Back with a couple more questions... well you guys are always helpful
Fleet gear, if I have a choice to get it should I, is it worth it?
Also, what's the difference between the "Advanced" and "Elite" fleet gear, apart from Elite seems to cost more.
2. A) weapons...the difference between advanced and elite weapons is that advanced will cover all normal, non special weapon types and will have 4 mods, two of which will always be dmgx2 while the other 2 will be a combination excluding another dmgx2.
Elite weapons are unique in that feds only have access to elite phasers which give a shield heal proc and klingons only have disruptors that have a shield bleed proc. They do have other mods but will always have this proc on them.
advanced vs elite shields... if I remember correctly elites have the resa/b proc while shields are straight stats
C) advanced deflectors vs elite...elites provide a slight cooldown reduction to some deflector abilities
D) advanced vs elite engines...advanced have mods while the elites sacrifices a mod to give some sort of lame engine power boost or something
If your klingons, elite disruptor ate excellent
If your fed, elite phasers are considered rather poor
Advances engines are the best in the game in terms of straight speed or turn...choose hyper
Deflector is good if your into big sci abilities
Shields are the best in the game in terms of stats...choose resilliant
Shor answer. Advanced fleet equipment is not worthy, elite fleet equipment is worthy. Elite Fleet equipment can replace reputation gear easily. If you are not going to make a full set of any reputation project, then the fleet gear is for you. Specially the elite fleet resilient shields.
Shor answer. Advanced fleet equipment is not worthy, elite fleet equipment is worthy. Elite Fleet equipment can replace reputation gear easily. If you are not going to make a full set of any reputation project, then the fleet gear is for you. Specially the elite fleet resilient shields.
Short, wrong answer...with a little bit of truth. Elite engines are garbage, elite deflectors are outclassed by rep 2p+bonuses, elite phasers are regarded as below average compared to advanced (elite disruptors are amazing in pvp but fall into the same category as tetryons...no shields, wasted proc). Elite fleet resilient really are all that and a bag of potato chips
Short, wrong answer...with a little bit of truth. Elite engines are garbage, elite deflectors are outclassed by rep 2p+bonuses, elite phasers are regarded as below average compared to advanced (elite disruptors are amazing in pvp but fall into the same category as tetryons...no shields, wasted proc). Elite fleet resilient really are all that and a bag of potato chips
Cheers
sorry. With the exception of rare cases, like elite phasers, ALL elite fleet equipment can replace any reputation gear. Its not maybe as good as it, but really close. If someone is not looking for reputation sets, elite fleet equipment is a really viable option.
Other completely different thing is that you, as the rest of power creepers out there, everything that is not maco shield is garbage. Of course. Basically you are saying that unless you have access to reputation gear, you cant have decent equipment lol. THAT is garbaje.
Elite fleet resillient shields garbaje?? dude seriously. I think you are playing another diffferent game.
sorry. With the exception of rare cases, like elite phasers, ALL elite fleet equipment can replace any reputation gear. Its not maybe as good as it, but really close. If someone is not looking for reputation sets, elite fleet equipment is a really viable option.
Other completely different thing is that you, as the rest of power creepers out there, everything that is not maco shield is garbage. Of course. Basically you are saying that unless you have access to reputation gear, you cant have decent equipment lol. THAT is garbaje.
Elite fleet resilient shields garbage?? dude seriously. I think you are playing another diffferent game.
Cheers.
If something is not as good as another thing. The first thing is not a replacement
Actually the maco shield is garbage. Only activates if your being fired at and it competes with the plasmonic leech...would be much better if the plasmonic leech wasn't in game though
All that and a bag of potato chips typically means...it is amazing and you should get it...obviously assumed I included the shield and made an a$$ of u and me
My apologies for coming off a little hostile, in between calls and getting grumpy
You know...powercreeper means someone with gear...
Ya, I guess I'm a powercreeper...who wouldn't be trying to get the gear they want when it's so easy?
Back with a couple more questions... well you guys are always helpful
Fleet gear, if I have a choice to get it should I, is it worth it?
Also, what's the difference between the "Advanced" and "Elite" fleet gear, apart from Elite seems to cost more.
Thanks again as always.
As far as whether you should or not, it depends on the person. For example, if you are having trouble surviving, and cannot find a set bonus you like from the rep systems, or episodes, then it might be a good idea to look into it. Also, some PVP builds that some of my friends use have fleet gear.
