Guide to Successful Premades

[Archived Post]

Guide to Successful Premades v1.0.2

The purpose of this post is to have a central location for good information regarding what makes a successful Premade PvP team.

This is a work in progress, no information is intended to be taken as the only way to do things, and information may change based upon the feedback of those who reply.

If you have any suggestions for additional content/explanation, please post it and I will try to implement it in future revisions.

1. General Characteristics of a Good Premade
2. Primary Duties
3. Example Builds

1. General Characteristics of a Good Premade:

-Teamwork
This is the #1 most important characteristic of a successful premade PvP team. It is also the characteristic that most individuals lack. You can be the best solo player in the world, but if you don't know how to support your teammates, you will never succeed in a premade environment. Big parts of teamwork include knowing what the team needs. Whether it be healing, crowd control, getting that pesky escort off your healer's tail, keeping your teammates' needs in mind will greatly contribute to success. Many times, these things won't be obvious to the average player until its too late.

-Communication
Being able to simply speak commands or needs to your teammate is far easier and less risky than taking your hands off the controls long enough to write a chat message. Ventrilo and TeamSpeak are two common applications that enable voice chat. Keybinds may also be used in situations where voice communication is not possible/practical. For a more extensive guide on keybinds, visit this post: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=192243

-Obedience
Obedience goes hand-in-hand with teamwork. All members must be willing to follow commands given by the team leader at a moment's notice. The time may arise where the healer is overwhelmed/dead and requires the team to quickly exit the battle. Or maybe the team leader calls a new target for everyone to focus fire. By successfully obeying commands (or overruling them in circumstances where you see something the team leader doesn't), the team is better able to accomplish its objectives.

-Situational Awareness
Observation is another important part of successful premade PvP. Each player must be highly aware of events going on around them. Pay attention to what buffs ships are using. Notice where enemy escorts are moving (this can key you in to who their next alpha strike victim will be). Be watching for gaps in the enemy's buff/debuff cycles. Remember to warn your team when you notice something suspicious, this early warning is often the difference between life and death.

-Complimentary Builds
A successful premade is just that ... a premade. It is not 5 people coming together to be a team, even if they are from the same fleet and have a diverse team makeup. A successful premade is ONE complete build implemented by 5 individuals. Each ship carries abilities which complement the others, or achieve a specific goal. You may want to have HE1, but you need to carry ST1. You sacrifice what you want for the good of the team.

-Timing
Timing is the ability to use buffs/debuffs/weapons exactly when they are needed, as well as coordination between damage dealers to unleash a sudden devastating alpha strike. More detail on timing will be in some of the example duties and build descriptions.

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2. Primary Duties:

Primary Healer:

Purpose:

-Healing
This one is pretty self explanatory. The primary healer's primary purpose is to heal teammates.

-Lead the charge
The healer in most cases will also be the ship to lead the initial charge into an enemy fed/klink ball. The healer's ability to tank for a significant amount of time ensures that even though it will be the first ship in range of the enemy, that it won't easily drop.

Traits:

-Awareness
You must be able to distinguish between standard focus fire, alpha strikes, and false alpha strikes. Predicting where the next strike will occur is also very important.

-Quick reflexes
A well executed alpha strike can destroy the strongest of targets in as little as 2 seconds without healing support. A healer must have the reflexes to be able to see a need, and heal it very quickly.

Strategy:

Standard focus fire is usually not enough to burn a target down unless the healer is incompetent. Often a couple of resist buffs is plenty to withstand standard focus fire. Alpha strikes require massive burst healing to prevent instant death, followed by stacking of resist buffs to prevent the remainder of the alpha from burning the target down. Beware of false alpha strikes, these are often instances where the enemy team will do just enough damage to a target to get the healer to toss some of their heals out, then quickly switching targets and buffing up for a true alpha strike, thereby overwhelming the healer, who no longer has enough heals to mitigate an alpha strike.

When charging into the enemy fed/klink ball to begin an engagement, DO NOT allow any uncloaked teammates to get more than 10k behind you. If they do, they are prime targets for the opposing team to lay a quick and devastating alpha strike out of cloak with no support from you, the healer.

