Making sure my assault cruiser is on the right path

hapievo

Hello all,

I haven't played in a bit, am coming back and have been reading through the forums to check out any changes. I wanted to make sure the build I found was still viable.

Pretty standard beam boat, I just wanted to see if there are any tweaks that might be needed due to any changes in the game or if any fine tuning is needed. My main concerns are the Sci and Eng consoles. I wanted to make sure I went the right route with them.

Thanks and my ship and skill load outs are below.

Engineering Captain in an Assault Cruiser:

Weapons Fore: 3 X Polarized Disruptor Beam Arrays, 1 X Quantum Torpedo
Weapons Aft: 3 X Polarized Disruptor Beam Arrays, 1 X Quantum Torpedo
Engine: Aegis
Shield: Aegis
Deflector: Aegis
Devices: Red Matter Capacitor, Subspace Field Modulator, Shield Battery, Weapon Battery
Tact Consoles: 3 X Disruptor Coil
Eng Consoles: 1 X Neutronium Armor, 2 X EPS, 1 X RCS
Sci Consoles: 2 X Field Generator

Boffs:
Lt Cmdr Eng: EPW1, RSP1, EPS3
Cmdr Eng: EPW1, ET2, EPS3, Aux to Struct 3
Esgn Tact: Torp Spread 1
Lt Tact: FAW 1, APB 1
Lt Sci: HE1, TSS 2

Skill Loadout Link:

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Excelsior_0#sthash.XRpEHJiQ.dpuf

westx211

You should drop the aegis set and get the maco set.

altechachan

What role are you trying to do with your Assault Cruiser?

Off the top of my head, I recommend trading in Torp Spread 1 for Tac Team 1. You don't have points in Projectile Weapons anyway, plus you can benefit more from shield power going to the shield getting hit.

You might want to swap the RCS for another Neutronium Armor. Everything else looks "okay".

As for the Aegis set, you can use that up to you start the Reputation System at lvl 50. Then you can start working your way up to getting the MACO set or the Assimilated Borg set. Have fun!

mandoknight89

EPS won't do anything unless you frequently switch weapons settings or fly into battle from Full Impulse. Weapon drain (excepting Beam Overload) isn't affected by EPS.

toiva

Drop the EPS consoles, they'd only help you if you were using beam oveloads. They don't help mitigate the regular weapon power drain. Instead, add another Neutronium and your choice of a universal console (say, the Assimilated module, or the Romulan module).

Then adding at least one Tac team should help you quite a bit. If you want to keep some torpedo damaging capacity, I'd get rid of AP Beta and get Tac Team 1 and Fire at Will 2 on that Boff.

tsurutafan01

I run dual tac teams on mine, with a Torpedo High Yield in the other tac slot. I know I'm a tank. I might as well put my skills towards being a very tanky tank. I don't feel much motivation to run other weapons skills personally.

I also run an Eject Warp Plasma 1, but that's mainly just personal flavor. Plus it came in uber handy when I was doing that Elite ETF Khitomer Vortex a lot, for keeping the probes under control. I think Science skills depend *a lot* on whether you are focusing on PvE or PvP, so I won't comment too much. I don't mind jam sensors as a Ensign skill, because it breaks Borg cubes tractor beaming me. But again depening on what you're doing mileage may vary.

I just use all my engineering consoles on armor. Boring? Yeah. But tank is tanky. I had an EPS conduit too but I'm not satisfied that it brings a whole bunch to the table.

My Science consoles are one of those Fleet Embassay Romulan threat control/shield boosting doohickeys, and the Borg Assimilated Module (I have both of the Borg space sets).

hapievo

Thanks for all the quick responses!

I actually posted the wrong link, I posted the link I found that I then tweaked a bit and thought it saved my changes. Sorry for any confusion but I had never used the STO skill planner before.

here's my actual link:
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=ASSAULTCRUISERSETUP_0

As to the role I wish to play, I'm trying to set it up to be able to dish out some damage while not getting blown up super easy and taking some heat of the squishier ships. Right now I only play PVE looking to maybe getting into STFs eventually but for now just playing around and completing the story missions and doing fleet actions like Starbase 24.

Thanks for the info about the EPS consoles. I do fly into combat from time to time at full impulse, however very rarely. I'll try it without those and grab another armor or 2 until I have a universal console that would be useful.

Did I see that correctly that the assimilated console is no longer available from the mission, only through the reputation system?

Regarding dropping APB: Is it better to give the damage buff to everyone with APB or to use TT1 for the shield rotation and damage buff? It seems like a no brainer to use TT1, but I thought APB would be more helpful to the whole party.

Regarding Torps: I do want to keep some torpedo damage as I find them very useful.

Maco or Borg sets may happen later on, but I haven't started with the reputation system just yet.

Sorry for the wall of text, just trying to respond to everyone

toiva

hapievo wrote: »

Thanks for all the quick responses!

I actually posted the wrong link, I posted the link I found that I then tweaked a bit and thought it saved my changes. Sorry for any confusion but I had never used the STO skill planner before.

here's my actual link:
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=ASSAULTCRUISERSETUP_0

As to the role I wish to play, I'm trying to set it up to be able to dish out some damage while not getting blown up super easy and taking some heat of the squishier ships. Right now I only play PVE looking to maybe getting into STFs eventually but for now just playing around and completing the story missions and doing fleet actions like Starbase 24.

Thanks for the info about the EPS consoles. I do fly into combat from time to time at full impulse, however very rarely. I'll try it without those and grab another armor or 2 until I have a universal console that would be useful.

