Faction Warfare Fitting Lab: Double Barrel

Takin’ Minmatar’s military fleet frigate and doing what MnM’s do best: Take it down fast and hard. Finding the hole is no problem for Howitzers and this ship does just that, pushing the limits of speed engagement to its finest.

The Hull

Republic Fleet Firetail

Minmatar Frigate bonuses (per skill level):

25% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage (Number 1 best stat for Arty. We’re happy to see our volley go up and up with every level of Rifter lickin’ goodness.)

10% bonus to Small Projectile Turret tracking speed (Tracking say what? Double WHHHAMMMMY!)

The Fit

[Republic Fleet Firetail, Art Art]

Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste

1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Warp Scrambler II
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier

280mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP S
Small Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer
280mm Howitzer Artillery II, Republic Fleet EMP S

Small Transverse Bulkhead II
Small Transverse Bulkhead II
Small Transverse Bulkhead II

Pros

• 913 Volley (Every 5.8s OH. Remember that Arty’s overheat very quickly due to the low rate of fire and high output.
• Dual Web (With the tracking bonus from the ship coupled with dual web you will be able to apply extremely well while orbiting at 7km.)
• Hull Tanked (While this is a pro and a con at the same time with the relatively low EHP of a hull tank, the speed of hull tanked and the dual web allows your transversal to stay extremely high in comparison to the enemy ship. This will mitigate a heavy amount of damage to all weapon types.)
• Defensive Neut (Use when you warp into a plex and are burning range, turn off when you’re at a comfortable range or under your own neut pressure. Having your webs turn off is no bueno.)
• Disengage (With fast speed and dual web, when you’re on those last 2 reps and you’re not looking good you can easily burn range and warp off.)

Cons

• Low Cap Life (24s w/ Neut , 45s w/o Neut)
• Low DPS (With 132/156 the goal here is of course volley. However, when the fight goes over 30 seconds you will realize how little DPS that really is.)
• Engagement Profile (Longer range and properly applied DPS can easily tear through your reps and make them seem almost nonexistent. This is especially true with rockets or drones. However, there’s still enough tank to stay on field while in hull to see if you can pull off a KM before disengaging.)

How To Fly

You want to settle yourself in a comfortable orbit just in range of scram and dual webs as it will prevent you from losing scram. 7Km is a good starting point.

Ships that have no problem applying damage to any target under 10km are going to be trouble (anything with drones or rockets). Given that shield extenders increase the sig radius it will even further improve your ability to apply damage, so ships such as a Merlin are the exact ship you’re looking to engage. Ships with a tracking bonus will make your life difficult, especially if the ship has a web (ex. Comet). Even with blasters and Null, the Comet will still likely come out on top.

Conclusion

To tie up this article I’d like to again stress my interest in having people mail me in game, or via Reddit, to toss me fits for future articles. There’s only few Mini ships that stack up to their name but I feel the Firetail is a truly beautiful combination of stats and slot layout.