....The Kronos is underwelming when comparing it to most faction or pirate BS and armor IMHO is ineffective for PVE unless you want missions/PVE related stuff to take longer.

A few comments:
- I specifically commented on your assertion that the Sleipnir and Hurricane were better at missions than the Kronos.
- If you're using artillery on your Maelstrom, you are doing it wrong. Furthermore the traditional arty maelstrom is outdamaged by a Kronos at ALL ranges.
- If you're using an AC Maelstrom the Kronos still outdamages it at all meaningful ranges. You can't even claim superiority up close because it can fit a 90% web. Also, because the Kronos uses a third the ammo, it can better afford to use FN ammo while the Maelstrom cannot realistically afford to use RF EMP.
- The Kronos can loot and salvage at the same time and WILL make more ISK/hr than the Cane, Sleip, or Maelstrom.

-Liang

There's times and places where Marauders are simply the best choice. For instance, running 2 Marauders in a WH is far superior to running a faction BS and a Noctis.

-Liang

Ed: And 1x Marauder >> 1 faction BS/T3 and coming back in a Noctis.

Don't you run into issues with stuff blowing up outside tractor range in wh's? Or is there something I'm missing here?

So basically to help the advice:

In Sansha space
I use rails.
Mainly run Mag/Radar/DED/unrated

Does this make a more clear choice?

What is needed is a retooling of marauders as the game has changed since their introduction. I feel honestly the tractor bonus is silly as it still takes forever to salvage with a single salvager perhaps just scrap that and the armor rep bonus and add a resistance bonus per level? And to make up for the loss of the tractor bonus perhaps a boost to its drone bandwidth and bay size? Opinions?

I'd like to see a 425mm rail Kronos alpha strike cruisers and 2 shot bs's like a Maelstrom can and lets not even go into how awesome a Mach is for missions.

... which is not their intended role in the game.
... to actually encourage players to train the skill to that level.

I encourage you to try it! :)

-Liang

What is needed is a retooling of marauders as the game has changed since their introduction. I feel honestly the tractor bonus is silly as it still takes forever to salvage with a single salvager perhaps just scrap that and the armor rep bonus and add a resistance bonus per level? And to make up for the loss of the tractor bonus perhaps a boost to its drone bandwidth and bay size? Opinions?

I'll say it again " marauders are crap ". Their tank is about a notch over that of their t1 counterparts while other t2 variants usually have tanks that are five notches above t1 variants.The only thing going for them are the additional bonuses but it doesn't warrant training for the damn thing. Nowadays, the only reason one gets into one is because you had nothing else to train for or you just aren't informed.

I'll say it again " marauders are crap ". Their tank is about a notch over that of their t1 counterparts while other t2 variants usually have tanks that are five notches above t1 variants.The only thing going for them are the additional bonuses but it doesn't warrant training for the damn thing. Nowadays, the only reason one gets into one is because you had nothing else to train for or you just aren't informed.

So what would you recommend in terms of buffs to give them that "ultimate subcapital solo PvE ship" title? That is what marauders were supposed to be right? I do believe they require the most time devotion subcap

@ liang, do go on. I can almost fly one of these and would love to hear their pve potential

I had a good chuckle. Admit it already, the mach > vag and nightmare > paladin. Nuff said...

P.S. Blackops are also crap in PVE.

Tell me again how awesome the Mach is when you have to loot and/or salvage the field for your ISK? Such as when running drones, pirate L4s, L5s, or WHs. Just because you're a high sec carebear doesn't mean that Marauders have no place in PVE.

-Liang

BOBs are fun because its much easier to mission in places you really shouldn't. Consider a situation where you're running missions in Stain for the Sansha and you get the inevitable storyline mission. Except the story line mission is one jump the other side of a usually camped system. The system does not have a station.

Your options at this point are:
- Decline the mission
- Take your Marauder through a gate camp
- Difficult-to-probe cloaky T3
- Covert cyno your BOBS over.

The fun thing about covert cynoing your BOBS over is that you can covert cyno out... potentially at the drop of a hat. You tend to sacrifice some DPS for this ability, but its not that bad all things considered. You can still generally get more than most cloaky T3s, for example.

At any rate, the point of the comment wasn't to say that the Black Ops BS is a great PVE ship... but to point out that it (not the Marauder) is the most skill intensive subcapital.

-Liang

That's what a Noctis is for, surely?

That's what a Noctis is for, surely?