+ Weapons Power consoles for your Engineering slots.

Skills that boost your weapons power total.

Probably I'd suggest using Polaron beams and the easy to acquire Jem'Hadar set so you can get even more + bonuses.

The EPS thing was changed back in June 2010. Though you still see people think the EPS work, that hasnt been the case for almost 2 years.

Here is the patch notes.

http://forums.startrekonline.com/sho...d.php?t=160696

Scroll down to Weapon Energy Drain Mechanic Changes for all the details, but here is the most relevant quote.

"As a result of this change to the energy drain mechanic, the EPS Flow Regulator Station Mods, will no longer have an effect on DPS."

The change in the weapon power drain mechanic divorces power drain from power transfer/recovery but not totally. Weapon Power drain now drains X power from weapon power during the firing cycle, and restores X weapon power back instantly. There are very small slices of time in which power recover happens between drain/restore cycles. I've tested out various combinations of #'s of weapon firing and 1000%+ Power Transfer Rate. So enhanced Power Transfer Rate (i.e. RCS Flow consoles, Starship Electro-Plasma Systems, etc) does help a teeny, tiny bit. The effect is miniscule even at massive amounts of Power Transfer Rate. As coarse of the game UI is I figure the effect is around a net of 5 weapon power.

My advice is to only use get enhanced Power Transfer Rate (i.e. RCS controls, Electto-Plasma Systems Captain Skill ranks) to recover faster from a Beam Overload or the Dreanaught Phaser Lance ((weapon power drain mechnics won't restore that). Or if you change power settings in the middle of combat (or just before by using Full Impulse). RCS consoles for purely Energy Weapons is a wasted slot. Put something else in that slot like an Armor Console.

Beam Escorts are doable and viable, but work quite differently from regular escort builds and aren't for everyone. Many who try are probably better off with cannons, but you never know unless you try.

Take a look at the unorthodox escort beam boat in http://forums.startrekonline.com/sho...php?t=244532#2

See also this thread: http://forums.startrekonline.com/sho...d.php?t=263974

I run a fleet escort disruptor beam boat and I'm always in the top 3 in fleet actions (most often 2nd though). I even out-dps some of those cannon+turret defiants, but I'll admit it's most likely only because they're not good pilots and don't know how to use what they've got. The #1 spot in fleet actions that I'm in usually goes to one of the good defiant pilots, although I changed up some boff powers recently and now I get 1st more often. And I should note that's without respeccing from my current terrible skillpoint investment.. I expect to see further improvements after a respec that caters to my needs.

I should note that I don't pvp, period, and that I would probably get curbstomped if I tried with my build. I've also never tried an elite STF with this build, but it works well in normal STFs.

thanks for the builds on the beam escorts.

How would I build a AHC.Retro for dual PVP/PVE stuff?