Capacitor Warfare 101
From UniWiki
Contents |
Class Information
This is a syllabus for a class provided by EVE University. This section contains information about this class and its contents. General Information includes materials to create a proper class listing on the EVE University forum. Additional resources and teaching tips are listed under Notes for the Teacher.
General Information
Illustration link for class description on the Eve University forum: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/w/images/c/cc/Cuesnosnneut.JPG
This class will describe the basics of Capacitor Warfare.
- Duration: One hour (with an additional thirty minutes for the optional practical exercise)
- Location: Docked up safely in a station (must be in Aldrat for practical)
Class contents:
- Introduction to Capacitor Warfare
- Capacitor Warfare Modules/Drones
- Relevant Skills/Implants/Boosters
- PvP and PvE Considerations
- Capacitor Warfare Ships
- Q&A
- Practical Exercise (optional)
Student requirements:
- Mumble registration and access - make sure you have Mumble sorted out and operational well before the class begins. Use this guide for set-up: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Mumble
- Access to the Class.E-UNI in-game chat channel
- A suitable ship, fitted for Capacitor Warfare, for the optional practical exercise.
Additional information: This class is primarily lecture delivered in the Class.E-UNI channel in Mumble, followed by Q&A. An optional practical exercise follows.
Notes for the Teacher
Required materials:
- Class.E-UNI chat channel, to receive questions and post relevant links
- An inventory of cap warfare modules, to be used as examples, is helpful
- This guide is also very useful as a reference: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Capacitor_Warfare_Guide
Class Contents
Introduction
Welcome to this class on Capacitor Warfare!
Over the next hour or so, we shall cover the basics of Capacitor Warfare.
(Instructor should then introduce himself or herself - covering relevant experience level and background.)
We have a few ground rules for this class:
- Please put your Mumble settings on "Push to Talk" if you have not already done so.
- Feel free to type any questions in the Class.E-UNI chat channel as we proceed - I will try to answer your questions as they come during the class. At the end of my lecture, we'll open Mumble for any further questions or general discussion.
- You should be docked up safely in a station (in Aldrat if you intend to participate in the practical exercise).
- Place an X in the class channel for attendance purposes.
Everyone ready? OK, then - let's begin....
Main Topic #1: Introduction to Capacitor Warfare
You have probably heard the phrase 'cap is life' during your time in EVE. There are many good reasons why this is true, and each one is also a reason why Capacitor Warfare can be extremely effective. Capacitor keeps many tanks working, directly feeds laser and hybrid turrets, and fullly powers the fighting midslot modules including all EWAR modules and propulsion systems. An enemy without capacitor is an enemy without options which means you get to dictate the flow of the battle - kill them your way or if something goes wrong you can always be confident that warp jamming requires cap.
Cap warfare has had its ups and downs in the history of EVE, with its wild days of overpowered glory, and subsequent 'rebalancing' lows. It is still and will always be an extremely viable tactic in the sandbox of EVE. The pendulum will continue to swing back and forth over the impossible 'balanced' ideal, but knowing what and how is extremely important even if you never plan to employ cap warfare yourself.
Cap warfare can only be understood if you first understand capacitors. Capacitors are a self recharging resource with a Capacitor Recharge Rate that changes relative to the level of the capacitor. Accordingly, there is a 'peak' recharge at ~25% with the recharge rate decreasing from either side of this peak. Therefore, the rate of recharge is lowest when the capacitor is full (100%) or empty (0%).
Since capacitor warfare deals in the removal of capacitor, it works in opposition to the recharge rate. And since the recharge rate is lowest at 100% and 0%, cap warfare will have the greatest effect (defined as amount of cap removed over the time of a cycle) at these levels. The cap will be removed in a 'chunk' each cycle and will start being refilled by the recharge rate until the next chunk is removed. Cap warfare will have the least effect at peak recharge as the amount of cap removed will be countered by the highest recharge the capacitor is capable of. Therefore, we know that it is more difficult to cap out an enemy than it is to keep them there - ie. you may have three neuts on them to drain their cap as quickly as possible but only need 1 to keep them capped out.
With this simple information tucked away we can discuss the particulars of how the individual cap warfare systems work.
Main Topic #2: Capacitor Warfare Modules/Drones
Capacitor Warfare can be accomplished in a few ways:
- Using two types of Engineering Equipment modules:
- Energy Destabilizers
- Energy Vampires
- Using one of three Combat Utility Drones:
- Energy neutralizer drones based on Amarr drone models - the Acolyte EV-300, Infiltrator EV-600, and Praetor EV-900
Now I will explain each of these items including strengths and weaknesses.
- Energy Destabilizers, commonly known as Neutralizers (Neuts), are the heavy hitters of cap warfare. They can remove huge amounts of cap and leave an enemy capped out faster than any other form of cap warfare.
