My KDF tac captain is getting close to level 40, which means the next ship I get I'll be stuck with for a while. I was thinking about getting a Negh'var and saving for a Z store ship in the future (though I'm not sure what yet, they all look really good on paper at least). I was thinking about a cruiser mainly because while I am a tac, I don't want to have another escort (my fed tac flies an escort and I want a change of pace), so I don't really want a raptor or BoP, the latter of which is probably too delicate for me to keep alive anyway?but I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Try the Vo'Quv-I guarantee a carrier with a turn of 5.5 and pet-spam will definitely be a true change of pace if you're used to FedScorts.

Alternate to that, the Vor'cha and it's variants are probably the finest combat cruisers in the game that you can get without opening a lockbox or spending millions of EC on the exchange, and the Negh'var's not a bad option either-so long as you can run a Fed Assault Cruiser competently on your other side of the fed/kdf divide. (this may be a better option if you LIKE flying Escorts on your Fed Alts.)

Alternately, you could option for the Klink Cruiser, then save your Dil./zen, buy fleet modules, and get what is arguably the single BEST cruiser in the game-aka the Tor'Kaht.

Which is what I'd recommend to someone who doesn't feel comfortable in a BoP. (hey, I do, but then, I LOVED BoP's so much that my main flies nothing BUT...)

I flew a Vo'Quv on my old Sci KDF captain ( I replaced him with my tac because I'm going playing through from the beginning with my brother). BoPs on that were fantastic. The only downside to that ship was the fact it only has 6 weapons, which made it difficult for me to create a balanced build. I am a science ability junkie, so the more sci boff slots the better. I'm not in a fleet at the moment so I don't have access to the Tor'kaht (yet), but it looks like a great ship. I'm not entirely opposed to flying a BoP, I'm just concerned that as a tactical captain it would be extremely difficult to keep it alive.

My "Main" is a Tac Captain, and yeah, a BoP is tricky to keep alive-esp. pugging STFs where I end up drawing aggro well beyond what I should compared to the Feds I often find myself teamed with.

EVEN the ones in Defiants and Adv. Escorts.

Having "presets" in your power-settings helps, so do engine and shield batteries-with a BoP you can't (and shouldn't try to) hulltank. For my case, I run two copies of APO (1 and 2, sometimes 2 and 3), two Tac Teams (1 and 2), and multiple Hazards on STF runs along with TSS and EPtS, with the "balance shields" button on the main list, and I avoid AOE powers like a plague-like I said, specc'd correctly a BoP can often draw Aggro even when specced for Stealth instead of Threat Control.

It's easier with a Raptor, but only because the menu it gives you really, really, narrows your options on what you can actually DO with your layout.

I will GIVE you a Mirror Qin for STFs. Save yourself the effort man. Its also great for the rommie stuff. Only thing u may prefer battlecloak on vault ensnared. Honest, why work so much harder than you need to. I'd hate to see u have some less than optimal results and feel discouraged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iRvljKGwjY raptor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iRvljKGwjY bop

I'm NOT saying you can't do it. I'm just saying you may have more fun kitting out different ships for different missions.

Oh and I'm a tac too.

Peace have fun and stuff. And there's a bunch of videos up there. Torkahst, Ktingas doing stf's at commander level. good times. enjoy.

Another vote for the Mirror Qin here. It's just tanky enough to be used in STFs, and deals great damage to boot. Furthermore, all you need to get it is a batch of EC! It's probably the closest 'cheap' equivalent to a fedscort. The only drawback is that its turning may take a little getting used to.

Your RA token would probably be best used getting the BoP, if PvP is something you want to try, or the Vor'cha for more general purpose use. The Negh'var is a little heavy on engineering IMO, but that's all up to you.

Oooooh mirror Qin. I had forgotten about that ship. Just looked it up on stowiki and it looks like a great ship.

P.S.

Yes, I do hope to do PVP. I didn't used to do it but I'm starting to enjoy it a lot more.

Lowest Qin on the exchange is a little over 1 mil ec right now. I should be able to raise that by the time I hit level 50. I might get the vor'cha or a BoP as a stopgap. I'm intrigued by both the Hegh'ta and the retrofit Vor'cha, so I might give one of those a try in the mean while.

Actually, the cheapest is about 350k EC now. The exchange is a little borked at the moment. You have to select an item category (in this case, "Reward Packs"), or it may not show you the cheapest currently available.

Fleet Torkhat (Vorcha). The feds have nothing like it. Slap a pair of RCS consoles on it and arm it with all DHC and Turrets and enjoy a true battlecruiser. Great ship. I rolled a TAC just to be able to fly this ship to its capacity.