Those that argue against torpedoes should really see what a triple high yield hyper plasma or energy bolt with Alpha strike can do.
Trust me, it will make the borg hurt badly. It may not be good for pvp, but against all those unshielded hulls its a real pain.
I definitely agree. I have never been one to argue against the use of torps. This is another perfect example of why I made a disclaimer in the OP after naming the title of this thread. The term "DPS" is used loosely and perhaps not in its original context. I'm sure sitting there shooting at a target iona controlled environment for a controlled period of time, with all cannons, you may get more hitpoints than -1 DHC and +1 torpedo launcher.
However in practical STF combat, the spike damage from a high yield or TS3 torpedo does too much spike damage to ignore. Especially given the plasma DoT effect of the new MACO and Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torps.
Does anyone here use an EPS console? I have been thinking about using one. I haven't used one in ages, because my characters efficiency bonus is ridiculous. I have max Warp Core Potential and Warp Core Efficiency. I have the "Efficient Captain" trait for +10% Efficiency. 3 efficient Saurians, 1 Efficient Borg and 1 Human for Leadership. Other consoles give bonuses to power levels as well.
I have however heard from some people who use EPS consoles because they say it prevents their weapons power levels from dropping too much, especially when using SV3, RF3 or Fire at Will.
While they may not drop a ton, higher power levels equal higher damage output.
Ok what should Escort have for Acc to cap for pve? should we use Acc weapons and if so how much Acc?
It's hard to say. I haven't seen enough real proof for any standard bonusover another. There is a decent amount of debate. Typically Dmg vs ACC vs CrtH. I prefer Dmg or Acc. I prefer CrtH with AntiProton weapons however, because of their innate CrtD proc. Those are just preferences however. Does anyone know where to find documentation regarding controlled tests for these bonuses?
The eps console only improves recharge time from power drain caused by abilities. So if you are having issues with crf and csv then yes it will work but if you all ready have power boosting options like ep2w, red matter, maintenance doff for use with ep2x abilities or the dem frances doff, eng captain nadion inversion, ect. then I wouldn't worry.
Normally I would only look at it if some one is doing a Bo3 thing. There are too many other consoles I prefer.
Not sure if my question is stupid or not, but does this skill plan work with a KDF as well?
I'm sure it does, I'd just like some confirmation. I plan to fly either BoP's or Raptors, not sure which yet, leaning heavily toward BoP's though unless otherwise what would be better for me.
Not sure if my question is stupid or not, but does this skill plan work with a KDF as well?
It does. While there are specific build information, the general principles are the same. The only difference between a kdf ship and a fed ship is a few layout tweaks. Even a cruiser build is very similar to an escort build skill tree wise and are pretty interchangeable. When we look at the fleet qin heavy raptor it has the same boff layout as a defiant and the console layout of a patrol escort.
That being said there are a few things you may want to tweak since you would have a cloaking device. In the skill tree starship stealth may be more enticing in PvP but in stfs i would mainly be looking at the cloak for the %15 attack bonus bonus for 5 sec. This is where the Bops have a distinct advantage over most raptors. The battle cloak can be used more often since you don't need to wait to be out of combat to use it again. When I look at infected I know I am rarely out of combat so that standard cloaks bonus on decloak is almost useless. In ka you will have more opportunities to cloak out of combat.
This is important if you are looking into embassy boffs. As a federation player I always look at the Opperative trait since I get a flat passive crit bonus. The cloak recharge time only matters if you have a battle cloak. The Subterfuge trait gives a nice defense bonus but also improves the quality of your cloak. Normally cloak quality wont matter in this regard for the same reason why I don't spec into stealth. Also the defense bonus does not matter if you are standing still shooting like a turret.
After looking at all of this it still comes down to the skill tree is still too similar to waste a respec and really only should be done if something is blatant problem. The Boff layout is always going to be similar with the same basic moves, the consoles are in the same and the only advantage is cloak that you may only use once unless it is a battle cloak so you can cloak while in red alert and between targets. The opperative trait is still the romulan trait of choice with subterfuge being more a pvp trait.
Yeah when I went to the klink side, I thought the BoP's would be just like escorts, but they're not. They're kinda of strange at first. Their boff layouts are evenly distributed, they are VERY squishy, and almost too manueverable. They must rely HEAVILY on their cloak.
