Warfare & Tactics

Ok; finally getting this out here since I've been getting bored of haunting the F&I forum threads. Stretching back wayy back into the days of Tyrannis and Incursion expansion, I have used a Merlin for running lvl 4 Caldari factional warfare missions. I first decided upon this after trying several popular bomber builds after disliking them due to their flimsiness and reliance on manual piloting and being lucky with not getting plastered by an errant wrecking shot from a battleship.

At this point I would like to put aside the argument about the difficulty of running most other fw missions vs caldari because yes; the system IS incredibly broken and I would like to see ewar more or less dropped entirely from the missions, with some kind of counterbalance like towers or more elites.

While the fit has taken several different incarnations over the years, the central tactic I've been fielding has been to pick up mainly the indy-killer missions with the exception of Dead Men Tell No Tales, and upon entering the complex immediately target the frigate and destroyer-sized rats and terminate them with extreme prejudice. At this point, I can safely move around the complex to the target(s) by using a combination of sig tanking with the ab, and passive shield tanking with the good resists (with the introduction of ASBs I revised my fit to make the tank stronger). I'd then set upon each of the industrials and wipe them out; generally they'd go down in decently short order assuming I have decent tracking speed and I'm not bumping into structures. I would generally not worry about the spawns since they appear a ways away, and when they're close enough to actually do damage I've usually completed the mission at that point.

Advantages to this setup:
-it's significantly cheaper than running a t2 or t3 boat and by extension expendable.
-holy jeebus I'm running a lvl 4 in a t1 frig and kicking ass this is awesome!
-pve is a lot more fun up close and personal with all those blaster and rail bolts whizzing about around you.
-it's not vulnerable in the least to stray shots, and has an extremely reliable tank and attack pattern.
-It's a goddamn merlin taking on a gallente battle fleet. It's a great way to boost morale if you're Caldari.


Here is the current fit in question. Mind you; the first incarnation of this I ran back when the merlin had a split weapon loadout, so it's gone through a lot of changes over the years. No fitting implants should be required to run this effectively:

Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 50
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Experimental 1MN Afterburner I

Light Ion Blaster II
Light Ion Blaster II
Light Ion Blaster II

Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
Small Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I

Interesting. But why not go with a harpy?

I know it will cost you an extra 24 mill but it doesn't sound like you lose too many of them. Native resists work great and with their microwarp drive sig bonus they may sig tank about as well as an ab and do the missions quicker. It even warps 10% faster.

Can this do all missions? Or just the indy mission?

It's still too bad that all the Caldari navy cruisers and BCs are 'meh' at best.

longer than a bomber, faster than an ibis.

It's specifically designed to run caldari lvl 3 and 4 FW missions.