Working a Science Officer

flash525 · May 2014

Earlier today I achieved Level #50 on my Science Character; it's not the first time I've created a Science Toon, but this is the first time I've stuck with one, and finished the leveling on it. Previous attempts didn't get much passed level #30 if my memory serves me right. Anyway, I want to use this guy as a proper Science Officer, thus obviously not throwing his TRIBBLE into an Escort. A lot of people rave about the Vesta but I'm not looking to spend that much zen on a ship.

I've got the Nebula Retrofit (one of Cryptic's freebees last year) along with the Intrepid Retrofit (lifetime token) and the likely the two mirror science vessels (I opted to use the Star Cruiser with the Tier #4 Token). The only Fleet Ship that I'd contemplate is the Support Cruiser (Ambassador) because of it's Bridge Officer seating and console setup, but then I didn't particularly have plans to use a dated design. If they had a Fleet Star Cruiser with a Lt.Cmd Science then my problems would be solved, but they don't, and I find myself pondering what ship to go ahead with.

There's also the rep side of things, with my main, I've completed all of the rep raise except for the Undine. My KDF and Republic characters are part way through the Omega/Nukara/Mol'rhian Rep (Dyson yet to start). I'm wondering whether I'd need to push through the Omega or Undine Rep for a Science Officer?

If anyone has a successful Science, I'd like to hear from you. Likewise, anyone that has any other comments on this, please, speak up. I'm used to playing with Engineers in Cruisers (all my other toons are such), this Science Route is a new one for me, so I'm going to need all the help I can get.

centaurianalpha · May 2014

Likewise, I just recently finished leveling up my Sci captain, (Rom/Fed). She's flying a Romulan tactical ship (can't recall the model), and seems to be doing ok in episodes so far. I find that the Sci captain seems weakest in ground action, but this may be partly because I haven't got a good kit loaded up yet, and was lagging a bit in other personal gear, as well. I actually trained the Sci captain much the way I have with my Eng captains, focusing mainly on ship performance balance, as opposed to DPS buffs or defensive tanking, and durability under fire.

rinkster · May 2014

I'd consider the fleet nebula.

And, as you picked up the freebie, it'll only cost you one FSM.

strorus · May 2014

Hi,

Ok I know you said no to the Vesta due to cost, but it is the best Sci ship. I won't bother going into too much detail, but here's the basics of my build and the strategy I use most.

Fore Weapons: 1x Dyson Grav Photon Torp and 2x Aux Dual Heavy Cannons
Aft: 3x Phaser Turrets

Pop a Gravity Well III, suck in all enemies, Sensor scan them all, pop Tactical Team I, Torp Spread II and Cannon Scatter Volley II and watch the fireworks...

This will, 9 out of 10 times finish all enemies caught in the Gravity Well, with damage from the Gravity Well, Grav. Torps, Grav. Torps Wells, Cannon Scatter Volley and then Warp Core Breaches of exploding ships...

... However, if there are any stragglers left, continue to fly towards the group of enemies and pop Tractor Beam Repulsors II with the Pull DOff, this should finish them off.

The Vesta with this build you can have other options for 1 on 1 with boss ships if you have the full Vesta Console set etc.

Otherwise, my secondary RP build is in the Fleet Intrepid...

Similar to the Vesta, here's the basics and strategy I most use...

Fore Wespons 1x Experimental Romulan beam array, 1x Romulan Beam Array and either Omega or Romulan Plasma Torp.
Aft Weapons: 1x Romulan Beam Array, 1x Borg Cutting Beam and then either the Omega or Romulan Plasma Torp.

Put both full Omega and Romulan Console/Weapon/Weapon Sets on your ship.

Pop Gravity Well III, Sensor Scann, Tactical Team I and Beam Fire at Will II and Plasma Hyper Flux; continue flying toward your Gravity Well and pop Tractor Beam Repulsors II with the Pull DOff.

The Plasma Burns, Grav Well, Plasma Torps and Tractor Repulsors (Pull) will do the trick, but can take longer then the Vesta Build above.

If you want more detailed full versions of either of the above builds ,let me know.

Cheers

rinkster · May 2014

strorus wrote: »

Hi,

Ok I know you said no to the Vesta due to cost, but it is the best Sci ship.

Cheers

That's a matter of taste.

The Vesta is full of gimmicks, but a bit papery.

Quite frankly, I'd rate the Wells, the fleet Nova, the adapted BC and the fleet nebula ahead of it.

catliketyping · May 2014

No Klingon Bird of Prey for you, then. Truly, those are the best science ships in the whole game!

Why not an Atrox, especially if 1) you dont want an pewpew'scort and 2) you enjoy the cruiser game? I like my Atrox as well as my Vo'quv. With an Atrox, you have strong Sci and pets to keep you from needing to play the 'scort cannon spaz.

