Exploration and "Ze Frenchies" (that'd be me)

Well, a few details have been shed these past few days on what awaits us in the new patch hitting Tranquility on March 10th (or so everyone hopes) - for a few answers to people's questions from devs, check out this ENN post here .

I won't go into detail with what's already discussed over there. Basically, what this means for small (-ish) corps like mine is a new playground to establish semi-permanent bases in. By bases I mean a POS and by semi-permanent I mean it's going to be hard to maintain, since access will be tricky to say the least. But enough about pos-es.

The more important thing to discuss would be what ships are best used in this harsh environment, where refit and resupply opportunities are rare. Say you're attempting a small-scale operation, you and 1-2 buddies find a wormhole and go in for an afternoon or so. This can mean no pos, as it's not worth the wait to anchor/online/offline/unanchor everything. So what can be done is bring in one or several anchorable containers (I fly a Prowler - the Minmatar "covops" Transport, so one GSC and 1-2 smaller anchorable containers to maximize space). T1 haulers can work well too, especially if they have 2 high slots like the Mammoth or the Iteron V.

Once on the other side, the designated industrial pilot anchors the cans and waits for the arrival of the "muscle". Ideally, the "muscle" would fly drone boats (heh, sue me, I'm Gallente), as even though the damage may be a tad lower, you have the advantages of no ammo needed and also get free high slots to fit salvagers, tractors, remote reppers to fix damaged drones, cloaks (and daggers, hehe) and so on. Basically you need "monkey-wrench" ships. And since you'd also like to ideally go back the way you came in, they'd need to be BC-sized or smaller. So, that narrows it down pretty well (BS-es like the Domi are out): Myrmidon, Ishtar, Ishkur... T1 cruisers might also do ok if your skills aren't good enough for an Ishtar... so the Arbitrator and the Vexor also fit the profile.

Another ammo-less category of ships are the Amarr ones, which should do ok too, (Harbinger, Zealot etc.). In this case you'd lose part of the flexibility of an Ishtar or Myrm, but gain more oomph.

In any case, leave room for atleast one of those new 'small' exploration probe launchers so you might find your way home if something unexpec when something nasty happens.

What to tank for and how much tank is "enough", though, is still a mystery, but since the areas will be 0.0-like in nature (with "smarter than your average bear" NPC's), I'd expect tanks on the aforementioned types of ships (or atleast on BC's) to be tested quite thoroughly.

That's it for now, more of my thoughts on this matter later on as more details become available.
Comments are welcome, as always.

The Games Agents Play

Blah, blah, missions again. I'm only writing this because it seems interesting to me that it's been a week now since my Sisters of Eve agent and I are playing some sort of silly game, with some disastrous effects on my standing. Basically it all started when I rejected doing Smash the Supplier - a lvl4 mission against the Amarr Navy.

I generally don't like doing missions against other Empire factions because it tends to bust my standing up needlessly and for no bounties. Also, I rejected this one because it's what most may call the hardest level 4 mission you'll come across, and my Kin/Therm dps isn't too effective against Amarr.

So, since this initial rejection, my agent seems to be stuck in an infinite loop as follows:

1. Smash the Supplier
2. Random transport mission
3. Repeat step 2
4. Cargo delivery with Blood Raiders
5. Pirate Invasion with Angels
6. Return to step 1.
   

This is all I get, and if it's not going to stop soon, it'll ruin my standing, which is already down from 8.7 to 7.3 or so due to repeated mission rejection.

Something needs to happen, either I do Smash the Supplier by mustering enough balls to do it solo and cutting it very, very close, or I get some buddies together in Amarr ships and send the bloody Amarr Navy to meet their Maker.

Or I take a break from missions and go visit some old friends in Catch, hehe... more on that soon.

Cap Warfare Ships - That "WTF Just Happened" Feeling

Gotta love huge Battleship slugfests - where everyone has all effects turned off in order to atleast stand a chance of activating some modules before running headfirst into the lag wall.
It's times like this when I like to turn my attention to the more subtle aspects of combat, such as draining some unfortunate SOB's cap dry nearly instantly.

Certainly, the ultimate Neut Boat is the Bhaalgorn, able to drain , but with its extreme price tag it's highly unlikely many pilots are able to field them on a regular basis (Enemy FC's reaction tends to be "Zomg! Bhaalgorn, PRIMARY NAO!1!"). Then there's the Curse, with regular and not so regular fitting, with 75km neut range, but for putting the lights out on enemy battleships, the most common workhorse is still the Armageddon.


