Mission Maelstrom (+ Vargur)

For a bunch of reasons there is a lot out Caldari and their Raven battleships seem to be the favorite for Level 4 missions. I however believe that the Maelstrom is in fact a superior boat. The Maelstrom combines a slot layout enabling both a full active shield tank and enough low-slots to provide massive damage. The active shield tank is further boosted by a bonus to shield boosting and a cap-less primary weapon usage. The primary weapon is further boosted by being able to select damage types and good to excellent range due to massive falloff. The Maelstrom is built for missions.

Let's start by looking at a basic T2 setup:

[Maelstrom, T2]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II

100MN Afterburner II
Large Shield Booster II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L

Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I


Warrior II x5
Hobgoblin II x10
Warrior II x5

While cap stability isn't great, with the afterburner off, it can run everything else for over 7 minutes, more than long enough to bring most rooms down to a controllable level. It also should be known that if you need extra range, switching to Barrage L extends fall-off to 59 km, giving this ship the ability to project damage across the entire grid.

Typically when I engage I take out the web/scramble frigates first. Often this means burning in the opposite direction to increase range and minimize transversal.  If the guns can't hit them then I send in the drones. Although the ship has the bandwidth and drone bay to handle medium and heavy drones, I just fit enough lights to easily replace losses. There is nothing worse than loosing all your light drones and having no way to destroy a scrambling frigate.

As good as the T2 fittings are, this ship can really benefit from one of the most powerful relative to the T2 version faction modules in the game, the pithum medium shield boosters. Couple these with some low-grade Crystal implants 1-5 and you get a perma-tank that can handle most rooms handily.

[Maelstrom, small faction]
Damage Control II
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Republic Fleet 100MN Afterburner
Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L

Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Core Defense Operational Solidifier I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I


Warrior II x5
Hobgoblin II x10
Warrior II x5

Although not cap stable with the afterburner, it is once it is turned off. Use the AB to move around in position but be mindful not to let the capacity drop below peak recharge at around 33%. With mission specific hardeners only the very hardest rooms can make a dent in the tank, allowing getting in close range with the target battleships.

Of course there is an easy step above this fit. But it requires going with a Vargur, the ultimate mission ship. While a Macharial is more popular, the Vargur's invincible tanks, superior tracking, low ammo usage allowing the cost use of RF ammo and the ability to fit tractor beams and salvagers results in more isk/hour IMHO. Compared to the Maelstrom, it provides a better tank against EM/Therm, about 50% more speed. Here is how I fit my Vargur complete with recommended implants.

[Vargur, Vargur Dream]
Damage Control II
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Republic Fleet 100MN Afterburner
Pithum B-Type Medium Shield Booster
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP L
Small Tractor Beam II
Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager II

Large Projectile Collision Accelerator II
Large Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I


Hobgoblin II x5
Hobgoblin II x3
Warrior II x7

With a fit like this I was able to fully complete Worlds Collide Sansha / Angel looting and salvaging all large wrecks in under 50 minutes for about 60-70 million isk/hour. Most missions can be run much faster.

The result of all this is that minmattar pilots should not feel compelled to switch to the Caldari mission boats. The Maelstrom and Vargur represent IMHO an actually superior mission platform.

P.S. It should be noted that the current vision from CCP Fozzie is to somewhat nerf the Tracking enhancers. They will give a 20% boost instead of 30% to falloff. This will somewhat lower the range of these ships, but not enough to significantly change the tactics.

Brawling Frigate Strategies - Part 1 - Turn and Burn and Disrupt

Toterra is terrible at kiting. In general I manage to usually either 1. Fly away too far and have my enemy escape, or 2. overcompensate by hitting approach and getting caught. As a result my choice in ships tends to gravitate massively towards the brawling (close range) strategies. Although many T1 frigates are effective in this role, there are two strategies, with corresponding fits, that I find work the best.

1. Turn and Burn
Mostly effective against turret ships, it is on the surface very simple. Keep your angular velocity significantly higher then the tracking of the enemy guns. This works best on armour tanked ships, with four mid-slots and a utility high. With requirements like that it is not surprising that Minmatar ships excel in this role.

In EVE angular velocity is usually represented in radians. According to Wikipedia, here is the definition of a radian: 'Radian describes the plane angle subtended by a circular arc as the length of the arc divided by the radius of the arc'. Sounds complicated but really it is just the ratio of how fast you are orbiting a ship, divided by how far you are from the ship. So if you are orbiting at 500m/s, and the orbit swings out to 1000 meters, your angular velocity is 0.5 radians per second.  If you are orbiting at 250m/s, and you are 750 meters, your angular velocity is 0.333.


The other factor in tracking is the ratio of the signature resolution of the gun (40 meters for small turrets) and the signature radius of the ship. Your angular velocity is divided by this ratio. So if your ship has a signature radius of 30 meters, and the guns shooting you are frigate sized (40 meters signature resolution), your angular velocity is multiplied by 1.333. In the case of the ship orbiting at 500m/s 1000 meters away, this results in an effective angular velocity of 0.666 radians per second (0.5 * 1.33).

