Missions & Complexes

DPS is very similar (3 sentries easily make up for the slight dps advantage of tachs and add a possible 3rd damage type), tracking is identical. Tanks are identical.

Obviously lasers are cap intensive but these ships bring so much dps that it's really not an issue.

Curious to hear what the general consensus is.

Obviously a Kronos in Gallente space and the Paladin in Amarr space.

Kronos is much better because of damage combo.
Lasers only do a good damage to mercs/sansha/BR. Encountering any other rats will bring you a lot of problems.
Angels will be almost immune to your damage, just like Guristas and any other rats.

The coolness on Kronos is you always do a decent damage to any rat. Therm/Kin combo works for any rat, while EM/Therm is not.

Wrong.
Lasers only have 40% of Thermal damage, if you use Mutifreq. If you use others Therm damage ratio is even lower.
The biggest part of that damage is wasted due to resists.

Even if the rat has 0% Therm resist the damage will be awful.


Lets say you do 100 damage, that is 60 EM and 40 TH.
High bounty Gurista rat has resists like ~75% EM, 65% EXP, 45% KIN and 55% TH.
Your laser will be doing 15 EM and 18 TH = 33 damage
While a ship with only one damage type, like Domi with its sentries will be doing 55 damage, assuming it did 100 KIN damage.
55 vs 33 is just awful. You'll be doing 40% less damage with lasers.

It gets much worse when you meet Mordus, Angels or EoM.

Kronos pilot here.

In my experience the biggest advantage of Kronos is fitting versatility. With just T2 modules only you have pretty decent tank and gank and then you can upgrade the stuff as you go. With deadspace repper, which you will invest in sooner or later, you will be able to free one or two mid/low slots for pure utility. It doesn't seem much but it's really convenient to use, say, AB without any compromise.

Speaking of compromise, I've been poking around with Paladin in EFT and one thing which didn't win my heart is the fact that you can't fit tachyons without some PG extension. Also since the damage bonus is tied to the Marauders' skill there is some pressure to train this skill to 5, which can be pain (that being said, Kronos can benefit from it as well; I did it myself and I really enjoy the extra tank and tracking).

Ammo usage isn't much issue. The amount you can carry in the cargo hold is enough for several missions at least. Rails' range of course is nowhere near that of tachyons, if you can fit them, but honestly there are only two missions which call for Spikes and they're crappy ones actually. For everything else there is not a problem which can't be fixed with a pair of scripted Tracking Computers.

HTH.

I stand corrected about tachs. Thanks for clarification.

I think though that you misunerstood what I was trying to say about ammo. Which is, marauders generally don't use much of it for their performance. The statement about how much ammo you can keep means how much ammo you can keep, not how much you should take. Normally I take enough to complete a couple of missions and reload at the station where my agent is. It that's too much effort for you, fine, I understand but please don't paint it as a deal breaker.

On the other hand I have no other use for this space because I don't loot/salvage during the missions. I kill rats fast enough to consider other activities distracting. When I feel I like to clean up I launch Noctis, otherwise I focus on shooting.

And lastly, I'm not saying whether Kronos is better than Paladin. I have first hand experience only with former and thus I refuse to make direct comparison. I just stated what advantages Kronos has. And one of them is crapload of PG. I can fit full rack of railguns, dmg. rig, deadspace repper and still be able to fit AB, MWD, MJD or heavy NOS, no implants required. Sure there are ships which can pull this trick too but I dare say there are not too many of them.

Which doesn's say Paladin is worthless. I guess that when doing missions in Amarr space it doubly makes sense to fly this ship.

Im not a Kronos Pilot, but my alt is pretty much all 5's for pally and I love it in Amarr space.
Iv got little problem ripping up everything except last angels room solo, I bet a single kronos is about the same.

Currently Im using a Pulse fitted version link to fitting here:
http://eve.battleclinic.com/loadout/62401-Paladin-Pally.html
almost 1500 DPS after drones and Implants (read description for recommended Implants)

I was also very upset with the Paladin's inability to fit a full set of Tach's without a PG, but THE I created a Tachy build that needs no PG implant, should be about 1200 DPS with Tachy range (9000M-50km-full DPS output)
HERE:
http://eve.battleclinic.com/loadout/64058-Tachyon-Paladin-no-PG-implant-100MN-855-DPS-no-drone-no-plant.html

you can play around with the Tachy pally on your own, changing drones or even taking out some mid/high slots for more tracktor beams+5 salvage drones or More tracking computer, but the basic fittings are pretty solid.

I also want to note, the paladin is by far completely the opposite from being inflexible,
the Gallante Marauder is for Gallante space, where the salvage tends to suck, while the Pally is for Amarr space where the salvage is considered very good, I.E. its better ISK to mission in a Pally (but then again you could take the Kronos into Amarr space)

I also want to note some more, I burn on average 1 X 800 charge every mission, or 5 every 5th mission, very tested and very tried...

P.S. my apologies if bclinic links aren't allowed, if their not then leme know how people post their fittings without breaking rules.

(edited some grammar) - if it isnt bad enough =)

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS VARGUR.

I've thought about it, mostly I don't want to train ANOTHER battleship to 5. I'm almost done with Marauders 5 so at this point it's a matter of practicality.

Also, I DO plan on salvaging on the go, no reason not too with a marauder, it can only help your isk/hour.

Forget the Kronos and Paladin and get a Vargur. Problem solved. Problem stays solved...until you lose it. Then you get another one because any idiot can make their isk back with that sexy beast of a ship.