that is just an MMO thing...
the Devs preserve the right to nerf and buff anything as they see fit whenever they see fit.
happens everywhere, all the time, in any MMO.
you would hope that they have a good balance before they start selling it, but nobody is perfect and if feedback says X is OP or Y is weaksauce then they may just change that
for example: Andorian Ships actually got buffed a bit after release because it really was weak sauce. Or there may be a glitch in the numbers somwhere that a ship has more hull or shield than was intended, but that would be a "fix".
Anyway, if you buy in week one or two, you run the risk of getting the item nerfed. After 2 weeks it is usually safe to assume that numbers won't change anymore.
This is tru. I don't see how they kant edit this thing. Slots don't even make sense, 5 sci slots but no BOff skills to fit it. That's just weird. MAYB they just left sum info off
Still think they should rename the Thaloron blast type to something more Lore friendly, specially if a peaceful group headed by D'Tan is involved.
Of course there going to promote the romulan faction at the moment as one they need more ships to even match the fed ships but also it's the new expansion they want to retain the players they got with the release of the expansion. I for one may or may not buy the ship as I want a Tier 5 T'var ship first but the scimitar pack may be my next purchase.
However take a look back to before LOR the feds were getting ship after ship after ship and they were all OP while the KDF had nothing after the Bortasqu. Give cryptic time I'm sure they will have more ships for feds and hopefully the KDF in time. but at the moment the romulan faction is the flavour of the month so will be getting the shinies first which is good business sense.
And no I don't work for Cryptic I'm one of the ones the criticise them a lot but I do see this as good work from them until I see the list of things wrong with this ship
If they had a Fed or Klingon ship with the same specs it would be OK, but they don't.
NO it's Pay to Win plan and simple. The only problem is if your not a Romulan your S******.
You know, just once I'd like to see a Dev Blog outlining the stats on something without someone having the need to roll in and ask for the stats on stuff they left out.
In this case, 2-piece bonus does what exactly (in numbers, not flavor text)?
All I have to say is NICE but it has WAY too much power overhaul! And not to be mean too....
But KDF has only 1 Unique bridge and is WAY behind in ships even now compared to Romulans (Comparison to Z-Store), Not in numbers, but by Quality... etc etc... please get some kind of ship for KDF.... maybe a 3 pack ship with a unique bridge.... like FEds have 10000's of... and Romulans I can already see getting more... Sorry... just a lot of sadness for KDF though years, and I appreciate the LvL 1.... but its a "so what" moment when you look at the factions options... and etc etc... Nice work, but bad plannings and lack of equality... KDF: 20% Fed: 45% Rom: 35% in my opinion.
EDIT---- We are WAY behind on LvL 50s ships when most the population IS 50..... never got LVl 50 ship for 1.5 years to this day.
R'tolves Will Spread Thier Peace and Will Prevail Over the Hostiles Who Dare Hurt Such A Isolationist Consitutional Monarchy!
Yeah, because she's just going to kindly sit still for 12 seconds while your "combined Thalaron power" charges up....... :rolleyes:
Yeah, that 12 second charge up time makes me think using the thalaron attack will turn this into the Klingon suicide bomber ship from ST: Armada. :cool:
Will the new pet UI let us use our pet abilities or will they stay AI hard coded ?
Are there updates planned for separated ships improved control (like being able to use Romulan separated ship Singularity powers like our own ship powers) ?
Okay I think the Federation Dreadnought needs some love so it can compete with the Romulan Dreadnought. I mean seriously compared to the romulan one the Federation one is just a Cruiser with Cannons and a cloak. it has less firepower, less console slots and a regular cloak that takes up a console slot. It hardly seems fair.
I agree with this. I'm still waiting for the fleet version with 4 tac.consoles and saucer separation. It's long overdue.
I also certainly hope that the new KDF Negh'var that is comming out later this year is a beast that can take on this new playtoys that are popping out.
And how about that fleet Guramba. It's waiting in the line almost as long as the Galaxy-X. We need fleet versions of those 2 ships, Cryptic!
Light Speed! - No, light speed is too slow. We need LUDICROUS SPEED!
