test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Fun Tank/DPS Ship mix for Engi
encadi
Member Posts: 55 Arc User
I ve been using the Heavy Escort Carrier lately and been away the last 2'ish seasons and was thinking on trying one of the mroe tankish ships while sitll retainign some DPS, was thinking about these 2:
1/ Odissey Tactical Cruiser
2/ Dreadnaught Cruiser
Do these ships are still good enough with the oens included on the fleet bases (I really have no idea about those since they havent been added to the spidermitch charts)
So which one would you guys think would suit me best of goign tankish while stillr emainign some decent DPS
Are the fleet issue ships so good that the others dont really work anymore? how about the weapons and consoles sets? are fleet issue oens above everything else?
Thank you!
1/ Odissey Tactical Cruiser
2/ Dreadnaught Cruiser
Do these ships are still good enough with the oens included on the fleet bases (I really have no idea about those since they havent been added to the spidermitch charts)
So which one would you guys think would suit me best of goign tankish while stillr emainign some decent DPS
Are the fleet issue ships so good that the others dont really work anymore? how about the weapons and consoles sets? are fleet issue oens above everything else?
Thank you!
Post edited by encadi on
0
Comments
That being said, I too main an Engi, and when I want a good mix of DPS and Tankiness, Oddy all the way. Don't get me wrong, the Dreadnaught is a tanky TRIBBLE, and can equip DHCs, but she lacks majorly in the important place: BOff slots. The Oddy has that wonderful Uni LtCmdr, which basically makes her able to fit any role you need, and if you need tactical, she delivers.
Now if money is no object, I would recommend you get the 3-pack, take the Chevron Sep off the operations cruiser and put it on the tac cruiser. Hit that baby, and all of a sudden you have +20 power to weapons and a massively boosted +8 to turn rate. Not nearly as clumsy anymore. You will suffer some loss in HP and shield, but that's mitigated by your much higher move speed and turn rate, and dramatic increase in firepower (yes, the power increase makes that much of a difference). You combine that with LtCmdr Tac slot, and you got a nice beasty there.
Since I am guessing this is for PvE, I will give you a nice PvE setup I have found works well for smacking NPCs around.
Odyssey Tactical Cruiser
Weapons:
Fore: BA of your choice x3, Quantum Torpedo x1
Aft: BA of your choice x4
Shields: MACO
Deflector: MACO
Engines: MACO/AssimilatedSubtranswarp Engines (you don't get the 2 piece set bonus anymore, but it still gives +5 to engine power, which is a good thing, esp for an oddy)
Consoles:
Tactical: Whatever BA type you're using booster x3
Engineering: Neutronium x4/Neutronium x3 RCS Accelerator (you lose out on about 7-9% defense, but you gain another 2.6 degrees turn rate, your call)
Science: Chevron Sep Console, Field Generator, Assimilated Module (again, you don't get the bonus anymore, but +5 weapons power, additional crit and crit severity are all good for DPS)
BOff Setup:
Lt Tactical: TT1, APB1
LtCmdr Tactical: TS1, BFAW2, APD2
Cmdr Engineering: EPtS1/EPtW1, EPtS2/EPtW2, ET3/RSP2, Aux2SIF3
Lt Sci: TSS1, TSS2
Ensign Sci: HE1
(note about the engi BOff: only put one or the other for the EPtX. I don't know which you prefer, nor how you play, so you might need the extra power bonus from EPtS2 over EPtW2, but if you put EPtW1, do NOT put EPtW2, and same goes for EPtSX. One or the other, not both)
DOff Setup:
Conn Officer x2 (Tactical Team CD red)
Damage Control Engineer (x2)
Technician x1
Warp Core Engineer x1 (if only 1 Damage Control Engineer)
With that setup, you will be able to deal roughly 3700 DPS with minimal effort, and cap out at 5k for short periods of time (usually only 20-30 seconds duration every 3 minutes). You'll have good sustain from the BOffs, and the DOffs will give you good cycling ability with your EPtX.
You will notice I did not put mk levels or specify weapon type (except for the quantum part). This is due to I don't know your means, so I don't know if you can get the mk XII stuff, and I also don't know your personal preferences, so I can't recommend a specific energy weapon type.
Enjoy.
Sadly, engineers are only at their best in cruisers.
I've never really been sold on the idea that Engies *ought* to stick to cruisers, but if you are looking for 'tankage' then yeah that's where you probably should be looking.
My Engie currently flies a D'Kora, and that one certainly has some potential towards meeting your DPS/tankage theme.
First of all i would like to thank you for your amazing and veryd etailed explanation it has helped me inmensely.
I use the Heavy Escort because i kidna liked the mixture of very nice dps and fast escort combat and adding some fighters hehe but i have grown wanting to try cruiser combat again.
I guess ill go and buy the 3 pack like you recomended me.
As for energy type i was using the dual heavy antiproton cannons so i guess ill stick with antiproton sicne they look red and nice, however im not sure if theya re the right energy choice anymore, i rememebr them being classified as best dps before.
