The Tornado – The Mini-Tempest, for the price of a Tempest
Yes, it is certainly vertical.
As most players remember, the Tier 3 class of Battlecruisers were brought about by the mea culpa from CCP. CCP had, at the time, basically alienated a large portion of their playerbase, and in a smart and desperate move, made a vast number changes and introduced the Tornado, Talos, Oracle, and Naga.
All four of the designs were taken from player designs, back when CCP had made a contest a couple years back where the winner would have his design brought into Eve Online. Most of them were intended to be Battleships, but after a bit of review the developers at CCP decided that the new ships should infuse new life into the Battlecruiser line.
So, how does the Tornado stack up?
The Tornado has started to define the Tier 3 Battlecruiser class for one particular reason: The Tech II 1400mm Howitzer Artillery. Able to send out a volley of almost 10k, while requiring less training than skilling up a Tempest or Maelstrom.. as well as more maneuverable. True, you didn’t have nearly the tank.. but the value of 10k worth of damage at long range, certainly makes it a valuable ship.
So, what does a 1400mm Sniper Tornado look like? Well, here is an example of one that I currently fly. Strong side to this ship is the range, with a targeting range of about 120km, with a Volley damage of about 9200 damage using standard EMP. That damage increases to 10.6k when Republic fleet EMP or Quake is used. Tremor is also an option as your targeting area will be completely in your optimal range.
[Tornado, 1400mm Fit]
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, EMP L
Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Sensor Booster II
Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Reactor Control Unit II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Now, there are a couple downsides to this configuration. The first is that your tank is the equivalent to a 1600mm plated Rupture.. on a ship that is easier to hit. So hit and run tactics with these guys is a must, because you aren’t going to last long in any protracted engagement.
A few fleets use a combo of 1400mm Tornadoes, supported by Drakes and Scimitars, producing a fleet capable of having quite a deadly range at 100+ km, while
Now, that isn’t what CCP had originally intended. As you can see, the 1400mm fit required one ANC rig and one T2 Reactor Control Unit just to make it work. The original intent clearly was for it to be a close range ship. You can tell by how easily Tech 2 800mm Autocannons fit while having a full shield tank. For example:
[Tornado, Short Range]
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
Large Shield Extender II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Warp Disruptor II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Damage Control II
Overdrive Injector System II
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
I like this configuration because not only do you produce about about 653 DPS, but you are doing it in a ship whose base speed is faster than most Cruisers, which is about 316m/s, and over 1800m/s with MWD. The tank is also about 50% better than what you would get in a typical cruiser, measuring about 37.2k EHP.
The two big downsides to the Tornado start with the price, as it is at least double the price of a Cyclone, and about 20% to 50% higher in cost over a Hurricane frame. This pretty well puts the price close to that of a typically fit Tempest. Prices for these ships may go down, but if they haven’t dropped now, I don’t think you’ll see them do so for a while yet. The novelty of them still hasn’t disappeared yet.
The second downside really isn’t a downside for the Tornado, but rather for the Tier 1 battlecruisers as a whole. Ships like the Ferox and the Cyclone are little more than distractions, with little PVP value. The Brutix and the Prophecy suffer a little better, but also could use an upgrade to keep them relatively competitive in today’s PVP world.
06 March 2012 Devblog – Epic Rework in the making
I have about 78 million SP, and if you still play Eve Online, check out this devblog: http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=9129
With my SP I can fly.. well, I can fly a ton of ships. This devblog clearly has me losing approximately.. 24 ships in total. 24 ships that will instantly no longer be available to me once this change takes effect (edit: see side note). Normally, this would upset me because it means I have to train for ships I use rarely, and it would add at least a couple months or so to regain my combat ability. Logically though.. CCP is right in making this change. It did always strike me as odd that so long as I could get a racial cruiser to III, that my level 5 battlecruiser skill made me instantly proficient in not only their tech 1 battlecruisers, but in their command ships as well. The same applied to interdictors, but to a much lesser extent.
Old Way:
New Way:
I do like the new ship progression in that if you want to train for a specific ship, the way is basically straight. Let’s say you are a new player and you’ve heard wonderful things about HACs. Now, you don’t have to train up a bunch of other ships to get there. Just train up the class, then the specific ship. Some of the other changes indicate that instead of pre-reqs being at level V, they’ll be at level IV. I think that is a good idea, though I am concerned that corps and alliances will change their advertisements to say “Cruiser V plus etc., etc.” instead of just stating that “Must fly Tech 2″. However, I think that for the most part, this will be a welcomed change all around because you can get newer people in better ships to produce better fleets, plus the newer people get to content faster, and the overall downgrade in fleets won’t be that great. Plus, vets will still maintain a strong edge against newcomers.
Still.. I think there is going to be quite a few unhappy vets.
That wasn’t the only interesting thing that was being said. Another interesting idea was brought about in the blog by this comment:
That is why we want to remove ship tiers altogether, then refocus our balancing philosophy to be based on role. That means finding common themes, or lines that fit ships with the same purpose, then adjusting slot layout, HP and fittings within each class to support this goal.
So, Tiers will soon be a thing of the past. Which, according to the blog, means that a good HALF of the ships need to be re-balanced. Now, as they mentioned they will instead use roles to determine how balanced these ships are. Likely, since the Tier system sort of had that in mind, there may not be as much difficulty in making the re-balance happen as one might suspect. Particularly if we look at what roles are being defined as:
- Combat ships: designed for direct fights, such vessels are usually found spear heading an attack force, or sniping from long range. Have great damage and defense, but poor mobility. A good representation would be 18th century “ships of the line“. EVE examples: Abaddon, Rokh, Hyperion, Maelstrom, Ferox, Maller.
- Attack vessels: Made for hit and run assault, or flanking opportunities. Have great damage and mobility, but average defense. Similar in role with cavalry. EVE examples: Armageddon, Megathron, Tempest, Oracle, Thorax, Hurricane, Dominix, Myrmidon.
- Bombardment ships: provide heavy fire support to pin the enemy down with constant barrage of ordnance. Have great damage and range, average defense and mobility. Can be compared to artillery. EVE examples: Raven, Drake, caracal.
- Support vessels: mainly focused on assisting a friendly force, or disrupting an enemy fleet. Have average damage, poor defense, average mobility. Electronic warfare is the prime illustration of this line. EVE examples: Scorpion, Blackbird, Celestis, Arbitrator.
- Industrial ships: provide the mining and logistic backbone to replace military losses and cover operating costs. Poor offense, average defense and poor mobility. An Oil platform is a fairly accurate depiction of industrial ships . EVE examples: Covetor, Orca, Rorqual, Iteron V.
Now, lets stop here for a second so that I can make a prediction.. it’s a safe one to be sure, but I think it will still be accurate. Here is how I think the Tier 1 to Roles conversion will play out:
Frigates:
- Combat Ships: Rifter, Punisher, Incursus, Merlin
- Attack Vessels: Slasher, Executioner, Atron, Condor
- Bombardment Ships: Breacher, Inquistor, Tristan, Kestrel
- Support Ships (2 each race): Vigil and Probe, Crucifer and Magnate, Maulus and Imicus, Griffin and Heron
- Industrial Ships: Burst, Tormentor, Navitas, Bantam
Cruisers:
- Combat Ships: Rupture, Maller, Vexor, Moa
- Attack Vessels: Stabber, Omen, Thorax
- Bombardment Ships: Caracal
- Support Ships: Bellicose, Arbitrator, Augoror, Celestis, Blackbird
- Industrial Ships: Scythe, Arbitrator, Osprey, Exequror
Battlecruisers:
- Combat Ships: Ferox
- Attack Vessels: Tornado, Oracle, Talos, Naga
- Bombardment Ships: Drake
- Support Ships: ?
- Industrial Ships: All ORE Mining Barges and Noctis
Battleships:
- Combat Ships: Maelstrom, Abaddon, Hyperion, Rokh, Apocolypse
- Attack Vessels: Tempest, Armageddon, Megathron, Dominix
- Bombardment Ships: Raven, Typhoon
- Supports Ships: Scorpion
- Industrial Ships: Orca
As you can see, initially the small class ships are balanced.. at least one that fits into each ship role. However, after that, things get a bit more.. dynamic or hazy, depending on your point of view. I think that CCP will have their hands full for two particular reasons:
- How are they going to change various ship balances without disrupting, or worse, generalizing all the races?
- How does the issue of “Active” versus “Passive” tanking get solved now?
The first problem is clearly going to be on the minds of many pilots. Are Caldari now going to be known as the “Bombardment” race? How about the Minmatar? The Amarr? Are the Gallente going to be regulated to being the “Support” skilled race? Will ECM be changed because it is so powerful in comparision that technically Caldari could be both the top Bombardment AND top Support race.. Even if the flavor of each race is kept, how is the balance going to work between four different races.. or will only a couple races have multiple ships for each class.. and if that happens, how will balance be achieved if only a couple values affect how well it does its intended role?
And then with all those other questions comes in a more subtle problem. The issue of active tanking, which are feature predominantely in Gallente and Minmatar hulls.. how can that be balanced over the proven benefits that passive tanking has in most combat situations? That I think will be a much harder question to solve.
Yet, despite these problems the overall concept that every hull serves a purpose is near and dear to my heart. I will be watching with much excitement.. and a bit of trepidation.
(Side Note: Apparently, even as I was in the process of writing this blog, some of these points came up and are in the process of being addressed. See comments here: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=77673, I am disappointed that most just freaked out and their fingers went faster than their brain and eyes could go. But, on one positive note.. I am not the only one who noticed the problem that this could have with Active/Passive tanking: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=77673&p=37, Force Colonel’s comment)
All Attitude – The Minmatar Wolf
Minmatar Wolf, taken from Eve Online website
One of my favorite ships in the game is the Wolf. It’s a Minmatar Assault Ship that lives in the shadow of its more popular brother, the Jaguar. Nonetheless, it is still considered one of the top assault frigates in game and I personally favor it for it’s slot arrangment. In fact, flying this ship landed me one of my most favorite and challenging kills.. a Navy Omen that was supported by a Stabber.
The overall reasoning of Assault Frigates was to make a frigate class ship that was deadlier and better protected than their Tech 1 brothers. The plan certainly looked cool, and if you look at fittings, it seems rather like they decided to make these ships suited toward a Afterburner + Scrambler combo. On paper this makes sense, because an interceptor could make the initial tackle, then the Assault frigates would come in, and using higher defenses and afterburner speed, couple with a 2 point scrambler, could make short work of enemy targets quickly. This idea was still central to their reasoning when they made changes to Disruptors and Scramblers, which enabled Scramblers to shut down microwarp drives. All in all, it was to be the perfect pirate ship.
But, while the idea certainly did sound cool, when placed into the game, the reality was very, very different. Initially, Assault Frigates, weren’t all that great. In fact, they turned out to be just more expensive targets, sometimes not even as good as the Tech 1 ships they were modeled from. Later, some upgrades were made to the ships, as well as the scrambler change, but this still left a significant problem.
That problem is Role. For Assault Frigates, even now, whatever role they try to occupy something else does it just as good or better and does it cheaper. In their introduction, the Assault Frigate’s DPS wasn’t much better than a standard Tech 1′s, but the AF hull cost 40 to 50x more. Later, after some improvements were made, the Assault Frigate still ran into Role problems. While the DPS increased and the tanking improved, it still wasn’t as good as a much cheaper, better tanked, and better armed Cruiser. If you try to outfit one for speed, you’ll find that AB fit Assault Frigates do not gain the speed necessary for quick takedowns, and Microwarp Drive fitted Assault Frigates give up precious slots, powergrid, and CPU and are unable to maintain either a good tank or good weaponry and the Tech 2 Interceptors, which are cheaper, are faster and have better speed bonuses.
This problem is certainly one that the Wolf also has to deal with. The Wolf is perceived as the “long-range” variant.. which is why it was only given two midslots as well as the typical Tech 2 Minmatar shield resists. However, the Wolf was also conceived before the change to Minmatar artillery and so the Wolf’s CPU and Powergrid can’t really support the 280mm with out at least two fitting mods, or without having any sort of tank. This presents a problem, because the most ideal ammo for this, Quake (as well as all the other short range ammo), puts you well into disruptor range, and within easy range of all medium weapons. Longer range ammo, such as Tremor, might get you farther, but certainly not to a safe range against ships larger than frigates.
The Wolf’s slot setup, though, allows it to be useful at close range. Brandishing five high slots, four of which can be used for Turrets, this will give you quite a bit of DPS. The four lowslots allow for you to armor tank the Wolf rather well, and allows for you to have the basic minimum of tackle and speed modules. But, let’s first look at the factors that should concern you:
- 5% Bonus to Small Projectile Turret Damage per Minmatar Frigate Level.
- 5% Bonus to Small Projectile Turret Damage per Assault Ships Level.
- 10% Bonus to Small Projectile Falloff Range per Assault Ships Level.
- 7.5% Bonus to Small Projectile Tracking per Assault Ships Level.
- 329 m/s Velocity (Standard Rifter runs at 353 m/s)
- 3.456 inertia (standard Rifter runs at 3.19)
- Armor Hitpoints: 703 (standard Rifter runs at 351)
- Signature Radius: 33 (standard Rifter flies with 35)
- Scan Resolution: 700mm (versus Standard Rifter with 660mm)
After you look at these features, you’ll notice that while the Wolf is slower than a standard Rifter, it carries double the armor, is more agile, has more weapon hardpoints, smaller targetting signature, does more damage, and has faster lock-on times.
