Fleet Alita Class Heavy Escort Carrier

Comments

• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016

  Guys please, I need to know if this build is solid.
  I don't want to spend efforts in buying something not useful ...

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• brad2240 Member Posts: 13 Arc User

  April 2016

  I've never flown the Alita itself but maybe I can offer a little generalized help.
  
  First, I'd say definitely go with the Terran rep 2-piece over the Quantum Phase on a photon boat. I'm not sure about the 3-piece, I've heard the secondary torp launcher isn't as good as it sounds.
  
  Second, I recommend replacing the generic photon with the Enhanced Biomolecular Photon from the Counter Command rep, and replacing one of your Locator consoles with the CC Multi-Conduit Energy Relay from the mission "Surface Tension." It gives a boost to photon, phaser, disruptor and radiation damage. The 2-piece bonus these give is another boost to phaser and disruptor damage to help your beams your beams.
  
  Speaking of beams, you might do better going with disruptors. The proc is more useful than phasers. Another possibility is the Terran rep withering disruptors, their radiation damage proc synergizes with the CC radiation bonus.
  
  If max damage is your goal, you want your science consoles to be embassy plasma explosion consoles, with the [-Th] mod.
  
  For Boffs, I'd personally set the Cmdr Tac as TT1-APB1-TS3-APB3. I like Topr Spread 3 and I think that will give you more damage.
  
  The LtC Eng I'd go with some configuration of Engineering Team and 2x Emergency Power to Weapons. You still have 4 beams on the ship with FAW so you'll want the weapon power and damage. Play around with it to see what works for you.

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016

  Thx for the suggestions.
  Do you think i'll be able to do elite STFs with this build ? Or to annihilate opponents in Advanced ones ?
  
  I'd like to be able to SOLO Hive Onslaught Advanced ... I mean, I want extreme firepower, enough to kill Cubes and Tac Cubes in few secs.
  

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• noroblad Member Posts: 2,624 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  Most people would use at most 1 torp. A full on torp build is doable as well but splitting this way does not work well -- go all in and be a bomber, or stick to 1 at the most. A manuverable ship like this will do more damage with 4 DBBs up front and 3 omnis in the rear (including the kinetic cutting beam) and forgetting torps entirely. Beam arrays only do more damage when you have a whole bunch of ships all over the place, and once you know the maps, you can arrange it so most are in front of you most of the time in most stfs. Learning to fly and knowing the maps will net you more dps ... or be lazy and just fly any old direction with arrays works too (its what a lot of players do).
  
  The quantum phase is nasty with good flow caps and even a rank 1 spread, esp in a gravity well pile on.
  
  If you want to vape cubes, AP beams > phasers.
  
  This is simply NOT an extreme dps build. You could force-fit it to be good enough in elite stfs -- you eve better than good enoug, but you asked for extreme firepower, and this isnt going to have it.
  

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  noroblad wrote: »

  Most people would use at most 1 torp. A full on torp build is doable as well but splitting this way does not work well -- go all in and be a bomber, or stick to 1 at the most. A manuverable ship like this will do more damage with 4 DBBs up front and 3 omnis in the rear (including the kinetic cutting beam) and forgetting torps entirely. Beam arrays only do more damage when you have a whole bunch of ships all over the place, and once you know the maps, you can arrange it so most are in front of you most of the time in most stfs. Learning to fly and knowing the maps will net you more dps ... or be lazy and just fly any old direction with arrays works too (its what a lot of players do).
  
  The quantum phase is nasty with good flow caps and even a rank 1 spread, esp in a gravity well pile on.
  
  If you want to vape cubes, AP beams > phasers.
  
  This is simply NOT an extreme dps build. You could force-fit it to be good enough in elite stfs -- you eve better than good enoug, but you asked for extreme firepower, and this isnt going to have it.

  
  Hmmm, that's what I wanted to know ... thank you
  
  So you say I'd better go 4 DBB + 3 Omni BA ?
  That's an interesting point: I have to say that every ship I saw doing massive damage have beams (beam arrays the ones I saw).
  
  But that way wouldn't I have a massive power drain from 7 weapons ? What would be a good build to max the damage ?
  BOFF Skills, DOFFs, Traits: pls, do tell me everything : D

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016

  I'm no expert, on torp builds, and a few I did were actually sci ships, not escort bombers, so not much advice there...
  
  As for power drain, on my main I fly a beamboat Alita more or less along the lines noroblad described...
  
