...I didn't read every post - so I don't know if it has been said....but lately I've been considering the Romulan Prototype Engine. The flight speed and turnrate bonuses seem pretty solid - but the draw for me is the bonus to attack patterns seems good but I have not done any testing on it personally....
But as far as shields - I'm biased for the MACO because, correct me if I am wrong, the MACO reduces all energy damage by 10% (I can't remember)....plus I *think* the plasma resist on MACO is a little stronger than the Borg set.....but different strokes for different folks.....
You are incorrect. Shield regen consoles are useless, regen was nerfed big time. the leech with 6 points into flow cap will give him much more shield power and passive regen anyways along with bonus to ALL other power levels...its worth taking that useless regen console off and replacing it with the leech.
Do not post if you have no clue what you are talking about, k?
Though your tone is a bit 'adversarial' (as the wormhole entities would tell Sisko), you are not wrong. Leech is vastly superior. In my >200 flow caps drain-boat Vesta, I'm looking at (near) 100% power levels, all the time.
And at full power across the entire board, everything changes! Your shields regen at an incredible rate; weapons drain is no longer an issue; you have insane engine performance (the least of which is not turn-rate); and with aux at 100%, even HE1 feels like Miracle Worker.
IIRC the way passive shield regen works is you get a small amount of shield heal every 6 seconds, so its not really worth pursuing. Unless that changed
IIRC the way passive shield regen works is you get a small amount of shield heal every 6 seconds, so its not really worth pursuing. Unless that changed
Depends on how you set up your ship. I can push over 2k regen every facing every 6 seconds (which it actually tics every 3 at half the listed) but that is a build to make me giggle not to be taken seriously.
The regen console scales with your shield power boost to regen rates. Additionally I cannot think of a single ship of mine that doesn't run in excess of 100 shields to begin with not even counting warp cores.
If the tooltips worked a bit better I would encourage more people to actually do the math and then they may realize just how much passive shield regen they benefit from in say an average eSTF but oh well.
Though your tone is a bit 'adversarial' (as the wormhole entities would tell Sisko), you are not wrong. Leech is vastly superior. In my >200 flow caps drain-boat Vesta, I'm looking at (near) 100% power levels, all the time.
And at full power across the entire board, everything changes! Your shields regen at an incredible rate; weapons drain is no longer an issue; you have insane engine performance (the least of which is not turn-rate); and with aux at 100%, even HE1 feels like Miracle Worker.
I didnt add any points to flow cap and the leech is far better simply for the fact it adds power to everything and not just shields or shield regen. On a beam boat it is a must have console with the craptastic energy drain from weapons alone, more power to engines, shields, and aux is the icing on the cake. But I have 2 sci console slots and have a regen console in one so regen is even better.
OT, I went with the elite fleet shields resiliant B version and love it. Using the MK XI assimilated deflector and engines.
Join Date: Nobody cares.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
The MACO shield and leech are incompatible with each other. The Power Conduit Link that comes with the shield will override the power from Plasmodic leech, resulting in less of a power boost.
I'm glade you posted that! I've been using that combo on my KDF engineer and was wondering why it wasn't showing much of a power boost. Know I know why.
For most PVE encounters, either MACO or Elite Fleet Shields are fine.
For combat situations with large amounts of incoming weapon fire (e.g., SB24), Elite Resilient Fleet Shields will serve you better because they can stack up to 20% total energy resistance (or +35% if using group-A/B shields). MACO only gets a flat 10% base energy resistance except for plasma, where it receives +25% total resists. As a result, MACO is ideal when running Elite STF's, but ultimately Elite Fleet shields can stack much higher total resists in sustained combat.
It actually gets 30% plasma resistance, as that 10% all energy damage resistance includes Plasma on top of the already innate 20% plasma damage resistance.
Alright OP, it is a good question. But like it was stated earlier in this thread, the two are equivalent as far as PvE goes. But for PvP you want the Elite Fleet Shields.
But I agree that it seems you're more interested in what kind of deflector and engine to go with, so I will put my 2 ECs in on that as well.
You wanted to know why so many people recommend the Assimilated 2 piece bonus? Because that hull proc is very very powerful. With the mk XI 2 piece set, you can easily hit 1700 hull per tic. That's quite a lot. As for the engine? Other than giving you a nice transwarp in sector space, it also gives you turn rate and speed equivalent to the other engines. But the most overlooked part: it adds +5 to the subsystem. +5 engine power equates to a faster turn and speed. It also helps combat drains.
Now comparing deflectors, the MACO vs the Assimilated one? Yeah, you get a little more SIF, but you lose out on EM and STL. But that doesn't really matter as much, since if you have EPtS1 and TSS1 or 2, you're set. I've run both MACO and Borg sets, and I find the two even each other out with their weaknesses and strengths. But the full Assimilated set is basically god at surviving ESTFs (with both procs and the passive stats, it's very VERY powerful), and the full MACO set is decent at survival, but not quite as good as the Borg one. But that's just in my experience.
Hope this helps.
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once.