Thats when I bought the Guramba Siege Destroyer, which is really a good escort.
I put my Tholian Orb Weaver Sci (Tac Oriented) build at the bottom of the thread in case anyone is interested in trying something out on their sci or looking to support and do damage. Build info below.
Even if not using a Tholian Orb Weaver, I would recommend using the setup. The only thing different, would be to swap out a dual beam bank for a beam array if your sci ship isn't very maneuverable.
The orb weaver is fairly maneuverable, especially with combat engines and an RCS console. This allows you to use two dual beam banks in the front. which will give your fire-at-will some bite. There are a couple other factors that make this build awesome...
The EP2AUX should be used before using any of the science skills other than science team. Aux power gives an exponential boost to GravW, HazEm and TSS. If not available, you can use the red matter capacitor or Aux battery for boost. This allows you to keep your weapons and shield power up the rest of the time to increase damage output.
Your Gravity Well will be a big factor here. Grav Well3 is nasty. Especially when you have so many bonuses to it. There are two things that improve your Grav Well. Graviton Generators and Particle Generators.
Max skill points to Graviton and Particle Gen
Reman Deflector - +39.4 to Graviton Gen
2nd pc Reman set - +17.5 to particle Gen
Assimilated Module - +23 Graviton Gen
Graviton Generator console - +26.1 to Graviton Gen
Particle Generator console - +26.1 to Particle Gen
A Gravimetric Doff will create additional Grav Wells resulting in 2-5 grav wells.
Maintenance Eng reduces cooldown on Eng Team
Maintenance Eng2 improves heals upon using EP2Aux skill
Conn Ofcr. - Reduces cooldown on TacTeam.
Nurse2 - Improves Crew Health(like BioFunction Monitor)
Hmmm... When it comes to the weapon bonuses (acc, dmg, etc), like most things, ultimately it is up to the player. However personally I reccommend crtH first, with accuracy or crtD second.
The [dmg] damage bonus is constant, but it is also minimal, adding (depending on the weapon) about 100-200 dps to the base damage. (and sometimes less). As a basis for comparison, a mark XI dmg x2 does the same base dps as a white mk XII
While ACC is invaluable for PVP given that player ships tend to have large evasive bonuses, and damage potential is useless unless you can actually hit your target, it is far less needed in PVE. Though having at least one ACC bonus is useful in assisting with shooting down the dangerous projectiles like high yield torps- which can be a hard target at times. Though not needed at all if you have the accurate trait.
crtD gives a decent boost to crit damage, but is only really viable if you have a heightened crit chance. this works well when combined with the zero point module, tachio-kinetic converter, and borg assimilated console.
crtH is similar in that it boosts the crit damage you deal but through making it happen more often. this also combines very nicely with the crit boosting consoles and allows you to deal massive bursts of dps when combined with rapid hit weapons like dual heavy cannons (which also have an inherant crit boost) and cannon rapid fire/spread. With crthx3, the consoles, and tac buffs the crit rate can reach phenomenal heights giving a consistant and high boost to dps.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
Hmmm... When it comes to the weapon bonuses (acc, dmg, etc), like most things, ultimately it is up to the player. However personally I reccommend crtH first, with accuracy or crtD second.
The [dmg] damage bonus is constant, but it is also minimal, adding (depending on the weapon) about 100-200 dps to the base damage. (and sometimes less). As a basis for comparison, a mark XI dmg x2 does the same base dps as a white mk XII
While ACC is invaluable for PVP given that player ships tend to have large evasive bonuses, and damage potential is useless unless you can actually hit your target, it is far less needed in PVE. Though having at least one ACC bonus is useful in assisting with shooting down the dangerous projectiles like high yield torps- which can be a hard target at times. Though not needed at all if you have the accurate trait.
crtD gives a decent boost to crit damage, but is only really viable if you have a heightened crit chance. this works well when combined with the zero point module, tachio-kinetic converter, and borg assimilated console.
crtH is similar in that it boosts the crit damage you deal but through making it happen more often. this also combines very nicely with the crit boosting consoles and allows you to deal massive bursts of dps when combined with rapid hit weapons like dual heavy cannons (which also have an inherant crit boost) and cannon rapid fire/spread. With crthx3, the consoles, and tac buffs the crit rate can reach phenomenal heights giving a consistant and high boost to dps.
