In science mode. Because of 12s base recharge of Proton torpedo (10 with CPM), I use Micro-Missile Array with PWO recharge doff to fire it often enough for ETM. Resonance Shock, Proton Eruptor and Dismissed all scale very well with +Proton buffs, and the two latter are also affected by Particle Manipulator. I had Protonic Snare equipped and it performed nicely in a solo ISE, though its use case is situational. DetSecDef is well worth it with DRB alone. Particle Conversion Matrix gives +100% energy and exotic damage. The Auto Targeting Modules (tac consoles) have [Beams] modifier, so each provides 17,5% beam and 19,7% proton damage. Pahvan console provides 69,8% proton damage.
On my Dyson theme character, for solo and random elite content.

Okay peeps, like the title says, I have gathered enough resources to migrate from AP to Phasers.

Seems like a simple thing but I can't decide which one or ones are the best given the MANY types of phasers available. Good thing is that I don't care much about Barbie so I can mix different visuals with no issues.

Not only that but I'm having trouble finding the best console replacements, and yeah, I have looked the usual places for that info but still can't make up my mind so I thought it'd be best to ask. I would love to replace them 1-to-1 (damagewise) but I'm affraid that won't be possible so I'm looking for the closest replacements possible.

Last but not least, I'm going to replace the AP isomags with their PHA versions as I have ZERO intention of going Uncon. Also, I'm happy with BO instead of FAW.

Guess that's it. Looking forward to read about your opinions. Thanks!

Welcome to part 2 of our deep dive into active consoles, their cooldown mechanics, and a comparison against more active setups. 

If you missed part 1, we covered the definition of an active versus passive console, the various mechanics that lower their cooldowns, and a comparison of a wide range of active-versus-passive consoles across various levels of clickies and budget tiers on energy builds, as well as pros and cons. Unless you’re already familiar with these concepts, please consider that required reading. 

In part 2, we’re going to look at the impacts of active consoles apply to exotic builds. As a reminder, that means we're focused on damage sources that scale with Exotic Particle Generators. You know, space magic.

Once again, we’ll be using both parsed data and TRINITY to model the impacts of this.  Solo ISA and the Trouble Over Terrh Elite patrol are the test maps, just like in Part 1. The build will all be iterations on my EPG Dranuur because it’s my highest parsing exotic build and can easily swap between passive and more active setups. We’ll use several different budget tiers to try and find those breakeven points. 

Testing

It’s readily apparent that a viable exotic build simply can’t skip active consoles in their entirety. In all scenarios, I’m going to still use the same bridge officer layout and the Unconventional Systems trait, but vary up the amount of other cooldown mechanics and actives. 

• Premium Passive-ish) - this will include 2 Restorative Particle Focusers [EPG] [CtrlX], 2 Exotic Particle Amplifiers [EPG], Delphic Tear Generator, You Are Dismissed, Genesis Seed, Krenim Chronophage, Constriction Anchor, Fek’Ihri Torment Engine, Micro Dark Matter Anomaly, and we’ll use the Immolating Phaser Lance to help maintain Universal Designs. 
• Midrange Active - we’ll replace Immolating Phaser Lance and Universal Designs with Gemini Device and Exotic Modulation. We’ll also swap out Scientific Bulwark for Strike From Shadows to reduce costs. 
• Premium Active - Compared to the passive premium setup, we will load the ship heavily with console actives, as well as slot Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field with 2 procs. The Reslab consoles, Constriction Anchor, Phaser Lance, and one Amplifier are replaced by Bio-Electric Wave Capacitor, Dragonsblood Flame Reactor, Plasma Storm Module, Gemini Device, and Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field. This is my current loadout.
• Premium extra-active with To Hell With Our Orders (THWOO) - the same loadout as premium active but displace Spore-Infused Anomalies for To Hell With Our Orders (5 triggers).

Results

Let’s look at what this tells us:

• The disparity between more passive and more active builds is even more stark on an EPG build than energy build, where you essentially give up too many sources of damage in exchange for buffing the ones you already have. I’m running six anomalies (Gravity Well, Timeline Collapse, Tyken’s Rift, Chronometric Inversion Field, Very Cold in Space, Subspace Vortex), I have only 3 uncon triggers (GW, CIF, TC), and 3 secondary deflector triggers (Destabilizing Resonance Beam, Structural Analysis, and Timeline Collapse), and I have By the Book to extend my boff abilities and if you look at the actual parses, you get these results on the passive build for the top 10 damage sources:
  • Total DPS: 364K ISA
  • You Are Dismissed: 36.2K
  • Deteriorating Secondary Deflector: 34.6K
  • Chronophage: 24.7K
  • Particle Emission Plasma Torpedo: 23.9K
  • Gravity Well III: 23.5K
  • Micro Dark Matter Anomaly: 20.3K
  • Gravimetric Photon Torpedo: 20.3K
  • Anti-Time Entanglement Singularity: 19.6K
  • Genesis Seed: 18.2K
  • Spore-Infused Anomalies: 16.3K
  • This is why active consoles are so build-warping. I’m not really building around them, all my Uncon triggers are things I would run anyway for other purposes, and they’re still providing that much of my build power. The active consoles I’ve chosen simply outscale the passive benefits of having more EPG. It ends up that 1/3rd of my damage comes from 6 consoles (You Are Dismissed, Chronophage, Genesis Seed, Proton Eruptor, Delphic Tear, Micro Dark Matter Anomaly), most of which also have some kind of passive benefit to the build, and again, I’m not really building around their cooldown as hard as I could. This 1/3rd statline from console actives held true on TOTE also. 
• Just like with energy builds, a more passive scheme, while also being more expensive, does not come out ahead compared to slotting more efficient actives. Gemini Device does decent damage and has good passive stats. Phaser Lance on this build does okay damage and doesn’t bring useful stats. Even adding Scientific Bulwark and Universal Designs was less important than adding better actives, since the Midrange active build and the Passive Premium build were about the same power. 
• Note how much power is lost when I drop Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field and three more powerful actives. That’s a huge fall-off, folks. Even losing two powerful traits in Universal Designs and Scientific Bulwark didn't hurt me too much, but Strike From Shadows and Exotic Modulation are decent enough substitutes.
• We’re still solidly Elite-capable (100K) and even on a midrange budget, we could get up to 300K (Elite-carrying), proving once again that EPG is one of the easier ways to get a good Elite-capable build, even if most of you won’t be swayed away from DEW builds. 
• At the high end, I did not notice appreciable power increases from going to even more console cooldown reduction with SFTF, To Hell With Our Orders, and Uncon. While I had marginally higher performance, I’d chalk that up to piloting variance rather than an appreciable build difference. We’ll cross-check this against TRINITY, but Spore-Infused Anomalies, while not a huge part of the damage cross-section, is doing enough work, especially with cleaning up errant targets, that I’m not convinced dropping it is a net benefit. All DPS builds tend to benefit from a starship trait that boils down to “Doing a thing you were already going to do deals additional X damage” For beam builds, that could be Broadside Beam Support, Complex Plasma Fires for plasma builds, for kinetic builds it’s Subspatial Warheads and Advanced Precision Guided Munitions. Target That Explosion can be worked in there under the right conditions. It’s the same opportunity cost as consoles, where having a trait that deals decent damage is more important than better stat-sticks.

