U.S.S. Yosemite
Ahwahnee Command Carrier
Build Overview and Focus
Last Updated January 2025
Support builds in STO are not generally healers but rather buff/debuff ships designed to help teammates reach new DPS thresholds. Support builds by their very nature are not intended to be DPS machines in their own right and are typically geared for Elite content only; Advanced is too easy/fast for a support build to really shine. Supports and tanks have this in common; it's not that they can't function on Normal or Advanced, but they only truly serve a needed purpose on Elite.
In combination with a tank (often with supportive aspects of the build), supports are often what allows the super high-end DPSers to achieve new heights, as once you get above 500K DPS, team composition really starts mattering, and having a good support will frequently make the difference between an average DPS parse and a record-breaking one. This particular ship is generically geared to support a variety of build types.
Some would contend that support DPS needs to be much lower for a true high-end support. That statement is correct in context, but should be qualified. Since "DPS" stands for damage per second, the support build's own preferred DPS will depend on how strong are the DPS builds it's supporting. If you're supporting players less than 500K, then it's to their benefit to bring enough DPS to accelerate the parsed run. Bringing a 75K or 100K support build to a run filled with 150-300K players will not increase their DPS substantially, despite the buffs and debuffs offered because the map simply takes too long to complete. To that end, my support builds are designed to be:
Barely Elite-capable in their own right, which means around 200K DPS. It's easier to bring DPS down than to pull it up. I'll talk more about how to do that in each section if you're trying to support higher-end players.
Versatile as opposed to highly-specialized for specific builds. The Hiawatha is agnostic around what type of DPS build it is supporting, though I do have an energy-specific support on a Legendary Scimitar and a kinetic/EPG-focused support on a Valdres. There is a guide covering focused supports for high-end torping here.
These are support DPS builds; they are NOT tanks. Please see my Presidio or Styx for supportive tank builds.
Lastly, supports cannot salvage poor builds or poor piloting. Support builds make good builds and good pilots look great. The record-breaking builds at the highest levels of the DPS League are made possible by having really strong support builds amplifying their performance further. Support is a selfless, team-centric build type that succeeds from carrying others to new heights, but they still have to put in the work to make a competent build and fly it well. Rejoice when your teammates achieve even greater success and celebrate having a part in it. This ship has assisted in several energy build records on this site and across our fleet/armada.
We measure supports in two other methods besides DPS: the maximum percentage of debuff (% DB), where the parse measures how much an enemy's resistance was reduced based on the initial hit, and the number of personal bests assisted with for allies (PBA).
This is a premium build, with the highest available budgets and resources utilized in its creation. See the build costs page for more detail.
Namesake
Yosemite is most known as a national park in North America with pristine forests, waterfalls, and mountains filled with natural beauty. Many visitors have visited the area and been inspired by it. Before it was ever a national park, the Ahwahnechee people called the area home, a name that later evolved into Ahwahnee. The goal of this ship, while not quite as stunning in appearance, is to bring out the best in the rest of the task force.
Meta Analysis
ISA: N/A
ISE: 210K DPS, 533.4% DB, (premade), 2 PBA
HSE: 69K DPS, 349.1% DB, (premade), 1 PBA
Budget Analysis
Using the EZRA rubric, this build would cost 711 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
8 T6 C-store ships (Gagarin, Ra'nodaire, Clarke, Bozeman, Jem'Hadar Vanguard Dreadnought Cruiser, Palatine, Lafayette, Ahwahnee, and Equinox) but note that the Jem'Hadar can be acquired more cheaply via a 2K Zen starter pack.
1 Lockbox ship (Mirror Engle) which is more cheaply acquired via the 12th anniversary bundle, giving us another C-store token we'd use on the
1 Lobi item (Delphic Distortion Torpedo), 1 Lobi Trait (Boimler Effect)
1 Event device (Kobayashi Maru Transponder), 4 Event ships (Compiler Dreadnought, Jarok, Vovin, and Rex Alliance Escort)
3 Lockbox consoles, 6 lockbox traits, 3 lockbox doffs, 2 lockbox weapons, 2 lockbox bridge officer abilities
Reputation + fleet gear; all Mk XV Epic
0 Lockbox or Promo R&D ships
Change History
January 2025: Released build
Build Breakdown
This ship is pretty broadly spread, but is basically focused on support and is only really useful for helping players get higher DPS in premade runs. It can probably handle Normal TFOs without issue but I wouldn't go farming Advanced/Elites in it. It's a specialized tool for a specialized job.
Skills
Skill Unlocks
Notes
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 points in EPS Power Transfer to help recover power when firing energy weapons.
Science skills
Since Control Expertise and Exotic Particle Generators are primary offensive stats for other builds on this character, I want those maxed out and take Control Amplification. Control Expertise in particular is key for support builds. Drain Infection and a single point in Drain Expertise add minor benefits
I took Long-Targeting Systems as it is essential for any build that deals significant energy damage, which isn't this build but others on the same character.
The rest of the science skills are of little value on this build and are completely skippable.
