Ships & Modules

I'm not sure what's happening with the rattle come BS rebalance but at the moment it seems the REGULAR domi (getting the 50% optimal/tracking bonus) is currently looking better than the navy and rattle.

So let's see. In this thread you have told us:

1. You are new (likely low SP)
2. You don't understand game mechanics very well (Dominix changes confuse you). It's ok because well, you are new.
3. You watched some youtube videos and came to certain conclusions, even though numbers 1 and 2 are true.

Here are some things to think about

1. Given your SP level, you are nowhere near the full potential of your Dominix. A Battleship may be quick to get into, but it takes a long time to fly well.
2. Trying to train for a Rattlesnake will take far longer. You will have to train up a new tank (assuming you have been training armor now). and an entirely new DPS (missiles) and racial battleship.
3. The Rattlesnake has never been known as a "Fast" mission runner. Just an easy AFK mission runner. But drone AFK missions largely went out the window with the Changes to NPC aggression in Retribution. last winter.
4. The Rattlesnake is VERy expensive compared to a Dominix. So you are looking at a long return on investment.

Bottom line, the best advice I can give is slow down. It is a common noob mistake in EVE to rush into that next new ship sooner than you should. I did the same thing (also went Gallente so very similar path you are taking). In fact I remember eyeing the Rattlesnake about 3 months into the game after flying a Dominix awhile.

Your best bet at this point is to focus on making that Dominix the best it can be. Get T2 sentries (they rock), and then focus heavily on your core skills (tank, fitting skills). It takes awhile to get them solid, but they will make EVERY ship your fly better.

If you rush into new ship after new ship you will end up finding you can fly many ships poorly. Get your core solid and then every ship will fly well. I had a friend who made this mistake and ultimately quit. He was told Minmatar was the way to go. He rushed into a Hurricane and thought it sucked (poor gunnery skills meant he missed alot). So he decided a Maelstrom must be better (same problem). Got frustrated and quit within 5 months.

Thanks everyone i really appreciate it ;)





At least u got cool news by reading a newbie post

I will make it as easy as possible:

RATTLESNAKE~475 mil for the Hull alone

Bigger possible tank

Lower capable DPS (even after Odyssey, it's only ~80 DPS increase to it's Cruise).

Even slower than the Domi

DOMINIX~80 mil for the Hull

Lower possible tank (but still plenty for LvL 4's)

Higher capable DPS (in application and range, and yes, even after the Odyssey "nerf").

Still slow as crap.

NAVY DOMINIX~350 mil for the Hull

Slightly better rehash of the Dominix, in every way (only time will tell if the NDomi will get the new Drone bonus).

I prefer the RS simply because i can have a huge active omnitank and still have drone and missile damage mods in the low slots.

As you can do with ANY BS using the tried and true 3-slot Active Shield tank. The Rattler has better resists so it's "easier" to pulse an XL Booster than with the Domi(s). However, with HG Crystals, ANY Battleship can take advantage of the 3-slot Active Shield tank while fitting for maximum gank, which is how the most efficient LvL 4 missioners do it. It's exp as those 3 modules are well over 2 bil, but hell the Pirate BS's like Mach/Vindi/Nightmare are 1.2-1.5bil for the hull anyway.

EDIT: I should point out that I myself use the Rattler, Domi and several other ships for LvL 4's as there really isn't 1 single ship that's best for every single mission/NPC type. The Rattlesnake is awesome for what it is, a huge tanked Drone boat. The Domi is so versatile that can do just about anything. I have since gone onto a different beast for LvL 4's because frankly, if you're not fit for max gank (and you have the SP to back that up) you're doing LvL 4's wrong.

So the main conclusion is that both Rattlesnake and Navy are not that Great upgrades .

Then what would be a strong upgrade for a sentry drone pliot ? or there is not a ''clear'' upgrade for such pilot ?

Always concerning missions, not anomalies etc and after Skilling and getting the best from my dominix ..

Use 4 drone damage amplifiers and use the ship you have higher skills in. E.g. if you have level 5 in gallente battleship but only level 1 in caldari battleship, and also you don't have skills in cruise missiles, then there is no much reason to use a rattlesnake.
And yes, the dominix will be a better drone boat after the expansion.
Btw, you will probably have to use shield tank since the DDAs will take too much low slots. And for shield tank, the rattlesnake is better.
But you also need at least 2 omnidirectional tracking links to be effective. After the expansion, you won't really need these for the dominix, well, maybe 1.

It really depends on the criteria by which you value the upgrade. Personally I stepped into a RattleSnake with lowish SP early.

The huge tank makes it very forgiving and easy going (especially if you go passive tanked). At the same time you can put a lot of damage mods in low without compromising the tank (much).
Sure, the secondary weapon system is really secondary, but the 2 high utils slots are good for Drone Link Augmentors or Remote Rep. 100 km drone control range . When used with scouts (Hobgoblins), short ranged sentries (Gardes) and long ranged sentries (Bouncers or Wardens depending on mission) you got the full pallet short to long, frigs to BS and all combinations covered

If you are low on SP consider using Faction Sentries. They cost a lot more, they do more damage than T1's (less then T2's), but most importantly they have double the shield and armor HP of T2's (2.4x T1) which means you can give them a lot more flight time (especially in combo with RR) which means that your effective dps is much higher.

How are you currently running those lvl 4's? Is your tank holding or do you occasionally/frequently have to jump out to recharge? Having a good tank which doesn't require you to jump out means more efficient mission running.

The main conclusion is that whatever you decide, commit to a training plan that will maximize its effectiveness. Long ago, I decided I wanted to fly Rattlesnakes for L4 so I took the time to train missiles, and drones, and the respective BS skills. I did that because I like the ship and the play style it facilitates, although there are certainly other ships that folks would say are better for L4's. There are better ships, but there aren't better ships for how I wanted to play. And no, I have never AFK'd a single mission.

As for the ship comparison, I think with the likely changes to the Domi and Navy Domi, you are really only looking at the Domi or the Rattlesnake. Hard to say what the Rattler will get for changes when the time comes, but I am hoping for something along the lines of the Domi. But do what you like and don't rely on other people to tell you the right way to play.

FWIW, the Rattler has some excellent uses above and beyond L4 missions so don't let folks tell you it is just an AFK L4 drone boat, that simply isn't true. As for drones, I have found the SP I have spent in drones to be very well spent. I don't regret it at all.