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New to Escorts, need advice
snoggymack22
Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
So I played this game for the first 2 years. But on the two characters I levelled on the fed side, one flew science ships, the other flew cruisers. The Cruiser captain was my main and I spent the bulk of my time in those ships.
I came back for the anniversary event. Decided to stick around a bit. Joined a fleet. Am having fun. But am pretty much switching mains to my tactical character. Who flies escorts. And so I'm looking at being able to get the Fleet Escort Retrofit (the tiny little Saber) or the Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit.
And I can't decide.
I flew the Defiant at Captain levels on this character way back when. But never levelled him up back when VA's got 1 free Retrofit. So he flew the freebie Advanced Escort when he hit Rear Admiral and stayed in it.
So if I get a Fleet Defiant I won't have the cloak.
Things I like about the Defiant are the turning radius, and 5 tactical consoles.
Things I like about the Saber are the look (it's one of my favorites on the escort side), the turning radius, the extra engineering console (I can make it a bit more defensive right? armor? Is that helpful?) and the boff layout seems a bit more streamlined than the Defiant.
But damn, 5 tac consoles. That's sexy.
If this were a cruiser, I'd feel like dealing with this on my own. But I'm out of my depth with the escorts. They both look shiny and fun.
Any advice? Tips? Insight?
I came back for the anniversary event. Decided to stick around a bit. Joined a fleet. Am having fun. But am pretty much switching mains to my tactical character. Who flies escorts. And so I'm looking at being able to get the Fleet Escort Retrofit (the tiny little Saber) or the Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit.
And I can't decide.
I flew the Defiant at Captain levels on this character way back when. But never levelled him up back when VA's got 1 free Retrofit. So he flew the freebie Advanced Escort when he hit Rear Admiral and stayed in it.
So if I get a Fleet Defiant I won't have the cloak.
Things I like about the Defiant are the turning radius, and 5 tactical consoles.
Things I like about the Saber are the look (it's one of my favorites on the escort side), the turning radius, the extra engineering console (I can make it a bit more defensive right? armor? Is that helpful?) and the boff layout seems a bit more streamlined than the Defiant.
But damn, 5 tac consoles. That's sexy.
If this were a cruiser, I'd feel like dealing with this on my own. But I'm out of my depth with the escorts. They both look shiny and fun.
Any advice? Tips? Insight?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Post edited by snoggymack22 on
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Fore Weapons:
2x Plasma Dual Heavy Cannons Mk XII [Acc] [CrtD]x2
1x Plasma Dual Beam Bank Mk XII [Acc] [CrtD]x2
1x Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedo
Aft Weapons:
2x Plasma Turret Mk XII [Acc] [CrtD]x2
1x Kinetic Cutting Beam Mk XII [Dmg]x3
Components:
Positron Deflector Array Mk XII [ShdS] [Stl]
Adapted M.A.C.O. Combat Impulse Engines Mk XII
Adapted M.A.C.O. Covarient Shield Array Mk XII
Devices:
Red Matter Capacitor
Subspace Field Modulator
Consoles:
Eng: 1x Tachyokinetic Converter, 1x Assimilated Module, 1x Zero-Point Energy Conduit
Sci: 2x Fleet Science Consoles -- Field Emitter [-Th] [Pla]
Tac: 5x Plasma Infuser Mk XII
Bridge Officer Layout:
Fleet Romulan (Rare Male) -- CMD TAC: THY1, CSV1, TS3, CRF3
Fleet Romulan (Uncommon Either Gender) -- LTCMD TAC: BO1, APB1, BO3
Human -- LT ENG: EPTS1, ATSif1
Human -- Lt SCI: HE1, TSS2
Human -- ENS TAC: TT1
I still have yet to decide on the exact duty officer layout. But this Set up is probably one of the strongest set ups that I can think of for the Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit. It kills fast, and efficiently. It also has one of the highest Critical Hit and Critical Severity rates in the game, allowing it to melt opponents like no one's business. Though in my case I primarily use this build for STF's I am sure it is possible to readjust the build for use in PvP as well.
This means you want two Romulan Bridge Officers with the Superior Romulan Operative Traits.
Previously the only way to get these traits to stack was if you had an Uncommon Romulan Bridge Officer with Covert Operative and a Rare Romulan Bridge Officer with Superior Covert Operative. But now it is possible to get two Bridge Officers of the same type (after maintenance), meaning both Rare or both Uncommon, and have their Operative Traits still stack.
Thanks to the Maintenance this is way better than it used to be. In fact if you want to go pure DPS, the best thing you can do is to get all 3 of your tactical bridge officers on the Defiant Retrofit to be Romulans with the Romulan Operative Trait at this point...
And no, your method would actually be a tad bit more expensive. The Tactical Escort Retrofit costs 20 US Dollars. The addition of a single Fleet Module would raise that price up to 25 US Dollars. If he were to use just the fleet modules, he would be spending 20 US Dollars on the Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit since it only requires 4 Fleet Modules to get. So it is ultimately cheaper to just get the Fleet Tactical Escort and not the Cloaking Device. But yes, you are right about it being cheaper in the long run to buy the normal Tactical Escort Retrofit, assuming he wants to make additional characters that use the Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit due to it then only costing one Fleet Module.
But buying the normal Tactical Escort Retrofit just for the cloak is no longer a valid reason to buy it.
Im currently playing around with this setup right now. The build is almost identical. Unfortunately I find that the fleet advanced escort is a bit more tanky. I am still experimenting with the doffs too.
