The Coercer Rocks

I have decided fuck having lots of mids......who needs mids.  However I am not going to join my minmatar brothers and fly those weird two mid ships, thats too many mids.....I am going to fly the golden space fork....The Coercer.

Here is my fit.


[Coercer, 1 Mid Best Mid]
Tracking Enhancer II
Heat Sink II
Damage Control II
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

Warp Disruptor II

Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S

Small Energy Collision Accelerator I
Small Energy Metastasis Adjuster I
Small Energy Metastasis Adjuster I


Who needs prop mods.....pah, I have 330dps or 17km optimal with 260dps.

So I flew this last night and had some tasty kills in it.  I was there hanging around in the top belt (Hey I have to act like a Heretic sometimes) when a very unfortunate pilot landed 11km from me.  One long point and 3 volleys later and this was posted in local.

Tiger Blades > The Fuck??

I had liberated him of his Slicer shaped confines and allowed his pod to get all the invisible space vacuum it could want.

I then noticed another frigate on scan I could possibly bait into shooting my poor one mid ship......I mean my powerful space vessel.  Warp to the Osso gate there was a Rifter that was obviously feeling frisky, as he started shooting and I returned fire.  It took alot longer to kill than the slicer but eventually I liberated another trapped pod.

After a good start to the evening I decided to go watch some telly at this point whilst I had alot of momentum going......what do you mean that was a stupid idea.
So once I got back from wasting the momentum built up in front of the idiot box, I went back out in the Coercer and eventually ended up coming across a C&P celeb Lady Spank in his DD.  At this point, buoyed by my earlier successes I decided that I would try my one mid glory boat against the king of frigs.
Warping to the spot he was in, only to find he had warped towards me....eventually we landed on each other and after stupidly setting auto repeat off on my guns/point originally we got down to the brawl.  It was a close one but my ship had just enough buffer to kill the DD as I entered structure.

I did look some more after this but I mean when you kill a DD in a shit ship it does make you reluctant to risk your glorious vessel.

Korg

Music

  

Life in Lowsec

I am finally fully set up in my low sec home, I mean its only taken 3 months of hauling when I can be bothered and jumping my pod through high sec so that I can set up a JC somewhere other than Heimatar space.  Still that part is over, thankfully.

So on to what I have been doing with myself I suppose, I recently decided to organise a frigate tournament details of which can be found here.  Just going to be a standard 1v1 style tournament until only one man is left.....cue Highlander quote 'There can be only one!'.  Now this all sounds great but as it stands I may just run it as a massive FFA and see who comes out on top atm as I still dont have enough participants to make the round robin worthwhile.  Either way the prizes will still be the same so its no skin off my teeth, will just change how I will do the video afterwards I suppose.

I have also finally settled on a standard ship for my pvp use, the Hookbill, specifically the dual prop fit shown below.

[Caldari Navy Hookbill, Dual Prop]

Damage Control II

Navy Micro Auxiliary Power Core

Coreli C-Type 1MN Afterburner

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters

Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction

Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Small Core Defence Field Extender I

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

The above version is the high isk spend version, generally I have a slightly different version with a t2 web and ab and the meta 3 scram.  It is a great frigate and thanks to its MWD/web/scram combo can catch a lot of tackle frigates and ranged frigates off guard when they try to dictate range on you.  

Thanks to the Hookbills range bonus and its relatively high speed, I can dictate range on the majority of frigates meaning I can run if I need to, although I don't always remember too.  This relatively high survival rate does however lead to me making some poor decisions concerning ECM and Sabres.

It has been a very successful ship for me however with nearly 80 kills in the last month and 7 losses (2 from gate camps) giving it a very high return, for the foreseeable future I don't think I will be flying much else...well except maybe my Raptor once in a while.

Fights

Hookbill vs. Slicer........+Slicer

This was one of those amazingly unfortunate moments when everything goes right and then spectacularly craps on your lap.

I was out on a roam in my Hookbill, doing my usual circuit around to Auga/Kourmonen when jumping through a gate there was a Minnie Militia Slicer on the gate.  I held my cloak whilst I considered my options
Slicers are generally fit for kiting other frigates taking advantage of there impressive range and are generally considered one of the best at it (at least at a frigate level) due to the high dps they still produce when at range.

As he was 15km off me I knew I could catch him with surprise, I decloaked and fired up the MWD burning towards him with O/H Web and Scram, he locked and started firing with me returning the favour.
As it happens he turned out to be a brawling fit which meant I could get in close and use my relative speed to play havoc with his tracking, using my afterburner and speed advantage I got in close and started to orbit. Even with all of this the fight was going to go down to the wire, as my shield was slowly stripped away his armor began to slowly drop as well, which shocked me as Slicers are not known to have a decent buffer.  We both hit structure about the same time, but thanks to Rockets nice volley and the timing of it he popped as I hit 20% hull, as I looted though Mystical Might (A well known pilot in the militia area) decloaked in another slicer and essentially alpha'd what was left of my ship before I could jump/warp....sucks.

Music

Kriss Kross - Jump

On a bit of an old school hip hop kick atm

Funnies

Chewbacca PC World Ad

Korg

Frigate Tournament (In Detail)

So I have mentioned that I will be organising a frigate tournament.  I have had some decent interest so far, mostly from outside my own corp which is nice.  I will list below a more in depth run down of how the frigate tournament will be organised and hopefully this will convince more people to sign up.

Firstly the Rules

1. You HAVE to fit a point - This is a pvp tournament and as with real world pvp without a point you wont get far, and I really don't want ridiculous frigate fits that wouldnt be viable usually (i.e. Dual Rep Punishers, Webbing Wolfs etc.)
2. There will be a designated area for which these matches take place, leaving this area forfeits the fight.  Only exception to this is if the other person has obviously violated a rule him/herself.
3. There will be no ECM modules allowed.  Although it is a perfectly viable tactic I would prefer for competitions sake that everyone doesn't turn up in Griffin/Kitsunes and perma jams everyone.  This doesn't make for an interest competition.  ECM Drones are also not allowed for the same reason, except replace Griffin/Kitsune with Ishkur/Worm etc.
4. All frigates are allowed (including Griffins/Kitsunes) but I reserve the right to change this rule, as I want this to be as competitive a tournament as possible.
5. Each match will be timed, there will be a maximum of 2 minutes per fight.  If both frigates are still alive after this (well done) the fight will be declared a draw and they will have to wait until the other fights in that round are played out before being able to settle the match.  For example if you are the first fight and you draw, you will need to wait until the end of that rounds matches before replaying your match.
6. Each pilot can use any frig they want each round, as soon as you undock for your match you cannot redock.  For example, you could use a Taranis in round 1 and then a Slicer in round 2, however you cannot undock, see what your opponent is in and then change your ship accordingly.
7. There will be no using booster alts during the tournament, I have no problem with you faction fitting your frigates but booster alts are out of the question.  You will be fleeted with me (Korg Tronix) and your opponent during your fight, if you drop fleet prior to the fight ending you will be disqualified.

