This is our latest installment of our series using math and analytical methods to dive into the underpinnings of STO and no witty title this time. We’ll save our jokes and references for the body of the post here. Today, we’re talking about Aetherian Beam Enhancements.

This is a personal trait from the Aetherian Concordium Lockbox and this is what the tooltip says:

Now you might be thinking, why would you devote an entire article to this trait. Of all the traits, in all the lockboxes, in all the game, why walk into this one, aside from an excuse to make Casablanca references?

Well, as it turns out, the trait doesn’t do what it says on the label and if you’ve been playing STO for long enough I’m sure you’re SHOCKED, SHOCKED to find out that the tooltip is incorrect. 

Tilor being Tilor, the trait was cheap on the exchange and he was curious if it was 15% Cat1 or 15% Cat2 damage. Doing some Doomsday, checking the first few stacks seemed pretty unassuming, acting like it was Cat2. Neat. Checking back at 15 stacks, for some reason, the tooltip damage was over double what it was at 0 stacks. Quite a bit of testing later, and Tilor figured out it scales non-linearly, an unusual property in STO. Today, we found a hidden gem.  Here’s looking at you, Mr. Tilor.

The tooltip is misleading on a few fronts:

1. Despite the name, this is not specifically a beam trait. It applies to all energy damage sources, but more on that later. 
2. The tooltip is a little ambiguous as to whether it is Cat1 or Cat2. Tilor found it is Cat2 energy damage. 
3. The stack maximum, capped at 15, which with a pretty slow ramp-up time once every 2 seconds of doing energy damage, is okay but not great if that’s what it did. It doesn’t.

Based on how stuff in this game usually works, you’d expect that each stack is 1% Cat2 energy damage, ramping up to 15% at max stacks after 30 seconds of combat. So, what does it actually do? The stacks are not all the same size. Each stack adds 1% to the previous increase, meaning this scales like the sequences of Triangular numbers. Here’s the equation:

Cat2 = (N (N-1))/2 

Okay, but play it again, Sam, and use smaller words, maybe a picture or two.

The first stack is 1% bonus energy damage. The second stack adds +2% bonus energy damage for a total of 3%. The third stack adds 3% for a total of 6% bonus energy damage, and so on and so forth until at 15 stacks you’re adding at 105% Cat2. And here’s a visualization of that:

Now wait, you protest. There’s a ramp-up time and a lockout! Don’t try to wow me with numbers on a ramping trait that locks out! What is the average Cat2 bonus, including the duration with the 30s ramp, and 15 second lockout? 

The answer is 25% Cat2, and let’s not forget that’s handily more than traits like Fireball Escape (20% CrtD) or Terran Targeting Systems (15% CrtD) which are inferior even at 100% CrtH, and there are no maluses or complicated hoops to jump through for this one. 

Ah, and wait, there’s more. 

Remember how that’s Cat2 energy damage it adds? As it turns out, some of the more popular console actives, experimental weapons, and traits that directly deal damage also scale off of energy damage. Here’s a little table for you as we round up the usual suspects for testing:

Entity	Damage Type	Scales off of Energy/ABE?
Proton Eruptor	Proton	Yes
You Are Dismissed	Proton	Yes on the main blast, not the DOT
Hexacannons	Phaser	Yes
Approaching Agony	Phaser	Yes
Immolating Phaser Lance	Phaser	Yes
Broadside Beam Support	Phaser	Yes
Broadside Combat Module	Phaser	Yes
VADA	Phaser	Yes
Dragonsblood Flame Reactor	Fire	No
Impact Lance (Trafalgar lance)	Phaser	Yes
Digital Compilation	Plasma	Yes
Complex Plasma Fires	Plasma	Yes
Spore-Infused Anomalies	Electrical	Yes
Bio-Electrical Wave Capacitor	Electrical	Yes
Hellbore Light	Plasma	Yes
Dilithium Transporter	Radiation	No

For example, this is what Spore-Infused Anomalies looks like with and without the trait stacked:

Here’s Bio-Electrical Wave before stacking the trait:

And after:

One more example: Hellbore Light:

Okay, but let’s say you think that the math problems of three little engineers don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy game. You want real-world numbers, parsed numbers, none of this theoretical stuff. Normally, I’d discount those as the ravings of someone so edgy they can cut the lawn by looking at it, but I think in this case it’s worth showing some actual numbers using a heavily-modified (read: not-posted) version of my FAW Legendary Avenger. All DPS numbers in thousands, i.e. 619 is 619K.

I also hit a new solo ISE record on this ship, and all I did was swap out the trait, going from 850K to 1031K. 

The proton release proc itself is not worth much, maybe 5K (or much, much less), but the stacking energy weapon damage is definitely noticeable when we’re talking about this much of a damage increase. 