But it isn’t without it’s flaws, two of which are readily apparent when trying to fit the ship out:
- 10% Explosive, 25% Kinetic armor resists
- 2 mid slots
The problem with the armor resists is that, even with four low slots, you are going to have to choose to either protect against kinetic damage, a damage type that three of the four races utilize on a regular basis, or to build up your abyssmial explosive resist, that are only used rarely outside of Minmatar. The midslots are another issue. Prior to the recent update the need to have at least one for a propulsion mod, you were pretty much stuck with doing a MWD/24km or AB/9km Scram combo. The MWD/24km Disruptor combo, while more effective in fleets, really cuts back on your tanking options, as well as reduces your capacitor, and that removed the option of speed tanking to mitigate some of the incoming damage. On the other hand, the AB/Scram combo, while ideal in close range combat, it limited when trying to get the initial tackle. This can be countered, especially since an AB can still propel the Wolf between 800 and 1000 m/s, by managing to be closer to the target somehow. Still, the acceleration is slower than an MWD, and the range you need to be at is much closer… which means less targets captured.
However, with the recent change to the Wolf, it is now possible to run a pretty decent MWD/Scram configuration.. in fact, I think this will become a predominant configuration because passive configurations can run all their modules and be totally cap stable, and even the active tanked versions can pulse their reppers enough for it to be useful.
All in all though, I still love flying the Wolf. However, unlike most pilots, I chose to step away from the traditional approaches to this ship. Small ships like the Wolf do allow for what I call Active-Passive (or “AP”) tanking. It isn’t a new concept to Eve, but usually only a rare few ships have both the powergrid and CPU combined with good overall characteristics that make this even remotely viable. The Wolf is one of those ships. Being in combat with an AP configuration means that you have to be mindful of your power usage. When you start taking armor damage, pulse (Run for one cycle, wait.. run for another cycle early in the fight) your small repairers so that you aren’t trying to use the repper to compensate for damage taking when you are almost dead. Small NOSes are very nice for thise because they cycle at double the rate as their larger versions, so you get more cap sooner.
Past Heavy Combat PVP Build
The build below I used successfully against a Navy Omen. This particular Wolf configuration is benefitted by the fact that the difference between 125mm ACs and 200mm ACs really isn’t all that much. I used a similar version (using Meta 4 repair modules against a Retribution later, and while I did lose, he survived with only about 10% hull.. and many of his modules had nearly been burnt out. At the time, I had no thermodynamic skills.. or else I would have come out the winner.
High Slots:
4x 125mm Tech 2 ACs w/Barrage or RF EMP
1x Small ‘Knave’ Energy Drain
Mid Slots:
1x Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
1x Named Meta 4 Scrambler
Low Slots:
1x 400mm Rolled Tungsten Plate
1x Small A-Type Centii Armor Repairer
1x Damage Control II
1x Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Rigs:
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
If you had a Powergrid implant, you can even stretch things enough to get a better neutralizer. The Wolf in particular seems to blend the best of having the Neut+AB+Scram configuration because you have significant powergrid resources at your disposal. This is compounded by having a sizeable tank, that you can repair during the fight, when it is convienent. If you wish to have more firepower, you can drop the tank to a 200mm plate, and then you have the ability to upgrade both the guns to 200mm and the neut to the Tech 2 version (which is much cheaper than the meta 4 for sale).
New 0.0 PVP build
This configuration was sort of a hybrid test using a MWD/Scram set up. With the new changes made to the Wolf, this is a fairly decent solo fit.. so long as your enemy doesn’t have a Neut.
High Slots:
4x 200mm Tech 2 ACs w/Barrage or RF EMP
1x Small Diminishing Power System I
Mid Slots:
1x 1MN Tech 2 MicrowarpDrive
1x Named Meta 4 Scrambler
Low Slots:
1x 200mm Rolled Tungsten Plate
1x Small A-Type Centii Armor Repairer
1x Damage Control II
1x Adaptive Nano Plating II
1x N-Type Adaptive Nano Membrane
Rigs:
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
This configuration had a bit of play to it, but in the shown configuration has about 10k EHP, 175 DPS, and can maintain 88% cap while operating all modules but the armor repairer. One option to this configuration that you could do would be removing the Damage Control II and replacing it with a Tech 2 Gyrostabilizer. This would give you some additional DPS. Downgrading the N-Type to another Tech 2 Adaptive Nano will allow you to upgrade to the 24km Disruptor. With both of these fits, you can remove the armor repper and that would free up some powergrid and some CPU, allowing you better weapon options. The downside to that is that you won’t be as self-sufficient, particularly if things go south and you need to get repaired.
AB PVP Variant
The Afterburner variant is good for the typical low-sec pirate pilot, as with all modules active, it can hold out for almost 3 minutes.
High Slots:
4x 200mm Tech 2 ACs w/Barrage or RF EMP
1x Small Tech 2 Nosferatu
Mid Slots:
1x 1MN Tech 2 Afterburner
1x Named Meta 4 Scrambler
Low Slots:
1x 200mm Rolled Tungsten Plate
1x Small Tech 2 Armor Repairer
1x Damage Control II
1x Adaptive Nano Plating II
1x Tech 2 Gyrostabilizer
Rigs:
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
This configuration produces a little over 9k EHP, a steady afterburner speed of 860 m/s, and producing approximately 187 DPS.
In Conclusion
While the Wolf doesn’t necessarily get the title of “Best” Assault frigate, it certainly isn’t a ship that should be discounted. CCP has recently put some possible upgrades to the Wolf (as well as the other Assault Frigates) that would improve their usability.. potentially making them deadlier than Tech 1 Cruisers, like the Rupture or Thorax. What got changed for the Wolf was an additional low slot, as well as +10 CPU and +200 armor. The fourth bonus, a 7.5% Tracking Speed bonus was added too. What also is of interest is the 50% reduction in Signature penalty when using a MWD for the entire class. One of the more surprising things was that, prior to the change, a 400mm plate Wolf had a significant increase in defense.. but now, the difference between a 400mm and 200mm variants are minor.. so minor that the mass problems tip it in favor of going back to the 200mm plate versions. In fact, 400mm Afterburner versions had LESS defense than 200mm Afterburner versions due to the loss of a crucial low slot for a Micro Auxiliary Power Core. For the Wolf, these were huge changes, and will make even passively tanked Wolfs viable against a whole array of prey.
Republic Fleet Firetail – The better Rifter
The Republic Fleet Firetail is currently not a common ship, however, it wasn’t always that way. True, because of the early weakness of projectile weapons, the Firetail was merely an expensive ship spinner. It was very fast, but could not hold its own if pressured by better tanked frigates. This changed dramatically when Projectile weapons were fixed. This change thrust the Firetail into a much more popular role. In addition, it had four weapon hardpoints, two for turrets and two for missiles. This enabled it to produce a considerable amount of damage on target while still outpacing their target. The Firetail is also unique in another way: its lore. The Firetail is the only ship that came from a long extinct pirate organization, the Lazari Dromitus and was originally called the “Shamrock”.
So is the Republic Firetail worth anything today?
The Firetail is still very fast, though the latest update from CCP reduced its speed considerably and decided to re-imagine the ship by removing a high slot and replacing it with an additional mid slot. The former speed bonus was replaced with an impressive damage bonus that comes into its own once you reach Minmatar Frigate V.
The current bonuses are as follows:
- 20% Small Projectile Turret Damage bonus per level.
- 7.5% Small Projectile Tracking speed bonus per level.
The ship also has a base velocity of 410m/s and is quite agile having a base 3.2 inertia modifier. It also turned out that the replacement of a Highslot with a midslot give the Firetail much more fitting varieties and more overall utility. In addition, the CPU and PG have been upgraded and it allows for the Firetail to mount decent Shield and Armor tank configurations AND both long-range arty and short-range AC configurations. However, don’t expect to have enough resources to go all Tech 2.
Short Range Love
Let’s look at one of the Firetail configurations that I use:
[Republic Fleet Firetail, Short Range]
200mm AutoCannon II, Barrage S
200mm AutoCannon II, Barrage S
Rocket Launcher II, Gremlin Javelin Rocket
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
This short range configuration set here attains an armor tank of 6.2k EHP (Pyfa stats), a MWD speed of over 2400 m/s, and 110 DPS. This makes it faster, more destructive, and better armored than a similar fit Rifter. A configuration change that might be just as ideal is to switch out the 24km Warp Disruptor for a Tech 2 Warp Scrambler. This change would improve your lockdown ability and keep even fast targets in place.
Long Range Goodness
A long range artillery variant is also possible:
[Republic Fleet Firetail, Long Range]
‘Malkuth’ Rocket Launcher I, Gremlin Rocket
280mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor S
280mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor S
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Overdrive Injector System II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Tracking Enhancer II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
This is a typical 0.0 tackler setup with an eye towards dealing at maximum range. DPS ranges from 61 for Tremor to about 97 for EMP/Quake. This shield configuration allows it almost 5k EHP, but the medium shield extender does increase the sig radius and will make it the size of a BC with the MWD on.
The Race is on
The addition of a midslot opens up the Firetail to be speed tanked. This dual prop setup mimics popular Pre-Crucible Dramiel setups.
[Republic Fleet Firetail, Speed Demon]
200mm AutoCannon II, Barrage S
200mm AutoCannon II, Barrage S
Rocket Launcher II, Gremlin Rage Rocket
1MN Afterburner II
1MN MicroWarpdrive II
Warp Disruptor II
Small Shield Extender II
Overdrive Injector System II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Damage Control II
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
This configuration has a maximum speed of 4266m/s and a 3.71 second align time. The DPS is still better than an AC Rifter and still maintains a 4k EHP tank.
In Conclusion
The Firetail is certainly a better Rifter, but probably more surprising is how close it comes to matching both the Wolf and the Jaguar in performance. The damage the Firetail can dish out matches a pretty typical Jaguar configuration, and its speed is still much faster. The only difference is that it just doesn’t have the tank to match. However, when comparing it with the T2 Interceptors like the Claw or the Stilleto, the Firetail compares quite well in the speed department, and is easily equal in performance versus the Claw.
The only downside to the Firetail is that the prices for these ships is a little high and it matches that of Assault Frigates, so expect to pay about 30 to 35mil isk to get one outfitted correctly. Still, with good armor and shield configurations, a Minmatar trained pilot can hold its own in many a roaming fleet fielded these days.
The Vagabond – The Pure Essence of Minmatar
Vagabond (noun) – 1. A person without a permanent home who moves from place to place. 2. A vagrant, a tramp. 3. A wanderer, a rover.
According to gaming lore the Vagabond, a heavy assault cruiser, was developed by the Thukker. Thukkers are a tribe of the Minmatar who wander in a large fleet and call no planet their home, thus the Vagabond an appropriate name for something they designed. The ship is very fast, giving it the ability to control range on the battlefield at will and mounts a formidable offense as well. The unique blend of characteristics in the Vagabond has made it one of the most popular ships to fly in Eve and became an early example of developing fleets based around a single ship type. Earlier in Eve Online, Vagabond fleets roamed 0.0 with impunity, their speed at the time was so great that it actually played havoc with game mechanics and it was simply impossible to shoot them down.
Time has pressed on since those days, but the vitality of the Vagabond has not left it. It isn’t uncommon to still see small fleets of Vagabonds roaming 0.0 or low-sec, or the occasional pirate or scout speeding through system after system looking for their intended target. Despite all sorts of game changes, the Vagabond remains a major force in the Eve space.
Now, just for the record, I am a so-so Vagabond pilot. My personality style is more defensive than offensive, so I tend to fly slower, but better armed and better tanked ships. With that said, however, I believe that every single Minmatar pilot, every.. single.. one.. should train to fly this ship and to fly it well. It is something that I am working on.
For those of you unfamiliar with how to set up a Vagabond, or even how to fly one. Rest assured, it is probably one of the least difficult ships to configure and if you are good at flying interceptors, you will be good at flying Vagabonds. The configuration of Vagabonds really comes down to two basic forms, primarily based on the type of Autocannon: The 220mm Version and the 425mm Version.
220mm Version – Effective and Versatile
The 220mm Version of the Vagabond looks something like this:
Highslots:
5x T2 220mm Vulcan Autocannons
1x Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Midslots:
2x T2 Large Shield Extenders
1x T2 Warp Disruptor
1x Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Lowslots:
1x T2 Damage Control
2x T2 Gyrostabilizers
2x T2 Tracking Enhancers
Rigs:
2x Medium Polycarb Engine Housing I
Drones:
5x Warrior IIs
This is pretty much the de facto standard for a 220mm fitted Vagabond. Personally, I prefer more tank, so I’ll drop one of the Polycarb rigs for a Shield Extender Rig. Others have suggested dropping a Polycarb for Ambit rigs, which is a possibility as well. Another option is to remove the Neutralizer and replace it with a Heavy Missile or Heavy Assault Missile Launcher. The effective hitpoints for this particular configuration runs just under 24k. The Neutralizer option is good if you are working solo or in small gangs where reducing the ability for your enemy to repair, fire, or run might overreach your ability to blast past their tank. In larger gangs, the DPS of a Missile Launcher might be a better option.
The 425mm Version – Stronger and Scarier
The 425mm Version is the heavier hitting configuration and it looks much like this:
Highslots:
5x T2 425mm Autocannons
1x ‘Arbalest’ Heavy Missile Launcher
Midslots:
1x T2 Large Shield Extenders
1x T2 Invulnerability Field
1x T2 Warp Disruptor
1x Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Lowslots:
1x T2 Damage Control
2x T2 Gyrostabilizers
2x T2 Tracking Enhancers
Rigs:
2x Medium Polycarb Engine Housing I
Drones:
5x Warrior IIs
Essentially, you are dropping a power hungry Shield Extender and Neutralizer, for better resists and better damage. Much like the 220mm Version, I’d prefer to remove at least one of the Polycarbs for a Shield Extender Rig to improve tanking performance. At the stage, the difference between the two tanks EHP wise is minimal, though the 220mm version is more forgiving to those with less than ideal fitting skills.
As far as flying the Vagabond, it literally should be flown like just like an interceptor. Stay outside of 10km from your target (preferably between 15 and 20km), manually orbiting and watching him to make sure he doesn’t catch up with you on an orbit run. Speed is a big part of your tanking ability. Usually you will want to have plenty of Barrage and RF EMP/Phased Plasma ammo with you as both ACs go through quite a bit of. Barrage should be your first choice when attacking because it increases your falloff range, making your shots hit more often and with more consistant damage. If your current gunnery skills aren’t good enough for your weapons to successfully track your target, then switch out a Gyro for another Tracking Enhancer.
