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What am I doing wrong? PvE space combat as SCI officer
redjacredjac
Member Posts: 25 Arc User
** Edited to include build info **
I am sooooooooooooo frustrated at being so ineffective during my PvE space missions (i'm admiral, upper). I usually die in every encounter unless I call in the pirates (only good once every 15 minutes) or photonic fleet (only good every 4 mins or so). I'm playing on harder difficulty for better drops, so I understand it should be more challenging, but I don't see the how one is expected to take my deep space science vessel up against these romulan, reman, and hirogen heavy ships or escorts and having the fight be over (essentially) in seconds because my shield(s) are gone, I've exhausted my skills and heals, yet my enemy is either hardly damaged (if heavy or battleship) or damaged but has i'm a sitting duck because the escort has such potent firepower. I can usually hang in there, scrapping and clawing to survive, but in the end, they are too much.
And of course, I take damage to my ship when I die, so each rematch is less likely to succeed. What skills do I need to be using as a solo SCI Captain? What tactics am I using/not using correctly or incorrectly? I'd greatly appreciate some tips.
My deep space escort doesn't have the most awesome of gear. It's not junk (in fact some is rare or very rare), but I'm in season 3 for the episodes, so I don't really have any sets. I won't bore everyone with consoles and such, but I figure I need to list my BO skills... they are...
Front weapons...
Rear Weapons
power distribution:
100 weapon power, 50 shields, 25 engines, 25 aux
Engineering Consoles...
Science Consoles...
Tactical Consoles
lieutenant BO tactical station
lieutenant engineering station
commander BO science station
lt. commander bo science station
My captain skills distribution
tactical...
engineering systems
science/ops skills
I am sooooooooooooo frustrated at being so ineffective during my PvE space missions (i'm admiral, upper). I usually die in every encounter unless I call in the pirates (only good once every 15 minutes) or photonic fleet (only good every 4 mins or so). I'm playing on harder difficulty for better drops, so I understand it should be more challenging, but I don't see the how one is expected to take my deep space science vessel up against these romulan, reman, and hirogen heavy ships or escorts and having the fight be over (essentially) in seconds because my shield(s) are gone, I've exhausted my skills and heals, yet my enemy is either hardly damaged (if heavy or battleship) or damaged but has i'm a sitting duck because the escort has such potent firepower. I can usually hang in there, scrapping and clawing to survive, but in the end, they are too much.
And of course, I take damage to my ship when I die, so each rematch is less likely to succeed. What skills do I need to be using as a solo SCI Captain? What tactics am I using/not using correctly or incorrectly? I'd greatly appreciate some tips.
My deep space escort doesn't have the most awesome of gear. It's not junk (in fact some is rare or very rare), but I'm in season 3 for the episodes, so I don't really have any sets. I won't bore everyone with consoles and such, but I figure I need to list my BO skills... they are...
Front weapons...
- polaron cannon mk 9 (rare)
- polaran beam array mk 10 (uncommon)
- hargh'peng torpodo launcher mk 8 (very rare)
Rear Weapons
- 3 polaron turrets mk 10 (rares)
power distribution:
100 weapon power, 50 shields, 25 engines, 25 aux
Engineering Consoles...
- engineering field emitter mk 10 (uncommon) +3 shield
- diburnium hull plating mk 11 (uncommon) +30 Phaser and disrupter risistance
- booster modulator mk 10 (rare) +3.2 aux setting
Science Consoles...
- countermeasure system mk 9 (uncommon) +20.6 countermeasure systems
- sensor probes mk 9 (uncommon) +20.6 starship systems
- inertial dampeners mk 10 (uncommon) +22.5 starship inertial dampers
- particle generators mk 10 (uncommon) +22.5 starship particle damage
Tactical Consoles
- polaron phase modulator mk 10 (rare) +24.4 polaron damage
- polaron phase modulator mk 10 (uncommon) +22.5 polaron damage
lieutenant BO tactical station
- tactical team 1
- torpedo high yield 2
lieutenant engineering station
- emergency power to shields 1
- reverse shield modularity 1
- ensign engineering station
- engineering team 1
commander BO science station
- hazard emitters 1
- photonic officer 1
- tractor beam 3
- viral matrix 3
lt. commander bo science station
- jam sensors 1
- tractor beam 2
- scramble sensors 2
My captain skills distribution
tactical...
