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Birds of Prey, ahoy
rinkster
Member Posts: 3,549 Arc User
So, I have a few KDF toons and enjoy them very much.
However, one aspect to the KDF has always eluded me, flying Bops.
I've tried in the past, but always ended up switching to something else.
I've been playing the game for a little while now and am ready to renew the challenge.
What hints and tips can the honourable warriors of this subforum offer me?
If you had to distill the entire knowledge of BoP flying down into three hints, what would they be?
My liberated borg Klingon is awaiting your sage advice.
However, one aspect to the KDF has always eluded me, flying Bops.
I've tried in the past, but always ended up switching to something else.
I've been playing the game for a little while now and am ready to renew the challenge.
What hints and tips can the honourable warriors of this subforum offer me?
If you had to distill the entire knowledge of BoP flying down into three hints, what would they be?
My liberated borg Klingon is awaiting your sage advice.
Post edited by rinkster on
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Movement is life
Battle Cloak if you are not winning
R.I.P
http://thissler.com/2013/12/17/tactical-bird-of-prey-marmot-mk-ii/
If you intend to just do PVE, may I suggest ANY OTHER SHIP IN THE FACTION?
Seriously they are just so much fun for a tac captain to fly. If you INSIST on flying a BOP in PVE, there's a few threads on that as well. And there's videos of me doing it on my channel as well.
Cheers and if you actually have any questions or comments I'll actually get them if you leave them anywhere else BUT here.
And roach, you are as handsome as ever my friend!
R.I.P
Make sure you stock up an Nausacaan BO for the extra damage boost
Today is a good day to die!
Having said that, everyone has there own play style. It took me a while to get the hang of it but now there is no going back. I started off fed then later made a KDF alt. I played it until around 40 and had trouble keeping it alive. It was just too fragile. So I took a break from KDF.
Roms came and the discounted LTS. The Peghqu is a lot more durable and taught me what I needed to stop playing like a fed and start playing like a KDF. Next I made a KDF-Rom. It helped me understand which powers and strategy worked best. But it also made me soft. I flipped back to my KDF and realized I was playing my KDF-Rom much to soft. So the synergy helped make both better.
Now I love the Ki'tang and the Hegh'ta. I remember seeing it during the Feature Episode, "Sphere of Influence" battle and imagining what I would be doing in mine instead of the Obelisk Carrier we fight in. My Peghqu is now a back up. It's nice but not needed any more.
My fed alts have 1 by 1 become KDF alts.
Ex-CoH players, Please add the chat channel "CoX STO"
Good read even though I'm PVE Sci/Eng!
Ex-CoH players, Please add the chat channel "CoX STO"
I'm still levelling the alt that will become my BoP driver, so plenty of opportunities to use PvE to practise basic maneuvers.
Seems to me, reading the replies, the primary maneuver is rapid strike with all the mustard on it, followed by an even more rapid get-me-the-heck-out-of-here.
Thus, it follows that I'm going to be far less interested in engineering skills, barring those that effect movement, than I am at placate and cloak skills.
Is it worth me looking for a photonic displacer console on the exchange for my BoP?
Am I on the right track with mu BoP thinking?
As for today's PVE, some places like Crystaline Entity and fighting the Voth, your already thin shields can and will get bypassed. Examples like the CE's rays skipping shields altogether or getting hit by the shards, which potentially is instant death for a BOP if you allow that to happen. The Voth also like to throw Tykien's Rift, and you will feel that on a BOP if you are not moving fast enough or have some Inertial Dampeners skill.
Regarding movement, Auxiliary To Dampeners BOFF skill with the proper Matter-Antimatter Specialist DOFF is a huge bonus for BOPs. That combination brings so much freedom of movement and defenses that a BOP really needs. Combine that with Emergency Power to Engines, and you are zooming real good. It also lengthens the buff duration of A2D. The Matter-Antimatter Specialist DOFF is effective enough with the Uncommon quality. If you have the Rare / Very Rare ones, GREAT, but those are very expensive. Uncommon quality will do the job just fine.
