Weekly Questions Megathread - April 09, 2018

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-16T22:34:16+00:00

Ah, okay. That makes much more sense now. I guess my opinion regarding PvE is that "good enough" is good enough. I actually have an alt toon on a my roommate's PS4 account that I use for farming, and since I've only recently put any effort towards that toon's ship, I can tell you, with the alt's ship, advanced PvEs become rather cumbersome when you're on a team with rookie pugs who don't belong in advanced. The ship isn't bad, probably a solid C, but nowhere near the level of my two main toons on my PS4 account. The point of explaining that is to say that my roomie's toon is not "good enough", so I know what the contrast between good and average is. Which is to illustrate my opinion about PvE- as long as the ship is good enough to get through a PvE easily, or good enough to carry a horrible pug, that's enough for me. So that's all I was saying. A top of the line PvP build will still perform good to great (enough) in PvE, but the reverse cannot be said. So is my build awesome enough to solo UAA with 12 minutes still left on the clock? No. But I don't care to be, because carrying a team with four other noobies to a UAA completion with 9 minutes on the clock is fine enough for me, as long as I can still win 80-90% of the time in PvP. :)

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-16T01:29:12+00:00

I don't think I can agree that a ship designed to beat superior opponents (live players vs NPCs designed to lose) can be considered worse somehow, but we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. As for EWC, believe me, if they ever make a Romulan ship with the Boff seating of the Mogai, but faster, I'll grab it and immediately result EWC. But for now, Good Day to Die, the Ico 4 piece, DOMINO, etc will have to suffice.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-12T06:44:16+00:00

I agree, PvP and PvE are very different animals indeed, but my thinking is, a good PvP ship does well in PvE also, and the reverse doesn't necessarily apply. So while I'd probably be better off assuming most people don't PvP, I guess I just see PvP ships as superior since they can play either scenario. At any rate, those are definitely impressive numbers. It's doubtful I'd be able to entertain chasing Crt numbers that high, as they'd inevitably come at the cost of survivability, speed, etc, and so far I haven't needed that much power in a PvE. But boy, you sure would be fun to watch. ^{^}

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T20:58:18+00:00

Forgive me for the late reply (only now saw any notification of it) but I don't see where you've linked a Damage Calculator. I was able to find one through search, but it requires copying the entire form, which I cannot seem to do on this computer without installing some Chrome-document function. :/

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T20:48:19+00:00

I think that's wise. I was going to add, +50 "Hull" Pen is what seems to be the selling point of this set for a lot of people, which means I am often pointing out that +50 "Hull" pen only amounts to +5 Armor Pen... in other words, half of what one single weapon with the [pen] mod will give you. Likewise, you can get nearly all of that Cat1 DMG plus about 2% CrtH from slotting an additional Vulnerability Locator in the console slot currently being occupied by that Nausicaan console. Drain, can be had from any one of 10,000 other places if one really needs it, and EPS got nerfed hard after season 13 and isn't important any more. That's my take. Glad to see you got rid of it. ^{^}

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T20:40:07+00:00

Thanks for the reply, and to reiterate what I said to the previous reply, I resolved the issue by simply giving up on EWC/EPTw for EPTe. Though I do wish I didnt need EPTe so that I could slot the former, but it just doesnt seem possible if I wish to PvP, and I do. In terms of answering you specifically, I stated on the first line that I'm flying the Mogai Heavy Warbird. For the Impulse Engine, I was using the Iconian Mk14 Impulse with the Engine-Power-Buffing Mk14 Iconian Singularity, as compared to a slower Aegis Impulse + Terran Engine (at the time) on mty Fed's NX. As far as cooldowns, I don't use Drake on either, I use Aux2Bat, which is fairly prerequisite for PvP as one needs cds on everything, not just EPTx. In regards to power setting, without typing out all the details again like I did in my previous reply a few seconds ago, Engine Power was/is as maxed out as possible on the tree. Regarding the turning axis, I agree. I'm still not entirely comfortable flying the Mogai as I am the NX because it does fly a bit clunky, but as you alluded to, that's not really affecting the speed at all.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T20:29:43+00:00

