So what do you promote to Veteran?

posted on December 18th, 2013, 6:50 pm

Most of the time, we tend to promote whatever first hits full Officer rank, but if you had the opportunity to be choosy, what would you select?

For me, likely candidates for the Feds are:

Galaxy class: the enormous Offence boost puts it above the Sovereign for attack power, although the latter still keeps the edge on Defence.
Nova: horribly fragile, but the +2 warp-in slots are a compelling reason to try and nurse a couple to Veteran.
Sovereign: while the extra regeneration speed given by Enhanced Engineering is irrelevant (twice of very little is still too small to make a difference in active combat), the reduced duration of subsystem disables is vital for this front-line vessel.

Fun factoid: 25 promotion points allows a Fed player to promote a Galaxy, Defiant, and a Sovereign class to Veteran. Poor Janeway, left out in the cold...

Ships I definitely wouldn't promote:

Yoyodyne Nebula: its flat upgrades (stat increases from ranking are biased heavily to System, and it has the most worthless officer "upgrade" in the game), and a Veteran bonus that tries the sweeten the pot of its mediocre special ability by removing the supply cost, makes it a definite no.
Akira: the torpedo upgrade is nice, but if you can get several to officer ranks it's not as necessary, while the six point cost makes a harder road to exactly 25 points.
Remore: too expensive, and extra special energy isn't really necessary when it can already fire Precise Volley twice in quick succession.

posted on December 18th, 2013, 7:28 pm

v13. turns a well rounded and capable ship into a complete beast. vet gets a massive stat boost and makes the special hit 4x as many targets.

and for fun: the c11. a vet c11 regens shields so fast that it's immune to fire from a starbase. i'm guessing there's use in combat for this insane shield regen. but c11s aren't likely to survive til vet, so it's academic. the only way they live is if you keep them out of the fire, where they can't get kills for xp.

posted on December 19th, 2013, 12:14 am

BortaS
ion storm is much bigger, a couple of these can take out stations and scoot before you know it.

feds
Galaxy, Phalanx, Defiant, Avalon, Nova. tho now i upgrade Intrepid and Monsoon so more likely to get them safely out

dominion
Breen Battleship
dreadnought

romulan
Griffin
Tavara

other than that its normally what has the opportunity to.

posted on December 19th, 2013, 1:20 am

hard to achieve, but canaveral, for sensor synergy passive with station for map control and myotronic pinq on cloakers

torp rien for disabling weapons abily on station

posted on December 19th, 2013, 4:16 am

As far as fed goes, I like upgrading the galaxy or any warpin ship really, because that helps to free up a slot. However Im surprised to see no one has said the defiant, that is my first choice for an upgrade by far. 59 offense with 140 and the passives it has at an officer rank make it a very deadly combination, and with its defense, it can hang in a firefight for a long time, and not get killed because of its speed.

posted on December 19th, 2013, 11:52 am

Engine Hooks are just too fancy.

Other than that:
Kling: Bortas, if i don't suicide them for raiding. Otherwise i prefer Luspet or Neghvars.
Fed: early on in PvP a Vet Ambassador or Monsoon is rather nice. Otherwise ofc a Galaxy or Phalanx. A Vet Descent is nice for tanking as well, though... i agree with Ray, the Defiant is quite a nice Veteran unit.
Also when relieing on WarpIns, upgrading them is a very good idea.
Dominion: anything with big pew pew, like a V13. Preferably the Dreadnought if built.
Romulan: depending on build, Griffin Vet, or Norexan / D'deridex / Tavara Vet - the latter is preferably, due it's nasty offense and defense, combined with advanced cloak and abilities.
Borg: ... poor Borg can't rank up


Dunno, it's rare that i have plenty of Veterans early in the game, and at that point i would pick pretty much any vessel. In the end it's free additional firepower / tanking capability.

posted on December 19th, 2013, 6:48 pm

yep , in nasty pvp any veteran is treasure...

posted on December 20th, 2013, 12:27 am

Definitely upgrade the galaxy first and foremost. the torpedo shitstorm it brings to the table as well as the boost to overall stats is hard to beat. Other than that, It's a tie between the Defiant and the Nova. One turns a modest fast attack craft into a fire-power monster and the other gives invaluable warpin slots worth of heavy ships.

If you can manage the trapeze act of getting an enemy construction ship, building the V15, and then getting it leveled up, the singularity launcher and nigh-invulnerability are also hard to beat. one-shotting a pesky starbase down to size before the rest of your fleet moves in beats just about anything in the game, even if its sloth'ish speeds make fleet maneuvers a PITA. Otherwise I don't worry all that much about veteran status with the Dominion. none of their ships seem to gain that much by it aside from some durability.

I have a soft spot for upgrading the NeghVar. just the novelty of Klingons strapping field artillery to a starship makes me smirk. and I never really utilize the ion storm, so I'm not exactly holding vet points in reserve for the Botras. otherwise, I am handy at vetting BoPs. they turn from fragile little skirmishers into pocket battleships.

the romulans are hard to say... I NEVER vet out the Tavara... the "use all warbirds weapons" is a waste, as it sucks down the special energy that could otherwise be used to grab small enemy vessels and turning them against their masters. D'Deridex are already pretty formidable on their own, so I usually won't vet one unless it's at an early stage of the game and I need something that can really soak up punishment to defend an outpost. but a Lethval is a good bet for earning its gold badge, getting a nice bump in special energy to bolster its support vessel abilities.

posted on December 20th, 2013, 5:14 am

For the Feds Defiants........of course that is the ONLY ship I can upgrade so not really a difficult decision. Definitely Neghvars for the Klingons and for the Romulans I upgrade Warbirds or Norexans whichever gets there first. Dominion I upgrade bug ships because it is nice to have at least a couple of the ships that you always saw on the television show actually survive till the end of the game.

posted on December 20th, 2013, 9:52 am

T-15 and K'Vorts are quite nasty, they are rather easy to get and really shred especially small ships to pieces. FO uses area damage only rarely, a veteran T-15 shows why . NeghVar is awesome as well.

posted on December 20th, 2013, 11:25 am

T-15 and K'Vorts are quite nasty, they are rather easy to get and really shred especially small ships to pieces. FO uses area damage only rarely, a veteran T-15 shows why . NeghVar is awesome as well.

the t15 gets its aoe weapon at 1 gold bar. 2 gold bars doubles its effect. vet gives the t15 counter weaponry (just like the c17 vet). counter weaponry does lots of damage against long range, and even more against arty.

posted on December 21st, 2013, 9:38 am

... Dominion I upgrade bug ships because it is nice to have at least a couple of the ships that you always saw on the television show actually survive till the end of the game.

I do the same with Ktingas (if they ever survive that long)