I'll be honest i have an a2b build on ONE ship. my Gal-X with marion and DEM, on my TAC toon. Quick Lance alpha with a BO(pre-nerf) while DEM was active and then i could pew pew as normal. was extrmely effective kicking my over-resistance fleetmates in the teeth. (and these guys can take on 4 tacsorts and just shrug it all off.
I use it for Lance + CRF1 alpha strike (or in the beamboat configuration, a BFAW from 4 arrays on top of the Lance going off). Rapid cycling of DEM using A2B gets me 1 of every 2 BFAWs to have no weapon drain, which helps when in a target rich environment causing power to just bleed all over the place without Marion. Without A2B, I would have conserved Marion for the Lance instead of spamming DEM with as many BFAW as I can; with A2B DEM is always there when I want to alpha even after expending it.
I could easily live without DEMarion BFAWs, but it would seriously affect my dps parsing because when I BFAW, there's at least 10 targets to shoot at, amplifying weapon drain and causing the power problems beams are nortorious for. DEMarion works for half the BFAWs under A2B cycling in such situations, thereby improving focused and AOE DPS in a spammed environment (because with drain annuled, BFAW becomes a Beam Rapid Fire against 1 desired target and whatever dps that comes from randomly shooting everything else).
WSE command reduces all drains by 25%, and that's a huge improvement over DEMarion's 1 in 2 BFAWs + 8/30 beam array firing because it is always on. That will impact BA dps more than cannons too.
"Last Engage! Magical Girl Origami-san" is in print! Now with three times more rainbows.
I use it for Lance + CRF1 alpha strike (or in the beamboat configuration, a BFAW from 4 arrays on top of the Lance going off). Rapid cycling of DEM using A2B gets me 1 of every 2 BFAWs to have no weapon drain, which helps when in a target rich environment causing power to just bleed all over the place without Marion. Without A2B, I would have conserved Marion for the Lance instead of spamming DEM with as many BFAW as I can; with A2B DEM is always there when I want to alpha even after expending it.
I could easily live without DEMarion BFAWs, but it would seriously affect my dps parsing because when I BFAW, there's at least 10 targets to shoot at, amplifying weapon drain and causing the power problems beams are nortorious for. DEMarion works for half the BFAWs under A2B cycling in such situations, thereby improving focused and AOE DPS in a spammed environment (because with drain annuled, BFAW becomes a Beam Rapid Fire against 1 desired target and whatever dps that comes from randomly shooting everything else).
WSE command reduces all drains by 25%, and that's a huge improvement over DEMarion's 1 in 2 BFAWs + 8/30 beam array firing because it is always on. That will impact BA dps more than cannons too.
BFAW needs to target less enemies, like a max of 5. 10 is just too many, it spreads the damage far too thin.
Inertia just means you can do Powerslides in you carrier!
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The point is the combination of A2B and Marion are both multiplying damage and allowed to exist together, it creates exponential damage.
People need to stop sidetracking from real problems.
It really doesn't. A2B doesn't multiply anything, and DEM only helps with shield penetration (per burst) Now you get those (with or without marion) on an escort or cannon capable ship and you have serious punishment, beam cruisers not so much.
Sure A2B drops the CD on DEM, but it also does a fair job of gimping Aux reliant heals, which limits the use of Aux2X abilities limiting your survivability for some extra EPEEN DEEPS. Big deal. So i really don't see the problem, it causes its own inherent problems, which makes it have its own drawbacks.
You guys have a tendency to forget that, drawbacks don't always have to be within an item, drawbacks can also be how other abilities and overall performance is affected. For the most part i feel like this ability is working as its meant to. Especially now that BO double taps are gone.
The real problem here is people build how they want to play, which is perfect, but getting all in a huff for other people playing how they want to, well now you have a hypocritical issue.
IMHO PvP is the issue here cause obviously nobody complains about PvE builds being OP, and as far as PvP is concerned deal with it, that is never ever ever going to be balanced. There is way too much to have to attempt to account for so somones build is always going to be better and you are always going to try and let slip the dogs of nerf.
As i stated previously i use this on one ship, and no others, simply because it wrecks the entire purpose for certain ships. Get your minds out of the tactical gutter and branch out for reals, whats next you going to cry about photonic officer with DEM and marion, and the Photonic Doff?
If anything NO doff should stack, limiting one per type active at any time....
