DPS build for beginners

[[BSB]Dougiekc]

Started playing STO less than a week ago and after too many hours in front of the old screen I find myself at lvl 62. I treated myself to a new ship, a tactical temporal escort and now......I am unsure of weapons set up!!!

Can anyone assist?

After spending much time on you tube I find the videos a little advanced for someone who is essentially a new player, entirely excusable as the game has been around for some time but you know!!!!

Anyway, should I go for beams? Phasers? and what is a good set and what mission do I/can I repeat to get said gear?

Consoles.....what console should I get to pair with my weapons, where can I get said consoles etc etc

Recommendations and hints/tips would be very welcome

[jozenone]

It depends, there's so much to choose from, and so many special weapons.

As a base, beams have wider firing arcs, but do somewhat less damage, while cannons and dual cannons have much narrower arcs, but comparatively better damage and 1 more shot per cycle. 360 beams are available, but only 1 crafted, 1 reputation purchase, and 1 loot can be equiped. 360 cannons are relatively weak to most other weapons, but do givve that full 360 arc.

If I remember, the base weapon attachments are:

phaser - proc to system offline
plasma - proc to DoT
disruptor - proc to resistance debuff
anti-proton - crit severity
polaron - proc to power drain
tetryon - proc to shield drain

However, there are many hybrid types and special types of each and also special modifiers only available through crafting

Using an escort's maneuverablity I might be tempted to use cannons

tactical consoles are available to boost each weapon base damage type (avoid general boosters if possible as they are only about 2/3 as effective) There are missions that do award very rare weapon capacitors of varying types. Check the New Frontiers episodes. There are also reputation and unique starship consoles and sets that can give bonuses to damage output, and engineering consoles that boost starship weapon power level

[Wolf Echo]

If you wan a decent beam phaser, do "Everything old is New" a few times, it's got a DMGx2 beam phaser array as a selectable reward.

As for consoles, as jozenone said, use ones that play to what you want/like and avoid general ones

[[BSB]Dougiekc]

Thanks chaps...something to get my teeth into.

Would you put beams up front and cannons on the side or beams all over? So much choice......

[The Arkady]

You don't mix beams and cannons (including turrets). Never. You want tac boff abilitites to apply to all your energy weapons, so you use beams or cannons.

Escort is normally a ship class to go dual heavy cannon with: it's maneuverable enough you should be able to position yourself so your main target is in their arc. (Top-tier cannon builds will often forego even having a torpedo, though imo for newer players in PvE it's better to keep one.)

Phasers are a rather meh damage type, really; the other procs are usually more useful than systems offline. Still, energy type doesn't really matter that much for a ship that doesn't have a type-specific console.

For a new player, going Polaron can make sense as that one is supported by more reputations than any other, i.e. you can actually fill your weapon slots with free VR Mk XI(I) stuff faster than with any other type. Doesn't even have to be your long-term plan; just assemble a set of your favorite energy type on the side (pro tip: use docked ships for free storage).

Consoles, you'll probably want to bite the bullet and get a set of energy type tacs from the exchange.

Of course, if you're in a good, actrive fleet, some vet might simply outfit you with a set of crafted consoles and weapons of your favorite type. As long as you don't insist on getting [Pen] that#s be right cheap.

[jozenone]

One caveat to Arkady's comments. If you are bad at piloting, dual cannons are not for you. I gave up weeks ago. The targeting arc is only 45deg except for superior crafted, and perhaps some specials.

I'm hopeless at targeting below 90 degrees most days.

[The Arkady]

True. To add to it, If you can't make DHC work on the temporal escort, escorts might not be ideal for you. Cruisers make for far better beam boats on average.

[Agnithrax]

Imo for dps pound for pound I like the straight up Star Fleet mainstays of Phaser Beam Arrays and Photon Torpedoes. Photon Torps fire every 6 seconds so when you've got 'em in your firing arc they're usually ready for the pew pew pew of high yield multiple torps firing downfield. When you're rocking an Escort or Destroyer though or have the RCS slots set up to turn on a dime it's all about them dual heavy cannons. Of course, unfortunately, outfitting Phasers and Photons gets expensive so an alt build while you're catching your [DMG] weapons and tactical consoles piecemeal is a good idea and Polarons will be a rash across your reputation level ups so invest in some very rare polaron tacticals and let that work for you. That 45 degree arc will become easy peasey when you can get a good turn arc, what trips me up is speed but with that if you drop your engines and aux to 25 or 30 to max your weapons and shields you'll also get more time on target; If you aim your nose on them and do strafing runs in kind of a bell valley that seems to work out best for me bearing down on the approach and up and away on the exit is most forgiving for me to line up my next run since ,of course, they're moving too. Start your 180 turn back at them at about 7.5 or 8 km otherwise you'll be out of range while turning and your butt gunz won't be working for you. I tend to pop my Omega when I've crossed the plane of fore to aft guns and pop my rapid fire while I'm turning to reacuire my firing arc for another strafing run. After the agonizingly long smashmouth fights of wearing them down with a beam boat you'll say to yourself 'there's gotta be a better way' that way is heavy dual cannons. If you're not at 65th yet though, don't just go all in for Escorts at every new ship choice, you'll want a variety of crusisers and science ships to go with the escorts for your admiralty and pounding it out with a beam boat or a sci ship sporting beam arrrays and a torp fore and aft will not really take too long during your leveling up process to be such a nuisance as the baddies go down rather quickly whatever your build. At end game if you're rocking a carrier you can fill in beam banks for your cannon and still be pretty effective but you'll really miss them cannons so only go t6 fleet there or you'll regret whether hangers and hull points are a good trade off for them cannon. Lastly, if you're playing a Klingon there's nothing quite like de-cloaking and opening up on them from ambush; sooner or later you have got to treat yourself to that. Cheers and happy blasting!

