Logistics Ship – Mobile Med Units – The Basilisk
The Caldari Basilisk is probably the most overlooked of all the Logistics ships. The reason for this is three-fold. The first being the preveilance of armor fleets in null-sec combat, the restriction of ship bonuses, the higher effective skill requirement, and the general and successful utility of the Scimitar. All of these factors have overshadowed the Basilisk, despite the fact that it has some advantages even over the famed Guardian. First off, let’s review the relevant strengths and weaknesses that the Basilisk has:
Strengths:
- 150% Bonus to Shield Transport Range per level based on Caldari Cruiser skill.
- 150% Bonus to Energy Transfer Array Range per level based on Caldari Cruiser skill.
- 20% Bonus to Shield Maintenance Bot transfer amount per level based on Caldari Cruiser skill.
- 15% Reduction in Shield Transport capacitor use per level based on Logistics skill.
- 15% Reduction in Energy Transfer Array capacitor use per level based on Logistics skill.
- Role bonus of -50% CPU need for Shield Transporters.
- Role bonus of -50% power need for Energy Transfer Arrays.
- 510 CPU.
- 25 m3 Drone bay and 25 Mbit/sec bandwidth.
Weaknesses:
- 192 m/s
- 2 low slots
- 0% EM resistance in shield.
For those unfamiliar with the Basilisk, it is good to start with this fact: It is a mirror image of the Guardian. It has the same ship bonuses and the same logsitics bonuses as the Guardian, except that they are applied to shields instead of armor. The only difference is in regards to one of the role bonuses, but aside from that they are flown just like Guardians. For those unfamiliar with Guardians, it means they are NOT meant to work alone, but in groups of at least two or more. I’ve heard of people saying you can make a Basilisk cap stable, but a cap stable Basilisk just can’t compete against the Scimitar in that particular role. So possible, yes.. good idea, no.
One of the first things that you should notice is the massive CPU. This is a big, big deal. A couple years ago, one of the more popular fleets running around were called RR gangs, where everyone straps on a Remote Armor repper and everyone reps everyone else when under attack. Shield Transporters, could not be used for that because of their high CPU requirements. Attempts made to copy RR Armor fleets using shields usually meant that the ships involved would have to drop at least one damage mod for a CPU Co-processor, even on the normally high CPU ships the Caldari fly.
The problem becomes more pronounced when you look at the stats of both Remote Armor Repairers and Shield Transporters. You’ll notice that the CPU for a shield transporter is three times higher than that of a Remote Armor Repairer. Conversely, the powergrid requirements are three times less than a Remote Armor Repairer. That may seem fair, but look again at those values when putting them on a battleship, say a Minmatar Tempest. A Large Remote Armor Repairer takes up only 5% of the total powergrid available to the Tempest, a small fraction. Whereas a Large Shield Transporter, takes up a full 28% of the available CPU just for one! That Large Shield Transporter takes up more CPU than three Tech 2 Artillery Howitzers. Support skills do help improve the ratio, but even if you have all support skills at level 5, shield transporters still take up a disproportionally high amount of CPU.
CCP reviewed this when dealing with both the Basilisk and the Scimitar, and with the Basilisk they gave it much higher CPU, allowing it to mount up to five Large Shield Transporters if configured correctly. With Logistics 5, it is even possible to run all five transporters without running out of cap (so long as you have another Basilisk partner). The 5-1 configuration is pretty common with the professional Incursion runners, but for the typical Incursion player and PVP’er, a 4-2 configuration will serve you better and is safer.
The skills needed to fly a Basilisk also match those of the Guardian. You, of course, can’t even get into the ship without Caldari Cruiser 5, but having Logistics 4 is an absolute minimium. Support skills like Energy Emission Systems and Shield Emission Systems also should be no less that level 4, and I strongly suggest getting them to level 5, as reducing capacitor loss is going to be your top priority.
5-1 Incursion Basilisk (Requires Logistics 5)
[Basilisk, 5-1 Incursion Configuration]
Reactor Control Unit II
Damage Control II
Remote Sensor Booster II
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Large Shield Extender II
10MN Afterburner II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Light Shield Maintenance Bot I x5
This particular configuration, found on Battleclinic, is pretty cut and dry. Some things you can change out the Remote Sensor Booster for a Tracking Link depending on the needs of the Incursion fleet you are in and if your EM Shield Compensation skill is at 5, you might be able to save yourself a bit of capacitor by replacing the Tech 2 Photon Scattering Field with a Tech 2 EM Dampening Amplifier. It will cause you to lose a little bit of EM protection, but save you more cap for transfers, if you find yourself lacking (pretty rare).
