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Tactical Escort, mostly beams
xegidua
Member Posts: 36 Arc User
Hi
I'm trying to (at the rank of Captain) work out how to use my Tactical Escort... right now, it feels less useful than my Heavy Escort Refit does.
First things first, I can't use cannons for TRIBBLE, and I don't enjoy the gameplay style. It seems to work well in PvE fights, as I can dive in, blast something's shields and tank the first few shots as I escape, leaving my teammates to come in at full health and clean up while I recover... but in the campaign/story mode, I find it's much less versatile than beams.
My current setup is three beams and a photon front, one beam and a turret rear - the idea being to do a lot of damage forward, without losing too much when sideways and still do a little when facing away (which I usually do just to spread enemy damage and let my other shields recover)
Am I completely missing the point of an escort? I know I'd probably be better off with a cruiser, but I find them boring. With science vessels, I seem to die from hull damage before my shields are even properly down (I've got lots of shield buffs, but not many hull ones, so the bleedthrough eventually gets me). I'd probably use the Long Range Science Vessel, but I wanted a Defiant for RPG purposes
My Heavy Escort Refit was pretty much the same layout with one less beam front, but it somehow seemed more effective, presumably as I'm facing higher level enemies. Any thoughts?
I'm trying to (at the rank of Captain) work out how to use my Tactical Escort... right now, it feels less useful than my Heavy Escort Refit does.
First things first, I can't use cannons for TRIBBLE, and I don't enjoy the gameplay style. It seems to work well in PvE fights, as I can dive in, blast something's shields and tank the first few shots as I escape, leaving my teammates to come in at full health and clean up while I recover... but in the campaign/story mode, I find it's much less versatile than beams.
My current setup is three beams and a photon front, one beam and a turret rear - the idea being to do a lot of damage forward, without losing too much when sideways and still do a little when facing away (which I usually do just to spread enemy damage and let my other shields recover)
Am I completely missing the point of an escort? I know I'd probably be better off with a cruiser, but I find them boring. With science vessels, I seem to die from hull damage before my shields are even properly down (I've got lots of shield buffs, but not many hull ones, so the bleedthrough eventually gets me). I'd probably use the Long Range Science Vessel, but I wanted a Defiant for RPG purposes
My Heavy Escort Refit was pretty much the same layout with one less beam front, but it somehow seemed more effective, presumably as I'm facing higher level enemies. Any thoughts?
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The catch is that you have less shields and hull than cruisers so if you use 'beam fire at will' watch your health and have some heals ready.
Escorts have a role, but for many players it's not something that works for everything. Great example is the Undine space BZ - I prefered maneuverability (escorts) over survivability (cruisers). The breech is the exact opposite - again my preference for playstyle.
My Fleet Patrol Escort uses a combination of beams and cannons, taking advantage of the ridiculous tac boff availability. TS3, BO3 and CSV3 with APB is a devastating punch destroying full waves of Undine.
I have also gone the full beam route, and the ships could deliver serious dps. Unlike cruisers which could 'hang and engage', the beamscort needs to be running at as high a speed as you could manage to survive.
Should I consider dropping the torpedo? I keep it on as I have torpedo full spread and torpedo, high yield on my BOFF's (I've not worked out how to change skills yet), so I figure this helps me get good damage
My approach is basically a head on run firing the high yield torp and beam equivalent, this does a fair whack to the opponent's shield. I then go side-on to get maximum damage from my 3 beams and turn back in to use torpedo full spread once their shields are down. I can take on most enemies 1v1, but if I get caught in a tractor beam I'm in trouble.
I'm wondering if 3 beams in front and 2 turrets might be the way to go, as I'd be doing max damage with the front 3/4 of the ship facing the enemy, although would suffer with the enemy directly behind, which I only tend to do when my other shields are low anyway.
BOFF's have (I think)
Torp high yield
Beam overload
Torp full spread
Torp high yield
Beam fire at will
Emergency power to shields
Emergency power to hull? Or some equivalent idea
Feedback pulse
Some shield bonus thing I can't remember the name of
I get the feeling I'm running a setup more suited to a cruiser
Beam arrays are pretty weak unless you broadside, which lets you keep moving. Turrets are not strong enough on their own either but they compliment cannons and dual beam banks okay when they are firing forward.
