31 May 2011

Rebellious Rifters

Most pilots who choose the Rifter as their weapon of choice will be quite familiar with the basics of their ship, they know how it will handle and what to expect of it in combat. Taking this into consideration we'll skip through an introduction to the Rifter. We'll assume at this point that we've all read the excellent guides available out there.

The 'cookie cutter' Rifter - the standard fit - is a wise choice for budding pilots, and rightly so, after all it is a popular choice for a reason - it does the job in most combat situations. However, there are other flavours out there and often these fits go unexplored, this short document takes a look at some of these more exotic and niche Rifter fittings.


Rifter catching fire often? You're doing it right!



[Rifter, Cookie Damage Control is For Wimps]


Gyrostabilizer II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Armor Repairer II

Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
1MN Afterburner II

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Small Projectile Locus Coordinator I
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I


Not really a lot to say about this particular fitting, the only difference from the 'cookie' being the omission of the Damage Control now replaced with a Gyrostabilizer for extra bite. The basic principles of this ship being to kill before your loss in ehp takes its toll. Extra range, pinpoint tracking and damage from the rigs - but these can be swapped around to suit. Perhaps two Ambit Extensions and a Burst Aerator for more fall off and increased rate of fire. Fly this as you would your normal 'cookie'. You can also go with a Nosferatu module in place of the Rocket Launcher, should you wish.


[Rifter, Shield Buff]


Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Gyrostabilizer II

Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
1MN Afterburner II
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket

Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I


This can be described as the 'standard' shield Rifter. It is becoming more and more popular within the frigate circuit and can easily catch your opponent off guard. Most pilots about to engage a Rifter will assume that it is an armor version and load up on Fusion ammo, use this to your advantage and let them fall into the trap. If you're out of range, don't give your opponent any clues by burning towards him at full speed, keep your speed down to the average speed of an armor Rifter and he will be none the wiser. You will then have an advantage when his Fusion is having a tough time breaking your shield.

The obvious disadvantage to flying the shield Rifter is the lack of a Webifier which means you lose the ability to dictate range, especially against something with a web. Because of this you are relying on your buffer which will hopefully give you enough time to complete the gank before your opponent realises what is happening.

In the lows we've gone for a Nano to give extra speed and manoeuvrability, the Shield set-up is already naturally fast and should your opponent not have a web then you will be able to in most situations outrun them if needed. The Damage Control needs little explanation and the Gyro is there again for the added kick in damage.

I wouldn't recommend tangling with blaster boats in this fit. If they get you in range they will hurt you quicker than you can hurt them.



[Rifter, Tracking Scratch Rifter]

Small Armor Repairer II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II

DDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor I, Optimal Range Disruption
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
1MN Afterburner II

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
Small 'Ghoul' Energy Siphon I

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
[empty rig slot]


The tracking disruptor fit Rifter can be a menace in the right situations, whilst it again loses out to the fact that it has lost its webifier it can be great when fleeted with a ship that does have a web. It also does have its role in solo combat situations where your opponent is relying on his range. Definitely worth experimenting with.


[Rifter, Explosive Hard Man Riffy]


Armor Explosive Hardener II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Armor Repairer II

Small Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 150
Warp Scrambler II
1MN Afterburner II

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I


Slow but an absolute devil for taking explosive pain. You're basically relying on your opponent shooting the usual Fusion ammunition types at you, when he does and you overload your Hardener you will get an armor explosive resistance of around 78%. That's quite a mean tank to break. You need to manage your cap carefully with your booster and watch for burning out your modules. Always set your cap booster settings to auto-repeat off. Auto-reload should be on. And don't forget to load your hold with spare booster charges to avoid any embarrassing moments mid-fight. A fun and often unknown flavour to fly.



[Rifter, 400 Beast]


400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
1MN Afterburner II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S

Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I


Again, another damage magnet. Will take some breaking as the 400mm plate provides us with a substantial armor buffer. You will need to slam on that web and hold your opponent in place as this overweight Rifter won't be winning no speed trials. With this fit you want to be 'keeping range' of about 3-4 km of your opponent. If something tries to orbit you or kite you it is going to make for an interesting engagement, if you do find yourself being kited try to counter by loading up barrage and hoping for the best or driving this beast into rocks.



