False. The phaser proc does affect the gate, such as the one in ISE, albeit I rarely see it - same for the Borg. It would seem there is some sort of artifice that reduces or eliminates the phaser proc. But I have seen it.
Can you tell me how you have observed this proc effecting the gate?
I am curious as to how it could knock its engines, shields or auxiliary subsystems offline given that it doesn't appear to use any of those. I suppose technically it could effect its weapons system, but I've never seen it, and if it did, its effect would be minimal. But thank you for offering a slight bit of confusion based on an unproven, observed technicality.
I'm tempted to build a rainbow boat and call it the "USS Skittles".
And bind a chat command to shout "FEEL the rainbow!" every time I destroy something.
Do it, but respec into projectile weapons and make the ship primarily a torp/mine boat. If you make all your tac consoles boost those instead of your energy weapons, a rainbow boat will have the same DPS as a non-rainbow.
Yeah, people may mock you to start with, but they'll shut up when you drop an APB3 buffed Tric mine pattern with 3 Mk XII TCB consoles.
On my Jem Attack ship, I use polaron. With the upgraded, Jem space set, the the damage bonus is substantial. With a few points in flow capacitors, the power drain proc becomes problematic to enemies.
On my fleet tac retro, I run phasers. Mainly just because it's canon.
On my Galor, I of course run with spiral wave disruptors. With 4 bonuses ( accx2 dmgx2) and 2 procs (disruptor and phaser) they're simply the best beam weapons in the game.
My Wells is set up as a power drainer, so I run polaron.
With my BoP, I run tetryon for it's shield stripping ability. With the KHG set's 25% bonus to torpedo damage, a quantum HY3 on a bare hull is a thing of beauty.
On my Vor'cha retrofit, I use polarized disruptors. Damage resistance reduction and power drain. Plus at the time they were among the cheapest weapons out there.
On a side note, I favor [acc] and [CrtH] bonuses.
And lastly if you have a ship with a special bonus weapon, (Chimera, Garumba, ect) use the same energy type as the special weapon. Your consoles will affect it, and you'll get maximum performance.
Do it, but respec into projectile weapons and make the ship primarily a torp/mine boat. If you make all your tac consoles boost those instead of your energy weapons, a rainbow boat will have the same DPS as a non-rainbow.
Yeah, people may mock you to start with, but they'll shut up when you drop an APB3 buffed Tric mine pattern with 3 Mk XII TCB consoles.
Oh, man, you're making it almost irresistible.
_____
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
I am still learing but ... currently I am running 4x Tetryon arrays with all the buffs and consoles I can fit, to lower shields as quickly as possible. Then I throw a combination of boarding party, and Tricobalt torpedos and mines, and watch them die. Kills stuff pretty quick. Only real downside is the long cooldown if something goes wrong.
Plasma for me because I'm taking advantage of the new Romulan set gear.
The extra plasma damage from having 2 pieces, and then the Romulan Science consoles (which I haven't gotten yet) add more damage. The experimental array is nice because it uses no power (keeping up your damage), and everytime I use Fire-at-Will BOFF power....it's like I'm getting a freebie because it uses no power. That and the hyper torp launcher I like a lot, and the 3 piece Plasma Hull Burn power of the experimental array is a bonus.
I've been comparing the Romulan Distruptors [CrtD]x2 to regular Plasma DHC [CrtD]x3. My parser tells me on average (from 9 STF) the regular Plasma DHC [CrtD]x3 is doing slightly more damage. I already use Attack Pattern Beta 3, so I think the Romulan Distruptor's proc of -10 to damage resistance doesn't really make a difference since I use APB3. I don't know for sure because I think my parser doesn't calculate the reduction to damage resistances when giving me the numbers. But given the 29k Dilithium price of the Romulan Distruptors vs about 2 million ec exchange price of the regular, I think the Romulan Distruptors are not worth it.
I used to use Polaron, and I found those things did barely anything to the Borg probes or Borg Bird of Preys. It may have slowed them down a little but it's so hard to notice I don't think it's worth it either. That and they probably do nothing to transformers and gates.
