Friday 6 July 2012

Looking at new toys

I've recently encountered a couple of problems with my trader alt.


The main problem is that I'm running out of order slots, and with 53 on the go already, I'm quite impressed with myself. Even more impressive (in my opinion) is that all of them are sell orders. (I've decided to totally avoid all that buy order bullsh*t and simply buy stock straight from sell orders. It cuts into my margins by a few hundred thousand on each item, but it cuts down on time spent messing with buy orders, and provides me with an instant supply of "stuff". Frankly I can live with these downsides).


Of course this problem is fairly easy to deal with, I simply have to train some more skills. To this end, Retail V is set to finish in around four days, which will provide me with another eight orders (lol). While that doesn't sound very impressive, it also allows me to start training Wholesale, which gives me another 16 order slots per level. After that I'm planning to cut down my fees some more with Broker Relations V and Accounting V, which will be a few more weeks training.


I swear Khanid Innovations can make any hull sexy
This is where the second problem comes in. My cargo hauls to resupply my completed orders are now routinely worth about 300-400 million. While I never autopilot with this much in my hold, it's still a stupidly high amount to risk in a T1 hauler, with around 7k EHP (mild shield tank). One Tornado and boom, ISK down the drain. My only solution so far (besides public hauler contracts, which I don't really trust) is to get a stronger hauler. Cargo space isn't really a problem when hauling modules, so I'm happy to sacrifice some cargo space for a much lower chance at getting ganked.



Because I've already trained for a freighter, the Amarr Transport ships are a fairly fast train for me (less than a few hours).  I've been messing with the Impel on EFT, and settled on a fit that gives me 91k EHP with a fair amount of cargo space. It even aligns faster than my Bestower does currently. However, to train into it at a level I'm comfortable with will take me a month minimum.


Of course, this leaves me at a fairly large impasse. Do I risk losing a huge sum of ISK (huge for me anyway) at the whim of a bored Tornado pilot, or do I constantly bleed ISK from taxes? Make no mistake, these taxes add up. I estimate I've lost around 70mil or so to taxes last month easily. That's ISK that could be in my wallet, but instead it's paying for CONCORD's doughnuts.

Instead, I've settled on a compromise, I'll train my trade skills for about two weeks, then switch over to Impel training for two weeks. This will cut down my taxes, provide me with more order slots, and give me some measure of safety when hauling. I'll then swap back to trade skills for a couple of weeks, then swap back to the Impel after those are done etc, etc. Eventually, I'll have them both at a respectable level, and start working on maximising them both.



Also, I've been messing with a "brawling" Retribution fit recently, which is based heavily on Ava's Wolf, except with lasers where there should be autocannons etc. I'm hoping it will give me a "WTF" factor when I engage, because usually (to my knowledge) the Retribution is fit for kiting with Scorch. I think it's looking fairly decent, and even puts out similar DPS to the Wolf (about 20DPS less). However it also has a slightly higher tank (to be expected from Amarr Assault Frigates) which makes me happy inside :P

Another sexy Amarr hull...
This is what I've come up with so far.

Retribution - Brawler

High Slots
- Dual Light Pulse Laser II
- Dual Light Pulse Laser II
- Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
- Dual Light Pulse Laser II
- Dual Light Pulse Laser II


Mid Slots
- J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
- Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner

Low Slots
- Damage Control II
- Heat Sink II
- Heat Sink II
- Adaptive Nano Plating II
- Centii C-Type Small Armour Repairer


Rigs
- Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
- Small Energy Burst Aerator II 


Stats with all V Skills
DPS with IN Multifrequency/Overheated = 222/255
DPS with IN Standard/Overheated = 148/170

Tank DPS/Overheated = 83/107

Cap lasts 3mins 2seconds with everything running while firing Multifrequency
Cap lasts 1min 45seconds with rep overloaded and firing Multifrequency

So, any thoughts? Am I doing it wrong? Have I missed something obvious?

(I'm also planning to use the 3% Surgical Strike implant, along with the Small Energy Turret 3% implant, which pushes the DPS to over 270 with overheat)

Fly safe :)

3 comments:

  1. If you're going to brawl, you definitely want GPLs instead of DLPs. Gatlings provide even more tracking, and while the paper DPS goes down, your actual DPS will likely increase.

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  2. As for your hauling duties, have you thought of using Red Frog? They haul anywhere in highsec, for a supremely cheap price; something around 11 million isk for an 800k-ish m3 haul from Jita to Teon. Thats like 24 jumps or something I think. For the amount of the haul, and the price of doing it covered with collateral, RFF could be an option maybe. Totally not trying to advertise for them, but I use them often when I need things hauled.

    I would avoid Black Frog Freight though, they are super pricey for a similar amount of jumps and half the size of the cargo (I think) into low sec; so just use your impel for low sec hubs you supply IMO.

    I agree with Truen1ght, drop the guns to gatlings, if youre brawling. Without a web, being that close, you need the extra tracking. I think you will be too slow for most ships as well with an AB; they will just burn out of your scram range.

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  3. Hmm, I'll have to look into RFF for hauling, good point there.

    Even better point by the both of you about the GPLs over the DLPLs, I had forgotten the Retribution has worse tracking than the Wolf.

    But I disagree with the idea that ships will just disengage. The Wolf should be in a similar position, but it can still kill things :D

    Admittedly the Retribution is a bit slower than the Wolf, but it can also project damage much more effectively with Scorch and such. Hopefully I can burn down their tank at the start, then shoot them in the back with Scorch as they try to run :P

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