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Regent/Sovereign refit Feedback
studleydoo
Member Posts: 105 Arc User
OK folks, the Regent/Sovereign refit has been out for a few days and I have been having loads of fun trying her out. Here is my feedback:
Boff layout: Very good. The LtCom Tac and Ens Tac really adds the punch may of us wanted for the Sovereign. The price for this gain is a slight loss in ENG from LtCom to Lt. I can still tank well...not as great as the original but good enough to survive, even against huge mobs in Fleet actions. The Lt Universal is awesome as it gives more versatility. I know majority of people will go for the balanced approach by slotting a science there. But by slotting another TAC there, it'll make it the most Tactical of all Fed cruisers without losing too much in the tanking department. I've been using this 3 tactical layout in Fleet actions and its been devastating. But the risk is not being able to clear debuffs from certain enemies...use this layout at your own risk, but the results are awesome. Of course, you can slot an ENG there for even more tanking. In a nutshell, sad to lose the LtCom ENG but the gains in Tac and increased versatility with the Lt Universal is well worth it.
Wide angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher: Great!!!! At least for the slow turning cruisers. It makes a torpedo build more viable for cruisers. May not be useful for fast turning ships as it doesn't have as high damage or DPS as other purple (very rare) Mark XII quantums. Perhaps it can use a little buff up. Just wish that this launcher allowed the torpedos to come out of the Launcher under the saucer in the sovereign model instead of under the deflector. This is a must have for cruisers as it allows you to fire torpedoes while broad-siding.
Metron gas cannister console: Very interesting and rather tricky to use. Its been hit and miss. Perhaps I need more practice in using this abilities effectively. I've never used eject plasma before so I'm not a pro in using this skill. So when I use it right, it can be pretty effective....but lots of time I "miss" and it does nothing but give a cool visual fireworks.
Visual design: good work JamJamz! Actually the model design looks better than I thought. It is a worthy 25th century version. However, I'm a purist and absolutely love the original sovereign design, so I swapped to original skin.
Compared to other Tactical cruisers: As I mentioned earlier, it has the potential to be the most tactical of all Fed cruisers (even than the tactically oriented Odyssey), if you slot another Tactical in the Lt Universal. But I know most will slot a Science there for balance. Still with the Science there, it is essentially similar to the Excelsior retrofit, but the sovereign has an extra ENS TAC while the Excelsior has the extra ENS ENG. However the big advantage the Excelsior retrofit has is its Turn Rate. But that can be mostly negated by the wide angle Quantum torpedo launcher. Captain Geko did an awesome job of giving us an improved Sovereign refit without making the other tactical cruisers obsolete. The Excelsior retrofit is slightly less tactical than the Sovereign refit now but it is still a viable tactical cruiser, as a fast-moving/turning and hard-hitting cruiser option. But if you slot a tactical in the Lt universal, it is a beast of a ship in terms of firepower but you may need support to clear debuffs.
Also we have to keep in mind that this Sovereign refit is a variant of the the classic sovereign. It is not the next tier up. So it does not make the original obsolete. It only offers a different option. The original sovereign is still in my mind the most balanced cruiser with a great balance of attack and defense. This new variant pushes this cruiser a little bit more in the "attack" direction in the continuum, losing a little in defense as a result.
Cost issue: I guess what people are having problem with it is the value they are get for the cost and also expectations. I believe this is the one of the first C-store release of a highly anticipated tier 5 ships. The Armitage was well received because it was a tier 5 release of a tier 3 ship, where the difference is significant. Also the Atrox was an entire new ship and ship class. The problem with the Sovereign refit is that it is a release of a ship that is already in tier 5, so the difference is not as significant. As a result people don't see as much bang for the buck. I think the devs in a way recognized this so they tried to make the ship more enticing by making the Wide-angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher useable on any ship.
