Here are some tips for fitting a tackler:
* Use a 24km disruptor. In a mass battle it is much easier to catch an enemy ship and get the wanted 2 killpoints with a long disruptor than with the short web scrambler. A twenty kilometers disruptor also means that you can sit on a gate and catch ships without much extra effort.
* Use MicroWarp Drives.
* Forget armor plates, use nanofiber structures.
* No damage modules. If you're not in an assault ship with T2 guns, the damage from a tackling frigate is little. Use nanofibers / overdrive, if nothing else comes to mind.
* Passive tank instead of active tank. Shield extenders are ideal for T1 frigates (and some interceptors), armor plates are not very desirable (very bad agility and MWD speed). If you decide to use plates, do not you use larger 200mm, if you use a shield booster you either die or run out of capacitor before the booster will do something significantly useful.
* Use Long-guns and Long-range ammunition. Long range in a tackling fitting means at least 10 + km to the default fire range. Damage is not what is expected from a tackler. Do not sacrifice holding the target as long as possible at a long range and survival for a better damage to the target. This is not a objective of a tackler.
* Make sure you have enough energy to make long (or frequent) warps. Use boosters. Train skills Warp drive operation and Energy management. Your aim should be for flights of more than 100 Au with no additional warps. This requires good skills (and not possible for all frigates), but warping to least 60 AU - is required.
* Use T2 modules, if you can fit them. If you are constantly shot down and spend ships as fast as a machine gun fires bullets, use cheap T1 mods, but still T2 ones are obviously better.
* Use the Rifter as a training tackling ship. No matter what your skill plan is, training for a Rifter with T1-T2 modules requires a week or maximum two. Why the Rifter? Because it has a great set of slots, a lot capacitor (for a frigate), it's cheap, fast and has sufficient CPU-PG for most tackling setups, it has a small signature. For the Rifterom long flights are not a problem. And to feel comfortable it is enough to hgave the skill Minmatar frigates trained to level 3.
Outlined above are the basics. Some variants of fleets or situations can throw out a particular rule from those above, but if it happens - the FC will announce it and will explain what tasks are required from a tackler, and in most cases will help to find the right fitting.
So, your gang has found an enemy scout piloting a covert-ops or a cloaked T3 cruiser. The scout is reporting your positions, ship types in your fleet, and even the type of asteroids you dig!
Why should you kill this covert-ops?
1. Because you will rid the enemy of a tactical / strategic advantage.
2. And because the cloaked ship might have 50 plexes in the cargo!
What you need to kill a covert ops ship:
1. An Interdictor - the main vessel in catching enemies.
2. An Interceptor / any other fast ship (e.g. the Dramiel) - the faster, the better
3. Drones - lots of medium drones
And here is the secret:
Step 1.
The covert-ops should follow your gang, pass through the gate and see that everyone is returning to the gate at 0 m.
Step 2. Put the Interdictor in the position for launching a Bubble
Step 3. Put all the fast ships to a position above gate
Step 4. A moment later after the enemy appears on the local chat, the Interdictor launches a buble
Step 5. All fast ships (including the Interdictor) must activate the MWD (MicroWarp Drive), but to stand still at a distance from the gate (the Interdictor has to stand in its position to cover the gate with its Bubble in the uncloaking direction in the most convenient and comfortable way); the ships must have the Tactical overview activated
Step 6. The enemy jumps and gets uncloaked - no need to lock him / her at this stage, all that is necessary to do is that the fast ships, double click (or use a hot key - the default "A + Left Mouse Button") on him / her in the overview as soon as he appeared, and begin to rush to the covert-ops.
Step 7. The covert-ops ships gets cloaked again - as soon as this happens, click on the arrow under the capacitor - set "Maximum speed" and continue flying without changing the direction of movement
Step 8. Pray - if all goes well, you'll manage to uncloak the covert-ops / t3 cruiser, but if not - you'll passed by it far forward and you can forget about the ship until it again begins to haunt you
Step 9.1. You managed to uncloak the enemy - immediately begin locking it while approaching; if he or she can (theoretically) repulse your attack - orbits at 10-15 km and kill
Step 9.2.1. You flied 25 km from the gate and uncloaked no one - if it was a covert-ops ship, 90% are that it has already warped off; and if it was common T1 / T2 ship, you should launch your drones
Step 9.2.2. If the target cannot use a covert-ops cloaking device, the members of the gang should send drones to the ships that are attempting to uncloak the target (to attack or send to assist)
The drones won't kill a fast boat (2000 m/s +) so you will be ahead of the drones, and they will follow you in a bunch like a fishing net. If you do steps 1-7 correct, then the target has very little chance to get out of range of your "net" and escape punishment
Some more questions:
-All this is cool, but why "above the gate", and not under or in front of it?
