Alright, time for a real update because I finished The 2800 AND the Borg Advance. How'd it go?
Well, Boldly They Rode went about as well as I expected. Died 3 times, including a cheap shot right at the beginning. I think I've done a no death run on the space portion once. The big killer was something you probably forgot about: Tractor Beam Repulsers. They're an annoyance for most ships, though there was a time when you could tear ships apart with them (alas PvP, I knew the well). For the Miranda and it's MINUSCULE hull, they were a death sentence. Of the 3 deaths, 2 were directly related to the repulsers. Otherwise, the Jem'Hadar put up as much of a fight as they ever did, meaning not much of one at all. It really is due to their low hull and no healing. Fits them, but makes them easy prey for any fool in a Miranda.
The Borg are another story, but before I get there I did do something with the Miranda I wasn't expecting: Gateway to Grethnor, ADVANCED. The redditchat was starting a group up and they had no problem letting my weak TRIBBLE into the fight. I am not geared up for the Hearlds, but what the hell. In I went, playing role of support and rift closing. I did NOT die, but not due to anything special on my end, but mostly because my teammates had the DPS to make up for my lack of, um, everything. I could get away, heal and get back in. I do think a couple well timed Point Defense and Antimatter spread helped at times, but weren't necessary. It was a great run, and earned me the last Iconian Probe I needed to begin work on the Iconian Deflector. Still short marks, but they will come.
The Borg. Let me start by saying I ran into some odd glitches running the Borg Advance missions. The first was in the first mission where a Borg Cube warped in, and watched me pepper it to death. Uh, want to shoot back? No, well okay. In the second mission of the storyline, that's when things got dicey. Battling 3 Borg Probes was actually kind of hairy. I'm not good at multiple targets as the ship isn't set for it and even with AM spread and point defense, I was scrambling to stay alive. Then it was time to fight the first of two spheres and I got my TRIBBLE kicked. I still contend that Borg Spheres are the meanest NPC ships in the game, and the most difficult to deal with. I managed to finish the fight, but not without dying repeatedly and having to call on the Nimbus Pirates to save my TRIBBLE. It's what they're there for after all.
The last glitch was in Fluid Dynamics when the allied ships that are supposed to help you against the Diamond stopped moving for some reason. Froze in place. They'd still shoot, if the Diamond got close, but not much else. This made the entire thing take far longer than I was expecting, and a lot of deaths. Again, the longer a fight goes on, the more likely a Miranda is going to explode. Got through it, but it wasn't pretty.
I think my issue now is, well, I've gotten a bit lazy. Tachyon Beam proved SO powerful early on, I just kind of left it. Between my work and my lack of attention, I just let the current build keep going. I probably should have changed up when the Cardassians and Terrans were kicking my butt, but the Jem'Hadar died so easy I didn't bother to refit. The Borg reminded me not to be complacent, but I suspect the current build will work just find against the Breen. Maybe.
This is why I posted all that info on the ship a couple posts ago, to get help and suggestions on improving the build. Mostly in terms of traits. I think it's time to get away from any hull boosting traits as they really aren't helping at this point. Instead I need more shields and ways to resist what is being thrown at me. Flexibility is meant to be key, and I just haven't had it, and the Borg reminded me that I should go get some, quick.
So the Breen are next, then it's back to the Delta Quadrant to begin that mess. The Vaadwaur don't show up right away, so I suspect most of the baddies I come across will fall easily enough. Once the snakes appear, it's going to get rough real fast and I will likely need to practice some new builds if I'm going to break through.
Until next time kiddies.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
Well, time for another update on the USS Quantum Leap.
The Breen Invasion wasn't high on my "there will be issues" list and remains there. I did have to change the basic nature of my build by swapping out Tachyon Beam and Tac Team for Polarize Hull and Beam Fire At Will for the Plesh frigates. They LOVE to use tractor beam, often 3 at a time, and the only easy way to get them off is to polarize hull or antimatter spread, and spread has a 2 minute cooldown. BFAW replaces tachyon beam for taking down shields a bit better, but I need something more. Already ordered up the second omni beam, a crafted tachyon.
All in all, the Breen gave me few issues. Long fights, yes, but nothing terrible. Worse fights are to come.
Which means all I have left is, well, Delta Rising. I know a lot of people who are going to take or have taken similar challenges stopped at DR because the Vaadwaur are too hard, and I agree they will be VERY hard, but the first part is not that bad really. Mindescape is more fighting the Undine. The Kazon are a joke, even in a Miranda. The Malon are a bit tougher, but that's mostly because they're big old bags of HP. Long fights mean I die more often, which I did in Reunion, a couple of times. The Patrol wrapper afterwords, however, was the real challenge.
More Borg Jaleth, I am getting better, changing up abilities to try to survive longer, but spheres and cubes are like NOPE and kill me quick. Thank god Hugh is there as backup. Argala is more Kazon, a cakewalk. Then come the Hirogen. Honestly, I don't think I've fought the Hirogen in space at all through the game up until now, or if I did it was their escorts and nothing bigger because the Axion, holy TRIBBLE. They're rough in my kitted out ships, but in a Miranda they're vicious. Multiple abilities, tough hull and that summon power on top of it all. Ugh. In the end I had to wait for the cooldown on fleet support to expire so I could call in some help, and they kick the ever loving TRIBBLE out of them for me while I buzz around feeling useless.
I feel no shame in that, BTW, it's there to be used and I never restricted myself from it. Same with Nimbus and Delta Flight, all three will be part of my plan to get through tougher parts of the game. Almost makes me want to pump up Command spec, but I'll never get enough points to max it by the time I need it. Pilot will give me Rock and Roll early, great for escaping and Strategist will let me control my threat better.
So with Friends in Unlikely Places finished up, the next mission will finally put me into a fight with the Vaadwaur. The greatest challenge yet of Tier 1 Forever has finally come to pass, wish me luck.
I wouldn't expect any serious issues for quite a while. Though do be careful of the heavy plasma torps the Romulans love to use, those can kill you in one shot.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
So, Revelations. The opening appearance of the Vaadwaur isn't really that complicated of a mission, but it does do something I haven't had to deal with in story missions yet: Fighting the Voth with the Miranda. I already did a bunch of it out in the battlezone, so I was aware of what I was up against, and did about as well as I expected. The Point Defense System proved it's worth in knocking down the Voth frigates reasonably quickly, but the larger ship (Bastion I think) wasn't going to be one I could easily win, and eventually called in fleet support to finish him off. That ship has me seriously thinking of the Romulan torp for this build, could be very handy in the long run.
But on to the Vaadwaur. You only have to fight one of them, a smaller ship that's Unknown (I think it's an Assault ship) and gives you the two nasty tactics the Vaadwaur uses: The Artillery Barrage and Tricobalts, lots of tricobalts. Thankfully I managed to hit 57 right before the mission (thank you Admiralty) and grab Rock and Roll from the Pilot tree, that helps with the Artillery Barrage, but the tricobalts will have to be dealt with via alternative means, namely Point Defense and Antimatter spread. Yes, antimatter spread works on them, confusing them long enough to get away. Meanwhile my battle with the ship was one of long, sweeping passes, by both of us. While it had the advantage in forward firepower, I had the edge in shields and could absorb a volley while closing on him, all the while peppering him with Tachyon Beam.
