Ships & Modules

Hi,

New to PvP. Any help with fits and tactics for either Kestrel or Merlin would be much appreciated.

Regards

Kelt

Above fit makes good sense in that specific scenario (kudos for stating its use btw), but it won't necessarily work in other situations.

OP, a fit is based on a strategy, a plan and a decent idea of what's going to happen and what, where and who you'll be fighting. So while "gief fit" does sound logical it's pretty much the wrong approach, it is however what most people do but that doesn't make it the right way to do stuff. You'll be much better off to first learn about the different strategies, ship types and which counter to use against them than just being given "a fit" and then "go do stuff".

For frigate solo PVP there's effectively 3 strategies:

- brawl: well inside scram range, preferably at 500m orbit. Used against ships with missiles, terrible tracking weapons or ones who try to (scram) kite you. Possible issues are webs and energy neuts, also it means you fully commit to that fight and if the situation changes you probably won't be able to get away

- scram kiting: within scram range but at the edge of it, relying on the fact that most turret based frigates will be fit and loaded for brawl range meaning they do fck all dps beyond 5km and even if they would have the ammo for it, by the time they realise they're being scram kited and are switching ammo the fight is already lost. Doesn't work against missile or drone frigates. However, scram kiting generally relies on fitting an afterburner which means you'll be slow in and out of trouble. AB is great when you're in a fight, not so great when you try to get in to or away from one. The above fit is a prime example of this strategy.

- kiting: Point range (20-24km), relies on being faster and have better damage projection at those ranges and is preferably accompanied by sensor dampeners or tracking disruptors. This works great against just about any frigate other than a direct counter (of which you won't find many), this can also work fine against cruisers or even BC AND it, generally, means that if the situation should change and you're about to get in big trouble you have the range and speed to GTFO. However, kiting also takes the most experience because it's easy to mess up.


Once you know these strategies and you understand what your ship and fit of choice is supposed to do THEN you have to learn about aaalll the other ships you're likely to encounter. You need to learn what other ships and possible/most obvious fits can and can't do, and when you know that and you know what your ship can and can't do THEN you can make a plan of attack. Should you orbit that target, stay at range, perhaps fully kite it or possibly just not attack it at all because his strategy will trump yours.


And all that will probably be moot again when you're not solo but in a fleet, because then your strategy and role will probably change. This may not be the reply you asked for but it's pretty much the reply you need :) Learn the different ships, learn the options you have, figure out what and where you'll be fighting and THEN come up with a fit for that scenario.

If you want to learn to fly a solo Crow have a look at this, it's borderline hilariously overpowered. Given that it fits tracking disruptors means it'll be focusing on anything that's slower than it while using turrets. You could also go the damper route but that generally only really works if you are backed by gang links (increased point range means you have a bigger window for your damps to work), without them you're better off using TD and focusing on turret ships.

[Condor, Kite]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Optimal Range Disruption Script
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Optimal Range Disruption Script

Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
[empty high slot]

Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I

Nice fits. Thank you.

With regards to flying the Crow solo - what type of targets would you typically be looking for?

Regards

Kelt

It has the same target options the Condor has and actually; the Crow is worse than the Condor.

- they're about the same top speed but the condor aligns much faster
- dps is exactly the same
- crow gets a bit more EHP but frankly it won't be enough to survive a few seconds longer and if you have to start relying on EHP you lost anyway
- you can't get the Crow cap stable in similar fits, that means that you suddenly lost the ability to kill stuff with more EHP simply because you lose your MWD, TDs and/or tackle at some point.
- Crow has massive fitting issues
- it does get bubble immunity of course and a sig reduction but that only matters in 0.0 (somewhat) and if you're fighting more than one target

stick to the condor :)

So you have 2 mins max but you don't enter fights at 100% cap: you might not be 100% to start with, then warp to the fight, then burn mwd to get into range and THEN you start fighting.

But even if you did have 2 minutes that means, you do in total some 12k damage. So THAT means you can't kill cruisers or the majority of AF's. Which in turn means that if you want to punch above your weight (which you can) this is one of the few PVP situations where cap stability is actually very useful.

Yes, right up to the point where your TD drops and they actually hurt you given the low EHP. You're fine to drop your MWD instead if you want and get scrammed and/or low transversal. Fact is that the Crow, apart from the obvious bubble immunity, isn't really any better at all than the Condor, which is quite silly.

- do a quick calc how much damage you can apply within that overheated 36km point range before it burns out, then think about how much EHP most cruisers/AF have and contemplate the result

- then go and try fit a TD running crow with a T2 long point that does decent dps and see how that works out

My dual damp crow is cap stable. If yours isnt you need more sp into skills to fly it.

Here is an image, of a crow orbiting a cruiser that is made to kill frigates. The cruiser is under no TD effects. You will notice that the distance is 27K which is within unheated point range.

http://i.imgur.com/gYDzn4z.png

You will also notice that the crow is stable, running an MWD and point. So tell me, what am I worrying about? What about the TD? What about the cap?

You don't need to over heat your point to get a kill. And it certainly isnt some kind of time limit. You know, there is a way for you to get better at this. Get in a ship, and go PvP. Get about 4000 kills and then get back to me. Ok?