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seaofsorrows
Member Posts: 10,919 Arc User
Hey Guys.
So, I have always been a Cruiser Captain.. it's just my taste. I was flying Cruisers back when people called this game 'Escorts online' I just always thought of ships like the Excelsior, Galaxy, Constitution, Sovereign, etc when I thought of Star Trek. With the whole Delta Recruit thing though, I thought to myself that the last thing I need is yet another Beam Boat Fire At Will Captain (I already have 3.) For my DR, I'm went all Escort Cannon Build and having a blast.
Now I know that Cannons are less effective and all that, this is about having fun though, and so far it's a blast. I do however find it a challenge at time. While I absolutely rip things apart with my front facing weapons (Seriously, it just shreds things in seconds) it's a challenge going from the heavy survivability of a Cruiser to the more fragile nature of an Escort. I don't die a lot, but when I do.. it's quick.
Anyway, I seem to have it all down pretty good I just have a question on power levels. Now, my instinct tells me that it's best to keep full power to Weapons and Shields, but I'm thinking that I'm leaving my engines drastically underpowered. I do also use the Amp Warp Core and the Nukara Offensive Trait, so Aux can't be neglected either. I'm leaning toward a more traditional power alignment.. something like 85/15/55/45, but I'm worried about keeping shield power that low. For those experienced with Escorts, does the extra maneuverability from higher engine power accurately offset the lack of shield power? I am in a Phantom, so this layout also seems conducive to use of the Reciprocity Trait.
My attack style is a strafing style, I like to stay moving and don't park much. My build is pretty standard and can be found here. It's complete with Skills and Traits.
So for more experienced Escort Captains, how do you set up your power endgame?
Thanks for any suggestions.
So, I have always been a Cruiser Captain.. it's just my taste. I was flying Cruisers back when people called this game 'Escorts online' I just always thought of ships like the Excelsior, Galaxy, Constitution, Sovereign, etc when I thought of Star Trek. With the whole Delta Recruit thing though, I thought to myself that the last thing I need is yet another Beam Boat Fire At Will Captain (I already have 3.) For my DR, I'm went all Escort Cannon Build and having a blast.
Now I know that Cannons are less effective and all that, this is about having fun though, and so far it's a blast. I do however find it a challenge at time. While I absolutely rip things apart with my front facing weapons (Seriously, it just shreds things in seconds) it's a challenge going from the heavy survivability of a Cruiser to the more fragile nature of an Escort. I don't die a lot, but when I do.. it's quick.
Anyway, I seem to have it all down pretty good I just have a question on power levels. Now, my instinct tells me that it's best to keep full power to Weapons and Shields, but I'm thinking that I'm leaving my engines drastically underpowered. I do also use the Amp Warp Core and the Nukara Offensive Trait, so Aux can't be neglected either. I'm leaning toward a more traditional power alignment.. something like 85/15/55/45, but I'm worried about keeping shield power that low. For those experienced with Escorts, does the extra maneuverability from higher engine power accurately offset the lack of shield power? I am in a Phantom, so this layout also seems conducive to use of the Reciprocity Trait.
My attack style is a strafing style, I like to stay moving and don't park much. My build is pretty standard and can be found here. It's complete with Skills and Traits.
So for more experienced Escort Captains, how do you set up your power endgame?
Thanks for any suggestions.
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PS
On the build, why 2 CRFs on top of SS, since with shared cooldowns you can only use two of those at most? Or the Overload, for that matter? Also why the Nukara Particle Converter when you only have 1 beam weapon? If its just for the energy, wouldn't you get more out of a the consoles from the Romulan or Delta reps, or energy + beneficial set bonuses from the Dyson or Undine sets?
Under pilot spec you'll find this nifty little thing called "attack pattern mastery" that gives you temporary shields and hull every time you activate an attack pattern BOff skill. (not APA.) So build your escort with two attack patterns and keep your speed (and def) up, and you'll almost never get a dent in your actual shields or hull.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Also this, all the weapon powers share a global CD so everytime you use 1 buff 3 others will jump to global. You're basically rendering your slots useless.
Cool, that makes sense.. thanks.
My build was a bit off, sorry.
