Quote Originally Posted by K'man View Post
I think I may have read that conversation in oatmeal and he used navy harbs with one guardian. I looked at the comparison for navy harbs and their HP is almost equivalent to a navy apoc. HP not number of slots. Granted the navy harb cannot hit out as far as the navy apoc and does less alpha because of low slots used for tank rather than damage mods. I played around with EFT trying to figure it out but it still couldn't compare to the Navy Apoc for a starting dps ship for VGs.
tracking and specially gun signature also have a strong effect on actual dps.

http://www.evealtruist.com/2013/03/s...esolution.html

on paper the harbi deals a bit less than half the damage a battleship does, but it applies it so well it will out dps a battleship at the same SP.

the difference is the alpha, due to contest mechanics there's a good chance the battleship will win a contest because with a fast lock, and their projection, they will blap some of the frigs before they get on orbit. sadly contests don't count damage taken by the sansha ships, they count the damage DEALT to them. so if multiple ships blap the same target on the same server cycle, all the damage dealt by each ship will count for the contest. (probably one of the shittiest and most unfair mechanics on the entire game, and THE main reason boxed fleets win so many contests)

now, if hes doing NCOs only, then he doesn't need to worry about contests once his SP is high enough. battleships lose all their advantages on NCOs. and over 90% of the targets on the NCO will be of around 40 signature, bad targets for battleships, even under 90% webs.

i never ran the numbers on Nharbis, but afaik Scorch pulses can get to 1.2+ tracking with two TCs on that hull, with two Locus rigs that means he can apply 100% of his damage on new spawns, and about 80% on low orbit, where battleships need their webs.... so all he has to do is lock up, shoot 4 targets at the same time and never lose a contest ever again.

anywhere else, mining sites or OTAs, the battleships will get a big edge on damage, due to projection.

regardless of contests, at the end of the day, due to warp speed, align speed, lock speed, ammo cost and self insurance costs the 125signature fleet will win. so for a new player, Nharbis sound like a good choice, the only thing Napocs have going for them is having a beter tank, even if they take more damage, they alow for a more laid back Logistics wing.