Science Officer Build - Still Viable?

streethawke · May 2013

Well I dont have one, I need one, as it has been a long time since I jumped in and played, and well... now I am Romulan.

With all the massive changes, what is the current PvP/PvE build load outs for PC Science officers, which BOFFs to use, and while we probably dont have enough testing done on the warbirds, it's still something to prep for.

Then the mighty question... are science officers still worthwhile? When I ran my Fed SciOff he was a debuffer/controller. And pretty good too. But with all the changes I have seen about Tykon Rift and Gravity Well... is a science officer useful as the debuffer/controller role, or are they simply "healers" now?

Thanks

streethawke · May 2013

Any input into this would be valued.

My guy is level 9 right now... so not too huge of a deal, but I will need to get something rocking, or put him on the back burner and restart with an engineer or a tactical officer... Which I dont really want to do, unless it is that bad to run with Science for PvE/PvP.

dashrendar1138 · May 2013

I play sci, and yes it's still viable. At least for PVE, I've never tried PVP so can't speak to that.

streethawke · May 2013

So subnuc and photonic fleet are still good? Those are the only science powers I remember (other than sensor scan). If that is the case, then it would just be a matter of choosing a ship, and if the powers are, meh for science in those ships, maybe a different ship would be prudent.

You dont by chance, have a build or something follow, would you?

saroven · May 2013

Would also appreciate any build and boff advice. I am trying out a sci for the first time on my Romulan with a specific eye at using the D'Deridex as my t5 ship. Would like to find a build that takes full use of the ship.

streethawke · May 2013

Any help would be awesome.

Also, Lobi crystal items... Any of the ship items worth getting to level up with?

miscent · May 2013

Well it depends on what you want to do.
This game is build around dps alot at the moment.
So a tactical captain is prefered if you want to do the real max dps.
But, that being said... A science captain is still very viable if you really like it and dont mind to do a bit less.
Science has some nice buffs and debuffs for you party like sensorscan and subnuc.

The science boff skills have some uses, but are not really that special anymore.

Alot of people have problems playing their sci ships and still do enough dps (like I said, dps is king in this game) to help the party.
The Vesta looks like 1 of the sci ships that is able to still keep track abit.
Most people fly escorts and cruisers.
If you want some interesting builds and info, I have found a post where I took some info from.
Its from the PVP forum, but most pvp builds work in pve. The only thing is that they don't use torpedo's that often, while they come in handy in pve.
Oh and look at the date of the builds to see if they are not to outdated.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=427091

Just remember, in the end a game is about having fun!

Miscent

streethawke · May 2013

miscent wrote: »

Oh and look at the date of the builds to see if they are not to outdated.

This is what I am wanting to know... what is still useful, what is not, and whether or not a control/debuff science officer is viable in today's game.

There are a lot of builds out there, but most of them are before the big change.

I also got a couple of purple traits... what traits are worth getting is helpful knowledge as well.

Thanks

Unknown · May 2013

This content has been removed.

streethawke · May 2013

Photonic Fleet is one of the fun abilities I enjoy messing with

Just wish the cool down was shorter.

cmdrscarlet · May 2013

LoR is still too new to determine if certain abilities/traits/warp cores are less or more valuable. On the surface, excepting Aux to Batt, I can't recall any powers or abilities that took a hit or buff to be eye catching (to me). As far as I know, AUX power is important and there is a sticky somewhere about AUX powers and Ship Power in general that are worth looking at.

BOffs are BOffs. As trite as that reads, if you want to Control/Debuff then look for BOff abilities to meet that goal. Again, the AUX power sticky tells you what BOff powers are boosted by AUX so you could tailor the BOff abilities that way (I did).

As for ships, the Vesta class seems to be the cats meow. There is a thread devoted to making a 10K DPS build out there. For my part, I use a Mirror Luna DSSV for aesthetic reasons. My thread in the Shipyards was to optimize the ship's performance, but no one told me to change the ship itself and I appreciate that.

All of this is trumped by how you play the game.

Good luck!

xapocalypseponyx · May 2013

Against my better judgement, I too went with Sci for my Rom. Simply because I've done the other classes.

From what I've gathered leading up to this launch, I expect to pretty much be laughed at when I attempt endgame space PvE. I want to believe Sci can be made useful in space, but I've seen no evidence to support this. I expect to be thoroughly disappointed with this class. But, I just had to try it.

On the plus side, I hear Sci captains are good at tormenting Tacts in PvP.

streethawke wrote: »

Photonic Fleet is one of the fun abilities I enjoy messing with Just wish the cool down was shorter.

