Wow, thanks so much for all the wonderful tips and insights. I've tried doing my due diligence of Googling, but when many sites have information that's five years old, it can be hard to gauge whether or not it's obsolete.
Westmetals
I figured it would not stack, but oh well lol. I was also a bit concerned that only received the proc from whichever weapon fired first, that you might need three weapon types to create a proc cycle, but sounds like that's not the case, which definitely makes life easier. Like you said, just stick to beams and a torpedo.
Protoneous
You've highlighted one thing that's really attracted me to the game: that there isn't a single meta. There's more than one way to produce viable builds. I'm sure those options narrow down at elite level, but still, not a matter of a single ship type and configuration being the meta.
I'm experimenting with all the options you suggested. My Rom with the Morrigue had the game rain Engineers with SRO early on and I've built around that ever since. Plus, he's been lucky farming Technicians from B'Tran (think I'm remembering the right cluster). My Fed in the Gagarin has more science support and so is making use of Photonic Officer.
I've also been bouncing back and forth with BO and BFAW. BFAW seems good at slowly grinding away all the swarms in missions, but seems to attract a lot of aggro. Beam Overload feels like it takes out one enemy faster. Sure, I have other enemies who are unscratched, but one less enemy taking shots at me.
Not sure if I'll run two different Emergency Powers or stack up on EPtW. On my Rom I have plenty of Engineering options. I think the most important thing is, like you said, learning more about my rotation - and there are no shortcuts, I wager, to that learning curve. On Xbox you cannot group abilities. I can only open up my ability wheels so often before I'm flying off aimlessly or distracted from key battle situations; yet putting too many abilities on auto executes means I'm not learning as much as I should about their cool downs or always optimizing their use. So it's a tricky process... lol
Well, FaW is great for tanking, as of course, you're wanting the aggro. It's not as effective as it used to be. That said Ba'ul Anti-proton (they refract) plus FaW is a glorious lightshow. I run it on my semi-tanking toon.
You can set auto abilities to delay, and others to go off under certain conditions. You'll get a feel for it. Put situational abilities on your quick slots, sadly you'll have to learn the wheel arts for other stuff that doesn't auto. I came from PC so lacking my trusty spam bar was an adjustment.
If you want a little more time on your BO then you could save up EC (or Lobi if you enjoy a good whale), and get the Xindi Primate Dreadnought Cruiser, not a bad ship by itself and it's trait is like withering barrage but for beam overload.
To get beam overload really singing you want to keep your weapon power up (emergency power to weapons is a good start, but you know that one). So you'll need a good warp core and good EPS flow (that one takes care of itself usually as you build your ship). Preferably a few consoles etc that let you go above 125.
> @questerius said: > Let me correct that, pick the one which suits your career and play style. > Case in point: https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Jaeih_Science_Pilot_Warbird > > For some time this ship was considered the most potent escort due to its synergy with the plasma exploder consoles. > But even after those consoles were adjusted (nerfed/fixed depending on whom you ask) it is still on par or better than the tactical version.
Yeah I fly the KDF version on my main. It is pretty cool. I don’t see a lot of them out there. But I have been using it pretty consistently since it came out. I haven’t found many ships I like as much.
Orangenee
Glad to hear I'm not the only person playing on console. Yeah, the abilities that can't be set to proc (and can't all be quick slotted), are the learning curve. And you're not kidding about FAW drawing aggro! LOL I learned that during the Borg event when every sphere bypassed my group to gun me down. As for gear, I'm waiting until I hit Tier 6 in the Reputations before I buy that gear. That will give me a chance to save dilithium and then buy sets at the discount. In the meantime, I farmed and have been using various sets from missions. Probably still need to perfect how I arrange my consoles.
Qultuq
Yeah, those Romulan pilot ships look awesome and I'm set on getting one. The only question is whether to get just one now, or maybe wait for a sale and grab the Rom Pilot bundle. I looked at the set bonuses that come with having all three consoles for them and those bonuses seem too good. How would the ships perform without the console trifecta? Again, you raise up a point that is getting me excited about the game: there's no single meta. Even ships that aren't commonly used still seem to have great potential, if one knows how to set them up right and learn to use them.
