It's a great ship, but unfortunately the Ambassador Retrofit is a limited edition ship and you can't obtain it any more if you haven't during STO's 3-rd Anniversary.
You can however get the Fleet Ambassador for 4 Fleet Ship Modules if your fleet has Tier 3 shipyard, which in my opinion is an awesome ship and even better than the Retrofit, plus you'll get the Yamaguchi parts.
Fleet Ambassador and Excelsior are some of the best cruisers in the game, and they've held up well against power creep.
Set up a FAW beam boat, use broadsides.
Fleet Ambassador has the same tac boffs as a fleet sovvie, but better science seating and hull, plus a more sci-heavy seating. It's a killer (i.e. performs really, really well) in PVE or PVP; excellent tank, turns a tad faster than the Oddy, which is nice.
Edit to add: Also, the LtC boff seating could be used for grav well 1 in ISE. With that plus Nukara gear plus a buddy with a half-decent tacscort you could have 3 complete morons as the rest of your team and still win with optional in maybe 5 minutes.
Fleet Ambassador and Excelsior are some of the best cruisers in the game, and they've held up well against power creep.
Set up a FAW beam boat, use broadsides.
Fleet Ambassador has the same tac boffs as a fleet sovvie, but better science seating and hull, plus a more sci-heavy seating. It's a killer in PVE or PVP; excellent tank, turns a tad faster than the Oddy, which is nice.
Um...last I checked Sovvie and Ambassador both had LT and Ensign tac boffs. EDIT: Upon checking the wiki, you're right, I'm wrong, I was thinking about the RA sovvie. My bad.
Yeah, Sovvie is a support ship, but it has not-awful DPS, and its inertia makes it slightly more agile than the Sovvie.
Excelsior is like the Avenger, only it trades DPS for tanking, and IMHO it's actually superior to the Avenger in that regard.
If you feel like testing the Ambassador out without spending 4 Fleet Ship Modules, get the Mirror Heavy Cruiser Retrofit off the exchange. Not so expensive, and the same boff layout. Pretty similar gameplay imo.
Other than that, I love that ship. Perfect visuals when assimilated, and a fun gameplay.
If you feel like testing the Ambassador out without spending 4 Fleet Ship Modules, get the Mirror Heavy Cruiser Retrofit off the exchange. Not so expensive, and the same boff layout. Pretty similar gameplay imo.
Other than that, I love that ship. Perfect visuals when assimilated, and a fun gameplay.
This^^^
A fleetmate has both ships, and says the same. Fleet ambassador has better hull and shields, though.
i second this, i run the excelsior, its a beast when armed correctly!
A fleetmate and I did an ISE run; I had my Avenger, he had an excelsior retrofit, both 9-console versions, comparable gear (no rep or fleet stuff EXCEPT the Solanae set, otherwise all blue MK 11s), comparable pilots. We're both fairly experienced, I was running a DBB/turret build with BO 2 and 3 and a bunch of EPTWs plus the Solanae set and an RSP and an eng team. He had a FAW spam build with Aux2bat.
He out-DPSed me by 1.3k, because I died halfway through when I drew aggro from the cube and the rest of the team were nimrods.
Avenger has more DPS than the Excelsior, but the Excelsior is MUCH better unsupported (Avenger can get squishy if you're not careful). And besides, DPS of dead is zero.
My fed engineer has flown nothing but the Ambassador retrofit since acquiring it on the third anniversary, until a month or so back when I got the fleet version.
In my view, it's the perfect fed cruiser.
Enough tactical clout to make some difference, a nice smattering of Science options and tanky enough to hang in the middle of a fight.
Go AP/borg and use both the 360 beam turrets for extra fun and games.
A fleetmate and I did an ISE run; I had my Avenger, he had an excelsior retrofit, both 9-console versions, comparable gear (no rep or fleet stuff EXCEPT the Solanae set, otherwise all blue MK 11s), comparable pilots. We're both fairly experienced, I was running a DBB/turret build with BO 2 and 3 and a bunch of EPTWs plus the Solanae set and an RSP and an eng team. He had a FAW spam build with Aux2bat.
He out-DPSed me by 1.3k, because I died halfway through when I drew aggro from the cube and the rest of the team were nimrods.
Avenger has more DPS than the Excelsior, but the Excelsior is MUCH better unsupported (Avenger can get squishy if you're not careful). And besides, DPS of dead is zero.
why drag out high numbers on damage when you can pump it in at a consistent rate? in my thinking in former sim racing days, winning the race as slow as possible was the best way to go as opposed to flat out and potentially causing a retirement. same situation applies.
yeah the excelsior can survive on its own with high damage from faw/a2b spam no question and its strong defensive heals from engineering and science compliment it well.
the lack of a good tactical slot for the ambassador made that choice for me.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Ambassador Retrofit is a solid support cruiser, just as the name says. The LtCmdr sci means you can do some shield healing with TSS3 in addition to your normal engi hull heals, or you can use the spot for some extra CC with gravwell, and so forth. Its pretty limited on tactical stations so you dont have a lot of DPS options beyond AtB with FAW1 and APB1, and if you do that you wont have any mana for your sci spells. And it doesnt really have the layout to support a full healer build either. You can do some damage, do some support, thats the role for it.
