Tristan Mark II

There is advice that goes along the lines of "don't fix it if it isn't broke". Since Starwalker had initial success with his first foray in the Tristan - it could be argued that he should continue with the same shield fit, that was not his style.

Starwalker was always seeking improvements, whether to the ship choice, the fit, skills, piloting or 101 other things. This was no different, he had learnt from that first roam that he had no range control and it was not clear whether the energy neutraliser was really having the desired effect fast enough. There were some obvious counters to being neuted:

1. Move out of the energy neutraliser range, which would be easy with range control. In a close range frigate fight 7km would be outside of neut range but still inside scram range
2. Stay inside neut range and use an energy vampire to suck back capacitor energy to keep the key modules running
3. Use a capacitor booster that would simply restore some part of the lost energy

To solve the problem of no range control Starwalker elected to use a stasis webifier and that then left the question of how to tank the Tristan. The default armour and structure was very good for a frigate and virtually required the use of a damage control module. Indeed it would be possible to leave the tank at that or around 3.7k EHP. However, Starwalker wanted a little more tank than that so the question was whether to supplement that tank with buffer, resistance or active defence fittings.

[Tristan, SAR]

Damage Control II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Small Armor Repairer II

1MN Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I

Hobgoblin II x5
Warrior II x3

Starwalker selected the small armour repairer and strangely complemented that with some shield rigs. An armour repairer would more naturally be paired with armour rigs but whilst that would be a reasonable choice that would also reduce the speed of the Tristan, undoing some of the benefits of the web. It was to avoid reducing the ship speed that the 200mm armour plate was similarly dismissed.

A resistance based tank employing an EANM II was entirely possible but that would require some additional CPU enhancement whilst leaving significant powergrid still available, which did not seem optimal. Alternatively, an Adaptive Nano Plating II would offer some armour resistance benefits without the CPU hit. It would be possible to simply leave the tank as a damage control and small armour repairer but Starwalker felt that a little more tank was warranted when coming up against combat frigates like the Merlin. Whether those shield rigs would be worth it only time would tell.

Whether this mark II fit was better than the mark I fit was entirely debateable but that was part of the joy of life in New Eden - taking a ship into the wild and seeing what happened. Starwalker undocked...

Resistance is Not Futile

Starwalker was not normally interested in mathematics but was interested in what was a better choice for his frigate ship rig – buffer or resistance. Would 15% more buffer be better or 30% more damage resistance?

A Rifter has 391 base shield capacity and shield resistances: 0%, 20%, 40%, 50% for EM, thermal, kinetic and explosive damage types. A Small Core Defence Field Extender I increases shield capacity to 450, alternatively EM resistance would increase to 30% with a Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I.

The 30% more damage is applied to the incoming damage so thermal resistance in a Rifter, which is at 20%, increases to 44% (20% plus 30% of 80% or 100% incoming damage - 20% damage resistance) with the Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I.

To simplify and for easy numbers, assume EM damage type and 100 DPS and once the shield is gone the Rifter will be destroyed.

• Rifter with 450 shield capacity and 0% EM damage resistance has 100% of the damage coming in and dies in 4.5 seconds (450/100)
• Rifter with 391 shield capacity and 30% EM damage resistance has 70% of the damage coming in or 70 DPS and dies in 5.6 seconds (391/70)

This is actually the worst-case scenario for this Rifter as the incoming damage is hitting the weakest resist. For example, if the incoming damage was thermal then:

• Rifter with 391 shield capacity and 44% thermal damage resistance has 56% of the damage coming in or 56 DPS and dies in 7 seconds (391/56)

These types of calculations can be done for different combinations of three rigs, subject to any stacking penalty, and similarly for the other types of damage resistance. In short, if the incoming damage type is known then a small resistance rig is better than a small buffer rig.

Evolution of Ship Fitting Philosophy

Starwalker had observed from the T1 Tournament and more experience with R1FTA that there was an evolution in his ship fitting philosophy. It was adding depth to the core idea of select a ship and fittings that was fit for purpose. Miura Bull had identified a number of different Rifter fits and a short description of each.

When Starwalker had first read through these variations it seemed like lots of different fits for different purposes such as Can Flipper and for different strengths such as 400 Beast and Shield Buff.

What was missed at the time was that the strength of each fit is very situational. That the selection of modules and rigs is balancing between damage, tank, capacitor, speed and range. The game rock, paper and scissors, is a very good analogy for how any individual ship fit could be countered. Similarly, when roaming in the wilds of space any encounter is basically random, so there is no prior knowledge of the right fit to use.

This randomness of encounter with ships fitted for situational strength creates a challenge - to fit the ship and blend the modules between damage, tank, capacitor, speed and range. The ideal is to surprise the opponent by establishing relative superiority where and when it matters:

• More damage at combat range
• Faster speed to establish range control and the range of combat (and reduce incoming damage)
• Tank the incoming damage long enough to get the kill
• Superior capacitor to continue to run systems whilst the opponent with no remaining capacitor is forced to shut down systems

The real challenge is that there is no one ship or fit that can do all of these things better than all other ships. So selecting a ship and fit is about fitting for a purpose such as low-sec roaming, scouting, tackling, damage dealing, electronic warfare, covert, repairing… and a fit that offers the “best” blend of capabilities for that purpose.

