This was an export of the Pandemic Horde forums before they go offline. Kismeteer spent time building out a list of PVPers that he asked to post their favorite fits, with some limitations and steps to help new players. Please feel free to follow the same guidelines if you want to post your fit here, and if you want to modify someone else's fit, PLEASE respect their original build and guidelines, and can add your own commentary in a separate way. This is a 'Guide', so it will change over time, and has slightly different language that most eve uni pages. Have questions? Ask in eve uni discord!
If you have been pointed to this thread, please post your favorite fit!
This is the start of a new thread for ship specialists to post their favorite ship. I'd like to limit to one post per person, and I'll attach and index to the post as well, for all the ships in the list.
How to use for new players:
* Buy one of these ships, just one, try flying it in what role they suggest.
* Note, this does not replace the Doctrine Thread, which has all our official fits.
* Make sure to insure it and fit the rigs before undocking.
* If you think it is meh, but want to try again, just buy one.
* If you like it, buy 3, and reconsider when you reach the last one.
* Modify the fit.
* Come back and tell us what your favorite ship is.
What we want you to post:
1. Exact fit of the ship you suggest, meta/t2 preferred. Windowskey-Shift-S can take a screenshot in game for easy of posting it. Hover over the price in the bottom right to see the expensive modules.
2. How much it costs on the fit posted, and the cost of fit you fly if you bling it regularly. I'd prefer these fits to be reasonable for a newbie, if possible.
3. How bad the skill train is, minus magic 14. Must be under 3 months or close to that. No vet ships here.
4. Why you like flying it
5. How to use it (for new players!) A video helps but not required at all.
Fitting is a better place for larger fits, and Drone ratting is better for complex ratting fits. Capital ships is a better place for the skills for caps. I have to ban battleships because new players shouldn't be using them because they're way too quick to get in trouble, or they're ratting ships (see drone ratting link)
Template, cut paste this into your post:
1. The Fit:
2. The Cost:
3. The Training:
4: The Reason:
5: The How:
I'll put my example below, as I have been a huge proponent of this ship. And no, it won't be my dictor class rehash.
We had a couple universal guides linked in here:
Solo Guide - Included fit from Mazzic Karde and Issac Ignuen- https://www.wckg.net/PVP/solo
Tackle Guide - https://www.wckg.net/PVP/tackling-101
Dictor Guide - https://www.wckg.net/PVP/interdictor-101
General Frigate guide - Tzophiyah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrZg7BHs5ZM T1 Attack Frigates - Dual Prop Solo in Null If you're interested I created a quite detailed video on flying cheap t1 frigates with a dual prop set-up in the context of solo roaming in nullsec. Lots of combat footage with overlaid commentary for the...
- Executioner
- Slasher
- Atron
- Condor
Average cost of a fitted ship is easily under 5mil, and would be significantly less than that if you're go with meta weapons. For the most part lots of easy kills as nobody thinks you can possibly fight back.
Other videos in that dual prop playlist now also features the hulls...
- Kestrel
- Hookbill
- Rifter
Condor - Sarah Umbra
[Condor, Condor]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Type-D Restrained Nanofiber Structure
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Medium Shield Extender II
DDO Scoped Tracking Disruptor I
Warp Disruptor II
Arbalest Compact Light Missile Launcher
Arbalest Compact Light Missile Launcher
Arbalest Compact Light Missile Launcher
[Empty High slot]
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Ionic Field Projector I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile x200
Optimal Range Disruption Script x1
Tracking Speed Disruption Script x1
This one is one of my favs.
Standing fleet could always use more tackles. My original goal for this ship was to create an entry tackle that can be easy to get into but a challenge to be flown well.
Cost wise I have kept all related modules cheap for those who don't want to break a bank to be involved in early PVP.
High slots, - not much to be said here. Compact is a must to get the fitting to work. Your role is not to do DPS. Your role is to get there, grab the target, and make sure they can't warp off.
Med slots - Quad LiF is a must, need the sig reduction from this module. Do not swap it to compact MWD to get the fitting to work. MSE you can pick whatever you want to refit. DDO, this one I have experimented with quite a few utility Ewar, I find this to be the most useful in keeping you alive; more on that later. Warp disruptor II - you really need that extra 4km from tech 2 to make successful tackles, do not downgrade.
Low slots - T1 nano for cheap and fast. Aux for fitting. Nothing fancy here.
Rigs - Hyperspatial, lock range, speed. You need to get to your target fast, often few jumps away. You also often warp after your target warps off and relies on hyperspatial to catch up in front of their escape to tackle. This one is a must. Lock range, I found that your lock range is really limited and even for dangerous fights you want to get on KM, you must dive in to active aggressive module. Ionic field projector pushes your lock range close to 50km. Keeping you at a good range to both lock and decide what you want to do.
Simple flying Instructions:
- Fly at 10-20 degree off target to get close and orbit 15-16km at max speed. Turn on all modules. Overheat when target is pulling off.
- When sitting on a gate, enemy jump in, if cloaky: have MWD on, click approach and lock asap. As soon as target cloaks, spam set max speed (I used +) , to allow your ship to not stop from flying to decloak. If target is not cloaky, decide if you can short or long range tackle.
DDO tracking:
- Blaster ships - learn to use "look at" function in game and see the turret mode to identify if blaster or rail.
- Use optimal range disrupt and orbit at 16km. MWD will swing you out to near 19-20km. Giving you 4km buffer if target is moving around.
- Often these ships have drones, such as Vexor, Thorax, Exeq navy. You can kite the small drones for a short while at this orbit range.
- Trig ships
- Use optimal range if you plan to keep at range 40km+
- If you are going in for tackle, fly between 15km and 24km. Use tracking speed disrupt. You need to be outside neut range for trig cruisers. Optimal does not work here and getting under their guns is only option.
- I would be very careful tackling these cruisers as these 2-5 shot you if their guns land.
- AC and Arty - use the appropriate script here. Optimal for AC and Tracking for Arty.
- Lasers - See above
Few ships you should be very careful tackling: Nano-gangs, gang that is pulling range off gate gong 3-4km/s. (If they have a Keres, Garmur, Orthrus) These force you to pull in and will absolutely shred you. I do not recommend tackling these if they are in a group.
Maulus - Ragvsivm
[Maulus, *gal ewar T2 v2]
F-89 Compact Signal Amplifier
F-89 Compact Signal Amplifier
Signal Amplifier II
Phased Muon Scoped Sensor Dampener
Phased Muon Scoped Sensor Dampener
Phased Muon Scoped Sensor Dampener
5MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive
250mm Light Artillery Cannon I
250mm Light Artillery Cannon I
Small Particle Dispersion Projector I
Small Particle Dispersion Projector I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints II
Acolyte I x6
Republic Fleet EMP S x200
Republic Fleet Proton S x200
Scan Resolution Dampening Script x3
Targeting Range Dampening Script x3
(Note, Kismeteer also flies a maulus as well, here is his more professional fit)
[Maulus, Kismeteer gal ewar T2 v2]
Overdrive Injector System II
Signal Amplifier II
Signal Amplifier II
Drone Navigation Computer II
Remote Sensor Dampener II
Remote Sensor Dampener II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
Small Particle Dispersion Projector I
Small Particle Dispersion Projector I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints II
Warrior II x6
Hail S x1520
Targeting Range Script x1
Targeting Range Dampening Script x3
Scan Resolution Dampening Script x3
Barrage S x1200
Remote Sensor Dampener II x1
Kiting Maulus (150 km targeting range / 147 dampening range)
1. The Fit:
2. The Cost:
Around 2 M ISK only
3. The Training:
Less then 3 months. Gallente Frigate V, Long Range Targeting V, Frequency Modulation V and Capacitor Management V are a must. Sensor Linking V is highly recommended, but IV will do. Try to get Signal Suppression up to IV, same goes to Long Distance Jamming. If you are aspiring Lach or Arazu pilot, this fit is good to begin with and all these skillpoints will be no points wasted.
4. The Reason:
Remote sensor damps are used to reduce the targeting range and the locking time of opponent's ships. This fit is tested and proven very useful while fighting small gangs in Drones or large battleship fleets during TIDI battles.
All three damps can be concentrated onto one target - targeting range damp scripts will reduce opponent’s ship targeting range to obsolete level, giving your damage dealers enough time and space to get into ideal range; scan resolution damp scripts can make it such that a battleship will require ages to lock on target, especially during TIDI battles.
An example of targeting range dampening is a clash between Maulus and hostile Lachesis during the fights outside of ESS. This Maulus has faster locking speed then Lach, so it is able to lock it before Lach does. Lach’s range is usually 175 km and if you apply all 3 damps loaded with targeting reso damp scripts, you will reduce Lach’s targeting range down to 52 km (-123 km; stacking penalties applies ofc), allowing your fleetmates to fully engage the rest of the hostile gang.
Another example is scan resolution dampening possibilities of this Maulus against hostile Rapier during cloaky camps. 3 scan reso damp scripts can prolong Rapier locking time after it uncloaks, giving enough time for blue victims to warp off / to avoid being pinned down by campers.
This fit has 150 km targeting range and 147 km dampening range. Fleet’s command bursts can increase it up to 200-ish. It can be used in all situations and is very useful when interfering with enemy logistics, side-lining an enemy fleet's most powerful ships and countering opponents' own EWAR. This fit has low dps, tho. Its guns and drones are meant to kill capsules and to whore on mobile warp disruptors, capitals, supercapitals and structures.
5. The How:
First and foremost, don't warp into battle with the main fleet. All T1 EWAR ships are made of glass and are meant to do their thing from the distance; off range of hostile guns. FC will likely warp the entire fleet into an engagement at the optimal range of the fleet's damage dealers, which is in most cases too close for this fragile Maulus. I highly advice to always exempt from fleet warp before the fight starts. Because if you don’t do that, you will become one of primary targets as soon as fleet lands. 90% of my Maulus losses were due to me forgetting to exempt from fleet warp. Or me being late to exempt.
So wait for everyone else to warp away. Then, once the battle has started, warp yourself to one of your fleetmates to 100 km (never to FC or to backseat FC). I always warp to 100 from random logi pilot. Logis are sometimes located on better positions then front line brawlers. Once you land, get into your position fast by using your props mode or using your grid bookmarks. Yes, you will need to have a decent amount of bookmarks for every system. Or to create new bookmarks as you fly. You will need different warp-ins when you warp in and out of to the battle, or when you change your firing position on the battlefield. Just make sure not to warp back to the same place you warped out of.
There is a big probability you will land in someone’s bubble most of the time. This is null after all and dictors are integral part of almost every nullsec engagement. So your first warp-in will be a lottery. You could end up in a bubble full of hostile Harpies (ded). Or you could end up in a bubble full of blue logis (not ded).You could end up in the middle of blue smartbombing battleships (ded). Or on top of hostile FC ‘s Monitor (not ded). Rare are the chances of landing on a desired position at your first landing. So be prepared for anything. Even to uncloak your own milcoord by accident. The solution is having bookmarks at least 1000 km up to 10 000 km away from the brawl, so you can land there first. And then direct your ship to a place where bubbles won’t pull you in.
Choose your own targets. EWAR pilots suppose to operate independently from the rest of the fleet. It makes no sense to apply damps to the fleet's primary target because the primary will go down soon. Maulus pilots needs certain amount of modesty and altruism because your zkillboard will not be green as fellow Vigil pilots. So ignore FC's orders given to your fleet’s damage dealers and choose targets that are most appropriate to the situation. Those are usually high-damage offensive ships or ranged damage dealers (such are battleships), EWAR ships (such are Keres, Kitsune or Lach) and all kinds of logi ships. Try to focus on the enemy ships that you think will make the greatest impact on the battle. For example if it is a battle outside of ESS, I usually engage against Lach / Keres or against long range damage dealers such are Vargur.
This fit is meant to operate at its falloff range at 147 km, not optimal range (which is 65 km).If you go to optimal, most hostile ships will be able to instapop you and most tacklers will be able to reach you before you warp off. Falloff range is not ideal, but it is a good trade-off for you in order to stay alive most of the engagement. Your damps will definetly land on target even if you are 147 km away. But damps won’t be effective to their full extent.
Keep moving all the time. But without your props on. You have small signature radius so you are tough to hit as long as your ship is in lateral motion. A stationary Maulus has no transversal and is easy to hit. Keep your MWD off as much as you can; your MWD increases your signature radius dramatically and makes you easier to lock and then to hit you. Use it only when you need to get into the position fast or when you need to burn away from bubble. You also need your capacitor to be stable during the whole engagement. And MWD drains your cap. So use it wisely.
Keep your eyes on the battlefield, especially on enemy tacklers and incoming drones. Once your damps takes effect, your opponents will try to take you out. Try to stay aligned to a celestial or to a bookmark so you can warp out at the first sign of incoming ceptor or swarm of drones. And then warp back in.
If you are new to this game and are willing to experience heavy TIDI battles, but you have no skills or isks or Omega to fly doctrine ships, I recommend flying this Maulus. Five newbeans can make fifteen hostile bittervet battleship pilots completely nuts by applying scan reso damp scripts on them.
Looking forward to see you on grid.
o7
Rags, scout and EWAR pilot. Representing D3co
Merlin - Touch Grass
[Merlin, Touch Grass's Merlin]
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Medium Shield Extender II
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
Modal Light Electron Particle Accelerator I,Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Electron Particle Accelerator I,Antimatter Charge S
Small EM Shield Reinforcer I
Small EM Shield Reinforcer I
Small Thermal Shield Reinforcer I
I'm Touch Grass, and the mighty mighty Merlin is my favorite ship. Bottom-line up front: the handout NBI Merlin stays very effective, especially if you stuff T2 tank and nanofibers on it along with training Caldari Frigate V.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/103821569/ here's one I lost recently, the guns don't matter you can use non-meta ones instead. Can muck with it based on budget, but even this "blingy" version is still something you can replace with like 6 minutes of ratting. Medium Shield Extender II and Damage Control II are top priority to add EHP, nanofiber IIs are great for extra speed, and the tech 2 scram only has to make a difference for one expensive tackle in a hundred losses to be an isk positive upgrade. Restrained MWD is the best meta variant since it blooms your sig the least. Power grid is way tighter than CPU, if you're short either plug in a cheap EG-601 or offline the 2nd gun.
If you have perfect fitting skills, including Advanced Weapon Upgrades V, you can just barely fit a third gun with the EG-601 implant. Your damage output basically doesn't matter anyhow, so I don't think it's worthwhile. If you wanna brawl people in like faction warfare or something splurge on a faction shield extender and use that saved PG to online the third gun.
Cost: 3.5m each, closer to 2m if you cut the T2 scram, more consistently this price if you make the hulls locally and Jump Freighter over the modules, rather than relying on the vagaries of MJ-5F9 market seeding. Overkill bling is a Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender for more EHP and 4 less base PG usage at the price of an extra 12m ISK. Tech 2 guns with void are like 500k a pop, I don't bother getting the extra like 40 dps. You'll probably want to fly an empty pod, most useful implants would balloon your costs for only marginal benefit. The exceptions are PG-601 if your fitting skills are lagging a bit, and WS-605 to add a bit of mobility. WS-605 is another like 700k, the main benefit is upping warp speed from 5 to 5.25 AU/s, which is still within the sub-6 AU/s regime where extra warp speed improves acceleration into and deceleration from warp.
As far as the skill train goes, you don't need any fitting skills to V, and you can always remove a gun until your fitting skills come in. The NBI Merlin is designed to be flyable day 1, so use the modules on that ship if you don't have the requirements for tech 2 tank yet. Caldari Frigate V is the nicest addition, and that unlocks a bunch of other neat ships (buzzard, manticore, kitsune, harpy), but outside of that there's little you need that you wouldn't want for all your other ships anyhow.
Anyhow, Merlins are great because they're fast, cheap, and have the tank to get away with some of the mistakes other tackle ships can't. Learning light tackle is like, 95% trying to grab things and seeing what happens, and you lose a ship and might not be able to reship before the fleet ends. IMO it's best to get as much margin for error as possible and make the ship extremely affordable so you can lose a ton of them figuring things out - the Merlin is the tankiest T1 tackle frigate, so it wins out as a ship for learning tackle.
