So I just got promoted to Captain and am having some trouble deciding between a Galaxy class ship or a Defiant. On the one hand, I like that the Galaxy has a large crew, more weapons slots, more room for consoles, etc... But the turn rate is just 6. I have an Ambassador class now, and the turn rate is aggravating as little ships zip all around me. And then there's the Defiant, with one less weapon, one less bridge officer, one less console, and 950 fewer crew to make repairs, and 10,000 less hull rating. But she's a speedy little thing with a turn rate of 17, which lets me put my face forward more often... So it comes down to strength vs agility... Any thoughts on this dilemma?
Whatever you pick, it's not like you'll be in it for long. 30 to 40 takes what? A day or two? Pick whichever ship type you haven't tried yet.
Since you've been flying a slow turner the last ten levels, go with the Defiant this time. It will give you a chance to see which type of ship you handle better for end game.
Take the chance to try out all three types of starships while you're leveling up from 1 to 49. When you hit level 50, you'll know which type of ship you are most comfortable with. And that's when you pick one ship and stick with it for a very long time.
Agreed. Though don't let the slow turn rate of a cruiser fool you. Unlike an escort which has front loaded weapons, for the most part you don't NEED to face your enemy at all times. Depending on your loadout beams will enable you to have at least 4 beam weapons on your target at all times with up to 8. Typically an escort will load out heavy dual cannons and turrets in the back (for the 360° arc) which means there is only signidicant DPS on your target when you are facing it, so damage is higher but less consistent than in a cruiser. The tricky part is to save your maneuvering buffs until you need them to trap your enemy in warp plasma or get close to catch him in a tractor beam or other abilities that require a narrower arc. Otherwise the cruisers have a much higher survivability than an escort which will force you into a completely different kind of gameplay with hit and run strafing. Pick the escort to learn the difference. The Galaxy and Nebula class are not that different in gameplay to test the Galaxy right now. When you get to Admiral level you can go back to a cruiser, I recommend the Sovereign there or you can stick with escorts and play a Prometheus class which is a more balanced ship than the Defiant anyway. Those are the free ships you get. Once you are comfortable in your prefered playstyle you might think about a pay ship or you grind out one of our fleet ships. We have a good selection already available.
Thank you all for your valuable insights. I think I'm going to stick with a cruiser. Here's why: The higher survivability is important for me since I'm not the fastest gamer and tend to think slowly in battles or forget to use abilities when I should. And the point about a cruiser's ability to keep consistent damage going even without turning is a good one that I didn't consider. And besides that, I always loved the Enterprise D. My wife is the better player, and we usually do missions together. I suspect she'll try the Defiant and so we'll get the best of both worlds. One more question if I may: for our anniversary, I loaded our accounts with 5000 zen. Are the refit ship versions worth buying, or better to save the zen for something else (like master keys)?
As a rule of thumb, ships cost 2000-2500 zen OR 4-5 Fleet Ship Modules OR 800 lobi are "worth" getting. Although due to power creep, it is generally better to buy a recently released ship than a ship that was released 2+ years ago. And if you have a specific ship you're thinking of getting, feel free to ask here. We have several knowledgeable players who can provide you with more details about whether the ship's worth getting.
Is Power Creep what they used to call "Nerfing" in WoW -- messing around with stats to make you stronger, or opponents weaker? The Exploration Cruiser Refit is 1500 Zen. But I can't find any date there to indicate when it was added.
IF you are thinking about getting the Galaxy class, include the galaxy Bundle in that calculation. If you get the bundle you pay more, but you won't just get the retrofit which comes with saucer seperation ability, you will also get the Galaxy- X dreadnaught (from All Good Things...) which includes a cloaking device and a hangar slot for shuttles/fighters and has a generally more tactically orienteted slant and the T4 Venture class refit which is a slightly better version for Captain levels with an additional 2409 style ship costume and the antimatter spread ability console. If you combine the antimatter spread and the saucer seperation on one ship you get a set bonus and the seperated saucer pet also gains antimatter spread ability. In addition you will have a vast discount on fleet modules if you want to upgrade Retrofit or Dreadnaught to fleet grade versions later. You then only need one each instead of 4. But wait, till you've become familiar with the galaxy before making that decision. The Galaxy class, no matter which version is not even close to the best ships in game, esspecially DPS wise, so you really should like her as a ship and how she handles. Unseperated she is among the slowest cruisers in game and the Retrofit is the most specialized Engineering ship of them all. if your character is an engineer, as well, you can become almost unkillable but require very cost intensive builds to get damage to the point where you don't have to rely on others to contribute to team's damage. on the other hand, if you build it as a good support ships with heals and team resist abilities you can transfer that tankiness in a great way to your wife's escort's deadliness and keep her alive where she alone could NEVER prevail. You are in luck, we have maed our Fleet Dilithium Mine holding and can provide access to the best engineering consoles in game. Those consoles help a great deal with enhancing your maneuverability even in a Galaxy class cruiser to the point where it will probably be ust as easy to fly as the much more nimble Excelsior class used to be (without the consoles) which is fairly maneuverable.
