Missions & Complexes

2 rigors and use fury ammo

None. Package it and sell it.

The Golem is fine. A pair of Rigor rigs is fine. You could shift over to a Mach if you really wanted to, but training more than one top tier mission boat is a bit of a waste in my opinion. Train for something that's not missions, like exploration or PVP, and use the ISK from your missions to have fun.

Not to say the golem is terrible. The issues with it are mostly just b/c it's a missile platform.

For example,
* tracking computers are easier to manage than target painters, which is significant if you plan on using tractor beams and salvaging drones
* guns don't require volley counting like missiles.
* higher end golem fits are significantly more expensive. 3 rf gyro, a burst II, and WS II run about 230mil. 2 t2 rigor + 3 CN ballistic controls run a little over 400mil.
* guns get pretty much all the hardwirings they need via slots 7, 9, and 10; leaving 6 for WS and 8 for whatever. If a missile boat takes WS it misses out on dps.
* turrets are usually preferred in incursions.

Granted, guns have their own set of issues they deal with, and as mentioned earlier, the golem will be fine for many intents and purposes.

OP
What rigs depends on your fit and what ships you want to be most effective against.

In a Golem with torps fitting rigs for range or the use of an MJD can be considered a requirement.
If you do use the MJD then the rigors are best since the reduction in explosion radius helps against everything including the BS.

For Cruise missile fits it depends on which targets you want to tailor the ship to hit.
Damage rigs for BC & BS, Rigors for everything else since range is never an issue with the Golem and cruise missiles.


If you have trouble with painters you are ...... well I guess I cannot say that here. Group your painters together with your weapons and problem solved. Not sure if you can stack therm in game I never tried it I always used a programmable mouse or keyboard for this.

The "issues" with volley counting are so blown out of proportion it is ridiculous. With torps you will never be able to hit a target far enough away that you will need to volley count. And with cruise you would only need to volley count for target over about 80k away. Even if you do not volley count the time difference in completing a mission is not more than a minute or two at max and if you are micro managing your missions to that point then you have other problems to worry about. Yes you do waste missiles but they are cheap so who cares. However since counting requires you to be paying attention to the game and actually have your brain engaged I can see how it is problematic for some.

Higher end Golem fits are no more or no less expansive than higher end fits for the other Marauders so what is your point here?
Marauders are expensive ships, if that is an issue then fly a regular BS and forget the Marauder.

Hard wires, while you are correct the real question is this If you are dedicating a clone to running missions on a specific hull or weapons type does this really matter other than the additional cost of the implant?

Incursions are an entirely different set of circumstances than running missions and what works best for them is not always true for missions. Again the differences between the insta hit of guns and the delay of missiles works out to maybe a minute or two for an entire mission. However even that is not always true as the ability to specifically tailor your damage output to the mission and in some cases the individual room means that in reality a missile boat can get through some missions faster than any of the gun platforms.

To be honest those who prefer the turret based platforms can and most likely will shoot this response full of holes, and I would agree with most of what they say. I started lvl 4 missions in a Domi, moved to a Hyperion, then an Apoc to try lasers, then onto the Raven to give missiles a try and finally settled on the Golem or the Rattlesnake depending on the mission.

So the real last word on all of this is fly what you like, after all this is supposed to be a game we play for fun.
If you are truly serious about running missions as quickly as possible then you will have multiple ships, one chosen and fit specifically for each of the NPC races and in that case none of this really matters all that much.

Vargur, Paladin, or Kronos. My personal fave is the Paladin.

Just a quick reiteration, Im not trying to say the golem is a horrible ship, just outlining some turret advantages.


Just saying that using painters is more tedious than TCs, which can be an issue for a marauder if you are also micro managing tractor beams and salvages drones at the same time. cause effort. Not to say it cant be done, but its easier on turret boat. This in and of itself isnt a huge consideration, but turrets provide this within a package of L4 advantages that many players are drawn to, some of which are explained in the rest of the response.


This is compared to guns where it's never an issue or even a consideration. Also, you do realize that 1-2 mins per mission, is quite a bit when you consider that its just the combat portion of the mission. If a mission has say.... roughly 10 mins of combat on a turret boat, you're saying it could potentially take you 12 mins i.e. 20% more time. And that is before considering that you will also be warping to and from the mission slower as a turret marauder setup can easily fit at least 1 warpspeed rig + a warpspeed hardwiring. In a turret boat you're making more with less effort. The issue isnt having the "brain engaged" during the mission, it's having it engaged prior to picking the mission setup i.e. working smarter, not harder.


Golem fits are more expensive compared to comparable turret fits. Faction weapon upgrades are more expensive as are the rigs. The point being that you get all the performance from a turret plaform at a lower cost. Lower cost means you have lower loss potential and initial investment.

The answer to hardwirings really depends on the player, so its not going to be the same for everyone. But at the end of the day, if you are a player who uses them, plans on using them, or simply likes having the option: Turrets have better hardwiring options.

Alternatively, you could look at it this way: If we were to compare the price of 3 RF gyro, Burst II, Hyperspatial II vs 3 CN Ballistic Controls and two T2 Rigors, the vargur setup could purchase a hardwiring like WS-615 with the money it saved.


Just curious, what mission(s) specifically did you have in mind?


Yeah, it's ultimately about what your priorities are and what you want to pilot. 100% agreed.

When the topic shifts to ship recommendations, pointing out some of the issues with the golem compared to turret based marauders is fair game. My personal favorites are the ac Vargur and the pulse Paladin. The Vargur has a really consistent feel, while the paladin has base resists that are better suited than the kronos in PvE.... + conflagration is amazing esp vs BR/Sansha

That is... If you use 3rd party software... And I imagine you run into issues where you fire a volley that should be counted and do one or more of the following:
A) turn off the TPs before the missiles hit
B) TPs stay on but aren't reactivated properly when firing at your next target bc they were on CD.
C) forgo volley counting and just take the dps hit
D) correct issues of A and/or B with more micro managing

I'm not saying that a macro isn't beneficial, just that turrets don't need to concern themselves with this and don't lose dps in the process.


Because you get similar results with turrets, only you use 3 slots instead of 5. For example, bullet velocity is instant regardless. Turret boats can kill 2-4 frigates with a rack cycle without considering exp velocity and radius. The real issue though is that your specific weapon system hardwiring (cruise/torps) is in slot 6 while the turret specific one is slot 10. What this amounts to is turrets getting something like ws-615 while not needing to give up their dmg hardwirings.


I was curious because you said the golem's dmg selection might give faster clear times, but you also said missile delays could cause you losses of 1-2 mins. In worlds collide, I'd be a little surprised if you could beat a turret boat's mission time. Scarlet you could have a point on a full clear, but it is over as soon as she is killed. Speeding to room3, killing scarlet, and looting the implant pulls the isk/time. I either haven't done or can't recall the other 2 though, I can't really comment on them.


OP's 3rd post

Rigor II > Flare II > Rigor I > Flare I

With 2x Rigor I + 5% dmg implant + 4 PWNAGE TPs, you'll be able to one shot all non-elite mission NPC cruisers.

I thank yo for the concern. If CCP wants to ban me for simply using a keyboard macro to turn on my TP at the same time as my missile launchers then so be it. Besides I do not see anything about this in the TOS so perhaps you have seen it elsewhere? If so I would appreciate a link.
http://community.eveonline.com/support/policies/eve-tos