Ajma420 - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Federation Catherine The Great - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Empire Vladimir - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Rihannsu Empire
Remember that Singularity Cores are still much weaker than Warp Cores of the same quality and mark. Not only do they have diminished base power levels, they have inferior modifiers as well.
As far as power levels, look at the presets...
Warp Core: main 100, secondary 50, the others 25 and 25
Singularity Core: main 100, secondary 30, the others 15 and 15
...meaning that everything but your main allocated system (read "weapons" in most cases) will suffer from a -40% base power level penalty... or looking at it the other way around, Feds/KDF get a +66.67% base power level bonus for any system other than the main allocated system relative to a Warbird. Put another way, a Warbird captain in the weapon preset would need a 99 in Starship Engine, Shield and Auxiliary Performance to equal a Fed/KDF captain in the same preset with 0 in Starship Engine, Shield and Auxiliary Performance...
Next, as far as the modifiers for the core types, Singularity Cores are also less effective. For example, the capacitor abilities of a Singularity Core will drain Singularity Charge in order to boost and restore your affected system... which in turn reduces the passive bonus you get from Singularity Charge as well as diminishing your use of Singularity Powers; the Warp Core capacitor abilities have no impact upon any other bonuses or abilities when used. Likewise, whereas a Singularity Core will enhance one specific Singularity Power (and only if you use that power once you finally charge up), a Warp Core will constantly enhance the power levels of one system based on the power level in the primary one; this means that any ability that is based on the second power level gets a boost, all the time you have power in the main system, not just upon use of the single ability.
Honestly, if I could rip the Singularity Core out of my Warbird, I would install a Warp Core in a heartbeat; the Singularity Powers are interesting, but not really comparable to the alternative... more like a penalty imposed to balance out the Battle Cloak, but with a bow to make it look pretty.
Of course, as far as the Scimitar goes... the base stats outclass most anything the other factions have access to, but it still has the Singularity Core mechanic with its associated limitations. I have no doubt that it is OP, but remember that the bonus damage from decloaking won't be applied if you fire when remaining cloaked... and doing so will also give your opponent a nice glowey vector to trace for use of Charged Particle Burst, Antiproton Sweep, etc. It will make RSP more of a must-have, though.
A varied Commander slot would have been nice, too...
Wish they went with the Tal Shiar Adapted Borg Warp Core on the Scimitar, specs below.
based on modified Borg technology. It provides the ship with enhanced hull regeneration, as well as augmenting the ship's Auxiliary power systems. By utilizing a modified version of the Borg's Transwarp technology, this advanced Warp Core also increases your maximum Warp speed in sector space.
+15 Starship Hull Repair
(Improves Healing)
+2.5 Auxiliary Power
Bonus Increases at low Auxiliary Power
+5 Maximum Auxiliary Power
(Allows your Auxiliary Power to exceed 125)
Maximum Warp Factor 10
Adds 7.5% of your Auxiliary power to your Weapon power as bonus power
Then I could live with the 40k Hull, since the Tal Shiar Adapted Battle Cruiser has a 42 base Hull and the Tal Shiar Adapted Destroyer base Hull is 39k.
Within the first few pages of the thread, I noticed some people have called the dreadnought a carrier. Its not a carrier. Its a dreadnought. While the dreadnought may have some similarities to the Armitage, the ship's other stats are what make it a cruiser-escort hybrid. You could call the ship 'the ultimate escort-cruiser hybrid'.
Base Stats (for all Romulan Dreadnought Warbirds):
Within the first few pages of the thread, I noticed some people have called the dreadnought a carrier. Its not a carrier. Its a dreadnought. While the dreadnought may have some similarities to the Armitage, the ship's other stats are what make it a cruiser-escort hybrid. You could call the ship 'the ultimate escort-cruiser hybrid'.
Actually, I think it is closer to the Marauder flight deck cruiser. Take a look at that and then this. Both have 8 weapon slots between fore and aft, both have one hanger bay, both have about the same shields and hull, but have about the same crew. Both even have about the same turn rate. Where the Scimitar is better is just the usual Cryptic power creep, but this is not a dreadnaught as the game has placed them (either the Gal-X or the Jem'Hadar) its a buffed flight deck cruiser, IMO.
Rather disapoointed that the improved fighter pet AI and controls weren't ready yet for this, that would have made my 4th weekend perfect. But overall, not bad I guess.