This new factor is then compared to the tracking speed of your guns. If the effective angular velocity is equal to the tracking speed of the guns there is a 50% chance of hitting. However that is the inflection point of the curve. In the case above, where the effective angular velocity is 0.666 radians, if the guns actual tracking speed is 0.5 then the chance to hit is only 29%, effectively dropping to less than a third.

The result of all of this is that the game is designed so that frigates running an afterburner being shot at with small guns, sit around this inflection point. Anything you can do to push yourself even a little further along will make a big difference.

So the turn and burn strategy is to do everything to push the tracking as far past the inflection point so that almost no damage is taken from another frigate.

To do this we do several things.

1. Armour tank: Armour tanking does not boost the signature radius of a ship so it increases the effective angular velocity of the ship relative to target. There is a speed hit from some hits/armour modules which will reduce angular velocity, so it is best to not go overboard. Typically a 200mm RT plate and a small repper is ideal.

2. AB + Scram + Web: Fitting both a warp scrambler and a web means that it is hard for the opponent to use speed and maneuvering to reduce your angular velocity to the point where he can hit your effectively. Ideally, you have a faster ship so he can not kite you. Again, since many of your potential targets have a web, having one of your own is pretty much required.

3. Tracking Disruptor: Using a tracking disruptor on the enemy ship reduces their tracking as much as 50%, even without off-grid boosters and bonused ships.

There are several ships at several price points that are ideal for this. Starting cheap... here is the post retribution slasher...

[Slasher, Turn and Burn Slasher]
Damage Control II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste

1MN Afterburner II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Tracking Speed Disruption Script

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
Small Nosferatu II

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I

This setup can massacre almost any turret based ship that doesn't have some way of mitigating the angular velocity or a second weapon system. The main problem with this ship is the tank, or rather the lack of a tank. Overheat everything going in and get under the guns as quick as possible. Take out any drones ASAP. But if you get under the guns, and kill off the drones (if there are any) then it is only a matter of time before victory. A naturally high speed/low signature radius is the perfect combination.

For a bit more ISK, the Republic Fleet Firetail is an ideal option. I talked more about this ship here:
Ships I Fly - Republic Fleet Firetail. This ship packs more of a punch, and has more defenses, but is a little slower.

For the rich, or if you just want to try something with a bit of bling, there is nothing better then the Dramiel...

[Dramiel, Turn and Burn Dramiel]
Damage Control II
Coreli A-Type Small Armor Repairer
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Tracking Speed Disruption Script

200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
[empty rig slot]


Warrior II x3

With the Dram, I would highly recommend a set of low-grade halo implants to maximize the effectiveness (reduces signature radius) in addition to the deadspace articles mentioned above, especially if flying in low-sec. More DPS than either the Firetail or the Slasher, the Dram is pretty much the ultimate turn and burn ship. Even webbed it is still a fast ship and able to control the engagement. Additionally the use of drones gives a good chunk of DPS even when counter tracking disrupted. Expensive, but a great ship.

Next post we will discuss the strategy of tanking like a BOSS!

My Endorsement for CSM - Matias “Brave Newbie” Otero and Zander (Crossing Zebras)

After listening to a bunch of podcasts and 'interviews' I have decided who I would vote for. Either Matias Otero or Zander. Neither has announced running for the CSM. I am not even sure that Matias knows what the CSM is, but listening to them they clearly would make better CSM members than any of the announced candidates.

Matias Otero
Within one month of starting to play EVE created he has grown his new corp to over a thousand members strong. Listening to him on the Declarations of War podcast, he obviously has way more recent experience as a new player who is very involved in the game then any of the veterans that have announced. Stupid game mechanics that we have long forgotten about (like the idiocy of game mechanics basically encouraging war-decking new player corps) are stupid to him. He is articulate and clearly willing to do what it takes to learn the game. I feel he would actually bring something to the CSM that CCP could actually use.

Zander
Host of the Crossing Zebras podcast, he has interviewed most of the announced candidates. His interviews are first rate. Although he claims to be off working on an oil rig, I would suggest CNN hire him. Amazingly good interviews. He clearly does the research ahead of time and asks tough questions that really gets at what each interviewee is all about. Amazingly he doesn't get mired in pointless arguments. After listening to most of the interviews, he his clearly more aware of the issues, and able to discuss them reasonably, then any of the candidates that he interviewed. Fantastic job, a huge amount of work, and I think he needs to be on the CSM.



Really, I hope either or both of these candidates make a run. And I hope most of the other bitter-vet / more toys for null-sec candidates drop out. In the end, with the new voting mechanics, I think we are going to see a CSM dominated by Goons and TEST with maybe one or two relatively independent bitter-vets. The CSM will spend most of it's time dealing with the most important issue facing them... 'Who gets to go to Iceland!'. Hopefully the rest of the community can come together and not split their vote so much that the major blocs dominate CSM 8.

