I have been having major success with this build, so I've decided to share it. Surely, many of the aspects of this build have probably been fleshed out by others, but here is my interpretation of the STO Advanced Escort. Nut'n'too'fancy.

I will be providing my perspective of the Advanced Escort from the point of view of a Tactical Captain who prefers Elite Space STFs and the occasional PVP.

This build has a few points of emphasis, each leaning towards very high single target DPS/Burst DPS.

1. A continuous barrage of Quantum Torpedoes, more-so than normally possible prior to the Duty Officer system.
   
2. The ability to use Beam Overload III without severely hindering weapons power.
   
3. The inclusion of Cannon Rapid Fire, to increase single target DPS.

Many people prefer to build their escorts either Cannon heavy or Beam heavy. With this build, I prefer to include the best aspects of all weapon types thereby allowing a more robust use of current BOFF and DOFF abilities.

First off here is my skill build as seen on stoacademy.com: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skil...ild=ZAEbuild_0

OR

This is an alternate build that could increase DPS: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skil...ld=ZAEBUILD2_0

Take my skill build as you will and edit it to fit your play-style. The real meat of this build comes from the BOFF setup, DOFF setup, and Weapons Loadout.

This build relies heavily on the Federation Duty Officer named Ten of Ten - Projectile Weapons Officer x 3 (Obtained with 40 Encrypted Data Chips each from Roxy on DS9,) or any other purple quality Projectile Weapons Officer x3. Each of these officers allows for a twenty percent chance at passively activating their ability: 20% chance: Improve Torpedo recharge time by 5 sec

I will explain more after the Weapons/Equipment Loadout and BOFF Layout. (BOFF Layout can also be viewed on the stoacademy.com link above.) Lower quality DOFFs will suffice, but are not optimal imo.


Weapon Loadout FORE: Quantum Torpedo Launcher MK XII x 2, Antiproton Dual Cannons MK XII, Dual Antiproton Beam Bank MK XII

Weapon Loadout AFT: Antiproton Turret MK XII x 4

OR

Weapon Loadout FORE: Quantum Torpedo Launcher MK XII x 2, Antiproton Dual Cannons MK XII x 2

Weapon Loadout AFT: Antiproton Turret MK XII x 4

Deflector: Assimilated Graviton Deflector Array (or preferred set.)
Engines: Assimilated Subtranswarp Engines
Shields: M.A.C.O. Resilient Shield Array

Engineering Consoles: Neutronium Alloy Mk XI, Plasma Distribution Manifold MK XI (or preferred consoles.)

Science Consoles: Assimilated Module, Multi-Vector Assault Module, Field Generator MK XI

Tactical Consoles: Zero Point Quantum Chamber MK XI x 2, Antiproton Mag Regulator MK XI x 2


BOFF Abilities:

Commander Tactical Station - Tactical Team I, Cannon Rapid Fire I, Beam Overload III, Attack Pattern Omega III
Lt. Commander Tactical Station - Tactical Team I, Attack Pattern Beta I, Torpedo High Yield III

OR

Commander Tactical Station - Tactical Team I, Cannon Rapid Fire I, Torpedo High Yield III, Attack Pattern Omega III
Lt. Commander Tactical Station - Tactical Team I, Attack Pattern Beta I, Torpedo High Yield III

Lieutenant Science Station - Polarize Hull I, Transfer Shield Strength II
Ensign Science Station - Hazard Emitters I

Lieutenant Engineering Station - Emergency Power to Weapons I, Emergency Power to Shields II


Notes on this build/How to use:

The reasons why this Weapon Loadout and BOFF Layout are designed as such are rather simple. I will try to explain.

The combination of two Quantum Torpedo Launcher MK XII, Torpedo High Yield III, and three actively equipped versions of a Very Rare Projectile Weapons Duty Officer almost guarantee a virtually continuous stream of Quantum Torpedoes at your target. This is huge in Elite STFs, specifically Khitomer Accord and Infected Space Elite because of the high amount of sustained hull damage output that this setup provides.

Overall damage output vs hull is quite impressive. I recently out-DPSed two Escorts in a KA Space Elite. I downed both Cubes and Transformers on my side, and got my gate down before their combined efforts could do the same on their side. This is sort of a bench-mark to tell me that this build is doing some serious damage. Faster kills = more optionals completed.

To proc your Torpedoes effectively, simply wait until one Torpedo fires, then use your Torpedo High Yield III ability. When the next Torpedo fires, the four Torpedoes from High Yield III will easily proc AT LEAST two of your Projectile Weapons Duty Officers. This means that the cooldown on your Torpedoes has just been reset and you're ready to fire another two Torpedoes, immediately, which will themselves likely proc at least two of your Duty Officer's abilities yet again. The end-effect is a stream of Quantum Torpedoes, one every approximately one and a half to two seconds, unless you're unlucky.