Time, Place and Date

The time and date of the tournament will be GMT (UTC) timezone between 7-12 and I will hold it over the week of the 5th to 11th of December.  The flexibility in the date is try and give a chance for the most people to take part, the timezone is because, as much as I love the people who play EvE, I live in UK and I really don't want to be up at 2 in the morning to run a frigate tourney. 

As for the location, I will hold it in the Bosboger system (4j from Rens).  This system is 1j from high sec which will make logistics for everyone taking part as easy as possible.  The high sec gate is rarely camped and the system is fairly quiet so its also unlikely we will be disturbed.

Any change to the details above I will message you in game.

And now for the fun bits

The Prizes

1st Prize - Vigilant Cruiser - The Serpentis cruiser requires Gallente and Minmatar Cruiser skills and is fitted with hybrids.  It produces a ridiculously high amount of DPS and has a web strength bonus.  Of course thats only relevant if you want to keep it, it currently sells for 300-350mil

2nd Prize - Navy Faction Cruiser of your choice - Exactly as it says, you choose a faction cruiser from 1 of the 4 empire factions.

3rd Prize - Navy Faction Frigate of your choice - Same as above but a frigate instead.

'I lol at you' Award - Navy Faction Frigate of your choice - This will be awarded to the person who comes in the most loltastic frigate and has success i.e. winning in a combat cov ops will score some major brownies with me.  WARNING - If everyone turns up in funny ships it is no longer funny.

The Footage

I would love it if everyone could fraps their fights during this tournament.  I aim to make a video with as much footage as possible contained in it.  Obviously this is subject to your computer actually being able to, I don't want anyone burning out graphics cards.


If you want to enter, eve mail me in game at 'Korg Tronix' and join the 'Frigate PVP' mailing list

Korg

Frigate Tournament

As the title may suggest I am going to run a frigate tournament.  Details as follows

More in depth details have now been posted here.

The Location

The tournament will be held in a system in Heimatar lowsec, I will be a bit more concrete to the location closer to the time.  This is to stop people from invading the tournament etc. etc.

The Rules

• You must have a point fitted of some variety.  I would like to see normal pvp fits, not ridiculous overtanked frigates with a cap booster they would never have fitted otherwise.
• No ECM, it just makes fights shitty if you all bring kiting griffins with mid slot ECM.
• No booster alts, once again I would like everyone on a roughly even playing field.

Other than those rules there are no rules.  Feel free to faction fit your frigates, its completely up to you whether you want to risk that much isk in a frig tournament.  As for stopping people having booster alts, the fights will occur with the two participants and me being fleeted up so that should take care of that....hopefully.

The Prizes

• 1st Place - Vigilant
• 2nd Place - Navy Faction Cruiser of choice
• 3rd Place - Navy Faction Frigate of choice

The Participants

The tournament will be open to anyone who wants to participate, regardless of age or corp.  I would prefer if people didn't bring hugely faggy kiting fits with low dps but I am not stopping anyone from doing that.  If you are going to participate, I would love for some people to fraps their fights as much as possible and I will make a video afterwards with all the fights we have in it.

The tournament will be a round robin type, similar to the World Cup knockout stages.  I will draw all the participants names from a hat so that we know who they face etc.  If we get more than 30 participants then I will think up a better format.

If you wish to enter, mail me in game on Korg Tronix.  I will be setting up a chat channel and mailing list for this as well.

Korg

P.S. It has been pointed out to me, that my description of why I want all ships to have points on them.  The part about cap boosters wasnt meant to forbid people from flying ships with cap boosters but rather stop someone turning up in a dual rep punisher for example with a cap booster and prop mod, rather than with a point.

RIP Korg Leaf

I have ISK!!!!!!

I sold my main(?) alt last night, basically he was my old main combat character but since moving to Tronix as my main he has been a little surplus to requirements and other than missions there wasn't much I could use him for.  He was mainly being used as a hauler which seemed a shame for the character I first went pirate in.  So I sold him and got a tidy sum for him (9b) which was more than I thought I would get.

Now I just have to decide what I am going to use the isk for, and my other account as well.  I wouldn't mind some suggestions on the other account front as I already have a hauler and my main earns me isk through manufacturing.

PVP

Vengeance + Comet Vs. Vexor

I haven't really been undocking a lot recently but when I do I seem to be able to find a fight quickly.  This was one of them.

After setting up my next set of inventions I undocked in my Vengeance and found a Vexor on scan almost instantly, after a quick check on d-scan I found him near the Dammalin gate.  Warping in at 0 I locked him up but was wary not to get too close, this was going to be a close fight as it is and I didn't want to give him or any possible friends he may have had an advantage.

Rather than fight on the gate though, he warped off to the nearest planet.  I followed and landed within scram range of him I locked and started to orbit as close as possible.  He was a sort off semi anti frigate fit, light neutrons being his gun highs but luckily for me there was no neut so with my nos running and the Vengeances high cap recharge I was tanking him fairly well.

At this point he dropped his high dps set of drones (2 Ogres, 2 Hammers and a hob) in the hope that it would force me off, this usually wouldn't bother me in my Vengeance but with my lowest resist being thermal and me being in a plated AC Vengeance for a change they were hitting me for some largish volleys.  So I began webbing and popping the drones.  This was going well but did highlight to me the vast difference between rocket launchers and ACs for killing drones as it took quite a bit longer to kill his drones than it usually takes me.  Eventually after working my way through his numerous drones, a friend came into system in his Comet and warped in to help finish him fast, after this it wasn't long till he popped.

We snagged his pod and this is usually where the pirate life starts to get interesting, I opened his info and saw he wasn't particularly old so offered him a 5mil ransom (He was old enough to possibly have some decent implants but not really worth asking for too much), he said he didn't have that.  Now usually this would have resulted in me sending him to the clone vat but I thought I would give him a second chance at ransom so offered him his pod for a joke or limerick.  Unfortunately after nearly a minute of waiting (I wasn't doing much else) he gave me a quote from Marcus Aurelius so I podded him too.

T1 Frigates are fun

Despite my new found wealth, I have rediscovered the fun of t1 frigates.  I suppose this means that money is going to last a loooooooooooooong time (barring faction fitting my t1 frigates).  I have already had some fun fights in them, but I don't think they will make a fun written story so luckily I have fraps'd them and I am sure I will get round to rendering them into a almost watchable youtube video at some point.

