Ships & Modules

Hm, if you are willing to use 4 DDA's, then the Sentry Drone rig becomes pretty worthless in regard to the used calibration value and rig slot, I guess, and the provided extra damage. I myself use 3 DDA's and one T1 Sentry Drone rig currently, and this setup is at the edge of being useful. In a couple of days when I get back to highsec, I will buy myself the T2 Sentry rig and replace the current T1 version.

Concerning the Purger, well, your fits show that you were using shield booster and so I thought that the Safeguard rigs would be more helpful. Of course I do not want to talk you into something you might not like. :)

I live in nullsec and mostly use my battleship for running rank 9/10 anomalies, Sansha Haven sites, to be exact, and I only use T2 Curator sentries without any Guns or missiles from a distance. Therefore, I really do not need much tank, because of the long range and the DPS is sufficient.
I have the same ship with same setup in Highsec too, in case I would like to run some missions. As I can remember, the Level 4 missions were easier to tank and kill than the anomalies I am used to in nullsec, so I guess that the cruise missiles just support and help to get the missions done faster, but are not really necessary to get through the missions.

However, I can remember that running Level 4 missions with a long-range-sentry setup and purely MJD was a bit "tiring" when there were acceleration gates, for it took a long long time to burn to the gates. It was also very very frustrating when you had to fly out of the mission and back in again, for all that burning to the gates felt like it took ages. An Afterburner or MWD at least in cargo might be very handy. Maybe even fitted besides the MJD would help to maintain nerve strengths, morale, and motivation up. :D

The Battleship training to level 5 takes a very long time and as many have suggested to me, it is absolutely unprofitable to level up to 5 if you are not really interested to upgrade to for example Marauders or Black Ops ships. After levelling up Sentry DI, and DI both to 5, I was so excited about the extra damage, I just wanted to go for it and get Amarr BS V right away. :)
But well, people basically convinced me to skip it for now, and I think it was the right choice, because of the considerable amount of time it takes to train it. ;)

Concerning the rigs, because the T1 sentry rigs would be rather unprofitable, maybe you could get more out of your ship if you would use all 3 rig slots for shield tanking then.

Well, I am Amarr pilot and have Ancillary Armor repairer with nanite repair paste in cargo, just in case. Its basically the same as the ASB, just using less cargo space. ;)
The Cap booster charges for the ASB take a lot of cargo space unfortunately.

I also found the salvaging process a bit problematic in highsec with level 4 missions. :)

I keep looking at Rattlesnake threads, and I keep running into one problem: there are three different fitting philosophies, all viable, all mutually exclusive unless you want to put down the ISK for three hulls, which is on the expensive side even given the downward trend in Rattlesnake prices.

So ... assuming Caldari BS V to max out the resist bonuses, it just might be possible to put together a rigging scheme that allows for viable (if not optimal) fits in all three philosophies - active tank, passive tank, distance tank - wouldn't it?

I'm seriously pondering this because of the new Rapid Heavy Missile Launchers, which strike me as just about the perfect secondary weapon system for the Rattler - good against cruisers, not too bad against smaller targets, especially with the new iteration that they've proposed with the front-loaded rapid-fire DPS.

I'm not looking for min-max numbers, but rather versatility, I suppose.

The RS is one if not the best PvE boat in EVE. You can fit her fully passive, and still do 900 DPS and shield rep 250 every sec or more, fully active fit and do 1200 plus DPS, or mix it up and do passive with invuls and get a tank that is unreal and still do over 1000 DPS. Really it's all up to you. I have done all 3 and I prefer the passive for the RS, if I need something fast and active I'll use my Tengu, and if I want a active tank to be lazy with I'll use my Golem. The thing is, the RS is just fun to use, is unreal how tough she is, and the mix of drones and missiles makes it fun to use. The only real issue with the RS is how many skills you really have to put into her to use her well. The toons I use has Caldari BS L5, Gal BS L5, Drones I have 9.3mil (still have more to train), missiles 12.9mil, and shields 3.5mil, all in all that is a lot of skills to get up and I'm not even finished with training my drones up, and still have one more shield skill I need to L5. But IF you do get your skills up, it is a great ship.

the downsides of using a MJD will soon be gone as it'll just take 45s or so to refit for a mwd. Dual proping won't cost an extra midslot anymore.

