best weapon and hull plating against crystal?

possumlips · April 2013

I've heard that electroplating is the best to use against the borg,is there a good hull plating/alloy and weapon to use against the crystal entity?

tpalelena · April 2013

Well Tholians deal tetryon, so Electroceramic is a good choice. I'm not sure what the CE's attack does.. maybe Antiproton?

defalus · April 2013

If in doubt, stack neutronium.:D

I've heard of people getting antiproton damage accolades when fighting the CE and as said above the Tholians deal tetryon.

Then there's the Mirror Federation which deal phaser.

Then add in the various torpedoes in play from the Tholians and the odd Mirror Fed ship, the latter don't show often but I have seen them in there.

In my opinion, use 2 neutronium if you can or at the least a tetraburnium and an ablative which will offer some phaser, some anitproton and moderate tetryon resistance but no kinetic resistance.

hevach · April 2013

Antiproton, I think.

As for weapons, phaser, polaron, and tetryon procs are nonfunctional against the entity itself (but still work against the Tholians). Plasma procs can linger into absorption phases and help ramp up the shockwave, though not that much, and the shockwave can work to your favor since it hits the Tholians, too. It has crazy high resistance to all energy damage, and slightly lower (though still really high) resistance to kinetic.

anazonda · April 2013

Tetryon and antiproton... Logs don't lie

.. well... sometimes they do, but not this time.

possumlips · April 2013

Would it be better to use a ship with a hangar ? I have the Atrox,Recluse and Jem'hadar Dreadnought.

woodwhity · April 2013

Weapons: Kinetic-dmg and Disruptor

Defense: Monotanium. Why? The Tetryon, Phaser and Antiproton-Damage is negligible, the only thing that could hurt you is the shockwave -thats antiproton dmg- but you can evade it pretty easily, so the only thing capable of inflicting huge amounts of damage are the large fragments, which ram you, so thats kinetic damage.

fovrel · April 2013

A thing I am wondering about is how are destructables like heavy plasmas, tricobaits and the breen cluster performing? It looks to me they get destructed and never reach the target, the CE. Anyhow, I have stopped using those.

hevach · April 2013

They can help clear out fragments, which isn't a total waste. But, yeah, only time you'll have a likely clear shot is during the absorb phase, when they'll do no damage and only serve to crank up the shockwave.

ursusmorologus · April 2013

fovrel wrote: »

A thing I am wondering about is how are destructables like heavy plasmas, tricobaits and the breen cluster performing? It looks to me they get destructed and never reach the target, the CE. Anyhow, I have stopped using those.

1) the CE does not have shields
2) the CE does not "absorb" kinetic damage

If you can rapid-fire torps you'll do well

ddesjardins · April 2013

Armour and shields with the [Ap] resistance modifiers works best. Klingon crew seems to resist the best, especially in a Chel Gret for some reason.

Just completed my 5th run with a Klingon-crewed Tac Chel Gret. Crew survived intact. The console configuration is identical to my other toons for defence.

The key is (1.) not supply it with energy during the absorption phase, and (2.) be well outside the 10km radius when she sends out her energy cascade.

Unshielded you will take significant damage, based in part on how much she absorbs. It is tankable if you have to, but if you come under attack by shards immediately after, you are finished.

bignutter · April 2013

So It appears that running the Borg cutting beam is good for this?

The Issue I've got is that my main ship (Caitan Atrox Carrier) is a "shield" stripper, with Pets that do the same. (They all run Tetryon weapons.) But then I choose to hang back and aim for the Tholians so everyone else can take down that thing.

crownvic2door · April 2013

I have noticed that with my main character (fed Engineer) while in the kumari the only thing the phasers are good for is base damage without procs unless aiming at the thols. however I also deal plasma damage and kinetic damage thanks to my romulan console and cutting beam so even through I run phasers on that ship I can still contribute regardless what I'm hitting. disruptor/plasma/cutting beam seem to also be a good combo. for this event the cannon spread thing seems to work against the fragments and tholian torpedos/fighters...

nicha0 · April 2013

possumlips wrote: »

I've heard that electroplating is the best to use against the borg,is there a good hull plating/alloy and weapon to use against the crystal entity?

