Off the top of my head, getting Cannons into a narrow 45 degree arc on a target might be difficult with one RCS Console on a heavy hull ship, maybe a second would be better to increase those tough turns. It will never turn like a Defiant, but you might get it turning something like a Light Cruiser.
What do you guys think? Cannon ships are not my bailiwick.
I agree it would be difficult at best. An engineering heavy cruiser with a Lt and Ensign Tactical boff slot and a base turn rate of 7 would be better off with beams. We dealt with this ship in another build thread and even with beams and using an A2B build it was held back somewhat by a lack of a LtC tac boff slot.
If you want some cannon fun on a budget this ship costs 68K dil at the shipyard, has all the tactical boff slots you'd need, and has a base turn rate of 16 to keep things on target.
What boff layout are you using for your Assault Cruiser?
My current ship, the U.S.S. Hippolyta (the Level 30 free ship) has the following BOffs:
1. Commander Elisa Flores (Tactical: Purple Quality) (Tactical Station, Away Team)
Ground: Photon Grenade I, Target Optics I, Battle Strategies III, Ambush I
Space: Torpedo Yield I, Attack Pattern Beta I, II, III, Beams Fire at Will II, III, Attack Pattern Omega III, Beams Overload II
2. Commander T'Vrell (Science: Green Quality) (Science Station, Away Team)
Ground: Medical Tricorder I, Tachyon Harmonic II, Tricorder Scan II, Hyperonic Radiation II
Space: Tachyon Beam I, Tractor Beam II, Scramble Sensors II, Gravity Well II, Hazard Emitters I
3. Commander Uzdla Inplir (Engineering: Blue Quality) (Engineering Station, Away Team)
Ground: Mine Barrier I, Reroute Power to Shields I, Shield Generator II, Quantum Mortar Fabrication II
Space: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Aceton Beam I, Boarding Party III
4. Commander Zarva (Engineering: Green Quality) (Engineering Station, Away Team)
Ground: Shield Recharge I, Weapon Malfunction II, Phaser Turret Fabrication II, Medical Generator Fabrication II
Space: Emergency Power to Shields I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Boarding Party II, Eject Warp Plasma II
5. Commander Charisse Sherly Muraoka (Engineering: Blue Quality)
Ground: Quick Fix I, Weapon Malfunction II, Shield Generator II, Quantum Mortar Fabrication II
Space: Emergency Power to Shields I, Boarding Party I, Directed Energy Modulator II, Eject Warp Plasma II
6. Cadet Vincenzo (Science: Purple Quality)
Ground: Hypospray - Dylovene I, Tachyon Harmonic II, Vascular Regenerator II, Hyperonic Radiation II
Space: Science Team I, Jam Sensors II, Gravity Well I, Charged Particle Burst III
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
What boff layout are you using for your Assault Cruiser?
My current ship, the U.S.S. Hippolyta (the Level 30 free ship) has the following BOffs:
1. Commander Elisa Flores (Tactical: Purple Quality) (Tactical Station, Away Team)
Ground: Photon Grenade I, Target Optics I, Battle Strategies III, Ambush I
Space: Torpedo Yield I, Attack Pattern Beta I, II, III, Beams Fire at Will II, III, Attack Pattern Omega III, Beams Overload II
2. Commander T'Vrell (Science: Green Quality) (Science Station, Away Team)
Ground: Medical Tricorder I, Tachyon Harmonic II, Tricorder Scan II, Hyperonic Radiation II
Space: Tachyon Beam I, Tractor Beam II, Scramble Sensors II, Gravity Well II, Hazard Emitters I
3. Commander Uzdla Inplir (Engineering: Blue Quality) (Engineering Station, Away Team)
Ground: Mine Barrier I, Reroute Power to Shields I, Shield Generator II, Quantum Mortar Fabrication II
Space: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Aceton Beam I, Boarding Party III
4. Commander Zarva (Engineering: Green Quality) (Engineering Station, Away Team)
Ground: Shield Recharge I, Weapon Malfunction II, Phaser Turret Fabrication II, Medical Generator Fabrication II
Space: Emergency Power to Shields I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Boarding Party II, Eject Warp Plasma II
5. Commander Charisse Sherly Muraoka (Engineering: Blue Quality)
Ground: Quick Fix I, Weapon Malfunction II, Shield Generator II, Quantum Mortar Fabrication II
Space: Emergency Power to Shields I, Boarding Party I, Directed Energy Modulator II, Eject Warp Plasma II
6. Cadet Vincenzo (Science: Purple Quality)
Ground: Hypospray - Dylovene I, Tachyon Harmonic II, Vascular Regenerator II, Hyperonic Radiation II
Space: Science Team I, Jam Sensors II, Gravity Well I, Charged Particle Burst III
What I mean is what bridge officer abilities are you using for your ship's bridge officer slots. Here is the ship you're using and it's bridge officer slots:
What I mean is what bridge officer abilities are you using for your ship's bridge officer slots.
