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Fleet Corsair: working from the endpoint back...
generator88
Member Posts: 698 Arc User
Hi,
So I'm plotting my next KDF char in anticipation of LOR, and the concept that's rattling around is an Orion who commands a Fleet Corsair. Fair enough. I think my next question is, how do I get to that point?
I know Tac isn't the most synergistic choice to command a Flight Deck Cruiser, but in my mind's eye I can already see this fellow busting dudes up in ground combat, so that kind of leads me to a Tac officer using a Close Combat kit. Can an Eng or Sci still be effective as a face-punching sort?
As for ship choices en route to the Fleet Corsair, I don't think I can justify buying each of the 3 lower-tiered FDCs, and then ponying up again for the fleet ship. I was thinking if I got any of the earlier ships, get the Dacoit (gives me a taste early on, and also unlocks Orion Interceptors, which might be useful as a change of pace from Slavers, which I intend on being the hangar pet of choice), then not going back to buy another FDC until I get the Fleet Corsair. Anyone got any thoughts on how I should spend the other two ranks? Should I keep pushing the Dacoit, or use something else, and if so, what?
Any other thoughts anyone has on how to hang some meat on this skeleton of an idea would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time!
Later on,
Gen
So I'm plotting my next KDF char in anticipation of LOR, and the concept that's rattling around is an Orion who commands a Fleet Corsair. Fair enough. I think my next question is, how do I get to that point?
I know Tac isn't the most synergistic choice to command a Flight Deck Cruiser, but in my mind's eye I can already see this fellow busting dudes up in ground combat, so that kind of leads me to a Tac officer using a Close Combat kit. Can an Eng or Sci still be effective as a face-punching sort?
As for ship choices en route to the Fleet Corsair, I don't think I can justify buying each of the 3 lower-tiered FDCs, and then ponying up again for the fleet ship. I was thinking if I got any of the earlier ships, get the Dacoit (gives me a taste early on, and also unlocks Orion Interceptors, which might be useful as a change of pace from Slavers, which I intend on being the hangar pet of choice), then not going back to buy another FDC until I get the Fleet Corsair. Anyone got any thoughts on how I should spend the other two ranks? Should I keep pushing the Dacoit, or use something else, and if so, what?
Any other thoughts anyone has on how to hang some meat on this skeleton of an idea would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time!
Later on,
Gen
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I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
Post edited by generator88 on
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As for career choices, I went with an engineer. An engineer can be made to put out some insane DPS in ground combat and still tank. With the proper doffs slotted you can put down a crapload of turrets and drones. Since your goal is the fleet corsair, I would go with an engineer because the corsair is alittle light on engineering skills, especially if you do an Aux2bat build like I did.
Also, the Corsair befits immensely from the Romulan Rep system, but I think thats true for any cruiser.
I'm lazy so I'm not going to type it all out, but heres what I'm currently using. I'll eventually get the Mk12 Romulan/Reman set, but I need to do alot more epohh farming for that. Right now this thing is putting out an insane amount of DPS for a cruiser.
Img Link
I'm a Tac Cap in a Fleet Corsair. It works fine, fire on my mark drops an enemies resistance so that helps my fighters as well, and alpha pattern helps my movement and damage. Tactical initiative helps compensate for only having two tac boff powers. The cruiser is sci-eng focused so my tac captain powers help balance that out.
Aside from the passives, elite Scorpions and the romulan 3 console bonus, plasma hyperflux, help it along nicely with dps.
Have it in my setup (see signature below), helps quite a lot.
I find my engineer matching the fleet corsair nicely, makes up for the slight lack of engineering slots in it.
And yeah, on ground, pumping out 12 devices/pets all at once, is mighty satisfying!
I think I have to stick with the idea of him as a Tac officer, as I said, the guy I see in my head just isn't the engineer type (i don't think he'd fight with a turret unless he picked it up and hit you with it
When I make him happen, I'll probably spend for.the Dacoit, and try and make that last as long as I can, but I might have to pick up a Voquv at 40 (they can be gotten with the level-up freebie, right?) before I get the Fleet Corsair.
Thanks for the feedback!
Later on,
Gen
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
When I was leveling up my Orion engineer many many moons ago, I bought the Dacoit and used it through the Commander and Captain levels and she did very well in it even as a Captain. I then jumped to the Marauder.
While not a fan of fleet ships I have been looking into the fleet Corsair and it's lt commander science station is probably the only thing that makes it worth the purchase over the retrofit.
Only just got my fleet to a tier 2 shipyard so I'll probably have to wait a while before I can get to a tier 3 one.
