Hello, fellow pilots!
In this thread I will explain to you how to properly rat with the Vindicator in Gurista space, but I encourage you to contribute with your own experience in other areas and other ratting situations with the Vindicator. However, I want it to mainly focus on anomalies.
I hope this will be a friendly place to discuss all things Vindicator ratting. There are other places to discuss whether or not another ship is better or worse, here we will only focus on the all mighty Vindicator, not other ships.
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an expert on the Vindicator, but I do have a very well optimised fit for ratting in Gurista space doing Forsaken Hubs. This means I canât answer general questions that well. I have ratted a lot in Serpentis space and itâs very similar to Guristas. Just tweak the tank a little.
If you notice any misinformation or typos, please let me know. Thanks.
VINDICATOR - Guristas Forsaken Hub
This is an extremely expensive fitting and is only suitable for systems that arenât heavily trafficed by neuts and enemies. This is for null-sec systems, preferably in one that has citadels you can use and intel channels.
Pros
- Very high ticks (45m - 55m before tax if not interrupted and min/maxing)
- Cap stable
- Able to tank the site very well, even if there are double spawns after a server reset
- You will not have to use webs or other utilities, Just your guns and heavy drones
- Very easy to use
- Insane DPS (around 2000 paper DPS, and a lot of it is also applied)
- Low maintenance (just refill ammo)
Cons
- Slow warp speed
- Requires a constant vigilant eye on the local chat and listening to intel
- Can not handle any kind of PvP if pointed (loot piĂąata)
- Very expensive
- High skill levels required
Requirements
Skills
Iâm not sure on the exact skill levels, but other than the required skills for the fitting Iâd say you should have these:
- Perfect fitting skills (CPU, PG, etc.)
- Great drone skills, preferably at IV or V. Especially for drone speed and the Caldari spec at IV or V
- Core armor skills at V (donât even try without this)
- Target management V
- Minmatar and Gallente battleship skills at V (donât even try without this)
(please let me know if you want me to add some other skills or change anything of the above)
ISK
A lot, like 3 billion or so. Remember the golden rule of EVE though. âOnly fly what you can afford to loseâ.
Knowledge and pilot skills
You should already know the basics of combat and ratting, targeting, navigating manually etc. This is not for novices that went straight into the dark alley of skill injector boosting just to fly a shiny battleship. Be confident in ratting in anomalies before attempting this. However, once youâre all set and doing this itâs very easy, you just need to get over that threshold first.
Guristas Forsaken Hub
First I will explain how the anomaly works, then I will go into fitting and strategy.
TL;DR: (You died because you didnât read the whole thing, or you didnât reach maximum ISK/tick. Just read, donât be lazy!)
There are 6 waves. All waves have battleships and one other ship type. Itâs always in the same order. There are only around 7-8 ships each wave, more or less split evenly between the ship types.
- Wave 1: Battleships and Battlecruisers
- Wave 2: Battleships and Battlecruisers
- Wave 3: Battleships and Cruisers
- Wave 4: Battleships and Frigates
- Wave 5: Battleships and Cruisers
- Wave 6: Battleships and Frigates
The only EWAR they use are Warp Scrambler (frigates only) and webs. The webs arenât an issue at all, but the Warp Scramblers are of the highest priority to remove. Nothing else is more important. You donât want to have that on you when a neut arrives⌠
The rats spawn in the same spot for each wave, so If you move to that spot while fighting the first wave(s) you will be around <8 km away from all ships when the next wave spawns which is right at your guns optimal range (more on this later). They will then slowly move away from you in a fairly straight line, except some non-battleships. The frigates will sometimes move very close up.
Fitting (in the billions 
)
This includes implants. These implants are what make this fitting possible, Bonus, you will also have maximun training speed while ratting. No time wasted. 
High slots
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Neutron Blaster Canon II
Mid slots
Shadow Serpentis Tracking Computer (Optimal range script)
Shadow Serpentis Tracking Computer (Optimal range script)
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link (Tracking speed script)
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link (Tracking speed script)
Republic Fleet Large Cap Battery
Low slots
Shadow Serpentis Magnetic Field Stabalizer
Shadow Serpentis Magnetic Field Stabalizer
Shadow Serpentis Magnetic Field Stabalizer
Shadow Serpentis Magnetic Field Stabalizer
Dark Blood Capacitor Power Relay
Core X-type Armor Kinetic Hardener
Corpus X-type Large Armor Repairer
Rigs
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Anti-Kinetic Pump I
Drones
Wasp II x5
Implants
Ocular Filter - Improved (optional)
Memory Augmentation - Improved (optional)
Neural Boost - Improved (optional)
Cybernetic Subprocessor - Improved (optional)
Low-grade Asklepian Epsilon
Inherent Implants âSquireâ Capacitor Systems Operation EO-605
Eifyr and Co. âGunslingerâ Motion Prediction MR-705
Inherent Implants âSquireâ Capacitor Management EM-805
Eifyr and Co. âGunslingerâ Surgical Strike SS-905
Zainou âDeadeyeâ Large Hybrid Turret LH-1005
Cargo
Null L
Void L
(youâll use much more Void L than Null L, so Iâd say probably a 1:5 ratio)
Note on MTUs
You may also use an MTU to scoop up loot at each site. In this case you would be able to take 4-5 MTUs with you and also have enough ammo (4 would be preferred to have some margins with the ammo). Alternatively you can use another character. This will probably net you a higher overall income, but I prefer not to use MTUs out of convenience. The only time I would is if I had a good buyback program in the same system or close by. If I get a faction spawn, however, I will definetly loot it! 
