I haven't posted in a while since there hasn't been any change in my ship loadout. With three weeks to go until DR starts, I've been busy loading up on fleet marks and dilithium to pump into the next fleet holding. My fleet's T3 Spire finishes this Friday, and for some reason it's taking forever to finish our last T4 starbase special project, which happens to be the Tellarite duty officer. I guess slow and steady wins the race.
I have been considering the possibility of trading APO3 for APB3 and then using a sci power to escape tractor beams. If anyone has a good idea of what to pick up power-wise, please post a reply in the thread and I'll give it a try.
Thanks for reading!
Edit: I did switch back to using the Subspace Field Modulator. Turns out that I use it more than I thought I did.
Okay, this is a serious issue for me, so if you have ANY input, please post a reply:
I see a lot of players are having issues with the upgrade weekend. More specifically, certain consoles and weapons are losing modifiers and stats when upgraded. This makes me want to avoid upgrading any of my Lobi or Reputation gear. If you have firsthand knowledge of whether or not a particular item upgrade is safe to upgrade, I would like to hear from you. Here is the link to my build one more time:
I have been considering the possibility of trading APO3 for APB3 and then using a sci power to escape tractor beams. If anyone has a good idea of what to pick up power-wise, please post a reply in the thread and I'll give it a try.
Attack Pattern Beta only applies when you use Energy Weapons. You will see zero benefit on a purely kinetic build.
I can't help much on the gear upgrade side as I've mostly been avoiding it until DR releases and I'll be able to test the upgrades on Tribble. (The main exceptions I've made are the Elachi Pistol, Energy Whip and the Quad Disruptor Cannons - which were already inferior.)
Edit: On a side note, it is nice to see how well your build has evolved over time, you've definitely polished the ship into a gem.
Attack Pattern Beta only applies when you use Energy Weapons. You will see zero benefit on a purely kinetic build.
I don't think that's correct. I do believe I've seen APB stacking onto my targets when using Torpedoes ... but NOT when using Mines. Mines, apparently, don't "count" for APB because the damage isn't (technically speaking) coming directly from your ship ... it's coming from a (suicide) Pet that's inflicting the damage on impact. Torpedoes though DO come from your ship in a rather direct fashion, so if I recall correctly, APB does apply.
The caveat here though is that Beam weapons are "instant" direct damage to your target(s), so there's no lag between firing and debuffing. Torpedoes, of course, have flight times, and it is entirely possible depending on the configuration of the engagement for the APB debuff to expire before the torpedo can impact for damage, since the APB debuff only lasts 5 seconds.
Furthermore, APB stacks its debuff power in parallel, deepening the Resistance loss of the target, rather than in series, lengthening the duration of the vulnerability. As a result, it may be profitable to combine APB with TS for multiple impacts in a very short time window.
The alternative, of course, is to use Attack Pattern Delta instead, buffing yourself, and then letting any reactive fire from your target do the debuffing of their Resistances for you ... just in time for any Torpedoes and/or Mines to impact them. Use of APD instead of APB then relies on them shooting at you, rather than you shooting at them, and the uptime is 1/3 on APD instead of 1/2 for APB ... but then APD can be used with a bit more versatility since it can be used on either yourself of a teammate who currently has aggro.
The caveat here though is that Beam weapons are "instant" direct damage to your target(s), so there's no lag between firing and debuffing. Torpedoes, of course, have flight times, and it is entirely possible depending on the configuration of the engagement for the APB debuff to expire before the torpedo can impact for damage, since the APB debuff only lasts 5 seconds.
Torpedos do apply APB but they would have the problem of timing between shots to maximize its uptime like you mentioned. HOWEVER the op does have the rapid fire missile launcher. The OP once chimed in on my stealth bomber thread and to use his own advice against him i would say...go out and try it out yourself and see if your rapid fire launcher makes APB stick. Just train a trash boff in apb1 go out and pew pew some stuff. If the rapid fire launcher makes APB stick and for the full duration just like any beam array then the next question would be what's the damage difference between APB3 and APO3. But i'm assuming that this is already known since the question has probably been asked lots of times.
The alternative, of course, is to use Attack Pattern Delta instead, buffing yourself, and then letting any reactive fire from your target do the debuffing of their Resistances for you ... just in time for any Torpedoes and/or Mines to impact them. Use of APD instead of APB then relies on them shooting at you, rather than you shooting at them, and the uptime is 1/3 on APD instead of 1/2 for APB ... but then APD can be used with a bit more versatility since it can be used on either yourself of a teammate who currently has aggro.
That's not a bad idea. Incidentally, I acquired the Jem Hadar doff that boosts APD. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
The OP once chimed in on my stealth bomber thread and to use his own advice against him i would say...go out and try it out yourself and see if your rapid fire launcher makes APB stick.
It wasn't so much the question of whether I should use APB versus APO, but what other ability I should use to break tractor beams and other holds if I switch from APO.
As far as trying it out, you can be sure that I will.:)
It wasn't so much the question of whether I should use APB versus APO, but what other ability I should use to break tractor beams and other holds if I switch from APO.
