I can't believe it has been over six years since this happened. I had a post that I wanted to make ready several years ago but I never really finished it. Here it is. Please excuse any errors as this was from my poor recollection several years after the fact, and now not having played in years I suspect I have more errors...
My very favourite moment in EVE was when I was in Agony Unleashed and we hatched Caldak's insane plan to catch and kill a pair of Motherships (old name for supercarriers) that had been causing problems for us. Here is what happened:
1. Situation
We were living in Syndicate at the moment. At the time Syndicate was effectively a 'fight club' with multiple minor low-sec alliances duking it out with small gang fights nightly. Sometimes a large alliance would blow through, but by and large it was worthless space and so ignored by the big players.
One of the larger groups was a corporation called 'No Trademark' with about 50 active pilots. Importantly two of the pilots flew Motherships ... and they were willing to use them. While Agony was trying to figure out RR Battleship gangs, once those MOMs landed on grid we were dead.
2. The Plan
The plan was simple ... bait and then pounce. We had a Titan at the time so we had the ability to project a large subcap force. Taking down a MOM was hard but by using Guardians to supply cap to energy nuetralizing battleships, we could effectively wipe out the capacitor of the super withing a minute. What we needed was to get the MOM tacked first. For that we would use another RR Battleship gang as bait.
3. It Begins
I (being relatively new pilot with less than a year) was a scout from the bait gang flying a Jaguar. I guided our force down the pipe from our home in EZA-FM to our destination of Y9G-KS near the Conomette and Pertinineere gates where we knew NOTR lived. After landing on the gate with no sign of the enemy we placed a few bubbles and camped things for a bit. Not much was happening. Then we got signs that NOTR was getting tired of us using their favourite gate. After some manouvering our force entered UTKS-5 running away from a larger NOTR force. They camped the gates and chased us around the system. The plan was sort of working.. we had been planning to chase them, instead the opposite occured and our BS gang was on the run while the attack force sat on the Titan getting organized. We were waiting for thier MOM pilots to logon.
NOTR was extremely good at scanning us down. After several near misses they finally tackled one of our BS with a lucky safe-spot. As the two BS gangs engaged one of their MOMs logged on. We started loosing ships. Things were going south. But then.. the MOM appeared.. time to drop the hammer.
Cyno UP!!!!
In comes the reinforcements. Aside from nueting out the MOM the priority was support which we quickly cleared off. The MOM and a carrier were all that was left. Both were now being held onto by a couple of heavy interdictors and several bubbles were also going up. A falcon appeared but was chased off.
After a few minutes it became clear to the MOM pilot that no reinforcements were coming so he set a self-destruct, hoping to deprive us of the killmail at least. Realizing that time was short we cynoed in a couple of dreadnoughts and then it was all over.
All that was left was to loot and save killmails ... https://zkillboard.com/related/30003306/201001030000/
NOTR was lucky... only a few minutes later the other MOM pilot logged on and we came close to two mothership kills.
That was my favourite fight in EVE...
Monday, May 16, 2016
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Brawling Frigate Strategies - Part 2 - Active Tank like a MotherFraker
A while ago (last year) I covered the Turn, Burn and disrupt brawling frigate strategy. A second really good strategy is to active tank the hell out of your ship. Basically it involves having enough active repping power to overcome the damage from the enemy. Unlike the turning and burning strategy, this can be effective against multiple enemy ships. You will see a lot of videos using this strategy because it is very exciting and really shows off the pilots skills. Knowing when to overheat, managing multiple weapon systems, managing cap, managing the tank, is very intensive. However when everything works it is very satisfying.
As a general rule of thumb, you will need an approximately 100 dps tank per enemy frigate you want to engage. A bit more if against a high dps ship like an incursis (a lot more if an enyo), and a bit less if against a low dps ship like a slasher. To get a tank high enough you will need to do several things...
1. Use ships with a resist bonus or even better an active tank bonus. The breacher and the incursus are the poster children for this thanks to thier 32.5% bonus to shield boosters and armour repairers respectively.
2. Use rigs to further increase tanking. Recent changes to armour rigs makes this a lot more viable. For armour this means the Small Nanobot Accelerator and Small Auxiliary Nano pump. For shield this means the Small Core Defense Operational Solidifier and the Small Anti-Em/Thermal Screen Reinforcers. I personally avoid the resistance rigs for armour since they significantly reduce velocity which is a really bad thing.
3. Tanking implants. I wont list them here, but even a couple of 3% implants can be the difference between life and death. For low-sec shield boosting ships, low-grade crystal implants are very nice, although very expensive.
4. Capacitor booster. Unfortunatly you are going to be using a lot of capacitor. Relying on regen or even a Nos is not enough, you will need to sacrifice a midslot to keep things running.
5. Dual Small Armour Repairers or Medium Shield Booster. Tech II is pretty much the minimum however the relatively inexpensive faction armour repairers are worth paying for.
6. Drugs: Standard Blue Pill Booster for Shield, Standard Exile Booster for Armour. Personally I am terrible about using drugs, I usually forget until the fight is over, or I load them and then don't have a fight for 30 minutes. But a 20% boost is very nice and not something to ignore.
