What is the best t5 Flight Deck Cruiser?

omegaphallic

Okay we now have at t5 the Orion Maurader FDC, the Corsair Retrofit FDC, the Fleet Corsair Retrofit FDC, the Voth Bastion FDC, and the Bulwark Dreadnaught Cruiser.

Here are my thoughts. At the bottom is the Maurader FDC and Corsair retrofit, in the middle is the Bastion and Fleet Corsair FDCs, and in all honesty the the Bulwark beats them all by far, including the just released Bastion.

Anyone disagree? Why is the Bulwark better then the just released Bastion? I mean I do expect some power creep, this is an mmo and its inevivitible, but the Bastion was just released this season. My Corsair does have 1 turn rate over it, but is inferior in every other way, especially with the 3 console bonus of Battle Cloak and it can arm duel cannons, but as I said I expect some power creep and my Fleet Corsair is still a really good ship.

What do you guys think?

t

westx211

Bulwark dreadnought is not a flight deck cruiser so you can't compare it at the same level as them.. Ala cruiser commands its classified as a dreadnought cruiser.

sinusiridum

Details... it's very similar to one.
And I agree that the Bulwark is superior to all those.

warmaker001b

Why are you putting the Bulwark in this ranking? Of course it's going to be the best Flight Deck Cruiser (ignore the title with the Bulkwark, it's a Cruiser style ship, handles like one, has a hangar... it's a Flight Deck Cruiser).

The thing was designed to be stupidly good to sucker people into buying it. Just like the JHAS for such a long time.

It's like asking Best Escort, and it's always going to come down to 1-2 ships, which incidentally still includes the JHAS.

omegaphallic

Okay so there is some debate on weather the Bulwork Cruiser is a FDC or not, what about the rest?

rodentmaster

I think he's basically saying a carrier with more than 3/3 weapons setup. I.e. not a sci cruiser carrier.

I'd say don't knock them. The mirror voquv, even with 3/3 weapons and heavy sci layout, is still one of the best and most fun carriers in the game.

I would have to say that I think 2 ships (on paper) seem to be the best choices. Mind you I say "on paper" because I have neither, but have looked over the stats.

These ships have tac-oriented boff slots for better firepower, have slower turn rates, but ALSO have the advantage of 2 hangar bays. While ships like the JHEC may act like an escort with a free hangar bay, these 2 choices are more like cruisers with 2 hangar bays.

The Fleet Karfi and the JHDC

Karfi has the benefit of 30% more turn rate. When you're dealing with whales that's a big difference. It has a slightly higher shield rating but a MUCH lower hull rating. It also locks you into a very sci-heavy boff layout. Only 2 ENG consoles.

More info here: http://sto.gamepedia.com/Fleet_Kar%27Fi_Battle_Carrier

JHDC has the benefit of a 45K hull, shields almost as good as the Karfi, and it doesn't look like a japanese fighting fish. I REALLY hate the looks on the Karfi. It benefits from one of the best pets in the game, the elite JHAS (if you can afford it). However, unlike most carriers it cannot benefit from gravity well because even with the LT uni boff slot, you have no LtCDR sci boff to play with. You can make a perfectly good ship out of it, but a carrier without grav well seems wrong to me. More ENG-heavy, this has more ENG console slots to run RCS or armor consoles, but I fear you'd still be limited to a beam boat because of the turn rate.

More info here: http://sto.gamepedia.com/Jem%27Hadar_Dreadnought_Carrier

Overall, I'd say that on paper the JHDC appears to be the most capable carrier in the game with more than 3/3 weapons setup based on multiple factors. Even as just a cruiser it would be a formidable ship in its own right, but it has 2 of the best carrier pets in the game on top of that.

amincielbleu

I stick with my previous position :

"Science captains should think twice about the Aventine ("tactical Vesta"), the Fleet Kar'Fi or the Fleet VoQuv. They certainly fit the role of a science carrier, which should be prefered to a tanking carrier by a science captain...

If you're a Romulan satisfied with only one hangar, the Scimitar is a cheap and powerful option. Everything else is more expensive : the Jem'Hadar Heavy Escort Carrier or the Voth Bastion if only one hangar suits you, the Jem'Hadar Dreadnought or the Tholian Recluse if two hangars are needed.

The Voth Bullwark, The advanced Obelisk and the Fleet Corsair can be safely ignored because two tactical consoles are not enough (except for the Recluse thanks to unique redeeming features). "

For a PvE-minded KDF captain, I wouldn't think of anything else than the Kar'Fi or the JHEC, depending on whether you are pleased with one hangar or two ; I also understand the Vo'Quv lovers. If you're going to spend a lot of energy credits on a ship with a hangar, why would you spend it on a Bastion (much less powerful and not sturdier than the JHEC in PvE) or on a Bullwark (2 tactical consoles ?!) ? About ships with two hangars, Klingons should take advantage of the Kar'Fi, a wonderful ship indeed, as offensive as the Jem'Hadar Dreadnought and much less expensive.

This being said, if you like the Fleet Corsair for aesthetic reasons, it is going to perform well enough for 99% of the PvE content of the game. Optimizing the choice of the ship is (almost) futile in Star Trek Online (I wouldn't say the same thing about the ship's equipment, of course).

For PvP players, it all depends on your team, so I don't see any recommendation passing the test of time.

mandoknight89

amincielbleu wrote: »

If you're going to spend a lot of energy credits on a ship with a hangar, why would you spend it on a Bastion (much less powerful and not sturdier than the JHEC in PvE) or on a Bullwark (2 tactical consoles ?!) ?

A Bastion is sturdier than a JHEC. The Cdr Engineer, LtCdr Sci, and open Lt and En seats along with the 1.2 shield mod and 44k base hull can make for a very sturdy ship even by Cruiser standards, while the JHEC "merely" has a LtCdr/Lt Eng, En Sci, and Lt Uni. Shield Frequency Modulation and Attract Fire also provide some extra tanking opportunities to the Bastion.

There may not be many situations where the JHEC would be hurting for more heals in PvE, but it's still less of a tank than the Bastion.

noblet

For tank, there's the Bulwark. There's no real debate on this one, most people agree there's nothing quite like it.

For gank, there's the fleet kar'fi, if you have the benefit of being klingon. A lot of people seem to be under the impression it's a science carrier, and smaller flight deck like JHEC has more gank.

Fleet kar'fi is actually a tac carrier, with 4/3 weapons, heavier tac boffs than any other carrier/flight deck carrier, 4 tac consoles, high turn rate, and frig pets that use both rapid fire III and heavy torp III. In practice, the frigs has a tendency to follow up volley of dual antiproton with a heavy tricobalt torp for a nasty combination. Even the overpriced bug pet out of JHDC doesn't do quite as much spike dmg. It's much lighter on sci boff than tac boff, but enough to field one grav well 1, plus debuffs. This leaves almost no room for eng, thus the poor tank. It works best when flown as dps boat on high weapon power, and performs poorly when flown as a normal carrier.

omegaphallic

The Jem'hadar ships, recluse, and Kar'fi aren't Flight Deck Cruisers,they're carriers and escort carriers.

To be a Flight Deck Cruiser you need cruiser commands and a hangar bay.

And I have no problem in using my current build in PVP, never mind PVE. An extra tac console actually only represents a modest dps boost and there are universal consoles like the point defence system that can boost your offensive capablities as well, and there are other ways to boost the offensive potential.

I will admit to chosing the Orion ships for flavour and taste reasons, but its a very effective ship.