[Rifter, Dual Prop 400]


Damage Control II
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
1MN Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
[empty high slot]

Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I


Another fitting from the 400 plate family and whilst full-fat it does have the extra speed boost from the microwarpdrive. If the MWD is disabled by a Scrambler we then fall back on the afterburner and we then rely on the armor buffer in a straight shoot-out to the finish.

The lack of web is again a problem and limits this ships capabilities, again we don't want to be kited to death so 'keeping range' is an important tool, 3-4k should work fine. I've not personally flown this ship much but I do feel it might prove useful in some situations in null-sec where perhaps another lone frigate or interceptor races in for an easy Rifter kill. Give it a try and see how you fare.




[Rifter, Can Flipper 400]


400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket

Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I


This is a specialist ship which should be used in one role only. Can flipping on stations or where you know your enemy can't run. It lacks a propulsion module but you won't need it, it punches with 200mm autocannons and has a Rocket Launcher for added dps. This ship can make a mess out of any frigate, intie, assault frigate and faction frig. Once the pilot has worked out what is going on then often it is too late.

You will notice that there is no Damage Control in the lows, here instead we've opted for a an EANM II to increase the time it takes our opponent to chew through our armor plating. It is further enhanced with a Nano Plating - this giving a good armor resistance spread of around 74% EMP - 57% Thermal - 51% Kinetic - 55% Explosive.

So we've landed the dual webs on our opponent. Now we need to keep transversal to absolute 0. We do this by 'keeping range' the magic number again being somewhere between 3-4k. We don't orbit and we don't want anything orbiting us - the 200mm cannons will struggle to track anything but the high damage that they can kick out is a deciding factor in the strategy. Before your opponent realises he needs to get out it is usually game over. One more thing, don't even think about using this Rifter in any other role than it is intended for, it will get laughed at.


[Rifter, Arty Rifter]


Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Pseudoelectron Containment Field I
Gyrostabilizer II

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
J5 Prototype Warp Disruptor I
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

280mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
280mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
280mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet Fusion S
[empty high slot]

Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I


The Artillery clad Rifter, once it has you in its hold it is often hard to break away from. It is also a fast variant and gives you the option of getting out should you need.

The 280mm Howitzer's can hit for some mean volley damage. With an optimal of around 7k and a fall-off of 11k your main tactic here is to land your Disruptor and start dishing out the pain, once you land an overloaded web you can flirt around this range whilst your opponent (hopefully in an afterburner fit ship - 98% of the time he will be) struggles to get close to you and in the confusion doesn't know whether to keep going for you or to make his escape. By the time he has worked it out he is usually dead.

Any frigate with an afterburner should be fair game to you whilst flying the Arty Rifter. Even assault frigates should be taken on and faction frigates if you're sure they aren't packing an MWD.




[Rifter, Crazy Dual Rep Rifter]


Small Armor Repairer II
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II

Small Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 150
1MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Small Nanobot Accelerator I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I


Last of all on our list of exotic Rifter fits and one that really is a hair-raising edge of your seat experience to fly, the Dual Rep Rifter. It has about 30 seconds of base capacitor to play with on paper with all things running, however, we don't fight on paper.

First you need to get comfortable with how it is set-up and what to expect. In the lows we've got the two reppers and a damage control. The DC II gives less resists on paper as opposed to an EANM II but there's one very important thing you need to remember with this ship. You WILL be fighting in hull, if you've got no damage control fitted you will explode due to structure bleed, ignore this at your own peril.

Your armor repairers should be set to auto-repeat off and should always be overloaded and once you start receiving damage a good tactic is to stagger the reps slightly. Your cap booster is also an important tool - this should be set to auto-repeat off and auto-reload on. You should inject cap just before you're about to hit empty and then again if needed, this should give you enough cap until the next reload cycle is completed. You remembered the spare booster charges in the hold right?

This is by far the craziest Rifter I think I've ever flown but it is great fun. You will need fingers like lightning to micro-manage all the modules and keep an eye on range, what your opponent is doing, how much damage you're soaking up, any drones that may need killing, keeping an eye on that structure bleed ready for the mail man to deliver the bad news. It really does make for a fantastic experience and you should give this frigate a try at least once. I've taken down a Taranis before in this and scared the living daylights out of other inties and assault frigates. It is like a little necromancer bringing itself back from the dead. Popping an Exile can also add to your survivability.

