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[lordcooper]

I've done a fair bit of explorer hunting, and they didn't almost certainly fly to you while cloaked.

They made a bookmark over 150km away from all the cans (warp to site at 100 km, bookmark, warp away, warp to bookmark at x km) and then sat there, probably waiting until you had finished at least one can and had your guard down.  Then they gave it just enough time for you to get engrossed in a hack before warping to the can at 0 and pointing you right away, or warping to the can at 10 km and slowboating the small remaining distance until you decloaked them.

At this point one of two things always happen.  The explorer panics and sits there like a lemon until they die (90% minimum) or they deploy a flight of drones and force the bomber to warp off (or better yet, scram and kill it).  Seriously, bombers have far worse tank than a t1 explo frig and have to choose between small weapons with pitiful dps or torps that put out fantastic raw dps but will barely apply any of it to any ship smaller than a battleship.  Odds are in the explorers favour every time.

[etgfrog]

Manticore is a stealth bomber, they get a covert ops cloak which means they can warp while cloaked. They also have no lock delay after decloaking so they can start targeting you right away. The downside of them is they usually are made of paper(for a t2 ship) and they mainly use torpedoes which have a hard time doing damage to frigates. A manticore specifically can get arround 500 dps on a 330m target, vs a 40m(frigate) target that is 12% of its damage, which is 60 dps.

Spoiler: A fit that might work (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

[Heron, Heron fit]

Nanofiber Internal Structure I
Nanofiber Internal Structure I

1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Data Analyzer I
Relic Analyzer I
Scan Rangefinding Array I
Scan Acquisition Array I

Light Missile Launcher I, Mjolnir Light Missile
Light Missile Launcher I, Mjolnir Light Missile
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

[Empty Rig slot]
[Empty Rig slot]
[Empty Rig slot]


Acolyte I x3

This fight might end up scaring away a stealth bomber since with the afterburner on you will take next to no damage from the torpedos, on the other hand if an astero gets a point on you then your dead most of the time.

[Madman198237]

If you're running T1 exploration and an Astero points you, you are, in my admittedly slight experience, royally screwed.

Your best bet might be to have your drones shoot down his drones, to try and defang him, but it's only going to work on idiots who don't watch their drone HPs.

[xaritscin]

the irony is that i had some warrior Is in the bay from some days ago that i found abandoned in a hole.

anyways. i probably wouldnt have survived the trade.

i just took my thrasher, flew to jita and fitted it for a passive shield tank and mission running setup. lvl 1 missions dont reall put you to test so 3K shield is a bit overkill i think. still, it makes it easier.

im gonna build some reputation with caldari or something. to see if i can reduce the tax in the 4-4 station.

im still waiting for those SAARs to get out of the oven.

and i still have like 18 million in wallet so it should be pretty cheap to get a lvl 2 mission rupture running.

[motorbitch]

said it before, will say it again: just join the faction wars.
by far the best income for new players, and a content that can be actually exiting (untill you decide just to be a farmer that is)

as for t1 explo frig vs bomber: yes. a combat fitted explo frig will win every time. especially the heron can be realy strong with its 5 midslots. an exploration fitted exploration frig, however, wont kill anything. not even a bomber.

[lordcooper]

If you're running T1 exploration and an Astero points you, you are, in my admittedly slight experience, royally screwed.

I've killed an Astero in a bait fit Heron (admittedly, they were flying a total shitfit), but you're right that the smart money is always on the Astero here.  It's important to note that the Astero does have a locking delay upon decloaking though, and it's more than long enough for anyone who is paying attention to simply warp off.

an exploration fitted exploration frig, however, wont kill anything. not even a bomber.

Eh.  You can make a combat-capable-enough-for-this frig without really sacrificing much at all though.  Alpha clones can't fit a cloak so there's room for two launchers, which combined with the drones should make you out dps a rocket bomber.  If you're actually interested in killing shit (as opposed to just making it leave) then a single mid slot needs to be devoted to a scram, and that's it really.  Also jamming drones are a thing, and will often save your arse if deployed quickly enough.

