I’m an older returning player with a new Omega 5m sp character.
Rather than playing the same High Sec game this time around I wanted to try and visit all of the known (Dotlan) systems in HS, LS and Null. I’d like to Rat as I go and be self sustaining with replacing my ship as I die. I want to fly and train just one ship for the next few months as I do this.
Of these ships, which would you pick for the job based on how often I might die, DPS of ship to kill rats and cost of ship/fit to replace. I’ll just be keeping high value loot to bring back to HS.
I can fly all of these with average to good skills. I was thinking drones due to Ammo, but not a big deal to return to HS for supplies.
This won’t be easy, for survivability you want something small and/or cloaky. But for ratting, you’ll want tank and high DPS. The best overall ship that hits all of these categories is a T3 Strategic Cruiser. The Stratios may be worth considering- as it has a Cov Ops cloak, and moderate damage output, but probably over priced/under performing for your needs.
Further down the list, I’d say tactical destroyer. It doesn’t have cloak, but you can fit a probe launcher allowing you to move around using wormholes. Ratting will be slow though since DPS will be a challenge.
I’d be curious to hear what others think, as they may have better ideas.
Pick one of the T2 exploration frigates, such as the Helios, Buzzard, Anathema or Cheetah.
With the right fit it aligns within 3s, has covops cloak, nullified, warps at 12 AU/s with hyperspatial rigs, good scanning bonuses to find wormholes to travel through, cheap.
Or if you want to only stay in known space: a shuttle.
Edit: I only now see you want to also rat in the ship. In that case I’d recommend a T3C. A bit slower and more expensive, but it’s your only nullified combat capable option to survive mulp sec bubble camps, and cloaky. Maybe no longer ‘noob omega ship’ anymore though.
Please note: the OP has stated that they want to be able to rat as they go. You suggested an Astero… I’ve never used an Astero- but do you think it would be good at ratting?
I have used a prospect, which I think is horrible for ratting. Only two hard points with no weapon bonuses, It doesn’t even have a drone bay.
The astero is just a slightly tankier tristan when it comes to killing NPCs. Passable for killing frigate and destroyer rats, but hardly suitable for any level of ratting that generates enough isk to fund ship losses.
For travelling around all of nullsec you’d definitely want some combination of <2s align time, covert cloak and interdiction nullification. The astero can do the first two of those, making it very safe.
The issue with stratios / T3Cs is that they’re pretty slow for cruisers, and liable to get caught by decloakers in bubble traps without some luck and manual piloting skill.
If you really want to rat for income while travelling (as opposed to things like exploration or scooping lost drones) I’d recommend a stealth bomber. It has the damage and range to snipe off lucrative battleship rats in null, and the covert cloak makes for safe travelling.
That’s a good point. You may not be able to bring back a lot of loot (it has a frigate-size cargo hold after all), but bombers are capable of taking on combat sites, especially those with larger ships. I don’t rat often, but I tried doing Havens in a bomber and it works surprisingly well. It just takes some more clicking and attention than flying an Ishtar, but otherwise it’s not much worse.
Yes, both you and Complex Math are obviously correct, by time I’d searched down the article of the player for who visited all systems (in Astero) finishing after only years of work in same boat; she never lost it; I forgot about the ratting.
Doubtless the op did not and he would be up to ignoring my two side suggestions which I were considering for travel only. Appreciate you pointing out my error.
I hadn’t thought about a stealth bomber, as the ammo is the key. Perhaps I could try to run with a T1 blueprint and make it when I’m near an NPC station.
With a Drone ship, I think I can scan down lost drones if I need them.
I am currently skilling the Astero support skills (scanning) and have tested Null/Low Sec Battleships with under 1m bounty with a Worm/Algos/Magus/Thrasher with about 200 DPS each and although it takes a while, they will kill it eventually. I think I need the cloak part, I can hide when needed, but the Astero only gets about 140 DPS on average and I’ll be only killing Cruiser and below rats.
How big a deal do you all think it is not being able to WARP cloaked, Low Sec gate camps for sure is a thing.
