Escort power settings

kublahkan

Hello people!

I've been cruising in Beam Boats long enough and I bought a cheap MU Escort for fun.

I've searched the Forums and the net and while I can find numerous builds, I just cannot put my finger on power settings.

I saw once (a few months ago) that a guy was going high on weapons and also engines for defense.

Anyone care to give me pointers?
Cheers!

deaftravis05

shields are useless so you want to be able to move fast, evade and hit hard.

simeion1

Look in the PvP forums, they push weapons then engines. Some of the best escort captains can be found there.

mandoknight89

Power to engines for defense only works for so long. Once you have enough power to engines to hit 22-23 impulse, it's more of a tossup between more power to engines for turn rate or more power to shields for passive defense. Aux power will usually be your last priority, since you can carry an Aux battery for when you really need the bonus to aux-based heals and you aren't carrying many of those anyway.

janetza

Put 100 power on weapons, 25 on shields, 50 on engines and 25 on aux.

lordmalak1

I run my escort in attack mode with 90 weapons, 60 shields 25 engines and aux. My crew/ship bonuses put the power @ 125 weps, 78 shields, 47 engines, 45 aux without using any BOFF powers, rep buffs or fleet gear.

<edit> Almost forgot, I STILL haven't assigned those additional captain skills that came with LOR, I'm only using 2 of 9 slots on my KDF captain as I don't need them against the game AI.

cidevant

Weapons overcap, so put as much power into weapons as possible.

So start with 100/50/25/25. Check your speed when you're flying at max speed (not full impulse). If you are exactly at 26 impulse or higher you are good to go. If not, divert power from shields to engines until you reach 26 impulse. This will max your bonus defense.

The main reason pvp players crank engine power is because it improves your turn rate and cross healing leaves less need for shield power.

robdmc

It will depend on the equipment you use and what you are trying to do.

In missions like the vault I like to be on the next spawn point with just evasive maneuvers and a battery. For missions like those I use my bug ship with this power layout and gear.
http://i.imgur.com/miDsXig.png

In missions like nws or borg stfs where you feel more like a stationary turret I tend to use my Fleet Advanced escort. The lt commander sci make me tend to focus more on aux powers.
http://i.imgur.com/PNi7sAP.png


I use emergency power to shields on both but I also use emergency power to engines on my bug. I use a damage control engineer to try to keep both up and running at the same time since aux2bat is normally not an option on an escort.

irishxp

There is Always something to learn!

@mandoknight89: What do you mean with "passive defense" talking about shield power?

mandoknight89

irishxp wrote: »

@mandoknight89: What do you mean with "passive defense" talking about shield power?

Increasing shield power increases its damage resistance and recharge rate.

towani

cidevant wrote: »

Weapons overcap, so put as much power into weapons as possible.

So start with 100/50/25/25. Check your speed when you're flying at max speed (not full impulse). If you are exactly at 26 impulse or higher you are good to go. If not, divert power from shields to engines until you reach 26 impulse. This will max your bonus defense.

The main reason pvp players crank engine power is because it improves your turn rate and cross healing leaves less need for shield power.

Noob question that I never figured out... where do you find this speed? I've never seemed to ever be able to find this?

towani

cidevant wrote: »

Weapons overcap, so put as much power into weapons as possible.

So start with 100/50/25/25. Check your speed when you're flying at max speed (not full impulse). If you are exactly at 26 impulse or higher you are good to go. If not, divert power from shields to engines until you reach 26 impulse. This will max your bonus defense.

The main reason pvp players crank engine power is because it improves your turn rate and cross healing leaves less need for shield power.

Interesting... I'm in the new Avenger, a Tact captain, and I'm running 90/50/15/15. With bonuses, I come out to 124/90/54/59.

Having a 90 in shields seems to be great... and only having a 54 in Engines doesn't seem to hinder me... Ofcourse I have a few + to turn modifiers, so my turn is like 5.6 degree. I dunno... just throwing that out there. Maybe I'm doing something wrong and can be enlightened

mandoknight89

towani wrote: »

Noob question that I never figured out... where do you find this speed? I've never seemed to ever be able to find this?

Movement tab in system space will list your current max speed, and the tooltip on the throttle lists your current speed.

Also, the speed for maximum defense is around 24 (I just checked).

dahminus

For pve

Attacking while not under fire. Full power to weapons, rest to auxiliary

Attacking while not under fire. Full power to weapons, rest to shields

Running away, full power to engines, rest to shields

As far as I can see, cannons do overcap, maybe not as high as beams. But full power to weapons just doesn't seem to dip as when you hit the bare minimum of 125

robdmc

towani wrote: »

... Avenger... so my turn is like 5.6 degre...

Your turn rate is higher then that. If you go to system space and move at full speed you will see your turn rate The 5.6 you see is when you are not moving.

robdmc

dahminus wrote: »

As far as I can see, cannons do overcap, maybe not as high as beams. But full power to weapons just doesn't seem to dip as when you hit the bare minimum of 125

That is because they do not have the same draw that beams do. DHC will draw 12 for 1 seconds and put it back instantly. Beams fire over 4 second and draw 10 and with 8 beams firing at the same time that is -80. FOr escorts you only need an overcap of about 135.

