These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

Warfare & Tactics

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

Any solo bombers out there?
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Unicorns Rainbows
Doomheim
#1 - 2014-01-27 22:48:53 UTC
I've been going around null-sec in a Manticore for about 4 hours now. There are no suitable targets what so ever.

Any of you know if its even viable or not?
Loraine Gess
Confedeferate Union of Tax Legalists
#2 - 2014-01-28 03:55:07 UTC
It works just fine. Go to space that isn't dead.
Janeway84
Insane's Asylum
#3 - 2014-01-29 13:50:05 UTC
Scan wormholes and find stuff.

Sometimes patience is required and time. P
Soldarius
Dreddit
Test Alliance Please Ignore
#4 - 2014-01-30 21:46:34 UTC
Here. Click on a region. Select npc kills (24hr) to see where the ratters are. Go there.

http://youtu.be/YVkUvmDQ3HY
Othran
Route One
#5 - 2014-01-31 18:52:31 UTC  |  Edited by: Othran
Unicorns Rainbows wrote:
Any of you know if its even viable or not?


You can kill stuff but whether you want to do things that way is another matter.

A solo bomber generally can't kill anything with a sig radius of less than 300-400m. That's with torps and assumes a clueless ratter. Yes you might get the odd indy but watching paint dry would be more fun :)

Drop a bomb on some frigates and you might pop one or two.

tl;dr if you like doing solo SB stuff then you're a masochist IMHO
Chessur
Full Broadside
Deepwater Hooligans
#6 - 2014-02-01 16:07:04 UTC
Moo Moocow
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2014-02-05 14:51:17 UTC
Blog needs a revival Chessur :)
Chessur
Full Broadside
Deepwater Hooligans
#8 - 2014-02-05 16:24:46 UTC
I plan to make a few update posts, I am terrorizing a worm hole currently, and so far things are getting pretty funny.
Robert Caldera
Caldera Trading and Investment
#9 - 2014-02-05 19:00:30 UTC
CCP pretty much killed solo bomber pvp with their stupid NPC aggro changes and made NPC protect the ratter.
Once you decloak and try engaging ratter, NPC will go after your butt, nothing you will be able to take for long.
Chessur
Full Broadside
Deepwater Hooligans
#10 - 2014-02-05 20:52:25 UTC
Robert Caldera wrote:
CCP pretty much killed solo bomber pvp with their stupid NPC aggro changes and made NPC protect the ratter.
Once you decloak and try engaging ratter, NPC will go after your butt, nothing you will be able to take for long.


Very true, I hope that bombers get a rework, and update. Have a 'fleet bomber' specializing in bombing, and that whole 0.0 thing. Then make another bomber better for small gang / solo work with Cruise misisles, and no bomb / bomb bonus. I think that would be fun/

The NPC changes really did hurt the bomber. But when it comes to killing noctis, indys, and other soft targets- nothing beats the bomber. It is the best soft target killer in eve, hands down.
Epsilon Aspire
Zero Forkz Given
#11 - 2014-02-06 10:50:41 UTC
Hello Chessur o7

That is all...
Seraph IX Basarab
Outer Path
Seraphim Division
#12 - 2014-02-06 17:10:17 UTC
Flying a Solobomber can net you industrial/hauler and bad-at-eve ratter kills. But engaging an actual pvp target usually requires you have a team with you. That is how the bomber was really designed to work.
Substantia Nigra
Polaris Rising
Goonswarm Federation
#13 - 2014-02-06 22:04:28 UTC
Bombers are beautiful, and solo / semi-solo bomber PvP efforts can be a heckuvalot of fun.

Because you’re flying a bit of a glass cannon, with virtually no tank, your techniques and target choice become critical … as they are with all PvP modalities. W-space is a great place to go play evil-solo-bomber-pilot, mainly because your presence is not automatically announced by ‘local’. Since you are very new to this I’d suggest going to C1 / C2 w-systems.

Nullsec is also a decent source of people to tackle, but you’ll have to put in some effort to find where the suitable targets are. DOTLAN is your friend for that. While it may seem attractive to go try tackle people in areas held by large nullsec coalitions (e.g. the “evil GEWNS”) you may find that their intel channels and general experience with cloaky campers makes that a frustrating activity.

