Fitting principles

Incursion fleets rely on good resists and buffer supported by a logistics. There are simply too many enemies to be able to fit a strong enough local tank, not to mention that by sacrificing a small portion of your fleet to bring in logistics instead of more damage dealers, the rest of the damage dealers can fit more offensive modules and your fleet will perform better.

Once you have a good enough tank, the rest of your spare slots should be used to augment your damage potential. While there's such a thing as under-tanked, being over-tanked is not only wasteful in incursions but even dangerous if done at the cost of offence.

See Preparing for Incursions for more information about what skills are needed.

Omni damage

The Sansha incursion rats deal two types of damages, lasers (EM and thermal) and torpedoes (kinetic and explosive). As such, they hit across all four resist types and therefore all incursion fits have to have even resists. It is important to know that there is more to it than that.

First of all, it's more of an average resist per type of damage, so you can often compensate one resist for the other. The Basilisk for example can have a lower EM resist thanks to their higher thermal resist and still stand up to the damage inflicted by lasers. It also means that most ships can have a slightly lower kinetic resist as long as their explosive resist is equally higher, averaging a solid resist-profile for the damage inflicted by torpedoes.

Second, smaller ships take less damage from torpedoes than larger ships, especially if they are also faster. As such, logistics and strategic cruisers can often get away with slightly lower resists for kinetic and explosive, whereas battleships (especially those with huge signatures) would be better off pushing their kinetic and explosive resists a little bit higher to compensate for taking more damage from torpedoes.

Omni tank

Just as they do damage across the board, the Sansha incursion rats have omni tanks as well. The only notable exception is the Lirsautton Parichaya, it's a little weaker against thermal damage and stronger against explosive damage. So contrary to missions where Amarr and Gallente weapons are somewhat limited due to their set damage types, these weapons are not hampered by resists in incursions.

Applied DPS

One of the most important aspects to realize is that whatever DPS(damage per second) your favourite third party fitting tool tells you that you have, or whatever the fitting window ingame tells you, is worth nothing if you cannot apply that damage. Hence the term "applied DPS" as opposed to "paper DPS" which is basically just your potential damage.

Your velocity, your target's velocity, approach vectors, your gun's signature resolution, your target's ship signature, locking speed, locking range, your weapon's optimal and falloff range and tracking all play a vital part in how much of your damage you'll be able to apply on your enemy. See turret damage or the gunnery guide for a more comprehensive introduction to the factors determining how much damage you'll end up doing when you undock and leave your theoretical bubble.

Practically this means that utility modules often make or break fleets.

Engagement ranges

In vanguards there will be a lot of small ships that orbit close, with only a few larger ships and they all spawn well within 70 - 75 km. The major engagement ranges for these kind of sites are of the 15 - 25 km range and the odd 60 - 65 km range for the Mara Paleo. For assaults and headquarters there will be fewer small ships and more large ships that initially spawn much further out. The engagement range for these sites vary a bit more, with brawlers engaging anywhere from 0 - 15 km and the rest at 20 - 25 km, 35 - 45km and 60+ km.

Short and long range weaponry

Regardless of what type of site you'll be running, you'll need to ensure that you can handle both ships that orbit close and ships that orbit further out. In vanguards the emphasis is much higher on tracking and webs to deal with the myriad of small agile frigates, whereas for assaults and headquarters the emphasis is on projection.

In general you get the best performance by carefully balancing your short and long range capabilities, tailored to the type of sites you use. That way you can ensure that your entire fleet is more or less constantly applying good damage throughout the entire site, improving your overall fleet performance.

Since all the warp disruption capable ships orbit close, and usually frigate-sized, coupled with the fact that we cater to low-skilled pilots in cost-efficient ships during wartime, we focus on short range weapons and lots of webs in vanguards. That way we can always ensure that we can kill anything that warp disrupts or does high damage, if we need to facilitate a controlled warp-out. It also allows us to be a lot more inclusive, since we wouldn't have to worry about replacing specific ships when people drop, but can take anyone from the waitlist regardless which ship they fly and what skills they have (barring having enough logistics of course).

Utility modules

First of all, when the term "utility slots" is used it means the slots you have left over once you've fitted your tank and your weapons. So if your ship has five midslots and four are needed for your tank, then the fifth slot is your one utility midslot. If you ship has eight highslots and seven turrets, you have one utility highslot.

