Help me overthink my first C-Store purchase

catbadger

Hello there,

I'm a relatively new player (only one toon to 50 so far) and have been grinding away at Omega diligently since finishing up the Dominion front via STFs. I've been using the cheap and cheerful Mirror Patrol Escort, configured via this excellent thread over on Reddit, but with the approach of M.A.C.O. gear I'm getting kind of tired of looking at it.

I'm a tactical captain that has flown escorts (minus a dabble in the Constitution at Lt.Cmdr and the RSV for funsies at RA) but I'm not necessarily married to them, and am somewhat intrigued by the idea of an "escort cruiser" type build featuring high turn rate and single cannons. Not really feeling the T5 defiant as it seems a bit too "forsake all for DPS" for my tastes, and the MVAE seems a bit gimmicky.

My current front runners (though I'm open to other suggestions) are:

Heavy Escort Carrier - Loved the look and the handling of my Norway, and it would seem to be the safest bet for a Tac as it's the only escort on my list. The hangar bay is super cool, love the idea of flying a fast carrier, but I'm a bit worried about the expense of equipping it with purple fighters / danubes. Additionally, could anyone give me a fair approximation of how much micro is involved in controlling the little buggers? I play with a 360 gamepad so buttons are at a premium.

Assault Cruiser Refit - Sleek and deadly looking, not quite deal-breaking turn rate, amusing explosive gas power, and the ability to fall back on the lovely Sovereign skin. What really does it for me here though is the 180 degree launcher as I'm in love with Torp Spread III. Is this like the Oddy console, or can it be put on other ships?

Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit - This one is here for its' pure hipster factor, as I almost never see people flying around in them; coincidentally it also seems to be the fastest turning T5 cruiser, and I've heard of people building them in to a fearsome platform for single cannons and Beam Overload 3. I do a bit of RP so might have to get creative as to why a late-23rd century ship is still tactically viable, but that's not necessarily a downside.

Wow, overthink is the key word here. Guess I'm just not used to the idea of spending real $$$ for pixels, and want to make sure I get the most effective pixels possible. Well, leave your thoughts (even if you just TL;DR and grabbed the broad strokes).

trhrangerxml

Assualt Cruiser and Advanced Cruisers turn rates are a non-issue, both are insanely good and their Lt.Cmdr. Tac slots make them deadly. Forget TS3, think TT1, FAW2 and APB2 with DEM, look at some of the creative power solutions people have come up with. Both ships are even tankable as a tac, especially with some of the traits from the Rep systems. If you want more heals go with the Advanced, if you want more aggressive dps then go with the Assault. The HEC is just all around fun and can be tankable with shield reinforcement drones, nasty DPS with Elite Scorpies or crowd control with Runabouts. If you have 2 torp spreads on the HEC you can do an insane torp bloom of death by chaining TS>>Torp Point Defense>>TS. All three give you a discount on 3 of the most awesome Fleet ships out there.

darklordkd

I was a multi-vector pilot til the HEC came out. im using the dilit store P fighters on it til my fleet opens up the next tier. wish i could tho adv orian slavers on it (they steal thing from npc ec and contraband) and the torp point def has saved the day in STF on the probes

Unknown

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reginamala78

As your first purchase, the Assault Cruiser Refit seems the best all-rounder. The Armitage can be a truly nasty piece of work but isn't that different from your patrol escort (aside from the hangar obviously, but thats more a supplemental bonus than a playstyle-changer), and would be mostly just a refinement of what you're already doing. A combat cruiser would let you try out something different while still putting out decent damage, and between the two I prefer the ACR's boff layout and wide torpedo over the Excelsior's slight turning advantage, though both are solid ships.

starsword1989

My first c-store ship is Assault Cruiser Refit, and I think it is one of the easiest ship to play with. The 180 degree Quantum torpedo is just a sweet weapon to work with beam boats.

However, before you decide to settle on a cruiser, I'd recommend you to buy a mirror star cruiser/ assault cruiser off the exchange to try it out first. Personally I grew tired of playing beam boat after 3 months, before switching to try out Escorts and Sciences. As you are a used to playing Escorts I'm afraid you might find it boring after awhile too. (Having said that I must admit that Cruisers are the easiest to play in both PVP and PVE)

The Armitage on the other hand is very flexible. The variety of hangar bays you can possess just makes it very interesting to play around with, to the extent you could have entirely different set ups for different missions (eg. DPS- Perregrine Fighters/Scorpion Fighters, Tank- Shield repair units, PVP or Khitomer Space Accord dealing with probes- Danube Runabouts/Yellowstone Runabouts).

By the way it was actually the aesthetics that got me buying the Regent Class in the first place. I loved the look, especially after the new patch. So IMHO given that you have a preference in Armitage in terms of looks, plus overall enjoyment-for-the-money I would suggest Armitage.

age03

I would go with the Armitage or the Refit Defiant (cloak) and get the omega gear especialy shields they regen a lot faster than others.

erhardgrund

If youre into Cruisers that can do nasty dps id recommend the Regent Class.
Its not as cumbersome as the Odyssey or the galaxy Variants and it has the Boff Seating and console slots to make it a heavy hitter, especialy when facing multiple enemies at once.
Its also an investment that gets you one of the best weapons ingame. The wide angle Quantum torpedo launcher.
No matter wether you stay with that ship or later change to another cruiser, that launcher is endlessly usefull for broadsiding ships.
The Metreon Gas console is more of a fun gimmik but it casn do quite some damage, but there are more usefull consoles out there.
Not to mention the Regent will get you a discount on the Fleet Assault cruiser wich is probably the best/ only chalanged by the Fleet Advanced Heavy Cruiser (Excelsior) / in the game.