It was a long fight, but a successful one. I was never in any real danger and probably could have kept going for a bit longer. One on one fights like this aren't usually that much of a threat (unless it's an Axion, or the Borg). The real fun comes when I must face down multiple Vaadwaur ships. For now, I'll take my victory, and prepare for the next encounter.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
And I just finished up Enemies in All the Usual Places. I know, I just wrote something a few hours ago, but this is important.
First, Hirogen still suck. Second, so do the Hierarchy. Wow, do they suck with a Miranda. Too many tricks and they use them aggressively. Had to really rely on Fleet Support to remove them, and lure the two groups together frequently to make sure they died horribly. Thankfully I only have to deal with both sporadically from here on out, mostly in patrol wrappers. The real threat is the Vaadwaur which you fight in the last stage of the patrol wrapper, the Nassordin System patrol.
Here, there are various Kobali ships scattered about you have to rescue. Perform the task, they leave or explode and Vaadwaur warp in to kick your butt. Now according to the Wiki, there should have been an Artillery ship, but it didn't appear, but the Interdictors, Scouts and Assaults did.
And they all died horribly at the hands of Miranda.
Well, I did make some changes. The Tetryon Omni beam I ordered was finished so I fitted on the ship and pulled the torp off. I replaced it with the Vaadwaur Tricobalt Cluster Mine, because BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Combined with BFAW and Tachyon Beam, I ripped through the Vaadwaur formations like they were paper. Well, really tough cardboard stacked on top of each other. It took multiple passes but I killed them with only a couple deaths (artillery firing when Rock and Roll wasn't ready and I thought I was clear). Hell, I even managed to get Antimatter Spread to cause an Interdictor to kill an Assault ship. Fun times.
Now, this was against pairs of Vaadwaur ships, so bigger battles will likely be harder and I didn't face down an Artillery ship (maybe they don't spawn on this map on Normal?) so I don't have a complete picture. What I do have is that the Miranda CAN get through this stage of the game, it'll just take time.
So for those of you who were taking up this challenge thinking they couldn't get through Delta Rising, well kids, you can, so get to it.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
Another patrol wrapper, another couple or four of stories.
First, did you know you can fight the Benthens in the Nanipia System Patrol? I didn't. I also discovered that the Benthans are big jerks who like knocking down shields, you know, the only thing keeping Mirandas like mine ALIVE? Rough, rough fight because of that. The real trick is to stay far away and pepper them with beam fire and hope the tricobalt launcher fires in between their BFAW cycles. Oh, and Fleet Support, which despawned after a bit so I had to go the last part of the patrol solo. Nasty. BTW, I checked to see how much longer it would take to kill the last Benthan cruiser, and it had, no kidding, 141,000 hull points. TEN TIMES what my Miranda has. Ouch.
Did Naussicans always have transphasics? Did they always take 7000 hull points? Did we never notice because it's not usually half our hull? These things are probably all true, but damn, that hurt. Everything else they threw at me I could handle, but those transphasic torps were murder. Fleet Support, come help me please. Good girl.
Hierarchy round two as well, and this went MUCH better. Yes, I still needed Fleet Support to take out the one battleship, but the smaller ships, well, that was a bit easier. All that jam sensors nonsense? If they use it on me, they don't use it on the tricobalts, which track them down and BOOM. No wonder these guys die so easily in Takedown, they can't counter the mines and get eaten alive. I didn't die once this time, which makes me happy.
Cooperative is the same as the Borg, only I think meaner. I don't remember spheres EVER having tractor beams, but Coop ones do. Mean and nasty. Had to switch from BFAW to Overload so I wouldn't kill the Octani before the Coop ships were disabled. Also had to run threatening stance for the course of it so the Coop wouldn't kill the Octani before they were disabled.
I find using Threatening Stance is actually a good idea in most single player missions and I get extra hull stacks (and other things as Strategist fills out). In Multiplayer combat, running Threatening is probably a bad idea, I WILL die for no good reason,, but I see lots of reasons to use it. Distracts the bad guys from shooting my Fleet Support for one, so she can do more damage.
Next time, my first large action against the Vaadwaur in All that Glitters. Let's see how tough they really are in a Miranda because they really haven't been so far. I expect that to change.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
spheres used to have tractor beams back in '12 when i started, but they were removed at some point that i failed to notice - until i realized i wasn't getting tractor-snared nearly as often in ISE
also, if you're referring to the mission i think you're referring to, you can't actually KILL the octani - their ships go friendly once they reach a certain hull percentage, and even if you somehow manage to pass that before the IFF change triggers, they're immortal (obviously they stole the Invincibility trait from the zahl)
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
spheres used to have tractor beams back in '12 when i started, but they were removed at some point that i failed to notice - until i realized i wasn't getting tractor-snared nearly as often in ISE
See, I was on then, but I don't remember that. I guess when they created the Coop they just grabbed the old file for the spheres instead of the current one. Annoying, but since you don't fight the Coop much, I won't complain a lot.
also, if you're referring to the mission i think you're referring to, you can't actually KILL the octani - their ships go friendly once they reach a certain hull percentage, and even if you somehow manage to pass that before the IFF change triggers, they're immortal (obviously they stole the Invincibility trait from the zahl)
Yeah, I know, I was just typing quickly. Same basic effect with out the warp core detonations that usually kill me.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
I'd be very tempted to run the Hyper-Capacitor [Cap]x4 crafted shields (just never touch the button to start the damage bonus/shield drain),and see how those go on such a low-shield vessel. If you're decently into 8472-Countercommand Rep, the three-piece bonus of the secondary set would net you a second defense turret. I'd probably go with the freebie mission Tac console, set Torp fore (Very nice in High Yield), then the Heavy Disruptor aft (which becomes and auto-turret when the command is given).
OP.....I've used both freighters to run all of the dailies on both fed and kdf sides, it's a blast and a challenge to really learn your enemies true weaknesses, but they all have some....Enjoy!
"If everyone used Macs, we'd be working on how to get to Alpha Centauri rather than how to get to Mars."
Another patrol wrapper, another couple or four of stories.
Hi, I saw you flying around the Dyson Sphere when you were up to that part earlier. I said Hi! Glad that you're sticking with it - hope you're still having fun.
I'd be very tempted to run the Hyper-Capacitor [Cap]x4 crafted shields (just never touch the button to start the damage bonus/shield drain),and see how those go on such a low-shield vessel. If you're decently into 8472-Countercommand Rep, the three-piece bonus of the secondary set would net you a second defense turret. I'd probably go with the freebie mission Tac console, set Torp fore (Very nice in High Yield), then the Heavy Disruptor aft (which becomes and auto-turret when the command is given).
Even just using the shield I have, I actually do pretty well. The main issue is hull, and lack there of. There are ways to boost it, the Iconian deflector for one, threatening stance is another, but in the end, I will never half enough. So keeping bleedthrough down is my highest priority. It's why I haven't really looked at anything that's not Resilient in some way. That and I don't have the doff to make that shield anyway. Those guys are usually pretty expensive.
