Ships & Modules

T2 pulses are mandatory for pulse fits; without Scorch pulses are kind of meh.

T2 beams are pretty optional. For a Nightmare, you'll be running tachs no matter what; T2 tachs are basically resource hogs, but they do get the standard bonus from the spec skill -- and as per usual that puts them strictly ahead in terms of DPS. Faction tachs, and even meta 4 tachs, are a popular option due to the dramatically lower cap use and fitting costs.

If you were to choose one to prioritize, I'd go with pulses.

In a surface sense, yes.

In a more nuanced reading, there are reasons to fit pulses for certain missions. If all the spawns are close, you might as well take advantage of the higher damage potential of pulses, but you will still want the extra projection Scorch gives you for stragglers. Mercenary missions like Damsel are prime examples of where you'd want to refit your normally tach fit Nightmare for pulses.

But for normal operation, yes, you'd switch back to tachs.

Also note that tachs also have a very different damage profile than Scorch. MF does a significant portion of thermal damage, while Scorch is almost pure EM. When you're shooting Guristas in particular that extra thermal makes a huge difference -- and the tend to stay at range.

So yeah, it's not a simple answer. Either way, you're looking at Large Energy Turret 5, which will benefit both weapon systems, but if you have to take one and only one up through spec skills, pulses are the way to go simply because they aren't really a functional option without Scorch -- while tachs can operate without T2 ammo or the spec skill.

Tachs and pulses have very different damage curves. An approach and at a reasonable range, tachs will almost always beat out even Scorch-fit pulses. But up close pulses obviously win (basically at ranges where you can swap from Scorch down to at least IN X-ray but preferably MF).

And again, the damage profile of Scorch is problematic against Guristas. MF does ~42% thermal damage while Scorch does ~18%. Against a Guristas resist profile firing Scorch is more or less futile compared to MF -- and they like to stay at range. Which is more or less why you want to have the option to fit pulse on some missions but tachs on others.

Yeah, the fits are pretty interchangeable. When you fit pulses you can easily drop a mid of choice for a prop mod to help you move around. Tach fit will be tighter if you want to swing that. Otherwise there's really not much to change around.

not really. some people fly with three heat sinks, some with four. people use damage contols or tracking enhancers, between one and three tracking computers, different rigs and different tank setups. even the utility high slots vary, some prefer drone range extenders, others take tractor beams.

Tachs are the way to go on a nightmare

Gleam tracks better than IN and works much better on a Tach NM for trying to hit stuff under 20KM.
Maybe you just missed the changes to t2 ammo
and yes I have tried it and it definitely hits better.

If anything gets close enough that using Gleam is a good idea, then you've failed somewhere.

confirmed. if anything, i would use aurora to counter heavy TD (but navy standard works just as fine).

If you're willing to spend the money and run the, in my opinion negligible, risk of being higher up on the gank bait food chain dropping money for faction tachyons and a Gist booster will let you drop the cap injector. Likewise using vampires in your high slots can also help achieve the same thing. Dropping the cap booster will let you fit another tracking computer for better damage application.

The only downside to vampires is that if you pack two heavies you can't fit an afterburner, and their PvE workings are a bit "mysterious" compared to their PvP workings. Read "mysterious" as, "I've seen half a dozen different explanations over the years."