This is my Thrasher

"I Loooooove my guns!"

- Charlie Fodder. Clear Skies III

In Eve Online I have a vast choice of ships to to violence other ships with. In fact the only two (combat) sub-capital ships in-game that I cannot fly are the T2 Matari battleships, the Panther Black Ops and the.... erm.... whats their Marauder called? It's something starting with a V isn't it? Just need to get Minmatar battleship from IV to V then I have "unlocked" all the sub-capital combat ships!

Whilst I have a huge selection I could fly, I keep going back to one ship. A ship that I could fly very early on in my piloting career. One of my favourite ships in game. In fact if you are not reading this through a RRS reader and are on the main blog site you can see it flying over my local desert sand dunes in the banner at the top of this page. Yes, it is the Thrasher. THE destroyer in Eve Online.

The Thrasher is a great little ship. It is versatile hard hitting, can tank, can be speedy, although not all at the same time. Also the fits do tend to limit it to either short range or long range and engaging an enemy set up for the opposite means you can easily get into trouble.

I have four or five different fits for the Thrasher with a number of each ready assembled im my hanger of each for quick reshipping. From all of them, I use these three the most.

The Oversized AB
Matari ships generally are fairly fast, but when you stick a 10mn afterburner on a destroyer hull it really does give you a boost. The fit is basically meta artillery cannons in the highs leaving a free slot. Long point, web and 10mn AB in the mediums and a DC and tracking enhancer in the lows. Rigs generally need to be ancillary current routers to get the power grid to fit the oversized afterburner and then any speed increasing rig is good. The trick here is to stay out of the enemy's way and blast them from afar. The web means if anything fast gets in range you can slow it down so you can get out of range. This fit works great on most frigates (they really don't want to run a MWD and get a 500% sig radius increase against artillery cannons do they) and generally works well against other destroyers especially Coercers. Coercers have a real problem tracking you when you are orbiting at speed at 12km. Sniper Cormorants do hurt but you can win even if you end up in structure. I have to give credit to Quake590 for this fit. It was a "How did he do THAT?" loss and a peek at his KB that led me to this fit.

Highs- Your choice of meta 250mm arties, I use 'Scout'. T2 and 280's will not fit
Mediums- T2 warp disruptor, web and a meta 10mn AB
Lows- Tracking Enhancer and Damage Control II
Rigs- Two ACR and Auxiliary Thrusters

EFT Level 5 Stats.
EHP - 5,472
Max Speed - 1658m/s
DPS/Alpha - 137/837

Pro's-
Incredibly fast 1600m/sec and over.
Still does 1600+ even when scrammed.
Hard to hit, hard to catch.
Good DPS with high alpha.
Cap Stable.

Con's-
Utter glass-cannon, poor tank.
Will die horribly to anything bigger.
Poor tracking at close range


Armour Thrasher
If you have armour implants in your head then this is a tough little nut. I use autocannons along with web and scram. Due to its poor manoeuvrability I tend to use this one to sit on the warp-in inside the plex and snag people as they enter. After the unusual 10mn AB fit this one doesn't look anything special. It's standard Matari, lots of firepower and hope your ship holds to pieces longer than your opponents! The trick here is that most Thrashers tend to be MSE fit. Anyone who isn't flying a damage type bonused ship will load EMP more than likely. And armour tanks just love EMP damage.

Highs- 200mm Autocannons T2
Mediums- Scram, Web and AB
Lows- 400mm plate and EANM
Rigs- Anti-explosive and trimarks

EFT Level 5 Stats.
EHP - 8,775
Max Speed - 615m/s
DPS/Alpha - 262/662

Pro's-
Hits hard.
Good tank especially with armour implants.

Con's-
Slow.
Poor optimal range.
Will die to kitey ships if they get range.


Cockbag
Now I don't want to go into this in a lot of detail as this will have its own post on the coming soon (tm) Quantum Cats Syndicate blog. Suffice to say it has a massive alpha, a 2200mm scan resolution and a tank like a wet paperbag. But it sure is fun to sit on gates and wait for Caldari to jump into you. The Cockbag is a one-man gate camp. Fast tackle and DPS on one ship. Most of the time the victim doesn't even move. They hit "Warp to" and as you get the point on them the ship stops. Most people don't react fast enough. Just don't tackle anything bigger than a destroyer as you will die unless the pilot is hideously fail!

Highs- 280mm Artillery Cannons T2's
Mediums- T2 Long point and two T2 Sensor Boosters with scan resolution scripts
Lows- Two T2 Gyrostabilisers
Rigs- Targeting speed rigs

EFT Level 5 Stats.
EHP - 3,509
Max Speed - 338m/s
DPS/Alpha - 280/1754

Pro's-
Insta-locking
Massive alpha.

Con's-
Snail speed. No prop mod!
No tank at all.
Poor tracking at close range.


So there you go, my three favourite Thrasher fits to kill and be killed in. Who needs these fancy new destroyers when you have gin guns! Big ****ing guns with big ****ing shells!