I did buy every flight-deck on the way up, and eventually the Fleet Corsair. Hooray for 2 years of stipend on an LTS. I love it. I fly her as a pirate queen, using advanced interceptors but sometimes switching to slavers or marauders depending on my mood. If I did it over I might skip the regular Corsair as I don't use the Tachyon Drones at all, but I may try them more at some point if I want to try to make it a plain shield strip boat.
For now I run it as a combined ES/BP boat and with the interceptors she does a great job shutting ships down til I feel like blowing them up. I run Dominion Polarons and the Jem space set to complement that kind of build--it's not the world's greatest DPS but it's not meant to be, regardless it's a ton of fun and it's plenty effective. Done right this kind of build can stop most any NPC ship dead in the water.
Also, if you can justify the cost, plasmonic leech and the aceton assimilator complement this build VERY well.
That sounds a lot like some of my reasoning, D. Polaron + JH set was something I was thinking (mainly because it sidesteps the Rep system). I certainly would consider buying all the FDCs if I had the Zen to spare, but I don't (if I took a klunk on the noggin and was in a coma long enough for a stipend-tastic amount of Zen to accumulate, yeah). The Dacoit seems to be a good low-cost entry point that also gets me interceptors.
The only cruisers I've played to this point are the more nimble Klingon ones like the Ktinga, can an Orion cruiser's turn rate let it play the dual cannon game, or should I go to a Plan B (either single cannons or beam arrays)?
Thanks,
Gen
PS - I almost forgot, I assume the ES in ES/BP is Energy Siphon, I'm brain-locking on what BP might be...
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
I can tell you I enjoy my Corsair Retrofit. I do recommend getting the Doicot to get the Interceptors. I chose a boff power selection focused around snaring the target. The Advanced Interceptors work well with that strategy and add extra dps to boot. With a fleet corsair, you should be able to put a gravity well on there to give you even more snaring ability.
I used my Doicot for Tiers 3 and 4. I did switch to the Marauder at tier 5 until I could get the Corsair Retrofit. But, Yes, you can get a Vo'qov with the free token at level 40 and use that until you secure your Fleet Corsair.
Enjoy.
This isn't one of my mains at this point so I did it because it fits the build very well and is right there. I like it enough I may well grind the Lobi to get the set upgraded eventually.
It turned fine once I put an RCS in it or put points in Impulse Thrusters, especially when the other stuff is not moving. That ship can't mount dual cannons, though. Since I am running it as a disable/drain build and not DPS anyway I run it with beam arrays (one DBB up front) and FAW II to take aggro off the pets and try to proc a lot. The siphon part of the build keeps my weapons energy maxed almost all the time so I still do decent damage at the end of the fight after everything is immobilized.
I run Energy Siphon II and III and Boarding Party III, with DOFFs that reduce cooldown for hangars and boarding parties. Near max aux, but with ES running at all times and Plasmonic Leech I'm usually above 120 on the other three not long after the fight starts. I've considered Viral Matrix or Gravity Well instead of ES III but this is working too well to want to change it.
If it did ever happen I'd possibly like to see the ensign sci turned into an ensign tac slot. But would be happy if boffs stayed the same.
Attack Pattern Alpha boost my damage and turn rate, Fire On My Mark helps strip resistence from my targets so both I and my fighters deal more damage, and I'm not short on defences with Polarize hull, Transfer Shield Strength, Enigeering Team, and Hazard Emitters.
So what's the problem with a Tac in a Fleet Corsair?
Thanks to everyone for the feedback. This guy is up and playing as a Tac officer. He's up to level 33ish. I splurged a few bucks and bought the Dacoit cruiser, which I'm still using even though I've outlevelled it. What passes for my plan is to basically fly the Dacoit until the warp core falls out or until I get my free VA token for being an LTS (I get that at 50, if memory serves), then use that token for a Marauder, then hang in that until I feel the need to jump to the Fleet Corsair.
The ship is sporting a weapons loadout of DBB, beam array, Torp fore, and 2xbeams, Torp aft (maybe later I'll either link to or write up a full build). When I get it to the high end, I will likely use fleet gear instead of set, as I am thoroughly done with grinding rep for the time being. The hangar bays have been bouncing back and forth between Interceptors and Slavers. I can't tell which I prefer; the Ints seems to pack more punch, but the Daffy-Duck-level greedy guy in me wants to give the Slavers more time to work. This reminds me, related question: are you supposed to get any sort of indication that the Slavers are getting you stuff? Right now I have no idea if or how often it's happening, and would like to know what I should be looking for.
Thanks!
Generator
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
I think it's a Vet Reward thing (I bought a lifetime sub when I joined last year, so I'm in on that).
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
So, the Lt. Gen. phase of this isn't exactly off to a roaring start...
