OK there has to be a tactic for this. I fly Amarr so use lasers. Long range shots are great but as soon as NPCs get to <10km, I have a hard time hitting them. I’ve used pulse weapons with faster tracking with limited results. Smart bombs have their limitations as well. Is there a trick to this?
Drones? 
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Use a web,use drones,mjd away from them,move away from them so they don’t get to circle around you.
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OK, but what if you are webbed? Moving away from them gets pretty difficult then.
First off, you haven’t told us what ship you’re flying, but based on your age, I’d guess you’re using large weapons.
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Target and kill them first, before they get under your tracking. Don’t group your guns into one group, put 2 or 3 large lasers on each frigate.
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A single web won’t help, but double webs can, use fed navy or other long range webs. You can also use a web + a grappler. You can double web them then fly away - they will fly in a straight line to get into range, giving them much lower transversal.
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MJD can be used to move you around and give back the range you need.
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If all that fails, use drones. The NPC’s will switch on to then, but either recall them or use cheap t1 drones and just replace them.
Finally, remember NPC frigates won’t kill tanked larger ships, if they get through, keep killing the DPS dealers and ignore the frigates until the end (then put your drones on them). Don’t waste time shooting ships that can’t really hurt you if you can’t hit them.
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And you haven’t even said which NPCs because they differ by a ton.
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OK, tried out your advice and it works great.
Thanks for the tips. Yes, I fly Amarr battleships so big lasers unusually.
blap frigs before they get in close, they should be pretty easy to hit at range, if they do get in close release the drones!
What ship / fit are you using ? That should have been the 1st thing.
if you are using a Battlecruiser or Battleship, just fit and use MJD. Super easy on Amarr ships since they have armor tank so no need to worry about cutting into shield. Just MJD away and kill them from long range.
if its a cruiser, then you are definetly doing something not right, post your complete fit and let us know if you have any skill limitations so that we can help you out.
Different ammo types give different tracking. If I remember correctly the T2 crystals give tracking penalty while the faction ones (at least some of them) do not. Look into that. Tracking obviously helps + drones. You should have 2 flights of light drones, alternately, 1 flight of T2 Valkyries will take out the frigs at close range but without any drone tracking they may be a little on the slower side, especially vs NPCs with high explosive resistances.
If its a battleship, you can fit a Grappler, go for the ones with longest range.
So, MJD + snipe, drones, tracking, ammo types, grapple or web (grapple better if battleship, web if battlecruiser). Smartbombs are not too good because they have too short range, a lot of NPCs like to orbit at around 10k so you won’t hit them.
Unless they are sleepers, then a large faction smartbomb might be better. If they are incursion rats, you will have a really bad day.
Your exact tactic should really depend on the type of combat you like to engage in.
Long-range weapons? Target painter + target frigates first. Also as Veryez said, use one or two guns at a time to not waste shots overkilling the target.
Using short-range weapons? Target frigates first and try to hit at first falloff range + target painter. Depending on your fighting style and what slots you’re willing to use, also use grappler (surprisingly effective even at range. Little bits make a difference) + standard web. Between web+grappler+painter+specific maneuvering*, you can nail even close-in frigates.
*On specific maneuvering, I mean adjusting your speed & direction of movement to mitigate transversal. Or if the target is already orbiting you, matching frigate direction and speed (as best you can) to eliminate transversal.
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