  Power comes from several sources: 1 assimilated module and KCB 2-piece bonus, MACO shield (leech would be ideal, but I don't want to spend on it) elite fleet plasma core (it also helps with overcapping,) EPtW/EPtS with damage control engineers and a warp core engineer, plus random little bonuses from consoles. It's by no means elite max dps build though.
  
  http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=fheccurrent_0
  It's more or less what I have right now, as I remember it (I'm not logged into the game atm.) As I said, It's probably still not quite there for elite STFs (more than OK for advanced,) and I didn't exactly aim for max DPS in it (If I did go full max-DPS cookie-cutter, I'd probably get rid of neutroniums in favour of EPS regulator and the leech, changed the sci console to flowcaps, get rid of polaric modulator and move an universal console there to get another flowcap, and get a full Iconian set, and get crafted [CrtD]x(a lot)[Pen] beam banks instead of fleet... Which is what I'm more or less planning to do for my KDF MatHa eventually.)
  
  As it is, from a few random parsed runs I bothered to do (mostly for tribble skill 3.0 tests) it does about 15-20 K DPS right now in good circumstances, which isn't great, but enough for most things I'm doing, it's fairly survivable and it has assimilated engines (used to be Romulan ones, but I didn't particularly care for their new bonus.)

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• noroblad Member Posts: 2,624 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  Hmmm, that's what I wanted to know ... thank you
  
  So you say I'd better go 4 DBB + 3 Omni BA ?
  That's an interesting point: I have to say that every ship I saw doing massive damage have beams (beam arrays the ones I saw).
  
  But that way wouldn't I have a massive power drain from 7 weapons ? What would be a good build to max the damage ?
  BOFF Skills, DOFFs, Traits: pls, do tell me everything : D

  
  Yes most use arrays because it removes the skill of piloting from the equation which yields more consistent damage for rookie pilots (which honesly 9/10 of the players seem to be). Dbb will do more IF you can master learning the maps and flying your boat.
  
  Power drain is not an issue at max level with max gear. A lot of players support 8 beams. You only have 7 or if you drop 1 torp in, 6. Its a combination of the basics... if you have an intel seat, over-ride. Leech console. Power to weapons skill. Batteries. Your spec (power in systems skills). Your power settings. Various other things boost power to weapons as well. And, another "secret" -- if you one shot everything, your weapon drain isnt too bad... the higher your dps, the less drain you experience because you don't shoot as much. This game as a TON of places where the better you are the better you become (the yatzee effect -- to increase your score, start by increasing your score which gives a bonus ...!) Its bad game design, honestly, as the more you have the more you get making runaway syndrone.
  
  I am not the right person to give you every detail. I don't seek top dps, I have enough to kill things and from there I tinker with my 10 chars and 50+ ships. I can tell you the basic stuff, get you 1/4 or 1/3 of the way to the top, but meh. That isnt too hard... get a 5 forward gun 5 tac console ride with an intel seat, and put 5 antiproton critdx4 dual banks on it (it should go without saying that you need to have high critical chance here, best if you are romulan but everyone can get a solid value). Buy the 6th tac console off the exchange (univerasal AP damage bonus). Get a plasma leech and get your power flowing, be sure to [amp]. Get pilot spec and run pedal to the metal. Run power to weapons on your engineer. Run AP beta when alpha is down. Use directed energy modulation if you have an extra eng slot. If you need more power put a power leech on your sci guy. Run shap gear like the undine deflector, and upgrade it all to orange. Fly at large groups of enemy and unload with faw/over-ride/power to weapons/pattern beta or alpha. Run an overload 3 for the bosses and bosslets (anything that you shoot at for more than 3 seconds). Run active officers that boost the skills you use. This is just the most basic stuff but it will get you beyond competent and above the "herd". Beyond that, you need to study the really in depth posts and builds found in the many, many threads on the topic -- again, its outside my area. I did all that back in wow, but I am old and casual now and getting 50k+ dps isnt a goal for me nor do I spend my time trying to hit that kind of power.

