Capacitor warfare

or Why These Pictures are Some of the Prettiest Things You Will See in EVE.

Capacitor Warfare Overview

You have probably heard someone say 'Cap is life' during your time in EVE. There are many good reasons why this is true, and every one of them is also a good reason why Capacitor Warfare is one of the most direct ways to go for the throat of an enemy. Capacitor directly feeds laser and hybrid turrets, keeps active tanks running, and powers the majority of fighting midslot modules including all EWAR modules and all propulsion systems. An enemy without capacitor is an enemny without options which means you instantly get to dictate the flow of the battle - kill them your way or if something goes wrong you can always rest confidently knowing that warp jamming requires cap.

Capacitor Warfare, as in direct action taken to reduce or elminate the capacitor of a target, can be accomplished a few ways:

Using one of two types of Engineering Equipment
- Energy Destabilizers - small, medium and heavy energy neutralizers of various meta levels
- Energy Vampires - small, medium and heavy nosferatu of various meta levels

Using one of three Combat Utility Drones
- Light, medium and heavy energy neutralizer drones based on Amarr drone models - the Acolyte EV-300, Infiltrator EV-600, and Praetor EV-900

(as an aside if you have ever been curious where the word nosferatu comes from check out this link to Nosferatu)

Each of the these systems has its own strengths and weakneses and are very different in implementation although all are focussed on the same goal.

Energy Destabilizers - ie the assortment of Neutralizers (Neuts)
- Strengths
  - Neutralizes large portions of the enemies capacitor every cycle
- Weaknesses
  - Requires large amounts of your capacitor
  - Long cycle time consistant across all meta levels - 6 seconds for small, 12 seconds for medium, and 24 seconds for large neutralizers (overheating will always reduce cycle time by 15%)
  - Short ranges which vary across meta levels

Energy Vampires - ie the assortment of Nosferatus (Nos)
- Strengths
  - Amount of cap removed from the target is transferred to you
  - Quick cycle time consistant across all meta levels - 3 seconds for small, 6 seconds for medium, and 12 seconds for large nosferatus (overheating will always reduce cycle time by 15%)
- Weaknesses
  - Only transfers cap when your PERCENTAGE of capacitor is below the percentage of the targets capacitor
  - Transfers small portions of capacitor
  - Short Ranges which vary across meta levels

Energy Neutralizer Drones
- Strengths
  - normal Drone range mechanics
  - Neutralizer drones have no impact on your cap
- Weaknesses
  - normal Drone weaknesses of vulnerability, flight times etc.
  - Constant cycle time of 6 seconds for each type of drone with only small portions of cap neutralized (easy to remember as it is an equivalent amount to the bandwidth of the drone)

So these are the tools at your disposal if you decide to bring the pain directly to your opponents capacitor. Keep reading for how they work, what ships they work best on and how to make them work for you.

How Energy Destabilizers, Vampires, and Neutralizer Drones Work