Escort or Cruiser for new Rear Admiral?

jereboy0524 · October 2015

I just got back into gaming from a 3 year lapse and I just got promoted to rear admiral... I am having trouble deciding whether to get an escort or a cruiser for the free ship... I have tried the escort as captain and it rocks but it seems that my duty officers fit the cruisers too... I also got some beams and cannons... so I'm not sure what to get... Should I get the cruiser and try to arm or retrofit it to turn and fly like an escort, or should I just stick with an escort and fit in engineering consoles?

Any help?

Thanks

Unknown · October 2015

This content has been removed.

sennahcherib · October 2015

coldnapalm wrote: »

Depends on what you like to fly really. I personally hate cruisers. I mean really, if my ship has a turn rate of under 40 degrees per second, I hate flying it. If you liked flying escorts before, I would say stick with that. Getting a cruiser to fly like an escort is a fool's errand. As for beams vs cannons...beams...no really. It will do like twice the damage per second of cannons.

indeed. + at low levels, beams is the easy way to play; FAW everywhere, FAW everytime. Cannons are more funny and you must use your ship at its full potential (shield, armor, turn rate) and also your brain; your brain is not needed when you use FAW

the choice is yours.

mustrumridcully0 · October 2015

It's quite possible to build an Escort with a full beam loadout. Nothing forcing you to use cannons on them. It used to be that DHCs were the best choice for an escort, but with various improvements to Beam Fire At Will, beams have become a bit of the non-plus-ultra weapon.

There are some Cruisers that can be made maneuverable, but I think none of the free ones at Rear Admiral qualify for that. Something like the Intel Cruiser or the Battle Cruiser might work.

If you like Escort speed and maneuverability, pick that, and you can still decide whether you want to go beam arrays, dual beam banks or dual heavy cannons.
The Patrol Escort might be your best choice for Tier 5 Escort then, since it still has an engineering focus.

Unless... you get a Tier 5 Retrofit token. Then I think your option is the Tactical Escort Retrofit?

jereboy0524 · October 2015

thanks for the advice... im sorry for my ignorance coz i haven't played the game in a while... What does FAW mean?

nikephorus · October 2015

Fire at Will - It's an aoe tactical attack skill that you can use with beam arrays, omni-directional beam arrays, and dual beam banks.

jereboy0524 · October 2015

mustrumridcully0 wrote: »

It's quite possible to build an Escort with a full beam loadout. Nothing forcing you to use cannons on them. It used to be that DHCs were the best choice for an escort, but with various improvements to Beam Fire At Will, beams have become a bit of the non-plus-ultra weapon.

There are some Cruisers that can be made maneuverable, but I think none of the free ones at Rear Admiral qualify for that. Something like the Intel Cruiser or the Battle Cruiser might work.

If you like Escort speed and maneuverability, pick that, and you can still decide whether you want to go beam arrays, dual beam banks or dual heavy cannons.
The Patrol Escort might be your best choice for Tier 5 Escort then, since it still has an engineering focus.

Unless... you get a Tier 5 Retrofit token. Then I think your option is the Tactical Escort Retrofit?

Yes i got the rear admiral token... but i dont think i can get the tactical escort retrofit... i think my options are limited to advanced escort or the advanced cruiser... but i have to check on that...

dareau · October 2015

Rear Admiral (L40) is where you grab your "final" free ship (at least ones from the levelling process). Therefore, unless you have access to C-store stuff from your earlier days, you might be "stuck" in this ship for a while.

And to complicate matters a touch, you actually have 6 ships to pick from - 2 Escorts, 2 Sciences, 2 Cruisers. The "major" difference between the ship(s) is how they set up the "secondary" BOff seating & consoles...

To "summarize" these T5 "freebies":
Cmdr & Lt Cmdr will be "class" (so Cruiser = Engie).
2 Lt. slots, one of each "remaining" class.
The Ensign slot will be "different", based on what "secondary" the ship has.
These ships have a 4/3/2 console layout, the 4 being the "class" consoles, the 3 being the "class" that has the Ensign slot, the 2 being what's left over.
Turn, hull, inertial will vary "some", based on the class type (tacticals typically turn a touch faster but have a little less hull...)

Yeah, I know you didn't mention Science ships, but since I'm a Sci captain through and through, I can use them to explain a little more what I'm talking about...

The RSV (Luna look-alike) is the Science (so Cmdr/LtCmdr = Sci, 4 Sci console) ship that has a "tactical secondary", so that ensign slot I spoke of above? Tactical. Console layout? 4S / 3T / 2E.
DSSV (Titan look-alike) is the "Engineering Secondary", so you have an ensign Engineer, 4S / 3E / 2T. The DSSV has a touch more hull (slight touch, as Sci ships are notoriously low-hulled), but the RSV has 1 or 2 points better in turn and better inertia ratings, making her a touch more maneuverable.

Can't remember their names at the moment, but I know the Promethius (Advanced?) is the "Science-y" escort over the Patrol(?) escort that's got a little more Engineering - And I vaguely recall the Soverign is the slightly more tactical cruiser than the Star(?) Cruiser...

jereboy0524 · October 2015

thanks for your answers but there are also some that says for tier 5 ships, better choose the assault cruisers... so im not sure what to choose... im now playing shadow play (romulian mystery) using the defiant class and im having a hard time defeating the romulan guard, is this because of my ship? i mean i already placed as much upgrades as i can and i still am having hard time... Should i stick with the escort because im used to it or try the cruiser for its "tanky" character?

sle1989 · October 2015

I'd say choose the assault cruiser, so you get an idea of it's play style compared to an escort. This is the last free ship you can get, so from here on out you will need to buy a ship from the Cstore if you want a better ship. In my opinion you will want to know if you'll like cruiser play style before spending 3k zen on a ship.

mackbolan01 · October 2015

don't forget there are lots of mirror universe ships on the exchange that may suit your play style better

jereboy0524 · October 2015

im considering

sle1989 wrote: »

I'd say choose the assault cruiser, so you get an idea of it's play style compared to an escort. This is the last free ship you can get, so from here on out you will need to buy a ship from the Cstore if you want a better ship. In my opinion you will want to know if you'll like cruiser play style before spending 3k zen on a ship.

Yes, i am still considering that... but ive played cruisers in the past and the turn rate is so bad... it feels so sluggish but they were tier 2 and 3... so im not sure if the handling of a tier 5 cruiser would change...

jereboy0524 · October 2015

mackbolan01 wrote: »

don't forget there are lots of mirror universe ships on the exchange that may suit your play style better

really, i thought only items can only be dealt with on the exchange.... im sorry havent played in a long time...

Unknown · October 2015

This content has been removed.

Escort or Cruiser for new Rear Admiral?

Answers