Vesta help?

tcostik

Hi everyone

As the title says, I'm looking for some help with my Vesta (Recon Explorer.) First, let me give you a little background. I'm a tac captain, who has been flying a HEC for around six months, and as of a week ago, a FHEC. I love my HEC, but lately I've been itching to fly something new. I talked with some fleet mates, looked at some threads, and decided on a Vesta. I already have an engineer ship (Galor,) but a sci ship is something completely new to me. Add in the fact that it can launch fighters, and most of the threads/opinions I've seen about it were good, and I was sold.

However, I end up dying a lot. I die 3-4 times in an average STF, whereas in my HEC, I average maybe 1 time, and a lot of times, none at all. I want to love this ship, and so far I'm having fun in it, but I can't help but feel like I'm doing something wrong. I could really use a build critique, and hopefully, someone to point out where I'm going wrong, and what I should fix. I'm pretty happy with the damage this puts out, so I won't concentrate too much on that.

2x Aux DHC's/1 Phaser DBB.
3x Phaser turrets

Elite Fleet Axion Deflector [Flow] [Ins] [Eng] [SciCdr]
Adapted MACO Shield
Adapted MACO Engines

2x MK XI Neutronium consoles (rare)

1x MK XI Field Gen (rare)
Particle Generators Mk XII [HuH] [-Th]
Graviton Generator Mk XII [-Th] [Pla]
Flow Capacitor Mk XII [ShH] [-Th]

3x MK XI Phaser Relay (rare)
Quantum Field Focus Controller

Tac stations:

1 TT, FAW2
1 TT, APB1, CRF2

Eng stations:

EPtS1, EPtW2

Sci stations:

Polarize Hull
TSS1, HE2, Energy Siphon 2, GW3

Boffs: 2x Efficient Saurians, 1x Borg engineer, 2x humans.

So what am I doing wrong? I've heard people talk about how OP this ship is, and how it can tank everything, but I just don't see it with my setup. Any ideas?

And, I lost my ship build on STOAcademy when they last updated. I have a health mix in all of the various subsystems, as well as in warp core potential, efficiency, and the various resists.

tcostik

reyan01 wrote: »

Well, first piece of advice that I would offer would be to unequip the fore DBB. You're using two of the Vesta's Aux cannons, which benefit from aux power, which the DBB (obviously) doesn't - the DBB will be working off reduced weapons power and therefore less effective. You'd be better off ditching the DBB and fitting a third Aux cannon or a torpedo launcher. I use three Aux cannons fore, two MkXII photon torpedo launchers aft (due to their very low cooldown) and one phaser beam array so that I am still able to utilise sub-system targeting.

I'd also recommend a power insulator, since you say that you're being defeated in STF's - one of the Borg's favorite tricks is shield draining, against which power insulators provide some protection. I have two MkXII Embassay Power Insulator consoles and find them to be pretty effective.

As for the rest of the setup - I've leave that to those who know better than I!

Thanks for the reply. One of the first things I did when I got this ship was dismiss it and reclaim it twice, so I have three aux cannons. One's just sitting in my inventory at the moment. The reason I have the DBB on the front instead of a beam bank on the back is this: It lets me use FAW2 instead of SV1, and lets me use subsystem targeting while keeping my sci powers in arc. If I had a beam in the back, I'd have to use a sci power, then swing around (or vice versa.) I've also taken my weapons into consideration when setting my power levels.

I'll definitely think about adding in a power insulator. I know it'd help with their tachyon beam, but I've never ran power insulators before, and it really hasn't been that much of an issue for me. Usually I just pop TT, and move out of range. If it's a really bad hit I'll also pop EPtS, or TSS.

duneytron2000

A lot of this build looks pretty good. I've been flying the Vesta for about a month now and have gotten to the point where I feel quite rugged in it. I hesitate to say that the following information is a "suggestion" of any kind, but I can tell you how my build differs from yours.

Engine/Shield/Deflector
Currently running the MACO shield with assimilated deflector/engine. I was pretty decent with all MACO too, so I'm not entirely convinced that the autonomous regeneration sequencer is a huge piece (it usually averages about 50hps during an stf), but it might be helping a bit. Your consoles may provide this for you anyway. One of the reasons I like the MACO shield is that it's only 5% bleedthrough and our hull is flimsy.

Consoles
I use both omega and zero-point consoles, giving me the plasma conductive circuitry and omega weapon amplifier set bonuses, as well as +12.2 assorted system power, etc.

I don't have any embassy consoles, so I'm using 3x field generator mk xi (rare) science consoles instead.

I'm only using 2x phaser relays.

Weapons
I decided to ditch beams entirely. I'm using 2x aux cannon + hyper plasma fore, 2x turret + cutting beam aft. Sucks to give up beam target subsystems, but my ability to cut things down seems much improved with torpedos as opposed to beams.

BOFF Abilities
Offensively, I run APO1, CSV1, HY1, TS2.

I use Aux2sif in my Lt Eng slot, and instead of taking a second TT1, I run EPtA.

