Thursday 25 October 2012

Day 131 : Attack of the Space Potato!

I bought a battleship. What feels like the entry level battleship for the Gallente, the mammoth Dominix. It's a  drone boat which sometimes gets referred to as a space potato. It is somewhat reminiscent of one after all.


click image to activate laughing at Noob mode

Look at that rubbish DPS! Look at all those hard points, why is it claiming there are only six? There are enough places to anchor half my inventory on that skin. Look at the lack of a propulsion boost that makes me quiver with fear. What now for my celebrated Brave Brave Sir Robin maneuver which thanks to Iain Banks I've now decided to relabel my "deflecting from current course and instigating a redisposition" maneuver?

Actually the fitting means I can run the medium repairer all the time and still regenerate cap. I can run the large repairer when things get sticky. The lack of DPS is due to the skills Large Hybrid guns II and BS II which will be easily boosted and would have been had I not been boosting some frigate combat skills. I need Drone Interfacing IV for sentry drones too though I prefer the thought of swapping drones in and out rather than just sitting there. All in all it is Noobs Moving Castle. It sits in a hole and spits out its gremlins to wreak havoc on the surrounding grid, all the while slowly preparing to vanish into the mist before things get crazy.

I've been prodding a local level 4 security mission agent for a few days. The first mission looked a little worrying so I declined it. The second mission, offered the next day, was situated in low sec. Who does this agent think I am? Sending a poorly skilled Dominix into a level 4 mission in low sec? I haven't prepared my huge "Cannon Fodder Free For All At This Location" flag, so sadly I decline this mission too. Today's offer is a little more my style. "Gone Beserk" is three bunches of battleships with some minor extra spawns of cruisers and frigates. The only thing wrong is that the damage type doesn't fit my guns that well. Since my main damage is coming from drones anyway I just switch them all out for Caldari kinetic dealing drones, shame I'm only six hours from upping the mediums to T2 versions. Job done. The cannons will still help to finish the enemy off.

Tip : Look up the missions on http://eve-survival.org before you go and alter your damage and resistance modules accordingly. Any tactics left there are also good to read..... if you are a coward! Yep, I read 'em. Do not ignore planning wave trigger events as I did or the place might get a little crowded.

Warping into the location I find a large ruin with three distinct groups of enemies just as expected. It looks like a bunch of Amarr battleships. For some reason I mess up the initial set up and manage to aggro two groups rather than just one at once. Even  zoomed out to far tactical view I can see the trails left by cruise missiles on their way to pay a visit. Oh well, I'm not running for it just yet, and at a maximum speed of 100ms I have a while to think about it even if I did. I bring up all the hardeners I've chosen and set the heavy drones onto the nearest incoming battleship. For the hell of it I set the guns on it too.

It's slow going and I have to engage the large repairer a couple of times but gradually I start to prevail. At one point some cruisers try to get all in my face but I swap out the heavy drones for mediums and tear them to pieces. This annoys the enemy so much they make a tactical mistake. They send in some elite frigates with webbing capability. I don't know why either. With no scram they are probably making it easier for me to turn around and warp out. What do they think they are nullifying? My awesome 100 ms speed at 40km from the enemy that is so useful?  They'd be welcome to it apart from the fact that they have now annoyed me. I recall the heavy drones once more and spit out a squad of T2 light drones which make short work of a couple of idiot frigates.

After this it is back to the heavy drones, damage soaking and blasting the hell out of them once through the shields. It's a tactical game. As long as I was calm and watched out for smaller enemies getting too close then I was fine. The main worry was that Heavy drones are SLOW. They resemble zombies, shuffling along, taking their time getting to the meaty part and then going beserk in an orgy of blood and hull. This is how I imagine it anyway, I was making a cup of tea in a couple of the fights so I didn't see what they did then. They take their time shambling back to get swapped out for lighter drones though.

Job done, field cleared, I warp out with my armour already back to full and my shield regenerating. I then turn up in a Vexor. It's tanked normally, just in case, but the high slots hold two tractor beams and three salvager mods. It's easy to fly through the area and tow wrecks along until they're in salvagable, lootable groups. The only problem is the loot. I end up having to dock twice to empty the hold. It looks like there are over 20 wrecks left, mainly battleships dropping large guns and cruise missile launchers and lots of other goodies that I can't use but somehow am excited to get a hold of. I'm a noob, remember. This is more loot than I've ever seen.

In the end I earn something like this:

10.8 million in bounties.
19.8 million in estimated loot and salvage, nothing outstanding in the loot just normal/meta 1-4 stuff
1.11 million mission reward
1.15 million bonus mission reward
3376 LP mission reward

Time spent : around 2 hours including salvage. It was by far the easiest level 4 I'd seen offered so far and you could tell by the ISK reward which should serve as a measure of difficulty.

