test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
LVL 60 Fleet Admiral, why are my attacks so weak compared to others?
captainkorak
Member Posts: 37 Arc User
in The Academy
Hey there guys. Level 60 fleet admiral here, been playing for about 5 years. I've got quite a few ships but mostly play with either a T6 Exploration Cruiser or a T5U Plesh Brek. The Plesh Brek has some serious DPS coming out of the front, the Exploration Cruiser is a little more balanced.
Either way, I constantly find that in STFs (except the Borg Incursion STF) my weapons seem to do little to nothing to them. Don't get me wrong, I'm hurting them, and give me 60 seconds and I can shred a sphere, a little longer for a cube...but I see everyone else charge in and they do in 1 salvo the damage it takes me 20 salvos to do.
I've got my weapons (Elite Fleet phasers at MKIV, Gravimetric photon torpedo launcher at Mark IV, Elite fleet photon torpedo launcher MKIV, and Neutronic torpedo launcher MKIV) all maxed out and purple or ultraviolet quality. On my Plesh Brek it's even further, most of the cannons (polaron) are elite with DMG multipliers at MKIV, yet I still don't see how everyone else just looks like their ships are spitting out dozens of beams, dozens of cannon blasts, and 5-10 torpedoes at a single salvo and firing another salvo like 2 seconds later...it's like they have 10 weapons slots fore and aft and have almost no reload time to their weapons.
What am I doing wrong? On my Plesh Brek I've even got the Kelvin timeline torps that reload faster and then I've got the device (don't remember name, but comes from Terran Task Force reputation) that takes a half second off reload time but no matter what I cannot shred through Borg cubes in like 3 salvos like I see so many people do. It'd take me 25-40 salvos at least.
Also I notice I almost never see anyone with regular old phasers anymore. Almost every ship I see in STFs are firing antiproton beams. Is that the key? Do I need to ditch phasers and go with Elite Fleet antiproton arrays?
Thanks!
Either way, I constantly find that in STFs (except the Borg Incursion STF) my weapons seem to do little to nothing to them. Don't get me wrong, I'm hurting them, and give me 60 seconds and I can shred a sphere, a little longer for a cube...but I see everyone else charge in and they do in 1 salvo the damage it takes me 20 salvos to do.
I've got my weapons (Elite Fleet phasers at MKIV, Gravimetric photon torpedo launcher at Mark IV, Elite fleet photon torpedo launcher MKIV, and Neutronic torpedo launcher MKIV) all maxed out and purple or ultraviolet quality. On my Plesh Brek it's even further, most of the cannons (polaron) are elite with DMG multipliers at MKIV, yet I still don't see how everyone else just looks like their ships are spitting out dozens of beams, dozens of cannon blasts, and 5-10 torpedoes at a single salvo and firing another salvo like 2 seconds later...it's like they have 10 weapons slots fore and aft and have almost no reload time to their weapons.
What am I doing wrong? On my Plesh Brek I've even got the Kelvin timeline torps that reload faster and then I've got the device (don't remember name, but comes from Terran Task Force reputation) that takes a half second off reload time but no matter what I cannot shred through Borg cubes in like 3 salvos like I see so many people do. It'd take me 25-40 salvos at least.
Also I notice I almost never see anyone with regular old phasers anymore. Almost every ship I see in STFs are firing antiproton beams. Is that the key? Do I need to ditch phasers and go with Elite Fleet antiproton arrays?
Thanks!
0
Comments
Are you really running MKIV (4) not MKXIV (14).. If that were true that makes sense...What the damage is low.
So ..ISA we have people who can do anywhere from 0.5k dps to 500k dps (less than 100 of those that high)... Antiprotons were THE weapon of meta about a year or so ago and everyone still recommends them with the "Whats the beast weapon blah blah" questions..Now its Disruptors (Coalition if you can get a whole team running it). But in reality..It makes little different unless your on the extreme end of the Super Dps. Running Fleet weapons Dmgx3 on a Tac is fine..Though...on a cruiser id use 6 or 7 beams and 1- 2 torpedo's..Escorts..are boring (imho) using all beams..And there are specialists here who turn them into nasty torpedo boats.
