[jammers195]

This is a really good post.
It has been better than what I have seen on the forums Thanks

[Dark]

The accusation is not that they have unlimited power, but that they have at least 100/100/100/100 instead of 50/50/50/50. A spec'd High Yield Tholian Thermionic Torpedo (so a Heavy Disruption or something?) will drain 100+ Weapon and Engines, and and since it only drains those systems we can kind of see that they have at least two systems at 100 simultaneously. On the other hand, we can do that too with the appropriate BOff abilities. I dunno.

Beams and cannons (and turrets) all deal Energy damage and are treated the same way. This can easily be confirmed by shooting at a ship, since you'll see the damage done to shields and hull. The damage to hull also shows both the actual damage done, and the damage that would have been done without resistance.

As a side note, sometimes the "actual damage" is higher than the "no resistance" damage number due to APB and similar abilities.

[SwedishGG]

Very helpful. New to STO, so a bit overwhelmed by what to use and how it all connects

[Ejja]

Fantastic. as a new STO player, there is a ton of information all over the place. This guide really brought it down to what I could understand. Thanks for all these guides. Now make a guide to acronyms..and boffs doff soffs and all those guys..

[Dark]

I don't know DOffs well enough to see how their abilities synergize, and relevant BOff abilities are kinda mentioned in the other guides.

Minor Update - 20131002

Calculations about disruptor weapons have been added. The chance the debuff is active per firing cycle is not just 2.5%, due to the 15s duration, during which it could be refreshed.

[Gio]

Very informative and I wish I had found this earlier

[Galaticgoo]

If I'm understanding this correctly, for us new guys just starting STF's we should:

Start with Disruptors for Escorts, Beam Boats and DPS Science ships.

Once we get the Romulan toys, switch the Beam Boat over to Plasma.

Escorts should be saving up to switch to expensive Anti-polerons ASAP

DPS Science should......???

[Dark]

Hmm...

In general, I recommend Plasma.

If your ship uses Beam Arrays, I strongly recommend Plasma because you'll get an energy-free one from the Romulan rep, and combined with the console from that set you'll get another bonus to Plasma damage. For Science ships, you'll probably be using Science skill boosting consoles in your science console slots, so the +Plasma versions of those consoles from the embassy fit neatly into that. Plasma is great for everybody because the set bonus and +Plasma science consoles allow you to up the base by a significant amount.

Note that the benefit for Plasma here is three things: The Romulan Singularity Harness 2-item set bonus, the +Plasma science consoles from the Embassy, and Romulan Plasma weapons which allow you to have the Disruptor proc. (I recommend a mix of Fleet Plasma and Rom Plasma weapons. For DHCs/Turrets, I'd recommend Fleet DHCs and Rom Plasma turrets. You lose less damage from losing a modifier on a Turret compared to a DHC.)

Disruptors are a solid weapon choice for everyone because the proc is nice. The three reasons to use Plasma weapons can be offset with Disruptors. If you have the Silent Enemy Set, you have a set bonus much like for Plasma weapons. (The set bonuses are important because it's a +Damage in addition to your tactical consoles.) If you're not using your science console slots for science consoles, then you wouldn't get the +Plasma versions anyway. If you have one or two, that still adds a Plasma proc to your weapons, so this isn't a huge deal for Plasma. Lastly, Disruptors obviously have the disruptor proc anyway.

Comparing Disruptors to Plasma, Disruptors are short maybe half a point. They get a Plasma proc instead of a damage boost from those science consoles. On the other hand, they get Fleet Advanced (or the rather nice Fleet Elite for KDF) weapons that have the Disruptor proc, whereas Plasma weapons need to trade off one Mod for it. If you're not using Beam Arrays, then I would say Plasma = Disruptors.

Antiproton weapons are only for Tactical Captains, regardless of ship. That's because Attack Pattern Alpha has good synergy with Antiproton weapons. There's also a set bonus there with the beam turret from Sphere of Influence, so you don't lose out much.

