The Best Carriers (2023) - Star Trek Online

#StarTrekOnline #STO #StarTrek
In this video, I go over the best carrier ships currently in game. This pans all lockboxes and C-store ships as well as a few event ships. Additionally I go over some of the better consoles to use for hangar centric builds.
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[@BeHa7]

No love for the Voth Rampart? It's trait basically makes your pets invincible, has a command seat for CF and 5 eng console slots. Anyway that's what I'm using and I'm really satisfied with it.

[@CounterYoloGaming]

The Rampart is my favorite ship, but I have to admit it is just an inferior version of the Friendship-class. The Friendship-class is essentially the 2-hangar version of the Styx + battle cloak access. Both are Cmdr/CMD with 2 hangar bays, so with the debuffing pets from the support carriers (comparable debuffing to what you get from the terran frigate for the Styx/Acheron), both are solid tanks for ISE/HSE. As the Friendship-class is only single-character access at the moment while the Rampart is "technically" account-unlockable via a Mudd's Bundle (for a similar in-game price), the Rampart is technically cheaper if wanted for multiple characters.

[@Skydragonace]

So to be honest, for people watching, if you want to get the absolute most out of your pets, go with a miracle worker carrier, or at least one that has 4-5 eng console slots. Having 6-8 slots to put your hangar craft consoles cannot be understated with just how much that improves your pets. NOTHING ELSE in the game comes even close with improving your hangar craft. While your hangar craft will never be top dps, these brings you absurdly high up when you stack those consoles with other hangar craft boosting consoles and traits. The reality is, is that if you want to maximize your DPS with carrier pets, you will want as many of these consoles as possible. Six slots (4 eng +2 from T6-X2 upgrade) are the BARE MINIMUM I would say to fully take advantage of carrier DPS. Yes, you can technically do this with any carrier, once you start moving console slots to other things, you are starting to focus less on the carrier aspect and more on other things, and while that might be a DPS increase, it's not from carriers, which is what i'm focusing on here. The carriers I would recommend for this are the following in no particular order: Carriers with MW and 5 eng slots: Borg Assimilator Dreadnought Carrier Miracle Worker Flight Deck Carrier D7 Miracle Worker Flight Deck Carrier Carriers with MW and 4 eng slots Tholian Jorogumo Carrier Carriers with 5 eng slots Hur'q Vedcrid Hive Dreadnought Carrier Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier Vorgon Ryn'kodan Carrier Voth Rampart Command FDC Cardassian Ghemor Intel FDC Herald Quas FDC Fleet (And non) Tellarite Pralim AC Friendship Command FDC Fleet (and non) Orion Blackguard FDAC Fleet (and non) Suliban Silik FDAC Legendary Connie Temporal FDC Carriers with 4 eng slots Fek'ihri Fe'rang Dreadnought Carrier Terran Acheron Dreadnought Carrier Jarok Alliance Carrier A large number of Fleet Carriers (JHSC, Jupiter, Hiawatha, Vo'Quvs, Ra'nodaire, etc) Heavy Temporal Dreadnoughts (Universe, Durgath, and Valkis) Now as far as other consoles go, there aren't too many, with the Hydra console and Swarmer Matrix console giving some very nice buffs for hangar pets. The other two consoles I would look at are the ones off the Borg Assimilator and the Friendship Command FDC, both of which the passive gives the hangar craft a critical hit chance bonus. Yes, there are other activate-able consoles that improve your pets, but these are the main passive ones that will see constant benefits to your pets. Trait time! Space Traits: Holographic Mirage Decoys Wing Commander Independent Wingmate Feel the Weight of our Presence Starship Mastery Traits: Superior Area Denial (SAD) is still going to be your main go to for traits if you can get it (it's expensive either way). Scramble Fighters is a very solid trait, although it's expensive at this point. Strike Group Command Authority is just an auto include, like the console from the Hydra. Voth Carrier Synergies is another solid one. If you run a carrier with intel abilities, then Dampen Energy Signatures is never a bad one to run. Torpedo COmmand and Control (if you run a hangar craft with torps) I want to also give a special mention to the space trait "Hive Defenses" and the starship trait "hivebearer", because both of those have you launching a ton of extra swarmers on a regular basis at the enemy, and while it might not be the "optimal play", it really feels great. Finally, Hangar Craft Recommendations: The Valkyries/Kodai are amazing pets. Having torp spread and HY already poping off on hangar craft, without you even doing anything? Amazing. Of course, the romulan drone ships are great, but limited in what you can put them on (3-4 ships I believe?). I'm a huge fan of the lost souls, but they can only go on a few ships, and don't really benefit from a lot of things with their unique attacks. The Terran Empire Frigates are solid inclusions as well. Be aware though, for any pets you have, if you use the SAD trait, it's going to override the pet's abilities, and sometimes this is a downgrade. There are loads of other things that you can and probably should include, but these are the largest. Again, I cannot stress enough just how amazing those hangar craft advanced consoles are for pet DPS, so the more of those you have, the better.

