By my count, there are 15 T5 ships available for just dilithium or a level 40 token, which someone might want a starter build for to help them finish off the episode missions and start the reputation grind. My Strict Budget Build covers the three science vessels, the Baby Step series covers the three cruisers with tactical ensigns, and there's definitely an argument to be made that some are just bad choices. But there are two more I thought really ought to have their own builds available. This series will not be as thoroughly researched as those previous series, and it will not feature optimized skill builds (there are many resources for that), but the builds will be proven in the Badlands Battlezone and in solo Defense of Starbase One Advanced, as well as extensively parsed in the Wanted (Argala System) patrol with comparisons to similar builds. That should adequately demonstrate that they can get you whatever reputation marks you need, using only mission, basic (generally Mk XII uncommon) Exchange, and Phoenix Store items. Each build will be allowed one Mk XV item to maintain parity with the Strict Budget Build, usually a forward weapon. It's also easy enough to put these together that I could be persuaded to do more if there's a ship that deserves it.

So, why the Jem Escort? One reason is there in the title, it is the only one of the 15 ships that comes at T5-U, giving it a significant advantage in console slots and in hull strength. And it costs only 1,000 dilithium instead of the usual 20,000. I still would have put it into the bad choice column for having too many tactical abilities, though, except for the fact that Jem'hadar characters don't get a choice, they're forced to use it. So, for everyone playing a Jem'hadar character without any account unlocked ships, this is mostly for you. It must also be said that people do very frequently ask about advice for the T5 escorts, and this is the one with the least tactical seating and the most other seating, so it's the best shot the type has.

Now, general build theory. Without expensive things like Boimler or Technicians, Photonic Officer is the only choice for cooldown reduction, and the maximum available rank in this seating is 1, so I used that. With a forward focused ship, good turn rate, a Commander tactical seat, and no Command seating a cannon build is very much the obvious choice. And with so many tactical abilities I was looking for some way to make them useful, which the Morphogenic set provides. The 3 piece bonus from the Morphogenic set generates up to 30% CrtD from activating cannon firing modes, up to 6% CrtH from beam firing modes, and up to 22.5% cat1 from torpedo firing modes, so that is quite powerful, and using one of each of those, plus the standard Attack Pattern Beta and Tac Team, brings me up to 5 out of 6 tactical ability slots. So I definitely had to go with polaron and the Morphogenic set for this ship. Unfortunately that means that there are very few worthwhile mission reward consoles for the build, really just the Temporal Disentanglement Suite is worth using, although there are several reputation consoles that will be useful when they become available, so for now most of the consoles are generic ones and not all that helpful. The 6th tactical slot is filled with Focused Assault, not because it's good but because it's the only remaining ability within the budget that does not conflict with the others and does anything for the build at all. Otherwise I stuck as close to the Baby Step series as I could. For upgrade suggestions, I again recommend STO BETTER's Energy Basics page.

Overall, the build felt a bit frustrating to me, but was effective. Cooldowns were a constant problem, as expected, but the additional turret and weapon buffs did make that up and bring it to rough parity with the Hegh'ta BoP, which I did not expect. In survivability, it was more or less the exact opposite experience from the Hegh'ta: there were very few heals available, the shields were always low and I could not keep it at full health in elite, but having double the hull capacity thanks to being T5-U meant it could usually just take the punishment regardless, although it still did sometimes have to run and heal in Wanted Elite and in Starbase One. That definitely makes it a more forgiving build, but it felt a lot less satisfying to me.

#Captain Details

#Space Skill Unlocks

I set up this skill tree for my tank character years ago. There are better ones, but it covers what's most important: the direct damage boosting skills in tactical, the tactical ultimate, EPS, and Long Range Targeting, with some points for Hull Plating, Hull Capacity, and Impulse Expertise. Strategist is very likely the most powerful and definitely the easiest to use specialization for this build, so you should invest in it first.

#Ship Loadout: Jem'Hadar Escort

#Officer Details

#Traits & Duty Officers

This table shows all damage sources in one Wanted Advanced run, with multiple lines from the same source summed together.

^Table ^formatting ^brought ^to ^you ^by ^ExcelToReddit

And finally, here's the table of DPS testing for all four equivalent budget builds. The Luna used the original, unaltered Strict Budget Build, using the mentioned swap of Emergency Power to Shields instead of Aux to Structural for better survivability against non-Borg. The Vor'cha sat somewhere between parts one and two of the Baby Step series, meaning it had exactly the same consoles as the Hegh'ta BoP and similar ones to this build, and the beam equivalents of the phaser weapons, with exactly the abilities and personal traits in those posts. It must also be said that the Vor'cha was the only build to never die on elite difficulty, so it was definitely the toughest, although all the builds took 20 minutes to get through the mission so using them at that difficulty is a bad idea. The Hegh'ta of course used the Quick Looks 1 build.

^Table ^formatting ^brought ^to ^you ^by ^ExcelToReddit

By my count, there are 15 T5 ships available for just dilithium or a level 40 token, which someone might want a starter build for to help them finish off the episode missions and start the reputation grind. My Strict Budget Build covers the three science vessels, the Baby Step series covers the three cruisers with tactical ensigns, and there's definitely an argument to be made that some are just bad choices. But there are two more I thought really ought to have their own builds available. This series will not be as thoroughly researched as those previous series, and it will not feature optimized skill builds (there are many resources for that), but the builds will be proven in the Badlands Battlezone and in solo Defense of Starbase One Advanced, as well as extensively parsed in the Wanted (Argala System) patrol with comparisons to similar builds. That should adequately demonstrate that they can get you whatever reputation marks you need, using only mission, basic (generally Mk XII uncommon) Exchange, and Phoenix Store items, and they will be extremely straightforward to improve following standard advice. Each build will be allowed one Mk XV item to maintain parity with the Strict Budget Build, usually a forward weapon. It's also easy enough to put these together that I could be persuaded to do more if there's a ship that deserves it.