-The Borg-Set has a regenerative shield and amazing healing bonuses, it also gives you the assimilated tractor beam. It's the first choice, if you've got only a little Hazard Emitter to get rid of Plasma-Fires. Each part of the set gives you also some Bonus-Power (Deflector +5 to Aux, Engines +5 to Engines and Shields +5 to Shields).
The Borg-Engine is also the fastest Engine in Sector-Space.
I'm afraid I have to disagree with this. I've used the Borg set for a long time on my KDF toon, and experimentally/as a stopgap on my Fed toons. My experience is that the Borg engines and deflector are great, but the shield is a pretty poor one. When used as part of the full three-piece set, the shield struggles to keep up, relying on the shield regen proc to save it, and performing less favorably than another shield (e.g. MACO) combined with the deflector/engine. Without the three-piece shield regen bonus, the Borg shield just plain doesn't stack up against other end-game shields. The 3-piece tractor beam ability also isn't all that great, either, with a prohibitively long cooldown time.
Ive found the 3-piece Assimilated set and 3-piece Omega weapons set working in tandom makes for an extremely powerful defensive build on a battlecruiser such as the Fleet Tor'kaht.
Ive found the 3-piece Assimilated set and 3-piece Omega weapons set working in tandom makes for an extremely powerful defensive build on a battlecruiser such as the Fleet Tor'kaht.
Sorry, but "you are doing it wrong":
I can understand your thread "Improving Beam Arrays and Cruisers" now. You are using a torpedo in front, since you want to shoot it, you don't use the broadside of a beam-cruiser. And let me guess, you use a lot of torpedo-abilities, so you don't have room for Fire at Will...
I'm afraid I have to disagree with this. I've used the Borg set for a long time on my KDF toon, and experimentally/as a stopgap on my Fed toons. My experience is that the Borg engines and deflector are great, but the shield is a pretty poor one. When used as part of the full three-piece set, the shield struggles to keep up, relying on the shield regen proc to save it, and performing less favorably than another shield (e.g. MACO) combined with the deflector/engine. Without the three-piece shield regen bonus, the Borg shield just plain doesn't stack up against other end-game shields. The 3-piece tractor beam ability also isn't all that great, either, with a prohibitively long cooldown time.
Just my thoughts.
Well, if you get a lot of burst-damage, then the Borg-Shield doesn't have the capacity to protect you. But it's a regenerative shield, so it will be the best choice, if you get small amounts of damage the whole time - this usually doesn't happen so often in STFs.
If you want protection against burst-damage, then you would go for a covariant shield with high capacity. Those lack the regeneration to protect you from sustained incoming damage, so you need abilities to regenerate them.
That said, as far as boff abilities are concerned:
My shields right now, are very rare Resil mkxi cap/dis/pla, and I have little difficulty in keeping them up, usually. I run EPtSx2 on a cycle to I have nearly 100% up time on the damage mitigation, and a nice little regen every 30 seconds. My hull, comparitively, is much weaker, and when I tried a covariant shield I found myself looking to hit hazard emitters more often than it was off cooldown. My sci abilities are Polarize hull I, Hazard emitters II, and gravity well.
He is using 2 copies of Emergency-Power to Shields to keep the shields up. But looking at his ship (MVAE) he should be able to deal some damage, too. (The faster your enemies die, the less incoming damage you will get.)
So changing his Lieutenant Engineering a little, would help him and his team. I'd suggest to give him the abilities EP2S 1 and EP2W 2. Use EP2W shortly before you attack something to get a 13.3% all energy damage boost for 30 seconds, after 15 seconds (global cooldown) you can use EP2S to recharge your shields and get your resistances.
Now you can't use an Aux2Bat-Setup on an MVAE (or the fleet-version), but you can use Damage Control Engineers. Every purple Damage Control Engineer gives you a 35% chance to reduce the recharge time on EP2X-abilities by 30%, using multiple increases the proc-chance (otherwise you would be able to run the same copy of EP2S or EP2W twice at the same time).
I'll take 2 purple in this example: When you hit EP2W, there's a 70% chance to reduce the cooldown, so 30% to not decrease the cooldown.
When you hit EP2S, there's again a 70% chance to reduce the cooldown, so 30% to not decrease the cooldown.
You just need that proc once in the cycle to keep both abilities up the whole time, I'll take a look at the chances now:
You are using your 70% chance twice, so the chance to not get the cooldown-reduction is 0.3^2=0.09, so 9% chance to break that cycle in one rotation.
You could use a third Damage Control Engineer to make the Proc a 100%-Chance. You could also use a Warpcore-Engineer (limit =1) to have the chance to increase all powerlevels for a short time.
13.3% more energy-damage is allready a nice bonus, but you can get even more, if you are an Engineer. You need the trait "EPS-Manifold Efficency" to get a small powerboost to all subsystems on the use of any Emergency-Power-ability (works on use of batteries, too). This small boost lasts 10 seconds, except you've got points in the Battery-System Skill, since we can use an EP2X-ability every 15 seconds, an extension to 15 seconds would be nice.