The very basics of how to use it is to time your warp-in/engagement (usually with the rest of fleet), pick something that looks like it might be expensive and tackleable, and try to burn within scram range to grab it. Once you do, prop off and orbit at 500 is often the safest place to be, but it can vary (especially if they have smartbombs, usually on battleships/marauders/dreads, you'll want to be at like 7.5km for that and often via manual piloting instead of orbit-at command.) Basically everything is more expensive than you are, with the only exceptions being T1 frigate or destroyer fleets, those can actually go isk-positive by baiting tackle into guns that apply well. You're also very useful at gates for scram + web to keep people from crashing back (at least those that are big enough that you can lock them before they reach).
Slasher - Dengar Ashller
[Slasher, TD Slasher]
Damage Control II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
1MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
Balmer Series Compact Tracking Disruptor I, Tracking Speed Disruption Script
Small Energy Nosferatu II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
Small Projectile Ambit Extension I
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
Hail S x480
Republic Fleet Depleted Uranium S x480
Republic Fleet EMP S x480
Republic Fleet Fusion S x480
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S x480
Optimal Range Disruption Script x1
Agency 'Overclocker' SB3 Dose I x1
1. The Fit: see above Editors note: https://zkillboard.com/kill/122701161/ new fit he's flying!
2. The Cost: Jita sell price for the fit is about 8.6 million at the moment, if you buy the fit off MJ- market it's about 14.5 million.
3. The Training:
This training plan assumes you've finsihed the 135 day newbean skill (which you really shoud) and have the Magic 14 skills all trained to V.
To train all the relevant skills to level IV with default attributes and no remaps (Int 20, Per 20, Cha 19, Wil 20, Mem 20) it will take about 46 days.
Fuel Conservation I
Frequency Modulation I
Long Distance Jamming I
Capacitor Emission Systems II
Fuel Conservation II
Thermodynamics II
Frequency Modulation II
Long Distance Jamming II
Capacitor Emission Systems III
Fuel Conservation III
Propulsion Jamming III
Thermodynamics III
Frequency Modulation III
Long Distance Jamming III
Afterburner IV
Small Projectile Turret IV
Repair Systems IV
Minmatar Frigate IV
Capacitor Emission Systems IV
Fuel Conservation IV
Weapon Disruption IV
Weapon Destabilization I
Weapon Destabilization II
Weapon Destabilization III
Propulsion Jamming IV
Thermodynamics IV
Frequency Modulation IV
Acceleration Control IV
Long Distance Jamming IV
Gunnery V
Weapon Destabilization IV
Small Projectile Turret V
Small Autocannon Specialization I
Small Autocannon Specialization II
Small Autocannon Specialization III
Small Autocannon Specialization IV
This should be more then enough for the fit to work. If you find you like the fit you'll eventually want all the above skills at V. It can make a lot of difference in combat vs pilot that has all V. But it takes additional 258 days to do that. Which is a lot of training time. If training further prioritize all the gunnery skills, and train the electronic systems skills last.
4: The Reason: Slasher has very squishy tank and low DPS, but it makes up by having smallest signature radius of all ships in New Eden and 2nd best base velocity of all T1 frigates, making it very hard to hit with turrets. It also has quickest locking time of any T1 frigate, even quicker than some interceptors. On top of that it has huge bonus to capacitor use of tackle modules making it more cap stable than just about any other ship while holding tackle under energy neutralizers. All that makes it best T1 tackle frigate by far. It can also be used as best cheap instalocker. There's a lot to like about slasher and it's my favorite ship. My favorite fit is meant for 1v1 PVP and takes advantage of slashers small signature radius, velocity and agility and can surprise stronger opponents. There's no better feeling than when you kill stronger target with lesser ship.
5: The How:
The basic pricniple: If your target has short ranged weapons load Optimal Range Disruption Script, orbit at 6700km and shoot. If your target has long ranged weapons, load Tracking Speed Disruption Script, orbit at 500km and shoot. In both cases wait until the target slowly dies as it can't hit you at all while you slowly tickle it to death with your low DPS guns. Avoid anything that shoots missilles.
Fighting blaster boats
The fit can kill pretty much any small blaster ship that doesn't have good range bonuses. Catalysts are perfect target. Enyos have range bonus but are still killable with a bit of luck. Navy Comets also. Might work against Raptors too. Avoid AB fitted Atrons or dual web AB Merlins. And avoid blaster Hecates at all cost. For medium and large blaster ships orbit them at 500 with tracking disruption script. They won't be able to track you unless they use webifier on you and even under single webifier you might get away by not getting hit. You may not be able to break their tank but able to survive holding the tackle until your friends arrive.
Fighting autocannon boats
Autocannon tracking is worse than blasters but have longer range, so Oprimal Range disruption script won't help you there. You will want to avoid small AC boats with tracking bonuses as they'll be able to track you even if you load Tracking Speed Disruption script. Small AC boats are tough to fight becuase you have AC's too but most of them have better AC bonuses and tank than you do. Avoid rifters, wolfs, thrashers, svipuls, sabres. Medium and larger Autocannons won't be able to track you unless they have webs so orbit at 500 with Tracking Disruption Script.
Fighting laser boats
Energy turrets have pretty bad tracking. Doesn't matter if it's pulse (short range) or beam (long range) always orbit them at 500 with tracking disruption script. Retributions, Slicers, Crusaders, Punishers and so on will all have very hard time tracking you. Ships with larger Energy turrets are even less of a problem, except Phantasms have insane tracking bonuses, so might get just one lucky shot that will be enough to alpha you.
Fighting railgun boats
You should be fine orbiting at 500 with Tracking Disruption Script unless the target has tracking bonuses. Avoid rail Hecates for example.
Artillery boats
Should be fine orbiting at 500 with Tracking Disruption Script. Except small artillery boats with tracking bonuses like thrashers or arty wolf will hit you.
Missile boats
As I already mentioned avoid at all cost
Drone boats
Hulls with drone bonuses are best to be avoided. If it's some unbonused cruiser hull with turrets it may ba able to track you at 6700k. So you'll have to tighten the orbit. The more you tighten the orbit, the more damage will be dealt by its drones. Your best bet is to orbit at 500 and pray to shoot down the drones before your repper runs out of charges. Small drones will hit you very well even with unbonused hulls, medium drones will hit but with less accuracy, heavy will miss almost 100% of the time.
Ammo and charges
Depleted Uranium has range and tracking bonuses so load it when shooting drones. If you target isn't an oversized AB fit switch the webifier to drones to shoot them down faster.
Hail S - shoot cruiser or larger targets
EMP/Fusion/Plasma - shoot destroyers and frigates, choose ammo type on where you think your target has resistance hole. One general use EMP on shiled tanked and Fusion on armor tanked opponents. If not sure use Plasma. EM and Explosive holes are often patched with rigs and Plasma is best overall if you're not sure what resists the target has or if the target patched the hole.
Agency 'Overclocker' will make your velocity a bit higher, the faster you are, the harder you are to track and it's cheap so it's recommended but not neccessary at all for the fit to work
Cap stability/Energy Neutralizers
What'a really awesome bout the fit is it's cap stable with all the modules active when the nosferatu is activated on the target. Even under severe neut pressure it should still be able to run at least the scram and AB.
Webifiers
When target uses a webifier they slow you down making you easier to hit. Depending on tracking of their guns they my still not be able to hit you. But sometimes you will die because of webs.
Now the bad things about this fit. It's very low tank, so every mistake gets punished very quickly and you will die a lot. But it will feel so rewarding when you pull it off and kill a stronger opponent. It has an AB meaning most of the ships around our space will be faster than you until you scram them. Scramming brawlers is usally easy because they want to ram into you to blast you. Catching kiters on the other hand is very tough unless they make the mistake and land in your scram range. Which does happen now and then because you're just a slasher and they understimate you. Trying to burn after them will be a quick loss for you. You may also watch the kiters behaviour. Does he tend to warp always at the same distance to objects? Use it to your advantage to catch him. It also isn't the easiest fit to manage in combat. There's a lot of active modules you have to manage. Repper has to be used sparingly not to overrep and waste charges but activating it to late means you're dead. Having low DPS also means that often you'll have your target right where you want it winning the fight but it will take long time to kill it so there's very good chance someone blue will either see you fighting it and come help yos shooting it or the target will have time to call his friends before you kill him. So you will often feel like you've been robbed of a solo kill. But that's Eve.
DISCLAIMER:
I didn't make the above fit myself, I "stole" it from a youtuber named Chris Jartha. I just tweaked the cargohold content a bit to my needs. So I don't want to take any credit for it.
There's no better way of showing what the fit can do and how to fly it than seeing it. So I'm linking two of his videos.
Slasher vs Comet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYb8T7yYwE&t=22s
Slasher vs Confessor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5qiYphmhT4
Slasher - Tzophiyah
[Slasher, Tzophiyah T1 DualProp Tackle Slasher]
Damage Control I
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
125mm Gatling AutoCannon I
125mm Gatling AutoCannon I
Small Ghoul Compact Energy Nosferatu
125mm Gatling AutoCannon I
Small Explosive Armor Reinforcer I
Small Kinetic Armor Reinforcer I
Small Nanobot Accelerator I
EMP S x3000
Republic Fleet EMP S x2100
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S x1500
Nanite Repair Paste x8
Republic Fleet Fusion S x1500
DualProp Tackle Slasher
A potential next step up within T1 tackle frigates at roughly the same minimal cost and minimal skill training requirement as NBI handouts.
Light tackle is a critical part of any fleet and an excellent way to gain experience with PvP in the cheapest possible ships. While flying in this role does involve some manual piloting and decision making, ironically actually more of it than the more skill point intensive and expensive mainline DPS ships that mostly just anchor up and press F1 on broadcasts, there certainly is some repetitiveness to the tactic of spiral in, apply tackle, orbit, and wait to die haha. [If you don't even know what I mean by spiraling in keep an eye out for Newbean 101 Tackle classes being pinged.]
To really increase survivability involves jumping up to T2 ships: interceptors (like the Multi-tool Stiletto fit I posted about before) or assault frigates like the RamJag. However one way to add more piloting into the equation without straying beyond the newbean T1 realm is to fly a dual prop ship.
Dual Prop
Dual Prop is when both an MWD (microwarp drive) and an AB (afterburner) prop mod are fit to a ship (note they can't both be activated at the same time). The MWD is used to move quickly into position on grid, while the AB is used to maintain positioning when you don't want a big sig bloom or are scrammed thereby shutting off your MWD.
The most common use of dual prop (outside of lazy ESS defense haha) is probably in solo fits to try and control range in 1-on-1 engagements within scram. In this and many other scenarios, the obvious comparison to make is using a midslot to fit an AB versus fitting a web. What it comes down to is that a webbed ship with an AB on is going to be faster than the unwebbed base speed. For a numeric example let's look at an Atron which has three mids (mwd, scram, web xor ab).
The Atron's propless speed is 525m/s. With a compact AB running it has a speed of 1319m/s. A T2 web being applied will drop the AB speed down to 527m/s which is essentially the same as the propless speed. However an AB can be overheated to provide a speed boost (1716m/s webbed down to 686m/s and thereby >100m/s faster than any propless T1 frigate), while heating a web only increases its range and you can't overheat your hull's base speed. Furthermore a t2 AB or a meta web is going to see a net benefit even without heat. Therefore if you're flying an Atron and want to get up close and stay up close to apply some blaster DPS to a target, or maintain a distance just within scram range and fire from 8km with your rails, an AB will help you with the range (note I just said "range" here) more than a web. In other words Atron fit with mwd+scram+ab will have range control fighting an Atron fit with mwd+scram+web. The Atron with the AB (despite it being webbed), will be faster than the Atron without the AB (despite it not being webbed). And this extends more generally to a dual prop Atron against most T1 frigates fit with a web.
However while dual prop is often better than a web for range control, there are some big downsides. The first and foremost is fitting room. A small AB requires ten times the powergrid a web does. This means not spending that powergrid on other modules (e.g. no room for a shield extender or needing to use smaller guns) and often additionally necessitates fitting power rigs and/or modules in slots that could otherwise be used for tank/dps/etc. Next is that without a web the raw speed of the ship you are firing at is going to be higher so launcher weapon systems won't apply as well, and if you are using the AB to orbit with a high angular velocity (or even if you aren't trying to do that but everyone is just moving faster) then your turret tracking will be negatively impacted to the same extent your target's is. Your damage application is mostly only relevant to fighting a ship of roughly the same size and not when your goal is trying to tackle something much bigger, but that is why dual prop for those 1-v-1 engagements is often reserved for ships with turret weapon systems that get a tracking bonus. The Taranis, Fed Navy Comet, and Firetail all come to mind.
Finally with respect to fleets, while a higher speed/transversal can help you personally stay alive, it does nothing directly for any of your fleetmates. A web on the other hand slows the target down for everyone's benefit. Of course you staying alive is indirectly a benefit to your fleet members, and an AB decreases incoming damage from all sources not just one target which is handy if multiple people are shooting at you. On the other hand if you mess up the piloting in an active tanked ship where you're using an AB to speed tank you're more likely to die quickly compared to a buffer tank. On the other other hand if...
Hold on a sec. We aren't here to discuss maximizing the effectiveness of light tackle, and it's going to vary depending on engagement profile regardless, so let's just look at a fun fit.
A Fit
Probably the most obvious option for newbean dual prop is the Slasher. It gets a tracking bonus, has 4 mids so you can still run with full tackle, and autocannons don't require cap and only a measly bit of pg/cpu so it won't require any fitting rigs. Here's a ~2mil isk day one t1 version but things can be pretty much straight upgraded to t2 as skills increase.
Compared to a buffer shield tanked Slasher your ehp is going to be halved so you can get alpha'ed off the field much more easily. You'll be relying on speed/sig tanking with much more involved manually piloting to try and mitigate damage enough to be able to get off your SAAR charges.
Flying it
The concept here is basically the same as a MSE fit, except that you have more things to manage and less leeway to make mistakes. You want to end up in a close orbit around your scrammed and webbed target, the exact range depending on its weapon systems. Typically for turrets you set orbit at 500 to maximize transversal while for launchers you set orbit at ~5000 to maximize absolute speed, but neuts, small short range weapons you can get out of optimal on, smartbombs, grapplers, etc. can change things.
Use the MWD to spiral into tackle range keeping your transversal up and trying to stay away from any enemy anti-tackle. Once you are nearing scram range then disengage the MWD (you have to wait for it to finish cycling) and engage the AB (while scramming, webbing, and activating your nos on the target to steal cap for your SAAR). Use heat liberally on whatever modules you need to especially the scram for initial tackle and the AB if the incoming damage is too much for you to tank.
Your SAAR should always be overheated to take advantage of the increased rep amount, but you don't want to overrep so you can't leave it running all the time. Also make sure you have auto reload disabled for it since non-paste cycles are still better than waiting a minute for it to reload.
It's hard to come up with all the different combat scenarios because there are so many and you essentially have an entirely new tool at your disposal. You can more successfully disengage by spiraling out from a target under AB even when scrammed. You can offline the MWD and overheat the nos to try and keep enough cap for your repper if you're hanging on in tight on something. If you get scrammed when just boating about on grid you don't need to worry as much since you have the AB to fall back to and can defensively web/scram. Indeed you'll have range control against the vast majority of frigates (can tear through any fleet ceptors you catch) and could even try to tentatively scram kite to hold something like a dual web hecate (at least until they switch to null).