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

That's why I thought some of the carriers in this video are a really odd choice. Like the Tzenkethi which is a terrible platform for carriers. Then other top carrier are completely missing. If it has less then 6 slots for the pet Eng pet consoles its not a good platform.

[@Skydragonace]

@@vorgonrynkodan1569The problem comes with a choice: Do you want to have higher overall DPS or do you want to be a true carrier build? Right now, if you don't commit to at least 6 hangar bay consoles, then you are probably focusing on something else. Honest, the bigger issue comes with the way that carriers are designed in the game. I would HAPPILY give up most/all weapons for more hangar bays with more support for them. The reality is, is that as long as we are on the current system, no matter what we do, carriers will ALWAYS, and I do mean ALWAYS be subpar in DPS compared to a normal DPS. When you look at the support for other playstyles, it's not even close overall. What would truly innovate this system would be to swap carrier ships to something like 2-4 weapons total (maybe 2 fore 2 aft), or heck, even 1 each side, and convert these slots to hangar bays. Then, add in new skills for boffs solely based around buffing/enhancing pets in some form or another. Maybe tac issues orders for a torp spread strike, engineering issues orders for defensive benefits, miracle worker deploys a medical drone or ship that flies around healing/clensing your fleet of debuffs. This can't all be good however, and there's a simple solution: Make them more susceptible to AOE. This makes sense, as tiny ships aren't going to have the defensive abilities like normal ships have, but this is offset by deploying replacements in battle. The wingman mechanic makes sense with levels, and that would help out with new replacements not being as good as the surviving people already. I know this would be a lot of work that cryptic is not likely to do, so really, until we reach a critical mass of hangar pet consoles (probably reaching T6-X15 or whatever), they will always be subpar. I'll continue to run them forever, but that's the reality of carrier pets.

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

@@Skydragonace I thought the video was about the best Carriers as Carrier platforms. Of which none of the best Carriers are listed and some of the ones listed are dreadful as Carriers. Carrier as Carrier platforms are no longer subpar DPS. They still lag behind in record runs but they left the subpar DPS area a long time ago.

[@NotoriousNickNorris]

​@@vorgonrynkodan1569care to elaborate? Which ships would you rate as top carriers?

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

@@NotoriousNickNorrisSure, some of its subjective due to build and playstyle. I would put forward the Valkis Dreadnought which beats out any other Carrier for pet damage. As well as a strong mention for Jem’Hadar Dreadnought Carrier which has an amazing layout for Carrier builds and boosting pet damage. Both of these beat any of the Carriers in the video as a platform for a Carrier build based on pet damage.

[@CJDJCanada]

I've been a Carrier fan for a very long time... even before all the new things came out. Now that we have so many options, I'm very happy. Awesome breakdown on the ships... My personal fav is the Terran Monitor, and I have flown the Friendship class. The Friendship also makes a great tank.

[@MidKnightOTC]

I don't care what anyone says, Ra'nodaire is the best carrier ever. Love that it looks like an enormous space manta. I wish it had temporal seating instead of command, but there are skills that are synergistic with the call emergency artillery skill.

[@changaming08]

Very nice gameplay sharing my friend

[@helgrund3315]

At this point I keep coming back to the Gok'tad even though it's nowhere near the best carrier available to me. It's my favorite because it looks like a xenomorph space dragon belching fire in every direction and you just cant get that very specific experience anywhere else.

[@CD480]

strongly considering getting this one since it's on sale

[@ShadowStarNexus]

I like them all, great range here

[@FSDraconis]

Another wonderful video! I do have a few questions about survival. Do you have recommendations for survival consoles/traits when developing the build. I know normally the goal is to kill your enemy before they kill you. Same with your hangar pets. What options are there to look for? I'm used to getting a mix of damage resistance through a bunch of engineering consoles and science. Personally I am using the Cardassian flight deck from its 3 ship bundle as a disruptor build. I have heard the 3 consoles are not great from that group. But I don't know a better alternative. What about reputation talents also? My main is nearing tier 6 on rep but my carrier build is on my science alt currently skilled out for dps with Intel/strategy and mostly tier 5 rep. I realize I am asking a lot here, I do apologize for that. Thank you again for all your advice and guidance.