Here you go:
Elisa: Torpedo High Yield I, Beams: Fire at Will II Uzdia: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Aceton Beam I, Boarding Party III Zarva: Emergency Power to Shields I, Emergency Power to Weapons II T'Vrell: Tachyon Beam I, Tractor Beam II
I can't figure out how to change these Abilities. I purchased some Training Manuals and trained my BOffs in these Abilities, but where is the 'menu' where I can choose a new Ability to replace the Default one? I don't use Boarding Party or Tractor Beam at all.
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
On the "stations" tab click on one of the boff abilities and it will bring up a detail window of that boff station. Clicking on one of the boff abilities on that detail section will open up a dropdown with all of the abilities that the Boff has for that slot and you just click the one you want active.
Lt Tac:Torpedo High Yield I, Beams Fire at Will II
Ens Tac: ?
Cmdr Eng: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Aceton Beam I, Boarding Party III
Lt Eng: Emergency Power to Shields I, Emergency Power to Weapons II
Lt Sci: Tachyon Beam I, Tractor Beam II
Did you miss the ensign tac? Perhaps tactical team 1.
Also if you don't like BP3, Aux to SIF 3 is a great hull heal and an alternative to aceton beam might be reverse shield polarity 1.
You may want to have Hazard Emitters ready for your Lt Sci as well as Science Team for a select few instances to clear subnucs or scrambles in missions (rare). It can help your shields as well.
You may want to have Hazard Emitters ready for your Lt Sci as well as Science Team for a select few instances to clear subnucs or scrambles in missions (rare). It can help your shields as well.
Will do.
I finally figured out how to change their selected Abilities. One less conundrum to confuse my poor brain.
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
You may want to have Hazard Emitters ready for your Lt Sci as well as Science Team for a select few instances to clear subnucs or scrambles in missions (rare). It can help your shields as well.
Will do.
I finally figured out how to change their selected Abilities. One less conundrum to confuse my poor brain.
Experimentation is definitely the way to learn what works best for you and the most interesting. Your boff layout looks pretty good. Have fun.
Hazard Emitters are pretty well a must. Polarize hull comes in handy as well when you get snagged by a tractor beam.
Science team is a mild shield heal that also remove debuffs like scramble sensors but some may think of it as more situational. Now that you've figured out how to select abilities and have your bridge crew trained in a bunch of things you want to try it's easy to experiment to see what works best for you.
You can save your favorite combinations as a ship loadout which also includes all gear as well as your space tray setup. You get two of them for free. It's probably a good idea save things as a loadout anyway as certain missions have a habit of scrambling up your boff abilities and having a loadout saved makes it simple to reset them to the way they were. Tip: if (when) this happens to you check your traits as well as they could need redoing.
I (finally) finished the Cardassian Struggle story arc (except for the TFO at the end . . . I joined the queue for it and sat here for about 30 minutes but it wouldn't start. Nobody else wanted to do it, I guess).
I am now Level 56.
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
I (finally) finished the Cardassian Struggle story arc (except for the TFO at the end . . . I joined the queue for it and sat here for about 30 minutes but it wouldn't start. Nobody else wanted to do it, I guess).
