X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster Cyclone

I have been playing around and loosing a lot of x-large ancillary boost cyclones lately. TBH I have not had a lot of kills with them but mostly that is due to my willingness to engage impossible fights. After playing around with EFT and a bunch of ships I have two solo fits, as well as a fleet fit that I think are pretty much going to be my standard for the next while. Any of these fits represents new highs in tankability for battlecruisers.

1. Solo Fit
[Cyclone, Solo]

Co-Processor II
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 400
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Assault Missile
Small Nosferatu II

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Processor Overclocking Unit I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I


Hammerhead II x3
Hobgoblin II x2

EHP: 35.3k (92k after 41 seconds)
Overheated Rep: 1281
DPS (including heat and drones): 632

Basically this is a close range brawler. It can tank any reasonable fleet that it goes up against for about a minute that the cap booster runs. After that you had better either be able to get out, or have applied incomming DPS down to less than 500 DPS. Overheat your invul and your shield booster (probably good idea to make sure they are separated). This should handle any other BC/cruiser/HAC except another high active tank one like a tripple rep myrmaddon easily if you can get them scrammed/webbed. The nos is to make sure that the scram/web/invul continue to run.

2. Dual Rep Solo
[Cyclone, Dual rep]

Co-Processor II
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 400
Large Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 150
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Small Nosferatu II
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Processor Overclocking Unit I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I


Hammerhead II x3
Hobgoblin II x2

EHP: 35.3k (107k after 41 seconds)
Overheated Rep (both): 1791
Overheated Rep (xlarge only): 1281
Overheated Rep (large only): 510
DPS (including heat and drones): 535


With dual reps (one large, one xl) you can likely survive at least one reload cycle if you can get incomming dps down to less than 800. Use the xl to start tanking. When it runs out switch to the large. If huge damage at start you can max out repping for a brief time but you better either kill their dps quick or get to a gate. With overheating you can tank about 107k EHP if you max out and survive the 40 seconds (about the same as a drake). Much more if you can hold on 60 seconds for a reload. Main problem with this fit is the lack of a web. Targets may be able to run away and frigates/destroyers pose a major problem. Neuts may help deal with some frigates.

3. Fleet (by fleet I mean relatively small gang < 30)
[Cyclone, Fleet or Solo]

Co-Processor II
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 400
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Assault Missile
Small Nosferatu II

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Processor Overclocking Unit I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I


Hammerhead II x3
Hobgoblin II x2

(Note requires a 1% cpu implant)

EHP: 45k (102k after 41 seconds)
Overheated Rep: 1281
DPS (including heat and drones): 620

Very similar to the above. Slightly lower DPS and no web but 30% more buffer tank. will help avoid being alpha'd by Tier-3 BC and give a bit more time for logistics or other reps to kick in. Basically you are bait/heavy tackle. Get in close to targets and unleash hell. Use active booster to keep alive while calling on logistics support. If under fire and you can get away to reload cap boosters do so. If using this solo then the lack of a web poses difficulties, but it has a much higher chance of surviving until the second round of repping can kick in.

Additional notes:

1. Very important... load the cap boosters ahead of time. The icon is IMHO a little deceiving. If it loaded it will look like a cap booster with 13 cap booster charges. Not like a shield booster.
2. Overheat is is very important. In addition to a duration bonus, there is a shield bonus. You can rep more per cap booster charge overheated then not. Unless you are really sure you don't need to or have significant heat damage already, overheat. The boosters and invul fields tend not to cause much damage while overheating.
3. Manage your reloads carefully. The 60s delay is a killer. If at any point you can get away to reload you might want to seriously consider the opportunity. Also if on a gate while reloading, if you go through your 60 seconds will start once again.
4. Unless you are fitting two boosters, it is better to think of these modules as buffer then normal active tank. Since there is a 60s reload you can't really count on these to cut enemy DPS down the way you would with an active tank. Tanking incoming fire is not something that you can do with these (unless you have two). Instead these are like wierd buffer tanks with the drawback that they take 30 seconds or so to come online and don't naturally recharge.

Determining Opponent's Fit - A Fight with a Daredevil

I had a great little solo fight in my Jaguar against a Daredevil in Syndicate a while back that I have been meaning to post about for a while. A Daredevil and a Jaguar are normally two very different ships. However for an experiment I have been playing around with using a armour repping Jaguar with some decent gank potential. Here is my experimental fit:

Jaguar, Toterra's Jaguar]
Damage Control II
Small Armor Repairer II
Prototype Armor Explosive Hardener I
Prototype Armor Kinetic Hardener I

Limited 1MN MicroWarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Small Capacitor Booster II

200mm AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion S
200mm AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion S
200mm AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion S
Rocket Launcher II,Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I


This is definitely not the standard Jaguar fit. However it does achieve a nice, high resist, armour tank with good dps, good e-war, good cap while preserving great speed and agility.