I originally ran it as a 'Beamscort' so the Nukara Console is outdated. I have replaced it in the build with the Fleet Neutronium Alloy.
I actually don't use Rapid Fire either, I use Scatter Volley. I had 2 of them for the times that Reciprocity didn't get it done, but I didn't realize that Cannon skills shared a cool down with Surgical Strikes.
Nice, I wasn't aware of that. You have to have Pilot as Primary to use that? Because I intended to go Intelligence as my primary to take advantage of the flanking traits.
Good to know, thanks. My original thinking was 2 Cannon Skills for the times I couldn't depend on Reciprocity, but I didn't know it shared cooldown with Surgical Strikes. I'll need to re-think one of those skills.
Right now, I have Evade Target Lock because it's helpful, but I might double up OSS depending on how reliable Reciprocity is for keeping it at global.
Some good stuff, thanks guys. Still working out the kinks, Cannon style is somewhat new to me.
I imagine it's excellent for PvP vaper builds (buff up, decloak, lance+BO, done) but in PvE it's really not that useful.
BO1 sets SS3 to global
CSV2 stets SS3 to global
SS3 sets bothe BO1 and CSV2 to global
Makes the rotation kinda convoluted and it really could be an overall DPS loss since SS3 is also an incredible skill you'd blocking very often.
Without it you could slot TT1 instead and free the uni for like polarize hull to escape from stuff. A still standing phantom is a dead phantom.
Good points.
The way I was doing it is using the Overload right out of cloak for the Alpha Strike and then letting the cannon/SS skills go from there. In hindsight, while it does provide a great opening strike, the skill is then basically unused for the duration of the fight.
I think I'll take your advice and swap it out. I'll use either PH or maybe TSS for the Uni slot (probably PH for an escape.)
If I don't use the Overload, you think it's worth it to keep the DBB there? or should I just run 4 DHC's?
SS does work better with beams than cannons but my gut says no, might be worth testing?
Generally speaking 4 DHCs would be better since CSV would buff the 4th DHC you'd have insted of the DBB.
But all things considered I am not sure.
For now, I think I'll leave the Beam Bank just for the extra firing arc. Many times I have had a target almost escape my arc just to get finished off by the Beam Bank. I'll craft another cannon though and play with both options.. see which one works best.
I'll miss the overload, but it will be more efficient this way. Plus, the added survivability from the Polarize Hull will be nice. Thanks for the tips.
In terms of optimisations to yours, I would choose either single target or AOE and go from there, after flying FAWboats I think you might find wiping out single targets in seconds somewhat refreshing.
With that in mind, I made a couple of adjusted builds.
Singlet Target: http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=spectresingletarget_0
AOE: http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=spectreaoe_0 (You'll want TT doffs for this one)
Using the single target one activating ET about 3 seconds before OSS should protect you from the system offline effect, I believe the global for OSS is the same as the standard cooldown on ET. I also made some adjustments to your skill spec to make it less vulnerable to drains.
I set my engine power level in combat because I use the plasmonic leach
Once I am in combat and I get my bonus power I open my character chart where I can see my defense rating..............apply power to engines until you get that sweet spot on your defense value verses power used....Lock down the power level and bingo your getting the most defense for the least power used
usually you can add a little more to get the 75 power needed for your warp core amp...depending on the build you may have 75 power with the slider fully down
This works on any ship class..............Some new traits require a max power level for the bonus you can get this as needed by using another preset
The first thing I set is engine power for max defense then use the rest of my power where its needed...Write this power down on a pad so when a accident happens you can reset it for that config..........swapping engines /cores/some consoles will affect it as well
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
I'll have to check when I get home, but I believe the one I have is W->S. If so, this should help me get away with the lower shield power level.
If it's a different one, I'll set it up as you advised, thank you for the tip.
I typically run 100% weapons and split the rest sort of evenly, though on specific ships I have aux cranked up and some science support going on + aux2dps rep trait. Since DR I have been doing my best to reduce my speed, not increase it, so engine power is usually lowest -- allowing me to go in full speed with pedal to the metal active but not going so fast that I pass the target and have to double back. Others go all in on speed, its your call on that but I find going too fast to be counter productive in pve.
