Abyssal Pockets and the Ships to Run Them

A tracking computer with a range and tracking script could work for doing both long range and short range damage.

I’m trying to remain cautiously optimistic about the Trig ships, but I have this sneaky suspicion they’re going to be essentially useless in PvE (at least outside of the Abyssal pockets).

See, that’s what I was thinking and the reason I wanted to use lazors instead of hybrid turrets.
For sleepers it doesn’t matter what you bring, so highest damage you can bring - go for it.

The Sacrilege could be good in terms of tanking a neut or two but then the missiles and drones may not be the best option.

That leaves my beloved pulse Phantasm, great afterburner bonus and lasers and a shield tank that can be fit cap stable.

My only concern now is drifters, which will just nullify anything you bring with one shot, which makes the whole endeavor pointless.

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something i use in WH space are Cap Batteries. regular sized for frigates, large for cruisers. not only you get more cap to shoot and rep but also reduce some of the neuting power of the NPCs.

as long as you take out the neuts and you do cap management of the modules you are good to go. the problem is that i dont have experience with the new AI, only Sleeper Drone AI which is probably much more easy to deal with.

as for the Trig ships. just because they dont have falloff and have to cycle to do good damage doesnt mean they will be useless in PvE. missiles have the same limitation, no damage if past flight range which is basically the same with the optimal range for those Entropic Disintegrators.

application isnt much affected either since those new weapons have slightly higher tracking than blasters which are currently the turrets with the best tracking in the game.

Entropic Disintegrators will be nasty against most NPCs due to the Thermal + Explosive damage aspect. depending on how that distribution goes it will be either good against Sansha/Blood Raiders/Serpentis and excelent against Angels or the reverse.

in addition the ramping up damage while keeping utility will be interesting for running sites in Wormhole space. of course, depending on how much is the capacitor requirements of Entropic Disintegrators compared to the rest of the modules for the fit.

just a matter of webbing the NPCs or keeping top speed to mantain inside optimal

I basically fly Minmatar and Angel ships so that doesn’t leave me too many choices for HAC’s.

Muninn or Vagabond

:thinking:

either of those is good i think (no experience with HACs :frowning: ), however dont forget the navy hulls like Fleet Scythe and Fleet Stabber. and of course the regular Rupture and Stabber, but im sure a Cynabal would be fine for those sites, not sure on the point of the warp speed and acceleration but it still has better stats for combat and is agile.

ok checking the slot layout of the Triglav ships, all three seem pretty good for WH space and regular high sec PvE (why tho?):

-Demavik has 3/2/4 so it has to go with a long point, it would be able to carry both a probe and a neut while having a tanking potential close to the Punisher (?), for PvE that free mid can be used for Cap Battery for energy tanking the sleeper drones with a free high to carry a salvager apart of the probe scanner.

-Vedmak has 4/4/6 which is strangely flexible because you can carry probe + neut + vamp on top of web + scram and cap booster or 2 long points + capbooster for PvP, for PvE it could carry 2 salvagers apart of the probe launcher while being armor tanked with a large cap battery + 2 tracking computer or active/passive shield tanked (of course, it seems these ships arent meant to shield tank according to the presentation, but until i see the stats is merely tinkering).

-Leshak has 5/4/8, for PvP it probably mean double or even triple neut + probe launcher apart of the weapon along with grappler/MJD and warp disruption mods with a heavy armor tank. for PvE its obvious that it would perform better with armor and the possibility of triple salvagers means it would be able to clear fairly fast before moving on to the next site without the need of a dedicated salvaging vessel.

i dont use smartbombs so not sure on the usefulness of them for PvE, for PvP it would be good to take out enemy drones and since the ships will have also logistic capabilities its possible they could work along with rattlesnakes or on a personal chain for higher class sites.

of course, i want to see the stats of them first. i cant fly them anyways due to alpha clone but they are very intriguing.

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can you use hacs in the abyss? I thought t1 and faction only?

