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Recon science vessel kinetic build advice
mercuriciodide
Member Posts: 342
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=reconscikineticmercuran_0
Advice for the skill point allocation is desired since I have an unused respec. I have all of the space trait powers since I'm an alien, except any that are specific to a certain species.
notes ---
I put points into energy weapons in case I decide to swap in a dual beam bank or beam array to utilize the science vessel subsystem disable ability. I am torn about this. I'm not certain that the ability really is useful enough to put skill points into and lose a weapon slot for kinetic damage. Also, there is a power drain issue.
This is a PvE-centric build.
I currently am testing the gravimetric photon torpedo and the Borg plasma torpedo. The plasma torpedo in particular is competing with my tricobalts for use with heavy yield I, which I am not happy with. The gravimetric torpedo is nice, but I don't have anything to boost photon damage. I was using torpedo spread I instead of high yield. The high yield tricobalt moves slowly and is more likely to be shot. Certain STFs are a problem in this regard, like Voth and Elachi.
The Breen two piece set provides a 30 to transphasic damage, which enhances the torpedo launcher and the cluster mine. The cluster mine seems quite effective with gravity well III.
I use the Aegis shield when not fighting Borg instead of the Resilient shield.
DOFFS:
Generally, for Borg I use two projective weapons officers with Dlyrene, plus a deflector officer and the Romulan gravimetric officer who reduces cooldown for anomalies. All are purples.
I have experimented with three projectile DOFFs when not fighting Borg as well as the the shield distribution officer or an extra deflector DOFF. This ship is rather squishy but the shield guy doesn't seem to make a dramatic difference.
The ship is much tankier with the full Aegis set but losing the 30% boost to transphasic damage hurts and the Aegis engine isn't as good in combat as the Breen.
My tactic is to fly close to the target (while popping polarize hull to avoid tractor beams) and drop the tricobalt mine with dispersal pattern, shoot the breen cluster and then the bioneural warhead, spin around and launch gravity well III and sensor scan with the frontal torpedoes.
Or, if it's a large group, I'll launch gravity well III first and either send in a high yield tricobalt torpedo or try to fly in and do the mines+bioneural combo. The bioneural is a pain because of the range requirement.
I also have a spatial charge console where the graviton console is shown in the build. It's not yet in this system. The gravimetric photon torpedo is probably going to displace the Hargh'peng.
Shields are a problem with this build. It really doesn't have anything to strip them.
For crystalline entity, I would substitute tachyon beam II for one of the lieutenant science powers if I were to have more BOFF slots.
I was using the deep space science vessel. It tanks better, but I do like having the third tac console.
Advice for the skill point allocation is desired since I have an unused respec. I have all of the space trait powers since I'm an alien, except any that are specific to a certain species.
notes ---
I put points into energy weapons in case I decide to swap in a dual beam bank or beam array to utilize the science vessel subsystem disable ability. I am torn about this. I'm not certain that the ability really is useful enough to put skill points into and lose a weapon slot for kinetic damage. Also, there is a power drain issue.
This is a PvE-centric build.
I currently am testing the gravimetric photon torpedo and the Borg plasma torpedo. The plasma torpedo in particular is competing with my tricobalts for use with heavy yield I, which I am not happy with. The gravimetric torpedo is nice, but I don't have anything to boost photon damage. I was using torpedo spread I instead of high yield. The high yield tricobalt moves slowly and is more likely to be shot. Certain STFs are a problem in this regard, like Voth and Elachi.
The Breen two piece set provides a 30 to transphasic damage, which enhances the torpedo launcher and the cluster mine. The cluster mine seems quite effective with gravity well III.
I use the Aegis shield when not fighting Borg instead of the Resilient shield.
DOFFS:
Generally, for Borg I use two projective weapons officers with Dlyrene, plus a deflector officer and the Romulan gravimetric officer who reduces cooldown for anomalies. All are purples.
I have experimented with three projectile DOFFs when not fighting Borg as well as the the shield distribution officer or an extra deflector DOFF. This ship is rather squishy but the shield guy doesn't seem to make a dramatic difference.
The ship is much tankier with the full Aegis set but losing the 30% boost to transphasic damage hurts and the Aegis engine isn't as good in combat as the Breen.
My tactic is to fly close to the target (while popping polarize hull to avoid tractor beams) and drop the tricobalt mine with dispersal pattern, shoot the breen cluster and then the bioneural warhead, spin around and launch gravity well III and sensor scan with the frontal torpedoes.
Or, if it's a large group, I'll launch gravity well III first and either send in a high yield tricobalt torpedo or try to fly in and do the mines+bioneural combo. The bioneural is a pain because of the range requirement.
I also have a spatial charge console where the graviton console is shown in the build. It's not yet in this system. The gravimetric photon torpedo is probably going to displace the Hargh'peng.
Shields are a problem with this build. It really doesn't have anything to strip them.
For crystalline entity, I would substitute tachyon beam II for one of the lieutenant science powers if I were to have more BOFF slots.
I was using the deep space science vessel. It tanks better, but I do like having the third tac console.