Best suited captain class:

-Engineer

Best suited ship class:

-Star Cruiser
-Exploration Cruiser Retrofit
-Advanced Research Science Vessel Retrofit



Crowd Control:

Purpose:

-The main duty of the crowd controller is to prepare the enemy for certain death. This includes debuffing the primary target, as well as causing all-around mayhem for the enemy team.

-The pure crowd controller should still have some shield heals available to top off teammates as necessary, or provide backup to the alternate healer, if the enemy is spamming charged particle burst, etc.

Traits:

[to be added when I feel like doing more writing]

Strategy:

[to be added when I feel like doing more writing]

Best suited captain class:

-Science

Best suited ship class:

-Long Range Science Vessel Retrofit
-Recon Science Vessel
-Advanced Research Science Vessel Retrofit



Alternate Crowd Control/ Alternate Healer:

Purpose:

-As an alternate healer, your job is to provide backup to the primary healer in case of death, stun, or being out of heals. While the primary healer caters more to hull healing, as a science ship, you cater more to shield healing, though you still have supplemental hull healing.

-As an alternate crowd controller, you have a small array of crowd control abilities to assist the primary controller in ensuring that the enemy is ripe for destruction.

Traits:

-Awareness
You must be able to monitor the status of your team, specifically the healer.

-Quick reflexes
If the healer is incapacitated, you must quickly step in to remedy the situation. You must also quickly identify when the primary healer's efforts will not be enough to keep a teammate alive, and step in with your own heals.

Strategy:

[to be added when I feel like doing more writing]

Best suited captain class:

-Science
-Engineer

Best suited ship class:

-Advanced Research Science Vessel Retrofit
-Deep Space Science Vessel
-Long Range Science Vessel Retrofit

[Archived Post]

Sustained DPS:

Purpose:

-Constant damage output is the primary goal of a sustained DPS pilot. This damage will force a healer to continuously use some heals, making it easier for burst damage to quickly overwhelm an enemy team's defenses.

-A sustained DPS pilot can also output a substantial amount of burst damage (not to the level of a pure burst damage dealer) by saving all of their damage buffs for one concentrated attack, usually in concert with the team burst damage dealer.

Traits:

-Timing
Exact timing is crucial for a sustained damage dealer, because 90% of kills in premades are due to massive burst and/or surprise attacks. You must be able to coordinate with the burst damage dealer and crowd controller to all unleash your attacks/abilities at the exact same second, otherwise the enemy's healer will catch on and pre-buff your target before the full attack has happened.

-Observation
A sustained DPS pilot is often the best choice for team target calling. The reason for this is that sustained DPS is somewhat a "fire and forget" job due to the wide firing arc and relatively easy buffing of a cruiser. As target caller, you must be on the lookout for weaknesses in the defensive patterns of the enemy team(cooldowns of large heals such as hazard emitters, etc.). When you identify a pattern, predict how long until the next vulnerability will occur, and give the team a countdown to the alpha strike/target switch. Other things to consider are availability of your team's own crowd control powers such as Subnuke beam and photonic shockwave, and that all members are within range for a strike (if someone recently died or had to run away).

Strategy:
[to be added when I feel like doing more writing]

Best suited captain class:
-Tactical or Engineer

Best suited ship class:
-Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit
-Assault Cruiser



Burst Damage:

Purpose:

-Burst Damage
As a burst damage dealer, your primary purpose in life is to rapidly kill a target before the enemy's healer has a chance to react.

-Moderate Sustained DPS
During downtime between alpha strikes, the burst damage dealer should still be able to output a moderate to high amount of sustained DPS, to keep the healer stressed.

Traits:

-Timing
The ability to time the pefect alpha strike in concert with crowd controllers and other damage dealers is absolutely the most important important trait of a burst damage pilot.

-Patience
There are often long waits between full alpha strikes due to long cooldowns. During this time, a damage dealer may feel like they are not worth much to the team, but this is not true! Even though a target may be staying at or near full health, it still means that the enemy healer is expending heals. As long as this is happening, the healer will not have a full compliment of heals when the next alpha strike rolls around, making death that much more certain.

Strategy:
When it comes time for an alpha strike, don't hold back. A premade's ability to heal is generally extremely high, and if you don't very quickly kill your target, you most likely won't be able to. By using all tactical buffs available at the exact same time, you will be able to unleash ungodly amounts of burst for a few seconds. In the meantime while waiting for your big buffs, just continue rotating your small buffs with short cooldowns to maintain constant pressure on the enemy.

