test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Tetryons or antiprotons for fleetescort/defiant builds
System
Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,018 Arc User
Just switched from tier 4 defiant to fleet escort due to better stats tho i duno if i will keep this long as i like the defiant model myself which i am still waiting for cstore sale for the defiant retrofit i hope is coming soon.
Anyhow with the defiant and now the fleet escort, im using 3 DHC tetyrons and a Quantum. With 3 tet turrets in the back.
I like to strip shields down with em but wondering if im really doing a good shield strip or not.
You reckon keep em or maybe move to antiprotons as ppl seem to like em tho not sure why as they just have a crit severity bonus dont they which doesnt do much i think or at least never really noticed before. Tho they do look cool all red and all.
Just i never really see tetryons in STFs so i thought id be a bit diff and keep em and be a shield stripper but like i said am i really being any good with em and am i really stripping shields or is the damage just lowering them really quickly due to the setup and rapid cannon powers etc.
I have 8 mark XI token things to spend at ds9 store for some XI goodies but wondering if its worth changing from tets to somit else or not, which i thought antiprotons due to popularity of em.
Anyhow with the defiant and now the fleet escort, im using 3 DHC tetyrons and a Quantum. With 3 tet turrets in the back.
I like to strip shields down with em but wondering if im really doing a good shield strip or not.
You reckon keep em or maybe move to antiprotons as ppl seem to like em tho not sure why as they just have a crit severity bonus dont they which doesnt do much i think or at least never really noticed before. Tho they do look cool all red and all.
Just i never really see tetryons in STFs so i thought id be a bit diff and keep em and be a shield stripper but like i said am i really being any good with em and am i really stripping shields or is the damage just lowering them really quickly due to the setup and rapid cannon powers etc.
I have 8 mark XI token things to spend at ds9 store for some XI goodies but wondering if its worth changing from tets to somit else or not, which i thought antiprotons due to popularity of em.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Antiprotons are the go-to choice because more damage is good, but the tactical consoles for them are very expensive (I just bought 4 of them off the Dilithium shop instead of spending 1mil each)
Of course outside of STFs that translates to 'Hit CSV II, approach frigates, pres butan, win in one volley'.
Bah, as a Sci captain, I'll declare outright that damage is king. Who cares if a Tachyon Beam III strips 4000 shields per facing every 30s? A round off my weapons at 100 power does the same in less than 4 seconds and you want to bore through a single facing ASAP. Against a very resistant shield, yeah that Tachyon Beam may do more but that doesn't happen in STFs.
I was under the impression that the DoT effects don't stack. If that's the case, the high RoF of a cannon escort is going to overwrite the procs. Better off with increasing crit and getting damage that is good all round and doesn't care how fast it's coming.
Indeed. Plasma is arguably the worst proc for cannons since the DoTs don't stack. Dual Heavies are where the 2.5% procs really start to shine, but still, AP for raw damage.
Maybe I am wrong, but if I remember well there is a DoT stack between plasma light weapons (array and cannons) and plasma torpedoes.
I believe you are right (and even that the DoT from a Beam will stack with the DoT from a Cannon AND the DoT from a Torp) but even given that, due to the sheer number of particle shots fired by dual heavies, you are going to get more purchase from just about any other energy type, I'm sure of it. If you had a beam boat with a plasma turret, a plasma BA and a Plasma torp, I'd say that could be quite effective, but on an escort with two or more cannons up front, you are wasting potential procs (like subsystem disables from Phasers). Furthermore, I think the proc from cannons never gets rolling if you are constantly firing (though I admit, this is pure speculation). My reason for this belief is that the DoT starts ticking at the first second, not second 0 (the time of impact), therefore, the shots hit the enemy so fast, that the DoT doesn't start ticking until the break between volleys, when it is immediately overwritten again at the start of the next volley, effectively pausing the DoT each time you attack. You can easily prove me right or wrong with a look in the combat log, I'm not going to go get a load of plasmas just to test this, but would be nterested in what you notice from the behaviour in the log.
