Tested: DKORA
In true Ferengi fashion, the D’Kora isn’t the most powerful ship in its speed category, but it does have a nice gold earning bonus to help make up for that.
If you time your shots well, you can make those plasma bolts really count. It doesn’t have cloak, but the ultra-low visibility and warp 15 cruising speed give you an element of surprise against a lot of ships. (Though I think the Vis will really only matter much in PvP.)
I didn’t think the DK was super-easy to fly, but I was probably being overly aggressive with it. However, with a slightly more cautious hit-and-run strategy, I do think it’s capable of reaching the top levels of the scoreboard.
I found myself wishing I had more torps a few times, but in general, it felt like a well-sorted ship and its limitations were apparent from the start. The disruptors deal full damage out to 700 range, so there’s really no need to go much closer than that. I found that a macro to fire bolts and phasers together was useful, as well as perhaps a couple of warp 11-14 bolt firing macros. I think I was running bolt macros for 11, 13, & 15.
Bolts only deal about 1/2 the *STRUCTURAL* damage of a standard plasma, so to help make up for this, I would try to find ways to slow the target down enough so I could switch over to regular and earn more points / deal more damage. I would use maybe half of the torps as bolts mixed with phasers, and then move in just close enough so the bot would phaser me. Depending on the class, that would normally do the trick so I could finish it off with plasma.
I figured out quickly that most obliterator-equipped ships should just be avoided, and that the D’Kora really can’t handle itself well against teams. Unfortunately, if you’ve just killed a ship (or nearly killed it) you’ll probably end up sacrificing the gold if another predator comes along.
Overall, I’d say the D’Kora is quirky and gold-driven enough the be worthy as a Ferengi. Performance-wise, I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle of the pack, and is neither overpowered nor underpowered. I found it to be an entertaining ship, and a player that does well with fast ships like the BR-5/6 or the Romulan Interceptor, will probably make a fortune in a D’Kora. I don’t see any adjustments needed here at all.