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Recommend a Science Ship
lordsteve1
Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
Hello all.
I'm looking to get a new sci ship, will be using it on my tac toon as i've recently started to really like this style of play. It allows reasonable dps with the right setup (as your captain's tac skills buff sci abilities pretty well) but also allows for some more interesting tactics using the sci skills availible from a sci ship's boff slots, such as healing, drain builds, crowd control.
I've been using Dyson Destroyer (free version) and been trying out the mirror versions of the DSSV and RSV as they are effectivly the same as their prime universe numbers but with swapped skins. This has allowed me to test out various boff setups and weapon loadouts too.
Now i'm looking to move onto a 10 console ship.
Current loadout is centered around polaron beams (or cannons) for drains, coupled with grav well 3 and garv torps for crowd control and killing groups of targets. I'm also using tykens rift a fair bit too to suplement other people's grav wells.
I'm wanting to upgrade to a fleet ship, or any other 10 console equivalent but just looking for opinions on the options below.
Fleet Reconnaisance Science Vessel
4 tac consoles
Reasonable hull HP
High shield mod
Plenty of sci stations allows a wide variety of skills.
Only lt. & ens. tac stations
Fleet Science Vessel Retrofit (Nova)
Fast
Lt. Cmdr. tac slot.
Only 3 tac consoles
Low hull HP
Fleet Deep Space Science Vessel
High hull HP
High crew No.
Still a reasonable turn rate.
Only 1 lt. tac boff slot
Only 2 tac consoles
Dyson Science Destroyers (C-store versions)
High hull HP
Highest shield mod availible
Lt. cmdr. tac boff slot (with Cmdr. in tac mode)
Up to 4 tac consoles
Can mount DHCs
4th weapon if used in tac mode
Currently only vessel with secondary deflector
Tac mode bit gimicky (i rarely use it on the free version)
Still a good turn rate.
Lack of skin customisation (i know it's maybe not important but I like making my ships look unique!)
Multi-mission science vessels (Vesta variants)
Uni boff slots for more flexibility
Up to 4 tac consoles
High turn rate
Hanger bay
Can mount aux cannons (although this doesn't interest me as i won't use phasers anyway)
Low hull HP
Lower shield mod than other sci vessels.
Lack of skin customisation.
Just looking for people's opinions on them and their takes on any pros & cons. I've listed my my opinions of each and at present i'm leaning towards the Fleet Reconnaisance Science Vessel as i like the stats and the look of the ship. Dyson ship is good fun but i just want a proper starfleet looking ship.
Alternatively if anyone has other suggestions then i'm open to those too.
I'm looking to get a new sci ship, will be using it on my tac toon as i've recently started to really like this style of play. It allows reasonable dps with the right setup (as your captain's tac skills buff sci abilities pretty well) but also allows for some more interesting tactics using the sci skills availible from a sci ship's boff slots, such as healing, drain builds, crowd control.
I've been using Dyson Destroyer (free version) and been trying out the mirror versions of the DSSV and RSV as they are effectivly the same as their prime universe numbers but with swapped skins. This has allowed me to test out various boff setups and weapon loadouts too.
Now i'm looking to move onto a 10 console ship.
Current loadout is centered around polaron beams (or cannons) for drains, coupled with grav well 3 and garv torps for crowd control and killing groups of targets. I'm also using tykens rift a fair bit too to suplement other people's grav wells.
I'm wanting to upgrade to a fleet ship, or any other 10 console equivalent but just looking for opinions on the options below.
Fleet Reconnaisance Science Vessel
4 tac consoles
Reasonable hull HP
High shield mod
Plenty of sci stations allows a wide variety of skills.
Only lt. & ens. tac stations
Fleet Science Vessel Retrofit (Nova)
Fast
Lt. Cmdr. tac slot.
Only 3 tac consoles
Low hull HP
Fleet Deep Space Science Vessel
High hull HP
High crew No.
Still a reasonable turn rate.
Only 1 lt. tac boff slot
Only 2 tac consoles
Dyson Science Destroyers (C-store versions)
High hull HP
Highest shield mod availible
Lt. cmdr. tac boff slot (with Cmdr. in tac mode)
Up to 4 tac consoles
Can mount DHCs
4th weapon if used in tac mode
Currently only vessel with secondary deflector
Tac mode bit gimicky (i rarely use it on the free version)
Still a good turn rate.
Lack of skin customisation (i know it's maybe not important but I like making my ships look unique!)