If you're flying around that fast though, certain weapon setups are not optimal. Cannons are not ideal. You need to position and pummel a target to reap the benefits of Cannons. However, Beams with Beam Overload will work great. Outside of the standard TAC buffs or SCI debuffs, a Dual Beam Bank with Beam Overload is your spike, and it works because you need minimal time on target.
In older PVE content like STFs, you can get away with alot, including flying slowly in your BOP, which I still shudder to think of doing, but you can. But in the newer stuff like the CE and Voth, you need to move and stay moving.
Oh, and Jam Sensors is also another good one if you have the space and it's 1 target you're worried of that didn't get zapped but wants to get you in return. Make sure you're not attacking the target still when you use Jam Sensors on it, or you break it off the target.
There are only a few places where this doesnt really work out, mostly with targets that can one-hit your little ship and try to do so often, things like borg cubes and gates, the Dyson torpedo defense stations, etc. In multiplayer missions (STFs) you can still use the above tactic after somebody else has drawn aggro, single-player missions (episodes) can be a little more difficult, and having another ship on standby can be helpful
I'm still pretty low level on the toon in question so much of the PvE content you describe is yet to open, but I'm definitely looking hard at those movement skills.
However, I extracted one little line from your post because this seems to be the ideal situation.
Seems my learning outcomes are basically these......
1. Learn how to unload all of the alpha strike in the absolute minimal time. Bonus points for expanding the potential firing arc.
2. Learn how to get away and cloaked as fast as possible. Time spent uncloaked after alpha is time in the (cue Archer voice) danger zone.
3. Learn how to maintain speed despite enemy countermeasures.
rule 0 is learn how to position yourself to avoid taking damage, then you can hold fire on targets longer, improving your likelihood of killing them with the alpha. You only need to run-hide if you TRIBBLE it up or if you are trying to alpha something that cant be alpha'd. This will also get you additional damage when (if) they add the flanking damage buff to BOPs.
Ahh, good point, positioning.
Something else i got from Thisslers article was learning what powers look like from the outside.
there is my build for my bop i kill neghs in cse before there kill me soz doing this from my phone
No. You already have a battle cloak. I don't hit and run. Someone is going to die. I like to do it Mortal combat style. Hit hard on first pass with the enemy incapable of getting away. "FINISH HIM" Then I take my time turning around for the second pass. "Fatality"
The funny thing is that the console is on my short list for a "cloak" for my Grett.
Option 1:
MES 3
4 Stealth Console
Option 2:
Photonic Displacer
Both have different build cost, but with PVE you define what is fun. Having said that I'm leaning toward the subspace jumper console instead for the Gret.
Ex-CoH players, Please add the chat channel "CoX STO"
Grett? the OP was talking about Bops
Exactly.
A Bird of Prey already has a battle cloak. The OP was considering putting a Photonic Displacer console on a Bird of Prey, this would be redundant. However something that doesn't have a battle cloak such as the Grett...
Ex-CoH players, Please add the chat channel "CoX STO"
I can do elite STFs while I'm half asleep in my BOP torp boat. I don't have quite as much DPS against shielded targets, but I kill stuff good.
Here is a very good guide to torp boats if you're interested in setting up your BOP for this:
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=873351
Don't believe the lies in this forum. I am NOT an ARC user. I play STO on Steam or not at all.
Seems you have some interest in PVP.
As ursusmorologus said, positioning will be key. On that note, knowing what route your attack run and escape route will be important.
In PVE & PVP it will be important because you don't want to spend your escape route in a lane with lots of NPCs shooting at you. Doing an attack run on a Cube only to find yourself in front of a Borg Gate after that run isn't healthy living :cool: In PVP it will become absolutely critical. There's usually those 1 or 2 guys on the opposite team just waiting for a decloaker and pouncing on them, waiting with all their good abilities for you to show yourself. You have guys that have a slew of powerful TAC abilities ready to blast at you. You have guys that will use Sci to really harass you... Science Abilities are your bane in disrupting your tactics. Whether they try to use TBR (doffed), TB, Tractor Beams, Grav Well / Tykien's Rift, Charged Particle Burst.