Resistance is Futile

Granger of Agony Unleashed had an excellent post on our internal forums last week regarding base ship resistances by race/class. This is one of those topics that I knew some of the details for, but never really dug in to fully understand the various impacts in detail. With permission I include below the complete post:

Well actually, resistance is anything but futile.

Simply described - resists reduce the amount of damage your ship actually takes compared to what is delivered. Example:

A Drake shoots a Kinetic missile at you for 100 damage. You have shield resist of 75% to Kinetic, so you only take 25 damage.

The knock-on effect is that increased resists also makes self-reps (Armor Repairers, or Shield Boosters) more effective, as well as remote reps from logistics, due to the reduction in received damage. Thus, increased resists not only increases your base EHP but also results in more effective repairing, unlike adding hitpoints through plates/trimarks or extenders/field extenders (unless of course you don't have enough buffer to allow the reps to land, but that is another topic).


One thing that seems to be frequently misinterpreted is how the various ship classes compare in terms of resists. Well, they all follow the same pattern. I am going to concentrate on armor here to try and keep it simple, but will list shield base stats too. All profiles are listed EM-The-Kin-Exp just like in EFT

BASE
Shield 0-20-40-50
Armor 50-35-25-10

Now - the way armor works through the classes is that all hulls have some level of improved defence against the primary damage type of their natural enemy. So, the natural enemy of the Caldari are the Gallente. Gallente primary damage type is Thermal (think drones). So, all Caldari ships have some extent of improved resist against Thermal. Likewise vice-versa, and of course for Minmatar-Amarr. Each race also has a secondary damage type. The primary and secondary damage types are listed below.

Race - Primary - Secondary
Amarr - EM - The
Caldari - Kin - The
Gallente - The - Kin
Minmatar - Exp - Kin

So - how does this improved defence apply across the ship classes?

Vanilla T1
NB this rule applies to all T1 hulls, from Frigates to Titans. Each race gets a 10% modifier in Armor to the primary damage type of their natural enemy. Thus, the T1 hulls get for armor:

Amarr 50-35-25-20
Caldari 50-45-25-10
Gallente 50-35-35-10
Minmatar 60-35-25-10

That's the easy part out of the way, as for the T2 ship hulls, both shield and armor get a buff, in both primary and secondary damage types. It depends on ship class, though thankfully makes sense in that light fast ships (Inty, Dictor, EAF) get slightly less bonus compared to those we usually associate with massive tank (HIC, Command Ship). As there are so many combinations, I am going to concentrate on Amarr Armor only from now on.


Interceptor / Covert Ops / Interdictor
These receive the smallest of all the T2 ship class buffs, an additional 10% in primary damage type only over the T1 hulls:
Amarr 50-35-25-30 (NB EFT will tell you different for the Malediction, but that is because it gets 5% resist bonus per level of Amarr Frigate skill)

Black Ops
Oddly, receives a smaller bonus to primary damage type than an Inty, but also a small bonus to secondary:
Amarr 50-35-28.75-28

Stealth Bomber / Marauder
Receive a bigger bonus to primary damage type and also a small bonus to secondary:
Amarr 50-35-34.4-40

Electronic Attack Frigate / Force Recon
As above, but now a bigger bonus to primary damage type and also a small bonus to secondary:
Amarr 50-35-43.8-60

Combat Recon / Field Command Ship
Amarr 50-35-53.1-70
(Similar to Malediction, EFT will tell you the Absolution does better, but again it's due to the 5% resist bonus per level)

AF / HAC / HIC / Logistics Cruiser / Tech 3 / Fleet Command
Amarr 50-35-62.5-80
(Again EFT will tell you the Damnation/Devoter does better due to the 5% resist bonus per level. You can also fit the resist Sub to the T3)


As I say the same traits are applied to shield as well as Armor, making it easier to make balanced Armor tankers from Amarr T2, whereas Minnie T2 make balanced shield tankers. Caldari/Gallente are a bit oddball in that given they are strong to The/Kin and Kin/The respectively, it means they have a huge hole left. However, once plugged, it does mean they can fit very strong tanks with good resist across the board, simply by fitting an EM Screen on a shield fit or an Explosive Hardener on an armor fit.


Hope that was worthwhile.

Ultimate Question - Survey Results

Last June I asked on my blog, and on some forums, for people to respond to a simple survey. The survey was designed around the concept called the "Net Promoter Score" that is a current fad in the corperate world.

Personally I am a huge fan of the survey and have seen it transform organizations. As a result I thought that I would try and apply it to EVE Online to see what people say. I also asked WOW players on what forums I knew about the same question. I had over 200 reponses from EVE players, and about 90 responses from WOW players.

So... without any further adieu... Here are the results

EVE Online NPS = 21
WOW NPS = 21

Interesting eh?

