Alt2Batt Science Ship

torvinecho25

Hey all!

With cruisers now firmly back in the game thanks to Aux2Batt, the Avenger, and cruiser commands, I've decided to clock some time working on science ships. While science ships are seeing heavy use in PvP as dedicated healers/harassers, they are not prominent in PvE due to limited PvE functionality. I've decided to put some effort into making a PvE-viable science ship capable of competing with escorts and Aux2Batt cruisers.

I chose to experiment with the Tholian Orb Weaver for two reasons; one, I feel its a great ship that is underused and under appreciated, and two, it is one of the most versatile science ships in terms of console/bridge layout, which makes it ideal for this kind of tampering.

The concept of this build, which I have for the time being dubbed an "Alternative" Aux2Batt build, is to use methods OTHER then Auxiliary to Battery/Technician DoFFs to reduce cooldowns to global. I've gone about this effect through the use of DoFFs, certain specific set powers and bonuses, and Photonic Officer 3.

This is the build as it is currently; http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=torvinsalt2btt_0

I've tilted it towards AoE/damage resistance debuff. I've opted for Romulan Plasma due to the fact that it can be boosted by the three Embassy damage consoles while retaining the disruptor damage resistance debuff. Fire at Will/Torpedo Spread allow for AoE use of Attack Pattern Beta II as well as high DPS. Gravity Well and Tykens Rift are for crowd control (although I may swap out Tykens for another power, as with both Gravity Well and Tykens Rift on double-time I'm having problems with the shard cooldown). Emergency Power to Weapons and Directed Energy Modulation are for dealing with weapon power drain and upgrading beam damage.

DoFFs are three purple Photonic Studies Scientists and a Marion Frances Dulmer.

The build achieves global cooldowns on all powers through three different methods.

#1: Photonic Officer 3 - While PO3 (PO2 works almost as well, I opted for PO3 since I already had it) is in effect, nearly all cooldowns are set to near global automatically. PO3s very long cooldown is countered by the three Photonic Studies Scientist DoFFs; with these DoFFs active, PO3 is in effect for 1 out of every 2 minutes, meaning it has a 50% uptime, which means 50% of the time all cooldowns are automatically reset to near global.

#2: The MACO 2-piece bonus - As most know, the MACO sets 2-piece bonus reduces ALL cooldowns (captain and bridge officer alike) by 5%. This set bonus works to pick up any slack left from Photonic Officer 3; between the 2-set and PO3, all cooldowns achieve global.

#3: The Elite Fleet Deflector - This deflector grants a 10% cooldown reduction to ALL science powers (effecting Photonic Officer 3, Transfer Shield Strength 1, Hazard Emitters 1, Tykens Rift 1, and Gravity Well I). This reduction combines with the MACO 2 piece to cut cooldowns when Photonic Officer 3 is not in effect.


OVERVIEW - While Photonic Officer 3 is in effect, ALL cooldowns hit global thanks to the synergy between PO3, the MACO 2-set, and the Elite fleet deflector. When PO3 is not in effect, science powers maintain a greatly reduced cooldown.

Comparison to Aux2Batt: While PO3 is active, Alt2Batt has equivalent (or better) cooldown rates then a standard Aux2Batt build, while holding an advantage in that Auxiliary Power is not drained, allowing science abilities to be used to maximum effect. When PO3 is on recycle, Alt2Batt retains science abilities are a reduced cooldown, allowing for high damage science abilities thanks to high aux power. However, when PO3 is offline, Alt2Batt has near-full cooldowns on Attack Pattern Beta, Fire at Will, Torpedo Spread, Emergency Power to Weapons/Shields, and Directed Energy Modulation, meaning DPS will be heavily reduced.


Essentially, Alt2Batt preforms better in short engagements, while Aux2Batt tends to hold up better in long engagements. Either way, I feel like this particular build has a lot of promise and I'm going to stick with it and see what I else I can do with it.

Anyone got any thoughts? Opinions? Ideas? Throw whatever comes to mind out there.

saxmanusmc

The problem with Aux2Batt on a Sci ship is that most of your abilities will benefit most from high aux levels. That said....

I am a tac captain and fly a fleet sci ship retrofit. I was running a single aux2batt with two purple tech doffs, plus 2 deflector doffs for the deflector abilities cooldown. It worked well, but you REALLY had to pay attention to when you used aux2batt. Needless to say I ended up not using it much.

