Notes

Jill's focus as a character is a tank. That means that she needs damage, but also needs to have a lot of defenses. I tend to prefer passive defenses (such as resists and regeneration) over active (such as clickies and heals). As such, you'll see the skill tree reflect that.

Shield/Hull Restoration are just too good to pass up. +25% Hull/Shield healing are a solid addition to any heals, especially since most heals don't have some "baked in" Cat1 healing like weapons do for damage. Now, this build may not have a lot in the way of specific heals, but everyone has access to the Undine shield bubble and Brace for Impact, so at a minimum it enhances those. Rally Point Marker, a power I typically use, has both hull and shield healing and as such, benefits from both points. 

Advanced Hull Capacity is not a typical choice, but I have at least two items on most of my tanks that scale with max hull. The Tilly 3pc lightning zap Mycelial Lightning scales its damage up to 200k hull, and Tyler's Duality reputation trait scales its CrtH up to 200k hull. This makes 200k hull the target hull I am for. Now, the first point is 15% more hull, then the next is 10.5%, and the last is 4.5%. This means that last point gives 1/3 the bonus the first point does, but in context, that is still 2,835 (Kiwavi) or 2,885 (Endeavour) extra hull. This also contributes to regen effectiveness. Regen heals 3% of hull in a specific increment. So, 4.5% capacity means an extra ~85 hull healed every tick of regen. That may not seem like a lot, but with 300% regen or so, that's a tick every 0.6s! In the 10 seconds Aux to SIF takes to cool down, that last point of Hull Capacity has healed 1,500 hull. (I'm not selling you on this, am I?)

I pick up a point in shield capacity, but generally don't rely on shields to stay alive. Reverse Shield Polarity doesn't rely on capacity, but it's an easy point to spend for some extra capacity the rest of the time.

Weapon Training adds a lot to my primary damage source, which is weapons. Energy weapons are what do the most damage, but the token Torpedo packs a punch as well with the extra damage from Projectile Weapon Training. I choose Improved because I choose to use that extra point elsewhere.

Since energy weapons are a primary damage source, EPS really helps keep my extra power topped up as weapons drain power when firing. These two points double the speed I get power restored.

Impulse Energy shunt is completely wasted, Miracle Worker primary means power moves instantly after Full Impulse and the "benefit" from the shunt is wasted.

Impulse Expertise, however, is something I always max out anymore. I tend to fly large ships, and they need all the help they can get in the speed and turn department. Impulse Expertise helps both.

I always pick up at least one point in both Control Expertise (CtrlX) and Drain Expertise (DrainX) not because of the buffs, but because of the resistances they offer. While not relevant to this build, I also picked up the second point in CtrlX because I run several control powers for Unconventional Systems, and I run Fragment of AI Tech, which turns CtrlX into damage for my weapons.

I don't find Drain Infection useful on this build as I have no drains to enable it. I do pick up Control Amplification because I run controls, and the extra exotic debuff helps out my teammates.

Accuracy/Defense is a tough one to gauge, especially because you never know exactly how accurate you are. 100% accuracy is optimal, but extra accuracy is just turned into a little CrtX (CrtH & CrtD is CrtX). If you are missing in your parses, add some accuracy. If you have 100% accuracy, maybe spend that point elsewhere? Unless you start missing again... Defense is similar, and more complex because of movement adding to Defense. I pick up improved in both because... it feels right. I don't have a definitive answer. If you want to stay alive, Defense is just another tool in the toolbox for doing so.

Hull Plating is passive defense, but not quite as good as "all" damage resistance. Being a tank, one point here is well spent, though spending the next two for Kinetic and Energy resists is harder to justify, especially in a world with Honored Dead and History Will Remember which are huge boons to tank survivability. I sometimes skip this point on damage builds because 15 actual resistance is pretty small compared to some powers (Aux to SIF) or traits (Repair Crews), and some have way more than that (Terran Engines, 100; Honored Dead 10x20)

Shield Regeneration is special in some way, but you should read Jayiie's work for details on that. I always pick up a point here because its so... special.