Playing around in EFT and checking out other people's setups, I've come to think this is optimal:

[Armageddon, Fleet Neut Boat]
4x 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
2x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Armor Explosive Hardener II

Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
2x Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800

8x Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I

3x Trimark Armor Pump I

Bouncer II x5

So, let's see why it's good at what it does: first of all, thanks to the 8 Meta 4 Heavy Neuts (which have the same attributes as their T2 counterparts, but less fitting requirements) it's able to drain 4800 cap each cycle at 25km, which means that any battleship not receiving cap injections will have to pretty much submit to its power. Then there's the formidable buffer tank of aproximately 180k effective hitpoints (4x 1600 tungsten, 3x with damage types evenly distributed), which means it'll take a while to shut you down.

Then, in the mid slots we have 2x Medium and 1x Heavy Capacitor Boosters, ideally chock full with 800 charges, as is your cargohold. This ensures that you yourself don't run out of juice while operating the power-hungry neuts. Not all need to be active all the time, you can micro-manage them as needed.

As a mainly Gallente pilot, I also try to make the most use of any drone space I can get, so loading a flight of heavy or sentry drones (I picked Bouncer II's because I just love perverting the Empire's mighty ship with Minmatar accessories, hehe...) means that you'll also be able to do some, if not very much, damage in return, about 200-300 dps worth, depending on skills.

Variations to the above setup can be made easily. For instance, you can replace one medium capacitor booster with an ECCM - Radar II mod, to decrease the chances of getting jammed, and also if you so wish, replace 1-2 Neuts with Nosferatus, to decrease your dependency on 800 charges for those prolonged fights. This, however, means losing some cap erasing capability.

Since the Geddon only has 3 mid slots, it's not feasable to fit a warp disruptor or web, but this is a fleet vessel, where most likely there will be dedicated tacklers.

As always, comments are welcome. See you in space :)

New Year's Resolutions

To me, and to many others I'm sure, Eve is more than a mere game. It's something I've put unparalleled effort into, and despite its shortcomings I am certain that I'm going to enjoy it for years to come. And since this is the time of year to make plans and put business in order, I've put together a little list of what I hope to accomplish ingame this year. So here goes, my 2009 to-do list:

1. Become an accomplished and effective Battleship pilot. This means skills in spaceship command (notably the dreaded BS V), gunnery (notably large T2 Blasters), some more navigation, which shall be beneficial to all ships I fly and Drones... lots of drones.

2. Train all required skills for carrier use to a decent level (the training schedule says it takes me 230-ish days to become a decent fleet carrier pilot, support skills and all, some of which overlap with my previous goal)

3. The two points above bring me within shooting distance (pun intended) of also being able to fly a Dreadnought

4. Train a second account to run in parallel and eventually take over most of the science and industry tasks and ventures I'm involved in, and provide additional income to support the goals above... this is the time when skillbooks and equipment become quite, QUITE expensive.

That's about it for personal goals. I feel they are well achievable and well-balanced, but time will tell if I'm right or not :)

If you also have some goals set for yourself, or wish to make comments or suggestions to mine, please feel free to post comments. Or if you run a blog as well and have a similar post, drop me a line in-game, I'd love to read them.

Gank Brutix - Real Men Hull Tank

T0day I'd like to bring into the spotlight a ship that I'm very fond of and show you how it can be effective, despite all the shortcomings - I'm talking of course about the Tier 1 Gallente BC, the Brutix.


Now, this is a blaster boat through and through (NO railguns recommended). Its 7.5% bonus to armor repair suggest an armor tanking configuration (dual repped even), but that would fill many low slots and gimp the fierce damage potential this ship definitely shows. I very much prefer using a Brutix over a Thorax in the role of a disposable gank boat because even if it's slower, it packs more of a punch and it stands a better, if still slim, chance of survival.

Ideally you'd use this setup in roaming gangs and in large BS fleets where you stand less of a chance of getting primaried due to your smaller size.

So in the low slots, drop the MAR, forget the resist mods and slap on 3 Magnetic Field Stabilizers (3 being about the maximum useful number of any module to which stacking penalties apply). This leaves you with 2 low slots, in which you will try to fit a simulacrum of a tank consisting of a Damage Control Unit II and 1x Reinforced Bulkheads II - which will make the most of the brutix' oversized hull HP. You could fit an 800mm plate instead, but EFT shows that effective hitpoints would be lower in that case and by doing so you'd be left with very little PG to fit the med slots once you've fitted a full rack of 7 Heavy Ion Blaster II's.

For the mid slots, an absolute must is the 10MN Microwarp Drive (T1 if T2 doesn't fit), then the Warp Disruptor or Scrambler, and in the last 2 slots 2 of the following: Capacitor Booster, Tracking Computer, ECCM array, Stasis Webifier and Sensor Booster with a Scan Resolution Script.