Proper use of Beam Overload III is important in order to keep DPS numbers up. In normal rotation with this build, one should always pop Emergency Power to Weapons (or a Weapons Battery,) before using Beam Overload. This allows sufficient remaining power to fire all Turrets and the fore Dual Cannons (even while running Cannon Rapid Fire.)

Be sure to use at least Tactical Team + Attack Pattern Beta before using Beam Overload III on a target as well. This will ensure that your weapons energy goes to greatest use each time you fire your Overload. Oh, and only use it against an unshielded target for the best effect.

Cannon Rapid Fire I is used simply to assist in dropping a target's shields. The reason I incorporated Dual Cannons instead of Dual Heavy Cannons is because Dual Cannons are more apt at taking out shields since they fire more rounds per burst than Dual Heavy Cannons. After all, all those torpedoes won't do much to shields, even though they still hit shields relatively hard for a single hit. A debuff or two, the four aft Turrets, and the single fore Dual Cannons along with Cannon Rapid Fire should be more than enough to take down a target's shields and allow you to slip in some Torpedoes and/or a Beam Overload.

The Borg three-piece bonus is simply amazing. I have incorporated it because iirc it's about once every 45 seconds to proc each effect. It's just very nice and it works very well for me. The M.A.C.O. shields are just nifty as well. The Deflector, Engines, and Shields can be swapped for whatever desired setup.

Hazard Emitters is useful for removing Hazard Debuffs and applying hull regen/hull resist.

Polarize Hull and Attack Pattern Omega are used to break free from pesky Borg, or other, Tractor Beams, and to provide additional defenses when needed.

Emergency Power to Shields and Transfer Shield Strength are rather self-explanatory, I believe.

And, of course, you gotta have Tactical Teams available, so I've added two.

Power settings should be applied with common-sense. Alternate power modes might be useful when Emergency Power to Weapons is activated, or when the M.A.C.O. shields are providing back-up power, but that depends on your tastes.

If you can't get your hands on Beam Overload III, then simply equip Attack Pattern Beta II and Beam Overload II instead. Essentially swapping those abilities on their respective BOFFs.

Another swap that I enjoy making is Torpedo High Yield III for Torpedo Spread III. It's good on Infected and The Cure. Swap in spreads as necessary.

Other recommendations: To increase Torpedo DPS, swap out the Dual Beam Bank for a Dual Cannon. Swap out the Beam Overload for another Torpedo High Yield or Torpedo Spread.


Please, take all of the information available here and do with it as you please. The numbers I tend to see are very high, and targets drop relatively quickly. I am firing Quantums at a rate of about one per every one and a half to two seconds. This build appeals to me above all of the others that I have tried.

I hope that you have enjoyed my interpretation of the Advanced Escort, good luck and good hunting.


Edit:

I will be adding two combat logs of my last Infected Space Elite and Khitomer Accord Space Elite.

If you would like to create your own combat log and parse it for comparison, first download the software located here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/stocombat/ this software requires the Java Run-time Environment.

Then when you are in STO, type /combatlog 1

This will enable combat logging. Once that's complete you need to start the .jar for the Combat Parser and navigate to your Star Trek Online\LIVE\Logs\GameClient\Combatlog.log that's the file that you need to parse.

These were both PUGs so all numbers are SUB Optimal and in a good group will go HIGHER, never lower imo. I got D/Ced during the KA Elite... it wasn't a very good group but here's up until the beginning of Donatra. During Infected Space I used Torpedo Spread III and During Khitomer Accord I used Torpedo High Yield III. That is why the Infected DPS number is slightly higher, I'm guessing. The KA number is more single target.

Rough DPS:

These numbers include damage dealt to shields:

Infected Elite Space PUG: 4,475 OUT-DPS http://www.mediafire.com/?be882dd77s9rrx3

Khitomer Accord Space Elite: 4,289 OUT-DPS http://www.mediafire.com/?xsysyl6i7x9a405


Without damage dealt to shields:

Infected Elite Space PUG: 4,027 OUT-DPS

Khitomer Accord Space Elite: 3,911 OUT-DPS

I have some questions...and some suggestions...

Why mix beam and cannon unless subsystem disabling? The only reason to run beams AND cannons, is if you're performing a specific role in an STF (like subsystem disabling, as part of a predefined role in a fleet operation). If this is not the case, then you should be running all beams or all cannons, and even if you are performing a beam specific role, beam overload has no business on a build that is not 'all beams', as it is a dps loss compared to having (even a second or third) cannon ability. Also, if using quantums, don't bother with high yield, always use spread, except in cases where you want to avoid damaging anything except your primary target. Lastly, running AP Omega AND Polarize hull is a waste of one of them.