I would have to agree with this. In reference to the CrtH bonus and using it with weapons that have an innate CrtD bonus, that is why I used the AntiProton weapons example. The Bonnus for AntiProtons is a +20 CrtD Bonus, which makes critical hits that much more valuable, which in turn makes CrtH bonus that much more valuable. I use them on my escort with the Assimilated console and Zero Point Module. I am not using the TachyoKinetic converter, because I think it would be far better used on my science ship due to the turn rate and Graviton boost.
I decided I'd play a Federation Tactical, and fly the escorts through leveling and what not with this build. I guess it couldn't hurt.
I just like to have something to use as a reference, I'm a visual aids kinda guy I guess. Thanks for posting this build a long time ago.
I'm glad I could help. I had a lot of questions when I first started and it took a while of learning the hard way that what might make logical sense, doesn't always work best due to game mechanics. Luckily I had some experienced people that I could ask questions and piece the rest together myself, but not everyone has that. This will also help people to not waste respec tokens. They can look at a skill chart of someone who is experienced, do a little research and see why it makes sense. They can then start putting points into those areas from the beginning rather than going by trial and error and wasting most of your respec tokens along the way. (Unfortunately thats what I did.)
I can definitely agree there. The tachio graviton bonus is pretty well wasted on an escort, unless you are running an MMAM with grav well 1... which is definitely useful in an stf for the crowd control if you don't mind the lower turn rate. It's also a fairly expensive console to get considering it can only be acuired through opening lock boxes and collecting lobi crystals. So it is either farming several million e creds to buy keys, or spending real money to get them. Though I suppose it is a small compensation that in the process you may open up something worthwhile as a nice little bonus.
And yeah, for raw DPS being generated solely through weapons fire, you can't get much better than a character with the accuracy trait, and running anti proton [crtH]x3 with all of those consoles. +10% accuracy, 30%(or more) additional crit damage, and with tac buffs it can reach 15%-18% crit chance (I can't remember off the top of my head). Translated that means every cannon burst has an incredible chance to get at least one critical damage ht in at +80% damage, and more often will have multiple crits per volley.
And that is before the additional bonuses of things like attack pattern beta stacking for up to 200% -base- damage if the whole team is using it.
As a practical example, using five attack pattern beta's in a mixed team of engi, tac, and sci, will still wipe out an elite tac cube in less than 30 seconds of concentrated fire.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
I just completed the reman mk XII Very Rare set on my science officer, and it's pretty nice. Because of the High Yield bonus, I swapped to fireatwill HY1, BFAW2 and TS3. makes for a decent amount of damage, especially when they're sucked into a near max level Grav Well3 and the plasma fire spreads as the ships collide, then you turn around and pop a hargh'peng out your rear end for the AOE damage there as well. I've been having some trouble settling on what to go with for my 3rd rear slot on my sci. I have my Romulan experimental plasma beam array, kinetic cutting beam and have been debating between Hargh'peng, Breen cluster torp, regular mines, turret... It's a tough call. I'd like to see a normal 360 beam array like the shuttles use.
Hmmm... well seeing as it is a rear-facing weapon slot it would be used less often. I usually use them for the high damage-long cooldown weapons when I'm in anything other than an escort. ...I would personally go with the breen cluster torp because it has really high alpha damage, bypasses shields well, and if one mine crits, they all crit. The only downside is that compared to other weapons they lose their luster when fighting shieldless enemies because the damage does not increase as dramatically as other projectiles. This is compensated for though with the sheer number of hits and that fantastic damage that happens with a crit bomb.
12 mines with a crit of 4-6k ... yeah it's a nice hard hit.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
...When it comes to the weapon bonuses... I reccommend crtH first, with accuracy or crtD second...
Excess Accuracy spills over into a bonus CrtH/D (details here.) So I prefer Acc over CrtH as my primary weapon tag (CrtH being 2nd). Then you "never" miss, and increase your Crit (chance and severity) all with the same tag. My favorite weapons are [Acc]x2 [CrtH].
It appears that there is an improvement to the flight speed and defense (hitpoints?) of the heavy plasma projectiles. This is what the powers say on the Reman set...
