<![CDATA[Starfleet/Klingon Strike Group

<![CDATA[Starfleet/Klingon Strike Group - Equipment and more]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:38:57 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Space Sets]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=734 Sun, 06 Mar 2016 05:27:31 -0500 Edarta]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=734 Expect Confusion by too may Options!

AEGIS Set
Made by R&D and account bound. Gives significant survival support until you get a set from Reputation that suits you better. Contrary to the tool tips, the Aegis Set requires Character Level 50, so you can upgrade it to MX XIV to help survive the slow levelling in the 50s. A Fleet Plasma Integrated Warp Core with [AMP] and [W-A] (gets an additional [W-S] modifier if upgraded to epic) is a very good Core for your Energy house hold.

Sience: 56K Fleet Credits and fistful of Upgrades
Reputation takes a while and I wanted to run the cool stuff with my Gorn Lizard, Science Captain. Fleet Equipment can be so great, especially when upgraded to Mk XIV:

Elite Fleet Fermion Deflector Array [CtrlX]x2 [EPG] [SciCD] (Fleet Star Base)
Elite Fleet Efficient Combat Impulse Engines [Full] [Pow] [Turn]x2 (Fleet Star Base)
Elite Fleet Adaptive Resilient Shield Array [Adapt] [Cap]x2 [ResB] (Fleet Star Base)
Elite Fleet Reinforced Warp Core [A->S] [Amp] [SCap] [SEP] [SST] (Fleet Dilithium Mine)

Patchwork Build: 2*Nukara, 1*Delta
This was my favorite for a while. I liked it for the high survival factor in pick-up groups where I draw more aggro than I want.

Nukara Deflector
Nukara Impulse Drive
Delta-Unimatrix Shield Array
Fleet Spire Warp Core (Plasma Integrated)

Patchwork Build: Nukara, Romulan, Nukara
With Season 13, this combination got a good reputation among damage dealers. I flew this set for a long time during the Iconian Wars.

Nukara Deflector
Romulan Impulse Drive
Nukara Resilient Shield Array
Fleet Spire Warp Core (Plasma Integrated)

Mission Build: Stormbound Set
With Season 13, this combination got a good reputation among science damage dealers. Upgrade to MK XIV at least, Extremely Rare recommended.

Quantum Phase Deflector
Quantum Phase Combat Impulse Drive
Quantum Phase Resilient Shield Array
Fleet Spire Warp Core (Plasma Integrated)

Patchwork 121™ Build: 1*Undine, 2* Adapted MACO, 1*Terran Special Forces Warp Core
This is Sovereign's favorite. A very good set, comparatively nice to farm, and, maybe with a fleet Warp Core, my favorite on torpedo builds.

Counter Command Deflector
Adapted MACO Impulse Drive
Adapated MACO Covariant Shield
Terran Task Force Quantum Adapted Warp Core

Elite Fleet Fermion Deflector Array [CtrlX]x2 [EPG] [SciCD] (Fleet Star Base)
Elite Fleet Efficient Combat Impulse Engines [Full] [Pow] [Turn]x2 (Fleet Star Base)
Elite Fleet Adaptive Resilient Shield Array [Adapt] [Cap]x2 [ResB] (Fleet Star Base)
Elite Fleet Reinforced Warp Core [A->S] [Amp] [SCap] [SEP] [SST] (Fleet Dilithium Mine)

Patchwork Build: 2*Nukara, 1*Delta
This was my favorite for a while. I liked it for the high survival factor in pick-up groups where I draw more aggro than I want.

Nukara Deflector
Nukara Impulse Drive
Delta-Unimatrix Shield Array
Fleet Spire Warp Core (Plasma Integrated)

Patchwork Build: Nukara, Romulan, Nukara
With Season 13, this combination got a good reputation among damage dealers. I flew this set for a long time during the Iconian Wars.