You just need the Skill-Level of 54 to extend the duration to 15.4 seconds. Now you would get a powerbonus to Auxilary, that Tier 4 Nukara-Reputation converts to more damage or more resistance, and to your other systems.
This is just one example how you could get more out of your setup, without loosing too much on the other hand.
Now back to the shields: There's one thing every shield suffers from, if it drops, all incoming damage will hit your hull.
So, my priority would be "a little shields" all the time. With all the energy from EP2S, a regenerative shield would heal for a lot of hitpoints every 6 seconds, while a covariant shield gets one heal every 30 seconds and the damage-resistance from EP2S and the Powersetting (0.28% shield-damage-resistance per 1 point energy-setting, capped at 35% damage resistance == 125 powersetting, without any resistance from the shield itself).
A resilient shield has got lower capacity then the covariant-type and less regeneration then the regenerative type, so both aspects of EP2S won't be so good for you. To keep it up, you would need to heal it over time (Transfer Shield Strength, Rotate Shield Frequencies), but especially TSS works better on high Aux-Power, that you usually don't have on an Escort.
Ok red01999, I hope you found a few reasons for regenerative shields in this wall of text.
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If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
The Adapted MACO holds up better against one-off spike damage, but it degrades more quickly under sustained fire from multiple targets.
Frankly, I carry both with me and switch them out as necessary...
RCK
Ok, that's your setup... But on which ship do you use it and with which abilities?
If you are using Reverse Shield Polarity with a covariant shield, you would have a lot more shield-hitpoints (when the ability ends) then you would have with a resilient or regenerative type.
Such threads can't be answered in general (for all shiptypes and all ability-combinations out there) in just a few lines (look at my previous post).
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If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
If you're having to fend off irregular large damage spikes from different weapon types, the MACO shield is the way to go. If fending off sustained damage, the elite fleet shields are best.
Now you can't use an Aux2Bat-Setup on an MVAE (or the fleet-version), but you can use Damage Control Engineers. Every purple Damage Control Engineer gives you a 35% chance to reduce the recharge time on EP2X-abilities by 30%, using multiple increases the proc-chance (otherwise you would be able to run the same copy of EP2S or EP2W twice at the same time).
I'll take 2 purple in this example: When you hit EP2W, there's a 70% chance to reduce the cooldown, so 30% to not decrease the cooldown.
When you hit EP2S, there's again a 70% chance to reduce the cooldown, so 30% to not decrease the cooldown.
You just need that proc once in the cycle to keep both abilities up the whole time, I'll take a look at the chances now:
You are using your 70% chance twice, so the chance to not get the cooldown-reduction is 0.3^2=0.09, so 9% chance to break that cycle in one rotation.
You could use a third Damage Control Engineer to make the Proc a 100%-Chance. You could also use a Warpcore-Engineer (limit =1) to have the chance to increase all powerlevels for a short time.
Majority of your post is good, except for this one part. The DCEs do not stack. They simply apply the number roll more than once. For example, say you hit EPtS1 and you have 3 purple DCEs. You will get 3 rolls of 35% for the CD reduction. But you will get 3 consecutive NON STACKING rolls. IE, it will roll .35/1, then .35/1, then .35/1. It won't roll .35/1, then .35/.65, then .35/.3.
But other than that, everything else you posted is more or less solid.
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once.
Majority of your post is good, except for this one part. The DCEs do not stack. They simply apply the number roll more than once. For example, say you hit EPtS1 and you have 3 purple DCEs. You will get 3 rolls of 35% for the CD reduction. But you will get 3 consecutive NON STACKING rolls. IE, it will roll .35/1, then .35/1, then .35/1. It won't roll .35/1, then .35/.65, then .35/.3.
But other than that, everything else you posted is more or less solid.
Well, I hope we don't have a missunderstanding here: Damage Control Engineers (purple) have a chance to reduce the EP2X-Cooldown by about 15 seconds (the exact value would be by 30%) each, the global cooldown on EP2X is 15 seconds and the duplicate ability cooldown is 30 seconds. Now you can't reduce the cooldown to less then the global or duplicate cooldown.
I think you apply the math of the Energy-Weapons Officer (purple: 50% chance to reduce cooldown on cannon special attacks) here. Those have a chance to reduce the cooldown by 10 seconds (normal cooldown 30 seconds, duplicate-/global-cooldown 15 seconds).
If you are using 2 purple of those Doffs, you've got a 25% chance that both proc (0.5^2=0.25 - CD 15 seconds), a 25% chance that you don't proc (0.25^2=0.25 - CD 30 seconds) and 50% chance that one procs (1-(0.25+0.25)=0.5 - CD is 20 seconds).
Since 2 purple Damage Control Engineers would reduce the cooldown below the duplicate abilitiy cooldown (if both proc), they can't stack the same way, they have to add chances (so 35% chance for 1 purple, 70% chance for 2 purple, 105% chance for 3 purple, but you can't get more then a 100% chance).