[@quantumjet253]

Good to hear that some future builds will take note of, and cater to the varied market of players. There's an easy break down between High End, Mid-Range and Budget. HIGH END; Obviously everything and anything available in the game. Fit for a whale, long-time hardcore player, no-lifer or Content Creator, and near worthless to the majority of normal players! But undeniably fun and a good indication of what the more serious players might want to aim for. MID-RANGE; Everything in the game excluding Lobi, Phoenix and gambling ships. I'd suggest though that a couple of alternative items should always be included for those that may not have everything listed. This could be reasonably easy/cheap/quick to acquire items but could also go in the other direction and include a couple of High End items for those prepared to improve the build over time (or want ideas on what next they could consider saving for, and acquiring next). BUDGET; Using only C-Store and (recent) Event ships (nothing from bundles, unless the item/ship can be purchased separately), and campaign/Reputation rewards. Again, always include a couple of alternative items for those that don't have, or don't care to purchase a particular ship (or don't have other players gift them anything they ask for!!!). And as with Mid-Range, a couple of potential excellent 'Mid-Range' replacements, that a player may want to consider or save for to increase the effectiveness of the build in the near future. The clear omission from these categories is with Energy Credit purchasable items on the player Exchange. What's Mid-Range and what's Budget. Every trait and console on the Exchange should be considered Budget, irrespective of its cost! Credits are constantly earned from every task in the game, along with exchanging Dilithium for Zen to purchase keys to sell, as well as intelligent trading; if Energy Credits for a specific trait or console are an issue I'm not sure any type of build is suitable for such a player. However, perhaps advice on what items produce the biggest benefits and are more effective and more valuable to a build could be worthwhile, ie. what are the must-haves and what are the more luxury items. There's another grey-area, with regards our favourite Borg Duty Officers. Personally I think they fall under Mid-Range, but as they can be outrageously expensive, I think a 'normal' priced alternative should always accompany the usual list of Borg Duty Officers. Off topic; the loss of, or lack of interest in, the DPS scene is proving extremely beneficial as builds relying on Tanks and other players was, in my opinion, near worthless for how (I suspect) almost everyone else has always played the game. It's good to see a ship's defenses play a role in builds these days.

[@renepascalsto]

the Valdres also has Valkyrie fighters

[@Carlieth]

i bought the Valdres variant specifically for those fighters.

[@DarrenMalin]

I have the Suliban Flight Deck Assault Carrier. I really like it, it iss a good ship in a fight. I got it to start with because it does not look like the classic trek ship

[@raijinmeister]

I have the Cardassian and the D7 and they are really good ships. Not a big fan of small crafts in Star Trek but at least those ships can fight on their own and are not so reliant on pets.

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

Well that's the point of my last couple of videos. You can really make the pets do massive DPS. Last run I did I broke one million in my carrier with pets doing 350k dps overall.

[@raijinmeister]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames Yep, great vids. Is just that I don't like the idea of small crafts, especially manned ones going against big ships in Star Trek. Looks certain death, in that setting. For the game sure, it's another build option aside de regular ones.

[@Skydragonace]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames Definitely :) You can definitely make them do great reliable DPS, but sadly, they will never fully meet the DPS of energy, torp, and EPG builds for damage. The consoles definitely did a ton of work to help them catch up, but I always felt like the carrier strategy needed some redesigning, like having 6 bays and maybe 2 total weapons instead or something like that. I'd fly that forever if that was in game.

[@MBroam]

Sci carriers really need that sec def 🙁

[@themomaw]

Or, instead of making them just "Slower science ships with pets", stop treating them as "science carriers" and formalize their role as CARRIER carriers. Science ships get subsystem target, sensor analysis, and secondary deflectors. Cruisers get more power and their cruiser commands. Give 6-gun carriers a "Launch Bay" module, and a set of new commands. The Launch Bay gives you access to some of the desirable pet stats, like +% offense/defense/speed, % faster launch times, % chance to evade attacks, minimum Experience ranks, etc. In some combination. And then instead of subsystem target and sensor analysis, give Carriers "Deck Operations" that are modes like cruisers get. Short lockout when changing operations mode. Some suggestions: "Use Reserves": Your launch cooldown is twice as long but you can exceed normal fighter count by 50%. "Double loaded": Your pets move slower, but any time they fire a torpedo they fire two instead of 1. (if they have no launchers, they instead gets longer durations for Beams FAW or Cannon Rapid Fire or whatever their equivalent is) . "Precision Strike": Pets get a bonus chance to drain power, drain all shield quadrants or disable subsystems against your selected target. Etc.

