[Solo AAR] 12 Ships 3 Fits to Lowsec

[Tyler Arnoux]

Hey Guys, took out a handful of frigates in to low-sec for some solo action; thought I'd write up an AAR.
I took three routes when roaming out of Stacmon; first was the easiest (thanks to Glenn for this one), second and third were routes into Black Rise terminating in Ichoria.

• Kamela - Prefer Less Secure
• Ichoria via Essence
• Ichoria via Oicx

Goals

• Fits under 4M (Including Ammo, Nanite etc.)
• Nothing Tech II (Other than DC)
• Flyable with moderate fitting skills
• Gain more solo piloting experience
• Fly offensively (Slide, don't hold plexes)
• Get a solo kill per loss

Fits
Merlin:

Spoiler

[Merlin, Solo - 4M - Scram Control Merlin]
Damage Control II
Vortex Compact Magnetic Field Stabilizer
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer

Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
1MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner

150mm Compressed Coil Gun I
150mm Compressed Coil Gun I
150mm Compressed Coil Gun I

Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I




Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S x500
Iron Charge S x1500
Nanite Repair Paste x24
Antimatter Charge S x1500
Caldari Navy Iron Charge S x300

This fit is based off Cyclo Hexanol's Merlin. I had to gimp the rigs (bulkheads -> shield extenders) to get it under the 4M mark. This is a control fit that baits on the standard blaster Merlin fit. The dual webs give you range control, and antimatter optimal with the 150mm railguns is ~8km. Piloting this ship is as simple as apply dual webs and keep at range 8k. This is a fairly low dps scram kiter, but control is king.

Slasher:

Spoiler

[Slasher, Solo - 4M - Brawl Dishonor Slasher]
Damage Control II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer

Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler
Balmer Series Compact Tracking Disruptor I
1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier

200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon
Small Infectious Scoped Energy Neutralizer

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I




Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S x650
Republic Fleet EMP S x650
Optimal Range Disruption Script x1
Tracking Speed Disruption Script x1
Republic Fleet Fusion S x650
Fusion S x1500
Phased Plasma S x1500
EMP S x1500
Nanite Repair Paste x30

This fit is a fairly standard dishonor brawler. We use the Slasher's tracking bonus and high speed to create a ship that can orbit tight and deal reasonable DPS. You have lots of options when it comes to engagements in this loadout, as the TD and Neut give you a lot of utility to neuter incoming DPS. The biggest weakness of this fit is the inability to fight more than one person very effectively. Although you can third party, it is difficult to stay alive without all your utility available for each enemy pilot ongrid, as you are paper tanked. You do have a SAAR that affords you more time before warping off, but if the enemy is hitting you with anywhere near their max dps you are dead.

Punisher:

Spoiler

[Punisher, Solo - 4M - Kite Slicer Punisher]
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
Extruded Compact Heat Sink
Extruded Compact Heat Sink
Type-D Restrained Nanofiber Structure
Type-D Restrained Nanofiber Structure

5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Faint Scoped Warp Disruptor

Small Focused Anode Particle Stream I
Small Focused Anode Particle Stream I
Small Focused Anode Particle Stream I
Small Focused Anode Particle Stream I

Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I




Standard S x4
Imperial Navy Standard S x4
Nanite Repair Paste x32
Multifrequency S x4
Radio S x4

This is the tightest fit of the 3; however, you can swap one of the Small Energy Locus Coordinator I rigs for a Small Processor Overclocking Unit I and there should be plenty of headroom. This Punisher is fit up like a slicer; with the dual nanofibers, your base speed approaches fast tackle frigate levels. In lowsec, there is really no way for a Punisher to control anything with its 2 mid slots, so the most viable thing is to kite. This fit can project ~100 dps cold out to 20km. Even when sliding offensively you can coast out of scram range if the other pilot is not 100% on point. Your worst enemy is cap management in this fit; even without the SAAR, there is less than a minute of cap life with my skills. Managing heat, cap, reps, and range can be fairly difficult to do.

Kills and Losses
Merlin
Merlin #1: (04:34:23) Hevrice, Oyonata, Sahtogas
Tristan +0.77m
Merlin +11.01m
Capsule +9.54m
Merlin -4.15m

Spoiler

The first kill onto the Tristan was pretty much a gimmie, unrigged plexor.

The next fight with a dual web rail merlin was fairly close; however I was able to abuse the range difference between 125mm and 150mm railguns to my advantage to secure the win.

I get a little impatient and slide into a comet. I land at zero and he is able to volley me before I can pull any kind of range.

Merlin #2: (21:54:42) Rakapas
Merlin -3.96m

Spoiler

Slid into a blaster comet; due to his inattention, I was able to get to range. I was working through him while keeping him at 8km when his friend arrives and slides in. I was distracted managing damage from the first comet's drones so I don't notice the second comet before it is too late. Second comet closes range and I get popped pretty quick after that.

Merlin #3: (06:59:26) Melmaniel
Merlin -4.06m

Spoiler

Slide into an Atron and land at zero. Unable to pull range fast enough to avoid damage. Reps don't land cause of buffer in shield.

