Difference between revisions of "Destroyer Fleet Types"
(→Short Range: Brawlers, HSSR)) |
(→The Mid-Range/Hybrid Destroyer) |
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Once you have determined that a target does not have smartbombs you may want your entire gang to orbit very close to the target. This will render all turret based ships virtually inert. In a multiple target environment this tactic lets you throw all your EWAR on the second target while the first target is being killed. | Once you have determined that a target does not have smartbombs you may want your entire gang to orbit very close to the target. This will render all turret based ships virtually inert. In a multiple target environment this tactic lets you throw all your EWAR on the second target while the first target is being killed. | ||
| − | == | + | ==Mid Range: "Wolfpack," HSMR, "Flyby" gang== |
| − | The mid-range | + | The mid-range Destroyer is a very different beast from the short range Destroyer gang. Typically this will involve fitting long ranged guns with short or medium ranged ammo (as we did in BASIC) however the optimal range and tracking bonuses on the destroyer make such a setup far more versatile than it would be on a frigate. By carrying longer ranged ammunition we can further increase the versatility of this ship class, able to switch between engagement ranged of 10km to 30+km on the fly. Note that these are not sniping ranges |
| − | The mid-range setup provides | + | ===Advantages=== |
| + | The mid-range setup provides several distinct advantages over the short-ranged variant: | ||
| − | Firstly, the longer range combined with the ability to switch between different ranges at will reduces travel time and allows the mid-range | + | Firstly, the longer range combined with the ability to switch between different ranges at will reduces travel time and allows the mid-range Destroyer to begin applying its DPS earlier, as well as allowing it to engage targets which might evade the guns of the closer-range setups. |
| − | Secondly, mid-range | + | Secondly, mid-range Destroyers really take advantage of the Destroyer's massive alpha strike. This is especially true of the Minmatar Thrasher, which is able to put out up to 1600 damage in a single volley with artillery. As fleet size increases, alpha strike becomes increasingly valuable, with the fleet able to destroy lighter targets in a single volley. |
| − | + | The ability to fight at ranges outside of our opponent's scram/web range reduces attrition in the fleet, allowing more of our pilots to survive longer during the fight, and increasing the ability of those taking damage to bounce out of the fight to break target lock. | |
| − | + | These advantages combine to make the mid-range Destroyer incredibly effective in medium to large gangs, where these advantages begin to outweigh the higher DPS of the short-range setups against all but the toughest targets. Due to the size of most PVP-WOLFPACKS fleets, mid-range setups are most commonly used. | |
| − | === | + | ===Disadvantages=== |
| + | |||
| + | The range advantage of this setup is also our primary disadvantage. Our wider orbit gives us a lower angular velocity than a close-range setup. We are typically typically fighting inside warp disruptor range, which means our opponents can trap some of us. The odds are fairly high that we are also fighting within the optimal range of our opponent's turrets. | ||
| + | |||
| + | We mitigate this disadvantage as much as we can through the use of our Hydra-style distributed EWAR and strategic fleet movement, which will be demonstrated during the practical portions of your class. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Long Range: HSLR, === | ||
The hybrid destroyer is a variant on the mid-range setup that uses mid-range guns, but uses longer ranged electronic warfare. Due to it's 4 mid slots and longest base targeting range by some margin, the caldari Cormorant is perfect for this role. | The hybrid destroyer is a variant on the mid-range setup that uses mid-range guns, but uses longer ranged electronic warfare. Due to it's 4 mid slots and longest base targeting range by some margin, the caldari Cormorant is perfect for this role. | ||
Revision as of 10:01, 15 January 2013
Original text by Rells
Copyright Agony Unleashed
Contents
Introduction
In PVP-BASIC, we had everyone fit long rang guns with close range ammo. We wanted the students to concentrate more on the concepts of distributed EWAR, speed tanking, and basic situational awareness within a fight than the ins and outs of various kinds of weapons.
