Wednesday, May 30, 2012

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.

3 comments:

  1. Have you considered using small (or small and med) webbing drones on the fits that have no room for them in the mids?

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  2. I have, but the drones are a little nerfed right now. Slow, huge sig radius, and not very much webbing does not compensate for the massive dropoff in DPS by switching to them IMHO.

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  3. I tried them out yesterday for myself and I see what you mean about being nerfed. When (and if) CCP comes out with the TechII version they should be a nice option. Until then nice blog and fits.

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