Piloting is not newbean friendly, and if you mess up by burning directly at something or don't notice you're being targeting by a RLML Caracal or Vedmak or equivalent (or even not mess up but just find yourself in an impossible situation) you can get popped before you even know what is happening and have no time to activate your rep or get out. It is though the type of fit I enjoyed flying while waiting for Interceptors to train and even later on when I didn't have the isk to throw tens of millions away on flying them all the time. If you want to get into something difficult and more advanced early on, dual prop is one way to give it a shot (and it's only a couple million isk for the fully fitted ship eh). Then when you do start flying Stilettos/Maledictions/RamJags all those piloting skills will still be relevant and things will actually get much easier and more forgiving thanks to their sweet hull bonuses :D
edit:
I also created a detailed video guide on dual prop for t1 frigs, albeit with the backdrop of solo roaming rather than tackle for a fleet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrZg7BHs5ZM
Tristan - Anthur Nakarkos
There are two fits here, first a kitey one, then a Brawly one.
[Tristan, Anthur Nakarkos Kitey Tristan]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Medium Shield Extender II
Faint Scoped Warp Disruptor
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Hobgoblin II x3
Nanite Repair Paste x50
[Tristan, Anthur Nakarkos Brawly Tristan]
Damage Control II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
Drone Damage Amplifier II
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
Light Ion Blaster II
[Empty High slot]
Light Ion Blaster II
Small Transverse Bulkhead I
Small Transverse Bulkhead I
Small Transverse Bulkhead I
Hobgoblin II x8
Nanite Repair Paste x87
Null S x3000
Void S x3236
I can't believe these aren't already on the list, these are the single most fun I've had for practically no money in EVE: Tristans.
1. The Fit: Several options, and if you can think of a reasonably coherent fit yourself, it'll probably work. The Tristan is an incredibly versatile ship with fits for almost all types of frigate combat: brawling, scram-kiting, kiting. My fits may be outdated, as it's been a good few years since I last flew them (or played EVE), but as mentioned before, the ship is so versatile that even a little tweaking on the base fit archetypes will bring them up to scratch.
Kiting: https://zkillboard.com/kill/85093773/
Was not my preferred method but definitely works in NS/LS. LS probably better due to frigates being more common to find and fight there and this has issues fighting up against bigger ships.
Brawling (dualprop): https://zkillboard.com/kill/84991203/
My favourite tristan to fly. Dualprop gave it versatility when roaming in nullsec, as even if you get scrammed, you can still use the AB to get under the guns of larger ships which is a incredibly important survival tool for frigates. For a true brawling setup, swap one of the prop mods for a web: ditch the MWD if you're in lowsec (and upgrade the guns from ions to neutrons, fitting dependent), ditch the AB if you're in null.
2. The Cost: Peanuts. 5-10m for each ship fully fit and loaded.
3. The Training: Minimal. T2 drones and guns go a long way, drones prio'd over guns. Meta/compact modules if your fitting skills are on the lower end.
4: The Reason: When someone sees a Tristan on dscan, they have no idea how it's going to be flown or fit, which is an edge other frigates don't have. They also allow for a ton of fitting experimentation on your own, I've flown tackle variants on an alt for my main in a bigger ship, neuting variants, tanky tackle variants, etc. Varying success with those, but as a platform for experimenting with your own fits on, it's top-tier.
5: The How: For the kiting variant, you can probably have a lot of success following standing fleet around. You're small, fast, and also not scramming targets so you can get to a neut and probably aren't a high priority for them to shoot when you're on grid so you can get on the kill.
My preferred strategy though is specifically for the brawling/dualprop setup, which I used to great success in Delve a couple years ago. Filament around until you're in hostile space and bring along a t1 mobile anchorable bubble (they're not expensive and only require a low level of anchoring) and check the ingame map/zkill/etc for how busy systems are in the region you ended up in. Warp to one of the two busiest gates in the system, then warp from that to the other busy gate at 100km. Anchor your bubble at this spot and hover around the edge of it on the side away from the gate, so you can escape if something too dangerous lands. And now you wait until stuff lands in the bubble, and then you kill them. You are a very cheap ship, so don't be afraid to go after outlandish stuff - you might nab a kill or two you're proud of: https://zkillboard.com/kill/84144529/
[Caldari Navy Hookbill, Dreadeye Dualprop Caldari Navy Hookbill]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Ballistic Control System II
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Caldari Navy Medium Shield Extender
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Rocket Launcher II
Rocket Launcher II
Rocket Launcher II
Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Mjolnir Rage Rocket x750
Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket x800
Scourge Rage Rocket x935
Nova Rage Rocket x800
Inferno Rage Rocket x750
Nanite Repair Paste x150
Scourge Javelin Rocket x600
The Caldari Navy Hookbill (faction frigate)
Solo fights.
The navy frigates.
In general the Navy frigates are a very powerful upgrade from their t1 version, cheaper version(10m) than the t2 frigates but often better. They are widely used in faction warfare.
Can they be used in null sec - Yes.
I've flown the kite slicer a lot in null it is also great and there is a post about the Slicer else where in this thread.
One day a friend recommended the dualprop Hookbill, i took it for a spin and i was sold. Today it is my go to faction frigate.
The stats:
Caldari Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
25% bonus to kinetic Light Missile and Rocket damage
20% bonus to EM, explosive, thermal Light Missile and Rocket damage
10% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket max velocity
See more here The Hookbill
Rocket can shoot out to 13km
Faction rockets out to 15km
Javelins out to 23km to target kiters
Why use a faction frigate in null solo, don't you just get blobbed?
Short answer is - Yes!
However if you fly smart and try to seperate smaller targets, you can for certain kill small stuff.
I often go for dictors and tackle trying to catch me. Warping to the ESS at range and then pull range is a good way to seperate them and kill them of.
You can kill larger stuff if you get under their guns and with the price on this fit you can afford to take a chance. And i often see pilots rush to catch to you, because the think it's an easy target - take advantage of that.
In null we almost all fly with MWD.
With the dualprop,web and bonus to missile and rocket velocity(ekstra range) you can dictate range on your opponent. E.g. A sabre burns to you and scrams you. You turn your ab on and web it and keep at range at 7500meters(scram kiting) he can't hit you due to his falloff and often they don't bother to load barrage, they just want to tackle you. If they load long range ammo, you can keep traversel up with the ab on and orbit or manual pilot.
Bonus. If you get scrammed on a gatecamp while burning to the gate, you can use the AB.
The fit: you can change the faction Shield extender to a named one, and cuts the price significantly.
This fit is 42m in MJ- and 30m with the named shield extender.
The kills:
A few sabre kills
- https://zkillboard.com/kill/112324873/
-https://zkillboard.com/kill/107710254/
Bonus catch:
HNI https://zkillboard.com/kill/97654777/
Pacifier https://zkillboard.com/kill/116889814/
[Caldari Navy Hookbill, *Simulated Caldari Navy Hookbill Fitting]
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Crosslink Compact Ballistic Control System
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Warp Scrambler II
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Rocket Launcher II
Rocket Launcher II
Rocket Launcher II
Small Core Defense Field Extender II
Small EM Shield Reinforcer II
Small Core Defense Field Extender II
Scourge Rage Rocket x1000
Nanite Repair Paste x35
Scourge Javelin Rocket x1000
Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket x1000
I know Kismeteer said only one fit per person, but given how that rule's already been broken a couple of times and putting new blood into this ship list sounds like a good idea, I'll put up another one. Hookbills have been traditionally called Secretion Disk in my hangars, but I'm debating renaming it to either "runtime exception" or "EternalBlue." I stole this fit from a Rote Kapelle guy who killed me with it, and I can see why he liked it.
The original fit, and the fit that I fly, uses a faction shield extender instead of a meta one. Unfortunately, a T2 shield extender overloads both PG and CPU pretty heavily, so in order to remove bling for an NBI fit I had to go directly to meta. A similar story exists for the ballistic control system, where a T2 module will overload the CPU to around 104% requiring a pretty hefty CPU implant to make it work. Unlike the shield extender, though, I don't recommend getting a faction BCS to compensate for the lack of a T2 upgrade. Those things are expensive, a Cal Navy BCS is worth literally 12x the Hookbill hull itself. Stick with the meta one. You could also maybe get faction webs since those are pretty integral to the fit, but those have the same problem as the BCS albeit less pronouced. Also do not recommend.
Proof:
https://zkillboard.com/kill/115400655/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/113111140/
The Cost:
Current market rates put this at 52.21m in MJ. This can be reduced by swapping the T2 rigs for T1 ones, but I wouldn't recommend meta downing the launchers themselves because you lose the Rage and Javelin rockets. T1 rigs bring the cost down to 31.89m in MJ, but you lose about 700 EHP and in some of the fights I was in that really would've mad the difference since I walked off with less than 25% hull, so make your decision as you and your wallet see fit. That said, if you come into a lot of money and feel comfortable pimping your ride with that faction shield extender I mentioned, it brings the price up to 66m.
The Skills:
There's four skills that'll be a killer for this: CPU Management, Rockets, Missile Launcher Operation, and Power Grid Management. All of these need to be trained to 5. Rockets and Missile Launcher Operation need to be trained up so that you can use the T2 rockets, while the management skills are needed because this fit is very tight on resources so you'll need to eke out as much as you can get. Fortunately for you, shield rigs have a sig radius drawback instead of a fitting room one that launcher rigs have, so you don't need to train rig skills to make the fit work. However, Shield Upgrades V will probably be necessary as well.
Verdict: 12 days for the skills necessary to unlock all the components of it, 24 days to finish the fitting skills you'll probably need to make it all fit. For continuing education, focus on shield and missile skills to drive up your EHP and DPS as far as it can go; I'm able to get about 9000 EHP and 136.7 DPS out of this thing with the expensive stuff because I have Shield Management and Shield Operation to 5, as well as missile skills like Target Nav Production and Missile Bombardment and Warhead Upgrades and Missile Projection (that one's important). I'll note here, though, don't train Tactical Shield Manipulation to 5; because of the way shield recharge mechanics work, doing so is actually a nerf to passive shield tanking.
Why I Fly:
As I mentioned in my other post, brawling is a real Chad's game. High damage weapons at close ranges is where it's at. However, the Hookbill is a Caldari ship, they're not deisgned around being up close and personal with rockets, that's why we have Minmatar ships. Rocket Jackdaws and blaster Rokhs are a meme, so what's going on here? This is what's referred to as scramkiting, a slightly more cowardly way of playing brawler but I consider it to be a brawler nonetheless because it's in scram range. This allows us to utilize the range bonus of the Hookbill by keeping at a carefully controlled range usually outside of the enemy's while maximizing our returns on the damage bonus by using high-damage weapons and the kind of ammo that gets the strongest damage bonus. While usually using close range weapons forces us to trade range for power, the missile velocity bonus means we don't have to make that trade, really. We can have power and we can wield it outside of where they can wield theirs. This also allows us to tie in the biggest strength of the Hookbill: five mid slots. Many cruisers don't get that many. This means that any Hookbill you see flying around in space has some crazy shit going on in their mid slot rack that lets them do things you won't believe. The other Hookbill fit in this thread by Dreadeye took advantage of this by dual-propping, using both an afterburner and MWD to allow him to run down a target and keep up speed/range control once scrammed, and dual prop setups are great, don't get me wrong. However, here I use the five mids to use a dual web setup. One web can slow an enemy down to a crawl, so two webs makes it even slower. That means even if the enemy has a web too, I'll still be faster than them unless they have a funky dual-web setup, have friends also webbing me, or are using a Daredevil which gets bonuses to web strength. This all combines into a deceptively well-rounded and heavy hitting little frigate which feels like a hammer of reality slamming down on the enemy as it absolutely clowns on navy frigates any day (though they'll have trouble catching up to Mazzic's Slicers). And they call it a natural kiter or sniper, what do they know?
How To Fly:
This fit is primarily geared for faction warfare frig-on-frig combat, which does decrease its utility somewhat in a nullsec organization like Horde. However, with direct enlistment and a sig for faction warfare, this isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, I use it when grinding for faction projectile ammo to keep the MJ market stocked often. Of course, that doesn't mean it's useless in nullsec. A dual-web Hookbill will be useful as a secondary tackle ship that immediately follows an interceptor, since the AB doesn't provide sig bloom meaning it won't be easy to hit for something that doesn't have its own web or painter, even if it makes it harder to catch up to something.
In either case, whether you're dunking on frigates or slowing down other things, there's a few things you'll want to be doing:
- Get Ready. This means different specific actions depending on what you're doing, but in general you're sizing up the situation. Where are you? Where is your prey? What is your prey? Can you tell what they're capable of? What else is going on around you? This is predominantly situational awareness more than anything, but if you don't have this you're going to die no matter what you're flying. Will they try to be kitey and run out of range of your scram/web before you can lock them down? MWD fit Slicers are really good at doing this, and there's a good chance your Javelin rockets won't be able to reach out to them, so you may not want to take this fight. Will they want to brawl with you and bet their guns can win a DPS race? This won't be a huge issue if you're in a Scout NVY-X site, but an Enyo or Jaguar or bigger might be willing to take that bet. Do they have damage projection capacities like you and can still hurt even at range? Other Hookbills have a good chance of being able to counter your elite PvP strategy, and most certainly anything that has range and tracking bonuses will be serious contenders, and larger ships that you're slowing down in nullsec might be able to hit to your range normally. Think about whether it's feasable to get under their guns from where you both are in a timely manner, and what the orbit range for getting under their guns may entail. Also take into consideration what else is in system. If friendly ships are nearby and ready to assist, your odds go up. If there are no friendlies or you suspect your target has friends, they might respond to help him. If you decide to take the fight, get yourself into position either at zero on the plex warp-in beacon or aligned to the target ready for an xxx.
- Lock Them Down, Set Your Range. Your webs are slightly longer range than your scram, so I wouldn't recommend heating your webs for extra range. If they get out of your scram but stay in your webs, they can warp off very easily. However, heating your scram is probably a pretty good idea to catch them before they can truly get out of range of you. You can stop heating after the webs are on, since you don't want to burn out your scram. Either way, once you have your scram and both your webs churning, the target isn't going anywhere and you can start keeping your distance properly. You don't want to Keep At Range, not really, since that leaves your transversal at basically zero and arty ships will thank you for the killmark. Set your orbit to roughly 1.5km inside your cold scram's range. Usually for frigate fights you don't want to just let your orbit do your work for you, because it leaves you vulnerable to getting slingshotted and the predictability means people can come in and swat you. However, this guy is dual webbed, he's not gonna be going fast enough to slingshot you. Turn your AB on too, to make sure you have that speed.
- Shoot and Watch. For the most part, you can use the faction rockets on them, however don't be afraid to switch damage types if you feel like you should. Rage will work nice in nullsec when you're grabbing something like a cruiser, but for frig fights you may want to consider switching to Javelin since it has some nice range. Javelin saved me on that Vigil Fleet kill, since he managed to break out of my tackle. I could still hit him with the range Javelin afforded me, and he didn't warp off because we were both in hull and he thought he could win the race. If your enemy has missile range disruptors, this can also be solved with Javelin. One thing that will be an issue for you in this is if the enemy has drones; Tristans and Algoses (Algosi?) will be a particular pain since they're bonused, and Dragoons may also be neuting you during this so I'd recommend avoiding those completely. Otherwise, if drones come out and they're annoying you, you can switch to Javelin and take one web off the target to apply it to the drones shooting at you. Missiles have guaranteed damage and drones don't have that much health, so with the application that Javelin rockets have and the application assistance a web provides, you can start picking off drones one by one. Sure, the enemy ship isn't getting damaged, but drones can be a valuable source of damage and can't be reloaded here, which means defanging them like this is worth thinking aboutOne thing to remember about this ship is like any other brawling ship, you need to commit and not back down. If you decide to take the fight, trying to remove yourself from it once it's started will more often that not make your death easier for them. If you're going to commit, commit to the end.
