Ships & Modules

Anyone have some good indy fits for hauling smallish (2 to 15k m3) moderately valuable goods around high-sec? I know about courier contracts, but those can take a while so I'd prefer to do it myself most of the time.

I might eventually train for cloaky haulers, but an Orca would take months. It only takes a couple days to get an indy up to skill level 4.

For cloaky hauler you need racial industrial V and Industry V, also then skilling for a freighter is better, its the same skillset, and you can haul up to 1b of cargo in a freighter w/o much fear of being ganked.

The cost of the freighter skill is a lot (over 60m). Personally I wouldn't haul in a T1 at all, but if I was going to a tank would be useless so I would fit nanos and inertia stabs in low in order to get a much quicker align (and don't AFK, WTZ all the time). Still, if you're regularly making this run near Jita, someone is going to notice.

So, safest is a freighter, most tedious but also relatively safe is an orca (align time on Orca is worse than a freighter!). For anything 3500m3 or under I would use a cloaky Viator.

There's a couple ways to haul in an indy in high-sec. You can try fitting a cloak + 1MN microwarpdrive, then after jumping into a new system, start aligning to the next gate, hit your MWD and immediately cloak. Right as your MWD cycle is about to expire, turn off your cloak and hit the Warp button. Unless you're very good at timing everything, however, there's probably going to be a few seconds when you're extremely vulnerable and gankers are fond of fitting sensor boosters for quick lock times. The other high-sec hauling method is fitting a tank good enough to withstand a volley from a gank Tornado. It's quite rare for there to be more then one Tornado at a gate. Most gankers use EMP ammo, so having a good EM resist is a priority. Almost all ganking is conducted within a couple jumps of Jita, Niarja, and Uedama, although you might see the occasional ganker in the Balle <--> Hek area.

Some high EHP example fits (replacing bulkheads with cargo expanders as necessary):

[Bestower, Tank]
Reinforced Bulkheads II x3
Damage Control II

Medium Shield Extender II x3
EM Ward Field II

Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager II

Medium Cargohold Optimization I x3

[Mammoth, Tank]
Reinforced Bulkheads II x3
Damage Control II

Medium Shield Extender II x3
EM Ward Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager II

Medium Cargohold Optimization I x3


For those of us who are a little better off financially, there's a slightly more expensive fit you can also try:

[Iteron Mark V, CCP PLEXmobile]
Damage Control II
Caldari Navy Power Diagnostic System x4

Republic Fleet Large Shield Extender
Estamel's Modified EM Ward Field
Estamel's Modified Thermic Dissipation Field
Estamel's Modified Adaptive Invulnerability Field
Estamel's Modified Adaptive Invulnerability Field

Estamel's Modified Cloaking Device
Dread Guristas 125mm Railgun, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

Medium Core Defense Field Extender II x3

It used to only be deadspace fit, but that was kind of embarrassing to fly, so I've recently upgraded to Estamel's. A lot of gankers don't scan fits, so I advise tossing a dozen or so PLEXes in the cargohold to make sure they're tempted to shoot. I'd also highly recommend a perfect Tengu fleet booster accompany said Iteron, with a scout a few jumps ahead ensuring you don't accidentally run into a freighter gank squad.

Fitting a 10MN MWD on an indy requires excellent fitting skills and multiple RCUs, which severely limits cargo space. A 1MN MWD will work, just trickier and you'll probably need at least 1 istab.

And what's fail about that Iteron fit? As gankbait, it's second to none.

I haven't tried using a 1MN MWD on an indy in over a year, but I distinctly recall, when I got the timing right, the indy entering warp almost instantly after I decloaked and hit the Warp button. I sincerely doubt anything's changed mechanics-wise, but I'll test it out again after DT.

As for that Iteron, you have absolutely no clue how much damage a Tornado does, do you?

10-11k damage per volley? That means your fit will be killed instantly by 4 tornadoes as its not even at 40k EHP. And the fit is maybe 50 B.

Also, 1MN MWD will have much less effect than 10MN AB just because it isnt cruiser sized module. Again, your align and warp time will be enormous, and even w/o hictors around a ceptor will just bump you even cloaked (because he saw you and you didnt warp fast enough).

You have to try something like 10MN MWD and cloak _on a cruiser_ to see how it really works.

I tried out a 1MN MWD again. With 2 istabs and 3 expanded cargoholds in an Itty V, I could get near-instant warps after a few tries, but I admit it's probably not worth the risk when 3 RCUs and a 10MN MWD is much easier to work with. Though in high-sec you're not going to be worrying about HICs getting themselves CONCORDed pointing you or interceptors bumping you, which is what the OP asked about.

Not sure how you get a 40k EHP.

Tengu booster, without overheating
Tengu booster, overheating
Note also that the lowest resist is kinetic, which is the type of damage projectile weapons have a hard time doing.

As for why, well it's kinda fun flying a ridiculously expensive T1 industrial.

I use a Crane or Bustard, rigged for agility (nano and istab). The Crane is used mostly running thru low and null, but the Bustard for general purpose hauling. Very low-volume costly stuff I tend to move in something like a Jaguar or interceptor.