There are merits to splitting it evenly, and merits to cranking up a secondary system like shields as high as you can, it just depends on how you want your ship to perform. But again, you really want to shoot for max/75/75/75 first, then tweak it after that as best you can.
I typically run with Weapons 100, shields and Engines as low as possible to keep them at 75 with Plasmonic Leech and the the Rest in Aux. with a fleet plasma-integrated warp core with Amp and W->A. With EPWS1 and Dmg Control Engineers that keeps my shields at 100 pretty much 100%. With a warpcore engineer and astika trait its not uncommon for me to hit max powerlvl in all 4.
(Weapon Power - 50) * 0.02 = boost to Energy Weapon damage
@50 Weapon Power, you're doing 100% of your damage.
@100 Weapon Power, you're doing 200% of your damage.
@125 Weapon Power, you're doing 250% of your damage.
Shield Power...
Regeneration: 1 + (Shield Power - 50) / 25 = Regeneration modifier
@50 Shield Power, you're looking at 100% Regeneration.
@75 Shield Power, you're looking at 200% Regeneration.
@100 Shield Power, you're looking at 300% Regeneration.
@125 Shield Power, you're looking at 400% Regeneration.
Shield Damage Reduction/Hardness: Shield Power * 0.28 = Shield Damage Reduction/Hardness
@50 Shield Power, you've got 14% Shield Hardness.
@75 Shield Power, you've got 21% Shield Hardness.
@100 Shield Power, you've got 28% Shield Hardness.
@125 Shield Power, you've got 35% Shield Hardness.
Keep in mind how the overall Shield Damage Reduction/Hardness is calculated for multiple sources.
1 - ((1 - X) * (1 - Y) * (1 - Z) * (1 - etc)) = Total Shield Damage Reduction/Hardness.
Auxiliary Power...
Is going to affect two of your abilities there as well as your Auxiliary Power Configuration - Offense Reputation Trait.
For your HE1, you'd be looking at both the Heal and the Damage Resistance Rating.
Heal = (Auxiliary Power + 49.95) * 3 * 1 * ((Starship Hull Repair Skill / 200) + 1) * 16
Damage Resistance Rating = (Auxiliary Power + 50) * (6 / 45)
Keeping in mind that Damage Resistance Rating feeds into another formula to determine your Damage Resistance and is subject to diminishing returns (whether viewing Damage Resistance or Effective Health).
For your PH1, you'd just be looking at Damage Resistance Rating.
Damage Resistance Rating = (Aux Power + 49.95) * (55 / 150)
Again, keeping in mind that Damage Resistance Rating feeds into another formula to determine your Damage Resistance and is subject to diminishing returns (whether viewing Damage Resistance or Effective Health).
The T4 Nukara Auxiliary Power Configuration - Offense...er...I don't recall the formula off-hand, but that's a simple check of the tooltip to see what it's providing...heh, /brainfart - just don't remember the formula nor have it handy.
Another thing would be how Aux affects Stealth...it's +1 Stealth Value per Aux; but it's just a standard cloak and not really going to be part of the combat thing in PvE.
Engine Power...
Well, hrmm, nope - I don't have anything for this one, lol. I know frtoaster has a formula for turn and possibly speed and ll the rest there...
...but in the end, for normal ships (not the Risian Corvette) you're looking at Bonus Defense capping at 24 impulse - you get the +45% there and going faster doesn't improve that. Speed for Defense, imho, just isn't going to come into it with PvE...you'll want it moving between engagements and so forth; but you're not going to be dogfighting nor strafing, etc, etc, etc. The NPCs simply aren't going to be zipping about like a player might be and strafing would be a loss of DPS.
I know it won't be popular, but I decided to drop Surgical Strikes completely and go for a more speed oriented build. I added Attack Pattern Omega, changed my Scatter Volleys to Rapid Fires and use those with OSS to strafe attack. With the power levels at 85/15/55/45 I have more then enough engine power to keep defense up, I hardly get touched. Reciprocity procs constantly and I keep my Rapid Fire and OSS at global.
It's a single target build, I focus on one ship at a time, but so far I really like it. Survivability and damage are both quite good. I'm sure it would parse lower then other builds because it's not an AOE build and single target builds parse lower by nature. Right now, I still have the Dual Beam Bank, but I'm going to swap it for a 4th DHC because with my Rapid Fire on global I'll get more benefit from an additional Cannon.
