[bmcmvox]

I was playing around with the sortable t6 ship list looking for a science vessel and I noticed the Vesta class T6, the Brigid and the Palatine. Most people suggest the Eternal or Equinox but not a fan of the looks. My concern is the 3/3 layout. Would I be handicapping myself too much over a 4/4 or a 4/3?

[darthnovawave]

If you are going EPG heavy, you'll likely find most of your damage is not coming from weapons, but rather your boff abilities, console clickies, and deteriorating secondary deflector procs as you look at higher end builds. Torps can pair well enough, but if you are investing into improving your torps, you are probably sacrificing some space magic potential to do so.

The Eternal probably is the best C-store ship for this build as Temporal specialization seating gives you extra anomalies to throw around (particularly if you have the Spore Infused Anomalies trait), but Intel seating can provide some of this too. The Brigid is decent seating-wise, but it isn't a full-spec Temporal ship so you don't get the Molecular Reconstruction mechanic. That mechanic offers buffs to your Exotic damage and Control skill in Support mode, so it won't have quite as good maximum DPS potential as the Eternal, which does have the mechanic. You should be able to build a decently capable platform with either ship though.

[Remsus]

https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Lukari_Dranuur_Scout_Ship

Also good option.

[Bridger]

The number 1 Science Ship is the Verne Temporal Science Vessel the 2nd best is the Lukari Dranuur Scout Ship and an excelent free version would be the Fleet Magellan Advanced Research Vessel.

[bmcmvox]

If you are going EPG heavy, you'll likely find most of your damage is not coming from weapons, but rather your boff abilities, console clickies, and deteriorating secondary deflector procs as you look at higher end builds. Torps can pair well enough, but if you are investing into improving your torps, you are probably sacrificing some space magic potential to do so.

The Eternal probably is the best C-store ship for this build as Temporal specialization seating gives you extra anomalies to throw around (particularly if you have the Spore Infused Anomalies trait), but Intel seating can provide some of this too. The Brigid is decent seating-wise, but it isn't a full-spec Temporal ship so you don't get the Molecular Reconstruction mechanic. That mechanic offers buffs to your Exotic damage and Control skill in Support mode, so it won't have quite as good maximum DPS potential as the Eternal, which does have the mechanic. You should be able to build a decently capable platform with either ship though.

Awesome info, thanks. I will give the Eternal a closer look. I like the idea of space magic the more vids I watch. A few people have warned me against a torp only build as my first build. I am finding the whole end game gearing/build thing rather confusing but the complexity is also aappealing. I have almost serviceable beam build with Doff abilities the correct boff abilities, some traits I've unlocked and consoles I bought. I saw the gear upgrade system and had Black Desert ptsd so I just bought some keys and sold them for epic xv gear for now. I will slowly work on getting the rest but I wanted the ability to plow through patrols. I will start investing in my magic build soon. Thanks again

[darthnovawave]

Awesome info, thanks. I will give the Eternal a closer look. I like the idea of space magic the more vids I watch. A few people have warned me against a torp only build as my first build. I am finding the whole end game gearing/build thing rather confusing but the complexity is also aappealing. I have almost serviceable beam build with Doff abilities the correct boff abilities, some traits I've unlocked and consoles I bought. I saw the gear upgrade system and had Black Desert ptsd so I just bought some keys and sold them for epic xv gear for now. I will slowly work on getting the rest but I wanted the ability to plow through patrols. I will start investing in my magic build soon. Thanks again

I'd suggest maybe checking out STO Better (https://sites.google.com/view/stobetter/). The site is run by some players that have been reverse engineering the math on gear and mechanics in STO for years now, and they've put together a lot of resources for both players new to end game building as well as recommendations for even the more elite players in the game. There are also a number of YouTube creators out there that have build videos that try to explain what and why they are equipping various things, though typically most of them are people that don't fly EPG builds so you might not find much on this specific build topic.

For what its worth, end game builds are generally all about focusing all the game mechanics you can (ship gear, duty officers, skill trees, specializations, bridge officer powers and traits, etc.) into doing one type of attack really well. Beam and Cannon builds are the best example of this, where the ideal loadout is boosting firing rate and damage, keeping weapon power high, and keeping your ability downtimes as low as possible. The rest of it is all about your piloting skill to get yourself at the right angles and distances to maximize your damage.

Torpedo boats are usually not recommended as a starter build primarily because they tend to mostly shine on select Elite difficulty TFOs where targets have really high health, like Borg cubes and stuff on maps like ISE. On lower difficulties and maps where you are mostly fighting lots of small targets, targets tend to die really quickly. Since torpedoes have to travel for a second or 2 from your ship to the target whereas other builds are inflicting damage instantly or nearly so, your target may be dead before your attack even has a chance to land. As a result, they tend to be viewed as pretty lackluster outside those cases where you are slugging it out against the strongest "boss level" targets the game has to offer. Thus, torp boats usually get pulled out just for certain content where they shine, and most players pull out a different ship build as their "daily driver" for the majority of other content they might run.

Exotic builds are probably the most extreme counterargument to this singular focus mantra, in that they are really a balancing act of 4 different build subtypes (deteriorating secondary deflector procs (which can produce really big numbers if used right), anomalies (particularly along with the Spore Infused Anomalies trait), Universal Console clickes (particularly with the Unconventional Systems space trait and Universal Designs starship trait), and exotic-synergizing torpedoes (which are cheap to lean into when starting out, but tends to be the weakest of the 4 areas in terms of potential in the long run). Leaning too hard into one area usually means you are hurting yourself in one or more of the other areas and maybe aren't getting the "best" performance possible. Piloting is a cakewalk though by comparison, as you just drop a gravity well on something, fly up within a few km to make sure your secondary deflector procs can hit stuff in the gravity well, then park and launch everything else in your arsenal at your leisure as half the map gets sucked into the gravity well.