Nukara Deflector
Romulan Impulse Drive
Nukara Resilient Shield Array
Fleet Spire Warp Core (Plasma Integrated)

Mission Build: Stormbound Set
With Season 13, this combination got a good reputation among science damage dealers. Upgrade to MK XIV at least, Extremely Rare recommended.

Quantum Phase Deflector
Quantum Phase Combat Impulse Drive
Quantum Phase Resilient Shield Array
Fleet Spire Warp Core (Plasma Integrated)

Counter Command Deflector
Adapted MACO Impulse Drive
Adapated MACO Covariant Shield
Terran Task Force Quantum Adapted Warp Core

With the Particle Generator bonus on the very agressive Deflector, one of the healthiest shields in game and the friendly Energy Level bonuses from the drive department, DPS & Science Captains alike find this a useful combination.

Qapla'! Terran Special Forces
The Disruptor themed retaliating set bonuses work very nice with a Disruptor Weapon loadout. Also add the enraging TSF Disruptor Beam Bank (or Heavy Dual Cannon).

Iconian Resistance Set
On its basic rarity already one of the best performing full 4-piece sets. At Ultra-Rare, the Deflector gets a [SciCdr] modifier to reduce the cool downs of Science Bridge Officer Abilities by 10%.

Temporal Defence Initiative Set
In my opinion one of the best sets for Science captains. Synergizes well with a full scale Temporal Operative Specialization.

Patchwork 31D™ Build: 3* Iconian Resistance, 1*Dyson
The Dyson Regenerative Shield is something for tanks and DPS gamers with a survival shtick.

Patchwork 31E™ Build: 3* Iconian Resistance, 1*Terran Special Forces Warp Core
The Power growing Warp Core is for energy hungry DPS builds.]]> <![CDATA[The Demystification of the 100 Million EC Console]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=715 Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:14:33 -0500 Edarta]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=715 Plasmonic Leech is bad. It is not. I love the Plasmnonic Leech.
January 2017 Update:
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.

My Shrek@Starbase2015 is in command of the USS ANGST, all beams, Fire at Will 3 as often as possible.

And he is all happy on this:

Falcon@alliefalcon07: CLR—Infected Space[7:11]— Dmg(DPS) —Shrek 11,281,612(26,175) Spayx 9,579,041(22,592) Falcon 7,882,743(18,289) DarkWolf 7,562,766(17,964) Raven 1,583,444(4,060)

I did an Experiment today. I love Experiments too.

I replaced the epic rock star by a purple Mk XII EPS Flow regulator. 200k EC at the Exchange.

I got these numbers:

SCM - Infected [LR] (S) - [09:30] DMG(DPS) - @starbase2015: 13.64M(24.67K) @leeoswald: 9.40M(17.03K) @thegonz20: 7.33M(13.20K) @echtra#2716: 4.38M(7.85K) @magnus1a: 3.00M(5.41K)

And now I leave you, confused. I must medidate some more weeks on my ship builds...]]> Plasmonic Leech is bad. It is not. I love the Plasmnonic Leech.
January 2017 Update:
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.

My Shrek@Starbase2015 is in command of the USS ANGST, all beams, Fire at Will 3 as often as possible.

And he is all happy on this:

Falcon@alliefalcon07: CLR—Infected Space[7:11]— Dmg(DPS) —Shrek 11,281,612(26,175) Spayx 9,579,041(22,592) Falcon 7,882,743(18,289) DarkWolf 7,562,766(17,964) Raven 1,583,444(4,060)

I did an Experiment today. I love Experiments too.

I replaced the epic rock star by a purple Mk XII EPS Flow regulator. 200k EC at the Exchange.

I got these numbers:

SCM - Infected [LR] (S) - [09:30] DMG(DPS) - @starbase2015: 13.64M(24.67K) @leeoswald: 9.40M(17.03K) @thegonz20: 7.33M(13.20K) @echtra#2716: 4.38M(7.85K) @magnus1a: 3.00M(5.41K)

And now I leave you, confused. I must medidate some more weeks on my ship builds...]]> <![CDATA[What [Mod]s do our SETs get on upgrading?]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=565 Fri, 13 Nov 2015 18:41:26 -0500 Edarta]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=565 Help

How will my Maco / Iconian / Breen / etc set upgrade?

