I have a question on rear torps, do you actually fire them off enough to make them more effective than another turret in back that can proc? Or are turn rates generally slow enough that you want that torpedo? Also currently I have Intel on my beam boat, and I love flanking. But command seems like it will really help torpedoes, any insight here?
I cannot give a definitve answer but I can share what I've learned over the years. I usually place them aft. Because my aft is usually pointing at the enemy far more often than my for'ard. Since enemy NPC's are programmed to pursue mostly, it gives me something to distract them. Which is all I expect torpedoes to do in this game. With the time torps take to reload, they will generally kill any decent DPS. I want them aft also due to the fact firing seven or eight weapons imposes a pretty hefty Weapons power drain, in addition to any other Weapons power drain going on. So I mounted them aft and then learned to turn quickly enough so I got some use out of them from time to time. Said use being killing off cripples while my beam arrays went after the healthy targets.
Then, Legacy of Romulus arrived. I immediately learned to love Rommie Plasma torps. Little green balls of death which retargeted themselves when their original target died before they got there. And, they have a great hang around time to boot. Plus they have a plasma proc which almost never fails, adding additional damage to my AI skippered foes with ther ginormous amounts of hit points. What's not to love about a Romulan Plasma torp? One thing: they are s l o w.
Honestly, my dearly departed granma moves faster. So we move back to square one with only one very slight advantage. Nearly everything in the game which is AI controlled will break off pursuit immediately if given a face full of Rommie torps.
Tractor beams will also usually magically fail to keep a lock on your U.S.S Wunderkind. Ain't that odd?
They are some very sharp people who play this game who have figured out how to use torpedoes effectively. I suspect autumnturning, the guy who started this thread, is one of these guys. I am not one of those guys. I'm just a schmo who has learned a little. Autumnturning has shown me through his posts and my tinkering that torpedoes are a viable weapon system. Provided a few other things are in place prior to telling your gunner to BaH peng!
1) Since you only get one launch at a time, make sure every possible power up and other bennie you can use is in place before you announce, "Torpedoes Away!"
2) Firing torpedoes at long range (7+ Km) is a waste of energy. Instead, here is what I do when launching torps from IKS Paper Cuts
- activate power ups then attack pattern then tactical team.
- fire energy weapons to reduce shields as much as possible.
- activate either grav well or tyken's to hold the target in place. The Borg Tractor beam works nice here as well.
- by now you're in range (5-6 KM) so launch.
3) Hunt down and use anything which improves the torps you are using. Anything. Anything at all. Lastly,
4) If the torps you are using do not seem up to the task, use a different torp. And make sure you use it.
Lots of good info out there on builds. Lots of bad info as well. Only way to sort the wheat from the chaff is to use a torpedo.
I do use torps enough to make them effective in the back. And on all my ships I value Turn Rate above speed. Command does help torpedoes. But not as much as regular practice using them does.
Post edited by thunderfoot#5163 on
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Thanks, currently I fly a beam boat and I very my speed a lot; as I do what ever it takes to stay in the rear arc because flanking seems to really boost my damage returns. If I didn't go command, I was hoping to drop a shield on way in and pop 1 torp; then hug the back arc by using speed control so using rear torp would not work well. Thanks for feed back folks!
While I do not consider myself good enough to play any of the Elite content, I am curious to find out how well this build does in the hands of a competent Captain.
While I do not consider myself good enough to play any of the Elite content, I am curious to find out how well this build does in the hands of a competent Captain.
To be fair, I don't have the familiarity/experience with HSE to count myself a "competent Captain" (yet). For me, it was more a matter of "follow the herd" and try not to explode more than necessary ... which on this trip was twice for me. First time was because 3/5ths of the team got "blowed up" and I was left holding the aggro (held on for as long as I could, which honestly was longer than I expected). Second time was because one of the command ships got destroyed and I was late joining the party and flew a bit too close when a secondary explosion took me out (bleh). So I chalk up both of those experiences to not knowing the map/flow well enough to anticipate what got me (i.e. the hazards). That said, getting taken out only once by enemy fire AFTER the main tank got overwhelmed isn't that bad of a showing.
My damage production was predictably "pathetic" in both HSE (1.25 million total according to the parse, no idea on the breakdown of sources) and in a CCA I ran with @Odenknight afterwards, where my Polaron procs amount to spitting into the wind against the Giant Snowflake that eats power for belching. Still got 3rd place on the CCA though. Speaking of which, if you want to do another parse/video run, @Odenknight, I'd suggest that a Na'Kuhl Red Alert might be a good idea for data gathering, owing to the fact of how under-geared I am for HSE (I'm quite literally out of my league with that stuff). The Na'Kuhl would offer a large enough quantity of targets over a long enough period of time to get some decent parse data that could yield statistical analysis worth a darn.
While I do not consider myself good enough to play any of the Elite content, I am curious to find out how well this build does in the hands of a competent Captain.
To be fair, I don't have the familiarity/experience with HSE to count myself a "competent Captain" (yet). For me, it was more a matter of "follow the herd" and try not to explode more than necessary ... which on this trip was twice for me. First time was because 3/5ths of the team got "blowed up" and I was left holding the aggro (held on for as long as I could, which honestly was longer than I expected). Second time was because one of the command ships got destroyed and I was late joining the party and flew a bit too close when a secondary explosion took me out (bleh). So I chalk up both of those experiences to not knowing the map/flow well enough to anticipate what got me (i.e. the hazards). That said, getting taken out only once by enemy fire AFTER the main tank got overwhelmed isn't that bad of a showing.
My damage production was predictably "pathetic" in both HSE (1.25 million total according to the parse, no idea on the breakdown of sources) and in a CCA I ran with @Odenknight afterwards, where my Polaron procs amount to spitting into the wind against the Giant Snowflake that eats power for belching. Still got 3rd place on the CCA though. Speaking of which, if you want to do another parse/video run, @Odenknight, I'd suggest that a Na'Kuhl Red Alert might be a good idea for data gathering, owing to the fact of how under-geared I am for HSE (I'm quite literally out of my league with that stuff). The Na'Kuhl would offer a large enough quantity of targets over a long enough period of time to get some decent parse data that could yield statistical analysis worth a darn.