So, why the Hegh'ta? Mostly because of the flexibility provided by the universal bridge officer seating. Out of those 15 ships only 5 can slot Photonic Officer 2 to have actually sufficient cooldown reduction, and 3 of those are science vessels and the 4th is the rather odd Vo'quv Carrier. Only the Hegh'ta can run a conventional energy weapon build and also have Photonic Officer 2, and it has plenty of turn rate to use dual cannons effectively as well. With that combination, I had high hopes for it. Plus, such a build could be easily transferred to possibly the most accessible T6 ship, the M'chla Refit BoP from Klingon Recruitment. But I'd never really seen it discussed much. So it was time for that to change.

As for overall build theory, with the desire for Photonic Officer 2 settled, and the obvious fact that the ship didn't have anything to recommend a build other than energy weapons, I had to pick between beams and cannons, and having so many more front than rear weapons along with an excellent turn rate made cannons the obvious choice. For energy type, there are 3 that have good sets from missions, but the disruptor sets only have beam weapons, and polaron's Morphogenic set really wants you to have 5 tactical abilities which I preferred to avoid (you'll see that on the Jem'hadar Escort), so that left phaser looking like the best option. That also meant I could stick very close to the Baby Step series for the gear and only have the abilities be different, and you can check that series for upgrade options as well as the usual source, STO BETTER's Energy Basics.

Overall, the build proved quite fun to fly, with the combination of cooldown reduction and cannons making it feel powerful, and the good number of heals and again the cooldown reduction meaning my health was never low for long. The one real flaw is that it is relatively easy for enemies to kill it with burst damage because of the low hull and shield modifiers, more so than any of the other three builds I tested it against. The rear torpedoes on the elite difficulty Kazon Carriers did that several times and it could not stand and fight against the battleships in Starbase One, it had to repeatedly leave combat to heal. Still, it did well given the budget constraints.

#Captain Details

#Space Skill Unlocks

I set up this skill tree for my tank character years ago. There are better ones, but it covers what's most important: the direct damage boosting skills in tactical, the tactical ultimate, EPS, and Long Range Targeting, with some points for Hull Plating, Hull Capacity, and Impulse Expertise. Strategist is very likely the most powerful and definitely the easiest to use specialization for this build, so you should invest in it first.

#Ship Loadout: Hegh'ta Heavy Bird-of-Prey

#Officer Details

#Traits & Duty Officers

This table shows all damage sources in one Wanted Advanced run, with multiple lines from the same source summed together.

^Table ^formatting ^brought ^to ^you ^by ^ExcelToReddit

And finally, here's the table of DPS testing for all four equivalent budget builds. The Luna used the original, unaltered Strict Budget Build, using the mentioned swap of Emergency Power to Shields instead of Aux to Structural for better survivability against non-Borg. The Vor'cha sat somewhere between parts one and two of the Baby Step series, meaning it had exactly the same consoles as this Hegh'ta, and the beam equivalents of the same weapons, with exactly the abilities and personal traits in those posts. It must also be said that the Vor'cha was the only build to never die on elite difficulty, so it was definitely the toughest, although all the builds took 20 minutes to get through the mission so using them at that difficulty is a bad idea. The Jem'hadar Escort of course used the Quick Looks 2 build, coming soon.

^Table ^formatting ^brought ^to ^you ^by ^ExcelToReddit

Well I finally did it, I acheived my dream and got the biggest ship* in the game. The temporal heavy Dreadnought Cruiser is mine! I even snagged it off a mudd bundle meaning I own all three versions (Fed, Klingon, AND Space-Elf) for my true dream of being so big I clip the camera for everyone I warp in.

Now however I find myself asking the same question no doubt everyone's been in when they meet their goal.

Now what?

I need a build for this monster but it doesn't actually function like how I expected. I didn't even realize it had a hangar for one thing, which changes up my build a little bit.

How do I build this massive ship? What's even the best way to start? I was using a modified beam-tank build to get to this point but what perks are even good? What hangar pets should I be looking out for to slap on this thing? Is there any real difference between the three ships and if so which one should I use?

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer me. This community has always been great.

I thought it was around time that a more up to date explanation of how to set up your Keybinds for PvP was released for the wider community so here it is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQtioI7ujqM

The actual key binds are rather persistent through meta changes. however, the items which go onto the buff bars change quite a bit. The screenshot and explanations shown towards the end of the video are for this particular build:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/1b089vy/competitive_pvp_meta_hydra_build_version_iii/
The picture shown near the end was mostly to give an idea of what the objectives were for these key binds so you can modify them as needed for your own purposes.

Live Long & Prosper
-T'Vek Saterk@data#7310

Welcome to the weekly questions megathread. Here is where you can ask all your build or theorycrafting related questions that might not warrant a full post. Curious about how something works? Ask it here!

You can see previous weeks megathreads here.

Hi everyone. I am currently flying a Legendary Akira - torps in front with mines in the back - and would like to ask for advices to improve DPS. I am playing on PC, random TFOs . In general, i get between 170 - 250k in ISEs, however a couple of random ISEs i got 320k and i would like to have a constant DPS at 300k as i have seen other instances with kinetic / mines builds getting 300 - 400k in ISE. It is likely due to my poor flying skills (also, i am on auto firing and not manual) and mistakes / gaps in my build hence looking for advices. Thanks in advance