Second, the term "utility modules" refer to modules you fit that doesn't directly give you a higher dps in your favourite third party fitting program or on your fitting screen ingame. Instead they act as force multipliers of sorts making up for weaknesses or capitalize on strengths for increased efficiency. There are also modules that has no impact on your offensive capabilities, but are invaluable when things go wrong.

Logistics will almost always carry the same utility midslots, so this section is aimed at damage dealers.

Midslot options

	In Vanguards, a battleship needs a sensor booster to be able to lock enemy frigates in any kind of timely fashion. For assaults, it is usually a matter of targeting range. Command ships or strategic cruisers can usually get away without a sensor booster. Being able to lock fast is also necessary in order to quickly lock up a logistics to apply repair drones in an emergency.
	Stasis webifiers slow down the target, drastically increasing the chance to land good hits and thus increase applied dps. Webs are always better than tracking computers for shooting smaller targets, assuming the target will come into web range. The Federation Navy Stasis Webifier or True Sansha Stasis Webifier is needed for the extra range as regular webs fall short, literally.
	Tracking computers can be scripted for additional range or tracking, or both to a lesser degree. If you primarily engage targets outside web-range, tracking computers become more important, as they'll be able to improve your range and/or your tracking. Remember that this module use scripts, so be sure to bring Tracking Speed Scripts and Optimal Range Scripts.
	Target painters increase the signature of the target, making it easier to lock and shoot. Target painters would not be your first choice, but assuming the other needs are met, you sometimes reach a point where additional webs won't be needed and then the target painter would actually be of more use than another web.
	The microwarpdrive is used primarily in headquarter sites but can also be used in assaults. In those sites you need the extra speed to either fly to a specific position or to continuously move into new optimal positions for each wave. The Nightmare has the option to use an afterburner, due to its ship bonus to afterburner speeds.

For vanguards, we make sure we have at least one sensor booster and one web. If we have room for more midslots we primarily go for a second web first before looking into other modules. Once you've made sure that you have a solid base, you can start looking at other modules to help fleet efficiency.

For assaults and up, once you've ensured that you have the locking range needed (potentially requires you to use a sensor booster) and fitted any required propulsion modules, it's mostly about having a decent amount of webs and painters in the fleet, then let people fill up empty slots with tracking computers to improve their applied damage through better tracking or range.

Each of these modules listed above have their pros and cons, see Anatomy of Incursions for more information on how you can change these modules around for different tactics based on your fleet composition. Have a few of each readily available, that way you'll be able to quickly refit if your fleet commander asks you to.

When in doubt, just follow the recommended fits on the Vanguard and Assault fitting pages.

Highslot options

	Large S95a Remote Shield Booster or Large Remote Shield Booster II modules repairs the friendly target's shields. Having a few extra remote shield boosters for emergencies are invaluable. When the fleet doesn't have any Basilisks, it makes more sense to use remote shield boosters in your spare highs, as there won't be much need for utility cap.
	Large 'Regard' Capacitor Transmitters or Large Capacitor Transmitter II consumes cap in order to send it to a friendly target. It creates more cap than it consumes, so giving each other cap like this creates both recipients more cap. It's a favoured module for when you have Basilisks in your fleet, so members can act as emergency cap buddies.
	The Auto Targeting System I module can be a decent choice if you have a high slot to spare but not the fitting for any of the above mentioned modules (or your fleet has no need for them). Assuming you have the skills to lock more, it gives your ship the ability to lock an additional +2 targets at the cost of 1 powergrid and 1 CPU.

When you're limited to just one utility highslot, pick the most important one. So a capacitor transmitter if you run with Basilisks and a remote shield booster if you run with Scimitars. Should you have the luxury of having more than one utility highslot, just bring both.

Drones

Drones can be a tremendous asset, if you pick the right ones and use them intelligently. The sum of all the drones in fleet can easily amount to the equivalent of adding an extra pilot or two on grid, so it's not something to treat lightly. See utilizing drones for more information on how to make the most of drones.

Light combat drones

Acolyte II drones combine good applied damage with good enough orbital and microwarpdrive speeds, making it the ideal light combat drone to deal with frigates. As such it's our recommended drone for vanguard sites.

