Aenar BOFFs -- Walking 'Glass Cannons'?

marcusdkane

What're your experiences with them? I have two... One is an engineer I bought when I started playing, and who was continuously getting rendered unconscious in ground battles, so I stopped loading him on the away team roster. When my Klingon tactical BOFF gets knocked out, it makes sense: He runs in with a bat'leth, f*cks TRIBBLE up, and sometimes takes a whooping in the process, totally understandable... The Aenar, on the other hand, one minute he'd be engaging an enemy, the next, bang, out cold... His biography notes:
Physical Performance: Unsatisfactory
Current Away Team Status: Not cleared to leave the ship

Yesterday, having a little spare Zen, and wanting to try a new double-tactical BOFF layout on the Archon, I decided to try another, this time picking up a female tactical officer... Her performance, is significanly better... She didn't get 'stuck behind doors' in Facility 4028, and really gets stuck in to a battle, so in that regard, all good... But... Her shields drop way quicker than the remainder of the away team in the same firefight (all of whom, have the Jem-Hadar personal shield and Mk XI Polyweave armor)

It seems to me, that the Aenar are pretty delicate... Is this anyone else's experience too?

officerbatman81

I dont have any particular problems that i can think of with my Aenar.
Although i can sympathize because your story reminds me of a Orion female my kdf has/had, she was very rare well equipped with nice gear that spent most of her time on her back and not in a good way. She had to be relieved of duty as well. Have no idea why she s ucked that bad.

asuran14

I would check what boff abilities are slotted on your tactical officers in away missions. I have found that some times my own tactical officers will get their abilities reset at times, with having things like two copies of draw fire slotted on them which causes them to drop extremely quickly.

redeyedraven

marcusdkane wrote: »

(all of whom, have the Jem-Hadar personal shield and Mk XI Polyweave armor)

Not sure how far you've played through the story-arcs, but I think I can give you some advice here.

If you use the JH-PSG on BOff's, you should give them the other set-pieces too. My away-team-regular Sci-BOff wears the set and it works pretty well - if you upgrade it to higher level and quality. If you don't invest resources you can get better sets for free from other, later episodes.

For example, there's a very awsome set from the episode 'The Temporal Front'. The shield alone can work wonders on your BOff's (and on yourself if you don't have shiny reputation-sets yet).

marcusdkane

officerbatman81 wrote: »

I dont have any particular problems that i can think of with my Aenar.
Although i can sympathize because your story reminds me of a Orion female my kdf has/had, she was very rare well equipped with nice gear that spent most of her time on her back and not in a good way. She had to be relieved of duty as well. Have no idea why she s ucked that bad.

asuran14 wrote: »

I would check what boff abilities are slotted on your tactical officers in away missions. I have found that some times my own tactical officers will get their abilities reset at times, with having things like two copies of draw fire slotted on them which causes them to drop extremely quickly.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad to know it's not just me...

Yup, I just checked, and draw fire as her default ensign ground ability... That makes sense as to why her shields're going down faster, she's taking more hits...

The engineer, on the other hand, has ground traits of shield recharge, reroute power to shields, medical generator and shield generator fabrication... Not sure why he sucks as much as he does... Oh well, on-going restricted duties for him...

tousseau

My main issue with my Aenar Boffs, is the tendency of their telepathic double to go running off and looking for trouble further on down the path... It has been known to glitch missions for me.

captainwells

I can relate to this one too!

I had been getting my butt kicked doing the Kobali missions with the Jem'Hadar Tactical officer and an Aenar male tactical who also drops instantly about five seconds into every ground fight; so much so that I suspended that game and went to another character for a while.

I'm going to have to return to that admiral and swap in a Caitian tactical officer to back up the Jem'Hadar who is often a beast for me.

marcusdkane

redeyedraven wrote: »

marcusdkane wrote: »

(all of whom, have the Jem-Hadar personal shield and Mk XI Polyweave armor)

Not sure how far you've played through the story-arcs, but I think I can give you some advice here.

If you use the JH-PSG on BOff's, you should give them the other set-pieces too. My away-team-regular Sci-BOff wears the set and it works pretty well - if you upgrade it to higher level and quality. If you don't invest resources you can get better sets for free from other, later episodes.

