Advanced PvE seems niche specialized, with few options on how to solve the problem. I get a feeling based on some player-favorite solo PvE ships, that If a PvE problem can’t be solved by an expensive-fit Tech3 cruiser, it doesn’t get done in large numbers.
CCP supposedly studies completion rates on PvE content, and if nobody’s completing it, they may “adjust” or remove the content.
They must be satisfied with the numbers of drifters destroyed; I don’t go near them.
Ok, there is a Rattlesnake fit that is possible to tank the 750k damage with ease:
| Minimum Shield Resistance: | 92,32% |
|---|---|
| Other Shield Resistances: | 94,24% |
| 95,20% | |
| 95,22% | |
| Shield Capacity: | 62.147,13 |
| Shield Recharge Time (sec.): | 930,52 |
| Shield Booster Amount / Sec: | 0,00 |
| Possible incoming Damage: | 750.000,00 |
| Shield Recharge Amount / Sec (avg).: | 66,79 |
| Shield Recharge Amount / Sec (max).: | 166,97 |
| Shield Effective HP (min.): | 809.207,42 |
| Shield Effective HP (avg.): | 1.079.880,63 |
| Possible Damage/Sec. Tanking (low Resist): | 2.174,09 |
| Possible Damage/Sec. Tanking (avg. Resist): | 2.901,30 |
| Possible Damage Taken (mitigated by Shields) | 43.162,50 |
| Shield Capacity remaining after Burst Damage | 18.984,63 |
So with over 18k shields left it is still comfortable to kill the Rifters in time, especially when you can still tank over 2k dps/sec hot and 1.8k dps/sec cold
So far I only tell you, this fit exist, mods are available, but beware you have to invest about 20b of ISK…
You have to play a bit with the ingame fitting tool to get this and get some kind of defense calculator for the best shield balance. (or whatever fitting tool is best for you)
When they first came to SiSi I tried numerous times but as you said, I don’t even look at them anymore.
It is usually best to just warp away when one of them appears.
My advice, don’t even yellow-box them. They WILL call buddies and WILL vaporize that boat.
I seem to recall a carrier being killed when they first came out.
More than one as well as some dreadnaughts.
About the 1st part, that’s an astute observation. I can’t speak for others, but I will say that as far as PVe is concerned I am very “ship-centric”. In other words, if I can’t do it in a ship I like flying (like my Machariel), I tend to not do it for long. I figure others might be like that as well. This may be part of the reason why all this new pve content isn’t very popular, “PVP” type engagements force you to pick the best tool for the job, where as ‘normal’ pve is much more tolerant of player’s ship preferences.
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I’d be interested in seeing those PVE completion rates. We do have some sources of info for some PVE like killboards (for example, the new FoBs generate killmails), but they are incomplete. But those sources tend to say the same thing: people are doing lots of missions and anomalies. Incursions are less popular but constant. FoBs, mining operations and resource wars are already unpopular (you can see that most FoBs are done by ONE small group, an alliance called “First Legion”). And there is almost no indication except this thread that anyone other than a small group or two is fooling around with Drifters (wormholers excepted, and only because they have to and because those drifters are less overpowered).
I’ve been banging this drum as respectfully as I can in CCP’s direction for a couple of years now. The whole point (as I said in the 2nd link above) is that IMO their pve direction is flawed. They’d be better served by repeating success of the past like when they added new missions like Dread Pirate Scarlet and when they added chance NPC dreads spawns to high end anomalies instead of trying to shoe-horn us into “pvp like pve” that people SAY they want but few people ever do after it’s introduced.
Quite simply this. All the plus’s
Well, CCP are busy developing their game, not the game the players want to play. Either you play EVE as CCP wants, or you go play something else. We want missions, they want to beef up their CVs with fancy AI bullsh¡t. No way to win. 
So much agreed!
Dread Pirate Scarlet took many of us by surprise when it came out and I am advocating for a long time now to do more of those surprise pve content that is unpredictable like Dread Pirate Scarlet but invincible drifters that nobody wants to look at.
While I would enjoy “more of the same, but different” procedural-fortified PvE mission content that can be completed in a wider variety of ships & configurations, but perhaps rewarding more if we destroyed every NPC with a smaller ship - my hat’s off to CCP for creating these various niches. This one may not be for me (yet?) but I like the unique flavor and story it adds to the mix. For the average player, some parts of the map are marked “Here be Dragons.”
I remember back when I first trained hybrid turrets, I was so impressed with blasters that I ran level 4 missions in a blaster Harpy.
Nope, it doesn’t go as fast as a battleship but it is a ton more fun.
I 100% agree when it comes to brokenly overpowered ships that should not be so, such as burner rats (Which exceed ANYTHING a player can achieve, but are just pirates.)
But drifters are the ONE thing that does make sense, as they are basically hundreds of years more advanced in terms of technology. It’s like us trying to fight enemies that have guns, with a bows and arrows. Possible? Yes. Practical? Not really.
Yep, but CONCORD seem to have the same technological advantage with their ships. It doesnt make sense that the normal citizen or the militia has to deal with the technology of the former century to fight superior aliens, while on the other side already technology exists that would allow to compete with these aliens.
CCP always values that they get some kind of background story for their universe, but this doesnt make sense at all
Lore wise, CONCORD uses the Empire’s top military tech in ships designed strictly to outperform capsuleer ships. They have the best Amarr lasers, the best Caldari shields, the best Gallente armor, in ships which are essentially capsuleer killing machines.
Anyway the whole Drifter thing was kind of half-cooked. They used it to clean up the lore from Empress Jamyl’s storyline but the rest is uncertain. Supposedly, the new gate technology used for player built gates should bring a new enemy through them, but who knows at this point…
(Also, Drifters suffered development trouble as the Incursion AI refused to work properly on Tranqulity)
If it helps, think of it this way… Concord doesn’t have superweapons on their ships, they just have special weapons on their battleships that override capsule tech to cause the ship to self destruct. (Since they technically do, seeing as they do infinite dps to match the target’s hp.)
Sleepers have doomsdays able to be fit on battleships due to 100 years progress.
Agreed shame drifter incursions weren’t ment to be and they seem to be abandoned as per ccp usual.
When I tested this feature I used a cruise-missile Phoenix with a Daredevil for support. Applied damage was really good with those 90% webs for support. I was able to not only kill the entire Drifter BS spawn including the reinforcement waves, but I could tank it fairly well. The drifters would almost never shoot at the Dardevil because I was the bigger threat. However, this was before the new capital modules and missiles. So I have no idea if it will work now.
Maybe it is worth trying out the rapid bajeesus launchers on them. When I get home later, I will hop on SiSi and get back to you on that.
back in beta you could kill concord ships
wrongly stacking invulns, gave you damn near invulnerability , also small blasters on cruisers got some wrongly calculated damage mods - think 2k damage per small blaster per shot…
Yes - concord got blown up by an itty bitty vexor with super shields and blaster mwahahaha, and that was 15 years ago today
Worth mentioning that you can get under the DD’s tracking in smaller ships 
With a few people, a Drifter is no issue - and they’re definitely not a dead area, there are lots of people who work with them still lol