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Another big change with MWDs is that you get a strong capacitor penalty simply for fitting one, and on top of that using the MWD in itself uses a lot of capacitor. What this means is that both MWD ships get a lot less capacitor to work with at the beginning of an engagement in scram range. This is a huge drawback to capacitor intensive ships that use hybrid and lasers and like to work with a small ancillary armor repairer at the same time: the [[Tormentor]] and [[Incursus]] which are very effective ships in AB engagements become a lot less potent in this meta, while shield tanked rocket and projectile ships such as the [[Talwar]] or the [[Jaguar]] get a notable advantage due to their lower capacitor needs | Another big change with MWDs is that you get a strong capacitor penalty simply for fitting one, and on top of that using the MWD in itself uses a lot of capacitor. What this means is that both MWD ships get a lot less capacitor to work with at the beginning of an engagement in scram range. This is a huge drawback to capacitor intensive ships that use hybrid and lasers and like to work with a small ancillary armor repairer at the same time: the [[Tormentor]] and [[Incursus]] which are very effective ships in AB engagements become a lot less potent in this meta, while shield tanked rocket and projectile ships such as the [[Talwar]] or the [[Jaguar]] get a notable advantage due to their lower capacitor needs | ||
[[ | =In-depth look at the Ship Meta= | ||
[[ | |||
[[ | In order to examine some examples of the ship meta, and how different tactics and astratefgies match up, the below describes some example ship fits seen in Low Sec PvP. | ||
[[ | |||
*Slow brawler: AB blaster [[Merlin]]: 220 overheated DPS at 1km (3km falloff) 6,4ehp and 1350 m/s heated, 607 m/s heated and webbed | |||
*Fast scram-kiter: AB beam [[Executioner]]: 175 heated DPS, 2,5k EHP, +3,16k active EHP at a rate of 100EHP per second with perfect small ancillary armor repairer usage (no overreping), 1700 m/s heated. 765 m/s heated and webbed. | |||
*Fast brawler: AB Blaster [[Atron]]: 220 heated DPS at 1KM (4,5KM falloff), 2.6k EHP + 2,9k active EHP at 100 EHP/S assuming perfect SAAR usage, 1800 m/s heated. 810 m/s heated and webbed | |||
*Slow scram-kiter: Rail [[Incursus]]: 160 heated DPS at 6.75km, 3,56k EHP + 5K active EHP at 166 EHP/s assuming perfect SAAR usage, 1450 m/s heated, 652 m/s heated and webbed | |||
Now let’s see how these ships interact with each other: | |||
==Slow brawler vs fast scram-kiter== | |||
Even if the fight starts at 0,1km which would be the best for the Merlin, he would have to apply his full DPS for 20 seconds to break the active tank of the executioner, since the Executioner is moving 150m/s faster than the Merlin it would only take him 6,6 seconds to get out of the Merlin’s optimal range, past that point it becomes easier and easier to active tank as seconds into fall-off pass, the Merlin has the choice to switch to Null ammo (which takes 5 seconds) but even then, the fight is going to be a struggle and the Merlin will probably lose. | |||
Now this was assuming the best possible engagement range for the Merlin, if the fight starts anywhere between 4km and 7.5km, the Merlin theoretically won’t win. Now I must insist on the “theoretical” aspect of these fights, that is if the two players play well and don’t mess up. If the Executioner forgets to apply his web or forgets to overheat is AB for a few seconds, he might very well lose. | |||
==Fast brawler versus slow scram kiter== | |||
You might think this is opposite of what we just saw, the fast brawler will catch the slow scram-kiter and kill it”. Well, that’s actually not true. Let’s take the blaster [[Atron]] vs rail [[Incursus]] match-up for example: if the fight starts close, then the webbed AB [[Atron]] is 150m/s faster than the webbed AB [[Incursus]], this means he wil be able apply the entirety of his theoretical DPS by always staying at his optimal range. But a 150m/s different is not nearly enough to orbit at 0 and create big enough transversal velocity to outtrack the [[Incursus]], this means that if the [[Incursus]] burns away from you, he will be able to apply his full theoretical DPS to you as well. | |||
In this case, even though the [[Atron]] does more damage, the [[Incursus]] is much more Tankier than the Atron. It takes theoretically 34 seconds for the Incursus to kill the Atron while it takes 38 seconds for the Atron to kill the Incursus, which means the Incursus theoretically wins. Now as the initial engagement range increases, the match-up gets tougher and tougher for the Atron because he first has to catch-up before being able to apply his whole DPS. Even if the fights starts at 4km which is moderately close, the Atron will need to catch up 3km at 150 m/s before applying his full DPS which means he’s going to lose even harder. N | |||