As far as trying it out, you can be sure that I will.:)
Well looking at your build, tractor beam 1 seems to be the obvious choice for replacement. Unless there is some reason that you *must* have that tractor beam like if you pvp or something.
I run double sci on my torp tvaro too but i have:
ST1-PH2-GW1
HE1-PH2
The reason i run two PH is for the resists. Since i do mostly pugs i end up getting aggro a lot of times. So i keep my resists high and my defenses high. I also run 125 aux and 81 engine power and that much aux gives me +85 damage resist from my PH2. I also run aux damp for just a little more speed and resist and for when i have to make a sprint away and make a really quick turn to face my target. As an added bonus running that setup also gives me the tractor immunity i need through PH. But my main reason for going with ph and damp was for the resists.
I think I myself will be holding off on upgrades even for my main. My RSV is still incomplete, I jumped into an ISE by accident yesterday, and a kind fellow told me I beat two others with a modest 5k DPS. Better than I expected, but much room for improvement. I've only just got this character to 50 and am leveling the Omega Rep. Darinjan, what are your thoughts on the Mat'Ha PSW trait?
Darinjan, what are your thoughts on the Mat'Ha PSW trait?
Interesting. KDF players receive a baby Nadion Detonator as a level five unlock, along with a CPB for energy weapons. So, you get a free boff power and a free console power in exchange for the grind. Not bad, especially if they don't share cooldowns with the same powers that are equipped.
For the rest of our intrepid readers, I have been pulled seven ways to Sunday recently, which prevented me from posting anything new in the thread. I'm still waiting for a key sale and to hit my first level 15 R&D in Projectile Weapons. Word on the street is that leveling becomes considerably easier as one gains the ability to create Superior Tech upgrades. Plus, I'm busy with school and a new job and recovery from the plague. So, with a full plate and an empty stomach, I offer you all best wishes and a healthy rest of the week before Delta Rising. In the meantime, I will sit back and enjoy yet another cup of tea whilst suffering from the most creepy of cruds.
BTW, if you haven't tried it yet, upgrading an item from infinity to Mk XII demostrates some pretty nifty stat gains, all without spending any dilithium whatsoever.
More importantly, for torp users you get a mini stun on every projectile hit, wish I could get it on my RSV. Sorry to hear you were sick. Tis the season for sickness it seems.
More importantly, for torp users you get a mini stun on every projectile hit, wish I could get it on my RSV. Sorry to hear you were sick. Tis the season for sickness it seems.
Thanks, Dragon. Everyone is ill around here. 'Tis the season indeed!
I took a pass, for better or worse, on picking up a discounted LRSV refit during the sale this past weekend. Nadion Detonator would be a sweet addition to a torp boat, but where do you put it? I'm already torn as to what I might have to drop to add BEC and BGP both. One may have to take a back seat, but I won't know until I get to play around with them in the game.
Six days until DR. I can't wait! This is better than Christmas when you're a kid.
With a day to go, I can honestly say I am excited for the release of Delta Rising. Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong, I should be online sometime after 8pm EDT to check out all of the new game mechanics.
This weekend, I went ahead and opened 50 lock boxes. I got the Lobi crystals I needed for the Bioneural Infusion Circuits and swapped it with my Romulan Zero-Point console. I have to say it's quite awesome.
I upgraded the Bioneural Infusion Circuits, Tachyokinetic Converter, Rule 62 Console, and Rapid Fire Missiles to Mk XIII. No rarity increase yet, but the stat improvements were very promising. I can't wait to hit level 15 in the R&D categories so I can craft better upgrades. Personally, I like slowly upgrading everything on the ship, since it gives me a reason to play more content. The other nice thing about upgrades is that they take a little while to complete, so I can run them like I do the Doff missions, log out to do something else for a while, then come back later to pick up the improvements. Wash, rinse, repeat...so to speak.
Unless there are new tactical consoles that have more appeal to me when the new reputation system is rolled out, I will be upgrading my spire consoles next. I want to see the new reputation quantum torpedoes before I consider upgrading my Advanced Fleet torpedoes. The upgrade system appears to me much more manageable when spread out over time rather than rushing to be #1 on release day. I have seen posts by "Veruca Salt" personalities on the forums who claim they are going to be at Level 60 within minutes of logging in on Tuesday. Good for the collective you! However, I think those folks are going to be back to boredom by the end of the week, and the ensuing content complaints will begin anew.
After some testing, I kept APO on my T'Varo. It just seems to work better. And even if you don't see the value of a tractor beam on a torpedo boat, just remember that it's sometimes the difference between success and failure for STF optionals when someone decides that keeping the Borg away from something is less important than personal dps glory, and you have to save the team from the one pug that aggros EVERYTHING. You know: the player who has a 400 second cooldown after getting blown up for the umpteenth time.
So, I'll finish this post with my T5U plan. I'll probably put the Zero-Point console back on the ship while I work on the Delta Quadrant reputation. I really want to try out the Bioneural Gel Pack when I hit the appropriate tier. Having one more console slot is sweet, but it still leaves me trying to figure out what to cut from my build. Decisions, decisions... What I wouldn't give to figure out how to get a twelfth console on my ship.
