A Guide to Ship Classes

ajma420

Over the last few months, there have been many debates about the effectiveness of certain classes of ships and the roles that they each play. So, I have put together an objective outline of each class of ship as well as their intended role. Please keep in mind that every ship is different and different builds and styles of play will yield different results. All descriptions are based off Lv 40+ ships.

1. Cruisers and Battlecruisers
Hull: High
Turn Rate: Low
Shielding: Moderate
BOff Slots: Engineering based
Damage Potential: Moderate to High
Suggested Roles: Good at dealing with multiple enemies, BOff powers allow for Tank or Healer role. KDF cruisers may also fill a Damage Dealing role with the use of DHCs. Not recommended for fast moving targets or situations where exceptionally high DPS is needed

2. Escorts and Raptors
Hull: Moderate
Turn Rate: High
Shielding: Low to Moderate
BOff Slots: Tactically based
Damage Potential: High to Very High
Suggested Role: Good at dealing very high DPS to one or more targets. Groups of two or more can overwhelm Dreadnought Class NPCs with superior firepower. Not recommended for one on one fights with enemies with large damage output.

2a. Raiders and Birds of Prey

As a side note, BoPs have a lower hull, battle cloak, and universal BOff slots which allow them to perform a variety of roles.

3. Science Ships
Hull: Moderate
Turn Rate: Moderate
Shielding: High
BOff Slots: Science based
Damage Potential: low to Moderate*
Suggested Role: Science ships largely perform support roles like healing, holds/repels and placates. Damage potential is low due to fewer weapon slots, but can be augmented by powers and abilities like subsystem targeting and gravity well. Not recommended for high DPS roles or engaging multiple targets.

4. Carriers (i.e. Atrox, Voquv, and potentially Scimitar, not HECs or FDCs)
Hull: High to Very High
Turn Rate: Low to Very Low
Shielding: High
BOff Slots: balanced with emphasis on science
Damage Potential: Low to Moderate but augmented by hangar ships
Suggested Roles: Good at tanking or healing, mothership is not offensively minded, but hangar pets can be. Like Science ships, carriers are not recommended for high DPS roles or engaging multiple targets.

4a. Flight Deck Cruisers and Heavy Escort Carriers
FDCs and HECs are cross-class ships. FDCs possess traits from carriers (hangar) and cruisers, while HECs are escorts that sacrifice some speed and maneuvering in order to facilitate a hangar.

This thread is not intended to promote one class of ship over others or point out flaws in a ship type. These classes are as the developers made them. Please remember that it is important to consider your gameplay and gear before deciding on a ship. REMEMBER, these descriptions are GENERALIZATIONS, and may not reflect an individual's build and stats

smokeybacon90

Trying to both classify ships and roles in this game is, as the Borg would say, futile. There are a lot of ships which transcend boundaries (Chel Grett, Chimera, D'Kora, most Warbirds) and roles can change dramatically based on gear and boff setup, and are nowhere near as well defined as the traditional MMO trinity you see in other games.

ajma420

smokeybacon90 wrote: »

Trying to both classify ships and roles in this game is, as the Borg would say, futile. There are a lot of ships which transcend boundaries (Chel Grett, Chimera, D'Kora, most Warbirds) and roles can change dramatically based on gear and boff setup, and are nowhere near as well defined as the traditional MMO trinity you see in other games.

Yes there are cross-class ships like the Kar'fi, Chel Grett, etc. and I already said that setups affect your role and T4-5 warbirds fall into the above categories (the t1-3 retrofits are mostly escorts with variations in BOff seating). Also, 1000 day ships are escorts with better stats

Nevertheless, about 90% of ships in this game fall into one or two of the 4 categories.

zombiedeadheaded

1. Escorts

2. All the other ships that everyone wants to have a s much DPS as escorts.

ajma420

zombiedeadheaded wrote: »

1. Escorts

2. All the other ships that everyone wants to have a s much DPS as escorts.

This is the reason I made this post, to show people that escorts and DPS are not the end-all-be-all that you insist they are. Other classes are just as important and effective

sunfrancks

ajma420 wrote: »

This is the reason I made this post, to show people that escorts and DPS are not the end-all-be-all that you insist they are. Other classes are just as important and effective

Yup, hey I know you

Seen some great Cruiser/Science ship pilots

aexrael

zombiedeadheaded wrote: »

1. Escorts

2. All the other ships that everyone wants to have a s much DPS as escorts.

Given not all ships are labelled "Escort" ships.

