[Scarlett]

Updated HERE

12/20/18

[Scarlett]

So, I've been stewing on adjustments. After some research and a little soul-searching (not finished there I think), I may be wanting to make a Radboat of sorts. Beam Rad-boat ... Rad beam-boat ... I dunno.

SO, to do this I would need more EPG and there are some avenues:
* Swap out the Nukara Deflector/Shield for the MACO Def/Shield.

This would also give me global CD to all BOff and Cpt abilities, EPG and some EPS. This may allow me to *gulp* ditch the Plasmonic Leach and the MACO 2-pc is basically a 2/3 Leach ...

* If I get the crafted Particle Exciter with [+Turn], then I could swap out the CC consoles and put in the Quantum Phase Converter. This not only increases the bonus to Phaser damage, the Exciter (besides adding more EPG) would boost Shield capacity and increase the turn I currently get from the Hydrodynamics Compensator.

I'm not sure, but it makes sense in my head. The MACO pieces would be a significant investment for me in a few ways so I am leery to "go for it".

I will say that after a few runs in the Mirror Incursion today, Overwhelm Emitters gets some crazy hate fast. So, pushing more EPG may be a recipe for death ... or I need to get more heals from somewhere ... OR I need to let dogs lay with all this.

I mean, do I have a finished build above?

Super side note: thinking of the QPC slotted had me further consider moving to crafted phasers ...

Any feedback would be appreciated

[Scarlett]

UPDATE

So, it seems my Pulse Phasers are broken. I decided to go back to my Spiral Waves Disruptors [Acc]x2 [Dmg]x2 [CrtX] Mk XIV in the meantime. The other weapons did not change.

But I also decided to go for it and make some console changes: removing the Counter-Command Ordinance set with other consoles (as below)

Consoles
Engineering:

• Reinforced Armaments Mk XIV
• Plasmonic Leech Mk XIV
• Disruption Pulse Emitter Mk XIV
• Secondary Shield Projector Mk XIV
• Bio-Neural Gel Pack Mk XIV

Science:

• Exotic Particle Field Exciter Mk XII [+Turn]
• Temporal Disentanglement Suite Mk XIV

Tactical

• Tactical - Vulnerability Locator Mk XIV [+Beam]
• Tactical - Vulnerability Locator Mk XIV [+Beam]
• Tactical - Vulnerability Locator Mk XIV [+Beam]
• Bioneural Infusion Circuits Mk XIV

So, the idea follows from above: opening a Tactical slot allows the BIC (MOAR CRTD) to fill in. The Bio-neural Gel Pack had to go to Engineering so the Exciter could go into Science. The Exciter's purpose is to boost EPG while also maintaining the turn on the ship when the Engines are not proc'd. With heals, I would get a bonus to Weapon Power and the engines to speed me up.

After a few sessions in the Mirror Incursion (along with my usual Red Alert line-up), I am perceiving very good performance so far.

I also made some Trait changes:
* For Space Rep I am now using Enhanced Shield Penetration.
* For Active Rep I slotted Quantum Singularity Manipulation.

I noticed further improvement during a particularly bad PuG run in the Tzenkethi Red Alert. Maybe it was my piloting and/or my paying attention to the rules for that mission though ...

My Resolute is doing well for me I'm sure there is still room for improvement ... and I gotta be honest that I am leaning more toward getting the MACO Def/Shield now ...
Today I had a particularly rough run,

[Generator]

Scarlett, if you're back to your Spiral Waves, would you consider shoehorning in the Entoiled Technology 3-piece (Beam, Torp, Sci Console)? You get that 3-piece going, it's a party.

[Scarlett]

I've been considering many things and that set is not far from my mind.

Yet, the Spiral Waves are replacing my Withering Disruptors since I took out the CC-set (as that set was the only source that buffs the Rad proc from WD) and SWD have a Phaser look to them as well (which was the goal to use Pulse Phasers. So. it's really not that I am going back to Disruptors, per se. But the +Beam Tac consoles are really refreshing to use as they are allowing me some flexibility to play with what I own.

My latest thought is to go all into Phasers by swapping out the Terran BA for the Quantum Phase BA, and pull the BIC for the QP console for the 2-pc set and oomph to Phaser damage. THEN, to go and upgrade my banked crafted [Pen] Phasers from Mk II to at least Mk XII. THEN THEN go get some [Pha] Tac consoles (which I'm saving for, just in case). Although I'd rather wait for another Research weekend for all this.

Unless they fix Pulse Phasers, then the weapons are moot.

Admittedly, I'm no longer going for a Torp in my builds. Although I certainly appreciate them, and if I wanted to go 'canon', then they are almost necessary. Yet, I've never been good with them and I may need to get my piloting more in control.