- starship attack patterns 3 bars
- starship energy weapons 5 bars
- starship maneuvers 5 bars
- starship energy weapon specialization 4 bars
- starship weapon training 6 bars
- starship projectile weapons 6 bars
- starship targeting systems 5 bars
- starship projectile weapons specialization 2 bars
engineering systems
- driver coil 6 bars
- structural integrity 5 bars
- starship electro-plasma systems 5 bars
- starship engine performance 4 bars
- starship armor reinforcements 4 bars
- starship batteries 3 bars
- starship subsystems repair 5 bars
- starship impulse thrusters 4 bars
- starship hull plating 5 bars
- starship auxiliary performance 1 bar
- starship hull repair 6 bars
- starship warp core efficiency 6 bars
- starship war core potential 6 bars
- starship shield performance 5 bars
- starship weapon performance 4 bars
science/ops skills
- starship flow capacitors 4 bars
- starship power insulators 5 bars
- starship graviton generators 4 bars
- starship inertial dampers 4 bars
- starship shield emitters 6 bars
- starship shield systems 6 bars
- starship particle generators 3 bars
- starship sensors 3 bars
Post edited by redjacredjac on
0
Comments
there's the deep space science vessel (http://sto.gamepedia.com/Deep_Space_Science_Vessel)
and then there's the patrol escort
(http://sto.gamepedia.com/Patrol_Escort)
i cant tell which of these you think you're flying....
however right off the top i can say photonic officer is a waste of time. get hazard emitters or some sort of sciency heal like that.
scamble sensors are also sort of useless. i understand it makes it so enemies shoot eachother, but if you're having trouble staying alive, you need a few heals, not something that for a few seconds, makes the enemies act like the definition of derp.
good science heals are:
hazard emitters (heal over time, + plasma immunity)
transfer shield strength (self+other shield heal, good for small regen)
Well for starters if you want accurate help make sure to include all details of your build, what consoles you use makes a BIG difference in a build, as does your duty officers and captain skill levels.
Deep space science is more engineering than the Recon Science vessel, if you want a bit more damage potential you might want to get the mirror Recon Sci Vessel from the exchange, same look as the deep space but slightly more tactical power.
When fighting enemies make sure you are using your beam weapon targeting powers built into every science vessel.
My science character does really well in PVE: I usually have forward two dual beam banks and a photon torpedo launcher, then for rear I go with beam arrays and either a photon torpedo launcher, a tricobalt mine layer, or harghpeng torpedo. I tend to trade out frequently my torpedo types depending on what I get for drops. Boffs: My science skills usually focus on healing, (hazard emitters are great against plasma fires and getting stuck in an enemies warp plama trail), and spamming as many grav wells as possible. When I have commander and lt commander slots I have grav well 1 and 2 to reduce cooldown time. Engineering is engineering team and shield repair. Tactical is usually low level so beam overcharge, tac team and or torpedo skill. Tac team is great to have on standby for those pesky boarding teams. I recommend you use all your tac console slots for your beam weapon consoles, and use the type appropriate for weapon, like phaser increase is you use phasers. Torpedos do great damage but you need to punch through shields first.
Also try and make sure your duty officers match your primary battle tactics.
Nothing wrong with scis, you just need to have the right skill point distribution. And a good line up of sci Boff skills.
Tacs are easy mode, and a snorefest. Zzz
Trolling often?
Because your statements are simply not true.
An putting personal bias as facts, does not make it true.