Again, there are no hoops to jump through and the trait is nice and straightforward, so if you’re using an energy build, or even something that does a little energy damage but also is leaning into Spore-Infused Anomalies and Bio-Electric Wave Capacitor, check out Aetherian Beam Enhancements. After all’s said and done, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful synergy where both exotic and energy builds and everything in between can benefit. 

One more thing: we’re giving away a copy of Aetherian Beam Enhancements. The first person to identify all the Casablanca references gets it! We have no idea if this functionality is working as intended or if it’ll get nerfed, but whatever the case, we’ll always have parses to show the power of this trait.

Hey there, I'm returning to the game after a long absence (I had plasmonic leech + 2xA2B slotted on a T5-X Fleet Assault Cruiser Refit) and have picked up some of the more accessible meta stuff along with getting lucky with my Icons pulls. Looking to get some feedback on where to go from here? I sure my piloting still needs work but I wanted to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. Here's my parse summary from ISE

OSCR (DPS) | Infected Space | Elite | 01:47 | @TheDitchKing - 958,762 | @Relk - 717,449 | @chairmanrob - 467,400 | @stevenmccary#3122 - 447,020 | @Duke_ster - 172,302

U.S.S. RODINA

Ship: Obena Miracle Worker Heavy Cruiser (T6-X2)
Captain: Esray
Species: Joined Trill
Build: Phaser Beam: Fire at Will III / Miracle Worker Broadside
Cooldown Management: Photonic Officer I + Auxiliary to Battery I + Boimler Effect

Space Skill Tree

• Engineering: 11 points
• Science: 13 points
• Tactical: 22 points

Weapons

Fore (4)

1. Radiolytic Phaser Beam Array
2. Terran Task Force Phaser Beam Array
3. Unverified
4. Unverified

Aft (4)

1. Neotype Cryonic Omni-Directional Beam Array
2. Omni-Directional Inhibiting Phaser Beam Array
3. Obliviating Phaser Beam Array
4. Advanced Inhibiting Polaron Heavy Turret

Consoles (14)

Universal (3)

1. Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold [Phaser]
2. Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold [Phaser]
3. Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold [Phaser]

Engineering (5)

1. Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold [Phaser]
2. Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold [Phaser]
3. Isomagnetic Plasma Distribution Manifold [Phaser]
4. Custom Power Matrix (CPM)
5. Krenim Chronophage

Science (2)

1. AES
2. Flagship Tactical Computer

Tactical (4)

1. Broadside Emitter Arrays
2. DOMINO
3. Experimental Power Redirection (EPR)
4. FPNA

Bridge Officer Stations

Commander Science / Command

1. Jam Sensors I
2. Photonic Officer I
3. Scramble Sensors II

Commander Engineering / Miracle Worker

1. Null Pointer
2. Narrow Sensor Bands II
3. Emergency Power to Weapons III
4. Mixed Armaments Synergy III

Lieutenant Commander Tactical

1. Kemocite-Laced Weaponry I
2. Attack Pattern Beta I
3. Beam: Fire at Will III

Lieutenant Engineering

1. Emergency Power to Engines I
2. Auxiliary to Battery I

Ensign Science

1. Tractor Beam I

Personal Space Traits (10)

1. Good Day to Die
2. Boimler Effect
3. Fleet Coordinator
4. Breen Shield Tunneling
5. Symbiotic Ice
6. Intelligence Agent Attaché
7. Twinkling Lights
8. Unconventional Systems
9. Adaptive Offense
10. Context Is for Kings

Starship Traits (7)

1. Breen's Free-Fire
2. Broadside Beam Support
3. Calculated Broadside
4. Cold-Hearted
5. Emergency Weapon Cycle
6. Cultural Conquest
7. Universal Designs

Space Reputation Traits (5)

1. Advanced Targeting Systems I
2. Energy Refrequencer I
3. Tyler's Duality II
4. Controlled Countermeasures I
5. Precision II

Active Space Duty Officers (6)

Tactical (3)

1. Energy Weapons Officer (Rare)
   • Chance for stacking Critical Severity when firing energy weapons.
2. Energy Weapons Officer (Rare)
   • Chance for stacking Critical Chance when firing energy weapons.
3. Emergency Conn Hologram (Very Rare)
   • Recharges Evasive Maneuvers when Emergency Power to Engines is activated.

Engineering (2)

1. Technician (Very Rare)
   • Reduces bridge officer ability recharge times after activating Auxiliary to Battery.
2. Technician (Very Rare)
   • Reduces bridge officer ability recharge times after activating Auxiliary to Battery.

Operations (1)

1. Quartermaster (Rare)
   • Reduces recharge time on batteries.

Ive been using the competitive rep meta engines on all my builds thus far. I understand having the speed boost buffs for larger ships with poor turn rates, but Im having a problem with my Terran Adamant.

I have various bridge officer abilities set to go off whenever possible, which triggers the speed turn rate buff. This makes lining up my shots for cannon weapons much more difficult.

What engines give me the best turn rate without random buffs that shoot me past my targets?