Inertia just means you can do Powerslides in you carrier!
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
So much A2bat rage invading this thread and no solutions other than fire and pitchforks over 1 skill and doff combo.
If its procing to often just change the system cooldown limit. Bump it up a number of seconds. Done, Go have beers.
IT was designed to proc everytime, it was basically a way to add an ability to an existing ability. notice my rage isnt directed at a2b itself. i feel as though i have been very concise.
Inertia just means you can do Powerslides in you carrier!
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
IMHO PvP is the issue here cause obviously nobody complains about PvE builds being OP, and as far as PvP is concerned deal with it, that is never ever ever going to be balanced. There is way too much to have to attempt to account for so somones build is always going to be better and you are always going to try and let slip the dogs of nerf.
That's not true at all, though. There are no serious PvP concerns about ATB FAW Beamboats. They do not do focused damage and it is all too easy to shut them down or turn their antics into a flat out suicide pact. All it takes to shut this down cold is a single ability or console...and you have multiple choices.
A short list of how to stop this:
1. SNB - On an ATB boat, nearly everything is on CD at all times. One SNB and the entire
boat locks up.
2. Energy Siphon - Low Aux can easily be pulled to shutdown...no more Aux, ATB stops.
3. Target Aux - Aux offline, no more ATB.
4. Scramble Sensors: Now they kill each other.
5. AMS: Like Scramble Sensors.
6. Acetone Assimilator: They will remove their own shields for you, this was tested. Only a few acetones completely neuters the offense and turns it into a suicide.
With over a half a dozen different ways to shut this down, this can hardly be seen as a serious issue for PvP. No, apparently it's just people upset that cruisers are now actually doing respectable damage instead of being useless. And by the time we get to 6 doffs, it may very well become practical again for those same cruisers to be running 3x AP + 3x EWO and get those same results without having to TRIBBLE over their Aux...
With the new cruiser ability to reduce weapon drain, plasmonic leech/ES1 and dem + marion aux2bat will go the way of the dodo anyway. I am looking forward to that for my engi main because running 2 aux2bat seriously nerfs my cruiser with having 5 aux power and 2 engi abilities tied to draining said aux power. Be real nice to have aux2sif again available for when i need it.
Join Date: Nobody cares.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
That's not true at all, though. There are no serious PvP concerns about ATB FAW Beamboats. They do not do focused damage and it is all too easy to shut them down or turn their antics into a flat out suicide pact. All it takes to shut this down cold is a single ability or console...and you have multiple choices.
A short list of how to stop this:
1. SNB - On an ATB boat, nearly everything is on CD at all times. One SNB and the entire
boat locks up.
2. Energy Siphon - Low Aux can easily be pulled to shutdown...no more Aux, ATB stops.
3. Target Aux - Aux offline, no more ATB.
4. Scramble Sensors: Now they kill each other.
5. AMS: Like Scramble Sensors.
6. Acetone Assimilator: They will remove their own shields for you, this was tested. Only a few acetones completely neuters the offense and turns it into a suicide.
With over a half a dozen different ways to shut this down, this can hardly be seen as a serious issue for PvP. No, apparently it's just people upset that cruisers are now actually doing respectable damage instead of being useless. And by the time we get to 6 doffs, it may very well become practical again for those same cruisers to be running 3x AP + 3x EWO and get those same results without having to TRIBBLE over their Aux...
Whole point is, it's not OP, it has drawbacks and can be countered.
Inertia just means you can do Powerslides in you carrier!
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Whole point is, it's not OP, it has drawbacks and can be countered.
Countered quite easy with 1 single solo Science captain in a science ship and geared/setup for draining power and 4 tac captains working together. sci captain starts the drain nuetralizing aux2bat's buffs to weapons and shields, tac in escorts take 1 turn flying in and begin fire on the same facing at full impulse using CRF. Done aux2bat cruiser dead and not 1 loss taking it out. Thats just 1 single simple tactic any team could manage.
Or just have a plasmonic leach on the tac escort and nuetralize aux2bat yourself because just that 1 single console will do it. Yes just that 1 single console will remove an aux2bat beam boats teeth, nuetralize all sci abilities, and remove any ability to heal it's own hull beyond miracle worker two times in 15 seconds as you melt it's hull and shields IF you yourself have a proper build and the skill to use it. Only problem is a proper aux2bat includes elite fleet resiliant shields so best come prepared and know what you are doing. which is obvious those saying aux2bat is op and nerf what they obviously do not comprehend says they do not know what they are doing.
