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Ship decision help needed

I'm on the PS4 version of STO, and am rapidly approaching level 50 with an engineer, I've recently learned that tanking isn't really a thing, but it's too late for me to turn back now. My question now is, I have decided between either picking up the T6 Andromeda, or getting both of the T5 Dreadnaught, and the T5 Retrofit in order two combine the consoles. If I were to pick the two T5's and then use the T6 upgrade on the Dreadnaught, now with saucer separation, would it be equal to the Andromeda, or is the Andromeda still clearly better? Thanks in advance!

Comments

  • iconiansiconians Member Posts: 6,987 Arc User
    The Yamato dreadnought is a pretty solid ship with or without consoles.

    If you're looking for an alternative, I'd recommend the Arbiter battlecruiser. It brings a lot of firepower to bear, and an Engineer can make it quite tanky without sacrificing said firepower.​​
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  • kodachikunokodachikuno Member Posts: 6,020 Arc User1
    while tanking isnt a common thing there are people that can make some insanely effective, and immortal, tank builds for starships
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    tacofangs wrote: »
    STO isn't canon, and neither are any of the books.
  • zerokillcf2011zerokillcf2011 Member Posts: 545 Arc User
    I have all of them. To answer your question, it depends. T6 Andromeda has the extra tact bridge officer (1 Lt Com + 1 Universal); whereas the T5 Dreadnought (or T5-U) will have less (1 Lt + 1 Universal). Both have the same number of tactical consoles, so no difference there. The Dreadnought DOES give you the Lance however which takes practice, but every 3 min will be icing on the cake. Dreadnought has a hanger. HUGE bonus. Also the 2 piece set bonus is nice buff to turn rate. The 4 piece is best. (T4 Exploration cruiser gives Antimatter Spread Console, T5 Exploration Cruiser Retrofit gives Saucer Sep, T6 Dreadnought has Molecular Cohesion Nullifier console, and T6 Andromeda has something else.

    But I digress. Short answer for your proposition: T6 Andromeda or both T5 Dreadnought and T5 Expl Cruiser = two ships better than one. More admiralty Cards. Two piece console bonus. Dreadnought gets hanger and lance. Dreadnought can mount cloaking device (so actually five piece set on that ship. 2 piece plus a 3 piece)

    Andromeda give you one more tactical ability, and a T6 ship trait. But without the consoles would turn slower, have no lance, have no hanger, can never cloak.

    I have 11 characters, 8 of which are Fed, 2 Tact, 2 Sci, 4 Eng....they ALL fly T6 Dreadnoughts. Because the Yamato with all the consoles is a deathdealer.
  • bjamesbryant#2782 bjamesbryant Member Posts: 8 Arc User
    @zerokillcf2011, thanks you for your in depth response, i think I am going to go with the Dreadnaught build. One more question though, please, what is a T6 ship trait, and does the T6 upgrade device not give any other benefits besides increased health?

    Thank for your responses too, @kodachikuno and @iconians
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    If you like a little space magic with your pew pew, try the Scryer.

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    My character Tsin'xing
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  • zerokillcf2011zerokillcf2011 Member Posts: 545 Arc User
    The ship upgrade token will take a T5 ship to T5-U (upgraded). So as you gain ship experience (read: as you blow stuff up), the ship will gain additional bonus levels of ship "Mastery" at each tier (you can check the chart on the wiki : http://sto.gamepedia.com/Dreadnought_Cruiser)

    A T6 will get a ship trait (under you characters skills: should have ground traits, space trace, SHIP traits.....then space reputation, ground reputation, and active reputation) If you check the wiki, you can read all about the different ships traits. Some are great, some not. Some you can ONLY get from a T6 ship, some you get from missions, some from lockboxes, some from reputation grinds......etc.

    Other suggestion: Play beams, NOT cannons. Turn rate on the dread is just not worth it without spending crazy EC to buy RCS modules, etc. Plus, even the T5 or T5U dreadnought will give you enough tact bridge officer slots. Ensign = Tactical Team, Ensign = Torpedo Spread 1 or Beam overload 1, Lt = Beam Fire at Will II. I run front: 1 Torp of choice, 1 Dual Beam Bank, 2 Beam Arrays. Aft I run: 1 Torp of choice, 3 (or 4 if I'm not running the aft torp) beam arrays. Obviously, phasers are the best choice to maximizing damage with the lance, bc Phaser Relays will boost your weapons AND the lance. And running the mission "Sunrise" three times give you a nice weapon bundle (Phaser beam array, Quantum torp, and a UNIVERSAL console that gives a modest phaser damage boost, so you can have that console in an Engineering slot or whatever, and still have 3 Phaser relays)

    Alternately, don't let the lance determine phaser build specifically. You can also get a good set of Tetryon weapons and a bonus to tetryon damage from the Nukara Reputation Space set, and and Krenim Tetryon weapons 3 piece set from running the "Butterfly" Mission 4 times. Buy a Tholian Stick Web console on the exchange, and you have some decent tetryon options too.