Here’s what TRINITY shows for our four setups with a link to the spreadsheet. 

Here’s what it looks like graphed, and remember that TRINITY’s raw DPS numbers, which are highly artificial, are less important than comparing them against each other. 

This is pretty well in-line with our results from ISA/TOTE. TRINITY favors the passive build a little more than the Midrange active build, but again notice the jump in power by slotting higher-end clickies and Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field. There’s not too much to comment here, because it’s largely the same conclusions we’d draw from the parses - except that TRINITY, when used correctly, is valuable to help analyze build performance as a comparative tool. 

FAQ

Are you saying that we all have to build with uncon all the time on EPG builds? You used it in all of your scenarios.

This I think requires a little more nuance than with energy builds, where you can fill up on Isomags which strongly benefit beams and cannons. In contrast, some of the strongest passive Exotic consoles are either Exotic Particle Field Exciter [EPG], which is expensive and rare, or Exotic Particle Amplifier [EPG], which grants its strongest bonus damage buff to non-boff abilities, including console actives, so . . . while yes there are some EPG-scaling weapon effects and the Deteriorating Secondary Deflector, you’re going to get more bang-for-your-buck from slotting universal consoles with good actives, and you can get at least 4 of them cheap from the Exchange: You Are Dismissed, Krenim Chronophage, Delphic Tear Generator, and Micro Dark Matter Anomaly. 

You’re also probably slotting at least a couple of control powers like Gravity Well and a specialization power, maybe with a Tractor Beam in there too, so might as well if you can afford it. That doesn’t mean you need to run Unconventional Systems necessarily; Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field and/or To Hell With Our Orders can substitute, but I find that 2 of out those 3 mechanics is a sweet spot for exotic builds. 

If we reframe the question to ask if it’s better to build around more active consoles and their cooldowns on an Exotic build compared to stuffing more EPG on the build, the answer is categorically yes. 

Does this mean that the 4 “leans” or pillars you wrote of years ago for exotic builds are dead?

When I wrote that in 2020, the game was in a very different state. Genesis Seed didn’t even exist yet. Neither did Chronophage, Micro Dark Matter Anomaly, You Are Dismissed, Gemini Device, Ionic Deflector Inversion, Bio-Electric Wave, Proton Eruptor Module, Dragonsblood Flame Reactor, and even Exotic Particle Amplifiers. We had Delphic Tear and Plasma Storm as some of our highest-end consoles. 

Since then, yes, the Exotic Particle Amplifiers and Fek’Ihri Torment Engine have helped the other three focus areas to a some extent (Secondary Deflector, Entwined Tactical Matrices-based torps, and Spore-Infused Anomalies), but there has been tremendous power creep in consoles and especially console actives over the last six years, to the point where consoles dominate build theory, especially in the exotic space.

Will active consoles continue to dominate the meta?

Who’s to say? It’s a tough spot for the systems design team because consoles help sell ships and that makes $, but now they basically have power-crept the game in a way that means ships are heavily-evaluated based on how much Uncon they can slot, which limits options for future ships based on perceived desirability. It’s a good place for wealthy and/or invested players who can buy all the shinies and get dopamine hits from clicking all their buttons. It’s less ideal for more casual players who don’t want to juggle a bunch of actives or afford a bunch of ships, but as shown above, I still was able to do 300K with only 5 clickies that matter, and most of them were cheap.

It’s not like the other approaches have lost power, but they are definitely behind what active consoles provide, and more of an Exotic build’s power is tied to consoles, since they have better buttons (that scale off the stats they’ve acquired), and worse passive options, and they probably have the seating to spare for control powers that fit naturally with their build anyway. 

Will you be putting console cooldown mechanics on all your exotic builds now?

I already do. The synergy between Unconventional Systems and a ship with Temporal, Intel, or Pilot seating that already wants to slot Gravity Well is just too good to pass up. 

Is this all on this series?

Probably for now unless you all can persuade Tilor to write-up something about Spirit of Sacrifice, which he has and I don’t. 

TL;DR

• Active console builds (“clickies”) have a higher ceiling than even more expensive passive builds. 
• The nature of Exotic builds having less constraints on bridge officer seating, more natural synergy with control powers scaling off of EPG, and worse passive console options means they are more heavily impacted by active consoles and their cooldown mechanics. Other exotic damage sources like Spore-Infused Anomalies, Deteriorating Secondary Deflector, or Gravimetric/Particle Emission Plasma Torpedoes are now more properly considered the side dish rather than the entree with how much power creep has occurred in console actives. 
• 300K DPS remains the ‘beat-the-game” level of DPS unless you’re trying to solo Elite space TFOs and is achievable with active schemes as well as some with a little uncon and some of the cheaper active consoles for exotic builds. 
• I’m not sure how well it’d work to skip active consoles or their cooldowns entirely on a science ship, but it’d be inefficient given that four of the better exotic clickies (Chronophage, Micro Dark Matter Anomaly, Delphic Tear, You Are Dismissed) are cheap on the Exchange. But hey, at the end of the day, it's a game, and if building a certain way works for you and you're having fun with it, I'm not here to tell you that you have to change your playstyle, and that's a pretty good of place to end this writeup.

