The usual STF Deflector-Engine-Shield Question

Up front: yes, I know there's things in here that need updating from w/e to mk xi or xii. I ain't rich yet (if I were, there'd be another klingon timeship).

Captain: Engineer
Ship: Armitage Heavy Escort (Patrol Escort with minions, stat-wise)
Fore:
PolDis Dual Cannon XII [critD][critH]
Dis Dual Cannon XII [critD][dmg]
Dis Dual Cannon XII [acc][dmg]
Photon Torp XII [critD][critH][borg]

aft: (all need scaling up as I get protos)
Dis Turret XI [acc][crith][borg]
PolDis Turret XI [acc][critd]
Quantum Torp XI [critd][crith][borg] (will become Photon XII next proto)

Devices: Subspace Field Mod, Deuterium Surplus
Eng: Neutronium XI, Borg, Isometric Charge (swarm killing, may replace)
Sci: Emitter Array IX (I know), Photon Torp Point Defense
Tac: Disruptor Coil XI x4 (-1, +1 photon torp eventually?)

Hangar: flying monkeys du jour - usually runabouts, sometimes peregrines

BOFFs
Tac: THY1 / TT2 / CRF2 / CSV3
Tac: TT1 / APB1
Tac: TS1
Eng: EPtS1 / AuxBat1 / AuxSIF2
Sci: TSS1 / HE2

So. Toys wot I got currently:
Deflector: Aegis, Borg
Engine: Aegis, Borg, MACO
Shield: Aegis, (Borg,) MACO

I've been running full Aegis because taking less damage is sexy, and I'm a fan of having all the shielding. But "conventional wisdom" lately is Borgx3 + MACO shield for all ships, all the time. (I do not like the Borg shield. Paper seems to have a higher strength. I'm willing to listen to counterarguments.) (And if we're being completely petty, I like the visuals on the MACO Engines.) Obviously, I can't alpha strike like a tac (or a sci with abilities up), so I tend towards sustaining as high as I can. And this is strictly pvp.

So my options seem to be (D-E-S):

• Aegis x3 (current setup)
• Aegis Borg Aegis (stat difference between the engines is negligible. This would be: -reactive shielding, +shield regen.)
• Borg Borg Aegis (more raw shield than MACO, but more shield damage taken.)
• Borg Borg MACO (hull regen, shield regen)
• Borg MACO MACO (-shield regen, +power recharge and insulators)

Thoughts about the mythical day when I see MACO Deflector is also appreciated. Or Omega - pretty shield, break-even deflector, unimpressive engine...is Tetryon Glider even a useful amount?

didn't see it, but I didn't go much more than three pages back, since the dates went before the s06 overhauls.

question was "any experience with any of those combos"?

I've heard people gush at some length about Tetryon Glider. Apparently the damage piles up because it's per hit, and a cannon spits out a zillion shots at once. Partial Omega is my tac's goal, although I can't personally attest to the value of TG because I've managed to never pick up two techs of the same level as Benton.

My sci never leaves home without her MACO shield. Between the natural sci shielding bonuses, the 10% energy damage resistance, the high capacity, and resilience, it's a must to compensate for the RSV's weak hull/strong shield combo. Then again, I stubbornly insist on pairing it with Jem deflector and engines for the polaron and graviton boosts, so I may not be conventional wisdom enough to ask.

Nice stuff... given that I run an engineer as well, here are some totally unqualified thoughts on your build. Note that this is strictly my opinion and any mass crew deaths that may occur as a result of this advice is entirely not my responsibility.

1. On the deflector/engine/shield, I currently switch between my defensive configuration (borg/borg/maco) and my offensive configuration (omega/omega/maco), precisely for the tetryon glider that doc referred to. I don't really use the aegis set anymore, and it's pretty rare to see it in pvp. Random fact: Tetryon glider is currently based on the flow capacitor skill, but this will be changing to shield emitter in season 7.

2. I'd love to know your rationale behind your Eng BOFF choices, are they DOFF related? What about something like EPtS1, EPtS2, RSP2 with your build. RSP is one of my favourite get-out-of-jail free cards, especially for a big tac onslaught, to buy you a few seconds to let your healer come online. I've also been underwhelmed by TSS1, and would look at things like *HEx2*, PH or, potentially, TB. Hull repair will prob be one of the issues of your current build, particularly against shield penetrating attacks.

3. You don't mention your DOFF configuration, which has become an essential part of the build, and may influence your BOFF choices. Do make sure you've got some creative thinking around which ones you'll use!

4. A little future pvp idea, think about aiming to have a second weapon type handy as you collect your gear. Since players can swap out armor after a kill to optimize against your energy type, it can be VERY handy to pull out an entirely different set of weapons to surprise them. :-)

Errrrr. And WHY am I helping a fed again? Oh yeah, cause you've got a rocking klink as well. :-p

P.S. SBOSlayer is the real expert at this stuff, I'll send him a note and see if we can get him to add his ideas to this thread.

I've got a Polaron-sporting DSSV using Jem / Jem / RemanXI|Jem for that very same Polaron boost.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I switched to Transfer because it avoids cooldown clusters and it's self/ally. Tac Team+Transfer Shield is a very potent combo for escort missions as well as self-defense. Generally, though, I do like to keep a Polarize Hull around, and Emitters are essential, so with only two sci abilities to play with, it's definitely a tough call.