Best suited captain class:
-Tactical

Best suited ship class:
-Fleet Escort
-Advanced Escort
-Tactical Escort Retrofit

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3. Example Builds:

Primary Healer Star Cruiser:

Build:

Forward Weapons:
-Phaser Beam Array
-Phaser Beam Array
-Chroniton Torpedo Launcher
-Chroniton Torpedo Launcher

Deflector:
-Aegis Deflector Array

Shield:
-Aegis Covariant Shield Array

Engine:
-Aegis Hyper-Impulse Engines

Aft Weapons:
-Phaser Beam Array
-Phaser Beam Array
-Chroniton Mine Launcher
-Chroniton Mine Launcher

Devices:
-Subspace Field Modulator
-Engine Battery
-Auxillary Battery
-Shield Battery

Engineering Consoles:
-SIF Generator
-Booster Modulator
-Neutronium Alloy
-Field Generator

Science Consoles:
-Halon System
-Induction Stabilizer
-Halon System

Tactical Consoles:
-Automated Defense Turret
-Borg Assimilated Console

Cdr Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Shields I
-Reverse Shield Polarity I
-Engineering Team III
-Auxillary to Structural III

LtCdr Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Shields I
-Extend Shields I
-Engineering Team III

Lt Tactical:
-Beam Fire at Will I
-Attack Pattern Delta I

Lt Science:
-Hazard Emitters I
-Transfer Shield Strength II

Ens Science:
-Hazard Emitters I

Key Build Features:

-Try to keep extend shields on you most fragile ship (usually the burst damage dealer) as much as possible, so that a sudden alpha strike will be slowed by the extra resistance.

-Use your beam fire at will to clear out spam.



Crowd Control Long Range Science Vessel Retrofit

Build:

Forward Weapons:
-Phaser Beam Array
-Chroniton Torpedo Launcher
-Chroniton Torpedo Launcher

Deflector:
-Borg Assimilated Deflector Array

Shield:
-Borg Assimilated Regenerative Shield Array

Engine:
-Borg Assimilated Impulse Engines

Aft Weapons:
-Phaser Beam Array
-Chroniton Mine Launcher
-Chroniton Mine Launcher

Devices:
-Engine Battery
-Auxillary Battery
-Shield Battery

Engineering Consoles:
-Neutronium Alloy
-Field Generator

Science Consoles:
-Sensor Probes
-Sensor Probes
-Induction Stabilizer
-Induction Stabilizer

Tactical Consoles:
-Automated Defense Turret
-Borg Assimilated Console

Cdr Science:
-Science Team I
-Transfer Shield Strength II
-Photonic Shockwave I
-Scramble Sensors III

Lt Cdr Science:
-Science Team I
-Hazard Emitters II
-Gravity Well I

Lt Tactical:
-Torpedo Spread I
-Torpedo Spread II

Lt Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Shields I
-Emergency Power to Shields II

Ens Science:
-Tractor Beam I


Key Build Features:

-Constantly use your chroniton torpedo spread against targets of opportunity. This has the chance to slow multiple enemies, lowering their defense rating, clearing out spam, and taking advantage of any dropped shield facings.

-There are certain situations where scramble sensors should be used against certain targets. When the primary healer is the target, it makes healing extremely difficult for them. When the crowd controller is the target, any control powers will damage/effect their teammates as well, and it will make it very difficult for the team to clear the scramble because the crowd controllers usually carry most of the science teams. When the damage dealer is the target, it will greatly mitigate the damage being dealt against your team, allowing your healer(s) to catch up.

-Gravity well is a useful ability to help clean up spam, as well as mitigate enemy damage, and decrease defense ratings.

-Photonic shockwave is often very effective when used against the enemy healer, just as your damage dealers are opening up an alpha strike on another target.

-Make liberal use of your Beam target Auxillary on the enemy healer and/or crowd controller.



