Tracking Onions

Right then, I have looked at just replacing two gyros with two tracking enhancers, whilst running Hail ammo for the Loki vs Wolf scenario.  the tracking graphs are below:

Loki 4x Gyros Hail Ammo

Loki 2x Gyros 2x Tracking Enhancers Hail Ammo

and the answer is ... use Titanium Sabot ammo for small fast things.  The drop in DPS due to T2 to T1 change is not gonna be an issue for flying tin cans.  So time to test this theory tonight and have some of these graphs handy.

More Onions

Right, I have run the same four scenarios that I ran in The Onion That Is Eve except for this time I have put the Loki up against  Rupture and a Maelstrom.  This is what I got:

Loki vs Rupture

425mm w Hail Ammo

425mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo

220mm w Hail Ammo

220mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo

Loki vs Maelstrom

425mm w Hail Ammo

425mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo

220mm w Hail Ammo

220mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo

The conclusion; well as long as I can set my range the Hail are worth it for the additional DPS, if range, speed (transversal) or signature is an issue then I only need to swap ammo and get my range sorted out.  The next check I need to do is on the benefit of a tracking enhancer against a gyro.  Its also worth noting, in this instance, that if I can fit 425mm autos rather than the smaller 220mm autos then do it, the only difference is range.

The Onion That Is EVE

Damn, just when you think you are getting somewhere it turns out that there is more to learn.  Onions vs Ogres strikes again! Just when I think I might a little closer to the core I find I am just at another layer; I'm disappointed child playing "pass the parcel" who finds another layer of paper under the one I have just ripped off.  Admittedly there is a little sweet in there to keep me going till it is my turn again.

Your starting to wonder what on earth am I talking about right.  Well I have finally got round to looking a little more into the Loki fitting I have and why it cannot shoot frigs for toffee.  So this morning I opened up my favourite program EVEHQ and started to do a little theory crafting.  What the issue is I am not sure but it is time to learn a little more about range vs tracking as I know the level of DPS is fine.

In order to start the test I made three copies of my current fitting, the original remained unchanged with 425mm autos, loaded with Hail.  The first copy had the ammo changed to Titanium Sabot, the second and third copies I changed the guns to 220mm autos and then Hail and Titanium Sabot respectively.  I then set up a scenario in the HQF Damage Analysis section as seen below.

This puts the Loki against a Wolf, the Wolf is doing a steady 400m/s and the Loki I have set to 200m/s.  The Wolf is moving perpendicular (at right angles) to the Loki, this builds in a level of transversal velocity, making the scenario a little more realistic.  I then swapped out the four Loki's and looked at the Range vs Hit Chance graph.  The results can be seen below:

425mm w Hail M Ammo

425mm w Titanium Sabot M Ammo

220mm w Hail M Ammo

220mm w Titanium Sabot M Ammo

For this comparison, the reality is plainly obvious; the guns are not the issue.  Note that there is other areas I intend to look at, but the case in question shows that against a Frigate sized vessel Hail is just not the ammo to use.

I intend to use this ship to run PLEX solo.  I therefore need a ship that can do all size vessels without changing fittings, so I need to run this analysis against cruiser and battleship sized vessels as well as with other weapon upgrade modules like tracking enhancers.  So watch this space for more checks.

Thanny Taunting

A few of the guys my Corp (Sp4rtans) decided to taunt a Thanny.  The Thanny pilot managed to get himself a GCC timer and so opened himself up for a little fun.

Taking Her Out For A Spin

Well it has been ages since I got a nice new shiny ship for KT.  I always seem to be getting stuff for my alts with KT just doing the same old and raising ISK whilst others benefit.  But not today, thanks to a very good corp mate (for jumping back to Jita), I now have a Loki.

This is my first T3 ship, and rather than savouring the moment and putting the whole thing together slowly and appreciating the moment I acted like one of my kids at Christmas and shoved everything together with gusto without really paying to much attention to the subsystems building process, threw the modules in and then sat there in station and spun the thing round for a while.  I had not really meant to be online last night, but other stuff got cancelled and well, I acted like a giddy school kid as I played with my new toy.  It was only when after a quite couple of minutes on TS did someone laugh at me and ask if I was spinning my ship in station.  I blushed and had to admit that I was.

Back when I started I did wonder if I had picked the right race to be honest.  Minmatar does come under fire for its somewhat Airfix approach to ship design, however after using an alt that flies other races I discovered I was now pretty much attuned to the resilience of duct tape and speed which you can go.  There are some good looking ships in the whole Minmatar arsenal; the Rifter for example is a popular ship, and I am now going to add the Loki to that list too.

Well after getting a good look in station I joined a fleet and ran a few PLEX to see how she handled, check out the tank and also see what the DPS is like.  On paper this thing looked pretty good; the tank held easy, with only the use of the hardeners I could easily manage a full wave aggro in the hardest PLEX, DPS though is uncertain and I am going to have to play around with that for a while I think.  On the whole though a great ship.  I have used a Maelstrom for so long long doing basic PVE that I also have a big game play change to get used to as well so will keep you posted.

