Thursday 19 August 2010

My Dream Ships

It seems that fellow blogger Astrid Dominix has asked his fellow bloggers what their dream ships are in New Eden. Now before I reveal my two choices, I feel an honorary mention must go to my favorite ship, the dreaded Curse:

Many have fallen to this ship, their capacitor shattered as flights of drones work their magic

Whilst this would normally be on the list, I already own one and have it lying around in my Hangar waiting until my Spaceship Command and support skills can do the ship justice!
Now, onto my real dream ships.

#2 - The fearsome Ashimmu. Having recently sold one, I had a chance to see the ship ingame. Very sleek indeed! With a bonus to stasis webifier effectiveness and energy neutraliser, this ship is a formidable "lock down" ship, limiting what the enemy fleet is capable of doing.

Feared by both children and capsuleers, the bringer of things worse than death itself

#1 - Armageddon Navy Issue. Having flown the Tier 1 hull varient, I have come to appreciate the sheer damage it can put down.


 Commanding one is among the greatest honors one can attain in the Amarr Empire, and suffering the fury of its turret batteries is surely the fastest way to reunite with the void.



My only problems with the Armageddon are:
  • The restrictive Dronebay. You can go either with a full set of Heavy or Sentry Drones for maximum damage, however then you have no drones that can chase down interceptors.
  • The incredibly tight fittings on the ship, forcing you to have to make compromises with the utility high and medium slots.
  • The lack of medium slots, 3 is pushing it with a Battleship in low sec. 
Thankfully, the Armageddon Navy Issue solves all three of these problems making it in my eyes, my dream ship.

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Slice 'n' Dice

The Imperial Navy Slicer, one of the faction frigates boosted in the Dominion Winter Expansion of 2009. Whilst not on the same level as pirate faction frigates, namely the Cruor, Daredevil and the cursed Dramiel, it is still a capable ship in the right hands.

Slice 'n' Dice, my own Slicer
After playing around with different fittings for it in EFT, it was painfully obvious that the Slicer had CPU issues, whilst having excess Power Grid. There are different ways to alleviate this, namely using modules that use less CPU such as meta3 or meta4 Damage Controls.

Eventually, I came up with a few fits and then proceeded to test them out against corpmates (namely Proxyyyy). I then decided on a long range Slicer fit that gave me a comfortable engagement range whilst still having the tracking to deal with frigates if they closed in on me.

However, not all good things last and I began losing them, but still getting some great fights in, such as this one where I fought two Ishkurs, killing one before being forced to disengage.

In the end, I went a little bit extra and start fitting faction modules onto my Slicer once I was comfortable at flying it, and by god do they make a difference! I heartily recommend using a Gistii B-Type 1MN Microwarp Drive if you ever fly a Slicer, the difference to my capacitor health is nothing short of astounding. Props must go to Kishin Hattori for convincing me that it was worth it.

The fit I have finally come up with is:

[Imperial Navy Slicer, Slice 'n' Dice]
F85 Peripheral Damage System I
Tracking Enhancer II
Fourier Transform I Tracking Program
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer

Gistii B-Type 1MN MicroWarpdrive
Warp Disruptor II

Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
[empty high slot]

Small Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Small Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I

Stats (overheated in brackets):

  • 112 (129) DPS at 23+3.9km with Scorch S
  • 140 (161) DPS at 7.8+3.9km with Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
  • 33 (43) DPS tanked whilst using the Armor Repairer
  • Capacitor lasts 1m8 seconds with everything running
  • Capacitor lasts 24m22 seconds with the Armor Repairer turned off but everything else on
  • 3464 (4957) m/s with the Microwarp Drive on.
Basic tactics are to keep range on enemy ships, ideally keeping them within 20-24km where you can hit them perfectly whilst they are unable to respond. Manually flying must be used when engaging multiple enemies to keep your range on all of them rather than relying on the orbit/keep at range instructions.

Closing Notes:
  • The Slicer is a versatile ship, suitable for both close range and long range. However, the lack of a tracking bonus means that IMO I do not believe it should operate intentionally within scramble range.
  • Some people fly the Slicer without the Armor Repairer as it can pop drones very quickly, however I have found the Armor Repairer invaluable at keeping me on the field, allowing me to slowly repair any armor damage I have suffered.
  • Some people fly the Slicer without any tank fitted whatsoever, preferring to rely on its speed. In my mind, this is silly as no matter how good a pilot you are, eventually a Battlecruiser will be able to track you because you do not move as fast as an Interceptor and nor do you have the Interceptor bonus of reduction of signature radius when using your Microwarp Drive. 
  • A Slicer can be successfully used in a fleet fight, however you must fit a tank otherwise a swarm of drones can very quickly chew through you.
  • A Slicer can deal with a surprisingly large amount of targets, don't be afraid to charge Battleships. It can work

Monday 16 August 2010

Tech 3 Frigates

We've all heard the rumors, the hype.

However, I have definitive proof that T3 Frigates exist and have been killed. I am proud to say that The Tuskers directly participated in this mighty venture. So without further ado, I present to you the first T3 Frigate revealed - A T3 Gallente Frigate with a large dronebay and utility highs which can be used for energy neutralisers, codename Thanatos.

The full story is briefly contained within the Killmail, suffice to say that it was found ratting on a stargate and backup called in to overcome this mighty vessel. I hope to see more in my journeys.



A highly zoomed in view of the new T3 frigate


Disclaimer: A Thanatos may or may not be an actual frigate hull.