Ships & Modules

Hello to all, I am a noob, and an alpha, sorry about that. I need a bit of help ! I am planning on moving from Thrasher onto Rupture whenever I can (means in a while), but I can't decide which kind of tank would be better for pve ratting and the occasional pvp if I get ganked - so I have no need for scramblers etc. Here are the two builds I have conceived and tested on Osmium.org, the first being shield-based and the second armor-focused :


[Rupture - passive shield tank]

4 * 650mm medium Prototype Siege Cannon, Phased Plasma M
Salvager I

Damage Control II
Mark I Compact Shield Power Relay
Counterbalanced Compact Gyrostabilizer
Counterbalanced Compact Gyrostabilizer
Tracking Enhancer II

10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
Large Azeotropic Restrained Shield Extender
Large Azeotropic Restrained Shield Extender
F12 Enduring Tracking Computer (no script)

Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
Medium Projectile Locus Coordinator I


[Rupture - active armor tank]

Highs : same as before

Damage Control II
800mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates
Counterbalanced Compact Gyrostabilizer
Counterbalanced Compact Gyrostabilizer
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, nanite paste

Medium Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery
10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
F12 Enduring Tracking Computer (no script)
F12 Enduring Tracking Computer (no script)

Medium Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
Medium Projectile Locus Coordinator I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I


I avoid using T2 modules as much as possible because they are often a lot more expensive than their next-best variant. Now, I lack experience and can't decide what would be best. The shield tank gives me more effective EHP according to Osmium - around 20k vs 15k for the armor fit - but in the second case the armor repper offers more control over the tank in battle than the passive shield regen, which is good. The signature radius would also be lower due to the lack of shield rigs and shield extenders. The biggest issue I have with the armor tank is how difficult is it to install : the repper would wreck havoc on my cap, forcing me to dedicate two whole slots to the fitting - one mid for the Cap Battery to make the cap instability bearable and one rig for the super expensive (over 2 millions isk) Current Router so that said battery doesn't melt my power grid.

Would someone be so kind and give a newbie some advice ? Thank you in advance ! Have a nice day :)

These aren't bad starts. They aren't quite right either.

Here are the two fits I tossed together. They aren't alpha-friendly, but can easily be downgraded to make them so.

[Rupture, pve shield]

Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Shield Power Relay II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II

10MN Afterburner II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
[Empty High slot]

Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I

[Rupture, pve armor]

Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Armor Kinetic Hardener II
Armor Thermal Hardener II

10MN Afterburner II
Large Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II

650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
[Empty High slot]

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I

So let's go point by point and look at what I did versus what you did.

For shield, you're lacking all resists. Swapping the TC for an invuln increases the tank dramatically as less damage will get through period. Changing the lows around to add another TE also allows me to dedicate rigs to tank. If you're going to go passive shield, purgers are absolutely the way to get your tank numbers up (they directly decrease recharge time, so more shield recharges each second). For the fifth low I went with a shield power relay; a damage control is totally valid here too. The relay gives better peak tank while the damage control gives more buffer in case you need to split. I'm comfortable enough flying a passive tank that I'd rather strengthen that.

You had the right idea. The major takeaway here is that you really need to invest in your resists.

For armor: not so much.

The plate/MAAR setup just.... doesn't really work. MAARs are fine if you only need to burst tank, but I'm pretty sure you're going to be running yours for sustained periods. Just go with a normal MAR.

The plate... well, you never want to have to need it. The whole idea is that either you can rep enough to stay or you get out. It's also putting major undue strain on your powergrid.

In the mids: well, batteries are interesting. You'll observe that I used a large and you used a medium. You get FAR more benefit out of the large. However, this puts strain on powergrid again, so I need ACRs as well. It's fully stable running a T2 MAR with the large battery though. The SMC is just... there.

Instead of cap buffer you could instead look at recharge, like so:

[Rupture, pve armor no battery]

Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Armor Kinetic Hardener II
Armor Thermal Hardener II

10MN Afterburner II
Cap Recharger II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II

650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M
[Empty High slot]

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

This lasts 11.5 minutes (my skills). That should be sufficient. No fitting problems either.

