After spending the last 48 hours grinding out 70 Encrypted Data Chips to fully outfit my Odyssey for STFs, I finally did it. I bought seven anti-borg Mk.11 AP beam arrays and one anti-borg Mk.12 quantum torpedo. I spent another 2 million EC on 2x AP damage consoles ( 52% damage), 2x anti-plasma hull plating ( ~50% damage resistance), and 2x shield regeneration consoles ( 26% shield regeneration).

...The result was disappointing. We were doing Khitomer Accord Elite and I died nearly as easily as when I flew an Advanced Escort, even though I had tons of hull AND shield healing abilities, as well as damage resistance buffs. All of that is topped off with much less DPS, and reduced speed and turning rate; needless to say, this is a terrible tradeoff.

Am I doing something wrong? What is the role of a cruiser in elite STFs? If I am going to get killed in one hit by a tactical cube or a gateway even if I'm flying the god damned Death Star, then I might as well fly an Advanced Escort for the DPS capability, right?

Edit: Just to clarify, all of my weapons were purchased from the Deep Space 9 requisition, meaning they are all anti-borg weapons. This isn't really a matter of weapon choice; perhaps I am even using the wrong skills. But my Advanced Escort will outdamage my Odyssey every time and both ships die just as easily.

Editt: Thanks everyone for all your feedback, even if you got downvoted for it. I'm going to keep using cruisers in elite STFs and maybe even get a science ship in the future, because first and foremost, I want to have fun and play the way I want, and that includes playing with everyone in the fleet. I like my Odyssey even though it doesn't do as much damage as I expected it to; and it doesn't need to do a ton of damage.

Also, please for the love of all that is holy, stop with the escort jokes. They're almost as bad as the arrow in the knee jokes. :-)