Join Date: Nobody cares.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
Exactly, nobody wants to learn how to beat things anymore they just want to cry and get i t nerfed.
I that was the way to beat things :P
Kidding, kidding... But really, everyone seems to think Aux2Batt is the be all and end all for cruisers and while almost everyone who can get the doffs runs it, it really isn't, I was running competitive cruiser builds before Aux2Batt builds and having run an Aux2Batt build and learned I don't like it (I have escorts for when I want to fly an escort) I changed by build to a different competitive build and you know what... I wouldn't go back now if you paid me.
Kidding, kidding... But really, everyone seems to think Aux2Batt is the be all and end all for cruisers and while almost everyone who can get the doffs runs it, it really isn't, I was running competitive cruiser builds before Aux2Batt builds and having run an Aux2Batt build and learned I don't like it (I have escorts for when I want to fly an escort) I changed by build to a different competitive build and you know what... I wouldn't go back now if you paid me.
What is your "competetive" build sir? Post it so others may see what you have going on
Inertia just means you can do Powerslides in you carrier!
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
A short list of how to stop this:
1. SNB - On an ATB boat, nearly everything is on CD at all times. One SNB and the entire
boat locks up.
2. Energy Siphon - Low Aux can easily be pulled to shutdown...no more Aux, ATB stops.
3. Target Aux - Aux offline, no more ATB.
4. Scramble Sensors: Now they kill each other.
5. AMS: Like Scramble Sensors.
6. Acetone Assimilator: They will remove their own shields for you, this was tested. Only a few acetones completely neuters the offense and turns it into a suicide.
1), 4) & 5)
Science Team. People hate on it and are often loathe to carry it for some reason, but having a copy of this on or near global really minimises the impact of the majority of otherwise powerful CC effects in PvP.
2) & 3)
Firstly for energy syphon you've got insulators; it's easy to afford 6 points in it, and it works wonders in PvE and PvP - people shouldn't leave their homeworld without it. Beyond that, aux offline - either through drain or subsystem targeting - is effectively countered by either an aux capacitor or battery. I typically run a purple battery doff and 3-6 in batteries, alongside a core with ACap in PvP.
6)
Evasive out of their radius, carry a torp (or two), carry a copy of Photonic Shockwave (Roms get it for free - bastidos!), or let the KCB and Omega T4 proc make short work of them. Anyone sitting next to these things letting themselves get decimated, deserves it.
Countered quite easy with 1 single solo Science captain in a science ship and geared/setup for draining power and 4 tac captains working together. sci captain starts the drain nuetralizing aux2bat's buffs to weapons and shields, tac in escorts take 1 turn flying in and begin fire on the same facing at full impulse using CRF. Done aux2bat cruiser dead and not 1 loss taking it out. Thats just 1 single simple tactic any team could manage.
So what's the A2B boat's team doing whilst your Sci captain's trying - and likely failing, I might add (if the A2B boat's captain has insulators - a leech console too would just be icing on the cake) - to make a significantly large impact on it's power levels? Sitting there like space lemons waiting for the five of you to take down their A2B teammate?
That's actually somewhat how I sometimes use one of my beefier A2B builds in PvP - draw all enemies into wasting their CDs trying to take me down, whilst my teammates fly in and decimate them. What's funny is for some reason the tactic works over and over - almost as if people see an A2B FAW ship and a red veil descends over their viewscreen, causing them to ignore everything else as they attempt to satiate their sudden bout of space hyper-rage.... or something.
Or just have a plasmonic leach on the tac escort and nuetralize aux2bat yourself because just that 1 single console will do it. Yes just that 1 single console will remove an aux2bat beam boats teeth, nuetralize all sci abilities, and remove any ability to heal it's own hull beyond miracle worker two times in 15 seconds as you melt it's hull and shields IF you yourself have a proper build and the skill to use it.
Six in insulators (really easy to afford), not to mention the A2B boat is likely running a plasmonic leech console too, and a surprising number of players don't invest anything into flow caps.
I must admit I'm bemused by the fact that people are trying so hard to shift the focus to the power-boosting aspect of A2B - citing that it's so easy to counter (when actually anyone with a sensible spec and middling skill - or with a halfway competent PvP team - can pretty easily counter the supposed counters) - when it's the combo with technicians for cd reduction that's the truly out-of-whack aspect of the build. Power-level boost be damned; having everything at or near global without having to double up on powers, is the major game-changer.
