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T6 equivalent of Fleet Assault Cruiser?
ponqu
Member Posts: 50 Arc User
So, i'm just getting back to the game after a long time. I have my Fleet Assault Cruiser refit, with wide angle torpedoes and fleet disruptor beams. I ran it with AtB build and i loved it. I enjoyed very much to quickly slide into enemy formation and fire a full broadside after broadside from my beams 
So my question is: Which T6 ship i should pursue now, that can fit the role of AtB fitted Assault Cruiser? And is it worth to upgrade mine for 700zen for now?
So my question is: Which T6 ship i should pursue now, that can fit the role of AtB fitted Assault Cruiser? And is it worth to upgrade mine for 700zen for now?
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only ships worth looking at if you really want to upgrade to T6 is new galaxy and maybe the guardian but other that the Intel and command powers T5u ships are still end game viable tbh.
I flew a Fleet Assault Cruiser Refit prior to DR and my upgrade ship was the Presidio Command Battlecruiser. I'm quite happy with it, it feels like the natural successor to the Assault Cruiser. It has one of the best Starship Traits you can get and it's fleet quality without any additional cost. It's a well balanced ship that can hit hard and take quite a beating in return.
The Guardian Cruiser is also a possible option, but it really is more of a Galaxy/Ambassador hybrid. The Andromeda is a good option as well if you like being able to use the Galaxy Skin at T6. Finally, if you're not really all to concerned with the look and you just want to be able to put out overwhelming firepower, then the Eclipse Intel Cruiser is probably the option you want. It's the most offensively focused, but is a little softer then other options.
Any of these ships will fit your need, it really just depends on which ship appeals most to you. In my opinion, the Presidio was the path I took to upgrade the FACR.
Eclipse dont look so bad, but i don't think i'll be utilizing it's cloak.
Presidio and Guardian looks interesting, but the wiki page for Presidio s lacking many information, like what are it's starship mastery abilities?
Guardian looks versatile and does it with fleet version be stronger than Presidio? But the thing that makes me not convinced to that ship is it's manuverability.
Presidio have better turn rate and better shields, so it's more manuverable and tougher than guardian? It also have more slots, so it looks like it's just better ship for the same money.
My character is eng, so i always felt that it was perfect to fly assault cruiser. With my eng abilities i could make it tank if needed, but also had quite a punch.
So is flying Presidio with AtB build a viable option? Do anyone know of any good buid for it?
Fair enough, the Eclipse isn't for everyone. It's an offensive powerhouse, but it's appearance alone is off putting to many.
They are both good ships, the Mastery Package for the Presidio is as follows:
Starship Ability Package (Battlecruiser)
Absorptive Plating
Enhanced Weapon Banks
Enhanced Plating
Armored Hull
All Hands on Deck (Starship Trait)
You can find all the relevant information here.
I own both ships and they are comparable in survivability. They are both extremely durable ships, it's very hard to destroy either ship. The Presidio is noticeably more maneuverable then the Guardian.
Yes, I would say that the Presidio is a better ship then the Non-Fleet Guardian. While I really like both ships, I have a character that flies a Presidio and one that flies the Guardian, I consider the Presidio a better ship. Statistically, they're similar, but the Presidio just seems to do everything better.
Aux2Bat is viable if that's what you like. It's not what I like to do, but a lot of people still use it. It's not the best build, but it works.
The build in my signature (Vigilant) constantly pulls 35k+ in ISA. It does great damage and is almost impossible to destroy. Have a look and let me know if you have any questions. My build uses the Reciprocity Trait from the Phantom, if you don't have that trait then change the Lt. Universal to a Tactical Officer. Run Tac Team 1 and Beam Fire At Will 2 in that slot. Skills and everything are all complete, and Duty Officers are listed in the Notes Section.
While the Guardian and Andromeda are improved by A2B, the same is not really true of the Presidio. You already have sufficient Tac seats on the Presidio, and doubling Command seats is not worth the drawbacks of A2B.
It's definitely a viable option, though.
I agree. The Andromeda is probably the most suited to A2B builds, but you can pull it off on the Presidio. If you absolutely must Aux2Bat you could set up your BoFFs as follows:
Lt. Universal - Tactical - Tac Team 1, Beam Fire At Will II
Lt. Com Tactical - Tac Team 1, Beam Fire At Will II, Attack Pattern Omega 1
Com Engineering/Command - Overwhelm Emitters 1, Aux2Bat 1,Suppression Barrage 1, Directed Energy Modulation III
Lt Engineering - Engineering Team 1, Aux2Bat 1
Lt. Science - Hazard Emitters 1, Science Team 2
With 3 Technician DoFFs, that should work. It would give you a couple command abilities, give you heavy tactical, keep your Aux2Bat and gives you a cleanse and shield heal from your science station.
