test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Cant decide which way to go with the Guardian
rendar1970
Member Posts: 44 Arc User
So im running an all AP beam boat with my new t6 Guardian. Must say I love this ship, despite no hanger, no lance, no saucer sep, it feels more like a dreadnaught than my Fleet Gal-X does.
However when it comes to the Boff seating, i have 2 ideas, and not sure which is better.
One is just the standard "Drake" Beamboat, and the other is a bit... well odd but seems to work.
6 AP Beams, 1 KCB, 1 AP Omni
TT: Tac Team
TT: Tac Team, FAW2, FAW3
INT: OSS1, OSS2
ENG: ET, EptS, EptW, Aux2Sif
SCI: HE1, ST2, GW1
I can keep aux up high, just cycle between my 2 FAW's, and throw of nice Grav Wells, but plays just like a basic beamboat with a 1 trick pony GW.
Experimental AoE madness Loadout
Fore: 3x AP DBB, 1 GravTorp
Aft: 1 KCB, 1 crafter AP omni, 1 mission reward AP omni, experimental proton weapon (mostly just cause only other thing decent would be a turret, but atleast this way I get set bonuses with Grav Torp.
TT: Tac Team, TorpSpread2, FAW3
INT: OSS1, Ionic Turbulence 1
ENG: ET
ENG: EptS1, Aux2bat, Eptw, Aux2bat2 (or whichever the skill the level is)
SCI: HE, ST2, GW1
So, with Aux2Bat i dont need to double up on tac powers (Yes I could technically just run AHOD, but that doesnt help with the intel powers, which i need up just as much, Aux2bat will). Now people will say, your GW1 will be so gimped with such low aux. However, I found when throwing a GW, even at low aux, followed by Ionic Turblence, combined it does really nice damage, and no one can escape both easily.
So with this build it would be GW1, IonicTurbulence, followed by a torp spread of buffed grav torps (which explode into even more grav wells) all while parked (anchored trait) and FAW3 with DBB's and 3 rear omnis firing into the group at 165 power (OSS). This just sounds like it has alot of potential despite the low aux Grav Wells.
Any thoughts or ideas?
However when it comes to the Boff seating, i have 2 ideas, and not sure which is better.
One is just the standard "Drake" Beamboat, and the other is a bit... well odd but seems to work.
6 AP Beams, 1 KCB, 1 AP Omni
TT: Tac Team
TT: Tac Team, FAW2, FAW3
INT: OSS1, OSS2
ENG: ET, EptS, EptW, Aux2Sif
SCI: HE1, ST2, GW1
I can keep aux up high, just cycle between my 2 FAW's, and throw of nice Grav Wells, but plays just like a basic beamboat with a 1 trick pony GW.
Experimental AoE madness Loadout
Fore: 3x AP DBB, 1 GravTorp
Aft: 1 KCB, 1 crafter AP omni, 1 mission reward AP omni, experimental proton weapon (mostly just cause only other thing decent would be a turret, but atleast this way I get set bonuses with Grav Torp.
TT: Tac Team, TorpSpread2, FAW3
INT: OSS1, Ionic Turbulence 1
ENG: ET
ENG: EptS1, Aux2bat, Eptw, Aux2bat2 (or whichever the skill the level is)
SCI: HE, ST2, GW1
So, with Aux2Bat i dont need to double up on tac powers (Yes I could technically just run AHOD, but that doesnt help with the intel powers, which i need up just as much, Aux2bat will). Now people will say, your GW1 will be so gimped with such low aux. However, I found when throwing a GW, even at low aux, followed by Ionic Turblence, combined it does really nice damage, and no one can escape both easily.
So with this build it would be GW1, IonicTurbulence, followed by a torp spread of buffed grav torps (which explode into even more grav wells) all while parked (anchored trait) and FAW3 with DBB's and 3 rear omnis firing into the group at 165 power (OSS). This just sounds like it has alot of potential despite the low aux Grav Wells.
Any thoughts or ideas?
Post edited by rendar1970 on
0
Comments
Second layout doesn't work since A2B is only a Lt/LtCmdr power.