Therein lies the problem. How can you release a new refit of a ship that is already tier 5? What can you offer in terms of value without making other ships totally obsolete? Certainly in terms of boff layout, they would be limited as they don't want to make other cruisers totally obsolete. (Personally I think they did an awesome job of making it the most tactical without making other tactical cruisers obsolete) The easiest way to add value is through special consoles/abilities.
While the wide-angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher is excellent and very valuable for slow moving cruisers, it is not so valuable for people with fast turning ships as the damage is subpar to the higher end Mark XII Quantum launchers. Perhaps this needs to be buffed to add more value.
The Metron gas cannister console is pretty sweet, and visually nice...not sure if it is good enough to be of value. Of course, I'm still trying it out and have not yet explored its potential. So far, its fun with nice effects, I'm not totally sold on it.
Regardless, I still bought it and I'm really enjoying it.
Boff layout: Very good. The LtCom Tac and Ens Tac really adds the punch may of us wanted for the Sovereign. The price for this gain is a slight loss in ENG from LtCom to Lt. I can still tank well...not as great as the original but good enough to survive, even against huge mobs in Fleet actions. The Lt Universal is awesome as it gives more versatility. I know majority of people will go for the balanced approach by slotting a science there. But by slotting another TAC there, it'll make it the most Tactical of all Fed cruisers without losing too much in the tanking department. I've been using this 3 tactical layout in Fleet actions and its been devastating. But the risk is not being able to clear debuffs from certain enemies...use this layout at your own risk, but the results are awesome. Of course, you can slot an ENG there for even more tanking. In a nutshell, sad to lose the LtCom ENG but the gains in Tac and increased versatility with the Lt Universal is well worth it.
Wide angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher: Great!!!! At least for the slow turning cruisers. It makes a torpedo build more viable for cruisers. May not be useful for fast turning ships as it doesn't have as high damage or DPS as other purple (very rare) Mark XII quantums. Perhaps it can use a little buff up. Just wish that this launcher allowed the torpedos to come out of the Launcher under the saucer in the sovereign model instead of under the deflector. This is a must have for cruisers as it allows you to fire torpedoes while broad-siding.
Metron gas cannister console: Very interesting and rather tricky to use. Its been hit and miss. Perhaps I need more practice in using this abilities effectively. I've never used eject plasma before so I'm not a pro in using this skill. So when I use it right, it can be pretty effective....but lots of time I "miss" and it does nothing but give a cool visual fireworks.
Visual design: good work JamJamz! Actually the model design looks better than I thought. It is a worthy 25th century version. However, I'm a purist and absolutely love the original sovereign design, so I swapped to original skin.
Compared to other Tactical cruisers: As I mentioned earlier, it has the potential to be the most tactical of all Fed cruisers (even than the tactically oriented Odyssey), if you slot another Tactical in the Lt Universal. But I know most will slot a Science there for balance. Still with the Science there, it is essentially similar to the Excelsior retrofit, but the sovereign has an extra ENS TAC while the Excelsior has the extra ENS ENG. However the big advantage the Excelsior retrofit has is its Turn Rate. But that can be mostly negated by the wide angle Quantum torpedo launcher. Captain Geko did an awesome job of giving us an improved Sovereign refit without making the other tactical cruisers obsolete. The Excelsior retrofit is slightly less tactical than the Sovereign refit now but it is still a viable tactical cruiser, as a fast-moving/turning and hard-hitting cruiser option. But if you slot a tactical in the Lt universal, it is a beast of a ship in terms of firepower but you may need support to clear debuffs.
Also we have to keep in mind that this Sovereign refit is a variant of the the classic sovereign. It is not the next tier up. So it does not make the original obsolete. It only offers a different option. The original sovereign is still in my mind the most balanced cruiser with a great balance of attack and defense. This new variant pushes this cruiser a little bit more in the "attack" direction in the continuum, losing a little in defense as a result.
