Tactical Vesta - Optimal Layout?

takeshi6 · January 2013

I have a character I'm working on that I could use a bit of advice on.

The character is a bit of a tactician--thinks of the Battlefield as a game of chess. He also commands a wing of Peregrine Fighters on his ship.

I felt giving him one of the Vesta Types--the "Aventine" (Tactical Vesta), to be precise--instead of an HEC because I felt that its sensor arrays would be better for his purposes. Now, he's not quite high-enough level to use it, which gives me time to plan out the ideal layout.

And that's what I need advice on: what the ideal layout is.

Are Beams or Cannons better for this thing? Should I have Torpedoes, Mines, or both? What Damage Types would be considered best? MACO, Adapted MACO, Omega, Assimilated, Breen, Jem'Hadar, or Reman Equipment? What Special Consoles from other ships would be good? And what would be a good BOff Layout?

I look forward to whatever advice I can get on this matter. :cool:

tom61sto · January 2013

There's no consensus on an 'ideal' setup for a Vesta. A thread a couple of weeks back argued that every weapon type is right and wrong for the Vesta...

Though there are two main schools of thought on load-out: equip it as Sci-scort with DHCs, or load it out as RSV(beam, torp on mine boat). I've gone with the former myself, with 3x Aux DHCs fore so I can keep my Aux high for heals and gravity wells on a moment's notice, then a Kinetic Cutting Beam and 2X Phaser Turrets aft, with Jem'Hadar engines to bring the Wep power level over 50 so the rear weapons have their rated DPS. Then MACO shields for their Resiliency, power boost proc, and good capacity and regen. Running MACO deflector currently. I'm tempted to switch to Adapted MACO (which is KHG) engineswhich gives power boost to shields, weapons and Aux depending on power level, along with the deflector which is more Sci oriented. Two piece gives Aux bonus which I might overstack it, or divert more power to shields, as well as Torp damage bonus and keeps your crew alive.

If you can get the three Vesta set, your captain should enjoy a well protected king with three piece console bonus.

jadensecura · January 2013

Definitely go for cannons, without them there's little point in having the Vesta, you'd do better with a Recon or Mirror DSSV for its better inertia. Some people prefer Aux cannons, but I really like the Aux cannons, but a lot of that is playstyle, and I really want to be using a ship where my weapons are secondary to my sci abilities. It doesn't work with the current state of the game, but the Vesta gets me the closest currently possible. Definitely don't run fore torpedoes, with the possible exception of the Rep ones they'll be a DPS loss relative to a third DHC. For the aft, run turrets, mines, and maybe a single beam array for subsystem targeting (another DPS loss against all but the biggest targets, but it may be worth it to you), I use 2 turrets with the KCB and am perfectly happy with that. For damage types, Phaser if you want the Aux DHCs, Polaron can be nice if you're sci focused, Disruptor could boost damage, as could the Rom rep plasma/disruptor hybrids. I'm pretty satisfied with my MACO Mk XII set, although I do plan to replace the deflector with an Elite Fleet one to cut down on my ability cooldowns. I don't have any ship consoles, just the Isometric and the Vesta ones, so I use Isometric and QFFC with Borg and Zero Point from Rep, I don't know what else might be good. For a boff layout, there seem to be a lot of options that are reasonably functional. My own build, meant to be a science ship first an foremost and relying heavily on the cannon CD doffs, is here: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=Secura04_2511 There are also cruiser style AtB builds and escort like builds, plus ones based around power switching. Whatever you do you'll want chained EPtS, as usual, and some cannon abilities plus at least one TT.

tom61sto · January 2013

A note on weapon selection, the Aventine's Quantum Field Focused Phaser is buffed by three things: Particle Generators skills/consoles, Aux power level, and Tac consoles that buff Phaser. For max DPS out of it, you'll want Phaser Relays in Tactical as well as high Aux, meaning the Aux Phaser DHCs included with the ship have the best synergy with that console, since you can run high Aux all the time and the Tac consoles that buff your cannons buff the QFFP as well. Aux effects the other two consoles as well, and the three-piece bonus ability's shield resistance.

takeshi6 · January 2013

Thanks for all the tips. Luckily I bought the Vesta Bundle after Christmas, so I do have all three Vesta Consoles available.

And thanks for the build info, too. I'll probably need to tweak it a bit because this guy's a Tactical Officer, but that's not a big deal.

So, full Aux Cannons up front, with a couple of Turrets and a Mine Launcher in back, using Phaser Consoles to boost both the Cannons and the QFFP? That works. I'll probably use the Point Defense Turret Console from the Heavy Escort Refit, the Impulse Capacitance Cell from the Escort Refit, and the Antimatter Spread Console from the Exploration Cruiser Refit, too--the PDT is always useful, the Impulse Capacitance Cell and it's Impulse Burst ability are good for getting somewhere fast, and the Antimatter Spread is good against anything non-Borg. Not sure about the rest of it yet, but that works as a plan so far. :cool:

Tactical Vesta - Optimal Layout?

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