Side note: Certain area abilities if you're anywhere near them will drop you out of cloak. Grav Well, Tykien's Rift are very capable in this. Photonic Shockwave and Charged Particle Burst are instantaneous PBAOE and will do the same. CPB in particular can be dangerous because it will disable your Cloaks for some time. In a KDF BOP that is dangerous with some very fast Escorts seeing you as an easy to kill targets. You are stuck with a ship out of cloaks with the lowest hullpoints in the game short of a shuttle, and the lowest shield mods in the game, and then likely getting shot at by lots of guys.
You will find guys that get creative in trying to deal with Cloaked ships. You have the guys that react to cloaked ships. They'll have Emergency Power to Engines or Evasive Maneuvers, anything to speed up, close the distance with you, and pop Charged Particle Burst to keep you showing up to everyone else to shoot at. You have the rare few guys that are built to detect cloaked vessels, and they will be good at it and will throw many players off when they find themselves getting shot at while cloaked.
Tip: Shooting at a cloaked target will not drop them out of cloak with shields raised. They stay cloaked and have to manually drop out of cloak or move the hell away. If you're in a KDF BOP and are detected, you are in serious s**t.
Being in cloaked, watching what's going on in a fight, seeing what abilities are being thrown around will give you a very good picture on what you can and can't get away with. If the Feds are balling up and staying that way, do not linger anywhere near. Do your business and move out. Between all the Cruisers doing FAW, Escorts blazing at anything nearby, it's a dangerous spot. Not to mention cloaked Warbirds nearby. If the Feds are using alot of Sci abilities, be wary of where all the action is happening so as not to get caught by those abilities while still trying to be cloaked. It doesn't matter if the Grav Well's area catches you at a distances if you are on your attack run and speeding in, but if you're trying to escape and running into GW / TR, you're in a bit of a bind if you don't have Aux2Damp / Emergency Power to Engines / Evasive Maneuvers going.
If you're curious to see how the game of stealth and its counters are, take a look at this thread over in the PVP subforums. That forum also has alot of good info, because abilities and mechanics are broken down heavily and you'll learn something which applies anywhere to the game.
Lastly, if you do PVP you will see 3 general modes for it.
Kerrat
Capture & Hold (or as Thissler says, Cap and 'Splode)
Arena
Kerrat is a PVP/PVE zone. Anything goes out there, and when I mean anything, I mean anything. It's a free roaming zone for you with no real time limits.
C&H is what the name implies, just like FPS games and a few other MMORPGs. Clear objectives, not as much time constraints.
With Kerrat & C&H you have the time and space to play a Bird of Prey to its maximum. You have the space to prowl, strike, and move. You have the time to choose your tactics.
But in Arena, it's very different. If you've fought in Arena, it's a short duration, intense fight. There's space to move but time is clearly against you because it's all about what team gets the first 15 kills. Damage and anything to support doing that, needs to be done in a furious manner in a short time span. All the fighting is almost always concentrated in a single area, so that's another risk for a BOP which has no staying power. For a BOP conducting proper hit & run tactics, you are taking yourself out of the fight for periods of time, which I assure you, your team will be missing you. I have been that lone Vor'Cha / Negh'Var / Vo'Quv left uncloaked and getting shot at while all the other BOP players are trying proper hit & run tactics and not being around (it's an imbalanced team, yes, but it shows what kind of bind you leave teammates in if not prepared right). Not fun having 5 guys shooting at you.
Arena is where I've always struggled to do good in with a Bird of Prey. The form of PVP there is markedly different, shorter, intense. You need to be involved one way or another much more frequently, but the style of the BOP isn't as suited to that (IMO). I'm sure there's great BOP drivers that will still do magnificently there, but that's where I've struggled alot when it comes to PVP in a BOP.