science vessels

[stoneyface]

greetings all. since there has been some discussion on the other two ships i will give some science vessel advice. remember that you can retrain your bridge officers to get the skills you want. train your officers!!!

the science vessel role is the team buffer and alternate attack/support role. science ships have good shields, moderate hull but their strength comes from special attacks.

the first and most important ability i would recommend is called tykens rift. this special attack is superb at taking down shields on the initial pass. also, high yield torps, sensor scans and targeting subsystems are all very important abilities.

my favorite opening salvo is this. target ship, start firing with disruptors or phasers. i like disruptors as they bleed thru shields more. after you begin firing your beam weapons, hit them with tykens rift, target shields subsystems, do a sensor scan (this increases their damage taken), hit high yield torpedos, as soon as you hear "enemy shields are down" fire all your torps. quantums are better damage than photons but both are excellent with this method. i was doing regularly between 3000-4000 per torpedo with their shields down with this method. enemies just can't survive these attacks very long. early on i was using rear facing torpedos but then switched to mines. in my opinion, good mines do much more damage and will punish those enemies that charge. start laying mines about 20k out and just keep laying them. once you have their shields down and give them two hits or so, switch target subsystems to weapons. weapon and shields are really the only subsystems you have to target.

now onto defense.

important skills are: emergency power to shields, evasive maneuver, polarize hull, and brace for impact. brace for impact is imperative and i would recommend getting this skill as soon as you can. when you start getting hit with multiple opponents and their beam weapons, polarize the hull as much as you can, when you see multiple torps or plasma coming your way hit that brace for impact! brace for impact is so good at saving your crew i cannot tell you how effective it is. remember that mines will take away plasma torps and even track and focus in on the incoming plasma.brace for impact will basically take a devastating attack on you to about 1/4 of the damage you would have taken. a must is the emergency power to shields. save it until you need it with a shield or two down. it has a long cool down of 30 seconds or so but by that time you should have gotten away or turned to get another shield to take hits. if you are desperate and need to get the F out of dodge, pull the locutus maneuver and put emergency power to engine, and evasive maneuver, you can add an engine battery to it as well. you will be amazed at how fast and far you travel with this combo. seriously, it looks like the picard maneuver! other important skills higher up are, distribute shields power, target subsystem weapons to decrease enemy damage. i like to go about half speed and keep circling, this will keep a fresh shield to an opponent and when you keep dropping mines, it will create a lethal mine field around you and punish charging opponents.

another skill to consider is the tractor beam repulse. i used it effectively to push away charging opponents so instead of flying over you and therefore negating front arc torpedoes, you can repulse them away from you to the front and get another attack on you. the repulse with also automatically target anything within 4km of you including mines.

experiment around and find what you like to use. these are just what i found work for me. remember you are the buffer and your team will love your extra bonuses you give to your team. go in close behind the cruiser. when they are targeting the cruiser, start your initial "alpha strike" then get out and reasses what your next step should be. keep moving and help your team out. take out the small targets first and then go after the big guys. let your team leader call out targets and make sure you all target the same opponent. you will be amazing how fast you can take out even the big battleships while working as a team. go luck and good hunting!