Fleet Defiant engine/deflector advice

hapievo

Hello all,

I was looking for some advice regarding engines and deflector for my Fleet Defiant.

Here is my current build:

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=tahnadefiant_0

I was thinking of going with the Nukara set to get the weapon dmg boost, but also liked some of the other set's bonuses as well. Any advice would be helpful

asovanra

The Adapted MACO reputation space set is perfect for this ship, absolutely perfect. Case in point: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=fleettacticalescortretrofit_6129

warmaker001b

Well OP, me personally, I despise Quad Cannons. Depleting Engine Power, esp. for Escorts, is a big no-no for me, and the Defiant with a mere Lt ENG station needs as much of that Engine Power as possible to keep her movements in tip top form for offense & defense. Fast movements to take her to the perfect time & place to strike. Fast movements to get the hell out of town if the heat is too much.

Slower speed = Lower bonus defense

I flew my Defiant with at the bare minimum 75 Engine Power at any given time. The more Engine Power the better, and it was only 2nd to Weapons Power. It kept her fast and if there was real danger, she could move quickly away without expending a battery, Evasive maneuvers, or Attack Pattern Omega.

But if you really want to make use of the speed, Hyper-Impulse Engines are the ticket.

Conveniently, the Engines from the Aegis set are Hyper-Impulse and they give extra Bonus Defense on top of it. Not bad, and I have no qualms with sticking with it, but there are other options out there with a myriad of set combinations & bonuses. These higher end Hyper-Impulse Engines are out there:

Elite Fleet
Advanced Fleet
Omega
Aegis
Counter-Command
Solanae

Solanae Space Set is free, so I suggest checking it out. Aegis has some nice things, but the stats are merely Mk X and the performance drops compared to true endgame equipment. The +5% Defense from the Engines and the additional +5% more with the 2 piece bonus is nice, but in terms of Engine Performance, the Aegis Hyper-Impulse Engines lag behind other endgame engines of the same type.

For the Defiant: Speed is life and being able to dictate easily where and when you want to strike.

Granted, I play my Defiants differently from some people. I believe she needs cloaks. I believe she needs to be damn fast and flown equally as aggressively as well as smartly. Fast moving Defiants is a major cure to a lot of defense and self-repair issues on this ship.

Both the Defiant & Prometheus, with their Lt ENG stations need speed to dictate on their terms. Fly your Defiant with Hyper-Impulse and 75 at the lowest Engine Power. Then fly your Defiant at lower power levels or anything but a Hyper-Impulse Engine. I guarantee your life in the ship will be markedly different. And longer lived with the faster speeds.

hapievo

Asovanra - thanks for the advice on the Adapted MACO set. I'll take a second look at them.

Warmaker001b - Thanks for the response. I agree the Aegis is a good set, but as you stated, I also feel it under performs at end game. I've looked at the fleet engines and deflectors and did not see one that I felt would be as beneficial as some of the ones from the rep system.

I was also looking at the Borg set and the Counter Command set, so it is good to hear that they are viable.

Off topic but, the weapons are something that I am in the process of changing. The DHC's, Quads, and one of the turrets will be replaced with either Fleet phasers or the phasers from the Undine rep. The remaining turret is going to get replaced with the Heavy phaser turret as soon as I get to Tier 4 in the Undine rep. Part of me wants to use the Undine phasers just so my scatter volleys don't look like christmas lights :P

As for the cloak, I use it depending on the situation. If I am going to be flying between battles quickly (like with the Undine battlezone) I may not even have time to take full advantage of it. Also with prolonged battles (like the planet killers) the Tachyonkinetic Converter helps me out more. So for this reason I have one load out with it, and one without.