I don't normally Aux2Bat though, so someone else might have a better layout for that.
The Presidio is also short two of the Cruiser commands, most notably the reduction of enegy cost command. As long as there isnt an energy problem, the Presidio is the better ship. If energy maintenance is a problem, the Guardian is a viable option.
As for Presidio, i checked your build seaofsorrows, and how do you fly it? As whamhammer1 pointed out about power management, dont you have problems with power on that build? Are you Tactical character captain (I'm an eng)? I'm quite a bit rusty with fitting ships but why so little tactical abilities? How you manage a big damage output?
I flew with AtB build because of good power management that allowed me to continuously keep firing from all 7 beams+wide torps without loss of power output to weapons. Will i be able to just fly sideboard to enemy and keep sustained dps on him with my beams?
Also i havent thoght that you could transfer mastery from different ships. I thought that it applies only to that one ship it unlocks it.
That said, I have a higher preference for the Eclipse. No Fed TAC Cruiser in the game has the total package that the Eclipse has: Staying power, firepower, immense build flexibility, full Intel access (stronger than Command, IMO), capable DHC or Beamboat, and handling that leaves other Fed Cruisers in the dust.
I had a write-up about the Eclipse in a comparison thread from months back about the strengths of the ship. Mind you, I felt that way even before the 4 TAC Consoled-Fleet Eclipse came out. With the 4 TAC Fleet Eclipse, it's not even a contest anymore to me.
As for comparison with the TAC Command FDC, it comes down to this:
The TAC Command FDC has an amazing trait. But the ship is gimped for the TAC Cruiser role.
The Eclipse is an amazing ship but the trait isn't as good as the TAC Command FDC's.
===
If you're chasing traits, the TAC Command FDC is a good choice. If you're looking for a killer ship, the Eclipse is that choice.
Power levels are no problem thanks to my duty officer layout. I use 3 Damage Control Engineers that reduce my cool down time for Emergency Power To Weapons and Shields. I also get power boost from my Warp Core Engineer. I also have a Plasmonic Leech console but don't worry if you don't have one. They're very nice to have, but the build works without it. They run about 45-50M EC on the Exchange, so not attainable to everyone. I also have skill points spend on boosting aux and engine power as you can see in my skills, and my warp core provides nice bonus to power. With all of that, Weapon Power runs constantly between 100-125, Shields at 100+, and Engines and Aux are at least 75 at all times.
My power distribution is set up to let me take advantage of damage bonuses from the AMP mod on my Warp Core and the Nukara Offensive Trait.
As for Eclipse i actually like the look, but one of the main questions is: can it tank? I want something tanky with a puncch. For pure dps i plan to get something else later (back in the days i last played i got Charal for that) And i still have absolutely no idea with all this new intel officer thing. I have a lot to catch up and not much time so far.
Every ship in this game has something they do well, and some drawback of some kind.. it's how they prevent any one ship from being the 'clear cut best.' When looking at the Eclipse, the weakness is that it's less sturdy then other cruisers, but don't let that fool you. It's not squishy like an escort, it's only slightly less durable then other cruisers. It can still tank, it can still take a beating, it's still a tough ship.
Make no mistake though, the focus of the Eclipse is damage. It's the only Fed Cruiser that can take advantage of high level intel like Surgical Strikes and Override Subsystem Safeties at their highest rank. It's maneuverability makes it viable for pretty much any weapon layout you want including Dual Beams or Cannons (though I still prefer single beams on it.)
The build in my signature is a single target build (notice no FAW) designed to take out one target quickly and then move to the next one. Surgical Strikes triggers a cool down on Energy Weapon skills like Fire at Will, Cannon Rapid Fire/Scatter Volley, etc. so I use it as my main energy weapon attack power. S.S. pushes critical chance through the roof and combined with Override Subsystem Safeties you can get your weapon power higher then 125 making for a very potent damage combination.
The Presidio is the more well rounded ship, it's the closest to the Assault Cruiser, it does everything and does it well. It's a great choice for someone that wants a well rounded and balanced ship. The Eclipse while not 'soft' does sacrifice a little survivability and trades it for pure damage output. Both are great ships, they just fill slightly different roles. If you set up both ships using the traditional 'Fire At Will' build, the Eclipse would be superior in damage output.
If you wish, I can post a less expensive 'starter' build for either ship, just let me know if you have any questions. If you're choosing between the Presidio and the Eclipse, there is no wrong answer. You're going to get a great ship either way.
Ok, I gave it a shot based on the gear you mentioned here and the fact that you run Aux2Bat.
I should start by saying, I'm not an expert at all on A2B, I used to run it back in the day but I haven't run it in a while. I assume you have the Technician DoFFS already so I set it up so you would have 2 copies of A2B.