I wonder if the developers would consider Mark and Rarity upgrades for starships that improve the number of slots for items. I bet that would generate A LOT of Latinum!
Sorry that I haven't been posting recently. Between school and a new job it's difficult even to find time to play. Upgrades are coming along, but the dilithium requirements for upgrades are steep, and considering that I'm using torpedoes, Argonite Gas isn't cheap either. I've been supplementing by using the rare upgrades, which don't level the items as fast, but I can craft them. I think I've blown well over 200k dilithium on upgrades so far. Hopefully I can update my build later this evening and post the link in another post.
I'm still short of level 60 by around 5-8k skill points, but I should get there soon. I can see how the new leveling system and the upgrades synchronize with the new content. Yes, it's hard to get optionals in STF's and it does seem that the MOB hit point increases are insane, but I'm sure there will be balance at some point in the future. I'm going to rely on Deferi philosophy in the meantime.
Hope you are all well and enjoying the game! I'll post again soon.
Thanks for the update, nice layout there. I'm still carting along with pre-DR gear on my quantum RSV. Still need to get that AMaco gear and CC deflector.
Hello, everyone! Hope the disconnects this weekend aren't getting you down too much. As the weekends are now the only lengthy periods of playtime that I receive, the recent connection issues have thrown a spanner in the works for my game. But since we are here to discuss QUANTUM T'VARO, we'll leave the fixing of things to those who get paid to do so.
Now, on to the update:
The R.R.W. Qanik is now (save one itsy bitsy quantum torpedo in the right rear) a Mk XIV outfitted ship. It's also (with the exception of the Ferengi Missile Launcher) a Very Rare or Better ship. I hit level 15 in Engineering Tech this afternoon, so I crafted some Superior upgrades and pushed my engines and singularity core into XIV territory. I was going to upgrade the missile launcher to Very Rare, but I noticed that it actually LOSES damage dealt with an upgrade. So, until the development team resolves this minor issue, I'm leaving it alone. I might send a bug report, but word has it from other players that many such reports are going unanswered. Maybe I'll get lucky and some enterprising Young Turk will read my post and do something to fix it.
So, Level 15 Tech should make it a lot easier to upgrade ship equipment. "Not so," sayeth me. It turns out that as far as Projectile Tech goes, the Argonite Gas which is so critical to crafting such wonderful technology is simply too expensive to buy off the exchange and too difficult to obtain from STF's. As stupid as this sounds, I upgraded most of my torpedoes with the Rare versions of Tech, simply to improve my chances at doing the STF's that reward the Argonite Gas. It's not happening, folks. The queues are dead. No one can complete them with certainty even if you get a good group together to run them. My alternative is simply to finish what upgrades I can with what I currently have in inventory, then simply craft and sell until I can buy either the Argonite Gas or the Superior Projectile Techs off the exchange. Yes, it is frustrating, but until the STF's become possible to complete or more STF's have the possibility of awarding Argonite Gas, I'm stuck looking for a viable alternative to improve my build.
In closing this evening, let me say that the plan is to improve rarity one item at a time now. I'm going to keep crafting Tech and applying it when I can afford to do so. Grinding dilithium was bad before, but now it's insane. Once I hit Mk XIV Epic for each piece in my build, I will take a deep breath, give myself a pat on the back, and then go out and earn another. First on my list are the Vulnerability Consoles, which only use Beam and/or Cannon Tech, which is simply bizarre to me. I'll have to wade into the somewhat saturated Science and Engineering Tech exchange market and start selling until I can acquire the cash for said upgrades.
More updates to come when I can post. Next week begins another exciting real life chapter of my life, so unless I post on Sunday of this week, I'll see you all sometime next weekend. Take care, all!
Already acquired! A mighty fine bit of hardware, with or without the Bioneural Gel Pack. Just need to upgrade it now.
Not a lot I could do this weekend with the bonus upgrade experience, because I can only grind so much dilithium. I only managed to upgrade the Borg console to Very Rare. Ferengi Missile Launcher is now part of my second loadout along with the Borg Engine when traversing sector space on trade missions.
I'll try to update again this weekend. Thanks for reading!
I am just getting into Torp boats, but have an extremely fun T'Varo combo. It's a combo build of cannons and torps (don't seem to see this), and am building around Plasma / delta
Fleet T-varo T5-U
Front
2x Dominion Polaron (one will switch to Delta Rep cannon), maybe only 1 cannon
1x Neutronic torpedo, 1x Rom Rep Hyper-Torp, 3rd(?) if only 1 cannon
Tac Skills : Cannon Rapid Fire III, Torpedo Spread III
Science : Gravity Well 1, Hazard Emitter 2, Science team 1 (2 more, working on)
I have found that the Torpedo Spread 3 + the two rep torps readdy syncs in. Trigger Torp Spread 3, and fire Neutronic and you get a rapid string of 3 torps (high Speed), followed by the 3 Hyper-Plasmas. Trigger Gravity Well, decloak, Start the Spatical charges and charge at the target with canon Rapid fire III, As you reach aprox 4KM Drop the Mega-Torp (40-50K Blast) and activate the Phase Inverter. There is a good chance you might be in the blast radius, but the inverter will ensure no damage. I have killed PvE Battleships with this baby.