4-2 Basilisks for Incursions and PVP.
[Basilisk, 4-2 Incursion Configuration]
Power Diagnostic System II
Damage Control II
10MN Afterburner II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Light Shield Maintenance Bot II x5
The above configuration is one I use on a regular basis in Incursions, both Vanguard and Assault sites. This works well because even though I have Logisitics 5, I often run into other Basilisk pilots who don’t have it, and this allows me to operate in a safer manner in fleets as well as be adaptable with capacitor use if I am paired with another Logisitics 5 pilot. One additional thing I would like to add. There is a particular mission that requires you to mine Lyverite, and it’s not uncommon for people to have to mine the stuff at the mission site, so those shield drones can be sometimes switched out for mining ones.
[Basilisk, 4-2 PVP Configuration]
Gravimetric Backup Array II
Damage Control II
10MN Afterburner II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large Shield Transporter II
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Light Shield Maintenance Bot II x5
As you will notice, the PVP version of the 4-2 Configuration varies little from the Incursion setup. The downside to this configuration is that you are stuck dropping some protection in order to get some anti-ECM fittings. This fitting may require you to get a CPU or Powergrid implant to fit well. While the Backup sensor array does seem a little weak compared to the Guardian’s ECCM, the final difference is only a few (only 4) points to sensors, plus it is active all the time. As best are you are able, make sure to be always moving and either near a gate, or in line with a celestrial for a quick get away. And be sure to remember the value of your ship. It does you no good to lose a 150mil isk Logistics cruiser trying to save a 30mil isk battlecruiser.. or worse.
Now flying one of these things is exactly like flying a Guardian. Never go without another Basilisk and make sure you have a working cap chain. In addition, you have a benefit in that a shield transporter repairs at the beginning of its cycle, which means that the shield transports happen immediately.
Logistics Ships – Mobile Med Units – The Guardian
The Guardian is considered the premier armor logistics ship on the field today. Its strengths allow it to be very useful in major fleet actions, and their effective use has been known to turn the tide of major engagements. Its dual abilites allow the cap dependant fleets to fight longer and lay more damage on their opponents, while at the same time giving them longevity on the field of battle with the repping power. The gold and red Guardian is a ship that no FC turns down.. unless… there is only one.
That is probably the one major problem to the Guardian. It is most certainly not a ship to be used solo. To make this more clear.. let’s look at its strengths:
- Amarr Cruiser Skill Bonus: 150% Bonus to Energy Transfer Array and Remote Armor Repair System range and 20% bonus to Armor Maintenance Bot transfer amount per level.
- Logistics Skill Bonus: 15% Reduction in Energy Transfer Array and Remote Armor Repair System capacitor use per level.
- Role Bonus: -65% power need for Remote Armor Repair Systems and -50% power need for Energy Transfer Arrays.
- 25m3 Drone bay and Bandwidth.
While you can configure it to work “solo”, the Energy Transfer Array bonus, that is also shared by the Caldari Basilisk, means that ideally you should operate with at least one partner. By yourself, you can only rep half as well.. at best, than if you were with a partner. The Energy Transfer bonus actually “makes” more cap. So, either have another Guardian, or a Basilisk to really bring out the repping power of these ships.
For those of you who are planning to put yourselves into a Guardian (or even a Basilisk), you should be happy to hear that while having Logistics V for these is great, you can still be pretty effective with a Guardian even if you only have Logistics IV. In fact, you can find quite a few good solid fits for the Guardian, the vast majority of which have in mind those who only trained Logistics IV. That being said, smaller corps are going to have a tougher time getting the most out of Guardians unless they have enough people dedicated to training it. If you don’t think you and your corpmates are going to be consistantly able to have two or more Guardians fielded with each battle.. you’d be better off with an Oneiros or Scimitar.
Now, one of the great things about the Guardian is its dual task ability. Not only does it repair armor damage.. at a range of 70+km, it also can be used as a cap battery. This can be especially helpful for Amarr and Gallente ships that tend to rely on the capacitors rather heavily. So, how would I set one up? Well, because a Guardian can be such a powerful ally, you can expect that you will quickly be targetted from the get go. So you must have a tank. Here is a setup that I’ve used over the course of three alliances, and I have yet to see one done better. Its an expensive fit, but well worth it.
