Decline in Weapon Damage - Not sure it's me or a bug

caltair

Hi all. Currently I'm flying a T5 Galaxy Dreadnought, which I enjoy, but I noticed that my weapon output is remarkably low and I'm not sure why. I'll break down my issue in more detail in a moment but the short version is this:
My forward weapons show that they SHOULD be dealing around 800 damage per shot but when I watch the damage counter (yellow text flying off my target) I'm noticing that I'm not dealing anywhere near that amount of damage. I often see damage counters of 34, 72, or between 100-400 per shot. Sometimes during flanking I'll get around 700 damage per shot but that's rather rare. I have no idea if this is a bug or if I'm doing something completely wrong. Truth be told I have the same problem on Ground but only with specific weapons (Piercing Plasma Rifle). Some advice would be appreciated.

Details:
Ship - Galaxy Dreadnought T5
Forward Weapons: 3 Mk XII Very Rare Phaser Cannons + 1 Mk XII Very Rare Kelvin Photon Torpedo
Rear Weapons: 2 Mk XIII/XII Very Rare Pulse Phaser Beam Arrays + 1 Kinetic Cutting Beam Mk XII + 1 Kentari Missile Mk XII
Tactical Consoles: 3 Mk XII Very Rare Phaser Damage (non-Fleet)
Most of my other consoles are more defensive in nature but I can't remember all their names at the moment.

Power levels: Offensive power set up with high power efficiency. Weapon power output = 123/100
I do have all of my skills and traits in place and my tactical skills for energy weapon enhancement are set to max.
Specialization Skills are Intel and Strategist and are moderately developed.

I do make sure to activate my Cruiser Weapon command to make sure my weapon power drain is minimized.

I know there are consoles and equipment that can enhance my weapon damage further but I'm concerned that I'm not getting anywhere near what I am already equipped for.
Thanks.

szerontzur

There are a lot of variables in motion, but my initial query would be whether you have points in long range targeting. Furthermore, what are your engagement ranges like? Without long range targeting, cannons really suffer from damage falloff beyond 5km.

Personally speaking, I really don't like to mix cannons and beams unless it's an engineering captain that can push out a lot of power overcap to compensate for the mismatched firing cycles stealing power(and thus damage) from each other.

Also, could you clarify your forward weapons? Single cannons? Dual(heavy) cannons?

Lastly, what sort of targets are you getting those numbers on? Small, fast moving targets with high defense? Big, Slow-movers?

(Upgrading your weapons to mk14 will provide a very noticeble damage bump as well; 13 and 14 scale far, far more than all the previous marks.)

leemwatson

Yellow numbers are hull damage and Grey are shield damage IIRC. So if their shields are still up, you will only see low yellow dmg counters. I turned them off years ago because they clutter the screen.

Also take into account:-

1. Whether enemies have Rez on their shields, particularly shields that reduce 'energy type' damage.
2. Enemy Shield Power and Strength.
3. Hull Rez's.

Whilst people will say using cannons with beams is sub-optimal, the differences with cooldown bonuses is not really an issue as the penalty over carrying multiple BFAW etc is not that great anymore. There are very few Boff abilities that I have copies of in my builds, especially on my FT6 Intel Assault Cruiser and it's full set of consoles. The only cannons I do pack now if I mix builds are the Quads, as the DPS at EPIC outperforms virtually every other energy weapon, so CRF (which is really potent with BO) and CSV only require one or the other.

caltair

Thanks you guys, I didn't realize the difference between the Grey and Yellow numbers. I'll double check those before I make any changes.

I know I do have some points slotted into the Long Range Targeting but I can't remember how much, still I'll double check that too.
I'm using single cannons fyi. I'm waiting to upgrade them to Mk XIV till I get the Elite Fleet Phasers so I don't waste dil but yeah I've noticed the improvements before.
I'm not using 360 Beams so I haven't seen much of a power problem from the mixture with cannons, the beams don't usually come into play until my cannons are useless or soon to be.
My targets have varied considerably. Hirogen frigates, Klingon cruisers, Terran ships, etc. I've noticed the problem in all classes I've fought lately.

