I would like a constructive opinion on my loadout. It works fairly well for me, but I am willing to try new things
Here is my current load on my Obelisk Carrier:
Fore:
Omni Directional Anti Proton Beam
Hargh-Peng Torpedo Mk XI
Nanite Disruptor Beam Array Mk XII [Acc] [CritD]x2
Rear Weapons:
Bio-Nueral Warhead
Phaser Beam Array Mk XI [Dmg]x2
Anti-Proton Beam Array Mk XI [CritH] [Acc] [Borg]
Deflector: MACO Graviton Deflector Mk XII
Shields: MACO Resilient Shield Array Mk XI
Engines: Assimilated Sub Trans Warp Engines
Warp Core: Obelisk Rift War Core
Tactical:
Warhead Yield Chambers Mk XI (Rare) x2
Engineering:
2x RCS Accelerators Mk XI (Rare)
Universal Isometric Charge
Electroceramic Hull Plating Mk XI (Rare)
Science:
Field Generator Mk XI (Rare)
Shield Emmiter Amplifier Mk XI (Rare)
Stealth Module Mk XII (Very Rare)
Hanger:
2x Obelisk Swarmers
Other:
Subspace Field Modulator
That is my set-up. I am willing to try out new, more effective ways. Point out flaws (If any) in my load out, but don't be rude about it. Should I use other ships? Different weaponry? Thanks!
Veteran of STO, had it for 5 years. Unfortunately, my Original account is gone.
Far too many warheads for something that turns so slowly. The time you spend maneuvering to put those launchers on target is time you could spend managing other things. Beam arrays or turrets are really your best bet. 4-5 Antiproton Beam Arrays (you can farm them from rerunning Sphere Of Influence), plus the Omni beam, plus maybe a Kinetic Cutting Beam, that's where I'd go. Also, you want all your energy weapons to be the same type (phaser, antiproton, whatever), so that when you use tactical consoles, it boosts all your weapons together.
Not sure if a typo or if your MACO pieces, one is Mk11 and one is Mk12. If they're mismatched, they don't give you a passive bonus, and so you might do better replacing the deflector with an Assimilated Mk11 for the two-piece Borg bonus. If its just a typo though, disregard me.
The Stealth Module is doing you zero good. Its possibly the most useless console in the game. Drop it, replace it with an Assimilated Module.
What is your bridge officer layout? That makes an even bigger difference than your gear.
Far too many warheads for something that turns so slowly. The time you spend maneuvering to put those launchers on target is time you could spend managing other things..
I don't find the turn rate bad. It's actually better thank I expected for being one of the largest ships in the game. I do have 2 RCS accelerators so it helps. But you are right.
I will put the Hargh Peng in the back, it's a heavy hitter. I can add a Photon in the front to deal damage to exposed hull. My swarmers can take out the shields rather quickly.
Veteran of STO, had it for 5 years. Unfortunately, my Original account is gone.
Not terrible but not great, I can see a few things you can tweak easily for an immediate improvement without dramatically changing how you fly your ship.
Tactical skills, get rid of both of them. Overload, isn't going to be amazing on this type of ship (it really needs a tactical ship that can exploit the hole it makes), and your pets can do it for you anyways. Torpedo High Yield does absolutely nothing to enhance the torpedoes you're using, and is a waste of a slot.
Instead, pick up Tactical Team 1 (TT1) to get rid of boarding parties and tactical debuffs, and the shield balancing bonus is incredibly useful when under heavy fire. Its probably the best ensign-level power in the game, though doesn't improve much at higher levels, so just use level 1. For your second tac slot, Attack Pattern Beta 1 (APB) or Delta 1 (APD) to debuff your target so your pets do more damage. Delta 1 also gives you a resistance buff, but only debuffs people shooting at you, so its a little harder to use. Beta 1 applies to anyone you're shooting at, and reduces their hull armor. Try them both, see which you like more. Alternately, use Fire At Will 2 (FAW) to simply blast multiple targets at once yourself.