Shield Hardness is a point I rarely pick up, but being a tank, it seemed like a good idea. Basic Skills offer often as much or more than Improved and Advanced combined, so a single point can go further spread out than focused.

Speaking of focusing, Criticals' are always a crowd pleaser. Since most of my damage output here is based on weapons, I took all 3 points in both skills. I would say if a point is to be skipped, 0.4% CrtH is not much return for a skill point. If I didn't already have Advanced Hull Capacity, I'd evaluate if the point in Hull Capacity would be worth more (via Tyler's Duality) than the point here.

As far as Power goes, I'll cover all 9 unlocks at once. Subsystem tuning (and power in general) is a tricky subject. Each ship comes with power bonuses, and I am using Emergency Power abilities as well. I ended up choosing Warp Core Potential to add a flat 3 to each subsystem for a total of 12 (largest single +power per skill point). I also chose offensive because of the 4.8 power for engines trying to speed my ships up, and the 4.8 helps for my energy weapon output. This is a total of 9.6 power for the point. Improved Warp Core potential adds a total of 8 (2 per system), and adding to a specific system only adds 3.2 power, so significantly diminishing returns. Beyond weapon power, I don't end up needing a lot of extra power because of batteries and Emergency Power abilities.

Exotic Particle Generator (EPG) is an odd point here, but I think it has good value for the point, netting 50 EPG to boost any abilities that use EPG (such as clicky consoles). I wouldn't fault anyone for not choosing the point in EPG on a build where exotic powers aren't a primary damage source.

Long Range Targeting Sensors is always maxed out on energy builds for me because it is the only source that reduces damage falloff with distance. There's no other way to get this without dropping over a Billion EC for the Trafalgar console.

Hull/Shield Pen for weapons is a tough one because these skills translate to such a low amount of actual value, and they are only for weapons (not Kemocite or Mycelial Lightning, etc). Even though I am extremely focused on weapon damage, these are near the end of the list for pickups because the value is so low. A single point is 1/2 a [Pen] mod, and all 3 is a single [Pen] mod. My AP beams already have a [Pen] mod, but my Kiwavi doesn't have that, so it is helpful to pick up to at least Improved on both.

Readiness is absolutely wasted because of the methods I use to hit global cooldown. I primarily use Photonic Officer 1 (PO1), which manages cooldowns just fine 2/3rds of the time. Using Entwined Tactical Matricies (ETM) for Fire at Will/Torpedo Spread (FAW/TS) means I need to only take off 10 seconds of their 30 second initial cooldowns. Since I am running strategist and Threatening Stance on, I also get cooldowns from using heals when Photonic Officer is on cooldown. I'm also more likely to miss my FAW/TS timing due to not being able to fire a torpedo spread than missing cooldowns (more on that later).

Shield Mastery is always terrible. Ignoring a random hit once every 20 seconds is terrible, and none of the other points help either.

Coordination is really solid for me solo, but also as part of a team. None of my builds use hangar pets, but both have summon clickies (Delta Reinforcements, etc.). As part of a team, I can't expect anyone to send the buff my way if I don't send it theirs (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Matthew 7:12).

As far as unlocks go, there's usually either a pretty minor choice or only one relevant option. I don't push skill points anywhere just to hit unlocks. 

Unlocks

Since I have a balanced skill tree, I end up without an Ultimate, which is fine by me. Most unlocks are pretty straightforward.

Engineering-5 (Engineering unlock for 5 points) is between Hangar health for my pets, or doubling the duration of most batteries. I don't see 10% extra health really ever being worth choosing, but every build can take advantage of Battery Expertise.