One thing to keep in mind is that fleet gear cost a good bit in total. You need to not only get the Dilithium, you need the fleet marks as well. Not that the rep systems doesn't take time, and resources to invest. However, the rep system does have passive traits you can use.
It might also be possible that you might only need one or two pieces of fleet gear if you are having trouble with survivability, or needing DPS.
The fleet weapons can help increase your DPS. However, if that is not a problem, some players skip on the fleet weapons, and just use ones that you can get with EC, since it is easier to get quickly. I have used fleet weapons on some of my characters, and to be honest, with my build and play style, I really don't need them. The increase in DPS is only a little, not game changing from MK XII purples.
I do like the fleet engineering consoles, and prefer at least one with high kinetic and all energy damage resistance. It can come with another feature like increased turn rate, hull heal rate, etc. Also, the fleet tac consoles are good. They can not only increase weapons damage, but also can increase CrtD, or CrtH.
Cores have a good bit of options in them, and to find the one that will benefit you the most, it may require some research, or ask advice from others. Some cores are better for some builds than others.
Aside from the engineering, and tac consoles, and a warp core, I usually don't need fleet other gear because I don't need to squeeze every little bit of DPS out of my build, and my survivability is good enough. Again, I am not talking about PVP. I don't spend time with that much. Yet, I have seen some decent builds for PVP that may only use a couple pics of fleet gear.
If this is your first character you are playing through on, and are wanting to do others that might be another class, I suggest waiting on a complete fleet build. The reason is because you may find later that there is another fleet build you might like better. Trying other classes may open you up to other ways of playing, that you might not consider doing with the character you have now. By playing the other class, it may show you other builds that can also be used on the character you are using now.
There is one thing I do love about STO. There is so much that you can do with it. You can put any class in any ship, and have fun. I have thought of different play styles while using one class that I would have never thought of using on another class.
If survivability is not an issue, waiting, and researching the different gear might help make a more lasting decision. I don't use half of the fleet gear that I spent so much time, and energy to get. Simply because either I changed my play style, or something in the game might have changed.
Leader of Elite Guardian Academy.Would you like to learn how to run a fleet? Would you like to know how to do ship builds (true budget as well as high end)?The join the Academy today!
Ill try to simplify: I have a tactical Oddy on an engineer I can place 1st in STFs and CCE pretty much every time...
6 fleet advanced weapons 1 rep weapon and 1 mission reward weapon...
my consoles are a mix of Rep, fleet and 1 from a lock box (cross faction- plasmonic leech for a fed YOU WILL likely need one)
So fleet is a YES, some rep will be kept (I use all rep engine/deflector/shields)
So in the end make sure you check builds, read stats and look at synergies ( I think I have 3x 2 part set bonuses going plus many other benefits)
Ill try to simplify: I have a tactical Oddy on an engineer I can place 1st in STFs and CCE pretty much every time...
6 fleet advanced weapons 1 rep weapon and 1 mission reward weapon...
my consoles are a mix of Rep, fleet and 1 from a lock box (cross faction- plasmonic leech for a fed YOU WILL likely need one)
So fleet is a YES, some rep will be kept (I use all rep engine/deflector/shields)
So in the end make sure you check builds, read stats and look at synergies ( I think I have 3x 2 part set bonuses going plus many other benefits)
I have a Klingon with the Mogh. I only have one fleet engineering console on it, and no other fleet gear. Everything else is either purple MK XII, or blue, except for my tac consoles. They are MK XI greens. I have excellent survivability, and so I spend a lot of heals on others. I end up getting 1st place in CCE on elite.
For elite STFs, there is no placement. There is no first, second, or third place. There are only a few PVE that have placements. STFs are not one of them.
Leader of Elite Guardian Academy.Would you like to learn how to run a fleet? Would you like to know how to do ship builds (true budget as well as high end)?The join the Academy today!
Short, wrong answer...with a little bit of truth. Elite engines are garbage, elite deflectors are outclassed by rep 2p+bonuses, elite phasers are regarded as below average compared to advanced (elite disruptors are amazing in pvp but fall into the same category as tetryons...no shields, wasted proc). Elite fleet resilient really are all that and a bag of potato chips
Cheers
this pretty much is it. Advanced weapons+elite fleet shields+Elite Warpcore (with AMP), everything else you can forget.
The rep-engies/deflectors are better, so why buy worse gear?
though, if we want to really min-max everything, the advanced weapon thing applies only for AP-weapons, but honestly, the moment you have to worry about fleet vs crtdx3 weapons, you are already far over any needable dps-treshhold^^
Ill try to simplify: I have a tactical Oddy on an engineer I can place 1st in STFs and CCE pretty much every time...
