[PvE] Solitude VS Guristas FOB part 2

[Hirmuolio Pine]

The 8D02 Reverse Thought fleet managing to kill one Blood Raider FOB inspired me to try killing a Guristas FOB in solitude again.

Like in the Blood Raider kill we used spider tanked Dominixes. I also got two destroyer pilots for extra dps.

The dominix fit:

Spoiler

[Dominix, FOB Domi-G]
Armor Thermal Hardener II
1600mm Steel Plates II
Armor Thermal Hardener II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Armor Thermal Hardener II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Reactive Armor Hardener

Large Micro Jump Drive
Large Cap Battery II
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Sensor Booster II, ECCM Script
Sensor Booster II, ECCM Script

Large I-ax Enduring Remote Armor Repairer
Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II
Large I-ax Enduring Remote Armor Repairer
Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II
Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II
Large Remote Armor Repairer II

Large Egress Port Maximizer I
Large Egress Port Maximizer I
Large Remote Repair Augmentor I

Federation Navy Ogre x5
Hobgoblin II x5
Hammerhead II x5
Federation Navy Garde x5
Navy Cap Booster 800 x25

Due to jams I decided to use a bit unusual "mesh" cap chain formation instead of the usual single chain. In normal cap chain we would have put 2 transfer up and one trasnfer down. When jammed this would mean that someone would lose two incoming cap transfers and would have to do with only one incoming cap trasferrer. With one incoming cap transfer the Dominix can't run even the cap transmitters for long.

Instead I decided we would put 1 cap first up, 1 cap second up and 1 cap third up like this. This way even when jammed everyoune would always get at least two cap transferrers. With two incoming transfers the Dominix can run the cap transferrers and also one remote repairer contiusouly (and also pulse second remote repairer).
This kind of cap transfer formation is also good for some kind of ritual.

I also used an alt to engage the Guristas mining fleet in system to avoid the hauler coming to the FOB and ruining the day like happened in 8D02 Reverse Thought.

The fleet formed at 20:30 and we spend a bit below half hour setting up everything (get ships, tell the plan, travel, set up the chain, prealign RAH). In total we had five Dominixes, one Corax and one Catalyst.

At 20:57 we engaged the Guristas FOB located in Postouvin.
The original plan was to warp in outside FOB ECM range, take out most annoying rats and then warp closer to FOB to bash it. But it turns out I made the warpin bookmark too far (~700 km) and the defenders didn't show up there. So we warped to the FOB.
Against our five Dominixes the Guristas undocked:
2x Kestrel
2x Osprey
11x Caracal
4x Blackbird
1x Gila

Without any battleships on field the tank held well. The cap booster was useful when the cap buddy was jammed and FOB neuted at same time too.
It took some time to kill the Ospreys but once they were gone the Gila and Caracals went down fast. The Kestrels orbited us with MWD on so the drones had trouble keeping up with them but eventually they died too.
The Blackbirds orbited us at 70+ km so we couldn't engage them. At first we thought about using the MJD to jump on them but the blackbirds were all in different direction so we would have to jump to each of them separately. The jamps were also completely irrelevant once the DPS was cleared so I decided we would just leave them be and focus on the FOB.
After the defenders (except blackbirds) were killed we started to bash the FOB. At this point I also called the Destroyer to warp in and help with DPS.
There were no more spawns so the FOB bashing part was mostly uninteresting.
At 21:29 the FOB was dead. https://zkillboard.com/kill/68534348/

There was another FOB in Odinesyn. After quick talk we decided to kill that one too.
We warped to the FOB and this time the Guristas undocked:
1x Kestrel
3x Osprey
12x Caracal
2x Blackbird
0x Gila

Again we killed the Ospreys, Caracals and Kestrels. Started the FOB bash and called in the Destoyer.
At 22:07 the second FOB fell under our might https://zkillboard.com/kill/68535147/

Summary:
+OP SUCCESS
+Fast formup
+The first UNI FOB fleet with no deaths
+Two FOB kills
+~56 mil isk isk payout from DED + 17 mil from drops for each pilot (total ~119 mil in structure modules)

Future things:
Bring mobile depot/Nestor to refit for more DPS once defenders are dead.
Bring more destroyer pilots for more dps. We also need to find if bringing lots of ships would cause second (stronger) defender fleet to undock.