I've also used a Nosferatu module (in place of the Rocket Launcher) for added cap and even an Energy Neutralizer which gives you about 12 seconds of cap to play with. Have a little flight time with it, you'll lose a few but you'll have fun in the process.


These fits are by no means the be all and end all, they're probably a little raw in places and somebody will always have their own version and tweaks that give an extra edge. These are just a guide and should be used as such. Happy hunting!



MB.

14 comments:

  1. Some nice fits in there. I've used variations of some of those, the dual rep Rifter is fun but I wasn't able to keep it under control.

    I am flying a Rifter in the EON Frigate Tournament and my favourite fit is:

    [Rifter, Single Rep Rifter]
    Gyrostabilizer II
    Damage Control II
    Centii A-Type Small Armor Repairer

    1MN Afterburner II
    Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
    Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 200

    200mm AutoCannon II, Arch Angel Fusion S
    200mm AutoCannon II, Arch Angel Fusion S
    200mm AutoCannon II, Arch Angel Fusion S
    Rocket Launcher II, Phalanx Rage Rocket

    Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
    Small Nanobot Accelerator I
    Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

    I've used it with a T2 repper too but it just doesn't tank enough, especially against a Punisher!

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  2. Ahmagad, so much EFT material!
    So many possibilities, so many calculations to do!
    Do you intentionally keep me up for 3 nights straight? Is this some kind of scheme?

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  3. Yet another must-read from MB!
    My 2 cents on the shield fit:

    [Rifter, shield tank]
    Gyrostabilizer II
    Emergency Damage Control I
    Beta Reactor Control: Diagnostic System I

    Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
    Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
    Medium Shield Extender II

    125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
    125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
    125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
    5W Infectious Power System Malfunction

    Small Core Defence Field Extender I
    Small Core Defence Field Extender I
    Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

    Not as fast as yours but the PDS adds some tank and the neut helps both to control range and to reduce damage from cap-reliant turrets.

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  4. Oh look a Rifter post. Time for me to chime in!

    First of all, here's my version of the shield Rifter fit:


    [Rifter, AB Shield]

    150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

    Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
    1MN Afterburner II
    J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

    Gyrostabilizer II
    F85 Peripheral Damage System I
    Tracking Enhancer II

    Small Core Defence Field Extender I
    Small Core Defence Field Extender I
    Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

    Because of the burst aerator rather than EM resist rig it does more DPS (171 vs 158 overheated) but loses some EHP (4,904 vs 5,357). You can obviously swap the rigs to taste but I like the DPS. The big difference is the tracking enhancer instead of the nanofiber. This acts as a nice ghetto damage mod and pushes the effective range out to 776 + 7,150 m with close range ammo providing a very good damage increase. Obviously the price you pay for this is a good loss of speed and agility but I would argue that the Rifter's agility is more than adequate when under afterburner power and you might benefit more from an overdrive if you want to go down the speed route and also have the bonus of not losing any of that vital structure buffer. After all, you're not a real Brutor if you don't leave a fight with your ship on fire.

    I would mention the tracking boost but this brings me to my next point. The rigs on the cookie cutter damage fit you posted make me shudder a little bit. I'll try and explain my reasoning. First of all, the metastasis adjuster. Assuming that you have Minmatar Frigate V (and who doesn't?) the 150 mm autocannons on a Rifter have 0.622 rad/s tracking. This means that at 1,000 m they can track and object moving at 622 m/s. With the metastasis rig this goes up to 716 m/s but with the web you are unlikely to encounter people going this fast and you can easily minimise transversal to within this range. My next issue is the locus rig. 150 mm autocannons have an optimal range of a massive 675 m. With the locus rig this goes out to 776 m. Not exactly a huge gain. Compare this with the ambit extension that pushes falloff from 5,500 m to 6,325 m. The locus-rigged ship out damages the ambit rig between 675m and about 1.3 km but never by more than 0.2 DPS. At all ranges greater than 1.3 km the ambit does more damage with the difference becoming significant from about 2.5 km.