Post edited by mercuriciodide on
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Comments
As far as energy weapons go... I have XII purples in phased polaron DBB, polaron beam array, and polarized disruptor DBB. I also have the XI piercing tetryon DBB from the mission reward which seems reasonable. I've also been considering the omni beam array to displace the bioneural warhead so I can use the subsystem targeting ability, but I assume that would be a downgrade in terms of damage.
1) As I am sure you know, the number of captain skill points you get per expertise investment diminishes significantly past a 6 point investment.
2) The effect upon your abilities and stats rendered by individual skill points is very very small. Most of my tests on specific abilities have shown that anything less then a 25 point jump in a governing skill point value is unlikely to be noticeable without a parser.
3) Every skill point makes a difference, but the opportunity cost of taking a captain skill to level 9 is huge. Unless the 15 points this is getting you is being further enhanced by additional small bonuses from your equipment it is unlikely to benefit you. Even with equipment the merits are questionable when compared to the benefit you could receive in another area with the same resource investment.
4) Generally speaking science ships benefit the least from min/maxing. It is useful to buy a few boff slots so that you can change your build to suit which ever situation your mission puts you in. If your going to stick with your current build for ever and never mix it up by all means eliminate everything that doesn't benefit any aspect of your build. But the benefits of this are not in my opinion worth locking yourself into a specific ship and build. A lot of science powers are situational.
5) Warp core efficiency and warp core potential should almost always be taken to 6. Especially now that we have access to warp cores which give 3.3% dps increases for every subsystem over 75pts.
6) Subsystem repair may not always help you, but when something takes your subsystems offline you would be very glad of a minor investment in it. Just a couple of seconds can be the deference between a hull breach and a warp core breach.
7) Inertial Dampeners do not currently work fantastically well. A test conducted on a friend of mine showed little difference in the effect of science powers on him when he had a full rack of +30 inertial consoles equipped and when he didn't. Conversely Power insulators do work very well, keeping them at 6 is not a bad idea.
Ok I could give you an analysis of every skill in the game. But I feel like shooting something now. That should be plenty of info to help you. Have fun and good luck.
Opinions about the ship build are definitely appreciated. I was using torpedo spread. I just got the Omega torpedo as well as the gravimetric photon. It seems like I should switch to a plasma build if I'm going to use the Omega torpedo.
I have a bunch of DOFFs to choose from such as:
Xucem: 25% chance to add +20 to shields when using a torpedo
deflector officers: 25% chance to reduce deflector abilities by 50%
regular projectile weapons
projectile weapons that reduce recharge time on mines
Tanan: 50% chance to reduce exotic ability charge time by 10 seconds
I like Xucem's ability, but I'm not sure where I can put him in my Borg DOFF build because of Dlyrene.
Most MMOs reward specialization and min/maxing, and in some ways STO does as well. But the captain skill tree only does so with very specific builds for which many investments are rendered redundant, and therefore the opportunity cost is mitigated.
Weather you should maximize even one skill is entirely up to you. In the grand scheme of things most content in STO is forgiving enough that you can get by on the merits of equipment alone.
Lets give you some more perspective. Lets say, for example, that you wanted to put together a ship capable of producing the largest possible gravity well:
The size of your well is effected by three things. Your graviton generators skill. Your ships auxiliary power level, and the level of the gravity well ability your boff is trained in.
The auxiliary power level and ability level provide the largest boost to your wells diameter, the graviton generator skill provides a more modest boost.
You can boost your graviton generator skill using equipment as well as by training it.
30 points per graviton generator consoles = 120 points on a science ship. (150 on a 5 sci console ship)
Your choice of deflector can add up to 40 points
The universal assimilated module gives 23 points.
So even before factoring in your captain skill level you could potentially be at 213 points.
A fully maxed captain is therefore going to give you a total skill level of 312 points. The difference between taking that captain skill to max and just taking it to 6 is 15 points, so without maxing it your looking at 297.
Now is where it gets interesting. Those final 15 points cost you 6000 expertise, which you could have spent on a greater boost to something else. Those 15 points better make a noticeable difference.
Sadly they do not. those 15 points represent a rough 0.45km increase in diameter. that means that you can only pull in ships from a distance of 0.22km more from the origination point of the well.
Given the speeds that targets move, and given the realities of latency that 0.22km is going to make no noticeable difference to your success or failure.
Now that's just one example of one captain skill. And its already a wall of text so I wont give more examples.
The point isn't that you should or shouldn't min/max your build. You can do what ever you like and have fun. And you will gain an improvement with every point you acquire in a skill. But unless your going for a maximum DPS build, or a PvP disable build (in which fractions of a second count) min/maxing is going to cost you noticeable performance benefits in exchange for benefits you need to run serious tests to detect.
Your build could benefit from a little focus. Ability selection is where the real maximizing in STO comes into play.
For your offensive science abilities you are using tractor repulsors, tykens rift and gravity well. Tykens rift works off of flow capacitors, while gravity well works off of graviton generators. rather then having one rift ability with no buffing console, why not choose to double up one or the other and use it twice as often and more effectively?
