The advantage of unusual fits

I had an interesting fight the other day that highlighted the importance of non-conventional fits. As said before I am in the process of changing corps. As a result I am running pretty lean. My collection of ships and modules is sitting in a 0.0 system waiting for a someone to accept a contract to ship it out. Meanwhile I have been flying around in a simple Rifter, trying to get familiar with low-sec mechanics.

Anyways, I came across another rifter from the corp I am currently in the process of applying to. I decided to engage him. When engaging another solo rifter it is a pretty safe bet that it has something like the following fit:

[Rifter, Typical]
Damage Control II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Armor Repairer II

1MN Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

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

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
[empty rig slot]

This is a great setup that can handle ships of all sized. It does good damage, and can hold itself together in a fight. I fly this setup regularly. Having said that, I am a big fan of the shield rifter. I have earlier commented on my MWD fitted shield rifter. However of late I have been running a similar setup, but with an afterburner and tracking enhancer instead of a MWD and nanofibre.

The main advantage to this shield rifter is that it is unusual. This is a huge advantage when engaging another rifter. 99.999% of the time the enemy will start shooting either RF Fusion or Barrage. Both ammo types are effective against armour, but no so effective against shields. Couple this with the large EHP buffer that the shield provides and the natural repping of the shield, and you have an easy fight on your hands.

What made this last fight interesting was that my opponent had the same idea. He was also flying a shield rifter. Except his was equipped with an energy neutralizer to further make a mess of the cap hungry small armour repairer on a typical rifter. In this battle both pilots had the same assumption. We were both flying ships that we figured could easily kill our opponent. In the end the battle dragged on and on as we realized that we just were both shooting the wrong ammo. Since I was setup with a bit more damage than him and a bit better buffer he entered structure about the same time I entered armour. His neut managed to silence my scrambler and he fled just before I managed to finish him off. We both switched to more appropriate ammo and went back at in a minute or two later, and I manged to come out ahead in a much faster battle.

Good fight all around. Anyways, the point of this whole post is that by going with non-conventional fits you have a great advantage. Both of us had non-conventional Rifter fits. They were not strange EFT warrior fits, nor were they super rare, just not what one typically expects. As a result we both were super confident going into the battle that the enemy would be setup wrong against us. As it turned out we were both right.

Here is my Afterburner Shield Rifter Fit:

[Rifter, 125mm shield ab]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
F-aQ Phase Code Tracking Subroutines

1MN Afterburner II
Medium Shield Extender II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
[empty high slot]

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I