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science ship for tac alt

I have always flown cruisers and escorts on tac and engineering alts. Never tried a science profession as they don't suit my play style. I like to tank w/ FAW and pets. A very experienced player suggested trying science ships as they tank well. Hmmm..I'm running a cruiser now and bought an at level science ship for dilithium. Using the same gear as the cruiser, I love the science ship. It seems the shields are much stronger and damage rarely gets to the hull. What is your experience running science ships with other professions?

Comments

  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,865 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    They work great. A science captain has the photonic decoys and damage reduction captain skills which are both nice, but the other captains have their own skills: a tac has an extra attack pattern to fill in for less tac seating, an eng has power boost, shield buff and Miracle Worker. All can do SCIENCE! well in space.
  • angrybobhangrybobh Member Posts: 420 Arc User
    I have a tac captain in a sci ship that has not updated anything or even a well thought out build. It's a cheapo slapped together thing from parts I have laying around. it's probably ~15K DPS which is fine for me. I'm actually thinking on refining it into a real build because it really is fun. By the way, my main is a science captain in a science boat so I may be biased towards the sci stuff.
  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    IMO, a TAC Captain in most cases is superior in the Exotic Damage Build of a Science Vessel than a SCI Captain. The reason is the TAC Captain has far, FAR more damage boosting capability than the SCI Captain. If you take a look at TAC Captain's abilities, they don't specify Energy Weapons, Projectile Weapons, Exotic Damage, Drain, etc. They're straight up damage bonuses.

    Long Version:
    What abilities to buff damage significantly?

    TAC Captain: Tactical Fleet, Attack Pattern Alpha, Fire On My Mark (resist debuffer), Tactical Initiative (cycle those TAC BOFF abilities faster), Go Down Fighting

    SCI Captain: Conservation of Energy Trait (*MUST* have aggro), Sensor Scan (AOE resist debuffer), and nothing else.

    Technically, a SCI Captain can have 100% up time of Exotic Damage Bonus with "Conservation of Energy" trait. *IF* they can guarantee getting aggro to get constantly shot at by the enemy. That's not as easy as it sounds**. If not, the CoE trait stacks disappear and the bonus to Exotic damage goes away. After that, a SCI Captain literally has nothing but the occasional Sensor Scan to help their damage output in ANYTHING.

    A TAC Captain does not suffer that. It has to rely on Tactical Captain and/or BOFF abilities to supplement the damage output of Exotic and other attacks. It doesn't have to rely on getting aggro like Conservation of Energy demands. The TAC Captain has to line up captain and/or BOFF abilities for spiking its damage output. In addition, those same TAC Captain abilities, I repeat, buff all damage output, to include those torpedoes that SCI Vessels frequently favor. SCI Captain? Other than Sensor Scan, it doesn't buff projectile damage. On top of that, the TAC Captain has much higher damage buffing over all things damage. It's no contest.

    ** There are some regular, general combat pew-pew builds that draw tremendous aggro even if your ship is running Strategist+Threatening Stance On and whatever aggro building tricks it can. Some of those standard combat, high damage builds DO want that aggro also, so it's funny that people WANT aggro now compared to years of people NOT wanting it. It's a fight for aggro right now due to getting a bunch of bonuses. The SCI Captain for an Exotic Build may struggle in that because it demands aggro. A TAC Captain does not deal with that s**t.

    To further add, there is also the Strategist style that doesn't turn Threatening Stance on for certain benefits. Then the SCI Captain is really screwed in that style, while a TAC Captain can adopt either seamlessly
    .

    Short TLDR Version
    What kind of SCI Vessel will the TAC Captain excel in? Any of them, to be honest. Whether you go with a super-TAC heavy one like the T6 Experimental Science Vessel, a Science/ENG oriented one like the T6 Scryer, or any of the numerous ones with a super-SCI heavy BOFF layout, the TAC Captain will fit right in. The trick is playing a style and rhythm to line your TAC Captain and/or BOFF abilities when you start firing off your series of Exotic attacks to spike.

    Unless you're trying to fly a Drain Boat, your TAC Captain has more reasons to fly any Science Vessel than a SCI Captain.

    If you have a TAC Captain and want to try something new than the TAC Cruiser or Escort you've been flying all the time, try a SCI Vessel. It's different, but a TAC Captain will not miss a beat in a SCI Vessel.
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  • fluorescentblackfluorescentblack Member Posts: 79 Arc User
    Running a Tac captain in an Atrox right now. I like it.
    Leader of The Temporal Guard and Temporal Defence Force
  • talonxvtalonxv Member Posts: 4,257 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    The best ship for a tac officer who wants to roll science, Vesta, especially with the dual aux cannons(really wish they'd open these up for all science ships). You run a pair or a trio of those up front with some turrets, and push your AUX to the max, it's really tickling to watch ships just melt under gravity well and other science abilities ONTOP of the aux cannons.
    afMSv4g.jpg
    Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!

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