Hey everybody,

Just started playing STO again after about 3-4 months off. I'm in the process of tweaking my Eng/Sovvy tank build. One of the things i like to do with my Sovvy of course is tank and self heal. I've done ok in STF normals so far, guessing that tanking isnt viable in elites (havent done any yet). Thats ok though cause my Eng/Sovvy toon is just an alt.

Now my question is about the extra defense you get when you are moving. On my Sovvy my defense % maxes out at 68.8 - 70%, defense when stationary is 10%. Does that extra 60% of defense make that much of a difference? and if tanking is viable in elite STF's (assuming a non-pug group), does it make a difference there too?

Right now i'm able to keep myself up pretty easy in normals just using hull/shield heals. I'm able to hold threat pretty well, unless players are the same tier gear as me and skilled). I'm gonna be tweaking my BoFF damage % reduction abilities.

But yah TLDR, does the extra defense you get when moving help or not?

thanks!

Um answer should be pretty obvious. Take less dmg or take a lot of dmg. 70% chance to dodge a 1 shot plasma torpedo or 10%. Easy test, go into a pvp match, park in the center of the map and see how long you last, then try moving and fighting.

yes, moving helps. especially if accuracy over defense for mobs works the same as it does for players. ie: accuracy vs defense bleed over adds to crit % and crit severity. as to personal experience this seems to be the case. moving at full i take less damage than stationary. even 1/4 impulse the damage incoming seems higher. at full, i do get missed on occasion.

in short. anytime you can get more defense = better.

I see a lot of people talking about tanking though and just parking in front of the cube/sphere/whatever. So either the STF they are doing is trivial, they are lazy, or even given the obvious that you get a bonus it doesnt make a difference even if you are doing an elite STF.

Personally i have been moving because i want the bonus...but if it makes no big difference, then i can stand still.

I have custom settings for "threat" and shield regen. Both of them still give me enough engine power to keep my defense maxed at 70%. I dont know if that's the max you can get for any setup, or if thats's the max i can get on my setup. But it looks like i will just keep on tanking on the move. Now i just have to tweak my BoFF abilities for even more damage reduction, and maybe look at my talents again (though i dont think my talents can get any better).

People who park and shoot to tank, Either don't know what their doing or are on Normal and used to Elite.

More defense is less incoming damage, less damage means you tank longer with out needing heals.

I'm serious there are people who have complained that if they park in front of the cube and pull agro the cube kills them so the ship should be buffed, so they can't be killed. And the response from the majority of the player base is staying alive takes an effort greater than park and autofire.

You can safely park ~9 km from the gates, though. The gate's weapon ranges seem to be measured from the top bar, but its hit ranges are measured across the entire thing, so there are areas where you can fire at the gate and it can't fire at you.

It's also large enough that there's angles where you can fire both aft beams and fore torpedoes, making bombardment a rather attractive option.

There is one thing, one thing in the game you can park and shoot for. It does not make it an award winning strategy.

Heck there is a spot 2.25 to 1.75k under the gate where you can get it in all firing arc, I sure wouldn't recommend that as a great way to tank a cube.

I've been able to tank cubes by being above or below. I keep the engines at 1/4 impulse and slowly follow it around while bombarding it. As long as the other team members keep attacking it, it sort of ignores me.

A lot of those guys have narrow firing arc weapons, so if they move then they need to periodlically retreat/reorient which causes damage output to drop off considerably. So, those guys park.


If you have Beam Arrays, no reason whatsoever to not stay moving.