Ships & Modules

While it is not my intention to tell you what you should be using, and I have never used Minmatar battleships for mission running, I pretty much understand that you would probably be better served in a Maelstrom.

Also, I would not recommend using a single ship for PvE and PvP, whatever the purpose. For PvE, double web & scrambler is a waste, for PvP the tank of that thing is somewhat lacking compared to what the Maelstrom could do.

So, instead of having a subpar L4 mission fit that would kill your Isk/hour ratio, and having a subpar and horribly slow PvP fit that could die horribly to an Arbitrator that kept you at 10Km and slowly chew you up...

perhaps it would be better if you considered a PvE ship first, work a few hours and save for ANOTHER battleship, and then you fit that one for PvP.

If you know where you will be fighting and have a good collection of safespots at adequate distances from the gates you will be using (or the stations), you can have A LOT of fun with an almost-instalocking Alpha Tempest, if you have support or good numbers, or you know what you're doing.

You fill the mids and lows with Gyrostabilizers, tracking enhancers, sensor boosters and tracking computers. Put the biggest Arties you can fit, and scan res/damage rigs.

Blapping small stuff that wasn't expecting it is fun.

If you want to Tank, buy a Phoon or Maelstrom
If you want to DPS, buy a Phoon or a Maelstrom
If you want to do DPS/Tank at the same time, buy a Phoon or a Maelstrom

If you want to move a few hundred M/S faster than other battleships, buy a tempest and have a sig radius the size of a moon. It's a cheap-assed machariel without the speed or projection really.

While i understand your desire to do both PvE and PvP with the same fit, which is cool for me (i think of L5's in low sec), i personally think that if you're in a small fleet you should take advantage of it and rely more on others, instead of trying to do everything poorly by yourself.
Seriously, with the fit you've posted you've got a really low dps, weak volleys, low utility and a weak tank... You could get the same result with a Rupture, for a much lower price :p

- first I'd say remove the webs + scram and get a faster ship in your group to point for you if needed, unless you plan on PvPing only against other slow ships. You could put shield resists & buffer or tracking computers or target painters (they're great !) for example.

- Outsource your repairs too (it's easy since the last big patch), and put at least 3 gyros in your lows so you can really unleash the dps of your tempest and kick some serious ass. And while you're at it, remember that some dedicated T2 logistics ships get good bonuses to tracking links for a much longer range and greatly improved accuracy.

- A detail : instead of 3 berserkers you should really use 5 medium sized drones, they'll dps more in all situations (they travel much faster to your target, they'll be able to hit smaller ships and they'll get more criticals on medium and bigger ships).

That's all, for me if you're flying in a small group it's a no brainer : play as a team and you'll have a much easier time.


*edit* as a logistics pilot, i can tell you Tempests work beautifully in PvE. Just ignore the people who are unable conceive team play as an option.

Def good info, will rework / rethink that fit - it was a alpha to beta mode atm, I am working on T2 large weaps, and am going to start to do MoIO missions for an L4 in a few, so I am just getting ideas polished off... it looks like I might box the tempest for an Apoc staring out, it looks like a better ship for the point, but the info here is good for future use, the Tempest is in the hangar and I do like the look of it, I just might keep it for my alt for "ganking the crap out of WTs... hehe", or even try it out in FW, I am sure it has uses still in the game, just finding it seems hard to do, but def good info here for working some more fits. WIll post more when I get a few modifications and idea - the all in derp blap version sounds kind of interesting, will work on that prem.

Not that I'd recommend to do this as it's certainly worse than many other ships, but if you must PVE in a Tempest and are planning on doing level 4's you'd be better served by fitting 1200mm artillery to it.

The lack of falloff bonus makes using AC's on it in missions akin to pissing in the wind in terms of effectiveness, as most rats start well ouside of your range so you spend ages waiting to get into range.

The RoF and damage bonus means that it's a very good arty platform, and using 1200's gives you a nice well rounded setup.


The 'pest is a much better PVP boat than it is a solo PVE boat.