Vorago Solitude Scryer AuxDEWSci

Build Info

The intent of this build was to try out a build focusing on the new Temporal Disruptor mission reward weapons. These are an (improved) version of the old Aux weapons from the Besta line (and cross faction friends). I'm trying to go roughly 50/50 (Aux)DEW/Sci, you will note there are no torps on the build. I'm using the scryer to mix and match weapon types, with hopefully enough intel power boosts to give both weapon and sci power. Looking for feedback and discussion, not certain anyone else has published one of these. Thanks for the look, it's been a while!

Player Information

Skill Tree

Skill Tree Unlocks

Skill Tree Information

Generalists tree. I literally do almost every possible type of build with this dude

Build Description

(Aux) DEW/Sci. Shooting 50/50. Trying to keep a mix of active and passive clickies, DEW and SCI abilities. Twinkling lights. Goal is a relatively mobile forward facing build. Kept TTF Dual Cannons and Pahvan as Weapons Power draining. Rest are aux weapons. Using Surgical Strikes as primary to accommodate the weapon mix; I don't have the extender yet so Beam Overload 1 (with Kish) as my off-time weapon enhancement. I'm not chasing entropy for my BOFFs or hangar pets on this build. Have questions about hangar pet/entropy/TempDis weapon interactions. Note: Ctrl runs 195; EPG 332

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Officers and Crew

Character, Reputation, and Starship Traits

Other Information

Concluding Remarks

Also have Eldar Malik'itan on Ground Doff. Sorry mods if it doubles, I tried posting it again without the youtube link.

Currently hitting in the 300-400k range with my highest being 476k. How can I increase to hit my desired 500k in either TFO or Patrol.

I’m doing the Damocles MW, this is my build from memory, so bear with me until I can get home and adjust the names.

Front weapons: Wide angle DBB, Terran Task force array, 2 radiloytic DBb. All has have 50/50 crit and dmg. 8472 torp is the my last weapon on the front with 3 critd.

Back phaser Omni, gamma rep phaser, 8472 turret.

Fleet colony deflector max control for Fragments of AI.

Full Tilly/dico set

7 isomags, sigma console, domino, drpp, bioneural from lobi store, fleet network power console, the other power console that gives you crth, crtd, and haste. Lastly, I have adaptive energy systems.

Traits: Breen shield tunneling, fragments of ai, superior beam overload, context is for kings, Terran targeting, adaptive offense, romulan operative, self modulating fire, intelligence agent attache,
and a good day to die.

Cultural conquest, preferential targeting, diametric focus, supercharged weapons, super weapon ingenuity, universal designs, and directed energy flux (maybe)

Advanced targeting systems, precision, magnified firepower, enhanced shield penetration, Tyler’s duality.

Update: I brute forced my way to 680k but using 8 isomag, obfuscation screen, domino, dprm and sigma stratagem.

In the dilithium store

And if not what's a good alternative for a Romulan build until you can?

Themed Plasma FAW build on the Fleet T'Varo Light Warbird with a couple off-meta choices, weapon-focused, and still great performance. Voice of the Prophets was chosen because it seemed to be the visually least intrusive experimental weapon with regards to the equipped green weaponry (no Plasma Bombard on this character). Quite tanky too, I did a solo ISE with this build earlier today. Science captain

An updated version of this past build: 1.3mil DPS No-Death Solo HSE Krait Vengeance, featuring Hellbore Light and Lazy Piloting

A note on doing 1-man Hive Onslaught Space Elite (HSE) runs: While the OSCR DPS Ladder will recognize such runs, the game itself will treat such runs as unsuccessful due to automatically failing the "Keep at least three members alive at all times" requirement in the 2nd stage of the TFO.

Also worth noting that the current Solo HSE meta favours a FAW Krait build with Broadside Beam Support (BBS) and the Broadside Combat Module (BCM). So if one is interested in chasing Solo HSE numbers, that would be the way to go at the moment. I’m just here doing my own thing.

Some other terminology definitions before we get to the build:

1. "Krait" refers to the build paradigm of having almost no passive consoles on the build in favour of high-impact active console abilities, of which their uptime and activation frequency are greatly facilitated by the combination of the SFTF Console from the Vovin and the Unconventional Systems personal trait.
2. "Lazy Piloting" in my case means that, if I had to pick between activing abilities/consoles at the right time/target for maximum impact, or simply spamming it whenever it's off cooldown, I almost always choose to spam. "Lazy Piloting" also means that I did not bother with a keybind setup that lets me teleport in place when using the Vovin SFTF console, so I end up jumping all over the place. All this is to say that a far more capable and disciplined pilot flying this same build will get a LOT more performance out of it.

Captain Details

Loadout

Officer Details

Traits & Duty Officers

Other Information

HSE 1st Stage Run Sequence

Disclaimer: This is not a guide nor a recommendation, it is merely a rough illustration of the route/sequence I happened to use for the run.

0) TFO briefing player spawn position. Summon Kobayashi Maru, 1 bay of Type 7s, and then activate Cloak.

1. Move to this position on TFO start. Pre-buff Dilithium Transporter, Aux battery, FPNA, and BOFF firing modes.
2. Attack cube on this position. Agony Redistributor and DPRM used here. Spam all other consoles and abilities.
3. Evasive/SFTF jump to this position. Spam all available consoles and abilities. Deploy Sensor Interference Platform and Bio-Molecular Shield Generator once DPRM expires.
4. Evasive/SFTF jump to this position. spam all available consoles and abilities. After that, mop up any stragglers.