For your first time in HSE, you did very well. I am looking at more than just the raw DPS numbers to make that comparison. I think if the lag didn't mess us up and control of the Spheres was better, you would have been able to do what you do best, which is shut down the targets and their shields, so that I can greet them w/ a torpedo storm. We'll try again either tonight or Thursday. It's mostly finding a competent tank to absorb the nonsense, although HSE now can be done w/ FaW-spamming Scimmy's blindfolded.
I was more interested in Learning than I was in Proving at the time. If you have a way to break down the parse, for the first few minutes I was just "straight shooting" without much modification from Skills, so as to give you an opportunity to baseline performance. After I got destroyed the first time, I started using my Skills a bit more, but wasn't going "full tilt" with them since I was so distracted by trying to pay attention to everything that was going on just trying to keep up.
I honestly think the biggest thing to crash our overall DPS parse was the Cube that impaled itself on "terrain" and could only be attacked from a very narrow set of approaches. That wasted a good bit of time cleaning up that nonsense.
I am looking at more than just the raw DPS numbers to make that comparison.
I'm honestly interested in what sort of healing/regen I had going on, although I don't know if the parser captures that at all. Reason I ask is because I keep getting 3rd place in CCA a lot, but only if I "eat" the 10km PBAoE blast to my shields and hull (so as to need to heal that damage back up).
Also kind of interested in seeing what sort of raw damage numbers were getting produced by my weapons typed as Polaron and as Proton, so as to start getting a handle on the ratio for that, and how often the Proton burn gets procced.
I think if the lag didn't mess us up and control of the Spheres was better, you would have been able to do what you do best, which is shut down the targets and their shields, so that I can greet them w/ a torpedo storm.
I need to do a better job of making use of Target Of My Target so as to coordinate with everyone else better, rather than doing the target selection myself. That and using what restorative Skills I've got on behalf of the Aggro Magnet rather than saving them for myself. Again, that's a "better Captain" skill as opposed to a fault of the build.
I'll send you a tell around the same time tonight. I'll do my best to be punctual. I know you've got enough going on that I wouldn't want to leave you hanging.
And if we can't get an HSE team together, I still think that a Na'kuhl Red Alert (or two) would start giving you some decent data from the parser to work with, or at least enough to be statistically useful, mainly because of Plentiful Shooting Gallery. Plus, I still remember the first time I brought this build into one of these Red Alerts and Buff Stripped the Distortion mere seconds after it had been deployed. It was a lucky happenstance, but it told me I was on the right track for doing a Poor Man's Subnuke via "chucking lots of dice" at the problem. Doesn't happen every time (of course), but it happens enough to make it a decent gamble.
As mentioned last night, I've got the build on two captains (one Human with Solanae, one Alien with Terran Task Force) so if you wanted to switch off for back to back Na'kuhl runs, that would work.
That said, I'm thinking that HSE might be a little "too elite" for my build, simply because I wasn't seeing ANY shields dropping on any Borg Cubes. I'm thinking they simply have "ridiculous" drain resistance (see: elite) and so my drains aren't as effective against HSE targets as they are elsewhere, but I'm probably having enough of an effect to weaken them to a degree that can be felt by others such that they can't absorb/resist as much punishment. Although, as usual, even 1 HP of shields means -75% damage to Torpedoes (I call hax!), so not so sure I'm synergizing with your spreads and high yields as effectively in HSE as I would be in the Badlands or in a Na'kuhl Red Alert.
Hmmm. Wondering how I can adapt some of this to my Paradox or TSABC drain builds. Will have to do some figuring once I get outta work.
TSABC is one of my dream ships. I have decided to begin saving Lobi for it. Please tell us what you have found out.
Initial runs for the TSABC, are promising, bear in mind non-fleet gear and for some reason that char does not have the plasmonic. The two piece romulan adapted set for hull regen seems to work well with the solanae 3 piece. Even when shields went down I never saw it go into yellow hull, did die when I had a brainfart at the end and triggered the shrapnel launcher when I was right on top of the dreadnought in the nak RA. I did that run as full science, TR3, SS1, ES2, ST1, HE1, TB3, DRB1 at about 320 DrainX. Some of some of those skills work with the adapted 3 piece, acting as a deteriorating secondary rad damage.
Only have the iconian trait and one of those EWO's but I did see distortions vanish rather suddenly without taking damage. Some basic gear improvements should help even things out a bit. The adaptability with the Uni CMDR seat should make things a lot more interesting. in the future. I wonder how well something like focused assault 3 would work for this build type.
It appears that Withering Disruptors have a power transfer from the their ToolTip. I am going to try this build out on my KDF Tac this weekend with an all in Terran Rep ship. The power drain may not be nearly as great as with my Sci char, but the TAC should have some options available to make up for this.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
It appears that Withering Disruptors have a power transfer from the their ToolTip.
Not natively they don't. If you've got something that adds power leeching to (energy) weapons, such as the Plasmonic Leech, that will show up in the tooltip(s).
Just as an update to anyone who is still following my blatherings on this topic ... I did a few runs for parse recording with @Odenknight again last night. Nothing as "dramatic" has HSE again, but we did a Na'kuhl Red Alert (yay, shooting gallery!) and an ISA ("all too easy..." /em carbonite) and a CCA ("achoo!" BOOM! 3rd place again for me). I'm pretty sure that Oden was able to get some more representative results out of the parses from those runs for what the Terran build is capable of doing.
If Oden wants more data sampling, that's going to have to wait for Thursday night at the earliest, because THE SHOW podcast gets recorded tonight. Ironically, I'm going to have to wait for either Thursday or Friday (or even Saturday!) morning before I can listen to the recorded copy.
Is the energy usage vs damage better for mines vs torpedos? Is there a mine that will best fit into these builds?
Depending on piloting style, perhaps the tethered quantum mines.
<braces for impact>
I find they also make for a good defense tool.. Soaking up FAW beams and such. I cant recall if they target things like the borg plasma torps, i think they do. If nothing else its fun to pull a Galaxy Quest.
Nukara or the tractor mines, I would think. The toughest part is in positioning and deployment.
For additional heresies (who, me?) ... I've actually had good results using Dispersal Pattern ALPHA (!) and Tractor Mines ... particularly on non-Enhanced Battle Cloak builds. Why? Because my ship holds the aggro, while the Tractor Mines just "burn" the target they lock onto. DPA will release the Tractor Mines in singles on a long string, resulting in a large Area Denial where anything moving into that "grab zone" will get tractored and immobilized. And immobilized $Targets have terrible Defense, meaning Accuracy Overflow for more [CrtH] and [CrtD].