Any other opinions on which engine/deflector set I should choose? Appreciate all the feedback so far and any feedback other's may have! There are several good alternatives and I just don't want to waste time/resources on one if another may be better.

woodwhity

2pc assimilated to have more hull-healing. Also I would advice you to switch to 5 tac consoles from fleet or get the biomolecular turret from undine rep for 2pc. For dps switch Quads for DHCs. I prefer having Attack pattern beta, as it outperforms APO in PvE-Mission (I use 3 zemoks though on my defiant, so i can use 2 Torpspreads 3, greatly enhancing my Torps power). Also try experimentel beam from Dysonrep, so you get 3pc, further enhancing dps.
And for the BO-Layout, use EptW (Emergency power to weapons) and EptS (... to shields) with 3 blue or better damage control engineers, granting you 10% energiedamage and hugh shieldresistencies further enhancing dps and survivability (as mentioned, 2pc assimilated greatly helps with hull heal, so you can discard Aux2Sif for EptW).

Also when flying space, use all spacetraits you can use, since you can change them between missions.
Do you want a few tipps for skilltree too? (its pretty good, only the willpower in ground hurts my eyes).

coffeemike

hapievo wrote: »

Hello all,

I was looking for some advice regarding engines and deflector for my Fleet Defiant.

Here is my current build:

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=tahnadefiant_0

I was thinking of going with the Nukara set to get the weapon dmg boost, but also liked some of the other set's bonuses as well. Any advice would be helpful

I took a look at your build and made a few modifications:

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=tahnadefiantrefit_99

A few highlights:
1) I redistributed your skills... so it is more balanced
2) I also swapped out the enhanced shielding trait for shield penetration.
3) If you must go Bio Molecular, I put in those Bio Molecular Phaser cannons MK XII along with the heavy Bio Molecular turret. That turret FAW ability is nice if you get the whole set.
4) The Deflector from the Counter Command is actually fun on an Escort or a sci ship. I know, my Vesta has it on with the Adapted MACO set
5) I put in APB2 for ya... it is handy if you have that and APO1

How are your power levels & DOFF setup btw?

tgo533

I found relying on any shields in this ship was pointless, i did a respect to massive armour and energy weapon power... Hull tank everything and she holds together very well with no shields.

After that I found the Solanae Space Set is meant for this ship, the hull heal proc actually triggers a lot more with this more than any other ship i have i think because its always firing energy weapons and doing heavy damage. I know its free, but with this ship its worth it. I used to die all the time, till i got that set.

hapievo

Woodwhity - I didn't realize the healing form the Borg 2 pc was that good! I can see how using EPtW and EPtS would be highly beneficial. Also, as I had mentioned I most definitely will be getting the Heavy Phaser turret from the Undine set. I just am not Tier 4 yet I run the dual APO's to make sure I always have a copy available.

Coffeemike - My power levels are: Weapons - 125/95, Shields - 81/45, Engines - 66/40, Aux 44/20. My DoFFs are 1 Energy Weapons Officer (for cannon attacks recharge- Green), 2 Conn Officers (1 for evasive- Purple, 1 for Tact Team Recharge- Blue), 1 WCE (for EPtX- Blue), 1 DCE (EPtX recharge- Green)

I'm not settled on the Bio-Molecular weapons yet, I was just thinking of going with them or with the Fleet phasers.

Also, I don't yet have the Shield Penetration trait I'm just starting out trying to go through the reputation systems so I haven't gotten to far. After reading about it though, I definitely want it!

coffeemike

Yeah that shield penetration trait is nice... esp on cannon builds. I am using the Bio-Molecular phaser weapons on my sci with beams on an Oddy... nice to stop them in their tracks.

The Heavy Turrets are also nice as you get a free FAW point defense weapon without giving up a console slot. And it has 100% proc.

Fleet Phasers are useless... you might as well get Adv Phaser weapons instead and save resources.

woodwhity

Shield Pen trait is more a pvp-thing, it doesnt give you much dps in pve and becomes useless when you do high dps with your defiant as enemies shields become as powerful as thin air.
I would rater go for Lethality, Advanced Targeting Systems and Nukara T4- Offense/Defense, as soon as you get them.