It boggles the mind to hear the complaints about that setup... but, indeed the Atrox is no Armitage.

adamkafei · May 2014

Have a look at http://kaysvaultofstuff.weebly.com/science.html

I know I haven't covered the full range of ships yet, it's a work in progress with only myself working on it as and when I feel up to it but there are a few Intrepid builds and a nice range of fleet Nova builds. I hope to get the rest of the range sorted out when I get my account unbanned.

talonxv · May 2014

Also a cheap alternative is the Mirror Nova. Great little ship that you can pick up for under 150K on the exchange.

erei1 · May 2014

I know you said no escorts, but you might consider the Breen chel grett (spelling ?). Using a GW1 + sensor scan + cannon scatter volley + apb was so much fun on my sci. And it's a free ship, just wait for next winter

Otherwise, the borg gear is always good. Then, I use the nukara set on the wells for the DBB build, but honestly, it's clearly not a DPS set, it's more for flavor and CC.

As for ship, I own the wells and the vesta. While the wells is a very good sci ship (and so beautiful), it's not great on the DPS side. On the contrary, the Vesta is a beast when it comes to DPS, but it's slightly less good for pure sci.
However, both of them have a cost. I was lucky to buy the wells at 60m about a year ago.

The Dyson destroyer is a "cheap" vesta. It's a ship full of gimmick and that's pretty much it. However, I don't think you have one.

rinkster · May 2014

erei1 wrote: »

I know you said no escorts, but you might consider the Breen chel grett (spelling ?). Using a GW1 + sensor scan + cannon scatter volley + apb was so much fun on my sci. And it's a free ship, just wait for next winter

Otherwise, the borg gear is always good. Then, I use the nukara set on the wells for the DBB build, but honestly, it's clearly not a DPS set, it's more for flavor and CC.

As for ship, I own the wells and the vesta. While the wells is a very good sci ship (and so beautiful), it's not great on the DPS side. On the contrary, the Vesta is a beast when it comes to DPS, but it's slightly less good for pure sci.
However, both of them have a cost. I was lucky to buy the wells at 60m about a year ago.

The Dyson destroyer is a "cheap" vesta. It's a ship full of gimmick and that's pretty much it. However, I don't think you have one.

Fairly said.

A lot comes down to how one approaches this.

Are they looking to do high DPS, a science flavored escort?

Or are they looking for the unique science ship experience?

The Vesta, or possibly the Mobius, are best for the former.

The list I gave earlier is for those who choose the latter.

And both are totally fun things to do.

jslyn · May 2014

A science Officer was my main until Romulans came out.

Ignoring the Vesta, I would say to go with the Intrepid (Long Range Science). It has higher stats than the Nova (which is nice in its own right). I would suggest snagging the Fleet one since you have the C-Store variant already.

The Intrepid has a ton of Science Stations. Equip them with Draining and Disabling skills like Energy Siphon, Tachyon Beam, Tyken's Rift and a Photonic Officer skill to drop all of your cooldowns.

Then set-up your Intrepid as a Torpedo Boat. Transphasics or Plasma is a good choice, as is getting the Hot Pursuit Trait from the Exchange to greatly enhance your mines' capabilities. All of the Drain Skills will drop enemy shields in a hurry. The Ablative Armor Generator will allow you to fire off projectiles while not taking any damage in return for a time.

Its a fun way to play a Sci differently than other classes as you actually get a use out of your sci powers.

vestereng · May 2014

Pick a ship you really enjoy and build around it.

Though in my opinion sci is the weakest and most boring class in space.

I do have science characters and I do play them but I originally only made them to tank for ground stf back when stf was stf and we used to play all the maps.

Luckily pve is over the top easy so you can get away with anything.

Personally I am royally into carriers because I watch tv while playing and those just playing for me.

So my favorite ship I got is actually an atrox with elite scorpions, aux2bat free version doffs, grav well and feedback pulse.

I guess that qualifies as a sci ship but I got an engi in mine.

/edit

ps. recently I added 2 x recharge time on torpedos doff for atrox, which are easy to get, and it works great.
The reasoning being since you have power to aux it makes sense to be heavy into torpedos that don't depend on power for dps...

flash525 · May 2014

rinkster wrote: »

I'd consider the fleet nebula.

And, as you picked up the freebie, it'll only cost you one FSM.

I had figured that this worked the same way as lifetime tokens, in that ships purchased with a lifetime token would still require a full set of ship modules? If that isn't the case here, then the decision is pretty clear for me as to where to go.

@ Those that have mentioned the Intrepid build, short of turn rate, I'm pretty sure I can achieve that with the Nebula.

catliketyping wrote: »

Why not an Atrox, especially if 1) you dont want an pewpew'scort and 2) you enjoy the cruiser game? I like my Atrox as well as my Vo'quv. With an Atrox, you have strong Sci and pets to keep you from needing to play the 'scort cannon spaz.

