Missions & Complexes

At minimum I'd say Drones 5, Drone Interfacing 4, Sentry Drone Operation 4, Drone Sharpshooting 5 (T2 omnis make a very big difference; you could get away with 4 for a bit or spring for FN omnis instead), Combat Drone Operation 5 (again, for the T2 DLAs, which aren't as big a deal), Scout Drone Operation 5 (drone control range), and EWAR Drone Interfacing 3 (more drone control range).

Start with faction sentries. They have a solid tank and good damage. Upgrade to DI 5 and SDO 5 as you can; sooner is better but the above will get you started.

T2 sentries with 2 drone omni's.

T2 cruise missiles.

Low rack all T2 damage upgrades.

If you are not ready get a navy scorpion.

I would say t2 sentry drones and drone interfacing IV.

Uummmmm it's the cruise TFI that's the monster....

You'll also die a firey death if you're not sure what you're doing

I run a Rattlesnake, full T2 fit (inc sentries). I run level 4 Gallente missions, so the drones and missile combination is just great against the EWAR using rats. By far the most effective I've flown when doing these missions. A lot of people rave on about their Machariels, but they really aren't that effective for doing missions against Serpentis rats. Drones and missiles really shine here.

As for your question, with T2 cruise missiles you will easily break a BS tank. For my sentries, I work my way from small to big. Snipe the frigs while they charge towards me, the sentries will pretty much 1 shot them (0 transversal). Then cruisers, BC, BS. While my sentries chew away on that, I'll usually start shooting one of the BS with my missiles. It cleans up the pocket fairly effectively.

The Rattlesnake has a nice missile range bonus, so even with Fury you should be able to sit your sentries' max range.

My fit is:

HIGH
Cruise Missile Launcher II x4
Drone Link Augmentator II x2

MID
Kinetic Deflection Field II
Thermic Dissipation Field II
Large Shield Booster II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II x3
Large Micro Jump Drive

LOW
Drone Damage Amplifyer II x4
Ballistic Control System II x2

RIGS
large Ionic Field Projector I
Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst. I x2

DRONES
Bouncer II x5
Warden II x5
Garde II x5
Hornets II x5

The linked Typhoon fleet issue is nice there, but it's also easily twice or 3 times the price of this Rattlesnake fit, and is much harder to fly. Also not sure why you would only tank, for the price of one C-Type Invulnerability Field, you can easily buy 2 A-Type damage specific hardeners. Most rats only do 2 types of damage.

I'm also not sure why you'd mix Cruise with Artillery. I don't have EFT open now but I'm willing to bet that unless you use faction mods, that won't actually fit.

Alright, sounds like the Navy Scorpion is a good bet in the meantime. Similar hull aesthetic, which I really like. I'll start working on those drone skills, and hop into the rattler once I have faction sentries and such. I figure I can resell those once I get to t2 missions anyways, and I don't really afk, so I doubt I'll lose too many.

Honestly, I may get into a TFI eventually, but I don't want to overdiversify weapon-wise, since I've invested a huge chunk of SP into missiles already, and also working on drone skills. I started off using projectile weapons, and found missiles to have a more satisfying aesthetic, and the customization of damage type is nice.

Thanks for the tips, sounds like t2 sentries aren't must-have to start being at least somewhat effective, so thats great to hear.

SNI good call.

Wait for the T2 sentries before the RS.
Heavies can wait.

The TFI has higher max possible DPS but the lack of mids ruins the amount of what really lands.
Doesn't come close to what a RS can do.

TFI v.s. RS

TFI has 15% more raw damage roughly.
Higher scan res.
It also has about 30% more speed between gates.

Loses 2 mids that help land that damage right off the bat.
Half the drone bay.
Tank will be about 20% less for constant repair rate.
Tank does about 30% less for max repair.
Effective health is only about 62% of what the RS does with same exact mods.
It also has less sensor strength and less targeting range.


I find that damage wise the RS actually lands slightly more dps than the TFI.

One reason is over volley on missiles v.s. drone damage. (( 3.5% of the damage on 5 volley BS target for example ))
The smaller the ship and the less volley's needed the higher this factor becomes. (( The more skills you got the ugly the gap gets ))

Then we got the mid slot factor. I'll go with 2 drone omni's since the TFI shows best with the TP.

Gardes with 2 omni's v.s. no omni's is night and day on the damage landed on small targets but also on when they can become and stop being effective.
Those same omni's help beserkers for angel missions or curators for sansha/blood.
This leads to the RS saving massive amounts of time that make up not only for the speed difference of the ships but the damage landed per min. Huge difference on EM/Therm and Explosive missions.

Then we add in the other factors for the Therm/Kin mobs. ECM / Sensor dampening. Missiles may lose less to this compared to guns due to f.o.f. missiles but compared to drones they are not even close. Drones are kings of anti EW for missions.

Then you get the factor of the RS being able to omni tank. You don't change drones or resist between missions and time is isk. Factor in everything! If you lose 45 secs to this per mission on average and have 15 min missions on average you lose 5% on this factor alone. (( Another issue that really shows up when you get the ships near all L5's ))

Add to that the gank factor. You fly a nice pimped up mission ship ready to stack that isk.
If you fly a ship with big resist holes that has only 60% the omni health of the other your risk sky rockets.
Depending on how far off you go on parts this factor alone on average across pilots v.s. ganks could make up for the entire raw dps gap when averaging in the isk per hour.


The Rattlesnake really is the king of L4's for all these reason.
The real issue is you won't see the gap till you have it highly trained and it's the highest sp required to max out combat ships in high sec. If you don't have the sp for it then the SNI is a great choice due to it's great tank helping lower sp players.

The TFI has more dps than the SNI but with less tank and less room for those mods that help the damage. The issue here is if you are ready to get away from the SNI you are most likely ready for the RS so why bother with the TFI especially since it uses one of the skills needed to fly the RS. The real exception to this rule is you came up Minmitar and already had enough sp to make the TFI work and don't have skills to fly the RS.


Short version:

SNI for lower SP players.
TFI for those who can fly minmitar ships. (( Can't fly Caldari ))
RS for high SP players.

Never jump into a rattlesnake, it is a terrible terrible ship.

Here you go.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=238011

Dont be fooled by the range drop off, that's just gardes, other sentry types push that line out to lock range.