Within the first few pages of the thread, I noticed some people have called the dreadnought a carrier. Its not a carrier. Its a dreadnought. While the dreadnought may have some similarities to the Armitage, the ship's other stats are what make it a cruiser-escort hybrid. You could call the dreadnought 'the ultimate escort'.
I read your stats and glad you post them so I can say this to everybody making a fuss.
The Universal slots mean you can focus on whatever you want. What three Sci BOffs slotted? Go ahead. But the Warbird Dread is a Tactical-leaning ship like the Vesta is a Science-leaning ship. The thing that needs to be known in the next few weeks is how it performs and what situations it is best under.
Now to the complaint about D'tan having a Thalaron Weapon in the Flotilla? I've got a few theories. The most notable one is that the Romulan Republic has it as a weapon of Last Resort/MAD Doctrine with the RSE and it's allies; "You can try to destroy me but you will die as well." This also means that the RR has a list of criteria that need to be met before field use can be authorized (probably the reason why this is a Tier 5 VA ship is that weapon). Also, between the 12-second charge time and the need to have all three consoles...that will limit use of the weapon.
My second theory is that to power some of the more unique traits such as the ability to fire under cloak and move around so fast, the Thalaron Generator operates as a secondary power supply?
These are right off the top of my head right now so.
Actually, I think it is closer to the Marauder flight deck cruiser. Take a look at that and then this. Both have 8 weapon slots between fore and aft, both have one hanger bay, both have about the same shields and hull, but have about the same crew. Both even have about the same turn rate. Where the Scimitar is better is just the usual Cryptic power creep, but this is not a dreadnaught as the game has placed them (either the Gal-X or the Jem'Hadar) its a buffed flight deck cruiser, IMO.
Rather disapoointed that the improved fighter pet AI and controls weren't ready yet for this, that would have made my 4th weekend perfect. But overall, not bad I guess.
I'm not sure they're that similar to FD Cruisers either.
This is more like an andorian escort and a KDF carrier collided at warp 30 and the result was some sort of giant TRIBBLE ship with the turnrate of a cruiser and the weapon layout of an escort and a single hangar bay that survived intact.
When you compare the dreadnought with the Fed escorts, the ship's core attributes are perfectly fine. What makes the dreadnought stand out is the singularity core. Once people start to play against it in PvP matches, they will realize the dreadnought is pretty balanced.
Out of all the possible annoyances, the singularity core is where the overall problem resides. Federation and KDF ships do not currently have a counter.
Now to the complaint about D'tan having a Thalaron Weapon in the Flotilla? I've got a few theories. The most notable one is that the Romulan Republic has it as a weapon of Last Resort/MAD Doctrine with the RSE and it's allies; "You can try to destroy me but you will die as well." This also means that the RR has a list of criteria that need to be met before field use can be authorized (probably the reason why this is a Tier 5 VA ship is that weapon). Also, between the 12-second charge time and the need to have all three consoles...that will limit use of the weapon.
It should also be noted that D'Tan probably had no say in their construction. I bet Obisek built them without asking for anyone's approval. This is after all a Reman design.
It should also be noted that D'Tan probably had no say in their construction. I bet Obisek built them without asking for anyone's approval. This is after all a Reman design.
They're explicitly described as Republic warships. If the sole leader of a group has no say in the construction of his own fleet...you've got problems.
The Cloaked Barrage, Secondary Shields, and Singularity Distributor Unit can be equipped on any Romulan Dreadnought Warbird. Together, they are the Advanced Scimitar Systems Set.
The two-piece set bonus gives the ship Rapid Maneuvering Thrusters, which increases the ship?s turn rate. In addition, it allows the Scimitar to maintain the turn bonus from cloaking after exiting cloak for the duration of their Cloaking Ambush.
The three-piece set bonus is Thalaron Pulse. This allows you to deliver a massive blast of Thalaron Radiation to all enemies in front of your ship. Due to the weapon's power, it requires twelve seconds to charge up before firing. During this charging period, enemies can potentially flee to avoid the attack. Any enemies that are affected will suffer continuous radiation damage and crew damage for 12 seconds after being hit. This cannot be used while cloaked, even with the Cloaked Barrage console active. Additionally, if your ship is destroyed while equipped with all three consoles, it will leave behind a cloud of Thalaron radiation. This radiation deals continuous crew damage to any ships within it.
