I have a B'rel Bird-of-Prey Retrofit [T5-U] and am requesting recommended builds. I don't have any reputation sets on it yet, and was wondering what I should work toward getting for it. I have a mix of disruptors and bio-molecular disruptors for weapons now, with cannons at the front and turrets at the back. It has a bio-molecular torpedo launcher up front too. I'm not really commited to these weapons and am open to suggestions. Edit: I forgot to mention the character is a tactical Klingon.
The EBC of the B'Rel gives you an advantage with projectile weapons. You may find, like I recently did, that it isn't bad with energy weapons too.
Because of universal seating in BOPs, there are a bunch of different effective play styles and setups.
What play style do you prefer or have some knack for? Decloak/ ambush style? Long range attacks? Area control/ denial? Support? Something else?
As far as reputation, all of them have good things. At tier 1, easy to reach quickly, Omega is good for the assimilated module. As you level up Omega rep, the honor guard space gear isn't bad either. Nukara is good at tier 4 for the aux power defense/ offense boosts, romulan rep has good stuff too.
Don't dismiss the power of transphasic weapons atm. While energy weapons on the whole are more powerful, transphasic torps at least (your choice if you choose not to use mines) are still pretty good in PvE.
4 tac consoles can really help. My cluster torps can easily hit 4,000 damage a mine from one, and I think like 6,000 damage a torpedo.
That is unbuffed, as it is a sci char, and against bare hull. But I've seen plenty of crits do some excellent damage, even if they do hit shields. I'd probably say use a tac, as APA and the rest can really help.
If you do use transphasics, make sure you get high amounts of CrtD on them. Acc isn't as vital in PvE, and Torp Spread never misses if you use that.
I remain empathetic to the concerns of my community, but do me a favor and lay off the god damn name calling and petty remarks. It will get you nowhere.
I must admit, respect points to Trendy for laying down the law like that.
What the B'Rel does well is it can be a fast and agile, cloaked bomber. So, I'll give you some ideas in that direction.
It can't take a lot of return fire, so hit hard and already have a plan on how to get out when you begin your attacks to help you stay alive.
Transphasic setups are a common early projectile setup that people use, so I will start there.
Three parts of the breen space set are available as mission rewards, and a warp core is available for purchase in Q's winter wonderland once you've completed Tides of Ice 10 times to get the line in the snow accolade.
You only need 2 pieces of the 4 Breen space set to get a big bonus to transphasic weapons, both torpedoes and mines. If you can swing it, get the warp core and the shield (shield is usually tier 4 or 5 of rep but deflectors and engines are at lower tiers of reps) and then the klingon honor guard deflector and engines to get the bonus to torpedoes. There might be better combo sets as others may suggest, but at least get 2 parts of the breen space set for starters.
Pick up 2 breen clustermine transphasic torpedoes from the mission out in the cold.
Pick up 2 to 3 rapid reload transphasic torpedoes from the mission cold comfort
Pick up 1 adaptive transphasic torpedo from the Borg mission fluid dynamics
Pick up 1 transphasic mine or another transphasic torpedo
Put 1 clustermine torp up front, left most weapon slot. Fill in remaining slots with transphasic torpedoes
In the aft weapon slots, 1 clustermine torp (used when leaving) and 1 mine or torpedo.
I prefer mines in the aft slots since the B'Rel can deploy them without lowering the cloak like torpedoes do, but that is my preference and you may find an all torpedo build suits your play style better.
As for the consoles, a neutronium or two could be needed since mines create lots of aggro and taking hits when the shields are down is very hazardous to light armor ships like the B'Rel.
As for the bridge officer layout, it's so flexible, that there can be 10 or more ways to do the same thing, so find what you are more accustomed to, and use that to start with.
As an example, because I use a mine in the rear, I find the following setup to be rather fun:
CDR uni (Tac) TT1, THY2, APO1, DPB3
LCDR Uni TT1, THY2, APO1
LT Uni EPTE1, EPTE2
LT Uni HE1, HE2
Remember that there are lots of combinations you can use. if you like grav wells, you can fit that in. Want more speed? You can fit EPTE with double Aux to dampeners and attack pattern omega. How about a cloaked healer? The list can go on and on.
The B'Rel is one of the most interresting ships in the game because you can make it do just about anything short of tanking, but it often seems to come up 1 bridge officer, 1 console and/ or 1 weapon short of something you had in mind.
In a lot of ways, if you aren't flying the B'rel Retrofit as a torpedo boat/stealth bomber then there's a real sense of Doing It Wrong(tm). After that it's just a question of BOff seating and consoles.
In a lot of ways, if you aren't flying the B'rel Retrofit as a torpedo boat/stealth bomber then there's a real sense of Doing It Wrong(tm). After that it's just a question of BOff seating and consoles.
What ? you havnt seen the sneaky sci b'rel ? Or HOBO's cloaked healer b'rel in their 5 man BoP team ?
What ? you havnt seen the sneaky sci b'rel ? Or HOBO's cloaked healer b'rel in their 5 man BoP team ?
rofl... That is the reason why someone created that HE problem where it decloaked you every tick to make those useless. I forsee that happening again to discourage ppl from doing that again. Roughly though its not something new just some old builds they found in the archives.
What ? you havnt seen the sneaky sci b'rel ? Or HOBO's cloaked healer b'rel in their 5 man BoP team ?