T1, Faction and T2 cruisers, no T3s

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All good points, I was actually thinking about ship bonuses so I don’t think the Scythe would be a good choice, however the Fleet Stabber… and thanks for reminding me about the Cynabal.

Looks like I got some EFT to do.

:wink:

What about Interdictors?

good point, Hictors could be a good alternative to HACs due to the high resistance profile.

Broadsword and Devoter specially but Phobos and Onyx would be perfectly capable (allthought the Onyx is a missile boat and may not fare well on the presence of a DAS).

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You are all ignoring 1 thing - the deviant automata suppressor is an area of effect thing, The dude says he had to go close to it, for it to kill off the drones. You stay out of it’s range with your drones and missiles and you’re ok. So probably Gila will be the best choice. Although, aren’t sleepers using titan weapons? nothing can survive that I think

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Drifter spawns in Abyssal Space wont have the Lux Kontos/Xiphos it seems. (not sure on the Lux Xiphos, just a guess). place would be impossible to run solo if the Drifters used that thing on you, it seems enough hostile as it is with the new AI along with Drifters + Sleeper Drones vs Triglavs + Rogue Drones swarms.

from what i see of the example chart, there’s possibility for NPCs to spawn under the range of the added effect so there’s a possibility of them being guarded by the DAS.

for all intents a gunboat is a much more reliable alternative. but people is free to try whatever they want.

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I’m sure CCP is well aware of the Gila’s current Reign Of Power. Maybe they designed these Abysmal Pockets in direct opposition to it.

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pretty much it seems Abyssal content was built thinking on giving more protagonism to turret based hulls compared to missile and drone platforms. thus the introduction of the DAS. they have had their share of the PvE supremacy for a long time, its time to give more emphasis to gunboats.

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again - you have to go close to the DAS for it to attack the drones/ missiles - look at the presentation again. In fact the dude went close to it so he can kill the npc drones. WAG - it’s 10-20 km range - you stay out of it’s range you’re fine with a gila

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The NPC AI in these Abyssal pockets can and will pod you. Which leads me to believe that you’re going to need PvP fits (webs, scrams, neuts and cap boosters). I have a feeling that passive fits just aren’t going to cut it. I could also just as easily be wrong, too…

I highly doubt a scram is going to be helpful since there’s no warping inside the pockets. A web might be helpful but it’s a short range module which means you’re also within range of their guns. Since NPC’s have a never ending supply of cap having a Neut won’t do any good. Yeah, you can load up on Cap Booster Charges and keep replenishing your cap but that just adds another thing to monitor and deal with.

Maybe a shield extender fit with a shield booster for insurrance?

Now maybe some ECM modules might be helpful, like Target Breakers, Tracking Disruption, Sensor Dampeners, Nos, etc. Course that depends if these NPC ships can be affected like player ships. Sure the NPC’s are suppose to behave like regular players but that doesn’t mean their ships will be subject to the same rules as our ships.

I think the way to approach these Abysmal Pockets is to just tank the DPS, basically run the gauntlet and kill everything as fast as you can.

the way Abyssal space is designed, yeah, it seems there’s no warp ins or outs. so there’s no point on carring warp disruption tools.

webs are of course needed for brawling boats and omnitank is part of any PvP fit (or at least most of them). unless all the NPCs present have heavy neuting i still say that a Cap Battery is better than a Cap Booster for these situations.

however, taking in account you cannot escape i may be proven wrong later on. depends on how is the neuting power of the rats.

i dont think EWAR is really needed. heavy tank is a yes, but no EWAR and neuts/vamps dont affect NPCs as far as i know.

target painters however, those could prove really usefull as an alternative to webs.

Scrams switch off MWDs, so they have more utility than simply preventing warp.

A good example of that are Alliance Tournament fits, which are also limited by 150km spheres as arenas and no warping. However, scrams are ubiquitous in most fleets as they help with range control and speed control.

So it will be interesting to see what threats the rats present. Scrams might yet be useful.