tacs can work in sci ships, as their personal captain skills would boost the damage of any ship they fly. though because sci ships have the least amount of weapon slots and very few sci ships can use cannons, they would do a lot less dps.
now if your looking into flying the vesta as a tac, it sounds completely doable as they can use dual cannons, which means overall DPS wouldn't be lost as much if you use the more offensive of the trio.
What about mixing other careers and ships? Like an engineer on an excort or a science cap on a cruiser? And what are the benefits one misses out on by not matching career with ship type? Right now I play a tac captain on a sci ship, but want to get another character to play with escorts and one to play with cruisers? should I match those?
As far as I'm aware there are no particular inherent benefits to matching types.
A tac in an escort will do most dps, through stacking damage buffs.
An eng/cruiser combo will be very durable, because of the combination of healing/resistance-buffing captain and boff skills.
A sci/sci combination will generally be great at the combination crowd control+(crowd) debuffing, leaving enemies vulnerable.
But:
An engineer in an escort will be much more durable than a tactical captain, but do less dps.
A sci in an escort tends to do well in the debuffing department, taking advantage of the sensor scan and subnuc debuffs.
A tac in a cruiser will do more dps than an engineer, but be less durable.
A sci in a cruiser will take advantage of the scattering field for more tankability, and could spread debuffs like mad.
An engineer in a science vessel will be more durable, but have less direct debuffs available.
A tac in a science vessel will do more damage with both weapons and science abilities, but have less debuffs available.
And then there are some carriers and KDF ships than add even more variables...
Really, it just depends on your playstyle and preferences
There is one caveat to running a science ship with a non-science character.
To have high effectiveness, you're going to need to spec into several fairly expensive science skills. In order to avoid having to pay for this you're going to have to do it relatively early on, too.
This is because all the science skills most tacs and engineers ignore (e.g. subspace decompiler) are necessary to leverage the nastier science skills, and on a science ship you're going to have those out the wazoo.
Cruisers and escorts don't really suffer from this so much, since most of their skills are fairly applicable to one another - both can benefit from extra weapons power, for instance.
You also needs a very clear idea of what Science powers you will be using with your Captain.
Subspace Decompiler doesn't need to be skilled if you aren't using VM's or Disables with long durations. Graviton Generators doesn't need to be skills if you're going to use Tractor Beam Repulsors.
The only two [Offensive] Science Skills most any Tactical Captain will pretty much always put ranks into are Particle Generators and Flow Capacitors and Tactical Captain skills increase the damage and Drain Magnitude of quite a few Science powers.
If you feel Keel'el's effect is well designed, please, for your own safety, be very careful around shallow pools of water.
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USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
now if your looking into flying the vesta as a tac, it sounds completely doable as they can use dual cannons, which means overall DPS wouldn't be lost as much if you use the more offensive of the trio.
Rear Admiral , Engineering Division
U.S.S. Sheffield N.C.C. 92016
GW, FBP, TBR, Tyken's, PSW.
A tac in an escort will do most dps, through stacking damage buffs.
An eng/cruiser combo will be very durable, because of the combination of healing/resistance-buffing captain and boff skills.
A sci/sci combination will generally be great at the combination crowd control+(crowd) debuffing, leaving enemies vulnerable.
But:
An engineer in an escort will be much more durable than a tactical captain, but do less dps.
A sci in an escort tends to do well in the debuffing department, taking advantage of the sensor scan and subnuc debuffs.
A tac in a cruiser will do more dps than an engineer, but be less durable.
A sci in a cruiser will take advantage of the scattering field for more tankability, and could spread debuffs like mad.
An engineer in a science vessel will be more durable, but have less direct debuffs available.
A tac in a science vessel will do more damage with both weapons and science abilities, but have less debuffs available.
And then there are some carriers and KDF ships than add even more variables...
Really, it just depends on your playstyle and preferences
To have high effectiveness, you're going to need to spec into several fairly expensive science skills. In order to avoid having to pay for this you're going to have to do it relatively early on, too.
This is because all the science skills most tacs and engineers ignore (e.g. subspace decompiler) are necessary to leverage the nastier science skills, and on a science ship you're going to have those out the wazoo.
Cruisers and escorts don't really suffer from this so much, since most of their skills are fairly applicable to one another - both can benefit from extra weapons power, for instance.
Just keep this in mind.
Subspace Decompiler doesn't need to be skilled if you aren't using VM's or Disables with long durations. Graviton Generators doesn't need to be skills if you're going to use Tractor Beam Repulsors.
The only two [Offensive] Science Skills most any Tactical Captain will pretty much always put ranks into are Particle Generators and Flow Capacitors and Tactical Captain skills increase the damage and Drain Magnitude of quite a few Science powers.