I'm sure I'm gimping myself with that decision though ...

[Generator]

Fair nuff. I just figured I'd make sure that set was somewhere on your figurative radar. I know fitting a torpedo in would be tricky, but the 3pc bonus from Entoiled is nice (+Disruptor, +Hull Pen).

Plus, someone once told me to never trust a captain that didn't have a torpedo launcher on their ship. Gosh, I wish I could recall who that was....

And in closing, just because I'm a noodge, I'll say again that if "good enough to be good" is good enough for you, then Advanced Fleet [CrtD][Dmg]*3 weapons can deliver almost as much oomph as optimal [Pen]s, at much less cost in time-to-acquire-and-upgrade and PITA.

[Scarlett]

Haha, was that you?! Damn words I said My excuse is ... children! Yes, having children changes perspective. Yes, that'll do.

Dude, I totally forgot about Advanced Fleet weapons! I think as a Science Captain I have it in my head that more [Dmg] = SHAME!

Hmm. I'll need to keep thinking on it. But if I do stick to phasers, considering the build above, should I replace the Terran with QP?

[Generator]

From an optimization standpoint, given that you've got [Beam] Locators, I believe the standard answer would be, "Always use the TTF Disruptor". Its little Hit-Harder-As-The-Enemy's-HP-Drops feature adds a hell of a punch. As for the Quantum Phase set, I'll say that the Torpedo can drain a crapton of shielding, and I'll just once again point out that the 3-piece's Phaser-Murder-Beam is ridiculous fun to use. >

The Dmg thing is understandable, given that you and I both cut our teeth on this game in an era when [Dmg] was, uh, underwhelming.

[Scarlett]

To get the Phaser-Murder-Beam I would need to ditch the BIC for the console. Although I think optimal DPSers would say to move out the Particle Exciter. Then I would need the torp to go somewhere, presumably in the front. So, the actual canon "Phaser Beam Arrays" would number ... two ... haha!

[Scarlett]

Small update from above:

As mentioned above, I'm currently using Spiral Wave Disruptors and have committed one of my precious Ultimate Upgrade tokens for the engines.

Weapons
Fore:

• Terran Task Force Disruptor Beam Array Mk XIV [CrtD]
• Prolonged Engagement Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV
• Spiral Wave Disruptor Mk XIV [Acc]x2 [Dmg]x2 [CrtX]
• Spiral Wave Disruptor Mk XIV [Acc]x2 [Dmg]x2 [CrtX]

Aft:

• Spiral Wave Disruptor Mk XIV [Acc]x2 [Dmg]x2 [CrtX]
• Spiral Wave Disruptor Mk XIV [Acc]x2 [Dmg]x2 [CrtX]
• Omini-directional Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV [Acc] [Arc] [Dmg] [Pen]
• Trilithium-Enhanced Omni-directional Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV [Acc] [Arc] [Dmg]

Ship Equipment

• Nukara Deflector Array Mk XIV [CtrlX]
• Prevailing Fortified Impulse Engines Mk XIV [Spd] [SecSpd-2]
• Elite Fleet Plasma-Integrated Warp Core Mk XIV [AMP] [Acap] [A->W] [Eff] [Trans] [W->S]
• Nukara Crystalline Resiliant Shields Mk XIV

[Scarlett]

UPDATE 14/12/17

Ship Information
Ship Name USS Solaris
Ship Class Fleet Advanced Heavy Cruiser
Ship Model Excelsior Refit
Deflector Visual M.A.C.O.
Engine Visual Omega
Shield Visual M.A.C.O.

+++ Cryptic fixed the Pulse Phasers! Ok, so it turned out it was only a display bug so that was a little embarrassing. I also did some research: it seems these were sort of designed to be like the WoK ship phasers, but the end result is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand they do "pulse" when firing, but the sound effect is not only low compared to the standard phasers, but also sound ... weak. Luckily, the other three weapons drown out the Pulse Phasers where it's not really an issue. For me, I can get my WoK-on in a roundabout way. I also decided to go get the M.A.C.O. Deflector and Shield for the 2-pc bonus AND used my precious Ultimate Tech Upgrades to efficiently get them to gold. Using the CD calculator, I have almost all (not Command) BOff abilities to global, so the crew is working overtime for each fight and I love it. As above, my find of the Prototype Dreadnought granted me it's consol (and I must say, it was fun to play with). +++

Weapons
Fore:

• Terran Task Force Disruptor Beam Array Mk XIV [CrtD]
• Prolonged Engagement Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV
• Pulse Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV [CrtD]x3 [Dmg]
• Pulse Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV [CrtD]x2 [Dmg]x2

Aft:

