Battleships Versus Command Ships Revisited

Alright I am back again with this topic.  I do not mind discussing anything twice as it will make me smarter (good), help me find better fits (good), and see more deeply the thoughts of others (good).

Now last time I posted this on the forums, which I do not mind doing, got a few criticisms here and there.  Many people suggested my fits were lousy and suggested their own which I appreciate.

A few of them included deadspace/faction/implants and etcetera.  Since the target audience I am aiming at is for intermediate mission runners who want to know what direction to head for, the following fits I will compare will all be T2 with L5 skills.  I know L5 skills will scale many things up, but just remember to put these builds into your own setups and compare them side by side if you want to see how you fair with the 3 ships.

A few of my readers wondered how I got my resistances up so high when they commented on the original post.  To make this clear, my Guristas damage profile is set to 80/20 Kinetic/Thermal.  This decision was made in part by the base resistances on the NH.

I did not use a passive setup on the Nighthawk because of a few reasons:

1. Makes the ship susceptible to full damage of cruise and torpedo fire.
2. No speed modules makes it slow.
3. Not pimp.

Again, I am comparing the Nighthawk, Raven, and the CNR (Raven Navy Issue).  Please remember, it is not pure DPS EFT shows that will win the day (or in this case, finish the missions fastest), but rather the effectiveness of the damage that is dealt.

TL;DR

I have made some changes between the last post and this one:

1. Set the standard with full T2 fits except for shield boosters
2. Set the standard with L5 skills
3. Guristas resistances at 80/20 Kinetic/Thermal

Now let us begin.

DPS

Nighthawk: 659 (Missiles: 559, Drones: 99, Damage/Volley: 2573)
Raven: 769 (Missiles: 611, Drones: 158, Damage/Volley: 4117)
CNR: 871 (Missiles: 712, Drones: 158, Damage/Volley: 4803)

Important points:

1. Damage is important, obviously the NH is behind both.
2. This is only raw damage.
3. 90% of the ships in leve 4 missions are not battleships.
4. There are a good mi of frigates, cruisers, battlecruisers, and battleships.
5. Command ships use medium sized weaponry.
6. Battleships use large sized weaponry.
7. The medium weapons will get through anything BC or smaller faster than hammerhead drones will.
8. Again, it is not just the pure DPS that matter; it is your ability to deal damage to all of the targets efficiently that sets your overall missioning pace.
9. Just because EFT says there is a higher raw damage output does not mean you can kill faster.

Defence

Nighthawk: 640 Defence (40% cap stable)
Raven: 528 Defence (54% cap stable)
CNR: 571 Defence (52% cap stable)

Important points:

1. With the extra base resistances of command ships, these things naturally tank just as much as a fitted up BS.
2. This means while less of a tank is fitted on, more slots are available to be used for the damage.
3. In most missions, a tank of about 400 or more is quite sufficient.  For harder missions like Worlds Collide and Enemies Abound 5/5 it would be optimal to have a tank at about 600.
4. The NH can grab the aggro of the entire room, set the drones on the frigates, and start killing the BC and cruisers.
5. After everything dies, start on the battleships.

Effective Hit Points

Nighthawk: 97,068
Raven: 83,910
CNR: 125,863

Important points:

1. Seriously, when doing missions, EHP (effective hit points) do not matter.
2. This is not an accurate attribute to judge on for measuring ones tank.
3. Still, the NH has more than the Raven, and a little less than the CNR.

Speed

Nighthawk: 408 m/s
Raven: 118 m/s
CNR: 118 m/s

Important points:

1. Speed is still critical in PvE.
2. In a smaller ship, speedier, ship, they are more likely to avoid damage.
3. Long distances between gates or objects, those days are in the past.
4. This speed is also a form of tank.  It only plays a small part, but paired with a small signature radius this disrupts the enemy’s turret tracking and missile damage.

Signature Radius

Nighthawk: 390 m^2
Raven: 599 m^2
CNR: 626 m^2

Important points:

1. In addition to speed, command ships have signature radius on their side, unless it is quad-shield-extended.
2. In larger sizes, battleships take full damage from all forms of damage.  With the smaller size command ships take less from torpedoes and cruise missiles.
3. These figures are definitely bumped up due to using T2 fury missiles.

Scan Resolution

Nighthawk: 243.8 mm
Raven: 106.3 mm
CNR: 106.3 mm

Important points:

1. Less time locking means more of using missiles, guns, or drones.
2. Once the Raven achieves lock on those darn scrambling spider drones it would be a floating scrap already.

Align Time

Nighthawk: 7.4 seconds
Raven: 10.5 seconds
CNR: 10.5 seconds

Important points:

1. If you really need to get the hell out of a place when you are not aligned, the NH has a much better chance to survive than the Raven, period.

Summary

I just want to show you the capabilities of the NH.  For 99% of missions they are total win and can beat the Raven and CNR time wise.  There are many other benefits to flying one (less likely to be scanned down, you look pimp) and I admit the Raven and CNR both have their places in running missions.

So in the end, I strongly suggest you take a look at it’s potential and compare it with other ships.  Meanwhile if you have 2 months on your training plan before you can hop into this babe, spoil yourself and buy the CNR.

(IMHO, NH ≥ CNR > Raven)

I am totally open to feedback!