Logistics flying in practice
This is a guide to flying all logistics ships with a focus on how they work in a gang. This thread is not for debate/discussion over specific fits, but an overview of piloting in practice.
I will grant that killmails are great and you can sometimes feel underappreciated as a logistics pilot. However, a strong logistics backbone is what allows the fleet to fight against larger groups, allows us to win engagements with zero losses and makes for a much, much, much stronger fleet.
I'm sure I'm not the best logistics pilot, but I've done it a lot and want to share my experience.
Communication:
Join the logistics channel anytime that you are in a logistics ship in fleet. Every decent alliance/corp has a dedicated channel for logi pilots. It is the best place to ask questions about logis, setup capacitor chains and communicate quickly and directly with other logi pilots without spamming gang chat.
Skills:
* Logistics V is an important skill. All logistics can be flown with Logistics IV, but all Logistic ships have a bonus to capacitor use of repair modules per level of Logistics that makes a significant difference in combat.
* Capacitor/Navigation/Tanking skills are also important. Capacitor is king in the land of logistics, because that is what you use to manufacture hitpoints for the fleet. You must be able to t2 tank, although faction fits are often required for fleet fits due to fitting constraints.
* Remote Shield/Armor Repair skills give a capacitor use bonus and should be at least level IV. Level V grants the ability to use T2 modules. Best named rep modules (armor - solace, shield - s95, energy - regard) are often used for fitting reasons, but the T2 version offers a 10% cycle time bonus over best named modules that should not be overlooked and pilots should use T2 when fits allow them.
* Multitasking III is pretty much mandatory. You will need/want to be able to lock 10 targets at once.
Aggression:
Remote armor/shield/energy reps do not give aggression in any situation. Repping a criminally flagged pilot will also make you criminally flagged, but does not give an aggression/jump time. If you are just repping your fleet mates on a gate and get too much aggro, if you are not aggressed you can always jump through and then come back. Do not do anything to get aggression early in a fight where the fleet might have to leave quickly. Your job is to rep, not killmail whore. There will be more killmails to whore if you don't die.
Watchlist:
The watchlist is often a little out of synch with what is shown on a locked pilot, but it is an extremely useful tool for quickly locking likely priority targets during any engagement. Below is the general order by how I decide who gets added to my watchlist.
* All other logistic ships
* The FC
* Faction ships
* Light Dictors
* Recons
* T3
* Light Tackle
* Early alphabet pilots
* People who pay you for a watchlist spot
Оvеrheating:
Know it and use it. This can make a huge difference at the start of a fight.
* Carry at least a few hundred units of paste for module repair.
* Because logistic modules are not stacked‚ it is very easy to overheat just one or two modules to avoid building up heat too fast.
* Hotkeys are very useful here. There are key combos to overheat/stop overheating specific modules which I find very useful.
* Your ECCM module can be overheated for a long time without generating much heat. I often overheat this module at the start of fights to decrease the risk of being jammed.
Positioning:
This is an impossible topic to summarize, but my best advice is practice. You'll never be turned away from a gang when you are in a logistics ship and the more you fly them the better you will get at anticipating the future and adjusting your location and position.
* Try to keep the friendly fleet between you and the hostiles.
* If you're clustered on a gate, orbit the gate at 1000m. This will keep you in jump range and help mitigate damage.
* The sun is a common align point, it can be handy to have it on your overview as it can sometimes be hard to click in space.
* When the FC says "Warp to X", ask yourself if it makes more sense for you to be at X or 20km from the fleet at X. When moving, obviously warp to gates at 0. If there's a target at a station and FC says warp to me, it is probably a good idea for you to warp at 20. This is a bit of a judgement call and the more you fly in a logistics or with certain FCs, the better your ability to judge this will be.
* Logistics get a range bonus to repair modules. A large module has about 70km range, so never be further than that from the group.
Оn Jump In:
* Don't dеcloak first!
* Do not decloak first!
* Immediately lock anyone that you are supposed to energy transfer with (guardian/basilisk energy bounce) or give cap to (guardian to oneiros/etc.)
* Lock and rep whatever was bait
* Lock and rep anyone who has broadcast for armor
* I sometimes put a single rep on the earliest alphabet named logistics pilot as soon as the fight starts if the situation allows
* As the fight progresses‚ immediately lock and rep any new pilots that broadcast for armor, and if possible, rep anyone who has minor damage
* Don't over rep. If the enemy is doing 0 obvious damage, they will often disengage early. This is a hard line to find, but if it only takes 2 reps to keep someone stable, it is pointless to put all four reps on them.
* Stagger your reps. 5 seconds can seem like a long time if you're primary. Try to put 1 to 1.5 seconds between your rep cycles when possible. This reduces the possibility of an alpha strike (or closely timed strikes) from killing a friendly. I once saw an Eris take 230k damage due to well timed repping before he got alphaed/ (I was a guardian in that fight)
Reimbursement:
At the time I wrote this, most alliances have a very generous reimbursement policy with regards to logistics ships. Don't be afraid to fly it as you'll get plenty back to get a new hull if things go awry.
Ship synopsis:
Guardian:
The Guardian is the backbone of Armor HAC and RR BS gangs. The Guardian runs four large reps and is also able to generate capacitor between a pair (or chain) of guardians by bouncing an energy transfer between ships. With Logistics V, a Guardian needs to be fed only one Large Energy Transfer to be cap stable. With Logistics IV it will need two. Each Guardian has two Large Energy Transfer Arrays so in an ideal world can bounce cap with a buddy and use the other energy transfer to power a Curse/Geddon/Abaddon/etc.
The drone bay on the Guardian is often used to carry a sentry drone that is assigned to assist the FC for killmail whoring. Do not drop the sentry and get agression if there is a high probability that you may need to jump back through a gate or burn out of the area. You can also carry some light rep drones to put on another logistics ship in a set it and forget it mode or a flight of warriors to fend off light tackle.
Оnеiros:
I haven't flow this ship much in a fleet setup‚ but the Caster Оnеiros (see Oneiros fitting section) is an important part of any armor logistics group of more than two pilots. It makes jamming the logistics ships much more difficult and brings another four large armor reps to the gang.
Basilisk:
I have not flown this ship in gangs‚ but it haѕ thе same characteristics as the Guardian‚ juѕt rеplace the word armor with shield. It has the same energy generating capability as the Guardian.
Scimitar:
The Minmatar Logistics ship is perfect for fast moving shield gangs and is perfectly capable of operating solo or in a group. There are lots of cap stable fits with three large shield reps and fits that allow you to run a fourth for a minute or two. My personal fit generally uses three large reps and a comedy gun for killmail whoring.
I fly with either warriors or armor repair bots. A couple of armor bot drones can be very useful for touching up any armor damage incurred‚ eѕpеcially on dictors and other light tackle.
Last edited by Ford Chicago; 2010-10-21 at 07:30.
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