Hello. I am a Gallente Alpha Clone (2.1M SP) and have a question regarding ship progression with an end goal of doing Level 4 Security (Combat) missions.
As a Gallente, I have trained into drones heavily and as I moved up in levels of missions, I have kept with Gallente drone ships…Algos --> Vexor --> Vexor Navy Issue --> Myrmidon.
I currently have high enough standings to do Level 4 missions but I don’t yet have the skills to fly (successfully) a Battleship. Therefore, I am doing Level 4 Distribution missions while I train the relevant skills.
So, I have spent the past several weeks training skills and trying to educate myself on the best way to fit and fly a Dominix (the next logical step up in the Gallente drone ship line). However, the more I read, the more I am beginning to question whether I might be better off moving to the Caldari missile ship line since as an Alpha, I cannot use either Sentry drones or MJD. The combination of Sentries and MJD seems to be what makes the Dominix viable in Level 4 Security missions and without it, it looks as if a Dominix would be less effective relying only on Heavy drones.
My question is if a Raven or Raven Navy Issue would be something I should consider instead of a Dominix? It might take additional training time for but if it means more efficient mission completion, it would be worth it.
Or, to even further muddy the water, do I jump to the Pirate line and go with a Rattlesnake (about the same ISK price as the RNI)?
Thanks for your time and advice and I apologize if this question has already been asked a thousand times before.
Just a couple of comments to give you some food for thought.
The Sentry/MJD fit for a Domi is a sniper fit intending to be used at a distance. I like sniper fits, but a close- range brawler that is fit with blasters and Heavy drones is also very viable as an alternative since you can’t use sentries. But, it is a much different kind of gameplay that you may or may not like.
Regarding the Rattlesnake, that is a viable option as well, but it is a similar situation to the Domi in that you need to decide on a sniper or brawler fit, and Rattlesnakes are fairly spendy. You will also need to train missiles and Caldari ships for that.
However, that’s not a bad thing, necessarily. Since you will need those Caldari and Missile skills, you absolutely could use a brawler Domi fit while you train the Caldari skills to do the Raven and try that style, then choose which you like best and move up to a Rattlesnake if you decide to do so.
With Osmium down, I can’t really provide a fitting at the moment.
Long term, you can fit a darn good Rattlesnake with a gecko that can both shield tank and kill everything in level 4’s. My fit (that I use for DED sites) costs about 1.5 billion, but for lvl 4’s you can likely get a much more affordable fit.
Even without missile skills it will likely outperform any dominix fit you can make simply because it’s drone bonus is a ROLE bonus rather than being tied to a BS skill level. that means that with Gal BS 1, Cal BS 1 your 1 gecko will do the damage (and have the hitpoints) of 3.75 geckos. Each level of Caldari BS gives you +4% to shield resists giving you a superior shield tank (passive or active).
Get some cruise missile skills and the damage output grows.
Basciallly, use lights to clear frigates, switch to the gecko and use that to kill small things up to large things. Use the cruise missiles to kill BS’s (not really worth it to target smaller ships).
The RS is slow. Getting between gates can be annoying. But it’s tank when fitted well is such that in general you should be able to slow boat between gates while killing everything… instead of worrying about keeping range.
I am an alpha clone and I have found it very tough doing L4s in a Raven. I do acknowledge that a good part of my problem, is pilot skill, my past dependence on drones and maybe my fit. I spend a lot of time warping off to recharge my cap and the odd repair. I typically have a lot of trouble killing frigates and struggle with drone agrro.
Lately I have been flying a Gila. It might be a little slow but I can speed tank the big ships while my drones shoot them up and I use T2 RLML on the small ships. I have not tried the Domi but it would be my recommendation or skilling into a RHML rattle snake if you want a BS.
This is an interesting comment, and something to definitely consider is whether a faction cruiser or BC that is fit with T2 modules might be better than a BS that can only be fit with T1 modules per the Alpha restrictions.