Captain Name Captain Career Engineering Captain Faction Federation Captain Race Human Captain's Outfit Primary Specialization Temporal Secondary Specialization Miracle-Worker Space Skill Tree Rank Engineering Science Tactical Lieutenant Advanced Hull Restoration Advanced Hull Capacity Shield Restoration Shield Capacity Choose Energy Weapon Training Advanced Projectile Weapon Training Lt. Commander Choose Electro-Plasma System Flow Choose Impulse Expertise Improved Control Expertise Improved Drain Expertise Advanced Targeting Expertise Advanced Defensive Maneuvering Choose Full Impulse Energy Shunt Choose Control Amplification Choose Drain Infection Commander Hull Plating Choose Damage Control Choose Shield Regeneration Choose Shield Hardness Advanced Weapon Amplification Advanced Weapon Specialization Energized Hull Plating Ablative Hull Plating Captain Choose Defensive Subsystem Tuning Choose Offensive Subsystem Tuning Advanced Exotic Particle Generator Choose Long Range Targeting Sensors Advanced Hull Penetration Advanced Shield Weakening Choose Shield Subsystem Performance Choose Weapon Subsystem Performance Choose Auxiliary Subsystem Performance Choose Engine Subsystem Performance Admiral Warp Core Potential Choose Engineering Readiness Shield Mastery Choose Scientific Readiness Coordination Protocols Advanced Tactical Readiness Choose Warp Core Efficiency Choose Shield Absorption Choose Defensive Coordination Choose Shield Reflection Offensive Coordination 0 Points Left 10 10 26 Space Unlocks Purchases Engineering Science Tactical 2 Emergency Power to Shields III Engineering Team III Directed Energy Modulation III 5 Hangar Health Transwarp Cooldown Reductions Threat Control 7 Emergency Power to Engines III Auxiliary Power to the Emergency Battery III Eject Warp Plasma III 10 Maximum Hull Capacity Maximum Shield Capacity Projectile Critical Damage 12 Choose Choose Boarding Parties III 15 Choose One Choose One Energy Critical Damage 17 Choose Choose Aceton Beam III 20 Choose One Choose One Accuracy 24 (Ultimate) Choose One Choose One Focused Frenzy 25 (1st Ultimate Enhancer) Choose One Choose One Frenzied Reactions 26 (2nd Ultimate Enhancer) Choose One Choose One Frenzied Assault 27 (3rd Ultimate Enhancer) Choose One Choose One Choose One Ship Loadout Legendary Akira multi-mission command cruiser Slot Item Search Term Mark Rarity Modifier 1 Modifier 2 Modifier 3 Modifier 4 Modifier 5 #N/A Maelstrom triflouride XV Epic [CritD/Dm] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] #N/A Neutronic Torpedo Launcher XV Epic [CritD/Dm] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] #N/A Delphic Distortion Torpedo XV Epic [Ac/Dm] [CrtH] [Dmg] [Dmg] [Dmg] #N/A Advanced Radiant Quantum Torpedo Launcher XV Epic [CritD/Dm] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] [Proc] #N/A Dark Matter Quantum Torpedo Launcher XV Epic [CritD/Dm] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] #N/A Elite fleet quantum mine launcher XV Epic [CritD/Dm] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] [Proc] #N/A Elite fleet quantum mine launcher XV Epic [CritD/Dm] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] [Proc] #N/A Thoron Infused Quantum Mine Launcher XV Epic [Dm/Dm] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] [CrtD] #N/A #N/A #N/A Equipment Search Term: Deflector Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter Deflector Array XV Epic [ColCrit] [DrainX] [DrainX] [HullCap] [Sh/HullCap] #N/A Impulse Engines Romulan Advanced Prototype Impulse Engines XV Epic [SecSpd] [SecSpd] [Turn] Warp Core Warp Core XV Epic [AMP] [S->W] [SCap] [SSR] [W->S] Shields Tilly's Review-Pending Modified Shield XV Epic [ResAll] [Cap] [Cap] [Cap] [Cap] Devices Red matter Rare Phased waveform Epic Delta alliance Epic Subspace field modulator Rare Console Search Term: #N/A Console - Universal - Tachyon Net Drones XV Epic Console - Tachyokinetic Converter XV Epic Console - Bioneural Infusion Circuits XV Epic Covert warhead module XV Epic

#N/A Console - Universal - Ordnance Accelerator XV Epic Console - Science - Temporal Disentanglement Suite XV Epic

#N/A Console - Tactical - Vulnerability Exploiter XV Epic Console - Tactical - Vulnerability Exploiter XV Epic Console - Tactical - Vulnerability Locator XV Epic Console - Tactical - Vulnerability Locator XV Epic Console - Tactical - Vulnerability Locator XV Epic T6-X Universal Console Console - Tactical - Lorca's Custom Fire Controls #N/A Console - Universal - Dynamic Power Redistributor Module #N/A Hangar Bay

Bridge Officers Power

Romulan Operative

Romulan Operative

Romulan Operative

Romulan Operative

Romulan Operative

Traits & Duty Officers Personal Traits Context is for Kings Fleet Coordinator Innocuous Kinetic Precision Operative Hot Pursuit Resonating Payload Modification Superior Projectile Training Terran Targeting Systems The Boimler Effect Starship Traits Promise of Ferocity Cultural Conquest Onboard Dilithium Recrystallizer Piercing Projectiles Unconventional Tactics Entwined Tactical Matrices Ceaseless Momentum Space Reputation Traits Tyler's Duality Torpedo Pre-Fire Sequence Precision Advanced Targeting Systems Auxiliary Power Configuration - Offense Duty Officers Projectile Weapons Officer Projectile Weapons Officer Projectile Weapons Officer Security Officer Deflector Officer Deflector Officer

Boff seating :

1. Lt universal (science) - hazard emitters 1, photonic officer 1
2. Lt commander tactical - KLW 1, CSV 1 (for ETM), torp spead 3 ( tried EBM high yield 3 without observing a major increase in DPS)
3. Ensign tactical - FAW 1 ( to trigger ETM)
4. Commander / command engineering - EPTS 1, Let it go 2, Concentrate firepower 3, Reverse shield polarity 3 (for survivability)
5. Lt commander / miracle worker science - polarize hull 1, subspace vortex 2 (tried MAS 1 but no major increase in DPS observed - probably due to poor activation timing), GW1

I have a T6 Terran Hydra Intel Destroyer, I've been playing for a little over a year off and on. I need a help making an overload beam build for a free to play player. any recommendations on type of weapons, specific consoles and devices I need, ect ect... ?

Hey everyone, a few days ago I won a protostar and decided to keep it, I’ve been playing a long time but never tried an EPG build as I was honestly too lazy to understand it all, always been a beam/cannons Tactical sorta guy. That being said I love the protostars design so I have tried to make an EPG build using all the resources I had available to me, honestly I was surprised how much science stuff I had and never really used.

I have already seen a few issues with my build, some which I’m working on and some I may need some advice on.