[@poetscotty]

When I get the Friendship Carrier it will become my main ship turn it into a science carrier and put on the hanger pets from the legendary Akira. Put on the consoles from the legendary defiant to have a battle cloak, and put on the legendary Avengers set to help with turn rate.

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

You don't need the consoles from the Defiant for the battlecloak. All 32nd century Federation vessels have a battlecloak.

[@short72hp1]

that a great chart you should link it 💯👍

[@ergothgamingfillername5202]

Fool that I am, I still love my Vonph. I wish the Herald ships would get a retrain kind of like how the Voth ships did. Oh well, I can keep hoping.

[@kernergades]

I kinda liked the vanguard jem'hadar carrier. Before the consoles came out. And does the hydra and swarmers 30% passive buff stack?

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

They do stack, same for the crit chance consoles those stack as well for pets.

[@chrisevans5453]

Whats thoughts on the new borg rommie carrier?? Ive a borg toon which was running the D7 then swapped to suliban carrier and made it look pretty good looking borg ship, with suliban pets, as look like small spheres lol, but then got my borg carrier. The pets im unsure of, they seem a big let down, except when u assimilate a enemy ship. Just cause wanting the pets look borgish.

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

Console is great the pets are terrible. The trait is decent enough but needs a little something extra.

[@ajtame]

Being a big fan of carriers having missed the Jarok Alliance Carrier and having to pay a small fortune for it from mudd is incredibly frustrating.

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

I remember reading the console and was like "Did Bort have a stroke?". lol. I am glad I was still playing when that came out.

[@gabrielhansen5782]

Vorgon Ryn'kodan Carrier Should be mentioned at least, it is a great carrier

[@Wolfgang-Schnaufer]

This. One of my long term mains flys one of these and set up right is a beast.

[@gabrielhansen5782]

I was thinking of getting the D seven and realized the ship was not much different, I agree with you, it is a great carrier@@Wolfgang-Schnaufer

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

One of the best ones

[@davids2cents594]

hands down the flight deck carriers are the best. in fact they made a huge mistake releasing the mudds disco bundle. thats the last bundle i will ever buy. after spending thousands of dollars on ships over the last decade

[@Sierra0331]

So the only Z store ships I own are the Armitage class and a Vesta.. I’ve been using the Armitage for a couple years and I never really see anybody listing it in top ship lists. Should I give up on it and find a new ship or is it viable?

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

Grab yourself the Legendary First Strike bundle and use the Legendary Akira from that. It's the same class as the Armitage but a hell of a lot better.

[@Sierra0331]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames I’ll look into it although I don’t really have the kind of disposable income to buy ships anymore due to being diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer 2 1/2 years ago.. treatments put me out of work. Hence why I don’t have any newer ships than the Vesta.😂 I’ve only recently come back to the game and am still trying to catch up on all the stuff new to me like T6 ship mastery and ship traits etc.. I think the last time I played any significant amount of time was around Delta Rising?

[@short72hp1]

what I thought the last on was thanks

[@gabrielnightshadow9443]

Hmm...so you would recommend the Legendary Constitution Temporal Flight Deck Carrier over the Constitution Miracle Worker Flight Deck Carrier? 🤔 I own both but am currently using the later with Cannons: Scatter Volley and Elite Valkyrie fighter squadrons 😕

[@ShannaraAK]

I have both as well.. The constitution MW is better by far. More Engineering slots, more Universal slots. so more slots all together.

[@zoberraz]

The argument that can be made with the Temporal Operative version is that it packs said temporal powers, so, you have more control abilities to help lower your console clickies. it was, IMO, the Jarok alliance carrier's claim to fame so I figure it applies on this one. So, it's a way to go if you don't own the hangar-enhancing consoles yet.

[@Kayvel54]

He mentions it under the D7 Carrier. They are identical except the trait. Which is why the D7 is on the list and the fed one isn't.

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

Exactly this.

[@chrisoaten291]

Best pet with SAD ? I Have a D7 MW but im not building a full carrier build .I built into mixed armerments and 2 sets of antiproton torpedo in a antiproton bau'l build .Iv used the Alliance fighters

[@BlackOmegaWorks]

To'Duj (rare) are best SAD for Adv. I managed 407k dps in my D7 MW (full carrier build) today with 278k of that being the pets in ISE. For elite I'm finding To'Duj (Rare) with Alliance Fighters (Elite) to be the sweet spot since the To'Duj benefit off the Alliance's Focus Assault as well as the team.

