So been having alot of fun with my tier 2 escort. pwning.
killing the 3 man 'frigate' groups )(bird of preys() really fast and burning down single larger targets fast as well.
dps demon.
I am pleased to tell you that things get alot harder towards the latter half of lt cmdr and into the rest of ranks.
the greatest enemy of an escort, is another escort type ship. with our weak shields, they really bust through.
I feel very sorry for anyone in a tier 2 escort without either good engineering powers to back him up or science officers powers for buff/debuffs.
I am an engineer captain and I have an ensign engineer BO (all the tier 2 can hold) so in all I have emergency power to shields and rotate shield frequency. And many battles in the romulan sector, vs either escorts or a bigger ship leave me with significant hull damage, its hard keeping that front shield up in an escort. A cruiser might have an easier time tanking, but I am sure they will not be taking out targets as fast.
When I hit tier 3, and I have a lieutenant engineer station, I have already trained reverse shield polarity 2. Plus I have a science officer coming on stream with polarize hull plating.. all of these valuable to someone playing solo in an escort.
my build right now is dual heavy canon, photon torpedo, phaser beam, and a turret in the aft. the mark isnt important, i upgrade as i can and stick to that group.
i have something that boosts torpedo damage in tac console as well as canons, and eps power xfer for engineering, science i just have something that helps boost polarize hull plating.
I just got my t2 escort, and the game just got interesting. Tried it out in a deep space encounter and tore through birds of prey like butter, and the turn rate with evasive maneuvers is like defiant at its best!
I tend not to bother with photons, and as I dont really know the full mechanics, have 3 disrupter banks (160dps) and a turret on the aft
However, I have only had the ship 10 mins total play time
I just got my t2 escort, and the game just got interesting. Tried it out in a deep space encounter and tore through birds of prey like butter, and the turn rate with evasive maneuvers is like defiant at its best!
I tend not to bother with photons, and as I dont really know the full mechanics, have 3 disrupter banks (160dps) and a turret on the aft
However, I have only had the ship 10 mins total play time
Adding a torpedo launcher will make the kills go even faster. Hitting the hull of a ship with one will cause close to 2k damage. Just fire one off just before the enemy shields drop so that by the time it reaches them, your beams will have taken down the last bit.
I am basically going the same route as you, using my Engineering and Science officers as defensive boosts rather than offensive. So far I am using EMP to Shields and Science Team I, and like you will be adding Reverse Shield Polarity and Polarize Hull. I am Tactical though, so I am missing out on Rotate Shield Frequency. Still though, what I have for cooldowns at the moment seems to do the trick.
As far as weapons, I've gotten my best results in fleet action by running a dual cannon (not heavy), a dual beam phaser bank, and a quantum torpedo launcher. I keep a single beam array on back.
I'm not all that happy with the quantums in fleet action because they are just too slow and stuff dies too fast. I almost want to go back to photons for the faster travel speed, even though they hit a little softer.
As far as weapons, I've gotten my best results in fleet action by running a dual cannon (not heavy), a dual beam phaser bank, and a quantum torpedo launcher. I keep a single beam array on back.
I'm not all that happy with the quantums in fleet action because they are just too slow and stuff dies too fast. I almost want to go back to photons for the faster travel speed, even though they hit a little softer.
Really? It seems like my quantums reach the target faster than my photons. I'll have to recheck this, I guess.
It seems I'm in the minority here, as I play COMPLETELY offensively in my escort.
Tactical Officer, flying Tier 3 Escort with:
High Yield Torps 1 & 2
Cannon Rapid Fire 1
Emergency Power to Weapons 1
Directed Energy Modulation 1
Tachyon Beam 1
Photonic Officer 1
Everything there allows me to burn through shields and take out hulls in as little time as possible in my tier 3 ship. Even D'deridex Battleships fall before me in around 45 seconds.
It seems I'm in the minority here, as I play COMPLETELY offensively in my escort.
Tactical Officer, flying Tier 3 Escort with:
High Yield Torps 1 & 2
Cannon Rapid Fire 1
Emergency Power to Weapons 1
Directed Energy Modulation 1
Tachyon Beam 1
Photonic Officer 1
Everything there allows me to burn through shields and take out hulls in as little time as possible in my tier 3 ship. Even D'deridex Battleships fall before me in around 45 seconds.
I play very offensively as well so your not alone .
I run dual fwd cannons, turret and Quantum or Photons with corresponding Tact console.
Cannon bonus console, Phaser or Disrupter console to boost the cannons respectively.
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Linear Mode