Now, mind you, I was last doing that on my freebie Dyson Science Destroyer, but it was pretty darn successful. So long as I kept the aggro on ME instead of on the Tractor Mines, I could leverage them to good effect for a remarkably long time. Individually, they didn't do all that much damage, but together (and given time) they could produce something almost respectable (if lots of DoT ticks for under 100 damage can be considered respectable).
Just got done with Tau Dewa Dailies while using the Full Terran Space Set at Mk XII on IKS One Thousand Paper Cuts. There are some interesting effects with the power additions. Unsure if it is as effective as the Fleet gear build because I have not used it enough to see what differences occur. Still using standard(?) Polarons. Going to ruffle thru the Exchange and see what if any Vaadwaur Polarons are left.
On a side note, this thread may be drawing some attention from others who either lurk or have not posted. The prices for polaron turrets on the exchange are rising. I am pretty sure I saw at least one other all turret cruiser during CCA easlier this evening. It is all good however. If just one person read this and then tried out some of the things here and are now enjoying themselves a little more in STO, well now! I consider this thread a success.
Thank you very much, autumnturning. You deserve any praise heaped upon you by others for your ideas.
Any derogatory comments are due to myself not being able to fully execute your fine concepts.
Wrote it. Meant it. 'Nuff said.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Well I am leveling nicely almost to 40, I am using some Polarons that I have made and keep up grading as I go. I also have my leech console installed. So far very little hurts me but I see what some of you were talking about as far a how much power those weapons take. For now I am using all cannons cause I HATE torpedos, as I have never used them so my skill with popping them in at the right time is terrible. I did try one in forward and one aft, one at a time but my turn rate is just to slow to make effective use of them. I am going to try some mines, but my other character is getting hammered with my upgrade costs. Don't think my bigger character will be able to upgrade them to much more, running out of stuff and dil, so will have to wait for him to get to tier 5 faction and start trying that or invest in a lot of fleet marks and try a all fleet set up. Anyway just wanted to say how much fun this guy is just starting out!
Just got done with Tau Dewa Dailies while using the Full Terran Space Set at Mk XII on IKS One Thousand Paper Cuts. There are some interesting effects with the power additions.
Unsure if it is as effective as the Fleet gear build because I have not used it enough to see what differences occur. Still using standard(?) Polarons. Going to ruffle thru the Exchange and see what if any Vaadwaur Polarons are left.
I'm unconvinced that Vaadwaur Polarons will be superior because of the exchange in proc effects between the two.
Polaron: 2.5% chance to reduce all enemy subsystem power levels by 25 for 5 sec
Vaadwaur Polaron: 2.5% chance to reduce enemy shield hardness by 10% vs energy weapons, and by 50% vs kinetic for 10 sec
The former is "powered up" by [DrainX] boosting.
The latter "gains nothing" from [DrainX] boosting.
Decide, you must, how to serve your build best ...
On a side note, this thread may be drawing some attention from others who either lurk or have not posted.
I wouldn't be surprised. It's not like I've been bumping this thread just for the sake of bumping it, and as some people have mentioned, the quality of the discussion in here is higher than usual. The only "downside" that I can see to trying out the build for yourself is that you have to "drink the kool-aid" (hence the thread name) to even CONSIDER the possibility that something so far off-meta could be successful let alone FUN to play. In a game where the Conventional Wisdom is all about BFAW and APO/APB and maxing "spike" damage potential and so on ... coming across a build that calls for NONE OF THOSE THINGS must bring into question the ... sanity ... of going so far off the well worn and completely beaten down path of least resistance.
The mere fact that there are testimonials in this thread of other people trying a multitude of variations and still enjoying the results is probably the best "advertising" one could wish for. Nothing succeeds like success, and all that.
The prices for polaron turrets on the exchange are rising.
I'm still trying to "dispose" of some of the Mk II Polarons I crafted for my [Rapid] vs [Over] experiment comparing Turrets vs Beams (which Turrets "won" by a landslide), and I've noticed that some of them are starting to sell occasionally.
It is all good however. If just one person read this and then tried out some of the things here and are now enjoying themselves a little more in STO, well now! I consider this thread a success.
Agreed. Like I said at the beginning, the synergies that I was discovering were simply too good not to share ... and by putting the notions and concepts out into the community at large, a far greater range of experimentation and study of the phenomenon would be possible. I prefer to think of it as Peer Review of a serendipitous exploration beyond the accepted Conventional Wisdom. The fact that it's holding up pretty well under scrutiny ... that just means there's gold pressed latinum "out there" to be found where people haven't looked for it yet.
Thank you very much, autumnturning. You deserve any praise heaped upon you by others for your ideas.
Any derogatory comments are due to myself not being able to fully execute your fine concepts.
Wrote it. Meant it. 'Nuff said.
My honor and my pleasure to have helped bring you joy in playing both a captain and a ship which had previously been shelved and drydocked.
So far very little hurts me but I see what some of you were talking about as far a how much power those weapons take.
I think you'll find that nearly all of the All Energy Weapons builds are typically "end game" builds, simply because until then you likely won't have the necessary support for the amount of weapon power drain that 6-8 energy weapons can impose on your ship. I know that I myself would typically do 4x4 builds on my Cruisers of 2 Torpedoes plus 2 Beam Arrays both Fore and Aft so as to try and mitigate the amount of power drain from keeping all of those Beams "fed" with power. That was usually more successful than going with 6 Beam Arrays (3 Fore/3 Aft), even when only broadsiding, simply due to how power hungry those Beam Arrays are.
For now I am using all cannons cause I HATE torpedos, as I have never used them so my skill with popping them in at the right time is terrible.
If you're talking about short cooldowns like on a Photon, then yes, the turn rate of Cruiser is just way too slow to make effective use of that. But for longer cooldowns like the Neutronic (12.5-15 sec) and the Quantum Phase (10 sec) a slower turn rate is less of an issue. As far as popping them off at the right time ... I'm not bothering with "timing" my torpedo shots. I've got mine set for autofire, so I don't have to bother with them, although I suppose I ought to change over to manual shooting for them to get the most "bang" out of them. But that's a different issue that's more bound up with "piloting" and other "how you FLY" kinds of questions than it is a matter of what you put into your equipment slots.
I did try one in forward and one aft, one at a time but my turn rate is just to slow to make effective use of them.