Your probably not doing anything wrong or very little wrong..The right combination of debuff then buffs and traits make Turning borg cubes into butter.
There is a clicky on the terran weapon set that allows for more torpedos per spread...and a trait for a 4 second longer scatter volley that (when combined with tac cooldowns) can give you nearly a continuous scatter volley.
Use what ya like.If you want to see what your ISA dps is... If ya want I can help ya out in game (Jacobs@odinforever20000)
In case we dont meet in game..Your really need this set if your running phasers and some drain consoles.
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Quantum_Phase_Catalysts
Torpedo is the BEST shield stripper in the game with a mild investment in drain expertise. (Plus its a free set)
Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
very interested in these pulsed phasers you're telling me about. how are they acquired?
also I will look at that Quantum Phase set
oh, and do you know what item it is from the Terran set that allows more torpedoes per spread?
thanks for the info! I will look you up in-game.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
1.) Pulsed Phasers are from the latest lockbox and can be found on the exchange..Tho dmgx3 or crtdx3 are gonna be spendy..but they look cool in cannon and beam format.
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Pulse_Phaser_Beam_Array
They are new so not all the pages are done yet..
2.) cool.
3.) https://sto.gamepedia.com/Terran_Task_Force_Munitions#Set_powers
4.) See ya in a few hrs
Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
DPS wise its normaly not that good to mix energy weapons (beams or cannons) with torpedos. The best way is normaly to use one or the other.
And feel free to ask me ingame in case you have questions
ingame: @Felisean
I thorougly explained the step-by-step instruction on how to get a decent DPS build in my previous posts, namely this one: http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1225429/tips-for-cruiser-dps
It seems like you run into several problems, such as little to no knowledge of what weapons/mods to use, how torpedoes behave and why you shouldn't use them in a beam build (and why Elite fleet weapons suck big time), no idea of buffing and the synergy of different abilities (and subsequently the way to use these abilities and their purpose), the way to manage to reduce your cooldowns to global value (which is a major part of the DPS outspam), and general piloting skills. Those folks you saw are well-trained and they have been through these queues for thousands of times, so their approach of killing things is sharpened to the brim. You don't need to be super expensive guy and waste countless billions on builds and ships to be capable of shooting down a sphere in less than 5 seconds, it just takes you some research time and general awareness of the game mechanics.
You may also add me up to the game just in case you are still feeling unfamiliar with the terms, it's fine we all been there before among the sub DPS crowd.
I am very interested in what you mentioned about "the way to manage to reduce your cooldowns to global value". I don't know specifically how to do that or totally what it means (other than obviously reducing cooldown times) but I will look into it.
I'm not a super hardcore gamer, I'm fine with not being able to shred stuff in 5 seconds flat, but enjoy playing a Star Trek game since I'm a long time fan of the shows and films. Still...it would be nice not to be so terribly far behind everyone else in some STFs.
Now to clarify my Plesh Brek is definitely MUCH more of a DPS hog and can shred stuff much quicker than my SF cruiser...but being a Star Trek game where I play a Starfleet officer I eventually wanted to go back to flying an SF ship. My Plesh Brek is no monster compared to some builds I've seen in-game, but it's definitely not bad either, as I've shredded the bejesus out of some folks online in PVP who claimed they had really good tank builds.
Some good info here that I need to go through. Specifically though, I want to know, why do elite fleet weapons suck? I was under the impression that short of purchasing epic level items from the exchange there really wasn't anything better to start with. What am I missing?
There are couple of ways to reduce your cooldowns (including different abilities) such as: Aux2Bat builds, Drake builds, Dragon builds, Strategist/Heal spam builds, and so on. Also, particular ship and boff traits help you to reduce CD to its lowest ceiling. You can do your own research, but the current meta is Strategist/Threating Stance on/hull healing.
