Hi everyone,

I have seen a lot of helpful wikis and newbie guides explaining how skills work and got a good idea researching and playing in the beta. Just wanted to see if there was any feedback on which skills are actually good to use as well as which traits.

For example, I heard and have seen that Fire at Will or Beam overload don't work too well.

I am going with an Engineering Captain in a Science Vessel.

Thanks for the help.

I remember reading a dev post recently that said the beam BO skills are going to get some changes to make them more useful. Fire at will is just hilariously bad right now... you get one free beam shot at a random target... really dumb. Overload is actually somewhat useful... the problem is it drains your weapon energy to nothing so it's not something you want to use in a middle of a fight. I tend to use it to pull a killing blow on an enemy when I am not facing them, or to blast their shields down really quick for a torpedo salvo since torps are not affected by weapon power settings. But, I think it could get some boosting.

I don't really see the value in any of the emergency power abilities other than shields. I suppose the others could be useful but not so much in comparison to other abilities you could take instead.

My three favorite BO abilities that I got to play with in beta are these:

Torpedo High Yield 3 - requires you to max out the torpedo weapons skill to train your BO's, and it's a LtCdr ability so requires a tier 3+ escort to use... but man 4 torpedos really hurts em good

Reverse Shield Polarity - This is just amazingly awesome. Incoming energy weapons fire regenerates your shields for awhile instead of damaging them. It has a long cooldown though so best for emergencies only...

Scramble Sensors - So much fun. Use this on a close group of enemies and they start shooting at each other for a little while. Really nice when playing in groups where you'll end up facing groups of big ships with nasty weapons.

Thanks. That is helpful.

Here is what I am thinking for my Engineering Captain w/ Sci Vessel.

Joined Trill w/ following traits:
Hyper Metabolism
Bonus Trill trait
Warp Theorist
Elusive
Accurate (if we get 5 traits. Its unclear if it is 4 or 5)

Tactical Boff:
-------------
Torpedo: High Yield
Torpedo: Spread

Engineering Boff:
--------------
Emg Power to Shields
Eng Team
Emg Power to Weapons

Science Boff:
-----------
Tachyon Beam
Energy Siphon
Scramble Sensors
Viral Matrix I

Maybe:
----------
Fire at Will
Mask Energy Signature
Polarize Hull
Hazard Emitters
Charged Particle Burst


Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks for the help