I can’t give a solid answer to that, I’m afraid, but I would definitely encourage the use of a fitting tool like PYFA to make some fitting comparisons based on available modules and a specific pilot’s skill set. It’s all about trade-offs, after all
This is definitely something to consider but I do prefer to stay as far away as possible. I have not been very successful when I have attempted to do close-range brawling. I am thinking I will go the Rattlesnake route as @Lena Crews suggested below.
I like this idea! I never considered using a Gecko but that could be the missing ingredient for success. Having said that, even though I have mostly maxed out (as far as an Alpha Clone can) my drone skills, the thought of losing a ~100M ISK Gecko is unsettling…
If you are ever able to find a good PvE mission fit, please let me know. I have a month or so before I get skilled up so I have time to fiddle with the fit to make it work.
Yep, brawlers are a challenge with skill and meta caps on modules. But what can I say, some people really love to do things the hard way so I thought I’d toss it out there I always smile when I see the inevitable Battle Skiff running event sites!
One other thing to at least keep in the back of you mind is that you have a bit more ability to customize your fit for a given mission (tank, range, etc.) based on what you will be going up against. That’s a pain to switch more than tanks, but just another option to consider when looking at different kinds of fits.
The benefit to the gecko in a Rattlesnake is the role bonus is for damage and hitpoints.
So it essentially does 3.75 times the damage and has 3.75 times the hit points. Takes a lot to kill a gecko… and 3.75 times as much when it’s in a rattlesnake.
It also moves and tracks as well as some medium drones.
A lot of people use the MJD for that, but on any ship that can do lv4s it’s not needed. Fighting at 100km is silly imo, I’d rather use close or mid range weapons and do more damage.
With the alpha domi I’m far more concerned about the loss of sentry drones as they provide a ton of utility and since they don’t move you can sit on them and scoop them more or less ignoring drone aggro.
I keep mine on a short leash, wait for frigs to get into orbit and then launch the gecko and put it on anything that can web/point first, after that it should be able to make it back as long as you are watching it for damage. With the rattlesnake drone damage and HP bonus it’s like launching a cruiser wingman.
I’d suggest picking up a raven learning the missions as it’s a far cheaper ship to lose. Plus the raven should make you train up all those skills you need for the rattler. Ideally you wont lose it but there’s a few spots where if you screw up there’s a chance to lose the ship. If you can do them in a raven a rattler should make them easy. There’s also an option to go for tech 2 rapid heavy missiles on the rattler.
Honestly I’m not a huge fan of the rattler but hard to think of a better alpha mission runner. Mach would probably give it a good run though, thing is fast and hard hitting, but haven’t looked at how it performs with alpha skills. Or the nightmare as long as you are in amarr space, I did that for a while with lower skills.
As old time gallente nerd I do vote for Space Potato. You have enough abilities to play with fit and its drone bay allows you take carry two full loads of sentries and a hoard of small drones to deal with smaller targets. Also you could fit any type of turret of your choice and your trained to for extra dps.
And yes I do hate RSnake cause everyone gets those (including me)…
I second Gila. It only needs medium drones and light missiles. Can use it while training medium missiles and heavy drones for Rattlesnake or cruise missiles for raven/barghest/rattlesnake. Orbit beacon or something to speed tank.
You do not need sentries or mjd to mission sucessfully in a domi. Having only T1 heavies does hurt so use faction ones. Other than that - nothing changes really. Tank, guns to taste, drone modules.
P.S. Gila also works but given your SP/monies id say screw it till much later.
I’ll throw another option into the ring that is enormously cheaper… The Armageddon. Its the Amarran drone battleship and can also fit for rapid heavy missile launcher or cruise missile launchers and fit the drones alongside. A passable fit can be had for as little as ~250 million and a good fit with deadspace rep and resist modules can be had for roughly the same price as just getting the Rattlesnake hull.
Faction heavy drones, T2 rapid heavies or meta cruise missile launchers, an extremely solid armor tank, the ability to abuse at pair of faction Nos for over 45K range of energy theft to keep cap stable in a mission boat. And if you ever can use Sentries, you just trade in one of the two Nos for a drone range high and snipe away!