Also, people don't care about base weapon damage and exploit huge buffs, high critical chance, and other insta pop abilities to shred things apart. Therefore you may see why so many people are after Crtd and Dmg beams, and other highly rare, overpriced items. Ships builds are a very peculiar thing.
The Brek is fine, although not the ultimate killer. Event ships are kinda whacky and limited.
Elite (not Advanced) fleet weapons suck for two reasons: they are phasers, and they have a terrible shield heal proc; as a bonus, crappy mods.
Oh yes, and PvP is dead.
Not sure what Aux2Bat, Drake, or Dragon is
My character is an engineer, so obviously I could probably have higher DPS numbers if he were a tactical captain. Still, my little Plesh Brek (for its size and my relative lack of extreme fine tuning) is pretty good.
Question, I see people talk about BOFF traits, but I don't see any hard numbers in-game. Is there a way to see exactly what benefit certain officers bring to the table other than their obvious bridge officer skills? I'm running mostly purple and blue quality BOFFs.
For weapons its about the mods. DMG/CRTD as much as possible is the way to go. If you use crafted weapons, one of the modifiers should be PEN.
You could see boff traits. Its in their traits window. Good traits are pirate and superior romulan operative for space.
I would highly recommend to have a look at the builds (we have several different ones, from low budget/free to expensive) and the guides we published at www.sto-league.com.
ingame: @Felisean
Also, I'd never seen PEN as a modifier before, must only be on crafted items.
With my T6 Starfleet cruiser I was barely scratching the paint on Tzenkethi ships in the Tzenkethi Front STF. With my D'Kora I was ripping them to shreds. Granted not as fast as some other players with their DPS specialized builds, but still, easily 10x faster than with my cruiser.
So I think I'll keep maxing out my cruiser to be a (decently) canon Starfleet build for general gameplay, as I find that fun, but I think I'll read up on some of these advice threads and see if I can't squeeze more out of my D'Kora or Plesh Brek for running STFs.
You need to wholly reimagine your approach to the game. Right now, you are focusing on the least important aspects of your understanding of STO. You should learn the basics of game mechanics, get some essential knowledge to begin with. As of now you are trying to throw everything you have in and expect a miracle, which is not happening. In fact, all the things you mention are irrevelant.
First off, the weapons. I wouldn't go into details and explain the weapons don't work properly with a poorly configured build. Beams or torpedoes DO NOT do the most of damage, self buffs and debuffs on foes do. You have to learn efficiency in cycling abilities and know-how the basics and timings. You may improve your damage significantly not by hoarding new guns, but a simple APB/FAW/EPtW/etc cycle. Then, you actually choose your arsenal to your liking. And as we mentioned, damage value is not designated by quality of the item (you don't want golden vendor junk), and not even by base damage (yes, base damage is often found to be an irrevelant value), but its mods and procs. It comes down to critical chance mechanics in STO: as you stack up critical chance and utilize critical severity mods on your weapons to obtain the DPS. And it should be specific set of weapons, not just a bunch of this and that. And no torpedoes on the aft. You never slot torpedo damage consoles unless you are fully stocked with torpedoes. You don't even need tactical consoles as fleet exploders can outDPS it. You don't understand the importance of using abilities. You are doing it wrong.
At this stage, it doesn't matter. Whatever ship you pick, whatever weapon you use, whichever lore you are into - you are just missing the entire point. Read my first post in the thread and follow the link Felisean has shared for you, you'd find some advanced information on the builds. You can have a canon ship and roleplay as long as you want, but it wouldn't work for you as long as there is no initial understanding of the game.
The weird part of the game is up till 50/60 and queues, the game trains you to knock down shields with beams and then hit with torpedoes, but it's not the optimum approach especially against advanced queue enemies.
Some of the points @steelmax are mentioning are common names for duty officer/skill configurations to help reduce cooldowns, improve weapon power, and speed using skills.