TS1, APB1, FAW3
EPtS1, A2B1, EPtW3, RSP3 (or DEM3 if you already have Marion)
OSS1, A2B1
ET1
ST1, HE2, GW1
You can switch out the Tac powers to fit your build, but that's more of a beam boat build. If you have the Zen, you could always grab the Phantom and the Presidio for their traits. Pretty much gives you an A2B alternate.
For litterally anything but an Aux2Bat setup. The ship is terrible for that. A2B should not be used on the Guardian pretty much ever.
Why?
The same reason A2B shouldn't be used on almost every other ship in the game. You're greatly limiting what you can do with the ship. You either use 2 of the BoFF abilities in your Commander Engineering for A2B x2 and then go without emergency powers, or other buffs, or you sacrifice 1 of your Engineering/Intel depriving you of something like O.S.S. or Ionic Turbulence.
A2B setups have been largely abandoned for good reason. They greatly limit your options when building a ship. There are some ships with very poor Bridge Officer Layouts (like the Fleet Assault Cruiser Refit) where A2B works because they went way overboard on non universal Engineering Stations, but the Guardian is not one of those ships.
The first option provided in your comparison is a far better and more versatile option then the A2B option.
Friends don't let friends A2B.
I had setup a key bind and would space bar through a rotation then ended in 2 copies of A2B. I have been trying this for a month and while it helped my dps (compared to the crappy manual no rotation "spam whatever comes to mind" method I was playing before) it did not seem that the A2b was helping with reducing the cool downs anyway. I had three VR techicians setup to help with that too so what space doffs would you recommend?
While A2B does have a negative impact on DPS potential, it is usually on more advanced characters with more advanced gear, certain available traits, and more complete reputation where it's impact is pronounced. With basic gear, traits, and little reputation, A2B is more than viable. I believe that it is still something to recommend for certain ship setups until better traits, gear, and reputation can be achieved and acquired. At minimum, it's a teaching tool in ship setup that exposes one to how DOFFs in the active duty space roster affect bridge officer skills, how cooldowns work, and other things.
As for troubles with cooldowns using A2B, some folks may accidentally train their bridge officers in emergency power to auxiliary, abbreviated EPTA. Make sure you have trained auxiliary power to the emergency battery skill. One way to tell if you trained the right skill is that the level 1 variety of A2B can not be trained at the ensign level ability. When it comes to cooldowns, A2B no longer causes the "team" skills like tactical team to have their cooldowns reduced to minimum, which may make you feel that A2B does not work as advertised. You still need 1 DOFF in active duty space roster to make up the remainder of the cooldown for whichever "team" ability you are wanting to get to minimum.
As for the technicians, a minimum of 2 VR/ purple and 1 blue technician that have a description that they will reduce bridge officer cooldowns is the variety of technician you'll want to make sure you use.
I like to run tanky cruiser setups, and A2B is a go-to first setup to get a reference DPS before I make advanced changes. I do not have all the best DOFFs, gear, and traits, and can still get upper 20's in DPS using A2B with an engineer. Upper 20's isn't shabby and is still able to contribute well enough in many, if not, most situations.
Ultimately, A2B is a stepping stone, a build that works and is well understood, that you can easily setup and use until you can find a better one that fits.
1. the spire vulnerability tac consoles,
2. fleet weapons (I went with plasma which I match with the rommie experimental plasma beam array). Might go with AP via crafting though later on.
3. Dyson 4 piece set, Kobali 4 piece set which I am mixing and matching right now to test them out.
4. I have the Borg console and cutting beam 2 piece set.
5. fleet engineering rcs consoles
6. embassy sci consoles
7. A few special consoles like the bio gel one and the Nukara zero point one.
So I quite a bit of decent gear. How can I max this rig out?
My Klingon toon on the other hand is probably a "beginner" in terms of gear. No rep gear at all, no fleet stuff and flying around with green MkXII disrupters! Truely a beginner but I will kit him out next. I run a2b with him.
Looks like you're in pretty good shape overall, if you wanted to experiment with other build types your biggest hurdle would be DoFFs needed for a different build. Most of those can be aquired from Lt. Ferra in ESD once you get to level 4 in Duty Officer schools.
