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MACO vs Aegis sets

ambassadormolariambassadormolari Member Posts: 709 Arc User
edited July 2013 in Federation Discussion
As the title above reads, which do you prefer to have on your ships: the MACO, or Aegis set, and why?
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Post edited by ambassadormolari on
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  • evilbsg62evilbsg62 Member Posts: 172 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    dude i am liking the maco atm. that may change. i use aegis sometimes if i need the extra def but heavy graviton beam is awesome. what u use?
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  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    A good set of MACO space gear is better than Aegis.

    However, it takes quite a bit of work and resources to get to an Omega Rep Tier to acquire at least the Mk XI versions, not to mention all it takes to finally acquire all 2-3 pieces.

    Aegis, however is easily accessible. Of the many space sets at endgame, it is the one that is easily accessible and offers good, pure defense stats. It takes some resources to purchase, yes. But you are not being gated and burdened with alot of resources to even entertain the thought of looking at them.

    Aegis shields have kind of lost their luster lately, especially with the advent of Elite Fleet Shields that have stolen the one thing unique to Aegis: Adaptive resists. IMO, Aegis set needs a look at by Cryptic for viability as an endgame space set. Something to make it really live up to the "Aegis" name it takes but still makes it unique as a defensive space set.
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  • sander233sander233 Member Posts: 3,992 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    As a speedtanking solo (pug) PvPer I love the AEGIS set. BUT that's really all it's really good for.

    Pretty much any rep set is superior.

    I don't even think MACO is the best out there. Adapted MACO is better, IMO, especially if you use torpedoes. And the Reman/Romulan prototype set - my God.

    I just recently put the Mk. 12 very rare Reman set on the Tiburon and when that covariant capacitance cell kicks in, man. That is one seriously tanky shield set.

    Oh and it looks really really pretty.
    16d89073-5444-45ad-9053-45434ac9498f.png~original

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  • smokeybacon90smokeybacon90 Member Posts: 2,252 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Aegis would be a great starter set if it wasn't so expensive to get.
    EnYn9p9.jpg
  • lindalefflindaleff Member Posts: 3,734 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    1. My Caitians are both using Aegis because I don't have to grind reputation to give them the set. So, spend a day or two of gathering crafting materials, or spend several MONTHS of tedious reputation? No contest there. I cannot be bothered with reputation, so crafting is the way to go.

    2. My fleet already had ALL the required crafting materials. The only thing I had to do was spend about a million EC for the Uncommon Unreplicateable Materials. That million EC was gained by only an hour in the T'Kanis Nebula. Keep in mind that reputation requires a million EC just to get from T4 to T5.

    3. In addition, the faster I move, the more the Aegis Set protects me.

    4. Furthermore, the shield adapts to the incoming damage type, and even stacks. The best part is that this adaptation is not a % chance; the adaptation is GUARANTEED.

    TL;DR. Don't bother with reputation. Just craft the Aegis Set.
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  • smokeybacon90smokeybacon90 Member Posts: 2,252 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    lindaleff wrote: »
    [My Caitians are both using Aegis because I don't have to grind reputation to give them the set. So, spend a day or two of gathering crafting materials, or spend several MONTHS of tedious reputation? No contest there. I cannot be bothered with reputation, so crafting is the way to go.

    Well you know what they say. Garbage in, garbage out. :rolleyes:
    EnYn9p9.jpg
  • hasukurobihasukurobi Member Posts: 1,421 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    As the title above reads, which do you prefer to have on your ships: the MACO, or Aegis set, and why?

    I do not use either in their entirety... The MACO 2 part bonus is weak and its 3 part bonus is utterly worthless.

    The Aegis 2 and 3 part bonuses are pretty solid but its shield is utter garbage. (Ironically)

    So what I tend to do is go with Deflector and Engine from the Assimilated set (For hull heal proc and fast warp and energy bonuses) and the MACO shield (Because it is one TOUGH shield that gives you extra power FTW).
  • raj011raj011 Member Posts: 987 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    On the normal maco set, does the graviton beam kick in automatically or is there a button in the ability list?
  • majesticmsfcmajesticmsfc Member Posts: 1,401 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    hasukurobi wrote: »
    I do not use either in their entirety... The MACO 2 part bonus is weak and its 3 part bonus is utterly worthless.

    The Aegis 2 and 3 part bonuses are pretty solid but its shield is utter garbage. (Ironically)

    So what I tend to do is go with Deflector and Engine from the Assimilated set (For hull heal proc and fast warp and energy bonuses) and the MACO shield (Because it is one TOUGH shield that gives you extra power FTW).

    I do the same with my Tactical. It has worked out extremely well.
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  • mirrorterranmirrorterran Member Posts: 423 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I just wanted to mention that for a tank the Aegis deflector is very underrated.