Fleet Ambassador is a little better, since you can double up the Lt Tac stations and run FAW1 at full uptime without losing all your AUX power.
So, if I fly my Ambassador Refit, what would be a good recommendation for BOff skills, and consoles for 40% offense/60% deffense?I like running cannons fore, with turrets and mines aft.
I am new to MMO's, I have only been playing for about a year, so a more detailed description of the suggestions would be appreciated.
I wouldn't use Cannons/Mines on that ship, too slow. You are better off broadsiding with beams.
BOFF abilities: Two copies of each EPtS and EPtW. Or one each with purple Damage Control Engineer DOFFs (that decrease recharge time on Emergency Power to X abilities).This increases both your defense and your offense
On the TACs I'd use two copies of Beam Fire at Willy and one Tac Team. More defensive option would be two Tac Teams and one Fire at Will.
Fill the rest with heals and tank like a boss!
Comments
get the fleet version you will be happy as a ^%^%^^ in a &^&^&^ contest
You can however get the Fleet Ambassador for 4 Fleet Ship Modules if your fleet has Tier 3 shipyard, which in my opinion is an awesome ship and even better than the Retrofit, plus you'll get the Yamaguchi parts.
Set up a FAW beam boat, use broadsides.
Fleet Ambassador has the same tac boffs as a fleet sovvie, but better science seating and hull, plus a more sci-heavy seating. It's a killer (i.e. performs really, really well) in PVE or PVP; excellent tank, turns a tad faster than the Oddy, which is nice.
Edit to add: Also, the LtC boff seating could be used for grav well 1 in ISE. With that plus Nukara gear plus a buddy with a half-decent tacscort you could have 3 complete morons as the rest of your team and still win with optional in maybe 5 minutes.
Fake. And it's not a killer it's a healer.
Excelsior fits killer role as tac cruiser.
Um...last I checked Sovvie and Ambassador both had LT and Ensign tac boffs. EDIT: Upon checking the wiki, you're right, I'm wrong, I was thinking about the RA sovvie. My bad.
Yeah, Sovvie is a support ship, but it has not-awful DPS, and its inertia makes it slightly more agile than the Sovvie.
Excelsior is like the Avenger, only it trades DPS for tanking, and IMHO it's actually superior to the Avenger in that regard.
Other than that, I love that ship. Perfect visuals when assimilated, and a fun gameplay.
Join the Deltas today!
This^^^
A fleetmate has both ships, and says the same. Fleet ambassador has better hull and shields, though.
Edit: I did read it wrong, "NOT" is emphasized.
i second this, i run the excelsior, its a beast when armed correctly!
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
A fleetmate and I did an ISE run; I had my Avenger, he had an excelsior retrofit, both 9-console versions, comparable gear (no rep or fleet stuff EXCEPT the Solanae set, otherwise all blue MK 11s), comparable pilots. We're both fairly experienced, I was running a DBB/turret build with BO 2 and 3 and a bunch of EPTWs plus the Solanae set and an RSP and an eng team. He had a FAW spam build with Aux2bat.
He out-DPSed me by 1.3k, because I died halfway through when I drew aggro from the cube and the rest of the team were nimrods.
Avenger has more DPS than the Excelsior, but the Excelsior is MUCH better unsupported (Avenger can get squishy if you're not careful). And besides, DPS of dead is zero.
In my view, it's the perfect fed cruiser.
Enough tactical clout to make some difference, a nice smattering of Science options and tanky enough to hang in the middle of a fight.
Go AP/borg and use both the 360 beam turrets for extra fun and games.
why drag out high numbers on damage when you can pump it in at a consistent rate? in my thinking in former sim racing days, winning the race as slow as possible was the best way to go as opposed to flat out and potentially causing a retirement. same situation applies.
yeah the excelsior can survive on its own with high damage from faw/a2b spam no question and its strong defensive heals from engineering and science compliment it well.
the lack of a good tactical slot for the ambassador made that choice for me.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Fleet Ambassador is a little better, since you can double up the Lt Tac stations and run FAW1 at full uptime without losing all your AUX power.
I am new to MMO's, I have only been playing for about a year, so a more detailed description of the suggestions would be appreciated.
BOFF abilities: Two copies of each EPtS and EPtW. Or one each with purple Damage Control Engineer DOFFs (that decrease recharge time on Emergency Power to X abilities).This increases both your defense and your offense
On the TACs I'd use two copies of Beam Fire at Willy and one Tac Team. More defensive option would be two Tac Teams and one Fire at Will.
Fill the rest with heals and tank like a boss!