Torp Spread vs. High Yield

valinsterling

I've been playing for a good while now, but I'm not what you would call hardcore. I feel pretty confident in my builds and play-style, but I've always been confused at peoples' love for Torpedo Spread.

On my escort, I enjoy pounding my targets into oblivion and, on my ship that does use torpedoes, slipping a high yield torp in past a facing with no shields left really does the trick.

Yet in many STF and general builds, I see torpedo spread as being touted as an important skill to have and I see it in use regularly on even single targets in various videos out there.

My question is, what makes torp spread a better value over the high yield or is it really? Unless you're in a group that's NOT focus firing on one ship, your torpedoes hitting multiple targets will generally be blunted by their active shields, only really damaging (and taking advantage of the full torp damage) on the ship that you've been cutting down. That doesn't seem efficient to me, even using it as it's supposed to be used, much less on single targets.

Thanks for your help and advice in advance. I really enjoy this game and am always looking to get better and understand it more.

nicha0

Because it goes well with scatter volley? AoE their shields off and hit with torps, it works and is far more effective than rapid fire and high yield.

In STFs many things are unshielded so its even more superior.

rdm1958

i like both rapid fire and the spread. in some cases i have both on a ship and use whichever is appropiate for the situation.

for me part of the game is the "visual" aspect of it and that is why i like the spread. it just looks impressive.

most of my damage comes comes from DHCs or beams depending on the ship and the torpedos is just kind of extra damage.

realistically you would probably be better off to use a better weapon than a torpedo; extra beam or cannon up front or turret for aft.

futurepastnow

It's because of that feeling when you approach three enemies, hit them with CSV, then torp spread, and all three explode at the same time. That's a really great feeling.

lordmalak1

I dunno about anyone else but I run both on my eng/raptor. They compliment each other nicely and it give an option to change up attacks based on how many ships in an engagement. i.e. 1 target get 10 torps before a full speed overrun vs. 3 targets will get 2 ea + 3 on one before overrun.

...A nice bonus to the AP DHC's on rapid fire.

valinsterling

Really great feedback, guys - thank you.

For my escort that uses torpedoes, TS is something that I'm going to have to experiment with in my builds. I still like the punch of HY on single targets, but I can see the value of TS. I think that it's very dependent on the scenario and it would be nice to be able to switch Boffs for each or have a mix.

One of the things that I love about this game is how easy it is to play around with builds and strategies and you guys just go to prove that.

hevach

I find it can be a liability in some situations. Infected, it can destroy a low generator before the rest are at 10%, and in all three STFs it can get attention from gates or cubes before you're ready to fight them.

I've also found it a waste in others, hitting targets that are just healing back to full.

In others, though, an absolute game changer in others. Well placed I've taken out three generators at once in KA, combined with scatter volley or fire at will it makes probe duty boringly easy, and most of the non-STF queue stuff tends to favor indiscriminate AOE fire by putting you in a DPS race against increasingly large groups.


Personally, I have two separate sets of tactical boff. One with rapid fire and high yield, the other with scatter volley and spread.

valinsterling

Really great points on the STFs, hevach!

thissler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWSuV0B8dbw&feature=plcp

This is a nice vid for the bit on torpedoes. I realize you're in an escort and the vid shows a cruiser. There are other vids on that channel showing escort/raider style stf's and pvp.

In STF the damage difference between the single target and the spread isn't that critical. Generally dead is dead. There is no "more dead' or "really really truly dead".

Remember torpedoes may also be used to apply debuffs. So spreads of chroniton or plasma will find a use.

As has been noted, spreads can accidently kill an object that you wanted to keep alive.

So it is likely that for HYT you would be sticking to quantums. Dead is dead and you're not concerned with 'slowing them down'.

For spreads you would consider chronitons or plasma for the dots as well as quantums. If there's a grav well in play, spreads become very strong.

I left out transphasics as most shields in STF's drop fairly quickly, and many objects have no shields at all in any case. In fleet alerts the opposite is true, so take it as you wish.

And,most importantly, as others have already noted, you can switch BOFFs very very easily. So when it is time to take down those large targets maybe you drop combat, do the switch and get back in. Easy peasy.


Cheers happy flying.

bubblygumsworth

I chain 2x Torp Spread 3, because it looks pretty :P

carl103

Bear in mind last tiem i checked into this torp spread hits less hard than basic torpedo fire, you really shouldn't be using it if you can avoid it. As for THY, check out the page on STO Wiki the numbers for each type of torpedo and vershion of THY are there, i've just never got round to adding the spread numbers, sorry.