Alternate Crowd Control/ Alternate Healer Advanced Research Science Vessel Retrofit

Build:

Forward Weapons:
-Phaser Beam Array
-Phaser Beam Array
-Phaser Beam Array

Deflector:
-Borg Assimilated Deflector Array

Shield:
-Borg Assimilated Regenerative Shield Array

Engine:
-Borg Assimilated Impulse Engines

Aft Weapons:
-Phaser Beam Array
-Chroniton Mine Launcher
-Chroniton Mine Launcher

Devices:
-Engine Battery
-Shield Battery
-Auxillary Battery

Engineering Consoles:
-Neutronium Alloy
-Neutronium Alloy
-Field Generator

Science Consoles:
-Induction Stabilizer
-Induction Stabilizer
-Induction Stabilizer

Tactical Consoles:
-Automated Defense Turret
-Borg Assimilated Console

Cdr Science:
-Science Team I
-Transfer Shield Strength II
-Photonic Shockwave I
-Scramble Sensors III

Lt Cdr Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Shields I
-Emergency Power to Shields II
-Auxillary to Structural II

Lt Tactical:
-Beam Fire at Will I
-Attack Pattern Delta I

Lt Universal:
-Science Team I
-Transfer Shield Strength II

Ens Science:
-Hazard Emitters I

Alternate Lt Cdr Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Shields I
-Engineering Team II
-Auxillary to Structural II

Alternate Lt Universal:
-Emergency Power to Shields I
-Engineering Team II

Key Build Features:

-Use your beam fire at will to clear out spam.

-Make liberal use of your Beam target Auxillary on the enemy healer and/or crowd controller.

-switch between BO setups depending on team needs

[Archived Post]

Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit

Forward Weapons:
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array

Deflector:
-Aegis Deflector Array

Shield:
-Aegis Covariant Shield Array

Engine:
-Aegis Hyper-Impulse Engines

Aft Weapons:
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array

Devices:
-Subspace Field Modulator
-Engine Battery
-Shield Battery
-Weapon Battery

Engineering Consoles:
-EPS Flow Regulator
-Plasma Distribution Manifold
-Neutronium Alloy
-Field Generator

Science Consoles:
-Halon System
-Borg Assimilated Console

Tactical Consoles:
-Antiproton Mag Regulator
-Antiproton Mag Regulator
-Antiproton Mag Regulator

Cdr Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Weapons I
-Emergency Power to Shields II
-Directed Energy Modulation II
-Directed Energy Modulation III

Lt Cdr Tactical:
-Tactical Team I
-Beam Overload II
-Attack Pattern Beta II

Lt Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Weapons I
-Emergency Power to Shields II

Lt Science:
-Hazard Emitters I
-Transfer Shield Strength II

Ens Engineering:
-Engineering Team I

Key Build Features:

-In most cases you will be able to set all weapons to auto-fire, so that all you will have to do is maintain your buffs, and you can spend the rest of your energy monitoring the enemy for vulnerabilities and target calling.

-All 4 emergency power skills can be chained for 100% uptime for 135 weapon power and 100+ shield power.

-The 3 sharable heals are good to have as emergency heals in case of a major breakdown in team healing (healer and/or alternate healer is dead/stunned etc.)




Fleet Escort

Forward Weapons:
-Antiproton Dual Heavy Cannons
-Antiproton Dual Heavy Cannons
-Antiproton Dual Heavy Cannons
-Antiproton Dual Heavy Cannons

Deflector:
-Aegis Deflector Array

Shield:
-Aegis Covariant Shield Array

Engine:
-Aegis Hyper-Impulse Engines

Aft Weapons:
-Antiproton Turret
-Antiproton Turret
-Antiproton Beam Array

Devices:
-Engine Battery
-Shield Battery

Engineering Consoles:
-Plasma Distribution Manifold
-Neutronium Alloy
-Field Generator

Science Consoles:
-Halon System
-Borg Assimilated Console

Tactical Consoles:
-Antiproton Mag Regulator
-Antiproton Mag Regulator
-Antiproton Mag Regulator
-Antiproton Mag Regulator

Cdr Tactical:
-Tactical Team I
-Beam Target Engines II
-Cannon Rapid Fire II
-Attack Pattern Beta III

Lt Cdr Tactical:
-Tactical Team I
-Cannon Rapid Fire I
-Attack Pattern Omega I

Lt Science:
-Polarize Hull I
-Polarize Hull II

Lt Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Shields I
-Auxillary to Dampeners I

Ens Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Shields I

Key Build Features:

-This particular build uses pure cannons with the exception of the one beam array on back. The purpose for this is that it provides maximum efficiency to each damage buff the ship carries. Every single damage buff will effect every single (forward firing) weapon on the ship. This allows for massive levels of damage buff stacking. The single beam array is used with Beam Target Engines to prepare a target for an alpha strike by slowing/stopping it to reduce its defense rating, as well as making it easier to keep the target in the forward arc.

