Which scimitar?

bertiewooster · July 2013

I'm currently stockpiling my ZEN to get a scimitar, but I'm only going to get one, not the 3 pack. My question is, which one would be the most "versatile?" As in, which do you think would work best for any career? The reason being is that I don't buy much in the Z-store so if I'm probably going to use the scimitar on any romulan I make if I like it. Right now all I have is a Sci reman, but I was thinking about making a tac in the future. My goal for the sci is to try to make a sci healer out of it for STFs. I'm aware of the bugs going on with it right now, but it will be some time before I have enough ZEN to buy one so I'm hoping those will be fixed by the time I'm ready.

newromulan1 · July 2013

The absolute BEST one - by far - with the best console layout +best suvivablity vs dmg

is the one with :

3 Engineering slots

3 Science slots

4 tac slots

None of the the other compare to that one:P

toby1kanobi · July 2013

Interesting question, with all 3 having the same boff layout the decision comes down to secondary powers and console slots

Scimitar T5 E2 S3, additionl power in weapons and engines. Cloaked barrarge
The barrarge allows you to fire ALL weapons and use boffs for 10 seconds whilst still fully cloaked, exactly like the movie.

A perfect ambush ship for group pvp and a beast in regular stf and fleet alerts

Falcion T3 E4 S3, additional power in shields and engines. Secondairy shields
The secondairy shields are similar to miracle worker giving you more survivability, (my build this shield is 17.5k) acting as either a panic button to save you fro death or as a sacrificial shield to absorb an alphastrike

Great in eSTF due to better tanking

Tulwar T3 E2 S5, additional power in aux and shields. Singularity distributer
The singularity distributer to keep shields online whilst cloaked. Taking a pounding, cloaking and running only to be taken out by a gas seeking torp or some random blast you fly through. No problem here, shields stay up with no loss of effectiveness, the console also grants you a stealth bonus.

This is a medium dps hit and run with the potential for devastating gravity well and rift abilities as well as high end sci healing being aux heavy. This is also the only scimitar variant where the ability is passive

I cat tell you what is best but maybe ive given you enough of the ships character to decide

mastershi · July 2013

If you are just buying one in my opinion since im eng rommie i would go with secondary shielding one but thats just me.My friends who have 3 pack love that secondary shielding and i cant wait til i get my 3-pack tomorrow

bertiewooster · July 2013

Thanks for the advice so far, everyone. I'm leaning towards the engineer one since it has better tanking abilities, which is very attractive to me since I plan on doing eSTFS with it (once get high enough rep gear).

The tactical one is also appealing too because of the console.

Console-wise the science one seems the least interesting to me, but the science console layout is appealing.

iskandus · July 2013

newromulan1 wrote: »

The absolute BEST one - by far - with the best console layout +best suvivablity vs dmg

is the one with :

3 Engineering slots

3 Science slots

4 tac slots

None of the the other compare to that one:P

Except none of the Scimitar has such console layout. They either have 5 tact slots or 3.

iskandus · July 2013

bertiewooster wrote: »

Thanks for the advice so far, everyone. I'm leaning towards the engineer one since it has better tanking abilities, which is very attractive to me since I plan on doing eSTFS with it (once get high enough rep gear).

The tactical one is also appealing too because of the console.

Console-wise the science one seems the least interesting to me, but the science console layout is appealing.

I would advise against buying just one ship. The reason being their unique consoles come with set bonuses. You need at least 2 to get the first set bonus, which significantly improves your maneuverability.

Cloaked Barrage is not very useful. It lasts 15 sec and has a 3 minute CD. While technically a perfect cloak, your enemy can still decloak you in a number of ways. While they can't target you, based on where the weapon fires come from, they will have an approximate fix on your position and thus can use AOE attack such as eject warp plasma or eject a singularity near you to cause you to decloak. Unlike what someone else told you, this will in fact be quite useless in PvP because humans are a lot smarter than NPCs.

Secondary shielding is interesting. But the 3 minute CD makes is less appealing.

