Question before I respec...

redheadguy

Okay everyone. I have a Fed Sci captain who is currently flying around in a Tal Shiar Adapted Battle Cruiser. He needs a respec and BADLY! Before I do that I need some information.
Can anyone give me an idea of how the skill Starship Subspace Decompiler affects my hold and stun abilities? I mean, if I rank it up by three ranks how long will Tractor Beam 3 last vs if I rank up Subspace Decompiler to six ranks?
How about the console that comes with this ship, the Indoctrination Nanite Dispersal System? How is that ability affected by the Decompiler skill?

I'm trying to get an idea of how many skill points I should spend on that skill vs my other science skills. Thanks

For reffrence:
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Tal_Shiar_Adapted_Battle_Cruiser
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Subspace_Decompiler
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Console_-_Universal_-_Indoctrination_Nanite_Dispersal_System

reginamala78

This guy worked up a WONDERFUL table of it all, tells you how much various skills do (or don't) affect your end results.

http://home.comcast.net/~amicus/Skill%20Point%20Effects.htm

Also if you haven't worked up an stoacademy skill planner ahead of time, do so, to plan out your skill expenditures (if you do know of it of course, nevermind me then). Also, some of the info on the wiki is out of date (like Decompiler I don't believe helps Tractor Beams anymore), so if you have some particular thoughts in mind, its worth asking about them specifically.

pwstolemyname

A few things to bear in mind.

Your captain's expertise allows you to bring a skill up to 84 points (with 6 investments) or 99 points (with 9 investments).

In the majority of cases, including all science skills. The performance difference you get from an extra 15 points is impossible to notice without checking a tool tip or running a parser.

Because the performance to cost ratio becomes so bad going from 6 investments to 9 you should really only consider it if you intend for your captain to run just one or two ships in the same exact way, or if your aiming to put together an alpha strike build (for which every point, noticeable or not, may make the difference. Such builds are generally best for PVP, they are inefficient in PVE)

While the most points you can have in a skill from your expertise is 99, there is no skill point cap. VR MK XII science consoles will add 30 points to their respective science skill with no diminishing returns. You can get your skill points into 250-300 range for a number of skills if you build your ship with a mind to focusing on the abilities it governs.

There is no generic science console for subspace decompiler. There are only a few pieces of equipment in the game which enable you to buff this, mostly deflectors. This skill is almost exclusively focused on PVP. The base durations of its governed abilities are short, their cool downs long, and boss NPC ships generally have resistance or immunity to their effects.

Flow Capacitors, Graviton Generators or Particle Generators are the principle science skills it can pay to buff up to silly levels.

Graviton Generators can help you to achieve a 15km diameter gravity well with the right equipment.

Flow Capacitors buff a large number of science abilities which work well together (tachyon beam, energy syphon and tykens rift will all benefit from this skill, as well as deflector duty officers with the recharge trait).

Particle Generators also buffs a large number of science abilities. Many of which are fun. However as its purpose is to buff damage, you may want to ask yourself why your using science abilities. Tactical abilities will do more damage then science powers, so this is a choice for novelty over efficiency.

redheadguy

Thank you to both of you. Now I'm re-considering how to spend my skill points, I mean that in a good way ! Thanks for your help and see ya in game!