ow once again this is whole theoretical, if the Incursus forgets to overload his prop, he’ll get caught a lot faster, if he forgets to overload his guns or his tank, if he forgets to launch his small drone he might very well lose the DPS race. If neither mess-up but if the Atron has considerably superior turret and tanking skills, he might win the DPS race too. | |||
==Slow Brawler vs Slow Scram-kiter / Fast Brawler vs Fast scram-kiter== | |||
In these match-ups, both ships’ tank are going to be pretty much the same and they’ll fly at pretty much the same speed, so these match-ups are usually purely decided by the initial engagement range: If the brawler manages to be right on-top (0 to 1,5km) of the scram-kiter when they both apply scram and web he’ll probably win. If the Scram kiter manages to engage outside 4km he’ll probably win. The player who messes up and forgets to overload the AB or applies his web late is going to lose almost automatically. | |||
==Mirror match-ups, Brawlers VS Brawlers and Scram-kiters vs Scram-kiters== | |||
These are the only match up where speed will not be as relevant to actually win the fight but the fastest ship might still be able to run away if he realizes he’s losing. In this case pure damage*EHP ratio will generally win fights, the most important thing will be to have a good fit, the second most important thing will be to overload your modules, and the third most important thing will be damage and tanking skills. | |||
==Meta-breaker in scram-range== | |||
There are a few fits that are not going to fit into the calculations above, these can be considered as “meta-breakers". | |||
===Dual Web Ships=== | |||
They will be able to completely control range. A dual-web brawler will catch-up to its target quickly and a dual web scram-kiter will be able to exit the range of a brawler in seconds; this makes the initial engagement range largely irrelevant and is great to invade a plex for example. | |||
The drawback is that you are using one of your mid slots for range control instead of using it for Tanking, which means you are going to be better at countering other types of fits but will struggle more when engaging the same type of ships. A dual web Artillery firetail for example might very well lose to a beam tormentor or a rail incursus in a pure DPS race. Viable dual web turret based frigs include the Firetail, the Merlin and the Slasher. | |||
Dual web rocket ships are a special case, the dual web Hookbill is very popular but the dual Breacher and Kestrel are also viable dual web frigates. Rockets do not need to track which means you can play as both a scram-kiter and a brawler. You’ll be able fight brawlers by keeping them at the edge of the scram range and you’ll be able to fight scram-kiters by orbiting them at 0 and mitigate some of their DPS. | |||
== | ===Tracking Disruptors=== | ||
This module has two uses: the first, is to decrease your enemy’s optimal and falloff range by half which allows you to basically scram-kite other scram-kiter. The crucifier navy issue is designed around this idea. This might also allow the autocannon TD Slasher which is theoretically a Brawler to scram kite other brawlers. The second use of the TD is to reduce your opponent’s tracking; this is mostly useful against bad brawlers who do not have a web, or generally people with less range control modules than you. The hookbill for example may fit two webs on top of a TD which allows him to get under the guns of other scram kiters by orbiting them at 0. | |||
===Neuts=== | |||
Having a neut or several neuts on a brawler may completely break the DPS race mechanics by turning the opponent’s guns off. This allows the Slasher or the neut Tristan to beat ships that rely heavily on capacitor for their damage and their tank, SAAR hybrid and SAAR laser ships are very popular in the current lowsec meta which makes neuts very powerful. | |||
===Dual Repair Modules ("Dual Rep")=== | |||
These are pretty popular ships that rely on a simple gimmick: sacrificing all range control in order to have as big of a tank as possible and win thanks to pure DPS/EHP ratio, this is basically the opposite to a dual web ship. The big difference is that you can’t run away from a dual web ship that counters you, but you can always run away from a dual rep frigate that counters you. Dual rep ships therefore often rely on opponents not attempting to escape until it is too late. | |||
