Fun with the Ambassador Class

[Hera]

My Galaxy X has been so successful I can roll right through dailies and the like and max my Dil so Ive been looking for a new ship to work on.  Ive always loved the set up of the 'Fleet Support'ship, the Ambassador Class, so I worked up a build and its been a huge amount of fun. 

but Im wondering if i could take it to the next level so,

U.S.S. Venus
Capt: Athena, Eng
Race: Olympian (Alien)

Fore Wep
Rom Plas Beam XII
Breen Transphasic Cluster Torp
Wide angle Quantum Torp
Romulan Dual Plasma Beam Bank XII

Aft Wep
Plasma Turret x3
Omni-directional antiproton Beam (Set 2/3)

Deflector: Solanae (3/4)
Impulse Eng: Solanae (3/4)
Warp: Obelisk (2/3)
Shields: Solanae (3/4)

Consoles...dont ask it will probably make you very sad <.<

Stations;
Lt Universal: (Eng) Emergency Power to Weapon 1, Aux Power to Battery 1
Lt Tac: Torp Spread 1, Cannon Scatter Volley 1
En Tac: Tactical Team 1
Cmd Eng: Emergency Power to Shields 1, aux Power to Bat 1, Reverse Shield Polarity 1, Directed Energy Modulation 3
Lt Cmd Sci: Science Team 1, Hazard Emitters 2, Gravity Well 1

This all started because I meant to make an A2B beam ship but didnt have enough beams so I threw whatever in and...its a lot of fun.  with the Wide angles torp I can fire a torpedo spread sideways (endlessly amusing to me) and it seems to hit pretty hard.  So I have to ask, can this work if I put the effort into improving it?  I can do Elete STfs but my damage isnt that impressive. 

[Spawnner]

Do you need some arrays? i may have some spare to get you through until you get all ROM PLAS.

Let me know.

[Battle Lion]

Well if you dont mind some suggestions, i have a few.

this is coming from a guy who regularly swaps between the flamby and the breadknot, so i know a bit about this ship as well.

the main draw of the ambassador class is its LTCMDR science slot. which, of course, and as youve noticed, means you can grav well. an ability usually reserved for lesser hitting science ships. so to be able to do it on a cruiser that can hit in the 5 digit dps numbers is very useful.

the great part about the ambassador/dreadnaught swap is that you can use almost all the same gear and it will work just as well, and with the new "ship load outs" feature, switching between them is easier than ever, and doesnt require double grinding to get new gear.


it looks like you are trying to run a forward damage build here, the ship turns decent enough, more so with a Fleet RCS, so its certainly possible.

if that be the case, i'd say to go for it fully. 3 dual beam banks up front with your WAQT, (though i just removed my torp from my build and my DPS went up about 1000) and 3 turrets with the kinetic cutting beam aft.

you could also go for single cannons up front, but with cannons you have to be within 4 km to max your damage output, and beams are alot more forgiving for less manueverable cruisers.

you could swap out CSV1 for APB1 or BO/BFAW, as youre not really getting alot out of your CSV because its only affecting your 3 turrets.

im not sure why you are using the obelisk 2pc set, when you have plasma as your damage type, when much better cores exist even on the exchange for less than a quarter million EC. if you have the solanae core, that would be better.

as an engineer, you have quite a bit of survivability already, so you could put EPTW3 and ET1 on there instead of EPTW1 and RSP1 and still be ok, especially because you are A2Bing.

your transphasic cluster torp isnt being affected by TS1 right? that means you have a whole ability to benefit one weapon that fires only if you are within 180 degrees of a target, and then only every 8-10 seconds or so. might not be worth it, but if its fun then who am i to argue?


before i swtiched to the breadknot, my dps was stuck in the 9k range with the flamby, which i think is really good for a engineer/cruiser, especially one that can grav well and essentially save the day in most of the end game content if you are playing with complete idiots. grav well is the great equalizer in PVE, and i have had decent success with this ship in PVP as well.

as for your consoles, nukara, borg, fleet neut/rcs, embassy sci, tachyokinetic are all very good choices. seriously, the tachyokinetic is mandatory for this build.

[Hera]

Well at first I was going to try and make a torp boat.  But I didnt have many torps.

Ive retired the clister torp.  I didnt mind it not doing spreads, it battered things in the gravwell nicely but I think I found better.  in fact to my shock after tinkering today I 'won' the fight with the Crystaline Entity twice

The ship flies as nicely maneuverable as any escort Ive had.  Well..close anyway.

Wy do you say you have o be in 4 m to do the best damage with cannons?