Cost issue: I guess what people are having problem with it is the value they are get for the cost and also expectations. I believe this is the one of the first C-store release of a highly anticipated tier 5 ships. The Armitage was well received because it was a tier 5 release of a tier 3 ship, where the difference is significant. Also the Atrox was an entire new ship and ship class. The problem with the Sovereign refit is that it is a release of a ship that is already in tier 5, so the difference is not as significant. As a result people don't see as much bang for the buck. I think the devs in a way recognized this so they tried to make the ship more enticing by making the Wide-angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher useable on any ship.
Therein lies the problem. How can you release a new refit of a ship that is already tier 5? What can you offer in terms of value without making other ships totally obsolete? Certainly in terms of boff layout, they would be limited as they don't want to make other cruisers totally obsolete. (Personally I think they did an awesome job of making it the most tactical without making other tactical cruisers obsolete) The easiest way to add value is through special consoles/abilities.
While the wide-angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher is excellent and very valuable for slow moving cruisers, it is not so valuable for people with fast turning ships as the damage is subpar to the higher end Mark XII Quantum launchers. Perhaps this needs to be buffed to add more value.
The Metron gas cannister console is pretty sweet, and visually nice...not sure if it is good enough to be of value. Of course, I'm still trying it out and have not yet explored its potential. So far, its fun with nice effects, I'm not totally sold on it.
Regardless, I still bought it and I'm really enjoying it.
Post edited by studleydoo on
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Comments
I don't own the Regent, but based on feedback and the general stats, I think you've hit one of the major issues the Regent currently suffers from - 25$ is a LOT of money to pay for anything that is essentially a single digital-only product for an existing game - and it's not mission content or a new region - it's literally just one ship, that can arguably change your game experience, but ultimately begs the question is any one ship worth 25$
as you've pointed out, the Regent is 25$ for a marginally different ship. The cosmetic alterations are already a subject of heated debate (I'm currently on the fence - quite frankly, I think Star Trek started to fail cosmetically with all the squashy saucers of TNG and forward - I want my circular saucers and am eagerly awaiting the now near-mythical arrival of the Ambassador) with some people loving aspects of it, others hating it, and many simply wondering if it's cosmetically different enough to justify 25$
then, you have the boff arrangement - You're absolutely right - the new boff arrangement is only marginally different from existing setups, unless you choose to highly unbalance your ship by forgoing any sci-boff at all, in which case you have a dramatically different, but equally dramatically...dangerous...ship layout
all in all, I think I'll be passing on the regent, until...well, until I get married to an obnoxiously beautiful obscenely rich woman...or win the lottery. Yeah, that's gonna happen
sadly, for a brief moment, there was another thread where a guy was laying out his layout for a regent, and had both a commander eng setup AND a lt com eng setup - if that were true, I'd be buying the thing in a heartbeat, as a 3-1-4-3-2 boff layout would just about be the best possible of any world I could imagine - but of course, it turns out, that was a misspost.../sigh
James T. Kirk
Would point out that Z-store ships are account wide unlocks, so you're not necessarily paying $25 for one ship, you could have multiple copies if you really wanted a cruiser option for every federation character you have.
However, Personally I think the Excelsior retro I got was better value, And I happen to like the older designs before Starfleet started melting all the hull parts on their designs into each other.
After all, for Excelsior retro you get; Identical hull, identical shield modifier, faster turn rate, near identical bridge layout (unless you run the Regent totally devoid of any science capability). As for specials Regent has a Console that's barely more than Eject warp plasma in a different colour, while the Excelsior retro gets free fast travel to every sector block baring Omega Leonis, Gama Orionus, Orellius and Zeta Andomidae.
Last of all, the Excelsior Retrofit's cheaper than the Regent, and you can start flying it at rank 40.
The Universal console ins't very sensible, it almost HAS to be used for a science boff. If the universal had been the tactical ensigns slot, it would've given better options, keeping the Lt science.
The console is cute, but I haven't found it useful enough to have it take a console slot regularly, but the console wasn't a big deal for the purchase anyways.
The console is rather good if you spec for it and equip some sci consoles to assist it. Combine it with Warp Plasma for extra good times.