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• noroblad Member Posts: 2,624 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  and if you want to talk torps instead ... im in a paradox on my torp boat, so 4 forward torps, running high flow caps, gravity well torp, shield eating quantum torp, crafted gas cloud torp, and neutronic. Torp borg Set and lobi torp console and tac torp consoles; 3 officers to shoot torps faster, terran console to shoot torps faster... aft has my cluster torps (breen and transphasic mine warheads). My science powers work with the torps, and with high exotic damage the gw torp does more, the gas cloud does more, ... gw holds them in it... a basic sci torp build that does about 20k or so dps, a lot of that tied to the powerful ship. Several of your traits affect torps, some good rep traits for it. Command ships can add some cool torpy things. So can the command specialization but I don't care for most of it. Its a lot harder to make a torp boat than a beam boat, and the beams will win the dps game over time, always -- several reasons but among them are shield vs kinetic damage issue, torp travel time, rate of fire, faw > torp spread for uptime / aoe utility, etc.
  
  
  
  

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  I see your points and they're very interesting. I don't really want a torp boat, I made that build cause i heard akira class were excellent torp boat, but what I really want is a build that make me EXTERMINATE everything moving xD
  
  I want the "pew pew, everything die !" build.
  The only sure thing I want is an Akira class ship (Fleet Alita or T5U Fleet Armitage, I don't really care which one, but I think the Fleet Alita would be better).
  
  So that's what I ask you: can you give me a build for that ship that deals 40-50K DPS ?
  I want it for grinding: cause if you have a ship like that, you can make elite stfs and then its way easier to get dil/marks/money.
  
  Ok, you said you are not competent enough to do that, but I'm sure you can help me a lot.
  How to have a good crit chance on a FED char ? I know there are embassy Sup Operative, the ROM Reputation Trait and the Vulnerability Locators, and that's ok ... but then ? I know there are a few univ consoles that gives a slight boost to crit chance, but it's really really poor. Is it worth it ?
  
  How much crit chance should I have to make a good use of a AP [CrtD]x4 Beam Array ?
  
  I really appreciate your suggestions, but there is a thing I'm still sceptical: EPtW.
  Is really that useful ? I already run with 125 weapons power, the only bonus from that skill would be the +10-16% to energy weapons damage ... The Plasmonic Leech can be useful to reduce the power drain and boost the other subsystems, but the EPtW ,,,
  
  EDIT:
  This thread is for a max DPS PVE ship, but since I fell in love with the torp boat version of this ship, I'm going to open another thread to discuss about it : D
  
  

  Post edited by avengerkid1993 on April 2016

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016

  avengerkid1993 wrote: »

  I really appreciate your suggestions, but there is a thing I'm still sceptical: EPtW.
  Is really that useful ? I already run with 125 weapons power, the only bonus from that skill would be the +10-16% to energy weapons damage ... The Plasmonic Leech can be useful to reduce the power drain and boost the other subsystems, but the EPtW ,,,

  If you really want max DPS you don't aim for 125, you aim for more (which is also why EPS is important, if you have exactly 125 power it does nothing as far as DPS is concerned.)
  
  This is explained in this vid from Sarcasm Detector:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_DmKQjWrcQ
  
  Things like Leech or KCB/AM just add power instantly, but it may or may not happen at just the correct moment, so it may end up in the overcap anyway.
  

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016

  Wow man, that's great ... I never sent much in EPS
  
  However, I still don't understand a thing: I thought I heard the man in the video saying the overcap has a limit of 20, so, even having more than 400% power transfer rate (20 points per sec) I won't get any bonus, right ?
  
  400% power transfer rate and 20 points overcap is the limit, correct ?

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• noroblad Member Posts: 2,624 Arc User

  April 2016

  avengerkid1993 wrote: »

  Wow man, that's great ... I never sent much in EPS
  
  However, I still don't understand a thing: I thought I heard the man in the video saying the overcap has a limit of 20, so, even having more than 400% power transfer rate (20 points per sec) I won't get any bonus, right ?
  
  400% power transfer rate and 20 points overcap is the limit, correct ?

  
  I am not sure if that is current or not. I know, for example, override subsystem safties overcaps by like 60 or something.

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  noroblad wrote: »

  avengerkid1993 wrote: »

  Wow man, that's great ... I never sent much in EPS
  
  However, I still don't understand a thing: I thought I heard the man in the video saying the overcap has a limit of 20, so, even having more than 400% power transfer rate (20 points per sec) I won't get any bonus, right ?
  
  400% power transfer rate and 20 points overcap is the limit, correct ?

  
  I am not sure if that is current or not. I know, for example, override subsystem safties overcaps by like 60 or something.