This ship comes with a Singularity Distributor Unit console. While equipped, the Singularity Distributor Unit is capable of passively redirecting power from your Singularity Core to allow for shields to be up even while cloaked.
hmmm... I do not know.
Even though the dreadnought's core features are balanced, the singularity abilities and the above features make it a little too powerful. It all depends upon the cool down timers.
Unless Cryptic gives the KDF and Federation ships counter measures, the singularity core abilities gives all Romulan ships an advantage.
I would get rid of the Singularity Disruptor Unit.
I think this ship is great for PvP. Not as much for using it as for playing against it. It will open up a whole new level of fun and excitement and creation of new strategies and teamwork, to battle one of these that PvP is sorely lacking. This will only improve the PvP excitement and experience for the majority of PvP players.
The PvP guys that just naturally suck though, and can't come to terms with the fact that they just plain old suck, will most likely cry like they usually do. The problem is within them, and not any kind of ship.
All I can really say is that I'm disappointed the Drone wasn't made multi faction, and is tied to a ship that really doesn't need it.
I agree with the last part.
Unless at least one of these ships is turned into a real carrier or they give us a new carrier with 2 hangars and allow that one to use the drone ships as well this really is a big waste of an awesome hangar pet.
I mean, it has 3 beam arrays (THREEE!!!), fire at will and a torp launcher. If they gave me a ship with two hangars that had the ability to use those I would have been happy with a 3/3 weapon layout, 1 tac console and 3 in turnrate. Now they're stuck with these giant escort carrier thingies.
I would gladly gave up Singularity Core with all this "awesome" power to matter/antimatter core
Yeah, +40 power is really a lot of power bonus that everybody forgets.
I would be happy if romulan ships could slot a warp core which would disable their singularity core mechanics, but give them the juicy fed-kdf powerlevels.
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
They're explicitly described as Republic warships. If the sole leader of a group has no say in the construction of his own fleet...you've got problems.
I said this on another thread, but think of it this way -
The Kar'fi is to the klingons as the Dreadnought is to the Republic. I think thats a good comparison because even though the Kar'fi doesn't have thalaron tech, the Feh'lkri use AP weapons, which were outlawed in the same Khitometer accord that thalaron weapons were outlawed. Not a perfect comparison, but close enough for me.
Besides, why are we complaining? The Scimitar, IMO, was the craziest, scariest, most powerful ship in all of the TNG movies and I WANNA FLY IT!
Light Speed! - No, light speed is too slow. We need LUDICROUS SPEED!
Ajma420 - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Federation Catherine The Great - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Empire Vladimir - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Rihannsu Empire
I said this on another thread, but think of it this way -
The Kar'fi is to the klingons as the Dreadnought is to the Republic. I think thats a good comparison because even though the Kar'fi doesn't have thalaron tech, the Feh'lkri use AP weapons, which were outlawed in the same Khitometer accord that thalaron weapons were outlawed. Not a perfect comparison, but close enough for me.
Yeah...no.
The Khitomer Conference wasn't an arms control conference. The Accords ended the Klingon-Federation war. It didn't outlaw antiproton anything.
Secondly, the Thalaron research ban was internal to the Federation only. The Klingon Empire wasn't a party to it in any way.
Besides, why are we complaining? The Scimitar, IMO, was the craziest, scariest, most powerful ship in all of the TNG movies and I WANNA FLY IT!
Actually, I'd say the Borg Cube in FC was much scarier, considering it took on the entire Federation Fleet and still would have completed its mission if the Federation hadn't had inside information about its weakpoints. The Scimitar couldn't have handled a fraction of that kind of resistance.
As to why people are complaining, besides the break with established preferences of the characters supposedly in charge of these ships, I think alot of people are comparing it to the other 'flagship' cruisers in the game (Odyssey, Bortasqu') and wondering why this ship got so much more than they, when the three ships should be on par with one another as pinnacles of each civilization's shipbuilding capabilities.
