Well after playing around a bit in the new expansion, it looks like I've got some changes to make. I will make some recommendations in regards to traits first, as it will become a bigger part of the game now.
Well at least there is still eject warp plasma. even the measly tier 1 has a decent immobilisation if a more maneuverable ship can afford the engi slot to skill it in. And TBR can also be utilised in the hands of a competent captain for shoving the small stuff away when needed.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
Well at least there is still eject warp plasma. even the measly tier 1 has a decent immobilisation if a more maneuverable ship can afford the engi slot to skill it in. And TBR can also be utilised in the hands of a competent captain for shoving the small stuff away when needed.
This will make the [Vent Theta Radiation] console much more valuable.
I have updated the original post to include warp core information. (I haven't included singualrity cores yet). I also added the new "Pirate" space trait. (originally a ground trait until Legacy of Romulus) Updated this on STOWiki as well.
Anything else that would be useful for the OP? (other than romulan-specific stuff.)
On warp cores: pick one, S/E/A. Are you going to run it at 125(130)? Are you going to run it at 15? If the answer to both of those is "No," pick another. WC's raise the cap of their corresponding subsystem from 125 to 130. If you're not going to ping 130 regularly, you're not going to choose your WC based on that. If the corresponding system is at low power levels they provide a bonus in the same manner as the efficiency skill. If the corresponding system is at 15 it's +6. Basically, if you're going to run shields at 115/70 then a Field Stabilizing Warp Core is the wrong choice.
EPS is the most solid choice for a modifier as it affects EPTx and is not available from a console (only from Rom 2 pc, MACO/KHG deflector, Warp Theorist trait, and the 2 pc Breen (which sucks)).
15 Batt bonus will give you +1.5 seconds to consumable batteries. Great for some A2B qm battery doff builds, probably not so useful for new player escort builds. Eff only helps the lower power systems and Rep scales off of crew, which is frequently dead.
With the last lockbox the Plasmonic Leech is available to both factions. Even with the limited sci consoles on most escorts a moderate Flwc will get you +20 to all subsystems with full stacks. Watch the exchange, the prices will come down.
Mk X Maco is T2 rep (easily doable in under 10 days), the shield is 15k dil or just under 2 days refinement. Nothing comparable is so quickly accessible and IMO new players should be strongly advised to make this an early purchase.
I also wish you would explain in your OP how movement and defense work. You advocate minimal power in engines, and that's fine, but players should be advised to open their defense tab and check where their throttle should be to maintain the max defense bonus for their chosen engine power setting.
And DC's v. DHC's... Yeah, the price point is probably enough that new players would do fine with DC's until they want to trim the fat off and season to taste.
_______________ CommanderDonatra@Capt.Sisko: ahhh is it supposed to do that? Norvo Tigan@dontdrunkimshoot: hell ya, maybe
As far as the EP2X skills go, most escorts don't have enough engineering slots to where it would be worth it. Most would be better suited defensively by EngT and Reverse Shield Polarity in my opinion. The only exception may be for those who wish to give up on defense and go for burst damage with EP2W.
Very few escorts will be running max power to anything but weapons.
As for the A2B battery doff's, those seem to be most useful on cruisers. Escorts seem to benefit more from these in my opinion. (I should update this on OP)
Energy weapon(cannon cooldown)
Energy Weapon (Chance for shield heal when firing energy weapons)
Warfare Specialist (bonus damage vs Borg NPC)
Conn Officer (Reduce Cooldown on Tac Team)
Nurse/Medic (+150% crew regen when in combat...)
In regards to the plasmonic leach console, that will be a nice addition once prices drop a little.
As far as the EP2X skills go, most escorts don't have enough engineering slots to where it would be worth it. Most would be better suited defensively by EngT and Reverse Shield Polarity in my opinion. The only exception may be for those who wish to give up on defense and go for burst damage with EP2W.
Very few escorts will be running max power to anything but weapons.