Here are some of the comments from the EVE Online 'Promoters' (score - comment):
9 - I enjoy the real consequences of pvp/pve and would like friends to play with me.
10 - It is a uniquely realistic depiction of a lawless society, also fun, lots of fun
10 - EVE allows a freedom unsurpassed in any other MMO, basically the sandboxiness is awesome. Also, you're flying SPACESHIPS, anyone who doesn't like that is probably a communist.
10 - It's vast and wonderfully complex, it has SPACESHIPS! And it makes you think... A lot.

And here is a 'special one'...
10 - player name - hahahahahaha Nice try.. Rule #1 Trust No One   

Here are some of the comments from the EVE Online 'Detractors':
0 - I love EVE, but it's a terrible game. It has a terrible community, and terrible customer support (GMs often seem "out to get you"). You need ISK for everything, but the only way to get ISK is to spend hours a day grinding. It's a terrible, terrible game, and I love it, but I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.
2 - Too time consuming - I don't want to ruin a friend's life or marriage.
1- The player environment of Eve is not conductive to making new acquaintances you could actually play with, and few people pull it off. Paranoia levels in Eve among veteran players are so high, that the chance to find a non-solitary niche for a new player is fairly low, and new players drop out quickly and most importantly, together. (A solitary niche is not worth recommending in the first place.) Which means that if I introduce a friend or colleague to Eve, I will have to BE the core of their social environment and provide that niche myself if I wish them to stay. That, basically means that I'd be recommending them something they cannot possibly enjoy on their own without me. The only way that could work would be enticing many people to do that at once and support each other, forming a straight up corporation entirely from friends and colleagues. That is quite a tall order, which makes such a recommendation not impossible, but very unlikely.
2 - Goon shenanigans, especially as they impact the Market and the overall game economy and player attitude, has made any activity for the regular player meaningless. Also, player attitude is childish in the extreme, especially on Forums. It used to be fun till CCP got in bed with and praised Goons.



For comparison here are some WOW Promoters:
10 -   I love the game, there is so much to do, and most of the people are amazing!
9 -  It's a great game to play with friends.
9 -  This game is extremely fun. It's a game where you can spend time with friends and other people. I've connected with a lot of people through WoW and people have connected with me. This game is truly amazing and would recommend it to everyone who loves MMO's.9 - In spite of its issues, I've loved this game for a long time. But I would probably only recommend it to someone if I already knew they were an avid gamer, because there's always been a certain amount of social stigma around this game in particular.

 And here are some WOW Detractors:
3 -  The games long life cycle means there is no one I know who would like that hasn't already tried it. Meaning I would just be getting back into the game with the same old addicts.
0 = After playing for 8 years the thought of explaining the mechanics to someone new just seems like a huge task. Things that I think are trivial probably don't come easily. Relating to someone brand new would be an extremely challenging task. The best I can do is point you to this blog post on the Elitist Jerks forum. It essentially goes through what raiding at 60 was like, compared to raiding in wrath. The points still stand and even more so now with Cata being wrapped up and heading into Mists. http://elitistjerks.com/blogs/2535-zeidrich/478-random_thoughts_progression_complexity_since_vanilla_wow/ The complexity I went through was seeing the changes unfold and adapting. Now that's not the case. It's understanding what were once pretty crazy ideas and adapting those without any background.
5 - Depends on the person... mostly I would like to because I love the game... but it can also be embarassing.

My Conclusions
Personally I find the results of the survey interesting. In both cases players love the game because of doing things with other people (duh! it is an MMO). WOW players loved the large amount of content, and EVE players loved the sanboxiness/lawlessness. In both cases players have concerns about new players not being able to enjoy it.

What CCP / Blizzard need to do to improve...
It seems that bot EVE and WOW should work on helping players interact more with other players more, especially when new. This seems to be the key to move them from detractors to promoters. The resistance to this in EVE is that new players are intimidated by veterans, and veterans are paranoid about new players. With WOW it sounds like there is no simply no motivation for older players to work with newer players and this results in a large amount of grinding upwards to get to be actually noticed by other players. Game mechanic changes to improve these areas would be welcome and contribute to the success of both games.

The Butcher's Bill

I am sure everyone has heard by now of the huge fight in Asakai. 3000+ players are involved in a huge furball between two large coalitions with losses approaching one trillion isk makes for rather spectacular news. CCP must be all smiles knowing the huge publicity that this is giving them. There is literally no other game on the market that can create such an epic event.

Despite the headline grabbing nature of the fight I think it is important for players to understand what this all means without the hyperbole. Lets look at the facts as I see them.

1. The EVE-Online server can handle a fight of over 3000 players!
In and of itself this is a huge development. While there have been other similarly sized fights in the past, they were characterized by crippling lag, client crashes and complaints of players unable to load grid resulting in losses. While lag was enormous during this fight, with time dilation likely far worse than the 10% being reported by the client, it seems that most were happy with the ability of the server to give them a viable gaming experience. Considering that this was apparently on a non-reinforced node using older hardware (low-sec gets the old stuff apparently) this was all the more satisfying. Good Job CCP! This will actually encourage more of these sorts of fights in the future.