The 3 piece CC weapon set might be pretty good, but the Point Defense System does the same thing, with what I think is a shorter cooldown and let's me use other weapons. 3 weapon slots really restricts my choices, and 3 console slots even more so. Basically, I just don't have the room for it. Not a bad idea, but I need more flexibility in the build. And the last turret I used didn't do so much.
OP.....I've used both freighters to run all of the dailies on both fed and kdf sides, it's a blast and a challenge to really learn your enemies true weaknesses, but they all have some....Enjoy!
Ah, the one ship that might actually be worse than a Miranda, a freighter. Let's look at the stats and. . .
2 boff slots, that's terrible, but one is a Lt and both Universal? Huh, I could make that work. 3 consoles, MORE HULL? A tuffli has more hull than I do? That's nuts. The Suliban Cell ship is a lot weaker, but damn, I think the Tuffli would have an easier time than I do right now. I may puke.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
Another patrol wrapper, another couple or four of stories.
Hi, I saw you flying around the Dyson Sphere when you were up to that part earlier. I said Hi! Glad that you're sticking with it - hope you're still having fun.
If you sent it by Zone, I probably missed it, i usually have it off. Might have missed a PM too. Apologies about that. I plan to stick with it through Midnight (when I will declare victory, even with more missions to go, but seriously, that's "The End" of the game). Come thick or thin. Though I do have a question that I will investigate today.
I have played my Romulan in his T'liss starter warbird up to level 32 now, right until the end of the Vengeance arc, on Normal difficulty.
The one thing that astonished me the most is how excellently the difficulty scales for a T1 ship across levels. It is actually something requiring attention and knowledge of the game mechanics. I enjoy it quite a bit.
Bonus: Ground combat on Normal is actually tolerable.
I hit 50 with The Vault, but that's mostly because I diverted to do Specters early (which if you look, you should be able to do it as well). Normal is SO much easier than Advanced, it's not even funny. Ground especially. No shields on the mooks help a lot.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
Today was an early day at work, so lots of Delta stuff. LOTS of it. I'm finished all the way up through Revolution, leaving one patrol wrapper, and the last 3 actual missions of Delta Rising left. The rush of burning through all these patrols is amazing, I love it. I'm now less than a bubble from 59, and I feel invincible.
Well, as invincible as anyone can in a Miranda with a paper thin hull. I haven't really run into anything too difficult throughout, oddly. Coop ships that fight back still suck, I can deal with Hierarchy ships well enough now, and the Vaadwaur, while the fights might take a while, go down pretty easily when all is said and done.
It's weird that I'm running Threatening Stance almost constantly now. I took Threat Control on the skill tree with the assumption being that I wanted to drop my threat as low as possible. In practice, however, I want to RAISE it as much as possible. The reasons are simple: If I have allies, I want them to live because they do far more damage than I can by myself, and the extra hull I get from Threatening Stance. It's percentage based, and stacks 10 times, meaning an additional 5000 hull points, bringing me to 18325. That's an 38% increase in hull for my little ship, and seriously I need every ounce of it. On top of that, I grabbed Logistical Support from the Strategist spec which gives me more hull from my own heals. It's not much, maybe 300 hull points, but every little bit helps.
The result is this: I am tanking in a Miranda. I'll let that sink in for a moment.
.
.
.
Scary isn't it? But I did choose abilities to keep me alive, from the Kobali core to the Engineer career, it was all about staying alive at high levels, and the fact that I WANT them to hit me now, so I can survive longer is just a weird extension of that. And as I put more points into Strategist, I'll want more and more of it.
I also added my second to last Boff I want, the Hierarchy boff. Oh, he's Efficient AND Pirate? Well thank you very much, he'll come in handy. I'm still looking at getting a Female Alien Science officer for ground ops, but that's another story all together.
I don't think anything will be a threat to me for the rest of Delta really. Oh, I'll die, quite a bit, but I won't be struggling through these deaths, they'll just be as unlucky as when I'm playing my main on Advanced or Elite missions.
Oh, that thing I mentioned looking up, I was talking about the shuttles and why their hull is so much more than my Miranda. The answer is, well, they don't have tiers, so the game automatically raises up their hull to compensate. The Tier 1s get no such treatment. That said, it does look like the Type 8 Shuttle would be the absolute hardest ship to do this run with, since it doesn't even have a boff slot. I will not be trying that, I've got better things to do.
BTW, all the reps will be finished in 3 days (so Sunday, probably) and my crystal run on this character will be done Friday. Payday time.
Next time, I finish Delta and begin the Iconian War, and then we'll see if I'm at my limit. I'm thinking I'm not, honestly.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
Well you inspired me to try this in a T1 Connie, at least as long as I can stand.
Ah the U.S.S. Immortal finest and fanciest ship in the fleet, she shall slay many, MANY heralds... lol.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
Another patrol wrapper, another couple or four of stories.
Hi, I saw you flying around the Dyson Sphere when you were up to that part earlier. I said Hi! Glad that you're sticking with it - hope you're still having fun.
If you sent it by Zone, I probably missed it, i usually have it off. Might have missed a PM too. Apologies about that. I plan to stick with it through Midnight (when I will declare victory, even with more missions to go, but seriously, that's "The End" of the game). Come thick or thin. Though I do have a question that I will investigate today.
No worries mate. We actually teamed up to go strike some Voth and hold some positions and chatted briefly. I expected you to pop when the three dreadnoughts arrived, but iirc you held up rather well (and it was me doing the dying ). Still, in my defence, I am (and always will be), a newbie!
Glad to hear you're still enjoying it! (lol, miranda tank etc)
Oh yeah, now I remember. Work makes my memory hazy as hell. That was before I shuttled out to Delta (I was bouncing around the Dyson Sphere before I finished the Breen stuff). I should go back in there now, I'm much sturdier than I was then, and much better armed. Still probably die a lot. I also need a logged ISA run, I want to see if my DPS is picking up.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
And that's Takedown. Also an experiment for later. Yes, I'm basically done with Delta Rising now. Yeah, there are two more missions, but they are epilogue to this. Aside from the third line and the useless Hierarchy I called in, there wasn't anything too difficult. Died a lot in that wave, but whatever.
I changed up the build adding the new console (finished CC today on this character), adding the Iconian Deflector and the Romulan Hyper Plasma Torp. Not sure the console or the torp are worth it yet. Console doesn't seem to give any indication who it's shooting (might be just graphics on my end) and the torps are just as likely to burn me as my enemies (I tend to get too close, a lot). I think the Torp is worth the effort though. Have to play with it more.
Not much else to write home about. The Malon show up again, having been more or less absent for the past patrols, so I wonder if they maybe should have put those missions further down the list or something. Whatever. Tractor beams are a pain to deal with when you only have two ways and both have long cooldowns.
The last two missions aren't too difficult, and both have a lot of ground combat, and support in space, so I don't foresee any difficulties. Once done, I'm in the Iconian War, and that's when things get, um, terrible. First, of course I need to finish Kobali Prime (skipped most of it, I was on a roll) and by Sunday I should have all the reps come in. I'm also 59 so between Kobali Prime and the last couple missions, I should easily hit 60 before I hit the war.
