===== Solo Stealth Bomber ===== ---- ===== Introduction ===== This guide assumes you have a basic understanding of PVP, ship fitting, and EVE in general. If you find that the guide is assuming you know something when you actually do not, please search this wiki for the relevant information.\\ This guide is about various methods of using stealth bombers. The assumed goal when flying solo stealth bombers is to disrupt enemy ratters and (hopefully) kill them. Bombers are particularly skilled at this because they are very cheap for what they do, and very effective at what they do. This guide is generally focused on flying aggressively (shoot first, worry about bait later), and the fits reflect that. [[training:pvp_ship_roles:afk_cloaker:start|AFK Camping]] a system is used extensively in order to give the residents a false sense of security. Flying bombers this way means committing your character to the venture for days, if not weeks. ---- =====What You Will Learn===== * Bomber fits and how they work * Relevant skills * What to put in your cargo hold * How to find a system (DOTLAN) * How to find a target (System And Directional scanner) * How to engage targets * How to identify bait ---- ====== Bomber Fits ====== ===== Medium Shield Extender ===== ==== Purifier Fit ==== [Purifier, Solo] Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II Co-Processor II 1MN Afterburner II Warp Disruptor II Medium Shield Extender II Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II Cynosural Field Generator I /OFFLINE Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I Small Bay Loading Accelerator I ---- ==== Manticore Fit ==== [Manticore, Solo] Ballistic Control System II Micro Auxiliary Power Core I 1MN Afterburner II Warp Disruptor II Medium Shield Extender II Low Frequency Sensor Suppressor I, Scan Resolution Dampening Script Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II Cynosural Field Generator I /OFFLINE Small Bay Loading Accelerator I Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I ---- ==== Nemesis Fit ==== [Nemesis, Solo] Micro Auxiliary Power Core I Ballistic Control System II 1MN Afterburner II Warp Disruptor II Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I Low Frequency Sensor Suppressor I, Scan Resolution Dampening Script Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II [empty high slot] Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I Small Auxiliary Thrusters I ---- ==== Hound Fit ==== [Hound, Solo] Nanofiber Internal Structure II Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II 1MN Afterburner II Warp Disruptor II Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Nova Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Nova Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Nova Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II Cynosural Field Generator I /OFFLINE Small Ancillary Current Router I Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I ---- ==== Fit Explanation ==== The four bombers share (mostly) the same hull bonuses. They key difference in bonuses between them is which damage type they receive a damage bonus to. The Purifier receives an EM damage bonus, the Manticore a Kinetic damage bonus, the Nemesis a Thermal damage bonus, and the Hound an Explosive damage bonus.\\ Now, on to the fittings themselves. These fits are all known as AB/MSE fits (Afterburner/Medium Shield Extender). This is a fairly common fitting among frigates.\\ The afterburner gives you better mobility without the massively increased signature radius and capacitor drain of an MWD. This is particularly important when fighting with ratters, as speed and signature tanking--being too fast and small for weapons to hit you, respectively--make up a good portion of your tank.\\ The Medium Shield Extender is the other part of your tank. Bombers are very flimsy ships, so in an attempt to remedy this, a MSE is fitted. An armor tank is not used for two reasons: they impact your mobility--which is very important in a covert ops ship--and they occupy low slots which are needed for DPS and fitting modules.\\ The Warp Disruptor II is pretty self-explanatory for the most part, but there is a small caveat. It being a T2 disruptor is very important. Like speed and signature tanking, range dictation is very important to a stealth bomber's survival. Having the extra range T2 provides is useful in many ways. It gives you a wider choice of engagement ranges. In the case of capacitor neutralizers, overheating a T2 point allows you to fight outside of the range of T2 heavy neutralizers (25.6km).