Tama has always been quite a PVP hotspot. As a low sec entry system from Caldari space it is popular with pirates and faction war players alike.
However recently it would appear it has also become popular with a third type..... booster alts.
There are many ways to give you the edge in combat in Eve Online. As well as upgrading to faction, deadspace and officer (rarely used) modules for your ship, there are a few other things that can make a huge difference.
Implant Sets
What have you got in your head (warning - never ask me that question, you DON'T want to know!). Actually I mean in implant slots one to five? I'm guessing a set of +4's if you tend to carebear, may be some +3's if you're low-sec based and may be nothing if you're down in null-sec running bubble camps? How about slot six? A PG-4 perhaps as that is a popular choice? A little boost to your ships power plant always help.
Well if you feel like slurging the ISK, those 6 slots could make a massive difference to certain ships. Faction modified implants are availible that not only give you the learning skills boost, but can also significantly increase ship attributes. The implant for slot 6 muliplies the effectiveness of those in slots one to five. There are many sets but I'll just list the most popular three here.
Crystal - Increases the amount of shield boosters.
Slave - Increases your armour hitpoints.
Snake - Increases your ships speed.
Each set comes in high-grade and low-grade. The high-grade sets can easily set you back 2.5bn for the set of six. But it can be worth it. A full high-grade crystal set plus the Omega (the one that goes in slot 6) will give you +3 to all attributes, but can, more importantly, give you about a 55% boost to the amount of shield your booster reps each cycle.
Boosters
Of course there are the short term effect consumable drugs that boost your abilities in a specific area. This post here describes them in more detail.
Keeping on the shield boosting, an Improved Blue Pill can increase your shield boost by 25%. Now what if you are popping blue pills AND have a high-grade crystal set in?
Boosting Alt
Now we're onto the issue at hand. A well trained alt in a commandship or T3 with correct subsystem can turn the tide of a battle. Warfare links can increase shield resistances, speed up shield booster speed or increase your point range. They also don't have to be on grid with you. They can be merrily sat at a deep safe with the links running.
As well as these ship fitted warfare links, complete with ship bonus, the alt may have the appropriate mindlink stuck in slot 10 giving a further boost to all links of a certain type.
And all you need for this is a trained alt sat in the squad commander with your PvP main in a squad postion. Providing your alt is set as the booster, you're sorted!
The Numbers
Now just imagine someone using all three types. I'm going to use an active shield tank to see what difference is made with a high-grade Crystal set giving you a huge boost to your repping amount, a blue pill increasing that even more and a boosting alt reducing the cycle time of your repper whilst buffing your shield resistances. That can really boost your performance. If that person is in the right ship, may be even with a faction shield booster, it'll tank like a boss!
So you might think you have a fair fight. A 1v1 with similar ships. The guy absolutely wtfpwns you whilst you slightly scratch his shields. Was he so much a better player than you, or was it a combination of the above three?
Take my main in a Sleipnir. Lets do some EFT Warrioring (numbers might be a bit out but they give you an idea) to see actually what difference these make.....
With a T2 set up, I'm repping 165 dps.
With the fully boosted setup, I'm repping 465 dps.
Also that booster alt could have other links running so if you think the reps are good, remember that my sheild resistances could also gone up an extra 5% each, so you are doing less damage whilst I'm repping the 465 dps. Oh and of course being with the alt has also increased my base shield HP's by around 10%.
Fair fights in Eve Online? Bah, who needs 'em! :p
P.S. Hans Jagerblitzen is past 100 likes for his CSM 7 campaign (actually he's well past 300 likes!)
However recently it would appear it has also become popular with a third type..... booster alts.
There are many ways to give you the edge in combat in Eve Online. As well as upgrading to faction, deadspace and officer (rarely used) modules for your ship, there are a few other things that can make a huge difference.
