Missions & Complexes

My Raven was equipped with the following:

HIGH
06 x Cruise Missile Launcher I
01 x SMALL TRACTOR BEAM 1
01 x SALVAGER I

MEDIUM
04 x LARGE SHIELD EXTENDERS
01 x 'HYPHNOS' ECM
01 x MEDIUM SHIELD BOOSTER

LOW
01 x EMERGENCY DAMAGE CONTROL
01 x ARMOR KINETIC HARDENER I
01 x ARMOR THREMIC HARDENER I
02 x WARP CORE STABILIZER I

DRONES
02 x WARRIOR I DRONES
03 x HAMMERHEAD I DRONES

UPGRADES
01 x ROCKET FUEL CACHE PARTINTION I
01 x BAY LOADING ACCELERATOR I

But seriously, I think the below fit works just as well and probably tanks more, ganks more and has better application... About the 'wasted volleys' in the 8ish seconds it takes for a cruise launcher to cycle, you've hit anything without 120km range... The argument is moot.

[Golem, Don S. Davis]
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System

X-Large Shield Booster II
Thermal Dissipation Field II
Kinetic Deflection Field II
Missile Guidance Computer II, Missile Precision Script
Missile Guidance Computer II, Missile Precision Script
Target Painter II
Target Painter II

Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Mjolnir Fury Cruise Missile
Bastion Module I
Small Tractor Beam II
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

Large Warhead Flare Catalyst II
Large Warhead Flare Catalyst II

Might do that in the next iteration... The damned thing tanks over 2k guristas dps as it is

You're right, there is no one "right" answer for ship fits, although meta's being what they are, fits tend to converge when used for similar purposes. Having a playstyle is one thing. Dual tanking is another (quite bad) thing. Overtanking is fine, if you like slowpaced, no stress missioning. Hell, I like no stress playing. I play games to relax. But I feel like your definition of overtanked and mine will be quite far apart

You can't use shields? Simple. Don't use a shield boat (wasn't sure if were saying you can't use a Nightmare, or you do use it armor tanked). Again, Nightmare can be fine armor tanked, cos you should primarily be using it against Blood and Sansha rats, and can therefore get a better tank than with shields. Yes, dps goes down, and with it goes your ISK/hr, but I personally don't play to min/max my wallet.

Can a Golem armor tank? Yes. Should it armor tank? Probably not. Should you dual-tank a ship? No. To each their own.

Well, since EVE-O seem to think everything is a lie without pictures or a strong member of the EVE community saying it is so, cause half of the EVE-O forums are meta sheep, Aldap used Dual Tanking, all the time, most of his Solo ships would be like Dual ASB with AAR in the Lows or the other way around, mixes of the 2, and he would take on T3's, HAC's, small gangs in T2 Logi ships, so I will stand behind him on the topic of "Dual Tanking" cause I have seen it work to amazing levels, also, spend 25 minutes in Low Sec hunting Breachers, most of those bastards are Dual Tanked, things are tough in Frig Vs Frig match ups.

This being said it is not optimial in most cases, but then agian, since when does optimal apply to anything in EVE?

People called the first Hull Tankers and Dual Tankers in PvP idiots, who is the idiot now?

It is unorthodox, but it works, what part of that is wrong or bad? It works, by definition that makes it good on a scale of work and not work, is it optimal? No, he never said it was, why does he do it? Read the OP, he says why he likes it, so all the power to him, least he isn't a meta sheep.

Then people like me must be a dying breed, I do missions for fun, so I fit less tank, or a burst only tank so I have a time limit to work with, and I use a Brawling Rattlesnake for most of it, try and not let it become boring, I mean the only reason missions are boring these days is cause all the little meta morons worked out the exact stuff you need to do them, so they took any fun away from them, people don't learn how to fit their ships now, they Google it or ask for a fit in Alliance or Spectre, I have a lot of fun with missions like Worlds Collide and Berserk and those, I have to pay attention, have to heat a little here and there to hold. Remember, this is a GAME, it is for fun, you are supposed to enjoy it, people who have perfectly fit never breaking perma-tanking ships, don't enjoy missioning, they do it AFK or they do it for the ISK because they don't want to leave High Sec,

Try taking for example, a 2 Slot Tank Rattlesnake into a Gurista 5/10 or 6/10, great fun, you will actually want to try it again, unless you are not used to it and get burnt out trying to survive, same as Burner missions in ship that haven't been PyFa'd and tested to the point where it is almost 100% chance to win, have some fun with this GAME, you might actually enjoy it a little more.