The Turrets apply "pressure" to a $Target, while the Torpedoes apply "spike" to it, and the Neutronic especially aids with draining power (with some AoE splash bonus). If you want to go pure "pressure" then that's not an inherently "wrong" decision. I've contemplated doing it myself, but was convinced otherwise by the combination of Leech plus Neutronic reliably draining $Targets to the point of shutdown. Being able to do THAT combo reliably was just too good to pass up.
If you're going to use Mines, make sure to go and get the Hot Pursuit Trait off the exchange (should be able to buy it dirt cheap, I think, since no one uses it anymore). It's basically the ONLY Trait that buffs Mines.
Anyway just wanted to say how much fun this guy is just starting out!
It's a different mindset and a different way to play. Instead of going for the "big/heavy" hits, instead you're aiming more for "chucking lots of dice" and hitting the RNG as fast as you can. The thing I like most about it is that the build "frees" me up from wanting/needing to broadside everything in sight. Now, instead of trying to get everything into my port/starboard quarter, it's all about wanting to get them fore/aft so I can add a Torpedo shot into the mix, but the Turrets are ALWAYS FIRING and ALWAYS LEECHING POWER ... and that "liberates" me to concentrate on Flying and picking my position(s) and orientation, such that I can use all 4 shields to best protect my ship, and not just the 2 on the (broad)sides.
So yeah ... welcome to the Resurgence Of Cannon Builds ... for doing Pressure rather than Spike damage (of all things!).
actually, hot pursuit is currently rather expensive (current cheapest is 8.5M) most likely because 1. it's the ONLY trait that affects mines, and 2. it's from a very old lockbox that few people bother opening nowadays, so supplies are extremely limited
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.
Name: I.K.S. wa'SanID nav pe'(One Thousand Paper Cuts)
Class: Fleet Kamarag Battle Cruiser Retrofit (T5-U)
Intended Role: Thinking outside the box when it comes to ship loadouts and capabilities. Inspired by autumnturning.
Commanding Officer: Dahar Master Cha Herom
Career: Science
Faction: Klingon Defense Force
Species: Lethean
Primary Specialization: Intelligence
Secondary Specialization: Command
Notes: Liking the extra HP
Ship Loadout - Final? Why, yes. It is
Fore Weapons
Neutronic Torpedo Launcher Mk XIV(VR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Aft Weapons
Quantum Phase Torpedo Launcher Mk XIV(VR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Notes: On a whim and since they were really cheap (19,125 Dil each), bought six Polaron Turrets and during the upgrade Trying for that [Acc] overflow which autmnturning wrote about.
Deflector: Terran Task Force Deflector Array Mk XIV
Impulse: Terran Task Force Impulse Engines Mk XIV
Warp Core: Terran Task Force Capacitor Warp Core MkXIV
Shields: Terran Task Force Covariant Shield Array Mk XIV
Notes: The Terran Task Force Set has afeature where power levels build past 125 gradually as long as the ship is in combat. This fits in nicely with the pressure build concept. Doesn't hurt to have that extra power for firing off a finishing torpedo either.
Devices
Subspace Field Modulator
Temporal Negotiator
Red Matter Capacitor
Notes: Batteries work well here as well. Tested them with only some loss of capability. The probelem with Batteries is this thing eats them like candy. Have plenty on hand if you're going to be in an extended combat.
Notes: Hard to not use something which has gone gold, ain't it?
Bridge Officers
Universal/Tactical (VR Lethean): Torpedo: High Yield I | Cannon: Rapid Fire I
Tactical (VR Lethean): Torpedo: Spread I | Cannon: Scatter Volley I
Tactical (VR Lethean): Tactical Team I
Engineering (VR Lethean): Engineering Team I | Emergency Power to Shields II | Emergency Power to Weapons III | Eject Warp Plasma III
Science (VR Lethean): Science Team I | Tyken's Rift I | Gravity Well I
Duty Officers
(VR) Energy Weapons Officer - Chance to reduce the recharge time when using cannon special attacks
(VR) Projectile Weapons Officer - Chance to reduce the reload time when using torpedoes (Law from Nimbus III)
(VR) Warp Core Engineer - Chance of temporarily improving your ship power on the use of any Emergency Power ability
(VR) Development Lab Scientist - Recharge time reduced for Science Team and Buff
(VR) Gravimetric Scientist - Chance to create an aftershock Gravity Well
Notes: Drain with this setup is 309. Acceptable, if a little low. Accuracy is 24% CrtH is 8% and CrtD is 93%. Again, acceptable if a little low. I'm trying to create the Pressure build autumnturning suggested, so I am reminded a rising tide lifts all boats. Not going to worry about DPS with this one. Grav Wells routinely spawn two more and all three are at maximum reach, effect and duration. Tyken's can stop an NPC battleship as well. In short, the Bad Guys tend to stay where I want them to, lol.
Post edited by thunderfoot#5163 on
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
If you have it and are willing to slot it, bounty hunters friend is useful. I put it in a full drain variant of this for the Yorktown, comes off pretty well. Some +res and -10% wep egy cost is useful.
Well I tried some tractor mines tonight in the rear spot, I really like them with the exception of the slow reuse rate (I am using Tractors and Rift for now until I get some good Bridge officers I can afford to upgrade. I have also been trying to use my hanger slot on my ship, but for now I only have the basic shuttle. Still I really love this build! I know its partially my equipment so far..but I could wish I was not as squishy.
Okay, since I've finished with figuring out a decent pressure build for my Kamarag, I've decided to try out the idea on something different. A Fleet Qin flight deck raptor. And one who is 'all in' on the Terran Rep. Space Set and Weapons Set both.
Have enough to prove the concept on my KDF Sci char and it does work okay. But I want this one for my KDF Tac char. I'll post what I find. Should be fun proving the idea on my Sci char, though.
Clearly, no one in their right mind would ever let a Sci char command a ship which is optimized for a Tac, lol.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
I'm building along these lines on a Flambard, and am wondering how effectively PWO with the Ferangi missile launcher can reduce the cool down for the neutronic. anybody got some numbers?
Is there a trick to getting the attributes you wish on weapons?. Or do you just go to the table knowing it's going to cost a fortune til you get the mk II weapons you want, then upgrading. In a perfect world Rapid and ACC III would seem to be perfect. I still am only tier 4 on my first character so can't even help my new guy level rep so I have yet to see what is offered Polaron wise for tier 5.