Tactical skills
I do use projectiles and more so on other builds on this toon so 3 points in Projectile Weapon Training is merited. Same with projectile weapon training. I only take 2 points apiece in Hull Pen, Shield Pen, and Weapon Specialization as they okay but not worth investing more in at the cost of my science stats for other builds on this toon.
I like taking at least 1 point in defense. Defense is a small contribution to avoiding incoming damage but also helps reduce enemy crits when you're not moving. I only take 1 point in accuracy; I didn't really have issues with hitting targets.
Coordination Protocols, Defense Coordination and Offensive Coordination are good team boosts so I always take 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.
Build
Starship Weapons
Notes
Torpedoes: Might as well start with the controversial one. "No torpedoes on nannies!!11" If we had a comments section, this would be likely the first one. Let's talk about why that's the conventional wisdom. The highest-end ISE torpedo runs want to feed a single DPS player (or their pets) all the Concentrate Firepower procs possible to maximize DPS from torpedoes, so nobody else will run torpedoes in a truly-coordinated run. That's the prevailing wisdom.
I'm not building around super-high-end players. I don't build around the assumption that everyone is trying to funnel DPS into a single projectile user. I've supported players up to 1.4M DPS on this ship but we're not hitting the top of the leaderboards nor is that level of coordinated build efficiency and minmaxing something I'm trying to achieve. A more uncoordinated environment dilutes the effectiveness of Concentrate Firepower donation if others are summoning beacons, fighters, firing torpedoes, etc.
The Delphic Torpedo debuffs resists by 10 per stack and it stacks a lot so there's a considerable amount of additional debuff being spread around by me using this particular torpedo. Omega Kinetic Shearing is a guaranteed proc of Atrophied Defenses for a further -10 DRR alongside the Gamma Deflector for -15 kinetic DRR.
Torpedoes are fun and immersive.
That said, if you would rather build a support without a torpedo so as to better donate Concentrate Firepower, unslot the torpedo and Entwined Tactical Matrices (use Withering Barrage instead with cannons), or deal with the loss of uptime on FAW. If you'd like to have a torpedo but the Delphic is out of budget, consider the Resonant Transphasic or Nausicaan Energy torpedoes. Both are free.
Plasma/Polaron: I The weapons were from various versions of the Chronos build and some other experiments I've done. If you don't have access to Altamid beams, standard Disruptors are easy budget substitutes. If you want to splurge, swap in the Altamid Omni.
Starship Equipment
Notes:
Drive Train: The Iconian 3-piece is basically a generic Very Rare Tactical Console for allied energy weapon players.
Hangar Pets: The Type 7s have basically displaced any other supportive pets at a very reasonable price due to their ability to throw Attack Pattern Beta III and their innate ability is also a -DRR effect.
Starship Consoles
Set Bonuses
Notes:
Alternate energy types: See the weapons section.
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
See the weapons section for commentary on dropping torpedoes
There are other universal consoles like Opening Salvo (T6 Titan) or Temporal Anomaly Projector (T4 Gemini) that do things like dropping enemy shields or even more debuffs. Could drop the Research Lab console for those.
If you really want to spend dilithium, you can bring team-wide engines and aux batteries. In practice, players should have their important power levels pretty well maxed so I don't consider this worthwhile especially when we're using team-wide starship traits
If you don't want to use hangar pets at all out of fear of despawning the map or of taking DPS, just...don't slot a hangar. Easy enough.
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget,
Drop Kobayashi Maru Transponder if unavailable (T6X upgrade and event)
Drop the second Deuterium Surplus (T6X2 upgrade)
Drop the Cascading Subatomic Disruptions (T6X2 upgrade)
Drop Sensor Suspension Burst (T6X upgrade)
Drop the High Energy Communications Network, Enhanced Dominion Coordination Protocol, Hyper-Focusing Trinary Arrays, and Radiation Bombardment Matrix in favor of cheaper alternatives like Hostile Acquisition, Temporal Anomaly Projector, and Polymorphic Probe Array which should be fairly cheap on the exchange.
Use regular Disruptors over Altamid Beams.
Most of the rest of this can be obtained even on a budget.
Bridge Officers
Meta Notes
If you want to go torpless, drop Torpedo Spread and take Withering Barrage over ETM with cannons instead.
Do not use Best Served Cold. It is irredeemably terrible.
Could get some more K-13 science boffs for Control Expertise, but that's a decent investment for marginal gain
Traits
Personal Traits
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
Psychological Warfare could replace Grace Under Fire
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget, (try and keep the ones at the bottom)
Drop Resonating Payload Modification (Elite Captain unlock)
Unconventional Systems -> Operative
Fragment of AI Tech -> Beam Training
Inspirational Leader -> Point-Blank Shot
A Good Day to Die -> Innocuous
Feel the Weight of Our Presence -> Crippling Fire
Intelligence Agent Attache -> Beam Training
Boimler Effect is hard to replace
Starship Traits
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
I dropped Cold-hearted because typically our tanks are running it and it doesn't stack across the time. If you like it, then replace Carrier Wave Shield Hacking. This will mean substituting A2B in over Let It Go.
If you're going torpless, drop Entwined Tactical Matrices. FAW uptime will suffer accordingly.