I am now Level 56.
About a week ago I needed some Tholians ship for an Endeavor so I thought Crystalline Catastrophe. That needs ten players so unless there's an Event or Endeavor for that the CC, it just won't happen.
Sometimes you just have to go about your STO "business" and have it happen while you wait.
I've spent many a Saturday afternoon there replaying Green Missions just to pick up some new and interesting drops, like Sonic Weapons, Armor, plus Marks and even a little Dil from each tiny mission. There's a crystal sword you can make using the Nukara Strikeforce Marks. The sword makes the the Thols shriek if you hit them with it just right.
These days I mostly use Nukara Prime to gather Marks to convert to Dil, but you really should give the place a try if you can find the time.
FYI - The hostile environment of Nukara Prime also requires the player to wear an Environmental Suit. You may need to practice activating your suit once you beam down, but since you just finished the Cardi Struggle, you should have that knowledge already.
I (finally) finished the Cardassian Struggle story arc (except for the TFO at the end . . . I joined the queue for it and sat here for about 30 minutes but it wouldn't start. Nobody else wanted to do it, I guess).
I am now Level 56.
About a week ago I needed some Tholians ship for an Endeavor so I thought Crystalline Catastrophe. That needs ten players so unless there's an Event or Endeavor for that the CC, it just won't happen.
Sometimes you just have to go about your STO "business" and have it happen while you wait.
I've spent many a Saturday afternoon there replaying Green Missions just to pick up some new and interesting drops, like Sonic Weapons, Armor, plus Marks and even a little Dil from each tiny mission. There's a crystal sword you can make using the Nukara Strikeforce Marks. The sword makes the the Thols shriek if you hit them with it just right.
These days I mostly use Nukara Prime to gather Marks to convert to Dil, but you really should give the place a try if you can find the time.
FYI - The hostile environment of Nukara Prime also requires the player to wear an Environmental Suit. You may need to practice activating your suit once you beam down, but since you just finished the Cardi Struggle, you should have that knowledge already.
A good way to bag Tholian ships for endeavors is to go to alpha quadrant and do the Tholian deep space encounter. There is often a wait there for one to come up, but it is often shorter than waiting for Crystalline Catastrophe to pop.
The U.S.S. Nimoy will stay at ESD. I've decided to buy the Patrol Escort for 68k Dil (leaving me about 15k) and make that my Cannons/Turret boat, and have my free ship at Level 61 be the usual Phasers / Torpedo boat.
I just got home for 14+ hours at work, so I'm going to bed. Night, all!
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
So now you have one of each kind of ship. That Vulcan Science ship, a fast moving Tactical ship and your heavy hull Attack Cruiser. These should be good to experiment with.
I purchased the Patrol Escort but for some reason, it cost me 80,000 Dil (not 68,000). I thought that the Sale wasn't supposed to expire until Monday April 29, 2019 at 1 PM EST (10 AM PST). Now I only have about 4,000 Dil left.
I geared up the U.S.S. Insurgence with the stuff that I put on the U.S.S. Nimoy, but I didn't have enough TAC Consoles. When I activated the ship, the game put yet another Phaser Relay in the open slot. I have 4 Phaser Relays now. Is that too many considering the Diminishing Returns? Should I put a different Console in there, and if so, what would be a good choice?
I completed the first Federation Admiralty mission (1 / 10). I am now Level 58.
It's a pity about the U.S.S. Nimoy. I was kinda looking forward to using it. If I Discharge the ship, does that free the name up for me to use with the Level 61 ship, or should I just put an 'A' at the end of the Registration of the Level 61 ship so that the Registration reads NCC-1966-A?
Post edited by generic5 on
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
I purchased the Patrol Escort but, for some reason, it cost me 80,000 (not 68,000). I thought that the Sale wasn't supposed to expire until Monday April 29, 2019 at 1 PM EST (10 AM PST). Now I only have about 4k Dil left.
