There's three reasons any PvPer would ever shoot at a cruiser:
- To find out if it's piloted by a noob (if it isn't, you won't make a dent, and will stop after a few seconds to find easier prey)
- To kill it if it got seperated into a 1v4 or 1v5 situation
- Anytime for a free kill if it is piloted by a noob.

The Galaxy-R is ... a noob magnet. Maybe even worse than the Ody.
No decent PvPer will ever go after a good Galaxy - it's not worth the effort, you could just as well shoot at a brick wall.
Your Galaxy though ... yeah, that probably has a targeting crosshair painted on it.


But let's put the L2P excalmations aside for a second, and explain to you (again) your misconception about weapon power, maybe you'll learn it some day:

If you put weapon power at 125, then, with an 8-beam config, your firing sequence would look like this:
Beam 1: 125 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
Beam 2: 115 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
Beam 3: 105 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
Beam 4: 95 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
Beam 5: 85 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
Beam 6: 75 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
Beam 7: 65 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
Beam 8: 55 - - 55 - - 55 - - 55
You'd be firing at an effective average power level of 63.75.

Now, let's do this again at 150 weapon power. As you mentioned, there is a cap at 125 - for each single shot! It will look like this:
Beam1 : 125 (150) - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
Beam2 : 125 (140) - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
Beam3 : 125 (130) - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
Beam4 : 120 - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
Beam5 : 110 - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
Beam6 : 100 - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
Beam7 : 90 - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
Beam8 : 80 - - 80 - - 80 - - 80
You'd be firing at an effective average power level of 87.34.
An increase in DPS of 37%!

Weapon power over 125 base is not lost - it counteracts weapon drain. And guess what Cruisers excel at? Right: the ability to build up insane levels of subsystem power. That's the key to Cruiser-DPS (also to cruiser tanking, since you need to output dps to make mobs shoot at you).
And that's also why the Galaxy-R's Saucer Seperation is indeed the Galaxy's DPS-mode.
You're complaining that your ship deals no damage in heal-mode ... and that it can't heal as well in dps-mode. You're doing it completely WRONG!

L2P!
(you had this coming, you knew that, right? :p)

If you're still not convinced: give me a tell ingame, and I'll show you what a cruiser can do.

everything you say can be applied to any other cruiser and work better there. no mater what you choose to do, if you fly any other cruiser, you will perform your chosen task better then you will in a galaxy R. an ensign of any other type would be more useful, a 3rd ens eng hamstrings its damage dealing or healing with global cooldowns for another team ability, or global cooldowns for EPtX skills. not to mention the turn issue that cripples it in basically every way.

i still use the galaxy R sometimes, because its my favorite ship from trek. ive also gotten it to deal more damage then anyone else has in game, from this build here. but every time i jump from it to an excelsior, its literally twice as effective.

If this thread was about that ensign ... yeah, then you might have my support for it. Well, at least for the Fleet version, the Gal-R is fine as it is.
Fine?
Yes, fine. Every cruiser has a slightly different role and focus. The Galaxy happens to be the cruiser chosen for a more Heal&Support-focused layout, not one of the more tac- or sci-focused ones. That you don't like the fact that this iconic ship, your favorite, got "shafted" that way - tough luck. Sorry.
But that Ensign isn't "useless" - use-impaired, maybe, but it has its uses.
In fact, it actually gives you the opportunity to give the Galaxy some versatility: by running different EptX combinations, for example.
EPtS+EPtW for combat mode in Sep config.
EPtS+EptA for healer duty in brick mode, or to prime for Aux2Bat usage.
EPtS+EPtE for bursts of mobility in brick mode.

Build (Eng only):
Cmdr Eng: EPtW1, EPtS2, ES2, Aux2SIF3
LCdr Eng: EPtA1, RSP1, Aux2Bat2
Ens Eng: EPtE1
3x Damage Control Engineer as DOffs, and you have a ship that can basically do everything. And quite well.
Just one example.
Some other builds make use of the third Ens Eng with an ET1 for an additional heal. Also viable.

The Galaxy might not how YOU want to play. But that doesn't mean she's useless.

As for turning: see, above, the section that says "L2P! Use the f'ing Saucer Seperation console!".

Oh, and btw: stop pretending that the Galaxy-R is the worst T5 Cruiser. It isn't. There's always the Star Cruiser, that doesn't come with any DPS-mode, or any mobility-mode - that one is pure brick. The Galaxy-R, if used right (Saucer Sep for dps!) can nearly match the Assault Cruiser, and outperforms it in terms of versatility.
It's really fine for a RA T5 ship.

^pve'er logic, that build is good for nothing. and the star cruiser or ody with a star cruiser configuration is the best healer in the game actually, excluding tholian lock box ships.

Just make the ensign universal on fleet version and reduce the cooldown on saucer sep to 2 min. And you have one good ship. Beside, the fact its not just a free toggle is some artifical penalty, because some dev doesn't like the ship.

^pvp'er arrgogance, that build is useful for everything except PvP premade matches against good teams. It easily pushes 4.xk dps, can tank, can heal, can move fast. Useful in any ESTF or Fleet Event, and not a total dud in PvP either.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that in premade PvP with optimized teams, most ships are actually "useless" (as in: not optimized for the roles required) - at that level, it's all: Ody, Fleet Defiant, Lockbox ships, Carriers ... yeah, that's it. If you want to argue that line, have fun - you'll never get ALL ships to the same level for that purpose. Not even remotely possible.

I'll agree on the Star Cruiser or (Science) Ody for best healer part - thank you for agreeing that turn rate is of no importance for that job. Or did you forget that the Ody is even more a whale than the Galaxy?

Oh for the love of god. Are you blind or just plain stupid? I was talking about this game. Which I know for a fact you seem to know nothing about. THIS GAME. Your response is null in the context of THIS GAME.

All your experience would be perfectly fine and I would bow to your knowledge... involving... wait for it... CANON. Which... wait for it... THIS GAME IS NOT.

Let me try it one more time. The Galaxy is an EXPLORATION CRUISER in the context of THIS GAME. The Neg'vhar is a HEAVY BATTLECRUISER in the context of THIS GAME.

Not canon. Not tech manuals. Not your reporting website. THIS. BLOODY. GAME.

Correct me if I'm wrong... wasn't this thread opened with the intention of discussing turn rates?

*Runs for his life*

*Catches and brings him back*

Yes it was. It was opened to discuss an apparent discrepancy between the Neggy and Galaxy, since OP was under the impression that since the Neggy was seemingly larger, that it should have just as crappy a turn-rate as the Galaxy.

Shortly thereafter, the KDF vs Fed ships war started, and then information on the neggy and galaxy started being brought in, then some idiot that I am currently arguing tried to compare canon to this game which isn't canon, and then from thereon out it just got nuts.

Alles Klar? XP

Just give the Exploration Cruiser a hanger! Might as well since already have a escort and a science FDC. Even if such a change was made I can't see it comparing to a Vesta or Armitage except in the survival department.