Comments
Westmetals
I figured it would not stack, but oh well lol. I was also a bit concerned that only received the proc from whichever weapon fired first, that you might need three weapon types to create a proc cycle, but sounds like that's not the case, which definitely makes life easier. Like you said, just stick to beams and a torpedo.
Protoneous
You've highlighted one thing that's really attracted me to the game: that there isn't a single meta. There's more than one way to produce viable builds. I'm sure those options narrow down at elite level, but still, not a matter of a single ship type and configuration being the meta.
I'm experimenting with all the options you suggested. My Rom with the Morrigue had the game rain Engineers with SRO early on and I've built around that ever since. Plus, he's been lucky farming Technicians from B'Tran (think I'm remembering the right cluster). My Fed in the Gagarin has more science support and so is making use of Photonic Officer.
I've also been bouncing back and forth with BO and BFAW. BFAW seems good at slowly grinding away all the swarms in missions, but seems to attract a lot of aggro. Beam Overload feels like it takes out one enemy faster. Sure, I have other enemies who are unscratched, but one less enemy taking shots at me.
Not sure if I'll run two different Emergency Powers or stack up on EPtW. On my Rom I have plenty of Engineering options. I think the most important thing is, like you said, learning more about my rotation - and there are no shortcuts, I wager, to that learning curve. On Xbox you cannot group abilities. I can only open up my ability wheels so often before I'm flying off aimlessly or distracted from key battle situations; yet putting too many abilities on auto executes means I'm not learning as much as I should about their cool downs or always optimizing their use. So it's a tricky process... lol
You can set auto abilities to delay, and others to go off under certain conditions. You'll get a feel for it. Put situational abilities on your quick slots, sadly you'll have to learn the wheel arts for other stuff that doesn't auto. I came from PC so lacking my trusty spam bar was an adjustment.
If you want a little more time on your BO then you could save up EC (or Lobi if you enjoy a good whale), and get the Xindi Primate Dreadnought Cruiser, not a bad ship by itself and it's trait is like withering barrage but for beam overload.
To get beam overload really singing you want to keep your weapon power up (emergency power to weapons is a good start, but you know that one). So you'll need a good warp core and good EPS flow (that one takes care of itself usually as you build your ship). Preferably a few consoles etc that let you go above 125.
> Let me correct that, pick the one which suits your career and play style.
> Case in point: https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Jaeih_Science_Pilot_Warbird
>
> For some time this ship was considered the most potent escort due to its synergy with the plasma exploder consoles.
> But even after those consoles were adjusted (nerfed/fixed depending on whom you ask) it is still on par or better than the tactical version.
Yeah I fly the KDF version on my main. It is pretty cool. I don’t see a lot of them out there. But I have been using it pretty consistently since it came out. I haven’t found many ships I like as much.
Glad to hear I'm not the only person playing on console. Yeah, the abilities that can't be set to proc (and can't all be quick slotted), are the learning curve. And you're not kidding about FAW drawing aggro! LOL I learned that during the Borg event when every sphere bypassed my group to gun me down. As for gear, I'm waiting until I hit Tier 6 in the Reputations before I buy that gear. That will give me a chance to save dilithium and then buy sets at the discount. In the meantime, I farmed and have been using various sets from missions. Probably still need to perfect how I arrange my consoles.
Qultuq
Yeah, those Romulan pilot ships look awesome and I'm set on getting one. The only question is whether to get just one now, or maybe wait for a sale and grab the Rom Pilot bundle. I looked at the set bonuses that come with having all three consoles for them and those bonuses seem too good. How would the ships perform without the console trifecta? Again, you raise up a point that is getting me excited about the game: there's no single meta. Even ships that aren't commonly used still seem to have great potential, if one knows how to set them up right and learn to use them.