Low Sec starter PVE ship?

PvE Gameplay Center PvE Ships & Modules
1

Hi. I’m back to Eve to play casually. That rules out null and wormhole. I have a Very good frigate alt ready to pvp at the FW (not farming) . But to fund him I need some casual income, and L4 is not an option. I fitted a Maelstrom and an Apoc to remember how horribly boring L4 are.
I would like to run exploration and anomalies in low Sec both solo and with a friend helpomg with his drake.

Until now I have been using covert ops to scan and harbie/hurricane. I was considering to scan with the hurricane but… There was a yummy bait… So yummy I forgot it could be a bait. so i couldn’t test it.

Is there a better choice? Or should I just stick with BC untill I stop sucking at pvp

2

what do you mean there was bait
i dont get why its okay to run sites with 2 ships but not one because there was bait

3

Sorry I did t explain myself properly. I meant that I lost that hurricane that I expected to use as a scanning / PvE machine combo
So I couldn’t event try that formula.

4

oh i see
how did you lose it was it scanned down
if its sitting on a belt then yeah youre gonna get jumped
problem with lowsec is people are really desperate to kill anything
so what i would suggest is not about the type of ship but about the type of space
find somewhere quiet and get used to the locals who live there
be wary of strange people you dont recognise

5

The ISHTAR is a good option for combo scanning/running DED sites in lowsec. Otherwise, do it with a T3 cruiser. (unfortunately I don’t have a fit for either at the moment)

Otherwise, the COVOPS you already have is fine for doing exploration around nullsec, which can net good income.

6

Also depends on the type (NPC faction) of space you are in .

Stratios does well and its pretty easy with the scanning bonus and covert ops. However I don’t think it has the best site times or tank.

Hacs do fairly well for their price as long as you use the right one (T2 resistance vs correct Pirates) as they need very little rep power to get great tank. Munnin for Sansha/Blood, Deimos or Cerb for Serp/Gurista . Maybe a Cerb for Angels or a Shield Sac (crazy but it works).

Otherwise a Tengu or Prot will work for almost anything.

if you want Cheap, most BCs should be OK but tank my be an issue in a lot of the higher sites with the 5/10 requiring a warp out of 1 ship at east.

2 Likes
7

This is solid advice. An overlooked option is actually to use a HIC. They have beastly tanks and provide a certain level of deterrence against crashers. Damage isn’t the best so completion times are a little high, but they can take serious damage.

Stratios really can do most low sec sites, but the price tag on a capable fit means that T3s end up cheaper in my experience. However, they can run the 3/10s and 4/10s that pop up, which gives you more site selection.

8

I agree you shouldn’t run L4 missions. You should run Anomic Missions instead, which although technically L4 missions, might as well be their own category since they’re actually really fun, short, and lucrative.

9

Hics have great tanks and you can fit a long scram which can help v player pirates but otherwise I don’t think they are very good compared to a HACs. they cost an extra 100mil normally and have way less DPS.

They have their place though. If you have lots of competition and want that scare factor (only works until the pirates figure you out) or really do want to PVP the pirates and have a second DPS ship. Maybe if you have a second DPS ship and you want something tanky to draw room agro (I did this with a Munnin and a less tanky Gila)

10

I think this is your cheap fit, right?

[Muninn, Indy Sansha cheap]

Medium Armor Repairer II
True Sansha Armor Thermal Hardener
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

10MN Afterburner II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script

720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Improved Cloaking Device II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator II

Hobgoblin II x5

Try this for comparison:

[Broadsword, lulsec exploration]

Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster
EM Ward Amplifier II
Thermal Dissipation Amplifier II
Medium Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery

720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Warp Disruption Field Generator II, Focused Warp Scrambling Script

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator II

Tanks harder, damage is identical, cap is stable without WDFG. Plus it has a WDFG in case you want it.

Optimal is lower; falloff is higher. The Munnin starts doing more damage at the Broadsword’s optimal (18.7) and they only cross again out at 55.7. Which I realize covers the most relevant engagement range. Oh, and the Broadsword hull alone is currently 356mil versus the Muninn’s 195mil. So yes, cost is an issue.

They compare better than I expected though. Normally I’d only suggest on Onyx in the role, and only for very specific sites.

11

Just so its clear, I’m not saying that the HICs are terrible, just that HACs outperform them for less ISK.

I don’t think you are looking at the whole picture. You lose the tracking bonus , speed and a flight of lights for almost double the cost . Lights are great for the Sansha Annex as your Atries cant hit spider drones and it also makes killing elites much easier, otherwise you may be stuck in a site scrammed and webbed with no way to kill the frigs. Also in sites like 5+6/10 you can just stick them on a frig and they pretty much just auto kill all the small stuff which means a lot less wasted DPS missing or over killing frigs.

Also as a side note the broadsword’s tank does not scale as well as the Munnin vs Sansha.

if you upgrade your fit to a tanky one you get ~600 v Sansha while maintaining good DPS but losing a lot of application. Not enough tank to tank a Sansha Annex.

[Broadsword, lulsec exploration]

Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II

EM Ward Field II
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Pithum C-Type Medium Shield Booster
EM Ward Amplifier II
Thermal Dissipation Amplifier II
Medium Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery

720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Warp Disruption Field Generator II, Focused Warp Scrambling Script

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator II

The Munnin however loses DPS (still about the same with drones counted) while still maintaining its application and get over 800 Tank which is just enough for the Annex. (all mods are under 2 Mil bar the Therm hardener which is sub 10)

[Muninn, Indy Sansha cheap]

Medium Armor Repairer II
True Sansha Armor Thermal Hardener
Centum C-Type Energized EM Membrane
Centum C-Type Energized EM Membrane
Gyrostabilizer II
True Sansha Energized Thermal Membrane

10MN Afterburner II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script

720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Improved Cloaking Device II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M
720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator II

PS, Munnin’s more agile too.

1 Like
12

Fair enough. I avoid Sansha Annex with almost as much alacrity as Blood Minor Annex.

I do somewhat discount tracking on most gunships; manual piloting can more or less manage that effectively when dealing with NPCs. Good point on agility there though.

Ditto drones; I carry them when I can but very rarely use them unless I’m flying an actual drone ship.

Tank upgrades are kind of a big deal and that does put the Muninn on top rather heavily.

13

If its a ship like the cerb wit only 3 drones I don’t bother or if it has a tonne of elite frigs but otherwise its very easy to just drop them and leave them on aggressive. If you point them to a frig to start with they tend to stay with that same size. Saves a tonne of time.

PS Sansha Annex are actually pretty good as long as you can tank while webbed. All you really ahve to do is kill 1 tower, warp, kill 3 elite frigs, a web tower and the overseer… BM wreck and come back later for it. It can drop HG Slaves. Its like a 5min site and the LS escalations are very fast as well, Doable in a Wolf and only require the murder or the faction BS, the final is not worth it.

14

If you want cash for a FW frigate pilot, we’ve found HACs are great value for money in low sec.

Fit a Deimos with large cap battery and dual reppers and you can solo all the lo sec DEDs: those are the best loot and good bounties too.

Never mind about the missions. You will get your LP from FW. Look for cosmic combat anomalies and run them for bounties. This way you get cash with very little mucking about.

Exploration is dead.