Engineering, putting Emergency Power To Shields (EPTS) in there somewhere would probably be a helpful addition as well, probably in place of the Emergency Power To Engines. EPTS is nice because, in addition to a shield heal, it also gives you a flat reduction to all incoming damage. Plus with the right Duty Officers, you can have it active all the time, making you much harder to kill. Probably the second most useful power, behind Tactical Team.
With that extra shield hardening and tactical team, you could probably do away with one of the Reverse Shield Polarity (RSP) skills, needing the other only for emergencies. Since I'm guessing you liked the Emergency To Engines for the turning bonus, you could add Auxiliary To Dampeners as an RSP1 replacement, and for resisting holds in general. Alternately, Extend Shields will help you heal teammates and boost their damage resistance, and can be very handy.
Lastly, Photonic Shockwave (PSW), unless you're specced into it, just isn't that great a power (it used to be much stronger but got nerfed hard). Gravity Well (GW) is a great power at the same level though, bunching targets up for easier kills, bypassing shields, and swatting down small ships and torpedoes. Its a real swiss-army-knife of an ability. Alternately, you can use Transfer Shield Strength 3 (TSS), as an extremely powerful shield heal that also somewhat increases hardening, but getting TSS3 is very rare and usually pretty expensive. One of those two, depending on if you want to emphasize offense or defense, but probably not PSW.
So adjusting (and changing levels a little bit to get the best bonuses), you'd end up with
Cmdr Engineer
Engineering Team 1, Emergency To Shields 2, Reverse Shield Polarity 2, Aux To Structural 3
Lt Engineer
Emergency To Weapons 1, Aux To Dampeners 1
LtCmdr Science
Tractor Beam 1, Hazard Emitters 2, Gravity Well 1 or Transfer Shield Strength 3
Lt Universal (Science)
Science Team 1 (Great for getting rid of Voth debuffs)
Lt Tactical
Tactical Team 1, Attack Pattern Beta 1 or Delta 1
Its not a huge change in your layout or playstyle mostly, just trying to help fine-tune while still keeping your ship yours. Hope it helps.
Don't forget the Chroniton Dual Beam Array from the Temporal Warfare Set does anti-proton damage, and if you also use the Console - Tachyokinetic Converter (from the Temporal Warfare Set) for the increased turn rate you get the 2-set item bonus. So if you equip the Obelisk with Chroniton Torpedoes you free up Tactical console slots for Anti-proton weapon damage boosting consoles.
So overall you get a boost in:
+22.9% Flight Turn Rate
+17.2 Starship Graviton Generators
+0.76% Critical Chance
+7.6% Critical Severity
and
+27.4% Chroniton Projectile Weapon Damage
Good modifiers for the slow moving and slow turning Obelisk Carrier.
I have the Advanced Obelisk and am able to get a high turn rate and high hull health from my build. 72,000+ Hull health and 14,000+ Shield health.
Another good tactic is the Speed Yo-Yo
When you start your turn decrease speed down to 1/4. This will drop the turning radius greatly. As you approach the apex of your turn and slightly past it increase speed slowly. When you are 3/4 of completing your turn lay into the speed.
I find it best to use Dual Beam Banks and Beam Arrays with carriers and the large cruisers. Focusing on the Space and warfare sets that has weapon damage modifiers (as mentioned above).
1) I'd drop the multiple beam types and go strictly with AP. You've got the two piece (OmniAP and Warp Core) that gives some boost to AP weapons. Re-run Sphere of Influence a few time for the Blue Quality AP beams and replace your Phaser / Nanite beams. I'd also swap your tac consoles for the AP consoles.
2) While re-running Sphere of Influence, get the free Advanced Swarmers. Google for guides for this.
3) I've become a huge fan of the Fleet RCS consoles. Fleet Mk X RCS outdoes the Blue MK XI for turn rate, plus gives an added stat. I've got the damage resist versions - take your pick.
4) If you can get your turn rate up, consider DHC or DBB for forward weapons. DBB+Omni in front with two beams in the back means you should be able to have three beams on enemy at all times.
