Head 2 Head x 3: The Vacuum VS. The Paradox

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US and to everyone everywhere best wishes for prosperity and freedom.

I have given precious little time to science ships and builds over the several years I have been writing this blog. I know, recently I reviewed the 31st Century Multi-Mission Science Vessel but collectively it’s been all guns and no deflector dish. Today I figure is as good as any to feature a Head 2 Head between two titan science vessels that play to both sides. Science and Tactical. Yes, it’s none other than the Vacuum VS. the Paradox or the Dyson Science Destroyer versus the 31st Century Multi-Mission Science vessel.

As I mentioned above, I just reviewed the Temporal Multi-Mission Science Vessel a couple of months ago, but I compared it only to its T6 counterparts and not the T5 Dysons. That 31st Century ship is tactically a solid ship as are the Dysons so it seems reasonable that players may be choosing between the two regardless of which faction they are aligned with.

This is actually three head to heads when you think about it. The 31st century ship is available to any class as it is, the Dyson ships are actually different for each faction. There are also three different Dyson C-Store ships for each faction bringing the total of ships to NINE!. When the Dyson Destroyers were first launched I bought a three ship multi-faction bundle. So I have unlocked three of the nine. I chose the Strategic versions for “strategic” reasons. Only two of my eleven toons are in the science career. The Strategic versions of the Dyson Science Destroyers are the most versatile with a 3/3/4 Eng/Tac/Science console layout. I felt like I would get the most mileage out of 5000 zen purchase with a versatility component approach.

This is as it turns out a head 2 head x 3. Since I have already outlined many of these ships already I’ll focus on the direct comparisons of the two in each faction. Below is a list of previous articles that discussed the Dyson ships and this new 31st Century ship.

So this is actually three different comparos for Federation, KDF, and Romulans. Let’s find out who wins in each category.

Federation

I have the Strategic Dyson with three of my Federation characters including Rodessa who is in fact a science career captain. This ship is really an escort science hybrid ship but it does have all the science goodies any pointy eared Vulcan would want. It is equipped with a secondary deflector, super strong shield modifier, sub system targeting, and sensor analysis. Unlike any other science ships in the STO universe, the Dysons all have the unique ability to physically convert from a science vessel to a destroyer by simply engaging the “tactical mode”. Once doing so, the secondary deflector tucks away revealing a beefy proton dual heavy cannon and the Commander science BOFF downgrades to a Lt. Commander and the Lt Commander tactical BOFF upgrades to a Commander. The ship loses the passive abilities associated with the secondary deflector, loses subsystem targeting, and sensor analysis. Furthermore the ship’s +15 auxiliary power converts to +15 weapons and the turn rate, inertia, and speed are increased. It is really hard to quantify this ability to transform when making comparisons to more traditional ships.

For a Feddie, the Temporal Multi-Mission ship is just flat-out better than the Dyson. If you have a science toon that really just wants to fly around in a sporty ship with a really big gun, then the Dyson is the way to go, but for a true science officer looking for some traditional tactical punch to go along with some serious science geek nirvana, this 31st Century solution is tough to beat.

I have created charts comparing all three Dyson ships with the 3-3-4 console arrangement to the Temporal MM. The 31st Century ship is a T6 and has the advantage of special hybrid BOFF seats for Temporal Agents. The overall score using my new ship rating system (still under beta test) shows the ‘timebender’ to be a stud coming in with an overall rating of 84.01 of 100. Why so strong? Well The Temporal Multi-Mission Science Vessel has the rare combination of a HUGE shield modifier and a massive cruiser-like 43k hull rating. Let’s not forget the amazing and versatile molecular deconstruction beam. Oh and a hangar bay, yeah, it’s got that too.

The only reason a Fed science cap would take the Dyson between these two is if he were a closet tactical officer or if he just likes flying around in tactical mode all the time. If it is the latter, then why not just fly a real escort? That brings me to an interesting point about this Dyson ship; remember, there are three Fed versions each leaning a little more tac or sci: This could be a good ship for a tactical officer that wants to fly an escort with beefy shields. There is of course the Elachi escort that has sciencey shield ratings but this ship in tactical mode does offer some serious energy soaking shields and near escort maneuverability.

