PvE: the Rattlesnake & a few harsh words about AFK ratting

The Rattlesnake is currently considered the king of PvE, and for good reason. Firstly, the dual bonus to damage of thermal/kinetic missiles and drones means that it can apply high amounts of DPS from a distance. Secondly, the high base stats mean that it can have a very respectable tank. Lastly, the recent drop in price means that they are very affordable — comparable in price to the various navy issue hulls.

It is most effective against factions that are weak to kinetic or thermal damage.

I use this fit against Guristas pirates. (o.smium link)

It requires relatively high skills in at least two of shields, drones and missiles to be used effectively. It also requires high capacitor skills to run cap-stable. In my case, I have high shield, capacitor and drone skills, but absolute shit missile skills. This is very much reflected in my DPS. Instead of the just under 1200DPS @ 108km maximum that a full t2, max skill fit would give me, I’m making do with just under 800DPS @ 105km. However, this is still greater than any other fit I can currently fly.

The optimal way to run Sanctums in this fit is to warp in at 0, drop your MTU if you use one, then use the microjumpdrive to get to the engagement position, the location of which is beautifully illustrated in the skillfully drawn diagram below.

The engagement position should, ideally, be in line with the middle ring of the Sanctum (only ever run the ring variants – the other variant gives less bounty and takes longer to complete because there is lots of ECM/sensor dampening). However, anywhere roughly around that area will do. Just make sure you are in range.

Putting 100km between the rats and yourself serves two purposes. Firstly, you will be out of range of the smaller ships, and be able to kill them before they can get in range. In Serpentis sites, you will also be out of range of all the blaster-fit battleship rats. This means you don’t need to tank as hard or worry about being pointed/scrammed/webbed by the frigates. Secondly, it will give you a couple of extra minutes to react to hotdroppers who come into your system — assuming you’re watching your intel and local channels.

Which leads nicely into the second topic of this post — WATCH YOUR FUCKING INTEL AND LOCAL CHANNELS. DO NOT RAT AFK. It’s not difficult. There is plenty of time to react to neutrals/reds coming into your system, even if you’re sitting in a huge ship in the most prominent anomaly in the system, as long as you’re keeping an eye on your intel and local channels.

AFK ratting might seem like a nice prospect — high, semi-passive income — but in practice you’re a big glaring target to hotdroppers, and will almost invariably end up losing more money than you make. Furthermore, when droppers get kills in a particular system, they tend to hang around that system, which will make your co-inhabitants rather unhappy.

I used to live with a group that would kill blue AFK ratters rather than give droppers a free kill, because an awox looks better on the killboard than a stupid loss. I fully encourage alliances to adopt this attitude.

By all means, run a fit that requires minimal player input, but STAY AT THE KEYBOARD. Every time you leave your keyboard while not cloaked, in a POS or in a station, a puppy dies. You are killing little, innocent puppies. You goddamn monster.

The Astero, Part 2 – Fitting

Fitting the Astero – or any exploration ship – is not as easy and simple as it might initially appear, or as formulaic as fitting a dedicated combat ship (which I may cover in a later blog post). There are a lot of variables to consider: Do you want to sacrifice speed for capacity? Do you want to sacrifice tank for align time? Should you fit stabs?

The answer to these and many more questions is, as always, that it depends on how you want to play. However, the Astero is a very nuanced ship when it comes to when and how you should use it. As I mentioned in my previous post, it sits in an interesting position in the balance between efficiency and combat capacity; there are better ships to use if you want higher efficiency or bigger teeth.

Anyway, here is my fit. (Link opens o.smium.org, an online fitting tool for EVE, in a new tab)

Yes, it is shiny. No, you do not have to fit it as shiny, but I strongly recommend it. It’s only about 200 million in total — you should be hauling back at least that much in loot with every expedition.

This fit is specialized for relic sites. This means I only need to carry one analyzer, which frees up a mid slot. I also do not use scanning upgrades, simply because one would take up that extra mid slot. Instead, I opt for a scram and a dualprop (both an afterburner and a microwarpdrive). These give me control of the speed of any fight I might find myself in.

It means that if I am scrammed by something I can’t kill, I can scram back defensively and use the afterburner to get out of scram range, then engage the microwarpdrive to get away. It also means that I can keep up with anything I want to chase. 2,500m/s (3700m/s overheated) isn’t a particularly high speed for a frigate with a microwarpdrive, but remember I’ll only disengage my cloak when I am already at scram range, and will only really need it to maintain range if you try to run. It is also useful for getting between distant cans faster.

In the low slots there is an armor rep, a damage control, an energized adaptive nano membrane and a drone damage amplifier. This gives me a decent active tank, where I’ll pulse the rep every once in a while, but generally rely on my armor buffer to sustain me in combat.

I certainly do not fit stabs, nanofiber structures or cargohold expanders. The first penalizes scan resolution. The second penalizes hull hitpoints a.k.a. tank. The third penalizes speed. All three take up a low slot that could be used for something more useful. (However, these three modules are very useful on non-combat fits.)

The drone damage amplifier gives the acolytes and hobgoblins that little extra punch, but arguably it would be better to use an omnidirectional tracking enhancer to improve damage application. I haven’t compared the two yet, but the damage amplifier has served me well, so I don’t see a pressing need.