This evening, @Sovereign posted this link to a great catalogue guide in the Strike Group Channel.

THANK YOU! Heart

]]>

How will my Maco / Iconian / Breen / etc set upgrade?

This evening, @Sovereign posted this link to a great catalogue guide in the Strike Group Channel.

THANK YOU! Heart

]]> <![CDATA[Devices are your Friend]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=534 Fri, 30 Oct 2015 12:22:00 -0400 Edarta]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=534

Nimbus Pirate Distress Call
This device is earned as reward from the Badlands story arc finals. Three pirate ships are summoned on use to heal your shields or hull and to shoot at foes. You do not need to equip it, just have it in your inventory and slot it in a power tray. It shares cool down with the Delta Reinforcements Beacon.

Delta Reinforcements Beacon
You can pich this from the Broken Circle mission in the Iconian War Arc. Three Pilot Ships are summoned on use to defeat your enemies. You do not need to equip it, just have it in your inventory and slot it in a power tray. It shares cool down with the Nimbus Pirate Distress Call.

Subspace Field Modulator
This device puts your ship out of phase and gives great damage resistance when used. You get it from the early Ghost Story Arc.

Warning: it makes you vulnerable vs. Polaron Weapons.

So do not use it when facing Breen, Vaadwaur, the U.S.S. OLIPHANT or the WITCH OF ANDOR.

Scorpion Fighters
Essentially a hangar in the pocket it comes with 50 uses from The Vault mission, part of the Romulan Story Arc. It summons Scorpion Fighters to defeat your foes. I know a player who, when he saw these smalls in action while levelling, decided that his one-and-only Zen ship will be a carrier.

Prototype Devices: Satelite Turrets and Platforms
These consumable devices come Duty Officer assignments and are often found in the Exchange, inexpensive. They are deployed to give you extra fire power and there is an entire knowledge article dedicated to various types and use.

Temporarily Available: The Temporal Negatiator
Those who created a Delta Recruit Char during spring 2015 can claim this renown device with all characters from the Temporal Agent when the Recruit has made his way through the stories, collecting all Iconian Technology samples. On use it halves all cooldowns running. The Negotiator has a 5 min cooldown. I am happy to have it.

Including Batteries
Batteries are consumed when used and share a cooldown. With a Cooldown recently reduced to 30 seconds they have become very useful. They help to repair sub systems like Shields and Weapons and raise energy levels.
With a Maintenance Engineer (best known: the Exocomp from the recurring Academy Event) on space duty Batteries also improve performance by hardening shields, oomphing weapons etc.
Batteries can be purchased in various sizes from the commodity traders and at R&D skill 15 of the proper type (or Engineering 15) you can make Large ones from green Materials.

Much More
Your R&D department has also learnt to make a variety of consumable booster devices for your ship. If you have found something exceptional: post! Batteries are so common.

Reactive Armor Catalysts
When you pick the consumable Reactive Armor Catalysts from the Broken Circle mission in the Iconian Arc, your R&D Engineering department learns how to make more of them. You get ablative armor and a heal over time, cooldown is shared with batteries. I like this device that much that I had dedicated a typonese how-to on it's R&D manufacturing. The Catalysts are bound to character.

Prototype Ablative Jevonite Hardpoints
These consumables give you +100 Starship Structural Integrity for 15 minutes and boost your ship's hit points remarkably.
Once you completed a chain of Duty Officer assignments, the reward is a recurring uncommon Duty Mission to make these devices. The Mission requires 3 Jevonite and has a felt cooldown of a day.