Set 2: Prototype Plasma Projectile
Passive
+15 Starship Particle Generator
Enchances your High Yield Plasma torpedos:
Increased Flight Speed
Increased Defense
Set 3: Covariant Capacitance Cell
Passive
When receiving All Energy Damage, 10% chance of applying Covariant Capacitiance Cell
+5% Maximum Shield Capacity for 15 sec (stacks up to 10 times)
The reman set does not boost the raw torpedo damage, just its speed and it makes the torpedos harder to hit in order to shoot them down. if you want to boost their damage, and are on klink side, the honor guard set gives a 25% damage bonus- but it also requires two pieces meaning you need to choose between one or the other -_-.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
I agree that acc spills into crit but it is still at a lower rate then the actual crit modifiers. The borg don't move that fast so Acc to me is less of an issue. I usually only see one [Acc] mod needed at best. In other PvE content I can see it being more effective since any other npc moves faster.
At least with LoR we will have a new trait system where we can add the acc trait to existing captains. I think that would be more then enough.
It appears that there is an improvement to the flight speed and defense (hitpoints?) of the heavy plasma projectiles. This is what the powers say on the Reman set...
Ah yes, I've seen the info on STOWiki. Thank you. I was hoping there might be more details when you right-click and view info. Sometimes that view gives actual details on what the improvements are.
... if you want to boost their damage, and are on klink side, the honor guard set gives a 25% damage bonus...
Yes, the Honor Guard gives +25% dmg bonus via the Tactical Readiness passive (which also buffs Aux power and crew recov/resist (heh, who cares, amiright?)). FYI, Feds can get the same passive via the Adapted MACO set (2pc).
xGorillapx, I'm not trying to bust your bits about getting the Reman set. I'm just wondering if the Torp Spd/Def buff is worthy or if there was something else about the set that drew you to it.
I really like/prefer the Tac Readiness. Especially on Sci ships, as that +8.8 Aux Pwr buff effectively means I can route 5-10 more points into weapons power.
Have you guys noticed PvE critters shooting down plasma torps? I rarely do (unless a lucky FaW hits one, or the like).
Love the Reman/Romulan set costumes/theme though, but I haven't wanted to waste the marks to get them/test them myself as Tac Readiness dmg buff "on paper" seems so much better (than inc torp spd/def), not to mention I like the individual stats for the STF gear too (and I can't seem to get reliable stats on the Reman/Rom pieces). For instance, the KHG/AM engine, is Efficient (more ship power) and has the Hot Start feature.
...I agree that acc spills into crit but it is still at a lower rate then the actual crit modifiers. The borg don't move that fast so Acc to me is less of an issue. I usually only see one [Acc] mod needed at best...
You make an excellent point that Borg don't move fast and the overspill Crit Chance buff isn't as good as a dedicated CrtH tag, but it does also buffs Crt Severity, which CrtH doesn't do. I haven't parsed the difference for concrete proof, have you by any chance? Otherwise, I suppose it's a matter of personal taste. And for the record, I do like the CrtH tag, and it's a very close second to my 1st place Acc preference.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
You make an excellent point that Borg don't move fast and the overspill Crit Chance buff isn't as good as a dedicated CrtH tag, but it does also buffs Crt Severity, which CrtH doesn't do. I haven't parsed the difference for concrete proof, have you by any chance? Otherwise, I suppose it's a matter of personal taste. And for the record, I do like the CrtH tag, and it's a very close second to my 1st place Acc preference.
Unfortunately I saw no point in trying to parse it. Many people have done so in the past with varying results.
With the romulan boffs crit bonuses and console crit bonuses right now I'm still trying to find out if crtd has a hard cap. Under my attack in ship status it is at 14.9% chance and 81.8% severity. While I might not be worried about crth on my weapons with a 14.9 global value I am concerned about +50% weapons bonus on the 81.8% global value should be at 131.8%. I would rather have the 131% severity total over a 18.9% chance total. These tests are a head ache.
For the HYT bonus alone, no I wouldn't recommend a reman set. However, the sets general stats are pretty good on their own and aren't a bad choice for a sci who likes to takea more damage heavy roll as opposed to healing. The +39 to Grav is pretty nice for a sci with Grav Well. The shield has the highest cap I've seen and the engines give +24 to starship maneuvers. The covariant capacitance cell could use a little boost, but pretty cool.
For the HYT bonus alone, no I wouldn't recommend a reman set. However, the sets general stats are pretty good on their own and aren't a bad choice for a sci who likes to takea more damage heavy roll as opposed to healing. The +39 to Grav is pretty nice for a sci with Grav Well. The shield has the highest cap I've seen and the engines give +24 to starship maneuvers. The covariant capacitance cell could use a little boost, but pretty cool.