\\ The offline Cynosural Field Generator actually occupies a wild-card slot. It has to stay offline due to fitting constraints, but putting other modules offline will free up enough space to activate it. The cyno is there as a fallback option. There are some fights you simply can not win solo. If you have camped a system for a week and suddenly there is a carrier out ratting, you have no chance of killing the carrier on your own. What you can do, however, is contact an FC who can organize a fleet to be bridged onto said carrier. Some people also fit an offline bomb launcher or expanded probe launcher, but their use is questionable. Keeping the launcher online with your torpedos, you severely gimp your tank, and it's difficult to imagine a situation where bombing is the best option and you have enough time to online the launcher. Probes suffer a similar problem. The chances of you having time to online your probe launcher, scan them down, offline your probe launcher, bring everything else back online, and still have a target to shoot at is incredibly slim.\\ There is also another fit, a reliable way to counter light drones with the wildcard high slot: a smartbomb. No, not a regular bomb like the kind Dingo uses to pod express entire fleets. A smartbomb. For the unaware, smartbombs are area of effect weapons that deal damage in a field around your ship at the cost of capacitor. Light drones (bane of torpedo bombers) can be destroyed or fended off with one of these. For fitting reasons, a small meta EMP smartbomb (known in EVE as the "Small 'Vehemence' Shockwave Charge" is the best choice. You have to be able to online the smartbomb alongside the rest of the fit, otherwise it will be of no use to you. In all likelihood you will have to use extra fitting modules and/or downgrade other modules to make it fit.\\ Finally, there is the sensor dampener that the Manticore and Nemesis use. This slot, like the cyno, is a wildcard.There are other options for e-war. The dampener and scan resolution script is in my opinion the most useful e-war module you can put in the utility mid. To make a long story short, lock time is calculated using the target's signature radius and the targeter's scan resolution. Decreasing either will increase lock time. Bombers have naturally small signature radii, and battleships have naturally low scan resolutions. It already takes a while for a battleship to lock a bomber. By further decreasing the battleship's scan resolution with the dampener, you significantly increase the time it takes to lock you. Using an all V's Raven as an example: before the dampener it takes 19.7 seconds to lock the Manticore, and after it takes 29.4 seconds, which is a huge gain. Some people use the utility mid for a target painter or stasis webifier. A target painter will only help you if you're fighting something smaller than a battleship, which in general is a bad idea for a bomber. The web is a terrible idea because to use it, you have to be fairly close to your target, which puts you in a needlessly risky position. And again, a web will only help you against things smaller than a battleship, which are usually a bad engagement.\\ And what about T2 Torpedo Launchers? It is possible--though very difficult--to fit them onto some of the bombers, but the sacrifices you have to make in order to fit them hurt your DPS more than they help it. T2 torpedo ammo is useless for killing ratters. Rage's explosion radius is so large that you will lose more DPS than you gain. Javelin gives you range that you really have no use for.\\ ---- ==== Ship Comparison ==== That pretty much covers the fittings. But now you may be asking "which one is the best?" To be honest, there really is not any "best" bomber for this job. They all have their own pros and cons.\\ The Purifier has the best DPS of the four fits. The Hound is a close second, but makes up for that with the added agility and speed the nanofiber provides. The Manticore comes in third for DPS due to only being able to fit one BCS. However, the utility mid (and the sensor dampener in particular) gives the Manticore an advantage over the Hound and Purifier. What it lacks in DPS, it makes up for in e-war capabilities. Lastly, there is the Nemesis. Like the Manticore, it possesses a fourth mid slot, which again is preferably fit with a sensor dampener. Due to fitting issues the Nemesis has a bit less DPS than the Manticore. * **DPS-wise:** Purifer > Hound > Manticore > Nemesis * **Overall effectiveness:** Purifer = Manticore = Hound > Nemesis ---- ===== Medium Ancillary Shield Booster ===== ==== Purifier Fit ==== [Purifier, ASB] Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II Co-Processor II 1MN Afterburner II Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 50 Warp Disruptor II Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II [empty high slot] Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I Small Bay Loading Accelerator I ---- ==== Manticore Fit ==== [Manticore, ASB] Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II 1MN Afterburner II Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 50 Warp Disruptor II Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Targeting Range Dampening Script Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II [empty high slot] Small Processor Overclocking Unit I Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I ---- ==== Nemesis Fit ==== [Nemesis, ASB] Ballistic Control System II Co-Processor II 1MN Afterburner II Warp Disruptor II Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 50 Low Frequency Sensor Suppressor I, Scan Resolution Dampening Script Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II [empty high slot] Small Bay Loading Accelerator I Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I ---- ==== Hound Fit ==== [Hound, ASB] Co-Processor II Ballistic Control System II Ballistic Control System II 1MN Afterburner II Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 50 Warp Disruptor II Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Nova Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Nova Torpedo Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Caldari Navy Nova Torpedo Covert Ops Cloaking Device II [empty high slot] Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I Small Bay Loading Accelerator I ---- ==== Fit Explanation ==== For the most part these fits are the same as the MSE fits. The only differences between the two are the Medium Ancillary Shield Booster (MASB) versus the MSE, and any fitting mods that had to be changed to allow for the previous change. Refer to the MSE section for an overview of the entire fit.\\ So what is the difference between a MASB fit and a MSE fit, and why does it deserve its own section? The MSE fits shown earlier use what is known as a buffer tank. The MSE gives them a larger pool of hitpoints, which makes them harder to kill. The MASB, on the other hand, does not increase the size of your shield hitpoints pool. Rather, it restores hitpoints to the shield when they have taken damage. This is known as active tanking.\\ What makes this fit special, or at least worthy of mention? Essentially, in one reload of a MASB (ten cycles) you can restore a larger number of hitpoints to your shields than a MSE can add to your hitpoint pool. Theoretically, this gives you more raw hitpoints over time (more on this in a moment) than a MSE does. For the ship, this means a stronger tank against incoming damage, which in turn means the pilot could potentially stay on the field longer than with a MSE fit.\\ There are drawbacks though. Most important of them is the difference between a buffer tank and an active tank. With a buffer tank (MSE fit) you have an expanded shield hitpoint pool at any given moment. In a sense, it is a proactive defense. Regardless of whether or not you're taking damage, your shields are always reinforced. On the other hand, an active tank does not have this luxury. You can't begin to restore damage until you've already taken it, making it a strictly reactive defense.\\ What does that all mean for you? A couple things.\\ - It's a lot easier to be one-shotted in an active fit if you aren't careful. - When you make a mistake in a MASB fit, there will be much harsher consequences than with a MSE fit, and there will be much less room for you to correct for your error. If you fuck up, it's going to hurt a lot. - Your ability to engage in multiple fights over a period of time is limited by how many cap boosters you have with you, and in turn, how many you can have with you. Ancillary shield boosters are a bit of an oddity; rather than using capacitor as their fuel, they use cap boosters. The advantage to this is that running your booster incurs no immediate cost to your ship, whereas a regular booster will drain your capacitor (quite quickly, I might add). The disadvantage to this is that once you run out of cap boosters, you're out of tank. Technically you can run an ASB off of capacitor like a normal booster, but it comes at a massive capacitor cost and should only be used when it is absolutely necessary and unavoidable.\\ A tangentially related problem to this is the reload time of ancillary shield boosters: it's 60 seconds. That's a long time. Running out of loaded cap boosters in a fight is basically the same as your shields being completely depleted in a MSE fit. **Don't go into a fight without a full ten cap boosters loaded**. If you do, you're going to have a bad time.\\ Overheating your booster is a good idea. Another unique aspect of ASBs is that overheating decreases their duration (time between shield boosts) and increases the amount of hitpoints restored in each cycle.\\ Overall, this fit to inexperienced pilots. They do a better job than a MSE fit only when the pilot does everything right. Make one mistake with an ASB fit, and you're going to be in deep shit. With a MSE fit, you have more time to identify and correct for pilot error, making it more forgiving to less experienced pilots.