Ships & Modules

I just started EVE less than a month ago and I am now getting close to being able to pilot a Cov Ops ship. This will be used purely as a intel gathering vessel. Mainly to observe and set up safe spots.

Speed while cloaked is my first attraction and goal. If caught I am most likely dead anyway, still I would like to implement...something to at least grant a chance of escape. Thus the Tracking Disruptor. Although I doubt that it will be of much use.

Not having the combat skills and experience I can't figure what would best fill the empty slots. This ship is a tight fit to start with. So any advice and suggestions from the learned community is appreciated.

I am torn between the Overdrives and the Nanofibers. Overall speed while cloaked is my main concern, but the nanos allow for better handling as well. Avoiding combat and being detected in the first place may not give reason for them...I just don't know...

I plan to use Sister Probes and launcher, later. This was just what was in EFT (that I just downloaded). It didn't have Sisters, but that's for later.


[Cheetah 3]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

1MN MicroWarpdrive II
[empty med slot]
[empty med slot]
[empty med slot]

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing II


As always. Thank you in advance for the valued input of the forum,

- JCC

EDIT 1 : Added potential Small Grav Cap Upgrade
EDIT 2 : Added ECM - Multispectral Jammer II
EDIT 3 : Added Barton Reactor Capacitor Recharger I
EDIT 4 : Changed to 1 MN Afterburner II
EDIT 5 : Rework...work in progress...
EDIT 6 : Potential Final

I'd recommend scan strength rigs, because really those speed rigs won't save you.

Small gravity capacitor rigs are what you want, they will increase your scan strength which is really what you want on a covert ops ship setup to scan. As was said above speed rigs won't save you if caught.

The "M" in MWD actually stands for "Mandatory".

Your E-war requires you to be un-cloaked. Don't ever be un-cloaked.

Analog Booster rockets are extremely expensive.

It is beyond me why you want cloaked speed. You do not need that at all.
The only problem you'll be facing is gate camps. For that you absolutely need an MWD.

When running into a gatecamp, double click away from the camp, then immediately activate the cloak and MWD.
The MWD will run exactly for one activation catapulting you out cloaked.

For a gate camp it really doesn't matter if you are running with 300m/s without or 400m/s with Overdrives. You'll need the 2000m/s you only get from an MWD.

There simply are no other dangerous situations for a CovOps than gate camps.


That's what I would suggest:

High:
Covert Ops Cloaking Device
Sister's Expanded Probe Launcher
Salvager II

Med:
MWD II
ECM Burst II
Warp Disruptor II
...

Low:
Micro Auxiliary Power Core
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Rigs:
Small Gravity Capacitor
Small Gravity Capacitor


ECM Burst, Warp Disruptor and Salvager are not necessary.
ECM Burst can help you break the lock of a tackling frigate. But in most cases it will not save you once you're tackled.

I thought the MWD trick was not needed with a Cov Ops Cloak.

Can't they warp cloaked?

EDIT : Ah...the cloaked speed is for setting certain safe spots. That extra speed can you where you need to be for strategic placement of certain bookmarks. It's a technique I gathered from a recent video.

I can't thank you guys enough for the help. It is really appreciated.


EDIT 2 : TBH, my initial plans for this vessel was to fit out with just the speed mods and the cloak. If I was decloaked and attacked, I planned to try to escape or just eject and hope for the best. Upon getting caught, death is an accepted conclusion.

I just thought I could implement some countermeasures to maybe increase the odds of a slim chance that the attacker would screw up more than me.


I found a deal on Cheetahs and just picked up 10 of them. That should give me a decent learning curve...for now.


EDIT 3 : Oh! What is the Salvager for? If I'm not actually going into the site or killing anything. How does it come into play?



.

So, when you jump through a gate, you can actually jump into a bubble?

And I looked into the price of that AB. Ha! Yea, I don't think I'll be using that one. My Alt Trader is turning 200m a day but I don't want these disposables to be much over 100m.

If you're not a dedicated scanner, don't fit for super, uber scanning. You'll be more than fine for the overwhelming majority of uses with just the Sisters launcher/probes. If you're going to specialize in worm holes, that might be a good reason to go with probing type fits. Or if you know you'll be scanning out ships with small sigs in safe spots a lot.

Core Cheetah fit: 3 nanos, Covops cloak, meta MWD, 1 hyperspatial rig (warp speed boost), 1 rig of your choice

Tweaked fits or fits for lower skills will balance out low slots for Reactors that power a dual prop or power a MWD for low skilled characters. You can use that rig slot for power boost as well, or fit Low Friction (agility) rig and go with reactors in the lows. Even with only two nanos or 1 nano and an agility rig, you'll be more agile and get into warp faster than the other covops similarly fit. Agility is your number one priority; running gate camps is your most important challenge. MWD is the second most important part of the fit. If you can fit a dual prop without sacrificing agility, that's a pretty good way to go, but you have to know how to use it properly or its a wasted fit.

edit: for running gate camps make sure you hit your cloak first, then a 1 count, then the MWD. The MWD will still engage, but the cloak will keep your sig from blowing up and facilitating a fast lock on you. You will be one or two shotted often if you hit MWD first, because the sig blows up, the aggressor gets the lock, and now you can't cloak. Sure death. Dual props are for situations where you've decided NOT to crash the gate and to attempt to get out of the bubble (or out of range of points). If you get locked and scrammed (either because you didn't hit cloak fast enough or were decloaked while making your way out of the bubble), the scram will turn off your MWD, your speed will drop drastically, and bad things will happen. With the AB, when the scram engages, you hit the AB to keep your speed up while you leave the bubble. For the most part though, if the campers have significant DPS at a range of 30 to 40km and can lock in a reasonable amount of time, you won't be making it out alive. The dual prop is very situational.

If your going through null there will be bubble camps. Meaning yes, you will jump through a gate and be inside a bubble, hence why you NEED a mwd to push you out. You cycle it and hit your cloak, and when your out of the bubble you warp. Garunteed a fast tackle and drones will be heading straight towards where they think you are, so you NEED to gtfo of that bubble ASAP.

MWD gets you out of bubbles and is great to get the distances needed quickly to setup safe spots BM's, long range insta's etc.