In particular, we taught you about the dangers stealth bombers and smartbombing battleships present to frigate fleets and how to avoid them. Although stealth bombers and smartbombing battleships remain dangerous to Destroyers, we are better able to survive those bombing runs due to our generally higher hitpoints in comparison to Frigates.
As the Destroyer has a larger sig radius than that of a Frigate, larger opponent ships can target lock us somewhat faster, opponent turrets are better able to track our ships, and missiles are a bit more effective against us.
In most fights, our immense DPS will melt our targets faster than they can successfully threaten us, but our dependence upon DPS as a primary source of fight success means that attrition is the greatest danger to our fleet. While losing a third of a Frigate fleet doesn't mean the fight is over, losing a third of a Destroyer fleet can change the balance of the fight significantly.
For these reasons, range control is vitally important to the survival of a Destroyer fleet. Controlling the range of a fight is done in a variety of ways, ranging from how the fleet sets up a fight, warps into a fight, what side of a gate a fight is taken at, flybys, and, of course, how the fleet fits its ships.
Below, we explore the general types of fleet doctrines commonly used in Destroyer gangs. Note that these are just general descriptions of these common fleet doctrines, the number of specific doctrines within these common groupings is practically countless and beyond the scope of this article and our PVP-WOLFPACKS class.
Short Range: Brawlers, HSSR
Advantages
The primary advantage of short-range Destroyer gangs is the devastating amount of DPS these setups dish out.
Blasters and autocannons are devastating close range weapons, dishing out much more damage than their longer range cousins. At the same time these guns have a limited range, getting a 6km range is near impossible without precision tech 2 ammo and excellent skills. However, their hitting power can not be ignored by the competent light ship fleet commander, and once you see the ungodly damage that a close orbiting Destroyer puts out with ion blasters, you will want to have one in your fleet all the time.
A secondary advantage of short-range Destroyer gangs is the fact that you are putting out your maximum damage at ranges that are often well inside the ability of your target's turrets tracking.
Disadvantages
The primary disadvantage of short-range Destroyer gangs is the fact that virtually all fighting takes place in scra/web range of your opponent.
A secondary disadvantage - one that many forget about in the heat of the battle - is travel time during a fight. It is worth remembering that the larger your fleet, the more quickly targets will die. Eventually there comes a tipping point where the increased time spent travelling between targets during a fight outweighs the higher DPS from short range guns - remember, the time one of your pilots spends traveling from target to target in a fight is time that pilot is essentially out of the fight. Remember this when you are fighting a short-range destroyer gang - spread your gang out as much as you can while remaining in effective range, and you reduce that destroyer gang's effectiveness because so many of their pilots will have to chase you down to dish out damage, enabling your fleet to pick them off.
Individual pilots should keep in mind that depending on their angular velocity as they orbit the target, their own tracking may become an issue.
Setup
When setting up any close-ranged ship we first want to know what the optimal range of our guns is. For blasters, ions generally strike a good balance between all the requirements; the electron blaster damage is just too weak and uses too much ammunition, while the fitting requirements and low tracking of the neutron blaster make it difficult to justify.
Autocannons tend to have a bit more flexibility in this respect due to their generous falloff and low fitting requirements on all calibers. Load your weapons with various types of ammo and see what kind of optimal ranges you can get; note that this phase is just to get an idea of the orbit ranges you need to use that kind of weapon (note that with autocannons, there is little reason to use any ammo other than close range variants and t2 barrage, since range is mainly dictated by falloff).
Of course, another option for short range fleets is having some ships fit the small nosferatu and the small energy neutralizer. Individually, these modules can barely scratch the surface of even a cruiser, but when combined with the huge number of high slots a destroyer has, you can fit to cause serious damage to the opponent's capacitor.
Tactics - Staying Alive
As a fleet commander, you can use some tactics to keep your close range pilots from getting ganked.