\\ '''tl;dr''' - Active tank instead of buffer tank. Over time an ASB can give a better tank than a MSE. However, an ASB fit is much easier to make mistakes with, and much more unforgiving to pilot error than a MSE fit. Your ability to tank across multiple fights is limited by how many cap boosters you can take with you. Run out of boosters and you're out of tank. ASB RELOADS FOR 60 SECONDS. RUNNING OUT OF BOOSTERS IN A FIGHT = HELLDEATH. Overheated ASB = more rep per cycle. This fit is not for newbros and requires a relatively high degree of pilot skill and/or luck.\\ ---- ====== Relevant Skills ====== This is a list of skills that will help you fly your bomber better. Pre-requisites for the hull and modules are not included. ==== Electronics ==== * Propulsion Jamming - Decreases warp disruptor capacitor consumption * Sensor Linking - Decreases sensor dampener capacitor consumption * Signal Suppression - Increases effectiveness of sensor dampeners * Signature Analysis - Decreases lock time ==== Engineering ==== * Energy Management - Increases capacitor capacity * Energy Systems Operation - Increases capacitor recharge rate * Shield Management - Increases shield HP * Shield Upgrades - Decreases shield extender PG usage ==== Gunnery ==== * Weapon Upgrades/Advanced Weapon Upgrades - Decreases torpedo launcher CPU and PG use, respectively ==== Mechanics ==== * Launcher Rigging - Decreases missile rigging CPU penalty ==== Missile Launcher Operation ==== * Missile Bombardment - Increases missile flight time * Missile Launcher Operation - Increases rate of fire * Missile Projection - Increases missile velocity * Rapid Launch - Increases rate of fire * Target Navigation Prediction - Increases missile explosion velocity * Torpedoes - Increases torpedo damage * Warhead Upgrades - Increases missile damage ==== Navigation ==== * Acceleration Control - Increases afterburner speed boost * Afterburner - Increases afterburner duration * Evasive Maneuvering - Improves ship agility * Fuel Conservation - Decreases afterburner capacitor consumption * Navigation - Increases maximum sub-warp velocity ==== Science ==== * Biology - Allows for booster use and increases booster duration * Thermodynamics - Allows for overheating, decreases heat damage ==== Spaceship Command ==== * Covert Ops - Increases torpedo and bomb damage * Spaceship Command - Improves ship agility ---- ====== Filling Your Cargo Hold ====== ==== Essentials ==== * Faction torpedoes of the appropriate damage type - You have to have ammunition to shoot * Nanite Repair Paste - Repairs modules damaged by overheating ==== Useful Extras ==== * Mobile Small Warp Disruptor - For catching bots and setting up sling/drag bubbles * Boosters (more on these below) * Small Standard Container - Extra cargo hold space. Occupies 100m3, but contains 120m3 ==== Boosters ==== Boosters are drugs that a pilot can take to improve a certain ship statistic for a period of time, at the risk of certain penalties specific to the drug. Boosters useful to bombers: * **Blue Pill** - Slot 1. Increases shield boost amount, with potential penalties to shield hitpoints (weakens your shield tank), optimal range (doesn't apply to bombers), explosion velocity (makes it easier to speed tank your torpedoes), and capacitor (decreases the capacity, meaning you have less to work with). '''''ASB FIT ONLY, THIS DOES NOTHING FOR A MSE FIT.''''' * **X-Instinct** - Slot 1. Decreases signature radius, with potential penalties to armour hitpoints (slightly decreases your total hitpoints), shield hitpoints (weakens your shield tank), falloff range (doesn't apply to bombers), and missile velocity (makes your missiles slower, meaning less effective range, not of a real concern to these fits). '''''WORKS ESPECIALLY WELL IN CONJUNCTION WITH A SENSOR DAMPENER.''''' * **Crash** - Slot 3. Decreases missile explosion radius (your torpedoes will deal more damage to smaller targets) with potential penalties to shield boost amount (weakens your active shield tank), armour hitpoints (slightly decreases your total hitpoints), missile velocity (makes your missiles slower, meaning less effective range, not of a real concern to these fits), and ship speed (makes your ship slower, which in turn weakens your speed tank). **USING THIS WITH AN ASB FIT CAN SIGNIFICANTLY WEAKEN YOUR TANK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.** ---- ====== Finding A System (with DOTLAN) ====== Now you know how to fit a bomber and what to put in it. But, where do you take it? Allow me to introduce you to an amazingly useful tool: [[http://evemaps.dotlan.net/ | DOTLAN]]. DOTLAN is many things, but for our purposes, it is a set of filterable, well-organized maps of each region in EVE. They are much easier to read than the in-game map, and provide much more useful information.