New alt

Due to no longer having an alt (other than the shitty sub-1m sp hauler alt I have already) I am looking for some suggestions of what to do with my other account, although I cant really be bothered to train for a mission runner (its too dull) or miner (its too dull) I would love some suggestions.

Korg

Music

Fun Fits For Fun Times....also alliterations are awesome

So this is part 3 of my Fun Ships posts, in this one I will list fits for frigate killing.  They will all be ships that dont usually pack any sort of punch which therefore makes them even more fun as you can get some great fights and killmails (An Osprey killing any sort of frigate is great).

I suppose I will have to start somewhere so Minmatar will probably be a good place to start.  The idea behind these fits is that you are in such a shite ship that people will engage you in anything, I mean if you saw an Osprey in a belt in lowsec wouldn't you engage it?

Bellicose

This is an obvious one and one that has recently been seeing a lot of use around the Heimatar lowsec area, pretty much every time I have engaged a Bellicose recently they have turned out to be frigate killing fit.  They are very easy to fit and are probably the standard when it comes to shite ships/great frigate killers, certainly if they aren't the best in that category they are near the top.

[Bellicose, Frigate]
Damage Control II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

10MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II

Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
Medium Energy Neutralizer II
Small Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I


Warrior II x5

This is probably my favourite version of the fit, it has an ok buffer (18k) and roughly 220dps to put on your target but what wins it for me over the 1600mm fit is the medium neut, that combined with the dual webs and small neut means that you should end up being faster than most frigate (inside scram range) once their cap has gone.  You have plenty of drones which gives you some leeway in both choice of drones and amount.

Scythe next, this ship isn't the greatest but once again you get a kill in it and it will feel like Christmas, especially if its shiny.

[Scythe, Frigate Killing]
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II

10MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II

Small Energy Neutralizer II
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

Medium Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I


Warrior II x1

Its essentially the same fit as the Bellicose, minus the second web, medium neut and large drone bay.  You need to hope that the frigate you fight is scram range if he/she is then overheat everything and let them get close.  Hopefully by the time they realise you have a fairly decent buffer they will be capped out and nearing death.

Thats pretty much it for the Minmatar ships, the Rupture is obviously a great frigate killer (in armor fit) but everyone expects that and although the Armor Stabber is also great at it, its still a little too obvious a frigate killer.
In the next post I will list some decent fits for Gallente, they are probably the best overall for this as pretty much all there cruisers can be turned into decent frigate killers or are already great at it.

Music

Korg

P.S.  If you don't think the above fits would work, then please message me with any suggestions or changes you would make.  Although I know the Bellicose fit is successful, the Sycthe fit is definitely more theory crafting than in game experience at the moment.

t2 production

So recently I have realised piracy/pvp is not making me enough money to cover all my losses, partially due to some very stupid losses on my part but mostly due to loot drops not being great or people not wanting to pay ransoms.  This has led me to look at other avenues of isk making, mainly back to my roots as an industrialist.

So with all that in mind I looked into t2 production, and I have now identified 6 items that will net me some nice profit in the Heimatar region.  Unfortunately I have had to train my alt into t2 production to get the maximum profit possible, this has slowed down the start up for it all which has been a little disappointing.
Its actually fairly exciting for me as I have never really had the motivation to do this properly and thankfully minus the little time it takes to haul the parts to where I need them, the whole process takes very little time to get sorted.
I have put 500mil aside for this all and if all going well this should net me 500-600mil in profit, as long as I dont sell anything too low.  This of course is very time dependant and I would need everything to sell before I manufacture anymore, so that may not make me a whole lot per week but enough should sell over the month to allow me to pay for my accounts in plexes which is nice.

PVP

On the PVP side of things, well I haven't really had much in the way of good fights recently.  I haven't really gotten online much this month so far due to some Uni projects needing to be finished and some other real life stuff.  I am getting a good amount of kills but far too many are ganks for my liking.

Hawk vs. Rifter, Thrasher, Punisher

This was probably the only good fight I have had recently, roaming around one of my usual routes.  Jumping into Dal I cross jumped a Thrasher, on the otherside a Rifter just landed.  I locked him up and began the 'Bait Dance' (Im flashy and in a frigate), with us yellow boxing each other and Punisher also lands on the gate.

Once he locks me up they both red box and the game is on, I make the early mistake of going for the Punisher first, he has a very strong tank.  I switch targets to the Rifter and start working his buffer down and he drops a lot faster, this was lucky because as I started to agro the Rifter the gate had flashed and in came the Thrasher to join them.  Luckily we were 20+ km off by this point so he couldn't stop his friend from esploding.
I now had a choice of the ships left, both had aggressed so there was to be no gate gun help for them.  I realised that the Punisher really did crap damage and I didnt want to risk leaving the Thrasher till the end so I went for him.  Settling into the usual 7-8km orbit he was dual webbed and it turns out he was arty fit, so once I had settled there was very little he could do to stop me and he popped too.
Credit to the Punisher for staying till the end despite his friends dying but once I got into my orbit, he wasn't going anywhere and as his DPS was so poor he stood no chance as he popped as well.  No idea where the sentry agro came from though.

Unfortunately that is basically it on the good fights over the last month, at least ones that I can remember the details relatively clearly on.  At least I fraps'd that.

Music

Funnies

Korg

The Realm Online

I recently been poking around in my cupboards looking for my Unreal Tournament disc (I need some old school shooter gaming in my life) and came across the Realm Online.  This game was my first foray into the world of MMOs and I loved it when I played it.
It reminded me of school and the shitty games I used to play that I will still maintain were fantastic (Dragonball Z rpg on the SNES for example), and with that memory in mind I have payed for an old account on this game to be reactivated so I can enjoy some old school MMO fun.

A bit of background on the Realm, it is dated....I mean it.  It came out in the early/mid 90s and was one of the first MMORPGs and since then its not really changed.  There still is very little in the way of graphics and it can be buggy as hell in places but it is a very simple game (not too dissimilar to WOW) and doesn't take a lot of memory/cpu/input whilst playing (I was ratting on it whilst on Eve last night).

The premise of the game is the standard fantasy storyline.  Evil/Good/Neutral Elf/Giant/Human/Orc Warriors/Thieves/Wizards/Adventurers go around killing monsters and collecting goods for NPCs.  Its simple and easy and doesn't require a lot to get good at, the community is also very nice (Hard not to be when there is only a couple of 100 people playing throughout the day).


The Flaws


There are flaws to the game other than its dated graphics, it doesn't have much in the way of PVP.  This is mostly due to there being an on/off switch for PVP, this hinders this side of the game as everyone just sets it to off so they cant get jumped.
It doesn't have a large population, this can mostly be attributed to its age (nearly 20 years old) but also due to its lack of updates, it might be nice that it hasn't changed from a nostalgia point of view but its also a little sad that a game I used to love as a kid is still floundering in its mid-90s type graphics/gameplay.