Agreed there. I flew the reman set for the longest time on my B'rel for no other reason than that reskin thanks to the shield made it look totally bad(ahem). And, considering how many things become drop-in-the-bucket quality wise with the amount of stuff that can be stacked together, it is ok to afford yourself a little aesthetic pleasure. Especially in a PVE environment.
Unfortunately I saw no point in trying to parse it. Many people have done so in the past with varying results.
With the romulan boffs crit bonuses and console crit bonuses right now I'm still trying to find out if crtd has a hard cap. Under my attack in ship status it is at 14.9% chance and 81.8% severity. While I might not be worried about crth on my weapons with a 14.9 global value I am concerned about +50% weapons bonus on the 81.8% global value should be at 131.8%. I would rather have the 131% severity total over a 18.9% chance total. These tests are a head ache.
Hehe that's why I like to say it is up to personal taste. For the most part it works out to be six of one and half of the other in the long run, with a difference amounting to maybe a couple hundred dps. I suppose it can be left up to whatever weapon stats work out to be cheaper on the exchange at the time. or heck if running an all cannon build just get two of each. ^_^
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
I've never noticed that you use 1x DC with 2x DHC, is there a reason behind this, I've just been using 3x DHC in the front as I hadn't realised it was there in your set up. Also, you don't have any modifiers on the Cannons or Turrets on your build, I am at the point where I can buy the Romulan Rep weapons so was wondering which would be best.
Also, is it worth getting the Fleet Patrol? I've been using the Mirror Patrol due to it being the Patrol Escort but with a Prometheus Model, I have the EC to pick up 4 Fleet Ship Modules off the exchange and am part of a fleet that has a high enough ship yard, would it be at all worth it over the normal Patrol?
...Also, you don't have any modifiers on the Cannons or Turrets on your build, I am at the point where I can buy the Romulan Rep weapons so was wondering which would be best...
Some of the most recent discussion in this thread has been about mods. In summation, [Acc] and [CrtH] are agreed to be the best, though which is better and/or how many of each you should have, appears open to personal preference and/or playstyle. You'd be perfectly viable with one of each. [CrtD] came in third, and [Dmg] fourth. I'd suggest you read back a bit if you'd like details/arguments for/against.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
So, when Legacy of Romulus comes out I assume this will be updated with the new stuff it comes with like Warp Cores and whatever else they have decided to change?
Also, could you guys point to good PvP build for tact escorts, there's so many around I figured it would be best to ask you lot seeing as you are already pretty knowledgeable on the game in general, at some point I would like to start a pure PvP character and another always helps raking in Dil for Zen, lol.
I'd like to thank you guys too, someone said it earlier, but having all this information laid out in tables and builds is so much easier to follow visually, so thanks for the all the effort you put in.
Some of the most recent discussion in this thread has been about mods. In summation, [Acc] and [CrtH] are agreed to be the best, though which is better and/or how many of each you should have, appears open to personal preference and/or playstyle. You'd be perfectly viable with one of each. [CrtD] came in third, and [Dmg] fourth. I'd suggest you read back a bit if you'd like details/arguments for/against.
Quite right, I completely missed the last few pages. Will pick up some weapons with [Acc] & [CrtH] on them then, but before I do that I asked about the op's build having two Dual Heavy Cannons and one Dual Cannon, is this better than just three DHC's?
...could you guys point to good PvP build for tact escorts... ...I asked about the op's build having two Dual Heavy Cannons and one Dual Cannon, is this better than just three DHC's?
As for DCvDHC... There's discussion in the start of this thread back and forth about it, but take a look at the link in post 124 and then read 125 too.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
In regards to the DHC vs DC, I may have to go back to possibly recommending DC's for people just getting started and/or those with limited resources. Based on the numbers that were compiled, the DHC's only seem to have a very slight edge over the DC's. However, the DHC's on the exchange right now are much more expensive than the DC's (especially at higher levels, i.e. mk XII Purple) . Just a thought.
In regards to using 2xDHC's and 1DC, I guess it's just a personal preference. I have no evidence or data proving that it is better.