[Xiang Fong]

Also good for next time:The description says you get up to 30 mil per pilot up to a total of 800 mil. that means ideally we want to have 26 pilots on field as it dies, to get the full reward. When we start shooting the FOB, we should ask for all unistas in the area to just come hanging out. Like, it's not like I did anything (0.9% of the damage ), but I got about 55 mil out of this. For me and other starting pilots, this is a lot, so it would be nice to be called in just to site there for 10 mins and get 30 mil for it.

[Erwin Madelung]

But it turns out I made the warpin bookmark too far (~700 km) and the defenders didn't show up there. So we warped to the FOB.

I tested that already in december with a frigate. If you are too far away no defender spawn. I think 300km is best atm so defender spawn but you are out of neut range.

Instead of refitting I would simply use 10 Dominixes (is that the plural?). They hit the damage cap of 5k/s anyways and the fit seemed tanky enough if you start outsite of neut range even with addional spawns.

I also want to add that i warped an alt in an hauler on grid with the 2nd FOB and he got the DED payout without dealing any damage to anything. So it might be good to warp in people just to whore on the payout. But be aware that the spawning mechanics are still not fully understood. Maybe additional defenders spawn if you warp too many on grid in the end.

Speaking of spawning mechanics: It would still be interesting to see how the defender fleet scales. It must have a random part too it as it was different for our 2 tries with exactly the same layout.

Has there been any changes to the FOB since the 6th of december? Did the patch notes say anything? Because I think the defender were now fewer and the FOBs are run much more now.

Last but not least I would still like to try it with augorors. Maybe we can give it a shot on the test server. Inject the critical skills for new players.

[Treatle Omaristos]

Those jammers annoyed me. I have just tested a fit replacing one repper with a single Drone Link Augmentor II. In short, it would have worked; the jammers held station 74-75km away from us last night. With the modified fit I was able to both target & hit a ship 80km away.

I would suggest that in future fleets at least one of the ships has a Drone Link Augmentor II.

[Erwin Madelung]

There was a change in the FOBs on FEBRUARY 13TH 2018
"Pirate Shipyards and FOBs have a limited amount of reinforcements for their defensive fleets."

Any tries before and after that change cannot be compared With those changes an augoror fleet really seems possible again. You can see taht change on zkill too. The number of kills and the composition of the fleets changed.

[Zeerse Solaris]

So to repeat the learning from before, looks like DPs ships can be on grid and escape incoming DPS attention because of the AI prioritising the RR domis.

Good job

[Hirmuolio Pine]

Well we killed all the dps ships before destroyers were called. But at least the blackbirds seem to focus on logi.

[Cassiel Seraphim]

Thanks for the extra information about the initial spawn numbers and lack of reinforcements Hirmoulio. Also good to see that you learned from other people's mistakes in managing the cap chain, spreading cap across multiple people is indeed a good way to handle both the neuting and jamming threat.

This shows that the whole thing is drastically different now (after the patch), compared to the initial implementation where they kept respawning when killed as well as constantly calling in more reinforcements over time. Interesting to see that there were no additional spawns when you brought in the two destroyers, would be interesting to see just how many more people you can bring in without getting additional spawns.

Again, thanks for sharing your findings Hirmoulio, this helps a lot to spread awareness. Keep up the good work and keep sharing the details

[Tye Etch]

Thanks Hirmuolio for letting me join in with my destroyer

And, not that it's a decent sample size to be at all relevant, but the Blackbird completely ignored my presence even when I was taking it out with my destroyer.

[K950]

Nice work. No losses it looked people had a good time.

[Hannah Onasi]

Good on you for sharing details and not hiding them. Keep up the spirit of what the Corp is about. Wish I was there but there is always a next time.

[Xiang Fong]

Thanks Hirmuolio for letting me join in with my destroyer

And, not that it's a decent sample size to be at all relevant, but the Blackbird completely ignored my presence even when I was taking it out with my destroyer.

I can double that sample size: I was shooting at one of them basically 2/3 of the structure timer. I didn't kill it, but it didn't do anything. It did aggro me after the FOB died for some reason, even though the BS were still in range...