To quote Spock. "I never took the No-Win scenario before. What do you think of my solution?"
oh I forgot. have been thinking of changing the Mine to the other Rep Plasma torp, to drop a string of six goodbye presents as I leave. 3 rep torpedos on the same ship...??
oh I forgot. have been thinking of changing the Mine to the other Rep Plasma torp, to drop a string of six goodbye presents as I leave. 3 rep torpedos on the same ship...??
Sure! And if you really want to go crazy, Kris, try putting as many reputation torpedoes and consoles on your ship that will fit. I would love to see the wild combinations of damage from such a craft.
Okay, ladies and gents, I actually get a whole weekend off this week. Subsequently, I will try to play STO as long as my eyes stay open. The Neutronic torp is now Mk XIII, so I'll be test driving it against Vaudwaur later. If I pick up any salvage off missions, I tend to use it for upgrades right before I logoff. This rarity thing is really killing my buzz for DR and the upgrading system, but I keep trying. Hopefully I get at least one more epic upgrade before Monday rolls around.
I'm also starting to consider upgrading transphasics to see whether or not I want a third loadout for this boat. They will have to be a long term goal, because I really want to see what a maxed-out quantum concept is going to look like once I get all of the upgrades completed. There just isn't enough dilithium in my stash to start playing around with extra toys at the moment.
Speaking of toys, I hear that the Bioneural Gel Pack has been fixed. The only item I might switch out right now would be the Zero Point console. If an extra console slot ever becomes a purchasable item, you know I'm going to be making it an immediate goal to obtain. Ahh, wishful thinking......
In closing today, I should have the build updated at STO Academy in a few minutes, and hopefully I'll see some of you online a bit later. Oh, and someone gave Quantum T'varo another upvote, bringing its total to SIX! Sweet! Thank you, whoever you are!
Well, I was upbeat about this weekend, but just as the time passes, so does my enthusiasm.
Hello again, everyone. I wanted to report to those of you who read this thread about how this weekend is going. Very slow is the answer that seems most appropriate. I finally made it to level 15 in Shield Technology, only to discover that the very rare material input is - yes, you guessed it - ARGONITE GAS! John Lydon asked the audience at the last Sex Pistols show, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" I did, and it happened less than an hour ago. Yeah, it's a bummer, and it can be overcome eventually, but for now it's just plain rotten (see what I did there?)
So, no Argonite Gas to be had anywhere but on the exchange, with ridiculously inflated prices due to its apparent lack of availability anywhere other than broken elite queues. Viscous Cycle is definitely broken. I played it once and failed due to an eight second optional which no one could possibly finish. The other Undine queue didn't yield anything remotely resembling Argonite Gas, so unless I want to try some sort of elite shuttle mission (which I don't - why bother), I'm not getting anything upgraded in a reasonable amount of time in the near future.
I keep asking myself if this was done on purpose in order to force players to spend Zen on R&D boxes. I feel pretty well cynical about how things are going with the game at the moment. I have been saving up some dilithium for these upgrades, and have been spending quite a bit to level up mark and rarity. I think that I'm just going to have to craft advanced upgrades and hoard them until I see that I have enough dilithium to attempt an upgrade that might increase my equipment in rarity. It's a shame, really, because I enjoyed playing up until now. Every time I'm willing to overlook something which has a problem with it in the game, I discover that it's not going to be resolved anytime soon. So, for those of you who are accused of complaining too much about what you perceive as faults with STO, you go right on and continue complaining, because you have a point even if it's lost in the din that ranting inevitably brings.
So, what else? Oh, yeah: I am now within 45K points of reaching the last specialization point that I need in Piloting in order to unlock the space trait for the T'varo. I was hoping this would happen by playing some of the queues mentioned above, but due to the aforementioned problems, it looks like I'll have to wait on the specialization point until the holiday begins. But I am closer than I was, so that's a positive, right?
I also managed to get some more accolade points by just playing the game. It would be cool if the accolade system actually DID something. Again, I'm complaining, and it's probably not worthwhile because I'm not suggesting any solution for said problem. So, here's one I just thought of off the top of my head: allow players to go to the fleet mine to work the mining dailies and give them a chance of collecting bonus materials with the chance of getting "good" materials based off of the accolade points that they've accumulated so far in the game. See? I can come up with good stuff every so often when I want to make the game a better place. And I can imagine players running around wildly asking where to find Klingon Rebels so they can complete a kill accolade and raise the chance of mining Tetrazine by a fraction of a percentage point. (I didn't say Argonite Gas because it's starting to become a "thing" with me.)
Okay. That's enough for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the game.
So, when I'm not sleeping or working, I'm grinding. But I don't mind it so much because it's focused grinding in order to improve survival of the ship during combat. I started doing the system patrols one sector at a time, and they are proving not only to provide some decent XP, but also a nice storyline diversion. I previously ignored the system patrols to concentrate on episodic content, but I think other players might find it useful and entertaining to try them. Mind you, the material rewards are not much, but they are fun to do at least once. Also, the patrols with ground content remind me of how cool planetary generation can be in this game.
