Missions & Complexes

Having played around quite extensively with various multiboxing setups, I've settled on the Rattlesnake as the ideal L4 mission platform. While the lack of damage application bonuses and performance specs leave something to be desired, a few select module choices and implants greatly remedy these deficiencies.

First and foremost, I've designed these fits to maximize my ISK/hour while lending themselves to my personal play style. These are mostly passive buffer fits with a minimal amount of interaction. The ideal setup consists of a trio of Rattlesnakes, as beyond this number you start to see rapidly diminishing returns.

Rattlesnake Hive ... (control)
5x Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Auto-targeting missiles
1x Drone Link Augmentor II
2x Warden II, 2x Curator II, 2x Garde II sentry drones

1x Domination 500MN Microwarpdrive
3x Pithum C-Type EM, Thermal and Kinetic Amplifiers
1x Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster
1x Republic Fleet Target Painter
1x Large Micro Jump Drive

2x Dread Guristas Ballistic Control System
2x Dread Guristas Drone Damage Amplifier
1x Dread Guristas Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer
1x Nanofiber Internal Structure II

1x Large Hyperspacial Velocity Optimizer I
2x Large Hydraulic Bay Thrusters II

Rattlesnake Drone ... (slave)
Same as the above fit, with the following changes:
x1 Drone Damage Amplifier (replaces Dread Guristas omni)
x1 Omnidirectional Tracking Link (replaces Republic fleet painter)

Here are the performance specs:
• 3.89 AU/s warp speed with high-grade Ascendancy implants, 10s align time
• 74.5k EHP omni tank with a passive recharge of 64 HP/s and active recharge of 392.3 HP/s
• 129m/s velocity with 956m/s MWD boost (capacitor lasts 9m20s)

And the damage specs:
• Fury missiles: 891 DPS against battlecruisers, battleships and stationary targets (70km)
• Auto-targeting missiles: 624 auto-targeting missile DPS against destroyers or larger (93km)
• Missile velocity is just shy of 10k/sec, so with a reload of 2.5s this means you won't lose many volleys <30km
• Missile DPS drops about 1/3 when factoring in reloads, but most rooms only require a single volley
• Warden: 518 DPS to 84km, Curator: 573 DPS from 58-72km, Garde: 610 DPS from 25-51km

In reality you're going to get around 1100-1200 DPS per Rattlesnake; 1500 flat DPS against structures.

Let's look at the fit in a bit more detail. First, drones. Sentries simply outperform heavies, we're looking for instant damage application and flight time eats into our DPS. I've opted for a omnidirectional tracking enhancer because it seems to result in more damage in penetrating shots than a third drone damage amplifier. While the nanofiber has been fit for faster in-mission transit, it can be substituted for a third drone damage amplifier for those so inclined to have the best of both worlds.

The 'slave' Rattlesnakes assign their drones to assist the 'hive' Rattlesnake, and are activated and assigned targets via the target painter (the 'hive' Rattlesnake also has the option of independently assigning its own drones). Combined with the omnidirectional tracking enhancer, the target painter ensures a much higher drone hit rate. While you can independently target and assign drones with the other Rattlesnakes, it requires far less micromanagement and is more effective assigning them to the 'hive' Rattlesnake.

I've fit the standard T2 drone link augmentor, but you can gain an extra 2km with the Black Eagle version (and sometimes that 2km makes a big difference). Another option is to drop the Hyperspacial rig and pare one of the Hydraulic rigs down to a T1 so you can fit a Large Drone Control Range Augmentor. My preference is still the extended missile range and faster warp speed (I'd rather just MWD into position on the few missions where targets are out of range).

Next, missiles. Auto-targeting missiles are simply the way to go - mainly because they work in the background to take out the closest targets. Damage application is near-perfect to anything larger than destroyers, so you don't really need to augment it (a flare rig can be substituted for the Hyperspacial rig, though). Two Faction ballistic control systems are equivalent to the damage from three T2 ballistic control systems, and this is the ideal setup for rapid heavy missile launchers. Once you assign drones to assist and apply a target painter, you've established aggro and the rapid heavy launchers can be engaged immediately. When static targets crop up in missions it's a simple matter to switch to Fury missiles for independent targeting.

The Faction target painter is worth it for the extra 10% IMHO, but a cheaper option is the phased target painter. You do need at least one target painter on the 'hive' Rattlesnake to make drone assist work, because stopping and starting launchers is extremely ineffective.

With Ascendancy implants I'm able to almost double the base warp speed. This makes a noticeable difference, especially when combined with the nanofiber. The nano knocks about 15% off your align time with warp and acceleration gates, and it gives a much-needed 10% velocity boost in-mission. One can certainly opt for a micro jump drive in lieu of one of the shield extenders, but I've found that with the MWD it's rarely utilized.

Perhaps multiboxing L4 missions is more of a niche activity than anything else, and I'd certainly be willing to concede that point. Not as much DPS as you might think, actually. A lot of times RHMLs will pick different targets. If I'm within 30-40km the loss is actually fairly minimal. What I lose in DPS I make up for in less multitasking and faster missile targeting.

On paper I'm getting between 1200-1300 DPS per Rattlesnake (I think I'll max out somewhere close to 1350 DPS). This is obviously optimal and will be less depending on NPC type, engagement range and the actual missions. A typical mission sees completion with a single missile clip (occasionally two).

Three ships seems to be the magic number. It's not that you don't see a huge difference with the addition of a fourth or fifth ship - it's just not as dramatic as the addition of the first two.

Correct, just the three Rattlers. If and when I do salvage (rare) I drop one or more MTUs and retrieve them later. My ISK/hour varies, but on the low-end 100-125m ISK/hour and on the high-end 200m+ ISK/hour. If I get a lot of Team Burner and "Enemy" missions I can temporarily break the 250m ISK/hour mark for maybe a few hours.

I only run Team Burners at the moment as I can run these in a unified Garmur fit, but at some point once I have more skills trained I will probably expand this to include the Blood and possibly Serpentis Base (using the Onyx and Cerberus).

I generally run every L4 that comes up because I can either blitz or quickly eliminate everything (even Guristas and Angels Extravaganzas don't take very long with three Rattlers). The only ones I typically try to avoid is the "Anomaly" series.

Almost 50m just running the shield booster, so that's effectively cap stable. There are only a handful of missions where you even need to run it at all. If you want to augment the tank by substituting different modules that's certainly an option, but performance will suffer.

Sorry, with a Faction MWD it's just shy of 38m (I neglected the omni tracking link). It's over 87m with any of the C-Type Deadspace MWDs and cap stable with B-Type and above.

Yes, I'm using three accounts.

If you're multiboxing, have you tried spider tanked dominix's?

Yeah, it kicks in at two, period.

Running multiple accounts is not illegal, as long as you are controlling them separately. Using a program/application to control all three at the same time with one click is illegal. It is called input automation.