Have You Got What it Takes?
"What skills do I need for wormholes?" is a question that gets asked all the time on the forums. It was asked again a couple days ago and I decided to think about it and write up my personal recommendations.
The skills you need do vary based on what class of wormhole you live in and what kind of PVE and PVP activities you partake in so I'll split them up between PVP and PVE and try to cover the class ranges.
These skill recommendations are for general wormhole living and are designed to allow you to participate in as many activities that wormholes have to offer as possible.
Ok, let's get the very basics out of the way first.
You need probing skills. They are the very first thing you need to train if you want to play in w-space and the absolute minimum probing skills you need before venturing into a wormhole are Astrometrics 4 and all the support skills to 3. You should also get the support skills to 4 very early into your wormhole career.
Scanning ship wise, you need a covert ops. No, a tech 1 scanner does not cut it. There is one allowable exception and that is if you're in your very first wormhole, you have been there for less than 2 weeks and you are actively training covert ops pre requ skills.
You should have your covops skill to 4 and need cloaking 4 so that you can use a covops cloak.
Given that there is very little you can do in w-space that does not involve shooting something, you will also need to have some sort of combat ship capability. As a basic start point for low class w-space you should be able to T2 fit a battlecruiser with T1 guns for PVE and be able to fly a T2 fit cruiser with T1 guns for PVP. These are really the bare minimum ships that will let you participate in WH combat.
There is also non-combat PVE in wormholes which consists of mining, gas harvesting and PI.
Of these I would highly recommend you stay away from mining as it isn’t profitable and you will die. A lot.
The PI in wormholes is the best anywhere, regardless of WH class, so it is recommended that you train up some skills for it as it is free income. (That said, I have zero PI skills and don't do it at all, but each to their own).
Gas harvesting can be very profitable and training gas cloud harvesting to 5 is a very good investment if you live in a wormhole, along with venture skills.
You will also need to train salvaging to at least 3, preferably 4, so that you can get those tasty tasty nanoribbons and Noctis skills to go with.
Likewise with hacking and archaeology.
Now that the basics are out of the way, let’s break it down by WH class.
Class 1 and 2.
The above bare basics will do here. A battlecruiser can easily run all the combat sites here and this is as 'entry level' as WH PVP gets.
Note that you will still run into a lot of groups with fancy ships but a cruiser will get you started.
Class 3.
The basics will do here too but you will not be able to run the combat sites by yourself in a battlecruiser so some people in your corp will need to have remote repair skills trained to run sites in small groups.
You may want to train battleship skills here as the sleepers start to get bigger but a BC still works.
If you do want to solo the sites you can do so but you will need to skill up and invest in a T3 cruiser, command ship or T2/Faction battleship.
PVP here is much the same as C1-2s.
Class 4.
Here you start getting into higher class WH interactions more and how you operate will depend a lot on your static. Basically, the skills you need will depend a lot more on what your static is than on the fact that you live in a C4, specifically what ships you will need for PVE.
The sites are no longer soloable and how you run them will depend on your corp. Generally it will involve remote rep Tengus or Domis, or logi supported battleships.
At C4 level, you should really have T2 weapon skills and BS skills. You should also be able to fly T2 cruisers, specifically HACs and at least one of recons or logistics, if not both.
Class 5 and 6.
Here is where the heavy weights of w-space play and if you live here they will expect you to be able to interact with them at least a bit so you should have a decent skill set to play with.
While you do not need to bring it to every fight, you should have access to and skills for a well fit PVP tech 3 cruiser in C5/6 space. You should also seriously consider training logistics (specifically the Guardian) if you have not already as Guardians are a vital part to the vast majority of PVP fleets here.
At this level you should also at least consider training capital skills as PVE is run almost exclusively with dreads and carriers. If you find yourself attacked, you will also need those capitals to defend yourself. If you don't want to train caps, Loki or Rapier skills are highly recommended as they are used for webbing in PVE.
If your corp does not use dreads for PVE, you will need a T2 fit, including guns, battleship.
Notes for specific skills and ships.
Logistics.
If you train this skill at all, and you should, you really should take it straight to level 5. This rule applies everywhere but in wormholes, where you often need to squeeze the absolute most out of your limited resources to come out on top, it is especially important.
Tactical Weapon Reconfiguration.
Train this to 5. Personally I wouldn’t get in a dreadnaught without T2 siege.
Command Ships.
These are very good WH PVP ships and are recommended if you can fly them. It is also highly recommended at least a couple people in your corp can fly them and fit links as they make a huge difference for PVP and you will need them for PVE.
Salvaging.
You need this to 5 to access the advanced sleeper wrecks but you can get around this by rigging your salvaging ship, which you always do anyway.