Use of mobile depots to refit mid mission. 45 second onlining time.

Once you've killed everything you can swap a tanking mod for a MWD (and cap rechargers too if you want) and finish the last bit to the accel gate. Then drop again to refit for next room. Or you can just take the gate immediately, hit your MJD, drop your depot, and THEN fit for tanking mods.

Excuse me, but I find your post very unappropriate.

A very important part of the game is to personally develop and make own experiences, especially ingame experiences based on fits.
Just copy-pasting some "perfect" fits from other people does not teach one anything. I find it very important that Schmu freely suggests her fits she thinks out by herself and I find it very helpful for all of us who follow her thread that we discuss about the fits and all together theorycraft about how the ships might perform in a nice manner.
Eventually, it is Schmu who will fly the ships and based on the fits and the given capabilities the fits provide, she will adjust her playstyle. This is a lot of fun in the game, that is, personally developing fits, testing out their efficiency and put that theory into practice. Just using third party programs to fit some ships and check out numbers means nothing. What matters is to actively work on fits, trying new modules out, and not being so focused on being "perfect" with numbers that pop up on third party program windows and feel good about them based on that.

Furthermore, every person has other preferences concerning playstyle. Me personally, I like to snipe and to rely on EWAR. I hate brawling, tackling, and what not, anything that what brings me too close to targest. So, even if someone would come up with a "perfect" brawler fit and approach me with it, I would still delete it and run the ship setup I feel the most comfortable with.
Not everybody is the same, so not every "perfect" fit is perfect for everybody.
Thus, if Schmu is happy with her fits and is overall happy with her results, then that's what counts.

To me, Schmu's fit's look fine and they are worth giving it a try. And again, how she fits her own ships and how she uses her own ships, that is her personal matter.
If you have any suggestions concerning the fit, then we all would be happy to know about them, but just coming here to tell her that her fits are "very fail" in the first sentence, and then coming up with your favorite fits and present yourself as the "messiah of the fitters" is very unappropriate. I personally would have had stopped reading your post right there, if I was her.

And about the drones, there is no discussion and debate about T2 Sentries. First Sentry Drone Interfacing V, second Drone Interfacing V. There is no valid argument that would speak against this skill order, no matter how the arguments are twisted, stretched and molted.

Janna Sway, you get the last word and are absolutely right.

Tauranon people do MJD it, but not just for tanking.
It is for tanking, E-war reduction and a damage increase since wardens apply the most dps with 0 tracking issues at their long optimal range.
I have not ventured into techII heavies yet but I do have heavies lvl4 and some faction navy drones and I found them to apply noticeably less then gardes under any circumstance.
I understand from others it's due to tracking, I would try them on a Dominix but my skill-set isn't entirely optimal for a domi.
Edit: Tauranon I would pick a MWD over a MJD, I just haven't been that active in EvE just skilling atm I'd have to see if i can fit them together tbh.
Its just a thought, if it goes together I would prefer to run it with dual prop for wardens, but I wouldn't shy from trying it with a flight of heavies and a web even.
So many ways to fit a rattler depending on your goal, but in missions rattlers slowness is its weak point in my eyes.

Not saying MJDs are always best, just that all sentry boats including the rattlesnake make excellent use of them.

IMO it doesn't matter if you're hurting your tank or reducing the number of omnis because you're still able to apply damage almost perfectly, you still have fantastic projection, and you can still fit 4 DDAs. As a sentry boat, being at range gives you perfect damage application, and unlike gun boats, being at range does NOT reduce your damage*. Being a sentry boat, mobility is the biggest issue for both damage application and overall mission speed. The advantage of the MJD is you minimize the time your sentries aren't killing things with perfect efficiency.

Prop mod wise, I think single prop (mwd or MJD) with 2 omni links and dual prop (mjd/mwd) with 1 fed omnilink are both excellent. The reason I say this is that additional omnilinks primarily benefit the optimal range of garde's. After the first two, the other 3 drone times are effective beyond your targetting range. My contention is that while paper dps is lower, you don't lose much effective DPS at all when switching to the long range drones. This is because thermal is typically the 2nd weakest resist, while your long-range drone will hit the weakest resist. This tends to balance out so that even at long ranges; you're losing <10% dps by not using gardes. In exchange, you have a highly mobile battleship that spends much more time standing still and shooting things that trucking around getting to gates.