The largest flaw, at least in my eyes, is the market.  Most of the standard items are available from NPC markets and as the population is small pretty much everyone has all the special items they would need meaning there is very little in the way of player trading.  Inflation is also rife due to this, an item that used to be only a couple of 100k gold when I played is now sold for millions due to everyone having an ever increasing hoard of gold.  Like I said most items are available from NPCs but the items everyone uses are from dungeons and now that everyone has these, very few need the NPC market items meaning there is little in the way of a gold sink.  Obviously this coming from EvE bugs the crap out me, going from a game with lots of sinks and a free market to a game with pretty much zero sinks and a NPC market is quite a change.

Despite the flaws though I have started a new character and I am going to at least play through the month for a bit of fun.

Korg

Best Ship In Class (Cause I want to get in on the bandwagon)

So there have been plenty (two) blogs so far on the subject of best in class for each of the ship types in EvE.  Personally these sorts of lists will never be agreed on and are very dependant on the situation you find yourself in.  Although I thought I would get in on the act for the fun of it anyway, so here goes my list of the 'Best in Class'.

Frigates

T1 Frigate: There isn't much to choose between each of the races top combat frigates and on their day they can each defeat each other in a fight however, I am going to have to say the Rifter purely because it is the most forgiving to a young pilot and is ridiculously easy to fit.

Assault Frigate: Once again the Assault Class of Frigate is fairly even, there are some duds (Retribution) but most can be extremely competitive in the PVP field but again as above I will have to give this to Minmatar and their Jaguar as it is the most forgiving for the young pilot when they first get into t2 frigates.  Once on an even playing field (SP and experience wise) it is a toss up between the Ishkur, Jaguar and Hawk.  The Jaguar retains its greatness regardless of SP but the other to become exponentially better the more SP you have to invest.

Combat Interceptor: Although the Crusader is a great combat inty, the title will always go to the Taranis which is quite possibly one of the best non-faction solo frigates and give them a run for there money.  The AB+Rep fit feels more like a fast AF than an Inty.

Tackle Interceptor: As long as we forget the Raptor the others are fairly interchangeable in the tackle role however, the title goes to the Malediction because you have the option to use it solo.

Cov Ops(Combat): Not going to comment on there probing abilities as they can all probe equally well.  I will instead give my opinion on them as combat frigates, and although the Helios has the best tank/gank ratio in this role the Buzzard gets the nod as it can cloak and is nearly cap stable which adds a lot to survivability in long fights.

Cov Ops(Bomber): I haven't got huge amounts of experience with stealth bombers except in gangs, and Hounds seemed the bees knees there but Solo the Manticore is better due to having mid slots.

Navy Faction: This in my opinion is possibly one of the best balanced classes of Frigates, they are all good and all have there benefits.  The best though is either the Hookbill or the Slicer just because both melt/splode most frigates in most situations.

Pirate Faction: I would be panned through the floor if I didn't say the best is the Dramiel but I think it is dependent on the situation. The Dramiel is the best for a general solo roam where everything is fair game, purely because once shit hits the fan you can run however, if you are out aiming for frigate fights then the best changes and becomes the Daredevil (Rail or Blasters).  I will say overall the Dramiel wins due to its ability to be great or good in most situations.

Electronic Warfare Frigates: Sentinel, no discussion.

Destroyer: Not much to say about the Destroyers, they all kill most frigates well but the Thrasher does it best.
Interdictor: For the bubble dropping role, they are all good.  Solo however its the same as the Destroyer class the Sabre(t2 Thrasher) wins it.  Note that everyone knows this though and are unlikely to engage a solo sabre in a frigate.

T1 Cruiser: Its between the Rupture and Vexor in the t1 Cruiser class at least from a combat perspective.  I cant decide between them so I will go with the only other cruiser that is worthwhile outside of specialist gangs the Blackbird.

Heavy Assault Cruiser: HACs are a great class of ship, pretty much all at least someway workable to a decent combat ship but there are only two that stand out above the rest in pretty much every role.  The Vagabond and the Zealot.  The Vagabond is the better solo boat (Due to being able to run regularly), the Zealot is the better gang boat being able to join AHAC (well duh) and Nano gangs depending on the fit.

Combat Recons: The Curse is the best solo Recon (In my opinion) so it would stand to reason that its the best Combat Recon too.  Its also great at gang work.

Force Recons: Falcon wins it here, nothing causes more rage and turns the tides of fights better than a Falcon.

Logis: I personally have no experience of logistics cruisers other than being repped by them, but I have heard good things about all.

Navy Faction: The Stabber Fleet Issue wins it for me, its brilliantly versatile whether you want a buffer cruiser, nano shield cruiser or dual rep active cruiser this thing can pull it off well.  Also the tracking on this thing is insane and with its tiny sig (can get it as low as some frigates) it lasts ages.

Pirate Faction: Cynabal, great damage, speed and the agility of a frigate(ish) you cant go wrong with a Cynabal.

Battlecruiser: its a toss up between the Cane and the Drake, they both have great nano/kite fits and both have tank/gank fits.  Personally the Drake is my number one for PVP.  Not even going to make any points for PVE

Field Command Ships: Slepneir or Abso are both brilliant PVP ships but as people like to blob solo ships I will go with the slep because of its speed.

Fleet Command Ships: Fairly Interchangeable depending on gangs but Claymore sees most use in my world and wins it for me. Claymore also makes a fairly good combat ship in its own right.

T3s: Tengu

Battleship: On the battleship front, its a decision between the Tempest and the Abaddon for me.  Solo the Tempest wins out but in gangs the Abaddon is best (plus you can make pretty rainbows)

Marauders: Golem or Vargur but I have no experience so I'm not going to comment

Black Ops: Not going to bother, have no experience and only about 500 people fly them :)

Navy Faction BS: I have rarely seen these ships in a PVP role but in the PVE world the Raven Navy Issue wins so I will give the overall title to it.

Pirate Faction BS: Machariel wins completely due to its speed and the mentality of people when pirate faction comes on d-scan.

On the Capital front I have absolutely no experience as I never intend to fly one so instead will defer to the populace on that one and most seem to be split between Gallente and Amarr on the Carrier(both types) front.  I imagine its the same on the Titan front too due to there being slaves.

Now the easy ones

Industrial: Mammoth or Itty 5, this does depend on what you want to do with your industrial though.
Transport: Viator or Prowler, again dependent on role.
Mining Barge(lol): Cant be arsed to write something here oh wait
Freighter: I imagine these are fairly interchangeable they haul large amounts thats it.

So thats it my list of 'Best in Class'....dons flame retardant jacket.....flame on.

