U.S.S. Doolittle
Fleet Engle Strike Wing Escort
Build Overview and Focus
Last Updated December 2022
For my first modern torpedo boat, I wanted to do something a little bit different and focus on full Quantum. This has caused considerable surprise (and disapproval) when I've offered this an example build, since the meta involves a mixture of torpedoes--principally, the Enhanced Bio-Molecular torpedo. While I don't deny that is a potent weapon and I use it on my Kinetic Scimitar, I also wanted to show that torpedo boats don't need that weapon to do incredibly well. This ship was the STOBETTER ISE leader at over 800K DPS until the Eagle came out and despite its departure from the meta torps has plenty to illustrate in terms of how to build a torpedo ship.
Flavor/Theme Choices
Not all SRO/Watcher boffs
All Quantum Torpedo build
Namesake
James Doolittle was an aviation pioneer and a leader in the development of early aerial bombing. He personally led an air raid in a wave of medium bombers launched from an aircraft carrier and continued to command throughout Earth’s Second World War. Following the war, he continued to advocate for not only aviation but space-faring rocketry as well. Doolittle’s other accomplishments included advocating for desegregation of the military and better civil planning around airports. The U.S.S. Doolittle, as have several other Federation starships of the same name, carries on the legacy of this pioneer and fittingly the name is born by a lethal Strike Wing Escort that serves as both torpedo bomber and carrier.
Meta Analysis
ISA: 263K
ISE: 809K
HSE: 631K
Budget Analysis
Using the EZRA rubric, this build would cost 657.40 USD to replicate. That is far more than what I spent on STO to make it. If the cost looks daunting, don't worry! Lower-budget alternatives are provided below.
Elite Captain/T6X upgrade, all fleet unlocks
5 T6 C-store ships (Shran, Bozeman, Gagarin, Grissom, Appalachia or cross-faction equivalents)
1 fleet ship (Fleet Earhart)
1 Lockbox ship (Mirror Engle)
1 Lobi ship (Son'a Intel Battlecruiser)
1 Legendary ship (Legendary D'Deridex)
2 Lobi items (Delphic Distortion Torpedo, The Boimler Effect)
1 Event weapon (Soliton Wave Impeller), 1 Event device (Kobayashi Maru Transponder)
2 Lockbox consoles, 7 lockbox traits including Ceaseless Momentum, 4 non-standard doffs, 1 lockbox bridge officer ability
Reputation + fleet gear; all Mk XV Epic
0 Promotional R&D ships
Change History
December 2022: Replaced Piercing Projectiles with Superior Area Denial. Replaced Protomatter Field Projector with Tachyon Net Drones. Added one more Superior Romulan Operative. Was at 240K ISA / 677K ISE / 382K HSE
March 2022: Replaced Elite Class C Shuttles for Elite Alliance Fighter Squadrons
October 2021: Migrated to Sites. Added Elite captain trait (Duelist's Fervor), added Subspatial Warheads (T6X), and Deuterium along with another Tactical console. Replaced Terran beam with mines. Shifted doffs around to pick up a CrtH PWO, drop a reload PWO and move to Photonic Officer. Added Phased Space Membrane, Boimler Effect, and Rapid-Emitting Armaments. Added Piercing Projectiles and Tractor Beam and Tricobalt Tear Generator, swapped doffs around for defensive benefits. Swapped Controlled Countermeasures to Aux Config Offense and slotted large Aux batteries. Swapped to High Yield III over Spread III. Added Portability section.
Build Breakdown
This ship emphasizes projectile damage, but has aspects of it that touch pretty much all of the others as well.
Skills
Skill Unlocks
Notes
All weapon-centric builds benefit from the tactical ultimate, as weapon haste and bonus weapon damage from the Focused Frenzy active are appreciable when used on big targets. Applying the bonus to your team is also appreciated. I do not find the cooldown boost from Frenzied Reactions to be needed on a build with a good cooldown scheme.
Engineering skills
Two points in Hull Restoration/Hull Capacity are low opportunity cost for relatively high survivability gains.
I always take a single point in Hull Plating, but other resistance skills and Damage Control are not worth it. Likewise, 2 points in Impulse Expertise is an appreciable boost to maneuverability. Warp Core Potential and especially Warp Core Efficiency help boost power to subsystems. Efficiency is particularly good at adding power to subsystems I am not allocating much power to.
I take a single point in EPS Power Transfer to recover power levels faster after drains or Full Impulse, but it's low impact on this build.
Science skills
Single points in Shield Restoration/Shield Capacity are low opportunity cost for relatively high survivability gains. Since I need skill points elsewhere, only 1 here for those.
