Basic Shipbuilding Guide: Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance

Welcome to Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance! This is intended to be a guide for players new and old to think about building the perfect ship for them.

As this guide gets updated, links will be placed below to each of the chapters.

1. Introduction
2. The Two Commandments (of Energy Weapons)

Introduction

Ding! You're level 50! Now, what are you gonna do in game?
If you're like many Fleeties, you may want to participate in space PVE runs like Azure Nebula or Fleet Alert or Elite space STFs. Perhaps you want to go head to head with your fleetmates in PVP. Whether you first hit 50 a while back or just a few minutes ago, you may be apprehensive about joining one of these events if you feel your shipbuild isn't up to par. Don't worry! Many seasoned players have shared your concerns at one point.
Before we begin working on our first build together, though, let's consider the five stages a STO player can go through in regards to their ship build. Keep in mind that not all players need to progress through all the stages!

The Five Stages of Builds

Stage One: The First Build

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

STO tells you precious little about constructing an effective build. Unless you've researched builds extensively or asked a Fleetie for advice, you're likely to be flying a Stage One build at level 50.
Stage One builds are created using random drops from the story missions. They do not follow the established guidelines of effective shipbuilding, mostly because the player doesn't know about them yet.
If you intend to play only the story missions/some story-based Foundry content in STO, your Stage One build may meet your needs.
Note: if you are still building ships at Stage One, do NOT spend your EC on ship components! Once you figure out what you want to do with your ship, you can buy all you like. Save your EC until then! Also, do not worry about C-store items as they are purchased with real money. The last thing you want at the beginning is buyer's regret!

Stage Two: The Basic Build

“When something dies is the greatest teaching.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

When a player begins to learn and implement the basic rules of effective shipbuilding, they graduate to Stage Two. Stage Two players begin to curate their ship's components to increase their build's effectiveness. These builds still tend to use stuff from drops as well as items from the fleet bank, with a few purchased off the exchange.
Stage Two builds are moderately effective in shorter PVE queue events like Starbase Defense, but they may have trouble in Elite Space STFs. Still, the challenge may be what many players need to boost them to Stage Three. If you would rather just play casual space missions, Stage Two may be a good stopping point for you, though you may find yourself slipping into Stage Three before you know it!

Stage Three: The Elite Basic Build

“Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Wherever You Are, Enlightenment Is There

The difference between the Stage Three build and the Stage Two build is one of mindset. Both builds still utilize the same components sourced from drops, the fleet bank, and the exchange. However, a Stage Three player begins to consider their playstyle and desired role in team events. Do you prefer to tank or heal? Do you want to feel the power of pure DPS or run crowd control? A Stage Three player begins to seriously consider their build around these questions.
Once the player begins refining their build around these questions, they may be fully ready to jump into the Elite STF pool. They can also start to spend their hard earned Fleet and Reputation marks on specialized gear to make their build even more effective.

Stage Four: Optimized Builds

“Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.”
― Shunryu Suzuki

When a player reaches Stage Four, they are crafting their build using a very specific role in mind. Here's where things start to get very expensive, my lovelies, because Stage Four builds often use Fleet, Reputation, and C-Store items to increase their effectiveness.
Stage Four builds are some of the heaviest hitters, healers, and crowd controllers in Elite STFs. Many experienced, effective players find most of their enjoyment at builds of this level.

Stage Five: Elite Optimized Builds

“When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.”
― Shunryu Suzuki

Stage Five builds are among the most effective in the game and represent a thorough understanding of game mechanics. Of Stage Five builds, I have identified two subtypes.
The first are Min/Maxed builds. With these, every component has been tweaked and refined to be as effective as possible in either PVE or PVP scenarios.
The second are 'Creative' builds. With these, a player may attempt to 'break' a generally accepted rule and still maintain effectiveness. These are the Picasso paintings of the shipbuilding world, and are only effective when the game mechanics are understood by the player.

To Close

We will be talking about 'rules' when we begin our adventures in shipbuilding next week. However, it's clear that all rules can be (and often are) bent or broken. In the end, we are all playing a game about virtual spaceships together, with the ultimate goal being 'fun.' If what you're doing isn't fun, consider other options.
You don't have to do any of this, either, though you may find that refining your build to accomplish your goals (whether they be enjoying the stories told on the Foundry, running Elite Hive with other suicidal idiots like me, or shooting up your friends in PvP) increases your enjoyment of the game. But if it's not fun anymore? Stop. Take a breath. And figure out how to make it fun again.

“Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.”
― Shunryu Suzuki

Coming up!

We'll head out to the shipyards at Qo'noS and meet our test ship, the IKS Garbage Scow. It's a Risian Corvette with a lot of problems. We'll look at the basic rules for an effective build, and move the Garbage Scow from a Level One to a Level Two ship!