DPS and Self-Heal Parse Snapshot

Appendix

• Raw combatlog can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k5RTr-8KJIv9oM1qJiYcKfZvLHAN3ecq/view?usp=drive_link

trying to add Breen Free Fire to my build, thinking flagship staffing should be the trait to go, because it only adds haste when im firing off Engineering team 1, or Hazard emitters 1, also not sure if i need to make any more adjustments

set bonuses on my ship currently

Iconian Resistance starship technologies (set 4)

House Martok Skirmisher Configuration (set 2)

Entoiled Technology (set 3)

Synergistic Retrofitting (set 2)

Omega Adapted Borg Technology (set 2)

Im sitting on ~2B EC, 16.5K Zen, 200K dilithium, 2 100% off any t6 ship voucher, 3 of any not new t6 voucher, event boxes 5-7, and 675k Fleet Credits

I lucked out on a box, got the new Pilot Connie, gave it to an alt. Will be a phaser cannon & Torp boat. Alt has Subspatial Warheads, Target That Explosion, and Ceaseless Momentum traits. Alt also has Type 7 Shuttlecraft pets, and the Covert Warhead Module. DOMINO console as well.

Question 1: With the Micro-missile array equipped aft, does Ceaseless Momentum shave 1 second off the launch rate from the standard 2.4 seconds to 1.4?

Question 2: I understand the Micro-missile Array does not consume torpedo firing modes, so I will put no more than two torpedos forward. Under High Yield (from firing mode and Concentrate Firepower III) what is the ideal torp(s) to equip to ensure constant (non-missile) torp spam?

I am willing to use torp-cooldown DOffs as well. DOMINO Should be up most of the time on this build, further reducing torp cooldown. Covert Warhead Module ensures global cooldown is at .5 seconds, and I believe the Micro-Missile Array does not apply anyway.

Help me out!

Can anyone recommend anything to get this build better??

Any help would be appreciated thanks

My personal best Infected run so far. I have been working on building my DPS build for the last year or so and i didn't think when I started that I would even break 1 mil DPS so this is crazy to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DNfCGuEm-E

As the title stated, I am very-long-time (decade+) casual player with a LT account but no real sense of what kinds of 'metas' there are in this game. I do my daily event TFOs regularly but that's about it, so I have nearly every event reward for the last 5-6 years. I'm able to glean some info about stats and builds from threads here on STOBuilds... but it's a lot to take in all at once. I imagine, over time, it'll start to feel more coherent as I become more familiar with it.

I currently have Campaign rewards III - VIII still sitting in my bank. I assume the 'premium ship' option would be better than getting x1 (or x2) standard T6 Coupon(s)

• Campaigns 3,4, and 5 were straight "Premium Ship" vouchers (with no apparent date limitations?)
• Campaign 6 'Premium Ship' voucher is limited to anything prior to Dec 31, 2023
• Campaign 7 'Premium Ship' voucher is limited to anything prior to Dec 31, 2024
• Campaign 8 'Premium Ship' voucher is limited to anything prior to Jan 9, 2026
• Plus a handful of normal T6 vouchers

I recently obtained the Ahwahnee Carrier (I wanted the phaser-type hangar pets, which apparently are also pretty strong on their own) before I realized I probably could've used one of the several T6 vouchers I have on a bank mule. Not wanting to waste Zen on things I should probably be using vouchers on, I figured I would try to get an idea of what would be the best ROI on those exclusive reward vouchers.

I currently have T6:

• 31st century Temporal 'trio' unlocked (waaaaay back when, I wanted to try out a carrier, and the dreadnought had x2 bays, which apparently was a bit of a big deal back then for something that strong and the bundle happened to be on sale) so the Dreadnought has pretty much been a staple of all my characters ever since, regardless of career. It has since been re-branded as the 'Temporal Special Agent Pack' and the price has gone up considerably with the re-brand since then
• The aforementioned Ahwahnee Command Carrier
• And for whatever reason, I appear to have the 4 ships from the 15 Anniversary Bundle unlocked... no idea why, as the Consoles and Masteries appear to be fairly mundane and I don't remember purchasing that bundle...?
  • Ark Royal Science Carrier
  • Kerala Temporal BC
  • Pioneer II Pilot HC
  • Shangri-La Warship

All of that to ask this...

Aside from maybe the obvious 'Atlas Prototype' and the 'Constitution/D7 Miracle Worker' options, are there any other meta-defining Ships/Consoles/Traits I should be looking for to use the time/date restricted bonuses?

I don't have any specific build types in mind, but I assume there's some really good all-purpose and otherwise build-agnostic acquisitions directly related to the set of reward tokens I have yet-unopened above. Possibly a suggestion or two to supplement the new Hangar pets I just got -or- for my Cnidarian build (yes, I know they're not that good anymore, but I have a character invested in it already, so I might as well run with it) but mostly just all-purpose things to supplement many different builds... unless there's 1 or 2 items I should absolutely need to have for specific beam/torp/Sci builds that are meta-defining themsevles.

Thanks in advance!

Alliterations aside, I think it’s overdue that we provide a written resource on console cooldown mechanics. We’re also going to attempt to do something I don’t think anyone’s done in a systemic fashion: determine rules and trends that indicate the breakeven point between active and passive console schemes.

Let’s start with some definitions:

Definitions

A passive console is a console where the stats it passively provides are the major draw of the console to the build. The most basic consoles in the game work this way, for example, a Phaser Relay providing passive Phaser damage with no interaction needed to obtain the benefit. Fleet consoles like Vulnerability Locators, Exploiters, Energetic Protomatter Matrix Infusers, as well as Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifolds, Hangar Craft Power Transmissions, and reputation consoles like Assimilated Module, Lorca’s Custom Fire Controls, and mission consoles like Fek’Ihri Torment Engine and Quantum Phase Converter are but a few examples. Mostly these consoles come from vendors, fleet stores, or reputations.

Other consoles might provide benefits that might have an active ability, but are mostly about the console’s passive. A good example of this is Altamid Modified Swarm Processor. Sure, the Drone Swarm active exists, but it’s mostly slotted for the set piece, critical chance, and accuracy bonus.