All in all, the Vagabond embodies the essence of Minmatar shipbuilding design. It’s fast, it’s dangerous, and it’s effective. It has earned its place in the annals of Eve Online history..
.. and there is no good reason why you shouldn’t know how to fly it.
The Amarrian Zealot – Pride of the Fleet
When a person mentions the word “AHAC”, the basis of that conversation is likely around the Zealot. The Amarr HAC is probably second in popularity only to the Vagabond and boasts effective setups in close range and long range configurations. I’ve flown this ship myself on many occasions both with the Panic! fleets of old Providence and with the recently dethroned Northern Coalition and have a healthy respect for seeing fleets of Zealots in action.
The Zealot combines a set of very impressive offensive attributes, that when combined with the natural bonuses inherit in the Tech II advancements and cruiser hulls, make it a very formidable ship to field. With the advent of afterburner fit fleets, the Zealot comes into its own as it is able to field a very strong armor fit coupled with the best Tech II weapons available. Here are some of the advantages the Zealot brings to the field:
- 10% bonus to Medium Energy Turret Capacitor use, per level.
- 5% bonus to Medium Energy Turret Rate of fire, per level.
- 10% bonus to Medium Energy Turret Optimal Range, per level.
- 5% bonus to Medium Energy Turret damage, per level.
- Five Highs, Three Mids, Seven Low slot arrangement.
[Zealot, Close Range - Armor]
Damage Control II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Reactor Control Unit II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
10MN Afterburner II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Disruptor II
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Energy Burst Aerator I
[Zealot, Sniper Fit - Armor]
Reactor Control Unit II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Enhancer II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Damage Control II
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range
Warp Disruptor II
Heavy Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Heavy Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Heavy Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Heavy Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Heavy Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Fleet Issue Scythe – The Mini-Typhoon
When an Eve pilot hears the word, “Scythe”, it often brings up memories of a much, much earlier time in a person’s Eve career. A very short period of time as well. The original “Scythe” is the Minmatar Tier One “Logistic” cruiser. It’s bonuses were to Tracking Links, a feature rarely used in Eve, and to mining. The defensive abilities of the Scythe made it ill-suited even for most Level 2 type combat missions, and its capabilities in PVP were.. non-existant.
Enter the Fleet Issue Scythe.
The Fleet Issue Scythe was brought in by CCP back in 2008 (along with the other races new faction ships) and immediately one could tell that these ships had been drastically upgraded. The upgrade to the lowly Scythe had nothing to do with logistical support or mining. It was all PVP. But does this Fleet Issue Scythe truly belong in PVP? Well, let’s take a look at what was upgraded:
- The Fleet Issue Scythe upgrades from the original Scythe by adding one additional high slot and one additional mid slot.
- The speed was increased from a base of 209m/s to 270m/s and its agility was increased.
- The powergrid was increased by nearly 100%.
- The upgrade included another 50 CPU.
- A 5% rate of fire increase on both projectiles and missile launchers.
- Shields were increased by at least 50%.
- The drone bay was increased to fit a full flight of light drones instead of just one.
Dramatic changes and improvements to be sure. The increase in speed and agility are remarkable, with the base speed of Fleet Issue Scythe actually FASTER than the Vagabond. It’s base shield is higher than that of the Huginn and Rapier. The CPU and Powergrid allow you to mount some serious Tech 2 hardware on this hull. This beast should be a monster…
Except for one little thing and its the reason that it’s listed as a “Mini-typhoon”. Notice the damage bonuses… to two weapon systems. The highslots are evenly distributed between three projectile turrets and three missile launchers, meaning your skillset should have a fairly strong basis in missile systems as well as projectiles before flying this ship. The price is also a little high ranging from between 40 to 50 million isk, or the same as a Hurricane battlecruiser hull (CCP’s original plan was to keep the price in the 15mil to 25mil price range). The combination of the price and skillset required to use it makes it just a tad pointless to use in PVP. A Rupture will do more damage and is 1/10th the current price and gets double bonused damage on its projectile turrets. And another problem with the hull is that while it does have good shield HP, it retains the typical shield resists of a T1 cruiser. Couple that with it being a shield tank and having a cruiser sized signature and you are looking at getting fairly beat up.
That being said, if you do have some spare isk sitting around, and the skillset to use one, this may not be a bad ship to roam in. Theoretically it is fast enough to have the option of either Afterburners or Microwarpdrives, but practical 0.0 use still lends itself to microwarp drives.. else this will happen: http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=9029672
Here’s the configuration I would use though, now that I’ve flown it a few times:
Highslots:
3x 220mm Autocannons
3x ‘Arlebest’ Assault Missile Launchers
Midslots:
1x Y-T8 Microwarp Drive
1x T2 Warp Disruptor
1x Large F-S9 Regoliath Shield Induction
1x T2 Invulnerability Field
Lowslots:
1x T2 Damage Control
1x T2 Gyrostabilizer
1x “Utility”
Rigs:
1x Anti-EM Shield Reinforcement Rig
1x Medium Shield Extender Rig
1x Projectile Aerator Rig (Rate of Fire)
This configuration is probably the more ideal set up out there, as it balances a pretty decent defense while favoring a fairly effective anti-frigate offense. The setup is one I had to drag from memory so for your skillset you may need to do a bit of shuffling though with this setup your powergrid should be good enough to upgrade some. The big problem is the CPU is a hair too small and so it can be a bit tricky to get a solid balance, but having the spare lowslot should give you some options depending on your skillpoints. Switching out the Gyrostab for a Tracking Enhancer isn’t a bad option either, and it would free up an additional 25 CPU for better weapons or defenses.
In conclusion, I really can’t say that this ship is worth the effort to use it in PVP.. but, it is pretty close. The Rupture is certainly an easier ship to use and does as much or more damage, though it’s not as fast and just doesn’t have a place in the faster Shield HAC fleets. I’d say the financial breaking point though would be about 15 to 20mil, however. I think at that price you could get this ship, then outfit it with solid T2 and Named gear, and be a contributing part of the fleet.
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.
Vargur – A wolf by any other name…
The Marauder. CCP defines the class as: ”Geared toward versatility and prolonged deployment in hostile environments, Marauders represent the cutting edge in today’s warship technology. While especially effective at support suppression and wreckage salvaging, they possess comparatively weak sensor strength and may find themselves at increased risk of sensor jamming. Nevertheless, these thick-skinned, hard-hitting monsters are the perfect ships to take on long trips behind enemy lines.”
I recently and somewhat reluctantly purchased the Vargur, the Minmatar Racial Marauder. The price tag just for the ship was an astounding 650mil isk, and it was rather hard for me.. a PVP pilot, to feel justified in spending the equivelent of four loaded HACs, just for a PVE ship. I was especially hesitant because of all the “Vargur sucks” versus the “Vargur is fine” debates I’ve seen on the Eve Forums. A really good ship, say like the Vagabond, only gets the “they suck” threads when the guy starting the thread has been pwned by one. So, it was with a heavy heart, and much cajoling by those in my alliance that I purchased a brand new Vargur.
And I wished I had purchased it sooner, and I only had Marauders III. I cannot tell you how much fun it is to go from having to panic and measure, keeping no closer than xx km from my targets, making sure I have enough cap charges in the hold to rushing in like a the god of thunder ventilating every ship that dares to get to close to ME! All I can say is Wow.. its nice to be king..
Its true that I really can’t compare it to the other Marauders, most notably the Paladin and Golem, and maybe the Vargur still isn’t as good as them. But its far from bad for PVE operations. The Vargur’s design is really an extention of how the original Tempest was percieved to be. A close range, fast, actively shield tanked beast. It upgrades the Battleship skill damage bonus (5% per level) to a Role bonus (100% Damage bonus per turret), giving it a roughly 7% higher base damage. The big bonus however, comes with the massive bonus to the falloff range. This means that with 800mm Autocannons, your short range ammo (EMP, Phased Plasma, Fusion) will reach out 50+ km, with good skills.
Now, let’s go over several of the Vargur’s strengths:
- 5% bonus to Large Projectile Turret Rate of Fire per Minmatar Battleship level (Since Marauder requires Minmatar Battleship V, its an automatic 25% bonus to Rate of Fire).
- 10% bonus to Large Projectile Turret Falloff per Minmatar Battleship level (again, since Battleship V is required, its an automatic 50% bonus to falloff range).
- 7.5% bonus to Shield Boost Amount per Marauder level.
- 7.5% bonus to Large Projectile Turret tracking per Marauder level.
- 100% Damage bonus to Large Projectile Turrets (Role bonus).
- 100% bonus to Range and Velocity of tractor beams.
- +25% EM Damage resistance over standard Tempest
- +10% Thermal Damage resistance over standard Tempest
- Additional 550 m3 of cargo space over standard Tempest.
- 10 m/s faster than standard Tempest.
The Vargur has only one serious weakness, and its a huge one. The sensor strength of a Vargur is 11. That’s right.. 11. The T1 Frigate, the Vigil, has 12. A standard Tempest has 19. In other words, an unbonused cruiser could lock you down. Considering how common ECM is in modern combat fleets, bringing any Marauder to a PVP fight WILL result in a lost Marauder.
Unlike most Minmatar ships, the Vargur is actually pretty cut and dry on how to configure it. It is meant to be a close in, knife fighter and the CPU / Powergrid combination clearly.. well.. forcibly makes that the most viable option. The overall design gives you few serious options, though it does give you enough CPU to do what CCP wants you to do. My current fitting is as follows (and its a pretty typical fitting):
High Slots:
- 4x 800mm T2 Autocannons – The Powergrid/CPU can easily run T2 Autocannons so I don’t really see any reason for using anything less than the 800mms, especially with the tracking and falloff bonuses.
- 1x Salvager – You can use a T2 Salvager if you wish, there is plenty of CPU leftover for that upgrade.
- 1x Tractor Beam – A necessary tool for the discerning PVE’er.
- 1x Utility – Many folks put in either an additional Tractor Beam, but personally I prefer to use a Sisters Core Probe Launcher here. Its a bit slower than using my Cheetah, but with high enough probing skills it still has a good level of function.
Mid Slots:
- 1x T2 X-Large Shield Booster – The shield booster coincides well with the Vargur’s bonuses, so for PVE this is a natural selection.
- 1x T2 Invulnerability Field – Always a good idea to improve your overall protection, especially since some PVE rats tend to have off-typical damage.
- 2x Racial Shield Amplifiers or 1x Racial Shield Amp and 1x Racial Shield Amplifier - As any PVE guru knows, these are good to have and if you have all your Shield Compensation skills up to V, it almost matches the resists of an active shield hardener. I have tried dabbling with have these two slots be all Shield Hardners, but I found that it killed my cap regen rate having all three active at once.
- 1x T2 Medium Cap Booster – I have not had a problem using just a medium cap booster to keep my defenses up, even with having only Marauders III. That being said, I’m of the mind that a Large Cap Battery might also be a good choice as well, as it not only gives you an additional 700 Cap, it helps increase your cap regeneration rate.
- 1x Utility – This slot has plenty of CPU/Powergrid for everything up to an Afterburner (even if you choose to use a Large Cap Battery). Personally I use a Shield Boost Amp in this slot, mainly because I am in Gurista space and I am doing anomolies so I don’t need to travel much. Some configurations use this slot for a Tracking Computer, which can be quite handy depending on what rats you are facing.
Low Slots:
- 1x T2 Damage Control – Standard issue for any ship I fly.
- 2x Gyrostabilizers – A strong boost to damage.
- 2x Tracking Enhancers – A strong boost to Range and Tracking Speed. However, it may be a good idea to trade out one of the Tracking Enhancers for another Gyrostabilizer if you find that you can keep the transversal down fairly well. I tend to prefer this setup, especially since I have to deal with Gurista ECM cruisers.. which I want out of the way as soon as possible no matter how close they are.
Rigged Slots:
- T1 Large Projectile Burst Aerator Rig – More Damage
- T1 Large Core Defence Operational Solidifer Rig – Faster Shield Reps.
This configuration yields 800+ DPS/2300+ Volley, with a Shield Rep of 1055 pts per second.
There are alot of claims being made about 1200mm Arty, even some 1400mm Arty configurations. I see where 1200mms configurations MIGHT be plausible, but the best EFT configurations, it only could max out at just below 540 DPS. And while it does have range, almost 100km with fallout, most of the targets I went up against stay well with 60km. The 1200mms required that you have at least one T2 RCU, and the 1400mms were alot worse, requiring two T2 RCUs AND a T2 PDU. All in all, the 800mm configurations are the most adaptable and most effective providing a good balance of range and DPS while not skimping on tank or damage mods.
Stealth Bombers – Cheap and Dirty
I’ll state this right now.. I hate Stealth Bombers. I actually loathe to fly them. The reasons are two fold:
- I see far too many pilots think they are an acceptable ship instead of battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers, or Interceptors.
- I swear that every pilot who flies one has a Texan (not the smart sounding Bush accent either) or Indian (“My keyboard is broke.”, “Pleawese put in da Reastored CD und Reastart yur Compooter…” variety) accent.. and if I bring up the topic of “Why didn’t you bring the right ship?” I get innundated with lame reasons why their Bomber is just as good as whatever was requested in fleet.
You people make me want to pod you.. really.
However, that isn’t to say that the Stealth Bomber is a worthless ship. No, the last Alliance Tournament definately showed that in some situations, a Stealth Bomber can play a critical role in success. And while I have very little experience behind the wheel of the Minmatar Hound, the following is a great guide should you choose to make yourself familiar with them.
http://amerrylifeandashortone.blogspot.com/2010/08/stealth-bomber-guide.html
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.