The torpedo is good. The arc matches perfectly with cannons. If I wasn't using a shield bypass build I might even use it. Well I'm not going to toss it out, just not using it now.
Having acquired the Borg 4 piece set for stf's I may revert back to a Tactical heavy build and trust the Borg set to clear hazards. Kinda sorta why bother as its nice to have a couple of team heals in there and the ship pumps out a lot of damage with DEM, Spreads, and Salvos.
Cheers and happy flying!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZfTwMQRIOE&feature=plcp
Going to leave this here. This was from the first day. Maybe some haven't gotten to see the ship at all and will like a look. And also for those that may be a bit cannon curious as to how that works. It works very well. The high ROF cannons plus the added DEM damage is charming in any case. Now toss on torpedo spreads and scatter volleys and general plasma burns on everything its just funtastic.
And DEM is adding damage to each hit. Not just each hit on something with shields. Just bang right on the hull. So it is pretty nice for a 30 second effect.
The basic stats are the same for ALL the refits. The only times they change are for Retrofits (since those are low-tier ships upgraded to high-tier) and for Fleet ships.
Not necessarily, I've gotten good mileage out of PvE by eschewing science entirely and using the Universal Lt slot for more tac skills. Now I can run a full Tactical Team cycle while still having decent attack patterns and beam skills. I'm squishier than the average cruiser, but that's the tradeoff, right?
You can ask the same of nearly every C-store ship. Yes, the Regent's value proposition is lower compared to buying an Ody, Armitage, Atrox or Gal-X, since those four ships are effectively new classes, whereas the Regent is a tweaked standard Assault Cruiser. And yes, $25 is high for DLC of any kind (even full downloadable games cost roughly $15), but I like to think of it this way:
I don't know any artists or 3D modelers, but if I commissioned some to design me a spiffy starship and render it, I'm sure they'd charge me a hell of a lot more than $25. AND I wouldn't be able to use it in my cool videogame.
For 2500 Zen, there should've been a small enhancement to something, stat-wise. The ship is nice, but not 2500 Zen nice
Not all of us are dedicated to PvE, I also PvP. Eschewing science in PvP (even just a Lt. Science Boff) might as well be the kiss of death.
Do you work for Cryptic? I know 4 players who purchased it and they say it was a huge waste of $$$. Just sayin'
So, a person likes something your friends did not like, and suddenly he's a plant? How very internet of you.
I don't PvP, so I wouldn't know. I'm sorry that you feel that PvPers are obliged to use science, which makes the Regent less attractive, but them's the breaks, right? The worst you could do is not buy it, I guess.
I been a sov user for 3 years... and I have been found ot have one of the strongest builds in game for the ship. I have done alot of testing on both ships. The BO layout is good and a great option. I however must give the ship a B- There is an error somewhere in the math on turn rate. I have equiped the exact same consoles, and BO abilities, on the Sov, and the Refit Sov. The base Turn rate as listed by Cryptic is 7 for both ships. I find this in error. The turn rate in the normal Sov, is actually higher then the refit for some reason. So for the added damage we take a slight punishment in Turn rate. I can do just about as good dps in my Regular sov then the refit. The metreon console is cute... but in real gaming exspierience very hard to use. And when usedreally lacks the punch to actally crush the oponenent in it. I have also found NPC's in fleet events escape it. The damage base is low enough it hardly does damage to the targets caught in it. In the actual movie, the gas destroyed One Sona Ship and crippled the other. If your introducing a ingame item from the movie, then it needs to be closer to the movie stats. The ship itself is a great idea. It is finally, time the recognized the assult crusiers users, and give them an upgrade.
I do suggest that in the fleet cersion when it comes out that it is is available for BOTH types of the assult cruiser.
