With the starcruiser turnrate, even a RCS doesn't help :-P

You don't need the equip. The skills are more important. Especially the chaining of two copies of EptS and EptW (Emergency power to Shields/Weapons). More shield power=less damage taken. More weapon power = more damage.
2 copies of Tac team will make your shield nearly invincible. Get hazard emitter for heal over time and to clear the plasma burn from the romulan plasma torpedos. And Attack Pattern Beta do debuff the enemys.

Get an MK XI blue High capacity shield from the exchange. They are cheap. Also nearly all the engineering consoles aka armor consoles are cheap on the exchange.

borg weapons doesn't exist anymore. They were worthless :-P
Borg set is nice to have but not necessary for PVE. You can get it with the Omega reputation system.




If you think that the romulans are hard hitting then please... stay out of STF's. You will be a burden to your team and you won't have much fun. The Borg there hit twice as hard on normal xD
You can train on the Red Alerts in the system sectors :-) When you are able to take a cube alone then are ready for STF's :-)

i also liked the way the star cruiser looked, so i got it. i tried every set of shields, weapon types, consoles, you name it. nothing could make that ship any good.

then i got really stupid. i spent a fleet module to get the fleet version which has more hull strength. the ship was still a dud.

i got smart. i took every thing off the ship and discharged it to make room for a better ship.

avoid the star cruiser like you would the plague.