There's a lot of weird configuration stuff; reddit's stobuilds isn't bad either - beams and torpedoes isn't optimum but can be plenty decent. What skills and traits are your cruiser running? I didn't see if you had a build link, we could give some skill and trait recommendations.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Above all other advice... play the way you feel is fun for you. If playing STO is not fun, then there is no point in playing the game at all. If you want to run with energy weapons and torpedoes because that is what makes the game fun for you, then by all means do so. All my captains fly ships with that combination with the exception of one captain who flies a pure torpedo ship.
The Auxiliary to Battery (Aux2Bat / A2B) method of reducing cooldown times on Boff (Bridge Officers) abilities is pretty simple. Make sure one of your Engineer Boff has the Aux2Bat ability, having 2 copies will be better though. When you have two copies of the same ability, the second copy will have a faster cooldown. Aux2Bat has a 40 second cooldown, if you have a second copy of that ability then the cooldown on that will be 10 seconds. This ability drains power from your auxiliary subsystem and dumps it into your other subsystems (weapons, shields, engines) for 10 seconds. The amount of power transferred depends on the rank of the ability (I, II or III).
By itself that is all that Aux2Bat does. But if you put Technician Doffs (Duty Officers) on active, then each Tech reduce the cooldown on all Boff abilities depending on the quality of the Doff. A common (white) Technician will lower cooldown by 4%, that increases by 2% for each quality level. A very rare (purple) Tech will reduce cooldown by 10%. You can have up 3 Techs on active duty and the bonus is cumulative. That means 3 very rare Tech will reduce cooldown by 30%.
Using rare (blue) Tech is the best bang for the buck because they are typically not very expensive (they should cost less than 1 million EC each) and they provide an 8% cooldown. Very Rare Techs probably sell for around 4 or 5 million EC. Before purchasing these Doffs off the Exchange make sure you look that their ability, not all Techs will reduce the cooldown on Bridge Officer abilities.
The Dragon build is pretty simple. You basically need to have two pairs of Emergency Power To... abilities. The most common combinations are two copies of EPtW (weapons) and EPtS (shields). You alternate between the two diffeerent abilities. Having two copies of each basically means you can activate one of them every 15 seconds. That's it.
In a Drake build you basically have one copy of two different Emergency Power To... abilities like EPtW and EPtS. But you also need to put Damage Control Engineers on activate duty and make sure they have the chance to reduce the time for all Emergency Power to subsystem abilities trait (or ability). Each common (white) will have a 20% of reducing cooldown. Each quality level increases the chance by 5%. A very rare (purple) Doff will give you a 35% to reduce cooldown. These percentages are not cumulative. Each Doff will have a chance to reduce cooldown, if they all fail, then there is no cooldown. If one succeeds (like the 1st Doff), then the other chances are skipped.
Of the 3 I primary use Aux2Bat except for my Science captains. Offensive science abilities relies on Auxiliary subsystem power. Aux2Bat drains that subsystem of power. The benefit though is that is a guaranteed cooldown on ALL Boff abilities.
Other ways to reduce cooldown time of Boff abilities is in the player space skills; you have up to 46 points to allocate as you level up. The Admiral / General rank skills have Engineering Readiness, Scientific Readiness, and Tactical Readiness. Allocating points will reduce the cooldown of the specific classification of Boff abilities. 1 point = 10% / 2 points = 17% / 3 points = 20%
Yet another way to reduce Boff cooldown is by allocating Specialization Points. You begin to accumulate them after level 50. The highest level in the game is level 60, from there I believe you gain 1 Specialization Point every time you earn something like 255k XP. You need to allocate points into the Strategist Specialization Tree and set that as your active secondary skill. Specifically it is the Tier 2 ability of Attrition Warfare I & II that will give you the ability to reduce Boff ability cooldowns while you are using Threatening Stance and healing abilities.
