I decided to transition out of Exploration in a 10MN AB Explo Frig to hunting explorers.
My new ship is a T2 Cruiser. I mostly live solo in Lowsec on the fringes of, and occasionally into, Hisec and Null.
100MN AB: 485 DPS, 23,360 EHP and 1640m/s hot.
Pros: Can’t be scrammed, no sig plume, much better speed than a 10MN AB.
Cons: A power hunger b!tch, very tight fit / 3 blingy mods (fit/role), 30.17sec align.
50MN MWD: 520 DPS, 32,600 EHP and 2,100m/s hot.
Pros: More combat power, easy fit / 1 blingy mod (role), 10.25sec align, better speed than AB.
Cons: Scrammable, sig plume, cap drain.
I’m inclined to the AB due to it’s scram invulnerability and am confident in my ability to disengage with it.
But, I really like the extra combat power the MWD affords, especially the EHP. And I’m doubting if the Monty Python frame of mind (run away) of my exploring, and blockade running before that, is the best while hunting. Does it really matter which I settle on?
Any thoughts, especially from explo hunters, would be appreciated.
Thx. I knew about the scram, that’s mostly why I used the AB. (Plus no sig plume.) I didn’t know about the drain of the MWD. I’ve a T2 MCB w/Navy 400’s but i’d rather not use them as gasoline.
Is your objective to catch 10MN AB exploration frigs? Because either way as soon as you warp unclocked to a data/relic site almost all explorers in lowsec are just going to immediately warp out.
The sense I’m getting from reading your OP is not “AB or MWD?” It is “what the heck kind of decisions and thinking is going on for hunting exploration frigates that even leads up to this question?”
It’s not so much specifically hunting 10MN AB’s, that’s just what I used on my frig.
I’m… comfortable with an oversized AB.
As I mentioned above, the thinking transition IS why I’m asking the question. A 10MN AB on a frig is great for the “Monty Python” frame of mind I brought up. Before the explo I flew a Crane, so getting away has been paramount for me for quite a while.
What are your thoughts about how that thinking relates to MWD or AB? MWD seems kind of “all in” while the AB leaves a sizable back door. Are you suggesting I forget comfortable and go with the all in frame of mind? It seems that makes choosing targets terribly important. And that does make sense.
Maybe I’ll put my cruiser up for a bit and go do some FW, get a change in perspective.
I’m a one trick pony for hunting explorers. Cloaky ship at a perch, warp onto the can right when they activate their module, decloak, spam-lock, scram and shoot.
There’s some matchups you have to worry about, but it’s only a very limited amount. FW has even more matchups than explorer hunting.
That’s actually what I had in mind. Being hunted all the time, one learns a bit about what the hunters do. Only difference is I’m using a Combat Recon so I don’t think I’d fit a cloak. (?) This is also a secondary reason why I fit the 100MN AB. Not thinking too much about maneuver.
I figured that once I got them scrammed, and maybe webbed, having the align a MWD affords doesn’t matter so much, and then still have that back door if they’ve got friends I didn’t see.
Still, that extra DPS/EHP w/WMD is awfully tempting. I guess I’ll just have to do what I’ve always avoided doing while explo/blockade running: lose some ships and see what works best for me.
And yeah, I’m going to FW for a while. Did it back when I started in EVE, To get the feel again for fighting and losing ships.
Any other thoughts on the topic?
In my experience the key time for hunting explorers is in between “giving them the spook” and “landing a (faction) scram”. You want to eliminate that from occuring as much as possible and, where unavoidable, make it as short as possible. That’s their window to run.
Scram requires (a lack of) range and perches with warping cloaked eliminates that aspect completely. However, the fixed lock delay of around 5s (depending on skills) (on most hulls) means this window does exist, but is fixed. But it’s never about range nor “closing a gap” where MWD/AB matters, so the critical time is very consistent. It doesn’t catch 100% of fits and pilots but has some % success rate.
If you’re using a Lach for the scram range then you’re only partially solving the range issue (or less so for other hulls), because almost all sites are bigger than your range when you warp to 0. The critical time above will occur almost always – just like decloak delay – and on average for equal or longer time than cloak delay time. Traveling for 5s with AB or MWD is not a lot of distance especially from near-0 m/s after landing out of warp. Because you’re a cruiser hull, the locking time itself is also longer than a smaller hull. All this together means you may find prey escaping in this critical time more frequently – the success rate is probably lower.
An AB or MWD for defensive purposes is probably needed. You’re flying a shiny ship. If you’re in a Lach with extended scram range for defense, MWD might make sense (but if they land a scram on you first, then no bueno). Others who learn what you’re doing – since it is unusual – may see such a shiny hull and more actively try to bait you into a group beat down.
Okay. Try not to laugh too hard.
I had one left from a corp I was in… and the “fight with what you have, not with what you wish you had,” thing, so… here it goes…
I’m using a Rook for the 7 mids and the surprise element of one with 520 DPS / 32,600 EHS. I have no ECM fitted. Faction scram and a passive targeter, (to close up that “give them the spook” window. I do not have fond memories of those moments.) Plus the prop, MACB and shields mods. x5 T2 RLML’s (w/Scourge Furys,) so no cloak. I’m relying on the dscan immunity.
Figure to land at 25km to allow for the targeting they hopefully don’t know is happening (<10 sec vs. a frig,) go in with everything hot and at 12km start scramming and launching.
When you’re finished laughing at my Rook, what do you think? Does the fit/approach seem sound?
No laughing from me. Try it out. Failures and successes will come and go. Don’t get discouraged from the failures. Learn from them, make tweaks, and most importantly have fun doing it. Feel free to share anything you learn. Like I said, I’m a one-trick pony, so I value hearing others’ hunting stories. Maybe the view I shared above becomes outdated, and you find a more clever way to reason about the hunt.