Returning player, ship advice and builds?

Comments

• peteed1985 Member Posts: 22 Arc User

  May 2020

  westmetals wrote: »

  If you have the Delta Ops pack (plus the Resolute and Valiant)... to start out with, I would go for the Eclipse Intel Cruiser. While not ideal for the purpose, it's fairly close to a "middle of the road" starship type and once you get a feel for things again, you can decide what direction to go from there.
  
  (If you also have access to, for example, the Arbiter Battlecruiser or the Narendra Support Cruiser, those could also be viable options for this purpose. The Resolute is too sluggish and too locked into an Engineer-heavy build.)
  
  The stock equipment that comes on ships is really just a demo of what the ship CAN use, They're not logical or effective layouts. I would set up the ship as follows:
  
  - 3 Phaser Arrays and one torpedo forward (torpedo is optional; could be four arrays instead) Note: make sure all energy weapons are the same damage type; I'm assuming phaser here, but you can do something else if you like.)
  - 2-3 Phaser Arrays aft, plus 1-2 Phaser Omni beams. (You can get a crafted one off the Exchange, and a Trilithium one as an episode reward for "Beyond the Nexus", once you get that far in the storyline; these are in two different categories of which you can use one of each.)
  - The console from "Beyond the Nexus" (you get a 2-piece set bonus which is helpful. Don't bother with the third piece of this set.)
  - Stick Phaser Relay consoles in all tactical slots.
  - IF you have access to the T1 Constitution Cruiser (which used to be but is no longer a Zen purchase), claim, strip its special "infinity" beam array weapons, and dismiss it four times (for a total of eight weapons). These blue-quality phaser arrays will self adjust to your level as you level up, and get a free upgrade to Mk 12 (although you do have to activate this) after level 50.
  - Similarly, IF you have access to the T5 Sovereign Assault Cruiser, claim it and strip off its special "infinity" torpedo - this torpedo has a wider than normal firing arc. Level scaling and free upgrade as with the previous paragraph's beam weapons.
  
  Bridge officer powers should be set as follows:
  - Tactical Officer: Tactical Team I, Attack Pattern Beta I, Beam Fire At Will III (these last two can be switched if you have trouble getting BFAW III)
  - Universal Officer (used as Tactical): Torpedo Spread I
  - Science/Intel Officer: Science Team I, Hazard Emitter II
  - Engineer/Intel Officer: Engineering Team I, Emergency Power to Weapons II, Auxiliary to Battery II, Torpedo Transport Warhead II
  - Engineer: Emergency Power to Engines I, Auxiliary to Battery I
  
  Duty Officers: get three technicians with the "reduce cooldowns after Auxiliary to Battery" ability. This will help you recycle your other abilities faster; you use the two copies of Auxiliary to Battery alternatingly to trigger them.
  
  NOTE: this is meant to be an ultra-budget build that can barely crank out an average level of damage, but should be enough for you to get your feet wet and figure out where you want to go without overly committing to anything. It has tons of weaknesses and lots of room for improvement.

  
  I have a lifetime sub because I didn't expect to quit right after launch haha and I had collectors edition too. So yeah I have the original series enterprise but I just got 8 of the beams from it and thye seem to list thier dmg as lower than a green mk 4?

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• annemarie30 Member Posts: 2,593 Arc User

  May 2020 edited May 2020

  I'm going to go a different route for you You have the Phantom. use it. here is why. the mastery trait, reciprocity, use to be a meta trait, and is still very good to have while you grind your build. The phantom give you great balance for a ship as well.
  don't bother with cannons till you learn to fly. stick with beam arrays and maybe a dual beam to get you into the habit of keeping your target in the firing arc.. think of them as training wheels.
  
  Use Phaser. you are right those blue TOS phasers are not as good as others. I do not know how rich/poor you are or how much you are willing to put into the game. if you are not shy about buying zen, then spend 20 bucks get zen then sell it for refined Dilithium in the Dil exchange. with that buy phoenix crates. open all the crates. any blue or green convert to upgrades.
  
  If you have the EC buy MK II beams from the exchange, should be maybe 30-40 k a pop for really good ones (Pen mod) you DONT need that at this stage I would say get ACC DMG and a CRTD-H for each mod. buy 5. if you have a couple mill more, buy 4 and an omni phaser. buy 2 torpedos.
  
  If you have the T5 Sovvy then use the wide angle quantum for one of them.
  
  Fore you will stack Torp, Dual beam (if you go that way ) Array, Array. Aft, Omni (if you go there) Torp, Array, Array (2Array if no omni) your Boff stations are CDR Tac/Intel. Don't bother with Intel till you master driving and fighting. The Second Tac is a LCDR, then an LCDR Engineer, LT Sci/intel and Ens Universal
  
  Seat your Boffs, CDR Tac Tact Team 1, Beam Fire at will II Beam Fire at will III If you can get it, Attack Pattern B III for the CDR slot. you can easily get AP Omega for the cdr slot it's a handy way of getting out of tractor beams. the LCDR TAC, TacTeam I, your choice of BFAW II, BO II APB I. I would suggest BO II. and Torpedo spread III. this is serious overkill for tac abilities but you are still pretty survivable thanks to the LCDR Engineer:
  
  Engi- Emergency power to Shields I (Most will say weapons, but trust me you want a thirs shield heal as you learn)
  Engineering team II Auxiliary to Structural Integrity II this gives you 2 hull and one shield heal. Now, for the ens universal, a Sci with Hazard Emitters I, your third hull heal, and your go to to get rid of DoT damage like plasma and your borg shield drain. the Sci Lt, Thats going to be Transfer shield strength i and science team ii or flip them. these are your second and third shield heals.
  is this a mega DPS monster? no, of course not. I don't even think it will beat advanced content, but it WILL get you through everything in the game on normal. for consoles, I assume no fleet stuff, so 5 phaser relays, and whatever sci consoles you want at first, Maybe retain the heavy lance console at first in a sci slot. the three engineering consoles, Neutronium armor. Look at the special consoles that you can fit, you probably have stuff that's better than vanilla.
  