@ OP,
Take Grav well with you, it will help a lot more then the other skills, and maybe switch high yield for Torp spread.
About Photonic fleet, thats where the good scie differs from the average Sci captain,
you got an Trait called "photonic capaciator" it triggers each time you use a sci skill and lowers the cooldown of your Photonic fleet by 10 seconds, Photonic cap has a Cooldown of 10 seconds on his own, so you can trigger it once every 10 seconds, if you keep it running on CD (meaning one Sci skill every 10 seconds not back to back spamming) lowers the CD of photonic to 2 minutes instead of 4, if you use it.
About "shield beeing gone in seconds) you want the strongest possible shields you can,
i suggest you gets this for the time beeing:
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Paratrinic_Shield_Array
and use the target subsystem funktion of your ship, especially target weapon subsystem.
Now, on both an escort & a cruiser, I've not had an issue with surviving long enough to kill stuff in PvE (haven't flown a sci ship yet). But even with 1 or 2 less weapons, you still shouldn't be having that many problems, unless your flying your ship totally wrong. Also, as someone else has said, you don't seem to have many recharge/repair skills set for your boff array. I would recommend at least one Emer Pwr to Shields, also, get rid of your Eng Team, it's conflicting with your Tac Team (they really should fix that btw). Get one of the other hull repair skills, like Aux to SIF instead.
Also, when your Tac Team is down, and cooling off, use your arrow keys to manually throw some shield power to whichever facing is getting hammered. A lot of times, that can make the difference between going splat, and survival.
Now, also, what are your power settings? With your skill setup, you don't really need too high of an aux and engine power (something close to minimum will suffice), more power should be devoted to your weapons, with shields coming in second.
What doffs have you assigned to your "Space Assignment" slots? That can make a big difference for you.
And what are your engineering and sci consoles? If you're having issues with survival, you should look at getting the eng consoles which have 4 categories of resists each, and/or the neutronium ones. For sci, put a shield emitter console, or something.
You also say you have some higher rarity stuff on your ship, but you didn't say what Mk it is. It can be Very Rare, but if it's Mk III, at your level, that's not going to help anywhere near as much, as even a white Mk X. Make sure the Mk of equipment (in ALL categories), that you've installed on your ship, is what you can use currently. Even a green Mk X is decent enough top get by with, whereas, like I said, a purple Mk III or even less, will hold you back.
That's about all I can think of, at the moment. Good luck to ye!:cool:
butcher suspect, "What'd you hit me with?"
Temperance Brennan, "A building"
Very cool, I didn't realise the photonic fleet can have a reduced cooldown if you use your skills in the appropriate manner.
Thanks for the tip oschw
There are a bunch of people around here a lot smarter than me about how to build a ship correctly and what abilities your Boffs should have. I would take it as a personal favor if you could post your build and the rest so we can help.
Some things to consider.
- Science toons in ESTFs cannot lead the charge. SHFT-R means you're sticking your head into the muzzle. This is a tactical and strategic faux pas. There will be plenty of bad guys left to shoot up if you get there second or third.
- SCI Abilities rely on Aux power. Aux2Batt hamstrings your most effective tools before you ever use them. If you have to Aux2Batt, carry lots of Aux Batteries. The regular ones work fine, so you don't need to waste EC on the Large ones. Or Lobi on the combo versions.
- On a similar note, things which improve your Aux power or add on to the effects of your abilities are important. These you need. If it isn't doing either one, get rid of it.
- Gravity Well is your very most bestest ever BFF. 'Nuff said.
From the tone and language of your post, I'm thinking this is not a Science issue as much as it is a tactics and procedures problem. Try these the next time you que up.
- Pick one of your teammates and fly wing for him/her. Move where they move. Shoot at whatever they shoot at. Watch what they're doing and, more importantly, how they go about it. I died a lot when I first started ESTFs as well. Then I wised up and started watching and learning from others. Easiest way I know to be successful is to shamelessly copy the success of others.
