O.S.S. B'rt's Bees

Fleet Orion Blackguard Assault Carrier

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Eph289's Builds

Build Overview and Focus

One of my goals for 2026 was to explore more affordable carrier builds. Sure, you can slap 2 bays of Rare To'Duj Squadrons and Superior Area Denial on any ship with 2 bays and make something out of it, but that gets to be very expensive. Instead, I wanted to focus on more economical setups. This intermediate build is designed to bridge the gap between the Starter Kar’Fi which can barely be classified as a carrier due to its budget, and our higher-end carrier builds.

I've been very pleased at how well it's performed in Advanced and Elite TFOs. It's not the powerhouse that many of our other builds are on Elite, but if you're more casual but still have some resources and like a more pet-focused build, give this a try. And of course it’s portable to a number of other ships as well.

This is a starter build, with no C-store items, no upgrades, and 10M EC limit. There are no Lobi, lockbox ship or promotional ship items, and no gear on this ship has been upgraded or re-engineered. See the build costs page for more detail.

Namesake

I don't usually go for silly names, but we often internally refer to swarms of pets as "bees," and then there was the Orion pirate lord B'rt featured in Lower Decks. The combination of "B'rt's Bees" is basically the same as a popular chapstick brand so . . . I had to go with it. This pirate crew doesn't take themselves too seriously.

Meta Analysis

ISA: 273K solo, deathless)
ISE: 569K (random), 1022K (premade)
HSE: 960K (premade)

Budget Analysis

Using the EZRA rubric, this build would cost 161 USD to replicate. If that cost looks daunting, don't worry! Lower-budget alternatives are provided below.

Elite Captain/T6X upgrade
5 T6 C-store ships (Ahwahnee, Newton, Endeavour, Premonition, and Typhon)
5 Lockbox personal traits, 2 Lobi personal traits, 3 Lockbox doffs, 1 Lockbox console
No Event console, Event Trait
Reputation + fleet gear; all Mk XII-Mk XIII
No Lockbox, Promotional or Lobi ships

Change History

September 2026: Released build

Build Breakdown

We're going pretty hard at carrier, but some necessary concessions to other forms of damage are needed as well as survivability, in order to make a midrange RETFO stomper.

Skills

Skill Unlocks

Notes

All weapon-centric builds benefit from the tactical ultimate, as weapon haste and bonus weapon damage from the Focused Frenzy active are appreciable when used on big targets. Applying the bonus to your team is also appreciated. I do not find the cooldown boost from Frenzied Reactions to be needed on a build with a good cooldown scheme.
Engineering skills
- Taking two Hull Capacity helps survivability and boosts Tyler's Duality as well. A point in Hull Restoration is useful for helping heals
- I always take a single point in Hull Plating, but other resistance skills and Damage Control are not worth it. Likewise, 2 points in Impulse Expertise is an appreciable boost to maneuverability. Warp Core Potential and especially Warp Core Efficiency help boost power to subsystems. Efficiency is particularly good at adding power to subsystems I am not allocating much power to.
- Improved EPS Power Transfer is essential for recovering power while firing energy weapons.
Science skills
- A single point in Shield Regeneration has surprisingly large impact on shield regeneration based on recent research by Jay
- Since this character uses either Overwhelm Emitters, the Bajor Core, or Tetryon weapons on various builds, all of which scale with Drain Expertise, I take a point in DrainX. A point in Control Expertise powers the Gravity Well on builds that use it on this toon. Two points in Exotic Particle Generators helps add damage to any exotic effects or abilities on the build.
- All energy builds should take maximum points in Long Range Targeting Sensors.
- The rest of the science skills are of little value on this build and are completely skippable.
Tactical skills
- Energy Weapon Training, Weapon Specialization, and Weapon Amplification are all worthwhile skills to take 3 points in as they boost energy weapon damage directly. Since I do have a torpedo and it does decent damage, 3 points in Projectile Weapon Training is a good choice. Improved Hull Penetration, Shield Penetration are decent adds; the last point doesn't add very much.
- I like taking 3 points in accuracy and 2 in defense. Defense is a small contribution to avoiding incoming damage but also helps reduce enemy crits when you're not moving and accuracy is just good all around, if not a stat that you'll need tons of.
- Coordination Protocols, Defense Coordination and Offensive Coordination are good team boosts so I always take those. They also benefit hangar pets on builds that have those, such as this one. Improved Tactical Readiness is essential for reducing tactical cooldowns along with the rest of the cooldown scheme.
Unlocks
- There are two crucial unlocks: battery expertise (improves duration of consumable batteries) and threat control which either increases or decreases threat based on threatening stance.