I personally think Anti-Proton is probably the best. The chance of you scoring a critical (with skills and universal consoles and such) is better than the 2.5% procs. However AP are very expensive and hard to find.
On my Sci/Sci, I use 4 Tetryon arrays because I specialize that ship as a shield stripper.
Of my 3 Escort alts, I have 1 with disruptors and 2 with phasers, but I'm going to switch one of the phaser ships to an all plasma cannon ship to take advantage on that particular Captain's Romulan reputation.
I have a Cruiser Captain who's going with all old-school blue phasers, just because it looks/sounds cool.
Basically, I try to make each alt as unique as I can, because it's more fun that way.
While I try to get all energy types on at least one of my ships, it seems now there are a few better ones.
Disruptors got a great proc.
Tetryons are better at shields, but these need a torpedo for the added hull damage.
Plasmas are good if you got the Romulan threat scaling consoles and set.
Antiprotons are the most expensive, if coolest looking ones. With the new ways to increase your critical chance (Romulan BO, reputation perks, set consoles) they became "awesome and practical" from "awesome but impractical" since S7.
I would say Antiprotons can be the best, if you use a critical hit themed escort.
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
On my sci/Wells, I just went with plasma, to try to get some decent DPS out an otherwise "meh" class. Planning on going with the full Rommy set, and the console and torp from the borg set. With a Rommy sci console or two, I'm hoping to get at least passable DPS out of it. I don't PvP this toon, so I'm not worried about the plasma disadvantage.
Plasma is my new 'favourite' energy type, primarily to take advantage of the Reman Romulan bonuses etc.
One feature I really like is the 'Plasma Flux' bonus from the Experimental Plasma Array (rom) set with the ZPM and torpedo combo. The beam effectively becomes a lance weapon for 10 seconds every 2 minutes, easily matching the damage output of other lances. I have replaced torpedos with this one-off weapon to great effect.
Of my three toons, my Engineer has gone full plasma for a tactical oddy build.
Full Reman XII set (bonus to HY torpedos)
4x Romulan Plasma Arrays
Full OMEGA set (omega torp rear, assim console, cuttin beam)
Full ROM set (hyper torp front, Experimental Array, ZPM)
The irony is that unless you're fighting a immobile target, plasma torpedoes rarely get to hit their targets before they are overwhelmed by beam fire. So for most STF's this is fine, but in mob combat they are not as effective other torpedoes IMO.
As a balance what makes them valuable is their ability to fire even after your target is outside of the firing arc, a bonus for slow tanks. Add to that the increased speed due to the Reman Set for HY, they can be very effective against slow targets.
Overall it's not a dps monster, but can deliver 4K effectively with spikes up to 30K with the Exp Array.
The Reman Shields are interesting. With the bonuses, shields can jump for short periods of time to 17K+ per facing. When it works, it's a devastating ability on par with MACO for survivability.
Don't get me wrong, when I'm going into elites I stick to all AP/Disruptors on my escorts but the notion of rainbow ships being completely useless is a little untrue. Yes you will loose some DPS due to the fact energy consoles give a higher boost than weapon type consoles but you're looking at 16% vs 24% and 16% per console is still a nice gain in damage. I run a patrol escort as a rainbow ship with DHC/turrets just for the fun on the occasional Azure Nebula where you're not gonna annoy anyone with slightly lower DPS and guess what: since purple consoles such as Prefire Chamber are much cheaper you can easily minimise the power loss and I am more than competitive with other ships that I pug with in Azure.
Would I stick rainbows on the Chimera: no. Its the same story as the Dreadnought, you might aswell go the whole hog and use phasers to make it the best you can. On another ship though that you use on a weekend for a bit of fun don't completely count out rainbows.
On my Eng, Fl Vor'cha: Plasma
On my Sci, Voq'uv: Tertryon
On my Tac's karfi: Antiprotons I got from the previous season (Borg ones)
On my Fed Eng: dont remember as I played him only to unlock KDF and once to unlock the Ambassdor class!
We still live!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaa! We live and we will conquer!!!!! Hahahahahaaha!
-Roach, when asked about Klingon extinction!
I'm tempted to build a rainbow boat and call it the "USS Skittles".