- Strengths
- Neutralizes large portions of the enemies capacitor every cycle
- Weaknesses
- Requires large amounts of your capacitor
- Long cycle time
- Relatively short ranges (improves with module size)
- Strengths
- Energy Vampires, commonly known as Nosferatus (Nos) remove small amounts of cap, but instead of costing your own cap to do this, they will actually give you the cap your opponent lost. Because of the huge potential of being able to hurt a target while only aiding yourself there are several rather severe limitations on these modules. Vampires can also be used defensively, as it is possible to pull enough energy over to run modules.
- Strengths
- Amount of cap removed from the target is transferred to you
- Quick cycle time
- Weaknesses
- Only transfers cap when your PERCENTAGE of capacitor is below the percentage of the targets capacitor
- Relatively short ranges (improves with module size)
- Removes much less cap than neutralizers and require more CPU to fit
- Strengths
- Light, medium and heavy neutralizing drones employ the same general principles as other drones. Generic information on Drones will not be discussed in this guide.
- Strengths
- normal Drone range mechanics
- neutralizer drones have no impact on your cap
- quick 6 sec cycle time for all sizes
- Weaknesses
- normal Drone weaknesses of vulnerability, flight times etc.
- relatively small portions of cap neutralized
- Strengths
Main Topic #3: Relevant Skills/Implants/Boosters
Skills: Energy Emission Systems is the prequisite for Neuts and Nos. It is also the only skill that directly impacts the effectiveness of your Capacitor Warfare modules; however, it only effects neuts. It will reduce the activation cost of all neuts by 5% per level which has excellent results on efficiency. Unfortunately this has no positive effect on nos or drones as they do not have a capacitor activation cost.
Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacting is the prequisite for neut drones. Other energy skills do not effect these drones, but the drone support skills do, so work them if you want to make good use of Cap Warfare Drones.
Having a solid capacitor of your own will help you conduct effective cap warfare. Therefore both Energy Management and Energy Systems Operation are extremely important skills and should be trained to 5 for serious cap warfare users.
Implants: Talisman implants, the Bloodraider pirate faction set, directly enhance Cap Warfare by reducing the duration of modules requiring the Energy Emission Skill. The complete high-grade set (slots 1-6) will have an overall effect of -38.12%. This is of course a huge increase in the amount of Cap removed per sec. A max skill Curse with a full Talisman set will destablize 40.4 GJ per sec with a single meta 4+ medium neut. This is more than a 160% increase from the amount neutralized by a meta 4+ large neut on an unbonused ship.
Boosters: When approaching boosters from a Cap Warfare perspective Mindflood is the drug of choice. This booster increases capacitor by a percentage that stacks on top of all other modifiers without stacking penalty. Ensure you are aware of the potential side effects before you do any drugs, and ensure that they are worth it for you.
Main Topic #4: PvP and PvE Considerations
PvP: PvP is where Capacitor Warfare comes into its own. If you deplete your enemy of his capacitor, he will likely be a sitting duck waiting to be burned down while cursing in frustration. The trick is to drain them hard until they are below 25%, then lighten your drain to preserve your own Cap. This is the equivalent of breaking someone's shield tank, since the mechanic is the same. The guide has some guidance (fancy that) of how to cycle your neuts properly to break the Cap of certain ship sizes. Defensively, you can make good use of a nos to ensure that you have enough Cap to keep that warp core disrupter going even if you aren't cap stable.
PvE: It is impossible to break an NPC's tank, since they are always at 100%. But since they are always at 100%, and you are generally never when you are fighting, the nos will always always work. Therefore it is possible to shed some of those cap recharger mods in favor of some more useful things if you are nosing a nearby ship during your missions (just leave him till last). There is also a chance that your neut/nos will distrupt the NPC armor/shield repair cycle. All in all, there are several very nice nos fits out there for running missions (nosDomi).
Main Topic #5: Capacitor Warfare Ships
T1 Ship Usage: The lack of bonuses means that it is ill advised to fit a T1 ship solely for cap warfare. However, it does not mean that cap warfare can not be used in T1 ships to devastating effect. Rather, T1 hulls should be selected that allow the usage of Cap Warfare without sacrificing their bonused roles. The following are some of those hulls (fitting advice can be found in the guide):
The Punisher: The Punisher has an inordinately large capacitor for a T1 frigate. In fact, at 425 GJ without skills, it is larger than its runners up by 75 GJ (the Caldari Merlin and Gallente Tristan at 350 GJ - the Minmatar Rifter only has a 250 GJ capacitor), it is also has more cap than all T2 frigates other than the Retribution (an Amarr Assault Ship), and most of the faction frigates. It has a utility high slot unuseable for DPS due to the number of turret and lack of missile slots. It lacks a laser damage bonus and accordingly there is no downside to using autocannons. It is particularly well suited to a negligable (DCU) capacitor armour tank due to its inherrent armour resist bonuses, four low slots, and very nice amount of shield and armour HP. Taken together the Punisher is the king of T1 frigate cap warfare platforms.
