I actually do want to test this. I'll be honest, part of the reason I have spent time testing this stuff was for my own information, so I can determine the trade-offs of a build. Currently I don't run with turrets on my tactical escort, because I like having better side and rear damage, and I don't think the added damage of the turrets would be that much. However, I would like to know for sure.

So, I will try to do some frontal damage tests by adding turrets, but it might be a week or two before I can get to it.

Take your Time and enjoy the game for a while... You more than deserve this!

As far as my subjective experience goes, I would agree that EPS doesn't make a difference any more.

Of course if swapping energy level -modes during battle is part of your strategy, they are still important. Or if you want to drop out of full impulse and start to fight right away...

But for damage this consoles seem not to be important any more... I use the free slots for better resistance and hull repair

Ok, I finally got around to testing it today. The bad news is with 4 cannons the damage output with two uncommon EPS flow MK X was much higher than with no EPS flow consoles equipped. Even the two consoles is not enough to stop energy from dropping more than it should, but it recovers faster. That throws a monkey wrench in things and may invalidate some of my results, forcing me to retest.

As I stated before, I feel the way that energy regen currently works on cannons is absolutely bugged, but I don't know how to get this information to the attention of Cryptic. I've tried posting a few times, but I have no confidence that anyone who can do anything about it will get the message. The fact is not that many people are aware of the problem, so it's going to get drowned out by all of the people complaining about inane things like the exclusives now being available in the c-store. I guess I'll try to put in a couple of bug reports in the game as well.

I suspect that the EPS flow consoles may improve the results of DC, C, and T. It probably won't make much difference with DHC, and I don't believe the mechanics with beams is the same. I didn't notice power dropping below where it was supposed to be with them, so I suspect they will not see an improvement with EPS flow consoles, but I will still check.

This is my advice on such matters:

1) Bug it. Note the ticket ID.

2) Join the TTS chat. If you see a QA online, ask him about whether they are aware on this. Give the ticket id and a thread where you posted the information an details for replicating it. (Like this one.)

3) Post it in the Tribble forum. IIRC, there is a "Known Bugs" in one of the forums. Add it there. Add it to one of the threads discussing the energy level changes, and feel free to make your own thread.

4) Get others to test and confirm this, and post reports on the forums or file bugs.

But beware:
You will rarely, if ever, get any replies. That doesn't mean it is not getting heard or read. But Bug Tickets are never answered and are not expected to be. (GM Tickets are, but this is not something a GM can handle). You will only know when the bug is getting fixed that they did notice your report (or someone else's report)

There are too many bug reports to answer them individually (most bugs will probably be reported multiple times!) And the devs can't just swing by the forums every day and join the discussions.

What I would probably not try is a PM. If everyone does this, they would suffer the same issue as bug reports do - you'll never see an answer since it are too many. (But unlike bug reports, they are not meant for this kind of purpose).

Wow Nagorak. This gets me thinking in new ways.

So, what you have tested is how dps is affected by energy consumption. I have an ancillary question.

Is energy a fixed total quantity for all sub-systems? For example, if I am firing my 3 beams and also want to transfer emergency power to shields while the beams are firing, does that mean that I"m getting less regen to shields ? I would think no. I have not seen anywhere that energy is a fixed quantity. The 3 sub-systems seem to be working independently each with their own independent reserve of energy (with the possibility to favour one sub-system with more energy through the HUD).

Wow. Excellent guide. I thought I had my configuration finally all figured out. Not so. Now I need to drop that dual cannon in favor of another HDC.

Thanks for the tips.

Hmm... interesting. I hope you get awareness by the devs about that issue soon. I would follow the suggestions of MustrumRidcully and also post into the tribble bug forum. Maybe some people in the fleet-escort subforum would assist you, since they are the people suffering most from bugged canon energy regeneration, I suppose...

If you use a power that increases one of the subsystems (Emergency Power to X) then it just increases it. Each power type works independently, for the most part. You only drain energy from one to another if you actually change the allocation in the power meter.

I'm going to do some more testing to try to figure out what is really going on before posting further. I want to see if beams really are not being effected by the EPS now, as well as how much EPS flow is necessary to make cannons/dual cannons work at an optimal level. Once again, though, the fact that Dual Heavies don't need a bunch of EPS consoles to work at their maximum potential is another mark in their favor. Instead of using an EPS flow console you could add a Plasma Distribution Manifold (+weapon energy).

That said, for mixed escort builds that use Dual Beams and Beam Overload, you may want to have one EPS flow console anyway so that your power recovers quickly after the overload. So, in that case, Dual Cannons might look a bit better.

Hey, here's a thought, does, at some point, between the energy loss and damage lost via energy drain, it become more effective to add a turret rather than a beam weapon?