Thingus Eremitus: Red Matter Capacitor
Available only to those who bought the games' Collectors Edition years ago, it's a reusable all-purpose ship energy level boosting Device Of Other Captains' Envy. So I can't get one.
The Oberth and the B'Rotlh Bird-of-Prey Tier 1 Zen ships (500) offer universal consoles of similar functionality.]]> <![CDATA[About Consoles]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=518 Mon, 26 Oct 2015 09:03:51 -0400 Edarta]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=518 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!]]> 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!]]> <![CDATA[Musings on Starship Energy Weapons]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=444 Wed, 07 Oct 2015 07:57:45 -0400 Edarta]]> http://strikegroup.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=444 Torpedoes
To start off topic, many captains want to have a good front torpedo and occasionally an aft Torpedo. They are often great, seen in the Movies & TV series and they can be truly awesome. But that will be a different story. Just keep in mind to save a weapon slot for them.

Cannons vs. Beams
This choice is a matter of taste and flying style, and piloting skill.
In general, agile ships are better suited for cannons (higher basic damage, smaller firing arcs, less damage on long range). Most damage is done forward, turrets are relatively weak. Escort ships often love cannons, especially heavy dual cannons.
Heavy Cruisers with heavy dual cannons can be excellent. Hunting down many small agile foes can be hard work in a cannon boat.
Beam weapons are seen on most Cruisers doing best damage on broadsiding and Beam Arrays are often their weapon of choice. Dual Beam Banks combined with Omni Directional Beams are fine for Escorts and other agile ships.
A mix of single Beam Arrays and Omni Directional Beams is my favorite as I do good damage while approaching foes and while flying around foes. No more parking and getting shot like a fish in a barrel (that's how the Exploding Scimitar stories are created), no more headlong kamikaze dives into death areas. Theoretically.

Weapon Mods and Procs
Weapons come with Modifiers and Procs (special effects with a 2.5% chance to happen). Reputation, Lockbox and Fleet Elite Weapons have an additional Proc and one Modifier less compared to weapons of the same family and rarity. Or, to confuse you, they have a different Proc...

Types
The most effective way is to stick to one weapon type, be it Phasers, Disruptors, Plasma, Antiproton, Polaron, or Tetryon as you get most from your Tactical consoles. The word "Rainbow" is mostly meant as an insult referring to multicolored shots from different weapon types...

If your vessel features a kind of lance attack, it makes a lot of sense to have energy weapons of the same family. Lance weapons mostly match your faction's canon favorite type. Note: On a Carrier ship, there is no bonus matching to your Hangar Pets.

Antiproton has been the only weapon type where you can have 3 omnidirectional beam weapons: Kinetic Cutting Beam (Omega Reputation), one from a Mission drop (Dyson Arc: Sphere of Influence) and one crafted by R&D. Meanwhile Tetryon (Iconian Arc: Butterfly) and Polaron (Futureproof: Tides of Time) get the same bonus. From the Sphere Builder weapon boxen you can get another AP Omnidirectional Beam Array but that can not be equipped together with an R&D Omnidirectional.

Antiproton is the most hyped weapon type. Most weapons have a special effect 2.5% Proc - with Antiproton being the well reputed exception just adding extra critical damage. With reasonable Critical Hit on board Antiproton are best for plain brutal damage.

Disruptors (vulnerability debuff)
Disruptors are the canon favorite Weapon of the KDF. You can get Fleet Elite Disruptors at T5.

Phasers (disabling sub systems)
Phasers are the canon favorite Weapon of the UFP. You can get Fleet Elite Phasers at T5. The mission drop set from Sunrise (Futureproof Arc) gives extra Phaser damage

Plasma (exotic DoT, may or may not gain from Exotic Particle Generators/EPG) has a good reputation since its shield passing damage over time is really helpful (or sometimes devastating I you are at the wrong end of the beam). Plasma also is the canon favorite weapon of Romulans. The Romulan Reputation sets gives extra Plasma damage, special weapons are available from the Reputation shop.

