Rattlesnake history lesson?

PvE Gameplay Center PvE Ships & Modules
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How and when did the Rattlesnake get so popular? Last time I played was just prior to Fozzie unveiling his drone rebalance at 2014 fanfest. And also announcing sentry drone and ishtar nerfs. Prior to that tbe rattlesnake was a cheapish pirate B.S. at like 800m for the hull, primarily because it was seen as being too slow on offense in pve due to sp-intensive, split weapon systems (pitiful 4 launchers without a damage bonus). Machs, nightmares, paladins, vargurs, were heavily preferred for missions. I didn’t find a niche for my rattlesnake until I started using it as a high DPS 90km ratting ship with an MJD vs bloods.

So, now that you have some context, what has changed? Marauder prices are up, sentries got nerfed-ish but also drones got some new modules, and finally I guess lots of nullseccers had time to farm bpcs because pirate b.s. prices are all down around 500mil.

Also what are geckos, and are 2x cap transferring rattlesnakes in a c4 a thing I have to try?

Edit: oh damn, I’m an idiot. It now has 6 effective launchers instead of the range bonus and 2x superdrones that act like a flight of 5 fully bonused heavies. What a monster.

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“what has changed?” who cares? If Pyfa or EFT tells you it is more effective with easy 1400 DPS in PVE fit vs 700 - 800 DPS Dominix (what ever other PvE ship you used), you use it.
Geckos are overpriced drones, that use large drone skills but have better tracking, than big drones. If you have perfect T2 big drones skills, you will get more DPS from Ogre II or similar DPS for other T2 big drones. Concidering price of geckos, I doubt they are that much more usefull in PvE.
C4 solo PvE workhorse is Paladin, not Rattlesnake. Though Rattlesnakes in packs are used even in C5.

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Ow just you wait til we get some leshaks your rattlesnakes will end up in the dumpster.

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If you can afford it, a Gecko on a Rattlesnake is amazing. It gets the same bonus as the heavies and sentries but does far more DPS (on par with your cruises, all of them) and is a lot harder to kill. Plus, omni-damage.

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Geckos were a limited edition anniversary give-away to all players a few years back. Everyone got 12 of them, if I remember correctly. There was a more recent limited time event that dropped more geckos as loot, but there are no BP’s for them so price is based on who is willing to sell theirs.

What’s so special about them? They use the same skills as T1 heavy drones, they do all four damage types at the same time, they’re slightly faster than Minmatar Berserkers and they have a very big tank for a drone. Now put them onto a ship that has dps and tank bonuses for heavy drones and they can look impressive, but they’re also twice the size and need twice the bandwidth as a heavy.

Are they really that great? shrug I got some when they were given away for the anniversary, tried them for a while, lost some of them in various ways and the rest of them have been gathering dust in a hanger ever since. I think I have 7 or 8 of them still. I might try them again but I’m not in any rush.

As for the Rattlesnake, dunno. Maybe it’s just a flavour of the month thing.

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I encourage everyone to use them Geckos.

Always fun to scoop them up when someone leaves them behind for one reason or another. :wink:

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2 cap transfer rattlers are the standard option for running c5 sites, (you clear a site in about 40 minutes, 250m blue loot plus salvage) they’ll work for a c4, but there are probably better (as in cheaper and just as quick) options for that. Also c4 site loot is rather crap.

The gecko is a drone the size of two heavy drones and slightly more the damage. It synergizes REALLY well with the rattlesnake’s drones bonusses.

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Rattlesnake has been popular for a while.

I feel like it’s going to continue growing in use due to the fact that with a gecko it’s one of the most effective battleships for an Alpha.

Alpha’s can’t use large T2 weapon systems… but they can use a gecko. Because of that it feels like the RS has one of the smaller drop offs for a player running alpha compared to omega.

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I start playing EVE exactly after the changes. then having some big three years of hiatus.

I dont know about high level plays of the rattle, but for me, a noob with low skills, Rattlesnake is the saving grace.

just need MJD, sentry, and thats it. No LV4 cant be done by a low skilled toon with her. Making me can do LV4 in couple of weeks without touching even a billion to make. Without even think about damage types on ammo or tank. Just accept the mission and come back easily, with full clear bounties.