Now that the piloting specialization is complete, I've moved on to the space portion of intelligence. Slowly but surely I am filling new boxes, and the effects are really quite useful when my ship gets into real trouble. If anyone has suggestions on what skills are best for a ship like mine, please feel free to post in the thread.
I managed to get my neutronic torpedo to Mk XIV and then I decided to take a break from trying to improve my gear further. I think there needs to be a re-evaluation of the R&D mechanics for rarity upgrades. It's just too expensive for most players at this point, even with the correct materials and upgrades and accelerators. Since the distribution of materials is bottlenecked and the STF's that players need to complete for the rare items are not working properly, I cannot see a benefit to throwing hard work into upgrading gear with a less than fair chance of receiving reward in exchange. This is my opinion, so please don't necessarily let it unduly influence your opinion. I saw a completely Epic JHAC on Reddit yesterday and was completely astounded and jealous simultaneously. Then I thought, "Dude! Great job with upgrading. It must have cost a lot, but great job anyway!"
An update to the Quantum T'varo on STO Academy will be posted shortly. Again, thanks for reading. I hope you are enjoying the updates.
Transphasics are kind of crappy. Especially now that you can grant ALL torpedoes 100% shield penetration for brief windows of time, by using three of the beam overload shieldpen variant Energy Weapon Officers. There are also two traits that improve torpedo shieldpen, Intense Focus and Kinetic Precision.
I run photons and quantum (well, neutronic) and with this little trick, they're devastating.
Hmm, makes me wonder if I should switch from my sci boat. I was going with the idea of using sci powers to drain shields, based around Cygone's idea, but it might no longer be viable.
Comments
I haven't posted in a while since there hasn't been any change in my ship loadout. With three weeks to go until DR starts, I've been busy loading up on fleet marks and dilithium to pump into the next fleet holding. My fleet's T3 Spire finishes this Friday, and for some reason it's taking forever to finish our last T4 starbase special project, which happens to be the Tellarite duty officer. I guess slow and steady wins the race.
I have been considering the possibility of trading APO3 for APB3 and then using a sci power to escape tractor beams. If anyone has a good idea of what to pick up power-wise, please post a reply in the thread and I'll give it a try.
Thanks for reading!
Edit: I did switch back to using the Subspace Field Modulator. Turns out that I use it more than I thought I did.
I see a lot of players are having issues with the upgrade weekend. More specifically, certain consoles and weapons are losing modifiers and stats when upgraded. This makes me want to avoid upgrading any of my Lobi or Reputation gear. If you have firsthand knowledge of whether or not a particular item upgrade is safe to upgrade, I would like to hear from you. Here is the link to my build one more time:
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=quantumtvaro_4674
Thanks!
Attack Pattern Beta only applies when you use Energy Weapons. You will see zero benefit on a purely kinetic build.
I can't help much on the gear upgrade side as I've mostly been avoiding it until DR releases and I'll be able to test the upgrades on Tribble. (The main exceptions I've made are the Elachi Pistol, Energy Whip and the Quad Disruptor Cannons - which were already inferior.)
Edit: On a side note, it is nice to see how well your build has evolved over time, you've definitely polished the ship into a gem.
I don't think that's correct. I do believe I've seen APB stacking onto my targets when using Torpedoes ... but NOT when using Mines. Mines, apparently, don't "count" for APB because the damage isn't (technically speaking) coming directly from your ship ... it's coming from a (suicide) Pet that's inflicting the damage on impact. Torpedoes though DO come from your ship in a rather direct fashion, so if I recall correctly, APB does apply.
The caveat here though is that Beam weapons are "instant" direct damage to your target(s), so there's no lag between firing and debuffing. Torpedoes, of course, have flight times, and it is entirely possible depending on the configuration of the engagement for the APB debuff to expire before the torpedo can impact for damage, since the APB debuff only lasts 5 seconds.
Furthermore, APB stacks its debuff power in parallel, deepening the Resistance loss of the target, rather than in series, lengthening the duration of the vulnerability. As a result, it may be profitable to combine APB with TS for multiple impacts in a very short time window.
The alternative, of course, is to use Attack Pattern Delta instead, buffing yourself, and then letting any reactive fire from your target do the debuffing of their Resistances for you ... just in time for any Torpedoes and/or Mines to impact them. Use of APD instead of APB then relies on them shooting at you, rather than you shooting at them, and the uptime is 1/3 on APD instead of 1/2 for APB ... but then APD can be used with a bit more versatility since it can be used on either yourself of a teammate who currently has aggro.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
Torpedos do apply APB but they would have the problem of timing between shots to maximize its uptime like you mentioned. HOWEVER the op does have the rapid fire missile launcher. The OP once chimed in on my stealth bomber thread and to use his own advice against him i would say...go out and try it out yourself and see if your rapid fire launcher makes APB stick. Just train a trash boff in apb1 go out and pew pew some stuff. If the rapid fire launcher makes APB stick and for the full duration just like any beam array then the next question would be what's the damage difference between APB3 and APO3. But i'm assuming that this is already known since the question has probably been asked lots of times.
Thank you!