6 fleet advanced weapons 1 rep weapon and 1 mission reward weapon...
my consoles are a mix of Rep, fleet and 1 from a lock box (cross faction- plasmonic leech for a fed YOU WILL likely need one)
So fleet is a YES, some rep will be kept (I use all rep engine/deflector/shields)
So in the end make sure you check builds, read stats and look at synergies ( I think I have 3x 2 part set bonuses going plus many other benefits)
use what you like for most things really I have multiple toons and very few fleet items are a must have for me. be it science engineer or tactical elite fleet warp cores with the AMP mod are excellent. Elite shields as well but unlike what a few others above have said I tend to stick with rep sets for 3 piece bonus.
but really its just play the game try things out use what works for you. then using that know how go to fleet store and look for things that increase what your liking about the standard items.
I don't believe that this game has a hands down best of anything its all dependent on the player, how they play, and what works for them on their ship. I get 1st place in my B'rel on CCE and I get it on my Tor'kaht but the builds are different. and wont transfer from one ship to the other with success. only common item between the two ships on my tactical officer is the AMP core.
same with my science officer he uses a Vo'quv and a Kamarag and only common item is again a warp core.
for weapons I favor AP usually advanced fleet or the old Borg sets even over the new lock box flavors.
disruptors if you are gonna pvp allot maybe elite fleet but elachi is not a bad choice either.
and all this is assuming your not in the plasma beam boat wagon spamming FAW all over the place.
Trophies for killing FEDS ahh those were the days.
I have a Klingon with the Mogh. I only have one fleet engineering console on it, and no other fleet gear. Everything else is either purple MK XII, or blue, except for my tac consoles. They are MK XI greens. I have excellent survivability, and so I spend a lot of heals on others. I end up getting 1st place in CCE on elite.
For elite STFs, there is no placement. There is no first, second, or third place. There are only a few PVE that have placements. STFs are not one of them.
you sure about that? it may not pop up and say you got 1st place on most mission but the minefield and CCE both have you got 1st pop up. and the others you usually get a good idea depending on how many purple items are dropped. like 2 purple mk12 in a borg stf usually translates directly with a parse of most damage dealt.
Trophies for killing FEDS ahh those were the days.
My honest opinion, unless you end-level PVP, fleet gear isn't really necessary to get the most out of PvE. Yes, it's a really good improvement over other gear and such in some aspects, but in other cases, it's not really worth the cost if you can nab a good MK XII weapons set off of the exchange. The only exception to this I can think of is if your ship is a little on the squishy side.
I've tested against a friend who has a majority fleet-level geared ship with a build that consists of a mix of MK XI rare consoles and MK XII very rare beam arrays, and we're pretty much evenly matched and end up going round and round with each other for some time before one of us dies.
I reckon it's a matter of personal taste and whether or not you want to invest in the cost or not. But again, my honest opinion, you're just as good if you can get a MK XII set of weapons and rep ship gear or the Aegis set to run.
you sure about that? it may not pop up and say you got 1st place on most mission but the minefield and CCE both have you got 1st pop up. and the others you usually get a good idea depending on how many purple items are dropped. like 2 purple mk12 in a borg stf usually translates directly with a parse of most damage dealt.
I had a friend that I was teaching to run the elite STFs one day, and he only had on MK X gear at best. I was using my Scimitar, and was talking him through it in Mumble. At the end, I had no purple gear, and he had one. He was no where near the DPS I was, so if there was a placement, he would not have made it. Plus, the developers have mentioned that all of the rewards at the end of the STFs are random.
Also, if you read what my previous post said, I never said that none of the PVE had placements you could win. I even mentioned that I have made first place, without having more than one piece of fleet gear on my ship. There are some that do have placement. In fact, my personal favorite is SB24.
Also, I did a test not too long ago with friends, to prove that getting the highest DPS is not always everything. I went into the Vortex with my Scimitar. We all agreed to do this before going in.
I sat bellow the gate, where it couldn't hit me, and just sat there hitting it with everything I had.
In the end, my DPS was so far ahead of everyone else, that it was ridiculous. Yet, the only thing I helped to kill were that gate, and Donatra. Maxed DPS, and only one purple item. Someone else that was lower on the list got two purple items.
