Warfare & Tactics

Are you fighting NPCs or is this for PvP?

Keep at range minimizes your transversal so if you try to stay alive, not so good idea, especially if you got mwd running. And runnin mwd under 15-20k range isnt really making it possible to stay in static orbit :P

If you take the time now to learn manual piloting it will pay off. The vlaue of manual flight is inversely proportional to ship size. So if you plan to make a career out of frigs then manual flight is nearly mandatory for long term success. Well, that may be an overstatement. However, it is a highly valuable tactic.

That being said, keep in mind that your MWD is already making you a significantly more vulnerable target. Sig bloom is dangerous in general and to high alpha in particular. If your goal is to stay alive and in close then maybe consider dual prop.

It's not.

I use the keep-at-range function when:
- I am sitting at the titan waiting for a bridge;
- In a fleet op where an anchor is being used;
- I am ‘solo’ multibox PvPing in non-brawlers. Usually employing range boosted webs and points but not being able to micromanage each client to fly them manually, and not wanting to use orbit because I do not want to head a long way away from where I am.

As for MWDs, yes, they’re great for getting into tackle range of a target but can become a bit of a liability after that. The extra speed can be great (increased traversal) but can also blow your orbit out and lead to you losing your point if you’re not very attentive, and the sig-size and mass bloom can be a liability for the amount of damage you take and your ability to maintain a decent orbit. Most PvP MWD fits are not cap stable, so you may exhaust your cap if you keep the MWD running.
Our main fleet doctrine tackler uses dual prop, a MWD and an AB. The MWD lets you get there fast and apply the tackle and then you can swap to the AB and maintain a fast stable orbit while pinning the target down.

Reading everyones advice and doing some more reasearch it looks like the best bet is MWD/Scram and kite @20km or so, keeping distance. The outcome of course will be who the pilot is and what ship im trying to kite so it should intresting.

Kite frigs are even more dependant on manual flight. Brawler v Brawler you can get away with (lazy) orbit button as you will both be trying to keep (basically) the same kind of range in around scram range. Brawler v Kiter you will struggle to auto fly from either role, but the kiter especially needs to fly 'smart'. If you dont pay attention, especially with at range, any AB brawler worth their salt will just sling-shot you and then scram/web you down. At range will be even worse against larger ships. Using keep at range your transversal will drop to 0 and then your light fast big sig frig... well lets just say you will need a celestial to warp your pod qued up.

Something you might consider at this point would be to go farm the Eve-uni or Agony frig handling lessons. They can help you with understanding frig handling and spiraling. Another option, if you want to just feel the burn of learning by fire, would be to go join RvB. Just keep in mind those are not always the best representatives of what PvP is. Some of the lessons are by their nature contrived and can teach bad habbits. But its frigates, so who cares!

Depends on my ship to be honest.

If the target is ****** whatever happens then I just click orbit or KAR and press F1.

If the target is a known skilled pilot I manually pilot all the things.

If the target is a kiter and I'm a brawler then I manually pilot till I land a scram/web then hit approach.

If the target is a brawler and I'm in a kiter I manually pilot at oblique angles to the targets forward direction to maintain a distance greater than 16km and under 24km (using overheat in case I over shoot that a bit). Alternatively if I know that the falloff damage from the target is tiny past a range that is inside my point range I'll just hit keep at range at [insert optimal].

If the target is a kiter and I'm in a kiter then I'll manually target till I know target is down. Make sure to OH prop mod right at the end in case they do and burn away while you are mid MWD cycle. Watch for range control mods, many kiters with a warp disrupter also have webs.

If the target is a brawler and I am a brawler then I work out likely weapon ranges for target and whether mine are shorter or longer. If they have longer range on weapons I OH prop mod and get right in the face of target. If I can scram/web target outside of their weapon range and still dps them down I do that instead.

Obviously, many more things dictate what you do. Neuts for example force certain engagement ranges. A dragoon is a ship no frigate wants to get closer than 12.1km too.