The passive console is in fact the backbone of any Scimitar. It transforms your cloak into a Scimitar Battlecloak in which your shields never drop in/out of cloak. One of the biggest dangers for cloakers is losing the protection of their shields while cloaked. Some people time the few sec that your shield is down to pound you. With this console, this will no longer be possible. It also allows you to take advantage of the ambush damage bonus a lot more frequently.

tom61sto · July 2013

I'm grinding up Dil as well to purchase the Scimitar, and would like to only have to grind up Dil for 2500Z instead of 5000Z as well. Right now, I'm leaning towards the Scimitar proper, mainly because of the damage potential of 5 Tac consoles and the +10 power to Weapon Subsystems (only variant with that it appears), which will be quite needed if you're running an energy weapon heavy layout. The Singularity Distributor Unit (keep shields up while cloaked) seems the most handy of the consoles, though.

sardocian · July 2013

iskandus wrote: »

I would advise against buying just one ship. The reason being their unique consoles come with set bonuses. You need at least 2 to get the first set bonus, which significantly improves your maneuverability.

Cloaked Barrage is not very useful. It lasts 15 sec and has a 3 minute CD. While technically a perfect cloak, your enemy can still decloak you in a number of ways. While they can't target you, based on where the weapon fires come from, they will have an approximate fix on your position and thus can use AOE attack such as eject warp plasma or eject a singularity near you to cause you to decloak. Unlike what someone else told you, this will in fact be quite useless in PvP because humans are a lot smarter than NPCs.

Secondary shielding is interesting. But the 3 minute CD makes is less appealing.

The passive console is in fact the backbone of any Scimitar. It transforms your cloak into a Scimitar Battlecloak in which your shields never drop in/out of cloak. One of the biggest dangers for cloakers is losing the protection of their shields while cloaked. Some people time the few sec that your shield is down to pound you. With this console, this will no longer be possible. It also allows you to take advantage of the ambush damage bonus a lot more frequently.

This post is completely right... passive console to keep your shields is by far the best option. Though the science focused version it comes on isnt my favorite... I prefer the engineering leaning one (4 eng, 3 sci, 3 tac) for better survivability, and that ship gives you the second best console, secondary shields. With both, you get a better turn rate.

I dont use the fire-while-cloaked console, i've found it to be pretty useless in most situations.

Oh, and to the OP: I wouldn't buy just one... you should get at least 2 for the turn rate bonus (and if you get 2, might as well get the 3rd for free...)

toby1kanobi · July 2013

iskandus wrote: »

I would advise against buying just one ship. The reason being their unique consoles come with set bonuses. You need at least 2 to get the first set bonus, which significantly improves your maneuverability.

Cloaked Barrage is not very useful. It lasts 15 sec and has a 3 minute CD. While technically a perfect cloak, your enemy can still decloak you in a number of ways. While they can't target you, based on where the weapon fires come from, they will have an approximate fix on your position and thus can use AOE attack such as eject warp plasma or eject a singularity near you to cause you to decloak. Unlike what someone else told you, this will in fact be quite useless in PvP because humans are a lot smarter than NPCs.

ahh yes you are right, it is 15, however,, a good escort can destroy almost any player ship in a third of that time... you have the ability to spec escort boff and you have the ability to use 5 tac consoles. with cloaked barrarge you cant alpha strike but the 5th console adds enough damage to always be doing that in anycase

doomicile · July 2013

I'm currently using the Science one for the boost to Aux and Shields but I have the 3-pack. Although you do sacrifice 3 valuable console slots for the 3-set bonus, she can still be a very versatile and powerful ship in the right hands.

I've also built her around GW and TBR.

She still does a fair amount of damage but this is more about control and dealing with several targets at once.

With some skills invested in Aux and transfer power between weapons and Aux depending on whether I'm unloading an Alpha strike or popping a GW.

Then when you're into position, crank up Aux, pop the RMC if you have it and charge your Thalaron for a potential 80k Crit or more, plus 3.6k-4k per second DoT.

It all depends on your playstyle. Build it how you want, the Scimitar is very capable.

johankreig · July 2013

I use the Falchion, I have all three but after trying the Scimitar it just dosnt survive long enough for me, the tac consoles are oover the top, the engi I found has a better balance.

saxmanusmc · July 2013

My Rom toon is an Engie officer. I bought the bundle with all three and fly the Falchion for tanking and use all three consoles. The ship handles well, does decent damage overall, and is a tough nut to crack so far in the STFs. This is a new toon for me right now though so I am only running an Aegis set as my rep is not high enough for the MACO/OMEGA/BORG stuff yet.

