Ships & Modules

I finally made enough scratch to pull in a Machariel. I'm coming off several years of Level 4's in Maelstroms, both AC and arty. So far, the experience has been thrilling just from the speed at which I can finish missions and enemies. And burn to acceleration gates. I miss some of the tank of my Mael, but the speed and gank of the Mach are impressive.

I don't have her rigged yet, so I think that's affecting the feel of the tank, but some Caldari pukes got me into armor last night, which hasn't happened in a long time. So for those with Mach experience: is the tank on the Mach that much less impressive than the Mael (relying more on speed and gank), is my build sloppy, or is the lack of rig assistance making that much of a difference? My build is below.

[Machariel, Double Shark]
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Booster II
100MN Afterburner II

800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Auto Targeting System II


The rig setup I'm thinking about:
Large Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Large Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer II
Large Core Defense Field Purger II

As far as build advice: I blew most of my wad on the hull, so I don't have the cash for Gist or Pith or any of that nonsense for a while. I can run just about any Tech 2 piece of kit with max skills. Thanks in advance.

This is very much wrong. Might want to try an XL booster over that large though.



I'd agree with this at least. The extender isn't useful. Get another hardener or a boost amp in there instead. Not a faction one though....

You should be fine with mission specific hardeners, and a dread guristas Large or X-large booster. Switch the large extender for a heavy cap booster, and for rigs go with Large core defense capacitor safeguards.

your build is sloppy, you have no rigs, and the rigs you intend to fit are ******. If you don't want to fit mission specific hardeners then you'll have to spend more on your tank or lose some of your tanking efficiency. I understand that the buffer from an extender can really help you tank comfortably enough to lower the incoming dps, but you'll still be better served with better/more resistance mods or a SBA. Your large booster doesn't seem to be cutting it in terms of boost amount, to deal with this you'll need an XL booster, or one of the cheaper pith large boosters. Lots of people like a faction/deadspace XL booster with a cap injector. If you're getting taken into armor i would consider swapping the nano for a DC. Although many consider this sacrilege, it might be worth doing until you get your tank issue sorted out and rig the thing.

So the general consensus seems to be:

- Rig the damn thing already
- Use an XL booster and some combination of SLA or Cap booster
- Hardeners and more hardeners

Related then: Is the Safeguard rig worth the loss of a shield rig? I've never used one before, and the cap duration difference in EFT seems to be slight.

The Mach gets a significant tanking advantage from being relatively small (despite the huge model) for a BS and fast. You mitigate a lot of incoming BS DPS and even some of the cruiser damage if you're afterburning around.

I advise against sig-blooming shield rigs. The fit I used to use was something like this:

[Machariel, Mission]
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Republic Fleet 100MN Afterburner
Pith B-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
EM Ward Field II
EM Ward Field II

800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
[empty high slot]

Large Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II


Hobgoblin II x5
Curator II x4

(Swap out hardeners & drones as per rat types)

Permarun the afterburner to get 609m/s, nearly as fast as a standard fit Tengu, does 900 gun DPS at orbit range. Put whatever in the last high slot. The shield booster is overkill really; I just got one really cheap so I used it. You'll pretty much only need it to top your shields up after each room unless you bugger it up and get stuck on a rock.

You might want to drop the 4th Gyro for a Damage Control II until you're used to handling it. The Mach needs active piloting, not like a ravenkind or drone boat. But you can't beat it for blitzing.

EDIT: If you're paying the ISK for a pirate BS, then don't cheap out: put in some decent implants. A set of +5% gunnery hardwirings really gets things moving and should be considered essential:

Slot 7: MR-705 (+5% tracking)
Slot 9: RF-905 (+5% RoF)
Slot 10: LP-1005 (+5% damage)

These will take you past 1000 gun DPS with T1 ammo

And maybe consider a set of Halos in 1-6 for addition sig tanking goodness rather than a fancy gank-attracting deadspace shield booster. Snakes will make you faster but they'll mess up your tracking, so you end up orbiting further out and doing less damage. And they're way more expensive. YMMV; your call.

Cap implants are good for Slot 6 (EO-605) & 8 (EM-605) are also good choices. If you get these you can drop a CCC rig for a second polycarb if you like.

This should fit and should be adequate to run most any mission where you don't get webbed to hell and back:


[Machariel, T2 mach]
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Co-Processor II

X-Large Shield Booster II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Experimental 100MN Afterburner I

800mm Repeating Artillery II, Fusion L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Fusion L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Fusion L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Fusion L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Fusion L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Fusion L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Fusion L
Auto Targeting System II

Large Projectile Burst Aerator II
Large Core Defense Capacitor Safeguard I
[empty rig slot]

You can swap the hardeners to mission specific and you probably should for now. As far as pimp goes, start with RF/Domination gyros. The extra CPU should allow you to add a fourth, dropping the co-processor. If you have to lose the auto targeter to make it fit, do it; the extra DPS is well worth it over losing three locked targets.

Definitely get Zor's Hyper-link in your head. It will drop eventually with enough runs of Damsel and Zazzmatazz, but it's not expensive on contracts either. Other implants to taste.

When this ship explodes and you lose it, - do you still have a secondary backup ship (your Mael) or viable means to earn the isk to replace the mach?

If you are really finding you have tanking probs

Change the nano for a DCU II

Drop extender for SBA ===OR=== drop extender for heavy injector and upsize the LSB to a XLSB
Pull the rigs, replace with 2x core defence operational solidifier and core defence capacitor safeguard

You have a Mach (fastest BS in the game) and you...sit still? You use it like a (85m isk) Domi with Sentries? Wow.

I smell EFT wariior.