I hit 50 yesterday, grabbed a Marauder FDC with my Vet token, set the ship up, the way I wanted it, and... fell flat on my face in Pi Canis Assault. :-/ I simply wasn't doing enough damage to blow up the Fed ships before they broke through my jamming and tanked the optionals for me. It got bad to the point that I went back to Qonos, and outfitted my Peghqu and used that to complete the missions in a timely manner.
Later on when I'm home, I will post the ship's build, and any constructive feedback will be welcomed.
Later on,
Gen
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
It was something like this:
Tac Lt: TT1, APD1
Eng Cmdr: EPTS1, A2S1, ES2, DEM3
Eng LC: EPTS1, ET2, EWP1
Sci Lt: HE1, TSS2
Sci En: PH1
Warp Core/Engine/Shield/Deflector were nothing special as yet.
Fore: 1 DBB, 2 Arrays, 1 Torpedo
Aft: 3 Arrays, 1 Mine
2 Disruptor consoles
2 Neutronium, 1 RCS, 1 SIF
1 Field Generator, 2 Emitter Arrays (embassy-grade)
The hangar was alternately filled with Interceptors or Slavers.
Later on,
Gen
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
FDC's have limited tac slots, so consolidate your ship weapon types to make the most of the limited abilities you can slot. So, keep 1 torp up front for some kinetic and make the rest single beams and slot FAW2. That way it'll buff almost all your ships weapons.
Do broadsiding to get 7 beams on target for more dps. DBBs aren't helpful on cruisers I feel.
Move EWP1 up to EWP3, consider using EPtW3 instead of EWP1.
You're a bit light on heals, swap A2SIF1 to A2SIF2 and make A2SIF1 RSP1. Swap ET2 and EPtS1 around.
That'll probably be an interesting start for you.
Are you a tac/engy/sci captain?
Check out my Marauder build in my signature for ideas. I pilot in a tanky style but can dish out the dps in the right circumstances. If you've only a few targets in range FAW effectively becomes beam rapid fire, and is quite devastating.
If you can, get the 3 piece Romulan Harness set on there. 0 weapons drain from one beam (means more power for the other 6 beams), extra power across the board and importantly, Plasma Hyper flux. Effectively gives you an APB1 to work with too.
Get Elite or advanced Scorpion fighters for more DPS
Let me ask you, strictly from a PVE standpoint, would single cannons work on a flight-deck cruiser like the Marauder or Corsair? I was thinking of trying the energy weapons as single cannons up front, turrets in the back, and using the Tac LT as CRF1.
Later on,
Gen
EDIT: forgot to answer your question, Tac captain.
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
Regarding cannons, try it out and let me know! Just get White common gear so you can resell it after testing.
8x beam arrays vs 4x cannons and 4 turrets...
Some info from stowiki: (MKXII White dps)
Single Beam array = 176
Single Cannon = 212
Turret = 132
Broadsiding with 8x beams = 1408
Front 180 arc with cannons+turrets = 1376
Outside those ideal kill zones:
4x beams = 704
4x turrets = 528
Cruisers wont turn on a dime like escorts, so you can expect to be shooting stuff outside your ideal kill zones often.
There's a reason people only use DHC+turrets or just beam arrays...
Perhaps look into those doffs that reduce beam/cannon ability recharge times to give you effectively 2 copies of what ever tac skill you use. I do that with the Tac team, 15 sec cooldown every time on the one copy.
So shortly after that post last night, I re-outfitted my Marauder, trained the crew up, and tried her out again. *Much* improved. Key changes: as per your suggestion, DEM is out, and EWP is in. Both arcs are sporting 3 beam arrays (disruptors currently, but I could be persuaded to try something else) and 1 photon torpedo (later, in a concession to the rep system, the aft one will likely become a cutting beam). APD is out, replaced with Fire At Will. The hangar bay is now sporting Advanced Slavers, and I intend to pick up Adv. Interceptors for when I need to break faces more than I need to make a buck.
I'm once again posting while away from my home PC, so the exact build is unavailable at this time.
As I said, much improved. Pi Canis Assault went a lot better; the freighter assault was a mess, but I'll figure that out yet. The only other incident was in the assault on Maiewski, one of the ships lasted long enough to break jamming and send an alert, but after the fight I realized that was because my power presets were accidentally set to "min weapons/max engines.". Oops...
The doff mix, I'm not sure what I intend to use for the long haul, but I'm considering some combo of a TT Conn Officer, an Energy Weapons officer to reduce FAW's cooldown, BFI guys, Damage Control Engineers for the Emergency Power, and maybe a Warp Core Engineer.
Thanks for the help so far!
Later on,
Gen
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
That's what I have on mine cannons and turrets, advantage vs. Beams is more shot pee second which means more procs and turrets use less energy then beams -8 vs. -10 for beams and single cannons.