I just pray to that CCP adds a roll factor to missions that change mid mission, maybe nearby enemy patrols and bases (Anom's) will send back up, but if you kill all the local Anom's that won't happen, stuff like that, make missions make people think, and actually be attentive, hell, give enemy Logi, make it harder, that way these perfectly balanced fits won't work.

In summary, it is a game, have fun.

P.s. OP has fun with his fit, in this game, game is for fun, therefor, he is right, you are wrong.

I never once said it was a good fit, I said it was his fit, and it is his Ultimate fit, fun thing about fits is that, if I for example, was to get in the best ever fit for the Scythe Fleet Issue, I would still suck in it, just like you will if it isn't a ship yo uhave trained with, fits mean close to **** all, my fits won't for you, and your fits will probably drive me into the ground, and once agian, you forget, you are not anybody in this game, you are just like I am, or the OP, you are a player, that is all, your way is not the only way, I find missioning in my Rattlesnake fun, I actaully enjoy it almost as much as I love leading fleets, and no, he posted a fit, HIS fit, what HE flies, what HE enjoies, it doesn't matter if it isn't optimal, it doesn't matter if it isn't meta, it is HIS, and he enjoies it, thinking anything else makes you the idiot, jesus, people always think they have to do something this way or that way cause of people like you, step back, look at it, agree with it or don't, but don't tell anyone there ship is wrong if they have actually used it and do genuinely enjoy flying it, by definition it works, and it is game, intended to be fun for people, that is what matters man, agree with that or don't, your only proving 2 thins, either a, your a human like me and play the game for fun, or you are one of those Null twats who does nothing by PyFa 23/7, never flies anything unless an FC has it in the MotD, and won't even look at a fit unless it has a recommendation by some famous, once again a nobody, FC. so no, it isn't me being the idiot cause I agree with somebody having fun in a game, and I disagree with someone trying to tell him that he is wrong for having fun, bloody hell, up to you mate, good debating with you either way, join Spectre if your not in it already, I like talking about fits when I take fleets out, generally helps with the shakes and stuff when you get everyone involved, stops people being bored, and makes them think about stuff they normally wouldn't consider, never a bad thing.

Very interesting way to ad hominem...

"we're both useless and just nobodies...but by the way did I mention that I'm an FC for Spectre Fleet and thus less of a nobody than you"

The fit is bad - it can obviously be improved by using just 2 of its current 3 tanking slots for a shield tank (gist X large booster and a T2 invuln). This is, in black and white, better: It's 20m isk cheaper, it's stable for almost twice as long and it regens more ehp/s for all damage types as well as freeing up a lowslot to add an extra damage or application mod (ballistic control or missile guidance enhancer). Even in the niche case of kinetic damage, where he's given himself a whopping 170k ehp shield buffer, the gist-X fit will be cap stable for more than the extra 130 seconds required to heal this on it's own (repping over 1.3k ehp/s against Gurista).

Learning how to fit well is hugely based upon looking at a bunch of similar but slightly different fits and seeing whether one is objectively stronger or weaker than the others for its designed purpose and then comparing the best of what's left and trying to find ways to eek out an extra bit of performance without spending too much isk. It's definitely not purely scientific as some imagination and artistic license *can* be great - but neglecting the simple math side of things when comparing similar fits is how you end up with monstrosities like this.

This has been interesting following this thread. Apparently if you break from the mold you're "doing it all wrong". All armor tanks use a passive shield buffer to some degree (and in fact, the popular armor-tanked Machariel fit for blitzing relies on this to a great extent). I could also point out that the Golem gets the same 100% armor repair bonus while in Bastion that shield boosters do, or that the Golem has almost as much armor as shield strength. It should also be noted that the average base armor resistances are higher than average base shield resistances.

By dropping the fourth ballistic control system I'm losing a grand total of maybe 1.5-2% DPS. And as was pointed out, I primarily face Guristas and kinetic damage from NPCs - so why would I necessarily need an insanely strong shield tank when two passive buffers will suffice? There are only a handful of missions where I actually need to briefly utilize the armor repairer, so I'm not sure what all the fuss is really about. It works for me - and if you have a better way that works for you, then so be it.