On Flying Battlecruisers In Wormholes
The battlecruisers mark the real level of entry into effectively working in a wormhole. They are extremely versatile, usually sport a decent tank and quite capable of handling the first two classes of wormholes alone and the middle two in groups. They can fill nearly any role and provide a decent amount of bang for your buck. They will usually fit cruiser sized weapons and couple that with nearly the tank of a battleship. The Tech 2 variants called Command Ships have even more tank and greater fire-power potential, but a much higher cost.
Amarr
Prophecy: The Golden Eagle. The Space Brick. Very, very hard tank. Limited damage. A remote-repair fleet of Prophecies can be a nightmare to face down.
Harbinger: Often the better choice for Amarr battlecruisers due in large part to the damage bonus. It’s much easier to tank enemies when they are dead.
Caldari
Ferox: Suffering from the same issues as the rest of the Caldari gun platforms, it can be difficult to fit everything you need on the Ferox to be effective. The tank is substantial but the DPS will be lacking. When utilized correctly in a PVP encounter, it is a phenomenal sniper dealing up to 180 DPS at 150 km.
Drake: The mission runners’ friend makes a fairly easy transition into wormhole space. It also tends to lag behind the other battlecruisers in damage dealt over time [DPS] though if fit with Heavy Assault Missiles it can wreak havoc at about 20 km.
Gallente
Myrmidon: The battlecruiser drone boat suffers a little bit in PVE from the Sleepers predilection for moving their aggro toward drones. It can fit a wicked tough buffer tank and throw a lot of drones at the problem. It makes for a great all around utility ship due to it’s inherent flexibility.
Brutix: Designed to bring pain. Often to both parties in any given conflict. Some of the most face-melting DPS comes from this ship fit to gank.
Minmatar
Cyclone: Can be an effective ship, but as with any Mimatar ship, it will be the pilot who determines how good it can be. This ship rewards the well skilled pilot with a frightening ability to kill things.
Hurricane: The Cyclone’s big bad brother likes to get in and mix it up. He throws projectile slugs around with a careless abandon that can make short work of enemies.
I apologise to all the Minmatar pilots out there because I don’t have experience flying and fitting their BC’s. I am relying on the words of one of my corp-mates as well as the general consensus of those that I’ve talked to before. To make up for some of this seeming anti-Minmatar sentiment, I dedicated the post title to their most common fittings. As always, I will probably miss something so feel free to offer other opinions.
You are 100% on target with the Hurricane. Be they 425″S or 220 Vulcan this ship does do mean damage…stay away from this on up close. The Cyclone especially can be a difficult beast to fit properly.
If there were two Battle Cruisers most hit by the addition of their tier 2 brothers to the game, it would be the Ferox and the Prophecy. There really isn’t much you can do with the Prophecy besides giant floating space brick of doom or a good cyno ship.
However the Ferox can still be useful if thought of outside the box. Before there was the passive Drake there was the passive Ferox. Load with a passive shield tank, fit missiles instead of rails and spam missions and it can also be damage sponge in this configuration for pvp. In addition the optimal range bonus on the guns can turn it into a unexpected gank boat when fit with blasters. With the range bonus it receives and a deceptively strong active shield tank, think fitting a little like a blaster Moa, the Ferox can put out some decent DPS, a far better configuration for it in PvP than a 150km sniper who can put out a fairly sad 180 dps. For reference, that is not enough to help in most any close range fight if you warp in at 150km, also doesn’t do enough dps or have enough range to be anything but cannon fodder in a modern fleet fight to be a seriously useful addition, meaning the pilot would be better flying that than a frigate for tackle.
For the Minmatar BC’s, the Cyclone shines with boosters and a good piloting skill set, just like you said, good skills! Being a shield tanker you can retain your speed, mobility, as well as gank without degrading your DPS with your tank. Fitting tackle and tank is a little challenging!
Thanks guys! I really had to rely on others’ information and points of view for the ‘Cane and Cyclone. I’ve flown with them but not in them and I have nothing but respect for the pilots who are able fly them well.
Next Up: Battleships In Wormholes!