And bind a chat command to shout "FEEL the rainbow!" every time I destroy something.
) Excellent. I was thinking also on a BoP called IKS Rainbow of Death, with a chat command "Flower power".
Anyway. I use phasers on my main. I still have to grind to afford two accx3 DHC and 3 turrets. Is a long way to go. I have AP that i use in STF's. And i do really like tetryons even i am not sppeced in shield drain. They seem to have a good use, not to mention that are not so expensive. Disruptors on my Klingon.
I tested the polarons, phased polarons, phased tetryons and had no results without a specialised build. I don't know about polarized disruptors.
In the end it depends on your choice and play style an of cource the budget.
On my Defiant i use phaser, main reason is i use the quad cannons so logically a phaser build with fleet phaser dual heavy cannons and fleet phaser turrets is the best way
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
My toons have their weapon types for aesthetic, efficient, or vestigial reasons.
Betazoid Fed Tac (Patrol Escort): Plasma cannon setup mostly because one day I found a really nice Mk12 Plasma DHC drop and just decided to build from there. While she was the last character I built, she's actually become my most played Fed since coming back to STO a few months ago. It's nice for STFs that plasma proc works on all enemy objects and plus BLUE FLAMES. BLUE MOFORKING FLAMES.
Human Fed Eng (mostly Ambassador Retrofit): Disruptor beam setup. This is very much a tank/aggro/heal built toon, so I wanted to have a proc that helped my team even if I wasn't doing top DPS. That said, Disruptors are pretty badass-looking on any ship.
Vulcan Fed Sci (Recon Sci/MU Deep Space Sci/2nd Anv Oddy): This used to be my main and only Fed toon when I first started playing. So, I have Borg Anti-proton beams that I use on my Oddy with MACO set from when they were easily acquired from STFs. For the other two ships, I rock the full Jem set and use a polaron beam setup to maximize damage synergy.
Klingon KDF Tac (Guramba for PvE/BoP alpha striker of armageddon for PvP): Disruptor cannon setup to match my Guramba's fantastically exhilarating disruptor lance o' doom ability. In PvP I add a Disruptor DBB for Beam Overload 3.
Orion KDF Eng (Negh'Var/Kamarag Retrofit): Tetryon for mostly vestigial reasons. This used to be my KDF main, so I had Tetryon Borg beams from when they were easy to grab. Aesthetically, I always loved that electric blue shooting out of a massive battle cruiser, so that was the original reason. The proc isn't the best, but who cares, still awesome looking. I sometimes run a Tetryon cannon setup if the mood strikes me.
Klingon KDF Sci (Vo'Quv/MU Vo'Quv/Kamarag Retrofit): on the Vo'Quvs I usually run plasma beams. Both bloated boats use Tricobalt torps and mines, so I imagine the poor enemy yelling, "PUT OUT THOSE PLASMA FIRES, NOW!" "Captain, sensors have detected tricobalt devices directed at our rear port quarter." "Nooooooooooooooooo, when will it end!"
That said, when I strap on the Jemmy set I'll sometimes switch to polaron beams to maximize damage synergy. On the Kamarag I use a plasma cannon setup for the color. Since this is now my most played toon, I'll be getting Romulan plasma beams soon.
I also have a separate KDF Sci B'Rel torp boat toon, but that ain't got no stinkin' beams.
"Nihil aliud scit necessitas quam vincere." -Syrus
I was using the spiral waves for a while, then I got Mk XII tetryons and I thought they'd be pretty good for killing shields; after a while, I realised there wasn't THAT much of a difference, so now I'm back on the spiral waves. It's a shame that the phaser proc doesn't seem to be that effective in STFs any more, though, but disruptor part still works fine.
Fed tac: *JHAS with polaron all energy build [4xdhc, 3x turret.] Utilizing the XII Jem set. Well, 2 pcs of it, for the damage and flow cap boost. Because it was canon.
*Fleet tac retro, phaser/quantum. Because everyone else was using AP at the time [AP was the "it" weapon type to have when I started playing in season 4] and I just wanted something different.
Fed Eng. *Galor, spiral wave disruptors [7] and a cutting beam. Spirals are still the best beams in the game.
