As the title says I have a Science Capt. looking to gear up for some STFs, however other than the kits (Medic, Geophysicist for heals/dps) I am not certain where I should go for gearing. On my Tactical Capt. its a bit simpler since I have mastered that fella a while back -- but with lower HP and a different style of gameplay I am a bit hesitant to just fart around and wing it.

The main concerns I have are the personal shield and body armor. I recall plasma being a big deal and think that knockback would be nice, but aside from those (if that even matters for Science in the end), what else shall I concern my self with? And for now, I am primarily looking at crafted items since I have few badges (need the bat'leth anyway first).

Thanks,
Andrew.

Shields and Armor
Science are actually very effective melee, so you may consider something with decent kinetic resistance. Heavy and Elite tactical drones love their melee...
For the same reason, a shield with the KB-proc is rather nice.

Consumables
Make sure you have a nice pile of large hypos. 40-60 is a good number. Carry them even if you are going in with the medic kit.

Weapons
For day-to-day usage I run with a melee weapon and an expose weapon. If you don't like mixing it up in melee, carry an expose and exploit weapon. Make sure at least one is single target.

In addition to standard weapons, both Infected and Cure are made easy by specific weapons:

• Infected final boss benefits from having a guaranteed KB weapon. Something with nice big knockback.
• Cure mid-section benefits a -lot- from having a single-target sniper weapon with KB, and/or a stun weapon with a guaranteed stun.

Kits
Like any career, expect to be swapping kits for different sections. There isn't a one-kit-fits-all solution that is truly optimal, so go with a few and just pick the appropriate one for the moment.

I find the Physician kit will cover you for healing most things in a STF. The addition of Dylovene for melee is a godsend, especially for keeping people upright when they've got elite tac drones on them.
Note that with Dylovene III and Melorazine III you turn yourself or the target ally into one of the toughest-to-kill characters in the game.

Infected needs a kit with the AoE heal (triage) on it. Any kit with it will do: medic, analyst, etc.

Cure benefits from the Geophysicist kit for certain content, and the Physician kit for certain other content. Pack both.

KA requires high DPS from everyone, so pack a geophysicist kit for that.

Knowledge of Sci Officer powers
The agro-shake power that all sci officers get should be somewhere prominent on your hotbar. It is how you keep your otherwise squishy self from being targeted.

if you are going to run healer, Borg Medical or Medic is a must.

If you have 2 tacs who are experienced in using Squad Leader, you can run with Physician to buff the tacs, or Geo for DPS and CC.

Hypos are a must even if just for breaking holds.

My sci runs Sniper and bat'leth, and usually medic, with pugs, but with my fleet, I'll run Physician or Geo. (as there are usually 3 tacs specced for the squad leader kit.

Thanks for the help. I ended up having no real issue with the mk xi gear from memory alpha. But I do believe thats partially that we ran 2 tacs, 1 eng, 2 sci. I was heals in the queen's lair at the end, but throughout I used the Geophysicist MK XI kit from MA to hold and burn the borg. This made for a wonderfully straightforward march to the end.

Running thru with my tac was less of an issue, as I had the borg bonus bat'leth + close combat mk XI kit. They fell apart like the most tender of meat Thankfully the healer (same fellow) really had a grip on things and was able to effectively communicate when someone was pulling too much aggro and he was getting backlogged on heals. That was rare, but it was nice to know when it did occur.

I must say, aside from not doing ever the Cure or KA, the STFs are a much more fun run and less of a gearing thing than other MMOs that I have played. I hated in WoW how gear meant way too much over pure tactics and strategy. To the devs: keep it up! This is how a team mission should be (or raid, or STF).

Thanks again for all the advice.

you'll get an epic sheild with plasma resist, knockback and regen for 30 emblems
its perfect for borg STFs.