-Quite simply - how many times have you seen someone getting uncloaked Under gate? NEVER! The position of the gate provides an excellent opportunity to quickly reach any uncloak spot without hitting the gate
-Why should I keep Tactical overview on?
-When you press to approach a boat, from you to your enemy there lays a line, and when he / she turns the cloaking device on - the line will remain which will help you keep the correct direction.
However, the main purpose of a damage dealer is piloting heavy vehicles - mostly Battleships, they are the core of the fleet - and to destroy any enemy ships, and first of all of the same type.
Battleships inflict the biggest damage from close and middle range.
Sniper battleships can be described as "made of cardboard". However, this is offset by a significant distance at which the snipers shoot at the enemy: due to the distance they may be invulnerable to enemy electronic warfare support, and main damage dealers, and therefore can shoot continuously. At the same time there is a considerable chance for the snipers to escape alive, if their fleet fails.
A Dreadnought is able to inflict enormous damage. Its main tasks are:
- destruction of enemy POSes;
- destruction of the capital ships of the enemy (there are capital ships, that do not cause damage, but can change the whole fight in favor of their fleet ), including the Titans;
Training for dreadnoughts is long and expensive, so good capital ship pilots are rare and in high demand in corporations and alliances.
Nevertheless, a lone dreadnought without a fleet around is a dead dreadnought and a desired prey for the enemy.
Titans.
Titans are Unique damage dealers, which can use in the most serious weapon of mass destruction in Eve - "doomsday".
However, today titans are not only and even not really a damage dealing ships. The modules, which titans can fit and use, increase net power and protection of the entire fleet, as well as add special features, such as that titans can generate a portal through which the allied fleet pass into another system without using a conventional gate.
Titans are extremely expensive ships, while requiring an extremely long and costly training. The destruction of a titan is an event that appears in the news on the main screen of the game client and on the official web-site.
Ships of damage dealers: Battlecruisers, Battleships, Heavy Assault ships, Command ships, Dreadnoughts, Titans.
NB: Newbie pilots wishing to become damage dealers should first train turret guns, instead of missile laucnhers.
Damage dealing is a specialization that means killing the enemy. The role of the damage dealer (DD) is to inflict maximum damage in minimum time.
In most cases, DDs fly in the strongest ships.
However, they receive the most severe damage from the enemy at the same time. In addition, the mechanics of the game often puts the damage dealer to choose one of three - protection, fire-power, distance. The conclusion is the following: the ships of the damage dealers are rarely sufficiently tanked. Protecting damage dealers mainly depends on the support ships (especially on electronic warfare and logistics ships), and to a lesser extent on the tactics of the damage dealer.
One can hear a funny phrase - "damage tank" from time to time from Eve players. The portion of truth in this joke is very large; as a matter of fact, the best defense for a damage dealer is the early destruction of the enemy.
Damage dealers are conditionally classified by type of ships.
Light damage dealers:
- Heavy Assault Ship (other names Heavy Assault Cruiser, HAC, Hack), a separate type of T2-cruisers;
Heavy damage dealers:
- Battlecruisers;
- Command Ships, T2-Batllecruisers.
- Battleships;
- Dreadnoughts, capital ships;
- Titans (titans are sometimes referred to as "supercapitals", "supercaps"), currently the largest and most powerful ships in the game.
Depending on the weapons and modules damage dealers are also classified as follows:
- Melee (30 km), close-range damage dealers;
- Middle range (30-150km);
- Long range (150 km), snipers;
The main role of the light damage dealers is the destruction of support ships and ships of their own class.
In addition, light damage dealers are an indispensable attribute of a special fleet format - roaming (roaming gang / fleet, roaming). This format allows the gang to quickly to arrive, quickly destroy the enemy and quickly leave. Or to retreat without loss, if the enemy is stronger.
The main characteristics of this format are: speed, maneuverability, and middle range. Because of the low speed and maneuverability of battlecruisers, strictly speaking, BCs do not fit into the format, but still sometimes accompany a roaming gang.
The Interceptor is a pilot who catches and keeps the enemy until the main forces of the fleet arrive and / or immobilize enemy ships during combat.
Interceptors fly mainly light, fast and maneuverable ships.
Interceptor ships are often poorly protected, or even not protected at all. These ships perform their specific tasks and survive due to their speed and maneuverability, i.e. by the so called "speed tanking".
The specialization in intercepting is one of the most demanding in Eve to the skill of the pilot, his or her ability to navigate in difficult circumstances. The best interception ships with the fitting can be from two to four times more expensive than a regular Battleship, but their effectiveness for the fleet and the chance of survival is significantly higher than of regular interceptors. On such expensive interceptors are usually piloted by veterans, experts in the field, while inexperienced pilots should better use T2 fitting.
Interceptors are conditionally divided by function and the types of ships.
Light interceptors:
- Tacklers. Fly Frigate* and Interceptor class ships.
