3 words come to mind:

Learn...

...to...

...play!

Reading through all these strategies... Im like "Im never going to succesfully accomplish anything in this god-damn campaign.." Man why cant there be relatively simple missions for us science Officers!!!!!! :3

I'm going through the missions with an alt and unlike the previous time, I didn't bother to get better equipment than what I got with the ship. And I must say...

...it's still perfectly doable. Sure, they're tough but that makes it interesting. Most NPC's hardly get my shields down in a group, so the occasional Romulan that can is a nice change. Seriously, though, the game is supposed to be a challenge to the point that you shouldn't be able to faceroll everything without thinking or learning. That's what games, in general are supposed to be like. So in all honesty...try to improve your skills a bit, and you'll be able to beat them.

There are several ways to deal with "tough" opponents. The truth is, none of them are very tough, and they don't deal much damage either. The exceptions are mostly limited to STFs.

Powers that are useful to make the enemy firepower laughable:

• 2xEmergency POwer to Shields (Possibly on every ship at Cmdr Level) - keeps your shields up and reduces all incoming damage, vastly increasing your effective lifetime.
• 1xTransfer Shield Strength - heals your shields
• 1xHazard Emitters - heals your hull and deals with plasma damage over time
• Tactical Team - direct your shields to where it's hurting.

Warbirds are more dangerous the closer you get:

• At 5 km, the ycan tractor you. That means you cannot run.
• At 3 km, they have Photonic Shockwave. That stuns you and you cannot act for some time - making it difficult to counter those heavy plasma torps.

=>If you're within 5km and tractored and stunned, you have little chance to use your reactive counters, of course. So avoid that.


Powers to deal with High Yield Plasma Torpedoes before they hit you:

• Beam Fire At Will (for Cruisers and Science Vessels)
• Cannon Scatter Volley (for Escorts)
• Torpedo Vollyey (anyone with torps)
• Tractor Beam Repulsors (best for Science Vessels)
• Eject Warp Plasma (use reverse thrust + evasive maneuvers if you can't turn in time, best for Cruisers)
• Photonic Shockwave (wait until the torps are within 3km, also great for Science Vessels)

To avoid the problem with the miss chance, you may be best off with Tractor Beam Repulsors.

So, your Tactic:

• Requirement: Have either 1 or 2 Tractor Beam Repulsors
• Step 1: Wait for enemy firing Heavy Plasma torpedoes
• Step 2: Wait for heavy plasma torpedoes to get within 5km
• Step 3: Activate Tractor Beam Repulsors
• Step 4: Enjoy dispersed Plasma Torpedoes / ??? / Collect lockboxes
• Step 5: Repeat at Step 1 and Profit.

One other thing:
Don't let the fight take too long. That means mostly: Run high weapon power. Ensure that most of the time, at least 3-4 energy weapons better than Turrets are firing at your enemy with a high weapon power setting (e.g. effective weapon power 100 or better).

Killing your enemies in 1 minute instead of 2 minutes means only half the plasma torpedoes to deal with.

I only wish every NPC in this game were half as clever as the Warbirds. Back when I wasn't familiar with the game mechanics they were the only real mob in the entire game that forced me to use a little grey matter to understand what they were about.

(For disclosure I should probably point out that this was on the highest PvE setting).

EDIT: Some help for newbies...

The heavy torps have narrow firing arcs, and a Warbird will often pop AP:O or Evasive Maneuvers just to line up its front arc with you. Take Polarize Hull (available on any ship at that level), scoot around behind him and let loose. In a beam boat you can take a level of Fire at Will to clear the torps themselves, and if all else fails just shift onto your healthiest shield facing and use Brace for Impact.

I've found some of the Hirogen ships to be almost as annoying. Hirogen Battleships love to use power siphon after they jam my sensors so that I can't see them. Do I kill them anyways? Of course, but it's a lot more annoying than most fights.