As for the A2B battery doff's, those seem to be most useful on cruisers. Escorts seem to benefit more from these in my opinion. (I should update this on OP)
Energy weapon(cannon cooldown)
Energy Weapon (Chance for shield heal when firing energy weapons)
Warfare Specialist (bonus damage vs Borg NPC)
Conn Officer (Reduce Cooldown on Tac Team)
Nurse/Medic (+150% crew regen when in combat...)
In regards to the plasmonic leach console, that will be a nice addition once prices drop a little.
Any ship should be cycling EPTS and EPTx of their choice with DCE doffs. I really didn't think that needed to be said. EPTW for the raw damage buff, EPTE for the "getting where you're sposed to be" for less downtime once you start looking at STF dps.
_______________ CommanderDonatra@Capt.Sisko: ahhh is it supposed to do that? Norvo Tigan@dontdrunkimshoot: hell ya, maybe
Yeah, I should probably put that in there. Especially seeing now that the spheres seem to easily escape high level Gravity Well 3's with EP2E now. It may be a better option for those who are using APO3 mainly for escaping holds. It would be better to have APB3 and EP2E1 iif going that route.
I still tend to keep my escorts running on a standard heal rotation of 2x tac team 1, and either two epts 1 or one epts1 and one epts2, depending on the engi slots available, supplemented with a haz 1 and tss2. If there is room for it I use the two copies of epts1 with an aux2sif to help maintain hull.
I set my heal cycle to a macro when I'm in PVE, just so it's one less thing to worry about. It is set to link the spacebar with firing all energy weapons, and activating both tac teams and both epts, and the aux 2 sif when that's in the setup. This leaves the haz and tss to be used as needed, or to be sent to others in a pinch.
As far as the warp core, considering I am currently in an andorian fighter I plan on using the one that gives a boost to weapon power and offers bonus engine power based on weapon setting. Just to squeese a little more maneuverability out of the old bird.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
I know that it's far simpler to use abbreviations when making posts in here but, some may not be familiar with them. If at all possible, can you once in a while list what you are saying instead of abbreviations? Expample: What's an EP2E?
I'm doing my best to follow along and I'm still working hard at following the various good advice. Thanks much.
I know that it's far simpler to use abbreviations when making posts in here but, some may not be familiar with them. If at all possible, can you once in a while list what you are saying instead of abbreviations? Expample: What's an EP2E?
I'm doing my best to follow along and I'm still working hard at following the various good advice. Thanks much.
Sorry, I haven't been that active in here lately, I've had some stuff going on. I started my romulan character so I should be able to put some info on there in regards to them soon.
Sorry, I haven't been that active in here lately, I've had some stuff going on. I started my romulan character so I should be able to put some info on there in regards to them soon.
Still doing better than my cruiser post, I've hardly had a chance to play since LoR
What about using Bridge officer powers that don't share cooldowns? would this be a better way of maximizing what you can do?
For instance, since engineering team shares a cooldown with Tactical team, and as an escort, tactical team would be used almost all the time, would it not be better to use AUX to structural? instead of Engineering team?
I'm a heavy escort carrier running the following:
TAC CMDR
TT1, THYII, Rapid Fire II, APO III
TAC LT. CMDR
THY I, Rapid Fire I
TAC Ensign
TT1
ENG Lt. CMDR
EPTS 1, RSP 1, AUX to Structural
Science Lt.
TSS, HE II
I'm still really dodgy on how to allocate skillpoints. I've been out of the game for a while, so any advice, on that would be great. Also, feel free to rip apart my build above. I'm using the following for weapons:
Fore: 3 x DHC antiproton, 1x QUantum
Aft: 2 antiproton turrets and 1 cutting beam.
If you look at the builds in the original post, it shows the sklill point allocation recommended for escorts. Just click on one of the builds on the bottom. They now show skill points and everything. In regards to using abilities that don't share cooldowns, that's a tough one. Obviously it would be preferred, but at what cost? You can use some doffs to reduce cooldowns on some common abilities. That is in the original post as well.