Some of that salvage will generate another million in manufacturing profits over its market price since I'll put it into rig manufacture. That should pay for my ammo which was Federation Navy Antimatter. It is around 30 million all told given the odd estimated cost of some of the modules I looted. Given that my alt had mined around 15-20 million at the same time it was a nice evenings work. It wasn't the 50-75 million an hour they say you can earn doing these missions but I have very low skills and it is only going to get better and faster.

After all this the Dominix no longer looked like a space potato. It looked sleeker and deadlier somehow. No longer was the bridge reminiscent of a neanderthal cranial ridge, it was now the command centre of a highly (un)organised cash for death machine.



NOTE: Apologies for spending more time pasting a potato into an image than I did on the quality of the text. It was amusing at the time, I promise.

18 comments:

  1. Once your skills are sufficient, consider fitting a Drone Navigation Computer or two to help with Heavy Drone speed. Heavy Drones deal slightly more paper dps, but it's almost always more than negated by travel time, except for missions and sites where everything spawns and orbits within 20km or so. Otherwise, consider swapping to Sentry Drones. Either way, get either T2 Heavy or T2 sentry drones soon as you can; they deal substantially more damage than their T1 counterparts.

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  2. Agreed, in mishes sentry drones are like having a few sniping crusiers with you DPS wise... well worth it. We don't use em in holes as Sleepers HATE (I mean it, they actually hate them) HATE drones.

    Also, funny story time... a guy who shall remain unnamed (Alex my CEO) undocked one fine day in his very first brand-spanking-new-paint-still-wet Dominix. He was very excited and this guy in local asked him to 'test his tank' ... I was like, "Right.. anyway, come on Alex let's go." and he said... (get this) "Wait all he wants is to test his tank and I want to see how this thing does!" OMG... really? You are gonna fall for THAT??? uh no alex... no.

    http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=12200094

    We were all noobs once... =]

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    Replies
    1. Classic. Please pass this on:

      "Alex. The Space Noob says o7"

      ;)

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    2. LOL I will... but I'm not going to tell him why... =]

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    3. Wow, what a failfit Domi. I guess I shouldn't be surprised after hearing that story.

      The Dominix was always my go-to choice for L4 missions, although I haven't tried it since the drone damage upgrades came out.

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    4. I don't know why everyone says this. Sleepers do not hate drones.

      If you solo in a sleeper site, they will target your drones. If you have 2 or more ships, they will completly ignore them. I know this for a fact for class 1-4 whs. We ran them with Domni/typhoon spider fleets.

      If you can afford to stand still, I would suggest sentry drones. If you need to stay aligned, you will likely need to use the heavies.

      As everyone else said, t2 is the way to go for drones. I don't spend unnecessary isk, as all my ships are assumed "lost on launch" , but t2 drones are always worth it.

      Also, don't faction fit a domni. T2 fit is way more than enough as long as you avoid the common misconception that cap stable is necessary.

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  3. Chaunnay Solette25 October 2012 at 14:53

    My favorite mission ship of all time was/is a dual-rep DNI.
    Welcome to the club of satisfied potato owners!

    And what he said ^^ about T2 heavies, with the new drone damage mods and perfect or near-perfect skills, you can push nearly 700 DPS out of the drones alone on an active shield DNI and keep a pretty good tank. (Not real cheap though, since you want a faction tank on that sucker.)

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  4. Nice to see you upgrading to BS, but since you seem to like drone boats I can only beg you to train up Drone Interfacing V (yes, V!). The difference is massive. One level of that is equal to 4 levels of Gallente BS after all!

    Total damage for your Dominix (depending of the tank and specific fit) should end up around 700 dps, 900 even if you can afford drone damage mods in the lows (as it obviously diminishes your tank). It's a quite powerful mission boat and requires relatively little mainetnance during missions. Once you get the hang of it you can go make a coffee while your sentries clear the room :)

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    1. Yep - Drone Interfacing V will have to be faced at some point. IV will be enough for a while with IV in Battleships. I've plenty of other things to move along the skill queue first that are blocks on what I want to do. GODDAMN YOU WEAPON UPGRADES V! I always have an excuse for not doing this one.

      The drones thing is a result of a) starting Gallente and b) starting as a miner. They are just too handy, especially now I'm having to fit for the damage types I want to do. I am starting to branch out into guns. T2 small is done, medium is "a work in progress" and large, well large is only just started (II)!

      It was a good laugh to be flying a whole new class of ship. The worrying temptation as always with me is to head back and get the other races ships.

      I feel a skill plan post forming.

      Delete
  5. Hey Cher, its Dave!

    Thought you may have left due to lack of posts lol!
    Im changing ISP so i didnt wanna resub, i go live next weekend hopefully so ill be back soon!

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    Replies
    1. Wondered where you had got to! I've been playing but not blogging due to a bit of blog writing burnout. Back now, and hopefully going to take it at an easier pace.

      Delete
  6. If you swap your rigs for Cap Control Circuits you can perma run dual Large Armor Repairers.