That was not the point of the test we did. It was just to show them that when others post how high their DPS is, it doesn't mean they are actually killing anything. That is why getting higher DPS doesn't mean you are killing something faster. A lot of times they are hitting things that can't be killed yet, or they are racking up DPS off of shields.
However, it is proof that the level of DPS means nothing in the rewards given out in STFs. Which I really like in missions that players are suppose to be working as a team, instead of just racking up DPS. It puts more focus on teamwork.
Leader of Elite Guardian Academy.Would you like to learn how to run a fleet? Would you like to know how to do ship builds (true budget as well as high end)?The join the Academy today!
There is a lot of good info in here to help answer your questions. What you have to decide on is what type of build you are going for, on what ship, and what weapon type you want. Those will all narrow things down. If you are Fed, I would stick with Fleet Advanced weapons unless you really need those extra little heal bonuses. Fleet Advanced weapons have more DPS than Fleet Elite.
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Looking for a new fleet? Drop by the in-game chat channel, "tenforwardforum", and say hi to the members of A Fleet Called Ten Forward (Fed) and The Orion Pirates (KDF). If you already have a fleet you are happy with, please feel free to drop by our chat channel if you are looking for a friendly bunch of helpful people to socialize with.
Back with a couple more questions... well you guys are always helpful
Fleet gear, if I have a choice to get it should I, is it worth it?
Also, what's the difference between the "Advanced" and "Elite" fleet gear, apart from Elite seems to cost more.
Thanks again as always.
As many have already mentioned, it's really about what the player wants. Each energy weapon type has it's own "built in" proc with bonus procs. ie: Tetryon has added shield penetration, Antiproton has added Crit.
As to whether or not it's better to use fleet gear rather than Reputation or some other gear. It depends on what you are wanting. I tend to use mostly Fleet Advanced energy weapons with Reputation Space set (shield, engine, deflector, warp/singularity core). It's hard to beat the "Set Bonuses" that the rep gear offers.
For the longest time I used the Adapted MACO Shield with the Omega engine and deflector. The shield was the best shield in the game until the Dyson rep Shield came along (JMO). And the Omega engine and deflector set 2 bonus is "Tetryon Glider" which adds shield penetration to your energy weapons.
I also use mostly Universal consoles with the exception of Tact console, I use Fleet Spire Tact consoles. If you're not in a fleet or your fleet spire is not complete then try to make sure you stick with tact consoles that are a match for YOUR energy weapon type. And stack them. So 3 slots, put 3 tact console for your weapon type.
Best advice anyone can give you is to read everything. Hovering your mouse over a piece of equipment and reading the tool tip is good but if you actually right click on the item and select "Info" you will get a much more detail description of the item.
not because it is hot gear, but because it allows you to acquire various things cheap and easy to try out different options, see what things are more interesting to you. That will likely give you a better idea of what is truly useful to you and what looks flashy, but ain't worth the dil/fleet creds.
Comments
2. A) weapons...the difference between advanced and elite weapons is that advanced will cover all normal, non special weapon types and will have 4 mods, two of which will always be dmgx2 while the other 2 will be a combination excluding another dmgx2.
Elite weapons are unique in that feds only have access to elite phasers which give a shield heal proc and klingons only have disruptors that have a shield bleed proc. They do have other mods but will always have this proc on them.
C) advanced deflectors vs elite...elites provide a slight cooldown reduction to some deflector abilities
D) advanced vs elite engines...advanced have mods while the elites sacrifices a mod to give some sort of lame engine power boost or something
If your klingons, elite disruptor ate excellent
If your fed, elite phasers are considered rather poor
Advances engines are the best in the game in terms of straight speed or turn...choose hyper
Deflector is good if your into big sci abilities
Shields are the best in the game in terms of stats...choose resilliant
That about covers it.
Cheers
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
Short, wrong answer...with a little bit of truth. Elite engines are garbage, elite deflectors are outclassed by rep 2p+bonuses, elite phasers are regarded as below average compared to advanced (elite disruptors are amazing in pvp but fall into the same category as tetryons...no shields, wasted proc). Elite fleet resilient really are all that and a bag of potato chips
Cheers
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
sorry. With the exception of rare cases, like elite phasers, ALL elite fleet equipment can replace any reputation gear. Its not maybe as good as it, but really close. If someone is not looking for reputation sets, elite fleet equipment is a really viable option.
Other completely different thing is that you, as the rest of power creepers out there, everything that is not maco shield is garbage. Of course. Basically you are saying that unless you have access to reputation gear, you cant have decent equipment lol. THAT is garbaje.
