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About Consoles
#1
What are the best consoles for you?
(updated January 2017)

The answer: It depends! So this is 100% personal oppinion. And certainly incomplete.

My Personal No-Nos
Hull Healing from Crew - I never felt that effecticve in combat.
Crew Regeneration: bugged down to ineffectiveness, folklore says that's a feature meanwhile - I avoid Biofunction Monitor consoles (Science)
Crew Resistance: tried, does not work for me - I avoid Emergency Force Field consoles (Engineering). Also sorry for the Jem Hadar Set shields.
Shield Regeneration: I have serious doubts about that - I avoid Shield Emitter consoles (Science) and prefer Shield Healing.

Tactical Consoles
Most Players want to use Vulnerability Locators from the Fleet Spire matching their Energy Weapon Type to raise their weapon damage and to increase their chance for a Critical Hit. So do I. At Mk XIV the Locator gives 2% extra Critical Hit, which matches the gain from a [CrtH] weapon mod.
The Vulnerability Exploiters may be considered by Romulan Heavy Critters - pun intended. It gives 10% extra Critical Damage, this is just half the extra damage you would get from a [CrtD] weapon mod.
These consoles also affect Lance/Lotus weapons. Carrier Pets do NOT benefit, I had to read.


Science Consoles
The Fleet Embassy offers Hull Healing, Shield Healing and, much more favorized by meone, Plasma Generating science consoles. The latter one increases the damage done by your weapons by adding ~10% extra damage of exotic type to your weapon damage.
Non-science ships favor [Inert] for maneuverability, [Emit] for shield heal, [Ins] for shiled/energy drain resitance or [Flow] for extra support to their Tetryon/Polaron weapons or Plasmonic Leech. The Weapon Signature Nullifier variant reduces threat generation, while the Weapon Signature Amplifier variant favored by tanks increases threat generation.
It is often really smart to purchase the embassy consoles at Mk X which are quite cheap. Upgrade them and save Fleet Credits and Dilithium that way, maybe have a lucky rarity upgrade.

Science ships may prefer the Fleet Research Lab consoles. The Exotic Particle Focusers boost two science skills and may be much cooler, at least more exotic, than a damage related Plasma generating Weapon Signature Nullifier[PrtG].

The Exotic Particle Field Exciter is available from R&D at Science skill 15 or from the Exchange. It raises Exotic damage and gives 10% extra weapon damage when your shields are healed. It has an extra Modifier, some very attractive like [EPS], [Flow] or [Grav], at higher rarity. You can equip only one at a time.

A humble Field Generator from R&D, Loot, or Exchange gives extra Shield Hit Point and may be interesting.

Engineering Consoles

The Enhanced Neutronium Alloy[+Turn] and Enhanced RCS Accelerator [+AllRes] consoles from the Fleet Mines have been my Dynamic Duo for a long time. They are good, they are solid.

The Conductive RCS Accelerator, my new favorite Engineering console, appeared with the Rise of R&D. In addition to its turn rate enhancement, it delivers extra turn rate when you get healed. The Extremely Rare pieces offer a wide range of modifiers, and some of these are really attractive:
[Turn] - just delivers the double amount of extra turn rate
[EPS] - enhanced your power transfer rate to awesomeness
[Flow] - like an extra flow capacitor console
[more] - go to the Exchange, search Engineering Console for your favorite extra modifier. Tell a wish, maybe it can be fullfilled. If you look for [Res you will see cousins of the Fleet RCS Accelerator ancestor.
                                                                                                 
Universal Consoles
These consoles can be placed into Engineering, Science or Tactical slots. Universal consoles can be equipped only once (as far as I have seen).

Assimilated Module (Omega Reputation)
Plays nice with the Kinetic Cutting Beam, and gives extra Critical Hit Rate, Critical Hit Damage and extra Grav grip. Seen very often, used very often.


Sustained Radiation Field (Iconian Resistance)
This thing looks so innocent... Shield Heal, Hull Heal and Weapon Damage are enhanced by varying Percentages. Currently I use it everywhere since it is so ... useful.


Bioneural Gel Pack (Delta Reputation)

Extra Energy for Subsystems and a plus to Shield Systems aside, the very special feature of that console is a 7% Cool Down reduction for all Bridge Officers. I do not use it in Aux2Bat builds, but for Science ships and in Drake Builds I love it.
Rant: rather than looking for Zemok, the Duty Officer that reduces Attack Pattern CDs by 15%, I just use this toy. It is half a Zemok, but for every Bridge Officer's skill. The asking price for Zemok of 100M+ EC at the Exchange is prohibitive, when I imagine price/performance ratio.

Zero Point Module (Romulan Resistance)
Extra Critical Hit Rate, extra Energy to Subsystems, extra drain resistance. That can not be wrong. Ask your [AMP] warp core.

Also ran
Nukara and Species 8472 Counter Command have their own Reputation consoles. I mostly do not use them as there are so many other cool and simple to use shinies. The Lobi Store offers a variety of interesting pieces like the Tachyokinetic Converter and the Bioneural Infusion Circuits. They can not be traded, are bound to character, and are paid for by 200 Lobi Chrystals.

