Fortunately for me, ship selection is easy. I'll fly the Rifter. This ship is probably one of the best known ships in the game, and for good reason. It's cheap, agile, flexible and works in many roles. And properly fitted, it can take a beating while administering devastating damage. It's no wonder that many in the EVE community recommend it for pirate training.
Fitting the Rifter is a bit more complicated. Even though it's a good ship, it's not dominating. To fly is successfully, you still need the SPs and the experience. I have neither, so even the best fit isn't going to save me from myself. But, a good fit will improve my chances of success, even if only slightly.
I figure there are a few ways to fit the ship. I could go for a heavy tank: damage control, armor plating, armor repairer. It won't prevent an alpha strike, and I won't even be able to take damage for long periods of time, but the extra armor could keep me alive long enough to warp out if I get in over my head (which I'm sure will happen soon). Another option would be to go for agility; microwarp drive, nanofiber, warp stabilizer. This would help me get out of dodge quickly. Sure, it looks like the coward's way out, but the way I figure it, it will help me keep my costs down at first. Given that I probably won't be bringing in the big ISK right off the bat, this may not be a bad strategy (assuming it works). A third alternative would be to go for big damage. I'll pour all my money into weapons, gyros, a missile launcher in the fourth high slot, etc. The goal here is to pick targets that I think I can destroy before they can destroy me.
So, which do I choose? I think that depends on what I want to do. And that's blow stuff up. So that means I should go with DPS, right?
Unfortunately, like everything else in EVE, it's not that easy. I fired up EFT, and after adding autocannons, a gyro and a standard missile launcher, I had 67 dps, 192 alpha, and very little CPU left. After adding a scram and a web, I had almost nothing left. I think survivability is a bit more important that DPS in my early career, so let's try an armor fit.
I dropped the missile launcher and the gyro. I replaced them with armor plating, damage control unit and an armor repairer, and a small nos in the last high slot. My damage has dropped to 52 DPS and 179 alpha, but my HP has jumped from 1500 EHP to 2500 EHP. Not bad. The problem with this setup though, is that armor repairer will suck my cap pretty quickly, even with the nos running. So let's try replacing that with passive hardener. I drop the small armor repairer and replaced it with reactive plating. Lo and behold, my EHP goes up by 100 points to 2600, and I'm now cap stable at 97%. Can I do better?
Yes. I replaced the 100mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates with the 200mm version. My EHP goes up 500 points, to 3133, and I've sacrificed only a bit of speed. I think I've found my fit:
[Rifter]
Reactive Plating I
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control I
Warp Scrambler I
Stasis Webifier I
1MN Analog Booster Rockets
Small Nosferatu I
200mm Light Carbine Repeating Cannon 1, EMP S
200mm Light Carbine Repeating Cannon 1, EMP S
200mm Light Carbine Repeating Cannon 1, EMP S
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
I realize I've got noob-level components, but given my skills, that's about all I can fit (and afford to lose). So while I train up for T2 components and gain experience, this will have to do.
I'm off to Hek for a bit of shopping.
No comments:
Post a Comment