- Dictors. The term is derived from the type of ships - Interdictor.
Conditionally heavy:
- Heavy tacklers. Fly on Cruisers* and some Recon ships.
- Heavy-dictors. The term is derived from the type of ships Heavy Interdictor.
* Note: All the types of vehicles marked with an asterisk above are used only during training or for unserios operations. In serious fighting these ships have no place.
The only T1 frigate relatively acceptable in the role of a tackler is the Minmatar Rifter.
Tacklers operate in close proximity to the enemy. Ideally, a light tackler must keep the ship of the enemy until the arrival of heavy tacklers who intercept the target, then the light tackler is either going for the next victim, or retreats to a safe distance. In practice, it often happens that the tackler holds the target, until the latter is killed.
Professional tacklers can hold some targets for a long time, some may say "as long as needed" (however, this is very rare, because help comes on average in 20-30 seconds). Tacklers are the most fragile vessels, often suicides, but they are important, even necessary in a battle.
Interdictors use a special module - Interdiction Sphere Launcher, which by the use of Warp Disrupt Probes creates a spherical field around the ship with a 20 km diameter, which prevents warping (i.e. escape from the battlefield) of all ships, that get into this field. The field, also called "Bubble", exists for two minutes, then disappears and the dictor creates a new bubble. Bubbles can be used only in null-sec and wormholes.
Besides this function, an interdictor can shoot enemy tacklers in combat.
Heavy tacklers
keep at an average distance from the enemy. They intercept the target initially held by light tacklers and catch their own targets. If possible, heavy tacklers also perform supporting roles, for example, add a bit of damage to the general fleet damage, shoot down enemy interceptors and support ships. But their main task is to catch and keep the goal before the DPS ships arrive or until the rest of the gang switch focus (that is, until the common damage is applied on the intercepted target).
Heavy tacklers flying some recons ships are a link that connects the combat fleet and the scouts, since such a tackler can use a special stealth device - Covert Ops Cloaking Device II, that does not diminish the fighting qualities of the ship, unlike other Cloaking Devices.
In addition, heavy tacklers play an important role in roaming.
Heavy tackling is an excellent choice for those who equally like interception, combat and scouting.
Heavy-dictors (T2 type cruisers) are well protected for their type and are a serious threat to the enemy. Unlike light interdictors, heavy interdictors do not use Warp Disrupt Probes, but constantly generate an anti-warp field with the help of the Warp Disruption Field Generator. This field is stronger than that of the Warp Disrupt Probes, it disables the MicroWarpDrive of the ships caught in it, but it is also smaller in diameter - 16 km.
Heavy-dictors can be used not only in null-sec, but also in low-sec. There is a special script for that which converts the field into a directional beam. The Beam has almost the same effect as the field (sphere), but not for several ships, but only for one which the heavy-dictors "holds" with a directed beam.
Heavy interditors can hold any ships, including capital ships and the Titans.
The ships for interception: inteceptors, interdictors, heavy interdictors, recons.
Despite the fact that the EW equipment in the game is varied, an EW pilot is better to start with jamming, which is why we're going to describe the jammers further in this text (a jammer is a device for jamming, also sometimes EW pilots and/or jamming-ships are also referred to as jammers).
The game has only a few jamming-specialized ships, and they all Caldari ships, so here thet are:
- The cruisier class Blackbird.
- Recon class Falcon.
- Recon Class Rook.
- Battleship Class - Scorpion.
Besides the above mentioned, the Caldari also have the T2 frigate Kitsune and T2 battleship Widow (Black Ops type). However, the first is too vulnerable, and the second is too expensive for regular use and also takes too long to train for. Flying Black Ops can be extremely interesting to the fans of subversive operations, but the Black Ops are designed for experienced players and will not be considered in this article.
The Ships for jamming: Blackbird, Scorpion, Rook, Falcon, Widow.
The most preferred vehicles for a jamming-EW pilot is the Caldari recons Falcon and Rook. They can be used in any battle. The Falcon also very useful in exploration because it can use a special device Stealth Covert Ops Cloaking Device II, which does not diminish the fighting qualities of the ship, unlike other Cloaking Devices.
The Scorpion is used in combat-gangs and in large fleets, it is not quite suitable for roaming (mobile units).
EW is an acronym which stands for electronic warfare.
The pilot, who uses electronic warfare modules in combat is an EW pilot.
The EW pilot deprives the enemy to normally conduct combat operations (for example, reduces the range of the guns), or the opposite - enhances the fighting capabilities of his or her gang mates (for example, increases the targeting speed).
An EW pilot operates at an average distance from the enemy and seeks to keep the distance as lager as possible, to the best of the skills and the equipment of the ship. EW ships are very fragile in their class, because they usually have no protection modules fitted.
The defense for EW ships is - the effect of EW modules and distance.