The Dual Rep Incursus is the most popular fit of this type but the dual MASB Breacher exists too. In order to effectively engage these gimmicky ships you need to stay out of their range and poke them until your opponent runs out of cap booster charges and is unable to maintain its repar modules. If you don’t have the means to poke it without getting hit then you should simply leave and go somewhere else. | |||
[[Category:PvP]] | |||
[[Category:Guides]] | |||
[[Category:Factional Warfare]] | |||
[[Category:LSC]] | |||
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This is going to be an introduction to Solo PvP. On top of being a very fun thing to do in Eve, it will help you develop the skills you need to fly in small gangs without anchors. It will also improve your general knowledge of the game which will come in handy if you want to command fleets at some point in your career. | |||
== First things first: Frigates and destroyers == | |||
Frigate vs frigate fights are a great introduction to the different solo PvP mechanics, that’s because frigates are mostly cheap and they get to choose which engagements they take thanks to their speed, their align time and their small sig (which makes locking them slower). Frigate fights are generally the most common type of 1V1 engagements which means it will be easier to find a fight. Now the more you’ll fight, the better you’ll get. The reason I’m mentioning destroyers is you can basically think of them as oversized frigates that are both slower, tankier and more powerful. It would be a mistake to see destroyers as a “better frigate” though. 1v1 is all about fighting on your terms and range control will often be the most decisive factor, this means being slow can be a huge drawback: it’s often the difference between winning and being countered. Some frigates fits will hard counter some destroyer fits and vice versa. Now T3 destroyers are kind of a special case but we’ll get to that later. | |||
== Security Status disclaimer == | |||
If you want to have fun solo PvPing you are going to lose sec status, it can’t be avoided. I know as a new player that might sound scary but that’s actually not a big issue at all. There are two reasons for that. The first reason is that you may completely circumvent the whole Security status by using another character. If you live in lowsec or nullsec, having a sec status won’t really affect you as you can simply use a hauler alt to get ships from Highsec to where you live. You may pretty much any Highsec activity with an alt and you get two other chars on your account to do that with. | |||
The second reason is that security status may simply be “bought back” using clone soldier tags but you probably won’t want to that as most people who live highsec generally don’t want to turn back and end up leaving it for good. | |||
Now if you are reading this article because you are a member of Eve-University, you might run into a little trouble here. From what I remember you are discouraged to go below a certain sec status while in the uni, so if you start to solo PvP seriously, you might run into Sec status troubles after a few dozens of fights or so. I recommend asking the E-Uni solo PvPers (such as Kelon Darklight) how they manage it, if you really bump into a wall, you may simply need to leave the Uni and find a corp more oriented towards a PvP lifestyle. Still, you should know that your sec status will take time to degrade and that it will take a while to become an issue, you may definitely dip your toes into solo PvP without any big consequences and while staying in the Uni. | |||
== Soloing in Nullsec versus soloing in Lowsec == | |||
Most aspiring soloers don’t realize that the 1v1 metagame varies between lowsec and nullsec. First of all it is generally harder to find a 1v1 frigate fight in null: being alone against a gang is a much more common occurrence than true 1v1. In this case, you will generally try to separate gangs using gate mechanics, bubbles, or simply managing to split the enemies on grid. Eveiseasy is a youtube channel mostly dedicated to this kind of PvP and you will find a ton of info about creating opportunities for 1v1 there. What can be said right now though is that a Microwarpdrive is borderline mandatory if you are going to solo in SOV space that doesn’t belong to your corp. An exception can be made for oversized Afterburners (this means fitting a cruiser sized Afterburner on a destroyer or fitting a Battleship sized afterburner on a cruiser/BC). There are several reasons why