Korg

This one time at top belt...

.....I missed a whole bunch of kills because my corp mates were too efficient, oh and then this happened BP.

Its a little messed up but essentially it says that SithLord and Habah killed everyone all the time, so props to them.

I done did it again

I thought this month was going to be good, after last month where I killed alot and lost more than I should I thought I would do better this month but so far I have been introduced into the annoying part of being a pirate in lowsec.

Its been a strange month so far, some nights I will get some nice kills (Kill1 Kill2 Kill3) and then others I will do something stupid and die in a fire (Loss1 Loss2 Loss3).  In short I have lost far too much this month and it is really eating into my isk buffer (yes yes I will take donations :P), this has meant I have had to go back to what I hate on my alt, manufacturing.  Its going ok, minus the obvious problems with manufacturing and selling stuff in lowsec.

I have at least achieved some things this month though, I passed the 1000 kills mark (only if you total both my accounts) and have finally gotten into building bits and pieces of capital ships, which I have had the skills for since '09 but have never used.

In short though despite those minor achievements I need to stop doing stupid shit in my frigates and start becoming the 'efficient' solo pilot I was a couple of months ago.

Battle Reports???

Rifter vs. Rifter

It has been quite some time since I used a t1 frigate for a regular roam, rather than in 1v1 challenges, but I decided near the beginning of the month to fit up some shield rifters and go out to lose them.
As mentioned earlier though this happens to be one of the times I was feeling a little Pr0.
I jumped into Ofleim, seeing another Rifter on d-scan towards the Plex I warp to 0.  I cam out of warp 11km off of this other Rifter, quickly getting into range of each other I realised a problem.....he was armor fit.  This meant due to him having a web he would be able to dictate range on me.  Making matters worse I default to the high damage ammo in a shield rifter, I needed to close range fast, overheating my AB I tried to keep as close as possible but the web was causing me problems.
Eventually he was low armor but I was also just entering armor, quickly I started hemorrhaging armor then bleeding hull at roughly the same time he was.  Luckily the pew pew gods smiled on me and he popped with me at 20% structure.  Unfortunately another Rifter landed just as I finished looting, I bugged out to live another day....by warping to a gate with gcc and very little hp left.  My fight with the gate was quick and thanks to the 'rascist' gate guns not having tackle I was out with 5% structure. Derp.



All in all been a bit of an odd month on the pvp front, although the last couple of night have been alot better.

Korg

Music 

(Definitely not for the younger viewer)

So Far, So Good pt. 2

This is going to cover some of the best fights I have had over the last month or so.  Unfortunately ones I missed out on frapsing cause I'm a. a cheap git and didn't get a full version till recently and b. utter fail when it comes to switching on at the beginning of fights and this makes me sad.

Good Fights

Vengeance vs. Rifter, Thrasher, Tristan and Taranis

I was on a roam around the usual areas of Minnie Militia when I had finally gotten back to glorious Amamake with its new PL locals.  Warping to one of my usual spots of the top belt I see a thrasher and Tristan sitting around 20km off the centre with a Rifter I had been attempting to catch about 300km off the belt in another direction.  Fancying my chances to at least take one or two out I warped to the belt at 50km and tried to get the thrasher and tristan to split up.

This was working quite well, until the Tristan got within 20km he turned around and started to burn towards the belt again.  Now I was itching for a fight so I started to burn towards them as fast as my little ship could go....I soon realised my mistake when the Thrasher and Tristan were suddenly on me, I had been baited into a brawl.  Doing the only thing I could do I attempted to brawl them down.  I pointed up the thrasher and threw my scram and web on him pulling range in an attempt to lower his incoming dps whilst slowly working on his buffer.  With my tank taking a hit from both the ships, we were joined by the rifter pilot from earlier.  So what was a 2v1 was now a 3v1, I needed to get the incoming dps down sharpish.
Overheating my tank and rocket launchers the thrasher went into armor then popped, I pointed the tristan and using the same tactics as before I pulled range and started to chip at his ships buffer he also exploded.  This left just me and the rifter, my tank was holding as I pointed him and went through his tank.  He popped in a blue flash and gfs were exchanged with all in local.

As I began to loot the field a PL Taranis appeared 25km away from me, he pointed me and expecting the PL gang to appear as well or that I would get one shot by a titan I was resigned to my fate and started firing back.  He popped alot faster than I thought he would and the gang never came so I finished looting the field and warped off having enjoyed a great fight and a real vindication of my choice in ships.

Vengeance vs. Daredevil

This was quite possibly my favourite 1v1 for two reasons, firstly I had a gang 1 jump out that were going to jump in once I got tackle and secondly its a frigging daredevil, a well fit one.  So I will set the scene for this, the three of us were out on a roam, a thrasher, vengeance and slicer(honestly cant remember what the other guys were in just know they were small) when I spotted a Daredevil sitting on a gate in the system ahead.  Reporting as such over comms I warped to a belt to tempt him into shooting me with the plan being once  I had him tackled they would jump in and we would kill him.

He warped in and we proceeded to open fire, I knew I was never going to dictate range in this fight being in a slow ship being 90% webbed means its just not going to happen.  I still overheated my AB to try my best to mess up the Daredevils tracking as best I could whilst making my repper work harder than usual.  Giving the sign over the comms I was just trying to hold on long enough for the rest of the gang to arrive but then I noticed something...the Daredevil was in structure and I was still in my armor, no one else had arrived and suddenly a blue flash and the DD pilot was staring at me from his pod.

Stupid Losses

Minus the beginning of this month a lot of my losses so far have either come from great fights (My Vengeances attempt to tank two Dramiels for example) or stupid things (Losing a Battle Buzzard to gate guns), I need to cut out the stupid losses if I want to become efficient otherwise I am going to run low on isk fast even if it cost less than 100mil to stock my ships up for a month, based on current loss data.
I also should probably stop playing when drunk as I have lost a couple of really strangely fitted ships due to this and I could really do without it.  Even if waking up the next day to find some strange fraps you have no recollection of can be quite amusing.

Video

I am in the process of making a pvp video.  Its mostly frigate combat with some larger ship fights thrown in.  I warn you though I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to video editing software so be prepared for some badly edited video :).

Hopefully I will get the video finished this evening (6/10/2012) and I can get it uploaded, keep getting the problem that as soon as I think its done I get a fight that I want to put in it but ah well guess I will just have to be stricter with which fights get in there.

Korg

So Far, So Good pt. 1

I originally intended this post to be a summation of my first month in piracy but due to my laziness and Maths coursework it has been delayed and will now be a summation of my first two months in piracy.....roughly.
This will be quite a long post as I am going to try and be as detailed as I can be, but hopefully it will still be interesting and not at all waffly(Its a word).