For example, there's a very awsome set from the episode 'The Temporal Front'. The shield alone can work wonders on your BOff's (and on yourself if you don't have shiny reputation-sets yet).

Thanks for suggestion, I think it's time for my Jem'Hadar to donate his stuffs, and we'll see how she handles herself thus equipped...

[Edit]
She still got knocked out, but it took much longer, so that definitely worked

tousseau wrote: »

My main issue with my Aenar Boffs, is the tendency of their telepathic double to go running off and looking for trouble further on down the path... It has been known to glitch missions for me.

Yeah, she does that too...

asuran14

marcusdkane wrote: »

officerbatman81 wrote: »

I dont have any particular problems that i can think of with my Aenar.
Although i can sympathize because your story reminds me of a Orion female my kdf has/had, she was very rare well equipped with nice gear that spent most of her time on her back and not in a good way. She had to be relieved of duty as well. Have no idea why she s ucked that bad.

asuran14 wrote: »

I would check what boff abilities are slotted on your tactical officers in away missions. I have found that some times my own tactical officers will get their abilities reset at times, with having things like two copies of draw fire slotted on them which causes them to drop extremely quickly.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad to know it's not just me...

Yup, I just checked, and draw fire as her default ensign ground ability... That makes sense as to why her shields're going down faster, she's taking more hits...

The engineer, on the other hand, has ground traits of shield recharge, reroute power to shields, medical generator and shield generator fabrication... Not sure why he sucks as much as he does... Oh well, on-going restricted duties for him...

Well keep in mind that the generators are stationary, so using them without issuing commands for the officer/s to keep inside their area of effect makes them kinda lackluster. I personally while using turret/gen build-sets on my engineer character/officers have the away team hold position within the field, as if I don't they run rampant (even the engineer that laid the gen). I would than look at also what kind of race traits he/she might have, as some give a boost to threat generation as well, which if you are working on minimizing the threat of other characters could be causing them to garner more attention.

bernatk

I have yet to play the new FE (I'm super busy with the CE event, I just love events!) but at lvl60 only 4 sci boffs config works. The dude with cat-girl profile pic pointed this out and he's right.
Load up buff/debuff/heal and you're done. Enjoy the shooting gallery.

markhawkman

another thing to consider: Do you boffs have hypos and stuff? that makes them a lot better.

risian4

The clone ability is pretty annoying indeed. I can't stress it often enough. It screws up tactics and is outright detrimental in battlezones.

I've said it before, due to this cloning thing that cannot be turned off, I still consider it my worst C-store purchase ever.

markhawkman

In some scenarios I find clone powers fun. Like giving your intel boffs that holographic decoy power. The decoys wander off to find enemies to aggro whenever you kill everything in firing range. It saves me the trouble of hunting the enemies down myself. It's only really fun when I can reliably kill the enemies though. I think only 3 of my characters have an Aenar boff.

marcusdkane

captainwells wrote: »

I can relate to this one too!

I had been getting my butt kicked doing the Kobali missions with the Jem'Hadar Tactical officer and an Aenar male tactical who also drops instantly about five seconds into every ground fight; so much so that I suspended that game and went to another character for a while.

I'm going to have to return to that admiral and swap in a Caitian tactical officer to back up the Jem'Hadar who is often a beast for me.

My Jem'Hadar is good, but I'd have to say that my Klingon (common) is better... I can't rule out sentimentality, as I have had him since Day One... The first time he was slotted, and I went to the bridge, he wasn't there... The next time, he was... My headcanon has always been that, being a cadet on assignment, he simply messed up and reported late... But, upon beaming down for his first ground battle, he shot off into the distance, bat'leth swinging... Confidence restored... As Jean-Luc Picard once observed; "Never underestimate a Klingon..." Other excellent Way-team members, are a Human tac (common) battle strategies, lunge, stealth module and ambush (she's actually pretty much the backbone of the team) and an AlienGen Orion sci (common) with Hypospray Dylovene I, Vascular regenerator, Hypospray Melorazine and Nanite health monitor... She carries a dirsuptor pulsewave assault Mk X, and she is lethal... The other regular team member (who the Aenar's subbing for) is a Bajoran (common) with sweeping strikes, lunge, stealth module and motion accelerator... Overall, the four of them make a pretty effective kill squad

marcusdkane

asuran14 wrote: »

marcusdkane wrote: »

officerbatman81 wrote: »

