Ships & Modules

Seems to me that the two are starting to get into competition again, but I do not know how good a Vargur can be versus a Mach.

I am a Machariel guy myself, but I can fly a Vargur if I wanted to. The only things about the Vargur is how slow the damn thing is. MJD is useful benefit, so it makes me wonder if it might be as a good ship.

However, again pure numbers, Mach's have 7 guns with bonus to 25% damage or 8.75 guns, which Vargur does not have at only 4 guns with 100% or 8 guns. Raw DPS belongs to the Mach. Bastion mode gives Vargur the better tank of course, but Mimmitar ship philosophy is hit hard and fast, not sit back and relax like Gallente drone pilots with Rattlesnakes. Being a stationary target versus a moving target seems to hold back Vargur in my mind.

I freely admit, I might be missing something, so I want to ask for opinions on these two ships. Also, I know Mach's are more practical for PvP in the past than Vargur (sensor strength is atrocious), which is not in dispute.

Mach, it's not even close. Tanking is not a problem on either ship, sure you save a slot or two by being able to use Bastion on the Vargur but the fact that it makes you immobile is really bad considering you're using autocannons. Mach also gets a bigger dronebay/bandwith and can actually utilize heavies/sentries which further pushes its dps up. The only thing about the Mach is that it is yet to be rebalanced, so depending on how hard CCP hits it with the nerfbat it may be dethroned from mission king.

What you want to do with them?

LEvel 4sw? THose are very very very easy to tank and DPS and mobility means everythign so machariel win hands down.

Want to run solo WH content? Where Ewar hurts you are webbed all time and the msallest dps in your head will be over 9 thousand? Then you need a marauder.

Drop them on the gate then roam, least for 4s

Mach vs Vargur: mach the better
Mach vs Vargur+ tractor unit: Vargur is way better

MWD Mach is "better" than the Vargur because you can close the distance faster, thus reducing DPS loss to falloff. Drone DPS is mostly irrelevant because of drone travel time and often the drone DPS from heavies isn't applied fast enough to save you a significant amount of time. (Personally I use heavy TP/Web drones, which have 10+km optimals) to help the Mach's guns hit better at close range.)

Vargur is better than the Mach, because it's more practical to use faction ammo and a T2 RoF rig on a Vargur in which case the Vargur has more raw gun DPS. OTOH, there's nothing stopping you from using faction ammo and a T2 RoF rig on a Mach. (Personally, I stick with using T1 ammo on the Mach because you're constantly buying ammo.)

Vargur is better than the MWD Mach because the Vargur is easier to fly. With the Mach, you have to actually to move. Which is tedious.

Mach + Sentry drones is maybe better than the Bastion Vargur. The Vargur can field two sentry drones to the Mach's four. However, the Vargur's ability to loot/salvage on the fly probably makes up any income loss from having two less sentry drones. OTOH, the Mach can reposition faster, especially since your drone control range is probably limited to 60km.

Mach is worst because you need to armor tank it due to the TE nerf. I'm okay with minimal tanks, but, meh, armor tanking in level 4s is meh.


tl;dr - sentry drones are overrated, MWD Mach is best, Vargur is also best depending on your needs.

You salvage what you can without stopping, i.e you don't sit there and salvage/loot everything. (Unless of course the value of looting/salvaging everything is greater than time towards running another mission.)

Also, both the mach and the vargur can drop the new fangled tractor and come back later.

It is fairly simple actually. You mwd in range, deploy drones and scoop them when you move to the next spawn.

Actually mach and vargur are pretty similar dps wise, using roughly same fitting as my vargur, mach only had 100 more dps, a lower shield resist, lower shield rep, lower cap, no bastion, no salvager, twice the ammo consumption, and about 10-15km less falloff which sucks bad. Have fun.


Forgot less tracking too.

Vargur already owns Mach. CCP has already stated the mach is better than it should be and will be brought in-line during the pirate/navy battleship rebalance. Save yourself the heartbreak and tears and stick with the Vargur or train into it.