Crow - Plass Gruvedrift
[Crow, iCrow]
F-89 Compact Signal Amplifier
Overdrive Injector System I
Warp Disruptor II
F-90 Compact Sensor Booster
F-90 Compact Sensor Booster
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Light Missile Launcher II
Light Missile Launcher II
Light Missile Launcher II
Light Missile Launcher II
Small EM Shield Reinforcer I
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I
Scourge Fury Light Missile x1212
Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile x212
Nanite Repair Paste x50
Scan Resolution Script x2
Instant-Lock Crow:
Extremely niche fit, but I keep on in my hangar at all times; with 2 scan resolution scripts, this turns into an instant-lock Crow. If you find yourself needing to catch something with a cloak, or something that aligns instantly, or just something tough to catch, these little buggers will do the job. If you can afford to do so, I recommend upshipping the point to a Caldari Navy Warp Disruptor (for the extra point range while you wait for your MWD to kick in). Power grid is very tight, so you may have to drop a missile launcher to keep the insta-lock feature (which is the entire point of this 'build') 2) The Cost:
In MJ- currently: under 30 mil (110 mil with a Caldari Navy Warp Disruptor)
3) Skill Training:
Minimums to sit in:
Caldari Frigate V
Spaceship Command III
Interceptors IV
Evasive Maneuvering V
Navigation III
Propulsion Jamming IV
CPU Management III
Long Range Targeting I
High Speed Maneuvering III
Afterburner III
*Arbalest Compact Light Missile Launchers - Light Missiles I, Missile Launcher Operation II
*T2 Light Missile Launchers - Light Missile Specialization I, Light Missiles V, Missile Launcher Operation III
4) Why I fly, and always keep on in my hangar:
These are a critical piece of any gatecamp (not this hull in particular, but an insta-lock ship with a disruptor), and it may be necessary on short notice to catch someone. Additionally, we get a lot of fast-moving traffic through our home space, it's nice to guarantee that hostiles can't get away from your fleet. You can set up on an in-gate, sebos on, point pre-heated and selected, and instantly lock whatever comes through. Note: this ship is NOT intended to kill other ships, just to keep them from warping. It fills a very specific role, and performs poorly outside that role. These ships bring a utility to fleets that, while not often required, are crucial to the success of those operations, and it's enjoyable seeing people panic as they can't warp off.
*Arbalests are recommended if you don't have CPU/PWG to fly the exact fit, these will offer more room in the fit, if your skills are high enough, I recommend T2 launchers.
Hound - Jack Lagash
[Hound, Gotta Blast]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Missile Guidance Computer II
Parallel Enduring Target Painter
1MN Afterburner II
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Bomb Launcher I
Upgraded 'Malkuth' Torpedo Launcher
Upgraded 'Malkuth' Torpedo Launcher
Upgraded 'Malkuth' Torpedo Launcher
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Missile Precision Script x1
Sisters Combat Scanner Probe x8
Shrapnel Bomb x4
Caldari Navy Nova Torpedo x1822
I felt like contributing to this thread again, but on looking through my Standing Fleet ships I don't see a lot that's all that newbean-friendly; a lot of battlecruisers, a lot of T2 ships. Not good. However, I remembered this one ship that I remember had interesting beginnings. It started as a structure basher/asshole solo bomber during WWB2, and got refit when I had an Idea: what if max application?
==========================================================================
This is a T2 ships so you'll need to train Minmatar Frigate to 5 in order to fly it. However, Covert Ops doesn't necessarily need to be trained beyond what you need it to sit in it since the Hound gets bonuses to torp and bomb damage with each level of it; I have only level 2, because this isn't meant to drop phat damage bombs on a target. The target painter and the guidance computer with no range script should help you clue in to its purpose: torps do pretty big damage normally, and we're trying to see how much of it can be applied to smaller ships. Between an application script (which should alone let you apply to battlecruisers) and a target painter which blows up the target's sig radius to more than yo mama's radius, if you have a friend with webs you could probably apply to a particularly dim-witted cruiser. Therefore, in order to get the most out of this ship, train things that affect missile application. This is primarily Target Nav Prediction and Guided Missile Precision, but Target Painting will be a nice ancillary skill to train since it'll help somewhat with your capacitor. Fortunately, you won't need very good fitting skills as this fit is very forgiving on the PG and CPU.
Verdict: month and a half, I'd say?
=========================================================================
I'd also like to make some extra notes about the decisions I made with this fit. None of these things are particularly important, but I want you to get an idea of what I was thinking with them.
- The two hyperspatial rigs were put on there when this thing was a bomber-ass bomber. If I remember right, the ship started life as a "doctrine" bomber, designed to do bombing runs and structure bashes as a hybrid. Therefore, hyperspatials would be critical in order for the ships to get into position quick and to get the hell out of Dodge once the payload has been delivered quicker. I didn't pull them off when I refit for Max Application because it seemed like a waste of rigs. Hyperspatials are a decent idea for standing fleet anyway, given the number of times I've landed on grid just in time to watch the target die.
- Even though this isn't a bomber anymore, I still keep a bomb launcher on it. I might as well. You don't need it, you can take it off if you don't want to train into it, but if you want to utilize bombs it can be a nice back-pocket utility. Just remember, bombs will hurt your allies too.
- Usually, when you have a guidance computer, you want to have both a precision and a range script. Don't bother with the range script on this one. You'll be getting full distance bonuses from the hull anyway, since they scale with Minmatar Frigate which needs to be at 5 anyway. You'll have a lot of range on those torps, and we're leaning into it with full nanos in the lows to make us fast and long-ranged. So long range, in fact, that we don't even have a point and will rely on others to tackle for us.
- You might wonder, if we're so long range, why an AB and not an MWD? Simple, MWD sig bloom. Evil. We already have, like 2k EHP, we're gonna die if we get sneezed at. However, enemy damage will fall into two categories: ships that are small enough where our Max Application build will help us hit and will be unable to hit us at this range, or ships that can hit us at this range and thus are big enough that they'll have tracking issues and we will apply pretty damn well. That second category is what I'm thinking about with shying away from the MWD sig bloom.
========================================================================
Because your EHP is so low, this will be good practice for moving around while cloaked. Hold your cloak until you are ready to fire. Once you're at the edge of your missile range and you're confident they're thinking about whoever's tackling them instead of you, decloak. Turn on your guidance computer, lock your target as soon as the delay ends, and start orbiting at like 2 km inside your max range. Then, turn your prop mod on and let the missiles fire. Be sure to be ready to unlock and cloak/run at the drop of a hat, since if you start getting shot at you're gonna die.
Kitsune - Aykira Sl4ker
[Kitsune, No Tank Long Range]
Signal Distortion Amplifier II
Signal Amplifier II
Sensor Booster II
Ladar ECM II
Ladar ECM II
Ladar ECM II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Small Particle Dispersion Projector II
Small Particle Dispersion Projector II
Targeting Range Script x1
Scan Resolution Script x1
ECCM Script x1
Gravimetric ECM II x3
Magnetometric ECM II x3
Radar ECM II x3
My favorite ship of all time for standing is similar to what Reneil posted above (make sure to read his introduction to ECM - he did an awesome job!) - but with a spin for a lot more annoyance on grid, though this is limited to spaces outside the ess.
Long Range Kitsune
(or how to increase self destruct rate through dishonorable space combat)
While the Griffin, Blackbird and Falcon are also very good at what they do - if it comes to being extremely annoying at long range, the Kitsune is currently king. This beauty is designed to sit at around 150-160km away and jam whatever is trying to roam our space. It is fast enough to keep away from enemy roamers, agile enough to keep up with most fleets and has enough range to stay out of almost all weapon systems (there are some very rare fits coming to our space that can actually shoot up to 160km).
If you want to see this fit in action, I visited CCP Roams quite a lot with it, and every time the chat and the devs go on a tirade about ECM:
GM Banquet in a 4b Nightmare being disabled by a 50m ship
CCP Explaining ECM and encouraging it after being annoyed by it a lot for multiple fights
Your stats with good skills:
- 163km targeting range without boosts
- Jam Strength of 11
- Jam optimal range of 146km - falloff 195km
- 2500 m/s speed
- Insane amounts of salt gathering in local
2. The Cost
Roughly 52-55m, it varies daily by up to 10% depending on T2 prices
3. The Training
The downside of Kitsune over e.g. Blackbird is that some skills for good range are required for it to shine, though they are not that long of a train if one is interested in pursuing the art of being annoying. You really want Electronic Attack Ships, Electronic Warfare, Frequency Modulation, Long Distance Jamming as well as Signal Dispersion at least at 4, Long Range Targeting at 5. Overall it is a lengthier train than some other fits presented, but still below the 3 Months mark. You really do want T2 jams though - they are significantly better than meta/T1. The Magic 14 are self explanatory - you need those navigation and engineering skills for speed and cap stability, otherwise the fit will perform far below expectations.
4. The Reason
Nothing is more satisfying in my opinion than safely disabling an enemy ship completely, for a fraction of their cost, completely irrelevant on their piloting skill. It doesn't matter if it is a 5b+ Marauder, Blops, Leshak, Nightmare, Logi, Tackle, Recons, etc. with 3 T2 jams you have a very high chance to keep anything that comes perma jammed. We had people just self destruct because they were helpless... there is nothing more annoying than being unable to target ANYTHING at all, because the only valid target is outside targeting range.
5. The How
Flying this ship is easy to start with, though you can optimize the gameplay quite a bit.
- do not warp at zero/close range on any fight. Aim to land on a perch on grid, then look for some friendlies you can aim to warp within 150km, but further than 120km away from your targets.
- always check intel before you join the fight and refit at nearest structure to matching jam colors, see Reneils explanation on colors
- keep your distance from enemies, you have no tank and your survival depends on your mates on grid doing their job, while you keep the enemies from shooting them :-)
- prioritize the most dangerous ships on grid - this is usually Marauders first, then enemy Ewar ships (Recons), then Logi and Tackle. DPS Ships are usually the focus of everyone else - so if you help your fleet take them down faster by disabling their support, it goes faster
- If you have multiple equally important targets (e.g. 3 Scimitars), then spread your jams on three of them. This way your total effect on the fight is higher than all jams on a single target. If you have one very dangerous ship on grid (e.g Marauder), then stagger your jams with an offset of roughly 6-7 seconds on them - this way you maximize your chance to keep them perma jammed.
Pay attention to combat probes ! If you are further away than 150km from the enemy - he can warp to you if he probes you successfully - so always pay attention to what is going on and you are fine. The only Kitsunes I lost in hundreds of fights was due to making dumb mistakes like warping in at zero or into a bubble.
Malediction - Dave911
Dave 911's twitch stream - https://www.twitch.tv/kpassi911
[Malediction, Dave911's t2 Malediction]
Damage Control II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
Overdrive Injector System II
Multispectrum Coating II
Warp Scrambler II
Warp Disruptor II
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I
Compact Interdiction Nullifier
Small Auxiliary Thrusters II
Small Auxiliary Thrusters II
Caldari Navy Nova Rocket x600
Nanite Repair Paste x158
Agency 'Overclocker' SB3 Dose I x1
I'm posting this based on Dave911, one of NC's best tackle pilots, all time rank 70 on zkill. I'd prefer him to post himself but that might not happen. He also flying an overpowered ship with some very blingy stuff.
Disclaimer: You are not Dave 911. (or are you?) So fly the T2 variant until you start kicking butt with it, and then do minor improvements.
1. The Fit:
I've included a t2 one below. I've included relatively cheap drugs of SB3 (3% velocity). Check the spoiler for the Dave Faction one.
2. The Cost:
T2, it's 30 mil out the door from jita, 34 mil in mj-5 now. The t2 one is great as well. Note, this one is very tightly fit with 1.5 cpu/13.8 grid, so you might need to faction like the Damage Control.
3. The Training: Thermodynamics 4, navigation skills 4-5ish, Interceptor 4 is required because then your scram range goes way up. With Interceptor 1, your scram/disrupt range is 11/30 heated and your sig is 173 meters. At Interceptor 5, your scam/disrupt range is 14/36km, your sig is 74 meters.
4: The Reason: Easy! You tackle people. This is one of the best possible tacklers.
5: The How:
You'll find a range that orbits well, you'll spiral in towards them, dodging their shots, and feathering your overheat. When you're not fighting, you're repairing your modules quickly and using your Ancil repper.
Most important, you're using your amazing speed to survive and escape. You don't let anything get within 10km of you, ideally, so if they don't have a scram or a web, you always escape.
This ship requires practice practice practice. So be ready to lose a lot of them.
Malediction Faction fit - Dave911
[Malediction, Dave911 faction malediction]
Damage Control II
Shadow Serpentis Multispectrum Coating
Overdrive Injector System II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
Caldari Navy Warp Disruptor
Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler
Coreli A-Type 5MN Microwarpdrive
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I
Restrained Interdiction Nullifier
Small Auxiliary Thrusters II
Small Auxiliary Thrusters II
Quafe Zero Classic x1
Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket x1063
Nanite Repair Paste x318
Agency 'Overclocker' SB7 Dose III x1
1. The Fit:
https://zkillboard.com/kill/103817808/ is one of his losses, he tends to use an expensive mid-grade snake implant as well, so his top speed is way way higher. The abyssal/faction disruptor/scram is important as well, but again, gets very very expensive long term. He's using SB7 (7% velocity) and Quafe Zero Classic boosters that boost your velocity, along with possibly other ones.
Other drugs that can help:
- Booster 1: X-Instinct if cheap, Quafe Zero Classic if expensive (34 mil)
- Booster 11: Agency 'Overclocker' SB3 (400k), SB5 (5.4 mil), SB7 (13.2 mil)
- http://evepraisal.com/a/155262 full list of pricing on the other options.
Implants help a ton as well, full high grade snakes get insane quick in price.
The extra speed from drugs and implants can be huge. A normal overheated t2 malediction is 'only' 7.4km/sec. With full high grades and best drugs (3.4 bil extra), this can be as high as 10.3km /sec. But even with mid grades, this can be 9.6km/sec (1 bil extra).
2. The Cost: Abyssaled, boostered, and implanted, it might be 300 mil or so in total. For just the faction fit it's 'only' 170 mil. Implants get expensive.
T2, it's 30 mil out the door from jita, 34 mil in mj-5 now. The t2 one is great as well. Note, this one is very tightly fit with 1.5 cpu/13.8 grid, so you might need to faction like the Damage Control.
3. The Training: Thermodynamics 4, navigation skills 4-5ish, Interceptor 4 is required because then your scram range goes way up. With Interceptor 1, your scram/disrupt range is 11/30 heated and your sig is 173 meters. At Interceptor 5, your scam/disrupt range is 14/36km, your sig is 74 meters. With Dave's faction fit, Scram/Disrupt range is 15/39km, and his sig is only 67 meters. Interceptor skill helps a LOT for this ship, so try to get it up ASAP if you start flying it. If you abyssal these, and get SUPER lucky, can go to 17.2/44.9km.
Sentinel - Kismeteer
[Sentinel, Kis standv1]
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Small Capacitor Booster II
Tracking Disruptor II
Tracking Disruptor II
Small Energy Nosferatu II
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing II
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing II
Warrior II x4
Acolyte EV-300 x4
Hornet EC-300 x4
Nanite Repair Paste x53
Optimal Range Disruption Script x2
Tracking Speed Disruption Script x2
Navy Cap Booster 150 x27
Guidance Disruptor II x2
Missile Range Disruption Script x2
Missile Precision Disruption Script x2
Let me talk about a GREAT ship, the sentinel.
1. The Fit:
2. The Cost: 52.3 mil imported from jita via https://www.wckg.net/Newbie/shipping
3. The Training: This is the Amarr Electronic attack ship. You actually need pretty good overall magic 14 skills, along with good neuting, ewar, and repping skills. It does not run cap stable, so you to be precise with how you use it.
4: The Reason: This ship is a flexible platform to get other ships off the field effectively.
* You can target their DPS, preventing their guns from either reaching the fleet, or prevent their tracking from working. This one ship will shut down an exeq navy issue for instance. This can be changed to missile guidance ones, but you'll be delayed for showing up for the fight, so can drop them if you want.
* Your neuts are there to stop those ships from being reliable. This one ship can neut out an entire basi cap chain. I have shut down entire cap chains with this ship, as one starts to fail, they all start to fail. And the range is solid enough. You have problems with their drones targeting you, but it's dealable.
* You are fast enough to get in and out. This isn't ultimate kitey, but 'enough'.
* Note, this is *thin*. You need to stay at range or avoid stuff. your speed is your ally. When in doubt, warp off. You have a good align even with only rig mods helping you.