I'm not saying Tactical Captains should only use Antiprotons, I'm saying only Tactical Captains should use Antiprotons. (However, if you're a Romulan Tactical Captain with a full crew of Romulans boosting your Critical Chance and Severity through the roof, then you should be using Antiprotons regardless of anything else. You should also be using the +Crit tactical consoles that will be coming out with the Spire holding.)

So to summarize:

0. Use whatever makes you happy.
1. If you're not a Tactical Captain, don't use Antiprotons.
2. If you're a Romulan Tactical Captain, then you should use Antiprotons.
3. If you're using Beam Arrays, you should definitely be using Plasma.
4. If you have the Silent Enemy Set, you can use Disruptors instead of Plasma.
5. Otherwise, use Plasma.

Point 1 takes priority over point 2, which takes priority over point 3, and so on.

[Dark]

Oh! An exception - the Obelisk carrier has a set which consists of a ship-specific Universal Console, a beam turret, and a warp core. The 3-item set bonus is (in my opinion) pretty awesome, allowing your carrier pets to have their own versions of EPtW and EPtS cycling on them. The beam turret is Antiproton and the 2-item set bonus gives a bonus to Antiproton damage, so you may as well use Antiprotons if you're in an Advanced Obelisk.

[Kantazo]

Wow, I really need to study this guide. Thanks for all the info.

[Dark]

Minor Update - 20140721

It turns out that [CrtD] is much better than [CrtH]. +20% Severity will always increase your Chance*Severity formula more than +2% Chance, so go for [CrtD]. I've added a note regarding that.

Also updated weapon descriptions to match the new hotness.

[Daedalus]

Minor Update - 20140721

It turns out that [CrtD] is much better than [CrtH]. +20% Severity will always increase your Chance*Severity formula more than +2% Chance, so go for [CrtD]. I've added a note regarding that.

Also updated weapon descriptions to match the new hotness.

Has this changed recently? I purchased most of my spire consoles as CrtH since I figured increasing my chance for a Critical Hit outweighed the gain in severity with less overall distribution of Critical Hits. If CrtD is indeed better than CrtH, I'm going to need to spend a LOT of credits to convert.

[Moose]

Has this changed recently? I purchased most of my spire consoles as CrtH since I figured increasing my chance for a Critical Hit outweighed the gain in severity with less overall distribution of Critical Hits. If CrtD is indeed better than CrtH, I'm going to need to spend a LOT of credits to convert.

This calculator seems to correlate with the information - [CrtD] being better than [CrtH] for weapon damage but still suggests using the Vulnerability Locator Crit Chance consoles, unless something has changed recently.

STO Magical Mystery Weapon Crit Advisor
http://comatoes.github.io/sto-crit-calc/

Also, with the introduction of the R&D system, Antiproton [CrtD]x3 are now obtainable, +80% Crit Severity which will probably make them the highest damage dealing energy type.

[Dark]

Has this changed recently? I purchased most of my spire consoles as CrtH since I figured increasing my chance for a Critical Hit outweighed the gain in severity with less overall distribution of Critical Hits. If CrtD is indeed better than CrtH, I'm going to need to spend a LOT of credits to convert.

No no, it's only for weapons that CrtD is king, because it way overpowers CrtH mods.

For Spire Tactical Consoles, you want the Locators.

Consider 1.6% Chance vs 8% Severity. CrtH is 2%, CrtD is 20%. This means the Locator is worth 1.6/2 = 80% of a CrtH mod, while the Exploiter is only worth 8/20 = 40% of a CrtD mod.

Always Locators, never Exploiters.

Edit: Ah, ninja'd by Moose. Ninja moose, the secret Canadian weapon!

[Daedalus]

No no, it's only for weapons that CrtD is king, because it way overpowers CrtH mods.

Whew! The eases my concerns a bit, however I'm still out about 4 mil EC for all of those CrtHx3 weapons I currently own. Oh well, EC is much easier to come by than Fleet Marks. Thanks for clarifying!