Anyone have a good CURRENT Science build guide? (Exotic or Torpedo or both)

djf021

With these new Science vessels coming, I'm tempted by the Romulan version, but I'll admit the two tac consoles give me pause. Up until now I've always used science ships with at least three tac consoles, and always use tac locator consoles in them. And the more tac Boff slots the better. I end up with Science/tac hybrid ships that are fun to fly, but I realize I'm not getting as much Science nor Tac out of them as I could, trying to balance the two.
I choose to think this is a shortcoming in my own thinking, and I want to learn. Anyone have any good guides for either exotic damage builds or even torpedo builds (either way, not focused so much on energy weapon output)? Also, for your suggested build, what vessel do you recommend?
I'm planning on buying myself a ship this Christmas, so recommend away! I'm considering the new Laeosa, but here is what I have access to right now:

Fed:
T5-U Vesta (Science or Tac version)
T5-U Nebula
Fleet T5-U Nebula
T5-U Dyson Science Destroyer (Anniversary Version)
Fleet Dauntless
Eternal class
Nautilus class (Currently using)

KDF:
T5-U Korath Temporal
T5-U Fleet Varanus
T5-U Dyson Science (Tac version)
Paradox Temporal Dread (Currently using)
Eternal Class

Rom:
T5-U Dyson Science (Tac version)
Daemosh Science Vessel
Eternal Class (Currently using)

Thanks for your time, your help, and if you celebrate it, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Edit: Sorry, I forgot there was a build and powers sub-forum. If a moderator feels it would be more appropriate to move this, feel free.

peterconnorfirst

Why not go with an energy + exotic sci ship?

With the Temporal spec tree giving such a great fusion between exotic abilities and beam/cannon haste I found them to work better than ever.

Leech with some spec into Drain X and supremacy see to it that you don’t have to decide to set aux or weapons to 125 as you can easily have them both there.

Considering how powerful feedback pulses are running the strategist secondary specialization with +threat comes to mind. That way limited tac boffs stations aren’t really an issue.

I also used to look at the number of tac consoles on a sci ship but with the growing number of multitalented universals there is less and less need for that. The damage boost of the locaters isn’t that huge anyway.

For a guide I found @e30ernest thread in the builds section nice.

The STO League also released some decent build examples for energy as well as torpedo sci boats.

angrybobh

The build, powers, and game mechanics sub section of the forums has an interesting thread on sci drain ships. It also contains some general advice.

I am no expert on ship building but I do have a sci ship that can output more than 40K DPS (not fantastic but gets the job done). Sci ships are about doing one thing well. Like drain, control, or exotic damage. My sci ship attempts the exotic/torp hybrid by stacking EPG consoles and set bonuses. I have 4 torps and 2 beams (all parts of sets). I only use 1 actual tac console, the Counter-Command Multi-Conduit Energy Relay, because it boosts radiation damage. I focus my doffs on sci power CD reduction and torp reload. I only use tac team and torp spread 2 for tac abilities. This can be done on any sci ship. The t6 ships with the extra boff power and a specialist seat have an advantage over t5-u/t5-fu especially for sci ships that feel like you never have enough space.

Science is quite fun but can be a little frustrating to get used to. I had to change a lot about how I flew and when I selected powers to make it work. My build might even be worth a lot more DPS with better piloting.

dumas13

I find the torpedo synergy trait from the Terran Rep to be very helpful on science ships. It decreases sci power cooldowns whenever you activate a torpedo power, which is great since I rely on Gravity Well and Destabilizing Resonance Beam for damage and they have pretty long cooldowns.

The Temporal Rep space set may be worth looking into, especially for a Romulan since the singularity core (but NOT the regular warp core) brings a pretty hefty EPG boost.

tiberious

Op,

While I am a fairly new PS4 player, to me, what is important about a ship is will I have fun flying AND ENJOY looking at it in combat. I bought the Pathfinder last month and it only has two tac consoles. I have replace one tac console already with a Universal console that provides torpedo, phaser and radiation damage. Can't say if it will remain there for the long run but I have no problem with this ship in normal queues. I use both both energy drain (Tyken's Rift) and gravity well with the ship and tac side focuses on torpedoes. I use the Solanae set until I can complete reputations. Call it a budget build but I love the ship.

So much so, the new Laeosa, will be my target ship for my Romulan captain when it ever comes to the PS4.

