Science Help

gameverseman

Hey everyone,
I'm looking to make a well rounded build for the Fleet T6 Long Range Science Vessel that specializes in drains and survivability. I'm not a fan of cycling heals and have made this build to accommodate both drains and solid innate defense value (shield capacity and regen mostly). The only must haves for this build is that I strongly want to make use of the Intrepid ship set bonuses as well as the Quantum Phase weapon bonuses... all else is negotiable I guess you could say. Here is my build: http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/150281c255106ba29072dc8dfd4cedd1
Thanks for your help.
LLAP

e30ernest

I believe there are a number of drain builds posted at The Science Ship Build Thread that could give you some ideas on how to proceed.

But for more generic advice:

As a drain ship, I'd probably drop any Tactical console first before losing any of your sci consoles. I'd go all out on DrainX Plasma Consoles on the sci slots. I'm recommending 5 Plasma Consoles because you are running mostly beams and FAW, so those consoles will help substantially your damage output. I'd also use a Deteriorating Secondary Deflector since that deflector procs off a substantial amount of radiation damage from Drain skills.

Going on with your consoles, I'd probably drop the RCS resall console for an RCS with DrainX to further help your drains. I'd replace the Assimilated Module with a Plasmonic Leech (those are cheaper these days). Since you'll be dropping the Assimilated Module, you won't need the Kinetic Cutting beam too. I'd drop in another beam array there. Personally on a drain setup I'd go with Polarons rather than Phasers. You might want to explore your options there.

As for bridge seating goes, I'd skip Attack Pattern Delta and use Attack Pattern Beta since you only have 1 attack pattern, and APB will sync better with your FAW/torp spread cycles. I'm also not a fan of Emergency Powers to Shields, I'd instead use Eng Team 1 and Override Subsystem Safeties 2 for your Eng/Intel seat.

For your sci seats, I'd run a Tyken's Rift there for AOE drains and a GW to help keep enemies contained. I wouldn't run Feedback Pulse 3 with the way your ship is setup (you are running -Th Sci Consoles) so you are not making the most out of that skill. I'd drop FBP3 for a Tyken's Rift 3 and Energy Siphon 2 for a Grav Well 1. Your Lt.Cdr. Science is over-healed as well (you shouldn't need that high a healing unless you plan to fly a heal boat). I'd drop Polarize Hull and move Sci Team and Hazard Emitters a slot down. On the Lt.Cdr. slot I'd run Destabilizing Resonance Beam 2. If you need better shield heals, I'd use Transfer Shield Strength instead of Science Team.

I hope this helps.

dareau

gameverseman wrote: »

Hey everyone,
I'm looking to make a well rounded build for the Fleet T6 Long Range Science Vessel that specializes in drains and survivability. I'm not a fan of cycling heals and have made this build to accommodate both drains and solid innate defense value (shield capacity and regen mostly).

First off, a "side effect" of a well executed drain build is that the enemy's weapons power will be reduced to the point that their weaponry will be set to "tickle". As such, not taking damage helps... reduce... the need for heal cycling.

However, your build has one... major... issue with it. For "specializing" in drain, you currently have a grand total of 1 "always on" drain (the twinned energy syphons) and a drain that only works once every 2 minutes (the Quantum Phase set). This is, unfortunately, nowhere near the levels of drain necessary to let the above effect "kick in", as it were, or to be seriously called a "drain specialist".

My thoughts, without bouncing over to the science build thread:

1. Lose phasers for Polarons. Go ahead and keep the Quantum Phaser Array aft, for your set bonus. But the other 3 need to be polaron-ized, and make sure you're using polarons that have drain effects (Vaadwaur ones don't, IIRC).

1.5 I'd recommend finding a way to slot the Delta Rep's weapon set, it's polaron, does drains, and the two piece is effectively a polaron console (IIRC) and the 3 piece is Isokinetic Cannon (ditch KCB for the torp). Chronometric Polaron is another good one to look into, mission reward, has an Omni array for the aft (so it's pitching in drain even when facing front) and the overall set helps draining. Coincidentally, these two recommendations has the side effect of replacing all the phasers I'm recommending replacement of in 1.

2. DrainX is you friend, and almost mandatory. While I won't tell you to do what most drain specialists do and sacrifice every available slot to DrainX containing consoles, the more drain you do slip in, the more chance you'll have of making sure the enemy's deprived of weapons power and their beams are "tickle rays".

2.5 Secondary deflector's a great place to find some DrainX, and not necessarily ditch sets you're probably intent on keeping.

3. BOff wise, you want to "up" your drain quotient. That's best done by swapping Tykens III for your FBP III. Plasmonic Leech is also a nice drainer, and can replace the assimilated console handily. Breen set has a spare drain built into it, too, but requires the replacement of 3 "components"...

4. Since the only "active" phaser damage source you have left (on a regular basis, that is) is the Quantum Phase Beam, tac consoles (if actually kept) should also be polaron-ified. However, since the build's not really "geared" to be a DPS monster, many have recommended slipping things like the PlasLeech or the third Intrepid set console down here, letting Science be the province of DrainX.

One final thought: What's the Intrepid set really doing for you? Nadion is an alright torp damage enhancer, the Aero Shuttle's a fairly tough singular pet - though as it's a "single" pet it's not the DPS machine you'd expect, but the Ablative Armor gimps your DPS severely and you're not really built for doing damage while the armor's on. Since the Torp Damage and respawn on the pet are like 2 min. each, losing those consoles for DrainX would be in your long-term benefit...

birzark

Lots of good advoce posted so far but i want to adress your skills. You wanted to go for survivabilty but skipped hull plating which helps more than the minor hull regen. Also you have no points into the energy bonuses which is a waste since having more power accross the board will help all of your abilites.

gerwalk0769

Just a comment. After looking over your build I wanted to mention that there are interesting synergies between the Quantum Phase Shield and the Deteriorating and Solanae Secondary Deflectors. But I get why you are using your current Secondary Deflector. I use it for a Control/Heal Mirror Invasion Advanced build.

dareau

Forgot to mention earlier:

A Drain Specialist loves Kahn's little line:

"I have deprived you of power. Now I plan to deprive you of your life."

And the drain boat does it in an... interesting... way. Because it's not through DPS, it's through "other things"...

Remember how "power levels" work. A lot of "bonus effects" come from high power, so power deprivation does... interesting things. Remember above how I mentioned that power deprivation reduces enemy weapon shots from "ouch" to "tickle"? That's because I've seen Elite Tac Cubes post "Elite Tactical Cube does 0 [0] damage to you with Plasma Array" log entries multiple times when there's enough drain going and reducing the ETC's weapons to zero. Myself, I "dabble" in drain to help... enhance... the effects of my Partigens...

By the way, get shield power down enough, and the damage resist goes negative, meaning each one of your shots does more than list damage, their shields might have less capacity, and definitely doesn't regenerate as fast. No engines means a slow target (and therefore no dodge bonus). No Aux, no heals. I'm sure you're starting to get the picture.

So, while you're not going to post massive DPS numbers, and the targets may take a little longer to kill, a well executed drain strategy can be just as deadly, if not more so, than a hyper DPS machine. Because while the DeePSters don't realize it, the drainer makes it significantly easier for the DPSer to do their job, and against big targets, a lot safer (I have set that gateway's phasers to tickle. Enjoy oh glassy of glass cannons. Just watch out for those torpedoes...)

autumnturning

Ever heard of the Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser? Even if the exact build isn't your cuppa tea, there have been some ... interesting ... discoveries made by myself and others in the thread, which you could then take and do interesting things with yourself.