[Endeavour]

I'm needing to completely respec my engineer and would like some recommendations for a build that can be used in both PvP and PvE.

I'm looking at flying an Avenger and an Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit, which both appear to be very good ships. (As well as very good looking.)

Any help would be appreciated.

Also, does anyone here fly an Avenger on Tactical? I tried mine with Cannons but am thinking of dropping them in favour of beams.

[Dorus]

I suggest you take a look here into this .. data might be a bit outdated, but the skills should be good. However I must warn you, this set-up is a mix of survivability and damage. Probably not the one you're looking for 100% .. nevertheless, maybe you get the idea on building your own from it

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skil...build=dorcru_0

[Endeavour]

Looks like a great starting place. Thankyou.

[Dark]

Please keep in mind that while the linked Aux2Bat build is easily one of the best Avenger/AHCR/ACR builds available, you will need 3 purple Technician DOffs (which can be semi-easily acquired from Support B'Tran Cluster Colonization Efforts) to use Aux2Bat, and you will want the Marion DOff for DEM3. Marion will cost at least 30 mil EC on the Exchange.

I would have thought the Avenger works well with cannons. The mobility cruiser command with 1 torp, 4 DHCs, 2 turrets, and a KCB ought to work really well. Using Aux2Bat with it would mean constantly applying APB with salvos of CSV and TS.

[Endeavour]

I really need to brush up on the technical talk. :p

Thanks for the info. I find the Avenger to not turn quite quick enough for the cannons. I may keep my quad cannon on it. At the minute, I have two beams and three cannons fore and three beams aft. Seems to work better.

[Endeavour]

Well, here's what I've come up with. Not sure what I want to fit the ship out with yet, probably mostly beams.

Any feedback would be welcome and appreciated.

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?...endeavoureng_0

[Soral]

I'd recommend using only a Tactical Team 1 versus a 3. With an Aux2Bat setup and the right amount of doffs, you're TT will reset about the time you need to it again. Maybe a couple second delay, but typically not earth shattering in either PVE or PVP.

Since you're going engineer, I would also suggest an Attack Pattern Delta somewhere in your Tac abilities. It's useful in PVE, but highly effective in PVP. You might want to also set up a second BOFF that switches out to Attack Pattern Beta when doing STFs since they'll stack and most STF builds tend to run a APB ability.

Since your Engineering Team shares a cooldown with Tactical Team, I'd suggest getting an Emergency Power to Auxiliary there instead. It's a nice "super booster" in PVE when you want to really max out the abilities and it's nice for PVP when someone knocks out your auxiliary power and you need a quick restart.

You'll need a new Hull Heal if you're going to switch out Engineering Team, so I would suggest replacing Polarize Hull with Hazard Emitters. It's a nice heal ability when you need it most. If you want something to get you out of tractor beams and such, carry some Engine Batteries in one of your slots and that'll do the same thing.

This is my build for my Tac officer http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skil...ugust2013fac_0. Of course, I'm flying a Fleet Assault Cruiser Refit, but the BOFF ability layout is the same as the Avenger. It does fairly well in PVP and I mainly use it for PVE. Like the build Dorus posted, this should help you get some ideas on how to set up your own build. Cause in the end you'll want to make sure that the build fits your style of play and there's always little tweaks here or there that will still be effective, yet just different enough that it's still your own.

[Endeavour]

Thanks for the feedback, and the tip on engine batteries. I've updated the plan and changed the skill tree a litle.

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?...deavourengv2_0

[Soral]

Couple suggestions on the updated skill tree:

Driver Coils...basically a convenience skill to fly faster in sector space. Wasted points in many opinions, mine included. I would suggest putting those points into your Attack Pattern skill to boost your APD. Or APB when you're in STFs (if you are running a setup with that).