Here is my rough draft Starter Build.
I did replace your beams.. why? Because the Fleet Beams do not perform nearly as well as Reputation Beams. I went with Disruptor since that's what you said you have. The Beams are all CritDx2 beams from the Undine Reputation Store. They're fairly easy to acquire and they're pretty solid weapons.
I would eventually try to replace the Warp Core with a Fleet [AMP] Core from the Dilithium Mine. Amp cores give bonus damage for every subsystem above 75, you run Aux2Bat so you will only get 3/4 on the bonus, but you can also pop Aux Batteries for a damage boost.
I just kind of slapped the consoles together based on what I knew you had and what you could fill in cheaply. The Bio-Neural Gel Packs are from the Delta Alliance Rep. The Nukara console adds bonus beam accuracy, and I doubled up Alloy Consoles just because it's cheap and easy. Feel free to swap any of them out, I put the field generators in Science to up your shield capacity and because there aren't really that many useful Science Console. In the future, should you acquire a Plasmonic Leech you can sub those out for the Embassy Plasma Consoles +Flow. Even if you don't have the Leech, I would try to get at least one of them in there just for the Plasma Damage Proc.
Same can be said with the Tactical Consoles. If you're in a fleet, I would try to replace those as soon as you can with Fleet Vulnerability Locators with + to Disruptor. Each of the Fleet Consoles ups your Critical Hit chance and will pair well with the beams that up Critical Severity.
I don't personally use Torpedos. If you do, then I would recommend using the Enhanced Bio-Molecular Photon Torpedo Launcher from the Undine Set. Why? Because you can replace one of those Alloy Consoles with a Hydrodynamics Compensator to get a 2 piece bonus that will give you +7.5% Disruptor Damage.
I didn't include the console that comes with the Presidio because it boosts Kinetic Damage and I don't have any Kintetic Weapons. If you go with a Torp, then I would swap out one of the Field Generators or the Nukara Console for the Presidio Console.
That should give you a pretty balance and effective setup. I'm sure others will throw in some ideas as well. Let me know if you have any questions.
The command battlecruisers do NOT have access to Weapon System Efficiency or Strategic Maneuvers. All you get is Shield Frequency Modulation and Attract Fire.
That may not be much, but I thought I ought to mention it.
"Let them eat static!"
To OP:
I own all four ships FBC, Andromeda, Eclipse and Guardian (don't ask why i bought that ugly thing) and i must say the Eclipse is by far the most flexible and most offensive Starfleet Cruiser there is. (Everything warmaker001b said so much better than i am able to.)
And don't forget you can use Traits from other ships on any other ship!
EDIT:
On top of that, the eclipse can look very sexy if you use the phantoms nacelles: Image
Nice! That's almost exactly how my Eclipse looks.
It's definitely a great ship, it can put out some serious damage.
I do the same ship parts for the Eclipse. If only you had longer pylons as an option and more normal looking, Starfleet style long nacelles. I would also have gone for a sort of Constellation-class kind of look with long nacelles and short pylons.
Thank you for your builds and advices.
No problem, hope you enjoy your new ship. Let us know if you have any other questions. :cool:
Oddly enough i like Starfleet ships with shorter nacelles (Galaxy, Nebula, Intrepid) much more than the ones with long nacelles (Sovereign, Excelsior). Luckily there's room for both styles.
But you're right, the Eclipse very different to any typical Starfleet ship before. It could be a Star Wars ship just as well. But for me it doesn't matter much, as long as the design is new, inventive and good looking.
For ex. the old Star Cruisers or new pilot ships don't look like typical Starfleet ships, but they look very good imho.
Maybe Cryptics designers will come up with more than just another Excelsior variant like the Odyssey, Sovereign or the new command BCs in the future.
If you didn't had cut my following sentence, it would be more clear that i was speaking about elegant, fluid and smooth looking shapes/ships. Pretty much the opposite of what you have posted. (No harm meant.
It's more like this: Smooth and fluid looking
and this: original ship
Personaly i'd prefer the smooth and fluid looking one 100x more then the original ship, but that's all just personal taste of course. What looks good for person A doesn't have to look good for person B.
EDIT: sorry for being off topic (again)
It looks much better with Phantom Nacelles, but the whole triangle shape thing still kinda bothers me. It's not my favorite looking ship, but it's one I didn't buy for aesthetics. I fly it because it's a beast.
I agree, that would have been nice. Oh well, at least we got the Phantom Nacelles to make it look better, I absolutely hate the 'standard' look of the Eclipse.
To unlock all visual options, you need to own all 3. You'll pretty much be stuck with the default appearance. You can of course, change the pattern and stuff, but that's it.