Orca.
An orca is very useful to have in all WH classes apart from C1s. It's obviously not a skill everyone will train but your corp will need access to a few orca pilots for collapsing and hauling.
Carriers.
Not all ships are created equal and for carriers this is especially true. If you're training a carrier, make it an Archon. It is vastly superior to all other carriers in every way. The obvious exception is if you live in a pulsar, in which case train a Chimera.
Dreadnaughts.
Here you do have some choices, just stay away from the Phoenix as it is just bad. All other dreads are fine to train, though the Moros stands out as top dog in the dread world.
This more or less covers everything you'll need to know about skills for wormholes.
Additionally, most WH corps will have some sort of fleet doctrines, joining pre requisites or recommended skills they will want you to train which will depend of the corp.
As a final note, the nature of WH space is that quality matters. Numbers still play a large part but a highly specialized pilot in the right ship can often turn the tide in a fight. I highly recommend that you find a useful ship that you enjoy flying and skill to fly it at near 100% efficiency and get practice doing so.
This goes double for key role pilots such as Guardian, Ewar or capital pilots.
Showing posts with label Guides. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guides. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Monday, 9 September 2013
Jack’s Guide to Running Sleeper Sites like a Baws
Jack’s Guide to Running Sleeper Sites like a Baws
v.1.2
The aim of this guide is to provide a complete rundown of how to properly capital escalate class 5 and 6 sleeper sites.
It assumes basic knowledge of the fact that WH sites capital escalate and how they escalate, along with a working knowledge of the ships involved and wormhole anomalies.
If you do not have said knowledge, you are not ready for this.
13/08/2013 - A second pass has been done on this guide to bring it up to date.
What you will need:
1 Triage capable Archon.
2 Dreadnaughts.
1 Carrier, any race.
1 Loki.
1 Armour and Skirmish capable fleet booster. (Information is also recommended.)
1 Noctis.
First, a Word to the Wise:
This method of running sites is not noob friendly.
It requires heavy asset, ISK and SP investments to be successful.
Yes, you can run this fleet with level 4 skills across the board on your capital pilots but at this level of investment, don't be a scrub.
Train T2 siege, train gunnery support skills to 5 (yes, all of them), train carrier 5, train dread 5, hell, train salvaging 5.
Don't think about 'is it worth it' to train 45 days for dread 5. You're flying the biggest, baddest ships you can fit into a WH, just train it. (The obvious benefit in PVP is also obvious.)
In Theory:
The basic theory of full capital escalations is simple. Use an Archon for reps, Loki for webs and target painters, dreads for DPS and a second carrier for the last escalation wave.
Fleet boosts are needed to keep everyone alive and get enough range on the webs and the Noctis cleans up.
You should only be killing the escalation battleships and the first wave, making sure to leave 1 trigger alive. Leaving the trigger alive resets the site at downtime and you can run the escalations again the next day.
Anomaly Notes:
Do not run this fleet in a Black Hole.
If you live in a Pulsar you obviously need to run a shield version of the fleet.
Running in a Cataclysmic is NOT recommended.
Magnetars are great for Moros/Naglfar dreads but Revelation suffers a lot on tracking and the explosion velocity nerf makes the Phoenix unusable.
Wolf Rayet is the easiest due to tank bonus.
Red Giant has little effect, it means you can use smart bombs to kill frigs.
In Practice:
The reality of it is that in practice, running capital escalations gets done badly a lot and ends up in lost ships and inefficient site running all too often.
There is a big difference in being able to muddle through an escalation without losing ships and being able to run them well.
When site running goes wrong, most of the time it comes down to horrible fittings or pilots not being prepared for what they are warping into and panicking.
If at all possible, I would highly recommend running with at least one pilot who has run sites successfully before your first few times.
This isn’t always possible so I will run through what each ship needs to do to stay alive and play its role correctly below.
The Method:
Setting up your fleet is fairly simple.
Booster sits in wing command, Loki/first carrier sits in squad command, everything else in squad.
Squad commander tags the BSs.
Warp in your first carrier (Archon) first. As soon as it lands, warp in first dread and Loki, have Loki orbit carrier at 500m. (Note that orbiting close to the carrier is actually important, do not wander off as it messes up the ranges for your dreads.)
When the dread comes out of warp, align it back to wherever it came from for fast slow down and siege it when it hits around <5m/s velocity.
From there, web and shoot in order of tags.
Once 4-5 battleships and any battleships from the normal first wave are dead, warp in the second dread.
Once there are 8 battleships left, warp in the second carrier.
Note, the dreads may bump the carrier a bit if it isn't in triage, make sure it stays in refit range of the dreads.