[[BSB]Dougiekc]

Thanks folks...plenty to think about. According to yet another youtube video (where the video maker assumes his audience are all STO experts) the "future proof" story line is a good mission to repeat in order to get half decent weapons. Anywhere else I should look?

Still not up to speed with consoles.....I have any old rubbish equipped at the moment as I can barely fill the slots! Much to do......some game this!

[The Arkady]

Missions to run for weapons depend on what energy type you like.

The Future Proof arc is good for phasers, specifically its opening mission "Sunrise". That's really the most must-play mission there is for phaser users (a fairly nice phaser weapon and a non-tactical damage boosting console; doing a third run for the torpedo is a good idea, too).
Other missions in the arc have decent deflectors, shields and engines, but iirc none of them are really must-haves for phaser builds specifically.

"Beyond the Nexus" form the New Frontiers arc is also nice for phasers with a turret or 360 beam.

[[BSB]Dougiekc]

Cheers mate, that's my Friday night sorted!!!!!!!

[Red Dox]

Ground builds, since we currently also have Sompek and you get your groudn gear faste rin shape
https://www.sto-league.com/ground-builds/
https://www.sto-league.com/arena-of-sompek/

Space is a bit more specific, depending on what you want to play (Beams? Cannons? Torps? Polaron for style over Disruptor?), what Ship you use, what you can afford, etc. This recent list
https://www.sto-league.com/jemhadar-vanguard-ships/
might still help you. And you can look up unfamiliar items here https://sto.gamepedia.com/Main_Page

-Of course the meta might change soon again a bit, when everyone has access to his new Tier6 reputation stuff.
- Also keep in mind that this month will come the yearly Black Friday sale for the ZEN store. So if you have the urge to buy something there, sit on your money/ZEN until then.
-Here is a older topic for "What ships to buy there"
https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/5enkni/black_friday/
-And just to mention it: ALWAYS upgrade your gear only on Upgrade weekends. That saves you Dil/Upgrades. If you fly/run around in MK XII stuff, just stick to it until an Upgrade weekend draws near (comes always after a Dilithium Weekend).

[[BSB]Dougiekc]

Well that's me lvl 65.....trained bridge officers, doing lots of r & d and fiddled about with skills etc. Still got a lot to learn but the massive volume is a big part of the games charm. Thanks to this very thread I DO NOT mix beams and cannons!

Anyway, I have decided to work toward a build of Photon torpedo's and Anti-Proton cannons. Just because!!!!!

Here is the hard bit....where do I find them? Having scoured the STO forum and watched even more youtube I haven't been able to find a list of weapons and where to get them? And that's before I even think about the consoles!

Anyone any ideas?

Perhaps a simple guide of where to get what would be an idea for a good youtube video....

Edited to add: Guess what I found moments after posting that!!!! The very guide I was looking for on a site called Lethality!!!

Thanks for the advice folks, much appreciated!

[The Arkady]

Antiproton? The Iconian and Temporal Defense reputations give antiproton weapons (don't get confused by TD weapons saying "Chroniton" in the name; beams and cannons are antiproton energy type).

I can't think of any special mission drop antiproton cannons, just the ancient omni-directional beam, which is a beam, obviously. (I'm pretty sure there's a mission or two that gives regular AP stuff.)

Save up some dil (at least 40k, to be precise) for the next time the Phoenix prize pack rolls around. For a rare prize voucher, you get the Crystalline Absorption Matrix, which boosts AP dmg and has decent defensive boost/clicky. If you happen to get a VR prize voucher, the Crystalline Energy Torpedo, which is an antiproton weapon for pourposes of boosting damage, is an option. (For uncommon prize vouchers, get Phoenix Tech Upgrades).

[8ullfrog]

Whatever strategy you settle on, know that it will be nerfed. I had a godly DPS AP boat, and now it's garbage.

[The Arkady]

Didn't expect another Phoenix prize pack weekend this soon. If you don't have the dilithium to buy any, make sure to pick up free packs at Drozana or DS9 this weekend.