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sephirothkirk
Member Posts: 13 Arc User
Alright guys, so I've bought myself a Mirror Universe Assault Cruiser for 60k EC, I like the ship. The thing is, I'm running a hybrid for torpedoes and energy beams. I've got two tactical officers so I can use Fire at Will and Beam Overload, plus High Yield. My tactical consoles right now give me around 45% damage to plasma beams (all uncommon Mark XI for now) and the quantum chamber gives me around 25% plus damage to quantum torpedoes.
The question is: should I focus on the beams and get another tactical console for + plasma damage? I feel the torpedoes give me a good damage burst, but at the same time I would like to be doing more regular damage with my beams (700 DPS each). All my skills for beam damage are maxed out, but the same doesnt apply for torpedoes (a build mistake that I plan to correct once I buy some ZEN).
Also, is a 6 beam-2 torpedo build viable in Elite STF's for a engineer/cruiser?
The question is: should I focus on the beams and get another tactical console for + plasma damage? I feel the torpedoes give me a good damage burst, but at the same time I would like to be doing more regular damage with my beams (700 DPS each). All my skills for beam damage are maxed out, but the same doesnt apply for torpedoes (a build mistake that I plan to correct once I buy some ZEN).
Also, is a 6 beam-2 torpedo build viable in Elite STF's for a engineer/cruiser?
Post edited by sephirothkirk on
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The information provided isn't enough for me to give a thorough analysis, but I do notice something: Where's Tactical Team? You should always have at least one copy of Tact. Team somewhere - it's an amazing defensive ability against...pretty much everything except for the borg shield neutralizer. I would take out B:FAW for a Tact. Team.
As for whether you should focus on beams with another tact. console, that's up to you. I've been looking back at some of the numbers the tact. consoles give you, and frankly, it's nice, but not necessarily a must have. I literally went into a PvP with the wrong tact. consoles in an escort (so i was essentially missing 4 tact. consoles) and I did just fine. Won that Arena match with 11 points under my fold. But for this case, a cruiser could use any damage boost it can get with beams, so I would say: Yes, go with 3 plasma infusers for your cruiser. Your torpedo does enough damage already.
As for the other question, yes 6 beams and 2 torpedoes is the ideal build for a cruiser. Granted some people go 7 beams 1 torp or even 8 beams....or maybe even 5 beams, 2 torps, 1 mine.
All hands! Prepare the popcorn and tinfoil hats!
I've got two tactical bridge officers (a ensign and a Lieutenant, which gives me three abilities):
1 - Torpedo High Yield
2 - Beam Overload
3 - Fire at Will
So i'm basically using tactical for offense and offense only. I've got my engineers at Engineering team I & II (which I probably dont need), Emergency Power to Shields I & III (which is a mistake I'm being lazy to access, but EmpS III should do the trick as those skills trigger timers between each other), Boarding Party Shuttle, Directed Energy Modulation and Warp Plasma.
Science abilties are Polarize Hull and Hazard Emitters. Not the optimal build, by far, and I've been thinking about changing some engineer abilities to get a better performance but even so I've been able to tank stuff along the lines of 2-3 spheres firing at me, plus some hangar ships and a end-game Klingon escort at one of those space war zone missions (I've killed them all).
Felt pretty satisfying. Anyway, I'm a Vice Admiral but still learning my ropes within the game and this is obviously my first char so any advice you can give based on everything I've said would be very welcome!
First things first, the majority of your damage will be from energy damage. So your tac consoles should focus on energy damage. That's a general rule with cruisers, since you will spend most of your time broadsiding. The 6/2 setup is viable for ESTFs. I personally run a 7/1 setup. But to answer the main question you were asking, you should change the tactical console to energy damage.
Here's a quick basic BOff layout that will give you damage and tank:
Lt Tactical: TT1, BFAW2
Ens Tactical: TS1/TT1 (if you have 2 conn officers you can use torp spread 1, if not, use tac team)
Cmdr Engineering: ET1, EPtW2, EPtS3, Aux2SIF3
LtCmdr Engineering: ET1, EPtS2, EPtW3
Lt Science: HE1, TSS2
If you need more details (like consoles etc), just ask, and lots of people will answer.
- Why spread instead of High Yield? I used both and felt more comfortable with High Yield. Guess I'm not seeing the light? hehe
- Auxiliary to Hull sounds nice, I'll try using it instead of DEM.
- I'm on the verge of respecing, so how good are the commander tactical abilities (maneuver, targeting systems). I've heard maneuver doesnt help much for a engineer and the targeting system one is good because of critical hits.
- What is the ultimate plasma energy beam? I'm thinking Romulan Plasma, is that correct?
I really don't like the double ET here, actually I'd say you shouldn't run any ET because the TT will crowd it out on cooldowns. Without those you'd pull the level of your EPtX abilities down (I'd tend toward 2x EPtS1+2x EPtW2 to simplify setting power levels, but that's preference), and gain room for an RSP and another ability of your choice (either EWP, Extend Shields, or DEM).
For the other questions, TS is a multi-target ability, and only slightly less powerful against a single target, so it's typically more useful in PvE. Starship Maneuvers and Starship Targeting Systems are very good skills, more critical for PvP than PvE, but I still wouldn't run less than 6 ranks in them. And yes, Rom plasma is definitely the best kind of plasma.
It also can't be evaded by any means, nor does it miss.
As for Maneuvers and Targeting Systems the only reason you wouldn't max them out would be if you really need the points for a sci-heavy build. Less missing = more damage, more misses against you = more survivability and even the last 3 points are well spent.
1 ET is enough so you can throw in EPtE in there for when it's handy to have.
Answers are in red.
The double ET is mostly for when you aren't under fire. It's there so when someone else grabs aggro you can heal them up. Tbh a lot of ensign engineering abilities are sub-par/substandard/overall not wonderfully useful. I also prefer the level 3 EPtX abilities since the secondary bonuses are very useful. And if you're an engineer, you don't need an RSP, since an EPtS3 will work just as well, and if not you can just hit RSF.