Is there a "best" alpha clone PvE Ratting Ship?

I was wondering what the options are for the “best” alpha clone ratting ship (ignoring price). I know the Gnosis can be used effectively, but not much else.

It really depends on what your criteria for defining “best” is.

As ratting can quickly become a tedious activity, most players value a ship that needs little management. Drone ships are favored for their versatility, and because using drones means that the player doesn’t need to hit F1 for every new target, or worry about volley time, transversal management, or dealing with E-war. The most frequently recommended ship for current Alphas (things will change given the big Alpha changes coming in December) is the Vexor Navy Issue.

What race? That matters a lot when dealing with Alpha’s (at least for now) and kind of necessary when giving recommendations. My main is Gallente and I find the Vexor is great for missions/ratting. I can complete L3 missions in it as an Alpha without any real problems. The VNI is frequently recommended and is a great ship but since you can’t really use it’s full benefit as an Alpha (no heavy drones) I don’t think it’s worth the extra cost unless you’re Omega.

Gallente, sorry, forgot to mention that.

Vexor navy issue.

After the changes it will still be the Navi Vexor and in fact singe you will ahve heavy drones it will be an even better option.

I can not agree with vexor navy issue. It is good for players, who can launch heavy drones, but it is not the case of current alpha clones. Two turrets and 50 bandwidth from 125 used…
Gnosis : 50 bandwidth for bonused drones, 5 bonused turrets.
Vexor : 50 bandwidth for bonused drones, 4 bonused turrets.
Vexor Navy : 50 bandwidth for bonused drones (plus drones speed bonus), 2 unbonused
turrets.
Thorax: 50 bandwidth for UNBONUSED drones, 5 bonused turrets.
Exequrer Navy Issue: 25 bandwidth for UNBONUSED drones, 5 bonused turrets.

For PvE Gnosis wins.

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As others have said… the VNI isn’t an improvement without heavy drones.

I’d say your progression for ratting as a gallente would be Tristan/Algos/Vexor/Gnosis.

The vexor itself is excellent.

I get using like 3 vnis to afk anoms, but if it’s the only account you are running, well I’d want something more engaging than a VNI.

I’d say it depends on what content you are doing, ratting is somewhat open ended. When I think of ratting I specifically think of being in 0.0 and killing as many BS as fast as possible, and medium drone vexor/vni doesn’t really do much for me. If you are doing highsec anoms well that’s a whole different beast, and I’d probably suggest some turret cruiser that can alpha the spawns as they come in. I don’t know the anom spawns that well so I can’t give very specific advice there.

Sure the Gnosis can get some good dps with alpha skills, but I’m not sure how strong the tank is. And here I’d suggest gallente or amarr for race as you get gun and drone skills for the highest two overall dps options.

A cruiser with a speed tank will likely last a lot longer than the higher dps gnosis. Also if you need to use that speed tank I’m not sure how much gun damage you can get on target. Maybe for lower tier anoms that’s still fine? belt ratting it’s probably fine but it’s been a while since I’ve been in null so I’m not sure if that is even competitive with other options.

So I guess that raises another question, is ratting even a good choice for an alpha?

I’ll probably revisit alpha clones when the next update hits big skill boost, should greatly increase incomes.

The Gnosis is a good ship for Gallente Alphas Clones. It will output around 550dps and can handle most L4 missions quite well with a 10mn afterburner, 2 mission specific hardeners and faction medium shield booster. Its actually quite entertaining to fly in L4 missions - you do have to learn what it can handle and when to be careful but that is half the fun and you will learn a lot about flying the ship and (speed) tanking damage. You can happily dive into clusters of 5 or so Battleships and pick them off while they struggle to hit you. Speed is your saviour. Most Battleships aren’t much trouble, the dangers mainly lie with frigs and cruisers. An extreme setup can even complete Angel Extravaganza bonus room, but its a real pain and slow so having done it once I won’t bother again. Angel Extravaganza standard rooms are straightforward and takes about 50mins. I would thoroughly recommend the Gnosis to Gallente pilots for learning how to fight NPC well.

Have fun

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