• Pulse Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV [CrtD]x2 [Dmg]x2
• Pulse Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV [CrtD]x2 [Dmg]
• Pulse Phaser Omini-directional Beam Array Mk XIV [Arc] [CrtD]x2 [Dmg]
• Trilithium-Enhanced Omni-directional Phaser Beam Array Mk XIV [Acc] [Arc] [Dmg]

Ship Equipment

• M.A.C.O. Graviton Deflector Array Mk XIV [EPG] [SH/HullCap]
• Prevailing Fortified Impulse Engines Mk XIV [Spd] [SecSpd-2]
• Elite Fleet Plasma-Integrated Warp Core Mk XIV [AMP] [Acap] [A->W] [Eff] [Trans] [W->S]
• M.A.C.O. Resilient Shield Array Mk XIV [Reg] [CP/RG]

Devices

• Battery - Energy Amplifier
• Battery – Hull Patch
• Subspace Field Modulator
• Large Auxiliary/Engine Battery

Consoles
Engineering:

• Reinforced Armaments Mk XIV
• Plasmonic Leech Mk XIV
• Disruption Pulse Emitter Mk XIV
• Dynamic Power Redistributor Module Mk XIV
• Bioneural Infused Circuits Mk XIV

Science:

• Exotic Particle Field Exciter [+Turn] Mk XII
• Temporal Disentanglement Suite Mk XIV

Tactical

• Tactical - Vulnerability Locator Mk XIV [+Beam]
• Tactical - Vulnerability Locator Mk XIV [+Beam]
• Tactical - Vulnerability Locator Mk XIV [+Beam]
• Bio-Neural Gel Pack Mk XIV

Bridge Crew
Lt. Cmdr Tactical - SRO
- Tactical Team I
- Attack Pattern: Beta I
- Beam: Fire At Will III

Engineering Ensign - Saurian
- Engineering Team I

Engineering Lt.C/Command - Krenim
- Overwhelm Emitters I
- Overwhelm Emitters II
- Aceton Beam I

Engineering Cmdr. - Human
- Emergency Power to Shields I
- Endothermic Inhibitor Beam II
- Emergency Power to Weapons III
- Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity Field III

Science Lt. - Hierarchy
- Transfer Shield Strength I
- Hazard Emitters II

Duty Officers
Conn Officer
- TT recharge reduced by 8 seconds, +10 to Weapon Amplification
Energy Weapons Officer
- 50% chance to reduce BFAW recharge by 10 seconds
Energy Weapons Officer
- 50% chance to reduce BFAW recharge by 10 seconds
Damage Control Engineer
- 35% chance to reduce EPtX recharge by 30% when using EPtX
Maintenance Engineer
- ET recharge reduced, bonus to buff
Warp Core Engineer
- 40% chance to remove all debuff when EptX used

Captain Information
Captain Name Kathryn Beringer
Captain Career Science
Captain Faction Federation
Captain Race Human
Primary Specialization Intelligence
Secondary Specialization Temporal
Intended Role Support DPS

+++ Ablative Shell has turned out to be a very good survivability Trait. How I went solong without it escapes me now. Thanks to the Fleet, Beam Training was upgraded. +++

Character, Reputation, and Starship Traits
Personal Space Traits
Ablative Shell – Hull Heal after 10K incoming Dmg, +33 DRR, triggered once per 30 secs
Coalition Tactics - Per Engineer Career teammate within 20 km: +165.8 Shield Regen per sec; Per Science Career teammate within 20 km: +3% Hull Healing Received; Per Tactical Career teammate within 20 km: +3% Flight Speed and Defense (applies bonus for own career).
Fleet Coordinator - 2% All Damage (Cat2 Bonus) per teammate, including self
Inspirational Leader - 10% chance: Activating any Bridge Officer Ability grants +10 to all Starship Skills for 15 seconds (Max 3 stacks).
Intense Focus - For every 15 seconds in combat (max 4 stacks): +1.5% Accuracy, +1.5% Shield Penetration.
Operative - Critical Chance +1%, Critical Severity +2%
Point Blank Shot – To self: +0-10% Energy Weapon Damage (Cat2 Bonus): maximum bonus when less than 2km from target; no effect beyond 6km.
Self-Modulating Fire - On outgoing Critical Hits, your energy weapons and projectiles gain +50% Shield Penetration[/i] for 10 sec (May only trigger once every 45 sec).
Superior Beam Training - Beam Weapon Damage (Cat2 Bonus) +7.5%

