A PvP Sci/Sci Ship Proposal - Ze Spy
 

Ze Story:

Okay, so after being sick and tired of all the "Waah, Sci Ships are useless!" and not really being into Cygone's builds, I brought the science ships back to the drawing board. Exactly what *are* science ships supposed to be able to do?

It's clear that science ships are able to heal. They also possess the most CC abilities when compared to other ships' BOFF slotting. I looked at this second aspect and wondered if maybe, just maybe, I could turn the humble Science Healer into a murderous doomsday Wizard. Sadly, things did not pan out for the Wizard. The Escort simply out DPS'd him in most cases, assuming he wasn't focused into so much subatomic gas. There simply had to be something else.

Then I got my first Caitian Sci Officer. "Oh joy!" thought I, as I mashed my face on Photonic Shock Wave for the 9000th time. "I love stunning people, but I wish it did more damage!" Inspiration. I quickly looked for abilities that used Particle Generators and found that the Nadeon Detonator, Feedback Pulse, and M.A.C.O. Heavy Graviton Beam set bonus fit the bill perfectly. A Tricobalt Torpedo rounded the burst damage party out.

"But wait! How do I get close enough to use these abilities?" I muttered to myself, having reached the end of my bag of Cheetos. I could never be as fast as an Escort or as tanky as a Cruiser. If I couldn't out-stat people, I would have to out-wit them. I must become... Ze Spy!

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Ze Build:

Starship:
Recon Science Vessel

Armament:
Your Choice Dual Beam Bank
Photon Torpedo Launcher
Tricobalt Torpedo Launcher

Phaser Turret
Phaser Turret
Phaser Turret

Equipment Set:
M.A.C.O. Graviton Deflector Array
M.A.C.O. Impulse Engines
M.A.C.O. Resilient Shield Array
(Don't forget that this set gives you Heavy Graviton Beam!)

Devices:
Subspace Field Modulator
Whatever Else You Want

Consoles:
Eng: Nadeon Detonator
Eng: Assimilated Module

Sci: Particle Generator
Sci: Particle Generator
Sci: Particle Generator
Sci: Particle Generator

Tac: TCD Subspace Infuser
Tac: TCD Subspace Infuser
Tac: TCD Subspace Infuser

Power Levels:
25 Weapons
55 or 25 Shields
25 or 55 Engines
95 Auxiliary

Bridge Officers:
Tac Lt – HY1 / APB1 (Thanks, Teleon!)
Tac Ens - TT1
Eng Lt – EPtE1 / EPtS2
Sci Cmd – JS1 / TSS2 / CPB2 / PSW3
Sci Lt Cmd – MES1 / PH2 / FP2

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Ze Strategy:

First things first: activate MES1 for some stealth. The less people see you, the more likely you are to catch them completely unaware. Make sure to stay away from Sci Ships if possible! Sneak around behind or to the side of their team and find a distracted target. Maybe this person is shooting at someone else, or perhaps they have already popped some abilities. You are Ze Spy, so stay stealthy.

Queue up a Target Subsystem, Nadeon Detonator, Attack Pattern Beta, and, if you have plenty of time, High-Yield Torp. Decloak and quickly jam your target. With your unsuspecting target now completely oblivious to your presence, gun it towards them, popping defensive abilities if the enemy team sees you out of position. Get as close as possible and start using abilities in this order, depending on cooldowns: CPB2 > Sensor Scan > Tricobalt > Wait for Tricobalt to hit > Heavy Graviton Beam > PSW3 > Photon Torp w/Nadeon. Keep in mind that all of your damage is kinetic, so Reverse Shield Polarity won't save them, but use your Subnucleonic Beam at any point during this combo to stop any abilities that may mitigate your damage.

Let's add up this damage (damage values approximated):

CPB2: Nearly 4,000 Shield Damage
HY1 Tricobalt: 20,000
Heavy Graviton Beam: 8,000
PSW3: 14,000
Nadeon PSW: I actually didn't test it, but it scales off Particle Generators, so probably 6,000-10,000
Grand Total: 52,000 (conservative estimate w/Nadeon)

I don't know the exact math with kinetic damage and shields with resistances, but your target might at best have 9,000-10,000 shield points. With 4,000 of those gone to CPB, your first Tricobalt strips 5,000 additonal shields WITH the innate 75% damage resist. That's still 28,000 damage left in the combo to punch through the rest of their hull, and this doesn't even include the boost you'll get from Attack Pattern Beta and Sensor Scan.