Whenever I’m feeling particularly failtardy about my own solo bomber efforts I look to Pirolat’s old posting to remind me of what a decent semi-solo bomber pilot *can* do …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLtHzH3uWis&feature=context-vrec

I guess I am almost a 'vet' by now. Hopefully not too bitter and managing to help more than I hinder. I build and sell many things, including large collections of bookmarks.
Katie Khardoula
Doomheim
#14 - 2014-02-10 01:51:23 UTC
Quote:
Bombers are beautiful, and solo / semi-solo bomber PvP efforts can be a heckuvalot of fun.

Because you’re flying a bit of a glass cannon, with virtually no tank, your techniques and target choice become critical … as they are with all PvP modalities. W-space is a great place to go play evil-solo-bomber-pilot, mainly because your presence is not automatically announced by ‘local’. Since you are very new to this I’d suggest going to C1 / C2 w-systems.

Nullsec is also a decent source of people to tackle, but you’ll have to put in some effort to find where the suitable targets are. DOTLAN is your friend for that. While it may seem attractive to go try tackle people in areas held by large nullsec coalitions (e.g. the “evil GEWNS”) you may find that their intel channels and general experience with cloaky campers makes that a frustrating activity.


A hundred times this.

Bombers are so underrated its crazy, but you have to know what you're doing. Even then, you'll still get blown up from time to time. Soloing in one takes vast reserves of patience, and it doesn't help when you've seen absolutely nothing for days on end.

I'll add that flying a bomber requires a very good understanding of what the phrase "Engagement profile" means. As long as you know what targets to look for, are able to fight on your terms and GTFO the second you realize that things aren't going your way, (Cause if you wait much longer you'll be dead,) then bomber piloting can be a wicked time.

Speed is your best friend, both to tank drones and to dictate range.

Every time I see the first poster replying to the OP by quoting his entire post, I want to punch a baby
Inxentas Ultramar
Ultramar Independent Contracting
#15 - 2014-03-05 10:56:39 UTC
I like to make use only of the cloaking-delay bonus, and fit my Hound with dual scrams and a small weapon system, and a probe launcher. That way you can probe down data / relic sites and camp them cloaked.
Havo Katelo
State War Academy
Caldari State
#16 - 2014-03-08 07:04:27 UTC
Chessur wrote:
Robert Caldera wrote:
CCP pretty much killed solo bomber pvp with their stupid NPC aggro changes and made NPC protect the ratter.
Once you decloak and try engaging ratter, NPC will go after your butt, nothing you will be able to take for long.


Very true, I hope that bombers get a rework, and update. Have a 'fleet bomber' specializing in bombing, and that whole 0.0 thing. Then make another bomber better for small gang / solo work with Cruise misisles, and no bomb / bomb bonus. I think that would be fun/

The NPC changes really did hurt the bomber. But when it comes to killing noctis, indys, and other soft targets- nothing beats the bomber. It is the best soft target killer in eve, hands down.


I have been playing around with distance and so far I can hit from out to 138km. That is not max range, mind you, but it is getting fairly close. I tried playing around with that range and bubbles on gate, but that definitely is a waiting game.
Chessur
Full Broadside
Deepwater Hooligans
#17 - 2014-03-09 09:15:11 UTC
Havo Katelo wrote:
Chessur wrote:
Robert Caldera wrote:
CCP pretty much killed solo bomber pvp with their stupid NPC aggro changes and made NPC protect the ratter.
Once you decloak and try engaging ratter, NPC will go after your butt, nothing you will be able to take for long.


Very true, I hope that bombers get a rework, and update. Have a 'fleet bomber' specializing in bombing, and that whole 0.0 thing. Then make another bomber better for small gang / solo work with Cruise misisles, and no bomb / bomb bonus. I think that would be fun/

The NPC changes really did hurt the bomber. But when it comes to killing noctis, indys, and other soft targets- nothing beats the bomber. It is the best soft target killer in eve, hands down.


I have been playing around with distance and so far I can hit from out to 138km. That is not max range, mind you, but it is getting fairly close. I tried playing around with that range and bubbles on gate, but that definitely is a waiting game.


The cruise missiles would be more geared towards hitting the targets of choice that a bomber would be going after. Cruise missiles have better ways to make them apply more of their DPS, unlike torps which is an uphill battle when shooting at things that are not BS class ships.
Shiv Lazair
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#18 - 2014-03-09 20:50:42 UTC
No doubt, torps have almost double the explosion radius over cruise. If you can get those ranges with torps, imagine how far out you could hit with cruise. Granted that you have to really fit for it, gimping elsewhere.