Most escort captains will be at 125/100 without spec'ing into Starship Weapons Preformance. Some can even do 125/90. This is considered acceptable if you have the [M.A.C.O. Resilient Shield Array Mk XII] or the [Console - Universal - Plasmonic Leech] since both will take you up to about 135 on overcap.

kublahkan

Great insight !
Thank you all.
Cheers!

rylanadionysis

I run all of my power settings and skill tree to give me a guaranteed 125/75/75/75 (AMP synergy) or higher when I am firing on a target. (plas leech and specific gear + skill points all over the place in the tree)

Check sig for a link to my current PVE build.

My personal power settings on it are 100/30/35/35, and in combat are usually 125/100/75/75, and increase to 125/130/100/100 whenever my doff procs. use a lobi engine/aux battery then, and all levels cap out.

So power on escorts is not hard (even with a tac captain) its all about where your speccing points and your gear as far as I can tell.

zordar01

Getting a warp core that has W->E (% weapons power to engines) is a big help to anyone wanting to move fast, assuming your weapons power is high. That also helps offset the -10 to engines from firing quad cannons.

ankokuneko

My aux to bat escorts with 100/15/15/70 ends up with usually close too 125/130/125/15 actual power. Ofc batteries and battery cd doff helpmake it 125/130/125/80 spamming aux and red matter capacitor to keep the amp cores doing its 3.3% x 4 bonus damage.

But for mirror patrol I would go the standard 100/50/25/25 with epts and epte and 3 purple damage control engineer doffs

lordhavelock

If you want help determining what your power will be based on your ship, traits, skills, equipment, etc. Check out my Ship Power Guide and Calculator, linked in my signature.

age03

Weapons,shields,engine and then aux.

eurialo

kublahkan wrote: »

Hello people!

I've been cruising in Beam Boats long enough and I bought a cheap MU Escort for fun.

I've searched the Forums and the net and while I can find numerous builds, I just cannot put my finger on power settings.

I saw once (a few months ago) that a guy was going high on weapons and also engines for defense.

Anyone care to give me pointers?
Cheers!

for sure weapon power is the most important, you should have 125 on it to maximize your damage. With my build I usually have 125/90 when I do not fire.

Shield power is important too, because your damage resistance and shield regenerarion rate depen on it. Of course the best defence of an escort is not the shield but this do not means that shield are useless. Also aux is important for you healing abilities (es. AtS, TSS, HE...) and engine power impact on your speed (and so your defence if your base speed is too low) and turn rate.

What is more important between shields, engine and aux is not so simple.
Your defence rate depend on your speed, but it has a max so set your engine power to the level you need to reach the max. Then you can set aux to X/25 and maximize your shields power. Then you can gain much more energy to shields, engine and aux using EPtX chain, plasmonich leach (remember to skill you flow capacitor) and a good warp core. What I suggest is chaining EPtS and EPtE, so you'll have a boost to shields and engine power but also a buff to speed, turn rate and shields resistance and regeneration rate. The plasmonich leach console (and flow capacitor) helps all of your energy levels and a good warp core can help to boost your aux.

With a little work and a good build you can have about 125/110/90/90 (I do not remember my values, however energy is not a problem).

eurialo

cidevant wrote: »

Weapons overcap, so put as much power into weapons as possible.

I tried several times to overcap my weapon power, however I had no evident benefit on cannons builds, may be because using the plasmonich leach I boost also weapons energy while firing and somehow compensate the energy drain?

robdmc

eurialo wrote: »

I tried several times to overcap my weapon power, however I had no evident benefit on cannons builds, may be because using the plasmonich leach I boost also weapons energy while firing and somehow compensate the energy drain?

On a pure cannon build there is no impact at all. Energy drain recharges immediately upon completion of firing. Since the firing cycle is 1 second shooting with a 1 second off you will regain your power levels. If you adjust your power setting I'm sure you will notice that the power moves in 3 second tics with the size of that tick based in power transfer rates. When the fire rate is the same as the power tick. the power tick make no difference as it is instantly returned anyway.

Now if you are using the Kinetic cutting beam that has a weapons draw of -8 and last the entire firing cycle of upto 4 seconds then the power tick on over cap can catch up. Or if you use a dual beam bank it is -10 for 4 seconds. This is why an over cap to 135 is normally desired for escorts.

Since over cap does not prevent the power from draining we need to look at weapon power resistance. The masion doff is popular on Aux2bat builds as it works with dem. Another weapons power resist is the "Omega Weapon Amplifier" 2 piece set bonus. Even though this proc will have no noticeable difference dps wise, this is because they compare the dps to a turret even though it should be looking as a broader dps of all weapons for the proc as is reduces the power drain on all weapons. That is a lot harder to track as it is a 2.5% proc. Now that we have the the Weapons systems efficiency cruiser command this goes on further.

On my Avenger with 3 dhc, 1 quad (looks cool), 2 turrets, 1 kcb and 1 torp, Marion doff and cruiser command I find that my power usually fluctuate in the 120s and will some time dip to 115. rarely does it dip below 100.

Higher energy use items like Phaser lance/lotus, Beam overload, etc is an ability that uses power and does not give it back upon firing. that have to recharge. this is where eps ability and overcap can come into play as they are untapped power sources used when recharging.