Multi-mission science vessels (Vesta variants)
Uni boff slots for more flexibility
Up to 4 tac consoles
High turn rate
Hanger bay
Can mount aux cannons (although this doesn't interest me as i won't use phasers anyway)
Low hull HP
Lower shield mod than other sci vessels.
Lack of skin customisation.
Just looking for people's opinions on them and their takes on any pros & cons. I've listed my my opinions of each and at present i'm leaning towards the Fleet Reconnaisance Science Vessel as i like the stats and the look of the ship. Dyson ship is good fun but i just want a proper starfleet looking ship.
Alternatively if anyone has other suggestions then i'm open to those too.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
2. Overall, the Vesta are the best offensive science ships, if you want a science ship for the sake of a good offensive science ship, then the Vesta is the best
3. The Deep space's problem (similar to the nebula's) is that it lacks firepower, You CAN use it in PVE if you want, but it is best used in a support role in PVP.
4.The Recon and Nova are nice and are fairly basic science ships, if you are looking for a good, solid, reliable, and basic Science ship without any special abilities, consoles, etc, than they are a good choice.
I support this 100%.
I personally use the Fleet Recon and love it more than the Nova (as strange a sit may seem).
Regarding the Vesta, is it really better than the Dyson? I look at the stats and the Dyson has higher hull, shields and is just as manouverable. Plus the Dyson has the option of using a 4th weapon. The uni consoles are nice but if you're aiming for one particular playstyle you'll likely set them one way and not change that. So to me they look almost identical at best.
5 words: Aux Dual Phaser heavy Cannons.
Other ships take the bulky science betters, the weapons on the Dyson forces it into using a specific energy type and is not ALL that great since it is not changeable., and the ability to have aux maxed maxed out allows the Vesta to have good power and great CC healing.
He/She might not have/want to spend all that money to even get one, yet alone the entire set as well,
Although it comes with the aux cannons, you can mount normal DHCs on it. They are very nice though.
The uni boff slots makes it a very flexible ship. Pop some Elite Yellowstones in the hangar slot and watch the good times roll.
Mine Trap Supporter
I can see the logic in the aux phaser cannons but is the trade off with the phaser proc being less than useless worth it for limiting yourself to that energy type?
General opinion seems to be that phasers are not worth it as the proc is barely noticable, and generaly either antiproton, disruptors or polarons are the best option.
Plus using polarons at the moment i can basically shut a ship down, phasers would only stop the weapons.
Also the way I see it this is no different than the dyson ship in terms of locking you into a certain energy/weapon type.
Really, energy type matters little in the long run, and the gain from them (good damage AND good control) are just as useful as any weapon proc. As for the forcing thing, you are not forced into the aux phaser cannons. They are incredibly useful, but unlike the Dyson ship, they are not Forced on you.
Proc rate on energy weapons is still 2.5% right? Why does that sway people to call an energy weapon they don't like something such as "useless."
I personally fly the Fleet Neb a lot but if you're looking to get some maximum DPS from your boat then it's probably not the best boat. As a support ship/crowd control it's top notch. With the new spire consoles you can even go rainbow beams on it if you want to try and hit multiple proc types.
As a TAC in it you have access to skills that would help its damage output but your bridge officer abilities would be limited to a maximum of 2 TAC ensign and 2 TAC lieutenants so that would be a consideration.
The large hull and the right gear (I use Borg most of the time) makes it really durable and with the various Team heal skills recently taken off shared cool down you can now have a LOT of heals for yourself or your teammates running all the time.
Weapons, Shields, Aux, Engines, Phasers can shut down any of those, but in the end, it is really just a 2.5 % proc for any of these abilities and it doesn't matter all that much.
What matters is having high grade firepower coupled with high auxillary power.
I own the Vesta and I kinda want to go back to the Long Range Science Vessel Retrofit or the Science Vessel Retrofit, because I dig their looks. But I don't think I'll do that, because I'd lose a lot of fire power, and only get a visual upgrade (at best, it's not like I dislike the Vesta looks - it's not a Deep Space Science Vessel or Research Science Vessel).
I think for a long time, the Long Range Science Vessel was the best of them all, because you can utilize all those science slots. But compared to the Vesta, it now lacks firepower. And I don't know anything about those lottery ships.
The Vesta 3 pack runs at $50. If you take that $50 and instead buy keys with it and then sell them for EC, you can get very close to the price of a Wells.
I have a Wells myself and quite frankly, it's the science ship of my dreams. Insanely flexible boff layout, 1.45 shield mod, 15 turn rate, and it's fast. I retired my Vesta for it and I don't regret it at all. The Temporal Backstep is an incredible panic button for when I get a bit too aggressive and bite off more than I can chew. Plus it looks amazing. It's everything I've ever wanted in a sci ship.