If the trigger is a battleship, keep the second carrier on field to keep the Noctis alive while salvaging.
Use EC drones from the carriers to jam out any scramming triggers.
The Ships:
I have listed the ships you need above. Here are the specifics on how to use each one.
The First Carrier:
The first carrier's role is to keep the Loki, and itself, alive and to keep the Loki capped up.
In addition, it can be used to kill sleeper cruisers with its drones.
This carrier needs to be an Archon. Sorry, but if you're a carrier pilot in non pulsar wormhole space and don't fly an Archon, go train it right now.
You should not need to triage the first carrier but if the sleepers primary it for longer than usual you will need to, so make sure it is triage capable and has stront.
The Archon needs to have 2 local reps, 3 remote reps and 1 cap transfer. A 2/2 split on reps/cap transfers also works and makes it easier to keep the Loki capped up.
It needs 1 EANM, T2 CCC rigs and cap mods everywhere else. (Faction CPRs.)
Do NOT fit more tank than this. You don't need it and fitting it risks you capping out and get everyone killed.
As first carrier, you will need to run 1 remote rep and a cap transfer on the Loki. Stagger your cap transfers to keep its cap up easier if you have 2.
If the Loki takes heavy agro for a long time you will need to cycle a second rep on it too.
You should also keep 1 local rep running at all times, this can save you in case of a disconnect.
Anomaly Notes:
You will never need more than 1 rep on the Loki in a Wolf Rayet.
The Loki:
The role of the Loki is to web and paint sleeper battleships so that the dreads can hit them.
Generally the Loki will also be in squad command position so that it can tag the targets but this can also be done by the first carrier.
Orbit the carrier at 500m to help sig tank and stay close to it.
The Loki needs to have 3 faction webs, Fed Navy recommended, and 2 target painters.
It should be putting 2 webs and both painters on the primary target and 1 web on the secondary target.
While many people don't, you should fit guns on your Loki and use it to kill off sleeper frigs. Since you're shooting frigs only, fit 220s max.
Anomaly Notes:
You will need to fit 2 T2 targeting range rigs in a Magnetar to be able to lock out far enough.
Fit dual 180s in a magnetar to aid in tracking.
The First Dread:
This should be your highest skilled pilot. The speed at which this dread can kill the sleeper battleships will determine the safety and efficiency of your site running.
If possible, make the first dread a Moros. Naglfar has become a good choice too but moros remains top dog of the dread world.
Revelation still works fine and is pretty much on par with the Naglfar for PVE. It should always use faction ammo since it lasts for ages and is dirt cheap.
The Phoenix was previously right out for this work but it is actually viable now. You need to rigor rig it but with T2 rigs it deals around 7.5k applied DPS to a dual web, dual painted sleeper BS which isnt all that bad. That said, it is still obviously the least desireable dread for any WH work.
Here is a DPS graph for all 4 dreads vs. a 2 web/2 TPed sleeper BS:
Green - Moros
Red - Naglfar
Light Blue - Revelation
Dark Blue - Phoenix
(Standard gank/tracking fits used)
The basic fitting rule for PVE dreads are:
T2 siege
meta guns (optional but highly recommended)
3 damage mods
1 meta local rep
2 faction, or better, EANMs
1 sensor booster
T2 capacitor rigs (CCCs and mem cells both work, rigor for Phoenix)
Tracking mods everywhere else, pimp to taste
Unlike the Archon, the dreads cannot tank the sleepers indefinitely and as such, you will likely need to refit mods off the carrier if you are taking heavy agro, which you generally will.
To this end, all dreads must have spare tank (DC, EANMs and active hardeners) and cap mods in their cargo. Even things like reinforced bulk heads are good to have if you really get into trouble.
Refitting on the fly and knowing when to refit is something that you will need to gain experience with to get the hang of.
Until you do, refit to more tank early. Drop a TE for a DC as soon as you start taking agro and drop another TE/damage mod for a 3rd EANM if they stay on you.
At the ~40% cap mark, start fitting cap rechargers and CPRs to stay above 33%.
If your dread is in trouble, don't be ashamed to drop siege and tell the Archon to triage to rep and cap you up.
Once you gain enough experience running first dread, you will be able to start swapping out mods later, or even not at all.
As a note on the rigs you choose, CCCs will help you recover cap faster but mem cells give you a much bigger buffer, meaning you don't run low for longer.
It's really up to personal preference (I have used both and very much prefer mem cells) and ultimately, most people run CCCs because they’re half the price.
Anomaly Notes:
Being in a Wolf Rayet is roughly the equivalent of having an extra A-Type EANM fit. As such, you will rarely need to refit, if ever.
In a Magnetar, you really want the first dread to be a Moros, or Naglfar as a second option, since the tracking on the Revelation really suffers (it does still work fine if you don't have any alternative though).