It boggles the mind to hear the complaints about that setup... but, indeed the Atrox is no Armitage.

erei1 wrote: »

I know you said no escorts, but you might consider the Breen chel grett (spelling ?). Using a GW1 + sensor scan + cannon scatter volley + apb was so much fun on my sci. And it's a free ship, just wait for next winter

I'm one of those awkward players that wont use alien ships. This is a Federation character and will be using Federation ships. I'm not willing to pay the asking price for a Wells either.

catliketyping wrote: »

The Dyson destroyer is a "cheap" vesta. It's a ship full of gimmick and that's pretty much it. However, I don't think you have one.

Unfortunately, the Dyson Ship is as ugly as sin.

adamkafei wrote: »

Have a look at http://kaysvaultofstuff.weebly.com/science.html

I know I haven't covered the full range of ships yet, it's a work in progress with only myself working on it as and when I feel up to it but there are a few Intrepid builds and a nice range of fleet Nova builds. I hope to get the rest of the range sorted out when I get my account unbanned.

Just had a look through this, sure got your work cut out. Bookmarked though, I'll be keeping check where you go here.

johngazman · May 2014

Worth considering the RSV and DSSV and their mirror counterparts. Stat wise they're not going to stack up to the Intrepid or Nebula Retro, but they're easily workable endgame science ships.

Also, if you're looking for a Science/Engineering mix, Nebula is one of the best choices. Mirror Nova Retro also has a Lt. Cdr Engineering slot. And if you're splashing out, the Vesta is great for multi-purpose-ness.

jagdhippies · May 2014

There is no need to get the vesta 3 pack, getting only the tac vesta is good enough. The boff stations are the same and the special consoles are not useful. If the vesta is still out, the nebby still does very*well for me when I am not flying my vesta.

strorus · May 2014

I am surprised by the number of people calling the Vesta Consoles (and even the Dyson consoles) gimmicky.

With my skills on the Vesta...

- My Quantum Deflector Phaser can deal upwards of 8K per tick, and that's 12 ticks... I have on my own brought down a Tac Cube in seconds with this, and other boss ships, especially when this Crits.

- My Kinetic movement bubble aura power (I forget what is called) reflects over 100% of kinetic damage back at the damager dealer... I remember once in PvP 3 Stealth Bombers fired torps and mines at me, I had this power on and all three died with the reflected damage.

- The Fermion field is a great solo and team healer, especially for your hanger pets and those of your team mates around you. Great oh **** power.

- And last the Quantum Shields, again great Oh **** power and with my skill offer over 100% all damage resistance.

I won't bother explaining what I get out of the Dyson Consoles, but I get them equally effective as the Vesta powers. But agree, whilst the KDF and Rom Dyson ships are beautiful, the Fed one is Fugly so stopped flying it after the novelty of the powers wore off and went back to my trusty Vesta...

Don't forget the Undine Rep is offering sets that will increase the damage of Phaser and Photon damage, perfect for the Vesta Aux Cannons and Grav Photon Torp.

Cheers

jslyn · May 2014

strorus wrote: »

- And last the Quantum Shields, again great Oh **** power and with my skill offer over 100% all damage resistance.

And then you hit Evasive Maneuvers and Ramming Speed.

flash525 wrote: »

@ Those that have mentioned the Intrepid build, short of turn rate, I'm pretty sure I can achieve that with the Nebula.

They are pretty close, yeah. Intrepid has more Sci Bridge Officer Slots, Nebula has more Engineering. Intrepid has more Shields, Nebula wins out on Hull. Nebula would have a harder time as Torp Boat but if you want a Beam Boat, then it works fine.

For a Beam Boat, you can add Polaron weapon to supplement my suggested Energy Drain Build. You'll need it since going Beams means you'll need Weapon Power and that cuts down on your Sci-Required Aux Power Levels (unless you're going to cut Shields instead). Put a lot of points in to Flow Capacitors regardless.

For a Generic Build, you could use the common Gravity Well 3 with everything else as a Heal of one type or another. I don't find it to be much fun as Scis are supposed to be Debuffers and not DPSers. But if you go that route, get the Gravimetric Torpedo from the Dyson Rep. Try to max-out Graviton Generators and Particle Generators, and grab the Consoles that boost them. Then slot Gravimetric Scientist DOffs. Finally, get the Torpedo Spread skill.

This will (when you are lucky) allow you to create several Gravity Wells with a Torp Spread, each doing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1K DPS to each ship in the clusters per Well.

flash525 · May 2014

jslyn wrote: »

They are pretty close, yeah. Intrepid has more Sci Bridge Officer Slots, Nebula has more Engineering. Intrepid has more Shields, Nebula wins out on Hull. Nebula would have a harder time as Torp Boat but if you want a Beam Boat, then it works fine.