I'll do another ship build update after that, just so you can see what nonsense I'm running now. If you've been following this the whole time, thanks and I'll keep posting until it is done. Next screen shot will be from Midnight, until then kiddies.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Finished off Delta, both Kobali Prime and the missions. Nothing unusually hard about any of them, though Keten surprised me at one point during Dust to Dust. Otherwise, nothing special. Seeing a bunch of Vaadwaur ships in the first part of Dust to Dust wasn't even viewed as a challenge. The Elachi in What Was Left Behind were even LESS of a threat. Between the Lieset and me, they didn't stand a chance.
Today did feature me and a bunch of other Redditors doing a T1/T2 Crystalline Catastrophe Advanced. We didn't get ANY of the optionals, and I died quite a bit. Probably because I was the only one running threatening stance, aka: SHOOT ME! I don't know how many times, sorry, though I did use 6 repairs, but I died more than that. My teammates didn't have repairs, so, yeah, they had a lot of injuries by the end. Honestly, we did quite well considering most of the group just threw ships together without any real plan. It didn't last more than about 10 minutes, so that's better than the poor sods that got stuck fighting for 30 minutes or more.
Tomorrow, the reps come in. I've already started my next upgrades, the Iconian shield (aka, I've gathered the materials, need Tier 5 to slot the project) and started the Adapted MACO engine. I misstelled this to the chat and someone immediately declared I should go with a 3-piece Iconian set. I disagreed, we didn't argue, just discussed the differences. So why am I not doing that? Well, for one, I'm not part of the DPS crowd, especially in a Miranda. Second, I have to fight Heralds, with few abilites.
Meaning I don't have an easy way to clear subsystem disable. The Iconian shield does have a Hot Restart for the shields, and the AMACO does a Hot Restart for the engines. Weapons, I would need either 2-piece Nukara or the Iconian core. Now I could go with the core, but I like having the free shield heal from the Kobali core, it's saved my TRIBBLE a couple times (it's a full shield heal) and I don't want to give it up. The Kobali core also adds to my shields AND my hull while Iconian gives warp core efficiency and engine power.
It could be made to work, but honestly, I'm running more of a shield tank, rather than an speed tank, so this isn't as good a combination as what I'm planning. That said, the DPS crowd probably loves this for the +15% energy damage set bonus, which is useless for me because of most of my damage comes from the plasma torps or the tricobalt mines I'm throwing around, so that doesn't help. Also, it's only a 5% chance for that, so bleh. It's handy for teams, but I'm soloing missions, so, there we go.
But what about those weapons? Well, my options are weapon batteries, or nothing. There are no other options, which means if my weapons go down, um, I should run away until they come back. Honestly I'm not as worried about that as having my shields go down or my engines stop. Weapons go down, I could survive for a bit until they come back, those other two go down, I am DEAD. It's going to be hard enough, dying a dozen times trying to kill a Quas is not my idea of fun.
Oh, I did hit 60, another point in Strategiest. I'm liking this spec for this build, and probably any of my tanks.
Anyway, next time, the Iconian War build. Until then.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
The Borg are just plain nasty. Hard to deal with. It reminds you WHY the Borg are a threat, rather than flying ISA. In the end, I had to rely on Fleet Support to kill cubes like that. Only way.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
That tetryon array was crafted for me, so beggers can't be choosers when it comes to the mods. The Romulan torp can also be swapped out for the Vaadwaur Cluster Torpedo as the occasion dictates.
Weapons Aft: VR Ancient Omni-Direction Beam Array Mk XII [Acc][Arc][Dmg]
Eventually this will be swapped out, but not for a while. It's served me well. Given I have no way to boost a weapon, even a two color rainbow build isn't a determent.
Deflector: VR Iconian Resistance Deflector Array Mk XII
Engine: VR Adapted M.A.C.O. Combat Impulst Engine Mk XII
Core: VR Kobali Field Stabilizing Warp Core Mk XII
Shields: VR Iconain Resistance Resilient Shield Array Mk XII
Oddly the shield has almost the exact same stats as my older VR Resilient Shield Array [Cap]x2, only without the [Tet] mod, which isn't going to do much good against the Iconians anyway. The engine and shields will keep me alive with their Hot Restarts, the core has a nice restore all shield ability that I will use the heck out of. The deflector boosts hull (WHICH I NEED) and shield capacity.
Devices: Shield Batteries, Subspace Field Modulator
The Field Modulator doesn't get as much play as it could, but it's helped. Wish it gave a control resist function. I might swap out shield bats for weapon bats in the future, depends.
Consoles: Antimatter Spread, Point Defense System, Crystalline Absorption Matrix
The Spread and PDS have been used since I got them, and they're probably going to be the best survival gear I can have. The Crystal Console is the ONLY boost I have in the console slot, giving me more energy resist in general, but I'm not completely sold on it's power. I just don't get enough feed back to know for sure. Worth trying for a bit more.
STATS
GENERAL
Stealth Detection Rating: 24.18
Power Transfer Rate: 210% (10.5/sec)
DEFENSE
Bonus Defense: 70.0% at speed
Hull: 13,587, 18,587 with Threatening Stance fully stacked.
Hull Repair Rate: 65.0%/min out of combat
Shield Regen: 636.3/6 sec out of combat
Shields: 7,113 per facing
Kinetic Resist: 30.4%
Phaser Resist: 29.6%
Disruptor Resist: 29.6%
Plasma Resist: 30.5%
Tetryon Resist: 33.9%
Polaron Resist: 34.7%
AntiProton Resist: 34.7%
It's weird actually having meaningful resists now. It's not much, but every bit counts. Hull is STILL awful, even a Type 8 at 60 has more hull (14,400), but using Threatening Stance and it's proc gives me more hull than a Tuffli and most of the Tier 2 ships. It's essential. I should NEVER stop, or else that defense drops to 10% and I am screwed. Shields are as good as they can get until I can get the shield upgraded, which is not happening any time soon.
Base stats as I have put almost nothing into the tac third of the skill tree.
MOVEMENT
Inertia: 50
Flight Speed; 29.72
Turn Rate: 25.9 deg/sec
I still feel like a potato turning, but nearly as bad as the bigger ships. I can close gaps quick enough that Vaadwaur can't get their artillery to hit me before I'm shoving torps right down their throats. I'm pleased with it for now.
The first two are the result of the basics I put on every character, defense is to keep me alive and tac readiness drops the cooldown on BFAW. Yeah, that's a good thing.
Well yeah, lots of shields. Control is partially to boost Antimatter Spread, but mostly so I don't get eaten by Tractor Beams. Drain is for Tachyon Beam, though at this low level it's not as good as it would be on a dedicated drain boat.
Hull resists, more capacity, more healing. EPS is mostly so I can boost EPS Power Transfer and originally Plasma Manifold. It also helps with the batteries I think.
