Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Practical Instruction

(Well, the comments have been interesting so far, haven't they?

I'll have more to say about the 50,000 ft issues later, but I'm going to focus on one specific challenge here.)

Generally, the gauntlet thrown down is "How are Uni students going to be better off with this war?"

In addition to all the other stuff that they should be learning, here's what I'm going to do that is totally out of the box.

I'll be commenting on specific ship fits that I find in our killmails that I think will be instructive.

Now, I hope you agree that it's a little unusual that I'd do that publicly and while the war is still active. Aiding & abetting the enemy & all that. Hell, Sabre may put ME on the target list!

I'm willing to take that chance to demonstrate:

- It's not personal
- Ex-Uni can, and will, provide valuable information
- It's not personal
- It is possible to critically review a ship fit without using the words "FAIL", "NOOB" or "LOLFIT" in such a way that guidance is presented not personal criticism.
- It's not personal

As I make my comments, remember, IT'S NOT PERSONAL!

*******************************

Now, I know a thing or two about Caldari EWAR ships, so lets take a look at a few of those:

1. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181229

/me smiles.

Very nice fit, sir! Completely in line with the role of Blackbird as cheap fleet jammer. No rigs. Jam for tank. More than Meta 1 jammers. Sensor booster with scan res script for quick lock. SDA's in the low. MWD allows sprint out to range and 'spank align' (be sure you understand the speed vs sig radius tradeoff). Armor repper in the utility slot to show a fleet mate some love.

The only change I'd make is to load up some faction ammo, not a whole cargo load, but just a few hundred to improve your DPS while you are on the battlefield.

2. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181232

/me smiles.

Another pretty good fit! Lack of AB or MWD means that you will be slow to get out to position. That may be acceptable if you have tons of bookmarks in the systems where you are likely to engage. Lack of a range script for the sensor booster implies that you've rethought this fit post ECM-nerf. With the scan res script loaded, if you can lock at your jam optimal + say 25% then the faster lock time will help you in quickdraw engagements where first lock = first jam.

Mix of jammer meta level indicates that you understand that, too.

Neut in the utility high slot is ok. My personal preference is for an armor repper, but it's just a preference.

FOF's are really out of place on a Blackbird. If you are jammed, you are about to be dead or you should be bouncing out and returning to the fight so your jammers can be effective again. Either way, FOF's just take up space. No real need for all that ammo either. Your role in the fight is ECM, not DPS. Carry a few faction rounds of ecm/kinetic & don't worry about it.

3. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3176145

/me scratches head.

Pre-ECM nerf, this would be close to the fit that I would have been flying. My only nit would be 2x Minnie jammers. Minnie sensor strength is generally lower than the equivilent hull of other races and I mostly jam them with off-race jammers.

Post ECM-nerf, not so much. Sensor booster + range script gives you lock range of about 240, which is more than Optimal + 2X Falloff. In other words, you can lock well beyond the range at which you can jam. Swapping to scan res script gives you lock range of 150, which is just about Optimal + 2x Falloff and reduces locktime.

The key question is, how close to the fight are you planning on engaging? If you are going to standoff at 90-100km (so past Optimal, but within 1X Falloff, accepting the lower success rate of fighting in Falloff) then a sensor booster to improve locktime might be considered.

On the other hand, if you are going to fight at close to Optimal (65km), then you may want to think about swapping that sensor booster for another jammer (ECM tank) or for a LSEII (shield buffer tank).

4. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181230

/me holds head in hands.

Now, I know the Rook is the new FOTM and everyone is hailing the 'new Cerb', but let's calm down a sec, m'kay?

General rules:
- There has to be some very specific purpose if you fit a ship ignoring it's main bonuses.
- Fit to compliment your fleet.
- If you have to use more than 1 low for CPU/PG buffs, you are probably trying to make a hull do something it wasn't designed for or you lack sufficient support skills for the fit.

The Rook is an EW platform. For large fleet actions by a group whose tactical doctrine includes an abundance of EWAR, EW platforms should fit EW.

If you want to sling DPS, a Caracal with 2 BCSII's will output more DPS than this fit at a fraction of the cost and is fully insurable.

*******************

Remember, it's not personal.

DC

12 comments:

Kelduum said...

Wow, look everyone - Dee's back!

Anonymous said...

:) before I read this I wrote something startlingly similar on my blog. I applaud your efforts and the kindness, yes kindness, that you show these folks. /salute

Anonymous said...

Amongst the propaganda the Dee we know comes through. Maybe there's still hope for Mr. Carson.

Anonymous said...

I had no idea blathering about basic fitting qualified as "kindness". I guess linking someone to SHC isn't "kind" enough for you?

Go figure. :/

Rodney Chips (E-UNI) said...

Good show, Mr Carson. Hopefully I won't be benefiting much from it though, I mean I *hope* I've learned how to fit a tackling frigate.

Newbie respect. o7

Angus said...

I would love it if the uni did something like this on the kill board for every kill.

stnylan said...

Well, this is very interesting. I don't know about EUni pilots, but posts like this I always find educational considering I am zilch ingame knowledge of ECM ships.

Destoya (Tanto) said...

Angus, I was starting to do this a while back, but the uni changed their kb pw (???) and I have no clue what it is now.

Angus said...

Destoya: thanks for not asking one of the guys in your corp for the password. It would just get messy. Dang alt spies.

Anonymous said...

So, care to explain how putting the Uni's POS into reinforced mode teaches anything? I can't wait to hear your spin on this one.

Drakimor said...

Re-iterating the line "It's not personal" over and over sounds more like you are trying to convince yourself than your readers.

The fact is, no matter what your rational, no matter what you tell yourself, when you blow up someone else's ship it IS personal. This is doubly true with newbies as I imagine are in this University.

They may have worked for a MONTH to buy that ship, and your condescending platitudes regarding their fittings is hardly going to make them feel better about the fact they just lost a months work.

If you have issues with their leadership, take it up with them. Otherwise you are no better than a mugger who holds someone up, takes a months paycheck and says "it's not personal, you shouldn't have been in this neighborhood"

Harsh comparison? Yes, but a true one. If someone flies into low sec or zero sec space, they are doing it with full knowledge of the risks, and IMHO are open game. Likely these folks have the savings or the corp backing to replace losses as I did when I got ganged by 10 guys going through a 0.0 gate. I have no respect for them fighting at such odds, but I knew the risks so have no real right to complain.

What you are doing is the same as when I took some newbie miners into 1.0 space to teach them hauling and mining and a four year old character swooped in, took everything in their can and when confronted in local, said it wasn't personal, he was just teaching them. It was a BS excuse from him, he just wanted to be an ass, and it is a BS excuse from you.

Dee Carson said...

@ Drakimor

Uni student combat losses for ships up to at least cruiser size are replaced from Corp funds. They are also encouraged to insure their ships.