Monday, October 12, 2009

Ship Setups - Electronic Attack Ships: Hyena, Sentinel, & Kitsune, by Manasi

This is a guest post written by Manasi the Mule of A Mule in EVE.


Skills needs

These are frigates level 5 skills, so on your way to fly interceptors EAS is not a terrible skill to get. Also needed are electronic upgrades to level 5 as well. Aside from that, the skills needed are really for the modules you might fit on these little guys. With a limited number of slots you’re going to have to be careful with both power grid (in the future referred to a ‘grid’) and CPU. Note at the time of this writing I am not able to fly the Keres so it was not included

Slot Layout
The one thing to know about EAS (Electronic Attack Ships) is that they are very specialized at what they are intended to be good at. How useful that is to you can be debated…
  • For the Sentinel, that is energy vampire and & energy neutralizing. They also tracking disrupt!
  • For the Hyena, that is long range webbing and target painting, with some speed thrown in.
  • For the Kitsune, they specialize in electronic counter measures. (Referred to as ‘jamming’)
Pro's

Sensor strength

Something to point out is all of these ships have good sensor strengths in this order:
  1. Kitsune ~ Gravimetric strength 24… same as the Rokh and Scorpion
  2. Sentinel ~ Radar Strength 21…. only 1 point less than the Abaddon
  3. Hyena ~ Ladar Strength 21…..Same as the Maelstrom
So their sensor strength is on par with battleships even though they are only frigates.

Speed and Agility

Inertial modifiers and base speeds
  • Hyena 340 m/s 2.75 inertial modifier
  • Sentinel 324 m/s 2.97 Inertial modifier
  • Kitsune 315 m/s and a 2.7 inertial modifier
The Hyena is fastest, but not by a terrible amount and ALL of these will align to warp incredibly quickly. All these ships are given the ability to ‘get out of dodge’ really quickly. They will warp within a second or two of each other, somewhere between 4.6 S for the Hyena, to 5.84 S on the Kitsune.

Benefits

The benefits that EAS ships can bring are numerous. The Kitsune is light and fast and can keep up with small fast fleets that need some ECM support. Realize you will be ‘primaried’ first in a Kitsune for a reason. If other ships cannot lock they will become angry at you. The Sentinel can help you eat up interceptors. Just watch out for the other jammers. The Hyena can help stop people for exiting a bubble with their longer range web.

Cons

Durability

These ships will not last long nor, if they are engaged, will they survive very long, the notable exceptions to this are: The Kitsune and the Sentinel. If the Kitsune can lock fast enough she may survive the fight. The Sentinel has a better chance as tracking disruptors can reduce the tracking speed of turret weapons, allowing you to escape, and sometimes the speed to lock as well.

Lack of weaponry

The primary attack of these ships is the electronic measures they provide to the fleet. These are not damage dealers or solo ships. The majority of their ‘grid’ and CPU is to get them in, do their job, and get out (speed). There is absolutely no ‘tank’ what so ever…if you are targeted first, bail out.

Use

These ships are good for specialized purposes. Let’s look at the Kitsune for example. It is a very fast locker (with a Sensor booster II and scan res script) and can be an effective anti-jammer role. Example: mixed fleet fighting in a system starts getting jammed by a falcon...Bring in the Kitsune and lock up the falcon…if you get the lock/jam first then your buddies are free to fire. Probably to most widely used EAS frigate in game. If the Kitsune is on the ‘field’ first they will be killed….immediately

The Sentinel is a different breed; she gets bonuses to neutralizing and draining cap. This ship is highly effective versus the interceptor class of ships. No capacitor, no MWD…no MWD the interceptor goes boom. This ship needs help in killing the interceptors and the Hyena’s (if fitted with painters) can help in that role. The tracking disruptors allow this ship to close in on anything except missile boats.

The Hyena is not seen very often. The webbing bonus is nice so I have seen them used in gate camps trying to stop folks leaving a bubble. They just die too fast and too easily. I have seen a few used in small fleets and gate camps to good use.

