Cataclysm crew selection strategies

mejoyh

Been trying to figure out an optimum crew selection to minimise crew swaps but still maintain full bonus throughout the event. I wonder if anyone else has a line up which clears the skirmishes quickly with little/no swaps?

This is what I ended up but would love to see if anyone else has a stronger combo
Krayton - 2s speedup + 350% instant damage
Commandant - 400% damage 6s + ATK +9 + Villain - He's my main damage dealer even at 4/5*
Musketeer La Forge - His ship skills are pretty crap but his traits cover 5 of the battles Cyberneticist, Maverick, Inspiring, Hologram, Duelist
Saboteur Garak - 400% damage 8s + Saboteur and Scoundrel
Enemy Lines Sisko - 400% damage 8s + Bajoran and Desperate

So right now if I cant clear in the first 4s with 2s Speed up (Krayton) + 350% instant damage (Krayton) + 400% instant damage (Commandant), I have to wait an additional 2s for Garak and Sisko to hit with another 2x 400% instant damage.

I dropped Garth and Ardra for La Forge and Garak. So turn over time per skirmish is slower but at least I dont have to spend anytime swapping crew (an in the worst case forgetting to swap crew which I have done a couple of times...)

What are you guys using?

robownage

I'm using the Discovery with Ardra, Killy and Garth. Rotating out the fourth slot with someone near the top of my crew list who gets the bonus if one of those three don't (about half the time). The three of them + the ship's instant damage are strong enough that I don't particularly care about the fourth guy.

mejoyh

robownage wrote: »

I'm using the Discovery with Ardra, Killy and Garth. Rotating out the fourth slot with someone near the top of my crew list who gets the bonus if one of those three don't (about half the time). The three of them + the ship's instant damage are strong enough that I don't particularly care about the fourth guy.

Im curious why you use the Discovery? With that crew line up, wouldnt you be able to clear faster with the Krayton or Valdore with the cooldown boost? You should be able to clear most rounds in 2-3s instead of having to wait 6-7s to activate Killy, Ardra and Garth?

robownage

mejoyh wrote: »

robownage wrote: »

I'm using the Discovery with Ardra, Killy and Garth. Rotating out the fourth slot with someone near the top of my crew list who gets the bonus if one of those three don't (about half the time). The three of them + the ship's instant damage are strong enough that I don't particularly care about the fourth guy.

Im curious why you use the Discovery? With that crew line up, wouldnt you be able to clear faster with the Krayton or Valdore with the cooldown boost? You should be able to clear most rounds in 2-3s instead of having to wait 6-7s to activate Killy, Ardra and Garth?

Every time I've tried out the Krayton, I feel like I've crashed and burned. But I'll try it again - maybe it was just bad luck.

Ironagedave

Really can't go wrong with the Krayton with Killy, Garth, Mirror Spock and whatever bonus crew is top of the memory card list.

Bakerbeanz

Curious… if u clear the round faster, do you get more victory points?

Prime Lorca

I've been using Mirror T'Pol, AoS Data, RPC, and Augment O'Brien to cover all the skills. They work, but the crew in the OP sound faster. I don't have Enemy Lines Sisko, but I can find a lesser Sisko and still get through.

Salamander Paris

I've been using the Krayton with Killy, Garth and the Commandant plus random bonus dude for the 4th slot. I'm blasting through pretty quick, my main issue is just remembering to switch the bonus crew when necessary, I get moving too fast and forget on occasion.

barrydancer

Krayton with Killy, Garth, T'Mir, and T'Kuvma. I can't be bothered to try switching crew after each battle, so just keep those for each round.

Ivanstone

I use the Krayton with Garth (Villain/Desperate), Degra (Inspiring Innovator), Will Scarlett (Tactician), Locutus (Duelist/Cyber). Too lazy to switch crew.

Dirk Gunderson

I was also too lazy to switch crew but I had awful results when trying to match all the traits. A Krayton with an immortal Garth and 3/5* copies of Killy, Mirror Spock, and the Commandant tore through even the Reliant with ease. Although not matching traits for every battle slowed my VP accumulation, it also means I got more bonus rewards than someone who stopped at the same total VP using trait-optimized crew.

{DD} Smelly

I’ve always recommended to my fleet to develop a 3 man crew that can clear skirmishes without relying on the 4th slot. Since the event crew is always gonna be a variable, it’s better to not be reliant on it to squeak by. In this event, I used the same crew I normally used in skirmishes, and just hot swapped the 4th member if I needed to match a trait. Then I just picked the first crew member from the list with the matching trait and ran with it. If you’re not matching traits, you’re gonna spend a LOT more chrons. I had to swap crew 5 times for each run and I was in 2nd or 3rd place when I cleared thresholds and stopped.

DScottHewitt

Dorka Dorka

Garth
"I Can't Believe it's Not Gunpowder" Kirk
"Talk to the Hand" Sarek
The Witch of Wurna Minor


4x 400% Damage. Takes too long to switch Crew every Battle to cover that other stuff.

Data1001

I know y'all love to use it in Arena, but Krayton is not always the best ship for every situation. Like robownage, it's not done well at all for me in Skirmishes. Even the Borg Cube was doing poorly for me. My best ships in this mini have been the Discovery, the Sarcophagus, the T'Ong, and the NX-01.

