For a good while now the air has been thick with the social lobbing of smack talk between Astral and I. We had a long time back decided that some 1 v1 duels in frigates would be good for us both as we learn the ropes of EVE PvP. Astral posted his account of the festivities and I promised to do the same.Last night saw the first of what we hope to be many such duels. Rules were simple. T1 frigate with T1 fit, flip some ammo from each other, warp out and on warp in engage. I was in my trusty rifter and Astral a punisher. The fits are as follows:
Pod Racer MK1: aka cookie cutter tackle rifter in T1
3 x 150mm LAC I
1 x Small "nave" nos
1 x 1MN AB I
1 X WEB I
1 X named scram
1 x 200mm RTP
1 x SAR I
1 x DCU I
EMP S and Nuclear S
I build all but the two named mods and the plate including the ammo. So for me the fit is practically free
Astral's Punisher: Quote "A nice fit" Astral Dominix
3x 200mm AC I
1x "langor" web
1X Cold-gas AB
1X "collateral' nano
1X Emergency DC I
1X EANM
1X 200mm steel plate
Arch Angel Carbonized Lead and Arch Angel Nuclear S
Astral said it cost him 3M ISK to fit it all out.
We chose Bei as the system and the first planet as the fitting place to meet, exchange bullets , and fight. I warped in at 20km for a few reasons. The first was hoping that Astral had not warped to 0 (he had :( ) and the second was to work on my approach. I took a little damage but in my half spiral landed and settled into a nice orbit with very little shields down. Astral was over stating my speed a little in his account as the T1 fit rifter hits a top speed of ~860m/s with my current skills. Even with the named web at a tight orbit I was speed tanking a lot of the incoming fire. Astral actually grumbled about me having a shield tank.
The EMP s made pretty short work of the punishers shields as expected and then I set about the task of chewing through his armor tank. I have to say I am not impressed with nuclear S here and I made a slight error that lead to me taking more damage but I did it in the name of learning. As I was ahead and here to learn I widened my orbit out to see where the nuclear S hit Astral's armor the hardest. I settled in to where it was doing a MASSIVE 23 points of damage per volley. The error was in playing these games I had lost all my shield and Astrals bigger guns and better ammo was hitting home more often. It was time to start dancing with the rifters cap NOS on and SAR in single cycles to keep the guns going and the thing flying. After a week I burned through his armor and hit the home straight. I tightened my orbit again and switched back to EMP S. Incoming DPS went down and so did Astral.
The biggest thing I took away from the fight is that it is a LOT of fun. I also am getting more comfortable living in the red and working through it. Accepting DPS and that the hull you are flying is disposable is what I see as my first mile stone for PvP. This duel and flying nothing but rifters has let me come to terms with flames and getting in there. The in your face fighting style of the rifter was at first a HUGE switch up from the ranged missile and drone warfare of mission running. So with every fight rat or human the toe to toe style of the rifter and the incoming fire that brings is becoming the norm.
So this marks my first and extremely over due kill with Zombinutz and ironically the first for TGV as well. I was a little shaky at the start of the fight but once we settled into the motions of it all it was too busy to notice any further jitters. After the fight I was calm and hungry for more. Unfortunately RL called in the form of the work I had been ignoring and the need to take my Subaru fit to the repair bay.
Astral and I will head off for a lowsec roam next to see what we can scare up out there. Depending on what Astral fields I might break out some DPS fits I've been keen to try. I also have a shield tanked rifter that is yet to get dirty. So many options on this little beast that I even fly it in fleet running missions where I am known as "the rusty drone".
Many thanks to Astral for the fight and the time spent hopping all over the place getting to it. Next plans are to bring some T2 fitted variants to the next duel. All ready looking forward to it.
Cheers
EVE SOB
Well you had to know I would be by here to say something. First off
ReplyDeleteCONGRATS ON WINNING! Sounds like it was a good fight.
You know I can't let you get off THAT easily... Here's how I think you could have done much better.