First is the revolutionary set, I was in holiday at the time of the event and didn’t have any interest in a science build back then, so I never got it, even on sale in mudds I think it’s expensive. But I may get it one day. Currently I’m using the Temporal Shield and Engines but I don’t know what to use for my Warp core.

Second is the Morphogenic set, I’m going to get that tonight and the console will probably replace the lure team console and torpedo will replace the omni phaser.

I also have the legendary Glenn at my disposal but it’s not T6X2 yet, though other ship recommendations would always be welcome (Like the protostar design more though)

And lastly I’m about 60k exp away from science R&D 15 so I’ll be getting Particle Manipulator for my personal space traits soon.

The things I don’t know are as follows. which Doffs I should use, what I should use in the engineering/miracle worker boff slots, what specializations I should use and honestly if there’s anything I’m missing which would be of any help.

Any advice would be welcomed!

Protostar Temporal Science Spearhead

Fore weapons :

Particle Emission Plasma Torpedo

Gravimetric Photon Torpedo

Dark matter Quantum Torpedo

Phaser Wide angle Dual Heavy Beam Bank

Aft Weapons :

Omni-Directional Phaser beam Array (soon to be replaced by Morphogenic Torpedo)

Plasmatic Biomatter Auto-Turret

Morphogenic Polaron Energy Weapon

Devices :

Red Matter Capacitor

Subspace Field Modulator

Adv - Exotic Particle Flood

Aux Battery

Normal - Exotic Particle Flood

Shield :

Temporal Defence

Deflector :

Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter

SecDef :

Strategic Deteriorating

Impulse :

Temporal Defence

Warp core :

Mycelial Harmonic (this is from my normal ships, not sure what to put in its place tbh)

Engineering consoles :

Lure team

Delphic tear

Micro dark matter anomaly

Plasma storm module

Science Consoles :

Advanced Science - Exotic Particle Amplifier [EPG] x2

Genesis Seed

Immolating Phaser Lance

Auxiliary Ejection Assembly

Tactical Consoles :

Fek’ihri Torment

Bio-electric wave capacitor

Universal consoles :

Dragonsblood Flame

Tachyon net drones

Lt Universal :

Very cold in space 1

Photonic officer 2

Lt. Commander Tac :

Fire at Will 1

Kemocite 2

Torpedo spread 3

Lt. Commander Eng :

EPtE 1

Aux2SIF 1

Mixed Armaments 2 (again not sure what to place instead, thinking destabilise warp core)

Commander Sci :

Heisenberg Amplifier 1

Chronometric Inversion Field 1

Timeline collapse 1

Gravity Well 3

Ensign Sci :

Subspace vortex 1

Specializations :

Primary Temporal

Secondary Miracle Worker

Space Rep :

Tyler’s Duality Particle Generator Amplifier Precision Advanced Targeting System Aux power configuration

Starship traits :

Entwined Tactical Matrices

Exotic Modulation

Improved Gravity Well

Five Magicks

Spore Infused Anomalies

Universal Designs

Improved Photonic officer

Personal Space Traits :

Enlightened

Into the breach

Uncon Systems

Terran Targeting systems

A good day to die

Psychological warfare

Adaptive offence

Intelligence agent Attaché

Fragment of AI

Innocuous

am doing a fantasy themed elf build and was wondering if anyone had any ground weapons suggestions. something like a magical staff or anything else you guys would think could work.

The meta around Support ships has changed a lot in the last year. I thought it might be useful to catch up a bit, to update some recommendations and share what we've learned since then.

Our example ship, the USS Inspiration, is intended as a mid-budget support ship for Random TFOs. It works in Normal and Advanced content, and handily holds its own in Elite content once the ship is fully upgraded. It is not intended as a nanny ship for DPS parse runs, it'd require significant changes that would depend heavily on who you were supporting. And I couldn't test that kinda thing anyway, given that we don't have a parser on Console.

If you're looking for a good entry point for playing Support, take a look at the budget build right over here.

This build requires a number of ships; the Arbiter Battlecruiser, for Emergency Weapon Cycle; the Gagarin Battlecruiser, for Entwined Tactical Matrices; the Buran Command Dreadnought Cruiser, for Unified Engineering (and the discount on the fleet version is nice); and the Ahwahnee Support Science Carrier, for Flagship Staffing and Type 7 Shuttlecraft. It also requires the Flagship Technologies console set, which you can get either through the 10th Anniversary bundle, the Legendary Scimitar Dreadnought (which makes a fine support vessel by itself, but that's another post), or you can also get the relevant consoles by purchasing the Sojourner and the Endeavour or their faction equivalents individually. I'm not using any Lobi equipment, and I've tried to keep out of the Mudd Store as much as possible.

One of the biggest changes in this build from the budget version is the inclusion of Unconventional Systems. US allows this ship to cycle some extremely useful consoles at a relatively high speed, with some very nice results. The Inspiration can regularly enhance the entire party's firing cycle speed and mass-debuff enemies with an efficiency the budget build could only dream of. The downside is that it requires us to make some significant changes in our playstyle and build. Most of our Science seating is now taken up with Control effects, some of which can be tricky to use effectively, and some of which we can actually exploit to improve our support capabilities. We'll get deeper into this in the actual build, but suffice to say this is going to be a different experience than flying the budget build.

The other big change that should probably be mentioned is Flagship Staffing. For years I've been after Cryptic to give us a Starship Trait that grants a team-wide firing cycle enhancement, and now at long last we have it! Aaaaand it's a little awkward to use. C'est la vie. See, Flagship Staffing offers a cooldown bonus and an impressive 33% firing cycle haste to any target you hit with a Command or Hull/Shield healing bridge officer ability, and it has an internal cooldown of about 30 seconds. So if you target one person with Hazard Emitters, that person gets the bonus and you can't enhance another player for 30 seconds. You cannot spread the bonus to multiple team members using traits like Team Synergy or Radiant Nanite Cloud, and since the bonus is only applied when you activate the ability it does not work with Rally Point Marker. However, it does work with two specific abilities -- Needs of the Many, and Align Shield Frequencies. Since the Cardenas has Command seating we'll be working with Needs of the Many, but that causes its own problems which we'll get into in the build proper.

