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Best T5 VA Ship Engineer?
str8nge1
Member Posts: 38 Arc User
VA 50 Engineer currently have Assault Cruiser, wanna purchase a T5 ship. I play damage/support Engineer. Have zen to buy, looking at Oddy's as my choice unless something else better.
Post edited by str8nge1 on
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Personally I think it's a great ship, so I can at least attest to its usefulness
You can pretty much get a viable build out of every 10-console ship out there, therefore you'll probably get 15 different answers to that question with all of them being right.
I know, right? Crazy!
But really, after flying nearly all FED cruisers in the game, trying to find a decent mix of tank, support and dps, in the end I decided to use Vesta for PvE purposes.
3x Dual (Heavy) Cannons front, 2x Turrets back and 1x Cutting Beam - using only Tac Team and Cannon Scatter Volley 1, plus Emergency Power to Weapons. Believe me, it's surprisingly sufficient when it comes to overall damage, even on a sci ship.
Other boff slots allow you to use numerous healing and supporting abilities, such as ET2, HE3, AuxSIF2, EPTS2, TSS2, ST1. Add to that a couple of crowd control skills, like the GW3 or TB1, and perhaps EPTE for more speed and swift battlefield control.
Not to mention, the ship can actually turn! FEDs currently have no real battlecruisers while most cruiser-type ships can barely turn. It's not that bad, sure, but when you play a lot of PvE, you get annoyed easily when you need to take a minute to do a 180 degree turn, or are required to go back and forth from place to place. No such problem with the Vesta.
Oh, and let's not forget the hangar (numerous possibilities, from fighters to shield repair units) and really useful consoles (basically, team aoe hot, aoe repel and dot phaser, as well as 3-piece immunity from all damage).
When used properly, the ship can shield-tank really well. The only true disadvantage of this setup is the hull and only 6 weapon slots, but it's still enough. Trust me, I can solo 3 Raptors in Cure Space Elite with time to spare to damage the nanites, or help the rest of the group.
I know it's a risk and you'd probably want to try a proper cruiser first, but speaking from experience I find myself doing much better and having more fun with an engineer in a vesta, than in any other ship. That is, until feds get a proper battlecruiser.
If it's only the Fleet Ships you're after, there are a bunch of fleets out there who are willing to sell ships. I've obtained a few ships (Fleet Escort Refit, Fleet Aquarius, Fleet Science Refit etc...) that way. Prices ranged from Fleet Marks, to Dilithium, EC and Doff contributions.
Excelsior is more manueverable on average, and the transwarp drive is very nice if you are interested in the Borg daily sector 'Red Alerts', or just transwarping across the galaxy. Otherwise, it is so-so, as it has no combat abilities beyond that of other cruisers (turns slightly faster and has 3 tactical consoles, but that's it).
Odyssey has much more flexibility with the two Universal BOFF slots, and comes with a special ability module (which will take up the extra slot that comes with the ship). It also has the best defenses of any Federation cruiser to date, with a 1.15 shield modifier and at least 4 engineering slots for hull defense. Also, the Advanced Slipstream drive is a very nice feature if you are going to be doing Tour the Galaxy runs.
The Regent has the greatest tactical focus of the three, with not only more Tactical BOFF slots, but two special consoles that are combat-oriented. Being slightly less manueverabile than the Excelsior, but more than the Odyssey, this is the ship you would want if you liked a hybrid of damage-dealing and tanking ability.
So, if you are looking for manueverability, and quick ability to get to a place on the map, get the Excelsior. If you are looking for flexibility, swift warp speed, and tank ability, get the Odyssey (with a personal recommendation of the Odysessy-Ops if you want some of the manueverability of the Excelsior). If you want damage output while still keeping durability, get the Regent.
As a final note, the Odyssey's Universal slots allow you to configure it for a wide range of roles, even after you purchase it. This means the same ship can be configured for maximum durability one mission, heavy firepower the next, and pure support the one after that, all by switching which officers are in those positions. The Regent has this ability in a smaller form, while the Excelsior is locked into its role.
If you still can't decide (and appearance might also help, as the Regent can be reconfigured to appear as the ship you are running now, while the other two only have one or two ways to look), then I would say go with either a ) The Regent, if you feel you want an upgrade to your current ship but keep it as similar as possible, or b ) The Odyssey if you really can't decide, as the Odyssey will give you the widest range to adjust the ship to fit you after you purchase it (with the sole exception of turning ability...keep that in mind).
Hope this helped.
I don't personally have the Regent, so I'll have to let others give the defining word on that ship, though I believe having a torp that can fire at a target while you are broadsiding them with your beam arrays would be a powerful addition to a cruiser. Worth it? I wouldn't get it just for those consoles, but for what the ship would be as a whole.
As far as the Odyssey, remember that each console takes a slot. So, if you were to get all three consoles from the three Odyssey variants (of which you can only use one Odyssey at a time, and two of those consoles cannot be activated at the same time), you will end up with a net total of two fewer consoles for the regular loadout of a cruiser (though a nice set of extra abilities). Also, you will need three ship slots if you want to keep them all up at the same time.
