I have done my share of 'total damage done'; just on various customs offices that don't shoot back in and of themselves, but I can assure you they do get re-inforcements - even the NPC ones.
I still get alarmed whenever I hear the chirping of a ship locking; Even when that ship is mine and I am targeting a customs office.
Ok alarmed is an understatement. During our last bash; I had a rookie ship/empty clone sitting on a lowsec exit, and we had an activation. I got the shakes so bad I was nearly unable to use the mouse. Unwarranted; we had sufficient control of the situation, and with a little effort probably had control of the incoming ships.
It is time to fix this; we have a C4 with sites that are underutilized. Lets start there, and deal with the inevitable PVP that brings. Step 1. Take the ship training I have done so far for structure bashes and turn it into something capable of doing C4's.
Now the last time I remember shooting red crosses was back in February for those sisters and their epic arc. According to my notes, the only thing I could not do in an algos was blow up one of the structures.
So. I have a couple of pilots with reasonable Dominix skills; that is reasonable drone and Gallente Battleships. One pilot might even be considered good, with several relevant skills at 5.
I know better than to just tackle a c4 combat site using my previous SOE epic arc easy mode missions as a basis.
Do some research on what might make a reasonable domi fit; and find http://eve.battleclinic.com/loadout/67342-C4-C3-RR-Dominix-The-Real-Fit.html
One of my pilots can fly this with the T2 fit; the paired pilot can not yet. mmm. However another corp member wants to run these sites with me; so we are looking at running 4 of these ships, most with T1 (meta as appropriate) to start with. With 4 domis, the things I am worried about is drone control range and will I know what I am doing?
We start off in highsec running L4 missions with 4 Domis to get a feel for both fleet work and to get me used to shooting red crosses; something that should be a small challenge, but still baby steps.
The first time we went out ..., it was a good thing we were overpowered for the mission.
Eve's default overview for running around customs offices is fine; remove the moons; order by range. Plenty of space for what an industrial needs.
When you turn up at a combat L4 site, with collidable structures, drones, where are the hostile ships? Remove collidable objects from overview; remove this, remove that. Must lock friendlies to do RR, must lock hostiles to shoot. Must drop drones, on all pilots. Must ensure all pilots drones are shooting. Oh, running out of cap ...Arrgh. Ok .. We survived; but was messy.
Ok. How do I set my overview up better? I thought mine was good enough; it was not. sarahs-overview-pack rel 030 to the rescue. Make sure one tab has friendlies to enable targeting for remote reps. Make sure you know how to see drones when you want to.
We go out a few more times; and run a few more sites; and I finally think I might have a clue. I still have problems locking up friendlies for chains and then the mobs in a timely manner. (I am told later that I need to target hostiles to shed invulnerability - that will save a few seconds of setup).
We finally get to having the missions be routine; warp in; drop light drones and take out frigates; recall and swap to sentries, and blap away. I am incapable of dual boxing and hitting the same targets so ... drone assist and try a gun. Large gun. Blapping NPC's with a cycle; wait even longer for gun to cycle. Mmmm.
I am told that a civilian gun works well. Really? No. I just can't do it. A target painter on the other hand seems reasonable.
Ok, so I head out another night, this time by myself; and finish off a few more missions. Good, that worked, now becoming routine. Tweak my setup a little, not much. One last mission. The Assault.
Uggh. So much damage. I have my Domi's fit how I thought I would run the C4 sites; so a non-optimal hardener. And webs. Webs, more webs. I finally clear off a set, warp away and repair; warp back.
More Webs.
More Battleships.
More Damage.
Shields Gone.
Armor gone; still webbed.
Hull Gone. Still webbed. Sigh. I think this is where I am meant to say I didnt want that Domi anyway. Its not true. I wanted it very much; if only to convince myself I am ready for c4 sites.
Warp alt away. Reship and refit. Go and do some industry.
I organise for a friendly logi to go finish the mission off later. He actually has run enough L4's to be bored with them. We head back in. He repairs me. I need it. We finally break the incoming damage with my lead ship on 30% armor. It has also helped that the NPC's swapped some damage to my second ship; meaning I can use all the repairers I have. I think I pulled every ship in the room.
The remaining rooms are a piece of cake.
Lessons learned;
- Highsec is dangerous space. Apparently I don't need to worry about pulling additional mobs in our C4.
- Read http://eve-survival.org before the next L4 mission. Don't pull every ship; at least not at once.
- A few more % on capacitor regen on my second pilot will be very worth it.
- I am also short on drone control range on my second pilot; I need to fix this.
I rarely see dominix fits with egress rigs (reduces cap requirements to activate cap transfers). In my experience, it's much better than the RR rigs. You can swap out 1 drone range mod for another rep, another cap transfer, a smartbomb, or a neut. I prefer the neut (which also benefits from the egress rig) along with tackle in the mids while running C4 anoms. If you get dropped while flying 3-4 domis, you'll be surprisingly resilient and much more capable of holding the field - something that's not generally expected.
ReplyDeleteIn lvl4 missions, you best run a sniper domi. Use sentries only. Bouncers for 60-140km, Gardes for <60km when only BS are left. Use MJD to reestablish distance if you did not manage to kill all frigates and cruisers before they are <40km. Take an armor repper with you out of convenience. Works fine for me, even a little bit boring.
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