It was officially announced yesterday that the oft-requested T6 upgrade to the ever-popular Vesta is coming; not only that, the Vestas are accompanied by Klingon and Romulan counterparts.
We’ve all heard rumors of this a few weeks ago, so this should not come as a surprise to anyone. Often hailed as the best Sci ship in its day, “Vesta is Besta” is frequently quoted on various STO forums. Way back when I bought my first C-Store ship, I was torn between the Vesta and the Luna; ultimately I went with the Luna but the Vesta was a very strong contender. One of its main selling feature was (still is?) the line’s auxiliary cannons — which personally I never understood. Sure it allows you to ignore Weapon Power in favor of Aux Power, but why would I want my Aux Power drained? I want them up all the time to power my science abilities, right? Maybe I’m missing something, but since I’ve never flown a Vesta before, I can’t really say.
Anywho, I think the T6 Multi-Mission Explorers are already Fleet grade, so it does have that built-in advantage of not requiring an additional fleet token. The published stats are interesting, especially when I add it to the comparison I did for the Pathfinder and the Nautilus. I’ve picked the Sci-version of the T6 Vesta for this comparison.
Interestingly, the T6 Vesta flies slower, is weaker in both hull and shields than the other ships, and turns the same as the Pathfinder. It also has less innate Aux power… instead boosting Weapons power that ironically the original Vesta line didn’t need!
The Boff seating compares favorably to the Nautilus, maybe just a tad less flexible, but nothing that would limit its effectiveness.
Two things are not shown in this table, of course: One is the Vesta’s continued ability to mount dual cannons, which may or may not be a necessity… and two is the single hangar bay that is carried over from the old line. Does the hangar pet put the Vesta above the Pathfinder? I don’t know, but I’m not convinced it does, given how unreliable STO pets are.
Cryptic also published information on the consoles that come with this line of ships; I haven’t poked at it yet, but from player responses they sound lackluster.
Just going by the stats, it’s debatable whether it’s worthwhile to switch to the Vesta as Science ships go. On the other hand, it’s the Vesta, and the line does mostly retain that sleek look. Space Barbie for the win?
The other interesting part of this are the KDF and RRF counterparts to the Vesta. I think Cryptic was smart to fold the old Varanus into the Multi-Mission explorer role opposite the Vesta; it gives things symmetry. The Romulan version is definitely showing some strong Vulcan visual cues with the ring design, and should look distinctive enough to be attractive.
As much as I approve of these two, I’m just a little bit bummed that a Gorn Science ship does nothing for me, even if it’s a sensible choice for Cryptic. My newest and only KDF Sci toon is Orion — if they had made an Orion ship, I would be all over it!
What do you think? Do you plan on picking up this bundle (or individual ships)?
Heidy's Highly Wily MMORPG Blog 
Use a W->A (Weapon power to Aux power) Warp Core.
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W->A Warp Cores are what I use on most ships, but not on Science vessels where Aux Power is generally maximized.
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OH, I also meant to say “Vesta and FED variants look super cool. ROM and KDF variants really really really SUCK in the looks departments.”
If I do get any, it would ONLY be the FED versions. I don’t fly me no space junk!
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I won’t necessarily call the other ships SUCK… updating the original Gorn Varanus as the next KDF Science ship makes sense in-game, it’s just unfortunate that the Gorn received such uninspired ship designs from Day One.
The Romulan one is kinda ‘meh’, but the Vulcan ring makes it more distinctive.
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The auxillary canons do put a drain on aux power but most science abilities are stronger with higher aux but often don’t drain aux when used. having one weapon slightly draining aux power will be exponentially offset by not having them drain weapons. Weapon power is constantly being drained in combat. A good science toon will have a surplus of aux power that will not be badly effected by a single weapon drain. It is a solid trade off.
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That makes sense, however I’ve seen a lot of people putting three Aux cannons on the Vesta, which I would guess makes a huge drain on Aux power.
I imagine you’d have to strike some sort of balance between Weapon and Aux power usage.
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Interesting. I’ve been wanting a Vesta for literally years but decided to wait for a T6 version. Now that it’s finally here, I’m torn; as burnt out as I’ve been with STO lately, I doubt I’d actually use it enough to justify buying it at this time. Plus I’ll need to get some more info and feedback on it from people who have it, so I can make a more informed decision on whether to buy it or not.
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Sorry, this was meant to be a new comment, not as a response to your comment (tho I do agree and find it very helpful because I haven’t really explored the science side of STO yet, so I learned something there).
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I enjoy flying the Nautilus as Heidy’s ship. Stat-wise, it’s solid. I’ve even grown to like her odd look, but I could never say no to a chance to get Heidy back in a more traditional looking Fed ship. I was hoping the T6 Vesta would be it, but not with those stats.
