I have been low-sec gas mining, and i have the gas scoops and covert opt in the high slots, and in the mid i have 5mn microworpdrive and two signal booster’s with ECCM scripts, and in the low i have a worp core stabilizer and nanofibers and other things to bring down the alignment time. I was wondering if its better to use shield booster instead of the signal boosters in my mid slots
I’m intrigued, serious questions:
- Why signal boosters with ECCM scripts?
- Why shield booster?
The first is only useful if you are getting ECM’d and the second if you’re getting shot but can active tank enough to escape. Given these sites don’t have NPCs, you’re talking about other players. And as a player who has liberated gas from the cargo holds of huffers in lowsec, I can’t imagine anyone using ECM on you nor letting you escape with your MWD – aka you’re always going to be scrammed.
Hence, I’m curious your rationale for choosing between these two modules. If I were to chance upon you and hunt you down I would be happy for you to pick either one – in my mind they’re both equally bad for your surivival.
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The signal boosters with ECCM increases the ship’s racial signal strength which in turn makes it harder to probe down, thereby giving him more time to notice combat probes on dscan and gtfo.
If he gets his signal strength high enough, it may even make him impossible to combat probe unless the hunter is in a bonused hull with probing implants in which case nothing is impossible to probe.
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What’s the purpose?
Shield boosters could be nice if you take consistent damage, but since most gas sites won’t have NPCs or deal damage, it’s not needed. Some null sec gas clouds can damage your ship, if I recall, so there it can be useful to have some shield tank modules.
Signal boosters with ECCM scripts can be a nice way to make your ship really hard to get probed down. However, considering you’re right next to a scannable gas cloud, all a potential hunter has to do is to scan down the cloud instead to get to you. (If you see any other probes on your directional scanner, assume they might be hunting you and be prepared to warp away when something dangerous appears.)
Alternative mid-slots I can think of are:
- shield extender + hardener, to increase the amount of hitpoints you have and increase your chance of survival if you accidentally warp through a smartbomb camp
- ecm burst jammer, a single chance of breaking the target lock of someone who is close enough to scram you. Align to a celestial and overheat before activating, warp off immediately if the roll succeeds.
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This isn’t how you hunt huffers though. Combat probes scare the smart ones.
You normal-probe the sigs like Gerard said. Bonus points if you do it for a few constellations / the whole region before hand (then later you just roam and pop into system and just d-scan to confirm which site they are in).
Once you have the gas site probed down it is easy to warp in on top of the ship anyway – just requires perching.
So while signal boosters + ECCM sounds like a good idea in theory, in practice other aspects of the game render it moot.
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I suspected as much, I was just trying to explain the theory behind his fit but as you said, in this case ECCM is most likely a moot point.
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I could think of a use-case of ECCM:
With the tiny signature radius and decent sensor strength for a frigate, those two sensor boosters with ECCM scripts will make sure your ship can only be probed down by someone with near-max probing skills and a Virtue implant set in their pod.
If you have no cloak in your prospect, because you’re doing the scanning of new gas clouds in your Prospect instead of swapping ships (and for some reason also don’t have a spare cloak in cargo with mobile depot to swap to), you could use your high probe resistance when you see combat probes appear, to warp to an off-grid bookmark and be safe… at least most of the time.
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And ty for doing so – I sincerely forgot (if I knew at all) that aspect of ECCM.
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Thanks for the insight. I always try and be super safe, and spam D-Scan and keep an eye on local for gank squads. And if i see any kind of probe i usually warp to a safe and Scan them down. I just like the idea of having an extra layer of safty. And if i am geting combat probed that extra few seconds of time can make a difference.
But you are right about perching, thats why i have all the low slots and rigs filled to make my alignment time faster. So if a cloaked ship warps on top of me I will have some time to worp off, and the low signature radius of the ship helps with that.
i would fit a burst jammer in one of the mid-slots. it has a chance to break an attacker’s lock when activated. and maybe a 10mn AB if you can fit one (a reactor control or micro auxiliary power core will boost your powergrid).
the 10mn AB can help you outrun an attacker if they somehow land a scram on you. the web will slow them down.
something like this:
[Prospect, lowsec huffer - pure defensive]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
‘Halcyon’ Core Equalizer I
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Deluge Enduring Burst Jammer
10MN Afterburner II
Stasis Webifier II
Gas Cloud Scoop II
Gas Cloud Scoop II
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Mobile Depot x1
Core Probe Launcher II x1
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