Let us look at some fits.
First the Breacher...
[Breacher, rustbucket]
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Medium Shield Booster II
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
1MN Afterburner II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rocket
Small Core Defense Operational Solidifier I
Small Core Defense Operational Solidifier I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Hobgoblin II x2
This is wonderful ship. DPS looks low, but it is selectable, and it is hard to speed tank or otherwise mitigate damage from rockets. Main problem is that it does not have a web so a standard scram/web ship should be able to run away. However the ability to engage multiple targets and live is unbeatable. I used this fit for my Kill All The Things 4 Video last fall.
As much as I love the breacher, the Incursus is probably the most common T1 frigate for this strategy. Here is a fit that I have used:
[Incursus, mothertank]
Small Armor Repairer II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
1MN Afterburner II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Nanobot Accelerator I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Hobgoblin II x1
Be careful with your use of the ancilary armour repairer in this fit. It should go for 9 cycles, but then it will become almost useless until a 60 second reload is done. Still, until then you can easily tank two ships and hopefully take one down lowering their DPS first. Even more than the breacher this ship has some weaknesses however. Again, the lack of a web means that range control is impossible with another AB fit frigate. This plus the range/tracking issues of blasters means that you may find yourself holding a wet noodle. Fights can go on for a very long time.
Finally I will show a fit for a relatively new character. My restarted main has only 1.5 million SP and I was barely able to fit into this...
[Incursus, LowSP]
Small Armor Repairer II
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Prototype Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Experimental 1MN Afterburner I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Hobgoblin I x1
A great ship for a low SP character for sure. Decent DPS, a strong tank, it actually has a chance of victory against many other ships. I still lost it against a two year old character's punisher, but the fight was fun nevertheless.
As a general rule of thumb, you will need an approximately 100 dps tank per enemy frigate you want to engage. A bit more if against a high dps ship like an incursis (a lot more if an enyo), and a bit less if against a low dps ship like a slasher. To get a tank high enough you will need to do several things...
1. Use ships with a resist bonus or even better an active tank bonus. The breacher and the incursus are the poster children for this thanks to thier 32.5% bonus to shield boosters and armour repairers respectively.
2. Use rigs to further increase tanking. Recent changes to armour rigs makes this a lot more viable. For armour this means the Small Nanobot Accelerator and Small Auxiliary Nano pump. For shield this means the Small Core Defense Operational Solidifier and the Small Anti-Em/Thermal Screen Reinforcers. I personally avoid the resistance rigs for armour since they significantly reduce velocity which is a really bad thing.
3. Tanking implants. I wont list them here, but even a couple of 3% implants can be the difference between life and death. For low-sec shield boosting ships, low-grade crystal implants are very nice, although very expensive.
4. Capacitor booster. Unfortunatly you are going to be using a lot of capacitor. Relying on regen or even a Nos is not enough, you will need to sacrifice a midslot to keep things running.
5. Dual Small Armour Repairers or Medium Shield Booster. Tech II is pretty much the minimum however the relatively inexpensive faction armour repairers are worth paying for.
6. Drugs: Standard Blue Pill Booster for Shield, Standard Exile Booster for Armour. Personally I am terrible about using drugs, I usually forget until the fight is over, or I load them and then don't have a fight for 30 minutes. But a 20% boost is very nice and not something to ignore.
Let us look at some fits.
First the Breacher...
[Breacher, rustbucket]
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Medium Shield Booster II
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
1MN Afterburner II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rocket
Small Core Defense Operational Solidifier I
Small Core Defense Operational Solidifier I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Hobgoblin II x2
This is wonderful ship. DPS looks low, but it is selectable, and it is hard to speed tank or otherwise mitigate damage from rockets. Main problem is that it does not have a web so a standard scram/web ship should be able to run away. However the ability to engage multiple targets and live is unbeatable. I used this fit for my Kill All The Things 4 Video last fall.
As much as I love the breacher, the Incursus is probably the most common T1 frigate for this strategy. Here is a fit that I have used:
[Incursus, mothertank]
Small Armor Repairer II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
1MN Afterburner II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Nanobot Accelerator I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Hobgoblin II x1
Be careful with your use of the ancilary armour repairer in this fit. It should go for 9 cycles, but then it will become almost useless until a 60 second reload is done. Still, until then you can easily tank two ships and hopefully take one down lowering their DPS first. Even more than the breacher this ship has some weaknesses however. Again, the lack of a web means that range control is impossible with another AB fit frigate. This plus the range/tracking issues of blasters means that you may find yourself holding a wet noodle. Fights can go on for a very long time.
Finally I will show a fit for a relatively new character. My restarted main has only 1.5 million SP and I was barely able to fit into this...
[Incursus, LowSP]
Small Armor Repairer II
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Prototype Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Experimental 1MN Afterburner I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Hobgoblin I x1
A great ship for a low SP character for sure. Decent DPS, a strong tank, it actually has a chance of victory against many other ships. I still lost it against a two year old character's punisher, but the fight was fun nevertheless.
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