This is going to be a post aimed more towards the new guys at PvP, like me. It's going to be about what I've learnt while on random solo roams (often spent dodging Drakes) and what I've learnt from my corp in both group roams and while we chat. I'll focus on why my ship is fitted the way it is, something I personally never understood in PvP fits, the reasons why one thing was chosen over another. General combat tactics will also be based on fighting against other Frigates. I have no experience fighting above my weight so I won't make guesses about how to do it ;)
I love the Punisher. It fits in perfectly with my attitude to what a fight should be in PvP, two sides beating the living daylights out of each other until one of them drops. Or explodes.The Punisher isn't as speedy or agile as the Rifter, nor can you treat it the same way. I've flown a Rifter, and to me, it always felt too fragile despite the praise heaped upon it by just about every PvPer ever. I'm not saying it's a bad ship, on the contrary it's likely the most powerful frigate in the game, as it can even take on cruisers if flown well. It just didn't seem to fit my style of fighting. PvP in the Punisher is about outlasting the opponent, in both tank and capacitor. Attempting to speed or shield tank a Punisher is inherently stupid, due to both its slot layout and low base speed, so it's nowhere near as versatile as a Rifter in terms of tanking types, but it more than makes up for it in the sheer size of it's armour tank. Plus the Rifter is well known as a badass PvP ship, so flying a Punisher will probably mean people underestimate you right up until they realise they've just hit hull and you're still sitting in 90% armour ;)
So essentially:
Pros of the Punisher:
- Large capacitor (For a frigate)
- Large Tank (For a frigate)
Cons of the Punisher
- Predictable tank (Armour only)
- Slow (Compared to other frigates)
Here's my current fit:
High slots
- 150mm Light 'Scout' Autocannon I Rep Fleet EMP S
- 150mm Light 'Scout' Autocannon I Rep Fleet EMP S
- 150mm Light 'Scout' Autocannon I Rep Fleet EMP S
- Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Mid slots
- J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
- Experimental 1MN Afterburner
Low slots
- Damage Control II
- Small Armour Repairer II
- 400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
- Adaptive Nano Plating II
Rigs
- Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
- Small Ancillary Current Router I
- Small Ancillary Current Router I
Why
Here's the ingame description of the Punisher:
The Amarr Imperial Navy has been upgrading many of its ships in recent years and adding new ones. The Punisher is one of the most recent ones and considered by many to be the best Amarr frigate in existence. As witnessed by its heavy armaments, the Punisher is mainly intended for large-scale military operations, acting in coordination with larger military vessels, but it is more than powerful enough for solo operations.
Amarr Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% bonus to armor resistances per skill level.
If you read that properly you might notice something weird about my fit. Incase you missed it, or Tl;dr, here it is -> 10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use
My fit is using autocannons. My reaction to this as a new player, (like many) was along the lines of "Hur hur, he's doing it wrong". Actually it makes perfect sense if you think about it. Normally ignoring a ship bonus earns you a slap around the face and a good trolling. But this is a capacitor use reduction, not a damage bonus. One of the pros of the Punisher is the fact it has a large capacitor, and while the bonus will reduce the impact of lasers on this, it'll still cut down on your inherent advantage. So why not use autocannons, which use zero cap anyway and have selectable damage types? Of course if you started as an Amarr pilot, you may not have cross-trained into small projectiles. This is probably annoying, but a couple of days or so training autocannons will have a huge improvement on the rate your cap goes down. Besides, selectable damage types is a massive advantage in a fight, allowing you to switch to a different ammo type if you don't seem to be making an impression on the other ship's tank. I normally keep my guns loaded with Republic Fleet EMP S for shield tankers (most common) with Republic Fleet Fusion S in the cargo for armour tankers.
The Nos is also to aid your capacitor. My tactic with the Punisher is to always be draining the other guy's cap, so you'll want to switch your nos on at the same time as your guns. Once your percentage drops below his, you'll start to steal it. You have the advantage in cap size, so while your percentage of cap will be lower, the actual number will be bigger than his. When he caps out, pray he's active tanking because then he'll literally go into freefall in regards to repairing damage and maintaining speed through afterburners etc.
However he may be passive tanking ( i.e using no cap to tank, which is less common but still happens) which is why you've got the 400mm plate as a buffer, to give you time to wear his tank down, and the SAR II (Small Armour Repairer) will help with this. Your resists are are already high due to the other bonus the Punisher gets (5% bonus to armor resistances per skill level), but the Damage Control II and Nano Plating add to this even further, making your tank surprisingly strong for a frigate. Your lowest resist (thermal) is filled by the anti-thermic rig, rounding your resists off nicely. This is great for new guys like me who like a bit of a "safety net" with their ships. The whole idea behind the Punisher is outlasting the other guy, so in a straight up fight you should win, but it also (obviously) depends on the tactics used by both sides. Energy neutralizers are death to you, which is why I normally avoid cruisers, as utility highs are often to fitted with neuts to murder frigates that get too close.
Downsides
The there are two main problems with this fit, speed and damage. Your speed, even with the afterburner on, is under 1000m/s (atleast with my skills) and most of that is down to the 400mm plate. While you could downshift to a 200mm plate, you'd be losing a hell of alot of buffer for only a small speed increase, which I don't feel is worth it. A big problem with the 400mm plate however is the fact you need two of your rig slots to make it fit, something that I can't seem to avoid. In order to have the powergrid to fit it, you need two Ancillary Current Routers. These are mildly expensive at just over a million each, but the ability to fit a 400mm plate far outweighs this in my opinion, despite the effect on your speed. But if you prefer your frigates speedy, why the hell are you looking at the Punisher?
The other problem is damage. While this is lessened somewhat by using faction ammo (it's worth it trust me) and best named T1 guns (T2 autos are quite far down my list of important stuff to train), the focus on tank in the low slots means you have no room for a gyrostablizer/heat sink (if you ignored my advice and put lasers on anyway). This will reduce your overall DPS, but hopefully your tank should allow you to last long enough to murder the other ship before you die. An alternative to this fit is to drop the 400mm plate to a 200mm plate, and then use those two empty rig slots for weapon rigs to increase your DPS at the expense to your tank. It's not something I would do, but its an option for those who dislike the rather bulky way I've jammed on the 400mm.
I hope this has been useful to other players starting PvP in Amarr ships, or even interested those who normally fly Rifters. I've probably missed something mildly important, but I think I've got the main ideas down behind using a Punisher against other frigates. Go out and grind them down!
Tl;dr Give the Punisher a chance, it's alot of fun to fly :D
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