I'd gladly take up this challenge, but is there a way to output the combat log to an external text file or something? The innate/default combat log is woeful in both its output format and its pathetic buffer size.
I cry myself to sleep every night due to the lack of a combat log parser in this game. Please, Cryptic, PLEASE, implement an interface option to have functionality similar to WoW's 'Recount' addon which parses combat logs live, I'd buy a lifetime sub the same day its implemented.
Not to say WoW's original combat log was a decent one (it wasn't, I used add-ons to replace the original one), but I'd lop off a body part if I could get something which is close to WoW's current orgasmic combat log. Being able to filter combat events on type, source and target, colouring the events, controlling the verbosity, outputting the raw data to an external file and being able to click on the damn ability name in the combat log and see what it does would be a very nice thing to have.
When I want to check what on earth just one-shotted me through 14k shields, full hull, Brace for Impact and Polarize Hull (even though I know it was a plasma torpedo of some description, I just want to know if it was survivable via some other methods or I should just curl into a ball and accept the finality of it all) I don't want to scroll through 50 lines of my Photonic fleet doing minuscule damage or the last vestiges of my turrets and torpedos hitting their mark.
Btw i hear the word proc everywhere for sto lol but never know what it is in reference to. I would say its short for process but the way its described in sto for weapons it doesn't fit in discussions. Call me dumb but i never liked shorthand so when ppl say DWM (may not be proper one) or blah blah blah i never know what there referring to unless it is the few i know of like EPTS.
Proc does indeed mean process, and it's a long standing MMO terminology for anything which is an additional chance to take effect from another ability or event.
Anything that has a random percentage chance to occur is known as a 'proc'.
For example, the 'proc' from phasers is a chance to disable subsystems.
Any ideas, i could see if a mate would craft me them later tonight but he hasnt been on much lately. Exchange is too expensive and i really dont want to be using 24% ones. Dilithium store doesnt have any 26% ones either which is a known issue apparently or by design so the devs dont want it being the OP weapon of choice or somit i dunno lol tho wouldnt put it past them.
Any ideas what i could do without waiting for 6 hrs till mate gets online lol?
Horses for courses really, Anti-protons are nice! ;-)
Cheers
Rich
http://sourceforge.net/projects/combatlogparser/
for a parser to read combatlog.log in a nice way
Did try and grind 7k dilithium for a 3rd from dilth store but i reached 8k refined today (first time ever done that) but then i got to thinking do i really want to grind all that dilithium just for a 24% console which i could get a 26% if i just saved up for a bit.
Ideally anyone selling one cheap would be sweet but i doubt it. Yeah 9k for one was a very lucky find there mate. Congrats.
only now do i realize how terrible they are. i figured since flow capacitors boosted tetryon and polaron proc damage that something must do the same for plasma weapons. i figured it was partial generators, so i tried it out on tribble and bought some plasma weapons, plasma tactical consoles and partial generator and found the proc only dealing 22 damage.
confused, i unequipped consoles till i figure out what was effecting the proc damage, and found only the tactical consoles had any effect. well it must not be partial generators then, so i bought 1 of every other science ability buffing console. flow capacitor, graviton generate, sensor, there is no subspace decompiler console so i couldn't try that. wtf, if i flew science i'd be ****ed about that.
none of those consoles effected the proc damage, plasma truly is worthless, and everyone's shield guards against it. with flow capacitors stacked as high as i can i deal about 250 proc damage to shields with tetryon weapons, i expected similar with plasma dealing about 250 hull damage per proc, boy am i disappointed.
I don't really have anything to add to the weapon choice discussion; but I may have a suggestion that will save you money.
I noticed you are a lifer; Have you already used a Vice Admiral ship token on that character? You would have gotten one if you reached VA before December 2011. If you reached VA after that, you still get one at the 600 day subscribed mark. Either case, the token can be redeemed for the Defiant retrofit and you can save yourself the c-store cost.
http://startrekonline.com/veteran_rewards
If you already used your VA token on another ship type (IE the Galxy-R or Intrepid-R) please disregard this post and I apologies for telling you something you already knew.