Actually Rob here is who told me about this build. So thanks Rob
Also, if you are going to play escorts, I'd like to suggest two things:
1.) DHC's up front (with maybe one torp)/turrets in the rear. Anything in front of you is going to feel the hurt and the turrets give you 360 degrees against the slow torps in ESTFs. If you have DHCs and one torp up front, you can chain rapid fires or spread fires and chain torp high yield or torp spreads.
2.) Put your camera in chase mode. You will want to be nose-on to your target anyway to bring the DHC's to bear and being in chase mode makes it easy to line up on your target. Also, its just fun watching your little escort in chase mode.
Heard great things about the sabre and with the stat upgrades should make it even better plus the boff seating is great
Take nothing away from that 5 tac situation but unless your hardcore pvping you wont notice much of a difference
Im not insulting the defiant before all you users out there sulk and start shouting at me i just think its well down on the list of escorts atm
Cmd: TT I, CRF I, BO III, APO
Lt.Cmd: BO I, CRF I, HY III
Ens: TT I
or
Cmd: TT I, CRF I, APO, APD
Lt.Cmd: HY I, CRF I, HY III
Ens: TT I
I run 3x purple torp doffs and have a steady stream of torps coming out fairly constantly. The really nice thing is, this build translates right over to my chel grett minus the HY III. But I find that the torp doffs do not proc as much on HY and it tends to TRIBBLE my torp spewing so am also trying another layout with:
Cmd: TT I, CRF I, BO III, APD
Lt.Cmd: BO I, CRF I, APO
Ens: TT I
I like delta more than beta for this setup because even with 2x MK XI - threat consoles, I will generally get the NPC's attention easily so the boost to defense is nice. The only thing I dont like is that it's almost useless against gates unless you intentionally aggro them to apply it. But then again, I can demolish a gate solo pretty damn fast.
You're going to want an APO in there, it's way too useful for getting a damage boost but mainly to negate tractors and to help gtfo when you are in a bad way.
Aux to struc is good for an instant hull heal, but I prefer to not be taking hull damage in the first place so I use RSP II instead.
I also use the full adapted MACO or full Maco sets. Sometimes I run adapted maco shield and assimilated engines + deflector.
Most expensive Escorts while also being the most effective:
1.) Jem'hadar Attack Ship
2.) Jem'hadar Heavy Escort Carrier
3.) Breen Chel Gret Warship
4.) Mobius Temporal Destroyer
5.) Chimera Heavy Destroyer
Least Expensive while also being the most effective:
1.) Blockade Runner Escort Retrofit (aka the Steamrunner Retrofit)
2.) Fleet Heavy Escort Carrier (unfortunately it requires a Tier 5 Fleet Shipyard)
3.) Fleet Advanced Escort Retrofit / Fleet Tactical Escort Retrofit (mainly because they both have 5 Tactical Consoles)
4.) Fleet Patrol Escort Retrofit (due to the superior Bridge Officer layout)
5.) Fleet Escort Retrofit (and this is being really really generous)
Unfortunately the Chimera Heavy Destroyer is actually a little worse than the Fleet Advanced and Tactical Escort Retrofits so not really worth investing in unless you also want the other benefits of being a Lifetime Subscriber. I will also say that the Fleet Advanced Escort, the Fleet Tactical Escort, the Fleet Heavy Escort Carrier, and the Blockade Runner are more or less interchangeable depending on one's playstyle.
I agree, I run my Chel Grett more often than not. I lose a Lt.Cmd ability and a little turn rate, but who gives a **** about turn rate in an STF anyhow. I also get a hell of a lot better tank out of the grett with 1 more device slot and the extra science slot + 1 extra weapon slot. DPS for my guns is the same as in the defiant and I have parsed out better dps with the chel than with the defiant so it's really a toss up for me. I think the defiant for pvp and the chel for STFs is where I am going to be keeping my attention focused.
Actually if you have 3 Purple Tactical Team Recharge Duty Officers, then having 2 Tactical Teams is less important than having more diversity in your other slots. Therefore having 1 tactical team in such a situation is all that may be required. Especially since Tactical Team in that situation recharges so fast.
Also all the escorts are not the same with Bridge Officer layouts. Even if you confine the discussion to just the Fleet Escorts, the Fleet Patrol Escort has a universal ensign slot that can be used for any of the three professions making it loads more versatile in the bridge officer layout than either the Fleet Advanced Escort or the Fleet Tactical Escort. The Fleet Escort Retrofit has an Engineering Ensign position and slightly worse shields than any of the other Fleet Escorts. The Fleet Aquarius Escort has a Universal Ensign and Lieutenant position making it far and away the most diverse ship as far as bridge officer layouts go in the escort class after the Mobius Temporal Destroyer. And the Fleet Heavy Escort has a Lieutenant Commander Engineering slot instead of a Lieutenant Commander Tactical slot. So they are not all the same.
9-11 minute infected? Try more like 4-6 minute infected. You dont need gravity well in any STF if you have competent damage dealers so you are really wasting a science slot that could be used for tank if needed.
Unfortunately that list isn't really available to me right now. It really is a toss up between the Fleet Defiant and Fleet Saber. Right now I'm using the Mirror Advanced Escort. I was thinking maybe shell out at the C-Store for the MVAE, but the fleet ships have the extra console so they seemed more enticing.
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
True. I still found the discussion helpful though. Getting the ideas and insight from people who have more experience with the playstyle of escorts has assisted me. I've pretty much flown a cruiser on my "main" character for a long time. I've logged a lot less time on this alt, but he's been the most fun since I came back to the game so I'm feeling like shifting him to my main.