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What is the best ship: scryer, pathfinder or vesta?
kettinge
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
Hello, i am looking to buy a my first zenstore ship and wants a science ship. I have my eyes on the three ships in the title, but can't decide. I am planning to go with a crowdcontrol/drainbuild.
thanks in advance, Kettinge.
thanks in advance, Kettinge.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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That and I put the 3 traits [Pathfinder, Scryer, Eclipse tier 5 mastery traits] on my Vesta and it works nicely.
So... depends on what you want to do and your captain is spec'd for.
What ship do you currently fly and what career path is your captain in?
I fly the free Dyson ship and i am a science captain.
Meh, the Vesta is still great, but it's not clearly the best. It's only good if you want to change your builds often, as it can be good in just about any build... but if you want to specialize in a specific build, there are better options. For example, if it's drain you're looking for, the Voth Palisade is much better at draining than the Vesta. For a pure-science-exotic-damage build, the Wells is still better. Granted, both are lock box ships, but still count. I understand that everyone (myself included) has spent lots of money on the Tier 5 ships, but Tier 6 is the future, so might as well jump on it now, especially if just starting out like the OP seems to be.
That said, OP, also consider the Dauntless. I find it's much better than the Scryer in a exotic damage/FAW build.
The Pathfinder looks interesting, but haven't bought it myself so can't speak to it.
I would recommend sticking to the Tier 6 ships though... even if T6 fleet ships aren't here now, they will be eventually, and it would suck to have bought a tier 5 ship, only to turn around and buy the Tier 6 ship to get the fleet upgrade, when you could save yourself money now and just get the T6 ship and wait:)
That would be awesome
That or you could spend the cash on a T6 lockbox ship.
1.Are you new to science gameplay in STO and would like to try it out or you are old science player who wishes to get something from C-Store?
2.What toon profession do you plan to use this science ship with?
The answer of these questions are of importance for there are many ships out there - each useful in different aspects of the game. Since you are focusing on CC/drain build you should look for ships with science focus over those with tactical orientation.
The ships you plan to get are totally different one another but each one of them can serve you the purpose you desire:
- Scryer: Is an an intel focused Tier 6 ship with limited tactical consoles and abilities but access to all possible science specialties: Sensor Analysis/Sub-Targeting/2nd Deflector/Expose Abilities/Integrated cloak. The ship is moving quite well and its hybrid Science Cdr may allow you to use some or all deep intel abilities at their maximum rank.
>This ship would be best option for you if in need of all goodies in 1 place. Consider the fact more T6 science ships may come out - but the layout of masteries and consoles is nearly same for most of them. So, if you get this ship you might save some resources for there might not be better option available anytime soon.
- Pathfinder: Is considered to be the next step between T5U and T6. It is marked as Tier 6 but have no access to Expose abilities. It comes with limited tactical consoles but have lieutenant universal which may be used as tactical for more abilities if needed. The ship have limited intel orientation of only 2 abilities. The ship's shuttle pet is classifed as frigate, making this ship using "half frigate hangar" in theory (for 1 hangar can maintain 2 frigates). The access to 2nd deflector is allowing this ship to enhance its drain abilities by adding shield drain to nearly most of its abilities or radiation damage. By doing so your overall performance can be raised a lot.
>This ship would be best option if you would like a good looking starfleet vessel, with nice bridge and deep science focus. Aside from the scryer who should be focusing on intel and expose - the pathfinder can deliver the strongest science powers on the field. Effectively it can have 9 science abilities (or 10 if you count Ionic Turbulence as sci debuff). Nearly no other ship in the game can do that.
- Vesta: Is Tier 5 ship. The problem with this and nearly all science vessels below T6 is the missing 2nd deflector. If these ships dont get it - they would remain replaced by the supremacy of the 2nd deflector. If they get one - then they might have some usefulness.
Before I raise my basket to capture the tomatoes which will be starting to fly towards me from the angry vesta community I will drop few hints.