I geared up the U.S.S. Insurgence with the stuff that I put on the U.S.S. Nimoy, but I didn't have enough TAC Consoles. When I activated the ship, the game put another Phaser Relay in the open slot. I have 4 Phaser Relays now. Should I put a different Console in there, and if so, what would be a good choice?
I completed the first Federation Admiralty mission (1 / 10). I am now Level 58.
Not sure why the dil cost was different for you as compared to my picture above. As a dil ship the sale would not have any effect on the price... it is set as the sale is a zen ship price discount. Best guess is it's related to my fleet dilithium discount.
The game took a phaser relay off another one of your ships and auto-equipped it. As phaser cannons and turrets are doing the vast majority of your damage having four of them there is probably your best bet.
I took the liberty of making a budget build for the Patrol Escort.
My build uses only Reputation and Mission Reward gear and traits with the exceptions of the Phaser Relays, 2 Dual Cannons, and the Plasmonic Leech console which are all cheap on the exchange. Now, I realize that 'cheap' is a relative term.. so if something is too expensive then feel free to substitute it for something else.
The Warp Core is from Fleet Spire. If you're not in a fleet, or don't have the resources.. the Quantum Phase is a good enough substitute.
Now, before the link... the standard disclaimer. This is just a suggestion based on my personal preference. This suggestion is intended to be used as a template to give ideas and is not a statement on the 'right' or 'wrong' way to build a ship. Feel free to use any, all, or none of it.. it's completely up to you.
Duty Officers, Traits and Skill tree are all filled out. If I missed something, or something you don't understand.. then please feel free to ask.
Basically, the build use doubling up to handle Tactical Cooldown. The Emergency Powers are being cooled down by the duty officers which allows Power to Weapons and Power to Shields to alternate. You use one right after the other, so start with Power to Weapons. 15 Seconds later, hit Power to Shields, then Weapons, then Shields.. etc. You can key bind these if you wish because you're going to fire them the second they're available.. always.
One of the duty officers reduces your cooldown for Engineering Team.
The build doesn't have any real method of cooling down the Science Abilities so use those sparingly. If you find you need extra shield heals, you could swap out the Energy Amplifier Consumable for a Shield Battery.
For the Duty Officers, use the best quality you can afford. Check the Vendor on Earth Space Dock, you can pick up a few of these for cheap.
In this ship, you're going to stay moving if there is a large group.. strafe in firing all your weapons.. blow past and whip around. Once you get the numbers thinned, then you can play around with 'Park and Shoot' as you feel comfortable. Mostly though, you're going to keep moving to keep your defense up. Just make strafing runs on the bad guys.. get in.. deal damage.. get out. Heal if needed and then repeat.
This thing should rip apart enemies on Normal Difficulty.
Instead of having 4 Phaser Relays on the Insurgence, how about 2 Phaser Relays and 2 Prefire Chambers? If I read the STOWiki correctly, that'll boost Cannon and Turret damage without having to worry about Diminishing Returns too much.
Good idea, bad idea, or stupid idea?
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
Instead of having 4 Phaser Relays on the Insurgence, how about 2 Phaser Relays and 2 Prefire Chambers? If I read the STOWiki correctly, that'll boost Cannon and Turret damage without having to worry about Diminishing Returns too much.
Good idea, bad idea, or stupid idea?
Use whatever you have laying around to get up and running.
The reason energy specific consoles are usually recommended versus all cannon or all beam damage consoles is that you lose about one third by using the the generic consoles. For example Prefire vs Phaser Relays at Mk 12 VR 20% vs 30%.
Lot's of people have a set of account bound 'all damage' consoles laying around just for convenience but most would try to stick to energy specific whenever possible.
Instead of having 4 Phaser Relays on the Insurgence, how about 2 Phaser Relays and 2 Prefire Chambers? If I read the STOWiki correctly, that'll boost Cannon and Turret damage without having to worry about Diminishing Returns too much.
Good idea, bad idea, or stupid idea?
Flat buffs to damage as applied by tactical consoles have no diminishing returns - rather, they give a flat buff to the base damage of weapons that deal the damage type they buff before any other buffs are applied. You get the bonus you see - for this reason, you want this bonus to be as high as possible.