In regards to updating things when the romulan expansion starts...yes. I will have to edit the thread and likely put a separate part for the Romulans as their setups are a bit different. It will happen slowly but surely. (I do work full-time).
Comments
I definitely agree. I have never been one to argue against the use of torps. This is another perfect example of why I made a disclaimer in the OP after naming the title of this thread. The term "DPS" is used loosely and perhaps not in its original context. I'm sure sitting there shooting at a target iona controlled environment for a controlled period of time, with all cannons, you may get more hitpoints than -1 DHC and +1 torpedo launcher.
However in practical STF combat, the spike damage from a high yield or TS3 torpedo does too much spike damage to ignore. Especially given the plasma DoT effect of the new MACO and Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torps.
I have however heard from some people who use EPS consoles because they say it prevents their weapons power levels from dropping too much, especially when using SV3, RF3 or Fire at Will.
While they may not drop a ton, higher power levels equal higher damage output.
It's hard to say. I haven't seen enough real proof for any standard bonusover another. There is a decent amount of debate. Typically Dmg vs ACC vs CrtH. I prefer Dmg or Acc. I prefer CrtH with AntiProton weapons however, because of their innate CrtD proc. Those are just preferences however. Does anyone know where to find documentation regarding controlled tests for these bonuses?
The eps console only improves recharge time from power drain caused by abilities. So if you are having issues with crf and csv then yes it will work but if you all ready have power boosting options like ep2w, red matter, maintenance doff for use with ep2x abilities or the dem frances doff, eng captain nadion inversion, ect. then I wouldn't worry.
Normally I would only look at it if some one is doing a Bo3 thing. There are too many other consoles I prefer.
I'm sure it does, I'd just like some confirmation. I plan to fly either BoP's or Raptors, not sure which yet, leaning heavily toward BoP's though unless otherwise what would be better for me.
It does. While there are specific build information, the general principles are the same. The only difference between a kdf ship and a fed ship is a few layout tweaks. Even a cruiser build is very similar to an escort build skill tree wise and are pretty interchangeable. When we look at the fleet qin heavy raptor it has the same boff layout as a defiant and the console layout of a patrol escort.
That being said there are a few things you may want to tweak since you would have a cloaking device. In the skill tree starship stealth may be more enticing in PvP but in stfs i would mainly be looking at the cloak for the %15 attack bonus bonus for 5 sec. This is where the Bops have a distinct advantage over most raptors. The battle cloak can be used more often since you don't need to wait to be out of combat to use it again. When I look at infected I know I am rarely out of combat so that standard cloaks bonus on decloak is almost useless. In ka you will have more opportunities to cloak out of combat.
This is important if you are looking into embassy boffs. As a federation player I always look at the Opperative trait since I get a flat passive crit bonus. The cloak recharge time only matters if you have a battle cloak. The Subterfuge trait gives a nice defense bonus but also improves the quality of your cloak. Normally cloak quality wont matter in this regard for the same reason why I don't spec into stealth. Also the defense bonus does not matter if you are standing still shooting like a turret.
After looking at all of this it still comes down to the skill tree is still too similar to waste a respec and really only should be done if something is blatant problem. The Boff layout is always going to be similar with the same basic moves, the consoles are in the same and the only advantage is cloak that you may only use once unless it is a battle cloak so you can cloak while in red alert and between targets. The opperative trait is still the romulan trait of choice with subterfuge being more a pvp trait.
Thats when I bought the Guramba Siege Destroyer, which is really a good escort.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=gorillapsciorbweaverbuild_2596
Even if not using a Tholian Orb Weaver, I would recommend using the setup. The only thing different, would be to swap out a dual beam bank for a beam array if your sci ship isn't very maneuverable.
The orb weaver is fairly maneuverable, especially with combat engines and an RCS console. This allows you to use two dual beam banks in the front. which will give your fire-at-will some bite. There are a couple other factors that make this build awesome...
The EP2AUX should be used before using any of the science skills other than science team. Aux power gives an exponential boost to GravW, HazEm and TSS. If not available, you can use the red matter capacitor or Aux battery for boost. This allows you to keep your weapons and shield power up the rest of the time to increase damage output.
Your Gravity Well will be a big factor here. Grav Well3 is nasty. Especially when you have so many bonuses to it. There are two things that improve your Grav Well. Graviton Generators and Particle Generators.
