Starship Warpcore Potential 6, Starship Engine Performance 6, Starship Hull Plating 6, Starship Shield Performance 6, Starship Armor Reinforcements 4, Starship Auxillary Performance 4, Starship Weapon Performance 4

Science and Operation Systems: Starship Flow Capacitors 6, Starship Shield Emitters 6, Starship Graviton Generators 6, Starship Particle Generator 6, Starship Sensors 6, Starship Countermeasure Systems 6, Starship Subspace Decompiler 4

Ground Skills Science Officer: Medic 8, Weapons Proficiency 9, PS Generator 8, Scientist 6, Probability Logistics 6, Willpower 4

this is a revision of the Nebula build to make BETTER use of Scramble sensors.... I had to re-allocate a few points in my personal skills to make this possible but it has NOT changed or hindered my ability with this ship this is as good as it gets UNTIL they give me something new to play with



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raeff111

I have every sci ship possible and I love my nebula the most.

I recently swapped to the polarized disruptor beams and tykens rift III and saw a nice improvement in performance and support in everything. With tykens III, you will shut down anything it hits in STFs, and the combination of the disruptor and polarized debuff you keep the target weak and resist debuffed. Combine it with a group of escorts and you will mow down any STF with ease. Yes I know I do more damage with my HEC escort, but I feel I help my team more in my nebula(that is unless I get in a stf with 2 other sci ships).

My key skills are tykens, warp plasma. Everything else is a mix of shield and hull heals. Still working on the right shield/engine/deflector combo. I have them all. Testing omega and its tetryon glider currently.

andoriansrus

the second build I listed works well with the Omega set, I will look into Tykens Rift III as a option for later down the road but for STF's I like the Gravwell, Theta Radiation Tricobalt mine combo... works pretty well at eliminating those pesky spheres

andoriansrus

I would also like to note that these are examples of what a supposedly poor excuse for a science ship can do... to all of you Doubting Thomases try this spec your captain for it, then choose accordingly for your BOFFS and arm yourself with one of the most annoyingly funny builds for STF's and PVP.... (just by switching out a BOFF here and there)


for those that say this is a poor excuse for a science vessel all I am going to say is tell me WHY its a poor excuse you want to make a point to me show me the numbers make a case for a better ship to use or kindly shut up... the Fleet Advanced Research Vessel is possibly the BEST Science ship in the game Second only to the Temporal Science Vessel, if you doubt me then get a fleet Nebula and use the second build I posted in PVP and tell me what you think... but be careful the second build is not for the inexperienced player

andoriansrus

so no one has any thoughts or insights into this evolution of Nebula Builds ?

jellico1

The polaron weapons proc ( drain power ) does
Not work
Tested all three types I'n fleet pvp and didn't
Drain any power from my fleetmates after several
Minutes of bombardment from 8 on my cruiser

Tested the STF version
Tested the story reward version
Tested the polarized disruptor version
( the disruptor proc works )

I would change these out for another weapon
That has working procs

Tets seem to be the best for me

andoriansrus

ok I will keep that in mind was actually considering phasers or maybe Anti-protons

robdmc

jellico1 wrote: »

The polaron weapons proc ( drain power ) does
Not work

They were probably using maco shields. The power conduit link seems to counter act energy drains.

andoriansrus

ok so I have shifted from the Polarized disruptors to [Dmg]x3 [Acc] Fleet Advanced Phasers... whoa... marked improvement in putting out the damage coupled with the full Omega set (i like the Gravitic Anchor when my Gravitic Pulse is on cooldown) the Tet Glider seems to work well and the phaser proc seems to do what its supposed to but seriously why do I see so few nebula class starships in the game ?

maelwy5

andoriansrus wrote: »

but seriously why do I see so few nebula class starships in the game ?

Because of the perception that it has been made completely obsolete by other ships.
Most notably the Tholian Orb Weaver.


A bit of history here:

There was (still is, technically) a thread by a guy called Cygone which proposed a method by which a Nebula could be made into a respectable Damage Dealer/support vessel hybrid.