5: The How:
You start out at range. You focus on getting your tracking disruptors with range being effective on ships first. most players don't notice initially. You then see who the MOST cap hungry ship is on the field. I prefer logi or a keres or hyena. Those things die without cap. Anything small or fast, neut it. It dies when moving slow.
When you close, change to the tracking speed scripts. This can be perilous as well.
In the end, it's just practice. I have been doing the ev-300's for the main drone, but this might not be the best, but it's great for someone you've neuted out (and can tell from the nos), and keeping them flat. Let us know how if you find success with this ship!
Stiletto - JDA Athonille
1. The Fit: This great Stiletto is great for a beginner tackler / interceptor pilot. Its cheap and its cap stable (with the right skills) +4k m/s which is plenty to catch most things in nullsec nowadays. The only reason you put guns on is mostly to whore on stuff that is +30km away if flying in standing fleet. I wouldn't say its created to be thrown away but is definitely the step up from the NBI Slasher that I definitely would recommend beginners to fly with (unless you got TONS OF MONEY ) as you will probably die quite a few times before you get the hang of it flying tackler / interceptor. That's okay because
and heres the fit
[Stiletto, JDA Athonille Tackle Ceptor cheap]
Damage Control II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Warp Disruptor II
Medium Azeotropic Restrained Shield Extender
5MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II
125mm Gatling AutoCannon I
125mm Gatling AutoCannon I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Ionic Field Projector I
EMP S x500
you can remove the guns if you don't want to pay that little bit extra, as said above its only for whoring on kms...
Now when you get more experience or have a lot of money (please dont fly it anyway just stick to cheap and get better and upgrade like this. What am i talking about sir ??? I am talking about the art of blinging your ship, it helps but it gets increasingly more expensive. I fly my eiei personally after blowing up 100s of Stilettos with the fit above.
If upgrades is or when it is your thing i STRONGLY suggest you start upgrading in this order,
Shield Extender -> MWD -> Disruptor -> Scrambler - > T2ing everything else.
note eiei super bling costs about 250m in jita last i saw, been keeping mine for a long time (knock on wood)
2. The Cost: 25-35m depending on how market is atm. as of 07-10-2022 its 25m in MJ-
3. The Training:
Spaceship Command 1
Minmatar Frigate 1
Minmatar Frigate 2
Minmatar Frigate 3
Minmatar Frigate 4
Minmatar Frigate 5
Spaceship Command 2
Spaceship Command 3
Navigation 1
Navigation 2
Evasive Maneuvering 1
Evasive Maneuvering 2
Evasive Maneuvering 3
Evasive Maneuvering 4
Evasive Maneuvering 5
Interceptors 1
Gunnery 1
Small Projectile Turret 1
CPU Management 1
CPU Management 2
CPU Management 3
Propulsion Jamming 1
Propulsion Jamming 2
Science 1
Power Grid Management 1
Power Grid Management 2
Shield Upgrades 1
Navigation 3
Afterburner 1
Afterburner 2
Afterburner 3
High Speed Maneuvering 1
Mechanics 1
Power Grid Management 3
Capacitor Management 1
Capacitor Management 2
Hull Upgrades 1
Hull Upgrades 2
Hull Upgrades 3
Hull Upgrades 4
Should Cover it with guns, It takes about 25 days to train-
4: The Reason:
So what is the reason why I would advice YOU to flying Interceptors.
For me it was a combination of "HOW DID HE TACKLE ME WHY CANT I GET AWAY OH IM DEAD" and "man that ship is so fast and agile why cant my tornado fly like that the enemy is dead before i warp there stupid standing fleet being so fast."
Flying a tackler in general is quite possible the hardest ship type and role you can have as a pilot in Large Fleets or small gangs. You are relatively easy to shoot at and go down fast if you get scrammed. you blip if you approach ships with the guns of artillery. You should learn a lot by flying it in terms of positioning and you should always be in contact with your friends on who YOU have to tackle so enemy smallgang loses as many ships as possible. How about tackling that big 1b Tengu or perhaps a 800m Orthrus or a Nightmare which cant hit you if you orbit him? wait until you hear the "nice job tackling him dude!" They are fast and nimble which is just a lot of fun.. Heres a huge TIP : Learn how to manual pilot and NEVER ever press the approach button anymore. MANUAL pilot will make your flying even more fun!
5: The How:
Personally I cant be bothered with importing from jita and especially not with a 25m price. But if you want you can just order a lot at the same time so you have maybe 5 - 10 in spare of when you die you get back out there immediately. Then it pays off importing from jita.
Malediction - Tzophiyah
[Malediction, Fleet Malediction]
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Overdrive Injector System II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
Warp Disruptor II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II
Small Ghoul Compact Energy Nosferatu
Compact Interdiction Nullifier
Rocket Launcher II
Small Ionic Field Projector II
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
25 Nanite Repair Paste
200 Mjolnir Rage Rocket
[Malediction, Hyper sigAmp Male]
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Overdrive Injector System II
F-89 Compact Signal Amplifier
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Warp Disruptor II
Warp Scrambler II
Small Ghoul Compact Energy Nosferatu
Core Probe Launcher I /OFFLINE
Compact Interdiction Nullifier
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing II
Nanite Repair Paste x58
Core Scanner Probe I x8
Agency 'Overclocker' SB3 Dose I x1
Be sure to read my post on the Stiletto before this one as I'm not going to rehash everything about fleet interceptors and this is almost a continuation of that one.
SAAR Fleet Malediction
While the Stiletto is probably the most widely flown fleet interceptor thanks to the slot layout letting one focus on speed in the lows while fitting proper ceptor tackle and - critically - a MSE (medium shield extender) in the mids, it also has it's downsides. The passive shield buffer is great if you're flying it as a tackle alt and not always watching, if you mess up your piloting, if you need to tank high alpha temporarily while burning in or while a hostile is taken out, if you reliably have shield reps in range on grid, etc. The negatives are it increases your sig, makes for very tight fitting, and (unrelated to the MSE) the Stiletto eventually gets into cap problems running just the MWD+point if you're trying to hold a target several systems away from your fleet. Plus you have zero dps which sometimes you want a little I guess. If you want to push a fleet ceptor you are maining for all it's worth then the next step is a SAAR (small ancillary armour repairer) Malediction.
With basically nothing in the way of extra buffer but some armor resists, the Malediction means you are very vulnerable to being alpha'd. Piloting is critical, but you will be (excluding bling and combat ceptor overheat) the smallest and fasted thing on grid as long as you don't get scrammed which is right in the interceptor wheel house. With more fitting room the Malediction has more fitting options, but for the most part they're pretty similar. My preferred general loadout is as follows...
The nano gives sub 3s align, ionic and nully as per my Stiletto reasoning, a hyperspatial for hunting and scouting, overdrive for speed (rather than a refuge for a bit more tank), the nos to hold tackle on ships with utility neuts or even a neuting boat, and a single launcher to have something during one-on-one ceptor engagements. There are other options though.
High Slots
You can switch to more launchers in the highs to get a bit more dps. Mostly this is just more useful if you get stuck one-on-one vs. another ceptor away from the action that doesn't have guns (or just a whore gun or at least worse guns than you) to slowly kill them. Maybe a bit of whoring or killing a random pod or something too. Missiles if you want to apply from outside scram (maybe scare them a bit showing you're armed as you're both whipping about, but 10dps or whatever isn't very scary lol) or rockets if you want to apply from inside scram. If it's defensive damage minded then javelin rockets will still apply if someone is burning at you in an mwd chase since they're flying at the rocket while it's in flight. Javelin rocket flight time is 3s at 5km/s for 15km, but if someone is burning after you at 5km/s then that's 3s at *relative* 10km/s which is 30km. Of course it works the opposite if you're trying to chase them down, so with caldari navy under scram 3s flight at 3-0.5km/s is only ~7km instead of the on paper 10km.
One nos is technically enough to keep your scram running even under massive neut pressure if you time the cycles correctly, but fitting two nos (going no launchers) and staggering them helps a ton to keep other modules up against neuts and is totally valid as well. Indeed I probably actually fly the dual nos fit more as I find it more useful when going out on smaller roams holding a big juicy target, with the launcher better in fleet engagements when fleetmates are busy and you're left alone to deal with hostile light tackle. Three rocket launchers if you go without a nully for fully on grid focus starts outputting similar dps to some T1 frigates (say a speed fit Executioner with Scorch), but then you probably want a web for Rage application and maybe consider a damage mod, and we're getting into a combat rather than fleet type fit.
Sub3 Align
This can be achieved with a nano, but a t2 polycarbon rig will also get you there. So if you want to drop the hyperspatial (or the whole ionic+nully approach) then you free up a low.
Low Slots
We want a DCU (damage control unit), and the tank is in the SAAR charges (always overheat with autoreload off of course). As already discussed I really value the sub3 align for travel and getting off gates, so a nano works for that assuming you aren't getting agility from the rigs. Then you can go speed with an overdrive or bump up the armor resists even more than the hull bonus grants with a coating mod. Another interesting option if you go the polycarbon route is to put a signal amplifier in the lows to help with targeting range and to catch stuff on gates after they decloak with a scan res bump. This causes things to be pretty tight on cpu (probably can't fit two highs and a nully) but it might be the most fleet supportive with a nos and offline probe launcher.
Flying It
Basically the same as the Stiletto but you even more so need to always keep moving (MWD on the vast majority of the time) and never burn directly towards or away from turret boats. You also need to be very careful baiting aggression on gates even at zero by just a few ships as you can be killed so quickly. Also pay close attention to anything that is likely to be able to scram you as if they land one, even if you've counter scrammed and can likely coast out, if any real damage starts coming in with your MWD off it can probably break through your ancil reps. Same with hugin/hyena webs where you want to start overheating the prop and think about getting safe.
Fitting Skills
Same general skills as mentioned in my Stiletto post for the most part, but the Malediction is significantly more forgiving with fitting room. You would need CPU Management V to fly the fit included above, but the flexibility in the highs means it isn't an issue at all since you can just go with two highslot mods (say nully+nos) and then have an offline core probe launcher or just leave the third empty (don't leave it empty and bring that offline core probe launcher to save the day someday!).
Bling
You certainly can bling out the prop/tackle/pod of a Malediction to make it better at catching things and avoiding getting caught, but this also has the downside of (probably) not being nearly so willing to get in tight and try and hold tackle on something like a Vedmak, or tending to keep a safe range during fights rather than being more aggressive and taking some risk to point primaries or dive in for drive by scrams. Like you won't see many blinged fits going with a nos because they don't ever plan to take the chance of being in nos range. You're improving what a fleet ceptor mostly does sure, but also limiting it in other areas it can help out in because what is usually a cheap ship you don't mind suiciding too much is now something you definitely want to bring home.
Going all in for speed on the fit with a couple cheap implants and boosters lets you get up from under 5km/s to 5.5km/s pretty easily, so that's a way to go for a more extreme approach without spending anything extra. You'll be giving up some lock range (it's got a few km on the Stiletto already though) or warp speed or something to do it though, and you won't see much difference piloting near enemy fleets but only in the whole chasing things down or avoiding being chased down aspect. It is pleasant being able to burn away from anyone or kill other ceptors with range control within scram of course.
Plate
While it is a WAY beyond the scope of this post, I also wanted to mention putting an armour plate on a malediction (with or without a, usually mostly for out of combat repairs, SAAR). It seems very counter-intuitive to slow an interceptor (which lives and dies by speed) down by 500m/s or so, but there are a few places you might see it.
One is in armour doctrine fleets where you don't want a drone ball or missile volleys or whatever to force you off quite so easily (and potentially catching reps with more buffer for them not to overrep you). You're still trying to avoid being scrammed (while doing drive by scrams of your own as needed) and it is simply more difficult to do so because you are slower, so it's a pretty straight tradeoff: makes your job harder but if you pull it off you can do it a longer.
The other, with that last philosophy in mind, is in very elite nano gangs. Definitely without a SAAR now in favour of more speed in the lows and relying solely on buffer, a truly blinged out plate malediction with mid-grade snakes. We're talking several billion isk and beyond for the fit+pod. The speed reduction from the plate doesn't really matter here since you'll still be going rediculous fast from the snakes, but you simply can not afford to fuck up. Again you'd only fly such a fit in elite nano gang where there is solid communication on comms and everyone knows exactly what needs to be happening and can perform: what is engagable, proper positioning, damping opposing long scrams/webs, screening small tackle off you, etc.
Summary
The MSE Stiletto and SAAR Malediction are both great fleet interceptors that you will see more than any others (at least by people who know what they are doing and don't have a niche approach). It'll mostly be Stiletto for tackle alts and Malediction for maining, but they both have their strengths and weaknesses and for the most part fulfill the same role perfectly well. Both are fun to fly, rely on basically the same skills, so yeah try em both and see which you prefer and fiddle with the exact loadout until you have optimized it (fyi the last isn't possible and you will be fiddling forever haha).
Stiletto - Tzophiyah
[Stiletto, Tzophiyah Multi-tool Stiletto]
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Warp Disruptor II
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II
Compact Interdiction Nullifier
Core Probe Launcher I /OFFLINE
[Empty High slot]
Small EM Shield Reinforcer II
Small Ionic Field Projector II
Nanite Repair Paste x50
Core Scanner Probe I x8
Zainou 'Gypsy' CPU Management EE-601 x1
[Stiletto, Tzophiyah Multi-tool Stiletto (Level 4 Fitting Skills)]
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Warp Disruptor II
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II
Compact Interdiction Nullifier
Core Probe Launcher I /OFFLINE
[Empty High slot]
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Ionic Field Projector II
Nanite Repair Paste x50
Core Scanner Probe I x8
Multi-tool Stiletto
30mil isk ceptor that incorporates both safe scouting and solid tackling. Let's you fly simply/lazily if so desired, or while learning to manually pilot in a forgiving manner.
Fleet interceptors are one of the most useful and fun ships to fly in all of Eve (in fleets at least lol). Despite my many years of skill training, a T2 frigate is still my go to option when I'm not in the mood for dictoring, and ceptors are an amazing way to make any fleet more interesting with some independent decisions and actions, active flying, and involvement with command. Scouting, hunting, tackling... the survivability is a huge step up from a T1 frigate, yet still extremely (relatively) cheap. There's something so enjoyable about traveling along with an enemy fleet while they're stuck watching you take gates and warps right in the midst of them haha. You can of course spend years developing elite nano manual piloting techniques (feathering, driveby scrams, coning, etc.) in this single class of ship, but conversely it's also fine to just chill with the main fleet and make use of your improved point and scram range. A nice platform to learn gradually by doing.
As with everything in Eve there is always tradeoffs to be made, and usually one is better off focusing on a specific role and engaging in a bit of min-maxing for the fit. In this case I say nuts to that and mostly take out what I call the "Multi-tool Stiletto". Easy to fly with completely braindead warps and click-to-orbit tackle when you want, but the option is there to kick it into a higher gear when you're properly caffeinated.
Mainline Midslots
In many ways this is a typical Stiletto fit due to the standard mids. What makes it more unique is the nullifier combined with the ionic field projector, but let's go over the basics first.
MSE. A buffer shield tank is K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). No need to worry about managing active reps while you're busy flying. Less likely to get alphaed. More likely to catch remote reps. It does increase your sig a bit, but the tradeoff is definitely worth it.
Long Point. Overheated this can reach out to 36km and is fundamental for the main purpose of catching things which is...well...to not let them warp away.
Scram. Overheated this can reach out to 14km. It's needed to slow MWDing targets down so your DPS friends can catch them, interrupt MJDs, and to be used defensively if a hostile starts getting uncomfortably close to you to keep them from getting into range to scram you.
MWD. The primary reason why interceptors are so amazing. Getting the interceptor skill from level 4 to level 5 is one of the most beneficial jumps in hull bonuses in the entire game. Running an MWD makes you faster (and therefore harder to hit), but it also blooms your sig radius by ~500% (and therefore easier to hit). Interceptors give you 15% reduction in mwd sig bloom per level, but the way it combines means the relative benefit increases per level. With this fit your sig with mwd running starting from interceptors 0 through 5 is 238m, 208m, 178m, 149m, 119m, 89.2m. So relative change per level is -13%, -14.5%, -16%, -20%, -25%. In other words, taking that completely naively, getting to level 5 is reducing incoming damage by an additional quarter from level 4!
