I've heard a lot of people saying it's best to skip buying a t5 ship and just go straight to t6, given how long it takes to try and invest in upgrading t5s to t6.
Any opinions on this? Console has a limited selection of t6 ships currently and there are some t5 designs I like, but I'd rather not lock myself into a grind that can be otherwise avoided
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Most T5 ships are still very good & viable but generally T6 has the edge with +1 boff slot, specialisation seats and ship traits. Dunno what's in the console store and what isn't but if you have your eye on a ship that's both as T5 and T6 then go for T6.
T5 ship purchases are a thing of the past.
Delta Rising made my Fleet of T5 Zen ships obsolete - or at least put them into second rank.
KDF: 2 tacs, 2 engs, 3 scis
KDF Roms: 3 tacs, 1 eng, 1 scis
FED: 2 tacs, 1 eng, 2 scis
TOS: 1 tac
all on T5 rep (up to temporal)
all have mastered Intel tree (and some more specs Points)
highest DPS: 60.982
Don't you need the non-fleet ship to grind out the trait? Like if you want to fly the Fleet Arbiter, isn't it:
Get the Arbiter from the C-Store. Grind it up. Get the trait. Get the fleet module. Get the fleet Arbiter.
Or am I totally crazy here? I could be. It's Monday. I didn't have coffee this morning.
Store ships are account wide unlocked, fleet ships are one time character purchases. Fleet ships got neither traits nor consoles and if you don't have the store counterpart you also don't get the fleet module discount so they cost 5 fleet modules instead of 1.
Console fleets have lots of work ahead of them before they can have T6 fleet ships.
And fleet ships pretty much lack the one reason to get a T6 ship at all...traits.
Let me put it this way. It's what you equip your ship with that makes the difference. The ship is a tiny part of the equation.
If nothing in the T5u range catches your fancy, then yeah...skip and go T6 right away.
#1 - T6 ships have hybrid Boff stations like Tactical / Intelligence which depends on the ship. If that is a Commander Boff station, then that allows you to use a Boff with 4 tactical abilities or 4 intelligence abilities or a mix of the two.
#2 - Starship Mastery Trait - Both will have tier levels that you advance through while engaging in combat. T5u ships have 4 tiers, T6 ships have 5 tiers. The 5th tier is a Starship Mastery Trait that you can slot in on your character and use that trait with any ship.
The current selection of T6 ships on the console is mighty slim from what I recall... and that is for the Fed faction. I would say that if you can wait for more T6 ship to be released, then wait. If you have a burning desire to spend money... then give it to me
The game is still playable with the free T5 ship you selected at level 40 ( but it cannot be upgrade to T5u). On my secondary free 2 play only account my max level KDF Engineer captain is still flying the free T5 ship. Missions may be a bit tougher because of lower specs compared to a T5u / T6 ship, but still manageable.
One thing to be aware of in STO is that there are 3 events during the year that gives players the opportunity to grind for a free T6 starship that is designed specifically for that event. The STO Anniversary Event is the beginning of February. The Risa Summer Event is roughly mid-June. The Winter Wonderland Event is in early December. If you can hold out until December, then maybe you can get a decent ship to your liking for free.
Unless there is currently a 20% off ship sale currently going on (I think you a get a free Upgrade Token when you purchase a T5 ship), then my advice is to wait at least until there is a sale, or see that the free ship will be in December. It might be a cruiser since the 2016 Anniversary Event rewarded a science vessel and the 2016 Risa Summer Event rewarded a heavy escort. However, it is possible that another escort or science ship (or carrier?) could be released.
- You want that costume unlocked at Tier 6
- You can't get that costume at Tier 6 yet, and want it NOW, not in a few months or years.
- You want the console (perhaps for a set bonus).
It doesn't really matter if you can make these ships competitive with Tier 6 ships, or they can handle endgame content. TIer 6 ships definitely can do that as well, and they give you access to a starship trait, and they give you access to hybrid specialization seats. Why miss out on that?
So as others have said, the ONLY reason to buy T5 ships is if for some reason you want the unique visuals or consoles that come with those T5 ships. Meaning, that in many cases, those visuals and consoles can be used on superior T6 versions of that ship.
Basically, if you bought a T5 ship from the C-Store, you would pay 2500 zen ($25). Would then need to get the fleet version, which would cost 500 zen ($5) or several million EC on the exchange. Then you need to upgrade it to the T5FU (fleet upgrade) version, which will cost 700 zen ($7) or several million EC on the exchange. All that to get a ship roughly equivalent to a T6 C-Store ship. (Note: You can skip the first step and start at buying the fleet version, but you would need 4 fleet ship modules instead of 1. This version costs less, but has it's own problems.)
Alternatively, If you bought a T6 ship, you would pay 3000 zen ($30) and then another 500 zen ($5) or millions of EC, to get the fleet version.
So in the end, it just costs less to get T6 than equivalent in T5
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
Well... everyone gets a free T5 ship (which cannot be upgraded) at level 40 on the PS4, XB1, PC.
If there are posts here that do not appeal to you, or opinions you disagree with, the best way to deal with that is to resist the urge to add comments. Instead, engage with the content you like! Don't feed the trolls!
thought those fleet were "superior version"?, then i guess those fleet model ships just became obsolute? no sense of wasting the ship modules.
fleet version were just for extra hull/shield capacity.
You can easily do any and all of the endgame content, on normal difficulty(and even some adv STF) with a tier 4 ship as long as you give it blue/purple mk XII gear. There are people that make a point of doing advanced and elite in t1 vessels. Pick whatever ship you want to fly and run with it. The only reason you "need" a t6 is if you wish to join the min/max crowd for certain builds.
Agreed completely. My AoY Captain makes use of a T5u Kumari to good effect, as well as my regular Fed Tac Captain make near exculsive use of his T5u Fleet Patrol Escort.
Just have fun and fly what you like, T5/u ships are still quite capable in today's game play.
To revamp my previous statement, it's subjective. If you intend to have a collection of characters and are a hardcore player, then it probably benefits to buy T5 ships from the C-Store. Why? Because it's a one-time purchase for your account, and said ship can then be used on multiple characters. If you're concerned with unique traits and special consoles, you also get that for each character (faction specific of course), in addition to a ship costume or two.
@OP, If you're going to purchase anything at this point, then I'd wait for a sale and would recommend either the Vesta Bundle or the Odyssey Bundle (if playing FED).
You'll be glad to know you're not crazy, no more than the rest of us anyway. Still, this is all dependant on whether you want that ship trait or not. I personally find the ship traits and special consoles somewhat irrelevant, and the casual gamer isn't likely to care much about them; I know I don't.
Both true points, but the latter doesn't apply to everybody. I suppose it's going to be a long process for console players mind, assuming the fleet setup works out the same (not that there's any reason to suspect otherwise).
The only reason to still be using a T5U ship is if it has some mechanic not available on a T6 (I.E. the aux cannons on the Vesta line) or you just really like it and don't want to give it up. As others have stated, some skins or equipment are only available on T5 ships which may be incentive to get them.
Otherwise yes, you can safely ignore T5 ships altogether and go straight for T6.