- Since time immemorial, people have been warning others about target fixation. Bears repeating one more time. Don't get tunnel vision. You'll never see the one that kills you.
- Think about making survival a higher priority. Set a goal for the next few of these you run of making it to the end without dying. Do whatever you have to to accomplish this. Even if it means you have to pull off the target for a bit so your hull and shields can regen. Even if it means your team fails the Optional. The Dil reward is exactly the same in either case.
- Don't think you have to do everything. There are four other ships in there with you. Sometimes, their Captains are very good. More often, they're like you. People talk about 'carrying' a PUG all the time around here. It's entirely possible to do so in a Scimi completely kitted out in Elite Fleet and Rep gear. Most of us aren't quite there yet. So do the things you can and let the rest of the team do their part as well.
Lastly, don't ever let yourself forget this is a game. Sure, it is much more fun when you don't die and your efforts make the difference between making the Optional or not. But STO is still just a game. All those people zipping around killing Cubes with one or two shots all started just like you did.
I've already gone on too long. If you'd like more help, please drop me a line ingame at Cha@thunderfoot1007
I'm running the deep space science vessel (at least that's what it was called in the ship window. Since I'm playing alone PvE, I thought I needed to try and up my DPS since I thought most of the science skills are buffs/debuffs instead of damage causing (but I may be completely wrong. I love the game, but I don't quite understand it)
Front weapons...
Rear Weapons
power distribution:
100 weapon power, 50 shields, 25 engines, 25 aux
Engineering Consoles...
Science Consoles...
Tactical Consoles
lieutenant BO tactical station
lieutenant engineering station
- emergency power to shields 1
- reverse shield modularity 1
ensign engineering station- engineering team 1
commander BO science stationlt. commander bo science station
My captain skills distribution
tactical...
starship attack patterns 3 bars
starship energy weapons 5 bars
starship maneuvers 5 bars
starship energy weapon specialization 4 bars
starship weapon training 6 bars
starship projectile weapons 6 bars
starship targeting systems 5 bars
starship projectile weapons specialization 2 bars
engineering systems
driver coil 6 bars
structural integrity 5 bars
starship electro-plasma systems 5 bars
starship engine performance 4 bars
starship armor reinforcements 4 bars
starship batteries 3 bars
starship subsystems repair 5 bars
starship impulse thrusters 4 bars
starship hull plating 5 bars
starship auxiliary performance 1 bar
starship hull repair 6 bars
starship warp core efficiency 6 bars
starship war core potential 6 bars
starship shield performance 5 bars
starship weapon performance 4 bars
science/ops skills
starship flow capacitors 4 bars
starship power insulators 5 bars
starship graviton generators 4 bars
starship inertial dampers 4 bars
starship shield emitters 6 bars
starship shield systems 6 bars
starship particle generators 3 bars
starship sensors 3 bars
I appreciate the responses, and any tips, help is appreciated
Lt Tactical: Tactical Team 1, Torpedo Spread 2
Lt Universal: Torpedo high yield 1, BFAW 2
Lt Commander Engineering: Emergency power to shields 1, emergency to weapons , Aux to structure
Commander science: Hazzard Emitters 1, Transfer shield strength 2, gravity well 1, energy siphon
Lt science: Tractor beam 1, jam sensors
It's dependable
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
I'm sorry but I can pretty much solo a cube with my sci captain, I know I will need to pull back a few times but using either the Armitage or Vesta you can easily create a High DPS Tank using shield healing, Beam/Cannon ability's keep launching fighters to stop the cube rom focusing on healing and hazard emitters usually clears any debuffs.
And in PvP I just use my Defiant Refit and go in all guns blazing.
Honestly, you stand very little chance of getting decent loot at any difficulty level, so just switch back to normal difficulty until you get you ship properly equipped - then you can turn the difficulty back up if you want to.
