Hello everyone,
I am recently back to eve and I would need an advice for a lvl4 rattle.
Just to clarify, this toon will be used exclusively for PVE, lvl4 missions only. I am asking since I have to decide which skills to train.
With another toon (sold) I had a rattle fitted with cruise missiles which where quite effective, now I am seeing some fittings with Rapid Heavy missile launchers so I decided to test a fitting on EveHQ and Pyfa.
The DPS stats were quite surprising in favor of the RHML even when reload time was considered.
Through the Pyfa graph I tested the effectivness of the two fittings and as expected the RHML are more effective vs medium targets as well.
I googled a bit about the argument and I found this:
the downside of the RHML is the range
the second downside is the reload time (which DPS wise seems to not count that much, at least according to pyfa)
Now, considering the rattle uses drones as well for far targets, and if I recall correctly the NPC on every missions are around 60Km and below, wouldn’t be better to switch to the RHML?
Do you have any RL experience? Am I missing something? Or something has changed trough the expansions?
I think it comes down to what you like better, consistent damage or ancillery rapid-bajeebus-launchers.
I used to do missions with a Raven and cruise missiles all the way and haven’t changed that, except that I like lazors better.
Consider that ancillery rapid-bajeebus launchers do need way more ammo than cruise missiles ever will, which lower your earnings.
RHML have much better damage application though when looking at explosion speed and signature radius, which means they do basically full damage on cruisers and are reasonably effective against destroyers and frigates still.
As long as you are willing to slot a missile velocity rig and a flight time script in a mid slot missile computer you can engage at 65K+ range with those heavy missiles even with alpha missile skills.
The thing is, they will always have better DPS than the cruise missiles. However the cruise missiles and a sensor booster with a range script let you smack things clear out past 100K and play at the MJD snipe game where even if the warp gate sticks you in the middle of grand central you just hop to the side and start smashing things while they fail to apply damage to you effectively. Just you really do need light drones with a few spares and probably a heavy grapple on hand to keep a handle on elite frigates sometimes. Because cruise missiles suck at damaging frigates under most circumstances.
Here you are, range tank with RHML:
[Rattlesnake, L4 whole room clean up]
Ballistic Control System II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Large Micro Jump Drive
Sentient Sensor Booster
Pith C-Type Large Shield Booster
Missile Guidance Computer II, Missile Range Script
Astro-Inertial Compact Missile Guidance Computer, Missile Range Script
500MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Astro-Inertial Compact Missile Guidance Computer, Missile Range Script
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Missile
Drone Link Augmentor II
Large Drone Scope Chip I
Large Drone Control Range Augmentor I
Large Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Warden II x2
Just do not forget to switch targets fro your launchers way before the current target pops. Otherwise you will lose a lot of DPS simply because of shooting already dead NPC. Let your drones work on finishing targets if you estimation went wrong and target still have few HP left. Sitting 90 km from targets (so your wardens are in their optimal) will let your sentries blap even frigates, because they will burn toward you with 0 transversal speed. Factional ammo and drone damage amplifiers will help a lot, but even without them you are flying gank magnet.
Thank you for the replies, considering the effectiveness, i am leaning towards the RHML.
I got the sniper/safe distance strategy, but I am looking for a massive DPS ship. Back in time, with the cruise missiles, I was able to run Angel Extravaganza within 15 mins.
The fitting I have tested on pyfa shows a DPS of 1278 without implants, all skills at 5, slightly higher than the Cruise option, with the big difference that I might lose some range but considering how well the RHML work vs medium sized target, I might drop the Target painter.
for rattle its RHML all the way imho. You already kill big stuff with your sentries so just need to make sure smaller fry fall as fast as possible.
P.S. Sniping on rattle is a total waste of time, it can tank lvl 5 ffs. All that crap you fit for it to be able to fight 100+ km could be used on tank and more application and just melt everything.
With perfect missiles skills, damage application rigs, mods and implants you can one-shot everything from frigate to battlecruiser with cruise missiles. The only exceptions are Elite Frigs, Elite BCs and Battleships. They will go down in two shots And all of that with T2 fitted Golem - no blingy stuff.
I am not too sure about the Barghest, to me the versatility of the drones and the tank of a rattle combined to its missiles bonuses are simply the best for a lvl4 only ship (tested with cruise).
In regard of the “conditions” about the missile DPS I used Pyfa to run some simulations, with or without support modules, the HM seem way more effective (also vs small, fast targets), from there I got the idea of asking in forum about RL testing.
And all of that with T2 fitted Golem - no blingy stuff.