a Microwarpdrive drive is so important in nullsec. The first one is that an AB ship is helpless against a gang, you will not be fast enough to separate several people on grid and you will not be fast enough to reapproach gates and separate your foes using gates and [[Timers|aggression mechanics]]. The other main reason is bubbles: Nullsec is full of bubbles (both deployable and interdictor made) and they will screw an AB ship a lot more badly than an MWD ship. Speed is critical for both escaping them and taking advantage of them. Now an Afterburner can still be a good idea to bring in nullsec as long as you have an MWD too. It’s called a dualprop ship and is great for soloing as in this case the AB is not used as a tool for moving around but as a mean to do two other thigs: it allows you to control range in scram range during 1v1s and it allows you to Signature tank bigger ships than yourself (cruisers, BCs, BSs), this can be great if you are trying to gank null ratters for example. | |||
Lowsec is a whole different beast: first of all there are no bubbles, secondly there are far more people willing to solo, especially in faction warfare space. Thirdly the Faction Warfare (“FW”) [[Factional Warfare|Plex mechanics]] in lowsec promotes having an afterburner for fighting in scram range. Novice, Small, Medium and large complexes (“plexes”) are places in a system specifically dedicated to PvP, they are open to anyone, not only to the people engaged in FW. These places are only accessible by using a single acceleration gate (similar to those you can find in missions). This means that there is a single entry point, if you are in a plex already and waiting for someone to come in; you know for sure where the other person will enter. So, if you decide to sit at the exit point at 0, the person invading the plex will warp straight on top of you which will net you a quasi-automatic scram if you wish to scram which renders the other person’s MWD obsolete if he has one. An AB on the other hand stays active while scrammed. | |||
Now I do not mean at all that an AB is mandatory in FW space, there are MWD fits that counter AB fits in the grand scheme of things, there’s a rock-paper-scissors mechanics of frigate PvP. Just remember that, contrarily to nullsec, an AB is a completely viable thing in FW space, it is even preferred in the current meta. | |||
== The rock-paper-scissors Mechanics of frigate PVP == | |||
People usually divide PvP ships in two categories: Brawlers and Kiters. Brawler as a generic term generally describes ships who want to fight into warp scrambler range, this means the fight is happening below 10km. Ships engaged in a brawl will not be able to use their MWD (that’s what a scram does) and thus, the ships will generally move quite slowly. | |||
On the other hand, Kiters wish to fight at full MWD speed all the time using a warp disruptor instead of a scram, they rely on their speed and longer range to destroy the other ship without it being able to reach them, this mean they’ll try to avoid getting webbed at all cost and getting into scram range will generally put them in a very bad position. They will usually try to fight between 13km (overheated web range of the other ship) and 24km (the range of a tech II warp disruptor). Now not messing up as a kiter can be pretty hard when both ships are moving at 3000+ m/s per second (MWD speed), but it’s going to be easier if the other guy is moving at 1300 m/s (AB speed). Now there are a few exceptions to this, a few ships have special bonuses with longer webs, longer scrams, longer disruptors or exceptional AB speed. Offgrid links boosting can be a factor too as they increase tackle range and speed considerably. | |||
Now, there’s an additional layer of subtlety to frigates and destroyers because they use small sized weapons. In their cases, brawling comes in two varieties: Scram kiting brawlers who are designed to fight at the edge of the scram range (between 6 and 9km) and brawler brawlers who are designed to fight between 0 and 4km. Yes, as you have noticed the denomination is not quite completely clear and brawling can mean two things, thank god you’ll generally understand what people mean with the context. | |||
So the goal of scram kiters is to fight outside the range of full-brawlers so they don’t get hit. While the goal of full-brawlers is to catch them and and kill them with their superior close-range DPS (in general: the smaller your range is, the harder you hit). | |||
[[File:Frigatepvp.jpg]] | |||
== How fighting in scram-range changes in Nullsec == | == How fighting in scram-range changes in Nullsec == | ||