  
  I'm not sure OSS does anything to overcap as such (edit: don't quote me on this, or assume it's true, but I think that 165 is a hard cap on total power in a single subsystem, with no way to exceed it, so for a first few seconds with OSS there's no overcap at all, what you see is what you're getting) and it's academic anyway, since HEC has no intel seating.
  
  More generally, getting 400% transfer without seriously undermining your build in other ways is difficult enough that it as well might be a hard cap... (ADD: Besides, there's only so much weapon power drain to counter, so you'll get much less from going from 400% to 500% than from going from 100% to 200% transfer.)

  Post edited by nebfab on April 2016

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  avengerkid1993 wrote: »

  Ok, you said you are not competent enough to do that, but I'm sure you can help me a lot.
  How to have a good crit chance on a FED char ? I know there are embassy Sup Operative, the ROM Reputation Trait and the Vulnerability Locators, and that's ok ... but then ? I know there are a few univ consoles that gives a slight boost to crit chance, but it's really really poor. Is it worth it ?
  

  
  Space crit chance is all about small things adding up. Almost all bonuses you get are very small by themselves, even on highly hyped stuff like Spire consoles or SROs, but if you get lots of them, you can get 20%+ crit chance fairly easily. So yes, rep consoles (and tachyokinetic from Lobi) aren't much if that's all you've got, but it's not insignificant.
  
  One exception is upcoming skill revamp that has something that very temporarily boosts your crits all the way to 50%, but the jury is still out on how feasible it is to build around it.

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  Hmmm I see: by adding up small things you get a good result, but the point is that a ship require MANY things:
  
  First off, Power Transfer Rate, so it could be useful to put at least a pair of EPS Flow Caps.
  Then there are the Flow Caps: if you use Plasmonic Leech you may want to invest in that consoles.
  You end up not having enough room for univ consoles that gives a small bonus to crit chance, cause (as far as I understood) power transfer rate and power overcap is more important then a small bonus to crit chance.
  
  Also, since Akira class ships don't have intel boffs seats, I can't even use OSS ... its really annoying when the ship you love sucks at doing good work T_T
  
  Not like this can interest anyone, but ... why the hell akira class ships have a pilot seat ? They shouldn't even be escort ships
  
  Ok, whining-mode OFF xD
  The ship sucks, how to have it still do 40-50K Dps in PVE ? I heard some people hit the 80-90K Dps, so 50k should be feasible ... correct ?
  

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• noroblad Member Posts: 2,624 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  Right. You can get at least one rom officer from fleet, and various items add a little crit here and there. Crits and %s get funky with da math. watch and be amazed:
  1% crit ... 1 shot in 100 crits on the average. not too good.
  2% crit ... 1 shot in 50 crits..
  5% crit ... 1 shot in 20 crits
  10%crit .. this isnt much in STO, at all, and is 1 shot in 10. How many shots you fire during a FAW drive by? Its a fair # of crits, and again, this is pretty bad for a crit rating even for feds.
  20% is more reachable by feds without stressing it, and now its 1 shot in 5 and very strong.
  above 20 gets into sacrifices or being a rom... what is yours at now, anyway? There is a break even point where AP crit builds fail, but I am pretty sure that number is below 20%, so i would make that your ballpark goal for now.
  
  Power to weapons ... well what else are you going to put on an engineer? If you are not running aux2bat, which is kind of a crutch, most eng skills don't add damage. You only need so much healing. P2W is like crits, its a little more damage and more weapon power, in a seat that was not doing much else anyway.
  
  

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  noroblad wrote: »

  Power to weapons ... well what else are you going to put on an engineer? If you are not running aux2bat, which is kind of a crutch, most eng skills don't add damage. You only need so much healing. P2W is like crits, its a little more damage and more weapon power, in a seat that was not doing much else anyway.

  
  No ok, you're right about this: EPtW is useful, even for overcap ...
  If it wasn't I'd prefer to use that seat for a EPtS (small shield healing) or a second ET (to recover 2 DOFF slots), but since now I know how overcap can be useful ... well, EPtW all the way !
  
  How much crit I have right now ?
  I don't know, maybe 5-6 ... I'm still leveling up to the 60 (now I'm 57) and I still don't have nothing good (I run a temporary Patrol Escort, that REALLY sucks at anything xD)
  
  However, with a good build, with 2 Sup ROM Op, 5 Orange Locators and the ROM Rep Precision Trait I should be able to hit the 20%.
  
  So 21% with the assimilated module ...