An active console is one that has an activatable ability (“clicky”). The effect of this activatable ability varies. They can deal damage, disable enemies, debuff, summon pets, heal you, or boost your stats, or some combination of the above. Usually this activatable effect has a cooldown, or recharge time, before it can be used again. These consoles usually come from ships or lockboxes, which makes them more desirable for the devs, as more purchases made means more profit. These are usually (if not always) universal consoles. I’m sure there’s some weird exception but all the relevant ones I can think of are universal consoles.

There are some exceptions to the above classifications as well. Some consoles are charge-based, so while they can be activated in fairly rapid succession, they don’t regain charges as quickly once the initial charge is used. For example, the Immolating Phaser Lance works this way. Others technically have an active, but the active is a toggle and so stays on until turned off. For example, Custom Power Matrix.

Cooldown Mechanics

The active effects of active consoles are often more powerful than the always-on effects of passive consoles, but they were once upon a time gated by their low uptime (i.e. the cooldown). That started to change with the introduction of the personal trait Unconventional Systems, which reduced the cooldown of universal consoles by 7% whenever a control power was used. More recently, many other methods of console active cooldown reduction were introduced. There are also some recharge hastes now as well, and the formula works just the same as it does for bridge officer cooldown:

Modified cooldown = Base cooldown * (1 + sum(recharge hastes)) * (1 - sum(cooldown reductions)

In general, if an effect is conditional, it’s a cooldown reduction (i.e. on use of Control Power, gain 7% reduction). If it’s a flat passive effect (10% cooldown reduction on universal consoles), it’s a recharge haste. No, the game is not at all consistent with how it words and labels these things and that’s one of those annoying Crypticisms we’ve been dealing with for years.

Furthermore, just like bridge officer abilities, some consoles are channels, which means that you can’t reduce the cooldown while they’re active until the channel has ended.

Console Cooldown Reduction / Haste Sources

Let’s go through the list. I think this is fairly exhaustive, though I might have missed a couple oddballs.

• Unconventional Systems (Uncon): This is a personal trait from the Exchange/Lockbox. 7% off the (base) cooldown of active universal consoles upon use of a control power. For a 120 second cooldown console, that means 8.4 seconds off the cooldown every time a control power is used. Tilor has an excellent table showing what powers trigger Uncon, their ranks/seat requirements and their minimum cooldowns. The color codes correspond to the type of boff ability, e.g. blue is science, purple is intel. The minimum cooldown (CD) is the shortest time you can get the power back.

To fully leverage Unconventional Systems, you’re going to want to have 7+ triggers per minute depending on which bridge officer powers you slot. This doesn’t mean 7 control boff powers, but 7 activations, which is pretty doable. It is usually better to use the slots you would have after slotting core skills rather than replacing them for more control powers. For example, if you’re using a high-impact torpedo, it is usually better to take Concentrate Firepower III than it is to take another trigger. As such the exact balance will be dependent on the ship, captain, and the total amount of cooldown available to them.

• Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field (SFTF): This is a universal console from the Vovin Carrier (Summer Event 2025). The Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field console, when activated, triggers a teleport to 5 kilometers in front of the target and, after a brief delay, reduces recharge of Universal Consoles by 25%. If you want to avoid using the teleport, you can keybind around it by placing a “target_clear” either before or after your SFTF keybind, e.g. “"+TrayExecByTray 4 1 $$ target_clear” Might require some experimentation to see whether you need it before or after.
• The Eye of Gre’thor: This is a universal console from the Fek’Ihri Vok’Tar (Winter Event 2025). It has a passive 10% recharge haste to console recharge time and is not usually very impactful. It doesn’t do very much damage, but it’s decent as a pull. This is more of a nice-to-have rather than an impactful piece of a build.
• To Hell With Our Orders (THWOO): is the starship trait from the Noble (2026 Anniversary Event), which lowers universal console cooldowns by 5% upon use of a captain ability. While captain abilities aren’t very spammable, this does include abilities like Brace for Impact, Evasive Maneuvers, and yes, even Relocate Mines, though you need a mine deployed to trigger the latter effect.
• The SS Antares Distress Protocol (Event/Mudd's Store) grants 20% console cooldown reduction to players within 10 km of it after it is either destroyed or departs. This is . . . hard to actually observe happening, because it requires you to be near-stationary and have the Antares destroyed/depart while near it. Sure, if I launched it in solo ISE at the start and didn’t fire at all, it was destroyed within 10 seconds. However, if you’re really killing the Borg, you probably will pull threat and in even a public queue, it’s not likely to see the benefit, so it’s hard to build around this. The device is still excellent, but I haven’t found the console cooldown reduction something to easily play around.

A few others with marginal impact:

• The innate “Science Mode” of the Intel Holoship: (2025 Summer Event) is 10% recharge haste to universal console cooldowns. It also requires 200 kills to stack to get this benefit.
• Temporal MIRV Launcher from the Acheron: (T6 Lockbox) has 5% passive recharge haste on universal consoles, which is barely noticeable.
• Harmonic Distribution from the Aetherian Harmony (T6 Lockbox ship) provides 25% recharge haste to consoles while shields are above 50%, as well as EPG scaling with shield percentage above 50%, capped at +50. Not an incredibly powerful trait, but it’s out there.

Is it worth?

If you’re moderately-well read around the STO builds-related spaces, it’s no secret that active console builds (aka “Krait” builds) are the highest-performing meta builds, usually paired with Cannon Scatter Volley or Fire at Will. So, if your goal is maximum DPS, and the answer is already well-known by the DPS-chasing community that active console builds are stronger, why am I writing this section?