Keep your eye on your traits. There's one for reducing PF's CD.

dashrendar1138 · May 2013

xapocalypseponyx wrote: »

From what I've gathered leading up to this launch, I expect to pretty much be laughed at when I attempt endgame space PvE. I want to believe Sci can be made useful in space, but I've seen no evidence to support this. I expect to be thoroughly disappointed with this class. But, I just had to try it.

Sci can be as fun as you want it to be. My fed sci is all I've ever really played and I enjoy it. Also have no problems running elite space STFs. No, my DPS is not as good as a typical escort, but who cares? You can still contribute with the sci abilities.

Never played PVP, so I have no clue about that.

twam · May 2013

For PvE, two words: crowd control.

When/If you're running with 1 or 2 half decent tac's in your team, some well placed crowd control skills can make things go so much faster. I like ships where I can combine Gravity Well 3 with Eject Warp Plasma, in addition to whatever else I like to toss in at the time, and the clusters of barely moving ships (thus having very low defence scores) just line up for warp core explosion chains.

And yes, in PvP, subnuc can ruin peoples' streaks, most definitely. Either offensively, to strip defensive buffs, or to nullify an alpha strike by wiping the buffs just before the tac hits. Also: lots of skills to detect and decloak cloaking vessels, of which there are many, currently.

stelshadow603 · May 2013

The Vesta seems to be nice but being Romulan you won't have access to it. Romulans can't get the T5 ships from Fed or KDF from the c-store I believe.

mehen · May 2013

twam wrote: »

For PvE, two words: crowd control.

When/If you're running with 1 or 2 half decent tac's in your team, some well placed crowd control skills can make things go so much faster. I like ships where I can combine Gravity Well 3 with Eject Warp Plasma, in addition to whatever else I like to toss in at the time, and the clusters of barely moving ships (thus having very low defence scores) just line up for warp core explosion chains.

And yes, in PvP, subnuc can ruin peoples' streaks, most definitely. Either offensively, to strip defensive buffs, or to nullify an alpha strike by wiping the buffs just before the tac hits. Also: lots of skills to detect and decloak cloaking vessels, of which there are many, currently.

Alas, the CC ability of science vessels got nuked in STFs due to spheres zooming around one of our only mass-CC abilities. You can still use Tyken's Rift to some extent, but you're better off rolling in an escort if you want to rock a 10k dps Vesta. Much easier to do it in an escort, and you're not going to get nerfed due to devs' incompetence.

twam · May 2013

mehen wrote: »

Alas, the CC ability of science vessels got nuked in STFs due to spheres zooming around one of our only mass-CC abilities. You can still use Tyken's Rift to some extent, but you're better off rolling in an escort if you want to rock a 10k dps Vesta. Much easier to do it in an escort, and you're not going to get nerfed due to devs' incompetence.

Just noticed the overzealous epte use of those spheres this afternoon. Now that IS a pity.
In stf's that pretty much voids both GW and TB, in most circumstances.

So ehm... In stf's, sci's are currently relegated to the role of healers, then, supporting ships that don't really need a healer to begin with, because of epts/tt/doff/def stacking??

*confused*

I suppose that is one way of bringing sci and eng to the same level, but something still seems to be off, in terms of balance...

mehen · May 2013

twam wrote: »

Just noticed the overzealous epte use of those spheres this afternoon. Now that IS a pity.
In stf's that pretty much voids both GW and TB, in most circumstances.

So ehm... In stf's, sci's are currently relegated to the role of healers, then, supporting ships that don't really need a healer to begin with, because of epts/tt/doff/def stacking??

*confused*

I suppose that is one way of bringing sci and eng to the same level, but something still seems to be off, in terms of balance...

Pretty much; with the ability to keep shield power so high, extend shields can give a person a long 34% reduction in damage...add in tac team and they're not going anywhere. Engineering has better hull heals, and while science does have shield heals, it clashes with tac team on many builds. So no, science vessels are not needed much anymore, while science captains are very useful in any vessel in pvp. Subnuc being awesome doesn't balance against the uselessness of science powers.

cmdrscarlet · May 2013

What about the Temporal Warfare set? Within the triuvirate of the DBB, the Temporal Disruption Device and Set 3 ability Temporal Inversion Field, using these would free up the BOff ability using GW, maybe?

I'm not syaing to let go of the GW concern, but as a workaround?

mehen · May 2013

cmdrscarlet wrote: »

What about the Temporal Warfare set? Within the triuvirate of the DBB, the Temporal Disruption Device and Set 3 ability Temporal Inversion Field, using these would free up the BOff ability using GW, maybe?

I'm not syaing to let go of the GW concern, but as a workaround?

Perhaps, though I'm not well-versed in the Temporal stuff b/c I find the design atrocious. However, the Adapted Battle Cruiser might be the future of science. The nanites deal ~1200dmg/s in an area roughly the size of GW, and the set bonus from the Adapted vessels adds about 200-300 radiation damage that bypasses shields to almost all science attacks (sans eject warp plasma--I know, engi--and feedback pulse). So, I would say amp up the aux power, run Tyken's Rift and TBR (for only reliable CC), and you might be good to go.