I did the same thing and was very pleased with how the Dacoit handled with Captain level gear.
I have a Marauder now and I use Orion Slaver fighters. These are supposed to occasionally give me extra EC and commodities. I haven't really noticed that. Are those only good for PvE or do they have to be in Attack mode or something?
My Orion is a Tac officer because I wanted to make her mostly melee and use the Operative Tac Kit. Now that she reached level cap, I switch between Operative and Squad Leader Kits depending on the situation. Since my Marauder only has 2 Tac Officer skill slots my captain's Attack pattern Alpha comes in very handy.
I won some Tractor Beam Mines somewhere and love to use them. I get 2 wings of Slavers out, maybe deploy a heavy weapon turret, sometimes use the summon Nimbus pirates device and make passes on my locked-down target. I almost feel bad for the target.
I wish Orion Syndicate Operative could be a KDF mini faction. I would love to try an Orion Corvette, they look like they could be nice little Escort vessels.
A Tactical Boarding Party skill that steals EC, commodities, and ship gear would truly be epic.
How about the Orion Syndicate as a KDF mini-faction? After a certain level, a KDF officer could have a mission where they can choose to either join or inform on the "Green Mob."
Lovely piracy could ensue!!!
The player could perform salvage mini-games on the hulls of ships she just destroyed.
The use of ship-sized holo-projectors and transponder scramblers could protect their identity when they attack other KDF vessels.
Special bonuses for disabling then boarding and plundering vessels instead of straight destroying them.
Taking hostages and ransoming their freedom for profit.
Breaking "Family" members out of jail.
Marauding various colonies and research facilities.
Eliminating inconvenient witnesses.
Sending distress signals and ambushing whoever shows up.
"Shaking down" late loan payers.
Assassinating political enemies.
Bribing government officials (Fed, KDF, whoever).
Inner political intrigue.
Crew your vessel with Orions, Nauscicans, rogue Ferengi, and the rare honor-less Klingon.
Command Orion vessels!
Yo ho ho!
PS, plz do something about Orion males being so bald. Hats would be nice.
<edit>
More content ideas:
The innate dangers of being a Syndicate operative while serving in the KDF.
Accepting bounties or "hits" on various targets.
To sum up: a playable Orion Syndicate character could be lots of fun. As a pirate/mobster infiltrating the KDF, lots of interesting plots could evolve. The desire for ill-gotten gain, whether to pay Mob loans or for sheer greed, could make being an "under cover" pirate a very versatile option.
Many of the KDF missions are based on House intrigue and matters of honor. What if you're just a greedy scallywag out to chase some loot and some tail? Even the KDF considers you scum, but a gal needs to make a living too!
I use 3 single cannons and 1 Chroniton torp on my Marauder and 2 beam arrays, a mine launcher (tractor beam), and a Hargh'peng torp for my aft weapons. The cannons with Attack Pattern Alpha are great at knocking shields. Then I launch a torp, pass the target, launch mines, fire arrays and Hargh'peng. I have to circle a few times, but it's a cruiser, that's expected. Circling gives my fore shields a chance to rest a minute too. The Chroniton torp and RCS Accelerator help reduce my slow turn disadvantage. The hangar ships keep the pressure on when I'm not in an ideal position to max damage. The fighters also help distract the target from only focusing on me.
I only pve so that's what my experiences are solely based upon.
I might try experimenting with using arrays, but I am pretty happy with my 3 fore cannons.
Advanced Interceptor or Advanced Slavers
3 fleet Advanced Single Cannons and a fleet advanced transphasic torp forward.
3 FleetcAdvanced Single Cannons and transphasic mine.
2 blue RSCs and fleet engines turnx2.
With the occasional use of evasive manvuers I have prob keeping my cannons on the enemy.
A combo I like to use is hit a aux bat, use energy siphon, feedback pulse, emg to weapons, attack pattern alpha, fire on my mark, tactical fleet, tractor beam II, and cannon rapid fire and high yield torp at once.
Also the high hull makes fleet support and go down fighting more useful as you can survive with less hull for longer then say an escort.
Blue overload warpcore Aux>Weapons is helpful as well.
When I want a chronton torps I use the advanced interceptors.
Setup wise, it does quite well with a standard beam-broadsiding build, but I find I personally enjoy it more with triple DBB and a BNW/Tricobalt(especially with the RCS change). It's a lot more generous on the powergrid than an overloading broadsider as well.
i would have gotten it, but they should have left it an engineer ship..
[12:44] Vessel One of Two Unimatrix 01 deals 1019527 (1157678) Kinetic Damage to you with Plasma Energy Bolt Explosion.