Implant Sets
What have you got in your head (warning - never ask me that question, you DON'T want to know!). Actually I mean in implant slots one to five? I'm guessing a set of +4's if you tend to carebear, may be some +3's if you're low-sec based and may be nothing if you're down in null-sec running bubble camps? How about slot six? A PG-4 perhaps as that is a popular choice? A little boost to your ships power plant always help.
Well if you feel like slurging the ISK, those 6 slots could make a massive difference to certain ships. Faction modified implants are availible that not only give you the learning skills boost, but can also significantly increase ship attributes. The implant for slot 6 muliplies the effectiveness of those in slots one to five. There are many sets but I'll just list the most popular three here.
Crystal - Increases the amount of shield boosters.
Slave - Increases your armour hitpoints.
Snake - Increases your ships speed.
Each set comes in high-grade and low-grade. The high-grade sets can easily set you back 2.5bn for the set of six. But it can be worth it. A full high-grade crystal set plus the Omega (the one that goes in slot 6) will give you +3 to all attributes, but can, more importantly, give you about a 55% boost to the amount of shield your booster reps each cycle.
Boosters
Of course there are the short term effect consumable drugs that boost your abilities in a specific area. This post here describes them in more detail.
Keeping on the shield boosting, an Improved Blue Pill can increase your shield boost by 25%. Now what if you are popping blue pills AND have a high-grade crystal set in?
Boosting Alt
Now we're onto the issue at hand. A well trained alt in a commandship or T3 with correct subsystem can turn the tide of a battle. Warfare links can increase shield resistances, speed up shield booster speed or increase your point range. They also don't have to be on grid with you. They can be merrily sat at a deep safe with the links running.
As well as these ship fitted warfare links, complete with ship bonus, the alt may have the appropriate mindlink stuck in slot 10 giving a further boost to all links of a certain type.
And all you need for this is a trained alt sat in the squad commander with your PvP main in a squad postion. Providing your alt is set as the booster, you're sorted!
The Numbers
Now just imagine someone using all three types. I'm going to use an active shield tank to see what difference is made with a high-grade Crystal set giving you a huge boost to your repping amount, a blue pill increasing that even more and a boosting alt reducing the cycle time of your repper whilst buffing your shield resistances. That can really boost your performance. If that person is in the right ship, may be even with a faction shield booster, it'll tank like a boss!
So you might think you have a fair fight. A 1v1 with similar ships. The guy absolutely wtfpwns you whilst you slightly scratch his shields. Was he so much a better player than you, or was it a combination of the above three?
Take my main in a Sleipnir. Lets do some EFT Warrioring (numbers might be a bit out but they give you an idea) to see actually what difference these make.....
- With a standard T2 active tank set up it reps 825 every 5 seconds (165 dps)
- With a Dread Guristas booster instead of a T2 it reps 825 every 4 seconds (206 dps)
- Now if I was to splurge on a High-grade Crystal set it would rep 1267 (316 dps)
- If I was to pop an improved blue pill too it then reps 1584 (396 dps)
- Finally give me a boosting alt at a safe spot running the shield harmonizing link and my booster cycle reduces from 4 seconds to 3.4 seconds (465 dps)
With a T2 set up, I'm repping 165 dps.
With the fully boosted setup, I'm repping 465 dps.
Also that booster alt could have other links running so if you think the reps are good, remember that my sheild resistances could also gone up an extra 5% each, so you are doing less damage whilst I'm repping the 465 dps. Oh and of course being with the alt has also increased my base shield HP's by around 10%.
Fair fights in Eve Online? Bah, who needs 'em! :p
P.S. Hans Jagerblitzen is past 100 likes for his CSM 7 campaign (actually he's well past 300 likes!)
The only way to prevent the off-grid booster is to only do a 1v1 and form a fleet with your opponent. Doing that won't prevent the implant and booster effects however.
ReplyDeleteCertainly is. But DO NOT accept a fleet warp to start the fight. You might find your 1v1 ends up on the top of a very hostile deathstar POS!
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