Carrier Ratting Guide

Shriven_Intaki · August 4, 2017, 9:10pm

This is an overview of carrier ratting taken from this guide: Carrier Ratting Guide

There are two carriers that can be optimized to rat with, the Thanatos and the Nidhoggur.

Thanatos bonuses:
• 5% bonus to fighter damage per level
• 2.5% bonus to fighter hitpoints per level
At Carrier 5 your bonuses are 25% to fighter damage and 12.5% to fighter hitpoints, which will give you good damage and hardy fighters and arguably the second best carrier to rat with.

Nidhoggur bonuses:
• 5% bonus to fighter damage per level
• 2.5% bonus to fighter velocity per level
At Carrier 5 your bonuses are 25% to fighter damage and 12.5% to fighter velocity, which will give you good damage and very quick fighters and arguably the best carrier to rat with.

How to fit your ratting carrier:
Fitting your carrier is very important if you want to achieve the higher ticks. If you want to fit it for pure ratting, you need to be in an Alliance that has a good INTEL channel, this cannot be stressed enough! Make sure the space is “safe” before you undock your expensive ratting carrier. Below are some base fits for ‘strict’ ratting carriers.

[Thanatos, Ratting]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Capital I-a Enduring Armor Repairer
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Drone Navigation Computer II
Drone Navigation Computer II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script

Fighter Support Unit II
Fighter Support Unit II
Fighter Support Unit II
Networked Sensor Array
Cynosural Field Generator I

Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

[Nidhoggur, Ratting]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Damage Control II

Drone Navigation Computer II
Drone Navigation Computer II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Capital Shield Booster I

Fighter Support Unit II
Fighter Support Unit II
Fighter Support Unit II
Networked Sensor Array
Cynosural Field Generator I

Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

Of course there are fitting modifications to consider.

High-Slots:
• Replace the Cynosural Field Generator with a Heavy Energy Neutralizer or fourth Fighter Support Unit

Mid-Slots:
• Replace the T2 drone modules with Faction variants as your ISK/risk comfort level allows
• On the Nidhoggur replace the Shield Booster I with a T2 version if you have trained it or a CONCORD if you have the ‘disposable’ ISK for it

Low-Slots:
• Replace the T2 Drone Damage Amplifiers with Faction variants as your ISK/risk comfort level allows
• On the Thanatos replace the T2 EANM with a Faction variant, like the Centum C-type Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
• On the Thanatos replace Capital I-a Enduring Armor Repairer with the CONCORD version if you have the ‘disposable’ ISK for it

Rig-Slots:
• Dependant on your level of ‘disposable’ ISK you could fit T2 Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizers
• On the Nidhoggur you may want to consider replacing one Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer with a Capital Drone Durability Enhancer to give your fighters some extra hardiness (this can cause some fitting issues with a strict T2 fit Nidhoggur)
• On the Thanatos you may want to consider replacing one Capital Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer with a Capital Drone Speed Augmentor to give your fighters some extra velocity

Cosmic Anomalies: Combat sites to run:
For the Pirate Factions (Angels, Guristas, Sansha, etc…) there are only three recommended anomalies that should be run while you’re carrier ratting.

Havens (Rock Havens*)
Forsaken Hubs
Sanctums (Ring Sanctums**)

In the Drone Regions there are just two recommended anomalies that should be run while you’re carrier ratting.

Hordes (Ring Horde**)
Patrols

This is the recommended priority in which you want to run sites. You’ll have to judge for yourself as the analysis of worth was done by others.

* The trick to find out if a Haven is a Rock Haven and not a Gas Haven is right click -> warp to -> ctrl+space to stop the ship. If the Haven in question is a Rock Haven, you will get a pop-up saying “I have detected a stargate nearby” – if the pop-up does not appear, right click and ‘Ignore’ that site as well, do this with all the Havens before you start ratting, so you only have the Rock Havens and no Gas Havens in your scanner.

** There is no trick for Sanctums or Hordes, you have to warp to all of them (ideally in a fast ship) in order to find out what they are.