>This vessel is a light cruiser/escort/carrier hybrid. If you plan to use tactical toon on science ship - this would be a great option for you. It have multiple tactical consoles, access to tactical abilities which the Scryer or Pathfinder cant get, light hangar - for fighters or shuttles.
The vesta was one of the best ships in the Tier 5 level primary because it had access to a hangar, where most science ships never had one. Still its layout is "bad" for me because it is focusing on tactical which have nothing to do with science. The pathfinder is great ship for deep science orientation. Maybe one of the few ships in game with whom you know what to do and what it's been made for. Sadly the scryer have all the "toys" and is best for new science players which would like to explore all possibilities - science/intel/tactical on a science ships.
My advice to you would be - learn more about these ships, pay attention to their layout and if one of them captures your attention - get it.
I am using the pathfinder and would choose it above scryer - but that decision came after the many tests I've done with both ships. What the scryer can do - the pathfinder can do better. That's my personal opinion.
PS: Read more topics about these 3 ships if you are interested. Do not allow someone to turn your mind and force you to get something which later you might not like. Form your own opinion and decide what do you really want to get.
PS: If you want a science carrier - turn your gaze at the Recluse. You will never be angry of getting this ship. Effectively you can use it at anything due to its Cdr. Universal and 2 hangars. Think carefully
Only for those that can't let go.
Also, the Scryer and the Pathfinder will have different features. The Scryer will have access to all the Intelligence skills being an Intelligence ship, but the Pathfinder will have access to Sciflectors being a true science ship and Scryer will not. I'd also be willing to bet that as new types of officers are introduced, the Pathfinder will gain access to them in the same slot as it can for the Lt. Intelligence. So those are some things to weigh in as well.
The Vesta is still one of the most flexible sci ships in the game due to its good tactical console count, universal LtCmdr Bridge Seat, and hanger bay.
Scryer can mostly mimic what the Vesta can do, but trades the hanger and potentially two tac consoles for two Intel seats, Active Sensors, and a Cloak.
Pathfinder.. is "average" in just about every way a Science Ship can be. The Scryer can do everything it can do, better.
Intel Powers.
It's not the Vesta.
Not fond at all of the Dauntless as a Science Vessel. Gives up far too much SCI and even ENG to be a TAC heavy Science Vessel with 6 weapon slots. It's like giving a Galaxy-class 5 TAC Consoles. A waste. If a player really wanted to get pretty with Tactical abilities, you're flying the wrong kind of ships, IMO. Escorts, Raiders are a better choice. LtCdr TAC station on it would have been more than fine for Science Vessel purposes, but it dips too much into TAC.
I'll throw in that the T6 Scryer and Pathfinder right now are the best Science Vessels in the game. Only the Temporal Science Vessel with the sheer customization has a chance but in terms of features, even that has fallen behind.
T5U Science Vessels (Yes, I am doing that)
+ 11 Console Slots
+ Temporal Science Vessel's high customization
+ Large ship selection, variety
- 12 BOFF Skills
- Only DSD has Secondary Deflector access and this has been out over 1 year already with no sign of the other T5/T5U ships getting them. What just got a Secondary Deflector added? The T6 Scyer...
- T5U is dead end development with no more growth. Welcome to power creep.
T6 Science Vessels
+ 13 BOFF Skills
+ Intel ability access
+ Secondary Deflector access
+ Fed T6 Science Vessel selection is rich
+ Already possess 5 SCI Consoles
+ T6 is the new standard. Welcome to power creep.
- 10 Console Slot... Until Fleet T6 Faction versions become available. And they will arrive.
- If you're KDF/Rom... what's a T6 SCI Vessel again?
And of all the Science Vessels in the game at this time, only the Scryer Intel Science Vessel has this unique package:
+ Heavy Science Build is possible backed up with 5 SCI Console Slots to make them matter
+ Intel ship with tons of Hybrid BOFF seating
+ Built in standard cloak and not have to use a Console Slot for a Cloaking Device
+ Gather Intel toggle ability with expose effects (which work now)
+ Recently added: Secondary Deflector Slot (har)
+ Recently added: Sensor Analysis (har har)
On top of the high customization and possible blending with Intel abilities that not even the new Pathfinder has, the ability of having BOTH Sensor Analysis AND Gather Intel Toggle Abilities on one ship is not to be underestimated. You can have them on with 2 different ships, i.e. SA on one target and Gather Intel on another separate target. Or you can have them toggled on ONE target for heavy debuffs. On top of whatever Captain, BOFF abilities (to include max diving into Intel if you want) you want to throw on a target.
