Recon Sci STF Build advice?

bertiewooster · August 2012

Hello STO forums!

I've been playing STO for a little while now (since february) and have played a bunch of STF's (normal and elite) on my main Tac character, who flies a fleet escort that's all tricked out for fighting the borg.

More recently I created a Sci character and reached level 50 not too long ago on him, and now I want to try to take on the Borg with it. At first I thought it would be easy since I have a solid STF build on my other character, but quickly found that a science vessel is very, very different from what I'm used to (cruisers and escorts). I've gotten to a point that works reasonably well, but it definitely has some serious flaws and is just mediocre overall.

Here's my current build:

Fore weapons: 2x Quantum Torp Mk X [Ctrd] [dmg], 1x Tetryon dual beam bank [ctrd]x2, [dmg]
Rear weapons: 2x Tetryon Beam Bank Mk X [dmg]x2, 1x Tetryon Beam Bank [ctrh] (this one's a misfit that needs to be replaced)

Deflector: Breen Deflector (another misfit, I need to at least get the Jem'hadar one)
Shields: Jem'hadar
Engines: Jem'hadar

Engineering Consoles: Field Emitter Mk X (uncommon), neutronium alloy
Science Consoles (these are a random hodgepodge because I'm not very knowledgeable on Sci consoles): Shield Emitter Amplifier Mk X (rare), Inertial Dampeners Mk XI, Assimilated Module (should probably be moved somewhere else), Emitter Array Mk X (what does this really even do?)
Tactical Consoles: 2x Quantum, 1x Tetryon

Boff skills (this is where a lot of work needs to be done I think):
Lt. Tac: Torpedo Spread I, Tactical Team II
Ens. Tac: Fire at Will I (considering changing this back to tac team)
Lt. Eng: Emergency Power to Shields I, Reverse Shield Polarity I
Cmdr Sci: Hazard Emitters I, Tractor Beam II, Gravity Well I (this hasn't been very useful so far), Viral Matrix II
Lt. Cmdr Sci: Tractor Beam I, Transfer Shield Strength II, Viral Matrix I

Right now I'm running power to shields because I don't really know what's best for a Sci ship.

The idea behind the build is to act as crowd control for STFs. In testing (in cure normal) I found that it worked decently to tractor one BoP and Viral Matrix the other, and then try to broadside them until their shields were down and then pummel them with torpedoes. The main issues are that:
1. Weapons are weak enough that I couldn't destroy a BoP before the tractor beam/viral matrix ran out. If I didn't jump right on them and do something to shut them down again, there would be a good chance that they'd reach the kang before I could destroy them.
2. Circumstances being what they are, I only pulled off the previously described maneuver a couple of times. Other times I just scrambled to do whatever I could to shut them down so they wouldn't reach the kang.
3. This didn't work very well at all for the raptors. I was able to take them down eventually but it took a while and the did reach the kang. If it weren't for the fact there was an escort helping guard the kang they might have done some serious damage, since my ship was not doing much to slow them down.
4. It's very delicate. One raptor stripped my shields pretty quickly, and the cube stripped them even quicker. It's not very good good at tanking at all at the moment. (I had two tac teams, which helped a lot before, but replaced one with FAW as an experiment. FAW wasn't that useful in this situation, so I'm gonna go back to tac team).

Things I'm planning on doing (as soon as I have enough EDCs/ECs):
1. Getting Borg engines and deflector.
2. MACO shields. (Some builds I looked at used Omega, are these better for Sci?)
3. AP weapons.
4. Eventually, MKXII everything. This is is long ways off though, for now I'm gonna focus on getting MKXI of what I can.
5. I need a hold release (polarize hull probably) because the one time I died in my test round was because I got caught in a tractor beam by a cube.

My main concern is whether or not I'm going for the right strategy for a sci ship in STF (holding down crowds with sci abilities) and how I should lay out my weapons and BOFF abilities. I'm not sure whether to go towards a more beam heavy route or more of a torpedo boat route at the moment as well.

TL;DR version: my sci ship is lame, and I'm not sure how to improve it. Thanks for reading!

denliner1701 · August 2012

Here's what I'm suggesting:
Fore: Dual Polaron Beam Bank x2, 1x Quantum Torpedo Launcher
Aft: Polaron Turret x3/Polaron Beam Array x3

Commander Sci: TSS1, HE2, ES2, TR3/GW3
Lt Commander Sci: PH1, HE2/TB2, VM1/GW1/TR2
Lt Eng: EPtS1/EPtW1/EPtA1, EPtS1/RSP1
Lt Tac: TT1, BO2/CRF1
Ens Tac: TS1/BO1

You may improve these consoles to Mk XII (Common-Very Rare)
Eng Consoles: Monotanium Alloy Mk XI, Neutronium Alloy Mk XI/Electroceramic Hull Plating Mk XI
Sci Consoles: Flow Capacitors Mk XI x4/Graviton Generators Mk XI x4
Tac Consoles: Polaron Phase Modulator Mk XI x2, Zero Point Quantum Chamber Mk XI

This build is mainly focused on disabling a target by draining it's energy or Crowd Control. Jem'Hadar set is basically POLARON energy only because the 2 piece only benefits Polarons, no exceptions. Also Polarons can assist in you in draining. Flow Capacitors also improve the Polaron and Tetryon procs.

Also, The Jem'Hadar set is weaker than the STF sets. Get 3 Piece Borg with MACO Shield or 2 Piece Borg with Omega Deflector and Shield.

Also, PUT EVERYTHING TO AUXILLARY! Science Vessels breathe and depend on Auxillary power to live....or at least reach full potential.
Shield power needs to be lower since it only affects natural shield regeneration. Your secondary power should be weapons since you deal more polaron damage also with more weapons power.

adamkafei · August 2012

denliner1701 wrote: »

Shield power needs to be lower since it only affects natural shield regeneration. Your secondary power should be weapons since you deal more polaron damage also with more weapons power.

