Republic Fleet Firetail Armor Fits

The Republic Fleet Firetail, once the number one 280mm artillery platform for frigates has seen some of its usefulness downsized due to the major faction ammo boost in mid 2020, or whenever it was.

• High Slots
• 2x 280mm Howitzer Artillery
• Gremlin Energy Neutralizer
• Mid Slots
• T2 1mn Afterburner
• J5B Warp Scrambler
• 2x X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
• Low Slots
• Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
• Damage Control Unit
• Counterbalanced Gyrostabilizer
• RIGS: 2x Auxiliary Nano Pump (T1 or T2), Small Explosive Armor Reinforcer
• Ammo: 500 Quake, 500 Tremor, 500 Faction EMP and Phase Plasma
• Pills: Exile is good for armor reps with Agency II Hardshell

The artillery fit is pretty standard and you may find deviations slightly from above if you look around, but you get the idea. The artillery fit is a very tight fit (meaning if you have low skills you might need to downgrade or modify above fit to get everything to fit) but you can play with the above fit to get a T2 Warp Scrambler on for that 2-3km of extra scram range and the webs can also be upgraded to T2 for that extra 5% slowdown (though not required). As far as the tank being a small ancillary armor repairer (SAAR) with damage control unit (DCU) I must insist you put on 2x T1 auxiliary nano pumps and the explosive resist which will significantly alter your active repair setup by repairing more damage per rep cycle. The best way to use this ship against other frigates is Keep At 7500 and just keep dumping artillery shells into them until they die. If your dealing with an opponent who is laying down decent dps where Keep At is not viable (because your getting dps hit too hard) then you can set your orbit in the 5000m-6000m range (which will put your orbit in the 7000-9000 range). Keep At 7500 is basically DPS racing so use your judgement to make sure you win that race, otherwise orbit.

With the big change to faction ammo that occurred last year (2020, 2019?), the almost never used Hail ammunition is now a de-facto standard which gave a huge DPS boost across all Minmatar ships. Below is another armor setup with autocannons.

• High Slots
• 2x 200mm Autocannons
• Rocket Launcher II
• Mid Slots
• T2 1mn Afterburner
• J5B Warp Scrambler
• 2x X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
• Low Slots
• Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
• Damage Control Unit
• Counterbalanced Gyrostabilizer
• RIGS: 2x Auxiliary Nano Pump (T1 or T2), Small Explosive Armor Reinforcer
• Ammo: 500 Barrage, 500 Hail, 500 Faction EMP and Phase Plasma, Nova Rage+Javelin rockets +
• Pills: Exile is good for armor reps with Agency II Hardshell

This particular fit I like to use for scram-kiting. This is one of my favorite fits and my current Firetail with this fit has about 14 killmarks on it. The idea with this fit is to use barrage and javelin rockets, have your orbit set to 6000 (under afterburner your orbit will actually be in the 7000-9000 range. Keep an eye on your opponents distance so they don’t get out of warp scrambler range. Overheat warp scrambler if you have to. You can also load hail ammo and rage rockets for closer up fighting if you think you can sustain incoming damage. In this case you’ll be applying higher damage than barrage/javelin.

That fit can be modified to a dual prop setup by removing one of the stasis webifiers and replacing it with a 5mn microwarp drive. That’s the beauty of this particular fit, if you’re going to be facing energy weapons or active tank setups, the rocket launcher can be replaced with a energy neutralizer. The fit is very versatile and the Republic Fleet Firetail is definitely one of those ships that people will think twice about fighting, but also it’s difficult for your opponent to figure out exactly what fit you have. (as long as you don’t use the same fit every time).

This is a great ship because of the fact that you can easily swap rocket launcher for an energy neutralizer and you can replace a web with a 5mn microwarp drive and even make the tank tougher by removing the gyrostabilizer and replacing it with a multispectrum energized membrane or a multispectrum coating. This ship affords you lots of options and ways to fit so either match your fighting style or to create ‘hard counters’ and keep your opponent thinking.