This ship is a classic energy + 1 torpedo set up with a heavy dose of carrier focus, as much as budget allows.

Intel/Strategist is the best-in-slot choice for non-tank Energy builds. Intel provides substantial damage through flanking and Intel Fleet. Strategist likewise adds damage through Logistical Support, Maneuver Warfare, and Show of Force, as well as some damage reduction through Layered Defenses.

Build

Starship Weapons

Notes

If you have the Klingon Executor Disruptors or Spiral Waves, feel free to swap out some of the weapons. I would start with the crafted weapons. I'm using a mix of beams and cannons to leverage set bonuses, but you can go for more standard colors at a loss of some DPS.

Starship Equipment

Notes:

The Iconian Reputation 3-piece helps boost pets. I went with Nausicaan Stingers as high-performing pets that also fit a KDF theme. Kelvin Timeline Assault Drones are incredibly strong and would be better, but are out of budget at the Elite rank needed to make them worthwhile. Valors are about equal to Stingers.

Starship Consoles

Set Bonuses

Notes:

Obviously this is a midrange build, so if you have more expensive carrier things, slot 'em if you got 'em.

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

Sensor Suspension Burst, Hunting Pack Escorts, Coordinated Engagement Solution, and the Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field to help cooldown active consoles would all be value adds.

Budget Tweaks:

Swap one of the C-store consoles for Swarmer Matrix
Replace Temporal Disorder with Reiterative Structural Capacitor

Bridge Officers

Meta Notes

Don't swap out Science Team or Hazard Emitters for things that don't trigger the Competitive Engines.

Traits

Personal Traits

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

For full glass, drop Harmonic Shield Linkage and Whole Lotta X's for Breen Shield Tunneling and Resonating Payload Modifications.

Budget Tweaks:

Operative, Innocuous, and Accurate could replace Enhance and Protect, Harmonic Shield Linkage, and Independent Wingmate

Starship Traits

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

There's lots of room for improvement, so check out our Carrier Basics guide for trait ideas.

Budget Tweaks:

Repurposed Cargo Bay Hangar and Target That Explosion are the one-off traits that don't bring anything else to the ship with that purchase except the trait that can be substituted at considerable cost to pet damage. I'd take Superior Command Frequency and Improved Unconventional Tactics, or Pilfered Power instead.

Reputation Traits

Active Reputation

Duty Officers

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

These are quite solid outside of Borg doffs.

Budget Tweaks:

If low budget

Drop the Battery doff and Fabrication Engineer for a power-boosting Warp Core Engineer and a standard torp-reload Projectile Weapons Officer.

Miscellaneous

Cooldowns

With Boimler and Photonic Officer, plus a little readiness we have a very solid solution.

LINK TO CDR SHEET

Ship Stats

Keybinds

Not a lot of keybinding here. A simple spambar for Scatter Volley, Attack Pattern Beta, Emergency Power to Weapons, both bays, Aux to Structural, Flagship Tactical Computer, Emergency Power to Engines, Attack Pattern Alpha, Photonic Officer, Tactical Initiative, Vulnerability Assessment Sweep, and Torpedo Spread. Everything else is manually activated. Like I said, no frills on this one.

Piloting

Prelaunch both bays to get them fully populated before the countdown ends. You want to use all your console actives in the first fight, targeting the central cube first. Trigger Evasive Maneuvers to fly over to the left transformer and fire off all major abilities while at 1/4 impulse or stopped within 2 km of the transformer. FAW/CSV should take care of most targets. Once 2-3 of the generators are down, target the transformer. Be careful in timing EPtE here, as you'll need it to reset your Evasive Maneuvers. Ideally you activate EPtE here to reset the cooldown on Evasive and it's still active to fly to the right. I rotate to face inward toward the gate.