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  "avengerkid1993 wrote: »

  I don't know, maybe 5-6 ... I'm still leveling up to the 60 (now I'm 57) and I still don't have nothing good (I run a temporary Patrol Escort, that REALLY sucks at anything xD)

  Patrol escort actually isn't all that bad (it's Star Cruiser that's an obvious lemon among Fed freebie ships...) A lot can be done with a patrol escort and free and inexpensive gear, which is a great thing about drake-style beamboats - the main gimmicks that make them work (Emergency Power doffs and the specific boff layout) can be very cheap, and gradually built up with Spire consoles and other nice stuff.
  
  

  avengerkid1993 wrote: »

  No ok, you're right about this: EPtW is useful, even for overcap ...
  If it wasn't I'd prefer to use that seat for a EPtS (small shield healing) or a second ET (to recover 2 DOFF slots), but since now I know how overcap can be useful ... well, EPtW all the way !

  The way I usually set it up is 1 ET (mostly for really bad emergencies and cleanse effect) and then what's usually called the "Drake" 1 EPtW and 1 EPtS (it would work with 2 EpTWs, too, but shields need some love too, especially when you can't just vaporize everything in sight in 5 seconds.) and 3 green+ (or 2, if you have purples) damage control engineers with emergency power recharge. It's important to have 2 EPt{Whatever} and 3 DCEs for the same reason of small and unimpressive bonuses building up (the exact math on how it works is a bit complicated, but with this setup 25%-35% chance of recharge reduction turns into about 82%-93%.)
  
  The rest of the defensive stuff depends on the rest of the build, but some combination of Hazard Emitters and (ST or TSS, depending on your taste) and Polarize Hull (if you have no other reliable ways to counter movement debuffs) plus double Tac teams (although they buff damage too, their main usefulness is the improved shield distribution.)

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  Right now, that's my Patrol Escort:
  
  FORE:
  1x Photon Torp Launcher Mk XII [Acc] [Pen]
  3x Phaser DHCs Mk XII [Acc] [CrtH]
  
  AFT:
  2x Phaser Turrets Mk XII [Acc] [the mod that boost speed and turn rate]
  1x Phaser Turret Mk XII [Acc] [Rapid]
  
  DISH: Solanae Deflector Array
  ENGINES: kobali Hyper-Impulse
  CORE: Deuterium-Stabilized Core [EPTS][W->A]
  SHIELD: Resilient Mk XI [Cap] [Pol] [Reg] (I know, its TRIBBLE: I have to buy a new one as soon as possible)
  
  ENG CONSOLE:
  3x EPS Flow Caps Mk XII (purple)
  
  SCI CONSOLE:
  1x
  1x Field Generator Mk XIII (blue)
  
  TAC CONSOLE:
  4x Phaser Relay Mk XII (green)
  
  DOFFs:
  1x Projectile Weapons Officer (purple)
  1x Projectile Weapons Officer (blue)
  don't remember the others, but they are crappy xD
  
  BOFFs:
  Cmd TAC: TT1 - THY2 - THY3 - CRF3
  Lt Cmd TAC: TT1 - CRF1 - APB2
  Lt1 ENG: EPtW1 - ET2
  Lt2 SCI: HE1 - ST2
  Ens ENG: EPtW1
  
  Maybe its better to start fixing this and THEN focus on the Alita xD
  
  I got 340% power transfer rate, and with EPtW I noticed an increase in damage: I kill opponents faster, but there are still opponents that kills me [ex: Terran Command Cruisers (Counterpoint - Normal) and sometimes Terran Escorts, with their nasty point defense system (yes, those TRIBBLE have point defense system and it deals a lot of damage) ]
  
  Borg Cubes (Normal, not Advanced or Elite) are killable, but sometimes, especially when in group with spheres, they manage to kill me first.
  
  Don't know ... I'm not an expert of this game, but I played it long time ago and it seems much harder now: enemies are stronger (and I didn't used EPS Flow Caps then), CPs price is about 310 dil per point ... honestly: I don't remember the game to be this hard

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  Flow caps are a different thing from EPS. Flow Caps are for stuff that drains enemies or steals power, and EPS is for managing your own power. (with the upcoming update, flowcaps would be rolled into Drain Expertise.)
  
  Anyway, yes, I can see how something like that would work back in the day, (it wouldn't have been optimal even then though.) but now this might be a bit of a pain.
  
  I presume you don't have any t6s purchased, so no traits.
  