I run A2B, and I love it. It's just so incredibly potent in any aspect of space gameplay - even flying a sci/sci heavy on offensive sci powers, just running a single copy of A2B puts all powers damned close to their global cooldown. Heck, I run an Orb Weaver in PvE with FPB3, TR2 & GW1 with FULL A2B and don't really have any major problems using those powers at max aux on-demand, whilst still being able to pop off a strong heal on the rare occasions I need it. Sure, it's not a build I run in PvP, but I do run a Sci/Vesta with a single copy of A2B to get everything damned close to global whilst still having max aux the majority of the time - and it's pretty awesome in spite of the fact that it lacks the punch of an escort, because my CC abilities (and heals too) are available virtually twice as often without doubling up on them.
A2B really does a lot to take the overall thought out of builds - and that's my major problem with it. You don't need to think about how your combination of boff abilities harmonizes to maximise the overall effectiveness of your vessel - weighing the advantages and drawbacks of running a single copy of certain abilities, or doubling up at the expense of overall choice, etc - because so long as you've got 1 or 2 copies of A2B, you can just slap on a single copy of everything you want, giving you oodles of choice when it comes to combat.
The cooldown reduction needs nerfing - it's just far too potent with even a single copy of A2B, let alone a full-blown double A2B build.
Let's talk ship design. By using A2B, you will sacrifice heals from aux power loss, and if you run Aux2SIF as well that breaks your cooldown cycling to 20s and kills automation in terms of healing (Aux2SIF gets fired off while your aux is low). If you wait for more aux before using A2SIF, then you break the cooldown cycling completely. In other words, using A2B turns your cruiser into an escort by increasing dps and reducing healing. Yes there are ways around it, but you are using suboptimal heals (Eng Team 3) or having longer cooldowns (RSP's 1 minute system cooldown). AND these can't apply to someone else.
Strictly speaking, by using aux2batt you sacrifice aux-based heals, like aux2SIF, TSS, and HE. You do not sacrifice eng-based heals. ET is still available, so is ES for that matter. Furthermore, ET3 is not a suboptimal heal. It does have drawbacks: it shares a cooldown with tac team, and it can't be cast as often as Aux2SIF can. But it can be cast on other players (your final sentence in my quote lumps it in with RSP; I don't know if this was intentional or not).
Aux2SIF3 gives out 9k heal with maxed hull repair and max aux power; ET3 gives out 11k with maxed out hull repair. But Aux2SIF is modifed by your aux power level, while ET is not. ET3's 11k stays at 11k no matter how much juice you have left in the aux tank. This is important to consider, because I don't know why any cruiser pilot would run at 100 aux over any other power system, under normal circumstances (having an aux power setting preset available for healing cycles on the other hand, I can totally see, but switching power levels takes time). You could pop a battery, sure, but that's only useful for one, maybe two activations of Aux2SIF before the battery expires. Then it's a long cooldown before the next.
Since we're talking aux2batt, it should also be noted that it reduces ET's cooldown too, so that 30sec cooldown won't last that long before you can use it again. But while ET conflicts with tac team, so too does Aux2SIF conflict with Aux2batt, and in a more counterproductive way (which you've observed).
The tl;dr summary of my argument is that aux2batt and healing (especially team-healing) are not mutually exclusive.
Auxiliary to Battery is supposed to boost your weapons, shields and engines at the expense of auxiliary power. It does do that - it basically spreads your power levels over 3 systems instead of 4. The issue is the BOFF cooldown reduction that you get with DOFFs and this power.
Basically, they shouldn't stack. Technicians should give the flat percentage reduction, but Aux2Bat shouldn't increase this further. It makes no sense that every BOFF ability would recharge faster when you activate a low level engineering ability.
Removing this stack might be a little too much, and make Aux2Bat useless. Therefore, a flat reduction in power drain could be added - perhaps 10-20 power drain resistance. Basically, the idea would be for weapons fire to drain by 8-9 instead of 10. A noticeable effect, but not ridiculous. Another option would be to give a flat +5 to weapons, shields and engines as a bonus.
