This Gallente Char is brandnew and trying to get along with Gallente ships and arment. Since Blasters were recommended I decided to fit them. With a Caldari Char I successfully used Railguns and I’m tempted to switch. Fighting with Blasters you have to come real close to the enemy and fight from 1000-2000m. Until you get there you are already under fire. I found out that a Afterburner oder MWD is perfect to get close quick enough without taking too much damage but it still makes me unhappy. I just got a Catalyst and would like to fit 125mm Railguns. What do you think about that.
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The trick with blasters is to spiral in to the enemy and then orbit them. When you do this well, you should not get any damage from the bigger ships as they cannot track your ship.
Don’t hit approach, don’t hit orbit, but doubleclick in space to give your ship a curved path somewhat in the direction of the enemy but while keeping transversal velocity up - which makes the enemies miss your ship if they’re using turrets.
Here’s a nice drawing CCP_Aurora once made to explain how you should approach:
(And some more of such drawings here, but they’re a bit more advanced.))
That said, if you would like to put railguns on the Catalyst you’re free to do so. Railguns and blasters are both hybrid weapons so the bonuses of the Catalyst should work for railguns too!
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Your skills can make a difference too. Long range targeting, etc. There are also tracking modules (weapons upgrades) which can improve range. On a Catalyst using T2 blasters with Void ammo (the close-range variant) I can engage at nearly 5,000 m, and I’m far from done training yet (only 6 months in).
What Gerard said also applies, so you can use an AB, which is less of a resource hog than a MWD.
Fly this…
[Brutix, Brutix]
Damage Control II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Medium Capacitor Booster II
50MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Warrior II x5
Hammerhead II x5
Null M x2652
Void M x2023
Navy Cap Booster 800 x7
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M x2398
Belive me, you will be happy unleashing 1000dps into someones face, 
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[Catalyst, Catalyst]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
IFFA Compact Damage Control
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Initiated Compact Warp Scrambler
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Small Transverse Bulkhead II
Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
Small Transverse Bulkhead II
Void S x1556
Null S x1476
Nanite Repair Paste x99
@So_San Doesn’t the Catalyst have 7 hardpoints and not 8 ?
Also, how can you fit all that on a Catalyst without the “battery thinggy” module ? Just the 5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive would empty your capacitor wouldn’t it?
That’s not much. My friend has been playing for a few months and her Catalyst does 1200dps and she says it’s nothing compared to other players whose dps is much more than that.
The Catalyst has 8 points so that should fit!
About the capacitor booster: you won’t need one if you don’t turn on the microwarpdrive all the time. You usually pulse the MWD to get into range and then turn it off, exactly because it is so heavy on the capacitor (and because it makes you an easier target when it is turned on).
Your friend has a nice Catalyst!
1200 is a lot of dps for a Catalyst. Even for a maximum damage setup with neutron blasters with void ammo.
To give you some reference: at perfect skills you should expect to have about 670-770 dps, depending on whether you overheat the weapons or not.
You can increase that number if you use polarised blasters, implants and boosters to hit 1200 heated, which is about the maximum you can get for Catalysts.
Some other ships can get more, especially bigger ships like Marauders and Dreadnoughts, but not a Catalyst.
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The Catalyst has 8 high slots but only 7 hardpoints ( meaning you can only fit 7 guns ) is what I meant.
Didn’t think of that in my post. Thanks for reminding me.
I believe you but she’s still not happy about the dps, she seems to be under the impression that her dps could be much higher. She is using blasters w/t Void ammo. Her dps drops to 960 with the autocannons and navy antimatter ammo. She only has one basic implant that acts on navigation.
Thanks for the info. Appreciate it.
Here’s a screenshot of a polarised catalyst (without perfect skills, boosters or implants as I don’t have those).
The catalyst is not bonused for autocannons so for an autocannon catalyst I would not expect a dps amount that high. On the other hand, autocannons are known for dealing very high damage per strike, but then taking a lot of time before firing another shot. ‘Alpha strike’ damage is what this is known for.
When your friend is talking about dps your friend may be accidentally looking at the damage per hit instead, which is 1380 in my screenshot.
The DPS (damage per second) is that damage divided by the time it takes between shots. My overheated dps is 971.5 in the screenshot.
There exist different strategies to kill enemies based on using either high alpha weapons or high dps weapons. The weapons that deal high alpha damage (big hits, slow attacks) can surprise enemies by deleting their health before they could react. Bring a few of these ships and you can kill someone before their self-repairs or logistics ships can catch up and repair the damage done. This works especially well against active tanked ships, less against passive tanked ships which rely on having a high amount of health to survive rather than repairs.
High dps ships are more obvious: you just deal as much damage per second to the enemy until they explode. A Catalyst with blasters is one of these.