I have the Intrepid Retrofit from the C-Store (lifetime token) so can default back to that if I desire, though I'm not willing to spend the asking price of four fleet modules for a Fleet Intrepid when I can get a Fleet Nebula for just the one.

jslyn wrote: »

For a Beam Boat, you can add Polaron weapon to supplement my suggested Energy Drain Build. You'll need it since going Beams means you'll need Weapon Power and that cuts down on your Sci-Required Aux Power Levels (unless you're going to cut Shields instead). Put a lot of points in to Flow Capacitors regardless.

I'm eying up the Protonic Polaron from the Dyson Rewards.

jslyn wrote: »

For a Generic Build, you could use the common Gravity Well 3 with everything else as a Heal of one type or another. I don't find it to be much fun as Scis are supposed to be Debuffers and not DPSers. But if you go that route, get the Gravimetric Torpedo from the Dyson Rep. Try to max-out Graviton Generators and Particle Generators, and grab the Consoles that boost them. Then slot Gravimetric Scientist DOffs. Finally, get the Torpedo Spread skill.

This will (when you are lucky) allow you to create several Gravity Wells with a Torp Spread, each doing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1K DPS to each ship in the clusters per Well.

Noted. Thanks!

guard41 · May 2014

The Nebula is my favorite ship. some time last year i bought the 4 ship modules off the exchange and got the fleet nebula to play with. this was my first toon and while i leveled up, i made it a point to try out lots of ships. my last one was the assault cruiser, which I really liked, but didn't have the science skills. So I settled on a cruiser like ship.

my nebula never dies and still puts out 10k dps on a good ISE run. I like to heal my team mates and control whats happening with with the science officers. since you got one for free, try it out!

rinkster · May 2014

guard41 wrote: »

The Nebula is my favorite ship. some time last year i bought the 4 ship modules off the exchange and got the fleet nebula to play with. this was my first toon and while i leveled up, i made it a point to try out lots of ships. my last one was the assault cruiser, which I really liked, but didn't have the science skills. So I settled on a cruiser like ship.

my nebula never dies and still puts out 10k dps on a good ISE run. I like to heal my team mates and control whats happening with with the science officers. since you got one for free, try it out!

And if you got it free in the giveaway last year, it'll only cost OP one FSM for the fleet version.

strorus · May 2014

guard41 wrote: »

The Nebula is my favorite ship. some time last year i bought the 4 ship modules off the exchange and got the fleet nebula to play with. this was my first toon and while i leveled up, i made it a point to try out lots of ships. my last one was the assault cruiser, which I really liked, but didn't have the science skills. So I settled on a cruiser like ship.

my nebula never dies and still puts out 10k dps on a good ISE run. I like to heal my team mates and control whats happening with with the science officers. since you got one for free, try it out!

Out of curiosity, what's you build on your Nebula... The nebula is one of the few Sci ship I haven't really tried.

jslyn · May 2014

flash525 wrote: »

I have the Intrepid Retrofit from the C-Store (lifetime token) so can default back to that if I desire, though I'm not willing to spend the asking price of four fleet modules for a Fleet Intrepid when I can get a Fleet Nebula for just the one.

I don't blame you. I was just comparing-contrasting and not judging.

flash525 wrote: »

I'm eying up the Protonic Polaron from the Dyson Rewards.

That is not a bad choice for Drainy Goodness. If you equip the Jem'Hadar Space Set, it will boost your attack power with those.

flash525 wrote: »

Noted. Thanks!

Glad to be of assistance.

Don't underestimate the Photonic Officer (the ability, not the character type). It gives a Global BOff Skill cooldown (including itself) for a minute per use. It is, like, a quarter-off for the Lieutenant Level Ability alone. If you want to slot the Commander Rank one its around a 40% recharge cut. That will nearly double your use of other abilities. Worth considering.

guard41 · May 2014

I went fleet plasma beam arrays with the romulan beam and console. a couple of consoles from the embassy too, to boost plasma damage and gravity well. I also use the leech and keep my power levels nice and high for that warp core damage boost. for the universal officer station i use tactical so i have 2 copies of tactical team attack pattern beta and fire at will

I use 2 piece maco and adapted maco shields. I ended up with a hull of 50k and shields at 20k.

Now that I know more about the game i have been tempted to try out the fleet shields like i have on my other toons avenger, but i don't think it needs it. its tough

ufpterrell · May 2014

The Nebula is a good ship, but I have to agree that the Vesta is the best you can get. I got the bundle on day 1 and never looked back. It just does so much and looks great doing it

. The other ship I would suggest is getting the mirror nova. It's a great ship and really fun, there are some who have the fleet version and say they will never leave it for anything else.

vetteguy904 · May 2014

Atrox, Recluse or the mirror nova.

Working a Science Officer

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