EVE University Forum

Hello,

I recently bought a Megathron to try something different from my Sentry Domi. I was loosely considering trying to use it on the last of the Gallente Epic Arc - since sentry drones look a little vulnerable. The problem is my Megathron did TERRIBLE when I did a test run on some LVL 4 missions. It does hardly any damage at all, can’t really hit cruisers let alone frigates and it eats up expensive ammo to hit absolutely nothing. What can I do to make this thing effective but not drop a fortune in faction modules? The fittings which I looked up online; many of them seem to have a similar approach to mine…and while they have a good tank and DPS that appears high on paper, it is kind of useless if your guns can’t hit. The only thing on my Megathron that did good damage was the Vespa II drones.

I saw a few fittings on the internet which used 425mm Gauss with faction ammo, but I thought it was because they lacked the fitting skills for the 425mm Railgun II which I chose. Am I missing something, does the faction ammo hit better? Any advice would be appreciated. Do I switch to Meta 4 level 425mm Railguns or downsize to 350mm Railgun II's? Should I give up cap stability or some of my tank to fit a Tracking Computer in the mids or a Tracking Enhancer in the lows? What do the other Megathron pilots in EVE use that is effective?

My Current fit stats:
447.4 DPS at 18km Optimal with Javelin L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 573.7 DPS with 2.17 tracking or…
404.1 DPS at 130km Optimal with Spike L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 530.4 DPS with .43 tracking
66,687 EHP and Cap Stable

[Megathron, Kholby Klarke's Megathron]
Capacitor Power Relay II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
1600mm Steel Plates II
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Reactive Armor Hardener
Large Armor Repairer II

100MN Afterburner II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II

425mm Railgun II
425mm Railgun II
425mm Railgun II
425mm Railgun II
425mm Railgun II
425mm Railgun II
425mm Railgun II

Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II



Hobgoblin II x5
Vespa II x3


Spike L x800
Javelin L x800
Nanite Repair Paste x24

These are two options I was considering using:


Option A: Lose Cap Recharger II and Magnetic Field Stabilizer II and 1600mm Steel Plates II , Gain Tracking Computer II and Tracking Enhancer II and Damage Control II
628.9 DPS at 20km Optimal with Javelin L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 755.2 DPS with 3.06 tracking or…
359.4 DPS at 143km Optimal with Spike L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 485.7 DPS with .61 tracking
65,831 EHP and Cap Stable without Afterburner or else 5:15

Option B: Lose Cap Recharger II and Magnetic Field Stabilizer II, Gain Tracking Computer II and Tracking Enhancer II
628.9 DPS at 20km Optimal with Javelin L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 755.2 DPS with 3.06 tracking or…
359.4 DPS at 143km Optimal with Spike L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 485.7 DPS with .61 tracking
73,631 EHP and Cap Stable without Afterburner or else 5:15

Option C: Lose Cap Recharger II and Magnetic Field Stabilizer II, Gain Tracking Computer II with Damage Control II
628.9 DPS at 18km Optimal with Javelin L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 755.2 DPS with 2.82 tracking
359.4 DPS at 130km Optimal with Spike L (126.4 DPS with Vespa II) for total 485.7 DPS with .56 tracking
92,539 EHP and Cap Stable without Afterburner or else 5:15

What do my fellow Megathron pilots do nowadays?

Hey there!

Before we get into your fit, let me say one thing in advance which may not be fun to hear - the Megathron as a mission ship is a rather suboptimal choice. If you want to finish your missions faster and with less effort, do yourself a favour and switch ships as you clearly have noticed it just doesn't work too well.

Still, let's take a look at the issues!

Your main issue with the ship is application. You want the enemy ships to be far away from you and flying towards you in a straight line so you can hit them - which means an Afterburner fit won't serve that purpose. You will not be able to gain enough distance quickly enough and if you move around yourself you are going to ruin your own tracking. Solution - mount a Micro Jump Drive.

Your second issue, as you partially identified - your fit has way too much cap stability. You are a sniper. You will neither be tanking for an extended period of time, nor will you be in range of NPC EWAR. You waste so much fitting space just to get cap stable for...what, exactly? Solution: Replace most of your capacitor rigs and modules to improve your tracking.

Third issue - your fit has way too much tank. You're a sniper, remember? The plate, the Trimark...if you play your ship the way it needs to be played you won't need all those modules, you simply won't be taking enough damage for buffer to matter. Solution: throw all that stuff out.

If we do as outlined you should have a decent fit for missions with just one caveat - you don't have small-scale mobility. The MJD jumps you 100 km forward, but what if you need to get to a gate that's 10 km away? Good thing we made some fitting space! Solution: Double-prop your ship.

Now there's only one issue to solve - using 425mm rails and all those modules I've been talking about gobbles up your entire CPU. Without resorting to very expensive modules there's only one way to make it all fit - use a fitting rig and some Compact modules.

Now there's little left to do - throw some useful stuff in the rigs, I once again chose to go for maximum damage. Also plugged the Explosive hole and added a CPU fitting rig to make all that stuff fit. Fiddle around with the drones a little and the result:
With my skills it's got 357 gun DPS with Spike, 214 drone DPS with the full flight, 2m 36s of cap with all modules running which should be plenty to repair chip damage while you MJD away and 109 km of targeting range which should be sufficient for you to employ your sniping strategy. There would be another way of approaching the fitting challenge - reduce gun size from 425s to 350s. This frees up an incredible amount of fitting room and leads to a fit that requires way less compromising, see below:
So how does this look, you may ask? Well...with the fitting room we have now I added a Large Cap Battery for some more leeway on the capacitor. With this setup we have 343 gun DPS with Spike instead of 357 and 3m 48s total cap life with everything running. With more fiddling and maybe a couple ISK invested into this fit one might be able to drop the CPU rig altogether, freeing up space for other things in that last rig slot.

What is left for you to decide is how much you're willing to sacrifice for those big guns...and what you make of my little fitting experiment.

Edit: One more thing - the Megathron and Hyperion are usually flown as brawlers fit with blasters. If you really want a rail platform for PvE, consider going Caldari, the Rokh is a tried and true rail sniping platform. A Sentry Dominix may also be an option if you just like keeping things at range and want to stay Gallente.