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mystarlite
Member Posts: 109 Arc User
in The Academy
Hello. As a casual player on a 4-year-old laptop, if i can exchange even 10 ZEN a day it'd take me years to get the stuff i'd like to play with. I did finally get the raised EC cap! My Vulcan science temporal agent is who this discussion is for. I got a new specialization point but got an invalid error trying to use it and i ended up getting my skill tree reset.
So now i am thinking that i want to make my character a temporal themed exotic damage dealer. What good ships would help me fulfill this role at a cost of less than 5 Fleet Ship Modules? My only Tier 6 ship is the Vorgon Xyfius Heavy Escort. I intend to use the complete Temporal Defense Initiative space set.
I am thinking weapons for set bonuses only and maybe if i can fit it in, energy draining akin to the Protonic Kool-Aid Down the Drain Cruiser but as a secondary function to support my exotic damage abilities.
I am still looking around for more builds to see if i can glean any insight from them. The aforementioned build i found linked on another thread that mentions a 24km radius gravity well. I do like the sound of that!
I know there is much more reading for me to do but i would like to play as well. I have spent the majority of my last few days' free time reading on here and Reddit and so haven't been playing much.
I remember waiting for this game to come out and the next thing i know there's a one-year anniversary video. I finally started playing after getting an e-mail from STAR TREK about the 50th anniversary Wiz Kids contest. The foam bat'leth was what got my attention but alas, the contest was US only.
Any and all help is duly appreciated. I am slowly getting through the episodes as i want to get that Borg Science BOff. I just got the Jem'Hadar BOff and will be replaying episodes to outfit him in the Jem'Hadar ground set. I still have the majority of my 23rd century BOffs complement having only dismissed one. I like sticking to themes.
So now i am thinking that i want to make my character a temporal themed exotic damage dealer. What good ships would help me fulfill this role at a cost of less than 5 Fleet Ship Modules? My only Tier 6 ship is the Vorgon Xyfius Heavy Escort. I intend to use the complete Temporal Defense Initiative space set.
I am thinking weapons for set bonuses only and maybe if i can fit it in, energy draining akin to the Protonic Kool-Aid Down the Drain Cruiser but as a secondary function to support my exotic damage abilities.
I am still looking around for more builds to see if i can glean any insight from them. The aforementioned build i found linked on another thread that mentions a 24km radius gravity well. I do like the sound of that!
I know there is much more reading for me to do but i would like to play as well. I have spent the majority of my last few days' free time reading on here and Reddit and so haven't been playing much.
I remember waiting for this game to come out and the next thing i know there's a one-year anniversary video. I finally started playing after getting an e-mail from STAR TREK about the 50th anniversary Wiz Kids contest. The foam bat'leth was what got my attention but alas, the contest was US only.
Any and all help is duly appreciated. I am slowly getting through the episodes as i want to get that Borg Science BOff. I just got the Jem'Hadar BOff and will be replaying episodes to outfit him in the Jem'Hadar ground set. I still have the majority of my 23rd century BOffs complement having only dismissed one. I like sticking to themes.
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I like the Scryer but it's 3,000 zen (2,400 on sale) - http://sto.gamepedia.com/Scryer_Intel_Science_Vessel
The 31st C temporal ships 3,000 or 6,000 for all 3 (4,800 on sale) might fit the temporal theme better, and could be used with a future Klingon or Romulan character. You should create one of each faction eventually so you can play all of the faction-specific stories.
For a single-character unlock you can buy the Paradox with either lobi or by somehow getting enough zen to buy it off the exchange (probably 300-400 million EC).
Since it looks like you've decided on polaron weapons as your main energy type, I'd recommend getting the Chronometric Polaron weapon set from the Time and Tide story mission. It includes a console that gives a modest boost to polaron damage and a significant EPG bonus, and a three-piece set bonus power that is quite handy when you want a big burst of exotic and weapon damage all at once.
At this point I'm starting to wonder if "the joke has gone too far" simply because I found something so ridiculously Off Meta that it has become it's own "thing" simply because it IS a viable way to play, even if it will never win any parsing awards for DPS (since Drain doesn't show up on combat logs at all). Still, anything to give people a fun way to play without resorting to Yet Another(!) BFAW Spam Boat counts as a "win" as far as I'm concerned.
And there is something really ... liberating ... about being able to Fly Free thanks to using Turrets, which attack omni-directionally, as opposed to using Beam Arrays, which want you to Hop On The Merry-Go-Round and do nothing but broadsides all day long. For me, that was the biggest habit I had to learn to break, since I actually did more damage Fore/Aft than I did Broadside in a Cruiser no less thanks to having one Torpedo up front and in the back. So yeah, different mindset and piloting skills (from the Player) are needed to play the strategy, but on the flipside, it's a really easy and fun way to play!