Lazy Lowslots
Having two nanofibers in the lows is not very common. Usually you'll see an overdrive for more speed and a bit better hull HP. The extra agility of the second nano helps in two ways though. First it drops your align time with MWD on below 4sec. This is useful for "lazy" panic warping out when getting hit on grid (though better pilots or more focus can usually handle that by instead burning away or would already be considering celestial aligns haha). The second is that it makes keeping orbits (whether "lazily" clicking orbit at range or manual piloting) a lot easier and avoids targets moving out of range or slingshoting you. Swapping out one nano for an overdrive still keeps your non-mwd align <3s so the second one doesn't help you with travel time nor running gates that have fast lockers on them.
"Grid" vs. "Hunter" Rig
Plugging the resists hole with an EM rig is handy for staying power and is what I usually use. The "grid" sub-type of the fit if you will. On the other hand a hyper-spatial is better for moving quickly and jumping into a system to try and catch ratters before they can warp off ("hunter" sub-type). Not much more to say here.
Utility
Core probe launcher. Offlined whenever not being used (which is practically always), but every so often you're in a fleet where a wormhole or site needs to be scanned down and you can save the day with some scanning out-of-combat utility.
Nullifier + Ionic Field Projector rig.
One of the biggest decisions when fitting a ceptor is whether to go with a nullifier or not. It can be extremely useful whenever bubbles are involved, but it increases your lock time and decreases your lock range. Typically for scouting/travel you fit one, but for gangs/tackle you won't. The decrease in lock range is especially painful as it drops from ~37km to ~33km which, critically, is now less than the overheated point. My approach to get around this (and the whole point of this fit pretty much) is to use the ionic field projector rig which yields ~43km even with the nully online. More than sufficient for the point, and useful for locking other things up on grid preemptively.
Nullifiers also don't have any penalties if they are offline, but we'll talk about that in a minute. Note that the benefits of higher tier nullifiers is longer duration of activation (which is pretty useless) and at a cost of longer cool down between activations (which is the most important). Therefore the best is actually T1, followed by Compact for fitting, and you would never want to use T2 on an interceptor.
Flying the Fit
Most of the time when out in this fit I'm warping from gate to gate using the nully as necessary, checking local, dscanning, burning pings, tracking enemy fleets, etc. The usual scout stuff. When it comes time to tackle something though...
Easy Orbits
This isn't the place to get into advanced manual piloting, and that is kind of the opposite of easy (though learning the little tricks or flying completely manually is definitely something worth working on), so with manual piloting as something to introduce bit by bit let's look at the click a couple buttons and sit back approach.
With a lock range of 43km and a point range of 30km (36km with heat), most of the time I just click orbit at 23km on a target and with the MWD running keep them pointed at a little under 30km speed tanking whatever they throw at me. The extra agility from the 2nd nano means this works on all but the quickest of enemies, and if they are fast and experienced enough to give me any trouble I simply use some heat on the point when they temporarily slip out of range.
The same deal applies with orbiting for scram except closer. Setting orbit at 7.5km with MWD on means I'm holding around 11-12km zipping about the target which is outside of standard scram range but inside of my overheated scram range of 14km. To save on heat or deal with webs/neuts you can dance in and out from 30km to 13km keeping the point on and getting off cycles of the scram when you come in range.
Heating the MWD can also be useful when outrunning damage or getting grappled of course, but thermodynamics needs to be trained up or you'll run into burn out issues quickly.
Offlining the Nully
As mentioned, the nullification module has no penalties when offline (unlike a cloak) which means it can be offlined at any time to increase lock range and decrease lock time. Turning it back online requires 95% capacitor (as with any module) so there needs to be a calmer period to do so, but it's still an excellent option in various situations. Acting as a fast locker when something jumps in to you. While in warp to an anom to try and tackle a ratter. Even potentially during a big bubble-fest on-grid engagement if you're fully committing to it and not worried about warping out or being responsible for chasing people down later.
Skill Training
Really the only fit specific skill is Interceptor, and - as mentioned regarding the MWD sig bloom - you really do want it at 5 (not too long a train at all being frigate tier). After that it's all general core skills with more weight given to navigation for speed and agility, followed by the usual capacitor, shield, targeting, thermo, etc. The two nanos makes it so that it's totally functional with things at level 3 or 4, you just need to determine what "set orbit" distances work for your skills to actually keep you on the edge of your tackle. Working on the skills that benefit this fit is going to benefit all fits.
So... with respect to fitting room you might have noticed that the fit has a 1% cpu implant in the cargo, and yeah it's needed even with perfect skills as things are pretty much as tight as can be. Fortunately it doesn't rely on Weapon Upgrades or Improved Weapon Upgrades or Rigging or anything like that, and you can easily meta the damage control to a compact which is enough for CPU if you only have CPU Management 4. However if you don't have Powergrid Management 5 and Shield Upgrades 5 then you'll need to forgo the EM/Hyperwarp rig for an ancillary current router.
Regardless, the main concept behind all of this is to have the nully plus the targeting range rig to be able to scout without fear and tackle without issue in a single ship, so find something that incorporates that combo that works for your toon and give it a try!
edit: Oh by the way I don't fly the Stiletto very often in favour of a Malediction which is generally stronger :D
Wolf - Ben Yo
[Wolf, Ben Yo's Wolf]
Counterbalanced Compact Gyrostabilizer
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Counterbalanced Compact Gyrostabilizer
Tracking Enhancer II
Caldari Navy Warp Disruptor
Coreli A-Type 5MN Microwarpdrive
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Projectile Burst Aerator II
Nanite Repair Paste x76
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S x344
Republic Fleet EMP S x160
to all Frigate NERDS
More expensive variation of the Arti Wolf
IMO the best kiting solo frig you can get in a RIFTER HULL !
the tactic: you wait at one point for the opponent / ansiplex, gate ... what ever - who at best flies in a small ship - interceptor - frigate t1 - t2
then they have to follow you, once you and your opponent have reached a certain distance where you are sure that others cannot shoot you directly, you slow down and activate your weapons.
the surprise is that you usually only need 2 shots to destroy an interceptor. sometimes, after a certain distance, a direct turn is also good because then you hit better.the more you practice this tactic, the better you get and the better you know what you can shoot and what not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GT_NRRLH3s
Most of the time you'll get killed, but it's all the more satisfying when you've destroyed 2-3 small ships and even survive in the end.
fly unsafe o/
Thrasher - Suitonia (sent by Dreadeye)
[Thrasher, *null scram mwd]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Medium Shield Extender II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
200mm AutoCannon II
200mm AutoCannon II
200mm AutoCannon II
200mm AutoCannon II
200mm AutoCannon II
200mm AutoCannon II
200mm AutoCannon II
Small Infectious Scoped Energy Neutralizer
Small Projectile Burst Aerator II
Small EM Shield Reinforcer I
Small Thermal Shield Reinforcer I
Hail S x2000
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S x1500
Republic Fleet EMP S x1500
Barrage S x2000
Republic Fleet Fusion S x1500
Nanite Repair Paste x50
Editors note: Hail never fail. Maximum damage :D
The MSE Thrasher.
I don't see it posted here. This is a really good ship to start out in solo null pvp.
This is Suitonias fit, it is a bit old now, but still valid. I still use it and get good solo kills with it.
I'm just gonna post the fit and some videos Suitonia made for it. The videos speak for themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm3ZB1N1L-Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huYX2s28KLw
Bifrost - Duim
[Bifrost, Duim Standing Bifrost]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender
Micro Jump Field Generator
Warp Scrambler II
Warp Disruptor II
[Empty High slot]
Skirmish Command Burst II
[Empty High slot]
Skirmish Command Burst II
Small Command Processor I
Small Core Defense Field Extender II
Rapid Deployment Charge x800
Nanite Repair Paste x200
Interdiction Maneuvers Charge x800
Agency 'Overclocker' SB3 Dose I x3
1 The Fit:
Bifrost with 2 Skirmish Command Bursts, MWD, Boosh, Point and Scram. Easily my favorite ship and fit in the game :smile:
2. The Cost:
T2 fit - about 75m (Faction MSE a must for tank, sig and fitting) (goes 4k/sec cold with it's own links). Usually easily available in MJ-.
Bling fit - from a few hundred mill to over 5b incl. Snake Pod and Abyssals. (potential for 6k/sec cold and 10k/sec hot with drugs, a great abyssal MWD and high-grades).
how to bling - Snake Pod, Skirmish Command Mindlink (important and cheap), speed drugz and Abyssal or faction MWD, MSE, Point, Scram and DCU. The more bling the more haha Bifrost go Brrrrrrrrrr. (only fly what you can afford to loose).
3. The Training:
- Around 2 months, most of it towards the T2 links. Can be run with T1 links while training T2.
- Minmatar Destroyer 5 is amazing as it opens up doctrine fits like the Svipul, Sabre and fleet Bifrost, as well as making Thrashers and Talwars more potent.
4: The Reason:
IT CATCHES THINGS:
- The speed, point, scram and fairly low sig make this Bifrost an interceptor with more than 10k EHP. Has a nice even resist profile too.
- The Boosh module means that you can go from being 100km+ off an enemy to being within tackle range in seconds.
IT MAKES STANDING FLEET GO FAST:
- The links don't just make you go fast, everyone in fleet near you benefits from the speed boost and boost to tackle range. Friendly tackle and Recons benefit hugely from these buffs.
- The Boosh module means that you can instantly reposition yourself (as well as 25 ships that are close to you) 100km away in an instant. This is huge when it comes to gaining position advantages on kitey gangs, booshing hostiles off wormholes, spearfishing logi or getting yourself (and potentially fleetmates) safe when things go south.
5: The How:
The Do:
- Fly this Bifrost like an Interceptor. Use the point to keep stuff from warping away, while keeping yourself out of hostile scram and web range. Only commit scrams to stop MJDs or when you are certain friendly DPS will kill the target
before you go down. Broadcast for reps, there are often friendly logi in fleet.
- Use the boosh to surprise hostiles that are out of position. The bulk of their gang left grid and only one ship is left 150km away? Align to it (Make sure to be fully aligned to where you want to go before you boosh), heat prop 1 cycle,
boosh on top of it, land tackle, XXX in fleet and say on comms "(hostile ship type) tackled, warp to (your character name)". The same applies to catching stragglers as the gang/fleet warps off.
- There is no need to die if you're not tackled. Either warp off or burn out of hostile DPS range.
- Boosh groups of friendlies into advantageous positions only when asked. Alternatively ask if people want to get booshed. Practice booshing.
The Do Nots:
- Don't blindly yeet yourself into hostile fleets. You will get tackled and you will die. Friendlies may need to burn to you if you are not more than 150km away. (You cannot be warped to on ESS grids, friendlies will need time to reach you)
- Don't boosh friendlies that don't want to be booshed. Your buddies in arty Vargurs, Oracles, Tornados and other snipy things don't want to be at 0 on that gang of blaster Brutixes.
- Don't go for scram unless it is necessary. You have 10k EHP, but that won't keep you alive against a blaster Hecate. 10k EHP is huge if you keep speed and transversal up.
Kikimora - Killing Hope
[Kikimora, Killing Hope 10mn Standing Kikimora]
Damage Control II
Entropic Radiation Sink II
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Dread Guristas Warp Disruptor
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
[Empty High slot]
Light Entropic Disintegrator II
Small Ancillary Current Router II
Small Ancillary Current Router II
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Nanite Repair Paste x216
Meson Exotic Plasma S x1500
10MN Kikimora
1) The Fit, as displayed
2) The Cost
Few notes for the cost:
- You may feel tempted to switch out the faction warp disruptor to save money, but that comes with a few caveats.
- Swapping out is not the best idea because it has 26km range. Having this long range on point is really important for this fit, because, since you are overpropped, your orbits are quite wide, plus your inertia is really bad, so it's possible for the prey to slighshot out of your point's reach. Therefore, having long range point like this comes really useful.
- No cheaper warp disrupter will fit because of CPU, so simply swapping out for a cheaper warp disruptor while leaving the rest of the fit untouched is not really possible (except cheap abyssals that still have the small CPU requirements, but there won't be a lot of those).
- Another option could be to swap out for compact Warp Disruptor AND also swap out the Warp Scrambler for the compact variant. But you are losing 6km (24% !!!) point range, which is a huge hit and severely limits your ability to point (and hold point).
- If you really have no other option and really need to save some money, then embrace that: replace point and scram with some other offensive support module (target painter / tracking disruptor / damps / etc.) and increase your orbit to 30km (since you don't need to be up close anymore).
- Bling options
- Abyssal 10mn afterburner to make you go even faster (and indirectly increase survivability) or decrease powergrid needs
- Abyssal small armor repairer to save up on some powergrid and/or get more reps
- What to do with saved up powergrid? Either upgrade 10MN AB to a better one to get more speed (ideal), or replace one of the powergrid rigs with a Small Capacitor Control Circuit II to get some more capacitor recharge rate
3) The Skill Train
This is one of the reasons why this is such a great fit - to fly it, you need basically the same skills as to fly the doctrine kikimora, which is used almost daily for structure bashes and/or killing caps!
4) Why I Fly
In standing fleet, it's good to be fast, especially fast to warp (to get into fight ASAP, or even get a fight period). That means flying small ship. However, I wanted a ship that does a lot of damage. But then you are flying a ship that has very little EHP, so when just one or two ships target you, you'll die. Then I found out about 10mn kikimora It is fast to warp, fast to get in fights and have fun. The DPS is great, and (if you fly it right) you can really take a beating and survive!
Pros:
- Cheap enough ship to fly and eventually lose
- Really good DPS - remember, the Light Entropic Disintegrator's DPS shown in the fitting window is the initial DPS. Your DPS grows with every single hit and goes up to 600-700+ DPS! Even though standing fleet fights usually won't last long enough for you to get there, it still hits hard and can easily outdamage cruisers in a long run.
- The ship is overpropped with 10mn AB (instead of 1mn AB which would be "expected" for this class of ship). This brings several benefits:
- You can go quite fast (with heated 2600m/s+)
- Scramming you is useless, you will still go super fast anyway
- Sig tanking (you are going super fast while having small signature results in low damage application, especially against big slow guns, which combined with your resists give you quite a nice pool of HP supported with some local reps to keep you alive long enough to GTFO if you are primaried)
- Example of how well this ship can tank under the right circumstances - I was primaried in this fight, having all 5 HAM caracal navy issues hammer me. By the end of the fight one of them even put webs on me. They still weren't able to kill me (even though I didn't receive any remote reps) while rest of standing came and wrecked them: https://br.evetools.org/br/67fa296e25764e00124937c3. Sure, I would have no chance solo against those 5 CNIs, but this is standing fleet - if you are alone, you did something wrong
- You can orbit out of range of close range (blaster) ships, apply damage and keep them pointed and unable to do anything. This way, you can take on close range cruiser and even some faction cruisers sometimes.
- Good range if you don't need to keep point up (up to your targeting range - so 50-60km)
Cons:
- Can't join in on (inside) ESS fights.
- What is a real threat to this ship:
- High tracking ships
- (Rapid) Light Missile ships
- Light drones (if you have them on you, just kill them - you should be able to last long enough to kill them if it's just them on you)
- Webs
- Target painters
- Long range neuts
5) How To Fly
- When travelling to target system, do not use AB (if you can avoid it), it really screws your align time. When in fight and need to warp, turn off AB first (if you are not pointed and under fire - in that case keep reading on what to do).
- When fight starts, turn on AB, orbit at 10km or 15km and shoot your gun (the orbit distance will in reality be more, because you are overpropped, so if you orbit 10, you will in reality orbit 15 or so, and similarly if you orbit 15, you'll in reality orbit at like 20km, which is already very close to your point range, so a skilled enemy may slip out - watch out for that and overheat point if needed)
- If the fight has multiple long range-high tracking ships, it's best to not orbit but align to something you can warp off to the moment you are primaried (because if there are multiple ships that can track you well, you may not live long enough to break orbit and align out if primaried by all of them).