Again thanks for the info. I'll double check those numbers and post back if I find anything pertinent.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

avoozuul

Is there any threads or info explaining the -res stuff?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

avoozuul

So far all I really have is antiproton weapons with pen.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

avoozuul

I am using the Tzen-Tar currently.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

caltair

Ok so I did all my checking - it turns out I just couldn't see the Grey numbers hiding behind the Yellow ones. So I had no clue that Yellow was Hull damage and Grey was Shield damage, turns out that my weapons are acting properly - it was just a misunderstanding of the details provided.

Sidenote: I wish Cryptic could provide us with an easier way to keep track of our damage output.

Thanks a ton!

protoneous

A simple edit of 1 spelling mistake results in the loss of an entire post that took about 20 minutes to type out complete with links and other details.... a pox upon the forum engine

Summary of post was: OP, you don't have enough tactical boff ability slots to be mixing torps, beams, and cannons. May I suggest sticking with beams and a single torp only TT1, TS1, BFAW2 and considering an A2B build using the trait off the 2017 winter ship. Also the Quantum Phase Catalysts set from mission rewards is great for phasers.

Darned if I'll be re-typing the whole thing again at 2am Next time will compose using a text editor....

Best of luck with your Galaxy Dreadnought.

Edit: 2018 changed to 2017

caltair

protoneous wrote: »

build using the trait off the 2018 winter ship.

I think I found another spelling mistake...
Don't lose all your work this time LOL!

peterconnorfirst

avoozuul wrote: »

Is there any threads or info explaining the -res stuff?

Since everybody can heavily contribute here despite being low on DPS I collected parts of the stuff for my fleet-mates some time ago:

1) Captain’s Powers:

- Fire on my Mark (-drr)
- Sensor Scan (-drr)


2) Bridge officer Powers:

- Attack Pattern Beta (-drr)
- Attack Pattern Delta (-drr)
- Kemocite-Laced Weaponry (-drr)
- Destabilizing Resonance Beam (drr)
- Structural Analysis (-drr)
- Rapid Decay (-drr)
- Ionic Turbulence (-drr)
- Structural Integrity Collapse (-drr vs. kinetic & physical)
- Kinetic Magnet (-drr vs. kinetic)


3) Traits:

- Enhanced Armor Penetration
- Tactical Advantage
- Subwarp Sheath
- Tactical Analysis
- Particle Feedback Loop


4) Skill

- Hull Penetration
- Control Amplification (-drr vs. exotic)


5) Specialization:

- Intelligence Fleet
- Achilles' Heel
- Atrophied Defenses


6) Gear & Set Bonuses:

- Hangar - Elite Tholian Mesh Weaver (-drr)
- Harmonic Resonance Relay
- Entoiled Technology Set
- Temporal Defense Initiative Armaments Set


6) Weapon's Procs & Mods:

- Disruptor (-drr)
- Nanite Disruptor (-drr)
- Romulan Plasma (-drr)
- Colaition Disruptor (-drr vs. disruptor)
- [Pen]


More related material can be found here:

- https://sto.gamepedia.com/Damage_resistance

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzl-LbOi8bQ

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KC5LvmtsII

- https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/4br0n1/on_the_subject_of_damage_resistance/

lasonio

I always thought the simplest answer was often the most obvious and true.

Have you looked into energy management?

If you run out of weapons energy you hit softer

davefenestrator

lasonio wrote: »

I always thought the simplest answer was often the most obvious and true.

Have you looked into energy management?

If you run out of weapons energy you hit softer

Welcome to the STO forums. Please do not bump threads that have been inactive for more than 30 days, it is against forum rules to practice such necromancy. (Threads do not auto-lock because the forum software does not support that.)

ichaerus1

@badmoonrisin ZOMBIE ON THE LOOSE! GET 'IM!!!

Unknown

This content has been removed.

baddmoonrizin