Pirating So Far

Its been quite a transition and the first two months have been a success...I think.  I know killboard stats are fairly useless but I have managed to maintain a ~90% efficiency whilst getting over 120 kills in frigates which is nice only recently lost my 20th I believe.  So a 6:1 ratio.
That isn't to say I haven't done some really stupid things and alot of those losses reflect that.  Some lost through stupidity and others through getting used to the low sec mechanics again.  I will touch on these later.

At the moment I just want to write a little about the differences between low sec and NPC null in terms of the kind of PvP I have found.  The biggest and most obvious one is that lack of bubbles, I can't tell you how nice it has been not having to fit a MWD to all my frigates, it also makes escaping the inevitable gate camps easier.  Although with the militias tendency to fly frigates and my outlaw status that isn't always as easy as it looks and does require some knowledge of agro mechanics.
I have noticed a lack of larger gangs in Heimatar lowsec, minus the odd militia bait and blob fleet most pilots tend to be in <5 person gang category.  This is most likely due to my area of lowsec, being the main area for the Minmatar/Amarr militia, that there is a larger number of small corporations and the lack of cohesion in the militias mean that they tend to stay with each other.  That's not to say militia don't all fleet up together sometimes but it seems rare, largely due to how easy it is to get spies in the oppositions militia.
This all helps me as I love flying frigates and thanks to the above reasons I can get away with it around Amamake, they mean I can get plenty of kills (Militia Frigates and Destroyers) and still get around without getting popped by gate camps.  The transition hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, getting used to having gate guns again hasn't been great and I have lost a couple of ships to them because I have forgotten about the GCC (Somehow all have been CovOps frigates).

The largest problem I have found since becoming a pirate again is the same problem all pirates face eventually, earning isk and logistics.  The adjustment to pirating has meant I have refocused my alt to making me some isk in high sec, this has meant ironically I had to rat that characters sec up so he could actually access high sec.  For some reason I chose the nice character to become the pirate and my old pirate character to become my high sec hauler/trader alt, strange that.  As far as loot and earning from piracy alone I think I am breaking even, maybe even in the black (Not by a lot mind) but as I only fly frigates and generally solo, big ransoms and loot drops haven't really come my way as of yet.
After two months of piracy and buying alot of frigates for my character I have roughly the same isk buffer I had when I started so I would say its working out well so far.

I am going to talk about the pvp parts of piracy life in my next post otherwise its going to take me months to finish a post.

Korg

How to fly Combat Cov-Ops ships pt. 2

This is the second part to my two part series on Combat Cov-Ops ships and how to fly them.  In this post I will be dealing with the rocket fitted cov-ops, the Buzzard and the Anathema.  They share most of the same traits as the turret cov-ops minus the obvious difference of weapon type.  Due to this they also generally use the same tactics during a fight.  Namely keeping to the edge of you scram range and using your webs and tracking disruptor to your advantage.

Buzzard

Firstly the Fit

[Buzzard, Combat]

Low Slots

Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Damage Control II

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Tracking Disruptor II, Optimal Range Disruption

Hi Slots

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Rig Slots

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

Like with the previous Combat Ships mention in part 1, this fit can be done with meta items instead which improves the cap life greatly, however it is less useful as with good skills the above fit is cap stable.  Now you may be asking why its relevant about these fits being cap stable, the reason it becomes important is because the e-war is your life, once they switch off you lose your advantage.

Out of all the Cov-Ops, this is the most similar to the Helios when it comes to fighting, the five mid slots again giving it brilliant range dictation.  The largest problems with this when comparing it too the Helios however is the much lower hull hp which means this has the smallest ehp tank of all the combat cov-ops when fitted in this configuration.  It can mean that fighting in a battle buzzard can get rather hairy sometimes if you make a mistake early on, for example overshooting and getting to close to your opponent taking some large hits then not having enough time to get back to your ideal range again.
There are some great benefits to this fit however the obvious one being that it can fit a cloak and therefore can make its way around whatever area of space you want fairly undetected.  The other benefit, in my opinion, is that it has rockets fit.  Now not everyone will agree with me here but since the 'buff' rockets have been fantastic and at 8km-10km very few other close range frigate weapons match them for consistent dps on target.  What do I mean by consistent dps on target you say, well with the dual webs and orbit you still hit for near full dps whereas your opponent will have vastly reduced dps thanks to losses in tracking and fall off, even if they load barrage (projectile long range ammo) for example.

Secondly the Strategy

Although the tactics are fairly similar to the previous fits mention in part 1 the relative cap independence of the weapons and cloak allow you to engage in more circumstances and escape from others that wouldn't have been possible in the Helios.  If you haven't part 1 the general tactics for flying against turret frigates/destroyer/interdictors is orbit close to the edge of scram range and use the tracking disruptor to minimize the incoming dps whilst slowly wearing them down with your rail guns and drone damage. 

There are some exceptions to this rule, laser frigates can be problematic due to their high base range and in the likely event that they have scorch loaded, its sometimes better to use a tracking speed disruption module and script and get close. This is due to lasers having poor tracking up close. This can cause problem with your own tracking as well (rails being 'crap' and all).

The most dangerous frigate types I find whilst flying this ship is rocket frigates and kiting frigates. Rocket frigates as the tracking disruptor has no effect, it becomes a tank/gank race, which generally doesn’t work out in the Helios favour.

Kiting frigates because they can stay outside of tackle range and wear you down, although turret kiting frigates can be tracking disrupted to a point where they inflict little damage to your ship which may force them close enough to tackle.

Proof of Concept

Buzzard vs. Thrasher
Buzzard vs. Rifter
Buzzard vs. Punisher

Anathema

Now I will introduce the paragraph/section by saying I personally have never flown the Anathema in anger.  This isn't anything against the ship itself, it has a lovely hull, but is purely down to the fact that I already had Caldari Frigate V by the time I had trained Amarr Frigate V and seeing as the Buzzard (at least combat wise) is essentially the Anathema with an extra mid I never saw the point.

Do not be put off by that less than glowing endorsement, it can still be an effective Combat frigate (basically a rocket firing Cheetah) so it can still work fight.

The Fit


[Anathema, Combat Covops]

Low Slots

Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Mid Slots

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Tracking Disruptor II, Optimal Range Disruption

Hi Slots

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II

Rig Slots

Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I


As you can see it is basically the Cheetah fit, roughly the same ehp/speed and dps at your preferred range (8km).

Secondly the Strategy

Although once again the strategy is similar to those already mentioned, this fit as it is the slowest requires you to overheat alot more, it also has fairly low dps.  So if you are wanting to fly the Anathema get your Thermodynamics skill as high as possible first as it will help keep your ship alive a lot longer.
The other thing I will mention is that the Anathema is the only fit I could get to work without the micro auxillary power core fitted, this gave it an extra low slot for the second damage mod.  This improves your low dps to 72 now (yaye!!).