Let me try to detail my cruiser build:
- Exploration Cruiser (T6)
- Fore Weapons: Elite Fleet Phaser Bank MKXIV CRTH DMGx2, Elite Fleet Phaser Array MKXIV CTRH DMXx2, Elite Fleet Phaser Array MKXII CTRH DMGx2, Gravimetric Photon Torpedo Launcher MKXII
- Aft Weapons: Elite Fleet Phaser Array MKXII CTRH DMGx2, Elite Fleet Phaser Array MKXII CTRH DMGx2, Neutronic Torpedo Launcher MKXII (for the radiation effect), Advanced Fleet Photon Torpedo Launcher MKXII CTRH DMGx3
- Deflector: Omega Force
- Impulse: Omega Force
- Shield: Omega Force (keep in mind I'm working toward upgrading all of these to the Iconian set)
- Warp: Temporal Defense Initiative (for the sector speed boost)
- Devices: Various droppable turrets, Nimbus Pirate Distress
- Engineering Consoles: 2x MKXIII RCS Accelerators, Energy Signature Dampener MKXIII TURN, MKXII SIF Generator
- Science Consoles: 2x shield emitter amplifiers MKXII, shield refrequencer MKXII [ShHP]
- Tactical Consoles: Phaser Relay MKXIV, MKXII Warhead yield chamber, Auto Targeting Module MKXII [Phaser]
So here's the deal, the cruiser is my newest ship to really be tweaking. I had it for a while and just forgot about it because I liked my Plesh Brek and D'Kora but eventually wanted to go back to flying a Starfleet ship. I'm a huge Star Trek fan, so I'm willing to take a hit on max DPS in order to have a more canon experience (beams and torps for instance). Now I see LOTS of places (mostly in the consoles, that this ship needs upgrades, but I'm waiting for the upgrade weekend to upgrade some consoles I've got sitting in inventory to start maxxing this thing out, really a lot of the consoles on it are just stuff I stuck in there because my best consoles are on my other two ships.
Now let me break down my Plesh Brek, it's a much more interesting build and has some set powers going for it:
- Fore Weapons: Advanced Fleet Dual Heavy Polaron Cannons MKXIV [ultra rare] [acc] [dmgx3], Wide Arc Dual Heavy Polaron Cannons MKXIV [ultra rare] [accx2] [ctrh] [dmg], Polaron Duel Heavy Cannons MKXIV [epic] [ac/dm] [acc] [ctrdx2] [crth], Kelvin Timeline Photon Torpedo Launcher MKXIV [ultra rare] [crtdx2] [ctrh] [reload]
- Aft Weapons: Kelvin Timeline Photon Torpedo Launcher MKXIII [very rare] [ctrhx2] [reload], Protonic Polaron Beam Array MKXII [crtd]
- Deflector: Jem Hadar
- Impulse: Jem Hadar
- Shields: Jem Hadar
- Warp: Elite Fleet Hyper-Charted Warp Core MKXIV [ultra rare] [A->E] [amp] [secspd] [ssr] [wcap]
- Devices: Delta Alliance Reinforcements, Scorpion Fighters
- Engineering Consoles: Enhanced Neutronium Alloy MKII [ultra rare] [turn], Enhanced Neutronium Alloy MKII [ultra rare] [turn], Polaric Modulator MKXIV (for added turn rate)
- Science Consoles: Field Generator MKXIII [very rare], Sensor Disruption Field [epic], Ferrofluid Hydraulic Assembly MKXII [very rare] (for 1/2 second off of torpedo recharge time, so my Kelvin's reload in 3.5 seconds!)
- Tactical Consoles: 3xPhoton Detonation Assembly MKXIII [very rare] (for total of 90% increase in torpedo yield, Polaron Phase Modulator MKXIV [epic] (provides a 37.5% increase in damage from my polaron weapons), Chronometric Capacitor MKXIV [very rare] (from the Chronometric Calculations set, boosts both my polaron and torpedo damage)
Now for someone who is more concerned with having fun with a scifi series that I enjoy I'd say I did a pretty good tuning job on the Plesh Brek. It will shred so-called "tank builds" in PVP any time and doesn't have any issues in STFs (save for of course not having the greatest hull capacity). Still, I see ways I could improve that build as well.
