I'm glad that the fleet is going out of its way to show the fleet how ship builds are done but like all things in life there is many ways to do it. So this is my take as a DPSer (yes I'm a part of the DPS crowd that loves to min max things into the ground, to push the bounds of what you can get out of a ship).
So this is my take on the same ship.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=stonewalltwitchdpserstakeship1_9791So in this build I have gone the DBB path but this build can easily be switched to a beam array build. Just depends how you like to fly. Beam arrays would also allow you to make the most of pedal to the metal (since it needs full impulse to work)
Since survivability is a key requirement of the build, I have gone with my go to pug option, the 2 piece assimilated and Dyson shield. If your in a run you know you can survive then switch the engines to the romulan rep ones (boost to attack patterns helps) and use the borg shield for the two piece heal.
Weapons:I went with AP [crtd]x2 xxx. These are cheap on the exchange as they are failed r&d off shoots. The innate crtd of ap means you have a crtdx3 weapon. Two choices and it will depend on your circumstance, you can buy mk vii (or mk ix) for very cheap and upgrade. Cheapest option but depends on your dill levels or skip straight to Mk xii (higher EC cost). The third mod comes down to the price, preferred and optimal would be crtd or pen but WAY to expensive (better to buy raws and upgrade) or the next cheapest crth with dmg and acc last plus the other mods. On a FAW boat acc does the least for you due to the acc not over flowing for the FAW shots.
Consoles:Ok here we go:
Assimilated and plasmonic leach are pretty standard for a build along with the locators (boost crth with consoles and crtd with weapons the standard meta in the game). If you have the lobi then the tacyo and the bio are worth it. I would go Bio before tacyo if your reducing your purchasing options. If these are out of range you could go with a zero point module and a fleet Neutronium with either [+PowTrans] (increasing the rate power flows into your systems, see Starship Electro-Plasma Systems in the skills section as to why this equals more damage) or [+HullRep] (help survive by healing better, if you find that your still not surviving as well)
Science consoles: I have gone with the plasma generating signature nullifier from the fleet embassy. These add more power to your systems and add in a really cool plasma explosion which is boosted by your APO (attack pattern omega) and APB (attack pattern beta). Well worth it. Since this is a sci captain you could buy partgens or grav so you can use them on other build later. Btw these are worth getting to gold (along with the locators). Also a buying note: buy the mk x version and upgrade. They have a chance to go gold as you upgrade and in the end works out cheaper than buying mk xii's esp the FC cost.
Core:
Elite Fleet Plasma integrated is the best for a beam boat (see skills: Starship Electro-Plasma Systems for why) I always buy W->A because this gives a boost to the nukara aux offense (a powerful space rep trait to run) and on gold goes W->S. Don't buy W->S its bugged and the second W->S doesn't apply, hence not worth upgrading to gold.
Skill tree:
Starship Attack Patterns: If you use attack patterns on ship (and you should because this is where most of you damage boost will come from) max out this skill
Starship Batteries: Only put points in bats if you have the red matter capacitor or if you really really love your batteries
Driver Coil: I always recommend points in driver coil. Yes it improves your sector space speed but it also bumps your impulse speed in a match as well.
Starship Electro-Plasma Systems: I can not emphasis this enough, max this out. This directly affects the rate at which power flows into a system. Now I know the tool tip mentions that it is mainly for power flowing between systems when you switch (say between offensive, defensive, balanced etc) but it has another effect that isn't mentioned. It controls the rate at which power is replaced as you fire your weapons. So as you fire your weapons a power cost is removed from the available power in the system. The first weapon fires for free then the second removes power, third fires and removes power. The amount of damage your weapon does is directly proportional to the amount of weapon power at the time it fires. More point in this skill the faster this is replaced as your weapons fire. So more points in EPS = more DPS.
This also goes to why I chose a plasma integrated spire core, reduce drain (cost of a weapons removing power is dampend, ie it not removing its full cost anymore) therefore more dps. The borg KCB (kinetic cutting beam) and Assimilated module also apply an effect where (2.5% chance or one in 40 cycles) it will apply a resistance to the weapons subsystem and add more power to the overcap.
