I find that regardless of the class I am playing, I generally select Bridge officers such that (including my characters) my away team consists of two science officers, two engineers, and one tactical officer.
The science officers will each have mostly healing skills and one or two debuffs. The engineers will both spam tons of turrets, generators, and drones, while the tactical officer will have buffs/debuffs (personal and team), with drag grenade just for fun.
On Normal settings I run 4 engineers. All with at least 2 turrets.
On Advanced and Elite I run 3 engineers, 1 science officer.
My officers all have phaser stun pistols.
My engineers also run 1 shield regen power and 1 weapons malfunction.
This lets me defeat the NPCs on Advanced and Elite even when they're "broken." The added firepower from the turrets, combined with the control powers like stun pistols and weapons malfunctions basically make PVE ground combat ... fun.
I always choose my away team members carefully, and it pays off.
If it is a dangerous situation, I ill bring my Chief of Security, two security officers, and a medic.
If it a mission regarding a damaged vessel, I will bring an engineer.
If it is a no risk mission, I will bring my first officer.
etc.
and the best part is...circumstances in conversation fit. When I bring my Engineer, the engineer will tell me about disabling shields. When I bring all my security officers, my Chief of Security gives me recomendations about safety. When I leave officer on the ship, either my First Officer or my Helmsmann alerts me about the situation in orbit.
I know the game only recognizes tactical, engineer, and science officers and that creating specific posts is all in my imagination, BUT it still works perfectly when I take a second to consider who to bring. I'm very pleased with the way it works so far.
My main (sci) currently is running 4 Eng with 4 Shield gens, 3 turrets, 1 med Gen, 4 Drones. I found this does not work well on the new Assimilated map.....the borg get all manor of riled up. But other than that, it makes PvE content a breeze.
2 SCI with mostly healing skills
and 2 ENG's with mostly Shield Regen + maybe a turret and drone
and then whatever char i play.
i find the redshirts on the away team to be most useless... they can shoot stuff... great so can everyone else.
Sci and Eng do heal my health when i get Alpha Striked from an Elite Mob and am still alive.
Sometimes i tell my crew to concentrate fire on a Medic... or the guy with the dual wield weapon... then i just let them do their thing.
First i played an Engineer to RA5...
by now i have 3 chars running arround with Bat'leth's knocking everyone down + default support squad.
2 SCI with mostly healing skills
and 2 ENG's with mostly Shield Regen + maybe a turret and drone
and then whatever char i play.
i find the redshirts on the away team to be most useless... they can shoot stuff... great so can everyone else.
Sci and Eng do heal my health when i get Alpha Striked from an Elite Mob and am still alive.
Sometimes i tell my crew to concentrate fire on a Medic... or the guy with the dual wield weapon... then i just let them do their thing.
First i played an Engineer to RA5...
by now i have 3 chars running arround with Bat'leth's knocking everyone down + default support squad.
i use 2 engs and 2 sci as well but i use a lot of the deployable shields and heals from engineers ,turrets and mines, but 3 Boffs are equipped with polaron weapons that do aoe expose attacks 1 with split beam polaron , myself with dual pistols polaron and a sniper rifle or a split beam.
The polaron weapons proc is weapon malefunction and it works great...
While the NPCs might not be the best fighters out there, remember to use the Y button tactically to focus their fire. Sometimes that's not a good move (like when I'm fighting Crimto on elite I want my entire team each on a different target so they can stun and weapons malf each of those annoying dual pistol wielding Crimto sons of @#TRIBBLE@#$es) ... but like on Romulans or Cardassians focused fire can help you take them out like Popeye ... on at a time with ease.
Running Advanced I'm a debuff science officer and I have another science officer loaded out with a couple gravimetric shifts and other debuff abilities, a science officer loaded out with healing abilities, an engineer with some debuff/heal/cover shield, and a tact that's more melee based.
