Ships & Modules

I'm looking for something I can cruise around belts and kill the new Tag dropping NPC's as well as engage opponents in lowsec. So i'm guessing armor buffer is out of the picture. I've heard talk of dual repping Thoraxes and what not. Does anyone here have some suggestions.

I do the same thing quite successfully in an Enyo.

Yay! Fit sharing time!

You are quite right in thinking armour buffer is out of picture for these nimble gunboats. I am not very well versed in laser boats so I am not going to touch much on the Omen. Now, thorax time.

The Thorax is one of the fastest attack cruisers, rivaling the speedy Stabber. To take advantage of this in solo situations, where mobility is key, I recommend shield tanking it, both for speed & agility, and DPS to take out your targets faster before reinforcements land. There are two fits that I tend to rely on when swift DPS is needed.

Thorax: Dual LSE

Highs:
Heavy Ion Blaster II (x5)

Mids:
Experimental 10mn Microwarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Large Shield Extender II
Large FS-9 Regolith Shield Induction I

Lows:
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II (x3)
Power Diagnostic System II (if you have advanced weapon upgrades 5 or genolution implants then you can swap this for a nano or whatever your little heart desires)

Rigs:
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I (x2)

Drones:
Warrior II (x10)
I don't run ECM drones because I don't like ECM

This fit is a blast to fly and is great against other brawling cruisers. DPS from guns is 493 with all 5 skills, so realistically we are looking at a little over 460. Speed is about 2km/s without a nano, so plenty enough to catch other cruisers, BCs and Destroyers. Frigates (especially afterburner) are a huge danger because of your lack of web. Ions do not track well enough to hit them, regardless of the tracking bonus the Thorax recieves. Your drones can ward off flimsy tacklers but little else. They are more of a deterant. Now most other T1 cruisers (especially shield tanked ones) will melt nude your blasters, so keep a look out for ruptures, caracals, stabbers, other thorax, Omens, and Bellicose. I would be cautious around Vexors, because they can dedicate all their fittings to tank and still push 500 DPS, Moa's because they are abnormally thick for T1 Cruisers while still putting out a ton of damage, and to a lesser extent, Mallers, because you have a pretty big hole to EM/Therm, but it is possible to get under their guns unless they have a web (most are cap booster fitted because their guns suck a lot of cap, so if you see a web you can count on them not shooting for a long period of time).

Now this next fit I prefer to the one above for the simple fact that is has a web. No more worries about tacklers or range control. The only downside is the Medium ACR rig which costs ~10 mill.

Thorax: Shield Kitey(ish)

Highs:
Heavy Neutron Blaster II (x5)

Mids:
Experimental 10mn Microwarpdrive I
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator I
Large FS-9 Regolith Shield Induction I

Lows:
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II (x2)
Tracking Enhancer II (x2)

Rigs:
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I (x2)

Drones:
Valkyrie II (x5)
I run Valks simply because they can track webbed frigates just fine and still hurt cruisers.

Now this fit has a lot more flexibility when it comes to target choice. It is very easy to pick apart frigate gangs and overly ambitious tacklers as they burn in. With null you can hit out to 20km and 12km with antimatter. DPS is a wee bit lower than the above fit, maybe by 20 DPS or so. But with this fit the raw numbers are made up for with projection. Blapping frigates at 20km is really satisfying as you burn away at 2km/s. In fights against other cruisers feel free to load antimatter and orbit at the edge of scram range, or dive right in. Your tank is next to nothing at a fragile 14k EHP, so scram kiting gives you more opportunity to bail if sh!t hits the fan.

That's all I have for now, so good luck!

Here are three armor-tanked Thoraxes, each requiring a different piloting style.

If you keep away from warp-ins, stay aligned and only snipe can you use the following one. It is slow with only an AB, but has a low signature and a long range. The web is to control tracking issues at close range should anything come this close.

