This started out as a reply to the comments made on my last post, but once I got started I realised that I had a whole new post.
The fit:
3 Dual Light Pulse Laser II (scorch and navy multifrequency)
Salvager
Cold-gas Arcjet Thruster
Analyser
Codebreaker
2 Adaptive Nano Plating II
Damage Control II
Small Armor Repair System II
Going from memory, with Assault Ship II, my highest resist (explosive) is 90%, and my lowest (thermal) is 60%.
Regarding the fit:
As I'm in Angel territory, this resistance balance is fine, although for pvp I would probably try and plug my resistance hole. In the mean time, though, I will be upgrading to at least one Energised Plating once Hull Upgrades V finishes on Thursday morning. If I offline the exploration kit that I am not using (you only ever need one per site) I can probably fit two.
Being in Angel space does have disadvantages, though, as my DLP, as well as ignoring the ship's weapon bonus, walk right into the natural resists of Angel ships.
Usually, that's not too much of a problem, but last night I found three radar sites in .2 security space. That means loads of Battlecruisers and the occassional "Arch" frigate (which have even higher resists), so it took me two hours to clear out the three sites, as I slowly chewed through the massive hp/massive resists of the npcs.
With the ability to choose damage types, I could probably have done those three sites in 45 minutes. I am tempted to mount autocannons for versatility, but I only have T1 autocannons, and a good chunk of my gunnery skill points are is Small Pulse Laser Specialisation, which does not benefit my autocannon dps.
Training:
I could spend a week to get Small Projectiles V, which would speed things along, although given the ship I am using I could spend the same amount of time on Rockets V, which would be even more effective.
Of course, I have about 400,000 skill points across all of my exploration skills (including the mini professions), and I waste a lot of time just trying to scan down sites and open the spawn containers. I could really use some extra skill points there as well.
Until recently, I would not have considered shifting the focus of my training away from laser gunnery and tanking. After all, pve is simply what I do to fund my pvp; if it's not totally efficient, that's fine. However, now that I am trying to build up a cash fund for Crusaders, I notice that the pve is interfering with the pvp.
Yesterday, for example, I had hoped to do a little exploration right after work, and then look for a fight I can win. However, I spent so much time on running the sites, I had no time left to look for a fight. As my need for isk is never going to go away, it would make a great deal of sense for me to look at improving the efficiency of my money making.
In the short term, though, it's still just gunnery and tanking.
I'm not terribly familiar with how much damage rockets can do, but I'm fairly certain they have the same range (or slightly longer, depending on type) as autocannons. Since for both systems you can choose damage type to inflict, and since the Vengeance gets natural bonsues to rockets, Rockets would probably be the better choice.
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, about how much would you say you make off of this exploration every day on average? or week, if that works better...
Lasers on the Vengeance pains me deeply...but then again you have PvE modules in the mids, so I guess the lasers shouldn't bother me. Have you considered setting up a PI infrastructure in lowsec? I realize it will mean time away from Gunnery/Tanking skills, but you could look forward to 1-2misk a day per planet, with up to six planets. The nice thing about it is that it takes up 5 minutes of your time each day to keep running, and maybe an hour once a week to cash in on everything. The time and isk investment for setup is greater of course.
ReplyDeleteTo address the Rockets/ACs vs Lasers question, I can do 100dps without rigs or 120 with rigs on my vengeance with Rockets. Level V's gives you 105 and 130 instead. It's about the same for 3 Autocannons if you put a Gyrostab in a lowslot. Range for Rockets or ACs is comparable to Scorch, with Rockets hitting out to 8-10 depending on skills, ACs of course seeing a significant drop in DPS that deep into falloff. Keep in mind that not only do you get to choose damage types with Rockets, you also get 4 Missile hardpoints...you wouldn't be able to fit a salvager, but I've always felt dedicated salvage ships were more efficient anyway. You'll also waste some ISK buying Rockets or Projectile Ammo instead of using crystals, so that's something to factor in.
If you did decide to crosstrain, keep in mind that with the exception of the Projectile Weapons Skill, all the other gunnery skills for ACs will still help your PvP fit with Lasers. On the other hand, the support skills for Rockets are a completely different animal.
I'm also kind of curious why you've chosen the Crusader as your next PvP hull, and what you expect it to do for you. Care to comment on that? I've got a post scheduled for about an hour and a half from now discussing Interceptors, and the Malediction in particular, which you might be interested in.
Dammit, one of these days I'll learn how to write short comments...
Income is quite erratic with exploration. You never know how long it will take to find the sites you want and the rewards vary within a given range.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday I ran some Mag sites (which are worthless in high sec, but I thought I'd give them another try in low sec) and made about 7 million over the course of an hour. I'd consider that pretty poor for low sec exploration, and I'm debating dropping the Mag sites.
On Tuesday I found 3 Radar sites in the same system and made about 65 million in two hours (which could have been about 45 minutes if I could change my damage type). I'd consider that a pretty good haul.
Quite the range.
I've not seriously looked into PI, but perhaps I should. Everyone agrees that it is fairly low maintainence.
As for the Crusader, I thought that (as I am unlikely to have maxed out my support skills) it required the lowest additional skill point investment; just Interceptors.
An Omen, for example, would also have a ship specific skill (Amarr Cruisers), but also Medium Energy Turrets, Medium Pulse Laser Specialisation and T2 drones.
If I keep the range of skills I am focusing on narrow, I'm more likely to actually reach my theoretical potential.
I'm looking forward to your blog post, though. I really want to get into a Malediction once I have the breathing space to actually train rockets. Hopefully, the Crusader will be a good training platform for the Malediction; the support skills are identical.
I use an Arbitrator for exploration and one thing that your giving up by switching to a Vengance is the ability to have an all in one ship. I don't know how you had your Arby set up, but mine is as follows:
ReplyDelete[High]
Improved Cloaking Device II
Core Probe Launcher with Sisters Probes
Drone Link Augmentor
Salvager or Small gun to grab agro
[Medium]
Catalyzed Cold-Gas MWD
Codebreaker (Analyzer in cargo)
Medium Capacitor Batter II x 2
[Low]
Adaptive Plating II x 2
DCU II
Medium Repper II
[Drones]
Warrior II's
Hammerhead II's
Rig to taste, is cap stable with the Repper on, can do any lowsec radar/mag site I have come across and I don't have to go back and get a different ship when I find something. If you know what kind of NPC's your going to be facing switch out the drones for ones that do NPC specific damage.
Another plus is with the Cloak you can scan without fear of people finding you and coupled with the MWD can get you past the majority of lowsec gate camps. Important when you have 80 million isk in your cargo hold.