James Lyrus
Lyrus Associates
Enuma Elish.
   |
Posted - 2008.02.04 10:34:00 -
[1]
OK. Well, raven setups vary depending on what you’re trying to do.
They’re actually a bit overkill for level 3 missions, let alone level 2, to the point where you’ll find that with similar skills, a Drake is faster. (This is due to target sizes – Ravens don’t hit frigates all that well, and cruisers are still an inconvenience)
They’ll do the missions just fine, because … well, they’re tough, have a dronebay, and put out damage, but they’re not the best tool for the job. They come into their own on L4s though.
Anyway, generic missioning raven fit:
Cruise missile launchers, tractor, salvager
X-Large shield booster, shield boost amplifier, 4 shield hardeners.
5x power diagnostic systems
5x hammerhead drones +2 spares.
Shield hardeners you should mix and match depending on what you’re facing – you probably won’t _need_ to but it’s good practice.
Once you’ve put it through a few missions, and you’re familiar with how to ‘handle’ your ship and tank (X-Large boosters don’t permanently run unless you really try), consider swapping one of the hardeners for a 100mn Afterburner, maybe another for a target painter and then some of the power diagnostic systems for ballistic controls.
But always set for max tank in an unfamiliar mission – doing the mission slowly is far less a problem than having your raven explode because you were overconfident. I doubt you will have this issue on level 2/3 missions.
As a warning though, the Raven will not perform very well when you are low skilled. It's probably about the best of the battleships for low skillpoints, but there are other alternatives, which will be better.
The Drake is a good example of this.
*shrug*. Try the Raven if you want - just expect to be horribly outclassed by people in a smaller ship, even those on approximately similar skillpoints.
Oh, and for fleet PvP, the Raven is basically awful. It's good as a short range gang support damage ship.
Siege launchers, microwarp drive, target painter, warp disruptor, large shield extenders and shield hardeners are what you should be considering fitting.
But in PvP I'd be _much_ warier about flying a battleship under skilled - a competent pilot in a smaller ship will have you for lunch, because you're slow and vulnerable, without the 'support' skills to make the ship work.
And as always with the above, you should be aiming for T2 - T1 will work in a pinch, for missioning, but ... well, again, you sacrifice such a lot of your capability for something that's fat, and slow and expensive, and as a result very vulnerable if you are doing so underskilled.
You'll do it if you want, but I would repeat the opinion of people who've posted - Raven is an awesome ship when well skilled, it's a mediocre one when underskilled.
That makes it better than most other BSes when underskilled (some are just plain unusable) but it still comes in as less effective than a cruiser or battlecruiser.
--
Crane needs more grid
249km locking? |