test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Damage type, weapons and setup for a Vesta
darshie101
Member Posts: 70 Arc User
So, I've tried to check around, but so far I just got more and more confused.
This is the problem: I have purchased time ago, borg weapons (when we had no rep, at that time you trade the borg marks for MACO or other anti borg weaponry), so I still have these weapons, but I am not sure that they are still good.
I've got a Vesta Explorer (the one with the quantum field focus controller, that fire the super beam using aux power), and sadly it has only 3 slots front and back, so I am trying to find a setup for this ship, that may work for me. I would appreciate your suggestions.
BTW I don't do PVP, I just need something good to do PVE (solo and in team, like the ones for marks)
So far, the weapons: I have these weapons available for the 6 slots:
-dual heavy cannons that uses aux power (came with the Vesta)
-dual tetryon bank beam XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
-Retrofit Phaser bank (the ones that scale with your level, from the TOS Connie)
-Polaron Beam Array XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
-Rapid reload Transphasic torpedo XI
-Chronitron flux torpedo XI
And in the bank I have more stuff:
-tetryon dual heavy cannon XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
- Dual Polaron bank beam XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
- Phaser quad cannons (Dmg x4) (got them from a Cstore ship)
- tetryon cannon X (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
- Dominion Polaron beam array X
I am fine with 4 slots weapons, but now with the aux cannons, the quad cannons and the need to have a torpedo front and back, I am having problems about what to put on the ship, and eventually, which weapon would fit my needs.
From what I understand, the cannons are the most powerful weapons, altho the 45 degree range force you to be pointing at the enemy ship all the time; the beams have the broadest range (except turrets, which are 360 degree), but lesser effective, so gotta pay a price when you put certain type of weapons on a ship, and this means compromise. Especially because with beams, you gotta stay on your flank, circling around the enemy to get the most out of the 270 degree range.
Now the questions that I have are these:
1) If I use Tetryon, is that more effective on the shields, but is less effective once their shield drop to 0, compared to plasma and phasers? I can't tell if the tetryon has the same base damage but drops the shield faster, compared to a plasma or a phaser.
2) If I use pets, what kind of weapons should they have? At the moment I have the Scorpion fighters, that I've got from the 1st level of Romulan rep, so I guess is either that or the fed pets with standard phaser weapons (can't equip any other pet, AFAICT, since when I try to buy them I get a message saying that I need either a Romulan, Tholian or Jem Hadar ship ).
3) What would work best against borg, but be also effective against other ships?
4) are the borg weapons that I have, the top of the line, or there is something more powerful (in which case, how do I get them? Rep?)
It seems stupid that just one slot less is causing me problems, but with 8 slots is much easier to mix and match weapons, while with just 6 it is hard to strike a good balance.
Thanks!
This is the problem: I have purchased time ago, borg weapons (when we had no rep, at that time you trade the borg marks for MACO or other anti borg weaponry), so I still have these weapons, but I am not sure that they are still good.
I've got a Vesta Explorer (the one with the quantum field focus controller, that fire the super beam using aux power), and sadly it has only 3 slots front and back, so I am trying to find a setup for this ship, that may work for me. I would appreciate your suggestions.
BTW I don't do PVP, I just need something good to do PVE (solo and in team, like the ones for marks)
So far, the weapons: I have these weapons available for the 6 slots:
-dual heavy cannons that uses aux power (came with the Vesta)
-dual tetryon bank beam XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
-Retrofit Phaser bank (the ones that scale with your level, from the TOS Connie)
-Polaron Beam Array XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
-Rapid reload Transphasic torpedo XI
-Chronitron flux torpedo XI
And in the bank I have more stuff:
-tetryon dual heavy cannon XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
- Dual Polaron bank beam XI (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
- Phaser quad cannons (Dmg x4) (got them from a Cstore ship)
- tetryon cannon X (Acc, CrtH, Borg)
- Dominion Polaron beam array X
I am fine with 4 slots weapons, but now with the aux cannons, the quad cannons and the need to have a torpedo front and back, I am having problems about what to put on the ship, and eventually, which weapon would fit my needs.
From what I understand, the cannons are the most powerful weapons, altho the 45 degree range force you to be pointing at the enemy ship all the time; the beams have the broadest range (except turrets, which are 360 degree), but lesser effective, so gotta pay a price when you put certain type of weapons on a ship, and this means compromise. Especially because with beams, you gotta stay on your flank, circling around the enemy to get the most out of the 270 degree range.
Now the questions that I have are these:
1) If I use Tetryon, is that more effective on the shields, but is less effective once their shield drop to 0, compared to plasma and phasers? I can't tell if the tetryon has the same base damage but drops the shield faster, compared to a plasma or a phaser.
2) If I use pets, what kind of weapons should they have? At the moment I have the Scorpion fighters, that I've got from the 1st level of Romulan rep, so I guess is either that or the fed pets with standard phaser weapons (can't equip any other pet, AFAICT, since when I try to buy them I get a message saying that I need either a Romulan, Tholian or Jem Hadar ship ).