Building on that, I'm not sure if anyone else here has mentioned this, but this means that you'll want to pick out an energy type that has many set bonuses, universal consoles, etc. that buff it (and in most cases, has an energy torpedo of the same energy type). Thanks to the Nausicaan mission set (and its accompanying energy torpedo), as well as the DPRM set giving a huge bonus to phaser/disruptor/plasma damage, this tends to be disruptor weapons, but there are other decent energy types as well (phasers and polaron, for instance, can also be buffed quite a bit, and there exists a polaron energy torpedo).
All my Phaser Consoles have been maxed out at this point so single ship go bye-bye pretty quickly, but even back when every item was Mark XII VR ( Purple ) it was solidly a shorter combat time than any of the earlier fights with random Greens and Blues drops.
FYI - When you hit level 60, get ready to skip a ton of missions to fill out you main ship with the complete Sets of Mark XII gear, then also your Captain and at least 4 BOFFs.
After that, you can head back the last mission before you started skipping you way to easier victories to see how much different you combat's become. I'm telling you, better days are nearly here.
Instead of having 4 Phaser Relays on the Insurgence, how about 2 Phaser Relays and 2 Prefire Chambers? If I read the STOWiki correctly, that'll boost Cannon and Turret damage without having to worry about Diminishing Returns too much.
Good idea, bad idea, or stupid idea?
Flat buffs to damage as applied by tactical consoles have no diminishing returns - rather, they give a flat buff to the base damage of weapons that deal the damage type they buff before any other buffs are applied. You get the bonus you see - for this reason, you want this bonus to be as high as possible.
Building on that, I'm not sure if anyone else here has mentioned this, but this means that you'll want to pick out an energy type that has many set bonuses, universal consoles, etc. that buff it (and in most cases, has an energy torpedo of the same energy type). Thanks to the Nausicaan mission set (and its accompanying energy torpedo), as well as the DPRM set giving a huge bonus to phaser/disruptor/plasma damage, this tends to be disruptor weapons, but there are other decent energy types as well (phasers and polaron, for instance, can also be buffed quite a bit, and there exists a polaron energy torpedo).
This is all great advice.
Phaser however, has slightly surpassed Disruptor as having the most boosts. That being said, they are still the 2 'top dogs' for most energy weapons builds, and this is all great advice.
If it were me, I would stick with the 4 Phaser Relays.. but if it were me I would drop the torp completely, so feel free to do what you feel is most effective. If you really wanted to boost the torp, I would go 3 Phaser Relays and 1 Prefire Chamber. Your Torp is going to contribute only a small amount to your overall DPS, using half your tactical consoles to buff it doesn't make much sense to me.
I also would advise against using Reputation Phasers like the Bio-Molecular ones linked above. The radition damage from those beams is minimal at best and cannot be boosted by anything. That proc takes away one of your weapon mods so you just end up short changed in the end. As a general rule, reputation space weapons are a poor choice of resources. The exception is when you use one from a set like the Quantum to get a set bonus.
A crafted beam will have an extra mod, be cheaper and be account bound instead of character bound.
I've been trying to create an account with imgur.com so I can post pics here but when I try to sign in, it tells me that my LogIn information is incorrect. WTF?!!!
~~~~~
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
I'm one TFO Commendation point away from completion. Among the Rewards, 3x Featured TFO Rewards Boxes, each containing my choice of:
1 Specialization Point OR 1 Enhanced Universal Tech Upgrade (once per Account)
Which should I choose?
Which would I choose on an alt toon that's still being developed? The spec points by a country mile. It takes just shy of 160K xp to earn one point. You do get a spec point for each level from 51 to 65 but will need some more to get where you'd probably want to be.
Then again I really hate doing admiralty and usually consider it a necessary evil for spec points only <--- just a personal quirk as for me at least as there's not enough hours in each day as there's also hills to climb and fence to mend.
Think I left some advice on how I would personally spend my first spec points back a page or two. Whatever you choose, choose carefully as they are permanent choices.