If one goes with any of the T6 SCI Vessels, it's not bad at all, though my preference is not the Dauntless. But the Scryer is the complete, total package of a Science Vessel with access to the newest gimmicks in the game, good flexibility, capability that no other Science Vessels can match. Not even other T6 SCI Vessels match the total capability the Scryer has.
Edit: There is something where the Scryer falls far short on... "looks"
this is great advice. I have picked up the pathfinder and a few other t6 ships just to get the traits. the vesta is a great ship
You may be waiting a very long time in hopes of a T6 Vesta. Because I foresee the "hero ships" like Galaxy-class, Sovereign-class, Defiant-class, B'Rel BOPs, Vor'Chas, D'Deridexes, etc. making the transition from T5 to T6 first than the made up ones. A gut feeling, but watching Cryptic's behavior with T6 ships, I feel this is on the money.
And of all the Science Vessels in the game at this time, only the Scryer Intel Science Vessel has this unique package:
+ Heavy Science Build is possible backed up with 5 SCI Console Slots to make them matter
+ Intel ship with tons of Hybrid BOFF seating
+ Built in standard cloak and not have to use a Console Slot for a Cloaking Device
+ Gather Intel toggle ability with expose effects (which work now)
+ Recently added: Secondary Deflector Slot (har)
+ Recently added: Sensor Analysis (har har)
On top of the high customization and possible blending with Intel abilities that not even the new Pathfinder has, the ability of having BOTH Sensor Analysis AND Gather Intel Toggle Abilities on one ship is not to be underestimated. You can have them on with 2 different ships, i.e. SA on one target and Gather Intel on another separate target. Or you can have them toggled on ONE target for heavy debuffs. On top of whatever Captain, BOFF abilities (to include max diving into Intel if you want) you want to throw on a target.
If one goes with any of the T6 SCI Vessels, it's not bad at all, though my preference is not the Dauntless. But the Scryer is the complete, total package of a Science Vessel with access to the newest gimmicks in the game, good flexibility, capability that no other Science Vessels can match. Not even other T6 SCI Vessels match the total capability the Scryer has.
Edit: There is something where the Scryer falls far short on... "looks"
As an owner of both I fully concur. The Scryer to me was one of those ships that on paper looks rather sad (and there was plenty of belly-aching to that point) but once you actually look beyond console counts and BOFF seating you can see what it is capable of. The secret to the Scryer, and the intel ships in general, is making use of the intel space skills. Through in sensor analysis, the gather intel debuffs, plus the secondary deflector, and if I may add a useful unique console. So you can debuff the heck out of your enemies even before you start ticking off BOFF powers.
If you can afford to I would recommend getting both the Scryer and Pathfinder -- the mastery traits on both are very useful. In particular the Pathfinder's trait syncs nicely with the exotic particle exciter's trigger.
As for the Scryer's looks I'll say that I rather like mine -- I think it looks especially good with the type 7 hull material. If looks matter I can understand not flying the Scryer since the Pathfinder is probably the best looking fed ship in game ATM (ignoring the Cochrane and Discovery here).
False. Vesta wins over Wells in that terms if you have the full set.
I get that this thread appears to be slanted towards sci. heavy builds, but what about the Dyson for those who want a bit more tac?
I use the freebie 4th anni DSD on my Romulan and to be honest I have always struggled to find a build and setup that I was really happy with. The thing with the DSDs is that I would not recommend buying any of the C-store versions at this point. If you have the one from the 4th anniversary event and don't want to spend zen to get a T6 I think you can make good use of it -- especially as it gets a free upgrade to T5U.
