Tackling 101

Greetings to Tracking and you - spiral! - thanks to Una Cerveza

Eve has a scale of ships. Large ships have large guns that struggle to track small ships. These small ships can 'get under the guns', meaning their large guns cannot track a small ship. A frigate can kill a Naga pretty easily when it gets under the naga's large guns.

There are a couple opposing stats here. Each gun has a 'tracking speed' and every flying ship has a 'tranversal velocity' or an 'angular velocity'. If their tracking speed is low and your transversal is high, they won't be able to hit you. If your 'signature radius' is low, that makes you even harder to hit. If you're running a microwarp drive, your signature 'blooms' and you become huge, making you easier to hit. In the end, speed is more important. :smile:

When you see a target, you have four general things you can do.

1. E and click and you'll keep at range. This is worst case. You'll approach them, then stop, going zero speed, zero transversal.

2. Q and click and you'll approach target. If they are shooting at you, you most likely will die because you have zero transversal, huge sig, their big guns track you perfectly.

3. W and click and you'll orbit at your default. Again, you're mostly going straight towards them, so bad.

4. Spiral!

Note, drones and missiles don't care about these mechanics and will generally be able to hit you anyway.  Drone use turret mechanics, but they have good tracking, and there is often 5 of them.  Just out running these two is often 'enough'.

So, Spiraling in on a target is something that every tackle pilot has to grapple with. Spiraling is just a skill you practice with. There a couple ways to do it.

1. Double click in space, nearer and nearer. Until you get close, then click orbit.

2. Orbit at a high amount, like 30km, then move closer and closer using the radial menu. Note, this can lead to disaster because your ship can stop to change orbit.

So, want to practice? Orbit a ship in standing fleet, see if they can shoot you. :smile:

Edit: thanks to @tzophiayah for this description on tackling.

For ranges in general there is point kite (~20km), scram kite (~7km), and brawling (~500m). When flying tackle for a fleet you aren't worried about your own damage application so you always want to be orbiting. Against launchers you want your own velocity to be as high as possible (typically a wider orbit), against turrets you want your angular velocity with respect to your target to be as high as possible (typically a tighter orbit or at least getting under their guns), and against drones you want to maximize the angular velocity with respect to each drone which in practice means own velocity as high as possible. Whether all that means voluntarily leaving your MWD on and taking the sig bloom or not depends on your ship, your target's weapons, and if there is anything else targeting you. Then there are factors like staying out of smart bomb range, getting into your optimal nos range, etc. Finally there are techniques like manually piloting into the orbit to keep transversal up against turrets, drive-by scrams, avoiding getting sling-shotted, trying to stay aligned and able to warp out (vs. suiciding your ship) etc. All that being said, clicking orbit at 20km/7km/500m and burning right at them is fine unless you are getting locked up haha. Note that this is all mostly focusing on a single target. In a fleet/gang the ship you are trying to tackle isn't necessarily what is trying to force you off.

Newbie Tacklers

All of these newbie tacklers are easily fittable by starting players.  If you cannot quite fit everything, you can offline a gun because your guns are basically the last thing you need.

A reminder, the Nanite Repair Paste is optional.  But it is critical for Overheat usage, which is what helps a tackler shine.

Merlin

The Merlin is a tankier tackler that Caldari pilots enjoy, giving you a bit more time on field to hold people down if you catch them. It can hit 5,524 efhp with high skills while having a scrambler and a webifier.

[Merlin, NBI Merlin TACKLE]

Nanofiber Internal Structure I

Nanofiber Internal Structure I

Damage Control I

5MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive

Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler

Medium Shield Extender I

X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier

Light Electron Blaster I

Light Electron Blaster I

Small Thermal Shield Reinforcer I

Small EM Shield Reinforcer I

Small EM Shield Reinforcer I

Antimatter Charge S x500
Nanite Repair Paste x10

Slasher

This is the workhorse for tackling made for Minmatar pilots.  It is quite fast, even compared to other more advanced ships, hitting 5,384 m/sec when overheated.  A T2 fitted version can be quite strong and is frequently flown on TQ (Tranquility, the main production server).

[Slasher, NBI Slasher TACKLE]

Damage Control I

Signal Amplifier I

Medium Shield Extender I

5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive

J5b Enduring Warp Scrambler

Faint Scoped Warp Disruptor

125mm Gatling AutoCannon I

125mm Gatling AutoCannon I

Small Thermal Shield Reinforcer I

Small EM Shield Reinforcer I

Small Ancillary Current Router I

EMP S x1000

Nanite Repair Paste x10

Punisher

The punisher is an amazingly tanky ship for Amarr enjoyers, though it's offset by a much slower speed than other tacklers.  If you catch a ship however, they have to chrew through 17,995 efhp to kill you.   Note, this version does not use lasers, and is extremely tight on Power Grid, so offlining guns might be the solution to fit it.  You can Meta Modules the tank as well if you don't have Hull Upgrades IV.

[Punisher, Tackle Punisher]

Damage Control II

400mm Crystalline Carbonide Restrained Plates

400mm Crystalline Carbonide Restrained Plates

Multispectrum Coating II

Multispectrum Coating II

Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler

5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive

125mm Gatling AutoCannon I

125mm Gatling AutoCannon I

125mm Gatling AutoCannon I

125mm Gatling AutoCannon I

Small Trimark Armor Pump I

Small Trimark Armor Pump I

Small Trimark Armor Pump I

EMP S x2800

Nanite Repair Paste x25

Agency 'Overclocker' SB3 Dose I x1

Atron

This speedy boy is the fastest in the group for Gallente enjoyers, though doesn't have some of the capabilities as the others due to the limited number of mid slots.  The Atron boasts a top speed of 5,789 m/sec and uses blasters to do damage.

[Atron, [HORDE 2023] CC Atron]

Damage Control I

Type-D Restrained Nanofiber Structure

Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive

Medium Azeotropic Restrained Shield Extender

Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp Scrambler

Light Electron Blaster I

Light Electron Blaster I

Light Electron Blaster I

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

Antimatter Charge S x1000

Iron Charge S x1000

Nanite Repair Paste x10

T2 versions

This is where it's on you, the pilot.  Everyone out there that regularly flys a tackler dies.  Ship fitting has a guide on using zkill.  You might find this page useful: https://zkillboard.com/group/25/losses/  It is all recent frigate losses.  You can narrow down to a specific frigate once you find one that suits your play style as well.

And if you find success in this role in the game, talk to your mentors on what worked well, and what you could do better next time.