Tier 1 PvP - Engineering Bridge Officer Skills

As with the Science skills discussed in the previous post, only a few Engineering Bridge Officer skills are really effective in PvP.

Engineering Officer:

- Emergency Power to Shields 1 - This is the basic Engineering ability that almost all players receive with their first Engineer Bridge Officer. It provides a healthy dose of shield regeneration, reduces damage done to shields for its duration but more importantly it increases Shield Power (and thus overall shield regeneration) for its entire duration. Since when maxed the cooldown of the skill is 30 seconds and the duration of the buff is also 30 seconds - you can keep the shield damage resistance and power buff on you indefinitely.

Defensive use: Pop this as soon as you get a bit of damage in PvP, if needed combine with max shield power and a high regeneration shield. This will allow you to outlast an opponent in 1v1 situations, provided you can maneuver enough to have him hit different shield facings.

- Emergency Power to Weapons 1 - Provides an immediate boost to Weapon Power causing all energy weapons to do more damage. The buff lasts as long as the cooldown once the skill is maxed, so it is a great way of buffing your damage in preparation for an alpha strike.

Offensive use: Use Emergency Power to Weapons just as you engage and try to couple it with other damage enhancing skills such as Beam Overload, Attack Pattern Alpha or Sensor Scan. The large damage boost gained from stacking all the buffs will allow you to rip through the enemy shields in but a few seconds. Another use is to pop it as soon as you drop from Full Impulse into combat, thus shortening the recharge time of your Weapon Power.

- Emergency Power to Engines 1 - A really overlooked ability, Emergency Power to Engines allows you to temporarily boost your speed and either chase a fleeing adversary or, when used in conjunction with Evasive Maneuvers, escape an encounter.

Offensive use: A common tactic you will encounter, especially when facing Klingons, is the Engine Battery - Evasive Maneuvers trick, which allows a ship to gain a huge speed bonus for a few seconds and fly out of combat range. Using the same trick, plus Emergency Power to Engines will allow a ship to chase the target and reengage it before it has a chance to drop combat and cloak or go to Full Impulse.

Defensive use: Rather than staying in a losing fight you can always try to pop an Engine Battery and use Emergency Power to Engines along with Evasive Maneuvers to run out of weapon range and drop combat. If you do not have a battery available you can simply use Emergency Power to Engines while switching Power from Weapons or Shields to full Engines - thus allowing you to reach maximum speed (and thus maximum efficiency for Evasive Maneuvers) much faster.

Engineering Team 1 - A large instant hull heal that can be used on others coupled with a moderate resistance buff that lasts a relatively long time (30 seconds) plus a chance to repair damage subsystems - all these are contained in a single ability: Engineering Team. The only downside is that it shares a 20 second cooldown with all other team abilities, meaning that after using Engineering Team you will not be able to use Science or Tactical Teams for 20 seconds.

Defensive use: The large heal should be saved until you have actually suffered enough hull damage to make it worth while, but do not be afraid to use it on an ally in need. Anything to keep more ships in the fight is useful, as that means a lower chance of being focus fired by the enemy team.