STO Helpdesk With Jo4play, Episode 6: Ship types
Ship Types
At first when i thought about this theme, i thought i could tack it on to a bigger subject but when i looked closer i have seen that this is the perfect place to start with the shipbuilding basics. Now i am expecting a lot more feedback on this subject especially from the more expirienced part of our STO community. Well here we go with the ship types.
Small craft
Smallest of them all, nowadays pretty weak, used for that rare shuttle event (if anyone still does that thing), general waste, building it, umm i say why bother. I guess you can add fighters to this but it is a waste to go dual cannons on a shuttle, cause only thing that gives you any punch is torpedoes
I used this shuttle to store some consoles and sets really, not much else, it packs some punch, idea is simple, kick em with a spread of grav torps, those create rifts, and what the rifts don't get your point defense will, small craft fighting build
Escorts
While there are many variants of the escorts the main goal is usually the same, deliver as much dakka to a place as soon as possible. Characterized by their heavy tactical bridge officer seating and many tactical consoles, some call them glass cannons (which they don't have to be)
The idea behind this build is simple, bunch up enemies using gravity well, than completely destroy them using your cannon scatter volley, there are 2 cycles that spike, so i divided other damage improving abilities to match
Subtypes
Escort carriers: the little brothers of dreadnoughts, carrying a single hangar slot and significant firepower in shape on dual cannons, usually a bit more engineering heavy. Capable ships but I unfortunatelly don't have any.
Destroyers: small cruisers, made to be tough escorts, they can take and dish out a pounding but don't expect miracles, more ships I don't need so i don't have em.
Raiders: The nastiest ships around, they get a flanking bonus so watch your rear, it is going to get nasty, they lose a weapon slot tho, which isn't the best but if you know how to flank it is worthwhile. I got the most important of these.
PVP testing ground is here, made specificly to piss off people by not being able to target me, can be countered but that information i will keep to myself :P , anyway, how does it work: Well aux2batt i hope i don't have to explain but simply it is CDR, eptw 3 for that dakka, took spread over high yield in case of annoying pets, 2 tac teams cause i don't have distributed or kemocite, epts??? NOPE that should be epte but hey, some pilot abilities to make me fly faster, and that is about it, also hazard for DoT.
Cruisers
The flagships of any team, or massive meat shields if you are one of those squishy ones, a good cruiser player will make all the difference, now what role will he take depends on what did he focus on, versatility is what it's all about, much less manuverable
Subtypes
Flight deck cruisers: similar to escort carriers in escort section, just a bit more useless, generally underplayed but have their place, tho a small one
Battlecruisers: the best, the only ones that trully matter, according to anyone who aspires to have high dps, why, well 5/3 weapon layout
Dreadnought Cruisers: Aww yeah the biggest, the baddest ships around, don't mess with these things.
My flagship, with all it's flaws, work in progress, probably going to get switched to the cannons at some point, peak performance to some, but not to me :(, As of writing of this it was #248 in the current season by dps on ISA. Aux2batt build with beamgance, not the most meta build but it is coming there slowly, made to be a tank with an offensive focus, not gonna say much other than that, it is a way of life. /EDIT redone to cannons, gonna show it soon
Carriers
Only ships with 2 hangar slots around, nasty things both to pilot (bathtubs) and to get good, decent for any new players because of the low skill needs, only thing you really need to learn is manuver it.
Build is a combination of couple, made to do be a supertank (overkilled it really) and a bit of a epg boat, versatile, powerful and a bit fun, made to be as simple as possible, the cannon is a placeholder because I couldn't find any beams
Science vessels
Wizard ships, the masters of AoE damage, the undisputed rulers of most epileptic attacks in STO. Main thing about science ships is not the size of a gun, it is the amount of damage you can cause in a very short time. Considered the cheapest way to get high dps
This character doesn't have all the needed things to make this work but the basics are there, grav well 3 to pull the enemy in, subspace vortex and charged particle burst to deal the damage and than certain things to add to the pain, not perfect by a longshot but something i threw to make it look somewhat representable
Subtypes
Multimission ships: Dual cannons is what makes these ones special, generally considered some of the best science ships around, don't play sci so didn't bother with these
Scout ships: Raider meets a science ship, very versatile and fun, but limiting
Science Dreadnoughts: Science ship meets a cruiser, massive and annoying, if you ever meet one, good luck
Conclusion
This has been the first topic involving something i like, shipbuilding, now if you want your ship to be put up on display by all means just send me a screenshot just like i made in this episode and i will be sure to feature it,
Sorry for doing the thread in multiple peices
Anyway Jo4play signing off o7
*updated 4.12.2018