Well you were lied to about the electroplating for the borg, most damage from the borg is kinetic, not plasma.

possumlips · April 2013

nicha0 wrote: »

Well you were lied to about the electroplating for the borg, most damage from the borg is kinetic, not plasma.

I have all the ships except for the Vesta's and Kumari's even all the reward pack ships and all the purple MK xii weapons,console upgrades etc.,I just can't seem to get the right combo going. Oh, and I switched out the blue pets for the purple on all my carriers.I wouldn't call it being lied to about which shielding for using against the borg tho,thats a little harsh.Most likely just someone with the wrong info passing it along, or a difference of opion I figure.

dragonsbite · April 2013

The majority of the damage is antiproton. But the kinetic damage can be a worry as it hits quite a bit harder. I however only use 1 mk XI Neutronium plating always and for everything. I'm also usually tanking as i'm an engineer tank. Last encounter I received 843,107 damage. I have received over 1mill before. Done this encounter 15 times or so and I've never died doing it yet. I also usually but not always get 1st place. Same encounter I was 1st doing 34% of the 10 peoples damage. And no this doesn't mean i'm kicking some serious TRIBBLE. I'm only doing a bit over 5k dps. It does mean that pugs do terrible dps. I don't think it matters what weapons you use. Use whatever flavor turns you on. And while kinetic is great vs the entity you have to think about all the adds as well.

The fight is kinda simplistic. Just use the weapons and abilities that should do the most damage. Which is usually more about ability selection and use then actual type of weapon imo. If you want to be support you won't get #1. If you want to heal you won't get #1. Sadly it's all about dps to achieve #1. As usual for all STFs in this game it's all about dps.

buddha1369 · April 2013

My most successful character in CE is actually my sci. She runs a heal build with torps.

Two plasma torps and omega up front, two plasma mines in back. Send your heals around for extra points. The CE is less resistent to kinetic damage so it works really well.

asphe · April 2013

dragonsbite wrote: »

The majority of the damage is antiproton. But the kinetic damage can be a worry as it hits quite a bit harder. I however only use 1 mk XI Neutronium plating always and for everything. I'm also usually tanking as i'm an engineer tank. Last encounter I received 843,107 damage. I have received over 1mill before. Done this encounter 15 times or so and I've never died doing it yet. I also usually but not always get 1st place. Same encounter I was 1st doing 34% of the 10 peoples damage. And no this doesn't mean i'm kicking some serious TRIBBLE. I'm only doing a bit over 5k dps. It does mean that pugs do terrible dps. I don't think it matters what weapons you use. Use whatever flavor turns you on. And while kinetic is great vs the entity you have to think about all the adds as well.

The fight is kinda simplistic. Just use the weapons and abilities that should do the most damage. Which is usually more about ability selection and use then actual type of weapon imo. If you want to be support you won't get #1. If you want to heal you won't get #1. Sadly it's all about dps to achieve #1. As usual for all STFs in this game it's all about dps.

Yep, I agree.

Don't support others (in fact, keep firing during the absorb phaser in hope of killing off other players). Yep, that's terribly cynical.

Use a beam-boat/FAW. Sure, the average DPS seems far less than a cannon escort's. But you can keep firing constantly, including on the tholian ships (unlike the CE, far less energy resistant) and fragments chasing you. Unless you are in a premade group, you'll always out-damage everyone else... unless there's someone also using AOE beams & mines/etc.

Plus if you bring a beam-array equipped Kumari to the fight, it will annoy certain people. Bonus points if you do the rainbow.

Emnity doesn't mean you're #1. Just because the CE hates you doesn't mean some other joker's far out-damaging you, pummeling the fragments and tholians.

Keep your shields up and avoid fragments, you can put something else in place of those armor and shield consoles. It's PvE after all, you're not going up directly against other players.

dank65 · April 2013

fovrel wrote: »

A thing I am wondering about is how are destructables like heavy plasmas, tricobaits and the breen cluster performing? It looks to me they get destructed and never reach the target, the CE. Anyhow, I have stopped using those.