Proof of Concept

Unfortunately as mentioned I haven't flown an Anathema in combat but there is evidence in video form on youtube which I will link at the end that contains footage of the Anathema in acton.

The Difference and Details

There are some obvious difference and some not so obvious between the Buzzard and the Anathema.  The standout difference is the lack of a 5th mid on the Anathema, like I have already mentioned this lowers your ability to control the range of the fight quite alot which means overheating for as long as possible on your prop mod.  

The EHP tanks of the two frigates differ as well, due to the Amarr frigates larger HP it gets a larger benefit out of the damage control than the Buzzard which I have already mentioned as having the lowest EHP tank of any Cov-Ops in this type of fitting.
Although the Anathema has a larger cap/better recharge than the Buzzard, the benefit is largely irrelevant due to both still being stable.  The Anathema does get a larger powergrid which gives it greater flexibility in fitting, for example a change for the above fit could be adding another resist mod instead of the second damage mod, this would increase your EHP to nearer the helios level but greatly lowers the DPS.
The last difference is the DPS itself in the above 'Ganky' fits they both have similar EFT dps the Buzzard has the second web meaning it can use the Thorn Rage ammo if it needs to against other frigates, this would give it an advantage in raw damage.  Another less obvious difference between the two ships, is damage mitigation.  Although both have similar dps the Buzzard can hold its target at range for longer/permanently giving it the edge over the Anathema in fights as it lowers the incoming dps as well as making it easier to run when needed.

And thus concludes part 2. Hope anyone who has read this far has enjoyed it or at least gotten some interesting fits they now want to go try out and have fun in.

Korg

p.s. Please message any feedback or questions to me either here on the comments or feel free to message me in game if you want any more 'pointers'.
p.p.s I am finally getting around to making a pvp video, it has mostly been frigate combat but I will get that up on YouTube soon....

Combat Cov-Ops

Realised I actually linked vids for a different post and the above was the one that was meant to be on here.

Fun Ships for Fun Times pt. 2

So here is the second part of my 'series' of Fun Fits for Fail Ships, essentially all I am doing is posting fits for non-combat ships or for ships with a bad reputation in combat that can either be a laugh or surprisingly effective.  In this post its going to be mostly non-combat ships that can be used in combat for a laugh starting with.....


Battle Mammoth

This is a more recent one I have used and to be honest the fit I used I ended up not liking and have now changed it for the next excursion of the Battle Mammoth (Bammoth).

The new fit is as follows.


[Mammoth,  Battle Mammoth]
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Small Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 100
Tracking Disruptor II, Optimal Range Disruption

200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
Small Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator I

Now I am not going to tell you this can go out and solo cruisers or anything like that, hell it would have trouble beating most t2 frigates but when that sweet moment when you get t1 frigates attack you whilst you are in it, its hilarious.
That was using my old shield fit Mammoth, however this armor fit has the same EHP, close to the same dps and more ewar so I imagine it would be more effective.  However just for completion I will put the shield fit below also.


[Mammoth,  Battle Mammoth]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II

Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Small Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 100
Medium Shield Extender II
Medium Shield Extender II

200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
Small Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I


Next the Battle Hulk



[Hulk, Battle Hulk]
Damage Control II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

Medium Shield Booster II
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II

Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Medium Core Defence Operational Solidifier I


Hammerhead II x5

I would not personally use this ship, purely because of the extreme prices of Hulks and the fact that your only real targets are frigates but it is effective (as seen in the video 'When Carebears Attack').  The entire premise of the fit works around the rather strong active tank you can get out of a Hulk thanks to its resists.

The plan of action is sit in a belt (HIGHSEC!!) and pretend to mine with a can out, wait until the unsuspecting can flipper comes and flips your can then go to work on him.  Thanks to the large natural hold and lack of turrets you can hold a lot of boosters and therefore run your tank or neuts for a long time.

The largest problem with this fit is the cost, last time I checked the hull alone is worth around 180mil, hence why I put a tech 2 resist rig on there.  I would also say a cheap faction booster may also be worth it because if you lose this ship its going to end up being either way so why not make it harder to lose.


Lastly for this post a fit I am not sure whether would work on a regular basis but looks funny all the same

Combat Scimitar


[Scimitar, Combat Scimitar]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II

10MN Afterburner II
Invulnerability Field II
Dread Guristas Large Shield Booster
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
Warp Scrambler II

Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defence Operational Solidifier I


Valkyrie II x2
Warrior II x3
Warrior II x2

The entire theory behind this fit is use the ridiculously small sigs of logi ships combined with there relatively high AB speed to mitigate the incoming damage and active tanking the rest.
Depending on your implant sets and budgets you can either get a 40m sig radius with HG Halos and a loki alt or a 1k+ dps active tank with HG Crystals and a Tengu alt.  Either way this thing tanks alot.
Having said that I am not sure whether the above fit is the most effective fit for this type of role, you may be able to squeeze out more dps or tank depending or you may prefer a buffer tank instead (sort of defeats the point though).

And thus concludes another post on 'Fun Fits for Fail Ships'

Korg

p.s. I know Scimitars aren't fail but they aren't direct combat ships either.

Funny Vid

Music

Fun Ships for Fun Times pt. 1

To go with my guide to Battle Cov-Ops, I thought I would do a couple of posts about ships with unorthodox fittings for those days when your bored with cookie cutter or fancy flying a ship that lots of people will engage because they think you will be crap.

I personally love flying stupid ships, yes I will fly a nano drake/harb/cane every once in a while or sometimes undock in a shield rifter but most of the time I prefer to fly ships that aren't seen as amazing and people love to engage.  This helps get fights and makes the ones you win that much better because your winning against the grain.

XL Shield Boosting Celestis


Warning. This fit requires some serious micromanagement skills

This is the first 'lol' fit I actually tried in pvp and it is hilarious, although I haven't been as successful with it as others, there are some great examples of the fun you can have in it.


[Celestis, XL Boosting]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Power Diagnostic System II

10MN Afterburner II
X-Large C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
Warp Scrambler II
Invulnerability Field II

200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defence Operational Solidifier I
Medium Core Defence Operational Solidifier I


Warrior II x2
Valkyrie II x3

It has terrible dps but the main part of the fun is the tank, which for a tier 2(?) cruiser is frankly ridiculous.  It has a heated burst tank of 536dps without implants, with a little bit of money invested (Crystal implants) this thing gets an 816dps tank(!).  

The ship works best when combating larger ships because you attempt to get under its guns (tracking) as much as possible and using the tank to survive.  Although thanks to the small guns/neut combo it has the ability to bother scram range frigates a little, but its still not great against them.