  First, play Sunrise. choose the quantum phase converter. this is a good phaser booster. play Beyond the Nexus at least once. get the Trilithium Omni array, then repeat Sunrise (there are cooldowns to deal with) For sunrise, the torpedo, and a third time for the beam array. this is one of the few times I would say the 3 pc set is worth it. both weapons are decent, and the clicky quantum destabilization beam is not terrible.
  
  If you can get a hold of the Bajoran fighter, the Domino console is the best phaser booster in the game. I think you need a UR token from the phoenix boxes to get it though.

  

  We Want Vic Fontaine

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• annemarie30 Member Posts: 2,593 Arc User

  May 2020

  westmetals wrote: »

  annemarie30 wrote: »

  I'm going to go a different route for you You have the Phantom. use it. here is why. the mastery trait, reciprocity, use to be a meta trait, and is still very good to have while you grind your build. The phantom give you great balance for a ship as well.
  don't bother with cannons till you learn to fly. stick with beam arrays and maybe a dual beam to get you into the habit of keeping your target in the firing arc.. think of them as training wheels.
  
  Use Phaser. you are right those blue TOS phasers are not as good as others. I do not know how rich/poor you are or how much you are willing to put into the game. if you are not shy about buying zen, then spend 20 bucks get zen then sell it for refined Dilithium in the Dil exchange. with that buy phoenix crates. open all the crates. any blue or green convert to upgrades.
  
  If you have the EC buy MK II beams from the exchange, should be maybe 30-40 k a pop for really good ones (Pen mod) you DONT need that at this stage I would say get ACC DMG and a CRTD-H for each mod. buy 5. if you have a couple mill more, buy 4 and an omni phaser. buy 2 torpedos.

  
  A couple of things here....
  
  The reason I suggested the Eclipse rather than the Phantom was because it's a very average ship (in terms of inertia, turn radius, etc.) The Phantom on the other hand is a rather extreme escort - one of the most nimble ships there is. My idea was for the original poster to start in the middle of the spectrum as far as ship maneuverability and then later move in whichever direction feels right to them.
  
  And yes the self-scaling TOS beams aren't stellar, but the self-scaling ability is quite useful at low levels and removes the need to worry about upgrades. They're also potentially free.
  
  As for the weapon mods, Acc and CrtH are the two worst mods there are, why are you suggesting them?

  
  ACC because if you don't have traits to boost your accuracy, and is sounds like the player is an instant 60, you NEED the accuracy boost. if you are not hitting you are not doing damage. ditto Crit H. if your crit is not high enough it jjjuuuusssttt might get you to the window. stop thinking about how YOU build with your skills. assume the other person does not have the perks/traits/skills invested you do. and if you can learn to drive an escort everything else is cake. All best off, I'd say get the disco Enterprise and never look back except grinding traits.

  

  We Want Vic Fontaine

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• annemarie30 Member Posts: 2,593 Arc User

  May 2020

  coldnapalm wrote: »

  So...pick a ship you like the design of...come back here after that with amount of resources you wanna spend on setting that up and we can walk you through it...but don't blow your entire budget. If you find out you don't like that particular style of ship you can move on to your next favorite looking ship.

  
  tru dat. space barbie is the endgame

  

  We Want Vic Fontaine

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• protoneous Member Posts: 2,982 Arc User

  May 2020

  ACC because if you don't have traits to boost your accuracy, and is sounds like the player is an instant 60, you NEED the accuracy boost.

  A couple points of targeting expertise in your skill tree is all the accuracy that's really needed for PvE. Any combination of CrtD and Damage are great choices for energy weapon modifiers.

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• seaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User

  May 2020 edited May 2020

  annemarie30 wrote: »

  
  ACC because if you don't have traits to boost your accuracy, and is sounds like the player is an instant 60, you NEED the accuracy boost. if you are not hitting you are not doing damage. ditto Crit H. if your crit is not high enough it jjjuuuusssttt might get you to the window. stop thinking about how YOU build with your skills. assume the other person does not have the perks/traits/skills invested you do. and if you can learn to drive an escort everything else is cake. All best off, I'd say get the disco Enterprise and never look back except grinding traits.

  
  Accuracy comes from consoles, traits and your skill tree. Investing in the ACC Mod on your weapons is not the best idea. He was absolutely right, ACC and CrtH are not good mods, you are better off getting those stats as global bonuses to your entire build from consoles, traits and skills instead of on a per shot basis on each weapon.
  
  He's not thinking about his own build, he's giving good advice. ACC and CrtH are two of the worst weapon mods you can get for an energy weapon build. They should be avoided.

  Insert witty signature line here.

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• redwren89 Member Posts: 257 Arc User

  May 2020

  Hey so I understand you like the excelsior, there aren't many who dont. It's such a smart, iconic and workable ship.
  
  Using torpedoes are fun and I'm guessing you might enjoy a wide angle 180DEG PHOTON torpedo. You can get this from the Phoenix box under the dilithium store which I'm sure you can trade some of that stockpiled Zen for. It's called the prolonged engagement set, it's great for power levels, boff cooldowns, and a giant photon torpedo every 2 minutes that hits like a truck, but the longer you leave it the stronger it gets - 800% bonus damage after a few minutes.
  
  As for otherweapons I'm sure they've been mentioned already. Not much more that can be said here. I think playing the game now and finding all the new goodies available will bring almost an overwhelming amount of reward for you.

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