Ships & Modules

Disclaimer: I love the Rattlesnake. Love it Love It LOVE IT! It has the highest subcapital paper dps, great ammo savings(better then the golem cause of it's pimp drone bonuses) and looks sexy too! I've had this particular hull for going on..3 years now, it's my baby and will never go away until it gets popped. At which point I'll probably log,drown my sorrows in a lot of alcohol and have many fond memories.

However...recently I did a post about optimal target painters on the Golem(https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=427785&find=unread) and it got me thinking. I only run 1 target painter on my snake....and it doesn't even have the application bonus that the Golem or CNR has, how does it stand?

My fit is 2x invuls, 2x omnidirectional trackers, painter, shield booster and a MWD. I don't like MJD because it takes cruises so long to fly, especially without a velocity buffs. Plus I don't like slowboating to the gate if I missed by a few km. This means I'm full up for mids with no real wiggle room.

So, seeing how I already had the Angel BS NPC profile in EFT from that testing; Lets take a look on how the Rattlesnake stacked up. Bear in mind this testing is only to Battleship size rats as I usually shoot the smaller stuff with my drones. SOP for me, really.

Let's see how it fared....
Fit includes: All level 5
+5 Guided Missile Precision implant
+5 Target Navigation Prediction
1x Republic Fleet Target Painter
2x Rigor II
1x Flare I

Excerpt from (https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=427785&find=unread):

So went to "http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/npc_ships.php?supergroup=7&return_to=" and looked at Angel ships since they are generally the fastest with the smallest signature in missions(Named NPCs ignored).

Assume all calculations below are with all level 5 character.
Battleship:(320 signature/350 Speed) and replicated this in EFT with:

[Machariel, test]
Overdrive Injector System II
Domination Overdrive Injector
Republic Fleet Nanofiber Structure
Domination Overdrive Injector
Republic Fleet Nanofiber Structure
[empty low slot]
[empty low slot]

10MN Afterburner II

HIgh-Grade Halo Alpha and Beta
Mid-Grade Halo Gamma and Delta
*drumroll*
Results: 55% application with Furies, 100% application with Precision, 100% application with T1/Faction.
*drop mic*
That's right. You do LESS damage with Fury Cruise missiles then if you would have used Tech 1 missiles in this particular instance. NOW HOLD THE PHONE. Please note that this is against Angel rats usually have the fastest boats and the smallest signatures, as such is a worst case scenario. Guristas, Serpentis, Sansha, etc are all slower and fatter targets.

However with 2 painters you get 72% application with furies. Much better but barely better then Tech 1 and still loses to faction missiles. This isn't really an option for me, since I can't lower my tank cause I'm not MJD fit, taking off the omnidirectional trackers mean my sentries don't hit as far(i'll be damned if I wait for heavies to travel) and I'd rather have all my nails pulled out with pliers then slow boat to gates without a prop mod.

Luckily with decent drones skills and 3x faction DDAs/3x faction BCU( or BCS you heathen) you're still a good ~50%(depending on which drones you use) ahead of the pack with.

So it's settled, the Rattlesnake is still the King of subcapital dps. Paper/Application that is, blah blah guns apply instantly yadda yadda yadda.

TL:DR- Rattlesnake is still king of subcapital dps. Don't use Furies with it against Angel rats. I need to stop wasting money on faction target painters when PWNAGE is good enough for a fraction of the cost.

Kinetic damage is secondary resist hole for Angel rats. Their usual resist lineup is (74 EM 44 EXP 54 KIN 64 THERM) or some variation thereof but none of them have more then a 10% difference between Explosive and Kinetic. Not to mention on missions with "Mercenary" Angel doppelgangers(missions against mercenaries but they fly with an angel hull), their resists holes are Therm/Kinetic.

You will ALWAYS outside of Guristas, Mercs, or any other primary resist hole of kinetic/therm be shooting into a secondary resist hole with the snake's missiles.