Just to illustrate the point, here's a quick fit (although not a noob-appropriate one)

[Rattlesnake, dual prop]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Signal Amplifier II [all-around nice mod to have. 9 total targets, better scan res, 122km lock-range w/o any gang bonus]
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System [can switch one low for a damage control]

Gist B-Type 100MN Microwarpdrive (855 m/s)
Large Micro Jump Drive
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link
Pith B-Type Large Shield Booster [quite cheap, easy to fit, decent potential for burst tanking]
Pith A-Type Thermic Dissipation Field
Pith A-Type Kinetic Deflection Field
Dread Guristas Thermic Dissipation Field [This is is a fairly inexpensive shield tank, if you spend more isk you can easily run a 3 slot tank with another omnilink or target painter. You can also easily permatank with a pithum booster]

Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Cruise Missile
Drone Link Augmentor II
Drone Link Augmentor II

Large Warhead Rigor Catalyst II [Rigs to taste here, missiles are primarily supplementary damage vs BC's, BS's, and structures]
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I [or whatever, even a drone scope chip is possible here, drop the CCC's if using a medium booster]
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I

Warden II 97+30 (600 DPS)
Garde II 39+12 (49+12 with 2nd faction omnilink) (800 DPS)
Bouncer II 78+42 (700 DPS)
Curator II 68+24 (650 DPS)
105 km drone control range with EW interfacing lvl 4.

Launchers add 319 DPS with furies, 228 with T1. 100+km range with precision cruise even due to the bonus. Although you would never need to use precisions as your sentry drones will 1 shot frigs and make quick work of elite cruisers. When you consider all the non-garde drones will be hitting on the weakest resist, it pretty much works out to having 800-1000 pure-damage-type DPS with perfect application at 80km. All while being tanky and extremely mobile for a battleship. 40km Garde's aren't really an issue, you always have the option of not using your MJD initially or closing range after you use it.

With the fit I posted you can drop the MJD in exchange for an omnidirectional, and the sigamp for a damage control. It makes your tank slightly stronger and your garde's better, but I feel like you're really not gaining that much by doing so. MJD works excellent defensively and using it results in overall easier and more effective management of sentries. The tank can also get a lot better if you buy a nicer shield booster.

Anytime you have to use a module that has a cool down time over 30s you are hurting what you are able to do. If you just know what you are doing, you don't have to move at all to rock in a RS. You can sit in one spot and clean the area fast and easy. Some ships may need a prop module, a RS isn't one of them. Just put your time and effect into training the skills needed and learning how to use those skill correctly. I'm sure I posted a fully passive fit in the forum before, if anyone is interested in seeing it. I look at the RS as this

Passive RS - 800 to 900 DPS, Good tank

Active RS - 1100 to 1300 DPS, Good tank

Passive/Active mis RS - 900 to 1100 DPS, Great tank

All will rock L4s easy and fast, just depends on the weapon you'd prefer to use. A passive RS will rock L4s, L5s, Sancs, and most 6 of 10s and up.

I only do SoE missions, mostly because I get to kill pretty much all the pirate factions. All I do is I use one of 3 ships, which ever is best for the mission at hand.

Tengu Active, HAMs, AB
Golem Active, Cruise, TP
Rattlesnake, Passive, Drones, Cruise

Anyone that is interested in doing L4s of SoE contact me and I'll either do them with you or power level you to L4s for, or you can come Salv, as I don't salv ever.
I do missions when I'm stuck in high sec from a clone jump or to help others, need help in anyway let me know, and I'll do what I can to help you.

bouncers have excellent DPS and range, equal tracking to wardens
Curators have lowish DPS but they out-range gardes and have double the tracking of wardens/bouncers. Furthermore against EM weak enemies its very nice to use EM.
Wardens uber long range, low dps, only use vs kin-weak enemies.

Ionic field projector is okay for range if you don't want to use a mid/low, however it does hurt your shield buffer, which is important and huge on a RS. I would definitely avoid this rig unless you need the range and can't spare the other slots.
Unless you have high missile SP I would drop the ballstic control unit and otherwise make missile DPS the last priority. The cruise really are just supplemental dps vs big targets. I've run the RS with RLML and with 3 launcher or no launchers at all, which gives you opportunity to focus on utility, application, mobility, tank, and general usefulness.