* Advanced heavy cruiser retrofit: polaron 4x single cannon, 4 turrets. I already had the consoles, so I built around that. Wanted to try a cannon build on a cruiser. Very effective, actually.
Fed Sci, *Wells, plasma/plasma. I don't PvP with this one often, so the plasma handicap isn't an issue. Planning on using all 3 pcs of the Rommy weapon set, and the module and omega torp. The goal is to try to squeeze some decent DPS out of a class not known for it.
* Long Range Retofit. Phasers/ chroniton. Got a coupl of good drop items, went with it.
KDF tac, JHAS, disruptor. [3xdhc, DBB, 3x turret]. Using disruptor for the damage resist reduction proc. Dual beam bank w/ overload3 for burst damage. This setup actually does more DPS than my fed bug, even though I still have 2 blue consoles [fed's has 5 XII purple polaron consoles] and no damage bonus from a set.
* B'rel Retrofit Phased Tetyron/quantum. Strip the shields, hammer the bare hull with a HY3 quantum strike. I loved flying this ship, but it just couldn't keep up DPS and survivability-wise with the newer ships.
KDF Eng. Vor'cha retrofit, polarized disruptor/photon. They were really cheap when I was outfitting this ship, and I already had disruptor tac consoles.
Comments
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
NO
====
I use Phaser on mine since Phaser Relays buff the Lotus.
Can you tell me how you have observed this proc effecting the gate?
I am curious as to how it could knock its engines, shields or auxiliary subsystems offline given that it doesn't appear to use any of those. I suppose technically it could effect its weapons system, but I've never seen it, and if it did, its effect would be minimal. But thank you for offering a slight bit of confusion based on an unproven, observed technicality.
And bind a chat command to shout "FEEL the rainbow!" every time I destroy something.
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
Do it, but respec into projectile weapons and make the ship primarily a torp/mine boat. If you make all your tac consoles boost those instead of your energy weapons, a rainbow boat will have the same DPS as a non-rainbow.
Yeah, people may mock you to start with, but they'll shut up when you drop an APB3 buffed Tric mine pattern with 3 Mk XII TCB consoles.
On my fleet tac retro, I run phasers. Mainly just because it's canon.
On my Galor, I of course run with spiral wave disruptors. With 4 bonuses ( accx2 dmgx2) and 2 procs (disruptor and phaser) they're simply the best beam weapons in the game.
My Wells is set up as a power drainer, so I run polaron.
With my BoP, I run tetryon for it's shield stripping ability. With the KHG set's 25% bonus to torpedo damage, a quantum HY3 on a bare hull is a thing of beauty.
On my Vor'cha retrofit, I use polarized disruptors. Damage resistance reduction and power drain. Plus at the time they were among the cheapest weapons out there.
On a side note, I favor [acc] and [CrtH] bonuses.
And lastly if you have a ship with a special bonus weapon, (Chimera, Garumba, ect) use the same energy type as the special weapon. Your consoles will affect it, and you'll get maximum performance.
Oh, man, you're making it almost irresistible.
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
On my serious ships, I go for Antiproton.
I'd use disruptor, but that's what my KDF char uses.
I love the damage resistance debuff it gives. >:D
Also on the Sci ship because those were the cheapest on the exchange at the time. I may switch when fashions and supply allow me to.
Tetryons on the cruiser since it's using pairs of speedy Breen torps on both ends and I want to get the shields down.
Klingon uses default gear since all he does is farm.
The extra plasma damage from having 2 pieces, and then the Romulan Science consoles (which I haven't gotten yet) add more damage. The experimental array is nice because it uses no power (keeping up your damage), and everytime I use Fire-at-Will BOFF power....it's like I'm getting a freebie because it uses no power. That and the hyper torp launcher I like a lot, and the 3 piece Plasma Hull Burn power of the experimental array is a bonus.