Ashimmu – Almost Perfect
The Ashimmu, the unique Blood Raider Cruiser that combines the both the support capabilities of the Amarrs’ Neutralizers and the Minmatars’ Web technology to produce an impressive ship the fits well into the lore of the Blood Raiders (Kirith Kodachi has a full write-up here, though some of the technical information is no longer applicable: http://www.eve-tribune.com/index.php?no=4_28&page=4). Recent changes to all the Faction ships changed the Ashimmu from a lackluster (even pointless) ship well into competition with T2 Recons and HACs. The price for these ranges in around 120 mil isk (as per July 2010 prices), so the cost is on par with typical T2 ship prices.
So, is this ship worth flying? Well, let’s start off with its strengths and weaknesses.
The Ashimmu Ship Strengths consist of:
- 100% Damage bonus to Energy Turrets
- Amarr Cruiser Skill Bonus: 15% increase of Drain amount, per level, for Energy Nosferatus and Energy Neutralizers
- Minmatar Cruiser Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to velocity factor of Statis Webifiers, per level.
- 10m3 Drone Bay
The ship high slot configuration allows for three turrets to be mounted, so the Special Base 100% Damage bonus greatly improves its damage capability, though not to the level of say the Thorax or the Rupture. Damage aside, its true ability lies in the combination of Neutralizers and Webifier bonuses. With the Neutralizer/Nosferatu bonus, two medium sized modules are more effective than one large Neut/Nos, and three of the medium modules have the power of two large Neuts/Nos (at level V Amarr Cruiser skill). On the other side, the Minmatar web bonus makes the T2 Statis Web modules are boosted enough to force your target to lose 90% of their speed at Minmatar Cruiser V. Add to that enough powergrid and CPU that you can mount a fairly effective active or passive tank. In the end, this thing is a beast!
However, I found that the Ashimmu does have one flaw. And its not an obvious flaw initially, and especially if all you are doing is EFT warrioring. The flaw is.. Range. With all these powerful tools, the combat radius is stuck at a maximum of 1o to 12km from the ship (barring Faction mods). This severely limits its usefulness in most gang situations. The range problem is especially aggrevated by passively armor tanked configurations, which made it very difficult for me to move off of the gate to catch gate crashing ships. Often, even when I was ideally placed at the gate, the enemy ship was able to get in range of the gate before my neuts and webs had any meaningful effect.
I also tried an Armor Hac AB fit (listed below) that compares favorably next to a Zealot in EFT. However, in actual practice, I found that either plate fitting just could not keep up with 0.0 roams very well. The Zealot, while having a slightly smaller mass, has a much better align speed and a higher Warp speed. So, in comparision, a 1600mm plated Zealot aligns 2.3 seconds faster than a comparibly equiped Ashimmu. Add the higher mass and slower initial speed and you are always going to be dragging. I was usually bringing up the rear of the fleet even after just three jumps.
Skillwise, ideally you should have both Minmatar and Amarr Cruiser trained to V, as well as Energy Emission trained up to at least IV. You could run a passable Ashimmu though, with both Minmatar and Amarr Cruiser skills at IV. Other than that, a typical combat skillset is necessary (web skills, MWD skills, T2 Energy Turret skills, etc.) and I would also suggest not to use this in PVP until you have spent some time messing around in a Huginn or Rapier.
So, how should the Ashimmu be used?
To me, the mix of strengths and flaws clearly put the Ashimmu as an ideal first strike ship, when you know you can get into range within a short length of time. It also is useful in supporting the Huginn and Rapier series Minmatar Recons. It also has a reasonably effective active tank setup, and so can be useful in smaller gangs and solo operations. What it should not be used for is as a replacement for either the Huginn/Rapier or Curse/Pilgrim. The Ashimmu does not have the range that make these ships more effective, nor does it have the direct offense necessary to match their Empire T2 counterparts.
Here are a couple of configurations that I have used thus far in 0.0 combat:
MWD Passive Tanked Version:
Highslots (6) : 3x T2 Heavy Pulse Lasers, 3x T2 Medium Neutralizers
Midslots (4): 1x 10MN T2 MWD, 1x Medium Cap Booster “Named” (w/800 cap charges), 1x T2 Webifier, 1x T2 24km Warp Disruptor
Lowslots (5): 1x T2 Damage Control, 1x 800mm Plate, 1x T2 Heat Sink, 2x T2 Energized Adaptive Nano Membranes
Rigs to taste
AB Passive Tanked Version:
Highslots (6): 3x T2 Heavy Pulse Lasers, 2x T2 Medium Neuts, 1x T1 Medium Neut
Midslots(4): 1x 10MN AB, 1x Named Medium Cap Booster (w/800 Cap charges), 1x T2 Webifier, 1x T2 25km Warp Disruptor
Lowslots (5): 1x T2 Damage Control, 1x 1600mm Plate, 1x T2 Heat Sink, 2x Energized Adaptive Nano Membranes
The first is the 800mm passively tanked version, which I downgraded from a 1600mm plated configuration. The 1600mm plate was simply just to ungainly to operate in a typical roaming fleet or gate camp. The reduction to the 800mm plate, allowed me to upgrade the Lasers from Medium Focused to Heavy adding an additional 50 dps, and freeing up one rig slot. However, this reduced the tank by a fair percentage so you won’t be able to tank as well. The second was an adaption for AB HAC gangs, but as noted above.. it just could not keep up to be effective.
Active Tanked Version:
Highslots (6): 3x T2 Heavy Pulse Lasers, 3x “Named” Nosferatus
Midslots (4): 1x 10MN T2 MWD, 2x T2 Webifier, 1x 24km T2 Warp Disruptor
Lowslots (5): 1x T2 Damage Control, 2x Medium Armor Reppers, 1x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane, 1x T2 Heatsink
While I have not been able to use this yet in combat, this configuration is certainly one to be checked out. Remember that Nosferatus (or Vamps) won’t work unless your percentage of capacitor is below the target’s. This requires that you do a bit of backwards cap management. The above configuration allows you can run both reppers so long as you have all three vamps running, and locking down your target for good. It also has the bonus of not having to deal with any mass issues as it doesn’t use plates.
Now, since this faction ship is so particular in the types of fleets it can be effective in, I would welcome any comments regarding its use, any experiences using one, or any problems you also encountered while in combat. And as always, keep your guns loaded and your enemies running. C’ya around.
When Versatile gets it right – The Minmatar Hurricane
The Minmatar Hurricane is simply one of the most outstanding ships in the Minmatar fleet, if not the entire game. Since its introduction, it has been wildly popular with PVP’ers, even before the projectile fix. Able to be effectively tanked both in shields and armor, as well as be set up as an effective long range or short range platform, the Hurricane is a must for any Minmatar PVP’er to have in their shipyard. It is a serious ship, to do a serious job. In fact, so effective was the Hurricane that it was mentioned as a reason NOT to fix the Minmatar weapon systems.
The Hurricane was introduced into Eve at the same time as the legendary Drake, the awe-inspring Harbinger, and the adaptable Myrmidon, all are very effective and intelligently designed ships, and all have their place in PVP, including the Hurricane. Let’s take a quick look at the strengths of the Hurricane:
- Slot Layout is 8 highs, 4 mediums, and six lows – giving the option of 6 turret (and 3 missle) hardpoints and 2 utility hardpoints in the highs.
- 5% Rate of Fire Bonus per level.
- 5% Damage Bonus per level.
- Base speed of 165 m/s, sharing the top speed with the Cyclone.
- 30m3 Drone Bay – Enough for a flight of light drones.
The Hurricane itself is part of the Rifter/Rupture/Tempest lineup because of its two damage bonuses (5% Rate of Fire and Damage per level) and with its nice slot layout with eight high slots, four midslots, and six lowslots, you can fit it for an acceptable armor tank or a fair shield tank, with plenty of low slots for gank configurations. There are few flaws with the slot layout or with the ship overall. For the most part, whatever it can’t out shoot, it can outrun.
So.. how do you set one up?
Personnally, I’ve found several good “base” configurations that you can expand on depending on need. The first one I’ll be discussing is an active tanked version. Normally I’m not big on active tank setups in PVP engagements, generally because buffer tanks provide a consistant level of protection (irregardless of the situation), while active tanks tend to be dependent on several variables.. most of which may not be in your control at any given time. However, active tanks do benefit the pilot in that they have no constant negatives either. They don’t blow your signature radius to high heaven like shield buffer tanks do, and neither do they massively increase your mass like armor buffer tanks do.
The active tank setup I use is a dual repper:
[Hurricane, PVP AC version]
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Gyrostabilizer II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
Medium Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Warrior II x6
I prefer the 220mm Vulcans over the 425mms in the particular configuration because they have better tracking, better fitting requirements, and do nearly the same amount of damage. I also prefer Neutralizers over Missiles because at this time (with my poor missile skills) the ability to control the speed/weapon usage of my target is more important than DPS. A couple things you must be aware of in an active tanking configuration like this, it is crucial to effectively raise your resistances and to stagger (i.e. activate at different times) both reppers (and your neuts too) or else you will have a very nasty hole while you are waiting for the next repping cycle.
Another popular armor tanking setup is the 1600mm Passive tank configuration:
[Hurricane, PVP AC Passive Version]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Gyrostabilizer II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Torrent Assault Missile
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Torrent Assault Missile
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Warrior II x6
This configuration is rather nice because you get a nice 68k EHP (EFT numbers), around 500 DPS using reliable 220mms. I generally keep a cap booster just to ensure I have MWD power on a fit like this because battleship plates do tend to hamper the mobility, requiring more time for me to get out of bad situations. However, its not an absolute necessity, and if you wish to use the midslot for something else, removing the medium cap booster should be the first to go. The downside of this configuration is of course the 1600mm plate. While it does give good protection, it will penalize you on speed, agility, and acceleration. If you wish to switch out the HAMs for standard Heavy Missile Launchers, you will run into some CPU issues.. but these can be easily remedied by downgrading the T2 Webifier for a “Named” equivlent.
Armored Artillery versions are also possible, but they lose alot of protection in the process:
[Hurricane, PVP Armor - Arty - 650mm]
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Reactor Control Unit II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 25
Warp Disruptor II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
Warrior II x6
Unfortunately, the 1600mm plate needed to be removed to fit the heavier fitting requirements of artillery. Replacing it with an 800mm plate gives an EHP of around 44k (not including armor rigs). A Gyro was removed as well to fit the T2 RCU necessary for this fit. If you don’t have the skills for the T2 RCU, you will have to use a powergrid rig to make up the difference. This particular configuration gives you a DPS of about 370 with missile damage. You can also replace the 650mms with the much more powerful 720mms, but I’ve found that in a typical gate camp situation, while you should do pretty good at the first shot (provided you are far away from the gate), any ship with speed will be very difficult to hit and with the long rate of fire for the 720mms, you will likely be of little help in closer engagements.
But what about shield variants?
Well, here ya go:
[Hurricane, Shield Tanked - 650mms]
Damage Control II
Power Diagnostic System II
Co-Processor II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Invulnerability Field II
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
[Hurricane, Shield Tanked - 720mms]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Signal Amplifier II
Reactor Control Unit II
Gyrostabilizer II
Signal Amplifier II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Invulnerability Field II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
[Hurricane, PVP AC Passive Shield]
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field II
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, EMP M
‘Arbalest’ Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Torrent Assault Missile
‘Arbalest’ Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Torrent Assault Missile
Warrior II x6
Ah, but before we’re done, there is actually a VERY popular industrial version of the Hurricane. The Salvacane. Its slot configuration allows for a very effective support ship when picking up loot from missions:
[Hurricane, Industrial Variant]
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
10MN Afterburner II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Salvager I
Salvager I
Salvager I
Small Tractor Beam I
Small Tractor Beam I
Small Tractor Beam I
Small Tractor Beam I
Small Tractor Beam I
Medium Salvage Tackle I
Medium Salvage Tackle I
Medium Salvage Tackle I
Warrior II x5
Warrior II x1
The cargo hold with the expanders runs just over 2000 m3, usually more than enough for salvage and loot from an individual mission. The MWD/AB combination helps give you the option of operating with a speed mod in either normal or Deadspace areas. If you don’t expect much resistance, drop one of the Shield Extenders for a large Cap battery, which will help manage cap much easier.
In the end, the Hurricane is one of the VERY few successfully versatile ships in Eve, and can perform effectively with many configuration options. And it performs well both in low-sec and 0.0 environments as well as solo, small group engagements, and as support for larger fleets. It is a near perfect blend of damage, speed, tank, and adaptability. Make sure you have one!
Well, this concludes my piece on the Hurricane and I hope you found it informative. So, until next time, keep your guns loaded and your enemies running!
Typhoons, Tempests, and Maelstroms OH MY! What should you choose – Part Four – The Summary
So, you’ve gone through all the previous sections relating to the Minmatar Battleship? No? That’s okay.. here’s the quick sheet:
For PVE – Mission Running:
- First Place – Maelstrom: Its relatively simple and direct setup allows a newer pilot to easily derive a reasonably acceptable configuration from the very outset. Large shield protection, High CPU and Powergrid, one defensive bonus, large drone bay, all allow the newer pilot to start off well in Missions.
- Second Place (tie) – Tempest/Typhoon – This depends on your missile/drone skills versus your projectile skills. If your missile and drone skills are good, then go with the Cruise Typhoon. If your projectile skills are good, then go for the Tempest which has a double damage bonus and can be reasonably tanked well either in shield/armor and active/passive setups.
- Bad Choice – None
For PVP – Sniper Configurations:
- 1st Place – Tempest: While the Maelstrom does more damage and can target longer ranges, the Tempest has the advantage of being able to deal nearly the same amount of damage.. while also being armor tanked and having a couple potentially useful utility High slots. However, the moment shield sniping fleets become more common, it will have to share first place with the Maelstrom.
- 2nd Place – Maelstrom: Certainly able to reach excellent ranges and requiring less modules to do so, the Maelstrom is only hampered by the fact that its a shield tanker.
