MVAM escort any good?

matchstick606

first off i'm using a tac toon, i already have the fleet patrol escort and right now im running in my steamrunner. I only use beam/connons (no torps) and for the most part love the steamrunner to death. So i just wanted to know if the MVAM is any good or wil it be a step back from what im running? any feedback is welcome

mandoknight89

It's different. If you like the engineering abilities from the Steamrunner and Patrol Escort, forget it. However, the LTCDR Sci slot gives it an upper hand in some situations, and the Fleet Advanced Escort (which uses the same Boff seating) gets a 5th Tactical console, much like the Fleet Defiant.

reginamala78

Also, instead of the MVAM you could pick up the Chel Grett from the Winter Event for free (just run some icy laps). Same BOFF layout except for the ensign is universal instead of a third tac. Chel has more weapons, better hull, better shields, an extra console slot, and power drain console of some kind. MVAM has a 2-degree better turning though, and the multi-vector console.

matchstick606

reginamala78 wrote: »

Also, instead of the MVAM you could pick up the Chel Grett from the Winter Event for free (just run some icy laps). Same BOFF layout except for the ensign is universal instead of a third tac. Chel has more weapons, better hull, better shields, an extra console slot, and power drain console of some kind. MVAM has a 2-degree better turning though, and the multi-vector console.

i do, infact im counting the days. also to mandoknight89, i do like the engineering abilities and was part of my concern. thanks for the info you may have saved me some money

shar487a

The Advanced Escort or MVAM are better dog-fighters than the patrol escort and even the Defiant. Since the other two ship classes lack a 3rd sci-BO slot, they will always be vulnerable to one of these listed abilities: subnucleonic beam, tractor beams, plasma fire and other DoT hazards -- all of these are quite common in PvP.

With the MVAM console, the Beta Vector section is the fastest, most maneuverable ship in the game. Although it loses hull point while separated, it still packs a considerable punch.

The only reason I stopped using my MVAM was because I picked up a Mobius Destroyer + Wells time ship with all the temporal goodies.

red01999

The MVAE is not my particular cup of tea.

The "gimmick" - separation into three parts - has been fairly successful for me, but not others; however, it's basically what I consider the most science-y of the Federation escorts. While this means it can pull off some clever tricks, it also doesn't have the support of simple durability you get from engineering and it doesn't have the Lt. Cmdr tactical slot, which can hurt, especially if you like to rotate CRF2 between two BOffs.

One thing to note about the separation is that the other components seem like they're smarter than at least my Odyssey pets, and they seem generally more effective. This does come with a major caveat, though - the cooldown penalties are extremely painful. Although you have three different modes to choose from with only minor cooldown overlap, it means that you can't use the same one for something like 10-15 minutes after you re-merge. You're also going to have to keep an eye on the pets to see when they're disabled, because the cooldown timer only starts once you re-merge, and once disabled the components are useless until then. You must always manually re-merge; so far as I know it's only done automatically if you warp out of an area.

I have heard that some prefer to simply rip out the separation console and stick it on an ordinary AE, and apparently do well, but I don't have a regular AE so I can't say either way. My personal experience is that the MVAE is a lot slower than a Defiant, and tends to be more frail. That said, I may give it another chance sometime in the future, and I admittedly have only minor experience with most aspects of the Science career, including its BOff powers.

That said, it seems that the favoritism towards the MVAE has gone away with the introduction of the Heavy Escort Carrier. The Steamrunner also gives it a run for its money, but its exceptionally poor handling of science abilities does leave it vulnerable to a lot of special attacks.

The Defiant-R seems to be the best for raw tactical power, because of its abundance of BOff tac slots, although the tactical ensign may be a bit redundant.

In any case, it's a viable ship, but as with most things on STO, a lot of it depends on your playstyle.

shar487a

red01999 wrote: »

...<SNIP>...

I have heard that some prefer to simply rip out the separation console and stick it on an ordinary AE, and apparently do well, but I don't have a regular AE so I can't say either way. My personal experience is that the MVAE is a lot slower than a Defiant, and tends to be more frail. That said, I may give it another chance sometime in the future, and I admittedly have only minor experience with most aspects of the Science career, including its BOff powers.

That said, it seems that the favoritism towards the MVAE has gone away with the introduction of the Heavy Escort Carrier. The Steamrunner also gives it a run for its money, but its exceptionally poor handling of science abilities does leave it vulnerable to a lot of special attacks.

The Defiant-R seems to be the best for raw tactical power, because of its abundance of BOff tac slots, although the tactical ensign may be a bit redundant.

In any case, it's a viable ship, but as with most things on STO, a lot of it depends on your playstyle.

