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T6 recommendation
derbestrafe
Member Posts: 2 Arc User
I'm an STO binger. I'll go a week or so of intense play, followed by a couple months of complete absence. This makes me a bit leery to drop $30 on a ship that I'll only dabble in. That said, as a level 60, I've been playing in the free version of the Advanced Escort for a long time... and I'd like to bump up to a T6.
I’ve seen multiple discussions over the years of “best ships”, but that remains pretty subjective as to your playstyle and other factors. Rather than asking about the “best” T6 ship, I thought I’d describe what I’m looking for – and see if some of you with more stick time in the T6s have a recommendation.
I fly Federation as a Tactical Officer. I’ve flown Escorts with a Dual Cannon/Torpedo setup since Day One. I do want to stay in an Escort, although I’m debating switching to beams so that I don’t have to “fly” quite so much. Due to my amount of play time I fly exclusively solo or PUGs, so I need a bit of survivability – can’t just be a glass cannon – with the ability to fight multiple ships at once. I guess the decision will come down to console/abilities and BOFF (command/pilot/intel) – since there doesn’t seem to be a ton between the T6 escorts beyond a small difference in HP and turn rates.
So with that playstyle in mind; I’m kicking between a Hestia (Advanced Escort), Valiant (Tactical Escort), and Alita (Heavy Escort Carrier). Thoughts on the abilities and BOFF specs?
I’ve seen multiple discussions over the years of “best ships”, but that remains pretty subjective as to your playstyle and other factors. Rather than asking about the “best” T6 ship, I thought I’d describe what I’m looking for – and see if some of you with more stick time in the T6s have a recommendation.
I fly Federation as a Tactical Officer. I’ve flown Escorts with a Dual Cannon/Torpedo setup since Day One. I do want to stay in an Escort, although I’m debating switching to beams so that I don’t have to “fly” quite so much. Due to my amount of play time I fly exclusively solo or PUGs, so I need a bit of survivability – can’t just be a glass cannon – with the ability to fight multiple ships at once. I guess the decision will come down to console/abilities and BOFF (command/pilot/intel) – since there doesn’t seem to be a ton between the T6 escorts beyond a small difference in HP and turn rates.
So with that playstyle in mind; I’m kicking between a Hestia (Advanced Escort), Valiant (Tactical Escort), and Alita (Heavy Escort Carrier). Thoughts on the abilities and BOFF specs?
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But I think the arbiter is what you are actually looking for...a little less nimble than an escort, but with dual beam banks (though it can equip dual cannons) front and an omni directional beams + kinetic cutting beam in the back, maneuverablility is of no importance really.
Due to the play style mentioned let me second baudl's suggestion. A pilot escort would be a nice boost to T6 but really resemble your preferred flying style. And the pilot maneuvers are a sweet added bonus.
Of the T6 escorts mentioned in the OP, the Alita Heavy Escort Carrier is probably the most durable. It and the Valiant Tactical Escort have Pilot boff seating, while the Hestia has Command. I have a toon that flies the Alita and it's a fun ship, but the ship trait is a bit specialized and hanger pets tend to blow up while staring at warp core breaches.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Phantom_Intel_Escort
It's a great Intel tacship if you want to use Phasers since it also has the Phaser Lance for massive spike damage plus the intel scan. The only downside is no Lt. Commander science so no gravity well 1. Plus Reciprocity is a nice trait to have. Plus cloaking, but not a battle cloak.
The Arbiter cruiser does have Lt Commander science and the Emergency Weapon Cycle trait.
No experience with the other two on your shortlist, but Phantom (if you can stand the looks) can be most of the things you want, great layout for all kinds of builds and a powerful trait. Even its console isn't all that bad, and you get full intel ship with the cloak and special ship abilities (which aren't as fun as pilot or temporal, but still quite useful.)
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Manticore_Heavy_Destroyer
As a beamboat you can focus on phasers, and buff the NADION BOMB (nice AOE), and tailgun (lots of crits) at the same time (all phaser dmg based). It has a lt. CMDR universal seat for flexibility (I like SCI in there for gravity well). It's not super tanky tho.
maybe its cause I spend most of my time in warbirds then, always found the escort carriers brittle, love em, have one alt that basically only uses em, but brittle.
Some ships have grown on me more (defiant), while others no matter how good, fun and effective they are just don't (pilot warbirds). There's others still that are favorites too (D'deridex, Sovereign) but couldn't be bothered to spend previous zen on them - maybe because I've got enough cruisers, though I never mind having more science vessels.
Clearly the choice is a complicated personal thing and there's no real way to discover it without buying and buying some more, but doing so at least keeps the lights on.
I don't fly Escorts that often, but when I do, the only one I really enjoy is the Pilot Escort. Not to mention, they come at fleet level right from the C-Store, so you don't have to bother with Fleet Modules or having to level 2 ships when you get the fleet version. Pilot ships are hard to beat, they're some of the best ships in the game.