I'm a Cruiser Captain that runs single cannons and turrets as well as a Plasma Mine Launcher. I have cannons rapid fire, but not the cannon aoe power. But then my cruiser is a FDC so I can my Orion Slavers on intercept instead. I'm thinking of dumping my one DBB for another single cannon and getting tact team 1 which I hear buffs my weapons skills, and automatically redistrubes my shields and removes boarding parties. So as I see it it gives me a power the boost my damage, which will dove tails with my CTF, plus it boost my surviblity and has some flexiblity.

Not all damage needs to come from Tac Tree. Dem3 w/Aux2batt or 2xAux2batt and cannons will boost a cruiser's DPS and works best w/cannons/turrets. That basically means you'd have 2xDem3. You could also add some CC and dps in the form of EWP. Toss in plasma energy weapon type and plasma torps if you like for the hull burn tactic. APB is nice for PvE team buff (and is nice in PvP but you need to time it well and not spam it) and goes well w/hull burn focused builds. One difference between Beams and Cannons you've overlooked is the steep damage drop off w/cannons. Stay 5km or less from target if you can when using cannons.

For the OP regarding escorts w/3 Ens Tac slots, I'd suggest either a DBB w/a BO and/or a TSSx ability or a rear Beam Array w/said Boff abilities.

SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW ENSIGN LEVEL TAC BOFF SKILLS:

Tactical Assist: This skill will instantly reset all other tactical officers abilities. Cooldown would one one minute.

Focused Targeting: Reduces targets defense rating for five seconds. Applies only to a single target and cannot be cleared by tactical team. (when using AOEs like FAW and CSV, only the primary target would be affected. Changing targets will cause the effect to be negated.) One minute cooldown.

Guns to Bear: This skill will cause the ship to quickly turn and face the target, bringing all fore weaponry to bear on that target. One minute cooldown.

SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW ENSIGN LEVEL ENGINEERING SKILLS:

Closing Speed: Computer resources are diverted from maneuvering to engine efficiency. Requires a target be locked in before skill can be activated. Top speed will be double normal top speed until the ship is withing 3KM of target. During this time, the ship cannot turn normally but rather will "autopilot" directly towards the target. Changin targets after engaging this skill will result in a full stop. Cooldown is one minute.

"I'm givin' her all she's got Cap'n": (better name needed) Instantly restore ALL disabled systems to 25% power. Turn rate increased by 100%. Five second immunity to further power drain or turn rate attacks. Cooldown is two minutes.

(Will add more as I think of good names for them)

We already have the Tac Captain skills of Tactical Initiative on both ground an space. TI on the ground once did exactly as you describe and it was changed.

So this is a FOMM without a counter? Seems a bit OP.

Attack pattern Omega, Auxillary to Intertial Dampeners, Evasive Manuevers, Dueterium Burn, Engine battery. This ability is not needed.

We already have Full impulse speed, Attack pattern Omega, Auxillary to Intertial Dampeners, Evasive Manuevers, Dueterium Burn, Engine battery. This ability is not needed.

We have Miracle Worker already for the heals and have other powers to do the turn increase or protect one turn rate and you can skill against drain attacks.

I would rather see Attack Patterns Beta and Delta lowered...maybe lower their stat values a bit to compensate if need by.

Quote:
Tactical Assist: This skill will instantly reset all other tactical officers abilities. Cooldown would one one minute.

We already have the Tac Captain skills of Tactical Initiative on both ground an space. TI on the ground once did exactly as you describe and it was changed.

A: Tactical Initiative reduces cooldowns, this would be a instant reset. The idea is that the Captain calls an additional officer to assist the tac stations. tactical initiative is a TAC Captain skill. This skill would be VERY handy for an engineering or science captain flying an escort.

Quote:
Focused Targeting: Reduces targets defense rating for five seconds. Applies only to a single target and cannot be cleared by tactical team. (when using AOEs like FAW and CSV, only the primary target would be affected. Changing targets will cause the effect to be negated.) One minute cooldown.

So this is a FOMM without a counter? Seems a bit OP.

A: FOMM is a TAC Captain skill and lasts longer than five seconds. (perhaps five seconds is too long for this maybe 1-3 would be better) Again, engis and scis would sure benefit from this ensign skill.

Quote:
Guns to Bear: This skill will cause the ship to quickly turn and face the target, bringing all fore weaponry to bear on that target. One minute cooldown.

