Ships & Modules

Range bonuses let you chamber more powerful, shorter ranged ammunition and deal more damage at the same ranges as a weapon without a range bonus. It also makes going down to smaller caliber guns less of a trade off, since range bonused ship with lighter guns will still hit out to the same ranges as a non-bonused ship with heavier guns, and with better tracking too. Though diminished, these benefits are still in play when fielding blasters and are further magnified by fitting range extending modules.

What Salo said. The range bonus is wonderful, especially when you're up against a kiting opponent.

Also, sniping out to 100km with an assault frigate is hilarious (even if the damage is, ah, not the best).

its a 10% bonus per level. The range bonus is pretty negligible when using antimatter. In Trinket's first example, the brutix will still outdamage the ferox per/turret at 3.38km because the brutix is still at the very beginning of its falloff. Add in that the brutix has a 7th turret and also more likely to be using neutrons vs the ferox's ions, and the brutix is superior in this situation (plus drones AND an extra lowslot). This is not surprising, and isn't necessarily a bad mark against the ferox, a ship that I happen to like.

Things get a little better for the ferox in the comparison using void, because void has higher optimal than antimatter, as well as a penalty to falloff, the main thing that determines the brutix's damage projection.

The ferox's optimal bonus does shine with Null charges. At this point you can apply dps anywhere within about 40km as soon as you lock, all with the nice tracking of blasters. The brutix can do this too but has much poorer projection in this range, at which point its probably just as effective to switch to antimatter and charge the opponent.

Ultimately, maybe this makes the ferox more viable with afterburner + blasters, but i haven't tried it. The ferox gets a much larger EHP buffer as well. In a single scram shield configuration, the brutix is able to get a respectable 45k + EHP, remain moderately agile, and pump out over 900 DPS without breaking a sweat. Unless you need a bait ship, the brutix has better broad applicability, because it will out damage any other tier1/tier2 BC, while being inexpensive and able to take hits long enough to be useful.

As for the caldari optimal bonus being useless in many situations, well gallente can say the same about our local armor rep bonus. The caldari resistance bonus is amazing however, so don't feel too sad.

Yeah, the range bonus is actually nice. Blaster rokh is fuckin awesome.
A lot of people swear by a beagle, and i personally love the naga.
The thing about the ferox, is that if you're doing small gang pvp, a lot of ppl don't really take it seriously, so it will be nice and easy for you to get fights!
Here's a pro ferox setup. Its not mine, but it works. Plug it into eft and be amazed
And yes, i know. split weapon systems. Get over it.

[Ferox, adf]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Damage Control II

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800
Large Shield Booster II
Invulnerability Field II

Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Fulmination Assault Missile

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I


Warrior II x5

Great for up close and personal.
Thing about "kiting" in it is that you can't do it in the ferox out to 20k and still put out reasonable dps.

EDIT: Depending on your skills/implants, you might be able to swap for the extra 2 ions.

The only hybrid Caldari i've flow are the harpy (in both snarpy and blarpy configs). A sniper harpy (snarpy) is a great ship for frig gangs. I'm currently on a kick with the Eagle in nano-LR gangs.


[Eagle, whofliesaneagle]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Reactor Control Unit II

Large Shield Extender II
Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Sensor Booster II,Scan Resolution // or range script as needed

250mm Railgun II,Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II,Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II,Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II,Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II,Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Salvager I

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Pros:
It's cheap
Very flexible DPS (optimals from 20KM to 150 with T2 ammos, and everything inbetween)
Good Alpha, Good DPS
Very high resists (hi scimi friends)

Cons
Not as much alpha as a muninn
Slower than most nano cruisers (just overheat a lot to compensate)
You need to carry several different types of ammo (both t2 types, antimatter, iridium, and uranium are what I use)

In short, it's pretty much the same alpha/dps as a sniper diemost with a better tank and less speed. Been flying this fit for about 3months, lost one so far out of maybe 10 uses.

Yes, it's "good"....not very good, and not great. But as I said, it's on par with a sniper fit diemost. So to sum it up, it's viable...certainly not the best for this role...but who wants to fly the same ship (ie a muninn) all the time?

I don't know the stats on a sniper zealot of the top of my head in terms of dps/alpha. I do know the Eagle's dps/alpha is marginally lower (5%) than a diemost. A well tanked sniper cerb does 50 more dps with about double the alpha but....delayed DPS is a big problem against anything less than battleships (ie you basically do no damage unless you shoot only secondary targets).

What I mean is that post hybrid buff I think an Eagle should be considered respectable even at typical (non-extreme) ranges particularly given the cost of the ship compared to others in the same role. Last time I checked it was about 20% cheaper to buy and fit a hull than the others.

Not terribly convinced of this myself, but ok.



heh

Optimal bonuses are huge - generally 10%/level (including on the Ferox, just checked). On rails this gives you absurd range, and on blasters it lets you keep the facemelting damage and epic tracking without having to deal with the awful range that has traditionally been the weakness of blasters.

An ion blaster harpy with Null can hit out comfortably to 8+km

Pretty sure the Harpy has 2 optimal bonuses? ;-) That said, give the Eagle a 25m^3 drone bay and unbrick it and it'd be ******* pimp.

-Liang