Missions & Complexes

I haven't actually done it, so I'm just theorizing... but I would be reluctant to use the BLOPs to run the plexes. I envision a BLOPs being used with some realtively low skilled covops cyno pilots as scouts and a transport network, and a T3 (or dual boxed T3s) to actually run the plex. T3s are very flexible and it should be easy enough to carry around the necessary fittings to switch between gate running prober, exploration site runner, and plex runner.

But I've never done it, so I may be talking out of my ass.

ECM is out due to space constraints of refitting subsystems.
With 3 highslots for weapons you'll need to refit or you'll have low impact inside the plex.
The easiest refit would be to drop the probe launcher and cyno and run 5 launchers w/ the covert sub.
I wouldn't consider PVP since you can just have the tengu sitting cloaked at the plex entrance. No one should ever have a chance to catch you at all.
If you want to support your main in killing rats, use this. Note this is a terrible setup but its for illustrative purposes only, and has added value in that it uses typical combat rigs for the tengu instead of special scanning ones.

[Tengu, blops scout]
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System

Corelum C-Type 10MN Microwarpdrive
Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster
Shield Boost Amplifier I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Medium Capacitor Battery II
Coadjunct Linked Remote Sensor Booster, Scan Resolution Script

Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Precision Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Precision Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Precision Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Precision Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Precision Heavy Missile
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II

Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst II
Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II

Tengu Offensive - Covert Reconfiguration
Tengu Defensive - Amplification Node
Tengu Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Tengu Engineering - Augmented Capacitor Reservoir
Tengu Propulsion - Interdiction Nullifier

310 fury dps any damage type, 230 precision dps any damage type. Decent range. Uber midslots for painters, support ewar, whatever. You get an extra lowslot if you go unnulified. The point of this is you don't have to change any subs, you can just drop the cyno and probes and maybe a few other small mods into cargo at a depot and you're good to go. Orbit Sin, shoot whatver. There's a lot that can be done on this fit regarding fitting optimization. You can go for a more traditional offensive sub fit if you're willing to deal with cargospace issues and limited ammo (possible, blops have good cargo). Naturally i tried hard to squeeze a cap battery on there but you can of course nix this, but this fit is capstable with mwd off, which is nice to have in a support ship. And the other nice thing is you can sit this on the gate with little extra hassle.

Again, if you make use of space on the sin you can fit it for actual combat and get some real support inside the plex.

I MUCH prefer a proteus in this role however, you can get like 450 dps out of a covert setup without changing much of your fit at all, and can still get webbing support too, mwd, cloak, scram, everything

Probing down plexes rapidly with an unbonused t3 sounds pretty silly, regardless of your skills. You may as well use an actual falcon in that case. If you need ECM to GTFO you're doing it super-wrong. Especially with a sin, you can pretty much always be far away from the warp in point. All you need is advanced warning, through short-range d-scan or actually leaving the t3 outside the first gate. If you want to tackle something on the warp in, that works too, but again, thats an ideal job for a proteus. You can run hams/web too on the tengu if you really want to do this, but anyone who comes after you having seen your sin will expect your other character to be in a t3, meaning they'll likely come with enough force to kill the tengu without much difficulty.

And yeah, the tengu fit i posted was for pve support. With a sin sniping frigs, its mostly for an extra few hundred dps to clear battleships faster.

With an eccm tengu fit, I can get 569 dps from 0 out to 96.5 and it's almost unprobeable (for what its worth; fit is for nosec mission running, swapping for gaterunning fit w/ depot).

It sounds like you will be dual boxing anyway, if you're running the black ops and a t3 as PvE support. The range on the T3s gives you a nice margin of error for diverted attention :). Hard to probe gives you plenty of escape time. With the depot, refit for ghost site hacking, gate running, probing, or PvP, no need to limit your options.

I've given some thought to PvE with a black ops, but the flexibility of T3s is just too seductive for me. I'd be interested in hearing your findings, though. More data is a good thing.

Hmm...

Well all I'll say is I haven't thought of using ASBs, and I personally I wouldn't do it; Cap boosters hog cargo space, and, apparently rigs were required just to fit them, which I 'd rather use for something else.

Obv, you get a very nice burst tank with them, so I will play around with EFT, and maybe run some lvl 4s with one just to get a feel for how it works, but curious what are your reasons on going to such lengths to fit them.

Anyway, FWIW: seems that ECM Tengu is a crap idea anyway; even with the dedicated subsystems you can't get more than ~8.5 jamming strength; meaning perma-running 4 racial jammers will struggle to keep anything with 10+ sensor strength jammed; therefore it's useless (other than as a nuisance) against anything other than frigate-size ships. So defo scratching this idea from the list.

I have ran a few plexes with the Blops/T3 combo now (up to and including two 8/10s). I quite like it.

In the end I've settled for covops / Fury equipped Tengu. I found it the least stressful to leave it cloaked at plex gate when in systems with any significant traffic, just to make it easier to keep tabs on what's going on. Someone better at multitasking may feel differently about it, but that's what's working for me.

Still, in quiet systems I would follow my main into the plex to loot/salvage overseer wrecks and help out with the dps-intensive tasks (like bringing down overseer structures). But in general the DPS of the Sin is nice enough for this not to be required, just saves a couple of minutes here or there.


Some additional thoughts:

- if you are like me, and find multiboxing taxing - and sometimes confusing (I am using one screen and Alt-Tabbing) - I feel this setup is easier to handle than dual T3s. MJD makes controling distance / incoming damage inside a plex a breeze, and that means you can devote more time to observing your surroundings (local, d-scan, etc).

- scouting is also easier, as you basically just fly one ship and don't need to worry about the other until everything is prepared for the Blops to jump in.

- the most significant limitation is the jump range / fuel consumption. You need to be constantly aware of how much fuel you have left, and plan your route so that you have enough left for the trip back.

Also, sometimes multiple jumps are required to get to the destination, so you also need to take this into account (or you'll find yourself having to backtrack with your scout).

There are some tools (like jump planners) that help out with this, it's no rocket science just takes a little planning ahead.

Overall, I am pretty happy wit the way things went on this "maiden" roam. Here's hoping I actually get some decent drops next time...