Max skill points to Graviton and Particle Gen
Reman Deflector - +39.4 to Graviton Gen
2nd pc Reman set - +17.5 to particle Gen
Assimilated Module - +23 Graviton Gen
Graviton Generator console - +26.1 to Graviton Gen
Particle Generator console - +26.1 to Particle Gen
A Gravimetric Doff will create additional Grav Wells resulting in 2-5 grav wells.
Maintenance Eng reduces cooldown on Eng Team
Maintenance Eng2 improves heals upon using EP2Aux skill
Conn Ofcr. - Reduces cooldown on TacTeam.
Nurse2 - Improves Crew Health(like BioFunction Monitor)
I just like to have something to use as a reference, I'm a visual aids kinda guy I guess. Thanks for posting this build a long time ago.
The [dmg] damage bonus is constant, but it is also minimal, adding (depending on the weapon) about 100-200 dps to the base damage. (and sometimes less). As a basis for comparison, a mark XI dmg x2 does the same base dps as a white mk XII
While ACC is invaluable for PVP given that player ships tend to have large evasive bonuses, and damage potential is useless unless you can actually hit your target, it is far less needed in PVE. Though having at least one ACC bonus is useful in assisting with shooting down the dangerous projectiles like high yield torps- which can be a hard target at times. Though not needed at all if you have the accurate trait.
crtD gives a decent boost to crit damage, but is only really viable if you have a heightened crit chance. this works well when combined with the zero point module, tachio-kinetic converter, and borg assimilated console.
crtH is similar in that it boosts the crit damage you deal but through making it happen more often. this also combines very nicely with the crit boosting consoles and allows you to deal massive bursts of dps when combined with rapid hit weapons like dual heavy cannons (which also have an inherant crit boost) and cannon rapid fire/spread. With crthx3, the consoles, and tac buffs the crit rate can reach phenomenal heights giving a consistant and high boost to dps.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
I would have to agree with this. In reference to the CrtH bonus and using it with weapons that have an innate CrtD bonus, that is why I used the AntiProton weapons example. The Bonnus for AntiProtons is a +20 CrtD Bonus, which makes critical hits that much more valuable, which in turn makes CrtH bonus that much more valuable. I use them on my escort with the Assimilated console and Zero Point Module. I am not using the TachyoKinetic converter, because I think it would be far better used on my science ship due to the turn rate and Graviton boost.
I'm glad I could help. I had a lot of questions when I first started and it took a while of learning the hard way that what might make logical sense, doesn't always work best due to game mechanics. Luckily I had some experienced people that I could ask questions and piece the rest together myself, but not everyone has that. This will also help people to not waste respec tokens. They can look at a skill chart of someone who is experienced, do a little research and see why it makes sense. They can then start putting points into those areas from the beginning rather than going by trial and error and wasting most of your respec tokens along the way. (Unfortunately thats what I did.)
And yeah, for raw DPS being generated solely through weapons fire, you can't get much better than a character with the accuracy trait, and running anti proton [crtH]x3 with all of those consoles. +10% accuracy, 30%(or more) additional crit damage, and with tac buffs it can reach 15%-18% crit chance (I can't remember off the top of my head). Translated that means every cannon burst has an incredible chance to get at least one critical damage ht in at +80% damage, and more often will have multiple crits per volley.
And that is before the additional bonuses of things like attack pattern beta stacking for up to 200% -base- damage if the whole team is using it.
As a practical example, using five attack pattern beta's in a mixed team of engi, tac, and sci, will still wipe out an elite tac cube in less than 30 seconds of concentrated fire.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
12 mines with a crit of 4-6k ... yeah it's a nice hard hit.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
What is the High Yield bonus on the Reman set, please?
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Set 2: Prototype Plasma Projectile
Passive
+15 Starship Particle Generator
Enchances your High Yield Plasma torpedos:
Increased Flight Speed
Increased Defense
Set 3: Covariant Capacitance Cell
Passive
When receiving All Energy Damage, 10% chance of applying Covariant Capacitiance Cell
+5% Maximum Shield Capacity for 15 sec (stacks up to 10 times)
Set 2: Prototype Plasma Projectile
http://www.stowiki.org/Reman_Prototype_Space_Set#Set_powers
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
I agree that acc spills into crit but it is still at a lower rate then the actual crit modifiers. The borg don't move that fast so Acc to me is less of an issue. I usually only see one [Acc] mod needed at best. In other PvE content I can see it being more effective since any other npc moves faster.