Comments
This is tru. I don't see how they kant edit this thing. Slots don't even make sense, 5 sci slots but no BOff skills to fit it. That's just weird. MAYB they just left sum info off
Still think they should rename the Thaloron blast type to something more Lore friendly, specially if a peaceful group headed by D'Tan is involved.
That guy would never issue Thaloron ships
-V
If they had a Fed or Klingon ship with the same specs it would be OK, but they don't.
NO it's Pay to Win plan and simple. The only problem is if your not a Romulan your S******.
In this case, 2-piece bonus does what exactly (in numbers, not flavor text)?
But KDF has only 1 Unique bridge and is WAY behind in ships even now compared to Romulans (Comparison to Z-Store), Not in numbers, but by Quality... etc etc... please get some kind of ship for KDF.... maybe a 3 pack ship with a unique bridge.... like FEds have 10000's of... and Romulans I can already see getting more... Sorry... just a lot of sadness for KDF though years, and I appreciate the LvL 1.... but its a "so what" moment when you look at the factions options... and etc etc... Nice work, but bad plannings and lack of equality... KDF: 20% Fed: 45% Rom: 35% in my opinion.
EDIT---- We are WAY behind on LvL 50s ships when most the population IS 50..... never got LVl 50 ship for 1.5 years to this day.
Yeah, that 12 second charge up time makes me think using the thalaron attack will turn this into the Klingon suicide bomber ship from ST: Armada. :cool:
And I'm so happy I'll make a space focused romulan just for the Scimitar.
Though I would have loved a 5 tac 3 eng 2 sci console variant one. Ah well, fleet neutroniums are my friend.
It's in the works, but is not ready to be released just yet. Stay tuned!
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Are there updates planned for separated ships improved control (like being able to use Romulan separated ship Singularity powers like our own ship powers) ?
Aid in leading the Romulan Star Empire back to its former greatness.
Join the Romulan Praetorian Guard and teach those epohh loving hippies what it means to be a true Romulan!
I agree with this. I'm still waiting for the fleet version with 4 tac.consoles and saucer separation. It's long overdue.
I also certainly hope that the new KDF Negh'var that is comming out later this year is a beast that can take on this new playtoys that are popping out.
And how about that fleet Guramba. It's waiting in the line almost as long as the Galaxy-X. We need fleet versions of those 2 ships, Cryptic!
Ajma420 - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Federation
Catherine The Great - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Empire
Vladimir - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Rihannsu Empire
Wish they went with the Tal Shiar Adapted Borg Warp Core on the Scimitar, specs below.
based on modified Borg technology. It provides the ship with enhanced hull regeneration, as well as augmenting the ship's Auxiliary power systems. By utilizing a modified version of the Borg's Transwarp technology, this advanced Warp Core also increases your maximum Warp speed in sector space.
+15 Starship Hull Repair
(Improves Healing)
+2.5 Auxiliary Power
Bonus Increases at low Auxiliary Power
+5 Maximum Auxiliary Power
(Allows your Auxiliary Power to exceed 125)
Maximum Warp Factor 10
Adds 7.5% of your Auxiliary power to your Weapon power as bonus power
Then I could live with the 40k Hull, since the Tal Shiar Adapted Battle Cruiser has a 42 base Hull and the Tal Shiar Adapted Destroyer base Hull is 39k.
Actually, I think it is closer to the Marauder flight deck cruiser. Take a look at that and then this. Both have 8 weapon slots between fore and aft, both have one hanger bay, both have about the same shields and hull, but have about the same crew. Both even have about the same turn rate. Where the Scimitar is better is just the usual Cryptic power creep, but this is not a dreadnaught as the game has placed them (either the Gal-X or the Jem'Hadar) its a buffed flight deck cruiser, IMO.
Rather disapoointed that the improved fighter pet AI and controls weren't ready yet for this, that would have made my 4th weekend perfect. But overall, not bad I guess.
Nouveau riche LTS member
But what does God need with a Starship?
I read your stats and glad you post them so I can say this to everybody making a fuss.
The Universal slots mean you can focus on whatever you want. What three Sci BOffs slotted? Go ahead. But the Warbird Dread is a Tactical-leaning ship like the Vesta is a Science-leaning ship. The thing that needs to be known in the next few weeks is how it performs and what situations it is best under.
