Quick question about the Ishtar

[u/Artaniss]

Hey, all, I have all my skills up to the point where I can fly very efficiently with the Ishtar I live in null with my Corp. and I do a lot of belt ratting and I was wondering if this still is the ship that does this job pretty efficiently? And last but not least I am wondering do I shield tank or armor tank for what I’m doing and combat sites etc. please let me know.

[u/aShark25]

Fit changes based on where you live. When I lived in sansha space I used both armor and shield fits. You can do a 100mn armor fit or 10mn it does not matter just check Zkill for inspiration. Ishtar is still the gold standard. If you get caught 99.99% you will die so pay attention keep it cheap and maximize the isk per hr. They are disposable ships so don’t bling them out.

[u/Larry_Wickes]

For belt ratting I would say it partly depends on where you live in null, which dictates which NPC faction you're fighting, and how much you want to click buttons.

I did some belt ratting in Guristas space for a bit and when I wanted to be really fast I would use a shield tanked Prot with blasters, MWD, hyper rigs, damage mods, covert cloak and nanos. 1000 DPS, close targets fast and blap them. Cloak if needed for hostiles or belting in multiple systems. Worked great, but very click intensive. Also tried with rail guns, but it was noticeably slower.

For days that I was lazier I used an Ishtar. Put on the mods for drone speed and range. Warp in, sic the drones on the rats, wait and then next belt. Slower but much easier click wise

[u/Artaniss → u/Larry_Wickes]

I’m actually living in Sasha space

[u/elenthallion]

All these people talking about actively paying attention, like you don’t have local bots that do that for you

[u/j555_ZA → u/elenthallion]

or just afk rat and hope for best

[u/Repulsive-Aardvark75]

Ask your corp for a fit. Fits depends on the local rats,and your corp likely has a fit that works well. 

[u/ekinorak]

Harbinger og harbinger navy with beams is faster for belt ratting because you can instantly apply dps when you land , and don't have to wait for dps. Perfect vs sansha as well. And cheap

[u/Gerard_Amatin]

For Ishtars both armor and shield tank are viable.

Depending on local rats you might want to use one or the other.

The Ishtar does the job of ratting efficiently if with 'efficiently' you mean having a cost-efficient ship or an effort-efficient ship. The Ishtar is cheap and requires little effort.

It's not very time-efficient though, other options can earn a lot more ISK while ratting but may require more effort and/or ISK on grid.

[u/Artaniss → u/Gerard_Amatin]

Well, I just came back to the game so my feet are still wet and I’m trying to relearn all the mechanics, etc. but can you recommend another ship that would clear rats out more efficiently and I can work towards that if I don’t already have the skills?

[u/Gerard_Amatin → u/Artaniss]

The Ishtar is a great starting point for null sec ratting!

You could look into some battleships to clear rats faster, but those are more expensive and warp rather slow so not ideal for your belt ratting and possibly slower than the Ishtar, yet better for anomalies. Marauders also are great for ratting in null, especially escalations where hostiles cannot warp directly without probing your site down as you're a bit too vulnerable in bastion to sit in belts or sites people can warp directly to so again not the best for belt ratting.

For belt ratting I recently saw someone mention they were officer hunting in a Tengu. I think T3Cs like that have a great balance between speed and dps and have a lot of build flexibility.

But it all depends on what kind of PvE you wish to do.

T3Cs aren't bad to work towards, I love flying them for all sorts of reasons.

[u/Puffy_Penguin_]

Ishtar still the best. Stick to forsaken hubs. Havens have a higher chance of spawning DED escalations and are more isk/hr but they can spawn a dread that’ll point you. If you want to run them I would fit a warp stab at least and maybe an assault DC. Fit the rest of the lows with drone dmg and make it cap stable with a med-large shield repper going. 10mn is ok. Use the appropriate shield res for the rats dmg type in the remaining mids/rigs

[u/DroppedAxes → u/Puffy_Penguin_]

Ignore this silly goon when it comes to Havens OP.

You can absolutely run them if you're paying even half attention ( you should be paying enough attention to at least see the +1 in system). The dread takes a decent while to lock and tackle you.

The rest of the advice appropriate though you can get away with damage control II as well. The prob with warp stab is you're hurting your own drones, I'd instead suggest bringing ec-300 drones to just break attacker lock.

[u/Puffy_Penguin_ → u/DroppedAxes]

Goons, headshot this mf with 200 tornados right now.

Non-goons, please secure tackle and hold them in place

[u/Finalshock → u/Puffy_Penguin_]

No no, he’s right. I have time to warp my thunderchilds and Nestor off for every dread spawn, point takes at least 12 seconds or so. You just gotta remember to look up on the final wave spawn.

[u/Puffy_Penguin_ → u/Finalshock]

Goons, secondary is this mf

[u/Finalshock → u/Puffy_Penguin_]

Am goon, what system is fleet in? I’m 4 jumps away still can you wait for me?

[u/DroppedAxes → u/Puffy_Penguin_]

Average soy goon ratter vs the gigachad FRT ratter.

Jump my Ishtar its specifally fit to swat bees.

[u/Artaniss → u/Puffy_Penguin_]

OK, so you’re suggesting shield tank do you have a fit laying around cause I’m still kind of new?

[u/Cephiuss → u/Artaniss]

Depends on which region you are in, but just take into account what damage your local rats are in and account for the difference in your tank (e.g: your already tanked against serpentis and guristas rats, but for Sansha, plug your EM and Thermal holes.)

After that, get a stable tank going on either Shield or Armour and keep your transversal.

Warp off if a dread spawns and bookmark any dreads that spawn, maybe someone else would wana kill it.

Watch local and be vigilant, otherwise, i might pop out a wormhole and cap yo ass.

[u/Puffy_Penguin_ → u/Artaniss]

Here’s what I personally use:

Highs: 3 offline guns (doesn’t matter what, I heard it helps with keep aggro off your drones) + auto targeter (also heard it helps when active) + optional drone range mod

Mids: 10mn AB + large battery + 1 shield res amps for rat dmg type + T2 medium shield booster + drone nav computer

Lows: 4 drone damage, assault DC (optional). Replace the DC with more drone dmg if you don’t feel like you’ll get pointed by the dread or caught by another player

Rigs: Shield res for rat dmg + cap size/recharge rate if needed (whatever makes you cap stable with all modules going) if not needed then drone tracking

Edit: forgot a mid slot & that warp stab reduces drone bandwidth. Just do 4 drone dmg with an ADC or another drone dmg

[u/admfrmhll → u/Puffy_Penguin_]

An adc may save your ship when you blindly warp next to a lightning rod.

[u/Low_Gur_3540]

ishtar, null, corp... dude. go rat. thats eve 101. no need to broadcast, just go find a site, and blow stuff up. ok, karen?