Strategy
First thing I want you to remember is to abide by this rule at all times, unless ISK isnât an issue for youâŚ
âIf anything other than friendlies are in the system, dock up ASAPâ
Before you start drooling over this new experience youâre about to have, Iâd recommend having a friend on stand-by for the first few sites so that you can bail out if 
hits the fan. You should also have safespots around the system, both for protection and also for scanning anomalies that are more than 14.3 AU away.
(I assume you know how to properly scan a site before warping to it to see if anyone else is already doing that site, otherwise go look it up before you continue. Donât be that âblind-warpâ guy! 
)
So letâs make sure you have everything prepared.
- You should be in the clone with the correct implants
- Have 5 Wasp II in your drone bay set to Focus Fire and Aggressive
- Make sure all tracking links and computers are activated and are running with the correct scripts
- Make sure both your armor modules are activated
- Make sure you have sufficient ammo in your cargo and have Null L loaded in your guns and that your guns are grouped to one button
- Double-check that you are cap stable
Priorities
Your priorities will be:
- Guns on battleships
- Drones on other ship types
- If no battleships are left use your guns on other ships (not on frigates)
- At the end of the wave, and if youâre low on ammo, reload your guns while your ship is in the process of locking the targets in the next wave. I usually do this on wave 3 or 4. (careful, if the guns havenât finished cycling through the last shot they need to do so before reloading)
Your drones will automatically attack whatever hits you first, which is usually a non-battleship rat. If the drone engages a battleship, make sure you immedietly send it to attack a smaller ship instead. Thatâs it. The only exeption is cruisers but we´ll get into that later on.
The following steps may seem complicated and hard to remember, but I assure you, once you get the hang of it this requires just a tad more brainpower than when mining asteroids⌠so bare with me. 
When in space, select all friendly players in local chat (ctrl-A), this makes it easier to spot if someone enters the system. Now look for a Guristas Forsaken Hub and warp to 0.
Tip: To get rid of the cloud and more easily see the ships, set shader quality to low.
WAVE 1 (when you land at the site)
This is the order you should follow as soon as you exit warp.
- Launch all drones
- Lock as many ships as you can beginning with the one farthest away and working your way to the closest one. You should soon have 7 targets locked.
(if there are more than 7 ships in the wave, just lock the last one(s) when the first dies. - Point your camera so that the ships are right behind your ship. (in other words, face the ships directly ahead). Double-click in space to start moving towards the center of their spawn point.
- You should now have the first ships locked. Use your guns on battleships and drones on battlecruisers. If you kill battleships faster then your drones kill battlecruisers, use you guns to help them out.
- If using an MTU, deploy it while moving and save a bookmark for it.
WAVE 2
You should be at the center of the spawn point around the time you finish the first wave. Sometimes it takes a little longer, in that case just keep going until you´re in the center. Then you should stop your ship. As soon as the second wave spawns, lock them up and immediately switch to Void L while locking them. (careful, if the guns havenât finished cycling through the last shot they need to do so before you switch ammo)
Make sure you save a bookmark here when you have time in case you need to dock up and come back.
Same as wave 1, guns on battleships and drones on battlecruisers.
WAVE 3 and 5
Now you will face battleships and cruisers. The cruisers are the most difficult, and time consuming, for your drones to kill. Here you should follow a slightly modified priority. This will be the two waves where your guns do almost all of the work and your drones simply compliment them.
- Drones on the cruiser farthest away (or just let them be if they auto-targeted a cruiser themselves)
- Guns on the ship farthest away, regardles of ship type, but NOT on the same target as the drones.
- Just keep going farthest to closest. If the drones finish their target, have them attack the battleship closest to you.
WAVE 4 and 6
These are the riskiest waves since the frigates might use warp scramblers on you.
iF YOU ARE TARGETED BY A WARP SCRAMBLER, THAT TARGET WILL BE YOUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY, NO EXCEPTIONS!
I can not stress the importance of this enough. The good news is that the drones kill the frigates very quickly so you shouldnât be scrambled for long.
- Drones on frigates (warp scramblers first!)
- Guns on battleships
If this is wave 6:
When you have one or two battleships left start aligning to a new anomaly. When you donât have any frigates left, recall you drones even if there are battleships left. As soon as youâre done and your drones are in your drone bay, warp to the next site. Switch to Null L in warp.
Done! Rinse and repeat for dank 
If youâre not interrupted and you followed this guide, you will see ticks in the 40m - 50m range. More if you find those small time-saving actions that you only really learn by doing this for awhile. With a healthy dose of paranoia and discipline you shouldnât be at great risk of losing your blingy beauty. I know most people use a shield Vindi but I would argue this is the most efficient way to do Guristas Forsaken Hubs.
Comment below what you think and fly safe o7!
/Nick Vindi
if you use this guide elsewhere, please link to this thread. Thank you!