At least some degree of hold is recommended. I, myself, fly with Gravity Well 3 and Tractor Beam Repulsors with a Duty Officer equipped that turns the Repulsors into a Pull. This ensures I have enough CC to aid my tactical companions in their devastating Scatter Volley and Torpedo Spread runs.
Bring some shield heals. I use Science Team, Transfer Shield Strength and Emergency Power to Shields. Note that the last two, Transfer Shield Strength and Emergency Power to Shields both give you a SHIELD DAMAGE RESISTANCE that from what I know stack with your high Shield power damage mitigation. We Sci folk that fly Sci vessels got the best shield HP in the game, so keep it up and you'll do pretty well.
Also, I suggest keeping your Auxiliary Power up. Almost every Science ability scales off Auxiliary power, so having it at 25 is not very healthy for your long-term Science Career.
Particle Generators. This will make your Gravity Wells and Tractor Beam Repulsors SO, SO powerful. Seeing 1,000+ damage per tic is glorious, especially when that ability is also holding enemies down so that your allies can abuse their AoEs liberally.
First is that against Romulans scramble sensors and grav well are your friends. With scramble you can get them to use their heavy plasmas on each other for a little while.
With grav well you can drop it on a DD and have his salvo slam back into his hull. Just watch your timing.
If you are spending money. Buy a heavy escort. The point defense turret is a life saver and when the smaller warbirds fly close, pretty good at chewing up the bad guys too.
(No you don't have to fly the escort. Just get the defense console.)
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
especially considering the fact it is "exotic" torpedo, which cannot be affected by boff abilities like "high yeld". all out, neutronium in. reason is simple, you get hurt, you can't avoid it. the more resists you have the better the probability to survive a spike "to fight another day". while it "might" look good on paper you will never ever get anything useful from those.
field generators and/or universal consoles with some "tricks" are better suited for that.
like plasmonic leech. tac team is a must, no question. high yield require another torpedo, that if you insist to use it. better off to go strait to beam boat with FAW. reason is simple, FAW will produce much more damage than any other single skill. bad decision. you need 2 copies of ep2sh to maintain 100% of time high level of shield power as well as bonus resists on shield. both give you ca. 50% resist on shield, which you would like to have at all times. HE - good, make it double.
jam sensors - bad, very bad.
photonic officer - bad.
single target tractor beam - bad.
scramble sensors - very, very bad.
viral matrix - bad.
you need 2 hazard emitters 1
you need 2 transfer shield strength 2
that a bare minimum for tank.
THEN!
think over your whole concept of ship.
it should be the choice between crowd control aka gravity well or drain aka tyken rift.
either way you need 2 copies of the skill.
the third skill should be tractor beam repulsors. reason is also simple, there are stuff you want to keep away from you (like heavy torpedoes) or from dedicated target (like probes from gate). but use it carefully and wisely, it might TRIBBLE other people performance.
attack pattern - for escorts or battle cruisers
weapon training, energy, projectile, targeting - 9, no discussion about it.
maneuvers 9 - just do it.
specialization deserve at least 3 better 6 on both. breakpoint on most skills is 6.
armor/hull skills on 6 is a must.
batteries is useless, subsytem repairs is useless.
auxiliary performance is pointless, every science ship got much more the bonus built in then that expensive skill will earn you the benefit.
weapon performance also pointless, you ain't an escort, don't try to be a one. you will never ever do the same damage. those points even spent will earn you at the best 10% more damage. insulators, inertia dampeners, shield stuff on 6, no question asked. have it or die, as simple as it is.
sensors useless.
graviton useless even on gravity well build (yea, i know, its stupid, you need rank 6 for the skill, but you really will not get anything from it. stuff is either too slow that you don't need it or too fast to get in to account)
particle generators on 6, thats your damage source for science skills.
then depending on your choice above you go either tyken rift or gravity well build.
for tyken and polarons you go 6 (or even 9) ranks flow capacitors.
for gravity 6 ranks of graviton.
i can recommend going full drain setup for simple reason - its debuff for damage you will receive. the less power they have the less damage the whole team will eat.
i fly a battle cruiser with only a single tyken rift 1 and the effect is very noticeable.
that also opens you the way to dedicated torpedo boat, suck the energy and hammer on shield-less helpless targets with heavy torpedo spikes.