The rest of the math I've done in that post, is the calculating the possibilities: When you hit EP2X, you've got 70% chance to get the CD-reduction, 30% chance to not get it.
Since I'm just interested in the chance that you don't get a proc in one use of the cycle, I look at those 30%:
In 30% of the possible cases, you've got again a 70% chance to get the proc and 30% to not get it, so 0.3*0.3=0.09 = 9% is the chance to not get any proc and using 2 EP2X-abilities with 2 purple Damage Control Engineers gives you a chance of 91% to get the proc at least once in that cycle.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
I'm going to toss in a new opinion to this thread:
I've been playing with 2-piece Aegis and Elite Fleet shields, recently, and like that a lot, because the +10% Def was much more noticeable than some of the other boni (and using it with the Leech, I don't miss the Maco proc either).
It started as a cheap temporary thing for a character that didn't have any rep or pre-rep STF sets, but it turned out to be pretty nice for staying power. Particularly like it on my own MVAE/FAE, coupled with some ShldH and HullH embassy consoles it makes it a very effective ship for hanging in there and slugging it out.
I was surprised, but will probably stick with it on some characters.
Only joking, the aegis set isn't as terrible as people make it out to be, the defence bonus really does help as it's essentially taking 10% off the damage dealt to you as more shots miss you (provided you stay moving).
Well, I hope we don't have a missunderstanding here: Damage Control Engineers (purple) have a chance to reduce the EP2X-Cooldown by about 15 seconds (the exact value would be by 30%) each, the global cooldown on EP2X is 15 seconds and the duplicate ability cooldown is 30 seconds. Now you can't reduce the cooldown to less then the global or duplicate cooldown.
I think you apply the math of the Energy-Weapons Officer (purple: 50% chance to reduce cooldown on cannon special attacks) here. Those have a chance to reduce the cooldown by 10 seconds (normal cooldown 30 seconds, duplicate-/global-cooldown 15 seconds).
If you are using 2 purple of those Doffs, you've got a 25% chance that both proc (0.5^2=0.25 - CD 15 seconds), a 25% chance that you don't proc (0.25^2=0.25 - CD 30 seconds) and 50% chance that one procs (1-(0.25+0.25)=0.5 - CD is 20 seconds).
Since 2 purple Damage Control Engineers would reduce the cooldown below the duplicate abilitiy cooldown (if both proc), they can't stack the same way, they have to add chances (so 35% chance for 1 purple, 70% chance for 2 purple, 105% chance for 3 purple, but you can't get more then a 100% chance).
The rest of the math I've done in that post, is the calculating the possibilities: When you hit EP2X, you've got 70% chance to get the CD-reduction, 30% chance to not get it.
Since I'm just interested in the chance that you don't get a proc in one use of the cycle, I look at those 30%:
In 30% of the possible cases, you've got again a 70% chance to get the proc and 30% to not get it, so 0.3*0.3=0.09 = 9% is the chance to not get any proc and using 2 EP2X-abilities with 2 purple Damage Control Engineers gives you a chance of 91% to get the proc at least once in that cycle.
You're still slightly off. Everytime you hit an EPtX ability, you will trigger a global 15 second CD on all EPtX abilities, and a 30 second cd on all of the same Xs. The ability itself has a 45 second cd but a 30 second duration.
The only thing that DCEs affect are any currently active EPtX cds (IE if you hit EPtS1, the DCEs will attempt to activate, and if they fail and you hit another EPtX ability 15 seconds later after the global cd is off, they will attempt to reduce the cd on the EPtX you just hit in addition to the EPtS1 you already have going). However, they cannot reduce the cd of any currently active EPtX ability below any existing duplicate durations.
Example:
You hit EPtS1, which then gives you a 30 second duration of EPtS (rank doesn't matter), and all other EPtS abilities you have go on a 30 second cd, except the one you just activated which will go on a 45 second cd, after which the DCEs will attempt to reduce it by 30%. Regardless of whether or not they fail, all other NON-EPtS EPtX abilities will go on a 15 second cd.
Then say you hit an EPtW3. All other EPtW abilities will go on a 30 second cd, and the EPtW3 will go on a 45 cd after which the DCEs will attempt to reduce it by 30%. ALSO if your EPtS didn't get the 30% reduction, the DCEs will attempt to apply it now.
Regardless of HOW they work, they do not stack. They are each applied in sequence, and the number roll is reset after each one attempts to activate. The only stacking that can occur is if one of them successfully activates. Any remaining DCEs will then attempt further reduction on the already reduced cd, but they will cap at the 30 second global cd. But the number of DCEs does not actually affect the chances if you look at it purely by numbers. It merely means you are getting that many chances to get the cd reduction. Each DCE does not increase the chance of any previous or consecutive activation.
That make sense?
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once.
Every DCE gives you a shot at rolling a die, every time you hit an EPtX.
Every time you roll you can get the -30% cooldown applied to all EPtX abilities.
Let's say the proc hits at 5 and 6.
Every time you hit EPtX with 3 DCE's you roll 3 dice. You can hit 2 EPtX's every cooldown round, if you cycle 2 EPtX's. That gives you 6 shots at -30% per cooldown round (45 secs).
