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sci build question from a tac captain
lyran2
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
I apologise for the cross post, I'm just trying to cover my basses.....
I've been a fed tac captian long enough to get 1 character to lvl 50, and like many of you I'm ansciously waiting the Delta Rising expansion.
More than enough time to try something new and make a Fed Sci character. So far I've gotten the toon to his first free ship at lt commander. However, I'm not sure how I should allocate space and ground skills or space equipment. Not weapons, but key consoles for a Sci character.
I realise that it's a different approach from an tac escort build and that I can't expect high dps.
That being said, I'm just looking for some pointers or even some guidence. If anyone has a Sci Build that they could share I'd appreciate it.
thanks
I've been a fed tac captian long enough to get 1 character to lvl 50, and like many of you I'm ansciously waiting the Delta Rising expansion.
More than enough time to try something new and make a Fed Sci character. So far I've gotten the toon to his first free ship at lt commander. However, I'm not sure how I should allocate space and ground skills or space equipment. Not weapons, but key consoles for a Sci character.
I realise that it's a different approach from an tac escort build and that I can't expect high dps.
That being said, I'm just looking for some pointers or even some guidence. If anyone has a Sci Build that they could share I'd appreciate it.
thanks
Post edited by lyran2 on
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I have been looking around for a good guide for playing Science Officer, if I find one I'll send it your way. Real easy to find stuff for Tac and Engineer, but resources for Science Officer seem a bit scarce.
Here is are some good ways to have Fun With Science:
Gravity Well Build:
Point points in to Graviton Generators and Particle Generators.
Add Consoles and Deflectors that boost those two skills. (This will make your Gravity Well skills do a ton of damage and cluster plenty of enemies together)
Slot Gravimetric Scientist DOff: Gravity Well type (These give chances to spawn new Gravity Wells for each GW that you use)
Add a Gravimetric Photon Torpedo from the Dyson Rep (these can create Gravity Wells upon use)
Use Torpedo Spread skill (each Grav Torp in the spread can create a GW and each GW works with the DOff)
Congratulations, you just wiped out all of the nearby enemies in two Abilities.
***
Drainer Build
Equip Polaron Weapons (the procs on these suck away enemy power levels)
Equip Jrm'Hadar Set from the 2800 Feature Episode Series (these boost Polarons)
Equip Consoles that boost Flow Capacitors, and Particle Generators
Put skill points in to Flow Capacitors (to boost Power Draining), Particle Generators
Use the abilities Tachyon Beam (drains Shields), Energy Siphon (drain all Power Levels), and Tyken's Rift (drains all Power Levels, AoE)
Slot Gravimetric Scientist: Tyken's Rift type (to spawn multiple Rifts).
Optionally, use the ability Aceton Beam (weaken the enemy's attack power) along with Hazard Systems Officer DOff (to add drain all Power Levels).
This does not do as much damage as the Gravity Well Build. It is a Support Role, as it will bottom out all of the enemy's subsystem power. They won't be able to do anything while your teams wipes them out.
***
Torpedo Boats, ie: no Beams, only torpedo Launchers (of different types to prevent shared cooldowns) are great for Science Builds as you can divert all of the Weapon Power than Torps do not use in to Auxiliary that Sci Powers do use.
If you do, I suggest picking up the Hot Pursuit Trait off of the Exchange. It will double Mines lock-on and chasing distance. It pretty much makes Mines in a Torpedo Turret (but at around half the distance compared to torps). It will make good use of those back weapon slots.
Also, get the Omega Kinetic Shearing Trait from the Omega Rep as it causes your projectiles do an additional 40% damage as Damage Over Time.
The Adapted Maco, and Klingon Honor Guard sets give an extra 25% damage boost to Torpedoes.
You could use it instead of the Polaron Beams in the Drainer Build. You'll do more damage, but won't weaken the enemy's power levels as much. There is no drawback to using it in the Gravity Well Build. High-Yield Tricobalts to a group of enemies held together by the GW is nice.
If you want to put down the Zen (or Dilithium-to-Zen) then you may wish to consider a Vesta is you are a Federation Captain as it has the option of use Dual Heavy Cannons that deal damage based on your Auxiliary Power rather than Weapon Power. That makes it great for Sci Builds. Alternatively, if you use Romulans or Klingons, each has a ship that gets Enhanced Battle Cloak. That will let you Sci Abilities and Torpedoes while cloaked. Perfect for Torp Boats.