While fragile, EW ships are the main defenders of fleets. A skilled EW pilot is able to change the fight in the favor of his or her fleet, even when faced with an opponent that has a quantitative and qualitative superiority. Neutralization of enemy ships is the main task of electronic warfare. In addition, EW pilots cover the fleet during retreating.
Experienced players, specializing in electronic warfare, may find Gallente ships very attractive for their activity, as those have very interesting bonus features (e.g. for the neutralization of enemy snipers and locking targets at long distances). The Amarr and Minmatar EW-ships are currently noticeably inferior to Caldari and Gallente in performance and efficiency.
Of all the electronic warfare means the most effective and demanded today is jamming. Jamming is dampening the sensors of enemy ships, which means depriving the enemy ship of the ability to lock targets.
As the most important functions in combat (shooting, repairing, and EW) require the possibility of locking the target, most of the ships while jammed turn into flying cans.
Now in Eve gangs rarely fly without jamming-ships and larger fleets do not fly without such ships at all.
For staff intelligence ships are not important. Staff intelligence is "a game in the game." The basic tools for a staff intelligence agent are - Eve maps, forums, Office, Google, and so on. This is a purely intellectual activity.
It should be said at once that in all corporation the activities of the intelligence staff ( and more often of individuals or groups that perform the same function) are strictly secret, and newcomers (both in the game, and to the corporations) have no access to this activity. But over time, a pilot can obtain a position in the intelligence staff and even lead it.
A special scout is often an alt of someone from the intelligence staff, but not necessarily. A special scout can be an alt of any player from the corporation, it depends on the specific task. There are pecial requirements to such alts, reducing the risk of failure of the agent. In addition, these alts often cost money, both virtual (roughly 7-30 billion isk), and real (the standard fee of $20 USD for CCP to transfer the character), plus the cost of maintaining the account (about 800 million isk or $35 USD for two months).
What's more, a special scout alt may not necessarily be used continuously, it can even be used for a single particular operation, then it will be necessary to sell the character.
Thus, special intelligence is an activity for the players, financially well-off (either in game or in real life).
Work in the Intelligence staff - is an occupation for advanced players who have the confidence of the corporation leaders.
In both cases, the involvement of pilots in these activities is considered on a strictly individual basis.
The Ships of military scouts: interceptor, covert-ops, recons, Black Ops.
Special Note: the skills for Covert Ops automatically give the scout the opportunity to fly stealth bombers. It is not always possible to find a good use for these ships, but they can be used for some interesting operations.
- Why the recons, aren't they EW (Electronic Warfare) or tackling ships?
- There are recons that are needed for both the EW, and combat sector. This is due to the bonuses of the ships. For example, the Arazu has a bonus to warp disruption of 20% per level, which is just great for a heavy tackler. The Falcon has a bonus to jamming, which is excellent for a EW pilot. At the same time both are able to use the Covert Ops Cloacking Device II, which makes both the ships suitable for any military scouting.
Scouting.
Scouting in the game is divided into combat, staff and special.
Combat scouting means a pilot who conducts reconnaissance of the enemy before combat and in some cases, during combat, and creates of safe-spots in solar systems for tactical and strategic objectives.
In addition, a combat scout can simultaneously fly an interceptor or play the role of lure the enemy out for his or her fleet, also he or she can do electronic warfare.
In special operations, including sabotage and terrorism, an intelligence pilot can do any role, up to DPS-ing.
A Staff scout collects and analyzes information about the enemy or a potential enemy, and also plans to reconnaissance, sabotage and subversion operations.
A Special intelligence agent
executes the operations prepared by the staff, has the possibilities of a combat scout pilot, yet can be a spy, subversive and saboteur.
Let's examine all the 3 types in more detail.
Combat scouts who fly fast ships, such as frigates, interceptors (also known as ceptors), also play the role of interceptors, or (even more often) of a tackler. At the same time, they can perform other functions, such as an open observation, marking systems and so on.
Combat scouts who fly stealth-frigates such as covert-ops, perform the tasks of covert surveillance and tracking, as well as searching for enemy ships on safe-spots with a special scanner. Combat scouts on covert-ops ships can also be used in peaceful areas and for peaceful purposes, such as finding and clearing out hidden complexes and wormholes.
However, in many cases, intereceptor scouts are better preferred than covert-ops scouts.
In fact, training for covert-ops is an intermediate step in the training for recons, which perform the same tasks, but are an additional combat unit, in contrast to kavert-ops.
Combat scouts, flying recons, both can be either heavy taclers, or an EW pilots or even combine both roles, depending on the class of their recon ships. Of all the ships for combat scouting stealth-recons are the most useful and convenient type.
A gang, flying without scouting, at best, will have no booty, at worst - will become a prey itself. A large fleet is impossible without scouting in general.
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