New player as tactical needs advice at T2 cruiser or escort choice?

[Shawinigan Strangler]

Hi guys, so i get to choose if i want to get a crusier or escort. The play style I want is really a ship that has good attack ( damage) but also respectable defence. Is the retro fit ships at this tier worth it?

I like cruisers because of the size and look but at the same time a escort would probably be my flavour. I know you must hear this question alot, so any advice or material would be great

[Serious Dave]

At lower tiers it really dosen't matter (especially T2), it's more about finding your playstyle and experiment what works and what dosen't.
Also don't don't waste money on low tier cash ships, you'll only piloting them for a couple hours (2-3 max) and then move on to the next tier where you have better free stuff again. Once you reach 50 (and hopefully gathered some experience) you can worry about buying store ships.

Generally, more forward weapon slots + more tac consoles = more raw damage potential.
But to put those forward slots to good use you have to use stuff like double beam banks or dual heavy cannons which all have a narrow arc and require a high turn rate to be used effectively.

But the most important thing is your boff set-up. Whith those stands or falls a ship.

Long story short, at endgame there's pretty much a ship for everyone, for feds at least.
Pure cruisers, pure escorts, pure sci ships, tac sci ships, tac cruisers, engineering escorts, sci escorts, etc, etc,

On a sidenote, I'm also a cruiser lover.
Back then I used the operations Odyssey (that separation sucked me in) but last year I fell in love with the more tactical focused Eclipse.

[Shawinigan Strangler]

thank u serious dave but how did u do your boff set up for your odyseey? do you recommend getting to level 50 ASAP and then spend resources on on items? should i even look at R&D crafting as a tactical player?

[Ricco]

Take the advice of Serious Dave, it's worth Gold Pressed Latinum! I can speak from experience now, take your time in the lower levels. Master each weapon, shield, console. Research like craszy about Photon/Tetryon/Phaser/Antiproton etc. Study, like you did in school. Also, train your crew on everything! Do what ever you can to keep upgrading their skills and promote them to gain better abilities in combat. Do all the patrol missions in order... look up patrol missions in the gamepedia, or search patrol missions on google for the gamepedia list.

As far as the cruiser vs the escort ship, T2 I went with both to try them out, and preferred the cruiser because it just has more to offer (weapon slots/stations) Don't be suckered in to getting the Escort just because you read somewhere that Tac Officers prefer Escorts. It all comes down to personal preference. The only way to tell for sure which you like better is to get the free one and buy the other one :)

The most important thing to remember is to have as much fun with this great experience as you can. It can keep a person busy and entertained for many years if you don't rush through it.

[Shawinigan Strangler]

THANKS GUYs, i am just lost as to what should i put my resources to other then training during my time at tier 2 and 3?

[AbsynthMinded]

convert everything you dont use to EC, upgrade as you find stuff or drop a dime in the exchange or try crafting for it.. begging in ESD for mediocre to high grade low level stuff isnt uncommon.

I say play at the speed of interest in the story. Otherwise bust a move to 50 because the rest of the game starts there. Then again play at the speed of interest, explore everything in the STFs, expect to see yourself get blown to bits a whole lot. Pick your poision of combat style, and start refining your equipment to ever better till you get that style cranked up to a razors edge, and still get yourself blown up a whole lot.

[Serious Dave]

Originally posted by N3MES1S:

Originally posted by Serious Dave:

On a sidenote, I'm also a cruiser lover.
Back then I used the operations Odyssey (that separation sucked me in) but last year I fell in love with the more tactical focused Eclipse.

Then you will love the new T6 excelsior revamp... :) (i honestly think it is an insult to the original excelsior but watever..).

Only if they do something about that boff seats, even the fleet version had those 3 ensign engi slots without a single universal seat. That was the ody's strong point, universal lt.cmdr & ensign.

It's looks are kinda "meh". Not outright bad but not impressive either.

My dreamboat would be a T6 full-intel ody..... just love OSS3 & SS3.


On a side note;
Feds get another friggin' cruiser..... where the hell is the FIRST T6 sci ship for red & green ?! Srsly, I know of Geko's dumb statement but it's really getting aggravating. The next bunches in the works are "dreadnoughts" (one of the pack at least), escorts, and escort carriers.