Pages: [1] :: one page |
|
Author |
Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 0 post(s) |
Gethin Arq
Weyland-Yutani-Tyreul
1
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 17:21:00 -
[1] - Quote
I'm at 3.5 m SP and focusing on Gallente drones. I got it into my head that I needed sentry drones and trained accordingly, but now that I have Garde I drones I am thoroughly underwhelmed. I suspect that the drones really don't suck this much and I'm just not using them well.
(I'm running Lvl 2 and 3 missions.) With a pair of Garde Is deployed I still have enough bandwidth to send out some Hobgoblin IIs, and they are able to range out as far as I can target (60k-ish). With the help of my 250mm railguns the Hobgoblins are usually able to take out most of the hostiles before they are in range of the sentries, which have only a 10km range. The only ships that make it into the Garde's range are fast moving frigates, and they can't hit frigates because of that horrible tracking, so I just tank the damage until the Hobgoblins are free to come back and kill them.
What tactics should I employ to make better use of sentries? |
Velicitia
Open Designs
887
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 17:35:00 -
[2] - Quote
you're using the wrong size drones. Rough approximation of what you should be shooting at
Light --> Frigs/Dessies (though the latter can kill lights pretty easily) Med --> Cruiser/BC Lg/Sentries --> BS
Once you get some of the other skills up (Drone Sharpshooting?) the sentry range gets pretty big.
ed -- Sentries are also nice when shooting POS (they're the only drones that can reach into the shields) |
Gethin Arq
Weyland-Yutani-Tyreul
1
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 19:24:00 -
[3] - Quote
I'd been using the Hobgoblin IIs and Hammerhead IIs as you recommend. I was eager to try the sentry drones, but I guess they won't be all that useful until I train some more. |
Culmen
Culmenation
46
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 20:19:00 -
[4] - Quote
Just want to point out that the Garde drone has the shortest range of all sentries. It's also has the highest tracking, it can hit some cruisers at relatively close range.
It might be worth checking out Curator drones for and Bouncer drones if the enemy is weak vs EM or Explosive. Generally I find the Warden drone's damage lack luster at best and I avoid it. There is a fine line between a post and a signature. |
Orlacc
Pator Tech School Minmatar Republic
132
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 20:45:00 -
[5] - Quote
Believe me, once you are fighting Battleships with T2 sentries you will be a believer! I put off training up to T2 and now wonder why. |
Gethin Arq
Weyland-Yutani-Tyreul
1
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 21:06:00 -
[6] - Quote
Thanks for the feedback. |
Lost Greybeard
Fenrir's Dogs of War Union 0f Revolution
43
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 21:37:00 -
[7] - Quote
The primary advantage of sentries is that there is more equipment that boosts them, you can up their tracking, range, and damage. So the difference between a blinged out ship and a ship that just happens to have some sentries is a lot bigger than the difference for small/medium/large drones.
But yeah, what other people said about using small/medium drones to kill small/medium rats. You technically _can_ hit them, but you have roughly the same set of issues as using oversized turrets. |
Louis deGuerre
The Dark Tribe Against ALL Authorities
278
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 22:04:00 -
[8] - Quote
The sentry drones vary wildly in range and tracking. Personally, a flight of Warden IIs is just awesome when anything is >50km, including frigates. When things are flying straight at you their angular velocity will be zero so their low tracking will be irrelevant. Anything >50km will die easily to warden IIs. For closer range I tend to use regular drones, but sentry drones can be efficient as well if you use the ones with best tracking. A big plus is they are hard to lose due to their huge amount of EHP compared to regular drones.
FIRE FRIENDSHIP TORPEDOES ! Louis's epic skill guide v1.1 |
Tau Cabalander
Retirement Retreat Working Stiffs
650
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 23:17:00 -
[9] - Quote
I love Garde II on my alt's Rattlesnake. Sentries positively tear anything to shreds, even frigates until they settle into orbit (at which point light drones tear them to shreds).
I usually carry Garde (short range), and Bouncer or Warden or Curator (long range). Unlike other drones, all the racial sentries are useful. |
Gethin Arq
Weyland-Yutani-Tyreul
1
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 23:36:00 -
[10] - Quote
Lost Greybeard wrote:The primary advantage of sentries is that there is more equipment that boosts them....
Can you give an example of the boosting equipment?
|
|
Mara Rinn
Cosmic Industrial Complex Cosmic Consortium
1291
|
Posted - 2012.04.27 23:43:00 -
[11] - Quote
Gethin Arq wrote:Can you give an example of the boosting equipment?
- Sentry Damage Augmentor Rigs (more damage for sentry drones)
- Omnidirectional Tracking Link (more shooting range, better tracking)
- Drone Scope Rig (more shooting range)
- Drone Link Augmentor (more control range)
You'll find that T2 sentry drones are amazing compared to the limp-wristed performance of T1 sentry drones. Even with T2 drones though, you'll find that your DPS in a drone specialist battleship tops out at about 475 DPS.
|
Lost Greybeard
Fenrir's Dogs of War Union 0f Revolution
44
|
Posted - 2012.04.28 10:37:00 -
[12] - Quote
Gethin Arq wrote:Lost Greybeard wrote:The primary advantage of sentries is that there is more equipment that boosts them.... Can you give an example of the boosting equipment?
Primarily the damage rigs, those are unique to sentries. Most of the other boosters have some other analogous stat for non-sentries. The mid-slot tracking mod really only helps sentries, as well, though it technically applies to all drones. |
Frank Millar
The Corporation Incorporated The Revolution.
26
|
Posted - 2012.04.29 10:20:00 -
[13] - Quote
From your opening post I get you're only using 2 Garde I's? Use 5 (of any drone type) at any one time.