Since this character is using Gravity Well and Tractor Beam, having both points in ControlX boosts those as well as the Exotic Particle Generator skill adds value. Control Amplification further increases damage dealt by exotics like Isolytic Tears. DrainX helps amp Neutronic and/or Quantum Phase Torpedoes on builds which use them so I take both points on this character
The rest of the science skills are of little value on this build and are completely skippable.
Tactical skills
Projectile Weapon Training, Hull Penetration, Shield Penetration, Weapon Specialization, and Weapon Amplification are all worthwhile skills to take 3 points in as they boost energy weapon damage directly. Since I do have some energy weapons that deal decent damage, 2 points in Energy Weapon Training is a good choice.
I like taking 2 points apiece in accuracy and defense. Defense is a small contribution to avoiding incoming damage but also helps reduce enemy crits when you're not moving and accuracy is just good all around, if not a stat that you'll need tons of.
Coordination Protocols, Defense Coordination and Offensive Coordination are good team boosts so I always take those. They also benefit hangar pets on builds that have those. Improved Tactical Readiness is essential for reducing tactical cooldowns along with the rest of the cooldown scheme.
Unlocks
There are two crucial unlocks: battery expertise (improves duration of consumable batteries) and threat control which either increases or decreases threat based on threatening stance.
Temporal Operative is useful for Entropic Rider and Atrophied Defenses as well as Phasic Artillery and Continuity. The passive EPG is nice as well for feeding Subspatial Warheads. Intel is an option and I use that on my Kinetic Scimitar, but I like the safety in Temporal as well as the lessened piloting need since flanking is not a consideration with Temporal.
Build
Starship Weapons
Notes
I chose to use Quantum torpedoes to take advantage of 1) small bonuses from +Quantum tactical consoles versus +Torpedo, and 2) I had 4 Quantum torps I was interested in using. Thanks to Cryptic giving away a bunch of Lobi recently, I was able to acquire and slot the Delphic Distortion torpedo, which is an absolutely awesome torp. All of my torps are non-destructible at all times and 2 of 4 are AOE.
Starship Equipment
Notes:
The Adapted M.A.C.O set is underrated by many torpedo drivers, but if you don't need/want the Competitive Engines, then it's a solid option. If the Competitive (Prevailing) engines are desired, then I would use the Tilly Shield (Discovery Legends reputation), possibly adding the warp core from that set as well.
Starship Consoles
Set Bonuses
Notes:
For beams or cannons, energy type and subtype doesn't matter all that much and an astounding number of keystrokes have been spent asking whether Phaser or Disruptor is better, should I fill up with Spiral Wave Disruptors or Sensor-Linked, etc. when difference between them until one starts hard-core chasing numbers is minimal. That is NOT the case with torpedoes, where I will say that conservatively there's about a dozen usable types of torpedoes for high-level play and the rest of them are basically trash. This is where the torps-are-weak crusaders have a point--the average torp is not strong, and 3 whole subtypes are basically not worth slotting (Transphasic, Chroniton, and Tricobalt). This is my personal list of strong/decent torpedoes. If it's not on this list, I personally wouldn't slot it (though I may have missed one)
Photons: Gravimetric (especially with Sci Builds!), Enhanced Bio-Molecular, Adv. Piezo Photon, Terran Task Force
Quantums: Neutronic, Quantum Phase, Delphic Distortion, Dark Matter, Advanced Radiant
Plasma: Particle Emission Plasma (especially with Sci Builds), Romulan Hyper-Plasma (Plasma torp builds only), Omega (Plasma torp builds only), Altamid (Plasma energy builds only), Nanopulse (Plasma torp builds only)
Energy: Morphogenic Polaron, Adv. Diffusive Tetryon (Tetryon builds only with set), Nausicaan Energy (Disruptor builds only with set), Agony Phaser (Phaser builds only)
Other: Temporal Disruption Device (weird Tricobalt/Chroniton hybrid that's somehow good)
Consoles: While it pains me to give up my healing console, the Tachyon Net Drones from the Bozeman are REALLY good and there's an argument to be made for slapping them onto pretty much any kind of build. Support, tank, energy, projectile, maybe even exotic. It's hard to pick apart the active in the parser but if you tally up all the pieces, it hits really hard and also takes enemy shields offline.
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
Drop the Quantum Phase torpedo and replace it with Enhanced Bio-Molecular
Convert the [Quantum] tactical consoles to [Torpedo]
Replace the Quantum Phase beam array with Bio-Molecular Photon Mines
Budget Tweaks:
If Imperial Rift warp core is unavailable, use the Discovery one instead.
Hull Image Refractors -> Covert Munition Deployment Console
Delphic Torpedo -> Advanced Radiant if sticking with Quantum
Phased Space Membrane -> Deconstructive Resonance Emitter (should be cheap-ish)
Tricobalt Tear Generator -> Temporal Disentanglement Suite
Tachyon net Drones -> Assimilated Module
Bridge Officers
Meta Notes
This ship avoids using A2B so that it can take advantage of the Phased Space Membrane, whose duration expires when aux goes down.
