Post by William Carson on May 24, 2012 7:46:50 GMT -8
Here it is, the Fleet Escort build of Vice Admiral William Carson (@wmcarson) 
Ship builds in Star Trek Online always come down to personal play style, so there truly isn't a 'right way' and a 'wrong way' as long as you have fun with your ship and can contribute in some way, shape or form during team missions.
With that said, the following is a ship build that I've been using for a while in assorted STF (Special Task Force) runs and in general game play; although I'm still improving (i.e. upgrading to better weapon grades) it is to the point I feel I can handle almost anything thrown at me
Hopefully this post will help provide some insight and ideas for those Captains out there looking to max out their favorite Escort! Feel free to comment and post your own ship builds as well!
Character: Tactical Vice Admiral
Ship: U.S.S. Aachen
Ship Type: Fleet Escort (Gryphon Skin)
Overview: Simply put, the fleet escort is the perfect Admiral level ship for those that like their tactical and engineering skills. With Admiral level escorts only having 30,000 base hull and 200 crew, having the extra engineering BOF (Bridge Officer Slot) is key to longer survival. As with all escorts, Damage per second (DPS) is the name of the game, with speed and maneuverability a close second. The following set up is slightly geared to STF missions, which sees a lot of combat against weaker but more numerous NPCs that directly affect mission outcome (i.e. Borg Probes, Borg Bird of Preys)
FYI on Escorts: All STO Federation escort ships get the following bonuses: +15 power to weapons, a passive increase to weapons and an increase to speed and maneuverability. Negatives inherent to an escort are -10% shield strength and a passive negative to repair rate, plus only able to equip two devices at a time. Escorts are the only Federation ships in STO than can equip the powerful Dual Heavy Cannons.
Note: All of the below are Very Rare or Rare grade items
Weapon Load Out - Forward
x3 Dual Heavy Phaser Cannons Mk XII
X1 Quantum Torpedo Launcher Mk XII
Weapon Load Out - Aft
x3 Phaser Turret Mk XI
Consoles
Engineering (3): Electroceramic Hull Plating Mk XI, Neutronium Alloy Mk XI, Assimilate Module (Reward from Borg Mission Line)
Science (2): Field Generator Mk XI (Note: These stack with diminishing returns)
Tactical (4): Phaser Relay Mk XI (Note: These stack with no diminishing returns)
Devices
Shield Batteries (Red Matter Capacitor if you have it or Deuterium Surplus are also great options)
Subspace Field Modulator (Reward from Klingon War mission line)
Bride Officer Slots
CMD Tac: TacTeam 1, Cannon Scatter Volley 1, Attack Pattern Omega 1, Cannon Scatter Volley 3
LT CMD Tac: Torpedo Spread 1, TacTeam 2, Torpedo Spread 3
LT Sci: Hazard Emitters 1, Transfer Shield Strength 2 (Both of these work on yourself or teammates!)
LT Eng: Emergency Power to Shields 1, Reverse Shield Polarity 1
EN Eng: Emergency Power to Shields 1
Energy Load Out (My Default)
Weapons: 123/90
Shields: 75/60
Engines: 46/25
Auxiliary: 46/25
The Result
With the above build plus with my current character skill set-up and default power levels, I get on average what you see below. These are base stats, so for example it doesnt include boosts derived from bridge officer abilities.
DPS:
Phaser Dual Heavy Cannons x3: 5,610 Phaser Damage, 3,744 Damage per second
Phaser Turrets x3: 1,461 Phaser Damage, 1,866 Damage per second
Quantum Torpedos: 4567 Kinetic Damage, 537 Damage per second
Defense:
Hull: 39,228
Hull Repair Rate: 113.4% per minute
Shields (Per Side) 12,028
(Tip: Human Bridge Officers are only non C-Store BOFS in game with racial space bonus - Equip them in your active BOF slots to gain Leadership: +20 Starship Hull Regeneration, =20 Starship Subsystem Repair. This does stack albeit with diminishing returns)
Basic Strategy
When attacking, I tend to activate one 'set' of BOF abilities at a time - So Scatter Volley 3, Torpedo Spread 3 and Tactical Team 2. While those three are on cool down I then rock Scatter Volley 1, Torpedo Spread 1 and Tactical Team 1. This allows me to keep punishing multiple targets with a constant stream of phaser damage.
I use Tactical Teams for the damage bonus sure, but more so for the fact that it INSTANTLY directs shield strength from all shields towards the shield taking damage. Paired with Emergency Power to Shields this helps keep you in the game longer. Also, hot key your 'Power to Forward Shields' command and hit it constantly.
If i am in control of the situation and not grasping for life, I try to save my two science BOF skils, Hazard Emitters 1 and Transfer Shield Strength 2 to assist my teammates as they can work on either my ship or theirs (or the Kang in STF Cure Space)
For getting out of bad situations, Evasive Maneuvers paired with Attack Pattern Omega 1 (which breaks tractor locks) does the trick. The best option is Attack Pattern Omega 3 however I decided to go with Cannon Scatter Volley 3 due to the many STF runs I make.
In Conclusion
I hope the above helps, of course feel free to post comments and ask any questions you may have I'll keep an eye on this thread. Also, I look forward to seeing your ship builds!
Note: The above build and chosen abilities have come from not only many hours of game play and some trial and error, but also the hard work of several STO players that have posted their builds online or have discussed with me in chat. Although I've received so much insight from others that I wouldn't be able to give them their due credit here, I do feel its important to credit Kostamojen and his STF Escort Build thread, which was the foundation used for what you see above.
