[Solo AAR] Big 'Tings

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Breeze One
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[Solo AAR] Big 'Tings

Post by Breeze One »

Since I came back to EVE I’ve been trying to do more than just the standard solo Frigate PvP in Low Sec. I’ve decided to go up market, and try flying some bigger ships solo - Cruisers/BCs/Battleships. This is a whole new ball game from the fast paced frigates I’m used to, and I’ve had a bunch of fun with it. I thought it might be interesting for people to see the lessons I’ve learned so far - both for other people who want to try doing solo big ships, and for FCs of our fleets, given I’m essentially flying what would normally be our prime targets for blobs!

Fight 1:

Glen and I had been chasing this frigate gang around together earlier (we picked a few off), but when Glen logged off, I took my Hurricane on a solo roam, and bumped into the same gang, who scented revenge, seeing me alone. The Hurricane fit was one I’d thought would be ideal for fighting frigate gangs like this. Dual webs and a scram for locking down small ships coming in close for my Autocannons to blow them away, and an MJD to help me jump away from people trying to kite me.
Spoiler
[Hurricane, Breeze One's Hurricane]
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer,Nanite Repair Paste

Medium Micro Jump Drive
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Scrambler II

Small Energy Neutralizer II
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II,Republic Fleet Fusion M

Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
This didn’t quite go as planned. The frigates were almost all AB fit, and while I killed a couple as they approached me (ALWAYS SPIRAL IN!) once they got under my guns, I found I struggled to apply damage even with dual webs! The issue I think was that I had no prop module (besides the MJD), so I was virtually stationary, allowing them to get a fast orbit with an AB inside 500m. Even with dual webs, my medium weapons apply virtually zero damage inside of 500m. With a propr mod I could have at least pulled their orbits more elliptical, and got some hits in. Either way, my drones took out one or two more, but these guys were smart enough to kill off the drones pretty fast - leaving me scrammed by an AB fit Condor and Worm I simply couldn’t hit. (Lesson for FCs: Killing drones is VERY effective!).

I think I could actually have still escaped - only the Condor had me scrammed (Worm had no tackle) and if I’d realised that I could have tried to neut the Condor out with my Small Neut and escaped. Sadly I derped out and Neuted the Worm instead, and ended up succumbing. The big lesson for me here was the value of prop modules to help tracking, plus the need to keep calm when spreading modules across multiple targets.

Kills
Spoiler
Fight 2:

I took my Armageddon for a roam around. This is one of Kelon Darklight’s fits, and again has a very wide engagement range - 20km Neuts, an MJD for escaping kiters, 62km Heavy Missiles, tons of Drones…
Spoiler
[Armageddon, Simulated Armageddon Fitting]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Damage Control II
Large Ancillary Armor Repairer
1600mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
'Refuge' Adaptive Nano Plating I

Heavy Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I
500MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Large Micro Jump Drive
Warp Disruptor II

Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Energy Neutralizer II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Energy Neutralizer II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II

Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Large Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Large Processor Overclocking Unit I



Berserker II x5
Praetor II x5
Warrior II x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Acolyte II x5
Infiltrator II x5

Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Missile x500
Caldari Navy Nova Heavy Missile x250
Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile x500
Navy Cap Booster 3200 x6
Caldari Navy Inferno Heavy Missile x500
Dread Guristas Inferno Heavy Missile x125
Nova Fury Heavy Missile x500
Nanite Repair Paste x200
Mjolnir Fury Heavy Missile x500
Inferno Fury Heavy Missile x500
I was trying to bait a cruiser gang I knew were pulling a recon trap in system, but they actually got busted by a Frigate fleet...who then got a bit cocky and came after me. They also had two Jackdaws alongside the frigates.

The Dramiel was the priority target (due to his scram) but popped fast to my drones, with his SAAR completely deactivated by my Neuts. Those Neuts quickly proved the overall MVP here, they completely killed the speed of each kiting ship, letting my drones get on top of them (the RHMLs helped, but drones did most of the damage). This group also tried popping drones, but the Armageddon has so much space I was carrying a second wave of lights.

I bait tanked HARD to keep them interested (I think I spent most of the fight at around 10-20% armor), but in reality it was relatively comfortable throughout. Lesson here being the devastating value of Neuts as tackle, and how dangerous it can be to be baited into thinking you might be able to win a fight.

Kills
Spoiler
The only part of the fleet I didn't get were the Jackdaws who smartly stayed poking me at at 60km+, at the edge of my missile range and well outside my Neut range. With no real chance of catching them, I just warped out at the end once the frigates were all dead.

As well as the lessons above, the biggest thing I’ve learned so far is that module management is much more important than in frigate/dessie fights. The fights last much longer, so managing heat, and capacitor becomes much more important than a frigate fight which is over in 30s. You also just have so many more modules to keep track of (especially on the Armageddon), so spreading modules across multiple targets is an art I’m still learning. Even in the Armageddon fight I know I made numerous errors:

- Forgot take take Exile until about halfway in..
- Forgot to swap ammo types from what I'd expected to use against the cruiser gang
- Initially I wasn't tracking my drone health
- Didn't overheat modules at times I should have, and left heat on when I really shouldn't have (thereby coming close to burning out my missiles for no good reason :?)