Elite fleet resillient shields garbaje?? dude seriously. I think you are playing another diffferent game.
Cheers.
If something is not as good as another thing. The first thing is not a replacement
Actually the maco shield is garbage. Only activates if your being fired at and it competes with the plasmonic leech...would be much better if the plasmonic leech wasn't in game though
All that and a bag of potato chips typically means...it is amazing and you should get it...obviously assumed I included the shield and made an a$$ of u and me
My apologies for coming off a little hostile, in between calls and getting grumpy
You know...powercreeper means someone with gear...
Ya, I guess I'm a powercreeper...who wouldn't be trying to get the gear they want when it's so easy?
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
As far as whether you should or not, it depends on the person. For example, if you are having trouble surviving, and cannot find a set bonus you like from the rep systems, or episodes, then it might be a good idea to look into it. Also, some PVP builds that some of my friends use have fleet gear.
One thing to keep in mind is that fleet gear cost a good bit in total. You need to not only get the Dilithium, you need the fleet marks as well. Not that the rep systems doesn't take time, and resources to invest. However, the rep system does have passive traits you can use.
It might also be possible that you might only need one or two pieces of fleet gear if you are having trouble with survivability, or needing DPS.
The fleet weapons can help increase your DPS. However, if that is not a problem, some players skip on the fleet weapons, and just use ones that you can get with EC, since it is easier to get quickly. I have used fleet weapons on some of my characters, and to be honest, with my build and play style, I really don't need them. The increase in DPS is only a little, not game changing from MK XII purples.
I do like the fleet engineering consoles, and prefer at least one with high kinetic and all energy damage resistance. It can come with another feature like increased turn rate, hull heal rate, etc. Also, the fleet tac consoles are good. They can not only increase weapons damage, but also can increase CrtD, or CrtH.
Cores have a good bit of options in them, and to find the one that will benefit you the most, it may require some research, or ask advice from others. Some cores are better for some builds than others.
Aside from the engineering, and tac consoles, and a warp core, I usually don't need fleet other gear because I don't need to squeeze every little bit of DPS out of my build, and my survivability is good enough. Again, I am not talking about PVP. I don't spend time with that much. Yet, I have seen some decent builds for PVP that may only use a couple pics of fleet gear.
If this is your first character you are playing through on, and are wanting to do others that might be another class, I suggest waiting on a complete fleet build. The reason is because you may find later that there is another fleet build you might like better. Trying other classes may open you up to other ways of playing, that you might not consider doing with the character you have now. By playing the other class, it may show you other builds that can also be used on the character you are using now.
There is one thing I do love about STO. There is so much that you can do with it. You can put any class in any ship, and have fun. I have thought of different play styles while using one class that I would have never thought of using on another class.
If survivability is not an issue, waiting, and researching the different gear might help make a more lasting decision. I don't use half of the fleet gear that I spent so much time, and energy to get. Simply because either I changed my play style, or something in the game might have changed.
6 fleet advanced weapons 1 rep weapon and 1 mission reward weapon...
my consoles are a mix of Rep, fleet and 1 from a lock box (cross faction- plasmonic leech for a fed YOU WILL likely need one)
So fleet is a YES, some rep will be kept (I use all rep engine/deflector/shields)
So in the end make sure you check builds, read stats and look at synergies ( I think I have 3x 2 part set bonuses going plus many other benefits)
I have a Klingon with the Mogh. I only have one fleet engineering console on it, and no other fleet gear. Everything else is either purple MK XII, or blue, except for my tac consoles. They are MK XI greens. I have excellent survivability, and so I spend a lot of heals on others. I end up getting 1st place in CCE on elite.
For elite STFs, there is no placement. There is no first, second, or third place. There are only a few PVE that have placements. STFs are not one of them.
You and I have very different understandings as to what "...all that and a bag of potato chips" means.
I'm quite confident that dahminus meant Fleet Resilient Shields are better then rep shields.
this pretty much is it. Advanced weapons+elite fleet shields+Elite Warpcore (with AMP), everything else you can forget.
The rep-engies/deflectors are better, so why buy worse gear?
though, if we want to really min-max everything, the advanced weapon thing applies only for AP-weapons, but honestly, the moment you have to worry about fleet vs crtdx3 weapons, you are already far over any needable dps-treshhold^^
use what you like for most things really I have multiple toons and very few fleet items are a must have for me. be it science engineer or tactical elite fleet warp cores with the AMP mod are excellent. Elite shields as well but unlike what a few others above have said I tend to stick with rep sets for 3 piece bonus.
but really its just play the game try things out use what works for you. then using that know how go to fleet store and look for things that increase what your liking about the standard items.