This was prior to a bunch of patch changes, during which Tricobalt Mines were buffed, the damage from Photonic Shockwave was nerfed, and certain Tactical consoles no longer buff all forms of Kinetic damage (so you can't buff both Torps and GW3 with the same "+Kinetic damage" console). And also prior to the release of the Tholian lockbox ships.

The "Tholian Orb Weaver" is basically a Nebula with better Bridge Officer slots and an extra Tactical Console.

Essentially, if you can make a good build in a Nebula, you can make it better in an Orb Weaver.

These days the best damage output from a Science ship in PVE will usually involve either going down the [2x Torpedo Launcher/DBB Fore + Turrets Aft] route, or multiple Tricobalt Mine launchers. BOFF abilities to maximise this damage will be Attack Pattern Beta (to buff all damage types) and/or Dispersal Pattern Alpha (not Beta) for extra Tricobalts. [Torpedo Spread also deserves a notable mention, since if you are able to tightly cluster multiple foes together with Gravity Well then a Torpedo Spread from a high-base-damage launcher can cause huge amounts of overlapping splash damage].

Polarized Disruptors have been a nice addition to science vessels though. The Disruptor Proc is obvious, but the Polaron drain ties in nicely with Tykens Rift II and the inherent Beam:Target Shields.

---

An example STF/Fleet Action setup would be this build, which translates into this on the Nebula.

I currently run a similar setup on my Orb Weaver, and still have a (mothballed) Nebula in the shipyard.

Note the use of TBR3 instead of GW3 for damage there - Aux2Bat allows a high uptime of all BOFF powers and reduces Ship Aux to minimal levels whenever it fires. Low Aux power is essential for maximised damage from TBR3 in order to reduce the inflicted repel and allow all damage pulses to hit. Deploying GW1 upon a group of foes therefore allows you to hit everything with a variety of extremely heavy AoE damage, including TBR3, and splash damage from both Torpedo Spread and/or Tricobalt mines. (Technically you could remove Aux2Bat1 and replace it with EPTS2, then take TBR1, Tyken's Rift 2 and GW3 in order to trade a little damage for more versatility... I have those powers on my other Sci BOFF and a spare Engineer to allow me to run both as-needed)

atreidesscion

I'd been hoping to run across a Nebula update from you, Maelwys...thanks!

Couple of questions:

- are you sticking with 1xDBB and 2xTorp at the moment?

- with the increased 'push' of TBR3, are you able to keep them in range for all the damage pulses? (even with zero'd out Aux from Aux2Bat, I would've thought TBR3 would still push too much?)

- Have you considered dropping one tac team and adding FAW, to spread the APB across multiple targets?

- Aft, are you using Trics or turrets? Or some mix? (Are Trics worth it without the tac powers to go with? I've yet to use mines in this game.)

Thanks again!

rrincy

Theres always the fleet nebula

maelwy5

atreidesscion wrote: »

I'd been hoping to run across a Nebula update from you, Maelwys...thanks!

Couple of questions:

- are you sticking with 1xDBB and 2xTorp at the moment?

Heyup.

Yeah, I try to stay with 1DBB/2 Quantum Fore as it's definitely the highest damage setup for a SciShip if you can run a few Projectile DOFFs.

The limiting factor will be DOFFs.

After the recent patch changes, many of my ships should now ideally be running Aux2Bat1, but an active DOFF setup of [2x Projectile] and [2x Technician] doesn't leave much room to play with - especially when I could make use of a Borg Warfare Specialist, Tyken's Rift Gravimetric Scientist, Shield Distribution Officer... etc, etc.

- with the increased 'push' of TBR3, are you able to keep them in range for all the damage pulses? (even with zero'd out Aux from Aux2Bat, I would've thought TBR3 would still push too much?)

It depends on the mass of the target ship(s) and the speed I'm going.