First of all, have your close range people stay outside smartbombing range until you are sure that the target doesn't possess smartbombs. If the target is a cruiser, tech 2 frigate, industrial or so on, you have little to fear and can scream in to blast them. However, it might pay to have one or two ship scanners in the fleet that can scan the battleship and make sure it is safe before the close range attackers go in. This only costs a few seconds when employed by a trained pilot. While they are waiting for the scan, the short range pilots can blast the nearest drone or fire their rocket launchers if they will hit from there.
Once you have determined that a target does not have smartbombs you may want your entire gang to orbit very close to the target. This will render all turret based ships virtually inert. In a multiple target environment this tactic lets you throw all your EWAR on the second target while the first target is being killed.
Mid Range: "Wolfpack," HSMR, "Flyby" gang
The mid-range Destroyer is a very different beast from the short range Destroyer gang. Typically this will involve fitting long ranged guns with short or medium ranged ammo (as we did in BASIC) however the optimal range and tracking bonuses on the destroyer make such a setup far more versatile than it would be on a frigate. By carrying longer ranged ammunition we can further increase the versatility of this ship class, able to switch between engagement ranged of 10km to 30+km on the fly. Note that these are not sniping ranges
Advantages
The mid-range setup provides several distinct advantages over the short-ranged variant:
Firstly, the longer range combined with the ability to switch between different ranges at will reduces travel time and allows the mid-range Destroyer to begin applying its DPS earlier, as well as allowing it to engage targets which might evade the guns of the closer-range setups.
Secondly, mid-range Destroyers really take advantage of the Destroyer's massive alpha strike. This is especially true of the Minmatar Thrasher, which is able to put out up to 1600 damage in a single volley with artillery. As fleet size increases, alpha strike becomes increasingly valuable, with the fleet able to destroy lighter targets in a single volley.
The ability to fight at ranges outside of our opponent's scram/web range reduces attrition in the fleet, allowing more of our pilots to survive longer during the fight, and increasing the ability of those taking damage to bounce out of the fight to break target lock.
These advantages combine to make the mid-range Destroyer incredibly effective in medium to large gangs, where these advantages begin to outweigh the higher DPS of the short-range setups against all but the toughest targets. Due to the size of most PVP-WOLFPACKS fleets, mid-range setups are most commonly used.
Disadvantages
The range advantage of this setup is also our primary disadvantage. Our wider orbit gives us a lower angular velocity than a close-range setup. We are typically typically fighting inside warp disruptor range, which means our opponents can trap some of us. The odds are fairly high that we are also fighting within the optimal range of our opponent's turrets.
We mitigate this disadvantage as much as we can through the use of our Hydra-style distributed EWAR and strategic fleet movement, which will be demonstrated during the practical portions of your class.
Long Range: HSLR,
The hybrid destroyer is a variant on the mid-range setup that uses mid-range guns, but uses longer ranged electronic warfare. Due to it's 4 mid slots and longest base targeting range by some margin, the caldari Cormorant is perfect for this role.
The advantage of the hybrid setup is the ability to use electronic warfare such as tracking disruptors (with optimal script) and sensor dampeners (with targeting range script) to nullify targets at range, drawing them into the effective range of the fleet's mid-range weapons. Due to targeting range limitations however, a hybrid setup is typically not effective against targets at sniping ranges - doing so would require fitting multiple sensor boosters, thus using up the ewar slots which require the increased range in the first place!
Sniping Destoyers
The sniping destroyer is a very specialised ship, typically forgoing speed and agility for maximising range and volley damage. All destroyers can be setup to snipe effectively at ranges over 50km, with the Cormorant and Thrasher being the obvious champions for range and alpha strike respectively.
The practical employment of sniping destroyers is outside the scope of the WOLFPACKS class, and indeed this article. For more information, see the FLYBYS class (note that the Flybys class is currently not in regular operation, however your instructors will be happy to discuss the tactic with you during class breaks if you're interested).