Right now I feel the ability to slot single copies of BOFF abilities at global is what is messing the game up, not the weapons drain reduction. You can overcap enough with leech + consoles to remove most of this drain anyway. I have an 8 beam Ha'apax that never drops below 100 using BFAW, and it is nowhere near max gear and I have no flow capacitors (didn't know about the leech, etc when I specced it originally, will respec when I get some zen floating around).
I might just be horribly misinformed, but it does seem sketchy that someone could fire off BFAW every 15 seconds with only one copy, along with Tac team and APB. I always thought the point of low tac seating on cruisers was to prevent stacking of tac powers effectively as compensation for the huge boosts EPTS3 and EPTW2 give you when run constantly.
It seems like Aux2Bat not so much need a nerf as a respeccing to have a more sensible effect.
I might just be horribly misinformed, but it does seem sketchy that someone could fire off BFAW every 15 seconds with only one copy, along with Tac team and APB. I always thought the point of low tac seating on cruisers was to prevent stacking of tac powers effectively as compensation for the huge boosts EPTS3 and EPTW2 give you when run constantly.
Way to go, you've just wasted 2 high level Eng slots for dubious return, since you need A2B2 + A2B1 to run them and everything else at global. Leaving just DEM3 for the Comm slot.
What do you have at Ens level? Eng Team 1? And what's the other one? You just gave yourself 3rd Ensign Syndrome. Which means I can burst you down faster than someone running a normal dragon flagship setup.
My zombie healcruiser mode relies on Dragon Flagship rather than A2B. My DPS is TRIBBLE, but I'm being a healcruiser, dps isn't the issue. When I'm in dps mode, I run A2B with BFAW and DEM. However, I lose zombie cruiser status and is much more fragile; ie because I build into escort mode, I have more escort-like defenses.
It's balanced and everything else is just qq.
"Last Engage! Magical Girl Origami-san" is in print! Now with three times more rainbows.
The point is, running aux2bat should not allow you to get away with only 1 copy of 30 second global abilities. Running 2 aux2bat therefore is essentially free, as you save the 2 slots you would need to double up.
C) It is an easy switch to put EPTW1 in the ensign slots and something better in the lt slots - I just chose EPTW2 because I don't use Aux2Bat and want the extra DPS over the benefits of RSP - my shields as is are enough to stop pretty much anything in PVE.
D) How do you get Aux2Struct III for the commander slot? I heard you could get it for a hull heal but I don't know where.
Exponential is actually whats happening here when combining the 2 abilities, but my guess is your mathematical limitations really mean you think exponents come in one variety.
You can take a 10k beam cruiser, A2B it to get 15k, Marion it to get 30k damage, its unacceptable to allow that power creep in PvE.
Exponential is actually whats happening here when combining the 2 abilities, but my guess is your mathematical limitations really mean you think exponents come in one variety.
You can take a 10k beam cruiser, A2B it to get 15k, Marion it to get 30k damage, its unacceptable to allow that power creep in PvE.
You're exaggerating the gains (some might say exponentially). The drain resist from the Marion/DEM combo is a nice boost, but with around 18% total uptime it's not a ground-breaking one. DEM itself adds a marginal amount of additional hull DPS at best.
What strikes me is that many people seem to have completely forgotten the Omega adapted 2-piece proc whose only constraint is the luck of the dice roll. The weapons amplifier does more on the whole to bolster DPS on any ship than the Marion/DEM combo ever will - and few builds run without at least a combination of 2/3 of the omega adapted pieces. I'm rarely without the amplifier buff on any build, let alone my BFAW spamming A2B builds. No doff required, and no otherwise underwhelming eng ability whose slot could be better used for something else.
In fact, the 2-piece makes usage of the Marion/DEM combo rather redundant, since you only need one such buff active to keep you at or very near to 125 weapon power - plus the 2-piece proc grants +10 weapon power.
Comments
I use it for Lance + CRF1 alpha strike (or in the beamboat configuration, a BFAW from 4 arrays on top of the Lance going off). Rapid cycling of DEM using A2B gets me 1 of every 2 BFAWs to have no weapon drain, which helps when in a target rich environment causing power to just bleed all over the place without Marion. Without A2B, I would have conserved Marion for the Lance instead of spamming DEM with as many BFAW as I can; with A2B DEM is always there when I want to alpha even after expending it.
