Ships & Modules

Ok, so I hope that this does not come off as a rant out of frustration, but I am asking for some genuine insight here. I have played eve for many years and I understand that BS were changed so that they are not the be all end all of ships. But I fail to see them having any real purpose outside POS bashing, and killing each other/capital ships. The last couple days I have been banging my head against a wall trying to fit my raven to be worth a damn against any ship smaller then a station. I have fit it with rigors, target painters and webs, used faction torps, etc. Yet, I am getting taken out easily by T1 cruisers and faction cruisers. I have max tanking and missile skills, and I know how to fit my ship, as I have played for quite some time. I just fail to see how a ship worth 5 times that of a cruiser, with so many downsides (slow lumbering hulls, terrible lock times) has such a limited and pathetic purpose. It is a battleship, should it not be capable of actual battle?

I am not sure if it is a problem with missiles, or if all battleship have this problem. Or maybe that it is just the raven. It could be the latter seeing as if I really try, the best tank I can get on a raven is 110k ehp. I know cruisers that can almost double that. What am I doing wrong? I get the whole explosion velocity/radius mechanic and have fit my ship accordingly with webs painters and rigs, as well as faction missiles. But I just seems every time I am outmatched. I lost the last time to a navy vexor who somehow supposedly managed to get 46k armor hit points, no not EHP, but armor hit points. I could not achieve that on my raven if I fit the entire ship for tank and fit no weapon systems. I am just getting really frusterated, I like flying battleships, but they feel so lack luster. Please help!

Are cruise better verse smaller targets? neat didnt know

Does this apply at close ranges as well? Any tips for tanking out my raven? Is it normal that these cruisers are getting equal dps and more tank then a raven??

There's also RHML launcher, which is a BS sized HM launcher. It's kinda hard to explain but you'll see what I mean.

Figured this was just blowing smoke but it can be done. Dual 1600 plates, links, T1 trimarks and HG slaves gets around 45k armor so a hardwiring could probably get you there but that's a pretty extreme case and I wouldn't worry about running into that much. Going with T2 trimarks and going overboard on the hardwiring can actually get you in excess of 50k armor HP. I would also wonder if that was really a fit someone was using or just a theorycraft, being a drone boat it could work but its speed and agility are very bad and two plates already takes a fitting mod for grid with only two slots filled.

As for your Raven you might actually be better off to active tank (ASB or not) and go for small gangs of 2-4 cruisers with either no logi or one T1 logi at most. Shield battleships don't get the EHP that armor tanks do because LSEs fit to cruisers without much effort and they really fall short of a 1600 plate for raw HPs. The fact that you need mids for tackle, prop and e-war also will take a big bite out of your EHP potential if you are actually solo. Armor tends to work better for solo as you have to be your own tank/gank/tackle/e-war and when you are armor tanked there is less competition for available slots as opposed to shield tanking where everything wants in the mids. As has been said already get cruise launchers on there, Torps may look good in EFT but are really pretty poor when actually fired at a thing unless said victim is afk and not moving.

Cmon bro', you don't have your own pocket-size erebus ? Only 50k HP, tss tss.

-Use precision cruises
-Use RHMLs
-Use a Typhoon instead of a Raven (application bonus)
-Use an LMJD to give yourself a big range advantage and the chance to get away

Lots of options, but it doesn't sound like you're using any of them.

If you're solo, I'd say a BS isn't the right ship for the job. In a group where you don't NEED to be on top of them for point purposes then range is the Raven pilot's friend. You should be 100-120km away pounding them to dirt, too close for them to warp to, too far for them to do anything but swear at you. Precisions may help if you have t2 launchers though they reduce your top ranges noticeably. Should still be over 100km though depending on your skills.

Appereantly you dont know how to fit your ship.

Therefore. You are wrong :)

Battleships in PVP are less common in PVP for a couple reasons.

1, they are expensive. I can fit and fly ~30 merlins for what a single fitted battleship would cost to fly. When you're looking to have fun, it's much more worth it to bring lots of cheap ships than one expensive ship, ESPECIALLY if you're not an ace pilot in said expensive ship. Getting shot down in one fight then having to go back to grinding to repay it is a pain.

2, Weapon systems naturally have more trouble applying damage to smaller classes. Battleships are the biggest subcap, so unless you're fighting other battleships (Or capitals, for that matter), you will have trouble applying damage. This is not to say it can't be done, as a well fit battleship with a good pilot can be truly terrifying, but you have to know what you're doing. Because of the way damage is applied, a frigate can apply it's full damage to a battleship, but the battleship might not be able to hit the frigate at all.

3, Vulnerability. This may seem counter-intuitive because battleships can field such incredible tanks, but battleships make very juicy targets, especially in lowsec, and even more so when they're by themselves. Much like the naval fleets of old, a large ship needs support to truly be effective.



This is not to say that they can't be used. They are beasts in the right circumstances. They will be most effective when flown with support though. A fast and nimble ship that can't keep up with the damage you're dealing can just run off and disengage, or simply get under your tracking and be safe. With big ships, bring someone your target where you want it while you deal the hurt.

Also, remember that you must fit for what you're going to be doing. For a missile ship, fit torps when you're going to be engaging other ships your size and larger at close range, cruise missiles for when you are going to be fighting at sniping distance, and RHMLs when you are going to be fighting smaller ships (This is just a general guideline. There are many situations where these will overlap due to many factors such as enemy fits, ammo type, etc).