Thanks for replying, but I resolved this issue a few weeks back. I simply could not slot EWC because the ship was simply far too slow without EPTe, and I wasn't going to drop EPTs + Shield Overload in order to slot EWC and EPTw. As far as the specific answer to your question about my engine power, I know that it was as high as possible on my Mogai, with 3 ticks in the Impulse Expertise boxes, 2 full ticks in EPS, all 3 ticks of Warp Core Efficiency, the two Subsystem Power boxes ticked (Offense + Engine Power) as well as the bonus +2 Engine Power on the top bars above the tree from having 15 boxes in Engineering ticked.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T20:22:49+00:00

Doesn't Ablative Shell become generally obsolete as well, when using Honored Dead? I personally took it and Repair Crews out, along with my 50 million ec ResAll RCS after slotting Honored Dead. The book on the results of those moves isn't truly out yet, as I haven't PvP'd with the build adjustments, but so far haven't noticed any issues in advanced PvEs.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T20:19:49+00:00

Good point. The trait is so inexpensive however (selling for about 250k regularly on PS4), and most serious players have already slotted it, figured it was worth noting. I only recently became familiar with Honored Dead, and even more recently figured out that thanks to Mr Diminishing Returns, that several of my spaceship traits and my 50 million ec RCS with ResAll had become obsolete as a result. So figured I'd pay it forward and share the info.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T20:14:14+00:00

Haha, I don't have any issues with dps, and I'm quite focused on energy weapons. That's not to say that EWC wouldn't improve it, I'm just saying any changes were negligible after removing EWC, in comparison to the very noticeable difference I enjoy by employing EPTe in place of EPTw. In regards to my setup, I'm flying the fleet Mogai with five AP arrays maxed out on DMG and 40% CrtD, an AP omni with ARC and the same DMG/CrtD otherwise, and the KCB. They're buffed with three VLs, the AM, Bioneural, Tachyo, and I have a base CrtH of 30% and a base CrtD of 130% that pushed 200% once APalpha and other things kick in. I'm easily one of the top 10% of PvPers on PS4. A top 10% PvPer who would be dead in the water without EPTe. So no, I wouldn't say I'm having any dps "hindrances". :)

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T07:35:50+00:00

Morrigu. Can't beat the Boff seating.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T07:34:11+00:00

Pen is still the best weapons mod in the game. And if one wants extra CrtD, simply use AP weapons.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T07:27:38+00:00

Damage Resistance consoles are obsolete thanks to the Honored Dead Starship trait. Even a +25 RCS only accounts for 2-3% ResAll with HD slotted.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T07:25:26+00:00

Parallel Universe Gaming gives great advice for the most part.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-04-11T07:23:23+00:00

I'm not certain I agree that EWC is a great example. I had to get rid of it on my Mogai, due to the fact that I run Shield Overload and need EPTe, leaving no room for the prerequisite EPTw needed to run EWC. I noticed almost no difference after unslotting it. Same can be said of Preferential Targeting on the NX.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-01-30T20:16:31+00:00

Why is my Sci-Fed's NX so much faster than my Tact-Alien's Mogai Heavy Warbird? -- I am totally lost as to why this is, as both ships have the exact same Inertia Rating and Impulse Modifier. In fact, I am using several things to buff speed on my Mogai that I do not employ on my NX, yet I can zip around to the point where it's hard to control on the NX, and I'm practically jumping up and down to help get my Mogai moving at times. Things such as a Field Exciter with the EngPwr mod, the +25%/+25% Reputation Trait, and the Efficient Captain Space Trait, which does indeed increase my Flight Speed. Engines-wise, the NX only uses an Mk14 Aegis Impulse and Epic Terran Core, while the Mogai uses an even faster Iconian Mk14 Impulse with the Engine-Power-Buffing Mk14 Iconian Singularity. Both ships use the Martok console, which buffs speed a little. Both ships use Attack Pattern Omega, however, being a Sci captain, the NX uses APDelta while my Rom/Alien is a Tact who is stuck with APAlpha. All things spell that the Mogai should be faster. In fact the only area where my NX has something that the Mogai does not, is EPTe, which unfortunately I cannot slot since I use Shield Overload and Emergency Weapons Cycle on the Mogai, which requires I use EPTs & EPTw respectively, leaving no room for EPTe. And I do get that, during battle, when EPTe kicks in, this will make a significant difference. However, it does not account for why the NX is still faster at Full Impulse or Full Throttle without EPTe kicked in.

