[Ariotex]

I have accumulated a few free ship coupons for bothT5 and T6 ships, PLUS I have a few T5 infinity lockbox thingies. There really aren't any ships that jump right out at me (other than maybe thee T6 to replace T5 in my signature, but I would rather buy the whole pack than use a coupon for just 1 of them) so I, requesting opinions from the most STO knowledgeable group of people I know. The question is...

"What ship(s) would you consider the one that the is "must have" ship of the bunch ?"

I'm actually looking for around 4 opinions.
A little background about my preferred play style as that might make a difference in the opinions given. Although I use all types, I really like flying Escort class, really anything with a fast enough turn rate to make good use of dual heavy cannons or dual beams (cannons preferred). And since having to use it for my KDF recruit, I really like having a combat cloak, but I'm definitely not hooked on cloaking, I just like it...a lot. Besides that, I like hangar pets too, other than that I haven't found enough of a difference between Tac/Sci/Eng to really have a preference.

First off is the "account bound" free ship coupons. Since we can now fly any Factions ships (I believe) that makes it a lot easier.

What is the "must have" T5 ship, and is that because it has a "must have" console, or just because it is that great of a ship.
and
Same question for T6

Then there's the Infinity prize packs. I actually took the time and looked at the exchange prices for every T5 ship,a long process, and the only one listed at a good price was the Vo'quv. It was selling (listed) for 65M and up. So I selected it, posted mine at 64M +, and lo and behold, within minutes, my price was undercut by a few mil. I left mine up, checked back every now and by the end of that same day, they were listed for just over 3M. And it wasn't just a couple, lots of them now listed at 3m or so. With none of the T5s selling for a decent amount, I decided I would just keep the dang things for myself.

So, the question here is again, what is the "must have" infinity T5 (and maybe a quick blurb as to why)? Being character bound and not account wide, if it's a must have because of a special console or weapon type unlock etc, that would help me decide which of my dozens of alts to give it to.

If I ever get lucky enough to get a infinity T6, there's no question, that one is getting sold. I haven't tracked them at all but I believe T6 lockbox ships are still so outrageously priced that it still takes money plus a bunch of keys to get one, and although I'm not exactly poor, I'm definitely not even close to being space rich either.

[Bridger]

Withering Barrage from Legendary Defiant Pilot Warship, Valiant Tactical Escort, Kor Bird-of-Prey, Legendary B'rel Bird-of-Prey, M'Chla Bird-of-Prey Refit, Legendary T'liss Light Intel Warbird, Malem Light Warbird (Extends CSV to max uptime)

Vanguard Specialists and Go for the Kill from Legendary Jem'Hadar Attack Ship (Vanguard Specialists is a must for Surgical Strikes and Recursive Shearing and Go for the Kill will make your CRF fire nonestop)

Emergency Weapon Cycle from Arbiter Battle Cruiser, Kurak Battlecruiser, Morrigu Heavy Warbird (Haste more shots more Damage, less weapons power cost)

Calm Before the Storm from Cardassian Ghemor Intel Flight Deck Carrier (Haste more shots more Damage)

Agony Redistributor from Terran Adamant Heavy Raider (Massive DPS Boost)

Temporal Trajectory Shifter from Narendra Support Cruiser, Vor'ral Support Battlecruiser, Legendary Ambassador Intel Support Cruiser, Legendary Vor'cha Command Support Battlecruiser (Haste more shots more Damage)

[Taku]

If you want regular account-wide T6 Escorts (Not some "Got to buy a 12-pack to get it" ship), try the Pilot Warbirds. The turning rate is there, the Romulan Battle Cloak is there, the 5/2/X front-loaded cannon setup is there. They come in three flavors, TAC/ENG/SCI. The SCI version puts a LtCommander SCI BOff seat at your disposal. There are Klingon and FED versions, but the Romulan ones are probably the best of the bunch. They also get the Singularity Core abilities. And they look cool.

If you've never run with Pilot abilities, get a SCI Pilot Warbird/Escort/(whatever the Klingon version is called - Raptor?) and practice.

