[Jester's Trek] Fit of the Week: Arty Rupture
Fit of the Week: Arty Rupture
I've been kind of looking through the first 50 or so FOTWs I ever did, concentrating on ones that might need a refresh. After all, most of those are from 2011 and there's been a lot of ship balancing done since then! In addition, increasingly, those old fits are going to have old modules on them where the names don't exist any more or aren't going to take advantage of new modules that have been added to the game.
In that tradition and in honor of a ship and doctrine I mentioned in my Hangar posts this week...
[Rupture, Skirmish Arty]
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M
Drone Link Augmentor II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Warrior II x5
Warrior II x1
As I said, I prefer brawly cruisers but there's certainly something to be said for a longer-range fit. When I started this blog, skirmish tactics were the domain of battle cruisers. Cruisers fought against these tactics by getting in close to their larger brethren, applying scrams, and maximizing transversal. Increasingly though these days, it's the cruisers that are wanting to skirmish and the BCs that want to get in close (if only to avoid getting bombed). The only constant in EVE is change and all that.
So, this or modifications thereof is becoming the preferred fit for an arty Rupture. Let's look this ship from the standpoint of ship fitting theory.
As I mentioned in my Basic Ship Fitting Theory Guide (note to self: you're off the CSM now; finish more guides!), the most successful way to theory-craft a ship fitting is to start from engagement range, then role, then tank. This ship is firmly in the skirmish range, which starts at around 27km and goes to about 70km. The role is DPS, the tank is shield. As a result, you fit from the guns down rather than from the tank up. That means fitting 720 artillery and then figuring out what you need to do to make those big guns fit.
Each takes 223 grid with max skills and your required MWD for skirmishing takes another 150. That puts you at 1042 grid (out of 1075) and you don't have a tank yet. When that happens, you have to start thinking either RCU or Ancillary rig. Eight times out of ten, the Ancillary rig is the right call and so it is here. That gives you the grid you need to fit an LSE (T2 with max skills, otherwise meta4). Then at that point you fill everything else in around that.
Arty ships rely on alpha which means saving your low slots for Gyros and TEs. Start by maxing Gyros out at three. That gives you an alpha of about 1500 damage per ship with Tremor ammo to 60km, and 2600 per ship with high damage ammo to 17km. 720 arty on this ship has 26km fall-off regardless of ammo but you generally want to try to fight in around mid fall-off, so your combat ranges are 30km and 73km. You can get slightly more DPS out of Quake ammo at 8.3km+26km, or around 21km combat range. This ammo is pretty good for structure shoots like POCOs. So the ammos you want to carry are Tremor, EMP, Phased Plasma, a little bit of Fusion and a little bit of Quake.
"Gyros versus Tracking Enhancers" has been a running argument for arty ships for a long time. Generally on this ship you go 3/1. But 2/2 isn't crazy. You only lose about 80 alpha without the third Gyro and you pick up about 8% tracking and 5km optimal with the second TE. In general, I prefer three Gyros on arty ships but if your CPU skills are a bit weak, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that second TE instead.
Either way, your fifth low slot is a DC2. It's unfortunately non-optional and provides a good 20% of your tank. That's wrapped up with an Invul, CDFE, and Anti-EM rig to close the ship's glaring defense hole. Your total tank is 25k EHP before fleet boosts -- not great, so if you have the opportunity to warp off in the face of damage, do so! A good skirmish FC will keep you aligned to a distant point and you can always warp back into the FC and resume your duties if you're alive.
Since your guns can fire longer than your lock range, that means a Sensor Booster. You can technically range script it but that's not really necessary. Run it unscripted most of the time and that will give you about a 90km lock range with a good FC. Carry the Scan Res script for situations where you're fighting close.
That leaves you with a utility high slot and a Drone Link Augmentor is a really entertaining option. It adds 24km to your drone engagement range which nicely matches your drone range with your gun range. Assist your drones to one of your fleet's tacklers so that you can concentrate on locking primaries and timing your volleys accurately.
Volley timing is so important for arty ships so do not ignore it! Fire only on the targets you are told to fire on, when you are told to fire on them. A competent FC will warn you that a new volley is coming, order you to stop your guns cycling with a good amount of notice, and then will count down from three to the next volley on a new target. This maximizes your alpha on the target and therefore maximizes the chances that the target will just vanish. Your guns will be cycling for 7.5 seconds which is plenty of time for enemy logi to do a lot of repairs. So don't let your fleet's volleys be ragged and don't contribute to that! The ideal is that everyone's volley lands on the same server tick, maximizing destructiveness.
Frentix booster is your best choice with this ship, with Sooth Sayer and Drop being decent secondary choices. Drop is particularly good if you mostly fight at kiting ranges (below 27km). Like all cruisers, the Rupture has a bit of a cap problem -- and you'll be pushing it by MWDing around pretty frequently -- so a Synth Mindflood is also a good thing to carry along.
Volley tactics are very entertaining! If done right, you'll shoot once, the target will vanish, and you'll then have 7.5 seconds to lock the next target before that one vanishes. So it's a fast, fun, engaging way to PvP. You also have to be on the ball with movement orders; fleet mobility is going to be very important! But skirmish flying will definitely make you a better EVE Online pilot.
Everyone fire in three, two, one, fire.
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: Arty Rupture