Ships & Modules

If you're for blitz, you mentioned you prefer that way, then yes they may take too long for you. I am for bounties and in my experience these missions (add Blockade to the lot) are as good as it gets. I don't remember if WC was doable in 20 minutes (I think so; if not it's maybe 25min) but Assault definitely sits within this period. 20-ish milion bounty in 20 minutes - except for special cases like Dread Pirate or some Epic Arc missions I've never seen better in highsec.

Not gonna happen. Weapon systems have to be somehow different from each other. :)


I definitely can complete single leg in 20 minutes. I'm not sure only of the full clear of both paths. Of course I don't have any Twitch/Youtube video to back up my claim. ;)

EDIT: I remember quite well that it required some gear changing along the way and I was doing it when you could still use mobile depot when in bastion. I'll try to run this mission in nearest days and to verify if such completion time is still within reach.

I put both fits against each other with just all level 5 skills and no implants into pyfa:

http://imgur.com/a/w60ax

My fit still outdamages yours at all relevant ranges. If we use implants and then compare lvl 5 vs lvl 6 then I'd like to draw your attention to the cost factor: for the difference in price of just one implant - namely large hybrid damage one - you can buy 2 FN TCs, which yet again lets my fit with just level 5 implants outdamage yours, not by much though.

Now I wondered about usefullness of aligning times and made a very round about calculation on the example of Worlds Collide that was discussed in posts above.

If you go for full clear, probably the best way to start it is doing a series of 3 MJD jumps, unlocking both gates at once and landing you at 0 on one of the gates. That is aligning 3 times plus on time at the first gate you take.
Next two for the next two pockets and another for the final one. That is 3 +1 +2 +1 = 7 times to align in the mission itself. Plus 2 times from the undocking and the final jump out.
9 times where you shave off 4 seconds saving 36 seconds total plus maybe 5-6 seconds moving inbetween which I can't really quantify at this point. The mission itself lasts for about 25 minutes which is 1500 seconds. 36/1500 = 2,4% and lets just say 3% because of other seconds you might have saved somewhere.

So in the end you give up capacitor safety for absolutely nothing, because the 3% in completition time you might save due to higher agility are about the same as 3% in damage you gave up.

Oh well, I guess I got carried away a bit

There is also a matter of how do you measure time, when the counter starts and when it stops. I am concerned mostly with on-grid time and most often I just look if can I finish given mission with bounty tick or not.

Which brings us back to the topic. Last two evenings I have run string of missions for friendly agent and unfortunately I have been offered WC only once, so forget about statistical significance.

This was Serpentis/Guristas variant and I have cleared Serpentis path within a tick (got paid when warping back to the entry pocket) and clearing Guristas path took me a little below 10 minutes. I started with rails+MWD, switched to blasters for 1st and 2nd Serpentis pocket, switched back to rails for Guristas. I believe the clear time can be improved (it's been some time but I know I did better) but I'm not sure how much. Thus I retract my claim of possibility of killing everything within 20 minutes. Maybe it's true but I have nothing to back it up.

One more indicator that I may have been a little too optimistic are those bounties. I got 13 mil for Serpentis and 12 mil for Guristas. I have already mentioned that running L4s used to cap at about 20mil for me. When I get 25 or more I definitely tend to remember that. This is not the case with WC.

I took the opportunity of upgrading and enhancing my Kronos fit. I dropped a tracking computer for a scan resolution-scripted sensor booster and swapped out the two inertial stabilizers for a tracking enhancer and additional magnetic field stabilizer. This has the advantage of allowing me to swap out the sensor booster for a large micro jump drive on the handful of missions where it's needed, boosts my tracking speed by ~20% (Antipharmakon Iokira) and substantially reduces lock time for frigates and other small ships. I sacrificed 3km of falloff range and 2.5s of align time for 1378 DPS with Null L and 'Augmented' drones. Warp speed remained identical so I haven't really noticed that much of a change in transit times overall.

After running the numbers in Pyfa, I don't think you can get much better performance as the T2 neutron blaster cannons outperform even the polarized and Officer variants.

I used my original fitting for comparison but have since modified it to a variant of yours. I'm running a damage control instead of an EANM and a scan resolution-scripted sensor booster instead of the heavy cap booster. I went with four Faction magnetic field stabilizers and the aforementioned +6 implants so my final DPS is slightly higher. I also have the option of swapping out the sensor booster for a third range-scripted tracking computer or large micro jump drive.

I've never had an issue with capacitor. As long as you pulse your armor repairer, apply expedicious overheating when necessary and don't perma-run it you should generally be fine. The damage control offers an additional safety buffer by combining with Bastion to ratchet up your hull resistances as well as enhancing the passive shield buffer.

In terms of implants, in addition to the others I mentioned I'm running Ogdin's for +6% tracking speed in slot 7 instead of a +5% bump to falloff range. With a Faction tracking enhancer, Ogdin's and the +8% tracking speed drug it's giving me roughly +25% extra tracking speed. I think that's worth a bit more than a few km of falloff, but it's hard to say.

This is one of the primary reason I almost never use bastion. In essence, you're creating that scenario. However, I use a slightly different philosophy when putting together my marauders.

By the time you are sitting in a marauder, you should be very familiar with the missions. You know which frigates web and disrupt, and they should be on the top of your attack list. You ought to never actually find yourself warp disrupted except for the one or two missions where the offending frigate spawns right where you warp in at.

Second, when you do get warp disrupted, activate reps immediately, regardless of whether or not you need them in that instant - for the exact reason quoted above. In the event of disconnect, you want those reps going. Optimally, that won't be for but a few seconds, but still.

Third, your build needn't be "cap stable", as much as it should be "cap stable with just the tank". In the event you get disconnected, the guns will finish firing on their one target, and that will leave you with extra cap. So when you are PYFA or simulating your builds, see what the cap is like with just the tank running.

But there is another, simpler tactic. Many people just instantly jump to bastion anytime they need reps. And because of the boost you can get from bastion (plus the inherit marauder bonuses), you can downsize to medium reps (which saves you a ton of cap). When bastioned, medium reps are more than enough to tank (assuming you fit proper tank for the mission). Sure, you're stuck in place a lot and your mission times be be longer, but if you're seeking a safety net in the event of a d/c, that's another way to go.

Besides, any PvE build that is made specifically to be cap stable is already self-gimping. Don't do that.