If you decide to get a Pilot, get a Vengeance if you have the Lobi. Broadside Emitters do wonders on a ship that can drift.

Quad cannons are also a nice touch.
• Phaser: Sao Paulo tactical Escort Refit [T4]
• Plasma: Ar'kala Tactical Warbird [T4]
• Disruptor: Ning'tao BoP [T3]

• Agony Phaser: Terran Adamant Heavy Raider [T6] (12th Anniversary Legendary Bundle only)
• Polaron: Legendary Jem'Hadar Vanguard Pilot Attack Ship [T6] (Dominion Legendary Bundle only)

But I'm biased. I fly a SCI Warbird myself loaded with Ba'Ul bouncy Beams. It's fun.

[Ariotex]

It seems that anything from a "Legendary" is out. Legendaries are only available if you buy the entire bundle. Some of the ships I already have, although all of the suggested ones help out. 3 accounts that are basically mainly one each Fed, KDF and Rom, at least as far as Zen ships that got purchased over the years. So, I thank you both for all suggestions.

Right now I'm seriously looking at the M'Chala and the Adamant. Mostly because, although I love the sounds of how much fun a Pilot ship would be, picking up a trait and a console would give me something really useful no matter what ship I fly. Then again, I think I have a few infinity starship trait boxes stashed on one of the accounts (I have a lot of those danged infinity choice boxes stashed away, I've been too lazy to price everything and haven't, until now, had anything jump out at me that I want to keep. I've actually been thinking about posting another opinion piece about what to do with all those dang choice boxes)

[Jestersmith]

M'Chala you get free when the Klingon Recruitment event is on so do not waste a ship token on that one I would say.

https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...ruitment+Event

[darthnovawave]

The Adamant is a fun ship. The trait from it is rubbish, but the console can be really powerful and it is fleet-level straight from the store. The ship itself is is really nice though as it has raider flanking and can be set up to run CRF, CSV, FAW, BO, or SS3 builds, and it has a battle cloak.

The M'Chla from the C store isn't a bad one either, but not quite as powerful and requires a fleet ship buy if you want the "best" version of it. The weapons layout isn't as good, the specialist seating is all pilot which isn't helpful, and the console isn't great, but "Strike from Shadows" is a good versatile trait for most builds and zipping around in pilot ships can be fun to fly. The M'Chla Refit from the Klingon recruitment event is a different one that comes with the Withering Barrage trait.

[Ariotex]

Why can't they name things correctly in STO ? I had to go back and check and sure enough, the T6 ship that is free (and an account unlock) for KDF recruits, in game, is just called T6 Bird of Prey and not M'chala refit so I didn't recognize the name. However, it does say that it has the Withering Barrage trait. Something I probably would have known if I hadn't traded the BOP for the free Temer Raider the moment it was available. Many, many thanks Jestersmith.

[Remsus]

M'Chala you get free when the Klingon Recruitment event is on so do not waste a ship token on that one I would say.

https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...ruitment+Event

You have to max out one KDF toon per account to lvl 65, for the free FED toon Klingon ships‘ unlock. In case you haven’t done this in the past.

[Ariotex]

Other than some low level box opening alts, pretty much all of my toons are lvl 65. Although a whole bunch of them haven't done much more than finishing the tutorial, and then a few equipment runs. I used doffing and Admiraltiy to level them up so I could use my good ships I paid all that money for. That way I could grab Sci ships as I leveled for Admiralty but I wouldn't be stuck having to actually fly nothing but Sci..
And then they came up with "scaling ships" go figure If Ihad known they were going to do that, I would have just waited to level them so I wouldn't be running all the low level missions in an " over powered " lvl 65.

I'm hoping they come up with a new type of recruit event. Like I did with my KDF recruits, I plan on leveling any new alts running with nothing but drops as I go, other than using a scaling ship, no skipping ahead to grab gear etc next time.
Even now one of my KDF alts is running with relatively cruddy armor and shields for my away team, haven't had much luck with drops on that one 😳 😕

[Jestersmith]

For ground gear use what drops till you get to where you can pick up mission gear, I would not worry too much the mission reward gear is a very good placeholder till you have rep gears fully unlocked.