I'm personally flying a "sneaky science" B'rel right now ... with my Orion Science Dahar Master. I'm well aware of the "sneaky science" potential of a B'rel Retrofit ... hence why I suggested that B'rels can make fair/decent Science Ships if you'll let them be used as a Science Ship with the right loadout and BOff seating.
Or to put it another way ... this choir member has heard this sermon before ...
I have mine set up in a raptor/escort type build with dual heavies and an omni beam on the back with BO3 and that's pretty fun to me. Honestly, the B'rel can be set up so many different ways there isn't really a right or wrong way to play one. It's definitely a fun ship to play around with.
To be honest this build is what I came up with about 8 months ago, just before I left the game, but its still working nicely. I'm thinking about adding a particle emission torpedo instead of the quantum and see how it works as well as getting the honor guard shield when I hit t5 omega rep
My main question here is: Are the tricobalt mines still worth using?
Comments
Because of universal seating in BOPs, there are a bunch of different effective play styles and setups.
What play style do you prefer or have some knack for? Decloak/ ambush style? Long range attacks? Area control/ denial? Support? Something else?
As far as reputation, all of them have good things. At tier 1, easy to reach quickly, Omega is good for the assimilated module. As you level up Omega rep, the honor guard space gear isn't bad either. Nukara is good at tier 4 for the aux power defense/ offense boosts, romulan rep has good stuff too.
4 tac consoles can really help. My cluster torps can easily hit 4,000 damage a mine from one, and I think like 6,000 damage a torpedo.
That is unbuffed, as it is a sci char, and against bare hull. But I've seen plenty of crits do some excellent damage, even if they do hit shields. I'd probably say use a tac, as APA and the rest can really help.
If you do use transphasics, make sure you get high amounts of CrtD on them. Acc isn't as vital in PvE, and Torp Spread never misses if you use that.
Also keep in mind flanking, that REALLY helps.
It can't take a lot of return fire, so hit hard and already have a plan on how to get out when you begin your attacks to help you stay alive.
Transphasic setups are a common early projectile setup that people use, so I will start there.
Three parts of the breen space set are available as mission rewards, and a warp core is available for purchase in Q's winter wonderland once you've completed Tides of Ice 10 times to get the line in the snow accolade.
You only need 2 pieces of the 4 Breen space set to get a big bonus to transphasic weapons, both torpedoes and mines. If you can swing it, get the warp core and the shield (shield is usually tier 4 or 5 of rep but deflectors and engines are at lower tiers of reps) and then the klingon honor guard deflector and engines to get the bonus to torpedoes. There might be better combo sets as others may suggest, but at least get 2 parts of the breen space set for starters.
Pick up 2 breen clustermine transphasic torpedoes from the mission out in the cold.
Pick up 2 to 3 rapid reload transphasic torpedoes from the mission cold comfort
Pick up 1 adaptive transphasic torpedo from the Borg mission fluid dynamics
Pick up 1 transphasic mine or another transphasic torpedo
Put 1 clustermine torp up front, left most weapon slot. Fill in remaining slots with transphasic torpedoes
In the aft weapon slots, 1 clustermine torp (used when leaving) and 1 mine or torpedo.
I prefer mines in the aft slots since the B'Rel can deploy them without lowering the cloak like torpedoes do, but that is my preference and you may find an all torpedo build suits your play style better.
As for the consoles, a neutronium or two could be needed since mines create lots of aggro and taking hits when the shields are down is very hazardous to light armor ships like the B'Rel.
As for the bridge officer layout, it's so flexible, that there can be 10 or more ways to do the same thing, so find what you are more accustomed to, and use that to start with.
As an example, because I use a mine in the rear, I find the following setup to be rather fun:
CDR uni (Tac) TT1, THY2, APO1, DPB3
LCDR Uni TT1, THY2, APO1
LT Uni EPTE1, EPTE2
LT Uni HE1, HE2
Remember that there are lots of combinations you can use. if you like grav wells, you can fit that in. Want more speed? You can fit EPTE with double Aux to dampeners and attack pattern omega. How about a cloaked healer? The list can go on and on.
The B'Rel is one of the most interresting ships in the game because you can make it do just about anything short of tanking, but it often seems to come up 1 bridge officer, 1 console and/ or 1 weapon short of something you had in mind.
I hope that helps give you some ideas.
Sounds like a good plan. I don't have anything like that. So I'm definitely going to try it.
Thanks.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
What ? you havnt seen the sneaky sci b'rel ? Or HOBO's cloaked healer b'rel in their 5 man BoP team ?
rofl... That is the reason why someone created that HE problem where it decloaked you every tick to make those useless. I forsee that happening again to discourage ppl from doing that again. Roughly though its not something new just some old builds they found in the archives.
I'm personally flying a "sneaky science" B'rel right now ... with my Orion Science Dahar Master. I'm well aware of the "sneaky science" potential of a B'rel Retrofit ... hence why I suggested that B'rels can make fair/decent Science Ships if you'll let them be used as a Science Ship with the right loadout and BOff seating.
Or to put it another way ... this choir member has heard this sermon before ...
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
This is how my b'rel is set up right now on my sci officer: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=teide3_0
To be honest this build is what I came up with about 8 months ago, just before I left the game, but its still working nicely. I'm thinking about adding a particle emission torpedo instead of the quantum and see how it works as well as getting the honor guard shield when I hit t5 omega rep
My main question here is: Are the tricobalt mines still worth using?