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
I have no experience with any of the newer ships though so i'll list a few alternatives i do have experience with:
Wells class (Temporal Science Vessel, lockbox)
This is a great all round science ship that just so happens to look awesome as well. It's got all the science goodies you'll ever need plus a lt. cmdr. tac seat can be helpful if you like that sort of thing. It's you're standard fare of 5 sci consoles, so no shortage of space there.
Vesta (any variant, T5 C-store, but can be upgraded)
These are truly brilliant science ships, more like sci-escorts in reality as they are fast, nimble and with just enough tac focus to give you lots of options. Plus they have a hanger and also have access to Aux DHC's if you like that sort of thing. Don't be put off by them being only T5 (or T5U), they are more than capable.
Pathfinder Class (T6 Long Range Science Vessel, C-store)
This is a top tier science ship with all the standard tricks that science ships come with. I started with this when the T6's hit and it did me proud. Good access to intel abilities as well which can be very interesting .
Scryer Class (T6 Intel Science Ship, C-store)
Now this is a real beast of a science ship. All the usual tricks, but access to much more intel goodies. Gather intel can be useful, the higher up intel abilities can be great for increasing survival or damage output.
Plus it has a cloak built in which can be VERY useful for sneaking into position ready to unleash all that science goodness.
Daemosh Science Vessel (Na'kuhl lobi ship, can be bought off exchange)
Now this is IMO the ultimate science vessel.
I don't care for that hulking great lump the Annorax, or the slow moving Paradox. I appreciate all the T6 C-store science vessels have their merits too. I'll even admit there are some non-science vessel ships that have access to Lt. Cmdr sci seats that can make very fun exotic damage builds.
But this beauty is the ultimate for me.
All the science you could ever want from the boff seating and console layout. Plus it has access to Lt. Cmdr tac abilities. Plus it is fast moving and agile. Plus it has a built in battle-cloak. Plus it has access to intel boff abilities.
I don't think you could get any more perfect for sneaking in undetected and launching a massive shield bypassing de-cloaking strike against unsuspecting targets.
It was expensive but it was well worth it, I've had more fun in this ship than any other in the game. I've done more damage, survived easier in combat and had more successful missions than with anything else. Oh, and i'm running it as a sci/torp build.
otherwise any of the advice in this thread that sounds cool is good. there are many options for good science ships these days.
The Wells Temporal Science Vessel looks closer to the C-Store temporal ships that i like in terms of design and is around 100m EC. I do like the colour scheme of the Na'kuhl Daemosh Science Vessel but that one is 3x the price of the Wells. Perhaps if i can get started making 100m EC i'd be well on my way to making 300m EC. That would be for the ship alone - i would still have to equip and crew the ship! The Paradox Temporal Dreadnought looks nice too and is a bit cheaper right now at 270m EC. Lobi Crystals are even harder for me to get than ZEN.
The Fleet Nautilus Temporal Science Vessel looks decent but not æsthetically pleasing to me. I would, however, be interested in taking a look at those record setting builds for more ideas i can put to use.
I was thinking of using the weapons slots for set bonuses but if i have enough for my primary focus of exotic damage without using weapons for sets, then i would be interested in adding drain capabilities and polaron weapons if i could use them effectively.
I was given a Tholian Meshweaver Escort on my main as i was leveling up quickly leaving my gear behind and dying a lot. It's a cute ship even though i had to zoom in to see it. I used that shortly before getting the Vorgon Xyfius Heavy Escort.
I was looking up builds last night and didn't get to play my temporal agent much as i ended up falling asleep. I think i'll just choose every science tree option and then work on replaying some missions i've been wanting to replay. I can leave the rest of the skill points unused until i see if i will end up using torpedoes or not in whatever build i do end up getting.
In the meantime whilst saving up for a final build until something new comes out ship i can work on requisitioning things to use.
Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.
-Captain James T. Kirk
here is the top damage sci ship:
https://m.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/4ssnoq/the_uss_rescue_a_very_exotic_heavy_fleet_nautilus/
several pieces of the build are mission rewards or reputation items. which are reasonable. the fleet gear depends on how you are at getting fleet credits.
three powers are a bit spendy: kemocyte, vortex, and structural integrity collapse. luckily the infinity box helped cut these prices a lot. same with inspirational leader.
it is a shame you missed the free science ship. but, i strongly recommend waiting until after whatever event happens on september 8, just in case you get something for free.
