One area where specialist attac-modes are lacking

vanhyo · May 2022

Its actually very nice that cryptic are addressing this matter [specialist attack modes] in recent patches and changes, i like the idea of having options or diversity instead of doing what everyone else is doing, and while power and utility can be addressed or tweaked easily or creatively in the future, there is one area when it comes to these modes that really adds up to the - "no thanks", "i rather pick what works" and that is the activation numbers*

(note - in case someone doesn't know, specialist attack modes enhance both, cannons and beams and as such share min-cd with both type non-specialist modes)

Let me give you an example:

If i run energy weapons boat that uses Beam Overload+Scatter Volley OR FAW+Rapid Fire, i get 2x activations opposite to what i could get if lets say i picked one of those specialist attack modes. What are the consequences of this ?

1# Lets say i use boimler effect build that relies on activations for reset, this means 1x less convenient activation for a reset, and sometimes when you don't get your reset in time that translates into a flop.

2# Lets say i use superior predictive algorithm starship trait as tool to both cleanse debuffs and to buff my accuracy, this means ill have less opportunities to cleanse debuffs and to buff my accuracy.

3# Lets say i use competitive engines for the speed and turn effect, this means i am getting less engine activations, may not get enough speed or turn rate to do what i want to do in time.

4# Last but not least, i am getting exactly 2x times less healing from the colony consoles which is big deal for those who use this type of consoles.

If someone is looking for efficiency and performance, the above things can be quite discouraging and i am sure there are mechanics which i missed but these are the ones that come to my mind as of now.

One simple solution could be to remove the shared CD from all specialist modes and let attack-modes simply override each other.

Another thought which i had concerning this idea is, okey what if Reroute reserves to weapons and exceed rated limits not only do not share CD but also do not override each other ? That would make one of those warships that come with 2x commander slots (pilot+intel?) Potentially a super coveted ship for that build, and can potentially outperform beam overload with dps. Not sure if that is a good idea or whatever, just sharing some of thoughts which i had this sunday going to the supermarket.

finsches123 · May 2022

I don't know if many people are using both a cannon and beam firing mode. Mixed Armaments Synergy, the polaron set from "Home", and the newly trait-enhanced specialist firing modes make mixing weapons more viable, but I would think it's still either beams or cannons in most cases.

Stacking firing modes would of course be cool, but while there is a small amount of ships with two commanders, I don't think there is one with two specialist commanders at all. Even having a commander and lieutenant commander with different specializations is somewhat rare.

vanhyo · May 2022

wait... i did not mean stacking firing modes, meant that only for the 2 useless ones, my thoughts were that the rest override each other instead of causing min-CD to allow more activations

askatus · May 2022

I find these modes have far more problems than that. There are very few traits and no duty officers I'm aware of that work with specialist attacks. For example: My Andorian pilot escort with morphogenic polaron set and tac competitive engines running, among other things, BO3 x 2, CSV1, and TS2, using Preferential Targeting, Superweapon Ingenuity, Promise of Ferocity, Boimler Effect, and a shield pen on BO duty officer. These things all synergise together nicely. So under what circumstances would I add Reroute Reserves to Weapons into the mix? It doesn't work with any of these and disables the skills that do. How would I make a build around RRtW?

In my view, the way to fix this is remove the shared cooldown and let RRtW run at the same time as other weapon skills. It might require some rebalancing but maybe then the skill wouldn't be useless. I'm not really familiar with surgical strikes or exceed rated limits but they seem to have the same problems so maybe the same solution would also work.

Unknown · May 2022

This content has been removed.

strathkin · May 2022

corinthalas wrote: »

They do lack good synergies with other skills, items, traits, and etc, which all seem to be predominantly geared towards non-specialist abilities. Ex: Checkmate -- it says control abilities, but only a very select few control abilities trigger it. And that doesn't include a single specialist control ability, despite there being plenty of them. Same deal with secondary deflectors. Or Morphogenic armaments -- only tac weapon-mode skills will trigger its effects.

Yea that is a very good point, Tractor Beam the benefit doesn't stick or last as long as it should based on tooltip. Your better using Repulsor Beam to Control 3, yet Tractor Beam should buff you for 15s even if the Tractored Ship is defeated.

vanhyo · May 2022

Why am i posting this ? First i like the idea of changes that give opportunities. As of now there is no room for creativity, you either do what is best or you are not among the best and that by large margin. If cryptic are to promote more diversity and playstyles in the future, i think the basic line is to make activations equal for all styles. Synergies, Strengths, Utilities, Bonuses can be adjusted or improved by new items and patches.

husanakx · May 2022

Mostly the issue is lack of synergies with them.

Things like colony tactical consoles... where you can proc twice as many heals with rapid fire or overload by slotting a cannon skill. (which makes sense as there are other traits like preferential targeting and entwined matrixes that make those skills useful even if you run no weapons they directly effect)

The other issue... is the simple lack of options in using them. For some reason Cryptic has chosen to make them commander skills... this limits them to really a handful of ships, as running anything less then level 3 is almost always just bad.... and for sure worse then just using standard fire modes.

Way way back when Cannons where restricted to escorts... cruisers didn't use cannons, sci ships couldn't use cannons. It made sense for cannons which where designed to provide MORE DPS to have commander level fire modes. I would suggest that cannons should have their fire modes dropped to match beams. After years of balancing... beams and cannons are effectively = these days, really Rapid and Scatter should be Ensign/Lt/Lt.CMD skills. The special firing modes should also be dropped down one step. IMO this would make the special fire modes much better... being able to pair them with higher level attack patterns on escorts/make them an option on many more ships with Lt CMD specialists seats.

Over time perhaps Cryptic can now add more traits that directly effect the specialists modes... but really imo as long as they are commander level skills they aren't going to compare well. Recent tweaks to Surgical have made it useable, and its interesting being able to mix beams and cannons... Still it is only really an option on 27 of 391 ships. So ya its time to make level 3 a Lt. Commander skill. Also hopefully Cryptic now takes the time to look at the other specialty modes.... Reroute and Exceed are both terribly horribly bad.

One area where specialist attac-modes are lacking

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