Player Information

Skill Tree

Skill Tree Unlocks

Skill Tree Information

The biggest change from the budget build is that Control Amplification and Expertise plays a bigger role. Other than that, we're still building for Focused Frenzy and what minor team buffs we can get from the skill tree. If you ran the budget build already, you're good here. Oh, also, when you get into Elites consider switching from Temporal secondary to Strategist. It's got better survivability, and that can make all the difference when you're flying with randos.

Build Description

We're switching from the Malachowski to the Cardenas for a number of reasons -- higher Hull, yes, but the wider Science seating is more significant. With Unified Engineering we need at least three Control abilities to proc cooldowns with, and we couldn't do that on the Malachowski without sacrificing a bunch of Tactical seating. As a Dreadnought the Cardenas still offers Weapon Systems Efficiency and a hangar bay, so it's not that big of a leap from the last ship, and shouldn't be too uncomfortable of a fit once you get past the heaviness.

				|	Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold			|	If you've got the Ahwahnee, the Fleet Power Network Array is fun to throw on people while still being a very solid buff for you in a pinch. Stuff like the DOMINO isn't a bad choice if you've got it, or any of the alternate debuff consoles I mentioned earlier.			

-------------- | -------------- | -------------- Hangars: 1 | Type 7 Shuttlecraft | Really the Ahwahnee was an embarrassment of riches for Support players. Type 7 Shuttlecraft are just ridiculously good, and it's such a relief not to have to tell people their best option for a hangar support craft comes from an event ship from a year ago.   |   |  

Officers and Crew

Character, Reputation, and Starship Traits

Other Information

Concluding Remarks

Alright, I think that's everything. I hope you'll consider flying a support ship, it's a fun playstyle that lets you really interact with your teammates and brings some really enjoyable complexity to the game! :D

I have been playing around with SIA on my favorite ship, the Cyclone, and its great fun. I have 5 anomalies. The 4 science and 1 intel with 2 intel trigger abilities. I was wondering if it would be any better to have just 3 anomalies with 2 intel and 2 science triggers instead. Also if my research is correct only epg buffs SIA, so what would the optimal epg for an escort like this need to be for SIA effectiveness? Mine is around 380 atm.

#Captain Details

Captain Name  | Sullivan  |  

--|--|--

Captain Career  | Engineering  |  

Captain Faction  | Starfleet  |  

Captain Race  | Human  |  

Primary Specialization  | Miracle-Worker  |  

Secondary Specialization  | Intelligence  |  

#Space Skill Tree

Rank  | Engineering  |   | Science  |   | Tactical  |   |

--|--|--|--|--|--|--

Lieutenant  |   | Advanced Hull Capacity  |   |   | Advanced Energy Weapon Training  | Advanced Projectile Weapon Training 

Lt. Commander  |   | Improved Impulse Expertise  |   |   | Improved Targeting Expertise  | Improved Defensive Maneuvering 

Commander  | Hull Plating  | Improved Damage Control  |   |   | Advanced Weapon Amplification  | Advanced Weapon Specialization 

  | Ablative Hull Plating  |   |   |   |   |  

Captain  | Defensive Subsystem Tuning  | Offensive Subsystem Tuning  |   | Advanced Long Range Targeting Sensors  | Advanced Hull Penetration  | Advanced Shield Weakening 

Admiral  | Improved Warp Core Potential  | Improved Engineering Readiness  |   |   | Coordination Protocols  | Improved Tactical Readiness 

  | Warp Core Efficiency  |   |   |   | Defensive Coordination  |  

  |   |   |   |   | Offensive Coordination  |  

0 Points Left  | 16  |   | 3  |   | 27  |  

#Space Skill Unlocks

Purchases  | Engineering  | Science  | Tactical 

--|--|--|--

2  | Emergency Power to Shields III  | Engineering Team III  | Directed Energy Modulation III 

5  | Hangar Health  | Sector Space Travel Speed  | Hangar Weaponry 

7  | Emergency Power to Engines III  |   | Eject Warp Plasma III 

10  | Maximum Hull Capacity  | Maximum Shield Capacity  | Projectile Critical Chance 