[@chrisoaten291]

@@BlackOmegaWorks Thanks man this is great info

[@HungryAndorian]

I know your not going for full carrier but With SAD if you are also running alot of hangar craft power transmission units which boost up pets torpedos the terran valkyries are pretty dang punchy too

[@TheScutty]

Is the Fleet version of the Suliban a straight upgrade? or am I missing something?

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

The fleet version of any c-store ship is a direct upgrade, BUT you don't get the trait or the console from the C-store version and the fleet ship will cost 5 fleet modules.

[@TheScutty]

thanks, I have the c-store version and have a dozen fleet upgrade thingys so I think I'll give her a try too.@@AugmentedDictatorGames

[@jodytollefson7187]

I have the Fleet version and i love this ship for a guy who likes tac ship for the turn rate. With a couple of the top turn rate go fasters I've got my Sulaban carrier up to 12 to 15 degrees per sec and she can take a lot of damage with some good shield consoles.

[@SkrapMetal84]

are you going to do the top worst carriers list if you haven't already?

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

I've thought about it, but the backlash I received from doing the worst premium ships video was significant.

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames Its far to easy to put a ship in that you call worst that someone else has for valid reasons being there best ship. I wouldn't recommend doing a video round of worst ships. Personally I hate seeing worst lists as I always see ships I use which are great in the bad list when they shouldn't be. Likewise you have ships in your top Carrier video that if I was doing a video I would have put in my worst list of Carriers options. Players have different prospectives of worst and best so too many people always get offended by worst lists. Seeing a ship you consider poor in a best list isn't as bad as seeing your favourite ship in the worst list.

[@kungfrcooler2484]

What about the alternative to the legendary Constitution Temporal the Miracle worker version of that ship that is a very good carrier and it comes with a universal seat and thanks to the x upgrades you can get 2 more universal seats on it so more room to do what you want with pets than the Temporal version would allow

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

It's the exact same ship as the D7 Miracle Worker Flight Deck Carrier except the appearance and the trait and the Ruin of Our Enemies is much better than PLOT Armor which is why it made the list and the Donnie didn't.

[@kungfrcooler2484]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames I see your point and nice job on the video I have been looking to do a carrier pet build for pvp and I found this video quite helpful

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

@@kungfrcooler2484For PVP the Hur’q Dreadnought Carrier is possibly the best Carrier in game.

[@kungfrcooler2484]

@@vorgonrynkodan1569 ok thanks I will look into that one

[@STARFOXtheblack]

Hello how do I go about contacting you properly other than through comments?? I have some questions on two things ..I'm a gold member in STO from back when the Oberth class was still new lol ..I need to replace my PC to recover my account..

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

Easiest way is through Discord. You can find an invite link at the top of the channel.

[@STARFOXtheblack]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames thankyou

[@drag0nmancer]

Is the T-6 Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier no longer considered "good" anymore? Even with the elite vanguard attack ships it doesnt even get an honorable mention?

[@BlackOmegaWorks]

They really need to give it wingmen like the newer Jem ships have.

[@isaacencarnacion70]

Any chance you cm a cardassian carrier build

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

I have actually considered breaking it out of drydock for a while now.

[@skywise001]

Here is a challenge - can you make the Atrox work as a ship? (I bought when it came out to support the game - and Ive hated how much its sucked)

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

Friday's video will actually be about science carriers.

[@skywise001]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames Its such a lame duck ship that I dont think their ever going to upgrade it. But I still love the stupid thing. Ive actually been flying an upgraded temporal science ship so I can do science on top of my science to use more science :D

[@linz8291]

Perhaps scientific research ships will designed by galactic members, in particular variant types of ships.

[@DarkstarsOrder]

Can you please make an shield tank

[@vorgonrynkodan1569]

What I do for that is put loads of colony tactical consoles on, Image Refractor console and stack up just enough Xenotech Resilience consoles with Shield Hardness so I hit 75% shield resistance cap with EpS3. If required 1 Voth Core console. Shields Effectively stay up 99% of the time without needing bridge officer healing as long as I have two firing modes.

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

Apparently all you need is the T5 Valdore console. Damn thing did 40k heals per second to my shields in a solo ISE earlier. My shields never dropped below 90% even with the Borg trying to drain them.

[@michaelmacleod6517]

Dhailikhiina??

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

Dhailkhina isn't a true carrier.

[@asuna411]

You keep ignoring the miracle worker slot

[@AugmentedDictatorGames]

If you're talking about the Terran Monitor, yes. Science builds do not benefit from miracle worker bridge officer abilities.

[@asuna411]

@@AugmentedDictatorGames the miracle worker console slot on the terran monitor gives it 5 engineering slots for hangar consoles. You said it could only equip 4