Merlin #4: (18:24:44) Reitsato
Merlin -3.99m

Spoiler

Incursus loss, same story, land at zero, shield goes down while starting to pull range, dead by the time a rep or two goes off.

Overall this Merlin was pretty disappointing. I think the strength of this fit lies in holding the inside of a plex and having people slide into you. Although I did manage two kills, they were both fairly unimpressive. Landing at zero on a blaster boat is pretty much instant death. More importantly I messed up in terms of rigging; the shield rigs do give me more EHP, but the lack of buffer under/on my armor caused me to be unable to fully unload my SAAR in every single loss I had.

Slasher
Slasher #1: (21:38:42) Hikkoken
Slasher -3.6m
Punisher +13.33m

Spoiler

Land at a novice where a punisher is sitting outside the gate. I make no attempt to slide and he tackles me. I orbit close at 1250 and start to apply dps and neuts. I have him into armor when a Thrasher lands and third parties. I attempt to pull away and disengage, but this lowers my transversal to the punisher allowing some hard hits. I go down and the Punisher goes down shortly after.

Slasher #2: (23:13:49) Agoze
Breacher +9.4m
Slasher -3.35m
Tormentor +12m

Spoiler

This one is cheating a little. I was out in a dual tank breacher and I third party onto a breacher and an incursus. I primary the breacher as I feel that is more of a threat than the blaster incursus. After the breacher goes down I move focus onto the incursus. He is a standard dual rep fit, so I am wholly unable to break him while he is still able to slowly hit out to me with null. Since he has no control due to his cap booster I pull away and disengage.

I then reship to the slasher and head out to Agoze once again. I see a tormentor in a novice and slide in. I engage, orbit tight and use neuts and tracking disruption to mitigate dps. I have him almost broken, but I am running a little short on cap, as I am overrunning the Neut. His drones are bleeding me into structure and he is doing a great job launching and pulling to make it hard for me to kill them. I stupidly drop my web on him to web a drone to kill it and he is able to pull out to around 5k. The lower transversal gets me two shot by his beams.

Slasher #3: (01:32:21) Kedama, Sahtogas
Merlin +8.92m
Maulus Navy Issue +49.04m
Slasher -3.67m

Spoiler

With this slasher I third partied on a merlin and Maulus Navy fighting. I applied a web and range disruption to the merlin and scrammed the maulus; I then applied my dps to the maulus as I have no good way of mitigating drone dps. The maulus destroys the merlin then turns its attention to me but it has already sustained too much damage to do anything before dying

I roam all the way to Kamela with no content and start heading back when I slide into a bait kitey Tormentor. I am unable to slingshot it and it makes short work of my buffer. I don't rep (guess I should have), but it would have been hard to catch regardless.

Slasher #4: (18:24:44) Iesa, Kourmonen, Lamaa, Kamela, Sosan, Kinakka
Incursus +13.34m
Executioner +6.04m
Punisher +1.64m
Capsule +0.01m
Punisher +1.64m
Capsule +0.01m
Atron +13.09m
Tormentor +7.67m
Slasher -3.74m

Spoiler

This was a long roam, but definitely the best I've done in a single ship during my whole Eve career.

My first kill was onto an Incursus. vs Blasters I orbited around 3.75km using range disruption while letting my neut do its work. When he started to have cap issues (evidenced by drop of scram/web), I closed in to around 1.25k and finished him them off with better dps.

The next kill was on to a new pilot flying a scram kiting beam exec. This fit is okay if you can hold at 10km, but since he started at zero I was already under his guns regardless of my TD.

Kills three and four were vs the same pilot flying the same fit Punisher. I was able to figure out his fit from ZKill and I knew he never had anything but Multifrequency S in his ship. As a result I used much the same strategy that I used vs the Incursus. Once he was cap dry, his Reactive Armor Hardener shut off, and it was much quicker work to dps him down after that.

During the second Punisher fight I noticed an Atron outside our plex. I luckily had not spent any heat killing the punisher (as it was a fight I had won easily before) so I decided to stay and fight. I was much more worried about this fight than the Incursus, because with null the Atron could apply great to me at the fairly close range I was holding regardless of my Range Disruption. Luckily the pilot neglected to load the null he had in his cargo, and as a result I was able to cap him out and kill him.

My final kill of this roam was third partying onto a Tormentor and Punisher brawling in a Novice. I decide to primary the Tormentor, as I could see he was pulse fit, and that + his drones was bad news for me. When the tormentor went down I started engaging the Punisher. He was 2x400mm Brick fit with 125mm ACs. I applied range disruption to him, but he was still able to hit out to me, and the dps/tank between us was an incredibly close race. When I was starting to hit cap dry and bleeding into deep structure I began to pull away. I had him into about 50% hull, and by the time I exited his damage envelope I was in 3% hull. I was able to apply light falloff damage to him from around 7km, but he decided to disengage when I pulled range.

