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Am I ready for STFs?

zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
edited December 2012 in Federation Discussion
With the introduction of Omega Reputation, I want to start doing STFs, but I'd like to make sure I'm not that guy with the terrible ship whose lack of DPS or survivability drags the whole team down.

Here's what I'm using right now:
Science Captain, Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit
Fore/Aft Weapons: 2x Polarized Tetryon Beam Array Mk XI, Phased Tetryon Beam Array Mk XI, Quantum Torpedo Launcher Mk XI
Shields/Deflector/Impulse: Aegis Set
Engineering Consoles: Rule 62 Multipurpose, 2x Neutronium Alloy Mk XI, Assimilated Module
Science Consoles: 2x Field Generator Mk XI
Tactical Consoles: 3x Tetryon Pulse Generator Mk XI

Tactical Abilities: Attack Pattern Beta 2, Beam Fire at Will 2, Tactical Team 1
Engineering Abilities: DEM 3 / Aux to Structural 3 / Extend Shields 3, Reverse Shield Polarity 2, Aux to Structural 1, Emergency Power to Shields 2, Emergency Power to Shields 1, 2x Emergency Power to Weapons 1
Science Abilities: Hazard Emitters 2, Hazard Emitters 1

Space Doffs: 2x Conn (Tactical Team), Warp Core Engineer, Damage Control Engineer, Sensors Officer

From looking around on the forum it seems like I need to work on my space doffs, but I'm not sure if the rest of my setup is acceptable in an STF. If it's not acceptable, I do have the Breen, Jem'Hadar, and Reman Mk XI equipment sets, and my other tier 5 ships are Galor, D'Kyr, Nebula Retrofit, Intrepid Retrofit, and Odyssey (the event one, not the store one.)

Any advice / recommendations / changes so I don't totally embarrass myself when I go to do the space STFs?

EDIT: Updated to my current setup, based on recommendations given in this thread.
Post edited by zephael43 on

Comments

  • kiriseekirisee Member Posts: 446 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Looks ok to me for normal STF's, only see one problem, you don't seem to have any need for the plasma distribution manifolds, i suggest ditching those and get a Monotainium and a neutronium (or ablative) console to slot for engineering consoles.
    "If everyone used Macs, we'd be working on how to get to Alpha Centauri rather than how to get to Mars."
  • zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    I figured the total +7 power would help for broadsides, but I guess the survivability would be more important in an STF.
  • kiriseekirisee Member Posts: 446 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    +7 power is nothing, might i suggest getting EPTW to keep your power levels up and using a battery as well, rotate them off with a battery doff slotted, should be near full power uptime on your weapons.
    "If everyone used Macs, we'd be working on how to get to Alpha Centauri rather than how to get to Mars."
  • coffeemikecoffeemike Member Posts: 942 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Use weapons and aux batteries since you can slot 4 devices.

    Weapons for DPS, AUX for Hazard Emitters/Transfer Shield Strength


    I assume you are using Evasive Maneuvers then to break hold of tractor beams? If so, AUX battery should help as well.
  • kiriseekirisee Member Posts: 446 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    coffeemike wrote: »
    Use weapons and aux batteries since you can slot 4 devices.

    Weapons for DPS, AUX for Hazard Emitters/Transfer Shield Strength


    I assume you are using Evasive Maneuvers then to break hold of tractor beams? If so, AUX battery should help as well.


    Actually there are dual use batteries available, just a bit spendy on the exchange, its another thought since i use them like candy lol
    "If everyone used Macs, we'd be working on how to get to Alpha Centauri rather than how to get to Mars."
  • zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    kirisee wrote: »
    might i suggest getting EPTW to keep your power levels up and using a battery as well, rotate them off with a battery doff slotted

    Should I drop my second Engineering Team for that, or my EPtS 1? And the "battery doff" is the Maintenance Engineer that gives bonuses when you use batteries? I can do that, I have the Exocomp.
    coffeemike wrote: »
    Use weapons and aux batteries since you can slot 4 devices.