When you undock in your ratting system, the first thing you should do is open your Probe Scanner with all the signatures, start by sorting by name and then ‘Ignore’ all the sites that are not one of the types above. Now you only have sites you are interested in and if any new signatures spawn you will see them.

After getting the signatures you want listed, you should sort by ‘Distance’ so you get the closest ones on top.

Your DPS = Fighters:
Load three full squads of Light Fighters, that is nine fighters per squad, plus carry five to ten spares. It’s also recommended that you have a squad of Dromi webbing Support Fighters, they are a nice ‘In Case of Emergency’ squad to have to slow down interceptors.

Faction -> Weak to -> Recommended Fighter
Angel Cartel -> Explosive -> Einherji
Blood Raiders -> EM/Thermal -> Templar/Firbolg
Guristas -> Kinetic -> Dragonfly
Mordus Legion -> Kinetic -> Dragonfly
Rogue Drones -> EM -> Templar
Sansha -> EM -> Templar
Serpentis -> Kinetic -> Dragonfly

Warp Speed Implants:
The recommended implants for carrier ratting are the ones that give you an extra boost to warp speed. Like one of the ‘Eifyr and Co. ‘Rogue’ Warp Drive Speed WS-’ series which go into Slot 6 or the other option would be a Mid-Grade or High-Grade Ascendancy set.

• WS-605 (approx 1mil ISK)
• WS-608 (approx 6mil ISK)
• WS-610 (approx 25mil ISK)
• WS-613 (approx 100mil ISK)
• WS-615 (approx 175mil ISK)
• WS-618 (approx 550mil ISK)
• Mid-Grade Ascendancy Set (approx 1.5bil ISK)
• High-Grade Ascendancy Set (approx 6.5bil ISK)

"How To Carrier Rat and Get DANK Ticks!"
So you now have a fully fitted ratting carrier, with three full squads of the appropriate Light fighters, maybe a Warp Speed Implant, a solid Intel Channel, you are on Comms and in the Standing Fleet, you have a PvE channel for the System you are ratting in to call out the site you’re planning to run, and you have sorted your Probe Scanner so now you only have the appropriate signatures in there.

Module Management:
• Load your preferred scripts (Optimal, Tracking or empty) and activate your Tracking Link modules, keep them running constantly.
• The Networked Sensor Array (NSA) should not be left running, cycle it when the first wave spawns and from that point on you should start a cycle when you have your fighters target the last rat in the wave. You can right click the module and toggle the auto-repeat to OFF so that it only cycles once each time you activate it.
• Only pulse your repair module when you have lost enough EHP to warrant a cycle.

Warping and Landing:
• Always warp in at range 70km to 100km, whatever you’re most comfortable with.
• After landing the first thing you do is ALWAYS align to your ‘Safe’ (Keepstar, Fortizar, Safe POS, Station, etc…)

Fighter Management:
• Fighters are controlled in a special way compared to drones, you may want to practice with this before jumping right into carrier ratting.
• Check your drones Optimal Range and then set your Default Orbit under that distance appropriately.
• Down where your Modules are, you can toggle between modules and fighter control panel, when on fighter panel click the square below that and detach the fighter panel, move it to where it’s comfortable for you, ideally to a spot where your mouse movement is minimized.

Fighter Movement:
• You want to move your fighters ALL the time
• When you land, you launch your fighter squads, ensure they are all selected, press “Orbit” and click on a target or object, this should make your drones move towards it and start orbiting, this is the reason we put our default orbit under their optimal range.
• Because you landed at range you should engage the MWD on your fighters, this can be done manually, or if you marked all 3 squads you can just press F2, shortcut for MWD.
• An important thing to note is YOU have to make your fighters be constantly moving, each time they kill a target they slow down to a standstill, which means you have to press “Orbit” and click on the new target after each kill, the good thing is you can have all 3 squads marked, but only the squad that is not actively engaging something will follow your orbit command.
• This mechanic is important, the time it takes from one gun-cycle to the next is enough to let your drones take damage, even die, if you keep this “Orbit” movement up your fighters will also reach targets earlier and be orbiting when the gun is ready to cycle.