So very true.
A full on EPG build is not cheap and relies on getting as much from the skill as possible, that means Epic quality sci consoles and associated deflectors, secondary deflectors etc.
But don't let price put you off. Any muppet can build a FAW-spam boat, it takes some skill and knowledge to get a science boat to work really well.....and it's much more fun to play with.
Are you in a fleet to get some embassy or lab consoles?
If not, you should! Fleet Research Spire and Embassy consoles are like fitting in 1.5 - 2 consoles per console slot.
I currently am in a fleet but this one isn't as far along as my other character's. For now i have all 3 31st Century Temporal consoles, and some green exotic damage ones. Trying to log into the game's gateway but i never get the authorization code e-mail.
I threw on a bunch of Protonic Polaron Turret Mk XIIs, just whatever i got from leveling up Dyson rep. I'll go through that thread linked in the original post to see which modifiers are favourable when i can. I don't know if modifiers are for each specific weapon, all weapons, or all damage for starters -_-
For weapon mods, crafted you want pen. Other than that any combination of dmg and critd is good enough. Non crafted, just get as much dmg and/or crtid as you can, don't sweat the specifics. Never use a weapon with rapid thrust or snare unless you have no other option.
It doesn't really matter how built your fleet to s. Join the nerds of prey public service channel and ask for an invite to an embassy to get some science consoles, and a spire to get tactical consoles. Your fleet just needs to provide the provisions and you need some dilithium and fleet credits, so donate to your fleet if you haven't yet.
There were two reasons I went with the Protonic Polarons the way I did. Space Barbie ... since the bolts the Turrets shoot are a lovely indigo blue/purple color was the big one. The second reason was that my build could reach more than 10% Critical Chance and that then modified the chances of an instant damage proc. Then I realized that I could kick those odds of getting a Proton Burn proc even higher through use of Accuracy Overflow, where "excess" above Accuracy-Defense>100 converts into extra Critical Hit and Critical Severity, and that on a build packing enough [DrainX] modifiers you can drain ALL POWER out of a target and "park" it with the lights off, which wrecks their Defense and sends your Accuracy Overflow strategy into overdrive, making Critical Hits more likely to happen which in turn procs more Proton Burn. The whole thing then turns into a (for you) virtuous cycle that cripples them and advantages you.
Although I'd probably have gotten slightly more advantage out of going with [CrtH]x2 instead of [Acc]x2 on my Protonic Polarons, I decided that [Acc]x2 was more reliable at not only hitting consistently regardless of what the PvE targets were doing but also for use as point defense against destructibles (torpedoes and mines) as well as small craft (shuttles, fighters, etc.). It was one of those cases where I wanted to NOT MISS more than I wanted More Proton Burn, because missing my targets gives them a reprieve from the "pressure" of the drain (and damage) that I'm applying to them, which ideally ought to be constant rather than intermittent to work most effectively.
At the time, Protonics gave me the option to "pick my mods" without suffering through the crafting system making lots of "junk" that I wasn't going to use. This past week I crafted 7 Polaron Turrets with [Acc]x2 [Rapid] and another 5 Polaron Turrets with [Acc]x2 and [Snare]. I must have crafted over a 1000 Turrets just to get those *12* Turrets out of the crafting system, and could only list slightly under 200 of the "trash" craftings on the Exchange, with the rest going to NPC Vendors for EC. So there are HUNDREDS of crafted Polaron Turret Mk IIs available on the Exchange this week if you want to pick up a collection to try out and upgrade.
All Reputation gear costs more to upgrade than Crafted gear, so if that's a concern for you, you might not want to go with Protonics after all. Up to you though. The flipside to that is that Protonics deal shield penetrating damage of a type that is hardly ever resisted, and the chance to proc CAN VARY depending on how you equip your ship, pick your space skills, choose your Traits ... etc. ... meaning that their value increases as your Critical Hit chance increases. So lots of different options and cross currents to navigate.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
I may end up doing this once i figure out what i want. I am going with the turrets for the drain and fun as per the thread i linked in my original post. I have a lot of Fleet Credits but will have to start saving up Dilithium again having converted most of what i had to ZEN for this bundle purchase!
I do love purple! I was just looking at the Jem'Hadar Space Set for the purple goodness but i do like rainbows too and will stick to the Temporal Defense Initiative Starship Technologies set that i currently own, although i am working on rep to get Mk XIV versions of everything.
I was going through your thread last night and saw all the [Acc]. I'll get on later tonight to play around with setting this ship up and see if i can buy any [Acc] turrets from either the Dyson rep or exchange. Are you going to keep crafting for [Rapid]? Or maybe i should start crafting and farming R&D mats so i can make my own but i think i'd rather pay for them seeing how long it took you to get a dozen!
