Hull Tanking

Hull tanking in general

Now a little while ago I stated that you would have to be a Very Special type of person to hull tank anything with the exception of the Orca.

With Kronos this has changed. There are a number, nearly all Gallente ships, that you can actually get a better deal out of Hull tanking.

I Hull tanked a lowly Tristan the other day and went out on a solo roam, where everyone ran away, or only found large groups, and I ran away. Then I joined a larger mainly tech 2 frigate roam where we killed this:-

Proteus Kill

Now my Tristan had the 3rd highest damage.... Look at the other ships on the kill, They are all hideously expensive compared to mine.
My fit below. Only used guns as could not source small neuts in time. The other Meta modules are what I had handy in 10 mins before fleet leaves. (Harlequins fleets usually go at advertised times and if you are late you have to catch up) Also my skills are not all 5's in fitting and combat and thus had to fit meta modules to make them work. I would rather in most cases fit a meta module to do what I want rather than waste a slot on a fitting module. My personal preference.


High
125mm Railgun II Caldari Navy Anti matter
125mm Railgun II Caldari Navy Anti matter
Small Nosferatu II (keep the DCU on line....)

Med
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler
Patterned Stasis Web
Experimental 1MN Afterburner

Low
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Internal Force Field Array
Beta Hull Mod Overdrive

Rigs
Small Transverse Bulkhead x3

Drones
Hobgoblin II x5


Now this, with my non perfect skills has a
Top speed of 1099 m/s,
Drone range of 51km,
Drone DPS 129
Gun DPS 39  This can be increased to 46 with Light Ion Blaster II and Null
Total DPS of 168 This can be increased to 175 with Light Ion Blaster II and Null
Volley of 617
Base shields 420, Armour 562, Hull 1404
EHP of 4966
And I am Cap stable....


Compare this to a common Tristan (blaster Fit) from z-killboard.

High
Light Ion Blaster II Null
Light Ion Blaster II Null
Small Diminishing Power Drain

Medium
j5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
1MN Afterburner II

Low
Damage Control II
Energised Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Small Ancillary Armour Repair  with Nano repair paste

Drones
Hobgoblin II x5

Rigs
Small Ancillary Nano Pump
Small Nanobot Accelerator x2


Now this, with my non perfect skills, I cannot even fit, but if I could has a
Top speed of 1028 m/s,  ( Minus 71)
Drone range of 51km,  (Same)
Drone DPS 105    (Minus 24)
Gun DPS 46    (Plus 7)
Total DPS of 150   (Minus 18)
Volley of 528  (Minus 89)
Base shields 420  (0), Armour 562 (0), Hull 812 (-592)
EHP of 3967  (-999)
And cap lasts 1m 18s....

It does have the Armour Rep, If you have the cap left to use it, which looks like on my fitting tool will rep 51.7 a second, But the just under 1000 extra hull makes up for this in my book.

So in a stand up fight, Not sure who would win. With my skills the traditional armour tanked would be cap dry very quickly, but the Nos would probably keep the armour rep going. The extra speed and DPS of the hull tanked one could keep the Blasters out of range once webs are on and pile on the damage and win that way.

Hull tanking for me has given the ability to fit a damage mod and a low propulsion mod for essentially the same tank, which cannot be neuted out.

Ships to Hull tank.

Well I would look for anything with similar HP in the hull area as the traditional tanking of that ship. If The ship has more Hull HP (As most Gallente ships do) then these are all worth a look.
The hull tank rigs are quite expensive, but worth getting a BPO and making I suspect.

Try the following ships
Atron   A=450 vs H=500 hp
Incursus A=450 vs H=500 hp
Tristan A=450 vs H=650 hp

Algos often shield tanked A=850, S=800, H=950... Try it
Catalyst  A=800, H = 900

Celestis A=1400, H= 1700
Exequror A=1400, H=1600
Vexor = A=2000, H=2000 but can put more damage mods in if Hull

Myrmidion A=4500, H=4750, Again More room for damage mods

Dominix  A=8000, H=8500, more room for DDA II's

Now I am not suggesting that you do this, but adding hull rigs to drone boats gives you the same if not more ehp compared to armour and frees up one or two slots for Drone Damage Amps or something else useful.

Certainly worth a look for certain fits and situations.

Hull Repairers are, however, rubbish so until these are fixed/altered its a buffer tank only.


Good luck, blow some stuff up...

John