Arbiter vs Fleet BattleCruiser

Short answer – get both.

If you buy the C-store ship(Arbiter), it will only cost 1 fleet module instead of 5 to get the fleet version (per character).  So it will be cheaper if you want the ship or trait on multiple characters, and not much more for just 1 character.

The Arbiter has a VERY good trait (Emergency Weapon Cycle) and a decent console that provides a layer of emergency shielding. Consider the cross-faction bundle if you have KDF characters as you will probably want this trait on all of your characters that use beams or cannons, regardless of which ship you end up using.

Once you level up the trait on the Arbiter, you can get the Fleet Battlecruiser which is what you will want to fly in the long run. In addition to more hull, it also gets another console slot and can use the Arbiter console. (Note – you can do just fine in the Arbiter for just about anything, so there is no hurry to upgrade if you are short on resources.)

On a side note – Emergency Power to Engines (Engineering bridge officer ability) also works for a quick speed boost on a slow turning ship. You can also get a duty officer from the Phoenix box that resets Evasive Maneuvers when using Emergency Power to Engines. This lets you use Evasive maneuvers about every 30 seconds.

If you want even more maneuverability, consider the competitive reputation impulse engines. It will give you a short version of evasive maneuvers upon using a bridge officer ability that can turn even the slowest turning of ships around on a dime, along with short burst of speed. The “fortified” version activates on healing abilities (science team, hazard emitters, engineering team), and there is also a “prevailing” version that is identical but activates on weapon abilities such as Beams Fire at Will and Beam Overload.

Good Luck

G

tbh, what they said

Emergency Weapon Cycle is a good enough trait that if you’re playing a ship that cares about weapon damage (i.e. not a space wizardry ship), it’s more or less considered a must have…especially if you’re using a drake build on your bc (which you absolutely probably should :D)

and the fleet battlecruiser isn’t just a sturdier version of the c-store one (though it is that as well)…you also get an additional console slot.

so, long term, you’ll probably want both if you want to have it as your main piloted ship.  short term, get the c-store one and get the trait.

now, i mentioned a “drake build” earlier.  let me explain.

There are duty officers with a specialization of “Damage Control Engineer” (let’s call them DCE’s for the sake of brevity).  Some of those DCE’s have an ability that gives you a chance that every time you use an Emergency Power to subsystem (EPTx covers all 4.  EPTW=emergency power to weapons, EPTS=emergency power to shields, etc. you get it, i’m sure) ability, you’ll reduce the recharge of EPTx abilities.

like that one ^^

with very rare DCE’s, they have a 35% chance to reduce the recharge by 30%.  and all three give an independent 35% chance…so every time, you have a chance for all 3 to activate and give you a big recharge reduction.  you also have a chance for none of them to activate.  such is the nature of rng :D.  but the most likely scenario is for at least one to activate and reduce your recharge.

so if you have EPTW and another EPTx ability (personally, i like epts, but you could also use epte if you wanted).  use one, and then the other when the shared cooldown expires.  using the second one has a good chance at reducing the cooldown on the first.  when the first is off cooldown, use it, again a good chance at reducing the cooldown on the second.  just keep using your abilities when they come off cooldown, and you can maintain very close to 100% uptime for both.  constantly full weapon power means every shot hits harder.  constantly full shield power (in my case) means your shields are beefier and regenerate faster.  constantly full engine power would mean your ship moves and turns faster.

you can drake build just about anything with at least two engineer boff skill slots, but imo the arbiter is perfect for it.  why?

first, it has a commander engineering station.  which means you can put a max rank emergency power to weapons on. it’s a ltcomm ability, so it doesn’t even use the top slot. personally, i put rotate shield polarity in my engi’s comm ability slot.

second, it has a ltcomm universal station. i put another engineer in there, and ltcomm means you can put another max rank emergency power to subsystem ability in there (again, i use epts).  so moar power.

third, it has a ltcomm tac station.  which means i can put in a max ranked beams: fire at will (oh yeah, i use beams on my battlecruiser as well).  that station’s lt ability is attack pattern: beta (which you’ll notice my other doffs in the screenshot above buff the recharge on).  and tac team 1 in the ensign slot, to automatically balance shields when taking damage (and for a small damage buff).

fourth, it has an ensign tac station. which gives me a spot for Kemocite Laced Weaponry 1, for aoe damage around my target.

and fifth, a lt science station, which gives me slots for Hazard Emitters II and Science team I, for shield and hull heals…and hazard and dot clearing, too

So my battlecruiser looks like this:  3 conn officer doffs to buff attack pattern recharge speed, 3 DCE’s for the drake build.

Comm Engineer
Engineering team I
Boarding party I  (can absolutely be changed to something else if you’d rather)
EPTW III
Rotate Shield Polarity III

LtComm Universal (Engineer)
Structural Integrity Collapse I (can also be changed to whatever *shrug*)
Engineering Team II
EPTS III

LtComm Tac
tactical team I
Attack Pattern: Beta
BFAW III

LT sci
science team I
Hazard Emitters II

Ensign tac
KLW I