That's not a bad idea. Incidentally, I acquired the Jem Hadar doff that boosts APD. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
It wasn't so much the question of whether I should use APB versus APO, but what other ability I should use to break tractor beams and other holds if I switch from APO.
As far as trying it out, you can be sure that I will.:)
Well looking at your build, tractor beam 1 seems to be the obvious choice for replacement. Unless there is some reason that you *must* have that tractor beam like if you pvp or something.
I run double sci on my torp tvaro too but i have:
ST1-PH2-GW1
HE1-PH2
The reason i run two PH is for the resists. Since i do mostly pugs i end up getting aggro a lot of times. So i keep my resists high and my defenses high. I also run 125 aux and 81 engine power and that much aux gives me +85 damage resist from my PH2. I also run aux damp for just a little more speed and resist and for when i have to make a sprint away and make a really quick turn to face my target. As an added bonus running that setup also gives me the tractor immunity i need through PH. But my main reason for going with ph and damp was for the resists.
Sounds good. I will try it.
Interesting. KDF players receive a baby Nadion Detonator as a level five unlock, along with a CPB for energy weapons. So, you get a free boff power and a free console power in exchange for the grind. Not bad, especially if they don't share cooldowns with the same powers that are equipped.
For the rest of our intrepid readers, I have been pulled seven ways to Sunday recently, which prevented me from posting anything new in the thread. I'm still waiting for a key sale and to hit my first level 15 R&D in Projectile Weapons. Word on the street is that leveling becomes considerably easier as one gains the ability to create Superior Tech upgrades. Plus, I'm busy with school and a new job and recovery from the plague. So, with a full plate and an empty stomach, I offer you all best wishes and a healthy rest of the week before Delta Rising. In the meantime, I will sit back and enjoy yet another cup of tea whilst suffering from the most creepy of cruds.
BTW, if you haven't tried it yet, upgrading an item from infinity to Mk XII demostrates some pretty nifty stat gains, all without spending any dilithium whatsoever.
Thanks, Dragon. Everyone is ill around here. 'Tis the season indeed!
I took a pass, for better or worse, on picking up a discounted LRSV refit during the sale this past weekend. Nadion Detonator would be a sweet addition to a torp boat, but where do you put it? I'm already torn as to what I might have to drop to add BEC and BGP both. One may have to take a back seat, but I won't know until I get to play around with them in the game.
Six days until DR. I can't wait! This is better than Christmas when you're a kid.
This weekend, I went ahead and opened 50 lock boxes. I got the Lobi crystals I needed for the Bioneural Infusion Circuits and swapped it with my Romulan Zero-Point console. I have to say it's quite awesome.
I upgraded the Bioneural Infusion Circuits, Tachyokinetic Converter, Rule 62 Console, and Rapid Fire Missiles to Mk XIII. No rarity increase yet, but the stat improvements were very promising. I can't wait to hit level 15 in the R&D categories so I can craft better upgrades. Personally, I like slowly upgrading everything on the ship, since it gives me a reason to play more content. The other nice thing about upgrades is that they take a little while to complete, so I can run them like I do the Doff missions, log out to do something else for a while, then come back later to pick up the improvements. Wash, rinse, repeat...so to speak.
Unless there are new tactical consoles that have more appeal to me when the new reputation system is rolled out, I will be upgrading my spire consoles next. I want to see the new reputation quantum torpedoes before I consider upgrading my Advanced Fleet torpedoes. The upgrade system appears to me much more manageable when spread out over time rather than rushing to be #1 on release day. I have seen posts by "Veruca Salt" personalities on the forums who claim they are going to be at Level 60 within minutes of logging in on Tuesday. Good for the collective you! However, I think those folks are going to be back to boredom by the end of the week, and the ensuing content complaints will begin anew.
After some testing, I kept APO on my T'Varo. It just seems to work better. And even if you don't see the value of a tractor beam on a torpedo boat, just remember that it's sometimes the difference between success and failure for STF optionals when someone decides that keeping the Borg away from something is less important than personal dps glory, and you have to save the team from the one pug that aggros EVERYTHING. You know: the player who has a 400 second cooldown after getting blown up for the umpteenth time.
So, I'll finish this post with my T5U plan. I'll probably put the Zero-Point console back on the ship while I work on the Delta Quadrant reputation. I really want to try out the Bioneural Gel Pack when I hit the appropriate tier. Having one more console slot is sweet, but it still leaves me trying to figure out what to cut from my build. Decisions, decisions... What I wouldn't give to figure out how to get a twelfth console on my ship.
I wonder if the developers would consider Mark and Rarity upgrades for starships that improve the number of slots for items. I bet that would generate A LOT of Latinum!
Thanks for reading! See you all online tomorrow!
Sorry that I haven't been posting recently. Between school and a new job it's difficult even to find time to play. Upgrades are coming along, but the dilithium requirements for upgrades are steep, and considering that I'm using torpedoes, Argonite Gas isn't cheap either. I've been supplementing by using the rare upgrades, which don't level the items as fast, but I can craft them. I think I've blown well over 200k dilithium on upgrades so far. Hopefully I can update my build later this evening and post the link in another post.