Yeah, choose the specialization point.. hands down. I always do that until I have filled all the trees, 3 spec points takes quite a while to earn.. be sure to get them when you can.
I've been trying to create an account with imgur.com so I can post pics here but when I try to sign in, it tells me that my LogIn information is incorrect. WTF?!!!
Imgur doesn't require an account. You can just upload the images as a guest, rightclick them once uploaded and open them in a separate tab, then copy that link and put it here.
Comments
If you want some cannon fun on a budget this ship costs 68K dil at the shipyard, has all the tactical boff slots you'd need, and has a base turn rate of 16 to keep things on target.
My current ship, the U.S.S. Hippolyta (the Level 30 free ship) has the following BOffs:
1. Commander Elisa Flores (Tactical: Purple Quality) (Tactical Station, Away Team)
Ground: Photon Grenade I, Target Optics I, Battle Strategies III, Ambush I
Space: Torpedo Yield I, Attack Pattern Beta I, II, III, Beams Fire at Will II, III, Attack Pattern Omega III, Beams Overload II
2. Commander T'Vrell (Science: Green Quality) (Science Station, Away Team)
Ground: Medical Tricorder I, Tachyon Harmonic II, Tricorder Scan II, Hyperonic Radiation II
Space: Tachyon Beam I, Tractor Beam II, Scramble Sensors II, Gravity Well II, Hazard Emitters I
3. Commander Uzdla Inplir (Engineering: Blue Quality) (Engineering Station, Away Team)
Ground: Mine Barrier I, Reroute Power to Shields I, Shield Generator II, Quantum Mortar Fabrication II
Space: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Aceton Beam I, Boarding Party III
4. Commander Zarva (Engineering: Green Quality) (Engineering Station, Away Team)
Ground: Shield Recharge I, Weapon Malfunction II, Phaser Turret Fabrication II, Medical Generator Fabrication II
Space: Emergency Power to Shields I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Boarding Party II, Eject Warp Plasma II
5. Commander Charisse Sherly Muraoka (Engineering: Blue Quality)
Ground: Quick Fix I, Weapon Malfunction II, Shield Generator II, Quantum Mortar Fabrication II
Space: Emergency Power to Shields I, Boarding Party I, Directed Energy Modulator II, Eject Warp Plasma II
6. Cadet Vincenzo (Science: Purple Quality)
Ground: Hypospray - Dylovene I, Tachyon Harmonic II, Vascular Regenerator II, Hyperonic Radiation II
Space: Science Team I, Jam Sensors II, Gravity Well I, Charged Particle Burst III
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
~~~~~
Here you go:
Elisa: Torpedo High Yield I, Beams: Fire at Will II
Uzdia: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Aceton Beam I, Boarding Party III
Zarva: Emergency Power to Shields I, Emergency Power to Weapons II
T'Vrell: Tachyon Beam I, Tractor Beam II
I can't figure out how to change these Abilities. I purchased some Training Manuals and trained my BOffs in these Abilities, but where is the 'menu' where I can choose a new Ability to replace the Default one? I don't use Boarding Party or Tractor Beam at all.
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
~~~~~
Also if you don't like BP3, Aux to SIF 3 is a great hull heal and an alternative to aceton beam might be reverse shield polarity 1.
You may want to have Hazard Emitters ready for your Lt Sci as well as Science Team for a select few instances to clear subnucs or scrambles in missions (rare). It can help your shields as well.
Edit: spelling
Nope, the U.S.S. Hippolyta is an Exploration Cruiser chosen for free at level 30. It only has 4 Bridge Stations.
I will definitely check both of those out.
Will do.
I finally figured out how to change their selected Abilities. One less conundrum to confuse my poor brain.
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
~~~~~
I knew you'd start to get this stuff. I think your even ahead of the schedule I was on my first year.
Hazard Emitters are pretty well a must. Polarize hull comes in handy as well when you get snagged by a tractor beam.
Science team is a mild shield heal that also remove debuffs like scramble sensors but some may think of it as more situational. Now that you've figured out how to select abilities and have your bridge crew trained in a bunch of things you want to try it's easy to experiment to see what works best for you.