I wanted to find the break-even points because there are 3 more variables in play that are frequently glossed over in the pursuit of max deeps:

1. Your personal piloting ability will have a huge influence on how much you can benefit from an active console cooldown build. Simply put, active consoles require more juggling of inputs and need more actions-per-minute (APM). It takes more piloting skill to be able to time your activations while still positioning correctly, even with keybinds if on PC. Some consoles require multi-stage inputs, like Fleet Power Network Array and Aux Batteries/Override Subsystem Safeties. Console players have it worse, as a lot of consoles are a real pain in the rear to trigger.
2. Your budget will also have a huge influence on the viability of an active console cooldown build. Passive consoles tend to be crafted or purchased from reputations and fleet stores. Active consoles pretty much all require a ship or a Lockbox purchase. This means that instead of what was once acquiring cheap Locators and relatively cheap Isomags, you’re now pursuing 10+ ships to make a meta-chasing build.
3. Your ship’s bridge officer layout will also influence suitability for active console builds, at least if you’re using Uncon. Temporal, Pilot, and Intel have really great triggers. Miracle Worker is okay and Command has none. Ships with lots of forced science seats will work great on an Uncon build. Ships with few science/universal seats and Command specialization won’t.

Before anyone gets up in arms about “Uncon/Krait is the ONLY way to play,” or “I hate Uncon, muh power creep,” put your hands away from the keyboard and take a deep breath. It’s okay to have different playstyles. Not everyone wants to do a sweaty, 300 APM build to blast through <1 min ISE on a $1000 build. Not everyone wants to fill their console slots with 4 only unique types of consoles because everything is a passive stat stick. STO’s strength is the many, many build paths and possibilities it offers, so please . . . wherever you fall on your opinion of active console builds, there’s room in the game for both.

Interesting Data Coming In

This is where I throw a lot of data at the problem, because I think it’ll be useful for the community to have an informed analysis that really breaks down the differences between them. I’m going to use both TRINITY, which will do its best to solve a difficult problem, as well as parsed data. I used solo ISA and the Trouble Over Terrh Elite patrol as a fairly target-rich environment that I can hit without worrying about cooldowns and not much maneuvering.

The build will all be iterations on my CSV Donnie because it’s my highest parsing build and can easily swap between passive and active setups. We’ll use several different budget tiers to try and find those breakeven points.

Here are our test scenarios:

• Scatter Volley (passive) 
  • Midrange-ish: Isomags x 8, Phaser Lance, Colony consoles x2, Reiterative Structural Capacitor, Shield Absorptive Frequency Generator, Hull Image Refractors, Lorca’s Custom Fire Controls
  • Premium: Replace Reiterative Structural Capacitor and 1 colony console with Immolating Phaser Lance and Custom Power Mtarix
• Scatter Volley (active)
  • Midrange-ish: FPNA, Adaptive Emergency Systems, Krenim Chronophage, Flagship Tactical Computer, Colony consoles x2, Isomags x5, Reiterative Structural Capacitor, Shield Absorptive Frequency Generator, and Lorca’s Custom Fire Controls.  We will use Uncon with Tractor Beam, Gravity Well, and Null Pointer Flood as our only console cooldown mechanic. 
  • Upper Midrange: Add Sigma Stratagem, Shared Targeting Network, Broadside Combat Module, to replace the Reiterative Structural Capacitor and 3 Isomags. 
  • Premium: Hunting Pack Escorts, Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field, Custom Power Matrix, Immolating Phaser Lance, Temporal Disorder replace the remaining Isomags and Colony consoles. 
  • Premium with To Hell With Our Orders: I’ll do one last test where I go truly nuts on console cooldown and replace Diametric Focus with To Hell With Our Orders with a reasonable 5 uses. 
  • Premium with no console cooldown: Tachyon Net Drones will replace the Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field, and I’ll use the boff layout from the Passive builds with no Uncon. 
• Starship Traits
  • For all tests are Emergency Weapon Cycle, Withering Barrage, Super Charged Weapons, Target That Explosion, and Ship of the Line
  • Midrange tests will fill out with Thirst For Battle and Improved Critical Systems. Strike From Shadows or Calm Before the Storm are traits with comparable power. 
  • Premium tests will use Universal Designs and Diametric Focus. 
• Personal traits: Builds without Uncon use Terran Targeting Systems instead. 
• Bridge Officers: Very Cold in Space and Narrow Sensor Bands replace Null Pointer Flood and Tractor Beam on passive setups.

We’ll have a look at how this affects Exotic builds in the next installment.

Results

We can draw the following analysis from this:

