[noybman]

We have all asked "what ship is best..."


This is not an easy question to answer.

Why???
... Because "ship type" (Science, Escort, Cruiser, etc) is only a starting point. Cryptic has done a good job at keeping each ship "balanced" amongst its peers in some way.

I have found that the main differences to consider between ships:
1.) BOFF slots and their specialties,
2.) Speed/Turn, [vs] Hull/crew size,
3.) Weapon/Shield types/modifiers, or
4.) Balance of console slots (favoritism),
5.) Also, some ships come with Universal Consoles, or unique weapons that only come on specific ships.

The attached excel spreadsheet will let you compare and contrast these things.
Just Filter down based on your particular "Must MUST haves" and then filter out on "I don't really like this about these"; from what remains...

You'll have to make some adjustments. Of the 5 key areas listed above, what is more important to you?

The result is a set of ships you might be interested in. Now choose cost, feature, compare speed loss or Universal BOFF gain, compare skills available in each class, how many slots are available for consoles in each tech tier.... Good luck, hope this helps!

Try it out, and comment back here and let us know what ship you chose and why!

STO_Ship_Compare.xlsx (Updated: 7/19/2014 Includes Summer Risian Luxury Cruiser & new xindi ships)

If you don't have MS Office, download and use the free Open Office.

[noybman]

So let me give a little instruction to all. Hope this helps!!!!


First and foremost: You must have Microsoft Office 2007 or greater (or) you can get the free Open Office as mentioned above.

The excel file already has an "Autofilter" turned on. All this really means is that you can click on the HEADING column [v] (drop down arrow) and uncheck/deselect values in the list.

Why? Well, here is a scenario:
You are an "escort" style player. You know that there isn't a snowballs chance in *$#^ that you would fly a ship with a turn rate less than say... "19". Well, give yourself a little wiggle room, and let it keep all values above "15".

Also, definitely select "Faction" and unselect everything except for "Federation" & "Cross-Faction" (as if you aren't klingon or romulan, you wont be looking at their ships will you?).

Now you can choose some more filters.... I recommended you keep turn speed a little less that the 19 you "know" you wont do without because lets face it... All ships are not created equal. As mentioned above, Cryptic has done a lot of balancing which means you are going to have to have a little give and take.

As a note, (example), you might **really** need(want) 5 tactical console slots instead of 2 or 4 etc, but perhaps the only ships with 5 tactical console slots are a max turn speed of 17. Would you as an escort player give up the -2 turn rate for an extra console? Yes, yes, yes, you would. (Especially since you can get consoles with turn enhancements).

If you happen to be a cruiser player, you might choose to start your filtering by unselecting hull plating sizes less than 30,000, or crew sizes less than ~700. ANY heading can be filtered and/or sorted.

By doing the above for the things that are most important to you, you will (by process of elimination), be left with a small (tough) choice of ships to choose from, and, you can see exactly what is different between them!

One more note of advice to consider... some ships have U4 (universal Commander BOFF slots) which might be a big benefit for you if you like to change-up your play style from time to time. Also, the sheet gives you the "total" number of skill positions for your BOFFS as well as the BOFF maximum values being sorted (displayed) left to right so you can easily see what skills the ship favors, and what skill concentration it favors too.

Good luck! Hope this helps x2.

Ver'

[Kilo.enjin]

A very nice, easy to understand and comprehensive spreadsheet.

A valuable resource indeed, it helped me choose the Chel Grett over the Plesh Brek off Q and I'll be using it as a reference whenever the time comes to get a new ship. It must've taken you ages to compile and I appreciate the effort you must've put in, you have my sincerest thanks.

ver'quanen I salute you sir.


Cmdr. Krill

[noybman]

Heads up all, made some minor error corrections and added 2 new columns for comparing overall "presumed" hull+shield+crew defense (this is not a proven technique) & also a Total Weapon count.

Enjoy. (link at top of page).

[noybman]

New changes:
I've added all of the Voth, Dyson, small craft, fleet, mirror ships added over the winter season.

It should be current. Link at top of page.

[noybman]

Added:

• Fleet Dreadnought
  
• Patrol Escort Refit
  
• Mirror Universe Escort Retrofit
  
• Mirror Universe Science Vessel Retrofit
  
• Mirror Universe Ki'tang Bird-of-Prey Retrofit
  
• Mirror Universe Somraw Raptor Retrofit
  
• Mirror Universe T'Varo Light Warbird Retrofit
  
• Mirror Universe Mogai Heavy Warbird Retrofit
  
• Xindi-Aquatic Narcine Dreadnought Carrier
  
• Undine Dromias Bio-Cruiser
  
• Risian Luxury Cruiser
  
• Undine Nicor Bio-Warship
  
• Xindi-Reptilian Contortrix Escort
  

Enjoy

[noybman]

Updated to support a lot of content released with the Delta Rising Expansion. There are T6 Fleet ships planned, but the details are not yet available. Those are marked with "????" in the data fields.

I've set this sheet up to assume you are level 60. I first considered showing the amount based on a user selected player level, but honestly -- we are using this to select an End Game ship right?

All of the T5U Ship upgrades have been listed, and their cost as well. The Ship Mastery bonuses are listed as well. Don't overlook these while comparing ships since the bonus can be quite useful.


There are also quite a few updates to the sheet contents for universal consoles, turn rates, dual cannon notes, and various attributes thanks to work by @dabelgrave who has been kind enough to share his experience. STOWiki has a number of error and missing information. Each ship added, should be accurate. If you find any errors in any data, please post a note. Thanks!

[noybman]

So.... as time has gone on, STO (Cryptic) has released a TON of new ships. No easy way to continue copying data into excel and maintain it myself. Also, a number of people have told me they dont have Microsoft office, and dont even use Open office.


We, thanks to the efforts of STO player @dabelgrave, he has created a spreadsheet which is a Google Docs version and much easier to maintain. He and I have shared many a discussion and I love the work he has done. So with that said, I will retire my spreadsheet in favor of his and hope all of you will be looking to his work for an excellent resource for ship decision making process - Thanks @dabelgrave, and thanks for letting me assist undefined

http://bit.ly/STOShips

[brawndo_mom]

Awesome!