Even so, she is still pretty darn tanky.

johankreig · July 2013

I am a tac officer, but still run the Falchion, it just feels more balanced, I prefer a ship thats gona damage stuff but get me home, and on the whole, even with the shield/weapons bugs, the Falchion does that, well worth the 5k zen, and its a sexy huge MF of a ship, and my fave ship from the films

toby1kanobi · July 2013

johankreig wrote: »

I am a tac officer, but still run the Falchion, it just feels more balanced, I prefer a ship thats gona damage stuff but get me home, and on the whole, even with the shield/weapons bugs, the Falchion does that, well worth the 5k zen, and its a sexy huge MF of a ship, and my fave ship from the films

what is the weapons bug?

johankreig · July 2013

as far as I am aware its linked to the shield bug, people are reporting that the weapons are not performing as they should, personaly i aint noticed much.

doomicile · July 2013

My weapons work just fine. Just no shield regen and also I don't think resists are calculating properly but I can't confirm it atm.

bertiewooster · July 2013

iskandus wrote: »

I would advise against buying just one ship. The reason being their unique consoles come with set bonuses. You need at least 2 to get the first set bonus, which significantly improves your maneuverability.

Yeah, I really don't want to get just one, but it takes forever to grind out 5000 ZEN (even if you do purchase some...but I don't have $50 to drop on a game). I'm going to see how long it takes me to get to 2500 at current exchange rates, and if possible I'd like to get all 3. The 2 console bonus is a really good one...I don't care much about thalaron since it makes you a sitting duck, but it might be useful in some situations. If I got all 3 then it would also solve my quandary of having to figure out which one to choose.

voxius · July 2013

While I completely understand the dilemma of not having the money to make the purchase (I've had to miss out on the bonus zen and now the big ship sale event because of this but I was able to get my dreadnaught pack so

) I still recommend grinding out the dili to get the 5000 pack. For one, the console set is NICE (even if you only use just two) and all three abilities they provide have become boons to my play style (especially if your focus is more on pve.)

Also, just logically speaking. It will take you less time to grind out 2500 zen in dili than 5000, but it will take you more time to grind out 7500 to eventually get all three ships individually, assuming that is a road you will take. I still say employ patience and go the bundle route.

bertiewooster · July 2013

Well, I just went from having 100 Z to 1279 Z in about 4 days, so I think getting up to 5000 Z is more feasible than I thought.

warmaker001b · July 2013

All variants of the Scimitar can be great, but the real thing that truly separates them really is what you do with that LtCdr Universal BOFF station. That is the deciding factor whether you make the Scimitar a damage dealing platform that happens to be frail, or a more balanced one with good ENG or SCI BOFFs to balance things out. Going with the TAC version and pumping the LtCdr Universal for more TAC will make you do outstanding damage, but you will be very quick to take out.

foxalpha5 · July 2013

If you lack the ability to keep yourself alive, then dps means nothing.

I use the Falchion, and have an engineer in the Lt. Cmdr. Works very well for me.

trythios · July 2013

warmaker001b wrote: »

All variants of the Scimitar can be great, but the real thing that truly separates them really is what you do with that LtCdr Universal BOFF station. That is the deciding factor whether you make the Scimitar a damage dealing platform that happens to be frail, or a more balanced one with good ENG or SCI BOFFs to balance things out. Going with the TAC version and pumping the LtCdr Universal for more TAC will make you do outstanding damage, but you will be very quick to take out.

Pretty much this.

I use the Scimitar but for the time being I've shoved a Eng BOff in that LtCmdr station. So far it's given me a good balance of DPS and sustainability. According to people with parsers in ESTF's this has put me in the 9-10k DPS range without pets.

As for the bundle, I use the 2 set bonus, oddly enough it's the Falchion and Tulwar consoles I use. (Secondary Shield and Passive) While I don't find the Secondary Shield to be amazing it's still a handy panic button, it's the +2 turn rate and passive shields that makes it great.

Save up for the bundle, you'll be happier with it when you can mix and match to your liking.

Which scimitar?

Comments