I use a straight kinetic build that includes the breen cluster on my brel torp/mine boat the
secret is you need to be a point blank range when you release it along with mines, its
killer Im always on top in dmg but then I run a PvP build for everything..:D

dragonsbite · April 2013

asphe wrote: »

Yep, I agree.

Don't support others (in fact, keep firing during the absorb phaser in hope of killing off other players). Yep, that's terribly cynical.

Use a beam-boat/FAW. Sure, the average DPS seems far less than a cannon escort's. But you can keep firing constantly, including on the tholian ships (unlike the CE, far less energy resistant) and fragments chasing you. Unless you are in a premade group, you'll always out-damage everyone else... unless there's someone also using AOE beams & mines/etc.

Plus if you bring a beam-array equipped Kumari to the fight, it will annoy certain people. Bonus points if you do the rainbow.

Emnity doesn't mean you're #1. Just because the CE hates you doesn't mean some other joker's far out-damaging you, pummeling the fragments and tholians.

Keep your shields up and avoid fragments, you can put something else in place of those armor and shield consoles. It's PvE after all, you're not going up directly against other players.

Oddly I actually do the encounter the correct way. I've yet to get hit by 1 shard. I fly around the entity constantly and try to agro all adds. This isn't overly successful as they're very spread out. And they knock my weapons offline quite often as I specced out of power insulators. I switch targets and concentrate on tholians when absorb phase starts and hold off on FAW. I then go out beyond 10km until the wave is over, not many people do this. And combat log trackers never lie. At least not when you use the correct plugin. Most of my damage is against the tholian adds, 2nd is shards and last is the entity.

At least your advise at the end was correct.

sirokk · April 2013

I seem to survive well enough in my bug with my eng. Of the 6 days I've done the mission, I died twice.

I am using the bug because it has decent hull, 4 eng console slots and has 5 tactical console slots. I pulled off the Polaron cannons and converted it into a Transphasic torp boat for this mission to ensure that I inflict primarily kinetic damage for the Crystalline Catastrophe event.

I gathered together what I already had and bought a couple more Transphasic consoles:

Front: 2x Rapid Fire Trans torps, 2x Breen Torp Cluster Torp
Rear: 1x Transphasic Mine Mk XI Uncommon, 1x Tricobalt Mine Mk XI and KCB

Devices: Shield batteries

Eng: 3x Neutronium Alloy Mk XII, Borg Assimilated Console
Sci: Field Gen Mk XI Rare
Tactical: 5x Transphaic Compressors consoles Mk XI

Shields, Engine and Deflector: Jem'Hadar Set Mk XI

Using Torpedo spread, Dispersal Pattern Beta, Transfer Shield Strength and sometimes EPtE and EPtS.

I should probably try moving the Breen Torps to the back and have more Rapid fire Torps up front to try to get a better torp spread volley but the shared cooldowns would probably hinder this.

It's not a finely tuned set but it works well enough to buzz the Entity, do torp spread of the Rapid Trans torps and mines and survive. This has been a very fun setup of not using any beams, except the KCB, just bypassing shields on NPCs and banging the heck out of them!

Anyways, I thought I'd just share.

praxi5 · April 2013

sirokk wrote: »

I seem to survive well enough in my bug with my eng. Of the 6 days I've done the mission, I died twice.

I am using the bug because it has decent hull, 4 eng console slots and has 5 tactical console slots. I pulled off the Polaron cannons and converted it into a Transphasic torp boat for this mission to ensure that I inflict primarily kinetic damage for the Crystalline Catastrophe event.