It's basically free damage on Cubes and Structures. Things like Negh'vars or Spheres are usually OK at bottomed-out Aux. For Probes or BoPs, there's a tactic to it: If you wait until you're right on top of a low-mass enemy and drop TBR3, you'll catapult them far away even with low Aux, so the trick is to keep them on the outermost fringes of the range of the beams and push them around and/or into Gravity Well.

- Have you considered dropping one tac team and adding FAW, to spread the APB across multiple targets?

Yeah.

My problem is there's not really enough DOFF space to make that viable if you're planning to pull aggro.

Dropping a Tac Team means I should really take a Purple Conn Officer to reduce Tac Team downtime between Aux2Bat cycles, which means I'd need to drop another DOFF (Can't take less than 2 Purple Technicians without wrecking Aux2Bat, so it'd be either a Projectile Officer or the Borg Warfare Specialist, either of which would lower my Damage output on STFs pretty drastically. For Fleet Actions though, I could drop the Borg Warfare Specialist for a Conn Officer)

- Aft, are you using Trics or turrets? Or some mix? (Are Trics worth it without the tac powers to go with? I've yet to use mines in this game.)

Thanks again!

Tric Mines are very decent spike damage, but to make them do optimal Damage over Time they really need to be used with Dispersion Pattern Alpha. That said, I do have an Orb Weaver build that makes use of Tric Mines and DPA2 on my Tac Captain (though again, it runs afoul of DOFF slot shortage...) :P

There's a lot of synergy in Gravity Well + Torpedo Spread + Tricobalt Mines, providing you can maneuver your enemies into the "kill zone"... (TBR3...?)

andoriansrus

the build I posted seems to work pretty well in STF's and with a couple quick console changes to coincide with my Boff Swap seems to work well in a TEAM atmosphere in PVP.... I have just enough tankyness to hold someone off til help arrives but mostly its a support role that can put out a fair amount of DPS

reichwald12

Your thread made me want to try a Fleet Neb with my Tac.

So I'm working on a second build for it currently. I have a shield drain build that works awesomely right now, and I'm going to try something akin to yours.

Awesome ship, big shields, good hull. Its a total tank of a sci ship.

andoriansrus

Im going to have to get the Fleet Variant on my Tac and see what I can make of it then..... dont really see it being all that much of an improvement until the opening shot and spike... after that its tank like hell and hope I can stay alive for help, then again it might be pure awesomeness that screams Sheldon Level Genius... who knows but its definately something I AM going to look into


BAZINGA !!!

shimmerless

Don't run Aux2Bat on Sci ships. It kills kittens! And I'll kill you!!

maelwy5

shimmerless wrote: »

Don't run Aux2Bat on Sci ships. It kills kittens! And I'll kill you!!

I've been absolutely slaughtering kittens the past few days.
And loving it! :P

(now there's something I didn't expect to type this weekend) :rolleyes:

Seriously, there's nothing wrong with using Aux2Bat... as long as you either time your Aux-dependent buffs around the power drop, or use the drop to your advantage (TBR3!). Case in point: since swapping things around a little last week, I've settled on an Orb Weaver build which makes a more effective teammate for an endgame STF/Fleet mission than the vast majority of Escorts I've ever come across. In testing, it could solo a KASE side faster than my standard Guramba build, and protect the Kang on a CSE from two directions at once indefinitely. There's very few abilities that should "never" be used... it's all in how you fly it!

reichwald12

Sounds awesome man. What are you running on it?

Not derailing the thread at all.. so.... yeah... go Nebula!

dalnar83

How can anyone play offensive nebula without warp plasma is beyond me !:cool:

khayuung

I depends on how you build it. I follow Cygone's build which is a boatload of fun. I'd swap for EWP when I don't need that much hull healing.

maelwy5

reichwald12 wrote: »

Sounds awesome man. What are you running on it?

Not derailing the thread at all.. so.... yeah... go Nebula!

I'm sure you could adapt it to the Fleet Nebula as well, so it's not a complete derail...

You'd lose a bit of DPS (via taking DPB1 instead of DPB2) and a Tac Console, but gain a Science Console and a bit more Hull/Shield capacity.