Buying the pack sounds like a good idea. And I have to admit, I've been looking forward to trying out separated flight mode. Now that's kind of depressing. From Flagship of the Federation to "not even close to the best." But I guess that's what happens in 50 years. My character is Tactical -- which up until right now I was sure didn't really matter as all of the tactical abilities I use in space battles come from my XO. But after your comment above, I'm sure I'm missing something... An interesting way of thinking about this. I always envisioned smaller ships supporting the Galaxy rather than vice versa... A little like the USS Odyssey and runabouts in DS9's "The Search." I've been looking through all that, and it seems the currency is in Fleet Credit, while all I have are some Fleet Marks. I'm not sure what the relationship is between the two...
Tactical is good, since the galaxy has all the survivibility it will ever need on it's own, but your Captain will have a couple of DPS enhancing powers to give it some much needed punch. Attack Pattern Alpha: greatly enhances your damage, crits and turn rate Fire on my Mark: reduces damage resistance amd stealth of your target Tactical Initiative: reduces your Tac officers ability cooldowns Go down fighting: when your hull goes below 50% integrity you can use this ability to add another damage buff Tactical Fleet: Damage, turn rate and accuracy buff for your whole team Fleet Marks are earned in fleet missions and from some event missions. You use them to contribute to our fleet projects to level and build up our Starbase and holdings (Dilithium Mine, which is all but finished, Romulan Embassy and Dyson Sphere Spire). Contributing Fleet Marks, Dilithium, Duty Officers and other stuff will generate fleet credits for you which you can use to buy fleet grade gear and ships.
I've been flying the Galaxy refit (U.S.S. Mustang) on my engineer for a while now and I really like it. Tanks really well, I have tuned it to have a pretty high DPS and I rarely die. I use it as a tetryon beam boat though I do have one torpedo launcher. Her beams can burn through a bad guys pretty quick. I love the 25th century design, just an awesome update! I did try the updated dreadnaught version, It's not bad but you cant use the updated 25th century look on it.
I have to admit that I prefer the 24th century look. It just tickles my inner Trekkie. My wife and I took our ships out for a spin last night, and I got my *** handed to me multiple times. I think I'm not properly spec'd or something because my previous ship (Ambassador Class) seemed to last a lot longer in PVE fights. Either I'm drawing that much more fire, or something's amiss... Speaking of something amiss, does anybody have any idea what this means: What's this [1/2] notation? For 4000Z, shouldn't I have gotten Saucer Separation with my bundle? Or is does that come later with one of the higher level Galaxy cruisers?
^ And come to think of it -- and this is just an idle rant -- why does Saucer Separation require console space when it should be a native ability of the class?
Annoyingly, even the 'native abilities' take a console slot these days. Didn't use to, but that's how they revamped it when they added all these new special features all over the place. When you get up in rank to claim the T5 Retrofit ship, it will come with the separation console, and then you can stack it next to the antimater console if you want, don't have to keep it on that version of the ship. You just aren't ranked high enough to get it yet, but you have it unlocked. We could nitpick all the way through your loadout, but in general: Lose the mines, get rid of at least one, if not both torps in favor of beams all the way through. You don't have the turn speed for the dual beam bank, make that a beam array as well. Can't see the level well enough to see what they are at, but i'll say in general, doesn't matter much until endgame, just keep up with whatever you're at. Don't spend much EC to get blue/purple stuff, just use what comes from the missions or buy white gear you can resell without it getting bound by use. Working through the Rep system will get you some upgrades (Borg assimilated Console is a standard one in any decent setup). Get the same beam type for all your beam arrays, and then both TAC consoles should match that type. That will max what you can do for DPS there. Using the torpedoes has you wasting a TAC slot to boost them as well. If you had 6-7 phaser arrays, and 2 consoles to boost phaser damage, you'd be in business. Without Rep consoles, the Shield Capacity ones are the ones you should be using for SCI. Forget the exact name, but the ones that give you 15-20% greater shield capacity. Antimatter spread is kinda a waste, but i guess can at least get you out of targeting range if you're locked in fighting something, I guess. Lots of options here, but at least load up on whichever armor boosts the stats against the enemy you're fighting at the moment. Fighting Klingons, need distruptor damage protection, Romulans or Borg mean Plasma, etc. Preference, but during leveling, I used to like being cruiser, and once I hit end game, have a hard time being anything other than Escort. You need the survivability and ability to solo while leveling, and time doesn't really matter, but once you're doing end game content, really seems that speed and DPS are all you need (vice tanking), and play a lot better to the content. Now that I'm so used to Escorts, I have a hard time NOT playing them even at leveling. Most of the early ones are ugly bastards, though, Cruisers got the fun ships to look at...