I've been playing with my Tal Shiar Destroyer for the past few days, I'll post a build update for that shortly. It fun to play with. It has a great balance of damage and heals. Currently running
So it appears that changes have been made to the single cannons from when I last really looked at them. If I remember correctly, some time ago, the single cannons had 2x the damage of turrets, which still did not make them very attractive. However, from what I've seen recently, single cannons now do a bit more damage.
MK XI White single-cannon - 151.3 Dmg 201.8dps @180 degrees
MK XI White dual-cannon - 182.9 Dmg 243.8 dps @90 degrees
So I'm now wondering if it would be best to replace beam arrays and/or dual-beam banks with single-cannons on some slower turning ships (i.e. Jem'Hadar Dreadnought, Tal Shiar Battle Cruiser)
This way they can take advantage of rapid fire/scatter volley with turrets in the back.
I'm glad that I found this thread. It has so much great information in it. I was wondering what the ballpark DPS is for a lot of these listed escorts are? I've seen numbers from 9k-14k in some of the escorts but every once in awhile I see an escort that pushing over 20k dps. I was just wondering what in the world that they are doing to achieve such numbers with something like a beam escort?
I disgree mostly with this as I use regen shields not these coverient is for Sci anyway.
Shields - You will want a shield, covariant or possibly resilient.
You will want something with [pla] defense bonus and cap or regen bonuses. Something like
Covariant Shield [CAP]x2 [pla] or [pla] regx2
Resilient shield [CAP] [pla] [reg]
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Age StarTrek-Gamers Administrator
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer Star Trek Gamers
DPS readings can vary quite a bit, especially in a non-controlled environment. I have always taken a position that actual DPS ratings while the primary goal, are not the only thing that is important as you can't do any damage while you're dead. This is why in my builds you will often find shield/hull heals in engineering slots as opposed to EP2W.
Well the [pla] (20% plasma resistance) is very valuable for STF's (STF's are what this thread is geared towards.) This is necessary because all energy weapon damage from the Borg is going to be plasma. Escorts need to have strong shields to withstand attacks from multiple enemies, so regens are pretty much out of the question. I don't use them on my cruisers or sci ships either, because the caps are so low. With transfer shield strenth 2 or 3, those will regenerate more than a regenerative shield has. Despite a lot of opinions, this is a fairly universally accepted concept for escorts.
What does everyone think of the Tal Shiar Adapted Borg warp Core vs the very rare warp cores?
For example, I had a hard time choosing between the Tal Shiar Adapted Borg Warp Core and my very rare warp core on my tac character. I had a
Field Stabilizing Warp Core [EFF][W->S][SST][ECAP]
The bonuses of the Very Rare warp core were perfect for me. It added to my characters already ridiculous efficieny, as well as gave a bump ot my shields, which is rather large since I always run max power to weapons. It also gave an engine boost when needed.
Comments
Addicted: January 2012
batlh QIH 'ej!
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
This will make the [Vent Theta Radiation] console much more valuable.
EPS is the most solid choice for a modifier as it affects EPTx and is not available from a console (only from Rom 2 pc, MACO/KHG deflector, Warp Theorist trait, and the 2 pc Breen (which sucks)).
15 Batt bonus will give you +1.5 seconds to consumable batteries. Great for some A2B qm battery doff builds, probably not so useful for new player escort builds. Eff only helps the lower power systems and Rep scales off of crew, which is frequently dead.
With the last lockbox the Plasmonic Leech is available to both factions. Even with the limited sci consoles on most escorts a moderate Flwc will get you +20 to all subsystems with full stacks. Watch the exchange, the prices will come down.
Mk X Maco is T2 rep (easily doable in under 10 days), the shield is 15k dil or just under 2 days refinement. Nothing comparable is so quickly accessible and IMO new players should be strongly advised to make this an early purchase.
I also wish you would explain in your OP how movement and defense work. You advocate minimal power in engines, and that's fine, but players should be advised to open their defense tab and check where their throttle should be to maintain the max defense bonus for their chosen engine power setting.
And DC's v. DHC's... Yeah, the price point is probably enough that new players would do fine with DC's until they want to trim the fat off and season to taste.
CommanderDonatra@Capt.Sisko: ahhh is it supposed to do that?