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I don’t think you’re wrong in your analysis. I was actually a bit underwhelmed at the stats myself. That said, I’m a big fan of hanger pets. I find that the hanger bay does actually come in handy on a Vesta and could be very helpful on these.
There are two main reasons why people loved the Vesta that I can see. One you already mentioned, that being that they’re all fleet-grade out of the box, so now fleet modules needed. The second is that back in the day tac consoles and dual heavy cannons were all the rage for the besta deeps and the Vesta line is very tac heavy. Now that plasma firework science consoles and things with a faster rate of fire are more useful tac slots aren’t as much the deciding factor.
That said, I will be saving up my zen and dil to get these when I can afford them. While I will probably have a character or two use one of the fed line, the real gems are the Gorn and Rommie ships. I adore that red and green side are starting to get actual variety and choice when it comes to the sciences.
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Excellent point on the historical context – you’re absolutely right about the old Dual Heavy Cannons meta. Now I remember why I picked the Luna over the Vesta: she was just a bit sturdier and turned better, and I didn’t think I could make the DHC work on a ship with a 12 Turn Rate.
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Heidy, I just remembered that I happen to have a standard, non-fleet T6 Pathfinder and I was just wondering… in your estimation would any of these new T6 Vesta variants be a solid upgrade over it? In other words, do you think they provide enough benefits over the T6 Pathfinder to justify buying one of them? Or would I be better off just getting the fleet version of my T6 Pathfinder and sticking with that?
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I think overall the Fleet Pathfinder is just a little bit better than the Vesta in most base areas, but that advantage is quite small. On the other hand the Vesta does have a hangar bay and those Aux cannons (which may or may not matter depending on your build).
I know I’m not much help… but here’s one more thought: after flying the newer Sci ships, I think the Pathfinder feels somewhat vanilla. Like, no frills at all. Take that any way you like!
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Hmm… Thank you, I’ll definitely consider one of the T6 Vesta variants. I’ve just been so burnt out on STO lately that I just don’t want to spend the money on it right now.
It’s just that I have so little experience with the sci side of STO (been tac the whole 5 years I’ve been playing and only recently started exploring the eng side of things) that when I look at sci ships I simply don’t really know what I’m looking at. lol
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One additional thing I just noticed looking back on your posting – You actually compared the stats for the tactical variant, not the actual science one.
The science variant has a few differences in Boff seating (1 Lt Tac, 1 Lt Eng, 1 Cmdr Sci, 1 Lt Uni, 1 LtC Uni/Temp), console slots (3 Tac, 3 Eng, 5 Sci) and power levels (+5 Wpn, +15 Aux).
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Did I? If so then it’s my bad.
That’s interesting though. It would make the Vesta even more similar to the Pathfinder, in both Boff seats and bonus Aux Power. Having two LtC seats+one Ensign is better than one LtC+two Lt seats though, which means the Sci Vesta is slightly inferior to the Nautilus Boff layout
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I kinda like the Gorn ship aesthetics, when you see them from non-terrible angles.
Sadly they get totally robbed and left for dead in the gutter when it comes to the Space Barbie-ing. Like most non-klingon KDF ships they usually only get one hull type, no changeable parts, one window type and the hull patterns are usually barely discernible against the brown. The klingons ships have the same problem, especially with the new jaggy black hull type on the T6 ships. Try putting pink stripes on that, it’s not so good.
Oh, and they also almost always have no console sets with older ships because screw you, wrinkleheads, I guess. Maybe I’ll buy the Phalanx and throw the Barrier Field Generator, Aceton Assimilator and Repair Platform on one of these new Gornstas for a laugh anyway.
At least this pack gives a few variants you can slap together, even if the end result is always going to be a beige shoebox with nacelles stuck to either side of it. And it is a KDF science ship that isn’t a Var-anus or a Dyson, so yay for that.
The Rom ships look pretty decent, a step up from the utter weirdness of the Laeosa. More like a D’D had babies with a D’Kyr.
Vesta is whatever. Yet another Fed sci ship. I don’t quite get the excitement, honestly. Being fleet grade out of the box seems to be the biggest selling point to me. I’ll get the pack for the Rom/KDF ones – when Cryptic is done looting the fat wallets and the next ship sale comes around.
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And as we discussed last night, Cryptic chose not to include an introductory sale on the T6 Multi-Mission Explorers. I think this is the first time I’ve seen that happen, so that’s kinda an obvious cash-grab thing to do on Cryptic’s part. So yeah, unless you can’t wait to get your mitts on these, sit tight and wait for the next ship sale.
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