This also means people who think that becuase their chaining multipule spread/HY together their getting 10+ torps of damage ar actually wrong. 2 copies of THY3 + 1 normal shot, (about the max for an escort with a single tube), with Quantums is only 7 toprs, not the 9 vishual fx actually fired.

stargazer918

I use proton trop spread level 2 with my cannon rapid fire ability on my Heavy escort. They work a treat in PvE.

Torp spread just looks epic!!!!! Wonder what Torpedo point defence system with spread is like????

Keeep treking!

James A. Highland
Acting captain (Commander)
W.A.S.I.C First Fighter command

hevach

carl103 wrote: »

Bear in mind last tiem i checked into this torp spread hits less hard than basic torpedo fire, you really shouldn't be using it if you can avoid it.

This isn't true. When they redesigned spread between season 3 and 4, they balanced it around 70-80% of the damage per-target as a same rank high yield. After they broke it up so it doesn't hit in one burst it's a bit lower than that, but still substantially higher than a standard fire.

This also means people who think that becuase their chaining multipule spread/HY together their getting 10+ torps of damage ar actually wrong. 2 copies of THY3 + 1 normal shot, (about the max for an escort with a single tube), with Quantums is only 7 toprs, not the 9 vishual fx actually fired.

This is... sort of true. HY3 fires 4 torpedoes, each doing between 55 and 75% of normal damage depending on what type of torpedo you're firing. So all 9 torpedoes you see are real, but the cumulative damage is roughly that of 7 standard torpedoes.

Torp spread just looks epic!!!!! Wonder what Torpedo point defence system with spread is like????

The point defense console doesn't work with torpedo powers. It doesn't share a cooldown with torpedo powers, though, and doesn't trigger the global torpedo cooldown, so you can fire stacked spreads at the same time for a wall of torpedoes.

lordmalak1

hevach wrote: »

This isn't true. When they redesigned spread between season 3 and 4, they balanced it around 70-80% of the damage per-target as a same rank high yield. After they broke it up so it doesn't hit in one burst it's a bit lower than that, but still substantially higher than a standard fire.

This is... sort of true. HY3 fires 4 torpedoes, each doing between 55 and 75% of normal damage depending on what type of torpedo you're firing. So all 9 torpedoes you see are real, but the cumulative damage is roughly that of 7 standard torpedoes.

It's more about timing than rank of power. HY2 gets you 3 quantums @ roughly 2.5 of total unaided torpedo damage, so firing twice, split with TS2 will get you equivalent of 9 in 17 seconds (if you time the maneuver correctly), and quicker depending on how many of your torpedo Doffs proc, which mine usually do 30% of the time. 8.5 torps+1 real one is pretty close. Thats not including other bonus's.

angryfirebird

I use both on my Fed tac. Spread is good in fleet defense at the beginning of a wave then then seconds later I high yield one of the larger ships thats still standing. As for stfs spread is good against ships but I usually do high yield so I dont become the center of attention.

funkyfambaa

I use both too, Spread 3 for many many targets, and HY 2
I too use spread in conjunction with cannonspread, chew shields and fire away.

The choice of torpedo is more like a flavour since all torpedos heavily rely on kinetic damage.
Transphasic is a bit different but then again has longer reload times. Ive tried the rapidlaunch device too its neat.

But what I really like is the fat tricobalt, but you really have to be careful, HY tricobalt blast radius is even a bit over 2 kms, I usually fly up to a cube or something else to reduce flight time of that thing (my ship is a little bit faster than a HYII tricobalt) It still happens that I blow myself up

A well placed HY tri can easily achieve 60K damage and still has a huge explosion radius, very good if various shield facings of enemies are down. Tricobalt spread on targets that are more apart.

Another thing I use HY over spread is in shuttle. But there I use Plasma Torpedo with reman set to make it faster flying, you should try it the fat nuke is not that slow anymore.

And on a sidenote: Tricobalt Mines are even more devastating than torpedos, but I heavily suggest on using Spread Pattern Beta 3 for that. My record is 4x 200K damage with those babies (lots of dmg buffs active+crit)

For long time bombardments I suggest Photon torpedos, still the best DPS, and most likely even higher if you use HY 3 or Spread 3 + 3 purple or blue doffs with torpedo recharge.