The Second Dread:
Your second dread works much the same as the first dread except there is a lot less pressure on it.
The sleepers will rarely primary it heavily and with 2 dreads on field the battleships die much faster.
As such, this pilot can be less skilled. If you do not have 2 skilled dread pilots available, you can just warp the second dread in and out to trigger the wave.
Same piloting principles apply for this dread as the first.
The Second Carrier:
This carrier is only really there to trigger the second carrier escalation wave. It should just warp in and straight out.
If you need to, use it to kill any remaining sleeper cruisers/frigs with drones.
Anomaly Notes:
You can fit smartbombs and kill frigs with the second carrier in a Red Giant if you don’t have guns on your Loki. Warning: Doing so agros your entire fleet.
The Fleet Booster:
The booster doesn't really do anything other than sit at a POS with links running.
You should be running these T2 links, in order of importance:
Web range - Mandatory
Armour resists - Mandatory
Rep amount
Ewar strength
Rep cap use
Sig radius
Note that the rep amount and cap use links do not affect capital local reps so they only boost your remote reps on the Loki which isn’t strictly needed.
The booster should preferably be in an EOS but any boost ship with a skirmish boost bonus will work fine too.
The boosting pilot should have a Skirmish/Fed Navy mindlink plugged in.
A Skirmished mindlinked Eos booster bumps out fed navy Loki webs to 47.1km or true sansha webs to 50.4km.
The recent nerf to links has made it pretty mandatory to have maxed out boosts for this but you can still get by with lesser links.
The Noctis:
Salvaging isn't exactly rocket science, I'll leave the salvager/tractor ratio arguments up to personal preference.
The Noctis pilot needs ORE Industrial skill to at least 3 to have sufficient tractor range and not need to slow boat for hours.
The Noctis should have 2 shield extenders and a damage control so that it can tank a frig or cruiser trigger without assistance. It should also have a warp core stab fit so that it can warp out of sites where the trigger scrams. It needs an 800mm plate and a carrier repping it to tank battleship triggers. (Or you can use a Falcon to jam them out.)
Anomaly Notes:
You will need to fit a sensor booster in a Magnetar if you have a warp core stab fit.
Final Thoughts:
Running sites with this fleet is by far the most efficient method of ISK making around.
You're looking at ~700-750mil per site and you can comfortably run 4 sites an hour, more with an experienced crew.
Ultimately, if you run sites in this manner you will quickly gain enough ISK to stop caring about it.
That said, this initial investment in such a PVE fleet is not small and is not available to all.
You also run a very real danger of losing the entire fleet if the wrong people happen to connect to your wormhole when you are committed in a site.
I would recommend taking care and know what to do if you do get attacked, be it stay and fight or attempt to bail.
As always, fly fun.
JM
v.1.2
The aim of this guide is to provide a complete rundown of how to properly capital escalate class 5 and 6 sleeper sites.
It assumes basic knowledge of the fact that WH sites capital escalate and how they escalate, along with a working knowledge of the ships involved and wormhole anomalies.
If you do not have said knowledge, you are not ready for this.
13/08/2013 - A second pass has been done on this guide to bring it up to date.
What you will need:
1 Triage capable Archon.
2 Dreadnaughts.
1 Carrier, any race.
1 Loki.
1 Armour and Skirmish capable fleet booster. (Information is also recommended.)
1 Noctis.
First, a Word to the Wise:
This method of running sites is not noob friendly.
It requires heavy asset, ISK and SP investments to be successful.
Yes, you can run this fleet with level 4 skills across the board on your capital pilots but at this level of investment, don't be a scrub.
Train T2 siege, train gunnery support skills to 5 (yes, all of them), train carrier 5, train dread 5, hell, train salvaging 5.
Don't think about 'is it worth it' to train 45 days for dread 5. You're flying the biggest, baddest ships you can fit into a WH, just train it. (The obvious benefit in PVP is also obvious.)
In Theory:
The basic theory of full capital escalations is simple. Use an Archon for reps, Loki for webs and target painters, dreads for DPS and a second carrier for the last escalation wave.
Fleet boosts are needed to keep everyone alive and get enough range on the webs and the Noctis cleans up.
You should only be killing the escalation battleships and the first wave, making sure to leave 1 trigger alive. Leaving the trigger alive resets the site at downtime and you can run the escalations again the next day.
Anomaly Notes:
Do not run this fleet in a Black Hole.
If you live in a Pulsar you obviously need to run a shield version of the fleet.
Running in a Cataclysmic is NOT recommended.
Magnetars are great for Moros/Naglfar dreads but Revelation suffers a lot on tracking and the explosion velocity nerf makes the Phoenix unusable.