- Bad Choice – Typhoon: You should never use a Typhoon as a sniper ship. The combination of weapon systems that you are required to use plus a minimal amount of midslot emphasize that the Typhoon has no business as a sniper boat.
For PVP – Remote Repair Configurations:
- First Place – Typhoon: Simply one of the best short range battleships available. Damage can be brought by Torpedoes, ACs, and Drones plus alot of useful tactical modules like Neutralizers and Vamps that can reek havoc on your target. The only downfall is that you need to skill up alot of skills before that can happen.
- Second Place – Tempest: The Tempest can do alot of projectile damage, while fielding two Remote Armor Repair modules. It’s relatively manuverable and versatile allowing for both armor and shield tanking configurations.
- Bad Choice – Maelstrom: Much of the damage power of the Maelstrom revolves around it being able to use all eight high slots for turrets. Even dropping one turret for remote rep, even a shield transporter, brings its damage below that of a Tempest. Plus, given that current faults of Shield Transporters, you will end up having to further gimp your Maelstrom with a CPU fitting module.
For PVP – Solo Combat Configurations:
- 1st Place – Typhoon: There is no other Battleship, save perhaps the Dominix, that is as dangerous in solo PVP as the Typhoon. Its massive drone bay, its 5/5 turret/missile setup, its raw speed and agility, low sig radius, plus its seven low slots for tank mark it as a truly destructive entity.
- 2nd Place (Tie) – Tempest/Maelstrom: The Tempest is fast, has a relatively low sig radius, has two utility high slots, and can be tanked either shield or armor. The Maelstrom has a good active defense bonus while having plenty of powergrid and cpu for a strong offensive setup and is coupled with a better than average sized drone bay.
- Bad Choice – All of them.. if you don’t have the skills.
So, that begs the question for the new pilot.. with so many options, what is the best path to get there and what do I need? That.. will be covered in a later article 
Until then, keep your guns loaded and your enemies running!
Typhoons, Tempests, and Maelstroms, Oh MY! What should you choose – Part Three – The Maelstrom
The Maelstrom – “a ship the Minmatar can design and build when their not trying to escape from slavery..”
The line from Clear Skies 2 emulates the feeling that most Minmatar pilots felt when CCP unveiled the Tier 3 battleship, the Maelstrom. The Maelstrom is unlike any of the other battleships that had been given to Minmatar pilots. It is well thought out. It has plenty of powergrid and CPU. It is easy and simple to fit. And most importantly, it doesn’t look like someone had pulled it from the side of a station using a crowbar. To be honest, it’s not just a good ship, it’s a BEAUTIFUL ship.
When CCP brought out the Tier 3 Battleships, it was clear that the focus of these new ships was heavy combat. Each battleship that was released had greatly improved base “racial” stats and bonuses and the ability to field T2 weaponry without needing fitting modules. The most unusual thing regarding the Maelstrom is that it is a partial departure from the usual CCP viewpoint of the Minmatar. In this regard, the Minmatar race finally got a real battleship.. though it still has a few flaws.
To be honest, the Maelstrom was probably first attempt to “deal” with the fact that the Minmatar race did not have any good fleet battleships. As such, the Maelstrom does not have many of the signature Minmatar features, such as a high speed, small signature radius, or even high and mid-level utility slots. These reductions were countered with having a rate of fire bonus on all eight available turrets and better than normal inherit standings.
This, however, is where CCP’s understanding of the current state of game sort of drops off. The need for the Minmatar was for them to have a true “fleet” ship and it does looks like the Maelstrom is that ship. But, upon closer inspection, the infamous “Nameless Dev” got to it and screwed everything up. While it is a sniper battleship, the active tanking bonus is certainly not very helpful in major fleet operations. Add to that the current flaws of Shield Transporter Modules and its usefulness in modern fleet warfare is reduced somewhat.
Still, to say that the Maelstrom is a bad ship is flat-out wrong. It just isn’t a good “typical” fleet ship. The ship is fine in every other way. In fact, if you are a starting Minmatar pilot, the Maelstrom is really the first battleship you should be getting yourself into. It is a easy to fly ship for PVE with plenty of drone space, excellent range, and effective with both Tech 1 and Tech 2 fits. Every time you gain an additional skill, the Maelstrom can be improved that much more. In regards to learning how to fly a Minmatar ship, the Maelstrom is the best starting place.
Let’s look at this bonuses of this ship:
- 5% Rate of Fire bonus per level
- 7.5% Shield Boost Amount per level
While they doesn’t look like much, when you compare the rest of the features to other battleships, the Maelstrom measures up to typical battleship standards and doesn’t have any huge glaring holes like the Typhoon or Tempest. The Shield Boost allows for some pretty impressive shield reps. At Battleships V, that translates to a base of 540 shield damage repaired per second. With a T2 Shield boost amp, that can go up to 720 without any rigs. Here’s my PVE fit that I use frequently:
[Maelstrom, PVE Mission Runner]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Damage Control II
Overdrive Injector System II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
X-Large Shield Booster II
Heat Dissipation Amplifier II
Kinetic Deflection Amplifier II
Invulnerability Field II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
1200mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP L
Large Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Large Core Defence Capacitor Safeguard I
Large Core Defence Operational Solidifier I
Probably the first question people ask regarding this fit is, “Why not the 1400s?” The simple answer is that in a mission running ship you often don’t control your entry point. 1400mms have very bad tracking and even with my skills are optimal against most targets (cruisers to battleships) from 40km and farther. When running missions, very often you are dropped less than 10km from battleships/battlecruisers/HACs/Cruisers. It takes seemingly forever to get that necessary distance.. and you end up relying on medium drones to finish off those ships. Switching to the 1200mm gives you more control over those combat situations. However, if you are doing something where you do control the distance, such as belt ratting, then I would suggest that you switch to the 1400s. This will require dropping the Heavy Cap Booster for a Medium cap booster, and replacing the Overdrive with a Power Diagnostic Unit.. and probably taking out the Tracking Enhancer for a CPU Module.
As far as my lows, I found the Overdrive to be a surprisingly effective addition. Since I do not have Shield Upgrades V yet, I still have minor CPU issues on shielded ships. However, the Overdrive gives this Maelstrom fit a speed of about 130 to 140 m/s, which outpaces all but some Angel battleships, while allowing me to get away with not using any fitting mods.
For PVP fits, the changes are pretty typical as well and there’s some room for some reasonable fits. As mentioned before, the PVP options are twofold, either as a Sniper or as a small gang Battleship. I personally recommend using the Maelstrom for Sniper PVP work, but not so much as a close range battleship. The reason for this is not that the Maelstrom can’t do a good job at close range, its a very superior ship at close range combat. It’s just not a very good ship to support. In a typical combat situation, not only is the Maelstrom using shield, but its also losing alot of cap when operating its defenses. This typically means that your shield support elements are going to have to watch you closer, and get reps on your sooner than your passive tanking counterparts. One way around this is to just ignore the Shield Rep bonus in favor of a passive shield tank, but at best you will only retain a drake level tank… without tackle. Trying to armor tank this ship is out of the question with only five low slots and poor inherit armor.
A good sniper fit absolutely must fit 1400mms as 1200mms neither have the range, nor do they have the “effect” of the 1400s. What “effect” you might ask? 1400mms, above any other gun in the game, puts a smile on your face. You’ll see what I mean when you see the enemy’s shields disappear in one blow. The sound, the “woahs” from everyone else in the fleet, yeah.. people like 1400s. And yes, as John Roarke says, “Stationary ships do not react well to 1400s.” Below is a fit that I have used in the past:
[Maelstrom, Sniper]
Power Diagnostic System II
Damage Control II
Tracking Enhancer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
100MN MicroWarpdrive II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
Invulnerability Field II
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
Large Core Defence Field Extender I
Large Core Defence Field Extender I
Large Core Defence Field Extender I
Vespa EC-600 x5
Warrior II x5
One fair note of warning: Sniper fits are only really possible with T2 fittings. So much so that if you can’t fit a fully T2 Sniper ship, don’t even bother. This is especially true of Minmatar battleships. The big reason behind this is that the necessary optimal range – 150km to 200+km – can only be had by Tremor, a tech 2 ammo. While it is true that you can get close using Tech 1 ammo, doing so would gimp your sniper to near uselessness. You will not gain any respect or e-honor by bringing a badly gimped sniper to a firefight. Just wait the extra twenty or so days for Large Projectile V, and then dance with the dragons.
Now the final fit I am going to post is one I’ve seen in action and I tell you it was a challenge taking this guy down. This particular setup has tackle, but the one we’ve seen had a T2 Invulnerability field instead. Without the invulnerability field, the ship can handle over 720 DPS.. with the T2 invulnerability field.. it almost reaches 1000 dps. All this while maintaining 720 DPS on the targets (Level V – EFT Numbers). I will say that it was able to hold us (Two battlecruisers, a HAC, and a frigate tackle) for quite a while.. probably a good ten minutes.
[Maelstrom, Close Range PVP]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Co-Processor II
Gyrostabilizer II
Faint Warp Disruptor I
X-Large Shield Booster II
Invulnerability Field II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
100MN MicroWarpdrive II
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
Large Projectile Burst Aerator I
Large Core Defence Operational Solidifier I
Large Core Defence Operational Solidifier I
In conclusion, the Maelstrom is definately a good addition to Minmatar battleship arsenal. For PVE, it will work great for you until you can afford the very expensive Vargur and, if you have a willing corp or alliance, it will serve you well on the battlefield. It can’t do everything but it does alot of things well, and certainly is the most beginner player friendly of all the Minmatar battleships. But never forget that a battleship, while powerful, is not without its weaknesses. Like the rest of your ships, it is a tool for a particular purpose.. trying to shoehorn it into something else will never come out well.
I will be doing one more installment, a simple review installment of all the battleships.. kind of a quick cheat sheet, with the base pros and cons, then I will probably start back at the basics with a review of Minmatar T1 frigates and their uses. Until then, keep your guns loaded and your enemies running.
Typhoons, Tempests, and Maelstroms, Oh MY! What should you choose – Part Two – the Tempest
The Tempest, of all the ships in Eve, has the strangest history.
In the beginning, all the Tier 2 battleships, the Raven, Megathron, Apocolypse, and the Tempest were focused on being heavy hitters. The Raven was given both a missile velocity (hits targets quicker) and a rate of fire bonus, the Megathron was given a tracking speed bonus and a damage bonus, the Apocolypse was given an optimal range bonus (improves overall range thus reducing misses as well as improving quality of hits) as well as a bonus to capacitor use which allows the laser weapons to fire for longer periods of time. The Tempest was the only one given two direct damage bonuses: Rate of Fire and Damage. Add those options to a shield tanked Tempest, with two or three gyros in the lows.. and you had a beast.
Except.. that it wasn’t. At that time Projectiles were quite anemic. The only option most Tempest pilots had was to fit 1400mms (which required RCUs and CPUs) and use it as a sniper platform. This worked great.. until they gave every ship an across the board Hitpoint raise. Well, Tempest pilots adapted and began using it as an AC platform.. using various e-war, usually ECM to help balance the difference. Sure enough, ECM was nerfed to the point that only had any real effect on bonused Caldari ECM ships. So, there was a switch to tracking disruptors.. and short thereafter.. tracking disruptors were nerfed so that only Amarr ships could use them to real effect. Then there was the MWD changes. Next came speed changes that reduced all ships base speed. Then came the mass changes, which for some ungodly reason had the mass of the Tempest higher than any other ship! The overall effect just crushed the use of Tempests, and it got so bad that you could get better damage results putting lasers or hybrid weapons on a Tempest than either ACs or Artillery (and even that wasn’t very effective because Minmatar ships generally have the lowest capacitor and capacitor recharge rate of all the races).
And because the Tempest had originally been designed as an active shield tanker, the midslots and the lowslots were of no help as you could not set up either a shield or armor passive tank that could match any other battleship. This also meant that a typical Tempest had less survivability against the Titan’s then Doomsday weapon. With both Sniper and Remote Repair Battleship fleets being almost exclusively used in the battlefield, it was not uncommon for Minmatar battleship pilots to be turned away from fleets and requested to fly Hurricanes or some other non battleship.
Multiple attempts were made to make the CCP aware of the fact that they needed to address this problem. However, often such discussions were shut down by a particular CCP Dev, who shall remain nameless for his utter ignorance and arrogance. This particular dev would spout off that the Tempest needed no changes, and every suggestion made by players and CSMs was shot down under the guise that the players just didn’t know what they were doing. Years passed while players fought with CCP regarding this, with this Dev constantly blocking changes. Through various conversations with that Dev, it was found out that the particular Dev never fought in a Tempest solo. In fact, most of his “success” claims turned out to be completely bogus because he only flew the Tempest in fleets.. he had no clue how bad it was because he never actually put it through any real tests. In the end, the uproar finally got to be so great and so organized and was able to present so many real facts next to the Devs “well, it feels balanced” attitude (yes, that is an actual quote from one of the CCP Devs – a quote he lived to regret), that CCP could no longer not take notice.
CCP Dev Nozh actually looked at the projectile data that they had and CCP started to realize the Tempest was VERY underpowered. Even then it was still a fight, but eventually the Tempest was changed so that it had more base armor than shields. While it was a minor change, it could now compete to a decent extent with the Megathron and the Apocolypse. (The Fleet Issue Tempest on the other hand, took a hit and CCP traded a midslot for a lowslot. This actually reduced the DPS of the Fleet Issue Tempest as most (well.. all) pilots had been shield tanked, and usually fit with two or three gyros in the lows. However, having the option to have tackle as well as additional utility mids somewhat blunted the negative.)
