Missions & Complexes

Hi!

Assuming I would use Stratios only against Sansha rats what drone combination I should choose? Now I guess such a combo should be enough:

- light: 5x Hobgoblin II
- medium: 5x Hammerhead II
- heavy: 4x Ogre or 4x Praetor (both faction types) or maybe 2x Gecko would be better?
- sentry: 4x faction Curator

Moreover I simulated in EFT what damage output I can get in Stratios taking into account maximum drone skills level I am ready to train (mostly level IV). Let's limit scope of this analysis to sentry drones only. I assumed maximum targeting and firing range with sentries would be around 65 km. At this distance I would be able to cause 376 dps raw EM damage using faction Curators. Is this enough to burn though Sansha's DED 4/10?

Burn range using MWD? BTW, what type of laser to use on Stratios?

I fly both. The Gila can fit a much higher passive tank with more dps, however applying damage thru the Stratios's can go much quicker, even with "less" dps. I prefer the Stratios, as someone said, Cov ops spoils you. I generally try to stay in lowsec and just roam where escalations send me. 5/10 and 6/10's aren't really a problem, as long as you know what to expect. The fit I've been using is:

[Stratios, Combat Explorer]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Reactive Armor Hardener
Centum C-type Medium Armor Repairer

Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
10MN Afterburner II

Focused Modulated Medium Energy Beam I
Focused Modulated Medium Energy Beam I
Salvager I
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Sisters Core Probe Launcher, Sisters Core Scanner Probe

Medium Drone Control Range Augmentor I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

Garde II x4
Curator II x4
Gecko x1
Hammerhead II x4
Infiltrator II x4
Hobgoblin II x5
Acolyte II x4
Salvage Drone I x5

I prefer having a plate as its much more forgiving for mistakes, and lets you stay longer to whittle down the amount of incoming dps.

1 Gecko and 4 medium drones is more dps than 2 Geckos or 4 heavies, plus if one of the drones gets aggro and you have to pull it off the field, you're not losing 1/2 your dps (unless its the Gecko, then almost).

6/10's, jumping into several web towers can be brutal. I generally carry a mobile depot and refit specific hardeners to break the room. Once the web towers and sentry III's are down you can speed tank all the battleships with little problems. I'll generally drop my mobile depot once I've got the web towers down and working through the sentry/missile towers. When its just battleships you can swap to 3 DDA's, a plate and a repper, and still be fine.

Another note, cloaking after taking the warp gate works about 70% of the time for me, landing over 2k from the little triangle thingy (its a technical term). You can then slowboat out of range for stationary boss towers, etc.

The target painter is for WH sites (along with the salvager for BS wrecks). It keeps aggro off of your drones. Also effective on frigs when you don't want to swap to smaller drones.

It's really, really situational and sometimes down to luck. The Stratios is obviously better at scanning and superior running anything doing EM damage as far as tank goes, but a passive shield tanking Gila is a monster for dps. The two medium drones will do 700dps-ish when your drone skills are perfect, and up to 800dps if you bother putting missiles in the top slot. I personally don't, and leave them for salvaging and tractor beams for the t2 salvage. Those two drones are also a lot easier to manage when it comes to take damage with the insane tank they have. On most Serpentis sites I run with it, I can pop them out and let them go to work on their own accord. They tackle the Serpentis Phi operator with ease.

The Stratios on the other hand has the trick of being more versatile in what it can put out - sentry drones means that it can strike at range, heavies mean it can tackle something like the Phi with ease, just at a slower pace, and the lights travel faster. I've been beaten in my Gila by a Stratios to the faction rat because of that. The St ratios is also the master of roaming if you carry sets of drones in your hold. You can do any 2/10 - 4/10 in any section of space you find it in. It also superior in keeping safe when you're travelling through Low.

Generally I keep the Gila for running High sites, and the Stratios or Astero is broken out for roaming low. 5/10s can be tackled by a pair of Stratios, though to be honest you might as well save up and seed low with a couple of 5/10 cracking tengu and deal with it that way.