{DD} Smelly

Data1001 wrote: »

I know y'all love to use it in Arena, but Krayton is not always the best ship for every situation. Like robownage, it's not done well at all for me in Skirmishes. Even the Borg Cube was doing poorly for me. My best ships in this mini have been the Discovery, the Sarcophagus, the T'Ong, and the NX-01.

You bring up a good point. Players without some combo of Killy/Commandant/Kes/Garth probably shouldn't be looking at the D'kora as their go-to ship for this event type. Different ships work better with different crew. It pays to experiment.

[ISA] Raven

IKS T'Ong
Enemy Lines Sisko 400% damage
Wrathful Khan 350% Damage
Admiral Kirk Repairs shields
Mirror Data +15000 crit bonus

no crew swapping needed

Data1001

{DD} Smelly wrote: »

Data1001 wrote: »

I know y'all love to use it in Arena, but Krayton is not always the best ship for every situation. Like robownage, it's not done well at all for me in Skirmishes. Even the Borg Cube was doing poorly for me. My best ships in this mini have been the Discovery, the Sarcophagus, the T'Ong, and the NX-01.

You bring up a good point. Players without some combo of Killy/Commandant/Kes/Garth probably shouldn't be looking at the D'kora as their go-to ship for this event type. Different ships work better with different crew. It pays to experiment.

As I just mentioned to a fleetmate, I'm sure the Krayton would do okay for me if I was using my normal Skirmish lineup (i.e., 3 mainstay crew plus one bonus crew). Still not the best option by far (I've experimented a LOT with all my 5* ships in Skirmishes), but it'd certainly be sufficient. However, since I'm not using the Locutus>Ardra>Killy power trio here, and am instead going with 4 crew who manage to hit at least one of the traits in every battle (one of whom is, thankfully, Killy), the ship I use is of even more paramount importance.

[SSR] GTMET

Slight variant of the above

Kung Fu Sarek
Enemy Lines Sisko
Survivalist Quark
Mirror Data

Wait 6 seconds, Hit the Krayton speed down timer, then activate Data, Quark, Sisko, Sarek and EM Pulse

robownage

Data1001 wrote: »

I know y'all love to use it in Arena, but Krayton is not always the best ship for every situation. Like robownage, it's not done well at all for me in Skirmishes. Even the Borg Cube was doing poorly for me. My best ships in this mini have been the Discovery, the Sarcophagus, the T'Ong, and the NX-01.

Thank you for helping me feel like I'm not crazy for not getting it lol. I tried it again, and it felt like my battles were averaging out to longer than with the Disco. It's fantastic when the first shot works, but if it doesn't it feels sluggish. I didn't actually time it, so I could be wrong, but I think I'm going to go back to my old friend.

eXo | SilverRose (retired)

There are a number of combinations where you can put them on and you don't have to swap out each time and keep your boomsticks. I'm running Enemy Lines Sisko, Killy, Hollander, and Augment Riker on my VIP0 on the Krayton and don't have to swap out.

Augment Riker is oft overlooked but a freaking champ, btw. Gambler, Maverick, Jury Rigger, Survivalist. Most importantly, he'll hit the last and first traits so you don't have to worry about forgetting to reset in between runs.

Dirk Gunderson

{DD} Smelly wrote: »

Data1001 wrote: »

I know y'all love to use it in Arena, but Krayton is not always the best ship for every situation. Like robownage, it's not done well at all for me in Skirmishes. Even the Borg Cube was doing poorly for me. My best ships in this mini have been the Discovery, the Sarcophagus, the T'Ong, and the NX-01.

You bring up a good point. Players without some combo of Killy/Commandant/Kes/Garth probably shouldn't be looking at the D'kora as their go-to ship for this event type. Different ships work better with different crew. It pays to experiment.

Agree 100%. If I were to try again with a single set of crew for all ten battles, I would probably go back to the Bounty or Cube and see who works best rather than trying to shoehorn ill-fitting crew onto the Krayton.

enigma starlord

i've been going with ISS Enterprise level 10 and Sec 31 Georgio.

Proont

I've been running the D'Kora Krayton with Solar Sails Sisko, Musketeer La Forge, Saboteur Garak, and Garth of Izar. It's lower powered than I'm used to but it matches the traits.

Torias327

I used the Shenzhou with X, Killy, Mademoiselle de Neuf, and Fury Kes. My standard skirmish set up of fast accuracy and double 400% @ 6sec, although I like to sneak in Admiral Janeway when possible to avoid damage. The X was a rotation of VA Janeway, 1701 Sisko and Pahwraith Keiko, I only had to change 3 times once I got on a roll. Had literally zero issues in any fight the entire mini event, smoother than most main event skirmishes.

As Silver mentioned with Augment Riker, VA Janeway was my last two battles, and first two, since Seven nicely covered the first round in the event in case of excited clicking. Helped to have that carry over a great deal, I couldn’t agree with her more.

The Line Must Be Drawn, HERE!

@Proont , thanks for your advice. I just tried it out on my last Skirmish, and it worked great!

Bakerbeanz

I've been using the Cube with Garth, Commandant, Risa Quark, and Degaren. Been doing pretty well. Degaren comes out swinging lol