[Polie]

Back in my day for a tac it was all about dhc bug ships, or the occasional dbb bo3 build, if you can manage power; but these days in stfs I see most peeps running beam boats? What are all running and can someone drop some knowledge on these "expansions"?

Also, my old rug boasts still good?

1) Recluse
2) OG templorer ships
3)bug ships
4)galore
5) pigs (feringie)
6)odysseys (got the 3 pack)
7) and a few others I forgot.

Wish there was an easy way to pull a complete list of officers and ships. About went crazy figuring out how they crapped on the bridge officers today. I mean seriously, I have to buy traing books???? Btw, gotta find some bo3 books. At least I did find the doff missions. Got my lv 50's up quite a bit just being afk while at work lol



Ps please forgive any spelling/grammar. Very tired and a couple of beers.

[darthnovawave]

Usually these days it is less about the boat and more about the build, but chances are if you had a solid build back in the day you probably have at least a passable build now. Beam boats are pretty popular and relatively speaking take the least piloting skill since the fire arcs are very forgiving, but a skilled pilot with a well equipped cannon, space wizard, or a torp boat will probably outperform you on the dps charts. That said, a beam array boat can still turn in a 100K+ dps run in ISA if built properly, which is probably good enough to run just about any content you want to try to run.

Due to changes in how power management works a while back, gearing for power management is generally suboptimal these days. Mostly you want to look for gear that provides [DMG] and/or [CritD] mods for weapons builds and look for [EPG] and [CtrlX] mods (again, power management changes made drain-based builds not as useful as control builds), plus any additional damage boosts you can find from other gear. Beyond that, there are so many options out there today that creating a comprehensive guide is tough, but there are sample builds here on our forums, an STObuilds subreddit, and other sites like DPS League that offer plenty of suggestions.

Best advise I can offer though...is to find a ship that you like and build it the way that is most fun for you.

[Polie]

So...time to junk all my accx3 weps lol. Man it is soooooo different with officer passives as well. All my builds are pvp "nope" builds or control and dumping massive heals. I may go back to beam boats. Really like my Recluse, are they non- optimal these days? No need to run all rcs consoles and accx3 dhc any more lol

[darthnovawave]

Yeah, mods and console choices are probably the 2 things that have changed most quickly over the past few years. Before you dump your current gear, they also added a "re-engineering" mechanic to the game a while back that lets you reroll the mods on a lot of gear. If you are looking for a budget friendly option instead of doing all the rep grinds and exchange and lobi store shopping for the "best" stuff, you might be able to just turn some trash loot into "salvage" (the patrols are good for quick piles of trash), then spend some salvage and a bit of dilithium to give your current stuff a quick boost.

As far as the Recluse, you don't see a ton of Tholian ships these days, but they aren't unheard of either. Most people try to snag T6 ships and fly whatever they can afford from the events/c-store/exchange/lobi store and run those, as they boast better stats, slots, and seating than T5/T5-U ships. Aside from the event series going on now that will award either a T6 coupon and a little lobi, or enough lobi to buy a lobi ship outright, the next freebie T6 will likely be the Risan science ship for the upcoming summer event.

[Taku]

Personally I run a DHC T6 Science Pilot Escort. It's not an optimal DeePS ship, and I chose entirely the wrong energy type [AntiProton], I don't have the right Duty Officer mods, my consoles are suboptimal, and my power systems are all wrong.

Still, I love the way my ship works and I like the way it flies and I like the way it deals damage. Every once in a while I jump into a cruiser or a destroyer or a carrier or even another escort and it just doesn't feel like 'me' in there. I have found my ship, and no amount of advice or cajoling is going to get me out of it.

That's what you want to find. Like Darth said - Find what works for you. Find what you like. Build around that. I found antiproton weapons when I got ahold of a Herald Antiproton Beam Array. I liked the way the beam looked, and I have used antiproton weapons ever since. Even my ground weapons are antiproton. It goes against the current meta of the game but it makes me happy.

Some things to consider:
Lobi store items, lockbox items, Rep gear, and mission gear are typically 'bound to character' either on pickup or equip. Other gear is usually 'bound to account' and can be moved from toon to toon.
Romulan and Jem'Hadar T6 ships are cross-faction. So if there's a Romulan version of that Federation or KDF T6 ship that you just have to have, get the Romulan version and it will unlock for all three factions (FED, KDF, and ROM).
Try stuff. See what works for you. Ask questions when you need help. Someone will probably have an answer. It may not be a GOOD answer (like this is not a GOOD answer), but it still can't hurt to ask.

But mostly, find your best way to have fun.

And never forget: "Space Barbie is the true endgame."