Thursday 11 March 2010

Help Desk #4: How to fit a Drake




Help Desk #4: How to fit a Drake

The Drake has been the thing to talk about this week so it appears. Most post actually have been rather negative so I figured it was time someone said something nice about this Caldari work horse.

I for one am a big fan of the Drake and it is the ship I have scored most of my kills in. Yes missiles suck because they take time to get to the target, but as with any weapon system there are drawbacks. Missiles make up for their travel-time with range, and as soon as the first shot has landed your true DPS starts. DPS may be slightly delayed by the first volleys travel time but with gun boats the range needs to be made up with the ship travelling closer to the target rather than the ammo.

Please commence infinite discussions about this, I don’t care, this post just has my two cents and two suggestions for fitting a Drake. Please note that I fully support anyone’s choice of fitting as long as it makes sense. These are mere suggestions; you don’t like it?; troll the many copies of the many similar/same Drake fits posted on Battle Clinic.

[Cookie Cutter]

Low Slots
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Mid Slots
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II

High Slots
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Salvager I

Rigs
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

DroneBay
Hobgoblin II x5

Statistics;
With all lvl 5, PG-4 implant, no overheating;
EHP: 81902
Shield Resists: 54.1/63.2/72.4/77
Armor Resists: 57.5/53.2/36.3/23.5
Capacitor: 3m34s
DPS: 513
Volley Damage: 2615
Weapon Range: 84.4km
Locking Range: 75km
Scan Resolution: 390mm
Speed: 1038m/s
Align Time: 11.7s
Estimated Cost: 47 million isk

Notes:
The salvager needs to be offline for this particular fit unless implants are used.
I personally recommend Faction ammo as the penalties using T2 ammo are not worth it.
The name suggest it, it’s a cookie cutter, decent ship for small or large gangs.
In a mixed fleet it’s generally the last ship to be targeted so it lasts a little longer, making it a good training ship.
If preferred the Launchers can be replaced with Heavy Assault Launchers to increase the DPS to 618 but drop the range to 20.3km
Please note this is all T2 so a little tight, change for best named where ever needed.


[Podla Drake]

Low Slots
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

Mid Slots
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Warp Disruptor II

High Slots
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Salvager I

Rigs
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Drone Bay
Hobgoblin II x5

Statistics;
With all lvl 5, no implants, no overheating;
EHP: 47835
Shield Resists: 25/40/55/62.5
Armor Resists: 50/45/25/10
Capacitor: 3m49s
DPS: 467
Volley Damage: 2474
Weapon Range: 84.4km
Locking Range: 75km
Scan Resolution: 243.8mm
Speed: 1228m/s
Align Time: 8.5s
Estimated Cost: 45 million isk

Notes:
Named Podla Drake in honour of Naxias of Pod Liberation Authority, one of the best PVP’ers in the game. He has had enormous successes with this fit, both solo and in small gangs. As soon as a Podla Drake enters system people scatter or dock up as its hard to catch/kill and kills very well itself.
Again as with the previous fit range from the Heavy Launchers is chosen over the slight increase in DPS of using HAMS.
Please note this is all T2 fit so if its a bit tight swap for best named where required.

I don’t intend to convert Drake haters, I merely suggest it has its place in our universe and it can be a fun ship to fly. Missile skills are cheap and relatively quickly trained, the difference between lvl 5 and lvl 4 skilling is minimal for most of them so just chose wisely which ones to push all the way.


I’ll be back on Capsuleer soon!

Watch this space…

9 comments:

  1. I'll just assume you mean LSE and not MSE for both fits :)

    What about a HAM fit? I Keep mostly the same fit (with LSE) and fit HAM's, maybe scrambler instead of warp dis

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  2. Thanks for pointing that out. HAMS can be sexy but there have been too many occasions where the range of Heavy Launchers have been more useful or missed when fitted with HAMS.

    The best really would be having a mixed fleet of these, some with HAMS and scrams, others more long range,and a few cheeky ECM Drakes =)

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  3. I love my Drake, for what it is, it's a fun, cheap ship to fly and blow stuff up real good in. And even though I don't fly it as much these days, it is still 'ol reliable.

    Those are pretty much exactly my fits as well. We had a Corp fight awhile back, BC fight to the death, 1 of us. Everyone else brought Canes, Brutix, etc., I was the only one that showed up in a Drake. And I was the last one left standing when the gun boats had all popped.

    Its not great for everything of course, but in a fire drill I'll reach for my Drake every time.

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  4. iirc, the PODLA drake comes from Naxias

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  5. @ Bryan; LOL!

    @ Raelyf; thanks, post ammended.

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  6. I'm Minmatar to the bone, but I just recently cross-trained into a Drake. I felt dirty doing it... But for sleeper sites? It really was kinda upsetting to see how easy they suddenly were...

    And I'm falling in love with missiles.. No transversal? No optimal/falloff? So relaxing...

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  7. The range of the heavy missiles have great uses but like everything else the HAM launchers have their uses as well. They do a great job of making Vaga's or any other nano boat pay for getting too close to the Drake.

    I only recently started flying a Drake, but it is just such a joke for missions and ratting it's no wonder I have such a love/hate relationship with it! Prior to the Cane and Maelstrom there were choice few minnie ships to NPC in, seemed like all the good ones were Caldari!

    Well at least I saved Caldari as the last race I needed to cross train into!

    ReplyDelete