I gathered together what I already had and bought a couple more Transphasic consoles:

Front: 2x Rapid Fire Trans torps, 2x Breen Torp Cluster Torp
Rear: 1x Transphasic Mine Mk XI Uncommon, 1x Tricobalt Mine Mk XI and KCB

Devices: Shield batteries

Eng: 3x Neutronium Alloy Mk XII, Borg Assimilated Console
Sci: Field Gen Mk XI Rare
Tactical: 5x Transphaic Compressors consoles Mk XI

Shields, Engine and Deflector: Jem'Hadar Set Mk XI

Using Torpedo spread, Dispersal Pattern Beta, Transfer Shield Strength and sometimes EPtE and EPtS.

I should probably try moving the Breen Torps to the back and have more Rapid fire Torps up front to try to get a better torp spread volley but the shared cooldowns would probably hinder this.

It's not a finely tuned set but it works well enough to buzz the Entity, do torp spread of the Rapid Trans torps and mines and survive. This has been a very fun setup of not using any beams, except the KCB, just bypassing shields on NPCs and banging the heck out of them!

Anyways, I thought I'd just share.

Use 3x Projectile DOffs with your Rapid Fire Trans, and you'll be rocketing those and the Cluster torps off with alarming frequency.

mirrorchaos · April 2013

recently upgrade two toons, one runs a rapid firing photon and tetryon turret layout, the other has gotten console upgrades and a change from dominion polaron arrays to polarized disruptor arrays accx2, all i could afford for my vor'cha.

sirokk · April 2013

praxi5 wrote: »

Use 3x Projectile DOffs with your Rapid Fire Trans, and you'll be rocketing those and the Cluster torps off with alarming frequency.

Hmmm... since this build is so fun, I think I will go for the DOffs. I'll have to see how much they cost and try to get the rarest I can.

Thanks!

dragonsbite · April 2013

For giggles I tried 3 torps this time. Not only was it a huge dps loss I was also taking damage from my own torps. Do NOT use slow moving projectiles. Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedos were blowing up in my face 1/3rd of the time. This marks the 1st time I've ever died on this fight. I quickly went back to the following;

6x Beam Arrays
1x Cutting beam
1x 180 degree Quantum torpedo

Attack Pattern Beta II
Fire at Will II
Torpedo Spread I

or as below as they both seem to perform equally

Attack Pattern Beta I
Fire at Will III
Torpedo Spread I

I've tried quite a few different setups and the above always does way more damage then anything else I've tried. Having to either stop or slow down to face the target to dps on this fight really sucks. Much easier to broadside for dps and survivability is ensured if you keep moving.

dracounguis · April 2013

fovrel wrote: »

A thing I am wondering about is how are destructables like heavy plasmas, tricobaits and the breen cluster performing? It looks to me they get destructed and never reach the target, the CE. Anyhow, I have stopped using those.

The large shards spawn from the CE so if you're unlucky, they'll get in the way of your slow torps and take the hit instead.

My Oddy's loadout is 2 BAs and 2 Q-torps fore and 1 BA, a Cutting Beam and 2 Q-torp aft. Have Torp Spead 3 & 1. My consoles are Q-torp buffers. I've come in 1st place 5-6 times so far.

sirokk · April 2013

dracounguis wrote: »

The large shards spawn from the CE so if you're unlucky, they'll get in the way of your slow torps and take the hit instead.

My Oddy's loadout is 2 BAs and 2 Q-torps fore and 1 BA, a Cutting Beam and 2 Q-torp aft. Have Torp Spead 3 & 1. My consoles are Q-torp buffers. I've come in 1st place 5-6 times so far.

What do you think contributes the most to your success?

I usually just go straight in for the CE itself with my bug and continue to make straffing runs with Transphasic Torp Spreads, turn and use the Breen cluster torps as I leave. The only reason I use Transphasic is because I already had a few of the Rapid Fire ones. Also use the KCB continuously.

redricky · April 2013

dragonsbite wrote: »

For giggles I tried 3 torps this time. Not only was it a huge dps loss I was also taking damage from my own torps. Do NOT use slow moving projectiles. Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedos were blowing up in my face 1/3rd of the time.