1) Ships with emphasis on Tactical BOFF layouts

2) Every other ship.

wufangchu

zombiedeadheaded wrote: »

1. Escorts

2. All the other ships that everyone wants to have a s much DPS as escorts.

yeah, but thats like saying theres only two types of ships in the sea.. Submarines, and targets. Its not helpful in the overall picture of things.

The Navies of the world historically if i'm correct, classify ships on Hull type and tonnage.. We could do the same and come up with a fairly accurate cross comparison..

1. Dreadnaught:
Hull strength =/> 55000.
Weapons loadout: 4 forward, 4 aft
Turn rate: < 6.5 degrees per second
DPS: 1200 - 2000 average

2. Battleship:
Hull Strength: 44000 - 55000
Weapons looadout: 4 forward, 3 or 4 aft
Turn rate: 7 - 10 degrees per second.
DPS: 895 - 1200

3. Pocket Battleship
Hull Strength: 40000 - 44000
Weapons Loadout: 4 forward, 3 aft.
Turn rate: 10 - 16 degrees per second
DPS 1000 - >2000

4: Escort / Destroyer
Hull Strength: 33000 - 44000
Weapons loadout: 3 forward, 2 aft
Turn rate: 16 - 23 degrees per second
DPS: 895 - 2000

5. Destroyer Escort
Hull Strength: 22000 - 33000
Weapons loadout: 3 forward, 1 or 2 aft
Turn rate: 14 - 22 degrees per second
DPS: 450 - 895

6: Assault Destroyer
Hull Strength: 15000 - 44000
Weapons loadout: up to 4 forward, up to 3 aft
Turn rate: 14 - 22 degrees per second
DPS: 300 - 2500

I do not take into account the consoles used in this nor do i take into account specific roles ( tac, sci, eng ) this is just a basic thumbnail or starting point.. The best rule here is that the lighter the initial hull strength the faster it will be able to turn, which coincides with real world figures as well.. turn rate effects DPS ability as much if not more than the weapons used so i've taken that into account with the battleships. Most other numbers are supplied by the data reported by STOICS, and does not take into account custom builds.

OH, and the Dreadnaught: The Dreadnaught was sunk during World War 1 and there has never been a ship to carry the name since, but the name has stuck with us over the years even though the battleships of World War 2 were much more heavily armed and armored.

aexrael

wufangchu wrote: »

yeah, but thats like saying theres only two types of ships in the sea.. Submarines, and targets.

In the early days of Submarine warfare during WW1 that was pretty much the case.

wufangchu

aexrael wrote: »

In the early days of Submarine warfare during WW1 that was pretty much the case.

World war 2 as well.. But those days are gone..

ruminate00

Out of 6 fed fleet science ships, 4 are under 30k hulls, 2 are above it. You listed the hull strength as moderate.
Out of 6 fed fleet escorts, 1 is under 30k hulls, 5 are above it. You listed the hull strength as low to moderate.

rathelm

ruminate00 wrote: »

Out of 6 fed fleet science ships, 4 are under 30k hulls, 2 are above it. You listed the hull strength as moderate.
Out of 6 fed fleet escorts, 1 is under 30k hulls, 5 are above it. You listed the hull strength as low to moderate.

Yeah I was going to bring up the same thing. I was thinking, "what?" escorts are pretty damn durable compared to a slower move sci ship. With as much shield drain abilities out there higher shields don't seem to be as useful as higher hull.

bluegrassgeek

rathelm wrote: »

Yeah I was going to bring up the same thing. I was thinking, "what?" escorts are pretty damn durable compared to a slower move sci ship. With as much shield drain abilities out there higher shields don't seem to be as useful as higher hull.

Shields restore faster than hull does, and you get get some sci abilities that boost those shields.

shockwave85

Part of it depends on the captain type too. Tac Captain in a sci ship, applying his Tac Captain powers to Sci abilities can wreck some stuff. Eng captain in anything is a big boon to that ship's durability, though the need for it is debatable.

The three factions in general, tend to "lean" toward a career as well. In very rough terms, Fed favors Eng, KDF favors Tac, and Rom sort of favors Sci (though lacks all but one true Sci ship...)