Dual beam banks are strong enough for a frontal assault.
I have done both effectively.
If you fly kumari escort ap fit, you can use 5x dbbs, 1x kcb and 1x omni beam for no turrets.:D
I was thinking that, but I've never been keen on the Galaxy class - even in the series they always seemed very "sit here and shoot things" style... I prefer the more "dogfight" style fights of DS9, or less so VOY, to the "bruiser grudge match" style frontal assaults of TNG, so it feels more fun to use the Defiant, even if it's not the ideal ship for my play style.
Would I be better off using a different weapon type to phasers+photons btw?
I might just go all beam/turret and focus on phaser damage then, for the nice canon look... I can always get the quad phaser cannons later when I want to look like the original Defiant.
Thanks chaps, a few bits to think about here.
The way I would run it is one torp on the front, with the rest DBBs. Then, on the back, I would run KCB, and turrets.
For skills, (which you can retrain through a skill trainer, your captain (for a few skills), and through BOFFs) I would recommend Tac Team, Torp Spread (or Torp High Yield), and Beam Overload (or Beam: Fire at Will).
The reason that I mention the option of either Torp Spread, or High Yield is because it should be decided based off of the beam skill you pick. If you go with Beam Overload, then you will want Torp High Yield. However, if you run Beam: Fire at Will, then Torp Spread will be better.
The FAW skill will lower shields on multiple enemies, leaving them open to the torp spread. If you focus on a single target to keep from drawing agro from multiple enemies, then the BOL will compliment the THY, and vice versa.
If you go with all beam arrays, you can end up drawing agro from all around, when using FAW, which is not good for escorts. Also, if you use the AP Omni beam, it can also draw agro with FAW. Another reason I never use the AP Omni beam is because if you are not too careful, it will end up using up your BOL when it is activated. Therefore, that weapon's power is wasted on a weaker beam than a beam array, or DBB.
The only time I use all beam arrays on an escort is when I am only running BOL. On a cruiser, I will run FAW, because of the tanking abilities.
A few suggestions that might help is with BOFF heals. I suggest using Eng Team for a good hull heal. Science team is also a good one for instant shield heals. And for running ESTFs, I do suggest a copy of HE to help clear the plasma burn on the hull.
Also, if you can, RSP can help to replenish shields when getting hit. You can go with Aux2Sif, but it is not my fav.
The best thing is to just experiment with different BOFF abilities to see which is your preference. Also, the same will beam arrays vs. DBBs. Play with both, and with different combinations of BOFF skills. What works for me might not be the best combination for your play style.
Also, and this is the most important thing, DPS is not always what it is all about. Having the highest DPS on the map, but taking twice as long to kill each enemy, just means you are dragging the fight out. DPS is good, but pay attention with how long it takes you to kill the enemy.
Running all beam arrays, and BFAW will give you the highest DPS (if you can stay alive for it. Lol). However, with a good setup, a DBB/turret/KCB combination can help kill the enemy faster, and give good DPS.
I don't think I can get the cutting beams etc yet, but I'll bear them in mind for later. The yield+overload vs spread+fire at will makes sense, I tend to go into fights against small targets with the latter, as I can pretty much take out a group of small enemies in one pass plus a moment of cleaning up. I tend to use the former against a single big enemy to give a big first punch, which then gives me fire at will in case my point defence is down and they're firing heavy torpedo's.
DBB for not drawing aggro makes sense too, although does it not also mean I become fairly reliant on my front shields?
I'm mostly still involved in the story mode anyway at the moment, so I suspect drawing aggro isn't the biggest problem: all enemies are usually fighting me anyway. I'll certainly consider trying out DBB's though, it sounds like they might be a good middle ground. The cutting beam might be more canon looking on a defiant, too? Since the defiant had a single 360 phaser array on top.
I suppose the difference is basically that FAW does most total DPS if you can stay alive for the whole fight, but focusing on one enemy at a time can mean I take less damage total over the course of the fight, even if it takes me longer to do the same total damage?
