When using the high yield torpedo button under my bridge officer, a count down begins. Is that the time until I can use the high yield torpedo, and does it stay active? Thanks.

thats how long you have to use it before it resets

The answer to your question is as follows: The countdown timer (30 seconds on all ranks of the skill) is how long you have to use the buff before it expires and then refresh the buff again. During that 30 second countdown the buff is active and it can be used anytime during those 30 seconds!

Thanks very much for the info.

And for the record, if that 30 seconds runs out, and you never used it, you can use it again, right away. There is no further cooldown.

That is only true if you fully ranked up the ability, which then reduces the cooldown to 30 seconds. It has nothing to do with if you actually used it or not. If you have it fully ranked up, use the ability, then fire the torpedoes with 1 second left, you'll still be able to use it again 2 seconds later.

Yeah, I sometimes do this. It's really effective.

To anyone with this power, rank it up all the way. Trust me.

Beam overload works the same way, although I think it's a shorter timer. Cannon Rapid Fire on the other hand gives you so many seconds to fire as many RF bursts as you can, rather than going into CD as soon as you fire the first volley.