2. Super-Capitals are very hard to hold down and kill.
Hard to say this after such huge super-capital losses, but considering that there were reportedly 27 Titans on grid at one point, and countless more super-carriers, it is surprising how few were actually lost. The whole focus of this fight was to destroy super-capitals, and both sides effectively going 'all-in', yet most of them for both sides managed to escape. It is almost impossible to keep Heavy Interdictors (HIC) alive during these fights due to the massive DPS. Since HICs are the only ships that can point a super-capital this meant that loses were actually lower for the super-capitals than for support ships.

3. Given a chance to kill a CFC super, PL will engage.
The whole instigator of this fight was Pandemic legion having a chance at killing a CFC Titan. They had the chance and they jumped at it. This was not just an opportunity presented under the current political climate, they had apparently been working on this plan for months.

4. Given a chance to kill a PL super(s), CFC will escalate.
Once PL dropped in, the CFC responded with the full force of their coalition. Whatever the diplomatic situation, a chance to kill a super is a chance to kill a super and super-cedes everything else.

5. Without the help from TEST Alliance PL would have lost.
With a massive capital fleet, and a massive sub-cap fleet, the CFC had the numbers needed to obliterate PL's super capital fleet. While PL has a lot of heavy stuff, they needed other alliances to provide sub-cap support to save them. Top of this list was of course TEST. While PL is clearly the heavyweights of the HBC coalition, without support from TEST they can not stand up to the CFC. (PL < CFC < PL + Test)

6. OTEC is still alive and kicking
None of this had anything to do with Tech moons. Although relations are being strained, the steady supply of isk coming from the tech moon printing machine is not in play. Neither PL nor the CFC have any interest in breaking OTEC. The only caveat to this is TEST. As I understand it TEST does not have nearly the Tech moon resources of either PL or the CFC. Considering TEST military strength at this point, they are going to be making requests soon and something is going to have to give. Think Germany in 1900.

tl;dr: big fight, nothing much changed.

Retribution T1 Cruisers - Part 8 - The Omen

Part 8 -Omen
As many an Amarr player have complained over the years, the Omen never really worked all that well. It just couldn't fit the things it needed to fit to be an effective player. Now as a new 'Attack Cruiser' it has an extra low-slot, much more fitting space and a general bump in all other characteristics. Even the drone bay has been significantly boosted. Lets see how it does...

Here is an Armour Omen:
[Omen, Armour Omen]
Damage Control II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Enhancer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400

Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I


Hobgoblin II x2
Hammerhead II x3

Like the Maller, scorch gives the Omen the ability to do good dps out to the edge of warp disruptor range, and beyond. Not the heaviest hitter, but this extra range gives it great flexibility. Fitting is still a little tough with the 1600mm plate, requiring a single fitting rig, but otherwise this ship now works far better than before. Even the speed is great for an Armour tanked cruiser. Omen is a great small gang ship now. Basically zoom around trying to keep from being tackled while using scorch ammo to lay damage from medium range. If you like the Omen Navy Issue, you will love the new Omen at one quarter the fitted price :)

With only three midslots, a shield setup really does not work IMHO. There are better options if you are going that way.

tl;dr: Omen is now a viable option for Amarr pilots. Fast, tough, and flexible engagement envelope.

Differences Between Level 4 Skills and Level 5

One thing players, especially new players often hear is that they shouldn't worry about skills because a skill at level 4  is usually only 5% less effective then level 5. In fact, often the difference is much less. It sounds good, but it is not really true. What people often forget is that skills multiply. A 5% rate of fire decrease, and a 5% damage bonus, gives a 10% bonus. Having multiple skills at level 5 vs another player with level 4 skills, adds up quickly to be overwhelming. Lets look at a Rifter as an example.

Below is the quintessential rifter fit with all level 5 skills.

Here is the same fit with all level 4* skills:

* Note: Having all skills at level 4 is actually impossible since some skills (like small projectile specialization) require other skills to be at level 5.

As you can see there is a huge difference. A 19% drop is DPS is nothing to ignore. But that is not all. Since skills such as fall-off, range and tracking are also impacted if you look at the DPS graph with one ship going at full speed, the difference is even more extreme.

Here you can see at even the best range for the level 4 skilled ship, the DPS is dropped by fully 22%. Hardly the 5% difference that is often claimed. The level 5 player will not even be in structure when the level 4 player is popped.

While it is very true that skills are not a simple 'I Win' button; tactics, positioning, picking fights, understanding mechanics and all that do matter more; they do matter a lot. Don't discount them.

