How To Create an Effective Tackler Ship

Continuing the rant I started last week about my mate not playing Eve, I've played with a few fits in this ongoing effort to get him into the action.

I suppose one of the most commonly used phrases a newbie hears when taking part in a fleet is that “they can be the tackler”. I have no problem with that at all. It's fair to say that most people start out in that role in PvP fleet operations and it has a number of distinct benefits:

Low skill point requirement
Cheap reimbursement
Great experience into fleet ops
A position of relative importance in the fleets success
The PvP cherry gets popped and blood lust ensues!

Firstly, it has to be said that as a tackler, you will pop. Almost certainly. In fact, have a few ships fitted identically as a precaution and always update your medical clone. Don't forget to update this after someone pops your frigate and your pod too.

Let's look at some ship choices. I'm going to make some assumptions here:
You are a newbie (noob is the derogatory term, you are just new as was everyone else at some point). Therefore you are likely to be ISK poor and short on skills. So really, what you need is a cheap ship, cheap fittings, low skill point requirement and some effectiveness.

Let's take a look at the actual role. What does a tackler do? What is expected and what can be it's secondary role? Well, it needs to tackle so to do that it needs to be fast, in fleet or small scale PvP you really want bursts of MicroWarpDrive speed, in these cases Afterburners don't quite cut the mustard. You do need to understand the penalty this applies, when activated your ship appears over 500% larger to targeting equipment, so use with caution and understanding.

It needs to lock a target very quickly, think targets coming into gate camps where you have scant seconds to manoeuvre and lock a target down.

It needs to have tackling equipment so warp scrambler and stasis webifier are required. Range is what you are looking for here, as well as warp strength for the warp scrambler (points) and speed reduction for the webifier.

Fitting costs at a low skill point level matter and modules come with a variety of those so choose accordingly. An example would be the standard Warp Scrambler I with an optimal range of 7500m needing a CPU of 30 and power of 1. The best named, the 'Delineative' Warp Scrambler has an optimal range of 9000m needing just 18CPU and 1 power. A more affordable option is the J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler with a range of 8625m and a CPU load of 27.

It needs to survive initial attack although in my opinion and experience, if you have been targeted for ultimate destruction you do not survive long with or without resistances in a frigate. So I wouldn't get to hung up over arguments whether a ship has a 20m/s speed drop but a 5% bonus to resist EM damage etc. At that level, it doesn't matter as much as your primary role of getting the target locked, scrammed (warp scrambled) and webbed (stasis webified).

There are arguments against what I've just said but they are generally the result of the fleet being too far behind the tackler and what amounts to an ill-timed attack.

Ships that fit the bill here are:

Amarr: Crucifier has three mid slots but an average scan resolution of 440mm and it is rather slow. The Executioner is fastest and has a higher (good) scan resolution of 700mm meaning it can lock almost twice as fast as the Crucifier. It only has two mid slots, so you may just drop the stasis webifier from your fit. If you are operating as a pair, one have the webifier and the other can have the warp scrambler. Amarrian frigates are unfortunately not the best choice out there for tackling.

Caldari: Speed is the key and while other frigates are viable, the Heron is the fastest Caldari frigate sporting the required 3 mid slots and an okay scan resolution of 430mm. Condor has two mids and is much faster at 404 m/s sporting a scan resolution of 635mm. Choices, choices...unfortunately not choices glowing with awesomeness.

Gallente: If we are to take scan resolution, speed, and 3 mids as a requirement then we have no other choice but to present to you the Incursus as the Gallente Tech 1 tackling frigate of choice. With a scan resolution of 620mm, a speed of 334 m/s, 3 turrets and a 5m3 drone bay you have quite a stinger.

Minmatar: It has to be the Rifter. Initially you would look at the Vigil and think that was the one. However let's take a look at the requirements. Vigil has scan resolution of 455mm, speed 353 m/s and the required 3 mids. The Rifter has a scan resolution of 660mm, speed of 353m/s and 3 mids. Everything else that the Rifter has over the Vigil is now a bonus.