I got it as part of the C-Store giveaway, it's a brilliant ship
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
If your only suggestion to make a ship work is to switch to the "fotm"-class with the current faceroll-build, then you really need to L2P.
Right in here is a lot of the "problem". Only one hull heal, RSP as a second heal (therefore only really effective when under tons of fire, but then the lack of hull becomes a problem).
Recommendation: I don't like Aux2SIF as a Sci, the penalty to Aux it gives makes the sci powers counterproductive. ET is OK, but it can run afoul of the TT, keep that in mind. Also, a lot of the Sci powers you've picked aren't exactly the best skills for PvE. What I'm running, with a tweak cause I usually run tac-oriented Scis (RSV and the Vesta with 2 Tac BOffs)
(from memory, so the numbers might be off but the slot order isn't. So, if say Tachyon Beam in the Lt. slot is Tachyon Beam I instead of II, please amend)
Sci Cmdr: Polarize Hull 1, Tachyon beam II, Syphon II, GW III
Sci Lt Cmdr: HE 1, TB II, TSS III
Engie Lt: EPtS I, EPtS II
Engie Ens: ET I
Tac Lt: TT I, BFaW II
Ditch the cannons. Go beam on the loadout, DBBs preferred, as sci ships have just about enough maneuverability to keep DBBs in arc for most PvE action. If you're concerned about Aggro, then slapping turrets on the tail would prevent the BFaW from collecting every enemy behind you on your case. Harpeng torp doesn't like HY / spread IIRC, if you really want to go HYT II over BFaW, swap to something like a quantum. Though, personally, I like BFaW with the gravity well, being able to strip shields is a benefit when the GW's kinetic damage will shine if an enemy has a down shield facing... Used against full squads of frigates, most die within a well planted GW III, BFaW II, Spread I attack...
One other weapons note, I like slotting the AP 360 beam array, the KCB from Omega, and the Omega Rapid Fire Torp launcher aft, but then again, I fly a Vesta with the Aux DHCs on the fore, and therefore the AP 360 is the only way I can deliver the innate Target Subsystem attacks, and having the rapid fire aft torp means that if I get a shield down on the way in I can do OK kinetic damage on the way out...
Console wise, I'd say in Sci load up on the "exotic damage" dealers, aka particle generator consoles. Maybe swap one out for a Grav Gen console (which is what I do), so that your GW has a little extra pull. Engineering wise, you'd be best served with a couple of armor consoles and whatever universal best fits the set you prefer.
Power level wise, when I'm not in my Vesta, I like something more akin to 80/25/25/70, or at worst 90/25/25/60 as a lot of my damage and heals are checking Aux power over weapons power, but the 90 weapons lets me open right under 125 on the opening shot. If you stumble over an [W->A] Warp Core, however, running 100/25/25/50 is "reasonable". I don't prioritize weapons power because torps don't base on weapons power, and 2 forward guns aren't gonna do tons of damage by themselves. KCB is only effective when a shield is down (but they are almost like a second torp when that shield is down), and the AP array is so low damage anyway that having +5 or +10 power when firing is only about a +10 damage.
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
Weapons (Fore and aft)
2x beam array (of your choosing), 1 Torp (again, of your choosing)
This mitigates the drain from your beams that will supply the majority of your damage.