Some would frown upon using acolytes instead of warriors, since warriors have better speed and tracking. However, I’ve found that acolytes actually have better damage application – they seem to have better balance between their speed and tracking, so they can actually track high velocity targets while they themselves are going fast. I don’t know. This is a topic for another post, perhaps.

For the rigs, I use a small emission scope sharpener (t1, because the t2 variant uses 300 calibration which would mean I almost can’t use any other rig) to give me a little more coherency in the mini-game, an anti-explosive pump to plug that explo hole in my armor resists, and finally a small targeting systems stabilizer so I can target just a little bit quicker after decloaking.

Works wonders.

Regardless of how you intend to fly it, there are a few rules you should follow:

-DO NOT UNDOCK without a Covert Ops Cloaking Device II. This is non-negotiable; this ship should not be in space if it can’t warp cloaked.

-Always fit Sisters probe launchers and use Sisters probes. The bonus to scan strength these gives is indispensable, unless your scanning skills are high. Even then, the bonus is quite nice.

-Do not fit guns on it. See the two points above. If, for some reason, you’re not flying a scan probe launcher, a single gun isn’t gonna do you any good. If you want to fly guns, fly another ship. The Confessor, perhaps.

-If you don’t intend to use the combat capacity of this ship, move on to a t2 covops frigate as soon as you can. There is no fit for an Astero that is not inferior to a similar fit for a t2 frigate in terms of efficiency.

-Always carry a flight of ECM drones if you can fly them. They can save your ship (and your loot) if you find yourself pointed and/or scrammed.

The Astero, Part 1 – A Justification

The Astero is, without doubt, my favorite ship in EVE Online. Many people dislike it, and have good reasons for disliking it. These include:

-As an exploration ship, it is inferior to t2 covops frigates, both in warp time and scan bonus

-As a combat ship, it is inferior to almost all other combat frigates

-It is expensive

These are very good reasons to dislike the Astero, or at least recommend aspiring explorers to use it only as a stepping stone to t2 covops frigates.

However, I disagree.

I agree that the Astero is (generally) not a viable dedicated PvP  platform. I also agree that t2 covops frigates are more efficient at exploration. However, I still believe that the Astero is the best exploration frigate, and here is why: anything I can’t kill, I can outrun.

Let me clarify.

If you warp to a site in a t2 covops frigate and find my Astero already running it, you have no option but to warp off. If I warp to a site and find your frigate already running it, I will kill you and take your loot. You will not see me coming. You will not have time to react unless you get VERY lucky.

The same goes if I find you in another Astero, a t1 frigate or any inappropriate exploration ship (which will give you up as a newbie and a ripe target).

Of course, if I warp to a site and find a t3 cruiser or a Stratios running it (or a Nestor, Doge forbid), I also have no option but to warp off*. Furthermore, if a combat ship warps to my site, I will also be subject to various constraints to escape, including reaction time to the presence of a ship on my overview and warping off before being decloaked. This is no different for me.

I have to keep two eyes on dscan (and/or the local channel), three eyes on overview at all times, and a finger hovering over my f1 key (bound to my cloak). If I do this right, I will see a combat ship incoming on dscan, and will cloak before it lands on grid. If you have a cloaky combat ship I can usually cloak before you can get a lock if you are a cruiser, and fight you off if you are a frigate. Thus, anything I can’t kill, I can outrun.

To me, this is definitely worth the inflated price tag.

However, the Astero is certainly not foolproof. If I stop paying attention for even a second, I am vulnerable. But, again, this is no different for a t2 frigate. The difference is that for a bit more isk and a bit less hull scan-strength bonus, I get teeth.

At this point, you’re probably wondering why I don’t endorse t3 cruisers or the Stratios instead of the Astero, since I’m willing to sacrifice efficiency for combat capability (hopefully I don’t need to explain why I don’t endorse the Nestor, a billion-isk slowboat that can’t warp cloaked, for this purpose).

T3 cruisers and the Stratios certainly offer a lot of advantages. T3 cruisers can be nullified, well tanked (>100,000 EHP) and still have a lot of teeth. Stratioses can be fitted as to be able to kill t3 cruisers. If you want tasty killmails, this is the way to go (if you have the skills – do not try this if you’re a newbie seeking advice).

However, this will kill your efficiency, because of the lower warp and subwarp speeds, meaning you will spend more time warping to sites slowboating between cans than actually hacking (or killing) anything. Furthermore, these ships can’t go through frigate-sized wormholes. Not to mention that the price tags on these babies are magnitudes higher than any exploration frigate, and that you will lose skillpoints if you die in a t3 cruiser.

“But you just said you’re willing to sacrifice efficiency for combat capability!” I hear you say. Yes and no. There is a balance between efficiency and combat capability that must always be kept in mind. What I have tried to do in this post is not necessarily to justify always sacrificing efficiency for teeth; I have tried to justify my preference for the Astero within this balance. You may agree or disagree, and you may even be correct to disagree for your particular play style. This is just my perspective.

*I may, at times, attempt a bluff – warp in at a distance and decloak in an attempt to convince you that other combat ships are present in the system and incoming. This is especially effective if there are combat ships on dscan, and even more so when I do have combat support.