And yes, there are ships with fewer turret or missile points than high slots, but the Catalyst can fit a full rack of 8 blasters. It’s made for blasting! 
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I stand corrected. I know why I keep thinking there are only 7 hardpoints instead of 8, because I use the 8th one for a salvager or Energy Nosferatu 
Awesome, thanks for the info.
I think that’s the case. I’m not even sure which number to look at in terms or raw damage. I’m still noob and my friend is only a few months old in-game so errors are to be expected.
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Perhaps your friend lives in such a nice place: Wolf Rayet Wormhole
In a Wolf Rayet C5 there’s a Small Weapon Damage bonus of 172%, 1200 dps are no problem there.
We regularly kill battelships (also Sleepers) in Confessor fleets in these environments.
Nope, she lives in regular lowsec.
My first ship in known space applying more than 1200 dps was a Vindicator, with a price tag of 1.5b ISK it’s slightly more expensive than a Catalyst…
Perhaps an insanely fitted Talos may also reach that value, needing a tenth of the cost.
But I’m diverging.
I like blaster ships, but for daily ratting I think a a railgun dessie is better suited because it doesn’t need as much tank as a brawler.
I’m using hybrid and some laser armament for now and I very much like the railguns but the blaster are, well, a blast!
I chuckled at the “You” engulfed in flames but only because it describes my baby steps as a new player trying to learn the combat mechanics.
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Yea, @CCP_Aurora did a good job with those drawings!
It really shows how my first belt ratting attempts in a destroyer in null sec went as well. It took me many tries before I figured out how to manually pilot my ship in order to survive incoming damage.
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If you like Gallente ships with small Hybrid weapons, and you are an Omega character you should really consider training for the Hecate. Blasters or Railguns, you will love this ship.
Full training plan is about 30 days for a fresh character sheet, 25 days with an attribute remap. You are likely already training skills for this ship’s fittings 
Suggested Skillplan
Gallente Frigate I (16 minutes, 40 seconds)
Gallente Frigate II (1 hour, 17 minutes, 38 seconds)
Gallente Frigate III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Gallente Destroyer I (16 minutes, 40 seconds)
Gallente Destroyer II (1 hour, 17 minutes, 38 seconds)
Gallente Destroyer III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Gallente Destroyer IV (1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 39 seconds)
Gallente Destroyer V (9 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds)
Gallente Tactical Destroyer I (25 minutes)
Weapon Upgrades III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Weapon Upgrades IV (1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 39 seconds)
Small Hybrid Turret I (8 minutes, 20 seconds)
Small Hybrid Turret II (38 minutes, 50 seconds)
Small Hybrid Turret III (3 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds)
Small Hybrid Turret IV (20 hours, 41 minutes, 49 seconds)
Small Hybrid Turret V (4 days, 21 hours, 4 minutes, 50 seconds)
Motion Prediction III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Small Blaster Specialization I (25 minutes)
Small Blaster Specialization II (1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds)
Small Blaster Specialization III (10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds)
Motion Prediction IV (1 day, 17 hours, 23 minutes, 39 seconds)
Gallente Tactical Destroyer II (1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds)
Gallente Tactical Destroyer III (10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds)
Gallente Tactical Destroyer IV (2 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds)
Jury Rigging I (16 minutes, 40 seconds)
Jury Rigging II (1 hour, 17 minutes, 38 seconds)
Jury Rigging III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Hybrid Weapon Rigging I (25 minutes)
Hybrid Weapon Rigging II (1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds)
Hybrid Weapon Rigging III (10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds)
Controlled Bursts III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Rapid Firing III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Sharpshooter III (7 hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds)
Surgical Strike II (2 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds)
Surgical Strike III (14 hours, 38 minutes, 6 seconds)
Trajectory Analysis II (3 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds)
Trajectory Analysis III (18 hours, 17 minutes, 35 seconds)
Advanced Weapon Upgrades I (50 minutes)
Advanced Weapon Upgrades II (3 hours, 52 minutes, 52 seconds)
Advanced Weapon Upgrades III (21 hours, 57 minutes, 8 seconds)
Cybernetics II (1 hour, 56 minutes, 26 seconds)
Cybernetics III (10 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds)
Total time: 31 days, 14 minutes, 40 seconds
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Rail guns are life.
Not to brag or anything (cough Bull cough) but I just managed to invent a Hecate blueprint, just finished training to build one, and will be able to fly it in about a week. Happiness is!
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If you want to use hybrids I suggest 150mm II Railgun with Javelins. 20km range. You can then gain on the MWD’s energy and cost by putting in a regular drive, 350 or 400ms is plenty. Hybrid and cpu or weapons rigs among other things.
Blasters are fun but not against several targets at once.