I'm a plasma addicted, for sure, but (from http://www.stowiki.org/Ship_Weapon)...
Phaser: 2.5% chance to disable a random subsystem
Checked extensively.Disabled engine? Worthless. The ship is motionless but shoot as always.
Disabled auxiliary? No observable effect.
Disabled weapons? Useful!
Disabled shields? Very useful!
The problem is that the disabled subsystem is disabled only for a score of seconds, maybe 2 or 3: a window very small.
- Disruptor: 2.5% chance to lower the targets damage resistance by 10% for 15 sec
Checked but not extensively.No useful effect.
- Plasma: 2.5% chance to apply a non-stacking damage-over-time debuff
Checked extensively.DoT on the hull, cumulative (if I'm right) with the DoT of the Plasma Torpedoes.
- Polaron: 2.5% chance to reduce all enemy subsystem power levels by 25
Checked extensively.No useful effect. Maybe the time window is too small?
- Tetryon: 2.5% chance to deal additional shield damage
Checked extensively.No useful effect. Maybe the time window is too small?
- Antiproton: 2% chance to critical, increased critical severity
Checked extensively.No useful effect. Maybe the time window is too small?
I have an antiproton Odissey and I use it in the FA missions: my plasma Galaxy is more useful!
In truth: choose the weapon you like, and remember that the key is not the weapon(s) but the team management: concentrate the fire on a single target, and even with plasma beams it will sunk in a matter of seconds.
when aux is disabled your opponent cant use any abilities with an aux multiplier, and when engines are disabled your enemies defense score drops so they are easier to hit. i've had my engines disabled multiple times right as im trying to evasive away, so annoying.
its only useful if shields are breached, its a hull only debuff
the wiki is full of outdated info right now, just projectiles cause the fire. energy weapon's proc is just extra plasma damage, if your a plasma user you should have noticed this, just check the tool tip. i went into detail last post about why they are terrible
flow capacitors boost the energy drain, but the proc just lowers energy levels and doesn't keep them lower, so they recharge immediately. still a pretty worthless proc.
immensely useful effect, flow capacitors boost the proc damage. its substantial, free extra shield damage every time the proc goes off.
they have built in extra crit chance and severity
has more to do with your builds
considering procs going off is a rare thing, this is basically true. but with plasma weapons you are going to encounter people using shields that have 20% resistance to it's damage thanks to the sets. its just a bad choice right now and its too bad.
I've traded the flow capacitors for extra protection: something reliable, not 2.5% proc, sorry.
Moreover the plasma proc affects the hull ---> no regeneration (for the big ships) and/or reliable "corrosive" damage (for the little ships).
So far it is satisfactory.
Plasma: Not so good in PVP, fairly good in PVE. On the plus, generally VERY cheap weapons because fewer people use em. At the least, the damage from the proc prevents hull regen.
Phaser: Common enough weapons, the proc can (against a human player) have that brief 'panic moment' when something suddenly is shut down. Fairly useful either way.
Disruptor: The hull resistance debuff is pretty effective no matter what you are doing, but most effective in STFs when you have to pull down MILLIONS of hull strength. Mostly because this proc helps the WHOLE team.
Antiproton: Yes, they have a better chance for critical damage and stuff, but that's kinda all. Yes, they are DPS, and while DPS wins things, they don't add any other tactical advantage.
Polaron: The power drain is good, but honestly not useful at all against the computer ships. Much more PVP, but even then, it can be resisted.
Tetryon: Probably the most 'middle line' of all the energy types, because the shield killer part is useful at all times except where the target has no shields to begin with. Obviously the proc in that case isn't needed, but the shield drain when it is needed, again helps the whole team, not just only you.
My own thoughts: I highly recommend Disruptors or Tetryon over anything else, even Antiproton weapons (in space). the proc they have is most generally effective for all people you are with, if doing PVP matches, or STFs. Even one on one PVP, stripping your opponent's shields or weakening their hull is good regardless.
But, to each their own. I'm not a heavy PVPer, so those folks can feel free to correct me of course.