Missions & Complexes

Hello,

Thus far in my DED farming I have gotten three escalations. 2/3 couldn't be completed due to the difficulty so I ask, what is the rule of thumb when it comes to escalations? Do you typically go up a ship class?

Example, last night I got an escalation running a 5/10 site. The site was easy and basically auto-piloted my way through it in my Gila(fit blow). The escalation however was much more difficult. I would say at least 50 enemies ranging from frig to BS with towers mixed in. Immediately after landing in the site, in the middle of everything, I began burning off in one direction. I was able to get 60km away before I had to warp out(which de-swpawns the site right?)

Gila Fit
Highs
3 - tech 2 rapid light missing launchers
1 - probe launcher
1 - cloak

Mids
2 - tech 2 large shield extenders
1 - rat specific shield hardener
2 - drone tracking links
1 - tech 2 10mn AB

Lows
4 - tech 2 drone damage mods

Rigs
3 - shield extenders

Dones
Vespa 2's

IMO you probably need an active tank OR the kind of fit you have with a 100mn after burner for 'super-kiting'. You are also over-gunned with 4 damage mods, for 5/10s and up I go 2 damage mods + Damage control and power diagnostic2 with active tank in the mids, pithum-c type shield booster, shield boost amp, prop mod, 2 rat specific hardeners and a cap recharger. On that fit I use cap rigs to be stable (ish).

I've used the Gila in DED plexes plenty, even did a 9/10 (Dread Gurista Fleet Staging Point part 3) in it to prove i could). you have to keep moving, kill ANY webbing ship/structure 1st and watch your drones.

Should have linked the fit, away from home but forgot i have EFT on thumb drive heh.

[Gila, DEDs]
Damage Control II
Power Diagnostic System II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Cap Recharger II
Pith C-Type Thermic Dissipation Field
Pith C-Type Kinetic Deflection Field
'Copasetic' Particle Field Acceleration
Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster
10MN Afterburner II

Improved Cloaking Device II
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I

Hammerhead II x2
Hammerhead II x4
Hornet EC-300 x8

With my skills it is cap stable with 'squire' EO-603 hardwiring and tanks 450 serpentis dps (433 Gurista faction). I've always just used hammerheads for 500 dps from drones and another 140 dps from rapid lights if you don't count reloading lol. Moves at 600 meters per second again with my crappy skills. I spent about 500 mil isk on her and she shines.

I have a mobile depot in her so I can refit the AB to an MWD and the lows to nanofibers, using the "MWD/Cloak trick" means I get past all gate camps that way.

Hope this helps.

I'm a bit confused. Did you get an escalation TO a 5/10? If so, yeah, they're like that. The second room is a mess and the third room is there to kill you. The faction you're up against makes a difference but they mostly follow the same basic model.

An escalation FROM a 5/10... doesn't really happen and you were running something else. I'm not sure what. Minor Annex maybe? Those definitely vary quite a bit from rat to rat.

Ok, escalated TO a 5/10. So yeah, if the first room had you running scared you don't even want to look at the third room. Having said that, they're entirely doable in a Gila as long as you can keep range while applying damage. Keep moving and you should be ok. The trick in the last room is to kill off the overseer, bookmark the wreck, and warp out. You CAN stick around and kill everything but it ends up being much, much harder that way.

Cosmic Anomaly combat sites escalate to DED Rated Complexes. Cosmic Signature unrated combat sites escalate to a Deadspace location, up to 4 times.

You can always Google info or check various wiki's like Evelopedia to gain advance intel on the expedition.



DMC

Here are the numbers between the two:

Active Shield Tank
EHP 22,876
Max tank 144 dps
DPS 521
Cap last 18m2s
Signature radius ~190

Buffer fit
EHP 35,761
Max tank 76 dps
DPS 614
Signature radius ~220

In short its a 20% dps loss for a lot more survivability. Between the signature radius and more resist I'm curious to see how that would have handled the previous site. Hopefully I can get another escalation tonight and find out.

Thanks for the fit Maelstom. I got another escalation to a 5/10 last night right before bed so I plan on putting the active fit to the test today. If the tank is still lacking, hopefully not, I'll test it out. When I decide to get my bigboy pants on I'll go full tank and bring the dmg mods with me(mobile depot).

On a side note I ran ~10 sites and ended up getting a T2 implant, faction explosive hardener(worthless), and a faction small shield booster totaling ~170 mil. Not bad for carebearing in high sec

I have used the following Gila fit with great success:

4x Arabalest HAMs firing standard damage-specific missiles
1x Drone Link Augmenter II

2x Shield Hardener II
1x Medium Shield Booster II
1x 10mn Experimental Afterburner
1x Large shield Extender II
1x Whatever you want (Cap Battery II for Sleeper Sites, Relic Analyzer II for Indar and Deltole, Drone Navigation II...)

1x CPU II
1x or 2x Drone Damage Amplifiers
1x Damage Control II
If it is a tough site, I will sometimes mount a 800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten plate instead of a DDA

Drone Speed rig and a CPU rig. Haven't decided on the 3rd rig, but if I go with T2 HAMs itll have to be for CPU.

For Deltole and Indar, I like to use Valkyrie IIs. Their speed keeps them safe.

I'd say drop the cap recharger for a 3rd hardener and exchange the pds with a cap power relay.

Does that third hardener improve your repair by much more than the 10% reduction? Switching the PDS to CPR is a very large difference in capacitor life and recharge. However you're also correct in that for most cases you will probably be fine without having full cap stability. Especially since you will be pulsing the booster and not just letting it run all day.

Oh yeah and a PDS is really only for situations where you need the PWG