The downside is that the tac mode is frankly gimmicky. You get the fixed proton DHCs which are an oddball weapon type. You can build around them but I feel like you'd almost be compromising on potential damage using the Dyson rep tac consoles. If you can make it work you can switch between modes when you need more firepower vs more science power but that forces you more into cannon type builds to make the most out of the proton DHCs.
The upside is that if you got the freebie version you get the free upgrade. I completely believe that you can put together a decent build for little dil/ec investment.
That said if you really want a tac oriented sci ship and can spend the zen I REALLY believe the Scryer is the ship. Its ability to debuff the TRIBBLE out of enemies plus the full suite of intel powers -- think about running OSS2, SS1 and SS2 (SS3 when you can train it) with a DBB type build with a good CritD and you can hit fairly hard.
When I was briefly playing with the Rom DSD (freebie, then Tac variant) I found the secondary deflectors interesting, but I would rather take a well-chosen hangar over either the level-scaling Solanae or the Deteriorating Mk X secondary. If they upgrade well, I'll have to re-evaluate that slot.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
Not exactly. That free one goes up to 10 console slots. the Cstore one gets 11. So its under T5U.
You're right ... it looks like BAMF. I'm sure it acts that way too :P
Don't know if it acts that way. Not quite ready to take the plunge to buy it.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
Real join date September 2012
I have not seen anyone link any sort of upgraded Solanae Secondary Deflector. Curious to see the stats UR and Epic.
The issue though is that's 1 of the only 2 types of Secondary Deflectors ingame, and the other type is the freebie version that is not upgradable, just like all other default equipment.
I'm highly surprised and very disappointed that we do not have a variety of Secondary Deflectors to cater to different playstyles & builds. It's been a year since the DSD came out, yet the selection is still very limited.
The DSD is a Science Ship, even though it has that LtCdr TAC station and Destroyer Mode. In its default mode, the closest comparison for Fed SCI Vessels to the DSD is that it's a slower turning Nova, which itself has a pretty decent reputation.
With the DSD, in default mode, the LtCdr TAC station gives you some options that not that many Science Vessels have... slotting APO and other useful TAC abilities that sit at LtCdr. I specifically mention APO because it, alongside APA, buffs ALL damage your ship does. That includes Science abilities, namely the Exotic Dmg / PGen builds. A TAC Captain on a Science Vessel that has LtCdr TAC station on it can do some serious damage with PGen attacks. High Aux Power, pop APA, pop the T5 Rom Rep ability, pop APO, then cut loose on your best PGen-based attacks. Even better if you have Lv15 R&D SCI's "Particle Manipulator" trait active.
Another very useful, very popular use of that TAC station is to slot Torp Spread 3 for use with the Dyson Grav Torp. On a high PGen / GravGen based build and used after Grav Well collects your enemies, it's useful. In TS2 fire, it performs well. In TS3 fire? It's amazing. The only weakness this tactic has is that it performs poorly when there's only a single target or very few targets. The continuous shield bypass damage causes ships to blow up in the ball and cause a chain reaction of very damaging warp core breaches to destroy even more ships that... well... you get the picture. With few targets in the "ball" the magic of TS2/TS3 and Dyson Grav Torp weakens by a whole lot.
- Side note: The new Neutronic Torpedo with its small radius and shield bypassing Radiation damage brings a possible wrinkle...
It's bugged, has no Epic mod so identical to the UR version (already posted in bug forum), but there you go.
I honestly have no idea why having the full Vesta set would help at all in a PartGen build. The click-consoles in the Vestas have too high of a cool down to help much with DPS. The Fermion Transceiver give too low PartGens for too little time. Quantum Field Focus Controller is nice, but again, cool down sucks. Wave-Function Analysis Module is the opposite of what you want (repel). 2 set bonus is usell, 3 set bonus is great for defense, but too long of a cool down... plus, using all of these consoles takes the place of things that actually improve PartGen builds (you know, consoles that up part gens...), so no, the full set does nothing for a good part gen build.
Also, in case it comes up, Aux Cannons are nice, but with pull TBR (highest damaging PartGen ability), enemies go behind you, making them useless.