Level 30 D'D Weapons Loadout

takeda7

I'm a relatively new player, been playing about a month. I got my first 50 as an engineer fed-side, and had played both cruisers and escorts, so I'm somewhat familiar with basic tactics and gameplay of both.

So, my Romulan (Science track, which I am starting to think was a mistake- I had thought that I might be able to end up a debuff/damage type character rather than a healer, we shall see) hit 30 last night and I picked up the D'Deredex.

Having fought them, and read on some tactics dealing with the NPC ships, I had a good idea of what I thought I should try to start with. Basically arm it similar to a Fed Cruiser, beam arrays fore and aft, toss in a torpedo on the front and we should be good, yes? Then I started thinking that with cloaking (and the improved turn rate under cloak), I ought to be able to make it behave more like a warbird, that is, toss some cannons on the front, turret on the back and we should be good?

So, ultimately, I ended up buying 2 beam arrays (plasma) for the front, 1 dual cannon(plasma) (for whatever reason, I can't get DHC to show up on the exchange when I search, that's a different problem), and 1 plasma torp. 2 arrays and 1 turret (all plasma) aft. I wasn't really impressed with the results. She still turns like a hog, but in trying to be able to take advantage of the cloak and maneuverability, I think I hamstrung myself. For all of the pain this ship was able to cause my fed captain, as a player ship, I felt like it was a lot less firepower than the much more manueverable escort- without a lot more survivability.

So, I thought to myself, I should ask here. What works best for the leveling D'D? Cannons fore and turrets aft, like an escort? More arrays, like a cruiser? Some mixture of both- but other than what I've already tried? Whatever it is, I'm just looking for tips/tricks to make the next 9 more levels go a little more enjoyably than the first one did last night.

Thank you for your comments.

reginamala78

Eh, I just put mine with 2 beam arrays and a torpedo aft, same thing fore plus a DBB. Yeah eventually you CAN make the thing turn well enough to maybe use DHCs, but at level 30 you're still limited on skill points and equipment, and its just not worth fighting with a ship you're conceivably only going to use for 10 levels. For endgame, sure get more creative and minmaxed, but for leveling, I just prefer something thats simple, straightforward, and works well enough.

pwstolemyname

Many might tell you the best things to outfit it with are those things it came with, as you should leave it in its hanger and keep flying your old ship until you make anther 10 levels.

Personally I used my Fed characters defiant and never even tried the lower level D'Dx. However at VA I have fit mine with a cannon and turret build which turns at an acceptable rate with the two set console bonus and an RCS.

As this is not an option for you the best advice I can give you is to make sure you get a level 1 emergency power to engines. Use distance to mitigate your need to turn. The closer an object is to you the faster you must turn to track it.

takeda7

Thanks Reginamala and pwstolemyname for the advice.

I tried my hybrid build again last night (by hybrid, I mean 1 dual cannon/plasma torp up front, 1 turret aft, balance beam arrays). It was workable, but very slow killing and I'm not sure the cannon did much for me. The turret was helpful because I was doing the elachi missions and they have a couple of abilities where they spawn shuttles or high yield torpedoes that can be shot down, which the turret seemed to do a better job of than arrays. And the torpedo did provide a nice punch.

Tactically, I'd decloak, hammer on the way in with the cannon (shield piercing tetryon from the Nimbus III missions) and hope to knock down the facing shield and get a buffed torpedo in to do some damage right away, then evasive manuevers, cloak, line up another run. Then, turn with him, typically ~5km (can't seem to shake the little boogers much past that) and batter him into submission with the beam arrays. The frigates, etc fell over pretty quick. The battleship was a battle of attrition which I'd have lost if I didn't use my shield / hull heals on cooldown.

So, really, I'm arguing one cannon vs. one array, which doesn't seem like much- or maybe two arrays and ditch the torp+cannon. Still doesn't seem like much, but I guess that'd be ~50% increase in broadside firepower.

I would like to make this work (ideally without dumping a bunch of cash on a ship that I'll only use for 7 more levels or so), mainly as a learning experience. Thanks again for the feedback and I'll play around with it again tonight.

naevius

Here is an observation:

In PvE, enemies are programmed to circle around you. If your ship turns slowly (like a DD), moving towards them makes it hard to keep them in your forward arc.

But, if you reverse, it is easy. So put cannons up front and turrets in back, de-cloak, and when the NPCs go right or left just back up to keep them in front of you.