[Arkainjel]

So after doing a DPS escort (AP DHCs), DPS cruiser (andorian phasers), and DPS sci ship (Rom Plas eventually), I wanted to build a tank-oriented ship. I chose the Voth Bastion since it has a nifty invulnerability button (console) and allowed to me run sci heavy with Gravity Well to provide some control.

I've toyed with several ideas but have been leaning towards using polaron weapons, specifically polaron disruptors to get the dbl proc going. I'm a beamboat with 7 beam arrays and 1 kinetic cutting beam. It uses FAW with a 50% chance of CD doff and a plasmonic leech console. I am currently spec'd into flow caps but plan to use +shield emitter sci consoles instead of the +flow cap ones.

The others I've considered include Voth Antiproton (25% chance to have target deal 9.1% less damage on a critical hit) as well as tetryon or romulan plasma. Please keep in mind this is a tanky build so I'm not looking to do max dps. Instead, I'd like to supplement the tankiness of my ship with debuffing type weapons if its plausible to do so.

I'm interested in hearing everyone's perspective. I've tried to read a lot into this and have been running regular white polarons for over a week now to try and get a feel for the weapon type. If I'm feeling up to it, I'll toy with tetryon for the next few days. Anyways, I look forward to reading your replies!!

-- Ark

[ForTheGamer]

For best damage, you'll want either Antiproton that solely improve critical hit/severity or New Romulan Plasma Weapons (due to the science Embassy consoles).

If you want fun procs, the Disruptors and Polarons are probably the ones to go with. Or as you say, the double procs of Polaron Disruptors.

Finally, if you want stuff that you can cause havoc for procs, you can go Tetryon and Phaser. There's the Refracting Tetryon provided by one of the Cardassian Episodes (which need to be revamped), which allow for 10% chance to damage shields. Phasers actually can be highly effective if you bump up Starship Decompiler as it increases the downtime for systems taken offline (tooltip I don't think shows the increase but its there). The only downside to doing Phaser, is that its based on a 2.5% chance which is quite silly to build up a single skill for it.

The idea you have though is sound, and it likely would be a good build. Work on a rough sketch and then post it here and we'll see if we can help you tidy it up.

[Arkainjel]

I went something like this:

1 2 3 4
Eng EPtW1 RSP1 EPtS3 Aux2SIF3
Sci HE TSS2 GW1 x
Tac TT BFAW2 x x
Sci HE TSS2 x x
Tac TT x x x

It's been working great and I generate somewhere around 4K dps with white MK XI polaron beam arrays. I'm slowly adding to it but it is very new still. I use the reduce CD on EPtX use thus uptime on me EPtX are almost 100%, the GW doff, and the BFAW CD doff. I'm a klingon Eng captain using nausicaans. I plan to use 2-piece borg for hull healing, elite fleet shield and warp core, crit consoles, the +shield emitter +threat sci consoles, plasmonic, invulnerability console, assimilated console, which leaves only 1 console spot left. For this I was thinking zero-point to boost DPS but was also considering the shield thingee from that klingon ship, but its name escapes me right now. Alternatively, I could use a neutronium console with +something =).

I think that's all the info that's pertinent to the build. Have at it!

As I mentioned before, DPS is not the goal but survivability in obscene situations. I estimate I'll reach 6k once the build is complete which is still more than enough for the current content.

[Dark]

I'd like to note that there's a difference between "tank" and "survivability in obscene situations". A tank takes aggro, holds it, and survives it. Taking and holding aggro requires DPS. In any case, I have a few suggestions.

You have two copies of Hazard Emitters, which means it's available after 30 seconds instead of after 45 seconds. Since it lasts 15 seconds, you could have 50% uptime on that. It seems excessive to me, considering you'll be firing Aux2SIF3 every 15 seconds, and as an Engineer you still have Miracle Worker on the odd times your hull dips. Not sure what you can swap it with though, guess there's always Polarize Hull?

Given how many hull heals you have, I'd recommend the Jem'Hadar deflector and engine for +13.1% Polaron damage. That deflector gives bonuses to Starship Flow Capacitors, Starship Inertial Dampeners, and Starship Graviton Generators among other things. Flow Capacitors help the Leech console, Inertial Dampeners help against the Undine snotballs, and Graviton Generators help Grav Well a bit.

