I went with Distuptor Array, Photom Phaser Heavy Cannon and Disruptor Array

Alpha Attack is Fire Photon at max range, use Distruptor array and Cannons to take shield down before torpedo hits. Just before it hit I can usually fire another torpedo. I have tried quantum and photos, like the photons better.

Ongoing combat approach, Broadside, front and back disruptors to drain sheild, when shield low, turn use cannon and front to keep shields down, fire torpedoes.

Also try to get behind and keep array and canons on and trail and timing torpedoes when shield drop until destroyed, I am constantly uping my front shields then. Few ships can allude me once on tail.

Honestly, this is not adding up.

First of all, I fail to see the geometry of the "overlap" between rear beams and forward dual-beams or torpedoes. In fact, I see a 10 degree gap between the arc of the rear beam and the forward arc of the torpedo. With one torpedo it is possible to wiggle a ship fast enough to fire the torpedo then move to the edge of the broadside arc to fire the beams, and move back to the edge of the forward arc fast enough to improve your DPS, but with two torpedoes, it won't work unless you're using some very slow firing torpedoes. 3 or 4 seconds is not enough time to wiggle.

Secondly, the rear guns in fact cannot be filled with more cannons, at least on the ships I tried. A single cannon mount and up will only fit in the front of the ship, which means the rear gets limited to torpedoes, mines, single arrays, and turrets.


For just plain raw DPS in the 45 degree front arc, the best combination I've found with my T2 Bird of Prey is two dual heavies and a torpedo in the front, and one turret in the back. Sure the turret is weak compared to the cannons, but it's the only rear-mount weapon that can fire forward. Second best, which is slightly better against shields and a bit worse against hulls is 2 dual cannons and a dual array front and an array or minelayer in back. At least at this level, one doesn't seem to be able to use a 4 energy weapon setup without really dipping in to the rare EPS console market. But if you do get one, 3 dual heavies and a turret might work okay. I haven't been able to get one, so I don't know for sure.

I see no reason for it to be different with a proper escort.

While a beam array will do more damage than a turret, there are two things in the turret's favor...

1) Turrets use cannon skill modifiers. If you are using cannons, you are likely already going to be increasing cannon skills.

2) If you are using dual cannons (45'), you have no overlap with rear beam arrays (250') and end up with a 32.5' gap fore port and starboard that has no gun coverage. If you are using cannons (180') with a rear beam array, you have a 35' fore port and starboard overlap, with a 110' fore gap dps decrease. A turret covers all of the gaps.

Also of mention, beam arrays have higher energy usage than cannons and turrets. With the smaller power plant on an escort, you can run into decreased power issues if you start stacking beam arrays on an escort in the latter tiers.

In the end though, it's a matter of preference. If you fly your escort like a fighter, then the turret is probably best for you.

If I'm remembering the numbers right, 3 dual heavies is the optimum number - cannons have a 1 sec shared cooldown, and dual heavy cannons fire every 3 seconds, so 3 lets you fire one every second.

On the other hand, you might find better results from 2 dual cannons (which can fire every 2 seconds, so you'll still be able to fire a cannon every second) and a torp launcher for when their shields come down.

Again, if I remember right, 2 cannons or dual cannons lets you fire one every second, and three dual heavy cannons lets you fire one every second. Beyond that, there's not a great deal of point in mounting more in the same bay.

rare eps market? Not sure what console you are referring to, but what is a good console to use end game

right now i have a cannon +7.5 console and a photon + something console

from this thread it sounds like i should be using something that generates more energy or set my default attack setting differently...

The cooldowns is a "feature" of the game that will push me away from subscribing. It restricts gameplay, punishes themes and forces repeated beating upon the keys to be able to play. All in all, shared cooldowns is a pathetic function by what seems to be a developer with a poor grasp upon gameplay. It is not fun, removes immersion and establishes a gameplay experiance otherwise labled as "clunky"'.

Remove the shared cooldowns on different weapons of the same types.

Heavies were in that state at the end of the beta period, and there is still a post in the combat section that says as much. However, after posting my previous reply, I just did a little test in game of dual heavies side by side with dual standards, and both are firing 1 second on and 1 second off. So, two cannons seems to be the limit no matter what you use. Therefore, I can now see where the trouble is.

I am personally using the torpedo and turret between the two dual cannons on my Bird of Prey, so I didn't notice the change at first. Now we know.

Don't have the game up currently, but I recall there being something on the cannon/dual cannon tooltip/info that indicated a device limit. That's not to say you can't have more installed, but it does lead to the reason why there are firing issues when you have more than the stated limit.

Looking through the combat forum archives for a post by Dasorine on the 2+ dual cannon dps issues, but haven't found the post yet since search appears to be disabled in the archives.

Edit: Found it... http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=84068

Ah. Must admit I haven't used dual heavies since the game went live, which is why I was going on memory, as I've mainly been testing stuff in Tier 1 and (slowly) levelling an Engineer in a cruiser.

Good to know.