Get yourself the following and you will be good

Risian Kit from summer event at a cost of 1000 Lohlunhat favours. this requires re-engineering before upgrading to get the correct mods.

Romulan Imperial Navy Kit can be used as a full set from mission uneasy allies

Na'Kuhl Temporal Operative kit is better used as a 2-piece set using shield and weapon from mission temporal front.

Once you have the above on both I would then split your ground gear and use the Romulan Navy Kit and Armour and the Na'Kuhl Shield and Weapon this gives you access to the 2-set bonus on both and the kit gives you a +20% Plasma Damage bonus you can use any Plasma weapon but for running like this I find the vendor bought ones at new from flotilla or the sphere are best Plasma Wide Beam is one I have used in the past

If you haven't got any event ground gear unlocked keep an eye on the future events and if it's ground gear jump on them as they are normally useable at lower levels and the recent Kuumaarke and Imperial Assault sets are reasonably decent to use

Get yourself a TR116 or decent melee for borg encounters and you will find that you are good to go.

[Petrarch]

I'll give a shout to some of the lobi weapons too, these will scale up with your character then turn into MKXII when you initially go to upgrade them. The 2285 Compression Pistol is a nice weapon (you can get an account unlocked version of this with the Genesis bundle, but I don't know if that one can be upgraded) but the 3 "god tier" weapons you'll normally hear talked about are the Herald Staff, the Discovery Full Auto Rifle and the Lower Decks Portable Phaser Cannon. The Herald staff is antiproton, the rest are phaser weapons.

The Boolean Cannon is loved by many also, (disruptor damage) but I find it a bit too slow for my tastes.

[Heyallo]

I personally love the Enterprise Phase Pistol and the MACO Rifle, but I've used all the ones Petrarch listed as well, that LD Phaser Cannon though, if you ever wanted to just yell "geeet reeeeeekt" constantly, that's the weapon for you lol

[Ricwin]

Romulan Imperial Navy Kit can be used as a full set from mission uneasy allies

Na'Kuhl Temporal Operative kit is better used as a 2-piece set using shield and weapon from mission temporal front.

Get yourself a TR116 or decent melee for borg encounters and you will find that you are good to go.

Thats pretty much my go to Crouch-Crit build:
2 piece Rom Navy, 2 piece Na'Kuhl, and a TR-116B.

[Ariotex]

Lots of wonderful advice to think through.
I do already run the Herald staff. Ever since I first used one, it's been my go to weapon, sniper rifle like range and chaining damage, I just love it. Although I haven't, for reasons unknown even to me, given my away team any, I do have a small collection of Tr 116s. One of my alts that can craft them is also at lvl 20 for crafting so every now and then I have him craft another. Been lucky and gotten a few URs so far but I already gave those to one of my other toons, and I just don't have the motivation to go through 50+ alts trying to find them. Time to get back to crafting them because none of my KDF recruits have gotten to the Borg yet, and having a bunch of UR 116s would be really nice when they do.

I'll have to skip any new Lobi items for now though. Due to health problems along with a heavy work load, I haven't been on near enough lately and I'm going to end up having to use Lobi to finish off the Risa event, although I'm not real sure that the ship is truly worth it as I'm going to be looking at needing several hundred Lobi. That's part of why I mentioned having all those Inf choice boxes sitting around, I already opened quite a few boxes (I figured, why wait, I have the keys and I don't need to sell them for EC right now so....) Not having anything I really needed to use it for, I've been spending my LTS stipend on the key ring bundles when they come up, so I've got a bunch of keys I can spread through the 3 accounts, and on my LTS account, I have a small stockpile of Ultimate tech upgrades too

I'll definitely have to look at that Risian kit, although the last time I looked, the favors were kinda pricey, I've got nothing else I need to spend EC on right now, and I definitely don't have the time to actually earn that many favors.