The individual ships will have a slight secondary focus to them as well, largely based on what their Lt. Cdr Boff is, and their console layout. Feds are actually pretty well set up here, as they have at least one ship of each type that leans toward each career:

Escorts:

Tac: Defiant
Eng: Armitage
Sci: MVAE

Cruisers:

Tac: Excelsior
Eng: Gal-X
Sci: Star Cruiser

Science:

Tac: Vesta
Eng: Fleet Nebula
Sci: LRSV

So, Feds have the maximum variety, and I didn't even bother listing all the Fed ships where they'd go, just one example of each type. KDF and Romulans would love to have such flexibility, though universal Boff slots help ease that somewhat.

ajma420

wufangchu wrote: »

yeah, but thats like saying theres only two types of ships in the sea.. Submarines, and targets. Its not helpful in the overall picture of things.

The Navies of the world historically if i'm correct, classify ships on Hull type and tonnage.. We could do the same and come up with a fairly accurate cross comparison..

...

I do not take into account the consoles used in this nor do i take into account specific roles ( tac, sci, eng ) this is just a basic thumbnail or starting point.. The best rule here is that the lighter the initial hull strength the faster it will be able to turn, which coincides with real world figures as well.. turn rate effects DPS ability as much if not more than the weapons used so i've taken that into account with the battleships. Most other numbers are supplied by the data reported by STOICS, and does not take into account custom builds.

OH, and the Dreadnaught: The Dreadnaught was sunk during World War 1 and there has never been a ship to carry the name since, but the name has stuck with us over the years even though the battleships of World War 2 were much more heavily armed and armored.

hmmm... as I recall, the dreadnought class battleships of WWI had the biggest and most guns, which would allow them to deal the most damage. In what world could a WWI destroyer outgun than a drednought? This is not WWI, I'm talking about STO, an MMORPG with fictional concepts. If star trek was based on real naval ships, the Bortasqu and fed dreadnought would be all but indestructible. Instead it is based on a 3-part (supposedly balanced) class system

wufangchu

ajma420 wrote: »

hmmm... as I recall, the dreadnought class battleships of WWI had the biggest and most guns, which would allow them to deal the most damage. In what world could a WWI destroyer outgun than a drednought? This is not WWI, I'm talking about STO, an MMORPG with fictional concepts. If star trek was based on real naval ships, the Bortasqu and fed dreadnought would be all but indestructible. Instead it is based on a 3-part (supposedly balanced) class system

Well, actually, My D'Dex quite possibly DOES outshoot your escort in DPS.. 1250 Minimum 39800 max..

bluegrassgeek

ajma420 wrote: »

hmmm... as I recall, the dreadnought class battleships of WWI had the biggest and most guns, which would allow them to deal the most damage. In what world could a WWI destroyer outgun than a drednought? This is not WWI, I'm talking about STO, an MMORPG with fictional concepts. If star trek was based on real naval ships, the Bortasqu and fed dreadnought would be all but indestructible. Instead it is based on a 3-part (supposedly balanced) class system

That's the thing, though. Those dreadnoughts and battleships were slow as dirt, and their big guns were made for long-distance targets. They needed destroyers for protection, since destroyers were fast and could bring a lot of firepower onto closer enemies.

The issue in STO is that there's no range difference in weapons. There really wasn't any in the series, to be frank. Making a dreadnought or battlecruiser in-game with a strong hull and weapons that can blow other ships to bits in short order... well, there's no reason to play anything else in that case.

Right now, there's a bit of an imbalance in the other direction. There's no real "tanking" in STO, so cruisers can't fill their duties as tanks. They're just tough & slow but don't put out the most damage. If they had ways to drawn enemy fire, that would go a long way to making them more relevant in STFs and other PvE stuff.

Escorts are doing what they're supposed to do: DPS in strong bursts. The issue is that they're a touch too tough for STFs & PvP, Science ships can't do much useful as heals (they can kinda crowd control but that's not always useful), and Cruisers have no way to draw aggro so they can tank.

Best solution would probably to be giving Eng captains and/or Cruisers abilities that cause NPCs to prefer them as targets (kinda like the Draw Fire ground ability in some Tactical Kits). That takes some of the heat off DPS, and gives Science ships something that actually needs heals & crowd control. It's not much help to reduce escorts hull or damage, as that'd require a sweeping change to escorts that would not go over well.

pwstolemyname

I respect what the OP is trying to do hear, but as STO stands the ship classes, weather as presented by the op, or as presented by cryptic do not exist.