This understanding of relative superiority has led to another evolution of Starwalker’s ship fitting philosophy that has become clearer in hindsight:

1. Initial focus was on kill or be killed – a simple damage race, who will be the first to get the kill. Emphasis on using simple cookie cutter builds but not really appreciating the reasons behind the fit 
2. Next evolution was that survival is needed to apply damage, so tank is fitted first and damage second. In short, no damage if dead, so fit tank before guns 
3. Current focus is on relative superiority – define a ship fit to counter most likely ships encountered and their methods of attack. Maximize intelligence to gain relative superiority in selection of tactics, ammunition and range 

The beauty and bane of the Rifter is that it is very flexible and can be fit in many ways. So it becomes important to define one or more fits based on intelligence, probabilities and personal preferences and decide on questions such as:

• Fight in scramble or point range? 
• How much tank is needed and what type of tank? 
• How much damage is needed and what specific range to (generally) fight at? If range cannot be dictated then how does it affect tactics? 
• How fast must the ship be to establish relative superiority in general? If slower then how does that affect tactics? 
• Will neutralisers be used to attack the opponent capacitor or energy vampires to protect against such tactics? Will capacitor boosters or rechargers be needed? 
• Should electronic warfare modules or counter measures be used? What tactics are needed if electronic warfare is used? 

Of course other frigates and indeed ships classes would offer their blend of strengths and weaknesses. Similarly, a pilot may feel a preference for close combat brawls one day but kiting the next, or to select a Merlin for close combat one day and then a Rifter the next.

Re-reading the Brutor Bullfighter’s list of Rifter fits and descriptions Starwalker noticed much more and appreciated the differences.

Experience had also shown that whilst ship fitting is important and will play its part in the result of a fight, many other factors also affect the outcome of a battle – most notably pilot error. Starwalker sipped some more whiskey it was time to consider how to apply this information.

Rifter - 400mm Armour Fit

The fight with Tawa Suyo had ended in defeat but had also resulted in a very interesting post mortem about the Rifter fits used.

Tawa Suyo had engaged with a dual armour repair fit and at face value that had bested the combination of 400mm + armour repair. The key reason had been that the dual repairers had been able to keep pace with the incoming damage and repair it all but the buffer fit with one repairer had not been able to do the same. Consequently, over time the armour buffer was slowly eaten away with the single repair only able to slow the incoming damage not repair it all.

Starwalker had tried to innovate on the fit by taking a fairly standard 400mm + Micro Auxiliary Power Core (MAPC) fit and adding the small armour repairer instead of the MAPC. The compromise needed with Starwalker’s skills was to fit 3 small ancillary current routers:

This left the armour fit vulnerable to explosive damage and also removed some of the flexibility that might have been available with the rigs.

Tawa Suyo made a convincing point that it was better to go either buffer or active with the 400mm armour plate and not to try to do both since that required a fitting compromise. He also extolled the virtue of the neutraliser and that offensively it made more sense than fitting a rocket launcher. Not only did it potentially make the target ship helpless with no propulsion, active repair and so on it also provided a GTFO (get out fast) option if things were going badly.

Some good points about fitting and something to think about.

Cost Effective Ship Fitting

Starwalker considered his ISK balance and noted that he was still ISK challenged. There simply was not enough ISK to buy small fleets of ships and fit them with no consideration of cost. Indeed maximising ship performance with good equipment selection and fitting whilst minimising the cost of the hulls and fittings was still a key consideration.

Inevitably this leads to making compromises – selecting a lower performing item because it costs considerably less or modifying a fit to accommodate the exclusion of very expensive item(s). Starwalker mulled it over and brought two similar fits onto the Neocom console. The first fit used an expensive Internal Force Field Array and was the main reason that it came in at just over 42m ISK:

The statistics look good, apart from the cost:

·         DPS – 159

·         Effective HP – 4271

·         Speed – 1154

·         Capacitor stable at 86%

However, the cost is a factor and this shield tanked Rifter could come in at considerably less ISK with some modifications. Starwalker compared it to the second fit on the console:

The statistics looked similar and the cost is now around 15m ISK:

·         DPS – 155 versus 159 or a ~3% loss

·         Effective HP – 4286 versus 4271 or a ~3% improvement

·         Speed – 1154 is the same

·         Capacitor stable at 86% is the same

Starwalker knew that this was an easy choice. No fight had yet been decided by a 3% difference in performance and so the best bang for buck was the second Rifter fit. Others might choose differently but Starwalker’s wallet had the made the final choice. Selecting the second fit, Starwalker quickly placed the market orders to fit his small fleet of Rifters.