As a sidenote: rockets should basically never be fit to a bomber.  It's one of the very few cases where the sensible choice is to ignore the ship bonuses and just stick blasters on.

Spoiler: fit (click to show/hide)

[Manticore, Blasterhawks]

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
1MN Afterburner II
Stasis Webifier II

Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Core Probe Launcher II, Sisters Core Scanner Probe

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

Far higher dps than rockets would offer you, and the nature of explorer hunting + dual web means you'll easily maintain the optimal range for them.  Can be made even more effective with a little bling, consider this the 'I'm a poor' version.  I have literally never come across someone else doing this unless I've previously told them to though.

[Rince Wind]

Without the sisters launcher your loss would have been a lot less (frustrating).
Missions only really make you good money if you can do lvl 4s quickly and take the LP in account. Not really possible for an alpha char. Even then they are still boring as hell.

[motorbitch]

As a sidenote: rockets should basically never be fit to a bomber.  It's one of the very few cases where the sensible choice is to ignore the ship bonuses and just stick blasters on.

Spoiler: fit (click to show/hide)

[Manticore, Blasterhawks]

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
1MN Afterburner II
Stasis Webifier II

Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Core Probe Launcher II, Sisters Core Scanner Probe

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

Far higher dps than rockets would offer you, and the nature of explorer hunting + dual web means you'll easily maintain the optimal range for them.  Can be made even more effective with a little bling, consider this the 'I'm a poor' version.  I have literally never come across someone else doing this unless I've previously told them to though.

that fit has a rocket launcher tho it also has two webs. so it should use rage rockets, even against frigates with afterburner.
anyway, pricy for its performance. if i kill explorers (i just assume tahts what its for) i use my scout alt in a covops to provide the warpin, warp to my alt at 100 and (untill i screwed up) land within 5km of my victim. bit more efford, but asteros once in a blue moon are fitted to fight back.

[xaritscin]

Without the sisters launcher your loss would have been a lot less (frustrating).
Missions only really make you good money if you can do lvl 4s quickly and take the LP in account. Not really possible for an alpha char. Even then they are still boring as hell.

i do it for the standings. im not doing a galaxy wide chain with the SoE Arc this time. too time consuming.

also, good therapy while i recover from the Manticore PTSD.

im also thinking on a battleprobe. i dont expect to win but at least i can die fighting or something.

-rocket launchers
-core probe launcher
-drones
-oversized AB/normal MWD
-scram+web
-armor tanked with ancillary and maybe armor plate.

only thing missing would be a nos/neut, but since its frigate warfare i dont expect to need cap a lot anyways.

[Madman198237]

My probe fit is usually scanning rigs (I make them myself, I do a lot of industry. At least for an Alpha), the core scanner and core probes (No Sisters ANYWHERE) and a MWD.

Sometimes I even throw in something fun like scanning mods.


But seriously, I see no reason to tank (And make more expensive) a Probe. I just stay out of the way of hostiles as much as possible, and don't have an issue with losing the thing.

[Rince Wind]

Don't underestimate cap in frigates. My astero had a cap booster, because one ancillary just isn't enough sometimes (dual rep).

[xaritscin]

Don't underestimate cap in frigates. My astero had a cap booster, because one ancillary just isn't enough sometimes (dual rep).

still. the probe doesnt have space for it without refitting. which is a shame, but understandable. i would have to either take out a gun or rely solely on drones with a nos/neut combo on highs.

[motorbitch]

let me quote tyler here: sticking feathers into your ass does not make you a chicken.

yes. if you know what you are doing you can make combat fit out of exploration frigates that can win frigate fights 1v1. IF you pick your targets. if you have decent skills. but mostly, if you know what you are doing.
you cant claim either, and you hope that your exploration fit will win fights just because you slap some random pices of equipment on it. it wont. all it will do for you is bloating your loss mail.

[Rince Wind]

But maybe he can scare other noobs away.

[Madman198237]

Going to poke the idea of a B12 corp.
Who would be interested? Who would join?

I mean, seriously, you can even make an alpha alt if your main is somewhere you care about.