Returning Player Can't Decide What Ship to Buy!

wikkedjj

Looking for some input from the community, as I hate to waste time and/or Zen! I'm a returning player...last time I played was when the Dyson stuff was pretty new, if I recall, so a lot has changed. I'm working on my fed science captain first...his reputations are furthest along out of all my characters so I'm starting with getting him to 60. I do have fed tac and eng captains as well, but they will at first anyway play back seat to science. I have never excelled at playing a science officer, and usually just resorted to flying my temp destroyer and shooting stuff....I know I know it's not very original. For the record, 99% of what I play is pve. I have a fair chunk of lifetime zen to spend, but as I said above, I dont' want to flush it. I was thinking about grabbing the intrepid pack that has the pathfinder in it...then if I upgrade to the fleet version, I only need one module, correct? The other package I was thinking about is the command battlecruiser bundle. Now I know there's not much science about these, but I'm used to crusiers as I played my eng in a cruiser for most of my early time with the game, and I do have two other characters fed side that will be playing. Last...what about escorts or the T6 carrier/escort carrier? Again....with mostly PvE being played, would I be better served with these? I know way back the pve game was all about dps and not much else mattered. Have things changed much in that regard?

Anyway....if you read this far, thanks! It's not the best formed chain of thoughts, but things just kept popping into my head. And if you reply...thanks x2!

tom61sto

First up, get all your chars to level 52, at that point Admiralty opens up, and that can pour out XP and other resources, with only a little more effort than DOffing. Very easy to take *all* characters to 60 decently quick using it.

I do recommend at least grabbing the Tac variant of the Command Battle Cruiser, for pretty much all captain types. It comes with the Starship Trait "All Hands on Deck" (AHoD) that reduces the cooldown of Sci abilities by 10% and captain abilities by 5% when you use a Tacticle ability, with a 5 second lockout before it will proc again on use. Starship Traits can be used on any ships after you've earned them on that char by "Mastering" that ship. The Presidio Command Cruiser, as the Fed Tac Command Cruiser is called, is a fairly solid ship for both Tac and Eng captains, decent amount of firepower and a lot of durability if you dip into the newer Command powers. The Sci Command Battle Cruiser has an interesting Starship Trait from what I've heard, and the layout is a bit more Sci leaning, but if you only have the Zen for either the pack or the Pathfinder, you might consider grabbing just the Presidio instead of the pack, and then using the rest for the Pathfinder.

As for escorts, do note that this is no longer 'Escorts Online' anymore. Beams are in, making broadsiding Cruisers a far better choice nowadays. It's still about DPS, but a solid build can be made with any ship nowadays. If you want top end DPS, you'd be better served with rolling a Romulan and picking up a Scimitar variant and/or picking up a rather expensive Krenim Imperium Warship off the Exchange.

leemwatson

The Pathfinder is worth getting only if you have the other C-Store versions first. It's Aero Shuttle is very durable and the 2 piece set bonus is good. I don't bother with the Photonic Torp console, as the 3 piece bonus to give the shuttle the Torp is pretty pointless. The Pathfinder is amazingly potent in terms of Sci capability, but needs good heals as when levelled, only has around 54k hull. Shields aren't a problem though as I've got 26k out of the Aegis. You do only need 1 Fleet Module to get the fleet T6, but it's only a tiny bit better than the FT5U Intrepid with a little more bonus power and extra Boff ability.

I like using the T6 Hestia (Prometheus) on my Sci, as it gives decent Sci ability at Lt. Cmdr, and it's versatile with seating. Again though, the ship is only worth getting if you already have the MVA Console from the T5 version.

I have no experience with the Command Cruisers, as they didn't peak my interest as I have lots of ships, and the Oddy works fine with regard to a Command Cruiser.

wikkedjj

That's great advice about the admiralty system, didn't know that....level 52 coming up on several characters! I don't recall if I have the c-store intrepid or not...Over the years I've bought and used so many ships on so many characters, it's hard to track them all! I do have the c-store prometheus though, and that's an intriguing option that I hadn't thought of, could be fun!

xinaerk

My advice; take the pilot escorts. Pack a nice punch; upgraded MKXIV gear makes them a beast, pilot moves that no one else has, VERY useful and powerful moves; FIVE forward firing weapons (4 dual beams or cannons plus a torpedo launcher is a bada$$ combo). And they look nice too (well, the feddies and a mixed parts klinky without the ridiculous round piece in the tip of the hull... the rommies look like garbage).

Buy the pack... you won't regret it.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

lordsteve1

Lol, my Pathfinder has over 70k hull with the command tree maxed out. It can be nice and tanky if you do it right.

I think the Scryer is a better ship again but it's essentially identical to the Pathfinder but with Intel goodies to play with and it can be a bit tougher.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

mustrumridcully0

The Phantom Intel Escort and the Tactical Command Cruiser have two of the best traits, and are both potent ships for their respective class.
The Eclipse Intel Cruiser has a pretty decent trait and is also a very good Cruiser - high maneuverablity, Intel access.

That said, the ultra-super-Escorts are clearly Pilot Escorts. 5/2 weapon layout, highest maneuverability among escorts, and Pilot maneuvers that generate temporary immunity that also look cool and are just plain fun.

If you want to do some science, Pathfinder and Scryer are all great, the Scryer might be more interesting for all the intel stuff you can try with it. The Pathfinder looks better, though.
And a science build with (speciality) torpedoes and exotic damage abilities is also very potent - you probably still can't compete with the twinked out BFAW builds, but you might have a lot of fun seeing enemies tumbling around in gravity wells and being cooked in their shields.

tiriusavaro

tom61sto wrote: »

(...) if you only have the Zen for either the pack or the Pathfinder, you might consider grabbing just the Presidio instead of the pack, and then using the rest for the Pathfinder.

I'll second this one. In fact, these might be my favorite tier 6 starships for both the cruiser and science lines. While the command cruisers all have their merits, I found their special consoles a bit lackluster, so I´d advise against getting the entire pack. The Pathfinder is a very versatile ship - it has all the regular science goodies but also does fairly well without them, making it useful both as a science and a general purpose ship for any character. I enjoyed the Aeroshuttle as one of the more durable pets, but I'd consider the torpedo console optional, especially with the current-day competition for console slots.