However the Daredevil is a nasty ship to be going up against. Massive DPS combined with a bonus to the effectiveness of the web meant that I knew if I got tackled, I wasn't going to be going anywhere. On the other hand it usually does not have much of a tank. Of course, with my armour jag fit, I didn't have much of a tank either :(. What I needed to know was how the daredevil was fitted to so I could maximize my changes.

Fortunately I was was able to determine the Daredevil fit pretty well. I played station games with him. I turned on my MWD, let him tackle me and noticed that the MWD went off, and I was webbed. I also watched his speed that seemed to max out in the 1500m/s range. This meant he was fit with a scram, a web and an afterburner.

He shot at me a bunch of times, damage notifications indicated that he was hitting me with Neutron blasters. I also noted that he was applying NOS to me as well.

Since I was always within station dock range, and I never aggressed I was able to dock up whenever I wanted to. I now had a very good idea of his fit. Neutron IIs and a NOS in the highs. AB/SCRAM/WEB in the mids, and probably an active tank in the lows because the NOS usually is found on ships with active tanks.

I was now ready to fight him :)

I undocked and he was sitting right on the undock :(. I powered away from the undock 'fluttering' my MWD. What this means is I used the MWD but set my speed to about 1200m/s. I did not want to give away that I was speed fit. I had used it earlier while assessing his fit but hopped that he did not clue in or figured that I changed fit. Once he was out of position I docked up again.. then immediately undocked as soon as my session timer allowed. I was a nice 15 km from the target and set my keep at range to 18km. I pelted him with barrage and rockets while my MWD kept me out of range of his blasters. Once I blew through his shields and began to pelt into his armour I stopped firing... switched ammo and burnt right for him. Suddenly I was tackled and he basically sat on me at 0 while it became a DPS race. While I was committed (top speed around 30m/s while webbed), he could have disengaged at any point... however he was webbed and would have taken him about 10-15 seconds to get out of my tackle range. Since his weapons were close range only, and he would be taking fire the entire time, this was obviously not something he wanted to do.

Overheating everything it came down to the wire. I had about 30% structure left when he popped. Thanks to my earlier stripping of his shields, I was victorious. After some nice imperial navy and c-type drops I docked up, repaired and went on my way to loose my ship soon after in another engagement.

I love this game :)

Alliance Tournament X - Ship Point Changes

They have announced the new alliance tournament. As a junkie for this sort of thing I am excited. Unfortunately I think the timing of running through July is going to prevent me from participating much. However I will do what I can to report on the happenings throughout the tournament. There are several interesting rule changes. Firstly they are going to try (and fail I suspect) to prevent the match throwing, multiple team shenanigans of previous tournaments. Anyone caught trying will be kicked. Good luck on that CCP LOL. Other than that, the biggest change is the number of ships. Pre-Qualifier matches will now have a 6 ship limit, and the main matches will have up to 12 capsuleer teams. This combined with relatively small changes to points puts the average number of points/ship down from 10 to 8.5. Expect to see less tech-3 cruisers and commandships, with more frigates and cruisers, especially considering that Battleship sized ships are receiving a point deduction. Also interesting is that recon ships are now worth more one more point, while heavy interdictors are worth one point less. Below is the summary of the point changes:

Ship Type	Points
	AT 7	AT 8	AT 9	AT 10
Battleship, Faction	21	21	21	20
Marauder	19	19	18	17
Battleship	18	18	18	17
Black Ops Battleship	18	18	18	17
Command Ship	16	16	16	16
Strategic Cruiser	16	16	16	16
Cruiser, Faction	13	14	14	14
Heavy Assault Cruiser	15	14	13	13
Battlecruiser (Tier 2)	13	13	13	13
Recon Ship	13	13	13	14
Heavy Interdictor	13	13	13	12
Logistics Cruiser	12	12	12	12
Battlecruiser (Tier 3)				12
Battlecruiser (Tier 1)	11	11	10	10
Cruiser	11	9	8	8
Bomber	6	6	6	6
Electronic Attack Frigate	5	5	5	5
Frigate, Faction	4	4	4	4
Assault Frigate	4	4	4	4
Interdictor	3	3	3	3
Interceptor	3	3	3	3
Frigate	3	3	3	2
Hauler	3	3	3	3
Destroyer	2	2	2	3

Anyways, I am sure things will be interesting. I know that my alliance is already making plans. Good luck everyone!