12  | Emergency Power to Weapons III  |   | Boarding Parties III 

15  | Shield Subsystem Power  |   | Energy Critical Chance 

17  |   |   | Aceton Beam III 

20  |   |   | Defense 

24 (Ultimate)  |   |   | Focused Frenzy 

25 (1st Ultimate Enhancer)  |   |   | Frenzied Assault 

26 (2nd Ultimate Enhancer)  |   |   | Frenzied Reactions 

27 (3rd Ultimate Enhancer)  |   |   | Team Frenzy 

#Ship Loadout: Miracle Worker Flight Deck Carrier

Slot  | Item 

--|--

Fore Weapon 1  | Piezo Plasma Beam Array 

Fore Weapon 2  | Assimiliated Plasma DBB 

Fore Weapon 3  | Altamid Plasma Torpedo 

Fore Weapon 4  | Assimilated Plasma DBB 

Fore Weapon 5  | Assimilated Plasma Beam Array 

  |  

Aft Weapon 1  | Altamid Plasma Omni 

Aft Weapon 2  | Altamid Plasma Turret 

Aft Weapon 3  | Plasma Omni 

  |  

Deflector  | Non-Baryonic Matter Deflector  

Impulse Engines  | Mycelial Wave-Impulse Engines  

Warp Core  | Mycelial Harmonic Matter-Antimatter Core 

Shields  | Tilly's Review-Pending Modified Shield  

  |  

Devices  | Red Matter Capacitor 

  |  

5 Engineering Consoles  | Hangar Craft Power Transmission 

  | Hangar Craft Power Transmission 

  | Hangar Craft Power Transmission 

  | Hangar Craft Power Transmission 

  | Hangar Craft Power Transmission 

  |  

3 Science Consoles  | Console - Universal - Dynamic Power Redistributor Module 

  | Console - Universal - Disruption Pulse Emitter 

  | Console - Universal - Secondary Shield Projector 

  |  

3 Tactical Consoles  | Console - Universal - Point Defense Bombardment Warhead 

  | Console - Universal - Linked Command Matrix 

  | Altamid Modified Swarm Processor 

T6-X Universal Console  | Hangar Craft Power Transmission 

Universal Console  | Console - Universal - Piezo-Electric Focuser 

Universal Console  | Console - Universal - Piezo-Electric Focuser 

2 Hangar Bays  | Hangar - To'Duj Fighter Squadron 

  | Hangar - To'Duj Fighter Squadron 

#Officer Details

Bridge Officers  | Power 

--|--

Commander Engineering-Miracle Worker  | Null Pointer Flood I  

  | Align Shield Frequencies II  

  | Narrow Sensor Bands III  

  | Mixed Armaments Synergy III  

  |  

Lt. Commander Universal  | Emergency Power to Shields I  

  | Emergency Power to Weapons II  

  | Directed Energy Modulation II  

  |  

Lt. Commander Tactical  | Kemocite-Laced Weaponry I  

  | Attack Pattern Beta I  

  | Beam Array: Overload III  

  |  

Lieutenant Universal-Command  | Torpedo: Spread I  

  | Cannon: Scatter Volley I  

  |  

Ensign Science  | Hazard Emitters I  

  |  

#Traits & Duty Officers

Trait  | Name  | Description 

--|--|--

Personal Traits  | Context is for Kings  |  

  | Duelist's Fervor  |  

  | Fleet Coordinator  |  

  | Inspirational Leader  |  

  | Intelligence Agent Attache  |  

  | Hive Defenses  |  

  | Repair Crews  |  

  | Self-Modulating Fire  |  

  | EPS Overload  |  

  | Wing Commander  |  

  |   |  

Starship Traits  | History Will Remember  |  

  | Super Charged Weapons  |  

  | Strike Group Command Authority  |  

  | Superior Area Denial  |  

  | Preferential Targeting  |  

  | It's Another Enterprise  |  

  |   |  

Space Reputation Traits  | Advanced Targeting Systems  |  

  | Auxiliary Power Configuration - Offense  |  

  | Magnified Firepower  |  

  | Precision  |  

  | Tyler's Duality  |  

  |   |  

Duty Officers  | 9 of 47  | 5% on use of tactical, 10% on use of miracle worker BO abilities chance to trigger APD1 

  | 19 of 47  | 15% on use of Eng BO Abilities to grant max power for 5s; 30% on MW to improve armor pen for 30s  

  | 24 of 47  | 15% on use of Tac BO Abilities to grant max power for 5s; 30% on MW to give 2.5% crit for 30s  

  | 34 of 47  | 15% on use of Eng BO ability to reduce MW BO abilities by 50%; 30% on MW to reduce Eng by 50% 

  | 39 of 47  | 15% on use of Tac BO ability to reduce MW BO abilities by 50%; 30% on MW to reduce Tac by 50% 

  |   |  

Alright to start off with, I only have access to the base ships accessible in all the standard shipyards. No C-store ships whatsoever. As for Event items, I've only got the Pahvan set acquired from the event. I have no idea how to set up Stats for a science character so I'd love some help with that.

I saw someone with a science ship open this giant blue wormhole and suddenly all these groups of ships got caught in it and were being tossed around before being expelled again. So I was wondering if I'd be able to do something like that, or how it would be possible. Keep in mind as I said I don't have access to any C-store ships, or event ships. So I'd love some recommendations. What kind of ships should I get as I level up? how should I set my stats? what equipment should I focus on and build up to towards the end game?

I've never done a science build before so this will be my first. Any info and tips would be greatly appreciated.

What’s everybody’s favorite console and where does it come from. Trying to grind for buy or some new stuff I haven’t used or seen.

Welcome to the weekly questions megathread. Here is where you can ask all your build or theorycrafting related questions that might not warrant a full post. Curious about how something works? Ask it here!

You can see previous weeks megathreads here.

As the name suggests, I was wondering if a an up-to-date list of build-breaking (or altering) bugs exists somewhere? For instance, the fact that disco rep wide-angle dual beam bank does not currently work with ERL or RRTW. Or, more recently, the bug where Romulan BOFFS do not apply their crit buffs.

If this list currently does not exist, I would humbly suggest to the good folks at STOBETTER to include one in their very useful site.

There are few things more annoying than spending hours theory-crafting a build, only to find out that a crucial piece-of-kit does not work as advertised.

Hello everyone! This is from the automatic template, if I did anything wrong please let me know so I can fix it.

My current build is what I have after a few improvements from coming back after years of not playing. I used to just grab whatever I guess. My goal is to be able to play normal difficulty things without trouble, and be capable of advanced, but I am not looking to spend much, if any, real money. Any advice you guys have would be greatly appreciated!

Captain Details

Space Skill Tree

Space Skill Unlocks

Ship Loadout: Science Star Cruiser

Officer Details

Traits & Duty Officers

hello, I'm trying to tweak my build using sto betters trinity tool and although I can play around with console, mods, boffs etc. just fine and with lots of little tweaks I've increased my dps by about 50% but one thing I don't know is if I can reduce my weapon power slider to below 100 without reducing energy weapon damage, for context I'm a sci captain flying a FAW broardside leg sov x2 with 8 isomags, 6 polaron beam arrays and the morphogenic weapons, mixed armaments synergy 3, carrow sensor bands 3, EPtW 1, at rest my weapon power is 183/100. I understand what power drain, power transfer (110%) and overcap are but I don't know how to tell how much I can power I can divert away from weapons for other things without it affecting the energy weapon damage

I enjoy the game a lot, but I don't really get into the nitty gritty details of it all, so can anyone help me with a build (with as much detail about all traits, equipment and abilities as possible) that would stick as close as possible to what a Canon Post-TNG era Fed ship would be.

Thanks in advance.

I'm looking to play more and I was thinking of finally doing a build that deals more damage than just 15k. I was thinking about a FAW or RRTW build for my ship. But maybe someone here knows something better?

​

Translator's notes: Pahwah means Pahvan Omni and Ahwahnee toys.