Right now you have three different team abilities which all share a cool down. Of those team abilities tactical team is more important to you. You should have either two tactical teams or one and con officers to recharge it faster. Using other healing abilities like emergency power to shields and auxiliary power to structural integrity field wont put this on cool down.
You have a reverse shield polarity skill which will save you from a warp core breach once every 3 minutes, and be a wasted slot the rest of the time. (if you want an emergency button consider emergency power to engines 1 + evasive maneuvers. You will be out of weapons range before you can blink, and you can do this much more often. You can also use this offensively to close into weapons range without the power drain of full impulse)
Sadly this ship will make you chose between EP2 Engines, EP2 Shields, and A2 Structural, but all three combinations should keep you alive more constantly then your current build.
Ok Equipment and duty officers. You seem to like projectiles, and I don't blame you. They work well with a science ships need for aux power. If you obtained three very rare projectile duty officers for launcher recharge, and two very rare con officers for tactical team recharge then you could save yourself some weapon slots and some ability slots.
I would mount the romulan hyper plasma torpedo launcher and another regular plasma torpedo launcher to the front, along with the experimental romulan beam array. To the aft slots I would mount a tractor beam mine launcher, plasma mine launcher and either a turret or your bio-neural warhead.
With the suggested doff selection you will be pumping out a steady stream of projectiles with plasma fire that burns hull strait through shields. You can use all three tactical console slots on boosting their damage, and you will be able to keep tactical team running as if you had two copies of the ability, so you can continue to use two projectile abilities.
the splash damage on the romulan hyper plasma torpedo's should work well with a couple of gravity wells. and if you liked you could turn your science team and repulsors into a couple of tachyon beams to help get more of your kinetic damage through to the hull.
Many people disregard tachyon beams because they are pretty bad at low aux levels. but such a build as this should be running high aux, so they should be fairly decent on this ship, and they have a fairly short re-use time.
What about maxing any of the shield skills? Since this ship relies so much on shields since it has so little hull, it seems like even small improvements in shielding might be worth the points -- like the emitters skill. What about structural integrity for ship hit points?
There is no way to make tricobalts viable? They're just for PvP, right?
What about the graviton photon torpedo? It has a short cool down.
Which engine, deflector, warp core, and shield would you suggest?
I shouldn't use a deflector DOFF to reduce the gravity well cool down? What about Xucem and Tanan?
When I fight the borg I use the Dylrene doff for the 10% extra damage. Which doff can I swap out to put in Dylrene?
The benefit of adding 15 points to a skill (the total added by going from 6 investments to 9) is always very minor. Hear are some numbers for shield emitters.
Emergency Power to Shields 1.
Depending upon your gear and your captain skill you can probably expect to get near to a 1300 point heal out of this one. Adding 15 points in emitters will take that up by 67 points. Maybe that 67 points will save you from a hull breach. But its going to be a very rare occasion when it does.
What about Transfer Shield Strength 3?
Your probably looking at up to 1300 points again as a one time heal. and 365 point regeneration bonus. Adding 15 points in emitters will again add 67 points to the one time heal. and 19 points to the regeneration. Once again I am not confident that this is going to make a noticeable difference to weather your warp core goes critical or not.
If you have spare expertise by all means go for that last 15 points in the emitters skill. It does help. But you might be able to get more out of the expertise elsewhere. Unless your limiting yourself to one ship and one build there is almost always somewhere else you could put your points for a bigger improvement then going from 6-9 in a skill will get you.
Depends what you consider viable to be. If all your looking for is to complete pve content as fast as possible then you shouldn't be in a science ship at all, and certainly shouldn't be using tricobalts.
But this is a game, and as such the point is fun. Science is fun, and so are tricobalts. If you want to get a little more out of them the key can be found in the projectile weapon duty office. When the launcher cool down reduction procs it will do so for all launchers on your ship, not just the one that fired. If you combine a couple of tricobalt launchers with a faster one like the romulan hyper plasma or a photon, then it can help you recharge the tricobalt launchers. I wouldn't call it rapid fire, but its an improvement.
Using this with torpedo spread is a fantastic addition to a gravity well as their minor wells do splash damage over a small area which your regular gravity well can ensure is filled with enemies. So far I have found spread to be more effective then high yield for this. But I have yet to run proper tests.
So long as your using a lot of projectiles the adapted maco set is probably the best way to go. +25% Bonus to Torpedo Damage from the twoset beonus is a big deal, and the stats on the deflector work well with gravity wells. The obelisk warp core is very good for this build as well as being easily obtainable.
Deflector officers are fantastic, If you can get the 6th active duty officer slot from a T3 fleet spire holding then you should use them. But you can achieve a faster gravity well re-use rate by using two gravity well abilities. Without projectile duty officers you can not so easily improve your projectile re-fire rate. So for now I recommend using 3 very rare projectile duty officers.
As to the last two duty officer slots the choice is weather you would rather have a tactical ability or a science ability. The con officers will give you the benefit of having two tactical team abilities all of the time. The deflector officers will only give you the benefit of having two gravity wells when they proc.
You could swap out a projectile doff. I am not sure weather this will gain or loose you dps. You might want to run a parser or have some else with a parser do so for you.