U.S.S. Penumbra - CSV

Notes

Ayjei's tree is aimed towards DEWSci and the builds that come along with it, support included. He takes only a few points into engineering for power management and then the rest into damage. Of all my currently posted characters his is the most offensively tuned for the greatest flexibility, at the cost of personal durability which usually needs to be solved through consoles or bridge officer powers or even traits.

DrainX

Long ago I set out to craft a drain build...then some history happened and drains on targets in PvE broke and hasn't yet returned. I could very well respec but this is a part of the character's storied past I want to keep (also it is a very fun build to fly, even if its not super useful).

27 vs 26 Point Tactical ultimate

Since this is a support build it is once again reasonable to assume that 27 is the way to go. If I was to build this character as a totally dedicated support build and have them only do that, I would concede that 27 points into the tactical ultimate is useful. However that point has been allocated elsewhere, and I still believe that outside of super planned runs a person's cooldown reduction scheme is still important to focus on and should not be dependent on others to provide it for them.

Starship Weapons

Notes

Outside of the Quantum Phaser Cannons, nothing too different here than most CSV phaser builds.

Notes

Revolutionary set here is just for some extra CrtD for the secondary deflector and a few exotics on this ship, and the shield fits with the high aux setting; this is still on a science captain which does benefit from having high aux for Sensor Scan and Scattering Field. If you don't have it the Discovery Reputation Shield and Core work fine.

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

This is so not meta. But it could be adapted to be so. See my Lexington or Saber for more traditional phaser console layouts.

Budget Tweaks:

Weaponized Helical Torsion is going to be hard to replace so I'd swap in the Quantum Phase Convertor. D.O.M.I.N.O. is also going to be hard to replace. The M6 is a fine alternative here.

Notes

If you wanted to run the Wide Angle Dual Heavy Beam Bank, that is possible on this. I don't currently have it upgraded on this character to do that. I have seen really good results just dry firing the beam without any enhancements.

Budget Tweaks:

For engineering captains the most obvious budget replacement would be EPS Manifold Efficiency and if you needed more durability Grace Under Fire. Cannon Training is also a decent slot on this build for the cannon damage. For budget players who want to save some EC, there's a traits that can increase durability.

• Bulkhead Technician - Innate trait - this provides +10% Maximum Hull capacity and can be used as a stand in for durability consoles

• Living Hull - Episode Reward from "Surface Tension" - +15% hull regen in combat is equivalent to 3 stacks of repair crews

• Redacted Armor Plating - Episode Reward from “The Renegade's Regret” - +30 all DRR when hit from behind or sides

• Regenerative Control Synergy - Episode Reward from “Of Signs and Portents” - Grants +45% hull regen when using a control power for 10 seconds

If your after more damage instead:

• Point Blank Shot - Episode Reward from House Pegh - scaling damage based on distance to target from 2km to 6km.

• Operative - Innate Trait - +1% CrtH +2% CrtD, this isn't spectacular but if you lack any offensive traits you can use it.

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

Terran Goodbye would fit really nicely here for more CrtH for the secondary deflector as would Universal Designs since the Computer Assisted Flight Algorithms. I know I mention UD a lot but don't feel pressured. Its a huge amount of CrtD and CrtH and while every build would benefit from it and the Phaser Lance, its a really heft price tag to justify something like that. This is a fun build that shouldn't really work on this ship yet it does great without any super expensive tools!

This ship in the current configuration is also easily converted to run Cannon Rapid Fire, Beam Overload, or even Fire at will using the respective extension traits Go For the Kill, Superweapon Ingenuity (with Preferential Targeting thrown in for more damage for either of these two), and Entwined Tactical Matrices.

Budget Tweaks:

Everything here is available in the C-store so its obtainable with time. Some good things to replace if you're strapped:

Defensive Traits:

• The Best Defense - +25% Healing when using APB, APO, and APD - not hugely relevant on a build which heals via regen or incoming classes healing (protomatter consoles) but its free from the episode "House Pegh".

• Going the Extra Mile - +Hull cap and +healing - free from completing Miracle Worker Specialization

Offensive Traits:

• Improved Critical Systems - Temporal Agent Recruit Reward, grants CrtX on use of EptX abilities.

5th Slot here would ideally be the Tethered Non-Baryonic Asteroid to help clean up. This can be used in lieu of a gravity well on left and right in ISE. More Discussion on my tank build here.

Miscellaneous

Under a very strict ruleset, only one other ship meets the requirements for this build on a 1:1 basis: the Vulcan Experimental Scout Vessel. This and the Nova are the only science ship with flanking and pilot power accessibility.

Opening up to science ships with pilot power access:

• Mirror Crossfield Science Destroyer - picking up temporal powers as well would make this a great platform for this. Sticking all the science powers into the commander would be the best option. Only a Lt. Pilot limits to Fly her Apart 1 and Pilot Team 1, but I think this could be a good potential platform.

• Saturn Intel Science Spearhead - only one pilot power restricts to Pilot team but picking up intel primary opens some interesting build space with some intel powers. This could also potentially run some interesting this with surgical strikes.

• Na'kuhl Daemosh Science Vessel - another ship with temporal and pilot, this could be really flexible with the Lt.C universal.

This can also migrate to any pilot ship. Unfortunatly these will lack the secondary deflector so a small aspect of the build is lost, instead shifting to be more useful with more unconventional systems triggers. The best ones would be the ones with flanking for leaning into the Computer Flight Assisted Algorithms:

• Shran or M'Chla: both C-store capable raiders with lots of universal seating. Same weapons layout and lacks access to the secondary deflector.

• La Sirena Heavy Raider: with Dual Commander seats and a lt.C intel and 5/1 weapon layout this could be quite potent.

• Miradorn Theta Heavy Raider: Like the La Sirena this has Pilot and Intel.

• Kwejian Pilot Frigate: 5/3 with flanking. I'm not a fan of it but I could this build working on the platform.

• Courier Pilot Raider: Pilot and Miracle Worker. Common story, 5/1, no sec def, but has flanking.

Regular pilot ships can also run this build but lack of a secondary deflector means there's a little bit less focus on exotic triggers and more on just weapon damage. This starts to bleed outside of the scope of this build and some things tend to start breaking down. For a more in line pilot build I recommend looking at EPHs Chimesh.