-Due to the damage dealing potential of an escort being limited to the forward firing arc, movement buffs and debuff removers are essential to staying immune to an enemy crowd controller's annoying attacks. Polarize hull keeps tractor beams from locking on to you, while Aux to Dampeners will make you immune to gravity well and tractor repulsors.

-The healing potential of this build is almost entirely dependent on team healing. Emergency power to shields and polarize hull will help to keep your resist levels high, making healing slightly easier. Emergency power to shields will also serve as a lifeline when you get hit with a beam target shields or a lucky phaser proc.

[Archived Post]

C--c-c-c-c-combo Breaker

[Archived Post]

Thanks, but I was done anyway :p

[Archived Post]

Thank you for this guide. I think it can serve as a good first step for setting up a decent premade team.

As can be seen in your fleet escort example build, there is a difference between good 1v1 or PUG builds and good premade builds. Being willing to rely on the team for healing is a big step; a team of 5 self-contained cruisers will (almost?) never be a good premade setup. Teamwork is the most important ingredient and you are completely correct to put this as the first general characteristic of a good team.

Commentary and addition:


Primary Healer

I disagree with your choice to put a science team on the example healing cruiser. It may be good for pugging, but in a premade setup the healer should be able to rely on external science teams. Using a science team cuts deep into the hull healing (10-15k ET3) and a second hazard emitter is a better choice in my opinion.
Having used both a Negh'Var (=Galaxy Refit) and an Orion cruiser (=Star Cruiser) as a healer, i found the lack of a second hazard a noticeable disadvantage when it comes to pure healing capability.

Personally, I prefer HE1/TSS2 over HE2/TSS1, but I suppose both combinations are good.

Aegis vs. Borg is also a matter of personal taste. I just want to mention that the borg deflector gives +5 aux, and when you combine it with efficient engines you can do without the +Aux console and use another SIF generator or armor console instead.

For some players it may take a leap of faith to go with only 2xEPtS1 instead of higher levels, but it is an integral part of the primary healer build to have lots of heals for others instead of self-only tanking skills.


Sustained DPS

I don't have much experience flying a DPS cruiser, so I will only say this: Don't use too many abilities for damage dealing purposes or you end up almost as defenseless as an escort but without its punch. Shooting stuff doesn't mean you can't help heal your team.

[Archived Post]

Wow, this is a true magnum opus. A monolith of epic proportions in it's own right. Sticky this ****!

[Archived Post]

Thank you for this guide. I think it can serve as a good first step for setting up a decent premade team.

As can be seen in your fleet escort example build, there is a difference between good 1v1 or PUG builds and good premade builds. Being willing to rely on the team for healing is a big step; a team of 5 self-contained cruisers will (almost?) never be a good premade setup. Teamwork is the most important ingredient and you are completely correct to put this as the first general characteristic of a good team.

Commentary and addition:


Primary Healer

I disagree with your choice to put a science team on the example healing cruiser. It may be good for pugging, but in a premade setup the healer should be able to rely on external science teams. Using a science team cuts deep into the hull healing (10-15k ET3) and a second hazard emitter is a better choice in my opinion.
Having used both a Negh'Var (=Galaxy Refit) and an Orion cruiser (=Star Cruiser) as a healer, i found the lack of a second hazard a noticeable disadvantage when it comes to pure healing capability.

Personally, I prefer HE1/TSS2 over HE2/TSS1, but I suppose both combinations are good.

You make a good point about the science team, I was actually debating between 2 hazards vs what i ended up putting, but i decided that a backup science team was a good idea in case the enemu manages to scramble all of your other sci team carriers. Both choices are definitely valid.

Aegis vs. Borg is also a matter of personal taste. I just want to mention that the borg deflector gives +5 aux, and when you combine it with efficient engines you can do without the +Aux console and use another SIF generator or armor console instead.