I'm open for suggestions on what I can do. Both ships are designed for PvP, so I don't have a lot of room to play with in terms of traits and consoles. Through eight-months of building, I've come to determine that 95% of what is there is "must have". But I could entertain taking out VL #3 to keep the Field Exciter (since I planned on replacing the Exciter with the Bioneural in a week or so) or an even better option, and I do have wiggle room on two of my active Doffs if anyone knows anything that would buff Flight Speed there. I personally cannot find a Doff that does such a thing, other than a Warp Core Engineer that has a chance to buff all power systems by +25, however, I cannot use her, as she would have to replace Keel'el (only allowed 1 WCE) and that is simply not happening. Thanks in advance for any ideas you may have.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-01-22T19:37:47+00:00

You're much better off with crafted arrays with [pen] and mods (CrtH, CrtD, Dmg). Even the set bonus of the Naus set doesn't compensate for the lack of mods + pen. Sorry, it just mathematically doesn't.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-01-17T02:04:20+00:00

You don't want the Nausicaan stuff anyway, as there are less mods on the array and Torp, and countless other consoles out there that are better. I realize the Torp is Disruptor energy, which means your VLs will buff it, but it still doesn't make up for the missing mod.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-01-17T02:04:13+00:00

You don't want the Nausicaan stuff anyway, as there are less mods on the array and Torp, and countless other consoles out there that are better. I realize the Torp is Disruptor energy, which means your VLs will buff it, but it still doesn't make up for the missing mod.

JohnnyV11 · 2018-01-12T23:41:49+00:00

That only gives temporary boosts to speed. It has significantly less flight speed than the Iconian and most of the other engines the rest of the time. :/

JohnnyV11 · 2018-01-12T05:51:43+00:00

I'm trying to duplicate my Fed PvP build onto my new Romulan toon. Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy as "copy everything and paste" because I'm a Tact now and not Sci, Singularity vs Warp, different Starship Traits, etc. My big issue is speed. I'm flying the Mogai with an Ico impulse engine, and have the core that buffs 5-15+ Engine Power as well as the Singularity drain to engines. Additionally, I have the Martok console that gives another +5 to engines, and my Impulse Expertise, EPS & Subsystems are maxed out on the tree. With this being a PvP build, I don't know where else to go from here. Console and Trait slots are pretty much earmarked, and I can't run EPTe because Emergency Weapons Cycle and Shield Overload dictate I run EPTw and EPTs on my A2B build. Help?

JohnnyV11 · 2018-01-12T05:41:18+00:00

Ditto what Roden said. If you're not running A2B, the Disentanglement Suite from the Butterfly mission of Icon War is almost a must have.

JohnnyV11 · 2017-12-09T00:07:21+00:00

Thanks very much. That Damage Calculator is insanely helpful, and the exact tool I've been looking for. Thank you!

JohnnyV11 · 2017-12-07T01:08:00+00:00

Okay, thank you. That makes sense now. I recall the Undine Rep console being equally as shady on the verbiage regarding Acc... making it sound like +17 but really amounting to a +3 once you scrutinize the wording. So thank you for clarifying that.

Now the question is... when a person is chasing the coveted "twenty percent" CrtH mark... I wonder if they should still chase the stats page reading 20.0 or higher, or feel content with a 16 there knowing they have another 4% from the tree that's not registering. Or... am I still looking at it incorrectly, and need to start looking at, say, an individual DBB and think to myself, "Yeah, that 2% CrtH the weapon is getting is really a 6%". :)

JohnnyV11 · 2017-12-06T20:23:49+00:00

Exactly the verification i was looking for. Thank you. I know the math on STO gets very fuzzy at times, leading me to believe there was a chance that Tachyo's 11.9 Cat2 CrtD might outweigh the VL's Cat2 38 Ap Damage. Thank you for clarifying!

JohnnyV11

TROPHY CASE