F*ck Ishtars Vol. VIII – Myrmidownage

In his F*ck Ishtars series, Pandemic Legion FC and ATXII commentator Apothne explores alternatives to run-of-the mill standard doctrines. More creativity, less Ishtars Online.

The Myrmidon

When I created my character five years ago, like many I started perusing the market for the perfect ship. As a classic scholar and a new member of the Gallente freedom fighters, I immediately fell in love with the Myrmidon. Every skill point earned, every unit of ore mined went to bringing me closer to flying my dream. When I could finally sit in and fit it, it was flown in every situation down at EVE University’s old Lowsec Campus in Maseera. As with most Gallente ships, it is very versatile and has a wide range of ways to fit it. By scouring the killboard of Mariner6, I became an acolyte in the way of the Myrmidon.

I’m kind of sad these days with the limited 100m^3 drone bay. The 40 mil more VNI is a much more popular choice for general fleet usage. I really think giving the Myrmidon a full 125m^3 would not be problematic. It does make me happy in some minor anal sense that two Geckos fit exactly (if you have a stockpile and/or have enough isk to bankroll that), but it’s not much of a comfort.

Solo active armour tank

Possibly its most famous role is as a badass tanking solo ship. Dual or tri-rep, this thing tanks like a beast while still putting out huge DPS at close range.

Your choice between dual and tri-rep is essentially more tank vs. more DPS. The dual rep frees up a low for a damage mod and fitting for some slightly larger guns.

You can, of course go ancillary/normal rep on the dual-rep version. I’m of the opinion that ancillary reppers are best for shorter fights, which is typically in the smaller hull classes where you aren’t getting screwed by the reload time. Another common mistake is trying to shoehorn blasters or lasers onto the highs. I know we’re flying Gallente and blasters are cool but both weapon systems require a bunch more fitting, and more importantly cap to fire. You’re using so much cap for your reppers you absolutely want to minimise its use anywhere else, to the point where you should be considering whether you need to be running your scram/web at any given moment. Projectiles get a nice little buff to projection in Tiamat, track well and have selectable damage, which is why i made the drone choices Gardes and Berserkers. There are few things in the game where Thermal and Explosive damage are both bad options. Praetors and Berserkers or just four Geckos are also good options.

Shield Buffer

One of the facts thrown around in fitting circles is that you can get insane DPS/ISK from a shield Vexor thanks to a dual-damage bonus to blasters, drones and then just filling your low slots with damage mods. The Navy Domi can do the same thing and some of the less experienced AT teams try to use that to their advantage, forgetting projection/application are important too. (That said, check out Round 1 of the loser’s bracket of ATXII for some NDomi teams winning.) Anyway, you can do effectively the same thing to a Myrm, and was my favourite ship during the days of roaming shield battlecruiser gangs.

Blistering DPS, you can eke a bit more tank out by swapping the scram to a EM ward field and then the EM rig to a thermic one if you don’t care about having a tackle module. In this instance we are cool with cap-using guns. We can also use lasers for a little better projection.

Here’s we’re less worried about guns using cap. We can use lasers or blasters as desired, and of course projectiles too if you’re into that. It’s not a complex fit.

Dual active tank

My editor, Niden, recently accused me of being far too sane with my proposed fits. “They’re all too reasonable”, he said, “I know some guys who can make some truly out-there fits that are still legit”. Well Niden, tell them to top this: the dual tanking ancillary XLASB Myrm.

You can either run both tanking modules at the same time, or one while the other reloads, all the while doing over 700 DPS to your target. By splitting the tank over the mids and lows, we don’t sacrifice all of them, meaning we can get some damage mods in the lows while still having cap booster/scram/MWD in the mids. Swapping one of the DDAs to a reactive armour hardener is a great choice too. It can spool up while you’re in your shield tank, then your opponent has to face an ancillary with a fully primed RAH with that 7.5% hull bonus to armour rep amount.

Armour Buffer

There’s a whole host of ways to do this, but I’m going to try to keep it with less EFT spam than I did for the Hurricane & Drake piece. What I really like about the armour buffer Myrm is the ability to tinker and customise, with all those mids ready to do your bidding: drone upgrades, tackle, prop mods, unbonused EWAR, projected SeBos or ECCM for your logi. I really think this ship is a fun choice for small- to mid-sized gangs in low or null. Naturally, the VNI does the same thing with a smaller sig but less flexibility—an extra drone and a great drone movement speed bonus for twice the price, but for the moment we’re going to ignore it exists.

Turrets & Drones

As with most armour class ships, you can go double EANM and more damage mods or a rack of active hardeners and just the one. I like the active one here; the tank is great and it still does great DPS. (In the bay I have Praetors active and Beserkers as the other flight.)

I’ve gone with beams as they’re just a really nice weapon system, but any turret system works.

Max Tank

Tell me this does not turn you on. Sure, you lose the extra DPS from the turrets but it wasn’t all that much and you weren’t getting any bonus to application anyway.

Neuts

If you’re in a straight-up brawl, never underestimate the power of neuts, and this comp has a ton of neuting ability. I swapped the Praetors back out to Gardes because all you need is damage, the travel time is irrelevant if everything is at zero.

Spider Tanking

Coming back to Praetors and Beserkers, the Prophecy is the go-to choice for that fleet comp. The Myrmidon trades a little of that tank for more DPS, and presents itself as a much more engageable composition than a fleet of ships known for its brick tank.

For those unfamiliar with a spider tank, you ball up and each ship reps each other ship, you have to track two sets of primaries and if you’re feeling really fancy (Gobbins), you can time ECM bursts to break your opponent’s lock while your ECCM’ed-up drone bunny keeps blapping targets.

This is one of the reasons I love Gallente. You can do so many different things with a single hull and multiple variations of each. It’s a stimulating intellectual challenge as well as one of dexterity and quick decision making when you’re actually on the field.

As always, if you have any ship or fleet ideas you think would be great for this series, feel free to send them to me on Twitter @CallMeApoth.