Tuesday 19 March 2013

Eve: webbing drones

I've been toying with the idea of using webbing drones in pvp.

Webs are extremely powerful in Eve pvp as speed mitigates damage and also allows a player to dictate range to his advantage and to the enemy's detriment. They're pretty short range though except for a few ships that bonus them but those are all expensive or fragile or both.

In big null sec fights a blob of ship follows a designated anchor ship and if I could web that I'd slow their whole fleet down - useful both if we're chasing them or if they're chasing us.

What I don't know and would like to test is how returns diminish with multiple stacked webs from drones and how those interact with regular webs.

Here's the fit:

[Dragoon, webs]
Co-Processor II
Co-Processor II
Internal Force Field Array I
400mm Reinforced Steel Plates II

Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Sensor Booster II, Targeting Range Script

Drone Link Augmentor II
Drone Link Augmentor II
75mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Caldari Navy Iron Charge S
75mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Caldari Navy Iron Charge S
75mm Prototype Gauss Gun, Caldari Navy Iron Charge S
Auto Targeting System I

Small Stasis Drone Augmentor I
Small Stasis Drone Augmentor I
Small Stasis Drone Augmentor I


Warrior SW-300 x5
Warrior SW-300 x10

It's hard to tell from EFT what the drone range is but it targets to 85.8km with a Squad Commander and should be able to control drones out that far. I'm not sure if the drones move fast enough - here's a fit that gives up tank completely for quicker moving drones:

[Dragoon, webs]
Co-Processor II
Co-Processor II
Type-D Attenuation Signal Augmentation
Type-D Attenuation Signal Augmentation

Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Drone Navigation Computer I

Drone Link Augmentor II
Drone Link Augmentor II
Gatling Modulated Energy Beam I, Imperial Navy Radio S
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

Small Stasis Drone Augmentor I
Small Stasis Drone Augmentor I
Small Stasis Drone Augmentor I


Warrior SW-300 x5
Warrior SW-300 x10

I'll report back my findings after I've tested these fits out.

4 comments:

  1. Webs suffer from the stacking penalty --- the theory predicts that you are giving up a lot of dps (5 warrior II's) for what amounts to a stacking penalty adjusted web of 30% effect. Is this going to allow you to close to a more effective range to apply dps? It will be interesting to see which ships you think you can beat with the web drones that you couldn't with warrior II's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Webs have a range of about 9km without getting into special ships. These can web things that are way further from our ships than that and null sec fcs judge position based on where ships are.

      Regarding diminishing returns I'd be interested to test that, sometimes the actual mechanics differ from the paper mechanics. Do web drones count in the same group as module webs? Worth checking I think.

      Also in large fleet battles warrior IIs are insignificant but webbing the primary 30% could be a huge difference. Consider the effect if our guys are moving at 1300 and the bad guys are kiting us by moving at 1500.

      Delete
  2. PYFA give you drone control range. IE mine on my fav Algos is;
    Targeting Range: 63km
    Drone Control Range: (w/ 1 DLA I) 74km/54km w/o the DLA
    x5 Hobgob IIs - 124DPS ea (w/ 2 DDAIIs) 182DPS

    I have used Webber Drones a lot solo against Sleepers in our old C2 (I simply accepted the high loss rate and named them all for the Famed Kamikaze of Old Earth That Was...). However when they did get a BS locked up he was easy meat for me...

    I haven't tried em in PvP because the Berserker SW-900 has a top speed of 1,500m/s and with a 110m Sig radius they are very easy to lock and as they tend to fly 'directly at' whatever you sic em on I would expect they would rarely catch up before they get popped... would be interested in your experiment... though I expect that like EWar drones they be primaried and then just add to your opponents desire to Keel You!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, the heavy and medium combat utility drones are almost useless because of their slow speed.

      I think in the large null battles it should be possible to web a number of things simply because people deal with so much screen clutter that they simply take things off their overview.

      Delete