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Seeking Build Advice, Intel/Science Destroyer
devencombs
Member Posts: 225 Arc User
in The Shipyard
I am asking for build advice for two of my characters that have very similar starship builds. One character is a classic Science officer and the other is a Tactical Delta recruit. They are both flying the Section 31 Intel/Science Destroyer.
I have included the STO Skill Planner links for both builds below. There are a few items I was unable to slot into the planner, so please read the notes.
Both builds are rather effective, but I believe I could make improvements if I know where to go with them. I'm open to new equipment, retraining skills, and changing traits.
Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Tac Captain Intel/Sci Destroyer
https://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/cf86cc572ff87c140cbdb979e5e368d5
Sci Captain Intel/Sci Destroyer
https://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/000af4767ccdad4ce5c84b0988bbb188
I have included the STO Skill Planner links for both builds below. There are a few items I was unable to slot into the planner, so please read the notes.
Both builds are rather effective, but I believe I could make improvements if I know where to go with them. I'm open to new equipment, retraining skills, and changing traits.
Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Tac Captain Intel/Sci Destroyer
https://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/cf86cc572ff87c140cbdb979e5e368d5
Sci Captain Intel/Sci Destroyer
https://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/000af4767ccdad4ce5c84b0988bbb188
0
Comments
For bridge officer abilities consider adding Very Cold In Space (Winter Store), and Destabilized Resonance Beam (story line) in an attempt to add a bit more EPG damage and lower your target's damage resistance, respectively. Along the same lines, Attack Pattern Beta also debuffs your target's damage resistance so that could be something to try as well. Firing energy weapons? May as well throw in Emergency Power to Weapons so they do some more damage.
For a skill tree consider something like this - link. It does have both Control Expertise and EPG so it's spicy
It's just a template. There are ways to adjust the skill tree to alleviate any concerns about it not providing a "sturdy" experience..
At the admiral level take a point off of tactical readiness and remove the coordination protocols. Take these four points and put them into hull restoration, shield restoration, shield capacity, and shield regeneration. Now everything has been covered.
Need a few more points to move around? The other two points of tactical readiness as well as a point from shield penetration are available to help shore up any areas of concern. Some Drain Expertise and an extra point into resists (i.e. ablative hull plating) are some common seen areas for these.
Skill points into torpedoes can be re-allocated as well if you don't need them.
The reason I have GW I and III on these builds is because of the way Tactical Mode works on this ship. When I activate Tac Mode, the Commander Science ability go away and the Commander Tactical ability becomes active. By slotting GW I, I still have a GW attack available while in Tac Mode.
That being said, I’m willing to try something different for a chance at improvement. I’ll start experimenting with what you suggested. If I really like how Photonics Officer, I might even consider using it for my Tac and Eng officers too.
PO -> Gravity Well -> Tactical Team -> Emergency Power to Weapons -> Cannon firing mode -> Attack Pattern -> and repeat
Temporal Disentanglement Suite - does 5 different things so can be a good choice compared to a Field Generator
House Martok Defensive Configuration - does 5 different things so can be a good choice compared to a RCS Accelerator
Assimilated Module - does 5 different things
Temporally Shielded Datacore - does 4 different things
Reinforced Armaments - does 3 different things
Exploring different ways of doing things can be a lot of fun.
The Hydrodynamic Compensator gives a +3 boost to engine and auxiliary power, plus significant improvement to weapon accuracy and flight turn rate. Do you have a console in mind that has better stats?
> you should choose between enegry or sci build
That’s the difficult part. The Section 31 Destroyer is a hybrid Sci/Tac ship. Trying find the balance between energy weapons and science abilities is a struggle.
I do think you should be able to make this build even more effective with a fair bit of experimentation.
I don't have any power issues using mixed builds on other ships providing emergency power to weapons is used.
To refine the suggestion above to choose tactical or science, you may want to consider staying in one mode or the other the majority of the time.
In addition to trying Photonic Officer to get boff abilities available for use more often (this is pretty well a must) you may want to try something like Ionic Turbulence to help the enemy ships not have a good day while in your gravity well. It works nicely for me and isn't dependent upon science stats.
I have the Vesta ships, but the Aux Cannons only work on those ships. Besides that, the velocity of the phaser pulses from the Covert cannons is much faster than any other cannon type in the game.
Yeah, I know. I'm doing it the hard way.
The Sci/Intel Destroyer is not so much a half and half as it is a multitasker. I can switch between Sci and Tac modes while in combat, which makes it a very versatile ship. That being said, finding the right balance of skills and equipment to complement both modes can be pretty tricky.