This is basically an updated version of my previous Solo ISE CPF Vengeance build, with a few new powercreep toys and a slightly revised piloting approach. Won't talk too much about the cost of the build this time round, so let's just dive right in.

Ship space barbie shot: U.S.S. Valhalla

Screenshot version of the full build

Captain Details

Space Skill Tree

Space Skill Tree comment: My current generalist skill tree. My rationale for the lack of Engi skill points is that EPS Power Transfer and Nadion Inversion on this toon should have the ship power aspects well covered.

Loadout

Officer Details

Traits & Duty Officers

Other Information

Special Thanks

1. To the STO BETTER team for the TRINITY & ALICIA tools, which helped me figure out tweaks for this build: https://www.stobetter.com/tools
2. To Shinga for the VGER web app, which helped me narrow down options for this build. No hyperlink because Reddit no like netlify.
3. To Chell for his overview on the FPNA, Pahvan Omni and Haste soft-cap, which I have tried to apply some of what I learned from it on this build: https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/1bosgvt/small_overview_of_and_notes_on_fleet_power/

Appendix

• Raw combatlog of this run can be made available on request. No hyperlink in case Reddit also no like.

Hi all,

New here and see a lot of posts but I am wondering if someone can help me with the problems I am facing with an EPG
build.

I have several vessels but I am trying out my Antiproton Cardassian Intel Science Dreadnought (basically I don’t want to die with the EPG build).

My main questions are:

I have 210 Starship Exotic particle generator
from:

a) deteriorating secondary deflector MK XII

b) Particle generator MK XII (uncommon)

c) Plasma storm module

d) Exotic particle amplifier II

And when I add the chronogami displacer (add 30 EPG) it does not add up my total at all.

1: Any thoughts on that?

2: Can someone tell me if it is possible to
have an regular secondary deflector with 2 EPG mods instead of only 1? (as soon
as soon as I get 1 EPG in a slot the others disappear in the re-engineer mods
fields)

3: Is there is a rule that you cannot add the
Isomagnetic plasma distribution manifold if you have an Exotic particle amplifier
II slotted?

4: I have a hull image refractors does that work for EPG?

5: Does anyone know if dominion protocol bonus works for EPG?

6: Any ships that are good choices for EPG build with 5 for weapon slots?

I do not have endless energy credits , Zen coins or ultimate tech upgrades.

But I have  almost all reputations completed and most ships from events/ Anniversary event since the Krenim science vessel.

7: I have Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian and Jem'Hadar captain to choose from...Any remarks on those for EPG captain?

Any help will be appreciated!

Kind regards

Stroom

Welcome to the weekly questions megathread. Here is where you can ask all your build or theorycrafting related questions that might not warrant a full post. Curious about how something works? Ask it here!

You can see previous weeks megathreads here.

Worth its use? Which ship can it be useful on? I’ve had it on my temporal light cruiser. I mean…to me the testing is okay. Sure, there is some drainage, but to me it appears fine. (PS4 player)

Hey there guys.. the DOFF reads..

Chance of activating a science bridge officer ability to apply rerouted repairs.. butttttt does anyone know WHICH abilities??

I slotted most of them and hoovered over them in the wheel which brings up the list of procs you get when clicking said ability but none of them carry the text from the DOFF.

Same also for MARCO which does a buff strip when targeted by an engineering ability but again which ones!?

Can any of you help me out? Cheers

Background

As per the wiki, the recent Event set Pahvan Omni has a special feature in that it is capable of being enhanced with both Beam and Cannon special firing modes. On top of its Resonance Charges feature, which I am attempting to maximize here by keeping under FAW/CSV as much as possible without interference from BO/CRF.

The questions I had:

1. How does it behave with Cannon firing mode extenders equipped? Namely, Withering Barrage.
2. What firing mode does it prioritize when beam and cannon modes are both active?
3. When under the CSV1+FAW1 granted by ETM, does it still benefit from WB being present?

Test Methodology

• Scenario: The opening section of the Doomsday Device Fed story mission
• Enemy targets: Invincible but damage-able BoPs
• Difficulty: Elite, not that it matters for this test
• Important ship build elements: Pahvan Omni, Withering Barrage (WB), Entwined Tactical Matrices (ETM), Cannons Scatter Volley (CSV), Cannons Rapid Fire (CRF), Beam Fire At Will (FAW), and Beam Overload (BO)

Test Limitations

• This test will not comprehensively test all beam and cannon firing mode extenders. Was curious about WB and ETM mainly, and am sharing my findings on it.

Controls & Variables

• Removed all weapons from the build except the Omni. Auto-attack remains on.
• First test is to activate CSV and note the Omni's FAW duration under WB.
• Second series of test is to observe the Omni's behaviour when activating overlapping firing modes in the following sequence:
  • CSV followed by BO
  • BO followed by CSV
  • CRF followed by FAW
  • FAW followed by CRF
• Third test is to activate ETM's FAW1+CSV1 via Torp Spread (TS), and see if it follows FAW's unmodified duration or CSV's modified duration with WB present.

Results

1st Test:

• Omni's FAW duration is indeed 14s with WB slotted.

2nd Test series:

• CSV followed by BO: FAW remains prioritized, even with BO being activated later.
• BO followed by CSV: Single shot of BO before reverting to FAW for the remainder duration.
• CRF followed by FAW: Single shot of BO before reverting to FAW for the remainder duration.
• FAW followed by CRF: FAW remains prioritized, even with CRF being activated later.

3rd Test:

• When activating CSV1+FAW1 via TS, the Omni's FAW duration still remains at 14s, it still appears to benefit from WB's presence.

