[Ariotex]

I have 3 KDF recruits that still need to complete the "Hunter's Instinct" objective (2,500 kills after ambushing from cloak). And 2 of them still need 1,000 +

Since all I have to do is damage them during the "ambush time" after decloaking, I currently run with a Dual heavy cannon setup (with 1 of them a wide arc, I've been lucky in crafting them at UR instead of VR). However with large groups of enemies, trying to make sure I hit them all during the relatively short ambush window of time can be a pain especially with the narrow firing arc of dual heavies. So, I was thinking of going with standard cannons just until I finish off the Ambush objective.

My only concern is that the drop in DPS might make survival a real pain. Of course I have also though of going with more survivable ships, where the decrease in turn rate might be offset by the wider firing arc.

Has anyone ever tried a comparison between standard cannons and dual heavies along those lines ? And if so, what is your opinion of the idea ?

Or would I just be better off going with beams until I finish off the objective. I've already got full sets of (mostly) epic beams I can borrow from my other toons.

And a last wild hair idea, way back when, as in many years ago, I read a thread somewhere where someone had actually tried running a big boat with all turrets and supposedly got really decent results.

Of course once I finish off the Ambush objectives I'm going back to my Dual heavies. It is just SO satisfying watching ships melt away in no time under the sheer amount of damage that mass cannon fire put out. It' so pretty that I still take my T5U Andorian ship out so I have the wing cannons also, the sheer volume of cannon fire is absolutely gorgeous !!!!! Dam, just thinking about that and typing it just now, I almost convinced my self to break down and buy the T6 Andorian pack, a T6U Andorian Escort running with the wing cannons would be SO wonderful. What sucks is that I got the T5 pack on one of the non LTS accounts instead of my main account. No problem at the time because that was my wife's account and she still played every now and then. I don't really want to spend any more real money on anything but my main LTS account anymore so it would actually mean having to buy both the T5 and the T6 ship packs.

Any rich UFP members want to buy me a couple of ship packs ??

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and totally off topic. Is it possible to get my siggy updated for my time at UFP without having to go through the entire process again ? I don't have any of those screenshots any more. That was 3 hard drives and a whole new computer ago lol

[Bridger]

I would use Gravity Well to groupe them up and than Cannon Scatter Volley with your Dual Heavies.

[Heyallo]

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and totally off topic. Is it possible to get my siggy updated for my time at UFP without having to go through the entire process again ? I don't have any of those screenshots any more. That was 3 hard drives and a whole new computer ago lol

Make an update request, if you're not changing any images, they'll still have your stuff in the last one

[darthnovawave]

If you want to play with an all turret build, search for "lazy boat" builds, as that's the common name used for that kind of build. They aren't the most powerful builds since turrets are the weakest weapon type, but since they are 360-degree fire arc weapons the impact of piloting skill is pretty negligible compared to other weapon builds. They aren't going to get you to the top of the DPS charts, but they can work well enough to run most content if you build around them enough. Several of the STO YouTube content creators have recently put out lazy boat builds on the new summer event ship, so while that ship doesn't have a cloak, you can probably lift some of the other build suggestions there and implement them on something that does have a cloak.

As for the grind itself, it is important to remember that all you need to do is "tag" enemies during your decloak ambush. You don't need to actually take them down in those few seconds. If you aren't the best pilot, running something with a more forgiving fire arc might help, but you might be better off looking at throwing in a torpedo with Torp Spreads or if you are willing to spend some EC maybe pick up the Distributed Targeting tac boff power, plus make sure you are running CSV and try to line up your approach to tag 2-3 ships in that 90-degree arc before decloaking and opening fire. If CSV, Distributed Targeting, and Torp Spread pick different targets in a pack, you might be able to tag several ships in one burst and then chase them down before needing to cloak and repeat.

If you couple this strategy with maps like the 9th Rule patrol, the space maps of the mission Home, or other maps like that where several enemies spawn or cluster together in relatively tight clusters you can speed up the grind a fair bit. Also, don't hesitate to drop the difficulty to Normal if you are running on Advanced or Elite normally. You don't get extra credit for hitting targets with more health, so you might as well chase squishy stuff as much as you can to speed up the grind.

Racking up the kills for this is a pretty grueling process no matter what you do, but hopefully one or more of these suggestions might be viable to help speed up your journey. Good hunting!

[Ariotex]

Darthnovawave, thank you ever so much. That is is exactly the type of information I was hoping for. Never in a million years would I have thought to look for the term "lazy boat".
And adding the additional information, on powers and even some likely mission just makes it that much better. I'm most definitely NOT the best pilot, I have a tendency to fly my escort/BOPs as if I was in a battle ship or something. Needless to say, that doesn't help with either survival OR getting as many enemies as possible into my firing arc.

Although I am working on my lacking Pilloting skills, I really want to get that pesky objective cleared. With this type of information, my lack of KDF ships with Battle cloak that won't blow up if the enemy just gives me a really dirty look longer matters that much. I can add my Rom heavies into the mix and still be able to tag a lot of ships quickly even with the lack of good turn rates.

I'll look into the Distributed Targeting skill. If I remember right, that's actually one I used to pick to sell when I got a Boff manual pack from opening boxes because it was way up there in terms of price and, at the time, I didn't see any manuals in the list I really wanted for myself. Now that I think about it, I think I still have enough Boff manual choice packs to outfit all 3 accounts.

I like the torp spread idea also, although I don't normally worry about using torps, I've been running with the Nausicaan torp for the set bonus to Disruptor damage on at least 1 of my toons. I truly never thought of the fact that Torp spread actually helps me tag even more enemies, I always thought of it more like a "necessary evil" that likely actually cut down my DPS compared to throwing another cannon in there instead.

Again, many thanks.