    My devices are Weapons Battery / Heavy Tetryon Satellite Turret / Scorpion Fighters / Subspace Field Modulator right now, I imagine I should probably swap the turret or fighters for the aux battery, right?
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    you are better off than a lot of people will be. you should have no problem in normal. you should do fine in elites as well.

    for cruisers, you should always have the holy grail* of 2x eptw 1 and 2x epts 2. when chaining all 4 of these, you can have 100% uptime on both emergency powers to weapons and shields. change the armor to electroceramic, for increased plasma resist.

    might i suggest getting 2x v. rare conn doffs that reduce the time on tactical team. tt1 is a very useful skill all around as it auto distributes your shields for 10/15 seconds. you'll get 2/3 uptime. with the 2 conn officers, it would be like running 2x tt1.

    your choice of torp skill is up to you. vary between spread and hy to see which one you like better. depending on your play style, both have their uses.

    you can respond here as to where you want to put the four skills and i'll happily create a keybind for you that will help you cycle to emergency powers.
  • orondisorondis Member Posts: 1,447 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    If you want to do lots of damage in a cruiser, here's my recommendation

    Fore: 4x disruptor or antiproton single cannons
    Aft: 4x disruptor or antiproton turrets

    Note 1: In the case of turrets and single cannons, the more damage mods the better. CrtD and CrtH don't add much to their damage and ACC is a waste against NPCs, even with the crit overflow)

    Note 2: Yes a cannon build will do more damage then a beam boat build, as long as you make sure to keep on buffing with cannon rapid fire. Also the cannon build will get the most out of directed energy modulation due to the number of hits. In fact the cannon build is the number one damage dealing build in a fed cruiser.

    Deflector: Borg
    Engines: Borg
    Shield: MACO

    Notes 3: Aegis is probably the best choice out of those available to you at the moment.

    Engineering:-
    RCS
    Neutronium x2
    Borg console or electroceramic

    Science:-
    Field generator x2

    Tactical:-
    specific energy weapon damage boosting console x3

    Boff powers:-
    Lt Cmdr Tact: Tact team 1, Cannon rapid fire (CRF) 1, cannon rapid fire 2
    Cmdr Eng: Emergency power to weapons or auxiliary 1, DEM1, Emergency power to shields 3, auxiliary to structural integrity field 3 or DEM3
    Lt Eng: Emergency power to weapons or auxiliary 1, reverse shield polarity 1
    Ensign Eng: Emergency power to shields 1
    Lt Sci: Hazard emitters 1, Transfer Shield Strength 2

    Note 4: Use either 2x emergency power to weapons for extra weapon power or 2x emergency power to auxiliary to boost the aux dependent heals (hazard emitters, transfer shield strength and auxiliary to structural integrity field)

    Doffs:-
    2x purple shield doffs
    1x purple space-warfare anti-Borg doff which adds +10% damage to Borg(called Dlyrene)
    2x purple conn doffs (tactical team cooldown reduction version)
    Previously Alendiak
    Daizen - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
    Selia - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
  • zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    xsharpex wrote: »
    for cruisers, you should always have the holy trinity of 2x eptw 1 and 2x epts 2. when chaining all 4 of these, you can have 100% uptime on both emergency powers to weapons and shields.

    you can respond here as to where you want to put the four skills and i'll happily create a keybind for you that will help you cycle to emergency powers.
    I could use EPtS 1 and 3 on my Commander engineer, and EPtW 1 on my Lieutenant and Ensign, but then my only hull heal is Hazard Emitters. Should I swap out my Aux to Inertial Dampeners for Engineering Team 2 / Aux to SIF 1?
  • adamkafeiadamkafei Member Posts: 6,539 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Swap out your resist consoles and use Mk XI (rare) neutroniums instead, lose the quantum console and take another tetryon. I recommend as a team DPS boost take FAW 2 and attack pattern Beta 2. I have also found that (despite popular belief) an EPS flow reg actually helps with a braodside.

    I would suggest looking through this thread, while making the above changes.

    Hopefully this will help you :)
    ZiOfChe.png?1
  • zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    orondis wrote: »
    Fore: 4x disruptor or antiproton single cannons
    Aft: 4x disruptor or antiproton turrets

    I used cannons on my Excelsior for a while and I agree they're really effective (and really fun), but I stopped for a superficial reason - I didn't like that they come out of the center of the ship, rather than emitters on the hull like Escorts have. I'm going to try sticking to beams for now, but if I find my DPS isn't good enough, I'll switch back to cannons.
    orondis wrote: »
    Doffs:-
    2x purple shield doffs
    1x purple space-warfare anti-Borg doff which adds +10% damage to Borg(called Dlyrene)
    2x purple conn doffs (tactical team cooldown reduction version)
    By "shield doffs" do you mean the Shield Distribution Officer, or is there another one that affects shields?
    adamkafei wrote: »
    Swap out your resist consoles and use Mk XI (rare) neutroniums instead, lose the quantum console and take another tetryon. I recommend as a team DPS boost take FAW 2 and attack pattern Beta 2. I have also found that (despite popular belief) an EPS flow reg actually helps with a braodside.