I've been experimenting with Photonic Officer and Very Cold in Space and I really like how they work. I'm still working on the skill tree. Thanks for all your suggestions.
Tactical version
-Seems like a fairly standard gunboat setup
-Weapon power management seems problematic if using the Universal seat for Science with that many turrets(adding mines would help with power stability if you're not going to run EPTWeapons).
-I'd suggest swapping Tractor Repulsors for Photonic Officer 2. (sounds like you understand the benefits by now)
-Pick CRF or CSV, run it as the Lt. CMDR tac seat and use the Lt. seat for Attack Pattern Beta. (this will significantly increase your damage output - and it stacks with APO while in Tactical Mode)
-Replace EPTShields with EPTEngines and add the Emergency Conn Hologram from the phoenix store to your Active Duty Officers. (this will give you near-permanent agility/defense on par with Full Impulse, so you can train your cannons on whatever you like, whenever you like)
-Replace the Field Generator(Emitter Arrays are far superior if you actually want to shield-tank) with the Quantum Phase converter and add in a 4th Vulnerability Locator to that universal slot.
Science version
-I wouldn't consider this a "science" build as it currently stands - just an escort with a lot of shields and parlor tricks.
-It's redundant at this point, but add in Photonic Officer to one of your Lt CMDR Sci seats.
-Likewise, pick CRF or CSV and add APB for the force-multiplying debuff.
-Replace OSS with Ionic Turbulence(damage), Very Cold in Space(soft CC), or Scramble Sensors(hard CC - duration scales with CtrlX).
-Replace EPTShields with either Weapons or Aux to offset the power requirements of a DEW-SCI setup. (Bias power distribution towards the one you don't pick so you can power both.)
-Decide if you want to go for a Control/EPG build or a Drain build and min-max your Science consoles for that purpose. (Drop the fluff universal consoles and replace them with fleet ones - consoles are the single most important thing for an actual "science" build.)
-You can find core systems(deflector, warp core, etc.) that better compliment your flavor of space magic, but suggestions depend on which way you want to go.
Sorry if this feedback is overly candid - I hope you find it helpful/constructive in your trek across the stars.
DEW = Directed Energy Weapon
Here's another sample boff layout using some of the suggestions gathered so far. There's so many different ways to do things
I've mulled over it a bit, and if I were to fly the ship, this is probably the bridge layout I would use for a DEWSCI setup on it:
It's a bit leaner on the science side, but switching the Universal to Engineering really gives the ship more zip and better support for Energy Weapons to fill that versatile hybrid playstyle. With that layout, I would honestly just leave the ship in Science Mode unless you really need to kill a singular target/boss using APO. The experimental weapon of Tactical Mode isn't really significant enough to justify the transformation. The Secondary Deflector and access to GW3 of Science Mode are way more valuable.
The other modifications would be to fill the Science consoles with EPG/CtrlX fleet ones and use Engineering slots for exotic damage universal consoles. EPTEngines(+Phoenix Conn Doff, ideally) and Aux2Damp will provide more than enough agility to not need any RCS(especially if you keep those engines). The two consoles I would recommend(if you don't have better from events/ships) are:
https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Console_-_Universal_-_Delphic_Tear_Generator
https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Console_-_Universal_-_Deconstructive_Resonance_Emitter
Their clickies can both be thrown into your gravity wells for solid damage(more than enough to make up for whatever you'd have lost from using the universal seat for Sci) and provide relevant passive boosts to your loadout(EPG, CtrlX, and Phaser damage). Both can be found on the exchange for a couple million EC(subject to market demand/supply).
Again though, the most important thing is that you have fun flying your ships the way you enjoy most. Keep/Change things as you see fit.
Sorry I haven't replied in a while; lots going on. That looks like an interesting layout. Since I have a Tac and Sci character flying the same ship, I'll try this for my Sci toon.
In the meantime, I've modified my bridge layout for both toons, thanks to the advice given. Here is what I have right now:
Lt. Cmdr Universal: HE I, Very Cold in Space II, PO II
Cmdr Tac: Tac Team I, CRF I, AP Beta II, CRF III(only in Tac mode)
Lt. Eng: EPtS I, EPtW II
Cmdr Sci/Intel: Intel Team I, OSS II, Ionic Turb II, GW III(only in Sci mode)
Ensign Sci: Polarize Hull I
I have three Intel abilities in the Sci/Intel seat because I recently discovered the Carrier Wave Shield Hacking trait. Target an enemy ship, activate Tractor Beam or any Intel ability, and the shields drop. Then I can pour CRF directly onto the hull. Having lots of fun with it.
I also replaced the Bellum Field Generator with the Temporal Disentanglement Suite console.