0.0 Perceptions

Well I have just read Manasi's latest blog offering and can say without a doubt that is is true.  Having played and loitered around hi and low sec for a long time with the odd excursion into NPC 0.0 and a very rare dash to 0.0, sovereign claimed 0.0 is one of the most calm and peaceful areas you can be in.  Especially one that is on the rim of New Eden.  I have logged in to find +100 blues in a system, plenty of PLEX to do and lots of ISK to earn.  A CTA (call to arms or other ops) are fun, ok so you might lose a ship and even your implants but you would manage that if you got a war in hi sec.  So stop dithering and move out now.

Skilled First?

Heaven forbid I am actually sitting here skilled up to fly my Loki and the ship ain't in my hanger; now that is a first.  Ok, I am not completely level 5 maxed out yet (though surprising not far away), but I am ready to take my future ship out, so where is it?  I even have the ISK for run a faction / T2 mix until I can afford the real bad boy. I now have to sit patiently until a very good corp mate pops back to hi sec and picks up the parts (a huge thanks for that ... you know who you are), and then I have to wait till I can log on again, which other than the odd skill queue refresh is gonna be a couple of days away ... sigh.  I also have to thank said corp mate for going through my load outs last night and coming up with something a little more nasty, so today will be playing with that fitting to get real grips with what is consists of.

Anyway here is to great corp mates and a new ship fairly soon ...

Boosters

I got an alliance email over the weekend with a brief summary of booster benefits which I have never looked at before.  So being the inquisitive type, I decided it was time to educate myself a little more on what they do and how to make them.

In summary boosters are an easy way of boosting a number of your combat related skills without the need for an implant.  Be warned though they do have drawbacks that might leave you in a worse position.  In order for you to use boosters there are a number of skills that are either essential or beneficial for you to train up.

• Biology; allows you to use boosters, the higher the skill the higher the grade of booster you can use.  In addition to this, for each level you will increase the duration of the booster for 20%.
• Nanite Control; reduces the effect of side effects by 5% per level.
• Neurotoxin Recovery; reduces the chance of a side effect by 5%
• Drug Manufacture; required to manufacture drugs, the higher the level the higher grade drug that can be manufactured.

A good forum guide for boosters can be found here.

The spreadsheet below provides you with the base data for boosters along with a sheet where you can enter your relevant skills and it will show you what the duration and side effects are for your pilot.

Booster Spreadsheet

As a final entry here I have added a small flow chart that shows you the overall outline for manufacturing your drugs (can also be found in this Dev Blog).

Ship Wish List

Well with too much non-game time on my hand I have plenty of time to work out what I want to get out in 0.0.  Examining my current ships list, looking at what I am missing and the game play out here I have come up with a few ideas of what might be next, I have inlcuded two ships for an alt of mine along with a faction battleship for another toon I have access to.  I have not however included any caps for KT yet as I still need to work out exactly what I want from that yet.


Want:

Dramiel, just because.  Great for fleet fleets for fast tackle and some DPS with the bonus of having a drone bay in there.



Cynabal for fast cuiser with some attitude.  PVP all the way.

Loki.  For general PVE and PVP and just because I want to.

Tengu.  For the pure tank that this thing has.  A real PVE machine.

Rhea for my alt to get some proper hauling capability.  Why the Rhea?  Well simply because it does have the largest capacity of all the jf.

Rorqual, so i can finish of the industry streak that my alt has been stuck in since the day I started it.

Rattlesnake for another alt that can fly a mean Caldari ship and is getting some rather healthy drones skills.

Grounded!

There is nothing more frustrating than a grounded pilot. My online game time has been cut significantly due to unforeseen circumstances. To make the best of this I am now planning my next ships fittings and planning new skill queues (my current one is well over a year and that is just filling in gaps).

The worst thing however is the reduced income that comes with this. If I was still in high sec then any real gaming would be gone ... completely. The only thing that makes this worth still playing is the ISK you can make in a well established and upgraded part of 0.0. One of my fellow pilots recently was saying he had just made his first Billion in a day, which six months ago I would of thought completely impossible, yet dreamed of doing. So here I am with much less playing time but still have the potential to earn more than I ever could in hi sec.

Nanite Repair Paste

For those of you that have been in the game a little while then paste (or Nanite Repair Paste) will not be new to you, and you may already be spending a fortune on this stuff.  There is some argument about its value vs just repairing in station, whatever your stance on this (and you can comment here or continue the argument out on the forums), however it exists out there, people use it and it is not cheap (EVE-Metrics quote).  Therefore it is definitely worth starting to produce this if you plan on using it in any sort of quantity.

Paste is used to repair modules that have become damaged either through overheating or because you are hull tanking and ran it a little too close to the bone.  To repair this you can get yourself to a station and get yourself repaired up or you can use paste to fix your modules (but only if they have not reach 100% damage, in which case they will need to be repaired in station).