I disagree with this, I find in my personal experience it improves their resistance aswell.

The advantage of sci ships is that they seem stats wise to be a compromise between the escorts and cruisers I.E. Cruiser end shielding, escort style turn rate. I agree if you are going to use the Jem'hadar set use 3 piece and go polaron, as you have to run at least 50 total aux power to have decent effect it doesn't leave very much for other systems so I recommend running 4 beam broadside (I've seen this be very successful on science ships) if you run the following base power levels you might notice an overall performance boost:

Weapons: 70
Shields: 65
Engines: 30 (Can be reduced to help prop weapons but 30 here props your turn rate)
Aux: 35 (this becomes 50 due to the classes aux power boost)

if you are going to keep RSP then run a level of FBP with it, this way combined with a tachyon beam and Beam target shields you can do some major damage to an enemy while taking next to none yourself although do keep an EPtS ready as RSP runs out before FBP.

You don't need the Field emitter in your engi slots so I recommend using another neutronium alloy, keep the Borg console in a sci slot (it still leaves you three and it's worth having) I do recommend a field generator console as it will boost shield strength, that leaves a slot for a flow capacitor and a graviton generator which will increase the effect of your drain and grav well (although I think Tykens rift may be better as it has the hold effect and an energy drain). I think a second viral matrix is a waste (I'm not sure what to do with that slot though)

You shouldn't need 2 tractor beams so you can swap one of those for the tachyon beam mentioned above, I don't recommend BO with the above weapon power level but it might be worth doing and combining with a HY torp as that can do some major damage to a single target and can run every 30 seconds of course you will rely then on TT to prop up your damage after using the BO also swap all your tac consoles for ones that boost damage for your energy type.

I think that will help but it still wont compare on a damage scale to any escort and cruisers will do more than you, if you still aren't happy after rearranging your build try going for team buff abilities/debuff cleansers

coffeemike · August 2012

I switched back to the Akira Class carrier escort recently from my Fleet Luna Class.. cuz I wanted the PDS Torp launcher. I wish I could put this on other ships!

For my build, I use this on STFs. I'm a Fed Joined Trill engineer btw.

Base power:
100 Weapons (123 usually)
40 Shields (63 usually)
30 Engines (60 usually)
30 Aux (59 usually)

MK XI MACO Shield
MK XI MACO Deflector
Borg Transwarp Engines
Borg Console
(I like having some of the MACO & Borg powers handy like auto regeneration)

Sci Consoles: Theta Radiation Vent console, MK XII Blue Emitter Array, MK XII Blue Shield Emitter Amplifier, MK XI Purple Particle Generator
Eng Consoles: Borg Console, MK XI Blue Neutronium Armor
Tac Consoles: 4x MK XII Blue Antiproton Mag Regulators

At one point, I only used 3 MK XII Antiproton Mag regulators & had the Theta Radiation console in the 4th tac slot so I could place the Gravaton Generator console but I decided above is better. More available DPS the better.

Fore Weapons
1 MK XII QTorp launcher (Borg), 1 MK XI Antiproton Single Cannons (Borg), 1 Dual Beam MK XI Antiproton beam array (Borg)

Aft Weapons
2 MK XI Antiproton Turrets (Borg), 1 MK XI Harpeng Torp launcher

BOFF layout:
Ens Tac: TT1
Lt Tac: HYT1, CRF 1
Eng Lt: ET 1, EPtS 2
Lt Cmd Sci: PH 1, TTS 2, HE 3
Cmd Sci: HE 1, ST 2, TB Repulses 1, GW 3

boootz · August 2012

I would get the borg console and the retro deflector and engine. Use whatever shield has the most resistance+hp and least bleedthrough until you can get a mako Xii shield.

this will give you all the benefits of the retro borg set except for the tractor beam, which isnt that great at all.

bertiewooster · August 2012

boootz wrote: »

I would get the borg console and the retro deflector and engine. Use whatever shield has the most resistance+hp and least bleedthrough until you can get a mako Xii shield.

this will give you all the benefits of the retro borg set except for the tractor beam, which isnt that great at all.

I'm probably gonna go the same route I went with my tac captain on that, which is getting MKX maco and then using that to grind away until MKXII can be had. My current issue with shields is that they're not doing very well in STFs right now, which makes it difficult to get the EDCs needed for better ones.

bertiewooster · August 2012

I switched up my officer skills a bit and got Tac team I back, got polarize hull, and got rid of gravity well. I now have two viral matrix, two tractor beams, and polarize hull as my science abilities. I completely changed the weapon layout as an experiment:

Fore: 3x Quantum torpedo
Back: 3x disruptor turrets (these should be polaron but I had them all sitting in my inventory so I figured for the sake of this initial test I'd run with them and not blow a ton of money until I was sure if this layout was worth it)

I also set up the power levels differently, at the moment I don't recall what they were though. They were essentially what a couple of you posted before, with slight deviation due consoles and ship aux power bonus etc.

The result was definitely better: I was able to alternate viral matrix and tractor beams to slow the BoP's down, and since I had 3 torps I could barrage them constantly. They went down much more quickly than my previous build, although the raptors were still too challenging to take down in my mind--on my tac I can take them down in seconds, which is understandable given the damage dealing role of a fleet escort, but it shows that my DPS is still quite low, even for a ship of my class (which brings up another thing, I need to run a combatlog to see what it actually is, although the combat log parser doesn't work for me half the time). I'm hoping with better consoles this might be boosted some.

While this build was an improvement, I might "shop around" a little bit more and try out some of the other builds suggested, such as a broadside focused build.

Recon Sci STF Build advice?

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