I dont have any particular problems that i can think of with my Aenar.
Although i can sympathize because your story reminds me of a Orion female my kdf has/had, she was very rare well equipped with nice gear that spent most of her time on her back and not in a good way. She had to be relieved of duty as well. Have no idea why she s ucked that bad.

asuran14 wrote: »

I would check what boff abilities are slotted on your tactical officers in away missions. I have found that some times my own tactical officers will get their abilities reset at times, with having things like two copies of draw fire slotted on them which causes them to drop extremely quickly.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad to know it's not just me...

Yup, I just checked, and draw fire as her default ensign ground ability... That makes sense as to why her shields're going down faster, she's taking more hits...

The engineer, on the other hand, has ground traits of shield recharge, reroute power to shields, medical generator and shield generator fabrication... Not sure why he sucks as much as he does... Oh well, on-going restricted duties for him...

Well keep in mind that the generators are stationary, so using them without issuing commands for the officer/s to keep inside their area of effect makes them kinda lackluster. I personally while using turret/gen build-sets on my engineer character/officers have the away team hold position within the field, as if I don't they run rampant (even the engineer that laid the gen). I would than look at also what kind of race traits he/she might have, as some give a boost to threat generation as well, which if you are working on minimizing the threat of other characters could be causing them to garner more attention.

That's true about the generators, I never thought to have them hold position, as other BOFFs I'd used, would set up generators as they kept progressing, but this Aenar, he was just a liability

marcusdkane

bernatk wrote: »

I have yet to play the new FE (I'm super busy with the CE event, I just love events!) but at lvl60 only 4 sci boffs config works. The dude with cat-girl profile pic pointed this out and he's right.
Load up buff/debuff/heal and you're done. Enjoy the shooting gallery.

That's an interesting notion about four sci BOFFs being required, I'll definitely bear that in mind for when I hit level 50 (56 at the moment)

marcusdkane

markhawkman wrote: »

another thing to consider: Do you boffs have hypos and stuff? that makes them a lot better.

She goes through so many, I think she has a substance-abuse problem... I need to get her a couple of Tribbles, like the rest of the away team and see what difference that makes

markhawkman

Well, I actually had my Aenar act as medics for the most part. So that probably made a big difference.

redeyedraven

marcusdkane wrote: »

markhawkman wrote: »

another thing to consider: Do you boffs have hypos and stuff? that makes them a lot better.

She goes through so many, I think she has a substance-abuse problem... I need to get her a couple of Tribbles, like the rest of the away team and see what difference that makes

Equipment and slotted abilities matter.

Traits can matter. Take the BOff's with the best ground-traits for your away-team.

To make the most of an away-team you also need a good composition. Doesn't make sense to have 4 tac or 4 eng for example. Personally, I go with two tactical and two science-BOff's.

Tribbles are only good if they boost stats that are already high.

nebfab

redeyedraven wrote: »

The shield alone can work wonders on your BOff's (and on yourself if you don't have shiny reputation-sets yet).

It's arguably better than rep ground shields. The only downside is that it can be a bit confusing; "Distortion! Kill it NOW! Oh, wait, it's my own..."

redeyedraven

nebfab wrote: »

redeyedraven wrote: »

The shield alone can work wonders on your BOff's (and on yourself if you don't have shiny reputation-sets yet).

It's arguably better than rep ground shields. The only downside is that it can be a bit confusing; "Distortion! Kill it NOW! Oh, wait, it's my own..."

The PSG on its own is better, yes. However if you want certain 3-piece-set-bonuses from reputation-gear you still gotta min-max.

nebfab

redeyedraven wrote: »

nebfab wrote: »

redeyedraven wrote: »

The shield alone can work wonders on your BOff's (and on yourself if you don't have shiny reputation-sets yet).

It's arguably better than rep ground shields. The only downside is that it can be a bit confusing; "Distortion! Kill it NOW! Oh, wait, it's my own..."

The PSG on its own is better, yes. However if you want certain 3-piece-set-bonuses from reputation-gear you still gotta min-max.

Point taken.

markhawkman

redeyedraven wrote: »

marcusdkane wrote: »

markhawkman wrote: »

another thing to consider: Do you boffs have hypos and stuff? that makes them a lot better.