In order to use paste you will need the science skill Thermodynamics (requires Engineering V, Science IV and Energy management III).  This will allow you to use paste with each level reduces the amount of heat damage you receive by 5% per level.  I wont go into overheating in too much detail as there are some great write ups on this already.  In addition to this there are two additional skills that will improve the effectiveness of your paste: Nanite Interfacing (requires Mechanic V and Nanite Operation 3) and Nanite Operation (requires Mechanic V).  Operation reduces the amount of paste you use per level and Interfacing increases the repair amount per level.  These are very worthwhile skills if you are planning on using paste.

Anyhow that is the basics on using paste and skill requirements.  To make paste you will need to get yourself involved in Planetary Interaction which came out with the latest expansion Tyrannis.  There are some great PI guides out there; EVE Online Forum Sticky ... forum post gives a great source for everything PI.  The only thing I found I needed (and you will find this below) was an operational map that said where I should extract what and then where those items needed to be moved to for production.  I still need to optimise the balance of extractors and processors per planet to make sure I can maximise output etc., however the planet orientated map below gives a good production base for paste.

Loki Fittings

Well, as many of you know strategic cruisers bring a whole new meaning to fitting; with five sub systems categories and four version in each category you can create a very large number of potential ship base configurations and that is before you have even added fittings.

As I noted before I am looking at obtaining a Loki as I am already skilled for that.  After grabbing a few other fittings from people I have attached my various changes and other make ups.  With officer fittings you get some amazing setups but this will come with time.  I have also put in the Tengu fit I put in previously as an example and to give an idea of where that tank is going and how comparable the Loki versions are.  Your comments for these fits would be appreciated.

Strategic Cruiser Comparison Tables

Loki vs Tengu

Well,

I can fly a Loki, but seems like the best PVE PLEX ship is going to be the Tengu, so the plan is to buy a Loki now that I can use for exploration and rating and other complexes whilst I train up for a Tengu.  By the time I have Caldari Cruiser V and the missile skills I willl hopefully have the funds so I can then fit out a Tengu for running PLEX.

Here is a target Tengu fit, note that this is for PVE not PVP and is set up to run Guristas PLEX:

[Tengu, Guristas Plexing 002]
Tengu Defensive - Adaptive Shielding
Tengu Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Tengu Engineering - Capacitor Regeneration Matrix
Tengu Offensive - Accelerated Ejection Bay
Tengu Propulsion - Fuel Catalyst

5x Heavy Missile Launcher II (Scourge Heavy Missile)
Sisters Core Probe Launcher

Gistum A-Type 10MN Afterburner
Gist X-Type Large Shield Booster
Pith A-Type Shield Boost Amplifier
Dread Guristas Invulnerability Field
Pith A-Type Ballistic Deflection Field
Pith A-Type Photon Scattering Field

'Radical' Damage Control I
3x Dread Guristas Ballistic Control System

2x Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

The Loki fit here is for solo exploration, so has some tank and DPS but all necessary kit for hacking etc.:

[Loki, Cov Ops]
Loki Defensive - Adaptive Shielding
Loki Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Loki Engineering - Capacitor Regeneration Matrix
Loki Offensive - Covert Reconfiguration
Loki Propulsion - Interdiction Nullifier

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
3x 425mm AutoCannon II (Barrage M)
Salvager II
Sisters Expanded Probe Launcher (Sisters Core Scanner Probe)

10MN Afterburner II
Codebreaker II
Analyzer II
Pith A-Type Explosion Dampening Field
Pith A-Type Ballistic Deflection Field
Gist X-Type Large Shield Booster

3x Domination Gyrostabilizer

2x Medium Projectile Ambit Extension II
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer II

Also have a PVE Loki here:

[Loki, PVE 003]
Loki Defensive - Amplification Node
Loki Electronics - Tactical Targeting Network
Loki Engineering - Augmented Capacitor Reservoir
Loki Offensive - Projectile Scoping Array
Loki Propulsion - Fuel Catalyst

6x 425mm AutoCannon II

Corelum A-Type 10MN Afterburner
Pithum A-Type Medium Shield Booster
Pith A-Type Ballistic Deflection Field
2x Dread Guristas Invulnerability Field

3x Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Tracking Enhancer
Damage Control II

2x Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

War ... Again!

Why is it that when I join a corp I get war dec'd.  Well not that I have joined too many corps (2 to be precise) but anyway there you have it; 100% rating so far.

Small corp has dec'd alliance so will see what that brings.  I have no real plans to be down in hi sec atm so unless they are planning on coming out to Branch is gonna be quiet.

Moved!

Well, after 15 months of playing and being in the same corporation (NERF) I have moved.  I have join a few of my old corp mates out in Branch (Sp4rtans) and am now part of the NC (for my sins).  So new times ahead and different challenges but am looking forward to it.

I had been thinking about how a new corp / alliance actually moves out into 0.0 successfully and I had been coming to the conclusion that it can but only with difficulty and that is even more apparent now that I am out here.  This is further backed up in the latest CSM minutes where they talk about the difficulties of getting new alliances out into 0.0.

Anyway, running various ops out here now and enjoying it though at the same time my online time has been cut back significantly so in some ways I think I will be making the same amount of isk I did before.  Anyway lets see what happens; can use the extra time not playing to work on some Loki and Tengu fits.