[Guardian]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Beta Reactor Control: Reaction Control I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor EM Hardener II
10MN Afterburner II
Conjunctive Radar ECCM Scanning Array I
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
5x Light Armor Drones
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
- You may notice the lack of a Microwarp Drive. This, is intentional. The Guardian has a very small signature radius, just smaller than a typical destroyer. The smaller your signature is, the less you get hit, and the damage is less when you get hit as well. Its also a fast ship in its own right, with a base speed of 25o m/s and with an T2 Afterburner means you will have a base speed of almost 600 m/s. At that speed you will still outrun microwarping battleships that are in your fleet. In addition, in combat situations, you will need to be constantly moving.. and an afterburner allows you to speedtank without the signature bloom penalty that comes with Microwarp drives. I have found this to be especially true when operating against POS guns.
- You will notice the highs have four Large named remote reppers. The ‘Solace’ named remote repping modules are the functional equivilent to the Tech 2 versions, but have lower CPU and power costs. This allows me to setup four large reppers, instead of a 3 Large/ 1 medium configuration. While a 3/1 configuration is certainly useful, as well as common, I personally like not having to remember which one with the medium repper (even though, with bonuses, the medium repper will reach 54km).
- The Large ‘Regard’ Energy transfer modules are used, not the Tech 2. Again, the Meta 4 module has the same performance as the Tech 2, but with less CPU and powergrid issues. You should not skimp on these as to me, they are the most important piece of the ship. I am tried setups that had one large and one medium energy transfer, but this can be confusing and rather frustrating because you really need the Large Energy Transfer to be working between yourself and your partner so that you can run all four reppers longer, but a medium energy transfer doesn’t deliver enough power to the battleships you will be servicing. So, stick with dual Large Energy Transfers and you can keep on top of both fairly well.
- Make sure you have ECCM. You can’t do your job if you can’t target anyone, so you had better make it very hard for them to lock you out.
Again, its particularly critical that you have a serious tank on your logistics ship. They will almost always be targetted right away, and you need enough buffer for your buddies to lock you, and for the time it takes for repair cycle to rep you up (Remember, remote armor reppers repair at the END of the cycle, not at the beginning).
Some other tips for newly starting logistics pilots:
- Make sure that you establish a good and easy cap chain. This is done by making a seperate logistics chat, and either doing a combination of things like “2 down” where you put one large energy transfer on the guy below you that is listed in the chat window, and then the guy below him too. “1 down/1 Up” is another variation where you put one energy transfer to the person above you on the chat list, and the person below you on the chat list. This allows the chain to remain stable, even one or even two of the Guardian pilots get locked out. Another common, but more complicated practice is the “Cap Chain”. This is where the designated Logi FC actually writes down in chat, who sends cap to who. This tends to be more complicated, and despite its common use, I have never seen it have any benefit over the simpler “2 down” or “1 up/1 down” setups.
- Make sure you are awake and active. Being a logistic pilot is the hardest thing in the game. If you are asleep or afk, you put the fleet and other logistics in danger.
- Make sure that everyone has their auto-target back set to “0″ or off. You don’t need to get blown up by the very guy you are trying to save. If they don’t, don’t rep them.. let them die. When they whine and moan about how you didn’t rep them, then you tell them in no uncertain terms that next time not to have the auto-target back set incorrectly.
- Make sure that everyone uses either the broadcast function in fleet (personally, I think that is the best way) or some other way to quickly, consistantly, and effectively let the Guardians know they need repairs. Because remote armor repairers make their repairs at the end of the cycle, they need to speak up before they hit armor. If they planning to use the broadcast function, be sure that they have it set to broadcast to all in fleet, so that you can see it, and it will show on your broadcast history list.
Well, that concludes today’s topic on Guardians. Remember, make sure to keep your guns loaded and your enemies running.
Logistics Ships – Mobile Med Units – Scimitar
Anyone who flies one can generally say two things about flying logistics ships in combat:
1. It can be a thankless job.
2. It’s hard work.
Currently each race has one logistics ship, and they follow what might be considered the racial fleet “concept”. Today’s ship, the Scimitar, follows the Minmatar T2 ship doctrine.. shield tanked, fast, with a low signature rate. This makes it ideal for roaming gangs because a useful configuration can easily fit a MWD, and because Shield Transporters repair at the beginning of a cycle, rather than the end like an Armor Remote Repairer.
First off, let’s start with the ship features:
- Great base shield resists.
- Low signature 65m.
- Base speed of 253 m/s.
- Minmatar Cruiser bonus of 150% to Shield Transport Range (and Tracking Link range) per level.
