Ships & Modules

I accidentally posted this in the wrong forum. Had too many tabs open...

So, now that the T1 Battleships have all been jumbled around, I'm trying to get back into what would be best for L4s as a Low-Med SP Mission Runner. A lot of the old fits are now outdated due to the T1 ship changes; I've, therefore, been coming up with some fit ideas, and wanted some feedback on what you think would be best.

Some things to consider for the Mission runner when grading these fits:

1) Ease of use
2) Speed of mission completion
3) Ease of Upgrade
4) Ability to transfer into Incursions
5) Cost (since these should be lower skilled)

And now, the ships:

*** NOTE: I seem to have left off the Drones; just assume 5 Hob Iis and 5 Hammie IIs ***

[Maelstrom, Ody PvE]

8x 1200mm Heavy 'Scout' Artillery I (EMP L)

Tracking Computer II
2x Kinetic Deflection Field II
Thermic Dissipation Field II
X-Large Shield Booster II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II (Cap Booster 800)

4x Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Large Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Large Core Defense Capacitor Safeguard I

****

[Megathron, Ody PvE]

7x 425mm Prototype Gauss Gun (Antimatter Charge L)

100MN Afterburner II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II (Cap Booster 800)
2x Tracking Computer II (Optimal Range Script)

Large Armor Repairer II
2x Armor Kinetic Hardener II
2x Armor Thermic Hardener II
3x Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

2x Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Large Nanobot Accelerator I


****

[Hyperion, Ody PvE]

6x 425mm Prototype Gauss Gun (Antimatter Charge L)

100MN Afterburner II
2x Tracking Computer II (Optimal Range Script)
Heavy Capacitor Booster II (Cap Booster 800)
Sensor Booster II

Large Armor Repairer II
2x Armor Kinetic Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
3x Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Large Nanobot Accelerator I
Large Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

****

[Abaddon, Ody PvE]

8x Mega Modulated Energy Beam I (Multifrequency L)

100MN Afterburner II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II (Cap Booster 800)
2x Tracking Computer II (Optimal Range Script)

Large Armor Repairer II
2x Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
3x Heat Sink II

2x Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Large Nanobot Accelerator I

****

[Apocalypse, Apoc PvE Ody Experiment]

8x Mega Modulated Energy Beam I (Standard L)

Large Micro Jump Drive
Cap Recharger II
2x Tracking Computer II (Optimal Range Script)

Large Armor Repairer II
2x Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
3x Heat Sink II

3x Large Capacitor Control Circuit I

****

Now my questions for you.

* I'm getting the best DPS out of all of these fits from the Abaddon (496 before drones), but the Cap sucks so very very badly (just under 3 minutes with everything running, Stable 50% without the Repper running). How do I improve the Abaddon's capacitor problems?

* The Maelstrom's tank is IMMENSE: 954 DPS against Guristas. How would I go about shrinking the tank and upping the gank?

* The Megathron appears to have the best balance of Tank vs. Gank; 667 DPS against Guristas Tank, 441 DPS Gank. Does it see much use outside of missions, into Incursions?

* The Apocalypse tank seems comparatively weak to the others. Will its range advantage negate this?

Any and all suggestions on any of the fits would be appreciated, as one of these will end up being my own.

For Hyperion, I am using 100MN AF II, Tracking Comp II and 3 Cap Recharger II. For rigs I use ANP I, and two Large CCC. I dont have great BS skills but this mid/rig setup gives me gives me "Cap Depletes in 4 min 09 sec.", which is more than enough for any level 4 mission I run.

Reason why I dont like Heavy Cap Booster II is charges take a lot of space and since I only have one character, I often fill my Hyperion cargo to max after mission with loot and salvage.

If your low SP, DONT FLY A BATTLESHIP!!!! These ships require a large investment in skills to fly and fit effectively and often have a hard time dealing damage to smaller targets, not to mention their slow speeds holds them back in missions. Tengu is best for level 4's, and most other PVE for that matter.

TENGU - CHEAP 650 DPS/OMNI TANK

4x Ballistic Control II

10MN Afterburner II
2x Invulnerability Field II
EM Ward Field II
Shield Boost Amplifier II
Medium Shield Booster II

6x Heavy Missile Launcher II - USE T2 SCOURGE AMMO ONLY!!!!

