Ships & Modules

so, looking at the last Blog i noticed someone at CCP didn't get the memo that the 10% per lvl cap reduction went live with the last patch, and at the same time got me thinking, has anyone been flying around with RAHs for the last month or so?

i have, and i only have good things to say about it.

on its old incarnation it was terrible, the only hulls where using it made sense were mainly Ganglinked ammar, but paired with the high cap usage from energy guns and the absurd cap usage from this module (that got worse with every level trained!) the module was plain and simply unusable unless it was fitted to drone or minnie hulls.

now, its a steady -4.2 cap drain on the ship, usable even on amarr cruisers, even on a maller.

so to recap:

Positives:

• resistances not on the standard stack, like a DCU.
• 4.2 GJ cap drain when most cruisers can output 12GJ / 14GJ. still high, but nowhere near the old amounts.
• 24Tf cpu req, couldn't be cheaper.
• 25 second shift time.
• Can be overloaded to reach a full shift in 21.25 seconds, which means there's no reason not to overload it the moment damage hits armor.
• Strong synergy with RR.
• great tank module for capless ships like Arbis/Ruptures/Vexors
• being off the stack makes it a great module for ships that already have extra resists, like mallers, prophecie, etc.


Negatives:

• low cycle means under strong staggered neuts its almost impossible to keep it running, unlike with a DCU where a well timed cap booster can keep your ewar up + give you a full DCU cycle.
• poor synergy with local reps, specially with MAARs using cap like they do...
• on solo ships with rails/energy guns its still too expensive to run.

compared to a DCU and assuming two damage types, the DCU will give you slightly more shield time, once damage hits armor the RAH will best the DCU after the first 5 seconds, and at the 25 second mark it will be twice as efficient. against missile ships it will make people disengage in frustration due to the 60% plug it puts against anything they trow at you.

now, people will always say "the DCU is better, because hull" but with the cap changes using a RAH+DCU as the only resist source is not as crazy as it sounds, so why choose between them? (DCU still brings 87% eff, perfectly fine with me.)

on pvp, to me, its seems to be a module mainly directed towards small doctrine gangs/fleets, or solo with buffer capless like ruptures (blasters work fine now too). on a fleet, even with no strong links, ships like mallers can survive Cruiser alpha easily with a 1600mm and trimarks, and if logis react fast enough, once fully phased it can force a target switch. if links are available, the Effective reps can reach stupid levels really fast thanks to the signature. i can only imagine Zealots could be harder to kill than before, but since they get used mainly on null, neuting bombs must scare the crap outta them.

and this is on pvp, on pve they are quite frankly amazing on t1 hulls. prophecies can achieve insane rep efficiency, same with myrms, i have been using them to run low complexes and they are rock solid, even under neuts. (khanid area)

anyway, i still feel that the cycle is too short. personally i would suggest making the resist effect be a passive one, always active, but having the shifting cost a LOT more cap. this way you can shift when you want to, and control the cap usage much more.

anyway, my question is, have you been using it? solo or fleets? pve, pvp? do you still feel the module sucks? do you think its too much of a strong counter to missiles? (i kinda do) and what about Battleships? anyone with experience on BS doctrine care to share some insight?

and if you still think its not worthy of a lowslot, what would you change? it certainly seems CCP wants people to use it, and are willing to keep balancing it.

I think it's a fantastic module as it is. If it were any better, it would probably be TOO powerful. I'd like to see some new versions, though. Maybe not with more resistances to spread out, per se, but maybe ones with some other trade-offs, like even less cap usage for a longer cycle time, or something to that effect.

The reason why DCU and RAH aren't used together is because they stack, you would literally be choosing the only modules that stack against each other. As for the module itself, it's actually pretty good, you just have to use it on the right ships.

i should have clarified i was thinking of mallers, they have a natural 20% already that gets diminishing returns with links and AMN (EANM wont fit with a full rack of t2pulse + ewar) in that case, getting 15% base with RAH + 12%ish with staked DCU is better, specially thanks to the shield+hull boost which is invaluable on 20+ man engagements, specially with armor RR being delayed as it is.

im kinda surprised to see most people have been using it, every time i asked ingame people would dismiss the module completely. (amarr FW)

Battleships already have such insane natural buffer. Why you would ever put more than one plate on one meant for being flown with logi is beyond me.

"Our logi aren't very good so we need to sacrifice DPS for buffer so they have more time to click buttons"

RAH is an interesting module, it benefits ships with very high buffer due to the time taken to actually adapt to the incoming damage, first and foremost use I have found for it is on Triage carriers.

Meh, checked 2014 stats. Switched the second plate for an eanm, tank barely drops from 200k to 176k. Resists are improving on the upside. Guess it was more of a difference with oldschool links.

Given you can fly a megathron, really don't see the point anymore in doubleplated abaddons.