  Anyway, here are my humble suggestions:
  
  Get rid of THY3, and place a second APB2 there: APB helps both cannons and torps, for one. If you're in the mood for radical re-gearing, get rid of torpedoes completely, and place 1 APB, and 2 APOs, the effect is quite fun, on cannon boats especially, even if it forces you to take lower ranking of CRF. If you don't do that, I'd also replace THY2 with TS2: area of effect attacks are generally better, since there's not much in the way of one-on-one duels in the game right now. For the same reason, CSV is more generally useful than CRF.
  
  TSS is generally more useful against the Borg than ST, but if you don't care about Borg much, either would do.
  Another possible set-up could be ET2->RSP, and ST2->HE2, HE1-> Polarize Hull, If you aren't ready to ditch the torps and go with Beta/Omega, Tractors, hostile teleports and stuff like that is common in PvE and really gets in the way, on escorts especially, and having a reliable strategy to counter it at any time is important.
  
  As I said in previous post, 2EPtWs instead of EPtW/EPtS is for me too much glass for not much more cannon, especially this early, and especially if you like to grind the Borg (I do.)
  
  I'm not sure what specializations you choose to level first, and which ones are the best (and what gear I'd recommend) depends on what kind of boat you have in mind, mixed torps/energy or pure cannon or pure beamboat and whether you prefer more offence or defence. (remember, you have to actually buy something in a spec to actually get the bonus, even though the game lets you to switch in a spec with no points spent.)
  
  
  Gear... How far along in story missions are you, what are your reps, do you have any crafting levels in engineering and are you in a built-up fleet with T3 Spire? As it is it's not great, but not obviously horrible either, for this cost level.
  

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016

  nebfab wrote: »

  Flow caps are a different thing from EPS. Flow Caps are for stuff that drains enemies or steals power, and EPS is for managing your own power. (with the upcoming update, flowcaps would be rolled into Drain Expertise.)
  Yes, I know ... I wrote EPS Flow Caps, but it was EPS Flow Regulators ... my bad
  
  Anyway, yes, I can see how something like that would work back in the day, (it wouldn't have been optimal even then though.) but now this might be a bit of a pain.
  
  I presume you don't have any t6s purchased, so no traits.
  Actually I have a ship trait: it was a mission reward. It boosts attack patterns and, if I remember corrctly, it gives a boost to healing abilities when attack pattern (not alpha) are activated.
  
  Anyway, here are my humble suggestions:
  
  Get rid of THY3, and place a second APB2 there: APB helps both cannons and torps, for one. If you're in the mood for radical re-gearing, get rid of torpedoes completely, and place 1 APB, and 2 APOs, the effect is quite fun, on cannon boats especially, even if it forces you to take lower ranking of CRF. If you don't do that, I'd also replace THY2 with TS2: area of effect attacks are generally better, since there's not much in the way of one-on-one duels in the game right now. For the same reason, CSV is more generally useful than CRF.
  
  Hmmm yeah, seems legit. what do you think about this:
  Cmd: TT1 - CSV1 - APB2 - APO3
  Lt.Cmd: TT1 - CSV1 - APB2
  
  Photon Torpedo Launcher -> Phaser Dual Heavy Cannons
  
  honestly, I don't like APO1. It gives little to no bonus and it also has a longer cooldown then APB. So I'd prefer to use APB as main pattern and the omega when I have to face enemies with Tractor Beams or Gravity Wells.
  
  The point is that I already spent 5 points in command specialization to get the torpedo exploit
  
  Maybe I can use this one instead:
  Cmd: TT1 - CSV1 - TS3 - APB3
  Lt.Cmd: TT1 - CSV1 - APB2
  
  what do you think ? To be honest, my favourite ship configuration is one with 1 Torp 3 DHCs and 3 Turrets, but I noticed its not very effective in PVP, since I noticed that many opponents have really tough shields (but I have have to say that I didn't used EPS Flow Regs then.), and even in PVE I noticed that the most powerful builds use beams ...
  
  TSS is generally more useful against the Borg than ST, but if you don't care about Borg much, either would do.
  Another possible set-up could be ET2->RSP, and ST2->HE2, HE1-> Polarize Hull, If you aren't ready to ditch the torps and go with Beta/Omega, Tractors, hostile teleports and stuff like that is common in PvE and really gets in the way, on escorts especially, and having a reliable strategy to counter it at any time is important.
  