Actually, I consider that a feature of that torp. It's how I massage my hull down for a GDF bonus.

shadowaxx · April 2013

I have placed 1st 6 times with a jem dreadnought, JHAS pets, anti proton BB/BA, Quantum Torp and Cutting Beam. I have a few 2nd and 3rd places finished with the dread as well. I have a 3rd place finish with a JHAS Polaron build and also a 3rd in a Chimera with a phaser build.

It very well could be my hangar pets are giving me a slight dps edge over others in the mission as I constantly spawn them in attack mode on the entity.

I'm currently 12/14 on the mission and looking forward to the payday.

possumlips · April 2013

sirokk wrote: »

I seem to survive well enough in my bug with my eng. Of the 6 days I've done the mission, I died twice.

I am using the bug because it has decent hull, 4 eng console slots and has 5 tactical console slots. I pulled off the Polaron cannons and converted it into a Transphasic torp boat for this mission to ensure that I inflict primarily kinetic damage for the Crystalline Catastrophe event.

I gathered together what I already had and bought a couple more Transphasic consoles:

Front: 2x Rapid Fire Trans torps, 2x Breen Torp Cluster Torp
Rear: 1x Transphasic Mine Mk XI Uncommon, 1x Tricobalt Mine Mk XI and KCB

Devices: Shield batteries

Eng: 3x Neutronium Alloy Mk XII, Borg Assimilated Console
Sci: Field Gen Mk XI Rare
Tactical: 5x Transphaic Compressors consoles Mk XI

Shields, Engine and Deflector: Jem'Hadar Set Mk XI

Using Torpedo spread, Dispersal Pattern Beta, Transfer Shield Strength and sometimes EPtE and EPtS.

I should probably try moving the Breen Torps to the back and have more Rapid fire Torps up front to try to get a better torp spread volley but the shared cooldowns would probably hinder this.

It's not a finely tuned set but it works well enough to buzz the Entity, do torp spread of the Rapid Trans torps and mines and survive. This has been a very fun setup of not using any beams, except the KCB, just bypassing shields on NPCs and banging the heck out of them!

Anyways, I thought I'd just share.

I'm finally getting somewhere. I have close to the build you describe on my tactical captain with the Jem Dreadnought carrier/Tholian Recluse, and with my science captain with the Atrox carrier ,I use Antiproton cannons and beam array along with Chroniton beam array,Temporal disruption device and both have Bio neural warheads and I've been getting into the top 3 now. I did add the 3 purple projectile officers to my "active space duty" along with space warfare "Tilkreene" to help me with the tholains with the Jem build along with rapid firing trans torpedos and cluster transphasic torpedos and mines with Beta 3. To my tac console on Jem ship I added 3 transphasic coms/2 for Recluse all mk xii(2 purple,1 blue) and a rule 62 console from my D'kora. A borg TRIBBLE mod, a xii purple Neu alloy and a enhaced plasma manifold along with a force field to engineer and a blue xii field generator and bio monitor to science.My main problem is my crew seems to be dropping off fast even tho I keep the shields up! Hence the purple xii Bio and force field recently added but it seems to not helped any.This happens to both captains on both ships.
I have Borg XI, Breen XI, Aegis, Omega X and Jem XII sets on my tac captain and Aegis, Borg XI, Omega XII, and MACO XI to choose from on my science captain . I also opted for one of my purple pets to be a shield healer on the carriers. Borg has the best hull/repair but Aegis and MACO are best for shield strength.
Since I bought most ships from the c-store I have access to Isometric charge, Graviton pulse, Theta radiation, Nadeon detonator, and Antimatter spread universal consoles to name a few tho i'm not sure if these help much along with the red matter capacitor I got free.I also have access to the Spiral wave disruptor since I have the Galor along with both Temporal ships on my science captain build. On my Tac captain build I have all 3 Jem ships,D'Kora,Recluse and Orb Weaver.
But back to my problem,I may have to sacrifice some other console to double up on my Bio monitor to help my crew out.Not sure what else to do.Is there a hull or alloy I can add to help? What takes out a crew while shields stay up? Some sort of radiation from Crystal entity? Thanks for all the help.Just glad to get into the top 3 now so somethings doing some good.

best weapon and hull plating against crystal?

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