Wolf Rayet is the easiest due to tank bonus.
Red Giant has little effect, it means you can use smart bombs to kill frigs.
In Practice:
The reality of it is that in practice, running capital escalations gets done badly a lot and ends up in lost ships and inefficient site running all too often.
There is a big difference in being able to muddle through an escalation without losing ships and being able to run them well.
When site running goes wrong, most of the time it comes down to horrible fittings or pilots not being prepared for what they are warping into and panicking.
If at all possible, I would highly recommend running with at least one pilot who has run sites successfully before your first few times.
This isn’t always possible so I will run through what each ship needs to do to stay alive and play its role correctly below.
The Method:
Setting up your fleet is fairly simple.
Booster sits in wing command, Loki/first carrier sits in squad command, everything else in squad.
Squad commander tags the BSs.
Warp in your first carrier (Archon) first. As soon as it lands, warp in first dread and Loki, have Loki orbit carrier at 500m. (Note that orbiting close to the carrier is actually important, do not wander off as it messes up the ranges for your dreads.)
When the dread comes out of warp, align it back to wherever it came from for fast slow down and siege it when it hits around <5m/s velocity.
From there, web and shoot in order of tags.
Once 4-5 battleships and any battleships from the normal first wave are dead, warp in the second dread.
Once there are 8 battleships left, warp in the second carrier.
Note, the dreads may bump the carrier a bit if it isn't in triage, make sure it stays in refit range of the dreads.
If the trigger is a battleship, keep the second carrier on field to keep the Noctis alive while salvaging.
Use EC drones from the carriers to jam out any scramming triggers.
The Ships:
I have listed the ships you need above. Here are the specifics on how to use each one.
The First Carrier:
The first carrier's role is to keep the Loki, and itself, alive and to keep the Loki capped up.
In addition, it can be used to kill sleeper cruisers with its drones.
This carrier needs to be an Archon. Sorry, but if you're a carrier pilot in non pulsar wormhole space and don't fly an Archon, go train it right now.
You should not need to triage the first carrier but if the sleepers primary it for longer than usual you will need to, so make sure it is triage capable and has stront.
The Archon needs to have 2 local reps, 3 remote reps and 1 cap transfer. A 2/2 split on reps/cap transfers also works and makes it easier to keep the Loki capped up.
It needs 1 EANM, T2 CCC rigs and cap mods everywhere else. (Faction CPRs.)
Do NOT fit more tank than this. You don't need it and fitting it risks you capping out and get everyone killed.
As first carrier, you will need to run 1 remote rep and a cap transfer on the Loki. Stagger your cap transfers to keep its cap up easier if you have 2.
If the Loki takes heavy agro for a long time you will need to cycle a second rep on it too.
You should also keep 1 local rep running at all times, this can save you in case of a disconnect.
Anomaly Notes:
You will never need more than 1 rep on the Loki in a Wolf Rayet.
The Loki:
The role of the Loki is to web and paint sleeper battleships so that the dreads can hit them.
Generally the Loki will also be in squad command position so that it can tag the targets but this can also be done by the first carrier.
Orbit the carrier at 500m to help sig tank and stay close to it.
The Loki needs to have 3 faction webs, Fed Navy recommended, and 2 target painters.
It should be putting 2 webs and both painters on the primary target and 1 web on the secondary target.
While many people don't, you should fit guns on your Loki and use it to kill off sleeper frigs. Since you're shooting frigs only, fit 220s max.
Anomaly Notes:
You will need to fit 2 T2 targeting range rigs in a Magnetar to be able to lock out far enough.
Fit dual 180s in a magnetar to aid in tracking.
The First Dread:
This should be your highest skilled pilot. The speed at which this dread can kill the sleeper battleships will determine the safety and efficiency of your site running.
If possible, make the first dread a Moros. Naglfar has become a good choice too but moros remains top dog of the dread world.
Revelation still works fine and is pretty much on par with the Naglfar for PVE. It should always use faction ammo since it lasts for ages and is dirt cheap.
The Phoenix was previously right out for this work but it is actually viable now. You need to rigor rig it but with T2 rigs it deals around 7.5k applied DPS to a dual web, dual painted sleeper BS which isnt all that bad. That said, it is still obviously the least desireable dread for any WH work.
Here is a DPS graph for all 4 dreads vs. a 2 web/2 TPed sleeper BS:
Green - Moros
Red - Naglfar
Light Blue - Revelation
Dark Blue - Phoenix
(Standard gank/tracking fits used)
The basic fitting rule for PVE dreads are:
T2 siege
meta guns (optional but highly recommended)
3 damage mods
1 meta local rep
2 faction, or better, EANMs
1 sensor booster
T2 capacitor rigs (CCCs and mem cells both work, rigor for Phoenix)
Tracking mods everywhere else, pimp to taste
Unlike the Archon, the dreads cannot tank the sleepers indefinitely and as such, you will likely need to refit mods off the carrier if you are taking heavy agro, which you generally will.
