F*ck Ishtars Vol. II

In a fit of rage (see what I did there?) against Ishtars Online, Apothne – PL and former SniggWaffe FC – brings us more creative fits for you to try out. Let yourself be inspired by part two of this series (read part one here), and perhaps hit up the old EFT for some creations of your own.
– Niden

Here we are again, two more fits for your consideration.

MWDsprey

The long time champion of cheap nano gangs, or really any non-AB shield fleet that doesn’t warrant T2 logis is the MWD Scythe, shimmering in its glory with fits such as this one:

Fantastic speed, simple to fly, great drone bay for anti-tackle. I will maintain that this is still the best cheap logi boat for small, cheap nano-gangs. But what about gangs that aren’t ~as~ fast, or are going to be close range but still need an MWD on shield logi? What if we are flying something like the Ishtards (see F*ck Ishtars Vol 1) in a more hefty fashion and want something a little heftier? The Osprey is a fantastic ship, and you can fly this fit with a couple variations:

By using small ETs, we have enough grid to swap a resist mod for another LSE, so even though some of the resist profile is lost we gain a huge amount of EHP. Our linked Scythe from above has the same EHP as an unlinked Osprey, then the links can add on over 10k EHP on top of that. That’s a 40% increase in tank! Naturally, you can swap the SeBos on both of these fits for another tank mid, or one (or even two) of the rigs for additional speed. I think the fit above has a nice balance, but I highly recommend you really consider what hull and fit variants you want when next taking out a fleet comp that benefits from MWDing logistics.

SolEos & Duostarte

Sleipnirs and Claymores are not uncommon vessels for those soloers who have a little more SP and ISK to throw around. Equally, the Myrmidon and Hyperion are renowned for their incredible armour tank, yet we rarely see the Eos and Astarte Command ships flying around. I’ve had this yearning to go around in a duo as Eos/Astarte for some time, and while obviously you can pimp these your heart’s content, this is the basic idea:

Let’s start with the Eos; I’d be totally happy to take this out as a solo ship, but I think the pairing with the Astarte really makes these ships something special. With its main reliance on drone damage, we can happily give up the highs to run our three armour links, giving each of these a tank potential of nearly 1.2k EHP/s. Overheating gives you a potential of nearly 1.5k EHP repped on these T2 fits. The bonus Ogres throw out nearly 600 DPS on their own, then the neutron blasters in the highs (using void happily with scram/web + tracking bonus) giving it that traditional galente face-melting DPS.

The Astarte matches the Eos’ DPS with its own blasters, then gives us some great utility from the two spare highs. Our drone bay can be used for additional damage, but I think utility may be a better choice: some Acolytes to fend off any irritating frigates and a flight of Vespas in case something just really needs to be jammed. Obviously you can switch these to a flight of mediums for even more DPS, a flight of small ECM drones and a spare set of lights/other EWAR drones if you’re feeling fancy, it’s really up to you. In the picture above I’ve elected to give it two useful skirmish links in the Utility highs, but really these can be anything (thanks to the ample fitting) from RLMLs for extra anti-frig, to neut/nos for some cap warfare.

Regarding mids/lows, I’ve elected for a cookie cutter MWD/scram/web/cap booster, though it would be cool to see if MJDs could be shoehorned in so you can blap everything in scram range and just jump out. Similarly to the lows, I’ve played to the favour of the tank, however you can throw caution to the wind and swap the EANM on each for a second damage mod. One more small thing is that I definitely prefer double ANP rigs than one pump and one nano accelerator. Sure, you get a little better EHP/s by one of each, but the faster rep cycles mean more cap, and these things are TIIIIIGHT for cap as is, so I do think this setup is superior in this case. If you fancy getting really sneaky you could swap 1-2 of the blasters on the Eos and use the utility highs on the Astarte for a little cap chain to supplement your injection, giving you plenty more time on field before you run out of cap chargers, but run the risk of getting to far away from each other and breaking the chain.

Naturally, you need someone actually in the squad for the links to pass, so if you’re running the skirmish links on the Astarte I’d say take along a third guy in a LML Malediction or Heretic with an AAR, or even both if you have three friends! Maybe something like:

Light missiles for more anti-frig/drone, plenty of tackle to hold the bad guys down and let the command ships on top of them. I really wish I had characters that could fly these setups ^_^ I’ll put a 300m bounty on a good duo video of the Eos + Astarte combo (that would only partially cover lossmails, but hey, maybe it will help. If more than one is submitted, prize goes to the video I enjoy the most).

As always, feel free to hit me up with your fit and fleet comp ideas at @CallMeApoth on twitter, and you might see them appearing in an edition of this series!

Apoth ♥