[Draxx]

With my tellerite build done and waiting on a 2x tech weekend, I figured I would focus on another character and her ship. She's tactical so her captain abilities should come in handy

So the idea is going to build off the prelim, but instead of dual cannons on the front, just use 360 cannons. I know they do much less damage but the Lexingtons turn radius is Jupiter's orbit, so having 360 weapons will be a great help to keep everything on target. So the front 4 will be pen based phaser turrets. Rear 4 I was going to add some omni phaser beams (I think terran rep has a phaser one) then the one from the mission with the faster weapons cycle, and a crafted one. I have a toon who has level 20 beam rnd. Going to take advantage lf the miracle worker seat and have the mixed weapons buff at the top. Then I'll pile on co soles that at crit in the tactic slots unless one of the new advance co soles are better. Think the non hanger engineering console was good but idk. Have much research to do.

Then as far as universals, keep the torpedo console. I think it could ts towards the mixed systems buff. Use the consol from iconian rep to give 11% weapons damage. Go with the disco rep console as well. I think the prolonged console would work here too just to give that +10 to 20 power systems boost. I'll be using my assault carrier as a blue print for some stuff.

I don't have any after market traits, so I'll have to see where I can find boilmer and unconventional systems that's not on the exchange. Think they could be phoenix or lobi store? If they are lock box then it's going to have to wait. Figured with unconventional I could use aoe science attacks like drain and scatter field to get the nice boost. As far as surviving, I'm thinking dilithium fleet mine has hull hp and resistance consoles. More hp means more crit boost from a trait I like. Think it's called Tyler's or something.

As usual, I'll take suggestions, but my budget is limited. I don't have a lot of zen ships so access to fun consoles and ship traits is out unless I can buy them from the fleet or for dilithium. Saving up to by a d7 and knowing the market, that's 1.2b. So another b to go.

[darthnovawave]

"Lazy boat" builds built around all 360-degree weapons can be fun, but aren't terribly powerful as you've noted. If you are looking for a budget build, I'd suggest skipping things like Boimler Effect (a lobi/exchange trait) for a cheap cooldown option like Photonic Officer boff power or maybe Aux2Batt with some technician doffs. Boimler mostly becomes useful when you want to pare back on a cheaper cooldown option to make room for other useful abilities, typically boff powers to trigger Unconventional Systems.

Likewise, Unconventional Systems (lockbox/exchange) only helps if you are running a bunch of "clicky" consoles on your ship, so unless you have several things like D.O.M.I.N.O., DPRM, M6 Computer, or stuff along those lines that you'd want to cooldown a lot faster, you might not see a lot of benefit there either. Both Boimler Effect and Unconventional Systems really become powerful only after you are a long ways down the path to building out a solid elite-capable ship, which it sounds like is probably not the case here right now.

If you really want to buy some traits, maybe instead look at stuff like Terran Targeting Systems and Context is for Kings for some offensive buffs, or maybe Intelligence Agent Attache to reduce the cooldown of your captain abilities. Sticking with freebie traits is perfectly fine too if you really want to focus on grinding the D7 first, and don't forget that you can upgrade a lot of those freebies from the K-7 fleet holding if you don't mind parting with the dilithium.

If you want to improve a ship's mobility to counteract the dreadnought's drawbacks, you might look at things like the Emergency Conn Hologram from the Phoenix store and the Competitive rep engines. For the latter, a lot of people suggest the Innervating ones that proc off of fire modes, but if you want something a bit better controlled, you might also consider the Fortified engines and slot a few heals instead.

[Draxx]

i don't have the D7. been looking for one. i'm not familiar with the lazy boat concept. just as i've tried to use it with both beams and cannons, but it's turning radius is horrible. But it's a strong ship with a lot of hp so i figured 360 weapons were a way to go since taking a week to turn around wouldn't hinder the build.

thanks for the advice, i'll look into those consoles, but i don't have a lot of ec for buying some of that stuff. going to have to buy out the last 2 events so i can get my hands on the D7 at the end of the year.

[darthnovawave]

Full turret or turret/omni builds are sometimes called "lazy boats" because they require minimal skill. Basically get within 10km, park, and you'll hit the target. You don't see many people talk about them though since they are pretty weak and are flown mostly for laughs. You'd be better off throwing beam arrays and learning to keep targets to your side where all arrays can target your opponents (e.g., "broadsiding"). Broadsiding requires only slightly more piloting than a lazy boat, but will net you way more damage output. Traditional forward-arc builds like dual heave cannon CSV can be done with dreadnoughts, but it takes practice to learn to compensate for the low inertia and turn rate stats (or Comp rep engines, deuterium surplus devices, and similar temporary buffs to handling when you need to move).

Most of the consoles I mentioned above are premium too. The DPRM comes from a promo ship (the Atlas dreadnought), so it is just as expensive as the D7. The DOMINO comes from the Bajoran ship which was an event prize but if you missed the event you would need an Epic Phoenix token now to get and is only a per character unlock. Epic tokens have probably the worst drop rates of any RNG box in game, so either you get extremely lucky, buy a pricey bundle that gives you one, or prepare to sink mountains of dilithium into Phoenix packs until you get one. Frankly, there are cheaper ways to help a build, so unless you want to make a serious long term investment into this character you probably shouldn't prioritize these. Without things with actives of this caliber to click on, the Unconventional Systems trait really isn't going to do much for you either.

The M6 is a budget option and comes off a T3 escort, which is a dilithium buy. It has no passives, but works if you need a cheap alternative to DPRM or DOMINO. If you happen to have access to other T6 Odyssey variants, the flagship consoles are generally good too. Otherwise, I'd look at consoles that buff Phaser damage since that's the flavor you are leaning towards, and stuff with crit chance, crit severity, or other useful passives, then maybe phase stuff out gradually as your budget permits for more high end stuff. A lot of this starter stuff can be found as mission rewards or reputation projects.