To this end, all dreads must have spare tank (DC, EANMs and active hardeners) and cap mods in their cargo. Even things like reinforced bulk heads are good to have if you really get into trouble.
Refitting on the fly and knowing when to refit is something that you will need to gain experience with to get the hang of.
Until you do, refit to more tank early. Drop a TE for a DC as soon as you start taking agro and drop another TE/damage mod for a 3rd EANM if they stay on you.
At the ~40% cap mark, start fitting cap rechargers and CPRs to stay above 33%.
If your dread is in trouble, don't be ashamed to drop siege and tell the Archon to triage to rep and cap you up.
Once you gain enough experience running first dread, you will be able to start swapping out mods later, or even not at all.
As a note on the rigs you choose, CCCs will help you recover cap faster but mem cells give you a much bigger buffer, meaning you don't run low for longer.
It's really up to personal preference (I have used both and very much prefer mem cells) and ultimately, most people run CCCs because they’re half the price.
Anomaly Notes:
Being in a Wolf Rayet is roughly the equivalent of having an extra A-Type EANM fit. As such, you will rarely need to refit, if ever.
In a Magnetar, you really want the first dread to be a Moros, or Naglfar as a second option, since the tracking on the Revelation really suffers (it does still work fine if you don't have any alternative though).
The Second Dread:
Your second dread works much the same as the first dread except there is a lot less pressure on it.
The sleepers will rarely primary it heavily and with 2 dreads on field the battleships die much faster.
As such, this pilot can be less skilled. If you do not have 2 skilled dread pilots available, you can just warp the second dread in and out to trigger the wave.
Same piloting principles apply for this dread as the first.
The Second Carrier:
This carrier is only really there to trigger the second carrier escalation wave. It should just warp in and straight out.
If you need to, use it to kill any remaining sleeper cruisers/frigs with drones.
Anomaly Notes:
You can fit smartbombs and kill frigs with the second carrier in a Red Giant if you don’t have guns on your Loki. Warning: Doing so agros your entire fleet.
The Fleet Booster:
The booster doesn't really do anything other than sit at a POS with links running.
You should be running these T2 links, in order of importance:
Web range - Mandatory
Armour resists - Mandatory
Rep amount
Ewar strength
Rep cap use
Sig radius
Note that the rep amount and cap use links do not affect capital local reps so they only boost your remote reps on the Loki which isn’t strictly needed.
The booster should preferably be in an EOS but any boost ship with a skirmish boost bonus will work fine too.
The boosting pilot should have a Skirmish/Fed Navy mindlink plugged in.
A Skirmished mindlinked Eos booster bumps out fed navy Loki webs to 47.1km or true sansha webs to 50.4km.
The recent nerf to links has made it pretty mandatory to have maxed out boosts for this but you can still get by with lesser links.
The Noctis:
Salvaging isn't exactly rocket science, I'll leave the salvager/tractor ratio arguments up to personal preference.
The Noctis pilot needs ORE Industrial skill to at least 3 to have sufficient tractor range and not need to slow boat for hours.
The Noctis should have 2 shield extenders and a damage control so that it can tank a frig or cruiser trigger without assistance. It should also have a warp core stab fit so that it can warp out of sites where the trigger scrams. It needs an 800mm plate and a carrier repping it to tank battleship triggers. (Or you can use a Falcon to jam them out.)
Anomaly Notes:
You will need to fit a sensor booster in a Magnetar if you have a warp core stab fit.
Final Thoughts:
Running sites with this fleet is by far the most efficient method of ISK making around.
You're looking at ~700-750mil per site and you can comfortably run 4 sites an hour, more with an experienced crew.
Ultimately, if you run sites in this manner you will quickly gain enough ISK to stop caring about it.
That said, this initial investment in such a PVE fleet is not small and is not available to all.
You also run a very real danger of losing the entire fleet if the wrong people happen to connect to your wormhole when you are committed in a site.
I would recommend taking care and know what to do if you do get attacked, be it stay and fight or attempt to bail.
As always, fly fun.
JM
Combat Probing
General Guide to Combat Probing
Ok, so first of all, combat probing comes down to practice first and foremost.
It's not a skill you can become great at just by reading a guide but since you need to start somewhere, this guide is designed to cover the general principles involved.
Objectives of Combat Probing
Obviously, the basic objective of combat probing is to scan down a ship so that you can warp to it.