TRAITS
Grace Under Fire - Miracle Worker, duh
EPS Manifold Efficiency - More power from bats and Kobali core ability
Elusive: DEFENSE
Efficient Captain: MOAR POWER
Techie: Hull healing
Bulkhead Technician: Part of the reason I have as much hull as I do.
Thrill Seeker: Speed
Warp Theorist: Even MOAR POWER
Shield Technician: More shields
Particle Defense Specialist: Antiproton resist, since that's what Heralds use
STARSHIP TRAITS
Improved Temporal Insight - IMMUNE. Also the only one I have because I am lazy.
SPACE REPUTATION
Torpedo Pre-Fire Sequence: Torps do most damage, boost them. Also, fly faster
Omega Kinetic Shearing: Slash and burn
Energy Refrequencer: I heal when I shoot things? Sign me up!
Advanced Engines: MOAR SPEED!
I'm not strictly happy with my spec rep choices right now. Might change them up more in the future.
ACTIVE REPUTATION
Bio-Molecular Shield Generator - Shield heal
Quantum Singularity Manipulation - Run away power
Refracting Tetryon Cascade - ZAP!
Deploy Sensor Interference Platform - Shoot someone else for a change.
I went all space.
SPECIALIZATIONS
Pilot
Eat My Dust I and II - Defense, DEFENSE
Desperate Flight I and II - Yeah, this doesn't do a great deal of good, but sometimes. . .
Reckless Abandon - This is my only other way to get out of tractor beams besides antimatter spread.
Rock and Roll - LIFE SAVER
Strategist
Logistical Support I - Those temp points don't do much, but I think they might clear some small debuffs, like plasma fire, not sure, need more experimenting. Still, every little bit helps, since I have so little.
Show of Force I - HEAL ME FOR GOD'S SAKE!
Counter Offensive I and II - I'm going to be shot, might as well throw some of it back.
Layer Defense 1 and II - Bad torps, go away.
And that's about it. Suggestions are always welcome. I'll probably start running the missions later this week. Uneasy Allies should go easy enough, no Heralds to fight. After that I don't know. Until then.
I know there is a method but all I see is madness.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Comments
Enjoy waiting until July then, then you have however much comes with that.
Well, Boldly They Rode went about as well as I expected. Died 3 times, including a cheap shot right at the beginning. I think I've done a no death run on the space portion once. The big killer was something you probably forgot about: Tractor Beam Repulsers. They're an annoyance for most ships, though there was a time when you could tear ships apart with them (alas PvP, I knew the well). For the Miranda and it's MINUSCULE hull, they were a death sentence. Of the 3 deaths, 2 were directly related to the repulsers. Otherwise, the Jem'Hadar put up as much of a fight as they ever did, meaning not much of one at all. It really is due to their low hull and no healing. Fits them, but makes them easy prey for any fool in a Miranda.
The Borg are another story, but before I get there I did do something with the Miranda I wasn't expecting: Gateway to Grethnor, ADVANCED. The redditchat was starting a group up and they had no problem letting my weak TRIBBLE into the fight. I am not geared up for the Hearlds, but what the hell. In I went, playing role of support and rift closing. I did NOT die, but not due to anything special on my end, but mostly because my teammates had the DPS to make up for my lack of, um, everything. I could get away, heal and get back in. I do think a couple well timed Point Defense and Antimatter spread helped at times, but weren't necessary. It was a great run, and earned me the last Iconian Probe I needed to begin work on the Iconian Deflector. Still short marks, but they will come.
The Borg. Let me start by saying I ran into some odd glitches running the Borg Advance missions. The first was in the first mission where a Borg Cube warped in, and watched me pepper it to death. Uh, want to shoot back? No, well okay. In the second mission of the storyline, that's when things got dicey. Battling 3 Borg Probes was actually kind of hairy. I'm not good at multiple targets as the ship isn't set for it and even with AM spread and point defense, I was scrambling to stay alive. Then it was time to fight the first of two spheres and I got my TRIBBLE kicked. I still contend that Borg Spheres are the meanest NPC ships in the game, and the most difficult to deal with. I managed to finish the fight, but not without dying repeatedly and having to call on the Nimbus Pirates to save my TRIBBLE. It's what they're there for after all.
The last glitch was in Fluid Dynamics when the allied ships that are supposed to help you against the Diamond stopped moving for some reason. Froze in place. They'd still shoot, if the Diamond got close, but not much else. This made the entire thing take far longer than I was expecting, and a lot of deaths. Again, the longer a fight goes on, the more likely a Miranda is going to explode. Got through it, but it wasn't pretty.
I think my issue now is, well, I've gotten a bit lazy. Tachyon Beam proved SO powerful early on, I just kind of left it. Between my work and my lack of attention, I just let the current build keep going. I probably should have changed up when the Cardassians and Terrans were kicking my butt, but the Jem'Hadar died so easy I didn't bother to refit. The Borg reminded me not to be complacent, but I suspect the current build will work just find against the Breen. Maybe.
This is why I posted all that info on the ship a couple posts ago, to get help and suggestions on improving the build. Mostly in terms of traits. I think it's time to get away from any hull boosting traits as they really aren't helping at this point. Instead I need more shields and ways to resist what is being thrown at me. Flexibility is meant to be key, and I just haven't had it, and the Borg reminded me that I should go get some, quick.
So the Breen are next, then it's back to the Delta Quadrant to begin that mess. The Vaadwaur don't show up right away, so I suspect most of the baddies I come across will fall easily enough. Once the snakes appear, it's going to get rough real fast and I will likely need to practice some new builds if I'm going to break through.
Until next time kiddies.
The Breen Invasion wasn't high on my "there will be issues" list and remains there. I did have to change the basic nature of my build by swapping out Tachyon Beam and Tac Team for Polarize Hull and Beam Fire At Will for the Plesh frigates. They LOVE to use tractor beam, often 3 at a time, and the only easy way to get them off is to polarize hull or antimatter spread, and spread has a 2 minute cooldown. BFAW replaces tachyon beam for taking down shields a bit better, but I need something more. Already ordered up the second omni beam, a crafted tachyon.
All in all, the Breen gave me few issues. Long fights, yes, but nothing terrible. Worse fights are to come.
Which means all I have left is, well, Delta Rising. I know a lot of people who are going to take or have taken similar challenges stopped at DR because the Vaadwaur are too hard, and I agree they will be VERY hard, but the first part is not that bad really. Mindescape is more fighting the Undine. The Kazon are a joke, even in a Miranda. The Malon are a bit tougher, but that's mostly because they're big old bags of HP. Long fights mean I die more often, which I did in Reunion, a couple of times. The Patrol wrapper afterwords, however, was the real challenge.
More Borg Jaleth, I am getting better, changing up abilities to try to survive longer, but spheres and cubes are like NOPE and kill me quick. Thank god Hugh is there as backup. Argala is more Kazon, a cakewalk. Then come the Hirogen. Honestly, I don't think I've fought the Hirogen in space at all through the game up until now, or if I did it was their escorts and nothing bigger because the Axion, holy TRIBBLE. They're rough in my kitted out ships, but in a Miranda they're vicious. Multiple abilities, tough hull and that summon power on top of it all. Ugh. In the end I had to wait for the cooldown on fleet support to expire so I could call in some help, and they kick the ever loving TRIBBLE out of them for me while I buzz around feeling useless.