Here's to more fun!
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Kelon Darklight
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Re: [Solo AAR] Big 'Tings

Post by Kelon Darklight »

Great work on moving onto larger targets! I mean ships, nicely done in both those fights

Not much to mention on the Hurricane, you did everything decent there.

Far as the geddon stuff goes-

You should have much greater neut range- 30+12 with max skills.

you can repair rapid heavies while they are reloading (though you can't heat anything until you stop repairing)

I typically save heat in highs for the neuts, as I feel the rapids burn out too quickly too get a noticeable impact from that, and keeping people capped out (especially in smaller stuff) is important and the cycle time is key to that.

More important than ever- make sure auto reload is off for the ancillary armor repper

You could have also attempted an MJD snipe on the jackdaws you might have been able to neut them out before they could pull too much range and get point.

I think the speed drug might be more useful than damage (for the no side effect drugs), considering how much of your damage is in drones anyway, and controlling range might be more useful.

Do you actually carry DG ammo?
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Durnik Risalo
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Re: [Solo AAR] Big 'Tings

Post by Durnik Risalo »

Kelon Darklight wrote: More important than ever- make sure auto reload is off for the ancillary armor repper
Why is this? What is the thinking for turning auto-reload off?
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Rolland Antollare
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Re: [Solo AAR] Big 'Tings

Post by Rolland Antollare »

Durnik Risalo wrote:
Kelon Darklight wrote: More important than ever- make sure auto reload is off for the ancillary armor repper
Why is this? What is the thinking for turning auto-reload off?
Ancillary armor repper takes 1 min to reload. However, it also works with no charge, though in diminished capacity. Thus, due to long reload time you want to make sure you make a call either to reload or to run with no charge. Auto reload can catch you off guard and commit to 1min wait. Depending on situation one or other would be better.
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Breeze One
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Re: [Solo AAR] Big 'Tings

Post by Breeze One »

Thanks for the tips as always Kelon!

Yep you’re right it’s 30km+ for the Neuts, and not sure why there’s DG ammo in the fit! Leftover from theorycrafting at a guess

Kicking myself for not making a go at the Jackdaws now...you’re right, a nice MJD plus fast work on Neuts night have gotten a kill there

In terms of drugs, I was using Exile for tanking, rather than anything for damage or speed.
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Re: [Solo AAR] Big 'Tings

Post by Breeze One »

After a few false starts, another good fight with the Armageddon today.

Sterling Blades and gang were in Eugales so I undocked the Armageddon. They left system, but I waited and eventually a lone Maller appeared. Obvious bait, but I was fairly confident I knew the size of their gang and felt the risk was worth it.

I warped to a large at 100 and waited. The Maller came in and sloooowly burnt to me for tackle. The rest of the gang joined - a Bomber, bunch of T1 frigates and a Gila. I took out the Crucifier and an Incursus quickly to remove tackle/EWAR, then focused my DPS on the Gila, with Neuts on the Maller to remove his scram. The Bomber and a few other T1 frigates kept bouncing off as soon as I targeted them which was annoying but also kept their influence minimal. When the Gila dropped, I saw I wasn’t scrammed and MJD’d out...for some reason? Without the Gila there was really no serious threat to me left on grid so...not the most logical decision!


https://zkillboard.com/kill/76549861/ - 2.9mn
https://zkillboard.com/kill/76549869/ - 8.6mn
https://zkillboard.com/kill/76549882/ - 1.6bn!!


The remaining frigates warped out, but luckily the Maller stuck around to loot his friends wrecks, so I hung around too, and after cooldown I MJD’d back down, tackled him and finished the job.


https://zkillboard.com/kill/76549959/ - 29.6mn


After repairing up, I saw the Maller pilot was calling me out in local. He was in a Megathron, and I could see he was T1 blaster fit. I warped at 100 again, and let him burn towards me. At 40km I started engaging with DPS and Neuts, then around 25km I activated my own MWD and started kiting him. Eventually he got neuted out and was dead in the water before even reaching blaster range. His friend undocked a Carrier to save him but it landed seconds too late and I warped out with my first solo Battleship kill. Never thought I’d be kiting in a Armageddon!


https://zkillboard.com/kill/76550289/ - 205mn


Amusingly, the Carrier then got dropped on by Exodus, which was very entertaining given it was stuffed full of ships which the pilot tried to eject as a ransom, leading to some very amusing killmails.

Total kills: 1.8bn ISK

Also a mention on some of my aborted attempts:

https://zkillboard.com/kill/76499119/

This would have actually been a fun fight, and one they may have won regardless...except they ALL brought ECM drones. Despite this, I was slowly clearing the drones out with my own light drones, and tanking fairly well, until they brought in the Megathron at 0 to finish the job. Lesson learned: bring smartbombs.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/76414682/

Here I stupidly engaged a Drekavac on a gate. I quit playing before these ships were introduced so drastically underestimated its tank. Even so, I was slowly winning until they brought the Zarmazd (Logistics ship) and a second Drek. Lessons learned? Research the Triglavian ships more, and avoid taking fights at 0 on gates where you can’t see what might be about to jump in.
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