Polaron (energy brown out, gains from Drain Expertise/DrainX) is a weapon of the bad boys: Breen and Vaadvaur. Nothing wrong using their secret stuff against them. For dirty play, you can get blue Mk XI Dominion Polaron beam arrays/dual cannons from the "They Boldly Rode" mission, these have an additional proc to do shield damage, without sacrificing a modifier. They come with [CrtH][Dmg] built in.

Tetryon (shield damage, gains from Drain Expertise/DrainX) weapons' reputation is worst since after a foes shields are down, its shield damage proc is considered useless by many players and since several targets in STFs just do not have shields.
I see Tetryon in a brighter light. Shields going down early means that I get to hull damage earlier, the torpedoes get to kill strikes earlier and, the Kinetic cutting beam gets into effect earlier. Tetryon gains support from Nukara Reputation equipment and from the Butterfly mission.

Special Guest Star: The Kinetic Cutting Beam
Together with the Assimilated Module this 360° weapon raises your over all damage. You see that combination in many builds, 1000 Omega Marks and Reputation Tier 2 required. As the beam is not happy with your emenies shields up, some Captains do not use it.

Favorite modifiers

I sorted this list best first by reputation & oppinion
[Pen] - Armor Penetration, only available on R&D made weapons, once
[Dmg] - Damage increase (applied to normal and critical damage)
[CrtH] - Increase the chance for critical hits.
[CrtD] - Increase the damage of critical hits. Crit-Hit heavy ships may prefer CritD. That's where the "Overpowered Romulans" stories come from, using CrtD weapons on an already CrtH-strong vessel.
[Ac/Dm] - this is the modifier for extra Accuracy and Damage gained when weapons are upgraded to epic rarity. No opinion, the STO universe just wants to have it that way.

Not so cool modifiers
Here I sorted least uncool first
[Acc] - Accuracy, applied vs. opponents' defense to score hits. Accuracy exceeding their defense increases the chance for critical hits.
[Over] - Beam weapons only. Actually a proc, increasing weapon damage at the cost of a short weapon black out. Only available on R&D made weapons, once
[Rapid] - Cannons only. Actually a proc, triggering a rapid fire effect
[Snare] - Actually a proc decreasing your opponents' move
[Thrust] - Actually a proc, increasing your move
[PVP Dmg] and [PVP Res] do no longer appear when new weapons are made by R&D. They do not help at all in PVE and STFs. PVP players may hold them dearly.

Mind just keeping what you have?
The [Pen] modifier is relatively new, and [Dmg] has been made better just recently. Your older [CrtD]x# [CrtH]x# weapons do as good as they did before. No Crit Hit heavy Romulan gets fired for keeping his [CrtD]x4 weapons! [CrtD]x# [CrtH]x# [Dmg]x# mixes do better than they did before.

Getting stronger, faster, better?

I consider [CrtH] [Dmg]x3 from the fleet store a very good choice, and [CrtD] [Dmg]x3 also do lovely damage.

Getting extremely coolish?
The nowadays most loved (and most expensive to buy from the Exchange) ultra rares are [Dmg]x3 [Pen] weapons from R&D crafting. These homemade weapons also have a big advantage: If you decide to replace an R&D made item, you can pass it to another character.

With a skill of 15 in R&D Beam Weapons or Cannons, you create MK II weapons always purple, with 3 random Modifiers from dirt cheap white Materials/Components. Making them lasts 5 Minutes and with 3 to 5 skilled characters you can make your own weapon toon sweat shop:

Start creating a bunch of 5 weapons on a char, relog, repeat.

You want to keep [Dmg]x3 and [Dmg]x2 [Pen] where you get 1 from 512 tries. Mixes of [CrtD], [CrtH], [Dmg] and [Pen] are decent. Everything else I sell to the NPC.

The next step is the Big Upgrade Lottery. At R&D skill 20 you can be very effective building the very rare purple Superior Upgrades on your own as you mostly get 2 Upgrades from a R&D task (compared to 15 when you mostly get 1). Do not do this with green or blue upgrades as you would waste tons of Dilithium.