296 DPS over 65km with Spike M (399 DPS at 9km with Javelin M), 736 m/s, 17.4k eHP + 120 eHP/s active tank.

[Thorax, PvP AB 250mm Rail Sniper]

Damage Control II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Reactive Armor Hardener
800mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Reactor Control Unit II

10MN Afterburner II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Faint Warp Disruptor I
Cap Recharger II

250mm Railgun II, Javelin M / Spike M / FN Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Javelin M / Spike M / FN Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Javelin M / Spike M / FN Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Javelin M / Spike M / FN Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Javelin M / Spike M / FN Antimatter Charge M

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

Hammerhead II x5

If you want it faster and for closer ranges then the next one might be your thing:

415 DPS at 9km with FN AM Charge M, 1944 m/s, 18.1k eHP + 160 eHP/s active tank.

[Thorax, PvP MWD 150mm Rail Sniper/Kiter]

Damage Control II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M

Medium Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Medium Hybrid Metastasis Adjuster I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I

Hammerhead II x5

If you need it closer, faster and with more DPS then this one can be fun, but it is a glass cannon. The web drones (~13% web strength) help to catch up to snipers/kiters that do up to ~2500 m/s.

544 DPS at 2.8km with Void M, 2281 m/s, 12k eHP + 160 eHP/s active tank.

[Thorax, PvP MWD Ion Blaster]

Damage Control II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Overdrive Injector System II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I

Warrior SW-300 x5
Hobgoblin II x5

Er yeah I'm not looking at spending that much isk on a ship. So I'm sticking to the standard omen/thorax. Why do you want to kite in a thorax ? Just get up in their **** and kill them.

True, but you do not just always find 1v1 fights. As soon as you have 2v1 will the second one kill you. So the idea is to stay out of their reach, kite them for as long as possible and to pick them off one by one.

The way I "kite" gangs with my blaster thorax is by on-grid seperation. I will burn around for a bit trying to spread them out. Then, once I have one far enough away from the group (~40km or so) I dive in for the kill, overheat everything, then burn away again. Rinse and repeat until the gang is dead or they give up.

I'm quite aware of how the reactive hardener works. In fact i made a 10 page research document on them when they first came out.

However the problem is what on your first fit you fit a reactive + MAAR and a cap recharger.. Meaning you have no cap

On the second you fit a MAAR + cap booster and an EANM.. so you have enough cap (Should be the other way around if anything)

And the glass cannon part is just wrong. In a gang you will die, outside of gangs you will die..

Those fits are all pretty darn awful and show a profound lack of actual pvp expirience (Or just an inability to learn from that experience) I feel a bit awful for saying it because contrary to popular belief i don't like being an absolute **** but they just are.



I'm at work right now but i'll post some fits when i get home.


Prolly the best all around thorax fit is electrons, 1600 plate and dual prop (Only problem is that it requires a ACR which ups the price by about 10 mill.. which is kinda ****)

I'm saying that your reasonings for fitting the Reactive are wrong. Its a great module, just not on that.

And the rail thorax isn't a sniper, its a kiter, there is a difference. It doesn't have the lock range to snipe. A kiter needs tank, speed and cap. Although mostly speed and cap.

I'm not going to go waving E-peens talking about which of us has more experience or flies with more competent people but.. yea.

I would be lying if I said this was an interesting fitting. It is a one-trick pony and it dies to any careful PvPer, which means to almost everyone who has been soloing for a while. The Thorax is one of the fastest T1 cruisers. By fitting it with a 1600mm plate does its speed suffer a high speed penalty. The two trimarks then make it even worse.

I get that you are going for a high eHP here and want to bait noobs, but anyone who does not run blind into it will grind it down from a distance. As soon as you see the slow speed and the lack of its weapon range will everyone spot the bait. Your other two Thoraxes would in fact kill it. To throw away a Thorax's speed and agility like this, then fitting it with MWD and AB, is a waste of a nice hull, but I understand it is a matter of taste, style and fun.

Also OP wanted solo fittings and plates do not repair themselves.


This one is slightly better, because it has got a bit more weapon range when switched to Null and two webs are better than one, but it suffers the same problems as the previous one of not being versatile.


It is not as awful as you pretend it to be... It keeps its speed and agility plus it has a nice weapon range, which allows one to move around and measure another ship's abilities from a distance. This is very useful.

I conclude: you have two not very useful armor-tanked one-trick ponies, one useful shield-tanked kiter/sniper, and one disheartened opinion on railguns.