I've been comparing the Romulan Distruptors [CrtD]x2 to regular Plasma DHC [CrtD]x3. My parser tells me on average (from 9 STF) the regular Plasma DHC [CrtD]x3 is doing slightly more damage. I already use Attack Pattern Beta 3, so I think the Romulan Distruptor's proc of -10 to damage resistance doesn't really make a difference since I use APB3. I don't know for sure because I think my parser doesn't calculate the reduction to damage resistances when giving me the numbers. But given the 29k Dilithium price of the Romulan Distruptors vs about 2 million ec exchange price of the regular, I think the Romulan Distruptors are not worth it.
I used to use Polaron, and I found those things did barely anything to the Borg probes or Borg Bird of Preys. It may have slowed them down a little but it's so hard to notice I don't think it's worth it either. That and they probably do nothing to transformers and gates.
I personally think Anti-Proton is probably the best. The chance of you scoring a critical (with skills and universal consoles and such) is better than the 2.5% procs. However AP are very expensive and hard to find.
Anyways, just my 2 cents.
Of my 3 Escort alts, I have 1 with disruptors and 2 with phasers, but I'm going to switch one of the phaser ships to an all plasma cannon ship to take advantage on that particular Captain's Romulan reputation.
I have a Cruiser Captain who's going with all old-school blue phasers, just because it looks/sounds cool.
Basically, I try to make each alt as unique as I can, because it's more fun that way.
Disruptors got a great proc.
Tetryons are better at shields, but these need a torpedo for the added hull damage.
Plasmas are good if you got the Romulan threat scaling consoles and set.
Antiprotons are the most expensive, if coolest looking ones. With the new ways to increase your critical chance (Romulan BO, reputation perks, set consoles) they became "awesome and practical" from "awesome but impractical" since S7.
I would say Antiprotons can be the best, if you use a critical hit themed escort.
One feature I really like is the 'Plasma Flux' bonus from the Experimental Plasma Array (rom) set with the ZPM and torpedo combo. The beam effectively becomes a lance weapon for 10 seconds every 2 minutes, easily matching the damage output of other lances. I have replaced torpedos with this one-off weapon to great effect.
Of my three toons, my Engineer has gone full plasma for a tactical oddy build.
Full Reman XII set (bonus to HY torpedos)
4x Romulan Plasma Arrays
Full OMEGA set (omega torp rear, assim console, cuttin beam)
Full ROM set (hyper torp front, Experimental Array, ZPM)
The irony is that unless you're fighting a immobile target, plasma torpedoes rarely get to hit their targets before they are overwhelmed by beam fire. So for most STF's this is fine, but in mob combat they are not as effective other torpedoes IMO.
As a balance what makes them valuable is their ability to fire even after your target is outside of the firing arc, a bonus for slow tanks. Add to that the increased speed due to the Reman Set for HY, they can be very effective against slow targets.
Overall it's not a dps monster, but can deliver 4K effectively with spikes up to 30K with the Exp Array.
The Reman Shields are interesting. With the bonuses, shields can jump for short periods of time to 17K+ per facing. When it works, it's a devastating ability on par with MACO for survivability.
My Two Bits
Admiral Thrax
It works great tankwise, and its a good dps build too.
tetryon on mirror carrier to assist pets to strip the shields
Ain't Nobody Got Time for That
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Would I stick rainbows on the Chimera: no. Its the same story as the Dreadnought, you might aswell go the whole hog and use phasers to make it the best you can. On another ship though that you use on a weekend for a bit of fun don't completely count out rainbows.
Textile Designing Software
Erectile Dysfunction
Seforim
On my Sci, Voq'uv: Tertryon
On my Tac's karfi: Antiprotons I got from the previous season (Borg ones)
On my Fed Eng: dont remember as I played him only to unlock KDF and once to unlock the Ambassdor class!
We still live!!!!! Hahahahahahahahaa! We live and we will conquer!!!!! Hahahahahaaha!
-Roach, when asked about Klingon extinction!
Anyway. I use phasers on my main. I still have to grind to afford two accx3 DHC and 3 turrets. Is a long way to go. I have AP that i use in STF's. And i do really like tetryons even i am not sppeced in shield drain. They seem to have a good use, not to mention that are not so expensive. Disruptors on my Klingon.
I tested the polarons, phased polarons, phased tetryons and had no results without a specialised build. I don't know about polarized disruptors.