I used to run Energy Siphon 2 just like your build, but I decided I wasn't getting enough mileage out of it and have been experimenting with replacements for it. Right now I'm using Photonic Officer II for fun, which actually is pretty good when you need to hold up under sustained fire from a tac cube or something. I was fine with ES2 though, so I wouldn't necessarily swap that out.

Power Levels
W: 95/75
S: 52/25
E: 52/25
A: 105/75

When I use epta, I hit 125 aux for maximum QFFCing / dps with cannons. I basically use EPtA on auto fire when I don't need EPtS.

Duty Officers
I use a Warp Core Engineer duty officer, which gives both EPtS and EPtA a 20% chance of boosting all power levels by +20 (I only have a rare right now).
I have a VR tac team reduction, VR aftershock gravity well, and rare time reduction on evasive maneuvers and recharge torpedos.

Reputation Abilities
I chose fairly defensively with my reputation picks. I took Precision (crit chance), but otherwise I have Emergency Secondary Shielding, Hull-Repairing Nanites, and Superior Shield Repair.

Play Style
EPtS and TSS both improve shield resist, and Aux2sif and HE both improve hull resist. Because the Vesta has so little hull strength, I find it important to use these all proactively to keep shield resists up when damage comes in so your shields don't drop before kinetic projectiles hit, and if you do get hit, so your bleedthrough doesn't kill the hull too quickly.

Other
I'm a sci officer, so I do get Scattering Field III and Science Fleet II as stop gaps if things start to get hairy. I'm also experimenting with going down to 1 Neutronium and 2 Field generators in order to run all 3 vesta consoles. Not sure if it's worth it and may not be relevant to you.

I also usually tell my hangar ships to operate in intercept mode. I think this makes them prioritize other fighters and destructible torpedos, which I imagine makes a small improvement to my lifespan as well.

All in all, the Vesta has proven to be one of my favorite ships. I frequently dish out over 5k dps on elite stfs and feel like all my heals and control powers are much more effective than they are in an escort. I can keep other people on the team alive and get to push a lot of buttons during combat, which makes me feel proactive. :P

Good luck!

ferdzso0

here is my thread for a DPS Vesta

if you wanna run with aux power high, just put on the auxDHCs fore (3 of them) and turrets in the back. get APO instead of APB, lose the polarize hull for another HE1. also change the EPTW2 for a RSP1, and you will survive forever with high enough aux, and the well timing of your TSS HE GW combos (plus keeping your pets on intercept if you dont want to run 2 grav wells might help keeping away torps)

if you want a beam build, I have one in the works too, but I only reached 9,8k DPS on it, so I will have to keep working for the 10k dps, and until then I am hesitant to post it

tcostik

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. So far I've changed:

Switched back to 3 Aux DHC's, and am now using RF2/SV1
Switched to MACO Deflector and Engines.
Dropped EPtW, and replaced it with Aux2Struct1.

I'm surviving a lot more with this setup, though I still have to figure out what to do with rear weapons.

jcsww

Although my Captain flying the Vesta is a Sci. The build has also been used on one of my Tac's when getting bored of my Defiant that doesn't die very easily. The setup is fairly simple but requires some finess to get the most out of.

Fore: 3x Aux DHC's
Aft: 2x Quantum Mine Launcher Mk XII (purple), Tractor Mine (the Reman mission reward)
Hangar: Runabouts (the ones it comes with)

Simply, tractors hold your target in place while you assault them with CRF1, APB2, and the Focus Phaser. if you are close enough, TRIBBLE out a few nasty mines to leave on their doorstep and things dying aren't a problem at all. GW3, HE3, HE2, and TSS1 encure the ship will survive. EPtA and RSP1 also help when needed. If you prefer, Tyken's Rift 3 is a great alternatuve to Gravity Well 3. This allows you to max aux, minimize weapons, keep your shields strong, and add a little extra to engines to help maneuver better. I use the Borg set; Deflector, Engine, and shield.

ferdzso0

tcostik wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. So far I've changed:

Switched back to 3 Aux DHC's, and am now using RF2/SV1
Switched to MACO Deflector and Engines.
Dropped EPtW, and replaced it with Aux2Struct1.

I'm surviving a lot more with this setup, though I still have to figure out what to do with rear weapons.

maco shield with borg engine and deflector will give you really good tanking, thx to the healing (it might not look nice on paper, but if you parse a game with or without the borg healing bonus, you will understand).
also if you are using the adapted maco shields, change them to the normal ones, on paper they should give you more tanking. however if you use the normal ones, the adapted maco shields might feel like they are giving you more tanking (for me that was the case, but as I am maximizing dps, I cant sacrafice the normal maco shields)

for rear weaps just use turrets and if you use some shield debuffs then the borg kcb. use max aux and max weapon power (the ideal would be 100-125, but if you get your weapons power to 75 while aux is at 125, you will not lose that much dps - well around 1-2k compared to a normal weapon setup, lol)