I'm still short of level 60 by around 5-8k skill points, but I should get there soon. I can see how the new leveling system and the upgrades synchronize with the new content. Yes, it's hard to get optionals in STF's and it does seem that the MOB hit point increases are insane, but I'm sure there will be balance at some point in the future. I'm going to rely on Deferi philosophy in the meantime.
Hope you are all well and enjoying the game! I'll post again soon.
Thanks to STO Academy for an extraordinary tool that allows players to share their builds.
I've updated the R.R.W. Qanik with my latest loadout. And I managed to hit level 60 today!
More to come!
And it goes and goes.
Hello, everyone! Hope the disconnects this weekend aren't getting you down too much. As the weekends are now the only lengthy periods of playtime that I receive, the recent connection issues have thrown a spanner in the works for my game. But since we are here to discuss QUANTUM T'VARO, we'll leave the fixing of things to those who get paid to do so.
Now, on to the update:
The R.R.W. Qanik is now (save one itsy bitsy quantum torpedo in the right rear) a Mk XIV outfitted ship. It's also (with the exception of the Ferengi Missile Launcher) a Very Rare or Better ship. I hit level 15 in Engineering Tech this afternoon, so I crafted some Superior upgrades and pushed my engines and singularity core into XIV territory. I was going to upgrade the missile launcher to Very Rare, but I noticed that it actually LOSES damage dealt with an upgrade. So, until the development team resolves this minor issue, I'm leaving it alone. I might send a bug report, but word has it from other players that many such reports are going unanswered. Maybe I'll get lucky and some enterprising Young Turk will read my post and do something to fix it.
So, Level 15 Tech should make it a lot easier to upgrade ship equipment. "Not so," sayeth me. It turns out that as far as Projectile Tech goes, the Argonite Gas which is so critical to crafting such wonderful technology is simply too expensive to buy off the exchange and too difficult to obtain from STF's. As stupid as this sounds, I upgraded most of my torpedoes with the Rare versions of Tech, simply to improve my chances at doing the STF's that reward the Argonite Gas. It's not happening, folks. The queues are dead. No one can complete them with certainty even if you get a good group together to run them. My alternative is simply to finish what upgrades I can with what I currently have in inventory, then simply craft and sell until I can buy either the Argonite Gas or the Superior Projectile Techs off the exchange. Yes, it is frustrating, but until the STF's become possible to complete or more STF's have the possibility of awarding Argonite Gas, I'm stuck looking for a viable alternative to improve my build.
In closing this evening, let me say that the plan is to improve rarity one item at a time now. I'm going to keep crafting Tech and applying it when I can afford to do so. Grinding dilithium was bad before, but now it's insane. Once I hit Mk XIV Epic for each piece in my build, I will take a deep breath, give myself a pat on the back, and then go out and earn another. First on my list are the Vulnerability Consoles, which only use Beam and/or Cannon Tech, which is simply bizarre to me. I'll have to wade into the somewhat saturated Science and Engineering Tech exchange market and start selling until I can acquire the cash for said upgrades.
More updates to come when I can post. Next week begins another exciting real life chapter of my life, so unless I post on Sunday of this week, I'll see you all sometime next weekend. Take care, all!
Emphasis on "super."
Not a lot I could do this weekend with the bonus upgrade experience, because I can only grind so much dilithium. I only managed to upgrade the Borg console to Very Rare. Ferengi Missile Launcher is now part of my second loadout along with the Borg Engine when traversing sector space on trade missions.
I'll try to update again this weekend. Thanks for reading!
Fleet T-varo T5-U
Front
2x Dominion Polaron (one will switch to Delta Rep cannon), maybe only 1 cannon
1x Neutronic torpedo, 1x Rom Rep Hyper-Torp, 3rd(?) if only 1 cannon
Rear:
1x Turret, 1x Plasma Mine, 1x Rom rep exp. Beam Array (2set bonus)
5x Plasma Torpedo consoles
Delta Gel-Pack (3-set bonus for 4K 100% Sheild Penetration weapon proc)
Plasma Destabilizer (Mega Torpedo)
Singularity Stabilizer (Torpedo set bonus)
Molecular Phase Inverter (Survival Immunity to blast)
Embassy Science Plasma Infuser -Threat +PrtG
Spatical Charge Launcher (50% Shield penetration)
Tac Skills : Cannon Rapid Fire III, Torpedo Spread III
Science : Gravity Well 1, Hazard Emitter 2, Science team 1 (2 more, working on)
I have found that the Torpedo Spread 3 + the two rep torps readdy syncs in. Trigger Torp Spread 3, and fire Neutronic and you get a rapid string of 3 torps (high Speed), followed by the 3 Hyper-Plasmas. Trigger Gravity Well, decloak, Start the Spatical charges and charge at the target with canon Rapid fire III, As you reach aprox 4KM Drop the Mega-Torp (40-50K Blast) and activate the Phase Inverter. There is a good chance you might be in the blast radius, but the inverter will ensure no damage. I have killed PvE Battleships with this baby.
To quote Spock. "I never took the No-Win scenario before. What do you think of my solution?"
Sure! And if you really want to go crazy, Kris, try putting as many reputation torpedoes and consoles on your ship that will fit. I would love to see the wild combinations of damage from such a craft.