    However i still think Maco deflector is a touch better....I would consider the Aegis deflector the second best in the game for a tank/cruiser, including elite fleet gear.
  • stirling191stirling191 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    raj011 wrote: »
    On the normal maco set, does the graviton beam kick in automatically or is there a button in the ability list?

    There's a button.
    reyan01 wrote: »
    MACO is definitely superior to AEGIS, but I have to admit I do prefer the AEGIS visuals - they look stunning on pretty much any ship that enables them. Don't get me wrong - the MACO visuals are nice, but I've always thought that the AEGIS visuals are something special.

    For the KDF, the Aegis shield is hands down my favorite appearance.
  • raj011raj011 Member Posts: 987 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    There's a button.



    For the KDF, the Aegis shield is hands down my favorite appearance.

    Really, I an engineer flying a AC-R and when I use the full normal maco set, I dont see a button listed in the ability tray. What should I do?
  • thratch1thratch1 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    lindaleff wrote: »
    1. My Caitians are both using Aegis because I don't have to grind reputation to give them the set. So, spend a day or two of gathering crafting materials, or spend several MONTHS of tedious reputation? No contest there. I cannot be bothered with reputation, so crafting is the way to go.

    Reputation grinds take a month, not months. While I agree that it is tedious, once it's done you'll be glad you have it. I set up my ship with Mk XII gear, and my fighter with Mk XI gear, all from Omega Rep.
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  • sunfranckssunfrancks Member Posts: 3,925 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I would use the Aegis set more if it had a bonus to warp travel, and the 3 set bonus was applied to the shield (like the elite fleet shields) and not the hull....
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  • cronicus666cronicus666 Member Posts: 15 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    hasukurobi wrote: »
    I do not use either in their entirety... The MACO 2 part bonus is weak and its 3 part bonus is utterly worthless.

    The Aegis 2 and 3 part bonuses are pretty solid but its shield is utter garbage. (Ironically)

    So what I tend to do is go with Deflector and Engine from the Assimilated set (For hull heal proc and fast warp and energy bonuses) and the MACO shield (Because it is one TOUGH shield that gives you extra power FTW).

    The MACO 2 part bonus is one of the most understated and awesome bonuses out there because it mods boff power recharge time.

    My BOFF abilities charge faster running full maco then running other sets and that is a hudge advantage.

    Also Heavy graviton beam got a hudge buff and disables 3 subsystems. That ability has caused the death of many people in pvp that the team I was on was having alot of trouble with.
  • jarfarujarfaru Member Posts: 572 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Really a hard question to post on these boards. They both are great sets. You just have to decide if you want to grind a long time for one or get the other easily. Just know that players with the MACO will always say its the best because the time it took them to get it. I love the Aegis set for the reactive shielding it never fails.
  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    thratch1 wrote: »
    Reputation grinds take a month, not months. While I agree that it is tedious, once it's done you'll be glad you have it. I set up my ship with Mk XII gear, and my fighter with Mk XI gear, all from Omega Rep.

    Doing the Rep grind may not seem like much, but for me, a player with many, many toons, that Rep grind is insanity.

    I concur that the Aegis Set has been greatly surpassed these days, but for what you spend in buying them off the exchange, no wasted time and resources on incessant, depressive Rep grinding for the tiers and gear acquisition (much less 2-3 pieces of a set on the Rep)... Aegis comes out okay. You can do better, but for what it does and the stress / depressive free acquisition of Aegis, it's not that bad a deal.

    It is definitely a good deal for a new player just getting to the max ranks.
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  • tarsudotarsudo Member Posts: 343 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Maybe some day Cryptic remake the Aegis Set, i have the aegis in my kdf toon, is an engineer. The set provide me good resistance for tank. in pvp... i dont recommend, because: the is against to 1 type of energy damage... in pvp is diferent energy damage by enemies... In pve is good: stf usually plasma the doors tetryon (sometimes) y other pve actions is only 1 type of energy the set work fine in that cases... when your repution is level is int tier 5 use some of them
  • shockwave85shockwave85 Member Posts: 1,040 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    hasukurobi wrote: »
    I do not use either in their entirety... The MACO 2 part bonus is weak and its 3 part bonus is utterly worthless.

    The Aegis 2 and 3 part bonuses are pretty solid but its shield is utter garbage. (Ironically)

    So what I tend to do is go with Deflector and Engine from the Assimilated set (For hull heal proc and fast warp and energy bonuses) and the MACO shield (Because it is one TOUGH shield that gives you extra power FTW).

    I run the 2-part Aegis with the Elite Fleet resilient shields. The Elite Fleet shield proc is the same as the Aegis 3-piece bonus, but you don't have to use the crappy Aegis shield. Any other good endgame shield works though. MACO, KHG, Omega, whatever. Hit full throttle and get the most out of that bonus Aegis defense. As has been stated though, this is for speed tanking escorts. Not so much useful on a cruiser.