I've dueled plenty of Defiants in my AE + MVAM console. I won the majority of the fights despite having a slower base turn rate because Defiants are vulnerable to tractor beams, Engine subsystem disables, and other tricks that reduce or cripple their movement. Given their over-agressive BOFF layout, Defiants frequently lack BO abilities to counter paralysis tactics, leaving them in the same boat as the original Defiant in the Battle of Chin'Toka.

shimmerless

Tanking well is about awareness and skill rotations, honestly if you're looking for an innately beefy ship don't get into an escort. The Chel Grett gives up too many of MVAM's advantages to make it competitive, in my opinion.

MVAM (the ship, not the console) is really a team ship at heart, although with Lady Luck on your side you can slot VM or something and get a lethal proc off in a dog fight. You can also shield tank by slotting two gens (or a gen and an emitter if your spec isn't able to fill the space) and then taking TSS2 and TSS3, with a tractor for the Ensign.

She's by far my favorite ship in the game but she isn't easy to fly. You're very dependent on Beta and overwhelming speed is your best friend as well as your Achilles' heel.

loading159

while this is an old thread, I feel I must respond because the multi vector advanced escort is my favorite ship.

as stated above the ship does come with a lieutenant commander science bridge officer slot.
this slot is what makes the ship unique, and helps give you a slight advantage.
it lets you survive longer, hold enemies, or remove shields more quickly.

I use three things in the ltc science boff slot.
transfer shield strength 3
tractor beam 3
mask energy signature 3

I find that most players are extremely surprised when a MVAE "decloaks" behind them and destroys them in seconds. However, after the first or second surprise, the trick is up, then I switch to transfer shield strength 3 or tractor beam 3.

transfer shield strength 3, I use this when I know the enemy team is prepared. or when I know my team needs support.

tractor beam 3, when used with a tractor beam duty officer is awesome. Also, if used correctly it is deadly to anyone that gets cought in my front fireing arc. nearly an instant kill.

currently I am running dual tractor beams on my ship.
equip the borg cutting beam array aft, when used with the FULL BORG SET it will buff your BORG tractor beam ONLY to deal extra hull explosive decompression damage when the tractor beam is used.

i suggest using tractor beam 3 first, because it will drain shields faster. then the borg tractor beam, because it will deal more hulll damage.

last, it does have a downside. when you get attacked by a science ship, it is extremely unfavorable to stay in front of them. so run like your beeing chased by a gorn, hide behind a rock, subspace jump and tractor that ship untill its crushed!

lasonio

Hmm I find this a bit perplexing if you ask me.

if you're using all your sci slots to get something luke tractor beam how is this ship better then the Fleet patrol escort? or even the patrol escort?

with that eng slot you can have emergency power to sheilds for more defense or EPtW for more damage output.

And to talented players aren't tractor beas useless in pvp unless you are playing a person parading around in an elite build. In pvp I have never been held in a tractor beam, ever, with Evasive maneuvers Regen every 26 seconds and APO it's just never been a factor,

And since players spam DoT skills or key bind them you only really need to waitt 4-5 seconds after receiving your first bug to HE all of it and never miss a beat.

It's like people forget the basic skills when it comes to builds with Doffs and such your captain skills become op in seconds flat. Literally if I had the income I would show the world just how powerful alot of the ship builds I design and the functions of them work.

The MVAE while a good ship is weak to the build that most players in this game call weak because they compare it to their DH's and it does not seem to come close and that's the BfaW Escort. With so many people romancing their canons because it makes them feel superior because of the damage they get ships like this. They get them and lose to other cookie cutter ships of the same class.

loading159

lasonio wrote: »

Hmm I find this a bit perplexing if you ask me.
if you're using all your sci slots to get something luke tractor beam how is this ship better then the Fleet patrol escort? or even the patrol escort?

with that eng slot you can have emergency power to sheilds for more defense or EPtW for more damage output.

It's like people forget the basic skills when it comes to builds with Doffs and such your captain skills become op in seconds flat. Literally if I had the income I would show the world just how powerful alot of the ship builds I design and the functions of them work.

i feel like this person just called me a noob. but eh.

usually i find that tractor beam is effective, not all the time but sometimes.

also, I would like to see one of your builds. (directed to lasonio) im always looking to improve my ship

lasonio

Of course their is nothing greater in this game then designing, discussing and making builds.

It's gotta be the only thing anyone should really want to talk about pro's and cons skills and such.

But if I kinda made you feel weird about the tractor beams my bad, that wasn't the case, I think it would have been better to say that with skills like omega and evasive then tractor beams become moot and should be used on another effective skill that can't be easily debuffed