In the end it depends on your choice and play style an of cource the budget.
Textile Designing Software
Erectile Dysfunction
Seforim
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Betazoid Fed Tac (Patrol Escort): Plasma cannon setup mostly because one day I found a really nice Mk12 Plasma DHC drop and just decided to build from there. While she was the last character I built, she's actually become my most played Fed since coming back to STO a few months ago. It's nice for STFs that plasma proc works on all enemy objects and plus BLUE FLAMES. BLUE MOFORKING FLAMES.
Human Fed Eng (mostly Ambassador Retrofit): Disruptor beam setup. This is very much a tank/aggro/heal built toon, so I wanted to have a proc that helped my team even if I wasn't doing top DPS. That said, Disruptors are pretty badass-looking on any ship.
Vulcan Fed Sci (Recon Sci/MU Deep Space Sci/2nd Anv Oddy): This used to be my main and only Fed toon when I first started playing. So, I have Borg Anti-proton beams that I use on my Oddy with MACO set from when they were easily acquired from STFs. For the other two ships, I rock the full Jem set and use a polaron beam setup to maximize damage synergy.
Klingon KDF Tac (Guramba for PvE/BoP alpha striker of armageddon for PvP): Disruptor cannon setup to match my Guramba's fantastically exhilarating disruptor lance o' doom ability. In PvP I add a Disruptor DBB for Beam Overload 3.
Orion KDF Eng (Negh'Var/Kamarag Retrofit): Tetryon for mostly vestigial reasons. This used to be my KDF main, so I had Tetryon Borg beams from when they were easy to grab. Aesthetically, I always loved that electric blue shooting out of a massive battle cruiser, so that was the original reason. The proc isn't the best, but who cares, still awesome looking. I sometimes run a Tetryon cannon setup if the mood strikes me.
Klingon KDF Sci (Vo'Quv/MU Vo'Quv/Kamarag Retrofit): on the Vo'Quvs I usually run plasma beams. Both bloated boats use Tricobalt torps and mines, so I imagine the poor enemy yelling, "PUT OUT THOSE PLASMA FIRES, NOW!" "Captain, sensors have detected tricobalt devices directed at our rear port quarter." "Nooooooooooooooooo, when will it end!"
That said, when I strap on the Jemmy set I'll sometimes switch to polaron beams to maximize damage synergy. On the Kamarag I use a plasma cannon setup for the color. Since this is now my most played toon, I'll be getting Romulan plasma beams soon.
I also have a separate KDF Sci B'Rel torp boat toon, but that ain't got no stinkin' beams.
*Fleet tac retro, phaser/quantum. Because everyone else was using AP at the time [AP was the "it" weapon type to have when I started playing in season 4] and I just wanted something different.
Fed Eng. *Galor, spiral wave disruptors [7] and a cutting beam. Spirals are still the best beams in the game.
* Advanced heavy cruiser retrofit: polaron 4x single cannon, 4 turrets. I already had the consoles, so I built around that. Wanted to try a cannon build on a cruiser. Very effective, actually.
Fed Sci, *Wells, plasma/plasma. I don't PvP with this one often, so the plasma handicap isn't an issue. Planning on using all 3 pcs of the Rommy weapon set, and the module and omega torp. The goal is to try to squeeze some decent DPS out of a class not known for it.
* Long Range Retofit. Phasers/ chroniton. Got a coupl of good drop items, went with it.
KDF tac, JHAS, disruptor. [3xdhc, DBB, 3x turret]. Using disruptor for the damage resist reduction proc. Dual beam bank w/ overload3 for burst damage. This setup actually does more DPS than my fed bug, even though I still have 2 blue consoles [fed's has 5 XII purple polaron consoles] and no damage bonus from a set.
* B'rel Retrofit Phased Tetyron/quantum. Strip the shields, hammer the bare hull with a HY3 quantum strike. I loved flying this ship, but it just couldn't keep up DPS and survivability-wise with the newer ships.
KDF Eng. Vor'cha retrofit, polarized disruptor/photon. They were really cheap when I was outfitting this ship, and I already had disruptor tac consoles.