After this I roamed all the way back up to Black Rise to hopefully join up with a Uni Fleet that was out. I engaged a pilot in an Incursus. I preheated AB and landed, applied scram/web and burned away, but he was still able to keep me closer than 2km. I then noticed he had no scram on me,
so I attemped to warp away. Unfortunately his overwhelming dps popped me before I could align and warp

Flying this Slasher was awesome; the choices you have in terms of who/what you engage is brilliant. Having range control over pretty much everyone due to your insane heated AB speed is awesome. Learning to manage 7 active modules was a little bit overwhelming at first, but the slasher's ability to keep pretty much everything on all the time makes it a lot easier. You have a nice hard counter for everything gun based that wants to fight in scram range.

• Rails -> Tracking Disruption
• Blasters -> Range Disruption+Neuts
• Beams -> Tracking Disruption
• Pulses -> Range Disruption+Neuts
• Arty -> Tracking Disruption
• AC -> Range/Tracking depending on ship bonus/ac size

Ships with drones and/or missiles are a hard no-go.

Punisher
Punisher #1: (08:40:14) Martoh
Inquisitor +2.14m
Punisher -4.81m

Spoiler

After a long roam around with no content I decided to slide into a three man gang holding a novice. I tried to pull range out but was unable to before getting scrammed and dual webbed. Stuck as I was I primaried their frigate logi and was able to take him down before I popped. I tried applying to the other two frigs but tracking prevented that from happening.

Punisher #2: (01:57:18) Loes, Muetralle, Sahtogas, Kurniainen
Breacher +7.33m
Capsule +0.01m
Tristan +10.91m
Executioner +3.09m
Punisher -3.85m
Merlin +8.72m

Spoiler

First kill was on to a Breacher. Fairly straightforward fight. Made sure to get dps down on drones while they were close to him/approaching me. Once the two drones were down I just worried about pulsing my MWD and watching for him to disengage for me to activate my point. Despite his dualprop he was still not able to catch me. I am betting he accidentally let his MASB cycle once or twice without charges leaving him capped out.

Tristan fight was a risky take on my part. I slid, established range and orbited him at 18km. While his drones chased I alphaed them off. Every time he pulled them I would control-space, keep shooting drones, then start dpsing him.

The Executioner was an easy kill as I was able to get range and he did not bring any other crystals. With no incoming dps it was easy to manage range and taking him down.

After I arrived in Kamela, I poked around the Bleak Lands a little and tried engaging an Astero. I could not deal with his drones so I disengaged and docked up to repair. When I undocked I d-scanned a Merlin sitting in a small. I decided to take the fight and slid. He was able to land a scram/web on me and after he did the Astero from before decloaked 30 off the beacon.
Died pretty quickly after that.

Punisher #3: (07:28:45) Loes, Murethand
Slasher +15.39m
Punisher -3.69m

Spoiler

Was playing around outside plexes with a brawly slasher. Slasher pilot made the mistake of landing at zero on a plex and I was able to catch them before they could warp away.

Continued roaming and felt confident so I engaged an AC svipul outside of a medium. I had him pointed and chasing, so I set my speed manually to match his so I wouldn't rubberband/slingshot as much. I was taking him into armor when his friend showed up in a hawk. I moved my keep at range to the hawk, but my speed selection still stuck. The hawk landed a scram and I died very quickly after that.

Punisher #4: (18:24:44) Martoh
Punisher -4.00m

Spoiler

Slid in on a FNC. Was able to pull range easily, and hold him at around 16km, but his drones required me to run my repper. With this and the already bad cap issues I capped myself out and was unable to run my SAAR; I could have warped away but completely missed it due to trying to keep point on him as he was more than halfway through his hull.

This fit works surprisingly well in lowsec. I have used a variant of this before on a FW farming alt with moderate success. I had a hard time with cap management as expected. I lost some fights and lost some kills due to bad module/cap management. Overall I think this fit is really strong and quite versatile. It allows you to engage groups without much risk, and the high DPS means that you can burn things burning at you pretty easy. The lack of tank overall (and the lack of cap needed to run your tank) makes getting caught or damaged at all a pretty bad thing. People are definitely caught off guard though, and that helps you get range even when sliding in on people.

Stats
ISK Destroyed: 205,032,033.34
ISK Lost: 46,885,505.21
ISK Delta: 158,146,528.13
Efficiency: 77.132%

Retro
Overall had a lot of fun with this. Content is pretty hard to find, so it is way better to be undocked and roaming around while playing with fits, waiting for fleets, etc. It was interesting to see how different the meta was between Min/Amarr and Cal/Gal FW space. I would definitely like to try roaming out to null with frigates in the future. If anyone has any tips/fits/suggestions please do let me know, thanks for reading!

[DeanSherman]

Thank you for the AAR.

[Hideo Date]

Amazingly detailed! I learned an enormous amount! Gotta take out that slasher again have tried that a couple times, but yeah you really need to know the weapons/abilities of the ships you engage...I am still really bad at that^^

Thank you very much for the writeup!