Ships are primarily defined by three factors.

First of these is their boff slot layout. More then anything else the boff slots of a ship affect its role and its performance.

A 3rd ensign tactical or engineering slot generally counts against a ship and marks it as a pre-f2p design.

Two or less tactical ability slots also counts against a ship, as these layouts generally go hand in hand with fewer tactical consoles and as, without factoring in doffs, competitive builds will generally expend both these slots on tactical team.

A boff layout that avoids these two features will generally belong to a space worthy ship. though a 3rd ensign tactical while undesirable, is a feature of two very desirable escorts, which make up for this inadequacy in other ways.

Dual heavy cannons have the highest DPS potential of any weapon in STO so the capability to equip these is the 2nd defining feature of a good ship. It is very possible to make a high DPS beam boat, or even an effective torpedo boat if you are knowledgeable about STOs mechanics and have a lot of resources you can afford to expend, but new players are best served by dual heavy cannons until they become more knowledgeable and substantially richer.

The final defining feature of a good ship is turn rate. A large shield or hull buffer is nice to have, but with speed and maneuverability you can apply your DPS sooner, and you can withdraw to regenerate more easily. As a player gains skill a more maneuverable ship will serve them better, while they will continue to have x amount of hull regardless of how good they might become at handling their ships helm.

Oh, and on an off note. Science ships are not, and have never been the best support role ships. These have always been cruisers. Science abilities that heal hull or shields only go up to lt.com level. engineering ones go up to commander. A cruiser with a lt.com level science officer makes a much better healer then a science ship with a lt.com engineering officer.

lordgyor

The OP forgot to do FDCs and HECs.

saxfire

carriers like vo'quv and karfi have potential of reaching 13k dps, that's high dps, sci ships can also reach 10k dps marginal which is atleast medium-high, sci ships also have low hull instead of moderate, and cruisers can outdps escorts with beam setups, with even skill level. ships like corsairs, and recluses are for support roles, they dont have tactical stations/consoles or "weapons/tools" to fullfill those dps roles.

about the cruiser-escort dps, best pilots in cruisers and escorts can pull up to 29k dps in cruisers and 25k dps in escorts. in pve.

lordgyor

I also dispute that carriers can do major damage, many can equipt HDCs and even more important, with the right pets they have a major boost to DPS, or use say Elite Interceptors to slow the enemy and bring thier HDCs to bear.

A Fleet Vo'que with Elite HDCs, 2 Elite Qaw'Dun hangars, Cloaked Tractor Mines can do brutal damage..


v

ajma420

lordgyor wrote: »

I also dispute that carriers can do major damage, many can equipt HDCs and even more important, with the right pets they have a major boost to DPS, or use say Elite Interceptors to slow the enemy and bring thier HDCs to bear.

A Fleet Vo'que with Elite HDCs, 2 Elite Qaw'Dun hangars, Cloaked Tractor Mines can do brutal damage..


v

HAHAHA DHCs on a Vo'Quv? Definitely not with the LoR EPtE buff. Even tractor beams cant stop a sphere using EPtE3. DBBs may be more plausible, but on a slug like the Vo'Quv, the target would have to be extremely slow, or stationary (e.g. tac cubes and gates). Even then, it has a 3f/3a weapon slotting that lets it deal about as much damage as a Sci ship (before pets). Pets increase 2-3k dps at most and have no effect on target speed except for siphon drones. If you use DHCs, thats fine with me, but I wouldnt be caught dead with them on a vo'quv.

if you want a DD carrier, use the Kar'fi, it turns twice as fast and has a 4f/3a setup.

ajma420

lordgyor wrote: »

The OP forgot to do FDCs and HECs.

FDCs and HECs are cross-class ships.

FDCs possess traits from carriers and cruisers

HECs are escorts that sacrifice some speed and maneuvering in order to facilitate a hangar.

ajma420

Some of you are saying that a battlecruiser/d'd can in some cases outgun an escort. while this is true, it requires said cruiser to use DHCs. the only problem with this is DHCs have a 45 degree arc as we all know, and on a D'd or slugish battlecruiser like a bortasqu it can be difficult to keep a target or targets in that arc. HOWEVER, this setup is perfectly Viable on the smaller, faster turning cruisers like the Tor'Kaht.