When the transformer is less than 5%, fly towards the ball of spheres and give them a torpedo spread and cycle or two of firing. Once they start thinning out, Evasive Maneuvers again with Deuterium (reset due to Emergency Power to Engines) and head to the right side. Rinse and repeat, then Evasive Maneuvers again to fly between the Tactical Cube and Gateway. Stay nose on: no broadsiding. Make sure to flank the Tactical Cube. Lastly, don't forget to summon your Delta Alliance Beacon/Nimbus Pirates as well as Fleet Support. In an average ISE run, I can get two off: one at the start and one at the end.

The importance of Crit and Flanking cannot be oversold. I saw significant increases in DPS from boosting Crit in doffs and traits. There are players with better gear and piloting skills than I who've achieved much, much higher percentages, but I will say broadly that when in doubt, add crit. Since flanking includes extra crit chance/severity with Intel, you can't go wrong with flanking either! Look for the downward pointing arrow on your target.

Parse Breakdown

Numbers are from record ISE:

Elite Nausicaan Stinger Fighter: 297,462
Terran Task Force Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons - Scatter Volley I: 81,395
Wide Arc Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons - Scatter Volley I: 80,412
Disruptor Turret - Scatter Volley I: 78,278
Advanced Valkyrie Fighter Squadron: 69,742
Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons - Scatter Volley I: 62,887
Dual Disruptor Cannons - Scatter Volley I: 57,528
Heavy Bio-Molecular Disruptor Turret - Scatter Volley I: 46,635
Engage the H.Y.D.R.A.: 38,309
Concentrate Firepower III: 37,416
Dark Matter Laced Quantum Torpedo: 35,724
Target That Explosion: 31,665
Digital Compilation Field: 21,591
Distributed Targeting: 13,118
Krenim Chronophage: 11,784
Anti-Time Entanglement Singularity: 10,178
Gemini Device: 8,163
Dual Disruptor Cannons: 6,121
Gravity Well I: 4,233
Nimbus Pirate Distress Call: 4,056
Disruptor Turret: 3,860
Heavy Bio-Molecular Disruptor Turret: 2,654
Wide Arc Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons: 2,595
Terran Task Force Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons: 2,513
Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons: 2,332
Wide Arc Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons - Rapid Fire I: 2,144
Dual Disruptor Cannons - Rapid Fire I: 1,925
Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons - Rapid Fire I: 1,881
Terran Task Force Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons - Rapid Fire I: 1,758
Disruptor Turret - Rapid Fire I: 1,544
Heavy Bio-Molecular Disruptor Turret - Rapid Fire I: 1,488
Counter-Offensive: 282
Disruptor Array: 104

Normally we try for 40% pet damage to call something a carrier, and here we had 449K from the combined pets/pet-summoned effects so we're in the clear. Team composition was this ship, a support tank, and 3 supports.

Portability

Something that we try to teach is how to read a ship, understand what are the important parts, and then apply it to other ships so you don't need a build for your specific ship. You can either copy or adapt from another ship as needed instead if there’s one that can run the same build or is close enough. We're looking for a ship with 2 bays, at least LtCmdr Command, at least LtCmdr Science without giving up the Command seat and at least 8 weapons. Consulting Fleffle's Sortable List with those parameters entered, we get the following results:

The cross-faction equivalents Silik and Pralim, as well as their non-fleet variants, which basically give up a Hangar Craft Power Transmission and some stats but seriously just go get the fleet version.
The Friendship gets full command, meaning you can skip Reverse Shield Polarity and go for Call Emergency Artillery III. If you do this, pick up a third flight deck officer to recharge hangars. You give up a fore dual cannon for another turret, but you also downrank Emergency Power to Weapons II and drop Auxiliary to Structural to pick up Override Subsystem Safeties at rank III to power the FPNA and general energy weapons. If you have the funds, though, I encourage you to check out Jay’s Premium-tier take on this ship as a carrier.

The Voth Rampart can basically run this build seamlessly, but once again you can pick up Call Emergency Artillery III and drop the Fabrication Engineer for a third flight deck officer. The secondary Miracle Worker seating isn’t something that excites me on this build for what we’re trying to do with hangars.

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