Keres
RELATED UNI-WIKI REFERENCES
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Electronic attack ships are mobile, resilient electronic warfare platforms. Although well suited to a variety of situations, they really come into their own in skirmish and fleet encounters, particularly against larger ships. For anyone wanting to decentralize their fleet's electronic countermeasure capabilities and make them immeasurably harder to counter, few things will serve better than a squadron or two of these little vessels. SHIP BONUSES
Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
Ship Attributes
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Summary
The Keres is a T2 version of the Maulus, but rather than just being a straight upgrade, it gains an extra bonus to warp disruptor range, allowing it to point enemies from 40km or more; with a T2 point, heat, and maximum character skills, a Keres can point at 50km. The warp disruptor range bonus also affects warp scramblers, taking a T2 warp scrambler to about 15km range with good character skills.
The Keres can be flown in a few ways. One is to combine the warp disruptor range with scripted sensor damps that push opponents' lock ranges down below the Keres' point range, allowing it to tackle a target while leaving them unable to respond. This is a strong tactic to use solo or when skirmishing for a small gang or fleet.
Another route is pure tackle, packing the Keres with warp disruptors and scramblers to allow it to hold points and scrams on several targets, possibly with some tank. This is a particularly effective setup to support a gate camp.
The Keres can be flown primarily as a sensor damping platform, but it doesn't really outshine the Maulus and Celestis much in this role. Versus the Maulus, it essentially only gains an extra mid slot and slightly better tank at a considerable increase in price. The Celestis is simply superior at damping, cheaper despite being a cruiser, and more insurable, though the Keres beats it in mobility.
Skills
Recommended skills to pilot Keres for a specific or its common role(s).
Core skills:
- Gallente Frigate gives a bonus to dampener effectiveness and reduces activation cost; level V is necessary to sit in the hull at all.
- Electronic Attack Ships gives a bonus to Warp Scrambler and Disruptor range (40+ Km) and reduces activation cost. Ideally a Keres pilot will have this trained to IV at least (V is a long train).
- Frequency Modulation increases falloff range on all ewar modules; train to IV or V
- Long Distance Jamming increases optimal range on all ewar modules; train to IV or V
- Signal Suppressionincreases effectiveness of Sensor Damps; train to IV or V.
Good to have:
- Sensor Linking reduces capacitor need for sensor damps.
- Propulsion Jamming reduces capacitor need for points and scrams.
Tactics
Fitting notes:
- Use a fit that provides some defense against drones. This might mean a small buffer tank.
- By scripting your modules, you can reduce the stacking penalties when you apply multiple damps to the same target. Bring enough scripts to script each of the damps you have fitted for either of its effects, as tactically necessary.
Combat tactics:
- It is often useful to reject fleet warps and warp in at your optimal
- Warping in a few seconds after the rest of the fleet, when the opponents will have already chosen their primaries, can protect you from immediate primary target status, and gives your FC time to call ewar targets.
- Unless ordered to by the FC, do not target the general primary DPS target with damps; your targets will often be support, logistics ships or other ewar
- Sniping ships suffer most from range penalties. In a close-range fight, enemy damage dealers might suffer more from lock time penalties. Logistics ships usually suffer more from lock time penalties, unless they are strung out some distance behind their allies.
- Be prepared to bounce repeatedly to tactical bookmarks or nearby celestials to avoid damage. Don't feel bad about warping out and back in: this can effectively keep a target preoccupied with you and essentially off the field.
Notes
In ancient Greek mythology, the Keres were feminine personifications of violent death, associated with battlefields. "Keres" is actually the plural (of Ker) but as a ship name it has become standardized as a singular noun in Eve.