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Moar Plasma! (a lvling build)
sloniah
Member Posts: 16 Arc User
So I've been reading and playing and reading and playing some more with this crazy idea. Why do I need to chew through the shields when I can just cook them from the inside out?
Admittedly, You will never kill anything purely from plasma proccs on weapons. That being said Eject Warp Plasma is pretty good at it and completely avoids the shields at all and pins them down for me and my team.
Knowing full well that my main damage isn't coming from my guns I decided to go with cannons and turrets to make my Tac officer choices easier.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=plasmalvling_0
I have my current Skill points and the main skills that I use listed on the link above. Everything not listed I ether don't remember off the top of my head or are defencive cool-downs (i.e. E.P.t.S. 1 and 2, and one other shield heal, ect).
What I'd like from the wise-men of the forums (I'm looking at you Don'tDrunk :P ) is a list of everything I'm missing to make Eject Warp Plasma shred and pin whomever is unlucky enough to get dusted by it.
1) Do any power levels affect Eject Warp Plasma?
2) Are there any engineer consoles that affect Eject Warp Plasma?
3) Does the skill "Starship Subspace Decompiler" affect Eject Warp Plasma?
4) Anything I haven't thought of goes here. :P
I'd like to thank all of you for your advice and aid.
Admittedly, You will never kill anything purely from plasma proccs on weapons. That being said Eject Warp Plasma is pretty good at it and completely avoids the shields at all and pins them down for me and my team.
Knowing full well that my main damage isn't coming from my guns I decided to go with cannons and turrets to make my Tac officer choices easier.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=plasmalvling_0
I have my current Skill points and the main skills that I use listed on the link above. Everything not listed I ether don't remember off the top of my head or are defencive cool-downs (i.e. E.P.t.S. 1 and 2, and one other shield heal, ect).
What I'd like from the wise-men of the forums (I'm looking at you Don'tDrunk :P ) is a list of everything I'm missing to make Eject Warp Plasma shred and pin whomever is unlucky enough to get dusted by it.
1) Do any power levels affect Eject Warp Plasma?
2) Are there any engineer consoles that affect Eject Warp Plasma?
3) Does the skill "Starship Subspace Decompiler" affect Eject Warp Plasma?
4) Anything I haven't thought of goes here. :P
I'd like to thank all of you for your advice and aid.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
2) Only the Sci console, Particle Generators, boost EWP damage. Having the +Aux Power console isn't really worth it - better to slot a more useful console, such as Neutronium Alloy.
3) I don't think so, but I'd get a second opinion on that.
4) If you're going to build around EWP, you absolutely must slot at least one of the Matter-Antimatter Engineer doffs who boost the power. Instead of just slowing down the target, there's a chance they'll come to a total stop instead, making them stay in the plasma trail longer, and makes them more vulnerable to your attacks (Defence is lowered when a ship isn't moving).
If you're fitting turrets, the obvious choice for your Lt Tac ability is Cannon: Rapid Fire.
For your second Lt Com Eng ability, I'd suggest you take Aceton Beam, since the damage done by that is dependent on Particle Generators - something you've already heavily invested in.
For other Eng abilities - Eng Team 1, EPtS 1/2, RSP1.
You might consider dropping one of the sci abilities for Hazard Emitters, as your only hull heal otherwise will be Eng Team. Otherwise, drop RSP1 or Aceton Beam 1 for Aux to Structural 1/2.
Yes, go to ESD by the Medical Officer. There's a BOFF trainer there next to the door on your left side. You can train any boff skill for any boff except for the level III skills that us captains train.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=6746341&postcount=199
and adapt what you read to your assault cruiser in the following way,
First I will start with your questions:
1) Do any power levels affect Eject Warp Plasma?
NO, Partcle Gens are not buffed by aux power, only spec and console, and its the particle gens(and damage consoles i think) that affect DoT
2) Are there any engineer consoles that affect Eject Warp Plasma?
No, but you want the romulan embassy plasma infused particle gens to boost your DoT, those are sci consoles
3) Does the skill "Starship Subspace Decompiler" affect Eject Warp Plasma?
NO
4) Anything I haven't thought of goes here.