Sincerly,
Diana@Fredenburg
U.S.S. Sovereign
NCC-9921701-A
1st Alpha Quadrant
Wow....that is the funniest thing I've ever heard. If I worked for Cryptic, I would have fought for an even better Sovereign refit. If you look at previous sovereign refit threads in this forums, you'd see that I've been very vocal about possible setups for the new sovereign refit prior to its release. That said, I didn't get what I was hoping to get, but still what we got was good enough. In fact, I was fearing the worst when we saw the Fleet Sovereign boff layout in Tribble briefly before it was pulled. That setup would of made the Sovereign the least tanky cruiser of all. So compared to that, what we got was very good. We got an increase in Tactical with a slight loss in tanking. I was hoping for Com ENG, Lt Com ENG, LtCom TAC, and Lt Sci where we gain in tactical without a loss in tanking, but I can live with what we got.
I've been testing out the new Sovereign refit for the past week, and have been adapting and tweaking it to make the best build possible. I actually love the Lt Universal as it allows more versatility. Yes most will be using Science there, but in certain cases, I'm able to do without the science there and recently have been flying with a tactical there. And I have to say, it is a beast. Remember you still have a Com ENG and Lt ENG, so you can chain EPS3 and EPS2 for shield tanking.
Perhaps the most valuable is the Wide-angle Quantum Torpedo Launcher. I believe it should be part of the build of most cruisers...as a torpedo build is more viable now.
That said, I'm still keeping my original Sovereign around as I do not think this new Regent replaces it, but rather offers an alternative. A fun alternative at that.
Its funny what you say about the turn rate. I've been noticing the slower turn rate as well. I thought it was just me. However it wasn't as slow in the beginning. Perhaps it was just a lag in the server. I notice it from time to time....also in the past with my original sovereign.
And I whole-heartedly agree with you, I hope we can get the fleet sovereign for both versions too.
LMAO after flying oddys and atroxs the thing is a joy to fly. my take: I love the quantum launcher but i would have preferred a console that would make a launcher of your choice 180 degrees. the metreon is about worthless IMHO, yes it is a cool lightshow, but it's not worth a console slot. I sprayed a cruiser that had one shield down completely, and detonated. the other shields went to yellow but no significant hull damage. I think I'll drop the point defense console in instead. I may try the uni as a tac, but i'm uneasy about not having TSS. if i play with a cannon build, I will have to try turrets vs cannon fore and aft. can you even get a broadside with cannons fore and aft? theoretically there should be no overlap.
It's not worth buying
Turn rate is very poor
The ensign Tac spot should have been added
To the universal position making it a LT cmdr
It should have 10 consoles not 9
The metron gas weapon just tickles
The 90 degree quantum does sub standard damage
As a premium priced ship the only thing
Premium is the looks jam jam did his part.
I do not recommend anyone to spend money
On this ship you will be disappointed .
The Excelsior is a better ship.
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
So all those guys who don't like it, I can respect that, but I'm just sayin, the Regent is nice. But it's not my fish lol, call me a noob, but I'll take the Oddy any day XD
http://www.stowiki.org/Fleet_Assault_Cruiser_Refit
The wide angle launcher is nothiing innovative. Damage is ok.
It has only 9 console slots...instead of 10. ..thats a big dissapointment.
The console item is pretty underwhelming too.
I am trying to understand why this ships has the same price as the oddy but delivers far less in value. Noone and I mean NOONE should buy this ship based on the idea that there are far superior ships to it for the same price or less.
I am not angry i bought 1....i have tons of refined dilithium and was curios as to the ships performance.
DEVS of the SHIP...u really dropped the ball on this one..
The things that would have made this ship a good buy.
1 its price....lower it to 1500. then as it stands this ship would be a fair deal.
2. 1 more console.
3 The wide angle launcher be an integral part of the ship I.E. allows you to use any weapon type (torp)
4 A general increase in effectiveness or power or strength in the ship as opposed to its predecessor.
Given all ships has its strengths and weaknesses and different ships are better at different things. Obviously an Odyssey will always be a better tanker or healer than a Sovereign refit, but is it better as a tactical cruiser?