You also have two TSS2s, which is really excessive considering you have RSP, EPtS3, Miracle Worker, and your curiser's Shield Frequency Modulation. There's no shared cooldowns among different teams anymore, so I would recommend you swap one for Science Team 2. It'll diversify the shield heals you have (heal over time, regen, one-shot, etc.) and give you a debuff cleanse.

Now, speaking as an Engineering Captain flying a Jem Dreadnaught Carrier, I don't think you need two copies of both HE and TSS, especially considering they're both Heal over Time abilities. There's going to be very few situations where having them available 15 seconds earlier would make a difference.

I would actually recommend putting an engineer in that LT slot instead. Then you could carry a second copy of EPtW1 and EPtS2, allowing you 100% uptime of EPtW and EPtS without use of DOffs. The reason I like that is because it frees up slots for Shield Distribution DOffs. Slot in 2-3 of those, and suddenly Brace for Impact is a very good shield heal.

[Arkainjel]

I chose to have 2x HE to provide me with some extra heals/cleansing of various burns. I find myself using aux2sif on my pets and others keeping them alive.
Great point on the jem'hadar set. I saw it but looked over it in favor of consistent hull heals from the borg set.

I toyed with ST and TSS before and it is super useful to cleanse the borg shield debuff thing but otherwise I found the double stack of shield damage mitigation b/tw EPtS and TSS to be better. If I did opt for ST, I'd want the 2 doffs and I do not have room for them as my 6th doff slot will go to the 2nd BFAW.

I find the my shields take a lot of beatings and I only use miracle worker as a last resort. Having the extra heals allows me to heal up my allies as well and I never feel like I'm in a bind. I do not use the shield frequency from the ship I use the draw aggro one.

Double HE and TSS gives me some extra flexibility with healing others. In effect, I'm a tank that holds aggro, does DPS, and heals.

And I do use the BFI doffs on other toons and find it to be useful. For this build however, as you mentioned, I have excessive shield heals already so I went with my build above.

Thanks so much for your input!

[Dark]

Ah, if you're healing others like we're supposed to, double HE/TSS is no longer excessive.

Are you not changing cruiser commands to match the scenario? Usually Strategic Maneuvering to get in position, Weapon System Efficiency before using FAW, Shield Frequency Modulation if your shields are in trouble, and Attract Fire to gain threat the rest of the time. The cooldown isn't that long.

[Arkainjel]

The Bastion only comes with shield frequency and the attract fire. If I don't want to tank I use the shield one, otherwise I leave the other up to maintain aggro so escorts aren't getting blown up

EDIT for clarity: Forgot to mention that the polaron disruptors are base damage type disruptor so the Jem'hadar set wouldn't be useful if I chose that damage type.

[Dark]

Ah, thought you were using Polarons.

Disruptor weapons have a lot more toys. The Undine rep set of weapons include a Disruptor turret, and if you get one more piece you'll have a +7.5% damage bonus. The cannon and console from the Silent Enemy set is also worth looking into for even more bonuses.

I personally will usually use the full Borg set when I fly big tanky ships like cruisers or carriers. The tractor beam is a nice bit of extra damage, and the shield heal procs rather reliably. The innate hull strength and abundance of shield heals means the lower shield capacity hasn't been an issue.

[Arkainjel]

I still haven't decided....!!! I'm so eager to just pick but I want to make a sound decision. I realize that it really doesn't matter and I'll be fine with whatever but it's a hard choice.

As for consoles, I have space for one more so I could do the silent enemy set but the weapon I'd choose only has 180 degrees of firing arc. The Undine console could be neat especially with the accuracy bonus; did they change the damage bonus? I thought it was 15%.

I thought about the Borg set as well. Most people say how regenerative shields aren't good but for longer sustained fights I believe they are the best. I use a fleet regenerative shield on my aux2batt facr and find it to be fantastic. Given that this ship will be tanking a lot of things at the same time, I felt the fleet shield would be preferable to I'd likely stop at the 2-[iece. Having said that, I do want to try your choice.