I should note straight up that I'm NOT a hardcore gamer. In fact STO is one of the few games that I play. If I have to choose I'll choose having a fun Star Trek experience over maximum DPS any day, but of course I appreciate hints that help me get those numbers up in small ways. You guys have dumped a lot of really great info for me to read. I especially need to look into the DOFFs that can reduce ability recharge time, as I've spent a lot of time fine-tuning my bridge officer abilities and I do have some things in place that reduce their cooldowns, but I've been running torpedo and beam weapon officers as active duty for the obvious benefits, I might switch to the suggested ones to reduce ability cooldowns.
Three questions:
1. I saw mention of the [PEN] modifier, where is that found? I've never seen a weapon with that modifier. Is it only with items that you craft, and if so is it just random chance if it comes up with that modifier?
2. Do specific weapons and/or sets work better against certain foes? Like would using the Nukara set and a certain weapon work better against the Tholians, or do all weapons basically do the same damage?
3. I've looked at my engineer BOFFs and can't find Aux2Bat on any of them (even the purple ones), am I looking in the wrong place? Where would it be? Under the "passives" tab I would think right?
and not being a hardcore gamer doesnt mean that you need to fly around with a bad build and spend tremendous resources on that build. but hey, everyone should do whatever makes fun.
and for your questions:
1) PEN is only obtainable through r&d or by buying it from the exchange.
2) beside crystaline entity were torpedos are better due to the mechanic, no. there are some weapons (ap/disruptor with terran reputation beam array) that are superior to others in general. But even for normal weapons, its about the mods. a ap weapon with accx3 is way weaker than a phaser beam with any combination of crtd/dmg.
3) check the skills/abilities from them again. you might need to train it. but lately a2b is not very common anymore because there are way better options like strategist spec tree.
ingame: @Felisean
Something I have learned back when cannon boats where the hottest TRIBBLE was: You don't do damage in ship/style combos you do not like because you first stop flying them and when trying to convince yourself that this is "the way to play" you stop playing the game altogether.
Get the combinations you have the most fun with; max inside that set perimeters. Try to not get your fun spoiled just because some dps junky burns a cube in a single alpha strike; its just not worth the effort. Enjoy the slower playstyle; it works to accomplish what the true goal of the game is: To have fun.
This is my view also. Running all beams or all torps is only for DPS league junkies. I run all my toons with the weapon type of their faction, and I tell you this, I can still burn Borg equally as good on all of the toons. For Fed I use Agony Phasers with the Quantum Phase Set, Roms use the Rom Rep Plasma, and KDF's use Terran Rep or Polarised Disruptors. Augment all of them with the Assimilated weapons set, plus other sets that boost the type I'm using and 1 of the Spire consoles, and I do more than well enough.
God-forbid, when/if Cryptic actually gets round to a 'rebalance', all these uber-DPS leagues will/would suddenly disappear.
2) There will always be someone who delights in pointing out how wrong you are doing things.
In the most tactless manner possible. As long as you are having fun with what you are doing, ignore them.
3) There are a great many people around this game who share good advice. Remember it is just that - advice.
4) Some people can make a build which is just like the shows and make it work well in STO.
Just takes game time and patience is all.
5) The best way to find out what works for you and what does not is to play the game.
Doing a copy/paste on someone else's build without understanding why they did it that way is simply playing the game the way someone else wants you to.
Are you sure you want to do that?
6) [Fun] is the most under utilized Mod in this game and on these forums.
As long as you are having fun, you are playing STO correctly.
What is more, you are Winning!
7) The Science Channel is where I hang out. There are lots of good people there who are generous to a fault and will gladly share what they know.
Without being uppity about it if you do not take all of their advice immediately without using your brain.
8) To find out more, click on the link in my sig. This is TSC's Discord page. Look forward to seeing you there, OP.
If you will go on and slot 3 torps (which 2 of them on the aft, total failure), slot whatever consoles seem fancy to you, slot whatever abilities your favourite canon Enterprises had... you are going to nowhere with that. We are more than willing to help with ocassional questions, although I don't see any incentive when you thoroughly explain things and all you get in return is going back to the starting point with TRIBBLE builds.