Retribution T1 Cruisers - Part 7 - The Caracal

Part 7 - The Caracal
The old Caracal was mostly used as an anti frigate platform. Fitted with Assault Missile Launchers (Now called rapid light missile launchers) it could clean the floor with frigates who assumed that it was fitted with heavy missiles. However since the heavy missile variety was so rare.... neither was regularly seen. With retribution bonuses are slightly improved to cover all damage types, but major improvements in fitting space slots and most importantly, mobility make this a very different bird. Lets have a look

Here is a Shield Caracal:
[Caracal, Shield Caracal]
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Reactor Control Unit II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Warp Disruptor II

Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I


Hobgoblin II x2

Huge difference! As an attack cruiser the Caracal has needed speed to keep at range, firepower to do great damage out to the edge of warp disruptor range, and a full tank to keep safe if it gets into trouble. Kil2 and others (with different fits) have already created videos showing the utility of this ship in small packs. In the past the Heavy Assault Missiles could not benefit from several missile skills, now they can so hitting moving targets is now possible. Besides, the missile effects look truly bad-ass. In fleet the basic strategy is to keep about 20km from enemy targets to keep point, and reduce incoming damage. Keep outside of web/scram range of anything likely to be fitting them. Be prepared to turn on and probably overload the MWD to get out of dodge if primaried, but have the MWD off whenever possible to conserve cap. If solo, keep out about 25 to 30 km, and only move in on the kill once enough damage has been done to the enemy to be assured of victory.


tl;dr: Fast, tough, hits hard out to warp disruptor ranges, the new Caracal delivers,

Stay tuned, next post I will discuss the Omen.

Solo PvP - Some Basic Advice

This past summer DaDutchDude made an excellent post on the internal Agony Unleashed forum about solo PvP. With his permission I am posting it in it's entirety here. Enjoy...

Rejecting fights / staying alive
One of the fundamentals of soloing in any ship is putting yourself in harms way, while maintaining the ability to reject fights and stay alive. In a MWD frigate, you should be able to escape from most any situation, but when you switch to a cruiser / BC, you loose a good amount of that. A lot of time, you can still escape if you keep your calm and they don't, but as it implies, it demands a bit more finesse from you and stupidity from them. That is why it is good to start learning to solo in frigs, and once you get used to that rush and remain calm and controlled, you can move on to bigger ships.

One of the ways you can help yourself is by bringing a dual-boxed covops alt to get you through gates without blindly running into a bad situation. As an added bonus, you can fleet up and get a nice bonus to agility, shield / armor HP and lock time / range if you have some decent leadership skills. If you however don't have a second account for that, or don't want to dual-box, you really need to accept that you release a very large amount of control over the situation.

Solo approaches
When you solo, there's a couple of approaches.

Brawl
When you brawl, your focus is on quickly locking down a target and killing him off before friends show up or he can run away. Compared to your opponent, you are usually either very heavy on tank, DPS or both. You usually behave as the aggressor, initiate an engagement, and commit first. Unless you have a really big tank and fight on a gate or station, it'll be hard to disengage, so make every second count.

Kite
When you kite, your focus is on being able to dictate range and maintain your ability to disengage. Compared to your opponent, you have good speed and agility and DPS range. You usually behave as the target, letting your opponent come to you and let him initiate aggression, and you don't commit until the fight is already won. That last part means basically that initialy, you should not care too much about tackling your target, but put damage on him while keeping range. Only when he's almost dead and it's safe to do so should you make sure you dive in for tackle.

Fish
Fishing is sort of a mix between brawling and kiting. Your ship is setup like a brawler, but your behavior (at least initially) is more like a kiter. Basically you set up a trap for a\specific (type of) opponent, wait for him to engage you, and then close the trap and brawl him down.

Control
Arguably this isn't a specific type of combat, but more a variation on brawling or kiting, and is a generalization of fishing. The point of control style fighting is that you have some measure of control over your opponent that diminishes his ability to fight you, and it's particularly suited for ships with an ewar bonus like recons. A Rapier for example can control range with dual-webs and despite low tank and low DPS either kill an opponent or disengage. A Curse can do something similar with neuts. A fishing Celestis (with webs + scram) is sort of a control setup in disguise, controlling the ability for small ships to disengage.

Concluding
Choose the type of approach, and pick the right tools (ship + setup) for the job and specialize. Although there will always be targets that you can brawl in a kiting ship and kite in a brawling ship, you should be wary about that and not give into temptation too often when frustration and / or boredom strikes.

1 vs 1 or 1 vs many
Again, there's a different types of fights you could be looking for when you solo.

1 vs 1
Especially when you like to brawl or fish, these are the fights you will usually be looking for. Personally my recommendation is to cruise through an area, maybe linger, but surely don't stick around to long for people to form up. The longer you hang around in an area, the more gates you want to between the closest population center and you, giving you more time before possible reinforcements come.

It's also sometimes a good idea to toy around with somebody before you engage. A lot of the times when you get a 1 vs 1, the other opponent wants that fight just as badly as you do, so making him work a bit for it, for example making him follow you a system, gives you more time to assess the situation, decide on tactics and setup correctly for it.