Also the snake has 7.5 effective launchers to the CNR/Golem's 8 PLUS great drones damage.

Umm....... you mean 50%. Snakes gets 10% per level of Gallente battleship to kinetic/therm. Which, turns its 5 launchers into 7.5 effective launchers with kinetic/therm.

Also, if you include time spent warping to/from a mission in DPS, I imagine the Rattlesnake's numbers will drop a bit.

This probably sounds weird, but I've been considering an RS with a passive tank and LMs.

It does about 1000 DPS with a Gecko, but has the LMs for popping frigs in a single volley at closer ranges and it uses an MWD for shuttling about faster. It's probably a crappy.

It hits missile boats especially hard since they need the rigs for Rigors and can't use warp speed rigs. Although if you're willing to downgrade to RHMLs, you could maybe make do without rigor rigs.

But I do wish CCP would hurry up with their threat to allow TCs to affect missile explosion radius. It would need to be better than TPs, and better enough that we can use the rig slots for anything but rigors/flares. Personally, I'd be happier with improving missile radius/explosion stats across the board and getting rid of rigor/flare rigs entirely.

I'm actually against tracking computers for missiles because logically that means tracking disruptors would also work against you. Missiles already have a counter in lol defender missiles and firewalls. Not to mention they can be outrun, have delayed damage, are not capable of 300% wrecking hits, etc.

We'll see what changes ccp do to shake things up. With all things I'm sure it will be very polarized and rage inducing to some.

Yeah, I don't wanna putz about, but at the same time, I don't wanna be stuck in one spot with sentries. I have 2 fits I'm looking at, one is an active tank with 2x BCUs, 2x Omni and 3x warp rig II, the other is a kinda gimmicky passive tank, which ironically requires a cap booster where the active tank doesn't.

Why not just fit an mjd for the blockade instead of the 9-10 holes and rigs you are wasting... A Domi will do in 15 moins what your uber passive rattler will do in 25... uh...



@OP: Your statement about Rattler beinf sub cap dps king... (a) Vindicator (a lot more) (b) Typhoon fleet Issue (believe it or not better application). Check them out if dps output is your concern...

Please note I said:


Sure blaster vindi can do in the neighborhood of 1.7k dps at what ...10% of the range? Your ~1.7k dps at 9 optimal/11 fall off with void or ~1.2k at 17 optimal/30 fall off with Null vs Rattle's ~1.4k dps applyable out to 84 km(1/2 of it is delayed from missiles) and ~700 to 93.75km(lock range without modules). Outside of niche uses in Incursions, sitting on top of rats spawns in anoms, etc the Vindicator can't compete due to it having to travel to apply it's beastly dps. As soon as the Rattlesnake lands on grid 95% of the time you can start apply dps right away. The other 5% you gotta putter 10km or so to get into lockrange so you can apply that dps vs the 90km the Vindi would have to travel(probably less because your stern look would draw the rats attention and they would meet you half way).

Typhoon applies missile damage better but so does the CNR/Golem. However, those three are left behind when you add in drone damage from the snake.

DPS is only part the equation. There's a reason the Machariel is considered the king of level 4s. It's not because of it's dps, because most of the time you'll be in fall off which is a reduction down to 50% dps(god forbid double falloff). It's a combination of dps, mobility(a BS that can keep pace and even move faster then some cruisers) and warp speed.

There's many things when looking at mission boats. Here's my top 2 priorities

1) Looks. You look good you feel good. You feel good, you don't hate your life while grinding standings/make some iskies.

2) Ease of use. Sure cruise missiles have travel time but they also don't often have to deal with changing ammo types based off range. Usually target size. With guns, I focus on small targets first before they get under my guns. With missiles, I focus on bigger targets so they deal less damage and then deal with the small targets. Other missiles like Torpdoes...yeah....that's a whole other bag of worms I'm not getting into.