Shadow of Cerberus
Public => EVE World News => Thema gestartet von: Aura am März 01, 2013, 05:57:45 Vormittag
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Fit of the Week: Worst v. Worst
For the month of March, I'm going to examine all of the new battle cruisers that have been upgraded in the latest Retribution patch and tell you about my four favorites. But as sort of a lead-in to that, I thought it would be amusing to revisit an old concept, the sniper Ferox. CCP Fozzie says he wants to fix the intended role for this boat, so let's take a quick tour of how far it has to go, shall we?
[Ferox, Obsolete]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Sensor Booster II
250mm Railgun II, Spike M
250mm Railgun II, Spike M
250mm Railgun II, Spike M
250mm Railgun II, Spike M
250mm Railgun II, Spike M
250mm Railgun II, Spike M
250mm Railgun II, Spike M
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Hobgoblin II x5
I last visited this ship in 2011, and things haven't changed all that much. You can now fit a seventh gun, which is intended to help DPS. And practically nobody fits links to T1 BCs any more outside of tournament settings; on-grid or off-grid boosters have taken over the role for virtually every type of fleet. That combined with the lower grid required for rails means that you can dial back a couple of fitting mods. So, if you go without a point, Feroxes are a lot tougher. They're now tougher than a Drake, in fact, at 71k EHP! But are they any better? That, sadly, would continue to be a giant no. They're still ridiculously slow at just over 1000m/s and DPS has only increased about 10% or so, to 227 at a sniping range of 100km.
It used to be a joke in the tournament setting that the only thing a Drake was good for in a tourney fight was "dying slow". That accolade can now be moved to the rail Ferox.
To zoom in on how bad the Ferox is in this role right now, let's bring in its closest racial competition, the rail Naga:
[Naga, Basic Rail]
Reactor Control Unit II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Large Shield Extender II
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Thorium Charge L
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
This is a fairly easy fit: you need AWU IV and Shield Upgrades IV to make it work, so once you have the T2 rails trained, it's within the reach of a relatively unskilled player. In my opinion, this fit isn't optimal, but since it's within reach of many players and it's more forgiving of piloting errors than other Naga fits I like, it'll do for this comparison. Let's start with the basics: the Naga is the worst attack BC currently in the game. The Oracle, Talos, and Tornado are all better and further all have solid roles for which they are the best ships in EVE Online. The Naga is the ugly stepchild. It's ridiculously slow for an attack BC at 1400m/s, its agility is very poor, and its DPS is anemic. At 100km, it's capable of just under 500 DPS, which a PL "TiDiCat" Oracle can do at literally double that range.
And yet it stomps the crap out of a Ferox, doing more than double the DPS of the combat BC... and its tracking is more than 50% better. Yeah, you read that right. Thanks to that Spike ammo, a Ferox with 250s has a 0.0075 tracking; the Naga has 0.0126. The Naga has only 38k EHP but there's not much reason to care about a sniper's EHP. You can solve the tracking issue by downshifting to Iron ammo but if you do that, you lose about 10km range and 60 DPS. It's rather pathetic.
Close to 65km skirmishing range, and the Naga's DPS increases to 600 or more while the Ferox's DPS doesn't change; only its tracking improves. And keep in mind that the Naga is the worst attack BC. The Oracle is downright terrifying in this regimen, as I've covered before.
Anyway, the whole thing underlines and bold-faces how terrible medium railguns are. All of the attack BCs give better combat results than this weapon. All of the other combat BCs -- and particularly the Hurricane and the Harbinger -- give better combat results with their long range weapons systems. Ditto Spike ammo, whose drawbacks still overwhelm its advantages. A few tweaks isn't going to do it. The medium rails need to be torn down to bare metal and rebuilt so that they're actually useful to EVE Online players.
And saying "there's no point to doing it because nobody uses them" is ironic and not allowed. ;-)
In the meantime, here's my current favorite Naga fit:
[Naga, Advanced Rail]
Power Diagnostic System II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Sensor Booster II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Large Shield Extender II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
425mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge L
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
I'm still not 100% convinced this fit is optimal either, but this is the one I'm flying these days. It has a lot of compromises intended to boost DPS and survivability in skirmishing situations, and it's a much tougher fit than the Naga above as well as being tougher to fly. The tank is minimal: just enough for you to take a few laser shots given that the likely opponent of this ship are going to be Oracles and things that act like Oracles. Overheat your Invul as you take fire then once you're dropped to low-to-medium shields, warp off and warp back. Total tank is about 20k EHP, or less than a cruiser, so be careful. But the Polycarb rig starts to correct some of the Naga's major speed and agility issues. The PDS is there both to add a bit of buffer and to extend cap endurance under MWD.
Carry Antimatter and either Thorium or Uranium ammo. The AM is good to skirmish range and allows the Naga to push about 650 DPS... not too shabby! As your range opens to about 100km, switch to either Uranium or Thorium. The latter is good for 500 DPS out to 135km. If you're pushed out farther than that, you can carry Iridium which will drop your DPS to 380 but works out to the edge of your fleet-boosted lock range of 165km.
As with all skirmishy ships, the important thing to remember is to warp off when seriously threatened. As you warp off, make a bookmark near the site of the fight. That bookmark will be your warp-off point for any future warp-offs. Once you land, get a good warp back to the site and rejoin the fight. Like all skirmishing ships, there's no need to go down fighting.
Remember again: this is the worst attack BC. For these tactics, Tornadoes and Oracles are better. But this is the first ship that the Ferox has to be competitive with to even be in the same game.
Happy sniping...
All Fits of the Week are intended as general guidelines only. You may not have the skills needed for this exact fit. If you do not, feel free to adjust the fit to suit to meet your skills, including using meta 3 guns and "best named" defenses and e-war. Ships can also be adjusted to use faction or dead-space modules depending on the budget of the pilot flying it. Each FOTW is intended as a general guide to introduce you to concepts that will help you fit and to fly that particular type of ship more aggressively and well.
Source: Fit of the Week: Worst v. Worst (http://jestertrek.blogspot.com/2013/02/fit-of-week-worst-v-worst.html)