You can save your favorite combinations as a ship loadout which also includes all gear as well as your space tray setup. You get two of them for free. It's probably a good idea save things as a loadout anyway as certain missions have a habit of scrambling up your boff abilities and having a loadout saved makes it simple to reset them to the way they were. Tip: if (when) this happens to you check your traits as well as they could need redoing.
I am now Level 56.
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
~~~~~
About a week ago I needed some Tholians ship for an Endeavor so I thought Crystalline Catastrophe. That needs ten players so unless there's an Event or Endeavor for that the CC, it just won't happen.
Sometimes you just have to go about your STO "business" and have it happen while you wait.
Speaking of waiting...
Have you been hailed to join Mission: Hot Lead?
Nukara Prime is one of the Adventure Zones in the game.
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Tholian_Incursion
I've spent many a Saturday afternoon there replaying Green Missions just to pick up some new and interesting drops, like Sonic Weapons, Armor, plus Marks and even a little Dil from each tiny mission. There's a crystal sword you can make using the Nukara Strikeforce Marks. The sword makes the the Thols shriek if you hit them with it just right.
These days I mostly use Nukara Prime to gather Marks to convert to Dil, but you really should give the place a try if you can find the time.
FYI - The hostile environment of Nukara Prime also requires the player to wear an Environmental Suit. You may need to practice activating your suit once you beam down, but since you just finished the Cardi Struggle, you should have that knowledge already.
A good way to bag Tholian ships for endeavors is to go to alpha quadrant and do the Tholian deep space encounter. There is often a wait there for one to come up, but it is often shorter than waiting for Crystalline Catastrophe to pop.
Nukara is best for Tholians on ground.
I just got home for 14+ hours at work, so I'm going to bed. Night, all!
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
~~~~~
I hope you like it.
I geared up the U.S.S. Insurgence with the stuff that I put on the U.S.S. Nimoy, but I didn't have enough TAC Consoles. When I activated the ship, the game put yet another Phaser Relay in the open slot. I have 4 Phaser Relays now. Is that too many considering the Diminishing Returns? Should I put a different Console in there, and if so, what would be a good choice?
I completed the first Federation Admiralty mission (1 / 10). I am now Level 58.
It's a pity about the U.S.S. Nimoy. I was kinda looking forward to using it. If I Discharge the ship, does that free the name up for me to use with the Level 61 ship, or should I just put an 'A' at the end of the Registration of the Level 61 ship so that the Registration reads NCC-1966-A?
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
~~~~~
The game took a phaser relay off another one of your ships and auto-equipped it. As phaser cannons and turrets are doing the vast majority of your damage having four of them there is probably your best bet.
My build uses only Reputation and Mission Reward gear and traits with the exceptions of the Phaser Relays, 2 Dual Cannons, and the Plasmonic Leech console which are all cheap on the exchange. Now, I realize that 'cheap' is a relative term.. so if something is too expensive then feel free to substitute it for something else.
The Warp Core is from Fleet Spire. If you're not in a fleet, or don't have the resources.. the Quantum Phase is a good enough substitute.
Now, before the link... the standard disclaimer. This is just a suggestion based on my personal preference. This suggestion is intended to be used as a template to give ideas and is not a statement on the 'right' or 'wrong' way to build a ship. Feel free to use any, all, or none of it.. it's completely up to you.
With that being said - Here is my Budget Patrol Escort Build.
Duty Officers, Traits and Skill tree are all filled out. If I missed something, or something you don't understand.. then please feel free to ask.
Basically, the build use doubling up to handle Tactical Cooldown. The Emergency Powers are being cooled down by the duty officers which allows Power to Weapons and Power to Shields to alternate. You use one right after the other, so start with Power to Weapons. 15 Seconds later, hit Power to Shields, then Weapons, then Shields.. etc. You can key bind these if you wish because you're going to fire them the second they're available.. always.
One of the duty officers reduces your cooldown for Engineering Team.
