T5-U Oddy Ops Build - Feedback Please

Disclaimer: I am not the best at this game by any means.

WEAPONS: While what you have is DECENT, there are better weapons available. You'll probably want a 360 degree arc phaser beam array to plant on your ship's behind, and the kinetic cutting beam. Traditionally the best DPS is with an all-energy build, usually using beam arrays, but if you want to use torps this is workable.

I am going under the assumption that you want to use phasers. There are other types of phasers out there these days, including Xindi phased biomatter arrays and Undine phaser arrays. Consider those. If you want to change types, then consider AP or plasma, which are best for DPS. Polaron can also be good if you have high flow caps.

SHIELDS/DEFLECTOR/ENGINES/WARP CORE:

The warp core you have is OK, but I would personally go for a plasma-integrated elite core from the Spire.

Engines and deflector need to be upgraded. The Borg set is OK and is best for tanking but it's not quite as good as some other options. However, if you're going to go with it, it needs to at least be Mk XII or so.

Ditch the shield though. The Borg shield is crummy, and it struggles to keep up with other configurations if you have the 3-piece bonus; if you don't have that bonus then it's just plain crummy. There are a number of other options.

Equipment you may consider includes:

  • Romulan Impulse Engines (if you use attack patterns; be sure to check the stats on the item, there are two versions at least)
  • Tholian set (two piece bonus is a 2.5% DPS bonus, added early in the calculation so it tends to be more in the end)
  • Undine deflector (boosts defense and offense)

CONSOLES: I would suggest the following setup for your consoles...

Eng: Elite Fleet Neutronium Mk XII (+Turn), Elite Fleet Neutronium Mk XII (+Turn or +EPS) -OR- Elite Fleet RCS (+AllRes or +EPS), Assimilated Module, Regenerative Integrity Field Science: Field Gen Mk XIV, Bounty Hunter's Friend, Plasmonic Leech Tac: Vulnerability Locators Mk XII, all three slots, with boosts for phaser (I believe the mod is [Pha]

The Plasmonic Leech is extremely expensive so it is entirely possible you don't want to spend that kind of cash. If you're tanking, consider getting one of the Romulan Fleet Embassy consoles that increases your threat and boosts your shields (I forget the name right now).

Neutronium is better overall than trying to carry around a chunk of type-specific armor, and is generally easier to work with. The protection is almost as good (and if you stack them, it can be better).

The Assimilated Module is important to use with the Kinetic Cutting Beam beause of the 2-piece bonus, which can help you with weapon power management, by increasing the resistence against power loss via proc. It's not always up - it usually isn't - but it's definitely helpful over the long run, especially in a protracted firefight with BFaW spam.

A set you might be interested in is the Undine weapon/weapon/console set, which has a +7.5% bonus to DPS on phasers and disruptors as the two-piece bonus. As such you would probably want the Undine reputation torpedo (not to be confused with the torps you get for dil), and the Hydrodynamic Compensator, which is useful for more than just the DPS boost, as it boosts turn rate, aux and eng power. This would probably be good to slot in if you can't get the plasmonic leech.

Be aware that there are other consoles out there that are pretty good that others will advise you to use. Also be aware that a lot of them cost mucho Lobi or tons of EC on the Exchange (or both), and as such you're going to be seriously hurting to pay for them if you really want to go that far.


BOffs and DOffs:

Alright, first of all, we need to know what the DOffs can do individually. DOffs can have the same job slot but do different things (witness the multitude of capabilities found with Conn Officers).

DOffs really benefit from stacking so you need to figure out what kind of ship you want to run here. The most popular cruiser layouts are Dragon, Drake and Aux2Bat.

  • Aux2Bat relies on purple technicians that cut down the cooldown time on all BOff powers when Aux2Bat is used. The real beauty of the power is this. It can essentially double the uptime of many abilities, e.g. needing only one copy of tactical team to constantly cycle it. It relies on cycling A2B endlessly. The power extras are a nice bonus. However, you'll need to get used to running with Aux crippled most of the time, and sometimes completely offline.
  • A Dragon essentially relies on cycling two copies of two EPtX abilities, and usually incorporates cycling two copies of Tactical Team 1. This is a good, cheap layout that will significantly boost your offense and defense if you're using EPtW and EPtS.
  • A Drake is a more advanced form of Dragon. It relies on Damage Control Engineers that reduce EPtX cooldown time and lets you cycle one copy of two EPtX abilities with near-perfect uptime (sometimes they miss, which is why I carry a "backup" of EPtS1 on many of my Drakes). These are often also enhanced by purple Conn Officers that reduce the tactical team cooldown sufficiently that you only need one copy of it for maximum possible uptime. As stated, this is expensive, but it's a very workable configuration.

You can also go with a generalized hodge-podge of whatever tickles your fancy, but this usually won't produce optimal output.

Now, on to BOffs. First off, a word of warning: BOff abilities depend on the DOffs and intended build. So these are just general guidelines.

1) First of all, don't bother with Overload. It's probably just going to go to waste and might drop your overall DPS. Most people with BO have at least one DBB, and an Ody is usually too slow to use these with maximum effectiveness (the fact that you aren't using saucer sep makes it worse). 2) Consider swapping out EPtA for EPtW. You seem to like boosting Aux, and I'm not quite sure why. 3) Extend Shields is IMO going to cause you more problems in the long run. That slot can usually be better used by Aux2SIF3 (which can be cycled with only one copy for near-continuous healing and resist boosts, and used on an ally on top of that), Reverse Shield Polarity III (especially on an Aux2Bat build), and Directed Energy Modulation III. 4) I would strongly suggest you slot in EPtW2 and EPtS3, or EPtW3 and EPtS2, especially if you're going for an Aux2Bat or Drake build. The extra omph is worth it. 5) I would make tactical team uptime a priority. As such make sure that you can run it all the time, whether you're using 1 copy (with enhancements such as TT Conn Officers, or Aux2Bat Technicians), or 2 (if not). After that, BFaW is excellent for a tank; used properly, it becomes Beam Agro At Will. Most high DPS beamboat builds emphasize beamspam using this.


POWER:

Switch to offensive configuration. Just do it. Balanced kinda gimps everything, and managing the power flow to the weeapons is a critical issue for a beam boat. If you've got 6-8 beam arrays firing at once, your weapons are going to be under SERIOUS strain. While your Nadion Inversion and EPS Transfer abilities will help with this, their downtime is too long to depend on them entirely. They're best used for massive spurts. Some advise a configuration of 100/25/25/50, but I wouldn't recommend that. 100/25/50/25 is also viable, but that's more for speed tanking escorts. Once you're more used to the improvements you can fine tune things, but keep in mind weapon power is going to need to be a priority, tanking or not.


I would advise you strongly to wait until someone else has commented to act on any of this advice. However, hopefully this helped you.

/r/stobuilds Thread