    I would suggest looking through this thread, while making the above changes.

    Hopefully this will help you :)

    Switched to 2x Neutronium, since it's as good as Monotanium + Electroceramic vs Borg, and better than Monotanium + Ablative vs everything else. (Unless there's a stacking penalty, but I didn't see any mention of it.) Also switched my quantum console for a third tetryon one. The Rule 62 Multipurpose Console gives me a 45.8% bonus to power transfer - about half as good as an EPS Flow Regulator - but it also gives me a bonus to Flow Capacitors, which is pretty important since I'm using tetryons. I saw the thread you linked already - that's what gave me the idea to use Polarized Tetryons and Phased Tetryons instead of normal ones - I'll have to read through the rest of it later.
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    zephael43 wrote: »
    I could use EPtS 1 and 3 on my Commander engineer, and EPtW 1 on my Lieutenant and Ensign, but then my only hull heal is Hazard Emitters. Should I swap out my Aux to Inertial Dampeners for Engineering Team 2 / Aux to SIF 1?

    epts 3 is a waste in my opinion. aux to sif 3 is a fantastic choice to have. engineering team will put your tac team on cooldown and that's not good. honestly, aux to sif3 should be your primary heal. it has a 15 second cooldown, so it can be fired off quickly and repeatedly. hazard emitters 2 does a nice heal over time. it also gets rid of plasma fires. you can roll 2 of those he 1 and 2 for your sci slot. for your cmdr engi, you can do eptw1, epts2, rsp2 and auxtosif3.
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    neutronium is good for covering your bases. however, for stfs, you will get more bang for your buck with the monotanium and the electroceramic.
  • zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    xsharpex wrote: »
    neutronium is good for covering your bases. however, for stfs, you will get more bang for your buck with the monotanium and the electroceramic.

    Rare Monotanium is +35 kinetic resistance, rare Electroceramic is +35 plasma and tetryon resistance, rare Neutronium is +17.5 kinetic and energy resistance. Wouldn't two Neutroniums be +35 kinetic and energy resistance, which would be equivalent to using a Monotanium and an Electroceramic against Borg?

    Not to argue with you, I just don't know if there's a stacking penalty or something that I wasn't aware of.

    I'll try using Aux to SIF rather than Engineering Team as my main hull heal though, that looks pretty good.
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    zephael43 wrote: »
    Rare Monotanium is +35 kinetic resistance, rare Electroceramic is +35 plasma and tetryon resistance, rare Neutronium is +17.5 kinetic and energy resistance. Wouldn't two Neutroniums be +35 kinetic and energy resistance, which would be equivalent to using a Monotanium and an Electroceramic against Borg?

    Not to argue with you, I just don't know if there's a stacking penalty or something that I wasn't aware of.

    I'll try using Aux to SIF rather than Engineering Team as my main hull heal though, that looks pretty good.

    iirc, consoles do not stack completely. it's easily verifiable. just hover above ds9 or esd or new romulus and in the ship screen with your equipment, click on defenses and look at what your resistance for kinetic and plasma is. then switch out the consoles and look at it again. take the combination that has the highest one.
  • shimmerlessshimmerless Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Excel build if you wanna use beeeeeeams:

    Lt. Com. Tac
    TT I, B: FAW II, B: O III

    Com. Eng
    EPtS I, RSP I, ET III, Aux2SIF III/DEM III/Extends III
    Lt. Eng
    EPtW I, EPtW II
    Ens. Eng
    EPtS I

    Lt. Sci
    HE I, TSS II

    Slot a DBB and seven Beam Arrays. Typically I'd recommend two copies of FAW but a) it suffered a nerf a while back which dramatically lowered its damage output and b) the Excel has the turn to make BO work. EPtW is also not really a fantastic skill but it can be very useful in PvE for squeezing out that last bit of damage.

    If you like the visuals you can take a torp instead of a DBB and throw a torp skill in place of BO (I recommend torp spreads for PvE).