Equipment
Either Full Omega force set or Aegis set depending upon what's easier to collect. And an [A->W] Warp core (preferably overcharged for the extra aux power)
Consoles
Engineering: 2x Neutronium, 1x Assimilated module
Science: 1x Field generator, 2x Particle generator, 1x graviton generator
Tactical: 2x Energy weapon console (for your beams)
Boffs
Tactical: Tac team 1, Beam Fire at Will 2
Engineer: 2x Emergency power to Shields 1, Auxiliary to Structural 1
Science (commander): Hazard emitters 1, Transfer shield strength 2, Tykens Rift 2, Gravity Will 2 (or 3 if you can train it)
Science (Lt CMDR): Polarize hull 1, Transfer shield strength 2, (Skill of choice, though I recommend Tractor Beam 3 if you can source it, tractor repulsors is another good one for protecting optional objectives or pushing targets into a gravity well)
Power levels
Weapons: 100
Shields: 25
Engines: 25
Auxiliary: 50
Skills
tactical...
starship attack patterns 0
starship energy weapons 9
starship maneuvers 6
starship energy weapon specialization 6
starship weapon training 9
starship projectile weapons 3
starship targeting systems 9
starship projectile weapons specialization 0
engineering systems
driver coil 0
structural integrity 9
starship electro-plasma systems 6
starship engine performance 6
starship armor reinforcements 6
starship batteries 0
starship subsystems repair 0
starship impulse thrusters 6
starship hull plating 6
starship auxiliary performance 0
starship hull repair 9
starship warp core efficiency 6
starship war core potential 6
starship shield performance 6
starship weapon performance 6
starship engine performance 6
starship auxiliary performance 6
science/ops skills
starship flow capacitors 0 (It doesn't buff Tykens anymore)
starship power insulators 6
starship graviton generators 6
starship inertial dampers 0
starship shield emitters 9
starship shield systems 9
starship particle generators 6
starship sensors 0
This spec gives you a good amount of offensive and defensive performance as well as a lot of power to play with from the extra aux power you will gain from the skill table so you can use it to keep your aux power up while you bring it's base down to support other subsystems.
Aux2SIF gives a nice hull heal you can throw to allies or use yourself as needed, the same goes for your hazard emitters and transfer shield strength and polarize hull is a nice hull resistance skill and a tractor breaker.
My ultimate recommendation from a pve perspective would be to get the mirror version of the ship so you can run the same sci setup on it and keep the twin Emergency to shields but you can take Attack Pattern Beta which you can combine with Fire at Will to increase the damage of your science skills.
I don't know when last you used Aux2SIF but it doesn't drain power, that's Aux2Batt.
i think you mean aux2batt...
anyway you should know, that aux does not increase effectiveness of all sci powers (be it boff or captain) as you might think it does.
for instance TBR...without auxpower it can't pull your target out of your range, which is actually good, because it still does the same amount of dmg.
same is true for grav well, but it is kind of bad because high auxpower drags in targets from really far away, but the dmg is uneffected by auxpower.
sensor scan (sci captain ability): the magnitude of the resistance debuff is uneffected by auxpowerlevels.
subnucleonic beam (sci captain ability): still cleanses the target of all buffs...needs only 1 aux to do that.
Photonic fleet has virtually nothing to do with any sci skill or your auxlevel.
browse through all space sci abilities or science skills in STOpedia, it is completely unintuitive how they affect abilities and what auxpower actually does for you.
My bad on the Aux2Batt / Aux2SIF.
However, the majority of the sci powers I do use (as I listed in my build above), GW, Energy Syphon, HE, TSS, Tachyon beam - all seem to boost off of Aux. Polarize hull might have some influence based off of Aux, but for that I use it more as an anti-tractor skill more than anything else.
And, I think they "fixed" GW so that it does have some (albeit minor) damage scaling based off of Aux.
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
What about SUBSPACE DECOMPILER ??? - This skill boosts the efficiency of Viral Matrix. You need max investment in Subspace decompiler.
Every BO skill is modified by what you've invested in (skill point wise) for your captain...
Tractor Beams for example:
Modified by: Skills Starship Flow Capacitors - Improves power drain on target (See Tractor Beam Officer)
Starship Graviton Generators - Improves slow ability.
Starship Subspace Decompiler - Improves duration.
