Alright. I'm @frostzephyr if you've time. If not it's okay. I'm working most of this week anyway, mostly dippin' the line in the water right now.

It does help that my playtimes are generally variable and close to "24/7" on weekends. Check your friends' list in-game.

In-game fleet created.

Thank you all for your interest and excellent piloting today

Omega Force Academy Operations Log
Stardate 90087.48
Wing Commander Tiberius Gracchus, USS Relativity

Four weeks ago, Captain Marsden's (@drunkenguyver) USS Valiant was recommended to deploy with 6 beam arrays and 2 quantum torpedo tubes.

It runs contrary to most 'maximum performance' forum ship builds but in realistic combat scenarios the 6 BA / 2 torp loadout offers a blend of burst damage and sustained broadside ability. Ability that is hard to beat, and easily accessible to pilots of all skill levels - a perfect bridging point from Starfleet-issue functionality and an invitation to make alterations to suit the vessel's desired mission as said pilot gains experience.

As noted in various 24th Century tactical demonstrations, Starfleet cruisers generally aim to 'sweep through phaser arcs' in order to unmask fully charged phaser banks and alternately discharge fore and aft torpedo tubes (source: Star Trek Bridge Commander, Star Trek First Contact).

The 6 BA / 2 T loadout offers just that flexibility to deal steady damage to targets on all vectors, whist offering the capability to burst-fire torpedo tubes on demand every 30 seconds.

Unlike cannon builds or turret builds, beam arrays and torpedoes offer reliable firepower out to range 10, while light cannon damage tends to significantly drop off beyond range 6.

In addition, as demonstrated several times in Star Trek: TNG, the rear torpedo tube is a formidable 'chaser' weapon that can ward off or even help to destroy weaker enemy targets. Indeed, against faster and smaller vessels the rear torpedo tube (in burst fire or spread mode) can be the primary weapon in defensive engagements where the ownship cannot face its bow to the enemy.

This long effective range affords the cruiser pilot the ability to engage the enemy at long range and high speed granting him the tactical initiative.

During simulated combat between a prototype Odyssey and USS Valiant last night, it was noted that the ship with higher tactical cruise speed can engage and disengage at will, and retain the ability to swing through multiple shield facings in order to tank with emergency power to shields.

Stationary tanking, as in the case of assault ships (DBBs only), gunships and dreadnaughts (with cannons), require two tactical teams (or 1x TT + 2 rare conn officer doffs) in order to maintain full shield strength to the forward arc during sustained combat, otherwise a significant gap exists where the ship is stationary and vulnerable.

Captain Marsden demonstrated a high speed maneuvering pattern that made the competing USS Relativity's phaser accuracy drop by a factor of 20%, causing USS Valiant to score far more hits and achieve a significantly higher score after 20 minutes of continuous action, despite the Odyssey class's superior tactical capabilities (with 5 tac officer powers vs 3 of USS Valiant.)

This concept of 'mobile tanking' is not restricted to cruisers; indeed a cruiser's large size affords it a modest defence bonus from maneuvering at best. An Escort is definitely not a 'glass cannon' if it runs with high engine power and keeps its combat cruising speed relatively high. In concert with non-standard defensive equipment like the Aegis set (which boosts defence) and Attack Pattern Omega, an escort or Klingon Bird of Prey can be a very hard to hit target. This can be easily demonstrated in Elite STF, where a well flown attack vessel or even tactical-equipped science ship can actively evade plasma beam attacks.

How about Borg one-shot torpedoes? From our testing, they aren't really a threat if the pilot: -

1) Anticipates tactical positioning - if you know where the attacks are coming from, either avoid firing arcs (from Tac Cubes) or simply pre-buff shields.

2) Maintain high tactical cruise speed - to employ 'sweep through phaser arcs' doctrine minimizing repeated impacts on the same shield facing. One also has the option of doing an impulse turn (evasive maneuvers +25% throttle) to conduct a tactical withdrawal in the event ownship attracts too much enemy aggro.