Now to the complaint about D'tan having a Thalaron Weapon in the Flotilla? I've got a few theories. The most notable one is that the Romulan Republic has it as a weapon of Last Resort/MAD Doctrine with the RSE and it's allies; "You can try to destroy me but you will die as well." This also means that the RR has a list of criteria that need to be met before field use can be authorized (probably the reason why this is a Tier 5 VA ship is that weapon). Also, between the 12-second charge time and the need to have all three consoles...that will limit use of the weapon.
My second theory is that to power some of the more unique traits such as the ability to fire under cloak and move around so fast, the Thalaron Generator operates as a secondary power supply?
These are right off the top of my head right now so.
I'm not sure they're that similar to FD Cruisers either.
This is more like an andorian escort and a KDF carrier collided at warp 30 and the result was some sort of giant TRIBBLE ship with the turnrate of a cruiser and the weapon layout of an escort and a single hangar bay that survived intact.
When you compare the dreadnought with the Fed escorts, the ship's core attributes are perfectly fine. What makes the dreadnought stand out is the singularity core. Once people start to play against it in PvP matches, they will realize the dreadnought is pretty balanced.
Out of all the possible annoyances, the singularity core is where the overall problem resides. Federation and KDF ships do not currently have a counter.
It should also be noted that D'Tan probably had no say in their construction. I bet Obisek built them without asking for anyone's approval. This is after all a Reman design.
They're explicitly described as Republic warships. If the sole leader of a group has no say in the construction of his own fleet...you've got problems.
Even though the dreadnought's core features are balanced, the singularity abilities and the above features make it a little too powerful. It all depends upon the cool down timers.
Unless Cryptic gives the KDF and Federation ships counter measures, the singularity core abilities gives all Romulan ships an advantage.
I would get rid of the Singularity Disruptor Unit.
The PvP guys that just naturally suck though, and can't come to terms with the fact that they just plain old suck, will most likely cry like they usually do. The problem is within them, and not any kind of ship.
I agree with the last part.
Unless at least one of these ships is turned into a real carrier or they give us a new carrier with 2 hangars and allow that one to use the drone ships as well this really is a big waste of an awesome hangar pet.
I mean, it has 3 beam arrays (THREEE!!!), fire at will and a torp launcher. If they gave me a ship with two hangars that had the ability to use those I would have been happy with a 3/3 weapon layout, 1 tac console and 3 in turnrate. Now they're stuck with these giant escort carrier thingies.
I know it's kind off of to the side, but certain posts should reward Accolades and give people titles. That was pretty good.
Yeah, +40 power is really a lot of power bonus that everybody forgets.
I would be happy if romulan ships could slot a warp core which would disable their singularity core mechanics, but give them the juicy fed-kdf powerlevels.
Very true. And people have asked me before why I need a starship - my answer - just because.
I said this on another thread, but think of it this way -
The Kar'fi is to the klingons as the Dreadnought is to the Republic. I think thats a good comparison because even though the Kar'fi doesn't have thalaron tech, the Feh'lkri use AP weapons, which were outlawed in the same Khitometer accord that thalaron weapons were outlawed. Not a perfect comparison, but close enough for me.
Besides, why are we complaining? The Scimitar, IMO, was the craziest, scariest, most powerful ship in all of the TNG movies and I WANNA FLY IT!
Ajma420 - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Federation
Catherine The Great - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Empire
Vladimir - Lv 50 Tac - Pride of the Rihannsu Empire
Yeah...no.
The Khitomer Conference wasn't an arms control conference. The Accords ended the Klingon-Federation war. It didn't outlaw antiproton anything.
Secondly, the Thalaron research ban was internal to the Federation only. The Klingon Empire wasn't a party to it in any way.
Actually, I'd say the Borg Cube in FC was much scarier, considering it took on the entire Federation Fleet and still would have completed its mission if the Federation hadn't had inside information about its weakpoints. The Scimitar couldn't have handled a fraction of that kind of resistance.
As to why people are complaining, besides the break with established preferences of the characters supposedly in charge of these ships, I think alot of people are comparing it to the other 'flagship' cruisers in the game (Odyssey, Bortasqu') and wondering why this ship got so much more than they, when the three ships should be on par with one another as pinnacles of each civilization's shipbuilding capabilities.