Ship builds in Star Trek Online always come down to personal play style, so there truly isn't a 'right way' and a 'wrong way' as long as you have fun with your ship and can contribute in some way, shape or form during team missions.
With that said, the following is a ship build that I've been using for a while in assorted STF (Special Task Force) runs and in general game play; although I'm still improving (i.e. upgrading to better weapon grades) it is to the point I feel I can handle almost anything thrown at me
Hopefully this post will help provide some insight and ideas for those Captains out there looking to max out their favorite Escort! Feel free to comment and post your own ship builds as well!
Character: Tactical Vice Admiral
Ship: U.S.S. Aachen
Ship Type: Fleet Escort (Gryphon Skin)
Overview: Simply put, the fleet escort is the perfect Admiral level ship for those that like their tactical and engineering skills. With Admiral level escorts only having 30,000 base hull and 200 crew, having the extra engineering BOF (Bridge Officer Slot) is key to longer survival. As with all escorts, Damage per second (DPS) is the name of the game, with speed and maneuverability a close second. The following set up is slightly geared to STF missions, which sees a lot of combat against weaker but more numerous NPCs that directly affect mission outcome (i.e. Borg Probes, Borg Bird of Preys)
FYI on Escorts: All STO Federation escort ships get the following bonuses: +15 power to weapons, a passive increase to weapons and an increase to speed and maneuverability. Negatives inherent to an escort are -10% shield strength and a passive negative to repair rate, plus only able to equip two devices at a time. Escorts are the only Federation ships in STO than can equip the powerful Dual Heavy Cannons.
Note: All of the below are Very Rare or Rare grade items
Weapon Load Out - Forward
x3 Dual Heavy Phaser Cannons Mk XII
X1 Quantum Torpedo Launcher Mk XII
Weapon Load Out - Aft
x3 Phaser Turret Mk XI
Consoles
Engineering (3): Electroceramic Hull Plating Mk XI, Neutronium Alloy Mk XI, Assimilate Module (Reward from Borg Mission Line)
Science (2): Field Generator Mk XI (Note: These stack with diminishing returns)
Tactical (4): Phaser Relay Mk XI (Note: These stack with no diminishing returns)
Devices
Shield Batteries (Red Matter Capacitor if you have it or Deuterium Surplus are also great options)
Subspace Field Modulator (Reward from Klingon War mission line)
Bride Officer Slots
CMD Tac: TacTeam 1, Cannon Scatter Volley 1, Attack Pattern Omega 1, Cannon Scatter Volley 3
LT CMD Tac: Torpedo Spread 1, TacTeam 2, Torpedo Spread 3
LT Sci: Hazard Emitters 1, Transfer Shield Strength 2 (Both of these work on yourself or teammates!)
LT Eng: Emergency Power to Shields 1, Reverse Shield Polarity 1
EN Eng: Emergency Power to Shields 1
Energy Load Out (My Default)
Weapons: 123/90
Shields: 75/60
Engines: 46/25
Auxiliary: 46/25
The Result
With the above build plus with my current character skill set-up and default power levels, I get on average what you see below. These are base stats, so for example it doesnt include boosts derived from bridge officer abilities.
DPS:
Phaser Dual Heavy Cannons x3: 5,610 Phaser Damage, 3,744 Damage per second
Phaser Turrets x3: 1,461 Phaser Damage, 1,866 Damage per second
Quantum Torpedos: 4567 Kinetic Damage, 537 Damage per second
Defense:
Hull: 39,228
Hull Repair Rate: 113.4% per minute
Shields (Per Side) 12,028
(Tip: Human Bridge Officers are only non C-Store BOFS in game with racial space bonus - Equip them in your active BOF slots to gain Leadership: +20 Starship Hull Regeneration, =20 Starship Subsystem Repair. This does stack albeit with diminishing returns)
Basic Strategy
When attacking, I tend to activate one 'set' of BOF abilities at a time - So Scatter Volley 3, Torpedo Spread 3 and Tactical Team 2. While those three are on cool down I then rock Scatter Volley 1, Torpedo Spread 1 and Tactical Team 1. This allows me to keep punishing multiple targets with a constant stream of phaser damage.
I use Tactical Teams for the damage bonus sure, but more so for the fact that it INSTANTLY directs shield strength from all shields towards the shield taking damage. Paired with Emergency Power to Shields this helps keep you in the game longer. Also, hot key your 'Power to Forward Shields' command and hit it constantly.
If i am in control of the situation and not grasping for life, I try to save my two science BOF skils, Hazard Emitters 1 and Transfer Shield Strength 2 to assist my teammates as they can work on either my ship or theirs (or the Kang in STF Cure Space)
For getting out of bad situations, Evasive Maneuvers paired with Attack Pattern Omega 1 (which breaks tractor locks) does the trick. The best option is Attack Pattern Omega 3 however I decided to go with Cannon Scatter Volley 3 due to the many STF runs I make.
In Conclusion
I hope the above helps, of course feel free to post comments and ask any questions you may have I'll keep an eye on this thread. Also, I look forward to seeing your ship builds!
Note: The above build and chosen abilities have come from not only many hours of game play and some trial and error, but also the hard work of several STO players that have posted their builds online or have discussed with me in chat. Although I've received so much insight from others that I wouldn't be able to give them their due credit here, I do feel its important to credit Kostamojen and his STF Escort Build thread, which was the foundation used for what you see above.
