The term 'Cruiser Online' is becoming more popular nowadays. I'm trying not to fall victim to my own bias - but I can't deny how often I run into teams comprised mainly of cruisers. On average, it's usually 3 or 4 cruisers per 5-man team. Sometimes more , sometimes less- but five-cruiser teams often distort that average. With three ship type choices (Fed side) - why is it that I see primarily-cruiser teams at least 75% of the time? (that's a safe estimate. It personally seems like more to me).

I understand there's a certain canon aesthetic to flying a cruiser...but gameplay seems to be hurting from the emphasis on cruisers made to appease the general population. More often than not, I run into cruiser-heavy Fed teams and it ends up being a tank fest where nobody heals each other and everyone strives to survive as long as possible. Is this really due to adherence to canon or to general gameplay balance? I've noticed large amounts of escort/sci pilots switching to cruisers because it's much easier to dominate PvP - even though they're not cruiser pilots 'at heart.'

I've flown a cruiser myself as tac, sci, and eng...and I can attest that it was STUPID EASY to play as all three classes. I could basically sit with a beer in one hand and my junk in the other while I mashed my face on the keyboard and tanked half the enemy team.

I don't want to upset people who prefer cruisers...but when escort/sci pilots start switching to cruiser then it might be cause for discussion.

Has anyone noticed how often they run into cruiser teams?

I personally think it's partially due to the worry of cloaked ships suddenly attacking them, or worry of opponents with high DPS.

A cruiser is much harder to gank than an Escort with little shields or a Science ship with little hull.
Plus, there's the thought that if no one else lives, at least you might.


I'll be staying with my Escort forever, but, like you said, I really have noticed a sharp increase in Cruiser pilots.

I agree that a casual PvPer might have trouble with survivability so a cruiser is the logical choice.

Experienced players have started switching to cruisers, though, even if they previously had no survivability issues.

Yeah, even at Lieutenant Commander level, my Science ship often gets into teams of 4 Cruisers.

One of my friends recently switched from a Cruiser to a Sci ship and is liking it so far I believe.
It may be a slight imbalance, seeing as it seems a skilled Cruiser pilot anymore can all but ignore any DPS thrown at them by even a good Escort unless they are caught by surprise.

We had a Cruiser tank two Escorts and a Science ship today without any sign of his ship buckling until we managed to crit him by timing our beam overloads in tandem while he was trapped in a Gravity well.

hmm i have been flying a crusier as a tac, since day one and i just reach 300 days, and i have had no trob in my cruiser, and i have stuck with a cruiser, there awesome

I fly mainly cruisers (vor'cha, orion patrol and excelsior). At the same time I fly advanced escort and bird of prey. My plan is to migrate from Excelsior to Defiant. But you are right Bob. More and more cruiser seems to pop up every day.

my above reply is a innocent reply, no offense intened , im just saying i have had fun with it,and i do have some healing abilites, and use them on other players when i can

And this is the main reason why fed lose almost every C@H there cruisers can tank but they cant split thier ball thus letting the klingons just play with them off the point well the others cap. 0-1200 9 out of 10 matches. Sad really cause if you log on at around 3:30 them germs will give you a real C@H. All because they fly in more dievers groups. BUt that just my thoughts on it.

the Excelsior is a really good ship, in this game, im sure it will balance out in the future and the devs are always working something new am i right?

I have actually never seriously played a cruiser, as I just can't get the escort mentality out of my head... I actually find cruisers to be a quite dull ship choice, simply because everything about them is so slow!

One of the problems is that cryptic have put a heavy emphasis on cruisers on the fed side. Every new ship we have had on the c-store has been a cruiser for instance and with them being the easiest class to play it is no wonder cruisers are so popular.

Perhaps cryptic would consider changing a few of the default settings on the escort. The cruiser's default settings are actually not too bad (ie weapon loadout, power etc.) however escorts, at least on the fed side, are very badly built by default. Inexperienced players might well emulate the default layout cryptic has given them when getting better weapons. Cryptic could change the default rear weapon slots on escorts to turrets and give a couple of DHCs up front and perhaps basic covariant shields. This might make the escort's learning curve a little less steep.