  ET2 -> RSP1 seems good to survive those 15-20 secs to kill the target: also, with AoE, I have to expect a lot of threat, so ET may become really useless
  
  ST2 -> HE2 could be good, but then I wouldn't have anything to heal shields.
  PH could be good, since my shields use to be down in 10 seconds and since I don't have armor consoles, a damage resistence could be handy.
  
  I used TSS when I played years ago (when TT had shared cooldown with ET and ST) and I have to say, I didn't like it much. 45 secs cooldown for a shield heal that is, usually, slight better then ST. Don't know, do you think I should switch them ? ST Doffs and quite cheap.
  
  As I said in previous post, 2EPtWs instead of EPtW/EPtS is for me too much glass for not much more cannon, especially this early, and especially if you like to grind the Borg (I do.)
  
  I'd like to do so, but Damage Control Engineers are quite expensive. Currntly, I can't afford it
  
  I'm not sure what specializations you choose to level first, and which ones are the best (and what gear I'd recommend) depends on what kind of boat you have in mind, mixed torps/energy or pure cannon or pure beamboat and whether you prefer more offence or defence. (remember, you have to actually buy something in a spec to actually get the bonus, even though the game lets you to switch in a spec with no points spent.)
  
  I've spent 9 points in total: 5 on the command (torpedo exploit) and 4 on pilot (the rock n'roll skill that seems useful to avoid big damages like borg TS3.
  
  
  Gear... How far along in story missions are you, what are your reps, do you have any crafting levels in engineering and are you in a built-up fleet with T3 Spire? As it is it's not great, but not obviously horrible either, for this cost level.
  
  I've done all the missions available, except the 2 that require lv.58 of the Iconian War. However I've already done Midnight, cause it was a featured episode when I came back to STO ahah

  
  

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  2APB/1APO: well, you actually can't do that, because if you're constantly churning APBs, APO would be on perpetual cooldown. You'd be better off with keeping a torp then. I personally like APO, limitations and all, but that's me.
  
  PvP... Ok, I'm no expert on PvP, don't care about it and can't tell you much about it, except the fact that typical AoE spam boat isn't very good for it, even if it's great for PvE.
  
  DCEs are nice to have, but if you're totally broke, you can fly without them (they would be a priority for me thou) There are other ways to get them reliably (they aren't free or fast, but they aren't exorbitant either) and sometimes cheap green ones can be found by careful market-watching (3 greens are exactly the same as 2 purples, don't forget.) Anyway, whether or not you have them doesn't really affect choice between 2 EPtW or 1 EPtS and 2 EPtW
  
  Defensive stuff: It's largely a matter of taste, and the best way to see what you like (or don't) is to try it. I like TSS specifically because I can use it proactively, and because as I said (but got no hard data to back it up) I feel the Borg have harder time breaking through it than if you just heal with ST.
  
  In general, boff layout is very important, and now, with boffs that remember everything, easy to experiment with. Try different things and see what works and what doesn't for you personally.
  
  Command/Pilot isn't a bad choice, if you go along with mixed torp/cannons.
  Intel/Pilot (more offensive) or Pilot/Intel (more defensive) is better for pure energy build...
  
  Gear: I like the set from Midnight more than Kobali (another cheap choice,) so I'd put it instead of defl/engine/shield you have now. 2 set gives you about as much damage resistance as an extra console, and 3-set is a clicky AoE heal. Elite Fleet or crafted (but only if you can craft guaranteed mkII purples and upgrade) plasma-integrated cores can help you ditch one of the EPS regulators,
  
  The torp - quantum phase or Krenim one from the anniv ship (if you've got it) would be better than the one you've got. Absolutely free too.
  Guns: since you've got little in the way of crits atm, anything, really, that's not [acc] (its glory days are gone) [snare] (still bugged, IIRC) [over]/[rapid] (may or may not mess with clickies) is fine... Just don't get too attached to them.
  
  Of the more expensive stuff, Assimilated module and ZPE conduit (in sci consoles, or one eng and one sci) since they're useful for all kinds of builds and relatively cheap, KCB, then all the other neat stuff... When you get around 15%+ crit it's time to think about [CrtD] antiprotons (I think the break-even point is 18%, but again, don't quote me.)