I find the debuff/gravimetric shifts help contain the enemies and soften them up. The engineer helps to augment the healing and debuff abilities. And my tact is used to target that shield heavy enemy so she can bypass the shields and do the direct damage and take that enemy out helping make the fight that much easier.
I haven't tried any difficulty level other than normal, but I generally go with 1 engineer, 2 science, and 2 tactical (including my captain, of course; I have one science and one tactical captain right now. It might change once I start leveling up my Ferengi engineer.)
The engineer is the Amazon/Pre-order Borg one, the science are split between healing and crowd control (gravimetric shift and tachyon harmonics are my favorites), and the tacticals are mostly there to buff my attacks. My officers usually have expose weapons (one of them usually has an exploit weapon, though; the other three with expose), and I use one expose and one exploit.
I try to save my exploit attacks for the exposed critters. I love the fact you can hit 'G' and it will target the nearest (next?) exposed enemy. Vaporization is fun, heh.
Hmm.. very good question. I go a very different route then everyone elss...sort of.
I run with 1 engineer, 1 tactical and 2 science officers.
One science dedicated to healing and one to expose attacks. With 4 expose attack on him and all my BOFFs carrying expose weapons I happily vaporize things right and left. It works out really well.
This thread is fast becoming awesome. It shows the variety in tactics that people are using. It makes for fun and helpful reading. Kudos to you all.
you prolly fell down your chair when i replied in a pve thread with tips LOL yes i do pve on elite diff..... its not as hard as ppl think , best way to fix the stupid dual pistol damage bug is actually capping weapon damage as they have done with players...
I have the aforementioned all engineer team, which lays down the dps. This is my "don't feel like messing with the buttons" team.
I have an all tac all grenade skill team that is great fun to just watch.
And I've got an all science team where their skills are all exposes and their all armed with the split beam rifles. Now that gives you a lot of ash piles
here is another tip have a spare sniper rifle with you for range pulling set ur away team behind a building so npcs have to run up you around a building that way they gonna walk on ur mines stand in ur arch of fire etc .
You set ur team up out of line of sight of the npcs , equip ur ranged sniper rifle take a pot shot on the npcs you want to chase you run back to ur own npc group and be ready with aoe expose weapon and other aoe boff abilites... have your mines shields and all such set up before the pull..
and if you really wanna set up an advanced trap for a specially tough group set the turrets and such at an diffrent angle then where you place ur away team so they dont get hit by enemy aoe damage.
Two science, one engineer, one tactical, engineer myself.
Sci guys - stun pistols, heals, roots.
Engineer BO - aoe support weapon, quantum mortar, mines, drone, shield gen
Tactical - split beam rifle, frag grenade, smoke grenade, target optics
Myself - dual phaser pistols, compression phaser pistol, usually combat supply kit for the mortar, seeker, self heal spam and energy packs.
My team is all about the crowd control. Blind with smoke grenade spam. Distract with drones. Knockdown with mortars, frag grenade, support weapon & my own pistol. Then focus fire as they hobble through the smoke.
I figure they can't do damage if they can't see or stand. It's been working so far.
On Average, I run with 2 Tactical officer, 1 Science officer with a heavy emphasis on healing, and the last officer varies from Engineer, Science and Tactical
On Normal settings I run 4 engineers. All with at least 2 turrets.
On Advanced and Elite I run 3 engineers, 1 science officer.
My officers all have phaser stun pistols.
My engineers also run 1 shield regen power and 1 weapons malfunction.
This lets me defeat the NPCs on Advanced and Elite even when they're "broken." The added firepower from the turrets, combined with the control powers like stun pistols and weapons malfunctions basically make PVE ground combat ... fun.
I keep meaning to try weapons malfunction on an engineering BO, but I usually end up using the first slot on a shield regen skill because that makes the engineer very hard to kill, then the rest of the slots go to fabrication.
i use 2 engs and 2 sci as well but i use a lot of the deployable shields and heals from engineers ,turrets and mines, but 3 Boffs are equipped with polaron weapons that do aoe expose attacks 1 with split beam polaron , myself with dual pistols polaron and a sniper rifle or a split beam.