I could easily live without DEMarion BFAWs, but it would seriously affect my dps parsing because when I BFAW, there's at least 10 targets to shoot at, amplifying weapon drain and causing the power problems beams are nortorious for. DEMarion works for half the BFAWs under A2B cycling in such situations, thereby improving focused and AOE DPS in a spammed environment (because with drain annuled, BFAW becomes a Beam Rapid Fire against 1 desired target and whatever dps that comes from randomly shooting everything else).
WSE command reduces all drains by 25%, and that's a huge improvement over DEMarion's 1 in 2 BFAWs + 8/30 beam array firing because it is always on. That will impact BA dps more than cannons too.
"Last Engage! Magical Girl Origami-san" is in print! Now with three times more rainbows.
Support the "Armored Unicorn" vehicle initiative today!
Thanks for Harajuku. Now let's get a real "Magical Girl" costume!
BFAW needs to target less enemies, like a max of 5. 10 is just too many, it spreads the damage far too thin.
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
People need to stop sidetracking from real problems.
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
http://dtfleet.com/
Visit our Youtube channel
It really doesn't. A2B doesn't multiply anything, and DEM only helps with shield penetration (per burst) Now you get those (with or without marion) on an escort or cannon capable ship and you have serious punishment, beam cruisers not so much.
Sure A2B drops the CD on DEM, but it also does a fair job of gimping Aux reliant heals, which limits the use of Aux2X abilities limiting your survivability for some extra EPEEN DEEPS. Big deal. So i really don't see the problem, it causes its own inherent problems, which makes it have its own drawbacks.
You guys have a tendency to forget that, drawbacks don't always have to be within an item, drawbacks can also be how other abilities and overall performance is affected. For the most part i feel like this ability is working as its meant to. Especially now that BO double taps are gone.
The real problem here is people build how they want to play, which is perfect, but getting all in a huff for other people playing how they want to, well now you have a hypocritical issue.
IMHO PvP is the issue here cause obviously nobody complains about PvE builds being OP, and as far as PvP is concerned deal with it, that is never ever ever going to be balanced. There is way too much to have to attempt to account for so somones build is always going to be better and you are always going to try and let slip the dogs of nerf.
As i stated previously i use this on one ship, and no others, simply because it wrecks the entire purpose for certain ships. Get your minds out of the tactical gutter and branch out for reals, whats next you going to cry about photonic officer with DEM and marion, and the Photonic Doff?
If anything NO doff should stack, limiting one per type active at any time....
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
If its procing to often just change the system cooldown limit. Bump it up a number of seconds. Done, Go have beers.
IT was designed to proc everytime, it was basically a way to add an ability to an existing ability. notice my rage isnt directed at a2b itself. i feel as though i have been very concise.
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
A short list of how to stop this:
1. SNB - On an ATB boat, nearly everything is on CD at all times. One SNB and the entire
boat locks up.
2. Energy Siphon - Low Aux can easily be pulled to shutdown...no more Aux, ATB stops.
3. Target Aux - Aux offline, no more ATB.
4. Scramble Sensors: Now they kill each other.
5. AMS: Like Scramble Sensors.
6. Acetone Assimilator: They will remove their own shields for you, this was tested. Only a few acetones completely neuters the offense and turns it into a suicide.
With over a half a dozen different ways to shut this down, this can hardly be seen as a serious issue for PvP. No, apparently it's just people upset that cruisers are now actually doing respectable damage instead of being useless. And by the time we get to 6 doffs, it may very well become practical again for those same cruisers to be running 3x AP + 3x EWO and get those same results without having to TRIBBLE over their Aux...
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
Whole point is, it's not OP, it has drawbacks and can be countered.
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Countered quite easy with 1 single solo Science captain in a science ship and geared/setup for draining power and 4 tac captains working together. sci captain starts the drain nuetralizing aux2bat's buffs to weapons and shields, tac in escorts take 1 turn flying in and begin fire on the same facing at full impulse using CRF. Done aux2bat cruiser dead and not 1 loss taking it out. Thats just 1 single simple tactic any team could manage.