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• nebfab Member Posts: 672 Arc User

  April 2016

  Getting DCEs: Open your Doff window, and look at the first tab, where commendation ranks are displayed. If you have 2 or more in Engineering, that's great, your ship replicator would have Emergency Engineering Holograms. You can buy only 1 of each colour, don't buy white one, get the green one (and if you have them, blue and purple.) they cost 10K for green, 100K for blue, 1M for purple. Then you can got to the Academy, find lt. Ferra and check what he sells you for dil (green ones cost 1K dil, so, fairly affordable) i think with rank 2 in engineering you shoulfd have 2 more available there, but not sure.
  
  If not, then you need to grind engineering doff assignments... Rank 2 isn't that terribly difficult to achieve, and eng assignments are fairly lucrative anyway, so in a couple weeks of doing nearly nothing in particular you should be there.

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• noroblad Member Posts: 2,624 Arc User

  April 2016

  Pilot spec primary is hard to beat. Advanced pedal to the metal is free damage. Immunity to a warp core breach. Attack patterns, which we just agreed you should be using, now buff your durability. Evasive now breaks all crowd control. Rock and roll lets you avoid a torp spread or other dangerous things or just be immortal for a moment. Your shields are tougher. Your damage spikes when you have a lot of enemy nearby. Your turn rate is significantly improved. Its just hard to do better with anything else (in space).
  
  

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  yeah, advanced pedal to the metal is great, but it works better on beam boats, where you can fly around without having to aim at the target.
  
  About the DOFFs, I don't have lv2 engineering yet, but I'm grinding toward that. Told you, I got little to know at the moment, and the current economy doesn't help. But I'll slowly get everything.
  
  The sooner I can afford them, I'll buy 3 DCEs.
  In the meantime, I'm doing a lot of STFs to get Fleet Marks and dil, in order to buy Spire TAC Consoles.

  Post edited by avengerkid1993 on April 2016

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• avengerkid1993 Member Posts: 323 Arc User

  April 2016 edited April 2016

  Hi guys, I was flying around with my usual crappy patrol escort with all the free stuff available ( ) when I realized that Quantum Phase Weapons Set fits really good with FED Ships and Terran Task Force Set. It get the most out of Drain Expertise, along with Destabilized Tachyon Emitter and Plasmonic Leech. To get even more out of Drain Expertise and Drain Infection, I thought about using Tachyon Beam 2 ...
  
  Basically, its a shield killer/restorer build which also buffs phaser weapons ... I think it could be nice in both: PVP and PVE, especially with high CrtD/Pen Phaser Weapons.
  
  What do you think ? How to improve it ?
  
  - Quantum Phase Torpedo Launcher
  - Quantum Phase Dual Heavy Cannons
  - Phaser Dual Heavy Cannons
  - Phaser Dual Heavy Cannons
  
  - Phaser Turret
  - Phaser Turret
  - Kinetic Cutting Beam
  
  
  - Terran Task Force Deflector
  - Terran Task Force Engines
  - Elite Fleet Shields
  - Terran Task Force Warp Core
  
  
  - Assimilated Module
  - Plasmonic Leech
  - EPS Flow Regulator
  
  - Quantum Phase Converter
  - Destabilized Tachyon Emitter
  - Point Defense System
  
  - Vulnerability Locator [Pha]
  - Vulnerability Locator [Pha]
  - Vulnerability Locator [Pha]
  - Vulnerability Locator [Pha]
  - Vulnerability Locator [Pha]
  
  
  DOFFs:
  Maintainance Engineer
  Maintainance Engineer
  Damage Control Engineer
  Damage Control Engineer
  - -
  - -
  
  I have 2 free doff slots, I'd like something to further improve damage or drain
  
  
  BOFFs:
  TAC Cmd: TT1 - CSV1 - APB2 - APB3
  TAC Lt1: TT1 - CSV1
  TAC: Lt2: TS1 - TS2
  ENG Lt.Cmd: EPtW1 - EPtS2 - ET3
  SCI Lt3: HE1 - TacB2
  
  BOFFs (beam array variant):
  TAC Cmd: TT1 - TS2 - APB2 - APB3
  TAC Lt1: TT1 - TS2
  TAC Lt2: BFaW1 - BFaW2
  ENG Lt.Cmd: EPtW1 - EPtS2 - ET3
  SCI Lt3: HE1 - TacB2
  
  PS:
  Recently I even found some interesting (and LOW COST) shields in Exchange: they have something like [Dis]x2 [Pha] or [Pla] [Tet]x2 modifiers ...
  
  I think they're really nice and honestly I don't know if Elite Fleet Shields are better ... what do you think ?

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