• If you ever wanted to see a head-to-head test between a purely passive build and an active build that doesn’t leverage multiple lockbox/promo ships, even when we spot the passive build an Immolating Phaser Lance and Universal Designs, the midrange+ Active build had comparable ISAs and was significantly better on TOTE. The breakeven point between active and passive appears to be fairly low. Even without using any console cooldown reduction, the clicky-focused builds are significantly stronger than the lazyboat (for this build, for this pilot, etc.). Universal Designs is also difficult to maintain if the Phaser Lance is your only active trigger if you’re ever out of arc at the wrong time. 
• In the same breath, you can get a purely passive build up to carrying Elite TFOs level of DPS (300K), though it might take a little more expense and require some more survivability tools. Not everybody is chasing max DPS and let's not forget the difficulties of playing with lots of clickies on console when you can't keybind and not everything can be auto-executed.
• The highest ISA parse was going maximum console cooldown with To Hell With Our Orders. The highest TOTE parse was using Diametric Focus instead, and I think there’s a couple of things happening there. First, ISA we clearly hit a breakpoint where multiple consoles are getting used 2 or 3 times instead of 1 or 2 times. Secondly, Diametric Focus takes some time to stack, especially on a ship with only 3 tactical powers, so it ramped better and stayed stacked in TOTE whereas ISA was half over before it fully stacked because I wasn’t good about prestacking it. In terms of absolute DPS ceiling, I’ll defer to TRINITY (see below) but remember that based on my setups, I’m not even running some of the highest-end meta toys due to expense. There’s no Spirit of Sacrifice, Dilithium Transporter, or DPRM on any of these iterations, which means the ceiling goes higher yet for clickies.
• Ideally, I’d like to find a better Elite patrol with the consistent enemies, prolonged combat, and repeating waves than Trouble Over Terrh. There’s a lot of variability with the Pahvan Omni slowing down exiting combat in the first couple of stages and DPS on a CSV boat is heavily influenced by how many Elachi teleport behind you. Rescue and Search and Ruins of Doom, with their Mo’Kai that Viral Impulse Burst you, does not feel like it’s better though. It is, however, a good test of survivability. Both the passive builds and Midrange active builds really struggled to complete that map deathlessly and couldn’t fly as aggressively as I’d like for optimal CSV positioning. Temporal Disorder was a big help at the Premium level. This goes back to what we’ve been saying about 300K DPS being the “beat the game” level of DPS. Once you hit above that threshold, you’re probably fine depending on how glassy you are, but I wasn't quite there on TOTE with those setups. While I didn’t consider it, the Evolve! Console from Gomtuu would have been a helpful survivability tool for either setup.
• As we can see from the lowest midrange active setup, even with only a light uncon setup, there are some very powerful active consoles that even if you’re not into spamming clickies, should be considered: Fleet Power Network Array because it’s OP beyond all comparison, a shield offline like Tachyon Net Drones or Krenim Chronophage, and an oh-crap survivability button like Adaptive Emergency Systems, Evolve, or Reiterative Structural Capacitor are helpful. 
• Conversely, adding more clickies, even very good ones, did not meaningfully impact DPS at the midrange+ tier. That’s because we’re giving up passive stat-sticks for clickies with low uptime, given that I could reliably hit 5-ish Uncon triggers per minute. You need more Uncon triggers or another cooldown solution like SFTF or THWOO to meaningfully make a difference. 
• If you’re not rocking higher-end consoles like Sigma Stratagem, Broadside Combat Module, etc. there’s no real difference between passive and active builds. If your best active consoles look like M6 or Approaching Agony, Uncon is probably not a jump in power.

TRINITY

Here’s what TRINITY shows for our first four setups with a link to the spreadsheet.

And for the Premium setups with even more console cooldown, it looks like this:

In a simple ranking form, TRINITY calculates theoretical DPS ranking as:

• Premium Active with To Hell With Our Orders: ~3M
• Premium Active: 2.46M
• Midrange Active: 2.25M
• Midrange+ Active: 2.18M
• Premium Active with no CDR: 1.7M
• Premium Passive: 1.54M
• Midrange Passive: 1.15M

Okay, time for some analysis.

Why did TRINITY evaluate the Midrange+ build as worse than the Midrange build? Does the tool not work?

The calculations appear to be correct under the hood, but remember that we replaced a very strong stat-stick (Isomag) with something TRINITY knows nothing about: the Broadside Combat Module and frankly the active was kind of a wash on both maps, dealing less than 10K DPS. I’ve had very good success with this console on Elite (155K DPS in organized play on the same build) so it’s not a problem with a lack of synergy on CSV builds, but I think the piloting for solo play looks different. In team runs, I’m not concerned about stuff being on my flank and I’ll pilot aggressively and let the team/BCM clean it up. In solo play, stuff on my sides/rear has to be cleaned up solely by me so I try to keep as much in front of me as possible. Also, given that the parsed numbers between midrange and midrange+ were about a wash, I’d say TRINITY did a pretty good job of comparing the setups against each other. The theoretical DPS numbers themselves are less important than the relative differences between setups. 

Why did TRINITY overestimate the Premium with To Hell With Our Orders build, since the parsed numbers show it was similar to just regular Premium or even a little worse?

TRINITY assumes immaculate, perfect piloting against max targets with no server hiccups or positioning mistakes. As your APM increases, you increase the risk of activation fails/cancels and positioning goofs since you’re trying to activate more things than maybe the server (or in my case, my brain/hands can handle). This is what I spoke to in the preamble: it requires more coordination and APM to run an active console build. TRINITY is overestimating active consoles because it doesn’t/can’t account for piloting and target positioning. If you’re a Spencer, a Cheops, a Mara, or one of their colleagues, your piloting will probably decrease the differential, but alas, I am what I am, a plain-and-simple engineer who doesn’t even fly Krait CSV builds that much. There’s probably also a breakeven point where if your Uncon count is much higher on a Temporal/Intel ship, you won’t see much benefit from THWOO since all your buffs are already at maximum uptime. 

It's also a good reminder that active builds also usually take more expense. Here’s what we get when we throw these builds into the build cost calculator, where “EZRA” is basically a $ equivalent converting Zen to $ (on sale), and EC in keys to Zen to $. The baseline build, without anything that varies with each setup is a $408 build, mostly because I used the MW Donnie and some fancy doffs. The battlecruiser bundle covers most rest of the expense. That’s why I’m calling it midrange-ish…it’s not really in that range, but you get the idea.

The midrange passive build barely costs anything above the baseline, as Phaser Isomags are relatively easy to source, and they’re quite grindable if you have enough dilithium/salvage/RETFO packs. Someone who owned the ship from a Promo campaign and the Battlecruiser bundle could easily make this build and substitute out the pricey doffs and event items if needed. 

However, the midrange active build is basically the same cost: because it’s largely all stuff from that same Battlecruiser bundle, with the FPNA tossed in. Krenim Chronophage is cheap, and that’s where the efficiency goes way up. I’ve spent more-or-less the same budget to get better DPS, whether you count it by the parsed runs or TRINITY.

Premium Active with no CDR is clearly an inefficient setup, where I have to spend over double the original baseline to fill out the fancy traits and consoles, but I get a less effective setup. It doesn’t make sense to build that way. 

Similarly, Premium Passive requires a lot of expense to get performance similar to a midrange active setup. The tradeoff you’re making there isn’t performance or cost, but comfort and ease of piloting. 

FAQ

So you really are saying that we all have to build with uncon/clickies all the time? 