2. They aren't finalized. I had been running EPtS1 / ET2 / EWPx, but EWP was sometimes iffy to use, and ET interfered with TT uptime. And I've never been overly impressed with RSP, whereas I'm kind of loving AuxBat's 'moar power' button. The reason for TSS is that I like having the "fuck it, I'm healing all my shields" on a timer slightly shorter than Miracle Worker. And yeah, hull repair is something of an issue, hence me having AuxSIF - the logic was a shield flash, a shield regen, and two hull regens, in addition to RSF and MW.

3. Right now:
BOff recharge when AuxBatt
EPtX cooldown chance
EPtX all systems power boost
Intercept pet accuracy x2

4. What is this "Pvp" you speak of? I haven't met that faction. Are they up off Deferi space somewhere? ^.- (Seriously though, I think I've got a full cannon set for olaron around somewhere, and I may have parts of plasma somewhere.)

Hah hah, KNEW you had to have some EPtX DOFFs hidden away somewhere with that build. Nicely done. ;-)

Well I'd encourage you to "Give RSP a chance" (singing that in my head), it's my Holy Shit button. And one way I've gotten around your 'moar power' issue is to use a plasmodic leech console (yummm, thanks Michael), so one option might be to incorporate that and free up the AuxBat slot.

Agreed on ET, would LOVE you to have it, but three teams start to fall all over each other, and the 2 TTs are more important.

I've never used AuxSIF, and after finally taking a sec and reading its spec, it seems more powerful than I'd assumed. And I assume stowiki can't be right that AuxSIF1 really THAT much worse than AuxSIF2?

http://www.stowiki.org/Ability:_Auxiliary_to_Structural

Doctor: Totally greed on the benefits of TSS (cooldown, ally), I just found it was too weak and too slow, especially compared to things like EPtS and science team. However, as my aux level is generally pretty low, I realized that there's a high chance I'm dramatically underselling it.

So, just for giggles, here's where I'm ending up after being convinced that I was totally wrong on a number of points:

Eng: EPtS1 / AuxSIF1 / RSP2 (or reverse last two)
Sci: TSS1 or PH / HE2

So yes, the AuxSIF can help the hull repair better than I thought, and I'll assume that you can make TSS work better than I can, potentially through some dazzling power preset magic. However, I'd probably still choose PH over TSS as a counter to tractor beams. Still not convinced that the marginal extra power from AuxBatt is worth as much as an RSP (i.e., resurrect to full health from near death), or even a second EPtS given your DOFF choices.

Oh, and the pvpers are a race of highly seclusive creatures that only venture out from their dark caves to take pleasure from destroying creatures weaker than themselves. Quite horrible really. (And just as seriously, I should mention that, ideally, your second damage type should not be easily covered by armors that also protect against the first type!)

Yeah, the wiki numbers on AuxSIF1 are seriously wrong. I think with a 50ish (25 plus 'hi, engineer') Aux, it's slightly over 3000 hp healed - not even close to ET, but the DR helps a lot, and it doesn't step on TT's toes. (The shame is the doff's got AuxSIF3, but cruiser turn rates usually drive me batty - I may respec his lower and play around with that later.)

It's not like I don't have a few million expertise, so I'll throw him at the wall, see what works - does RSP negate incoming shield damage on top of the healing - considering the long cooldown, I have a hard time taking up a slot with it if it doesn't do something more.

Earlier, you said "TB" - Tachyon or Tractor? Which and why?

Yes, OMG YES! lol. RSP negates all incoming energy damage AND heals the shield that's getting blasted with a certain % of that energy. SO, if you're in a firestorm (love doing this at the start of a pvp when getting hit by several tacs), a quick RSP + TT will take all that energy and distribute it, healing you up to 100% on all shields AND buy you a few seconds of total peace. Sometimes quite dramatic I find. REALLY good pvpers will recognize RSP and quickly switch to only torpedoes, but most people just use 'fireall' and can't. Great for PVE in any case.

On your second point, the question of TTS, PH or TrB, depends on how you fly. My ship is agile like a dead whale, so I need TrB to keep my foes in front of me. A counter response, for f&*king slippery bastards like Voleron and Traull, is to use PH to be able to keep that ability to move, and the high defense that goes with it. TTS is obviously for pure tanking. So will let you make that call based on how you like to use the ship, and since I'm not hugely familiar with it.

I had just picked up my MACOflector and subbed it in for my old Jemuflector when I heard that I apparently had the 2nd best DPS in the STF where I won it. This made me go back and think a bit:

1. The 2xMACO set bonus, magna rebate, seems...kind of dumb. We're talking barely more useful than a white doff.
2. 2xJem'Hadar gives you a polaron damage bonus and I use polaron everything and apparently that's working out better than I thought!
3. The MACOflector has huge perks for tanks, but I am not particularly tanky.
4. Meanwhile the Jemuflector has a 33% bigger Graviton boost, very important when passing out gravwells like cheap cigars, and an absolutely colossal bonus to siphon and system targeting, which I use all the time.

I think I might have to stick to Jem-Jem-MACO!

BUT I do have to admit the MACOflector has a really cool particle effect.