As far as incursions go if some one drops their drones at the gate before someone is red boxed the drone will pop first then aggro switch
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Really nice write up.
I use a speed tank VNI with armor tank (barely) but it’s otherwise identical to your shield fit. I have a medium armor repper in a low but rarely do the rats in a Forsaken Hub even get thru my shields before I am up to speed. The repper is more a panic module if I get dropped on. I keep a flight of EC-300’s for just such an occasion.
Technique is identical too. Warp in, orbit a rock or structure at 30km, launch drones (auto target on if I am not paying much attention) drop MTU, dream about dank ticks. Dream cuz in fully upgraded sov space with excellent skills the VNI turns about 15mil ticks. Salvage and loot boost income a bit but it’s a modest income at best for a single character. If you multibox, a herd of VNI’s can pull in piles of isk.
The best part is that Vexors and VNI’s are cheap as heck. Adding bling doesn’t do much to improve ticks, so no need to waste money there. And WHEN (not if) you lose one, it doesn’t really matter because you can get another for pocket change.
Nerf is coming for VNI…
i have trained for sentry drones, would u recommend them or stay with heavy ones?
I think heavy are better.
Sentry drones mean you (almost) stop your ship or you are risking to lose your drones. Vexor Navy stay alive cause it moves. So - no sentry drones with it. But you can get better DPS and application (unlike heavy dornes, sentry drones do not lose time to fly to target) if you use Dominix with sentry drones and few guns according to your choice. Dominix has unique drone range bonus, that allows it to stay 100-150 km (depend on drones, wardens II can have 150 km optimal) from targets, apply instant damage (no DPS lost due to missile fly time or reload) and range tank the NPC. Take a look what I used:
[Dominix, sniper PvE cheap]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Damage Control II
Shadow Serpentis Large Armor Repairer
Large Micro Jump Drive
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script
Tachyon Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Drone Link Augmentor II
Tachyon Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Tachyon Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Drone Link Augmentor II
Drone Link Augmentor II
Large Drone Scope Chip I
Large Drone Control Range Augmentor I
Large Processor Overclocking Unit I
Warden II x5 // optimal 150 km
Curator II x5 // optimal 106 km
Bouncer II x5 // optimal 91 km but falloff is another 104
Garde II x5 // not to be used for sniping, but has a very good tracking if all 3 traking links are scripted for tracking
You sit 100 km from targets (LMJD is your little helper here), use you large guns to clean small targets, while they burn with 0 transversal to you (what guns you use does not matter, since small targets has paper thin tank). If NPC spawn far away, you still can shoot them with wardens.
For 250 milions, you have tool, that apply 840 (garde + multifrequency) to 600 (wardens only) of instant DPS in range of 0 to 150 km. More if you bling it, of cause. Using faction modules let you get rid of Processor Overclocking unit and put whatever rig you want there. Almost full bling will give you over 900 DPS close range maximum damage.
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Thanks, I learned that VNI can apparently track small ships with heavies ._.
What I do is generally take 5 drones of each size, according to the NPC weaknesses.
with an omni scripted tracking your heavies will apply correctly to small frigs, as in one or two shot from the 5 drones
Nice ! I tried it yesterday against Rogue Drone, everything below BS sized instantly targeted my Ogre as soon as they left the drone bay, but stopped shootingh at them once I pulled them in and out again ^^
hmm… what I know concerning AI.
The rats have a minimum signature size they won’t target .
They also have priorities over target, eg elite frigs and cruisers tend to chew drones.
They also behave like a pack, meaning all rats of a pack will target same foe, and very often rats from different packs will work together.
Basically, if you shoot at elite frigs, then elite cruisers, the other should not target your drones often, or at least, this should not have an impact because you kill them too quickly to notice damage to your drones. once the elite + the normal frigs are down, only a few “bugged” BS will keep shooting at you drones, the other should switch over to you. Note that sometimes all the drones have very low aggro towards you and will switch again to your drones the moment you release them (happened only once or twice over a hundred sites), you need to log off to reset that aggro.
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I’ve made some formatting fixes and tweaked recommendations in the original post based on feedback.
A question: what do you all think of tech II drones compared to faction drones? Are they worth the train?
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Download PYFA and try your own setup (you can get your skills in there). You will see, what will work for YOU best.
drone T2 = +2-10% DPS. which is what you need. Also cheaper.
hello great guide, i am looking for an optimal drone region fit my problem comes once i try to figure out the tank i want. cant seem to decide between armor repairer or shield regen can anyone post or help me out with a fit for drone region?
i prefer the armor rep over the shield.
This will hurt your lock speed and actually will do nothing unless you warp out the site and cloak.
Remember, you can’t cloak while you are being targeted, that includes the rat.
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My alt has been VNI ratting in Angel space for a few months now - I use speed/shield tanking because the shield has natural resists to Angel damage. My fit is similar to the guide at the start with a few changes as my skills have increased.
As far as rat aggression to drones. I find this very interesting. My heavies have never been aggressed by even the elite frigates in null anomalies. I’ve chatted with other players with similar fits to mine and their drones do get aggressed.
In fact I was running an anomaly about a week ago and another played in a VNI warped in and then my drones started getting aggressed. The aggression ended when the other VNI warped out and the next wave started!
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Agree. Drone aggro is bizarre. There’s people in my alliance never get it. I suffer from it every now and then despite doing exactly what others do.
- If you are really struggling the auto targeter works to some extent.
- Make sure you are orbiting at 30 or so. Newer or inexperienced may feel that’s too close and opt to orbit a lot further out, but actually that only exacerbated the problem.
- Also waiting until you are red boxed before dropping your drones helps although some rats do de-aggres you and go for your drones anyway.
- You can also warp to the sun, eject, board and warp back to anom. I’ve found this helps.
It can be hit or miss but if you are losing drones right left and centre, try a combination of, or all of the above - should help.
Experience: Suffered from drone aggro for a loooong time, losing CN Wasps faster than I could make the money to replace them. (literally, ratting lost me money)
I rarely get drones targeted. What I do is launch them as I land at 30km. In fact, the earlier I launch them, the better… just as the warp message is going off the screen. This way they are out of the ship before I am ever targeted by the rats. It took some practice, but after a while, it really has paid off in very few drone losses. Good Luck!