I feel no shame in that, BTW, it's there to be used and I never restricted myself from it. Same with Nimbus and Delta Flight, all three will be part of my plan to get through tougher parts of the game. Almost makes me want to pump up Command spec, but I'll never get enough points to max it by the time I need it. Pilot will give me Rock and Roll early, great for escaping and Strategist will let me control my threat better.
So with Friends in Unlikely Places finished up, the next mission will finally put me into a fight with the Vaadwaur. The greatest challenge yet of Tier 1 Forever has finally come to pass, wish me luck.
BTW, this is pretty close to the current build if you want to see how little I'm actually working with: https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/4llyic/tier_1_forever_round_2/
But on to the Vaadwaur. You only have to fight one of them, a smaller ship that's Unknown (I think it's an Assault ship) and gives you the two nasty tactics the Vaadwaur uses: The Artillery Barrage and Tricobalts, lots of tricobalts. Thankfully I managed to hit 57 right before the mission (thank you Admiralty) and grab Rock and Roll from the Pilot tree, that helps with the Artillery Barrage, but the tricobalts will have to be dealt with via alternative means, namely Point Defense and Antimatter spread. Yes, antimatter spread works on them, confusing them long enough to get away. Meanwhile my battle with the ship was one of long, sweeping passes, by both of us. While it had the advantage in forward firepower, I had the edge in shields and could absorb a volley while closing on him, all the while peppering him with Tachyon Beam.
It was a long fight, but a successful one. I was never in any real danger and probably could have kept going for a bit longer. One on one fights like this aren't usually that much of a threat (unless it's an Axion, or the Borg). The real fun comes when I must face down multiple Vaadwaur ships. For now, I'll take my victory, and prepare for the next encounter.
First, Hirogen still suck. Second, so do the Hierarchy. Wow, do they suck with a Miranda. Too many tricks and they use them aggressively. Had to really rely on Fleet Support to remove them, and lure the two groups together frequently to make sure they died horribly. Thankfully I only have to deal with both sporadically from here on out, mostly in patrol wrappers. The real threat is the Vaadwaur which you fight in the last stage of the patrol wrapper, the Nassordin System patrol.
Here, there are various Kobali ships scattered about you have to rescue. Perform the task, they leave or explode and Vaadwaur warp in to kick your butt. Now according to the Wiki, there should have been an Artillery ship, but it didn't appear, but the Interdictors, Scouts and Assaults did.
And they all died horribly at the hands of Miranda.
Well, I did make some changes. The Tetryon Omni beam I ordered was finished so I fitted on the ship and pulled the torp off. I replaced it with the Vaadwaur Tricobalt Cluster Mine, because BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Combined with BFAW and Tachyon Beam, I ripped through the Vaadwaur formations like they were paper. Well, really tough cardboard stacked on top of each other. It took multiple passes but I killed them with only a couple deaths (artillery firing when Rock and Roll wasn't ready and I thought I was clear). Hell, I even managed to get Antimatter Spread to cause an Interdictor to kill an Assault ship. Fun times.
Now, this was against pairs of Vaadwaur ships, so bigger battles will likely be harder and I didn't face down an Artillery ship (maybe they don't spawn on this map on Normal?) so I don't have a complete picture. What I do have is that the Miranda CAN get through this stage of the game, it'll just take time.
So for those of you who were taking up this challenge thinking they couldn't get through Delta Rising, well kids, you can, so get to it.
First, did you know you can fight the Benthens in the Nanipia System Patrol? I didn't. I also discovered that the Benthans are big jerks who like knocking down shields, you know, the only thing keeping Mirandas like mine ALIVE? Rough, rough fight because of that. The real trick is to stay far away and pepper them with beam fire and hope the tricobalt launcher fires in between their BFAW cycles. Oh, and Fleet Support, which despawned after a bit so I had to go the last part of the patrol solo. Nasty. BTW, I checked to see how much longer it would take to kill the last Benthan cruiser, and it had, no kidding, 141,000 hull points. TEN TIMES what my Miranda has. Ouch.
Did Naussicans always have transphasics? Did they always take 7000 hull points? Did we never notice because it's not usually half our hull? These things are probably all true, but damn, that hurt. Everything else they threw at me I could handle, but those transphasic torps were murder. Fleet Support, come help me please. Good girl.
Hierarchy round two as well, and this went MUCH better. Yes, I still needed Fleet Support to take out the one battleship, but the smaller ships, well, that was a bit easier. All that jam sensors nonsense? If they use it on me, they don't use it on the tricobalts, which track them down and BOOM. No wonder these guys die so easily in Takedown, they can't counter the mines and get eaten alive. I didn't die once this time, which makes me happy.
Cooperative is the same as the Borg, only I think meaner. I don't remember spheres EVER having tractor beams, but Coop ones do. Mean and nasty. Had to switch from BFAW to Overload so I wouldn't kill the Octani before the Coop ships were disabled. Also had to run threatening stance for the course of it so the Coop wouldn't kill the Octani before they were disabled.
I find using Threatening Stance is actually a good idea in most single player missions and I get extra hull stacks (and other things as Strategist fills out). In Multiplayer combat, running Threatening is probably a bad idea, I WILL die for no good reason,, but I see lots of reasons to use it. Distracts the bad guys from shooting my Fleet Support for one, so she can do more damage.
Next time, my first large action against the Vaadwaur in All that Glitters. Let's see how tough they really are in a Miranda because they really haven't been so far. I expect that to change.
also, if you're referring to the mission i think you're referring to, you can't actually KILL the octani - their ships go friendly once they reach a certain hull percentage, and even if you somehow manage to pass that before the IFF change triggers, they're immortal (obviously they stole the Invincibility trait from the zahl)
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
See, I was on then, but I don't remember that. I guess when they created the Coop they just grabbed the old file for the spheres instead of the current one. Annoying, but since you don't fight the Coop much, I won't complain a lot.
Yeah, I know, I was just typing quickly. Same basic effect with out the warp core detonations that usually kill me.
Hi, I saw you flying around the Dyson Sphere when you were up to that part earlier. I said Hi! Glad that you're sticking with it - hope you're still having fun.
Even just using the shield I have, I actually do pretty well. The main issue is hull, and lack there of. There are ways to boost it, the Iconian deflector for one, threatening stance is another, but in the end, I will never half enough. So keeping bleedthrough down is my highest priority. It's why I haven't really looked at anything that's not Resilient in some way. That and I don't have the doff to make that shield anyway. Those guys are usually pretty expensive.
The 3 piece CC weapon set might be pretty good, but the Point Defense System does the same thing, with what I think is a shorter cooldown and let's me use other weapons. 3 weapon slots really restricts my choices, and 3 console slots even more so. Basically, I just don't have the room for it. Not a bad idea, but I need more flexibility in the build. And the last turret I used didn't do so much.
Ah, the one ship that might actually be worse than a Miranda, a freighter. Let's look at the stats and. . .
