Help me decide on a ship build

helixsunbringer

I was wondering if some people here could help me come up with some ideas for my three Captains (Science, Tactical, and Engineering Captain) as far as the type of ships, builds and other things that I should be building for them.

I am thinking that for my Science Captain, when I get her up to Vice Admiral I may want to set her up with the Vesta starship.

I was also thinking that for my Engineering Captain I want some type of Cruiser or Escort build, but I am not sure which would be optimal. I am thinking in favor of the Escort due to the extra survivability that is inherently granted to Escorts by equipping a Science Captain to them. However I am unsure if this is the best idea.

I do know however that when I fly an escort using my Tactical Captain it is incredibly fast to die and I really do not enjoy that. Which is why I have been considering using either a Vesta or other science vessel or a Cruiser with my Tactical Captain. The only thing is I cannot decide which would be the best option in that area. Any ideas?

I was hoping to get some STOAcademy builds as well as gear suggestions for each of these three captains, but I understand if people are reluctant to provide me with such things. My last attempt at such an effort was not very effective.

Please note however that with my Tactical Captain, out damaging an escort using a Cruiser is not necessarily the primary concern on my agenda. I am more interested in providing constant DOT (Damage over Time) instead of massive DPS (Damage per Second). But that is assuming I end up going with a Tactical Captain in a Cruiser.

reginamala78

Vesta is a good well-rounded ship for anyone. With its speed, shields, and universals, it can be an standard science or an attack ship or a support tank. Gets an A in science, but a B in everything else too.

If you do eng in an escort, I've seen fleetmates put engies into the Armitage, put on EPTS3, EPTW1, and some Damage Control doffs, and make the thing tank almost as hard as a cruiser. Alternately, you could do a cruiser beam-boat, and as an engineer even 8-beams becomes possible, doable in any cruiser from a cheap Mirror Cruiser to going all-in on a Regent or Tac Odyssey.

Tac can do a solid 6-beam cruiser, plus the Omega torpedo and cutting beam. Excelsior, Regent, or Odyssey work well since they can pack APO1. Of those three, the Odyssey is the most versatile and durable, Excelsior is the fastest and packs the most punch, with the Regent as a balance between them and probably the best tac-cruiser BOFF layout.

helixsunbringer

I have been playing around some with my Tactical Officer using my Fleet Defiant that I picked up a few days ago. The build I am currently using on it is as follows:

Fore Weapons:
1x Antiproton Dual Heavy Cannons Mk XII [Acc] [CrtH] [Borg]
2x Antiproton Dual Heavy Cannons Mk XI [CrtH] [Dmg]x2
1x Antiproton Dual Beam Bank Mk XI [Acc] [CrtH] [Borg]

Aft Weapons:
2x Antiproton Turrets Mk X [Acc] [CrtH] [Borg]
1x Quantum Mine Launcher Mk XI [Dmg]x2

Assimilated Deflector Array Mk XI
Assimilated Subtranswarp Engines Mk XI
M.A.C.O. Resiliant Shield Array Mk X

Consoles:
Eng: 2x Neutronium Alloy Mk XI, & 1x Monotanium Alloy Mk XI
Sci: 1x Field Generator Mk XI, & 1x Assimilated Module
Tac: 5x Antiproton Mag Regulator Mk XI

Bridge Officer Layout:
CMND TAC: TT1, CSV1, APO1, CRF3
LTCMD TAC: TT1, APB1, CSV2
ESN TAC: BAO1
LT ENG: EPTS1, ATSif1
Lt SCI: PH1, TSS2

Duty Officer Layout I am unsure of, and I still need to purchase a respec note so that I can get rid of my Threat Control on this character so that I am not drawing the massive amounts of fire from my enemies that I was on my Cruisers. But overall what does everyone think of my Escort build?

smokeybacon90

helixsunbringer wrote: »

But overall what does everyone think of my Escort build?

I reckon you'd benefit way more from a HE1 than PH1. It's especially useful against those nasty stacking Borg plasma burns, that can rip into your hull in seconds if you are not paying attention. It is also a team power, which is nice.

But aside from increasing some of the gear to Mk XII very rare, everything seems perfect to me.

helixsunbringer

smokeybacon90 wrote: »

I reckon you'd benefit way more from a HE1 than PH1. It's especially useful against those nasty stacking Borg plasma burns, that can rip into your hull in seconds if you are not paying attention. It is also a team power, which is nice.

But aside from increasing some of the gear to Mk XII very rare, everything seems perfect to me.

what I would like to do is increase everything to the Mk XII Fleet gear on this ship.

smokeybacon90

helixsunbringer wrote: »

what I would like to do is increase everything to the Mk XII Fleet gear on this ship.

Hmm I'd be wary with the fleet Antiprotons, even if you choose the CritH ones. I have those, and I think I would have been far better off with say Very Rare Mk XII Acc CritHx2, or something similar. But the Fleet weapons are way more affordable of course.

edit: by CritD I of course mean CritH

reginamala78

Seems a pretty solid setup (I agree with the HE1>PH1 comment though, particularly since you have APO for anti-tractor). I dunno if I'd bother upgrading from where you are now to Fleet Antiproton however; thats 60k dil to swap a CrtH proc for Dmg*3, which is a pretty expensive trade for a very minor improvement.

helixsunbringer

so then obtaining Mk XII purple Antiproton weaponry of the non-borg, non-fleet variety may be the best option I take it?

zahinder

Personally, 20k fleet credit and 10k dilithium is FAR easier to float than the 50+ million EC a purple MK XII antiproton is likely to cost you. Particularly turrets.