(Disclaimer, im running SoE missions in Apanake. No ships in their mission can reach MJD. so I never meet guristas pirates. People said they can reach MJD range. though the dmg type still favor the RS.)

I even can take on Bonus rooms. Many battleship ambush are out of MJD range. I just need overheat my MWD after MJD to get 200km away from those sentries in Angel Extravaganza Bonus room, cooking some ramen while waiting those battleship coming to my range.

I have never using any damage type cheatsheet between mission runs. I dont know what tank type to use against serpentis because I never need them. Blood pirate ships kinda thick with my scourge and wardens, but I still dont have trouble from them enough to start switching dmg types.

I mean, look at the role bonus of RS. its basically access lv5 domi drone bonus the minute you get lv1 battleship skills. Not to mention, Alpha clone wont lose the bonus unlike domi.

my main dps comes from sentry. the cruise missiles just add some low damage and low applied damage. It cant reliably hit cruisers or smaller. cant use fury because T1 skills, and dont want to use navy ammo because too expensive considering how insignificant my missile skills are.

But the sentries, man THE sentries. Even with T1 warden, I instablap frigates and destroyers, simply because they coming straight head on to my position and my wardens doesnt need any tracking to molest them from 100km. making the shortwork of cruisers and battlecruisers, and hillariously kills slug moving battleships.

the ship is insanely flexible. You can build her anyway you like. Anyone can use her. Newb or vets, savvy pilots or drunk driver, intensive style playing or AFK dual monitor, etc.

newbie friendly? check

Alpha clone boat? check

Idiotproof? check

Brick baiting ship? check

AFK FoF missile? check

Null ratting? check

C5 & C6 dual rep? check

Cheap AF MJD build? check

Bling-able tanker? Check

Thats my perspective about the ship as a low level player. Maybe some veteran here can help explain why she still getting used in higher lvl of PVE. Maybe multiboxing couple of them are much cheaper than risking a capital ship.

Soon, the newbie friendliness of RS gonna get a competition from Praxis battleship. You get almost the same drone bonus AND missile PLUS turrets bonuses.

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I love the gecko because it’s one thing I don’t have to think about. I mostly use it to clear up things that get in under the sentries. Has great speed, damage, tracking, just great all around.

sure if you know you are going to be fighting one npc type only then it can make sense to fit a specific drone type. But for missions I like the gecko as it will kill just about anything I throw it at.

That said it’s fat and slow, so in general I prefer the mach which has something like double the speed and enough DPS that it still completes missions faster than anything else. That’s for bltizing, if I were doing full clears I might have a different opinion though.

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Unlike T2 rones, Gecko does not get bonus from racial drone skill. Thats why raw DPS of Ogre II is bigger, for example…

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True, but for an Alpha, they can’t use T2 heavies. The Gecko is the only large weapon system that is “T2 quality” that an Alpha can use. Plus the bonus is a role bonus, so you still get “level 5” drone bonuses on the rattlesnake despite only having lvl 4 skills.

I think the rattlesnake is pretty balanced for omegas. It’s a good but not unbalanced ship. I think for an ex-omega dropping back to Alpha though… it is the ship of choice because of the Gecko and the role bonus for drones.

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Praxis is going to be very strong contender there. 1100-1200 DPS even while you are an alpha pilot is quite doable. Been poking at the hull with Pyfa a fair amount.

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no goons were in guristas space. just like the bhaal is the cheapest now because they are in BR space

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if you have drone spec 4 or 5, and if it’s drone spec 4 the dps increase is very small.

I also forgot to mention the HP, with the rattlesnake HP bonus a gecko can get up to ~23k hp. It’s very beefy and can take a bit of aggro.

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rapid heavies ?

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Didn’t think about them… but doesn’t really change things as the Rattlesnake is missile bonused and can fit RHML’s.

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that’s actually an additional reason to use the RS for alphas, especially with the new gursitas ballistic controls.

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You should see geks on a praxis with drone speed mods. Takes an armor fit on the praxis but its more dps to your tank than hp from shields.

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