The Excelsior is a wondefull ship as well and the built in transwarp is alot of fun especialy when combined with a Transwarp Doff, the Transwarp computer console and a Warpcore that shortens the cooldown fortranswarp.
In combat the ship is excellent. Nimble for a fed cruiser, good hull and shields an a usefull boff seating. It probably has the best boff layout for Aux to Bat build without loosing much of its tankiness and team heal abilities like the Regent / Sovereign tends to do depending on wich Boff abilities you use.
For a first purchase i think youll get more out of the Regent.

The Armitage is a different Ballgame alltogether but its a very very powerfull ship indeed. If you want to stay with Escorts take the Armitage. It suits itself for Torpedoes like jno other ship in the game. load it with photons TS3, THY2 , APB and youll have a nice sship smasher. Of c#ause when outfitted with cannons youl outto any cruiser in sheer dps at least against singe targets. Its not as robust as a cruiser but quite tanky for an Escort.
Its somewhere in between to a degree and ive seen alot of builds for it. Wether its loaded as a torpedo boat or a beam/torpedo
Firesupport ship or loaded with cannons in a classical Escort way , its powerfull and an Escort that can effectivly do crowd control unlike most other Escorts.
If you cant decide between all three of those ships id suggest the Armitage it can to some extend do stuff cruisers do Or be your typical bread and butter escort.
Its the most flexible Ship of the pack imho. The console is realy good when combined with addidtional photons and torpedo consoles. however its only usable on the armitage and the akira type ships like the thunderchild and the Fleet heavy Escort Carrier - wich is a very serious ship indeed. And the Armitage grants you discount on that ship.

My choice would still be the Regent. Mostly because of the launcher.

avengerkid1993

If you want firepower: go kumari

If you want firepower and survivability: go charal
I don't like Khyzon, but i heard it is good too.

If you want the best PVP ship: go Armitage

If you want fun: go Vesta

If you want support: go Assault Cruiser

variant37

Any of the 3 you named are fine choices, I'd think you'll be happy no matter which of these you pick.

One additional factor to take into account if you're considering eventually upgrading to the Fleet version of your purchase is that the Fleet Excelsior is available from a T3 shipyard, while the other two require T5. That may be of no concern to you but I wanted to point it out.

stofsk

Of the choices you've presented, I'd buy the Regent (or Sovvie-refit I prefer to think of it). It has a slightly better boff arrangement than the Excelsior-retrofit, and from an RP/lore viewpoint it makes 'more sense' than flying the Excelsior. I've got both ships and I prefer the Sovvie for looks and effectiveness. I'm slowly working up the resources to go for a Aux2Batt build. And I can't wait for my fleet to hit T5, but that'll be awhile away.

projectfrontier

catbadger wrote: »

Hello there,

My current front runners (though I'm open to other suggestions) are:

Heavy Escort Carrier -
Assault Cruiser Refit -
Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit

From this list, the HEC; ACR/AHCR are practically the same ship and from my own experience, kinda boring. HEC with proper EPTX doffs gives you the same EPTX cycling opportunity + pets + the escort power you're already used to.

That in mind if you have the zen the vesta pack is the science version and those ships can be setup to EPTX+Aux-2-batt cycle which lets you take CRF/SV1 and use it as you would normally on a ship with more tactical slots.

Of course there is also the ARVR for a "science cruiser" and D'kyr if you want "an extra shuttle."

catbadger

Thanks to everyone for the prompt replies!

Though the Excelsior will always hold a special place in my heart, based on feedback I don't think it makes a ton of sense as a first ship. I'd much rather get her when I can afford to kit the old girl out with a proper Aux2Batt build and some shiny toys like, oh, say, a wide angle torpedo launcher.

Ditto for the Vesta, though I must admit that I've drooled over her smooth lines and bad@$$ deflector phaser o' doom. One to come back to, for certain.

I think I shall make myself wait until next payday so that I can grab a few more BOff slots as well to make trying on a beam build less cataclysmic to the roster, and in the meanwhile I shall take the excellent suggestion of purchasing a mirror cruiser to see how I like their flying characteristics.

One more general question: is a cannon build on the Regent viable? I've heard a lot of conflicting information.

trhrangerxml

Its viable, but with Aux3Batt and DEM, you are just way more effective 360 degree with beam arrays. Use Romulan beams for Disruptor and Plasma dots or just use Disruptor, both good for single PvE or supporting a team by debuffing all targets. Disruptor Breach + APB + Plasma dot + BFAW + Aux2Batt + TT1 + DEM = CHAOS! Get some technicians and DEM doffs for effect and CD reduction and use Ep2S/Ep2W for sustained fire/survivable. Throw in TS1 on the ensign Tac slot for NPC pet mobs.

EDIT: Be cautious of the Vesta, personally love it, but it is not a ship for everyone. It is very complex with all its abilities and that can be a major turn off. In fact, it has more abilities than can be effectively slotted.

sangrine

I went from a mirror patrol escort to a D'kora (with 3 piece omega space set) for my engineer.

D'kora tactical station only supports up to cannon level 2 and there are only 3 tac consoles. However, it does have 4 rear weapons and a battle mode. Turning is a little sluggish but thanks to the new warp cores, I was able to increase engine power from 53 to 69, which is very nice, although I still want more engine power. If you want an escort which can also tank, take a look at the D'kora.

torvinecho25

If you want an escort cruiser, get the Fleet Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit (Fleet Excelsior); it holds the speed of the normal Excelsior, but has FOUR tactical slots while still being a cruiser; its perfect for cannon-cruiser builds.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Fleet_Advanced_Heavy_Cruiser_Retrofit