Hardening my Drake's passive tank
11th August 2009 – 5.49 pmI am back out in high-sec known-space again and I get to try out one or two more fittings for my battlecruiser, trying to improve my current passive set-up. After I complete my previous look at Drake fittings it is only when I'm a few jumps in to my journey back to w-space that I realise I overlooked an obvious option, also pointed out as a reply to my post. Instead of fitting several invulnerability fields I could use specific hardeners. An omni-protective invulnerability field sucks twice as much juice from the ship's capacitor as a damage-specific hardener, so it is possible to fit four hardeners—one for each damage type—whilst requiring less capacitor charge than three invulnerability fields.
Essentially, I am replacing the four shield amplifiers with their active counterparts, which will provide better damage resistance at the expense of needing to be energised to be effective. However, my capacitor doesn't quite have the recharge rate to power all four hardeners indefinitely, so I need to swap out a low-slot module for a capacitor power relay.
mid-slots
4 × shield hardener (one for each type of damage)
2 × large shield extender
low-slots
2 × shield power relay
1 × capacitor power relay
1 × ballistic control system
The shield resistances are improved in every respect, which is only to be expected when moving from passive amplifiers to active hardeners, and the capacitor power relay brings the recharge rate up to make the fitting stable. Unfortunately, sacrificing the shield power relay leaves the Drake with a lower shield recharge rate for the same shield capacity, making it a sub-optimal fitting. Swapping out the ballistic control system to return the third shield power relay destabilises the capacitor and so is not an option for improving the fitting. Maybe training a capacitor skill up to level five could eventually remove the need for the capacitor power relay and make this fitting attractive.
Fin's comment about only needing to plug the shield resistance holes to create an omni-tank is a good idea too. Knowing that I can run a stable capacitor with four hardeners and a capacitor power relay, and that an invulnerability shield is twice as thirsty for charge as a single hardener, I wonder if I could perhaps concentrate the hardeners on the weaker resistances, topping up the overall shield resistance with an invulnerability shield, and use the spare mid-slot for a shield recharger to compensate for the missing shield power relay.
mid-slots
1 × shield hardener, EM
1 × shield hardener, thermal
1 × invulnerability shield
1 × shield recharger
2 × large shield extender
low-slots
2 × shield power relay
1 × capacitor power relay
1 × ballistic control system
Whilst the fitting gives better EM and thermal shield resistance the explosive and kinetic resistances suffer a little, and I find I still am left with a lower shield recharge rate, making this a rather poor option. However, again I am overlooking an obvious improvement. Instead of trying yet again to squeeze as much use out of my capacitor as possible I only need to use what is available to improve over my standard fitting of passive shield amplifiers. I already know that I can power two hardeners whilst maintaining a stable capacitor, and Fin's suggestion to plug the resistance gaps offers an obvious route to improvement.
mid-slots
1 × shield hardener, EM
1 × shield hardener, thermal
1 × shield amplifier, kinetic
1 × shield amplifier, explosive
2 × large shield extender
low-slots
3 × shield power relay
1 × ballistic control system
This simple change offers equal or better resistances to a fit with only shield amplifiers, has a stable capacitor, and does not sacrifice any shield capacity or recharge rate. It may be only a minor improvement, but it clearly is an improvement. Having the same shield figures and better resistances means I don't even need to test it to know it is better. Not only do I have a slightly more capable shield tank on my Drake but selecting suitable fittings has given me more experience on how best to match modules to a ship's specific attributes.
4 Responses to “Hardening my Drake's passive tank”
Heh, it's a job that's never quite done. We fit, refit, tinker and toy, until we get it to a point we don't like it and start all over.
Earlier when I meant plug the holes, which you did really well with, I was also, sort of, maybe, kind of, implying that the other two resists would just be covered by the Invulnerability field. This would allow you to fit a third Shield Expander [which will in turn up your passive recharge rate more than a mid-slot Shield Recharger would].
So you end up with something like:
[mids]
Invulnerability Field
Photon Scattering Field
Heat Dissapation Field
3 x Large Shield Extender
[lows]
3 x Shield Power Relays
1 x Ballistic Control System/Power Diagnostic System [depending on skills]
Bah, I hit submit to early. I was going to say that this type of fit will boost your resists evenly [mostly] while allowing you to fit the third large extender.
So your tank will hold against 600+ incoming dps, deal out standard drake damage and still be able to support the warfare link [with the PDS in the low, which incidentally boosts your tank and cap].
But hmmm, don't know about the ganglink. Have to look at the powergrid again... back to the drawing boards.
My ship's power grid suffers with the warfare link fitted, to the extent that I have to take a launcher off-line. But I'm sure there are possibilities, even if it means a few weeks of training.
I, uh, borrowed a power diagnostic system II from the corporation hangar and it has had a decent effect on my systems, at the cost of the ballistic control system. I can have a further tinker at some point.
If you get advanced weapons upgrades to 4, you can fit this which is a damn fine tank...
High
7x Heavy Missile Launcher II
Mid
1 x Heat Disipation Amplifier II
1 x Magnetic Scattering Amplifier II
1 x Kenetic Deflection Amplifier II
3 x Large shield extender II
Low
4x Shield power relay
Rigs
3x Core defence field purger (pve)
or
3x Core defence field extender (pvp)
Then 5 hobgoblin II and some tech II missiles.
Thats what I fly and works for me :D