- Minmatar Cruiser bonus of 20% Shield repair amount for Shield Rep drones.
- Logistics Ship Bonus of 10% effiency to Tracking Links per level.
- Logistics Ship Bonus of 15% reduction in capactior use for Shield Transporters.
- Role Bonus of -50% CPU requirement for Shield Transporters.
- 45m3 Drone bay with 45m3 Bandwidth.
- Ladar strength of 17.
So, how does that all play out for you, the brand new Scimitar pilot? Well, the setup allows you with Logistics IV to be a pretty helpful member of your gang.. though the Scimitar shines with Logistics V. But I would also recommend that you have Shield Emission Systems up to Level IV, along with your Repair Drone Operation at IV. This would be above and beyond a typically balanced player’s skillset.
This is a common setup that I use, and I currently have Logistics at level IV:
[Scimitar, Orakkus's Scimitar]
Power Diagnostic System II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Large Shield Extender II
Cap Recharger II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Invulnerability Field II
Conjunctive Ladar ECCM Scanning Array I
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Medium S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Small Remote Hull Repair System I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1
Medium Shield Maintenance Bot I x1
Medium Shield Maintenance Bot I x1
This is a fairly cap stable setup at Logistics Level IV. You’ll notice that I don’t have anything that might cause aggression on this ship, either a turret or a combat drone. A logistics job is simply to keep people healthy, not to smooze in on killmails. I also chose to have a small remote hull repper instead of another small shield transporter because you will have times, where any inty (or any ship in your fleet for that matter) will take some pretty heavy damage.. including hull damage. Having a small remote hull repper at least allows you some ability to fix that problem while you may be waiting for another PVP opportunity.
It is also a wise idea to install some form of ECCM. The Scimitar has a sensor strength of 17, which is equal to battleships. This makes them much more difficult to jam.. and having the extra ECCM will really make your enemies work trying to keep you out of the fight.
Now, probably the hardest thing about Logistic ships is figuring out how to fly them and fly them effectively. There are actually a couple schools of thought on this. But since that might be considered classified information by my alliance, I will only delve into the basic tactics a smart Logi pilot will use.
First Tip: When you start in a gang, target every single ship. If they target you back right away (i.e. their Auto-Target Back function has not been changed to “0″), then inform them directly both in chat and on voice that they need to turn off that feature. If they do not after a couple attempts.. DO NOT REPAIR THEM. Nothing worse than getting shot down by a idiot who couldn’t be bothered with smart preperation.
Second Tip: Always, always move. No matter where you are, or what happens always be on the move. A good idea in this regard is to orbit someone/something in the center of the gang at between 1km to 10km depending on gang size. This is to maximize your ship’s defensive strengths, such as the small signature, generally fast speed, and transversal. Another point is when hanging around a gate, always orbit the gate within jump range so that if you need to GTFO, you can.
Third Tip: Only put critical people in your watchlist. The FC, Interceptors, and other Logistic ships. Those ships are generally critical in maintaining group strength and effectiveness. If you can put everyone in your gang on your watchlist, then go ahead.. but once the gang gets past ten, clear it out and only put those people on it.
Fourth Tip: Don’t Aggress, ever. A Logistics ship is a force multiplier.. but not a damage multiplier. When things go pear shaped.. which can happen in seconds.. then you need to be able to leave the area quickly. If its by docking up, or by jumping through the gate, then not being aggressed makes escape successful.. However, if you are aggressed, then you will not be able to save yourself, or your buddies later. If you absolutely NEED to be on killmails, then have your corp/alliance install a Scout/Logistics mod to their killboard so you can add yourself to the killmail after the battle.
Fifth Tip: Do not hero-save unless ordered to, and even then, question the reasoning. If someone in your gang wasn’t paying attention when the fleet warped off a gate, it IS NOT YOUR responsibility to try and save his hide. And if that pilot berates you, you let him have it. Unless the FC directly tells you to do that, do not waste your time trying to hero save them… you’ll either lose both ships, or you will lose your expensive ship instead of his… (and while he might be glad you made the sacrifice, I highly doubt he cover your ship costs…).
Sixth Tip: Learn and know your rep ranges.
I personally enjoy flying a logistics ship because it does takes a lot of skill, and is certainly the most active and most difficult task in a typical combat fleet (outside of FC). The Scimitar is a nice blend of form and function, and operates well in fast moving gangs. It certainly something that all reasonable pilots ship at least train, because a good logistics pilot, or group of logi pilots, can make a huge difference in combat.
Until next time, keep your guns loaded and your enemies running.
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