That said, the Wells is a single character unlock. It's also just 1 ship. It's a heavy investment for just a single ship that you can only use once. The Vesta 3 pack is account bound and you get 3 ships to play with. Speaking strictly cost wise, the Vesta pack is a much better value. So it's down to a matter of what you really want and how far you want your money to go.
Edit: Oh yeah I forgot. If you choose to sell keys, make very, very sure that you have the EC cap increase if you're F2P. If you don't, then you will lose any EC you get over 10mil. Don't do that. Buy the EC cap increase.
Mine Trap Supporter
So the Dyson destroyer's protonic polaron cannons are fused? Eeeewww. If I was considering buying it, that'd definitely be a deal breaker.
Why would you WANT to mount normal DHC on a Vesta? If you're going to use DHC on a Vesta, you should probably use ones that will be feeding off something you should be running full power to.
If you want a science ship with DHC, you want the Vesta. If you want an escort with science, you want the Advanced Escort.
Also, anything but phasers on a modern Starfleet ship? Heresy.
Several reasons
You can also run the Chimera as a tac-sci.
QFT!
The nebby and the fleet recon are nice but the vesta's boff seating simply makes it way more flexible and it has a hanger. I have run 4 very different builds on it and it is a blast to fly.
While it's certainly not an offensively oriented ship, and has a questionable turn-rate at best(easily offset with some decent RCS consoles), it's an excellent defensive-support and crowd-control ship, and it's Tachyon Detection Grid universal console is quite useful even in certain stfs; if any Klingon ships are hiding(you know which stfs and pve queues I'm talking about), this'll give them a rude awakening!
She can take a hit pretty well, too...yeah, she looks like a flying pancake, but hey, style doesn't count for everything!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/CapeMike/screenshot_2014-03-09-23-24-20.jpg (just a look at my personal Fleet Nebula Retrofit)
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That said, I would wait for the next 50 % off mark before I buy any ship on the C-Store. That is the prize I bought them at, too. (And I think it was all lifetime subscriber money.)
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One thing i'm actually looking forward to is the new secondary deflectors as they will add in some new options for all sci ships.
I'm thinking maybe the Vesta then.
It means I can go with full aux power and still put out damage with fwd weapons.
Thinking 2x aux DHCs & Grav torp fwd, and 2x fleet turrets aft with maybe the KCB or another torp (omega maybe).
I suppose i can see the logic i not worrying about the proc type. At the end of the day the dmg you're putting out is the main thing you want to be worrying about. The flavour of your weapons only changes what that 2.5% proc does.
I doubt i'll go with the 3 pack unless there's a good c-store sale any time soon though.
I'll basically be saving all my dil and then converting to zen when the exchange is good. That'll take a while to save up so hopefully i'll have enough when/if a sale comes along. Plus EC's are not too hard to get from loot farming (but still not easy enough to get to justify a lockbox ship's price).
Just one question though.
At the moment i'm using ships that only have 3 tac consoles and i'm happy with the dmg i'm putting out. So would it be sensible to go with the eng or sci version of the vesta to use the extra eng or sci consoles they would provide to make the ship tougher (e.g. extra armour or extra field gens)?
Perfectly up to you, I use the Actual Vesta (the science one) and it does great.
You could. Many opt to use the sci version with 5 sci consoles. You can then put a DPS oriented pet in the hangar bay to help boost your damage.
I went with the tac Vesta myself and then put Yellowstones in the hangar bay. The tac version comes with a phaser death beam console and it's damage is boosted by phaser tac consoles. So if you go aux DHCs and 4 phaser consoles, you can match that to the death beam and get some very, very nice damage out of it.
I haven't seen anyone using the eng version nor have I used it myself so I can't say on that one.
It just depends on what type of sci ship you want to fly. Do you want stronger sci skills or a bit more weapons firepower?
Mine Trap Supporter
I also have a Voth Palisade Science Ship. If you have the Lobi for it, it's a neat little ship that can handle a variety of builds. It has a good hull for a sci ship, decent agility, and universal BOFF slots so you can have a LCDR Tac if you want, though having only two Tac consoles is a bit limiting. I currently have mine set up as a Transphasic torpedo boat using Torp Spread 2/3, GW 1/3 and a Spatial Charge Launcher to trap and blast piles of targets. It would also work well as an all-beam support boat, sort of like a mini-cruiser. I just wish I had the Voth special consoles to go with it.