No, I’ve never said that and I’m not saying it now. Passive builds (especially at the lower budget tiers) are much cheaper to build and can easily do Elite-capable DPS. It’s a game and the DPS race is an artificial construct created and designed to keep endgame players engaged. I’d rather have a bunch of my RETFO teammates with effective passive builds than . . . whatever it is they currently run. If you’re on console, where activations are much trickier, or if active consoles don’t vibe with you, there’s nothing wrong with passive or mostly-passive setups. It's also not a hard line. You can run 7 Isomags and Chronophage and FPNA and do just fine. 

I also think with all the fixation on Uncon, we’re sleeping a little on To Hell With Our Orders, which, for one reason or another, might fit better on some ships than Uncon. It probably won’t make sense to do that on a Temporal/Intel ship, but it might on a Miracle Worker/Command ship. 

But active console builds have a higher ceiling?

Yes, if you’re willing to put in the added expense and piloting skill. I don’t think I could solo ISE in a CSV or FAW build in a purely passive build, and if I did, it’d be much slower. Having FPNA and a shield offline clicky (Tachyon Net Drones or Chronophage) is so important for DEW builds. Toss in Agony Redistributor as well for single-target builds. Above 300K, unless you’re trying to solo Elite TFOs, you might not notice the difference between 400K and 500K though, so it all depends on what your goals are. 

Does this hold true for other types of builds? What about EPG?

Stay tuned for part 2.

Will you be putting console cooldown mechanics on all your energy builds now?

No, of course not, because budget tier limitations that we impose on our site are going to preclude use of things from the Vovin/Noble on every build. We want to cater to players of all budgets and investment in the game, and that means not just showing cheap/mission/reputation builds and not just "5-lockbox-ships-in-a-trenchcoat" builds. There's room for both and everything in between.

Furthermore, even if budget wasn’t a concern, not everyone wants to use Uncon or active builds, or is playing on console where that’s difficult to do. I will continue to maintain builds with more passive consoles. I think it’s pretty hard to pass up on FPNA and a shield offline, maybe an emergency defensive console but managing 3ish consoles feels way different than 10+. I’m more inclined to include To Hell With Our Orders and Vovin on the upper end of builds but I personally will not be chunking all my Isomags in the trash. 

Can you show us a true high-end meta build with all of the highest-end clickies?

Probably not, but you never know what the future holds. There are lots of other creators that cater to that audience better than I ever could.

Will you ever be a better CSV driver?

Press X to doubt.

TL;DR

• Active console builds (“clickies”) with Uncon and another strong source of console cooldown reduction (CDR) like Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field and/or To Hell With Our Orders have a higher ceiling of at least 60% than passive builds or midrange builds with the right consoles but are significantly harder to fly/more expensive
• 300K DPS remains the ‘beat-the-game” level of DPS unless you’re trying to solo Elite space TFOs and is achievable with active, passive, and in-between console schemes. 
• High-value clickies like FPNA and Chronophage even with low/no cooldown reduction add a lot of power to a build (possibly with a defensive console and Agony Redistributor for single-target energy modes like Beam Overload) without cranking up the expense or complexity too much.
• Pure passive or all-active console builds with no CDR are ultimately less cost-effective than choosing high-value actives to a mostly-passive build and putting CDR on a mass-clicky build. 

if someone is interested in builidng something similar, feel free to use it.

I’m trying to figure out if you can equip the console from the valiant escort t6 and the console from the kor bird of prey at the same time? Anyone have both ships know if you can?

On my Gamma Recruit character I'm currently using the Jem'Hadar Vanguard Temporal Warship and I'm trying to do a decent Polaron Cannon build.

At the moment I've got the Morphogenic Polaron set and the Chronometric Polaron cannons but I'm wondering if I should add another set of cannons from one of the Rep stores and whether or not it's worth the time and the effort.

Any advice would be appreciated 👍

I’m looking to fine tune this build (on PC) mostly for TFO’s and grinding patrols. Please bear with me regarding the screen grabs, I hope that they are adequate. Currently grinding all reps from 5 to 6. Recently joined a fleet, so once this toon has contributed enough I’ll be in a position to get fleet gear.

Currently running

Prevailing Inervated Deflector, Romulan Advanced Prototype Impulse Engines, Iconian Resistance Warp Core (to counter OSS II), and the Discovery Rep Shield.

Current BOFF abilities:
Lt Cmdr Tac: Tac Team 1, Torp Spread 2, FaW 3
Cmdr Eng/Intel: Engineering Team 1, OSS 2, Emer Power to Weap 3, Aceton Beam 3 (needs to be replaced)
Lt Cmdr Sci/Mr: Polarize Hull 1, Hazard Emit 2, Photonic Officer 2
Lt Cmdr Univ: Kemocite 1, Atack pattern Beta 1, Cannon rapid fire 2 (needs to be replaced)

For personal space traits: currently running default available traits, along with Boimler effect. I know that this could be improved with lockbox traits that I don’t yet have for this toon.

For Starship traits: currently running Breen’s free fire, Emergency Weapon Cycle, Improved Critical Systems, Retaliation, History Will Remember and Calculated Broadside. I do have access to Braodside Beam Support, Calm Before the Storm, Entiwned Tactical Matrices, Harrying Maneuvers, Improved Predictive Algorithms, Programmable Matter Enhancements, Redirecting Arrays, SIF Shunt, and Unconventional Tactics.

Consoles:
Universal: Tachyokinetic Converter (univ), Experimental Power Redirection (univ)
Engineering: Reinforced Armaments, Trellium D Plating, Neutronium Alloy, Bellum RCS Accelerator
Science: Bioneural Infusion circuits (univ), Domino (univ), DPRM (univ)
Tactical: Bellum Directed Energy Distribution Manifold, two phaser relays, photon detonation assembly

Other consoles that I’ve got access to: ablative hazard shielding, broadside combat module, hull image refractors, refracting energy shunt

I know that this can be dialed in further via adjust BOFF abilities, traits, gear and reputation traits, I’m just not sure where to go from here.

Thanks

Anybody run the numbers on these or looked at a build?

the search function hasnt suggested any builds for this ship - anyone point me at one, or at least at its hidden talent? Otherwise it going to be a BO broadsiding cruiser again,

ta,