Experimental Upgrades, RP boosters and those Upgrades made from Omega Particles are best used for the first upgrade made. You get from MkII to Mk VIII using a single Upgrade and spending 1025 Dilithium. And each "upgrade now" click you roll the dice to get a rarity upgrade.

Besides raising chances for a rarity upgrade, your priority should be to get everything to Mk XIV. After reaching Mk XIV it becomes extremely expensive to upgrade to "potentially Extremely Rare" and even more so to "potentially Epic" again and again until the dice meet the accumulated chance.

Opinion on Damage Consoles

The type specific Vulnerablity Locators from the Fleet Spire are the best tactical consoles.
Plasma generating Weapon Signature Nullifiers (or, if you want to tank, Amplifiers) from the Fleet Embassy are a good choice.

I have to write another posting on consoles...]]> Torpedoes
To start off topic, many captains want to have a good front torpedo and occasionally an aft Torpedo. They are often great, seen in the Movies & TV series and they can be truly awesome. But that will be a different story. Just keep in mind to save a weapon slot for them.

Cannons vs. Beams
This choice is a matter of taste and flying style, and piloting skill.
In general, agile ships are better suited for cannons (higher basic damage, smaller firing arcs, less damage on long range). Most damage is done forward, turrets are relatively weak. Escort ships often love cannons, especially heavy dual cannons.
Heavy Cruisers with heavy dual cannons can be excellent. Hunting down many small agile foes can be hard work in a cannon boat.
Beam weapons are seen on most Cruisers doing best damage on broadsiding and Beam Arrays are often their weapon of choice. Dual Beam Banks combined with Omni Directional Beams are fine for Escorts and other agile ships.
A mix of single Beam Arrays and Omni Directional Beams is my favorite as I do good damage while approaching foes and while flying around foes. No more parking and getting shot like a fish in a barrel (that's how the Exploding Scimitar stories are created), no more headlong kamikaze dives into death areas. Theoretically.

Weapon Mods and Procs
Weapons come with Modifiers and Procs (special effects with a 2.5% chance to happen). Reputation, Lockbox and Fleet Elite Weapons have an additional Proc and one Modifier less compared to weapons of the same family and rarity. Or, to confuse you, they have a different Proc...

Types
The most effective way is to stick to one weapon type, be it Phasers, Disruptors, Plasma, Antiproton, Polaron, or Tetryon as you get most from your Tactical consoles. The word "Rainbow" is mostly meant as an insult referring to multicolored shots from different weapon types...

If your vessel features a kind of lance attack, it makes a lot of sense to have energy weapons of the same family. Lance weapons mostly match your faction's canon favorite type. Note: On a Carrier ship, there is no bonus matching to your Hangar Pets.

Antiproton has been the only weapon type where you can have 3 omnidirectional beam weapons: Kinetic Cutting Beam (Omega Reputation), one from a Mission drop (Dyson Arc: Sphere of Influence) and one crafted by R&D. Meanwhile Tetryon (Iconian Arc: Butterfly) and Polaron (Futureproof: Tides of Time) get the same bonus. From the Sphere Builder weapon boxen you can get another AP Omnidirectional Beam Array but that can not be equipped together with an R&D Omnidirectional.

Antiproton is the most hyped weapon type. Most weapons have a special effect 2.5% Proc - with Antiproton being the well reputed exception just adding extra critical damage. With reasonable Critical Hit on board Antiproton are best for plain brutal damage.

Disruptors (vulnerability debuff)
Disruptors are the canon favorite Weapon of the KDF. You can get Fleet Elite Disruptors at T5.