I found that using 3 deflector officers, a grav scientist that gives 10sec reduction in CD when using a deflector ability, and a projectile weapons doff for torp cd works MUCH better in my case. I run Grav Well III and Tyken's Rift I and with this setup I can cycle through both abilities very quickly and keep them up probably 60-70% of the fight, and even higher if I get lucky on the procs.

Also, dropping the aux2batt gave me an additional shield heal with RSP I, which give me even more ridiculous staying power....lol.

torvinecho25

saxmanusmc wrote: »

The problem with Aux2Batt on a Sci ship is that most of your abilities will benefit most from high aux levels. That said....

I am a tac captain and fly a fleet sci ship retrofit. I was running a single aux2batt with two purple tech doffs, plus 2 deflector doffs for the deflector abilities cooldown. It worked well, but you REALLY had to pay attention to when you used aux2batt. Needless to say I ended up not using it much.

I found that using 3 deflector officers, a grav scientist that gives 10sec reduction in CD when using a deflector ability, and a projectile weapons doff for torp cd works MUCH better in my case. I run Grav Well III and Tyken's Rift I and with this setup I can cycle through both abilities very quickly and keep them up probably 60-70% of the fight, and even higher if I get lucky on the procs.

Also, dropping the aux2batt gave me an additional shield heal with RSP I, which give me even more ridiculous staying power....lol.

Haha, I agree with you! The whole point of the build was to get the effect of Aux2Batt without using Aux2Batt!

saxmanusmc

LOL....reading comprehension fail.

This is what I get for trying to read stuff before a certain amount of coffee is in my body.:eek:

starboardnacelle

You could take advantage of Aux2Batt on a ship like the Vesta or its siblings by using Photonic Shockwave I and Tractor Beam Repulsors III with the Voth DOff that makes it pull. Its crowd control effects scale on auxiliary power, but its damage scales solely on Particle Generators.

thegalaxy31

torvinecho25 wrote: »

I chose to experiment with the Tholian Orb Weaver for two reasons; one, I feel its a great ship that is underused and under appreciated, and two, it is one of the most versatile science ships in terms of console/bridge layout, which makes it ideal for this kind of tampering.

I agree with that! I have an Orb Weaver on my Caitian Tactical and it tanks better than any ship I've ever flown before.

raptor63549

Unless I am mistaken, PO III is only available from the EMH Boff. Can that even be acquired anymore? It used to be a referral reward.

PO II isn't quite as hot, but adding other cooldown reductions does help with some of the slack a bit.


Good choice on SV though. I use the Weaver a lot due to its layout.

I have actually been experimenting with a dual EPtW/A build and the Nukara passive that buffs weapon training with aux power. Seems to be working well, but I'd like to see if people with different setups and gearing get out of it. Of course biggest failing with the Weaver is putting a engi or sci in the universal leaves you without very much tactical punch.

lucho80

saxmanusmc wrote: »

I found that using 3 deflector officers, a grav scientist that gives 10sec reduction in CD when using a deflector ability

Disclaimer: The doff has been broken for 1 year, 2 months, and 2 weeks and does not affect Energy Siphon or Tachyon Beam as stated in the doff's description.

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=12550431&postcount=1

kimmym

I have to answer this about once a month in my own fleet, so I may as well put it here, as well.

Deflector Officers are not "broken", the tooltip is.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, All of those abilities that are listed on Deflector Officers used to really be on the Deflector cooldown. That meant that if you used any of those abilities, the rest would go on cooldown, with the net effect of forcing you to choose which of those skills you could use. There was no self stacking of Tyken's + ES + Tacyhon Beam. No using ES or Tacyhon beam while using Gravity Well. It was frankly a nightmare.

Then science got a huge buff. They took ES and Tachyon Beam off of the deflector cooldown. That allowed drain builds to actually be viable in PvE. You can now stack up TR+ES+TacB. The only 2 that conflict now are TR and GW - much easier to decide between.

The consequence is they never updated the tooltip of Deflector Officers to remove ES and TacB.

So, no, the doffs aren't broken, the tooltip was just never updated after a major buff.

Edit: There are a couple more that desperately need their tooltips updated. Photonic Officers no longer affect Shockwave torps, for example.

talaj

Interesting build, but a single copy of A2B is going to give you consistent cooldown reduction, still leave you with aux up close to 2/3 of the time, doesn't take up your cmd sci slot, and doesn't more or less bind you to using the MACO 2-piece + elite fleet deflector.

I've been running a single copy on a front-loaded Orb Weaver build (DBBs, GW3 etc) and a more AoE-heavy Vesta build (arrays, reverse TBR + PS) for some time now, and both work like a charm.