Which brings us up to today, the modern EVE battlefield. While the Tempest is no longer the top sniper, the changes to Projectile ammo, Projectile Artillery, as well as to the Tempest itself has now allowed it to have its place. As a Sniper, it can produce a Massive strike alpha using 1400mms, though its rate of fire has been dramatically increased. A well skilled Sniper Tempest pilot can make frigates and cruisers at long range very unhappy. The Brawler AC version is starting to regain popularity too as its two extra high slots and its ample mid slots allow for very effective mixes of E-war, while it now has enough tank to remain a reasonable time on the battlefield. Whereas once you would have been turned away, now you are welcomed with open arms.
Let’s look at the current Tempest strengths:
- 5% bonus to Large Projectile Rate of Fire per level.
- 5% bonus to Large Projectile Damage per level.
- Base Velocity – 120m/s
- Signature Radius – 340mm
Those four items are thing I feel are most critical when looking at fitting a Tempest. The two damage bonuses are gravy and are pretty easy to work with. The other two are a little more subtle. The Base Velocity is higher than all other battleships except for the Typhoon. This may not seem like a big deal, but it can be useful given certain situations. The Signature Radius is often the most ignored bonus to the Tempest, yet its crucial. All large turret weapons have a signature resolution of 400. This means that firing at a Tempest will yield, not only less hits, but less damaging hits.. and some of those hits won’t do any damage at all. That is certainly something not to be ignored, and in smaller gang fights, such would be a bonus if you can manage a decent active tanking configuration.
A typical Sniper configuration looks a little like this:
[Tempest, Typical Sniper Version]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Beta Reactor Control: Reaction Control I
Signal Amplifier II
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
100MN MicroWarpdrive II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
1400mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor L
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
This is an unrigged, cheap setup sniper. Rigs will certainly improve performance, but in this currently configuration you will be able to reach past the 200km mark both in targetting, whereas your optimal will be about 140km.. and 212km at optimal+falloff. The volley is the key here at 5811 damage using Tremor. It’ll give you a bit of tank for in case for those “OHCHIT!” moments. Generally a pretty solid ship overall and I have used it many a times against both -A- and U’K.
The Brawler AC is the more.. versitile one. I will put up a couple RR fits I’ve used, but at this point you can pretty well fit the Tempest with a real variety.. though again, within reason. This next setup is one that I use on occasion. My drone skills are not that great, plus with how often we have to move, often a drone boat may not be as ideal.
[Tempest, Omni Tank Version 650mms]
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
100MN MicroWarpdrive II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Disruptor II
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Large Projectile Burst Aerator I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Hammerhead II x5
Hornet II x5
This particular configuration gives it a decent 108k EHP (EFT Numbers – Level V standard), a DPS of 713, and fairly good secondary offensive ability in the dual Neutralizers. If you need more longevity and don’t mind losing some DPS, switching out the ROF Rig for another Trimark will net you 119k EHP at only a loss of 60 DPS. The downside though is that you are going to move like a drunken whale on land.
In an attempt to utilize the potential signature radius and speed, I have begun operating a ship similar to the one posted below:
[Tempest, Wolf Setup]
Gyrostabilizer II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
100MN Afterburner II
100MN MicroWarpdrive II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Target Painter II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Large Projectile Burst Aerator I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Hornet II x5
Valkyrie II x5
You’ll notice it has both a MWD and AB. This is currently just a test platform and while there is one similar to this out in the combat arena, I’m sure there will need to be some adjustments made. This setup has a 108k EHP, an align time of 12.8 seconds (a loss of .7 seconds), and has a DPS of 684 using standard EMP. Changing out one of the plates for a Gyro drops the EHP to 87k while raising the align time to 12.5 seconds and DPS to 771. Changing the 1600mm plate with a EANM or Adaptive Nano improves the align time, but the tank is still at 94k EHP. So, I still think there is alot of work to be done.. and it may yet be a dead end road. But, I won’t know until I’ve seen how it truly reacts in the real world.
Thank you as always for reading my blog, I hope you found it useable, entertaining, and informative.. and remember, keep your guns loaded.. and your enemy running.
edit: Edited for grammar
Typhoons, Tempests, and Maelstroms, Oh MY! What should you choose? – Part One – the Typhoon
The Minmatar Battleship line up is the most difficult of all four races for deciding which to use in various cases, be that PVE or PVP. This tends to be a rather disappointed situation because unlike say Amarr, Gallente, or Caldari battleship lineups.. you tend to have to have more skills and those skills at a higher level to get a similar combat performance, at least initially. Amarr Battleship strengths lie in their higher than average optimal range and generally higher resists. Gallente Battleship strengths lie in their true versatility, and a more constant training pattern. Caldari Battleship strengths lie in higher resists and weapon systems that don’t miss. So, this kinda leaves Minmatar pilots having to mix and match strengths to attain the best possible mixture of attributes. Because of that, you really won’t come into your own with the Minmatar battleships for quite a while. If you go the typical path of learning both sides of armor and shields, plus projectiles, some missiles, some drones you can expect to be ready for a battleship in PVP combat at around 10 to 12 million SP.
Minmatar Typhoon – A Tier One Beast, but not for the newbies
First off, we’ll talk about the infamous or legendary Typhoon, the first battleship that a Minmatar pilot has the option to get. The Typhoon is legendary in many respects. It was one of the first ships to be “Nano-ed”. For those of you new to the game, “Nano-ed” refers to trying to get a ship so light, and so agile that it can either outrun or out manuver an enemies weapons. Now, if you thought the speed of the Vagabond was fast, imagine a battleship, capable of out running missiles flying in circles around you.. and there is nothing you could do about it. Needless to say, CCP finally stopped that, but still most understood that the Typhoon had the continued potential to be a very effective PVP ship. Now, there is one caveat. The Typhoon, while certainly better than it was in the past, requires a tremendous amount of SP to fly well. And certainly don’t dare try flying it in PVP until you have plenty of combat miles under your belt. The problem is that the Typhoon incorporates three weapon systems, but works optimally with support modules like Remote Armor reps, Vamps, Neutralizers, etc. It used to be far worse, and you can thank the Minmatar community and CCP for FINALLY getting a 5/5 – Turret/Missile Launcher configuration versus the previous 4/4. I’ve heard good things about people using the Typhoon for PVE, but I just don’t see it. I prefer the Tempest or the Maelstrom, but it just could be they had better missile skills than I do, which could be the difference. That being said, once you DO get the skills, the thing is a freaking monster for short range PVP. I would say it now is probably the best solo battleship in the game (non-faction), and if it isn’t it a darn close second.
The most common mission PVE configuration will be one using cruise missiles, especially considering that they don’t miss and they have a range upwards of 160km.
[Typhoon, PVE Cruise Missile]
Large Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Large Armor Repairer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Racial Armor Hardener II
Racial Armor Hardener II
Ballistic Control System II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
‘Arbalest’ Cruise Launcher I, Paradise Cruise Missile
‘Arbalest’ Cruise Launcher I, Paradise Cruise Missile
‘Arbalest’ Cruise Launcher I, Paradise Cruise Missile
‘Arbalest’ Cruise Launcher I, Paradise Cruise Missile
‘Arbalest’ Cruise Launcher I, Paradise Cruise Missile
Large ‘Arup’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Arup’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Drone Link Augmentor I
3x Rigs to Taste
Drones to Taste – Either Heavies or Sentries, with Light drones for smaller support. However, from what I understand, Sentry drones are far superior.
Using the above configuration, you will have 70 to 80% resists against the target you are firing against, as well as good self-rep capabilities and drone repping capabilities. Volley/DPS is at 2200/250 without drones and DPS goes to 550+ if using T2 Heavy Drones or T2 Sentries (EFT Numbers). Overall not a bad situation as it is able to mimick the strengths of both the Gallente Dominix and the Caldari Raven.
For PVP, the configuration is considerably more varied, and while it is possible to setup a long range version of the Typhoon, it isn’t a practical idea. Both the Tempest and the Maelstrom are far superior to the Typhoon in that arena. Short range, however, the Typhoon is a very dangerous beast and should never been taken lightly. Able to bring bonused weapons + a full squad of Heavy Drones as well as move faster than any other Battleship (its base speed is that of a battlecruiser, faster in some cases). And add to it plenty of mid slots and spare high slots for E-War and Neuts or Vamps.. and Remote Reps.. you have yourself a very dangerous beast. Below are two examples using both Torpedoes and Autocannons:
[Typhoon, Dominion - Torp]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Warp Disruptor II
Heavy Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
‘Arbalest’ Siege Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Torpedo
‘Arbalest’ Siege Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Torpedo
‘Arbalest’ Siege Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Torpedo
‘Arbalest’ Siege Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Torpedo
‘Arbalest’ Siege Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Torpedo
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Ogre II x5, ECM-300 x 5, Warrior II x5
This monstrosity has an effective combat range of around 20km, has a base speed of 140m/s, 777 DPS and a volley of 3400. Its resists aren’t that great, but it still fields an EHP of 129k (EFT Numbers – Level V standard). Even though it doesn’t mount a web, that Target Painter will certainly allow for more of its damage to be effective on target, giving this Typhoon an effective boost against smaller ships. Now, here is the AC version:
[Typhoon, Dominion - AC]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
100MN MicroWarpdrive II
Target Painter II
Warp Disruptor II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
Dual 650mm Repeating Artillery II, Barrage L
Large Remote Armor Repair System II
Large Remote Armor Repair System II
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Hornet EC-300 x5
Ogre II x5
Warrior II x5
The AC Typhoon is certainly does less damage than the Torpedo Typhoon, however the DPS difference (of about 120 dps), is countered somewhat by a 136k EHP tank. The AC Typhoon also has a higher combat range at around 30km using Barrage and the damage is instant, not delayed like Torps.
In the end, it depends alot on your current skillset. If you are fairly new, the Typhoon wouldn’t be a good investment either for PVE or PVP (despite it being a fairly inexpensive ship to purchase and setup). If you have strong armor, missile, and/or drone skills, then the Typhoon is going to be a strong contender for you and is worth taking a look at. However, if your skills are more geared toward Projectiles, then a better choice for the moment would certainly be either the Tempest or the Maelstrom.. particularly if you have strong shield tanking abilities.
As always, make sure your guns are loaded and your enemies are running.
Rapier – The Tackle Test
Despite Paxton space being under constant threat now with potential invasion of our Space by Ursha’Khan and their holders, I was finally able to finish the major testing I wanted to do comparing the Armor tanked Rapier and the Shield Tanked Rapier. Here is how I proposed the test:
“The Tackle Test – This test compares the ability of the Rapiers to tackle a target (the example case will be a Hurricane or Harbinger) and hold onto that target for upwards of a minute and a half to two minutes while being attacked by the target. The timer is what I estimate to be worst case scenario for a support fleet to reach you for the kill.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a BC available, but MushskiC of m3 Corp was willing to be the guinea pig.. so long as he could use an available battleship. I chose the Scorpion from his line up for the Tackle test. Using the missile boat for a comparision does have the advantage of comparing even damage without having to worry about any tracking issues the might incidentally skew the results. I also figured that if the results were close, then I could try it against a turret BC later.
Both ships showed their particular strengths as I predicted they would, however, beautiful theories are often killed by ugly facts. So, where did each shine, and how important was it? Here is a breakdown by Ship:
Passive Armor Tanked Rapier:
- Strength: Signature Radius - Its lower signature radius dramatically reduced the damage recieved by the cruise missiles that hit it as well as by the medium drones sent against it. One of the more surprising things was how often the medium drones actually missed me. Damage recieved was reduced by 25% to 30% in comparision to a shield tanked Rapier.
- Strength: Specialization – The Armor tank allows for five of the six midslots to be used for E-war and sensor modifications, compared to only three on a shield tanked Rapier.
- Partial Strength: Web Strength – This one is more up in the air. Against a battleship sized target, the speed reduction was 30% over the Shield Rapier with just two webs when the target’s MWD was on (3x Webs: 95m/s, 2x Webs: 144 m/s). The real effect is more noticable the faster the ship’s base speed is. However, it is clear that three webs isn’t vital unless you are planning to hit alot of small frig to cruiser sized ships that you expect to be fast. In cases other than this, two webs are sufficent.
- Weakness: General Tank – The Armor tank Rapier certainly tanked more efficiently, but not more effectively. It was able to last two minutes against the Scorpion, but it was deep into armor and would have lasted only half a minute more. This isn’t a good thing if you need to bail, or if you need to tank another ship for a short period of time.
- Partial Weakness: Sensor Booster – Oddly enough, this was complete surprise. Targeting a Battleship-sized ship with my skills was about 2.25 seconds with a non-boosted Rapier. What about a boosted Rapier? Nearly the same. See, you lose any time you might have gained because once you decloak, you still have to activate the module first. On a larger target the benefit is non-existant. It does improve the smaller the target is… but I would say the BC targets on up, a Sensor Booster would actually be a waste of space because of how the uncloak delay requires you to re-activate the module.
- Partial Weakness: Logistical support – An armored tanked Rapier REQUIRES that you have another member in your fleet be able to remote armor rep. Therefore, it would not be good operating solo.
Passive Shield Tanked Rapier:
- Strength: General Tank – The Shield tank configuration is by far more effective. After two minutes the shields were still at 50% and while the larger sig radius meant that cruise missiles hit harder and that the medium drones never missed, it was certainly much more comfortable, and even if someone got the drop of me it wasn’t necessarily game over.
- Strength: Logistical Support – Should you need to get out of the situation or even if you’ve won the battle, you aren’t dependent on having to rely on others to be battle ready. In the Shield configuration that I used, it took only three minutes to get me from 50% shields back up to 80% shields.
- Strength: Versatility - A shield tanked Rapier opens up the lows to be useful for speed mods, damage mods, and even cap/power mods.
- Strength: Speed/Manuverability – The Rapier is very nimble when it is shield tanked, which allows it a quicker response getting to the target, manuvering during combat, as well as being able to withdraw and escape.
- Weakness: Signature Radius – The signature radius pretty much balloon to the size of almost a Battlecruiser. This mean you can be locked quicker as well as recieve more damage and be generally hit more often than the armor tank.