You can roll 1-4 every time for 186 times in a row, as the probability distribution remains 1/3 vs 2/3 for every single roll - it's just unlikely. Instead, you generally hit at least one and often 2 procs per cooldown cycle, unless you're really unlucky.
In my experience, the only time you don't hit that proc, really, is when you really need it, but that's just because of the way random odds work in this universe :P
I never said that you could reduce a cooldown on any EP2X-ability below the 15 seconds global cooldown or below the 30 seconds duplicate ability cooldown.
We just disagree on the point, how multiple Damage Control Engineers might stack: I say, they would increase the chance (simply the sum of the chances), you say they would not simply sum up.
Let's take the example with the dice, twam brought up - but I roll it only once for you:
- The first Damage Control Engineer procs on 1 and 2.
- If I'm correct, the second Damage Control Engineer procs on 3 and 4.
- If you are correct, the second Damage Control Engineer procs on 2 and 3.
The chances of the Damage Control Engineers to proc are just slightly higher in the game, but you get an idea of what I'm talking about. Now let's roll the dice in the game:
- My way you roll the dice each time you hit an EP2X-ability, with 2 abilities and 2 Damage Control Engineers you get that 9% chance to break the cycle (as I told you before).
- Your way you roll the dice each time you hit an EP2X-ability, with 2 abilities and 2 Damages Control Engineers the chance to break the cycle would be 0.65^4, so round about 17.85%.
So, we only disagree in this point. If I wanted to proove that I'm correct, I should try it with 3 purple Damage Control Engineers (the 100% chance, if you look at my calculations), if it fails once to reduce the cooldown, then I'm wrong.
But the chance to not-proc would be reduced to 0.65^3, so about 27.5% chance (for each activation of an EP2X-ability) following your math.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
So, we only disagree in this point. If I wanted to proove that I'm correct, I should try it with 3 purple Damage Control Engineers (the 100% chance, if you look at my calculations), if it fails once to reduce the cooldown, then I'm wrong.
But the chance to not-proc would be reduced to 0.65^3, so about 27.5% chance (for each activation of an EP2X-ability) following your math.
The thing there being that I used to run with 3 purple DCEs and I have had my fair share of proc fails. But feel free to test it. As I said, the math portion on your end is more or less right, except for the one part with DCEs. And even then, it's really only off by concept, not by the numbers themselves.
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once.
If I wanted to proove that I'm correct, I should try it with 3 purple Damage Control Engineers (the 100% chance, if you look at my calculations), if it fails once to reduce the cooldown, then I'm wrong.
indeed very easy to test - i equipped 2 purple and one blue dce doff (2*35%+30%) and got 2 times not proccing out of 8 tries
There's a dev blog where they talk about that, but I can't be bothered to find it - it also confirmed your point: individual DOFFs are checked one at a time. (Which is good - they'd be OP otherwise.)
As for the shields, I personally own the following at Mk XII on my primary toon, and have played with all of them at various times:
* Full Adapted MACO (KHG)
* Full MACO
* Full Assimilated
* Elite Resilient Adaptive, ResB
After all that, I use 2 pc Assimilated + Elite Resilient + leech on my actual ship.
Some notes:
* 2 pc Assimilated is always the biggest chunk of my self-directed healing, and I'm an engineer.
* Elite Shields are fantastic if you want to hang in a firefight. I found them to be noticeably better than the MACO. Never once looked back.
* The bonus power offered by the leech, (and to a lesser extent), assimilated gear is a real help when using an [AMP] warp core, which I don't recall seeing brought up yet.
Comments
But as far as shields - I'm biased for the MACO because, correct me if I am wrong, the MACO reduces all energy damage by 10% (I can't remember)....plus I *think* the plasma resist on MACO is a little stronger than the Borg set.....but different strokes for different folks.....
Though your tone is a bit 'adversarial' (as the wormhole entities would tell Sisko), you are not wrong. Leech is vastly superior. In my >200 flow caps drain-boat Vesta, I'm looking at (near) 100% power levels, all the time.
And at full power across the entire board, everything changes! Your shields regen at an incredible rate; weapons drain is no longer an issue; you have insane engine performance (the least of which is not turn-rate); and with aux at 100%, even HE1 feels like Miracle Worker.
Depends on how you set up your ship. I can push over 2k regen every facing every 6 seconds (which it actually tics every 3 at half the listed) but that is a build to make me giggle not to be taken seriously.
The regen console scales with your shield power boost to regen rates. Additionally I cannot think of a single ship of mine that doesn't run in excess of 100 shields to begin with not even counting warp cores.
If the tooltips worked a bit better I would encourage more people to actually do the math and then they may realize just how much passive shield regen they benefit from in say an average eSTF but oh well.
Pretty much, yes.
Combine it with the Romulan shield absorption console and you won't need to bring any tanking powers to an ESTF other than tactical team.
To be honest the small skill bonuses like those given by a deflector are not worth much, unless you're really building around it.