It's basically an adaptation of the old Cygone builds: Fore is 2 Quantum Launchers and a Polarized Disruptor DBB (or 1 Quantum and 2 DBBs for Fleet missions instead of STFs). Aft is 2 Tricobalt Mines and a Polarized Disruptor Turret. All MKXII Purples.

DOFFs: 2x Projectile Weapon, 2x Technician, 1x Conn Officer (Tac Team). All Purple. Can swap the Conn Officer for a Borg Warfare to trade survivablity for more DPS. (If you're only running one Torp Launcher, you could swap the Projectile Weapon DOFFs for something else - Shield Distribution, Conn Officer, Gravimetric, etc)

Only other thing of note is Universal Consoles: the Tholian Web and Vent Theta Radiation are both invaluable, the first one can give Donatra (or Probes, or Kang attackers) a very very bad day.

Tac Consoles are a slight issue, as you can't buff everything simultaneously with a single Console. If you can be sure of always being within Minelaying range, then for maximum DPS it'd be best to go for 3x Tricobalt consoles. The alternatives would be an all-rounder setup (1 of each console) or a long-range/high speed setup (concentrating on torps/mines: running weapons power low + shield/engine/aux power high). Don't forget a "Rule 62 Multipurpose Combat Console" (to enhance Mines, Torps and Energy Drains) in one of the Science/Engineering console slots.

In STFs, at close range most of the damage will be done by mines, with Torps taking over at longer ranges. The DBB is there for "Beam:Target Subsystem"s and to aid in Shield Stripping, the Turret is there because 2 Mines max you out and nothing else would be better. A typical engagement against shielded targets sees you leading off with Tykens Rift, followed by Beam:Target Shields to weaken them, and then pound away. Once you're facing bare hull, Tac Captain Buffs + APB + Dispersion Pattern Beta + Gravity Well + Torp Spread + TBR3 makes for some sizable spike damage. When fighting Borg Gateways on KASE, you don't even need to detarget the gate (and thus break Sensor Analysis) in order to continually kill all four probes - Torp Spread + DPB2 + TBR3 does the trick all by themselves, though throwing out the odd Tykens Rift or GW1 will speed things up. Ditto for Killing BoPs/Raptors whilst taking apart a Cube on CSEs.

And as an aside, GW1 + Aux2Bat + TBR3 works brilliantly. Bonus Points if you push them into a Tricobalt Mine net and/or throw a Tholian Web on whatever's left. There's more than enough time between Aux2Bat Cycles to throw up TSS/HE at full AUX...

atreidesscion

Every time you update the build here, its like a little bit of Christmas morning.

reichwald12

In that case, I'll just post here to make your day again.

andoriansrus

well my build is undergoing another re-tweaking... while it works well in PVP as is I FEEL that I can still squeeze a little more out of it... so its back to the drawing board for me... will post end result when Im finished

sphinx1975

What tool or parser do you use to measure damage output?

andoriansrus

one of my fleet mates uses a parser when we are playing in STFs and in PVP I always team up with him when testing a new build.... this is how I see my improvements

sphinx1975

andoriansrus wrote: »

one of my fleet mates uses a parser when we are playing in STFs and in PVP I always team up with him when testing a new build.... this is how I see my improvements

Cool. I've been running ACT in the background during encounters and in events like ISE I average about 2500-3000dps or so. Not a ton of damage, of course, but that's to be expected. Plus I'm more worried about keeping the team alive so if I have good damage numbers, great, but I know that's not my primary job with my current build.

I guess I should post my build on here some time and let it be belittled.

andoriansrus

seems that most that post about the nebula here are not the kind to completely belittle a build most of us will offer constructive criticism.... so feel free to post your builds for the nebula retrofit or fleet nebula here it just might spark ideas from others that wuld improve other builds....

whamhammer1

dalnar83 wrote: »

How can anyone play offensive nebula without warp plasma is beyond me !:cool:

DEM, AP are a few things that come to mind.