Builds

Kitsune


Slot Module
LOW 'Hypnos' Signal Distortion Amplifier I
'Hypnos' Signal Distortion Amplifier I
MID 1MN Afterburner II
BZ-5 Neutralizing Spatial Destabilizer ECM
Enfeebling Phase Inversion ECM I
'Hypnos' Ion Field ECM I
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
HIGH 'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher,
Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile
'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher,
Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Carbonized
Lead S
RIGS Small Signal Disruption Amplifier I
Small Signal Disruption Amplifier I

Highlights:
  • 10.76 Sensor strength
  • 1.1 Second lock time on a Falcon hull
  • 1010.13 M/s
  • Cap stable

Sentinel


Slot Module
LOW Capacitor Power Relay II
Inertia Stabilizers II
Overdrive Injector System II
MID Tracking Disruptor II, Tracking Speed
Disruption
Tracking Disruptor II, Tracking Speed
Disruption
Cap Recharger II
1MN MicroWarpdrive II
HIGH Small Nosferatu II
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Pulse Laser II
RIGS Small Egress Port Maximizer I
Small Egress Port Maximizer I

Highlights:
  • 3105.43 M/s
  • Nos Range 19200
  • Nuet range 18900
  • CAP stable with max skills
  • Lock time 1.8 Seconds on a Zealot

Hyena


Slot Module
LOW Power Diagnostic System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Inertia Stabilizers II
MID Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
1MN MicroWarpdrive II
HIGH 280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
Salvager I
RIGS Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Small Projectile Ambit Extension I

Highlights:
  • 3518.27 M/s
  • 36.67 DPS EMP S 19K range
  • Can web at 20 KM
  • Locks interceptor at 2.99 Seconds
  • Cap stable

Analysis

Looking at these three builds several things comes to mind:
  • Each ship has something specialized that they are very good at. Wither you can USE that bonus depends on what you need the ship to do.
  • Gate camp bring the hyena
  • Anti-interceptor bring the Sentinel
  • Anti- jammer bring the Kitsune
The sentinel can probably be used most offensively. Tracking disruption speed on those that target you plus your high velocity means guns won’t be able to track you well. Missile ships are your problem. 108 GJ of neutralizing per every 6 seconds will shut down an interceptor to be sure. So go after the interceptors neutralize them down and you and your friends eat them up. Your still very fragile though so don’t forget that speed is your defense.

The Kitsune is the most fragile and the slowest but using Bernoulli formula (thanks to Grismar’s EvE wiki for this)

C = J/S * 100%

C=10.76/28 * 100% or a 38% chance with a single Jammer to jam a falcon

Where J is the jamming strength of your jammer, S the sensor strength of the target ship and C the jamming chance in %. The chance to jam a target with multiple jammers is a simple deduction of Bernoulli's formula:

C = (1-(1-J/S)^n)*100%

c = (1-(1-10.76/28)^3 or 76.658 % with a full rack of BZ-5’s

This gives you a fairly decent chance to jam a falcon…you must remember you’re their #1 problem so you will be eliminated

Hyena of the three EAS I am familiar with this one may have been seen the most use probably at a gate camp setup. Yes a Rapier can do the job better, and you may survive better in it CAN be done. 20KM web means you can do a tight orbit around the gate and still be able to lock them down and web them. If you substitute a Warp Disruptor you might be able to do both ‘pointing and webbing’ roles in a small gang but remember you ARE very fragile.

The last word

The Kitsune, Sentinel, and Hyena, with the exception of the Kitsune, are underutilized. They are not terribly expensive, and they can do the job their bigger brothers can do with a bit more speed. Sadly many are not used, as they are quite fragile, most pilots do not wish to die a horrible death, without providing a good benefit to their friends. The Hyena, at gate camps can provide some effective webbing potential. The Sentinel can be used to break some really nasty shield tankers, and can be especially potent against interceptors... but missile fire can eliminate them. The Kitsune is a highly effective anti- falcon/anti rook ship, but tends to get ‘primaried’ and die very fast.

