So I’m trying to make a fairly low priced throw away destroyer I can run around in low sec, murdering rats for fun and profit, that just might win the odd pvp now again.
The fit needs to be cheap. Less than 10 mil is good, hitting more towards 5mil is better, since I expect the ship to be ganked by gate campers and pvp hungry low sec players often enough.
My fitting skills are ok. I’ve got weapon upgrades 4 and advance is 3, with CPU and power grid managment both being 5.
The ship is going to hunt battleship rats and trying to murder them in a decent time frame. My gut tell me that it’s likely going to be a brawler fit, but I’m open to ideas if you think you can make a case for a better stratergy.
So whats everyones take on the best boat for the job?
I’m quite new and have just started fitting ships myself so please tell me if I’m wrong. Now, if you want a brawler and you want to take out battleships, I recommend speed tanking. You’re a destroyer anyway so you’ll probably be fast enough to outrun the big guns at close range. I recommend using the catalyst then. It’s famous for being a very high damage dealer. I’ve never flew the catalyst before so I just threw this fit together
Catalyst, lowsec ratter,
8x Light Neutron Blaster l, Antimatter Charges S
5MN YT-8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Small Compact Pb-acid Cap Battery
Damage Control l
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Vortex Compact Magnetic Field Stabilizer
3x Small Capacitor Control Unit
Warp into the grid, burn MWD and approach the small targets first. Try running your MWD for 2-3 cycles and turn off. When your capacitor recharges a bit, you can turn it on again. With this fit, you must keep moving as fast as possible without drying out your capacitor, so awareness is important. After getting rid of the small ones, burn MWD towards the battleship and orbit at 1km. I don’t think you will need to burn when orbiting at such a close range. If he does hit you and manages to take a chunk out of your armor, try orbiting even closer and start repping. I think you’ll be OK like that.
T3d would be best because then you can just use an active tanked pvp fit and be fully ready for a pvp engagement.
If you’re alpha I would either keep it really cheap and expect to die or keep it kitey and fast and avoid entanglements. If you kite, DPS will be your biggest challenge.
The problem with using a destroyer for this activity is if you come across a clone soldier, you will probably not be able to kill it, and that will be disappointing. You might have the dps but certainly not the tank. They can actually track and hit little things and project their damage a bit more than your average rat.
I can also tell you that if I saw a destroyer ratting in one of the lowsec systems I frequent, I’d eat it like a piece of chocolate. So don’t make it easy. If you brawl you’ll be a sitting duck. Kite, keep moving if you can!
If you want a ship that will be really successful at this I’d recommend the worm. You can easily do 300 dps at range with a worm and keep it above 2kms, aside from when you need to loot. You could use a 100% pvp fit and make it work.
In any case I would look for ships that can rat in a pvp fit. Don’t use a PVE fit and expect it to go well when ■■■■ hits the fan.
One more thing; you can find empty systems to do this in and be pretty safe. Don’t make the mistake that many players do which is ratting in an entry system. Go a little deeper. If you rat with anyone in local at all use a local checker tool such as https://localthreat.xyz/ I would try the big, empty, non-FW regions like Aridia, Genesis, south Placid, east Derelik. Stay the hell away from Black Rise and the like.