Shackelford's PvE Builds

[Morgan Shackelford]

After reading through some of the discussions and hearing various philosophies on ship loadouts, I've reached a personal conclusion that as far as PvE is concerned, you can do about anything as long as you have some kind of overall plan.  There is no 'best' option, in the sense that ultimately, as long as you're getting yourself decent equipment that works well together you're going to be successful most of the time.  Some of our captains like to do things a certain way, maximizing one or two certain areas of a given ship, or arranging various combinations of items that normally wouldn't belong together to boost a given stat to its maximum possible potential.  And those kinds of builds excel, don't get me wrong.  Those are the guys that make difficult missions easy when they're in your group.

But there is a threshold where PvE is concerned that it is not absolutely necessary to go beyond.  If you complete your missions, then you've won.  If you get all of the optionals done while you're at it, then you're above the curve.  The difference between taking 12 minutes to do a Borg STF versus taking 8 minutes is simply a question of how much pushing the envelope matters to you.

PvP is another matter, of course.  If you aren't pushing the envelope there, then you're going to lose.  I don't spend but maybe 5% of my playtime on a PvP map, and that's a generous estimate.  So the following builds are generally going to be based on certain themes.  They are meant to be effective in PvE, and be fun to fly.  Gimmick consoles or powers may not be the most efficient way to run a build, but they aren't worthless if you're enjoying what they do.

Click the images for a full size version, and I'll be happy to answer any questions about any of them.

[Morgan Shackelford]

[Morgan Shackelford]

[Morgan Shackelford]

[Morgan Shackelford]

[Morgan Shackelford]

[Morgan Shackelford]

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[Morgan Shackelford]

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[davisjm0311]

Very well said! Once again, great job on your ship images in these!

[Morgan Shackelford]

davisjm0311 wrote:

Very well said! Once again, great job on your ship images in these!

Thanks.  I am partially inspired to do this because I am just having great fun flying these ships.  Working through the rep and/or fleet systems to put together builds that are meant to work together a certain way has been rewarding.  They get the job done well enough.  In game terms, I guess I've hopped onto the theme park ride.  Will my Defiant work well in pvp?  Probably not at all.  But in a pve setting it's a lot of fun.  

[VADM pRett]

I presume you have a template set up that you plus the various elements in to? I (sorta) know my way around the basics and maybe a little extra in GiMP, but your years of experience are definitely showing here. Any suggestions, tips, etc. you'd be willing to part with here or via PM would definitely be appreciated.

Also, more on topic, I echo your sentiments in the opening paragraph. Thanks for sharing these.

[Morgan Shackelford]

Capt pRett wrote:

I presume you have a template set up that you plus the various elements in to? I (sorta) know my way around the basics and maybe a little extra in GiMP, but your years of experience are definitely showing here. Any suggestions, tips, etc. you'd be willing to part with here or via PM would definitely be appreciated. Also, more on topic, I echo your sentiments in the opening paragraph. Thanks for sharing these.

 

Here is  blank of this particular setup:

 

 

The font is Swiss911 XCm BT:

http://fontsgeek.com/fonts/Swiss911-XCm-BT-Regular

 

Now, I've done other loadouts like this for my ships in the past, but I got the lcars elements and the idea in general from this:

http://dkeith.deviantart.com/art/STO-USS-Dunnottar-Crew-Manifest-Verion-3-0-272494284

 

Everything else is pulled from screenshots of in game information panels.  I don't know what the controls in GIMP are like, but in photoshop I'm using rectangular marquee and/or magic wand and then just copying and pasting between windows.

 

[Wupteedo]

Your words and builds are indeed wise.  Thank you for sharing.  Looking forward to seeing the rest of your fleet.

Cheers

[Morgan Shackelford]

USS Lexington Counter Command build added.  Designed to tear Undine to pieces.

[Morgan Shackelford]

Valley Forge loadout updated.

 

I ran this ship, with a setup very similar to this, for a long time.  This is the kind of build you should be aiming for if you just hit level fifty and want to focus on PvE.  Killing borg effectively is PvE's bread and butter; the Borg STF's are still very popular these days as a quick source of dilithium.  They are the some of the oldest missions in the PvE queue, and thus are the easiest.

You can tweak yours to taste, of course.  Maybe you want to try the MACO space set instead of the Assimilated set.  Maybe you prefer disruptors.  It's all the same, in that it is all going to be good quality equipment.  Spare no dilithium expense where a 3-piece space set and associated faction weapons are concerned.  Skimp on the consoles if you must, as I know that anything beyond a blue-quality Mark XI console can get expensive.  Equipment and other assorted devices are discretionary based on what you have available or can easily get.

With a ship like this you will have a reliable vessel for generating the resources you need to get into a Fleet ship (or some of the new T6 designs).