In reading it looks like 400 to 500 is about right for drain; is there a huge difference between 400 and 500 cause I would like to see if I can throw more hull or shield into my ship, as I seem to sop far be an agro magnet!
I think the agro issue might be my shuttles that I turn loose and I use rifts and tractor mines. This makes my science command cruiser take a pounding. Maybe this will change as I get the proper gear, but for now..
The only tricks I know for getting the [Mods] you want on a particular weapon are:
- Make a bunch of weapons at Mk II. This is expensive because RNGesus is a cruel and hateful being who thinks nothing at all of soaking up all your Dilthium while laughingly giving you the [Mods] you do not want.
- Purchasing weapons with the [Mods] you want off of the Exchange. This too is expensive as players making such weapons are well aware of their desirability and will charge a horrendously premium price.
My Drain Expertise on the above listed FT5-U Kamarag is 407. This probably could be better. However, ' The Perfect is the enemy of the Good'. IKS One Thousand Paper Cuts performs well enough to get the job done as she is. Even though I know, 'just one more console would make her perfect!', I have deliberately not tried to find it. There are some people in the Science Channel and on these boards who are waaay smarter than I am about Drain Boats. Lucho is the username of a person who is the expert I follow.
Aggro is not anything more than an NPC thinking you are the most dangerous threat and responding accordingly. Most of the people who play this game are not doing much more than 2K to 5K's worth of damage with an attack. And there is no reason to look down your nose at them as so many do. All a player needs to successfully run everything except for the Elite STFs is the ability to do around 10k to 12k's worth of damage.
If you are in a Normal or Advanced STF and there are four other regular players. you are the biggest threat, so you will draw the most aggro. Happens to me all the time. There are Consoles and such which can reduce this. However, I prefer the simple trick of staying back and keeping at least one other player between the target and myself. The other way I know to stop drawing aggro is to stop shooting. These do not always work but they usually do. Firing second at the Gateway or the Tactical Cube also works. Difficult to pull aggro off another player and difficult to keep it as well.
BFAW, CSV and TS draw the most aggro. Simply because they threaten more than one target. So lay off firng that Torp volley unless you can kill everything in the group with either it or your follow on attack. Adding in pets, such as launching fighters, using the Nimbus Distress Call and the like should reduce your aggro not increase it. Because there are now more things firing at the target.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Comments
I cannot give a definitve answer but I can share what I've learned over the years. I usually place them aft. Because my aft is usually pointing at the enemy far more often than my for'ard. Since enemy NPC's are programmed to pursue mostly, it gives me something to distract them. Which is all I expect torpedoes to do in this game. With the time torps take to reload, they will generally kill any decent DPS. I want them aft also due to the fact firing seven or eight weapons imposes a pretty hefty Weapons power drain, in addition to any other Weapons power drain going on. So I mounted them aft and then learned to turn quickly enough so I got some use out of them from time to time. Said use being killing off cripples while my beam arrays went after the healthy targets.
Then, Legacy of Romulus arrived. I immediately learned to love Rommie Plasma torps. Little green balls of death which retargeted themselves when their original target died before they got there. And, they have a great hang around time to boot. Plus they have a plasma proc which almost never fails, adding additional damage to my AI skippered foes with ther ginormous amounts of hit points. What's not to love about a Romulan Plasma torp? One thing: they are s l o w.
Honestly, my dearly departed granma moves faster. So we move back to square one with only one very slight advantage. Nearly everything in the game which is AI controlled will break off pursuit immediately if given a face full of Rommie torps.
Tractor beams will also usually magically fail to keep a lock on your U.S.S Wunderkind. Ain't that odd?
They are some very sharp people who play this game who have figured out how to use torpedoes effectively. I suspect autumnturning, the guy who started this thread, is one of these guys. I am not one of those guys. I'm just a schmo who has learned a little. Autumnturning has shown me through his posts and my tinkering that torpedoes are a viable weapon system. Provided a few other things are in place prior to telling your gunner to BaH peng!
1) Since you only get one launch at a time, make sure every possible power up and other bennie you can use is in place before you announce, "Torpedoes Away!"
2) Firing torpedoes at long range (7+ Km) is a waste of energy. Instead, here is what I do when launching torps from IKS Paper Cuts
- activate power ups then attack pattern then tactical team.
- fire energy weapons to reduce shields as much as possible.
- activate either grav well or tyken's to hold the target in place. The Borg Tractor beam works nice here as well.
- by now you're in range (5-6 KM) so launch.
3) Hunt down and use anything which improves the torps you are using. Anything. Anything at all. Lastly,
4) If the torps you are using do not seem up to the task, use a different torp. And make sure you use it.
Lots of good info out there on builds. Lots of bad info as well. Only way to sort the wheat from the chaff is to use a torpedo.
I do use torps enough to make them effective in the back. And on all my ships I value Turn Rate above speed. Command does help torpedoes. But not as much as regular practice using them does.
Fleet Defiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support | Fleet Manticore Kinetic Strike Ship | Tactical Command Kinetic Siege Refit | Fleet Defiant Quantum Phase Escort | Fleet Valiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support
Turning the Galaxy-X into a Torpedo Dreadnought & torpedo tutorial, with written torpedo guide.
"A good weapon and a great strategy will win you many battles." - Marshall
I knew using Kinetics would be playing the game on hard mode, but what I didn't realize was how bad the deck is stacked against Kinetics.
While I do not consider myself good enough to play any of the Elite content, I am curious to find out how well this build does in the hands of a competent Captain.
TSABC is one of my dream ships. I have decided to begin saving Lobi for it. Please tell us what you have found out.
Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
To be fair, I don't have the familiarity/experience with HSE to count myself a "competent Captain" (yet). For me, it was more a matter of "follow the herd" and try not to explode more than necessary ... which on this trip was twice for me. First time was because 3/5ths of the team got "blowed up" and I was left holding the aggro (held on for as long as I could, which honestly was longer than I expected). Second time was because one of the command ships got destroyed and I was late joining the party and flew a bit too close when a secondary explosion took me out (bleh). So I chalk up both of those experiences to not knowing the map/flow well enough to anticipate what got me (i.e. the hazards). That said, getting taken out only once by enemy fire AFTER the main tank got overwhelmed isn't that bad of a showing.
