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Beam Escort - Can it work?
induperator
Member Posts: 806 Arc User
I've been wanting to build myself a decent Federation escort and construct it to function in a similar way as to how it did in the series. My Federation escorts of choice are the Prometheus and the Akira and as you may well know they both used Phaser beams in the series so naturally I would like to build them in that way (after all this is a Star Trek game) but I know there is some controversy to using beam equipped escorts and I'd like to hear or rather "read" some builds and see If I can build my Federation escort as it was in the series without it being useless ingame.
Note that I want it to be a PVE build, I don't do PVP
Thanks
Note that I want it to be a PVE build, I don't do PVP
Thanks
Post edited by induperator on
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Seems to me there are 3 approaches: dbb up front essentially escort play with better range but less spike; beams and possibly faw, like a mobile cruiser the more mobile the ship the better; torps heavy front with dbb and rear 360s and mine/torp.
Usual consoles apply. If you go all energy weapons it is worth re-speccing the capt, likewise for a torp boat.
If you're unfamiliar, Ker'rat has a ton of Borg NPCs and one can engage in PvP. This build dispatches NPCs very well and makes PvP kills when needed. For PvE, and if you don't have Marion, I'd switch around the engineer layout.
I must say, I was really skeptical of the Bio-torpedo but with torp spread 3 and Kinetic Shearing it is absurd. I may have to bring my Fleet Armitage out of mothball to try super torp spam with the torp PDS console. I'm also playing around with weather I need the KCB for Omega Weapon Amp.
But if I had to pick a PvE escort, I'd go for the Prometheus or the Nicor, for that all important grav well.
TL;DR: There is pretty much no disadvantage to running beams while there are disadvantages to running DHCs.
Fore Weapons: 3x Phaser DBBs, 1 Counter Command Photon Torp.
Aft Weapons: KCB, Counter Command Phaser Turret, Phaser Turret
Cmdr Tac: TT1, BFAW2, TS3, APB3 (PvE), TT1, BO2, TS3, APO3 (PvP)
Ltc Eng: EPtS1, AtB1, EPtW3
Ltc Uni: ET1, AtB1, RSP2 or DEM2
Lt Sci: HE1, ST2
I've parsed 22k DPS in ISE with the PvE Tac slotted and 17k DPS with the PvP Tac slotted.
Besides being very viable, it LOOKS awesome firing the DBBs
Please enable us to buy a token with Zen to faction change a 25th Century FED to a TOS FED.
That's pouring enough fire from a specific enough direction to make the damage really matter. By repeatedly pounding from a certain direction, you hit the same shield facing, and once through, you pound the hull. If you're zooming around too much and in the wrong areas, then you're constantly hitting shields and not the hull you've been trying to work towards.
This isn't an issue for slower ships. But it may for a Beamscort. And turreting I always feel is not a wise option unless you're some long distance siege build (or along those lines). Turreting as an Escort is one of the worst things you can do.
TT1, APB1, BFAW3, APB3
TT1, BO2, BFAW3
ET1, EP2W2
PH1, ST2
HE1
Put 4 DBBs up front
2 turrets and the kinetic cutting beam in back
Borg deflecter and engine with a fleet shield
Dont forget the borg assimilated module
Now days you can even work in the new undine set for a phaser damage boost
I have also done this with 7 beam arrays but DBBs just feel more escorty
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
Wow a build without the Kinetic cutting Beam? Even better!
I despise that ugly red line.
From what I've heard the Tempest or at least the Fleet version makes most other Federation Escorts Obsolete I suppose I'll have to save up some Zen in order to acquire it myself
Noting is truely obsolete however. Sure the new shiny makes things look bad, but any ship can still work with a good build on it.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
ya I have a Bio-torp, beam array ship with no KCB and it out dps the KCB with TS2 vs single target and tear AOE targets to bits.. Granted Im running 100% bio weapon boat to take advantage of the new tac relay.
mine works great ...............good dps superior survivor / tank
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
That said, even with a bunch of BO and FAW combined with beam buffing Energy Weapons Officer DOffs, a beamscort won't deliver the same rapid burst damage as an escort with a bunch of dual heavy cannons that are buffed.
The benefit of a beamscort is that you can keep moving (with high defense value) and almost always have multiple beams hitting the target (more broadsides than a cruiser). The problem is that you don't have the hull or shields of a cruiser so you're relying on your movement/defense value keeping you alive long enough to do serious damage. In other words, you might get blown up before you can build up serious DPS against your target.
A traditional dual heavy cannon build will do much more burst damage in the opening alpha strike so you (presumably) don't have to worry about the fact that your hull and shields can't tank ... because the enemy will be dead before they can do serious damage.
Still, a beamscort works ... just keep moving.
Don't believe the lies in this forum. I am NOT an ARC user. I play STO on Steam or not at all.
But if you've got multiple targets that aren't nicely packed together, a beamscort will deliver the most damage to all of them. And against single or clustered targets, just remember that your broadside has the most power.
And it's fun, because you're always moving. I hate the park & shoot strategy with cannons.
Thank Goodness.
I thought I was the only one...
It's nice do do something other than park yourself 5km away from a nanite transformer press the space bar once then let auto fire deal with it while you tab out and watch You tube videos.
(I always remember the line from DS9 about how the Defiant's engines nearly shook her apart in the tests, but that's only inspiration.)
My point is, it would be nice to reward Escort drivers for "going fast!" and deter them from sitting still and pewpewing.
I fly a fleet Defiant-R, and I love the ship, but I'm standing still most of the time, and that doesn't FEEL right.
Tying Engine speed (not necessarily power levels) in to dmg somehow would feel good to me if done right. Anything to get me moving and feel like moving was GOOD in STO.
