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The Orb Weaver

hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
edited November 2012 in Federation Discussion
You know, since this has been appearing a little more on the forums, I will now ask the question.

Is the Tholian Orb Weaver worth the 35 mil you can get it for on the exchange? Is it a viable ship for sci captains, or should I just stick with my usual Oddys?

Why would I want to use this ship? What does it have to offer me over other ships? What makes it better/worse than comparable craft (science that is)?

Lastly, what (besides it's epic looks) is so dang good about it/bad about it?

Open topic, have fun, try not to flame each other too hard. And I would like those questions answered if possible. And the questions apply to both KDF and Starfleet sides.
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
Post edited by hereticknight085 on

Comments

  • squishkinsquishkin Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    I would only ever use the Orb Weaver as a sci/tank with the universal slot loaded with an engineering officer.

    Otherwise, you're better off with a Wells or Vesta, I imagine...
  • timelord79timelord79 Member Posts: 1,852 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    I sold mine yesterday, before the Vesta completely crashes the lock box sci ship market after the orb Weaver already took a beating by the Wells.
    11750640_1051211588222593_450219911807924697_n.jpg
  • marc8219marc8219 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Orb Weaver has good Boff and console layout for sci ship, but worst turn rate for any sci ship making it harder to subnuc people. I haven't tried Orb Weaver because I am happy with the Fleet Recon though, it has more manuverability and firepower, just less versatile boff and slightly less tanking.
    Tala -KDF Tac- House of Beautiful Orions
  • momawmomaw Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Why would I want to use this ship? What does it have to offer me over other ships? What makes it better/worse than comparable craft (science that is)?

    Flexibility. It's tempting to look at the Orb Weaver and say "That's a science ship". It isn't. It's something that has 6 weapon slots, like most science ships, and it has Sensor Analysis, like most science ships, but the pesky LTC universal slot is what trips you up. If you slap a tactical officer in there, you've got a very balanced "can do some of everything" ship. If you slap an engineer in there, you've got a remarkably tough little pocket cruiser. If you slap a science guy in there, you've got a ship with 8 slots for science and a LTC engineer to keep it in one piece which I think might actually be unique? It's not super agile, it's not terribly well armed. But the Orb Weaver is "agile enough", and it's "armed enough". It has a very powerful boff layout combined with balanced consoles and nice strong shields. It's got a nice foundation of traits to build from and it can be retooled on the fly to have different strengths. Simply put the Orb Weaver is best for people that can see a mission, see what their team looks like, and then choose what they need to be in order to be the best asset for the team.f

    The Recluse carrier should also be mentioned since its boff layout is almost the same. The Recluse is even more modular since on that it's the Commander that's universal, and it has two hangar bays so you can add pets for extra damage or tanking or whatever you need. But the Recluse, while tough, is big and sluggish and really has a hard time being anything other than a strong point. The Orb Weaver doesn't have the hangars or universal commander but it can actually move around and do things like be a torpedo boat or spam photonic shockwaves and tractor repulsors.
  • jjumetleyjjumetley Member Posts: 281 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    35 million you say? I paid 60 and haven't flown it yet :P I'm a great fan of Tholians and just had to have the web generator. Will have to try it soon.
  • carl103carl103 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Flexibility. It's tempting to look at the Orb Weaver and say "That's a science ship". It isn't. It's something that has 6 weapon slots, like most science ships, and it has Sensor Analysis, like most science ships, but the pesky LTC universal slot is what trips you up. If you slap a tactical officer in there, you've got a very balanced "can do some of everything" ship. If you slap an engineer in there, you've got a remarkably tough little pocket cruiser. If you slap a science guy in there, you've got a ship with 8 slots for science and a LTC engineer to keep it in one piece which I think might actually be unique? It's not super agile, it's not terribly well armed. But the Orb Weaver is "agile enough", and it's "armed enough". It has a very powerful boff layout combined with balanced consoles and nice strong shields. It's got a nice foundation of traits to build from and it can be retooled on the fly to have different strengths. Simply put the Orb Weaver is best for people that can see a mission, see what their team looks like, and then choose what they need to be in order to be the best asset for the team.f

    The Recluse carrier should also be mentioned since its boff layout is almost the same. The Recluse is even more modular since on that it's the Commander that's universal, and it has two hangar bays so you can add pets for extra damage or tanking or whatever you need. But the Recluse, while tough, is big and sluggish and really has a hard time being anything other than a strong point. The Orb Weaver doesn't have the hangars or universal commander but it can actually move around and do things like be a torpedo boat or spam photonic shockwaves and tractor repulsors.

    This. the Orb weaver lends itself to a lot of builds. Thanks to it's better base turn, inertia, and impulse modifier it's still markedly supiriour to a cruiser, and still turny enough with 1 RCS to get by. I haven't tried it myself as it's a bit hard to justify in most current content. But you could build 2x double EPtX with double Aceton I on this and actually ahve the speed and turn rate to lay it all on target whilst still packing a SOLID Sci loadout. The hard part would be havign to slot 3 TT DoFF's to be able to tank effectivlly, as it's quite limiting TBH.

    I Currentlly build a Trop boat out of this with:

    Sci: HE1x2, TBR1, TTS3, GW3
    Eng: EPtS1, EPtS2, Aux2SIF2
    Tac: TT1x2, THY2, THY3

    Very effective and vastly supiriour to my old DSSV.

    The consle is very so so TBH. Becuase the danmage draws aggro it tend to get shot out of well before it finishes and anything that's too big to fit inside it within about 5-8KM of any edge of it will cause it to fail to form, meaning it's bassiclly usless in STF's as the gates and transformers make it perma non-functional.

    If those points has a higher defence and a -100% aggro modifier, plus it was tweaked not to fail becuase somthing big was nearby, (but not inside), then i think it could be a decent but not OP consle.
  • havamhavam Member Posts: 1,735 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Well, as I said in the other thread, and most in here agree. the orb weaver is a better all purpose tool esp, with 2xLt.Cmdr Eng. I actually have both on my KDF sci toon, and prefer the orb weaver (without the net, although there are builds where I would reequip it).

    That being said, the orb's strength only really shines in PvP. For STFs n FM missions, anything that doesn't bring Dual heavies is a waste. The slight dmg edge of the wells/korath, and its newness, lead to more people flying i, i guess.

    Still anything you would do with a nebbie, the orb does one better.
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