I'm sure most people will think I'm nuts for dropping Surgical Strikes, but I just can't stand DHC's with Surgical Strikes, they fire so slow that half the time it feels like my Turrets are the only thing working. Mostly for this build, I just want to have fun, and this is a fun build. If I want to do DPS runs with a parser, I'll bring my Presidio. This ship really feels like an 'attack ship,' it strikes fast and is elusive. I'll park occasionally when I'm right on an enemies rear arc and just pummel them until I start taking fire. Then it's back to full 'run and gun.' I wanted something different from my BFAW Cruiser, and this is definitely different.
Thanks everyone for all the tips, I got a lot of good advice from this thread. I updated my build to what I'm running currently if anyone wants to see. It's the same link here. I also saved a 2nd load out which is the exact same build only with Scatter Volleys instead of the CRF. One is a single target build, and the other more AOE.
I get 48.9 deg/sec turn rate unbuffed and 70 deg/sec with APA and APO3
Weapons 125/90
Shields 76/60
Engines 49/25
Aux 46/25
I Don't use the Phantom anymore though as I noticed it only has 10 console slots where my other T5-U and T6 Escorts/Destroyers have 11. The Phantom kind of gets screwed there. I'm currently using the Hazari Destroyer. I absolutely love this ship except for the Mastery Trait which is Partners in Arms which doesn't really help a escort really as it requires you to heal team mates for it to trigger, besides that it's a nice ship and has 11 console slots vs the Phantoms 10. Not saying my build is the best because it's not and could use improvements as well.
Here's my build with with notes
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=usspioneer_1353
You should have Full Power To Weapons at all times regardless what ship you.
Back in the days you had to direct power to where you need it, now you do not.
Slap a threat reducing console on your ship and just sit back and watch yourself kill everything without a scratch. There is no point in having power to engines unless you are playing a PvP match, there you need speed, you don't need none of that in a PvE match at all.
If you want to see how its down, you can always find me, I even tank on my escorts.
It's all about the right Boffs abilities + keeping that weapon power level up to 125 at all times.
My Samsar is full beams and goes full power to weapons, last more then any other ship even if its same class and/r tier while ditching out 300+ damage per hit with 8 beam arrays firing all at once even using Fire At Will, hits 500+ per beam while I meantime my weapon power above 100-112 with buffs active.
Then just try to stay alive.
I'm not so sure of that as a rule, while it's nice to have slightly more shield power and it gets you another couple of hits, to put that power into engines gives you more mobility and some bonus defence which you can use to dodge and avoid hits or weapon arcs entirely. In addition, the less time between targets reduces weapon downtime thereby increasing DPS.
With my base power settings (100/40/30/30) I manage around 20k with a single target build, running EPtS+E, think what I could do if I learned to fly it's AOE config which uses EPtS+W, my main issue is how much slower it is, I have difficulty getting it into position, then I have a hard time with it's defences because it doesn't have the dodge chance it usually does and finally it's just less fun to fly.
Yeah, Cryptic really gave the shaft to people that bought Delta Pack ships. They're the only T6 ships in the entire game that don't have a fleet option. They keep saying it's coming, but no one knows when.
Man, I'm jealous, I would LOVE to have one of those!
The extra engine power is a huge help if you use Cannons.. it lets you whip around faster and get enemies back in your forward arc. The extra speed also considerably boosts your defense rating.
I played around with both, I did a full power to engines load out as well as a full power to Weapons/Shields.. honestly there is very little difference either way in terms of survivability. The high engine power does cause a lot of misses which works great with Reciprocity, but overall, no matter how you set your power rating, the Phantom is a flying sheet of tissue paper that's really hard to keep alive.
Do you by any chance do videos or anything of your playstyle? Do you use Cannon or Beam setup?
I'm still trying to figure out my style when it comes to Escorts, I seem to do MUCH better with Beams so far. I also don't really care for the Phantom, I'm thinking of possibly picking up a T5U Ship like the Fleet Patrol Escort Refit. I need something that can take a hit or two, I just don't like being 'glassy.'