After going through the various tests, in the end it was clear that the overall winner was the Shield Tanked Rapier. True, it may not be nearly as effective against faster ships on the field, but after you factor in the cloak, its general longevity on the combat field, its lower need for logistical support, and its manuverability and versitility really puts the Shield Rapier as the better configuration of the two. The armor plated Rapier on the other hand, sacrifices too much for the advanced specialization.. a specialization that can be matched by its brother the Huginn much more effectively. The test has been enlightening enough, that I don’t feel the need to run the other three tests I’ve mentioned. The Shield Tanked Rapier’s few weaknesses compared to the Armor Tanked Rapier pretty well gave me information that the other tests would have just merely duplicated.
Armor Tanked Configuration:
Damage Control II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
Medium Targeting System Subcontroller I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Shield Tank Configuration:
Damage Control II
Power Diagnostic System II
Power Diagnostic System II
Gyrostabilizer II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Large Shield Extender II
Warp Disruptor II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Large Shield Extender II
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Tremor M
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Again as always, please leave a comment if you feel like it and remember to keep your guns loaded and your enemies running.
Rapier – Testing the Effective Recon
So here’s my dilema: How do you test the effectiveness of a ship, whose setup varies greatly depending on its purpose? See, the more I pondered some of the criticisms of X1376, and the more I looked at the reasons why I chose to use the Rapier as I do (which is doing rather well in combat) the realization came to me that for me to give a serious and honest assessment of making an Effective recon would require alot different testing. I try my best to make sure that I give not only a good, solid setup.. but also the reasoning behind it, the flaws pilots will need to overcome, as well as any tactics I have used in PVP that I found useful. However, with ships like the Prophecy and Muninn, their tasks are relatively simple compared to that of Recon. Therefore, I am now developing a series of tests, specifically for the Rapier to find out if the configuration I have laid before you as a quality fit performs as good, better, or worse than what has become a standard configuration Rapier.
So far, the test will consist of the following things:
- The Tackle Test – This test compares the ability of the Rapiers to tackle a target (the example case will be a Hurricane or Harbinger) and hold onto that target for upwards of a minute and a half to two minutes while being attacked by the target. The timer is what I estimate to be worst case scenario for a support fleet to reach you for the kill.
- The Pirate Test – This test compares the ability of the Rapiers to destroy an enemy target. The target will again be a battlecruiser (either a Hurricane or Harbinger) and the purpose will be to get the target into structure using any and all means necessary, but limited to bonused e-war and combat drones.
- The Support Test – This test covers the effectiveness at what I personally think is the hardest task in a roaming gang. Taking out an interceptor trying to crash a gate. I have already done this using my armor tanked Rapier to great effect (caught a Dramiel on a Regional gate once, and quite a few inties at other times as well), but it would be good to compare that to the standard Rapier setup.
- The Roam Test – This test will simply cover how well this ship travels. To be honest, I only need to do one test and that is with my configured Rapier in a HAC gang. Armor tanked ships are notorious for being slow to align and slow to accelerate to warp. While this isn’t much of a problem in Battlecruiser gangs, HAC gangs are very much a different story since they rely alot more on speed to outflank the enemy. I KNOW the armor tanked Rapier will perform worse than the shield tanked Rapier, but I need to know by how much.. is it a little bit, or is it critically more?
If you have any additional testing suggestions, or if you see a flaw in my testing procedures, please feel free to give suggestions. The results will be posted later when I go through with it and I will let folks know if perhaps my configurations are “not good” (edit: I thought he said “fail”, but I was wrong) as X1376 puts it, or if they are a more viable alternative than most have assumed.
In the meantime, make sure to keep your ammo loaded and your targets running.
Rapier – Defining the Effective Recon
Since I have had a few requests regarding how I personally would fit the Rapier, I have decided to put together a few suggestions, as well as some fits that have seen combat. For any that don’t know, the Rapier is the Minmatar’s Force Recon Cruiser and it is certain a very popular and successful ship. It combines Minmatar’s signature’s speed with cloaking capability and slot versatility. It’s certainly not a combat ship by most standards (a standard Rapier only mounts three guns), but it is a ship that is common to large fleet actions as well as Black Ops incursions. The Rapier is derived from the T1 Bellicose hull and so receives both a Rate of Fire (RoF) bonus and a Target Painter (TP) bonus. It also gets a 60% bonus to web range along with the standard CPU decrease for Covert Ops cloaks.
99% of the Rapiers you will encounter will probably not carry the TP, and mainly are fitted similar to its brother the Huginn in that regard with a strong passive shield fit with dual Webifiers and a mix of some Power Diagnostic Units, Gyrostabilizers, and a Damage Control in the lows. Its a fairly effective, general setup and is easy to fit since while the Rapier can only mount three guns, it has the same CPU and Powergrid as the Huginn which tries to mount six weapon systems. Personally, I suggest not even trying to get into the Rapier until you have at least Recon IV, because the Cov Ops Cloak uses a ton of necessary CPU until that level.
The Typical Rapier will be configured with one of two goals in mind:
- As a Heavy Tackler – The Rapier is most often used in the configuration. Able to sneak up on enemies and handle them until a support fleet arrives, the Rapier is a strong contender for this role particularly if the intended target is a bit more skiddish.
- As a Fleet Support Recon – In this configuration, it is usually as a Cyno operator, sometimes for the covert abilities.
I think however, there are actually three configurations that will be useful to a typical 0.0 alliance.
[Rapier, Web Tackle]
Damage Control II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
650mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, EMP M
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Targeting System Subcontroller I
Valkyrie II x3
Warrior II x2
You’ll notice a few things about this configuration that are not standard. The first is that it is armor tanked. As I mentioned with the Huginn, it just makes more sense to armor tank the Rapier, even though it will make it harder to manuver and accelerate. This configuration actually sports a better tank than what can be had by the Huginn. You’ll also notice that I mount three webs on my ship. I did this because it gives you more options. Suppose you went with a dual web, scram, and TP configuration? Sure, your target can’t move quickly, but the TP isn’t going to make that much of a sig boost on a smaller ship.. at least not compared to a MWD. A MWD boosts the signature radius 500% whereas a bonused TP is considerably less. This takes advantage of the knee-jerk reaction he is going to have when you pop up. If you have the extra implant space, you can replace that Medium Ancillary Current Router I with another Scan Resolution Rig, but that does require you use a 3% powergrid implant. (Additional Note: As mentioned in the comments by X1376, reaching Recon V also gives you valuable option of using an Expanded Probe Launcher because at Recon V, a Covert Ops cloak has a CPU value of zero. While I didn’t put up a variant containing one, X1376 placed a suggested one in his comment below.)
My vision for a Fleet support Rapier, particularly on Covert Ops missions, is considerably different than standard.
[Rapier, Fleet Assist - Black Ops]
Damage Control II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
Target Painter II
Target Painter II
Target Painter II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Covert Cynosural Field Generator I
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
Medium Targeting System Subcontroller I
Medium Targeting System Subcontroller I
Valkyrie II x3
Warrior II x2
Again, I kept the armor tank so as to maximize the E-war abilities. Here, since a BS will probably be used only as a tool to warp bombers in.. in practice a squad of bombers can make a run on .. say, a gatecamp. The Rapier can uncloak 10 to 15 seconds before the bomb hit, light up three targets at a 100+ km range, then either cloak or warp off while the bombers set themselves up for another run. This could also be useful in situations where the bombers have chosen to engage at torpedo range, allowing for maximum damage to various targets. If necessary, you can change out one of the EANMs for a Signal Amplifer I, then take out one of the Medium Targeting System Subcontroller I and replace it with a Medium Particle Dispersion Projector I to get better Target Painting optimal range without sacrificing much Scan Resolution.
A third variant actually comes by way of Butterdog of Ursha’Khan fame. During our defense of a Cold Steel POS in low-sec, Butterdog dropped right next to the POS shield and lit off a cyno. Was a rather an impressive tank, and it was not something that could be duplicated by anything except maybe the Falcon.
[Rapier, UK Setup]
Power Diagnostic System II
Power Diagnostic System II
Power Diagnostic System II
Damage Control II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
Cynosural Field Generator I
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
This is a great setup if you need to drop a cyno and you need it to stay up long enough for your caps to get there. This ship sports an EFT rated tank of 76k (All level V), so it can take a beating for a little bit before its done. The downside to this configuration is that its signature was quite huge at 227m, about the size of a battlecruiser, so it takes more damage than a typical ship of that size. Edit: X1376 also pointed out indirectly, that I didn’t get the whole story in regards to this situation and truth be told it very well could be that I was so enamoured about how sneaky it was that I thought it was a wonderful setup. This particular configuration, however, did allow for the UK rapier to sneak up right next to the POS to drop a cyno. UK had managed to get the password to the POS at that time (though we didn’t know it), but even if they didn’t have the correct one, UK had thought that our being distracted by another fleet 150km off of the POS would allow the Rapier to come in and drop the cyno at close range to our sniper BSes. Fortunately, we were on the ball and we were able to take out the Rapier but, I still think it was a worthy and daring tactic because if we had one maybe two battleships less, he would have been successful.
Overall, the Rapier is a very impressive ship and can be used in a variety of ways, and its reputation is definately worth looking into. This is certainly a ship once can get familiar with and effective with at Recon IV. Again, if you have any questions regarding my fits, let me know. So, have fun and keep your guns loaded!
Wrangling in the Cyclone
The Minmatar Cyclone is a ship rarely seen on the battlefields of today. More often, the familiar style is seen in the Commandship variants, the Sleipnir and the Claymore. Nearly all of the PVP duties that the Cyclone engaged in have been taken over by the much feared and respected Hurricane. As much as I would like to say “Here’s a way to make it AWESOME!”, the simple fact of the matter is that due to its bonuses and due to the fact that its an active shield tanker.. there is simply no realistic comparision that we can do between the Hurricane and the Cyclone. The Hurricane can passively tank better, do far more damage both long and short range, using any type of AC or Arty and doesn’t require you to be reasonably skilled in two weapon systems. So, never get a Cyclone, right?
Well, besides being one of the best looking battlecruisers in the game (its got that steampunk/japanese pagoda/locomotive look going on..), it does have two advantages over the much praised Hurricane. Its cheaper and, in very short spurts, can take much more damage if setup correctly. This advantages are complimented by a slightly larger drone bay (40 m3) and that it is quite inexpensive to fit, and a decent PVP fit can be had with T1 equipment (which is nice when you are just starting to try out Battlecruiser PVP). Now, lets go into the bonuses that the Cyclone features:
- 7.5% Shield Boosting Bonus per level
- 5% Rate of Fire on Medium Projectile Turrets
The Cyclone itself features a eight High Slots (5 Turret/3 Launcher configuration), five Mid slots, and four Low slots and can be made using approximately 70% of the materials used in a Hurricane. The Cyclone also grabs an extra 25 CPU, but at a cost of 140 MW. Overall, the prices generally range about 8 to 10mil isk less than the Hurricane.
Setting up a PVP fitting for the Cyclone generally requires that you shield tank it. There are not enough low slots, nor are the bonuses good enough on their own to warrant trying to tank the ship with armor. Because of this, you are stuck with effectively three options: Active Tank/Close Range, Passive Tank/Close Range, Passive Tank/Long Range.
When putting together the Active Tank/Close Range variety of Cyclone for PVP, it is essential that you work your fit around an X-Large Shield Booster. While a T2 X-Large Booster would be nice, you’ll find that for all intents and purposes, best named will be a better option, both because of the CPU requirements, and surprisingly the cost as well aren’t that prohibitive. After you put on your X-Large Booster, you will then have three extra midslots (not counting the one for the MWD). The best combat option I have found is that you should have a medium capacitor booster (preferably T2, but T1 will work as well with 800 cap charges), with an Invulnerability Field T2, and a boost amplifier. With Battlecruiser V and Shield Compensation V, you will be recharging nearly 1000 shield points every few seconds. For example:
Cyclone (Close Range – Active Tank)
- High Slots: 5x 220mm Vulcan AC T2, 3x Assault Missile Launchers
- Medium Slots: 1x ‘Named’ X-Large Shield Booster, 1x Shield Boost Amp T1, 1x Invulnerability Field T2, 1x 10MN MWD T2, 1x Medium Cap Booster T2
- Low Slots: 1x PDU T2 or RCU T1, 1x Gyro T2, 1x Co-Processor T2, 1x Damage Control T2
As you’ll notice, there is no tackle. You could modifiy the fitting by replacing the Shield Boost Amp with a 24km Disruptor, but prepared for the 30% loss of shield repping. The one thing I do really like about this Cyclone fit is that if perhaps you are a newer character, but still want to help with PVP in small groups, this ship will definately give you its money’s worth. Many of the modules are or can be replaced with their T1 named counterparts with little to none performance reduction, and adding rigs, while beneficial, are not a critical need so you can save some isk in that regard as well. If you review the Minmatar battleship lineup, you’ll find that the Cyclone has the exact same Shield Rep bonus as the Maelstrom Battleship, so in effect, you are tanking as a battleship. Once you get the timing down for Boost times and when to turn on the cap booster, you should be a formitable opponent in small and solo PVP engagements. If your missile skills are stronger than mine, then you can switch out the 220mm Vulcans with Dual 180s and the Assault Missile Launchers with Heavy Assault Missile Launchers if you plan on hitting heavier targets like cruisers on up to battleships. Another option you might want to try is sort of a “Bleed Dry” variant. You should be able to replace all three missiles with two medium Vamps.. and combined with the medium cap booster, just wear down your enemy’s defenses.