Final analysis is simple. The 31st Century Temporal Multi-Mission ship kills it in this head 2 head for the Starfleet science toon.

KDF

I have two KDF toons that have the MoQ and the TMM in their arsenal. My toughest and original KDF character Roddicka is a Orion Tactical cap and my crazy little Talaxian scientist that wanted to be tough and joined the KDF. The Klingon Defense Force has been devoid of any real science ships for most of the STO timeline. Recently things have begun to shift over at Cryptic and we are seeing some life in the science offerings for blood lust Klingons seeking to explore strange new worlds and then kill stuff. Yes my friends, sometimes a Klingon just needs to record some pressure differentials in complex cloud formations on distant gas giants. But no Klingon is truly Klingon if she can’t blast the nacelles off some snoopy Ferengi pirate that stumbles into the system they’re surveying.

The Dyson ships offer KDF scientists an opportunity to get in touch with their inner geek, whilst being ready to express their outer warrior at a moments notice. Remember the last thing a Klingon captain needs is a bunch a pouty tactical warriors feeling impotent every time they glance at the weapons console… “six lousy weapons, beam arrays, bah! this pujwl’ needs dual heavy cannons”! From a purely tactical standpoint the Dyson ships for all three factions show stronger tactical characteristics in my power model than the Temporal challenger. The ability to switch to a tactical mode with a 4/3 weapons layout and strong turning is very much in alignment with the Klingon way. The KDF version of the Dyson also feature a standard Klingon cloaking device. Let’s face it, sometimes you need to sneak up on a gaseous anomaly to get the best reading 😉

But this new 31st Century ship also flexes some serious muscle. This ship doesn’t have the pure offensive thrust of the Dysons but it has a very stout hull, massively strong shields and a hangar bay. Depending on your warrior’s play style the beefy tanking ability of this new science contender could allow you to continue taking meteor samples whilst dispatching those pesky pirates. No worries General, the shields are at 87% and hull is holding at 90%, barely a scratch sir. There’s only eight of them, we got this.

For Roddicka, who is a tactical officer that likes to fly Raiders and Raptors, the Dyson ship is more fun, but as offensively superior as it is, it is not strong enough to offset its general lack of resilience. It is here that the Temporal MM works better. For my true KDF scientist, the Dyson doesn’t cut it. That officer doesn’t have the tactical chops to make do in a glass cannon. He fares much better flying the tanky 31st Century machine.

For a Klingon science toon, I still think the advantage goes to the Temporal ship, but not nearly as one-sided as it is for the Fed.

Romulan

It is when we look at the Romulans that things start to get close in this comparison. Using my fresh, new, and untested ship rating system the Romulan Dyson is the closest in total power to the Temporal MM. The difference lies mostly in the better BOFF seats for the T6 ships. But the Romulan Dyson is the only ship in this comparison with a battle cloak. The Romulan version gives up the beefier hull that the KDF ship gets in exchange for the battle cloak. A battle cloak can be very useful even for a science ship. The battle cloak is an effective escape tool, especially for science officers that tend to have improved stealth abilities and tend to run high levels of auxiliary power.

Romulans invented the modern cloak, they like cloaking devices. A Romulan flying a ship without a cloak is like Batman without his cape. How can you be devious, sneaky, and diabolical and not fly around under cloak?

Romulan ships are a little different from the KDF and Starfleet offerings. Their ships tend to lean towards science in general, but they really don’t have many pure science vessels. These are not really pure science either but for Romulans you almost have to go outside the box with lock box or Lobi ships or align with the Feds to gain access to Star Fleet C-Store ships.

My only Romulan toon with these two ships is Be’ina and she is an engineer. So for her it was hands down the Temporal MM. But my experience with the Klingon tactical officer made me think that the Dyson ship in the hands of a Romulan science officer or even tactical could be a solid choice.