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget, (try and keep the ones at the bottom)
Drop Inertial Supremacy (T6X upgrade)
Drop Superior Area Denial (T6X2 upgrade)
Digital Compilation Field -> Jubilant Cadence if you have access to the Lafayette
I don't think you can make this work without Entwined Tactical Matrices or Withering Barrage
Notes:
Electrified Anomalies at ~100 DrainX gives about 7.5 power at 50% uptime to allies within 5 km of Gravity Well or Ionic Turbulence. Greater than the Sum gives up to +20 power for 10 seconds depending on how many allies are within 5 km on using a Command ability. I'm using the latter because I believe it does more.
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.
Reputation Traits
Active Reputation
Duty Officers
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
Honestly these seem pretty good. You could run a Command-boosting Liberated Borg Strength Through Unity doff to help improve team's max hull, but it's 10% hull capacity which is very marginal.
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget, skip the Conn Officers. I'd probably slot Research Lab Scientists that gives extra skills from Lieutenant or Ensign abilities
Miscellaneous
Cooldowns
This ship uses a single instance of Photonic Officer as its primary cooldown mechanism with Boimler as secondary. While it's about 1.5 seconds off on Tactical powers, for my purposes I call that good enough. That's what Boimler is for.
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 Fire at Will, Attack Pattern Omega, the Mines, Kemocite, Jam Sensors, Kobayashi Maru Transponder, Tractor Beam, Nadion Inversion, Photonic Officer, and Emergency Power to Engines.
[1] is my off-cycle key. It's here for firing Torpedo Spread 10 seconds after Scatter Volley to trigger ETM. I also put the torpedo itself, the hangar bays, large aux batteries, the Red Matter Capacitor, and the Kobayashi Maru Transponder.
Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field (4 key) This console needs its own keybind, because by default, it teleports you 5 km in front of your selected target. That could be desirable...or not. If I want to use the teleport, I activate it manually. Otherwise, I use a special keybind with just this console and the phrase "target_clear" in the keybind to clear the target. This allows me to avoid triggering the teleport. The full keybind is thus: 4 "+TrayExecByTray 4 1 $$ target_clear"
I also bind "Fire all weapons" to right mouse
Everything else is activated manually. I will activate the various debuff consoles, Distributed Targeting, and Concentrate Firepower manually on big targets.
Videos
You generally fly this type of build like any other FAW build type in ISE; maybe someday we will add support-specific builds videos for ISE/HSE.
Piloting
I start off pre-buffing my spambar just prior to countdown (in PUGs) but ensure that you don't hit EPtE until about 5 seconds before start. I The first group I hit with Grav Well (GW) and just basic abilities. On ISA, I don't bother using Concentrate Firepower or your debuff consoles here here. Next, I hit Evasive Maneuvers and fly to the left side, activating my big buffs and any debuff consoles active. 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 beams. I also usually activate my Delta Reinforcements beacon here to clean up Borg structures. I then lock onto the transformer with Concentrate Firepower and at least some of the debuff consoles; Tac ult here. 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 quick Gravity Well. I don't bother killing them all, the Gravity Well will keep them in place while we deal with right 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 third Gravity Well should be available here and drop any debuff consoles remaining. 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 325 CtrlX Grav Well will also suck in the remaining spheres for tons of damage. Concentrate Firepower on the gateway helps bring it down quickly, then it's rinse and repeat on the cube. Be ready to drop any defensive cooldowns like Protomatter or Bio-molecular Shield Generator if your team needs help. Concentrate Firepower and debuff consoles again on the Tac Cube when 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 should be used on the first Tac cube along with Focused Frenzy, the debuff consoles, Tachyon Net Drones, and most Tactical captain powers since the initial encounter can make or break the run. Since we're playing for the team, it's a balance between firing on peripheral structures and ships to clean them up versus targeting the big structures for debuffs. I tend to target the big stuff like transformers first, dump consoles/debuff powers, and then switch to secondary smaller targets and trust that the AOE from Scatter Volley splashes on-hit debuffs on the transformer. Jump across to the right side; again fire a Gravity Well to pin them there and cross over to the right transformer. It's important to have your Gravity Well available for Gateway so don't fire it at right side. Ideally you chain that with DRB as well. Typical Frenzy targets are either Tac Cube or else Left Generator if the tac cube goes down too quickly and either Gateway or Tac Cube depending on speed of the run. Look to use your second Tachyon Net Drones on the Tactical Cube as well.
Parse Breakdown
Numbers from record ISE. Coming soon!
Portability
My criteria for this ship was to have a hangar and Cmdr Science to support Gravity Well III as well as Command seating to support Concentrate Firepower III. Full Command also brought inspiration abilities and that leaves us a very narrow pool of ships to choose from. The only other ship that meets this criteria is the Ahwahnee, which can replicate this build precisely with only a few seats shuffled. If you wanted to sacrifice Gravity Well III, you could consider the Friendship Command Flight Deck Carrier, which does gain secondary intel seating for Ionic Turbulence. If you drop the hangars down to 1, the Dauntless II and Merian are both (expensive) options. Either ship could run this build with no issue.