The Elvis Console: Plasmonic Leech
The Plasmonic leech drains opponents' energy levels when your energy weapons hit and feed that power to your own. The console is universal and can be placed into engineering, science or tactical slots.
Energy levels affect overall ship perfomance - and so you see the leech in many ship builds.

KDF players and aligned Romulans get the Leech from the Vandal (Nausicaan Destroyer) Zen ship. Federation players found it as an elusive drop from the Tal-Shiar Lockbox and Zen-wise it may be much smarter for them to sell Lockbox Keys or Fleet Ship Modules in the Exchange to buy the Leech from the Exchange. The price has been in the 90 Million EC range. With introduction of the Infinity Lock Box Events, it dropped to as low as 5 Millions.

The Band

The amount of energy gains from your Flow Capacitors skill. A Captain's flow capacitor skill of 99 is a good start getting a drain of 2 pts per shot per weapon. Have a look into this on extra juice.
If you like extra damage for your Weapons and want to enhance your Leech effect, the Fleet Embassy offers great science consoles. Plasma generating Weapon Signature Nullifiers [+Flow] (or WS Amplifiers[+Flow] if you want to tank) raise your damage and drain.

When you equip a science ship, visit the Fleet Research Lab for Exotic Particle Focusers - these help 2 science skills and allow a lot of tinkering.

From Research & Development lucky strikes or from the Exchange you can get a Conductive RCS Console[+Flow] (Engineering) that also helps your Leech. However, as you can have only one of these consoles equipped it may be smarter to pick another one.

For a science ship the Exotic Particle Exciter[+Flow] from R&D/Exchange may be interesting, leech-wise.

The Choir
Science skills like Energy Siphon and Tachyon Beam benefit from Flow Capacitors as well as the Leech does. The weapon procs of Polaron and Tetryon energy weapons also gain from your Flow Capacitors skills. The Breen Energy Drain, 3rd Breen Set Bonus, is also influenced.
 
Too Many Cooks
The Resilient MACO Shield also raises your energy levels, when you get hit by energy weapons. The stacks gained from the leech and those gained from the MACO Shield cancel each other. So if you equip both the Plasmonic Leech and the MACO Shield, both of them ... fail!


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#2
My my my Ed.. what an amazing Write-Up.

On your NONONO consoles, I agree wholeheartedly. It has been reported in numerous forums and bugs that the whole "crew complement" design is quite flawed. It still stands that the crew have a declining balance effect on the ships power transfers, repair rates, etc, but simply put, you cannot console a solution.
On the topic of shield regen, I agree and disagree. There are builds that can utilize this, but simply put, its the same issue as mentioned for crew. Shield capacity has been proven to be much more significant.

Tactical consoles:
This is nearly a no-brainer. Although, I am starting to wonder if Tac slots might be a good spot for a universal console on some builds. Regardless, this is very sound advice, and the locators are the cream of the crop so far! (10/2015)

Science consoles:
This can be a very hot topic. If you are a Sci capt, or even a Tac capt, this can fulfill some very nice modifiers to shields, exotics, and even some specific setups for tanks, cloaks, etc. But at the end of the day, most value seems to be in the area of exotics, and can heighten a PvE play (and in some builds PVP). Your advice is interesting, and I would LOVE TO SEE A THREAD DEDICATED TO SCI CONSOLES

Engineering consoles:
Here is where I have a nit, concern, or misconception. Generally speaking, I can tell you from my own experience, that it is possible to build a tank that will tank ANYTHING OR ANYONE (excluding multiplayer PVP) from almost any damage within reason and without using a single engineering defensive console.
With this said, many many many Engineering consoles are all about defense, (given that we ignore crew, and other baloney consoles). So my thought on Engineering is generally "this is where you put your universals". I realize this is not a one size fits all rule, but if your goal is DPS, you only want to put as much here as is needed to keep you alive. Otherwise, you want to be doing DPS DPS DPS> and since we have discussed Tac ans Sci consoles (both being very centric on DPS options), the engineering should be treated as defense for Tanks, and out of necessity to stay alive in some elite PVEs. Otherwise, put it to DPS/set piece use. (imho)

Universals: [IMHO, these are a must if you can fit it]
Assimilated Module (Omega Reputation)
Plasmonic Leech (lockbox/exchange)
Zero Point Module (Romulan Resistance)
Tachyokinetic Converter (lobi store) gives crit h/d %, and turn rate... remember movement enhances defensive survivability.. if you use chroniton at all, this is a must, and use a set bonus

Bioneural - still meh imho, but it has its uses

Honorable mentions and must haves that should DEFINITELY be mentioned for all... these are often overlooked and shouldn't be:
Subspace Field Modulator
Nimbus Pirate Distress Call (place it in inventory)
Delta Alliance Reinforcements Beacon (place it in inventory)
Device _________ satellite turret (device, but is useful in battles)


Interesting on the MACO vs Plasmonic, I never knew that, its great advice to be aware of, and I had no idea. I wonder if other people have the same issue with other gear
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#3
V, you are Right on Engineering, I have to grow that section. I wanted to post that as early as acceptable rather than doing to more weeks work in the ivory tower. Wink
On the honorable mentions I plan a Devices post as well Smile


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