My damage production was predictably "pathetic" in both HSE (1.25 million total according to the parse, no idea on the breakdown of sources) and in a CCA I ran with @Odenknight afterwards, where my Polaron procs amount to spitting into the wind against the Giant Snowflake that eats power for belching. Still got 3rd place on the CCA though. Speaking of which, if you want to do another parse/video run, @Odenknight, I'd suggest that a Na'Kuhl Red Alert might be a good idea for data gathering, owing to the fact of how under-geared I am for HSE (I'm quite literally out of my league with that stuff). The Na'Kuhl would offer a large enough quantity of targets over a long enough period of time to get some decent parse data that could yield statistical analysis worth a darn.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
For your first time in HSE, you did very well. I am looking at more than just the raw DPS numbers to make that comparison. I think if the lag didn't mess us up and control of the Spheres was better, you would have been able to do what you do best, which is shut down the targets and their shields, so that I can greet them w/ a torpedo storm. We'll try again either tonight or Thursday. It's mostly finding a competent tank to absorb the nonsense, although HSE now can be done w/ FaW-spamming Scimmy's blindfolded.
Fleet Defiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support | Fleet Manticore Kinetic Strike Ship | Tactical Command Kinetic Siege Refit | Fleet Defiant Quantum Phase Escort | Fleet Valiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support
Turning the Galaxy-X into a Torpedo Dreadnought & torpedo tutorial, with written torpedo guide.
"A good weapon and a great strategy will win you many battles." - Marshall
I knew using Kinetics would be playing the game on hard mode, but what I didn't realize was how bad the deck is stacked against Kinetics.
I was more interested in Learning than I was in Proving at the time. If you have a way to break down the parse, for the first few minutes I was just "straight shooting" without much modification from Skills, so as to give you an opportunity to baseline performance. After I got destroyed the first time, I started using my Skills a bit more, but wasn't going "full tilt" with them since I was so distracted by trying to pay attention to everything that was going on just trying to keep up.
I honestly think the biggest thing to crash our overall DPS parse was the Cube that impaled itself on "terrain" and could only be attacked from a very narrow set of approaches. That wasted a good bit of time cleaning up that nonsense.
I'm honestly interested in what sort of healing/regen I had going on, although I don't know if the parser captures that at all. Reason I ask is because I keep getting 3rd place in CCA a lot, but only if I "eat" the 10km PBAoE blast to my shields and hull (so as to need to heal that damage back up).
Also kind of interested in seeing what sort of raw damage numbers were getting produced by my weapons typed as Polaron and as Proton, so as to start getting a handle on the ratio for that, and how often the Proton burn gets procced.
I need to do a better job of making use of Target Of My Target so as to coordinate with everyone else better, rather than doing the target selection myself. That and using what restorative Skills I've got on behalf of the Aggro Magnet rather than saving them for myself. Again, that's a "better Captain" skill as opposed to a fault of the build.
I'll send you a tell around the same time tonight. I'll do my best to be punctual. I know you've got enough going on that I wouldn't want to leave you hanging.
And if we can't get an HSE team together, I still think that a Na'kuhl Red Alert (or two) would start giving you some decent data from the parser to work with, or at least enough to be statistically useful, mainly because of Plentiful Shooting Gallery. Plus, I still remember the first time I brought this build into one of these Red Alerts and Buff Stripped the Distortion mere seconds after it had been deployed. It was a lucky happenstance, but it told me I was on the right track for doing a Poor Man's Subnuke via "chucking lots of dice" at the problem. Doesn't happen every time (of course), but it happens enough to make it a decent gamble.
As mentioned last night, I've got the build on two captains (one Human with Solanae, one Alien with Terran Task Force) so if you wanted to switch off for back to back Na'kuhl runs, that would work.
That said, I'm thinking that HSE might be a little "too elite" for my build, simply because I wasn't seeing ANY shields dropping on any Borg Cubes. I'm thinking they simply have "ridiculous" drain resistance (see: elite) and so my drains aren't as effective against HSE targets as they are elsewhere, but I'm probably having enough of an effect to weaken them to a degree that can be felt by others such that they can't absorb/resist as much punishment. Although, as usual, even 1 HP of shields means -75% damage to Torpedoes (I call hax!), so not so sure I'm synergizing with your spreads and high yields as effectively in HSE as I would be in the Badlands or in a Na'kuhl Red Alert.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
Initial runs for the TSABC, are promising, bear in mind non-fleet gear and for some reason that char does not have the plasmonic. The two piece romulan adapted set for hull regen seems to work well with the solanae 3 piece. Even when shields went down I never saw it go into yellow hull, did die when I had a brainfart at the end and triggered the shrapnel launcher when I was right on top of the dreadnought in the nak RA. I did that run as full science, TR3, SS1, ES2, ST1, HE1, TB3, DRB1 at about 320 DrainX. Some of some of those skills work with the adapted 3 piece, acting as a deteriorating secondary rad damage.
Only have the iconian trait and one of those EWO's but I did see distortions vanish rather suddenly without taking damage. Some basic gear improvements should help even things out a bit. The adaptability with the Uni CMDR seat should make things a lot more interesting. in the future. I wonder how well something like focused assault 3 would work for this build type.
Not natively they don't. If you've got something that adds power leeching to (energy) weapons, such as the Plasmonic Leech, that will show up in the tooltip(s).
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
If Oden wants more data sampling, that's going to have to wait for Thursday night at the earliest, because THE SHOW podcast gets recorded tonight. Ironically, I'm going to have to wait for either Thursday or Friday (or even Saturday!) morning before I can listen to the recorded copy.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
Nukara or the tractor mines, I would think. The toughest part is in positioning and deployment.
Fleet Defiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support | Fleet Manticore Kinetic Strike Ship | Tactical Command Kinetic Siege Refit | Fleet Defiant Quantum Phase Escort | Fleet Valiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support
Turning the Galaxy-X into a Torpedo Dreadnought & torpedo tutorial, with written torpedo guide.
"A good weapon and a great strategy will win you many battles." - Marshall
I knew using Kinetics would be playing the game on hard mode, but what I didn't realize was how bad the deck is stacked against Kinetics.
Depending on piloting style, perhaps the tethered quantum mines.
<braces for impact>
I find they also make for a good defense tool.. Soaking up FAW beams and such. I cant recall if they target things like the borg plasma torps, i think they do. If nothing else its fun to pull a Galaxy Quest.