For some players it may take a leap of faith to go with only 2xEPtS1 instead of higher levels, but it is an integral part of the primary healer build to have lots of heals for others instead of self-only tanking skills.


Sustained DPS

I don't have much experience flying a DPS cruiser, so I will only say this: Don't use too many abilities for damage dealing purposes or you end up almost as defenseless as an escort but without its punch. Shooting stuff doesn't mean you can't help heal your team.

I agree with this. It must be a balance. However, i do run almost this exact setup on my dps cruiser, and its a pretty tough cookie.

Mmmmmmm....... cookies



Comments in red

[Archived Post]

Comments in red

I would have to go with Hilbeard here, there is no need for the main healer to take a sci team, there should not be a situation where an escort decides to clear his SS to continue to pew pew over giving his sci team to the main healers, without whom his pew pew wil be very short lived. If he has to wait, he has to wait.

[Archived Post]

I would have to go with Hilbeard here, there is no need for the main healer to take a sci team, there should not be a situation where an escort decides to clear his SS to continue to pew pew over giving his sci team to the main healers, without whom his pew pew wil be very short lived. If he has to wait, he has to wait.

I have updated the example build accordingly.

[Archived Post]

Sticky this masterpiece.

[Archived Post]

Sticky plz.

[Archived Post]

You should probably add ...

-Complimentary Builds
A successful premade is just that ... a premade. It is not 5 people coming together to be a team (though experienced PvPers can be successful); no matter how you slice it that's a PuG (even if you are in the same fleet or know each other.) A successful premade is one build carried out by 5 individuals. Each ship carries abilities which complement the others or achieve a specific goal. You may want to have HE1, but you need to carry ST1. You sacrifice what you want for the good of the team.

The ST is a perfect example of builds complimenting one another.

... there is no need for the main healer to take a sci team, there should not be a situation where an escort decides to clear his SS [or JS] to continue to pew pew over giving his sci team to the main healers, without whom his pew pew will be very short lived. If he has to wait, he has to wait.


Also, I'd split this out

-Communication
This is where voice communication comes in. Being able to simply speak commands or needs to your teammate is far easier and less risky than taking your hands off the controls long enough to write a chat message. Failing that using keybinds to identify targets (/bind <key> Team Please target: $target) goes a long way to providing a cohesive attack..

Add this ...

I say it at the end of my Guide


...

Oh, one last tidbit ...

KEYBINDS ARE ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS IN PvP.
...

-Keybinds
Keybinds make sending your teammates the buff/debuff/heal they need when they need it. At best, your keyboard becomes an extension of your hand. At worst, you have to glance at your keyboard to hit the correct key.

(However, there are those among us who are WASD-ers and can make the click-power thing work. Props where due.)


Oh ... /sticky +1

[Archived Post]

You should probably add ... [stuff]

Thanks for the great info, I have added it (slightly modified for grammar and organization) to the guide.

I am one of those WASD flyers that uses my mouse for all of my powers also :p

EDIT: By the way, anybody who wants to write something up for the sections with [to be added when I feel like doing more writing], please feel free to post it, and I will add it to the guide.

[Archived Post]

Just get an era is my suggestion :)
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/5868/pugfsi.png

[Archived Post]

ive had a 6 million healing game before too. I still havent found all of my fingers. :p

[Archived Post]

Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit

Forward Weapons:
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array

Deflector:
-Aegis Deflector Array

Shield:
-Aegis Covariant Shield Array

Engine:
-Aegis Hyper-Impulse Engines

Aft Weapons:
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array
-Antiproton Beam Array

Devices:
-Subspace Field Modulator
-Engine Battery
-Shield Battery
-Weapon Battery

Engineering Consoles:
-EPS Flow Regulator
-Plasma Distribution Manifold
-Neutronium Alloy
-Field Generator

Science Consoles:
-Halon System
-Borg Assimilated Console

Tactical Consoles:
-Antiproton Mag Regulator
-Antiproton Mag Regulator
-Antiproton Mag Regulator

Cdr Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Weapons I
-Emergency Power to Shields II
-Directed Energy Modulation II
-Directed Energy Modulation III

Lt Cdr Tactical:
-Tactical Team I
-Beam Overload II
-Attack Pattern Beta II

Lt Engineering:
-Emergency Power to Weapons I
-Emergency Power to Shields II

Lt Science:
-Hazard Emitters I
-Transfer Shield Strength II

Ens Engineering:
-Engineering Team I

Key Build Features:

-In most cases you will be able to set all weapons to auto-fire, so that all you will have to do is maintain your buffs, and you can spend the rest of your energy monitoring the enemy for vulnerabilities and target calling.