- If you are primaried, overheat AB, turn on your repper, and get out (either gain range to get out of their DPS range, or warp out completely).
- If you are still pointed and they are chasing you:
- Align out to something you can warp to the moment you stop being pointed (ideally in a similar direction you are already going, because turning while overpropped is REALLY slow).
- Make sure you have your AB overheated.
- Put your gun on them - you will wreck any fast frigate pretty quick, and they will have to give up or die.
- If they are keeping up, they most likely have MWD. If they get within your scram range, scram them! That will kill their MWD for a short while, they will lose speed quickly, and you will be able to slip away. Overheat your scram to get some extra range on it too - you need just one cycle of scram anyway, not enough to lose it to overheating.
- If you are still pointed and they are chasing you:
- Don't be afraid to overheat anything. Standing fleet fights are usually short-ish, and you are always fighting in friendly space full of stations that you can repair heat damage at when needed. Plus you have hold full of nanopaste, if you need to repair heat damage in a pinch.
- Note that the ship doesn't appear to be cap stable. However, you will not be using the ancil repper unless you are targeted by someone, in which case you usually want to get out anyway, so either you get out before you run out of cap, or you die regardless of what your cap is. If you are not primary but are attacked by one or two ships, you may be able to sustain the rep. If you really need cap or you die, keep just the repper and AB on and turn off everything else while you try to GTFO. I never had any cap problems with this ship, really.
If you have any tips, comments or questions, feel free to send me a message (if you have suggestions please let me know and I will update accordingly). Hope you'll have fun if you decide to fly this ship! :-)
Flycatcher - Leyanora Varkain
[Flycatcher, Leyanora Varkain basic solo]
Ballistic Control System II
1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Medium Shield Extender II
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
Interdiction Sphere Launcher I, Warp Disrupt Probe
Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Scourge Rage Rocket
Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
Small EM Shield Reinforcer II
Mjolnir Rage Rocket x2000
Scourge Rage Rocket x2000
Warp Disrupt Probe x50
Nanite Repair Paste x150
This one is a bit more niche probably because the learning curve is quite a bit steeper and the ship itself is more expensive.
The basic fit is a bit under 100m isk, the "proper" fit is probably going for around 110 (shipping included).
I did not come up with the fit myself - I grabbed it from Mini Schro (https://zkillboard.com/character/1515226147/) - really great pilot btw
So what can you expect from flying this ship
- You can go solo and have a bit of gate camping fun in npc space or enemy territory
- You should bring an alt to sit on the other side of the gate you are camping on to get info about what is coming though
- Hunting Ratters does work to an extent but the slow align and warp speed is not in your favor
The Plan:
Caldari Frigate II
Caldari Frigate III
Caldari Destroyer I
Caldari Destroyer II
Caldari Destroyer III
Caldari Destroyer IV
Caldari Destroyer V
Spaceship Command IV
Science V
Power Grid Management V
Graviton Physics I
Propulsion Jamming II
Propulsion Jamming III
Propulsion Jamming IV
Propulsion Jamming V
Interdictors I
Weapon Upgrades III
Weapon Upgrades IV
Weapon Upgrades V
Afterburner IV
Shield Upgrades III
Shield Upgrades IV
Missile Launcher Operation II
Rockets I
Rockets II
Rockets III
Rockets IV
Rockets V
Rocket Specialization I
Missile Launcher Operation III
Missile Launcher Operation IV
Missile Launcher Operation V
Advanced Weapon Upgrades I
Advanced Weapon Upgrades II
Advanced Weapon Upgrades III
Next Skills (strongly recommended to improve tank + dps)
Rocket Specialization II
Rocket Specialization III
Rocket Specialization IV
Interdictors II
Interdictors III
Interdictors IV
(with all skills including the recommended ones you should be around 76 days - IF i still remember on how to use evemon)
What ships can you engage:
Any type of frigates and destroyers basically. For caldari ships (or any ship with EM whole) you can switch to Mjolnir rockets - for everything else stay with Scourge due to the bonus on kinetic damage.
Take this fight as an example: https://zkillboard.com/kill/116915891/
- I warped into his camp I spotted with an alt
- I approached him with MWD (1 cycle only), scrammed and webbed him
- Overheated launchers and switched to AB instead of MWD
- I decided to basically face tank him while orbiting at 2.5km trying to mitigate a bit of damage due to tracking because he had no web
- A arguably better option would have been to orbit him at about 9k km while overheating web + scram to mitigate more damage due to the extremly short optimal and falloff from Autocannons
What you can learn using this ship constantly (may at a great cost though)
- Using Web + Scram defensively to control your range in relation to the enemy
- Tracking and Signaturetanking due to dual prop
- Getting away when beeing scrammed
- Decloaking ships (cloaky haulers, exploration frigs)
Blackbird - Reneil Askiras
[Blackbird, Reneil Askiras TOXIC]
800mm Steel Plates II
Damage Control II
Signal Distortion Amplifier II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
FZ-3a Enduring Gravimetric ECM
FZ-3a Enduring Gravimetric ECM
FZ-3a Enduring Gravimetric ECM
FZ-3a Enduring Gravimetric ECM
Medium Capacitor Booster II
Medium Particle Dispersion Augmentor I
Medium Particle Dispersion Projector I
Medium Particle Dispersion Projector I
Navy Cap Booster 400 x6
Umbra Scoped Radar ECM x5
Morpheus Enduring Magnetometric ECM x5
Languid Enduring Ladar ECM x5
FZ-3a Enduring Gravimetric ECM x1
10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner x1
Eh, i want say "Nomen", because nomen is best ship for me, buts its not good for new players and its request really big skills and also flying skill too, its not good for new player (if someone interesting - there fit https://zkillboard.com/kill/101950971/ , its really weird, but for me its best ship i ever flew).
But here we are, there 1 ship i used in this game, and its really good for any fights, no matter - ess or in space. This ship is very toxic, but its very usefull, because he using, probably, most broken thing in this game
1. The Fit: Ship - Blackbird. ECM are one of the strongest ewar in this game. If you got jammed - you cant lock anything, only target, who jam you. That why i said its toxic af
You can easy change all moduls to T1 / 2. Also dont forgot change ECM mods before fights started, pay attention on intel and prepare to fight.
You also can fit anything you want n high slots
IMPORTANT - for ESS fights you should change cap booster to another ECM and change MWD to AB
2. The Cost:
Depends on fit, T1 cost 21m in MJ-, and in fact you should use T1 instead T2, but T2 give you more chance to jam enemy.
T2 cost 40m
3. The Training:
Less than a week. You should traing Caldari cruiser 1st, after focus on capa skills.
Electronic Warfare will help you reduce capa for ECM,
Frequency Modulation - give you extra falloff for all ewar
Long Distance Jamming - give you extra optimal range for all ewar
Signal Dispersion - strength for all ECM
4: The Reason:
ECM is most broken thing in this game. This thing can allowed you turn off any ship you are jam, if jam was success. For example, we have fight vs small thorax fleet, and you jamming 3 of them and all 3 got jammed. Its means, this 3 thoraxes can lock anything instead you. Its also works with enemy logi and any other ships.
5: The How:
All you need to do - find most dangerous ships and jam them. When your standing fleet spot enemy, you should check ship types 1st. Lets watch on our example i have in Reason section.
We have spotted enemy thorax fleet in your systems. You should change your jams to galente. How you can check, what color of jams you need for any ships? It's tied to color of empire, so amarr - yellow - ladar, caldari - blue - gravimetric. In pirat faction little bit harder, but you can check it easy in fitting window or attribute in ship info, like for example:
You can see color of jam.
Okay, we know, this thoraxes are galente ships, they have magnetometric sensors so we fit magnetometric jams, we are ready to go. Make sure you bring some extra cap boosters and ab refit in cargo.
What you should do in battlefield. If its in space - burn to 70-100km range (dont burn too far to lost lock range). Spread jams on enemy. Shit talk in local to anyone, who got jammed (dont do that, be cool gamer). Its important to fly in safe distance, because you are will be 1st target in fight, because you can easy win it just with success jams. Watch carefully on enemy too, sometimes its long range ships, who can shoot you at 100km easy, so you should be ready warp off if its happened to safe and warp back to fight, and thats all you need to know about that. Its simple af, its strong af,
What happened if enemies are inside ESS? Well, its simple too, but its hard to stay alive, because you will be primary target for enemy (not all time, but sometimes). Before warp to ESS gate, you should dock in any structures and reft your cap booster for extra ECM module, and refit your MWD to AB. Its important, because you cant turn your mwd inside ESS. After you done, just warp to ESS gate, wait, until some FC in standing coms command take gate > take gate, and preoverheat your ab. Be ready to burn away from enemy as soon as possible, because you are easiest target for them. After that, spread jams to all dangerous ships and enjoy fight.
Thats all you need to know about that ship. There a lot of variations fits for this ship - you can do max tank for ess fights, you can do max target lock range for space fights, you can also use griffin / kitsune for space fights too. EWAR are strong and its very usefull in any fights. You can fly 1st time on griffins, because they are much cheaper then blackbird, look at that, how its feels, train your piloting skills in space. Dont worry about lose ship, this game is about destruction and losing this ships anyway
Caracal - Erasmus II
[Caracal, Erasmus II Caracal Fitting]
Damage Control II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II
Ballistic Control System II
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Large Shield Extender II
Sensor Booster II
Large Shield Extender II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Medium Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Medium Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I
Medium Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I
Warrior II x2
Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile x1000
Caldari Navy Inferno Light Missile x1000
Targeting Range Script x1
Scan Resolution Script x1
Caldari Navy Nova Light Missile x1000
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Light Missile x1000
Nanite Repair Paste x50
50MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive x1
Mobile Depot x1
This is my go to ship for Standing Fleet since so many fights are now ESS related and don't have time to fly back to MJ- to reship. Targets out to 115K and hits to 108K with max skills. Yeah the DPS isn't great......but cheap, has some tank & range.
Editors Note, this is missing some description and could use some clean up, if you are interested!
Celestis - SugarThighs69
[Celestis, SugarThighs69 Celestis Fitting]
Damage Control II
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Medium F-RX Compact Capacitor Booster
100MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Remote Sensor Dampener II
Remote Sensor Dampener II
Remote Sensor Dampener II
Drone Link Augmentor I
Drone Link Augmentor I
Drone Link Augmentor I
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Medium Ionic Field Projector II
Medium Ionic Field Projector II
Warrior II x3
Hornet EC-300 x5
Nanite Repair Paste x48
Scan Resolution Dampening Script x3
Navy Cap Booster 400 x6
Targeting Range Dampening Script x3
Cost: no more then 50mil
low skill requirement
I made this fit as a cheap, but effective low skill requirement standing fleet fighter in the ESS
Kite at max range of damps(ALWAYS HAVE TARGETING DAMP SCRIPTS IN) You can either keep at range, manually fly or just orbit. Attempt to keep your speed up and maintain transversal to be the most annoying you can be. You can accomplish many things with this fit, to keep enemies at far ranges from hurting your friendlies, or completely making long range snipers ineffective at what their build is for while keeping full safety at a furthur range then they can even lock you.
Scythe - Kismeteer
[Scythe, Kis Standing Scythe v7-a]
Mark I Compact Power Diagnostic System
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Co-Processor II
Compact Multispectrum Shield Hardener
Medium Ancillary Shield Booster
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Large F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
EM Shield Amplifier II
Medium S95a Scoped Remote Shield Booster
Medium S95a Scoped Remote Shield Booster
Large Ancillary Remote Shield Booster
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Acolyte II x5
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x4
Cap Booster 50 x21
Cap Booster 150 x34
Nanite Repair Paste x25
50MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive x1
1. The Fit: Below, it's mostly Meta/1 T2. No need to bling much, honestly, it's great as is. can t1 the drones, don't need to take paste, could t2 the DC to reduce cost as well now if you don't need MWD. 2. The Cost: 15.8 mil in game, costs like 14 mil to run. The IFFA is required to run the MWD, but if you want an AB version only, can drop it a mil.
3. The Training: Like 2 weeks. Minmatar Cruiser 4 and shield emissions 4 ideally, Need good navigation skills and good cap skills, along with shield upgrades.
4: The Reason: I love this ship for standing fleet as it saves everyone. It's cheap to run, has a big cargo for loot, can go inside ESS, harder to get on killmails, but just an amazing and capable ship. Not appropriate for organized fleets, but gives you a taste of what flying a scimitar is like.
5: The How: Import a BPC and the modules from jita (or ask Kismeteer for one). Build it, this will save you a lot of money. Follow around standing fleet, pick one or two good cruiser tackler pilots to follow around specifically for best success, and watch list everyone who jumps in early in a system. Once they are watch listed, kite sidewise across the fire yo'ull receive from hostiles, and be ready to warp out when shields hit like 30%.
Stabber - Qooki
[Stabber, Qooki's Fitting]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
50MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive
Large Shield Extender II
Warp Disruptor II
Large Ancillary Shield Booster
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Small Infectious Scoped Energy Neutralizer
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Small Infectious Scoped Energy Neutralizer
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Medium Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Medium EM Shield Reinforcer I
Acolyte II x5
Phased Plasma M x3600
Hail M x6840
Cap Booster 150 x41
Nanite Repair Paste x100
1. The Fit: Stabber fitted with Meta and T2 equipment. Close range combat (between 1 and 25 km).
2. The Cost: 35 Million with Meta and T2 equipment or 28 Million with Meta and T1 equipment.
3. The Training: Only about 1 week of training for the Meta/T1 version. About 3 weeks to use the T2 drones and about 7 weeks to use the T2 weapons. Can replace additional T2 items with Meta/T1 items to lower the training time even more.
4: The Reason: It's fast, up to 2500 m/s. It's high damage, 400-475 dps with T2/Meta or 350-400 with T1/Meta. The weapons fire from 1 km up to 27 km which is the ideal range to keep your target scrambled and destroy it. It can mitigate about 100 dps with the cap-based shield booster.
5: The How: Buy the ship and equipment at null sec home or import the equipment from Jita by using an alliance transport service. The ship can always be bought from null sec home or can easily be built there.
It's the perfect ship to run in small roams or for quickly catching an enemy. Preferably have a logi pilot in the fleet to keep you alive for longer if there are multiple targets around.
Vexor - JunkyOne
[Vexor, JunkyOne's Vexor Fitting]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer
10MN Afterburner II
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
Warp Disruptor II
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead I
Medium Transverse Bulkhead I
Medium Transverse Bulkhead I
Hobgoblin II x5
Hammerhead II x5
Ogre II x2
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M x1280
Nanite Repair Paste x96
Void M x1280
-This is a brawl ship meant for close combat. I typically like to use it for small gang/ bubble camping hostile or neutral systems.
-It is slow and susceptible to being alpha'd by larger gangs.
-t2 variant is typically around 50mil. Have not checked the t1 variant but the DPS will still be high at a much cheaper rate.
-Run 2 webs if you've got fast tackle assisting. Replace 1 web with a sebo if you're alone or have no fast tackle.
-Replace disruptor with scram if you're camping a bubble.
-Prep overheat on the AAR to get the maximum effect from the reps.
-Tank is designed to hold long enough to get some shiny kills, but it not designed to survive a protracted fight against a larger enemy.
-Mix and match drones before you go out to have maximum effects. (Group 2 large, 2 med, 1 light for larger targets. Group 2 med 3 light for smaller targets)
-CNA charges are optional but I typically stick with the void for maximum damage output.
[Osprey Navy Issue, Standing]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Damage Control II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
10MN Afterburner II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Medium Knave Scoped Energy Nosferatu
Small Knave Scoped Energy Nosferatu
Medium EM Shield Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Bay Loading Accelerator I
While not my favorite ship, but the one I fly most of the time, including in standing is the Osprey Navy Issue (OSNI). Great for new beans as the OSNI is pinged for home defense fleets and other fleets quote often so its a good one to train into already.