Medium combat drones

Infiltrator II drones combine good applied damage with good enough orbital and microwarpdrive speeds, making it the ideal medium combat drone to deal with a mix of frigates, cruisers and battleships. As such it's our recommended drone for assault sites, or for headquarter sites if you have a small drone bay.

Heavy combat drones

Ogre II drones combine high damage with good damage application, making it the ideal heavy drone for situations where you stay on a single target for an extended period of time and there's little moving. As such it's our recommended drone for headquarter sites, along with a flight of lights. Augmented drones and Geckos are stronger, if cost isn't an issue for you.

Sentry drones

Garde II and Curator II drones combine good damage and good damage application, making them the ideal sentry drones for situations where you don't move for an extended period of time. As such it's our recommended drone for those special fleets where sentry drones are useful. The choice between the two is based purely on the range needed, with Gardes being preferred if possible.

Rigging choice

"It’s all relative, you might say."

It's very easy to dismiss the importance of the rig selection when buying a new ship. While it's usually not something a new pilot needs to worry about when getting any of the minimum fits posted on the wiki, it's extremely important for people looking to get a new ship as it heavily influences your options in terms of flexibility and utility slots (which is everything in incursions).

You should also consider if the tank setup you're getting is going to be your final setup or just a stop-gap until you can afford a better one. Don't spend too much ISK on a temporary setup, either go for a cheap "good enough" setup while you're saving up for your ideal setup, or just wait until you can afford the whole setup you want in the end.

Electromagnetic or thermal rig

One of the most determining choices to make when tanking your ship is your choice of resist rig.

In general the electromagnetic rig will free up more midslots, but tends to require fancier deadspace modules to compensate for the overall lower resists. The thermal rig gives you a stronger and more flexible tank without having to rely on the high-end deadspace modules, at the cost of not being able to free up as many midslots.

Defence or offence

Another important choice to make when it comes to your rig selection is whether you want to go for more offence or more defence.

Going for offence means that you're limited to a single tech one resist rig in combination to your burst or collision rig, due to the high calibration cost of the tech two damage rigs. Choosing a more defensive setup will allow you to fit a tech two resist rig as well as making full use of the other two rigs. The offensive rigs are usually much cheaper than the defensive ones, but since the offensive setup usually has to up the quality of their deadspace modules to get a comparable resist profile, they're often forced to use higher tiered deadspace mods.

Flexibility vs efficiency vs cost

Given the different needs for tank and utility modules between the different type of sites, most incursion communities go for the most efficient rig setup for the kind of sites they are running. A community running vanguards exclusively often have different setups than those who run headquarters only. Communities that push for high-end fits with expensive deadspace modules usually have different rig selections too, since those stronger modules opens up for a few more options.

Going for the most efficient setup is of course always going to be the strongest way to do it, but sometimes you have to be practical. In our case, within our community, we factor in flexibility and cost a lot more. We want our members to be able to use the same ship for any type of site without having to resort to spending billions on faction and deadspace modules. That doesn't stop people who want to from doing it, but it does mean that some of our recommended fits will differ quite a lot from that of public communities.

Determining a proper tank

There are a few easy ways to determine whether a tank is ok or not. Below are some key aspects that help when you're testing your ship in your favourite third-party fitting tool or if you've taken on the role of waitlist manager and need to quickly gauge whether the fit someone x up with is ok or not.

Resist holes

A lot of ships share a standard resist profile, so they share the same resist holes and have the same issues and weaknesses. Understanding what innate weaknesses a ship has is key to knowing how to best raise it to the desired high average resists mentioned above.

Below is a list of different resist profiles for various ship classes as well as a few specific ships with deviating profiles. The last column lists the obvious weaknesses of the class/hull, which will help you determine how to best achieve the desired resist profile. Plugging a hole is usually a simple matter of adding a resist rig or a combination of a rig and a shield amplifier, then up the resists in general by using one or two invulnerability fields.

Ship	Base resist profile	Comments
Regular/faction battleships ^[1]	0%20%40%50%	An EM hole and a weak thermal resist.
Resist bonused battleships ^[2]	20%36%52%60%	Weak EM and thermal resists, but no resist holes.
Scimitar	75%60%40%50%	No resist holes.
Basilisk	0%80%70%50%	An EM hole.