Change the following in your build
1. You are attempting to use 2 RCS consoles to make up for your poor turn rate in order to keep cannons in arc, there is no reason for this as you are better of using beams, use the following weapons instead in order to stack plasma procs and boost your DoT:
Front:
1 Experimental Romulan Plasma Beam Array 2 Romulan Plasma Beam Arrays(normals if u dont have the cash), 1 Omega Torp
Aft: 3 Romulan Plasma Beam Arrays, 1 Romulan Plasma Torp
2. I assume you are not using aux2batt because your running 2 copies of tac team, and 2 EWP's, the only way your ever gonna hope to melt someone to death with plasma burn is by having EWP3 at global and combining it with the Romulan Hyperflux, and even then it will be tough to bring down a cruiser, escorts on the other hand have very little chance of surviving stacked plasma procs and DoT burn, you wont be doing as much damage as a tac but it will be an improvement over your current build. So 3 purple tech doffs, 1 EWP doff, and 1 doff of your choice, maybe Marion if you choose to slot DEM2 or an Exocomp if you decide on something else. I have linked your ship build and Boff station setup below.
3. Tactics: what you want to do is to place an APB or APD, whichever one you choose on your target to lower its damage res, throw out a high yield omega for an additional plasma proc on top of what your beams are applying, engulf the target in warp plasma, use the tractor beam if your having trouble catching it. As you pass the target with EWP, fire the romulan torps to apply yet another plasma proc, then swing around and fire the special hyperflux mode of the experimental beam array, and then broadside with DEM2 for additional hull damage. Keep repeating this on more stubborn targets, if your target did not die from the first strike, you could try this: wait until your experimental beam array recharge is up, repeat the process above only now, before engulfing the target in warp plasma use the romulan cloak to boost your part gen skill by 100, which will get you a substantial boost to warp plasma DoT. If your not T5 in rep system or dont have access to the romulan exp beam array, a plasma build is not for you, you will merely be acting as CC and will never do the damage you hope to do based on your original post.
3. All human boffs(1 tac romulan would be good) and 2 pc borg set for increased survivability, as an engineer you could also consider 2 pc omega as it will boost your part gen skill and turn rate, but remember you are short on hull heals as ET1 and an auxless HE2 doesnt help much, use aux batteries to buff HE2 in an emergency. As for shields Elite fleet shields are preferred but an aux2batt build will get a nice power boost from maco, momentarily boosting all your subsystems (other than aux) to above 100.
4. Here is the link in stoacademy for the suggestions I have made above, if you do decide to use it i would love to help you test it out in game, look me up...
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=sloniahsplassaultcruiser_0
First off, that is a detailed and well crafted post sir! Very nicely done.
Now for my reply...
I've not gotten access to the Romulan, M.A.C.O. or Borg gear yet (10,000 S.P. from rank 44 as of this typing) so I will be working on that as I get to it.
I knew that Beams are better for cruisers. What I didn't know was that I could retrain my Bridge Officers. With this knowledge I can (sadly) say good-bye to my cannons in favor of the Broadsides.
I'm testing some of the changes and pounding out some gear as we speak so I will post the resulting chaos.
Don't discount single cannons/turrets on cruiser, they fire faster and can apply more DEM and Tet Glider damage than beams and will generally outdps a beam boat if you build it right. To use single cannons effectively its important to be able to keep your target in your front 180 degree arc, this means either a more agile cruiser such an Excelsior or a non-aux2batt cruiser running Aux2Sif or EPtE with multiple RCS's.
Good luck with your ship
I generally don't have that much of an issue with keeping my targets where I want the for the cannons but I'm thinking 6 - 8 Beams > 3-4 turrets and 3-4 Cannons (depending on Torpedos / Mines).
Granted I will have the Constant dmg from the turrets regardless but I don't know if that makes up for it yet. Although, I will admit cannons seem to be much easier on my power from what I'm seeing. Most likely because of how much harder it is to get proper damage, and how little energy turrets seem to use.
I'm going to try beams/torps for a bit before I invest any real currency into the weapons. but thus far I'm still leaning towards a cannon/turret fitting.
P.S. I forgot to mention that I'm planning on getting a Heavy Cruiser Retrofit (Stargazer Class) when I can. So the cannons won't bee too bad on that as it has the same turn as that Adv. Heavy Cruiser Retrofit you were talking about.
