It's probably been asked before but... Would it be worth my removing the Fore and Aft Photon Torpedo Launchers in favour of another Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannon at the front and another Disruptor Turret at the back? Then I can put another Disruptor Induction Coil in. I've been chewing on the idea but I'm not sure about this. Thought I'd ask you knowledgeable forum folk about it

. I've only been playing for three-four months but my level's shot up and there's still so much I don't know!
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Some people buy Tier V ships and expect to automatically win. Other people buy Tier V ships and are Tier V pilots
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I'd definitely replace the aft torpedo: the BoP has the turn rate to keep the nose pointed to the enemy whenever you wish, pretty much.
As for the front, it's personal preference. I run 3 DHC's and a quantum on one of my BoP's, 4 DHC's on another, both of them tacs. *shrug* I even run one with 1 DBB, 3 DHC's and turrets, on my sci.
I do think that, generally, it's best to run as many energy-specific tac consoles as possible. Those torps hit hard anyway, once you start hitting hull
The only way to take all these speed tankers down is BO3 and THY3
The only way to do it in ESTF's is 4dhc 3 turrets
Disruptors are your main armament either way that's what should be tac console boosted
The way I do it anyway
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=558191 STF BoP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iRvljKGwjY STF Raptor. Please consider one.
I'll send you a mirror version. It's just far superior to the BoP for most PVE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YATZLqO0M50 PVP BoP
When you can get them Fleet AP is really where you need to be. They have the mods that you need. Once you hit AccOverflow you can't beat Crit Severity and Dam.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAAgaD-zbotq2By_2-8qqIg/featured There's the proof of the previous statement. When you only use one energy weapon shot, make it count.
Cheers! and mail me in game only if you want a mirror raptor.
Also, thank you sooo much guys adding the extra Coil and putting the two turrets in the back really made a noticeable difference! I love my BoP even more now
Also, try not to go too overboard with the acronyms, sometimes reading this place is like reading another language.
For as little as 600k (exchange fluctuates between 600k and 800k, I think), you can add a perfectly viable alternative.
The thing with the Qin is, it offers noticeably more firepower, but with reduced manoevrability. It's also sturdier (more hull & shields) but less flexible than a BoP, in terms of roles and bridge officer layouts, obviously, but also in terms of playing styles. While the BoP is the wildcard that can flit around the battlefield being unpredictable, the Raptor handles like a crossing between a Fed escort and a KDF Battlecruiser. Also, it has a regular cloak, not a battlecloak: once you engage, you're committed until one of you bursts or evasives out of range.
Other than that: it has a lot of tac slots with the bare minimum of self-healing options, but man, is it a beast.
I tend to run mine with something like:
Tac team 1, Cannon Rapid Fire 1, Attack Pattern Omega 2, Cannon Rapid Fire 3 (or with these last two reversed, or even TT1, CRF 1 & 2 and AP:Beta3, with AP:Omega2 in the other lt cmdr slot)
Tac team 1, Torp High Yield 2, Attack Pattern Beta 2
Tractor beam 1, Hazard Emitters 2
Emergency Power to Shields 1, Reverse Shield Polarity 1
Emergency Power to Shields 1
A very simple build, but it's effective, for sure.
If you go full on energy (4 Dual Heavy's and 3 turrets) or add a single torp up front, you should be able to tear through elite sphere faster than your BoP could, because of the extra (energy weapon) tac console and turret. You just won't be able to slot, say, a gravity well to get that sphere's friends to stick around for the warp core explosion.
Edit: Just to be clear: I'm not advocating a choice for either one of them, but rather for both of them. Fly both, depending on your mood. I find I prefer the Raptor when I just want to wreck stuff fast and hard, and fly my BoP's when I'm more awake and alert, and want to play with my prey...
I've found that adding the dual-beam to the front was very useful--it helps me to aim the cannons by giving a slightly larger cone of fire than the DHCs have, which lets me know when I'm close enough for the cannons to work. The ship is very squirrely with all the boosts, so I try to get it in position, throw it in reverse, and let the forwards go. The DBB is *very* helpful for this. It's also useful with Fire-at-will against a fighter squad, and also puts pretty good damage on shields. I actually find the torpedo to be the least useful, even with high-yield 3, it seems like I do more damage with a group of buffed DHCs than anything else. I am always thinking about changing it to another DHC, and I still might.
Like the man said above you never need to shoot out the rear with a BOP so put something else back there. Turret would be a good choice in PVP, but I like a mine better because they serve so many purposes. They are good for killing a wing of fighters, they will killl one then change course and kill another, sometimes 3-4 in one go, which saves me from having to shoot them myself. They are also good as flares/chaff against incoming torpedoes and mines--seriously, you can drop a mine on an incoming torp and the torp will go straight for it. Turrets are very weak, I would actually put a regular beam array back there over a 2nd turret, since I could still use it with broadsides and fire-at-will. I think turrets are over-rated. But, in PVP you want to come out of hiding and put out more damage than the target can heal through, and a beam firing sideways will give you zero extra damage on the front. A weak turret out the front is better than a strong beam that wont shoot forwards.
One question. Would you suggest to skill Gravition Generators to increase the effect of the tractor beam?
Ah, and btw. the last few days I tried to do the same thing with the fleet Hos'Sus as you did with the Norgh. I testes several setups, however, found it only effective if at least 3 tac buffs are up. Otherwise I could mostly not punch through the shields with BOIII. Often my THYIII also dealt not enough damage to destroy the target.
However, there are parts in your vid where you only used this both buffs to blow thing up. Could you maybe share your secret?
I'm also glad to see I'm not the only one who likes to run and gun backwards in the Hegh'ta.
Also, thanks to you guys I'm now the proud owner of a Mirror Raptor. Put it through it's PvP (cross faction) and STF paces. So far, I'm loving that too! It's heavier than I expected but that's great because it responds like I expect it to, rather than under or over steering
And I don't have points in graviton, but It couldn't hurt. Maybe it could make a TB 2 drop a targets def low enough to make it work.
All energy weps are still bound to my spacebar, and torpedoes are on number 3! Now you know my secret keys.
It would likely be better for me if I changed this set up. Basically there are 4 abilities I need to use in very short order once I decloak and I don't have them on easily reachable keys. By short order you can see its about three seconds. My layout hasn't evolved as my attacks have. It's still set up so I can activate wep buffs and then fire those weps with one hand, and fly using the mouse. And I normally don't dogfight all that much so that's not really a 'need to have'.
So yes, I do use keys, I do not leave autofire on nor do I use 'fire all weapons' as the attacks need to be timed.
Cheers and hope I answered the right question!
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