Which ship do you like to use?
I did some short testing a few weeks ago in system space and and atleast with my Toon and ships I only gain a couple points in defense and turn rate with allot of power set to engines. I also get less and less of a bonus to power setting when I raise engines higher. For example if I raise engines from 25 to 30 my bonus only raises two points so it's goes from 49/25 to 51/25, so not really worth raising it, same with Aux. Here's my stats for my ship in system space unbuffed.
Bonus Defense 81.3%
Shield Regen 219.3 every 6 secs
Totla shields per facing 9,548
32.4% Resist Kinetic and all Energies AP 39.6%
Bonus Accuracy 35%
Crit Chance 17.1% ( I need to get this up )
Crit Severity 105.8%
Inertia 65
Flight speed 48.75
Turn Rate 48.9 deg/sec ( it's almost too much as I over turn my targets allot )
When it comes to shield's I know allot of people say go with Regen shields like the Borg shield but I disagree with when it comes to escorts. Because shields like the Borg shield on a Escort has no cap what so ever and get taking down allot and majority of the time by attacks and the regen doesn't help all that much. I tend to go with Resilient Shield arrays which have a slighter lower regen but only has a 5% bleed through instead of 10% and have a higher cap. But I still play old school I still use DHc's and 1 torp up front. I also don't key bind and click everything with my mouse and I still hang in there allot more than allot of escort all cannon or beam builds they may do allot more splash dps than I do but I tend to not die as much and in the long room kill more enemies in PVE. But like I said before I'm not one of the best when it comes to Dps or a so-called expert I just build and play what fits me and I like having a torp and don't care how many people say I'm wasting my time with a torp. Even when I run my Tac Crusier I have 1-2 torps depending on the ship and turn rate.
Here's a build I used when leveling. Obviously now that I have Reciprocity (and Battle Ready) I no longer carry duplicate copies of Tactical or Intel abilities.
Reserve Tactical for any non energy weapon abilities. Omega is nice. One torpedo is nice. Tactical Team is nice running against Borg or PVP. Otherwise not so much. Just don't use energy weapon buffs. Save that for Intel. Intel will also give you a snare and a debuff via Ionic Turbulence. So you get an added bonus there to your Beta Spam. Or you can choose Delta for even more resistance.
Power levels. Run Aux2ID/DCE. Never worry about power levels, defense, or resistance again. If you pair that Doff build with Battle Ready life becomes very sexy. Yes. I said it.
Combined with Battle Ready that ship will run over 105% bonus Defense at all times and between 50 and 60 percent resistance at all times...with NO armor equipped.
Make 4 power preset key binds. Use them. Get engineering consoles to help you shift power quickly. Use Dual system batteries. Use OSS. Already the DCE build will take care of 3 subsystems automatically so these other steps are for emergency situations or for even greater burst potential.
Oh and Wordpress is messing with my archives so the video here may still be wrong, but the rest is correct.
Here's the actual Macro Video.
Obvious ships gear can change of course. As an Engineer with crazy hull heals and hull resists, bleed doesn't faze me. Hyper Engines are faster. All sorts of stuff you can tailor to suit your needs. But the core Engineering Doff scheme will fit your power needs.
Peace.
Interesting, thanks for the info. I totally agree with you on the shields, Regen Shields on an Escort just don't seem to get the job done, I want something with lower bleed through and a higher Cap. Especially if I'm going to fly something as soft as a Phantom.
Some great info there, thanks. I'll have to check out that video, I watch a lot of your stuff, it's very good. I am strongly considering getting something other then the Phantom, I just don't like the ship.. but I'll play around with some of your suggestions first.
Have you ever tried Dual Beam Banks instead of the Cannons? I just.. really hate cannons. They're absolutely terrible in comparison to beams, and even though everyone loves it, I absolutely hate DHC + Surgical Strikes. You get some big crit numbers, but the attack rate is just so slow. I can't stand how slow DHC's are normally, when you hit SS it seems like you just stop firing. I'm thinking of trying DBB's up front with Borg and Phaser Omni in the rear and maybe a regular beam array for when I'm spinning around.