This said however Defbond seems to know what he's talking about so on that note I shall leave you in his hands, good luck
Yes a proper cannon build will normally outdps a beam boat, but if your going plasma its essential to use EWP3, hence losing DEM3, and all the benefit, DEM2 just won't cut it as your only source of directly damaging the hull through shields, which is what you want to be doing as a cruiser since with all the rep shields buffs and elite fleet shields going around you stand little chance of hitting bare hull, your spike wont be strong enough to knock down a shield facing before manual shield distribution will cover the gaps.
If you have a slower turning cruiser you should still use beams, its not as hard to broadside, and if your target gets behind you, you will be doing more damage from your aft beam arrays than if you were using turrets. If your facing faster moving targets, you will get more total damage just because more of your weapons fired over the course of the match. Also, a plasma build will benefit from all beams, you can run an 7 beam cruiser+rom or omega torp with the power drain of a 6 beam cruiser since the experimental beam array draws little energy and offers a free beam overload with high DoT.
EPW3 can be deadly, I have gotten up to 2K DoT, combined with the hyperflux mode of the experimental beam array,and stacked plasma procs, it will out spike any single cannon cruiser...these builds are more relevant to PvP though so keep that in mind. We still have a little while to play with our EWP builds before it gets nerfed, I dont see why its necessary as EWP benefited mostly cruisers and they need all the help they can get...
Do the disrupter Tac Consoles increase the Romulan Plasma weapons damage? I don't think they do.
Of EWP 3 and DEM 3 yes EWP will do more damage though using the doff DEM 2 still has its use ESPECIALLY on a beamboat, with the drain potential of the weapons those 8 seconds of what is effectively Nadion inversion (in my case its better than Nadion for those 8 seconds) it still has its use.
As for the pvp scenario, while a good point it is moot as beam arrays have the exact same problem regardless of what you back them up with where a good cannon/turret build running CRF is going to put a dent in the shield for a few seconds regardless and using any form of DEM it'll put a dent in the hull while its at it.
Even a slow cruiser can utilise cannons if the pilot knows the tricks in moving said cruiser, I happen to use the Sovi as my test platform for all my Excel builds and as such know that it is a capable A2B cannon-boat (I'm Currently trying to turn mine into a healboat which is coming along at a slow pace, I may have over done the healing aspect).
I will not argue however that single cannons are only for the quicker cruisers though once you learn the tricks of cruiser turning the Sovi becomes more of a personal preference type of ship. (in my experience)
No they do not however you misunderstand what it is that I said, I did not intend to suggest moving just to disruptor consoles but to disruptor weapons also using the plasma-disruptor hybrid weapons to utilise some of the Rommie consoles considering the (tribble) nerf to Plasma builds (which will likely hit live soon).
If you have the right Rommie consoles you shouldn't have much issue changing weapon types and might even notice a damage output boost from swapping to plasma disruptors thanks to the disruptor proc (which may upon second thoughts be on the Rommies as well), another side effect of this is that you can at a later date take this into a pvp situation (should you decide to give it a go) and not be nerfed 20% (minimum) by the shields alone.
As stated in my previous post Defbond knows what he is on about.
(sorry about the word wall)
I'm a PvE bot for now as I just dinged 50 yesterday. I've set my sights on a Stargazer Retrofit (Heavy Cruiser Retrofit) for my final ship since I'm a Free-to-Play ***. Many things went into this decision, and by many things I mean I like the way it looks and it has everything I want including an 8 turn rating.
After that it's a grind rush for M.A.C.O. Mk X shields then face deep into Romulan rep for the 2 piece bonus.
Somewhere along the way I'm going to snag the Embassy Consoles and hopefully some decent Cannons/Turrets while I'm building Rom. Rep. I think I'm going to stay with Cannon/Turrets for now simply because I like them. While maybe not the wisest decision, this forum and experience has proven that it's still effective enough as long as the pilot is good enough.
I think I will come back in a while and consolidate all of the information here later tonight. Maybe after I get my damned ship.... le sigh. 50k more fleet credits... F.M.L.
E'Mc2 : Science Reman torp T'Varo, deadly annoyance :P
Kunmal: Tactical fed Klingon, ground specialist, USS Kanewaga
Ka -tet Tier 5 fleet fully completed Starbase and fleet property