The polaron weapons proc is weapon malefunction and it works great...
I find that I need at least one BO with a tetryon weapon just in case we face someone with shield regen. The TRIBBLE#% Romulans taught me to watch out for that.
Not really a fan of extreme specialization or extreme stacking. So my away team make-up and weapons are usually mixed.
My eng captain usually brings down with her:
2 tactical BOs -- one set up mainly for team buffing (overwatch, draw fire, etc.) and the other for enemy debuffs (suppressing fire, focus fire, etc.)
1 science BO -- all AoE expose abilities
1 engineering BO -- shield recharge, weapons malfunction, plus a few to complement my own captain, who normally goes in with a fab specialist kit.
Usually when I go up against Borg, I swap out the science BO with one that does all healing (vascular regen, dylovene, etc.)
Weapons are mixed... 3-4 with AoE expose weapons of various types, captain carries 2 split beam rifles. (Most BOs have Superior Luck so there's a lot of exposing going on )
you need one sci with a heal and a damage debuff, one enge with a drone,a turret and a shield recharge or health turret,2 tacks with plasma grenades works or you could go one tack and another eng with drones and turrets, make sure one bo has a stun pistol, one has a full auto and one has a tet split beam, after that anything works
I run with an Grenade Tac Officer, a Debuff Tac Officer, a Medical Sci Officer and a Repairs Engineer. I run as a deployables (Turrets, Mortars, Drones) Engineer Captain. The Eng and Sci BOffs are equipped with stun pistols, the Tac's are equpped with wide-area Exposes. I carry a wide area Expose and a Split Beam Exploit.
I've not really hit anything, so far, I can't handle. I do have some backup BOffs with other layouts but I never have had to use them.
Oh. I forgot to mention that I play on normal difficulty and while I spent almost nothing on my own ground skills, all my leadership abilities are at 7.
Comments
On Advanced and Elite I run 3 engineers, 1 science officer.
My officers all have phaser stun pistols.
My engineers also run 1 shield regen power and 1 weapons malfunction.
This lets me defeat the NPCs on Advanced and Elite even when they're "broken." The added firepower from the turrets, combined with the control powers like stun pistols and weapons malfunctions basically make PVE ground combat ... fun.
If it is a dangerous situation, I ill bring my Chief of Security, two security officers, and a medic.
If it a mission regarding a damaged vessel, I will bring an engineer.
If it is a no risk mission, I will bring my first officer.
etc.
and the best part is...circumstances in conversation fit. When I bring my Engineer, the engineer will tell me about disabling shields. When I bring all my security officers, my Chief of Security gives me recomendations about safety. When I leave officer on the ship, either my First Officer or my Helmsmann alerts me about the situation in orbit.
I know the game only recognizes tactical, engineer, and science officers and that creating specific posts is all in my imagination, BUT it still works perfectly when I take a second to consider who to bring. I'm very pleased with the way it works so far.
and 2 ENG's with mostly Shield Regen + maybe a turret and drone
and then whatever char i play.
i find the redshirts on the away team to be most useless... they can shoot stuff... great so can everyone else.
Sci and Eng do heal my health when i get Alpha Striked from an Elite Mob and am still alive.
Sometimes i tell my crew to concentrate fire on a Medic... or the guy with the dual wield weapon... then i just let them do their thing.
First i played an Engineer to RA5...
by now i have 3 chars running arround with Bat'leth's knocking everyone down + default support squad.
i use 2 engs and 2 sci as well but i use a lot of the deployable shields and heals from engineers ,turrets and mines, but 3 Boffs are equipped with polaron weapons that do aoe expose attacks 1 with split beam polaron , myself with dual pistols polaron and a sniper rifle or a split beam.
The polaron weapons proc is weapon malefunction and it works great...
