Friday 16 December 2011

Fitting a Crow



In my last post about flying a solo interceptor I reflected that I might try flying a Crow after I train Caldari Frigates V. This got me messing about with Crow fits on EFT. I was blown away by the results.

As an aside, when I first started playing my instinct was to always look for other people's fits on Battleclinic or somesuch. Now that I have more experience, and more confidence in the way I fly, I always build my fits from scratch.

The fit:

Rocket Launcher II x3
Salvager I (offline)

Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Medium Shield Extender II

Damage Control II
Nanofibre Internal Structure II
Micro Auxilary Power Core I

Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II


Further thoughts:

That extra 15 CPU just makes a huge difference. With the extra fitting space, I can drop a fitting mod in the low slots and put in the Nanofibre. This actually makes me faster than my Malediction fit, despite the lower base speed - about 200m/s faster!

The inbuilt range bonus means that Javelin can hit out to 23km without any range rigs, letting me plug the EM hole AND get a damage rig in place, bringing my dps up to 80, which is about what I was doing in a Punisher. That's fairly respectable, and lets me break a fair number of active tanked frigates, providing they are not hardened against kinetic damage.

Against other fast ships I can switch to faction rockets (which still have a 15km range) and up my dps to 98. Still not very high compared to a Crusader or a Slicer, but I'll actually apply most of that damage as I have no tracking issues.

I could drop the Damage Control for a BCS, which would boost my dps to 115. However, that would drop my EHP from 5117 to  4045 and my peak regen from 20 hps to 17 hps. Not a worthwhile exchange, in my view.

There is a price to pay, though. I lose the Malediction's extended point, which means I have less ability to just back off while holding the enemy in place. It also means that I'm much easier to hit; the MSE and shield rig push my signature radius way up.


Conclusion:

I'll need to test this, of course, but my instincts tell me this is better. I commented at the end of the Punisher Plan that while the Punisher was a fine ship, if I had to do it all again I would have flown Caldari.

As a new Eve player I thougth that my true love would be lazers and cap warfare, putting me squarely in the Amarr camp. As it turned out, what I really enjoy are missiles and regenerative tanks. Trying to incorporate these both into small Amarr hulls has been a struggle, largely because active armor tanks are poorly designed for small ships (Oh, how much better would it be if regenerative plating actually, you know, regenerated?); you need two modules to provide buffer and regen when a shield tank incorporates both into one module. On small ships, module space is at a premium.

So after a year of forcing myself into a limited range of - admittedly excellent - Khanid ships (and enjoying myself the whole time, let it be said), I'm now keen to broaden my horizons and start flying the ships I probably should have been flying all along.

6 comments:

  1. Will you also be flying the hawk and hookbill?

    I'm interested to see how you fair in the Caldari frigs. I'm a few weeks of training Caldari frig V myself and looking forward to the Hookbill, Hawk and crow.

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  2. Hey Taurean,

    I’m a big lover of Caldari boats, the Crow in particular, and I’ve had some decent success flying the Crow as a solo PvP frig. I will say though, I’ve yet to find a close range fit that really works in practice. I was having a discussion re: close range Crows with my Corp members recently and I came to the conclusion that trying to fit for close range gimped the Crow for what it really excels at – speed and range.

    The fit I typically fly is as follows:

    XEDAM’S FAVORITE CROW

    Standard Missile Launcher II, Bloodclaw Fury Light Missile
    Standard Missile Launcher II, Bloodclaw Fury Light Missile
    Standard Missile Launcher II, Bloodclaw Fury Light Missile
    125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion

    Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thruster
    Warp Disruptor II
    Tracking Disruptor II, Optimal Range Disruption

    Overdrive Injector System II
    Overdrive Injector System II
    Capacitor Power Relay II

    Rigs:

    Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
    Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I


    5034 m/s (OHd: 7205 m/s)
    DPS: 71.9 - volley 594 (OHd: 84.6)
    EHP: 1.38K
    CAP Stable

    This is a pure long range kiter, but I’ve found that its survivability and GTFO ability is fantastic.

    The 24KM point lets you engage way out of harm’s way, and the TD adds that extra buffer for a ship that’s got as much tank as a wet paper bag. At 5000+ m/s unheated, most drones are not a problem and even if they become an issue (a skilled pilot with Warrior II’s is the only real threat) you have the 125mm AC to easily deal with them before they’re any real issue. DPS is low, but that’s the tradeoff for range and escape ability – you pretty much have the capability to dictate the terms of most fights and if things go sour you can simply burn off.

    Yes, your target selection is slightly limited, but given enough time you can deal with most T1 frigates, destroyers and cruisers easily, as well as some T2 boats. Noob BCs are probably doable as well, again, if you have enough time and ammo.

    Additionally, this fit is a great fast tackle for gang roams and can often catch most ships before they even realize what’s happening.

    Obviously this fit isn’t for everyone, but I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit and as I said, I’ve had some good success with it.

    My two cents.

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  3. after you get cal frig 5 and if you ever decide to fly something a bit more expensive. It would be interesting to see what you'd do with a succubus. Hookbills are also great ships, I've heard with the right fit (ie: 2 webs one scram) they're the bane of drams.

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  4. http://flight-of-dragons.blogspot.com/2011/12/fitting-crow.html

    No particular reason, just wanted a brawling Crow. :P

    Malediction does it better though (would've totally killed the Cane).

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  5. What the.. I wanted to paste this one:

    http://tuskers.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10842143

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  6. Once you get Caldari Frig 5 I would suggest the Hookbill, there are plenty of great fits out there, it has good DPS, EHP and Speed. And as someone has pointed out they are the bane of Drams and other frigs (Pretty much all frigs if you go for the armor Hookbill).

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