I'm also starting to consider upgrading transphasics to see whether or not I want a third loadout for this boat. They will have to be a long term goal, because I really want to see what a maxed-out quantum concept is going to look like once I get all of the upgrades completed. There just isn't enough dilithium in my stash to start playing around with extra toys at the moment.
Speaking of toys, I hear that the Bioneural Gel Pack has been fixed. The only item I might switch out right now would be the Zero Point console. If an extra console slot ever becomes a purchasable item, you know I'm going to be making it an immediate goal to obtain. Ahh, wishful thinking......
In closing today, I should have the build updated at STO Academy in a few minutes, and hopefully I'll see some of you online a bit later. Oh, and someone gave Quantum T'varo another upvote, bringing its total to SIX! Sweet! Thank you, whoever you are!
Hello again, everyone. I wanted to report to those of you who read this thread about how this weekend is going. Very slow is the answer that seems most appropriate. I finally made it to level 15 in Shield Technology, only to discover that the very rare material input is - yes, you guessed it - ARGONITE GAS! John Lydon asked the audience at the last Sex Pistols show, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" I did, and it happened less than an hour ago. Yeah, it's a bummer, and it can be overcome eventually, but for now it's just plain rotten (see what I did there?)
So, no Argonite Gas to be had anywhere but on the exchange, with ridiculously inflated prices due to its apparent lack of availability anywhere other than broken elite queues. Viscous Cycle is definitely broken. I played it once and failed due to an eight second optional which no one could possibly finish. The other Undine queue didn't yield anything remotely resembling Argonite Gas, so unless I want to try some sort of elite shuttle mission (which I don't - why bother), I'm not getting anything upgraded in a reasonable amount of time in the near future.
I keep asking myself if this was done on purpose in order to force players to spend Zen on R&D boxes. I feel pretty well cynical about how things are going with the game at the moment. I have been saving up some dilithium for these upgrades, and have been spending quite a bit to level up mark and rarity. I think that I'm just going to have to craft advanced upgrades and hoard them until I see that I have enough dilithium to attempt an upgrade that might increase my equipment in rarity. It's a shame, really, because I enjoyed playing up until now. Every time I'm willing to overlook something which has a problem with it in the game, I discover that it's not going to be resolved anytime soon. So, for those of you who are accused of complaining too much about what you perceive as faults with STO, you go right on and continue complaining, because you have a point even if it's lost in the din that ranting inevitably brings.
So, what else? Oh, yeah: I am now within 45K points of reaching the last specialization point that I need in Piloting in order to unlock the space trait for the T'varo. I was hoping this would happen by playing some of the queues mentioned above, but due to the aforementioned problems, it looks like I'll have to wait on the specialization point until the holiday begins. But I am closer than I was, so that's a positive, right?
I also managed to get some more accolade points by just playing the game. It would be cool if the accolade system actually DID something. Again, I'm complaining, and it's probably not worthwhile because I'm not suggesting any solution for said problem. So, here's one I just thought of off the top of my head: allow players to go to the fleet mine to work the mining dailies and give them a chance of collecting bonus materials with the chance of getting "good" materials based off of the accolade points that they've accumulated so far in the game. See? I can come up with good stuff every so often when I want to make the game a better place. And I can imagine players running around wildly asking where to find Klingon Rebels so they can complete a kill accolade and raise the chance of mining Tetrazine by a fraction of a percentage point. (I didn't say Argonite Gas because it's starting to become a "thing" with me.)
Okay. That's enough for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the game.
So, when I'm not sleeping or working, I'm grinding. But I don't mind it so much because it's focused grinding in order to improve survival of the ship during combat. I started doing the system patrols one sector at a time, and they are proving not only to provide some decent XP, but also a nice storyline diversion. I previously ignored the system patrols to concentrate on episodic content, but I think other players might find it useful and entertaining to try them. Mind you, the material rewards are not much, but they are fun to do at least once. Also, the patrols with ground content remind me of how cool planetary generation can be in this game.
Now that the piloting specialization is complete, I've moved on to the space portion of intelligence. Slowly but surely I am filling new boxes, and the effects are really quite useful when my ship gets into real trouble. If anyone has suggestions on what skills are best for a ship like mine, please feel free to post in the thread.
I managed to get my neutronic torpedo to Mk XIV and then I decided to take a break from trying to improve my gear further. I think there needs to be a re-evaluation of the R&D mechanics for rarity upgrades. It's just too expensive for most players at this point, even with the correct materials and upgrades and accelerators. Since the distribution of materials is bottlenecked and the STF's that players need to complete for the rare items are not working properly, I cannot see a benefit to throwing hard work into upgrading gear with a less than fair chance of receiving reward in exchange. This is my opinion, so please don't necessarily let it unduly influence your opinion. I saw a completely Epic JHAC on Reddit yesterday and was completely astounded and jealous simultaneously. Then I thought, "Dude! Great job with upgrading. It must have cost a lot, but great job anyway!"
An update to the Quantum T'varo on STO Academy will be posted shortly. Again, thanks for reading. I hope you are enjoying the updates.
I run photons and quantum (well, neutronic) and with this little trick, they're devastating.