2 boff slots, that's terrible, but one is a Lt and both Universal? Huh, I could make that work. 3 consoles, MORE HULL? A tuffli has more hull than I do? That's nuts. The Suliban Cell ship is a lot weaker, but damn, I think the Tuffli would have an easier time than I do right now. I may puke.
If you sent it by Zone, I probably missed it, i usually have it off. Might have missed a PM too. Apologies about that. I plan to stick with it through Midnight (when I will declare victory, even with more missions to go, but seriously, that's "The End" of the game). Come thick or thin. Though I do have a question that I will investigate today.
I hit 50 with The Vault, but that's mostly because I diverted to do Specters early (which if you look, you should be able to do it as well). Normal is SO much easier than Advanced, it's not even funny. Ground especially. No shields on the mooks help a lot.
Well, as invincible as anyone can in a Miranda with a paper thin hull. I haven't really run into anything too difficult throughout, oddly. Coop ships that fight back still suck, I can deal with Hierarchy ships well enough now, and the Vaadwaur, while the fights might take a while, go down pretty easily when all is said and done.
It's weird that I'm running Threatening Stance almost constantly now. I took Threat Control on the skill tree with the assumption being that I wanted to drop my threat as low as possible. In practice, however, I want to RAISE it as much as possible. The reasons are simple: If I have allies, I want them to live because they do far more damage than I can by myself, and the extra hull I get from Threatening Stance. It's percentage based, and stacks 10 times, meaning an additional 5000 hull points, bringing me to 18325. That's an 38% increase in hull for my little ship, and seriously I need every ounce of it. On top of that, I grabbed Logistical Support from the Strategist spec which gives me more hull from my own heals. It's not much, maybe 300 hull points, but every little bit helps.
The result is this: I am tanking in a Miranda. I'll let that sink in for a moment.
.
.
.
Scary isn't it? But I did choose abilities to keep me alive, from the Kobali core to the Engineer career, it was all about staying alive at high levels, and the fact that I WANT them to hit me now, so I can survive longer is just a weird extension of that. And as I put more points into Strategist, I'll want more and more of it.
I also added my second to last Boff I want, the Hierarchy boff. Oh, he's Efficient AND Pirate? Well thank you very much, he'll come in handy. I'm still looking at getting a Female Alien Science officer for ground ops, but that's another story all together.
I don't think anything will be a threat to me for the rest of Delta really. Oh, I'll die, quite a bit, but I won't be struggling through these deaths, they'll just be as unlucky as when I'm playing my main on Advanced or Elite missions.
Oh, that thing I mentioned looking up, I was talking about the shuttles and why their hull is so much more than my Miranda. The answer is, well, they don't have tiers, so the game automatically raises up their hull to compensate. The Tier 1s get no such treatment. That said, it does look like the Type 8 Shuttle would be the absolute hardest ship to do this run with, since it doesn't even have a boff slot. I will not be trying that, I've got better things to do.
BTW, all the reps will be finished in 3 days (so Sunday, probably) and my crystal run on this character will be done Friday. Payday time.
Next time, I finish Delta and begin the Iconian War, and then we'll see if I'm at my limit. I'm thinking I'm not, honestly.
Ah the U.S.S. Immortal finest and fanciest ship in the fleet, she shall slay many, MANY heralds... lol.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
No worries mate. We actually teamed up to go strike some Voth and hold some positions and chatted briefly. I expected you to pop when the three dreadnoughts arrived, but iirc you held up rather well (and it was me doing the dying
Glad to hear you're still enjoying it! (lol, miranda tank etc)
And that's Takedown. Also an experiment for later. Yes, I'm basically done with Delta Rising now. Yeah, there are two more missions, but they are epilogue to this. Aside from the third line and the useless Hierarchy I called in, there wasn't anything too difficult. Died a lot in that wave, but whatever.
I changed up the build adding the new console (finished CC today on this character), adding the Iconian Deflector and the Romulan Hyper Plasma Torp. Not sure the console or the torp are worth it yet. Console doesn't seem to give any indication who it's shooting (might be just graphics on my end) and the torps are just as likely to burn me as my enemies (I tend to get too close, a lot). I think the Torp is worth the effort though. Have to play with it more.
Not much else to write home about. The Malon show up again, having been more or less absent for the past patrols, so I wonder if they maybe should have put those missions further down the list or something. Whatever. Tractor beams are a pain to deal with when you only have two ways and both have long cooldowns.
The last two missions aren't too difficult, and both have a lot of ground combat, and support in space, so I don't foresee any difficulties. Once done, I'm in the Iconian War, and that's when things get, um, terrible. First, of course I need to finish Kobali Prime (skipped most of it, I was on a roll) and by Sunday I should have all the reps come in. I'm also 59 so between Kobali Prime and the last couple missions, I should easily hit 60 before I hit the war.
I'll do another ship build update after that, just so you can see what nonsense I'm running now. If you've been following this the whole time, thanks and I'll keep posting until it is done. Next screen shot will be from Midnight, until then kiddies.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Today did feature me and a bunch of other Redditors doing a T1/T2 Crystalline Catastrophe Advanced. We didn't get ANY of the optionals, and I died quite a bit. Probably because I was the only one running threatening stance, aka: SHOOT ME! I don't know how many times, sorry, though I did use 6 repairs, but I died more than that. My teammates didn't have repairs, so, yeah, they had a lot of injuries by the end. Honestly, we did quite well considering most of the group just threw ships together without any real plan. It didn't last more than about 10 minutes, so that's better than the poor sods that got stuck fighting for 30 minutes or more.
Tomorrow, the reps come in. I've already started my next upgrades, the Iconian shield (aka, I've gathered the materials, need Tier 5 to slot the project) and started the Adapted MACO engine. I misstelled this to the chat and someone immediately declared I should go with a 3-piece Iconian set. I disagreed, we didn't argue, just discussed the differences. So why am I not doing that? Well, for one, I'm not part of the DPS crowd, especially in a Miranda. Second, I have to fight Heralds, with few abilites.
Meaning I don't have an easy way to clear subsystem disable. The Iconian shield does have a Hot Restart for the shields, and the AMACO does a Hot Restart for the engines. Weapons, I would need either 2-piece Nukara or the Iconian core. Now I could go with the core, but I like having the free shield heal from the Kobali core, it's saved my TRIBBLE a couple times (it's a full shield heal) and I don't want to give it up. The Kobali core also adds to my shields AND my hull while Iconian gives warp core efficiency and engine power.
It could be made to work, but honestly, I'm running more of a shield tank, rather than an speed tank, so this isn't as good a combination as what I'm planning. That said, the DPS crowd probably loves this for the +15% energy damage set bonus, which is useless for me because of most of my damage comes from the plasma torps or the tricobalt mines I'm throwing around, so that doesn't help. Also, it's only a 5% chance for that, so bleh. It's handy for teams, but I'm soloing missions, so, there we go.
But what about those weapons? Well, my options are weapon batteries, or nothing. There are no other options, which means if my weapons go down, um, I should run away until they come back. Honestly I'm not as worried about that as having my shields go down or my engines stop. Weapons go down, I could survive for a bit until they come back, those other two go down, I am DEAD. It's going to be hard enough, dying a dozen times trying to kill a Quas is not my idea of fun.
