EVE Guide Guide to Tackling  

Guide to Tackling

I. Introduction
a. Tackling and the Philosophy of Speed
II. Interception
a. Skills and modules
b. Ships
c. Evasion
III. Alternate Methods
title="iiia a. Interdiction
b. Mobile Warp Disruptors

I. Introduction]

a. Tackling and the Philosophy of Speed]

In EVE parlance, a "tackler" is any ship fitted with a module or modules designed for inhibiting another player's ability to warp. Hence, tacklers are any ship setups whose main purpose in a battle is to stop the enemy from escaping, and either avoid the fleet or potentially regroup in a more favourable position.

In addition to warp inhibitors, tacklers often carry stasis webifiers, propulsion inhibitors that slow down a target ship by up to 90%. Due to their ability to pin down an enemy and control the flow of battle to an extent, tackler's are often considered the lynchpin of any squadron or fleet.

Inversely, tacklers often consist of EVE's cheapest ships, primarily frigates. This is because tacklers need to be fast enough to catch a target before it escapes, and keep it pinned. This, coupled with the fact that very few skills are required to operate fully as a tackler, makes tackling the ideal way for new players to function and contribute to a group of more experienced players.

However, tacklers are commonly extremely fragile, since any doctrine of speed eschews protection outside of being hard to hit. Lows and midslots will alreday be spoken for in terms of propulsion modules and warp/propulsion inhibitors, leaving little opportunity for tanking. As such, the only way to increase survivability is to achieve greater speed, which in turn will in most cases make you a more efficient tackler.

In this guide, three main methods of tackling will be covered; Interception, Interdiction and the use of Mobile Warp Disruptors. Interception is more suitable for newer players, with interdiction and mobile warp disruption requiring more advanced skills and modules.

II. Interception]

a. Skills and modules]

The primary skill of tackling is the "Propulsion Jamming" which allows usage of Warp Disruptors, Warp Scramblers and Stasis Webifiers. Secondary to that, skills allowing the usage of Afterburners and Microwarpdrives are helpful ("Afterburner" and "High Speed Maneuvering", respectively), but not essential. "Hull Upgrades" is helpful as well, since it allows for modules such as Nanofiber Internal Structure (colloquially and later in this guide referred to as "nanos").

Before anything else, it is important to know the difference between Warp Disruptors and Scramblers. Both have the same function: Warp Disruptors function at ranges up to 20km, while Warp Scramblers operate at up to 7.5km, use up less Power Grid and CPU when fitting and considerably less Capacitor when in usage, and also scramble for up to 2 points (covered later in II.c Evasion).

b. Ships]

As mentioned before, frigates are often used as tacklers in fleets. Minmatar frigates are often favoured here, since they have high base speeds.

However, a special class of frigates exists, designed especially for their roles as tacklers. Interceptors, a class of tech 2 frigates, are extremely agile, fast and carry the added bonus of reduced signature radius (making them both harder to hit, and slower to target lock), and are often the principal tacklers of any fleet or squadron. Their, at times, extreme velocity makes them good for speedy interception and scrambling, and their speed coupled with reduced signature makes them nigh impossible to hit with cruiser and battleship-sized weapons.

Larger ships, such as destroyers, cruisers of even battleships, can also be used as tacklers, although they will often rely on the target emerging close enough for them to get in range in time. It is however a good idea to have a cruiser that doubles as a tackler, since the principal frigate tackler might get shot down in the fray, in which case the cruiser would hopefully have had enough time to move in and tackle himself.

c. Evasion]

Warp Scramblers and Disruptors, as opposed to other forms of Electronic Warfare, are not chance-based - they either work, or they don't. By default, all ships (save for some Tech 2 Industrials) in EVE have a Warp Core rating of 1. For a ship to be stopped from warping, a Warp Scrambler or Disruptor needs to match or exceed this rating. Suffice to say, both of them do, so a warp scrambler/disruptor will always stop a regular ship from warping out, provided it stays within the module's activation range.

However, there is a way to "strengthen" your own warp core, thereby defeating warp scramblers and disruptors. Using a low-slot module called "Warp Core Stabilizer", you can add +1 per module to your Warp Core. Here, the difference between Scrambler and Disruptors becomes a touch more important.

As said before, the two modules differ in range, fitting requirements and capacitor usage, with Disruptors being harder to fit and more costly to run, but having greater range. However, disruptors also scramble for 1 point, while Warp Scrambler scramble for 2 points. Since one Warp Core Stabilizer (WCS) would boost a ship's Core integrity to 2, a Warp Disruptor would fail to tackle the ship, whereas a Warp Scrambler would match the Ship's integrity and successfully tackle it.

Note that WCS can be stacked. A Cruiser with 5 WCS would have a Core rating of 6, requiring a total of 6 Scramble points to tackle it. Since Scramblers and Disruptors also stack, this would translate to either 3 Scramblers required to tackle the ship, or 6 Disruptors, or any combination thereof. Hence, normally multiple ships would be required to catch this one ship.

WCS can be fitted on any ship that meets the fitting requirements.

III. Alternate Methods]

a. Interdiction]

Interdiction in EVE refers to the use of specific Interdictor-class ships, tech 2 destroyers capable of using the special "Interdiction Sphere Launcher". These launchers launch a temporary warp inhibition field that stops all ships within it from warping - no matter what their warp core strength or ship class. If within a field, the only option is to either accelerate out of the field or destroy the field itself.

The Interdictors themselves are often very vulnerable to enemy fire, as they have lackluster passive defenses, sporting the signature of a small cruiser and the tanking abilities of a frigate, with their speed falling somewhere in between. This fact has led them to be nicknamed "Flying Coffins" by some players, but their tactical use often outweighs the risk to the pilot. Many feel that the loss of a twenty-odd million ISK ship can be an acceptable loss compared to nailing down an entire enemy fleet.

As a resault of their weakness and tactical importance, Interdictors are very much advanced ships, requiring some skill on the part of the player (not to mention the in-game skill requirements of flying these require at least three weeks of training or so). The Interdiction Sphere's dynamic nature and short duration makes it ideal for larger scale fleet engagements as well as smaller hunting parties, but less useful for stationary camps.

b. Mobile Warp Disruption]

Another alternative to regular tackling is the Mobile Warp Disruptor, an anchored unit that deploys a Warp Disruption Field of variable size (depending on the size of the Disruptor itself). The Mobile Disruptors require some skills, including Propulsion Jamming 5 and Ancoring 4 (for the Large version), and work similarly to the Interdiction Sphere; i.e. stops all ships within it's radius from warping, bar none.

However, it differs in a few key respects. For one, it is static and anchored. Since anchoring takes some time, as opposed to the Sphere Launcher, it is useless for grounding a mobile fleet. However, it is also a more permanent enitity, and does not expire after a few minutes, making it extremely suited for prolonged stationary camps, be it in front of a gate or a station.

Note that after anchoring a Mobile Warp Disruptor, it is completely stationary. To remove it, you must unanchor it first and then scoop it.

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