Norvo Tigan@dontdrunkimshoot: hell ya, maybe
Very few escorts will be running max power to anything but weapons.
As for the A2B battery doff's, those seem to be most useful on cruisers. Escorts seem to benefit more from these in my opinion. (I should update this on OP)
Energy weapon(cannon cooldown)
Energy Weapon (Chance for shield heal when firing energy weapons)
Warfare Specialist (bonus damage vs Borg NPC)
Conn Officer (Reduce Cooldown on Tac Team)
Nurse/Medic (+150% crew regen when in combat...)
In regards to the plasmonic leach console, that will be a nice addition once prices drop a little.
CommanderDonatra@Capt.Sisko: ahhh is it supposed to do that?
Norvo Tigan@dontdrunkimshoot: hell ya, maybe
I set my heal cycle to a macro when I'm in PVE, just so it's one less thing to worry about. It is set to link the spacebar with firing all energy weapons, and activating both tac teams and both epts, and the aux 2 sif when that's in the setup. This leaves the haz and tss to be used as needed, or to be sent to others in a pinch.
As far as the warp core, considering I am currently in an andorian fighter I plan on using the one that gives a boost to weapon power and offers bonus engine power based on weapon setting. Just to squeese a little more maneuverability out of the old bird.
We are many. We are legion. We are the proud, the bad, the infinitely expendable.
We! Are RED SHIRTS!
...Tremble in thy footwear.
I'm doing my best to follow along and I'm still working hard at following the various good advice. Thanks much.
Here this should help you out a bit.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=4350701&postcount=2
Thanks man. That should help immensely. bookmarked.
Still doing better than my cruiser post, I've hardly had a chance to play since LoR
For instance, since engineering team shares a cooldown with Tactical team, and as an escort, tactical team would be used almost all the time, would it not be better to use AUX to structural? instead of Engineering team?
I'm a heavy escort carrier running the following:
TAC CMDR
TT1, THYII, Rapid Fire II, APO III
TAC LT. CMDR
THY I, Rapid Fire I
TAC Ensign
TT1
ENG Lt. CMDR
EPTS 1, RSP 1, AUX to Structural
Science Lt.
TSS, HE II
I'm still really dodgy on how to allocate skillpoints. I've been out of the game for a while, so any advice, on that would be great. Also, feel free to rip apart my build above. I'm using the following for weapons:
Fore: 3 x DHC antiproton, 1x QUantum
Aft: 2 antiproton turrets and 1 cutting beam.
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=gorillapadapteddestroyerstf_0
Ens Tac - TacTeam1
Cmdr Tac - HY1, CRF1, TS3, CSV3
Engineer Lt. - EP2W, EngTeam2
Engineer Lt - EP2Aux, Reverse shield polarity
Science LtCmdr - SciTeam1, TSS2, HazEm3
MK XI White single-cannon - 151.3 Dmg 201.8dps @180 degrees
MK XI White dual-cannon - 182.9 Dmg 243.8 dps @90 degrees
So I'm now wondering if it would be best to replace beam arrays and/or dual-beam banks with single-cannons on some slower turning ships (i.e. Jem'Hadar Dreadnought, Tal Shiar Battle Cruiser)
This way they can take advantage of rapid fire/scatter volley with turrets in the back.
Anyone else have input on this?
I disgree mostly with this as I use regen shields not these coverient is for Sci anyway.
Shields - You will want a shield, covariant or possibly resilient.
You will want something with [pla] defense bonus and cap or regen bonuses. Something like
Covariant Shield [CAP]x2 [pla] or [pla] regx2
Resilient shield [CAP] [pla] [reg]
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
For example, I had a hard time choosing between the Tal Shiar Adapted Borg Warp Core and my very rare warp core on my tac character. I had a
Field Stabilizing Warp Core [EFF][W->S][SST][ECAP]
The bonuses of the Very Rare warp core were perfect for me. It added to my characters already ridiculous efficieny, as well as gave a bump ot my shields, which is rather large since I always run max power to weapons. It also gave an engine boost when needed.