I'll write up a post on soft cap and hard cap, way to long to put here but the TL;DR version is beams have more power than 125 they pull take from the weapons subsystem power as they fire (as you can see in the power levels section it has a hard cap of 178). Poor cannons start at 125 and pull power. Hence beams will out DPS a cannon build. Plus there's that whole pesky drop of range that cannons are stuck with. Yet another post
Warp Core Potential: I have left at 6 the leach is helping you get over 75 in each system so no need to burn to many points here. If someone didn't have the leach then I would recommend more points to get close to 75 in each subsystem. Can use the spreadsheet in the power levels section to play around with the numbers.
Starship Energy Weapon Specialization: Anyone looking for a damage increase this should be at 6 or 9 (me i prefer 9). This skill directly affects how much your ship crits as it fires. More crits more damage.
Starship Armor Reinforcements: protects you from kinetic damage where as Starship Hull Plating is energy damage resistance. Basically points in Armor is always well spent when facing the evil borg shield drain of death with a torp coming shortly there after.
Why no torps? I'm going to say something sacrilegious (esp with the fleet pvp community), torps are a dps loss. I know they are pretty and OMG they are so much fun as they fly to there target and explode, but sadly they are hamstrung. All shields have a 75% resit that is applied to the torp damage then the 10% or 5% bleed through is applied, where as a beam array will do more dmg over time. Now this is PVE where you have hit point sponges in the millions everywhere where as in PVP you have players with smaller hulls therefore the torp does more to kill your target in a burst.
Power Levels ( after the forward slash is the setting to use)
W 178 / 90
S 84 / 15
E 76 / 35
A 109 / 60
Here is a link to the power levels sheet for this build.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gAkN3dpZtdsXLyH8PCDrwY6ZP-VX0NPDbbYfcvvJcqQ/edit?usp=sharingThe levels will be close but since I don't know what type of captain (species) it's not right on the money but it is close. Just adjust in game as you fire on a target. Aim is 75 in across all systems while boosting weapons then Aux.
So some numbers: cost of firing all weapons is 3x ap beams + 2 omnis + kcb (first weapon fires for free)
So 3x 10 + 2 x 10 + 8 = 58
The over cap for the build is 178 we could put more power into weapons to make sure the weapons don't dip below 125 but at the cost of aux. The 100 in aux is for the Nukara Offense trait and is a great damage boost being a Cat 2 power (another post to write on the Cat power in sto i.e. Sto math).
Flying the ship:Ok while flying this ship you need to cycle EptW3 and EptS1 and the DCE's (see notes in the build) will keep them applied. Always start with EptW to get your dmg boost up front.
Next is the skills for the 2 tact boffs (use superior romluan operatives from the fleet embassy) are setup such that you can rotate them. Why is this important? it means as your firing FAW3 your weapons are receiving a buff. So the firing cycle is APO + FAW3 wait for FAWs 20sec cool down then fire APB + FAW3 next cool down APB (second copy) + FAW3 then repeat with APO + FAW again.
This avoids needing to use expensive doffs (zemok) or relying on the Reciprocity trait to cool them down. Reciprocity wont work very well on a DBB ship because of your defense score (and hence the chance they will miss and trigger it) is to low. A beam array boat will have more luck with that but you have enough tac skills to do it this way with out it. Tactical Team to keep your shields facing the threat and gives a boost to tac skills (there are doffs which bring down this cool down to 15sec which also boost attack patterns and are worth the investment. Just go down to 1 TT)
Traits:I have put failsafe in there (exchange trait) a good one to have when your hull is down and need to shed threat so you can heal. Can be a bit expensive but worth it. Most of the other skills are free. If your interested in what I would use on a DPS build, hit me up and ill make a post about them.
Space reps:Stock standard DPS fair here: Advanced Targeting systems, Precision and Nukara Offense. Standard for any build. Next EAP, now EAP was nerfed in the last round of changes but even at it's new level when you have a team ruining it, it adds up to the equivalent of attack pattern beta1. Which when your FAWing targets is a good thing. If defense is more what you need the Nukara defense is the next best thing.
Starship traits:Now I have left this blank because it depends what you have access to. A lot of the traits are causing lag on the servers (as theys tack) so your mileage will vary but the defensive ones are good. I just love All Hands On Deck cooling the captain ability's down, it's awesome. So if you do have access to this trait and throw on 2x conn tt cool down doffs it is worth your while to replace the other tt with a torp high yield ability. Even tho the ship has no torps the activation of it will cool down your sensor scan and photonic fleet along with your hazard emitters.
There is bound to be stuff i have missed, so just ask.
Thanks for reading this VERY long build explanation. Ill see if I get time to do the other two builds.