For a Passive version of the Close Range Cyclone, you should merely change a couple modules. For example:
Cyclone (Close Range – Passive Tank)
- High Slots: 5x 220mm Vulcan ACs, 3x Assault Missile Launchers (or Two Neuts/Vamps)
- Medium Slots: 1x MWD, 2x Large Shield Extenders T2, 1x Invulnerability Field T2, 1x Warp Disruptor (20km/24km)
- Low Slots: 1x DC, 2x Gyrostabilizers, 1x Tracking Enhancer
This Cyclone fit can be modified further by removing the Assault missile launchers and replace some with Medium Neutralizers or Vamps.. though any more than two is overkill. Personally, I don’t fit Neuts if I can’t also fit a Cap Booster, or a Vamp if I don’t have some sort of massive power drain like an active repair unit or if I am fairly confident the enemy will be effectively using Neuts.
Now a long range setup for the Cyclone is possible.. but the Hurricane easily supplants the Cyclone in this role. It supplants it so well, that honestly, it is a waste of time to use a Cyclone for long range work in a PVP context. The difference is obvious: Six double damage bonused guns versus Five single damage bonused guns. The difference translates to an almost 50% damage increase. At close range, the damage variance can be compensated somewhat by the three missile systems available on the Cyclone.. but at range, missile systems tend to take too long to reach their target to be effective more than a few rounds.
All in all, while I throughly enjoy the look of the Cyclone, it lacks many of the strengths that makes the Hurricane feared. Nevertheless, the Cyclone can still be used as an inexpensive ”training ship” for newer Minmatar pilots who want to try their hand at PVP, or it can do a reasonable job as a Point Defense ship for fleet assets. Enjoy your Cyclone fits, feel free to e-mail/comment below, and keep shooting!
Behold! A Prophecy you can believe in!
Tier One battlecruisers, since the advent of the Tier Two battlecruisers have long be derided as out of date, ugly, useless, even waste of isk. The truth of this though, is certainly not with words.. but by actions. Personally, I find some comparisions made on Battleclinic and the Eve-O forums to be exercises is ignorance. While the Prophecy and the Harbinger are Amarr Battlecruisers, they are built with a difference purpose in mind, and both excel at their given tasks.
The battlecruiser we will discussing now, the Prophecy, is not the favored battlecruiser of Amarr pilots. However, its bonuses make it a very impressive tank, and while it may not be able to do the damage than a Harbinger can, it can easily tank more than the newer ship. So, as you might have guessed, it does make it a very formitable bait ship. Because of that, the best comparision is not the Harbinger, but the Caldari Drake, which also has similar characteristics. In fact, let’s take a look at the Prophecy Bonuses:
- 10% Reduction in Medium Energy Weapon capacitor use per leve
- 5% bonus to all armor resistances per level
As you can tell, its bonuses reflect a ship design that is meant to be in the thick of battle. At battlecruiser level V, it is able to use the second most powerful Medium T2 Beam lasers without running out of capacitor (with Controlled Bursts at IV.. at III, capacitor runs out at 34 minutes). The Prophecy, despite being a Tier One battlecruiser, does retain a few advantages over the similarly designed Drake. The first advantage is that it is armored tank. This is a two fold advantage in that it leaves the three midslot available for tackle, while not making the tank any weaker. The second part of this advantage is the since Shield Transporters are imbalanced next to Remote Armor Reps, most fleets tend to favor armor tanks. This give the Prophecy a place in the typical fleet. The second advantage is the amount of tank that it can field. A well thought out Prophecy can easily mount an armor tank equal to that of an Amarr Battleship.. even better because of signature and relative speed.
Here is one configuration that can be used in typical fleet combat:
[Prophecy, Tank - Laser]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Reactor Control Unit I
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Warp Disruptor II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Focused Medium Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Focused Medium Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Focused Medium Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Focused Medium Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Focused Medium Beam Laser II, Aurora M
Focused Medium Beam Laser II, Aurora M
[empty high slot]
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Warrior II x5
The above configuration has an approximate EHP of 102k (EFT Numbers), and with its Beam weapons deal damage out to 50km (with T2 Aurora). It is also able to act as secondary tackle, or bait tackle with a top speed of above 700m/s with MWD. Overall it is a great addition to the fleet that is needing a multi-purpose platform that can handle itself in combat while also giving the option of a not so common bait ship in the fleets arsenal.
Now, if you expect to expect alot of close range combat, you might be interested in the following configuration.. which trades out range for tank and damage (yes.. both).
[Prophecy, AC Heavy Tank]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Reactor Control Unit II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Medium ‘Arup’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Warrior II x5
While most may disregard placing ACs on an Amarr ship, in this configuration it actually does more damage than the comparible version using lasers. With Barrage M ammo, its range reaches out to just shy of 20km, but it sports a top speed of over 740m/s, can remote rep, and has its effective hitpoint (EHP) boosted to a staggering 118k! And since AC use no cap, you can fire while being fully neuted.
The Prophecy even in these configurations still has some play with it for pilot skill, so don’t be afraid to mess around some. In fact, I know that a Railgun varient combination of two is possible, if that suits your skills. So, in the end, the Prophecy is, in my humble opinion, not an outdated battlecruiser, but a battlecruiser that can serve as a limited, but effective role in standard fleets and roaming gangs (last sentence edited).
Edit (some things that got me thinking after Ancy’s comment was made): One notable problem (outside of the fact that in every other way, the Harbinger is a superior ship) is that tanking such a ship so heavily makes it very ungainly. However, any effort outside of maximizing the tank really are futile because the same effort put forth on the Harbinger reap much better results. My own experience with the Prophecy is that because of the tank, it made it difficult to keep up with fast moving gangs, and sometimes even battlecruiser gangs. This is especially a liability if you need to pursue an enemy from any distance. One way to offset this issue though is, instead of having a web, use a Target Painter (with can gain a range of nearly 100km with falloff), or Tracking Disruptor (Optimal Range Reducing scripts being especially helpful at range), or even Sensor Dampeners (though the basic range tends to top out at 90km with falloff) to give some range advantage E-war.
Swiss Army Muninn
When one thinks of Minmatar HACs, the common response is: “Vagabond, and that other one.” The Vagabond, by and far, is the most popular Minmatar HAC, if not the most popular HAC period. The reasons are rather obvious: It’s relatively easy to fit. It’s OMGWTF fast (though not as fast as it used to be) and manuverable. It is somewhat effective solo, but is very effective in packs. The standard tactics using the typical Vagabond fit mimic that of the interceptor, so training for one is comparatively easy.
But what of his brother, the Muninn. Well, the Muninn suffered from several problems right from the very beginning. For starters, all the HACs were classified into two categories: Close-Range and Sniper. Since the Vagabond had gained popularity by being a close range gunboat, the naturally left the Muninn to be designated the Sniper. However, Minmatar Artillery in general just wasn’t on par with any of the other weapon systems, so its damage was very lackluster. In addition, the slot fitting arrangement are just..well, strange. While it has seven high slots, it can only fit 5 with turrets.. and lacks the powergrid to fit most support high slot weaponry. The midslots are another enigma as the resists clearly show that it should be shield tanked, having only three midslots makes for a fairly weak tank considering that one of the midslots is dedicated to a MWD.
So, is the Muninn a lost cause? Well, simply, no. The Muninn has started coming into its own with the ammo and weapon changes brought about by the Dominion expansion and has started to carve out its own little niche in roaming gangs. But, it is still hamstrung by the belief that it is a “Sniper” HAC. Remember, the Muninn gets many of its benefits from the legendary Rupture hull, which is still seen often in PVP, and usually is in a close range PVP setup. So, let’s look at it’s strengths:
- Seven High Slots (5 turrets/2 missile) versus the Rupture’s Six High Slots (4 turrets/2 missile)
- (edit: Removed because of memory error – both the Muninn and the Vaga have five low slots)
- Balanced Shield resists
- 30% increased Base armor over shield and 30% more than the Rupture’s armor.
- 25% Bonus to Medium Projectile Turret RoF (5% per level)
- 25% Bonus to Medium Projectile Turret Damage (5% per level)
- 50% Bonus to Medium Projectile Optimal Range (10% per level)
- 37.5% Bonus to Medium Projectile Tracking Speed (7.5% per level)
So, what does this mean to the person trying to decide what to do with his Muninn, which is gracefully spinning at the station? It means that you have choices. While the Optimal Range bonus tends to benefit Arties over ACs, it’s certainly not a down side to ACs to have better optimal range. Even though fighting in Falloff is supposedly the Minmatar trade mark, anything you can do to raise your optimal is a good thing. Both Arties and ACs benefit greatly from improved tracking, rate of fire, and damage. So really, the choice comes down to what you plan on doing:
HAC Roaming Ranged Variant – The following configuration is one I think would be effective in conjuction with Vagabonds and Scimitars. While not able to have tackle, it certainly can help fend off ranged attacks, or add some serious ranged damage to “retreating” of “kiting” tactics. The downsides are the relatively low ROF and the loss of use of two High slots. These two high slots can be used for things like Cloaking devices, Drone modules, or small remote reppers depending on tactical need. The only thing I would suggest would be that your drones be using only in defense, or in assistance to other ships like interceptors. This configuration can be adjusted pretty liberally depending. Replacing the T2 Invulnerability field for a Sensor Booster, for example, would help in raising the targetting range to be more useful with Tremor.
- High Slots: 5x 720mm T2 Howitzers (Tremor M for Range, Fusion M or EMP M for close range work against larger targets, Titanium Sabot M for dealing with faster targets)
- Mid Slots: 1x MWD, 1x T2 Invulnerability Field, 1x T2 Large Shield Extender
- Low Slots: 2x T2 Gyros, 1x T2 Damage Control, 1x Signal Amplifier, 1x Reactor Control Unit
- 5x Warrior IIs
- Rigs to suit taste
HAC Roaming Strike Variant – This configuration is primarily to act as a more robust version of the Rupture. Not generally accepted by many FCs, usually because of the aforementioned belief that the Muninn is only capable of being a sniper fit. This variant works better armor tanked and I was able to get an effective (EFT numbers) EHP of 33,000+, without impacting the signature radius. The downside is that speed and agility do take a hit. I tend to use Heavy Missile Launchers over Heavy Assault Missile Launchers for a couple of reasons, the first is that faction ammo is much easier to find for Heavy Missiles and at my skill level for missiles, the Heavy Missile’s ability to do damage outside of my AC range is a nice addition. Alternately, if you plan to be operating far from home, replacing one of the missile launchers with a small or medium remote armor rep would be a good idea.
- High Slots: 5x 220mm T2 Vulcan ACs, 2x “Arlesbest” Missile Launchers
- 1x T2 MWD, 1x Web (or TP), 1x 24km Distruptor
- 2x T2 Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane, 1x T2 Gyrostabilizer, 1x T2 Damage Control, 1x 1600mm Rolled Tungsten Armor Plate
- 5x Warrior IIs
- Rigs to taste, but preferably either Explosive and Kinetic Armor Pumps, or Trimarks, or Projectile Aeroator rigs (in general, ROF rigs give more DPS than damage rigs do)
It should be noted however, that as a close range platform, it is hard to see the difference of using the Muninn over the classic 1600mm plate fit Rupture. It is a good argument and it has merit. The Muninn is better in that it can have the 1600mm plate, more and better guns (Quadrupale bonused guns…) and missile systems, without sacrificing the tank. But, is it 100mil isk better? That is completely up to you.
The Too Versatile Hyena
When the word “Versatile” comes up in Eve, it generally is a code word for “not good at anything”. So, when this word is applied to what might be the most useless class of ships in Eve, the Electronic Attack Frigate, then that indicates a potential epic level of failure. Its not that they can’t fulfill the role, it’s just that the mix of attributes generally put these high on the target list, while the ships themselves have little to no defense and their secondary attributes are of little use outside of support.
CCP did not help in getting them used either. Training up EAF skills are not required to fly the much more useful Recon Cruisers. The signatures are large enough to easily be hit by all small weapons. Their speed, while faster than AFs, is slower than Interceptors. And the main capabilites, while impressive for a Frigate class ship, isn’t all the useful in most typical fleets. The reasoning behind EAFs does appear to be to give pilots a taste of the capabilities of Recon Cruisers without the expense monetarily or skill-wise.
However, as a Minmatar Pilot, I have learned one thing. Just because CCP failed to design it properly, doesn’t mean it still can’t be useful. The Hyena though, does stretch that ability a bit.. far. Let’s first look at what the Hyena brings to the table:
- 7.5% Target Painter Intensity Bonus
- 20% Web Range Bonus
- 5% Microwarp Drive Capacitor Penalty Reduction
- 3% Signature Reduction
The hull itself is rather fast, and with good Navigation skills can hit 3km/s. The design of the Hyena also allows for it to be configured either Shield or Armor tanked equally effectively. Targetting range is at 35km, a fair distance. Combat systems are setup with a 2/2 Turret / Launcher configuration.
Now, looking at the Hyena, its clearly not setup to be a direct combat ship, yet with the ranges it requires it be in the combat area. Even with best targetting skills, the range still puts it well inside even Sniper frigate range. So, both a tank and an offense are necessary. The next few choices are certainly most difficult. The Hyena is, in fact, EXTREMELY versatile. Effective configurations vary widely, and the following suggestions are by no means all.
[Hyena, Armor Tanked - Short Range -Web]
Damage Control II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Warp Disruptor II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
1MN MicroWarpdrive II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S
200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S
‘Arbalest’ Rocket Launcher I, Gremlin Rocket
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
- or -
[Hyena, Missile - Long Range - TP]
Damage Control II
100mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Warp Disruptor II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
1MN MicroWarpdrive II
Standard Missile Launcher II, Sabretooth Light Missile
Standard Missile Launcher II, Sabretooth Light Missile
[empty high slot]
Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Small Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
-or-
[Hyena, Armor Tank - Short Range - RR]
Damage Control II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
Small Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 200
150mm Light AutoCannon II, EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, EMP S
Small Remote Armor Repair System II
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I
These are a few potentially effective setups to be sure, but you are still back to the same problem. Other T2, and even some T1 Frigates perform the job better. The Vigil for example, has nearly the identical TP bonus that the Hyena does.. and its cost is considerably less. And the Vigil has the added bonus of being able to be flown by noobs effectively.
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