[Ross]

Hi everyone. I have been playing STO for several months and have finally learned most of the basics. I am playing with a Fed Tactical character and this is what I am flying in:

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=presidio_9790

I am currently putting out 12K DPS, but I think this build can be improved (currently grinding out the Nukara 2-piece set) and, given certain tweaks, can certainly push 30-40K DPS. Any and all advice and or tweaks are appreciated.

PS. I think my DPS is also limited by the way I am flying the ship, not just the build, but I never found a comprehensive guide on how to best fly a ship (i.e. optimal distance to target given ship and weapons layout, best/quickest way to select targets, key-binding - saw some guides on that, none that really break down what abilities are fired in what order, etc.) Any advice/help with the actual piloting are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the help and tips.

[Dark]

What are your DOffs? Parts of your build are either good or bad depending on what DOffs you're running.

Regardless, as for piloting:
Get as close to your targets as possible to minimize range drop off, and get to your targets as quickly as possible to minimize downtime.
I control my ship with WASD, move the camera with my mouse, and select targets when necessary by clicking. I say "when necessary" because if I center the camera on a target, it'll generally select that target anyway.

Binding, you want to make sure you're NOT spamming everything - Distribute_Shields should definitely not be spammed, and if you've got 2xTT it doesn't even need to be used.

(You shouldn't have 2xTT on this ship, but use Conn DOffs to reduce the TT cooldown so you can add in another FAW.)

Buffs you cycle can be "spammed" since they have cooldowns anyway and won't prevent your firing cycles from going, namely things like EPtS, EPtW. TT should always be the last of these things to spam, and ideally last and during a firing cycle because between the activation and cooldown it takes a full second before you can activate something else (or start a new firing cycle).
Offensive abilities should never be randomly spammed, but properly paired up. For example, 2xAPB has 15s between them while 2xFAW has 20s between them. You'd fire FAW&APB every 20s in that case.

[Ross]

Dark, thanks for the guidance. As far as doffs:
Marion
3 DCEs-2 purple, one blue
1 matter-antimatter specilaist for Aux2Damp
1 Conn officer, purple

[Dark]

Is that Conn a Zemok, or a Tac Team reducer?

Either way, getting a 2nd FAW means FAW every 20s instead of every 30s, an increase of 50% (3/min vs 2/min).

[Ross]

No Zemok, tac team reducer.

[Ross]

Dark, equipment wise, is Nukara 2-piece the way to go?

[Dark]

If you have no Zemok, drop the APO1.

Grab a 2nd Conn DOff over the blue DCE - two purple DCEs is generally considered sufficient with (iirc) a ~3% chance of the cycle failing. This would allow you to go:

FAW1/APB1/FAW3
TT1/APB1

Pre-Iconian Rep meta is Romulan Engines (since there's constant Attack Patterns in use) with Nukara Deflector/Shields (Resilient shields are good, 2-piece bonus) with Fleet core with [AMP]. Post-Iconian Rep however, there's conjecture that Romulan Engines with 3-piece Iconian (need to get Warp Core the upgrade inquality and pick up [AMP]) may be better.

So you can either aim for the current best, or see if the Iconian rep changes anything. AFAIK nobody's at T5 yet though, so nobody can parse and confirm.

[Ross]

Dark, I got lucky and have the following doffs: Zemok, Dusty Reinaldo Toguchi - FAW CD reduction, Keel'el - remove debuffs when using Aux power, and a purple DCE. I slotted in Zemok and Dusty and have no space Keel'el or the 2nd DCE. Your thoughts?

[Dark]

Holy crap. Well, with Zemok you'd go with APO3 instead of APB3. That's a 40mil DOff right there.

The FAW DOff is pretty much useless. FAW has a 20s Duplicate Ability Cooldown, and a Cooldown of 30s. With two copies (FAW1 and FAW3) you're already at the minimum cooldown. Use a 2nd DCE instead, because just 1 is very unreliable (imo).

When you can afford a 6th Active slot (something like 100k Fleet Credits at the Spire) you may consider adding Keel'el (which is a debuff cleanse when using Emergency Power abilities).

[Ross]

I have the 6 active slots with the following DOFFS:
1. Marion
2. Purple Conn
3. Zemok
4. Purple DCE
5. Purple Matter-Antimatter Specialist (for aux2damp)
6. Energy Weapons Specialist - reduced FAW CD.

I will slot in a second DCE insted of EWS. Unless you have other advice.

Another question - please let me know if you advise I respec. I think I need to, just not sure the best way to do so.

And lastly, what traits do you advise:

1. Ship traits
2. Captain traits
3. Passive rep traits

[Dark]

Nope, that's my recommendation.

1. Uh, this really depends on what you have. I usually don't have a lot of options. All Hands On Deck (Presdio), Supremacy (Astika), and Improved Predictive Algorithims (Intel spec) come to mind, but I don't really recall anything else where I'd actually seek out to master the ship for it. I believe the Command spec one allowing for Fleet Support to be called without needing to be under 50% hull is useful, but I don't have it.

2. Again, we don't usually have much of a choice. The neat things tend to be purchased, of those I rather like Helmsman which increases turning rate and decreases the cooldown on Evasive Maneuvers. Wing Commander is nice as well, but may not be worth whatever it costs now. Same applies to Inspirational Leader.

3. Don't recall which reputations they come from, but you want the +Critical Chance (NOT the one that resets upon a crit), +Critical Severity, and the Nukara Offense one that scales with Aux power. 4th one, I'm personally running the new Iconian "heal damage dealt" one, but that's because my Scimitar is less tough than a Presidio. You'd likely to do better with the armor penetration one.

As for your skills...

Weapon Performance should be dropped to 6, same with Warp Core Efficiency. Getting hit hard by diminishing returns there. Hull Plating doesn't need more htan 3, and you should get your Aux power up to 6 (powers that Nukara trait and other things, y'know). I'd then toss whatever loose points into Driver Coil - it's not just a quality of life improvement in sector space, the reduction in drain during Full Impulse does improve combat performance. EPS can be safely maxed out if you have the points for it, helps with Overcapping.

[Ross]

Thanks Dark!

Due to lack of Cmdr tac seating on the Presidio, what seating is best for LtCdr tac slot:

1. FAW1/APB1/FAW3
2. FAW1/FAW2/APO1
3. FAW1/FAW2/APB2

[Dark]

Without Zemok, I'd go:
FAW1/APB1/FAW3
TT1/APB1

With Zemok, I'd go:
FAW1/FAW2/APO1
TT1/APB1

Not worth buying a Zemok just for that tiny upgrade, though. I'd actually want a 2nd purple Conn DOff to bring TT's cooldown to minimum.

[Shiff]

So many acronyms. What does DCE mean? Is there a guide to STO acronyms I can bookmark?

[Ross]

LOL. I had to read a lot of forums to get the acronyms (still don't understand half of them). DCE stands for damage control engineer. Very rare purple DCE duty officer with the ability to reduce cool downs for emergency power to subsystems