I believe your build works because of your quantum firing frequency, not because of anything else in the build. If you wish to continue to use a beam, then at least add 'Beam: Target Shields' to your build (perhaps instead of AP omega, since you have polarise hull), so that your beams and quantums are working together more efficiently (then you can switch to dual heavies instead of duals).

Essentially, if you are going for a shield stripping/quantum bashing build, you could have done several things differently to make it much more effective. Same if you are looking for maximum dps.

Hope I gave you some food for thought, please don't take this as an attack on your build, like I say, as long as you enjoy it and it does decent damage, no problem, I'm very interested to hear your responses if you think I'm missing something.

I have already considered many of the points you've raised and here are the conclusions that I've come to:

The Dual-Beam Array is used to fire a very high damage Beam Overload. It works very well in this build as I have described. It is a DPS boost, due to its' high damage. Using a Dual Beam Array does less DPS than a Dual Cannon would, perhaps, but when you fire your Dual Beam Array and hit for 15-60k damage, it becomes evident that it would take a while for that Dual Cannon to make up for that amount of damage every thirty seconds (or every 15 seconds when Tactical Initiative is running.)

As stated in my OP, I am using a variety of weapons in order to best utilize BOFF abilities. If I were to remove the Beam Array in favor of either any Cannon or any Torpedo Launcher, then I would pigeon-hole myself into choosing only either Cannon or Torpedo abilities. This leaves me only able to use two weapon abilities at once, instead of three with the inclusion of the Dual Beam Array.

Beam Overload can sneak into a downed shield-facing or annihilate a shield facing, your choice. Use as directed in my OP for best effect. (Include Fire On My Mark and Attack Pattern Alpha, and it's even better.)

I often use Torpedo Spread III for Infected and The Cure Space. Torpedo High Yield III does ~20% more damage to a single target than Torpedo Spread III, therefore it's the best all around at annihilating a target, most importantly large stationary ones i.e. Gateways, Generators, and Transformers.

Running Attack Pattern Omega and Polarize Hull allows for situations where you can use Attack Pattern Beta I and still have an ability available to escape from a tractor beam. Without Polarize Hull, there could be situations where you are locked out of a Tractor Beam escape. Also Polarize Hull can be rotated with Hazard Emitters, in order to keep hull resistances up.

Beam Target Shields does not fit into my build since I do not spec into Sensors. Cannon Rapid Fire takes care of shields, or if I must, then Beam Overload will do it.

I hope this sheds light onto my reasoning.

Only real problem i have with a lot of what you are saying is that there are no parses in the thread to prove any of it.

If your over all average dps isn't well over 4k using your cannons/beam/quantum, you need to take a second look at your build. If it is over 4k, post it and be proud of your build.

How do I get an accurate parse? I'll take one later today if I can learn how. I'm sure it will be over 4k, but who knows until I do it, right?

Edit: I have downloaded the parsing software from http://sourceforge.net/projects/stocombat/

I will have a parse up from a PUG Infected and KA Space Elite for view soon.

Edit: Combat Logs are being posted, enjoy.

Yeah, use that program.
In game type /combatlog 1
You will find the log file in a folder called logs inside your sto game directory.

happy parsing.

Parses are already up.

Shouldn't the use of Photon torpedoes, which have a faster cooldown per default, make this setup even deadlier, because their RoF will be normally reach the minimum number of 1 volley per second, for something like 5960 dps from the torps alone?

According to STOWiki, quantum torpedos normally need 8.5 seconds for recharging, while photon torpedos merely need 6.5 seconds...

A long ago this was brought up before, you needed to use three photon launchers to max out their fire rate. Normally you need only 2 quantum so you need only two weapon slots.

I see what you are thinking here but this is what I've found,

The reason that I use Quantum Torpedoes is because the Projectile Weapons Duty Officer procs will reduce the cooldown of my torpedoes, allowing them to fire on their next lowest possible cooldown. If I were using Photon Torpedoes, my rate of fire would be similar, or only slightly faster, but the amount of damage that each torpedo does is much lower with Photons.

Since I can achieve the highest rate of fire possible for a Torpedo, I choose to use the most devastating Torpedo. I will not suffer from the longer CD.

It really has nothing to do with the firing rate of the Torpedo, since it will be reset to its' lowest possible cooldown when the Duty Officers proc. The reason for Quantums is simply their higher damage per Torpedo.