The Arbitrator: The Arbitrator is a very balanced ship and is a great solo, small gang, or fleet option for Amarr cruiser pilots. It has the complete package of acceptable damage (with good drone skills) and EWAR wrapped up in a decent tank. A flexible slot layout completes the package.
None of these nice capabilities require any of the 4 high slots. Therefore the perfect situation arises for unbonused cap warfare. Generally this is the only applicable mid point ship for someone interested in training up for the Amarr Recons which specialize in cap warfare. It is a good platform for some cheap practice for a pilgrim as the tactics are almost identical. Get close, get point, neut and unleash drone fury.
The Dominix: The neutdomi has a fiercesome reputation in EVE based on the following:
Decent capless/ammoless/slotless drone DPS
- Excellent durability, even before rigs
- Lots of neuting power
- Lots of RR power
- Room for MWD, cap booster, point, web, and ECCM
T2 Ship Usage:
The Sentinal: The Sentinel is sometimes known as the 'mini-Curse'. It shares the range as well as the amount bonuses to cap warfare with its Combat Recon big brother, meaning that as far as small neuts go the Sentinel is unmatched in the frigate class. The other bonuses are 5% per level to TDs (the other factor in common with its Amarr Recon counterparts), and the EAS bonus to capacitor (which is particularly sweet on this hull). The Sentinel is missing any sort of drone bonus and this means that, since the highs are usually dedicated to cap warfare mods, the damage output is low at best. Again in Amarr drone boat fashion the drone bay is huge (60 m3 - the largest on a frigate in game), but this is balanced by only a 20 Mbit/sec bandwidth. The total then is 3 flights of 4 light drones (most fits are 2 flights of damage and 1 of ECM).
When you add ~20km small neuts, the damage mitigation of bonused TDs, and the ability to bring EWAR drones without sacrificing flexibilty you get an extremely versitile package. This leads to a reputation as a solopwnmobile, which is only mitigated by the poor reputation of the underflown EAS class as a whole. When exceptions are made to statements about EAS, usually the Sentinel is mentioned.
This is a ship that really needs its applicable command skill to V to be functional, and which benefits more than normal from the addition of a few meta 7+ modules.
The Curse: The Curse is the undisputed king of cap warfare. Its range bonuses allow its hefty neuting capacity to reach out to an obscene range. This synergizes well with the standard Amarr TD bonus allowing excellent mitigation of any turret boat DPS, and the standard drone bonus gives cap free, high slot free, selectable and flexible DPS/utility. Expect to be called primary in this ship when flying in gangs; this ship is universally recognized as a huge force multiplier. No one wants to fight a Curse solo as the various advantages allows control of the fight to stay within grasp of a decent Curse pilot, and no one likes feeling useless and impotent for the duration of a fight.
The most common flavour is a shield tanked curse due to the six mid slots and the desire to be able to have the flexibilty of speed and the ability to control range. Armour Curses are ridiculed by some but as gang support, backed by Guardian logistics, they are incredible additions to the capabilities of the fleet. Curses are a great counter to logistics chains, both for RRBS and logistics ships themselves, and the added pressure of their neuts can mitigate or neutralize any practical cap transfer setup.
This is a ship that really needs its applicable command skill to V to be fully functional.
The Pilgrim: The Pilgrim is the 'U-Boat' of EVE. Able to select, stalk, and engage its targets at will without them knowing until too late, it is the ultimate solo recon if you seek a slow and deliberate way of delivering death. Once a target is engaged, this ship is commited to the fight and generally someone is going to die. The Pilgrim and Curse share the neut amount bonus together with the TD and Drone bonus, but the neut range bonus is dropped in favour of the Force recon covert ops cloak bonus. This leaves the ship designed to get in close, demolish the cap of its opponent, and then go to work with its drones while the TD mitigates damage from turret ships.
There are variations of Pilgrim fits out there but much less than with the Sentinel or Curse. Generally the fitting will follow roles like the Covert Cyno / Scout role, Solo PvP, Probing Pilgrim etc. There is no point nano/shield fitting a Pilgrim as your target selection and cloak are the surviability rather than speed and ability to control range. In a solo role you don't decloak until you are in web and scram range anyways, scout and skirmish Pilgrims apply the same principle, and there is very little to no reason to use a Pilgrim over a Curse in normal gang support.
Class Wrap-up
- Thanks for attending this class!
- I would appreciate any feedback from people on how to improve the class
- Questions ?
[* Practical exercise: ....]