Personally I think a Sovereign refit is the better tactical cruiser than the Odyssey. The main reason is that if you use the Lt universal for a tactical slot, that'll give you a LtCom Tac, Lt Tac, and Ens Tac. A C-store Odyssey can match this by using its LtCom and Ens Universal slots for tactical. However, to achieve this an C-store Odyssey has to sacrifice its tanking abilities severely...as using its universal slots for all tactical means it only have a Com ENG and a Lt Sci to tank. The Sovereign refit still have a Com ENG and Lt ENG to tank. Plus it has a better turn rate.
Versus the Excelsior retrofit....it is closer. The most obvious advantage the Excelsior retrofit has is its better turn rate but this can be negated to an extent with the wide-angle Quantum Torpedo launcher. Still, Tactically the Sovereign has the upper hand. Even with the balance layout of using a science in the Lt Universal slot, the Sovereign refit has one extra Ens Tac while the Excelsior retrofit has an extra ENS ENG. Also, it is important to note that the Sovereign refit has +10 to weapon energy. So with the balanced boff layout, the Sovereign refit has a slight tactical advantage but the Excelsior retrofit has a slight tanking advantage. If you choose to use a Tactical in the Lt Universal slot, the Sovereign refit will far exceed the Excelsior retrofit in the tactical department but the weakness is that it will not have any science powers to clear debuffs or help supplement tanking. Of course all this wouldn't matter much in PvE, however it may be an issue in PvP. However, having a team mate cover these deficiencies by removing debuffs and healing may help.
So in a nutshell, it all comes down to what you want and how much you are willing to pay for it. The Sovereign refit has its role and covers the heavy tactical cruiser role well, but it doesn't make any other cruiser (including the classic Sovereign) obsolete. The Excelsior retrofit is still as viable as a tactical cruiser...and a cheaper alternative as well. The Odyssey is still the most versatile cruiser of them all, capable of playing many different roles but filling the tanking and healing role the best. The Galaxy Dreadnaught remains a unique tactical cruiser with its cloak and Spinal Phaser Lance and its great alpha strike potential. The original classic Sovereign in my mind, remains the most balanced in attack and defensive abilities. So all these ships are still viable.
The Excelsior (atm) is better because, console for console, you can have a better turn rate, same hull, same shields, and same console slots with the same setup. The Ensign Tactical isn't that great. On an Excelsior, I can run one less RCS and still have a slightly better turn rate than the Regent, and give the extra engineer console to be armor (or what have you). The Regent isn't a bad ship, the Excelsior just tops it.
Same here. I just thought it was me as well. Hopefully Cryptic will look into this turn rate issue .
I would bypass science boffs if it werent for pvp debuffs. The debuffs that people are throwing out to disable players are best handled by skills like hazard emitters, science team, etc. As far as not buying the ship, I have bought it, I do like it, its just designed a little less effective than it shouldve been.
Perhaps for certain builds which depend on turn rate such as cannons, however, for certain builds such as beam boats which do not depend on turn rate as much, it may not be a big factor. Also with the wide angle Quantum torpedoes, it negates the advantage of better turn rate substantially. Also Ensign Tactical is actually pretty good and I feel offers more variety than a Ensign Engineer. You can stick an extra Tactical Team which help with tanking with a offensive boost, or a Fire at Will 1 or any of torpedo skills (HYT1 or TS1), Beam Overload 1...while for Ensign Engineering, you can put Emergency Power skills or Engineer Team...not as much variety.
I've tried both ships...both very good ships...I love the turn rate on the Excelsior but I feel the Sovereign refit if setup right is the heavier hitter...as it should be.
That said, the Regent is a supremely nice Cruiser, and it even feels a bit more nimble then the Sovereign.
The Wide Angle Torp gives broadsiders a nice kinetic punch to unshielded enemies while keeping the energy weapons pouring on.
The turn rate isn't just for weapons, but for shields as well. The Excelsior can turn to give a stronger shield to the enemy, improving its survivability. Also, auxiliary to inertial dampers is an Ensign Engineer ability, and works very well (plus acts as a resist to photonic shockwave and a few others).