Daizen - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
Selia - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
I didnt add any points to flow cap and the leech is far better simply for the fact it adds power to everything and not just shields or shield regen. On a beam boat it is a must have console with the craptastic energy drain from weapons alone, more power to engines, shields, and aux is the icing on the cake. But I have 2 sci console slots and have a regen console in one so regen is even better.
OT, I went with the elite fleet shields resiliant B version and love it. Using the MK XI assimilated deflector and engines.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
I'm glade you posted that! I've been using that combo on my KDF engineer and was wondering why it wasn't showing much of a power boost. Know I know why.
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It actually gets 30% plasma resistance, as that 10% all energy damage resistance includes Plasma on top of the already innate 20% plasma damage resistance.
But I agree that it seems you're more interested in what kind of deflector and engine to go with, so I will put my 2 ECs in on that as well.
You wanted to know why so many people recommend the Assimilated 2 piece bonus? Because that hull proc is very very powerful. With the mk XI 2 piece set, you can easily hit 1700 hull per tic. That's quite a lot. As for the engine? Other than giving you a nice transwarp in sector space, it also gives you turn rate and speed equivalent to the other engines. But the most overlooked part: it adds +5 to the subsystem. +5 engine power equates to a faster turn and speed. It also helps combat drains.
Now comparing deflectors, the MACO vs the Assimilated one? Yeah, you get a little more SIF, but you lose out on EM and STL. But that doesn't really matter as much, since if you have EPtS1 and TSS1 or 2, you're set. I've run both MACO and Borg sets, and I find the two even each other out with their weaknesses and strengths. But the full Assimilated set is basically god at surviving ESTFs (with both procs and the passive stats, it's very VERY powerful), and the full MACO set is decent at survival, but not quite as good as the Borg one. But that's just in my experience.
Hope this helps.
I'm afraid I have to disagree with this. I've used the Borg set for a long time on my KDF toon, and experimentally/as a stopgap on my Fed toons. My experience is that the Borg engines and deflector are great, but the shield is a pretty poor one. When used as part of the full three-piece set, the shield struggles to keep up, relying on the shield regen proc to save it, and performing less favorably than another shield (e.g. MACO) combined with the deflector/engine. Without the three-piece shield regen bonus, the Borg shield just plain doesn't stack up against other end-game shields. The 3-piece tractor beam ability also isn't all that great, either, with a prohibitively long cooldown time.
Just my thoughts.
Sorry, but "you are doing it wrong":
I can understand your thread "Improving Beam Arrays and Cruisers" now. You are using a torpedo in front, since you want to shoot it, you don't use the broadside of a beam-cruiser. And let me guess, you use a lot of torpedo-abilities, so you don't have room for Fire at Will...
Well, if you get a lot of burst-damage, then the Borg-Shield doesn't have the capacity to protect you. But it's a regenerative shield, so it will be the best choice, if you get small amounts of damage the whole time - this usually doesn't happen so often in STFs.
If you want protection against burst-damage, then you would go for a covariant shield with high capacity. Those lack the regeneration to protect you from sustained incoming damage, so you need abilities to regenerate them.
Now let us take a look at the Original-Poster:
He is using 2 copies of Emergency-Power to Shields to keep the shields up. But looking at his ship (MVAE) he should be able to deal some damage, too. (The faster your enemies die, the less incoming damage you will get.)
So changing his Lieutenant Engineering a little, would help him and his team. I'd suggest to give him the abilities EP2S 1 and EP2W 2. Use EP2W shortly before you attack something to get a 13.3% all energy damage boost for 30 seconds, after 15 seconds (global cooldown) you can use EP2S to recharge your shields and get your resistances.
Now you can't use an Aux2Bat-Setup on an MVAE (or the fleet-version), but you can use Damage Control Engineers. Every purple Damage Control Engineer gives you a 35% chance to reduce the recharge time on EP2X-abilities by 30%, using multiple increases the proc-chance (otherwise you would be able to run the same copy of EP2S or EP2W twice at the same time).
I'll take 2 purple in this example: When you hit EP2W, there's a 70% chance to reduce the cooldown, so 30% to not decrease the cooldown.
When you hit EP2S, there's again a 70% chance to reduce the cooldown, so 30% to not decrease the cooldown.
You just need that proc once in the cycle to keep both abilities up the whole time, I'll take a look at the chances now:
You are using your 70% chance twice, so the chance to not get the cooldown-reduction is 0.3^2=0.09, so 9% chance to break that cycle in one rotation.
You could use a third Damage Control Engineer to make the Proc a 100%-Chance. You could also use a Warpcore-Engineer (limit =1) to have the chance to increase all powerlevels for a short time.
13.3% more energy-damage is allready a nice bonus, but you can get even more, if you are an Engineer. You need the trait "EPS-Manifold Efficency" to get a small powerboost to all subsystems on the use of any Emergency-Power-ability (works on use of batteries, too). This small boost lasts 10 seconds, except you've got points in the Battery-System Skill, since we can use an EP2X-ability every 15 seconds, an extension to 15 seconds would be nice.
