For those that read my baby cry rant regarding 2/13/10's patch, everything fixed upon promotion to admiral. Thanx again for all the feedback on that post.
This thread is to give ensigns and early lts a heads up for what's to come as they progress. Just a couple things. No biggies.
The level cap is currently (2/15/10) set at 45 (Admiral 5.) Once you reach this rank you no longer progress in rank and no longer receive skill points for yourself. BUT you still earn skill points for your bridge officers. All of the repeatable missions and any unfinished core missions you have are still availble to do, but, as stated above, you will not progress in rank or receive any skill points to use on your toon. Just your bridge officers. So, make sure you apply your skill points only iin those areas that you want to buff you. Don't be like me and just fill out each rank as you go and get stuck at commander buffs...lmao!

And I heavily suggest farming at least 900 or so Badges of Exploration, 5th Order and outfitting your ship with all the transphasic and polaron weapons and admiral level consoles as you are able before heading into Borg space. The Borg hit HARD.

I hope this information is helpful.
Comments
The fire damage does not stack and its pathetic damage on its own. Why take the chance you can nibble at their hull for a bit compared to:
Phasers: Completely take systems offline briefly
Disruptors: Lower their resistances briefly
Tetryon: Do extra damage to their shields
Polaron: Drain power from all of their systems
Anti-Proton: Extra chance at scoring criticals with higher damage AND accuracy
If your in it for the looks then fair enough but otherwise Plasma are just a poor energy weapon system. 'Extra' DPS is not as important as EFFECTIVE DPS. To which Plasma is not, if your shooting at their hull then a fire effect is pointless, if your trying to shoot at their shields then your goal should be to rip down those shields not bother about the hull.
Thus, Tetryon make the best for brute forcing a shield down then follow up with a torpedo volley. Alternatively, if your looking for shield penetration get Transphasic torpedoes.
Personnally, Phasers do me just fine when you have the chance to literally take their shields offline which gives you free shot to do more damage to the hull than plasma fire could ever do.
Now, if Plasma fire weapons were as brutal as the Borg / Undine plasma fires THEN they might be effective.
Ground combat: Thats more or less the same for energy weapons.
Plasma grenade is very good though if only for the fact its a good way of creating a buffer zone between you and NPCs that like close range attacks.
I.E - NPCs dont like to run through plasma fire and will try to avoid it. This is really good for things like the Borg who dont have much of ranged attacks but have significant health and painful close attacks.
Throw down a plasma grenade and watch them stand there as your away team drop them at range or if they do cross, it eats through their health while their shields are still up.