Using these two golden rules of Starfleet cruiser piloting, Captain Marsden achieved near 100% effectiveness in his first Infected Space Elite despite no preparation (no, not even 10% - we emphasize adaptive mission performance to ensure victory, a far more effective and participative option compared to obscure micromanagement rules.)

End operations log.

Supplemental Reference -

Beam Arrays - Diminishing Returns

Next article - STF Prepatory Training: Dispelling Forum Myths and Integrating Personal Initiative into Realistic Task Force Command Operations.

For those without in-game access during the work week, and for archival purposes -

Omega Academy Blog No. 1 - as circulated in-game.

Fellow Redneck Captains,

It was an honour to fight under the new Rednecks fleet banner during active duty this weekend, it was pleasant to see friendly chat and good conversation, as well as informative mission briefings directed by Carmenara, so that everyone understands what to do before the event . . . which was awesome, i'm happy to be amongst such a good bunch of pilots.

I would like to state for the record, that i wouldn't have done so well without the support of the redneck Fleet, or indeed Captain Tiberius Gracchus's (@Carmenara) tuition and advice from the beginning of my Starfleet career, they have become a very trusted officer indeed.

During our little experiment to test our new builds, mainly to spot weak points, exchange tactics and perhaps be surprised by a few unsuspected maneuvers, i found out a lot about my build and realise that there is still some tweaking to be done, but i must say that the kit layout that was recommended to me did my ship wonders. I especially like to chain EPW1 + FAW2 + TT1 .. i found that combination gave me a good boost to DPS, even in STFs having a threat control of 0, i found i could even get the attention of Borg NPCs due to DPS and increased rate of fire using the mentioned ability chain, thus taking aggro off wounded players or objectives. I've also used a Doff in my Space duty layout that improves the recharge rate of evasive maneuvers, which got me out of trouble quite a few times in stfs, but also came in handy to get to someone who needed healing.

Having a few friendly PvP session has become a good testing ground, and i look forward to seeing you all for Starbase building & some Borg bashing very soon.

Best wishes & happy hunting fleet,

USS Valiant - Captain Marsden commanding

I may not have shared this with y'all - I was combat-trialling this alternative UI layout for the past few days to reduce eye strain and increase ship command efficiency.

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...41#post4391241

The above thread has a theory detailing pilot workload and why the STO UI can be 'glaring'. If you move the UI out of the way it automatically feels more relaxed as your combat and command displays are now nearer to your line of sight.

The only heads down displays in my UI version are sensors (minimap and target data) and team status (on the lower left).

In non combat the ship is unobstructed.

This UI layout is perfectly fine in ground combat too - again, much prefer having the command bar near my LOS.

This week's fleet roleplaying topic is something very important to satisfaction in life.

They say an army fights on its stomach.
What do starship troopers eat?
Do you, the master and commander, prefer to mass-replicate to simplify things, or do you employ an army of "whiteshirts" to keep everyone's palette under control on your star cruiser?

Discuss (link to another STO thread) :
http://tinyurl.com/7ezf9p6

After being given canon-style training and command doctrines some of our new players aced Elite STFs + optionals on their first try.

Last night there was a ground STF training session held in similar spirit, and two junior rednecks were teamed with 3 players of some random fleet in a PUG Cure Ground.

At the end of it we prove that the 3 fleet players with their MACO XI gear were only good for one thing - the end boss fight.

That's because for the entire game my two trainees were topping the DPS and tanking charts while the ones in MACO gear stayed in a tight bunch far from the action.

Read the full AAR here:
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...=1#post4444161

Those "veterans" were very hostile, arrogant, refused offers to collaborate tactics and ironically did worse DPS than my trainees who made good use of Engineering powers and expose/exploit chains. A story worthy of a Klingon Opera, for sure.

Wow, that's sad. Dunno who they STF with but I wonder how they even got their gear.

I gotta wonder though; two noobs, 3 pugs, how'd you know specifics like their DPS? Can you save combat logs?