The boff setup the acronyms are still a bit of a mystery to me but ill try to make sence of them hehe, guess the break makes me feel very newbish again hehe.
MACO stuff is gotten now at later tiers of the new reputaitons right?
Also a bit about fleet issues, I guess this ship is not made obsolete by the enw fleet issue ships introduced in the last season?
Also i have managed to get around 50,000 fleet credits which i gues sis not much/enough by any margin but what would you spend them first on? Weapons?
Thank you again for all the help guys!
Here's the general breakdown:
Oddy 3 pack is ONLY if money is no object. If money however is something you need to pay attention to, then I actually would not recommend the Oddy. If you have money issues, I would actually recommend the Regent. It's the Assault Cruiser variant, but due to it's Universal BOff slots, it's got some good possibilities. And it's a nice looking ship.
As for Acronyms, I'll type in BOff slots again, only fully this time:
Lt Tactical: Tactical Team 1, Attack Pattern Beta 1
LtCmdr Tactical: Torpedo Spread 1, Beam Fire At Will 2, Attack Pattern Delta 2
Cmdr Engineering: Emergency Power to Shields 1/Emergency Power to Weapons 1, Emergency Power to Shields 2/Emergency Power to Weapons 2, Engineering Team 3/Reverse Shield Polarity 2, Auxiliary to the Structural Integrity Field 3
Lt Sci: Transfer Shield Strength 1, Transfer Shield Strength 2
Ensign Sci: Hazard Emitters 1
Also another pointer:
If you are going to use Anti-Proton, I wish you luck finding the weapons, since they are not cheap at all (last I checked was 1 mil per BA, but that was a while ago) -.-
And the mag regulators (AP damage boosters) run around 800k on the exchange (atm).
As for the best DPS claim, that comes from the natural 20% crit severity, so they have high damage potential, but no actual proc.
MACO is available in the higher tiers of the rep system, but if you're from S6, you should already have at least a mk XI set, but if not, then I would recommend using either A) Jem'Hadar set (not as powerful at all, but a good intermediate set), or
And on a final note:
The oddy really isn't made obsolete by the new fleet ships, she's actually about on par with most fleet cruisers.
Comparison of Fleet Cruisers to the Odyssey:
Odyssey Tactical Cruiser:
HP: 42000
Shield Modifier: 1.15
Consoles: 3 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 3 Science
Base Turn: 5
BOff Setup: Lt Tactical, Cmdr Engineering, Lt Science, Universal LtCmdr, Universal Ensign
+10 Power to Weapons
+5 Power to Shields
+5 Power to Auxiliary
Fleet Star Cruiser:
HP: 42900
Shield Modifier: 1.15
Consoles: 2 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 4 Science
Base Turn: 7
BOff Setup: Lt Tactical, Cmdr Engineering, LtCmdr Engineering, Lt Science, Ensign Science
+5 Power to all Subsystems
Fleet Heavy Cruiser Retrofit:
HP: 39600
Shield Modifier: 0.97 (I think that's wrong, but let's go with it for now)
Consoles: 3 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 3 Science
Base Turn: 8
BOff Setup: Lt Tactical, Ensign Tactical, Cmdr Engineering, LtCmdr Engineering, Lt Science
+5 Power to all Subsystems
Fleet Exploration Cruiser Retrofit:
HP: 44000
Shield Modifier: 1.15
Consoles: 2 Tactical, 5 Engineering, 3 Science
Base Turn: 6
BOff Setup: Lt Tactical, Cmdr Engineering, LtCmdr Engineering, Ensign Engineering, Lt Science
+5 Power to all Subsystems
As you can see, all the other cruisers have a higher base turn, but that's negated by the Chevron Separation Console. Starting with the Star Cruiser. More hull, equivalent shields, better turn, but not as much damage output. Heavy Cruiser has less hull, weaker shields, less damage output, but better turn rate. Exploration Cruiser has more hull, equivalent shields, but way more Engineering ability and as a result loses out on damage and a lot of utility.
So to answer your question, as you can see, the Odyssey is pretty much on par with the fleet cruisers.
As for your fleet creds? Wait til you have a tier 5 fabricator and get elite fleet weapons.
Now if you were a tac in cruiser...that's a completely different beast and there is plenty of ways how to play that.
I'm playing fleet heavy cruiser retrofit with my tac lately (tooltips in shipyard and wrong), and compared to other choices I have is one of hell tough TRIBBLE that still has teeths and maneuverability high enough to take advantage of EWP and other useful skills. More hps than regent, better shields comparable dmg output with better turn rate. Oh and it's small frame is great, most people misjudge for prometheus or vet ship, good thing in pvp.
MACO XI Resilient Shield
Assimilated XI Deflector, Engine and Console
not sure how it is for a cruiser but i guess its mroe offensive'ish I think i got the jebndalar set on the bank so could use that.
