If you are coming across frigates that have 200k isk bounty on them… those are considered “elite” frigates.
Generally speaking, they are tougher to kill… even with optimal loadouts.
Here’s a thread to reference why “dual-tanking” is not a good idea.
Also… this applies to weapons as well. Try not to mix different weapons and/or ranges.
Pick a range that you want to operate at (based either on desired damage output or preferred tactics) and fit your ship around that range.
Here’s an age-old phrase in EVE:
Bigger is not always better
This applies to damage as well.
Even after years of playing the game, veterans will often come back to the same ships they started out as newbies with. This is because ships and weapons are like “tools.” Different tools have different strengths.
In your case: Light drones may not have much in the way of damage output compared to Medium drones… but they are better at hitting smaller, faster targets.
You will notice the same thing when using guns or missiles too; larger weapons may deal more “paper damage” but their application on different targets (specifically smaller targets) will vary more wildly.
I would recommend skilling up to use Tech 2 Light drones. You will notice a large improvement in performance once you can use them.
Do note that Tech 2 drones will need to be “babied” more as they are significatly more expensive.
On that note…
NPCs hate everything. But there are a few things that really piss them off.
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Remote repairs: Think “buffing” or “healing” from other games. Simply target your friend or even your own drones and start repairing away.
Be mindful that remote repairs have very limited range and consume a lot of precious Capacitor Power. -
Electronic Warfare: This can include ECM, Sensor Dampeners, Target Painters, Energy neutralizers, Nosferatus, etc.
Each one projects/casts a “debuff” on a target.
For your purposes, I would recommend a Target Painter. It will help make targets “bigger” on sensors and make them easier to target and hit. -
Drones: As you have already found out, NPCs really don’t like drones.
When drones catch aggro, the best way to deal with it is to pull them in and wait for the NPCs to refocus on your ship.
For this reason, most veteran PvE pilots would recommend not letting your drones venture more than ~20km away from your ship (even though at max skills and with certain modules they can go out to 55-100km)
Pro-tip: The same way you should not mix your tank or your weapon types… don’t mix up drones.
Choose one type and group those together. The same for any spares or sizes too.
If you mix Light with Medium drones you will have a situation where the Light drones will reach their target before the Mediums and not apply enough combined damage before the NPCs turn their attention to them.
Deploy lights, use them, and when a larger target shows up recall them and deploy the mediums.
Hope this helps!