Or just have a plasmonic leach on the tac escort and nuetralize aux2bat yourself because just that 1 single console will do it. Yes just that 1 single console will remove an aux2bat beam boats teeth, nuetralize all sci abilities, and remove any ability to heal it's own hull beyond miracle worker two times in 15 seconds as you melt it's hull and shields IF you yourself have a proper build and the skill to use it. Only problem is a proper aux2bat includes elite fleet resiliant shields so best come prepared and know what you are doing. which is obvious those saying aux2bat is op and nerf what they obviously do not comprehend says they do not know what they are doing.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
you got a quote for that? i don't remember seeing anyone toss around some exponentials
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I that was the way to beat things :P
Kidding, kidding... But really, everyone seems to think Aux2Batt is the be all and end all for cruisers and while almost everyone who can get the doffs runs it, it really isn't, I was running competitive cruiser builds before Aux2Batt builds and having run an Aux2Batt build and learned I don't like it (I have escorts for when I want to fly an escort) I changed by build to a different competitive build and you know what... I wouldn't go back now if you paid me.
What is your "competetive" build sir? Post it so others may see what you have going on
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
1), 4) & 5)
Science Team. People hate on it and are often loathe to carry it for some reason, but having a copy of this on or near global really minimises the impact of the majority of otherwise powerful CC effects in PvP.
2) & 3)
Firstly for energy syphon you've got insulators; it's easy to afford 6 points in it, and it works wonders in PvE and PvP - people shouldn't leave their homeworld without it. Beyond that, aux offline - either through drain or subsystem targeting - is effectively countered by either an aux capacitor or battery. I typically run a purple battery doff and 3-6 in batteries, alongside a core with ACap in PvP.
6)
Evasive out of their radius, carry a torp (or two), carry a copy of Photonic Shockwave (Roms get it for free - bastidos!), or let the KCB and Omega T4 proc make short work of them. Anyone sitting next to these things letting themselves get decimated, deserves it.
So what's the A2B boat's team doing whilst your Sci captain's trying - and likely failing, I might add (if the A2B boat's captain has insulators - a leech console too would just be icing on the cake) - to make a significantly large impact on it's power levels? Sitting there like space lemons waiting for the five of you to take down their A2B teammate?
That's actually somewhat how I sometimes use one of my beefier A2B builds in PvP - draw all enemies into wasting their CDs trying to take me down, whilst my teammates fly in and decimate them. What's funny is for some reason the tactic works over and over - almost as if people see an A2B FAW ship and a red veil descends over their viewscreen, causing them to ignore everything else as they attempt to satiate their sudden bout of space hyper-rage.... or something.
Six in insulators (really easy to afford), not to mention the A2B boat is likely running a plasmonic leech console too, and a surprising number of players don't invest anything into flow caps.
I must admit I'm bemused by the fact that people are trying so hard to shift the focus to the power-boosting aspect of A2B - citing that it's so easy to counter (when actually anyone with a sensible spec and middling skill - or with a halfway competent PvP team - can pretty easily counter the supposed counters) - when it's the combo with technicians for cd reduction that's the truly out-of-whack aspect of the build. Power-level boost be damned; having everything at or near global without having to double up on powers, is the major game-changer.
I run A2B, and I love it. It's just so incredibly potent in any aspect of space gameplay - even flying a sci/sci heavy on offensive sci powers, just running a single copy of A2B puts all powers damned close to their global cooldown. Heck, I run an Orb Weaver in PvE with FPB3, TR2 & GW1 with FULL A2B and don't really have any major problems using those powers at max aux on-demand, whilst still being able to pop off a strong heal on the rare occasions I need it. Sure, it's not a build I run in PvP, but I do run a Sci/Vesta with a single copy of A2B to get everything damned close to global whilst still having max aux the majority of the time - and it's pretty awesome in spite of the fact that it lacks the punch of an escort, because my CC abilities (and heals too) are available virtually twice as often without doubling up on them.
A2B really does a lot to take the overall thought out of builds - and that's my major problem with it. You don't need to think about how your combination of boff abilities harmonizes to maximise the overall effectiveness of your vessel - weighing the advantages and drawbacks of running a single copy of certain abilities, or doubling up at the expense of overall choice, etc - because so long as you've got 1 or 2 copies of A2B, you can just slap on a single copy of everything you want, giving you oodles of choice when it comes to combat.
The cooldown reduction needs nerfing - it's just far too potent with even a single copy of A2B, let alone a full-blown double A2B build.
Aux2SIF3 gives out 9k heal with maxed hull repair and max aux power; ET3 gives out 11k with maxed out hull repair. But Aux2SIF is modifed by your aux power level, while ET is not. ET3's 11k stays at 11k no matter how much juice you have left in the aux tank. This is important to consider, because I don't know why any cruiser pilot would run at 100 aux over any other power system, under normal circumstances (having an aux power setting preset available for healing cycles on the other hand, I can totally see, but switching power levels takes time). You could pop a battery, sure, but that's only useful for one, maybe two activations of Aux2SIF before the battery expires. Then it's a long cooldown before the next.