I agree about the BOFF recommends above, although I run two copies of tac team I and keep punching hotkeys - "1,2,3" and "4,5,6" give a tac team, shield boost, and hull boost of some kind. Helps with tanking.
Edit: Against the Voth in particular, I'm a fan right now of 2xDHC up front and the Subspace Jumper console -- when they bring up that "unstoppable" shield facing, I hit the jump and end up face-on with another shield facing.
My Build and Aux is fine it only makes the diff on 15s - 30s spawn but you do that often it dont matter ... and p.s. mine dont need to dubble up on powers to get there :P i have shield heals comming out of my TRIBBLE and hull heals regening my 90% of the tame
Comments
Not sure if a typo or if your MACO pieces, one is Mk11 and one is Mk12. If they're mismatched, they don't give you a passive bonus, and so you might do better replacing the deflector with an Assimilated Mk11 for the two-piece Borg bonus. If its just a typo though, disregard me.
The Stealth Module is doing you zero good. Its possibly the most useless console in the game. Drop it, replace it with an Assimilated Module.
What is your bridge officer layout? That makes an even bigger difference than your gear.
Ensign Universal:
Hazard Emitters I
Lt. Tactical:
Beam array Overload I
Torpedo High Yield II
Commander Engineering:
Emg. Power to Engines I
Engineering Team II
Aux power to structural Integrity II
Reverse Shield Polarity III
Lt. Engineering:
Emg. Power To weapons I
Reverse Shield Polarity I
Lt.Cmdr Science:
Tractor Beam I
Science Team II
Photonic Shockwave I
My officer loadout.
"Make it so" - Captain Picard
Build I am working for my Federation, Klingon, and Romulans.
I don't find the turn rate bad. It's actually better thank I expected for being one of the largest ships in the game. I do have 2 RCS accelerators so it helps. But you are right.
I will put the Hargh Peng in the back, it's a heavy hitter. I can add a Photon in the front to deal damage to exposed hull. My swarmers can take out the shields rather quickly.
"Make it so" - Captain Picard
Build I am working for my Federation, Klingon, and Romulans.
Not terrible but not great, I can see a few things you can tweak easily for an immediate improvement without dramatically changing how you fly your ship.
Tactical skills, get rid of both of them. Overload, isn't going to be amazing on this type of ship (it really needs a tactical ship that can exploit the hole it makes), and your pets can do it for you anyways. Torpedo High Yield does absolutely nothing to enhance the torpedoes you're using, and is a waste of a slot.
Instead, pick up Tactical Team 1 (TT1) to get rid of boarding parties and tactical debuffs, and the shield balancing bonus is incredibly useful when under heavy fire. Its probably the best ensign-level power in the game, though doesn't improve much at higher levels, so just use level 1. For your second tac slot, Attack Pattern Beta 1 (APB) or Delta 1 (APD) to debuff your target so your pets do more damage. Delta 1 also gives you a resistance buff, but only debuffs people shooting at you, so its a little harder to use. Beta 1 applies to anyone you're shooting at, and reduces their hull armor. Try them both, see which you like more. Alternately, use Fire At Will 2 (FAW) to simply blast multiple targets at once yourself.
Engineering, putting Emergency Power To Shields (EPTS) in there somewhere would probably be a helpful addition as well, probably in place of the Emergency Power To Engines. EPTS is nice because, in addition to a shield heal, it also gives you a flat reduction to all incoming damage. Plus with the right Duty Officers, you can have it active all the time, making you much harder to kill. Probably the second most useful power, behind Tactical Team.
With that extra shield hardening and tactical team, you could probably do away with one of the Reverse Shield Polarity (RSP) skills, needing the other only for emergencies. Since I'm guessing you liked the Emergency To Engines for the turning bonus, you could add Auxiliary To Dampeners as an RSP1 replacement, and for resisting holds in general. Alternately, Extend Shields will help you heal teammates and boost their damage resistance, and can be very handy.