Phasers (disabling sub systems)
Phasers are the canon favorite Weapon of the UFP. You can get Fleet Elite Phasers at T5. The mission drop set from Sunrise (Futureproof Arc) gives extra Phaser damage

Plasma (exotic DoT, may or may not gain from Exotic Particle Generators/EPG) has a good reputation since its shield passing damage over time is really helpful (or sometimes devastating I you are at the wrong end of the beam). Plasma also is the canon favorite weapon of Romulans. The Romulan Reputation sets gives extra Plasma damage, special weapons are available from the Reputation shop.

Polaron (energy brown out, gains from Drain Expertise/DrainX) is a weapon of the bad boys: Breen and Vaadvaur. Nothing wrong using their secret stuff against them. For dirty play, you can get blue Mk XI Dominion Polaron beam arrays/dual cannons from the "They Boldly Rode" mission, these have an additional proc to do shield damage, without sacrificing a modifier. They come with [CrtH][Dmg] built in.

Tetryon (shield damage, gains from Drain Expertise/DrainX) weapons' reputation is worst since after a foes shields are down, its shield damage proc is considered useless by many players and since several targets in STFs just do not have shields.
I see Tetryon in a brighter light. Shields going down early means that I get to hull damage earlier, the torpedoes get to kill strikes earlier and, the Kinetic cutting beam gets into effect earlier. Tetryon gains support from Nukara Reputation equipment and from the Butterfly mission.

Special Guest Star: The Kinetic Cutting Beam
Together with the Assimilated Module this 360° weapon raises your over all damage. You see that combination in many builds, 1000 Omega Marks and Reputation Tier 2 required. As the beam is not happy with your emenies shields up, some Captains do not use it.

Favorite modifiers

I sorted this list best first by reputation & oppinion
[Pen] - Armor Penetration, only available on R&D made weapons, once
[Dmg] - Damage increase (applied to normal and critical damage)
[CrtH] - Increase the chance for critical hits.
[CrtD] - Increase the damage of critical hits. Crit-Hit heavy ships may prefer CritD. That's where the "Overpowered Romulans" stories come from, using CrtD weapons on an already CrtH-strong vessel.
[Ac/Dm] - this is the modifier for extra Accuracy and Damage gained when weapons are upgraded to epic rarity. No opinion, the STO universe just wants to have it that way.

Not so cool modifiers
Here I sorted least uncool first
[Acc] - Accuracy, applied vs. opponents' defense to score hits. Accuracy exceeding their defense increases the chance for critical hits.
[Over] - Beam weapons only. Actually a proc, increasing weapon damage at the cost of a short weapon black out. Only available on R&D made weapons, once
[Rapid] - Cannons only. Actually a proc, triggering a rapid fire effect
[Snare] - Actually a proc decreasing your opponents' move
[Thrust] - Actually a proc, increasing your move
[PVP Dmg] and [PVP Res] do no longer appear when new weapons are made by R&D. They do not help at all in PVE and STFs. PVP players may hold them dearly.

Mind just keeping what you have?
The [Pen] modifier is relatively new, and [Dmg] has been made better just recently. Your older [CrtD]x# [CrtH]x# weapons do as good as they did before. No Crit Hit heavy Romulan gets fired for keeping his [CrtD]x4 weapons! [CrtD]x# [CrtH]x# [Dmg]x# mixes do better than they did before.

Getting stronger, faster, better?

I consider [CrtH] [Dmg]x3 from the fleet store a very good choice, and [CrtD] [Dmg]x3 also do lovely damage.

Getting extremely coolish?
The nowadays most loved (and most expensive to buy from the Exchange) ultra rares are [Dmg]x3 [Pen] weapons from R&D crafting. These homemade weapons also have a big advantage: If you decide to replace an R&D made item, you can pass it to another character.

With a skill of 15 in R&D Beam Weapons or Cannons, you create MK II weapons always purple, with 3 random Modifiers from dirt cheap white Materials/Components. Making them lasts 5 Minutes and with 3 to 5 skilled characters you can make your own weapon toon sweat shop:

Start creating a bunch of 5 weapons on a char, relog, repeat.