T6 Cruiser choice?

kamatsudash

Hi,

Wasn't sure if this belonged here or in Federation shipyard, except most of the Fed Shipyard threads seem dedicated to specific builds for elite STF's and such... and I'm trying to get a more general feel for general play for a casual 'inexperienced' player.

I have just over 3K coins, so can only afford 1 T6 ship, or multiple T5 upgrades, but don't have the RL funds to either buy the Delta pack or buy more coins. I mainly play my Federation Engineering captain... so lchoice is between Federation ships.

I'm looking at either:

Eclipse Intel Cruiser - http://sto.gamepedia.com/Eclipse_Intel_Cruiser

Guardian Cruiser - http://sto.gamepedia.com/Guardian_Cruiser

The GC has more crew and higher hull, while they both have same DOFF stations, same weapon layouts, but different console layouts.

I guess it might help to state what I'm flying right now? lolz

- Assault Cruiser: http://sto.gamepedia.com/Assault_Cruiser
- beam boat build, 6 beams, 1 torpedo & 1 mine layer

Currently all I do is PvE missions & rep stuff (via solo PvE space & ground missions).

If I could I'd likely just buy both and try them out, but that's not an option. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts/advice on which one of these 2 ships would suit me better?

- PvE only
- mainly for PvE missioning
- I prefer my beam boat type of build
- I wouldn't mind possibly looking to get into STF's at a later point, but not a main focus point for me.

Thanx in advance.

huntingdon1701

I'm finding the Guardian to be a really flexible ship with her Boff layout. The Lieut Com in Science is quite fun, but without trading off other skills. The Eclipse doesn't have that - the store description is wrong and she only has a lieut in science.

warmaker001b

Aesthetically speaking, I'd take the Guardian.
- It looks like a future Starfleet design.
- Balanced BOFF layout across TAC, SCI, ENG.
- Bad inertia and turn rate: Change of speed and turning is sluggish.

But based on stats alone, the Eclipse is easily better.
- The Eclipse has far superior turn and inertia. What it means is that it changes speed and turns much, much better than the Guardian. This is a big deal because it means the ship moves easily into position, whether you need to close the distance to target quickly, change course, move away into safer distances after getting pummeled. Bad movement characteristics make it harder to do all these.
- Possesses standard cloak. Only good for the opening attack. But as standard cloak you cannot cloak during combat. Once a long shooting engagement begins, your standard cloak is useless unless you break off, get out of combat, and cloak.
- Has access to "Gather Intel" toggle ability, which is similar to "Sensor Analysis" found mostly on science ships. Once you have a certain stack number of Gather Intel, you can use several different abilities against the target.
- As a true T6, Intel ship, you can go much deeper into Intel BOFF abilities. Some of these are quite powerful.

Remember also that an Intel BOFF still retains an original class type. For example, you can have them as:
Intel/TAC
Intel/ENG
Intel/SCI

For space BOFF abilities for example, you can mix them up to however you want with a Intel/ENG BOFF. You can put your Ensign and Lt level skills on that BOFF as Intel, while the LtCdr and Cmdr level skills are ENG.

The only requirements to use those Intel BOFF abilities is to slot that BOFF into an Intel capable BOFF slot. For the Eclipse, that's the Cmdr ENG and Lt SCI stations.

In contrast, the Guardian only allows you to put Intel abilities in the Lt ENG station.

In short, the Eclipse is a far better handling Cruiser and lets you go as far as you want with Intel abilities since it is an Intel ship.

keppoch1

I chose the eclipse. Primarily because I have the dread cruiser and plan to upgrade it. The guardian is not that significantly different from the 5U version of the dread cruiser.

capnmanx

They don't have the same Boff layout, the c-store page is wrong. The Eclipse only has a Lt Sci, not a Lt Comm Sci.

fewzz

I am actually finding the Eclipse pretty squishy where the hull is concerned.
The Advanced Ques are pretty challenging now, so i dropped all my crit stuff etc and went Guardian as a full tank, i do alot better in this ship.

What is anoying though is my tray losing its powers etc, Cryptic still havent fixed this **** its unbelievable.

gavinruneblade

Solo, survival isn't as much of an issue, so the guardian, while pretty, isn't going to help you as much.

Also the Intel powers are very fun.

jaguarskx

Both are good ships depending on how you plan on using them.

The Guardian is a logical upgrade from the free T5 Assault Cruiser which is the primary starship for my Engineering toon. It has a very versatile Boff station layout that makes the Guardian a viable secondary ship for tactical and science captains.

The Eclipse reminds me of a KDF battle cruiser (sadly enough). The Boff station layout means it can deliver a good amount of damage and can be considered a viable secondary ship for a tactical captain. The cloak means you can deliver an alpha strike. With a base turn rate of 10, that means you should have no problems bumping up the actual turn rate to 21 or higher. But I would not bother with dual heavy cannons unless the turn rate is over 26.

Between the two, I would choose the Guardian due to it's versatility (my sci toon can use it). The only drawback is the 6.5 turn rate. It is not that much different from the Assault Cruiser, but it can make a bit of difference after bonuses are applied. If I wanted to fly a ship that is similar to a KDF battle cruiser, I would just load up my KDF Engineering toon.