1 vs many
The reality is that a lot of solo PVP ends up as 1 vs many, and it can actually be a lot more fun if approached correctly. However, there are a lot more things you need to be aware off.

When kiting, watch that magic 150km mini-warp range. It is so easy to kite somebody far enough for gate for his support gang to be able to miniwarp up to you, giving you big head aches. Choose new align at 80km points, realign before 120km. Any further and somebody that gets through on the opposing side of the gate might still be able to miniwarp up.

If you are brawling, don't fight on the in-gate. If you know or suspect a gang will come for you, warp to a different gate from the one they will come in from, so you can see local go up, check scan and know what's coming before they are actually there, and if you choose to disengage and go out through the gate with less of a chance of more gang members waiting there. However if you are kiting, you should kite on the in-gate, because that means that people coming in can't immediately mini-warp to your first chaser, but instead have to bounce or burn after you.

When stuck on a gate with a hostile gang, watch which hostiles are aggressing you and which aren't (and because of that, can follow you through). Based on that, decide if you should crash gate again on the other side, or kite off, or try to cold warp off. If you have the ability to take a breather in gate cloak (when they don't have something that can prevent you from gate crashing like a Rapier), use it. Whatever you do, don't give up too early, I've escaped stupid amounts of situations I should have died in in my HurriPain by simply gate crashing 2 or 3 times, and then kiting or cold warping off after the coordination in the hostile gang has completely disintegrated due to blood lust / panic / brain dead / bad comms / whatever.

When fighting multiple opponents, esp. when kiting, don't worry too much about having tackle on your targets initially, because most of the time, they will stick around on their own any way. Focus much more on choosing the right target, deploying drones, maneuvering, etc.

Splitting up opponents, either in range or on different sides of a gate, is essential. There's too many examples to mention about how you can think of it, but thinking of it a lot is key.

Be VERY worried about gangs with ewar ships, they are game changers (and usually spoilers), probably even more so then logistics. Soloing is all about control, and with EWAR is all about giving them more control over you, and that severely limits your options.

Active vs passive tank
There's no single right answer to what is better for solo PVP, although at the moment of writing, Ancillary Shield Boosters are particularly powerful. In general though, I think the passive tanks work well for 1 vs 1 brawlers and all shield kiting / control setups, but not so well in most 1 vs many brawlers. Active tanking can do well in most situations, although you really need to be pretty knowledgeable about the limits of it and needs more finesse / micromanagement because when it breaks, it usually breaks hard.

The measure of success (or "how do I enjoy something that is inherently very difficult to succeed in")
Understand how you measure success, or what makes you enjoy playing solo, and let that guide you. Every person is different, and that is why some advice will resonate well with you and other advice won't. Since that sounds vague, I'll try to illustrate with an example:
I as a (solo) pilot and very result focused. A lot of the process of (solo) PVP I find frustrating, but when I get good results, it's all worth it. Getting blown up repeatedly without any kills pisses me off. This guides how I approach (solo) PVP, and I usually play more of a kiting / controlling type of PVP. However, a lot of Agony pilots are different. I know for example Alta seems to enjoy the process of going out hunting a lot and getting blown up seems to be less relevant  to him, as long as het gets a fight (although getting blobbed when flying a Rifter does piss him off slightly). People like Alta are usually more brawler style PVPers.

Knowing why you want to solo, what draws you to it and what you want to achieve should guide how you do it, and what works and what doesn't because in the end, you need to overcome the inherent frustration of solo PVP and enjoy it.

Conclusion
I hope I wasn't too much Captain Obvious and some of what I wrote strikes you as useful. Good luck

Retribution T1 Cruisers - Part 6 - The Thorax

Part 6 - The Thorax
Before discussing the Thorax, go and enjoy this... Bob vs. Star Fracton. Done watching that. Great. Regrettably for Gallente pilots the Thorax never really lived up to its promise. Crushing DPS, but huge issues actually putting that DPS on a target. It seemed to excel at almost getting into range, but being either too close or too far from target, and having no ability to do anything about it. Lets see if Retribution has fixes all of this...

Here is a Shield Thorax:
[Thorax, shield thorax]
Damage Control II
Overdrive Injector System II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I


Hammerhead II x5

In my current corporation we often run decentralized gangs. That is where we fly around more or less solo, but when one of us grabs a target, calls it out on teamspeak and whoever is around comes to the rescue! This ship is perfect for that. Fast, huge DPS, and as long as someone else is holding the target down, perfect.The big problem with this ship is the same problem that thoraxes have always had, limited ability to project the massive damage. However compared to the old shield thorax, this ship does have a proper tank, and is a lot faster, and the new tracking bonus means that it can now apply it's damage better at close range. As long as someone else can hold down the target you can't go wrong.

