TWEET Thoraxes

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Dual Prop Thoraxes

Also known as TWin EnginE Thoraxes, or TWEETfleet. This is a close range, in your face, armour brawling doctrine that uses a dual prop setup to get the best of both worlds- speed and damage mitigation, and is ideal for junior FCs advancing into cruiser doctrines. The tactics used build quiet well on top of many of the brawling frigate doctrines that E-Uni are currently fielding, such as Magic Merlins or Golden Horde Punishers. The main downside to the doctrine, as with many blaster platforms, is range control. Thoraxes need to be as close as possible to their target in order to inflict damage. Outside of 10km, Thoraxes will basically not apply any damage and therefore positioning the fleet is key at the start of any fight. Kiting doctrines should generally be avoided unless the FC is able to get a solid warp in, as they are often able to out manoeuvre and out range Tweetfleet Thoraxes with relative ease. Lowsec is the preferred hunting ground as plex mechanics lend themselves to brawling doctrines.

Implementation

The overall tactics are relatively simple. If presented with a target or hostile fleet at range from the main body, the Thoraxes should fire up their MWD (overheating if necessary) and rush head first into them. Any ship that starts to take damage from the hostile fleet should immediately switch to their afterburner to reduce their sig radius and double click in space, to the side of the enemy fleet, to adjust their course to maximise their transversal to mitigate the incoming damage while still maintaining some speed. While this is happening, the rest of the fleet should still be continuing their charge.

Logi should aim to hold their gate cloak if they have one initially with the intention to force one of the Thoraxes to be called primary by the enemy, before pursuing the Thoraxes to maintain within rep range.

If the fleet should find itself already within brawling range at the start of the engagement, the need to use the MWD isn't there so the fleet should default straight to the afterburner to dictate range coupled with the use of the web. When inside brawling range, pilots should have both of their prop mods turned off, with their afterburner pre-heated, and be "keeping at range" on their target at 1km. Keeping at range will increase the applied damage of blasters over orbiting the target. When pilots are yellow boxed by the enemy fleet, they should immediately activate their overheated afterburner, broadcast for reps, orbit their target at 1km (rather than the previous keep at range command) and be prepared to be primaried. This is also true for Logi pilots who, when at their preferred range, should be orbiting their anchor with both of their prop mods off, afterburners preheated, awaiting to be yellow boxed by the enemy fleet.

There shouldn't generally be the need for the DD component of the fleet to anchor up at any point (anchoring on the FC can be useful for positioning the fleet initially, however) which adds a great level of both responsibility and excitement to the fleet as pilots can make a lot of decisions for themselves such as when to change between prop modes and how to manually pilot to mitigate damage, as well as everyone having the potential to land that all important secondary tackle. Hopefully it should provide an excellent learning opportunity for newbros and bitter vets alike.

Fleet Composition

There are three main elements to a dual prop Thorax fleet - Damage Dealers, Logistics and EWAR.

The Thorax has the ability to apply a massive amount of DPS for a T1 cruiser with blasters and a full flight of medium drones. To have that effect however, damage is best applied up close and personal. This is because blaster range is really quite short. Maximum damage application is out to roughly 4+5km with Null with the highest DPS applied with Void only inside 2+2km, however the application is excellent due to hull bonus to tracking on the Thorax. With a MWD fitted, the Thorax is able to chase down the vast majority of brawling cruisers and kiting battlecruisers to get into optimal damage dealing range. Each Thorax is also fitted with a scram and web to hold those targets in place and, with the addition of the afterburner, the Thorax can then switch to a lower signature while still being able to maintain an element of range control over the target and to keep transversal up to mitigate some damage. The web also allows the medium drones to apply better to the target too, however it can be switched out for unbonused EWAR at the FCs discretion.

If caught in a bubble in Nullsec, either on a gate or during a fight, the MWD also allows the option for the fleet to deaggress much easier than a typical afterburner fit armour fleet could.

The default ammo to use is Void for the increased DPS that it offers the fleet. If the fleet is looking to engage small, fast moving ships such as frigates and some destroyers the switch to Antimatter should be called due to the enhanced tracking that it gives over Void. Null is generally not considered worth while using as the additional range that it offers is not worth the loss in DPS when you consider how quick it should be close that distance. T2 guns are highly recommended because they allow access to the T2 ammo, however if pilots cannot yet use them then Modal Electron Particle Accelerator I should be used instead. Antimatter is therefore the default ammo selection for anyone using T1 guns.

For pilots looking to transition from the Newbro to the Mainline fittings, upgrading and skill training priorities should be to upgrade to the mainline tank first, then midslots, then the guns.

Mainline Thorax DD

The tank on the Thorax is relatively light with only roughly 30k ehp. Because of this, a large number of logistic ships are also required typically in a 1:3 ratio. Staying Gallente, the ship of choice here is the Exequror which, much like the Thorax, is also fit for dual prop. This allows the logistics wing to stay with the main fleet in situations where DD might be forced to burn to a target, yet still offers the same ability to switch to a lower signature mode. Cap issues are dealt with by a 2 small cap boosters which also offers a level of protection from the logistics wing being put under neut pressure.

For newbros who are flying the Exequror, there are two very important skills that make a huge difference to cap life. Gallente Cruiser V and Remote Armour Repair Systems V. With either one of those skills trained, logi pilots can upgrade their reps to the Medium Solace Scope Remote Armor Repairer. With both skills trained, pilots will now have the required cap life to use the Medium Remote Armor Repairer II effectively.

Similar to the Thorax, upgrading and skill training priorities for pilots looking to transition from the newbro to the mainline fitting would be tanking modules, mid slots, and finally the reps.

BLAP Aurgorors could also be used if the FC cannot find enough Exequror pilots, but the obvious downside here is the lack of the MWD and potential for logi to become disconnected from the fleet.

Mainline Tweetfleet Exequror

Finally we have the last key component to the fleet composition, which is the EWAR element. Damps are an excellent force multiplier which can be used to either break the lock on kiting ships or to force opponents to brawl in closer to the fleet, which makes the blasters on the Thorax apply better. Damps can also be spread across enemy logi to force them in closer too or to break their pre-locked targets, or focused in an attempted to break their cap chain. The armour Celestis fit below actually has more tank than the Thoraxes and therefore can catch reps from the logi wing very well. It is also fit with smartbombs to be used in an anti-drone capacity, either within the main DD squad or out with the logistics wing to protect from those nasty Hornet EC-300s. It should go without saying that the smartbombs are not be run permanently but only when there are drones hassling the fleet and never to the detriment of the fleets own drones, unless specified by the FC. On the subject of ECM drones, the Celestis can also field a full flight of Vespa EC-600s which can be used to apply addition pressure to the enemy logistics wing. Ideally an EWAR to DD ratio of 1:5 should be sort during form up. For pilots with poor cap skills, drop one of the Remote Sensor Dampener IIs for a Small F-RX Compact Capacitor Booster with Navy Cap Booster 400s.

Smartbomb Celestis

Additional support ships are obviously also required, such as fast tackle Interceptors and Interdictors. Armour boosts are also an excellent addition to fleet, almost to the point of becoming a fleet requirement, as they allow the mainline Thoraxes to remove one of their EANMs for a second T2 Mag Stab to push their already impressive DPS close to the 600dps mark with Void for the average skilled pilot. Skirmish boosts, if also available on top of armour, can further increase the maximum speed of fleet.