    The 2-piece Assimilated + MACO shield mentioned by the above poster used to be the go-to thing when the Assimilated Console was in the same set. Even after they nerfed that setup, it's still a good choice as well.
    ssog-maco-sig.jpg
  • ajax1983ajax1983 Member Posts: 28 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    raj011 wrote: »
    On the normal maco set, does the graviton beam kick in automatically or is there a button in the ability list?

    I haven't found the Heavy Graviton Beam to be all that useful most of the time. That being said, there was one instance in which I was stopping Borg Probes in KASE and misapplied my EWP on the wrong plane. I used my Gravoton Beam like a pool cue to knock the probe into the ejected warp plasma, saving the day.
  • captainretsetcaptainretset Member Posts: 92 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I just use the 3 part Borg set. I keep trying to change the shield for a MACO one but with little success: Once it is down it takes a while to rebuild, even with EPtS and TSS and an aux bat. The Borg shield does not have a massive capacity but it rebuilds quickly and you get a once per 3 mins TB for free. I can't remember how much reputation you need but I don't think it's a lot for a Mk XI set.
  • xalexkxxalexkx Member Posts: 193 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    lindaleff wrote: »
    1. My Caitians are both using Aegis because I don't have to grind reputation to give them the set. So, spend a day or two of gathering crafting materials, or spend several MONTHS of tedious reputation? No contest there. I cannot be bothered with reputation, so crafting is the way to go.

    2. My fleet already had ALL the required crafting materials. The only thing I had to do was spend about a million EC for the Uncommon Unreplicateable Materials. That million EC was gained by only an hour in the T'Kanis Nebula. Keep in mind that reputation requires a million EC just to get from T4 to T5.

    3. In addition, the faster I move, the more the Aegis Set protects me.

    4. Furthermore, the shield adapts to the incoming damage type, and even stacks. The best part is that this adaptation is not a % chance; the adaptation is GUARANTEED.

    TL;DR. Don't bother with reputation. Just craft the Aegis Set.
    because a fleet shield is too mainstream
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  • raj011raj011 Member Posts: 987 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    ajax1983 wrote: »
    I haven't found the Heavy Graviton Beam to be all that useful most of the time. That being said, there was one instance in which I was stopping Borg Probes in KASE and misapplied my EWP on the wrong plane. I used my Gravoton Beam like a pool cue to knock the probe into the ejected warp plasma, saving the day.

    cool. Also I found out why, I did not have heavy graviton beam in my ability list. For some reason it will only appear if you have the full set is at the same level e.g XI at first I had that but then was lucky to get a maco deflector mark 12 and I switched it with my mark 11 but the graition beam button was not on my list. When I switched the mark 12 with the mark 11 the button appeared and it was handy when I was fighting the borg, have not tried it on pvp yet but it seems to freeze the enemy ship for a while.
  • vyperwoovyperwoo Member Posts: 17 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    http://sto.gamepedia.com/M.A.C.O._(Space)

    This lists exactly what graviton beam does.
  • i1oo1oo1i1oo1oo1 Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    MACO set hands down. But i always craft the aegis set when im leveling a new toon, purely for the prestige of having a very rare level set all the way up to endgame.
  • jornadojornado Member Posts: 918 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    A few points of misinformation in this thread to address.

    First, the Aegis and Fleet Elite procs are actually not the same proc. The Fleet Elite proc increases shield resistances, while the Aegis proc increases hull damage resist. Added to that, the Aegis proc does not seem to be influenced by the diminishing returns that normally effect hull resistance - i.e. each stack does the same percentage at a native 0% damage resist and at a native 70% damage resist. Not terribly useful in-and-of itself, but if you wanted to try a hardcore hull tank setup, it can be quite useful. It is also useful if you are facing opponents using lots of bleedthrough damage - even though the Aegis set has 5% more bleed, the hull resists can more than counteract this.

    Second, even though the Aegis has higher bleed, the capacity is actually higher than Fleet Elite shields.

    Now, I am NOT saying that the Aegis shields are better for most people than Fleet Elite shields, however, in some set ups, they can be measurably superior.

    As to the 2-piece bonus, Aegis vs. MACO - the MACO graviton beam is nearly useless IMO. I'd much rather have the faster Hyper Impulse engines (for even more defense), the shield friendly deflector, and the double 5% defense boost than anything than MACO has to offer.