1. Your initial instinct to go with EMP S was the right move... for the entire fight. You were dictating range, because since you were both webbed, you were still the faster of the two ships. Because of this you should have stayed in close, and hammered away with the EMP. With my (admittedly better but still good for comoparison) skills, EMP S was doing 68ish DPS before resists, where Nuclear was doing 28!!! Also as he had fit all "long" range ammo by getting in closer you were actually going to be doing a bit more effective DPS and providing a tougher target for him to hit.
2. Your ammo selection wasn't great. In t1 frigates you are usually going to be fighting up close and personal, so carry ammo that fits for that. Nuclear is the second weakest ammo type because it is a long range ammo. Proton being arguably the worst ammo type. To fix this a couple things. a. Carry faction ammo, republic fleet EMP s does 78 DPS vice usual EMP S damage of 68, bigger difference in bigger ships but even in t1 frigs every 1 DPS counts. b. Carry Fusion, EMP, and Depleted Uranium (DU) or Titanium Sabot. With AC the extra optimal of the long range ammo's make almost no sense thanks to the DPS you lose because of the ammo. Mid ranged ammo's track better, and since with AC you are always (or at least 98% of the time) fighting in Falloff, better tracking - more hits - killing people faster or hitting smaller targets like drones or frigs later on.
3. Last, but not sure if it would have violated the terms of the 1v1, but always fit the best named mods you can. You did great with the AB, NOS, and plate. But what about the guns, DC, and rep? Sure they are more expensive but so much worth it that it is worth mentioning. the DC should be your #1 priority to upgrade to give you more EHP and buffer from your structure. Named reps rep more per cycle and named guns do MOAR DAMAGE. If you don't want to pay for best named, then at least upgrade past vanilla t1.
Sounds like you don't have the skills for the last bit so I will just add it as a addendum way down here... Fit rigs.
Now off to Astral's recount of the battle to critique his fight and tell him how he could have won!
First kill for your corp, you are already a hero!
I did expect and appriciate the comments and critique. Just like I hope the next fight gets the same love.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question on not being skilled for better guns, I can say that I can fit the same in full T2! For this fight I simply bought a throw away vanilla T1.
I am NOT impressed with nuclear S at all mate. So the advice on ammo is also geatly appriciated.
Yeah I can fit rigs also. So I am lazy ;) What rigs are a good start?
Thanks for the critique BBW! Care to bring down a hull some day and spank the winner of the T2 fit T1 frigate 1 v 1?
Cheers
EVE SOB
I think I have a fit Punisher and a fit Rifter in Stacmon that I would be happy to fly up there and test your mettle!
ReplyDeleteI fit rigs that increase the damage of my guns on my rep fit rifters since there isn't room in the lows for a gyro or TE.
For a full t2 fit make sure to fit/bring Barrage S, the extra range on Barrage can allow you to kite effective out to 9km or so, but carry the other ammo types as well, meaning Fusion, EMP etc because they will come in handy if you need them. Barrage does the same DPS as say EMP S but at range. With small guns, tracking isn't really an issue so even getting closer to your target can allow you to do more damage and still use barrage s. The ten seconds it takes to change ammo, unless you are completely under someone's guns and not taking damage, can make you win or lose a fight in short order.
Rule of thumb for me is, against a rifter I try to get in close, scram and do as much damage as I can in my rifter and hope he pops before I do, usually keeping barrage s loaded. Against a Incursus, Tristan and blaster Merlin, keep barrage s loaded and stay at range, hope they don't have null, keep your speed up and kill them before they get you. Pulse Punishers I try to stay at range, but AC ones I usually get in close and load fusion as I do more DPS than them by just a little, although staying at range with Barrage might be a bit safer, but they can fit barrage too, so it can hurt, usually I just run away if the fight is going badly, relying on my speed to give me the extra range I need to make good on my escape! Exception being 1v1's of course.
standard T1 rig set-up for AC (especially if leaning toward gank) is
ReplyDelete1 x small projectile burst aerator
1 x small projectile collision accelerator
according to EVE HQ and EFT, the one-of-each combo has slightly more DPS than doubling up on either.
I am sure there are other things to be done rig-wise, like small Aux Nano pumps for armor repping....I myself need more experience before suggesting alternatives.
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ReplyDelete