    [Dominix, Green Potato]
    Armor Kinetic Hardener II
    Armor Explosive Hardener II
    Armor Explosive Hardener II
    Large Armor Repairer II
    Large Armor Repairer II
    Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
    Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

    Cap Recharger II
    Cap Recharger II
    Cap Recharger II
    Cap Recharger II
    Cap Recharger II

    Dual 250mm Railgun II, Javelin L
    Dual 250mm Railgun II, Javelin L
    Dual 250mm Railgun II, Javelin L
    Dual 250mm Railgun II, Javelin L
    Dual 250mm Railgun II, Javelin L
    Drone Link Augmentor II

    Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
    Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
    Large Capacitor Control Circuit I


    This will give ~800 dps tank against Kinetic/Explosive with decent resists on EM & Therm (as you're in lowsec). Drop off about 100 dps if you replace an EANM with Drone Damage mod.


    (personally, I go for non-cap stable active tanking. keeps me engaged)

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  7. I always wondered about the comments on eve survival. why do people feel the need to tell you that they finished this mission in a officer fit nightmare? if your going to brag how about in a noob ship with only a lasso and some snow balls.

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  8. Hmmmm... I remember losing two or was it three potatoes to my first ever L4. Very disappointed I was too. Skills were not up to it.

    I prefer the megathron to be perfectly honest, esp the navy version. The Kronos marauder is even better for sheer gun DPS. And while I will admit to being a total drone fanboi, the fact of the matter is guns are instant damage and drones aren't (OK there are sentries - but by god Ogre IIs are sloooooow as has been mentioned). Every time you remove some incoming DPS, there is less strain on your capacitor and tank.

    Put another way, I can do the same mission in less than a tick (20 minutes) using Gallente ships.... have a think about your emphasis, esp given the upcoming changes to the NPC AI where drones are going to be even more of a target.

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    1. Heck yeah, Cheradenine. If you're interested in missions (though I think you're not) the Marauders are fantastic.

      I too fly the Kronos and that thing is a beast. It only has 4 turrets but gets 100% damage bonus. This rocks as you get full battleship damage while using half the ammo.

      It also leaves you with 3 extra high slots for utility and gets a bonus to the speed and range of tractor beams. I mostly blitz missions but I'll still salvage and loot the largest wrecks. This is also helped in that the Marauders have huge cargoholds (1250 in the Kronos).


      The downside? Cost and Training. You need Battleship 5 and Advanced Weapon Upgrades 5. The hull alone runs close to a bil and it's silly to not add a few mods better than Tech II.

      Here's my fit. As you can imagine, this shiny bastard never leaves hi-sec.

      [Kronos, PvE]
      [Lows]
      Core A-Type Large Armor Repairer
      Armor Explosive Hardener II
      Armor Kinetic Hardener II
      Armor Explosive Hardener II
      Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer
      Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer
      Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer

      [Mids]
      100MN Afterburner II
      Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 800
      Tracking Computer II, Tracking Speed Script
      Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script

      [Highs]
      Salvager I
      Salvager I
      Small Tractor Beam I
      425mm Railgun II, Javelin L
      425mm Railgun II, Javelin L
      425mm Railgun II, Javelin L
      425mm Railgun II, Javelin L

      Large Auxiliary Nano Pump II
      Large Auxiliary Nano Pump II


      Valkyrie II x5
      Hammerhead II x5


      The tank is about 800 dps for as long as my navy charges last. DPS is 900 with drones.


      Missions are boring but I love flying this ship. I only wish it weren't such a target or I'd take this baby down to low and see what she could do.



      As an aside: Thanks for coming back to your blog. You're a fantastic writer and I love reading of your adventures. (this blog is one of the things that brought me back to Eve after a few months hiatus).

      Thanks!

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    2. Lose one of those hardeners and replace with a DC II. DCs give better bang for the cap, esp. since they don't get penalized for stacking with other modules.

      Lose the Mag Stab and replace with a Drone Damage Amplifier II. Drones are your main weapon on a Domi, not the guns.

      Delete
  9. Thanks for the report! I too love my space potato and use it on those rare occasions when I get locked out of my wormhole.

    I played around with large railguns and found them extremely poor against frigates. I went to Dual-something (not in game, forgot) so at least I have a chance against cruisers. The rest, the drones will have to do...

    Other than that, yes, the Domi is my favorite BS (actually, its my only BS, not counting a Blaster Megathron for POCO bashing that is collecting dust) and your article makes me want to revisit the fits. Thanks!

    Epigene

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    1. You are right about the frigates. Most especially if you're trying to hit them under 30km, where there is basically no chance.

      As far as running missions goes, I will often hit the frigates first rather than rely purely on drones. With good skills it is entirely possible to one shot frigates with anti-matter out to about 70km using 425mm rails (there is essentially no transversal at all at that range).

      I tend not to use targeting computers or the like, but have found that target painters are the better option because they increase the operational window of both your guns and your sentries.

      Makes your Ogres and Hammerheads much more effective against frigates as well (especially any elite frigates).

      Yes, it's a little more management and will impact your cap, so it's not a grab aggro go AFK build. It's damn effective though.

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