-All 4 emergency power skills can be chained for 100% uptime for 135 weapon power and 100+ shield power.

-The 3 sharable heals are good to have as emergency heals in case of a major breakdown in team healing (healer and/or alternate healer is dead/stunned etc.)


Would you recommend building an Assault Cruiser any differently?

[Archived Post]

Would you recommend building an Assault Cruiser any differently?

I would probably either put Eng Team III in the LtCdr spot, or move one of the EPtS2's up to a 3, and put in Eng Team II. Or if you want you could drop the DEM 2 and have dual EPtS3, ET2, and RSP1 or DEM 1.

Basically the point is that there are a multitude of combinations that can be made between that set of powers that will accomplish 99% the same job, just with slight amounts of tilt toward whatever you make higher rank.

[Archived Post]

What.. no Klingon advice? :(

Bah you fedies and your self rightious desire to make everything fit into your neat little federation! :cool:

[Archived Post]

What.. no Klingon advice? :(

Bah you fedies and your self rightious desire to make everything fit into your neat little federation! :cool:
Succesful Klingon Premades are unpossible. :eek:

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Succesful Klingon Premades are unpossible. :eek:

I think QEW, WoG, Lore and SW would disagree :p

On a serious note though, setting up a klingon premade is a bit more involved in a way. With the choice to bring a long carriers or not, going with BoP's or not etc. And when you finally decide on what kind of ship setup you want to have, you need to figure out what kind of setup you want. SW even flew a standard "fed" setup in the beggining of season 2 of the kt league, with era and healbert in healing cruisers (one with backup heals + dps), outcast in the varanus, tac/raptor, engie/raptor.

One thing i think most good premades would agree up on; cc isn't very useful in 1's, having one gravity well, or one scramble sensors isn't enough. All science stuff gets multiplied in effect if you have more of them, two gravity wells on the other teams cruisers will usually be a lot more effective than one gravity well. Same with scramble, having one isn't enough, you really need two three, depending on how effective you are at coordinating cc.

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In one of the KT matches SW brought 2 Orion cruisers, 2 Varanus sci ships and 1 Raptor. It is possible to fly "federation" premades on the klingon side, but then the uniqueness of the faction is discarded. A setup involving BoPs is just more fun to play. And whether one uses (voquv) carriers is apparently more a question of religion.

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In one of the KT matches SW brought 2 Orion cruisers, 2 Varanus sci ships and 1 Raptor. It is possible to fly "federation" premades on the klingon side, but then the uniqueness of the faction is discarded. A setup involving BoPs is just more fun to play. And whether one uses (voquv) carriers is apparently more a question of religion.

we also ran x1 cruiser, x2 sci ships and x2 bops, any similar combo works, the sci hip as i have said in other posts is a solid sci platform just don't put a sci captain in it.

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we also ran x1 cruiser, x2 sci ships and x2 bops, any similar combo works, the sci hip as i have said in other posts is a solid sci platform just don't put a sci captain in it.
I think that might also be said for a Carrier. You will rarely get your SNB off with a Carrier. But Rotate Shield Frequency, MIracle Worker, EPS Transfer, Nadion Inversion? Should all work great with the ship, particular with the up-coming nerf and increased reliability on AUX.

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What.. no Klingon advice? :(

Bah you fedies and your self rightious desire to make everything fit into your neat little federation! :cool:

Actually I have far more experience running klink premades. The reason I tailored this toward feddies is because creating a successful klink premade is quite a bit more complex due to the carriers, and the flexibility of the BoP, and of course the cloak. and this is more of a beginner's guide.

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Ok ill take a shot at it...
5 bops, various captain types.