If you want an example of a different style build for the Guardian, this is what I run on my ship: U.S.S. Paladin.
All the duty officers are listed in Notes, skill tree and traits are all complete. The Damage Control DoFF's keep recharge on your emergency powers down, those combined with the Warp Core Engineer keep power levels up.
I use the Reciprocity trait from the Phantom which means I don't need to double up on Tactical Abilities. If you don't have that trait, I would recommend using the Ensign Universal for another Tactical skill like Beam Fire at Will 1 to keep FAW up as much as possible. Alternatively, if you want to boost personal DPS over Team DPS, you could swap Attack Pattern Beta 2 for Beam Fire at Will 2 and use the Ensign Universal to double up Tac Team.
Without Reciprocity, I would also remove Ionic Turbulance and run 2 copies of Override Sub System Safeties.
Yes, my weapons are Tetryon, yes I know the proc sucks. You can substitude any weapon type that you wish, I actually like my Tetryon beams and with the cost of upgrades, I'm not going to re-do them.
If you don't have the Plasmonic Leech, then substitute the console of your choice and ditch the Flow Capacitor Console, it's just there to buff the Leech. You can also remove skill points from Flow Capacitors and place them elsewhere.
Bio-Neural Infusion Circuits are a Lobi Store console (200 Lobi) feel free to substitute that as well.
If you want to use your spacebar bind, the rotation would be EPTW3,EPTS2,ATB1,ATA3,OSS,BFAW3. If you wanted to use the rest of the bar, you could throw your Subspace Modulator in there and Fleet Support so you can trigger it when you're damaged.
This build easily pulls 28-30k in ISA, sometimes more. Just one idea as an alternative to A2B. As long as a build works for you though, it's not 'wrong' or 'bad.'
The best build is whatever works best for you. :cool:
By the way, what skills rotation do you use? I am big on setting up keybinds (like the tray 7 key bind set up I have seen on the federation emergency services site) and spamming the spacebar to rotate through the skills. Call me lazy but it is just easy to do and clears out my tray 1 hot bar for more specific one time use skills that I can focus on.
No problem.
I use that bind myself sometimes. The order I use for tray 7 is
EPTW3,EPTS2,ATB1,ATA3,OSS,BFAW3.
After that, you can use whatever you like to fill the bar. I'm currently using the DoFF that gives you +20 Resistance when you use Brace for Impact, so I have that in my bar after fire at will 3 along with my Subspace Field Modulator and Emergency Fleet III. It's really up to you, I just recommend you avoid binding abilities you need to have ready to get you out of a jam, things like Engineering Team, Hazard Emitters, Science Team, etc. :cool:
OMG it's amazing!!!!! So much better than the Samsar in terms of offensive skills
The only problem at the moment is that I haven't got mastry level up yet, so I can't take advantange of the 10% hull.
I think at this point, this ship is almost as effective as the Fleet Avenger for its hitting power even though I changed the AP Dual Beam Bank to the Beam Array. Even with Mk XI gears, they pack quite a punch.
I'm having difficulty deciding if I should keep the Attack PAttern Omega I or Torpedo Spread 3 with the Neutronic.
Not everything you see on the internet is true - Abraham Lincoln
Occidere populo et effercio confractus
No problem man, good luck with it. The Guardian is a very nice ship. :cool:
Any thoughts?
I have never heard of an issue with the Maco Shields and the Console.
The defensive bonus increases shield hardness so there should be no conflict there. The description of the offensive bonus reads as
"During this time any incoming enemy energy weapon fire has a high chance of boosting your own energy weapon and exotic damage output. "
Since it's not absorbing X amount per sub system I would think you would be fine. The issue with the Shields and the Leech is that they both absorb X and apply to energy levels and one total negates the other. The Particle Generator however, boosts your weapons base damage number and not the power level. It gives you a flat damage bonus as opposed to a variable power increase, so it should be perfectly fine to use the Console with the Maco Shields.
I use a Plasmonic Leech on my Guardian and have not seen any conflict with the Console.