For additional heresies (who, me?) ... I've actually had good results using Dispersal Pattern ALPHA (!) and Tractor Mines ... particularly on non-Enhanced Battle Cloak builds. Why? Because my ship holds the aggro, while the Tractor Mines just "burn" the target they lock onto. DPA will release the Tractor Mines in singles on a long string, resulting in a large Area Denial where anything moving into that "grab zone" will get tractored and immobilized. And immobilized $Targets have terrible Defense, meaning Accuracy Overflow for more [CrtH] and [CrtD].
Now, mind you, I was last doing that on my freebie Dyson Science Destroyer, but it was pretty darn successful. So long as I kept the aggro on ME instead of on the Tractor Mines, I could leverage them to good effect for a remarkably long time. Individually, they didn't do all that much damage, but together (and given time) they could produce something almost respectable (if lots of DoT ticks for under 100 damage can be considered respectable).
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
On a side note, this thread may be drawing some attention from others who either lurk or have not posted. The prices for polaron turrets on the exchange are rising. I am pretty sure I saw at least one other all turret cruiser during CCA easlier this evening. It is all good however. If just one person read this and then tried out some of the things here and are now enjoying themselves a little more in STO, well now! I consider this thread a success.
Thank you very much, autumnturning. You deserve any praise heaped upon you by others for your ideas.
Any derogatory comments are due to myself not being able to fully execute your fine concepts.
Wrote it. Meant it. 'Nuff said.
I'm unconvinced that Vaadwaur Polarons will be superior because of the exchange in proc effects between the two.
Polaron: 2.5% chance to reduce all enemy subsystem power levels by 25 for 5 sec
Vaadwaur Polaron: 2.5% chance to reduce enemy shield hardness by 10% vs energy weapons, and by 50% vs kinetic for 10 sec
The former is "powered up" by [DrainX] boosting.
The latter "gains nothing" from [DrainX] boosting.
Decide, you must, how to serve your build best ...
I wouldn't be surprised. It's not like I've been bumping this thread just for the sake of bumping it, and as some people have mentioned, the quality of the discussion in here is higher than usual. The only "downside" that I can see to trying out the build for yourself is that you have to "drink the kool-aid" (hence the thread name) to even CONSIDER the possibility that something so far off-meta could be successful let alone FUN to play. In a game where the Conventional Wisdom is all about BFAW and APO/APB and maxing "spike" damage potential and so on ... coming across a build that calls for NONE OF THOSE THINGS must bring into question the ... sanity ... of going so far off the well worn and completely beaten down path of least resistance.
The mere fact that there are testimonials in this thread of other people trying a multitude of variations and still enjoying the results is probably the best "advertising" one could wish for. Nothing succeeds like success, and all that.
I'm still trying to "dispose" of some of the Mk II Polarons I crafted for my [Rapid] vs [Over] experiment comparing Turrets vs Beams (which Turrets "won" by a landslide), and I've noticed that some of them are starting to sell occasionally.
That DEFINITELY wasn't me, because I didn't run any CCAs at all last night.
Agreed. Like I said at the beginning, the synergies that I was discovering were simply too good not to share ... and by putting the notions and concepts out into the community at large, a far greater range of experimentation and study of the phenomenon would be possible. I prefer to think of it as Peer Review of a serendipitous exploration beyond the accepted Conventional Wisdom. The fact that it's holding up pretty well under scrutiny ... that just means there's gold pressed latinum "out there" to be found where people haven't looked for it yet.
My honor and my pleasure to have helped bring you joy in playing both a captain and a ship which had previously been shelved and drydocked.
I think you'll find that nearly all of the All Energy Weapons builds are typically "end game" builds, simply because until then you likely won't have the necessary support for the amount of weapon power drain that 6-8 energy weapons can impose on your ship. I know that I myself would typically do 4x4 builds on my Cruisers of 2 Torpedoes plus 2 Beam Arrays both Fore and Aft so as to try and mitigate the amount of power drain from keeping all of those Beams "fed" with power. That was usually more successful than going with 6 Beam Arrays (3 Fore/3 Aft), even when only broadsiding, simply due to how power hungry those Beam Arrays are.
If you're talking about short cooldowns like on a Photon, then yes, the turn rate of Cruiser is just way too slow to make effective use of that. But for longer cooldowns like the Neutronic (12.5-15 sec) and the Quantum Phase (10 sec) a slower turn rate is less of an issue. As far as popping them off at the right time ... I'm not bothering with "timing" my torpedo shots. I've got mine set for autofire, so I don't have to bother with them, although I suppose I ought to change over to manual shooting for them to get the most "bang" out of them. But that's a different issue that's more bound up with "piloting" and other "how you FLY" kinds of questions than it is a matter of what you put into your equipment slots.
The Turrets apply "pressure" to a $Target, while the Torpedoes apply "spike" to it, and the Neutronic especially aids with draining power (with some AoE splash bonus). If you want to go pure "pressure" then that's not an inherently "wrong" decision. I've contemplated doing it myself, but was convinced otherwise by the combination of Leech plus Neutronic reliably draining $Targets to the point of shutdown. Being able to do THAT combo reliably was just too good to pass up.
If you're going to use Mines, make sure to go and get the Hot Pursuit Trait off the exchange (should be able to buy it dirt cheap, I think, since no one uses it anymore). It's basically the ONLY Trait that buffs Mines.
It's a different mindset and a different way to play. Instead of going for the "big/heavy" hits, instead you're aiming more for "chucking lots of dice" and hitting the RNG as fast as you can. The thing I like most about it is that the build "frees" me up from wanting/needing to broadside everything in sight. Now, instead of trying to get everything into my port/starboard quarter, it's all about wanting to get them fore/aft so I can add a Torpedo shot into the mix, but the Turrets are ALWAYS FIRING and ALWAYS LEECHING POWER ... and that "liberates" me to concentrate on Flying and picking my position(s) and orientation, such that I can use all 4 shields to best protect my ship, and not just the 2 on the (broad)sides.
So yeah ... welcome to the Resurgence Of Cannon Builds ... for doing Pressure rather than Spike damage (of all things!).
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
#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!"
**Ship Information**
Name: I.K.S. wa'SanID nav pe'(One Thousand Paper Cuts)
Class: Fleet Kamarag Battle Cruiser Retrofit (T5-U)
Intended Role: Thinking outside the box when it comes to ship loadouts and capabilities. Inspired by autumnturning.
