I am in a corp that recently set up in null to rat for isk. I am currently unable to fly a carrier, so I have been running sites in a Rattlesnake. I can get about 20-30 mil ticks at the moment. I was thinking about trying to set up a Machariel to run the sites with smartbombs. Is this viable solo or do I need several alts to do this effectively? Does anyone do this and get decent ticks with a similar setup? I really don’t want to drop about 1.5 bil on a setup that is less efficient than my current one.
That’s low average. A rattlesnake in Rock Havens can get up to 38M ticks, and 30-35M on average.
1 Machariel does not work. You need at least 3-4. Unlike the Rattlesnake, which does not care about if something escapes the rock cage, your smartbomb Machariel does. You either need something to hold as many of the ships in place as possible and destroy the things that escape your smartbomb radius, or you need more Machariels to increase your DPS and destroy the targets as quickly as possible.
That was what I was unsure of. I did not know how fast the rats would die with smartbombs. So basically stick with the rattle until I can get in a carrier then is basically what I am hearing. My missile and drone skills are not perfect, a couple are still at lvl 4. I imagine this is what is capping my ticks.
Anyone that makes roughly 40mil ticks wants to share their fit and strategy for comparison I would love to take a look.
In my opinion yes. Unless you want to setup more characters as smartbombers, a single Machariel is very unlikely to improve your situation.
Yes, improving your missile support and drone support skills will definitely help you with the ticks. On moving battleships, for instance, Fury Cruise Missiles lose about 40-50% of their damage. You can mitigate some of that with a Target Painter or a Missile Guidance Computer, though.
[Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake PVE Angel]
Ballistic Control System II
Missile Guidance Enhancer II
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Ballistic Control System II
Large Micro Jump Drive
Kinetic Deflection Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Pith X-Type Explosive Deflection Field
Gist B-Type Large Shield Booster
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Cruise Missile Launcher II
Cruise Missile Launcher II
Cruise Missile Launcher II
Cruise Missile Launcher II
Cruise Missile Launcher II
Drone Link Augmentor II
Large Core Defense Field Extender I
Large Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Large Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Berserker II x2
Warrior II x5
Valkyrie II x5
Bouncer II x2
Scourge Fury Cruise Missile x3185
Optimal Range Script x1
Tracking Speed Script x1
This rattle is specific for Angel Space rock havens. Yielded me on average 30M ticks when I was last there. Since then CCP inexplicably removed large parts of the rock cage and ships thus can move freely. The MGE was necessary to compensate for the limited movement of the BS/BC back then, I imagine that you now need a TP as well. In other areas of space, you can replace the MGE with a 3rd BCS, and obviously adjust the hardeners, drones and missiles.
if you consider salvaging and using a mtu you can add some isk/h. just salvaging and looting 4 mtus in rock haven nets me 70M/18 minute average (after removing 10% to buyback program)
You need 4 machs, 3 smartbombers (faction smartbombs) and 1 gunner. Thats like a 5b setup and 4 chars.
With RS you should have ticks around 35m, if you are in gurista/serpentis space, you can try Vindicator (in F.Hubs), its like 40-42m ticks, but alot of clicking and micro-management.
Heres a fit for a rattlesnake specifically for rock havens. It is a little pricy but an alpha clone will consistently get 40 mil ticks with this.
[Rattlesnake, Alpha Rattler V3]
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Gist X-Type Large Shield Booster
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link
Pith X-Type Thermal Dissipation Field
Pith X-Type Kinetic Deflection Field
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link
Missile Guidance Computer II
Republic Fleet Large Cap Battery
Smartbombing rock havens is really good, and you can have up to 6 toons in them before the ticks drop off. Just drop it down in potato mode and use 5 bombers and one shooter/catcher. It takes me 4 minutes to clear a rock haven, ticks on average are 23-28mil each across 6 toons (414-504 mil an hour). Now this is once you get going. If you run into someone, have to dock up, stop for bio, etc… it drops. I’d say my average just for actual real play is around 350-450mil an hour.
Drop MTU’s after you are done, then come back when you need a break, and collect the loot. Toss the salvage to a friend and split the profit, or be nice and give them to a newbie. I usually sell the escalations myself, unless they are close to me, as I can normally make more just running more sites.
HI there,I am doing the same thing and you need around 2 or 3 battleships. My fit is worthing 2.2 bil but you can get those money back fast,it is even usable by alpha clones if you won’t fit MJD. Be carefull tho,if a dread spawns or if they suck your capacitor you will die by your hand very fast if you don’t figure it out quicly!