Even when flying larger cruiser type ships such as the Sovereign being a siting Duck doesn't feel right even the larger of Federation ships didn't stand still in battle the Enterprise in Nemesis was anything but slow.
I depend on Polarons since there was a nice debuff proc that came with the weapons. Have not digged if its still providing that proc. Anyhow I still find it useful.
I dont have the layout to post right now, but I am using it for Single Targets with Beamoverloads and High Yields when the shield drops.
Dont let anyone tell you how you should play your game. Use what you want to and sometimes you are even better at it then thoose that telling you its TRIBBLE.
I tricked out beam escort can be useful in PVE and PVP.
Star Trek Online Intro HD [3rd Fleet Anniversary]
Join Date: Jul 2009
A few tips I've picked up from personal experience:
-You're a long-range ship. Beam damage falloff doesn't heavily cut off until the 7-8km range; whereas traditional cannon setups need to be within 5km to reach their peak performance.
-Torpedos and Dual Beam Banks synergize very nicely. The firing arcs line up and the DBBs are faster(beams are instant damage) at knocking down shield facings in time for those torpedos. Tetryon weapons are actually a decent damage type pick for this reason.
-UNLESS you're running a broadsiding build, avoid overlapping weapon arcs when beams are involved(DBB up front, BA in back).
-DON'T use turrets. Beams(especially DBBs) are very sensitive to power drain and having a turret firing at the wrong time will cripple the damage of your entire battery of beams.
-Every point of Weapon Power matters, Emergency Power to Weapons and weapon batteries are a worthwhile investment - especially if you opt to run Beam Overload or go Broadsiding.
-You'll be better at cutting down swarms of smaller targets than singular big targets; DBB BFAW + Torp Spread can cut down the fodder faster and at longer ranges than traditional CSV ships. Singular targets are where you'll fall behind traditional cannon setups(where they can park at close range and unload).
Perhaps if NPCs were always smart enough to focus their attacks on you while you were sitting still.
Perhaps if you received a Damage Taken penalty while parking?
I don't normally say this, but I feel like, in this day and age---when damage is already kind of out of control in PVE (I'm looking at you BFAW)---that punishing players for not moving would be preferred to rewarding them for moving.
It seems like it would be ludicrous to grant additional damage buffs to ships moving at full speed. Maybe diminishing damage if your throttle is set to less than half impulse during combat.
Further, perhaps making the bonuses to Defense more substantial at impulse speeds higher than Half Impulse would make hit-and-run strafing-style attacks that characterize escorts like the Defiant in Star Trek the default pattern of behavior for those drivers.
*Not necessarily higher, but perhaps giving them a more noticeable effect---I don't have time to break down what I think this means right now.
I can even imagine tweaks to the Weapon Power relationship to Damage that further rewards escorts for using high-powered strafing runs, withdrawing to recharge, and then swooping around for another pass before repeating.
I suspect this was the original intent behind making DHCs drain more Power per shot than other weapons. I think Escorts weren't intended to park and pewpew. They were meant to transition through high-output and low-out damage cycles, and their high speed and turn rate meant that they would be relatively safe from NPC agro they drew during their high-output phases. After burning their Weapon Power low, they'd accelerate and pull away while doing low damage from their aft turrets while regenerating Weapon Power.
During this low-output phase, cruiser-tanks would continue their sustained barrages, building up more and more threat, pulling ahead of the Escorts.
The skill of the Escort driver would involve timing your return to the action so that your entry into the sweet <5km range lined up perfectly with your Weapons Power's return to 125. So by the time your Weapons Power hit 125, you were exactly 5km away from your target, and had all your DHCs pointed at your target.
Recommence the assault.
Repeat.
I mean, look at the Omega set's Regenerative Shields---obviously built with Escorts in mind. It wasn't very well thought out in application, but I strongly suspect that choosing Regenerative Shields was intended to support this hit-and-run style of attack. The Escort could take a beating for a short period of time, but he could not sustain it. By disengaging for a few seconds at a time to recharge Weapons Power, his fast-regenerating shields would make better use of that time than Covariants, and his shields would be back to full by the time he was set up to make his next attack run.
Of course, implementations got in the way here. Weapons Power recharge is out of control, allowing Escort even with 5 DHCs and 3 aft 360 weapons to fire simultaneously ad infinitum.
Covariant and Resilient Shields are far preferred because, again, Shield Regen is not in itself as desirable as sheer capacity.
That's my take on the original intent, and I still think that with some significant thought and imagination, we could get Escorts (and all ships in STO for that matter) back to a movement-rewarding, exciting style of play.
^This^ Is exactly how the game should work an how it was intended to work.
Escorts as the kings of Burst DPS and Maneuverability but instead they're just sitting ducks with Dual Heavy cannons duck taped to their hull spamming cannon rapid fire and obliterating everything in their 45 degree arc.
That's not the Star trek I know and love.
The faster you fly your ship, the faster all your Power Levels recharge? (Like, somehow, by putting your engines to work, they generate more power...?)
It sounds a bit janky, I know, but mechanically, it COULD help the issue. You could park for a few seconds if you wanted, but you'd quickly burn your Weapons Power to zero.
I'll admit, it's ham-fisted and not explicitly supported in canon---probably not the way to go---but I think ideas along this line could lead to a better solution.
Cryptic has already demonstrated that it is willing to toss canon mechanics out the window as they deem fit. Just look at STO's current torpedo system if you doubt this...
You forgot to mention that the superior maneuverability of your escort also means you can quickly rotate to present a fresh shield facing to the enemy much faster than a cruiser could. If you're broadsiding on the left, flip 180 and start broadsiding from the right against the enemy's same shield facing.
Seriously. Park and shoot is the most boring play style ever. Beamscorts FTW.
Joined January 2009