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I or II
2x Medium Capacitor Control Circuits I or II

Offensive - Accelerated Ejection Bay
Defensive - Amplification Node
Engineering - Augmented Capacitor
Electronic - CPU Efficiency Gate
Propulsion - Fuel Catalyst

Range/Speed/Sig tanks all lvl 4's including worlds collide solo, just kill the webs/scrams asap and keep the speed up, you only need to pulse the medium shield booster occasionally. Dont be fooled by high DPS tank numbers on battleships, they need the large tank because they will take FULL damage all the time due to their low speed and high signature radius. You will need to get your subsystem skills to 5 but its a short train for those. This fit can easily be upgraded by shiner mods (CN BCU's, deadspace EM Ward Field,...) and when you get enough CPU headroom change the electronic subsystem for a Dissolution sequencer so the Gurista rats cant jam you any more.

The Tengu is very good for almost all PVE except incursions since gun damage is preferred over drone or missile damage. For incursions your 3 main boats will be the faction battleships; Nightmare, Vindicator and Machariel as well as the marauders Kronos and Vargur are pretty good. These ships will require a lot of support skills though and are really only viable to high SP characters or mid-SP characters (40M SP+) characters who are very specialized as they really require solid gunnery support skills, battleship V in 2 races and solid fitting/drone skills to get the most out of them. The Tengu is nice because it is a great ship to fly while you train these up and will make you a ton of isk and still be relevent for other PVE content even after you get one of these.

A low SP character isn't going to get anything out of a 300M battleship and i don't know if you checked the prices lately but its going to cost more than 300M to fit out a battleship. Affording a tengu isn't really that expensive since that fit will run you about 650M and that's easily obtainable in a drake while you skill for the tengu.

If 650M isk seems like a lot and you are that low on SP, do not buy a battleship or a Tengu, you will just lose them. Drakes are the mission ship of choice for low SP characters due to they're low cost and easy tanks, especially with low SP. In addition as you train skills to improve your drake you will also be skilling up the Tengu simultaneously.

If you buy a battleship with less than 20M SP and your are not trained exclusively for that ship you WILL lose it and lose it often. Also, with Amarr battleships (amarr only) they benefit from a semi-conductor rig combo more than a CCC rig since they already have a larger than average capacitor.

WTF? That's just nonsense. We're talking PvE here.

The OP can use T2 tanking modules, T2 light drones, and cap injectors. Assuming the relevant weapon and BS skills are at 4, he's fine for L4s. Efficiency will come with better support skills.


OP, of these fits, I like the Abaddon the most. No mixing cap recharge and boosting going on there, and it is generally sensibly set up. Effective cap management comes with time (skills and experience), you won't end up running everything at once for long.
The Abaddon skillset mostly transfers well to using a Nightmare, which is a good upgrade for L4s and works in incursions too.

I've done plenty of missions in loki and it was way better than maelstrom. Machariel beats loki, but loki > mael. 600m/s, perma med-boost tank, low signature -> I almost never fell under 95% of my shield, frigates and cruisers die really fast, BSes takes time but on low range u hit for 500~ every shot. I bought mael just to compare it in level 4s after using loki for some time and i got mad really fast.

and what are your relevant BS skills?

670 DPS is extraordinarily low for a battleship, my myrmidon can put out 600 DPS to 52km........

I think you'll find that battleships are better in the long run but it will require more time investment (though if you're flying a t3 it's about the same tbh).

A t2 fit mael should do about 900ish gun DPS and if we account for level 4 skills it's still 720ish pure gun dps before drones (80% of level 5).

You can also quite easily fit a MWD on a AC fit and a mael can even be usable with 1200mm artillery which puts out about 130 less dps than the AC fit but at much longer ranges.

Of the ones you listed get the Hyperion.

It just got a fat buffing. Put a missile launcher on your fit.

As cute as all this is.........

It doesn't do it with a L4 tank.

Once you got the L4 tank the dps falls off a cliff.