U.S.S. Aegis

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

  • Single points in Hull Restoration/Hull Capacity are low opportunity cost for relatively high survivability gains. Since I need skill points elsewhere, only 1 here for those. 

  • 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.

  • Improved EPS Power Transfer is essential for recovering power while firing energy weapons. 

• 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. 

  • A single point in Shield Regeneration has surprisingly large impact on shield regeneration based on recent research by Jay

  • Since this character is using Gravity Well and other control-based abilities, having both points in ControlX boosts those as well as the Fragment of AI Tech trait adds value. I take a single point in DrainX to help resist drains and two points in EPG for boosting the Exotics like Gravity Well on this build. 

  • All energy builds should take maximum points in Long Range Targeting Sensors. 

  • The rest of the science skills are of little value on this build and are completely skippable. 

• Tactical skills

  • Energy 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 a torpedo and it does decent damage, 2 points in Projectile 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.  

I went with Intel and Temporal, which gave me the offensive benefits from Temporal (sans Temporal Cross-wiring) along with Intel's flanking and Intel Fleet. That said, not having Temporal/Strategist leaves me significantly squishier. Previous iterations were more themed around confuses and disables but I've made further concessions to DPS to make it fully Elite-capable. 

Notes

Cannons were chosen because 1) most of the control-effects require targets to be within the forward firing arc and 2) I hadn't built a cannon ship yet. I like multi-colored cannons so this has quite the diverse color palette of cannons. You could be just as effective with more conventional all-orange Phaser Turrets replacing the Heavy Bio-Molecular and Andorian turrets. I dropped Quad Cannons because the Engine power drain was just too much.

Notes:

I decided that if I was going to build an off-meta ship, I was going to have some fun with it, so Imperial Rift 4-piece is the drive train of choice. The active does respectable damage, such that if you can land good shots from it, it compensates from losing the raw stats of the Colony Deflector plus any other meta 2-pieces. The set is really quite solid for both exotics and energy, so if you're mixing those in DEWsci fashion, I think it's pretty close to optimal if not best-in-slot. If you don't have Imperial Rift, better to do more conventional setups. 

Notes: 

Alternate Energy types: 

There are no Phaser-only consoles on this build; just replace the weapons and your Isomags of choice. 

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

• This is not a build remotely close to meta. There are more expensive consoles out there like Immolating Phasre Lance and Dynamic Power Redistribution Module (especially with a Point Defense Bombardment Warhead for its 2-piece) that would benefit this but I would think it's a waste of resources on something so off the beaten path. 

Budget Tweaks:

• The easiest replacement for D.O.M.I.N.O. would be the M6 computer, available for a small chunk of Dilithium from the T3 Perseus or else an Ordnance Accelerator from the Gamma reputation for the 2-piece

Meta Notes

• I could drop Photonic Officer from II down to I, but the CDR scheme is sufficiently close that I didn't want to chance it. 

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

If you want to go full glass cannon with a DPS-focus: 

• Drop Inspirational Leader for Duelist's Fervor

• Ablative Shell -> Self-Modulating Fire

• Give Your All -> Adaptive Offense

• Psychological Warfare -> Feel the Weight of Our Presence

Budget Tweaks:

• Drop Inspirational Leader (Elite Captain unlock)

• Fragment of AI Tech ->  Point-Blank Shot

• Context Is For Kings -> Redirected Armor Plating

• Psychological Warfare -> Astrophysicist

• Terran Targeting Systems -> Operative

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

• You'll be hard-pressed to find a better set of starship traits for mixed exotics / energy weapons at this price point. A possible upgrade would be replacing Strike From Shadows with something expensive like Terran Goodbye or Terran Machinations. 

Budget Tweaks:

• Drop Improved Photonic Officer (T6X upgrade)

• Strike From Shadows -> Improved Command Frequency (Command specialization)

• Superior Area Denial -> Unconventional Tactics (Strategist specialization)

• Withering Barrage -> Entwined Tactical Matrices if you have it; Programmable Matter Enhancements if you don't

This build basically won't work without Emergency Weapon Cycle. 

Notes:

• If I had Terran Machinations, I'd slot it, but that's an expensive purchase that this ship doesn't need to be capable. 

• Superior Area Denial is an excellent trait for ships using Fire-at-Will or Scatter Volley that also have a hangar. While it is extremely expensive, captains wishing to use this trait on multiple characters would benefit from saving up and acquiring it via the 12th Anniversary Bundle, which is how I did it. 

Miscellaneous

This ship manages cooldowns by Photonic Officer II with Improved Photonic Officer. I was not quite at global on some of my powers with IPO and PO I, so I kept it at PO II. It'd be just as easy to swap to DRB II and PO I but I like my Aux to Structural. 

Link to CDR sheet for this build.