Standing RLML OSNI
I usually prefer to fly ships on the ends of the spectrum as far a size is concerned (fast tackle or BS's), but for standing the cruiser is a great size. They can go into ESS's, are fairly fast to catch up to action, and can be built pretty tanky. OSNIS's in particular are pretty cheap (~70mil ISK for my fit) and tend to not have a lot of attention paid to them by the enemy since they are a dime a dozen. The don't stand out.
This fit includes lots of refit options for tackle, webs, and range depending on the need. Its a jack of all trades ship with good cruiser level EHP.
Your stats with good skills:
- 75km targeting range without boosts
- 2100 m/s speed
- 430 DPS
2. The Cost
Roughly 70m ISK, it varies daily by up to 10% depending on T2 prices. Adjust as necessary for skills, works just fin with T1 mods
3. The Training
No too bad for training, OSNI's are in the main doctrine anyway so pretty good to train into. You will need all these skills anyway
4. The Reason
Easy to train into, cheap, flies below the radar so you are not insta-primaried and fun. Good ship with navy bonuses and resists. Multiple refit options when you swap out the AB to change to whatever is needed. I usually keep the dual prop fit so that you can go into ESS's without having to refit.
5. The How
Flying this ship is easy for almost anyone. This is how i fly in standing fleet.
- Start with dual prop fitted since most enemies tend to go to the ESS. If you want to, refit of the titan or dock and refit for what is needed.
- I tend to warp in at zero to 20 km depending on who we are fighting, and hit both hardeners, this is a buffer tank so no extender to worry about. if you start taking damage, heat the hardeners
- when moving out to range, grab as much cap as you can since this is not a stable fit.
- The range of the RLMLs is about 40 km so i tend to orbit at 35 km, this keeps you out of range for most brawling fits
- capacitor lasts around 3 minutes with MWD on if you are not within nos range, 10 minutes for AB
- assign drones to your selected target and start collecting KMs
[Osprey Navy Issue, Gui, Bringer of Joy]
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Medium F-RX Compact Capacitor Booster
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Large Ancillary Shield Booster
Enduring Multispectrum Shield Hardener
Caldari Navy Large Shield Extender
Caldari Navy Large Shield Extender
Drone Link Augmentor I
Prototype 'Arbalest' Rapid Light Missile Launcher
Prototype 'Arbalest' Rapid Light Missile Launcher
Prototype 'Arbalest' Rapid Light Missile Launcher
Small Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer
Medium Thermal Shield Reinforcer II
Medium EM Shield Reinforcer II
Medium Hydraulic Bay Thrusters II
Republic Fleet Warrior x5
Targeting Range Script x1
Scan Resolution Script x1
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Light Missile x2279
Nanite Repair Paste x147
Navy Cap Booster 150 x65
Sensor Booster II x1
100MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner x1
Warp Disruptor II x1
Enduring Multispectrum Shield Hardener x1
10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner x1
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier x1
You know, I am something of a newbean myself, but then I thought to myself, "Wow, these dudes flying faction ships look insane!" Then, I look at the market price and my jaw drops because they are over double the price of their normal counterparts.
Despite that, I rushed and tried to make a fit for the Osprey Navy Issue that felt reasonable on all fronts; it had to met the following things:
1) Decent tank
2) Adequate (it did not have to be astounding) DPS
3) I had to have extra refits in inventory that could fit anything Standing wishes to do
and number 4:
I don't need to wait and train for a full month before maxing every skilI needed
And so, this was the kind of shenanigans I put together.
The Low Modules
The low rigs are straightforward : tank and DPS.
Fairly low skill level required, and it works for both ESS defense and just normal Standing activity.
The Medium Modules
This is the most flexible part of the fit. I have placed a lot of spare modules in the cargohold, knowing that there are different things for every time. Because the OsNI is an extremely agile cruiser, it can compensate for having to refit on the way compared to T1 cruisers. Reps can always be exchanged for things like a SeBo or a Warp Disruptor, in situations where needed.
The High Modules
Drone Link Augmentor just to fill up a slot that otherwise has no other function. It could also be useful for assigning drones to tackle especially in bigger fleets.
The RLMLs in the fit are meta guns, but you can always switch them to Tech II if you have the skills.
The Rigs
Straightforward missile application improval, and the cleanup on the shield's EM and Thermal holes.
Do's and Dont's
DO!
1) Immediately burn into your optimal in a brawl, unless you have fitted the Warp Disruptor and the fleet desperately needs one more point. Take note that your ship will orbit slightly out of the orbit range you've commanded.
2) If you've thought out that you can't lock the target quick, be sure to assign your drones to a tackler. Warriors were specifically chosen because of their speed.
3) Take advantage of your modules. Do not wait until your shield is well depleted before you start overheating things and using cap charges. The MWD for this one consumes an obscene amount of cap so make sure that you don't go stingy on using your booster. Thankfully your shield takes some time to get chewed through so you don't really have to panic.
DONT!
1) Don't go in first unless you've thought it out that you can manage the other pilots. If you get scrammed and webbed, you eventually just grind into a halt and take all their damage with open arms. This OsNI can tank a ship or two, but it is not built to sustain primary, and so is almost every other cruiser anyway.
2) Don't forget to refit* when you go inside the ESS.
3) DON'T Approach. DO NOT APPROACH! You are kind of begging the enemy to lock and shoot you by faceplanting onto them with your MWD bloom and other mechanics. Remember that you will always be pricier than any T1 cruiser, or even some T1 fit BCs, so an enemy gang that would want to trade better could just primary you (since the other ships that tend to be pricier than you are much much harder to kill for their value compared to you).
Cost
Around ~180 mil in MJ- atm for the entire fit. Cheaper if you buy them all in Jita and have them shipped, but the difference is probably not over 20 mil. Cut cost by 40-50 mil if you don't want to use faction shield modules. (Editor note: I got a fit that I was happy down to 70 mil isk)
Training
The newbean skillplans train almost directly into the skills you need for the OsNI, so excluding T2 RLMLs, it may be well under 3 weeks even.
Why I Like the OsNI
The price tag may dissuade newbeans from ever flying this ship in the near future, but let me tell you something: The OsNI has one of the most forgiving mechanics out of all cruisers within a doable price tag (of course pirate cruisers are insane but they cost over half a billion to fit usually)
It has a ton of slots, better base EHP, and the role bonuses scale extremely well. You usually don't immediately die in a brawl for making a single mistake, which does become quite more tricky with more niche and expensive one-role ships. It is a good ship to practice manual piloting, or even simply just trying to get a feel of bigger ships if you are used to dessies and frigs.
If you ever want to look cool in Standing, go fly an OsNI! (P.S. flying logi is cool too!)
[Osprey Navy Issue, ouroboros]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
50MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Caldari Navy Large Shield Extender
10MN Afterburner II
X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster
Small Capacitor Booster II
Warp Disruptor II
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Small Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Small Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Medium EM Shield Reinforcer II
Medium Ancillary Current Router II
Medium Auxiliary Thrusters I
Warrior II x5
Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile x2000
Navy Cap Booster 400 x27
Caldari Navy Inferno Light Missile x1000
Scourge Fury Light Missile x2000
Nova Fury Light Missile x1000
Mjolnir Fury Light Missile x1000
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Light Missile x1000
Nanite Repair Paste x150
My favorite ship currently is the Osprey Navy Issue, and I believe that it's a pretty good option for others who are looking for a Caracal with more utility, but can't fly the Cerberus yet :smile:
1.1 ====================My current fit====================
2 ====================The Cost====================
My current fit costs 150mil +, but if you swap out the faction shield extender for a tech two one, it should cost between 100mil - 150mil. Yes, it costs quadruple the price of a Caracal, so it is not very cost efficient, or affordable for new players. This is mainly due to the fact that navy cruiser hulls are rather expensive in MJ market, which hopefully should improve as CCP makes changes to the FW, allowing more of us to participate and provide more navy cruisers to the market and drive the price down
But if you can afford this ship, I can guarantee that it's very fun to fly :smile:
3 ====================The Training====================
The skills required very much overlap with the caracal, since, they are both caldari missile cruisers. The caracal is a very popular T1 ship for fleets, so it definitely doesn't hurt to train those missle skills up ;D
(Weapon upgrade V is highly recommended to provide more fitting space, makes fitting this ship and others that you'll fly in the future a lot easier)
4.1 ====================Reasons behind this fit====================
For the high slots, it's pretty standard. Rapid lights are great for killing frigates (and definitely aren't bad for anything else either). The reload doesn't matter that much for me, since fights don't last that long when we outnumber our opponents most of the time. The neuts are just there for the utility, potentially useful when you're close up on a frigate.
For the mid slots, I run both a MWD and an AB. The MWD is what I primarily use, as it provides the best acceleration and max speed. The 10MN AB is useful for when you're scrammed but don't want your speed to die, giving you decent speed even after you're tackled by small frigates. I also use it when I yeet my ship into ESS fights. but only when we have enough numbers in there already, since this ship has very low EHP for a cruiser, and can definitely get alpha-ed off the field by, say, a gang of blaster boats :/
I opted for the XLASB instead of buffer tanking, simply because it gives me more EHP after adding up the reps from 9 cycles, compared to a multispectrum shield hardener.
The warp disruptor is there for tackle, the large shield extender is there for more shield, and the cap booster is quite self-explanatory/
For the low slots, I have 2 nanos and 2 ballistics. The reason that I don't go 3 ballistics is because speed is very crucial for this fit, especially when against small targets that your rapid lights apply very well to.
4.2 ====================Potential Modifications====================
First of all, you don't need the navy shield extenders, swap them for the T2 variants if you want. I even went for abyssal warp disruptors in my fleet so you can probably tell what I'm going for.
If you know that you'll definitely never go into an ESS with the ship, and are very confident with your range controlling skills, you can swap out the AB for a multispectrum shield hardener for more tank.
5 ====================How I fly it====================
I use this fit for our standing fleet, in which we constantly get into fights of different scales, in different locations. This is why I tried to make the ship to be as versatile as possible to deal with many scenarios, but its primary purpose is to prioritize, tackle, and eliminate small targets on the grid. This is not to say that it can't be used to deal with bigger targets (Battlecruisers and above), but your teammates should be better at punching big damage at them most of the time. Your rapid light missiles are excellent at dealing with small ships like frigates, that other ships might have trouble applying damage to.
When engaged in a fight, the first thing I do is to overheat my point and XLASB. This is so that I can get tackle on the target as soon as possible, and will always get the max repair amount possible from the XLASB. After the target is tackled, I often enter orbit at around 20km (a few km below my unheated point range) and keep my MWD on. I would orbit closer if the target is a smaller ship, or simply keep at range if they're moving too fast to orbit around. If I can maintain a stable orbit/distance, I'll turn off the heat on my point from there.
Managing the XLASB isn't too hard, just remember to re-heat the module after you stop repping (never use XLASB without heat), and always avoid overrepping.
Do not enter orbit around the enemy in a large fight tho, as you are likely to accidentally fly too close to enemy tackles/main fleet and die very quickly.
6 ====================Why I fly it====================
For me, it's a relatively affordable ship with great maneuverability and utility (significantly cheaper than a Vedmak lol). I can almost fly it as a pseudo tackle frigate as it can go more than 2km/s easily, allowing you to kite many enemies.
I am, however, still learning about the game, so I might have some wrong understandings about certain aspects of the ship. Nonetheless, until I can fly a Cerberus or a tengu, this is probably going to be my main ship to fly with the standing fleet :smile:
Gnosis - Jack Lagash
[Gnosis, Dittle Lick]
Damage Control II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Overdrive Injector System II
Warp Disruptor II
Medium F-RX Compact Capacitor Booster
50MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Parallel Enduring Target Painter
Medium Micro Jump Drive
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Prototype 'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
Prototype 'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
Prototype 'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
Prototype 'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
Prototype 'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
Medium Infectious Scoped Energy Neutralizer
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Warrior II x15
Caldari Navy Nova Heavy Assault Missile x1800
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile x1580
Navy Cap Booster 800 x9
10MN Afterburner II x1
1) The Fit, as displayed
2) The Cost
As of writing, this fit costs 87m in MJ (reduced somewhat because I never got around to replacing a few cap boosters I used in the last fight and because at the time of writing there weren't enough faction Mjolnir HAMs on the MJ market) and 83M in Jita. This can be reduced somewhat by replacing the T2 rigs with T1 sacrificing some tank, and by taking advantage of the fact you're given a free Gnosis every year.
3) The Skill Train
The big thing about this fit that vets will notice is the fact that it uses T1 HAMs for CPU room, which cuts down on skill training time. However, because of the tight CPU, you'll need to train CPU Management to 5 and that's probably your roughest skill train. The T2 drones are also going to take a week or so, but you can swap those easily for T1 drones if you don't feel like waiting as the fit isn't designed around them. The other big consideration is the microjump drive, which exists primarily to help get this slow beast into brawling range where it belongs. I'd anticipate putting aside another week for this, but if you're impatient try swapping it for the afterburner in the cargohold for some added situational utility: dual-propping means you can keep up some speed even if you're scrammed and will make you not completely useless in an ESS bank fight (and if you're flying in standing you'll find yourself in those a lot). A T2 afterburner looks like an intimidating train, but it's a train you probably should do anyway.
Verdict: 1 month on the outside
4) Why I Fly
What keeps people coming back to this game's PvP is the rush you get going into combat and everything is on the line. This is why kitey fits and sniper fits are coward's toys, as it becomes easier to disengage when things start going badly. I've used my fair share of Nagas and rail Rokhs, my most killmarked ship is a sniper Harbinger that chewed apart Goon Thrashers on the T5Z gate, but it's uniquely boring and video games should never be boring. You will not be bored brawling like a man's man/woman's woman/enby's enby, and you will not be bored in this ship.
5) How To Fly
Heavy Assault Missiles are close-range weapons that ask you to close and get on top of your enemy (even my skills only let me hit my missiles to 20km), and at that range it's time to put up or shut up. Added onto this is the hull tank, which is rare but thrilling. With armor and shield tank, you have breathing room for when you recognize your tank is failing and you need to extract. Hull tanking has no buffer, when your tank fails you die like a real Chad. It has extra benefits too in that your tank has no resist hole for the enemy to exploit, the fact you are able to have a tank that does not bloat your sig radius bigger than yo mamma and also doesn't make you turn and align as slow as see previous, and also entices your enemy into thinking "come on, he's in hull, we almost got him, just a little longer!" not realizing their own tank is failing.
To properly fly this, select your enemy, then approach them and turn on your microwarp drive. If they're 80km or more away from you, align and use your microjump drive if it's installed. Once you're within missile range, set orbit to 10km and turn off your prop mod, and let the ship do the work. Be sure to turn on your long point as soon as you can, but don't feel the need to overheat it to get that extra reach unless you think they're about to run away. Odds are, the target will accept the challenge and start shooting you first anyway. When they do, that's when you put out your drones on them and turn on your target painter. The painter and web are very important, as HAMs have issues with application. Always remember to use your long point before your web, which shouldn't be too hard as long points generally have better range than webs anyway. Your capacitor will last a while unless you have either your MWD or neutralizer running, which is what the cap booster is for. Don't be afraid to use it, because it never restores as much power as you think and takes a hot second to reload. Note that the neutralizer won't do all that much against ships fitted with projectile weapons, missiles, or ancillary active tank modules. Neut them anyway, just to prove a point (and also to see if you can shut off their hardeners or prop mods). If you plan on living, though, you may want to think about using it on smaller tackle ships to get them to stop pointing you. If your target is a turret battleship, you should think about approaching with transversal both as a way of trying to avoid their gunfire (largely unsuccessfully, you are not a speedy boi in this thing) and also as practice for when it really matters. If the target ship puts drones out, switch your own drones and painter to defang them just to be annoying (if your prey is a dedicated drone boat, use your web on the drones too). Your primary prey will be cruisers and up, even with the added help of the paint and web this thing has a really hard time with frigates.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylMARFw-KJI - live stream of editing this pae, talking about choices here.