If you were to choose another dmg type than antiproton what would it be?
Thank you
Cruiser wise in order of preference and dps i get from those, Galor, Assault cruiser refit and Odyssey tac.
E'Mc2 : Science Reman torp T'Varo, deadly annoyance :P
Kunmal: Tactical fed Klingon, ground specialist, USS Kanewaga
Ka -tet Tier 5 fleet fully completed Starbase and fleet property
Out of those two? Definitely the Tac Ody. You can build a very nice layout with just the Commander Engineer, which lets you divert everything else to Tactical or Sci abilities.
In all honestly though, I'd keep the Armitage. An Engineering Captain is able to make it very hardy with the right BOFF/DOFF setup. You can even tank with it at endgame (Note: I haven't tried tanking a Tac Cube on Elite unsupported with one since the latest patch changed the way Borg Cube Torpedo Arcs work, but it was certainly possible to reliably tank them beforehand!). The achievable damage output of an Escort will nearly always beat that of a Cruiser, so if you can make both ships become survivable enough for your needs, then the Escort will be the better choice.
only thing I would change up here is putting a quantum in the back too so 3x BA and 1x quantum on both sides, and then using tetryon energy type. but I tend to like droping shields as fast as possible and then dumping torps into the hull of a ship as fast as I can.
flew the armitage loaded out with a dual heavy tetryon cannon in front, and 3 BAs in back.
was terrible on its own, but that thing could unload torpedoes in a way you wouldn't believe. if a teammate dropped the sheilds, that ship was gone in seconds. good torpedo boat.
As I said, I don't know your playstyle. If you like just dumping huge amounts of damage into a target and give no craps about little goodies (aka procs), I would just stick with AP despite the expense. But if you like TRIBBLE with your target and causing them problems internally, phasers or polaron is the way to go for you. If you like stripping their shields and dumping torps, go with tetryon as the previous poster just said. If you like stripping shields AND TRIBBLE with subsystems, go with phased tetryon. If you want to reduce their defenses (overall a good thing for cruisers, since it increases your entire team's damage output) then go with disruptors. If you want to TRIBBLE with their power levels while also reducing defense, then polarized disruptors for you. If you want to light them on fire, with the plasma (would not recommend that though, plasma procs are too weak for players), use plasma weapons.
As I said, I have never seen you play, I don't know your habits or tendencies, or your particular likes and dislikes, so I can't really give you an accurate recommendation. I personally run AP because I was able to get the practically free mk XII borg weapons, and I also was lucky enough to get the mag regulators before the price went through the roof.
But something to think about:
A particularly nasty setup I ran once that was both highly entertaining and surprisingly effective was this:
Fore Weapons:
3x Phased Polaron Beam Arrays, 1x Chroniton Flux Torpedo
Aft: 4x Phased Polaron Beam Arrays
I got all those weapons off of storyline missions, and as such, they cap out at mk XI, but the phased polaron gave me the tetryon shield strip proc, and the polaron energy drain proc, combined with the chroniton flux torpedo (a nasty little variant on the regular chroniton, I think it's proc chance is higher and it's effect is stronger than a regular chroniton) made life unpleasant for anything I was firing on.
But in the end I changed out because the damage output I was getting, while respectable, never went above 3k dps, which if an ESTF is unacceptable. So alas, I went to boring AP and quantums. Much higher dps, but not nearly as entertaining.
3k unacceptable? Man, I do wish STO would rebalance to make entertaining builds more valid.
Thanks again!
You can calculate DPS by either A) Looking at each weapon in system space (it tells their dps), then watching that value as you fire. Do some calculations (basic addition and multiplication), then you have your general DPS. Or you can
As for comparing the Sovy to the Oddy? Um... that one's a little hard. Time to throw more stats at ya XD
Assault Cruiser:
Hull: 39000
Shield Modifier: 1
Base Turn: 7
BOff setup: Lt Tactical, Ensign Tactical, Cmdr Engineering, LtCmdr Engineering, Lt Science
Consoles: 3 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 2 Science
+5 Bonus Power to All Subsystems
Weaker shields, less hull, less power to weapons, more turn are the biggest differences. BOff setup is also a little different. It has only access to a Lt Tactical, which means it has a weaker damage output ability. Also it's only Lt Science means it has less utility. As with all of the higher tier cruisers, it forces you to use a Cmdr AND LtCmdr Engineering setup.
Comparing the two, it's pretty much the same synopsis as what I gave the Fleet Star Cruiser. The Odyssey has more versatility, not as locked into a specific specialty like the AC and SC. But I personally love my Sovy. I flew her all the way until I got my Oddy, and even after I still fly her around every so often. She's a good ship. As freebies go, she does her part well. But the Odyssey is superior in tanking ability and damage output, as it should be since the bugger costs at minimum 2500 zen. But if you have a Sovy go up against a Chevron Sep equipped Tac Oddy, the Oddy will easily outperform it.