Lastly, Photonic Shockwave (PSW), unless you're specced into it, just isn't that great a power (it used to be much stronger but got nerfed hard). Gravity Well (GW) is a great power at the same level though, bunching targets up for easier kills, bypassing shields, and swatting down small ships and torpedoes. Its a real swiss-army-knife of an ability. Alternately, you can use Transfer Shield Strength 3 (TSS), as an extremely powerful shield heal that also somewhat increases hardening, but getting TSS3 is very rare and usually pretty expensive. One of those two, depending on if you want to emphasize offense or defense, but probably not PSW.
So adjusting (and changing levels a little bit to get the best bonuses), you'd end up with
Cmdr Engineer
Engineering Team 1, Emergency To Shields 2, Reverse Shield Polarity 2, Aux To Structural 3
Lt Engineer
Emergency To Weapons 1, Aux To Dampeners 1
LtCmdr Science
Tractor Beam 1, Hazard Emitters 2, Gravity Well 1 or Transfer Shield Strength 3
Lt Universal (Science)
Science Team 1 (Great for getting rid of Voth debuffs)
Lt Tactical
Tactical Team 1, Attack Pattern Beta 1 or Delta 1
Its not a huge change in your layout or playstyle mostly, just trying to help fine-tune while still keeping your ship yours. Hope it helps.
So overall you get a boost in:
+22.9% Flight Turn Rate
+17.2 Starship Graviton Generators
+0.76% Critical Chance
+7.6% Critical Severity
and
+27.4% Chroniton Projectile Weapon Damage
Good modifiers for the slow moving and slow turning Obelisk Carrier.
I have the Advanced Obelisk and am able to get a high turn rate and high hull health from my build. 72,000+ Hull health and 14,000+ Shield health.
Another good tactic is the Speed Yo-Yo
When you start your turn decrease speed down to 1/4. This will drop the turning radius greatly. As you approach the apex of your turn and slightly past it increase speed slowly. When you are 3/4 of completing your turn lay into the speed.
I find it best to use Dual Beam Banks and Beam Arrays with carriers and the large cruisers. Focusing on the Space and warfare sets that has weapon damage modifiers (as mentioned above).
2) While re-running Sphere of Influence, get the free Advanced Swarmers. Google for guides for this.
3) I've become a huge fan of the Fleet RCS consoles. Fleet Mk X RCS outdoes the Blue MK XI for turn rate, plus gives an added stat. I've got the damage resist versions - take your pick.
4) If you can get your turn rate up, consider DHC or DBB for forward weapons. DBB+Omni in front with two beams in the back means you should be able to have three beams on enemy at all times.
I agree about the BOFF recommends above, although I run two copies of tac team I and keep punching hotkeys - "1,2,3" and "4,5,6" give a tac team, shield boost, and hull boost of some kind. Helps with tanking.
Edit: Against the Voth in particular, I'm a fan right now of 2xDHC up front and the Subspace Jumper console -- when they bring up that "unstoppable" shield facing, I hit the jump and end up face-on with another shield facing.
Ensign Universal:
TT1
Lt. Tactical:
FAW1
APB1
Commander Engineering:
EPTW I
Aux2Bat I
EPTS III
RSP III
Lt. Engineering:
EPTW I
Aux2Bat I
Lt.Cmdr Science:
TB I
TST II
GW I
All 3 set bonus adds EPT systems to pets so ADV Swarmers get 10% with EPSW & the shield Resistance with EPTS ^-^ SMASHING
Get the borg assimilated addon too, that worth it if you put a cutting beam on.
2 conn doffs, marion, warp core doff and 1 of your choice
Non aux2bat. You need the aux for the pets...
Yoy will do much better with this build
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
My Build and Aux is fine it only makes the diff on 15s - 30s spawn but you do that often it dont matter ... and p.s. mine dont need to dubble up on powers to get there :P i have shield heals comming out of my TRIBBLE and hull heals regening my 90% of the tame
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=advobeliskcarrier_4951