I don't believe that this game has a hands down best of anything its all dependent on the player, how they play, and what works for them on their ship. I get 1st place in my B'rel on CCE and I get it on my Tor'kaht but the builds are different. and wont transfer from one ship to the other with success. only common item between the two ships on my tactical officer is the AMP core.
same with my science officer he uses a Vo'quv and a Kamarag and only common item is again a warp core.
for weapons I favor AP usually advanced fleet or the old Borg sets even over the new lock box flavors.
disruptors if you are gonna pvp allot maybe elite fleet but elachi is not a bad choice either.
and all this is assuming your not in the plasma beam boat wagon spamming FAW all over the place.
you sure about that? it may not pop up and say you got 1st place on most mission but the minefield and CCE both have you got 1st pop up. and the others you usually get a good idea depending on how many purple items are dropped. like 2 purple mk12 in a borg stf usually translates directly with a parse of most damage dealt.
Unfortunately thats an urban myth.
I've tested against a friend who has a majority fleet-level geared ship with a build that consists of a mix of MK XI rare consoles and MK XII very rare beam arrays, and we're pretty much evenly matched and end up going round and round with each other for some time before one of us dies.
I reckon it's a matter of personal taste and whether or not you want to invest in the cost or not. But again, my honest opinion, you're just as good if you can get a MK XII set of weapons and rep ship gear or the Aegis set to run.
I had a friend that I was teaching to run the elite STFs one day, and he only had on MK X gear at best. I was using my Scimitar, and was talking him through it in Mumble. At the end, I had no purple gear, and he had one. He was no where near the DPS I was, so if there was a placement, he would not have made it. Plus, the developers have mentioned that all of the rewards at the end of the STFs are random.
Also, if you read what my previous post said, I never said that none of the PVE had placements you could win. I even mentioned that I have made first place, without having more than one piece of fleet gear on my ship. There are some that do have placement. In fact, my personal favorite is SB24.
Also, I did a test not too long ago with friends, to prove that getting the highest DPS is not always everything. I went into the Vortex with my Scimitar. We all agreed to do this before going in.
I sat bellow the gate, where it couldn't hit me, and just sat there hitting it with everything I had.
In the end, my DPS was so far ahead of everyone else, that it was ridiculous. Yet, the only thing I helped to kill were that gate, and Donatra. Maxed DPS, and only one purple item. Someone else that was lower on the list got two purple items.
That was not the point of the test we did. It was just to show them that when others post how high their DPS is, it doesn't mean they are actually killing anything. That is why getting higher DPS doesn't mean you are killing something faster. A lot of times they are hitting things that can't be killed yet, or they are racking up DPS off of shields.
However, it is proof that the level of DPS means nothing in the rewards given out in STFs. Which I really like in missions that players are suppose to be working as a team, instead of just racking up DPS. It puts more focus on teamwork.
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As to whether or not it's better to use fleet gear rather than Reputation or some other gear. It depends on what you are wanting. I tend to use mostly Fleet Advanced energy weapons with Reputation Space set (shield, engine, deflector, warp/singularity core). It's hard to beat the "Set Bonuses" that the rep gear offers.
For the longest time I used the Adapted MACO Shield with the Omega engine and deflector. The shield was the best shield in the game until the Dyson rep Shield came along (JMO). And the Omega engine and deflector set 2 bonus is "Tetryon Glider" which adds shield penetration to your energy weapons.
I also use mostly Universal consoles with the exception of Tact console, I use Fleet Spire Tact consoles. If you're not in a fleet or your fleet spire is not complete then try to make sure you stick with tact consoles that are a match for YOUR energy weapon type. And stack them. So 3 slots, put 3 tact console for your weapon type.
Best advice anyone can give you is to read everything. Hovering your mouse over a piece of equipment and reading the tool tip is good but if you actually right click on the item and select "Info" you will get a much more detail description of the item.
Good luck and stay frosty!
(Free Gear and Where to Get It)
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=998011
not because it is hot gear, but because it allows you to acquire various things cheap and easy to try out different options, see what things are more interesting to you. That will likely give you a better idea of what is truly useful to you and what looks flashy, but ain't worth the dil/fleet creds.