Thats a pretty bad trade. An efficient Golem will be a Torp-Golem, so you can’t fit a T1 hydraulic rig, because your fit will already have a T2 Hydaulic + T2 Rocket Fuel Rig to get maximum Torpedo range.
Also if you are considering the risk of being ganked, your fit will already have a Damage Control (+3 Ballistics). Or you don’t, then you will have 4 Ballistics and switching one out for a Damage Control doesn’t make much sense.
In any way, I would not recommend to use those Faction Bastion Modules in Highsec. They are not needed to solve any problem, they will make you a more attractive target for gankers and the T1 variant simply stays the most balanced of them all.
If you’re running a torpedo Golem - sure, it’s probably a step back (cruise Golem is an entirely different beast). There are all sorts of ways to mitigate or even eliminate the likelihood of ganks - but I’m not going to go into specifics here (those who’ve run high-sec L4s for any length of time know how to fit accordingly). You can always sport the Republic Fleet Bastion module on a Golem and get the 40% resists for minimal shield penalties.
Cruise Golem is maximum convenience, but so waaaay behind a Torp Golem in efficency, I wouldn’t even remotely consider to fit a 1B faction bastion module on it to get “more RoF” (to be more efficient). 10% more efficiency on a fit that is only 70% efficient still is only 77%. So, if efficiency is any goal in my Fit, yes, it’s going to be a Torp-Golem anyway. On which you wouldn’t want -10% range penalty.
As a primary L4 runner, quite possibly (it can depend on the mission). That’s why I run a Kronos as my main and cruise Golems for alts. You can potentially make an obscene amount of ISK with Marauders… so everything has to be looked at from a certain perspective. What else am I going to do with all these Warpath Intel points?
For passive tank - Republic Fleet Bastion is definitely the way to go (or you can let the rest of us play with the cool new toys).
I agree… Except I use a T3 Loki Cruiser, mainly for Level 4 Epic Arcs and exploration..
I also use an active tank which helps to keep the sig radius low… I’ve also noticed T3 Cruisers have much more agility and speed compared to most other med to large hulls… Best thing I like about them is they can easily take out small hull’s and still have plenty of DPS for large hull’s…
The only downside is like you said, newts and stasis… So other than ship fitting and skills, piloting tactics definitely plays a major role in using a T3 Cruiser for level 4 missions…
I would advise against that. If gankers scan you and notice the polarized weapons, they’ll gank you just for the lulz with 5 destroyers…
And unless you want to use a scout anytime you take a gate back or to your mission system, you can’t really evade that. It’s one thing to move smart within a mission and check local/Dscan to dodge a gank attempt. But unless you dualbox a scout, you simply don’t know what is behind the gate on your next jump.
Thanks for the good advice.
I won’t be taking it, mostly because I don’t run level 4s any more, but also because if I did it would be in a safe system with adequate scouts etc.
Okay then, that should work. It’s definitely a lot of fun just pulverizing the NPCs. I did it some years ago as well, but surprisingly the mission times aren’t that much faster on average. For those missions where everything spawns close, of course. But you also lose quite a bit some range, which means there will be several missions where you could reach them with a non-polarized Pala (~100km) but with a polarized they are just out of range. And that means you have to either move with MWD or MJD before bastion up. Over all missions combined, they perform comparable, with the polarized version offering more fun, the classic one more safety and consistency. Both viable options if you can provide a basic amount of security in the running area.
Ah, and a hint out of experience: On the normal fit I usually have all 4 Lasers grouped, it’s just more chill. On a polarized one, definitely use 2x2 Guns and attack 2 targets at once, they melt so fast, you’ll have problems locking at some point.
Also an Auto-Targeting System I (+2 Targets!) absolutely helps! Enjoy!
True true, and really if you’re going polarised you want some bling too, the fits I have in pyfa are 2-3B and I guess they’d want faction bastion modules now too.
The Basic T1 looks most balanced to me for HS missionrunning, especially when considering that the faction ones are pretty expensive and alone will pay for a successful gank if they drop.
The Faction Bastion Modules are more for Ultrablingy PvP Marauders where range and cost don’t matter because you want to bait a fleet into attacking you. Or need maximum buffer HP to dip in and out of Bastion under fire. Maybe even useful for making Solo C6 wormhole fits more convenient.
But for what purpose? There is no mission in EVE where your tank comes under pressure at all, I run them with barely any tank at all. And against a gank, trading for 10% resistances but adding a billion ISK more loot to your ship is always gonna be a bad decision.
Maybe in HS wars (PvP) or Incursion fits these things can be used. But mission ships? Not a good advice imho. Missions are way too weak for justifying that investment. Well, they don’t justify any investment beyond T2 really…
Sh*ts and giggles, really. There really isn’t any activity that you can justify the investment in hull and modules (especially L4 missions). My Kronos has already paid for itself about 100 times over, so it’s not like I haven’t recouped the original investment.
On other spaces than HS, sure. There is content a T2 fitted Marauder simply can’t run. So the investment is justified to enable you to access that higher-payout / higher-challenge content.
Of course, any “investment” can always be justified with “fun”. Absolutely okay to do that. I have built Amarr ships with only “Imperial Navy” modules, just for the fun of it. The stats increase over the T2 standard is then just a gimmick tho… especially if you use the ship in an environment that is no challenge to the upgraded equipment.