Starship Energy Weapons, Starship Maneuvers, Starship Targeting Systems, and Starship Energy Weapon Specialization should all be maxed. The first increases your Weapons Damage, the second your defense rate, the third your accuracy (can't kill what you can't hit), and the fourth your critical chance and hit.

I would not recommend any points in Threat Control as an Engineer unless you're planning to Tank a lot.

I would not recommend having more than 6 points in Engine Performance since you're a cruiser. With an Aux2Bat setup, you'll be broadsiding to get maximum gain and you should turn fast enough. In fact, I'm not sure if I recommend any points in that one. I took them out of those for myself because I didn't really see any benefit to having them in there with the rest of my abilities. That might prove wrong later, but I thought the points were best used elsewhere.

[Dark]

I would not recommend any points in Threat Control as an Engineer unless you're planning to Tank a lot.

An Engineering Captain in an Aux2Bat Avenger certainly should tank.

That said, I'm not a fan of that BOff skill layout.

Aux2Bat 2 and 3 offer almost no benefit over Aux2Bat 1. You really should be carrying two Aux2Bat 1s, and two separate EPtX1 abilities - EPtS1 with EPtA1 if you want Aux for healing, or EPtS1 with EPtW1 if your weapons need more power (you'd need to test your rotation). Then you stick DEM in the Cdr ability slot (which will be active 2/3rds of the time, and adds damage per-hit) and RSP in the Lt Cdr slot.

Having EPtS to constantly buff your shield resist, RSP on global, and your Eng Captain abilities means your shields should never fall, making you an amazing shield tank.

Then you load that puppy up with cannons and turrets (because DEM is per-hit), either CRF or CSV (or both if you don't use torpedoes), and a torpedo with a torp skill (that grav torpedo coming in Season 8 looks tasty) and you'll blast things away, take all the aggro, and live to boast about it.

Addendum: Note that DEM doesn't actually need Marion to be effective, DEM with Marion helps offset FAW's drain, but DEM itself will add a nice chunk of DPS.

[Endeavour]

I've had my character copied over to Tribble to play about with. I've just redone the skill tree, similar to what I last linked but taking on some of the advice. Any suggestions as to where I could cut down some points and spent in other areas?



I'll do the Boff layout tomorrow, and hopefully have time to outfit the ship.

[Dark]

Performance skills should generally never exceed Rank 6. The difference between Rank 6 and Rank 9 is like 2 power, not really worth it. Drop Warp Core Efficiency to Rank 6 as well, you'll get almost nothing useful out of Rank 7 compared to Rank 6.

Armor Reinforcements and Hull Plating should never exceed Rank 6 due to how damage resistance magnitude, especially if you intend to carry an armor console. I'm an Engineering captain in a JHEC who occasionally ends up unintentionally tanking, and I found Rank 3 in both with a Fleet Neutronium to be sufficient.

That would free up enough points to crank up Threat Control, which would also give you damage resistance anyway. 6 ranks should be enough if you're doing Aux2Bat with DEM (with either cannons for the fire rate, or beams with Fire At Will for the fire rate) you'll do good damage.

I personally don't find a use for Inertial Dampers if you don't PvP. When the Borg/Tholians tractor me, I tend to be pointed at them anyway, so I just shrug and continue firing. I actually get more use out of Power Insulators because of the Tholian power drain and the Borg Gateway's shield drain.

If possible, I'd take Starship Targeting Systems to Rank 9, because Accuracy is always desired and not easy to attain. It's also never wasted since excess Accuracy flows into CrtX. Starship Maneuvers likewise gives Defense, which is also difficult to otherwise attain.

If you're sticking with beams, I'd recommend shelling out for the Regent if you have the spare cash so you can pick up a wide angle quantum torpedo launcher, it's delicious for broadsides. With Aux2Bat and Tech DOffs your FAW will be on global cooldown most of the time anyway, so your BO will sit idle. (Or you'll be using BO and your FAW will be idle.) If you have a torpedo, you can carry a TS or THY instead, and fire that every 15s.