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hawkflight
Member Posts: 31 Arc User
So, I'm ramping up to get a fleet escort, and I'm not sure which one to pick. I was originally looking at the escort carrier, because I always liked the Akira and the idea of having little attack ships stinging the enemy and intercepting torpedoes was appealing to me. But then I saw the Patrol Escort Retrofit, and I thought, "That looks pretty cool. The design is unique (if a bit weird and a little ugly), and it has that extra aft-mounted cannon to TRIBBLE more damage on the enemy after my alpha strike." Then I realized that there was a fleet version of the Defiant, one of my favorite ships, and now I just don't know what to pick anymore. @_@
So, I'd like advice from the community on which one is best.
So, I'd like advice from the community on which one is best.
PLEASE, for the love of all that is chocolate. If your advice involves me spending IRL money on this game, save us both the trouble and don't bother. I've already spent as much money as I can afford on this game. Thank you for your time.
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I fly a Fleet Advanced Escort myself but I can't recommend it, it's very cool and I enjoy it but the BOFF seats are very meh compared to the others I mentioned.
It wasn't listed as a ship I was interested in for a good reason. As previously stated, I don't have the bloody dosh for it.
How do you like the Multi-Vector Assault Mode? Is it useful? I've always wondered if the split automated section pets handle any differently than glorified hangar pets. Do the sections do enough to make them an asset or are you better off most times to just stay as a single ship?
U.S.S. Tempest
They are all quite good for PvE, I have the Patrol Escort Refit and Fleet Version and enjoy it quite a lot but because I have the refit version I have the "Console - Universal - Nadion Saturation Bomb" which if you use with a phaser build can be quite hilarious as it does A LOT of dmg (I believe unbuffed mine does 16k Phaser Dmg per hit which i've seen crit for over 50k, its not ideal but its fun =P) as for the tail gun its not that useful, it will only fire on your current target so if your good with an escort your gunna spend most of your time with your nose on target. The defiant it's not bad, got pretty decent tactical layout I'm sure you'd have a lot of fun with it in PvE. As for the carrier I've heard good things but do not have it myself, One thing I can say is I've used the Breen Carrier and didn't enjoy the pet system they can be quite stupid and tend to die from ship core explosions.
How can you be considering a fleet akira, but not have the "bloody dosh" for a phantom? Akira is 2500 Zen, right? Then another 500 Zen for a fleet module. This is the same 3000 Zen as for the phantom. The reason we are pushing the phantom is that it is really so much better. Defiant and akira are fatally flawed in bridge officer seating that has no flexibility. Plus, built-in cloak and Intel abilities. And seats that can hold Intel officers. And as mentioned by another poster, the ship trait is really good.
If you really want a canon ship, that is great, but since you asked here, I can only assume you want to know the best option.
He may be able to get the modules off the exchange.
I would recommend the patrol escort refit. The 2 lt cmdr boff stations are very nice and will give you a bit more options then the heave escort carrier. The third eng tac (Westley Crusher seat) issue exists with the HEC.. The only reason why that has become ok is due to sro embassy boffs.
As far as the advanced escort is concerned it is a good ship. If you have the chel grett then you do not need it. It is one of those ships I keep finding myself going back too. They are the only escorts with a lt commander sci and tts3 or gw1 is entertaining with it. It was also a staple of NWS for a long time.
I'm considering a fleet Akira because I only need EC to get the modules off the exchange, and other than that I only need fleet credits. Plus, yes, I kinda do want a canon ship, thank you very much. Now, I'd ask you to either offer advice that's actually useful to me, as a person with access to maybe a couple hundred Zen at most, or kindly sod off. Preferably the former.
I see. That's helpful to know. Just one question:
"The third eng tac (Westley Crusher seat) issue exists with the HEC.. The only reason why that has become ok is due to sro embassy boffs."
Um ... HEC? SRO? Embassy B-Offs? What?
Thats more than one question
HEC = Heavy Escort Carrier = Akira/Armitage
SRO = Superior Romulan Operative, a boff who's space trait gives a +2% bonus to crit chance, but for non-Romulans is only available for tac seats
Embassy Boffs = Those SRO boffs you purchase from the Fleet New Romulus Embassy
The triple tac ensign is often considered a weakness because for a long time the best escort build was to load up entirely on dual heavy cannons and turrets. In such builds the only use for ensign slots was paired TT1, which meant the third seat was wasted. These days though, with omni beam arrays paired with Overload 1, beamscorts running FAW, some worthwhile torpedoes, or the ability to run up to 3 SRO boffs, its more useful.
You're doing that acronym thing again. ;P At least I know what TT1 is though.
And yeah, the triple tac actually isn't bad for me, since I plan to run the Experimental Proton Weapon, so I can apply beam powers to it as well as cannon powers.
Sorry about that.
HEC = Heavy Escort Carrier
SRO = Superior Romulan Operative
Boffs = Bridge Officers
Embassy Boffs come from the embassy fleet holding
For a federation captain it is the only way to have a boff with an sro trait. It adds to your CrtD and CrtH. It also stacks. With 3 Tactical officer stations on a ship that is an additional 6% CrtH and 15% CrtD.
The problem with the Westley Crusher seat normally is that if you have 2 attack patterns and 4 weapon abilities (2 torp and 2 beam/2 torp and 2 cannon) and 2 tac teams With any number of those reduce to one due to doffs there is nothing to do with the extra ensign spot. A third of any ability makes no sense as there is no way to use it with the way global cool downs are.
With SRO Boffs, even if they don't have a useful ability, can still add to that crit even if they are lounging around enjoying the ride.