In the ammo department, load your cargohold with Void, Null (to be able to gun stuff down at 10km) and Antimatter (if you load the Navy variety, don't load too much, chances are you won't have time to expend it all)

Drone-wise fit according to circumstance - either a flight of medium T2's or sacrifice DPS for versatility and load a flight of medium ECM drones, or if you're feeling lucky even a set of 5 armor or shield maintenance bots (but I recommend sticking with the ECM drones...)

In the right circumstances, this ship can be a monster, but the pilot needs to be aware of its shortcomings and limitations. This is no solo ship and the suggested tactic is you warp in after the fight has already started, close distance fast and hug your victim at point blank while pumping them full of Navy Antimatter or Void and wrecking collateral damage with your drones.
Work in close connection with a tackler - once a target is immobilized, warp in, gun it down, warp out and repeat.

Losing the ship is bound to happen sooner or later - my record was I think 4 sorties on a T1 fitted version of the above setup. It's not an expensive ship to lose if insured - even less so if you're like me and can mass produce the T2 fitting yourself. For the T1 version, you're looking at a few million loss, which is nothing compared to the fun you have flying it and the potential damage it can do.

Navy Megathron - the bread earner

I've never been too keen a mission runner, but since I returned to Empire from 0.0 I had to find a way to supplement my income and pass the time between research and manufacturing jobs. So, since I'm not too keen on mining (atleast not in Empire), after listening in for a few days on a mission runners' channel to get the feel of level 4 missions, I started "the grind" for Sisters of Eve standings.

Progression was fast, did lvl1 and lvl2 missions in an Ishkur, lvl3's in a Dominix and never hit a snag. Pay wasn't great and I had to move around a lot from agent to agent, until I gathered 6 standing and was able to use a level 4 agent (quality 0, but still...). By now, I was thinking of upgrading from the Domi (it wasn't rigged, so it wouldn't have been much of a loss trading it in for something bigger) - for a while I pondered between a Mega (gank) and a Hyperion (godly tank). I had also thought of the Navy Mega, and in the end I decided the extra low slot and the increased armor and hull hitpoints were well worth the roughly 200 million over the price of a regular Mega.


I was glad to have a new toy (even more so when it was an expensive one) - and proceded to outfit it as best my skills and finances permitted. My setup (largely unchanged today) was as follows:

• 7 x 425mm Compressed Coil Gun I (hi)
  
• 4 x Cap Recharger II (mid)
• 1 x LAR II (low)
• 1 x Damage Control Unit II (low)
• 4 x Armor Hardener II, mission specific (low)
• 2 x Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
• 2 x CCC I (rig)
• 1 x Aux. Nano Pump I (rig)

This was a tight fit, especially CPU-wise, as there was 1 point left unused in the end. The downside to this loadout was that there was one empty high slot (the 8th utility slot), there was no Afterburner, so my speed is only 120m/s and as I gathered experience running missions I noticed that the tank was overkill on most missions, as long as I didn't screw up the triggers.
On the other hand, the setup was cap stable (repper on, shooting Antimatter), so on missions I knew, I could be semi-afk.

So, attempting to speed up mission running, I dropped the DCU II for a third MFS II. As I said, this setup can tank reasonably well in most Serpentis and Guristas missions, and the added DPS is noticeable.

One aspect I've neglected and that can definitely use some improvement are the guns - I've been a cheapskate and only bought meta 3 guns, as the meta 4 ones are 11-12 million a pop, but I plan on rectifying this situation at the earliest convenience. Other improvements I could make without going over the budget - An Amarr Navy Armor Repairer (90-ish million on contracts), which should free up powergrid so I could fit an AB, and True Sansha Armor Hardeners, as they use less CPU than the T2 version and yet have the same qualities.

In the drone department, things are pretty clear. The Megathron has a 125 cubic metre drone bay, which means you either bring a flight of heavy drones, or a flight of meds, a flight of lights and have some room left over for spares or 1-2 sentries. I would advise against the heavy drones, as you will need the light and medium drones for killing pesky ewar frigates. I usually bring along 5 hammerhead II's, 5 hobgoblin II's and that leaves me with 50 cubic metres free - either 2 sentries or a flight of medium ewar drones - Webifier drones are my personal favorite on Angel missions. The tracking on the Mega is good enough to hit their pesky close-range battleships, however if you apply webbing drones (or a combination of them and damage drones), it's all that easier to make them meet their maker.

I hope I've managed to wake your interest in the Gallente Navy's Megathron. It's a versatile ship, worthy of respect, both in PVP and in PVE (and it's not THAT expensive after all).

This post has been brought to you by the "No Moar Caldari Navy Ravens, K THNX BAI" foundation.

A Very Happy New Year to Eve Players Everywhere

See you all in space,

Brutus