\\ Now you have a nice organized map of the targeted system in front of you. In the top right corner of the map are two drop-down menus. On the right is a list of all of the regions; selecting one will take you to that region's map. On the left is a list of filters that you can apply to the map. There are two filters that are relevant to this guide: NPC Kills and NPC Kills (24h). The former lists the number of NPC kills in each system in the last hour, the latter lists the same, but over the last twenty-four hours. This is how you find ratters. Where there are ratters, there are NPC kills. The more NPC kills there are, the more ratters there are. If you want to take a closer look at the ratting habits of a particular system, click on the system in the map. One of the graphs listed in the system's page is NPC Kills over the last forty-eight hours. Look around a bit and try to find a good target system in unfriendly space.\\ Once you've found a good system, you need to check what the local pirates are. This can also be found in a system information page, and extends region-wide. Once you know who the local pirates are, [[http://www.ogrank.com/content/view/698/59/ |go here]] and find the local pirates. This page will tell you what damage types ratters will tank against to fight pirates. Simply put, these are not the damage types you want to deal. If you were to go to Guristas space, dealing thermal and kinetic damage would be a very bad idea. EM or explosive would be much better.\\ Pick out a good system that will not have ratters tanked against your bomber's bonused damage type.\\ ---- ====== How To Find A Target ====== You have your bomber, and you know where you are taking it. But how do you actually find ratters within the system?\\ Due to the recent changes made to belt ratting, you are very unlikely to catch a ratter in an asteroid belt. You are far more likely to find them in anomalies. To find anomalies in a system, you must use your ship's scanner. Press Alt-D to open your scanner. Open the System Scanner tab if you aren't already there. Press the blue button in the top-left corner. Your ship will now scan for anomalies for the next ten seconds. At the end of the ten seconds, it will display every anomaly within sixty-four AU's of your ship. Anomalies have many different levels of difficulty, and corresponding names. Ignoring the easier Dens and Rally Points, you are most likely going to find ratters in Hubs, Havens, and Sanctums (listed in ascending difficulty). There are also four different types of Hubs: regular Hubs (listed just as "Hub"), Hidden Hubs, Forlorn Hubs, and Forsaken Hubs (listed in ascending difficulty). You will most likely find ratters in Forsaken and Forlorn Hubs.\\ Quickly, you will realize that this alone is not enough information to easily find ratters. There will be many anomalies in a system with high NPC kills, so checking each one is not efficient. This is where the Directional Scanner (d-scan) comes in. In the same window as your System Scanner, click the [[training:game_mechanics:directional_scanner]] tab at the top. It's highly recommended you learn how to use the d-scan tool, as it is arguably the most useful tool in the game.\\ Using a combination of d-scan and the System Map (F10, switch to the solar system map), you can quickly narrow down which anomaly a ratter is in. On the solar system map, scanned anomalies appear as green markers. By using celestials as landmarks, you can determine what planet(s) a ratter's anomaly is near. Then by looking on the system map at the anomaly markers, you can determine which anomalies the ratter is potentially in. Once you've narrowed down your selection a fair bit (I try to get to a 30 degree scan angle before the system scan finishes), pick an anomaly you think they are in and warp in at range (30-50km).\\ If you jump into a system that has NPC Kill activity, but d-scan does not list any ships in your vicinity, open your system map and check how far away celestials are from you. D-scan has a maximum range of ~14.4 AU's, so if there are anomalies outside of that range, you won't be able to d-scan any ratters in them. At this point your best bet is to pick the closest likely candidate (Hub, Haven, or Sanctum) that is further than 14.4 AU from you. Continue d-scanning until you find a target, or you determine that all ratters have docked or entered a POS.\\ The following is the recommended procedure to follow upon jumping into a target system. When you jump in, you have a short period of time (3 minutes at the most) to catch ratters before they notice you in local. If you fail to catch someone, don't worry. If you AFK camp a system for long enough, many ratters will be lulled into a false sense of security and may begin ratting with you in local. Then you may pick them off at your discretion, using the same d-scan/system map technique.\\ ---- ====== How To Engage Targets ====== Assuming you have successfully landed in an anomaly currently being run by a ratter, it's time to blow them up (maybe).\\ Maybe? Well, it depends on what exactly you are on grid with. There are a lot of ships a bomber can engage, but there are also a lot of ships one can not engage. So which is your ratter?