Celestis + Gate Guns vs. Typhoon + Tempest <---Shows what this fit can do

Armor Hawk

Anyone who read my blog on a regular basis will no this is my staple ship of choice at the moment, although the Vengeance is a close second.  The main advantage of this fit is range dictation.  Inside web range you can dictate range against most frigates, this means you can use your rockets superior damage at range to your advantage. 

[Hawk, Armor]

Damage Control II

400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

1MN Afterburner II

Warp Scrambler II

Stasis Webifier II

Stasis Webifier II

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

[empty high slot]

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I

Small Ancillary Current Router I

It doesn't have amazing dps (123dps with faction ammo and no heat) or effective hit points (8.7k) but it has brilliant dps at the edge of scram range and this is what you use to your advantage, as it lowers turret opponents dps considerably (They will be near the edge of their standard range in most cases).

Armor Merlin

This essentially is just a t1 version of the Armor Hawk, with worse stats across the board.  Its cheap though and still effective in its role, kite at the edge of scram range and whittle the opponent down.  As it is a t1 version of the Hawk fit, it doesn't have as large an engagement envelope.  Some of the frigates you could engage in the Hawk (i.e. Dramiels) will produce enough dps to still win the fight against this Merlin fit, however I would still engage them because if you can dictate range on your opponent you can run when it gets hairy.

[Merlin, Armor Merlin]

200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

Damage Control II

1MN Afterburner II

Warp Scrambler II

Stasis Webifier II

Stasis Webifier II

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket

75mm Gatling Rail II, Caldari Navy Plutonium Charge S

75mm Gatling Rail II, Caldari Navy Plutonium Charge S

Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

Small Trimark Armor Pump I

Small Trimark Armor Pump I

It gets 80dps and has 4.7k ehp so its not great.  You can fit 125mm rails on this by dropping the hybrid rig for an ancillary current router but this produces nearly the same dps so not sure if it is worth it.

With both the Hawk and Merlin fit you can use t2 rocket ammo because with the dual webs the damage reduction from speed is as minimal as it will get.

And thus concludes part 1 of the unorthodox ships.

Korg

The Music

The Funnies

How to fly Combat Covert Ops ships pt. 1

I have been getting bored of writing short write ups of my fights, and having just read The Altruists 'Know Your Enemy' series about varying ship types and their advantages and disadvantages I thought I would do something similar but not quite as general. Instead I will focus on a shiptype close to my heart, the Battle Cov-Ops.

I am going to go through each ship individually, running through tactics when flying them, my fits for them and the advantages and disadvantages of particular weapons on them.
Combat Cov-Ops ships are generally used to dogfight with other frigates, mainly turret, and due to this most will be fitted with this goal in mind. On to the first and most popular......

Helios

Firstly the Fit

[Helios, Combat]

Low Slot

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Damage Control II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

Mid Slot

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

High Slots

150mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
150mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

Rig Slots

Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Small Ancillary Current Router I

Hobgoblin II x1

This fit can be done with using just tech 2 items and can also be fitted without the powergrid rig, if you invest in a powergrid implant (its the Inherent Implants 'Squire' PG2 implant, give 1%). Alternatively if you dont want the damage rig it needs no power grid implant or rig to help it fit, this does however mean you have to now decide what rigs are going to be useful. Personally I try to fit mine like the above as the Meta 4 items improve your cap life by a lot (1m42s with t2, 4m1s with Meta 4). It also allows me to have the 5% hybrid damage implant (Zanou 'Deadeye' ZGS1000).
It has been pointed out to me the lack of cloak on the above ship, it is possible to make this fit work with a cloak but it requires you to drop a gun. This obviously lowers the overall dps and personally I would prefer the extra firepower, kill and get out rather than risk getting blobbed.

Due to the 5 mid slots it is possible to fit a large amount of E-war modules onto this ship. This allows it to control what range it fights at extremely effectively and due to its large hull hp (it’s bigger than the Taranis) you can get away with just a damage control for tank.

Secondly the Strategy

The general tactics for flying against turret frigates/destroyer/interdictors is orbit close to the edge of scram range and use the tracking disruptor to minimize the incoming dps whilst slowly wearing them down with your rail guns and drone damage. 

There are some exceptions to this rule, laser frigates can be problematic due to their high base range and in the likely event that they have scorch loaded, its sometimes better to use a tracking speed disruption module and script and get close. This is due to lasers having poor tracking up close. This can cause problem with your own tracking as well (rails being 'crap' and all).

The most dangerous frigate types I find whilst flying this ship is rocket frigates and kiting frigates. Rocket frigates as the tracking disruptor has no effect, it becomes a tank/gank race, which generally doesn’t work out in the Helios favour.

Kiting frigates because they can stay outside of tackle range and wear you down, although turret kiting frigates can be tracking disrupted to a point where they inflict little damage to your ship which may force them close enough to tackle.

Proof of Concept

Helios vs. Jaguar
Helios vs. Merlin
Helios vs. Thrasher
Helios vs. Arty Thrasher
Helios vs. Hookbill (Bad Fit)

Cheetah

The Fit

[Cheetah, Combat]

Low Slots

Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Tracking Disruptor II

Hi Slots

200mm AutoCannon II, Barrage S
200mm AutoCannon II, Barrage S
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II

Rig Slots

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I


Secondly the Strategy
The flying tactic is the same as with the Helios, keep range for as long as possible and use the tracking disruptor and web to your advantage. Against larger ships, its the same tactics as against any larger ship, aim to get under their guns and destroy the drones first.

Proof of Concept

Cheetah vs. Hurricane
Cheetah vs. Rifter
Cheetah vs. Incursus

Cheetah vs. Rifter

The Difference and Details

Now as you can see the differences between this and the Helios as far as turret Combat Cov-Ops go. Firstly the tank on this is lower than the Helios fit above, nearly 1k ehp difference to be exact. This can be problematic when facing ships with range bonuses as they may still be able to hit you, wearing you down a lot faster than would be possible against the Helios. Another major fitting difference is the single web instead of two, this is the largest problem in my opinion as it makes it difficult to dictate range against some of the frigates that the Helios would have no problem killing (Ab/web/scram Taranis for example).

There is one major advantage this fit has over the Helios though and it is all about the cloaking device, with that the other disadvantages are diminished because with the cloak you can pick the fights you want. This fit also does better up close, as it has close range guns with long range ammo i.e Barrage S fitted rather than long range guns giving it a tracking advantage in close quarters.

And thus concludes part one, I will cover the missile fitted Cov Ops in the next part. I hope this is helpful and brings you lots of lulz and fun.

Korg

For the videos this week, I will link the video that got me to try these ships in the first place. Morel Nova Dishonor.

Part 1

Part 2