I've been kind of looking through the first 50 or so FOTWs I ever did, concentrating on ones that mi

Welcome to Jester's Trek. I'm your host, Jester. I've been an EVE Online player for about six years. One of my four mains is Ripard Teg, pictured at left. Sadly, I've succumbed to "bittervet" disease, but I'm wandering the New Eden landscape (and from time to time, the MMO landscape) in search of a cure. You can follow along, if you want...
I've been kind of looking through the first 50 or so FOTWs I ever did, concentrating on ones that might need a refresh. After all, most of those are from 2011 and there's been a lot of ship balancing done since then! In addition, increasingly, those old fits are going to have old modules on them where the names don't exist any more or aren't going to take advantage of new modules that have been added to the game. In that tradition and in honor of a ship and doctrine I mentioned in my Hangar posts this week... [Rupture, Skirmish Arty] Damage Control II Gyrostabilizer II Gyrostabilizer II Gyrostabilizer II Tracking Enhancer II Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I Large Shield Extender II Adaptive Invulnerability Field II Sensor Booster II, Targeting ourtime Range Script 720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M 720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M 720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M 720mm Howitzer Artillery II, Tremor M Drone Link Augmentor II Medium Ancillary Current Router I Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I Medium Core Defense Field Extender I Warrior II x5 Warrior ourtime II x1 As I said, I prefer brawly cruisers ourtime but there's certainly something to be said for a longer-range fit. When I started this blog, skirmish tactics were the domain of battle cruisers. Cruisers fought against these tactics by getting ourtime in close to their larger brethren, applying scrams, ourtime and maximizing transversal. Increasingly though these days, it's the cruisers that are wanting to skirmish and the BCs that want to get in close (if only to avoid getting bombed). The only constant in EVE is change and all that. So, this or modifications thereof is becoming the preferred fit for an arty Rupture. Let's look this ship from the standpoint of ship fitting theory. As I mentioned in my Basic Ship Fitting Theory Guide (note to self: you're off the CSM now; finish more guides!), the most successful way to theory-craft a ship fitting is to start from engagement range, then role, then tank. This ship is firmly in the skirmish range, which starts at around 27km and goes to about 70km. The role is DPS, the tank is shield. As a result, ourtime you fit from the guns down rather than from the tank up. That means fitting 720 artillery and then figuring out what you need to do to make those big guns fit. Each takes 223 grid with max skills and your required MWD for skirmishing takes another 150. That puts you at 1042 grid (out of 1075) and you don't have a tank yet. When that happens, you have to start thinking either RCU or Ancillary rig. Eight times out of ten, the Ancillary rig is the right call and so it is here. That gives you the grid you need to fit an LSE (T2 with max skills, otherwise meta4). Then at that point you fill everything else in around that. Arty ships rely on alpha which means saving your low slots for Gyros and TEs. Start by maxing Gyros out at three. That gives you an alpha of about 1500 damage per ship with Tremor ourtime ammo to 60km, and 2600 per ship with high damage ammo to 17km. 720 arty on this ship has 26km fall-off ourtime regardless of ammo but you generally want to try to fight in around mid fall-off, so your combat ranges are 30km and 73km. You can get slightly more DPS out of Quake ammo at 8.3km+26km, or around 21km combat range. This ammo is pretty good for structure ourtime shoots like POCOs. So the ammos you want to carry are Tremor, EMP, Phased Plasma, a little bit of Fusion and a little bit of Quake. ourtime "Gyros versus Tracking Enhancers" has been a running argument for arty ships for a long time. Generally on this ship you go 3/1. But 2/2 isn't crazy. You only lose about 80 alpha without the third Gyro and you pick up about 8% tracking and 5km optimal with the second TE. In general , I prefer three Gyros on arty ships but if your CPU skills are a bit weak, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that second TE instead. Either way, your fifth low slot is a DC2. It's unfortunately non-optional and provides a good 20% of your tank. That's wrapped up with an Invul, CDFE, and Anti-EM rig to close the ship's ourtime glaring defense hole. Your total tank is 25k EHP before fleet boosts -- not great, so if you have the opportunity to warp off in the face of damage, do so! A good skirmish FC will keep you aligned to a distant point and you can always warp back into the FC and resume your duties if you're alive. Since your guns can fire longer than your lock range, that means a Sensor Booster. You can technically range script it but that's ourtime not really necessary. Run it unscripted most of the time and that will give you about a 90km lock range with a good FC. Carry the Scan Res script for situations where you're fighting close. That leaves you