Customization-wise, you have a Lt. Commander and Ensign Universal slot on the Odyssey, with a slot assigned to Tactical, Engineering, and Science in addition to those. By comparison, you have a Lieutenant Universal slot and two slots each for Tactical and Engineering. What that means is that, to use the Universal on the Regent, you have to give up your Science abilities....which may be what you want, but you need to know what you are getting.
So, an Odyssey-Ops (for example) could be configured with a range stretching from full Tactical (3/2/1 Tac, 4 Eng, 2 Sci) through full Tank (2 Tac, 4/3/1 Eng, 2 Sci), to full Support (2 Tac, 4 Eng, 3/2/1 Sci), or something between those (2 Universals mean there are hybrids of those builds possible). A Regent could be configured for three modes: Full Tactical (3/2/1 Tac, 4/2 Eng, no Sci), Full Tank (3/1 Tac, 4/2/2 Eng, no Sci), or Multimission (3/1 Tac, 4/2 Eng, 2 Sci).
Note however that the Odyssey pays for its flexibility and increased shielding relative to the Regent in being slower to turn and only coming with one special module per hull. Note also that buying all three Odyssey ships will be more expensive than the Regent, so that may also play a factor into what you want.
A last consideration, if you care about this, the Odyssey comes with a custom bridge.
So, the question I would say is: Do you want a different ship that will handle more sluggishly but have greater flexibility, or an refitting of the ship you have that includes some new tactical consoles? Also, how much are you willing to put out for this ship?
P.S. I will say I am always switching between my Odyssey-Ops and my Excelsior, never able to decide which is my favorite.
This is the situation I find myself in. The experimental plasma array has me pondering a 7 beam plasma boat with a KCB at the back. Only the energy cost of 6 beams and 1 turret!
Generally, the ships that want it don't get much out of it, and the ships that don't really need it make best use of it. It's a % increase, which doesn't really work well.
As a random aside, I'm not that fond of the Oddy's bridge. It's shiny and neat, but you don't get nearly enough BOffs showing up and a lot of positions are left unfilled even though there's one or two BOffs just standing around.
As others have pointed out, an RCS will not have any noticable effect. If you fly a cruiser, the base turn stat is pretty much going to be what you get, and you'll need those console slots for other things anyway.
Remember, worth is highly dependent on the person. If you think you would find the three consoles enough of a draw, and/or couldn't decide which version of the ship to get, then it might be worth it to you to get the 3-ship pack. If, on the other hand, you think one version is all you will ever use and it happens to have the console you want, then paying for two other ships and consoles you won't use would not be worth it. It's entirely dependent on your viewpoint and values.
From what you are saying, it does sound like the Odyssey is what you will want. The Assault Cruiser is designed for damage output and overall manuevering, but you seem to want durability and flexibility. The great thing about STO is that there is a ship for everyone, and for people who find the Odyssey too large, slow, and with not enough damage output, the Regent is there for them (and, of course, for those who simply love the Assault Cruiser hulls).
IIRC, the boost is a percentage of your current turning speed. So for a cruiser, an extra 20% of diddly squat is still diddly squat. For escorts it becomes cannons-always-forward. I'd suggest saving the engineering slots for things that boost resistances or power levels.
The Oddy will work well as a support/healboat. However, you shouldn't expect very much damage out of it.
The Excelsior, compared to the Regent, may not have as many Tactical boff slots, but the few extra points of turn rate are just enough to let it use single cannons in PvP, which will enable you to use CRF, which is one of, if not THE best damage-enhancing skill.
Also, damage and support tend to be mutually exclusive on most ships. If you want good levels of either, you have to sacrifice some of the other.
The console is useful, but as a ship itself the Ops version is probably the least desirable, hence people liking the 3-pack. The Tac version has the best energy bonuses for offense and a third tac console slot, but the Aquarius is the least useful special ability. The Science has the best healing and tanking because of the extra sci console, the Sensor Analysis gives it the best damage over long engagements with big targets, and the Worker Bee console is boring-but-effective, but can't put out the raw firepower of the Tac. Then the Ops version has no special features, but comes with the console that mitigates the Odyssey's turning problem (though at the cost of durability). Frankly, Cryptic cheated, and the best Odyssey requires parts from all 3, to make you buy the pack. They're evil that way.
As for the Excelsior, it has 2 big advantages. First it can turn, with just one better turn rate but also the improved momentum, its almost as nimble as a KDF battlecruiser. Secondly, a fleet version with 4(!) tac consoles is available with a T3 fleet shipyard, which lots of fleets have. Since the Excelsior is cheaper to begin with, that means for the same price as a basic Regent or single Odyssey, and cut a deal with a fleet, you get a cruiser that can move better than any other fed cruiser, shoot better than any other fed cruiser (except the Fleet Regent, which is Tier 5), and still tank hits that would one-shot many lesser ships.
I'm not saying one is better than the other. The Odyssey can do all cruiser tasks quite well, plus dabble in some other things besides. The Excelsior doesn't have the Odyssey's flexibility and isn't quite as durable (though still quite tough), but as an offensive weapon the only Federation ships nastier than the Excelsior mount dual heavy cannons. I own both, I use both, and I endorse both. Its just a question of deciding priorities in offense, defense, and versatility.