At least with LoR we will have a new trait system where we can add the acc trait to existing captains. I think that would be more then enough.
Yes, the Honor Guard gives +25% dmg bonus via the Tactical Readiness passive (which also buffs Aux power and crew recov/resist (heh, who cares, amiright?)). FYI, Feds can get the same passive via the Adapted MACO set (2pc).
xGorillapx, I'm not trying to bust your bits about getting the Reman set. I'm just wondering if the Torp Spd/Def buff is worthy or if there was something else about the set that drew you to it.
I really like/prefer the Tac Readiness. Especially on Sci ships, as that +8.8 Aux Pwr buff effectively means I can route 5-10 more points into weapons power.
Have you guys noticed PvE critters shooting down plasma torps? I rarely do (unless a lucky FaW hits one, or the like).
Love the Reman/Romulan set costumes/theme though, but I haven't wanted to waste the marks to get them/test them myself as Tac Readiness dmg buff "on paper" seems so much better (than inc torp spd/def), not to mention I like the individual stats for the STF gear too (and I can't seem to get reliable stats on the Reman/Rom pieces). For instance, the KHG/AM engine, is Efficient (more ship power) and has the Hot Start feature.
Thoughts?
You make an excellent point that Borg don't move fast and the overspill Crit Chance buff isn't as good as a dedicated CrtH tag, but it does also buffs Crt Severity, which CrtH doesn't do. I haven't parsed the difference for concrete proof, have you by any chance? Otherwise, I suppose it's a matter of personal taste. And for the record, I do like the CrtH tag, and it's a very close second to my 1st place Acc preference.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Unfortunately I saw no point in trying to parse it. Many people have done so in the past with varying results.
With the romulan boffs crit bonuses and console crit bonuses right now I'm still trying to find out if crtd has a hard cap. Under my attack in ship status it is at 14.9% chance and 81.8% severity. While I might not be worried about crth on my weapons with a 14.9 global value I am concerned about +50% weapons bonus on the 81.8% global value should be at 131.8%. I would rather have the 131% severity total over a 18.9% chance total. These tests are a head ache.
Agreed there. I flew the reman set for the longest time on my B'rel for no other reason than that reskin thanks to the shield made it look totally bad(ahem). And, considering how many things become drop-in-the-bucket quality wise with the amount of stuff that can be stacked together, it is ok to afford yourself a little aesthetic pleasure. Especially in a PVE environment.
Hehe that's why I like to say it is up to personal taste. For the most part it works out to be six of one and half of the other in the long run, with a difference amounting to maybe a couple hundred dps. I suppose it can be left up to whatever weapon stats work out to be cheaper on the exchange at the time. or heck if running an all cannon build just get two of each. ^_^
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
Also, is it worth getting the Fleet Patrol? I've been using the Mirror Patrol due to it being the Patrol Escort but with a Prometheus Model, I have the EC to pick up 4 Fleet Ship Modules off the exchange and am part of a fleet that has a high enough ship yard, would it be at all worth it over the normal Patrol?
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Also, could you guys point to good PvP build for tact escorts, there's so many around I figured it would be best to ask you lot seeing as you are already pretty knowledgeable on the game in general, at some point I would like to start a pure PvP character and another always helps raking in Dil for Zen, lol.
I'd like to thank you guys too, someone said it earlier, but having all this information laid out in tables and builds is so much easier to follow visually, so thanks for the all the effort you put in.
Quite right, I completely missed the last few pages. Will pick up some weapons with [Acc] & [CrtH] on them then, but before I do that I asked about the op's build having two Dual Heavy Cannons and one Dual Cannon, is this better than just three DHC's?
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=6288811#post6288811
As for DCvDHC... There's discussion in the start of this thread back and forth about it, but take a look at the link in post 124 and then read 125 too.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
people already mentioned the 3+1 console setup, I also don't agree with this: Rather boost your 7 other weapons extra than the lone torpedo launcher.
Besides that,
In regards to using 2xDHC's and 1DC, I guess it's just a personal preference. I have no evidence or data proving that it is better.
In regards to updating things when the romulan expansion starts...yes. I will have to edit the thread and likely put a separate part for the Romulans as their setups are a bit different. It will happen slowly but surely. (I do work full-time).