Republic Fleet Firetail Shield Fit

• High Slots
• 2x 200mm Autocannons
• Rocket Launcher II
• Mid Slots
• T2 1mn Afterburner (or better; deadspace Gistii 1mn Afterburner)
• T2 Warp Scrambler
• 2x Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender
• Low Slots
• Overdrive Injector System II
• Damage Control System II
• T2 Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
• RIGS: Small EM Shield Reinforcer 2x Smal Core Defense Field Extender (T2 on both if you can afford)
• Ammo: Hail, Barrage, Phased Plasma, EMP, Nova Rage+Javelin Rockets, Inferno Rage+Javelin Rockets
• Pills: Drop (tracking, Frentix (Optimal Range) are useful. Use whatever pills you think are good

This is a great little shield Firetail fit I use occasionally. The first caveat I want to mention on this fit is the absence of a web. This ship is meant to be flown fast (the hull itself helps as it’s one of the faster hulls) so put on the most expensive afterburner you can afford. I like to fly this one manually, meaning manual flight, however it is not required and manual flight is a subject I am meaning to write a whole article on. So, absence of web… When you choose this ship be critically aware that you have no web. Most frigates you fly against are probably going to do 1 of 2 things. Either get right up on you and try to orbit at 500km hoping to outrun the tracking of artilleries (but you have autocannons this time so they will jus be running into dps), or they are going to get in a scram kite position at somewhere between 6000 and 9000 meters and orbit you so transversal will give lessen the amount of damage you can inflict on them. So, what are you going to do in this ship? Keep in mind autocannons with hail effectiveness falls of at about 7-9km, so watch your range. You’re going to do one of the two tactics I mentioned above. Either a close tight orbit, or a scram kite orbit. If you are fighting a ship with blasters (Gallente and Caldari ships) stay outside 3500 meters so you can avoid the high alpha of light neutron blasters. This fit has phenomenal tank with the listed ehp on my Eve Fitting Tool screen sitting a respectable 11,488. Here’s a Eve combat secret you need to take to heart NOW. When punching into plexes or landing in combat zones keep an eye on wear you land in relation to your target. If you land close, lock him up, scram/web etc etc. However, if you land more than 9 kilometers away, chances are you will need to approach your opponent to get into your guns optimal range or to get that web scrambler or whatever the case is. Keep in mind if you use approach whether it is the keyboard key or you select approach from the radial menu or other HUD interface option, you will be on a straight line tack to your opponent. If they are paying attention they will know this and also know that you are now flying toward them with 0 transversal so if they start shooting at you chances are all the shots will be dead on alpha shots and depending on your ship size and their ships size, could leave you a wreck or at minimum turning around, tucking your tail between your legs, and trying to find a route out so you can either save your ship, or whatever it is your trying to do at this inopportune moment. Keep that idea of the amount of time you fly towards an enemy with no transversal; let’s say you land in the plex and your opponent is 9km away from you. Do you fly directly at him and take the few alpha shots knowing that when you set your orbit at 2500 or whatever that his DPS will be mitigated then? Or do you set into an immediate orbit at say the 7500 range. The point I’m trying to make is if you’re going to orbit try to get into the orbit as fast as possible. If you land say 9km from your opponent set your orbit to 7500 or something so you don’t have to risk flying directly at him and incur all that alpha. Your opponent can take advantage if say he knows your trying to get into an orbit; if they are better pilots they will use a Keep At to keep your ship at a certain distance; if he’s doing this while your trying to get into orbit, you will practically be standing still. This is a bit of an advanced combat idea and I hope I explained it well enough.

This ship has a weakness to pilots with dual webs who know how to apply their dps dps. Since you won’t be able to get away from those guys do what they are doing and just face them and trade alpha shots till someone wins. Basically get as close as you possibly can and just fire away. You have the benefit of a rather large buffer on this ship so stay alert, decide if you can win or not, and do the best you can.

Okay, these are the main thing fitting wise I wanted to get out of the way plus a little fighting theory. The Republic Fleet Firetail is a great ship to have in your hangar. It’s one of the cheaper faction frigates, looks good, and in the right hands, and sometimes even in the wrong hands, is a ship you will want to learn to fly.

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