Roach put up a post in the KDF forums, and that inspired me to post here for discussion:

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Looks good overall, nice hull bump from the Fleet Escort, 1 point extra turn rate, +1 Eng Console and Uni Ensign in case you're feeling creative..or something.

A little confused what ship this is based off of, considering the next ship ( I probably missed a patch note somewhere).


So is this the fleet escort? With a much lower shield mod, not much more hull and a +1 turn rate?

I'm not sure if this ship and the above ship are the same tier, but the above one looks head and shoulders above this.



Not sure what there is to say about this.

The same defiant we know and love, with more hull, a third device slot and...5 Tac Consoles.

Love it.






I don't have much of an opinion on these, I like the looks of the Recon.

Those 1.43 shield modifiers are beefy.



Not much opinion here, nice turn rate - this is kind of like an alternate version of the current assault cruiser without actually being the assault cruiser.


Again not much opinion here, shield and hull bump for Star Cruiser lovers.


This...this is sad.

Still saddled with an awful turn rate but at least more shield and hull to compensate. 5 Eng consoles and the same dreaded Eng BOFF layout.

This is a real shame, they need to rethink the ensign and hopefully make it a Uni like the Negh'var got.


Decent update, it now has a very very tac heavy BOFF layout, with a Lt Uni that will most likely end up Sci anyway.


Opinions?

bah, that LT uni on the F Assault cruiser is going to be ANOTHER TAC for me!

MUA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It's odd...they seem to be trying to make the Fleet Recon Sci into something of an assault science cruiser, while making the Fleet Nova into a science-escort hybrid. I'll have to fly them to see how they balance out, but it will be interesting to see what a Comm Science plus a LtComm Tactical can do with 14 base turn.

As for the Nebula, I think it would've been cool to take another station--heck, maybe two stations--and make them universal. It is supposed to be the modular workhorse of the fleet, no? Then again, it already has been turned even moreso into a science-cruiser hybrid, so maybe that would've stepped on the oddy's toes somewhat. But I think, overall, with some ships becoming even greater in dps strength, it would be nice to tweak the Fleet Science Refits a bit, so that they would have target subsystem II instead of I. That way, science wouldn't get lost as tanks and dps'ers grow further and further into their extremes. Just a thought.

yes, I agree with you on science vessels. They should really be the kind of ship that increases the whole team's DPS, enough to make up for the fact that they don't hit as hard as the tac/escort

little bit off: I myself deal as much dmg in a sci as your average escort and the sci abilities make me do that kinda dmg, so sci vessels make up for the loss of dmg in sci abilities (though some are nerfed beyond usefulness)

however I am disappointed. the fleet long range sci retro is available at tier 5 military. I will grind enough dilithium for the normal retro version of it by the time a fleet can get to tier 5 military... :S

also OP: the fleet escort as we know it has been renamed to patrol escort, and the fleet escort here is the Sabre and such

Yeah, and your average cruiser runs a skittle-boat, so going by average is wonky at best.

My Nebula averages around 3k dps, which is fairly respectable for being an engi captain...but nowhere near what I can do in an escort (5k+ easy). I don't expect my Nebula to contend with a Defiant in sheer power (though let's be honest...the gap shouldn't be that big, canon-wise), but I do want more utility out of my fleet workhorse. So, if I grind out for my fleet refit, why shouldn't science vessels get a perk to make up for the fact that they are designed neither for complete tanking, nor for obscene dps? Also, Fleet Science Vessel Refit, when I checked, was Tier 3 shipyard...the LRSV was Tier 5.

the fleet galaxy makes me sad

you say easy. from what I have seen that is not so easy for most people. I tracked combatlog for the couple of days in elite and normal stfs, and some pvp.
the best escorts I have seen scratched around 3500k dps. and with them, the missions were easy as hell. in a sci, you can deal that amount of dmg, without a sweat. so at this point a sci can deal the necessary amount of dmg, better than your avarage (and by that I mean well built, but not completely thought through) escort, or anything else. plus the abilities are way more useful than on an escort.

all that said, I am sad to see that the escorts still are bad at sci abilities (probably for the reason I just stated, that sci abilities can get you loads of dps, done right)

edit: also, I do not see why would anyone use the fleet sci vessel. the other ships are just better. ofc you unlock the long range sci later, and basically that is the ship that can substitute it fully, but the stats are just not convincing

Well the recon was always a little more dps than other science ships, I do agree that it would be nice if they did give the Nebula a perhaps another universal slot...like maybe the ensign? If they give it a lt cmdr slot it might be considered to much like the Odyssey.