So one of the biggest things that bug me about 0.0 is supply, yeah shock and horror I know. Having a stack of interceptors 4 hops from Jita, with all the fittings and rigs ready to bolt together does not help me much in southern providence. While we do have Jump Freighters available war tends to limit their movement. As attrition starts to set in local builders get taxed and start to build what command wants built. Meaning variety of ships decrease and my interceptors are hard to find and more so fit.So the solution is for me to start flying T2 haulers in the forms of cloaky or fast/tanked/+2 warp strength. The issue I have is not wanting to burn too many of these on gate camps and etc while I figure out which one works best. I am leaning towards the Bustard as ¾ of my pilots are Caldari and the idea of being able to bust through the bubbles and one tackle (assuming a single point each) while taking some pain sounds best. I’ve gate camped stealth bombers and know how fast they die if you decloak them. Just as I’ve lost a few ravens fitted with warp core stabs (jerks).
So what I need from all you smart people is your preference/opinions when it comes to the T2 haulers. Cloaky or warp core strength/Speed/tank?
Cheers
EVE SOB
I flew the cloaky variant often and through the center of Provi a few times recently. I think just knowing how to operate them properly, cloak+MWD, align etc, is more important than figuring out what one is best. Now having said that I have a strange love for the Prowler.
ReplyDeleteIt's got easily the fastest align times, has a bit more speed, smallest sig radius and what I think is one of the cooler models.
It's just a matter of what you are carrying and how. For this case, I would still choose a blockade runner, but outfit it with polycarbs and cargo expanders to get everything in one trip closer to Provi and then turn around and refit with polycarbs and Nanofibers to take a few trips to get them out into nullsec.
The Misaba/R3- pipe isn't that bad during later USTZ but is heavily CVA camped with instalocking gangs on the gates in R3 during EUTZ. I did not have trouble moving Vagabonds, shuttles or my Prowler through any camps later down the pipe once I got past R3 but there can be some close moments, they nearly decloaked my Prowler in MH9C but that was the best attempt of the whole time, and I'm not sure about you blue status in the area so you might face more or less opposition depending on your corp's relations.
Overall I use the Blockade runner 10x more often than the Deep Space transport, but with the cloak+MWD trick you should be able to use either, depending on how lucky/good you are!
Thanks for the info. Yeah I know the R3 camps pretty well and have made it past them a few times now. Perhaps I'll play some more with my SB as I have about 20 days of base skils to train for either.
ReplyDeleteI just need to get my JF alt trained and in service :)
Cheers
EVE SOB
JF's sure seem the way to go but with Provi and PL like they are right now, flying around in a 4.5 bil isk ship with that many people ready to kill it can also be a bit risky, just make sure to jump into provi from a highsec spot in your JF and then jump into a lowsec bordering a highsec on your way out :)
ReplyDeleteOH yeah, JF for my alt is a ways off. My Ali lost a JF last week inbound. Was not fun.
ReplyDeleteI have some time to mess with this. The good news is I'll have Zomb and an Alt trained up for T2 haulers right about the same time. The alt will have crappier tank skills though :(
Then again I should be training for my 'caine and not some silly hauler. ;)
Cheers
EVE SOB
Let the Alt do the Hauling for now! Train up for the Cane and go kill!
ReplyDeleteThis is damn timely. I'll have Stealth IV and Transport Ships III trained up by tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteI love my Viator:
ReplyDelete[Viator, haulin aint easy]
Expanded Cargohold II
Inertia Stabilizers II
Inertia Stabilizers II
Remote Sensor Dampener II, Targeting Range Dampening
Remote Sensor Dampener II, Targeting Range Dampening
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Medium Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Medium Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
The idea is that if I do run into a gate camp there is only going to be a few ships that can catch me, I burn out as fast as I can and damp the tackle.
I have two and have not lost one yet in 50 or so jita to 0.0 trips.
SO what I am hearing from smart people is cloaky goodness for 0.0 with super fast aligntimes and practise the cloak/MWD methods. Actually I'll be training one Viator and one Crane pilot in the comming weeks.
ReplyDeleteCheers
EVE SOB
Everyone else beat me to it, but I agree. Luckily this is something I haven't had to deal with much lately and my alts Impel is more than good enough to get things around Empire with.
ReplyDeleteThx all for the comments. My fleet of badgers are not cutting it these days. I need a frighter for highsec and something more durable for LOW/NULL work. Poor Janice can only be expected to survive so many trips at 21:00 hours :)
ReplyDeleteCheers
EVE SOB