    The Excel doesn't suffer from having too many Tac Ensigns, so you can quite happily slot ET III which is a massive instant heal that your teammates will love you for. Your Commander Engie skill is a very competitive one so it can pay off to carry a few BOffs, you can go Extends III for a very team-oriented role, Aux2SIF for a balanced one or DEM for a more offensive one.

    In all honesty you don't seem to have made any major or crippling errors so you should do just dandy in any of the STFs.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    vids and guides and stuff

    [9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
  • orondisorondis Member Posts: 1,447 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    zephael43 wrote: »


    By "shield doffs" do you mean the Shield Distribution Officer, or is there another one that affects shields?


    Yup that's the one.
    Previously Alendiak
    Daizen - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
    Selia - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
  • zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    xsharpex wrote: »
    epts 3 is a waste in my opinion. aux to sif 3 is a fantastic choice to have. engineering team will put your tac team on cooldown and that's not good. honestly, aux to sif3 should be your primary heal. it has a 15 second cooldown, so it can be fired off quickly and repeatedly. hazard emitters 2 does a nice heal over time. it also gets rid of plasma fires. you can roll 2 of those he 1 and 2 for your sci slot. for your cmdr engi, you can do eptw1, epts2, rsp2 and auxtosif3.

    I tried this out - EPtS 2 and 1, EPtW 1 x2, Aux to SIF 3 and 1, RSP 2, Hazard Emitters 2 and 1.
    I haven't used it in an STF yet, but Tau Dewa patrol missions that were giving me a bit of trouble perviously went a lot more smoothly with this setup, so I think I'm going to stick to it for now. If I find I need more healing or more damage or whatever, I'll come look over this thread again, since there's a lot of good options in here now.

    Thank you all for the help and advice - Nice to know my setup was okay to start with, and now it should perform a lot better.
    Now I just have to learn how to bind my EPtSomethings and Tactical Team to spacebar, so I don't have five different hotkeys to be mashing.
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    i would recommend separating tactical team from all other binds.

    bind fire and manual distribute shields - /bind Numpad0 "+power_exec Distribute_Shields $$ FireAll"

    cycle eptw/epts - /bind Add "+STOtrayexecbytray 2 1 $$ +STOtrayexecbytray 1 1 $$ +STOtrayexecbytray 2 2 $$ +STOtrayexecbytray 1 2"

    to bind a key: copy and paste the above commands to your chat. You can change the keys to whatever you want. just be sure to look up the proper key name in options - keybinds - show keyboard (button on the top, left hand corner). be sure to hover over the key you want and it'll show the name of the key.

    the stotrayexecbytray command works like this: the first number is the tray number. the second number is the slot number. trays are listed from 0-9. meaning when it says tray 1 on the side, it's actually tray 0. the same is for the slots. slot 1 is really 0 slot 2 is 1 and so on.

    example - default command control 3 - tray 2, slot 3 would be 1 2.

    remember, use 2 very rare conn officers that state they reduce the time for tactical team. NOT the other one that decreases time on evasive. with this, you should be a lot tankier.
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    i would also recommend getting 2x v. rare warp core engineers if you can afford it. the extra power boost is very nice. even though it's a 20% chance each, you're going to be running 4x emergency powers so it's very safe to assume it'll proc often. the added engine power will help you move faster and turn quicker, while the extra aux will help improve your hazard emitter abilities as well as increase the damage resistance debuff of your sensor scan. the shield and weapons benefit have already been covered ;]
  • red01999red01999 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    xsharpex wrote: »
    i would also recommend getting 2x v. rare warp core engineers if you can afford it. the extra power boost is very nice. even though it's a 20% chance each, you're going to be running 4x emergency powers so it's very safe to assume it'll proc often. the added engine power will help you move faster and turn quicker, while the extra aux will help improve your hazard emitter abilities as well as increase the damage resistance debuff of your sensor scan. the shield and weapons benefit have already been covered ;]

    I don't think you can equip two of them. If I recall correctly, I tried to slot in two warp core engineers (white and purple) and it wouldn't let me.
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    ah ha. youre right. i was thinking about the battery one. good catch
  • tlamstriketlamstrike Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    The right equipment is only one part of it. You also have to become familiar with the tactics required of each STF and find players who communicate.

