So to prep for Season 8 I decided to take a crack at a Torpedo Boat once more, and leveled up my science character to Vice Admiral to do it. I have to say I am pretty happy with it.
Here is my build on STO Academy:
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=neijing_0
The doff setup is 3 purple torpedo cooldown, 1 purple gravimetric scientist (gravity well variant), and 1 purple deflector officer (deflector skill cooldown variant).
I'm using the Obelisk warp core (not on the planner site yet) and plan to switch to shield refrequencers when season 8 hits for some of my science consoles at least.
I have never played a Science captain (or ship) at Vice Admiral before, so if you have any suggestions to improve the build I'd like to hear them. So far in facing the Voth it has been relatively easy to destroy them, but they have surprised me with their ability to cut down my shields and hull with relative ease despite building to be rather hardy, so that is one weak point I'd like to work on.
Comments
Science is my favorite class, I'd be happy to offer you a few suggestions.
I'm using this build at the moment on one of my characters: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=tarendalv13_0
It will be a bit dated, for example I didn't have web mines at the time of making the build. I also use Gravity Well + Tykens Rift now that Gravity Well is fixed. However, the core of the build still stands.
Once Season 8 hits, I plan to pick up the Gravimetric Photon Torpedo to go along with my Romulan Hyper Plasma Torpedo. That will deal some nasty shield bypassing damage to targets caught in gravity well. Best of all, the torpedo is buffed by science consoles.
I hope that helps you in giving some ideas. If you have any questions I'd be happy to help.
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
I would also recommend swapping over to torp spreads. They will allow you to rip apart multiple targets at once and cannot miss.
Lastly, I would recommend replacing the shield with a meaty regeneration shield - it should be fairly easy to find a good one for cheap on the exchange. They synergize very well with Vesta kinetic builds that are naturally running high shield and aux power.
Any particular reason?
Cheers
- Scotty, to La Forge
@Major Tira Omega: I'll adjust my skill points accordingly and I wasn't sure the human leadership trait was still stacking, so I'll also look into that and I think I'll replace my field generator consoles with particle gen and shield refrequencers w/particle gen depending on how that goes on my tribble testing (just got the T1 store unlocked).
I plan on trying out a plasma build once I build up reputation systems, and also picking up the web mine. Have you every tried the bio-neural warhead? I didn't think it would have enough power and shield penetration to be viable in this build, but it sounds tempting.
@Szerontzur: I've had pretty good luck with my cluster torpedo so far, it has been quite effective at taking down a good 50%+ of their hull on the cruisers and regularly destroys the frigates. I'll try out torpedo spread, I can see that it would be more useful against them especially. I think I'll also replace my shield as the Breen energy siphon has been rather lack luster even as a science captain on a science ship, perhaps something with the resA modifier?
@Kublahkan: Its pretty new, so I haven't tested it and I've had little luck with subsystem targeting abilities in the past as non-science, is it effective at bringing down shields? I'd probably consider it despite the dps loss if it was decently reliable. My weapons power is set to 15 (aside from the efficiency bonus) so it would have little purpose other than just subsystem targeting for me.
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I have some other questions if someone doesn't mind to answer. Do your carrier pets get bonuses from ship equipment and captain skill points? (such as projectile damage and flow capacitors) I'm not very familiar with carrier pet mechanics, so I chose the delta flyers based on their sturdiness as well as transphasic and tachyon beam use as it seems to go with my build. Would there be a better choice than this? Also, do the shield repair units have a decent output?
Bio-neural Warhead is effectively a Tricobalt that trades splash damage for a 15km firing range and built in point defense turret(useful for clearing fighters, mines, and enemy heavy torps). Not much else to really say about it - pretty much on par with Tricobalts in terms of destructiveness and general application.
As for fighters, I suggest runabouts. Their tractor beams are invaluable(slowing ships means they have less defense value, which means everyone is going to do more damage to them - plus the tractor beams help keep things in gravity wells). They're also durable enough to survive most engagements in the Dyson Sphere. They can last a long time at full veterancy if you patch them up with recall mode between fights.
Torpedo spread isn't bad, but if you use the Romulan Hyper Plasma Torpedo it will reduce your overall damage. Tactical Team I is vital on almost any ship. If I had another ensign slot I'd use high yield. The Lt. slot I'd use Attack Pattern Beta I or Delta I. The added damage resistance applied to targets will make your overall damage from all of your abilities more effective.
At the moment, I personally prefer the Hyper-Refracting Dual Tetryon Beam Bank on my Fleet Nova. I've been experimenting with the 360 antiproton beam array on my Vesta. It's a fine weapon for sure, but in PvE I rarely have problems with facing my target. I have found it to be very effective in PvP.
The question about carrier pets is often asked throughout the forums. Due to the existence of damage variance and a lack of a damage tooltip, it's difficult to determine. Nobody has ever done a formal test to determine the exact extent of this yet. At the moment however, I'd just assume that skill points do not affect your fighters, as your points in structural integrity do not apply to your hangar items.
Yellowstone Runabouts, Elite Peregrine Fighters, Elite Delta Fliers, and Elite Scorpion Fighters would work very well in PvE. Shield repair drones are currently AI bugged, this is getting fixed with Season 8 however. The healing they provide when they actually work is rather nice.
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
2 Gw work very well with purple doff and cluster breen
so, my build
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=rauvilletorpedo2_0
[Obelisk Subspace Rift Warp Core] and
[Omni-Directional Antiproton Beam Array [Acc] [Dmg] [Arc]]
Tips: don't forget to bind dual siphon + dual gw + dual torp spread on spacebare
I hope it can help you
And sorry for grammar mistakes, I am French ^ ^
The thing is though, you are only getting an extra 15 second cooldown reduction off of gravity well. Running 2x Gravity Well is the same as running 1x Deflector Officer. If you want Gravity Well on global cooldown, you can always run Photonic Officer II in the Lt. Commander slot. That ability reduces all cooldowns for all bridge officer abilities. I personally don't use Energy Siphon when I'm using a build with particle generators, as energy siphon is a drain ability and relies on flow capacitors to boost it's effectiveness.
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
It's just a choice of gameplay and it works pretty well ^^
Siphon, it's more for def (+11 and +26 for weap/speed/shield) with a "hole" of 6 seconds
and with sub target, it makes the job.
Photonic Officer? to much cd for me.
My ship is now quite formidable. I've also replaced my engineering consoles with Subspace Integration Circuit and the new Spatial Charge Launchers and my carrier pets are now Shield Repair Drones. I don't seem to miss the hull resistance from the neutronium alloy in current PvE at least, and the combination of Gravity Well and Breen Cluster Torp and Spatial Charges nearly vaporizes a whole tower in the Dyson Sphere Contested Zone in one go.
The information has really been invaluable, thanks again.