Did anyone mention yet that you sometimes get free Heavy Yield procs out of those? Even my shuttle with Plasma sometimes shoots 2 or even 3 torpedos in short succession

So always keep an eye out for Projectile DOffs and assign them.

carl103

This isn't true. When they redesigned spread between season 3 and 4, they balanced it around 70-80% of the damage per-target as a same rank high yield. After they broke it up so it doesn't hit in one burst it's a bit lower than that, but still substantially higher than a standard fire.

I haven't had chance to dig out my photon torps, but for plasma torpedoes it's dealing less than half my single shot damage.

stargazer918

I`ve found that on escorts, the torp spread is good in PvE as you can hit multiple enemies in one swoop go, it works mint with my cannons I had on my Akira class. I use spread lvl 2 and Torp spread lvl 2. it don`t work to well on the LRSV Intrepid class as I tried it on my mate`s ship.

Captain
James A. Highland
W.A.S.I.C

mattack13

I use 'em both. My current main escort uses CRF3, THY3, CSV1, and TS2. I like using rapid fire and high yield with APA3 as my main spike, then come back with APO1 and the AoE shots to follow up. If I'm approaching a group I might start with the AoE attacks. I also have BOFFs with CSV3 and TS3. The spread attacks are great for groups, although one must be careful in an escort (especially in elite STFs) about drawing too much heat upon oneself.

stargazer918

Hi guys

I use plasma torpedos on my LRSV with Torp Spread. My build is very PvE Tankish like.
I adds some boom to the ship, My Intrepid is looking like a battleship with these on and not a science vessel.

addsin15

Spread is great.

TS1 = two ~75% normal damage projectiles at 3 targets within the targeting arc doing AOE damage

TS2 = three..

TS3 = four...

It's a fantastic skill because it hits spam like fighters and HY torps incoming so it's its pretty handy in addition to the damage it does.

dalnar83

Spread is great, because it does not miss....

tpalelena

Use Spread against a lot of smaller targets like spheres , and use high yield against bosses like cubes.

hurleybird

dalnar83 wrote: »

Spread is great, because it does not miss....

It also never procs a projectile weapons officer, and puts rapid reload transphasics on a 10s cooldown (as opposed to 8s)

It's a very buggy skill.

bitemepwe

Why does it not proc the DOff?
Seems it should.

hurleybird

It should, but it doesn't.

pwstolemyname

I have two Tactical Boffs that I switch between depending on wether I need Single target or AOE damage. You rarly need AOE and Single target in the same fight so I use other officers for my attack paterns and Tacticle teams.

Being able to quickly switch between an officer with Volley and Spred and one with High Yeild and Rapid is prity nice.

sander233

rdm1958 wrote: »

for me part of the game is the "visual" aspect of it and that is why i like the spread. it just looks impressive.

Yup.

futurepastnow wrote: »

It's because of that feeling when you approach three enemies, hit them with CSV, then torp spread, and all three explode at the same time. That's a really great feeling.

Yup.

bubblygumsworth wrote: »

I chain 2x Torp Spread 3, because it looks pretty :P

Yup.

stargazer918 wrote: »

Torp spread just looks epic!!!!!

Yup.

Wonder what Torpedo point defence system with spread is like????

Imagine Awesome caught in a self-sustaining temporal loop and folded back upon itself in an infinite recursion thus forming an Awesome Singularity.

TS3 + TPDS is basically this.

I have this combo keybound to "B" which stands for the Button That Makes Everybody Die.

imarookie

It really depends on your playstyle and ship you're flying.

As my main char is a sci, I fell in love with the Fleet Nebula Class.
There I have the universal slot assigned to a tac, leaving me with 2x Tac team 1, torp spread and pattern beta. Used after a well placed grav well3, combined with sensor scan can be devastating. Of course I need help from my escort teammates.

On the JHEC I have only 1 tac with: tt1, csv (2?) , thy3, crf 3

by the time the torpedoes arrive, one shield facing is most definately down.
I got used to it as I dont like to aggro too many


I am speaking pve here as I lack practice in pvp.

tahnalos

hevach wrote: »

The point defense console doesn't work with torpedo powers. It doesn't share a cooldown with torpedo powers, though, and doesn't trigger the global torpedo cooldown, so you can fire stacked spreads at the same time for a wall of torpedoes.

Apparently the point defense is affected by the photon damage consoles. This is why I've got two of them and a Very Rare Photon Torpedo Launcher Mark XI armed on my Heavy Escort as well. And yes, I have done torpedo spread 3 and the Point Defense Console. Lots of torpedoes going everywhere. Works wonders in the Crystalline Catastrophe mission by clearing out those pesky large crystal shards....