Attack pattern Omega, Auxillary to Intertial Dampeners, Evasive Manuevers, Dueterium Burn, Engine battery. This ability is not needed.

A: This skill would be automatic turn to face, not requiring the Captain the control the ship, as the Bridge officer is doing the work. By having the bridge officer take over steering for this moment, the Captain (IRL) gains the freedom to ocus on something else. This skill would also be very helpful for a slower turning ship like a cruiser or scince ship to lock down on an escort playing dogfighter. Would provide an ADDITIONAL was to make the ensign slot useful. ALSO, APOmega sometimes last longer than you want it to when bringing guns to bear and also may be needed to escape a tractor beam or other movement debuff. This has only one purpose, clearly stated in the title. It is not a sustained skiill, just a quick facing adjustment.

Quote:
Closing Speed: Computer resources are diverted from maneuvering to engine efficiency. Requires a target be locked in before skill can be activated. Top speed will be double normal top speed until the ship is withing 3KM of target. During this time, the ship cannot turn normally but rather will "autopilot" directly towards the target. Changin targets after engaging this skill will result in a full stop. Cooldown is one minute.

We already have Full impulse speed, Attack pattern Omega, Auxillary to Intertial Dampeners, Evasive Manuevers, Dueterium Burn, Engine battery. This ability is not needed.

A: Full impulse speed does not work in combat. Full impulse takes power away from weapons shields and aux to boost the engines. This skill is designed to specifically run down a target that is going to escape certain death while you are in RED ALERT status. Again we are looking for skills for Ensign slots that otherwise are considered "useless" by a lot of people that use a build that doesn't need the skills currently available. All the other skills you listed are not devoted to a single fleeing target, this skill is designed specifically for that.

Quote:
"I'm givin' her all she's got Cap'n": (better name needed) Instantly restore ALL disabled systems to 25% power. Turn rate increased by 100%. Five second immunity to further power drain or turn rate attacks. Cooldown is two minutes.

We have Miracle Worker already for the heals and have other powers to do the turn increase or protect one turn rate and you can skill against drain attacks.

A: Miracle worker is a CAPTAIN skill. These skills are all for BRIDGE OFFICERS. This skillis NOT Miracle Worker as it does not repair hull etc. It merely counters power drain attacks and turn rate debuffs. Would be extremely useful for that "useless" ensign eng slot on most escorts.

Again, I suggested these ideas because they fill in gaps for Captains. A tac captain would love the "givin' her all she's got" skill. A eng Captain would love the Focused Targeting.

Myself I have found many other ways besides changes to skills that I can use my "useless" Ensign Tactical spot. This thread is about ways for other people with build that render the slot "useless" to have a use for it.

As I said, TI already did this and was changed by the Devs for being too handy to its now current form.
Secondly if an Engineer or Science captain wants a Tactical ability to lower Tactical BOff cooldowns then they needed to choose the Tactical profession or use AtB or PO to do so.

Why should Engineers/Science have access to a Tac related skill better than the Tactical captains ability?


So FOMM without the drawbacks.

Again, Why should Engineers/Science have access to a Tac related skill better than the Tactical captains ability?

So a free targeting ability that doesn't need the player to be involved any more than pushing a button to focus on an enemy.
NO.

Pilot your craft like everyone else and use Attack pattern Omega, Auxillary to Intertial Dampeners, Evasive Manuevers, Dueterium Burn, Engine battery to bring your vessel into combat with the enemy.


. An incorrect designation. My bad.
We already have Full Throttle speed, Attack pattern Omega, Auxillary to Intertial Dampeners, Evasive Manuevers, Dueterium Burn, Engine battery. Fly your ship and learn how to do these things with the skills that already exist ingame. We do not need a skill to emulate EVM+ ENGbatt, etc, etc becuase some do not know how to do it already with the skills we have access to ingame.


I know the Engineers and Cruiser players would love these abilities becuase they would get Tactical Captain style abilities better than what a Tac captain has access to ingame.
Basically your asking for abilities that bridge the Gap on Tactical Captain abilites and everyone else, thus weakening the Tactical captain at the one thing they do - damage dealing and increasing the already excellent defense of the Cruiser.

Granted all these abilities could be used by the Tac/Escort player as well and then they would be nerfed since it would only make Tac/Escort that much better at what they do.

Yeah designing BOff abilities that loosely perform better than Captain abilities is not a way to make the "Useless Ensign slot" viable on ship builds. Especially when we already have abilities that do these things.