Light the Crusade

Background

Today, I'll be discussing one of my favorite ships: the Crusader, Amarr Interceptor. It is a brawler Interceptor, not designed to be used as a fleet tackler but rather to intercept enemy interceptors. Whilst not being as common a sight as an Taranis, the feared Gallente varient, it is every bit as capable, and indeed, in many ways outperforms the Taranis.

Extraordinary agility, firepower and speed, the very definition of a Combat Interceptor

 In the past, Crusaders were more plentiful. They used to be fitted to focus on the Crusader's unique strengths amongst the Interceptor class, which were:

• High tracking of lasers (due to ship bonuses + Scorch)
• Large range for its class when using close range weapons (again, due to Scorch) 
• High damage for its class at such a range (once again, due to Scorch)
• Extraordinary speed, the Crusader is the fastest Interceptor in the game without focusing on speed modules.

Fittings

Therefore, in order to maximises the exploitation of these traits, the following fit was used (subject to minor variation in rig choices etc.)  

[Crusader, Old School]
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Faint Warp Disruptor I

Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Scorch S

Small Energy Locus Coordinator II
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
The idea would be to orbit the enemy ship at 13-15km. With an optimal range of 16km and high tracking, they would be achieving high quality hits with each volley. However, due to the need to keep the MWD running, if this fit was scrambled it would be lights out due to the non-existent tank.

In the past, I have flown this fit. However, due to the incredibly small margin of area to operate within (13km-15km), a single mis-step and its game over. Therefore, I decided to play around with the Crusader, to see what else I could get out of it. With this, I found what I believe to be a much more well-rounded fit which would be able to deal with a larger variety of ships.

[Crusader, Gunner]
Damage Control II
Heat Sink II
Small Armor Repairer II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

1MN Afterburner II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Gatling Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S

Small Energy Burst Aerator I
Small Energy Collision Accelerator I

This fit is incredibly flexible. With the afterburner, it is easily capable of achieving enough transversal to stay under a larger ship's guns. Combining this with the armor repairer allows for much greater staying power. The Heat Sink II as well as the damage rigs tremendously increases the DPS. The pros and cons of this fit compared to the classical kiting Crusader:

Pros:

• Increased DPS.
• Increased tank, both EHP and with the addition of the armor repairer.
• Much easier to avoid medium gun fire.
• Scrambler is much more effective at keeping a ship tackled and pinned down.
• Much more effective vs ships with MWDs. 

Cons:

•  Considerably slower due to the use of an AB rather then a MWD. This makes it significantly harder to disengage, as well as close in on the fastest of targets - other Interceptors.
• Slightly lower tracking if both fits are forced into close range.

I have an MWD varient, but due to the capacitor penalty, I rarely use it except against other interceptors.

Targets

Any frigates, even Dramiels! Whilst I have yet to kill one solo in a Crusader, I have brought several to low shields, including bringing one to half armor. At the time, my skills were not fully developed, so I am confident that if I was given another shot I would be much closer to bringing one down.

Any Cruisers are viable, although beware of ones with medium energy neutralisers. Small neuts are not a worry since you can comfortably orbit from outside their range (>6.3km). Battlecruisers are similar, although they are significantly tougher so expect backup!

Tactics

Due to the versatility of the Crusader, you have many options available to you. The one you should use depends on the opponent's ship and fit. Typically, I like to orbit at 7km and open up with Scorch. Depending on what the enemy does next, I can figure out how to proceed.

As an example, I am facing a Taranis. I orbit at my default orbit of 7km and wait.

If he attempts to close range, I kite him. Due to the Crusader's faster speed and the prominence of dual propulsion Taranises, he should not be able to close range effectively. At this point, he might swap to Null. If I notice him stop firing for 5 seconds or more, I establish a 500m orbit on him and use my high transversal to prevent him from landing quality hits.

Alternatively, if he seems content to stay at range and is actually doing significant gun DPS, I infer he must be rail fit. In that case, I settle into a 500m orbit on him and again use my high transversal against him.

Regardless of what he does, I never shoot his drones unless they are ECM drones. The reason being that my armor repairer can negate their DPS. Shooting them just detracts time from killing their owner!

Summary

• The Crusader is exceptionally fast.
• It does both high DPS at close range (219 O/H) and at the edge of scramble range (174 O/H)
• This versality is incredibly useful and should be exploited, allowing you to either straight up brawl or kite within scrambler range.
• Medium neuts = BAD! Small neuts are ok and can be dealt with.

That's all for now folks. Any comments etc, feel free to reply.