Kill order for rats:
Frigates -> Destroyers -> Cruisers -> Battlecruisers -> Commander BS -> BS

Recommended engagement:
• Frigates: 1 Squad, Guns only
• Destroyers: 1 Squad, Guns only
• Cruisers: 1 Squad, Guns only
• Battle cruisers: 1 Squad, Guns + 1 Volley
• Battleships: 3 Squads, Guns + 1 Volley from each

Aligning and warping:
• When you are on the second-to-last wave, you should start aligning to your next combat site instead of your ‘Safe’.
• You should Claim it in your PvE channel and make sure no one else did it first
• Attempt to claim and align to a signature that is close to your current one for reduced travel time.
• When you have killed the last rat, recall your fighters, press F2 for MWD and they should return to you quickly.
• Once they are in, you warp to the next site at range, rinse and repeat.

If you’ve got any tips, tricks, recommendations please post in the comments…

DeMichael_Crimson · August 11, 2017, 2:52am

+1 for a good write up, thanks for posting it.

Pay_Me_MahMoney · August 15, 2017, 4:39pm

I really like the guide. Do u happen to have any updated skill plans?

Shriven_Intaki · August 16, 2017, 6:19pm

I don’t currently have any skill plans worked up - will see how easily I can get one together with EVEMon and post it up if I can.

Shriven_Intaki · August 16, 2017, 6:53pm

I posted the “Ratting” Nidhoggur fit from the guide into EVEMon and it spit out a training plan. I added skills to get T2 Fighters and JDC V and then sorted by Primary Attribute. I would use this as just a basic list of skills needed - you would definitely want to play around with this in your favorite skill planner and get it sorted for proper remaps, etc… If you want to skill into a different Carrier then swap out the appropriate Ship Command skills for the race of carrier you want to pilot.

Skill list for “Ratting” Nidhoggur

Navigation IV
Navigation V
Warp Drive Operation II
Warp Drive Operation III
Warp Drive Operation IV
Warp Drive Operation V
Science V
Jump Drive Operation I
Jump Drive Operation II
Jump Drive Operation III
Jump Fuel Conservation I
Jump Fuel Conservation II
Jump Fuel Conservation III
Jump Fuel Conservation IV
Jump Drive Operation IV
Jump Drive Operation V
Jump Drive Calibration I
Jump Drive Calibration II
Jump Drive Calibration III
Jump Drive Calibration IV
Jump Drive Calibration V
Hull Upgrades III
Hull Upgrades IV
Shield Management III
Shield Management IV
Shield Management V
Shield Operation IV
Shield Operation V
Power Grid Management V
Capital Shield Operation I
CPU Management V
Cynosural Field Theory I
Spaceship Command IV
Spaceship Command V
Advanced Spaceship Command I
Advanced Spaceship Command II
Advanced Spaceship Command III
Advanced Spaceship Command IV
Advanced Spaceship Command V
Capital Ships I
Capital Ships II
Capital Ships III
Capital Ships IV
Minmatar Destroyer I
Minmatar Destroyer II
Minmatar Destroyer III
Minmatar Cruiser I
Minmatar Cruiser II
Minmatar Cruiser III
Minmatar Battlecruiser I
Minmatar Battlecruiser II
Minmatar Battlecruiser III
Minmatar Battleship I
Minmatar Battleship II
Minmatar Battleship III
Weapon Upgrades III
Weapon Upgrades IV
Leadership I
Leadership II
Leadership III
Leadership IV
Leadership V
Drones II
Drones III
Drones IV
Drones V
Drone Interfacing I
Drone Interfacing II
Drone Interfacing III
Drone Interfacing IV
Drone Interfacing V
Minmatar Carrier I
Minmatar Carrier II
Minmatar Carrier III
Minmatar Carrier IV
Fighters I
Light Fighters I
Light Fighters II
Light Fighters III
Light Fighters IV
Fighters II
Fighters III
Fighters IV
Fighters V
Fighter Hangar Management I
Drone Navigation I
Drone Navigation II
Drone Navigation III
Drone Navigation IV
Drone Navigation V
Drone Sharpshooting I
Drone Sharpshooting II
Drone Sharpshooting III
Drone Sharpshooting IV
Drone Sharpshooting V
Fighter Hangar Management II
Fighter Hangar Management III
Fighter Hangar Management IV

30 unique skills, 98 skill levels; Total time: 359 days, 9 hours, 6 minutes, 49 seconds

Pay_Me_MahMoney · August 16, 2017, 7:02pm

Thanks a lot!

