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B'Rel Bird-of-Prey Hangar Pets - OP?
sharpie65
Member Posts: 679 Arc User
(This may be in the wrong thread. Mods/Trendy, feel free to move at your leisure. Please remove this section when done.)
So, I was just in a friendly PvP match with a fleetmate and two others. I was using Elite Callisto pets, one of my opponents was using B'Rel Birds-of-Prey.
The problem is, basic B'Rel pets seem to hit a whole lot harder than elite Callistos..as evidenced by the BoPs surviving 3-4 "rounds" against my frigates (the eventual score was something like 6-0 to the other team).
Anyhow, the problem therein is that basic/common BoPs bought with EC are vastly superior to the more expensive and higher-quality Callistos..is this something that should be fixed, or is it balanced and fine as is?
So, I was just in a friendly PvP match with a fleetmate and two others. I was using Elite Callisto pets, one of my opponents was using B'Rel Birds-of-Prey.
The problem is, basic B'Rel pets seem to hit a whole lot harder than elite Callistos..as evidenced by the BoPs surviving 3-4 "rounds" against my frigates (the eventual score was something like 6-0 to the other team).
Anyhow, the problem therein is that basic/common BoPs bought with EC are vastly superior to the more expensive and higher-quality Callistos..is this something that should be fixed, or is it balanced and fine as is?
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As for balanced as it is, I'd say yes just so KDF get something the feds don't.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
Better gear doesn't mean much alone. Tactics, character setup, skills, and experience also play a major factor.
Spock to Kirk, as Kirk is about to hug him.
Star Trek V: "The Final Frontier"
b'rels don't get raider flanking. they do have battle cloak but it's of little to no use.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
On the note of B'rels focusing fire, I'd still expect them to take more than <10% total damage even with pet rank-ups. Balance-wise, IMO common-quality pets should not be able to outgun ultra-rare pets of the same type..it's like the equivalent of the Duras sisters' BoP being able to kill the Defiant in a fair fight.
Also I think BoPs are more designed for single target attacks, were as Callistos are better at multiple targets in their forward arc, which is great for removing mines, or attack swarms of close together ships, but no as good (but still fairly good at) single targets as the BoP.
Still if your using your Jupiter space trait and console your Callistos should outfight and survive the BoPs.
Still its impossible to be certain about what's going on without knowing your build and his, everything is pure speculation.
Example if he has the right ship mastery feature that would explain why his BoPs crushed your Callistos. I forgot what the ship mastery trait is called, but its tied to you deploy hangar bay ability.
And of course I don't know if the Callistos are still buggy, do they still have problem going into full impulse?
Still waiting to be able to use forum titles
the duras sisters bop one shoted the enterprise... so in a fair fight the defiant would be dust on the galactic winds.
and there not the same type not even close...
b'rel use rapid fire and high yield to bring all their limted firepower to bear on single targets. real nice for popping lighter targets like say pets.
Callisto speads that limited firepower out with Scatter Volley II and Torpedo Spread II. technical this causes higher dps but like just hitting shields alot of it is wasted cause it can't bring it all together into a killing blow.
saying that the b'rel shouldn't be able to out gun the callisto cause of rarity is like saying a steel hammer should cut better then a iron knife. and like with all of sto the best defence is a good offence. it's not that b'rel are op it's callisto suck. they aren't built for the job your having them do. b'rel are.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
Battle cloaking pets do sound useless as well since they're still vulnerable to AoE. I've always wanted some BoP as pets but as others have pointed out, unless pets have beams & torps, the limited firing arc of anything else means they do nothing much in combat.
For this same reason I've never bothered to buy Plesh raider frigates on the Sarr Theln or Rezreth as the AI is too poor despite numerous fix attempts. So much for all the Q WW grind I had to do on Every character 2 winters ago back before account-wide unlocks for exclusives became a thing.
nope, only plesh and Baltim pet get raider flanking.
if you learn to use em bop and phesh can be pretty nasty but you have to be very aggressive and focused. standing off and letting you pets do the work just makes everything take forever. if you don't love em your better off with something else. though plesh are a a lot better then b'rel.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
I remember being told by that fleetmate that an unbuffed photon torpedo fired from a B'Rel hit for 20k without a crit - that sounds ridiculously broken to me.