The Defiant was the largest culprit of this due to the heavy tac officer lay out. the HEC and the Advanced Escort didn't suffer as badly from this due to the lack of Lt Commander ability meaning everything gets pushed down a level.
But I'm a jerk for trying to save you from wasting resources on something already obsolete... I guess I'll "sod off" now.
Tac escort has neither good science nor good engineering seats and ensign tac seating makes me sad because of it's very limited usefulness. I personally would rather have a lieutenant commander engineering slot and a commander tactical seat than a lieutenant commander tactical because with the engineering I could run aux2bat and have more power across my important systems and lower cooldowns on my tactical abilities to compensate for my fewer tactical abilities.
The multivectors are not as good as carrier pets but they are not worthless. They can be fragile and replacing them requires you to reform your ship and separate again, it makes them a bit fiddly. I use the console regardless of the downsides because they do bring more damage to the table and they draw fire from my enemies. I like that when deploying them, they take an already maneuverable escort and turn it in to one of the most maneuverable ships in the game (31 turn rate is mind blowing).
I use that maneuverability with tractor beam repulsors to shove enemy ships where I want them, I takes a lot of practice but you can do some pretty cool stuff with them and they are incredibly useful, like during borg disconnected, shoving (or with the DOFF, dragging) the bio dreadnaught on top of the voth dreadnaught so the voth ship beats the TRIBBLE out of it or during azure nebula pushing the enemies away from the ship you want to release. They can also act as a point defense or lifesaver in situations where you find yourself being overwhelmed or tractored and they are great when tholians use that big web on you as they will very quickly kill all the web generators (and don't even get me started on how much damage you can deal with repulsors).
Of course this is one of the reasons why I prefer having either lt cmd sci or engi over lt cmd tact. Eng seating makes my ship overall more efficient and powerful while sci gives it utility.
Ah, I see. That's interesting, thanks.
I understand your angle, and I do appreciate what you're trying to do. And maybe, if I ever get the money to do so, I might get one. But for now, I cannot afford it, so suggesting I get the Phantom is not very helpful.
Ah, I see, it's B-Off seating. Thanks.
Remember, I don't have the dosh for the zen store version. ;P
Yeah, pretty much anything in PvE in line-able up in the cannon arcs with a little bit of effort, like slowing down to half-impulse to make turns tighter or sit-and-spam combined with Pilot Spec when appropriate. I usually go for minor turnrate buffs, like Fleet Neutronium [turn] or 8472 Counter-Command Universal console on the Avenger. It won't be as fast turning as an escort, but still plenty for most all PvE.
Avenger is probably better suited to a Beam build, You can put 3 omni beams in the rear and have 8 forward firing beams, It'd take a few consoles/using Strategic Maneuvering command skill insead of Weapon System Efficiency Command to get your turn rate to where you'd want it to be for cannons. I'd say get the Fleet Patrol Escort, I still use mine quite a bit for a change of pace from my Phantom.
The Avenger (Battlecruiser) can run cannons, the fastest way to re-point your weapons in PvE is to put the ship in reverse and make the npcs chase you with your cannons facing you. I would recommend beams at that point. dbb can work very well. The concern there is that the ship has a lt command tactical at best. You can run a Beam fire at will 3 but you can only run cannon scatter volley 2 at best. Beams start at a lower level. You can put a second beam ability in an ensign slot and keep your attack patterns. There are no ensign cannon abilities.
If you havent looked yet you may want to look at the andorian ships as they provide multiple boff layouts. 5 tac consoles and 5 forward weapons on the Kumari and the t5-u Charal. I know they are Zen ships which is something you are not interested at the moment but it is worth a peak. If you have ec you can always get the Xindi-Reptilian Contortrix off the exchange.
All these ships can be looked at on that chart. Have fun.
Very interesting, thanks. The only thing I really have to say is I'm not particularly interested in cross-faction ships, save possibly the Caitian ship, for roleplay reasons, but all very good information, thanks.
EDIT: Also, not gonna lie, if I didn't value roleplaying to an almost unhealthy degree, I'd probably be all over that Xindi-Reptilian Contortrix Escort.
If you like the Defiant, then buy the Sao Paulo refit and then the T5U. OR , buy the T6 Version what ever that might be.
Just a thought.
Well if it make you feel better we know that this games takes place in the 25th century. In Enterprise they said that in the 26th century they were part of the federation. That means that the Xindi ships are federation.
It's good enough that I may hold off or skip upgrading to the phantom intel. I'm not sure that the phantom would be so superior as to justify the cost, and I don't see much value in its trait.
You know, that raises an interesting question. Do worlds that join the Federation just keep their own ships, and then also join aboard Starfleet vessels? Do their ships become a part of Starfleet's ships, taking on Federation crews, or do they stay crewed primarily by their creators?
I see. I might raise up the Dilithium if I can manage it. However, I only have one character, and I don't know how to get 8000 Dilithium per day.
As for the Phantom, I do agree in that I'm a canon ships junkie, but I also understand that this is the future, and new types of ships have been created. Thus, I don't mind the Phantom, as it does kind of look like a futuristic Defiant. I just mind how squished and flat it looks.
Anyways, I think I've narrowed down my choice to either the Fleet Patrol Escort or the Fleet Tactical Escort (the Maelstrom or the Defiant). If I went Maelstrom, I'd probably do an Auxiliary to Battery build, and if I went Defiant, I'd probably go with cannons on the front and omni-directional arrays on the rear, with the third tac slot filled with a beam ability, like a subsystem targeting ability or an overload/fire-at-will. Can someone give me a good comparison between the two, and your thoughts on the matter?