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  • burstorionburstorion Member Posts: 1,750 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    I refuse to rep and elite fleet as I believe both of these are pure bs, time gated power creep allied with imbalanced fleet based carrots to drive the starbase monetisation that inflates the ego of poorly skilled pvpers and further enhances those skilled enough to not need them (my opinion, nobody elses)

    While I tend to pvp in standard xii purple gear (yes, even the shield) currently, due to the proliferation of elite fleet and rep gear, I'm growing ever tempted to allow aegis/jem xi/rem shield xi and the breen set on my ship. as such, I've been using them all to try and find a useful setup for the sad day I decide to alter my rules by neccesity and here are my findings:

    aegis
    deflector - Ideal for tanking ships like cruisers or boats that need some extra defence facing a push keybind hero
    engine - In my opinion still one of the best hypers available - while not viable for low engine builds, its +5 integrated defence is very useful vs single acc weapons
    shield - Even more free shield hp and a hefty shield heal boost? pretty nice combo
    set - 2pc is good for speed tankers, 3pc is definitely for hull tankers

    Jemmie
    deflector - in my opinion, the best free anti romulan deflector there is while also boosting countermeasures, allowing cruisers/escorts more possible usage of sensor jam, ect whilst bumping flow caps (which makes sense due to polaron compatability)
    engine - Low eng power usage, boosts weapons power and has excellent turn
    shield- Halved bleedthrough but less capacity and regen but has built in 10% shield resist (so overall add 10% shield hp onto the current value effectively) as well as a free mk3 common monotanium and 2x mk12 common emergency forcefield on top
    set bonus - 2pc ...only good if you have polaron 3pc... basically a free charged particle burst on a long cd timer - but useful on a ship designed to decloak others

    Reman
    shield - it, err..looks good? its just a covarient with a capx2 modifier

    Breen
    deflector - an excellent sci deflector, its inertial dampner rating can really help versus tractor beams and such. all in all however, aegis and jemmie offer far more
    engine - the jem engine with the weapon power bonus removed and an engine boost/[aux] modifier instead. for those trying to put the minimum of power in engines, this engine is a godsend due to its compatability with warp core efficiency
    shield - Too poor in regards to where it is in the episodes, there is no reason to use this other than on a cloaked ship where the set bonus has more use than the shield itself
    set - 2pc... useful for those who switch settings often or run a torpboat that uses the breen cluster - the 3pc...thats an extra energy siphon - good for a drain build but the set bonus is in no way worth mounting all the parts

    As to the others.. Paratrinic has uses on, say an alpha striker with cloak (buffed as high as possible) ..the rest however don't seem worth the effort to collect (except the combat hyper..that one sounds intriguing)

    In my opinion, the best 'free' set is not a set but a combination - jemmie xi shield and aegis - a combination of defence, enhanced ship hull and shields on top of a handy shield all energy resist that masks the shields true capacity (which taking into account the 10% resist as 'bonus' shield hp, brings the jem shield hp to 5031 (taking the sto wiki stats as the base)
  • malkarrismalkarris Member Posts: 797 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    sander233 wrote: »
    As a speedtanking solo (pug) PvPer I love the AEGIS set. BUT that's really all it's really good for.

    Pretty much any rep set is superior.

    I don't even think MACO is the best out there. Adapted MACO is better, IMO, especially if you use torpedoes. And the Reman/Romulan prototype set - my God.

    I just recently put the Mk. 12 very rare Reman set on the Tiburon and when that covariant capacitance cell kicks in, man. That is one seriously tanky shield set.

    Oh and it looks really really pretty.

    I've seen more and more people with the Romulan and/or Reman sets on their ship, is it any good? Also, is it part of the set that does the swirlly lines that seem to trace the shield bubble? Honestly might get it just for that.
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  • erhardgrunderhardgrund Member Posts: 167 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    Aegis looks good without going overboard, hase a nice defensive bonus, hull resist that adapts and a high shield capacity.

    Maco uses a resilent shield wich has less bleed through and absorbs a bit of power
    the 3 set bonus is more or less a 3 minute cooldown tractor repulsor. It can do some damage with high aux and since it cost no boff or console slot i dont mind having it. But there are better 3 set boni.
    Best imho is the omega 3 set bonus but its a set made to supplement attack rather than defense like maco and aegis.

    Maco imho is better but id wait till you have tier 5 omega rep, till than your well advised to go with the aegis.
    Cruisers ftw!
  • red01999red01999 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    I would suggest this, assuming you are starting from 0 rep.

    * Pick up the Aegis set.
    * Use the Aegis set to charge up rep levels until the MACO Resilient Shield is available at Mk XI (or higher).
    * Get the shield and grind the rest of the Omega rep.
    * Consider getting the remaining Borg pieces, MACO pieces, or upgrading the MACO shield to Mk XII (remember, to get set bonuses you must have all relevant pieces at the same Mk level).

    As has been said several times, the Aegis deflector and engine are pretty good, but I don't think much of the shield. I'd suggest the shield be used only as a stopgap unless you are a major fan of covariant shields.
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