Other objectives should be doing so in the least amount of scan cycles as possible, ideally in 1 scan, and to do it without the target ship noticing.
Situational Setup
So when do you actually want to drop combat probes? This is actually not that simple a question and lots of people have different thoughts on it.
Personally I feel that people either use combat probes too often, or not often enough.
Some large WH groups, AHARM for example, only ever use combat probes, even for normal signature scanning. They do it because it makes no difference strength wise for sig scanning and means they never need to reload probes if they need to combat scan. (In AHARM's case, their scanning tool also works off signature strengths derived from 64au combat scans.)
Personally I find this is an excellent way of scaring off anyone you might meet while scanning since people see combat probes as far more intimidating on dscan than cores.
(As a note, you should take ALL probes, core or combat, as the same threat level on dscan, but people don't.)
The other end of the spectrum are people so reluctant to drop combats that they almost never do it and when they do it's often too late.
My rule is simple: If you see ships on dscan that are not at a planet, anom or a WH/sig you already have bookmarked, drop combats immediately. The sooner you scan them, the more likely you are to catch them.
This means that you need to check all anoms and planets for ships on dscan first, then if they’re not there, drop combats and find them.
If at all possible, drop combats off dscan from your targets. This isn’t always possible so if it isn’t, find a safe spot (a planet will do in a pinch, don’t do it on a WH), drop combats and immediately move them off dscan range of any celestial and hit scan.
Remember, when in doubt, it's better to drop combats and scan blindly for ships than to not even try.
Finding Where to Scan
Once you have your probes out, off dscan and have re cloaked, the first thing to do is check that your targets are still there. Honestly, a lot of the time the gig is up already at this point as most people pay good attention to their dscans these days and will have POSed up if they saw your probes or ship and you may as well just scan the system for sigs.
Assuming they did not rabbit, you now need to narrow down their location using dscan so that you can get them in the least amount of scans as possible.
This is the most important part and is also the part that just takes practice to perfect.
You need to use 3 tools for this:
1. Dscan range
2. Dscan angle
3. Tactical overlay
You should get used to adjusting your dscan range on the fly. 1 AU is 149597871km, or 150m km since you're on the clock.
Do your dscanning from whatever celestial the targets are closest to and get their distance to within 1au. To do this, set your dscan range to 150m at 360deg and increase it in steps of 150m km until you find them.
Eg: Targets not on scan at 300m but are at 450m? They’re at 2-3au.
There isn't much need to narrow the range down past this but you can if you want, just play with the ranges. If you have low actual scanning skills, you may wish to get it to within 0.5au.
Next, get their direction by narrowing down your dscan angle at whatever range you determined previously.
Note: Do this from the solar system map window, NOT from in space!
Narrowing the angle down to 15deg is enough.
Running the Scan
Once you have both the range and direction, time to position your probes.
To do this, drag them back to where your targets are from off dscan but do NOT hit scan. Once you have done this, hit your tactical overlay on the system map window and use it to position your probes on top of your targets at the correct range.
Before you hit scan, make sure your probes are setup so that they actually can lock down your targets. Basically, they need to be small enough to lock the ship you are scanning, BUT you also don't want them too small as this will reduce your coverage area and increase the chance you will miss entirely.
As a general rule, I use 4au probes for capitals, 2au for BSs and BCs, 1au for anything smaller. This varies on your skills a bit but is a good general guide.
Regarding the probe formation to use, use the one you are most comfortable with and one where you know what secondary hits (rings and double dots) mean and where to move your probes if you happen to be off and get those.
I use my normal formation of 8 probes (4 small inner, 4 large outer), generally stepped down to 4au/1au for sub BS targets and 4au/2au for BSs (if I'm off by more than 4au I've done something very wrong).
I use this formation even though I know it is not the strongest result producing formation because I use it a lot for general scanning and know exactly where to move the probes if I miss on the first scan.
Once you move your probes into the correct position and double checked your range and angle, you are ready to run your scan.
Hit scan. You will either get a 100% result on the first scan, or you won't. If you do not (it happens to the best of us), work as fast as you can to lock down the target.
Once you do get the lock, after 1 or multiple scans, bookmark your result and move your probes off dscan range again immediately and hit scan to hide them again.
(You can just recall them too but it can be useful to already have them out later.)
This is obviously the second point where your targets can spot your probes and run away which is why it is important to do it in the least possible scans to reduce that danger window.
Assuming your target did not notice anything was up, you can now warp to them to scout and/or blow them up. Very nice :)
I recommend NOT warping to zero.
Ok, so first of all, combat probing comes down to practice first and foremost.
It's not a skill you can become great at just by reading a guide but since you need to start somewhere, this guide is designed to cover the general principles involved.