The build doesn't have any real method of cooling down the Science Abilities so use those sparingly. If you find you need extra shield heals, you could swap out the Energy Amplifier Consumable for a Shield Battery.
For the Duty Officers, use the best quality you can afford. Check the Vendor on Earth Space Dock, you can pick up a few of these for cheap.
In this ship, you're going to stay moving if there is a large group.. strafe in firing all your weapons.. blow past and whip around. Once you get the numbers thinned, then you can play around with 'Park and Shoot' as you feel comfortable. Mostly though, you're going to keep moving to keep your defense up. Just make strafing runs on the bad guys.. get in.. deal damage.. get out. Heal if needed and then repeat.
This thing should rip apart enemies on Normal Difficulty.
Good luck!
Good idea, bad idea, or stupid idea?
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
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The reason energy specific consoles are usually recommended versus all cannon or all beam damage consoles is that you lose about one third by using the the generic consoles. For example Prefire vs Phaser Relays at Mk 12 VR 20% vs 30%.
Lot's of people have a set of account bound 'all damage' consoles laying around just for convenience but most would try to stick to energy specific whenever possible.
Building on that, I'm not sure if anyone else here has mentioned this, but this means that you'll want to pick out an energy type that has many set bonuses, universal consoles, etc. that buff it (and in most cases, has an energy torpedo of the same energy type). Thanks to the Nausicaan mission set (and its accompanying energy torpedo), as well as the DPRM set giving a huge bonus to phaser/disruptor/plasma damage, this tends to be disruptor weapons, but there are other decent energy types as well (phasers and polaron, for instance, can also be buffed quite a bit, and there exists a polaron energy torpedo).
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Quantum_Phase_Catalysts
On my main I use the Torp, the Array, the Console and also this set.
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Prolonged_Engagement_Set
The rest of the beams come from the Reputation: 8472 Counter-Command AKA Bio-Molecular Phasers Beams
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Bio-Molecular_Phaser_weapons_(space)
All my Phaser Consoles have been maxed out at this point so single ship go bye-bye pretty quickly, but even back when every item was Mark XII VR ( Purple ) it was solidly a shorter combat time than any of the earlier fights with random Greens and Blues drops.
FYI - When you hit level 60, get ready to skip a ton of missions to fill out you main ship with the complete Sets of Mark XII gear, then also your Captain and at least 4 BOFFs.
After that, you can head back the last mission before you started skipping you way to easier victories to see how much different you combat's become. I'm telling you, better days are nearly here.
This is all great advice.
Phaser however, has slightly surpassed Disruptor as having the most boosts. That being said, they are still the 2 'top dogs' for most energy weapons builds, and this is all great advice.
If it were me, I would stick with the 4 Phaser Relays.. but if it were me I would drop the torp completely, so feel free to do what you feel is most effective. If you really wanted to boost the torp, I would go 3 Phaser Relays and 1 Prefire Chamber. Your Torp is going to contribute only a small amount to your overall DPS, using half your tactical consoles to buff it doesn't make much sense to me.
I also would advise against using Reputation Phasers like the Bio-Molecular ones linked above. The radition damage from those beams is minimal at best and cannot be boosted by anything. That proc takes away one of your weapon mods so you just end up short changed in the end. As a general rule, reputation space weapons are a poor choice of resources. The exception is when you use one from a set like the Quantum to get a set bonus.
A crafted beam will have an extra mod, be cheaper and be account bound instead of character bound.
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
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1 Specialization Point OR 1 Enhanced Universal Tech Upgrade (once per Account)
Which should I choose?
"We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to. We do it because we are compelled." - Rorschach
~~~~~
Then again I really hate doing admiralty and usually consider it a necessary evil for spec points only <--- just a personal quirk as for me at least as there's not enough hours in each day as there's also hills to climb and fence to mend.
Think I left some advice on how I would personally spend my first spec points back a page or two. Whatever you choose, choose carefully as they are permanent choices.
Imgur doesn't require an account. You can just upload the images as a guest, rightclick them once uploaded and open them in a separate tab, then copy that link and put it here.
Then, after that, I always take the Tech Upgrade.