I find the debuff/gravimetric shifts help contain the enemies and soften them up. The engineer helps to augment the healing and debuff abilities. And my tact is used to target that shield heavy enemy so she can bypass the shields and do the direct damage and take that enemy out helping make the fight that much easier.
The engineer is the Amazon/Pre-order Borg one, the science are split between healing and crowd control (gravimetric shift and tachyon harmonics are my favorites), and the tacticals are mostly there to buff my attacks. My officers usually have expose weapons (one of them usually has an exploit weapon, though; the other three with expose), and I use one expose and one exploit.
I try to save my exploit attacks for the exposed critters. I love the fact you can hit 'G' and it will target the nearest (next?) exposed enemy. Vaporization is fun, heh.
I run with 1 engineer, 1 tactical and 2 science officers.
One science dedicated to healing and one to expose attacks. With 4 expose attack on him and all my BOFFs carrying expose weapons I happily vaporize things right and left. It works out really well.
you prolly fell down your chair when i replied in a pve thread with tips LOL yes i do pve on elite diff..... its not as hard as ppl think , best way to fix the stupid dual pistol damage bug is actually capping weapon damage as they have done with players...
Not possible since chair sitting tech isn't in game yet!
Some NPCs still catch me offguard. But now that I've prepared better for it, it's tolerable.
That would certainly help. I think the fix, whichever fix they choose, should be pretty easy to implement. /sigh
It's just this problem's been sitting unattended for quite a long time. Just like ... Klingon tricorders.
I have the aforementioned all engineer team, which lays down the dps. This is my "don't feel like messing with the buttons" team.
I have an all tac all grenade skill team that is great fun to just watch.
And I've got an all science team where their skills are all exposes and their all armed with the split beam rifles. Now that gives you a lot of ash piles
You set ur team up out of line of sight of the npcs , equip ur ranged sniper rifle take a pot shot on the npcs you want to chase you run back to ur own npc group and be ready with aoe expose weapon and other aoe boff abilites... have your mines shields and all such set up before the pull..
and if you really wanna set up an advanced trap for a specially tough group set the turrets and such at an diffrent angle then where you place ur away team so they dont get hit by enemy aoe damage.
Sci guys - stun pistols, heals, roots.
Engineer BO - aoe support weapon, quantum mortar, mines, drone, shield gen
Tactical - split beam rifle, frag grenade, smoke grenade, target optics
Myself - dual phaser pistols, compression phaser pistol, usually combat supply kit for the mortar, seeker, self heal spam and energy packs.
My team is all about the crowd control. Blind with smoke grenade spam. Distract with drones. Knockdown with mortars, frag grenade, support weapon & my own pistol. Then focus fire as they hobble through the smoke.
I figure they can't do damage if they can't see or stand. It's been working so far.
Just dont do this in confined spaces
I keep meaning to try weapons malfunction on an engineering BO, but I usually end up using the first slot on a shield regen skill because that makes the engineer very hard to kill, then the rest of the slots go to fabrication.
I find that I need at least one BO with a tetryon weapon just in case we face someone with shield regen. The TRIBBLE#% Romulans taught me to watch out for that.
As many Engineers that I can. I have all mine being Turret builders and the like. If less than 4 Engineers, I will use Science officers.
Most impractical I have found is Tactical.
Blak
My eng captain usually brings down with her:
- 2 tactical BOs -- one set up mainly for team buffing (overwatch, draw fire, etc.) and the other for enemy debuffs (suppressing fire, focus fire, etc.)
- 1 science BO -- all AoE expose abilities
- 1 engineering BO -- shield recharge, weapons malfunction, plus a few to complement my own captain, who normally goes in with a fab specialist kit.
Usually when I go up against Borg, I swap out the science BO with one that does all healing (vascular regen, dylovene, etc.)Weapons are mixed... 3-4 with AoE expose weapons of various types, captain carries 2 split beam rifles. (Most BOs have Superior Luck so there's a lot of exposing going on
I've not really hit anything, so far, I can't handle. I do have some backup BOffs with other layouts but I never have had to use them.