Looking for current Rattlesnake fits for solo L4's

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This is also my preferred approach, although I like to tweak my fitting to address a slightly different priority: I am willing to trade off a little DPS and some tankiness in order to extend the snake’s effective range.

Here’s my thought process:

  • We are using distance as our defense. We shouldn’t need a lot of tank, just enough to allow us to get to a safe distance.
  • We can maximize our total damage output by balancing DPS with time-on-station. (i.e. keep high DPS while extending the amount of time we can fire at the enemy before we need to reposition)

That last point is the key to this build.

Let’s say that we want to keep the enemy more than 50km away. If we start applying full damage at only 100km, our time-on-station (i.e. the duration before we need to reposition) is the amount of time that it takes the enemy horde to advance 50km.

But if we can start applying full damage at 130km, that increases our effective time-on-station from 50km to 80km, a 60% improvement! That’s huge. I’m willing to trade a slightly lower dps for a much longer time-on-station.

The key to this is to try and get both cruise missiles and sentries to deal damage to targets about 130km out. This is easy for cruise missiles - I just use Calnavy ammo. For sentries, it requires some serious work on extending Drone Control range, which defines the distance that sentries can target. I use two faction DLAs, and a Drone Control Range L2 rig.

I made a few other changes as well:

  • Very small active tank, just enough to refill my shields after I get to distance
  • MWD for those times I need to move 50km to a gate

Here’s the fiting I am currently using. This hits hard (1024 dps), and at distance (148km missile/132km drone). There’s plenty of opportunity to optimize this with shiny faction modules. I haven’t deeply researched that and I welcome suggestions.

[Rattlesnake, Cheap L4 Cleaner/Improved DCR]

Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Co-Processor II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

Large Micro Jump Drive
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Booster II
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Optimal Range Script
500MN Digital Booster Microwarpdrive

Cruise Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Cruise Missile
Cruise Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Cruise Missile
Black Eagle Drone Link Augmentor
Black Eagle Drone Link Augmentor

Large Drone Control Range Augmentor II
Large Sentry Damage Augmentor I
[Empty Rig slot]


Garde II x2
Hobgoblin II x5
Warden II x2
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