    The third rig that you used was a collision accelerator. This one is actually going to get its own post on my blog at some point but in the mean time I'll do a short explanation here. The collision accelerator rig is easy to understand, it adds 10 % to our damage so we get 1.10 times the DPS. The burst aerator, though, gives a 10 % bonus to rate of fire and this is when Eve's maths becomes fun. The DPS now becomes 1 / 0.9 = 1.11 giving an 11 % increase in the net DPS. This effect is even more important when you consider wrecking shots. One out of every hundred shots fired will be a wrecking hit and hit for three times your maximum damage regardless of range and tracking. The more shots you fire, the more wrecking shots you will achieve. Therefore, except on capacitor hungry ships it is better to increase your rate of fire over your damage per shot.

    I've had a lot of fun with the explosive hardener fit in the past. It destroyed one guy's Wolf, Rifter, and AC Thrasher in turn back when I was a young pilot learning my trade.

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  5. Noise, is that really a 45 million ISK armour repairer you've put on a T1 frigate? If you're having trouble with tough tanks I would seriously consider a combination of a neutraliser to help break their tank and a tracking disruptor to limit the incoming DPS. Also, for that much ISK I would definitely put on a deadspace afterburner. That said, my personal preference for frigate tournaments is speed and range so I would definitely favour a kiting fit like an artillery Rifter over something close range. Either way, good luck with the rest of the tournament.

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  6. Aha I was hoping you'd catch wind of this post dearest Wensley. A wonderful insight into rigs and mathematics, you could say I put those rigs there on purpose in the hope that they'd grab your attention. Hee hee :)

    I like the Shield fit you posted, in fact this just goes to show just how many different variations there are out there and why the Rifter is such a versatile little beast.

    It also goes to show what happens during a long patch day whilst browsing EFT for old fittings. Looking forward to your next blog post mate, although, maybe I should say - - get back to work!

    :p

    MB.

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  7. You git. Hook line and sinker.

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  8. Holy crap what a great post about my favorite ship! By my count there are 12 different variants listed in the post and comments. As soon as I get home I am warping to RENs and buying and fitting one of each to get some "hands on" experience with each. I will be like the proverbial kid in the candy store! I may even fit one like Noise's expensive tourney fit just for kicks. Wensley, we love the intricate mathematics but please don't rain on my parade buddy. Too much thinking interferes with the fun I am going to have getting popped in these babies!

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  9. Sorry, Lhorenzo. What I meant to say was Projectile Burst Aerator and 2 x Projectile Ambit Extensions is the best rig combination if you want damage rigs although some people do like burst aerator and collision accelerator instead. Go have fun!

    Also MWD versions of the shield Rifter are good fun.

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  10. My take on the shield Rifter:

    [Rifter, Shield Gank AB]

    200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket

    Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
    J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
    Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction

    Gyrostabilizer II
    Gyrostabilizer II
    Co-Processor I

    Small Ancillary Current Router I
    Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
    Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

    You'll need perfect fitting skills or implants (but I don't fancy fitting implants). Stats:

    DPS - 182/210
    Speed - 1107/1439
    EHP - 3.55k

    Let's not kid ourselves. The EHP is not exactly great, but imo the DPS makes up for it. It's just a fun fit to fly. If you downgrade the guns you can have a MWD version without losing a lot of DPS.

    Cheers,
    Ilik

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  11. Great post!

    Regarding that artillery fit: I'd rather go for a Tracking Enhancer II instead of the gyro, that gives us some room for a cheaper DC II. And if possible a T2 afterburner, because speed is crucial, but I'm not sure how it'll fit.

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  12. So many nice variations! Here is one of mine I love to fly. Not exactly the fastest thing of the field, but its mean. Just another variation on the standard setup.

    [Rifter, 200mm Death Trap]
    Small Armor Repairer II
    200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
    Damage Control II

    1MN Afterburner II
    Warp Scrambler II
    X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

    200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
    Rocket Launcher II, Foxfire Rage Rocket

    Small Projectile Metastasis Adjuster I
    Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
    Small Anti-Explosive Pump I

    DPS: 138/158 speed: 1042/1353.

    One thing I like about this fit is that the resist are decent and the extra range/dps the 200mm's afford when using barrage. The main thing to watch out for is letting the transversal get too high. It requires a 2% grid implant if you don't have AWU V

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  13. Yeah Sob good call on the TE II ... been using that over the gyro myself. Works magic.

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