3) What would work best against borg, but be also effective against other ships?
4) are the borg weapons that I have, the top of the line, or there is something more powerful (in which case, how do I get them? Rep?)
It seems stupid that just one slot less is causing me problems, but with 8 slots is much easier to mix and match weapons, while with just 6 it is hard to strike a good balance.
Thanks!
Post edited by darshie101 on
0
Comments
Three aux cannons up front ( you can drop and pick up your ship numerous times to get three)
Two turrets and a cutting beam
You can get more eps out of other cannons in weapon power, it you give up aux power.
It is my experience that you can make up the difference using science abilities to make up the dps.
My current power levels are
93 weapons
62 shields and I run eptsxx2
63 engines
125 aux
I also run full Borg set for the tractor beam. And a aux to weapons warps core.
I would use elite scorpion fighters or Yellowstone runabouts.
I would never run tetryon against the Borg. Their shields come down to easy and then you loose the proc. disrupters, plasma, or phaser is the only way to go.
IMO science ships are not there for dps, they can do it, but they are support for the team
So the tetryon is basically only to lower the shields; then it is useless once they are down?
For the Borg I have the anti-borg weapons, but it gives 1000 radiation damage only in 7.4% of the cases...I rarely see it, I guess is not worth at all.
2. If you use the Vesta, you need to buy the entire pack to get full use of the ship. The consoles and resulting bonuses are well worth obtaining. Otherwise you might as well just go with the Fleet Voyager.
3. The Vesta comes with DHC that entirely feeds off auxiliary power instead of weapons. If you choose to employ a full load of these, you can utilize full power to auxiliary, which will amplify the abilities of all the Vesta's consoles, as well as amplifying the set bonuses. This boosts not only the damage output of the DHC, but also the overall tanking ability of the ship. So this far more than justifies forcing you into a Phaser build.
4. The most effective load is full Aux DHC in front, and full turrets [Acc] [Dmg] in the rear. And ALL PHASERS. For the turrets, your best choice of action for will be to not even bother with any of the Advanced Fleet versions. You should ask around and find a fleet that has unlocked Elite Fleet Phasers, and ask if they will be so kind as to allow you access to their store. Of course, said fleet will need to have T5 Engineering completed.
5. For added fun, you could also employ the Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedo. If you commission two very rare quality Projectile Weapon duty officers, you can get to where the Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedo can fire almost continuously without a cooldown timer. This impressive weapon is even more fun if you use Torpedo Spread. Fortunately, the Jem'Hadar Tactical Bridge Officer (obtained from the ?Facility 4028? mission) possesses Torpedo Spread 3, so he is a must-have for players who use this weapon.
6. Of course, if you use that torpedo, you should also get the Zero-Point Energy Conduit. The 2-part bonus will boost the damage output of the torpedo. On a side note, this console also increases your subsystem power levels and adds power insulation.
TL;DR version
1. Buy the other 2 Vestas. Equip all 3 consoles.
2. Go with all Phasers. Use a full load of Vesta's own Aux DHC in fore, and Elite Fleet Phaser Turrets [Acc] [DMG] in aft.
3. You could also experiment with the Rommy Torp Spammer, Zero-Point console, and 2 very rare Projectile Weapon doffs. Use Torp Spread with the Jemmy doff, and the Projectile Weapon Borg doff from Omega reputation to make the cooldown go away.
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.
Sadly the emergency power to engines buff, which is otherwise fantastic, has horribly hurt the one realy usefull contribution science ships could make to PVE encounters. Bunching enemies up in big balls of warp-core breaching death just dosnt work as well as it used to.
So hear is one of the best PVE Vesta build we have now, that tries to keep using it as a science ship. Your going to need (besides full power to auxiliary, minimum power to weapons):
The boff abilities to use are thus:
Lt. Tac: Tactical Team, Cannon Rapid Fire 1.
Lt. Eng: Emergency power to shields 1, Auxilery power to structual integrity field 1.
Cmd. Sci: Polarize hull 1, Hazard emitters 2, Tachyon beam 3, energy syphon 3
Lt. Cmd. Sci: Tractor beam 1, Transfer shield strength 2, Tachyon beam 3
En. Sci: Tractor beam 1.
The Tractor beam duty officer will add shield drain to the tractor beams from your mines and from pets as well as your own.
The flow capacitor consoles will increase the shield drain from your tractor beams and tachyon beams as well as that from your pets.
The regular mines offer a way to take advantage of the immobilized and shield less enemies without requiring any weapons power.
The single turret gives you 360 Degrees of firing arc to shoot down mines and torpedoes.
The Adapted Maco Set gives a bonus that this build waists (torpedo damage) but the deflector provides bonuses to all 4 of the science skills your tractor beams and tachyon beams benefit from and the shield capacity is greatly amplified by the high shield modifier that the vesta possesses.
Finally the 5 defensive abilities, give you the two must have fixes (tractor beam negation and plasma fire removal) as well as enough tanking power to stay up close and personal with elite cubes where your mines can deploy on them.