I missed the upgrade weekend didn't i? How often are those? I've been playing for about half a year now and finally decided on what build i'd like to play. Granted, this is on my Temporal Agent alt and not my main. I'll start saving up ZEN for that one later.
Am i able to use Hangar - Elite Jem'Hadar Fighters with this ship? They only say Carrier, Escort Carrier and the Eternal Temporal Multi-Mission Science Vessel doesn't mention anything carrier.
The drain i want as a secondary role with exotic damage/temporal abilities being my primary role with this ship and am thinking of getting exotic damage boosting consoles with drain modifiers. I think i'll give my 23rd century first officer the temporal specialization. I have the Kremin sci BOff and want the Borg sci BOff as well. I recall reading mission rewards for temporal ground gear that i can farm for once i get far enough along with the episodes for them.
Oh yes, i still need to look more into what ships to get for their traits and level those up as well once i can afford them!
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
I also caution against the acc mod too heavily. You can get acc from many other sources, traits skills consoles etc. you can also negate enemy defense with tractor beams, engine power drain, warp plasma, etc. So acc on the weapon is usually the least efficient way to get it.
You can do all three... as long as you primarily focus on one. My science captains focuses primarily on exotic damage with control as secondary and drain as tertiary. For captain skills both Particle Generators and Control are maxed out with 3 points while Drain only gets 2 points. I do not bother with Drain Infection since the skill point is better used elsewhere.
I have Particle Generators installed in all but one of the science console slots to boost exotic damage. The last slot has an Exotic Particle Field Exciter or simply an Exciter. The Exciter is a craftable item assuming you have reached level 15 in the science crafting school, you have the materials for it and the special Doff for crafting. Otherwise, you can purchase it from the Exchange. The Exciter is a very good console to have since it offer multiple benefits. It is basically a Particle Generator with the additional ability to increase your shield capacity and when you use a shield healing ability you gain 10% weapon power for 15 seconds. Lastly, at ultra rare quality it gains a modifier. At epic quality the stats are simply better.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Console_-_Science_-_Exotic_Particle_Field_Exciter
There are many modifiers available for the Exciter which affects the asking price on the Exchange. The most desireable is [EPG] which further increases the exotic particle damage the Exciter can do, but you pay a very high price for an Exciter with [EPG]; typcially in excess of 100m EC. Personally, I settle for [CrtlX] which boosts control skills that affects the pull range of gravity wells and they are pretty inexpensive. I definitely purchased them for under 3m EC. The modifier to improve Drain abilities is [DrainX], but I do not focus much attention on it.
There is yet another craftable console that can be purchased from the Exchange with multiple benefits; the Conductive RSC Accelerator. It's an engineering console that does not directly affect any science abilities. However, at ultra rare quality it also gets a modifier and it is that modifier which can help improve your science abilities. For science captains I primarily go with [CrtlX] again, versions with the [EPG] mod probably sells for at least 75m EC. For non science captains I go with the [ResAll] modifier which is similar to Neutronium Alloy which provides resistance against all energy damage and kinetic damage.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Console_-_Engineering_-_Conductive_RCS_Accelerator
The higher your Control skill, the more ships you can potentially draw into a gravity, thus causing even more damage. Therefore, if you want to focus on using gravity wells, then you should put a little bit of effort into Control which is why for the two craftable consoles I go with [CrtlX].
A good console for almost any ship build; the exception is a pure Torpedo build; is the Plasmonic Leech which allows you to Drain some power from your target by using energy weapons. That energy is temporarily transferred to your own subsystems. So this is a good way to get extra power for better ship performance for a short period of time. The better your Drain skill, the more power you can siphon and use against your enemies. However, do not expect the console to shutdown your enemies. Trying to use Drain abilites against NPC ships to completely / nearly drain them of power is ludicrously difficult to do in my opinion.
This Leech used to cost in excess of 65m EC, but the Infinity Lockbox has cause the price to crash down to below 5m EC and make it much more accessible to Federation players; including Romulan aligned with the Fed. The KDF and KDF aligned Romulans cannot purchase the Plasmonic Leech from the Exchange. The box that rewards the Leech will reward a different console to KDF players who must purchase the Tier 3 Vandal Destroyer for 1,000 Zen (when not on sale) from the C-Store to get the console. Once purchased you can claim the ship, then remove the Leech and install it on your desired ship. You can claim C-Store ships and remove it's special console and then dismiss the ship an infinite number of times. However, you cannot install more than one special console; like the Plasmonic Leech; on any ship. The extra power going to Auxiliary Power will improve the effect of science abilities.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Console_-_Universal_-_Plasmonic_Leech
If you join a fleet you can eventually purchase other multi-purpose consoles. I am not in a fleet so I cannot really provide any specific information from experience.