Now let's look at an Armour Thorax:
[Thorax, Armour Thorax]
Damage Control II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

Heavy Electron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Void M

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I


Hammerhead II x5

Going the armour route costs significant speed and DPS, but it is still faster than most Combat Cruisers or Battlecruisers and now the twin webs means it can hold even frigates down.

tl;dr: The new Thorax now has finally got the speed, tracking bonus and extra mid-slot it always needed to be effective. Gallente FTW

Stay tuned, after x-mass I will discuss the Caracal.

Retribution T1 Cruisers - Part 5 - The Stabber

Part 5 - Stabber
The stabber pre-retribution never really lived up to it's promise as a poor man's Vagabond. By far the fastest T1 Cruiser, it was unable to actually apply DPS at range to take advantage of it's speed. Limited number of slots meant that it couldn't really manage a decent shield tank or armour tank so if it was caught, it was dead. I used to kill these things easily in a Rifter. Let's look at what changes Retribution brings...

Here is a Shield Stabber:
[Stabber, Shield Stabber]
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Tracking Enhancer II
Gyrostabilizer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Warp Disruptor II

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Light Missile

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

If it looks like a Vagabond, quacks like a Vagabond, smells like a Vagabond, but does about 2/3 the damage, has 2/3 the tank and 1/10 the price... it must be a Stabber. While it's performance does not match that of it's T2 variety, it is far superior to the pre-retribution Stabber thanks to the damage projection from the new falloff bonus. I expect this to be a popular ship once players learn to appreciate just what it is capable of. Manual flying is pretty much a must. While the damage is comparable to a frigate, the Stabber should be able to keep out of range of close ranged ships and avoid being scrammed/webbed. Be warned however, while the Stabber is still the fastest 'Attack Cruiser', it's speed advantage is less then what it once was.

IMHO there are no viable armour, while it can fit the modules it really serves no use except for some specific niche roles.

tl;dr: New Stabber = 2/3 Vaga. nuff said.

Tomorrow I will discuss the Thorax.

Retribution T1 Cruisers - Part 4 - The Maller

Part 4 -Maller
Relegated to a position of obvious bait, a Maller was a rare sighting in the past. The most common fits were maxing out on the tank, leaving only a little room for frigate sized weapons. Retribution changes everything. Aside from slot and base stats changes, the capacitor use bonus is traded in for damage.

Here is an Armour Maller
[Maller, Armour Maller]
Damage Control II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Enhancer II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 800

Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I


Hobgoblin II x3

In the past when I have gone out in small armour BC gangs, it was always surprising which BC had the top damage on the killmails. It wasn't the punishing Brutux, or the ever-popular Hurricane or Drake, it was usually the Harbinger that was at the top. The ability to use scorch to do full damage at medium range meant that the Harbinger was doing full DPS while the other BCs were zipping around trying to get close to their targets. This Maller continues that tradition. Combine that with a tough, high resist tank and this is a winning combination. Mobility is on the low side, but not terrible. Combine this ship with a couple of armour logistics ships (like an Augoror) and you have a gang that is going to be hard to beat.

In the stats above I am using scorch since that is ammo type that is most useful in this ship. Switching to high damage ammo brings DPS up to around 425. As you can see though from the damage profile, scorch gives this ship tremendous damage projection extending out to the edge of warp disruptor range. One nice thing about lasers is that it can instantly switch ammo types. If you find yourself suddenly at close range, you can quickly switch to imperial navy Multi or conflagration.

IMHO there are no viable shield fits, the bonus to armour would be wasted.

tl;dr: A bit more of a niche player then some of the other Combat Cruisers, the Maller nevertheless has become a viable weapon platform.

That covers the Combat Cruisers, next we will discuss the Attack Cruisers.

Retribution T1 Cruisers - Part 3 - The Moa

Part 3 -
Moa
Before retribution the Moa saw little use. I tried experimenting with one using the Ancillary shield boosters but it never really delivered. However with retribution it's handicaps of low speed and weak damage output have been remedied. Lets see how it looks now.

Here is a Shield Moa:
[Moa, Shield Moa]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II

Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I


Hobgoblin II x3

A shield cruiser with a full, even bonused tank, and a full compliment of tackle! What is not to like. Good speed, strong tank, good DPS, this is a great ship. Projection is not very good however (using blasters). Even with Null M loaded (not shown) the damage really starts to fall-off at the edge of scram range. Still, for a close in brawler that can get into range, you can't go wrong. I would be hesitant to take on a Vexor however. With great reluctance the web could be replaced with an invul for a huge tank (52k overheated), however that would give the Moa very little range control which it sorely needs. On the plus side, with it's resistance bonus, this ship would be fantastic with logistics support. I would happily take a gang of Moas, and Ospreys against almost anything.

IMHO there are no viable armour fits, the bonus to shields would be wasted.

tl;dr: The Moa is no longer a second class cruiser. Changes from being a long range sniper to a close range brawler make this a ship to be feared.

Check back tomorrow when we cover the Maller.