Engineering-10 is between hull capacity and subsystem offline resistance. I don't have a great number for subsystem offline duration, even moreso how the skill reduces this. Subsystem Repair is a skill called out in the bridge officer trait Leadership, which I tend to slot for their regeneration so I end up with this skill as a byproduct. 10 Hull Capacity isn't that impressive, but on a cruiser, I'll take it. This is 3% more hull, which makes regeneration that much more effective. Neither pick is impressive, so there isn't a definitive right answer. 

Engineering-15 and Engineering-20 are just +2 to specific subsystem power, so they aren't worth dead points in Engineering to chase. The Engineering Ultimate is also unimpressive single target. 

Science-5 is entirely a preference between sector speed increase or transwarp cooldown reduction. I tend to favor transwarp cooldown as most locations can be transwarped to anymore, especially endgame places like fleet holdings. 

Science-10 is between shield capacity and starship stealth. Since I am not relying on stealth (just the opposite), shield capacity makes the most sense. 

Science-15 and Science-20 are some pretty minor resists or perception. Control Expertise and Drain Expertise provide these skills naturally. The Science Ultimate is not helpful in the current state of the game as it would reduce my effective CrtH. Therefore, none of these are worth taking extra points to unlock. 

Tactical-5 is absolutely essential for a tank. Choosing 100% extra threat for Threatening Stance makes a large difference, whereas 10% extra damage for hangar pets won't make that large of a difference. If you made the wrong choice here, please respec. 

Tactical-10 and Tactical-15 are somewhat preferential, but I find that the CrtH just slightly edges out the CrtD. 

Tactical-20 is a super small choice, but since this is a tank, the extra defense was my choice. Not worth a respec if you choose accuracy. 

Notes

When it comes to budget tanking, I really like the Piezo-Polaron weapons. While you could choose just about any weapons, Piezo-Polaron have a chance to add some significant regen over time which really helps keep you alive. They also are a 5% proc instead of the typical 2.5%, which means they proc a lot more often. 

Now, we could take Piezo-polaron for all 8 weapons, but we swap a few out for specific reasons. 

First of all, the advanced Piezo-Polaron Beam Array has an AoE heal proc, as well as a slight damage bonus over the base version. It also forms a set with the Piezo-Electric Focuser console, which significantly increases our Polaron damage and is well worth picking up. 

The Advanced Inhibiting Omni-Directional Beam Array applies -DRR to targets slower than you, which is most targets. We are hitting a ton of targets with FAW, so this is really effective, and has a full 360 firing arc. There's not a lot of set omnis, but this one is great. For non-set omnis, there are very few, and they are expensive so the Piezo-Polaron proc is better and cheaper than our alternatives. 

Finally, since we are basing our FAW uptime on the trait Entwined Tactical Matrices, we need to make sure we have a torpedo to clear the Torpedo Spread, otherwise we will have to wait out the full 30 second duration and gain nothing from ETM. In this case, I chose the Dark Matter torpedo for its 2pc set with the Lorca console. This set provides a large amount of CrtD to the build, and both the console and torpedo are very good. 

Notes

One setup path is to use Temporal Specialization and Fek-ihri Torment Engine in order to get a really large DoT on enemy ships to lock in some threat. While the Temporal Specialization has Entropic Rider which is a 2.5% chance to create a DoT, we don't really have any other DoTs to take advantage of this. As such, we actually use Strategist as our secondary spec, with Miracle Worker as primary since we have a lot of heals.

Also of note is the Tilly 3pc. The Mycelial Lightning is a great way to "lock in" your threat with a big burst of damage. Even a tickle from the beams under FAW and they get zapped with the 3pc. Torpedo Spread and Fire at Will both hit many targets in a short period of time, triggering these initial spikes of damage. Mycelial Lightning also gives us a little payoff for having a high hull capacity (up to 200k) as this scales the damage. 

Since we have the 3pc Tilly for the 3pc set, we really just need to pick what piece we don't want in the Tilly set. In fact, there's nothing wrong with going the full 4pc set and is a great budget option. For extra CrtH and CrtD, the Colony Protomatter Deflector makes a solid option. If you need more maneuverability, you could pull the Tilly Engine for the Competitive Engine. 