Ioz · August 20, 2017, 9:50am

1.05^5 = 1.276 != 1.25
1.025^5 = 1.13 != 1.125

Ngia_Lao · August 21, 2017, 4:14pm

Guide done right!

Alexey · August 22, 2017, 9:19am

Good guide, thx for posting it. Just a tiny addition to ease the micro management a little bit. You should try to use your hotkey for “Select next Target”. That can save even more time and makes your interactions with your fighters faster. If you target from big to small, the frigs will lock up last und you just have to select the first one locked after the next big target.

For example:
You click the first frig somewhere in the middle of your target list, depending on your wave. After that leftclick your the guns on first fighter squadron, press hotkey to select next target rinse and repeat.

That way you skip the manual target clicking. It does not save huge ammounts of time but it streamlines the process a bit.

In my daily carrier rating I noticed several times that even the squads who still engage a target follow my orbit command. I noticed that only because I do fly the Gas havens too from time to time and there your targets can be out of range from your last target so my orbit order takes even the still engaging squad out of range. Is it possible that they changed that mechanic?

Quinlin_Harpy · August 24, 2017, 3:06pm

I’ve found that you shouldnt waste missiles on BC’s, when you’re squads are grouped together one volley using the guns is more than enough to alpha them (In guristas space using T1 dragonflies getting around 3.1k dps)

Also whats the reasoning behind the shield booster? I’ve been running the nid and in no site I have actually needed to fit tank, I’ve been running 2 capital shield extenders and a kinetic hardener and the rats barely scratch my tank because they die so quickly. You dont need the booster to tank the site and a booster sure as hell isn’t going to save you from stuff if they catch you because you’ll cap out within a few minutes, and whilst the numbers look great (8.6k hp every 10 seconds) any semi competent group wanting to kill ratting carriers will have neuts and it will be useless. There really isn’t any reason to go active tank tbh unless you’re actually making it somewhat capstable and giving it a decent resist profile because out dps’ing that booster is actually fairly easy considering the niddy fit you suggested has almost no resists.

Shriven_Intaki · August 24, 2017, 5:19pm

@Quinlin_Harpy I like the booster on there for those times when you get a capital spawn, those things can hit pretty damn hard and having that little bit of security from the booster can save you from an ugly loss mail, but with that said fitting choices definitely come down to a ‘to each their own’.

If you’re using all three squads on one BC then using a missile volley would be a waste.

Quinlin_Harpy · August 24, 2017, 8:39pm

Hm i haven’t encountered a capital spawn yet, guess i’ll experiment with it.

I use all 3 squads together because I’ve found I get better ticks doing it. I just use their guns on everything under bs’s (they are alpha’d) and then i use 1 volley of missiles from them with guns and the bs’s die within a few seconds.

I have tried to use the fighter groups independently but I found it too annoying and a major pain in the ass to do rather than using them as one.

Zhilia_Mann · August 26, 2017, 6:14am

Do you not know how bonuses are calculated? 5%/level at level 5 is indeed .05*5 +1 = 1.25. If you haven’t figured that out yet you really, really oughtn’t be posting in a carrier ratting guide thread.

Gorn_Sasen · September 20, 2017, 8:47am

Do I really need to set the optimal orbit for the fighters? I thought the fighters will choose the optimal by themselves.

Shriven_Intaki · September 20, 2017, 3:18pm

@Gorn_Sasen as far as I know when you are directly controlling fighters they use whatever default orbit distance you have set on your ‘Orbit’ button.

Gorn_Sasen · September 20, 2017, 4:55pm

Thank you for your fast response.