I've bought one DHC... [Acc] [Dmgx3]. It's a bit of an upgrade from MK XI [Borg] stuff... is the Dmg x3 really that awful?

helixsunbringer

zahinder wrote: »

Personally, 20k fleet credit and 10k dilithium is FAR easier to float than the 50+ million EC a purple MK XII antiproton is likely to cost you. Particularly turrets.

I've bought one DHC... [Acc] [Dmgx3]. It's a bit of an upgrade from MK XI [Borg] stuff... is the Dmg x3 really that awful?

I have to agree the fleet Mk XII gear is way cheaper than buying Mk XII gear on the exchange. Though if I could figure out how to get a complete set of Mk XII [Borg] gear I would just for the bonuses in STF's.

age03

The only thing I will is spec up your off right don't put your points in place where they won't be useless.It is doesn't matter what ship you use this is what makes the difference.

helixsunbringer

age03 wrote: »

The only thing I will is spec up your off right don't put your points in place where they won't be useless.It is doesn't matter what ship you use this is what makes the difference.

come again?

age03

helixsunbringer wrote: »

come again?

I would just concern yoursefl with your skill points as nothing else matters.

jadensecura

age03 wrote: »

I would just concern yoursefl with your skill points as nothing else matters.

That's an enormous exaggeration. Skill points are important, although for cruisers and escorts a single general purpose spec can do very well, it's really only for sci that you can't run everything you might need (mainly because you have to run most of the cruiser and escort stuff too). Either way, running the right skills, while valuable, generally has a smaller effect than running the right abilities and weapons. And in fact, when you have those the skills follow more or less automatically from them.

age03

jadensecura wrote: »

That's an enormous exaggeration. Skill points are important, although for cruisers and escorts a single general purpose spec can do very well, it's really only for sci that you can't run everything you might need (mainly because you have to run most of the cruiser and escort stuff too). Either way, running the right skills, while valuable, generally has a smaller effect than running the right abilities and weapons. And in fact, when you have those the skills follow more or less automatically from them.

I don't think so as for any RPG where you put your skill points counts to how good you are imgine if a tac specced in science or engineering.Their damage output would negible or an engineer speccing everything in Tac.

baudl

age03 wrote: »

I don't think so as for any RPG where you put your skill points counts to how good you are imgine if a tac specced in science or engineering.Their damage output would negible or an engineer speccing everything in Tac.

but jadensecura is right anyway. most successfull skill buids can be used by many shiptypes, because they focus more on the more general skills. That way you will lack specialized skills in the sci department, but in return have a balanced specced captain in all the other aspects.

And you BOFF abilitys have by far the greater impact on your performance. Just take TT for example. This ability alone increases your survivability on any ship by a factor of 5 or more.
CSV, FAW, TS, those abilitys are essential in any PVE content that involves multiple spawn waves of enemy ships.
HE, doing stfs without one is suicide.

sure your skilltree is important too, but since you basically have a certain list of prefered skills (which you skill allways regardless of class or ship) YOUR selection of BOFF abilitys is the real customization in STO. The skilltree in my opinion just boosts the abilitys you chose on your boffs, that is especially true for the science section in the skilltree.

so my advice for the OP: get set on a BOFF layout and shipsetup...then skill your captain to boost its strength. If you run omega set and tetryons, polarons you will probably want to skill flow capacitator for instance.

age03

Yes but this is still an rpg and where you put your skill points matters I kow I had to respec 3 times with my Tac and 2 times with my sci off as well as my kdf geer.they are far better now than they were before.

I considered both space and ground.

helixsunbringer

okay now that I have decided on a build for my Tactical Captain (Fleet Defiant Build), I want to work on a build for my Engineering Captain. Currently I have her flying the following build:

Skills and Bridge Officer Layout

Forward Weapons
1x Phaser Beam Array Mk XI [Dmg]x2
2x Phaser Beam Array Mk XI [CrtD]x2
1x Wide Angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher [Acc] [CrtH] [Arc]

Aft Weapons
4x Phaser Beam Array Mk XI [Dmg]x2

Positron Deflector Array Mk XI [PrtG] [Stl] [Gra]
Jem'Hadar Combat Impulse Engines Mk X
Covariant Shield Array Mk XI [Ap] [Cap]x2

Consoles
2x Neutronium Alloy Mk XI
2x SIF Generator Mk XI
Shield Emitter Amplifier Mk XI
Point Defense System
Chevron Seperation
Work Bees
Phaser Relay Mk XI
Aquarius Escort

I am not sure whether the Odyssey Console set is actually worth running on a heal boat, or whether it would be better to allocate those slots to different consoles that help increase the ships survivability and / or damage out put. Alternatively I am wondering whether it might not be better to switch to an entirely different type of vessel in the entirety such as the Fleet Excelsior or the Fleet Assault Cruiser (when it becomes available) as those provide a wider variety of Tactical Console slots and thereby a better damage output for a Heal Boat.

What does everyone think?