Bridge Officer Power Selection is something that has the largest swing in any build. If you don't pick your BOff powers correctly (and drag them to tray), you won't do anything. Each one of these has been hand-picked to interact with every aspect of the build for maximum performance. You'll see no duplicates here, cooldowns are managed so that maximum uptime is achieved with one copy of each power. There's not room for more than one!

Just about all of these BOffs have Leadership, which helps slightly with Hull Regeneration. Pirate is slotted since it is a free Bridge Officer with passive extra damage. 

Commander Engineering/Command & Lieutenant Engineering (Universal)

When building a tank, I look for one of two powers as the anchor to the build: Reverse Shield Polarity or Suppression Barrage III (ranks I and II are not going to cut it). Since this ship has a Commander Command seat, I choose Suppression Barrage III as my Commander power. If you were on a different ship, Reverse Shield Polarity III would not be a wrong answer. 

For the Lt. Commander slot, we could go with Emergency Power to Weapons III, but as a tank, we aren't going for damage output alone. Concentrate Firepower will not only boost our torpedo's damage, but also is a boon to the team as a whole. Since this another power only worth slotting at Rank III, it takes up our slot here. This will relegate Emergency Power to Weapons to a lower seat. 

For energy weapons and Emergency Weapon Cycle, EPTW is required at some level. The ECH DOff is also great for maneuverability and requires EPTE. You can fill the last two forced-engineering slots with these two powers and be just fine. However, we do have a universal seat leftover. At our budget level, using it as an Engineering slot will really help boost our survivability. We can pick up Reverse Shield Polarity at rank I, which isn’t as effective as RSP3 but still great to have, especially with the duration extension duty officer. This also sets you up for growing in tank builds in the future utilizing RSP3. Aux to SIF is also a great heal, quick cycling, and offers damage resistance. Both of these are Lieutenant rank powers, which sets our Emergency Power… powers… to rank I.

Lieutenant Tactical & Lieutenant Tactical/Command

We have two tactical seats, one of which shares space with Command Specialization. We’ve already taken all of the really strong Command powers, and could really use all 4 slots of the tactical seating. 

Since our main survivability engine is the Colony Protomatter consoles, we want to make sure we pick up both a beam and cannon power as additional triggers for the protomatter passive regen/heal. Cannon powers start at Lieutenant, as does Attack Pattern Beta. This quickly locks us into TS1, FAW1, CRF1, and APB1. 

We choose Cannon Rapid Fire over Cannon Scatter Volley since we are using Entwined Tactical Matrices. While we would get another Torpedo Spread out of Scatter Volley, we actually don’t want to lock out our own Torpedo Spread if we can avoid it. We’d rather have the FAW uptime than the extra Torpedo Spread. The CRF still triggers the protomatter consoles and essentially can more than double the output since we would now be refreshing stacks instead of them dropping off between use of Fire at Will. 

We choose Attack Pattern Beta over Attack Pattern Delta for one reason: uptime. Attack Pattern Delta makes good sense on a tank, but the uptime is half that of Attack Pattern Beta. Even though we would get more damage resistance, the significantly lower uptime is really a downer for Attack Pattern Delta.

Lt. Commander Science

The LtC seat does let us bring a utility Gravity Well which can be used to pull together a few ships as well as pull some threat in AoE. We can't slot it any higher rank than rank 1, so that locks down this seat. 

Next, for cooldowns, Photonic Officer has a 66% uptime and is a solid cooldown on its own. Since we only need to cycle Torpedo Spread and Fire at Will every 20 seconds, PO1 is sufficient to cool down most of the time. Again, we can't slot any higher at the Lt. seat, so we take rank 1. Attrition Warfare is a passive from the Strategist Specialization and really helps round out the cooldown scheme. Unified Engineering also helps us out.

Hazard Emitters is a solid, consistent heal and damage resist, as well as a good cleanse with no real equal. 

Miscellaneous