Eg if I fight 5 enemies, BFAW may mean that I do more DPS total, but spread over 5 targets. So I kill all 5 enemies at the 4 minute mark due to my high DPS. I take damage from all 5 enemies during that 4 minutes, though, so I take "20 enemy-minutes" worth of damage, at a rate of 5 per minute
If I focus on one target at a time, I might kill one per minute, but it takes me 5 minutes to end the fight due to the lower total DPS. BUT I only take "15 enemy-minutes" worth of damage, after the first minute, I'm taking progressively less damage every minute, giving my buffs and heals more of a chance to keep me alive, and meaning that if I can survive the first minute of either fight, I have more chance of winning the second fight overall... especially if I can take out the most dangerous enemies first.
My issue with DPS is sustaining it - I find I do less damage with cannons just because I'm only keeping them on target for a fraction of the time. DBB's might give me some chance to do so.
Using fire at will or scatter volley as a defensive measure against heavy projectiles is a valid tactic and it is something that I have done. However there's a trade off in that you run the risk of drawing aggro, which for a escort is a death sentence, especially when you go on to doing STFs. There is also another drawback in that I have found that I couldn't chain my high yield torpedo ability because of the scatter volley. So for me it was a decision of either dropping my torpedo and chaining scatter volley or dropping scatter volley to chain rapid fire. In this case it's a matter of preference and I dropped the scatter volley to chain rapid fire.
Well regardless if you use beams or cannons, you will be relying on your front shields to take the brunt of it. It's just a matter of degree arc of fire really, with beams you will have more wiggle room while keeping the fire on as opposed to cannons. (cannons have a 45 degree arc as opposed to 90 with the beams) the trade-off being beams have less DPS than cannons. Still regardless if you use beams or cannons for your fore weapons you will need tactical team. It balances out shields and directs more shield power to the shield facing that is getting hit. This is a critical ability for an escort and I would get it as soon as you can. Better yet get two so you can chain them.
If you have a good shield, engineering team, hazard emitters, polarize hull plating, and reverse shield polarity your damage taken will be manageable. Also look into field generators because it boosts your shield capacity and it's a science console. You want to save your engineering consoles for armor.
Then it seems that DBBs will work for you if you don't mind the dps tradeoff. Still if you're only keeping your cannons on them for a short time then it yeah I can see your point. So go with it.
But don't count cannons completely out. It takes practice to keep your front on the enemy for as long as possible and experience to know when to turn off and when to go back to hit them again.
Something to re-visit when I'm a bit better at the game, perhaps. Right now I have my hands full trying to keep an eye on my shield buffs to keep my shields up.
Probably all it takes is some perseverance and trying up come up with the right tactics. I am pretty comfortable relying on DHCs on my Hegh'ta Heavy BoP, even though a few times I have found that my ship is not firing on my selected because it was just outside my narrow firing arc. My least favorite situation is being caught in a Tholian web, I can get out, but it takes time... at least for me. For a beamship is pretty easy, I just use FAW (fire at will).
A relatively inexpensive way to tryout a cruiser is to buy the Mirror Universe Assault Cruiser from the Exchange. You will not be able to use it until you reach level 40, but you can simply buy and it will be waiting for you. Prices vary depending on how often people receives the Assault Cruiser when opening lock boxes. I have seen them as low as 350k ECs to 1.3 million ECs or more. I bought mine for around 800k ECs. I trade this ship from time to time buying few when pretty cheap and just waiting for prices to go back up to re-list them on the Exchange.
I can think of two situations where having beam arrays is very advantageous; Storming the Spire and The Breach; both are Voth STFs. In Spire you can get swarmed by around a dozen ships. The same can be said of The Breach as well, but since The Breach takes placing inside a giant Voth ship, you may or may not have room to maneuver your ship depending on your location. That makes having beam arrays very important.
OP - Ive got almost all of the Fed Mirror Ships filling inventory space on alts, all 3 sci mirrors, 2 of the 3 Cruiser mirrors, and 1 of 2 escort mirrors, yours if you want them, they are just filling inventory space for me. (The two I'm missing are the Mirror Heavy Cruiser Retrofit and Mirror Advanced Escort.)