I change my mind all the time on what ship I want to go with, but I'm pretty set against Cannons. There are just too many trade offs (firing arc, distance fall off, firing rate) all for pretty much nothing. After playing with Cannons for a couple weeks, I honestly don't know how anyone can stand using them.
Peace and have fun!
I tired some of your tips, and so far I like it. I did drop the Cannons.. personal preference.. but I just hate them. I like to move fast on my Escort and I just find that the narrow firing arc of Cannons is counter-intuitive to that style. I did try Dual Beam Banks, and they're impressive. I used my Tac slot just for Tac Team and Attack Patterns, no beam skills and I used all Intel for that stuff (SS, OSS, and Turbulence) and it definitely hits hard. It's more of a single target build, but I like that. I like to just systematically pick people off.
It's my Delta Recruit, so he's far from fully geared at the moment, I'm using the Solenae Set from Step Between Stars, weapons are Mk XII [CrtD]x2 except for the one DBB that I got lucky on and got [CrtD]x3. I'll eventually replace the x2 with x3 banks. I have 2 Fleet Locators, other 3 are Mark XII Phaser Relays (2 VR, 1 Epic.)
I did shift my Power Levels, I put max to weapons, followed by shields and with my power buffs from my skills and items I can still keep Engines high enough to move pretty good and Aux is usually high enough to get me the Amp Bonus from my Warp Core. The DBB arc is obviously more narrow then Single Beams, but it seems to give me enough forward arc to keep my mobility, I just have to face 'mostly' forward. Right now in the Aft, I have a Phaser Omni with the Borg KCB and the Obelisk Omni. The only one getting buffed by my consoles is the Phaser Omni, I might eventually swap the Obelisk for a single beam to hit people when I pass by them.. I haven't decided yet, but I kind of like having 3 omni beams, even if 2 of them aren't Phaser.
{Edit} - I replaced the Obelisk Omni beam with a Phaser Turret. Normally, it would seem odd to have 1 turret on a beam build, but the Turret being phaser, it gets boosted by Surgical Strikes as well as my Phaser Consoles as opposed to the Anti-proton beam which only benefits from Surgical Strikes.
There are some really cool videos on your channel, I like the one you did for the Phantom. I liked and subscribed.. keep em coming!
Thanks to everyone who threw in ideas. Escort is a new play style for me, but slowly.. I'm starting to get it.
You should be low shield power and max engines not the other way.
If your low shield power you do not want a high shield cap... you will never fill it back up. You want a low shield cap/high regen shield so one shield heal will max you back up or even evasive away and it will at least regen something.
Escorts are hit and run... not sit and be a target... If you need a large shield cap to stay alive you are not moving enough.
Evasive should be run almost non stop. Using the doff to reset evasive for EP2E. This will make everyone miss nearly every shot. If you can control the speed you will do high damage attack runs over and over. If you cant... cruisers are for you.
For low shield power escorts...
Regen shields. Not cap.... not resistant... REGEN
Dyson shield is tops for its lower cap/instant automatic full shield heal every 30 sec.
Borg shield is ok with set... not if alone.
I run defiant with the following to help with shields
Dyson shield - 100k shield healing per STF. Nothing beets it. 4500 cap i think.
Trait - Emergency secondary shielding - 1600 shield heal when someone gets a crit on me.
Trait - The one that does a hull heal of my crit damage.
Intel spec with shield restore/damage resist when shield goes down.
pilot spec with attack pattern exp for massive extra HP and damage resist.
8472 rep item shield platform.
I run borg 2pc as well for hull.
I run 1 shield heal.
I run EP2E1/EP2W2
i run ST1/hazards2
I rarely hit that ST1. Any time my shields go down something procs and back they come.
The main reason i do not die is that i never.... EVER stop full impulse, and SPAM evasive/EP2E any time i can. Nothing hits me. I have tried sitting still and firing and that only results in me dying every time.
I keep a chroniton mine,and a chroniton torpedo launcher in the back. With a spread for the torpedo. For when I need to do a quick spin and slow something down. I never got much out of a turret besides weapon power drain,l so I enjoy the utility of the projectiles as well as the fun of having another toy in the box.
Granted. Most high power STFs people are running today don't merit slowing down NPC's. But, it's there if you want it!