Deploy at range (for Gardes somewhere between 20 and 50 km, I think) and shoot frigates/destroyers first, then cruisers/battlecruisers and finally battleships. If they start missing you'll have to retract them and use other, more appropriate drones (Hobgoblins, Hammerheads or Ogres, depending on target).
At 6.5 mil SP in Drones alone, I prefer Wardens myself (if I can get a warp-in at 70-80 km). If done right, nothing will get near enough to even put a dent in your tank.
But yeah, it needs some skilling to get there. |
Lyric Lahnder
Noir. Noir. Mercenary Group
31
|
Posted - 2012.04.30 19:04:00 -
[14] - Quote
You have chosen wisely. If you plan on doing pve, gallente was the right choice. My mission runner is gallente and the dominix is what you need to shoot for. If your flying a myrmidon your mobility is part of your tank so it doesnt make much sense to have sentrys. Until you get better skills if you want serious fire power do 2 x Ogre, 2 x hammerhead 1 x Hobgoblin. Which will put out more dps and have better tracking then the 3 x hoby 2 x garde.
Ill show you the fit my alt uses to get an Idea how you should be fitting drone boats.
Dominix Uber Sentry Fit 5 x 350mm Rail guns II 1 x Drone link augmenter II
2 x Omni directional tracking link II 1 x 100mn AB II 2 x cap recharger II
1 x Large Armor Repairer II 4 x racial hardeners II 2 x Cap power relay II
2 x sentry damage augmentor I
Drone mix: Raiders, Sanshas 5 x Garde II 5 x Curator II's 5 x Hammerhead II's 5 x Hobgoblin II's
With anti matter and garde II's this will put out 757 dps.
Its not cap stable but I have yet to be caught in a situation where I have actually run out of cap.
Treat your sentrys like an extra set of turrets. You want to use a full group, not just a couple. Noir. and Noir Academy are recruiting apply at www.noirmercs.comI Noir Academy: 60 days old must be able to fly at least one tech II frigate. I Noir. Recruits: 4:1 k/d ratio and can fly tech II cruisers. |
Gethin Arq
Weyland-Yutani-Tyreul
1
|
Posted - 2012.05.04 14:53:00 -
[15] - Quote
Frank Millar wrote:From your opening post I get you're only using 2 Garde I's? Use 5 (of any drone type) at any one time. Deploy at range (for Gardes somewhere between 20 and 50 km, I think) and shoot frigates/destroyers first, then cruisers/battlecruisers and finally battleships. If they start missing you'll have to retract them and use other, more appropriate drones (Hobgoblins, Hammerheads or Ogres, depending on target). At 6.5 mil SP in Drones alone, I prefer Wardens myself (if I can get a warp-in at 70-80 km). If done right, nothing will get near enough to even put a dent in your tank. But yeah, it needs some skilling to get there.
I'm flying a Myrmidon so I don't have the bandwidth for 5 Garde Is. I deployed a pair of the Garde's and then used the Hobgoblin IIs in an attempt to draw aggro and bait the targets into range of the Gardes. I was dismayed when I saw that the Gardes seemed to be useless in this strategy because I was eliminating the targets with the Hobgoblins and my ship's guns. (Garde Is only have a range of about 10km with my current skills.)
""Don't use it just because you meet the minimum prereqs" seems to hold true for ships and sentry drones.
|
Gethin Arq
Weyland-Yutani-Tyreul
1
|
Posted - 2012.05.04 15:04:00 -
[16] - Quote
Lyric Lahnder wrote:You have chosen wisely ....
With anti matter and garde II's this will put out 757 dps.
757 dps?! Sold! I will adjust my long term training queue accordingly.
|
Liam Mirren
513
|
Posted - 2012.05.04 16:44:00 -
[17] - Quote
First a bit of extra clarification, it has been mentioned before but still. Sentry drones are long range weapons, that means that they will have tracking issues with fast/small/upclose stuff. You can help that by fitting omnidirectionals from Mara's list, fitting one or 2 of those will make gardes do quite well against short orbit battlecruisers and bigger. Thing is that if you have targets that get too close and actually pose a problem you need to reel in your sentries and launch normal drones, you lose an awful lot of time and dps with that so generally your strategy will be to kill the smaller/faster stuff first while it's still at range (possibly switching to Wardens for extra range) and THEN start hurting the bigger targets as they slowly get into range.
Another thing of note is that in a few weeks there'll be drone damage mods, just like other damage mods for different weapon systems. These will be low slot items so the most ideal thing to do is to start shielding tanking your droneships. It already DID make sense to do so (generally shield tanked ships work better in PVE) but with the upcoming changes it's really worth it.
Here's an example of how that could look:
[Dominix Navy Issue, LVL 4 - Shield] Damage Control II Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer Federation Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer Drone damage mod II Drone damage mod II Drone damage mod II Co-Processor II
Caldari Navy X-Large Shield Booster Shield Boost Amplifier II Thermic Dissipation Field II Kinetic Deflection Field II Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800 Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
350mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge L 350mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge L 350mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge L 350mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge L 350mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge L Drone Link Augmentor II
Large Core Defense Capacitor Safeguard II Large Core Defense Capacitor Safeguard II Large Core Defense Capacitor Safeguard II
Hammerhead II x5 Hobgoblin II x5 Warden II x5 Garde II x5
Also note that we'll be getting a direct cap injected shield booster, meaning you don't lose an extra mid slot for that cap booster and can fit some more resists instead, making it even better.
Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude.
My guides: http://mirren.freeforums.org |
|
|
|
Pages: [1] :: one page |
First page | Previous page | Next page | Last page |