Congratulations! Now that you've scored your first nearly instantaneous kill, press EPtE and TSS2 or PH2 and EPtS if you're caught in a tractor beam (Edit: Forgot to mention use FP2 here if you can. Dissuades people from attacking you, hopefully!). Fly away, use MES1 to cloak, and repeat. The hardest part of this is knowing when the perfect time to strike is, so practice, practice, practice!

Criticism and Discussion welcome!

First, running a rainbow on a ship that doesn't rely energy weapons is a nice little way of making people think your a noob, and not a threat.

I believe Cygone has provided some good evidence that at low weapons power Disruptors are the best weapons to use since the debuff is most useful. Although I get your using the Phasers in the hopes of proccing a system shutdown.

As much as I can see your build working, I can't say I like the idea of a Heavy Grav beam being in the mix, maybe the 3P borg and MACO shields would give you more survival options. I know Omega's Tetryon Glider is based on weapons power and nowhere near as good at low power.

Admittedly I have few points in Particle Generators when I tried it at max aux.

The other thing is what DOFFs do you use? Because I think you could run a second High Yield or spread, and only rely on a single Tac Team with the right Conn Officer.

I'd guess at least 2 Projectiles for faster torps.

Definitely true. I used to use Disruptors, definitely a viable alternative due to the high burst damage. However, the guaranteed Phaser proc kill is too good to pass up for me. Because most of your damage is Kinetic, Tetryon would also work, since shields are going to be your main obstacle.

Heavy Grav Beam on my ship is about 8.5K damage, on a burst machine I can't think of a set ability that could in any way make up for this damage loss. The Borg console is only there for crits anyway, more burst = more kills.

Definitely Projectile DOFFs, the sooner that Tricobalt is up the sooner you can swing around for another go. I personally wouldn't use another HY just because IIRC the Nadeon Detonator shares its cooldown with the other torp abilities.

Other good DOFFs are Photonic Studies Scientist (reduces CD of PSW, wiki says Nadeon Detonator as well but I thought that was on HY CD), Conn Officer (more Evasive means more getaways/better positioning), and Shield Distribution Officer (if you're having trouble surviving after your kill).

I personally run 3 Projectile and 2 Conn DOFFs.

I would make a change to your Tactical Bridge Officer Setup. Change it to the following:
HYT-I, HYT-II
TT-I (Use two of the Special Tactical Conn Duty Officers to get the recharge time down to 15 seconds!)

In this way, you can use Torpedo High Yield-I to beef up the Tri-cobalt device and follow it almost immediately with a volley of three Photon Torpedo hits to their hull! This will improve your alpha Strike damage! Otherwise, you might even want to think about using APB instead of the second High Yield as it reduces your targets defenses which might or might not increase your DPV on any given target. You will need to test that out. EDIT: Nadeon shares cool-down with HYT... so you might really need to use APB. :cool:

Also, I think you should Stay with the three piece MACO set for the graviton bonuses that the set gives and the extra ability which will stun your target. You are after all not trying to tank anything since you are not using Field Generators! So stick with the Damage setup!

Furthermore, Graviton Beam, Photonic Shockwave, Nadion Detonator and the Tri-cobalt device all stun your target. Which means, they are not using abilities nor are they effectively firing back at you; thus no need to tank during your “de-cloak” hit and run tactics.

I might have to try this build but with my Sci-Tac captain. Seems fun!

I completely forgot about APB, good call. I'm not sure if the debuff+ HY1 does more than the Tricobalt HY2, but it's definitely worth testing.

The easiest way to determine that is to check the Tri-cobalt device damage before using THY-II. Next, buff it up using the THY-II skill. Note the difference in damage and place a percentage on it.

Now, look at the de-buff APB provides by percent. Compare the two. Also note, that you can still use THY-I with APB. So… that is something to consider as well.

Well, in game it looks like the HY2 does more damage, however, when you combine the APB with the additional damage it gives all the other abilities, APB and HY1 are way better. Updated to reflect excellent advice!

Thanks! That saves me testing it out later tonight! :D

The ubiquitous Tactical Team will clear APBs debuff.

Ack, Ultimatum is correct. And it clears them for the duration, which gives you a 5 second window, not long enough for the 6 second combo. Still, if you choose the right time to attack, you'll end up with a heap more damage than a HY2 Tricobalt. Textbook case of ease of use vs damage.