    Also, do a search for the Dragon Build or the Aux2Batt builds. Unique but helpful method to boost damage by reducing bridge officer cool downs.

  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,865 Arc User
    The Scryer is a nifty ship, I have mine fitted out with the Nukara rep space set and tetryon weapons, along with the tetryon omni beam from the episode ... uh, I forget. (If it's Butterfly then "that's the joke.")

    The Arbiter is a great ship but apparently not on consoles yet.
  • nccmarknccmark Member Posts: 1,084 Arc User
    Yeah to be clear....there is no "T6 upgrade"

    Upgrade takes an eligible T5 ship to T5U.

    T6 has mastery ship trait. And possibly extra specialization like Intelligence, etc.
    T5U ship does not have any of that.

    Both have ship mastery levels 1-4, more hulls and shields vs T5 versions, and an extra console slot.
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  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,865 Arc User
    Arbiter: On PC you can use the T5 ship saucer and nacelles even if you don't own that ship. The results look nice.
  • orion0029orion0029 Member Posts: 1,122 Bug Hunter
    iconians wrote: »
    The Yamato dreadnought is a pretty solid ship with or without consoles.

    If you're looking for an alternative, I'd recommend the Arbiter battlecruiser. It brings a lot of firepower to bear, and an Engineer can make it quite tanky without sacrificing said firepower.​​

    Give this guy a cookie!

    The Yamato is a beast! I run one on both an Engineer and a Tac, and I find it quite durable and it kicks more backsides than a drunken Klingon!

    (I don't have an Arbiter, couldn't stand the looks of the Avenger and absolutely dispise the appearance of the Arbiter so I stick with my Yamato.)

    ;)
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  • chozoelder2ndchozoelder2nd Member Posts: 440 Arc User
    I'm on the PS4 version of STO, and am rapidly approaching level 50 with an engineer, I've recently learned that tanking isn't really a thing, but it's too late for me to turn back now.
    Tanking is a thing. The embassy threat amplifiers, using strategist specialization while using threatening stance, choosing the more/less threat when you pick one of those bonus options in the skill tree, traits like biotech patch and nanite repair matrix, feedback pulse, improved feedback pulse starship trait from the Krenim sci vessel, there's a lot of stuff there to making a tank build viable. I realize that the console version doesn't have everything yet, but it'll catch up eventually.

    My question now is, I have decided between either picking up the T6 Andromeda, or getting both of the T5 Dreadnaught, and the T5 Retrofit in order two combine the consoles.
    I'm not entirely sure if sure if you'll be happy with buying both T5 ships if you're just going for the consoles. It's a nice set, but no one really needs them. They are not essential. Iconians is right, the Yamato is solid with or without the consoles.

    If I were to pick the two T5's and then use the T6 upgrade on the Dreadnaught, now with saucer separation, would it be equal to the Andromeda, or is the Andromeda still clearly better? Thanks in advance!
    There is no 'T6 upgrade'. T5 ships can only be upgraded twice. You can get a fleet ship module to turn it into a fleet version with an extra console slot and slightly higher hull and shields. You can also get a starship upgrade token to turn it into a T5-U version that gives another extra console slot, higher hull, and a starship mastery package. These packages come in different forms like 'Dreadnought', 'Escort', 'Destroyer', basically ship classes. Each of them are different. For example, a cruiser gets...
    1. Absorptive Hull Plating: +25 Physical Damage Resistance Rating, +25 Kinetic Damage Resistance Rating
    2. Rapid Repairs: Regnerates 1.25% of your maximum hull every 3 seconds in Space. Twice the amount is regenerated out of combat.
    3. Enhanced Hull Plating: +25 All Energy Damage Resistance Rating, +25 Radiation Damage Resistance Rating
    4. Armored Hull: +10% Hull Hitpoints

    T6 ships come with these packages by default.

    The difference between a T5-U ship and a T6 ship is that T6 has an upgraded bridge officer seating along with a hybrid specialization seating for more options to play around with. It also comes with a starship trait. These are special unlocks that you get once you level the ship up. A lot of them are quite useful. Some of them are passive, like improving a boff skill. Some of them require special circumstances to happen, like activating a certain skill or after you receive critical hits. T5-U does not come with these things. The boff seating remains the same as the previous standard T5 version and you get no trait.
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