Oh, I did hit 60, another point in Strategiest. I'm liking this spec for this build, and probably any of my tanks.
Anyway, next time, the Iconian War build. Until then.
First the basics:
Weapons Fore: VR Romulan Hyper-Plasma Torpedo Launcher Mk XII, VR Omni-Directional Tetryon Beam Array Mk XII [Acc][Arc][Dmg]
That tetryon array was crafted for me, so beggers can't be choosers when it comes to the mods. The Romulan torp can also be swapped out for the Vaadwaur Cluster Torpedo as the occasion dictates.
Weapons Aft: VR Ancient Omni-Direction Beam Array Mk XII [Acc][Arc][Dmg]
Eventually this will be swapped out, but not for a while. It's served me well. Given I have no way to boost a weapon, even a two color rainbow build isn't a determent.
Deflector: VR Iconian Resistance Deflector Array Mk XII
Engine: VR Adapted M.A.C.O. Combat Impulst Engine Mk XII
Core: VR Kobali Field Stabilizing Warp Core Mk XII
Shields: VR Iconain Resistance Resilient Shield Array Mk XII
Oddly the shield has almost the exact same stats as my older VR Resilient Shield Array [Cap]x2, only without the [Tet] mod, which isn't going to do much good against the Iconians anyway. The engine and shields will keep me alive with their Hot Restarts, the core has a nice restore all shield ability that I will use the heck out of. The deflector boosts hull (WHICH I NEED) and shield capacity.
Devices: Shield Batteries, Subspace Field Modulator
The Field Modulator doesn't get as much play as it could, but it's helped. Wish it gave a control resist function. I might swap out shield bats for weapon bats in the future, depends.
Consoles: Antimatter Spread, Point Defense System, Crystalline Absorption Matrix
The Spread and PDS have been used since I got them, and they're probably going to be the best survival gear I can have. The Crystal Console is the ONLY boost I have in the console slot, giving me more energy resist in general, but I'm not completely sold on it's power. I just don't get enough feed back to know for sure. Worth trying for a bit more.
STATS
GENERAL
Stealth Detection Rating: 24.18
Power Transfer Rate: 210% (10.5/sec)
DEFENSE
Bonus Defense: 70.0% at speed
Hull: 13,587, 18,587 with Threatening Stance fully stacked.
Hull Repair Rate: 65.0%/min out of combat
Shield Regen: 636.3/6 sec out of combat
Shields: 7,113 per facing
Kinetic Resist: 30.4%
Phaser Resist: 29.6%
Disruptor Resist: 29.6%
Plasma Resist: 30.5%
Tetryon Resist: 33.9%
Polaron Resist: 34.7%
AntiProton Resist: 34.7%
It's weird actually having meaningful resists now. It's not much, but every bit counts. Hull is STILL awful, even a Type 8 at 60 has more hull (14,400), but using Threatening Stance and it's proc gives me more hull than a Tuffli and most of the Tier 2 ships. It's essential. I should NEVER stop, or else that defense drops to 10% and I am screwed. Shields are as good as they can get until I can get the shield upgraded, which is not happening any time soon.
ATTACK
Bonus Accuracy: 0.0%
Crit Chance: 2.5%
Crit Severity: 50.0%
Base stats as I have put almost nothing into the tac third of the skill tree.
MOVEMENT
Inertia: 50
Flight Speed; 29.72
Turn Rate: 25.9 deg/sec
I still feel like a potato turning, but nearly as bad as the bigger ships. I can close gaps quick enough that Vaadwaur can't get their artillery to hit me before I'm shoving torps right down their throats. I'm pleased with it for now.
Tactical Skill-Based Stats
Starship Energy Weapon Training: 50
Starship Projectile Weapon Training: 50
Starship Defensive Maneuvering: 100
Starship Tactical Readiness: 85
The first two are the result of the basics I put on every character, defense is to keep me alive and tac readiness drops the cooldown on BFAW. Yeah, that's a good thing.
Science Skill-Based Stats
Starship Shield Restoration: 103
Starship Shield Capacity: 130
Starship Shield Regeneration: 85
Starship Shield Hardness: 85
Starship Control Expertise: 100
Starship Drain Expertise: 100
Starship Scientific Readiness: 85
Well yeah, lots of shields. Control is partially to boost Antimatter Spread, but mostly so I don't get eaten by Tractor Beams. Drain is for Tachyon Beam, though at this low level it's not as good as it would be on a dedicated drain boat.
Engineering Skill-Based Stats
Starship Hull Restoration: 123
Starship Hull Capacity: 86
Starship Energized Hull Plating: 100
Starship Ablative Hull Plating: 100
Starship Hull Regeneration: 20
Starship Electro-Plasma System Flow: 110
Starship Impulse Expertise: 85
Starship Engineering Readiness: 85
Hull resists, more capacity, more healing. EPS is mostly so I can boost EPS Power Transfer and originally Plasma Manifold. It also helps with the batteries I think.
TRAITS
Grace Under Fire - Miracle Worker, duh
EPS Manifold Efficiency - More power from bats and Kobali core ability
Elusive: DEFENSE
Efficient Captain: MOAR POWER
Techie: Hull healing
Bulkhead Technician: Part of the reason I have as much hull as I do.
Thrill Seeker: Speed
Warp Theorist: Even MOAR POWER
Shield Technician: More shields
Particle Defense Specialist: Antiproton resist, since that's what Heralds use
STARSHIP TRAITS
Improved Temporal Insight - IMMUNE. Also the only one I have because I am lazy.
SPACE REPUTATION
Torpedo Pre-Fire Sequence: Torps do most damage, boost them. Also, fly faster
Omega Kinetic Shearing: Slash and burn
Energy Refrequencer: I heal when I shoot things? Sign me up!
Advanced Engines: MOAR SPEED!
I'm not strictly happy with my spec rep choices right now. Might change them up more in the future.
ACTIVE REPUTATION
Bio-Molecular Shield Generator - Shield heal
Quantum Singularity Manipulation - Run away power
Refracting Tetryon Cascade - ZAP!
Deploy Sensor Interference Platform - Shoot someone else for a change.
I went all space.
SPECIALIZATIONS
Pilot
Eat My Dust I and II - Defense, DEFENSE
Desperate Flight I and II - Yeah, this doesn't do a great deal of good, but sometimes. . .
Reckless Abandon - This is my only other way to get out of tractor beams besides antimatter spread.
Rock and Roll - LIFE SAVER
Strategist
Logistical Support I - Those temp points don't do much, but I think they might clear some small debuffs, like plasma fire, not sure, need more experimenting. Still, every little bit helps, since I have so little.
Show of Force I - HEAL ME FOR GOD'S SAKE!
Counter Offensive I and II - I'm going to be shot, might as well throw some of it back.
Layer Defense 1 and II - Bad torps, go away.
And that's about it. Suggestions are always welcome. I'll probably start running the missions later this week. Uneasy Allies should go easy enough, no Heralds to fight. After that I don't know. Until then.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"