Commanding Officer: Dahar Master Cha Herom
Career: Science
Faction: Klingon Defense Force
Species: Lethean
Primary Specialization: Intelligence
Secondary Specialization: Command
Notes: Liking the extra HP
Ship Loadout - Final? Why, yes. It is
Fore Weapons
Neutronic Torpedo Launcher Mk XIV(VR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Aft Weapons
Quantum Phase Torpedo Launcher Mk XIV(VR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIV [Acc]x2[CtrH](UR)
Notes: On a whim and since they were really cheap (19,125 Dil each), bought six Polaron Turrets and during the upgrade Trying for that [Acc] overflow which autmnturning wrote about.
Deflector: Terran Task Force Deflector Array Mk XIV
Impulse: Terran Task Force Impulse Engines Mk XIV
Warp Core: Terran Task Force Capacitor Warp Core MkXIV
Shields: Terran Task Force Covariant Shield Array Mk XIV
Notes: The Terran Task Force Set has afeature where power levels build past 125 gradually as long as the ship is in combat. This fits in nicely with the pressure build concept. Doesn't hurt to have that extra power for firing off a finishing torpedo either.
Devices
Subspace Field Modulator
Temporal Negotiator
Red Matter Capacitor
Notes: Batteries work well here as well. Tested them with only some loss of capability. The probelem with Batteries is this thing eats them like candy. Have plenty on hand if you're going to be in an extended combat.
Engineering Consoles
Plasmonic Leech
Quantum Phase Converter Mk XIV(VR)
Tachyokinetic Converter Mk XIV(VR)
Conductive RCS Accelerator Mk XIV [DrainX](VR)
Notes: After experimenting with what I have on hand, this is the best combination of Consoles I can use in the Engineering slots.
Science Consoles
Restorative Particle Focuser Mk XIV [DrainX]x2(UR)
Restorative Particle Focuser Mk XIV [DrainX]x2(UR)
Restorative Particle Focuser Mk XIV [DrainX]x2(UR)
Restorative Particle Focuser Mk XIV [DrainX]x2(UR)
Tactical Consoles
Chronometric Capacitor Mk XIV(VR)
Vulnerabiltiy Exploiter (Polaron) Mk XIV(Epic)
Polaron Phase Converter Mk XIV(VR)
Notes: Hard to not use something which has gone gold, ain't it?
Bridge Officers
Universal/Tactical (VR Lethean): Torpedo: High Yield I | Cannon: Rapid Fire I
Tactical (VR Lethean): Torpedo: Spread I | Cannon: Scatter Volley I
Tactical (VR Lethean): Tactical Team I
Engineering (VR Lethean): Engineering Team I | Emergency Power to Shields II | Emergency Power to Weapons III | Eject Warp Plasma III
Science (VR Lethean): Science Team I | Tyken's Rift I | Gravity Well I
Duty Officers
(VR) Energy Weapons Officer - Chance to reduce the recharge time when using cannon special attacks
(VR) Projectile Weapons Officer - Chance to reduce the reload time when using torpedoes (Law from Nimbus III)
(VR) Warp Core Engineer - Chance of temporarily improving your ship power on the use of any Emergency Power ability
(VR) Development Lab Scientist - Recharge time reduced for Science Team and Buff
(VR) Gravimetric Scientist - Chance to create an aftershock Gravity Well
Notes: Drain with this setup is 309. Acceptable, if a little low. Accuracy is 24% CrtH is 8% and CrtD is 93%. Again, acceptable if a little low. I'm trying to create the Pressure build autumnturning suggested, so I am reminded a rising tide lifts all boats. Not going to worry about DPS with this one. Grav Wells routinely spawn two more and all three are at maximum reach, effect and duration. Tyken's can stop an NPC battleship as well. In short, the Bad Guys tend to stay where I want them to, lol.
Have enough to prove the concept on my KDF Sci char and it does work okay. But I want this one for my KDF Tac char. I'll post what I find. Should be fun proving the idea on my Sci char, though.
Clearly, no one in their right mind would ever let a Sci char command a ship which is optimized for a Tac, lol.
In reading it looks like 400 to 500 is about right for drain; is there a huge difference between 400 and 500 cause I would like to see if I can throw more hull or shield into my ship, as I seem to sop far be an agro magnet!
I think the agro issue might be my shuttles that I turn loose and I use rifts and tractor mines. This makes my science command cruiser take a pounding. Maybe this will change as I get the proper gear, but for now..
- Make a bunch of weapons at Mk II. This is expensive because RNGesus is a cruel and hateful being who thinks nothing at all of soaking up all your Dilthium while laughingly giving you the [Mods] you do not want.
- Purchasing weapons with the [Mods] you want off of the Exchange. This too is expensive as players making such weapons are well aware of their desirability and will charge a horrendously premium price.
My Drain Expertise on the above listed FT5-U Kamarag is 407. This probably could be better. However, ' The Perfect is the enemy of the Good'. IKS One Thousand Paper Cuts performs well enough to get the job done as she is. Even though I know, 'just one more console would make her perfect!', I have deliberately not tried to find it. There are some people in the Science Channel and on these boards who are waaay smarter than I am about Drain Boats. Lucho is the username of a person who is the expert I follow.
Aggro is not anything more than an NPC thinking you are the most dangerous threat and responding accordingly. Most of the people who play this game are not doing much more than 2K to 5K's worth of damage with an attack. And there is no reason to look down your nose at them as so many do. All a player needs to successfully run everything except for the Elite STFs is the ability to do around 10k to 12k's worth of damage.
If you are in a Normal or Advanced STF and there are four other regular players. you are the biggest threat, so you will draw the most aggro. Happens to me all the time. There are Consoles and such which can reduce this. However, I prefer the simple trick of staying back and keeping at least one other player between the target and myself. The other way I know to stop drawing aggro is to stop shooting. These do not always work but they usually do. Firing second at the Gateway or the Tactical Cube also works. Difficult to pull aggro off another player and difficult to keep it as well.
BFAW, CSV and TS draw the most aggro. Simply because they threaten more than one target. So lay off firng that Torp volley unless you can kill everything in the group with either it or your follow on attack. Adding in pets, such as launching fighters, using the Nimbus Distress Call and the like should reduce your aggro not increase it. Because there are now more things firing at the target.