Objectives of Combat Probing
Obviously, the basic objective of combat probing is to scan down a ship so that you can warp to it.
Other objectives should be doing so in the least amount of scan cycles as possible, ideally in 1 scan, and to do it without the target ship noticing.
Situational Setup
So when do you actually want to drop combat probes? This is actually not that simple a question and lots of people have different thoughts on it.
Personally I feel that people either use combat probes too often, or not often enough.
Some large WH groups, AHARM for example, only ever use combat probes, even for normal signature scanning. They do it because it makes no difference strength wise for sig scanning and means they never need to reload probes if they need to combat scan. (In AHARM's case, their scanning tool also works off signature strengths derived from 64au combat scans.)
Personally I find this is an excellent way of scaring off anyone you might meet while scanning since people see combat probes as far more intimidating on dscan than cores.
(As a note, you should take ALL probes, core or combat, as the same threat level on dscan, but people don't.)
The other end of the spectrum are people so reluctant to drop combats that they almost never do it and when they do it's often too late.
My rule is simple: If you see ships on dscan that are not at a planet, anom or a WH/sig you already have bookmarked, drop combats immediately. The sooner you scan them, the more likely you are to catch them.
This means that you need to check all anoms and planets for ships on dscan first, then if they’re not there, drop combats and find them.
If at all possible, drop combats off dscan from your targets. This isn’t always possible so if it isn’t, find a safe spot (a planet will do in a pinch, don’t do it on a WH), drop combats and immediately move them off dscan range of any celestial and hit scan.
Remember, when in doubt, it's better to drop combats and scan blindly for ships than to not even try.
Finding Where to Scan
Once you have your probes out, off dscan and have re cloaked, the first thing to do is check that your targets are still there. Honestly, a lot of the time the gig is up already at this point as most people pay good attention to their dscans these days and will have POSed up if they saw your probes or ship and you may as well just scan the system for sigs.
Assuming they did not rabbit, you now need to narrow down their location using dscan so that you can get them in the least amount of scans as possible.
This is the most important part and is also the part that just takes practice to perfect.
You need to use 3 tools for this:
1. Dscan range
2. Dscan angle
3. Tactical overlay
You should get used to adjusting your dscan range on the fly. 1 AU is 149597871km, or 150m km since you're on the clock.
Do your dscanning from whatever celestial the targets are closest to and get their distance to within 1au. To do this, set your dscan range to 150m at 360deg and increase it in steps of 150m km until you find them.
Eg: Targets not on scan at 300m but are at 450m? They’re at 2-3au.
There isn't much need to narrow the range down past this but you can if you want, just play with the ranges. If you have low actual scanning skills, you may wish to get it to within 0.5au.
Next, get their direction by narrowing down your dscan angle at whatever range you determined previously.
Note: Do this from the solar system map window, NOT from in space!
Narrowing the angle down to 15deg is enough.
Running the Scan
Once you have both the range and direction, time to position your probes.
To do this, drag them back to where your targets are from off dscan but do NOT hit scan. Once you have done this, hit your tactical overlay on the system map window and use it to position your probes on top of your targets at the correct range.
Before you hit scan, make sure your probes are setup so that they actually can lock down your targets. Basically, they need to be small enough to lock the ship you are scanning, BUT you also don't want them too small as this will reduce your coverage area and increase the chance you will miss entirely.
As a general rule, I use 4au probes for capitals, 2au for BSs and BCs, 1au for anything smaller. This varies on your skills a bit but is a good general guide.
Regarding the probe formation to use, use the one you are most comfortable with and one where you know what secondary hits (rings and double dots) mean and where to move your probes if you happen to be off and get those.
I use my normal formation of 8 probes (4 small inner, 4 large outer), generally stepped down to 4au/1au for sub BS targets and 4au/2au for BSs (if I'm off by more than 4au I've done something very wrong).
I use this formation even though I know it is not the strongest result producing formation because I use it a lot for general scanning and know exactly where to move the probes if I miss on the first scan.
Once you move your probes into the correct position and double checked your range and angle, you are ready to run your scan.
Hit scan. You will either get a 100% result on the first scan, or you won't. If you do not (it happens to the best of us), work as fast as you can to lock down the target.
Once you do get the lock, after 1 or multiple scans, bookmark your result and move your probes off dscan range again immediately and hit scan to hide them again.
(You can just recall them too but it can be useful to already have them out later.)
This is obviously the second point where your targets can spot your probes and run away which is why it is important to do it in the least possible scans to reduce that danger window.
Assuming your target did not notice anything was up, you can now warp to them to scout and/or blow them up. Very nice :)
I recommend NOT warping to zero.
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