With the idea of trying to kill as many anoms as possible and force some escalations, I'm trying to clear them as fast as possible.
So, on a whim I put a Zealot together today. It's been years since I've flown a Zealot and I wanted to melt some faces with a good pulse fit. On my very first run I got lucky with a Shadow Serp boss that dropped a Snake implant worth ~200M that more than paid for my new kit. Yay.
I don't claim to be an expert, but here's what I did. I'll drop the 2nd armor rep if I feel tanky enough with one.
[Zealot, It's All Fun And Games Until Your Face Melts]
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Medium Energy Collision Accelerator I
Medium Energy Locus Coordinator I
Tech 1 rigs because I lack the skills for tech2 at the moment.
I'm also in the mood for some antimatter-fueled blaster action. I was thinking maybe a Blaster-Eagle (I haven't flown a Moa-model in years either....). Open to ideas, What do you guys use?
T2 rigs can be installed without needing the skills, you'll get the benefit but the tradeoff is that the penalties will be a little more than if you had the Rig skills at Level 4.
ReplyDeleteI use a Gila myself for High Sec DED sites and if you have the skills (and you don't need maxed drones to get the benefit immediately):
http://zerogravitygeology.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/ded-sites-in-high-sec_18.html
The Gila is an interesting thought. My drone skills are pretty reasonable, and I rank a Master IV on the hull with only a few things keeping me from Mastery V.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. :)
I'll also keep fussing with the Zealot fit. After posting I ran another 10-15 sites and found that it was very fun to blap things off the field unless a fast frigate began orbiting me. Then I had to maneuver a bit to get his transversal down, which eats up precious time. More tracking or (preferably) a web might be in order. I'll play some more and post an update if anything clicks.
I love lasers and of course that means I'm highly skilled on at least one character with Amarrian ships. The Zealot was the first HAC I flew and I got my first solo PvP kill with it.
DeleteHowever experience with PvE was a different experience, as you said blapping at range was fun but all it took was one frigate to get under the guns and it was a pain. Spider Drone I's in particular were fast enough to get past my locking (even with a SeBo).
I think I used a Zealot in a WH twice in a kiting fit with a AB but it never caught on. I'm very happy with the Gila despite its high hull price.
The highsec anoms I'm running are all fairly compact with a predictable spawn distance. I was sitting at optimal last night, velocity at 0 basically in turret mode (too many evening spent in my marauder I guess).
DeleteOne benefit of the t1 rigs is I can dial in for a low cost. I may swap to a CCC rig and put a web in mid for those pesky frigs.
Depends what area of space you operate in, but HACs are pretty common - gila as mentioned, but also cerberus and ishtar are common. MWDs are a must btw if for no other reason than being able to get to gate as fast (or faster than) the opposition.
ReplyDeleteI run a swiss knife stratios than can run 4/10 combat sites, provided you're careful. Its not quite as efficient as a scanning ship/HAC dual boxer though...
Yah, MWD is probably in order.
Deletefor highsec I use either a Gila or a Stratios
ReplyDeleteWhat's the trick to controllling drone aggro? I tried a similar Gila before I ready your blog but I kept losing expensive drones. What should I do differently?
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: NOT a drone expert. :)
DeleteI don't know of any "trick" other than paying attention and recalling a specific drone when he begins taking shield damage. Using the UI buttons to recall is far faster than right clicking. Of course, training up the drone skills that add drone HP give you some cushion.
Hi Brad,
DeleteThere are a number of different things you can try, however these are some things to keep in mind - ECM can often hold their attention, NPCs tend to target drones of a similar sig to their weapons i.e battleship to heavy etc.
If you grab all of the aggro before deploying, it is fairly rare for them to change targets onto your drones. There are some exceptions and it's not guaranteed - dire pith frigates to pick one, will absolutely eat light drones and will happily stop shooting you to do so....
Trial an