You just need the Skill-Level of 54 to extend the duration to 15.4 seconds. Now you would get a powerbonus to Auxilary, that Tier 4 Nukara-Reputation converts to more damage or more resistance, and to your other systems.
This is just one example how you could get more out of your setup, without loosing too much on the other hand.
Now back to the shields: There's one thing every shield suffers from, if it drops, all incoming damage will hit your hull.
So, my priority would be "a little shields" all the time. With all the energy from EP2S, a regenerative shield would heal for a lot of hitpoints every 6 seconds, while a covariant shield gets one heal every 30 seconds and the damage-resistance from EP2S and the Powersetting (0.28% shield-damage-resistance per 1 point energy-setting, capped at 35% damage resistance == 125 powersetting, without any resistance from the shield itself).
A resilient shield has got lower capacity then the covariant-type and less regeneration then the regenerative type, so both aspects of EP2S won't be so good for you. To keep it up, you would need to heal it over time (Transfer Shield Strength, Rotate Shield Frequencies), but especially TSS works better on high Aux-Power, that you usually don't have on an Escort.
Ok red01999, I hope you found a few reasons for regenerative shields in this wall of text.
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
Borg 2-piece eng/def plus...
1. Adapted MACO for PvE (ESTFs, mostly, and CE)
2. Fleet Elite Resilient Res-B for PvP
The Adapted MACO holds up better against one-off spike damage, but it degrades more quickly under sustained fire from multiple targets.
Frankly, I carry both with me and switch them out as necessary...
RCK
Ok, that's your setup... But on which ship do you use it and with which abilities?
If you are using Reverse Shield Polarity with a covariant shield, you would have a lot more shield-hitpoints (when the ability ends) then you would have with a resilient or regenerative type.
Such threads can't be answered in general (for all shiptypes and all ability-combinations out there) in just a few lines (look at my previous post).
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
If you're having to fend off irregular large damage spikes from different weapon types, the MACO shield is the way to go. If fending off sustained damage, the elite fleet shields are best.
Daizen - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
Selia - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
This has become a bit of a standard for me. Not sure when I'll change it over.
Majority of your post is good, except for this one part. The DCEs do not stack. They simply apply the number roll more than once. For example, say you hit EPtS1 and you have 3 purple DCEs. You will get 3 rolls of 35% for the CD reduction. But you will get 3 consecutive NON STACKING rolls. IE, it will roll .35/1, then .35/1, then .35/1. It won't roll .35/1, then .35/.65, then .35/.3.
But other than that, everything else you posted is more or less solid.
Well, I hope we don't have a missunderstanding here: Damage Control Engineers (purple) have a chance to reduce the EP2X-Cooldown by about 15 seconds (the exact value would be by 30%) each, the global cooldown on EP2X is 15 seconds and the duplicate ability cooldown is 30 seconds. Now you can't reduce the cooldown to less then the global or duplicate cooldown.
I think you apply the math of the Energy-Weapons Officer (purple: 50% chance to reduce cooldown on cannon special attacks) here. Those have a chance to reduce the cooldown by 10 seconds (normal cooldown 30 seconds, duplicate-/global-cooldown 15 seconds).
If you are using 2 purple of those Doffs, you've got a 25% chance that both proc (0.5^2=0.25 - CD 15 seconds), a 25% chance that you don't proc (0.25^2=0.25 - CD 30 seconds) and 50% chance that one procs (1-(0.25+0.25)=0.5 - CD is 20 seconds).
Since 2 purple Damage Control Engineers would reduce the cooldown below the duplicate abilitiy cooldown (if both proc), they can't stack the same way, they have to add chances (so 35% chance for 1 purple, 70% chance for 2 purple, 105% chance for 3 purple, but you can't get more then a 100% chance).
The rest of the math I've done in that post, is the calculating the possibilities: When you hit EP2X, you've got 70% chance to get the CD-reduction, 30% chance to not get it.
Since I'm just interested in the chance that you don't get a proc in one use of the cycle, I look at those 30%:
In 30% of the possible cases, you've got again a 70% chance to get the proc and 30% to not get it, so 0.3*0.3=0.09 = 9% is the chance to not get any proc and using 2 EP2X-abilities with 2 purple Damage Control Engineers gives you a chance of 91% to get the proc at least once in that cycle.
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
I've been playing with 2-piece Aegis and Elite Fleet shields, recently, and like that a lot, because the +10% Def was much more noticeable than some of the other boni (and using it with the Leech, I don't miss the Maco proc either).
It started as a cheap temporary thing for a character that didn't have any rep or pre-rep STF sets, but it turned out to be pretty nice for staying power. Particularly like it on my own MVAE/FAE, coupled with some ShldH and HullH embassy consoles it makes it a very effective ship for hanging in there and slugging it out.
I was surprised, but will probably stick with it on some characters.
*runs and hides from tossed objects and derision*
Only joking, the aegis set isn't as terrible as people make it out to be, the defence bonus really does help as it's essentially taking 10% off the damage dealt to you as more shots miss you (provided you stay moving).