Part Two: The Two Commandments



This is the IKS Garbage Scow, a Risian Corvette from the summer event. Unfortunately, it's no longer available if you don't have one. I chose this ship to showcase because it's cross-faction and not a C-Store vessel. Also, many of you may have one lying about. If you're playing along at home, feel free to copy the Garbage Scow's build as much as you like.
I will warn you: I intend to make this guide rather comprehensive. I'll be walking you through weapons, consoles, bridge officers, duty officers, traits, and specs. We'll also touch on making the most of the advice you receive along the way. Because of this, the guide is likely going to take a while for me to complete, so please be patient! I also admit that I am still very much a student myself. I chose to write on this topic not because I am particularly knowledgeable about ship builds, but I do know a thing or two about learning how to do something.
So let's do this thing together.

The Basic Rules of Effective Builds



Ah, that new starship smell. Here's the Scow as she appears fresh out of the box. Today, we are going to talk about outfitting her with some weapons. We can generally classify ship weapons in four basic types: Cannons/Turrets, Beams, Torpedoes, and Mines. Cannons/Turrets and Beams are known as energy weapons. Torpedoes and Mines are projectile weapons. We'll worry only about energy weapons today.

The First Commandment: Thou Shalt Choose One Energy Weapon Type

Energy weapons come in multiple flavors. Geo has written an excellent guide to them here. Each weapon type has a proc, or an effect that has a chance to occur when the weapon hits the target. Some people select their weapon type based on their desired proc, other prefer to use the canon weapon type for their ship (such as phasers on a Federation ship and Plasma for a Romulan ship.)
It doesn't matter which weapon type you select as long as you commit to it. Don't cheat on Disruptors by running Polarons on the same ship! A ship that runs energy weapons of multiple types is often known as a rainbow build. Rainbow builds are generally bad news because the best tactical consoles boost your damage in a single energy weapon type. As you play, you may find energy weapons that have multiple procs. However, these weapons have a 'base type' that is affected by a corresponding tactical console. So, you should only run energy weapons that correspond to a single base type.

The Second Commandment: Thou Shalt Choose Beams or Cannons

Many new shipbuilders learn quickly that one should not mix energy weapon types. A slightly less-known rule is to run either beams OR cannons, not both. The reason for this is fairly simple. Bridge officer abilities such as 'Beam Fire at Will' and 'Cannon: Rapid Fire' affect only one of these two types of weapons. Therefore, a build with both beams and cannons will be less effective than an unmixed build.
So, which to pick? A good rule of thumb is to look at how your ship flies. A large, slow-turning cruiser like the Romulan D'deridex is suited for broadsiding opponents with beams. Meanwhile, a fast escort such as the Defiant is effective with cannons at the fore and turrets aft. These quick ships can zip up to enemies and blast them head on. The turrets, with their 360 degree range, ensure that they are always firing, despite their lower DPS (damage-per-second).



Before we move on to the next installment, let's check on the Scow. I've outfitted her with random crap from drops. Knowing what you know now, can you spot everything that's wrong with this zippy-fast escort? How would you fix it?

Fore weapons:
Tetryon Cannon
Phaser Cannon
Transphasic Torpedo
Plasma Turret

Aft Weapons:
Plasma Beam Array
Plasma Beam Array
Plasma Beam Array


A Final Note

1. There are some builds that only use projectile weapons. We'll look at that option later.

2. There are builds that mix beams and turrets, and I am sure there is at least one effective rainbow build. Please follow the Picasso Rule: If you haven't mastered the basics, you can't bend the rules effectively. You must first be able to do this before you can do this.

Quote by Paladia

Knowing what you know now, can you spot everything that's wrong with this zippy-fast escort? How would you fix it?

OOOHHH!!! OOHHH!!! OOHHH!!!! I Know! I Know!

but i like rainbow :)
doesn't a rainbow build capture more of the flavoured procs, u can always use the generic beam weapon console to boost them all. the price to pay is the weapon power drain i guess but it sure is bootiful!

The generic console gives a lower damage bonus and considering for most ships their energy weapons give the bulk of their damage this can be a considerable loss.

Quote by calx

but i like rainbow :)
doesn't a rainbow build capture more of the flavoured procs, u can always use the generic beam weapon console to boost them all. the price to pay is the weapon power drain i guess but it sure is bootiful!

So far, I haven't personally witnessed a rainbow build that can pull its weight in an elite STF. That doesn't mean that no such build exists, just that I haven't seen one and pretty much all the veteran players I've spoken to advise against it.
If your DPS isn't your main concern, have at, but you will be far less effective than you would be running a single energy type. Going into an elite STF with a rainbow build is like going to the Corrida de Toros in Pamplona while wearing Lady Gaga's lobster shoes. Sure, you MAY be skilled enough to use those heels to keep the bulls from goring you... but I sure ain't, haha.

excellent start to what looks like will be an amazing guide :)