Can you at least do the following:
These are super easy steps to make your life easier in this game. If you refuse to take it into consideration with both mine and Felisean's (and other contributors) advice, then I don't think anyone would be able to help you here.
#1 - The [Pen] modifier is only applied to crafted weapons. You can find weapons on the Exchange with that mod.
#2 - Generally no. Any weapon can be effective on any enemy.
#3 - You can purchase manuals to train your Boffs. The Fed training officer that sells player basic abilities manuals stands one level below Admiral Quinn to your right when you are facing his office. Since you are asking I assume you have never trained your Boffs with any abilities and you have been using whatever abilities they have.
Manuals are pretty inexpensive to purchase. Training manuals sold by the training officer ranges in price from 250 EC for ensign abilities to 10,000 EC for commander abilities. Aux2Bat I is a Lieutenant ability. Aux2Bat II is a Lt. Commander ability. Aux2Bat III must be either crafted, obtained from a non-commissioned Engineer Boff (meaning not listed in your Boff roster) with that ability by right clicking and select "Create Manual" (which will delete that Boff), or purchase it from the Exchange.
After purchasing the manuals you need to go to the Boff's Skill tab to use the manual, which will delete it.
Manuals that can be crafted by the player are as follows:
http://sto.gamepedia.com/List_of_Training_Manuals_craftable_by_captain
Note: You need to promote your before you can train them. You might as well promote all your Boffs up to Commander so that they can use Commander abilities. The status page for each Boff should have something like "Career Options" or something similar at the bottom of that window. You can either dismiss them or promote them (which increases their health for ground combat)
Go through all you active Boffs and train them with abilities that you want them to have in space and on the ground. For space abilities only train them as far as the Boff station allows. Meaning the T6 Exploration Cruiser only have a Lieutenant science Boff station, therefore do not bother training that Boff to use Gravity Well I which is a Lt. Commander ability because you will not be able to slot that ability.
Boff abilities I would slot for the T6 Exploration Cruiser would be as follows:
Lt Cmdr Tactical - Tactical Team I, Torpedo Spread II, Beam: Fire At Will III (purchased from the Exchange)
Commander Engineer - Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Shields II, Aux2Batt II, Aux2Bat III (purchased from the Exchange)
Lieutenant Science - Hazard Emitters I, Science Team II
Ensign Universal - Beam: Fire At Will I. Or a science / engineer ability to heal the hull / shield if you are "squishy".
Lt. Commander Engineer / Command - Whatever Command abilities you like. Each slot can have either an Engineer or Command ability.
For ground combat generally run with 2 Science, 1 Engineer, 1 Tactical regardless of my Captain's class. For missions that only allows one Boff, I always have a science Boff. For missions that only allows two Boffs (like Dyson ground battlezone) I always have 1 science and 1 engineer. The basic Boff abilities I would slot in that can be purchased from the Training Officer are as follows:
Science Boff #1 - Medical Tricoder I, Medical Tricoder II, Tricoder Scan II, Hypersonic Radiation II
Science Boff #2 - Medical Tricoder I, Medical Tricoder II, Sonic Pulse II, Anesthizine Gas I
Engineer - Shield Recharge I, Chroniton Mine Barrier II, Medical Generator I, Quantum Mortar II
Tactical - Battle Strategies I, Photon Grenade II, Fire on my Mark I, Overwatch II
Of course you should use abilities that you believe suits you the best and be aware that these are only basic abilities. There are other abilities that are available from the Exchange. For example, my Boff Engineer has Sabotage I which causes weapons to malfunction for 9 seconds and causes a lot of electrical damage to non-living enemies like enemy turrets, and Iconian Constructs. Sabotage I is an ensign level ability and it is generally listed on the Exchange for between 150k EC to 300k EC. A Sabotage Kit Mk XII is also sold on the Exchange for engineer captains. All my engineer captains have this kit module which probably cost me around 15k EC to 25k EC when I bought them. Especially useful in Brotherhood of the Sword Elite STF.