Bought the ship not so long ago and i love it, although its not far superior to the Raptor.
For your first question, you already gave the answer yourself. Let the others engage first and join the fight a few seconds later. Try to always move with a group and don't defend alone its not designed to tank

The lance is quite good imho, i'm using 3 blue MK XI tactical disruptor consoles and it hits for 18k. It doesn't seem to gain extra damage from attack pattern Omega, Alpha and Tactical team but will do some more testing on that.

My main concern is the maneuvarebility in siege mode. Only having room for 2 engineering consoles and feeling obliged to take the power transfer and 35% shield console there is no room for a console to improve my turn rate. I might try to switch the shield console for the improved turn rate to see if this works out.

The Javelin (what it is called) do not benefit from Capt/BO skills that boost %dmg, but tac team need testing, since it boost energy weapon skill

The Javelin suffer from the Galaxy X Lance sindrome, in that if you hit shield with it, it does next to nothing... Only by hitting bare hull do you get the good number.. The Javelin also takes a damn long time to fire, about 2-3 second to charge while you're not firing anything at all, so shield's back up, the shot hit shield, nothing happens... another 2-3 second to return to normal mode lol

At 59/35 engine settings, my turn rate is 30ish, with RCS console it become 34.4ish (which is almost the same as defiant at same eng setting w/o rcs), but it's true you may want to keep your EPS if you want to use beam overload and such skills. If you go into siege mode with RCS consle you'll only get a net gain of 2.2degree turn since it's halved (for 17.2 turn), not really worth taking RCS for extra turn in siege mode.

Don't use the siege mode on escorts, vs dps cruisers (and a slow turning one at that) you can sometimes get away using it to draining their weapon power, but you'll probably kill the damn thing before you have a chance to fire the Javelin.

I recommend clicking 'click here' on my signature for some maneuvering lesson (it's just another post on this forum), it'll help fly this ship better

I'd suggest going for a little bit of burst with your set up, if you have [acc] space trait and can afford 2x BO3

3x Dual Disruptor beam banks [acc][crth][crtd], 1x Quantum Torp [acc][crth][crtd]
1x Disruptor Turret [acc][crth][crtd],1x Chroniton Mine, 1x Tricobalt Mine

tac team1, AP:Beta1, Beam Overload3, AP:Beta3
High Yield1, High Yield2, Beam Overload3

Epts1, Aux2SIF1 (or RSP1)
Epts1

Hazard1, Sci team2


If you're poorer or want to use cannons with 1 BO3..

2x Dis DHC [acc][crth][crtd], 1x Dis DBB [acc][crth][crtd], 1x Quan Torp [acc][crth][crtd]
2x Dis Turret [acc][crth][crtd], 1x Mine (chron/trico)

High Yield1, CRapidFire1, AP:Beta2, CRapidFire3
High Yield1, AP:Beta1, Beam Overload3

or

High Yield1, CRapidFire1, High Yield3 CRapidFire3
Tac Team1, AP:Beta1, Beam Overload3

Same Heal set up


If you're broke or dont have a BO3

3x DHC [acc][crth][crtd], 1x Quan Torp [acc][crth][crtd]
1x Disruptor Turret [acc][crth][crtd],1x Chroniton Mine, 1x Tricobalt Mine

Tac Team1, CRapidFire1, AP:Beta2, CRapidFire3
High Yield1, AP:Beta1, High Yield3

Same Heal set up

No, the extra turn rate on the other 2 ships is something to be desired.. less turn=less dps in the end. Or you can fit a RCS console, but you're ditching some important console for it...

The siege mode do NOT give you extra weapon damage.. altho it drains the enemy of some of their weapon power to charge up your Javelin, thats all

and the Javelin is not worth it, and either is the siege mode.. if you fly it like a normal escort, then your dmg will go up a lot.. siege mode is only for when you want to have some fun and show off how your ship can do space acrobatics (ok I said before vs slow moving cruisers)

To but it simply, if you fly backwards permanently you get up to -25 reverse power drain on your system, so your dps will go down, and since the Javelin dmg is based on weapon power, it'll go down too

He was talking about siege mode being a toggle instead of a 1-shot deal like it is now.

right I see that I misread it.. but I dont see what you mean by '1 shot deal like it is now'...

the dps would be rubbish since you're flying a forward weaponed cruiser with 15degree or so turn rate with escort shield and hull

You switch to siege mode and you get one shot with the Javelin. When you take your shot you're forced back into regular mode for 20 seconds.

I've had no problems using siege mode against cruisers in solo elite PvE missions. My build is shield regen heavy with a double dose of AP:O, plus the new tactical team is like a poor man's reverse shield polarity. And this is at quarter speed.

I just got the GSR Saturday night. I messed around with a couple different builds before I settled on what I'm using now. Today I got a point-blank Javelin critical hit for 35k. The average seems to be around 15-25k on crits.

Now I'm hooked.

if you bothered reading my post you'll find that I already mentioned it being the bane of siege mode


boohoo, PVE... no offense but even elite PVE is cake walk, npcs have 1 or 2 bo skills max, although they do balance shields unlike some players and you're fighting ships that don't help each other... go to pvp and use siege mode then come back here and tell me "it's good"

You must have no met Zeadonouse in Kerrat, =)


This ship isnt for the timmed. It has major draw backs but with extra benfits in other areas.

Find me in Kerrat and I will show u what a well xp capt in a Grumba can do.

This ship fits its name perfectly. If you treat siege mode like its name you will benefit. More Grumaba together really work toward its advantage DPS.

I’ve been lucky enough to fly in a pug with 3 Grumba with Orian cruisers and carrier supporting us. It was a slaughter even vs BFAW premades/fleets. We stayed together the whole night 3 javelin on one target was a beautiful thing I felt bad for the voyager that took the brunt of that.

I try not to use javelin until I have a open shield or close, if BFAw is on your beams will still fire why the javelin goes which help keep the shield down. Another trick is if you see a escort pop tact team, use javalin it will kill his shields like a CPB3 would, its beautiful and usally shocking to them.
A good Javelin is APO+Tact+EPW , And yes you can use Attack patterns and tact teams to buff damage of javelin you just have to click it before javelin. The javelin is a great weapon becase even a escort eith half shield will take a 15k hit on hull from this attack.


I use to run cannons with tractors and that work ok but other escorts had the same set up and really overtook the grumba in that set up.

I moved to BFAW, for the greater ARC of beams and since Iam usually in 2vs 1 fights it seem like major improvement.

Then I notice something the Javelin is not on the same CD as BFAW this was the nitch I was looking for in this weak ship something that made it on par with others even exceed in some ways.

I run 4DBB half disruptor /half polaron. I also run Tyk rift, while I am in siege mode I can really hurt someone wpn power, usually enough to give me the advantage.


The raptor is far superior in burst damage but in long drawn out fight I would rather have my destroyer especially if I have a healer behind me then I just watch the fireworks

MvaM and defiant are this ships weakside, when faced by another good opponent.