1 weapon power
gw3 sw1 tss2 he1
faw3 beta1 torpspread1
epts2 epts1
tss2 sciteam1

2) weapon power
gw3 sw1 tss2 he1
faw2 torpspread1
warp plasma1-epts2 epts1
tss2 sciteam1

bop tyken3 variant fullaux
tykens3 he3 scramble1 sci
warp plasma1 aux2damp1 epte1
tractor2 tractor1
aux2damp1 epte1

version 3 bop tyken-gw initializer start at high aux switch to weapons
tyken3-gw1-tss2-sci1
faw3-faw2-whatever
tss2-sci
epts2-epts1

v4
gw3-sw-he2-tractor?
he3-tss2-sci
scramble1-sci
epts2-epts1


running neutronium armors x2 shield booster
deflector field boosters
weapon type or torpedo boosters

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It's a real shame that such good wealth of information has fallen so far back in the pages.

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The information is more valuable now that the Faw bug was repaired for Faw 3, and that there were some changes to Gravity well.

Now if only something could be done either with Scramble Sensors, or with Science team to help better protect against multiple castings of Scramble Sensors.. :p

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OP: Perhaps mention "tackle" build for targeting ships like BoP/Escorts. There isn't much I've seen to prevent escaping cept level 1 gw which isn't too tough to get out of (granted I've skimmed over most of the posts following the 1st page).

Off topic: I'm not sure if it has anything to do with my settings (I have things set so I must manually target and no auto fire no auto apply buffs to friendlies etc), but I haven't really had issues w/SS.

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Why has your advanced cruiser has an EPS console equiped? Energy weapon refunds are no longer affected by this allegedly. So what is the purpose? To recover faster from full impulse and power drains?

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Why has your advanced cruiser has an EPS console equiped? Energy weapon refunds are no longer affected by this allegedly. So what is the purpose? To recover faster from full impulse and power drains?
My guess: Beam Overload. It drains 50 energy, and that's a pretty big DPS loss afterwards.
The drain from BO is still affected by the EPS transfer rate, only regular weapon fire is not. It's effectively a self-inflicted energy drain.

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My guess: Beam Overload. It drains 50 energy, and that's a pretty big DPS loss afterwards.
The drain from BO is still affected by the EPS transfer rate, only regular weapon fire is not. It's effectively a self-inflicted energy drain.

Good call, didnt think of that :P

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quite funny how you didnt mention any klingon ships, you not fly them ? or mayb you simply missed them out, but i dont agree with neally all your builds but its ok for new premades

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quite funny how you didnt mention any klingon ships, you not fly them ? or mayb you simply missed them out, but i dont agree with neally all your builds but its ok for new premades

Instead of coming in and saying you disagree,then leaving, maybe try offering suggestions for improvement? KTHX

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Why has your advanced cruiser has an EPS console equiped? Energy weapon refunds are no longer affected by this allegedly. So what is the purpose? To recover faster from full impulse and power drains?

I generally run with an EPS console in my Exe. It helps greatly when switching between power settings. My mates are appreciative of the fact that I can go from 134 weapons to 100 Aux in 2 sec, send out aux dependent heals; then, switch back to DPS.

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Will it not be more eficient to just pop an aux battery before a heal burst? I find it more efficient since i have a million batteries stored and I have an extra engineer console for resistances instead? :)

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As I've said before, these are not be all end all builds, they are simply my personal opinion (some of which are outdated due to recent power changes). The biggest thing to remember is to use what works for you.

That being said, I will try to update some of these builds with my latest thoughts sometime in the next few days.

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Will it not be more eficient to just pop an aux battery before a heal burst? I find it more efficient since i have a million batteries stored and I have an extra engineer console for resistances instead? :)

I do that (or a RMC) when I'm focused. If I'm not the attention of the love, I'm not gonna waste the resources.


quite funny how you didnt mention any klingon ships, you not fly them ? or mayb you simply missed them out, but i dont agree with neally all your builds but its ok for new premades

Don't just enter a discussion without constructive input. (Punctuation. Grammar. Spelling. If English isn't a second language .. it should be. There how does that feel.)

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Good read, should be a nice primer.


Best suited captain class:
-Tactical or Engineer

Best suited ship class:
-Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit
-Assault Cruiser

And always have to appreciate someone legitimizing the role of Tac-Cruisers and that we're not all just n00bs. ;)

One observation for other Sustained DPS players though is that it's still a good idea to make room for a Fire at Will. With that build, FAW can be used to mow down a whole lot spam in a hurry.

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one heck of a necro lol