The lack of Hazard Emitters is compensated for via the Warp Core Engineer duty officer.
Torpedo High Yield III has a lot more damage potential than Torpedo Spread III if you have Subspatial Warheads. If you don't have that trait, might be better to stick with Spread III, but note that the FAW for ETM will conflict with the FAW from TS and puts them on cooldown.
Traits
Personal Traits
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
If going full glass-cannon with unlimited budget
Ablative Shell -> Terran Targeting Systems
Give Your All -> Adaptive Offense
Budget Tweaks:
Try and keep the ones at the bottom, but the default traits are not very good for torpedoes at all.
Drop Boimler Effect (Elite Captain)
Ablative Shell -> Redirected Armor Plating
Context Is For Kings -> Operative
Self-Modulating Fire -> Innocuous
Resonating Payload Modification -> Astrophysicist
A Good Day to Die -> Elusive
Intelligence Agent Attache -> Particle Manipulator (super strong on scitorp builds, pretty weak here)
Starship Traits
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
These are pretty well close-to-meta traits at this price point. If your budget is unlimited, replace Strike From Shadows with Terran Goodbye at the high end.
Budget Tweaks:
Try and keep the ones at the bottom. Torpers really need Entwined Tactical Matrices to function
Drop Subspatial Warheads (T6X)
Rapid Emitting Armaments -> Sniper if available, Improved Command Frequency if not
Advanced Precision-Guided Munitions -> Unconventional Tactics
Strike From Shadows -> Onboard Dilithium Recrystallizer
Ceaseless Momentum -> This one is very hard to give up, but if it's truly out of your budget, you don't have a lot of good options. Improved Critical Systems would be okay; so would Programmable Matter Enhancements.
Notes:
Advanced Precision Guided Munitions is eschewed by higher-end torpboat drivers as only dealing like 40K DPS. I'm not sure what their combat times or tactics are, but I've seen significantly higher damage each time I've tried it or seen it used on ISE, upward of 100K DPS. I believe that's due to a slower combat time, but I also can't deny its effectiveness at my level.
Reputation Traits
Active Reputation
Duty Officers
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
The Space Warfare Specialist and Warp Core Engineer help defensively mitigate the low amount of heals and lack of Hazard Emitters
Other options include Gravimetric Scientist for aftershock Gravity Wells or a Space Warfare Specialist vs Borg
Budget Tweaks:
The CrtH/CrtD Projectile Weapons Officer can be replaced with another reload PWO that can be obtained cheaply from the Omega Reputation store.
Other options include Gravimetric Scientist for aftershock Gravity Wells or the Maintenance Engineer from the Phoenix Box that gives additional bonuses to batteries
Miscellaneous
Cooldowns
This ship uses Photonic Officer with the Boimler Effect as its primary cooldown mechanism. As evidenced from the chart above, without Boimler Effect triggering, this build will not have most of its powers on global cooldown. Thankfully, with a high number of short rotation powers (10 over a 15-20 second rotation), there's an 85% chance or higher of at least 1 activation of the trait during a rotation. The Boimler Effect is not modeled in this tool.
Ship Stats
Keybinds
With as many abilities and synergizing concepts as this ship employs, an efficient control scheme is essential. There are many ways to set up such a ship, so I don't pretend to assume that my way is superior. It works for me, especially with my background in RTS and MOBA games, where pushing many different keys quickly is essential.
[Spacebar] is my spambar. It includes Attack Pattern Beta, Mine Pattern Beta, Go Down Fighting, Emergency Power to Engines, Launch Fighters, Tactical Team, Aux to Structural, Attack Pattern Alpha, Kemocite, and Photonic Officer
[1] is my single-target key, including Gravity Well, Drone Swarm, Relocate Mines, Tractor Beam, Large Auxiliary Batteries, Tricobalt Tear Generator, Concentrate Firepower
[2] is my big buff key. It includes Attack Pattern Alpha, Intel Fleet, Tac Fleet, Tactical Initiative, Go Down Fighting, Vulnerability Assessment Sweep
[3] fires my Spread torpedoes and launches fighters and mines. I have it ordered to fire QP > Neutronic > Delphic = Dark Matter, along with CSV to trigger a spread I from Entwined Tactical Matrices.
[4] fires my High Yield torpedoes and launches mines. I have it ordered to fire Delphic > Neutronic > QP = Dark Matter, along with THY
I also bind "Fire all energy weapons" to right mouse but leave the torpedoes only assigned to the 3 and 4 keys. When I enter a TFO, I set fighters to attack mode and basically never touch those again. Sometimes I will set them to Escort mode on maps with many destructible torpedoes.