Here are some suggested build ideas I found on Reddit for the Pathfinder. Don't see why you can't apply the same ideas to the Laeosa.

From Reddit:
Torpedo/Sci build for Pathfinder
https://m.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/45y1s1/uss_curiosity_scitorp_fleet_pathfinder_updated/

Another suggested build for Pathfinder.
https://m.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/53jisp/uss_bellerophon/

tunebreaker

First of all, you are welcome to join The Science Channel in-game (check link in my signature for more information). We would be very happy to help you with any science-related questions.

Then, about builds - I can safely suggest you my own Vesta build. It concentrates heavily on damage, both from exotic abilities and torpedoes and has served me well in every queue in game.

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/bf35ffc234f3e01b050b20b1378af8b4
Note: the empty Tactical Console contains Delphic Tear Generator, it's just not in STO Academy's database yet.

e30ernest

How much resources are you willing to sink in? Some build options for the Eternal:

Budget Build

High-End

High-End Beam Build (not mine)

djf021

e30ernest wrote: »

How much resources are you willing to sink in? Some build options for the Eternal:

Budget Build

High-End

High-End Beam Build (not mine)

Loving the looks of the High-End one, and all those parts are doable for me. Question: Since the Eternal (and the Laeosa, should I purchase that one) can use Dual-Heavies, would you recommend putting the Chronometric Dual heavies instead of the beam array up front? Or alternately, would I hurt myself to move the chrono beam array to the back and move the Neutronic torp to the front?

dumas13

In my experience, science vessels aren't quite nimble enough to use DHC well. Then again, I last tried that with the Romulan DSD back when it was new and several consoles have become available since then that may make it more viable.

As for the torpedo, it's up to you how comfortable you are not having a beam weapon forward. I do know that I have a tendency to overlook torpedoes equipped in rear slots since it can take a bit of maneuvering to get enemies in the firing arc, but having all torpedoes forward feels like it'd be inconvenient in some ways. Either way, you can always try it out in a patrol mission and swap back if it doesn't work out.

lordprotius

Ill toss this link right here... its a Playlist of all the science builds ive done for various science ships... hope it helps.

In the forum it just shows the first video but if you click on YouTube in the video itll open the entire playlist in a new page.

e30ernest

djf021 wrote: »

e30ernest wrote: »

How much resources are you willing to sink in? Some build options for the Eternal:

Budget Build

High-End

High-End Beam Build (not mine)

Loving the looks of the High-End one, and all those parts are doable for me. Question: Since the Eternal (and the Laeosa, should I purchase that one) can use Dual-Heavies, would you recommend putting the Chronometric Dual heavies instead of the beam array up front? Or alternately, would I hurt myself to move the chrono beam array to the back and move the Neutronic torp to the front?

You could move the Neutronic up to the front. I had mine on the rear out of preference (I switch targets between fore and aft, or continue firing my rear torp while moving to my next targets). In CCA, I move that Neutronic torp to the front.

As for beams vs cannons, energy weapons damage is a very small slice of the pie with this build. They account for about 2-5% total (all 3 beams combined) of my overall damage in an ISA run. I honestly chose the beam array because I liked how it looked on the Eternal compared to what a cannon would look like.

lordsteve1

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/d1f0c2758c7f8975f420381e489d923e

This build is on a Daemosh but it would transfer easily onto any science vessel with a few changes:

-Swap TS 3 for TS2 if you don't have a Lt. Cmdr tac boff seat.
- No cloak would require a few changes to tactics, though not an issue for the new KDF & Rom sci ships.
- Different spec seating on various vessels might present some interesting alternative options.
- Exact boff layouts may change but the basics should be available on most sci ships (GW3, DRB2, SSV3 etc.)

Essentially I've used this build on the Daemosh, Pathfinder, Scryer, Krenim Sci Vessel, Wells, even the Tadaari (not technically a sci ship) with only a few changes depending on the boff/console layouts.
The beauty of it is that apart from the science consoles, the RCS console and 1 tac console (Chronometric capacitor) the rest are all uni so it can fit onto a wide number of ships with little issue.

The general idea is to use a grav well to hold things down and then unleash hell on them with as much EPG boosted stuff as possible.
I have tachyon beam on there to assist the team and because drain infection also does a decent whack of damage and can't generally be resisted.
It's pretty far up the skill tree for sci only though as it has the sci ultimate, because it works really well with torps. That's something you may want to change though as it sacrifices a lot of other aspects.