Double Tech Point upgrade weekends typically happen about once every 3 months. You should be aware that there is a major event starting in about 2 months that has a definite impact on gear upgrades.
The beginning of February 2017 marks the 7th anniversary for STO. As in the past Anniversary Event players will have an opportunity to grind for a free ship. The Event Ship will be the Lukari "Dorito" ship that won the recent competition. I am guessing it will either be a science vessel or a science oriented cruiser. To claim the ship you need 1,000 vouchers. There will be a new Featured Mission that will reward 400 vouchers on the first play through. The remaining 600 vouchers are obtained by doing the daily Omega Molecule Stabilization mission which can take up to 15 to complete because it involves traveling to 3 different locations. Upon completion you get 40 vouchers so you must do this daily mission 15 times to get 600 vouchers.
The Omega Molecule Stabilization mission involves traveling to 3 different locations to play the Omega Particle Mini-Game. You can play the mini-game at any time during the Anniversary Event, not just during the daily mission. The mini-game rewards Omega traces and these are the things you want to collect to ultimately craft Omega Tech Upgrades. These are universal upgrade kits so you can use on whatever type of gear you want to upgrade whether it is your warp core or your rifle. Each Omega Tech Upgrade provides the following:
- 25,600 Tech Points (or 51,200 Tech Points during Double Tech Point upgrade weekends)
- 4x Quality Improvement Chance
- No dilithium cost
It generally works as follows:
- Omega Traces comes in 3 colors; Blue, Red and Yellow. In total you will need 27 of each color to ultimately craft 1 Omega Upgrade Kit; 81 traces in total.
- 1 Blue, 1 Red and 1 Yellow trace can be crafted to make 1 Omega Sliver.
- It takes 3 slivers to craft 1 Omega Shard.
- It takes 3 shards to craft 1 Omega Fragment.
- Lastly, you need 3 fragments to craft 1 Omega Upgrade Kit; it will be bound to your account.
The Omega Particle Mini-Game is 1 minute long. The reward varies with your score. At a minimum you will get one Omega Trace. The color of the trace depends on color of the Omega distortion. Depending on how well you score, it is possible to get up to 3 Omega Traces and either an Omega Sliver, Omega Shard, or an Omega Fragment. The best possible outcome is 3 traces and 1 fragment, but I think that requires a score of at least 2,700 points (not an easy thing to do) and a bit of luck so that you get the fragment instead of a sliver, or shard.
If you totally suck at the mini-game, then it will take you 81 minutes (excluding traveling and wait time) to get the traces you need to craft 1 Omega Tech Upgrade. My advice is not to suck at the game...
If i do get the Exciter i'd probably go for an EPG variant. My science R&D is at 20 so maybe i'll look into making my own but it seems like crafting will take a long time to get what i want so i may be better off just buying it outright. I got Plasmonic Leech when it came out in the Infinity Lock Box for around 16m each but if i do want more i know they are even cheaper now.
My fleet is currently tier 3 in everything so i'll have to wait or get access to another fleet to purchase higher tier items.
Free events ships are good for Admiralty at least. Not sure if i'd play any much now that i have the Eternal. I do want to look into ships for traits though.
The Omega stuff looks time consuming but if i can get upgrades to use on an upgrade weekend i could try to do enough days of that event. I do suck at most games though. I found out with the Dilithium mining that i just need a score of 700+ for the highest reward level so i can stop playing once i reach that number, usually 735.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
This is what the omega game reminds me of. There are mobile games like it that you can use for practice too. I find it the easiest of the mini games myself.
And you don't need to change fleets, you only need an invite to a fleet map. If you are having trouble check the noppublicservice channel, that is what they do.
That game doesn't look too difficult at the beginning so i can probably do that event!
The fleet my main is in requires a certain amount of contributions to holdings before i can purchase anything but i can see what fleets don't have that requirement so i can get the carrier pets i want too. But now i'm thinking of saving up Dilithium for some Phoenix Prize Packs. The Nandi would be useful. I'd especially love to have it on a Ferengi character.
Protonic Kool-Aid Down The Drain Cruiser
Immortal BOff Skills combo for Ground
The Nandi is a solid destroyer and it has the ferengi bridge with a private dabo table
I mainly want the Nandi so i don't have to run around so much between mail and Exchange