Everything else is manually triggered, most notably FAW. This thread has more discussion on a variety of options on how to keybind torpedoes. I leave the Kinetic Amplifiers off the keybinds so I can use the Large Aux Batteries and Phased Space Membrane at the right time.
Piloting
ISA Piloting Tips
I start off pre-buffing my spambar prior to countdown (in PUGs) or prior to launch call (premade). I start dropping mines right away; Relocate Mines will be used to move them onto the generator. The first group I hit with Grav Well (GW), and a full rotation of torpedoes. On ISA, I don't bother using Concentrate Firepower here. Next, I hit Evasive Maneuvers and fly to the left side, activating my big buffs. I shoot the nearest generator on the way in and try to line up so the 2 far-side generators are hit by torpedo spreads and Fire at Will. I also usually activate my Hur'q Beacon here. I then lock onto the transformer with Concentrate Firepower, Relocate Mines, and Tractor Beam and destroy it; Tac ult and Swarmer Matrix active help a lot. I have enough damage that I can kill it through 1-2 generators still being alive. I basically ignore the cube at each transformer in favor of hitting the juicier unshielded targets. Then I turn onto the sphere/probe cloud. As the generator is about to die, I turn and engage the ball of Nanite Spheres with a single torp spread. I don't bother killing them all, as a single spread will get them low enough while I zip over to the other side. Activate Evasive Maneuvers and fly to the right side, rinse and repeat with as with the left. I try to save my big active heals for this part because PUG teams don't always fly over to right generator quickly. As it's dying, I turn back on the gateway. Activate Quantum Singularity Manipulation and FIRE EVERYTHING! A second Gravity Well should be available here. Of note, closing to 5 km and dropping the Anti-time bubble is quite good with the boost from Quantum Singularity Manipulation. With any luck, the 300 CtrlX Grav Well will also suck in the remaining spheres for tons of damage. Concentrate Firepower, Relocate Mines, and Tractor Beam on the gateway helps bring it down quickly, then it's rinse and repeat on the cube. Concentrate Firepower and Tractor Beam again on the Tac Cube with Relocate Mines and Tachyon Net Drones when it's available. If another reinforcements calldown is available, use it here.
ISE Piloting Tips
Essentially the same as ISA, with a couple of modifications. Concentrate Firepower and Tachyon Net Drones should be used on the first Tac cube along with most Tactical captain powers since the initial encounter can make or break the run. Toss in any other console actives too, like Tricobalt Tear Generator or Swarmer Matrix. Jump across to the right side. I might slow down to fight the first group of Nanite Spheres a little more, but in a premade with at least one science build, just fire one spread and cross over to the right transformer. Tachyon Net Drones is usually up again for the Tactical Cube.
Parse Breakdown
Numbers from Record ISE
Neutronic Torpedo: 100.9K
Delphic Distortion Torpedo: 94.8K
Isolytic Tears: 77.8K
Quantum Phase Torpedo: 77.3K
Heavy Plasma Torpedo: 71.3K
Concentrate Firepower III: 59.8K
Dark Matter Torpedo: 51.6K
Elite Alliance Fighter Squadrons: 44K - these more than doubled their DPS with SAD compared to previous
Omega Kinetic Shearing: 32.7K
Tachyon Net Drones: 31.7K
Kemocite: 31.2K
Thoron-Infused Quantum Mines: 29.5K
Soliton Wave Impeller: 26.4K
Wide Angle Dual Beam Bank: 18.6K
Heavy Plasma Torpedo:
Entropic Rider: 15.6K
Gravity Well: 10.3K
Tricobalt Tear Generator active: 11.9K
Quantum Phase Beam Array: 6.7K
Hur'q Summons: 4.8K
Anti-Time Entanglement Singularity: 4.3K
Tractor Beam: 3.2K
Refracting Tetryon Cascade: 2.4K
Drone Swarm: 1.4K
Worth noting - the DM torp is largely getting hits off of the Lorca 3-piece as it fires rather infrequently based on my torpedo priority. Gauging by the parse and counting the number of targets only struck by 1 regular Dark Matter Torpedo, which was the vast majority of regular Dark Matter Torpedoes fired, best guess is the 3-piece was worth around 22.6K DPS, which makes it a worthy addition.
Portability
Ships with 5 fore weapons, LtCmdr Cmd, and enough-but-not-too-much Engineering/Science seating are somewhat rare. The Flambard would be a solid choice and of course the cross-faction equivalent of the Earhart (Sech) is 100% compatible. The Temer Raider could also run this at the cost of the Quantum Phase Beam Array and exchanging the Ordnance Accelerator for another locator. The Legendary Scimitar and Legendary T'Liss could also run this build with few changes, though a console would have to be exchanged and the Experimental Weapon swapped out for another aft weapon like an Advanced Inhibiting Turret or Terran Beam Array for the 2-piece.