Currently trying to get enough ECs for the Adapted Destroyer, though, so it'll be a looong time before I can say with any reliability that this is a good idea. :rolleyes:

I'm hoping the devs realize they just nuked an important part of the game and give GWIII some added juice.

xapocalypseponyx · May 2013

It looks like once my Rom-Sci tops out (or maybe just gets through the Rom story line), I'm just going to shelve him. No sense in wasting any more time or any money on him.

mehen · May 2013

xapocalypseponyx wrote: »

It looks like once my Rom-Sci tops out (or maybe just gets through the Rom story line), I'm just going to shelve him. No sense in wasting any more time or any money on him.

Well, again...it looks like you can still run a science vessel to some degree of efficacy, but due to certain idiotic changes you'll want to shift your ship as much towards dps as possible. So, you really have the Vesta and Advanced Battle Cruiser...maybe even the Destroyer. Lots of EC to invest for a decent build.

davidfloresii · May 2013

DFII

http://www.youtube.com/user/USSReckoning?feature=guide

ursusmorologus · May 2013

subnuke cancels out the EPTE shenanigans

jadensecura · May 2013

ursusmorologus wrote: »

subnuke cancels out the EPTE shenanigans

On one ship, with a 2 minute cooldown. That's like saying your pistol cancels out the opposing army.

ursusmorologus · May 2013

aye its a cure-one not a cure-all, but it does work very well against one

milandare · May 2013

I wonder if Graviton Pulse Generator works on those spheres. GPG and subnuc would double the frequency of slowing a single sphere, although they still have a long cool down. Then you just need to hit the sphere with GW3 and then close to point blank and EWP unless oh dear the tacs have already melted it. I am having trouble joining STFs to test GPG as the current software usually fails to assemble the team and I get tossed out.

Another role might be tank. With lots of Sci Threat consoles from your higher level fleet you might use AoE to tank all of the opponents next in line for the tacs.

I still enjoy playing sci, bumping and hassling opponents, even if sci may only be required in PvP. But as PvE opponents get smarter (lall those cloaking roms in Starbase Defence) then a cunning sci seems very useful. But you don't want to be too useful. Every time I meet a clone of me we get stuck in each other's kamikaze EWP...

wjeremy16 · May 2013

I run a sci in a vesta with the new link Polarize tet beams, combined with tachyon beam 3 and tet glider. It does its job nicely, doesn't do much DPS wise, but FAW2 and apb1 on spheres cleans them up nicely. Tachyon beam 3 on the tac cubes in ISE really cleans the shields nicely. I have deltas slotted for their tachyon , which I believe gets buffed by my flow cap skill.

cool downs are handed with Photonic Officer 2 and If I felt like it, the fleet deflector with the 10% cooldown reduction on sci powers. and since the Vesta doesn't use too much aux, I can pop technician doffs in with aux2bat 1 and I should be fine. I keep myself alive by using two embassy threat reduction consoles.

a chroniton spread also cancels some of the spheres with epte3

Still does about 4k Dps on average though, which is not too terrible.

twg042370 · May 2013

Thius may seem crazy but unless things drastically changed in LoR;

All turrets, RCS consoles, and spinning in circles = Sci Win PvE.

cmdrscarlet · May 2013

All this talk is about the spheres ... what about the rest of the game?

It would seem to me that the Temporal Set is actually turning into an option worth investigating.

xapocalypseponyx · May 2013

reyan01 wrote: »

But that goes back to what I said in my last post - if it's DPS you're after, you're better off with an escort.

Exactly. Not to mention, I have 2 Tactical captains (and hell, even my engineer) who will do a lot more in that escort.

And thanks to reading things like this...

borticuscryptic wrote: »

The primary effect of Graviton Generators is to increase the radius of Gravity Well, not the pull.

GW Rank 1 radius is 2.7km base, or 3.4km with 99 Graviton
GW Rank 2 radius is 2.85km base, or 3.56km with 99 Graviton
GW Rank 3 radius is 3.0km base, or 3.75km with 99 Graviton

as I'm leveling my Sci, I'm skipping putting any points in Graviton Generators (why blow all those points for a couple tenths of a click) and instead putting them into more weapon damage. But then, that's really missing the point of Science as a class, isn't it?

And the more I look around the forums, it's seems maxing any "science" skill is a waste. Players maxing stats and using consoles I don't even have access to (not in a fleet), and they still can't get Sci abilities to be worth a damn.

So yeah, I can try to make my Sci somewhat useful, or I can just take the Cryptic approved class and get it done.

Science Officer Build - Still Viable?

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