Inferences

• WB does increase the FAW duration of this Omni, regardless if from BOFF ability or from ETM.
• When overlapping beam+cannon firing modes are involved, CSV/FAW seems to take priority regardless of activation sequence. Which is a good thing, as Resonance Charges performs better under FAW: https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/1bkg1oc/revisiting_exotics_23_blowing_up_numbers/

Appendix

• Link to raw video of the above tests being conducted, no audio as I neglected to enable that in OBS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsRXksXAQfA

Post-script

• 2-Apr-24:
  • u/_Shinga raised a good point on the STO Builds Discord on whether the rank of the BOFF firing mode may affect its prioritization, as the above tests were conduct with FAW2, BO1, CSV2 and CRF1.
  • Thus, I did an extra test with FAW1, BO3, CSV1 and CRF3.
  • The result of this extra test is: The Pahvan Omni will still prioritize FAW/CSV, even when higher ranks of BO/CRF are overlapped, regardless of activation sequence.
  • Video evidence of this extra test: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/901739749046378569/1224713770358669514/2024-04-02_21-18-19.mp4?ex=661e7e94&is=660c0994&hm=7b25d87ea79308e372a15ce165ff571d5288ed0a94b788528592fe71f3979b56&

All three of us at STOBETTER have come to a conclusion that’s going to distinctly impact our mission and the way we communicate about space builds at the game.

Previously, we’ve been doing it wrong. For those of you who’ve gotten ahead of the curve and already figured this out, we apologize for any comments that have dissuaded others from following the same path to true success in Star Trek Online.

Really, there is only one starship that’s relevant in Star Trek Online PvE: the Cnidarian Defender. It can do everything that the playerbase wants it to do: incredible damage and moderate tankiness while requiring as little user input as possible. It even heals allies!

In fact, we feel so strongly about this conclusion after exhaustive testing (by which we mean YouTube and seeing other captains use the Cnidarian in a variety of situations), that we’ve all completely abandoned our other builds because there is only one starship you need in this game: the Cnidarian Defender.

Lest some of you think that it’s only about jelly mode, I’d like to point out that the Cnidarian can be built like a perfectly capable 4/4 cruiser when not in Jelly mode, so you can still use it for those rare occasions when a stationary 20 km pink sphere of doom doesn’t win the TFO for you.

For too long, this incredible ship has gone under the radar and is only now coming into its own. We regret that it’s taken us this long to get there but now we’ve seen the (pink) light and been touched by the noodly appendage of the Cnidarian.

Obviously, this is a big departure from our previous infrastructure, but given the changes to the game and the ease at which a jelly build can take over a decent area of the battlespace, it’s simply not worth the time to have any other builds. Therefore, we will be removing all of the other starship builds from the site, effective immediately. We’ll keep the ground content since Cryptic hasn’t come up with a similar do-damage-and-tank-while-afk setup for ground yet, and we’ll leave the Basics articles and Mechanics for players who aren’t ready to set up the One True Defender.

Our focus from here on out for space builds is going to be the Cnidarian Defender, so please don’t send us emails asking why we’re not doing anything else. It truly is the only ship you need for any TFO that counts.

• Jay is building out a cannon Cnidarian, titled the Jelly Bean Dispenser.

• Tilor’s Cnidarian is a tank variant that we think will be quite popular for its resilience. It’s called the Jelly Doughnut.

• Eph289 is building the most unconventional version, a torpedo/science hybrid, dubbed the U Jelly Bro?

Look forward to seeing the builds on our site! We as always appreciate your readership and feedback. Thanks for coming along with us on our journey to STO Jelly BETTER! As always, you can find us at https://www.stobetter.com

Signed, the STOBETTER team.

EDIT: April Fool's!

So, I have been messing around with the trait from the Dauntless as a part of a Merian side nuker build and I was wondering if:

1. Does the kinetic damage bonus stack. There are stacks listed on the buff bar and Tractor Beam Catapult definitely gets a massive increase in damage on the tooltip but it's not listed as stacking in the trait information.

2. Why is this damage not showing on my torpedos like it is on other abilities when torpedoes are specifically mentioned in the description.

Thanks all.

Welcome to the weekly questions megathread. Here is where you can ask all your build or theorycrafting related questions that might not warrant a full post. Curious about how something works? Ask it here!

You can see previous weeks megathreads here.

Background

The tooltip description for Complex Plasma Fires (CPF) states that:

Each time you use an Energy Weapon Firing Mode, your Plasma Weapon volleys will add a stacking Plasma Damage Over Time effect to the hit Foe.

The questions I had:

1. Does "Energy Weapon Firing Mode" include the CSV1+FAW1 granted by ETM?
2. Whether "Plasma Weapon" included torps that specifically dealt Plasma damage, or even Plasma Torps in general.

Test Methodology

• Scenario: The opening section of the Doomsday Device Fed story mission
• Enemy targets: Invincible but damage-able BoPs
• Difficulty: Elite, not that it matters for this test
• Ship build used: https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/18jsst5/520k_dps_solo_ise_complex_plasma_fires_vengeance/

Test Limitations

• This will not comprehensively test all torps and all energy firing modes. I am mainly testing the specific ones I am most curious about and sharing my findings.

Controls & Variables

• All weapons had their auto-attacks turned off, so as to not accidentally fire the energy weapons.
• As a first test: Activate energy firing mode, fire only the torp, wait for a few seconds then check parse for CPF.
• As a second test: Activate torp firing mode (which triggers CSV1+FAW1 from ETM), fire only the torp, wait for a few seconds then check parse for CPF.
• Torps to run the first and second tests with:
  • Plasma Emission Plasma Torp (PEP), which does deal Plasma damage.
  • Altamid Plasma Torp (Alta), which deals only Kinetic damage
  • Dark Matter Quantum Torp (DMT), which is neither a Plasma Torp nor does it deal Plasma damage. As a control.

Results

1. Both PEP and Alta torps did result in CPF stacks in the combatlog parses when triggered by both Energy and Torp firing modes.
2. DMT did not result in any CPF stacks in either tests.

Inferences

• The CSV1+FAW1 granted by ETM does count as an Energy Firing Mode for CPF.
• Plasma Torps, whether it actually does Plasma damage or not, does count as Plasma Weapons for CPF. But not other torp types like the Dark Matter Quantum.
• All above being said, if the aim is to stack CPF as fast as possible, it is more efficient to go full energy weapons and not have a torp on the build, since CPF builds stacks per hit.

Appendix

• Link to combatlog snippets: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VrwkIeEWBL4cusEkcrWuO5b0upsq0tiq?usp=sharing