I’ve been tinkering with the Vexor in this thread to get an idea of my capabilities in cruiser PvE. One idea I toyed with was using the RAH instead of resistance plating to free up a low slot for a magstab or second DDA. The thinking is that along with a DCU the resistance profile will be good enough to solo simple plex content and maybe take on lowest-tier abyssal sites when my skills are better. (Only 2.5M SP).
Based on the limited reading I have done I’m skeptical that RAH should be used for PvE, since it will have to be cycling capacitor immediately when armor damage starts to occur (25% shield HP?), and won’t apply the proper profile for several cycles thereafter. Since cap runtime seems to be a bogeyman for PvE, I’m guessing this module was intended for PvP or for ships with much greater armor HP than a cruiser.
So, is there really only one best practice when PvE fitting for resistance, i.e. passive plating?
I like using the Reactive Armor Hardener for missions, because it allows me to run missions faster when I don’t have to refit every single time, but instead can just rely on the RAH to balance it out. Some missions also have changing damage types, which also become slightly simpler by using the Reactive Armor Hardener.
IMHO Reactive Hardeners are great, but not until you have them at max or nearly max skills, and that includes all the support skills for them too. Without the skills they do not provide as much resistance, take too long to switch and eat too much cap.
I like fitting 1 reactive hardener + 1 energized adaptive plate for my armor tank ships. Its not always possible depending on what I want the fit to excel at, but I do it whenever I can and it works great. If I have to choose one or the other, I will go for the hardener unless the cap won’t allow.
So reactive Hardeners kinda suck at start, but are pretty nice once you have them maxxed out.
I just use dmg type hardeners and two reppers instead of a repper and a dcu or a reactive hardener… rarely for pve will i fit a dcu unless its not active tanked… if its active tank i prefer cap or resists. the dual rep is pretty much my standard go to for active armor pve. it could be a specialized role where I have one rep, active hardeners, and adaptive nano membranes for resists… like in wh space for example where the sleepers are onmi dmg. it would depend on where I was and what the resist profile is on the ship at stock spec. if there is a hole, the reactive hardener can be a good choice if you expect more than two dmg types from the npc, or simply arent getting enough out of what you already do have.
dcu doesnt help much imo here in pve with active tanks. it may mean you are redesigning the entire fit again but a second rep or a cap mod to sustain the reps you do have, if you already have high resists… could be a viable option too.
if you struggle with cap and fitting and need to free some restrictions, using the resistance plating can benefit, using the best deadspace types… for your two dmg type profile. makes it passive, less resists, but you free some fitting, and cap. My archon has a reactive hardener, but cause it expects more than one dmg type. not sure if I have any pve fits with the reactive hardener on it atm.
The reactive hardener shifts to match the incoming damage profile which saves you a low slot at the expense of some capacitor. It’s a great module if your resistance phasing and capacitor skills are at or near max. You can never have too many low slots!
reactive harderner is one of the best tank mods you can get for an armour tank
the only time i dont use one is when it will drain too heavily on my cap
in pve i will use one always as it is one of the most powerful mods you can have and cap doesnt mean a crap in missions
in pvp i will tend to not use one as a i prefer a more generalised resistance profile and it burns cap which is better used for raw repping power
I tend to view the reactive hardener as a nice auxiliary coverage after a EANM or two to cover any particular holes. But if you don’t have the skills to make it better its going to be far too slow at swapping to incoming damage and be sipping at your capacitor pretty hard.
For alpha clones they are generally far better off using a couple active hardeners matching the primary damage of the mission because they get far better resists out of that.
There are definitely variables above that I wouldn’t have considered, so the perspectives here are appreciated. I will continue to reevaluate as my skills improve. Thanks everyone.