[DeWolfe]

Hi everyone,

apologies for the thread name. I wasn't sure how to present this. I've been away awhile and since getting back been doing a play through from start for a Fed Engineer to get my bearings back. However a problem that plagued me nearly two years ago is still getting me killed a lot in STO today.

Mogai Escorts and D'ds rip apart my cruiser in the Fed Romulan Campaign Episodes, I am much wiser in my build and instead of playing a skittle boat I stuck with Phasers, utilizing my leveling Collector edition retrofits along with the highest MK Phaser beams I can get at my level. I spec'd my Captain and BOFFs to Healing and Energy output buffs along with Beam overload II and Fire at Will I - so unlike last time I'm not so easily taken out but not too long into a battle Attack Pattern Alpha on a Mogai or some sort of canon barrage from a D'd either critically damages me or kills me outright on average I can get them to 40-30% of their health before I core breach. I'm using several anti Disruptor and plasma armors and a captain level [reg][dis] shield. Also D'd viral matrix is annoying.

So, I was hoping you would all provide me with a bit of analysis on the PvE enemies as in what their usual armaments are and the best counters. And in return I'll make a nice graphic showing their Rock,Paper,Scissors relationship and using that information that allows for easy referencing for all of us in the future and aid any new players.

[Renold]

Check out the STO Wiki. Make sure your shields and ship armor protect the enemies your fighting. And make sure you have some consoles that up your recharge and max shield power. The wiki haves everything you need. including the best shields against a spock or lizard attack.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Main_Page

[Dark]

There is no rock-scissors-paper relationship. Energy types rarely matter, especially if you're not min/maxing endgame builds against specific encounters (which seems a waste of time to me).

If you're in a cruiser you should have sufficient engineering stations to have two copies of EPtS3 (or if you're in a lower tier ship, at the highest level possible), which will keep your shields hardened and regenerating. Then you grab two copies of EPtW1 to keep your weapon power high. Those four abilities are constantly triggered upon cooldown, for 100% (or 99.99%) uptime of both EPtW1 and EPtS3.

Then you should still have room for Aux2Struct3, which should be constantly spammed (15s cooldown). That will keep your hull up (every 15s) and increase your hull resistance by a respectable amount (10s of resist, every 15s).

Ditch Beam Overload because it doesn't increase your DPS, all it does is front load it. Not useful in PvE. Make sure you're carrying a copy of Tac Team 1. Either use Duty Officers to reduce the cooldown of TT1 so you can spam it, or carry Eng Team 1 and use the two teams reactively. Trigger TT1 if you're boarded or if you can't redistribute shields fast enough, ET1 as a heal.

You should have Hazard Emitters 1 as a solid heal and debuff remover, and Transfer Shield Strength (3 if possible) as your shield heal.

My Guide is a bit out of date, but in this context (since we're not talking about endgame reputation systems) it is still useful.

Make sure you're flying with 100 Weapon/50 Shield/25 Engine/25 Aux power settings, because 8 Beam Arrays (for a full broadside) has a hefty weapon power drain. Lastly, check the Fleet Bank for anything good you can use.

[DeWolfe]

I see. This explains why I haven't seen the weapons relationship summed up in a graphic before. You two have given me some great advice and good resources for me to paruse. Thank you Mr. Renold and Mr. Dark.

[DeWolfe]

Based on the resources I've investigated I have found the best weapon loadout for my cruiser is a Plasma-Disruptor Hybrid beam boat with 1x tricobolt and 1x hargh'peng.

By getting[Pla][Dis] Hybrids I can take advantage of the Dis DPS and resistance debuff and the [Pla] continuous hull damage. Plus by using the hybrids I can equip for both dis and pla without worrying about diminishing returns by stocking up on one or the other.

"Lose the Tricobolt." I hear you say but with high yield torpedo its a great weapon for clustered enemies.

"Get rid of the hargh'peng"
Most people say its useless but I have found it to be one of the most useful torpedoes in a PvE team. The secondary explosion is so useful in both damaging the main ship, its surrounding friends but most useful is how it takes out any fighters or projectiles around it. Hitting the big Borg sausage rolls in the RA events with one of these is extremely handy because when the secondary explosion goes off it saves heaps of team mates from targeting projectiles.

[Gillion]

While equipment is important, at low levels positioning is also very important. It may be a little difficult in a cruiser, but if at all possible keep moving and try and get on the sides or even behind the Romulan ships. Most of their firepower is forward facing, so if you can get around them, you will have a much easier time. Also just to be on the safe side, when facing a D'D, try and stay far away from it because it likes to fire 3 High Yield Plasma torpedoes in a row, and those will ruin your day if you get hit by them, so make sure to shoot them down.

[Dark]

It's easiest to deal with heavy plasma torps (from Romulans or the Borg) by keeping Fire At Will on reserve until they do. That will handle those without much effort on your part.

FAW actually boosts damage against one or two targets higher than Cannon Scatter Volley or Beam Overload, though with more than two targets in range it'll drop significantly. A far better power to have on hand than Beam Overload, anyway.