    Let me tell you a quick story, one time a power failure took two of my fleetmates out of a elite cure space run. What we had left was 1 escort, 1 carrier, and my sci ship with nothing but MKX common weapons. About 45 minutes later we beat it. We beat it because we knew the mission, and we communicated.

    Just about any build can blast its way though the Normal STFs. If you have never been through any STFs try each at least once and watch what happens, see what people do, and read the forums and tutorials on each STF.

    The best STF players are not necessarily the ones wit the best builds, they are the ones who know the STFs. Personally if your on my team I don't care what weapons or consoles you have as long as you know what to do and do it competently.
    My Romulan Liberated Borg character made it to Level 30 and beat the (old) Defense of New Romulus with the skill point bug. :D
  • zephael43zephael43 Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    OP updated to show current build. I do intend to try some different torpedo options (chroniton, tricobalt, hargh'peng), to see if I like them.
    xsharpex wrote: »
    remember, use 2 very rare conn officers that state they reduce the time for tactical team. NOT the other one that decreases time on evasive. with this, you should be a lot tankier.

    Yeah, I have the tac-team conn officers - only rare, not VR, but they still give me almost no downtime on tactical team. Thanks for the help with the keybind, too.
    xsharpex wrote: »
    i would also recommend getting 2x v. rare warp core engineers if you can afford it. the extra power boost is very nice. even though it's a 20% chance each, you're going to be running 4x emergency powers so it's very safe to assume it'll proc often. the added engine power will help you move faster and turn quicker, while the extra aux will help improve your hazard emitter abilities as well as increase the damage resistance debuff of your sensor scan. the shield and weapons benefit have already been covered ;]

    I've been putting that off since I already have a green one, but I ought to just buy one - either the Engineering 4 dilithium doff, or just one off the market.
    tlamstrike wrote: »
    The right equipment is only one part of it. You also have to become familiar with the tactics required of each STF and find players who communicate.

    I intend to read about all the STFs on the wiki - so I'm not going into them blind - and stick to normal STFs until I'm confident I can actually handle the elite ones.
  • edited November 2012
    This content has been removed.
  • xsharpexxsharpex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    lol. if you weren't a stinky fed, i'd take you under my wing. maybe when private queues are back, i'll run you through all the space stfs. until then, good luck, have fun and live on 3.
  • adamkafeiadamkafei Member Posts: 6,539 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Umm, rather than run 4 polarised tets, I'd recommend using a pair of fleets, just to squeeze that little bit more out of it
    ZiOfChe.png?1
  • sirokksirokk Member Posts: 990 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Great suggestions - I need to refine by Excelsior some more!

    Here's another keybind suggestion.

    I am currently running this keybind script from : http://hilbertguide.com/
    Scroll down to the Keybinds section. This script binds row 7 to the spacebar, so you load the slot 7 (while in space) and when you hit the spacebar, it cycles your BOff skills when you are firing.

    Hilberguide has a lot of other suggestions about PvP which might harden you a little more for PvE/STFs.

    Don't forget your power levels: To get the most weapon power but not neglect shields, etc. I will generally run Weapons 100%, Shields 50%, Engine 25%, Aux 25%, yes that's 200% total. If you still need more survivablity W:75%, S:75%, E:25%, A:25%.

    Regarding torpedo skills, generally, I only use Torpedo Spread when I am trying to de-spam.... if you do this next a cube, you will get some unwanted agro! HY Torpedo is generally best, it is only directed to your target. I will run with both but only use Spread when needed - if you have to choose pick HY Torpedo.

    Just my 2 cents.
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  • mandoknight89mandoknight89 Member Posts: 1,687 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    zephael43 wrote: »
    I intend to read about all the STFs on the wiki - so I'm not going into them blind - and stick to normal STFs until I'm confident I can actually handle the elite ones.
    If you've fully switched to the build that's in your OP, all you need is the experience to know how to not fail.
    sirokk wrote: »
    Don't forget your power levels: To get the most weapon power but not neglect shields, etc. I will generally run Weapons 100%, Shields 50%, Engine 25%, Aux 25%, yes that's 200% total. If you still need more survivablity W:75%, S:75%, E:25%, A:25%.

    I'd recommend having an offense preset and a defense preset. You'll usually use the former, but the latter will come into play for when you took a few bad hits and need to get out of Dodge... probably something like 25/75/50/50 (for get-out-of-Dodge speed mixed with improved hull heal) or 25/100/25/50 (if you're going to tank your way out of there).
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