Brawling Frigate Strategies - Part 1 - Turn and Burn and Disrupt

Toterra is terrible at kiting. In general I manage to usually either 1. Fly away too far and have my enemy escape, or 2. overcompensate by hitting approach and getting caught. As a result my choice in ships tends to gravitate massively towards the brawling (close range) strategies. Although many T1 frigates are effective in this role, there are two strategies, with corresponding fits, that I find work the best.

1. Turn and Burn
Mostly effective against turret ships, it is on the surface very simple. Keep your angular velocity significantly higher then the tracking of the enemy guns. This works best on armour tanked ships, with four mid-slots and a utility high. With requirements like that it is not surprising that Minmatar ships excel in this role.

In EVE angular velocity is usually represented in radians. According to Wikipedia, here is the definition of a radian: 'Radian describes the plane angle subtended by a circular arc as the length of the arc divided by the radius of the arc'. Sounds complicated but really it is just the ratio of how fast you are orbiting a ship, divided by how far you are from the ship. So if you are orbiting at 500m/s, and the orbit swings out to 1000 meters, your angular velocity is 0.5 radians per second.  If you are orbiting at 250m/s, and you are 750 meters, your angular velocity is 0.333.


The other factor in tracking is the ratio of the signature resolution of the gun (40 meters for small turrets) and the signature radius of the ship. Your angular velocity is divided by this ratio. So if your ship has a signature radius of 30 meters, and the guns shooting you are frigate sized (40 meters signature resolution), your angular velocity is multiplied by 1.333. In the case of the ship orbiting at 500m/s 1000 meters away, this results in an effective angular velocity of 0.666 radians per second (0.5 * 1.33).

This new factor is then compared to the tracking speed of your guns. If the effective angular velocity is equal to the tracking speed of the guns there is a 50% chance of hitting. However that is the inflection point of the curve. In the case above, where the effective angular velocity is 0.666 radians, if the guns actual tracking speed is 0.5 then the chance to hit is only 29%, effectively dropping to less than a third.

The result of all of this is that the game is designed so that frigates running an afterburner being shot at with small guns, sit around this inflection point. Anything you can do to push yourself even a little further along will make a big difference.

So the turn and burn strategy is to do everything to push the tracking as far past the inflection point so that almost no damage is taken from another frigate.

To do this we do several things.

1. Armour tank: Armour tanking does not boost the signature radius of a ship so it increases the effective angular velocity of the ship relative to target. There is a speed hit from some hits/armour modules which will reduce angular velocity, so it is best to not go overboard. Typically a 200mm RT plate and a small repper is ideal.

2. AB + Scram + Web: Fitting both a warp scrambler and a web means that it is hard for the opponent to use speed and maneuvering to reduce your angular velocity to the point where he can hit your effectively. Ideally, you have a faster ship so he can not kite you. Again, since many of your potential targets have a web, having one of your own is pretty much required.

3. Tracking Disruptor: Using a tracking disruptor on the enemy ship reduces their tracking as much as 50%, even without off-grid boosters and bonused ships.

There are several ships at several price points that are ideal for this. Starting cheap... here is the post retribution slasher...

[Slasher, Turn and Burn Slasher]
Damage Control II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste

1MN Afterburner II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Tracking Speed Disruption Script

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

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I

This setup can massacre almost any turret based ship that doesn't have some way of mitigating the angular velocity or a second weapon system. The main problem with this ship is the tank, or rather the lack of a tank. Overheat everything going in and get under the guns as quick as possible. Take out any drones ASAP. But if you get under the guns, and kill off the drones (if there are any) then it is only a matter of time before victory. A naturally high speed/low signature radius is the perfect combination.

For a bit more ISK, the Republic Fleet Firetail is an ideal option. I talked more about this ship here:
Ships I Fly - Republic Fleet Firetail. This ship packs more of a punch, and has more defenses, but is a little slower.

For the rich, or if you just want to try something with a bit of bling, there is nothing better then the Dramiel...

[Dramiel, Turn and Burn Dramiel]
Damage Control II
Coreli A-Type Small Armor Repairer
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Tracking Speed Disruption Script

200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
[empty rig slot]


Warrior II x3

With the Dram, I would highly recommend a set of low-grade halo implants to maximize the effectiveness (reduces signature radius) in addition to the deadspace articles mentioned above, especially if flying in low-sec. More DPS than either the Firetail or the Slasher, the Dram is pretty much the ultimate turn and burn ship. Even webbed it is still a fast ship and able to control the engagement. Additionally the use of drones gives a good chunk of DPS even when counter tracking disrupted. Expensive, but a great ship.

Next post we will discuss the strategy of tanking like a BOSS!