It's not that they get something Feds don't, it's that the standard EC-bought pets are vastly superior to elite pets. If the were Qaw'dun pets and not B'Rel BoPs, I'd be inclined to agree with you..but since they're B'Rels, there's a bit of an issue.
nothing, well the mirror verson but thats it.
that is rather questionable... actually this how thing is starting to sound rather questionable. the plesh is same type as the b'rel with more guns and abilities. without pet skills plesh should win easily.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
I dropped a newly level 40 KDF character into a vo'quv yesterday, used the standard fighters it comes with. Lots of pretty little fireballs all over the place, most of them were the fighters.
Switched to B'rels this afternoon and man what a difference, they actually swoop past the target one by one and blow it up before I can get into range (I thought the hanger pet range was 15k? because they were chasing off after things I locked at 18-20k).
Then again four lots of cannon: rapid fire 1 (from dual cannon plus turret) and torpedo: high-yield 1 (throwing two photon torpedoes out) on some poor luckless soul does leave a sizable hole.
The flight paths they take to get to who they are shooting at tends to aggro everything else though.
Meh, I still say that they are not over-powered though. The only changes to them going up in rarity is switching to quantum torpedoes and the usual upgrading of abilities from 1 to 2 to 3.
The callistoes only get the ability upgrades and additions, in this case pilot specialization ones, however they get more weapons then the Birds-of-Preys do.
Bird-of-Prey = dual cannon, turret (both disruptor), photon / quantum torpedo
Callisto escort = quad cannon, dual cannon, single cannon, turret (all phaser), photon torpedo.
I think it might be the difference in abilities, cannon: scatter volley Vs cannon: rapid fire. If callistoes had rapid fire as well they would probably rip apart stuff solo, whereas if the Birds-of-Prey had scatter volley they would just splat.
Escort gear:
* Phaser Quad Cannons
* Phaser Dual Heavy Cannons
* Quantum Torpedoes
* Phaser Turret
* Torpedo Spread II
* Cannon: Scatter Volley II
* Lock Trajectory I
* Scratch the Paint
So they have Qauntum Torps, not Photon torps and its heavy dual cannons in addition to the Quad cannon (this would matter more if pets had to worry about power drain).
I do a agree that its largely spread vs focused fire cannon and torp abilities that make the difference. The BoPs disuptors are better then the Callistos Phasers, better energy type.
Qauntum vs. Photons comes down to better burst damage vs. better DPS.
If your Callistos could catch multiple BoPs in its front arc when it set off both Cannon Scattered Volley and Torpedo spread, it'd be a disaster for the BoPs, but that difficult to do against BoP pets.
My suggestion is to use the star ship trait that comes with the Jupiter to grant your callistos the ability to transport warheads when you use any tract beam or intel officer powers, to the BoPs doing direct to hull damage.
Also if you can afford it, buy the T6 fed Escort Carrier, I forget the name, so you can get the star ship mastery trait that grants your Callistos rapid cannon fire I, when you use any rapid cannon fire Boff power.
That should add some concentrates fire power to your Callistos, which may be enough to destroy the BoPs.
Also powers like Attack Pattern Beta, Focus Fire, and Fire on my Mark can help, as can the powerful Jupiter console buff, which can grant a huge buff to your Callistos.
If you have the Breen Carrier, its star ship trait can be great for healing your pets when you use a hull heal, but you have to be within 10km of the pets. This ability works great you have plenty of hull heals.
And don't forget your pet skills!
they don't have raider flanking to use and battle cloak is tied to the recall command.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
All of that would be of a great deal of help, unfortunately it would only work if we put our carriers at the edge of their combat range. Since we (willingly, to have it pets only) stayed 14-15km away from the other team, we couldn't do a great deal to help our pets.
Thanks for that little tidbit about the Sarr Theln's trait..however, it only works within 5km.