Did I see that correctly that the assimilated console is no longer available from the mission, only through the reputation system?

Regarding dropping APB: Is it better to give the damage buff to everyone with APB or to use TT1 for the shield rotation and damage buff? It seems like a no brainer to use TT1, but I thought APB would be more helpful to the whole party.

Regarding Torps: I do want to keep some torpedo damage as I find them very useful.

Maco or Borg sets may happen later on, but I haven't started with the reputation system just yet.

Sorry for the wall of text, just trying to respond to everyone

If you are only playing through episode missions, there's no point in having AP Beta for helping the whole team's damage (and it's actually to your detriment in Fleet Actions).
While you may not need TT now (although it's sure always useful), you'll find it great when facing tougher enemies.

And yes, sadly the Borg Assimilated console is no longer obtainable through mission play.

smokeybacon90

You really do need a Tac Team, and because you can only have 1, you also need 2 or 3 blue or purple Conn Officers.

I suggest you drop some of your torpedo focus. Remove Torp Spread 1 and put Tac Team 1 there. Then replace your rear quantum with another beam, or better yet, the Kinetic Cutting Beam (only requires tier 1 Omega).

Your engi consoles need work. As people have pointed out, EPS is somewhat useless unless you run Aux2Batt. A single RCS console will have a negligible effect, especially on a cruiser. I suggest you replace all 3 of these with a mixture of Neutronium and Monotanium armour consoles. In the future, these engi slots will be your dumping ground for universal consoles like the Assimilated and Zero Point Conduit.

hapievo

Thanks for all the advice/help!

Just an update I have since dropped APB, and have that Boff now setup with TT1 and FAW2 as Toiva had suggested. Regarding my Eng consoles, I knew that this was something that needed work. I have since swapped one of the EPS for another Neutronium armor.

smokeybacon90 - you had suggested setting up the Eng consoles as a mix of Neutronium and Monotanium armors. How would you suggest splitting it? 50/50 or 3 X Neutronium and 1 X Monotanium? Also would this lead to diminishing returns on the armors?

How are the Sci consoles? Is 2 Field Generators the way to go or should I swap one for a shield regen console?

Regarding a 7th beam, I had been thinking of picking one up and also had my eye set on the kinetic cutting beam once I get started with the reputation system.

I had been thinking of picking up the assault refit if they ever have a ship sale again. What has been the opinion on the Wide Angle Quantum Launcher?

jornado

The wide angle launcher is almost a must have on cruisers IMO....adds a lot of punch to your broadsides, since it allows you to hit with torps while still keeping 7 beams on target.

smokeybacon90

Wide Angle is fantastic, I don't use anything else on Cruisers. Plus, getting the Regent will pave the way for the Imperial for only one fleet module (plus the shipyard access), which is possibly the best cruiser for feds.

jaeph

Regarding the Assault Cruiser refit, aside from the modules, what sets it apart from the mirror assault? I have the latter, and I've been studying the wiki and I really don't see much of a difference. A slight shuffling of BO slots and power, and that's about it.

Did I miss something?

thejosephine

Mirror Assault Cruiser has 200 more crew. And uses the Star Cruiser appearance.

http://www.stowiki.org/Mirror_Universe_Assault_Cruiser

jaeph

What I'm seeing is that there's no substantial reason to spend real dollars on a ship that's virtually identical to one that's cheap on the exchange, unless (as you point out), looks are an issue.

Thanks,

-Jeff

hapievo

smokeybacon90 - that's where my line of thinking was as well, using it as a stepping stone to get the Fleet version (when my fleet gets to tier 5 that is) and for the Wide Angle Launcher.

As far as Sci consoles are concerned, are their consoles that I should be using other than the Field Generators?

thanks!

jaeph

+20 power is +20 power. I'll just move the sliders around.

Trading lt. cmdr this for lt. cmdr that (etc) is just shuffling things around unless you have a very specific purpose in mind. Granted, a universal is better than a sci-slot, but on a ship with 2 tac and 2 eng a sci slot is not a bad choice.

Basically, it boils down to the consoles and looks. Everybody swears by the wide torps, but i'm not sure that's worth 2500 to me.

-Jeff

toiva

hapievo wrote: »

smokeybacon90 - that's where my line of thinking was as well, using it as a stepping stone to get the Fleet version (when my fleet gets to tier 5 that is) and for the Wide Angle Launcher.

As far as Sci consoles are concerned, are their consoles that I should be using other than the Field Generators?

thanks!

The Field gens are very much fine (also are they the most expensive sci consoles, afaik). If you really wanted to test stuff out, I guess you could get one shield regen console (+ to natural shield regen) or the Shield emitter console (+ to any shield heals you use).

I've stayed with the Field generators so far, personally

As far as "torp/wide arc torp/no torp" disscussions go, I've been lately having success with no torp at all and using the kinetic Cutting beam in its place. While it's also draining wep power (unlike torps, hence one reason for their usage on a beamboat), the proc you get while using it with another piece of its Adapted omega set (including the Assimilated console) offsets that drain better than I previously thought.

Also, even though the Wide arc quantum can be fired from broadsides, it can't, like the Cutting beam, be fired everywhere around your ship. Sometimes it just helps to have this fifth weapon on a target if you're just flying towards it (or run from it and have it in a forward slot).

Still, if you prefer having a torp, the Wide arc quantum is the one to use on a (broadsiding) cruiser, I still keep it on some builds.