She goes through so many, I think she has a substance-abuse problem... I need to get her a couple of Tribbles, like the rest of the away team and see what difference that makes

Equipment and slotted abilities matter.

Traits can matter. Take the BOff's with the best ground-traits for your away-team.

To make the most of an away-team you also need a good composition. Doesn't make sense to have 4 tac or 4 eng for example. Personally, I go with two tactical and two science-BOff's.

Nah, it's more important to mix defense and offense. 4 eng works okay, eng has shields and med gens for defense, and fabrications for offense. I'd only try 4 tac if they all had rally cry, maybe overwatch too, not many defensive tac skills. Sci is also feasible to run 4 of since you can mix heals with exotic damage powers.

marcusdkane

markhawkman wrote: »

Well, I actually had my Aenar act as medics for the most part. So that probably made a big difference.

Ahh, were they science BOFFs? All of Cara's kill squad actually do a good job at reviving each other (and her) undirected, they're pretty solid

legendarylycan

i can't think of any 3 piece from any ground set that is actually worth going for, mainly because they're all clickies with stupidly long cooldowns​​

warpangel

There is no significant performance difference between boff species.

If you care about boff performance on ground, load up 4 science boffs with only healing abilities slotted. Healing is the only thing they are actually good at. And 4 dudes cross-healing makes your away team more or less unkillable.

marcusdkane

redeyedraven wrote: »

marcusdkane wrote: »

markhawkman wrote: »

another thing to consider: Do you boffs have hypos and stuff? that makes them a lot better.

She goes through so many, I think she has a substance-abuse problem... I need to get her a couple of Tribbles, like the rest of the away team and see what difference that makes

Equipment and slotted abilities matter.

Traits can matter. Take the BOff's with the best ground-traits for your away-team.

To make the most of an away-team you also need a good composition. Doesn't make sense to have 4 tac or 4 eng for example. Personally, I go with two tactical and two science-BOff's.

Tribbles are only good if they boost stats that are already high.

I wouldn't like to say if she's quite 'made the cut' yet, although with Tribbles (each member has two) she made it through the same level without losing consciousness!

I did feel a bit bad during the 4028 shield-grind, where she got double-teamed by some inmates, and I thought that them beating up a blind chick was a pretty uncool thing to do... Maybe not Alpha Team Material, but certainly a strong Reserve

markhawkman

marcusdkane wrote: »

markhawkman wrote: »

Well, I actually had my Aenar act as medics for the most part. So that probably made a big difference.

Ahh, were they science BOFFs? All of Cara's kill squad actually do a good job at reviving each other (and her) undirected, they're pretty solid

GOOD teamwork means not needing to revive each other, at least not often. Last time I went to Shan-du, my boffs did most of the work. No rezzes either.

marcusdkane

markhawkman wrote: »

marcusdkane wrote: »

markhawkman wrote: »

Well, I actually had my Aenar act as medics for the most part. So that probably made a big difference.

Ahh, were they science BOFFs? All of Cara's kill squad actually do a good job at reviving each other (and her) undirected, they're pretty solid

GOOD teamwork means not needing to revive each other, at least not often. Last time I went to Shan-du, my boffs did most of the work. No rezzes either.

Absolutely so 99.9% of the time (ie with her regular kill squad, not the Aenar ) Cara can be entirely uninvolved in the battles, and they do the business without hassle, rarely getting knocked out (that takes Changelings and mobs) I think she may have to pay Nimbus a visit and check in on things there

marcusdkane

warpangel wrote: »

There is no significant performance difference between boff species.

If you care about boff performance on ground, load up 4 science boffs with only healing abilities slotted. Healing is the only thing they are actually good at. And 4 dudes cross-healing makes your away team more or less unkillable.

I'll definitely give that set up a try, and see how it runs, thanks for the suggestion

I think the problem with the Aenar, was that she was drawing fire... Upping her equipment has definitely helped

markhawkman

Yeah, boffs with decoy powers tend to draw killer aggro. I think it's why the mobs that kill photonic decoys come after me. They're actually trying to hunt down the Boff that created the decoy. I actually have noticed that with Aenar too, but... it's usually not a problem, if they can self-heal or something.