I tried to set the “fighter optimal orbit” and it dosent change my ticks. Hm… I get between 35 - 38 mil per tick. It looks very low.

Here are my skills and fitting. Maybe anybody have some more tips for me.

Carrier on IV
Fighters V
Light Fighters IV
Fighter Hangar Management IV

Nidhoggur:
3x Fighter Support Unit II
1x Networked Sensor Array
1x. Cynosural Field Generator I

2x Drone Navigation Computer II
2x Federation Navy Omnidirectional Link
1x Capital Shield Extender II
1x Pithum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field

4x Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
1x Damage Control II

3x Capital Core Defense Field Extender I

T2 fighters with EM for sansha space. Only Sanctums.

Shriven_Intaki · September 20, 2017, 9:01pm

@Gorn_Sasen how big is your ratting system, you could be seeing lower ticks due to your warp time between sites? Maybe swap one or two of the Field Extender rigs for some Hyperspatials, they will give you a better warp speed to get to sites quicker.

Also you specified Sanctums but are you doing only Ring Sanctums? The rats are much more spread out in the other type of Sanctum which will cause you to lose some ISK/hr due to the time it takes your fighters to get to their targets.

That’s all I can really think of?

Gorn_Sasen · September 21, 2017, 6:11pm

@Shriven_Intaki Thank you for helping. My warps are usually very short. 2 au to 5 au. Sometimes I need to warp 20 au, but usually its around 3 au. I am avoiding Gas Sanctums also. From time to time I do one, if all Ring Sanctums are occupied and VNIs do rock havens. I bought some mid-grade Ascendancy and WS-610. It seems like my ticks a little bit better.

I had some time today for ratting:

It seems like we have an ESS in the ratting system. So the 35-38 mil per tick is with a reduction. I didn’t saw that before. Corp. Tax is 7.5% by the way.

I am planing to buy a new Nidhoggur and fit it with Hyperspatials rigs…but I don’t know if this makes a big different. My warps from site to site are usually short.

Does a third Federation Navy Omnidirectional Link makes a big difference?

Shriven_Intaki · September 21, 2017, 9:12pm

@Gorn_Sasen in my opinion for a strict ratting carrier that Niddy fit up in the OP is the way to go for max ticks.

If you’re warping in at range then you shouldn’t see too much incoming DPS so the Adaptive Invul on your fit isn’t really necessary while using a third OTL, unscripted, with the bonus to tracking will definitely help fighters clear the smaller stuff quicker. Just have the Shield Booster on there for that little bit of assurance and for when you get those NPC Capital spawns, those will hit you hard.

Warp speed is important and I’d add some Hyperspatials for sure. The less time it takes you to go between sites the better, fully rigged with Hyperspatials you may be able to clear an extra site (or two) per hour?

Not being a CEO or anything like that I can’t really say too much about your 7.5% Corp Tax, it seems a bit high to me personally but if your crew provide some good services via that tax rate and you’re happy then all is good.

Re: An ESS - I like using them. My view is that they are like a honey pot, they are an attractant and create content which is good, if your crew is active that’s not an issue and can be some good fun. Yes they do lower your personal wallet ticks but if you’ve got an active crew ratting the ESS will quickly reach it’s full bonus and then you’re making an additional 5% ISK on top of the 20% that it’s taking so if you take the risk there is a reward, plus you get the LP.

If your crew is good at ‘sharing’ the system-wide pool then you’re not actually losing any ISK and could be making up to 5% extra.

“With an active ESS in a system the bounty payout values change and a Loyalty Point payout is added. 80% of bounty is paid directly, with 20% being added to a system-wide pool that can be accessed through the ESS. The 20% can rise up to 25% over time, putting the total bounty payout at 5% above base value. The bonus payout resets to 20% if the ESS is accessed, destroyed or scooped up. For each 1000 ISK in bounties, 0.15 LPs are added. This can rise up to 0.2 LPs over time.”

Gorn_Sasen · September 26, 2017, 6:30pm

If I may ask … what are your ticks?