I forget the doff but there are ones that reduce deflectors (grav well, ect) and one that reduces sci teama nd buffs shields, and one that adds aftershocks. the best trait is conservation of energy.
honestly a good sci captain using sensor scan, sub nuc and scattering field is just as effective as FOM and APA on a tac. AND, you have the ultimate O TRIBBLE button in photonic fleet.
oh, and you can do just fine in an escort.. my Sci girl is flying the MVAE. I used Elisa Flores right out of the box, HYT1, BOL2 TS3 APO3, the Lt is TT1 and APB1, and the ens is TT1. I'm using triple DBBs and the grav torpedo, the heavy turret, kcb and hyper torp aft. at distance, BOL, TS3, and as I pas HYT should be off cooldown, so i pop that and drive on, dropping three hi yeild torpedoes in my wake.
That works well, too. Additionally, it is useful for targeting a specific shield facing as well as holding the enemy in a position where they weapons won't be about to hit you.
That is a great ship, isn't it? I named mine Hrist after the Norse Valkyrie who was known for failing her weapons so wildly that she frightened warriors on both sides of a battle. Then I equipped it with all Spread Fire abilities. :P
That Gravity Well build really has my attention, I'm going to give that some serious thought.
Maybe something like that on a Tactical Vesta? Interesting idea.
Torpedo idea is interesting as well, some really good info there.
Pretty close to what I run, except for the AB+doff part.
FYI, Tachyon Beam 2 is pretty good. People underestimate the ability too much.
No, no, my good man. It you are going to run a Gravity Well Build on a Vesta, you want the Science Variant.
The GWs with a set of Grav DOffs can destroy groups of enemies on their own; they do not require your weapons. If you use the GravTorp Spread anyway, you can spawn, like, a dozen GWs that are all doing their full DPS to every enemy in the cluster. You see, you will do better with the extra Particle Generator console as that will be constantly increasing your DPS against several opponents rather than a Weapon Console that would be working against a single one most of the time.
Using a Tachyon Beam to drop enemy shields will work nearly as well as a weapon since your Aux Power Level should be maxed out.
I concur.
Surprisingly, that is the one of the set that I use the least. The Fermion Field's AoE Healing and the Multidimensional Graviton Shield's Kinetic Reflection I find more useful. Of course, popping the invincibility Bubble and using Ramming Speed is great fun.
You sir are a gentleman and a scholar.
Seriously though, good tips.. thank you. I'm going to steer my new science character in this direction, should be fun.
I fly the Mirror Science Vessel Retrofit which is probably the best T5 science ship you can get without going to the C-Store or Lobi Store. I they generally sell for less than 200k or 300k EC on the Exchange... I know I bought mine for less than 100k EC. Small and nimble... almost as fun as flying the T5 Hegh'ta Heavy BoP. I devote one tactical console for torp damage and the other for energy weapon damage. It doesn't have very high hull strength, but it hasn't stopped me from doing elite STFs with it like Storming the Spire Elite.
Currently working on the Omega Rep for the Omega Plasma Torpedo Launcher, and I am pretty sure I am doing to do the Dyson rep for the Gravimetric Torpedo Launcher pretty soon.
It's all how you spec your stats and what BoFF loadouts you have on which particular ship you want to fly.
the conservation of energy trait would beg to differ. a 10% bump in exotic damage (stackable to 30%) is nothing to sneeze at
Sci Captains are better because they can get Career-Specific Traits that boost their powers. Otherwise, they are all equal.
EDIT: Vetteguy beat me to it.
Attack pattern alpha is still a thing. Or does that not apply to exotic damage anymore?
Yep, but that is limited to buffing Photons. The Shared Cooldown counters the benefit. Although, I suppose if you are using only Fleet Photon Consoles it might make up for the loss.
Don't know, honestly. I only have one Tactical Captain and that one doesn't use any Offensive Sci Abilities.
EDIT: According to the Wiki, APA's Damage Buff applies only to Weapons. So it would not influence Sci Power's Exotic Damage.
if you are taking fire and the conservation of energy procs, APA doesn't come remotely close. and it's always on, you don't have to worry about a cooldown. the one thing I do not know is if radiation (from 8472 weapons and hargpeng torps) is considered "exotic" damage
I'm no expert and don't play year round, so unless that damage buff changed in addition to new trait bonus'...
If you want to split hairs on eq loadouts or proc circumstance that's fine, and a 10% bonus is noticeable at min/max levels, granted.
Still tac or eng captain built exactly the same way as a sci captain, flying the same ship the same way and doing all the same things, are absolutely just as capable in that 'sciencey' role, and vice versa.
I stand by my initial point. It's not what profession you are, it's about what ship you fly and how you build your skills/BoFF layout. That's just how it is and has always has been.
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