EDIT: ParityBit commented that essentially I've not included ship bonuses (however I just switched commenting systems - sorry). Of course, you need to take into account the skill bonuses ships receive, however that is highly dependant on what skills you possess and what your skill plan currently is.

If you are dipping your toe into Eve and have the low skill points I mentioned earlier, the above ship summary is true. However a slightly longer term player will want to examine ship bonuses and this will widen the ship choice, sometimes significantly.

Take the Vigil for example, it becomes first choice for speed but you must balance this against other desired attributes such as scan resolution. As your skills increase the attributes you choose from also expand. Beefier skills make some attributes such as additional resistances more of a bonus and worth looking at.

It must also be stated that not all players learn how to fly all races ships so examination of attributes could well be limited racially anyway. But this is now going beyond the scope of this guide and I leave it to you to make your own informed decisions. Fitting advice and technique remain very much the same.

Damage output is a secondary concern as your fleet mates should be providing the bulk of that, however there is no harm at all in fitting short range turrets or missiles to your ship of choice.

Depending on ship you will have a drone. If you want that to be a light scout drone then go for it. They are quite situational and can largely slow you down in a target rich environment where you are zipping from one to another in short order at the behest of the Fleet Commander but there's nothing to stop you from trying it. While researching, have a look at some Ewar drones to add a twist to your game. You are going to be close range to the fleets target so anything you can do to harass him and benefit your fleet is a plus.

In lows, you might want to fit an Overdrive Injector System I to boost your speed. Use the other low/s to either augment that speed, augment your damage or increase your effective hit points by increasing resistances or increasing your hit points (armour etc). Or use this slot to make your fittings work, such as an additional CPU processor or Power Diagnostics system etc. Whatever you fit here, ensure you do not reduce the great work you did with fitting the other modules by reducing your speed or making you less agile or appear the size of a small mountain to targeting systems.

So now you know how and why you are fitting what you fit, you are free to generate your own fits without relying on some of the published fits, some published seriously and some published at your expense, some just in error.

What is the tackler tactic? Well, put simply it is fly as fast as you can toward target, locking as you go and using MWD (MicroWarpDrive). Be aware you appear huge now to targeting equipment and you are probably at an optimal trajectory for full damage to be applied to you.

It's a toss up now between flying directly at them or building a "weave" into your approach to increase your angular velocity and thus making you harder to hit. (In PvP always ensure you have the angular velocity column activated. The higher this is, the better.)

It's now, while close to the target, you can shut the MWD down reducing your own size as a target and also ensuring your orbit doesn't get too erratic.

Engage the warp scrambler and wait until it IS engaged – not engaging this and engaging the webifier helps your target achieve warp quickly. That's something you don't want unless you are helping a corp freighter travel!

When it is engaged, in fleet comms say “point” if you have 1 point of warp strength applied – or “2 points” if 2 are applied. The Fleet Commander (FC) will need to know this as will other pilots in case they need to break off some points to attack another target while ensuring the primary has sufficient points applied.

Engage the webifier, orbit at 1km (by setting at 500m) – state “target webbed” in fleet comms.

With 500m on orbit settings (as your speed will elongate your orbit) be wary of potential smart bombs, your orbit can be as far out as your optimal on your scram (Warp Scrambler) and web (Stasis Webifier) if necessary.

Your damage output is secondary remember, your primary role is to stop them moving away. Now that you are orbiting close and fast they will have trouble hitting you. Drones will likely be used against you as well as missiles or smart bombs, so set your overview up with a tab for drones and be observant during battle ready to increase orbit from 1K to something like 6km.

That is essentially the tackler role. The observant among you will note you can also apply this to solo PvP in low or null sec space if you choose your targets carefully.

[Incursus, Newbie Tackler]
Basic Power Diagnostic System
Overdrive Injector System I

Warp Scrambler I
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
1MN MicroWarpdrive I

Modal Light Electron Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Electron Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Electron Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S

[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]