tactics
Making Safespots Without Celestials
After my last post regarding the loss of a Harbinger to a gate camp that I could not see on d-scan, reader Pater Peccavi of the Cadre Assault Force wrote in with some excellent advice:
1. If there are no celestials close to a gate, don’t warp to it blindly. Press the “Warp To” button, then press Ctrl-Space to stop your ship. This will waste the amount of cap it would’ve taken you to warp. Repeat this until you get the message “There is insufficient power blah blah blah,” this will let you get closer without having to worry about bubbles. If you still don’t make it into scanning range, rinse and repeat until you’re within 14 AU. (You can also reduce your cap with MWD, Shield Boosters/Armor Reppers, etc).
2. When you landed in the bubble, rather than trying to burn to the gate, you should have burned in the opposite direction, towards the other gate (or celestial, or what have you). The broadsword will be slow moving since its bubble is up, which will give you plenty of time to align and get away.
Absolutely true, Pater. #1 is especially valuable and something I had not previously considered. #2 would have been common sense had I been thinking straight.
This blog is only a week old but I’ve already gotten a lot of excellent advice from readers. If you have any favorite tactics you would be willing to share, please post them in the comments and I’ll write another post later on highlighting them along with some of my own.
The Minimal Roaming Gang, Concept…
People who are not extremely skilled soloists (or glory-mad bloggers looking for stories to tell) generally prefer to PVP in gangs if they do at all. More members in gang means more backup, greater DPS, and allowing the fleet to have a variety of specialized ships able to deal very well with specific situations. WIth the benefits and added security that travelling in large numbers provides, most fleet commanders are eager to get as many ships in gang as they possibly can. This tendency leads to the inevitable blob of thirty or more ships thundering across the sky, smashing anything unwary enough to get caught by dint of sheer numbers. While effective, it rarely results in what could be described as a fun fight unless the opposing force manages to muster similar numbers or uses a clever strategy to seize victory.
As a result, some fleet commanders prefer to limit the size of their gangs. Some even go so far as to pare down their fleet to the absolute bare minimum needed to succeed. I would argue that in order to consider a gang fully-featured, it needs to contain three ships, each dedicated to a specific role: DPS, tackle and ECM. You can get away with just DPS and tackle, but ECM is still such a powerful force multiplier that I feel it should not be ignored in any gang. A dedicated ECM ship will allow your gang to take on less well composed or well prepared fleets well out of proportion to its size, provided your ECM pilot is good enough to keep himself more or less out of harm’s way, as he will be called primary first thing.
Which three ships should be used? That depends on the sort of opposition you expect to encounter and whether you plan on roaming foreign space or camping in one spot. I would recommend the following:
- DPS: Drake, Hurricane, Harbinger, Zealot, Sacrilege, Ishtar, HAM Cerberus. Avoid battleships; they are too slow for a quick getaway, which you will need. I am leaving the Vagabond off this list because while it is very survivable, it is too DPS light for its assigned role.
- ECM: Falcon or Rook. The Kitsune is just too tiny and fragile, though in a pinch you could use it as a jammy tackler. Use the Falcon if you want a cloaky scout, a prober, or the ability to mount a cyno generator if you’re the sort of crazy person who likes to randomly hotdrop stuff. The Rook in its post-QR form can provide a nice bit of additional DPS in addition to performing its ECM duties, so some FCs might prefer it.
- Tackle: For roaming, take an interceptor or other light, fast frigate-sized ship with excellent speed and sig radius characteristics. For camping, a heavy interdictor will round out your fleet nicely. I have never flown a HIC, but I hear the Broadsword is the best all around for speed, tank and an extra bit of DPS.
Don’t worry, dear reader, I can hear what you are thinking: “But Kesper, this blog of yours bills itself as being dedicated to solo PVP! Why are you blathering on about small gangs now? You cheating bastard, I bet your next post will be all about some lame NC blobby napfest op.”
Well, you caught me. This whole post was a clever ruse to distract you from the fact that after all my bravado at the end of my last post about how I was going to go out to Venal in my Harbie and go pop some TRI, I ran right into a White Noise gatecamp. I have to credit WN with an excellent setup. They used the gatecamp variation of the three-ship gang I described above, but the spot they chose was absolutely stellar. You can read all about the ensuing battle in the next post.