If you like these ships and their abilities combined with a bit more toughness look to the T2 cruisers: The Hyena is replaced with the Rapier, The Kitsune with the Falcon/Rook, and lastly the Sentinel is replaced with the Pilgrim. Bring your wallet with you as these ships are NOT cheap!


The opinions shared here are those of its author and not necessarily mine. /CrazyKinux

9 comments:

timbo said...

sorry that this is off-topic. im a eve novice. whats the name of the ship on the pic on the very top?

CrazyKinux said...

Not a problem Timbo. You're looking at an Amarr Battlecruiser, a Prophecy that is! Very hawkish in its design n'est-ce pas?

Alexandra Stormwing said...

Do not use an afterburner on the kitsune. Use a MWD. The ability to quickly move around the field is critical to this ship, and an AB won't cut it. You should be able to last quite a while with the MWD on, and when cap finally does become an issue, warp out a bit and warp back in, or pulse the MWD.

Also, targeting range rigs, instead of ECM strength rigs, will further increase your usefulness and survivability. I have racial jamming strength above 10 without the strength rigs. The two rig slots don't put it all that much higher.

It locks quickly enough that a SeBo really isn't necessary. Fit 1 of each racial and you're ready to go.

Your role is not to do damage - so cram whatever weapons systems you can into the highs AFTER you have fulfilled your primary role. If you are close enough to something that you're using that gatling autocannon, you're already dead.

Scott said...

If you really don't need the agility and speed of a t2 ship like the kitsune which I do fly at times, I tend to just prefer the old standby Blackbird for filling ECM duties. She ain't pretty and she aint fast but she's just as effective and costs a fraction of a fitted Kitsune. For me it's a no brainer what to take as a quick pick it up and go ship, special ops with small gangs where there's a real need are when I'd bring out a Kitsune.

Anonymous said...

The t2 MWD on the Kitsune makes your sig radius Bloom, the AB ( while giving you some speed, does not increase your sig radius) sig radius and the locking thereof is your life, that's why I put the MWD on it.

Gaming Griefer said...

Not really a fan of your Sentinel fit, as it isn't really my style. Here's what I use and how I use it:

[Highs]

Small Unstable Power Fluctuator (x3)

[Mids]
1MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
Micro Capicitor Booster I (200s)
Tracking Disruptor II (range or tracking scripts, depending)

[Lows]
Small Armor Repairer II
Energized Adaptive Nano membrane (x2)

[Rigs]
Small Egress Port Maximizer (x2)

[Drones]
Hobgoblin II (x4)
Warrior II (x4)

How I use it:

First, I assess the target. Does it neut? Does it specialize in drones? If the answer to both is no, I close to a 5km orbit, scram, and hit the target with 3-4 cycles with all neuts, if it's cruiser class or smaller. For larger targets, I lay into the neuts for an extra 5-6 cycles supported by my cap booster. By then, their cap should be pretty empty.

Once I'm sure they have no cap, I drop back to 1 Neut, and the ship becomes cap stable without the repper running. This is usually fine, because missile ships can't do much damage to a small ship doing 1km/s with decent resists, and gun boats can't track that either.

I eat their drones with mine, then turn the boys loose on their ship once the coast is clear.

Albeit the ship isn't really a damage dealer (79 dps with Hob IIs and all skills at V), there is something very satisfying about slowly picking off a Brutix or the like with the EVE equivalent of a BB gun while they sit there literally powerless. I call mine my "curselette".

It wouldn't fare too well in 0.0 fleet combat, but then again, I'd be using a Neut Domi for that anyway, or a Curse for those nullsec gang roams.

Anonymous said...

I enjoy reading your setup and the tactics you would use, as I normally fly with a gang I tried to steer towards that route but your quite right you probably could solo around a built in a sentinel

Frost_Illusion said...

Man I hate fitting cuz I suck at it never find the right fitt hehe.

and even the fittings on battle clinic neber works >< but then agine my own fault being in 0.0 sec haha

jonathan said...

wow.....