Forward
Plasma Cannon Xi blue
Bio-Molecular Torpedo
Romulan Dual Plasma Beam Bank
Wide Angle Quantum

Rear
Romulan Plasma Turret
Plasma Turret x2
Borg Cutting beam

Deflector jem'hadar (getting 8472)
Impulse Solanese (getting Reman)
Warp Fleet ; Sep A->W ACap AMP SSS
Shields; Solanese (Replacing with fleet)

Engine Consoles
Assimilated Console
Enhanced Neutronium alloy + turn x3

Sci Consoles
Shield Refrequencer +ShHP (+12% shields HP)
Emitter Array +th{Pl}
Emitter Array -th{Pl}

Tac Con
Vulnerability Locator Xii +Pla x3

For Boff Im runing a hybrid of Drake and A2B since I have a hybrid cruiser and sci abilities.  Its taking some getting used to but it really works like a charm.  Use Well, use A2B x2, use drake a couple of times, Well is up again and power is up

Lt Un (En)
Engineering Team 1, A2B 1
Lt Tac
Torpedo spread 1, Cannon Rapid Fire 1
En Tac
Tactical team 1

Cmd Eng
Emergency Power to Shields 1, A2B 1, Emergency Power to Weapons 3, Directed energy Modulation 3

Lt Cmd Sci
Science Team 1, Hazzard Emitters 2, gravity Well 1

Oh and EPS Transfer, the Eng ability, is awesome to hit just before casting Grav Well.

Doffs
Purple tech, 2 Blue Tech
Damage Control Eng (Reduce cooldown) Blue - 2
Gravametric Sci Purple, +2% dmg vs Elachi

[Battle Lion]

Well at first I was going to try and make a torp boat.  But I didnt have many torps.

Ive retired the clister torp.  I didnt mind it not doing spreads, it battered things in the gravwell nicely but I think I found better.  in fact to my shock after tinkering today I 'won' the fight with the Crystaline Entity twice

The ship flies as nicely maneuverable as any escort Ive had.  Well..close anyway.

Wy do you say you have o be in 4 m to do the best damage with cannons?

Forward
Plasma Cannon Xi blue
Bio-Molecular Torpedo
Romulan Dual Plasma Beam Bank
Wide Angle Quantum

Rear
Romulan Plasma Turret
Plasma Turret x2
Borg Cutting beam

Deflector jem'hadar (getting 8472)
Impulse Solanese (getting Reman)
Warp Fleet ; Sep A->W ACap AMP SSS
Shields; Solanese (Replacing with fleet)

Engine Consoles
Assimilated Console
Enhanced Neutronium alloy + turn x3

Sci Consoles
Shield Refrequencer +ShHP (+12% shields HP)
Emitter Array +th{Pl}
Emitter Array -th{Pl}

Tac Con
Vulnerability Locator Xii +Pla x3

For Boff Im runing a hybrid of Drake and A2B since I have a hybrid cruiser and sci abilities.  Its taking some getting used to but it really works like a charm.  Use Well, use A2B x2, use drake a couple of times, Well is up again and power is up

Lt Un (En)
Engineering Team 1, A2B 1
Lt Tac
Torpedo spread 1, Cannon Rapid Fire 1
En Tac
Tactical team 1

Cmd Eng
Emergency Power to Shields 1, A2B 1, Emergency Power to Weapons 3, Directed energy Modulation 3

Lt Cmd Sci
Science Team 1, Hazzard Emitters 2, gravity Well 1

Oh and EPS Transfer, the Eng ability, is awesome to hit just before casting Grav Well.

Doffs
Purple tech, 2 Blue Tech
Damage Control Eng (Reduce cooldown) Blue - 2
Gravametric Sci Purple, +2% dmg vs Elachi

Nice, isnt she a fun ship?? i just swapped back to my ambassador after hitting max potential with the dreadnaught.


This is an excellent resource for damage fall off over distance"
http://theenginescannaetakeit.wordpress ... on-ranges/

you dont need the DCE boff to reduce cooldowns becuase you already have the 3 technicians. 

your 2 emitter arrays look like they are both + and - threat, so they cancel each other out. you might want to get one that will keep the threat up, or down. 

3x neutronium is a bit much. they dont stack like tac consoles do, there are diminishing returns and they become less effective with each one. most people just run 1, and jam the rest of the engineering stations with universal. if you find that you like the extra turn rate that affords you though you can just get a fleet RCS console instead with ALLRES. 

[Hera]

The reason I came up with this is A2B drains aux power to 0.  My strategy is this.

Use my Engie +power, hit gravity well. 
Use A2B 3-4 button presses to rotate combat buttons. 
Gravity Well is off CD so I use Drake to rotate shields and weapons while my AuX powers up.
Drop another massive grav well.

The more potent grav wells have made a great difference well worth a couple of doffs to my eye.

[Battle Lion]

The reason I came up with this is A2B drains aux power to 0.  My strategy is this.

Use my Engie +power, hit gravity well. 
Use A2B 3-4 button presses to rotate combat buttons. 
Gravity Well is off CD so I use Drake to rotate shields and weapons while my AuX powers up.
Drop another massive grav well.

The more potent grav wells have made a great difference well worth a couple of doffs to my eye.

hmm i guess i can see how that works. kinda neat. i usually just time my grav wells inbetween A2B rotations. worst case i hit an EPTx power and it will give me enough power to aux to create a grav well. it wont do any damage, but it will still bottle neck some spheres if theyre getting to close.