Star Trek Online Cruiser Guide Part 1: Weapons & Shields

Star Trek Online is an easy enough game to start, you can run missions which in turn give you credits and new parts for your ship. But as you begin to level up as with most MMO's you realize the person next to you is doing more damage or has better armor and they're at the same level you are. This series of guides will show you a few ways of optimizing your ship and character that will make you more succesful in both PVP & PVE.

Now as you no doubt already know there are three main types of ships in STO Escort, Cruiser and Science. In every guide one of these classes will be catered for showing you how to configure the item slots and skills that are the topic of the guide. Each ship section will also be officer specific due to the varying available skills.

 

Guide 1: Weapons and Shields

Cruiser: Engineering Officer

What Items Should I Use?

The cruiser class ship is primarily used as a tank vessel as such the type of shield used on these ships is extremely important. I find if you are tanking in a cruiser covariant shields are the best way to go they have the highest shield strength in the game but a very slow recharge rate. As far as weapons go almost any fit will work for PVE but due to the cruisers slow turn rate in PVP torpedoes can be a real hassle and aren't really worth the slot. Personally I reccomend Every weapons slot be fitted with a Single Beam Array, Phaser to begin with though converting to other energy types when you reach Rear Admiral can be a good idea. This build however needs to be backed up by an EPS Flow Regulator or two though I will explain that in greater detail in the Consoles Guide.

 

What Skills Should I Train?

Due to the heavy reliance upon beam weapons that this build has you should train Starship Energy Weapons and Starship Beam Weapons to 9. Also train the skill for the energy type of the beam weapons you use to 9, eg. Starship Phaser Weapons. As far as shields go the Starship Shield Efficiency, Starship Shield Maintainance and Starship Shield Performance skills should all be trained to 9. Cruiser Captain and Starship Command are also two good skills to have as they buff the shield and hull strength.

 

Skills Summary:

Starship Energy Weapons 9

Starship Beam Weapons 9

Starship (Insert Energy type here) Weapons 9

Starship Shield Maintanance 9

Starship Shield Efficiency 9

Starship Shield Performance 9

Cruiser Captain 9

Starship Command 9

Also the skill for whichever ship you pilot can help as it buffs shield and hull strength eg. Heavy Cruiser Captain 9.

 

Some People often say in many different games that there is one best possible way to build a character but in the end depending on your situation many different combinations of items and skills can work to your advantage. This series of guides is meant more to show you the role of the different skills, ships and items than offer a definitive "Best" way to fit your ship.

Anyway thankyou for reading my guide and I hope it helps you optimize your cruiser.