Space Reputation Traits
Precision (New Romulus) - Increase CrtH +4%
Auxiliary Power Configuration (Nukara) - Offense Scaling +Acc, +All Dmg bonus based on AUX power setting
Enhanced Shield Penetration (Nukara) - Shield Penetration +5%
Advanced Targeting System (Dyson) - Increase CrtD +16%
Chrono-Capacity Array (Competitive) - 7.5% CD Recharge

+++ So, the Black Friday sale really helped my game. I was able to buy the Sagittarius for it's Trait, but am not wanting to slot it for Solaris. I could if I walked away from the semi-Radboat thing going on, but then I'd also want to reconfigure the BOff abilities*. +++

Starship Traits
Emergency Weapon Cycle (Arbiter Battlecruiser) – Activating EptX causes -50% Weapon Power cost, -20% Firing Cycle Haste
Improved Weaponized Emitters (Resolute Advanced Heavy Cruiser Refit) – Aceton Beam and Overwhelm Emitters cause Radiation DoT within 3k of target.
Specialized Knowledge (Archon Intel Assault Cruiser) – Activating Intel/Command abilities will recharge Engineering BOff abilities +20%
Majority–Minority – (Pralim Flight-Deck Assault Cruiser) - Within 10K Allies and Foes are counted; if in majority, then increased DRR, Shield Hardness and Hull Regen; if in minority, then increased Dmg and Flight Speed
All Hands On Deck (Presidio Command Battlecruiser) – Activating Tactical/Command abilities will recharge Science BOff abilities +10% and Captain abilities +5%

Active Reputation Traits
Refracting Tetryon Cascade (Nukara) - ZAP!
Quantum Singularity Manipulation (Romulan) - Active cloak, 100 bonus Science stats for 8 seconds
Biomolecular Shield Generator (Species 8472) - AoE shield heal
[Ground]
[Locked]

Set Bonuses
Magnetopulse Relays – M.A.C.O. Space 2/3
- +5% All BOff and Captain ability recharge
Speed Tweaks - Trilithium-Laced Weaponry 2/3
- Flight Speed +15, +5% Firing Cycle Haste for Energy Weapons
Alliance Weaponry - Synergistic Retrofitting 2/4
- 33% Phaser/Disruptor/Plasma Dmg bonus

Skill Tree
Lieutenant
- Improved Hull Restoration Hull Restoration
- Improved Shield Restoration
- Advanced Energy Weapon Training
Lieutenant Commander
- Improved Electro Plasma Flow
- Improved Impulse Expertise
- Improved Drain Expertise
- Improved Defensive Manuvering
Commander
- Hull Plating
-- Ablative Hull Plating
- Improved Shield Regeneration
- Advanced Weapon Amplification
- Advanced Weapon Specialization
Captain
- Exotic Particle Generator
- Advanced Long-Range Targeting Sensors
- Advanced Hull Penetration
- Advanced Shield Penetration
Admiral
- Warp Core Efficiency
- Improved Engineering Readiness
- Improved Scientific Readiness
- Coordination protocols
-- Defensive Coordination
-- Offensive Coordination
-- Improved Tactical Readiness

Ship Stats
Hull – 78,471
Shields – 15,623
Crit Chance - 16.5%
Crit Severity – 104.7%
Turn Rate - 5.9 deg
Transfer Power Rate - 335% (rounding up)

* Yeah, not going to do that so it was a technically a waste. BUT buying the Intel Assault Cruiser allowed me to use a very iconic looking ship. If I was not used to (or did not seriously love) the FACHR, then I would probably switch to this ship. Yet, it's seating is funky to me and I have never been a fan of Intelligence abilities. So I used "traditional" abilities and was still a beast out there (from my humble reckoning). I may swap out here and there once I develop a quick-change plan. Maybe.

Thank you for looking

[Generator]

She looks good, Scar.

One little thing I would try, in your shoes. If you wanted to up your Rad-boatitude, and have faith in your heals, you could change the LCdr Cmd/Eng's top ability to be Aux to SIF 2, then make the Commander Aceton Beam 3.

Just a thought. Happy flying!

[Scarlett]

Thank you for looking!

That is not a bad idea! Any shield or hull heal procs the Fortified engines and AtSIF3 is currently at global (less according to the calculator, which is odd).

[Scarlett]

Update: I was able to re-engineer the Pulse Phaser Omni and the weaker Pulse Phaser Array. Now that I have my feet wet with the system, I have a spare Pulse Phaser BA that needs some love. I plan to *gulp* replace the Terran Beam with it, then switch the Tactical Consoles to [+Pha].

OR ... *gulp* Replace the Terran Beam with a Wide Angle Quantum Torp to get a little closer to canon. This is the "cheaper" path.

Still in decision mode.

[Generator]

"Never trust a Captain that doesn't have a torpedo launcher on their ship."

-Someone wise, I just can't remember who right now...