You seem to want to run a Disable/Drain/Hold Build....and then blast them away with torps... or something to that effect.
PS: Attack Pattern are any Captains best friend. They grant some of the best resistance buffs-debuffs/ DPS Boosts in game. Its not a bad idea to invest at least 6 into AttPatts.
First up, ignore all your fittings & abilities.. Look at the basics.
How are you attacking the npc's? If you're going up against a cruiser class & you hit them broadside, they'll hurt you big time! Same as escort types.. playing a game of chicken with one and they'll tear holes in your ship!!
Know your opponents and exploit their weaknesses.
If there's too many and you're taking a beating, use evasive manoeuvres and pull out of range, heal yourself up and then go back in.
You have tractor beam at your disposal, use that to hold one down & let rip. You don't have to engage the whole lot in one go.. pick them off one at a time.
Remember, you're playing on a harder setting so those NPC's hit a lot harder!
I had a similar issue when I rolled a Rom char.. Poor guy was getting popped left, right and centre! Smart thinking and flying soon changed that & it wasn't until a few months after him being 50 that I ran a farm mission.. It was only then I realised I'd levelled the guy up on Elite setting after I got bugger all on the drops!!
Stick with it though.. you'll get there in the end :cool:
Beta player - forum knows jack as to when I started
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Ignore this guy ive a fed lvl 50 n a kdf lvl 50 sci chars my fed flys the vesta my kdf the kar'fi. Wot works very well for me is having hazard emiters 3 n transfer shield strength 2if u all so have tac team n use it the same time as transfair shield strength there a great combo sci powers are powered by aux power so make sure u spend skill points there. All so google stoacademy skills planner u can have a look at wot stuff other players use n all so thete skills.
I will change up my build, but I have a general combat question or two
I originally went turrets in the rear so I could constantly be in weapons range and inflicting damage, but it seems like many are saying I'd be better off with beams. If I do that, how can I do anything other than broadside? Is that the proper strategy?
thanks again for the information.
I enjoy broadsiding myself, my main is a cruiser pilot, the advantage of beams over cannons is that you can keep all your weapons on a target while you keep moving at top speed to ensure you get the most dodge chance, also since they widened the firing arc on a lot of science powers you can dip those without dropping weapon coverage.
Turrets in the rear are not an improvement to universal firing. They mostly help get more fire power forward. And they respond to cannon attack commands like scatter volley and rapid fire.
Beam arrays fore and aft give you good broadside fire but not as great forward. While a dual beam bank has good forward effect.
Not knowing your resources for acquiring new gear. I would run sphere twice. You get the anti-proton beam and the warpcore that boosts anti-proton damage.
Put that with the chroniton dual beam bank and the associated consoles. You will do better damage than the chroniton alone (counts as anti-proton) and add a 360 beam to the build giving you more forward fire. If you can load up with more anti-protons You can do dual beams forward and supplement the 360 beam rear with a turret or two. This has a good forward damage and will let you fire at will to hit multiple targets. Including pesky overloaded plasma torpedoes.
If you choose to be a broadside, again consider the 360 beam as it will fire in all arcs and even if an enemy is in front of you then you don't lose all of your aft weapons.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
they all ARE "influenced" by your aux power, just not in a way you/everybody might think.
GW profits from aux only by an increased pull(radius) which is nice...the dmg aspect is only increased by the particle gen skill...and abilities that generally increase "all dmg" like AP omega.
energy syphon lasts longer with higher aux...does not increase the power you get though.
TSS and HE profit good from auxpower, but you would wish it would impact it even more, because shield emmiter or hull repair skills increase it considerable.
PH has higher resi when used with high aux...the anti hold is not influenced by aux power.
what further is really really important: you only have to have high aux power when you activate the ability. once it runs aux power is irrelevant, though it shouldn't get to 0.
so activating the sci ability, then activating aux2batt is the way to go...no penalties whatsoever.