Please be gentle, guys...

[moose004]

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?buil...aury_10847

So this is my current build.  I just joined STOA Infinity last weekend and just hit level 60.  The problem is, I know little to nothing about the endgame or doing group content in STO aside from the basic "jump into a Borg or Tholian thing at normal difficulty" open space encounters.  Everything else I've done has been working through the storylines with a little bit of solo grinding in rep zones like the Dyson Sphere.  As you can see, my Andromeda's equipment is all over the place, it's just got what I've been able to put together as I've leveled and run missions.  I have unlocked mastery level III on the Andromeda, got a ways to go yet before I get it maxed out to level V.

I would like to actually be useful on fleet missions somewhere down the line, for now I'd just like to improve my DPS and power in general.  I can get through single-player content on normal well enough but it takes me for-frickin'-ever to kill stuff.  I know cruisers aren't the sheer DPS gods that escorts are but I know I can do better.

So I guess for now I'm looking for improvements to DPS, mainly, and synergies that will help me out down the road if I want to take on the tank role in multi-player content.  I always seem to end up playing a tank, doesn't matter the game.  Thanks everyone.

Jon Harmon
Acting Captain
STOA Infinity

[aaaict]

Hi John, 

Well congrats on getting to the endgame! As far as starter endgame builds go, this isn't bad at all- so my advice is below, please note I'm speaking from a damage perspective, but your own personal preferences come before all that. 

Here is my own build- http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillpla...erdps_7241

1) Weapons- 
The way that DPS works loosely speaking is that the more critical hits you land, and how powerful they are the more DPS you will have. the [Crtd] modifier gives you more damage per crit, and the [crtdh] value gives you more critical hit chance, although you would get this for consoles and not weapons. [Pen] modifiers give you a chance to bypass armor and so the defense value of your targets. Therefore one of the best weapons out there today are crtdx3 pens antiprotons. Antiproton weapons give you more critical severity damage which is why they are the weapon type of choice for DPS builds. Its generally not a good idea to mix weapon types, as it is better to use 1 for the tactical console boosts. 

Now looking at your build personally I would get all AP beam arrays (considering that the andromeda has a very slow turn rate) and maybe just 1 torp on the front. For aft weapons you can get the kinetic cutting beam from the omega reputation which works with the assimilated module for a set bonus. (see below)

2) Set- Warp Core, Shield, Engine and Deflector

I would get a set from the reputation system instead of the ones from the missions. Currently the Iconian set is the best for raw damage boosts, however I personally like the AMACO better, for the nice visual effects and the high shield capacity among other things. The kobali set is meant to be not bad, so maybe play over the mission a couple of times to get the impulse engine as well to get the set boosts from having all 3. 

3) Consoles- 
Tactical- The best tactical consoles are the vulnerability locators with the +AP modifier from the fleet embassy. They boost critical hit chance, which you would want to have a value of above 20% on your ship I would use all 3 slots for them. 
Science- The plasma damage weapons signature nullifiers +flow are currently the console of choice because the plasma explosion they give gives you extra damage, along with the flow boost for the plasmonic leech console. This console is regarded as one of the best in game as it replenishes power levels when firing, (you want your power levels to be high when doing damage as they boost damage, in particular 125 as much as possible on weapons). As such this console is incredibly expensive on the exchange- don't know current prices but it was once 117 million EC. Its not absolutely necessary but a great asset to have. 
Engineering consoles- I would get an EPS flow regulator for power levels, and a fleet neutronium armor, from the fleet dilithium mine. From there I would also get the assimilated module, a really useful console, which will boost crtd and ctdh. To boost critical hit chance you could get the zero point energy conduit from the romulan reputation. Lastly then I would put the andromeda's console on. 

4- Powers

Tactical- For a beam ship, Beam Fire at Will is the most important power to have. I would replace the torp HY I with BFAW I for the ensign power. Additionally replace the other THY with a Tactical team I- absolutely essential for extra damage and shield distribution. 

Science- I would swap Shield transfer with Science team II, which provides shield heals along with getting rid of debuffs.

Engineering- I would only use the commander engineering slot for engineering powers and use the command specialization slot for all 3 command powers. First of all, I would swap the eject warp plasma for Directed modulation which will bypass shields. Next, I would swap reverse shield polarity with engineering team III for a large hull heal and debuff cleans. Then for your two remaining powers, I would get both Emergeny power to weapons I and II as this is needed to keep weapons power levels high, and having both will reduce the cool down on them. 

Command- I don't use command ships so I'm afraid i don't really know much about command space powers- check on reddit.com and on the forums- I have heard that some are more useful then others, but I would use the command powers here. 

5) Skills- The new skill system is about to come into effect, so I would hold off on doing a respec and see what the DPS players have recommended on skills when its all been tested and recommendations come in. 

Well hope this helps, welcome to STOA again, and hope to see you around in game some time.

@aaaict

[eaglescoutdjb]

To be a tank in STO you still need to have pretty high DPS, threat gen is based on both threat and damage.  You can have all the threat in the world but if someone is doing twice your DPS he will get all the agro.  Running a tank on the Andromeda will take awhile to build and require you to buy and level some ships for their traits, you'll need Emergency Weapon Cycle from the battlecruiser and Reciprocity from the Phantom.  Emergency Weapon Cycle will increase your beam fire rate and lower weapon power cost when you use EPTW and Reciprocity will speed up tac ability CD when an enemy misses you.

You can use whatever energy type you want, they all do the same base damage and the extra crtd from AP is only important is you're looking to do extremely high DPS.  When I'm trying to keep a build simple I like to use crtd/dmgx3 advanced fleet weapons, you won't get the pen mod but it's being changed in 11.5 and my not be as useful.  You'll need fleet consoles for science and tac, embassy consoles are the only +threat consoles in the game and the plus crth and damage boost of the spire consoles make them best tac consoles in the game.  You'll need a Conductive RCS console with +EPS for engineering and the rest will be universal consoles.  For universal consoles you'll need Bioneural Infusion Circuits for HP and crtd, the Plasmonic Leech for boosting power levels and the Tachyokinetic Converter for turn rate, crtd and crth.  For gear on a tank I'd use the Desperate Defenses set from the mission Midnight, doesn't boost your damage like some sets do but is an incredibly tanky set, and the Temporal Phase Overcharged Warp Core from the mission Butterfly, boosts aux power and EPS and gives you an ability called Temporal Phase Capacitor that reduces boff CDs by 50% for 15sec.

For boff abilities and skills I'm going to post a build for you to look at, there's too much to all of it explain it so just ask if I recommended anything you're not sure about.
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillpla...atank_6261

[moose004]

Thank you guys. I have been grinding several different reps over the past week while taking the STOA Captain's test so I can get promoted and authorized for the Fleet store. Also, been grinding up my R&D, which I have neglected badly. And, after remembering I had the Odyssey three-pack and had only ever upgraded and leveled up the Operations variant, I went ahead and upgraded and maxed mastery on the Tactical and Science ones as well. Finally, I took some tax refund money and got the Odyssey T6 three-pack (because you can never have too much Odyssey) and am going to max the mastery on all three of those as I work on rep.

When I get a little bit further along in building sets I'll post another build using the Sojourner-class (T6 Operations Odyssey) that I'm working on now.

Thanks for all the help!

[moose004]

OK, this is my new build with the 11.5 skill system added in and my new T6 Operations Star Cruiser USS North Carolina.  Definitely a work in progress. EDIT: Forgot to say that I'm leaning toward a build of "tanky but with enough DPS to not take all day to kill stuff."

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/ba6a6...43301b192e