I.K.S. Aiden

Notes

This is an unoptimized skill tree. There's about a dozen nodes I would respec if I wanted too, however I think this is a fair blend between the wants and needs of the build class and what people might want. I have several more optimized skill trees but for people starting off I think this is a fair tree to follow.

If you have a goal in mind of what you want, you can always copy the skill tree of the build type you ultimately want to end up in:

• Engineering Profession Jayiie - My all around generalist tree optimized for many different build paths, prioritizing tanking first

• Science Profession Ayjei - Developed for a combination of directed Energy Weapons and Exotic powers

• Tactical Profession Teryh - Developed for directed energy weapons

• Engineering Profession Laura - Developed for hyper optimized exotic builds

• Tactical Profession Korven - Developed for projectile damage builds

For people who are just starting their journey, here's some brief overviews of what this skill tree offers:

Engineering Skill Picks

• Hull Restoration - +25% improved Hull Healing, effects your bridge officers as well as captain abilities, and any consoles you might have that apply direct healing (not regen)

• Hull Capacity - +15% Hull Capacity, increases your health. Because of how the game can scale, this is often more preferable over restoration, but at low HP ships this won't have as much of an impact as out healing incoming damage will, which is why I've split these two nodes

• Improved EPS Flow - +100% power transfer rate; this is a weird quirk of how the game works, but effectively this allows you to use your weapon power more effectively than if you just increased the subsystem

• Impulse Expertise - +20% Turn and Speed, makes you move faster, also increases the magnitude of Evasive Maneuvers

• Hull Plating - +15 Damage Resistance Rating for energy and kinetic, this is a sizable passive durability increase that almost all skill trees take

• Improved Engineering Readiness - +17% recharge speed for engineering bridge officer powers. This will become less needed in the higher end of building but at this scale helps improve your ability usages

Science Skill Picks

• Improved Control Expertise - This affects not only how much your controls are, but also your resistance too them. This includes holds, stuns, placates and confuses, as well as repels and pulls. This is very good to have when playing solo missions where you will often be 

• Improved Drain Expertise - Useful for engineering captains as this improves both Nadion Inversion and Intrusive Energy Redirection

  • Drain Infection - Triggers with Intrusive Energy Redirection, this is not a hugely beneficial slot anymore, I would skip this if you want too

• Advanced Exotic Particle Generators - +100 skill, improves exotic damage

• Advanced Long Range Targeting - Reduces the damage fall off (weapons deal more compare at higher ranges than they would without the skill taken)

Tactical Skill Picks

• Advanced Energy Weapon Training - +50% Cat1 Energy Weapon Damage

• Advanced Projectile Weapon Training - +50% Cat1 Projectile Weapon Damage

• Advanced Targeting Expertise - +15 Accuracy

• Advanced Weapon Amplification - +40% Critical Severity for Weapons

• Advanced Weapon Specialization - +4.0% Critical Chance for Weapons

• Advanced Hull Penetration - Effectively -10 Damage resistance rating to targets

• Advanced Shield Penetration - +5% for weapons

• Coordination Protocols - For team +5% Hull and Shield Cap for Team

  • Defensive Coordination - +5% Defense and +5 All Damage Resistance for Team

  • Offensive Coordination - +5 Accuracy and +5% Cat1 damage for Team

Note: I know running these might seem ineffective, but if everyone on your team is using these, its +20% Damage, +20 Accuracy, +20% Hull Capacity and Shield Capacity, and +20 all DRR to all team members, which is more than you can get with any other 3 skill picks

• Advanced Tactical Readiness - +20% recharge speed for tactical bridge officer powers

Starship Weapons

Notes

As a starter build we are limited to what we can pull from, and mission and reputation gear offers some of the best synergy available with the set bonuses. The Nausican torpedo is often seen as a poor performing torp but at this scale it hits pretty hard, and the set bonus for +28.5% Disruptor damage and +5 armour pen is more than I would get from a tactical console, so is very much worth it.

This ship also offers the ability to slot dual cannons, unlike it's sovereign equivalent. This means that we can slot both Terran reputation weapons. Naturally this means we have to get creative with some of the boff seating and go against some long held standards in slotting both beams and cannons.

As well, building up to this you can just use standard versions of these weapons. When setting these up I got some rare (blue quality) disruptor cannons, beams, and turrets off the exchange for a grand total of 100k ec that I used to carry me through all of the missions needed to get gear, replacing it as I went. If you want to skip this purchase you can use commons or even uncommons (white and green rarity) for the same effect

Tweaks and Notes:

Consoles are a little tricky here, as both the Hull Image Refractors and  Shield Absorptive Frequency Generator are a large chunk of the builds overall budget.

Potential options include another Bellum RCS console, or if you have it the Temporal Disentanglement Suite. This console didn't make it onto the build as I am using Auxiliary power to Emergency Batteries which removes my aux power so the scaling on this console isn't very good for its offensive stats, but is a filler option you can pull on until you've acquired the funds

Notes

I am doing this on a Romulan Alien, and as such during my level up and from found Duty Officer assignments I get access to bridge officers with Superior Romulan Operatives. Each one grants me +2% Critical Chance and +5% Critical Severity, for a total of +10% Chance and +50% Severity. This is a free option for this character and Federation, KDF, and Jem'hadar would need to buy them from the Fleet Starbase Embassy.

Notes:

Onboard Dilithium Recrystalizer has some interesting interactions. Contrary to popular belief, max is not just 125 power, but the literal subsystem max. If you have a +10 max to that subsystem, you will need to have 135 power present. This build requires 130 Engine power to trigger the buff. To set this up requires:

1. Use EPtW3 at T-20s prepull, this grants +10 from EPS Manifold Efficency

2. Use A2B at T-15s,

3. Use EPtE1 at T-5s, this refreshes EPS manifold and grants back extra Aux power with A2Bs effect ending

4. Use A2B when entering combat, this will bring you to 130 Engine power, From here use Engineering team to trigger the buff for 15%

From here repeating these powers, EPtW, A2B for cooldowns, EPtE, A2B for more cooldowns will constantly refresh Onboard Dilithium Recrystalizer. If you need a top up you can use an engine battery in pre-pulls to avoid this setup but you won't have the Energy Battery for its additional +20% bonus damage.

This can really go on anything and everything! The great part about a build with this budget is that theres an unlimited portablility. Want to fly a cruiser but can't equip cannons, grab some more standard disruptor beam arrays. Want to fly an escort, slot more tactical consoles.

The only major consideration when adapting to a platform will be the Bridge Officer seating you can fit. That I leave as an exercise to the reader.