\\ Generally speaking, your safest targets are battleships and industrials. Battlecruisers are usually a bad choice of target, but not impossible. T2 and T3 Cruisers are almost always out of your reach if they aren't broken bots.\\ For the sake of example, we'll assume your target is a Raven and you are in a Purifier. In the case of missile ships, which direction you're moving in doesn't matter, as long as you are moving as quickly as possible to speed tank their missiles, and you aren't drifting outside of point range. Align to a celestial during a fight whenever possible, so you can quickly leave if necessary. Decloak, lock the Raven, point it and start laying torpedoes into it. Be sure to overheat your missile launchers for as long as you can, unless you are sure that you will not need the extra DPS.\\ In the case of a turreted ship, orbiting may be necessary in order to maintain a high enough angular velocity to out-track the guns. The disadvantage to this is that you will not be fighting while aligned out, making you more vulnerable to ships arriving to help the ratter, especially those of the covert variety.\\ While you're doing the fighting, you should set your d-scanner to 150,000,000km (~1 AU) and 360 degrees and spam d-scan for the duration of the fight. If at any point you see a ship other than the ratter's appear on d-scan, align out immediately and be prepared to warp out. It's possible the ship is just passing by, but the ship could also be the ratter's friend coming to save their sorry ass. Assuming that the ship on d-scan is warping directly to your anomaly, you have two, maybe three volleys you can launch before the third ship will land on grid with you.\\ Your main enemy in a fight are light drones. They will beat you up pretty quickly, and unfortunately there's not a lot you can do about that. You just have to hope that you can break their tank before they can break yours. ---- ====== Reasons To Leave ====== * Other ships on d-scan or on grid * Your tank is breaking faster than theirs (side note: your armor and hull combined have about half the EHP of your shields) * They use any type of capacitor or electronic warfare on you (neuts, vamps, point, web, target painter, sensor damp, etc) * The ratter is tanking you and the rats successfully (don't waste torpedoes) ---- ====== Identifying Bait ====== Sometimes, an intrepid ratter will become tired of your presence, and will attempt to bait you into a fight they know they will win. Typically this is done with a ship that is fit to appear to be ratting, but is also capable of fighting back against you much more effectively than the average ratting ship. There are ways to help you identify a bait ship. ===== Signs of a Bait Ship ===== * Killing NPCs unusually slowly - they're probably using smaller weapons that will be more effective against you, but less effective against the pirates. * Missing gun models on a ship that normally fills them - if you look at a ship in space, you can see the models of all of the guns and missile launchers fit to their ship. Normally, an Abaddon would have eight lasers fit. If it only has seven, chances are it has a heavy energy neutralizer and warp disruptor fit. Deviations from standard ratting fits are red flags. * Ratting with you in local not long after you arrive or become active. * Ratter appears unusually calm while ratting with you in local - a tricky one. It could mean they're dumb and assume you're AFK, or it could mean there's a Rapier on grid waiting for you to bite the hook. Look for things like ratting without aligning out, go with your gut when you have to, and understand that sometimes you just make the wrong choice. * The ratter is flying an Armageddon, Dominix, Scorpion, Typhoon, any faction or T2 battleship, or any battlecruiser. This is more precautionary than it is a definite sign of bait. The first four are very common bait ships because of their utility slots. Faction/T2 battleships are very enticing targets, and hard to pass up. Battlecruisers are very capable of fucking your shit up, whether or not they intend to. ===== Oh Shit It Was Bait ===== You're fucked. Remember, you didn't want that ship anyway. ---- ====== Closing Thoughts ====== Congratulations, you've reached the end. That was probably a lot longer than it needed to be, and you are applauded for putting up with the horrendous mountain of words.\\ If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. You're flying a cheap glass cannon. Of course you're going to die a lot. StuffStuff dies all of the time and he has been doing this for a while now. Sometimes you will die due to reasons outside of your control, and sometimes to your own stupidity. It's going to happen. A lot. Don't get discouraged just because you fucked up. The best piece of advice to know (and this applies to just about everything) is to learn from your mistakes.