So that's the best PVE build for a Vesta that uses it as the science ship that it was intended to be. Now PvP is a different story, and if you want there are better builds to squeeze more conventional damage out of the ship.
BUT if you want conventional damage why aren't you in an escort like the MVAE or the TE-R? They will do a better job. Or if you prefer to do conventional damage in something larger the AC-R will do a fantastic job with a good aux-to-bat build, certainly better then the vesta can.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=coolvesta2_0
I use Max aux and 50 engines and do fine for the most part as a support that actually does okay damage. Probably not the most optimized though.
1) Tets do no more or less damage to Hull than anything else but they can proc additional shield killing damage. So they strip shields faster than other weapons (a little). However, Plasma is better and Phasers work with your main deflector dish beam weapon and therefore are the best choice here.
2) Elite Scorpions are probably your best bet. That or Yellowstone/Advanced Runabouts.
4) Better Phasers can be gotten via Fleets.
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji8YaKEscBg
The Aux cannons seem to be really good, with a couple of CRFs, and the QFFP will do a LOT of damage to unshielded cubes and transformers.
Regarding Tetryon and all other energy weapons... Except for their particular procs, thay are all equal at damaging the hull of the target. People prefer others because their procs affect the ship itself not just the shields.
Disruptors and Plasma have procs that add to the raw damage that the beam will make with DoT damage.
Otherwise, use whatever color you want.
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
Elite scorpions are very good, but don't forget pets benefit from your tactical consoles. I have had better results from advanced peraguins on the vesta for this reason.
1. Yellowstone Runabouts are not at all very good for damage. They are purely for enemy control, and are extremely helpful against those pesky Nanite Spheres (who do everything they can to outrun you). They are equipped with tractor beams and Tetryon Warp Plasma, so they will slow down those Nanite Spheres at least long enough for you to weaken them considerably.
2. Elite Delta Flyers are only somewhat useful for extra damaging power, owing mainly to their Transphasic Torpedoes. They do have Tachyon Beam III, which is useful for negating shields. This is welcome when facing off against a Tactical Cube.
3. If you want something with sheer damage, the Elite Scorpions are excellent. Well worth obtaining. Being so heavily armed, these are good against just about anything Borg throw at you, including the Tactical Cubes. Basically being flying cannons, these are the best fighters for attacking the Gateways.
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.
All in all, they are virtually nothing more than tractor mines that also have the ability to fire back.
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.
Not last I checked they do not. Also Advanced Peregrines are worse than Standard Peregrines due to having a Quantum Torpedo which delivers significantly less DPS than the Photon Torp of the other considering no Torp skills are utilized and they have a hard time keeping their nose on target for their cannons.
Elite Scorps seem to have an usually good time of keeping nose on target (not sure why they have better pilots but they seem to) and their Plasma Torp + High Yield is awesome.
Deltas sadly are actually horrible. Transphasic Torps are still the worst torpedoes in the game. They have far too little punch and far too long of a cooldown. At least the Quantums hit hard on those rare occasions they hit. You get more hull damage from Plasma DoT's from Scorps than you could EVER get from a pathetic Transphasic Torp. The illogic of Deltas is compounded by them supposedly being a shield stripper that then uses Transphasics. :rolleyes: Furthermore, their Tachyon Beam would be nice if it did not require that they keep their nose on targets and if all of YOUR Tachyon Beams (even from them) had not been nerfed into FUBAR territory. So not only do they deal only a tiny bit of shield damage when they even hit the target but because they frequently aim their nose away from the target they do not even get to fire off the full beam making them utterly worthless.
Elite Scorps will strip down shields far faster than Elite Deltas and you do not need a massive end tier Fleet to get them or provisions making them a clear victor.
Just because someone complained about Tachyon Beam III taking off their shields, the Elite Delta Fliers are not as effective against a Cube as they once were. And that is only a standard Cube. If you face off against a Tactical Cube, the Elite Delta Fliers are virtually useless against their shields.
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.
There is nothing bad in having some weapons that are more effective; just avoid to put them in PVP and everybody is happy. In the same way that you have setup for your energy levels, they could add a setup to save your PVE and PVP build.
I never do PVP, had I have to basically change and find new ways to be effective in PVE, just because something works better than something else in PVP, like Lindaleff said.
That's what I thought with Aux cannons, but I've noticed that when my Weapon power gets shutdown, the Aux cannons go down as well! Their powerful and I like them, but I don't understand why they stop working when only my Weapons power goes offline, not Auxiliary.
On a side note, the other fleetmate who exclusively uses a Vesta does not use energy weapons at all. He uses a full kinetic build, mines and torpedoes, all Plasma. I never thought such a build could be at all effective, but he actually is quite deadly! He has nothing in weapons power, and instead placed all of it into full power in Auxiliary, and has come up with a build that is both devastating in a fight, and quite tanky as well.
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.
You are evil....Now I want a build like that to try it out
BTW is there a way to play on tribble with various setups? I've noticed that once you copy your toon there, and use the money, there is no way to reset them
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.