^ Includes regular battleships, navy and fleet issue battleships as well as pirate faction battleships.
^ Like the Rokh and other ships with 4% per level resist bonuses. The values are assuming maximum skills, so the full +20% better resists.

Effective shield hit points

You can judge your tank by many means, but for Incursions the best way to measure your tank is to look at effective shield hit points (ESHP), as opposed to damage per second repaired (DPS-tank) or the generic effective hit points (EHP). This is because a lot of ships have significant armour and hull hit points, so the effective hit points value can be quite misleading on a battleship with a damage control for example, as the EHP-value skyrockets compared to a ship without a damage control fitted, but very little of it applies to the actual ESHP.

It's also important to remember that a ship with high resists is much easier to repair compared to a ship with a high buffer of raw shield hit points. This is because each hit point is worth a lot more when factoring in resists. So even if a ship has less ESHP it might be easier to rep due to higher resists. You also need to factor in things like speed and signature, because a smaller ship that is orbiting will be a lot harder to hit than a large, stationary ship. So don't casually compare a ship's effective shield hit points against another without taking that into your consideration.

Shield hit points and resists

While the above mentioned effective shield hit points is a good measure, it is not always practical to use on the fly. For one it doesn't really tell you if the ship has any glaring resist holes, so for practical reasons we tend to speak in more general terms -- Shield hit points and resists.

It's much easier to just ask the pilot "How many raw shield hit points do you have?" and "What are your resists if you undock and turn on all your modules?". It's very easy for people to check this ingame and it tells us enough to judge whether or not the fit is ok. Below are some rough guidelines for what a proper tank might be for a battleship (there isn't much variation to speak of for logistics). The values below are of raw shield hit points and paired average resists (EM/thermal and kinetic/explosive), values before boosts for easy comparison.

	Vanguards (33k+ effective shield hit points) 70% resists and at least 10,000 raw shield hit points.
	Assaults (40k+ effective shield hit points) 70% resists and at least 12,000 raw shield hit points.
	Headquarters (52k+ effective shield hit points + 100k effective hit points in total) 73% resists and at least 14,000 raw shield hit points.

Naturally lower shield hit points is doable if you adjust your resists accordingly. Increasing your resists from 70% to 73% will drop the incoming damage from 30% to 27%, a decrease in 10% which means you can get away with at 10% lower shield hit points. In vanguards and assaults it's also possible to drop a little lower in really good fleets, but since we focus mainly on low skilled, kitchen sink setups we're going with a relatively higher recommended level for our community.

Just remember that resists are far more important than raw shield hit points, as higher resists has the secondary benefit of increasing the efficiency of remote repairs.

Battleship setups

Thermal rig

Electromagnetic rig

Resist bonused ships

Strategic cruisers

Different resist profiles

One of the biggest differences fitting strategic cruisers compared to battleships is that they have a different resist profile. They are also much smaller in signature, so won't need the same raw buffer of shield hit points either.

Ship	Base resist profile	Comments
Legion	0%20%70%87,5%	An EM hole and weak thermal resists.
Loki ^[1]	80%60%52%60%	No resist holes.
Proteus	0%60%85%50%	An EM hole.
Tengu ^[1]	20%84%76%60%	Weak EM resists.

^ ^a ^b This is with the resist bonused defensive subsystem fitted.

Different setups

Since the resist profiles vary quite a lot between the different strategic cruisers, the way they plug holes are vastly different. Their low signature and high agility can allow for some compromises as well, but in general they plug their resist profiles just like any other ship. Here's a few examples of ways to attain the desired resist profiles.

Slots	Legion ^[1]	Loki ^[2]
	Pithum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field Adaptive Invulnerability Field II Freed up mid slot	Pithum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field EM Ward Amplifier II Freed up mid slot
	Freed up low slot	Damage Control II
	Core Defense Field Extender II Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II Freed up rig slot	Core Defense Field Extender II Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer II Freed up rig slot
	Legion Defensive - Augmented Plating	Legion Defensive - X
Resists	-%-%-%-%	-%-%-%-%
	-%-%-%-%	-%-%-%-%
	-%-%-%-%	-%-%-%-%