Finally a note on tracking computers. There's literally no instance where you'd want both unscripted. Under those circumstances, both TCs are providing two equal bonuses to the same stats, which brings stacking penalties into full effect. You should see about 8.7% better performance across the board if you script them oppositely. If you want more detail on that I can walk you through it. As you can see, I like having a range script and a no script to get a somewhat better increase to range while still picking up tracking. That's a personal preference though; I like to adjust tracking with piloting as much as possible.

Let loose any questions. I can go into much more detail on just about anything.

Always, always fit resists instead of just buffer/rep.

As a general rule, T1 weapons rigs are slightly worse than their corresponding modules and are stacking penalized. There are times to use them, but rigging is usually better used for fitting, tank, or some other intangible.

Purgers, please note, are not stacking penalized. So fitting several of them has a synergistic effect. Same goes for shield power relays.

As for tank numbers: what are you trying to do? The shield fit I posted puts out 115 ehp/s at peak recharge. A T2 version of the one you posted pushes 58.7 ehp/s at peak recharge. So yes, I get twice the tank. Either should be fine for L2s, but I know which one I'd prefer in a 4/10 or L3 for sure.



MAARs are more cap friendly as long as your paste lasts. Without paste, they're actually pretty inefficient, and the reload time is long (during which of course you're not repping anything at all). Except in some narrow circumstances I wouldn't want to take an AAR for PvE.

Plates are useful for buffer. However, you're really looking for sustained tank numbers in PvE. Extra buffer just means you can stick around and take a bit longer to die once your tank is overwhelmed. That's not really useful.

EANM/TE is going to push less tank than two mission-specific hardeners (note that you really oughtn't be using kin/therm for anything but Serpentis and Guristas; you'd swap those out as needed). Remember that the TE is stacking penalized against the TCs so it might not be the best option. If you're *really* into the EANM idea you could argue for a damage control over a TE pretty easily. I could also argue for a third gyro. Ultimately it depends on how much tank you need, which depends on what you're doing.

You're really only using two rig slots to make the armor fit work (the ACRs to be specific). The SMC is there just to give some additional cap buffer that you don't strictly need.

Thanks, but if I fly a Fleet issue cruiser, it will be the Stabber, once (if) I have enough money. I don't like the look of the Scythe.

Ty everyone for the tips, I think I'll go for shield, it will be easier and I'll spare a few millions buck by avoiding the Current routers.

Stabber fleet issue, I said. Unless the wiki stats are wrong, it has a better tank than your Scythe FI, can fit more cannons, has more low slots and almost twice the drone capacity and bandwith. The Scythe's only advantage is its superior speed. It's a logistic ship that decided it wanted to be an attack vessel, losing its support bonuses in the process ; not exactly coherent. I am well aware that the normal Stabber is not competitive, though.

Besides I don't have the money to buy a FI, far from it.

Thanks. That's more or less the fit I have envisioned (I just won't drop the Damage control, no way). I will play with the LSE and the AIF, ty for the idea.

Question, what can you say about your guns ? Are there of the kind that do more damage than the 650mm and have much better range but fire a lot more slowly, with worse tracking? Ir is that just the "howitzer" serie ?

You really want to convince me to buy a Scythe FI :) Told you, I won't, I don't like its shape ! Besides, I checked the wiki again, unless the ship was buffed recently, it's not a monster like you made it out to be. It is faster and perhaps more versatile than the Stabber FI but it sports one less turret hardpoint, it has less tank - shield is slightly better, 2400 pts vs 2250, but armor and structure are worse with 1950 vs 2700 and 1950 vs 2250 respectively, so Stabber has better buffer -, worse drone capabilities with 25 m3 and bandwith versus 40, one less low slot, worse cargo, and a weaker powergrid. The Scythe FI surely has its advantages, as you said (speed, sig radius etc) but it's not supremely powerful. Besides, it seems like it would be better fitted as a missile boat than a gun boat.

And finally, the support skills of the base Scythe look really good, its' a logistic cruiser. Why throw that away for a wannabe-Cyclone ?