It is through repetition that we learn our weakness.
A master with a stone is better than a novice with a sword.
Has damage got out of control?
This is the last thing I will post.
You're still slightly off. Everytime you hit an EPtX ability, you will trigger a global 15 second CD on all EPtX abilities, and a 30 second cd on all of the same Xs. The ability itself has a 45 second cd but a 30 second duration.
The only thing that DCEs affect are any currently active EPtX cds (IE if you hit EPtS1, the DCEs will attempt to activate, and if they fail and you hit another EPtX ability 15 seconds later after the global cd is off, they will attempt to reduce the cd on the EPtX you just hit in addition to the EPtS1 you already have going). However, they cannot reduce the cd of any currently active EPtX ability below any existing duplicate durations.
Example:
You hit EPtS1, which then gives you a 30 second duration of EPtS (rank doesn't matter), and all other EPtS abilities you have go on a 30 second cd, except the one you just activated which will go on a 45 second cd, after which the DCEs will attempt to reduce it by 30%. Regardless of whether or not they fail, all other NON-EPtS EPtX abilities will go on a 15 second cd.
Then say you hit an EPtW3. All other EPtW abilities will go on a 30 second cd, and the EPtW3 will go on a 45 cd after which the DCEs will attempt to reduce it by 30%. ALSO if your EPtS didn't get the 30% reduction, the DCEs will attempt to apply it now.
Regardless of HOW they work, they do not stack. They are each applied in sequence, and the number roll is reset after each one attempts to activate. The only stacking that can occur is if one of them successfully activates. Any remaining DCEs will then attempt further reduction on the already reduced cd, but they will cap at the 30 second global cd. But the number of DCEs does not actually affect the chances if you look at it purely by numbers. It merely means you are getting that many chances to get the cd reduction. Each DCE does not increase the chance of any previous or consecutive activation.
That make sense?
Every DCE gives you a shot at rolling a die, every time you hit an EPtX.
Every time you roll you can get the -30% cooldown applied to all EPtX abilities.
Let's say the proc hits at 5 and 6.
Every time you hit EPtX with 3 DCE's you roll 3 dice. You can hit 2 EPtX's every cooldown round, if you cycle 2 EPtX's. That gives you 6 shots at -30% per cooldown round (45 secs).
You can roll 1-4 every time for 186 times in a row, as the probability distribution remains 1/3 vs 2/3 for every single roll - it's just unlikely. Instead, you generally hit at least one and often 2 procs per cooldown cycle, unless you're really unlucky.
In my experience, the only time you don't hit that proc, really, is when you really need it, but that's just because of the way random odds work in this universe :P
Yes, it does make sense.
I never said that you could reduce a cooldown on any EP2X-ability below the 15 seconds global cooldown or below the 30 seconds duplicate ability cooldown.
We just disagree on the point, how multiple Damage Control Engineers might stack: I say, they would increase the chance (simply the sum of the chances), you say they would not simply sum up.
Let's take the example with the dice, twam brought up - but I roll it only once for you:
- The first Damage Control Engineer procs on 1 and 2.
- If I'm correct, the second Damage Control Engineer procs on 3 and 4.
- If you are correct, the second Damage Control Engineer procs on 2 and 3.
The chances of the Damage Control Engineers to proc are just slightly higher in the game, but you get an idea of what I'm talking about. Now let's roll the dice in the game:
- My way you roll the dice each time you hit an EP2X-ability, with 2 abilities and 2 Damage Control Engineers you get that 9% chance to break the cycle (as I told you before).
- Your way you roll the dice each time you hit an EP2X-ability, with 2 abilities and 2 Damages Control Engineers the chance to break the cycle would be 0.65^4, so round about 17.85%.
So, we only disagree in this point. If I wanted to proove that I'm correct, I should try it with 3 purple Damage Control Engineers (the 100% chance, if you look at my calculations), if it fails once to reduce the cooldown, then I'm wrong.
But the chance to not-proc would be reduced to 0.65^3, so about 27.5% chance (for each activation of an EP2X-ability) following your math.
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
The thing there being that I used to run with 3 purple DCEs and I have had my fair share of proc fails. But feel free to test it. As I said, the math portion on your end is more or less right, except for the one part with DCEs. And even then, it's really only off by concept, not by the numbers themselves.
I rest my case.
As for the shields, I personally own the following at Mk XII on my primary toon, and have played with all of them at various times:
* Full Adapted MACO (KHG)
* Full MACO
* Full Assimilated
* Elite Resilient Adaptive, ResB
After all that, I use 2 pc Assimilated + Elite Resilient + leech on my actual ship.
Some notes:
* 2 pc Assimilated is always the biggest chunk of my self-directed healing, and I'm an engineer.
* Elite Shields are fantastic if you want to hang in a firefight. I found them to be noticeably better than the MACO. Never once looked back.
* The bonus power offered by the leech, (and to a lesser extent), assimilated gear is a real help when using an [AMP] warp core, which I don't recall seeing brought up yet.