Since we're talking aux2batt, it should also be noted that it reduces ET's cooldown too, so that 30sec cooldown won't last that long before you can use it again. But while ET conflicts with tac team, so too does Aux2SIF conflict with Aux2batt, and in a more counterproductive way (which you've observed).
The tl;dr summary of my argument is that aux2batt and healing (especially team-healing) are not mutually exclusive.
I think he's referring to someone else who used that word without really understanding what it means.
Basically, they shouldn't stack. Technicians should give the flat percentage reduction, but Aux2Bat shouldn't increase this further. It makes no sense that every BOFF ability would recharge faster when you activate a low level engineering ability.
Removing this stack might be a little too much, and make Aux2Bat useless. Therefore, a flat reduction in power drain could be added - perhaps 10-20 power drain resistance. Basically, the idea would be for weapons fire to drain by 8-9 instead of 10. A noticeable effect, but not ridiculous. Another option would be to give a flat +5 to weapons, shields and engines as a bonus.
Right now I feel the ability to slot single copies of BOFF abilities at global is what is messing the game up, not the weapons drain reduction. You can overcap enough with leech + consoles to remove most of this drain anyway. I have an 8 beam Ha'apax that never drops below 100 using BFAW, and it is nowhere near max gear and I have no flow capacitors (didn't know about the leech, etc when I specced it originally, will respec when I get some zen floating around).
I might just be horribly misinformed, but it does seem sketchy that someone could fire off BFAW every 15 seconds with only one copy, along with Tac team and APB. I always thought the point of low tac seating on cruisers was to prevent stacking of tac powers effectively as compensation for the huge boosts EPTS3 and EPTW2 give you when run constantly.
It seems like Aux2Bat not so much need a nerf as a respeccing to have a more sensible effect.
Here you go,
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=tribblev15_0
You should also have a look at the power and doff setup in the notes section.
What do you have at Ens level? Eng Team 1? And what's the other one? You just gave yourself 3rd Ensign Syndrome. Which means I can burst you down faster than someone running a normal dragon flagship setup.
My zombie healcruiser mode relies on Dragon Flagship rather than A2B. My DPS is TRIBBLE, but I'm being a healcruiser, dps isn't the issue. When I'm in dps mode, I run A2B with BFAW and DEM. However, I lose zombie cruiser status and is much more fragile; ie because I build into escort mode, I have more escort-like defenses.
It's balanced and everything else is just qq.
"Last Engage! Magical Girl Origami-san" is in print! Now with three times more rainbows.
Support the "Armored Unicorn" vehicle initiative today!
Thanks for Harajuku. Now let's get a real "Magical Girl" costume!
C) It is an easy switch to put EPTW1 in the ensign slots and something better in the lt slots - I just chose EPTW2 because I don't use Aux2Bat and want the extra DPS over the benefits of RSP - my shields as is are enough to stop pretty much anything in PVE.
D) How do you get Aux2Struct III for the commander slot? I heard you could get it for a hull heal but I don't know where.
You can take a 10k beam cruiser, A2B it to get 15k, Marion it to get 30k damage, its unacceptable to allow that power creep in PvE.
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
http://dtfleet.com/
Visit our Youtube channel
You're exaggerating the gains (some might say exponentially). The drain resist from the Marion/DEM combo is a nice boost, but with around 18% total uptime it's not a ground-breaking one. DEM itself adds a marginal amount of additional hull DPS at best.
What strikes me is that many people seem to have completely forgotten the Omega adapted 2-piece proc whose only constraint is the luck of the dice roll. The weapons amplifier does more on the whole to bolster DPS on any ship than the Marion/DEM combo ever will - and few builds run without at least a combination of 2/3 of the omega adapted pieces. I'm rarely without the amplifier buff on any build, let alone my BFAW spamming A2B builds. No doff required, and no otherwise underwhelming eng ability whose slot could be better used for something else.
In fact, the 2-piece makes usage of the Marion/DEM combo rather redundant, since you only need one such buff active to keep you at or very near to 125 weapon power - plus the 2-piece proc grants +10 weapon power.